Author's POV

To: Pretty

I'm here. Where are you?

Jongin waited patiently for the reply as he walked into the grocery shop around the corner. His hands were in his pockets, and he was trying not to look like some weird stoner kid that was here to buy drugs from someone. He looked around trying to search for Minhee, but she wasn't anywhere in sight.

When Jongin felt his phone buzz in his pocket, he immediately pulled it out. 

From: Pretty

Third aisle. I'm wearing a grey shirt with my hair up.

Jongin immediately ran to the third aisle, in search of the familiar figure that he's been dying to see. He saw her standing there, looking through some foods and holding onto her phone in the other hand. He couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat as he watched her. There was just something about her that was just so mesmerizing to him.

"Yah! Pretty girl with her hair up!" Jongin shouted, waving his hands in the air. Minhee immediately looked up from whatever she was looking at and furrowed her eyebrows.

"What are you doing? This is a grocery shop," she scolded at him, and Jongin just chuckled. 

"Remind me why I'm here, again?" Jongin asked, tapping at his chin. 

"I don't like shopping alone, and Baekhyun's at my place with Chanyeol." she replied. She noticed how Jongin's eyes got darker as she mentioned Chanyeol's name, and she realized that it was probably not a good idea to mention his name around Jongin for at least another month.

"I thought the two of them broke up," Jongin finally said after a long silence.

Minhee nodded, "They did. But I don't think it was officially." 

Jongin scoffed, "How do people even have the heart to cheat, honestly?" he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Jongin." Minhee frowned. The both of them walked into the fourth aisle. Minhee looked through all of the junk foods, trying to find Baekhyun's favorite kinds of chips and chocolates.

"Yah, why are you buying only junk food?" Jongin scolded at her, and Minhee frowned.

"Baekhyun and I basically live off of junk food." she replied, and Jongin shook his head.

"Shouldn't you cook something more healthy?" he asked.

"I don't know how to cook," Minhee admitted, and Jongin gasped.

"A girl that doesn't know how to cook?"

Minhee punched him the arm, "Sorry that I don't spend my time trying to memorize recipes and perfect them." Minhee rolled her eyes.

"I'll have to tell Kyungsoo to cook you something, then. He's a great cook." Jongin praised.

Minhee nodded her head in agreement, and the both of them started dropping in different types of candies.

"Do you have enough money for all of this?" Jongin quirked up an eyebrow. Minhee hummed in response.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jongin smiled. While Minhee was picking up thing and dropping it in the cart, she didn't notice the extra weight that was suddenly on the cart. When she beside her, Jongin was no longer by her side, but in the shopping cart.

"When did y-"

"It's raining candy!" Jongin shouted happily as he threw up the different candy bars and such and threw them in the air. Some fell onto the ground, and some fell back and hit Jongin right in the head.

Minhee tried to restrain herself from giggling, but ended up laughing at him, anyway.

"You're cute," she laughed as she walked over to pick up the candy bars that had dropped onto the floor and threw them at Jongin. Jongin dodged them and pegged some back at her, having her catch it and throw them straight back at him. 

"Where did you learn to catch like that?" Jongin's jaw-dropped.

"What? Impressed?" Minhee smirked.

Jongin nodded, "Yes, actually." he replied. "Girls don't usually catch well." 

Minhee scoffed, "You're such a ist." she laughed.

"Oh, am I?" Jongin's eyebrow quirked up, and Minhee nodded.

After about 10 minutes of arguing over if Jongin was ist or not, Minhee won the argument and the both of them went up to the cash register to pay. Jongin offered to pay for half of it since most of the candies were what he picked out, but Minhee insisted. It was the first time that Jongin had a girl pay for him, and he had to admit that it felt weird.

As the both of them walked back to Minhee's place, Jongin couldn't help but wonder what they were. Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? More than friends but less than a relationship? What were they, honestly? 

He wanted badly to ask her, but he was afraid that he'd just make everything awkward. She seemed pretty comfortable with him, and he didn't want her to change that. But he also couldn't just stand there and let her treat him as a friend, and a friend only. 

"Hey, pretty," Jongin called out, and Minhee couldn't help but smile hearing him call her that, again. She thought that after the break-up, he was probably never going to use that nickname for her, again. She was glad to hear him call her that.

A part of her was sad because they weren't together. It was sad to not be able to call him hers. But she did what she had to do.

"Hm?" she responded.

Jongin in his cheeks, unsure of whether or not to talk to her about it. 

"I-I don't know if you're ready to talk about this, yet." Jongin started off, and Minhee just stayed silent. She was pretty sure that she knew just exactly what he was talking about, but she didn't want to say anything just yet. She wanted to hear what he had to say, first.

"Are we-you know-like-dating?" Jongin asked, and Minhee felt her grip on the shopping bags tighten.

"I don't know, Jongin," she answered, truthfully. "I don't think I want to." she admitted.

Jongin felt a part of him sink, and he sighed. 

"Do you think we'll ever-you-know-" his voice cracked, and he decided that he'd just stop talking.

"Date?" she asked, and Jongin just nodded. The subject made him feel sensitive.

"I mean, sure." Minhee smiled. "I like you, and I don't know what you feel towards me. But if we like each other that much, maybe it'll happen, again. As long as you know what you want this time." Minhee said.

Jongin sighed, knowing what she was talking about. "Look, I don't have any feelings for Ji-"

"I know you don't, Jongin." Minhee nodded. "But I just want to wait. I don't want you to torture yourself trying to think about who you want and who you don't want. When your heart is really sure, then we can talk. I don't think your heart is that sure, yet." Minhe gave him a small smile.

Jongin felt his world crumble. How could she even say something like that? Did she not want to be with him? 

Minhee walked up her driveway, Jongin following behind her. She opened the door, walking into her house to see that the house was still in one piece and no furnitures were ripped apart or broken. The house was abnormally quiet, and she wondered where Baekhyun and Chanyeol had gone.

"I-uh-thought you said that Baekhyun and Chanyeol were here?" Jongin asked, looking around the house.

"Yeah. I thought that, too." she said as she observed the oddly quiet house. 

When Minhee saw Baekhyun walking out, she jumped into Jongin's arms and held onto him. Jongin squeezed her tightly as he saw Baekhyun walking out. The older male didn't say a word, and Minhee quickly let go of Jongin, dropping her shopping bags onto the ground.

She ran up to Baekhyun, hugging him. She saw the tears in his eyes, and everything was just awkward in Jongin's point of view.

"What happened?" Minhee asked, and Baekhyun just gave her a bitter smile.

"He's leaving." Baekhyun said, his voice weaker than before.

Minhee pulled away from her best friend, looking him in the eyes. "L-leaving?" she croaked, and Baekhyun nodded.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Leaving. As in, leaving Seoul. He's not coming back. He won't forgive himself. He says that he still loves me, and even if I accept his apology, he can't accept it. He says that if I ever needed him, just remember all the pain he's put me through and stop myself. He says he'll never come to forgive himself ever again, and he says that he wishes me the best in the future. He says that he just wanted to see me for one last time and say goodbye, because he couldn't come to leave without seeing my smiling face for one last time. Then, he asked me to smile. I couldn't. I cried. I cried my heart out. And then he was gone. He left, Min. He left for good. He's gone." Baekhyun cried.

Minhee stared at her best friend, and then back at Jongin. Baekhyun slowly sank down on the couch and cried, and Minhee apologized to Jongin.

"I'll text you tonight, okay?" she said as she lead Jongin out of the house.

"I'm really sorry you had to see that. Baekhyun's just-" 

"No, it's okay. I know what he's going through. Tell him that I hope he gets better, and he doesn't deserve that." Jongin said as he walked off. He waved one last time before turning around. 

He's never seen anyone so miserable before, except for himself. He felt bad. Was this what he was like when he found out about Jin Ah cheating on him?