One
Only a nuisance
Himchan groaned as the bane of his life skipped up to him with a smile. His parents had decided to help their best friends out by allowing their daughter to move in with them for a couple of months while they were away on holiday. He already went to the same school and university as her and had to put up with her following him around all the time since they were small. She was constantly annoying him, and trouble seemed to follow her everywhere. The number of times she’d gotten him into trouble, or he’d had to save her from her own actions was astounding. Her life was truly chaotic. He had no idea one person could be so much of a jinx.
His friends loved her, they thought she was cute, and whenever she got into trouble they’d think she was adorable, rather than the nuisance Himchan saw her as. He didn’t get it, but it meant he had no choice but to put up with her.
She stood in front of him, grinning happily. “Good morning Himchan Oppa! You must have left really early this morning, I didn’t see you.”
“Yes.” He frowned, hoping she’d leave him alone soon. “What’s up Mina?”
“Oh!” She blinked and brought her hands out from behind her back, holding his lunch bag. “Your mother asked me to give this to you, she said you’d left it behind since you were rushing so much.”
“Oh. Thanks.” He took it from her and turned to leave. Only to hear a familiar voice shout his name.
“Himchannie hyung!” Zelo ran towards him, followed at a more sedate pace by the rest of the group they hung out as. “Oh! Minnie-yah! Hows my favourite noona?”
Himchan cringed at Zelo’s nickname for Mina as the girl simply giggled and returned his hug.
“I’m ok Zelo-ah. I’m always ok. How are you? You seem lively this morning!”
Zelo leant in as if sharing a secret. “Jonguppie bought me cherry tomatoes for my lunch, I had some for breakfast. Don’t tell him though.”
“Ooo so lucky! I wish I had cherry tomatoes.” Mina pouted slightly.
“I’ll share with you Minnie-yah, don’t worry!” Mina grabbed his hands and bounced in a circle.
“You’re the best Zelo-ah!”
“YAH! Why can’t you call her noona like everyone else?” Himchan was tired just watching them bounce. Mina’s love for cherry tomatoes could probably rival Zelo’s and she was the only one he ever shared with. It was kind of annoying to watch.
“Because she’s my Minnie-yah. What’s it to you anyway hyung?”
He was saved from answering by the arrival of the rest of the group and was stuck while everyone greeted each other.
“Right. I’m going to class. See you all later.” Himchan sped off to his first class on his own, despite being in the same lectures as Yongguk.
“I wonder what got his knickers in a twist.” Youngjae mused, curious since it was rare for Himchan to be so short-tempered.
“I tried doing the washing last night, and I may have accidentally turned all of Oppa’s whites slightly pink.” Mina picked at her fingernails and scuffed her shoe on the floor.
The boys laughed, used to Mina’s well meaning accidents.
Jongup tried comforting her. “Its ok, Himchan likes wearing pink.”
“They’re all patchy.” She made an ‘oops’ face and they laughed again. “He’ll calm down. I promised never to touch his clothes again.”
It was lunch time, and the group had settled around the usual tree in the courtyard, everyone pulling out their lunches and settling down to eat. Himchan looked around, expecting Mina to appear at any moment.
“What’s up hyung?”
“Nothing.” He focused on unpacking his lunch bag.
“Were you looking for Minnie-yah?” Zelo set aside a few tomatoes from his lunch and wrapped them back up. “I saw her classmate earlier. She’ll be a bit late for lunch.”
No-one except Himchan was surprised by the news.
“Apparently there’s a guy in Daehyun-hyung’s class who likes her. He said he’s going to confess this lunchtime and ask her to be his girlfriend. I promised I’d save her some tomatoes though so she’ll be here.” Zelo smiled down at his lunch as he popped one of said tomatoes into his mouth. He looked up to see Himchan frozen with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. Looking around, the rest of the group were frozen too, Daehyun had a roll of half-eaten Kimbap hanging from his mouth. Every one of them was looking at Himchan for his reaction.
The guy placed his utensils down on his lunch box and got to his feet. “I don’t know why you think I’d care. Excuse me guys, I need to visit the restroom. I’ll be back in a minute.”
As Himchan walked off, Zelo chuckled to himself, drawing the others’ attention to him. “What? The guy needed a push, ok.”
“You mean there’s no guy?”
“Of course not. Everyone in the school thinks she’s already with hyung. She’s with the teacher, asking for some help with an assignment.”
Yongguk chuckled. “Sneaky, maknae. Very sneaky.”
Zelo just grinned and popped another tomato into his mouth.
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