“…and then he slipped in the bathroom, the best part is that he was still !” Baekhyun finally threw in the punch line.

The others burst out laughing except for Jongin. Usually Baekhyun's jokes would make him laugh, but right now the situation wasn't funny at all. It had already been half an hour since his friends had arrived at his place and he wanted them to leave now.

I hope she’s still breathing in there. Jongin was worried sick about Mira and he felt bad. He just hoped she wouldn’t be angry at him later. 

Mira on the other side was at the verge of getting out from her hiding place. She needed to breath, she wanted fresh air. All she could hear from the inside was laughers and murmurs. Suddenly, she heard Jongin's voice. 

“Oh, would you look at the time? It’s time to leave now guys,” he said as he literally got all his friends of their bottoms and pushed them toward the door.

Junmyeon raised an eyebrow. “Are you kicking us out?”

Jongin let out a forced laugh. “I’m feeling really tired today so I was thinking of going to bed early,” he quickly made up an excuse, but mentally cursed at himself for his originality.

As if they would believe that. 

“You go to bed early? This is the first time I’ve heard something like this come out from your mouth.” Baekhyun let out a chuckle to which Chanyeol joined.

“Let’s go, we already ate anyway.” Sehun casually walked out through the opened door while stretching his arms.

Seriously, he just cares about eating. However, Jongin was thankful of the younger male as the others started to leave one by one. He let out a sigh of relief and quickly ran to the kitchen to let Mira out.

“I thought they were never going to leave,” she growled. “Seriously, you could have told me beforehand,” she added as she glared at Jongin in annoyance.

“I didn’t know they were coming over today, it was unexpected,” he defended himself.

Mira rolled her eyes and put her belongings into her school bag, wanting to leave already. It was already past six o’clock. “Next time, let’s not work on the project here at your place,” she remarked and walked over to the door. “Where the heck did they go? I just left them here,” she looked around for her shoes.

Jongin bit his lips and got her shoes out of the bin and to his bad luck, Mira saw where he had gotten out her shoes from. “Sorry, I had no choice,” he whimpered while Mira grabbed her shoes out of his hand and quickly put them on.

Just when they thought this situation couldn’t even get any worse, they heard someone open the door. Both of their eyes widened in shock when they saw Kyungsoo who also stared at them with his ever so wide eyes.

“What the heck is going on?” Kyungsoo asked, too shocked to even believe what he was seeing.

A girl was in Jongin's house. 

Mira looked down at the floor while she mentally cursed at what had just happened. Jongin protectively stood in front of her and stared at Kyungsoo. “Why the heck did you come back for?” He asked his best friend who still seemed to be in shock.

“I left my phone here so I came back to get it, but I didn’t expect to see this,” Kyungsoo finally understood why Jongin had been acting so nervous around them an hour earlier and why he wanted them to leave so quickly.

Was it because of this girl?

All of a sudden, Mira dashed out the door without saying anything.

Kyungsoo then looked at Jongin with raised eyebrows. “You have some explaining to do.”

---

Her visit to Jongin’s place last night had been a disaster and she promised to never go back there ever again. She groaned when she remembered the scene where one of Jongin’s friends had seen her together with him.

He probably assumed the worst. Her mind then drifted onto Jongin. This is his fault in the first place, seriously he is nothing but trouble.

Slightly irritated, she headed to the school garden to eat her lunch. The weather was actually very cold today, but Mira didn’t care.

The school garden had now become the only place where she would be alone in peace.

---

To Mira’s relief, school ended quicker than she had expected. She was excited to head back home to stay warm. She was literally shivering from the icy cold wind. It was almost too unbelievable to think that yesterday it was a warm day, but today it was the complete opposite.

Stupid weather. She was glad that she hadn’t bumped into Jongin today, but that soon changed when she saw him coming toward her from the opposite side. She tried to avoid him, but he quickly chased after her.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” he got straight to the point. Mira didn’t say anything and waited for Jongin to finish. “I realised that I don’t have your phone number,” he changed the topic all of a sudden to which Mira raised an eyebrow.

Did he actually come here to ask for forgiveness, or to ask for something so…personal? “You don’t need to know,” Mira blandly answered, but Jongin didn’t back down. He held out his hand with an opened palm, asking her to hand over her phone to him. Is he seriously crazy? She didn’t want to keep in contact with Jongin. “No,” she gave him her answer and tried to walk pass him, but Jongin still didn’t back down. He grabbed Mira’s phone out of her hand within seconds and smiled in victory. “Give it back!” She shouted and tried to get her phone back, but it was no use.

It was simply too amusing for Jongin to see Mira jumping up to get her phone as he was taller than her. She looked adorably frustrated as she stomped her feet in annoyance. Jongin then quickly called his own phone by using Mira’s and even entered his contact details into Mira’s phone. Smiling as if he had just accomplished some big task, he handed Mira her phone back. “Thank you,” he smirked, annoying Mira even more.

Mira was about to leave but Jongin called out her name once again. “What now?” She shouted as she turned around to face him.

It seemed like Jongin was looking for something in his school bag, his lips twitched into a smile when he finally found the item he had been looking for her.

Without even warning Mira, Jongin stepped closer toward her and wrapped his red scarf around her neck. He had noticed how she kept on shivering from the cold wind when she waited for him to return her phone back. He couldn’t help, but smile when he noticed a small black mole on her neck.

Mira on the other hand was holding her breath. Her brain wasn’t even functioning well which resulted in her body to just stop working so she just stood there with wide eyes.

“I don’t want you to catch a cold.” He gave her a heart-warming smile and left. 

---

It was unbelievable for him.

Just what in the world was happening right now?

Jongin, his one and only best friend was genuinely smiling at a girl. What Kyungsoo found even more unbelievable was when Jongin put the scarf on Mira. He had never seen his best friend act so caringly for a girl before.

Kyungsoo didn’t know much about Mira, but he had a feeling that she was someone special to Jongin. He had gotten a full explanation from Jongin last night about the whole incident. He had left his phone behind, but when he came back to get it he saw Jongin with Mira. Yes, he was surprised, but he was even more shocked at the fact that Jongin had invited someone else in his house. He knew right away that she was someone important and also when Jongin said that he was working with her for the Social Studies project. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

As if Jongin wanted to work on the project.

He hated school.

He hated school work so why did he seem so eager to work on the project with Mira?

The smile that Jongin had just given Mira was something Kyungsoo had never seen before. He hadn't even received a smile like that from Jongin ever since he knew him. It wasn't those flirtatious looks that he gave to girls. 

Of course, Jongin was popular with girls. He just had to show them his famous smirk and then all the girls would be falling down to his feet. Jongin never once had to do something for a girl, it was the other way around. They would beg Jongin to take them to bed with him and without hesitating for even a second he would agree. It wasn't that Jongin liked to screw around with girls, he simply did it for their satisfaction.

What Kyungsoo had seen earlier was just too unbelievable. Jongin had just smiled at a girl for crying out loud. Kyungsoo had never once seen Jongin do that. He watched as Jongin walked away and then turned his attention on Mira who looked a bit taken back, but all of a sudden a smile appeared on her face.

Kyungsoo would often see Mira at the evening of excellence as she was the second best student in the Academy while he was the first. However, he had never once seen her smile, he had never seen an expression on her face. She always seemed to be in her own world, uninterested of the things that were happening around her, but earlier she had just smiled.

Mira fondly looked at the scarf which was around her neck and nuzzled into it. She could smell the scent it emitted of Jongin and surprisingly it comforted her.

Smiling at her silliness, she left to go catch the bus.

---

Her phone started ringing and she was worried if the caller was Joowon. She wasn’t ready to talk to him as she still felt guilty and ashamed at how she hadn’t realised anything sooner. She covered her ears and continued reading the book, but the ringing just wouldn’t stop. Annoyed and nervous at the same time, she got off her bed and walked to her dressing table to answer the call.

“I thought you were never going to pick up,” a familiar voice could be heard and Mira recognised it right away. 

She had forgotten that Jongin had her number now. Why the heck is he even calling me for? She didn’t reply and waited for him to continue talking.

“Where are you right now?” He asked.

Is he a stalker now? However, she was curious as to why he was asking her that so she honestly answered saying that she was home.

“That’s good. Look outside,” he told Mira who just stood there in confusion.

Nevertheless, she did as what she was told and opened her room window to look out. To her surprise, she saw Jongin leaning against his car while he waved at her. She titled her head and continued to stare at Jongin who was now smiling. “What are you even doing here?” She found herself asking.

“Can you come down?” He avoided her question and asked his own. Mira furrowed her eyebrows, slightly angry at the fact that he had just ignored her question. “I really need you right now,” she suddenly heard him say all of a sudden. She couldn’t describe the expression on Jongin's face right now, but she could tell that something was bothering him. He looked like a lost child standing in front of her apartment building while staring at her with pleading eyes.

She mentally groaned when she decided to go down to see Jongin. Letting out a few curses in annoyance, she closed her window and rushed out her apartment as she didn’t want him to wait too long for her. I can’t believe I agreed to this. She quickly ran her fingers through her hair and got off the elevator.

The receptionist greeted Mira, but she distantly walked out the entrance and felt the icy wind hit her. She shivered as she made her way toward Jongin who smiled right away at the sight of her.

“What do you want?” She dully asked while rubbing her shoulders with her hands to keep herself warm.

At that sight, Jongin took off his grey coat and courteously put it on her. Mira’s heart skipped a beat as she felt a warm sensation hit her stomach, she was suddenly feeling hot.

Why was he so damn nice to her?

Or was she just thinking too much?

Jongin opened his car door for her. She wanted to protest, but she felt that if she did she would wreck the mood so without saying anything she got into his car once again. Talk about déjà vu. Jongin then got into his car and the heater right away.

“I don’t want you to freeze to death,” he light-heartedly remarked.

Mira rolled her eyes at him, but was grateful that Jongin was thinking of her wellbeing. She quickly mumbled thanks which made Jongin's smile grow even wider. Mira had this feeling that he might be driving to the secret place and couldn’t help, but feel excited. She would be forever grateful toward Jongin who had shown her the place. She actually felt so relaxed and free when she was there. She especially liked being on the rooftop because she could see the breath-taking view and the stars above. The warmness from the heater made her suddenly feel drowsy and within minutes, she had fallen asleep once again to Jongin’s amusement.

After a few hours, Mira woke up when she heard Jongin’s voice. She cutely yawned while stretching her arms. Jongin couldn’t help but smile at this scene, it reminded him of when he first met her. She freaked out when she saw Jongin at first, but then realised how she had agreed to go with him. She rubbed her eyes when she saw that they were still in the car, but soon after her eyes widened.

“Don’t tell me I fell asleep again,” she bit her lips, mortified.

Jongin nodded. “You really like to sleep a lot when you're with me,” he teased Mira with a smirk playing on his lips.

Mira blushed and quickly got out of the car in embarrassment.

It had already gotten dark.

, how long did I sleep for? She took a glance at her phone to see that the time read 7:27. Nearly two hours, I’m like a freaking bear hibernating. Nevertheless, she smiled when she realised that she was in fact at the ‘secret place’. She heard a few steps coming closer toward her and knew that they belonged to Jongin.

“Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” She felt guilty that he had stayed with her in his car until she woke up.

“You were sleeping,” he replied with a ‘dah’ look, but gave her a goofy smile. 

Mira couldn’t help but smile with him. It seemed like she was smiling a lot these days.

Was he the reason why?

She then suddenly felt Jongin grab her hand.

Mira could feel the adrenaline of her heart when Jongin took her hand in the moonlight. She felt so protective and secure in his presents that she hadn’t even taken much notice of where he was leading her. The scenery was so exquisite. She then saw the lily pond in front of her. It didn’t fail to make her breathless when she saw the water shimmering from the ray of moonlight as it painted a precise picture of the perfect scene.

They then sat themselves down on the cool grass. The weather was still cold, but Mira didn't mind the icy wind now, she just sat there gazing at the lily pond in front of them. The scene was just so breath-taking. She once again wanted to thank Jongin for showing her a place like this. Mira then realised that she was the only one that was enjoying the moment when she saw Jongin blankly looking down at his hands.

The silence was fragmented when Mira finally spoke.

“You can tell me what’s bothering you,” she knew that there was something which worried Jongin.

She usually didn’t like to touch up on personal matters, but she knew that Jongin really needed someone to listen to his worries. She knew that this was the reason why he had asked her to see him. He wasn't that hard to read for her. 

Jongin was both touched and grateful at the fact that Mira knew he was bothered about something. “I…I-I don’t know what to do with my life,” he finally confessed. He quickly turned to look at Mira, waiting to see a confused look on her face but she seemed completely normal. There was no signs that she was judging him so he continued. “I don’t have any ambitions or dreams,” he added and let out a sigh of distress.

Mira was surprised to hear these words come out of Jongin’s mouth. She always thought that he lived without any worries, just like the rest of the upper class people. All he had to do was study and then he would be the next heir of his dad’s Law Firm. He had everything planned out for him, but here he was telling her that he didn’t know what to do with his life. She wasn’t judging him though. She kept shut and listened to Jongin. 

“…I don’t really know what I want to be,” he then let out a chuckle. “You must think I’m blabbering on about something so bizarre-“

“Haven’t I told you before that I don’t judge someone’s thoughts or opinions?” Mira interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. Jongin turned his head to the side to look at Mira, she was looking right back at him too. “It’s good to let out your frustrations and worries once in a while, if you bottle up your emotions you’ll just end up feeling more troubled. Shout once in a while, get angry at the person who pissed you off and lease out your feelings,” she sensitively explicated.

Speechless, Jongin was speechless.

How could Mira think so differently from the others?

He couldn’t stop his heart from pounding in his chest when Mira smiled.

“So, what’s really bothering you?” He heard her ask.

That night, Jongin expressed everything that was on his mind. He told Mira the pressure he was feeling from his dad as he wanted him take over the Law Firm and how he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be the next inheritor.

Mira sat there, listening to Jongin without any facial expressions of judgment. She didn't want to comfort him because she knew it wouldn't make him feel better and she didn't want to tell him that everything was going to turn out ok because then that would be telling a lie to him. 

All she could do was to sit there and just listen to him.

She wanted to let Jongin know that she was here for him.

She wanted to let him know that he wasn’t alone.