After school, me, Aeyoung, and Haruhi worked in a store called Beauty which specialized in beauty products and knowing gossip about the latest fashion trends. The owner, Mrs. Hong, was a very kind lady who loved to tell stories about strange men she once dated.

"Girls, come over here. We have a new worker joining us today." She said.

We hurried over to welcome the new worker. She was a girl our age. She was cute and outgoing. She wore funky T-shirts, grass-stained and ripped jeans, and sparkling-clean sneakers. Her long hair was tied up in a ponytail. As we greeted her, she blew a bubble with her bubble gum and waved cheerfully.

"This is my daughter, Hong Sookjoo. I hope you can treat her well and show her the ropes." Mrs. Hong said.

Sookjoo grinned. "Yo! Hope we can be friends!" She had a bright, bubbly, chirpy voice.

"Sure." We giggled. "My name is Park Mihi." I said, smiling warmly. "And this is Kim Aeyoung and Lee Sohma Haruhi."

"Nice to meet y'all. How do things work around here?"

Sookjoo turned out to be a very helpful and cheerful person, always eager to assist others and to learn new things. All in all, we really liked her. Who knows? She might turn out to become our friend too!

During breaktime, I volunteered to get the girls ice cream. They all nodded excitedly and said their flavours.

"I'll be back!" I said, hurrying over to the ice cream shop.

When I was there, I accidentally bumped into a boy. "Owch!" The boy yelled, dropping a large manila envelope on the ground. Papers spilled out everywhere.

"Aw, crap! Look what you did!" The boy snapped. "These papers are very important!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said, bending down. "Here, let me help you pick them up."

I grabbed papers and stacked them in a neat pile before grabbing another. With my help, the papers were picked up in no time.

"You better watch where you're going, lady." The boy snarled. I smiled at him. "Sorry, I'm very clumsy. I wasn't looking where I was going. I hope I haven't hurt you."

The boy seemed to falter. "Um, no, you didn't........." On closer inspection, this boy was young-looking and very cute. He flipped his dark bangs out of his eyes and stared at me.

I smiled sweetly back. "Here are your papers." I said, handing him the sheets I collected. He nodded, a bit disoriented.

"Are you sure I didn't hurt you?" I asked, concerned. He blinked and shook his head. "No......"

"Alright then. Please take care of yourself." I bowed and got in line for the ice cream.

The boy didn't move. "Um, hey.............."

"Yes?"

"Do you want me to buy you ice cream?"

"What? Oh no, it's okay! I have to buy for my friends, too! There's no need to spend the money for me.........."

"No. I insist." The boy said forcefully. "Because you helped pick up my papers. If I lost even one of those sheets, or dirtied them, my boss would have my ."

"Oh, well..........thank you very much." I smiled in delight.

The boy bought the ice creams for me and helped me carry them back to the store. I thanked him a lot, realizing only just then that it would have been impossible otherwise for me to carry four ice creams back at once.

"About time, Mihi-ah!" Aeyoung called. "And who's that?"

"Sorry, the line up was huge." I apologized, handing them the ice creams. "This boy helped me."

I turned around to thank him again, but he was gone. I frowned thoughtfully and scratched my head. I didn't even get the boy's name. I wonder who he was? He was very nice.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

The boy left the mall and, looking around in case anyone noticed, walked quickly into a dark alley near the mall. Six dark shadows were leaning against walls and sitting on top of trash cans, waiting for him.

"Well? Got the envelope?" One boy asked quietly. He seemed to be the leader.

"Yeah." The boy said, tossing him the manila envelope. The other person caught in one-handed and flipped through the papers. "All accounted for. Good job."

"What took you so long?" Another demanded.

"............I got held up."

"Oh, really? Any trouble?"

"No."

The boy leaned against the wall and rubbed the back of his neck, thinking hard. So, her name is Mihi, huh? Pretty name, pretty girl.............I don't think I'll forget her in a hurry.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

When our shift was over, Sookjoo accompanied us outside of the mall.

"Does somebody pick you up?" She asked.

"Yeah, our friends." Haruhi said.

"Aw, that's nice. You guys must be close."

We thought of SHINee and cracked up. "Yeah, I guess you can say that." I giggled.

Suddenly, we heard a voice. "Mihi-ah! Baby!"

"Eh? Junhyung?" I gasped. Beast was walking over to us. I ran into Junhyung's arms.

"Where's SHINee?" Aeyoung asked curiously.

"Are you seriously so disappointed seeing us?" Doojoon sighed. "Would you rather see SHINee than us?"

Haruhi smiled. "These are our boyfriends and their friends." She said to Sookjoo. Yoseob came over and hugged Haruhi. "Who's this?"

"This is Hong Sookjoo, our friend." I introduced her to the others. "Sookjoo-ah, do you have someone to pick you up?"

"Yeah, I'll just wait inside for my mother." Sookjoo waved at us cheerfully. "Nice to meet you all. See you girls tomorrow. Later."

I noticed out of the corner of my eye Kikwang staring at her with deep interest as she hopped back into the mall. I suppressed a grin and turned to Junhyung. "Ready to go home?"

"Readier than you are." He pinched my cheek and we all walked home together.