“Mia.”

I turned around and saw Jiho smiling at me. My heartbeat quickened and I suddenly felt nervous. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. *Relax. Act cool, Mia. You can do this.*

I opened my eyes and smiled at him. “Yo.”

“I want ice cream.” He pouted. “Let’s go get some.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me to a nearby ice cream shop.

“So what flavor do you want?” He asked.

*Are we not going to talk about that?* I bit my lip.

Jiho seemed to notice my uneasiness. “Don’t worry Mi. It’s my treat.” He smiled.

*I guess not.* “Cookies and Cream.”

Jiho placed a hand over his heart. “Ahh. A girl after my heart.”

*What does that supposed to mean?* I thought and fought the blush that was slowly creeping its way into my cheeks.

“2 cookies and cream, please.” Jiho said to the worker.

“Yeah.” *Wait I know that voice!* I looked up to see Jaehyo’s bored expression. “Jaehyo!” I said, stunned. Jaehyo looked at us in shock. “What are you doing here?” Jiho raised his eyebrow at him, “What happened to the strip clubs, hyung?” Jaehyo quickly turned pink, “I ran out of money, okay.” He said.

I looked around the pink, hello kitty themed ice cream shop. “You don’t really suit this place.”

Jiho nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah.”

“How’d you end up getting a job here anyway?” I asked inspecting the place.

Jaehyo looked at us smugly. “I know the owner’s son.”

“YAH JAEHYO! STOP WASTING TIME AND DO YOUR JOB!!”

Jiho and I abruptly turned around saw UKwon. Ukwon was a classmate of ours. We weren’t exactly close but he and Jiho were. He is nice and quiet and not to mention very handsome. They were rumours that said he went to Seoul to get his dad medicine for some weird illness but I guess they weren’t true.

“Ukwon!” Jiho waved.

Ukwon looked at us and smiled. “Mia, Jiho, what brings you here?” He asked.

“To  buy ice cream, of course!” Jiho said enthusiastically. “I thought you were in Seoul to get medicine.” He scratched the back of his head in confusion.

“That’s a load of bull. You know how it is here. Rumors spread faster than forest fires.”

Ukwon looked at us and gave Jaehyo a sneaky smile.

“Come on, Jaehyo. Let’s stop bothering these two; they’re probably having a date.”

I expected Jiho to deny it but instead he said this: “Glad you finally noticed. We’ll be going now. Bye~” Then he grabbed my hand and went outside.

“Here you go.” Jiho handed me my ice cream.

“Oh! Y-yeah. Thanks.” I accepted the ice cream.

“Sorry about them they-“

“Mia? Is that you?” I turned around and saw L.Joe frantically waving at me.

“L.Joe!” I said brightly.

L.Joe looked over at Jiho and waved. “I remember you! Jiwon, right?”

“It’s Jiho.” Jiho said coldly. I nudged his elbow and quickly mouthed ‘Be nice.’

L.Joe seemed unfazed by his coldness and continued talking to me. “When are you free?”

“Huh?”

“You know, since I still haven’t bought you dinner.” L.Joe explained.

I nodded in understanding. “Oh. How about tomorrow?”

“Great!” L.Joe opened his mouth to say something else but Jiho cut him.

Jiho glared at L.Joe. “Excuse me, but Mia and I still have a date to finish. So why don’t you run along.” Jiho said and made shooing motions.

L.Joe was stunned. Jiho took this opportunity to drag me away. I took one final glance at L.Joe and mouthed a quick apology.

“What the hell was that for?!” I yelled in outrage.

Jiho crossed his arms at me. “I don’t like him.”

“Why not? He’s actually really nice!”

Jiho just proceeded to look at me with annoyed eyes.

“Answer me, Jiho.” I said starting to get impatient.

“I don’t know…” He said. I looked at in confusion. “I don’t know! I don’t like it when guys get close to you. I don’t like it at all. I know I’m acting like a child right now but I can’t help it! It’s hard to see you with somebody else other than me.” He confessed.

I was stunned. “Are you perhaps jealous?”

He didn’t answer.

I sighed and sat next to him. “Jiho. Do you remember what I said before?” I wrapped my arm around him. “You are my bestfriend, Jiho. Nobody can ever replace you. You’ve always been there for me, through my bad times and good times. I know I can always count on you but you have to have the same faith in me.” I looked straight at him. “Do you understand?”

Jiho looked at me and nodded. “Yeah. I'm sorry.”

I looked at him and gave him a warm smile. "It's fine."