Jung Jimin

I should have known that Tao was still a kid even though he was twenty three already. I should have known that going with him to the supermarket was a mistake.

“Huang Zitao, we don’t need chocolate chips and cookies and milk and chocolate chips, again”

“You don’t, but I do”

I scoffed when he gave me a look and re-put back all the stuffs I threw out of the cart. I was never a picky eater and had my very own sweettooth but Tao was a little too much, he took everything that had chocolate in its.

“We’re supposed to get enough food for a month, not snacks, Tao. It’s not like an everyday thing that Oh Bastard decided to let us get off from work early”, I patted his hand off of the snack aisle and began to drag him towards the vegetable corner. Today was Friday and having me and Tao off from work at 6 in the afternoon was surprising. Oh Sehun loved his money and one minute an employee was late from work was enough for him to throw a tantrum, yet, he had just allowed everyone to get off of work one hour early.

“The truth was, one rich dude from Japan wanted to rent the whole dining hall and the rooftop pool to propose to his girlfriend, Sehun was forced to shoo all the workers home. Not so surprising, aren’t you ?”

I rolled my eyes, of course, expected from Oh Sehun. He kept bugging me about 1200 won ever since that day I asked him to not tell Baekhyun about me. How cheap was he ? Earning more than billions in a month but going around asking me to pay him 1200 won ? I could have just paid him back but it’s amusing to see your boss begging for such a small thing from you.

“Eggs, papayas, ohhh, they have broccolis today. Woa, there is bitter melon-“

“Not bitter melon, Min”

Tao scowled unhappily as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and turned me fully away from the bitter melon. He was never changed, still getting bitter over bitter melon. I loved eating them while Tao would act like a baby, crying and blabbering whenever he ate a bitter veggie like that.

“It’s good for your skin and lung and liver and-“

“And we’re not eating it, yay !”

I silently smiled at his attempt to stop me from buying his hated food. Whatever, I can grab them later on the way out. I allowed Tao to trap me in between him and the pushing cart, probably because he didn’t want me to sneak something he hated in our shopping list. A few old ladies stared at us in displeasure, I looked up at Tao and found our faces only centimeters away and chuckled loudly.

“We’re in a very misunderstanding position, Tao”

He glared down at me, shifting closer in the progress, “Good, because if you’re uncomfortable, you won’t be able to choose ingredients. Leave everything on me, chef”

Well, if he was okay with this position, I had nothing to go against him. As for those strangers, I could be careless of them.

We continued to go around the supermarket, Tao did all the buying while I secretly classify them so that I can throw them away while paying.

“Hey, I think I saw cereal with panda characters. I am so gonna get them !”

Tao ran way back to the other side of the aisle, leaving me puzzled at his randomness. By the time I understood what he meant, the cart had run on his own and crashed into someone. I turned back after hearing a deep yelp and clattering sound of boxes.

A dark-skin man with sharp eyes and y messy hair was on the ground, rubbing his wrist while a lot of things covered around him. My shopping cart stood next to him and it took me no time to approach him hastily and helped him pick up all the stuffs.

“I’m so sorry, my friend suddenly pushed the cart and I didn’t know you’re in the way”, I apologized, mentally cursing Tao for being so neglected. If he came back with three more boxes of cereals, I would kill him.

“It’s okay. If being hit by a cart helped me meet up with a gorgeous lady like you, I could get hit twice a day”

I slightly cringed at his cheesy way to compliment a girl. Pasting on my face my best smile, I looked up and froze for a millisecond at his dazzling smirk. Wow, Tao, you had good taste for man. Okay, that sounds wrong but it’s Tao who brought this guy here.

“Thank you, but I’m really sorry”, I gathered all of his stuffs inside one arm and hugged to my chest while stretching a hand out for him. He immediately took my hand and disappointedly, there was no electric shock running through my body like how those dramas talked about. Good then, I was not fond of cheesy man anyway.

I pulled him up to his feet and tried to take my hand back but he kept a firm grip on. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked up into his eyes. He was giving me an amusing look, “You know, usually, whenever I hold onto a girl’s hand, she would squeal and call me the love of her life”.

I didn’t bother to keep my expression and blanched at him, scoffing and harshly took my hand back. “You seem to have found the love of your life so can we end our meeting here and say goodbye, no see you again now ?”

His smirk grew deeper and when he was about to inch closer to me, a voice caught me by surprise.

“Jung Munchkin”

I easily turned my head and looked over the stranger’s shoulder, only to see Oh Bastard standing next to the same pushing cart I had next to me, giving me an unreadable look. I was about to bow but realized that we’re outside of his hotel so I sent him a simple nod.

His attention shifted away from me and straight to the guy facing me, “Kai, what are you doing ?”

Dude, he knew him ? Since when a cheesy ball hanging out with a rude bastard ? I guessed it’s only fair because I had to stick with a panda-lover that abandoned his bestfriend.

I stayed still, not knowing what to do when Sehun approached both of us, kicking the cart and it rolled over to the stranger, whose name was probably Kai. He stopped the cart before it could hit me with his own foot and gave me a blinding smile, “So, you’re the famous Jung Jimin, Oh Royal’s new treasure”

Who the hell was this guy ?

“I’m Kim Jongin, you may know me as Kai, the reporter for Newsen in the cuisine section. I would love when a pretty lady like you call me oppa, though”

I could hear Sehun snickering and scowled to myself. Being polite, I bowed slightly and carefully placed his stuffs inside their cart, “Goodbye, Jongin-ssi”.

Do I know Kim Jongin ? No. But I do know Kai. He was famous for having mysterious power in every of his article. If he was to compliment a restaurant, that restaurant would be healthily famous for years. But if he was to speak bad thing about some place, the owner should be prepared to go out of business. JJ Hotel was once complimented by him and looked where it was now, a top-five five star hotel.

Someone like him knew a lot of secrets and I’d better not get so close to him, or else Baekhyun would find me and I would be doomed.

I turned to leave, not even glancing back at Oh Bastard. I saw Tao coming and was so glad that he would be a good reason for me to leave but no, he just had to greet Kim Jongin and Oh Sehun.

“Jongin, you get darker, man !”

I almost laughed. To be honest, Tao was no different, he could also be darker if Kai was not standing next to the bastard. Why Oh Sehun had that flawless skin again ?

“Tao, introduce your friend to me !”, Kai shamelessly slung an arm over Tao’s neck and flashed me a flirty grin.

“My Min ? No way, man”, Tao protested and I was so proud to have such protective bestfriend. He loved me too much to hand me over to some guy, right ?

“Not when we’re in the middle of a market. What about coming to my place and my Min will make dinner with her skills and we can all get to know each other ?”

Forget I ever called him my bestfriend.

I casted a look over to see Sehun and helplessly defended myself. “I don’t think Sehun-ssi would be comfortable around us”. I stopped myself from calling him either Mr. Oh or Oh Bastard. Sehun looked at me swiftly, a faint smile appeared and soon replaced with a smirk, “Around you, maybe not, not when you still have my 1200 won”.

“You know what, Min ? Go buy more things to make enough kimchi stew for four people. I’ll be waiting in my car. Sehun and Jongin will go with us, so be quick”

Go to hell, Huang Zitao. I wanted to scream and pull my bestfriend’s hair to bail so damn much. But making a fool out of myself was never a good choice so I had to grab more things and pushed the cart to the paying counter, all my myself.

The ride home was awful, for me.

Kai wanted to sit on the passenger seat and he suddenly became a jerk for not letting me sitting there. I thought he would be a gentleman and humor a girl who he had just hit on.

I had to sit at the back with no other than Oh Sehun. There was like a wall in between us, I kept my eyes on the street outside and never glanced his way, several full bags of food sat between him and me. Tao was playing a pop song as he and Kai joyfully sang to while I couldn’t breathe probably.

“Volume down, Tao”

Sehun suddenly demanded and I curiously looked back at him. He met my eyes and surprise crossed my face. Did he keep on looking my way like this ?

“Don’t be a killjoy, Sehun. We’re not at work and please, enjoy your life”, Tao joked and hi-fived Kai.

Kai turned his head to smile at me, “It’s a waste for a pretty lady like you to work for a dictator like him”, he jabbed his finger at Sehun and I couldn’t hold back a grateful chuckle. Someone thought like me.

“You know what ? If you stop hitting on me, we could be great friends”, I mused and Kai faked a pout, “Aw, was I just friendzoned by the mighty Jung Jimin ?”

“Pretty my …”

“Your are not that pretty when I kicked them, bastard”. I rolled my eyes and took a hold over all of the bags, as soon as Tao parked the car, I opened the door and jumped out before Sehun could grab me.

Tao’s laughter echoed through the parking lot when I got into the elevator, pressing the close button and the floor number. I never understood my friend’s laughter until I turned around and realized.

Oh Sehun was the only one got inside the elevator with me. Life was not fair at all.

Oh Sehun

I leaned against the wall and stared Jung Munchkin down. She was shocked to see me inside here with her, I could tell by the look in her eyes. “Surprise ?”

“Shut up”

I bit back a chuckle, the scowl she was showing looked rather cute to me. Wait, Oh Sehun. Jung Jimin was not cute, she was everything but not cute, pretty and definitely not a girl.

“It’s not how to talk to your boss”, I took a step closer and she automatically stepped back. Amused at her behavior, I casually encroached her space and as expected, she frowned and stepped on my foot. There was no way this fierce being could be a girl. Jongin must be blind to call her pretty.

“You’re not my boss here, Oh Bastard”, she muttered angrily and flee out of the elevator once it stopped at 20^th floor.

It took me one second to catch up to her. She was fast at running away but I guessed because she was holding so many stuffs so that she couldn’t move freely. A couple passed by us with their child and they gave me a look. Great, now they saw me as a jerk that let a girl holding all the heavy bags on her own. Should I tell them this munchkin was not a girl ?

I walked next to her side, while she never gave me a glance. Rubbing my nose awkwardly as I eyed the three bags she was holding on her right. Before I could think of a way, my hand had already reached out and snatched the bags away from her.

Embarrassment dawned on me and when the munchkin looked at me questioningly, I had already semi-ran to Tao’s apartment.

I thought I had to die in embarrassment while waiting for Tao to arrive with Kai and open the door for us but Munchkin took me by surprise again when she casually punched in the code and pushed herself inside as if she was the one living here.

I hesitantly stared at the door. She poked her head out and gave me a look, “Come in ?”

I cleared my throat, stepping inside the apartment. She headed deeper inside and I unknowingly followed her, carrying the bags with me. I copied her action, putting them onto the table and then stood aside awkwardly.

“Oh Sehun is actually a gentleman once in a while, that’s a first”, she commented randomly, sarcasm filled in her voice but she meant to joke only, I could say.

Not wanting to deny it, because she was right, that’s the first time I had ever helped someone carrying their stuffs. But not denying didn’t mean I had to admit embarrassment.

“It’s not called gentleman, it’s called animal-lover. In this case, you’re the munchkin”

“Cool, so you mean you love me ?”

Okay, I could not answer that. My tongue was tied stupidly and she must have felt the atmosphere surrounded us, as she shuttered, “W-What I mean was, d-dude, I am not a munchkin”

“Min, where’re the extra flippers ?”

I exhaled in relief as Tao’s voice filled the room. One more minute with this munchkin in this room, I might die out of heartattack. And I didn’t even know why.

Tao came inside the kitchen, taking his sweater off in process and threw it towards Jimin, she quickly caught it and shot Tao a dirty look. “Your shirt too, Tao”.

I blinked at them when Tao took his shirt off, leaving himself fully topless and there was not even a flinch coming from Jimin. Was it possible for bestfriends to get this comfortable around each other ?

Jimin threw Tao’s clothes inside the washer and disappeared into one of the room and came back quick after with a new shirt for Tao. He put them on and swiftly pecked her head as if nothing was strange between them.

Kai came crashing in and shot Tao a bashful grin. “Can I kiss your friend ?”

I rolled my eyes, who’s in their right mind would want to kiss a munchkin ?!

“Never in a million years, Jimin is mine”, Tao frowned and wrapped himself over Jimin’s back as she just let him be. “Help me taking out the kimchi inside the bag, Tao”

“Aw, I want to show Kai my new set of albums. What about Sehun helping you ?”, Tao quickly suggested and winked at me. I gasped when Kai sniggered and they both ran away from the kitchen.

I rubbed my tempers, getting my nerves down because my friends were being idiots and leaving me alone with the munchkin again.

She would not need me around, I told myself. As much as I never wanted to be so close to Jung Munhckin, she would not be happy to be around me either, wouldn’t she ?

“You heard them, bastard. Help me take the kimchi out and put them all inside the medium pot I put inside the second cupboard on your left”

She sounded so demanding and I guessed I understood why all of the other chefs so scared of her. The chef herself was the most scary when she’s inside her kitchen.

Wait, her kitchen ?

“You sound like you live here with Tao”

It’s supposed to be a mocking joke. But her answer left me speechless.

“I actually am living here with Tao, slow bastard”

Okay, this was not right at all. I was not supposed to be affected by her answer. My heart was not supposed to stop beating and I was not supposed to have this unpleasant feeling towards Tao. Everything was not supposed to happen !

Kai is finally here and a little wavering for the bastard Oh :)