A month passed with Minji working diligently in the department, contributing her ideas to the team as they worked on their new project. She had built a mutual relationship with her colleagues, looking forward to seeing them every day at work. They didn’t care that she was Lee Taemin’s wife because they only saw her as a young lady that was hard working and eager to learn. They had all come to think of her as their little sister, having lunch together and gossiping about the company and employees. Minji also learnt in depth about the departments and how they were operated with the help of Donghae, a loyal employee of the company. She was extremely thankful for his teaching and looked up to him.

While Taemin continued to play his love game with Suzy and he was more than happy to know that she was finally responding to his attempts. The contract was also set to be signed within a week and he was sure that by then, he would have her sprawled on the white mattress. He smirked at the thought but nevertheless, his daily activities continued.

Both Taemin and Minji attended the necessary parties and acted like a loving couple in front of the public but behind the scenes, they were distant and quiet just like the usual. She had heard of his love game and about his flings within the company. She could only roll her eyes and was thankful that her colleagues rarely spoke about Taemin because it was an awkward and uncomfortable topic for her. It was as if her feelings for him were slowly starting to disappear but she knew better, her heart hadn’t changed and she still loved him…. While he felt a little weird at times when he looked at or thought of her, it was as if she changed...But why did he care?

Minji’s POV

We were all eating, chatting and laughing happily in a Sizzler Restaurant and decided that we would head to the café in Hongdae just across the road for some further girl bonding time and gossip. And plus, we all needed to relax even though that’s what we always need when we’re having a girls night out.
We all laughed as Chaerin unnie kept talking about the ‘cute’ guy that entered her store today. She was barely one to talk about how cute or hot a guy was so it really did come out as a surprise. He must be really cute and good looking for her to talk about from the beginning of our meal to the end of our meal to the moment we sat down in the café and ordered our drinks. She just kept going on.

“But how old is he Chaerin-ah?” asked Dara unnie as she looked around the café, observing the peaceful atmosphere.

“Umm…..Oh I don’t know!”

“He looked around one or two” muttered Chaerin unnie.

“WHAT?!” exclaimed Bommie unnie as she stared at Chaerin unnie in shock.

“OH MY GOSH WOMAN! YOU’RE SUCH A ERT! LEAVE THAT BABY ALONE!”

“BUT he was so cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” whined Chaerin unnie.

We all laughed at Chaerin unnies cuteness which was rarely seen from her cool and leading personality. It honestly looked like Chaerin unnie was the man and Key oppa was the woman in their relationship to me at times…..Better not let that thought slip though……

“I should’ve taken a photo with him. Damn it!” mumbled Chaerin unnie, regret filling her features.

“And here we thought that you were talking about a twenty year old guy or something Chaerin unnie!” I smiled.

“I found it weird that she was talking about a guy so much since she should only have her eyes on Key” Dara unnie stated.

“But really Chaerin-ah, stop being such a ert! Go check out Key and do ‘something’ with him so maybe you’ll have a little one year old of your own in your arms one day!” said Bom as she sipped on her hot chocolate.

“Why don’t you and TOP oppa do that unnie? Actually, when are we going to see each other’s babies?” questioned Chaerin unnie as she looked around the circle.

“We know you’re excited and prepared to be a mother Chaerin-ah! Just make one already!” said Dara unnie as she looked at Chaerin unnie excitedly.

“I am not letting him touch me! I still haven’t really forgiven that bastard yet” snapped Chaerin unnie.

We all rolled our eyes and continued chatting happily while drinking our beverages. However, the ringing of Dara unnie’s iphone interrupted our chatter. She excused herself and left the store to answer her call.

End of POV

Minutes later, she came in with a frown on her forehead as she gripped onto her iphone.

“What’s the matter Dara-ah?” asked Bom as she saw the sudden change in mood.

“Something’s up” said Dara and the three all leaned forward as she told them the news.

“I got a call from one of my customers stating that they wanted to cancel their booking tomorrow because a few of their family members got food poisoning”

“Oh. But isn’t it normal then? What’s wrong?” questioned Bom as she furrowed her eyebrows, confused as to why Dara would be worried about a cancel of a booking. It was a common thing that occurred.

“But the thing is, the customer, Mrs Jang is a very loyal customer to me and tomorrow is her 65^th birthday and she would always dine at my restaurant during such occasions. She’s also very careful with what she consumes so I’m worried about her health. I asked Hyunseung, Mrs Jang’s son, and he said they suspect she got food poisoning from visiting a cafe. The cafe was owned by the Bae’s.” said Dara as she looked around to see their reactions.

“The Bae’s? Cafe? How come it sounds so familiar?” Chaerin questioned.

“Well nah Chaerin-ah. They’re like the largest café line at the moment. They sure have nice stuff there…. But Dara-ah, are you sure the problem is coming from the café? Like I mean, Mrs Jang could’ve gotten food poisoning from something else?” said Bom as she looked deep in thought, still confused with the sudden news.

“Yeah. I know what you’re trying to say Bommie but the thing is, not only Mrs Jang got food poisoning….the three people who went along with her to the café also got food poisoning and apparently, they didn’t have anything beforehand” stated Dara.

“THAT’S RIGHT!” shouted Chaerin as she stood up from her seat, making all heads within the café snap towards our direction. We flushed in embarrassment as we nodded our heads in an apology for the disturbance to the peaceful atmosphere.

“What are you doing Chaerin-ah!?” questioned Bom who quickly yanked the latter back down to her seat.

“I know why the Bae’s café sounds so familiar now!” smiled Chaerin happily.

“….Why?” Minji questioned.

“Okay. Well Key and I were chatting the other day. One of our late night talks and you know that guy, he’s so nosy and such a gossiper. He told me that he met with Taemin for lunch that day and that Taemin told him something about signing a three years contract with the Bae’s for the hotels? He’s planning on full promotions for the event too apparently” said Chaerin, happy to have finally figured out why the Bae’s sounded so familiar to her.

“Oh! And er….Key told me something about Bae Suzy playing hard to get with Taemin” frowned Chaerin as she looked at Minji.

“Still being the same ‘ld playboy we know huh?” sighed Bom.

“How do you honestly deal with that ?”

“I don’t.” replied Minji as she looked at Bom.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing…I think I should get going unnies. See you all later alrights?” said Minji as she grabbed her bag, uncomfortable with where the discussion was going.

“Wait Minji. Sit back down. I have to tell you something” spoke Dara as motioned for the youngest one to sit.

Minji looked at Dara questioningly before sitting back down.

“….I think you should do some investigations on the Bae’s and do something before they sign the contract”

“Why?” asked Minji as she looked at Dara confusingly. The other two ladies mirroring the same expression.

Dara sighed. “I honestly think there’s something wrong with the Bae’s. Two of my employees visited one of the Bae’s café three weeks ago and had food poisoning as well….They both had to take a whole week off to recover. I thought that it might’ve been some bad luck but with Mrs Jang’s case, I think there’s more. I just have this weird feeling in me about the Bae’s Minji-ah”

“Hmm….It does sound a bit shifty there. Get it checked just in case Minji-ah” spoke Bom with knitted brows.

“I’ll try unnies. I’ll check it out as soon as I can. Bye!” smiled Minji as she hurried to her car. She was finally allowed to drive!
But she frowned....Trying to process the sudden information...

She blew her bangs in annoyance and puffed her cheeks, guess she’ll need to ask someone for help. She let out a sigh and drove around the city, where she slowly relaxed and allowed herself to reflect back in her life.