Edited

The walk to the café is excruciatingly slow and awkward. She doesn’t say a single thing, not even a syllable. She simply trudges her way and fixes her hair once in a while when the wind blows.  I, on the other side, also don’t know what to talk about, or even how to start an aimless conversation. I mean, I'm okay with girls, it's just that usually we talk in group and not just in a pair like this. It's pretty awkward for me too.  Aish, I should've thought about this before asking her. Nonetheless, she still walks beside me, she on the inside part of the roadside.

The street looks the same as usual, this time there isn't as much people as usual, may be because of the scorching hot weather. This kinda adds to the awkward atmosphere, there's nothing much for me to look at. I know that I said previously that I like to observe the normal surroundings, but it’s really all about the people… and there is practically no one here now, except for the two of us. I can't escape from this situation. Well, that's until I realize that Hyerim is not beside me anymore. Maybe I'm too busy thinking about the awkwardness until I don't take notice of my surroundings anymore.

I start noticing the long-haired girl is no longer beside me when I heard two less footsteps, it was more quiet. I then decide to look around me and still see no one. All I see is the empty street and the dried leaves on the ground, no girl wearing her brand new uniform. I walk on, assuming that she goes ahead of me. But, until I reach the café, she’s nowhere to be found.

“Hyung, have you seen a girl my age passing by just now?” I asked Minseok Hyung hurriedly.

“Nope, you’re the only one person at your age I see today. Why?”

“No, it’s fine. Thanks Hyung!” Omagahd, is she lost?!

Tracing the way back to school suddenly becomes nerve wrecking. If she’s gone, all the blame would be on me. It’s her first day of school and she’s already lost for goodness sake?! What would I say to her parents, to teachers? ㅠㅠ I continue running until I see a squatting form by a playground. I stopped short recognizing the brown backpack and the color of brand new school uniform. Walking closer and closer to the said person, I can already confirm that this person is definitely Hyerim.

“Hyerim-ssi?” I call out just to double check.

She swiftly turns around, looking bewildered at first. After a few moments, she realises that it's just me and starts walking slowly towards me while holding something in her arms. A streak of smile visible on her thin lips, the widest smile I've ever seen from her so far. There are even some crinkles forming by the side of her eyes from smiling too widely.

“Ah, Seokjin-ssi! Come, I’ll show you something!” her excitement exudes through her body language. Her enthusiastic tone, her smile never leaving her face and the way she walks is kinda bouncy. As she approaches, I start hearing small whimpering sound.

“Is it a… OH MY GOSH PLEASE SAVE ME!!!” My guess is right, it IS a puppy in her embrace. I quickly distanced myself away from my dearest new classmate.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” as she takes one step forward to me, I take one step backward away from her.

“Take that thing away from me… Please…” I whimper, also giving her my best puppy eyes (even though I’m scared of dogs and puppies).

“But, it’s such a poor thing…” she said while chuckling at me.

In the end, we make an agreement. She can bring along the puppy but she must walk beside me with at least an arm length distance. So far so good, apparently the puppy is sleeping in her arms and I’m safe from any danger. But I still need to be alert because puppies can be very unpredictable. I can’t understand people like her, simply embracing animals that are not their pets. Those animals can be very dangerous!

“Stay outside for a while, yeah? I’ll try to get the puppy in.” I say to her and she replies with a vigorous nod.

As soon as we reached the café, I remind the girl with the puppy to stay outside. I need to negotiate with Minseok hyung for bringing any kind of animals inside his beloved café. You know… not a lot of cafés or any eating places in general allows any kind of animals to the shop.

The short ringing sound of the bell makes Minseok hyung face the door, giving me the attention that I want.

“Hey, you’re back! And bringing a guest, I see…” he said while wriggling his eyebrows.

“Yeah…” I said. “By the way Hyung, can you please do me a favor?” I ask carefully.

“Have I ever not help you, Jin?” he asks back, never wiping the smirk off his pretty face.

I then explain the situation to him. Starting from the time when she found and pitied the nameless puppy and how we don’t want the puppy to dirty the café while we are enjoying our coffee. Of course I can’t tell him about my fear for dogs, he would make fun of me for the rest of my life. Luckily, he grants my wish. God bless his soul. 

Hyerim-ssi quickly bring the puppy in when I cue her in. Minseok hyung then hurriedly bring the puppy in to the house attached with the café. I hope the puppy won’t do anything weird in the house or else I’ll be in deep trouble  (may be). 

Fortunately, after the difficult and rather awkward not-so-long walk, I finally accomplish half of my mission, which is having a coffee with the new girl. At least we’ve reached the café~ Moreover, the constant threat of being endangered by the puppy is momentarily being taken away by Minseok hyung (and that is a good thing). 

“Hyung, one cappuccino and one caramel macchiato please!” I ordered the coffee for both of us. It feels a bit weird, honestly. I’ve NEVER ordered anything for someone else other than my parents. And seeing that someone else is waiting for me at the table, rather than my school bag, actually feels kinda nice. Usually, Minseok hyung will be busy with his own stuffs and leaves me alone in the café to do my stuffs too (or just drink the coffee, really). This is a good change, I guess.

I then approached the rather dazed-looking girl at the table. However, the moment I gain her attention, she starts snickering. The glimmer in her eyes shows some kind of mischief.

“What are you looking at?” I frown at her as I am sitting down. She doesn’t reply me for a few moments, all she gives me is a meaningful look. And not long after that she passes a tissue paper to me. 

Scared of doggie, class prez? :p

“I never thought that our awesome class prez would be so scared of a small harmless puppy” She says rather out loud. Well, it’s loud enough to get Minseok hyung turn his head to our direction and raise his eyebrow. I just hope he couldn’t really catch what she said just now.

I put my index finger on my lips hushing her at the same time, a signal for her not to talk anymore about that anymore. It’s really embarrassing. Where should I put my face if the word goes round? My cheeks feel warmer as time goes by, even in this air-conditioned room. Just then, Minseok hyung approach our table with our orders on a tray, which is really unusual.

“Enjoy your coffee. I hope both of you like it” he says as he put down the different shape cups of coffee. He doesn’t forget to make funny faces when he stares at me. I AM  SO DEAD. 

Yay, an update on Jin's birthday :)

On a side note, I missed the first few hours of MAMA. I missed BTS' performance ㅠㅠ 

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter~ Comments and subscriptions are deeply appreciated :)