[ Is 6000+ words too long or this chapter? ._. I hope not lol. I meant to update weeks ago for my anniversary on AFF but oh well, better late than never I guess. 

IGNORE TYPOS AND ERRORS OKAY.

Sorry for typos and errors. Read, subscribe, comment, and enjoy! >< ]

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 Chapter 8 - Number One Contender

Kim Jongin doesn’t really like to play it serious. He’s always been a playful guy, being laid back about most things. He’s playful to his hyungs, to his dogs, to his siblings, and even to girls. Oh, how Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had resented him for accidentally stealing the hearts of their previous lovers and crushes. It’s not like Jongin could control it, though. He’s a fine piece of meat after all. Jongin enjoys it too, most of the times.

I mean, he does like to approach girls. However, Jongin doesn’t always like it. He often makes friends, and girls are included. When he thought they really wanted to be his casual friend, they turn out to want a relationship going on. Jongin can’t remember how many friendships he'd lost, that’s why he’s only with the five of his friends, I mean, they wouldn’t come to him asking him if they could have a romantic relationship, right? Maybe—but that’ one in a million. Jongin also dislikes cheap girls, ones that bat their lashes at him. He likes to approach girls, but he doesn’t like to be approached by girls. Unless it’s to joke with his hyungs, then he wouldn’t mind at all. Chanyeol’s red face is priceless to the lad.

No matter how playful Jongin is, however, he never messed with his boss. He takes his job seriously, and always panics when he lost one, unlike Oh Sehun and Byun Baekhyun who are much more laid back about it. Then again, Jongin never messed with his previous bosses because they’re all male. This time, his boss is a girl, one with the same age as his. His boss is really his type too, and his boss doesn’t act like a boss, but more like a friend, or even a young mother, sometimes showing maternal love to her staffs. That’s what Jongin likes about her though. Not to mention how fragile and soft spoken she naturally is, doesn't it pump out the man in ever male or what.

Jongin likes her, there’s no doubt about it. He’s looking at her and thinking about her too often to deny it. Even if he wanted to, it’s either his friends that’d be teasing him about being in denial, or Ji Eun herself coming to him to get another order ready and he’ll eventually blush from it. So, why should he hide his feelings? Jongin is not one to hide his attraction over someone.

The downfall, however, is that she is too dull.

Jongin was walking over to her one day, and she was just wiping the tables before the store opens. He bought a small stuffed animal in secret, and he was planning on giving it to her. He sat on one of the chairs behind her and let out a loud sigh. “I wonder who I should give it to,” he started. Ji Eun turned around and tilted her head, “What’s wrong?” she asked him. “I have this doll, but I don’t know who I should give it to…” he pretended to be sad, showing her the cute doll he held. “Maybe I should give it to a girl…” he mumbled loudly, glancing at her face. Ji Eun hummed, “I know! Come with me,” she pulled him off his chair and brought him outside.

Jongin frowned when she started to call a little girl that was playing with her dog outside. Then it clicked. Oh no. “W-wait, Ji Eun, I—“

“Hi there, Ji Yeon!” Ji Eun waved her hand at the neighbor’s child. The little girl was familiar with her and waved her back as she ran towards her. Jongin froze as she started to converse with the little girl. This did not go as he planned. “My friend here has a doll, but he doesn’t know who to give it to. Do you want it? I know you’ve been asking you mom for a doll,” Ji Eun smiled at her. The little girl nodded vigorously with wide eyes, and that wasn’t helping Jongin to run away from this mess. “Would you give it to her?” Ji Eun asked him. Jongin gave her a look, could he even say no? “Sure,” he forced an awkward smile and reluctantly handed the little girl his gift of love. The girl quickly thanked them and hugged the doll so tight, before handing it to her dog. Jongin watched with wide eyes as the dog bit and shook the doll around viciously.

“Doggie had been playing with the furniture at home, so I asked mommy to give me a doll for him, but she hasn’t given me one,” the little girl explained with a thankful smile.  “Charity is great, don’t you think, Jongin?” Ji Eun smiled.

Mission one, failed.

The next day, Jongin came with two tickets to the movies. The café closed, and they were all cleaning the place. Jongin spotted Ji Eun alone, tidying the kitchen counters. Jongin waltz in and leaned against one of the counters. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Cleaning,” she simply said without a glance at him. Jongin narrowed his eyes, “Do you like watching TV? Or movies?” Jongin shifted a bit, trying to get her to look at him. “Hmm… Not bad, but I—“

“Ji Eun, I need you here,” Suho’s voice cut in, calling her from the café.

“O-okay! Could you continue for me?” she pointed at the utensils on the counters before running out of the kitchen.

Jongin sighed, putting back the already cleaned utensils inside the drawers and so on. “Why is it so hard just to ask her out?” Jongin muttered. “So hard to what?”

Jongin jumped out of his jeans when Baekhyun’s voice suddenly voiced out beside his ear. “W-when did you get in here?!” Jongin yelled. “I never left the kitchen,” Baekhyun walked back to the dining table, sitting down and picked up a cookie. “Ji Eun let me eat here a minute ago,” he grinned, glancing at the plate of cookies and the glass of milk beside it. “She’s a total angel, isn’t she?” Baekhyun grinned before taking a bite of the big cookie. Jongin rolled his eyes.

Yeah, a pretty dull one at that.

Walking out of the kitchen, Jongin spotted her talking to Suho. She seems to be smiling, being awed as Suho continued to talk about the sum of the money they’ve been making so far. “Dull, but you love her anyway,” Baekhyun blurted, widening the eyes on the younger male. “Did you just read my mind?” Jongin whipped his head to him with a scowl. “I don’t know, did I?” Baekhyun grinned. Jongin marched up to him and picked up a cookie, “I’m taking this cookie with me to the movies,” the boy muttered, ignoring the whining whale named Baekhyun.

Mission two, failed.

Okay, so subtle hits aren’t that effective on little Ji Eun. Not a problem, Jongin is much suited to being blunt.

“Ji Eun,” Jongin tapped on her shoulder. Ji Eun turned around and saw a bouquet of red roses in front of her. “Will you go out with me?” Jongin cleared his throat, a hand inside his pocket. He looked at her straight in the eye, trying to read her. Ji Eun seemed elated with the flowers, however something on her face showed that she’s confused, “Okay,” she nodded, accepting the flowers. Jongin was about to gasp at his success until the girl grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the café.

“I love the flowers,” she smiled. “But I don’t understand why you want to get out of the café with me,” she scratched her eyebrow.

Jongin’s left eye twitched at the cold truth, and the sounds of Baekhyun and Sehun laughing from the café had already flown through his ears. The two boys were banging at the glass window of the café, laughing with tears b in their eyes and hugged each other from all of this. “… Jongin?” Ji Eun tilted her head, watching Jongin pinching the bridge of his nose. “I just wanted to show you blue the sky is!” Jongin broke into a laugh, pointing at the gloomy sky. “Oh… Doesn’t seem very blue, though,” Ji Eun looked up, actually falling for it.

Mission three, failed.

Jongin tried to scheme back at his house, hoping that he’ll find a way to crack this wall he just can’t seem to jump over. “You’ll never get her,” Sehun’s words darted to him. “Why not?” Jongin lifted a brow, seemingly unhappy about his comment. “A girl like her, with a bad boy like you?” Kyungsoo scoffed. “Hey, have you seen me with three girls wrapped around my arms lately? No, therefore, I am no bad boy,” Jongin rolled his eyes. “You’re still a bad boy,” Suho blurted, not taking his eyes off his book as he rests on the couch. “Oh, not you too!” Jongin groaned. “Face it, Nini. If roses can’t make it, then nothing will,” Baekhyun clicked his tongue, snacking on a bowl of rice puffs.

“Besides, if we can’t have her, you can’t either,” Kyungsoo muttered.

“It’s a curse, bro,” Chanyeol smirked.

"A promise that is," Baekhyun grinned. 

All the boys except Jongin voiced out together, "What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine,"

"That's a bunch of crap!" Jongin scowled. 

"Well, you started that crap with us, Jongin," Sehun chuckled. 

"JUSTICE," Chanyeol whispered to his ear.

Jongin groaned before taking his off the couch and marched upstairs to his room. There has got to be a way to get her, but how? Jongin jumped to his bed and sighed, "Well, as long as I'm the number one contender, that's enough for now," he clicked his tongue. 

Number one contender? 

Jongin got it wrong if he thinks the author is gonna make this easy for him. 

*inserts an evil grin*

"Ji Eun, where's the supplier boy you said is gonna come?" Sehun groaned, leaning against the table as he glanced at his watch. "He should be here any minute! The market is not too far from here," she popped her head from the kitchen. "Well he's due in twenty minutes.That was twenty minutes ago," Baekhyun muttered. "The old man never comes late, why is he late now?" Jongin frowned, glancing at the door, expecting the familiar old supplier man. "I guess that's because the old man is replaced by a boy," Sehun clicked his tongue. As soon as Sehun finished his words, the sound of a motorcyle stopping in front of the back door from the kitchen was heard, and a knock followed. "Nam Market Delivery!" hearing the voice outside, the three boys heaved a sigh of relieve and walked into the kitchen. Ji Eun who was already in the kitchen approached the door and opened it before her eyes went wide.

"Joo Hyuk!"

The boys entered the kitchen only to see Ji Eun being hugged by a strager. Suho who was sitting silently in the kitchen froze when he saw her hugging and being hugged, much like the boys. Jongin who snapped back to reality quicker cleared his throat. "Excuse me," he patted the other's back to wake them up while his eyes bored into the stranger's head. Ji Eun and this stranger who is supposedly Joo Hyuk broke their hug and turned to them. "Boys! T-this is my childhood friend, Nam Joo Hyuk..." the girl blushed upon seeing her old friend, seemingly surprised and overwhelmed. "Oh, what's better than a handsome and tall childhood friend to ruin your chances of being with our girl?" Baekhyun murmured bitterly before forcing a smile and approached him with a hand out, "Byun Baekhyun," the male was forced to look up due to the height difference. "Hi," the male smiled, turning to Suho who cut in line. "Kim Junmyeon, the manager here," the male asserted his spot. "Oh Sehun," the brunette faked a smile, eyeing him from head to toe. Jongin, who was reluctant in greeting the boy, sighed and stepped in front of him and reached his hand out, "Kim Jongin," he locked eyes with the tall male. Joo Hyuk's eyes twitched as Jongin shook his hand, tightly. "You got a strong grip," the boy chuckled. Jongin shrugged as he loosened his grip as he lets go of his hand and stepped back. 

"What... what brought you here? I thought you'd be out of town until next month?" Ji Eun asked him with wide eyes. "I came back to see my friends of course," Joo Hyuk put an arm on her shoulder, inflicting glares from the boys. "Where's Eun Ji?" Joo Hyuk asked while the girl uncomfortably slide his arm away from  her shoulders, which was ignored by the boy, looking around the place. "She doesn't work on Mondays anymore," Jongin voiced out, arms folded on his chest. "The supplies, please," Suho walked back to the dining table. "Oh, right," Joo Hyuk stepped out of the kitchen and took the boxes of fresh ingerdients for the cafe. "Finally," Baekhyun huffed, taking the box and passed it to Sehun who passed it to Jongin. "You were due twenty minutes ago, I suppose we'd have to cut that off our budget?" Suho glanced at him as he scribbled something on his note. "What?" Joo Hyuk widened his eyes. "You didn't know that you were late?" Sehun lifted a brow. "My watch must've been busted," the boy frowned, glancing at his watch. "It's okay, Joo Hyuk. Come in, have some tea," Ji Eun closed the door and pulled him in. "Okay? No, it is not okay, Ji Eun. If you let him slip this time, he'll be coming later and later next time, and we'll lose money for bad service!" Jongin stopped putting the stocks in the fridge. "Hey, I'm not like that squirt who always borrow money from Ji Eun, okay?" Joo Hyuk scolwed at him and glanced at Ji Eun, "You'll let your old friend go this time, right?" he whispered, a pout on his face. Ji Eun glanced at the boys who was motioning her to say no, but seeing Joo Hyuk's pleading face, how could she say no to her childhood friend? "Just this once..." she rubbed the back of her neck. 

"Great! Now let's have some tea, I'd like mint tea, please," Joo Hyuk beamed. "Sure-"

"Not you, let them do it. I want to show you pictures of me while I'm away!" the boy pulled her back into the cafe, pulling out his phone.

"I have to prepare for the cafe-"

"Just for a little bit!" 

"Oh- Uhm- Jongin, could you make his tea for me?" Ji Eun fought back his pull to look at Jongin who had a mortified expression on his face. 

After the two were gone, the boys patted Jongin's shoulders. "It's a good idea to pour some salt in his cup," Baekhyun whispered. "Chil