12:30 pm.

< jrjdksjsbwbwnof ]

I frown in front of the text I received from Joonha, enjoying the last minutes of my break, I bite in the sweet bread roll I am eating for lunch, and I answer him.

[ You good? >

< fuck I'm so sorry, I was about to text you but put my phone back in my pocket for a minute and it sent this mess💀 ]

[ lmaoo it's fine. How are you doing? >

< good and you? Are you on a break? ]

[ I'm good too, and yes I'm on a break. What about you? >

< same I just sat down a minute ago so I'm about to eat ]

[ what are you going to eat? >

< some pork bulgogi, rice, kimchi and pickled radish that my dad cooked, and you? Have you eaten yet? ]

[ wow. That's a good meal. I just ate some gimbap my brother made for me this morning because I don't like eating too much for lunch, and one of my colleagues brought some sweet bread rolls >

< what a good bro he is. Send me some bread rolls tho, I love those so much ]

[ do you want me to run to your shop with a few of them lmao? >

< yes please:> ]

[ I hate running, so I won't, sorry:) >

< after the way you tackled me down the other day, that's the least you could do ]

[ '-' >

< joking:> ]

[ forgot I had to tease too... >

< well I'm still waiting but remember, if you trade me I'll tease you more ]

[ if I trade you lmaoo? >

< I meant tease* wtf is wrong with my keyboard;-; ]

[ it happens a lot to me so I won't make fun of you >

< you already did ]

[ yeah...that's for making fun of me >

< I never made fun of you. I just laughed:) ]

[ both cause the same. It hurts me and my pride;-; >

< I know it doesn't because you laughed too stop lying ]

[ I laughed out of embarrassment, that's not the same as laughing because you find something funny, okay? '-' >

< oh okay girlie sorry for laughing then ]

[ yeah thanks for that sincere apologize >

< :) ]

[ you're a little crap:) >

< I know:3 ]

[ oh and you don't even deny it >

< why would I? I don't deny the truth, I'm honest ]

[ I see that, such a great boy you are >

< I'm sorry? I'm a man not a boy okay?:< ]

[ if you say so >

< Don't you dare contradict me little girl or I'm gonna make you trip again this weekend ]

[ you're so mean >

< I'm not. I'm one of the sweetest men you'll ever meet in your life ]

[ sure, I gotta go back to work anyway so see you, sweetest boy >

< haha:) see you, brat ]

I smile at his text but glance up at one of my colleagues, Daejung, who came into the room pretty loudly. "Whoever wants some banana or strawberry milk, it's here," he puts the drinks down in front of me and sits down by my side. "So, how are the bread rolls?"

"Good, thanks for bringing them," I show him some gratitude since he is the one who paid for them, even though he has not eaten a single one.

•••

5:30 pm.

I sit down on the sofa to wait for dinner to be cooked, my brother setting the table. I hold my phone up at the sound of a notification but see a new text from Joonha.

< hey, you're free in the afternoon in two days, right? ]

[ yes why? >

< do you wanna have lunch with Seunggil and I? We'll eat a the Burger King near the shop where I work ]

[ Sure but when should I be there? >

< my break starts at 12 and ends at 1 so come whenever you want and can ]

[ Alright I'll be there at around 12:20 is it okay? >

< it is. We'll wait for you so don't worry ]

[ Thank you for inviting me, that's really sweet >

"Who invited you?" my brother startles me from behind, and I move my phone down but whirl around to click my tongue. "Stop reading over my shoulder! That's none of your business."

"It is. Who the fuck is 'Joonha'?" he annoys me, so I stand up and ignore him to read the text I received, but he follows me with his long legs. "Isn't that the guy you fell on the other day while skating? I'm pretty sure I heard that name already," he remembers. "Yes, it is, but you would have known if you listened to me when I talk to you," I walk up to the table and sit down on one of the chairs. "I do listen, so shut up," he gets right next to me. "Do you have a picture of him?"

"No, I don't. Leave me alone," I read the text, finally, but make sure he cannot see a single word.

< no prob, we just wanna hang out with you too ]

"Why the fuck are you smiling?" he does not let me live, getting me to be worked up. "Shut up! You're so fucking annoying."

"Hey! Calm down, kids," our father comes back from the kitchen to quieten us, but I do not accept to be scolded when the one next to me is to blame. "He doesn't wanna leave me alone! I can't even text anyone without him commenting on everything!"

"He's just protecting you," he finds him a pretext. "But Inhyuk, don't go too far."

"I'm just checking," he raises his eyebrows as if I was the one who emphasized it, so I kick him under the table. "You're not checking, you're stalking."

"If I were stalking, you'd already have blocked that guy," he states, believing this could have happened. "I'd never block anyone for no good reason."

"You would do it if dad and I tell you to," he pisses me off even more with such words, so I sigh and only focus on my phone, and I notice that Joohna published a story, so I take a look at it.

This is a picture, a pretty attractive one of him lifting his hoodie up in front of a mirror to show a tattoo on the side of his abs, and I read the text he put on it.

' First tattoo, I'm so happy:> '

I did not expect his body to be so fit, especially after what he said back at the skatepark. He is so cute though. The emojis are always adorable.

Not wanting my brother to see this picture, I swipe up to send him a text.

[ This is so pretty but didn't it hurt? >

I peek at Inhyuk to make sure he is not staring at me again, and I feel some relief when I see his eyes fixed on his phone.

< thanks<3 Hurt? What's that? I'm a strong man, nothing hurts:) ]

[ lmaoo funny >

< what? You think I'm not? That's offending °-° ]

[ that's not what I meant but tattoos hurt no matter how strong you are >

< hm. It maybe did hurt a little but it was for a good reason so I handled it till the end... ]

[ you're brave. I wouldn't have gotten such a big one for a first, this would be so painful so you're stronger than I thought >

< I am, I'm a big boy:3 ]

[ you're cute lmao >

"Here's the food," my dad comes back with dinner, and I lock my phone to put it down.

— Two days later —

Wednesday, July 9th, 2021.

12:30 pm.

I enter the place where I should be meeting Joonha and his best friend, and I look for them. I cannot remember last time I went out to eat with some friends, this seems so long ago.

As soon as I see the light brown-haired man lift a hand up, I make my way to him, and we both smile at each other.

"Hey," he slides to the right on the cushions. "Sit here," he pats the spot next to him, so I go on it but wonder where his best friend is. "Are you alone?" I take my jacket off, feeling hot after rushing. "No, he's in the restroom," he runs his fingers through his hair and sips on a milkshake. "We'll order once he's back, alright?"

"Yes," I agree and open my purse to take my phone out, but I feel him touch my hair. "Wait. You have a plush in your hair," he takes it away, kindly, and when he pulls his hand away, I look at him. "Thank you."

"No problem," he smiles, and my eyes drop their attention to his lip ring. "How are you? You seem out of breath," he mentions in a mocking manner and crosses his arms over the table. "I'm fine, I just kinda ran to not be too late since you're soon gonna leave to go back to work."

"Aw. So you wanna see me that bad, hm?" he teases me, and I let out a 'tch' with no argument to defend myself. "I know you missed me, no need to hide it," he lowers his voice and glances in the direction of the restrooms, but I keep quiet about it.

I did want to see him, he is pretty fun to be with.

"Here he is," he speaks, watching his silver-haired best friend walk up to us, and he grabs his large cup to sip on his drink, getting me to notice something on his fingers. "Are you the one who applied it?" I point at his painted nails, and he looks down at them, then holds them up. "No, I asked a friend to do it because she's used to it. That would have been terrible if I had done it myself," he explains, and I chuckle.

"Hey, y/n," he greets me. "It's nice to see you," he kindly tells me and sits down, and I answer with the same words, feeling touched. "She ran just to make sure she'd see me as much as possible," Joonha sucks some milkshake in with the straw, smirking and staring into my eyes with his piercing blue ones to taunt me. "Shut up. That's not true," I deny it.

"Yeah, who the fuck would run to see your annoying ass?" Seunggil's remark makes me laugh, and he gets kicked by Joonha. "Fuck you. Anyone would do it. Look at Iseul, she'd drop everything she does to see me."

"Because she has a crush on you, dumbfuck. That's all," he reveals what I did not know about. "Yeah, but still," he cannot find a word to contradict him. "Whatever, let's order our food. Do you already know what you want?" he asks me, but since I have not been here for a while, I shake my head and set my eyes on the menu displayed on a screen. "Okay, take as much time as you need. You take a BK bacon and cheese with mozzarella sticks and Sprite, right?" he addresses Seunggil, and this one approves. "Okay. I'm gonna get the same sticks, and a big king," he types on his phone, and I pick one. "I want to try the Quattro Cheese Whopper Jr.," I tell him and look at him.

"Heard her? She wants the Jr.,"  Seunggil smirks at us, but Joonha quietly scoffs and shakes his head, seeming amused but ashamed of it. "Leave this innocent girl alone. What drink do you want?" he turns his head to lay his attention over me. "Coke."

"Large, medium?" he worsens his friend's implication. "Medium."

"And on the side?" he writes everything down in a note with his phone. "Nothing."

"Sure?" he insists in case I might hold back. "Yes," I get my wallet out and take the money that I have to pay for this order, but he peeks at me. "No need to. I'm paying for you."

"What? No, I can pay. I don't want you to do that," I place the bills in front of him, and he stands up. "I don't care. I wanna pay for you. I'm the one who invited you."

"And me?" Seunggil feels left out, and Joonha passes by him. "You pay for your food," he walks towards the checkout, leaving his friend with some pain in the chest. "Wow. Favoring you because you're a girl, such a brown-noser," he mumbles and takes his phone out, so I drift my attention to the one who took care of ordering for us. I peek down at his pair of black trousers, and his white t-shirt tucked in his pants, with a belt around his thin waist that brings it out.

I usually see him in a pair of jeans and an oversized white, gray t-shirt, or hoodie when he is skating, but he must be dressed like this because he is working.

To not get caught scanning him from head to toe, I bring my focus to my phone and read what my brother sent me.

< text me when you're about to be done. I'll come pick you up because I left work a bit earlier today ]

[ why did you? >

< because the boss said so and I'm not complaining ]

[ oh okay. No way. Who would complain about going back home earlier?-_- >

< you already did because you wanted to be paid a little more dumbass ]

[ ah yeah...I did but it was reasonable >

< sure but whatever, dont forget to text me ]

[ I won't >

This conversation now over, I check on Joonha to see where he is. "You're gonna skate with us this weekend, right?" Seunggil grasps my attention, and I nod. "Yes. I'll be there with Hyunjin."

"Great. Joonha told me that you got better at it, so I guess he's a good teacher?" he chuckles, and I cannot say otherwise. "He is, and he's very patient with me, so that's sweet."

"He's always patient when he knows that someone has a hard time, so he'll never be mad, even if you make a lot of mistakes," he tells me great news and relieves me about the future. "Good to hear. I won't be nervous to do it with him anymore."

He laughs but turns his head once he hears Joonha say his name. "What are you telling her?" he brings all the food to our table with a large tray and sits down next to me. "None of your business," he gives him the money to pay for his food, but he does not react, he only checks what has to be given to who.

"This is for you," he hands me the Burger and Coke, then he serves Seunggil, and himself. "Keep that, dumbass," he throws the money back at him. "It's fine, I'm not broke, I can pay for it," he moves it towards him again, but Joonha, who already bit into a mozzarella stick, sighs and does not accept it. "I'm gonna shove it up your mouth if you don't put this shit back in your wallet. And I say mouth because y/n is here," he takes his burger in one hand, but I internally laugh, knowing what he meant by that.

"That'd be a waste, so I keep it," he eventually gives up and puts the bills back where they were, but I peek at Joonha, who took a bite into his big burger. "You're gonna choke."

"His mouth is big, don't worry about that," Seunggil comments and digs in his food too, but Joonha, who was the center of attention, chews, but so much that his jawline is exposing its sharpness. "Nothing is too big when I'm hungry, so no worries, I won't choke," he speaks with his mouth full, and I leave him alone to eat as well.

•••

12:50 pm.

"Aren't you eating anymore?" Joonha notices that my burger has stayed in the box for a few minutes, and I shake my head. "I can't. You can eat it if you want."

"No, bring it back home. You can even take the mozzarella sticks left since you liked them," he sips on the Sprite he bought, his swollen lips hugging the straw. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Seunggil and I both have to go back to work anyway, so we can't take it with us, and it's better than throwing the leftovers out," he insists, even though he is the one who paid for everything. "If you say so. My brother will be happy."

"I'm gonna ask for a bag," he stands up, doing every little thing for me like a gentleman. While he is getting one, I send a text to my brother to warn him that I am about to leave, knowing that Joonha will be gone in around five minutes.

"Is your brother the same age as you are?" Seunggil questions me, curiously. "No, he's twenty-three."

"Oh, so he's older than all of us," he nods, and Joonha comes back. "Here," he carefully puts the rest that we could not eat in it. "Thank you, when are you leaving though?"

"In five minutes, why?" he places the bag before me, licking his lips. "I need to pee but don't want you to leave when I'm in the restroom."

He giggles at my answer. "You can go, we won't leave you like that."

"I'm hurrying," I leave all my stuff with them, trusting them both enough, and I rush to the restroom.

'JOONHA'S P.O.V'

"She's cute," Seunggil chuckles, and I smile but grab my phone. "Yeah."

"Though I don't wanna be that guy, she's got some...you know..." he tilts his head, so I prepare myself to the worst.