Stereotypes | Lee Minho

10

The sun shone into my face when I woke up the next morning. I turned around in bed and opened my eyes. It took me some time until I realised that I wasn't at home. Oh god, Mom will be so mad. Was the first thing I thought of. I sat up straight in the bed. The bed? How did I come here? The last thing I remembered was that I was sitting on the couch leaning onto Minho's shoulder.

After taking a quick look around his room I found his sleeping figure laying on the couch, curled up like one of his cats. My phone was laying on the nightstand. I actually didn't want to see the amount of messages my mother must have sent me. But I hadn't really any other choice, so I unlocked my phone.

15 missed calls and 24 messages from Mum

3 missed calls and 4 messages from Dad

Okay no, I'll read them later. I said to myself. The only thing I did before putting the phone away was writing a short message to my mother, telling her that I was fine.

It was already 7 am. My eyes widened. I had to be at the café in less than an hour. I stood up and went to the bathroom. It was easy for me to get along in Minho's apartment since we were studying here together more often these days.

I looked into the mirror and realised that I still had my makeup from yesterday on. It looked terrible. I had no other choice than to remove it, even though I would have to attend work without makeup then. Lastly, I tied up my hair. Minho wasn't sleeping anymore when I left the bathroom again. But instead stood in front of me, holding a cup of coffee in his hand.

"I think you need this,". He was right. Coffee was my only source of energy in the morning.

"Oh, thank you. You're already saving my day" I smiled happily. We sat down in his room again, until I had finished drinking. Doongie kept walking around Minho's legs, trying to get his attention. But instead, he was looking at me. Directly into my eyes. I felt a bit insecure under his gaze without any makeup on my face. It was like the first time we met though, I couldn't look away from him even if I would have wanted to. Our eyes were locked for at least four minutes.

"Uhm, I have to go to work now," I said quietly.

"Oh, of course," Minho brought me to the door. Before I could leave he held my wrist. "Wait here for a second." I watched him as he went back to his room. He stood in front of me again two seconds later. This time with his jacket in his hand. It was the same jacket he already gave me yesterday.

"It's still pretty cold outside. You should take this with you" I knew that he wouldn't accept a 'no' so I took it from him thankfully.

The way from Minho's home to the café was shorter than from where I lived, so I arrived on time. I'm not sure how my boss would have reacted if I was late again. And actually, I also didn't want to find out.

>time skip<
There weren't many customers today. Which was surprising. Usually, the café would be completely filled by now. I just stood at the counter for the rest of my shift, feeling a little bit useless. My thoughts went to Minho over and over again though.

I took a lot of my time on my way back home. I didn't really want to talk with my parents. They will be so mad. Especially my father. I took my phone out of my pocket and wrote a message to Ha-eun.

Me
If you don't see me at work tomorrow call the police or something
Ha-eun
WHAT?

Okay, maybe I should have phrased it differently.

Me
My parents, don't ask
Me
I'll tell you tomorrow if I'm still alive
Ha-eun
Oh, I believe in you! Fighting!!

I was hoping that no one would be home when I stood in front of the front door. Maybe my mother was still at the restaurant. But all my hopes flew away as soon as I walked into the living room. I saw my mother and father sitting at the table. Fvck. Okay, I'm really in trouble.

"Look who's there" I looked everywhere but at my parents.

"I'll go to my room and study for my next test" I tried to escape the upcoming conversation.

"I don't think so. Come here! Now! My father raised his voice.

"Where were you? And whose jacket is this?" Oh yeah right, the jacket. I looked at the white sleeves of the blue denim jacket Minho gave me earlier today. For one second I thought about saying that I stayed the night at Ha-euns house but if they would find out the truth, I would be in even more trouble, so I decided to tell them the truth.

"I was at a friend's house and when I went to work today he gave me his jacket because I forgot mine." Saying friend in a sentence about Minho felt wrong somehow, but I didn't really know why. I mean that's exactly what we are, right? Friends.

"Oh, that friend you're studying with?" My mother raised a brow. Of course, she wouldn't believe me that we didn't do anything else. My parents think that women and men can't be just friends. I sighed

"Yes right, that friend"

"And were you studying yesterday too?" Oh my god please someone save me from this conversation. They aren't going to understand it. I shook my head and buried my face in the palms of my hands.

"I don't want to say it again, Minseo. Your father and I don't want you to meet that boy again. You should concentrate on your grades. They are more important!"

"He is obviously not a good influence for you. Just leaving the house, to spend the night somewhere else, you would have never done such a thing before." My father added while shaking his head in disappointment. Without saying another word, I turned around, closed the door to my room behind me and threw myself onto my bed. Tears of anger and frustration filled my eyes.

"Why are my parents like this?" I sniffed. But soon my phone caught my attention. Someone called me. I grabbed it from the pocket of the jacket. There it was again. This weird feeling in my stomach came back when I read Minho's name on the display. It felt a little bit like butterflies. I accepted the call.

"Hey"

"Hey. Are you okay? Just wanted to ask if you already talked to your mother?" There was this worried tone in his voice. "I wanted to visit you at the café today, but your shift was already over. Your friend was there though. She told me about the message you sent her earlier."

"Yes, well sadly my father is here too, they are both very mad at me." I sighed "But yeah, I think it's okay." I whipped the last tears from my eyes away. Ha-eun was really an angel. I would lie if I say that I didn't like it when Minho calls me. The opposite was the case. It made me feel better to talk to him. We continued talking for the next hour before he had to hang up. I also saw that Ha-eun had sent me a message a few minutes ago.

Ha-eun
I wanna know everything about that guy at the café!