Found my world in a small town | Winrina

Chapter 7- The Friends

Within a short period of time, Minjeong and Irene grew quite close. Minjeong continued to go over to the café almost everyday, helping Irene with her work and baking together whenever they had the time. For Minjeong, Irene almost felt like a big sister she never had or a young, cool aunt. Since Jimin still went skiing often, Minjeong frequently took Winter to the café. Irene even bought a little pillow for her to lie down onto and some treats that they gave her occasionally. It seemed like Irene adored the little dog almost as much as Jimin did.

At the beginning of February, not quite a month after Minjeong had arrived in Kwangya, Minjeong made the mistake to forget the time. She had spent the day at the café again and today, Irene had closed a little earlier. She had told Minjeong that Seulgi wanted to take her on a date and that she wanted to bring some cookies. Minjeong helped her bake and decorate them when suddenly, she noticed it was already four pm.

"Oh shit!" Minjeong cried out, accidentally knocking over a can of sprinkles, "Oh no, sorry!"

"What's wrong?" Irene asked as they both scooped up the sprinkles that had not fallen to the floor.

"I completely lost track of time!" Minjeong said, "And Jimin will be back by now! She doesn't know that I go here so often and she'll be really angry if she sees that I took Winter again."

"I mean, we're almost done here already, so you can go quickly," Irene replied, "maybe you'll get there in time."

"But the sprinkles..." Minjeong looked at the mess on the ground but Irene shook her head.

"It's okay. You can vacuum the floor next time you're here as a compensation." She said it with a chuckle and Minjeong laughed quietly.

"Thank you," she giggled.

 As fast as possible, she put on her jacket, stuffed her beanie and gloves into the pockets — no time for any of that — grabbed her scarf, threw it around her neck messily and stormed out to the front. She grabbed Winter, scooping her up in her arms and waved Irene a quick goodbye before she practically ran out of the café. The weather was nice today, the sun was shining and it was not as cold so at least Jimin could not yell at her for exposing Winter to cruel conditions. Hopefully the blonde girl was not home yet!

Minjeong sprinted down the road, up the stairs that led to the house and unlocked the door with the key Jennie had given her. As soon as she entered the hallway, she was greeted by an oddly calm voice.

"Where have you been?" Jimin stood in the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water and side eyeing Minjeong. As soon as she noticed Winter in her guest's arms, she went over to Minjeong and took the dog from her, cuddling the little dog to her chest.

"She's ice-cold, what did you do with her? I came home ten minutes ago and nobody was here!" She asked, still very composed. Minjeong knew that Winter was indeed not ice-cold but she decided not to say anything.

"I just took him out for a quick wee," Minjeong lied, taking off her jacket, "didn't you see us?"

"No, I didn't," Jimin replied. It was obvious that she did not believe Minjeong for one moment — or that she did not want to believe her — but she did not say anything other than that. Now Minjeong also noticed why her host was so weirdly calm instead of throwing her usual tantrums. Behind her on the couch, all of Jimin's friends were sitting, watching TV and looking over to where Minjeong and Jimin stood. Of course, the blonde girl did not want to embarrass herself in front of her friends and act unnecessarily rude towards her guest. What a hypocrite! Minjeong shyly waved at the others and got a few smiles and waves in return. That was, until Jimin moved to block her view.

"We're having a sleepover tonight," she announced cheerfully before dropping her voice to a whisper, "we'll talk about this when they're gone."

"No, we won't," Minjeong muttered back and finally slid out of her boots when Jimin turned around to join her friends. Minjeong also got herself a drink and then wanted to go to her room. She was not too keen on spending more time with Jimin, even if there were people present that kept the other girl from lashing out. Jimin's friends had been over a few times and Minjeong knew all their names but she had never really talked to them. Most of the time, they just came to pick Jimin up or they went up to her room and stayed there for the afternoon. All of them were probably pretty nice but Minjeong did not want to get in the way. Jimin would most likely not be okay with Minjeong talking to or spending time with her friends and Minjeong did not want to take any chances.