Love is beautiful || Minwon

Chapter 24

They were kicking off to late December where most university students would have their final exams, right before Christmas. Mingyu knew rather well that he would struggle to balance his work and study schedules. He would often take half-day off from work to study for the examination, luckily for some subjects, his professor only needed him to do assignments to pass the class. Still, he had to take three exams this semester.

His manager was pretty understanding of his situation, deliberately cutting him some slack from his usual workload. His other coworkers would randomly take turns reviewing his past exam questions. Minhee would constantly brew some herbal teas, which exclaimed to be very useful for those who relied on memorizing theory by her mother. Yunho would help him clock in and out on his behalf when the young intern inquired more time to study. Seonghwa would remind him to take some time off from his work to eat something or walk around so that he won't outburst from stress. Mingyu felt really grateful to have met these great people.

He came home to his mother's appetizing and rich nutrition cuisines, starting from the famous ginseng chicken soup to tomato soup with different kinds of nuts. Despite the regular visit to the hospital and proclaiming improvement to her illness every consultation, his mother's coughing sound was still heard here and there. Mingyu was concerned that his mother might have overworked herself and urged her not to cook that many dishes for him. She insisted that she also wanted to eat them, yet he saw her pour the soup hardly above half of the bowl. 

Finally, the final was over. The score was the last thing to be distressing about, at least the dreadful exams were out of his face, Mingyu could breathe properly again. He barely had enough sleep in the past few weeks, often staying late to review or rewatching the lecture recording. Dark eye bag unveiled itself on his face, he looked like a walking dead.  

Soonyoung convinced him and Seokmin to hang out over the weekend; it had been a long since the three had gone out together. The chubby-cheeked guy claimed that he missed Mingyu so much when they weren't studying on the same shift. Seokmin proposed that they eat something before going to the amusement park, and the two of them agreed straightaway.

Saturday rolled around, it was the day that they promised to hang out. Mingyu had a morning shift at the company that he needed to cover, but his mind went to the gathering that he will join later.

As soon as the clock struck 12 pm, he sprinted to the nearest bathroom to change into more comfortable clothes. His formal working attire changed into white polo shirt with trousers, still fancy but comfortably fancy.

He sat on the bus, speeding to the BBQ buffet restaurant where Seokmin had booked a special private room with karaoke devices for them. The trio absolutely loved singing, they would always further extend than they intended. He excitedly shook his legs in anticipation, counting down the street number to the destination; his charming smile never once left his face from the company until stepping out of the bus.

Upon arriving at the room, he was engulfed tightly by both men. Mingyu let out a yelp from the unexpected hug, but returned to them back with the same tightness. He undeniably missed his friends very much too, since they were never separated since secondary school and he had changed to night shift now.

"Gyu!" Soonyoung called out enthusiastically, "Have you been doing well?"

"These past few weeks have been hectic." Mingyu sighed, "It's hard being a working student especially during the peak season. But I'm physically fine, my coworkers love me because I'm the youngest there."

Mingyu saw their pitiful face toward him, so he purposely changed the subject into something more lighted.

"Enough about me," they plopped down at the table of four with Mingyu on one side and the other two on another side, while Mingyu continued, "How have you guys been doing?"