Bubble

6. Buddying Up

Not wanting to leave Bonita alone with this strange newcomer while going to work, Minho refused to leave Bonita's apartment without Bang Chan. Minho knew waiting around for Bonita to relent would make him late in getting back to work, but he planned on dealing with the consequences. Eventually she did relent. After receiving a black baseball cap and black face mask from Bonita's closet for Bang Chan to wear, Minho moved to step outside the apartment whilst keeping a grip on one of Bang Chan's wrists.

"You can go figure out if you can get the fried DVD player fixed while I take him with me to work and then to my apartment to get some overnight things," Minho said.

"What are you? My boss?"

"No. I'm your concerned best friend who is certain you must have a screw or two loose."

Minho turned to fix Bang Chan with a look before dragging him behind him down the stairs. Bang Chan looked after him at Bonita for a moment before turning to face forward so he didn't trip.

"Don't even think about returning to her apartment without me. Understood?"

The level of acidity in Minho's tone shocked Bang Chan, causing him to just nod his head in agreement as they walked. It wasn't until they were several blocks away that Minho dropped his grip from Bang Chan's wrist.

"Look, I have to go back to work to finish my shift, so you can stay in my office and wait, but you are to speak to no one understand? Just sit there with your mask and hat on and stay silent."

Bang Chan just nodded again, remaining silent for a moment before eventually asking, "Why do you hate me?"

Minho pulled up short of the crosswalk to look at Bang Chan, crossing his arms.

"Why do you think?"

"I didn't ask to be transported here," said Bang Chan in such a way that Minho couldn't help but to raise his brows in shock.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, it's true," said Bang Chan. "Yes, I wanted to leave my circumstances, but I didn't ask to be here."

Minho let out a snort of amusement, rolling his eyes as he started to walk again. He pressed the crosswalk light as Bang Chan came to stand beside him. An awkward silence hung in the air between them. While they waited for the light to change, Minho turned to look at Bang Chan who was facing forward at the moment and staring into the distance as if lost in thoughts.

'Don't be like Bonita. Don't start feeling badly for him,' chided Minho internally.

As the light turned green, Minho reached down to grab Bang Chan by the wrist again, yanking him behind him across the crosswalk. They stayed silent as they finally reached the outside of the entertainment company Minho worked for. Bang Chan took the building in with an awestruck expression on his face as Minho went over with him to the front desk.

"I need a visitor pass for the afternoon," said Minho without any sort of formality to the receptionist.

"Ah, Mr. Lee, there you are. Mr. Ahn is looking for you."

"I'm sorry. I got caught up with something. Please page him that I'm on my way up to my office right now."

The receptionist nodded as she grabbed a clipboard for Minho to fill out the visitor information on before looking over at Bang Chan standing alongside him.

"Who's your visitor?"

"A very distant cousin," mumbled Minho as he quickly scribbled down a false name for Bang Chan. Glancing over Minho's shoulder, Bang Chan could see his fake name was 'Lee Haechung'. He smirked behind his mask as Minho placed the clipboard back down before grabbing the visitor pass and shoving it at the center of Bang Chan's chest. He did it in such a way that Bang Chan stumbled back a step or two.