DITTO

20

It was Friday and tomorrow is the day I'm gonna execute my plan with Minji. As usual, I went to the office first and give her some chocolates, but she wasn't there except for Rei.

"Hey there, Rei. Have you seen Minji?" I asked as I entered the room. She was typing something on the computer with a pencil resting on her left ear.

Rei looked up and nodded at me in greetings. "Yeah, she was here several minutes ago. But a guy did come here earlier looking for her so I guess she's with him," she explained. I stopped turning and just stood still. I feel like I couldn't hear anything, except for the last sentence that Rei said.

What guy? Who was it? Was it Heeseung? Or ---

"Hey, hey, Hanni. Don't overthink about it. Maybe it was just someone from the music class. The guy had a guitar with him when he came by," Rei tried to say so that I won't panic. I cleared my throat and shook my head a little to calm myself.

"Yeah... um, do you know his name, by any chance I mean...?"

Rei shook her head, "Nope. He was not a familiar guy. Why? Are you jealous?" Her face transitioned from nonchalant to annoying. I glared at her and scoffed.

"Of course not. Why would I be jealous? Surely I'm more amazing than him," I flipped my hair and rolled my eyes, even though inside, I'm questioning everything...

Rei chuckled and shrugged, "If you say so, but you should really ask her out soon or else someone might snatch her away from you." It's exactly what Liz said to me.

My face turned serious as I spoke, "No one's taking her away from me. I'm gonna ask her out tomorrow and you..." I pointed at her, "... Don't tell her about it, got that?"

The kid's face brighten and she clapped loudly while standing up, "Finally! I can't stand your scaredy gut being so hopeless around Minji."

I rolled my eyes but smiled because yes, I was all that.

"I know, right? Thanks to that girlfriend of yours, too. She has a lot of great pieces of advice on that," I shrugged and threw a bag of chips on her way, which she caught.

"What does Liz have to do with that?"

"Oh, nothing. She just gave me tips. I think that's how she got you, right?" I smirked at her. Rei's face turned bright red and her eyes wide.

"Y-you... just shut up will you, Pham? Or I'm gonna throw you off the window," she sat back down and hid her face behind the computer screen. I laughed at her and exited the room.

I went to the music room because maybe I'll see Minji there. And I did.

But she was with someone...

Was it that Jay guy that Liz told me about? They look like they're having fun with each other... Minji is smiling at him. I don't like it. I don't like it when she smiles like that to anyone that's not me, or our friends.

I just stood there, with my heart feeling like it's being squeezed out of my chest.

Minji finally noticed me, her face shocked as she saw me. She told the guy something first then rushed to me. I just smiled slightly, containing my emotions.

"Hanni-ya, hey. What are you doing here?" Her voice wavered a bit but she shrugged it off.

I looked up to her and glanced at the guy, who was now watching us. He smiled at me but I looked away, staring at Minji again.

"I-I was looking for you, Minji. I didn't find you at the office a while ago so I came to look for you," I said slowly, trying to mask the pain I'm feeling inside.