My Secret Guardian // song minho (#19)

Chapter 24

Minho

I sighed as I poured out the remains of the coffee blend into an empty cup and covered it with a lid, I wiped the bottom of the cup with a cloth and put it to the front of the counter, pressing the number at the same time. I leaned against the counter after the customer had left and taken her seat at one of the tables.

"What's with all the sighing?? You have been sighing since you started working. I told you that this Barista part-time job is not for you." A voice came to the counter and I stood straight, it was only my friend, Pyo Jihoon the underground rapper who now is a famous idol rapper under the name of P.O.

He finally succeeded in his dreams on appearing on stage and I feel proud of him. He earns tons of money unlike me who still struggles with life on a day to day basis, I will only start earning as much as he does once I start working full-time as a real psychologist.

"What are you talking about?? Don't you have work to do??" I asked him, he has been visiting this cafe almost every day and even has time to talk to me, won't his manager be worried that he is loitering around way too much??

"Not for now. We just finished up promotions and I have no individual schedule for this week so I'm here to accompany you. And you haven't answered me why you were sighing." He reminded me and I sighed again, making him roll his eyes at me. "Seriously, what's the matter??"

I sent a signal to my manager on shift that I needed to go to the toilet and leaving the apron on an empty rack in the breakroom, I took my cigarette pack and lighter and went out of the café. He is already outside waiting with his hoodie covering his head.

"Is SungJong still working??" He asked and I pointed towards the building just next to the café, a slender guy wearing the usual office attire came walking out of the building with a cigarette in his mouth and his blazer on his arm.

He became really good friends with me and Jihoon after Na MiWon got into an accident, he was one of the people who told me to never give up on MiWon even if she is never going to wake up. Jihoon waved at the guy who happily did the same and walked even faster to meet us, ignoring how people were all staring at me. A former gangster hanging out with an idol rapper and an office worker, a very strange combination that you will never see in years.

"Jihoon, I didn't know that you would be here. No individual schedule for now??" Jihoon shook his head and he turned to face me. "And you, I thought that you were going to quit smoking??"

I looked at the cigarette in his mouth. "Then what about you?? What happened to the good guy who would always speak of his mother in every conversation?? Finally became rebellious??"

"It's my choice to smoke and I want to. Why are we gathering like this today??"

Jihoon placed a hand on my shoulder. "Of course, he has something to talk to us about."

"Let's go to the alley right there. People would take photos of him and the two smokers around him, it is going to do very bad to his image." I pointed to the idol rapper and SungJong nodded, we hid in the alley that we always go to when we had things to talk about and when the two of us are smoking.

I placed a cigarette and lighted it, exhaling a long breath of tobacco out of my mouth. I sighed and turned towards them. "She is awake, she just regained unconsciousness," I told the both of them and they gasped, I haven't told them about Na MiWon waking up from a 3-year long coma.

"What?? Are you kidding??" Jihoon laughed out loud and SungJong elbowed him in the stomach.

"Minho never jokes around with stuff like this, why would he joke about things that are related to MiWon ssi." He flicked the ashes that were on the stick. "When did she wake up??" He asked with pure concern.

"Last week, when I was visiting her before I go to work." I paused for a short second. "And she doesn't remember me."

"How can it be??" Jihoon raised an eyebrow in confusion. "She hates your face, why would she not remember it??"

SungJong smacked him on the head. "There's a thing called amnesia and it is clear that she has it. Anything more that is different about her??"

"Don't tell me that she can't walk anymore??" I nodded and he gasped even more. "She can't remember you and the best thing is that she can't move around without a wheelchair."

"It doesn't matter if she doesn't remember me, I can start afresh with her," I told them and SungJong laughed, this is the first time that he has ever laughed so mockingly.

"What if she regains her memory?? Her hate for you is never going to end, you can't lie to her forever like that. She is smart and might even know that you are lying to her, she isn't that dumb you know."

Why won't I know?? There is no way that she would not know that I'm lying to her about everything that I had told her about, my identity, the fact that I was the one that caused to be like this, her depression was started because of me, I hid everything from her. For what?? I wanted her to know about the new one, not the one with a lot of flaws and weaknesses.

"If she did, I wanted her to know that anyways. That I did everything for her. That I am her secret guardian." Even if she still hates me after 3 years, I don't care... I just want to take care of her and protect her. What I can't do 3 years ago, I will do anything to protect her.