My Secret Guardian // song minho (#19)

Chapter 29

Minho

I smoked my cigarette as I was waiting for a certain person to arrive, someone who works in the office and is coming out in a moment. He is also my smoking buddy who I think is the most unexpected person to pick up smoking after graduation from his high school.

He was a very bubbly teenager who often worked at the same shift at the hotel that I worked during the entire 3 years of high school, he spouted nonsense all the time but I liked him as a person, he didn't judge me not even once when I told him about my background over a few bottles of Soju. That was when we became friends for real and I placed my trust in him completely.

"Song MinHo!!" He called my name and I looked up, his smile radiating through the crowd with a packet of cigarettes in his hand. "Did you wait for long??"

I shook my head. "Just came out on break," I told him and we shared a few minutes of silence while we concentrated on smoking till our fill, before then we are unable to function properly.

Cigarettes are like my life and I can't abandon it even if I hated it. I have tried to quit smoking a few times but it just comes back to me as if it is my destiny to be holding a cigarette in my fingertips and inhaling the smoke that every nonsmoker would scrunch up their noses in disgust once they have smelled it.

"How was class?? Did you get pissed off at anyone today??" He said taking the cigarette out of his mouth as he releases a long chain of smoke out of his mouth. "It was Na MiWon's first day right??"

"One question at one time, you are becoming a little like Jihoon," I told him. "Class was good though I have met one of my old classmates there, it was very surprising and awkward."

"Who is it?? Is it a guy or a girl??" I told him about my school life in high school as we are not in the same school and we have very different experiences but we both had hatred towards our school despite us being complete opposites.

He was the softie guy who gets bullied by his feminine looks and voice, he gets bullied quite a lot and working was his only way of escaping from the voices of people who hated him while I was on the extreme end, I was the bully who picked on people who are weaker than me and I hated the fact that I had to do that to keep my place as the best fighter in school. The hotel was our only getaway to be normal just like all the other teenagers who are part-timers working after school.

"A girl. She told me that she was the second in class after Na MiWon, her names were Jung EunHa?? Or is it EunBi??"

"The one who is pushing up her glasses?? Yeah, I know her." I nodded.

"She was in the same course but I don't remember seeing her anywhere in class until today where she got close with Na MiWon." I continued to blabber on until I stop and paused. "Wait... You know her personally??"

"She is my distant relative who is the same age as me." He replied and I burst out laughing. This isn't possible, she couldn't be related to Lee SungJong...

"I don't believe it, you and the bootlicker nerd are cousins?? How can it be?? This is way too much of a coincidence. I didn't even tell you about her at all."

"She is and I can prove it, I just saw her going somewhere with Na MiWon and 2 other friends." He stubbed the cigarette on the top of the trash bin and threw it away in the trash bin. "I heard that they were going to the arcade."

"The arcade??" He gave a curt nod. "When did you see them??"

"Around lunch break when I came out to have lunch with the other colleagues, they were crossing the road and I saw her there. I waved at EunHa and there I saw Na MiWon in her wheelchair while being pushed by EunHa and two other girls were with them. Na MiWon is really stunning like what you had described her as."

I rolled my eyes at him, a little annoyed that he complimented MiWon. "The main point??"

"I asked her about her day and she told me everything from the beginning of the day till the fact that they are going to the arcade with MiWon who is hanging out with them for the first time." I glared at him, wanting him to cut short his words. Now I can see the resemblance between him and Jung EunHa, they are both very chatty and beat around the bush all the time. "Yea, so they are at the arcade right now."

"Where??"

"The one near your high school, the arcade with the lifetime membership." I began walking off. "Wait!! I'll come along with you!!"

We travelled all the way back to the streets where my high school was and still resides there, they have never moved or done any renovations in the past 5 years so it still looks pretty much the same. Not that I cared, but it is still my Alma mater after all...

I found the arcade game store and went inside, my eyes darting around and scanning for the one person who is on my mind. What the hell is she even thinking about??

I thought that I told her not to visit any loud and flashy places before she would pass the 3-month mark of waking up from a coma?? The doctors have advised me to never allow her to enter such places too soon or she will not be able to handle that well and she had ignored my advice.

The arcade is incredibly crowded because of the timing, it is the favourite timing to come and play and it is also the time where highschoolers ended school. I looked around for Na MiWon hoping that she would be at the racing car machines as she loved the racing part of the game, I remember the time where she won over me, she wouldn't be that happy if I hadn't given up my chance to win the first round.

I spotted her near the racing car machines and she was there staring at something, I tapped her on the shoulder and she turns around and her eyes close shut even before she could even make a full turn to face me.

"MiWon!!!" I yelled and I got her out of the wheelchair and I turned to face the girl whom I promised to keep the secret about her past. "What were you doing?? Don't you know that she is not supposed to come here yet??"

"I... I..."

"You get away from her, you are not fit to be her friend," I told her before I got out of the place with Na MiWon in my arms just like all the other times that I have saved her.