Even If You Beg

Chapter 13

Tin's POV

With a heavy heart, I followed Pete and Ae inside the mall. I felt so hopeless and helpless that I wasn't getting anywhere in my efforts to turn Can into a friend. I regretted so much that I had jumped to conclusions regarding Can's character and had said all those mean and rude words to him and Ae when I met up with them at the university campus.

I wondered why Ae was able to forgive and forget, but not Can. Maybe it was because Ae was in love with Pete and since Pete and I were in the same class, he found it in him to forgive me.

What about me? Why am I so in love with someone who can't forgive me?

"Are you okay?" I got startled by Pete's question. I didn't realize that he had been watching me wiping away the tears that had trickled down my cheeks.

"Y...yes, I'm okay," I said.

Can's POV

I was happy with my choices of t-shirts with funny sayings for Lay and myself. Mom saw the happiness on my face.

"So what is in that shopping bag?" she asked.

I started to take out one of the t-shirts from the bag to show her. I had not noticed that I was walking straight into a shallow pool that had been built inside the middle of the ground floor of the mall. Before I could fall in, a pair of strong arms caught me.

"Thank you, sir," I started to say. "Tin ! ! !"

I was grateful but at the same time embarrassed and frustrated that it had to be him who saved me from falling into the shallow pool. Why was he walking behind me anyway?

"Where are Ae and Pete?" I asked him.

"They are trying on some slacks in one of the men's clothing store down that corridor," he said, "I wasn't interested so I started to walk around and I happened to see you just in time to catch you from falling."

"Thank you," I said, and then realized that his arms were still around my waist.

I quickly moved away, not able to explain to myself why I felt my cheeks suddenly growing warm.

"Why hello, Tin," said my mom, "we meet again. Thank you for saving my clumsy son from falling into the water."

"Mom!" I protested, "don't call me clumsy. I just got distracted because I wanted to show you the t-shirts that I bought for Lay and myself."

Tin put his hands together and bowed to my mom to give her a respectful greeting.

"I would like to invite you and Lay and Can to lunch at the Food Court upstairs," he said, "it's just to return the favor of you treating me to lunch that day that I helped you out at the vet."

All the time that Tin was talking to my mom, I was standing behind him and desperately making silent gestures to mom not to accept Tin's invitation to lunch.

"We would love to, Tin," she said with a gracious smile. So much for my efforts of flailing my arms behind Tin to keep my mom from saying yes to him.

Ae and Pete were wide eyed with surprise to see me and Lay and my mom sitting at one table beside Tin. I could not meet Ae's eyes as he looked at me searching for some explanation for what he perceived as a change of heart on my part. I would have to tell him later that it was my mom who had accepted Tin's invitation and not me.

Lay was just happily eating her choice of lunch, although at the same time disappointed that Pete and Tin were not boyfriends after all.

On my part, I was just pushing my food around in my plate, afraid to put anything in my mouth for fear that I might choke on it.

I decided to just drink from my tall glass of pink lemonade. Unfortunately, at that very moment Lay chose to move her elbow and accidentally nudged my arm, causing me to spill my drink on my shirt.

"Goddamit, Lay!" I could not help cursing at my sister.

Tin sprung into action. He quickly took several napkins and started pressing them against my chest, trying to wipe off the liquid from my shirt.