Saving Mr. Popular

Chapter 2: Colleagues

Andrya and Mino walked towards their seats and joined their friends after the orders were released.

"Thanks, David!" They said to her.

"No problem!" She replied gladly and smiled. And still annoyed by the pet name they gave her.

They spent hours talking about mixed things like work, politics, clients, business, their friendship, about their lives and love lives.

Andrya's POV

Almost all of them are now in good relationships - Jana is actually married to Caleb, Steph is with her long-time boyfriend, Josh is gonna propose soon too while me and Mino are still single.

"Yah! You two, when will you get yourselves someone who can take good care of you both? You're so dedicated to both of your works. Have some fun and live your lives, freaks!" Jana said in a mocking but authoritative voice.

"I agree with that! I mean, both of you are working your asses every day. You don't need a lot of money in your life. You can't bring them to your graves!" Caleb corresponded while tapping Jana's shoulder.

These love birds are killin' me. Well, Mino is a guy, so he can probably get himself one too. While me, I haven't got the time to find mine or should I say he hasn't found me yet.

"Or should you marry each other?" suggested Steph with a blank face.

Mino looked towards my direction, and our eyes met as if as a cue we burst out laughing. Gosh! This girl. What the heck was she even thinking?

"If that was a joke. That was a good one!" Mino said laughing, holding on to his stomach.

"Yeah! Hahaha!" Josh agreed holding his tummy.

I nodded, agreeing with what Mino said while laughing too.

"I was serious when I said that! How can you not take that seriously?!" Steph said in frustration, then sipped on her Americano.

Then we stopped laughing but still tried to hold it inside which made a slight wince which I wiped slowly.

"You know Steph, I can't be in a romantic relationship or marry Attorney David for 2 reasons," Mino said in a serious tone.

"Why?!" Jana and Steph asked in unison, with annoyance and curiosity in their tone.

"First, because she's too smart, that frustrates me. You know she wouldn't want to lose any battle, and that wouldn't exempt me, and you all knew I do the same. Second, she's my best friend and that's our limit," Mino bluntly added, clearing things out and then cooly sipping on his cafe misto.

I smiled seeing the girl's faces in shock while me and the boys are just smiling. He has been vocal about that, and we all knew that he's the boy version of me. (But only me and the boys believe that we can't be together.) So, that's a big NO! We are close to each other because we often agree on many things, about work or about preferences. I mean, he's my boy version so yeah, we basically have a lot in common That's why we have been bestfriends since our Law days.

"Oops! I think I just got rejected in front of you, gals!" I broke the silence, joking about it while fake sadness and crying showed on my face.

Which triggered the girl, Oooppsie wrong move.

"Hey!" Jana screamed and hit Mino on his shoulders. "How could you do!?" She said sadly.

"Do what?!" Mino

"Rejecting her in front of us!" Steph answered with so much concern shown on her face. We're not open to this kind of thing with the girls. We don't often do girls talk that much that's why they don't know the kind of relationship I have with Mino.

"NO! I did not!" Frustrated answered. "How can you say I did that when you assumed there could be a 'US'?" Mino butted in and left a smirk on his face. Trying to emphasize the word "Us".

They were all fighting over this, and the conversation was getting deeper. I know that no one will stop till someone surrenders or loses. That's our friendship, and that's how we work as lawyers.

"Oooppssie! Gals, was that too much coffee or sweets? Enough with this love thing. As for me, I am still busy, so I don't know if I will have the time for that, but when it comes, I will gladly welcome it. So, don't you worry about me," I said, calming them down.

"Me too," Mino assented.

"But ---" Steph tried to say something, but I cut her.

"But what? I am a reasonably prudent person." I said, smirking. Jana and Steph look confused when I look at them. The boys were chuckling. "I haven't had any experience yet? I'm totally fine. Trust me. What are you here for, right? If I feel butterflies in my stomach or even do crazy things etc., I will contact you. I will, okay? Or if not, there is Mr. Google or books to reach out to," I continued assuring the girls with a smile.

They sighed and murmured, "What a nerd?".

They just knew me as that nerd girl who hadn't experienced any of that love feeling, as they said. My background about it? Actually, none as involvement. Just my friends' experiences & stories and it's just recently when I got time to read books about romance. And some movies, I think. But I do know lightly about it, and 'em no innocent about that and some other adult things, you know! I am no ordinary NERD; I am special, I guess. I used things to my advantage. (smirk)

All my life, all I did was study and focus on my career. After finishing my college degree and passing the board back in my dad's country, I flew here to the States and pursued Law.

Maybe it's just my way of escaping from things and reality---
study, books, music(before) & shopping.

All we did was teased, mocked, laugh, talked shitty things about each other, forgetting our stresses for a while, like how we normally act when we were still studying, carefree.

Just young, wild, and free.

I checked the time on my phone, and it was almost 9 p.m. That was a long talk, though.

"It's late, people, we will see each other soon again," I said, bidding goodbye.

"Yeah, we must see each other soon, okay?"Josh said.

We stood up from our seats and went outside the cafe.

Caleb will take Jana home. While Josh will still go to his fiancè and Steph took the cab.

"I'll send you home," Mino offered.

"I brought my car," I declined.

"Okay, then I will just accompany you to the parking area," he said.

"It's okay, I can manage," I said.

"I wasn't asking Andrya. That was a statement," he said coldly.

I look up to him because he is tall and looks expressionless.

"Are you avenging? Don't dare reject me again just because I rejected the 'US' thing a while ago" he said bitterly. That snatched me. My brows furrowed, and I threw him a confused look. Like what? I wasn't even thinking like that. I said I can manage because I really can.

"I just want to send my best friend home because I missed her but looks like she doesn't give a damn about it," he added bitterly again.

"Fine!" I exclaimed.

Then we started walking towards the parking lot. There was an awkward silence til we reached my car.