6th☀

Mijoo

Unknown: hey

Unknown: how are you?

No, Mijoo thought as she eyed the message with widened eyes. It couldn't be...

No matter how much she tried convincing herself this wasn't possible and it couldn't be happening, she couldn't ignore the fact that his number has been memorized in every corner of her brain—like she foolishly trained herself to. There was no mistaking this was his number, and that he had just texted her.

Mijoo wasn't sure whether to reply or not. She thought about it and had her fingers hovering above the keyboard but immediately slipped them back down, unsure about her decision. 

Maybe the past should stay the past, she thought, thinking over her decision. Maybe I should leave it as it was before. Soonyoung ruined most of what happened, so there was no point trying now. Done. Over. Gone. Finished. 

But Mijoo also knew her heart. No matter how much she would convince herself that it was all over, her heart made it hard to be believable. It was still beating. Not as crazily as before, but it was still beating. Beating for him.

She honestly hated herself for still thinking of him from time to time even if it's been two years since the incident. Not sure with her own decision, Mijoo locked her phone and put it back on the bedside table. She would talk it over with Sarang. Maybe she'd be able to decipher what he was trying to do. And maybe even find out whether or not to let go of that old story—she should've done long time ago.

Sarang

Life has been good to me these days. I've been happier compared with the days with... bleh, I don't even want to talk or think about him. But in conclusion, I can actually say that life's been better. 

Unless you have a friend named Mijoo pulling you into a tight hug before releasing you again to give you a good, firm shake by holding you by the shoulders and repeating the words, "What am I supposed to do?" 

Yup. Life could get better. 

"What's wrong?" I asked her, trying to calm her down in between her flip of random episodes. 

She mumbled words I couldn't understand nor made any sense. Instead of throwing her arms over me this time, she finally decided to link our arms together and rest on my shoulder. "I just don't know what to do."

"Neither do I, if you don't explain yourself," I told her, trying to loosen her grip on my arm. It was starting to lose blood circulation. Hello, is no one concerned about that? Mijoo should take it easy.

Mijoo started pulling me into the classroom and forced me to take a seat on my seat while she took a seat on hers. After a while, she looked into my eyes and told me in a whisper, "He texted me."

"He? Who's he? There's a lot of he's. Unless..." My lips curled into a grin. There must be one reason Mijoo was acting this way and the only reason could be... "...Yejun? He texted you?"

Mijoo reacted by gasping loudly and smacking me on the shoulder in an instant. "No! Gosh, not him. The other him."

The strong emphasized him. I knew in an instant who she was talking about. "No way... After two years... How did it happen?"

"I don't know, either," Mijoo answered, sounding lost. "I just remember that I was randomly checking my phone to check for notifications then... It can't be anyone else, I'm sure of it."

"Why? Because you still remember his number after all these months?" I jokingly asked. Mijoo had a mortified look on her face, which meant nothing else but an agreement. "Wait... you still remember his phone number? Even after deleting it long ago?"

"I know, I know! It's weird, I get it," Mijoo told me, slightly biting her finger. She wasn't exactly biting it; she only made it look like she was. She said it became a habit when she wanted to think. "Texting me after two years. What else could it mean?"

I did my fair share of thoughts and calculation. "He's not over you?"

"It's not like he liked me in the first place," Mijoo replied. 

"He did. I'm sure of that," I told her, putting a solemn hand over my heart. Mijoo may not be able to see it since she was the one who liked him, but the other parties—such as myself—could easily tell that the two liked each other. 

What exactly happened for everything to go wrong so quickly? Even I wasn't sure about the story. It was buried beneath the bottom of the ocean, never to be heard ever again. Or never to be heard in the first place. 

It was something between Soonyoung and Mijoo. I just know it. 

"Never mind that. That isn't what's important. It's the fact he texted me again." Mijoo went back on topic. "What does it exactly mean?"

"After what happened—which even I, myself, have no idea about since you never shared about that night's events—I think he wanted to talk? Reconcile and be friends again? Start anew? And maybe... love?" I slightly teased her, noticing how tensed she was. 

Mijoo noticed the word I used and slapped my arm again. "No! Okay? That was all in the past, where it's supposed to stay. Nothing like that will ever happen again. At least, on his end..."

Yup. Definitely something I had no idea about. The only person who knew what happened last night—Wonwoo and I made our own theory about this—are Mijoo and him. Probably even Soonyoung, seeing how aloof Mijoo has been with him lately. Which was weird since the two were always so close. 

None of the three bothered to give Wonwoo and I, the clueless bystanders, an explanation. We weren't able to find out anything, too. The only story we knew was that something happened between Mijoo and him that caused a force stop in their friendship, as well as chances for their love story. Which is really devastating if you were a bystander. Even more for the two characters involved. 

In short, it was a love story with lots of bumps on the road as well as holes in between the book. No one really understood what happened, but we left it as it was without trying to find a better ending for it. 

Or maybe it hasn't ended. Maybe it was left on a pause. Now, a continuation of the story has come. 

"What if it's a chance, though?" I asked Mijoo. Pulling my chair closer, I asked her, "What if whatever happened that night was left unresolved, and finally, life's taking a toll and helping you two figure it out again?"

Mijoo ended up choking on her own saliva. "What? After everything that has happened? You really believe in that?"

As a reply, I gave her a nod to tell her yes. 

Mijoo shook her head. "You're crazy. No. That couldn't be why."

"It could," I firmly said to her. "You're just denying everything because you're scared."

"Right. I am. You're stating the facts. But you're crazy in believing that we could go back to what we used to before that night." Mijoo firmly shook her head and stared at me with a serious face. "That won't happen. Trust me."

"At least talk to him about it!" I suggested. 

"I'm too scared to..."

"Fine. At least let me see the texts he sent. I want to confirm it with my own eyes," I said, extending my hand in front of her. 

"I can't! A teacher might come in any second and if they see my phone, I'm dead. They'll confiscate it from me! Then my parents will kill me for it!" Mijoo worriedly told me. "I can't."

"Look at that clock." I pointed at the wall clock that was hanging in front of the class, right above the double whiteboards. "It's fifteen minutes advanced. Which means, there's twenty-five more minutes until a teacher will come."

Mijoo squinted her eyes at the clock. "Why would it be set to fifteen minutes advanced?"

I shrugged in response. "Don't ask me why. From what I remembered, the guys were playing around with it and decided it'd be fun to set it fifteen minutes in advance. Basically, the point is I need to see your phone."

Mijoo hesitantly agreed and slipped her phone out of her pocket and hurriedly hid it by pushing it into my drawer. She looked around cautiously while I took time to search for the message. 

Unknown: hey

Unknown: how are you?

I may not be great in memorizing numbers but I did recognize the last two numbers of his number. There was no mistaking it was him. 

While Mijoo was still taking time eyeing the area to see if any teacher would barge into the classroom, I quietly and quickly composed a message as a reply to him:

Mijoo: let's talk. meet me at love + flour after school. 

The reply came quick, and luckily, it was silent and without Mijoo knowing it. I would have to delete these two messages afterwards. I didn't want Mijoo finding out about this. She would kill me for sure. 

Sorry, Mijoo. As your best friend, I need to help you with certain things such as this one. 

Unknown: okay. see you there. 

Quickly working with my fingers, I held both messages and tapped on the delete icon. I pressed 'delete' after debating for a while and finally handed Mijoo back her phone. 

"Now do you believe it?" Mijoo asked, without having a single clue about what I had just done. 

I nodded back. "It's him alright."

I might not even be forgiven for this. It was too late now. I couldn't go back on what I've done. There was no turning back from this point onward.

Hoping for the best, I gave Mijoo a smile before letting the silence take over us. I figured Mijoo would need to do something thinking as well. Also mental preparation for what's coming for her. 

☀

The more we neared Love + Flour, the more I felt guilty about doing that to Mijoo. She didn't deserve to see him again—at least, that was what I believed in. Whatever happened that night was unclear and it was left that way. 

Maybe they just needed to talk it out? That was exactly what was going to happen, though. The only difference was that Mijoo has no idea about it and was totally not ready to see his face after two years. 

What have I done?

I wanted to stop Wonwoo and Mijoo from walking into the bakery but how would I do that without looking suspicious? And Mijoo could read me. She always easily did that. She'll find out something eventually by my facial expressions and actions. 

When I looked up from the pavement walkway, I saw Wonwoo and Mijoo already walking into Love + Flour. I secretly glanced at the window of the bakery from outside and saw a familiar-looking person and held my breath in response. 

Okay, I had officially made a recipe for disaster. 

Mijoo

Mijoo entered the bakery without any clue and when she turned to her right—where the seats were—she paused when she saw a familiar face sitting where they usually sat. 

When the figure took notice of her, he stood up but didn't say a word. He fixed his shirt and studied his eyes. He wanted to speak, but he just couldn't. So many things were left unfinished that night. 

"W-what are you doing here?" Mijoo weakly asked. His face wasn't the face she wanted to see right now. 

He half-smiled. "You told me to come here. You texted me to."

By now, Mijoo glanced behind her shoulder and tried to meet Sarang's eyes, but she was ignoring every type of eye contact. And before Mijoo knew it, Sarang was dragging Wonwoo away from where she and him stood. 

Mijoo had no other choice but to face him again. She couldn't believe he was there... standing in front of her. 

"You should sit down. You look like you might pass out any second," he said, sounding concerned. 

No, Mijoo thought, grabbing a hold of a nearby chair, don't speak. It's too much for me. 

"Mijoo, we should talk," he suggested, also taking a seat after Mijoo sat down. 

"What happened has happen. We can't change anything," Mijoo said after a moment of calming down. She didn't look at him though. She didn't have the strength to. 

"You know the magic of unfinished business?" he asked all of a sudden. 

Mijoo shook her head without sparing him a glance. 

He continued, "The magic... Unfinished business are left unfinished but there's a magic that helps it. Whatever is left unfinished will continue until the perfect ending for that unfinished story is made. What's even special is only selected stories will have this type of magic."

"So, what? Are you saying our story has been blessed with the magic you're speaking of?" Mijoo skeptically asked. She wasn't sure what her heart was doing. Was it beating because she liked him, or was it beating because she was scarred by that night's events? Guilt. Fear. Regret.

He lightly brushed the many strands of his hair away from his face and breathed in. "Maybe. Isn't that why we're sitting across each other like this?"

Mijoo lightly slammed her fist onto the table. "How can you be so calm about talking to me? I don't even understand myself. I should be too embarrassed to talk to you. You should be mad at me. That's how it's supposed to play out."

He shook his head and suddenly looked serious. "Mijoo, you're not supposed to assume how the other person feels. They have their own share of emotions, and they chose whether to feel those emotions or not. And I choose not to be mad at you for what happened that night."

Mijoo's eyes softened as she turned to face him. "You're not mad?"

He shook his head. "Not one bit. I know it wasn't your fault."

Mijoo bit the insides of her cheek. He wasn't even that great. She didn't know why, but the words of her cousin was starting to circle her mind. 

She cleared her throat and said, "Let's start fresh, first. How are you? How have you been?"

He was surprised by the sudden change of conversations but answered nevertheless, "It's been good, I guess. I can't say it's been the same ever since then."

Mijoo tried to appear unfazed by him always trying to bring up that conversation. "Oh, cool. As for me, it's been alright. Sarang's back from Japan and I couldn't be happier."

"I see the three of you still hang out together." He smiled, as if to admire the close friendship of Mijoo's. "That's a real sight to see."

That smile.

"Yeah..." Mijoo stammered, gulping as she tried to remain calm. "Kim Hwiyoung, can I ask you something?"

Hwiyoung was surprised by the way she suddenly called him by his full name. He slowly nodded, unsure what to expect. "What is it?"

Mijoo was shaking, but it was an incident of the past. She should have enough courage to ask him, since they were now referring to the past. "Do you still feel the same way as two years ago?"

Hwiyoung was taken aback by the question. "Two years ago?"

"Right before the incident," Mijoo said with a stoic expression. 

Hwiyoung slowly leaned back against the window and clacked his tongue. "I can't say..."

Mijoo nodded in response. "Great. Then this conversation is done."

"Wait, Mijoo!" Hwiyoung said the moment Mijoo stood up from her seat. "I don't know. After the incident, all my feelings went everywhere. I don't know which story to believe. I don't know if I'm supposed to believe in everything. I'm just really confused."

Before Mijoo would storm away, she faced him. "The magic of unfinished business? That's nonsense. Businesses are left unfinished mostly because it can't go on anymore. Or it just can't be continued. It would be best if unfinished businesses are left as what they are, without people meddling in it and trying to mend the broken pages of a book; it's just futile in the end."

Hwiyoung had gone his way from behind the table to reach out for Mijoo's wrist, preventing her from walking away. He turned her around and met her eyes before he dragged her out of Love + Flour to talk. 

Mijoo wasn't sure how long it has been ever since skinship between them has happened. It made her heart skip a beat, but it sounded as if someone was sounding those alarms. Warning, warning. Danger. 

Hwiyoung held her by the shoulders as he looked deep into her eyes. "I'm so confused, Mijoo. I thought you liked me? After one wrong event, this is how it'll end? With us as strangers that were once friends?"

"Maybe," Mijoo answered, pushing his hands away. "Maybe that's our fate. The story between us is over, Hwiyoung. I think it's time you put it away, the same way I did."

Or I thought I did, Mijoo thought. There were still pictures she saved in her laptop. A file dedicated to the both of them. She would have deleted them if she really put that book away. But she was afraid. Afraid that the story will haunt her if she did. 

"And what if I don't want to?" 

Mijoo froze after hearing those seven words. She wasn't sure whether to let this story continue, like what Hwiyoung have been saying or simply end it and find a better one in the future. 

With Yejun, Sarang would always say. 

"Hwiyoung, don't you believe in other love stories? Like, maybe this one just wasn't meant to be. We can be friends, I'll be fine with that but anything other than that is... totally not worth it," Mijoo told him. Even if it sounded stupid because that might not even be what Hwiyoung was trying to imply, she at least wanted to get it out. 

"What we almost gained was destroyed and was left as it was without any of us trying," Hwiyoung said, taking a step closer. "I'll say something I've never got to say that night—the very last night we ever got to see each other: I like you, Kwon Mijoo."

Mijoo was close to tears. Not because she was touched by his words, but because there were just so many complications. This story wasn't worth it. There were risks and scars Mijoo couldn't take if she accepted him. 

He wasn't even that great. 

She knew that. 

But he was the guy I liked. 

Foolishly liked, at that. 

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Hwiyoung asked, sounding scared. 

Mijoo gathered all her courage and told him, "I liked you back then, but I'm not too sure right now. Rather than trying to find out whether or not I still do, I'll take it as a sign that I don't. I'm sorry Hwiyoung, but we can still be friends, if you want?"

Hwiyoung didn't say words in reply; he immediately pulled Mijoo into a tight embrace that was forced. Mijoo struggled to break free but Hwiyoung worked out sometimes, so he had the upper hand. Mijoo was the weakling between the two of them.

Moments later, a figure came outside Love + Flour as well and pulled Hwiyoung away from Mijoo. "Don't hug her without her permission."

Mijoo couldn't be more surprised. 

~Author's Notes~

This is supposed to be a SEVENTEEN fanfiction but Yugyeom is crawling around with Hyungwon, Joohyuk and now Hwiyoung (from SF9, if you hadn't known) has came along. Oh, well. It's not that bad to have a mix, right? ;)

Thank you to all the lovely Kimichies that added this story to their reading list! <3 You guys are sweeties, I can't stop loving you guys, daww! <3 And thanks for the 400+ reads :)

xoxo

Byun Sang Kyung