HERSHE || BBANGSAZ ||

30. Missed

"Were you the one who just called Minji?"

Minji's shifted her eyes to Hanni who's as speechless as her. She doesn't know if she's hallucinating or not, but Hanni's eyes were on her and Hyein's linked arms.

"Yes," said Hanni.

Hyein's grip on Minji's arm tightened. "So, you're the one Minji is going out with today?"

Minji swallowed. Admitting something like that might give the intern a wrong idea about them.

"Yes," came Hanni's response.

Hyein looked back and forth to Minji and Hanni, slowly disentangling their arms.

"We're supposed to talk about our new project," continued Hanni in her authoritative tone. "It's not like what you're thinking, Hyein. It's a business meeting, not a date."

"I'm sorry." Hyein bowed.

Minji felt relieved knowing they could get rid of Hyein now.

"But if it's about a task can I still tag along so I could learn more, Ms. Hanni?" Hyein, who seemed to have found another way to include herself in, asked them.

Minji takes in a deep breath.

"Sure. But on one condition..." Hanni walked towards them. "We should bring along Niki too."

"Me?" Niki pointed at himself.

"Yes. You're an intern too, right?" asked Hanni. "You'll get something out of this so you should tag along."

"Oh. Okay."

Minji puffed her cheeks.

Great. Her date has just been ruined.

—

Minji is utterly disappointed.

She's been missing Hanni so much that she mustered all the courage to finally ask the girl out. It is her way of gauging if something is wrong with the two of them, or if something has really changed.

Although she has no plans of confessing, Minji hoped that the night would end like how their nights ended in Haeundae: full of laughter, teasing, and just pure sweetness. However, all of those expectations are far from what's happening.

Instead of waiting alone in her car for Hanni, they are now walking together in the parking area along with two chaperones.

To make it worse, Hyein is walking ahead of them aiming for the front seat.

Minji smacked her own thigh due to frustration. What could be worse? Having two chaperones with them while her supposed-to-be-date will sit at the back?

Just as she thought, when she unlocked the car with her remote, Hyein grabbed the door to the front seat.

"Back seat," said Hanni, approaching the car. "You better sit beside Niki."

Minji tried to repress a smile while. Hyein didn't object and went to the back seat immediately.

Sometimes Hanni's bossy aura has its perks.

"So, where to?" asked Hanni after she shut the door on her side.

"Craving for anything at the moment?" asked Minji.

"Not really. Can we just eat somewhere near so we could go home right after?" said Hanni, busy buckling her seatbelt.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Minji pushed down the handbrake after starting the engine.

Great. This is just great.

—

They had their meal in a Japanese restaurant.