Minji's Voice - Bbangsaz

Chapter 7

Hanni's POV

On Saturday, when I was clocking out of the restaurant, a number popped up on my phone that I didn't recognize.

"Hello," I replied.

"Hey, Hanni? This is Melanie. We met at the restaurant last week."

"Oh hello!" I said, waving goodbye to Maggie as she walked towards the door. "Yes, of course I remember you."

Maggie smiled and waved back.

"Oh God, that's good!" she said. "Well, I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time, but Linda and I are going out tonight, and we wanted to see if you'd like to join us."

I stepped out into the muggy afternoon sun and began walking toward my car. I remembered my thought about trying to be a normal girl again, doing normal girl things. "Um, well, yeah, okay, that sounds good, I'd love to."

"Okay, great! We'll pick you up at nine, okay?"

"Yeah, that's good, I'll be ready." I gave her my address and she knew exactly where she was, so we said goodbye and hung up.

Just as I was putting the key in my lock, I noticed a group of kids about ten or twelve years old across the street, laughing loudly. The largest of the children was pushing a smaller child who wore glasses and had an arm full of books. When the big boy gave the smaller boy a particularly hard push, the boy stumbled forward and his books scattered across the sidewalk. The other boys laughed some more and walked away, one of them shouting after him, "Alright, freak!" Even from across the street, I could see the embarrassment that washed over the boy's face just before he bent down to pick up the books from him.

Little idiots. God, I hated bullies.

I headed to the other side of the street to help the boy.

When I got there, he looked at me cautiously, his chin trembling slightly. I noticed that he had a slight scar where he must have had surgery to fix a cleft palate. "Hey," I said quietly, smiling at him and bending down to help him pick up the books. "Are you OK?"

"Yes," he said quietly, his eyes darting to me and then away as his cheeks flushed red.

"You're a reader, huh?" I asked, tilting my head towards the books.

He nodded, still looking shy.

I looked at the title in my hand. "Harry Potter...hmm. This is a good one, do you know why I like it so much?"

His eyes met mine and he shook his head, but he didn't look away.

"Because it's about an underdog that no one believed in at all: this funny-looking kid with glasses who lived under his aunt and uncle's stairs. But guess what? He ended up doing some cool things regardless of what he had against him. There is nothing better than seeing someone who no one expects to win come out ahead, don't you think?

The boy's eyes widened, and he nodded his head.

I stood up and so did he. As I handed him the books I had collected, I told him, "Keep reading. The girls love it." I winked at him, and his face broke into a big smile, smiling at me. I smiled back and turned to walk away when I noticed Kim Minji standing in a doorway just a few stores away, watching us, an intense, unreadable expression on her face. I smiled at her, tilting my head, and something seemed to pass between us again. I blinked and Minji looked away, turning to walk down the street. She glanced at me once as she walked away from me, but when I looked at her, she immediately turned around again and continued walking.

I stood there for a couple of seconds, watching Minji walk in one direction and then I turned my head to see the boy walking in the opposite direction. I huffed, turned around and walked across the street to my car.