Butterfly | Park Jimin [Book II]

8: Acquaintance

"Haneul, Haneul, quick! Come here!"

I glanced over my shoulder, sporting a questioning look as Hira beckoned me towards her. She craned her neck, her body swerving left and right, as if she were in search of something.

We were currently at the mall, basically to de-stress from the hectic and nerve-racking days that had flown by. I guess it was working since Hira was back to her usual, seeing her like that.

Complying, I stepped away from the clothes rack to see for myself what had caught her attention for her to appear so intrigued and excited at the same time.

"Isn't that your ex?" she questioned, pointing through the glass divider of the apparel store and pulled me towards the entryway for a better view.

"What?"

"I think that's Joshua," she said, and my brows knitted, eyes following the direction of her gaze.

Hira wasn't lying.

From the short distance stood Joshua, carrying his usual charm and innocent face of his, now with sharper—yet still gentle—facial features. He was fiddling with his phone, lifting his gaze up and looking around once in a while.

"Let's go there!"

"Hira, you don't casually walk towards your ex out of nowhere to meet them. It's not how it works!" I opposed.

"It's not like you broke up in bad terms," she insisted. "And don't act like you're a relationship expert."

"Hira..." I warned.

"And that was also in college," added Hira. I tried hard not to roll my eyes at her persistence.

"But still, that's not something you -"

"Ah! He's looking this way."

"- casually do."

"Hong!" She raised her arm high in the air.

"Hira!" I whined, but it was too late. My eyes met with Joshua's, who then had a surprised expression. There was a flash of recognition on his face shortly, and he sported a soft wide smile then waved a hand at me.

I waved back, returning the smile, though at the back of my head, I was already digging Hira's grave.

"Hira, stop it," I whisper-shouted when she dragged me out of the store, but my protests were all ignored.

Thank you so much for hearing my thoughts out, Hira. I mentally rolled my eyes.

"Joshua, hey! How are you?" Hira poked him on the side, smiling like a lunatic and I was so ready to disown her as my best friend. "It's been a while. What's up?"

Unlike me who had totally found her creepy and acting overly familiar, Joshua wasn't the least bit bothered. He laughed, scratching the back of his head.

"Hira, Haneul," he greeted politely and then turned to my best friend. "I've been well. How about you guys?"

"Residency is hectic as hell, it's tearing my life apart," Hira dramatically responded. "But Haneul right here is already a successful graphic designer. She also works in a promotion company. She's successful now."

Sure, inform him of everything he had missed in my life. Thank you, again, for considering my thoughts.

"Is that so?" He turned to me, carrying an amiable expression.