CLICHÉD

C-36

"Excuse me, can I sit here for a while?" a soft voice asks.

"Sure," I reply with my attention still on Dori.

"Hyung, what's taking you so long? Okay, just don't forget my ice cream." I hear him say before hanging up. I don't mean to eavesdrop, he's just so near.

My head immediately whip to the person beside me when I recognise the voice.

"Jungwoo from the convenience store?"

"Y/n!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm out with my friends. How about you?" he says.

"I'm out with Dori, my cat." I motion to the baby on my lap.

Shock registers on his face before eventually grinning at Dori. He looks at me as if asking if he can pet him. I nod and place him on his lap.

"A cat person, huh?"

"I like all animals to be honest. It just happened that the first pet I got is a cat."

"You remind me of someone." Jungwoo smiles a little.

Me too.

I unintentionally stare at him. Why does he feel familiar? For some reason, I'm not creeped out by him even when he's basically a stranger.

"Have we met before?"

"You don't remember me, do you? That hurts." He chuckles.

Before I could reply, someone calls Jungwoo. We both stand up and I was shocked when I see a familiar face from three of the approaching men.

"Who do we have here?"

I didn't know they're friends. Well, I don't really know them.

Jungwoo stands up. "Um, my friends."

"I'm Yuta," the Japanese guy introduces himself.

"That's Kun-hyung." Jungwoo motions to the guy who offered his ice cream to me. "That's Ten-hyung." He points to the smallest boy from the group.

"Do you want some ice cream? Oh, sorry, it's finished~" Ten mimics Kun with a mocking tone. I can't help but giggle at him.

"I'm Y/n," I tell them. I got uncomfortable when they all stared at me for a few seconds as if registering what I just said.

"Do you remember me?" Yuta asks. "We used to-"

"-bump into each other! Hallway at school, right?" He's the one who found my hanky outside of the school's restroom.

"Yeah, that." He scratches his nape. "Sorry again."

"We didn't recognise you at first," Ten says. "You look different."

I frown at them and Kun claps his hands and chuckles.

"We're trainees with your brother," Kun says. "So it's true. I thought he was lying when he said you don't know us."

I nod as my confusion got answered. My brother might've shown them a picture of me. That's horrifying because I look completely different back then. I look like Dora the Explorer with literal bad eyesight. I still cringe remembering that phase of my life. I'm glad I got rid of it before moving to Seoul.

"It's only fair since we don't have much exposure yet. You guys talk too much." Jungwoo laughs dryly. He turns to me and offers a friendly smile. "Why don't you hangout with us?"

"Sorry, I still need to buy something for Dori," I decline.

Wait. Where's Dori?

I look around but I don't spot a grey cat anywhere.