From Past To Present, I Still Love You 49 A Shot Of Soju

Since the owner was familiar with her, she offered some dokbokki (spicy rice cakes) to Yoona while she waited for her friends. With a pair of wooden chopsticks, she stabbed the rice cakes before placing them in her mouth.

So tasty.

Luckily, since she had something to munch on, the time spent waiting for her friends didn't feel too long.

The first person to arrive was Lucas who was walking with his hands in his pockets. He was making his way down the road with the usual grim expression on his face. His fox-like eyes looked around the pocha, searching for a familiar face.

"Lucas here!" She stood up from her seat, saving her hands.

He sent her a nod of acknowledgement before sitting down. However, he continued to look around, trying to find traces of someone else. "Eunha's not here? Isn't she the one that initiated the whole thing?"

Yoona looked down at her phone to check if Eunha had texted her. When her screen flashed on she could see that Eunha had indeed sent her a message. "She'll get here in five minutes. Apparently, she took too long fixing her hair."

Lucas was clearly unhappy. He crossed his arms. "That girl is going to be the death of me."

"Tell me about it," Yoona jokingly agreed. Although Eunha was a lovely and sweet girl, she was just a bit ditsy. In a very endearing way though of course. Sometimes she worried for Eunha in case of a serious situation. Her friend was the type that would offer her robber a tea to drink.

Then she giggled. "She's still a freaking great friend though. Plus, her clumsiness is cute, don't you think?"

Lucas sent her a what-the-f.u.c.k-are-you-talking-about look.

"Whatever you say."

---

Eunha came shortly after with her hair in perfect condition. She was wearing a very fas.h.i.+onable outfit; a beautiful dress with a beret on her head. Very french-inspired attire. She skipped towards them with a large smile on her face.

"Good day madam and monsieur," she greeted before curtly bowing.

Yoon giggled as she saw her friend speak in character. "Hi Eunha. You look great."

"I know," she said while flipping her hair. "Today I wanted to dress a little fancy. In commemoration of finally quitting our job."

Lucas raised his eyebrow before eyeing her outfit up and down. "You know, if you only spend all that money on food instead of fas.h.i.+on, you wouldn't be whining about starving all the time."

There were two main comments Eunha liked to make; either she talked about boys or how hungry she was. Since Eunha was also a student paying for university, she constantly had cheap or minimal meals. The cla.s.sic life of a university student. Yoona was similar too, but unlike Eunha, she didn't talk about it as much and also did occasionally go on a date to a nice restaurant.

"Whatever. Beauty is pain and fas.h.i.+on is the same way. You have to make investments for yourself," she retorted. Indeed words from a fas.h.i.+on major. To her, fas.h.i.+on was a lot more important than some necessities. After all, it was what she wanted to pursue in the future.

Although Lucas didn't agree with her statement at all, he knew he wouldn't be able to fight against her. She was a stubborn girl.

"Sure Eunha sure."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear your sarcasm." Eunha asked. She turned her head towards Yoona. "Anyways, did you order the drinks yet?

Yoona nodded. "Yup, three bottles of soju and three beers."

When Lucas arrived, they had ordered the drinks so that they would be on the table around the time Eunha arrived. For now, they settled on six drinks.

"So little?" Eunha remarked.

"I have school and you have terribly low tolerance." Yoona retorted.

Last time they went out for a drink, Eunha got drunk off of one bottle. Late at night she had trudged down the streets with her arms on Lucas's shoulders. It was a mess. Apparently, there was throw up all over her hair by the time she arrived home. Lucas was not happy to have his favorite s.h.i.+rt ruined.

They did not want to repeat this night again.

Eunha pouted. "Fine. Then I guess you ordered a bottle and a beer for each person?"

"No way in h.e.l.l," Lucas said. "I'm having half of your bottle and another one for myself. Unlike you, my tolerance isn't s.h.i.+t."

The same night they went drinking, Lucas had three bottles and he was better off than Eunha. Other than feeling a bit tipsy, he was able to walk and think properly. One and a half bottles was like drinking water for him.

"Argh i'm jealous." Eunha pouted before crossing her arms. "I wish I was blessed with great tolerance as well."

"You know, you've been wis.h.i.+ng for a lot of things lately," Yoona teased. In fact, yesterday Eunha was literally wis.h.i.+ng for a CEO to come into her life.

Eunha cutely shrugged. "What can I say, there are so many things missing from my life. Plus, yesterday was literally a dream. Any girl would say the same thing."

"I guess," Yoona said. Eunha wasn't entirely incorrect, yesterday was like a dream. Now, whether or not that was a good thing, was a question to ask.

As if Eunha read her mind, the conversation switched to the topic of Minhyun.

"Speaking of yesterday, that childhood friend of yours: Minhyun. You said on the phone that you wanted to talk about him? Anything wrong?" Eunha continued. She was slightly worried. Yesterday, everything seemed fine. What could possibly be wrong?

Yoona took a deep breath. She wanted to word everything properly. There wasn't necessarily a problem; it was more of her sense of doubt. In fact, her insecurities was the main perpetrator of this situation.

"I don't know where to start," she began. A bunch of thoughts jumbled in her brain. "I just feel weird being in this situation. My life was so s.h.i.+t but then suddenly everything brightened thanks to this guy. Now, there is no need to worry about the Moon siblings because he is protecting me."

She continued: "Yet for some reason, I just keep questioning why he's helping me. Chae Minhyun is one of the richest men in the world. Although we are childhood friends, i'm not sure if that is enough to justify why. We did give each other emotional support when we were younger but that was fifteen years ago. I think that because of the whole Moon siblings situation, I can't help but doubt everything."

"He's a super nice guy from what I can see though," she added. "He treats me well but my brain won't cooperate!"

It took a while for the two friends to take in the large amount of information. They didn't realize Yoona had this problem.

"I get what you're saying. You're worried that he might end up the same way since Jaemin also treated you well before your first anniversary right?" Eunha confirmed.

Yoona nodded. Eunha was right on the dot. A clear example to why they were close friends. The Moon siblings had ruined her perspective on rich people and trust in general. Eunha and Lucas were different because they knew each other before the betrayal. On the other hand, Minhyun was a person she hadn't seen for fifteen years. It was weird.

How can someone care for her so much over the fifteen years?

There was a moment of silence. Everyone thought about Chae Minhyun, trying to think back to yesterday when they had their conversations. It was true that he had no reason to talk to Yoona again for he basically had everything in the world.

Yes, they had a childhood and helped mend each others emotional scars, but was that enough to go through these lengths to support Yoona? Plus, he did offer jobs to all three of them. No ordinary childhood friend would do the same.

Yet, Eunha had a different theory. She knew where Yoona was coming from, but didn't agree with her words. "From what I can see, he just really cares about you. The way he looks at you is just different. Trust me I think. He's not going to betray you like those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. But I have to admit that he's kind of scary in general."

From what she saw yesterday, the way Minhyun treated Yoona was different from how Jaemin did. They were incomparable. Minhyun simply looked and treated her with such care. Both boys were nice to Yoona but sometimes, Eunha felt like Minhyun cared more about Yoona's option and her happiness rather than a romantic relations.h.i.+p itself.

Lucas listened to Eunha's words carefully. Throughout the conversation, he was pretty quiet but now he felt the need to speak up. Of course, from the beginning, he wasn't a fan of Minhyun at all. He knew for a fact that Minhyun did not like him. However, his thoughts were also similar to Eunha's.

It hurt him slightly to encourage her relations.h.i.+p with Minhyun no doubt, but he felt obliged to say it. Not because Minhyun offered him a job, but because he cared for Yoona enough to tell her the truth.

He ran his fingers through his blonde hair. "I'm pretty sure the only reason to why he offered me the restaurant was because of you. But from what I can see, I agree with Eunha for once. I don't think he wants to hurt you. In fact, I think he just cares a bit too much."

"But yeah, definitely keep a eye out for any suspicious actions," he added.

Yoona nodded while taking in all the information her friends had said.

What she was dreading was another betrayal, but if he had nicer intentions of becoming closer to her than that was for the good right? That was all that mattered.

"Thanks guys," she said honestly. "I really needed that confirmation."

Eunha lightly punched her in the arm. "No problem. And if he hurts you, who cares if he's the MH CEO, we'll get our revenge as well."