Not wanting to leave Bonita alone with this strange newcomer while going to work, Minho refused to leave Bonita's apartment without Bang Chan. Minho knew waiting around for Bonita to relent would make him late in getting back to work, but he planned on dealing with the consequences. Eventually she did relent. After receiving a black baseball cap and black face mask from Bonita's closet for Bang Chan to wear, Minho moved to step outside the apartment whilst keeping a grip on one of Bang Chan's wrists.

"You can go figure out if you can get the fried DVD player fixed while I take him with me to work and then to my apartment to get some overnight things," Minho said.

"What are you? My boss?"

"No. I'm your concerned best friend who is certain you must have a screw or two loose."

Minho turned to fix Bang Chan with a look before dragging him behind him down the stairs. Bang Chan looked after him at Bonita for a moment before turning to face forward so he didn't trip.

"Don't even think about returning to her apartment without me. Understood?"

The level of acidity in Minho's tone shocked Bang Chan, causing him to just nod his head in agreement as they walked. It wasn't until they were several blocks away that Minho dropped his grip from Bang Chan's wrist.

"Look, I have to go back to work to finish my shift, so you can stay in my office and wait, but you are to speak to no one understand? Just sit there with your mask and hat on and stay silent."

Bang Chan just nodded again, remaining silent for a moment before eventually asking, "Why do you hate me?"

Minho pulled up short of the crosswalk to look at Bang Chan, crossing his arms.

"Why do you think?"

"I didn't ask to be transported here," said Bang Chan in such a way that Minho couldn't help but to raise his brows in shock.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, it's true," said Bang Chan. "Yes, I wanted to leave my circumstances, but I didn't ask to be here."

Minho let out a snort of amusement, rolling his eyes as he started to walk again. He pressed the crosswalk light as Bang Chan came to stand beside him. An awkward silence hung in the air between them. While they waited for the light to change, Minho turned to look at Bang Chan who was facing forward at the moment and staring into the distance as if lost in thoughts.

'Don't be like Bonita. Don't start feeling badly for him,' chided Minho internally.

As the light turned green, Minho reached down to grab Bang Chan by the wrist again, yanking him behind him across the crosswalk. They stayed silent as they finally reached the outside of the entertainment company Minho worked for. Bang Chan took the building in with an awestruck expression on his face as Minho went over with him to the front desk.

"I need a visitor pass for the afternoon," said Minho without any sort of formality to the receptionist.

"Ah, Mr. Lee, there you are. Mr. Ahn is looking for you."

"I'm sorry. I got caught up with something. Please page him that I'm on my way up to my office right now."

The receptionist nodded as she grabbed a clipboard for Minho to fill out the visitor information on before looking over at Bang Chan standing alongside him.

"Who's your visitor?"

"A very distant cousin," mumbled Minho as he quickly scribbled down a false name for Bang Chan. Glancing over Minho's shoulder, Bang Chan could see his fake name was 'Lee Haechung'. He smirked behind his mask as Minho placed the clipboard back down before grabbing the visitor pass and shoving it at the center of Bang Chan's chest. He did it in such a way that Bang Chan stumbled back a step or two.

Walking off on the receptionist before she could make a comment about the name he had written down, Minho made his way towards the elevators while Bang Chan followed him with the visitor pass now about his neck. Entering the elevator, the two of them rode up towards Minho's office in silence. The receptionist turned to watch them go, letting out a small hum.

"I wonder why that man looked so familiar," she said before ultimately shrugging and going back to work.

- - -

Bonita kept thinking about everything that happened as she carried her poor DVD player down the street. She knew Minho was just concerned for her, but in all the time they had been friends, she had never seen him act that way. He looked as if he was about to throw Bang Chan headlong down the stairs.

'I just hope the two of them don't kill each other during the day,' thought Bonita as she rounded the corner to where the electronic repair shop was.

Before she could reach out to open the door though, it flew open in her face and a man stumbled out and onto his butt. Bonita jumped back in shock as the man landed at her feet.

"STOP WASTING MY TIME YOU PUNK!" shouted a voice from the bowels of the shop. "NEXT TIME YOU COME HERE, I'M CALLING THE POLICE."

Bonita watched as the man stood up, dusting the dirt off his marsh green pants as he scowled at the doorway. He lurched forward to grab the device that came flying out at his head, half catching himself against the shop's entryway as he looked into the darkness within.

"Why do you think I'm wasting your time?"

"Because even someone like you should be able to see there is no fixing that MP3 player," said the voice with a tsk. "Just buy a new one and stop showing up every day with it. It's verging on harassment."

Sighing, the man turned, jumping when he saw Bonita standing there as if he hadn't just landed ungracefully at her feet a few moments ago. An apologetic blush coated his cheeks as he quickly bowed his head.

"Sorry. I'll move out of the way," he said, his eyes looking at the DVD player in her hands. "Good luck getting him to actually fix things."

The man turned to start walking off, Bonita watching him go for a moment before entering the shop herself. The small shop looked like it had become a graveyard for devices. They were stacked haphazardly on each side of her to the point they were almost touching the ceiling. They also were blocking any natural light that could even hope to come in from outside. Therefore, it left the only light in the shop coming from fizzing florescent lights in the ceiling. They were fizzing with such ferocity that Bonita thought they would snap and go out at any moment. Bonita kept walking carefully down the narrow aisle towards the man behind the front counter who hadn't even spared a second to look up at her. It took her clearing her throat when she came to a standstill in front of the counter for the man to finally look up from whatever contraption he was working on.

"Can I help you?" asked the man.

"Yes, I was wondering if you could fix this for me," said Bonita as she nodded at her DVD player in her hands. "It got fried during the storm the other night."

She put the DVD player down on the counter in front of the man, watching as he shifted his gaze to look at it.

"I can try, but it will cost you."

"How much?"

Jerking a thumb behind him at the price board, Bonita frowned. It would cost an awful lot, but she supposed she needed it fixed.

"Come on. You're really going to scam the young lady like that?"

Turning, Bonita saw the man from earlier standing there again. He wore a smile grin on his face as the light breeze played with some strands of his blond hair.

"FELIX! What did I tell you about..."

"I'm protecting the lady," said Felix as he motioned towards Bonita. "Give her a lower price. We all know you added an extra zero before the decimal point for all your services."

"Felix..."

The man's voice rumbled with the name, acting like it was some sort of curse word. Bonita stood there awkwardly as the storekeeper and Felix had some sort of odd stare down.

"My prices are final," said the man. "If she doesn't want to pay, she can take her business elsewhere. Same as you, punk."

Felix grinned at the name as if it were a term of endearment, daring to step foot in the shop to grab Bonita gently by the wrist.

"Follow me," he said. "Trust me. I'm protecting you from a crook."

"Why I ought to..." growled the man as he raised the tool in his hand at Felix.

Felix chuckled as he kept his hold on Bonita's wrist as he led her back outside the shop with the DVD player.

"Why did you do that?" she asked when they were outside.

Felix dropped his hand from about her wrist, shrugging his shoulders.

"Dunno. Suppose I didn't think you ought to be ripped off. If you were a man, he would have thrown you out like me, but since you are a woman, I knew he would just try to scam you. He has no patience for young adults whatsoever."

"Well thanks, I guess," Bonita said with a sigh as she looked down at the still broken DVD player in her hands.

Felix looked from her to the player, arching a brow.

"Those still exist?" he asked.

"I could say the same of an MP3 player," she said as Felix smirked.

"Okay, touché. You get a point there."

"I really need this fixed," she muttered with a sigh.

"Well, there are other shops," said Felix. "You can come with me if you want to try your luck there. They may not like me, but they might like someone like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Take it however you want," said Felix with another dismissive smirk as he started to walk off. "Follow me or don't. It's up to you."

Bonita stayed standing in her spot for a moment as she looked after Felix. Eventually, she took a deep breath and moved to follow after him.

- - -

AN: I hope you are all enjoying the story so far.

Just in case you are all wondering, here is what the word 'Haechung' means. 😂

See you all in the next update!