Chapter 28: Afternoon at a Manga Cafe

"You...you... No, what I mean to say is why are you in Tokyo?" Miyeon asked after much difficulty.

"Hmm. I had some business nearby." Lu Minzhe answered nonchalantly.

"Here?" (Miyeon)

"Mhmm" (Lu Minzhe)

"In Shibuya?" (Miyeon)

"Mhmhmm" (Lu Minzhe)

"On this particular Friday afternoon?" (Miyeon)

"Yes!" (Lu Minzhe)

"And you just happened to be walking alone by Don Quijote and coincidentally saw me?" Miyeon asked apparent doubt in her voice.

"Hearing you say it like this. It sounds like fate huh," Lu Minzhe answered with a cheeky smile.

'Fate my ass. Does he have some sort of tracking app on me?!' Su Ning shuddered at the sudden thought that Lu Minzhe might be a stalker. Noticing Miyeon's suspicious glance, Lu Minzhe attempted to keep a straight face as he asked, "You aren't possibly thinking that I am stalking you?"

"..." (Miyeon)

"I'm hurt." Lu Minzhe said, trying to appear sullen.

"I didn't say that," Miyeon replied, her tone conciliatory and her face devoid of expression.

"But you were thinking it." Lu Minzhe insisted.

"..." Miyeon remained poker faced on the outside but was still wondering why she keeps running into this unnecessarily handsome CEO.

"And here I was thinking this was fate," Lu Minzhe spoke, appearing crestfallen.

"But! Since we both happen to be alone, I thought we could keep each other company." Lu Minzhe continued in a chirpy mood.

'His mood changes at the drop of a hat. Is it okay for a CEO to be like this?' Miyeon pondered over Lu Minzhe's capriciousness unaware that his attitude was only like this with her.

"Did Shu Li inform you of my whereabouts again?" Miyeon finally asked. The man walked over to face her and bent down so he could be at eye level with this petulant beauty.

"Don't be mad. I just finished some business nearby and Shu Li happened to text me that you were alone at the moment." (Lu Minzhe)

"I am perfectly fine going around by myself," Miyeon responded with slightly furrowed brows.

"I know you are. This big brother is the one who shamelessly wants to spend time with you. Would you let me? Hmm?" Lu Minzhe spoke in a soothing tone as if coaxing a child.

Miyeon stared at Lu Minzhe disbelievingly for a few seconds before letting out a loud sigh.

"CEO Lu...with all due respect, I don't think you would be interested in partaking in the activity I am about to do."

"CEO Lu?" Lu Minzhe repeated with a tone of inquiry.

"Minzhe-ge," Miyeon promptly corrected.

"How can you say such a thing? I am interested in knowing whatever my little sister likes," Lu Minzhe fired back with a smile.

With narrowed eyes, Miyeon pondered, 'Since when did I become CEO Lu's little sister?' However, not wanting to waste anymore time to discuss the matter she gently pulled Lu Minzhe's sleeve to guide him into the manga cafe. "Let's go in. I have a lot of things I want to accomplish before I meet up with Shu Li and the rest later," Miyeon declared with as much authority she could muster.

Lu Minzhe had to stifle a smile at the young lady's serious attitude; he was actually quite surprised that such a beautiful and indifferent woman would be into these kinds of things. The workers apparently thought the same as well; they all looked mesmerized at the extremely attractive young woman who went up to the register to book a theatre room for 2 hours.

Miyeon didn't seem to have any awareness of the effect of her beauty as she casually smiled and spoke to the man working at the booth. Though not completely fluent in Japanese, her handle on the language is pretty impressive for someone who learned through language exchange using an app, italki. Shu Li would often bring her to Japan for business so Miyeon thought it would be helpful to also study the language. Of course, she isn't able to conduct business in Japanese but daily conversations are something she could easily handle.

As the enamored young man working at the register was explaining the facilities available at the establishment, Lu Minzhe suddenly stood very close to Miyeon and angled his body such that he was able to place his forearm on the counter directly where she stood. This sudden display of intimacy surprised the manga cafe employee and for a split second he had a devastated look on his face. 'Ah! Of course such a beautiful woman would already have an equally handsome boyfriend,' the employee thought dejectedly.

Meanwhile, Miyeon felt it was annoying that Lu Minzhe was crowding her when the rest of the counter was free. Miyeon tamped down her feeling of exasperation and decided to just focus on finally getting to spend a few hours reading her comics.

And so, the two settled in a cozy theatre room and with a stack of comic books and began to quietly pass the time. Or at least, Miyeon had hoped to read in silence but the man seated beside her began to make random sounds. 'Oooh' 'Ahhhh!' 'Oh man!' 'Wow!'

Finally unable to control her temper, Miyeon snapped, "Would you please be quiet. The walls are made of cardboard. They're pretty thin."

"Oh! I see. I should sit closer to you so we can talk without disturbing the other patrons." Lu Minzhe said with a bright smile.

"That's not the …" Miyeon was about to say 'point' but she stopped as she caught sight of the comic book in Lu Minzhe's hand.

"Is that...Fruits Basket?" Miyeon asked with a skeptical expression on her face.

"Oh you know this!? It's pretty funny! I suddenly felt like rereading it again."

Miyeon looked at the pile of books beside Lu Minzhe: Ouran KouKou Host Club, Skip Beat, and Strobe Edge. 'Aren't these all shoujo manga? It's already surprising that CEO Lu even knows about these places but he actually reads girls' comics!?' Miyeon thought.

"You like these types of manga?" Miyeon asked incredulously.

"Mhmm! Which ones did you get?" Lu Minzhe craned his neck to take a peek at Miyeon's stack of books: Tomie, Museum of Terror, Kamisama no Iutoori Ni, Shingeki no Kyojin. Her picks were gory horror and action type comics.

"Wow. I need to remember not to make my little sister mad. Who knows? You might just hurt me using the stuff you learned from your books." (Lu Minzhe)

"..." (Miyeon)

"I have to say your book preferences do not match with your image at all. I never thought that an aloof and quiet person like you would be into such gorey stuff. You're scary." (Lu Minzhe)

"..." (Miyeon)

"But it's alright big brother will not forsake you despite your weird preferences." Lu Minzhe vowed with a self-satisfied expression.

"It's okay. You can forsake me." Miyeon refused point blank.

"No! I keep my promises! Big brother will stay with you." Lu Minzhe earnestly insisted. 'This time for sure.' Lu Minzhe promised to himself.

"Just read your books." (Miyeon)

"Shu Li is right you are so cold." (Lu Minzhe)

"If you can pass the next hour in silence, we can have dinner together." Miyeon finally conceded, throwing out bone so she could enjoy the rest of her reading time in quiet.

"Call!" Lu Minzhe grinned in response.