Give the Reasons.

Looking at Mia's serious expressions Yuna excused herself and silently went out from there. Before stepping out from the locker room when she looked at Ray's face, the smile resting on his face felt scary to her.

"What is it dear?" Ray asked pretending he doesn't know what she's going to talk.

"Listen…" Mia said and took a deep breath. "Ray..."

"Yes honey?" He asked very softly.

"Please..." She held both of her palms in front of him and said, "First, just stop calling me….that."

He didn't say anything.

"So…Ray…"She closed her eyes for a moment and deciding to herself, looking right into his eyes, she said, "I can't do this anymore!"

"Do what?" He asked acting clueless.

"You very well know what I am talking about!" She said. "I can't date you!"

She expected a reaction from him, he getting angry or sad after that. But his expressions didn't change at all. The slight smile was still there on his face; which was kind of scary.

"We cannot date!" She said again to reassure that he heard it this time clearly.

"Why?" He asked, the voice still calm and gentle.

"Huh?" She stepped back a little with uncertainty.

"Why can't we date, Mia? Tell me." He said.

"…." She didn't know what to say, 'cause she hadn't even thought about this.

Looking at her clueless face, his lips curved up in a smirk.

"Are you dating someone else?" He asked next question, very bluntly.

"….Huh?" She was again caught off guard.

"Do you love someone else?"

"…." She looked down, being short of words. "….no."

"So, the answer is No." He said. "I know you are not dating anyone nor you had ever, Lee Mia!"

She looked up at him a little surprised.

"So, you are single. I am single." He kept talking further. "If you wanna know if I have dated before, I'll tell you. When I was in the states, I dated a couple of girls."

"Ohhh…" She sounded a little disappointed which he liked for sure.

"But it never lasted long." He cleared himself. "You know why?"

She looked him with the same question in her eyes.

"Because they were not you, Lee Mia!"

"Huh?"

"Yeah. I tried. I tried a lot to forget about you, girl. But I couldn't. Every single girl I met, I compared them with you and when I realized they were not a match to you, I left them."

Mia was listening to every single thing coming out of his mouth, very carefully.

He was talking very honestly and sincerely. She could see it in his eyes.

"Just one more and last question…" He said and started walking towards her. As he came real close she stepped back. He came closer and closer. She kept walking back but soon; 'Thudd!'

She hit the locker. There was no more way back for her to go.

He came closer and kept his hand on the locker, above her head, blocking her to go anywhere.

Unconsciously, her left hand went towards her dress's collar and she held it tight.

"Two years ago…" He started talking. "If…Just imagine…If you would have come to the river side that evening and if, as planned I would have proposed to you…."

He brought his face towards her. "Would you have said, 'Yes' to me?"

As soon as those words came out from him, her eyes widened. She could feel her heart beating inside like anything.

'….If….If that would have happened….' She started thinking. '…What would have I done? Obviously I would…..I would have said….YES!'

"Did you just say, Yes?" He asked as if he heard what she was thinking.

"Huh?" With that question, she looked at him with even more widened eyes. His gentle gaze on her made her cheeks start to burn up and turn pink.

He noticed it and the same old smile appeared on his face.

He took his face closer to her ear and whispered, "I got the answer!" And let out a laugh.

She felt her whole body getting warm and her legs going weak. She barely could stand with the support of the lockers in the back.

He looked at her again. His eyes pinned to her.

No one said anything for couple of seconds and then he slowly started bringing his face closer to her.

Seeing that, she shut close her eyes and clenched them tight. 'Oh God! Oh God! Are we…Are we gonna kiss now? I can't do this….I can't do this…'

Her grip tightening on her dress's collar.

And soon, she felt his soft and warm lips on her forehead.

'Huh?' She opened her eyes in surprise to see his face with a warm smile, looking at her only.

Her whole face had turned red by now and no one could deny that as it was clearly visible.

"So…" He whispered. "I don't see any problem with us dating. Do you see any?"

She shook her head, being hypnotized with his gaze.

"Yeah…" He happily smiled on that. "So we can date, right?"

"…." She didn't answer anything.

"Oh come on Mia!" He said as he got away from her, giving her some space to stand up properly and have a breath. "I'm not asking you to marry me!" He said and laughed.

"…Which I might ask in the future, but not now! Hehe.." He scratched back of his head.

"So what's so bad in dating?" He said again. "I'm not that bad, right?" He joked and lightened up the mood.

~

Mia came out from the kitchen and saw Yuna standing at the counter, waiting for her only.

As soon as Yuna saw her stepping out from the kitchen, she hurriedly went towards her.

Mia was still in the shock of what had happened inside. Her face was pale and her eyes were dark. She could barely walk and was lost in thoughts.

Yuna pulled her to a corner, which made Mia come back to her senses.

"Now tell me!" Yuna asked impatiently. "Are you and the boss…" She whispered the last words. "Are you two really dating?"

Mia looked at her but didn't say anything.

"Oh for god's sake, Mia! Just tell me already!" Yuna was on the verge of losing it.

Mia closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out from her mouth.

"Yes!" She said finally. "Me and him, we are dating!"

"WHAT??!!" Yuna literally screamed and everyone in the café was now staring at them. She bit her tongue.

Manager who saw that from a table, called for them. "Girls!"

Both, Mia and Yuna stood stiff.

"Go back to the counter." He ordered and without uttering a word, girls did what they were told.

After sometime of silence, Yuna made sure that the manager is not looking at them and, "Psst! Mia! Hey Mia!" She whispered.

Mia who had just done with the billing looked at her.

"I can't believe this Mia." Yuna said. "That you and him….our boss….the owner of this café are…dating!!!" She sounded excited about this. "How did this happen?"

"Please.." Mia whispered back. "It's a very long story. I'll tell you some other time. But…Will you…Will you just keep this in between—"

Yuna quickly zipped her lips. "Don't worry. Not a single word would go out from here." She promised.

"Thanks…" Mia got a little relieved.

"But will he stay silent?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, just like earlier if he roams around calling you honey and baby, everyone will know about it in no time…"

"Yeah that." Mia answered. "…That won't happen again. I took a promise from him not to involve anyone from the work into this anymore."

"Oh! Then it's fine!"

"Yeah…"

"But girl, don't forget to tell me the whole story. Okay?"

"…Yeah." Mia sighed.

"Cough…Cough…" Both the girls looked in the direction of the voice and saw manager's eyes on them.

They quickly stopped talking and went back to their work.

~