Unexpected Mate

4

Yeji pov

Today, my dad I are going to the café he owns. He wants to show me the human businesses we deal with. I'm actually really nervous. I feel like it's harder to handle a business than handling a pack of wolves.

We pull up to the café and it looks nice. I've honestly never been here. I try not to interact with humans as much as possible but I guess I have no choice but to do it now.

We get out of the car. My dad stands outside for a little bit and looks at the café. Out of all the human businesses he has, this seems to be the one he's most proud of.

"Let's go in and meet the employees" he says to me while practically skipping to the entrance.

I follow him and I look around. I have to admit, the place looks nice and calm. People seem to be enjoying the atmosphere. It has a nice smell of mocha bread and tangerines.

"Mr. Hwang, you didn't tell us you were visiting" I hear a small human greet my dad. She kinda looks like a cub.

"Chaeyoung, I wanted to show my daughter around. She's going to be taking over for me" he says to her.

The small cub bows to me, "Hi, Ms. Hwang. I'm Son Chaeyoung and that's Mina, my future girlfriend" she points at the girl behind the counter.

"Oh nice to meet you Chaeyoung and Mina" I say awkwardly.

"Where's Ryujin?" My dad suddenly asks.

"She already left, sir. We were on our way too but we saw you coming. You literally just missed her" the girl Mina says.

"Who's Ryujin?" I ask.

"She's the manager of this place. That girl really knows business. She's the reason why this café is doing well" my dad answers.

"We have plenty of regulars that are women that comes just to see her" Chaeyoung laughs.

Hmm, that statement makes me curious. What does that girl look like to attract women to the point, they'll spend money just to see her.

"That explains why, it's always busy in the morning and not as much in the afternoon" my dad chuckles.

"Or maybe it's because not as much people need coffee at night" I say seriously.

"Yea, you're probably right" Chaeyoung scratches her nape.

"I'm sorry for my daughter, sometimes she's slow to pick the energy in the room" my dad tells them.

"We know people don't drink a lot coffee at night. We were just joking around at Ryujin's expense since she's not here" my dad tells me.

"Why are we even talking about someone who's not here?" I ask kinda annoyed.

"I'm sorry Ms. Hwang" the short girl apologizes to me. I kinda feel bad now. They all seem really close with each other and having fun. I ruined that.

"Yeji, I hope this is not how you're going to run the business. Our people need to have fun too. As long as they get the job done is what matters to me" my dad says shaking his head at me.

I hear the door open and we all turn towards it.

"Jisu?!" I say.

"Lia?" I hear Chaeyoung and Mina say at the same time as me.

I turn to them and they turn to me, "Jisu?" They say. "Lia?" I say to them. All three of us confused because of the different names we called my bestfriend.

"Hi everyone" Jisu waves timidly.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"You just missed Ryujin if you're looking for her" Chaeyoung says making me confuse. My bestfriend knows Ryujin?

"Wait! What's going on here? How do you know my bestfriend and Jisu, why are you here and how do you know this Ryujin girl?" I ask everyone.

"Well this seems like younger people drama so Yeji, I'll wait in the car" my dad says.

"Lia is your bestfriend? She's the girl Ryujin is head over heels for" Chaeyoung says.

"Excuse me? What?" I ask completely baffled.

"Jisu? Why do they keep calling you Lia?" I ask still not believing this conversation is happening.

"I'll call Ryujin later. Thanks Chae and Mina" Jisu says before dragging me out of the café.

"Let go of me. I'm still your Alpha" I say to her. She let's go right away.

"Now tell me what's going!" I command her.

She looks down avoiding eye contact since her wolf just naturally submits to me. "I met them when your dad sent me here to drop off something before. Ryujin thought I was cute and I thought she was handsome so we exchange numbers. I didn't think she would fall for me. I make it clear to her that I just want to be friends since you know, we have that mate thing. And as for the Lia name, I just wanted to try it out and what better way to test it with strangers" she explains to me.

"What's so special about this Ryujin girl that my dad talks so highly about her?" I ask feeling kind of jealous because of how much my dad praised her earlier.

"She's the nicest human you'll ever meet. She has this charm that just draws you in. She's so helpful and caring. She would always make sure that I eat properly and she's always all ears whenever you want to talk about your problems" she says.

"It sounds like you like her too" I say frowning.

"If we didn't have mates, yes I would probably date her. Who wouldn't?" She says laughing.

"I didn't know you like interacting with humans" I say walking back to the car while she follows.

"I don't. I just interact with Ryujin but the two you met are her friends so I had no choice but to interact with them as well."

"You shouldn't look down on them, especially since you'll be managing them too" she says getting in the car.

"She's right, Yeji. You're not only managing the pack, you'll also be managing humans in the business side" my dad joins the conversation.

"I'll try my best not to be rude to humans" I say with no energy.