C-35
"You slept together?!" Chan and Changbin whip their heads at me at the same time.
"It's my first sleepover and it was so fun!"
They both release deep breaths and nod as if saying that they understand.
"I was kidding when I said 'get it'. I thought he really did." Changbin snickers.
"Here I thought my plan worked." Chan laughs. "Oh well, it's Y/n we're talking to."
The three of us are at the rooftop whilst Minho went to buy lunch for us. I don't know why they're here, but they said they sneaked out of their classes because they're bored.
I secretly smile because I've done that with Minho too.
"He really slept with clothes on? Woah, he must've liked you a lot since he always sleeps at least half naked," Chan says in disbelief.
Changbin looks at me in awe and claps. "We've been friends for so long but he never lets us in his flat, and then there he goes and makes you his first ever guest. He really got the feels for you, huh?"
I can't help blushing at their words. They're really good at reacting as I talk about my night with Minho after they forced me to share details. I didn't know they're the gossipy kind of boys.
"Guys..." I hesitantly call them. "Why don't you talk about yourselves? It's fine if you don't want to, I'm just curious on what you really do."
They look at each other before looking back at me.
"I think it's better if you see for yourself."
"You'll take me with you?" I ask nervously in which they both nod.
"Don't worry. We won't let anything happen to you or we might unleash Minho's wrath," Chan tries to convince me.
I slowly nod at them. "Okay."
"Come on then!" Chan stands up and dusts off his jeans.
"Right now?!" I ask. "Aren't we going to wait for Minho?"
"Where's the fun in that?"
"What happened to Minho-hyung's wrath?" Changbin quotes.
"It won't hurt to provoke him a little." Chan giggles. "It's been a while since I saw him angry."
Changbin and I look at each other and shake our heads. We follow Chan out of the door and my heart immediately starts beating fast.
"I forgot I still have afternoon classes."
"We can just use Changbin's connection. What is he here for anyway?" Chan says that earns a glare from the other boy.
"Don't worry, your neighbour will take care of it." Changbin types something on his phone. "There, done."
We enter Changbin's flawless black car with Chan driving.
"Put your seatbelt on, Y/n," Changbin says from the shotgun.
"It's fine, I'm at the back."
"I know." He grins. "It's just that we have this unspoken rule of keeping each other's significant other as safe and welcome as possible. Well, Minho and me, since Chan-hyung is set to be eternally single."
"Anyway!" Chan takes a deep breath and smiles with gritted teeth. "We just want to provoke him, not end up dead."
"We're not together yet, though," I murmur and Chan just raises a brow.
"Really? He hasn't asked you to be the good girl to his bad boy yet?" Changbin teases.
I shake my head as my blush spreads to my whole face.
"Doesn't look like it." He smirks.
These guys seem more invested in Minho's relationship than him.
Chan steps on the gas as Changbin blasts Jason Mraz's 'I'm Yours' on the speaker. I laugh at them when they roll down their windows and start yelling the lyrics.
I open my phone when it starts vibrating.
Jisung:
noona!
felix said youre not feeling well so you went home early!!
dont worry ill get the excuse letter from the clinic for you!!!
rest a lot and get well soon!!!!
That was fast. I feel bad, though. It's like I'm lying to him... Just this once! I really want to know what these guys are up to or I'll die from curiosity.
We pass at a drive thru to buy drinks. I wonder how Minho would react if he finds out that we ditched him. I hope he won't get mad and still eat.
"Are we going to a fight?"
They chuckle at me as I sip nervously on my milkshake.
"We're not a gang, Y/n. We're too fancy for that term," Chan says.
"Then where are we going?"
"You'll find out later," Changbin tells me. "Oh, I guess you'll find out now."
I tilt my head in confusion when we arrived in front of a recording studio. Changbin opens the door for me and leads me out so the three of us can go inside the building.
We stopped a couple of times because Chan has someone greeting him every ten steps. He's so friendly! Only then did I notice the musical equipment that Changbin is carrying with him because he makes it look so weightless. His arms must be so strong!
Once we're inside the room, they clear out the sofa and make me sit there. I look around the orange-walled studio that's filled with professional-looking musical equipment in awe.
"Woah..."
"Pretty neat, huh?" Chan motions around proudly.
"This is where he practically lives." Changbin points to Chan.
"This is so cool! I bet your work is so good."
The younger one chuckles. "I hope so. We really work hard on our stuff, you know?"
"It's basically our heart and soul poured into a track." Chan types on his laptop and a mellow instrumental plays. "How is it?"
"Just as I said." I smile and give them two thumbs up.
They wipe their imaginary sweat jokingly.
"Wait... Why do they call you bad boys if all you do is amazing stuff?"
"Y/n~ You're flattering us too much." Chan waves his hand back and forth.
"The reason isn't really deep. You know how we dress like darkness incarnate? That and our resting face." Changbin demonstrates by relaxing his face and it does look like he's glaring. "See?"
"Also, we all workout together, right? There was one time after we finished our routine and the adrenaline was still pumping. We were boxing around playfully on the way out, but as Changbin said our faces looked anything but playful. Especially Minho." Chan snickers as he seems to be reminiscing. "Someone might've seen and spread the words. We think it's cool so we just kept the image. We're bad boys by association, you could say."
I was right. They're good and just misunderstood, but I can't blame how people see them because they really lived up to their 'badboy' title. I feel kind of guilty because I was one of those people.
They all wear dark clothings and their glares could kill, but they're so friendly and kind once you get to know them. Just like Minho.
"Chan, what about... Minho?" I hesitate. "He always says that he's dangerous, but I don't get it since you guys are just misunderstood artists."
They give each other a look. Changbin sips on his coffee and nudges Chan who almost spilled his pineapple juice. They exchanged a few glares here and there before someone finally speaks up.
"I don't know how I should say this," Changbin starts and thinks for a bit. "Minho-hyung's situation is kinda different from ours."
"Because he's a dancer and you're singers?"
"No. When people said that he's a bad boy, they weren't kidding. He really was!"
"Wait, you're making it sound like he's a bad person." Chan shakes his head. "Uh, it's like this. Before we became friends, he used to have other friends."
Changbin snaps his fingers. "Yeah, I remember. They were like a group of cool kids back then, but suddenly started hating each other and eventually drifted apart."
"Why? What happened?"
"I don't know if I should say this..." Chan purses his lips. "Screw it! So here's the thing, there was a girl who his other friend liked but I heard she liked Minho. That's when the bad blood and gang stuff started."
"O-Oh?" My tummy suddenly feels weird, but it's not the butterflies.
"Dunno the whole situation but they somehow ended up in a gang fight. You know what it's like in a gang, you'll have enemies. Minho defeated the enemy's leader and that fvcker's a sore loser, so he tried to get back at them. They can't touch Minho and his friends, that's why they took the girl instead. She got fatally injured," Chan adds.
"That's... unfair. Is she okay now?"
Changbin nods at me. "Yeah, but Minho's still blaming himself for what happened until now. He thinks he killed her because she never came back to her old self after the incident. Her parents took her away without letting him see her so he's been going out at night trying to look for her."
I get it now... It must be why he looks like he doesn't get even a wink of sleep sometimes and keeps napping in class.
"We know he's having a hard time even though he doesn't admit it, so we try our best to help him. We go around gathering information too so he could take it easy." Chan sighs. "The incident took a huge toll on him too. He told you about the dancing, right? It's how his tsundere ass copes, basically an emotions therapy."
My heart clenches. Now I'm even more grateful that he shared that part of his life with me.
"He didn't tell anything else about his past friends, but I don't think they made up yet. It's been a couple of years so I hope they've already forgotten about the threats." Changbin smiles sadly.
"What threats?"
"I heard his ex-friend aka rival said that he'd never allow him to be happy, and that he'd make him feel every pain that he felt. I know Minho-hyung will take care of it when they really come but do tell us if there are suspicious people hanging around, any weird stuff, and we'll come running too."
I shudder at the thought. A friend would never say that to someone that he values.
I don't know what to feel about everything that I found out. All this time, Minho was suffering because of another girl.
"What was she like?"
"Not really sure since we didn't go to the same school but apparently she's really pretty, like that strong female-lead with a bob and bangs." Changbin tilts his head as if sorting through his memories, and then he claps and laughs so loud. "Hey, Chan-hyung, remember that time we found out about his crush?"
Chan chuckles as well. "You mean when they bumped with each other and he got nervous and ran off before she could thank him?"
"And then he asked you, of all people, what to do!" Changbin is now doubling over in laughter. "So to save him from your inexperienced ass I told him that a way to anyone's heart is through their stomach."
"I'd be really offended by now if I didn't remember him literally tossing her a sandwich and then running off again." Chan laughs with him. "I told him to introduce himself first and treat her to lunch but then he got nervous!"
"He..." I clear my throat when my voice shakes. "He really had a big crush on her, huh?"
"Hmm?" Chan turns to me only to freeze.
"You bet!" Changbin is just recovering from laughing too much. "We've never seen him so giddy befo-- ow!"
"Ahaha. He's just exaggerating!" Chan nudges his stomach. "Minho's his normal self. Well, a little less gloomy than usual, but it didn't really last because you know..."
Changbin finally stops laughing. "It was just an innocent crush."
"Y/n, are you okay?" Chan asks nervously when I look down.
"N-Nothing..." I bite my lip as they start to tremble. My eyes start to feel hot, but I can't do anything to stop them because the butterflies whenever I think about Minho are nowhere near. "It's just... sad. They didn't deserve that."
I understand that I wasn't a part of his past, but it hurts knowing that he was a wreck for somebody else.
"Oh, shit," Changbin mumbles.
"Of course." Chan pats my shoulder and hands me a tissue.
"He must've really liked her." I can't stop sniffling as I try to hold my tears back.
"Of course-- What? No! I mean," Chan stutters when I cry harder. His already pale skin turns paler. "That was all in the past and you know he likes you so much right now. Please don't cry."
"He's crazy about you, for real!" Changbin seconds.
"Yeah! Absolutely!" Chan nods so fast.
"We shouldn't have told her everything in one go. What if Minho thinks we badmouthed him so bad that it made her cry?" Changbin whispers to Chan, but I can still hear it so I take deep breaths to calm down.
"You know what he said to us when we first approached him?" Chan asks and I shake my head. He frowns animatedly and acts with Changbin. "I don't need friends, they disappoint me."
They both heave deep sighs when I break into a smile. Once I've finally calmed down, we all walk back to the car.
"You know why we're glad that you're with Minho?" Changbin asks and I shake my head.
"Ever since you came, he stopped being a sulky and self-deprecating dude. How often does he sleep in class nowadays?"
"Only sometimes..."
"See? That's why we wanted to meet you back then. Before you came, he used to go out every night just trying to find, what's her name, Soonie?"
"No, that's his cat."
"Oh, yeah, well it sounds something like that." Changbin laughs at himself. "Anyway, we noticed that he suddenly stopped being sleep deprived unlike Chan-hyung so we got suspicious."
"His nightly rendezvous turns from every night into every other night, until it's just once a week." Chan smiles softly. "We dug into it and it turns out the only thing keeping him up these days is dancing and thinking about his babygirl. Guess who?"
I blush at their teasing grins. "Really?"
"Oh yeah!" Changbin says. "He was giddy with her, but he's at peace with you. I think the latter sounds so much better."
"So, Y/n, don't get yourself into trouble and keep saving our Minho by staying by his side."
Changbin nods in agreement and takes the keys from Chan because it's his turn to drive now.
I think my head will explode from the information overload right now. I'm glad though. I thought I can never do something that'll be of great help. I didn't know that I already did. It's a give and take situation for us that went unnoticed. He also helped me big time. I was such a loner, but he gave me the urge to go for people who I want to be friends with. I'm just happy that we helped each other unknowingly.
Before Changbin can turn on the ignition, Chan's phone rings.
"Oi--"
[ "Where the fvck is she?" ]
Chan smirks. "Shouldn't the boyfie know?"
[ "Bring her to me in five, no, in 10. Drive safely or I'll fvcking--" ]
"Profanity! You're on loudspeaker," Chan says. "Say hi, Y/n."
"Hi, Minho! Sorry for leaving you alone."
He suddenly turns silent, then he clears his throat. [ "Just... hurry up, the food's starting to get cold." ]
"You can eat without me--"
[ "No, I'll wait." ]
Chan and Changbin burst out laughing when Minho hung up. They're like kids who enjoy annoying the serious brother.
What a tease!