C-45
"Y/n! You okay now?" Jisung asks once he sees me exiting the gate.
"Yes. Thank you for taking care of me and Dori."
Jisung's the one who saw me unconscious last night when he returned Dori. He almost called the ambulance, good thing Yuta came home before I was rushed to the hospital.
I had a really weird dream. I need to talk to Jungwoo next time because there's no way that those dreams, weird statements, and that picture doesn't mean anything.
"You were hot last night," Jisung says, then his eyes widen. "I meant your temperature!"
I chuckle. "Yeah, I caught a mild fever."
"Seems like you got too tired hanging out with your new friends." He sighs and stops walking.
"Hmm? What is it?"
"I said I'm your friend but I basically avoided you for the past weeks. I'm sorry, Y/n. I just didn't know how to act around you..."
"It's fine, Han. I'm always your Noona, okay? I know you have your own problems too. I understand." I pat his shoulder.
"I promise I won't avoid you again," he swears with his hand to his heart.
"We're good." I smile at him. "I'm just always next door, yeah?"
"Me too." He smiles back and murmurs something. "It's time to move on."
"Move what?"
"O-Oh! We should move on if we don't wanna be late."
We walk to the bus stop together. We're going to the Sunday mass because it's been a while since we hung out.
I missed this squirrel, my little bro.
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"Jisung, what else does Felix eat?" I ask whilst we run to the convenience store.
"Just get him whatever. He'd even eat a banana peel." He laughs as we go to separate aisles so we can get a variety of snacks faster.
I'm running late to our dance practice, that's why Jisung is helping me buy snacks for my beloved leader, and of course for Minho. I don't want him to starve even if we're not exactly friends right now.
"I didn't know Felix could be serious about something." He snickers as I pay for the food.
"He's really excited." I laugh. "It's fine, you can go home now."
"Nope. Yuta-hyung told me to walk you to the park in case you faint again."
Jisung walks me to the park, more like we run to the park until we see Felix doing some little dance moves whilst waiting. He stops and gives us a stern look.
"You're 10 minutes late, Y/n."
"Sorry... I brought you snacks?" I say and hold up the bags. He just raises his eyebrow at me. "And cheesesticks and sausages?"
"You're the best!" Felix beams and takes all the bags from me. "I'll take it from here, bro."
I wave at Jisung as Felix and I walk the other way. I wonder where our third member is.
"We'll practise at the school's dance room. You know, I pulled some strings to reserve that place! Aren't I the best leader?"
"You're really excited, huh?"
"I really like dancing." He shrugs.
I know someone who really likes dancing too. I wonder if he's also excited, especially that we're grouped together. Wait... What am I even thinking? He himself told me that he doesn't want me and it's clear that he thinks about Sunny more than anyone else.
"What is that face?" Felix stops and shakes me like a condiment. "I know! You're probably looking for Minho-hyung. He's already there! I have a feeling that you'll get back together today. Leave it to my expertise."
Felix is really into this. Doesn't he have someone he's into? Is that why he's so thrilled with my own relationship? Oh, he's basically married to memes.
We reach the door to the practise room and Felix opens it. I thought there's no one inside because it's so dim, but then we hear music playing when we enter. The song is 'It's Raining' by Rain. We're both in shock to see Minho dancing.
Felix grins from my peripheral view. "I see, your guy is warming up. He's really good," he whispers and I can't agree more.
It's been so long since I last saw him dance. The last time, he was so happy... and sexy.
Minho is panting as he finishes dancing. There's sweat trickling down his forehead and I just can't take my eyes away from him. How can someone be so cool and hot at the same time?
"Ooh~ Is our innocent girl having not-so-innocent thoughts?" Felix laughs that break my stare at Minho.
Why am I even staring?!
My face heats up when I see the side of Minho's lips twitch. Did he hear that? This is Felix's fault!
"L-Let's start," I stammer because Minho keeps looking at me. He's making me nervous!
"Alright. I'll fix the music first, you can do stretching or whatever," Felix says and starts messing with his gadgets.
I put my bag down and do the stretching that I learnt from PE class. That'll do, right? I'm not a dancer so I'm not sure how to do it properly and I never really exercise.
"Are you going to dance with a dress on?" I'm startled when Minho speaks beside me. Why is he suddenly talking to me now?
"Should I take it off then?"
He suddenly smirks. "I won't mind but Felix is here so..."
"I-I was being sarcastic!"
Why am I so nervous right now?!
He shakes his head before reaching for his blue hoodie. I thought he's going to hug me, it turns out he's just going to tie the hoodie around my waist.
"You're the only person who still wears a dress to church," he says.
I feel my face burn at our close proximity and how he stops and stares down at me. My breath hitches when he smiles and lightly chuckles.
"Cute."
"Eh?"
He shakes his head and goes to the other side of the room to stretch.
What? He'll leave me stunned just like that? What's wrong with him?! And why am I even nervous? It's not like it's the first time we're that close!
"Okay, let's start!" Felix announces. I shake my head when 'Dance the Night Away' by Twice plays. "What? You both agreed that I'm the leader, right?"
Felix starts teaching us the steps. Little did he know, I already knew the majority of it because Minho taught me when we had that sleepover. I couldn't help but pout at the bittersweet memory... But I never said I'm good at it because here I am, struggling with the hand gestures and footworks.
"Are you a Once too?" Felix asks.
"Yeah, sure..." I pant.
He claps and pulls me to dance with him.
"You do it like this, okay?" he says, and teaches me how to properly do the footwork. He even knows the smallest detail! What a dedicated fanboy.
Minho stops dancing and just looks at us. I thought he already knew the dance? Maybe he forgot some steps.
"Good! Now, put your hands like this." Felix holds my arms and guides it whilst I try my best to stay focused. "Oh my... Your hand's smaller than mine!"
"I think it's almost the same though?"
"No, really." He puts our palms together. "See? How cute!"
I'm not sure why Felix is grinning so widely over our hand sizes whilst I'm over here getting so conscious as Minho watches the whole interaction with crossed arms. Why won't he look away?
"Anyways! You know there's a moment where they would partner up, hold hands, and get all friendly as they do that waltz-thingy. Let's do that and Minho-hyung can dance on the side. Like this!" Felix is about to hug me when I'm pulled away from him.
"We're not adding that," Minho says calmly but I can sense his hand slightly shaking against mine.
"Um, I think yes." Felix grins and takes my other hand.
"No." Minho narrows his eyes coldly.
Felix visibly gulps as fear seems to cross his face, but he blinks hard to gain courage and his taunting grin is back again.
"W-Why, ehem, why don't we ask Y/n?" he suggests.
"Me?" I look at Felix and he returns the look like he's asking for help. He even tries winking and mouthing 'save me'.
I withdraw my hands from both of them and cross it in front of my chest. "Instead of fighting over it, why don't you two just partner up?"
"What?" They both look at me like I grew another head.
"To settle this partner argument nicely, you'll both do it!" I announce and snatch the remote from Felix to turn the music on. "Come on, let's practise so we can perfect our performance!"
I smile as I look at both of them glaring at me. How cute!
"Focus!" I tell them, giggling when they awkwardly do the partner scene. So adorable!
We danced for a while before we collectively collapsed on the floor. It's so exhausting! I have so much respect for all the people who dance for fun.
"Y/n~ You forgot to buy water!" Felix groans as he stands up. "I'll go get some. Don't do something I won't do, yeah?" He wiggles his eyebrows before stepping out.
What he won't do? Felix does everything he feels like doing though. I got so stunned when we were at lunch one time and he ate a banana with its peel. He said he saw it online. That guy can't be trusted with the internet.
It's silent now that we're alone, painfully so. It's been a while since it's just the two of us. Of course I want to talk to Minho, but I don't know how to. I miss him but I'm not sure if he feels the same.
I try sneaking a peak but then I see him looking too. My eyes widen and I immediately retreat. How can he make my heart beat so fast with just a single glance? It's so unfair...
I stand up to practise the dance. I might as well keep myself busy instead of wasting my time waiting for him to talk to me.
As always though, my clumsiness peaks in at the very crucial moments. I didn't know my shoelace was undone, that's why I almost tripped... But I never fell because someone caught me.
"Tsk. How can you trip over nothing?" Minho shakes his head and helps me stand up. He kneels down and ties my shoelaces properly.
"Thank you," I mumble and feel my face heating up for the umpteenth time today.
For some reason, I feel so shy.
He clears his throat. "We should talk."
My throat suddenly dries up. Is this it? Is he going to tell me that he didn't like me at all and he was just reminded of Sunny? My heart is too frail for that.
"...What do you want to say?"
He steps closer and I can't seem to move away. Minho raises a hand to rest on the wall past my head, the other one tilting my chin up with his forefinger. I suddenly feel weak.
"I'm sorry," he says. "I'm really sorry."
I look up at him with wide eyes, not expecting to hear anything like that. His eyes are so gentle, almost glassy as he looks at me with the softest gaze.
"I miss you, Y/n. Please take me back," he pleads. "I know I fvcked up and I have a lot of explaining to do, but please... forgive me. I never wanted to hurt you. I just want you safe, but then I managed to hurt you myself. I'm so sorry..."
"Minho..." My lips start to quiver.
"I neglected you, but you tried to understand me. I made a simple promise, but then I broke it. I snapped at you. I told you things that I didn't mean. Heck, I can't even tell you the things that I want to say. I didn't notice how much of a coward I was being..." He stops for a moment to blink repeatedly, sniffling a little. "I'm not going to force you, I just want to tell you how sorry I am for treating you that way. I should've trusted you more."
He can be a softie at rare moments. My softie... It's been a known fact that I'm too frail for Lee Minho since the very beginning, so what else can I do? I immediately wrapped my arms around his torso and buried my face on his chest.
"I'm sorry too. I should've tried to understand you more. I only thought about myself." I sniffle. "I guess I was too jealous of how much time you're spending on finding Sunny and forgot about why you do it..."
I feel him ruffling my hair and that's when I release him from my hug to look at his face. He brings his hands to my face and wipes my tears away, then he cups my cheeks and looks at me straight in the eyes.
"That day I declined our movie hangout, I told the guys that I'm going to stop looking for her. You're right, Sunny was my past. I only wanted to focus on us from then on so I decided to let her go. It's not that I'm forgetting her, she was my first friend after all, but please know that there's nothing more."
"Sure?"
"Hundred percent sure. My choice is you, Y/n. I care about you so much that I go crazy thinking that you can get harmed when you stay with me."
"You said you'll protect me and I trust you."
"I will. Unfortunately, the guys and I found out that people from my past are showing up again. I thought if I stayed away from you, you wouldn't be dragged in my mess anymore. I didn't want you to be in danger just because you associate with me..."
"Is that what kept you busy? Now I feel so guilty."
"No, don't be. You wouldn't have misunderstood if I was just honest. I'm sorry for pushing you away. I won't do that anymore. I'll stay with you, if you still want me to..." His ears seem to redden as he looks away for a second, clearing his throat. "I really like you a lot, Y/n. I'm sorry if I wasn't able to make you feel it."
"I already forgave you, Minho. It turns out I really like you a lot too that I can't even stay mad for long."
A smile slowly emerges on his face before he envelopes me in a comfortable and warm hug.
"Let's not fight again..." he murmurs.
He breaks the hug and gets something from his pocket. His cheeks look a little flushed when he turns to me.
"It got a little dirty when you threw it, so I cleaned it up a little..." he says shyly, showing me our matching bracelets. He puts it on for me and squints playfully. "Don't take it off again."
"I won't!" I say and hug him, resting my chin on his chest as I look up. "Can we take a picture of this before Felix comes back? He'll be teasing me nonstop."
"What's the deal with that guy?" He raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, we're almost best friends now because that guy is shameless. Another one adds to my list of little brothers." I chuckle.
"You don't know how many little bros you'll have if only you're not that oblivious." He chuckles before taking my phone and clicking a couple of pictures.
"We're okay now, right?" I look up at him expectantly.
"We're okay now," he assures me and squeezes my hand, and I notice how tightly he's holding it as if he's afraid to let go.
"Sure?"
"Sure." Minho tilts my chin up, resting his thumb over my lips, and then landing a quick kiss.
"W-Wha... Minho?!"
Only his hot breath reaches my lips, but the tingles it creates are enough to summon all the butterflies in my stomach. I bury my face on his chest as I feel it burning in shyness and excitement.
"Unfair!"
I can hear the vibration of his giggles as he pats my head soothingly. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."
The door opens and Felix enters with three bottles of water in his hands. He stops on his steps as he looks at me and Minho. His jaw drops then he suddenly starts cheering.
"Mission accomplished!" He pumps his fists up.
Minho rolls his eyes at the happy boy and looks at me.
"So... are we going to do the partner scene together now?"
I withdraw my hands from him and smile cheekily, which he groans at. "Nope!"
Even when we're apart, I never strayed from Minho's lane. That's because I will always be on track when it comes to him.