read my author’s note, please? <3

Chapter Sixteen: Minho the Old Man

“Hey- did you hear? Choi went out with some girl over the weekend.”

“I saw them at the skating rink- she’s pretty cute.” (A/N: DAMN STRAIGHT. SHE’S BEAUTIFUL. Oh hey, what is this perfectly sensible author’s note doing here? ;o xD)

“No way! Minho oppa couldn’t be dating anyone!”

“That was probably his sister or something.”

“I don’t know…they looked a little too cozy to be siblings.”

Kim Kibum smirked as he walked onto school grounds that Monday morning- he loved rumors.

Especially when they were about Minho and his new lady friend.

He felt like cackling as he overheard a group of people bets on whether or not Minho actually was dating anyone.

“Choi Minho!” there was a screech that he sworn tore through the campus. Minho almost groaned as he saw the girl speeding towards his direction with tears in her eyes. This was one of his more…persistent…fans.

“Have you forgotten about her already?” someone mumbled, voice soft and bitter. Minho was too busy dealing with that girl- but Kibum heard the voice loud and clear, even in the midst of a talkative crowd.

And it made him feel uncomfortable.

-

Minho was basically the person to talk about for several hours now; he was still the person to talk about.

From the moment he walked onto campus this morning to right now, lunch time, Minho and his new lady friend were what half of the student population was discussing (arguing? denying?). The other half of the school couldn’t be bothered to care- but Minho was kind of smug about the whole thing.

He hoped that his “popularity” would die down after this whole fiasco. It was, in a nutshell, what he was after. He wanted more people to leave him alone; he wasn’t particularly anti-social, but he could live without all the hoopla (A/N: I love the word hoopla more than I should ._____.) that came with being the popular guy.

“Minho oppa!”

…yeah, he could definitely live without all the hoopla that came with being the popular guy.

“Minho oppa, you can’t possibly have a girlfriend.” The persistent fan girl from this morning was back. And for the sake of not having to type persistent fan girl 21 more times, her name is now Shin Bokyung.

He gave her a flat out glare as she walked up to him with a pout on her face; he would for sure love to lose her affection. And he had the perfect means to do so- most of his school thought he had a girlfriend! And if that wouldn’t lose fans, then he wasn’t particularly sure what would.

But first things first, he had to prove that he actually had a new lady friend.

“Why not?” he asked, crossing his arms and trying his best to look irritated (but it wasn’t that hard, seeing as how Shin Bokyung was pouting at him).

“You never had any interest in any of the girls that have pursued you.” Bokyung explained with exaggerated arm motions and a huff. (A/N: NOT TO WORRY LOVELIES, BOKYUNG HERE WON’T BE AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER IN THIS STORY. EVER.)

“That doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in girls.” Minho, clearly exasperated, let out his own little huff.

She looked a little sheepish as she admitted, “We all thought that you were dating Kibum.”

Little murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowed as Minho face-palmed. “Why- why would you even- Kibum?”

(Kibum had a similar reaction- although he thought that the situation was much more hilarious.)

Before Bokyung could defend herself and the MinKey following, Minho put his hand up, silencing her. “In any case, no, I am not dating Kibum, and yes, I do have a girlfriend.” He crossed his arms as if to say deal with it.

She looked him straight in the eyes and sniffed haughtily. “Prove it, oppa.”

He mentally mocked her because prove it oppa, who does this girl think she is- but nonetheless, he took out his phone. “Fine.” And then he prayed and hoped to god that Krystal would pick up his phone call.

Luckily for him, she answered with a very calm, “Hello?” He grinned almost victoriously as Bokyung waited impatiently. He quickly pressed the speaker button so that Bokyung could hear their conversation and proceeded to continue his little charade.

“Hey, do you want to go to an amusement park?” Minho’s tone was casual- like he was just asking an everyday question. (Bokyung expressed her unhappiness at hearing the beautifulness that is Krystal Jung’s voice by shrieking.)

“…did I just hear someone scream?”

“No?” he coughed awkwardly, almost as if his little cough would be able to drown out the little wailing that Bokyung was doing. “Anyway, do you want to go or not, Jung?”

“Why an amusement park?”

“I figure that if we’re dating, we might as well go on the most cliché date of all time,” he explained with a calm, chill tone- like he was explaining to someone much younger than him.

There was silence for a couple moments before Minho practically felt that Krystal shrugged before replying, “…yeah, sure. Why not, Choi.” She hung up after.

He had arranged for date for all of his student body to hear; he rather enjoyed the chaos that he created (that consisted of wailing, cat calls, and general screaming).

Kibum cackled beside him.

-

They arranged to meet at the train station near Krystal’s house at one o’clock.

Minho was there ten minutes early, calmly waiting. He winced a little as he looked at his watch. He was only ten minutes late. He almost thought that his ears would start ringing as he remembered his mom instilling in him that the guy must always be at least fifteen minutes early. It might have seemed weird, considering today’s standards, but Mama Choi was very adamant about the subject.

So adamant, in fact, that she sat Minho down for a talk on being a gentleman (although Minho would say that it wasn’t really a talk- a lecture sounded like a much more appropriate word) once every year.

He was raised- practically bred- to be the perfect gentleman, oppa, and dongsaeng (to the female population). (Minho, in his opinion, thought that he was the perfect bro too- there was nothing wrong with bromance, after all.)

Lost in his musings of Mama Choi and bromances, Minho didn’t notice when Krystal sneaked up next to him- and flicked his forehead.

He almost reeled back in shock of being attacked (okay, but not attacked) and glared at his assailant. “What was that for?”

“For spacing out- and for being so early,” was Krystal’s reply; she was clearly wagging her finger and tsk-ing at him.

He, for the sake of humoring her, asked, “Since when was spacing out and being early such a crime?”

She, for the sake of humoring herself, replied, “Since you were born.”

Minho flicked her forehead in retaliation.

-

 They reached their destination without much problem (or problem at all).

They made small talk as they looked at booths and rides.

He proceeded to guide her through the crowd by placing a gentle hand on her back, clearly directing her.

-

Their first problem occured when Krystal, tired of running around and waiting in line, wanted to rest while enjoying a sugary treat. He compiled easily, steering her to the nearest cotton candy stand where they proceeded to order, get the aforementioned sugary treat, sit, and rest.

“I can pull out my own chair, thank you very much.” Minho had just tried to pull the most gentlemanly card of all time- but Krystal would not have it.

He stared blankly at her, one hand already on the back of a pull-out chair. “Let me do it.”

“No.” One of Krystal’s hands was also on the back of the same pull-out chair, effectively stopping him from moving it.

“Why not?” He tried pushing it. She held it in place.

“Why should I let you pull out my chair when I can do it myself?” was her retort; she would have crossed her arms, but unfortunately, she was too busy trying to keep the chair in place.

“Why do you have a problem with it?” he frowned slightly; weren’t all girls supposed to be all over chivalry? That is what his mom told him, in any case. Krystal, he decided, was strange.

“You’re such a gentleman! You’re like…too chivalrous!” accused Krystal, pointing a menacing stick of cotton candy towards his face. “Were you born,” she paused for a moment to think. “…in some era where chivalry actually existed?”

“Chivalry didn’t die.” he huffed.

Krystal decided to ignore the comment. “Because if you were, then you are like- an old man, or something.”

“An old man.” Minho stared blankly at her, tone flat and almost exasperated.

She looked seriously at him and nodded three times. “I now dub thee ‘Minho the Old Man’. May you forever spread the chivalry that is dead.” She pretended to tap his shoulder with a magic wand (although most people would say that her wand was a paper stick that used to have cotton candy on it) and smiled gleefully. “You’re welcome.”

“I didn’t thank you,” he said, looking at the now cotton candy less stick like it had somehow offended him deeply.

She poked him with the stick. “That wasn’t very chivalrous.”

“If chivalry did die, it’s thanks to you.” was his reply. He was still staring at the stick.

“That’s nice to know, old man.”

He snatched the offensive stick from her, almost laughing in victory, like he had taken down his worst enemy.

And then he had to get another stick of cotton candy because Krystal complained about him being a thief- and a strange old man that had something against completely harmless sticks.

-

He sent her home without any problems; they even had a very chaste, completely innocent, handshake at the end. (And then Krystal hugged him because who the hell shakes hands at the end of a date? Krystal enjoyed seeing Minho blush- and try to hide it- immensely.)

“It was a good end to a good day.” she mused, walking up the stairs and flopping on her bed gracelessly.

--

In contrast, Taemin had a horrible, horrible day at his cram school.

All day, classmates, teachers, parents, and even his principal (he realized that L had a lot more noona fans than he ever wanted to know) accosted him and asked, “How do you know L?”, “Hey, can you give me L’s autograph?”, “Excuse me, can I meet L?”, and “Is L really dating that chick?”- the questions, hassling, and prodding occurred all day without fail.

In class, people passed him notes.

Outside of class, people hounded him.

People that never talked to him before, never bothered to give him the light of day, were suddenly trying to be his best friend.

And don’t even get him started on the fan girls- they were crazy.

Crazy and persistent.

They weren’t afraid to scream, cry, use aegyo, or any tactic to get the answers that they wanted (even if Taemin didn’t have answers to give).

They were indeed a force to be reckon with. (Although Taemin would much rather not reckon with them- at all.)

He even received a minor slap in the face when he told them all that he didn’t have L’s phone number, and even if he did, he wouldn’t give it to them (in pure spite- not to protect L); they all cried foul because “how could L oppa’s friend not have his phone number?”

And he was pretty sure that one of his socks was missing again.

He really, really hated L.

--

L woke up in the middle of the night and sneezed.

And like the content bastard he was (because he had a perfectly chill day, unlike Taemin), he went back to sleep without a care.

--

“Hey Krystal- how would you feel about finding out why I called you in the first place?”

--end.

Why does this chapter seem weird to me? o.O oh well- in any case. Minho is pretty much the perfect gentleman. But Krystal has to decide whether she wants that type of perfection. Before, they got along through common elements- such as soccer and friends. But now that they're stepping away from that- well. We'll see. ;D And yay, Minho comes clean next chapter LOL. And then after that, I move onto TaeStal (and Myungsoo gets to be in a legitimate scene to boot! lol). ;o But anyway.

TODAY IS THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF NAG <3 (okay, okay, I’m late by a couple hours- although in hindsight, I probably would have finished this chapter on time if I didn’t decide to read EXO OT12 fics and google myself LOL) It has been one whole year with this baby ;o to be honest, I did create this on a whim- and I didn’t think it through at all, so I was fully prepared to ditch it. (Like, kick it to the curb. Seriously.)

But one year, 7000+ views, 170+ subscribers, and 2 comments later- this has become both my pain and bundle of joy LOL xD I adore this story to bits (even if just thinking about the plot and how it is supposed to progress gives me a headache sometimes).

I was actually going to put this on hiatus- but I don’t think I can do that on its anniversary (birthday? lol). I want to spend more time on my two other on-going fics, and even though updates might be slower for this fic, I won’t be going on hiatus. Fair warning now that my updates will be even more spastic and in-between than before (><), but I will still update!

Happy anniversary, everyone. (and happy birthday to you, NAG. I guess. .____. <3)

Thank you to everyone that has stuck with me thus far (through all my random chapters and monthly but not really updates). I love every single one of you- like, seriously. Come here and give me a hug. <3

Until next time, you lovely people.