chapter thirty one - meeting.

The boys were somewhat more than relieved when Yuri left the room. They were all tense, and the fact that they couldn’t get rid of the tenseness among them when Yuri was there made them even tenser.

But now that she was gone, the boys found it easier to breathe.

As they sat with their backs against the mirror, breathing heavily and sweat raining from their body, one could tell they needed this. This time for themselves. Only they knew how much they needed it.

“Yah, Dongho-yah.” Minhyun called over, sitting at the most left side of the five of them.

Oh no. Jonghyun thought. Here it is.

“What?” Baekho asked, lazily from Jonghyun’s side. “I can’t believe you have the strength to even talk.”

“I heard something.”

Jonghyun felt Baekho stiffen by his side. They all knew what was coming.

“It’s true.” Baekho answered, before Minhyun could say anything else. “I do have a crush on her.”

There was an awkward silence, until Minhyun’s chuckle broke it; the silence.

“It’s not me that you should hide that from, you know. Not me, but Jonghyun.”

Ironic. Not a minute ago, he was thinking that everything involving Yuri was Minhyun not him.

“I don’t need to hide it from anyone.” Baekho said, truthfully. “I should just be hesitant to tell.”

“True.”

There was more silence, but this time, it wasn’t awkward.

“She’s not mine.” Minhyun said. Even though this seemed to be aimed at Baekho, Jonghyun knew that this was for him. He sighed.

“Let’s not talk about Yuri for now. These days, nothing has been happening other than Yuri.” He said.

There were murmurs of agreement. Jonghyun knew Minhyun didn’t say anything. He knew that Minhyun wanted to, but he didn’t, to avoid another verbal fight.

Another round of silence passed over them. But to them, silence itself was a melody. It had been so long, since five of them had sat together, just sat without saying a word. It gave them a feeling of their relationship strengthening.

Suddenly, the door of the room opened. A woman stepped in. Jonghyun and Minhyun stood up as if someone had kicked them, their eyes widening (causing the other boys to stand up at once too). The woman smiled. Jonghyun and Minhyun grimaced.

-

Yoora dismissed her secretary from her office as soon as she had served them tea and sandwiches. The room was empty for other than the NU’EST boys and Yoora herself.

“I observed you dancing.” She stared.

Jonghyun got the urge to say something remarkably rude, but managed to shut himself up.

“Stalker, much?”

But that didn’t prevent Minhyun. For a moment, Jonghyun actually felt proud of Minhyun, but then his Minhyun’s knee as he realized that he shouldn’t be.

Not now, not in front of this woman.

“You could say that. But then again, this is my building, I have every right to see what is going on, don’t you think?” Yoora asked, smoothly.

“You do,” The answer didn’t come from Minhyun this time, but from Jonghyun’s own mouth. “But you just couldn’t come in when your daughter was present, could you?”

This shut her up. Jonghyun was feeling overly proud of himself. He knew that his boys would be feeling the same as well, Minhyun in specific.

“I hope you don’t mind us getting to the topic,” Jonghyun said after a while. “But did you bring us in here to cast us? Or it privately intimidate us?”

Yoora laughed. “I don’t mind, actually. I’ve been waiting for you to ask, Jonghyun.”

Jonghyun clenched his fist as he heard her say his name. Even though Jonghyun disliked a lot of things, he hated a very few things. And among these few things included the way Yoora said his name. He absolutely loathed it.

It wasn’t surprising. After all, he loathed her too.

“So how has your life been? I heard you’ve been school shopping. I don’t suppose that you’ve taken these innocent little boys along with you. Minhyun not counted, of course.” She said.

“We’re not as-” Baekho was about to say, but Jonghyun stopped him by stepping on his foot. Baekho winced in pain.

“I’ve been good, Yoora-ssi. I hope you have found something better to do in life than stalk me and try to intimidate me.” Jonghyun answered calmly. And fail at that, he wanted to add. “I have been school shopping, because, in complete honesty, Korean schools always amuse me. Sometimes I wonder why I even moved back from Cali.”

“You wonder, don’t you.” Yoora asked, but it came out more of a statement, than a question. “Of course you do. You don’t have a goal in life either, am I right? After all, you are a mistake.”

Jonghyun froze. Jonghyun who was playing toss-insults-back-and-forth with Yoora froze. Yoora knew she had hit the spot.

His fists clenched and his teeth trembled. He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. He had lost. Just like before.

“If he is a mistake, then you are a force. A responsibility, or as we like to call it, a pain in the .” It was Minhyun who answered. “Aren’t you, Nam Yoora? Shameless. A Korean adopting American standards and changing your last name after you got married. Or were you scared that you’ll lose him.”

Yoora’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t remember talking to you, Hwang Minhyun. My conversation was with Jonghyun.”

“Indeed, it was. With Jonghyun, not with a mistake.”

There he went. Minhyun with his smart ways to make someone’s mouth completely shut. Jonghyun admired him so much for that. He made Yoora shut up, that was something Jonghyun couldn’t do.

He admired him, loved him.

After all, he had been, and still was the pillar that Jonghyun could lean on.

“What do you have to say to this, Jonghyun?” Yoora asked, venom laced in her voice. “Why is he talking for you, are you scared? Loss of words? And they said you were a gangster.”

Jonghyun’s fists clenched harder.

“You’re not a gangster. Gangsters are waste. What are you? A mistake. Always keep that in mind when you act all high and mighty, Kim Jonghyun. You are a mistake.”

“My, my. Are we still trying to intimidate each other?” Minhyun asked. “Why aren’t you talking to me, why are you picking on Jonghyun? It’s you who is scared, not Jonghyun.”

“Says who? He’s the one hiding behind you.”

“I’m merely obeying my leader who is too lazy to talk.”

“Looks to me as if you are being used, Minhyun.”

That did it. That simply pushed his buttons to his limit.

Jonghyun stood up from the couch he was sitting on and stepped on the glass table holding their drinks and eats, exerting so much for until it shattered.

Everyone was on their feet. Minhyun smirked. It wasn’t only Yoora, but the rest of NU’EST was also surprised.

“I dare you, .” Jonghyun growled. “I dare you to say that I’ve been using Minhyun, that I’ve been using these boys, that I’ve been using Yuri.”

No answer came, but Yoora kept the fierce eye contact with Jonghyun.

Taking his foot out of the shattered glass, he kicked the remains of the glass table and moved towards the door. When he went outside, he didn’t realize that he wasn’t only almost crying, but also that he had passed a rather flabbergasted Yuri.

shotuout!

the promised update.
lol. the bromance is not going to be in this chapter, but the next.
can't wait to bring that out. 
i'm getting the strongest urge to finish this story before march. my target. 
what do you think? Yoora is a , yey!
anyways, enjoy, me loving this chapter. <3
i want more, more comments. i really wanna know what you guys think of mywriting
has it changed? good or bad? i think it changed. i dont know good or bad.
anyways, that's it for now.
/goes off to do bio homeworklol.
don't forget, author-nim lubs you ♥