we'll be

Counting Stars

"Where exactly are you headed to?"

Elizabeth looked down at her bag which was filled with a telescope, a blanket, a change of clothes, binoculars, snacks, drinks, among other camping things she might need and thought Key might have been adressing that question to her. 

She smiled and looked up. "Stargazing. It's something I do every year"

"That is so awesome, Noona! Can we join?" Taemin asked, tilting his head.

"Not really, sorry Taeminnie but I always do this on my own" Elizabeth shrugged. "Sorry again"

"Yeah, besides, we have plans tonight" Rhea nudged Taemin with a pout.

"Oh no you don't, you two. Don't you even dare think we forget how you almost died a few days ago" Aunt Rebecca said giving them a look.

"Auntie" Rhea whined softly as Taemin slightly sank down in his sit out of emberassment. "Please don't do this"

"We'll see about that.." 

"And did you have to bring your equipment with you to the dinner table?" Jazmin asked, raising an eyebrow, motioning to the table. 

They were eating in the big dining room for the first time. Jazmin had begged the two elderly women to let them have dinner there for a change and after a few tantrums and whines, they had given in. Jazmin was quite reliefed to finally have enough space while she was eating but Elizabeth's equipment was starting to bother her, to say the least.

"I'm going as soon as I finish, Jazzy, so yes, I had to" Elizabeth nodded then turned her attention back to her mashed potatoes.

"Where is Minho, Liz?" Jonghyun asked, poking his beef with his fork. Bella looked down at him and took his fork away from him. 

"What was that for?" Jonghyun asked with a pout. "I wasn't done eating"

"When you behave like a responsible adult, I can give it back to you." Bella said giving him a stern look.

"Bellaaa~" he said in a husky voice she surely couldn't resist. "Please don't do this to me" he nuzzled her neck which caused Bella to turn red.

"Jonghyun, have some manners~! We're eating!" Sam said giving him a look.

"Yeah, Jonghyun. Only Sam and I can show public affection because we're obviously the cutest couple in the house" Key said holding Sam's hand then kissing her cheek.

"Yah!" Sam yelled as her cheeks turned red. 

"Kibum, play nice" Onew warned.

"Can someone please answer my question?" Jonghyun asked miserably.

"Sorry, what was your question?" Onew asked turning to look at him.

"Where's Minho?" Jonghyun asked once again, starting to loose his patience.

"Oh.. I hadn't noticed he wasn't here" Elizabeth said looking around. She shrugged. "Probably taking one of his one hour bubblebaths"

"But he's going to miss dinner" Aurora pouted. "I don't like letting food go to waste"

"I can always eat what's left" Rhea said raising her hand.

"Make that two volunteers" Onew raised his hand.

"Two volunteers for what?"

The group turned to look at who was walking inside the dining room. It was Minho with an enormous camping bag. It was even taller than him, which was a lot to say. He seemed to have lost his balance as his body shifted to the right and he fell down. The group laughed, pointing and mocking him. Elizabeth stood up and hurried to him.

"Are you okay? And.. what's with that bag? You look ridiculous" she said as she offered him her hand.

"Um.. Well.. I.. saw you packing to stargaze and I.. thought I'd give you some company" Minho said rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

The group broke out into a choir of "aw"s as they laughed and teased the two some more.

"I-I'm sorry Minho but I do this on my own" Elizabeth said rubbing her arm awkwardly, not really wanting to go alone anymore.

"B-But I--"

"Aw, come on, Liz. Give the poor guy a chance" Key teased. "He's really.. falling for you, there!" The group burst out into laughter.

Liz groaned inwardly and blushed harder. She looked up at Minho and gave him a firm nod. "You can come"

Minho fist bumped the air in triumph. He beamed. "I promise I'm a good partner. I can hold things and-and carry things and--"

"It's fine, Minho. Go with me not as my partner but as my friend" Elizabeth gave him a heart warming smile and he felt his heart jumping around. "So, if you're not going to have dinner, we best get going"

Minho found himself shaking his head, even though he was starving, he wanted to get a good move on. 

"Now, where do you think you're going?" Granny Oki asked

"Um.. Stargazing Granny" Elizabeth giggled. "You are getting pretty old" 

"No, I know very well where you're going after you wash the dishes. And thank you for the remark of my age. Won't forget that one for a good while." Granny Oki glared at her granddaughter and took her plate to the kitchen.

Elizabeth groaned as she and Minho made their way to the kitchen. Her grandmother would be sure she'd pay for that.

Despite everything, Minho and Elizabeth couldn't stay serious as they washed the dishes in front of them. They kept making jokes and dancing in their places. Minho would wash while Elizabeth would rise. She'd take the plates, dried them, then danced as she walked towards where the plates would go. Minho would watch her, amusement evident in his eyes. 

Elizabeth was back in her place, drying some utensils while Minho looked at her curiously.

"Um.. Liz?" he said quietly.

Elizbaeth looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah?"

"You got a little something over.." Minho leaned closer to her, his face inches from hers. Elizabeth turned red. "..there" he said tapping her nose with his soap filled hands.

Elizabeth shrieked, scrunching her nose. "You're gonna pay for that" she rolled her towel and hit his back hard. Minho winced then threw more soap at her. She took a glassed filled with water and threw it at him. He frowned and took the container of dish soap. He started spraying it on her and she could do nothing but laugh. He stared at her, his eyes twinkling, enjoying the beautiful sight in front of him.

"Hope I'm not interrupting~"

Both Minho and Elizabeth stopped what they were doing to look up at their actual disruption. All of the color drained from Elizabeth's face as she let the glass drop to the floor. 

Akio chuckled as he hurried to pick up the broken pieces. "Sorry to startle you"

Elizabeth turned red as she placed a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked down at him then almost instantly kneeled down to help him. Minho scowled at the view.

"What are you doing here?" Elizabeth found herself saying.

"What? I can't visit my favorite girls anymore" he chuckled, taking a few steps forward. He then turned his gaze towards Minho. "Hey there.. Minho, wasn't it?"

Minho spoke between his teeth and a cheesy sitcom smile. "Yes, always a pleasure to see you Akio"

Akio's gaze then fell on the bags on the corner of the room. "Stargazing, huh, Liz?" he chuckled and scrunched his nose. "Cute" 

Minho's teeth clenched.

"Where are the other girls? I take it you're on dishes duty tonight?" Akio tilted his head.

Before Elizabeth could find the right words to not emberass herself any further, a loud whine was heard from the dining room. "Oh, please, Aunt Rebs. Lay off for me for a while! I just want to go to the movies"

"Rebecca you almost died"

"That was one time, let it go!" 

Akio chuckled to himself, inserting his hands in his pockets. "That must be Rhea. Better say hi to the others. I think I'm spending the night" he scratched the back of his head.

"W-Why didn't you tell me? I could've stayed" Elizabeth said, adding a light laugh.

Akio chuckled once again, his low voice annoying Minho per second. "Why would I want to ruin your trip? You and, um, Minho have fun, alright?" he bowed his head then walked outside the kitchen.

Not many words were exchanged between Minho and Elizabeth as they finished washing the dishes and putting them in place. Neither knew what to say. Elizabeth was in a state of dreaming, coming up with all the things she could've told him, thinking that maybe things would've ended differently.

'Why didn't you tell me? I could've stayed? Elizabeth, what is wrong with you?' she mentally scolded herself. Frustrated, she pushed her bangs away from her face. 

"You don't have to feel so nervous around him" Minho muttered quietly.

This broke Elizabeth off her trance and she broke her stare with, well, thin air, and turned to look at Minho sharply. "Sorry?"

"I said you don't have to feel so nervous around that Akio guy. He's just a guy" he shrugged. "Not really that.. special either" he mumbled to himself.

"Minho.." Elizabeth said with wide eyes, "Are you.. jealous?" she finished, not really believing it herself. 

"W-What?! Jealous of that idiot? Of course not!" 

"Why would you call him an idiot? He's very charming and sweet" 

"I don't mean to brag" Minho said slightly stretching his arms, "but I was named the Flaming Charisma back in my school"

"If you say so, Minho. Let's just get a move on, alright?" Elizabeth said, grabbing her things and making her way towards the back door. 

Minho sighed softly to himself as he made his way outside. Elizabeth took one last glance at the house before walking next to Minho. They both started making their way towards their destination.

After endlessly walking for about an hour, they finally made it to the top of a grassy hill. The stars were beautiful that night. Elizabeth's eyes sparkled as she looked up at the starry night.

"It's.. so beautiful. It's never been like this before."

"What are you talking about?" Minho questioned. "This is the country! It must've always been like this"

Elizabeth shook her head, still staring at the beautiful sight above her. "Yes, it's been amazing the past years but never as brilliant as it is now!"

"Yeah, yeah. We can watch the stars later. Help me fix up camp first!" Minho groaned, struggling with the tent he was forming.

Elizabeth took one last glimpse at the stars before laughing softly and helping Minho set camp. While Minho looked for wood, Elizabeth set the tent and placed her telescope, the reason her bag was so heavy in the first place. She smiled as she looked through the lenses, fixing them and putting them in the right directions. 

Feeling Minho's presence, she started speaking while looking through the telescope, "I don't even think I'll be using my telescope tonight. The stars are crystal clear for the eye" she giggled as she pulled away then turned to look at Minho.

Minho dumped the wood on the floor then started rubbing two sticks together. "That's good. We can watch them together"

Elizabeth nodded as she sat down next to him. The fire started after a few minutes of rubbing. 

Afterwards, not much was done. Since they were both quite satisfied from the dinner they had a couple of hours ago, they went right away to stargazing. As Elizabeth had mentioned, it was easy to spot all the constellations.

"I always bring this journal with me so I can write down all the constellations I see every year. I have a feeling it's going to be the longest in all the years I've come here!" she squealed in excitement.

Minho could only watch her and laugh softly at the beautiful sight in front of him. And no, he wasn't watching the stars.

"That right there is Canis Major, not Minor" Elizabeth said, pointing upwards.

"That's awesome but considering I know neither of them and I didn't even ask, I don't really know or care" Minho shrugged

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she wrote it down.

"Why do you like the stars so much?" Minho couldn't help but ask.

Elizabeth noticeably stiffened. She slowly sat up straight and turned to look at him. "Who doesn't like the stars?" she responded with a small smile.

Minho rolled his eyes and laughed. "But you're not like other, Liz. You're completely different. You brought all this equipment and  "It's a secret" she said before turning back towards her notebook.

Minho scratched his head. What did she mean by secret? To clear the awkwardness, he decided to bring in a different topic. "What about planets?" he asked, tilting his head even though he still wouldn't know or care. But hey! At least he asked this time. "Can you see any tonight?"

Elizabeth squinted her eyes, looking up at the stars. She crawled towards her telescope, feeling too lazy to actually stand up and walk towards it. She started rotating some of the knobs and directions. 

"Not at the moment. Maybe later on tonight" Elizabeth said, making her way back towards where he was sitted.

"Hm" Minho shrugged, indifferent. "Hey! What are we doing tomorrow? Because I saw this really great river just a few miles from here and I thought we could try--"

"We're going home right away so, no, we're not trying anything" Elizabeth shrugged.

"But--"

"We got work tomorrow, remember?" 

Minho groaned, laying down on the soft grass. "Do we really have to?"

"Yes, we do" Elizabeth said hovering above him. He turned red, staring up at her. She squinted her eyes, staring at him catiously, before giggling and moving away. She took out her pen once again and went back to writing constellations. They both stayed there, in silence. Elizabeth's pencil crushing against her smal notebook being the only noise. She used her knees for support while Minho layed there, counting unnameable stars. 

"You know, I'm actually very glad you're here with me tonight" said Elizabeth, breaking the silence. 

Minho lifted his head off the ground, turning it to look at Elizabeth's back facing him. He sat up slowly.

No response from Minho was heard, yet she continued. Probably hoping that Minho had fallen asleep and that he couldn't hear her confession.

"I didn't think it would happen but I truly feel like I can trust you. Do you truly want to know why I love the stars so much?"

He nodded but realized he probbaly couldn't see her so he muttered a soft, "Yes"

"I feel like I can touch them if I raise my arm high enough, don't you?" she raised her hand while looking up. Her hand clenched into a fist before she dropped it to the ground. "That's why I don't watch stars in our backyard. We're closer to the stars up here" she giggled softly. "You know my grandfather died. He was very dear to me. He truly cared about me unlike my other family members, Granny being an exception.. Sometimes when I'm up here, I can remember how it used to be. Just me and him. And I don't feel so alone.."

Minho stared at her carefully. "Liz.."

"You don't have to say anything. In fact, don't say anything" she turned to look at him. "It's better that way, don't you think? Avoids all the awkward conversations"

Minho slowly made his way closer to her. He sat next to her, wrapping the blanket he had picked up a few minutes ago around both of them. They both looked at each before smiling warmly, then up at the beautiful night sky. For the first time, they could both agree on something. They wouldn't want to be anywhere else with anyone else.

"Man, that sure was a great movie. Don't y'all think?" 

Rhea groaned sadly as she kicked a pebble that was in the sidewalk. Taemin had her arm wrapped around her waist while her hands where inside her pockets. Rhea's Aunt wouldn't stop talking about the movie and she always tried to stand in the middle of both of them.

And they tried.

The lord knows they tried getting away from Rhea's aunt but there was no stopping that woman. They had even stood up and went to a different row once she had left for the bathroom but she found them once again.

One thing was for sure. They would try to be the most innocent and normal couple out of the bunch because they didn't know how much more they could take.

Author's Note

Because we had to see Rhea and Tae suffer.

Just for a lil while.

Hope you guys liked that^^

SARANGHAE MY LOVELY READER~!