Bittersweet Pain & Secrets
Good Luck With That (がんばってね)
[Third POV]
Changmin was laying down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and smiling to himself. He brought his right hand up and examined the object in his hand, it was the water bottle Jinae had given him earlier. He had finished the contents much earlier that day but decided to keep refilling it to use it longer.
'I must be getting to her at least a little bit for her to think about me. It's not as if she's the type to randomly do nice things, right? After all, from what I've heard about her, if Jessica's persona is the Ice Princess (which she's not in actuality) then Jinae is the Ice Queen. She doesn't show much interest in anyone, doesn't socialize at all, and most of the other trainees don't even know her name...they only know who she is by description. Therefore, she must be starting to like me!
Heh heh heh...but is she nicer to Yunho-hyung than she is to me? They were dancing earlier...and laughing together...she hasn't laughed with me, has she? She hasn't smiled much either. I didn't realize how nice her smile is until I saw it...if only it wasn't when she was with Yunho-hyung.'
He sat up and put the water bottle in the drawer of his bedside table when he heard a knock on his bedroom door, "it's open."
"Minnie~ I haven't seen you all day," Yunho walked in, flopping himself onto Changmin's bed and pouting up at him. "Are you avoiding me for some reason?"
"What? Why would I do something like that?" 'Even though I kinda am...'
"I had to find someone else to dance with today."
"You make it sound like we're dancing partners."
Yunho flashed a brilliant grin at Changmin, "technically we are."
"Not in that way." Changmin went over to his desk and grabbed his laptop. "Who was the victim, I mean volunteer, this time to dance with you?"
"I was going to look for Eunhyuk but I ran into Jinae so we ended up practicing together."
Almost dropping his laptop in shock, Changmin put it down safely on his desk before saying, "really? How was it?"
Yunho held back his laughter. He could tell that Changmin was irked about him dancing with her but of course, with Changmin's stubborn personality, he would never admit such a thing. "Good."
"...that's all?"
'Gotcha!' Yunho thought and smirked, "yeah, she's a good dancer. I'm a good dancer. Us dancing together was good. Definitely good."
'...I kinda hate Yunho-hyung right now, is that wrong of me' Changmin nodded his head, "ah, makes sense."
Yunho sat quietly, smiling the whole time as he watched Changmin attempt to control his emotions. Since his defense wasn't up, Changmin's eyes were giving away his every emotion and soon his facial expressions were as well.
Changmin could feel Yunho's gaze on him and was getting more irriatated by the second. 'Isn't it enough that he's spending time with Jinae and telling me all about it making me jealous but now he has to stay in here being all happy about it? That smile is so annoying right now...damn it, I'm getting mad at my own hyung -_-;; I get the feeling that he's trying to provoke me though...'
Just as Changmin thought that, Yunho had moved over to where Changmin was and tapped his shoulder. Changmin didn't feel it at first and Yunho thought he was just ignoring him so he leaned down and whispered near Changmin's ear "뻥이야~ (it was a joke~)"
He turned around abruptly in his chair, "what?"
"I didn't really see Jinae today. I just wanted to see your reaction. Thanks for being my entertainment tonight ㅋㅋㅋ(hahaha)"
"Ya!" Changmin ran over to his bed, grabbing a pillow and chased Yunho out the room. "Hyung, you're not allowed in my room anymore!" He yelled through the door Yunho closed it behind him. "Aish..."
Yunho peeked his head through the door and said, "don't lie to yourself Minnie! By the way, this wouldn't have happened if you just accepted my offer to help you with her." Changmin threw the pillow at the door and Yunho quickly moved out of the way, closing the door once again. Changmin could hear his snickering outside his room and glared at the door.
He sighed, laying back down on the bed and closing his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he thought 'even if you really didn't see Jinae today and lied just now to tease me, what about yesterday? You didn't even tell me about it hyung...'
[The next day at SM]
Changmin was scheduled to practice his dancing the whole day but he still found time to go look for Jinae on the trainee levels of SM. Two water bottles in hand, he meant to repay her and even take a little break with her since he heard that she was doing the same thing as him albeit for different reasons.
However, when he found her, he saw a sight he didn't want to see. There she was, in a practice room as he expected, but she was already taking a break with someone else: Yunho. Changmin could swear that there was a blush creeping up Jinae's neck as they continued chatting. The longer he watched them, the more Changmin felt irritated and upset. There was a gnawing feeling in his stomach and he hated it.
'She already thinks he's y so why does he have to be around her? Why can't he go away? Hyung, you're my hyung but...I don't want to see you right now. I'd be willing to see your face anytime. You can even bug me all the time at home as long as you're not near Jinae, not when I...I...I don't even know...'
Suddenly, Jinae looked over at the door and their eyes met. Changmin's eyes widened and he tried to quickly run away but, unfortunately for Changmin, a staff member of SM had placed boxes in the hallway while he was busy watching and he ran straight into them.
Jinae and Yunho came out to see what the crashing sound was and Changmin was on the floor, holding his head. "Oww..."
"Minnie! Are you okay?" Yunho knelt down next to him and moved Changmin's hand away from his head. "I think you're bleeding! Do you want to go to the hospital?"
"No, I'm fine. It's not too severe an injury. You guys can continue what you're doing. I'll be going."
"Yunho-sunbae, you should go to your schedule."
"But Changmin-"
"He''ll be fine." Changmin bit his lip to keep from saying something out of anger. It seemed like she cared more about Yunho being late than him lying on the floor in pain.
Hesitantly, Yunho nodded, "okay. I'll see you at home later Changmin. Take care for now okay? Watch where you're going!" he scolded him like a child and Changmin felt like one considering the circumstances. He could only imagine how Jinae saw him. 'So much for step 1 of the guidebook...'
"Can you stand up on your own?" she asked him. Changmin just stared up at her, wondering why she's actually still there. She looked around and sighed. Draping one of his arms around her shoulder and wrapping one of her own around his waist, Jinae lifted Changmin off the floor and led him to a random room.
She sat him down at a table and made sure he sat up straight before pulling away, "wait here okay? Don't fall asleep. If you feel like you might fall asleep, then start counting to a thousand."
"Huh?"
A few minutes later, Jinae walked back in and Changmin was still zoning out. She waved her hand in front of his face and he just stared at her in return.
"Damn...I think you really do have a slight concussion. How hard did you run into the boxes? Are you an idiot?" she lightly chuckled. "Who would've thought that Choikang Changmin would be knocked over by mere boxes? What happened to the meaning of your name huh? Maybe I shouldn't talk so much...well you aren't fully conscious anyhow so you won't remember what I say."
"Jinae..."
"What? Didn't I tell you to stop saying my name in such a familiar way? Just because you're a sunbae and older than me doesn't mean you can call me as you please."
"I know."
She brushed the hair away from his forehead and looked closer at his scratch. "It's not that bad after all but there is a big bump on your head...you lost many brain cells."
"What?"
"Nothing...stay still. This might sting but you must deal with the consequences of your foolish actions."
"What's gonna sti-OUCH!!! What are you doing to me?!"
"Disinfecting your scratch. I barely touched it. Stop whining or I will just smear the ointment all over the scratch," she threatened while continuing to dab the ointment on gently with a cotton swab. Not wanting sever treatment that would make the pain worse, Changmin didn't move an inch and even stayed silent.
After she finished applying the medicine, Jinae covered the scratch with a bandage and gave him some aspirin. "If you feel dizzy, go to the hospital okay? For now, avoid sleeping and just rest. It'd be a good idea for you to have someone stay with you."
"What about you?"
"No."
"Can't you even think about it before you answer?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I have practice and I can't miss it. I'm still a trainee. I don't want to risk my chances at debuting to ensure your safety."
"Then what are you doing right now?"
"Taking my break. It's over in three minutes so I have to go back now."
"Okay, I'll walk you there."
"No need."
"Do you take joy in turning me down no matter what I ask of you?"
"That would require me caring about what you do."
"You cared enough to help me just now."
"Am I supposed to leave you on the floor?"
"Well, no bu-"
"See?"
"I was just trying to say that-"
"That what? What I did is what people should do in that kind of situation. You were hurt so I helped you. That's it. Very simple. I know you hit your head but I'm sure you can still grasp a concept as plain as that one."
"Are you bi-polar?"
"I don't think so."
"No, you wouldn't now would you..."
"I just told you that. You're making me late now with pointless conversation so good bye. Please look where you are going from now on."
Changmin laughed and sat down, disbelief shown in his face. "She's...unbelievable."
Someone walked into the room again and Changmin looked up to see Jinae again. She held out a water bottle to him, "I forgot to give you this. You dropped it earlier. There's a second one but I'm going to take it since I gave you mine yesterday. It's only fair." He gazed at her wordlessly. "One last thing, just so you know, you weren't cool earlier. Spying through the window in the door-"
"I wasn't spying!"
"Spying through the door in the window," she repeated, clearly ignoring his outburst. "And running into those boxes but...nevermind. You are not cool. That's all I wanted to tell you."
"Ya Lee Jinae!"
She closed the door behind her and actually smiled, 'you're really not cool...not one bit...but for some reason...I'm glad you're okay...that shall be my secret.'
Inside the room, Changmin leaned back in the hair and rubbed the band-aid Jinae had put on his head. 'I really would've been fine without her helping me like that. My head doesn't even hurt...it was just nice to have her act that way with me. I guess running into the boxes was worth it in the end. I just won't tell her that. My little secret.'
A/N: Hello everyone~! It's been a while huh? Sorry about that >_< but I really like this update so I'm glad I waited out my writer's block ^^ I think it's a rather cute chapter. I was inspired to write it on the spot tonight XD does anyone feel out of character? I feel like they are~ oh well! They shall just be bi-polar as Changmin suggested Jinae is XD hope you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for reading! ^^
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