Yuri had much more confidence in herself with Minho’s support. She wanted to prove that she managed to win this competition especially with his support. The audience became silent once Yuri started playing the piano. She felt more relaxed when playing the piano and she gave her focus on it.

She played all the notes that she had memorized perfectly. Everyone seemed was mesmerized by the song that she was playing including Minho who didn’t stop smiling likes an idiot. He was very proud at her and confident in her potential to win the competition. He was very very proud at her to the point that he wanted to shout that she is his girl!

Finally, Yuri ended her performance with not even a single of mistake. She took a breath of relief and she was smiling happily, being satisfied with her performance. She had given all she could. Applause was given by the audience after her performance.

“Thanks for the fantastic performance, Kwon Yuri!” the MC said.

Yuri got up as she took a look once again at Minho. He showed her a thumbs-up which caused Yuri to smile from ear to ear. She went back to the backstage.

The girls were cheering for Yuri once they could see her. “Yuri-ah!!!” They seemed like fans when calling on Yuri’s name excitedly while hopping around.

“Did I do a great job? Did I do a great job?!” Yuri asked nervously.

“Of course! We’re sure you’ll win!” Tiffany said confidently while giving a light hug to her.

Yuri smiled widely, thanking them for their support. “Anyways, did you see Minho? He came!” A sparkle could be seen in Yuri’s eyes when bragging about Minho.

“Yes~ of course we saw him!” Sunny replied. “Yah! Kwon Yuri, are you that happy that he came? It seemed like you can’t live without him! Honestly, you are acting strangely, you know? What’s the use when you were angry at him this afternoon and right now, you really hope that he’ll be here?” Yuri just grinned in embarrassment while rubbing her neck. Yes, she was really angry at Minho before but maybe Sunny was right, her love for him is too strong which caused her anger at him not last long.

“Yuri-ah! I can see that how happy Minho was when he saw you were playing piano! I could see his face was telling, ‘That’s my angel!’” Taeyeon teased Yuri.

Yuri blushed. “What are you talking about?” she elbowed Taeyeon.

“Yes, Taeyeon is right!” Yoona added while smiling happily.

Honestly, Yuri was happy when hearing what they said but still she tried to deny it or it’s because she didn’t want to put much hope in that. “H… h… He just likes to see the girls playing piano. I think he would be like this for other girls too.”

“Yuri-ah, that’s different! He is my cousin, I know him since young. The way he looks at you is different, I can sense love.”

“Really?” Yuri raised one of her eyebrows and her lips were curling up. She really hoped the girls won’t be wrong and gave a false hope to her.

“Yuri-ah! They are going to announce the winner!” Jessica exclaimed.

All the audience including the girls were silent, waiting nervously for the result especially Yuri. She looked very nervous and hoped that her name would be called.

“The winner is…” the MC paused to create a more nervous atmosphere. “I think all the contestants are nervous, right?”

Yuri looked extremely nervous. Her heart was beating very fast. “Calm down, okay? I’m sure you’ll win!” Yoona comforted Yuri as she put her hand on Yuri’s shoulder.

“Kwon Yuri! Congratulations! You are the winner!” the MC announced.

“Yuri-ah! You won!” the girls cheered loudly and following by the cheer from her school’s students.

“Yes!” Minho grasped his hand excitedly. He was very happy because all her hard work had been paid off.

“Yeah!” Yuri also shouted excitedly especially when she was waiting nervously for her name to be called. She hugged the girls one by one before going up to the stage to take her prize.

“Come here!” MC asked Yuri once he saw her going up the stage. “Give applause for our winner!” Applause and cheer were given to Yuri once again. She was given a piano-shaped trophy. She looked to the front while smiling widely, thanking all the support by the audience. She took a glance at Minho. He beamed to her, congratulating her for her hard works which enable her to win this competition.

Yuri went back to the backstage. Once again, the girls were welcoming her excitedly. “Thanks, everyone!” Yuri shouted to the girls.

“Yah!” Jessica put her hand on Yuri’s shoulder. “What is there to thank for? We’re your friends, of course we should have supported you!” Yuri beamed for Jessica’s words.

“You can’t wait to meet Minho, right?” Sunny asked while raising one of her eyebrows. Yuri just grinned which meant that Sunny was absolutely right.

“Ok, then we are going to leave first. You can go home with Minho, right?” Taeyeon asked. Yuri nodded with a smile on her face, she really couldn’t wait to see his face. Her heart kept calling for him. She knew she was acting strangely but it was really out of her control.

“Ok, bye!” Yuri waved her hand to the girls. After they were gone, she immediately went to find Minho at the audience place.

--------------

After the competition ended, Minho quickly got up from his seat with excited smile on his face as he eagerly wanted to meet Yuri. How he wished he could give her the tightest hug ever right now. However, his steps were stopped when someone grabbed his arm. He turned his head to the back. “Nickhun?” He was quite shocked to see Nickhun here.

“Come outside for a while. I want to discuss something with you.”

“Can we talk later? I want to meet Yuri…”

Nickhun just walked out the hall without waiting for Minho to explain. It seemed like he was going to talk something important. Minho sensed something was wrong but he didn’t have other choice except having talk with him right now. He followed Nickhun.

“Anyways, what are you going to discuss…”

Instead of answering Minho’s question, Nickhun just threw a punch towards Minho’s face until he fell on the ground. The blood started to flow from his mouth and also another bruise was added to Minho’s face after last night, he also got a punch from Taecyeon.

“Yah! Nickhun! What the heck did you do?!” Minho asked angrily since he didn’t know why he should get this punch from Nickhun.

“Do you really didn’t know why?!” Nickhun raised his voice while giving a glare to Minho. Minho was just silent, which meant he really didn’t know. “You know, Victoria noona is really sick! How can you leave her alone and ignore her?!”

“Really?” Minho looked very shocked. “How is she?”

“She is fine now but you are really…”

“Nickhun, she lied to me last night! How can I believe her again easily?! You know, because of her, I left Yuri alone outside in such a cold weather! And, why didn’t you accompany her instead of me? I know you like noona, right?”

Nickhun’s silence meant Minho was right. He couldn’t deny that he really loves Victoria. However, he never confessed his feelings as Minho seemed very like her before and now, Victoria also started to love Minho. Finally he talked, “Yes, I love her and I want to accompany her BUT! She wants you! She kept calling your name!” Truthfully, Nickhun felt so hurt with that as he was grasping his hands tightly.

“Yes, I know how you feel. I know you didn’t want to see Victoria noona get hurt. It same goes to me. I love Yuri and I also don’t want to hurt her especially after what I have done to her last night. I have to redeem my mistake to her. And about Victoria noona… I also have cleared up everything with her. I told her that I love Yuri but she still insisted to be with me.”

“I’m sorry…” Nickhun said apologetically. “I know it’s not your fault actually but seeing noona hurt makes me so angry.”

“It’s okay. I understand… I would have acted like you if it concerns Yuri.” Minho smiled.

“Thanks… and, don’t you want to see her right now?”

“Huh? Ah, yes!” Minho smiled. “I’m off.” Minho immediately walked away to look for Yuri.

He looked for her everywhere, at the backstage, at the audience place and even around the school’s area but she was nowhere to be found. He was wondering where she went. Had she gone home? He was quite sad. Was she still angry at him?

-------------

Minho was lying down, with his upper body was on his bed. He was staring at his cell phone, or specifically he was staring at Yuri’s number in his cell phone. He was hesitant either wanted to call her or not. He kept staring at her number for about 30 minutes already, still hesitated. He was scared that she might be still angry at him.

All of a sudden, his cell phone was ringing. “Hello, Yuri-ah!” He immediately answered the call.

“Minho~” He heard a weird voice that was calling for his name.

“Huh?” He was very shocked with that and he took a look at the caller’s name. It was Taecyeon. “Yah! What are you doing?!” Minho scolded him for trying to imitate a girl’s voice.

Taecyeon laughed while knocking the door of Minho’s room which was already opened. He ended the call and went to Minho, following by Nickhun behind him.

“Seriously, what the heck were you doing?! If you miss her, just call her!” Taecyeon knocked Minho’s head for his silliness.

“Ouch! Yah!” Minho gave a glare to Taecyeon. “It’s not like that… I’m afraid that she might be still angry at me.”

“Oh~ you are worrying about that? Then, you haven’t confessed to her?”

“Not yet…”

“WHAT?!” Nickhun and Taecyeon asked in disbelief. “Yah! Why?”

Nickhun added, “I’m sure just a love confession from you, she will forget everything including her anger on you.”

“Anyways, what the main point is… Does she love me too? What if she rejects me?” Minho looked unsure.

“YAH! CHOI MINHO! I’m begging you please don’t be so silly, please!” Taecyeon exclaimed. “Can you tell me is there any friend who would wait for someone in such a cold weather for a few hours until she got a fever if she doesn’t have any special feelings towards her friend?”

“Yes~ maybe you are right…” Minho sounded quite happy but there was still some doubt in his voice.

“Honestly, tell you the truth… I already confess to Yuri that I like her.” Taecyeon said.

“What?!” Minho sounded quite angry.

“But, you know what… she rejected me of course. She said she couldn’t accept me and I can’t like her because she likes someone else which is you!” Taecyeon pointed to Minho.

“Are you sure she said that to you?” Minho’s lips finally were curling up.

“Yes, of course! I won’t lie to you! She already likes you for long, you know?”

“Thanks!” Minho exclaimed while smiling happily. He didn’t want to call her right now because he wanted to meet her face to face. He wanted to shout to her as loud as he could, telling her how much he loves her and hugged her tightly. He was shocked by a call. “Hello?”

“Oppa!” Jooyeon exclaimed.

“Oh, Jooyeon-ah!”

“Oppa, I miss Pretty unnie! I want to see Pretty unnie!”

“Pretty unnie?” Minho asked in astonishment. “Oh! Do you mean Yuri?”

“Yes! Oppa, I want to meet her!”

“Jooyeon-ah. I can’t bring her to see you right now. Next time, okay? Oppa also misses her. Oppa promises next time, oppa will bring her as my girlfriend, okay?”

“What?! Oppa’s girlfriend?! Then, that means she can be my sister?!” Jooyeon asked excitedly.

“Yes, she’ll be soon!” Minho replied happily.

“Ok, oppa! I won’t bother oppa anymore. Please make her as your girlfriend as soon as possible. Bye!” Jooyeon ended the call in the happiest voice ever Minho had heard.

“Who is that? Jooyeon?” Nickhun asked. Minho nodded with a smile on his face. “Wow, it’s amazing!” he added in shock. “Yuri is the first girl ever that Jooyeon likes. It seems like you get a great signal that Yuri is really the girl for you.”

“Yes!” Minho exclaimed. He took a look at his watch. “It’s already late. I think it’s better to call Yuri first to check whether she is asleep or not.” Minho searched for Yuri’s number in his contact and this time, he was looking at her number confidently and pressed the call button. However, she didn’t answer the call. He tried for a few times but still he couldn’t reach her. “Is she really asleep?” Minho looked at Taecyeon and Nickhun.

“Don’t worry.” Taecyeon patted Minho’s shoulder. “Just confess to her tomorrow! Be patient, okay?” He let out a chuckle. All of a sudden, Minho’s cell phone rang. “Oh, is that Yuri?”

Minho took a look at the caller’s name. “Nope. It’s Taeyeon.” He answered the call. “Hello, Taeyeon?”

“Sorry for bothering you guys.” Taeyeon said while letting out a chuckle.

“Yes?” Minho was confused what had caused Taeyeon to be so happy and the way she said ‘you guys’ was like she was referring more than one person. Plus, he could hear the girls’ voice who kept teasing him, which he didn’t know why.

“I guess it’s already late… can you send her home now?”

“Taeyeon, what do you mean? I don’t understand. I have to send who?”

“Oh, Minho! Send Yuri, of course! It isn’t like you won’t meet her again tomorrow.”

“Yuri is with me?” Minho asked in confusion. “I thought she is sleeping in her room, right now. I’m with Nickhun and Taecyeon at my house.”

“Oh?” Taeyeon also looked confused. “I thought she is with you. She’s not home yet and before we left her, she said she wanted to meet you. So, I thought…”

“WHAT?!” Minho interrupted in shock. “I didn’t see her at all! Then, where she is been right now?! I tried to call her but she didn’t answer it!”

“What are we going to do?!” Taeyeon asked in anxiousness.

“Ok, don’t worry. I’ll try to find her. I’ll call if there is any news, okay?”

“Okay.” Taeyeon replied and ended the call.

“We’ve to find Yuri right now. She is nowhere to be found!”

“Let’s go!” Minho, Nickhun and Taecyeon got out from their house to look for Yuri.

----------------

Minho was looking for Yuri around their neighbor for about an hour but she still was nowhere to be found. “Yuri-ah!!! Where are you?!!!” Minho shouted. He looked very depressed. He grasped his hands tightly. He felt like dying right now, not knowing where she was. Nickhun and Taecyeon went to him. “Have you found her?” He looked at Nickhun and Taecyeon with full of hope.

“Not yet.” Nickhun shook his head.

Minho looked very sad and weak. He felt like he lost the energy in his legs. Eventually, he knelt down on the ground. He felt so weak because he didn’t know what to do in this situation.

“Minho, calm down.” Taecyeon patted Minho’s shoulder.

All of a sudden, Minho’s cell phone rang. He slowly took his cell phone in his pocket. He really didn’t want to speak with anyone right now. However, he had to answer the call because the call might be urgent. He took a look at the caller’s name. His eyes went bigger and he immediately answered. “Yuri-ah! Where are you?!” He asked in anxiousness. “You know how worried I…”

“Hello!” Minho heard a guy’s voice was speaking with him right now.

“Hey, who is this?! Where is Yuri? Why are you calling by her cell phone?!”

“Calm down. Don’t worry, that girl is with me. She is fine but! She may be not fine if you don’t come here quickly!” That guy threatened Minho.

“What are you talking about?!” Minho asked angrily.

“Just come to the place that I asked to if you want her to be safe, okay?”

“What is the proof that she is with you?!”

“I’m using her cell phone… isn’t that a proof, huh? Silly guy! Anyways, if you keep questioning me, I’ll do something to her, understand?! Just go to the place that I asked to and remember please come alone. Otherwise, I not promise you this girl will be fine!”

--------------

Minho, Nickhun and Taecyeon were in the car around the place where the mysterious guy asked Minho to go. They could see an old wooden warehouse. “I think she is in that warehouse.” Minho said to Nickhun and Taecyeon. “You guys wait here. I’ll go into that warehouse.”

“Minho, wait! It’s dangerous to go alone! He may have many people.”

“No! I said wait here! He said I have to come alone! If we both go, Yuri’s life might be threatened. Understand? Just wait here! And if I still don’t come out after 30 minutes, you guys can come into that warehouse, okay?”

“Yes.” Nickhun and Taecyeon agreed with Minho’s suggestion hesitantly.

-----------

Yuri opened her heavy eyes as she just gained her consciousness. She felt very dizzy right now. She really didn’t know what was happening. She just remembered that when she was going to meet Minho, someone grabbed her from behind and then… everything became dark, she couldn’t see anything.

She was looking at the surrounding. This place looked very dirty and the floor was covered by the dust. How could she get here?

“Oh~ are you awake?” she heard a guy’s voice asking her from behind. She immediately turned her body towards him. “Grab her!” that guy asked his people to held Yuri tightly.

“What are you doing?! Let me go!” Yuri said angrily while trying to escape from their hold but they were too strong opponent for her.

That guy came closer to Yuri. “Hey, why don’t you keep silent?” He touched Yuri’s face like a predator that was playing with its prey before eating it. Yuri turned her face away from him which made him to let out an evil laugh. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you… for now. We should wait for your prince charming to come here, okay?”

“What do you mean?!”

“Your prince charming, of course!” He answered while laughing evilly. “Anyways, let see if his love is strong enough to appear here!” He took a look at his watch. “Oh~ it has been 30 minutes! I think he is a coward! He loves himself more than you. It’s better if you leave him, right?” He looked at Yuri with a smirk on his face. All of a sudden, a ‘BAM’ sound was produced as the wooden door of the warehouse was broken. “Oh, that startled me!” He looked at the direction of that sound. “Finally, you come!”

However, Minho didn’t seem to care about that guy as his focus was only on Yuri. His eyes locked on her. Yuri seemed quite shocked to see Minho in front of her. “Yuri-ah! Are you okay?!” he asked anxiously as he ran towards her to check her condition. She seemed so weak. Two guys grabbed Minho and tried to keep Minho stay still. “Let me go! I said let me go!” He tried to go towards Yuri but they still held him tightly.

“Hey, can’t you be silent?!” he asked Minho. “Otherwise, I’ll do something to her.” He tried to touch Yuri.

“Wait! Ok, ok! Just do anything to me but please don’t hurt her!” Minho yelled. That bad guy smirked in satisfaction as he saw how weak Minho could be when it concerned about the most important person in his life. He approached Minho. “Please let her go! If there is something you didn’t satisfy with me, just solve it right now but please let her go! She didn’t involve in this situation!”

“Alright… I’ll let her go but… there is one condition.”

“What is it?” Minho asked seriously like he was ready to do anything whatever that guy asked him to do just for Yuri’s sake.

“You must get beaten up by us but you can’t fight back! Just keep still, understand?!”

“That’s impossible!” Yuri shouted. “You are coward even you already have many people!”

“Yah! I don’t ask for your opinion!” He slapped Yuri’s face.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?!!!” Minho shouted loudly in anger. He struggled harder to escape himself from the guys who were holding him tightly.

“Don’t move! I will have done worse than that to her if you keep acting stupidly!” He warned Minho.

Minho looked at him with anger in his eyes. “Alright! Just do whatever you want as long as you don’t hurt her!”

“Minho! Why did you agree?!” Yuri asked. She felt like crying now. She couldn’t bear to see him getting hurt because of her. “I’m begging you! Please take back what you just said.”

“Hurry up! Just beat me!” Minho said desperately.

All the three guys beat Minho while the other two guys kept holding Yuri tightly. The blood started flowing out from Minho’s mouth. “Stop it! Minho! Please stop it!” The tears flowed to Yuri’s cheek. It was very painful for her to see this, it’s just too painful. “Minho…” She felt like she lost all the energy. She couldn’t stand to see him anymore.

Minho became weaker as time went by as he got much more punch from the three guys who didn’t show any mercy. They just kept hitting Minho like they were going to kill him. However, Minho didn’t fight back at all though he could do that. He didn’t care about other things anymore, his minds just kept thinking to save Yuri’s life. Then, they started to hit Minho’s leg. Eventually, Minho fell on the floor as he lost all his energy in his legs. His legs felt so hurt. He really didn’t know whether he could play in the final match of the basketball or not but it didn’t matter right now. He didn’t care about that at all.

“NO! Not his legs! He has to play basketball next week! NO!” Yuri shouted.

“Oh, really?” He asked with a smirk on his face. “So, his legs are the most important…” He took a wooden chair which wasn’t too far from him. “Raise him up!” He ordered his people to do that since Minho couldn’t stand properly because of the severe injury in his legs. He lifted the chair up and it seemed like he was going to hit Minho’s legs by that chair.

“What are you trying to do?!” Yuri asked in anxiety. He just let out an evil laugh while lifting up the chair higher. He ignored Yuri. “Let me go!” Yuri tried to fling off the two guys’ hands which were holding her. She struggled with them and finally, she managed to escape. He threw the chair towards Minho’s legs but just then, Yuri dashed towards Minho. Eventually, Yuri got hit by the chair instead of Minho’s legs.

Minho’s eyes went bigger as he saw how Yuri was. He was in disbelief. They were also looked shocked since they didn’t expect that Yuri would do that. This time Minho couldn’t stay still anymore, this was too much. He hit the guys who were holding onto his hands. They both fell to the floor.

Minho knelt beside Yuri. “Yuri, are you okay? Yuri!” There wasn’t response from Yuri. She got a very severe pain because she was trying to protect Minho’s legs.

As promised, Nickhun and Taecyeon appeared after 30 minutes Minho still didn’t come out. Nickhun and Taecyeon fought with all of them.

“Yuri!” Minho shook her body. “Don’t be like this! Please, don’t scare me like this! Yuri! I’m begging you, please wake up! Can you hear me? If so, please respond!”

After confirming all of them couldn’t fight back anymore, Nickhun and Taecyeon went to Minho and Yuri to check their condition. “Are you fine?!” Taecyeon asked while looking at both Minho and Yuri.

“Call ambulance! Hurry up! Please call ambulance!” Minho said desperately.

“We’ve call police and ambulance. They will arrive soon.” Nickhun answered. “But, what happened to Yuri?”

“Yuri!” Minho shook her body. He still didn’t give up and never want to give up. He wanted to see her conscious. “Yuri. Don’t scare me like this!” Finally, the tears started to flow to Minho’s cheek. However, he suddenly stopped and looked at Yuri thoroughly as he could see Yuri was looking at him. “Are you okay?! Are you okay?!” he asked anxiously.

“Y… yes…” She answered weakly.

Minho immediately pulled her towards his embrace. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” he hugged her tightly and his tears seemed couldn’t be stopped. However, Yuri could feel that his hold became looser and finally, he fell on her.

“M… Minho?”

Taecyeon and Nickhun immediately lifted Minho from Yuri. “Minho!” He shook Minho’s body but there was no response from him.

“I think he is unconscious because he has lost much blood.” Nickhun said.

Not too long after, ambulance and police arrived there. All the bad guys were caught easily since they couldn’t fight the police. Nickhun and Taecyeon also lent their hands.

Meanwhile, Yuri and Minho were sent to the hospital in the same ambulance. On the way to the hospital, Yuri kept her stare on Minho who was unconscious and she looked so worried. She held onto his hand tightly and eventually because she herself also felt tired, weak and the pain from the chair that was thrown to her, she also fell asleep.