Chapter 23

“We want to go check out the boardwalk and the rides they have.” Hyuk said excitedly while N just looked at him in horror at the word rides.

Melody fought a laugh at his expression while at the same time she empathized with how he was feeling. She hated heights too and watching poor N on MTV Diary when they were raised in a harness then dropped to swing through the air  and when they had bungee jumped on Mydol still made her cringe in fear. As much as she loved her girls and their group there was no amount of money in this world that would make her do that. An involuntary shudder swept over her body and Leo watched her curiously wondering about the look on her face.

She smiled apologetically, “I’m sorry boys but we already have…” her words trailed off as she saw the other members of 4D’s crushed faces. She felt her heart twist at being the cause of it but they already had a commitment for that morning and she never broke her word. Although at this moment she had never been more tempted, so strong was her desire to spend time with VIXX and especially Leo.

Firming her resolve she looked directly at N so she wouldn’t see the girls or Leo and explained to him that they had made arrangements to have a swing dance lesson this morning.

They had planned this a couple months ago after they had found they would definitely be coming out and until this moment they had all been wicked excited.

N nodded with understanding, “It’s okay Noona, and you should honor the commitments you have already promised.” He could see her struggling with her decision and his admiration for her as a leader went even higher as she firmed her back and nodded. Even knowing her decision was the unpopular one and even though she seemed to not want to do it, she would follow through.

“Could we go? We’ve never learned this style.”

Nine sets of eyes swung in Leo’s direction as he merely gave a small shrug after he finished talking.

Melody tipped her head to the side thoughtfully as she considered the idea, giving Leo a sideways glance as she did. When he looked directly at her and saw her looking at him she dropped her eyes shyly and shifted her gaze around the room. Yhinny was standing on the bed behind Ravi and had her hands on his shoulders as she learned forward looking at Melody hopefully. She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and looked toward Ken and Trina who stood close to each other the picture of innocence, which was more than enough to cause her worry.

Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she looked at them. She was already familiar with Ken’s 4D and playful personality. What he hadn’t realized yet was Trina was more than a match for him. Melody, Summer, and Yhinny had frequently found themselves on the end of Tina’s pranks and she couldn’t help but wonder what the two of them might be cooking up.

She nodded slowly, “I’m okay with it if everyone else is? I’m sure the instructor won’t mind.” She looked at N to see how he felt and he nodded in agreement.

“Okay then… who wants to go swing dancing?” Ten hands went up, although Leo’s wasn’t very high, but Ken more than made up for it by having both his hands up as high as he could and waving them enthusiastically. “Who’s going to push the swing?”

The others looked at him confused until Trina started laughing, it seemed she had gotten whatever it was he was talking about.

Melody wrote down directions for N, thankfully the studio was pretty much right around the corner and shooed the boys out so they could finish getting ready.

Next door in their own room Ravi grabbed a pillow and sat down on the bed with a thunk. The others looked at him in surprise. “Hyung?” Hyuk asked softly.

Ravi sighed heavily. “I just hate that we can’t walk with them to the studio.” He looked at N, “Hyung…just how were we supposed to go with them to the boardwalk if we can’t even walk around the corner.”

N opened his mouth to reply then closed it. He hadn’t thought of that earlier. Still what was that American saying…wait was it American? Shrugging he repeated it to himself, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”

Leo waited patiently by the door, ready to go. Although he was excited for the dance class he was more excited to see Melody again…