Chapter 2

We finally exited the stage, making our way backstage. It was hot, and we felt gross and sweaty from the sun and from our performance. I watched as Jaejin made a beeline for his dressing room. A pang of sorrow entered my heart, watching him walk away.

He probably doesn’t think anything of it. I should just follow hyung’s example. Think nothing of it.

But how could I? It was my first. Kiss. And it’d happened in the worst way. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and ruffled my hair.

Couldn’t I just forget it? I could have… a second first kiss. Wait. That didn’t make sense. Or, this kiss could be a practice run. That could happen, right? I mean, it was only with a guy… With Jaejin…

My heart beat faster at the thought of his name. I clutched my shirt and picked up a water bottle from the cooler. Forget, forget, forget.

“Ah! Water. Sweet water,” Hongki sang as he poured water from a bottle and onto his head. He closed his eyes and smiled. He shook the water drops out of his hair. Jonghun his lips as he watched.

I stared skeptically at Jonghun. What was that about? I thought twice and bit my lip to keep my mouth shut.

Jonghun snapped out of his odd actions. “Hongki… you know we’re doing a fan signing after this. You want to go out there soaking wet like that?”

Hongki smiled at him, and then touched his shoulder. “Will you change my clothes for me?” He asked with a hint of mischief.

Jonghun’s eyes widened at him, but he couldn’t hide his own smile. I tried to contain my surprise by looking away and drinking out of the water bottle. I could still here every word. “What… what the hell? Change it yourself.”

“Tch… don’t talk to your hyung like that.”

“Five days. You’re my hyung by five days.”

“Doesn’t that still make me your hyung?” Hongki shot back jokingly. He took his hand off of him and began examining his nails. “You know, I still have that picture of you… from the party… and I bet Minhwan would really want to see it-”

I’d heard about this. Jonghun wouldn’t let a soul touch Hongki’s cell phone besides Hongki since that party. “Oh! I wanna see-“

“Let’s go change clothes.” Jonghun put his hand on the small of Hongki’s back and ushered him to the changing rooms. I glanced in their direction as they walked, dejected that I didn’t get to find out. I guess I never would.

“The fans wouldn’t really care, anyways. They’ll think I look good either way,” Hongki stated matter-of-factly.

“Oh, really.”

“Mmhm.”

“That’s awfully narcissistic of you.”

“Aw, they’ll think you look good too, Jonghun. You and your sweaty self.”

“I think you look good.”

“What?”

I caught Jonghun’s hand trail lower and lower down Hongki’s back as they walked into the room.

I stared blankly at the door they’d entered.

…

…I didn’t know what to think.

Well, whatever. They were close. We were all close. If they wanted to change together, it was fine by me.

I really wanted to see that photo though.

I looked back at the bottle in my hand and sighed. Jaejin attempted to enter my thoughts again, but I shut my eyes tightly. I shook my head and slapped my face. I did some jumping jacks and spun in circles.

“Minhwan…” I stopped mid-spin. I quickly looked over.

Oh. It was just Seunghyun.

“Ah! Magnae number two.”  I relaxed myself from my position.

“Pfft, don’t call me that. What are doing? You look like you're drunk,” Seunghyun said with a chuckle. He picked up my water bottle from the table I’d set it on and drank from it. I didn’t really care much. He had on a dark-grey tanktop, sweats, and a towel draped around his neck. He was freshly showered, his hair still dripping. I had to admit… he looked really good like that.

But that didn’t matter. I had bigger problems to deal with.

“Oh… um… just, warming up…” I lied.

Seunghyun smiled. “Ahh, yeah. There’s gonna be a lot of pretty Japanese girls out there.”

I crinkled my eyebrows. Of course he didn’t know who I liked, so I decided to go with it. “Yeah. Sure.”

He scrutinized me. I started feeling hot. I swallowed. What was he doing? Could he read my thoughts? Maybe I needed to work on my lying skills. “W-what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

His eyebrows creased. “Nothing. So, how do you think we did?”

“Good. Of course. We always do our best.”

“Yeah, the dares were funny,” Seunghyun said with a casual laugh. Immediately after, his face became serious and concentrated.

“Ha ha, yeah, that was fun...” What was up with him? I broke away from his eye contact.

“What’d you think of your kiss? Ahh, that was funny…”

The kiss. Jaejin. A jolt ran through my body.

Just then, a freshly-showered Jaejin entered the room. “Helloooo~”

My stomach jumped. Jaejin.

Jaejin was in the room. And he kissed me. We kissed. What do I say? What do I do??

“Ah, it’s still hot. What are you guys doing?” Jaejin asked as he removed a water bottle from the cooler, uncapped it and sipped the water. His damp hair grazed the top of his eyes. He was wearing a tanktop and sweats like Seunghyun was, but he looked a million times better. I was too stunned by his presence to reply to him.

“Just talking. Did you…”

By then, I’d tuned the both of them out while they continued talking. I only watched Jaejin’s lips. As a water droplet dripped from the side of his mouth. As he lifted the bottle away from his mouth, moist from the drink. As he his lips slowly. He was… beautiful. I could safely say he was prettier than most girls I’d seen. When he smiled, his whole face lit up.

I wanted to kiss him again.

I had to.

I needed to so badly.

Wait. I’d just kissed him. Wasn’t that enough?

Of course not.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to get out of there.

“I’m gonna shower.”

“Oh. Okay,” Jaejin called. I was already out of the room.

“Yeah, go shower, Stinky!” Seunghyun yelled jokingly, probably referring to the messiness of my room.

I didn’t care enough to retort against his comment. I entered the dim room and closed the door quickly. My hand lingered on the doorknob before I leaned my back against the wall.

“Aigoo…”

He didn’t care about the kiss. He didn’t look or seem affected by it at all. Why couldn’t I be like that? It’d been a little peck. I’d barely felt it. Why couldn’t I forget it? Maybe his lips had some kind of drug in them. I guess there was a reason why he was voted as the member with the most kissable lips.

I guess it was because it was my first kiss. Ever. Jaejin didn’t know that. None of them knew that.

I sighed. I’d better stop dwelling on it for a while. I might explode, I thought. I pulled the towel out of my bag, got my shampoo and conditioner, took a deep breath and opened the door.

I briefly glanced in Jaejin’s and Seunghyun’s direction. They were deep in conversation. I slapped myself and continued on to the shower.

I really could’ve gone for some chicken then.

Later that evening, Seunghyun, Jaejin and I were lazying around in our temporary apartment. Jaejin read a book on the couch while Seunghyun and I played video games. Jonghun and Hongki... I didn't know where they were. They always seemed to be off together. They always left the younger ones behind... But it was okay. They were really good friends. I understood completely.

I tried my hardest to not look at Jaejin. I'd been trying not to since the fanmeeting. When he would talk to me or touch me playfully, I would try to be unresponsive. My blushing, though, was inevitable. I hoped the fans hadn't noticed. I hoped he hadn't noticed.

But his smile. His happy eyes. His lips. It wasn't just his face; he, as a whole, was toxic. Like a drug or something. I couldn't take it, but I couldn't stop myself from wanting more of him.

His mere presence in the room was making my head spin. He wasn't even doing or saying anything to me. I tried to push him from my aching head and focus on the game at hand, which I was losing. I rapidly pressed the 'X' button.

"Oooh, Minhwan finally fights back!" Seunghyun yelled with a cackle. "But you're no match for the Street Fighter KING."

"We'll see," I retorted. Whoa. I hadn't noticed how behind I was until now. I tried defending myself and putting together some combos.

"Oh... oh! HAH! Take that, loser!"

Seunghyun wasn't too bad of a player, but his abundant and unneeded confidence made him a little annoying to play with. I continued pressing buttons, hoping I would win. And somehow, I did.

"... What?" Seunghyun said in disbelief. "... Whatever, there's next time."

"Why not just admit I won, hyung?" I said with a playful smile.

"Never!" he yelled. I stuck out my tongue at him teasingly, stuck my thumbs at my temple, and wiggled my fingers around. He arm-tackled me and we both fell back onto the carpet. He started tickling me, laughing and saying "You think your aegyo will get me? Hm?" which caused me to yelp. I laughed hysterically, the tickling unbearable. I pleaded for him to get off, but when he didn't, I resorted to kicking him in the shoulder.

"Ah!" Seunghyun was thrown backwards. He clutched his injury. "Dang... Okay, I underestimated you. Ow, god..."

"See? The magnae can be pretty strong," I said proudly. I sat up, trying to catch my breath but still laughing softly, and patted down my brown hair to fix any mess. Thank you, chicken, for your strength.

I took a glance in Jaejin's direction, thinking he was still absorbed in the book. He probably was rolling his eyes at our rowdiness. But I was wrong; he was looking straight at me with a goofy smirk. My face flushed. Had he been looking at me the whole time?

"You guys are cute," he said nonchalantly. "You should do that more on variety shows." He returned to reading.

I turned away in embarrassment. He thought we were cute. Was that good? That didn't give me any answers about what he thought of… the kiss. He was still acting like nothing had happened that afternoon. He really does think nothing of it... I thought sadly. I picked up the game controller hesitantly and started a new game.

Seunghyun sat up with a grunt, still holding his shoulder. He looked over at Jaejin who was intently reading his book. He then averted his eyes to me. I could feel him scrutinizing me again. It was getting really uncomfortable. What did he want from me?

After a couple awkward seconds, I turned to Seunghyun. "Well? You gonna play again?"

A wry smile slowly formed on his face as he looked at Jaejin again. "Nah. I'm gonna go buy some snacks at the grocery store real quick. Be right back, guys."

"...What?? Who'll I play with?"

"Duh. Jaejin. Well, if he wants to play with you..." Seunghyun said  in a devious tone as he stood. I was puzzled.

I could have sworn, as Seunghyun was finishing the sentence, his eyes twinkled with a hint of cunningness.

I was still at a loss. I couldn't resist the urge and peeked at Jaejin as well.

Wait.

He was leaving me alone. With Jaejin.

A shiver crawled up my neck. Realization hit me.

"Uh, hyung, we'll go with you," I said, trying not to sound desperate. , what is he doing??

"No no, you guys stay here. I'll be riiight back."

"Will you pick me up some fruit drinks? And Seunghyun. Not too many sweets. You don't want to damage those non-existent abs of yours."

"Tch, so harsh..." Seunghyun murmured. He pretended not to, but I caught him raising his shirt and poking his stomach to see if they really weren't there. He glared at Jaejin for a second before adorning himself in his disguise. "…Fine. Whatever."

My heart was pumping out of my chest. Alone with Jaejin. What was I going to do? I wanted to run over to Seunghyun, wrap my arms around his leg and beg him not to leave. I didn't think I could take the silence that would ensue when he left. But I just sat there, frozen.

.

"Bye guys!" Seunghyun sang with a wave. He sent me off with a wink.

Anxiety boiled in my stomach as he shut the door. And anger towards Seunghyun. But mostly anxiety.

Dead silence followed.

God. Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod.

I fidgeted and randomly pressed buttons on the controller, pretending to start a new game.

Jaejin flipped a page of his book.

Awkward. It was so awkward.

Sweat began to form on my forehead. I gave up the fidgeting and dropped the controller. I couldn't stop myself from looking over at Jaejin once again. Still reading.

He was so calm. Or was he? What was he thinking? I never knew.

I sighed silently. Okay. I could do this. If he could, I could. Act like it's nothing. For goodness sakes, we were band mates. Band mates. Nothing more...

I rose from my seated position on the carpet, made my way over to the back of the couch and rested my elbows on it. I tried to ignore my quickening heart beat.

"Hyung... What're you reading?" I asked. My voice cracked unexpectedly. I cursed silently in my mind.

Jaejin tilted his head backwards to see me. He smiled kindly. "Why do you wanna know?"

"I'm... just wondering." I swallowed.

He was still looking up at me. His long brown hair was skimming the top of his eyes. God. He looked y.

He handed me the book after he'd dog-eared the page he'd last read. It was a fantasy mystery novel. Typical. I wasn't one to read books much, so I wasn't intrigued. "Hmm. Looks interesting," I lied.

"It is. I got it from a fan. You know, you should read something besides your manga sometimes." I handed the book back to him, accidentally brushing his fingers against mine. I pulled my hand away reflexively. Crap. He'd noticed; he stared at me with a skeptical expression, carefully placing the book back on his lap. Embarrassment creeped up my neck.

"Minhwan... Are you okay?" Jaejin shifted his position on the couch so he was facing me now. "You've been acting weird around me lately."

My eyes widened. "Y... yeah! I'm perfectly fine. Really," I proclaimed. I made a show of gulping again. . "Why do you ask?"

Jaejin's eyes were filled with concern. "You just... don't seem yourself lately. You're not as hyper as you usually are. I care about you. I wanna know what's wrong."

His eyes seemed to look into me. His big, understanding eyes. I rubbed the back of my neck.

I thought back to the kiss. I couldn't resist looking at Jaejin's perfect lips. I sighed, my nerves rising. I don't know why... I just couldn't tell him. "I... I'm fine. Really. But thank you for caring, hyung." I mustered my most assuring smile.

Jaejin's eyebrows creased. He wasn't buying it. He finally turned away, allowing me to take a deep breath.

"I'm hungry. Let's go out and eat something," Jaejin suggested.

"Huh? Right now?" I asked, confused. "What about Seunghyun...?"

"Ah, he'll survive. And you know, we haven't had chicken for awhile..."

My ears perked up. "...Chicken?"

Chicken.

Chicken.

A wave of excitement washed over me. I'd been craving chicken all week. The image of fried chicken delighted my thoughts. I grabbed Jaejin's hand, pulling him from the chair. "Chicken?? Why are we sitting here then? LET'S GO! I heard about this awesome place where if you eat over fifteen drumsticks or something, you get dessert free."

I made Jaejin put on his disguise while I slipped mine on. "Hurry up!" I yelled.

"Aish. Minhwan-ah, calm down!"  When he finished I grabbed his hand again, mesmerized by the thought of chicken, and dragged him out of the apartment. "Ah, chicken~"

Jaejin giggled. "You're so easy to please. I'm glad the normal Minhwan is back."

"Eh? What'd you say?"

"What? I didn't say anything."

I stared at him doubtfully, but forgot quickly.

Ahh. Chicken.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yeah, subliminal Jongki stuck in there? ;) hahah

Sorry guys, um... I wrote a ton for this story during Memorial weekend, and it went up to like, 15 Microsoft Word pages. No joke. All on my iPod. I didn't realize I could write so much. xD

So yeah... I'm gonna make this story 4 chapters. So it's like.. a four-shot. Lol 
I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. :D

Sorry if this story so bad. Or if there's grammar problems. And the random chapter titles. Or anything. Really. D: rofl

And one more thing... 
Omfg. Is that picture of Jaejin Minhwan and Seunghyun not ing drop dead gorgeous or what??? T____T Gah seriously Minhwan just.... oh my god that y mother f@cker. And Jaejin... he will be the end of me one day. 
/dies
I thought this was perfect because this chapter focuses on them, and you can see the way he's scrutinizing Minhwan. ;)

Okay I'm done now bye 8D Comment and subscribe! whoop