Minhyun’s POV

I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe the nerve of that backstabber, Jason! I really thought you were my friend, the way you stood up for me at the press conference and how you comforted me after. I should have known. You always had your sights set on Aron. You were just waiting for the opportune moment to take him, weren’t you? And Aron… how could you? The moment we break up, you go to Jason? You told me that you didn’t even like him in that way, so why…? I was hurt. I felt ultimately betrayed. It was bad enough the two of us had to spend the entire day together down at Pledis, but now Jason was involved in our little mess. Now the three of us had to work together in that enclosed dance studio. I wasn’t happy, but it wasn’t something I could avoid.

JB arrived after breakfast and picked the three of us up, taking us down to the office in the company van. The entire ride was spent in uncomfortable silence. I didn’t even wait for JB to hit the brake when he pulled up in front of Pledis; I immediately opened the door and jumped out, making my way inside the building first. Minutes later Aron and Jason both joined me downstairs inside of the dance studio. I kept my gaze away from the both of them.

Jason walked over towards the stereo to set up the music. Meanwhile, Aron sat down on the floor and started stretching his leg muscles out while I simply stood with my arms folded across my chest, ignoring them. I saw Aron looking my way out of the corner of my eyes.

“You’ll get leg cramps if you don’t stretch.”

I scoffed and ignored him. Aron shrugged then went back to stretching. About five minutes later Jason rejoined us at the front of the room. “Alright, so you guys already have the whole routine down! All that’s left is perfecting it. And y’know what they say: perfect practice makes perfect… wait, that’s not right, is it?”

“Practice makes perfect.” I muttered.

Jason smiled brightly. “Thank you!” He clapped his hands together. “So give it a go and I’ll critique you.” He started the music. Aron stood up and took his place beside me. When the beat started playing, the two of us sifted through the choreography that Jason had taught us. Everything was fine until we got towards the middle of the song, where skinship was required. During this certain move in the choreography, Aron was to approach me from behind and travel his hand down my chest until he reached my waist. When I spotted him starting to come at me I freaked out and stepped away. Jason stopped the music. “WRONG!”

“Don’t touch me.” I warned Aron.

Aron gave me a hurt look.

“He’s supposed to touch you.” Jason placed his hands on his hips.

I glared at Jason. “Well, I don’t want him to.”

“And I want a unicorn named ‘Enrique,’ but we can’t always get what we want, now can we?” Jason glared back at me.

I threw my hands up in frustration. “I can’t even with you… the two of you are so ridiculous.”

Jason raised a brow. “Are you jealous?”

I paused. I couldn’t believe he had the audacity to even ask me that! Well, thinking back on our first encounter, I took that statement back. Actually, I wouldn’t put it past Jason to come off as a complete douche. I glared at him. “Jealous?” I raised a brow. “Take him.”

Aron looked startled. “Min…”

“Screw this! Screw practice! I hope the two of you have fun on your date!” I stammered before angrily marching out of the room. As I climbed the staircase I threw my hood on over my head and exited the Pledis building. There was no way in hell I was going to attend the rest of practice today. I couldn’t be in the same room as the two of them. The both of them hurt me and betrayed my trust. I didn’t want to be near them. I just wanted to go home, lock myself up in my room and sleep away the rest of the day. At least in my dreams I wouldn’t be in so much pain.

Ren’s POV

I went through my usual routine of going to class but I felt empty on the inside. I taught my class on autopilot, the same time I could hear Minseok’s voice in my head, scolding me for what I had done. I knew what I had did was wrong, but I couldn’t fight it anymore. I liked Baekho. To try to force myself to think otherwise was just too painful. And then there was JR, who didn’t know of anything that had went on. I sighed into my desk. What am I supposed to do…? Minseok was right; someone was going to get hurt no matter what I did. I just wanted to disappear… I picked my head up as I heard my cellphone go off. I glanced at the caller ID; it was JB. I sat up straight and answered the phone.

“Ren, when are your classes over for the semester?”

I looked over at the calendar on the wall. “The kids are still in school for another two weeks until summer vacation starts; why?”

“Ah, perfect timing! That is when 2DREAM is scheduled to make appearances in China. They’re going to be modeling a Chinese designer line and appearing on a couple of talk shows. We’ll be going to the Chinese office in two weeks; will you be ready then?”

I paused. China? That meant… I wouldn’t be able to see Baekho. At the same time, that also meant that I wouldn’t be able to contact JR. My cellphone probably wouldn’t receive a signal out there… My heart sank. It felt like I was looking for the easy way out, one in which I could avoid both of them together. I felt like such a coward… why couldn’t I just tell JR and break things off with him? Maybe it was because I was scared to. I didn’t want him to be disappointed in me. All this time I told him that I had no feelings for Baekho, but now his worst nightmare had just come true. I didn’t want to hear that hurt tone in his voice or see that painful look of betrayal in his eyes because of me.

“Ren? Hello? Are you still there?”

“I’ll be ready.” I replied, pursing my lips together.

“We’ll be there for about a week. We’ll iron out the details later tonight when everyone is back at the mansion.” JB replied then hung up. I placed the phone back down on my desk and stared down into my lap. I want to tell JR. I need to tell him. But I just… I just can’t…

A couple of hours later I found myself at home, sitting on the edge of my bed and blankly staring at the wall on the opposite side of the room, my phone cradled inside my palms on my lap. I bit my bottom lip before picking it up and searching for JR’s number in New York. Once I found it I pressed the call button. As soon as I saw my phone trying to connect to the number, I quickly hung up. My heart was pounding. I was terrified. How would JR react to this bad news? The last time he saw me with Baekho, he ended up hurting me. I never blamed him… I knew it was just the shock talking… but still. What would JR do now, especially since I betrayed his trust? I knew he couldn’t do anything to Baekho; Baekho would break him in half. I didn’t have to worry about him. As far as I knew, no one really knew about Baekho’s hearing impairment except a select few and we had sworn to secrecy never to tell. I hadn’t even told JR about it, that’s how adamant I was on keeping my promise to Baekho. But what about my promise to JR now? I completely broke it.

Suddenly the screen on my phone lit up. I stared at it with wide eyes full of horror when I noticed it was JR calling me back. I placed my left hand over my mouth. Oh my god… what do I do? Do I pretend I’m not here? I paused; no, Ren. No more running. You can’t run away from your problems forever. I shakily accepted his call.

“Hey,” JR’s voice poured out from the speaker. “Did you try calling just now? It disconnected before I was even able to answer.”

“Y-yeah… must have been my connection.” I lied.

“I suppose you want to pick up on where we left off the previous day.”

“JR…” My voice trailed off. Here it goes. It’s all or nothing now…

“I’m still crazy about you, Ren.” JR replied, making my entire body tense up. “The distance? It’s had no effect on me. I’m still as crazy about you as the first day I met you… I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have snapped at you the other day. It’s not your fault that we’re drifting apart, it’s mine. I’m the one that left.”

My eyes grew large. “What? No-”

“I promise I’ll make it up to you once I get back. Actually, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“W-what?” My lips trembled. This conversation wasn’t going exactly the way I wanted it to.

“I spoke to my boss over here and told him I was getting homesick; guess what? He agreed to give me a week of vacation so that I can come back home!” JR chuckled. “I’ll be coming back home in three weeks’ time. Do you think you can last that long?”

My heart sank. I felt like crying. No, JR… don’t come back home to this mess I created for you. You can’t come see me. The moment you see me is the moment you’ll find out and despise me. I won’t be able to hide my distant feelings for you and I definitely won’t be able to hide my growing feelings towards Baekho. Please, don’t come back. Just stay where you are. Just stay put. But of course I couldn’t tell him any of this, no matter how much I wanted to. “I’ll welcome you back home.” I lied and I hated myself for it.

“I can’t wait to see you. I really miss you, Ren.”

“I miss you too…” I sadly replied.

JR chuckled. “What’s with the mopey tone? Cheer up! We’ll be seeing each other soon.”

I forced a smile on my lips. “Y-you’re right. I look forward to seeing you, JR.”

“I’ll let you go now; it’s late over here. We’ll talk later, alright?”

“Mmm. Goodnight, JR.”

“I love you.” He replied easily.

I paused. “I love you too…” My heart raced. That was the first time it was difficult for me to say those three words towards my boyfriend. JR hung up and I placed the phone beside me on the bed. I brought my hands to my face and swept my long blonde hair backwards, sighing heavily as if hoping breathing would lessen the pain in my heart. It didn’t help. I groaned then fell backwards into my bed. Once again I couldn’t tell JR what was really on my mind. Once again I couldn’t tell him the truth. Was I just that cowardly a person? As long as he was happy… but what about my happiness? Didn’t I deserve to be happy too? But I wasn’t happy, at least, not with JR. With Baekho, though…

I felt butterflies build up in the bottom of my stomach as I recalled our dangerous kiss last night. I then brought my hand over my face and slapped myself. How could I have done such an embarrassing thing? ‘Let’s be terrible people together’? Oh my god, Ren, you’re so lame! How could Baekho have fallen for such a line? Ugh, why am I so awkward around him? Oh, I’m such a loser! I rolled onto my side and curled up into a ball, bringing my knees up to my chest in a fetal position. I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks. I was such an embarrassment. I was such an idiot when it came to love. I winced my eyes shut tightly, trying to get over my shame when suddenly I heard the sound of my text message ringtone go off. My eyes snapped back open and I reached behind me, feeling around the bed for my phone before finding it and bringing it closer to my face.

‘What R U doing?’

I turned even redder when I realized it was a text from Baekho. Oh my god… he knows when I’m thinking about him! Well, to be fair, I thought about him almost all of the time, so the chances of him being some sort of mind reader were slim to none.

‘Crying.’ I sent back. Well, mentally I was crying.

‘Y?’

I cringed at the sight of Baekho’s poorly misspelled words. Baekho, you know I’m a teacher, don’t you? ‘Because I’m such an idiot.’

‘Well, yeah.’

I narrowed my eyes at his response. ‘Hey!’

‘I’m kidding.’

‘This is really weird…’

‘Huh?’ He asked.

‘You texting me.’ Well, it was. Back in the past the only time he would text me would be when he was giving me DREAM’s schedule. Other than that, our communication was minimal.

‘It is, isn’t it? Should I stop?’

I sat up in my bed. ‘No!’ I furiously texted back. A long period of silence followed my last message. I stared down at my phone, waiting patiently for Baekho to respond only to be left empty handed. I pouted. This guy was always so cruel to me. For a moment I thought about calling him but then quickly dismissed it when I realized that calling would be redundant since he wouldn’t be able to hear me. Right as I was about to give up hope, my ringtone went off.

‘I spoke 2 Minseok about the surgery.’

‘How did that go?’

‘I’m going 2 do it.’

A big smile spread across my face. ‘Baekho, that’s great!!!! When is the surgery?’

‘2 weeks.’

My entire body went numb. Two weeks? No… ‘Can it be postponed? I’ll be going to China in two weeks…’ I don’t know why I sent this. It’s not like Minseok would let me near the hospital anyways, but still. If he were to get the surgery in two weeks, he’d be healing for at least another two weeks, meaning he’d be needing my or Minseok’s help. But JR would be here during that time… dammit.

‘The quicker it’s done, the quicker I can get on stage.’

He was right. I was being selfish. ‘I’ll be wishing you a fast recovery.’

‘Thanks.’ Baekho sent. Several seconds later he texted back. ‘Ren?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Did you tell him…?’

I froze. ‘Not yet. Was busy.’

‘You need 2 do it soon.’

‘I know…’

‘I don’t think I can wait any longer.’

I blinked. ‘For what?’

‘2 hold U again.’ My entire face turned a vibrant shade of red as my eyes read his message. I stood up from the bed and began to pace around the room, embarrassed. I stopped as I passed my full body length mirror. Good god, I was as red as a tomato. What do I say to him? Ah! I’m so embarrassed! I was so caught up in my inner turmoil that I practically screamed as the phone rang and vibrated in my hand again. I glanced down at the message. ‘R U blushing?’

That troll! ‘No!’ I sent back.

‘Lies. Take a pic and send it 2 me.’

I stared at the phone as if it were possessed. Baekho… wanted me to send him a picture? Ah! I looked like a mess! I was already in my lazy clothes, wearing my black square framed glasses and I already had my bangs pinned up. I totally wasn’t the fashionista I usually was. Ugh… there wasn’t enough time to doll up. Okay, Baekho. You want a picture of the true me? Here you go. I raised my phone up and snapped a quick picture and sent it to him before I changed my mind. I immediately covered my eyes with my hands after sending it. This was so embarrassing. About a minute had passed before receiving his reply, to which I immediately read it.

‘I blushed.’

Okay, that killed me. I’m dead. Choi Ren is dead. My entire face turned red at the thought of Baekho blushing over me. Oh my god, what is happening to me? Kang Baekho was texting me. Not only that, but he was flirting with me. Had I died and gone to heaven? Just to think a few months ago Baekho was declaring war on me and plotting evil obscenities behind my back. Now he was… I squealed and flung my arms and legs around before flopping back down onto my bed, sitting with my legs crossed, my eyes glued to the phone. I thought back to what Minseok had said the other day; he only mentioned about going to Baekho’s residence. He didn’t say I couldn’t contact him through the phone. What we were doing right now… it wasn’t that bad, was it? It wasn’t good, per say, but… I sighed. Either way, I knew I would be in deep trouble if he found out. And Baekho needed to know my situation before Minseok arrived to tell him the news. I really didn’t want for him to beat my brother to a bloody pulp.

‘Baekho, I’m not going to be able to see you for a while.’

‘Y?’

‘I think I should probably keep my distance, at least until the situation with JR is settled. I think this would be the best for both of us, in case something else happens.’

There was a long pause of Baekho’s end. ‘Something else?’

Dammit, Baekho. Don’t make me say it. ‘Yes, something else.’ I responded.

‘I understand.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘It’s fine. I agree with U.’ As I was about to respond I suddenly heard the door to my room swing open, revealing everyone’s favorite redhead. I glanced up at him from my phone and took notice that he had spiked his hair up and was wearing a designer white shirt halfway buttoned up, black jeans, converse, and his fingers decorated with Chrome Hearts rings. He was adjusting one of the earrings in his ear as he entered.

“Question!” Jason asked.

“Hmm?”

“That guy that came pounding through our house the other day; that was Kang Baekho, wasn’t it?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it was.” I replied, wondering why he was asking.

Jason rubbed his chin. “Hmm… why was he here?”

“He needed to speak to me.”

“About?” Jason quizzed.

I scoffed. “Is that any of your business?”

“Why was he kicked out?”

I sighed, frustrated by the amount of questions he was asking me. “He was in an accident. Pledis didn’t want him anymore, okay?”

“Why?”

“Jason!” I exclaimed.

“I’m just saying… it sounds… odd that Pledis would do something like that for no good reason.” He replied, giving me a skeptical look. “I think you know why, and you’re not saying anything.”

“Why does it matter to you?” I asked defensively.

Jason shrugged. “Well, it’s because I’d like to see them all together once again. That’s all. 2DREAM is total bull; they need more than one vocalist. Aron can’t sing to save his life and Minhyun needs backup.”

I raised a brow. He seemed to be educated on the musical process. “How do you know about this?”

“Huh?” I snapped Jason out of his thoughts. “Oh, back in the day I toyed around with production. Nothing too big. Just me and my Apple computer.”

“I see.”

“Anyways,” Jason spun around in front of me. “How do I look? Do I look spiffy?” He smirked.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, you look ‘spiffy.’”

“Score!” Jason made a fist with his hand and pumped it into the air. “The stylist says I look good. Alright, I’ll take it. Aron, hurry up!” A couple of second later I heard a scowl coming down the hall and Aron grudgingly appeared in front of my door frame dressed in casual clothes. Jason gasped in horror. “Is that what you’re going to wear on our first date?”

“It’s not a date!” Aron scoured.

“No wonder Min grew fed up with you! No effort, no effort at all.” Jason shook his head in disappointment. “Change, now. You need to treat this as if it were the real thing. Just pretend I’m Minhyun.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No. Why?”

“Minhyun isn’t this clueless!” Aron exclaimed.

Jason blinked. “Um, ouch. My feels, bro. My feels.” He dramatically placed a hand over his heart. “Clueless as I may, I have very high standards. If you’re able to ‘wow’ me, you’ll be able to ‘wow’ Min. I must warn you though; I am very difficult to please. Your goal is to get these boxers off tonight!”

I placed my hands over my mouth and snickered over in the corner as I watched Aron’s jaw drop open in horror. “Yeah, I’m out. See’ya.”

Jason dashed over to Aron’s side. “Don’t be scared. I’ll go gentle on ya.”

“I’m not going to sleep with you!”

“Why not???” Jason pouted.

“Because you’re insane.”

“Well, that’s not a good enough reason.” Jason huffed before a sly smile spread across his lips. “I’m just messing with you. Come on! I wouldn’t do that to Min!”

“Didn’t stop you in the beginning.”

“Aron, I’m a changed man.”

“Don’t give me this-”

“Can the lovely couple just go? This is really awkward for me to sit in on.” I finally replied. Both Jason and Aron glanced over at me. Jason flashed me a smile while Aron looked genuinely embarrassed. The two of them wordlessly left the room. Once they were gone I glanced back at my phone screen at the last message that Baekho had sent me and sighed. Life was about to become even more complicated, wasn’t it?

Aron’s POV

After practice had ended shortly after Minhyun had stormed off, both Jason and I returned home. Jason immediately went to his room to start getting ready for this so called ‘date.’ Whatever. It wasn’t a date. It was a joke. It was Jason’s silly idea of helping me to get Min back, but I think he was doing the exact opposite and pushing him further away from me. I was going to regret agreeing to this little plan of his, wasn’t I? I sighed. Since it wasn’t a real date and it meant absolutely nothing to me, I didn’t bother to get dressed for it. I showered and then wore what I normally wore every day. A simple white shirt, black jeans, and a black zip up hoodie to go with my black beanie which had the word ‘LOVE’ stitched into it. Date or not, I was still going out in public and that meant people might recognize me. It was best not to dress too flashy to avoid attention. But apparently Jason didn’t get that memo; he was decked out in designer gear. Of course he wouldn’t have understood my pain; Jason wasn’t famous. He wouldn’t have fans tugging on his arm, begging for autographs, or worse, trying to him… but knowing his logic, he’d probably enjoy that last one, if it were an attractive male fan. Jason seemed to disagree with what I chose to wear, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t trying to impress him. I was trying to learn something new from him. If I were going on a real date with Minhyun, of course I would have dressed to the occasion. But seeing as I didn’t really want to be seen anywhere with Jason…

Jason locked the front door to the mansion and turned to me. “So where are we going?”

I blinked. “I thought you planned that part.”

Jason shook his head. “Strike number 1, Aron. Strike number 1. You’re the one supposed to be impressing me. Why should I be the one to plan our date?”

I sighed then shrugged. “I dunno… movies?”

He glared at me. “That would be a terrible idea! The movies is the worst place for a first date! You have to be quiet inside of the theater; it wouldn’t allow for us to talk.”

I scratched my head. “I don’t know… that sounds like a good idea to me.” I smirked at him.

“You’re not funny.” Jason defiantly folded his arms across his chest.

“Um… arcade?”

Jason’s eyes lit up. “That sounds awesome! Let’s do this!” He replied, locking his arm underneath mine and pulling me with him down the street, not stopping until we arrived at the bus stop to take us into town. Neither one of us had a car and well, it wouldn’t have been right to ask Min to borrow his, so we both lamely settled to take the bus. A few minutes later we arrived in downtown Seoul and we entered one of the large video game arcades. As soon as we entered we stopped at the tokens booth. Jason glanced over my way. “Oh, what? You’re paying! That’s so sweet of you, Aron!” He said in sickeningly high pitched voice that was hard on the ears.

“Is that how Min sounds in your head? Like a woman in pain?” I asked him.

Jason blinked. “Yeeeeah, I dunno why I did that. Anyways, you’re picking up the tab!” He declared. I sighed then rolled my eyes as I reached into my back pocket for my wallet. I pulled out some bills and plugged them into the machine, which spat out dozens of tokens. Jason collected them into a small cup and made his way deeper into the haze of flashing lights inside of the arcade. He stopped in front of a shooting game. It was called House of the Living Dead. He glanced back at me and gave me larger puppydog eyes than Mel ever could. A small smirk spread across my lips before quickly disappearing. I stuck in a couple of tokens into the machine. “Oh, Aron, these guns are soooo big. Teach me how to hold one?”

I cringed. “You’re too much…”

Jason gave me a stern look. “Do it!” He muttered underneath his breath. I rolled my eyes and picked up the long gun, standing behind him and positioning it on his shoulder, taking his right hand and placing it on the trigger.

“Think you got it?”

“I think so…” Jason innocently replied then glanced back at the screen. A mob of zombies flashed across the screen and suddenly my ‘angelic’ choreographer became the spawn of Satan. “DIE! DIE!!!!!!!”

I began to laugh hysterically before picking up a gun and joining him. In the end, the game didn’t last long before we were both dead. When the words ‘GAME OVER’ flashed across the screen, the riled up redhead angrily shoved me.

“Oh, come on! You call yourself a man? He was right there in front of you!!!” He angrily pointed at the screen in disbelief that I had missed so many times. So I at shooters. Sue me.

“Come back down to earth now, hyung.”

Jason blinked. “You’re right; ahaha, it’s just a game. Sorry! Let’s see, what’s next…? Oh my god, DDR!” He ran towards the two dance pads. I stepped onto the one beside him as he hastily pried the cup of tokens out from my hand and inserted two tokens. He flipped through the list of songs before settling on Rainbow’s ‘Sunshine.’

“No.” I started to walk away when Jason suddenly grabbed me by the hood of my jacket, preventing me from going anywhere. The music started playing. I glanced around, hoping no one would recognize me. This was embarrassing. It didn’t help that halfway through the song, Jason started to do the belly rub that was made popular by Rainbow. When the song was over, Jason of course won and I had lost all sense of my manly self-dignity. I hopped off of the platform and started walking away.

“Where are you going?”

“To go lay down and die.”

Jason ran after me, grabbing me by my upper arm and tugging me. “Oh, come on, it wasn’t that bad.”

“People were recording us!” I exclaimed. I didn’t think that they realized who I was, but the fact that two grown men were dancing along to Rainbow’s ‘Sunshine’ was amusing enough as it was to make it onto Youtube.

Jason huffed. “Fine, Mr. Grumpy. You pick the next one.”

I glanced around, pausing when I spotted several seats in front of a racing game. I pointed. “That one.”

Jason smirked. “It’s on!” He replied then dashed over and sat down in one of the seats. I took the one next to him and waited as he inserted the tokens. The race took off. Finally, a game that I was actually good at. I glanced over at Jason’s screen and noticed that he was nowhere on the road. Instead he kept running into walls, hitting tires and even pedestrians.

“The point is to stay on the road.”

“SHUT UP!” A fiercely competitive Jason screamed at me as he was switching gears. I smirked then returned my focus on the screen. A couple of minutes later I won the game. When the game was over Jason glared at me with his arms folded across his chest. “That’s strike two.”

“What???”

“You’re supposed to let me win!”

I blinked. “All of the time?”

“ALL OF THE TIME.”

I pursed my lips together. That didn’t seem… right. Or fair… But yet, somehow I could picture Minhyun getting angry at me over the same thing. I sighed. “Sorry.”

“I don’t want to play anymore.” Jason pouted.

“Oh, come on…”

“I don’t want to play!”

“Um…” My voice trailed off. “How about we play the ones where you get tickets for merely trying? No more competitiveness, alright?”

Jason glanced off to the side as he pondered this thought. “Hmm… okay then.” He replied and the next couple of hours were spent at the ticket machines until we used up the remainder of our tokens. When we were finished, we went to the prize shop to redeem our tickets. I let Jason pick out what he wanted after he gave me a five minute long lecture about how he should be the one who gets to use them. I still didn’t think it was fair, but alright. He ended up picking out a stuffed unicorn. He proudly held it out in front of him.

“I shall name him… Enrique!!!” I slammed my hand into my face. Two grown men out on a date, one of them holding a rainbow stuffed unicorn. Yeah, it didn’t get any gayer than this. Jason gave me a curious look. “What? I told you guys that I always wanted one.”

“From now on, I won’t ever assume anything you say is a joke.”

Jason smiled, petting his stuffed unicorn.

“Can we just… go now?”

“And what, make this date over? Of course not! I’m starving! Don’t you intend to feed your date? That’s strike three, mister!”

“I’m not going anywhere with you holding that thing!” I exclaimed.

“You’re just jealous!”

“Yeah, that’s it.” I replied sarcastically.

“Well are you going to feed me or do you intend to leave me starving?” Jason glared, clutching ‘Enrique’ tightly against his chest. I cried on the inside. Why couldn’t this ‘date’ be over? I just wanted to go home, explain this whole misunderstanding to Min, and then go to bed. But Jason wasn’t about to let me do that, now was he?

I sighed. “What do you want to eat?”

Jason scoffed. “What, I have to pick that too?”

“You haven’t picked anything-”

“Strike four. Never, EVER argue with your date.” Jason snapped.

“Fine! Burgers!”

His mouth dropped open appallingly. “Burgers? On the first date? I wouldn’t have said ‘yes’ if I knew you were going to be so cheap!”

“You were the one that asked me!” Jason quietly glared at me. I pursed my lips together, trying to restrain myself from wanting to kill him. This night was terrible. Jason was worse than most girls I had dated in the past. They were never this demanding of me. Usually we would just wing our dates. But Jason warned me; he said he was difficult to please. No wonder why he wasn’t in a relationship and just fooled around. He probably drove potential suitors crazy. I forced a smile on my lips. “Italian?”

A big smile spread across Jason’s lips. “That sounds perfect! Let’s go!” Once again he grabbed me by the arm and led me out of the arcade and out into the street, not stopping until we finally found an Italian restaurant. When we entered we received strange looks for several reasons. For one, we were both guys. Two, I was definitely too dressed down in contrast to Jason. And three, one word: Enrique. I was so embarrassed I felt like I would die from shame and humiliation. Regardless, the host led us to our table and sat us, giving us the menu to look at. I immediately opened it and hid behind the large folded menu while Jason sat Enrique in his own chair and then stared down at his. A few minutes later the waitress showed up to take our order.

“What will you two gentleman be having this evening?” She asked.

Jason rubbed his chin. “Two glasses of champagne, a hand tossed salad, an order of spaghetti, an order of lasagna, and whatever dessert you recommend.” He smiled at her before glancing over at me. “What will you be having?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” I replied, having mistaken him ordering for the both of us. This guy was on a mission, wasn’t he? He was determined to test how much he could push me and spend as much of my money as possible because call it just a hunch, but I assumed I was paying for it.

He blinked. “What?”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit much for one person?”

“Are you calling me fat?” Jason asked, offended.

“What? No-”

Jason glanced back at the waitress. “On second thought, cancel that order. I’ll just have a glass of water and a salad since my date over here thinks I’m getting hefty!”

“I didn’t say that at all!” I exclaimed. “All I was saying was that it was too much food-”

Jason shot up out of his chair. “Well, I never!”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Will you just sit down…?”

“Why, so I can break the chair with my rolls of fat?!?!”

I slapped my forehead while the waitress stood uncomfortably beside the table. I felt bad for her, but when I glanced at her, I could tell by the look on her face that she probably felt worse for me. “Jason, please, sit down. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” Jason gave me an uneasy look before folding his arms across his chest and slamming back down into his chair defiantly, much like how a small child throwing a temper tantrum would. I glanced over at the waitress again. “Make that two.” I replied, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible. She quickly scribbled down the order and ran fast away. I almost wanted to join her. I’d do anything to get out of this date from hell.

“By the way, calling me fat was strike five.” Jason replied once she was gone. “You remember what tonight’s goal is, right?”

I blinked. “Huh?” I asked, having forgotten.

Jason pointed down into his lap. “It’s to get into these boxers. Right now, Aron, they’re so far from coming off that they’re actually giving me a wedgie. You’ve gotta try harder, man.”

“For the millionth time, I am not sleeping with you.” I replied, regretting having ever asked.

“What’s wrong with having man on man ?” He asked rather loudly, gathering a bunch of odd looks and stares. I sunk lower into my seat. This night couldn’t possibly get any worse, could it? Jason leaned forward onto the table, pointing at me with his fork. “Tell me, Aron, are you a top or a bottom?”

Ok, I was wrong. Apparently it could get a lot worse. “I’m not answering that.”

“Why not?” He innocently asked, despite the strange stares he was receiving from the tables around us.

“Because we are in a public setting. This is hardly the appropriate time to discuss such matters!” I scolded.

“Hmm…” He replied, ignoring my comment. “I’m very versatile. I can be whatever you’re into.” He shot me a wink.

“I want to go home now.” I replied, feeling very uncomfortable.

Jason smirked. “Oh, I see we’re very eager tonight, aren’t we?”

I shot up from my chair. “I can’t do this. I’m out. Sorry.” I quickly replied, turning my back to him and quickly leaving the table. As soon as I exited the restaurant I took off running down the sidewalk, leaving Jason. I was so humiliated. I don’t know what I was thinking when I agreed to this stupid idea of his. If I wanted to change myself for Min, I’d be best off learning how to change on my own. I might not be perfect at it, but at least it couldn’t be as disastrous as listening to Jason. I needed to get home. I needed to speak to Min and clear up everything between us and let him know how I really felt about him. I just hoped he still felt the same way about me…

Minhyun’s POV

When I came out of my room, I noticed the entire house was empty, except for Ren, who was sitting in his room at his desk going over a stack of papers. Seeing as Ren was the only person in the house that I wasn’t on horrible or awkward terms with, I knocked on his doorframe. Ren glanced up from his desk and over his shoulder.

“Can I come in?” I asked.

“Sure, sure. I’m grading, but I’ll listen intently!” Ren replied with a smile on his face. I entered his room and sat on the side of his bed. “So, what’s up?”

I lifelessly stared down at the ground. “Can you believe the two of them?” I asked, referring to how Aron and Jason were on a date right now while I was sitting at home alone, brokenhearted.

“Well, you two did break up, didn’t you?”

I gave Ren a hurt look. “How could you say that?”

Ren smirked, as if he knew something that I didn’t. “Maybe some things happen for a reason.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, right. They’re both total backstabbers. Aron didn’t even wait to get over me… I think that’s the part that hurts the most.”

“Oh, I don’t think he’s over you.” Ren thoughtlessly said as he was scribbling down on some papers with his red pen. He paused when he realized that he had slipped. He tried to play it off and act as if nothing had happened, but I had caught him. I stood up and approached him at his desk, snatching his pen out from his hand. Ren awkwardly paused for a moment before reaching for a second pen, which I snatched away before he could even touch it. Ren pouted then turned to face me. He knew there was no escaping this situation.

“What do you mean by that?”

“By what?” He innocently blinked.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Don’t play dumb, Ren.”

Ren sighed. “Ah, fine! They didn’t want me telling you this, but they’re doing it for you.” He replied defeated.

I scoffed. “How absurd; how could this possibly be for me?”

“Well, Aron wants to change but he doesn’t know how. Jason offered to show him what he’s doing wrong and try to help the two of you get back together.”

I stared at him, stunned. “Help…? Really?”

Ren smiled. “You know by now that Jason isn’t all terrible. And Aron is still crazy about you. It’s so obvious.”

“I don’t know what to say…” My voice trailed off.

“Don’t say anything. I really don’t need those two trolls on my case… Remember, Aron taped me to a bed. I’m afraid to see what he’ll do with teamwork.” Ren pleaded with me. I smirked.

“Ok, I won’t say anything.” I reassured him, handing back his two red pens. Ren sighed heavily with relief. To be honest, I was glad Ren clued me in on what was going on with those two. I had been so quick to assume things when in reality it was just Jason doing what he seemed to be best at: deceiving people, yet at the same time, helping them. I wished Jason would find a better method of handling things, but he was indeed a strange one. But still, it did hurt that he tried to fool me into thinking that he and Aron were dating. I stood up and returned back to my room, waiting for the two to come back home. It wasn’t too long before I heard the front door open. I casually walked out of my room and into the hallway to sneak a peek at the two perpetrators only to spot a distressed looking Aron, and to my surprise, he was alone. That was… weird. Where was Jason?

Aron spotted me as he glanced up from hanging his jacket up near the door. As we made eye contact I held my chin up high and looked away as I made my way into the kitchen. I was trying to put on the façade that I had something important going on when in reality I was looking for a distraction, something to keep Aron from bothering me. I opened the fridge and stared blankly inside. I wasn’t hungry, but I needed to look busy. After staring for about a minute, I stood back up and closed the door. As I closed it I jumped when I spotted Aron by my side.

“Can we talk?”

I remained silent for a couple of seconds before turning away. “I have nothing to talk to you about.”

“Well I do.”

“Pity; I don’t feel like listening.”

“Will you stop playing hard-to-get?” Aron snapped at me, making me freeze.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What’s the real reason you broke up with me?” He suddenly asked. “I keep going through that night over and over in my head, and it just doesn’t make any sense. There has to be something else.”

I pursed my lips together and folded my arms across my chest. “Should you really be asking me that after your date with Jason?”

“Forget Jason! I’m talking about us!” He exclaimed.

I tilted my head to the side. “Us? There is no ‘us.’” I replied, shoving past him and hitting his left shoulder as I passed. Aron was starting to catch on to me. Of course he would. He might seem clueless about life a majority of the time, but he was actually an intelligent person. I knew he would be able to piece everything together eventually, but I hadn’t thought he would do it so soon. I couldn’t let him know the real reason, which was that my mother was basically blackmailing me to continue to listen to her orders. Now that I was growing older and more successful, she felt like she was losing her hold on me. When I went against her wishes and developed a relationship with Aron, I know she thought that I wasn’t her little dress-up doll any longer. She felt she had to do something to regain that status of being the puppet master and she found it through the form of blackmail. But she was my mother and this situation was my problem. I didn’t want to get Aron involved in it any more than he already was. He was just an innocent bystander caught up in my mother’s chaotic web.

“Just give me another chance, Min!” As Aron exclaimed this, the front door loudly swung open to reveal a pissed off looking Jason carrying… was that a rainbow unicorn? I froze in my steps as I noticed Jason violently kick off his shoes and storm past me, stopping in front of Aron.

“How dare you just leave me there!”

Aron tore his gaze away from me and glanced at the angry redhead in front of him. “What other choice did I have? You were driving me insane!”

“I don’t care about that!” Jason stretched his hand out. “You left me with the bill! You owe me, Mr. Kwak!”

Aron gave him the most priceless look I had ever seen written on his face. His expression literally wrote ‘WTF.’ Aron slapped his hand across his forehead. “Just go away, hyung!”

“Not until you reimburse me!”

“I’m in the middle of something right now!”

“Give me my money!”

Aron ignored and pushed past him, walking over towards me. “Minhyun, please, let me explain everything-”

“Don’t you say a word! You’ll ruin everything!” Jason exclaimed, joining the two of us. He stopped behind me and grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to walk forwards and away from Aron so that I wouldn’t find out about that little plan of theirs that Ren had already clued me in on. This was getting ridiculous. I spun around and pushed Jason off of me, knocking him down to the floor. As he hit the wooden paneling he stared up at me with a shocked expression written across his face. He went silent and reached for his stuffed animal that I had knocked out of his arms when I had pushed him. He quietly cradled it into his lap, remaining seated on the floor.

“You two are too much!” I exclaimed. “Grow up! Both of you!”

“Screw your plan; it was a disaster anyways.” Aron glared down at Jason on the floor before glancing back up at me. “Min, the plan was-”

“I know what the plan was!” I stammered, slamming my foot down on the floor. Both Aron and Jason exchanged shocked expressions.

“What…? But-” I cut Aron off.

“It was to learn a thing or two from Jason, wasn’t it? Aron, are you an idiot? There’s a reason why he’s single! He’s crazy!” Jason flashed me a hurt look then glanced down into his lap, digging his chin into his stuffed animal. When I realized I had hurt his feelings I instantly regretted my words and actions toward him. He was always so cheerful and joking around that I oftentimes forgot that it was possible to upset him as well. “Jason, I’m sorry-”

Jason shook his head and forced a smile on his lips. “Forget it; it’s fine.” He replied, not looking up at me. Instead he kept his gaze locked down on the floor.

“How did you know?” Aron asked.

At that moment Ren suddenly emerged from his room, tiptoeing his way into the kitchen. “Don’t mind me, I’m just out to get a glass of water-”

“Ren told me.” I replied, going back on my word.

“Ren?” Aron glanced over at the blonde in disbelief.

Ren spun around. “And suddenly I’m not thirsty anymore…” He replied, trying to sneak back into his room, but it was no use. Aron grabbed him by his wrist, preventing him from going any further. “Ah, crap…” Ren groaned dejectedly as he was caught.

“You told him?!” Aron exclaimed.

“Well, why not?!” Ren pouted. “The plan was a bust from the start…” He sheepishly glanced off to the side.

Aron blinked. “Was I the only one who didn’t see it ending in a complete failure?”

“YES.” Me, Ren, and even Jason down on the floor all agreed in unison. Aron slapped his forehead and then lightly placed his foot on Jason’s back, knocking him over.

“You’re not supposed to agree with them!”

“If I want to be liked and accepted with the group, I have to agree with them!” Jason defended himself.

“Did you torture me on purpose?”

“Well…” Jason glanced off to the side. “Pretty much. If you can handle me, you can handle anything unexpected that might arise on a date with Min. I was just preparing you. You wanted to change, didn’t you? If you want to change, I suggest that you, one, choose the activities beforehand, two, always give in and let him win, three, FEED YOUR DATE for Christ’s sake, four, never argue, just accept, and five, never call him fat! You totally added insult to injury when you left me with the bill too…”

“You’re so frustrating!” Aron looked like he was ready to strangle him.

“Enough!” I exclaimed. “Aron, come with me.” I demanded as I stepped away and made my way into my bedroom. Aron quickly followed after me. As soon as we were alone I shut the door behind me and stared at him. “Look, Aron, I appreciate the effort, but please, just stop.”

Aron looked hurt by my words. “But Min…”

“It’s just not going to work, ok? Just leave it at that.”

“No.” He replied. “I love you, dammit.”

I stared at him with wide eyes. “What?”

“I’m determined to get you back.”

“Aron…” Who was this man that I was suddenly speaking to? Never before had he ever been so bold about his feelings or ambitions. He always hid them away or refused to talk about it. Aron began to walk towards me. I felt my heart start to race and I walked backwards trying to avoid getting too close to him. Before I knew it, the back of my knees hit my bed and I fell backwards on top of it. Aron took this moment to trap me as he leaned over me onto the bed and pinned both of his hands above my shoulders. He climbed over me and brought his knees on each side of me before leaning in close and staring me straight in the eyes. Turning red in the face, I immediately glanced away.

“Minhyun, look at me.” He called out to me. I looked back at him as he called my name. “Do you still love me?”

His words stung like a wound. I remained silent but my lips were trembling. You idiot… of course I still love you… But I can’t say it to you. It just can’t be. She’ll never leave me alone…

“What do I have to do to make you love me again?” He asked rather sadly. “Just say the word and I’ll do it. I’ll do anything for you… I need you, Min. I gave you my heart; there’s no returning that. Please, just be with me. I know you still want me, I can see it in your eyes. I can see it in the way you look like you want to cry because you can’t hold your feelings back any longer. Just tell me… what’s keeping you from me? What’s the real reason you broke up with me?”

“I can’t tell you…”

Aron paused. “Then tell me you still have feelings for me.” He demanded. I shook my head. I watched as he diverted his gaze from my eyes and down to my lips. He swept down and slowly and gently brushed his lips against mine. I fought it. I did my best to fight the urge to kiss him back but he refused to move. When I felt his lips start to part and his tongue try to enter my mouth I lost it. My heart was racing, my face was red. But I wanted him. I melted into his kiss and parted my lips. Aron collapsed onto his elbows and latched on to both sides of my face as he continued to devour me. I sunk my nails into his clothed back. He suddenly pulled away from my mouth and began planting small, wet kisses down my chin and jaw, not stopping until he trailed down my neck and reached my collarbone. I felt my eyes start to roll to the back of my head; I was in ecstasy. But then Aron stopped and he looked at me. “You still can’t tell me?”

I shook my head.

Aron smirked, glancing down at my lower body. “You might lie, Min, but your body doesn’t.”

He was right. Dammit! Damn it all! I glanced off to the side. “We can’t be together.”

“Why not?!” Aron exclaimed.

“Because you don’t know who’s watching!” I slipped. My eyes grew wide as I realized my mistake. I instantly brought my hands over my mouth and sat up, peeling him off of me. Aron sat off to my side and grabbed my wrists, bringing them back down into my lap. He placed his hands over them and rubbed them.

“Is someone blackmailing you, Min? Is that why those pictures were leaked? Because of us?”

I refused to look at him.

“Min, blackmailing is a serious offense! If you know who did it, we need to go down to the police!”

“No!” I exclaimed. “Leave the police out of it. Please, Aron. I’ll handle it myself.”

“Do you call this handling it? Don’t you get it? This is what they want! To control you-” Aron paused as he made a sudden connection inside of his head. He reached forward and grabbed both sides of my face again, forcing me to look at him. “Was it her?”

“Drop it, Aron.” I warned.

“ her! your mom! what she wants! What do you want, Min? Do you want to listen to her for the rest of your life, or do you want to be happy? Are you happy with me? I can make you a thousand times happier than she ever could!”

Quiet tears trickled down my cheeks and into my lap. “I want to be happy…”

“Dammit, Min, then be with me!” Aron brought his left hand over my shoulders and pulled me into him, wrapping his right arm around me and pulling me into a loving embrace. I began to sob into his chest. “Say you’ll be with me. I promise I’ll do this more often. I promise I’ll be there for you and hold you whenever you cry. Just… please… say it.”

“Aron…” I sobbed into his chest. “Please, don’t let go of me…”

“I’m not going anywhere, Min.”

“Don’t stop loving me…”

Aron paused before running his fingers through my hair. “I never stopped.” As I heard those words I melted into his arms and hugged him tightly. “We will perform our contract on stage. It’s fine if we don’t go out. Its fine if we don’t do ‘couple’ things. As long as we’re together like this inside of this house, that’s good enough for me. We can do it, Min. We can keep it a secret from her if we must. I’m willing to do this for you. Just… don’t let her be the one who makes both of us miserable.”

“Aron,” I whispered into his chest. “I love you. Thank you…”

“For what?” He asked.

“For everything.” Aron pulled away from me and smiled. Just then our tender moment was brought to an end when suddenly I heard Ren knocking outside of my door. “It’s open.” I called out. Ren slowly opened the door half-ways before cautiously poking his head inside the room.

“JB’s here. He wants everyone inside of the kitchen. He says he has an announcement to make.” Aron and I exchanged a confused look before we both stood and made our way for the kitchen, following closely behind Ren. Each one of us took our seats around the rectangular table. I sat beside Aron while Ren and JB took the seats across from us. Jason sat at the end of the table with his stuffed animal where Baekho’s old spot used to be. JB cleared his throat and then looked at all of us.

“In case you haven’t heard, 2DREAM will be leaving for China in two weeks.” Aron and I both shared a surprised look while Ren didn’t seem to be all that affected. He had probably already known. I glanced over at Jason to see him turn several shades of white. That was… odd. He looked apprehensive when JB had made his sudden announcement.

Jason fixed his eyes on the table. “I don’t have to go, right?” He suddenly asked. “I’m just the choreographer.” He refused to make eye contact with the rest of us.

“It’s orders from the top; the boss wants you to go.”

“Why?” He replied darkly, surprising the rest of us.

“2DREAM needs a translator.”

Jason scoffed. “And suddenly I speak Chinese?!”

JB slightly cowered in his chair at the sight of the abnormally dark redhead sitting with us at the table. This behavior of Jason’s was completely unlike him. Where was the smiling idiot that we had all learned to put up with? Who was this dark, brooding mysterious person in Jason’s chair? “It’s just what the boss said-”

Jason shot up from his chair. “I’m not going. You can’t make me.” He smiled darkly before throwing his stuffed animal on the ground and angrily leaving the kitchen, making his way to the front door of the mansion and slamming it shut loudly behind him. The remaining four of us all sat in silence. What was going on? What was all of that about? His reaction just now… it seemed like he wanted to avoid going to China at all costs. But why?

Jason… what is in China that you didn’t want to see?

Was it… perhaps… him?