Minji’s POV

A moment ago I’d been standing in front of Kai, feeling mildly uncomfortable as his fingers brushed against my bare arms, positioning them from behind. Then, the next thing I knew, Kai had whipped me around by the shoulders and planted his lips on mine.

I stood there frozen for a moment, completely in shock, before suddenly coming to and shoving Kai away from me. “What the…?” I spluttered furiously, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, before noticing that Kai was staring past me, wearing a very, very guilty expression.

Whipping around, I found myself eye-to-eye with the last person in the world I wanted to see at that precise moment—Taemin. “What the hell is he doing here?” I snarled, turning to glare accusingly at Kai, Sehun, Luhan, and Lay, who all shrunk back, averting their gazes. I turned around again to face Taemin, who opened his mouth to speak.

“No, Lee Taemin. I am not listening to whatever bull you suddenly feel obligated to say,” I snapped, cutting him off. I started to stalk past him towards the door of the studio, but all of a sudden he reached out and grabbed hold of my arm.

“Wait, Minji, please,” he begged. I struggled to pull my arm from his grasp, but he held it firmly. “Hear me out,” he pleaded, his tone beseeching, wheedling. I finally gave up trying to pull free, and just stood there, unable to look him in the eye.

“I’m sorry. No—'' He broke off, shaking his head in frustration. “You were right. ‘Sorry’ doesn’t even begin to cover everything I did to you. I was…I was such an idiot—I can’t believe I took someone like you for granted, when you were the best part of my life.” His voice shook a bit, and he swallowed. “When…when you still are.”

He reached up with his other hand, gently placing a finger under my quivering chin and turning my head so that I was staring up into his beautiful brown eyes—the very same that I’d gotten lost in, all those months ago. He stared back at me, his gaze searching mine as though trying to reach my soul, and he whispered, “Please forgive me, Min. Please…please be mine again.”

A whirlwind of emotions swept through my body, and I stared back at him, my lower lip trembling. My entire being ached to forgive him—to believe that the remorse in his voice, his gaze, was real.

 To feel his arms around me again.

But then I remembered showing up to that French restaurant the night of my sixteenth birthday, clad in a pink dress and silver heels. And I remembered that horrible, horrible feeling of disappointment when at last it dawned on me what had happened—as though my heart were being crushed under the weight of all my worst fears.

I remembered seeing him in the hallways, flanked by pretty girls without a care in the world. I remembered those nights spent curled up in bed, crying myself to sleep—only to be haunted by his face in my dreams.

And I knew I couldn’t forgive him.

With all my remaining strength and willpower, I wrenched my arm free from his grasp. “I’m glad you’re sorry now,” I spat, watching with a somewhat sick satisfaction as Taemin slowly lowered his arm, his face turning pale. “After seeing me go out with twelve guys in an attempt to get over you, now you want me back. What a surprise—I’m overjoyed.” I laughed bitterly, a tear rolling down my cheek. “I hope you find some silly girl’s heart to walk all over someday, Lee Taemin, I really do. But it won’t be mine again—ever.” And with that I turned, pushing past an open-mouthed Sehun on my way out the door.

As soon as I’d gotten out of the studio building and turned the corner, however, I gave up the strong façade and burst into tears. Somehow, through blurred vision, I made my way to the local park—which, to my relief, was completely empty—and sank into one of the swings, shuddering with sobs. I hugged myself, waiting for the fierce onslaught of tears to die down, and, after a good half hour or so, they finally did.

It was then that my phone buzzed with an incoming call. I picked it up, and Minho’s worried voice immediately flooded my ear.

“Minji! Are you okay? Where are you? Please talk to me; tell me you’re okay,” he babbled, sounding like a nervous wreck. Usually, I would find that endearing, but today was not a usual day.

“So this was your plan all along, huh?” I said, my voice completely devoid of feeling. I felt drained—as though all of my emotions had been swept out of my body with the flood of tears, leaving only a dull, aching pain somewhere in the region of my heart.

I heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end. Then: “I’m sorry, Min,” Minho said softly. “Really, I am. We…we were only trying to help.”

“Well, I hope you’re happy now,” I replied simply. And with that I hung up, tossing my phone away into the grass so that, if Minho called again (which I knew he would), I wouldn’t be able to answer—even if I wanted to.

I don’t know how much time passed—whether it was twenty minutes, or two hours. But the warm spring sunshine eventually got to me, despite all the troubles of the past day, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in my bed at home.

I blinked, then slowly sat up, yawning. Was it all a dream? I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, to see Minho, Key, Jonghyun, and Onew sitting around my bed.

As soon as he saw that I was awake, Minho rushed to my side, taking my hand. “Are you okay, Min?” he inquired hurriedly, before shaking his head in frustration. “I’m sorry—that was insensitive. Of course you’re not okay.” He hesitated, staring at my face. “We…we found you asleep at the park yesterday evening. You must’ve been exhausted; you slept all through the night and into this morning.” He paused, as though expecting me to answer, but when I didn’t, he sighed.

“I know you’re still mad at us, Min. And you have every right to be—we lied to you, and ended up leaving you worse off than before.” Minho bit his lip, squeezing my small hand in his big warm one. “I’m—we’re—all so sorry, Minji.”

He let go of my hand, standing up. The others followed suit, and when Minho motioned for them to leave, they started towards the door. Minho leaned forward, dropping a kiss onto my forehead, before turning to go.

“Oppa,” I cried out, before I could stop myself.

Minho froze, then slowly turned back around to face me. My lips trembling, I opened up my arms and begged, “Please, stay.”

And he did.

A/N: I can feel this story winding down...it'll be ending in the next couple of chapters. But don't worry - I've got lots of other exciting projects planned! ^^