Episode 14: Minho's development -1-

A/N: But before it, I would like to apologize for posting the chapter a bit later than usual, when I kept updating everyday so far .__.  Trust me I'm trying my best to do it however, I still have school and exams, >_< just to tell you guys, It's my baccalaureate year so yeah... I might get busy sometimes... Still! As soon as I get free time -like now- I'll post even more than usual! :D so, please keep reading and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do when writing it! <3 ~Ran-chan

(Minho’s POV)

“Wow! I’m in!” I started to shake my fists from excitement

“Great! Minho’s in! No one should miss it then!”

“See you in the lounge then!” I waved at my new friends as I left; we decided to meet in the gym’s lounge in an hour and play Ping-Pong together and we had a bet that the loser would buy the winner lunch for a week.

We still had 4 more hours before the curfew, so we wanted to have fun. I headed there first and decided to do the stupid assignments while waiting for everyone.

I knew that the place would be completely deserted since it’s happy hour time in the cafeteria and you could get anything for free.

I chose to sit in an empty sofa. I got my notebooks out of my bag and sat in a comfortable posture. I was putting on my earbuds so that I won’t fall asleep while working and of course I had to wear my glasses.

And to say that my roommate is the nerd…

“Let’s see…”

Then I started studying.

_________________________________

(15 minutes later)

“Great!!” I stretched my body. “All done”

I put everything back in the bag and then I took off my earbuds, decided to start practicing before they came, but I suddenly heard some sounds.

“Huh?!”

Was there someone here all from the start or did they just come?

It was coming from the gym, I walked careful enough to be discrete and I stood by the wall and started to peek from behind the wall. I could see somebody’s silhouette and he seemed like he was kicking and punching a training-bag.

“Wow”

That guy and despite being small, his punching and kicking ability was amazing, and he was avoiding the bag skillfully.

“Someone’s really dedicated as him…” I admired his seriousness and the way he was training hardly alone without making a fuss over it because normally, someone with such abilities wouldn’t be keeping it to himself.

I watched him for a short time, and he never stopped or took a break.

“Weird… why isn’t he taking it easy?”

His tempo was rising by the second, and he started to pant heavily. Yet, never stopped.

“Now seriously…” I glanced at my hand-watch “It’s been half an hour now…”

Ok, I must say, he exceeded my expectations, but just… isn’t he overdoing it a little?

But suddenly, as he blew another punch, he missed and fell to the floor at once.

“Ah!” My eyes widened, I pushed the door that was made of glass to enter the gym section, and I rushed to check on him.

He fell head-first to the ground, so I thought he might’ve been knocked out from the hard effort, however…

He supported his body with his shaking palms and tried to get up, but I squatted near him, I thought he might need some help:

“Are you alright man?” I glanced down as his dropped head and patted his shoulder lightly.

He jerked to my move and kept his head dropped… for some reason.

“Hey” I tried to take a glimpse at his face but I got pushed back suddenly, and he got up, quickly starting to run away.

“W-wha…?!” I was too surprised by his sudden move, he ran towards the pool’s section and I found myself chasing after him, because now that he did this, he seemed so suspicious for me to let him go.

The pool’s lights weren’t all turned up and the place was a bit dim-lighted, I saw him standing just in front of the pool, turning his back at me, and apparently didn’t notice my appearance:

“What’s wrong with you?!” I shouted “Why are you escaping from me?!”

But from the look of it, I caught him by surprise that he jumped slightly from the shock, and somehow, as he tried to start running, he slipped and let out… wait… a yelp?

“Ahh!”

This voice… then it really was…

And before I could grasp the situation, I heard a loud splash.

She fell in the water?!

My heart almost stopped at that moment, and I could only see a pair of hands reaching out of its surface.

“Jin!” I quickly hurried to get in the pool, seeing that she was fighting barely fighting back, I got very scared.

I was able to pull her out the water, and she surprisingly clung to me, making me feel very flustered. I made it out of the pool first, still catching her hand, I helped her out and she started to pant so hard and cough water out.

“Why… in the world…were you…running away… from me?” I panted.

“I’m… scared” she started to shake and hugged herself “I’m… very… scared”

I felt a strange tingle of heat in my chest, and I was staring at her wide-eyed, not knowing what to do.

I never was this perplexed before… and this only happens when I’m with her.

But right now, she doesn’t look anything like… usual.

I stopped moving as I felt a hand squeezing into the tips of my shirt, then to find Jin hugging me so tightly, I gulped.

I wanted to push her away and yet… she kept clinging into me with her trembling body, as if she would fall if she were to let go. All sorts of emotions flowed in me and I hesitatingly wrapped my arms around her, her back I muttered with a shaking voice:

“It’s…ok now… it’s ok” I slowly helped her to pick herself up, and she was still trembling faintly.

Both of us were drenched wet and her shirt was a bit showing becuase of its wetness, I blushed lightly trying not to look at her despite that she certainly, seemed more feminie and there's something that made me drawned in her charm.

W-W-Wait! I clapped my palm on my eyes.  Even though it's hard for me to remain calm...

Anyway... I cleared my throat.

I seated her gently on a bench then I rushed towards the big wall-cabinets that had towels. We were really lucky because they provided such things in this academy. We had to stay warm and find a way to leave in this situation.

I draped the towel on her shoulders and she wrapped herself in it,

“Don’t just sit like that, you need to dry your hair first” I instructed, but she kept staring fixedly at the floor, apparently lost in her own thoughts.

“Ya, Jin!” I got impatient and reached my hand to flick her forehead but I stopped, as reality hit me hard.

Why am I acting like this? Isn’t Jin a girl like all the others…? So why am I still concerned about her?

No, don’t be… don’t forget how much you suffered because of women!

I lowered my arm to my side,

Yes, they’re all the same, either you break them first or you’ll be the one to end up broken.

And Jin is no difference… even though I started to grow some affection towards her…

The scene of her kiss with Jin flashed in my mind.

I covered my face and squeezed my other hand in a clenched fist.

Damn it, I suddenly felt so angry.

Even though I tell myself that she means nothing to me, she still has the ability to shake me wholly and mix up my emotions.

Whenever I was with her, I can’t force myself to be nice and gentle because she makes me do it for real, without being fake and without paying attention to my actions.

She can make guys cry and exercise for a long time until she passes out and yet, once she becomes weak, you suddenly feel like you can’t leave her alone and that you need to stand by her side…

I hate to admit it, I really do and it's so bitter to say it... but at first I thought I would approach her then gain her confidence and eventually hurt her…

There’s also Hyun Jin who’s very serious about her, that he made her his girlfriend and announced it in front of everyone, he was honestly telling me that she’s off-limits to me and that makes me want to break both of them apart but then again…

As soon as I come face to face with her true self, everything get tangled and complicated and I just can’t bring myself to really do it.

“This girl,”

I glared at her

“Really is more dangerous than all the others”

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(Her POV)

No matter what I said to comfort myself or to forget what happened, I failed to do it.

That memory was carved in my mind, but before this moment, I didn’t know it still existed… despite the long period of time that passed since then.

Everything now was day-clear to my sight; 11 years ago exactly on the day when I went with my parents to the beach for the first time during our family trip to Mikojima - which is very famous for having one of the best beaches in Japan. It started like a dream but ended with a nightmare. I was fearless back when I was a kid, and even tried to depend on myself to swim without the help of my parents never expecting the big wave that was making its way towards me.

I was overcame with that dreadful sensation, when you feel completely overwhelmed and useless, when you try to struggle and want to scream at the top of your lungs but you can’t, and thinking that if I hadn't sink my head at the right time, my tiny body would’ve been crushed into pieces. Yet I already out.

When or how was I rescued, I never knew the details about it, and when I woke up, it felt like there was a wide dark gape in my mind, with me unable to remember anything beside the face of my crying mother and father. But none of them wanted to tell me about the incident, and I was a kid so I never asked again.

As I grew up, I didn’t have an aquaphobia, I didn’t enjoy swimming much but I never got afraid of it too.

But now, just looking at the surface of the water in front of me gives me the shivers. My trembling lips won’t cease no matter what I did.

I dropped my head and covered my eyes.

It’ll be ok Jin, everything’s gonna be ok…

I lost track of everything around me, except for that person who was now holding me up as I stood to my feet, grasping my shoulders as if I was some delicate piece of glass.

However,

and all of a sudden,

I got punched in the stomach.

My eyes sprung wide open.

At that very moment, everything perished from my thinking, I felt my guts twisting in pain and I slouched, holding into my stomach tight, and it hurt so much.

“What the hell?!” I blurted through my clenched teeth as I wiped the corner of my lips. My mouth tasted like blood.

I tried to take a good look at the face of that guy, to see that he was indeed, no one else but Minho.

******To be continued.

Ran-chan's note: I hope you like the pictures I'm editing for every chapter to make the story more illustrated ^^ I'll be glad if you tell me what you think or what's your favorite picture so far.