As Minseok introduced his hyungs to me, I intensely stared at the one person in the room that was making my blood boil in anger. The introduction kept going until it reached the last person that I already knew.

"Jongin," I growled under my breath as I maintained eye contact with him.

"You two know each other?" Minseok asked. I nodded. "How?"

Before I could say something, he did. "She's my ex." 

Everyone gasped. "E-ex?!"

"Jongin!" My scream made everyone's attention turn to me. I walked over to where he was sitting and grab his collar. "You better have my money." My voice was said in a way for only him to hear. 

"You're still on that? I thought when you gave it to me, it became my money," he smirked.

"Listen here . Just because our relationship is over doesn't mean that our business is. So you better be prepared to die if you don't have my money!"

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" he laughed.

I smirked before grabbing his balls. Yes, his balls. This made him scream out in pain.

"Do you have my money or not?" I was growing impatient.

"Could you let me go so I can give it to you?" 

I reluctantly did as he said and let him go. "Now, give me my money."

He waved his finger at me. "Ah, ah~ Not after a dance battle."

"As always…" I murmured to myself. "If I beat you, you have to double the money arasso?"

He nodded. "Ara, ara."

I folded my arms. " So, are we dancing to one of your songs?"

"Yup."

"Which one?"

He smirked at me. "You'll find out." 

He then took out his phone and played a song from his playlist. My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to figure out which song he was playing.

"Is this new?"

Instead of Jongin answering, Chen spoke up. "Ne, this is our new song which wasn't supposed to be revealed to anyone." He darted his eyes to Jongin, who just shrugged.

"Anyway, I'll let you see the whole dance routine so you can get the flow."

"That is very kind of you but I think Minseok can help me? Right Minseok-ah?" I asked as I looked over to Minseok. He hesitated before nodding, which made me mouth "Kamsahamnida" to him. I then turned back to Jongin. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be over there practicing with Minseok."

"Hmph. So it's Minseok…" he said to himself as he held his chin in thought.

"It's Minseok, what?" I asked in a whisper.

He only replied with a smirk. He didn't change one bit, I thought as I rolled my eyes. I grabbed a random white shirt, hopefully clean, from the sofa before walking over to Minseok. I buttoned it up, leaving only one button. I didn't feel comfortable dancing in a room with 9 hot guys. Sadly, the shirt I was wearing didn't cover my so I still felt embarrassed.

"That's Sehun's shirt," Minseok stated as he looked at the white shirt I was wearing.

I looked down to take a good look at it. "Well, I should ask him to lend me his clothes sometimes."

"That won't be happening anytime soon," he mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, let's get started," he said with a smile.

I rolled up my sleeves as we practiced. I was slightly distracted when I noticed how shiny his abs looked with his sweat.

"You sure sweat a lot," I said, making him stop his actions.

"Yea…" Crap. I made everything all awkward.

"Don't worry too much about it. I sweat just as much as you do."

"I don't think you can sweat as much as me," he said in disbelief.

"Ok, maybe not but I still sweat a lot."

He just smiled and went back to practicing. After all the training he gave me, all in 30 minutes, I got the basics of the dance. 

"Thanks, Minnie~" I chimed as I gave him a kiss on his cheek. It took me a couple of seconds to realise what I just did. "I-I'm sorry, it was a reflex—"

He simply smiled. "It's fine." 

I looked down at the heels I wearing and looked back up at Minseok. "Um, do you have any shoes that I can wear?"

"I don't think you can fit my shoes. I'm size 260."

"It's okay, I'll just dance barefoot."

"No you cannot do that," he disagreed before searching the room for an extra pair of shoes for me to wear. "Here." He handed me a pair of sneakers.

"Thanks," I said as I took the sneakers.

I sat down on the sofa beside Sehun and began changing in the new footwear. He looked at the shoes and then back up at me.

"Hey! Isn't that my shoes?!" He then looked at my shirt. "And my shirt?! Why are you still all my stuff?!"

"Your stuff are nice. Can I borrow them sometimes?" I asked while batting my eyes at him. 

"No." At least I tried.

"I'll return them to you right after I'm done beating Jongin."

He squinted his eyes at me. "You better." His eyes softened as he watched me tie my shoe laces. "Why do you want to beat Kai so bad?"

I looked up at him. "Kai?"

"That's Jongin's stage name."

"Oh… Well, Kai owes me money so after I beat him, he's going to give me double the money he owes me."

"Since you seem so confident in yourself, I'll cheer you on," he said as he pumped his fist in the air. "Hwaiting!"

I laughed at his encouraging attitude and also joined in, pumping my fist in the air. "Fighting!"

"Wow, you're English is spot on!" I blushed at his compliment.

"Thanks," I said in English before getting up from the couch.

Kai came over to me. "Are you ready to lose?"

"I should be asking you that but yes, I am ready… to win."

"Ok then who'll start?"

"You can go first, gotta save the best for last," I tauntingly said.

"Hmph but it's a gentleman's rule to make the lady go first."

I put my hand on my hip. "Since when were you a gentleman?"

Suddenly Baekhyun put his hand in-between us. "Stop arguing! Kai just go first."

Letting out a sigh, he went to stand in the middle of the room. With a simple nod of his head, Chen pressed play on his phone making 'Lotto' start playing. On cue, Kai's expression changed and was getting into character for the song but that could just his ego coming out.

I watched carefully as Kai danced passionately to the song, adding a bit of his style as well.  I must admit that I admired his style and loved how elegant he can make any dance look. That's probably what I loved most about him but too bad that's in the past now. 

The song finally was coming to a finish and it was almost my turn to perform. My feet bounced up and down out of nervousness. I tried to calm myself down by taking in deep breaths but failed as it only added to my anxiety. Just when I thought I couldn't be able to calm my nerves, a hand touched my shoulder.

I followed the hand up to see where it came from. "Don't worry, you'll do great! Just look at me when you get nervous," Minseok encouraged with a bright toothy smile. 

I couldn't help but smile back. "Thanks, Minseok."

"No problem, now go knock them dead."

"Can it just be Jongin?" I joked, even though deep down I wish it could happen.

He chuckled. "Come on." He then pulled me up from the chair.

"Watch me okay?"

"Of course."

I swayed my hips as I walked to the center to meet up with Jongin. 

"Are you nervous?" he asked, probably noticed my nervousness from before.

"Ani, I'm just fine."

"Well, the floor's all yours." He motioned towards the floor as he moved away from the center.

I took a deep breath before looking over at Chen.

"Hit it," I said in English making Chen give me a baffled look.

"She meant to start the music," Chanyeol translated to Chen.

"Oh that's what she meant," he said to Chanyeol before looking over at me. "Why didn't you just say that instead of saying something weird? What was it… He tit?"

I choked on my spit when he said that. "It's 'hit it'." I slowed down my speech so he would hear each syllable.

He mouthed the word as I repeatedly said it but gave up when he couldn't pronounce it. He pressed play letting the sound of 'Lotto' fill the air. However before I could even begin, I grew nervous and I felt hot all over so I told him to stop the music. I looked over at Minseok for comfort. He saw the fear in my eyes and go up from his seat to me.

"What happened?" he said so that only could hear. When I stayed quiet he continued questioning me. "What happened to that strong and confident girl that I met in our dreams? Was she only there?"

I was about to say something but decided against it. He was right, the strong and confident girl he knew in our dreams was only there. I'm nothing like her. She's able to face her fears and I get nervous over something so small like a dance battle. No matter how tough I may appear, I won't ever be like—

A pair of arms wrapped around me, pulling me into their chest, making me feel secure in them. One of their hands reached up to rub the back of my head, silencing the thoughts that ran through my mind. 

"Shh~ It's okay, don't cry." I was crying…? "I'm fine with the way you are now."

"You are?" I asked while staring up at him teary eyes. He is?

He nodded with a smile and wiped away my tears with his thumbs. "Are you feeling better? Do you still think you can dance?" I pondered on the questions, letting them swirl around in my head. He searched my eyes for an answer before speaking. "I can dance with you if you want."

My eyes widened at his offer. "You would do that?"

He chuckled. "Of course, anything for a friend."

My heart stung from his words. A friend, that's all I am to you? Without saying anything, I pulled away from him. 

Looking at him with resentful eyes, I rolled up my sleeves. "Ok, friend, let's dance."

I glanced back over at Chen hinting with my eyes. He got the message and restarted the song. I don't know what clicked in me but I felt like I had to prove something to Minseok. A friend. Those words haunted me as I busily danced to the music. I added my own style to some verses and let Minseok take over when his verses came. As soon as the song finished, I took a seat because my legs were tired. 

"That was… amazing! You two make a good team," Baekhyun cheered from his stool. He then folded his arms in a thoughtful position. "You know, if I didn't know I would have thought that you two were dating."

"They're dating?!" Chanyeol shouted.

"Pabo, that's not what I said."

"You sure they're not dating?" Chanyeol whispered to Baekhyun, who in response shrugged his shoulders.

"Are you two dating?" Baekhyun asked, turning the attention back to Minseok and I.

I looked to Minseok for help to which he smirked. "Are we?"

I blinked at his answer. "You're no help." I chose to leave that question unanswered and looked over at Jongin. "Oi, loser!"

That surely got his attention since he pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yes, loser. Where's my prize money?"

I tapped my tip of my foot as I was becoming impatient. I watched as he reluctantly took out his wallet from his back pocket and searched for the bills before pulling them out and handed them to me. I counted them carefully. There's only half of the amount he owes me.

"This is only 50000, you owe me ₩100000," I complained.

"I know. I don't have that much on me right now." He was lying I could tell by his eyes. 

"Show me your wallet." I won't him get away easily.

"Waeyo? I already told you that I—"

Before he could finish his sentence, I took the black leather wallet from his hands and quickly checked it. Just like I thought. There it was, the rest of my money. He didn't change at all, he's still a liar like he was 2 years ago. I gritted my teeth in anger and took the bills before throwing it at him.

"Are you happy now? You got your money." 

"Am I happy?! No, Jongin. No, I'm not! Because of you, I have to pay off your stupid debt that you gladly left to me. Because of you, I have to deal with random men knocking on my door asking for your . There were countless times when I almost died from those men and I have scars as proof." I took a second to catch my breath before continuing. "And, do you know what makes me more unhappy?"

"W-what?" he choked out.

"You. Seeing your face, seeing that you're here all happy and makes me more miserable. Do you know how much I thought about what would have happened if I didn't meet you? Life would be so much better now." I was crying but I still continued. "But, you know what I'm glad I met you because now I know not to date es like you…"

I then took the shoes and shirt I borrowed from Sehun off and handed it to him. 

"Are you okay?" he asked, worriedly.

I just gave him a small smile before walking towards the door. Right before I reached the door, I turned back to Jongin. The way he was looking at me made me sick. 

"Don't look at me like that, it doesn't fit you," I sneered. "Even though I don't want to see you ever again, you still owe the loan sharks money so you're going to have to give me more money."

With the blankest stare, I glanced over at Minseok who was staring at with piercing eyes. Without any words, he comforted me with his eyes.

"Gwenchana?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me."

As I left through the door, I could sense someone following behind me. Ignoring them, I went to my change room and begun stripping my clothes off from my body. The presence that I felt from before was still there but I still ignored it and proceeded to change back into my school uniform. To my surprise when I turned around, I saw a wide-eyed Minseok staring at me.

"Did you see it?" I asked while looking at my feet.

"Yea," he quietly replied.

"How did it look?"

"Beautiful," he said dreamily.

I whipped my head up at him. "You thought my scars were beautiful?"

He shook his head. "Ani. I thought you looked beautiful."

"You do?" I sounded like such an idiot right now.

He nodded. "So beautiful…"

»♦«

Before I knew it, he was in front of me. As he exhaled from his mouth, hot air hit my face making me realise how close he is to me. His eyes were laid upon my lips as he began to draw closer to his target. Just as our lips were about to join together and become one, a sharp pain shot through my stomach and I began panting heavily. I tried not to ruin the moment but sadly, a whimper slip from my lips and Minseok heard it.

Pulling away, he examined my face. "What's wrong?"

"I think my wound opened up again," I mumbled.

With one glance at the back of my shirt, his face dropped. ". We have to get you to the hospital. Now."

"No, not there. Just bring me home."

"Michyeosseo?! If I bring you home, you're going to die." 

"For now, just bring me home," I calmly repeated.

He sighed before getting down on his knees. "Get on."

"I can walk," I stated.

"Yes, right now you can but you'll probably faint from all the stress you're putting on your body."

Crap, he was right. I grabbed his shoulders for support as I climbed onto his back. After getting comfortable, he rose up from the floor, lifting me effortlessly and holding my legs firmly to his sides. 

"Oh, my gabang," I voiced my thoughts. He heard me and reached down to pick up my bag. "I can hold it."

"No, you're not allowed to do anything, arasso?" His voice was stern as he ordered me.

"Arasso…," I muttered. 

I rested my head on my shoulder as he walked us out the club. It wasn't too long after that we were on the dark streets. 

"Are you asleep?" 

"How could I be?"

"Oh, right sorry." There was a brief pause before he continued. "You know when we were in our dream world, you said something but I don't remember since I woke up with a hangover. Could you repeat what you said?"

"It wasn't anything important."

"If you say so," he said shrugging it off.

I almost had a heart attack when he asked that. There was no way I was going to confess twice, either he has to remember it himself or he gets me drunk but both of those options are not possible.

With my instructions, he brought me to my apartment safely. After unlocking the door and closing it behind him, he rushed to lay me on my bed. 

"What are you going to do, now that we're here?"

I sat up and reached over to get my first aid kit from my bedside table. I opened it and stringed the thread into the needle. However before I re-sewed myself up, I unwrapped my bloody bandage from around my stomach. I then proceeded to clean up the exposed wound with some rubbing alcohol which I didn't handle so well. 

"Aish~" I grunted from the pain that welled up in me.

"Do you want to do it for you?"

I hesitated before nodding. He finished cleaning up my wound before taking the needle and stitching me up. Thankfully, there wasn't much to sew so he was done before I knew it.

"How do you know how to sew up wounds?"

"You're not the only one with a bad past."

"You also have stab wounds? Then, how come I didn't see them earlier when you were shirtless?"

"Not me. I had to sew up the wounds from my hyung."

"Which one?"

"Chen," he said calmly. "Let's just say that had some money troubles like you."

"I see."

"Anyway, you should go to sleep," he ordered as he got up from the bed.

"Where are you going?" I asked in a panic. 

He gave a smile. "Don't worry, I'll be right here. Ah! Nevermind, I will be seeing you in my dreams."

"I guess you're right."

"Goodnight," he whispered to me before flicking the lights off.

"Goodnight, my love."

a/n: Hi, you-hyung~! I have brought you another chapter. TBH, I didn't know how to end this chapter so I was stuck on it for so long but now I have finished it. 

The romance between these two is finally developing. Comment on your thoughts of what do you think of the development of this future couple, is it too slow or moving too fast?

~~~Kkaebsong~~~

© rawnoodles