Chapter 4

Inside the hallway Minho tried everything to avoid getting detected, resulting in him jumping back and forth between the lockers.

What didn’t help much was Kibum walking in the middle of the hallway, following him, and stopping every time he made the next move.

“You’re not helping much Kibum” Minho growled whilst coming out from behind a locker, seemingly giving up on his quest.

“Sorry for being a student at this school and for walking in the school hallway!” Kibum snapped back.

Minho couldn’t suppress a small chuckle.

“How about you tell me why you are so weird today or is it just you being like that all the time?”

Minho sighed. “It’s complicated…”

He could sense that his answer wasn’t enough for the feline, and before he gave Kibum a chance to dig deeper he answered, “I just wanted to follow your advice, since I don’t know who to trust or not?”.

Kibum gave him a confused look. “Well, my advice wasn’t meant for you to sneak around like some creep….” He groaned at the loss of the right words “it’s just... Taemin isn’t the best person to get influence from. Yes, he may be popular, but he and his group of ‘friends’ are pain in the . So, it wasn’t meant for you to not have a life… just don’t talk to them” Kibum explained, whilst padding Minho’s shoulder.

Minho only nodded in response. His thoughts were somewhere else.

The pair wasn’t given a chance to speak more about the subject as Woohyun, Kibum’s friend, came running around the corner.

“Morning!”

How can someone be in such a good mood this early?  Minho thought, only raising his hand as a sign he had acknowledged him.

“Thank god you’re here, Minho is being a bit weird today” Kibum tells Woohyun, pointing not so surreptitious at Minho behind him.

“Yah! I’m still here you know”.

“Oh, and I thought you were playing hide and seek?” Kibum said, mocking Minho.

Woohyun had no idea what the Kibum was talking about, but he was quite amused by the show in front of him.

“Only because you give me misleading advices!” Minho replied in defense. But what a lie that was… he knew exactly that it wasn’t the reason for his weird behavior.

“How about we go to PE-class now? Do you have the same class as us Minho?” Woohyun asked, trying to distract Minho and save Kibum from getting killed.

It seemingly worked, since Minho dropped his predator gaze and focused on looking at his schedule.

“Yeah, looks like I’ll have PE” Minho answered, looking up from the schedule in his hand. He still needed to get used to his new school schedule, looking at it every time a new class began.   

“Great! Let’s go” Woohyun said and started to go down the hallway.

Minho and Kibum followed close behind.

***

The Locker rooms were crowded when they arrived, after all they were a bit late.

They fought their way through a bunch of guys, changing clothes whilst laughing and throwing friendly punches at each other.

Luckily, at the back there were still some room left for him, Kibum and Woohyun.

“Trust me, the reasons you don’t want to be late the next time is for you to avoid having to go through a crowd of sweaty people” Kibum chuckled whilst fishing his PE-clothes out of his bag.

Wait….PE-clothes?

“!” Minho cursed.

Woohyun gave him a questioned look, but Kibum seemed to have figured out what the problem is.

“Minho, do you even look at your schedule before you go in the morning? Maybe then you would know that it isn’t the best outfit you have chosen for PE-class.”

Minho groaned.

“I’ll keep in mind to do it next time. Thanks for the advice Kibum” Minho replied growling.

“But that won’t help me much now… guess I’ll have to do it in this?” raising his shoulders in defeat.

Coughing, Woohyun interrupted Minho. “I still have my shorts from my rugby training yesterday but packed a fresh pair for today. I can just take mine from yesterday and you can have the fresh pair for now?” Woohyun explains, whilst handing over the shorts.

“Thanks Woohyun. You just saved me from embarrassing myself.” Minho kindly smiles back and takes them from him.

“Hmm, I think I’ve got a solution more… wait a second” and Kibum rushed through the crowd.

Minho looked at Woohyun, who looked just as confused as him.

It didn’t take long for Kibum to return, in his hand a T-shirt.

“I remembered we still had some T-shirts in the back, from the school’s rugby team… this one should fit you”.

“Thanks” Minho catched the oncoming T-shirt and put it on.

Well, it was a bit too tight, but it wasn’t like Minho had to be ashamed about his body.

Minho looked down at himself. “I’ll guess that has to do it, even though it’s a bit tight”.

“Stop making it sound as if that’s a bad thing” Kibum said while giving his body a predator-look, making Minho uncomfortable.

“Hmmm, if you say so. Let’s go before we are more late then we already are” Minho hurried off, leaving Kibum and Woohyun to catch up to him.

***

Even though Minho had never played rugby before, he was determined to do his best. After all, he is very sporty and competitive person.

”You know what, I hate rugby. Such an aggressive sport.” Kibum whispered to him whilst the coach was busy explaining.

”It sounds fun” Minho replied.

”Just wait till you’ll get started. Especially if you get on the opposite team of Taemin’s friends, then it won’t be that funny any longer” Kibum snorted back at him.

Now that Kibum mentioned it, Minho looked around, but couldn’t see Taemin in the crowd of people standing on the field.

Well, lucky me. Minho thought to himself.

 ”Yah! Mr. Choi, move your over to your team, or haven’t you been listening to, what I’ve been saying?” Couch screamed at him, which made him flinch.

”I’m sorry Sir, I didn’t hear it” Minho replied embarrassed, making sure to send a glare toward Kibum.

”Listen up when I speak! Go over to Woohyun.” The coach roared.

Minho hurried over to his team, but not without noticing Kibum making is way of the field.

”Where do you think you’re going Kibum?” Minho asked him jogging over to him.

”It may sound stupid and utterly unrealistic, but coach seems to think that I so much at this game, that it’s better for me to stay on the side-line and watch” Kibum explained overdramatically. He didn’t mind not playing. Not at all.

„Wow you really must at it“ Minho grinned back at him, resulting a slap in the stomach from Kibum, making him groan.

“Choi, get over here! We’ve got a game to win!” Woohyun shouted over to him.

“Go! Go, before they get a stupid idea and drag me out to play for you” Kibum said whilst pushing him towards his team.

Minho dragged himself over to his team, who were already doing a plan for the game.

“Listen up, you’ll take the position as player number 6, the blind-side flanker. Make sure to use your bulkiness and power Minho. Push, pull and scramble them at any means!” Woohyun explained, jabbing his finger into his chest to mark his point.

It seemed as if Woohyun had taken the role of the leader, instructing the team in what to do. Well, after all he is a part of the schools rugby team, who can blame him.

“Ehmm, sorry” Minho injected before Woohyun could carry on. “I would do what you ask of me, but I really don’t know how this game works…” he explained, resulting many stares from his teammates.

“Are you serious?”

Minho lowered his head, answering the question.

“Oh well, no worries. It’s not that complicated. I’ll give you a quick run through” Woohyun smiled at him, giving him a light pad on the shoulder.

“Okay, listen. As you have noticed each team consists of 15 players. Those players you can divide into to 2 groups, each with a specific number and individual responsibility. You have the Forwards. These guys tend to be the heavyweights, the muscle-men of the team because they do a lot of the pushing, pulling and scrambling, using their bulkiness and strength to win possession of the ball, you would be one of those guys Minho. Then you have the Backs. These are the smaller, faster players that run or kick the ball down the field once possession is gained. But if you get the chance for it, go for it yourself.”

Woohyun explained, making sure Minho understood most of it.

“The game begins with a kick-off which is taken from the centre of the field. The team with the ball makes every effort to score a try once the ball is in play. A try is scored when a player touches the ball to the ground in the opponent's in-goal. During the game, players move forward towards their goal, however the ball cannot be passed forward.

The player must pass the ball backwards to his teammates while moving forward. Forward progress of the player carrying the ball may be impeded by tackling that player. Once a player is tackled, he must immediately pass or release the ball and move away from it. It kind of reminds of American Football, but is still slightly different.” Woohyun finished.

“Wow. Lots of information, but I think I got the outline of it.” Minho said, nodding his head to convince himself.

“Great! Give them a proper fight” and Woohyun went off to his position in the front.

Well this is going to be interesting. Minho thought to himself.

It wasn’t until now that Minho noticed who his opponents were. He recognized one of them as the guy, who almost hang all the way out of the car yesterday, on his way home from school.

One of Taemin’s ‘friends’, right?

Minho looked over to Kibum, who was busy talking with some guy, remembering his words from earlier.

He positioned himself in the front together with Woohyun and another teammate.

He couldn’t help but notice hateful looks being send his way from the opponent team. A bad feeling was creeping up his body.

“Okaaaaay, reaaaaady” a loud shrill was heard from the coach, and as if the explosion button was pressed the players crashed into each other, pushing, brawling, tackling and pulling each other to the ground.

Minho was overwhelmed, not expecting such an aggressive attack from his opponent in front of him, and fell hard to the ground letting out a moan.

If he could, he would pull his comment, about how fun this game sounded, back. He had always hated such games, or just generally things resulting aggressiveness. Mainly because it made him feel something that he couldn’t explain. Something that made him scared.

With one quick move Minho got up, hurrying of the field over to Kibum on the side-line.

“Told you it isn’t that funny” Kibum said.

Minho didn’t have time to reply before a slap on his shoulder made him choke back his words.

“You may look tough, but just look at you falling to the ground like a leaf in the wind” the guy from the car mocked him, a smirk plastered all over his face.

Minho could feel how his blood begun to boil. What an !

He hurried back to the field, leaving an amused Kibum behind him.

His competiveness was on fire. I’ll show him what a leaf in the wind is!

Grumpy he got back into position.

Once more a loud shrill was heard from the coach, and once more everything went aggressively fast, so fast that Minho once more wasn’t prepared for the body clashing into his, sending him tumbling down to the ground.

Damn it! Minho jabbed his fist into the dirt in anger.

“Why don’t you give up Choi?” the guy from the car whispered into Minho’s ear, who was still lying defeated on the ground.

“Yah, Minho are you okay?” Woohyun jogged over to him, helping him up from the ground.

“I know you’re new to this game, but I know you can do better than that. Try again, don’t give up. Look at him, he is much smaller then you, it will be easy” the team leader tried to encourage him.

Sadly it didn’t have that effect on Minho. He felt his pride being hurt. Once more he felt an uncomfortable feeling creeping up.

Minho only nodded, acknowledging the command and returning to his position, hands and one leg on the ground.  

Someone was laughing nearby. Minho recognized the voice. He lifted his eyes.

And there he stood, not far away from Kibum on the side-line, smiling and laughing about something the guy from the car whispered to him. Taemin.

As If Taemin could sense him looking, his eyes met with his, smirking at him. 

Fast, Minho looked away, turning his gaze into the ground.

He felt mocked, defeated, humiliated. He felt anger.

A powerful, scary anger.

He could feel his hands grabbing into the grass of the field, almost pulling the whole lawn out. A silent growl escaped his lips.

“Are you okay Minho?” Woohyun concerned voice sounded.

He only nodded as answer, too much anger felt him, to make him speak properly.

“Ready?” his opponent asked him teasingly. Minho raised his eyes to look at him.

“W-what the ! Dude, your ey-“. The shrill sounded, and Minho didn’t think twice, crashing into his opponent, who still stood star struck, before being pulled to the ground.

Minho’s pulse was running high. He felt so angry and so powerful. He stormed on, chasing the guy, who was trying to run away with the ball.

As if the others were just put there for show, Minho tackled one after another to the ground, getting closer to the ball.

And look who had the ball. The guy from the car. Minho smirked and ran faster, catching up to him and crashing his body into the side of the other, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

On the ground Minho managed to grab the ball before everyone jumped on him. He was determined to wipe that stupid grin of peoples face.

I’m not weak!

He ran as fast as he could, sensing the desperate attempts of his opponents behind him.

“Run Minho, run!” Woohyun cheered at him together with the rest of his team.

And run he did. Further than he should have.

He dropped the ball in the opponent’s in-goal, resulting a loud cheer from his teammates, before continuing running towards the locker rooms.

 ***

As if he would try to fight an asthma attack, Minho gasped, fighting for the air he needed so desperately.

His whole body was on fire, still ready to fight. He leaned onto the sink, looking into the mirror.

And as if he just saw a ghost, Minho pushed himself away from the mirror, stumbling, afraid of the sight he just saw.

Piercing yellow eyes had stared back at him.

He must be delusional.

In a desperate attempt to calm down, Minho went, without thinking twice, under the shower fully clothed. He needed to be cooled down.    

He had to put one hand on the wall, bracing himself, still gasping for air.

The feeling of water running down his head somehow calmed him. He felt how the adrenaline began to fade away.

“You know, what you did out there was quiet impressive” a voice sounded from the shower entrance.

There Taemin stood leaned up against the doorframe, smiling at him.

Minho’s head snapped toward his direction. It was as if lightning just had hit him. He couldn’t move. He could only stare back at Taemin.

“Maybe you should consider joining the school’s rugby team?” Taemin said, leaning his head the side to inspect Minho further.

“I—“Minho gulped. “m-maybe I should”.

Wow. Did I just say something?

Taemin only smiled at the answer, before making his way over to him in the shower.

Minho’s body was screaming as he came closer, his eyes following every step of the other.

He gulped again, once more feeling his airways tightening.

Taemin now stood in front of him, looking as if he was going to say something, but having second thoughts before doing so.

Minho’s eyes were locked to the boy’s face. He had never seen, or less so talked to him this close before. He was even more beautiful and handsome close up. He could get lost in him for eternities.

And somehow it seemed as if Taemin was locked into place too. Those beautiful brown orbs were staring right back at him.

He could feel something pulling him closer to the other. He could still feel the water running down his hair, but it didn’t matter. He was too captured by the boy in front of him, almost standing so close that he could feel the others breath. 

Minho held his breath, he didn’t dare to breath.

Now standing so close, their noses almost touching, Taemin looked Minho directly in the eyes, looking into them as if he was searching for an answer.

The moment felt like an eternity, but only lasted seconds.

Somehow the spell that had captured them fell and Taemin managed to pull himself away, for once looking a bit confused, instead of having his usual arrogant facade on.

“Maybe-” Taemin reached out for the shower knob. “Maybe you shouldn’t shower with your clothes on next time” and he turned it off.

Minho only nodded, his eyes not leaving his face.

“Yaaaah! Minho? Where are you?” Kibum’s voice sounded through the locker room.

And the moment was now completely destroyed.

Taemin’s arrogance was back in place, sending Minho one last smirk, before turning away from him and leaving the showers.

Kibum and Taemin almost ran into each other in the doorway, giving each other hateful looks, before walking away.

“What on earth was that out there?” Kibum asked, crossing his arms waiting for an explanation.

Minho was pulled back to reality.

“Nothing really” he answered, making his way out of the shower.

“You are a bit weird today Minho. But okay, I’ll let it pass today” Kibum said, followed by a gasp. “Jesus, you’re all soaked. How about you take your clothes off next time before showering”.

“Yeah, you would sure like that” Minho replied mocking, squeezing himself past Kibum, who stood mouth open in the doorframe, a blush coming up.

“Well, don’t think too highly of yourself Minho. Maybe I will consider joining you next time.” And with that Kibum left victorious, now leaving a blushing Minho behind.

I'm back and so sorry for the long wait. 

I have been really busy, finishing highschool travelling for months, so there has barely been time for any writing. 

Forgive me if there is any misspelling, English isn't my first language.

Thanks to all readers and subscribers. 

Comments are appriciated. 

Enjoy!