Secret Admirer

Minhyuk’s life changed that day.

It all started the day he met him, six months ago, on a warm spring evening.

Well, no, not exactly met him face to face, personally.

He’d been hanging out with a few close trainees at a nearby restaurant around the corner from Cube, when one of them tapped him on his shoulder, grabbing his attention. His friend pointed at the entrance directing his gaze to a young boy of average looks walking in with two others closely following behind him. He had a large grin on his face which strikingly outlined his distinct high cheekbones and fangs from the distance.

“You see that guy with the high cheekbones?” his friend asked.

Minhyuk nodded his head, examining closer to determine what was so spectacular about this stranger that his friend had re-focused their earlier conversation of passing Cube’s next evaluation to this average looking boy entering through the restaurant door.

“He’s a trainee like us and rumor has it he’s already been selected to be part of the line-up of Cube’s upcoming boy group.”

“Really. Already? How? He doesn’t look like he could pull off being an idol, judging by his looks alone,” Minhyuk stated, taken aback by this news since he had always been told by others that being an idol required certain standards based on appearance alone. His mind was boggled but yet curious if this rumor was in fact true.

“Well, from what I’ve heard, he has godly vocal skills. I’ve yet to hear it myself though but that’s what I’ve been told.”

"Hmm, interesting. I’ll have to hear it for myself to believe that,” Minhyuk said more to himself than for his friend to hear. His curiosity had been piqued and for the rest of the time spent there, his friends talk amongst themselves about the next upcoming evaluation while he silently focused his attention on the stranger and his two friends sitting two tables away from them. They’d ordered their meal and then continued to goofed off, laughing out loud every few minutes. They were a very loud bunch he had observed.

The next few days he searched for answers, questioning any trainee about the rumor related to the boy, trying to find anyone who knew him personally to verify his singing capabilities but failing to discover any answers to his endless questions, besides his name and age. His name was Seo Eunkwang and he was the same age as him. His curiosity not sated enough and his mind on overdrive about his supposedly ‘godly’ vocal skills that surpassed all other trainees in Cube, he decided he would look into it further by surveying the guy in question himself.

As fate would have it though, he didn’t have to look further because he happened to spot him the next day playing the piano effortless in one of the available practice rooms. He was most definitely gifted on playing the piano, Minhyuk acknowledged.

After witnessing his skills with the piano, he spent almost everyday coming to the same location just to hear his piano playing and possibly if luck would have it, maybe overhear Eunkwang singing along while playing. Unfortunately for him three months passed by fast like a blink of an eye without him having a chance to hear his vocals, and new classes would begin the week after. Perhaps a new opportunity would pop up, Minhyuk hoped, sighing.

Disgruntled with his failure on hearing Eunkwang’s vocals and deep in his thoughts about how to find him again, Minhyuk was sitting in his new class waiting for the instructor to enter and begin the class when he was momentarily surprised when Eunkwang came walking into the same classroom, and sat a few seats away from him, upfront. His pulse quickened and heartbeat was drumming in his ears so loud he thought perhaps the whole class could hear. Had Eunkwang discovered he had been eavesdropping on him playing in the practice room for over a three months….? It didn’t seem like he did though, because he hadn’t look in his direction.

The moment Eunkwang had appeared a lot of students started whispering in low hush voices, probably about the rumor regarding Eunkwang. Watching Eunkwang, with his head lowered and shoulders hunched, he seemed a bit shy and flustered at all the attention he was receiving from the students in class. Just then the teacher came strutting in, announcing herself and instructing the students to quiet down.

“Now, what seems to be the fuss?” the teacher asked, her eyes moving around the classroom to finally narrow on a student who had raised their hand. “Yes, what is it?”

The student stood up, looking around and then said, “Teacher, we were just talking about the student who we’ve been hearing has vocal skills of a god and we were all just wondering if it were true.” The student then pointed at Eunkwang sitting at the front right corner of the class, hunkering down in his seat with his head lowered. “Everyone has been saying that the student in question is him.”

“Really, is this true? What’s your name, student?” the teacher ask looking at Eunkwang. Eunkwang raised his head, an awkward smile on his face.

“Teacher, my name is Eunkwang. Seo Eunkwang. I’m not sure where they have been hearing this but I don’t think it’s true…,”He laughed and tried to deny it but none of the students would have it.

“Hmm, since this class is a vocal class, I will be the judge of that. Let’s see what you can do?” the teacher said with a smile. The class erupted with screams and clapping, ready to see if the rumors circulating around were about Eunkwang. Minhyuk himself was giddy with excitement that the new opportunity he had been hoping for had finally fallen into his lap.

“But, Eunkwang will not be the only one to show their skills. I need to hear all of your skills in order to determine what improvements you may need so we can work on that.” All the students quieted down at the announcement, the excitement in their eyes now being replaced with dread of singing before the class with their lackluster skills. Minhyuk on the other hand, couldn’t keep from smiling. He had confidence in his vocals and whatever the teacher told him he needed to work on, he would. He was just satisfied that finally his ears would have the blessing of hearing the person whom he had been secretly following around for the past three months.

Eunkwang stood up and walked to the front of the room. He cleared his throat and then very gently began the first notes of the song. His voice circulated the room, caressing the ears of all the seated students, all in awe. His voice increased in range slowly and effortless. Eunkwang was so focused, eyes closed and mouth open, reaching notes that Minhyuk himself had trouble reaching. Minhyuk sat motionless as he watched Eunkwang finally hit a note so high that all the students let out a gasp of wonder and surprise. After this Eunkwang drastically stopped singing, bowing to the teacher and students, and walked fast back to his seat.

“Wow, Eunkwang,” the teacher said,surprised, “I can see you do have excellent vocal skills.”

Minhyuk watched Eunkwang nod his head at the compliment given, smiling awkwardly. Minhyuk for sure didn’t know what to do with what he had just heard but it was a given that the rumors circulating had been indeed about the boy sitting in front of him quietly accepting the compliments and attention he was receiving from the teacher and students.

Weeks had passed but even after finally succeeding in hearing Eunkwang’s vocals, his interest in him had not died down. He had thought that once he discovered his skills he would then lose his interest in the boy but instead it had only increased. He found himself secretly stealing glances in his general direction whenever he was in class. Sometimes he would even follow him and sit near him during lunch breaks. He didn’t think Eunkwang had ever noticed him though.

From the weeks of watching him, he’d discovered that Eunkwang was very quiet and shy towards people he did not know but when it came to his friends he was loud and talkative. He had two close friends that always tagged along with him during lunch breaks and eventually a new face appeared who looked really young compared to the others. As he watch them, he couldn’t help but to become a little envious. He talked so easily to them, cracking jokes and making them laugh that Minhyuk found himself wanting to become a part of Eunkwang’s inner circle of friends too.

While walking back to class he noticed a flyer tacked onto the bulletin board. In bold dark blue lettering it said “Cube Trainee Family Trip” and below it was the date and time with a list of things to look forward to. Seeing this announcement, a light bulb lit in Minhyuk’s head. He decided this would be his chance to officially introduce himself to Eunkwang. Eunkwang and him were in the same class but Eunkwang had never given him a glance so he highly doubt that he knew of Minhyuk’s existence. Minhyuk would have to change that.

Cube’s trip was coming closer everyday until eventually it was the night before. Laying in bed, he couldn’t fall asleep and so laid there most of the night wide awake, distracting himself with a book until eventually sleep overtook him. Waking up to the alarm clock blaring near his ear he raised his right arm to shut it off. Today was the day. He got up and took a quick shower, freshening up and changed into a white collared shirt and blue jeans. He grabbed a white baseball cap and put it on his head after sweeping his hair with his fingers to the side. Looking around the room, he made sure he didn’t forget anything before leaving. He grabbed his large duffle bag that he had packed the night before and closed the door behind him.

Outside, it was still dark with the exceptions of the street lights illuminating the sidewalk where all the students stood in a line waiting for the arrival of the bus. Minhyuk glanced around, looking for Eunkwang or one of his friends, knowing that he would be with them. He found the new face who had become a part of their group. He was standing in front of someone smaller than him. Minhyuk walked closer and saw that it was Eunkwang. They appeared to be worried. The friend with the eye smile walked behind the new face but then his heels and headed back into the dorms. Minhyuk stood a few feet away from them and a few minutes later he saw the friend with the eye smile dragging the other friend with the pale skin.

The bus arrived and parked near the curb, turning on its lights to signal the students to come onboard. Minhyuk walked with the rest of crowd towards the bus but looked back several times at Eunkwang and his friends struggling with their unconscious friend. Taking a seat near the window, he watched as they were the last to come onboard with Eunkwang leading them.

Eunkwang stood in the middle of the aisle, presumably trying to find an available seat for the four of them but all seats had been taken. A girl then stood up, volunteering to give her seat to the sleeping friend and another. Once they were situated the friend with the eye smile found a seat in front of him. Eunkwang then directly looked at him and pointed at the seated next to him. Minhyuk unconsciously agreed by nodding his head. Anxiety started to creep up in Minhyuk’s heart. He had planned to finally greet him on this trip but he did not foresee that it would happen sooner than he had planned. Maybe fate really was on his side. He secretly smiled to himself at the thought of Lady Fate pulling strings from above.

Eunkwang sat down, placing his small bag under his seat. Eunkwang then looked over at him and bowed his head. Minhyuk returned the bow back.

“Hello, I’m Seo Eunkwang. Nice to meet you,” Eunkwang introduced himself. This was it. What Minhyuk had been waiting for since he had first saw him six months ago.

Minhyuk smiled at him, nodding his head at his introduction. “Hi, I’m Lee Minhyuk. It’s nice to (finally) meet you,” Minhyuk replied back to his greeting.

“Have we met before? I swear you look very familiar,” Eunkwang said looking at him closely. Minhyuk smile grew so big, he didn’t know why but the thought of Eunkwang remembering him even unconsciously brought such joy to him.

“I think we share a class together. Vocal class,” Minhyuk admitted to Eunkwang. Eunkwang’s eyes enlarged with a slight smile appearing on his face.

“Aaahh….so I guess you witnessed me singing on the first day there,huh?” he said while rubbing the back of his neck. Minhyuk nodded his head.

“Yep. I think you have an amazing voice with great skills to back it up,” Minhyuk said with a smirk because he noticed that Eunkwang apparently felt shy and embarrassed whenever people complimented him with his abilities. Eunkwang’s face flushed to a light pink shade and then he began to laugh.

“Aah..Thanks but I’m pretty sure you have an amazing voice too. How else would you be a trainee here. I mean, Cube has pretty high standards when it comes to vocals,” Eunkwang said, deflecting the compliment back to Minhyuk. I see, Minhyuk thought. This man before him was so humble he couldn’t take a compliment easily. Minhyuk nodded his head at his comment but also to his inner thoughts.

“It’s going to be a long ride. Did you bring anything with you to keep yourself preoccupied?” Minhyuk asked, watching as Eunkwang lift his eyes up thinking on how to respond.

“Nope. I didn’t think that far...Did you?” Eunkwang asked him.

“I didn’t either. I guess we could keep each other preoccupied by talking,” Minhyuk said. He had actually brought a book that was tucked on the top of his clothes in his bag but he wanted to use this opportunity to get to know the inner workings of Eunkwang.

“Okay, that sounds great.” Eunkwang said with a large and genuine smile that made Minhyuk so happy that his heart started to race.

Two hours flew by so fast that Minhyuk was not happy when the bus pulled up to the encampment. He had been enjoying the company of Eunkwang so much. It turned out that not only were they the same age but that they were only a week apart with Eunkwang being the eldest. He had also learned that they both enjoyed sports to an extent, with Eunkwang having a history of playing soccer in middle school. The more he learned about him, the more he grew fond of his inner character.

At the encampment they were instructed to grab a plate of food, so Minhyuk stood in the line with Eunkwang and his close companions. His friends were all busy talking to each other to pay him any mind so Minhyuk continued talking to Eunkwang. After grabbing their plate they made their way to sit down together where Eunkwang introduced Minhyuk to everybody. There was also another new face added to the group. It was the boy that had been sitting in front of him. He introduced himself as Ilhoon. Minhyuk learned that the eye smile friend’s name was Hyunsik, the pale skinned friend was Changsub and the younger boy’s name was Sungjae.

Gathered together, talking and joking around, Minhyuk felt like he was now a part of them. He could see the happiness emanating from each of them just by being together and if he had to pinpoint it, he would say it all came from the one sitting beside him.

Upon closer inspection, Minhyuk had to admit to himself that Eunkwang wasn’t exactly of average looks as he had first thought. Once you got to know him, he had a certain charm about him that shone bright helping to highlight his beauty from within and to Minhyuk that in itself was what an idol should exemplify. Eunkwang had changed his perspective drastically from the first day he had seen him til today when he had officially introduced himself. His kindness and laughter he brought to others was something that Minhyuk had come to admire about him. He could now see why he had already been selected as a candidate for the next group and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He looked forward to working with him in the future because he had little doubt that he too would make the cut and be walking alongside him on the path to become a successful idol, no matter the length of time it took.

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So here it is. A chapter dedicated to Minhyuk alone...haha. Hope you guys like it. Got the inspiration to write this chapter because I know that Minhyuk is known to secretly stalk Melodies online so I thought what if he secretly stalked one of s. lol Btw, he's my second bias....Changsub is my first...:D