Thursday had rolled around too quick. You were still so swayed by Hoshi’s unannounced dinner that you hadn’t thought of anyone or anything else. His eyes, the way he smiled at you Tuesday evening made your brain ache for what seemed like days.

However, tonight you had agreed to attend Minghao’s competition with him so you had to remove Hoshi from your mind.

When Minghao showed up out in the courtyard, you almost fell off the bench you sat on. He wore a fitted tank that matched the pair of white shorts with Pledis written on the bottom right. A black gym bag was slung over his shoulder while his other hand remained free, dangling at his side. Was he not shivering from this weather? You blinked, anxious over how cold he could possibly be.

His eyes were lined with a dark shade making him look mysteriously striking. You exhaled to hide the fact that you were slightly, just slightly and shamefully fantasizing. What made it worse was that his eyes were complemented by his beautiful dark hair that hung over the white headband across his forehead. You must have looked like a total fool with your mouth gawked open in front of him; because he woke you up when he reached over to close your mouth with his long fingers.

You sat in the backseat of a black sedan with Minghao to your left. The whole ride was quiet and almost uncomfortable. You had never seen Minghao look so terribly handsome before and you kept your head facing forward to prevent yourself from looking at him. However, as much as you tried, your eyes couldn’t stay away from his striking appearance.

When the car stopped, Minghao got out and you let out a sigh of relief. His presence was too much. It somehow felt suffocating just sitting there beside him. He appeared intimidating and focused. A bit too cool for someone like you.

You sat there talking to yourself, telling yourself that you were attending for nothing more than moral support. There was nothing to be worked up about. Your door suddenly opened and you looked to see Minghao standing there, waiting for you to exit.

You snatched your satchel that had separated you from him and jumped out of the car. From the street, you followed Minghao through a large cheering crowd with banners and cameras.

It wasn’t until you were walking down the dark black carpet laid out for the athletes, did you realized they had been chanting his name all along. You glanced around to study the crowd and found yourself falling behind.

“The8…The8!” you called out as you hurried to him, “Minghao!”

He looked at you and bent over to place his ear closer to your face.

“Why didn’t you tell me the competition was going to be this big??” you asked.

“If I did, would you still have agreed to come?”

His question stilled your feet for a few seconds and then quickly, you jogged to catch up to him, “Of course I would. If you told me, I could’ve at least changed out of this…whatever I got on,”

“You look fine,”

“I’m in a janitor suit!” you rebuked as you followed him into the stadium.

Inside, Minghao took your hand into his, allowing the warmth of his fingers to sizzle against your skin. He walked you down a hallway as you looked back towards the chanting that was now fading away. Once you realized how tight his grip felt, you tried to loosen it by moving your fingers. It was a silent hand war between you and him, except you were losing. When he finally let go, he reached over to open a door that had his name labeled on it. He held it open while staring at you.

“Oh,” you voiced and hurried in before him. “Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you to a secret place and never letting you leave me,”

You gasped and then whined, “stop…you’re scaring me…”

Minghao chuckled and you realized you had never seen him that way before. Whether it be a laugh or a joke, it was definitely something Minghao didn’t do around you.

The further you walked with him the more the silence turned into another growing chatter. This chatter though, grew into a full on applaud. Minghao pulled open a set of large black drapes and your jaw dropped. He had walked you through some pathway to the inside of the stadium. People filled the seats around the stadium with different colors that you assumed must have represented something.

Minghao invited you inside with a pressed smile and raised eyebrows.

“Wait!” you grabbed onto his arm, stopping him from entering onto the stadium floor.

He let go of the black drapes and they fell back into place, separating you and him from the crowd.

“Are you really going to be competing?” you asked.

“Yeah,”

“Like for trophies and stuff??”

“Of course. It’s a competition,”

You wanted to reply but your mouth remained opened without a sound. Minghao…his college life was way more dynamic than you ever pictured it to be. Your Grandfather was right. The pressure…the expectations…this was another reminder of the words your Grandfather had once said about being part of an elite school. Now that you were standing there, you grew fearful. You were nervous, and you didn’t know why.

“Shouldn’t you be wishing me good luck?” Minghao questioned with a smile. The calm look on his face, the way he appeared confident and ambitious shattered your fear into pieces. “I know you like my muscles but, have you had enough touching yet? We have to get out there before they mark me as a no show.”

You glanced down and quickly set free his arm that you had clawed your nails into. Why was your heart beating out of control? Was it the loud cheering of people or was it Minghao? It had to have been the cheers that boomed in your ears. Of course, it had to have been that.

“You want me to go out there with you too?”

“Of course. You’re here to support me right?” Minghao opened the blinds again and looked back at you to share one last smile before he walked out.

You hurried after him out onto the open floor covered in mats. In a midst of a roaring crowd, he led you over to an area with black seats lined all the way down the ar