Prompt By: @kireitenshi

-Title: Breathe

-Ship: MinSul

Characters: [MAIN] Sulli/Choi Jinri (f(x)), Minho/Choi Minho (SHINee)

Word Count: 2107

Warnings: Medium language

Summary: In which Choi Jinri drops out of university, and her only comfort is Choi Minho.

The entire train ride home, Choi Jinri dreaded the moment she saw her parents again. The moment she’d have to tell them she was back for good, and that she had wasted all the money they had saved for her, wasted all the scholarships she was given, wasted everyone’s time.

She tried to calm and distract herself by focusing on her breathing, techniques her therapist taught her.

In for 5. Hold for 7. Out for 8.

She did this a few times over until she felt calmer, and, still trying to distract herself from it, trying not to focus on the dread, she turned to a book she had with her.

She tried to not to think of how her parents’ faces would fall when she told them, how her mother would mutter an “oh no” or “oh, honey”. How afterwards, she would hear her father through the walls say,

“It's disappointing. We put all this work and effort into it, do all of this for her, and she just goes and throws it away. She needs to learn how to make big decisions and stick with them. If she had known before she didn’t want to go to university, we could have used that money for other things. She could have found better uses for all that money. We save and save for years, slave away, constantly put her before ourselves, and this is how she repays us.”

And her mother would try and comfort her father, take Jinri’s side, point out how Jinri didn’t know what she was signing up for at first, how she was still young and how she still needed and had time to figure herself out and that they, as parents, should be there for her and not condone her for it.

She tried not to think of the way her friends and other people around her would silently judge her, mutter about how lucky she was yet threw it all away.

How, once she returned to her old job at her mother’s store, the people that came in and out would always throw glances her way, how children would press their faces up against the window to see the world famous drop out.

She’d be constantly on display, a piece of museum art to be gawked at by all. Yet she wasn’t a masterpiece, nothing close to a Munch and nowhere near as pretty as a Da Vinci.

Instead of careful, precise, pretty , Jinri was a shattered pastel, a broken pencil lead, a paint brush with the top popped off.

Breathe, she reminded herself. In, out. In, out. Just breathe.

In time, she gathered herself and her belongings and took the dreaded step off of the train, trying to push down the ball of dread and nerves and fear and worry in her stomach.

Although the day was bright and sunny, her footsteps were heavy against the pavement, making imaginary ripples in imaginary puddles she stepped in. She drew her coat tighter around her, shielding herself from the non-existent rain that should’ve been there.

It didn’t matter where she was in town; Jinri would always know how to find her way home, how to find her way to her mother’s store.

She let her feet do the walking, her mind in the backseat, a backseat driver. In time, she found herself pulling her single suitcase through the door of the store, the bell she had helped install ringing.

“Welcome! May I help you?” a voice called out from far down one of the aisles, and he walked down, sticking his head out.

“Choi Minho?” Jinri asked, surprised to see him here, in the ugly muted orange uniform of the familiar store.

Jinri had went through all of school with Minho. Although they were familiar with one another, and would deem each other friends, they were never quite close.

Jinri focused a lot on her grades, graduating with honours, always taking advanced classes. Minho, however, was the opposite - he often skipped classes he didn’t want to attend, took easy classes. He focused more on his social life, and was well liked by all. On the high school social map, Minho would’ve been the centre, Jinri just another scared dot doing her best to escape the constraints of those four years.

Minho never had a job during school, as he came from a rich family, and had enough money to pay for anything he wanted in the first place. Needless to say, Choi Minho wasn’t the first person she expected to see in her mother’s store, the first person to see upon her return, but he wasn’t a hundred percent the last, either.

“In the flesh,” Minho replied, bringing Jinri back to the here and now. He flashed her a grin, one that screamed confidence. “What are you doing here?”

“I feel like I should be the one asking you that,” Jinri said softly. “I just got back.”

He paused for a moment, and then squinted at her, turning his head from side to side.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked, concerned. He appeared as if he was possessed, like he was trying to imitate a convulsion in a horror movie.

“You’ve gotten uglier since I last saw you,” Minho said plainly, letting his face relax. “You should consider plastic surgery.”

And just like that, Minho fell down a few notches on her ‘People I Want To See’ list.

“You’re not exactly a looker yourself. You look like a squished thumb.”

“You look like radioactive rat .”

Jinri sighed, not having a good comeback for that and not feeling like going back and forth with him.

“You never answered my question,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

Minho glanced down, gesturing to his uniform. “Working. I took over your position when you left. What does it look like?”

“It looks like you’re standing around talking to me.”

Minho grimaced. “Since you used to do this, can I ask you a question?”

Jinri nodded, and Minho ran back down the aisle. He came back with a box and set it down on the floor. He then bent down, removing a can and flashing it at her.

“Know where this goes?”

“Last aisle.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you know where my parents are?”

“Not here now. Why?”

Jinri sighed. As much as she didn’t want to tell her parents she dropped out, she also wanted to get it done and over with. She hated this dreading feeling, and didn’t want to stir it for very long.

“I dropped out.” she said plainly, and Minho dropped the can in his hand, letting it clatter to the floor and then roll across the floor until it hit the toe of Jinri’s shoe and then rolled back before stopping.

“No way,” Minho muttered. “Not you.”

“Yes way, yes me.”

“Your parents will kill you.” he hissed.

“I know, I know!” Jinri yelled, running her hands through her hair. She dropped her suitcase and began pacing. “I’ve made the biggest, dumbest mistake of my life.”

“I didn’t know we were talking about your birth.”

“Shut up. Now is seriously not the time.”

“Yeah, your parents will be back in like, a half hour when my shift ends.”

“You have to help me,” Jinri found herself begging him, rambling as the thoughts poured from her, breaking any sort of filter she should’ve had. “They like you, yes? Yes, of course they do. They wouldn’t have hired you then. You have to help me. That’s it! You’re it! You help me, and I get helped!”

“I hate to break it to you sweetheart, but you’re not making any sense.”

“You help me tell my parents I dropped out of school.”

Minho snorted. “Why would I do that?”

“Because I’m your friend?” Jinri suggested, and he shot her a look. “Because you work for my parents and I can get you fired?”

“If I tell your parents you dropped out, they’ll fire me anyways.”

“No, no. You don’t tell them I dropped out. You’re just there. They love you. They idolize you. With you there, they’ll be more lenient. They won’t kill me on the spot. They’ll have some time to think it over, brew on it, and realize that it’s not really that bad!”

“You’re crazy,” Minho muttered, shaking his head, and then sighed. “But I have nothing better to do, and this does sound interesting.”

“So you’ll help me?”

“Why not?”

“Good.”

“Do you know what you’re going to say to them?”

Jinri clicked her tongue, giving her head a curt shake. “Didn’t think that far.”

“You dumb ,” Minho paused a moment before continuing. “Practice on me.”

“Okay,” Jinri started to feel that rising, dreading feeling in her chest again. She breathed in, breathed out, and then began to speak. “I dropped out.”

Minho snorted, and then laughed. “No, no. More. That’s not going to cut it. See, when talking to parents, giving them news as such as this, you need to cushion the blow. Build your way up. Try again.”

Jinri gulped, breathed in and out again, moved her neck from side to side, and then spoke again. “Mom, Dad, I love you, and I’m happy to see you. But I have to tell you something. Something you’re not going to like to hear. I dropped out.”

“Could still use a bit of work, but it’ll do. Now, since I helped you, you have to help me.”

“Technically, you’re not done helping me, but whatever.”

Minho gestured back to the box he was unpacking. “I still don’t know where any of this goes. It’s new.”

Jinri peered into the box, and then frowned. “We get this all the time,” She scooped the box up, leading him to the next few aisles over. “Here, like this.” She picked up one of the contents of the box, and placed it on the shelf.

She reached down into the box for another, and Minho’s hand met hers. Her gaze snapped up, and their eyes met.

Jinri shrugged it off, and meant to place the item on the shelf, but Minho’s hand still laid on hers.

“You can let go now.”

“I need you to show me how to do it.”

“Never stocked shelves before?”

He shook his head.

“It’s easy.”

She went over how to stock items properly and where to with him for a bit, until they were interrupted by the store door jingling and Jinri’s mother loudly shouting, “Minho!”

“Back here!” Minho replied, watching his hand in the air above the aisles.

As Jinri’s parents approached, Jinri’s heartbeat quickened, and the dreading feeling threatened to spill out.

In for 5. Hold for 7. Out for 8.

“Jinri!” her mother exclaimed, rushing over and wrapping her arms around her. “I’ve missed you so much! You didn’t tell me you were coming!”

Her mother released her, and she shot a sideways glance at Minho, who gestured towards Jinri’s parents with his head. “Go on,” he mouthed. “Tell them.”

She took a large, shuddery breath before telling her parents this news, the feeling beginning to constrict her chest and make it more difficult for her to breathe.

“Mom, Dad, I love you, and I’m happy to see you. But I have to tell you something. Something you’re not going to like to hear. I dropped out.”

Jinri’s mother stood there in awe of her, not fully understanding what Jinri had told them.

“Of university?” her father demanded, and Jinri nodded. “How could you-“

“Seokcheol, don’t,” Jinri’s mother stuck out her hand in caution, and her father closed his mouth. “Jinri, why don’t you go take a walk? We’ll talk about this later, okay?”

Jinri nodded, and pushed her way out of the store, knowing she needed to give not only her parents, but herself room to breathe.

She leaned against the cool, brick wall to the side of the store, tilting her head back and closing her eyes, her hair attaching to the toughness of the brick.

In for 5. Hold for 7. Out for 8.

“Jinri?”

Jinri opened her eyes, and lo and behold, there was Choi Minho, still wearing the ugly orange uniform.

“What do you want?” she sighed, agitated.

“That...”

“Could’ve been worse.”

“True. Ice cream.”

“What?” Jinri questioned, and Minho flushed, becoming flustered.

“I mean, let’s go get ice cream,” he fumbled. “My treat.”

She laughed, leaning up off the wall and coming up beside him.

“I could use some ice cream right about now.”

And that’s how, with great difficulty, Choi Minho embarrassingly asked Choi Jinri, the university dropout, on their first date.

FIN