_ dedication | part two

 

I can do this. I can totally do this. I've got this under control.

 

“Oh, my God. This is such a horrible idea.” You stared bug-eyed at Jihae's face on the laptop screen. “Why should I even do this? For all I know, it's a fake number, Jihae.” You set down the phone and wrinkled scrap of paper, shaking your head. “I'm not doing this. This is weird.”

 

“___! Focus!” The high-pitched tone that rang out from the speakers made you jump. “You need to do this! Mostly because I need to see where it goes for my own selfish reasons, but also because you know that you'll forever regret it if you don't!”

 

Your eyes narrowed at her slightly pixelated image. “I'm so glad to hear that you're being so supportive of me.”

 

“Don't be smart with me, ___. You were the one who decided that having me on webcam for moral support was a good idea, remember?”

 

“Not that you complained when you heard it's because I wanna call one of your freaking idols!”

 

She snorted with amusement, shrugging. “Because this is insider stuff right now. Do you know how much I could get paid by the media if I decided to leak the information?”

 

Eyes widening, you gripped the sides of your laptop and came as close as you could to the camera without completely blocking it. “Please don't! Jihae, I swear!”

 

The rolling of her eyes almost made you want to scream in frustration. “___, please. Do you know how much more beneficial it would be for me if I don't? Selfish, remember? I'm not ashamed to admit it. If you and Xiumin-oppa start dating, then that opens up a whole new set of possibilities for me~!”

 

Your rolled off-camera with a loud groan, burying your face in the crook of your arms. “God, Jihae! You're just helping to convince me not to do this!”

 

“___! ___, you better get back to where I can see your face!” She smiled and nodded happily when you did. “Now pick up the phone or I'm gonna be forced to throw the clothes you left behind into the dryer. On high heat.” Her eyes went comically round with the lame, over-dramatic threat.

 

“Jihae, that is the worst one you've ever come up with,” you said with a quiet snicker.

 

She moved to get up. “Alright then. If it's so bad, you won't mind if I go right ahead and do it. What a shame about those cute cotton ~”

 

“Jihae!”

 

Your shriek seemed to satisfy her because she plopped back down with a wide smirk. “That's what I thought. I wouldn't anyway though. Who knows, your Minseok-oppa might enjoy those cute little ~”

 

The blush that hit your cheeks was vicious, and you squeezed your eyes shut with a whine. “Jihae! Stop it! Oh, my God!”

 

“Alright, alright. I'm done, I swear.” She held up her hands in the universal sign of surrender. “Just do it, ___, okay? If you didn't want to, you wouldn't still be calling me about it two weeks later. I know how hard you've been thinking about it, so do yourself a favor and just take the leap. Before you drive yourself crazy.”

 

“Crazier,” you amended with a soft sigh.

 

“Exactly.”

 

You eyed the piece of paper with the scribbled numbers and the neglected phone. With a deep, shaky breath, you reached over and grasped one in each hand. “Okay. Alright, I'm gonna do it.”

 

---

 

“Ge, your phone is ringing!”

 

“What? I can't hear you! Come over here!”

 

“Hyung, your phone!”

 

“Tao, come over here and tell me! I can't hear you over the faucet!” Minseok dipped his hands back under the lukewarm water, rinsing the bubbles off the plate with careful swipes.

 

“Min-ge!” Tao came running into the kitchen, waving something in his hand. “Hurry, it's been ringing for a while!”

 

When Minseok heard the muffled noise of his ringtone, he snapped to attention. Reaching over to the towel by the sink, he dried his hands as fast as he could, holding his hand out for the phone. That stopped ringing as soon as it touched his still damp palm.

 

“Oh no~!” He and Tao wailed in unison.

 

“Who was it?”

 

Tao shrugged, pouting. “There was no name, just a number. I didn't know if you wanted me to answer it! Sorry, ge~”

 

Minseok shook his head. “Don't worry about it. I can always call back.”

 

---

 

“Oh, God, he didn't even pick up!” You buried your face into your hands, groaning. “Now if he calls back, what am I supposed to say?”

 

“What were you planning to say in the first place if he picked up the phone?”

 

You scowled at your friend. “I don't know, Jihae. Something incoherent, probably. Make myself look like even more of an idiot.”

 

“Pssh~ Please. He gave you his number, okay? Obviously it means the guy is interested regardless of what you said at the airport. You must've made an impression on him.”

 

“Because I said his fans are crazy! That's my big impression right there.”

 

Her snort of amusement had you glaring. “That can't be beat, right?”

 

“It really doesn't matter either way, Jihae. I-” The phone vibrated in your hand, and you jumped nearly five feet in the air, flinging it off the bed with a shriek.

 

“What?! What?!”

 

You ignored Jihae's hysterical questions, eyes glued to the vibrating phone on the floor. The ringtone was muffled by the fluffy carpet, but you could see the phone number that lit up the screen brightly. “H-he's calling me!” You looked from the phone to your laptop, mouth open with panic. “J-Jihae! What do I do?”

 

“What do you mean?! Answer it, crazy!”

 

With a frantic nod, you dropped down to the phone and scooped it up from the floor, hitting the green phone button the screen and holding it up to your ear. “H-hello?”

 

There was no answer from the other end for a long time, and you were about to pull it from your ear to check if he'd hung up. “Hello?”

 

“U-uh... H-hi, M-Minseok-sshi?” It was any wonder you could even speak through the tightening of your throat.

 

“Umm... Yes, hello. Sorry, I missed a call from this number...?”

 

His questioning tone had you curling into yourself with dread. You were going to have to tell him who you were! For some insane reason, you were hoping against hope that he would just recognize who it was. After all, it was probably rare that he got unknown calls on his personal phone, right? Although, with the way your voice was collapsing from the nervousness, it was any wonder he could pick up anything you said at all.

 

“Y-yes, hi...” You swallowed the lump in your throat. “I don't know if you remember me, but-”

 

“Wait!” His exclamation had the hairs on your arm standing on end. And then he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Is this ___-sshi?”

 

The blush that hit your cheeks was so fierce, you fell over. Or maybe that was just because your stomach was doing somersaults like it wanted to win a gold medal. “You remember me? Oh, God. You even remember my name.” You slapped one red hot cheek with your hand, trying to make sure you weren't dreaming this up.

 

“I'll take that as a yes then,” he said with a laugh. “Hi, ___-sshi~ I was starting to think you would never call! I'm so glad you did though! How are you?”

 

“W-wait!” It was too much all at once. Your brain was still trying to process the fact that this Kim Minseok – idol extraordinaire and member of uber popular EXO, whose fans would likely jump off cliffs for their oppas – called you back. And he remembered you. And remembered your name. “Oh, my God. I can't right now. I-I am so sorry. Give me a second, okay?”

 

He chuckled. “Alright, take your time, ___.”

 

“___? ___, are you okay?” Suddenly remembering that Jihae was still on webcam, you shot up from the floor and hopped into your bed, gesturing like a madwoman. “What? What did he say?” You shook your head, holding your forefinger in front of your lips to shush her. “Oh, okay. I'll just listen.” She still squealed quietly and cupped a hand over though.

 

“Sorry, umm... Hello?”

 

“Hi, ___.” You could practically see the smile on Minseok's face as he said it.

 

You hesitated for a second. “H-hi...”

 

“How are you?”

 

“I'm good. How are you?”

 

“Oh, you know, can't complain. Busy, but it feels pretty good. Are you back home? Or are you still in Hong Kong?”

 

He even remembered that! You weren't really sure how to feel about him before, what with the unusual circumstances and all, but now he was sliding into your good graces quite smoothly. “I'm still in Hong Kong, actually. For another few weeks.” You weren't sure why you felt the need to add that little detail, but it flowed naturally.

 

“Oh, really? I don't remember if I ever asked you whether you were there for business or pleasure.”

 

“Uhh... Well, business, mostly. I'm helping a professor with research on a lot of different corporations and business practices here. I'm an intern, of sorts.”

 

“Ooh, sounds complicated.”

 

You laughed quietly. “Not really. So you're in China for... new promotions, I'm guessing?”

 

“Ahh~” He cleared his throat. “I figured you must have seen them.”

 

“Seen what?”

 

“The pictures, I mean. I'm really sorry about those, ___. I didn't mean for you to get caught up in all of it, which is part of the reason why I'm so glad you called. I wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”

 

“I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be okay?” You'd been ignoring her exaggerated facial expressions for the whole conversation, but when you saw Jihae's face melt with adoration at those words, you rolled your eyes at her.

 

His snicker was b with amusement. “Didn't we talk about how dedicated our fans are? If I remember right, you were practically cursing them up and down for almost killing you at the airport.”

 

“I was not cursing them up and down!”

 

“Ahh, right, right~” He was still laughing. “So I guess then there's no need for me to clarify anything about my situation.”

 

You sighed, not really sure about his entire meaning. “Well, it would be nice to hear it from you, considering how you left me out of the loop.”

 

“Fair enough.” You heard him clear his throat dramatically. “Hello, ___-sshi. My name is Kim Minseok. I'm also referred to as Xiumin, and I am a member of EXO-M. From the bottom of my heart, I apologize for your pictures being spread online, from that fateful day at the airport, and I hope you can forgive me for not telling you from the beginning who I really was.”

 

“How important you are, you mean,” you said with a giggle.

 

“Aish~ I'm not that important.” You could tell from his shy intonation how much it embarrassed him. “Am I forgiven though?”

 

You were blushing. You could feel the heat on your cheeks, and you had to turn your back on Jihae's dumbstruck face on the laptop screen. “Yes, Minseok-sshi, you are forgiven.”

 

“Forgiven for what? Wha-? What?!” Jihae was practically wailing.

 

“Yesssss~” he cheered on the other end, making you laugh all over again. “Okay, since this seems to be going well...”

 

You raised an eyebrow. “Going well?”

 

“Well, it's going better than I imagined it in my head,” he admitted with a chuckle. “You can't even imagine the worst case scenario stuff I made up to protect my feelings. I thought you weren't going to call at all. Worse, actually, I thought you might call me and yell at me through the phone.”

 

“That's terrible. I wouldn't do that.”

 

His snicker sounded absolutely adorable, and you were hit with the sudden urge to see his face again. “Like I said, worst case scenario. I didn't want to get my hopes up too high just in case you ended up crumpling up my note and tossing it out the window.”

 

“On the plane?” you joked.

 

“Or when you got out of the plane!” he said defensively. “Anyway, I really wanted to ask you something, maybe. I mean, if you feel like it's not going overboard...”

 

“Considering the weird situation we have going here, I think we erased that overboard line a while back,” you answered with a smile, picking mindlessly at the edges of your pillowcase.

 

“Good. Then in that case, I was thinking...” He paused, like he was giving you one last chance to stop him before the all-important breaking of the mysterious question. “Maybe when we're both back in Korea... you'd consider going to dinner with me?”

 

Your breath hitched in your throat. God, he was really asking you out. Xiumin, of EXO-M fame, was asking you to dinner with him. Even though it was enough to make your chest explode, you felt the answer forming on your tongue almost immediately.

 

“That would be great.”

 

---

 

end note: Umm... another chapter coming right up? XD -shot-