x A Confession to Make

{LONG CHAPTER AHEAD} 

---

"I hope she's okay..." Soomi said after a while of silence. Chanyeol's face was unreadable as he nodded in agreement. 

"I bet she was just still shocked about what happened. You are her favorite besides Baekhyun." Soomi told him in reassurance. Chanyeol nodded slightly and thought, "What did I do wrong...?" 

It seemed as though Soomi read his mind because right then she patted his arm, "It's alright. I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong." 

"Soomi-yah, do you think everything is going to be okay? You know, with my eyes and stuff?" he asked her suddenly. She sat back down and answered, "I don't know, Chanyeol, we just have to see how it's like after a few weeks." Chanyeol nodded in understanding. It then became silent again, since they didn't know what else to say, until Chanyeol asked Soomi a question. 

"Oh! I almost forgot to ask! Is there some-," there was a loud bang as the door opened and in came a running Baekhyun. He gave Chanyeol a huge hug and said, "Yah! YOU! Why do you have to go around worrying people like that!?" Chanyeol laughed and gently took Baekhyun's arms off of him. 

"Hyung, I'm fine, really. They just said it was a temporary." he reassured him. Baekhyun looked at him and got up. 

"Arasso. Don't scare us like that again, okay!?" Chanyeol nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "But, where are the rest of the guys?" Soomi asked him. Chaneyol nodded in agreement. 

"Oh...um," Baekhyun laughed nervously, "they're coming..." Before he could say anymore, in came all of the guys. 

"YAH! BYUN BAEKHYUN!" Xiumin yelled as he came in. Baekhyun ran behind Soomi, "Soomi! Protect meee!" 

Soomi looked at him dumbfounded. "You expect me to protect you when you're stronger and taller than me?" she exclaimed. Baekhyun nodded while holding her sleeve. She chuckled and walked towards the EXO members, leaving Baekhyun by Chanyeol's side. 

"Y-Yah, Soomi-yah! How could you just leave me like this!? You've known me longer than you have them!" Baekhyun protested. Soomi stuck her tongue out at him as she stood next to Suho and Kris. 

"So, what did Baekhyun do this time?" she asked them. "He ran to the elevator before all of us and closed the door right when we were about to step in!" Xiumin yelled accusingly. Baekhyun rubbed his neck nervously. 

Soomi broke out into laughter seeing how uncomfortable he was, "Yah, this reminds me of that time when we went to visit Eun Sun." she said. Baekhyun's eyes bugged out and he made an 'X' with his arms, "Don't! Don't talk about that!" 

Kai looked at Baekhyun with a little smirk, "Hyung...who's Eun Sun?" Baekhyun blushed and told him to be quiet. 

"What if I don't want to...?" Kai answered. "Yah! I'm your hyung!" Baekhyun yelled. After a bit of more bickering Suho stepped in, "Guys, we're here for Chanyeol, remember? Not for your arguments." 

The two of them apologized to Suho and Chanyeol, Chanyeol shrugged it off and Suho accepted their apology. "So, how do you feel?" 

"I'm fine. It was just a temporary condition. They said I can go back home tomorrow. They just told me not to consume so much alcohol and to be careful of the sun." Chanyeol answered patiently. 

"How long are you guys planning to stay?" Soomi asked them as they all got comfortable. It was a good thing that the room was pretty big to fit all of them. 

"Well, we already finished our fanmeets for today. We have two more tomorrow, but the maknaes are so insistent on staying so, we might have to. We should probably call Aunt Min that we aren't coming home tonight." Kris told her. 

Soomi nodded in agreement, "So, did anyone call her yet?" Kris nodded, "Yup, mananger-hyung is calling her right now." 

"Okay, then. We should probably go ask the nurses if there are any blankets." 

"Alright."

Then Sehun popped into the conversation, "Hey! Where did Minhee noona go? Plus, Hee Jin noona didn't come to the fanmeet today." 

"Oh, mianhe! I was caught up with all of the work at the cafe!" Hee Jin said out of no where. She was at the door holding a couple of drinks with Tao following behind holding some more.

"There were a lot of your fans at the cafe, so it was bustling with people." Sehun ran and hugged Hee Jin, "Noona! You should've called me or something! I was worried there was something wrong!" 

Hee Jin patted his head with her free hand, "Mian, I will come to your fanmeets tomorrow!" Sehun let go and smiled brightly.

"Yay! You promise?," he held out a pinky to her and she happily accepted it. Then he spun around and started becoming hyper from the soda they gave him. 

"Oh, wait! You never answered my first question!" Sehun said once again after taking a huge gulp of the soda in his hand. "Oh, right...Minhee had some other things to do in Jeju, so she'll be back later." 

"Oh, really? Okay! I hope she comes back soon...I want to play with her!" he exclaimed. Luhan laughed and ruffled his hair, "Aigoo, just drink for now. You'll have lots of time to play later." 

---

I got out of the hospital, because it kept reminding me of Chanyeol. I walked in the park next to it that the hospital also owned. At least it was better than walking on the highway.....

"Aigoo, ottokae?" I said to myself. I ruffled my hair in frustration. Do I really like him, or is it just temporary? 

Then my phone vibrated in my pocket, "Yoboseyo?" 

"YAH! Where did you go!?" Soomi yelled into the phone. I pulled it slightly away from my ear, "Mianhe, unnie. I just couldn't stand it there..." 

"Wae? Are you okay?" Soomi asked me worriedly. "Of course! I just needed a bit of fresh air, that's all." 

Then Soomi asked me in English, "Are you sure? Was it because of Yeol?" 

"N-No, it wasn't because of him."

"Sure, it wasn't. Minhee, I know you like him." 

".....", I didn't know how to respond to that. Do I tell her? 

"Minhee? Are you still there?" 

"Unnie, I don't know what to do! I'm so confused with my feelings right now!" Soomi sighed on the other end. 

"Hey, calm down. Where are you? I'll come and we can talk about it, okay?" 

"I'm in the hospital park, next to the fountain."

"Okay, I'm already outside, so it won't be long." Soomi reassured me. I nodded and ended the call with a simple, "I'll see you later." 

I waited for five minutes before my name was being called in the distance. I looked up to see Soomi and Baekhyun running up to me. 

"Minhee-yah!" they both called out. I stood up and waited for them. Soomi gave me a hug once she was near. 

"Is this where you've been all along?" Soomi asked me. I nodded. Baekhyun gave my head a little poke, "Yah, how could you just run out without telling anyone where you were going!?" 

I laughed a bit and poked him back, "Mianhe." I said while poking him. "So, what's wrong this time that Soomi had to drag me along?" 

"Well, it's kind of hard to explain..." 

"Do you want me to tell him?" 

I looked up in panic and shook my head, "Andwae!" Baekhyun looked at the two of us, "Tell me! I don't like feeling left out!.. Wait, is it boy problems?" 

I slightly nodded. Baekhyun nodded his head in understanding, "No wonder Soomi took me along. Just like the old days, right?" I smiled at this. Such great memories we made together..

"So, who's the guy? Is he someone I know? What did he do wrong? Should I go beat him up?" Baekhyun rambled. I laughed at him and shook my head, "Oppa, you need to take care of your image, you know! You're an idol now!" 

"But don't you remember my promise to you two? No matter what the situation, oppa will be there to protect you!" he said while giving me a side hug. I couldn't help but to get watery eyes. It felt nice to have the three of us together again! 

"So, what's wrong? If you don't want to tell me who it is, that's fine." 

"Well, there's this guy...and I just recently met him. He's really funny and outgoing. He smiles often too! I don't know how to explain this, but I think I might be falling for him...He always makes me feel happy when I'm around him and he makes me want to be pretty around him, if you know what I mean. I also care so much about him! I get this worry-filled feeling whenever he's hurt or something, and...and he recently got into an incident..." 

"Is this someone I know, Minhee-yah?" Baekhyun asked her. I barely nodded, hoping he didn't really notice it. 

"Is it Chanyeol?" I looked up at him with wide eyes, "H-How did you-," he cut me off, "Let's just say a little bird of mine told me.." I looked at him and then to Soomi. Soomi was coughing nervously. 

"Unnie~! You said you wouldn't tell!" I whined. Soomi looked at me, "Mian! I felt that it was best to tell him! He'd understand!" I pouted and Baekhyun pinched my cheeks, "Aigoo, you're so cute! You two would make a good couple!" I patted his hands in protest. 

"Hajima~!" I said to him. Soomi laughed and took Baekhyun's hands off of my cheeks. She slapped his hands lightly, "Stop bullying the maknae!" 

"But it's fun!" he protested. Soomi gave him a playful glare and then turned to me. 

"Let's get back to the room, arachi? We're sleeping in Chanyeol's compartment tonight." 

"Bwoh!? Are we going to fit!?" I exclaimed. Soomi and Baekhyun shrugged. I shook my head in defeat and followed them back to the hospital. Might as well go back up. I'll have to face him sooner or later. 

When we got near the entrance, Baekhyun told us to go ahead. 

"There might be a lot of fangirls around so, just to be safe, you girls go on ahead. Soomi, you have your little badge and sticker, right?" Baekhyun said to us. Soomi nodded and held the badge up. 

"Okay, I'll follow quickly after, now go!" Soomi took me and we went up, pushing past the mob of girls standing there holding signs. 

"Yah, where do they think they're going?"

"Aren't we not able to go inside?"

The fangirls were whispering to each other as we passed them. Then one of them grabbed my sleeve. "Yah, you can't go in there! We have to stay here. Who gave you permission to go?" she asked me. I shook my arm away, about to reply when I felt a tug from Soomi.

"Don't answer to them, just keep going." she whispered to me. I nodded and walked with her, ignoring the yells of the girl who grabbed me. Soomi showed her badge and sticker to the security guard up front. He let us both pass. 

"Later we need to go get your badge from their manager, okay?" I nodded in understanding. Then there were multiple screams heard from the crowd. Then came in a running Baekhyun after he got away from the fangirls. We all boarded the elevator together. Once the door closed, he started to fix his hair and sighed out loud. 

"That was hard and a bit deafening." he said matter of factly. We chuckled at him as he fixed his shirt and everything. Finally, we arrived. When we got in through the door of Chanyeol's room, we found some of EXO sitting on the floor playing a board game, others just chatting or on their phones and Aunt Min was there sitting next to Chanyeol as he ate. 

"Oh, are you guys back? You brought Minhee too!" Aunt Min said as she was the first to notice them. Sehun instantly perked up. 

"Noona! Your here!" Sehun ran up, but just as he was going to hug her, Baekhyun stopped him. "Nuh uh, you don't get to hug every girl you know that enters the room!" 

Sehun pouted as I laughed and patted his head. He smiled and hugged me anyway. 

"Yah! Did you not hear what i just said!?" Baekhyun yelled. "Hyung! Shhhh! We're trying to watch something!" Chen told him as he turned from looking at the TV screen. 

"We're trying to watch the re-run of last week's We Got Married episode!" The episode was about the couple trip to Hawaii. The 'husbands' went to go get some drinks, but came across some Hawaiian girls. 

"Oh, chinja! I want to watch too!!" Baekhyun ran and grabbed a seat to watch. "Hey, Kai-yah, remember how Se Ah-sunbaenim said that she was interested in you?" Suho said to them. Kai nodded. 

"Oh! I saw that! I was so surprised. Your popularity is growing, Kai!" D.O. exclaimed, eyes wide open.

"Yeah... hey, wow. Those girls are HOT." Kai's eyes bugged out, looking at the Hawaiian girls in bikinis.

"YAH, Kai, aren't you too young to be looking at those?" I went up to him and covered his innocent eyes.

He tried to pry them away. "AHH! Noona, I'm old enough!!! I can drink alcohol now too!"

"Omo! Chinja? Eh, I didn't even start drinking that early!" I said to him. Soomi smirked, "You started a year after that on your birthday." I laughed and agreed. 

"Right, but still. Back to the point, you can't go oogling at other women's bodies! It's not polite!" I told him. Kai rolled his eyes and me and said, "Neh, neh." 

---

"Okay, guys! We need to sleep early if we want to go sightseeing around Jeju tomorrow. Go to sleep, arasso?" Suho turned off the lights after everyone had settled into the little spot they had in Chanyeol's room. Most of them could have gone to a hotel, but staying with Chanyeol seemed better to them.

But, I still couldn't go to sleep.

Sehun came up close to me. "Noona, are you asleep yet?"
"Aniyo, but go to sleep. Soomi will buy you lots of food tomorrow."
"Jeongmal? Arraso, I'm going to sleep now!" He whispered, going inside the blanket. 

Baekhyun, sleeping across from me, snuggled up close to Hee Jin and made a few whimpering dog noises. Soomi and I were used to them, when he would sometimes nap in school.

Chanyeol, why did I like him? He was... just.... so charming. But, who am I kidding? Millions of Exotics out there would fall for him even by looking at his pictures. Just like the average Happy Virus fangirl, I would always want to impress him in some way. But him being in the hospital really scared me. What really happened to him? Soomi or the other members never told me what was wrong..... I was just so worried. So, do I like him or not? Even if I did like him, would he like me back? Everyone around me was sound asleep...

I could take a little breather.

I quietly and slowly stood up, trying not to wake Sehun or Luhan up on either side of me. Sehun, was still buried underneath the covers while Soomi's face was two centimeters away from Luhan's chest. They were so cute together.... if only that think could be for Chanyeol and I. 

Slowly opening the door, I grabbed my wallet and slowly crept out into the hallway and went to the hospital double doors that were always open. I thought of the one of the only things that could help me right now. Soju.

I didn't even taste it when I got back to Korea, the only alcohol we could drink from America in college was beer, and that wasn't that same. I went to one of the Korean stands on the streets and ordered a bottle of soju and samgyupsal. All by myself, I took drink..
After drink...
after drink..
after drink..
and even another bottle, occasionally stuffing myself with the BBQ.

---

On the other side.....

Hee Jin woke up, surprised that Baekhyun's arms around her. Smiling, she slowly put them away from her and stood up, making her way to the empty refrigerator. She knew eating at night wasn't good for her, but she was hungry.
Not eating for the whole day besides bread and drinking bubble tea.

Just as she looked up from the orange juice and sandwich Soomi had packed, Minhee wasn't in her sleeping spot. That's strange..... Hee Jin quickly stood up and rushed to the bathroom, checking in every stall.. But Minhee wasn't there either. Where could she have gone?

"Unni! Soomi! Soomi unni!" Hee Jin kept shaking her until she finally opened her eyes.
"What?!"
"Minhee's gone!" 
"Minhee?!" Soomi's eyes went over to the ruffled blanket and empty space. "Did you check the bathrooms?"
Hee Jin nodded her head..

Soomi worried, and stood up, immediately going to Chanyeol. He could bring her back.

"Chanyeol!" He slowly opened his eyes and sat up.
"Soomi? What is it?"
"Minhee.... she's not here."
"BWOH?!" Soomi quickly covered his mouth. "Not so loud, Chanyeol!"

"Where... where is she?"
"I don't know, she must had gone somewhere... Check the stalls on the street, or the stores!"
"Arraso." He stood up and quickly grabbed his things. "Soomi-yah, stay here with Hee Jin. Stay and see if she comes back."

Nodding, Soomi rushed him along. "Find her soon!"

Like a mother, Soomi kept dialing Minhee's phone. Just where was she?!
"Soomi, it's okay. She'll come back." Hee Jin reassured her.

---

"MINHEE! MOON MINHEE!" Chanyeol called everywhere. He even showed the Polariod picture he had taken of her to a few shop owners.

"Did you see this girl? No?" Chanyeol roamed the streets until he came upon a red stand with a tent over it for the table and chairs. Going inside, he finally found Minhee, taking another glass of soju, two big soju bottles surrounding her. "Minhee!"

She smiled and looked up. Minhee was definitely drunk, "OH! HI, CHANYEOL OPPA! What brings you here?"
Her head then fell on the table, Chanyeol slowly grabbed the glass and soju bottles away from her grasp. "Minhee?"
They sat there in silence for a while.

"Chanyeol oppa, do you like me?"

The unexpected question brought his attenton back to her, but he stayed silent. "Tell me, oppa.." She was a little crazy when drunk, but also cute. Minhee did some aegyo, begging me to answer the question.

"You're not telling me?! Why not?"

Still, Chanyeol stayed quiet, watching as she swayed back and forth, waving her hands in front of his face. "Can I tell you something?"
"Yes..."

Smiling, she held on to the table to support herself. "I was SOO worried about you... Why did you go to the hospital? What's wrong? Tell me! " She paused for a moment and tears started to form in her eyes.

"Why do I always feel like I need to look pretty in front of you?.................... It's because I like you. You, Park Chanyeol." Minhee stuck a finger on the spot of Chanyeol's heart. "What am I thinking? You probably don't even like me back.. You're an idol in the music industry, why would you like an average girl like me, right?" 

"But, there's always this warm spot in my chest when I'm with you.." Minhee smiled, her hand supporting her head from falling down. "If only you liked me back... No, I'm right. You probably don't." She laughed to herself and a tear rolled down her cheek. 

"My mom wants a son-in-law." She laughed even more. "Like she'll ever get one. My abeoji won't even get to see my future husband.. He's somewhere else now... I don't want to lose another." Minhee then suddenly burst out crying, and put her head down on the table, her arms crossed. She then settled down and stayed in that position. 

Chanyeol's POV

As she was saying all of those things, I felt a mix of emotions. Her? Moon Minhee... liked me? I had liked her since the very beginning. The moment she tripped on me at the airport, when she had just gotten back from America. I didn't even know anything about her then.....

As she kept saying that I didn't like her, I wanted to really say, "No, I do like you. I love you." But now wasn't the best time. I wasn't even sure if what she said was true, and I was confused with my own feelings. People said weird things when they were drunk.... but they also told the truth. Was she telling the truth? The next day she might even deny it.

Her dad? Was he in the heavens now? I wonder how she was still so happy even with all of her dark days. I was just so sad for her... 

After she had settled down, I slowly brought her head back up, and she was fast asleep. Without disturbing her sleep, I quickly put her on my back and piggy-backed her, paying for all the soju and Korean BBQ she had bought. I stopped a few times, but finally made my way back to the hospital and into the room. Minhee was silent the whole time, occasionally talking in her sleep.

I decided to let her sleep on the hospital bed, Soomi and Hee Jin were already asleep next to the bed so I put a blanket over both of them. Just as I was going to sleep in her spot, Minhee grabbed my hand. "Don't go, appa. Stay with me..." She then mumbled in her sleep. "Don't go..."

I stayed as I was told, and put a chair next to the bed, planning to sleep there for the night. We both held on to each other as I slowly drifted off to sleep, saying a few words. "Good night, Minhee-ah. I like you too." (He whispered the last sentence.)

The next morning I heard a loud gasp.