Baekho’s POV

I couldn’t stop staring. Minki…he was just so damn adorable. More so now that he had a new image.  I honestly hadn’t thought our relationship would have worked, but when he agreed to form our alliance, everything just fell in place. Though I have to admit, it was a bit depressing knowing that Minki thought so little of himself. He was a talented performer, which was not something I would lie about. He was a complete package, like the rest of them. The other just didn’t believe in himself. I have no problems being around and giving the other encouragement, but sooner or later, Minki needs to learn it all on his own.

I grinned, laughing when Minki feigned being hurt at being pushed by Minhyun. It was part of their dance, but it was still so funny. After giving him our little talk, the other opened up more. He was being playful, smiling, cracking jokes. This was the Minki that I knew on a personal level. This was my friend. If only the world could see him like this. I feel that this Minki won’t translate on camera.

“Oi! Baekho! Come reign this creature in!” Jonghyun called, arms wrapped tightly around his waist. They were spinning in circles, carrying on. If it weren’t for the fact I was watching them to begin with, I probably wouldn’t have answered. Being called Baekho, I wasn’t used to that yet. It was my stage name and for the most part, we all agreed to call each other by our stage names (for those that had them) while in the company of others or on tv. But in the privacy of our dorm, we didn’t have to do that.

“I’m coming.” I said as I walked over. Jonghyun, or JR grinned and let go of Minki, sending the other twirling and stumbling towards my way. Reaching out, I grabbed him, pulling him close. The other’s laughter was so light, and beautiful, it made me laugh.

“Well hello there.” I said as I stared down at him.

“Hey.” He greeted and smiled. Pulling back, he fixed his clothes before looking around. “Who would have thought, that this would be so fun?” he asked and looked back at me.

“It’s a riot.” I said. A grunt left me as I felt a sudden weight on my back. Looking back over my shoulder, I stared at Aron as the other was grinning before looking at Minki.

“Still looking good Minki.” Aron said.

“Ren.” He corrected. “It’s Ren in public.” He said.

“Oh, sorry princess. My bad.”  Aron laughed and dodged a punch the other tried to give him. “Hey, Baekho.” He said and stared at me. “So how about we go hang out after the shooting?” he asked.

Hang out? I knew what that meant. That was code for ‘please help me with my Korean’. The other didn’t like to talk about his inability to speak Korean; so instead, he created code words and body language so that I knew when he needed help in explaining, or understanding.

“Sure.” I was easily agreeable. Aron was one of my favorite people to hang out with. He could be…interesting. Plus, he was also helping me with my English.

“Oh, I want to come.” Ren said as he moved closed, listening in on our conversation.

“Ah…well….” Aron said, rubbing the back of his head. He was obviously trying to figure out a way to turn Ren down without hurting the other’s feelings. That would be hard. Ren could be as sensitive as he was feminine.

“No!” Minhyun suddenly spoke as he joined us. “Ren, let’s go out. I saw these really cool pair of jeans.” He said and smiled. “You might like them. Didn’t you say you wanted new pants?” he asked.

“I did.” Ren said, pointing his finger at the other, nodding. “Alright hyung, let’s go shopping then. Oh, let’s see if JR hyung wants to go too.” He said and turned, heading out to find our leader.

Aron and I shared a look and shook our head.

“Women.” We muttered before laughing. The producer called us to come back. The set had been changed and it was time to perform the next part of the music video. It was a lot of hard work, but in the end, I know it’s going to look amazing. Nu’est is going to be a house hold name soon, this I believe.

~*~*~

“So…” My eyes stared intently at my hyung. We had been sitting in the café near the studio for half an hour, just sipping our drinks. Aron wanted me to help him with his Korean, or at least, that’s what I had thought. That’s what the code word had meant. But the more we sat there more I was starting to think that maybe he wanted to talk about something else. But what? That’s what confused me.

Aron looked up at me, his face reading uncertainty. This didn’t have anything to do with Korean, I could see that now. Something was bothering my hyung and he looked like he wasn’t sure how to begin the conversation.

“Hyung?”

“Oh this is hard.” Aron finally spoke. Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on the small round table. One hand rubbed his face as he let out a heavy sigh. “It’s awkward too.” He said.

“What’s awkward?” I asked. I was curious now and once I took interest in something, I was like a cat, trying to find out what it was, even if it meant getting in trouble.

Aron’s head rose once more and he stared at me.  “I don’t know if I should tell you. It might…ruin our friendship?” He said it like a question. Ruin our friendship? What could possibly do that? I wasn’t a superficial, callous, shallow person. I liked people for who they were, not how they looked or their certain views on subjects. You can’t pick and choose parts of people that you like in them in order to be friends. I know that you get what you see, you have to take the person in as a whole, or you might as well not be friends at all.

“Hyung, I don’t think there is anything that could ruin our friendship. Now, tell me what’s wrong.” I told him gently.  I flashed him one of my friendly smiles and that seemed to get him to relax a bit, and even smile back some.

“Well…I like this person.” He started. Oh, it was a love problem? Well I know I haven’t been in love, but I’ve had my fair share of crushes in my life, maybe I could help.

“Oh? What’s her name? Where did you meet?”  He shifted and I could tell I said something that bugged him. But what had I said?

“Well we met during trainee days.” He answered. Oh! It was someone we worked with. Alright, so that’s good. There were many pretty girls that we danced with. But, maybe it wasn’t one of them. It could be an idol already. There was a long list now, and started going through them mentally, trying to remember if Aron ever worked with them.

“And…it’s not a female.”  I paused in my thoughts. Did I just hear that right? The person wasn’t a girl? But a guy. A guy….a guy……

“You’re gay?” I asked. That was a lot to try and wrap my head around. I never thought of Aron-hyung as gay. He was manly, strong, handsome. He flirted with girls all the time. Then again, he flirted with a lot of people. I thought it was just part of his personality. I saw him flinch at my question and I sighed. This is what he was talking about ruining our friendship. Korean people, they were conservative. Even if there were gay Korean’s, it’s not something that was spoken about, or relationships that were even perused. Most just pretended it wasn’t there. Aron wasn’t from Korea initially. He was Korean-American, and in America, they were more liberal in their views, which was fine and good. More power to them.

“Hyung, it’s alright.” I had to reassure the other that this wasn’t going to change anything between us. Well, it would if it were me that Aron liked. I don’t like guys and I know I won’t, not even if the guy was my closet friend and we fit so well together. It just wasn’t happening. And I hated the thought of hurting my hyung like that. “This isn’t going to change us. But you do know…I don’t like guys right?”

Aron stared at me in bewilderment before laughing. Shaking his head, he reached out and patted my shoulder. “You think so highly of yourself.” He teased. “It’s not you, don’t worry.” He said as he sat back. Taking his drink, he sipped it again before setting it down. “To answer your previous question…I’m not gay completely. I do like girls, but I like guys.” He said.

“Oh, so your biual.” I said and nodded. That made more sense. Which was good, everything was right in the world again. Aron really was someone who liked women. I was going to tell him, if he was strictly gay, than he deserved an Oscar because he was a great actor.

“Yeah.” Aron said.  “I’ve always liked girls more than guys, but lately…” he trailed off. I nodded and reached out, taking his hand.

“Who has stolen my hyung’s heart?” The curiosity was killing me! I was trying to think of what man could have caught Aron’s attention. I really didn’t even know the other’s type, but we were around handsome men for a while, it had to be someone. Aron was silent for a while, staring down at the table, fidgeting. The other was fighting himself, so I squeezed his hand gently, giving him reassurance.

“You won’t tell?” he asked.

“My lips are sealed.”

Aron sighed and nodded. “Alright. Well, it’s Minhyun.”

I had to sit back, my eyes wide. Minhyun? Well that a surprise. The thought of Aron liking Minki had come to mind; he was always flirting with the other, more than anyone else. But Minhyun? I didn’t see that one coming.

“So then, really?” I asked in awe. “I can’t…I just can’t see that. Minki maybe, but…Minhyun?”

Aron snorted. “I know. I thought maybe, if I flirted with Minki, I would get Minhyun to notice me, you know? Like get-“

“Jealous?”  I finished and laughed. “Hyung, he’s got to like you too in order to get jealous. Do you even know if he likes you?”  I asked. Aron shook his head and I sighed. “Alright then.” I ran a hand through my hair before fixing it once more. Damn, I always forget I can’t ruin my look. Noona would be so mad at me later. “So we’ll have to find out then.” I said.

“No! No, you can’t find out.” Aron said.

“Why not? I’ll ask him what he thinks about you.” I said.

Aron raised a brow, shaking his head. “That makes no sense. If he doesn’t like me, and if he’s not even gay, then he’s just going to say we’re friends. That does not solve this problem.” He said with a huff. The other was right, it wouldn’t solve anything.  But then what were we going to do with situation?

“So then?”

“Just forget it. I just…needed to tell someone.” Aron said as he looked away. “It was eating at me.”

“Ah.” So Aron trusted me enough to come to me and let me know a deep dark secret of his. That made me happy. I would be there for Aron through this. And I was going to make it my mission to get them together. People can be swayed to be gay right?

“Don’t worry hyung, Baekho’s here for you.”  I said with a grin.

‘Thanks.” Aron said and rolled his eyes. I scoffed, resting my hand over my heart, feigning hurt.

“I love you too hyung.” I said and he laughed. Yes…Aron was definitely interesting.