Double-update today, guys.  I'm not really sure why, but yeah.

"Um, Ice Princess. . ." Minho said as he looked at the girl sitting next to him on the bed. 

"Yes?" Yuki asked, turning to look at Minho.  

"H-how's your back?" the boy asked, chickening out at the last minute.  HOLY , WHY IS THIS SO DAMN DIFFICULT?!  Just tell her that you like her already!

This was Minho's fourth attempt at telling Yuki how he felt about her.  The normally cool, charasmatic, heart-throb was at his wits' end. You see, Minho's problem was that he was used to girls coming to him, not the other way around.  Yuki was really causing him to change.

"It's good, actually," Yuki said.  Now that she thought about it, her back wasn't even paining anymore.  Cautiously the girl got off of the bed.  No pain.

"Ice Princess?!  What are you doing?!" Minho exclaimed.  Yuki took a few steps forward.  Still no pain.  She twisted the top half of her body slightly. 

"Keroro!" Yuki exclaimed, "it doesn't hurt anymore!  I'm okay!"  The girl jumped in excitement, pumping her fist in the air.  " YEAH!"  

"Ice Princess, you're going to hurt- WAAAH!" Minho shouted in surprise when Yuki grabbed his hand and pulled him off of the bed, spinning him around in circles.  "I feel great!" Yuki cheered.  In her excitement, she mindlessly hugged Minho.  "Thanks so much for taking care of me, Keroro!  We can finally train again!  And go on missions!  And NOT waste away in the dorms!"  Minho coughed once.

"Uh. . ."

Yuki appeared to snap out of it.  She immediately let go of Minho and blushed.  "Er. . . yeah.  I've. . . um. . . Oh, I think Taemin left dirty laundry in the bathroom earlier!  Eheh. . . let me go take care of that!" Yuki said awkwardly as she quickly dashed out of her room.  A chuckle escaped Minho's lips.

No matter what, Ice Princess. . . I'm going to tell you today.

In the bathrooom, Yuki patted her cheeks lightly.  "Oh god. . ."  Yuki was hoping that her feelings for Minho would die down.  She didn't want to make it awkward for the both of them.  She had long given up hope of Minho reciprocrating her feelings.  She had already accepted the fact that she had imagined Minho confessing to her that day in the hospital.  Unfortunately, things didn't seem to be working out for the girl.

Ever since Minho had started taking care of her, her feelings had only gotten stronger.

Yuki threw her reflection one last exasperated glance before exiting the bathroom.

"Ah, Minho, Yuki!" Insu said with a smile on his face as he walked into the examination room, "good to see you again!"  The pair bowed politely to the doctor.  Minho had insisted on making sure that the girl got clearance from the doctor before they did anything else.  

"Annyeonghaseyo, Dr. Han," the duo greeted.  

"So. . . how does it look?" Yuki asked curiously, "I don't feel pain anymore. . . can I do stuff again?"

Insu let out a chuckled.  "Well, Yuki," he said, "after thoroughly examining your X-rays and getting the results back from your MRI and physical. . .it's safe to say that you're perfectly all right."

"JINJJA?!" Yuki exclaimed in excitement, "THANK YOU SO MUCH, DR. HAN!"  

"It's not me you should be thanking," Insu said with a smile, "it's your caretaker that did all the real work."  

Yuki turned to Minho with a small smile.  That was true.  Minho had made sure that she took her medicines on time, got sleep, eaten the right foods. . . 

"You're absolutely right, doctor," the girl finally said, "thanks Keroro.  I really owe you one this time."

"Damn right," Minho said, smirking.  Yuki rolled her eyes.  Aish, this boy. . . 

Insu's watch suddenly beeped.  "You'll have to excuse me, you two.  I have another patient to attend to.  Take care of yourselves!"  Minho and Yuki bowed as Insu hurried out of the examination room.  It was then that a brilliant idea struck Minho.

"Say, Ice Princess. . ."

"Yeah?"

"Why don't we go to the park today?"

It was silent between the two.  Not a bad silence, a comfortable one.  There was snow on the ground and the sky was overcast, definitely Yuki's type of weather.  It feels nice to walk outside again, Yuki thought with a smile.  She was surprised when she felt sudden warmth on her hand.  Yuki looked down to find that Minho had intertwined his fingers with hers.  Her eyes flickered upwards to Minho's face.  The boy cleared his throat and looked away.

"I. . . don't have pockets.  And. . . your hand looked like it was getting cold."  Yuki shot the boy a confused look.  The light tint of red on his cheeks did not go unnoticed.

"Keroro?  Are you sick?" Yuki asked.

"Uh. . .n-no," Minho replied.

"You sure?  Your cheeks are red and everything, like you have a fever. . ."

Ice Princess, you really ARE an idiot when it comes to these things. . . Minho thought, mentally rolling his eyes.  It did not escape his notice that Yuki did not make any move to remover her hand from his.  He smiled secretly, just as Yuki did when she turned her head to the side.  

It wasn't long before the pair reached an open snowy field on the other side of the park.  It was empty, but the sight was beautiful.  Just then, the sun broke through the clouds, causing the snow on the ground to shine lightly.  The field looked like a blank canvas.

Suddenly, Minho let go of Yuki's hand and started walking towards the middle of the field.  Confused (and slightly resenting the loss of contact), Yuki followed after him.  She knew something was up.  She could see it.  Even though his face looked expressionless, which would lead anyone to think that he was okay,

Yuki could see it in his eyes.  

Minho crossed his arms as he stared out onto the field.  He noticed Yuki walk up beside him.  The pair remained quiet.  How to go about this. . . Minho thought.  He suddenly remembered something that Taemin had told him.

"Just let it flow out of you, Hyung.  That's the way Jinki Hyung did it when he confessed to Miyoung Noona."

"Ice Princess," Minho said suddenly.

Yuki turned to him.

"Have you ever liked anyone before?"

"No," Yuki replied honestly.  Not until I ran into you again.

"Do you have an idea of what. . . of what it's like?  You know. . . to have feelings for someone."

"Um. . . kinda."  I'm pretty sure it's the same way I feel around you. . .

"So. . ." Minho said, looking at his feet, "um. . . how do you feel. . . when. . . when you're around me?"

Yuki's heart stopped for a moment.  How the hell am I supposed to answer that honestly?

Minho turned to Yuki.  "When. . . when I get close to you, do you ever feel. . . weird?  Like. . . like a tingly feeling in you stomach?"

Yuki continued staring at Minho silently.  The questions appeared to be rhetorical, but she began answering them in her head.  Yeah. . . all the time.

"If I. . . if I were to ever. . . go away, would. . . would that bother you?" Minho asked, gulping, "or would you just be happy to have my annoying- self gone?"

It would hurt me more than you would ever know, pabo.

"If the idea came up about the possibility of us. . . being. . . um. . ." Minho struggled to say, "b-being together. . . would it be weird to you?"

You have to understand how difficult this was for Minho.  He had never done anything this excrutiatingly challenging in his entire life.

It would be weird, but only because I can't imagine it.  It's not like you would ever like someone like me. . . someone that's completely not your type.  Someone that doesn't wear dresses, someone that isn't feminine. . . 

"What if. . . what if things became. . . different between us?"

Finally, Yuki spoke.  "Different?  W-what do you mean?"

She was scared.  She thought Minho was saying that they shouldn't even be friends anymore.  That would explain why he asked how she would feel if he left.  Yuki's heart clenched for a second.  Perhaps. . .maybe he's trying to tell me that he found a girl. . . that would make sense.  He wouldn't be around often if he had a girlfriend.  He'd spend his time with her.  Things would obviously become different between us.  I mean, his girlfriend would hate me!  Especially because we're partners.  And by his first two questions. . . he was probably trying to gauge if I liked him so he can tell me right here and now that it's pointless.  Oh god, that would be so humiliating.  I'll just end it now.

Her heart throbbed a little at that thought.

Minho was about to open his mouth to respond when Yuki suddenly started talking again.

"Look Keroro," she said, "I'm happy that you finally found yourself a girlfriend, but asking me all these stupid questions is going to get you nowhere."

"Wait. . . what?" Minho said in a confused tone of voice, "what the are you talking about?"

Yuki didn't answer.  She was on a roll.

"If you don't want to be partners because you're worried that she'll doubt you, that's no big deal.  I'll talk to Soo Man-ssi when we get back.  I'll. . . I'll go solo again.  No problem.  And I totally understand if we can't talk.  I'm sure your girlfriend wouldn't like it if some random chick made fun of her boyfriend or talked to him too much or something.  This will all work out just fine.  We became friends, which is a good thing, but I don't mind if you don't want to be friends anymore.  I mean-"

"Ice Princess, ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING?!" Minho finally shouted, interrupting the girl.  Yuki fell quiet, startled by Minho's outburst.  "Ugh, this wasn't supposed to turn out this way," the boy huffed, "it's all your fault."

"MY fault?!" Yuki exclaimed, "I don't even understand WHAT THE IS GOING ON IN YOUR HEAD RIGHT NOW!"

Minho took a breath through his nose.  He was NOT trying to get into an argument with this girl.  "I. . . I'm sorry," he finally said after a few seconds of silence.

Yuki's eyes shot up in surprise.  Did. . . did he just apologize to me?  "Can. . . can you just listen to me please?" Minho asked.  Yuki nodded once after taking one look into his eyes.  He seemed dead serious.

"Yeah, I've liked people before," Minho said clearly, looking straight into Yuki's eyes, "I know what it's like to have feelings for someone.  When I'm around you. . . sometimes I get annoyed, but the truth is. . . I love it.  I love pissing you off because you're cute when you're mad.  I love cracking stupid jokes around you because I know you'll call me dumb and start laughing.  I forget a lot of faces when I'm around you.  I don't know. . . you have that kind of effect on me.  When you're close to me, I feel like my heart is about to jump out of my chest.  When I try to mess with you by going physically close to you, I'm messing with myself.  Whenever we touch, I feel like there's electricity running through my veins.  Every time I tell myself, 'We're supposed to be enemies, we're supposed to be enemies.'  But would a person's heart jump into his throat if his enemy's life was in danger?  Certainly not.  Ice Princess, if you were to ever. . . leave, I'm not sure what I'd do with myself.  Really.  When you smile, it makes me feel happy for some reason.  When you get hurt, I feel the pain too.  Every time I'm around you, I feel the need to. . . protect you.  I know you're strong.  I never thought you were weak.  But sometimes. . . I can see the cracks, Ice Princess.  I know you're hurting, but you never show it.  Ever since I got stuck with you, my life's been on this freaking rollercoaster.  Have you realized that I haven't flirted with a single girl ever since I started at the agency?  Have you noticed how weird I get around you sometimes?  Ice Princess. . . the truth is. . .

I don't like you."

BAM.  Yuki heard a loud thud in her head.  Her heart felt like it cracked a little bit.

"And you're right," Minho continued, "I don't want to be friends with you."

BAM.  Another crack appeared on Yuki's heart.

"Because. . ." the boy said softly, now looking straight into Yuki's eyes,

"I want to be more than friends.  Ice Princess, I think. . .

I think I love you."

Carry on ->