Jiyong could only sit and watch how his predictions happened to be right.

Jongin’s 3rd fight was supposed to be less spectacular than the previous ones. The directions were simple – go through all of the rounds without knocking the opponent down, winning only because of the points.

And then Jongin did the opposite.

Choi Seunghyun was really pissed but soon after that he calmed down, observing the cheering and pleased crowd.

Jongin’s opponent, named P.O, was Zico’s childhood friend who came back to Seoul from Europe few days ago. Zico (bored to death because of his recovery therapy) contacted Choi Seunghyun and Jiyong about him, convincing them to recruit him. They both agreed immediately after seeing the potential this tall, red-haired boy has. He was a boxer, just like Jongin, so Choi Seunghyun organized the fight between them. But it was supposed to be a friendly fight – no knock-outs, no drastic moves, no tough hits that could crush a wall.

When the 5th round was coming to its end Jongin lost it, throwing a punch that sent P.O to the ground, causing him a knockout strong enough to leave him unconscious for more than 1 minute.

Jiyong was worried and scared, staring at the smirk plastered to Jongin’s face when he did that.

“That …” Jiyong gritted his teeth, looking at smiling Jongin, evidently happy because of the chants he was getting from the public “He’s feeling overpowered already”

“Calm down a little, will you?” Dara said, poking his side “He just knocked him out when he shouldn’t. Maybe that was just a mistake?”

“He’s a pro-fighter, Dee. He doesn’t do mistakes!” Jiyong sighed “You can see he’s into it, a little bit too deeply”

“Once again, calm down” Dara shook her head, trying her best to not be heard by anyone but him “Nothing’s gonna happen. Jongin is a nice guy and you know it. He’s a like a puppy to be honest…”

“Yeah, a puppy. For now” Jiyong turned around to leave, feeling the sudden hunger for another drink.

LATER

Jongin hurried his steps, tightening the grip on a carton with takeaway pizza he held, when he saw the current hour.

Once again he declined the after-party offer that Choi Seunghyun gave him. He saw everyone coming but he had other plans already.

The thing was that it became quite serious between him and Minji. It was not like they were a couple but it was also obvious where they were going.

For tonight he planned to take her out for a date, but that was not an usual date. That was, according to Luhan, a meeting with unique twist that will end up as a date anyway. The plan was simple – do not make it fancy but creative. And Jongin decided to listen to his Chinese friend as he was the only one who could help him right now – besides the things between him and Dara were getting pretty serious as well, so it had to mean something.

Kyungsoo was not really helpful when it comes to girls since his dating history, as he shyly admitted, was limited to 0.

Chanyeol was always in his own world yelling at the game on his PSP console, eating Pocky or the cafeteria’s bulgogi for a change (or both in the same time) and making lame jokes at Kris.

Kris, on the other hand, simply advised Jongin to not rush anything and to wait for a good moment.

Jongdae, who was still in a hospital, called him to scream something between 'YAAAS!' and 'GO AND GET HER!' and Sehun was just Sehun, completely oblivious of the fact who Gong Minji was and what was her connection with Jongin.

As for Jiyong, Yongguk and the rest of the boxing circle Jongin decided to tell them nothing. He was more than sure Jiyong will be mad and will tell him something about staying focused and Yongguk would most likely pat him on the shoulder, wishing him luck or something like that.

It was not that they were close outside the ring anyway.

Finally he stopped in the front of his apartment’s entrance, taking his phone out and dialing Minji’s number.

After two signals she picked up.

“Jongin-ah?”

“You’re not sleeping right?” he grinned, looking up at her room’s window, seeing the lights .

“No, I’m just done with the essay for tomorrow. What’s up?”

“Come downstairs, I’m taking you somewhere”

“What?” she gasped “Do you know what time is it?”

“Yeah, so?” Jongin chuckled “Come on, I have a pizza and it’s getting cold”

“Pizza?” Minji laughed “I see you planned everything. Ok, give me a minute”

With that she ended the call and Jongin stayed there, still looking at her window. Finally the lights went off and he could not help it when his face broke into a wide smile.

Minji went out of the building, dressed in a leather jacket and pink beanie, giggling a little at grinning Jongin.

“I thought you will be too tired after the training with Jiyong-sshi” she spoke while coming closer.

“I told you we’ll eat together today” with that Jongin looked at him watch, seeing it was few minutes past midnight “Well, it’s actually tomorrow now…”

Minji chuckled and looked at the pizza box in his hand.

“What’s inside?”

“Pineapple and ham” Jongin grinned “I hope you still like it”

“Yes, it’s still my favorite. You have a good memory” she crossed her arms, tilting her head playfully. Jongin said nothing but instead he took her hand smoothly. They took a way down the street, heading to the subway station.

“Where are you taking me?” Minji asked, her face blushing as she looked at their linked hands. It was not like they were doing this for the first time but now it seemed different.

Something was in Jongin’s mind, that was sure.

“To see the best view ever” he finally answered, winking. Minji widened her eyes, feeling the blush invading her ears as well.

Jongin was not sure what caused his sudden confidence. Maybe that was Luhan and Jongdae? Or maybe the encouraging chants he was getting each time after every fight? Whatever that was he also felt it was the time, just like Kris said, to clear the things between him and Minji.

They stopped in the front of the subway station and Jongin pointed at the new building that was still in the works. It had floors, but not walls.

Minji raised her eyebrow and  just then Jongin took her hand again, leading her to the construction site.  There was absolutely no one there as the builders left their workplace already.

They reached one of the staff’s lifts, the orange and open one, that looked exactly like a moving balcony. Minji started to giggle again, presuming what was Jongin’s plan.

“Mademoiselle, which floor?” he asked teasingly, picking up a pilot with many buttons.

She laughed but then put her finger to , thinking for a second.

“Hm…How about the middle one?”

“Very good choice, mademoiselle, let it be 20th then!” with that he pushed the “2” and “0” buttons and the lift, shakily, went up.

Minji paled, looking down in disbelief and grasping the fence firmly.

“Have you been here before? Are you sure we’re not gonna collapse or something?” she asked, her voice filled with more panic than she thought. Jongin nodded, taking her other hand again.

He was not lying though - Luhan showed him this place and shared he came here once with his Chinese friend Lay to drink some cheap, Russian champagne.

Finally the lift reached the floor and they stepped out of it, looking around in awe.

“Wow” Minji gasped and Jongin quickly followed. He originally planned to go to the top floor but the middle one happened to be a better idea.

The other buildings, surrounding the construction they were at, were shining brightly. Since there were many of them, close to each other, it looked from Minji and Jongin’s perspective like they were trapped in a room glowing because of many lights.

“This is…breathtaking” Jongin said, his eyes widened. Minji smirked, turning around to face him.

“And I thought you had been here before?”

“Not here” he answered and then pointed with his eyes at the pizza carton “I bet it’s cold already”

“Who cares” she smiled while going to the edge and taking a seat. He went after her, sitting near and opening the package.

“Voila mademoiselle, the pizza has arrived”

Minji laughed again at his fake French accent, taking a slice.

“Pizza is Italian, you should speak that” she said and Jongin’s head dropped.

“I know” he muttered “I didn’t have time to ask Jongdae for a lesson”

“How was the training with Jiyong-sshi today?” suddenly Minji asked, eyeing Jongin carefully “You look much better than usually”

“Yeah, that…” Jongin scratched his nape “Today we just exercised, no sparing time”

“I see” Minji nodded while taking another bite “Maybe you should keep that way? Before, you know, he will do something to you”

“Are you that concerned, Gong Minji?” Jongin grinned mischievously what made her speechless, blushed and then she looked away.

Jongin could not really name the emotions he was feeling. Was that love? Maybe.

He just knew he wanted to have Minji around and that the thought of her being with other guy was making him angry, sick and confused. On the side note the opportunity of calling her his was a great treasure and would feel right.

Just then he recalled Kris and his advice as he gently took Minji’s chin to make her look up. He smiled before kissing her lips, smoothly and sweetly, giving her enough time to fight the sudden shock she felt. And he was right as soon he felt her hands linking around his neck, bringing him closer and closing the gap between them. Jongin smiled across her lips, responding to her actions happily. Finally they parted, taking deep breaths and not breaking the eye contact. Both of them grinned.

“That was…whoa” Minji whispered, biting her lower lip unintentionally. Jongin smirked at that act, raising his eyebrow teasingly.

“Well, hopefully it’s not the end” he finally said, looking up to meet her gaze again. Her eyes widened.

“You mean?”

“I mean, Gong Minji, that I hope we can become a couple” with that he laughed “God, it sounds so formal”

Minji smiled widely.

“Well, it’s about time, no?” she linked her pinky finger with his “Am I right, boyfriend?”

He nodded, the grin never leaving his face.

“Of course, girlfriend” with that they laughed “, I should think about couple-rings”

Minji laughed even louder, smacking his arm playfully but Jongin decided to step by a convenience store on their way back to buy the lollipop rings he’s always seeing near the cashier.

Creativity, right?

THE NEXT DAY, LUNCH BREAK

“Oh My God, congrats!” Luhan jumped on Jongin as soon as he entered the cafeteria together with Kyungsoo.

“Dear Lord” Jongin gasped, trying to keep his balance and patting the smaller boy on the back “What happened?”

“I heard about you and Minji! Slayness!” Luhan grinned while pulling away. Jongin just smiled and blushed, scratching the back of his head and looking around awkwardly. He locked his stare for a moment on a table where Yongguk and the rest were sitting.

Dara and Yukwon were getting through some fashion magazine together, Jiyong was leaning on the table with sunglasses on – obviously dealing with hangover, Chaerin was sitting on Yongguk’s lap, Baekhyun was concentrated on some notes he held - with his earphones on and Himchan