Chapter 10

As her usual routine every morning, she took it upon herself to scroll down her Facebook news feed only to come across another slap in the face. Sue had decided to change her relationship status to: In A Relationship. Amanda immediately sat up in bed curling her fist angrily. She had told the guys about it later on.

“Wow...” Youngjae uttered finally.

“It's like she's trying to keep it a secret from you,” Daehyun added.

“How is it a secret?” Amanda snapped, turning to face him. “I just don't get why she could tell the Facebook world about it but she can't just come to me herself to simply say 'Hey Amanda, how's it going? Oh yeah, me and Ryan are gonna start dating now. Is that cool with you?'” She laughed, shaking her head. “You know, I'm not even mad about the fact that they're dating. I'm more upset at the fact that she wouldn't even tell me. Am I being crazy for getting angry over this?”

The guys gaped at her in shock for a long moment.

“Hello?” she called out to them.

They cleared their throats, shaking their heads. “No, not at all,” they murmured.

“Sounds like she's being a coward,” Himchan thought aloud.

Amanda turned to face him with a victorious grin. “Exactly!” she exclaimed, startling the younger boys. Soon, she stood up to leave.

“Um, where do you think you're going?” Youngjae asked.

She looked over at him. “I'm heading to the gym early. I feel like I need to punch something.” She finally said before storming out.

The whole room grew silent before looking over at their leader. “I feel like we should tag along with her,” Youngjae reluctantly suggested. “I'm afraid that something might turn into someone.”

Yongguk sighed, picking up his plate. “I'll go,” he announced. “Just finish your breakfast.”

“Do you want us to come with you?” Zelo shot up.

“No thanks, I'll be fine,” he said before disappearing into the kitchen.

Zelo called out to him. “But—“ he started to say, only to be stopped by Himchan.

“Just let him go,” Himchan instructed the tall maknae, before glancing ahead towards the kitchen with a knowing smile. “If there's someone who could handle Amanda, it's definitely Yongguk.”

Moments later, Yongguk emerged from the kitchen. “Alright, I'll be going,” he announced. “See you guys later on.”

“Bye,” the rest of the guys murmured, gaping at their leader. Soon, Yongguk left without another word. The sound of the door echoing throughout the room.

“Is it just me or did he just leave without hesitation?” Daehyun uttered finally, scratching his head in confusion.

“Yep,” Himchan said with a knowing smirk.

The whole room turned to face the handsome visual. “Do you know something?” asked Youngjae.

“I know a little bit about a little bit,” he said, wriggling his eyebrows.

For a moment, the whole room grew silent as they stared back at him expectantly. “So...” Daehyun began. “Are you gonna tell us or what?”

Himchan snorted, shaking his head. “Isn't it already obvious?” he asked incredulously. “Bang clearly likes Amanda.”

Jongup choked on his drink. His coughs could be heard throughout the room as Youngjae reached over to pat his back.

“No way,” Daehyun finally said, mouth agape.

As expected, Yongguk managed to find Amanda at the gym. She was working with the gym's head trainer, the one and only, Master Andy. Yongguk half-expected Ryan to be around but was a bit relieved since he clearly didn't want to deal with the teacher since Yongguk wasn't a fan of his at that moment. Leaning against the door frame, he watched on as Master Andy was teaching Amanda some new moves that were a bit similar to Ryan's. The styles were similar but everyone knew that Ryan had learned from Master Andy himself. Amanda listened attentively to Master Andy, oblivious to Yongguk's presence.

He felt a bit at ease watching on. Master Andy was well-admired within the community and he had heard a bunch of fond stories from Amanda herself, who admired him as a mere father figure. “You're doing a good job,” Master Andy said. “Try it again.”

“Okay,” she nodded, proceeding to do as she was told.

“There you go,” he gave her a smile of approval. “Alright, let's take a short break before we practice it again.”

“Okay,” she chuckled before turning around to make her way to the waiting area. Her eyes met Yongguk's as he flashed his signature gummy grin her way, giving her a slight wave. Amanda felt warm inside. There was something about that grin, she thought. It always seemed to leave a warm and fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach and she couldn't help but smile back at him. “Hey!” she greeted him. “You're early. What brings you here?”

Yongguk chuckled, settling onto a chair beside her. “I figured you'd like some company,” he said, glancing over at Master Andy, who was pacing near the ring taking an important phone call. “Who knew that 'wanting to punch something' would turn into personal lessons with the Master himself.”

Amanda followed his gaze and chuckled. “Yeah, I thought Aber was gonna be here but instead I ran into Ajarn and he decided to help me out,” she informed him. “You have no idea how starstrucked I felt when he was helping me!” she beamed, sighing dreamily.

Yongguk scoffed, shaking his head. “Really? I have no idea,” he mused dryly.

Eventually, Master Andy made his way towards them. “Oh hello,” Master Andy greeted Yongguk with a smile.

Yongguk stood up, greeting the older gentleman with a wai, along with a: “Sabaidee, Ajarn.” (Hello, Master)

Master Andy returned with his own wai, chuckling as he glanced over at Amanda. “I see you've taught your friend well,” he said to her in Lao, with a nod of approval.

Amanda chuckled and nodded beaming proudly at Yongguk. “Of course,” she responded, waiing in return before he proceeded to leave them alone in the room.

Yongguk shot her a look of puzzlement. “Translation,” he said softly.

Amanda turned to Yongguk and grinned. “He said your Lao isn't too bad,” she told him. “I see you've remembered what I taught you.”

“Well yeah,” he chuckled. “It was one of the easiest things you taught me.”

“Well, you did great,” she beamed proudly. She had taught the guys about the proper way to greet in Lao (or Thai; but Master Andy spoke more Lao than Thai), along with the wai, in case the guys ever encountered Master Andy in the future and today was all the more convenient.

“So,” Yongguk sat up, staring back at her expectantly. “What did Ajarn teach you?”

Amanda turned to face him with a knowing smile in return.

When they finally arrived at the gym, the rest of BAP were greeted by Master Andy, who was on the computer studying other fighters. He looked up and greeted them with a warm smile. “Hello,” he said.

In turn, the guys all waiied and together, they said, “Sabaidee, Ajarn.” Which earned a chuckle from the older gentleman himself.

Master Andy waiied and chuckled in return. “Sabaidee.” he said before motioning to the room. “Your friends are inside.”

The guys nodded before proceeding to head inside. “Kopchai, lai lai (Thank you very much),” said Youngjae, with another wai.

Master Andy's eyes widened in astonishment. “Wow, your Lao is very good!” he remarked with his accented English.

Youngjae chuckled sheepishly scratching the back of his head with a bow of the head before following the other guys into the room.

And soon, they entered the room to find Amanda hard at work with Yongguk. “Are you sure about this?” they heard Yongguk ask her.

Amanda nodded. “Of course I am,” she said. “It doesn't hurt to get a bit of practice in.”

“But it's sparring, Amanda,” Yongguk pointed out, giving her a worried look.

She huffed up defiantly. “That's the purpose of sparring though, Yongguk. It's practice,” she countered back.

Yongguk sighed, raising his hands in defeat. “I sure hope you know what you're doing.”

“I just have to ask Ryan if it's okay,” she said, glancing towards the door. She immediately beamed when she spotted the rest of BAP making their way to them. “Hey, the guys are here! Hey guys!” she waved to them with a gloved hand.

Yongguk looked over his shoulder giving them a nod. “Hey,” he said.

“What were you guys talking about?” Himchan asked curiously glancing from Amanda to Yongguk.

Yongguk and Amanda glanced at one another. “Do you want me to tell them or do you want to tell them yourself?” Yongguk asked permissibly.

She sighed. “I'll tell them,” she finally said before turning to the guys. “Guys,” she began, “I've decided to try my hand at sparring.”

The whole room grew silent, gaping at her in astonishment.

Amanda stared back at them expectantly, waiting for a reaction, or any sign of a reaction for all that mattered. “Well?”

Yongguk leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Told you it wasn't a good idea,” he muttered.

She sneered back at him. “Just shut up,” she barked back.

Finally, Youngjae spoke up. “Are you sure about this, Amanda?” he finally asked.

“Aren't you afraid of getting hurt?” Himchan chimed in.

“Who are you sparring?” asked Daehyun.

“I'm getting there,” she told Daehyun before glancing at Yongguk. “None of you guys know about this but Ajarn is actually training with Sue and as it turns out, she needs a sparring buddy and as soon as I heard about it, I immediately volunteered to do it.”

“For some reason, I don't think this is a good idea,” Jongup muttered to Zelo, who nodded in agreement.

Yongguk sighed. “Seriously, Manda. There are other ways to go about this than taking her on,” he reasoned. “I mean, you could just take her aside and talk to her about this as adults.”

Amanda scoffed. “As if,” she said, turning to face him. “I mean if she wants to act like a we're children, I'll show her what I'm capable of.” She finally said before walking off to make her way over to a punching bag.

“I don't like where this is going,” Daehyun uttered finally.

Yongguk glanced at the main vocalist and sighed. “None of us do but what can we do about it?” he shrugged. “We have no other choice but to roll with it.”

“But what if she gets hurt?” Himchan spoke up.

Yongguk turned to his best friend and shook his head. “If it happens, it happens,” he said. “You know how she is. I'm just gonna let her learn on her own since she refuses to listen anyways.”

Himchan sighed in defeat as he glanced over at his stubborn female friend before he turned to his best friend. “You better make sure she's gonna be fine,” he stated.

“I know,” Yongguk firmly declared, glancing over at her. “I guess I'll go help her out.”