Chapter 7

As the week went on, Amanda became even more determined to learn from Ryan. She even managed to arrive super early before BAP just so she could practice a bit more. It seemed as if Master Andy knew her on a first name basis at that point.

“Alright, grab a partner!” Ryan announced.

Immediately, Yongguk walked over to Amanda, placing a possessive arm around her. In turn, she glowered back at him, pushing him away.

“Bang,” whined Himchan, “I thought you were my partner.”

Yongguk glanced down at Amanda, “From now on, she's my partner.”

“What?!” Amanda exclaimed. “Says who?! I never agreed to be your partner.”

He shrugged. “Too late, you're not allowed to have anyone else as a partner but me,” he finally said.

Her jaw dropped before eventually morphing into a more aggravated expression. “Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “Hurry up and get into position.”

“Wait, then who am I pairing up with?!” Himchan exclaimed, outraged.

“Ahem,” Ryan cleared his throat to grab everyone's attention. He looked over at Himchan. “You could partner up with Zelo.” He glanced over to the tall young man. “I'm gonna need to borrow Jongup, if you guys don't mind.”

Grumbling, Himchan made his way over to Zelo as Jongup approached Ryan. Himchan turned to glare over at Amanda and Yongguk, only to soften as he saw the way Yongguk looked at her. She was oblivious as expected but Yongguk was genuinely cooperative when she gave him orders. He sighed to himself before turning to Zelo. “Ready partner?” he asked finally.

Before the lesson began, Jongup even greeted Ryan with a wai, the traditional Thai greeting, as a sign of respect for his teacher. Amanda beamed proudly as she saw the touching look on Ryan's face as Ryan waiied in return. Yongguk also found himself smiling proudly at the younger member. Soon, Ryan proceeded to demonstrate their newest lesson with Jongup.

Ever since the lessons began, Jongup became the epitome of the model student, even garnering the attention of some of the female students much to the annoyance of the other members. As a matter of fact, both Zelo and Jongup have been garnering the female attention. With Zelo's tall height and baby face along with Jongup's angelic smile and newfound skill, they were both a force to be reckon with. Zelo's height surely had an advantage in fighting, according to Ryan, and Jongup's speed and ability to catch on quickly was another advantage.

Amanda listened intently as Ryan wrapped up his instructions before she turned to Yongguk. “Ready?” he asked.

She nodded as he lifted the pads. Amanda then proceeded to kick and punch away, taking a breath in between hits.

“You're doing great,” Yongguk remarked, as he counted.

“Thanks,” she exhaled with a slight grin before she continued striking away.

Soon, a voice interrupted from behind. “Put a little more anger into it, Amanda,” Ryan spoke up as stood behind her. “Like this.” Standing behind her, he proceeded to take both her wrists into his hands then walked her through striking properly.

Amanda suddenly felt the room grow hot. It felt as if time had stopped when Ryan was holding her. If she could stay this way forever, she would. Her heart started racing rapidly as the sound of his breathing down her neck blocked out the other sounds in the room. Of course, she was unaware of the smoke coming out of Yongguk's ears as he had to endure the pad-holding while Ryan held Amanda, right in front of him. It didn't help that she was smiling as if she was the happiest girl in the world, which was exactly the case at this point.

Eventually, Ryan released her. “There you go,” he smiled approvingly, before taking the pads away from Yongguk. “Why don't you take a rest while I work with Yongguk.”

Amanda nodded before making her way to the ring to take a short break. She found herself gazing over at Ryan as he was holding the pads while Yongguk kicked and punched away aggressively. Taking a deep breath, she took a huge gulp of water as she watched on.

“You're doing great, Yongguk,” Ryan told him.

Yongguk growled as he continued to hit away, ignoring him.

Soon, Himchan made his way over to Amanda, leaning against the ring to watch. She seemed a bit surprised to see him. But then she was too distracted at that bout of skinship with Ryan to notice anything else in the room. “Hey,” she acknowledged him, glancing over at Jongup and Zelo as well as Daehyun and Youngjae. They were all practicing. “Sorry for stealing your partner.”

Himchan proceeded to lift the water bottle to his mouth, only to stop himself as he turned to face her. “No worries,” he said, taking a huge gulp, watching Yongguk and Ryan. “He chose to go to you. I mean, what can I do about it?”

“Anthony has to train, I'm sure he'd be my partner if he were here,” she pointed out.

Himchan scoffed. “Sounds like you'd rather be partnered up with our teacher instead,” he gave her a mischievous smirk, wriggling his eyebrows.

Amanda soon found herself blushing. “You saw that?” she asked.

Himchan chuckled. “Pretty much,” he replied matter-of-factly before glancing over at his best friend. “It must for Bang to be front row and center to all that mush.” He emphasized upon mentioning his best friend.

“Well, he needs to get used to it by now,” she countered back defiantly. “Ryan was just helping me. That's all.”

He snorted, “Whatever you say, Miss Amanda.” He gave her a wink. The kind that was used to win over a bunch of girls but Amanda was unfazed by his behavior by now.

Amanda simply rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Charming,” she said. He chuckled with an innocent shrug. Before long, the other guys approached them.

“I see Yongguk hyung is still working with your boyfriend,” Daehyun sneered.

“And so it begins,” Amanda snidely remarked, rolling her eyes.

“So how does it feel to have a bit of skinship with your boyfriend?” Youngjae snickered, immediately dodging the water bottle being hurled towards him.

“FOR THE LAST TIME, HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!” Amanda exclaimed in agitation, prompting the whole room to go silent.

Soon, the whole room shifted their attention over to her. She found herself turning beet red when Ryan put the pads down to stare back at her, stunned. She chuckled nervously. “Sorry about that!” she said, glaring over at Daehyun and Youngjae. “We were just going over lines for their newest CF, right boys?” She elbowed them emphatically. When they didn't respond, she shot them each a murderous glare.

Glaring back at her, they eventually relented. “Yeah,” they replied at once.

Himchan, Jongup, and Zelo all snickered in return.

“And, that's a wrap,” Ryan announced, removing the pads from his hands. He then turned to Yongguk. “Great job, today.”

Yongguk grunted in return, proceeded to remove his own gloves from his hands.

Amanda sighed at the exchange. Picking up a brand new water bottle, she proceeded to make her way over to Yongguk, who was putting his gloves away on the equipment stand. “Here,” she said with a warm smile. “It's a peace offering.”

“For?” he raised an eyebrow.

“It's the I'm-sorry-if-I-did-anything-to-piss-you-off kind of peace offering,” she mused, holding it out to him emphatically. “Here, take it before I change my mind and give it to Ryan.”

He immediately snatched it from her. “It's mine now,” he gave her a half smile. “Thanks,” he said. “And I'm not pissed off if that's what you're thinking.”

“Oh,” Amanda uttered, feeling a bit relieved. “That's a relief.”

“What made you think I was mad?” he asked with an amused grin.

Amanda shrugged sheepishly. “I don't know. It's the vibe you were giving off. Not gonna lie, you're kind of scary when you're serious.”

“Am I really?” he perked up.

She nodded with a smile. “I'm just glad you're not mad,” she finally said, glancing over at Ryan. “Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go talk to my crush.”

He sighed, nodding eventually. “Go,” he said, shooing her away. “Have fun.”

“Thanks, I will,” she glanced back at him before walking away, making a beeline towards Ryan.

Yongguk found himself frowning as he watched her leave. Soon, he felt a pair of eyes staring back at him. Looking ahead, he found Himchan giving him a knowing look. Himchan glanced at Yongguk before looking over at Amanda, who was laughing at whatever Ryan was saying. Yongguk froze. Does Himchan know? He wondered to himself.

Eventually, he made his way over to the others. “You ready to go?” asked Daehyun as soon as he spotted the leader.

Yongguk nodded, glancing over his shoulder at Amanda, who was still talking to Ryan.

Himchan followed his gaze before placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder. “We'll meet you outside,” he finally said, proceeding to lead the others out to the van.

Amanda sensed a pair of eyes staring over at her. Meeting Yongguk's eyes, she sighed before turning her attention back to Ryan. “I should get going,” she finally said.

“Alright,” Ryan pushed himself off the ring to walk with her over to Yongguk. “So I'll see you guys tomorrow, right?”

“Of course,” she beamed, glancing over at Yongguk, who nodded curtly.

Ryan held out his arms to her. In turn, Amanda leaned in to hug him tightly. “See you tomorrow, Ryan,” she said softly.

“Drive safely,” he said, pulling away from her. He then shifted his attention over to Yongguk, extending his hand.

Politely, Yongguk allowed Ryan to shake his hand. “Good class today,” he remarked.

Ryan grinned. “Again, great job,” he complimented BAP's leader. “See you guys tomorrow.”

“Bye,” Amanda and Yongguk said simultaneously. They then proceeded to make their way out with Amanda glancing over her shoulder one last time, giving Ryan a warm smile.