You're My Star

Chapter 9: What if nothing ever changes?

A/N: Connected to Chapter 19 of The hideout I need.

A whole year had passed since that night. More than that, actually. It was currently the summer between their two semesters in their final year of high school. And it was safe to say that they were still in love with each other. They were the way they had always been.

Except, they were now 3rd-years and everything started to get slightly more intense. Studying had to be a much higher priority than the two of them were used to. And then there were the career forms and university applications. Woo-bin said knew he wanted to get some specific degree related to marketing and finances or whatever, Min-hee didn't completely understand it. But Min-hee wasn't so fond of all of the career talk. Should he write idol on the career forms? He would always think about how he hadn't debuted yet. A lot of the trainees his age (or older) had pretty much quit or been kicked out of the company. There was only one other kid left on Team A that was older than him.

It was a little scary, seeing all the newly debuted groups from other companies. Most of the members were younger than him now. He was probably gonna become an adult before debuting and the thought scared him a little. What if none of it worked out? How would he ever be able to go back home to his family if everything had all been for nothing?

It was a good thing that Woo-bin was such a good cheerleader. Whenever Min-hee would talk about his fears and doubts, Woo-bin would swoop in with some encouragement and positivity. Their little extracurricular duets and amateur vocal practices were not only great for Min-hee's motivation, but also for his skills. Woo-bin was honestly a natural, Min-hee couldn't believe that he didn't want to be a singer. The number of times that Woo-bin would sit and smile — and often record — some choreography that Min-hee had learned and wanted to practice was probably up in the hundreds. "You're on Team A, Min-hee. Whenever they decide to make a new boy group, you'll be first on the list. There's not a doubt about it."

Since it was summer break, they did what they usually did. Maximize the time they had together since there was no school. So on the way to the company, Min-hee decided to stop by the school to say hi. Despite it being summer vacation, Woo-bin was cleaning some of the classrooms with Seong-min. Woo-bin said he had to bribe Seong-min with food to get him to help along. He said something about earning merits from cleaning. Min-hee just chuckled fondly and ruffled his hair.

Min-hee walked down the hall of the 3rd-year floor, looking for wherever Woo-bin and Seong-min were cleaning. He stopped in front of the music room. The sliding door was closed, but he could hear some voices come from inside. He smiled gently. He could just imagine Woo-bin sitting at the piano. He was just about to open the door, but it seemed to open by itself.

When the door opened up, Min-hee immediately realized he messed up. It was risky enough to come and see his boyfriend on school clean-up day, but he didn't imagine he'd run into other people! Since it was the last week before summer break ended, he didn't imagine that anybody would sign up for this other than his goofy boyfriend and his boyfriend's goofy best friend.

Yet, here he was, standing right in front of a shorter kid from Class 7, who looked just as surprised as Min-hee was feeling.

"Oh!" Min-hee let out a little exclaim. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I... I think I have the wrong room," he calmly pointed his finger around at nothing in particular.

"It's fine," the boy chuckled shyly, nearly stuttering. He had curly-ish black hair, the remnants of chubby cheeks, and big eyes.

Min-hee curiously looked into the class and made a little smile as he noticed a familiar face sitting on the floor, cleaning a guitar with a dust cloth. It was Kim Tae-young!