OPEN YOUR EYES (BLIND I) - MUSIQ SERIES PART 2

28. GEARING UP

"Wow... so you will be on normal TV too?!" Min asked Heejin as they ate dinner together. "I will vote for you as many times as I can. You need to debut!"

"So much support actually scares me..." Heejin admitted, making her parents and her older brother chuckle.

Even before telling them about the program, Min had been acting strange with Heejin. At first, she thought something had happened with Mrs Kim when she was away, but Yunghoon had been with him all the time and he did not say anything, so she did not know what it was about, yet it still worried her slightly.

"Oh, by the way! I got you the autograph you asked me from Haeil," Heejin said pointing to her bag. "I'll give it to you after dinner."

"Wow, you're the best!" he said clinging onto her arm, making her laugh.

"Mrs Kim will find out, though. If you are on TV, she will most likely see you," her father told her, talking about the program again. "The athletic championships were easy to hide because they were on a music channel, but this program will be aired on a channel she sometimes watches."

Although she was scared, a part of her already knew that it was going to happen at some point, so she was going to endure it and hope she would get to debut so that she would never have to see her again. She was not her family, so she had no obligation to continue seeing her once she left home.

"I have been working on this for almost five years. I'm not going to let all my hard work go to waste just because of her. If she finds out, then she does. The people whom I care about support me, and that's all I need," Heejin told them, even if she was scared to death. "Sorry, Yunghoon, I know she's your grandmother..."

"How many times must I tell you that you don't have to excuse yourself for these things?" he told her. "She's not your family and you aren't obliged to get along with her."

Yunghoon's tone let everyone see that that last part was talking about himself. He had never particularly had a good relationship with his grandmother, not even when he was very young, but he tried to stay in contact with her despite everything because it was the last thing he had of his father. He loved Minhyuk as if he were his real father, but he still missed him and felt like he needed to stay in touch with his family to indirectly feel more connected to him.

"Heejin, can you come with me if you are done? I wanted to show you something," Min told her and she nodded.

Excusing themselves, they went to their room and Min closed the door behind them. Heejin knew she had done it to let Yunghoon and their parents talk privately, so they just sat down on their beds and relaxed.

"Can I ask you something?" Min asked her suddenly and she nodded. "Maybe I shouldn't ask, and it may sound strange, but do you have any non-binary friends?"

Heejin was at first taken aback by the question since she was not expecting it at all, but she soon was back to her senses.

"There are several people in the company, yes," Heejin answered. "Why?"

"Nothing... Just... I was curious..." he said, quickly taking his phone out to not make the situation more uncomfortable.

"I feel like you are hiding something from me. What's wrong?" Heejin asked him as she stood up and went to his bed. "If it works better, forget for a second that I'm your sister and just tell me. If you want me to, I can forget this conversation ever happened."

"Do you promise?" She nodded. "Okay, fine... It's just... I've been thinking about something for a very long time, and I think I finally know what it is, but I'm really scared."

"What are you talking about, Min? You need to explain it for me to understand," Heejin asked him calmly, sensing his distress.

"I... I don't think I am a man, Heejin. I am comfortable with my name, and I don't really feel gender dysphoria, but I still don't feel like... you know... like myself," Min said tearing up. "I've never been too focused on gender norms or things like that, especially when it comes to clothing, so I thought I was just expressing myself freely, but for the past year or so I've been paying more attention and... I just don't know."