Hello Stranger

Part 11- Harsh Reality

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"No way."

Jiyoung's mouth fell open as you told her the news, stating it as if it was a fact of life. "You actually asked him?"
"Mmhm."
"What did he say?!"
"Yes, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be telling you like this," you chuckled, leaning against your locker.
"Ahhhh y/n," she squealed, nearly dropping her binder to the tiled floor as she enveloped you in a tight hug. "I knew you had it in you."

"Had what in her? Crazy?" A familiar voice said from around the corner, and you naturally rolled your eyes at the sound. As well as involuntarily shuddered.
"No silly, courage," Jiyoung laughed, pulling away from you as Minho stood next to you. "Go on, tell him the good news!"
It felt like every last drop of courage evaporated from your being as you looked into his eyes however.

"I..I finally asked Hyunjin to the dance," you confessed, feeling your face heat up slightly. You weren't sure why it was so hard to meet his gaze.
"And he said...?"
"Yes."
"Of course he did!" He chuckled, then realized what he was implying, clearing his throat. "I mean, as he should."

That of course didn't sound right either, and you were sure you were turning pink as Minho struggled to find the right words. "I mean-"

The bell sliced through the awkward tension and the three of you looked at each other, deciding to just leave it at that and depart for your morning classes. However as you and Minho disappeared down the corner to head to the left wing of the school, something clicked in Jiyoung's head.

She paused her trek down the hall, doing a 180 to peek after you two from behind the wall.
The polite distance between you and Minho had disappeared entirely, you reaching over to push him, presumably for something he had said while chaotic laughter echoed down the hallway. The way you tucked a small lock of hair behind your ear and seeing how Minho's response was to ruffle the back of his hair, was a dead giveaway that the both of you were flustered.

She thought back to your conversation, with Minho stumbling over his vocabulary and your reddening face, and the reality hit her hard enough to leave marks.

"No way."

...

"No dancing today?"

Minho tossed his bag on the ground, following your actions as he sat on the bench next to you, stretching out his legs like a tired kitten.
"Nope, my audition is tomorrow, I figured I'd give my body a day to rest."
"T-Tomorrow?" You nearly choked on your sandwich. "Your audition is tomorrow?"
"Yup," he smiled, tilting his face up to the sky so the sun could smile back at him. "You didn't know?"
"You didn't tell me!"
"You never asked."

"Minho, I-" you groaned, bringing a hand to rub at your temples. "Why didn't you tell me beforehand? I would have made you a good luck charm or something..."
"Well I knew you were already stressing out about the dance," he explained, "so I figured I would just keep it to myself."
"What time is your audition?"
"8 pm, so I'll probably have to get in line to get into the building before that," he sighed, furrowing his eyebrows.

8 pm...

"So...so what you're saying is that I won't see you at the dance," you said sadly, feeling your heart sink in your chest. It wouldn't have even mattered if you did ask him, there was no way he would miss his audition for a school function. The coin toss was pointless.

Maybe it really wasn't meant to be...

"Probably not, by the time I get out of the audition the dance will be ending."
"I see..."

He opened one eye against the sunlight, looking at your blue expression. Were you actually sad that he wasn't going to be there? He ignored how much faster that made his heart beat and sat up straight on the bench.
"You already have your dress right?" He perked up, eyes sparkling with curiosity. You fumbled with the phone in your blazer.
"Of course; do you wanna see?"
"No, I asked for absolutely no reason at all."

A flick to the forehead was the reaction he expected from you, just barely missing it with a duck and a giggle before you unlocked your phone.
It only took a couple of seconds of swiping through homework screenshots before you swiped to a photo of you in a department store dressing room.

The forest green fabric suited your skin tone perfectly, cinching at your waist and billowing out right after, stopping a few inches over your knees. The skirt was covered in a layer of tulle with tiny gems littered across the hem, and those same jewels were beaded along the sweetheart neckline as well.

For the first time since he'd heard about it, Minho didn't want to go to the audition. He couldn't believe that the only time he would see you so beautiful would be through a phone screen.

"Wow..."
"I found it last week," you whispered, giving the phone to him so he could inspect the photo."I'm not really sure how I feel about the color, but I liked the cut so I think-"
"It's beautiful." He breathed, zooming in on the picture.
"W-What?"
"The dress, I mean," he quickly corrected himself, looking at your reddening face. "The dress is..."

His words caught in his throat; he knew what he wanted to say, but he didn't know how you would react if you heard it. Then again, you were going to the dance with someone else. Did it even matter if he said it or not?

He swallowed hard before continuing.

"You're beautiful," he stated, revising his previous compliment. "And I think the dress looks great on you."
Butterflies of every species occupied your midsection as he stared into your eyes, and you had no choice but to look away, and down at the half-eaten sandwich in your lap.

Do not look into his eyes. You will screw everything up if you do.

"That's...the nicest thing you've ever said to me," you whispered, twisting the bracelet around your right hand.
"I really ought to change that." It sounded like he wasn't saying that to you but to himself.

Friendly. He was just being friendly, friends compliment each other like that. Friends look at each other the way he was looking at you right then, and friends stare into each other's eyes the way you two now were.

But there it was. The unfriendly insatiable need to pull him by the collar and see if his lips were good for things other than talking was burning inside of your chest, setting fire to the wings flapping around in there as well. His gaze was steady, and if you weren't mistaken, almost expectant? Did he want you to kiss him as much as you wanted to? Did he know how badly you wanted him to pull you close again, like he did in his makeshift dance lesson?

You wondered if he thought about those things as much as you did.

With too many questions and not a single answer, Minho glanced down and handed you your phone back, but the contact of his skin on yours was enough to send your mind into a panic. Almost reeling, you stood up immediately, taking your phone with you as you dusted off your uniform.

"I'm going to grab a drink from the vending machine," you said rather shakily, mind all but clouded with the confused boy in front of you. You just barely made it out of earshot before releasing an unknown breath, trapping yourself inside the stairwell.

Outside, Minho was desperately trying to figure out what he had done wrong.

And now, you were holding onto the stairwell railing, knowing exactly what you had done wrong, without a clue of how to fix it.