BLXE

Part Nine

"How could you not tell us before now?!" Hitomi grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me.

"I'm sorry!" I laugh and try to to push her off, "It was just never the right time!"

"Well, now is the right time, girl!" Young Mi eggs her on.

"Ok!" I laugh and dump out the entire story of me simping over Hyunjin for the past 3 days.

"Wait, hold on," Hana holds her hand up, "So you have his number, but you haven't texted him?"

I look down at my phone, "No..."

Penny pipes up, "Why not?"

"What would we even talk about?" I ask her, "I haven't thought of any reason I needed to message him for."

"Other than just that you want to see him?" Hana asks.

"Well, yeah..."

"They just start with 'hey' and see where it goes from there!" Hana tightens her ponytail.

"I guess..."

After rehearsal that morning, I head straight back towards the gym at the dorms. It's busy, as I always see it is from the outside, and I look around for where to start.

"Hey, look! It's Min!" I hear behind me and turn around to see Changbin and Chan hurrying towards me.

"Oh, hey guys," I wave.

"Fancy seeing you here," Chan smiles.

"Hyunjin and Minho are supposed to meet us here in a bit. You should stay and hang with us," Changbin playfully elbows me with a mischievous smirk.

"I wasn't planning on being with anyone while here today," I shuffle in place.

Who am I kidding? I just don't wanna be with them so I don't embarrass myself. I don't even know what people do at the gym. I just came here because Ji-an suggested it to me...

"Oh, well that's ok, too. I know some people prefer to work out alone," Chan nods understandingly.

"Chan!" I hear Hyunjin's voice and see him walking towards us with Lee Know. Excuse me, Minho, as he told me to call him. They all got very comfortable with us using their names very quickly.

"Are you going to be with us today?" Hyunjin asks hopefully.

"Uh, I don't think so..." I fidget.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Minho smiles at me.

"Well, if she doesn't want to, then-" Chan starts and I look at Hyunjin. Him smiling back at me is enough.

"Alright, I'll stick with you guys for a bit," I grin and nervously look around.

"Alright!" Changbin grabs me into a side hug with his absurdly muscular arms.

God, he's fucking ripped...

Maybe five minutes later, Changbin and Chan are already off lifting... Something... And Minho fiddles with a strange contraption that I have no idea what it could possibly be for except my death. I awkwardly stand there, trying to figure out something to do that won't make me look any more out of place.

"You alright?" Hyunjin's voice makes me jump.

"Oh, uh. Yeah. I'm just... Uhm," I laugh nervously, "To be completely honest, I have no idea what I'm doing. I've been here once with Young Mi and I didn't stay long."

"Oh," he thinks for a moment, "Well what is your goal?"

"I have to lose weight before the debut."

He looks me up and down with surprise, "Really? You look fine to me."

"Uhm, thanks," I look up at him, probably blushing, "But our manager said I need to drop at least 3 kilograms."

"Oh, well..." he seems unsure what to say, "You could run. That's not too difficult."

"That's what Young Mi does, but I don't really like running," I admit, still awkwardly fidgeting with my hands.

"You could really just start with walking, and then if you feel like it, then go faster," he smiles at me, "I'll do it with you!"

"Oh... Ok then..."

He must sense my nerves, because his voice lowers playfully and he leans down so I can hear, "I was nervous my first time in here, too. Made a complete fool of myself." I laugh to myself at the thought of someone like Hyunjin feeling out of place here. He looks like he fits right in. Just talking to him puts me a bit at ease.