xo, minho | xo, kitty ff

f o u r :

Soundtrack; mine - IVE
think of you - taemin

Much to her dismay, Adelaide's first Saturday in Seoul was spent in the school's library, preparing for a tutoring session. If she wished to pass her classes as an international student, this was her safest option. On the bright side, at least she had scored a hidden corner with a scenic view of the browning autumnal trees. Her head swam with frustration as she attempted to desperately understand the formulas on her page- which appeared as jumbled up as a bunch of foreign signs and symbols in her notebook; senior year was slowly disintegrating her will to study.

As the years passed, Adelaide had discovered her love and knack for all things literature and the arts which only grew her disdain towards the sciences further. Over the orchestral playlist blaring in her ears, the tapping of fingers on her table raised her attention upwards. "Oh! Q? Whatcha doing here?"

Holding up a textbook, he pretended to snooze in boredom. "Just stopping by to borrow a book for class, you?" Likewise, Adelaide grimaced and dramatically three her pen onto her messy papers, "Tutoring session."

"Yikes." He paused before smiling mischievously. "I'm on the basketball team during the track's off-season and we're having a game tonight, you wanna come?"

"It'll be like your very own initiation to sports at KISS." He added so convincingly that Adelaide almost forgot about the cold shoulder that Kitty and her shared this morning. Adelaide just wasn't sure if she could handle all that drama today. Just as she was about to politely decline, the ever perceptive Q spotted her expression. "Oh, wait. Is this about that whole Kitty thing last night? Is it that bad between you guys?"

She nodded in reply. "We haven't talked about it yet. She still seemed pretty upset this morning."

"I know she probably means well, Kitty just tends to go overboard when she's involved in something." He spoke carefully. "Just think about coming okay? I feel bad about last night too and Kitty won't be at the game."

"Think about what?" Minho interrupted the two hushed students. "The game. Why are you here?" Q asked in total surprise. Rolling his eyes, Minho swatted him away and took a seat, batting his long eyelashes innocently. "I'm your tutor, hun."

. . .

"And to what do I owe this honour?" Minho shook his head and let out a small laugh. "Apparently I'm something of a math whiz and you need a Korean teacher too. That's killing two birds with one stone but don't get any ideas, I'm only doing this for extra cred..." Except he was doing well enough in his classes that he didn't need the extra credit.

Mumbling to himself, Minho added. "Thanks for last night."

Adelaide shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, playing off the happy swell in her chest. "Well, I hope you're good cause nothing make sense to me right now."

True to his word, Minho proved to be knowledgeable; effortlessly explaining the concepts and relegating her to complete a set of worksheets. Looking up from her work, she watched as Minho's cleanly shaped eyebrows furrowed together tightly while his fingers flew rapidly against the bright LED screen of his phone.

"I'm done with these, do you wanna check them?" Absentmindedly, he muttered back. "Mhmm, okay. Sounds great." Sighing, she brushed her books away. "Minho. Are you okay?" Her voice laced with concern cause him to shoot his eyes upward and bite his lips nervously. Inhaling a deep breath, he ran his hand over his jet black hair and placed his phone on the wooden table. "It's eomma. They're getting engaged."

Minho faltered, unable to finish his sentence. "It's just..." Without thinking twice, Adelaide was by his side, pulling him in for a hug. His broad shoulders deflated sadly as he buried his face in her the crook of her neck. Presently, she could care less about the social hierarchy of the school- if Minho was a celebrity and she was just an ordinary girl or if anybody witnessed their intimacy. Right now, they were simply both two hearts beating as one; desperately grappling for their place in the world.

Ordinarily, Adelaide shied away from physical touch and it perplexed her that she could feel so at peace just being here for Minho. Sniffling softly, he stood up and deftly wiped his tears away. Although traces of red rimmed the corner of his eyes, he kept an air of cocky nonchalance close by. "Ah. Sorry about that. I love eomma so so much and I only want the best for her but it's scary to know that she's getting married again. It's happening so fast. What if it doesn't work out and ends up like dad all over again?"

"It's totally normal to feel sad about this. This is a huge change in hers and your life but if you want the best for her then the best thing to do is to be supportive and trust her as a son. Don't keep your feelings bottled up. Hey, I'm always here for you if you need me." Minho smirked mischievously in response to Adelaide's advice, one hand leaned against the table to prop up his head. "You actually give good advice, dede. If only you'd take your own advice more often."

"Our situations are different, okay."

"Mhm, how so?" Shoving him away playfully she couldn't find it in herself to explain further. "It just is."

Knowing better than to press on further, Minho just nodded and tapped his phone. "Eomma wants me to meet David officially tonight and celebrate their engagement."

"And you're scared?" Adelaide voiced out his fears without him even having to say it. He nodded in agreement. "I don't think I can do it. Eomma might be ready but what if I'm not?"

"Well, you'll never know if you don't go. Besides, don't people say that if you're scared it just means that you care?" As usual, Adelaide spoke practically; her words lined with reason it was hard to refute. Pouting lowly, he looked up at her with a doe-like expression. "Come with me."

"What?"

"Not for tonight... but like for everything else... will you come with me? Sort of like and an unofficial date or plus one, if you will." He unabashedly left his cards out on the table. "Won't your fangirls be upset?" Adelaide deflected discreetly- a bad habit of hers.

"Alright, it's shameless of me to make you do this. Especially since I seem to keep being in your debt."

"Why me though?" Adelaide asked honestly. "Maybe if I have someone there that I can trust, I won't spiral out of control." His words raw and without pretense which took her by surprise. Minho somehow was more complicated than she could figure out, always throwing her a curveball when least expected. Waving his thoughts away, he smiled ruefully. "Whatever, we should stop here so you can get ready for the game."

This time, the words spilled out of her, filterless and without any rhyme or reason. "I'll do it." Now it was Minho's turn to be speechless. Adelaide batted her eyelashes innocently and smirked devillishly; pulling an uno-reverse on Minho's trademark mannerisms. "Of course, it comes with a price. I'll add be sure to add this to the list of things you owe me for."

. . .

Author's note 💌

Imo I find it kinda odd that all the boys don't have a last name (Dae, Q, Minho or Florian) in the series.