fever | ateez lore story

CH 11

•yunho•

Jongho chucks the basketball towards me, but I refuse to catch it, my attention fixated on the iron wall next to Hongjoong.

I watch as Mingi raps his heart out, his eyes squeezing shut and words flowing out of his mouth so smoothly, like waves on an ocean. He's so fluent with music, it really surprises me how someone so intimidating can be just as human as any one of us. I really underestimated Mingi.

"Woah~" Wooyoung sighs, eyes as wide as the sun. I smile as his reaction, as well as everyone else's. This is the moment we all changed our view of Mingi.

He peels his eyes open, and the moment he does so, they're filled to the brim with passion. The way his eyes glistened reminds me a lot of my brother. I suddenly see a lot of my brother in Mingi - someone who struggled to show their talent, but with the help of others around them, they're undefeated.

"That was so much than when you did it in the music room. There was so much emotion, like You really felt what you were saying." Hongjoong gushes, and I could not agree more. It sounded as if Mingi's heart was saying those lyrics, words it was so desperate to say. San apologises for the broken promise he made, as everyone ended up listening to Mingi instead of ignoring it. But, Mingi does not look one bit, fazed. If anything, he looks relieved.

"Strangers, no more. My name is Jongho, and I like your voice, Mingi." Jongho says. Once Mingi's name fell off of Jongho's lips, his eyes lit up, his tense shoulders relaxing and his expression softening. From what I heard around school, it takes a lot to tame Mingi, but it seems as if we did it in just a few seconds.

I make my way to him, patting his shoulder and smiling.

-"I did not expect that! Now I get why your last name is Song."

"Terrible joke." He laughs, looking at me with foreignly friendly eyes, and my heart melts.

"Are you sure you want to do just one song, Mingi? We could really use your talent." Hongjoong say, his eyes wide and insisting. Mingi takes a moment to look around the room at everyone else, their faces displaying the same pleading expression as the class captain.

"I could do...maybe one more." He says, and an outburst of cheer fills the empty warehouse, echoing and bouncing off the walls.

There he is. He's slowly opening up. The way my brother did when I talked him out of school talent shows and productions to go out into the real world and show talent companies what he can do. I hope his training today is going well.

---

"See you guys tomorrow! Warm your voices up!" Seonghwa says, laughing as we all split up in different directions to go home.

"Bye bye~" I sing, stretching my arm out to bid farewell. I head on home alone. Unless, that's what I thought.

"You're home is this way, too?" I ask Mingi who catches up to me. He nods, his earbuds hanging loose around his neck.

-"Yeh it is. I just turn left at the end of this road."

"Really? I turn right at the end of the road. That's so funny." I giggle, laughing at how close we live from each other. Despite how we're at opposite end of the road, I have never seen him on the way to school.

"How come I haven't see you on the way to school before?" I ask, voicing my thoughts. His gaze shifts from me to the ground, the smile on his face fading like fog.

Did I...say something?

"It's fine. You don't need to say anything." I panic, waving my hands in front of me. He stares at me before huffing, the smile returning on his lips, but instead, carrying some sort of baggage in it.

"It's to avoid Min-J. Awkward timings call for awkward interactions. Either way, going to school late or early, he and his mates will always be there, around the corner from my house. I can't seem to avoid them." He explains, the sorrowful smile still on his face.

Min-J's group and Mingi have been enemies for as long as I can remember. Their fights made headline news around the school, and for months and months on end, it was all anyone was talking about. Verbal fights happened wherever, but physical fights would occur behind the school. Me and Hongjoong had to be the ones to deal with it most of the time, issuing a report to the principle once we heard something going on. I hate to sound biased, but it seems that Mingi's the victim here. There was definitely something deeper in their fights, but Mingi's only fighting back, yet, everyone believes him to be the enemy.

"I can always report them to the principle for disturbance. They'll be monitored often, so you can get to school safe." I suggest, hoping it would provide some help. He shakes his head, sighing.

-"Thank you, but they're smart enough to find another location to jump me from."

I can't have that.

"Tomorrow morning, be outside your door at 7:00am exactly. I'll be there." I say, rather than ask. The boys are becoming my brothers, but Mingi's somehow more of a twin to me than anything, and I'll help and protect him like one.

"You don't have to do that. I can manage my way through them, I've done so many times already." Mingi protests.

"Then that ends here. Meet me outside your door, 7:00am, sharp." I demand, giving him a bright smile. He only stares at me momentarily, before he returns the smile.

"Alright, thank you." He says nonchalantly, as he always speaks.

"See you tomorrow!" I sing, and turn right at the end of the road, while he turns left.