To Be Loved... (BOOK 1)

Gossip

Minho's POV:

I was about to get into my car until Seonghwa had pulled into his driveway at the same time with the screeching of his tires.

"Lee Minho!" Seonghwa shouted, out of breath as he ran towards me. Mingi got out of the passenger seat at a normal speed.

"How did it go?"

"Shuhua broke up with Hongjoong." He had his hands on his knees as if he didn't run six feet. The dramatics with him will never stop.

"Why?"

"Because she cheated on him!" He exclaimed as if it was the greatest news he'd ever heard. Typically I'd say a reaction like that is in poor taste, but I know how much Seonghwa has missed his best friend.

"What? With who?"

"My cousin." Mingi shook his head, finally standing by us.

I made a very confused face. "I thought Keeho was gay."

"So did I!" Seonghwa smiled.

I scoffed and dragged them into Seonghwa's house since it was freezing cold outside.

"So did he ask you to hang out to just...comfort him? What was his reasoning?" Asking Seonghwa over just for support after Hongjoong's distanced himself greatly would be bothersome. But then again, I doubt Seonghwa would be this thrilled if that's what happened.

"He apologized." He whispered. "He said he knew how much time she had taken away from him and that he missed me."

The obvious fact that everyone knows except for Hongjoong himself.

Seonghwa has a very massive crush.

Like...deeply in love.

That's also why he was so willing to start hooking up with me again. I needed to cope with a breakup and he needed to cope with heart break, that being Hongjoong and Shuhua.

"How did you end up here?" I laughed at Mingi who clearly has no role in this whatsoever.

"I wanted to be here for the story since Hongjoong has basically stolen Yunho from me."

"Shut it." Seonghwa smacked his arm. "You know that's not true. I tell you all the time it's because of Karina." Mingi just rolled his eyes.

"You know, Hyunjin asked what was up with you guys." I smirked, wanting some answers myself.

"He's my best friend, what does that even mean? What did Hyunjin say?" Mingi seemed uneasy as if he was hiding something. I could be overanalyzing, but Hyunjin must've picked up on something.

"He just said you're touchy." I shrugged.

"We're not touchy." He denied.

"You shared a bed." Seonghwa made a very good point. They did share a bed.

"Because Yunho was already sleeping over and there would've been no room on the floor. You guys know my room is small." He was frantically defending himself. "Listen, just because you guys are gay, doesn't mean I am."

Seonghwa and I looked at each other, jokingly appalled.

"We said nothing about being gay, Mingi."

Mingi then sighed in defeat. "It's not what you freaks are thinking. There is no type of feelings going on between either of us, I can tell you that for a fact. I know I've been an asshole because of Karina. It's just that she's my first girlfriend and I don't wanna mess it up." He confessed.

"That doesn't explain the touchy feely stuff, but at least you know you've been an asshole."

"We're just like that, I don't know." Mingi shrugged, not having a better answer. "So what if we cuddle sometimes?" He mumbled.

"Aww." Seonghwa nearly pushed him off the bed with a smile. "Cuddle buddies."

Mingi pouted and pushed his glasses up towards the bridge of his nose.

"How is Karina anyway?" I asked. He rarely talks about her. To be fair, Mingi isn't one to talk about his life at all. He's always just been the comic relief idiot even though he's an honors student.

"She's good." Mingi simply said.

"You never talk about her so I was just wondering."

"There's nothing to really talk about. She's really nice, she's really pretty, and she's chill. We never fight and there's never any drama."

"What do you think would happen if you told her you didn't wanna spend nearly every day with her?" It seems like Mingi never runs into problems with Karina because he does what she wants. He shrugged once again, not knowing the answer. "Try it."

"Bros before hoes." Seonghwa nodded and pushed his lips out much like a child.

"He's right." I agreed.

Seonghwa and Mingi went on to bicker back and forth so I took the opportunity to text Jisung.

I didn't think seeing him would have this big of an impact on me, yet here we are. He said he just wanted to be friends and start over so that's what we'll be. He seems different. He seems at peace with himself.

Minho
Hey, you get home okay?

Sungie
Yeah Beomgyu is over so we're all hanging out

I completely forgot I never changed his contact name in my phone. It made me slightly uneasy, but I couldn't bring myself to change it even after the realization.

Sungie
I'm really happy I got to see you

It was nice

"The hell got you smiling like that?" Mingi teased and stole my phone from me.

"Hey!" I reached for it back, but Seonghwa pulled me into his lap.

Mingi gasped and smiled. "You were with Jisung!"

"You were with Jisung? I just assumed you went to Hyunjin and Wooyoung's so that's why you were still parked in front of my house." Seonghwa was in disbelief as well it seemed.

"Nope." I shook my head. "Ji and I got sushi."

"So...like a date."

"No, Seonghwa, not like a date. We just hung out."

"Did you pay?" I rolled my eyes and didn't answer. "You paid, okay understood. Min, it was a date."

"So is this gonna be a thing again?" Mingi asked, handing back my phone.

"He just said he wanted to be friends." I stated, staring at his text.

Minho
I'm happy I got to see you too

I'm glad you've found some inner peace

It's a good look on you

"Are you flirting?" Seonghwa exclaimed, clearly not minding his own business with his head over my shoulder.

"I am not flirting, I'm just complimenting him."

"Right, flirting."