To Be Loved... (BOOK 1)

All Together Now

The car ride was silent but comfortable. I was shocked my parents even let me out of the house, but they seemed to trust Minho.

"So who will be there again?"

"You, me, San, Yeosang, Seonghwa, Hongjoong, Mingi, and Yunho." This was the third time I asked him. He knows I wouldn't even step out of the car if Wooyoung and Felix were there. When I see them, it'll be separate.

"So are Yunho and Mingi good now?"

"Apparently." He shrugged. "I haven't gotten any details, it's just been really hectic lately." We parked in front of a small burger joint and I already saw everyone inside. I was terrified to say the least. "Hey." He put his hand on my shoulder. "It's gonna be okay." I nodded and we both walked in together.

A chair loudly screeched and before I knew it, Hongjoong was holding onto me for dear life.

"Hey." I whispered and returned the gesture. "Whatever you do, don't cry."

"Okay." He was definitely crying.

If there's anyone I actually felt bad for individually, it would be Hongjoong. Knowing about his brother, I figured he was nearly reliving everything. He was probably terrified.

"Come on, Joongie. I'll sit next to you." I wrapped my arm around his shoulder as we walked to the large table for eight. It was awkward immediately. I felt like everyone was staring at me. "So what'd I miss?" I didn't speak too loud, but it was enough to be heard.

"I got a full ride scholarship for football." San shrugged. I was glad there was something to talk about other than me.

"Are you going?" He nodded. "Does Wooyoung know?"

"Not yet." He shook his head.

"Are you guys just gonna do long distance?" Seonghwa asked.

Once he joined the conversation, it felt a bit less tense since the attention was now on San.

"If he's willing." San shrugged. "The school is only an hour away though, it's not the end of the world."

"It'll be the end of the world for me!" Yeosang pouted.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about when you got accepted to the same exact school."

A few of us laughed at San and Yeosang's conversation.

"What if we're not in the same dorm?"

"Yeosang, we will be in the same dorm." I could tell San was exhausted in every way possible. My only assumption was that it had to do with Wooyoung.

"You okay?" I asked him quietly as the rest of us broke into side conversations.

He looked at me as if it was funny that I was the one asking. "I'm just tired."

"I'm sorry." I mumbled.

"It's okay, it's not your fault." He gave me a reassuring smile.

Our food eventually came out. Minho and I shared fries since we had just eaten which was definitely a good call considering the fact that I'm nearly full.

"So what's going on with you two?" I turned to Hongjoong and pointed to Seonghwa who was busy talking to Mingi and Yunho. I could tell he had been waiting for me to ask judging by how excited he just got.

"We're together." He scrunched his nose and had the cutest smile on his face. He seemed so happy.

"How's that been?" I smiled.

"Perfect. He's amazing."

"Who's amazing?" Seonghwa turned around immediately.

"You, dumbass." Hongjoong kissed his cheek, making Seonghwa blush uncontrollably. "We're in love." He whispered remarkably loud. I hope they stay together for a long time.

"It's about time." I nodded. "What about those two?" I whispered and pointed at Yunho and Mingi. Hongjoong just rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Oh?"

"No one knows. But they've been together a lot recently."

"How did that even happen?" Hongjoong looked down and awkwardly puckered his lips. "Oh." I guess it must've been me.

"Don't beat yourself up over that though. You brought everyone closer. Wooyoung and Jisung just went out to get food the other day too."

To me, that was scary, but in a good way. I never thought I'd see the day where those two actually got along.

"Eat." Minho commanded and shoved more fries in my mouth before I could protest.

"But I'm full." I whined.

"Don't care."

The few that were watching us seemed to be a bit uneasy. I'm sure everyone thinks they need to be sensitive around me right now, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

"Okay." I spoke before holding a finger up for them to wait. I didn't want to talk about something this important with all this food in my mouth. "Alright, you guys need to listen to me." Everyone was giving me their full, undivided attention. "If I'm being honest, I'm still upset about everything that happened. All of you are old enough to make your own decisions, I don't care who you thought you were protecting. I want everything to go back to normal, but I don't know who to even trust anymore." Hongjoong almost looked broken, but he should know this doesn't apply to him. "You don't count." I whispered in his ear. He nodded, seeming much less upset. "Just treat me like this never happened." I begged. "Maybe not shove fries in my face, but I really don't want everyone to feel like they need to treat me like a child and walk on thin ice. I'm figuring everything out and this will help." Everyone at the table seemed to understand which I was thankful for.

"For the record, I was on your side." Yeosang blurted out with his hand up.

"Yeosang, shut the fuck up!" San shouted in absolute disbelief that he'd find that to be an appropriate thing to say. Personally, I found it funny. Yeosang will follow San's lead on just about anything so I figured it was implied.

"I was too, but I was mad that you were friends with Yunho." Mingi awkwardly said.

I figured everyone's true feelings were about to come out which I thought was interesting. Everyone was desperate to get on my good side it seemed.

"Is your pathetic little feud over now?" I asked them. They both nodded like little kids who had just gotten in trouble. "Good. I'm sick of the gossip."

The rest of our night together felt like old times. Half of us were making stupid jokes, the other half was laughing at them. We didn't talk about what happened nor was Felix or Wooyoung brought up which I appreciated.

But now I was going back home with Minho.

"See? That wasn't so bad." He smiled. "I could tell you were a little overwhelmed though. I'm proud you tried, kid." We got back inside my house and for some reason, my parents asked to talk to him alone. Weird.