Believe in fate | Lee Know

Chapter 26

"Minho! You have to see this!" Jisung yelled and ran along the corridor to Minho's room where he hoped to find the older.

"What is it Hannie?" A sleepy Minho asked, looking irritated at the panicking squirrel at his door.

"You need to see this!" He repeated and sat down next to his best friend on the bed, shoving his phone into the other's face.

Minho took the phone to read the article that was opened. When realisation dawned on him, his eyes widened and the sleepiness disappeared.

"I need to call Ahri!" He scrambled to get his phone, Jisung watching him carefully.

"Hi, my love. Did I wake you up?" Minho asked, coming back to his seat next to Jisung.

"No, no. Miga caught something and was in a fever delirium the whole night. I already saw the article, if that's what you're calling about" Ahri answered and Minho switched the phone to his other ear so Jisung could hear her side as well.

"You can't be recognised on the pictures" The younger of the boys reassured.

"That's not really what I care about. But Minho, are you okay? Did your manager already say something?"

"No, not yet. I myself just read the article. But there's nothing much he can say, my dating ban has been lifted. I didn't do anything wrong"

"Of course you didn't, neither of you did but you still need to think of what to do next" Jisung reminded.

"Ahir, would you be okay if we ... you know, come public?" Minho asked, scratching his neck nervously unsure of what to expect.

"I don't want to cause anything bad for your career though", Ahri sounded insecure and Minho wanted nothing more than to hold her tightly in his arms. "You won't, you are just as much a big part of my life as StrayKids and I don't want to hide either of that. If you're okay with it of course."

Meanwhile Jisung had already left the room to give them some privacy after pattin Minho's shoulder encouragingly. He knew some fans would be upset, either because they were in deluision to think they actually had a chance with the elder or because they would ship him with someone else.

Jisung was aware of all the Minsung shipper and so was Minho but it never bothered them. In fact they enjoyed teasing their fans, seeing they were platonic soulmates and 100% comfortable with each other.

But Jisung for sure was going to throw hands if anyone insulted Ahri or their relationship. He had grown fond of the girl and he had never seen Minho that happy and at ease.

If anyone wanted to be rude, Han Jisung was ready to fight.

Back in Minho's room the latter was still convincing Ahri that coming public wouldn't harm his career.

"Okay fine, if you're turly sure that you and your managers are ok with it, then I'm in" Ahri gave in and Minho had to surprrss the excited squeal threatening to leave his thoat.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me. Where are you right now? I will come to you" Minho sprung up and shuffeled through his room in hopes of finding something wearable.

"I'm at the library but you really don't have to come-" "But I want to! Now stay seated, I'm on my way!" With that Minho left his room and after a quick wave towards Jisung, he was out the doorm.

Luckily the drive just took a few minutes and in no time Minho was striding through the library doors. He spotted Ahri sitting at a desk at the far back and with hunched shoulders he hurried over to her.

"Hey beautiful, is this seat taken?" he asked in a seductive voice and Ahri's voice shot up in shock before she began laughing. "Well my boyfriend is about to come but you can sit here until he does."

Minho giggled to himself, leaned over and put his hand under Ahri's chin to kiss her. "I missed you" he whispered against her lips before pulling away fully. "We saw each other three days ago...but I did miss you too." Minho grinned cheekily and sat down before taking one of Ahri's books.

"What are you studying?"

"Biology, exams are coming up next week, but most of the books here are shit. Maybe I have to ask Sooyeon if she could lend me a book again."

"Oh right, how did that go by the way? Your last meet up?" Minho asked, grabbing one of Ahri's hands and playing with her fingers like a newborn.

"Great, Sooyeon is so nice, if I weren't in love with you, I might've just fallen for her. Jokes aside, she really has been helping me a lot. Both school wise and in general" Ahri smiled both at the thought of Sooyeon and the sight of Minho playing with her hand.

"Well you are great too, so you deserve only having great people around you!"

"Did you just call yourself great?" Ahri laughed and Minho pouted before his lips pulled into a smirk, "Aren't I?"

Ahri just kissed him again, to effectively get him to shut up.

The two had to pull away because Ahri's phone rung, "Speaking of the devil, Sooyeon is calling."

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hi, girlie, just wanted to let you know that application season for the upcoming semester are open now. I think you should apply." Sooyeon answered with her always cheerful voice.

"I don't know, first of all they only accept very few fifth semesters and secondly, I still haven't figured out a way to pay for the school fees" Minho was looking very disapprovingly but Ahri chose to ignore him.

"What if you would get an official offer to apply?" Sooyeon continued, not yet wanting to give in.

"As if", "Just wait and see~ Oh, I gotta go, talk to you later and we have to meet up for coffee sometime next week." With that the call was ended and Minho chose to interfere.

"I think she is right, you should apply. Every college would be stupid to not accept you. And please don't worry about the money before even applying, worst case scenario I will paythe fees. Nothing big- no, don't even try to disagree with me!"

Ahri closed her mouth again, defeated, "Fine, I'll think about it, okay?"

That was good enough for Minho so he went back to his task of examining Ahri's hand while she continued studying.

After a while Minho conviced Ahri to call it a day and the two packed their things. Minho happily interwined their hands and they started heading out. "You truly okay with this?" Ahri asked, lifting their locked fingers, when they were about to exit the building.

"I actually have been thinking about telling the fans about us for a while but I was unsure of how you would react. Thearticle with the photo of me kissing you just gave me enough courage to actually bring it up."

Ahri went on her toes and quickly pressed a kiss on Minho's cheek before pulling him along. their peaceful walk towards Minho's car was cut short when a group of people recognized him and went over to the pair.

"Are you Minho's girlfriend?" A girl around seven asked with big hopeful eyes and Ahri was somehow reminded of her siblings.

"Yes she is" Minho smiled proudly and looked at Ahri as if the girl held the universe.

The little girl clapped her hands, while the rest of the small group, probably her family, choose to stay quite but with their phones out. "Do you also kiss her?" The girl continued to ask and the couple couldn't help but laugh fondly.

Instead of answering, Minho pulled Ahri into a gentle slow kiss; they still had a kid watching them.

"Go on, post it" Minho told another girl who was holding up her phone, recording, "Every Stay should know that I'm in love with this woman and how thankful I am that she is in love with me as well."

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~short little chapter for you, I sadly didn't manage to update last week
~there might me a time skip in the next chapter but maybe I'll get an idea of something to write before that

~until next chapter
~~June