five days | kim seungmin

06 | empire state building

it was pretty crowded inside the elevator. everyone's shoulders were only a few inches away from each others'.

and i just happened to be right next to hyunjin.

i was pretty sure chaeyoung and dahyun were giving me looks of pity, still claiming that i liked hyunjin but wasn't good enough for him.

but that didn't matter for now, because i was too stressed about going almost a thousand feet in elevation.

i stared at the floor, standing very stiff. it was very quiet inside the elevator.

evelyn broke the silence soon after the elevator started moving.

"oppa," her wide eyes peered up at hyunjin.

"uh?" hyunjin looked down at her, taken by surprise.

"i have a question," she giggled as she spoke.

"what?" hyunjin asked.

"do you have a crush on minjoo unnie?" she pointed at me.

evelyn's question triggered a vareity of reactions inside the elevator.

jisung and chan were laughing their heads off. chaeyoung and dahyun were admiring how cute evelyn was. somi gave me an apologetic look, then turned to give evelyn a harsh look.

"what? i'm curious!" evelyn whined.

i glanced at hyunjin, who looked completely unbothered by the question.

"actually, it's the other way around-"

"that's a lie. you shouldn't lie to younger kids, hyunjin," i cut him off mid-sentence.

he laughed. "oh really? what if i did this?"

hyunjin suddenly wrapped his arm around my shoulders, making me lean towards him.

i was very flustered at his sudden action, and i didn't know what to do, so i just stared forward at seungmin, who was standing in front of me.

then seungmin pushed hyunjin's arm off my shoulder.

"stop," seungmin spoke in a stern tone.

"what, she probably doesn't mind," hyunjin shrugged.

"it's obvious she's nervous about this," seungmin said.

"about what?" hyunjin asked, clueless.

seungmin pointed at the screen displaying which floor the elevator was currently on. he knew i was afraid of heights.

hyunjin seemed to realize.

"oh. sorry," hyunjin apologized, but it didn't seem like he really meant it.

then the elevator arrived at the floor we were supposed to get off on.

i was the first to step out when the door opened, spotted a restroom, and speedwalked into it.

i looked at myself in the mirror. my cheeks were red, as if i just ran a mile.

i put my hands in front of the sink sensor and let the cold water run down. then i pressed my hands to the sides of my face, hoping it would help cool it down.

i calmed down a bit.

that was so embarrassing.

"unnie?" i looked up at the mirror to see somi walking into the bathroom.

i quickly wiped the water off my face, shaking my hands to dry them.

somi watched me with a worried look.

"unnie, i'm really sor-"

"somi-yah, it's okay. it wasn't your fault or evelyn's," i gave a faint smile as i dabbed my face with tissue.

somi's bright smile returned to her face.

"okay. but will you be alright? with the...heights..."

i nodded. my fear of heights wasn't too serious.

"let's go, we should take some pictures of the view," i threw away the crumpled tissue in my hand and pushed the bathroom door open.

as i walked towards one of the windows, i saw seungmin with the other boys, looking out a window, pointing at something.

seungmin turned and met my eyes, but i broke away almost immediately, following somi.

"wah! there are so many buildings in manhattan!" somi exclaimed.

"yeah..." i gulped, forcing myself not to look directly down at the street.

"let's take a selca!" somi pulled out her phone, turning around to pose for a photo.

i followed suit, smiling at the camera.

somi lowered her phone to check the result.

"pretty!" she chuckled.

"yeah, you are. not me," i pouted.

"unnie, stop saying that. you are pretty!" she looked at me.

i sighed. i didn't agree. somi was actually really pretty, with large eyes and a small face. i wondered if she had a boyfriend.

"somi-yah! come here, let's take a family photo," somi's dad called.

"i'll be right back," somi waved and i nodded.

i turned to look out the window again, at the sea of skyscrapers reaching towards the sky.

"minjoo-yah..." i took my eyes off the view to see seungmin standing next to me.

"yeah...?" i blinked.

"sorry about that."

"why are you saying sorry? it was hyunjin..."

"it's the least i can do."

i smiled at him. "thanks, you don't have to be so nice to me though."

seungmin looked slightly confused.

"i feel like your friends are teasing you because of what you do for me," i explained.

"no, no! it's fine. this happens often, hyunjin flirting with girls. i try my best to stop him," he shook his head.

i kind of felt disappointed. so seungmin was nice to all girls? wait what the hell minjoo, are you jealous? i don't even really know him that well. why did i even think that he was being kind to me for any special reason?

i snapped out of my thoughts.

seungmin awkwardly cleared his throat. "well, um. i'll be going now. annyeong."

"annyeong," i watched him leave.