Desire - ATEEZ Mingi

17

Yeeun's POV:

I clutched my books to my chest as I weaved through the crowds of people to get to my locker. Once I was there, I dialed in the combo and pulled the door open, only to be greeted by a big, cluttered mess. I sighed, wondering why I can never keep my locker clean and organized.

I set the books in my hand on top of the mess and began to organize the pig sty in front of me. As I lined up and stacked my books, a familiar voice rang through my ears.

"Okay, what's the deal with you, Yeeun?" The voice snapped. I furrowed my eyebrows, instantly recognizing that the voice didn't belong to Mingi. Glancing over, I was surprised to find Soyeon standing there, arms crossed and looking irritated.

"What?" I asked, confused by her words. She sighed loudly. "Look, if you don't want to be friends, then fine. But at least have enough respect to tell me that instead of just ignoring me."

I raised my eyebrows and shook my head. "What? No. Soyeon, I'd really like to be friends but..."I began, only to trail off. What was I supposed to say to her? What could I say? I knew that telling her the truth was completely out of the question.

"But, what?" She asked, sounding impatient. I bit my lip, then sighed. "Look, it's complicated," I said, choosing my words carefully. "I really would like to be friends, but I just...can't."

"Why not?" She continued to pester. I came up with a good answer for her quicker than I thought I would. "Look, Soyeon. I' m really sorry, but I've got a lot of things going on in my life right now. You seem really nice and I'd love to hang out someday and get to know each other better, but my life is just too crazy right now for that."

Soyeon took in my words and I hoped I hadn't come off as sounding rude. But I needed to do something otherwise she'd never leave me alone.

"Alright. I understand," she said, her tone much kinder than before. "I'll see you around, Yeeun." And with that, she turned on her heel and left, not even giving me the chance to say goodbye. I sighed, turning back to my locker.

A million emotions built themselves up inside of me, all at once. But the one that was getting to me the most was anger. And it was anger directed towards Mingi. He walks around, acting like he owns me. Usually, I just accept it. But there are certain times where I don't want to accept it. I want to get mad and not have Mingi shoving me into a wall for letting it show.

But what can I do? Mingi's much bigger and much stronger than I am, and he makes sure to take advantage of it every time I do something wrong, I'm defenseless against him.

Frustrated, I swiped my books out of my newly organized locker and slammed it shut. As I began to march towards my next class, an all too familiar voice stopped me. "Yeeun,"

Slouching my shoulders, I turned around and came face to face with Mingi. "What's the matter, baby?" He asked, eyebrows creased as he cupped my waist with his right hand and pulled me into his chest. "Nothing." I muttered, trying to pry his hand off my waist and failing.

"Hey," he said, raising his other hand to hold my waist as well and tightening his grip. "Are you mad at me?" He asked. I nodded with zero reluctance, feeling unafraid of him for once. He frowned. "Why? I didn't do anything wrong." He defended. I almost laughed. "Are you kidding me? Every day, you do something wrong," I argued, pushing him away from me. As I went to step around him, he harshly took ahold of my arm, just above my elbow. I winced. "What did you just say to me?" He asked, his voice and eyes darkening with every word. I swallowed hard, suddenly not feeling so brave.

I took a glance at our surroundings to see if people were watching our little argument. Sure enough, more than a few people were eyeing us.

"Mingi, stop. People are watching," I warned Mingi, not wanting him to shove me into the lockers with so many people looking. I didn't even want to think about the kind of trouble he'd be in if someone reported it.

He released a short, frustrated sigh, giving my arm one last tight squeeze before letting go. Then he took a step towards me, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Get to class. We'll talk about this later." He demanded calmly. I nodded meekly in understanding.

I was surprised when he placed a soft kiss on my forehead, but then I figured that it was probably just to assure everyone watching that we were okay when truthfully, we weren't at all.

I parted from Mingi without even saying goodbye. I was sure I'd regret that later.