The New Girl | 𝘈𝘛𝘌𝘌𝘡

Wild Goose Chase

ANNA

"Hey Anna," Mingi throws his arm over my shoulders as if we're the closest of friends, surprising both me and EllaJin, who I've been talking to about my assignments up until now.

She gives me a surprised look, glancing between Mingi and I. "I didn't realize you two were such good friends."

Mingi smiles at her innocently, but his eyes are on me. "We're dance partners."

"—for a class," I explain, and EJ nods with raised eyebrows.

"We should get going," Mingi adds, lending a small nod to EJ. "Noona, always a pleasure."

"You too..." she says while giving me an ever-curious expression.

Mingi leads me away from her without a proper goodbye and in the direction of the dance studios for our next class, but I know better than to question his odd behavior. However, when he keeps walking past the dance studios and out of the building, my suspicion grows. "Where are you taking me?"

"You have been avoiding me since you got out of the hospital," he explains. "I figure if we're going to make it through the rest of the semester, we're going to need to talk to each other eventually."

I hum in acknowledgment, not really sure how to respond. It's true that I've been avoiding him since the hospital, but I don't know what to say to him, even though I know we're going to have to talk eventually for class.

He scratches his head and sighs. "I know Seonghwa told you about my history and trust me, I wish I could take it back—"

"—honestly Mingi, I don't know if I want to hear about—"

"—just give me a chance to explain." He stops walking and reaches for my hand, and I don't fight him on it. "I didn't grow up with an awesome dad like my friends did, and suddenly they all took me in like one of their own. My mom was an angel, but she died when I was 16, and without her I got out of control. I was angry at the world and didn't care who I hurt in an attempt to heal myself.
"I only made up that stupid fucking game to distract myself. It's no excuse, but I do feel like the worlds biggest asshole about it now and I wish that I could undo it. But I never, ever, forced myself onto anyone. I would never do something like that, and I wanted you to know—"

"—why?" I ask him suddenly.

"Why do you care so much about clearing your name with me?"

He flushes.

Um...what?

"Well..." he looks at the ground and sighs. "I guess, I uh..."

I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes out.

"Fuck," he grumbles and looks up at me. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head, a small smile on his face as he suddenly wraps me in his arms and plants his lips on mine.

What, wait?

ROSE

"Oh my god, what?!"

"I know!" Anna squeaks from the other end of the call. "It came out of nowhere! One minute, we're going to practice and suddenly he just—"

"—jumps you?" I laugh. "Well, give me the details? Is he a good kisser?"

"Rose!" She hisses. "That's not the point right now! The point is that I'm about to have to spend the evening at Yoongi's birthday with Seonghwa and I can't get the taste of Mingi out of my mouth!"

I laugh into my palm. "Okay, I'm sorry! But I do have to go, so I'll see you tonight after your dad's party, okay?"

"Alright, fair enough. I call dibs on my own bottle of soju!" She hangs up with that, leaving me to my own agenda.

I take a deep breath as I raise my fist to Hongjoong's door, knocking twice before quickly lowering my hand and waiting. A second passes before I hear a 'come in' and let myself inside.

Hongjoong is hunched over his laptop with his back to the door when I walk in. The room is dark aside from the light of his laptop and a line of string lights that line the wall next to his bed.

"Hey Rose," a voice that does not belong to Hongjoong greets me, and I notice Seonghwa sitting on the bed.

I cross my arms and glare at him. "Hi."

Hongjoong turns in his desk chair and smirks at me, which temporarily distracts me from the fact that his brother is on my shit list. "Hey Rose, what's up?"

"I uh..." dammit Rose, don't freeze up "I wanted to see if you could help me with my music theory class work."

"I wish I could, but I'm about to head out to help our parents with a party they're hosting tonight." He turns to Seonghwa and smiles brightly. "I'm sure Mars over here could help you. He's better at theory than me anyways."

Seonghwa smiles and nods in agreement. He definitely is pretty, but I'm not trying to spend time with the man whore after what Anna told me.

I smile and try to mask my disappointment. "No that's okay, it's nothing urgent."

"Well, if there's nothing else, I should probably get going." Hongjoong stands from the bed and grabs his coat from the closet, oblivious to the tension. Suddenly, there's a knock at the door, and he crosses over to open it.

"Hey Joong," the man at the other side of the doorway smiles brightly, "sorry to barge in on you."

"Uncle Jackson?" Hongjoong tilts his head in confusion. "I uh... I heard you were back."

The man chuckles softly. "I know it's been a while since I've seen you, but I've been on a bit of a wild goose chase for the past two years. I'm actually hoping you can help me with that."

Hongjoong stands up a little straighter. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, it turns out I have a son and he lives in your dorm." The man seems much more nervous now, his voice a bit lower than before. "Any idea where I can find Song Mingi?"