𝖷1 𝖨𝗆𝖺𝗀𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖲𝗁𝗈𝗋𝗍 𝖲𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌

17. Minhee, You've Got Some Explaining To Do

"So, you tripped and fell?" Wooseok asks while giving Minhee a once over. His facial expression showed that he didn't believe it.

I might have had I not seen him in the locker room.

"Yeah," Minhee shrugs his shoulders, "pretty much."

My eyes glance down to his knees. Although they were covered by his sweatpants he was wearing to dance, I knew that he had bandages on the scrapes.

Luckily they weren't that bad. They sure did bleed a lot.

"Minhee's so clumsy, I don't know why you'd even question it," Dongpyo said with a laugh. Then went back to his phone.

Minhee scowls at the boy but I can tell he's relieved that everyone was more humored than concerned.

The second we get a moment out of earshot of the others I ask him what's been stuck on my mind since he gave his friends a bogus explanation for the bandages.

"Why didn't you tell them the truth?"

He bends down to grab his water bottle for a drink. He's all sweaty and flushed from doing their dance routine multiple times. Honestly they all looked beat.

I didn't know what to expect when Minhee invited me to X1's dance practice. We showed up at this fancy dance studio with security guards and everything. Needless to say I was impressed.

His brown eyes showed his exhaustion but also his determination and I wasn't sure if it was for perfecting the dance or convincing me that concealing the truth to his friends was for the best.

"Trust me. It's best to leave them out of it. Because if they knew, they'd want to get involved and it doesn't have to be that big of a thing."

"Minhee, you were attacked at school," I enunciate each word slowly so that it processes in his mind, "they're your friends. Don't you think they deserve to know?"

"No, no," he shakes his head, "I wasn't attacked. It was just... a misunderstanding. They were just messing around and things got a little rough."

He pauses for a second. Seemingly lost in thought. Maybe he was replaying the moment in his mind.

"But I was fine and I'm fine now. I can handle it."

It seemed like he was trying to convince himself rather than me.

"You were crying." He clearly didn't have this handled.

He suddenly goes into defensive mode.

"That was only because I wasn't used to that kind of behavior and also it kind of hurt."

He stared me down as if daring me to contradict him.

I let out a sigh.

You don't have to act tough in front of me Minhee. Maybe you feel like you have to for your friends but it doesn't have to be with me.

"I'm sure I can talk to them and everything will be fine," he adds.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what those guys were thinking when they pushed you to the ground," I sarcastically say to him but unlike the usual neither of us are amused.

My facial expression must have shown great concern because Minhee places his hands gently on my shoulders, bending down closer to my face.

"Don't worry about it, okay?"

Minhee's eyes stared deeply into mine.

He really wanted me to stay out of this.

"Fine, Okay. I'll stay out of it." Satisfied with my answer he lets go of my shoulders and backs up a bit. "But promise me you'll talk to the principal or a teacher or somebody."

Even if neither his friends nor I can do something about it, someone else could.

"You need to get help from somebody." I finish.

Our conversation is interrupted before Minhee can answer.

"Help with what?" It was Seungwoo. I wasn't sure how long he'd been listening in. A few other members glanced in our direction.

"With the choreography for the new song. I think I got the chorus down but I still get lost in the verses."

Again I'm surprised by how Minhee can just pull up reasonable answers to questions that he either doesn't know, or doesn't want to share, the real answer to.

He's certainly a quick thinker.

I'm almost convinced that's what we had been talking about and I was a part of the conversation!

"Right, well, we can work on that now if you want."

Minhee nodded his head.

Seungwoo gives me a look. Like a parent who's aware that their child knows more than they let on.

I look away.

I couldn't break now. Not just after promising Minhee that I would stay out of it.

"Jiah," Hyeongjun came up to me smiling, "you'll like this. I helped make the choreography for this one!"

You've got to love the boy's positivity.

I smile back an assuring smile.

"Don't act like you did it all by yourself. I helped too," Dongpyo surly stated.

They prepared themselves to start working on the choreography. I found myself a wall to sit against, out of the way.

The room really was spacious.

"I just want to know," I speak loudly, they all pay attention to me, "if you have a great place to dance like this, why were you practicing in my living room?"

"Jimin asked if his group could use the space," Hangyul answered as if I was supposed to know who that was.

Another dancer at the studio I suppose.

"I thought they were on a break?" Yohan asked.

Wait a minute.

"I don't know. He asked and I said he could take our slot."

Do they really mean—?

"By Jimin you mean Jimin of—"

"BTS? Yes."

Suddenly they were all staring at me, expecting some sort of big reaction.

"BTS as in the global superstar boy band BTS? That one?"

Someone says 'yes'.

"And, and they were here, dancing in this room?"

"Is she going to faint?" Someone asks.

I shouldn't be surprised anymore by anything these guys say. The lives they lived were unreal.

"Probably not but that would be so amusing, wouldn't it?" That one was Minhee I was sure of it.

I collect myself. There's no point in freaking out.

"Okay," I say quietly yet definitively.