What Are We? the Series (A YunGi/MinHo Love Story)

Episode 3

Date: July 17, 2019

It had been two months since Yeosang's death. It hit everyone hard and no one knew how to function properly. Yunho, in particular, spent most of his days in the practice room dancing. Mingi would come and try to get through to him to give him a chance, but it hurt too much. Doing it all over again hurt too much. Even after the funeral, Mingi had tried to comfort him, but he felt strained to be near him. He loved him, he wanted it to work, but he couldn't trust him. Yunho sat in the coffee shop waiting on his blended beverage. Seonghwa walked in with Hongjoong close to him.

"Why have you been avoiding my calls?" Hongjoong asked sitting down in front of Yunho.

"We're worried about you. Wooyoung isn't doing well. San is trying his best, but it's not working and he's suffering. Mingi is like a lost puppy. He doesn't know how to fix this and he misses his talks with him. Even Jongho seems lost. Are you okay?" Seonghwa asked.

"I am fine, it's a part of life right? Things like this happen, I just never thought it would happen to him."

"None of us did. Right now we are all we have. We're a team. We're friends. We have to look out for each other," Hongjoong said looking at Yunho. "Manager-nim is calling a meeting. They wanna figure out what to do with us, with ATEEZ. I don't blame them though. We're fractured right now. We can't even concentrate to do a live performance. We just have to figure this out and figure out where to go from here."

"Yunho, have you talked to Mingi at all?"

"Aside from the night that you made him, no."

"Have you forgiven him?"

Yunho sighed. Had he really forgiven Mingi? He couldn't truly answer that question.

"It hurts hyung. It still hurts."

"I know it does. I get it, he did what he did and he's an asshole for what he did, but you can't beat yourself up by letting the hurt grow in you. I want you to be happy Yunho, but allowing this weight to press you down isn't going to help you," Seonghwa said placing a motherly hand on Yunho's hand that he'd placed on the table next to his beverage. "You gotta forgive him and let the burden go. I don't want to lose you too.'

Hongjooong stood up and moved to the counter to pay for Yunho's drink. Yunho fought back the tears that tried to escape looking down at his cup. Emotions were often uncontrollable in the realm of love. Yunho took a sip of his drink and nodded letting Seonghwa know that he would talk to Mingi.

"Thank you. Please call me if you need anything, and if they decide to disband ATEEZ, we are in this for life and you will always be my friend."

Yunho looked up noticing the tears in Seonghwa's eyes before he stood up and placed a warm hand on his shoulder. He had the ability to take away the hurt just by being there. He truly was the mom of the group. Seonghwa and Hongjoon left without another word. Yunho stayed trying to figure out what to do next. His phone vibrated and he looked down at it seeing Mingi's name flash across the screen. He reached down, picking the phone up slowly. He was persistent, that much was certain.

'Can we meet? I need to see you.'

The message was the last message among several that Mingi had sent. Yunho looked up and for a moment he thought he saw Yeosang in the corner of the cafe smiling at him, but when he looked again no one was there. Yunho typed a message and sent it back to Mingi.

'I'm hungry. Meet me at my usual spot. 20.'

He exhaled and hoped this was the right decision. Seonghwa was right. He had to let it go. He couldn't go through life holding on to something and allowing it to break him apart like it was doing. He stood up to go when someone approached him.

"Hey don't I know you?" the man said. He looked to be a year or two older than Yunho.

"I doubt it," Yunho said without looking in the man's direction.

"Well let me change that. My name's Lee Chan, but you can call me Dino."

Yunho looked up. He was shocked to see Seventeen's youngest member standing in front of him.

"Wow, who would've thought that Dino visited the same cafe I did."

"Honestly I just needed to get away from my manager, but I saw you sitting there texting someone and I figured I'd say hey. So I take it you remember me now?"

"How could I forget the very flirtatious Dino?"

"Hey when I see someone that I like, I like to make it known."

"Well, I'm getting ready to leave," Yunho said smiling.

"Can I ask you something before you go?"

"Sure."

"Are you seeing anyone?"

Yunho was caught off guard and immediately blushed.

"I, um, not really," he said curious where the conversation would go.

"Okay, okay, so are you doing anything later?"

"You're really straightforward aren't you?"

"Life is too short. I found out if you like someone, tell them while you can, you know?"

Yunho exhaled and shook his head. "I have a very busy schedule Dino, but I'll see you around."

"Well just in case," Dino said closing the gap between them and grabbing Yunho's phone. He pressed a few numbers and handed it back to Yunho. "Call me when you're free."

Yunho blushed even more with the closeness. He quickly dipped around Dino and left the cafe. Immediately he started talking to himself trying to figure out why Dino made him blush so much. He remembered how they first met. A friend of a friend of a friend. They were both dancers and Yunho had seen some of Dino's videos on Youtube. Lifting his phone to view it, he noticed the time and cursed. He still needed to meet with Mingi.