Get It Right | Kim Seungmin

Chapter 2

"Can I go?" You ask with hope, desperate for a 'yes' when you knew that the probable answer was a 'no'. But you still tried. As you told Chris, you never know—you were still hopeful and willing to take the chance, even if you may just end up disappointed in the end, like always.

"New York is a long way, Minju," you grandmother sighs. You watched her put down her pair of glasses that she's had ever since she started taking care of you as she contemplated on giving her final answer.

"Come on, it's just Chris and the rest. You know them, right? I'll be safe with them," you support your argument with a reason you thought was good enough, but it wasn't looking your way when your grandmother released yet another sigh.

She looked up to you from her rocking chair, the sadness to have to turn down another offer was evident in her eyes that her old, wrinkly skin had partially drooped over, "I'm sorry, Minju-ah. I don't think I'll be able to let you go. New York is just too far."

And with that, you raised the white flag and lowered you head. "It's okay, Grandma. I understand."

You forced yourself not to tear up at the moment, nodding your head quickly before going back to your room and quietly locking yourself in.

As you reached for your phone in your pocket, you grabbed a tissue from your desk and discreetly wiped your tears (even though no one was there with you). Pulling it up against your ear, you heard your best friend's voice again, but this time, it wasn't enthusiastic.

"I heard what I heard," Jeongin sighs into the phone. Although he couldn't see you, you nodded your head, not really wanting to speak as you were afraid speaking will only cause you to break down.

You've never really cried at missing out on all the fun before, but today was different. You tried asking yourself why you were so affected by her usual disallowing, but it came to you right at that moment that not being able to accompany them would mean that you would be even more bored over the summer. The few people who you were willing to go out with or have over were all going somewhere you weren't, and the thought of being lonely hit you greatly.

"Don't cry, Minju-ah," you hear your best friend comfort you. As expected, he had already known you would feel this way. He knew you had always wanted to be a part of their activities. And missing out on something like this was definitely a valid reason to cry.

You choked on your own breath as you try to speak, leaving you in a minor coughing fit. Pulling away the phone, you pat your chest repeatedly to calm yourself down, but not without hearing a worried cry from the other line.

"Minju, are you okay? Grab a glass of water! Take it easy, okay?" Jeongin frantically instructs you. You put your phone on speaker, hearing his demands and doing exactly as told.

You reached for the water bottle on your bedside table and immediately took a sip. After calming yourself down, you get back on the line with Jeongin, who still seemed too worried for his own good.

Heaving a sigh, you speak, "I'm okay. Just a little sad."

"Don't be. If you're not going, I'm not going," Jeongin states, making you chuckle.

But he gasped at your chuckle, wondering why you were laughing when you were just sobbing not even a minute ago.

"What? In no way am I leaving the baby of the group all alone in Seoul to rot by herself. That's a no no for me," he continues and suddenly, you felt happier.

"Just go, Jeongin. I know you want to," you insist, not wanting to be the reason why your best friend missed out on such an opportunity. "And besides, you've always talked about wanting to go to New York someday."

"Yeah, but I said I wanted to go with all of you."

Little did both of you know, you're grandmother was listening in to your conversation this whole time. Right after you locked the door, she wanted to make sure you were okay. But before she could even twist the doorknob, she heard your loud and raspy coughing from outside of your room. She had originally wanted to knock and ask if you really were okay, but she heard your conversation over the phone. Deciding to leave you be for now, she paid attention to what you were saying.

You didn't mean to guilt trip your grandmother, but she felt it. As there was no sign of her anywhere, you and Jeongin continued to speak normally.

Lying on your bed, you set your phone down on your bedside table, still having Jeongin on the line. You two talked about how unfortunate it was for you to miss out on this trip, but eventually, you both moved on to a different and much lighter topic like you two had always talked about.

Being closest in age, Jeongin always knew exactly what to talk about. As he was only a few months older than you, he treated you the same age, the only one out of the eight of them who didn't really baby you as much.

Occasionally, he'd act like the rest and try to be the older brother he was, but you found him more enjoyable when he was talking normal. It wasn't that often anyway, so it didn't really bother you.

Although the others babying you became a regular thing. Sure, they'd have times when the babying bit was left to the side, but when it comes to topics like boys or going out, they definitely took their roles seriously.

Once, when Chris went to visit Australia, Jungwoo had invited you to come over. You were all excited and already dressed when Minho had turned up to your doorstep right before you left. And it came expected that he forced you to stay and educated you, saying that you should never go out with boys without their permission. He ended up staying the night and not sparing any sleep as he was afraid you'd sneak out. You can now confidently say that having someone watch you as you sleep was definitely a wild experience. But his hugs were made of use when you'd hit some uncomfortable spots while sleeping.

Talking about other times would be too long, but you heard your grandmother knock on your door.

"Come in," you yell weakly, but had completely forgotten that the door was locked, so you stood up and went to unlock it.

As she stood there in front of you, you had already made sure that you didn't show any signs of crying. You didn't want your grandmother to feel bad for worrying about your whereabouts.

"Minju-ah,"

"you can go."

"Huh?" You ask, definitely shocked by her sudden change of mind.

"Under one condition,"

"let Jungwoo take care of me."

As a big, cheesy smile grew onto your face, the urge to give your grandmother the biggest hug was inevitable and you ended up doing so. You repeatedly thanked her for allowing you, and since she had already solved your major problem, you were sure nothing was going to impede your first trip outside of Korea.

You were still hugging your grandmother when you both heard a loud, dolphin-like shriek.

"DID I HEAR THAT CORRECTLY? THANK YOU, GRANDMA!"

uhm
filler? probably idk
but this chap was kind of a filler until it reached the end. and who doesn't love jungwoo
well yeah, somehow while writing this chapter all i could think about was when minho wore a bandana during all the one kid's room episodes 🤷‍♀️

fun fact: this story is based on a dream i had not long ago then i decided to expand it