Behind The King: Eternal Monarch (MinEun)

IV It Took All Of Him To Be As Forward As He Needed To Be

"Would it be too much to invite her over tonight?" Min Ho wondered as he brushed his teeth and checked his hairline in the mirror. 

"Am I her type?" he wondered as he shaved.

"Women don't have a type... But she's not a woman, she's a pokemon", he laughed at his own imagination as he showered. 

"Am I crossing the line?",  he wondered and checked the time. It was 2 pm. He should practice his lines. He should work out. Those 4 am sandwiches were a very bad idea, yet he'd do it all over again, only to see the satisfaction on her face as she finally let go of a year old frustration she's been holding in. "She'll sleep better now", he smiled to himself and went to the gym. 

"What line is there to be crossed anyways?" 

Min Ho showered for the second time that day and as he was leaving the gym he felt the desire to call her, burning in his fingertips. He thought about calling everyone over as Do Hwan suggested, but in all honesty that's not what he really wanted to do. He wanted her in his apartment with him. Alone. He grinned as the tips of his ears went deep red.  

He should text her. He should call her. He jumped up. He should face-time her. He got intimidated. He dialed her number. A simple call will be enough. The walls of his throat tightened. He coughed as he got inside his car. He could feel the thumps of his nervous heart knocking on the insides of his rib cage, the impulse tolling all the way to his palms.  

"Sunbae?" Go Eun answered, her voice hushed.

"Mmm Go Eun-a!" Min Ho got it past his mouth, glad to feel the sensation of those letters in that exact order once again, "What are you doing?" he smiled, his lips still shaky. "Why was it so hard to talk to someone on the phone? Is it the intimacy of knowing that each others voices are only there for them to hear? The world around them incapable of knowing? Shouldn't that make it easier, simpler? I guess when the only opinion that matters is hers - it's the hardest."

"Ummm" he heard chatter, doors opening and closing, she thanked someone in the distance. "I'm getting out of a meeting." she said as if talking to him right now was bothersome.  

"Am I calling at a bad moment?" He asked, suddenly unsure, insecure.

"No, no, I'm getting in my car. (Ah thank you. I'll see you next week. Thank you.) You were saying?" 

"I'll call you later."

"No, no, sunbae, I can talk."

"Khm... okay... Are you watching the episode tonight?"

"Aaa yes! But I'm not sure I can make it, I'll have to watch it on Netflix later." It was quiet on her side now, apart from the faint sound of a car moving. He guessed her manager was driving her.

"Alone?" he bit his lip and squinted his eyes.

"Mmm" she confirmed, "You?"

"Ditto"

Go Eun laughed. He laughed back, letting out a part of his anxiousness.

"How alone?" she asked, her voice changing color. 

"What do you mean?"

"Good alone... or lonely?" 

"Why would you know to ask that?" he looked up to the roof of his car, clenching the phone in his hand.  

"The other one." he let out.

"Mmm" she mumbled, maybe just confirming she was still there.

"Go Eun-a?"