Hello Stranger

Part 8- Pop The Question

"Oh come on, I'm not that repulsive."
"No, it's not that..." I don't want to practice on you because I wouldn't exactly be faking it. He waited for you to give him a reason, but instead you sighed and crossed your arms, feigning indifference.
"Fine. But don't say anything stupid."

"Okay so um...Minho," you started, staring at the floor, "I was wondering if you-"
"Hold up, you were wondering?" he interrupted, and you raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "You're asking him to the dance, not about his thoughts. Try again."

Your eyes narrowed again before you sighed and started again.

"Minho, if you wanted to go to the dance, would you want to go with me?"
"Assume he already wants to go. Again."

He was enjoying this.

"Minho, do you want to go to the dance with me?" You sneered, rolling your eyes.
"You're not even trying. And look into my eyes when you ask," he said, lifting your chin with his fingers as he tried not to laugh.

"You're enjoying this way too much."
"Maybe I am."
"You're insufferable."
"You've called me worse things," he giggled, loving the frustrated red color on your face.
"Just say you'll go to the dance with me!"
"If you insist."

To say you wanted to strangle him would be an understatement.

"I can't ask him like that!" You threw your hands up in the air, looking at him in a panic.
"No you can't," he began, leaning against the lockers, "the only person you could ask like that and get a positive reaction from them would be me."

Wait, he would have said yes for real?!

"And how is that supposed to help me?"
"The difference here is that you're not nervous right now."

Oh shoot, he's right.

"Just get to a place where you're not nervous around him and you should be fine."
Suddenly, a tall blonde boy at the end of the hallway caught Minho's attention, and he quickly adjusted his backpack on his shoulders. "Speak of the devil."
You turned around, instantly regretting that decision as Hyunjin waved at you, drawing nearer.
"Oh no. Not now."
"Yes now," he said, widening his eyes. "You can do this."
"No I can't!" You could feel your nerves tingle again, but not from Hyunjin.

"Hey, the y/n I know doesn't back down so easily. You got this, okay?"
A strange rush of warmth filled your chest, calming you down in an instant, and you felt yourself nodding as you stared into his eyes.
"Okay."

He smiled before leaving, dashing around the corner before Hyunjin could get to you. As stupid as he knew it was, he just couldn't bring himself to stick around for the outcome.

...

"You didn't ask him."
"Oh, I asked him alright," you joked, leaning on your knees. "Asked him about the Econ homework, that is."

Minho sat in shock on the bench next to you. How long were you going to let him humor himself with the idea that you wanted to ask him instead?
"I'm pathetic, I know-"
"You're not," he reassured, placing a hand on your shoulder. "You're just...well...yeah you're pathetic."

He narrowly missed a swing from your fist as a giggle forced his way out of him, and the sound made you forget why you were mad for a second. Were you usually this affected by him?

"Honestly...why don't you just ask him out on a date? That way you're not restricted by this time limit and...wait, can you even slow dance?" He shot a glance at you, and you could feel your cheeks painting themselves red.

No. No you cannot.
Or at least, you never have before.

"It can't be that hard," you mumbled, embarrassed to admit your lack of experience. His eyebrows raised in amusement before he hopped off of the bench, abandoning his lunch.
"Well isn't this a funny situation," he chuckled, ignoring his racing heartbeat.

"Here we have a girl who can't dance, and a guy who coincidentally studied waltz last year."
"Are you gonna teach me to dance?!"
"Hey, I still owe you for this," he winked, raising his sleeve to reveal the scar on his arm, perfectly healed up from when you had bandaged him.

He stretched a hand out to you once again, and your heart leapt to your throat. This was a horrible idea. You didn't doubt his teaching skills one bit, no; you doubted your restraint. Being that close to him would be a very, very dumb decision.

You took his hand anyways.

"Are you even a good teacher?"
He paused, realizing that there was a chance he didn't know what he was doing either. But he just shrugged, yanking your hand to him so your chest was nearly flush with his and raising it to your side, while snaking the other one around the small of your back after placing your free hand on his shoulder.

He smirked.
"Only one way to find out."

A bad idea indeed.