Opened Doors (Minsung)

Running Late, Running Into You

I woke up to Block B playing on my radio. I sat up in my bed. I looked right across my bed to check my phone. There were spam messages from the group chat. I looked at the last one that said "First day of school with a tired face emoji," sent at 8:38, and then it hit me: I was almost late for school.

I jumped out of bed and ran to my bathroom, took a 5-minute bath, came out, took out some gray baggy jeans, a black long sleeve with strips, and tossed on some Nikes and fled my house. I checked the time when I was 8 minutes away from school. The time was 8:55. I still have 15 minutes left. Walking near the school gate, I see my friends waiting for me. We would have left you behind if it weren't for Minho saying you're coming soon, said Sungmin, rolling his eyes. Aw, thank you, Hyung, as I hug Minho.

Minho, my childhood best friend, is the best. He's hot, sexy, and kind, even though you can't really see it on his face sometimes. First, it was math, which I hate the most, but Minho always found a way to make it a lot less boring. Jisung completed the drawing, said Minho as he slid a paper from under his arm, he had drawn three cat faces, so I tried my best to draw Minho's three cats, Doori, Sugooi,e and Doongie, next came english I doing a pretty good job in it so far, but I tend to zone out in the class most times unless we are supposed to read, currently we're reading That Hideous Strength by C.S Lewis.

Han, please read page 139, "from he will see her" to "this man's female adorers," said the teacher. Ok, I say as I stand and begin to read.

"He will see her, " she said to Miss Ironwood, getting up.

Is he in much pain this morning?

It's not continuous. It is one of his good days.

As Miss Ironwood raised her hand to knock on the door, Jane thought to herself, Be careful. Don't let anything in. All these long passages and low voices will make a fool of you; if you don't look out, you'll become another of this man's female adorers." My teacher clapped, then followed the rest of the class, as I sat back down into my seat, but as I sat down, I got a glance of Minho staring at me, then quickly looking away as I sat down.

I looked at him and smiled. He looked back with a smirk and turned back to the teacher. After some time, I started to play with Minho's fingers until we just ended up intertwining our hands. The bell rang. We let go to pack the stuff back up into our bags, but as we left the classroom, he took my hand again, looked down at me, and gave a half-smirk, a half-smile. And we continued down the hallway, all the way to the lunch hall, throughout my heart was pounding crazily to the point I hadn't heard what Minho had said, but I said Sure. We finally let go of one other when we picked up trays.

We went to our table as Chan, Sungmin, Felix, Hyunjin, Changbin, and Jeongin waited for us there. Felix gave me a look, saying So you're holding hands with Minho type of look. I was going to deny it, but he already said it out loud. Oh, really, you guys held hands? Sungmin said Like I can't pull someone even to save my life. Which I can, but no one is like Minho, a gentleman, so I have set my standards to Minho's level, and besides, why get a boyfriend when my best friend is already boyfriend material? I said to Sungmin, and he was still side-eyeing me.

Oh, yeah, guys, have you heard the rumor going around? Jeongin asked. No, we all said, but four of us shook our heads. Well, the whole school has been saying there will be eight new students this week, or was it the next can't remember. Jeongin said. Oh yeah, I heard of that, but they're supposed to come this week, tho said, said Felix.

Thursday, 1:30 pm.

"So, how are things going with Hyunjin?" I asked Felix, smirking as I leaned my elbow on the desk.

Felix nearly choked on the pen cap he'd been chewing. "W-What do you mean?" he sputtered, cheeks turning a soft shade of pink.

I tilted my head, amused. "You've been sitting with him at lunch more than usual. Don't act like I don't notice."

He narrowed his eyes at me, flicking the back of my notebook playfully. "Mind your own love life, Jisung. Or wait, do you even have one?"

That made me roll my eyes. "I could if I wanted to. Unlike you, I don't get all shy just because someone smiles at me."

Felix muttered something under his breath about me being insufferable, but I caught the small grin tugging at his lips. Typical Lix.

Class started, and our teacher droned on about quadratic functions. I tried to focus, I really did. But then, like always, my gaze wandered to Minho, sitting diagonally in front of me, sketching lazy doodles in the corner of his notes.

He looked up once, like he could feel me staring. His eyes met mine for only a second, but it was enough to make my stomach do a weird flip. He smirked that same half-smile he gave me earlier and went back to his page like nothing happened.

I quickly buried my face in my book, cheeks heating.

The bell eventually rang, snapping me out of my daze. Students shuffled out, chatting about the supposed "new students." I lingered a little, packing slowly, when Minho brushed past me and muttered just loud enough for me to hear:

"Stop staring so hard, you'll burn a hole through me."

My head whipped up, ready to deny it, but he was already halfway out the door, that damn smirk on his face.

"Cocky bastard," I mumbled under my breath, though the smile tugging at my lips betrayed me.

By the time the final class ended, the group chat was buzzing again. Sungmin was spamming updates about basketball tryouts, Jeongin was complaining about homework, and Felix was still denying anything about Hyunjin. Minho, as always, said nothing. Just read the messages.

When we all finally left school together, Minho walked next to me, his hand brushing against mine now and then accidentally, of course. Each time, my chest tightened a little more.

Maybe it was nothing.
Maybe it was everything.

Either way, my first day back at school wasn't just about new classes or rumors of transfer students. It was about realizing something I didn't want to admit out loud yet:

I didn't just see Minho as my best friend anymore.
And if the way he kept looking at me today meant anything...
Maybe he didn't either.