Trainee

Decisions

Min Seo sulked on her way back to the dorm, the options circling her head and the remnants of tears clouding her vision. If I leave, everything I've dreamed of and worked for means nothing. But if I stay here, I could still possibly drag down XO Beat and even Got7 with me. But I don't know how I can go on without these people in my life. How am I even going to tell my parents, let alone everybody else? Maybe if I just wait until after my decision, then they won't be able to say anything about it...

Min Seo's phone started buzzing in her pocket. Quickly she whipped out, hoping to hear some voice of comfort. The screen shone Rio, along with a photo of smiling. Before she could restrict herself, Min Seo pressed the accept button and squeezed the phone to her cheek, hoping to hear anything from him and keep him close to her.

"Min Seo, are you okay? I've seen your name everywhere and I didn't know what to think so my first thought was to call you. Are you busy right now? What's going on? Do you need me to meet you somewhere?" 

Rio's panicked voice brought Min Seo comfort. Everything within her wanted to say yes, tell him to meet her and let her cry and talk and complain and stumble over her words, but Rio wouldn't mind because he clearly cared about her. She wanted to sit with him and drink a coffee and go back to when she had first moved to South Korea and he was just a comforting friend. 

Min Seo's mind circled and she didn't realize that Rio had shifted from ranting to continually asking if Min Seo was even on the phone.

Min Seo quickly snapped back to reality and stammered. "I'm here, I'm here. Sorry, there's so much on my mind right now, but I'm sure you could've guessed that."

"Do you need me to meet you somewhere so we can talk about this?"

Please, I want to see you so much. It took much control within Min Seo not to set a meeting place with Rio at that moment. With the conversation she just had with Livi and JYP, it would be reckless to see Rio, or any boy, for that matter until the scandal blew over. And the way that Livi and JYP had gone about it, this scandal did not look like it was going anywhere. 

"I... I can't meet you right now. I want to; believe me I really do. But I have to hang low until this whole situation blows over." Min Seo was rounding the corner to her dorm. "Can we talk over the phone though? I need to talk to anyone outside of this building right now." Min Seo wanted to say 'outside of the situation', but she couldn't lie and act as though Rio isn't involved.

Rio agreed to stay on the phone, and Min Seo seated herself in the staircase leading up to her dorm, and she silently prayed that the girls were resting in the dorm or were out and about, not coming back for a good amount of time. 

Within the next 45 minutes, Min Seo relayed everything to Rio what had happened to her in the last 48 hours, from everything he didn't see while at the showcase, to this morning in JYP's office. She even opened up about her entire experience with Got7 and XO BEAT, not holding back about feelings for Jackson and Youngjae, or her disdain towards Solar. 

Min Seo soon noticed tears soon stuck to her face as she gave herself a breather, having poured her heart and conflicts out into the receiver of a small phone. Rio had only sat and listened while Min Seo  ranted about all of her issues since coming to JYP. The only indicator that he was there was the occasional 'oh' and other sounds of acknowledgement. Rio held his tongue when he heard the occasional whimper from holding back tears, allowing her to be free with her emotions and thoughts at hand.

"So...what do you have in mind, now?" Even though Rio had analyzed every word from Min Seo and his mind was running a mile a minute with solutions and commentary, this was the only response he could come up with.