Egocentric [Book I]

Brother

I have no idea how I always end up stuck with you.

Minah blankly stared out the window as Xiumin took his own sweet time driving in an unhurried pace, tapping a rhythm on the steering wheel every time they come on to a red light. He was relaxed while she was over-thinking, a habit she had developed because of him.

“You didn’t have to agree with Tao, you know.” Minah muttered while she played with her fingers. “I can walk.”

“What if this drizzle continued until night and got worse? You wouldn’t be able to go home then.” Xiumin replied sternly. “Shut up and be thankful.”

“You don’t like having me here in your car.” Minah stated, matter-of-factly.

“But you hate the rain.” Xiumin glanced at her for a moment with a small smile before focusing back on the road. “I’m not doing anything anyway, so I might as well drive somewhere else. Besides, I’m not risking you blaming me again if you get sick.”

“I can’t believe you still remember that.” Minah laughed a bit and turned to Xiumin, only to return back to her poker face when she saw how smug he looked. “I mean, I didn’t know you pay attention to – “

“I pay attention all the time, even to the dumbest things like you hating the rain.” Xiumin smirked.

“Hey, I have a valid reason for not liking the rain.” Minah argued whilst trying to keep a big smile in, “And that’s obvious. Everybody knows I hate it. You’re just assuming things.”

“No, I don’t.” Xiumin scoffed. “I’ve noticed several things about you in the past weeks.”

“Are you saying you sometimes look at me when I’m not aware?” She furrowed her eyebrows.

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself. I just see some when we talk... or throw insults at each other, rather.”

“Alright, name one.” Minah challenged with hidden excitement. This was exactly the reason why she gets confused when she’s with him sometimes; he gets her thrilled and annoyed at the same time.

Xiumin pursed his lips for a while, trying to think of what to say to Minah. Truthfully, he finds himself gazing at her occasionally, just to enjoy her habits no matter how minor they were. She had an effect on him both good and bad, and he already admitted that part... at least mentally.

Xiumin would never tell any of his friends that Minah made him nervous once; that night when she looked beautiful under the stars and he almost kissed her.

“When you’re thinking too much, you play with your fingers.” Xiumin said blankly, drifting off his train of thought as he remembered Minah in that dress.

“Many people do that.” Minah rolled her eyes.

“When you stare at something long enough, your eyebrows join together.”

“That’s because I’m concentrating.”

“When I say something you think is stupid, you roll your eyes.”

“That’s the proper reaction, because flat out telling you that you’re talking dumb is awful and looked down upon, and my parents raised me better than that.”

“You...” Xiumin trailed off. He turned to a street and glanced at Minah for a moment before speaking again. She was expressionless, a clear sign that she was all ears. “You’ve never had your first kiss.”

Just like that, Minah’s skin turned a bright shade of red from her neck to the tip of the ears.

They were back to the awkward silence for the next three minutes, neither knew what to say. Xiumin kept repeating ‘I shouldn’t have said that.’ in his head, while Minah screamed ‘Where the fuck did that come from?’ in hers. Both were in a state of mind wars, thinking quickly of how to save the situation after that shocker.