✧༺♥༻∞ part two ∞༺♥༻✧
You spend the next week attending your classes, and using every spare moment you have to practice your choreography for Saturday. By Friday, you're sleep deprived, fed up, and exhausted. You've never practiced so hard for a competition like this before, but you knew that if you didn't win with your new choreo, Ms Kwon would be furious and blame it on the fact you'd changed her dance.
So that's how you came to be in the rec for the fifth night in the row, practicing until you couldn't practice any more. Hyunjin and Felix had joined you a couple times, but they had plans to see their friends tonight. They'd invited you, but you'd declined. They understood that you were stressed about tomorrow, and didn't push the topic too much.
They also knew that you'd had an earful from Doha when he'd replied to your texts the day after you went out with the boys, claiming you'd blown him off for them. You'd argued that he was the one that hadn't replied to you, so you hadn't blown him off at all, but he wasn't having any of it. When you told Sooyun over FaceTime the next day, she didn't seem to bothered, instead telling you she thought it was fine for you to go out with the boys rather than hanging out with Doha. They whole call had seemed strange to you, though you put it to the back of your mind.
You'd been texting Doha less frequently, too stressed about the competition to worry about him and his mood swings. He claimed he was struggling with his uni course and you understood that, so you gave him the space he needed. Honestly, though, you could have really used some moral support from your boyfriend.
You finished going over the dance for the eighth time of the night, practically falling to a heap on the floor when you finished. It was nine pm on a Friday night, so you were the only person in the rec, which you were thankful for. You'd been recording yourself dancing to see where you were making mistakes, and when you watched the recording over again the mistakes started screaming at you through the screen. Every time you fucked up, it grated on you more and more. You'd practiced so many times, you should be nailing it by now.
You were snapped out your thoughts when the door of the rec opened, and you quickly turned to see who'd come in. To your surprise, Minho was walking in nonchalantly, car keys in hand with an almost bored expression.
"Minho?" You questioned, trying to calm your breathing due to being so out of breath from overworking yourself.
"Hey," he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. You'd only met the man once, yet he was acting as though the two of you regularly interacted one on one, which you obviously did not.
"Why are you here?" Confusion evident on your face, he walked over and leaned against the mirrored wall, crossing his arms and looking down at you. "Weren't you at the bar with the guys?"
"I was, but Felix told us you were here practicing again for your showcase," as if that answered any of your questions. When you raised an eyebrow, he continued. "They all got drunk really quickly, and I wasn't drinking, so I thought I'd come and see this dance you struggling with instead."
Hm. Weird, you thought.
"Hope you don't mind," he continued. "I just wanted to see what you were struggling with so badly that meant you'd spent 'every waking moment practicing,' as Hyun had put it."
"No, it's fine," you wiped the beads of sweat off your forehead, fully aware of how awful you looked in this moment. "I could honestly use your help, if that's okay."
Minho nodded, and you played the music from your phone and started dancing in front of him. You felt his piercing gaze the whole time you were dancing, and you tried to forget about it whilst you performed your choreo as best you could. You felt yourself throwing a couple of the moves, and Minho could tell you were getting pissed off by it. When you finished the dance, you were surprised when Minho had a small smile on his face, and he clapped.
"That was impressive," he said, and you just nodded as a reply, unaware of the level of sincerity behind his words. You never usually got shy in front of people, but in front of infamous dance prodigy Lee Minho? Yeah, you were shitting it. "The moves you're fucking up? You're totally over complicating them. It's like you know you're doing them wrong and you're focusing so much on doing them right that your whole demeanour changes when you get to those moves, and cause you're concentrating so much, it throws you."
You listen intently at what he's saying, and honestly it makes sense. The moves you're messing up on are ones you know you can do, so maybe it is just a mindset thing. You turn the music back on without saying anything and start your dance again, focusing on just listening to the music and letting your body dance as it knows the moves. Letting loose causes you to just hit the moves without a second thought, and you can see the difference in your dance as you catch glimpses of yourself in the mirror.
When you finish for the second time, Minho raises and eyebrow and gives you a smirk.
"Can you see the difference? That was ten times better than before," you get a sense of pride from him, despite his stoic expression. You nod your head with a small smile, breathing in and out deeply.
"Yeah, I do, thank you," you say appreciatively. Minho just nods in return as a response.
"Now, go home and sleep. Seungmin said you've been getting in at midnight almost every night this week. You wouldn't want to faint on stage tomorrow, that would be extremely embarrassing," he says, and you're almost glad that he's reverted back to the cocky and annoying Minho you'd seen at the bar, unsure how to navigate the version of him he was currently displaying.
Surprisingly, he walks you to your dorm building, albeit in almost silence, but it's nice all the same. You say a simple goodbye when you reach it, and he nods his head in return, walking the opposite direction, you presume back to the bar. It was weird, how someone you'd just met was already so willing to help you out, and you could tell how eager he was to watch you tomorrow. You'd asked Doha, once again, to come and watch since you'd changed your choreography, but he said he'd already made plans to go clubbing with his course friends.
You opened your phone to find a couple messages from Sooyun. You'd seen her earlier in the week for a coffee, and although she was her normal smiley self, you sensed something was off with her. Now, when she'd texted you to say she wouldn't be able to watch you tomorrow either, you just closed off your phone in a huff. It wasn't like Sooyun to not want to be there for you, especially for a big event, so you had no clue what was going on.
You wake up the next morning, strangely, in a good mood. You put all negative thoughts about your boyfriend and best friend to the back of your mind, focusing on having a good mindset for your competition later on in the day. Hyunjin and Felix had said they'd take you out for lunch beforehand to ease your nerves, which you were honestly thankful for. If not, you'd have probably worked yourself silly over practicing for the showcase.
Half of you was worried about the amount of time you were spending with guys who weren't your boyfriend recently. You hadn't told Doha about your surprise night with Minho yesterday, honestly because you couldn't be bothered with the argument you knew you'd have when you told him. You felt terrible keeping things like this secret, but all you wanted to focus on was winning the competition.
You say goodbye to Seungmin before you leave, laughing as he only groans in response. You'd heard him get in at three in the morning, so you doubted that Felix and Hyunjin would be in good ways for your lunch today, but when you'd texted your group chat asking if they were still up for going, they said yes.
You'd decided just to go to a local café for lunch, and you spotted your friends as soon as you opened the door. You fell into hysterics as soon as you saw them.
"Don't. Say. A word," Hyunjin huffed, giving you a glaring look. You flopped into the booth beside Hyun, facing Felix who's mop of blonde hair was sprawled out on the table. He lifted his head weakly, gave you a small smile, and dropped it right back on the table again.
"Jesus Christ," you laughed, taking a sip from the glass of water in front of you. "Rough night?"
"Felix and I didn't get in until four in the morning," Hyunjin tells you, taking his glass of water and downing it.
"I can tell," you laugh, pointing out his black eyes. He only sticks his tongue out at you as a response, taking your glass of water and downing it too.
"It was the shots," Felix mumbles almost incoherently. "Changbin made us do ten rounds of shots."
"Lethal," you comment, smiling at the waitress as she comes over to take your order. Felix barely lifts his head off the table to tell the waitress he'd like soup. When she leaves, he groans and rests his head on his arms to look up at you.
"Minho said he helped you last night," he mumbles. Hyunjin turns to you with a raised brow.
"Uh, yeah he did," you reply, not liking the looks you were getting from your friends.
"And did he? You know, help?" Hyun asks, and you nod your head at him.
"He actually did. He didn't stay for long, only twenty minutes if that, but I think I have the dance perfected now," you say. Felix nods his head with a smile.
"Was surprised to hear he went to see you, honestly," Hyun says. "Lino isn't the type to go out of his way for people he doesn't know. You must have made an impression on him."
"Whatever," you say, brushing off the compliment. You had to admit, you yourself were confused as to why a man you'd met once had helped you like that, you'd just figured he was kind natured. But maybe not.
"So, what's the 411 with horrible boyfriend?" Hyunjin asks you, earning him a glare from Felix.
"We're hardly on speaking terms. It's a disaster honestly, and to top it off when I saw Sooyun the other day she was acting weird. I have no clue what's going on with them, and to be honest until this showcase is over I don't care," you say huffily, answering Hyunjin's questing. The man beside you raises an eyebrow.
"Not to stick my knows in where it doesn't belong, but he's not treating you right," Felix says sadly, and Hyun nods in agreement.
"God, I know. All I ask is that you let me figure it out, on my own, please?" You say desperately. It's not as if you don't appreciate their advice, you just don't want to dwell on the negatives of your life when you're with your friends.
"Yeah, okay," Hyunjin leans back in his chair, sighing. The waitress then comes over with your food, and the three of you start eating. Felix perks up almost instantly, and you take note of the fact he needs to eat when he is hungover.
"God I needed this," Felix says through mouthfuls. "You nervous for tonight?"
You think about the question for a couple seconds. "You know, I was. But I know I've got a good dance, and I'm confident, so whatever happens it will be fine. As long as you back me up if it goes tits up."
"Sure thing," Hyunjin laughs, finishing his food faster than you expected.
You part ways with the guys once you've paid for the food and walked back to your dorm, heading up the stairs to your floor. Seungmin is sprawled out on the communal couch, an ice pack on his head, and you honestly wish you'd have gone last night just to see what the boys were up to that put them in such a state.
"I promise I will be fine for tonight. Just leave me to die," he says in a groan when he sees you come into the door. You just give him your signature salut and watch as he weakly returns it, laughing as you walk away.
Ms Kwon had chosen your costume, and you didn't hate it. It was fully black; shorts with a short skirt for the bottom part and a tight, long sleeved top with the back revealed. It fitted well, and you were lucky that it fitted the concept of your new dance better than the old one. You packed it into your bag, since you knew you were dancing last out of the seven other performers and you would be watching the other dances.
You decided to go down to the rec to practice a couple more times before you had to get ready, and by the time you were done you had the choreo down to a T. You were honestly impressed with how quickly you, Hyun and Felix had turned the dance around.
You took a couple hours getting ready, making sure your makeup and hair wouldn't budge, before you grabbed your bag and knocked on Seungmin's door to leave. Since Hyun, Felix, Seungmin and Jeongin stayed in the campus dorms too, you'd decided to walk to the campus theatre, where the showcase was being held, together, and save seats for the others.
Seungmin emerged looking much better than he did a couple hours prior and joined you to walk out the building where Jeongin, Felix and Hyunjin were waiting for you.
"And the star of the night is here," Hyunjin says when you walk towards them. You put on a big fake smile for show, and he chuckles.
"You guys clean up well," you compliment, taking into account how the boys have changed into smarter looking clothes for the showcase. "Were you as rough as the rest of them, Jeongin?"
The younger boy only gives you a cheeky grin in return. "I wasn't in a good way this morning, that's for sure."
"I think the only person who won't be feeling rotten tonight is Minho, since he didn't drink," Seungmin comments as you all start the short walk to the theatre. You'd only been in the university's theatre a few times, and you'd performed only once in a ballet recital for your extracurricular class last semester.
The boys start talking about god knows what, so you focus on staying in a good mindset as you walk up the front steps to the theatre. It's already busy, with students and teachers from the other universities. You're honestly surprised at how many people have showed up. Maybe this was a bigger deal than you thought it was.
You find a group of seats unclaimed and put your belongings on them to save them for the rest of the guys, before heading backstage.
Ms Kwon greets you when you get back stage, and you can tell she's stressed since she was helping to coordinate the whole event. You almost feel bad about changing the choreography, but you just have a feeling it will work out in your favour.
"Excellent, you're here! Your hair and makeup looks fab, have you got your costume?" She asks hurriedly, and you nod, showing her your bag.
"Yep, right here," you respond.
"Fantastic. So, you know you're on last, meaning you can watch the start of the showcase. Just make sure your backstage getting ready at least twenty minutes before you're on," your teacher tells you, and you nod in response. "Great, now go enjoy the showcase."
You leave your bag backstage with Ms. Kwon and go back out into the audience. The other guys have arrived and filled the seats you've saved for them, leaving you a seat at the edge of a row beside Minho and in front of Hyunjin. He greets you with a half smile as you take your seat, watching the stage as the headmaster of your university comes out with Ms Kwon to talk about the award and whatever else. You don't pay much attention, instead playing with your fingers and trying to keep calm. Minho seems to notice your stressed state, nudging you.
"Don't stress," is all he says, but for some reason it reassures you. You watch as the first performer walks onto the stage and starts dancing. He's good, performs his dance well, but it's nothing spectacular. His movements are sharp and precise, but the dance is lacking in excitement, just as yours had done before it had been re choreographed.
When the dancer finishes, you all clap as he walks off the stage, and there's a couple minutes before the next dancer gets themselves ready to perform. You feel Minho leaning towards you, whispering in your ear, "He had nothing on you." You ignore the way you feel goose bumps form on your arms, until Hyunjin puts a hand on your shoulder from behind you and interrupts whatever the hell that was.
"If everyone's as boring as he was, you have this in the bag," Hyunjin winks when you turn your head to face him, but all you do is smile, returning to face the stage. Nerves weren't something you'd say caused you problems; you were a dancer after all, being on stage was your thing. But, for some reason, you couldn't concentrate on the next couple dancers that performed. The gasps from the audience were enough.
Snapping yourself out of the nervous trance you'd found yourself in, you started actually paying attention to the beautiful dancer in front of you. Her moves were smooth, and she had legs Kendal Jenner would be jealous of, so obviously you were starting to get antsy as you watched her turn. As if to reassure you, nearing the end of her dance, Minho leans in again.
"Her foot was sickled just there," he whispers, as if it makes you feel any better about the amazing performance you just watched. At least the other boys had the decency not to say anything to you about the clearly exceptional performance, which would definitely give you a sprint for your money.
It took you a while to get back into your focused, pre-performance head space, but once you did you stopped caring about how the other dancers were performing. Just like your teacher had instructed, when you have around twenty minutes before your performance, you bid a silent farewell to the group of boys beside you as you make your way backstage. Of course, Ms Kwon is waiting for you, wringing her hands and pacing. Guilt strikes you right in the chest, nothing short of winding you as you walk up to your poor, unsuspecting teacher. She gives you a weak smile and you successfully avoid having to converse with her as you grab your bag and head to the bathroom to change. You re-emerge with ten minutes until the stage is yours, because fucking hell that costume is tight.
Thankfully Ms Kwon has removed herself from the scene. You probably would have had to knock her out if she had walked the length of the room one more time, you thought with a chuckle to yourself, taking your mind off the fact you could potentially be in hellish amounts of trouble in the next fifteen minutes.
Running over the dance one more time, marking it carefully in case your teacher comes back, you physically shake the nerves out your body as they call your name on stage. You don't think about your boyfriend and ongoing relationship issues as you walk onstage. You don't think about your best friend and her lack of care for the situation, or the strange way she's been acting recently as you position yourself, waiting for the familiar start to the music.
And you definitely do not think about the fact that your apparent newfound (ish) friend group is currently in the audience, watching as you start to dance in time to the music that starts. You don't even touch on the fact that your teacher is probably watching you from the stage wings right now, seething as you dance your own choreography. All you think about is how you're absolutely nailing it.
You feel it as you dance, each move is executed perfectly as your body flows to the sound of the music, your facial expressions coming naturally to you when you face the audience, the bright lights blurring the faces of them into one non-threatening blur. You hit every beat, your turns are clean, and you thank your previous self for keeping up with your daily stretches as it pays off when you perform the more flexibility demanding parts of your dance with ease. When you finish, ending your dance with slow breaths in and out, you decide you couldn't care less what your teacher has to say. You performed damn near perfect.
You only let yourself falter when you're off the stage, leaving the sound of clapping and hollering from the audience. There are no blinding lights in your eyes that hide the furious expression written on Ms Kwon's face. There's no music to drown out the harsh words she screams at you. She has to literally snap her fingers in your face until the post-performance adrenaline wears off and you start to actually compute what she's saying, the words, 'detrimental', 'mockery', and even 'suspended' are among the few you hear, though you struggle to piece them together. You're the last dancer, so you know the outcome of the award will be announced soon, the panel of non-biased judges readily making their decision, though you just wished they would hurry up.
The pressure is instantly released from your shoulders when you hear the voice of your best friend coming into the mix, Hyunjin seemingly talking to your teacher in an attempt to calm her down. It's the words of your other best friend in your ear, though, that finally bring you back to earth.
"You performed fucking amazing," Felix says as he slides an arm round your waist and squeezes your side. "We heard her shouting from the audience and figured it was our cue, you okay?"
All you can do is nod in response, grateful for Felix's immediately calming presence to your left. Hyunjin has seemed to manage to calm down your teacher. He always was a favourite amongst staff, and he uses this to his advantage now.
"Honestly, Ms Kwon," you listen into the conversation in front of you. "It was our idea to change the choreography, not hers. We didn't know it was supposed to be set by a member of staff, we just wanted to spice it up."
"I'm sorry," you say breathily, chiming in and earning yourself a scowl from the teacher in front of you. "Honestly, I am. It wasn't my intention to go against you-" you argue, although it absolutely was, until you get cut off as your teacher takes a couple steps towards you. Felix moves you behind him slightly, his protective nature taking over.
"You may have jeopardised the whole department here, do you recognise that? That money would do us wonders, and -" your teacher begins, although this time she is the one who gets cut off when the announcer makes his way on the stage holding an envelope and a trophy, calling out for silence.
Your breath catches in your throat as backstage falls silent, Hyunjin moving towards you and Felix to watch the announcement from the wings. You don't breathe while he spews information about the importance of the award and how prestigious it is, until he opens the envelope, the room filling with suspenseful silence.
You don't recognise the fact that you've won first place until Felix and Hyunjin practically push you on stage as the crowd burst into noise, clapping and laughing when the two boys awkwardly wave as they walk back off the stage and leave you to shake the mans hand as you gather yourself. It's always been a blessing how quickly you can compose yourself in situations like these, plastering a smile on your face as you take your rightfully deserved trophy, facing the audience as cameras start to flash. Your worries concerning Ms Kwon dissipate when the announcer calls her on stage to commend her for her choreography, and she appears on stage with a glowing smile, shaking the announcer's hand warmly and even going as far as to pose with you in pictures.
The two of you walk off stage after a couple minutes and you're thankful to see your blonde friends waiting for you, but just as you feel as though you can get a second to breathe, you're pulled into a hug.
"Congratulations!" you hear a familiar high pitched voice say into your chest. "I'm so proud of you!"
When you pull away from your dark haired best friend, Sooyun is grinning from ear to ear. Behind her, you'd recognise the mop of brown hair anywhere. Doha stands behind Sooyun holding a bouquet of flowers. Roses.
"I thought you two couldn't make it," you say, unsure of your feelings towards the surprise encounter as you move past Sooyun to hug your boyfriend hello and take the bouquet of flowers from him. You honestly feel so detached from the situation, your head still reeling. "What did you think of my dance?"
You see Felix and Hyunjin visibly cringe when Doha says, "It was good. Similar to stuff you've done before, I guess." Hyunjin even goes as far as to pretend to shoot himself dramatically, which you chose to ignore and Felix chooses to laugh at. You watch as Sooyun punches Doha on the arm and turns to you.
"As if! It was amazing! I would have been more surprised if you didn't win," she squeals, and at this moment you're grateful for Sooyun, for the two of them being here for you despite things being weird with them recently.
"So," Felix interjects, and you see Hyun pulling at his arm in an attempt to shut him up, Felix brushing him off with a mumble. "We're throwing a small surprise celebration at Seungmin and your dorm. Min's already there getting things ready with the others, and we were wondering if you both wanted to join?"
It doesn't take a genius to figure that the both of them, Hyunjin specifically, did not want your boyfriend and best friend to join their gathering, but it was practically unavoidable. Angels had taken a new form in your friend Lee Felix, and he couldn't not have extended an invitation to them. Much to Hyunjin's relief, yet your dismay, you watched as Doha instantly shakes his head.
"Thanks for the offer, mate, but I have football practice tomorrow, so need to get an early night," he turns down the offer, but you know he actually does have football practice tomorrow, so at least he wasn't lying for the sake of it.
"Yeah, thanks for the invite but I'm travelling home to visit my family tomorrow so I can't come either," Sooyun replies with a pout, turning to you to add, "I actually have so much packing still to do, so I have to run, but I'll see you Monday?" With a kiss to each cheek, she's got your boyfriend in town as he too bids you farewell and the two of them depart.
Hyunjin scoffs. "The day you breakup with that fucking bastard will be the best day of my life," he states before getting elbowed by the smaller blonde. "Elbow me as much as you like, Yongbok, but the way he says mate might be the most condescending thing I have ever heard. Thank fuck they can't make it to your party."
"He's just in a mood," Felix apologises, looping your arm through his as he walks you to where your things are and takes the bouquet out your arms. "Now, go get changed so we can start drinking!"
"Aren't you both a little too hungover for that?" you raise an eyebrow, picking up your bag with your change of clothes and heading to the bathroom to change into them, hearing Hyunjin shout 'hair of the dog' before you go. Before changing, you take a minute to yourself, gathering your thoughts before you're thrust into the spotlight again at your dorm. On one hand, your boyfriend and best friend had made an appearance, despite it being a fleeting one it reassured you all the same.
On the other, Doha had acted as if he was seeing a mutual acquaintance rather than his girlfriend of however many years. It irked you, how nonchalant he was, as if you hadn't just poured your heart out on stage, risking a whole damn lot to perform as best as you could and have it reacted to in such a mediocre way. Sure, he knew nothing about dance, and wasn't interested in it, but he could have at least given you a sincere compliment.
It was with those negative thoughts in mind that you'd ended up six shots deep, an arm round Seungmin's as you took your seventh together, wincing as you slammed down your glass. What had initially begun as Felix's idea to celebrate your win, planning to send Seungmin back to your dorm apartment early to set up a poorly constructed 'congrats' banner and alcohol, had turned into your dorm mates and friends inviting anyone they knew to get drunk in your dorm building. Hyunjin said, and you quote 'there's this music chick in Jeongin's classes I've been talking to, and she said she'd come if she could bring her friends, how was I to know the other guys would take it as a chance to invite everyone they know!'. You forgave him, however, as watching him awkwardly try to chat up the girl he'd mentioned was providing you some quality entertainment for the evening.
"Stop thinking so much," Seungmin, who'd heard about your boyfriend encounter and could tell you were totally in your own head about the whole thing, physically took your face in his hands to shake you out of it as he shouted over the music. You laughed as he let you go, flashing you a grin as he picked up the bottle of alcohol. "Another?"
You shook your head at his question, stretching your limbs and standing up from the breakfast bar stool you'd been perched on, telling him, "I'm gonna go for a breather, I think."
He shook his head knowing that to you, a breather meant having a cigarette. A dirty habit, you were fully aware, but in your defence you only did it when you were stressed, and right now was a prime example of that. "Let me know if Hyun makes it to first base."
He salutes you as you walk to your front door, heading up the stairs rather than down them and pushing open the fire escape at the top. You and Seungmin had found the rooftop access when you'd first moved in, and it had quickly become your favourite spot when you needed a time out of sorts, even going as far as to bringing some old camping chairs up in replace of sitting on the stone floor. You don't expect to meet anyone up here, even less so expect to see Minho taking a lazy drag from his cigarette perched on Seungmin's chair.
"Dancers shouldn't smoke," you say, making your presence known as you sit in the chair beside him, crossing your legs and pulling out your own packet. Minho turns towards you as you talk, raising an eyebrow and leaning back in his chair.
"Tell yourself that," his words don't hold any meaning as soon as he uses his hands to shield the wind as you light your cigarette between your teeth. You blow out the smoke with a shaky breath, bending to lean on your knee and turning to the man beside you when he starts to speak again. "Your dance was incredible."
"Thanks," is all you say, thankful that your ears are already red from the cold air. "You should have seen my teacher when I walked off stage. I could see smoke coming out of her ears."
Minho laughs at this, chucking the butt of his cigarette on the stone and crushing it with his foot. "I don't doubt it. Half of me thought Hyunjin would have to sleep with her to stop her suspending you when he told me." You raise an eyebrow. "I went to this school too, you know. I know things." When he sees you looking even more confused, he adds, "Nothing that hasn't been done before."
"What, you had sex with Ms Kwon?" you say, nothing short of flabbergasted. Sure, she was probably only just thirty and not awful looking, but still. Thankfully Minho shakes his head with a chuckle.
"Not me, but someone in my year. You must see the way she favours the guys in class, it was bound to happen at some point," he explains, and you feel dizzy as you shake your head. "Poor guy was failing out practical dance, slept with her to stay in the course. I was surprised it didn't get out."
"She'd be fired, surely," you take another long drag of your cigarette, passing it to Minho to finish. He takes it between his fingers wordlessly.
"Well, now you have some leverage if she ever gives you trouble for changing her choreo," he gives you a wink, turning his head to blow the cigarette smoke forward. "Hyunjin pointed out your boyfriend to me in the audience. Looks like a wanker."
You almost laugh before you realise you definitely should not be laughing at an attractive guy who once asked if you wanted to fuck him making fun of your boyfriend. You groan instead. "The day I find someone who will keep to themselves how much they hate my boyfriend is the day I die happy."
"That's kind of fucked," Minho retorts, repeating the action he used to put out his own cigarette with yours.
"And telling a girl you met a week ago that her boyfriend's a wanker isn't?" you counter, failing to hide the annoyance in your tone. Sure, you'd been going through a rough patch, but what happened between you and Doha was your concern only, and you were not close nor drunk enough to have this conversation with Minho.
"Touché," is all Minho says. "Doesn't take away from the fact that I'm right."
"You're cocky."
"You're in denial."
"You're just being annoying for the sake of it," you huff.
"Oh?" his tone is grating. "So why, after winning a prestigious award, are you sitting up here smoking with me rather than having your brains fucked out by him?"
You fall silent, finding nothing valuable to say back. Because realistically, he's right. Why weren't you with Doha right now, being showered in compliments? Why were you listening to a friend of a friend telling you how shit your boyfriend was? You swear you're not a naïve person, but the way Minho was talking to you was making you feel pretty dumb.
"I'm not trying to be a dickhead."
"It just comes naturally to you, then?" you say snappily, turning to face him as he raises an eyebrow. He doesn't answer, instead letting silence consume you both. The wind is the only thing you hear, until he speaks up again after a couple minutes.
"When was the last time you had sex with him?"
You turn to look at him, scoffing as you do so. "That's a very personal question!"
"Don't act like a prude, just tell me," he rolls his eyes, as if he's so above a stupid conversation like this. Although you want to punch him, you choose to humour him instead.
"Three months."
This time it's him that turns to you, just jaw visibly dropping, eyes wide. "Three months?"
"It's not as if it's that long a time," you defend yourself, pulling your knees up to your chest as a defence against the cold. Minho stays silent, probably in disbelief. Then, after a while, he speaks up.
"He's probably cheating on you."
Your head snaps to face his, visibly shocked. "What?"
"If he's not getting it from you, he's getting it from someone else, trust me."
"Maybe not all guys think with their dicks like you do, apparently," you fire at him without a second thought, your defences coming up instantly.
He opens his mouth, probably to say something equally as sarcastic back, but falls short when you hear the fire escape being pushed open.
"There you two are! Minho, can you come help? It's a disaster - Changbin's fighting some guy and Seungmin is losing his mind," Jeongin rushes out, the poor boy looking terrified. He holds the fire escape open, waiting for the two of you.
"Duty calls," is all Minho says, moving past you to go through the fire escape first and walking quickly to the scene of the crime. You give Jeongin a smile as he helps you through, giving his evidently stressed shoulder a squeeze.
He wasn't wrong when he said things were disastrous. Changbin has someone in a headlock when you walk in, with Seungmin shouting at him to avoid making a mess. You look for any of your friends amongst the party people, your eyes falling on Hyunjin making out with that girl on your sofa. You remind yourself to congratulate him later, as Minho expertly diffuses the situation with Chan, who seems to appear out of thin air as soon as trouble starts. Seungmin is already ushering people out of your dorm, accompanied by Felix who was playing beer pong in the dorm downstairs and came up at the sound of Changbin threatening to smash the guys head against the wall. Jisung also materialises then, joining you and Jeongin.
"What were they fighting about?" Jeongin asks Jisung, who just shrugs in response.
"Fuck knows. Think the guy messed with Changbin's sister or something," he says back to the younger boy. "Someone should have told him not to get on Changbin's bad side. He's almost as scary as Minho when he's angry."
You start to help Seungmin and Felix get the last of the people out your dorm, closing the main door once it's only your friends left, your dorm mates retire to their rooms for the night after congratulating you again on your win. Chan and Minho offer to go back to Minho's apartment with Changbin to make sure he's okay after whatever the hell happened, and Hyunjin had given you a cheeky grin with an arm wrapped round the girl's shoulders as he walked out, leaving you, Seungmin, Jisung, Jeongin and Felix to clean the result of the party up.
"I don't know how he does it," Jisung says as he sweeps up confetti remanence. "The man has absolutely no game and still manages to get any girl he wants."
You snicker as you hold out the trash bag for Jeongin to throw cups into. "That's what good looks will do for a guy."
"I'm going to ignore that," Jisung glares at the younger boy. "Can I stay at yours tonight? I can't be bothered getting an uber home."
"Sure," Jeongin responds, and Seungmin only shrugs when you screw your face up at their weird dynamic. You turn to Felix who's behind you, rearranging the cushions on the sofa so it looks somewhat presentable.
"You can stay here if you can't be arsed walking back to yours," you offer. His dorm is a ten minute walk away, but he's drunk and it's two in the morning. Jeongin's accommodation is in the opposite direction to Felix's so he'd have nobody to walk back with, and although your university's campus was a generally safe place, there was no chance you'd be letting your drunk friend walk home alone.
"That would be great actually," Felix replies, looking to Seungmin for silent confirmation. He puts his thumb up before taking your trash bag off of you and tying it up. "No doubt Hyunjin's brought that girl back. We share a wall."
You grimace at the insinuation and say bye to Jisung and Jeongin when they leave, proud that the four of you had managed to tidy up in half an hour. You set Felix up with a duvet and pillows on your now clean couch, Seungmin lending him some clothes to a leep in, and he giggles when you and Seungmin tuck him in. When you head back into your room to change, you remember the bouquet that Doha had given you earlier in the night, taking it through to the the kitchen and filling a jug of water, placing the flowers in it.
"But," you hear Felix say sleepily as you place the jug on the breakfast bar. "You absolutely hate roses."
You don't even answer him. You don't need to. The weight of the statement is enough for both of you, and it's all you can think about when you fall asleep.