A FEW DAYS HAD PASSED SINCE THE HALLOWEEN PARTY AND NOW IT WAS THE DAY OF THE RUMBLE.
Everyone had decided to meet up at Heeseung's house before the fight, and so now they were waiting around. Miso was sat at the table with Sunoo and Jungwon, talking about the homework their teacher had given them that week, Jake and Sunghoon were sitting not far from them, arm wrestling, Jay was drinking a beer whilst leaning against the door frame, Niki was watching Jake and Sunghoon while laughing at Jake's struggling, Ria was sat on the sofa with Jia, and Heeseung had just exited his bedroom.
"You sure about this, Miso?" Heeseung questioned, rubbing the towel that was hanging around his neck onto his hair to dry it. "You can always stay here if you're not ready for your brother to see."
Miso sent the older boy a grateful smile as she nodded her head. "Thanks, Heeseung, but I'm sure." She stated, earning a nod from the Lee boy before Niki wrapped his arm around Miso's shoulder, pulling her close to him and placing a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Feel free to back out whenever, doll." Niki whispered into her ear, his hot breath fanning her skin, causing goosebumps to appear on her body.
"Can you guys get a room?!" Sunoo huffed and rolled his eyes in disgust, turning to look away from Niki and Miso.
"Shut your trap, Sunoo, just cause you ain't got no girl." Niki fired back, making Sunoo send glaring eyes at him before Heeseung announced it was time to leave.
The three girls followed behind the boys that were giggling and messing about as they walked down the center of an empty road. Miso watched as Jungwon jumped onto Jay's back, and Niki and Jake jokingly kicked one another. It was nice to watch them get along and joke around.
Once arriving at the junk yard where the rumble would plan out, Miso spotted a few other Greasers gathered in groups and Jonas and Junhyuk standing together — almost like they were keeping watch of those that entered the yard.
"How ya doin', ladies?" Junhyuk winked at the three girls as they walked past the two older men. Ria sent them both a wave and mirrored his wink, whilst Miso simply and politely smiled and Jia stood awkwardly.
"Miso," The girl heard Niki call out to her, making her look away from Ria and Jia and over at him, where he then took hold of her hand and brought her over to an old, beat up car that was on the sidelines of where the fight would take place.
The Nishimura boy motioned for Miso to sit on the hood, which she did and she smoothed out the skirt she was wearing and looked up at him.
He stood between her legs with one hand resting on the hood next to her, and his other brushing the pieces of hair out of her face and behind her ear whilst smiling down at her.
"Please be careful, Niki." Miso pleaded, making Niki nod his head, taking in her words, though he was far too focused on her and her beauty to pay full attention.
"Let's go, Goons." Jonas spoke, chucking his cigarette to the floor and putting his hands in his jean pockets before he and the other Greasers followed after him like a pack following their Alpha.
Niki leaned down and planted a kiss on Miso's lips — her instantly melting into the kiss — and then he pulled back and placed a gentle kiss on her head before the taller boy joined the others.
Soon after, Miso was accompanied by Eunchae sitting next to her which did manage to make her feel somewhat better as she would no longer be alone when watching the violent scene.
"You're not fighting?" Miso wondered, turning her head to look at the girl, and Eunchae sighed and shook her head.
"Nope. They think I'm the 'baby' of the group, so they won't let me fight." Eunchae explained in an annoyed tone and Miso couldn't help but chuckle softly — though that soon came to a halt as Miso spotted the Socs cars pulling up.
Immediately, her eyes landed on Beomgyu as he got out of the car holding a small flask that obviously contained alcohol in. The sight made Miso huff and slump her shoulders.
Of course he'd show up to something like this drunk.
The Choi girl felt her breathing hitch as soon as their eyes met, and Beomgyu's eyes enlarged with fury and before anyone knew it, he'd began to make his way over to her, shoving the other Socs and Greasers out of his way.
"Miso?! What the hell?!" Beomgyu snarled. He was furious seeing his sister sat next to some Greaser girl. He hated that she was on the low-life's side. He had so many questions drilling into his head that he became blinded by them.
However, before Beomgyu had to chance to make it over to his sister, Niki took a step in front of him, preventing him from doing anything. The Nishimura boys jaw was clenched and his arms were folded across his chest as he looked down at the slightly shorter boy, giving off an intimidating aura.
"Move, Greaser-Trash!" Beomgyu demanded, shoving Niki back, making him stumble and anger fill his veins. The action made Miso gasp in horror and her eyes widened in worry. She knew her brother could fight well and beat anyone, but could Niki?
The Choi girls questions were quickly answered as soon as Niki threw a punch across Beomgyu's face, making him drop to the floor with a bloodied nose.
Yet again, Miso gasped and she immediately felt Eunchae's hand touch her arm as a way of calming her down. Choi Miso didn't like seeing her brother and Niki fight each other. Two people she cared about going head to head with one another made her upset and angry.
Nevertheless, once Beomgyu hit the floor, it was almost like it fueled the other Greasers and Socs to start fighting, because now, it was chaos.
People were being thrown to the muddy floor, some getting punched in the jaw, kicked in the ribs, tackled to the ground, and others were struggling to take one another down.
It was a truly a horrific sight and it made Miso sick to her stomach as she watched as Niki got tossed to the floor, a grunt leaving his lips.
All of a sudden, a clap of thunder was heard from the sky, along with a flash of lightning and before anyone knew it, rain came smashing down onto them, making the floor even more dirtier and everyone drenched.
"Niki definitely likes you for real." Eunchae stated, inching forward so that Miso could hear her clearly over the yells and rain. "There's no way he's pretending anymore."
As soon as the words hit Miso's ears, her brows furrowed and she slowly turned her head away from the fighting and over to look at Eunchae with a look of confusion. What was she on about?
"What?" Miso wondered. "What're you on about?" She tilted her head slightly, feeling her heartbeat begin to race faster than ever. This couldn't be real, right?
"Hasn't he told you yet?" Eunchae's eyes widened an inch, a mixture of guilt and shock written in her features. "Deji told me he was going to tell you..."
Panic set off inside of Miso and she felt her throat tighten as she glanced back over at Niki, who was busy kicking a Soc to the floor.
"Tell me what?" Miso urged, looking back at Eunchae and awaiting an answer.
"Well..." The younger girl hesitantly began, biting down on her bottom lip awkwardly. "At the start, he only planned on pretending to like you to get back at your brother for hurting Sunoo... I thought Niki would've told you by now."
Miso felt as if her world came to a halt. Like everything around her stopped moving and the only thing that could be heard was her heart shattering.
It was fake? Niki never really liked her? He was pretending all along like she was some kind of bet...
Nodding her head, Miso refused to show Eunchae — or anyone else at the junk yard that she was upset, and so she turned her attention back onto the fight, fighting the urge to break down.
Once the rumble finally came to an end and the Socs scattered away in their Mustangs, the Greasers were left catching their breaths and chuckling to one another as they used each other as a post to stand properly.
"It was a God-damn tie." Jay angrily groaned, running a hand through his hair, making Jungwon huff in annoyance. They would have to fight again some other time.
The boys were covered head to toe in mud, bruises, and cuts and their hair was soaked due to the heavy rain. Niki and Jake had their arms wrapped around each other, Niki's other one holding on a wound he received on his ribs and Jake wincing every now and then.
The image of Niki battered and bruised made Miso's broken heart ache even more. Despite what she'd found out, she hated seeing him in this state. He had blood dripping from his nose and the corner of his mouth and even though he was covered in mud, she could still see the red marks decorating his face.
Miso watched as the tall boy made his way over to her, a glance of pain in his eyes as he went to reach other to her, to hug and reassure that he was okay and that he just had a 'few minor injuries', however before he got the chance to, she walked past him and over to Ria and Sunghoon, who'd now began to make their way back to Heeseung's house.
Miso wanted nothing more than to touch him, clean him up, make sure he was okay by tending to his wounds and laying with him as they spoke about all sorts but she couldn't bring herself to do that just yet...
The Choi girls actions caused Niki to furrow his brows in confusion and he shared a glance with Jake, who only shrugged his shoulders.
He was clueless.
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