Mina shoved her books inside her locker as she glanced around. She slung her backpack on her right shoulder. Her canvas shoes creaked against the tiles as she walked. She tried to scan the corridors, but the flock of students was hindering her view. She stopped in the corner of the second floor's window, leaning against the wall. She looked down on the landscape outside, wondering whether she would be lucky enough today.
She squinted her eyes as she scanned through the park outside the west wing of the mechanical engineering building. His dirty brown hair was striking enough from afar. He was laughing with his gang. Some of the guys were smoking.
Gotcha.
She took a deep breath, then shuffled towards the stairs. She ran down the stairs with light steps, but a heavy heart. Upon stepping onto the last flight of stairs, she closed her eyes, mustering the courage that was left inside of her.
The sun rays welcomed her as she stepped out of the building. She walked to the bench, where the seniors were gathering. She was chewing her lip as she got closer to the familiar faces that made the freshmen suffer. Her knees were as strong as jelly as she approached them.
A tall senior who wasn't smoking, noticed her presence and waved at her.
"Hi, Mina, are you lost?" he asked. He glanced nervously to his right side, where Jongin was seated.
Jongin turned his head at her, and his grip on the soda can he held was getting tighter. The can dented by his grip.
He looked as beaten as Mingyu was, even worse. A couple of bruises were still brightly visible across his smug face.
The other seniors who were busy smoking and chatting halted their activity promptly. They looked at Mina with an amused look.
She gulped at the sudden attention, but she bowed quickly.
She looked at the tall senior who greeted her. "No, Namjoon sunbaenim, I'm not lost..."
"I need to talk to you for a moment, Jongin sunbae," Mina turned to face her mortal enemy.
"Ooooh, a moment, Jongin! Go get her!" Baekhyun was slapping Jongin's back in glee.
"Why have a moment if you can have all night, baby?" another senior chipped in a disgusting comment. He blew a circle smoke out of his mouth and giggled. Lee Seunghoon, bastard.
She had to hold back the urge to scoff. She tightened her lips, her fingers were fiddling with her backpack's straps.
"Can you just talk here?" Jongin said lazily. Mina raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, can I really talk here? I'd love to if you don't mind." She said, her voice seeping with venom.
Jongin crushed the soda can, threw it to the ground, and stepped on it. He stood up and strutted towards her.
"Yah! Kim Jongin! I know you're a jerk, but at least don't litter!" Baekhyun shouted at him and threw the crushed soda can at Jongin's back.
Jongin turned his back, almost fuming. "Can you shut the fuck up, Hyun?" He rolled his eyes.
Mina was having a hard time not to laugh at the scene unfolded before her.
The other seniors were laughing at Baekhyun's nagging.
Jongin bobbed his head at Mina, "Follow me."
"No, follow me..." Mina said sternly. She learned her lesson, better to coax him to a familiar place.
**
She almost threw up when she realized she had to spend some time alone with this guy again.
"Stop, we're not going on tour, aren't we?" Jongin spat.
Mina stopped in her tracks. She exhaled deeply before turning to face him.
"I think you owe me an apology, it's been long overdue." She said. Her deep brown eyes stared menacingly at him.
He smirked. "Apology? Aren't you, also owe me an apology, princess?"
She didn't even regret to have kicked his balls back then.
"You should be thankful I didn't throw you in jail, even though you deserved it!" she said sternly.
He walked closer towards her. "What did you say?"
She stood tall and clenched her fist. "And don't drag my friend into this mess! Your business is with me only."
"I never dragged your little friend, he involved himself, that's so stupid of him!" Jongin shook his head, his dark eyes were flashing with amusement.
"Don't insult my friend..."
"Oh, by the way, that kid was rude as fuck, he deserved every beating, I wonder if he ever got a manner lesson, in his life?" Jongin said briskly.
"And, if you weren't such an uptight wench, we would have spent a great night, and none of this crap would happen," he added lightly.
The sound of a hard slap echoed in that quiet place.
Jongin touched his left cheek in disbelief. He glared at her.
"What a stupid cunt!" He grabbed the collar of her denim jacket, forcefully. Her backpack dropped to the ground with a soft thud. Her eyes widened in shock. The bad memory was washing through her again, and she regretted her decision to come here in the first place.
She yanked his hand away from her, she walked backward to avoid him getting closer to her again. Her pulse was rising rapidly, she felt like her head was going to blow up.
She forced her buckled knees to run away. She turned on her heels but stopped in her tracks when she saw Mingyu on the other side of the alley, his expression was unreadable.
Then she saw him marching boldly in their direction. She started to panic at the unexpected incoming. How did Mingyu find them here, it would be another thing to ask later.
"I've told you! Don't ever lay a hand on her, again!" Mingyu walked past Mina and went straight to grab Jongin's shirt.
The older boy startled at the sudden outburst. He pushed the younger one's chest harshly. Mina stunned at the mind blowing scene happening in front of her.
When Mingyu punched Jongin in the face, Mina realized everything wasn't a dream. "No, Mingyu! Stop! Stop!" Mina caught his left hand which was ready to throw another punch at his opponent.
"Stay out of it!" Mingyu snapped at her. Mina stared at him, her mouth hanging open. Mingyu turned to face Jongin who fell on the ground at his sudden attack.
Jongin sprang up and threw a strong punch at Mingyu's face, causing the taller boy to stumble. Blood was gushing from his nose, again, after all those bruises finally faded, he would have another one.
She recklessly stood in the middle of the boys, her back pushing Mingyu's chest, and she stepped on his foot to restrain him. Mingyu let out a muffled groan at her herculean step on his left foot.
She looked at Jongin and pleaded him to stop, "Sunbae, please forgive him, please, don't continue this useless fight..."
"Move, Mina, or you'll be hurt too," Jongin hissed.
Mingyu riled up upon hearing his threat. "Fuckin' chicken! Your rival is me, not her!" Mingyu tried to get away from her but she stepped on his foot harder.
"Can you shut your stupid mouth? Asshole!" Jongin barked at him.
Jongin was hesitant to get closer as Mina obstructed his way.
"You should watch your ugly dick so it won't go rampant like a wild snake!" Mingyu spat fire out of his mouth.
Mina's eyes widened, she gasped at his foul mouth. She turned her back and covered his mouth with her hand. "You should really watch your mouth!"
Mingyu was frowning while she muffled his mouth and pushed him farther from Jongin. Mingyu tossed her hand away as he freed himself from her.
He rushed to Jongin and kicked him on the chest, Jongin landed with a loud thud on the ground. He groaned loudly as Mingyu stepped on his chest.
"I'm so gonna kill you, fucking rascal!" Jongin shouted.
"Can you do that, huh? Try to wake up first..." Mingyu chuckled as he looked down at his prey.
Her eyes wandered, beads of sweat were running down her temple as her hands turned cold. Her brain was racking any proper way out.
He is ruthless...how to stop him?
She felt a gush of wind from her right side, as something flashed past her, it was someone. Suddenly her brain was working very slowly and everything she watched, was a painful slow-motion. When Jackson pulled Mingyu's jacket, unlatched him from their senior's limp body on the ground. Mingyu resisted but Jackson was much stronger than Mina, he could handle Mingyu way easier.
"What the hell happened here?" Jackson's eyes were rounded in surprise.
"Uh, oh, Jong-in sun-bae, are you alright?" Jackson was flustered when he found out the actual reason for Mingyu caught in another fist battle.
Jongin spat some blood on the ground, as Jackson helped him to get up. He growled at Mingyu.
"We're not finished yet, asshole!" He groggily got up, holding on his chest.
He bumped into Mingyu's shoulder intentionally. Mingyu stumbled but glaring fiercely. Jongin walked out while glaring back at Mingyu.
~
Silenced. The only sound was their irregular breath and a gush of wind blowing the trees.
The two of them were looking at the ground, both looked breathless and messy. Jackson looked back and forth between Mina and Mingyu. Both of them seemed to have a lot of pent up anger but refused to let it out.
Jackson cleared his throat.
"We were looking for you, dude! This is, uh, what happened?" Jackson asked Mingyu.
Finally, someone ended this eerie silence.
Mingyu threw a piercing gaze at Mina instead. The girl was eventually staring back at him. The tension between them was bright red. Alarming.
"Jack, would you please give us a moment?" Mina asked Jackson softly. Her eyes softened as she gazed at Jackson.
"What? I just arrived here, and you shooed me away?" Jackson asked, dumbfounded.
"I'll talk to you later. But I need to finish something with him, sorry..." Mina tilted her head at Mingyu's direction.
Jackson heaved a sigh but nodded. He jolted in his spot as his Happy Tree Friends' ringtone rang loudly. What a great timing.
He fished out his cellphone from his pocket and picked up a call from Eunwoo.
"You...watch out," Jackson pointed his index finger at Mingyu's face, as he walked away. The taller boy nodded in defeat and smiled faintly at the shorter one.
"Woo, I found your boyfriend, yeah, Mina too. No, Sujeong is not here, why are you asking?" Jackson's voice faded slowly as he turned on the corner of the building and disappeared.
Mingyu snapped his head at her direction again, and heaved a deep sigh. "What the hell were you thinkin, Mina?" he masked his anger in a low hiss.
"I think I'm the one who should ask that question," she said.
Mingyu looked at her from head to toe, as if assessing her sanity.
"What was your plan, anyway? You wanted to kill him, or something? That'd be wonderful if he didn't kill you first!" Mingyu eventually lost his temper. His voice raising uncontrollably.
His dark irises became a shade darker if that even possible. She struck a disbelief gaze at his outburst.
The gentle and funny Mingyu had disappeared into thin air.
This is the real him?
"I don't know what your problem is, Mingyu, but you can't just scream at someone without a reason," she said calmly. She folded her arms in front of her chest.
"Without a reason? I have a million reasons to be mad at you right now, and you're too blind to see that? I thought you were smarter than that!" Mingyu pointed his finger at her.
She couldn't tolerate it any longer. He was so out of line this time.
"I had my reason why I met him, and it had nothing to do with you, FYI, I didn't ask you to take care of me. I can take care of myself!" Mina said. Her tone was as frozen as the winter frost. She wasn't screaming at him, but spilled everything in a very composed manner, which was unsettling.
He let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Yeah, sure, you're a wonder woman aren't you? You can defeat him anytime."
Mina didn't like the degrading tone in his voice.
"I really have no idea why you're so obsessed with my life, Mingyu," she said slowly.
"What?" Mingyu perplexed at her rude remark. He ran his fingers through his jet black hair and grabbed it in frustration.
"You're so-difficult, Mina," he trailed off.
"I think the solution is quite clear, Mingyu, you should mind your own business, and stay away from mine," Mina stated frivolously. She surprised herself at her astounding remark.
His mouth was agape as if something stuck in his throat, but he couldn't let it out. His black irises dilated in such an unsettling manner. There was no need to be a genius face reader to recognize the exact emotion painted on his face right now.
Hurt.
Another suffocating silence enveloped them both.
He couldn't shift his disbelieving gaze away from her while she kept avoiding his gaze.
"Fine," he said. There was a mild tremor in his voice.
Mina balled her fist and held her breath.
"Take care on your way home," he added hoarsely.
With those simple words, he turned his back at her.
She watched his wide back getting further and further away from her, and finally disappeared in the corner where Jackson went before.
She opened her fist, and staring at his drying blood on her hand.
She let out a heavy sigh.
It's for your own sake, Mingyu.
*****
#A/N : Hi amazing people!
Thank you for reading until this far. I can't thank you enough for your continuous support for this book. 800 views, magical! T_T
I admit, this chapter is angsty and probably disappointing (and too makjang) for you who expect another sweet moments between them. Err, but yeah, it has to be done. Life is not always about unicorn and rainbow. And sorry if it seems crappy too, it is the hardest chapter to write so far...
I'll gladly accept any constructive criticism, spam of comments, reactions, everything!
I'll try to get better at writing so the next chapters will be better presented. (another false hope and batsh*it, yeah...)
#QOTD : A new character in this chapter will be an important person for the future chapters.. Who is it?