Battle of Pride (11/?)
Title: Battle of Pride
Pairings: KyuMin, slight!KiMin
Genre: Angst, Romance
Rating: PG-13
Warning: genderswitch
Disclaimer: I only own… posters… and albums. :D
Chapter Summary: Fate is playful. It gives us challenges and different circumstances where it teases and plays with our emotions to measure how strong we are. Though sometimes, it gets already pissing.
Previous Chapters:
1 ♦ 2 ♦ 3 ♦ 4 ♦ 5 ♦ 6 ♦ 7 ♦ 8 ♦ 9 ♦ 10
Sungmin slightly opened the door, and saw students singing, laughing, and playing different kinds of instruments, making her feel more excited; she really wanted to learn all types of instruments. So far, she could play the guitar, piano, and saxophone well.
Her eyes roamed around the room to find for Yesung, but a sweet voice caught her attention, “Lee Sungmin, right?” She widened her eyes at the tall, red-haired Chinese-looking lady standing behind her, gently closing the door to look at the unfamiliar girl, “Uh, hi…”
“Who are you looking for? Is it Ryeowookie?” The girl asked, and Sungmin shook her head; Kyuhyun said that he saw Ryeowook at the faculty room. Then, the tall lady’s eyes sparkled as she leaned her face closer to Sungmin, “Are you going to join?!” Sungmin smiled sheepishly.
“Oh my gosh! I really wanted to be friends with you! I never thought that you would want to join our club! By the way, I am Zhou Mi, and I am Chinese. Zhou is my surname, and Mi is my name. People call me Zhoumi to make my name Korean-ish, but those who are close to me calls me Mi or Mimi, in your case, you can call me Mimi!” The Chinese blabbered. She sure talks a lot…
Sungmin sweetly smiled, “Uh, hi there, Mimi. You can call me Min.” Zhoumi beamed and held the smaller girl’s hands, “Are we friends now, Min?” Sungmin nodded. Though Zhoumi is weird and overly energetic, she knows that this girl is nice and is fun to be with… having one more friend won’t hurt, right?
Zhoumi literally skipped and hugged the smaller girl, making the raven-haired smile. When the tall girl moved away, Sungmin finally asked, “Uh, is Yesung oppa inside? Could you please call him for me?” Zhoumi’s mouth formed an ‘O’ before peeking through the big door, beaming when she saw who Sungmin was looking for.
She opened the door and shouted, catching everyone’s attention, “Yesung-sshi, Sungminnie is looking for you~!!!” Yesung, who was playing the guitar, stood up and gave the instrument to a club mate, grinning widely as he made his way out of the club room.
“How did you know Zhoumi?” Yesung immediately asked after closing the door and faced his childhood friend. “She talked to me just now when I was looking for you.” She raised her shoulders while answering. “So, what Wookie said is right, huh… you’re really joining?” The guy asked while palming his nape.
She bit her lips before answering with a blush, “Uh, yeah… I’ll just give it a try… do you think I have a chance?” Yesung beamed as he slung an arm around Sungmin, “Of course! I know about your great talent in guitar and in singing! Come on, I’ll introduce you to them!” “They all know me, Sungie.” The raven-haired pouted, making the guy giggle.
“Hey guys, Lee Sungmin said that she wants to join our club!” Yesung happily announced as he and Sungmin entered the spacious room, making the students inside stand up and rush to the two. Jungmo, one of the club members, clapped his hands and flashed his sweet, warm smile to the girl, “Hi there, Sungmin-sshi! Are you going to sing for us?”
Sungmin blushed as she nodded, “I will also play the guitar… if that’s okay for you…” “Of course!” Jungmo said enthusiastically, now gesturing for Sungmin to go to the center.
As she went to where the microphone is, Zhoumi handed her a guitar with a bright smile, and made a ‘fighting!’ pose, making Sungmin laugh and forget her nervousness.
Sungmin plucked the guitar strings, but was just testing or maybe delaying… She took a deep breath before finally playing the right chords and parting her lips to sing… suddenly, she thought of Kyuhyun. Honestly, she planned on singing a happy acoustic love song, but when Kyuhyun covered her thoughts, the first song that came to her mind was what her talented fingers played.
You ask me if I really don’t feel anything or if nothing’s wrong from time to time
Do I really look like nothing is wrong?
Do I?
Even now when I look at you my heart hurts
Even if it’s for a moment
I try hard not to let my tears fall
Don’t you know that I’m smiling like a fool?
Now how can you and I become friends like before?
Can we really be like that?
Can we really?
Press the reset
Press press the reset
I’m looking at you
Only you
Press the reset
Press press the reset
You, I can’t forget you
Press the reset
Press press the reset
How am I to let go of the person who’s standing in front of me
Press the reset
Press press the reset
Reset…
She heaved a deep sigh and looked up the ceiling to prevent herself from crying; she really feels light after doing that. It’s as if she brought out all the hurt feelings she kept inside through this.
Her tears were about to disobey her, but the students clapped their hands, completely distracting her. Zhoumi ran to her and held her hands, “You’re so good, Min~!!! You made me cry!!!” And no, she isn’t joking; Zhoumi’s eyes were really swollen.
“Sungmin-sshi.” Sungmin’s and Zhoumi’s gaze diverted to Junsu when the guy called the one who auditioned. But then, Jungmo spread his arms wide with a big smile, “Welcome to the music club!” Sungmin beamed as she looked at Zhoumi and Yesung, who were also happy for her.
She suddenly switched on to her ‘childish mode’ that she stood up and tilted her head, unconsciously doing puppy eyes, “Does that mean that I can now use the piano any time I wanted to?” Jungmo was taken aback because of the girl’s cuteness that he gulped before answering, almost stuttering, “Uh, what? Of course… e-everyone could play it any time they want!”
Sungmin’s eyes widened, “Even those who aren’t members of this club?” Jungmo nodded with a raised eyebrow, “We don’t own the piano, so why would we restrict it to non-members?”
What the fuck?!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ryeowook was running as fast as she can to reach the music room on time, not even stopping to catch her breath. She received a text message from Sungmin that she will just go first since Kyuhyun is with her. She really found it weird that Sungmin and Kyuhyun went there together, knowing how Sungmin despises the guy.
She glanced at her wristwatch and ran faster as she realized that she is already late because Sungmin might have already finished performing or whatever she did there.
But as she was getting nearer to their club room, she saw Kyuhyun walking towards her with his head down. She knows that Kyuhyun isn’t aware that he was about to bump with her, so she called him to catch his attention, only to narrow her eyes when she noticed that the guy is pale.
“Kyuhyun-sshi, are you okay? D-did you just come from the room?” She inquired, worry is evident on her tone.
“N-no, I-I didn’t. I just… there… no, it’s nothing. I… I’m fine, Ryeowook-sshi.” The tall guy stuttered, his eyes roaming around the place. She nodded, and was about to continue walking, but Kyuhyun spoke, “Just don’t tell her that you saw me here, okay? Or else… you’ll regret it.” and then walked away.
She just gaped at the hasty Kyuhyun’s back, confusion running on her mind as to what Kyuhyun told her. But she then shrugged it off, thinking that the guy is not feeling well.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kyuhyun sat beside Sungmin and casually talked to her, “Hey, I heard from Changmin that you made it to our club. I told you that you can do it!” But the girl continued scribbling something on her notebook and ignored Kyuhyun.
“Yah, why aren’t you talking to me?” Kyuhyun said as he shook Sungmin’s arm, only for his hands to be removed by the girl and be ignored again. But a stubborn Kyuhyun is the most stubborn of all the stubborn people one should have known, so he continued shaking her while saying ‘Yah~~~ talk to me~~~’, earning a deadly glare from the raven-haired, and curious looks from their classmates.
Kyuhyun was about to say ‘Yah’ again, but Sungmin stopped him by placing her pink pen on the guy’s lips, ignoring the students’ light gasps. She leaned her face closer and hissed in a low volume, only for Kyuhyun’s hearing, “Why did you tell me that the piano could only be used by the club’s members when the truth is, even non-members could too?!”
He faked an innocent look and removed the girl’s pen from his lips, his grip is now on Sungmin’s wrist, “What? But I thought that only the members could play it!” Sungmin struggled to break free, surrendering for a moment to retort, “Bullshit, Kyuhyun. I know you know it! Why did you lie to me?!” He widened his eyes, still had that naïve image, and tightened his hold on the strong woman’s wrist, “I swear, I don’t know! It was Changmin who told me that!”
She snorted and rolled her eyes, now confirming that Kyuhyun is just playing with her. “Pish. I asked Changmin and he reconfirmed it to me. What are you actually playing now, Kyuhyun?” She asked in a pissed tone, making Kyuhyun smirk.
He whispered, “Honestly, you shouldn’t have used your cute pen to cover my lips for me to shut up and listen to you, babe.” Sungmin’s face showed a disgusted look, earning a dry chuckle from the brown-haired guy.
“You should have just used your lips. It’s effective, you know.”
Sungmin widened her foxy eyes when Kyuhyun gave her a quick peck on her lips, ignoring the loud gasps again, and her wrist was finally able to break free that she used that hand to cover her lips. Her eyebrows met, and forehead creased as she hissed, “What the fuck did you just do, bastard?!”
He clicked his tongue and leaned comfortably on the backrest of his chair, “It’s bad to curse, angel.” Sungmin was about to slap the guy’s handsome face, but their professor went in, making her unwillingly take back her hand and just clenched her fists tight under her desk as she threw glares at her seatmate, who was grinning in triumph.
Since Kyuhyun is starting a war against her, she won’t let herself be defeated by this man. So, she stepped on the guy’s right foot hard, making Kyuhyun yelp and stand up, and shouted at her in frustration, “WHAT THE FUCKING HELL-”
She now faked an innocent look, the one he previously had when she was asking him about the piano playing thing, “Why, what happened to you, Kyuhyun-sshi?”
“Yes, what’s wrong, Mr. Cho?” Their Math professor asked the student. Of course, Kyuhyun won’t say that ‘Sir, this bitch just stepped on my foot!’ he will look like an elementary kid who whines about being hurt by a girl. He shook his head and got back to his seat, excusing, “I thought I lost my wallet.”
Lame.
He then took a glance at his seatmate who is biting her lips to prevent herself from giggling or smiling. He poked her shoulder and firmly said when she looked at him, “Do that again and I’ll kiss you in front of the class… in front of our professor.”
This time, he was the one who smirked when Sungmin’s small grin disappeared and was replaced by a fierce look. “Do that, and I’ll throw you out of the window. I swear.”
They didn’t pay attention to what their teacher was teaching them the whole time, whose back was always faced to the class and was talking to the board.
Kyuhyun will occasionally poke Sungmin’s soft cheek with his pen, and the girl will just try her best to ignore the bastard and will just shove the pen away from her cheek.
Kyuhyun will grab her book and put it on his desk. Of course, Sungmin will try to get it from him, but he will just raise the book with his long arms, making Sungmin silently curse for having shorter ones. She will just surrender and let him have it since she really isn’t reading it.
Kyuhyun will put a paper on her desk. She reads it. She frowns. She writes. She returns the paper. He reads. He laughs. He writes. He gives it to her. And go back to the second sentence, until the second to the last, and repeat the same routine for four times.
Hi, beautiful. Want to have some sexy time later?
WTF, Cho Kyuhyun? Can’t you just find some of your bitches to play with?!
But it’s you that I want!
Then, fuck yourself!
I’d rather fuck you.
Are you bored to death?!
Yes! Please take away my boredom!
Then, get bored until you die!
You want me to die? :(
JUST GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!!
Kyuhyun replied by writing while smirking, and gave the paper to Sungmin. However, she didn’t even read it and ripped the paper into smaller pieces. Being the nature-lover girl here - also because she knows that Kyuhyun won’t accept it - she stuffed the pieces of paper inside her bag, and sat properly with her arms crossed, not forgetting to glower at the guy.
Sungmin was trying her very best to absorb what their professor is saying when she suddenly felt someone tugging her hair. Well, she already knows who the culprit is. She swats the hand away without looking at the guy, frowning more when Kyuhyun doesn’t let this stop him from bothering her. After more tugs on her poor hair, she finally faced him with an enraged expression as she held his wrist.
“What do you want now?” She hissed with full seriousness on her voice. The guy smirked and whispered, “You.” Her frown deepened and was about to retort, but the professor suddenly called them.
“Mr. Cho and Ms. Lee, mind sharing us what you’re talking about?” The students’ gaze were diverted to them. “Uh, I just asked something to Kyuhyun-sshi…” Sungmin sheepishly smiled, and looked at her smirking seatmate, “…right?” Kyuhyun’s smirk didn’t fade and decided to ride along, “Yeah.” She really asked him something, right?
Actually, that professor was the one who caught them writing to each other when Kyuhyun is still persuading Sungmin, and read it out loud. They were just fortunate that he didn’t catch them writing earlier. Or maybe not…
“Okay, Ms. Lee, please answer this simple question.” Their professor firmly said. Well, Sungmin knows that she’s a sucker for this subject. She didn’t even know why Math is still included in her curriculum when she studies Music. She widened her eyes as soon as she saw the problem when she stood up.
Find the equation of the line through the points (-1, -1) and (-1, 2)
OH MY GOD!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! Shit, my mind is spinning. Good Lord, can I die right now? No, I’m just kidding! I need to live for my baby though his or her father beside me is an asshole! God, if you let me survive this, I’ll… I’ll do my best and study harder!!!
Then, she felt a nudge on her foot, and saw a paper on the floor with writings on it. Since the penmanship isn’t good, she knows that Kyuhyun wrote it. She narrowed her eyes to clearly read what was written and saw:
X= -1
She has no choice. She should answer it. She will accept defeat from Kyuhyun just for now.
She cleared her throat before answering, not forgetting to spare a glance on the guy who just gave her an answer. As expected, he was grinning. She answered with a hesitant voice, “X equals Negative 1.”
The teacher nodded before sitting, and sarcastically said, “Very good, Mr. Cho. You may take your seat now, Ms. Lee.” Sungmin sighed as she sat, not looking at her seatmate.
“You’re not even going to thank me?” She heard him say. She heaved a very deep sigh before looking at him, smiling, “Thank you.” Kyuhyun sat straight because of it, speechless; he doesn’t know why.
“Oh, Ms. Lee and Mr. Cho, stay here after class.”
They looked at each other with widened eyes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The bell rang and students went rushing out of the room, with Kyuhyun’s friends telling him to just ditch the old professor, and leave his ex to be scolded by that elderly. But he just smirked at them, “You go first, guys.” Minho, one of his friends, shrieked, “What the- you’ll really stay for that chick?!” The wavy-haired lightly tapped Minho’s cheek, “Of course. You do know what I’m thinking, right?”
Getting what their friend meant, the guys just grinned and slapped him on the back before going out, “Go get it, wolf!”
He diverted his gaze to his seatmate, and didn’t see her on her seat. Instead, she was now walking towards their professor. “Aish, this girl…” He frustratingly said before following her.
“Mr. Kim…” Sungmin softly said as she reached the teacher’s table, with Kyuhyun trailing behind her. The professor looked up and sat properly when he recognized the girl, and brought out his record book, flipping its pages.
“You see, Ms. Lee, I noticed that your grades in my subject are below average… you do know what that means, right?”
Sungmin bit her lip and nodded; she really knows that Math is her biggest and might forever be her weakness… and that she doesn’t stand a chance on passing this subject with flying colors… what a fate.
“So, what I wanted to tell you now isn’t about you flirting during my period. Mr. Cho, I heard that you want to earn some money that was not given to you by your parents. Is that true?”
Kyuhyun hesitated to answer, but then nodded, since the teacher already knew of his needs. Maybe he will help him, right? Better take this opportunity… it depends though.
“Then, I think you would gladly take the responsibility of being Ms. Lee’s math tutor, right? Don’t worry, you will be compensated well.”
Sungmin’s eyes got bigger after hearing it; First, Kyuhyun will tutor her, second, why would she be the one to compensate this freak?
“I will pay him?! Mr. Kim, I-”
“No, the school will pay him, of course. As your teacher, it is my responsibility to look after your grades. And, I know that you would prefer Mr. Cho to tutor you.”
Hell no. Sungmin almost blurted it out. “Uh… no…! I don’t! Please don’t! Anyone but him!” She pleaded. Kyuhyun smirked, “How about Seohyun?” The girl glared at him, “Her grades are worse than mine, Kyuhyun. We will just stare at each other and throw inappropriate curses.” The guy shrugged, “That would be fun.”
“Yah, yah, stop your love quarrel now. So, Mr. Cho, do you accept it?” the professor asked Kyuhyun.
The brown-haired did a ‘thumbs up’ sign and grinned, “Sure! As long as it’s my Sungmin!” Sungmin slapped his arm hard, making him fake a hurt expression. “I am not yours!” She then turned to their laughing teacher, “Excuse me, sir, I haven’t even said that I agreed to this!”
“Why, do you have any choice, Ms. Lee?”
Sungmin parted her lips to answer… but of course, he is right; she really has no choice.
“I’m sure Mr. Cho would gladly help you the way he helped you earlier.”
“Of course, sir! You can count on me!” The tall guy enthusiastically said.
“Great! You can start today!” Mr. Kim said to the two before dismissing them.
Sungmin swears that she will die soon.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kyuhyun and Sungmin went to the library, and sat on the farthest corner of the place where no one could hear and see them. It is Kyuhyun’s idea, actually.
“Why are we here?” Sungmin asked as she placed her bag on the table and took her seat. The guy raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t libraries built for a place to study?” The girl threw glares at Kyuhyun, “I mean, why are we here in the farthest table?”
Kyuhyun dryly chuckled and slung an arm around Sungmin, whispering, “Well, you know, for privacy.” The girl frowned and pushed Kyuhyun’s face away, and brought out a notebook and pen, “Start now, Mr. Cho. Just make sure that you’re going to teach me properly.” The guy smirked as he grabbed a pen and paper, “Oh yes, I will. I need money that desperately.”
“Why?”
“It’s a secret. I’ll tell you if you give me a kiss on the lips.” Kyuhyun said while giving the girl a wink. She let out a disgusted snort as she threw her pen to the guy, “Kiss yourself and just teach me!” Kyuhyun giggled and pinched Sungmin’s cheek, “So impatient, babe. The reason why I chose this place is because I know that you will shout at me the whole time… they can’t hear us here.”
She rolled her eyes, “Pish, Kyuhyun, I know you have something in your mind…” The guy leaned his face closer and smirked, “Mind telling me what’s that, baby?” She gave him a sheepish, fake smile, “First off, stop calling me ‘babe’, ‘angel’, or ‘baby’. Second, you’re a pervert.”
“Will ‘princess’ be fine with you?” He playfully asked. When she just looked at him with an angry one, he chuckled and started his lessons before his bones get broken after this.
“Okay. Let’s start with the basics.” He then wrote something, and showed the paper to her tutee.
-x/2 + y/3 = 0
x + 6y = 16
As expected, Sungmin just stared blankly at the paper, her frown slowly deepening as she tries to solve the problem. Kyuhyun just looks at her, now having the same expression as she does. “What the fuck, Sungmin?! That’s just a simple problem of system of equation and you can’t solve it?!”
“I have no hope in Math, Kyuhyun. I hate numbers and letters. I panic when I see x and y, especially when there’s already a coefficient… fuck, it takes my life!” Sungmin ranted as she placed a hand on her chin. Kyuhyun palmed his forehead, “This is going to be hard… okay, okay, we can work it out.”
“How?” She asked with a high-pitched tone. He smirked, “I’ll tell you next time. But for now, we’ll start with the basics. Your foundation should be good… and you better listen because I’ll punish you.”
She was to say something, but she suddenly felt something on her stomach… no, womb area, making her lightly clutch her tummy and bite her lips because the pain is getting stronger.
“Hey, are you okay? Why are you so pale? Are you hurt somewhere?” Kyuhyun worriedly asked when he saw her lips white and her hands are on her tummy.
Suddenly, she felt her blurry and it is as if the world is turning. She shut her eyes and massaged her forehead, “I-It’s n-nothing. I’m fine.” Of course, she swore that she won’t tell Kyuhyun about her pregnancy until she gives birth.
“No, you’re not fine. I’ll bring you to the clinic.” Kyuhyun firmly said as he stood up and moved to make Sungmin stand up, but the girl is stubborn and won’t let her body be pulled.
But still, guys are stronger than girls, and it is obvious that Sungmin is weak right now, so Kyuhyun was still able to pull Sungmin up and bring her to the clinic.
No, no, please not Kyuhyun! Don’t let him know of my condition!
“Kyuhyun, no, I can-”
“Handle yourself? Now that’s bullshit, Sungmin. You can’t even walk properly!”
Kyuhyun was about to carry Sungmin, but he saw her weak body fall to the ground, with her eyes closed. It is just a good thing that he is holding her hand, and he caught her on time. He lightly slapped the pale girl’s cheeks, “Yah, yah, Sungmin-ah! Wake up!”
Getting no reaction or movement from the girl, he clicked his tongue, and carried her bridal style, bringing her to the clinic, which was actually on the floor above them so he has to walk up the stairs since the elevator is broken.
But when he was still walking, he heard Sungmin groan and clutch her belly tighter, making him more confused, “Is she having stomach problems? Why doesn’t she just excuse herself to go to the bathroom?” Because of this, he fastened his pace and ran towards the clinic.
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