[SJFF] Stuck With You - Chapter 26
Title: Stuck With You
Characters: Zhou Mi, Sungmin, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy
Type: Novel
Summary: What happens when you suddenly get pulled out of a band that you've known for years, just to be placed with a trainee and is expected to help her rise to fame the fast way?
~ * ~
Chapter 26
They looked around cautiously during their break, making sure that their targets for the day were nowhere close. As expected, the martial arts expert disappeared from the group as soon as they were given the green light to disperse. The tallest person of them all, however, dragged the only female artist in the huge group somewhere else. Kyuhyun wasn't too bothered by the unexpected turn of events, because Zhou Mi had been deliberating on how he should approach his duet partner for days now.
After they had made sure that the coast was clear, the remaining Super Junior members huddled together to finalise their plans. Although it might seem difficult for eleven people to be held in a close circle, they found it close to natural to fall into their own positions as it was normal for them to hold small meetings in such a manner. Nevertheless, the rest of the managers and staff who knew them well at least understood that the boys shouldn't be disturbed at such a time.
"So, what's the rundown of the plan again?" Jungsoo queried, shooting a glance at their commander-in-chief for the day. He hadn't been in the dorms for the past week, so he wasn't too familiar with what the other boys were trying to do. It felt odd to him that he wasn't in charge of something for the first time since he had debuted with Super Junior, yet he felt that it was a refreshing change of not having to be fully responsible over something for once.
"Donghee hyung will get Sungmin hyung to go to the waiting room we vacated in a while," Kyuhyun started, taking charge just as naturally as Jungsoo would usually do. Donghee, on the other hand, nodded firmly as a signal that he got the message.
"And we'll try to get Mi as far away from the pair as possible, since Sungmin hyung isn't really on talking terms with him yet," Donghae supplemented, having memorised the plan of action when Kyuhyun had informed them about it previously. He hooked an arm around both Hyukjae, whom gave Jungsoo a thumb up.
"I'll personally drag Huiying to the waiting room, since I'm the closest to her in the group after Sungmin hyung and Zhou Mi hyung. Also, I'll take my leave before Donghee hyung arrives," Kyuhyun then added. "Everyone else will have to hide somewhere while waiting for the both of them to be gathered at the room. When Donghee hyung and I manage to escape, then we'll all pounce on the door and keep it locked from the outside so that they can't leave at all. At least not until they settle their score."
"Are you sure this will work, Kyu?" Jongwoon queried, looking slightly sceptical. After all, was it really that easy to trick Sungmin into following any of the members without telling him where they were headed to? Over the years that the vocalist had known the pink lover, he wasn't a gullible person at all.
The maknae of the group bit his lip at the question. "Well… I certainly hope so… Otherwise we might need Hankyung hyung to come back to Korea and wrestle Sungmin hyung into submission," he said seriously, though his statement made the others chortle in laughter. They knew he was just kidding. Probably.
Or maybe he was completely serious about that plan. They didn't really want to enquire about it just yet, at least not until Kyuhyun wants to put it into motion.
"Well, now that everything's clear, shall we go ahead with our plan now?" Jungsoo wrapped up the mini-meeting habitually after staying silent and taking in all the information. The other boys nodded with determination, all poised to get their plan into action within the limited time they had left before they had to start preparing for their concert that night.
* * * * *
"What are you trying to do?" Huiying snapped in a flustered manner as she tried to wrest her hand out of Zhou Mi's death grip. Despite having informed him that she didn't appreciate people suddenly dragging her away without giving her some form of explanation, he never seemed to have gotten the hint. This must have been the fifth time he was doing such a thing.
"I'm trying to get you to talk to me, duh," Zhou Mi deadpanned, rolling his eyes at her as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You've been avoiding me since that day, and don't you even dare deny it," he stated bluntly, stressing on the second part of his sentence when she seemed as though she wanted to mouth her protest.
"And you couldn't have approached in a different manner, why?" she retorted, feeling rather annoyed by everything that had happened for the past day since they had arrived at Singapore. Her boyfriend -she believed that they were still a couple, since neither of them had even brought up the subject of breaking up - avoided her like the plague since their arrival at the Incheon International Airport for their flight to Singapore.
He refused to even look at her, let alone extend a proper greeting to her. She felt incredibly incensed by his actions.
"Do you think that I don't know you well enough by now?" Zhou Mi challenged, and she could only bite her lip at that. "You'd never answer me truthfully if I were to talk to you in front of the others."
"Fine," she huffed, leaning against the wall of the hallway so that she could glare at him with all her might. "Well? What do you want with me?"
Zhou Mi frowned a little at her hostility, though he duly ignored the overwhelming desire to prolong the argument with her. It wasn't going to do them any good, and he wanted zero animosity between them by the time their concert loomed. "Look, I know that you're upset with me about what had nearly happened between us. That and what had happened between you and Sungmin."
"Damn right about that," Huiying answered scathingly, though she straightened herself in alarm when her duet partner slammed an open palm into the wall right next to her ear. She knew then that he wanted to get everything off his chest, and he wasn't going to tolerate having her interrupt him continuously.
"Let me just get straight to the point, please," he beseeched, leaving no room for her to appeal against it when he continued with his words. "I know that you have feelings for me - otherwise you would've pushed me away when I tried to kiss you without any hesitation," Zhou Mi said.
Her cheeks flushed red at that, though she quietly mumbled "Don't think too highly about yourself, Mi". It was duly ignored by the man.
"The thing is, I might have the same feelings like you do, Ying. I like you. I've liked you for a while, but these feelings of mine when I was with Jingxi were suppressed," he revealed, and Huiying's heart did a weird flip at his confession. Why was she being so delighted about it?
"I…"
"But I know I can't do this, Ying. I know I can't be selfish. I can't betray my friend. I can't take you away from Sungmin just like that. You and I both know that you're deeply in love with each other," Zhou Mi cut her off, this time taking on a much softer, much gentler intonation.
He had thought about the matter for days, and he realised that he would be contented if he could preserve their friendship. He wanted them to live just like the way they did before, even though there may be some extra feelings injected in between. He vowed not to be the third person in their relationship, and will not pursue Huiying unless either she or Sungmin decides to step out of the relationship.
Huiying heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry, Mi. I know I'm being unfair. I'm the one who messed up this time. If only I had been clearer about my feelings, and if only I were loyal enough to Sungmin…"
"Don't be sorry. None of this is completely your fault," he pressed a finger against her lips to silence her. "We can't control our feelings. We can't choose who to fall in love with. We just… do. We didn't even kiss, so you can still salvage things with Sungmin if you would just explain it to him. You have never cheated on him, at least not physically."
The both of them jumped when someone suddenly cleared his throat from behind, only to find Kyuhyun rolling his eyes at them. "Sorry to be crashing in on such a heart-warming occasion, but I really need to borrow Huiying for a moment," he grinned, shooting a wink at Zhou Mi.
The older man looked at him oddly for a split second, before finally getting the subtle hint behind Kyuhyun's actions. He smiled. "Fine, I know you're going to make things go your way even if I said 'no'. Just don't have the coordis and stylists go after you if you ever lose track of time. I'm not going to be responsible for that."
"Aww, you care so much for me that it hurts," Kyuhyun cooed sarcastically, batting his eyelashes at the long-legged male.
"Stop it with your mushiness, you two. And don't I get a say in this?" Huiying piped up as she watched their exchange, frowning slightly when both of her friends turned to look at her with a disconcerting smile on their faces. Her frown deepened when they chimed a cheeky 'nope' in tandem, before finding herself being dragged away to God-knows-where for the second time that day mere moments later.
* * * * *
"Yah, Shindong, do you actually mind telling me what's going on?" Sungmin growled, having been dragged by said male from his very comfortable couch in their waiting room in the midst of his nap. Shindong had said something about wanting to show Sungmin something interesting, yet the former refused to divulge what exactly it was.
"You need to calm down, Sungmin. I prefer the outgoing and cheerful you more," Shindong replied quietly, though his face brightened up significantly a split moment later without giving the younger man an opportunity to seek clarification for his earlier statement. "Anyway, all you have to do is to get in right here…" he ended his sentence abruptly, before pushing Sungmin into the empty room and pulling the door shut.
When Sungmin managed to regain his composure from the initial shock, he quickly launched himself at the door and slammed on it with his clenched fists. "God damn it, Shindong! What the hell is your problem? Open the door right now before I decide to hurt you badly when I get out!" he yelled, knowing full well that his fellow members were somehow behind this. He could practically hear their muffled snickers on the reverse side of the door.
"Sorry, Ming, but if you don't solve this in a civil manner, we're not going to entertain your threats," Heechul's voice filtered into the room. Just as Sungmin had suspected.
"Solve what, hyung? How am I supposed to settle anything if I'm locked in here and you guys are enjoying this entire situation from outside?" he protested, although he was truly clueless about what was happening right now.
"Hyung," Ryeowook's voice was the next to speak up. Now that surprised Sungmin a little. "Have you even turned around and took a good look at the rest of the room?"
Sungmin frowned at the prompt, realising that no, the door was the only thing he had seen ever since Shindong pushed him into the room. He slowly turned around just like Ryeowook had asked him to, his blood freezing at the sight of a familiar face smiling wryly at him. His heart wrenched painfully in his chest.
Not now. He couldn't do this now.
"Guys, this isn't funny. Let me out right now," he hissed through clenched teeth at the door once again, direly hoping that they would change their minds about keeping him in there.
One scoff, and he knew that his pleas were futile. "No. You need to stop running away from this. If you don't talk this out and solve all your misunderstandings, we'll cook up a reason to cover up your disappearances to the managers and fans," Kyuhyun in turn said, before rapping on the door twice. Sign for 'good luck, you're on your own now'.
Sungmin heaved a devastated sigh and ran a hand through his hair at that, before stalking across the room and planting himself in the other unoccupied sofa. The one that placed maximal distance between him and the other person in the room with him. There were conflicting feelings boiling within Sungmin - part of him didn't even want to see her, yet another part of him wanted to do nothing else but to hug her tightly in his arms.
"Ming… I'm really sorry," her voice, meeker than he remembered it to be, cut through his thoughts. He looked up, finding that the wry smile was still plastered on her face.
"For our situation right now? Why didn't you say anything when they dragged you in here?" Sungmin asked, draping his neck over the headrest of the sofa. Although he didn't really want to speak, the words just left his lips naturally when she talked to him. It was a conditioned response by now.
"I didn't know about this either. Kyuhyun said that he wanted to talk to me about something, but excused himself to answer a call from Jin Ri. Then you came in," she explained, fiddling with her fingers. Huiying was nervous and worried, wondering whether their conversation would fizzle into nothing with that answer of hers. Nevertheless, her worries were unfounded, because her boyfriend kept their conversation going.
"You should know better than to trust the maknae," he chuckled dryly. "But anyway… how have you been?"
Huiying glanced at him in surprise, feeling even more in awe when she realised that he was smiling softly at her. Nothing cynical, nothing spiteful. It was the Sungmin she had come to know and love. "I've been better… how about you?"
"Been better too, I guess," he shrugged. "Kyuhyun should've told you that I temporarily moved back to my parents' place."
"Yeah," Huiying confirmed, then apologised again. "I'm sorry, Sungmin. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have ended up like… this," she ended lamely, for the lack of better words to describe their situation.
"What are you talking about, Huiying? I'm partially at fault for this as well. I knew that there was a possibility that this might happen, yet I still went ahead with my whimsical decisions," Sungmin finally admitted, though it only served to confuse Huiying even more.
"What?" she blurted, and he sighed.
"Truth be told, I knew you had feelings for Mi for the longest time ever, even though you might not have realised it. I asked you out because I wanted to believe that I could make you fall for me. I should have prepared myself - no, I thought I had prepared myself for this - but I guess I handled things in the wrong way at the end," he laughed mirthlessly, lamenting the mess he had gotten himself into.
Sungmin looked up in astonishment when a hand cupped his cheek gently, realising for the first time that he was in tears when Huiying's face came up blurred in his line of vision.
"I don't know how you knew that I was in love with him when I myself didn't realise about my feelings, but I just want to tell you this. You did successfully make me fall in love with you, Ming," she whispered, as the tears of guilt fell from her eyes. Huiying pressed her forehead against Sungmin's, hoping desperately that she could understand just how much pain he was going through.
He cupped a hand over hers, pressing her palm closer to his cheek so that he could savour the warmth he had been pining for. "Yet it still wasn't deep enough, was it? I can't make you stay with me…" Sungmin sighed. "I'm selfish, Huiying. Although I told myself that I'll let you go when you finally admit your feelings for Zhou Mi, I can't. I love you too much… I just… can't," he continued, shaking his head profusely. He surprised Huiying once more when he tugged on her arm, thereby sending her crashing into his chest and into his embrace.
Nonetheless, Huiying wrapped her arms tightly around him just as he did to her, wanting to tell him just how much he means to her. "You don't have to make me stay with you, Ming. Even if you wanted to push me away, I won't let you."
"I… I don't understand…"
"Can't you see, Sungmin?" she spluttered through a laugh, wiping his tears away before working on her own. "I'm more devastated at you ignoring me completely above anything else. I don't care if I'm also in love with Mi; I'm in love with you. I'm with you. And I'll continue being with you until the day we both decide that we've had enough of each other."
"Are you sure you want this, Ying?" he muttered miserably, trying to ignore the stabbing pain that came along with it. He was doing the exact thing he said he wouldn't - to push her away from him.
"I told you - I don't care. I'm sticking with you, Sungmin, whether you like it or not," she smiled, before pressing her lips against his. Nevertheless, just as Sungmin finally started to respond to it normally, Huiying broke off the kiss because her message tone resonated through the air.
She took a quick glance at it, and he noticed the worried expression on her face as she read through the message. "Is that Kyuhyun telling you that we're late for makeup?" he asked, trying to pick the electronic device out of her hand so that he could type up a retort to the impudent kid.
Huiying nevertheless pocketed it before he could even reach it, and muttered a distracted "yeah, let's go", pulling him out of the room with her. In reality, she had lied to Sungmin. The message was from an unknown number, not Kyuhyun, bringing with it a greatly disturbing message.
You'll regret this. I'll make sure of it.
Characters: Zhou Mi, Sungmin, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy
Type: Novel
Summary: What happens when you suddenly get pulled out of a band that you've known for years, just to be placed with a trainee and is expected to help her rise to fame the fast way?
~ * ~
Chapter 26
They looked around cautiously during their break, making sure that their targets for the day were nowhere close. As expected, the martial arts expert disappeared from the group as soon as they were given the green light to disperse. The tallest person of them all, however, dragged the only female artist in the huge group somewhere else. Kyuhyun wasn't too bothered by the unexpected turn of events, because Zhou Mi had been deliberating on how he should approach his duet partner for days now.
After they had made sure that the coast was clear, the remaining Super Junior members huddled together to finalise their plans. Although it might seem difficult for eleven people to be held in a close circle, they found it close to natural to fall into their own positions as it was normal for them to hold small meetings in such a manner. Nevertheless, the rest of the managers and staff who knew them well at least understood that the boys shouldn't be disturbed at such a time.
"So, what's the rundown of the plan again?" Jungsoo queried, shooting a glance at their commander-in-chief for the day. He hadn't been in the dorms for the past week, so he wasn't too familiar with what the other boys were trying to do. It felt odd to him that he wasn't in charge of something for the first time since he had debuted with Super Junior, yet he felt that it was a refreshing change of not having to be fully responsible over something for once.
"Donghee hyung will get Sungmin hyung to go to the waiting room we vacated in a while," Kyuhyun started, taking charge just as naturally as Jungsoo would usually do. Donghee, on the other hand, nodded firmly as a signal that he got the message.
"And we'll try to get Mi as far away from the pair as possible, since Sungmin hyung isn't really on talking terms with him yet," Donghae supplemented, having memorised the plan of action when Kyuhyun had informed them about it previously. He hooked an arm around both Hyukjae, whom gave Jungsoo a thumb up.
"I'll personally drag Huiying to the waiting room, since I'm the closest to her in the group after Sungmin hyung and Zhou Mi hyung. Also, I'll take my leave before Donghee hyung arrives," Kyuhyun then added. "Everyone else will have to hide somewhere while waiting for the both of them to be gathered at the room. When Donghee hyung and I manage to escape, then we'll all pounce on the door and keep it locked from the outside so that they can't leave at all. At least not until they settle their score."
"Are you sure this will work, Kyu?" Jongwoon queried, looking slightly sceptical. After all, was it really that easy to trick Sungmin into following any of the members without telling him where they were headed to? Over the years that the vocalist had known the pink lover, he wasn't a gullible person at all.
The maknae of the group bit his lip at the question. "Well… I certainly hope so… Otherwise we might need Hankyung hyung to come back to Korea and wrestle Sungmin hyung into submission," he said seriously, though his statement made the others chortle in laughter. They knew he was just kidding. Probably.
Or maybe he was completely serious about that plan. They didn't really want to enquire about it just yet, at least not until Kyuhyun wants to put it into motion.
"Well, now that everything's clear, shall we go ahead with our plan now?" Jungsoo wrapped up the mini-meeting habitually after staying silent and taking in all the information. The other boys nodded with determination, all poised to get their plan into action within the limited time they had left before they had to start preparing for their concert that night.
* * * * *
"What are you trying to do?" Huiying snapped in a flustered manner as she tried to wrest her hand out of Zhou Mi's death grip. Despite having informed him that she didn't appreciate people suddenly dragging her away without giving her some form of explanation, he never seemed to have gotten the hint. This must have been the fifth time he was doing such a thing.
"I'm trying to get you to talk to me, duh," Zhou Mi deadpanned, rolling his eyes at her as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You've been avoiding me since that day, and don't you even dare deny it," he stated bluntly, stressing on the second part of his sentence when she seemed as though she wanted to mouth her protest.
"And you couldn't have approached in a different manner, why?" she retorted, feeling rather annoyed by everything that had happened for the past day since they had arrived at Singapore. Her boyfriend -she believed that they were still a couple, since neither of them had even brought up the subject of breaking up - avoided her like the plague since their arrival at the Incheon International Airport for their flight to Singapore.
He refused to even look at her, let alone extend a proper greeting to her. She felt incredibly incensed by his actions.
"Do you think that I don't know you well enough by now?" Zhou Mi challenged, and she could only bite her lip at that. "You'd never answer me truthfully if I were to talk to you in front of the others."
"Fine," she huffed, leaning against the wall of the hallway so that she could glare at him with all her might. "Well? What do you want with me?"
Zhou Mi frowned a little at her hostility, though he duly ignored the overwhelming desire to prolong the argument with her. It wasn't going to do them any good, and he wanted zero animosity between them by the time their concert loomed. "Look, I know that you're upset with me about what had nearly happened between us. That and what had happened between you and Sungmin."
"Damn right about that," Huiying answered scathingly, though she straightened herself in alarm when her duet partner slammed an open palm into the wall right next to her ear. She knew then that he wanted to get everything off his chest, and he wasn't going to tolerate having her interrupt him continuously.
"Let me just get straight to the point, please," he beseeched, leaving no room for her to appeal against it when he continued with his words. "I know that you have feelings for me - otherwise you would've pushed me away when I tried to kiss you without any hesitation," Zhou Mi said.
Her cheeks flushed red at that, though she quietly mumbled "Don't think too highly about yourself, Mi". It was duly ignored by the man.
"The thing is, I might have the same feelings like you do, Ying. I like you. I've liked you for a while, but these feelings of mine when I was with Jingxi were suppressed," he revealed, and Huiying's heart did a weird flip at his confession. Why was she being so delighted about it?
"I…"
"But I know I can't do this, Ying. I know I can't be selfish. I can't betray my friend. I can't take you away from Sungmin just like that. You and I both know that you're deeply in love with each other," Zhou Mi cut her off, this time taking on a much softer, much gentler intonation.
He had thought about the matter for days, and he realised that he would be contented if he could preserve their friendship. He wanted them to live just like the way they did before, even though there may be some extra feelings injected in between. He vowed not to be the third person in their relationship, and will not pursue Huiying unless either she or Sungmin decides to step out of the relationship.
Huiying heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry, Mi. I know I'm being unfair. I'm the one who messed up this time. If only I had been clearer about my feelings, and if only I were loyal enough to Sungmin…"
"Don't be sorry. None of this is completely your fault," he pressed a finger against her lips to silence her. "We can't control our feelings. We can't choose who to fall in love with. We just… do. We didn't even kiss, so you can still salvage things with Sungmin if you would just explain it to him. You have never cheated on him, at least not physically."
The both of them jumped when someone suddenly cleared his throat from behind, only to find Kyuhyun rolling his eyes at them. "Sorry to be crashing in on such a heart-warming occasion, but I really need to borrow Huiying for a moment," he grinned, shooting a wink at Zhou Mi.
The older man looked at him oddly for a split second, before finally getting the subtle hint behind Kyuhyun's actions. He smiled. "Fine, I know you're going to make things go your way even if I said 'no'. Just don't have the coordis and stylists go after you if you ever lose track of time. I'm not going to be responsible for that."
"Aww, you care so much for me that it hurts," Kyuhyun cooed sarcastically, batting his eyelashes at the long-legged male.
"Stop it with your mushiness, you two. And don't I get a say in this?" Huiying piped up as she watched their exchange, frowning slightly when both of her friends turned to look at her with a disconcerting smile on their faces. Her frown deepened when they chimed a cheeky 'nope' in tandem, before finding herself being dragged away to God-knows-where for the second time that day mere moments later.
* * * * *
"Yah, Shindong, do you actually mind telling me what's going on?" Sungmin growled, having been dragged by said male from his very comfortable couch in their waiting room in the midst of his nap. Shindong had said something about wanting to show Sungmin something interesting, yet the former refused to divulge what exactly it was.
"You need to calm down, Sungmin. I prefer the outgoing and cheerful you more," Shindong replied quietly, though his face brightened up significantly a split moment later without giving the younger man an opportunity to seek clarification for his earlier statement. "Anyway, all you have to do is to get in right here…" he ended his sentence abruptly, before pushing Sungmin into the empty room and pulling the door shut.
When Sungmin managed to regain his composure from the initial shock, he quickly launched himself at the door and slammed on it with his clenched fists. "God damn it, Shindong! What the hell is your problem? Open the door right now before I decide to hurt you badly when I get out!" he yelled, knowing full well that his fellow members were somehow behind this. He could practically hear their muffled snickers on the reverse side of the door.
"Sorry, Ming, but if you don't solve this in a civil manner, we're not going to entertain your threats," Heechul's voice filtered into the room. Just as Sungmin had suspected.
"Solve what, hyung? How am I supposed to settle anything if I'm locked in here and you guys are enjoying this entire situation from outside?" he protested, although he was truly clueless about what was happening right now.
"Hyung," Ryeowook's voice was the next to speak up. Now that surprised Sungmin a little. "Have you even turned around and took a good look at the rest of the room?"
Sungmin frowned at the prompt, realising that no, the door was the only thing he had seen ever since Shindong pushed him into the room. He slowly turned around just like Ryeowook had asked him to, his blood freezing at the sight of a familiar face smiling wryly at him. His heart wrenched painfully in his chest.
Not now. He couldn't do this now.
"Guys, this isn't funny. Let me out right now," he hissed through clenched teeth at the door once again, direly hoping that they would change their minds about keeping him in there.
One scoff, and he knew that his pleas were futile. "No. You need to stop running away from this. If you don't talk this out and solve all your misunderstandings, we'll cook up a reason to cover up your disappearances to the managers and fans," Kyuhyun in turn said, before rapping on the door twice. Sign for 'good luck, you're on your own now'.
Sungmin heaved a devastated sigh and ran a hand through his hair at that, before stalking across the room and planting himself in the other unoccupied sofa. The one that placed maximal distance between him and the other person in the room with him. There were conflicting feelings boiling within Sungmin - part of him didn't even want to see her, yet another part of him wanted to do nothing else but to hug her tightly in his arms.
"Ming… I'm really sorry," her voice, meeker than he remembered it to be, cut through his thoughts. He looked up, finding that the wry smile was still plastered on her face.
"For our situation right now? Why didn't you say anything when they dragged you in here?" Sungmin asked, draping his neck over the headrest of the sofa. Although he didn't really want to speak, the words just left his lips naturally when she talked to him. It was a conditioned response by now.
"I didn't know about this either. Kyuhyun said that he wanted to talk to me about something, but excused himself to answer a call from Jin Ri. Then you came in," she explained, fiddling with her fingers. Huiying was nervous and worried, wondering whether their conversation would fizzle into nothing with that answer of hers. Nevertheless, her worries were unfounded, because her boyfriend kept their conversation going.
"You should know better than to trust the maknae," he chuckled dryly. "But anyway… how have you been?"
Huiying glanced at him in surprise, feeling even more in awe when she realised that he was smiling softly at her. Nothing cynical, nothing spiteful. It was the Sungmin she had come to know and love. "I've been better… how about you?"
"Been better too, I guess," he shrugged. "Kyuhyun should've told you that I temporarily moved back to my parents' place."
"Yeah," Huiying confirmed, then apologised again. "I'm sorry, Sungmin. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have ended up like… this," she ended lamely, for the lack of better words to describe their situation.
"What are you talking about, Huiying? I'm partially at fault for this as well. I knew that there was a possibility that this might happen, yet I still went ahead with my whimsical decisions," Sungmin finally admitted, though it only served to confuse Huiying even more.
"What?" she blurted, and he sighed.
"Truth be told, I knew you had feelings for Mi for the longest time ever, even though you might not have realised it. I asked you out because I wanted to believe that I could make you fall for me. I should have prepared myself - no, I thought I had prepared myself for this - but I guess I handled things in the wrong way at the end," he laughed mirthlessly, lamenting the mess he had gotten himself into.
Sungmin looked up in astonishment when a hand cupped his cheek gently, realising for the first time that he was in tears when Huiying's face came up blurred in his line of vision.
"I don't know how you knew that I was in love with him when I myself didn't realise about my feelings, but I just want to tell you this. You did successfully make me fall in love with you, Ming," she whispered, as the tears of guilt fell from her eyes. Huiying pressed her forehead against Sungmin's, hoping desperately that she could understand just how much pain he was going through.
He cupped a hand over hers, pressing her palm closer to his cheek so that he could savour the warmth he had been pining for. "Yet it still wasn't deep enough, was it? I can't make you stay with me…" Sungmin sighed. "I'm selfish, Huiying. Although I told myself that I'll let you go when you finally admit your feelings for Zhou Mi, I can't. I love you too much… I just… can't," he continued, shaking his head profusely. He surprised Huiying once more when he tugged on her arm, thereby sending her crashing into his chest and into his embrace.
Nonetheless, Huiying wrapped her arms tightly around him just as he did to her, wanting to tell him just how much he means to her. "You don't have to make me stay with you, Ming. Even if you wanted to push me away, I won't let you."
"I… I don't understand…"
"Can't you see, Sungmin?" she spluttered through a laugh, wiping his tears away before working on her own. "I'm more devastated at you ignoring me completely above anything else. I don't care if I'm also in love with Mi; I'm in love with you. I'm with you. And I'll continue being with you until the day we both decide that we've had enough of each other."
"Are you sure you want this, Ying?" he muttered miserably, trying to ignore the stabbing pain that came along with it. He was doing the exact thing he said he wouldn't - to push her away from him.
"I told you - I don't care. I'm sticking with you, Sungmin, whether you like it or not," she smiled, before pressing her lips against his. Nevertheless, just as Sungmin finally started to respond to it normally, Huiying broke off the kiss because her message tone resonated through the air.
She took a quick glance at it, and he noticed the worried expression on her face as she read through the message. "Is that Kyuhyun telling you that we're late for makeup?" he asked, trying to pick the electronic device out of her hand so that he could type up a retort to the impudent kid.
Huiying nevertheless pocketed it before he could even reach it, and muttered a distracted "yeah, let's go", pulling him out of the room with her. In reality, she had lied to Sungmin. The message was from an unknown number, not Kyuhyun, bringing with it a greatly disturbing message.
You'll regret this. I'll make sure of it.