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Minghao was getting more and more frustrated each day.
When he first moved to Korea, he didn’t think there would be a problem. It was to pursue his dreams so he was more than happy despite the foreign land. Besides, he was with his fellow Chinese member Junhui there too, so at least homesickness wasn’t that bad. If he ever needed to hear someone babble in Chinese, all he had to do was show up next to Junhui. Food was hardly an issue too, since there were Chinese restaurants around the area.
The biggest problem, if any, was probably the language barrier. He arrived in Korea without a bit of Korean knowledge in him, so Minghao tried his best to learn. He expected things to be more comfortable as time wore on, with his Korean language lessons and all. Things were okay for a while— the lessons went well, his accent was becoming more natural, his listening skills were improving.
Then, Minghao realized that sometimes, having a language barrier was a terrible thing to deal with.
Which was precisely why he was lying face down on his bed and hasn’t moved for a few minutes now. Seated on the floor beside the bed was Junhui, who was watching him with an amused expression, head rested on the bed as well. The latter had tried poking and even shaking the younger boy, but nothing would make him move. For a moment, he worried over if Minghao could even breathe.
“Ya,” Junhui would say every few minutes. “When are you getting up?”
To which Minghao would reply to with a groan.
Junhui shook his head, “why don’t you just tell him?”
Minghao replied with an even louder groan.
The source of his current and growing problem would be because of a good ol’ crush on a certain happy virus member. As cliched as it may sound, Minghao can’t help but say the usual; he didn’t know when it started to happen, but it just did. He thought it was just his usual nerves getting to him, but soon realized his quick heartbeat usually only happened around one person, and one person alone.
Seokmin was, of course, oblivious to everything.
Minghao, instead of being happy that Seokmin was dense to the fact that someone liked him, was actually pretty stressed out about it. He’s never been the type to run away from something like that, so the Chinese boy actually wanted to confess. The problem was he couldn't find a way to do so considering how every time he tried to say something his Korean would slip up and Seokmin would in turn jokingly drag another person into the picture to interpret whatever Minghao was trying to say.
Confessing to his crush? Simple enough.
Confessing to Seokmin? Minghao was close to considering it a terrible idea.
Junhui has heard all about Minghao's woes, mainly because that's the only thing the latter's been mentioning lately and also because he's the only one Minghao was actually able to freely communicate all his feelings to. Everything from what he liked about Seokmin to how hard Korean is to how frustrated he is about it all. Junhui had thought about just creating a script for Minghao to follow and save the kid trouble, but then again; it was more fun this way.
"You're going to get up eventually, right, Minghao?"
"Leave me here to rot," came Minghao's lifeless reply.
Junhui sighed, "tell you what? I'll go get Seokmin to come and get you. Have fun."
He got up and was about to turn around and head to the door when he felt a tug on his shirt that kept him in place. Looking down, Junhui smiled at the sight of Minghao finally moving. The latter was looking up at him with cautious eyes.
“What happens after he comes in?”
“Well,” Junhui paused to think. “What else but confess, right?”
At that, Minghao sat up and released Junhui. The scenario of what could actually happen played in his head: Seokmin comes in, Minghao speaks up to confess, Seokmin gets confused and calls for Seunggwan or Soonyoung to enter, Minghao resumes his rock-like state until Junhui pulls him out again. He let out a heavy sigh and looked up at the waiting Junhui, who was patiently staring at him.
“Will I be able to do it this time?” Minghao asked sincerely.
Junhui patted his head, “of course! You can do it! Positivity is key!”
Sighing again but smiling at the other boy’s undying positivity, Minghao nodded.
“Alright, ask him to come in.”
Junhui gave him a thumbs up and raced out the door. Minghao continued to sit on his bed, contemplating how it was going to go. He wanted to first explain why he was feeling such, but how? If he could just explain things in Chinese that would be better, but Seokmin won’t understand that even more. He didn’t want the confession to be a plain one, maybe he should—
“Minghao?”
Minghao blinked. Standing in front of him was Seokmin with his ever-present smile.
“Junhui told me to come over, what’s up?” Seokmin asked, casually sitting down next to Minghao. The latter was still in a slight state of shock, his mind was figuring out how to properly translate things and maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Minghao took a deep breath, “Seokmin—“
“Yes, that’s me.”
“I know, the thing is—“
“What thing?”
“I’m trying to tell you—“
“Tell me what?”
Minghao groaned loudly, “listen to me first!”
Grinning sheepishly, Seokmin made a gesture that he was zipping his mouth closed and throwing away the key. Minghao would have found in funny except there are more important matters to be discussed. When he was certain Seokmin was going to keep quiet, Minghao took a moment to compose himself before speaking again.
“Seokmin, what I’m trying to say,” Minghao said slowly, making sure to pronounce each word right. “I have been feeling this for some time now. It’s like my heart is going to explode, and the thing is— What’s the word for it— I can’t explain what I feel but— I think— No, I’m pretty sure I— “
The door to the room burst open and Minghao was very tempted to throw a pillow at whoever walked in, unfortunately it was the eldest member Seungcheol and Minghao wouldn’t get out of the room alive if he did. Seokmin didn’t look at all disturbed by the interruption, as he grinned at Seungcheol who looked back and forth between the two of them.
“Sorry to interrupt, but they’re calling the vocal team over,” Seungcheol said simply.
Seokmin jumped up to his feet and motioned that he’ll be right there as Seungcheol left the room. Minghao decided he was going to wait until Seokmin left the room before he resumed groaning about life and his woes, when he realized Seokmin was still standing in front of him. He looked up to see the bright, happy smile and wondered why he hasn’t left yet.
“For the record,” Seokmin began to say. “I think you’re really cute whenever you try to confess.”
With that, he was out the room.
Junhui returned to the room later that day to find Minghao muttering to himself in fluent Korean about how he was going to get back at Seokmin and never speak to the boy ever again.