TRACK 13 #2
This whole conversation has made me question everything that I know about myself.
I always thought that I'd felt what it was to feel jealousy. Nothing I’ve felt in all these years has ever been like this.
Guilt rides me hard for teasing Jae-un the night we went to the aquarium and he was freaking out over her being in a restaurant full of men.
Glancing to my right, sure enough I see all my members’ eyes locked on the two of them.
Even Minsul slowed his climb and keeps looking over his shoulder down to us.
None of them look as bad off as Kyung and Jae-un, though.
Kyung has his hands tucked into his hoodie and is clenching his teeth, making his lips pout out as he deadpan stares at them.
Jae-un's arms are folded across his chest, his brows drawn down and lips so thin they're practically nonexistent.
I'm with them this time. Even though it seems innocent and friendly enough, I don't like it.
"So, what are you doing on this side? Practicing?" he's asking her, the conversation continuing in English.
She flicks her gaze to me and Yoon Ji who are the closest as she answers with a laugh, "Something like that. Just taking it easy and spending time with company."
He nods to both of us before turning back to her. Little does he know, we aren't the worst of his problems here.
"Cool. Well, if you are looking for a challenge later, bossman put up a whole new section on the end," he offers, sidestepping around her to head down that way.
"I'll think about it," she tells him as he walks away.
As soon as he's out of earshot, Yoon Ji pounces before the rest of us can, but his isn't led by jealousy. "You want to move down there so we can try it out?"
Switching easily back to Korean, she shrugs, smiling at him. "It doesn't matter. We don't need to steal the show when we're here to celebrate your juniors."
"It's not stealing anything," I tell her, curious myself at this point.
Not just to see what she's really got, considering she did look proficient climbing this one, but also to see if either of my brothers will hit their boiling point.
"We're here to have fun. Let's wait for Minsul to get down, and we'll go over there. "
I decide to make it more fun and help keep her attention on us. Plus, she'll probably owe me at the end of it. "Want to make a bet first?"
Her eyes flick to mine as she fights a smile. "What kind of bet?"
"No matter what the wall looks like, the first one to the top owes the other a favor," I propose.
"Deal," she says, sticking out her hand to shake.
I take it, but Yoon Ji steps to our side. "I want in."
"Okay," she agrees as I say, "Winner gets two favors."
Yoon Ji holds out his hands and we end up in a three-way handshake. All of that has given Minsul enough time to finish his climb and get back on his feet, so we walk over to the other end of walls.
She goes over to her friend first thing as we hang back.
"Going for it?" he asks as he's getting himself set up for the safety harness of one of our juniors.
Turned sideways, she looks over and up to the wall before her head does a slow turn across the upper wall. "I don't know. I'm pretty out of shape for this."
"You wouldn't be if you came in more than every other two months," he teases, still strapping himself in with a rope.
"Yeah, I know. I've been pretty busy. I don't know if I'd make that one tonight," she admits.
Too bad she's already made the bet, so it looks like I'll win the favor after all. And, no, I'm not above beating her for it. Yoon Ji will likely let her win.
When she turns to walk back over to us, he raises his voice a little so that she hears him over the music playing and all the talking. "You know what a wise person once told me?"
"Mmm?" she replies.
"You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take," he says, his lips slowly pulling up into a smile.
He's won, and he knows it. I know it. She knows it.
"Annnnd the student becomes the teacher," she says. When he makes a fist and holds his forearm up to her, she makes the same fist and bumps their arms together to form an X.
She walks back over to us with a smile that slowly drops as she sees our faces, mainly Kyung and Jae-un, who look ready to punch something.
"I don't like that," Jae-un states clearly as he moves chest to chest with her.
"What?" she asks perplexed, giving him and Kyung, who has moved to stand over Jae-un's shoulder, a confused look. "We're safely strapped in with a rope. It catches us if we fall."
I huff out a small laugh, making all three of their heads swing my way. Holding up a hand, I use it to cover my lips as Seong Su moves to my side.
"I don't like you talking so familiar with him like that," Jae-un says as their attention falls back on each other.
She snorts softly as her smile slowly comes back. "I just watched one, only one, performance of women practically throwing themselves at you because you thrust your hips in front of thousands of them on stage. Don't make this weird."
Closing the inches of difference between them, she drops her voice. "Be good and I'll prove to you both later why you have no reason to worry."
Jae-un's eyebrows shoot up on his forehead as Kyung's scowl slowly forms a wicked smile as she glances between the two of them.
"Both of us?" Jae-un asks as low as she did.
"Mmm," she agrees with a closed lip smile and a wink.
They're talking low as to not be heard, but I'm close enough to catch every word. Unfortunately, so is one of our juniors. He doesn't look at them, but his cheeks turn pink as he tries to look anywhere but at us. That's a conversation that we need to take care of as soon as possible.
Then as quick as the moment happens, it's over.
She says she'll be right back and walks back toward the front.
While she's gone, the quiet talks between my members say they clearly heard what just transpired, too.
I ignore all of them and start stretching, because I'm winning this bet.
It's more urgent now than it even was before.
I already know what my favor from her is going to be after what I just witnessed.
When she gets back, she slips off her boots and pulls on a pair of climbing shoes.
She throws her hair up in a messy bun before taking off the unbuttoned plaid overshirt that she's wearing and folds it over her boots.
I can't help the way my eyes give her a once over.
Her black cargo-type pants cling to her from her lower thighs to her hips, leaving the bottoms a bit wider.
I hadn't even noticed that she's wearing a black tank top under the other shirt.
Now that so much skin is on display, I find it harder than ever to take my eyes off of her, even if it is just her arms. Of course, it doesn't help that she's got healthy muscles that speak of someone who takes care of themselves.
"Ladies first," I tell her as she sits down to start stretching.
She laughs, grabbing the first available hand as she answers me then pulls him down to sit with her. "In a competition it’s more courteous to let the lady go last. Would you mind helping me stretch?"
Yeon sits across from her and holds her hands to help her stretch as I answer, "Okay then. Ladies last. Yoon Ji. Rock, paper, scissors. Loser goes first."
He wins, meaning I'm first. There's only been one person at this wall all night, and he just came down.
I step up and wait for Jae-un who is timing us.
As soon as he's ready, I take off. If there's ever been one thing that I found I was really good at other than being an idol, it's rock climbing.
I love the burn of my muscles and pushing myself harder and higher.
By the time my feet are planted back on the ground, Yoon Ji is fired up and ready to go. He and Kyung are usually my partners for this kind of thing, so it's no surprise when he takes off just as fast as I did. Only, I still beat him by six seconds.
When it's Liz's turn, she takes a bit of chalk and wipes it on the thighs of her black pants.
I find it a slightly odd thing to do, but it does pull my attention to her butt in those pants.
Unfortunately, it's likely pulling the attention of the other men around me.
Jae-un and Kyung might just beat me for this later.
When Jae-un is ready, she takes off as fast as Yoon Ji and I. I watched her as she was stretching. She already mapped out her route and she knows my time, so I'll be really surprised if I win this one. Then when she's almost at the top, she appears to hit a snag.
"Why's she slowing down?" one of the guys who works here asks her friend.
He lets out a low deep laugh. "She's letting her friends win their bet."
My head whips over to him before locking eyes with Jae-un, who lets out the loudest laugh I've heard from him in a while.
When he starts counting down and hits the three mark, she gains a burst of speed and taps the bell at the top one second after my time.
She definitely let me win on purpose. Oh, we are definitely going to be talking about this.
Not that I should be complaining since I'll get my favor from her.
The guy who questioned her before laughs. "Why is she climbing back down? Doesn't she know she can just let go and the ropes will catch her?"
Her friend tells him to be quiet. "She's not coming back down."
His eyes go wide as she stops midway at a cloud bridge that leads into a different section. "That girl isn't going to attempt that, is she? Only one dude has ever made it, and you saw him."
"I've also seen that girl take down a man bigger than me with her bare hands," her friend murmurs. "If anyone is going to make it, it's going to be her."
She stalls for a few seconds, looking like she's debating the pros and cons. Her friend's voice booms out, giving half of us a jump scare. "Go for it, noona!"