curiosity kills | lee minho

t w e n t y - e i g h t

c h a p t e r 28

Another thunder.

Or was it Seungmin that dropped his book?

Or was it Felix's low 'shit'?

Or was it Hyunjin's gasp followed by his hands that covered his mouth with a smack?

Or was it Jeongin falling out of his seat?

Or was it Jisung loudly chewing on his popcorn?

Those were the questions to be asked since Gyeoul's ears seemed to ring, almost deafening her. Too much had happened in those five seconds which made it difficult to pin point. One thing's for sure was that she felt Areum's arm around her. She hadn't realized that she took a step back and almost bumped into the lamp next to them.

"Aria." Minho broke the silence with a stern, almost warning tone.

Aria had her eyebrows raised in confusion. "What? You said we'd talk about it soon." She said softly before coughing and hugging the blanket tighter around her body.

Gyeoul let out a noise that was neither a scoff nor a laugh. She felt the younger's hands squeeze her arms in support. It was meant to be comforting but nothing would soothe her in that moment, especially with what she had just heard.

Miso, confused with everyone's surprise, decided to chime in. "I didn't know there was something between you two."

Aria gave her a smile. "Of course there is." She reached for Minho's hand. To which he avoided by standing up.

"Obviously, something wrong." Gyeoul heard herself say with a curt nod. She met Aria's glare which she returned by raising a brow, taunting her.

Changbin attempted to lighten the mood by laughing and throwing finger guns at Gyeoul. When no one followed, he blew on the guns before fake tucking it to his imaginary holster.

"Is this some twisted Taylor Swift reference about marrying each other with paper rings?" Jisung began with a cynical smile. "If so, I'm letting it pass." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"You're letting it pass?" Areum asked incredulously.

"Hey, Minho and I have a relationship too deep to be destroyed by pop star references."

There was the unmistakable sound of facepalming from everyone in the room.

"Minho, would you care to share with the group?" Chan began with an easy smile serving as a poor attempt to calm the growing tension.

Everyone turned to look at the boy who was spacing out, seeming to be deep in thought. As he chewed on the corner of his lip, he stood up. "Let's talk." The slight tilt of his head downward indicated that he was talking to the damp dog--girl next to him. Much to certain people's delight, he did not wait for her to follow and immediately disappeared into a corner. Aria made sure to meet Gyeoul's eyes before disappearing as well.

"Sheesh." Felix broke the silence with his unnaturally deep voice.

"Are you okay?" Areum asked with a small frown. The younger seemed to be as bothered as she was.

Gyeoul sucked in her cheeks in annoyance before forcing a nod. Suddenly the room shrunk twice its size, making it a little too stuffy for her liking. She decided she needed some air and excused herself. She went straight for their veranda and sat on one of the stone benches. She hugged her knees close to her chest and immersed herself into the view that is the mansion's ridiculously large yet well-kept garden. It was only drizzling then. Fortunately, there was a roof over where she sat.