Framed

Chapter 5: Blocked

Keeho was a rather social person. He made friends easily, and people were often drawn to him. But Minho was different.

Despite all of Keeho's attempts, Minho remained cold and closed off. The only hope he had was fueled by the knowledge that Minho was even colder when he first joined.

When Keeho first approached him, he was completely ignored, and after weeks of unanswered greetings and awkward silence, he finally got a response.

In the form of a glare.

So in comparison to that, Keeho and Minho were pretty much best buds now. Not even Keeho himself knew why he was so persistent in his pursuit of Minho's friendship. He just felt like he should. Something about Minho drew him to him, and once he finally began to break through Minho's shell, he felt elated.

Perhaps it's the amount of effort he's put into interacting with Minho that allowed him to notice the drastic change in his behavior. Because while Minho was a very quiet and reserved person, he was never so . . . pensive.

The youth teacher would often get lost in thought, and he was way more clumsy than normal. He always had the grace of a dancer and the awareness of a soldier on high alert. But lately he would get so lost in thought that he would end up running into walls.

The sight was rather amusing, sure, but Keeho found himself more confused than anything. What could have possibly happened to cause the aloof man to act this way? After three days of questioning, Keeho finally decided the best course of action would be to simply ask.

And as soon as the youth class finally trickled out of the room, that was exactly what he did.

"Minho!" The brunette was apparently unaware of the other's presence, because he was visibly startled by the loud calling of his name. This was another thing that Keeho found odd. For the first time since they met, Minho was actually showing an emotion other than annoyance.

"Yes?"

One word answers spoken with a near impossible level of disinterest? I guess he isn't totally out of character.

"What have you been up to lately?" Minho momentarily stopped packing up his bag to look at his bubbly coworker from the corner of his eye, yet Keeho didn't falter at all from the slight annoyance apparent in the action.

"Dancing."

Ah, right. The likelihood that Minho would want to talk about what's troubling him would be incredibly low.

"I see. Anything new happen?" Keeho decided to press a little more, both curiosity and concern fueling his persistence.

"No." Minho went back to packing up his bag, a clear sign that he was done with the conversation, but Keeho still decided to follow him out to the lobby once he began to leave.

"Are you sure nothing is bothering you? You've been acting a little off lately." Minho was about to give yet another one word response, but he ended up freezing in place. Keeho noticed how tense Minho suddenly got, and he followed Minho's shocked gaze to see two blondes talking to the receptionist.

Keeho's curiosity grew as Minho showed yet another uncharacteristic emotion.

I don't think I've ever seen him so discomposed.

Minho tried to shake off his discomfort and leave without them noticing, but it seemed Hyunjin and Felix were a little too observant for that.

"Minho!" Felix was the first to notice him, and he enthusiastically waved at the brunette with a warm smile. Hyunjin seemed a little surprised by Felix's exclamation, but once he locked eyes with Minho, he smiled just as warmly.