I Corrupt. ~ Minho (The Sequel to "For My Help")

The Unexpected Truth

TW: MENTAL (AND PHYSICAL KIND OF-ISH NOT REALLY) ABUSE. DON'T READ IF YOU'RE SENSITIVE TO THAT.

River woke up a few minutes later to the twinkling of stars still bright in her vision. She blinked a few times before pushing herself up into a sitting position and combing her fingers through her hair. It was all matted up with dirt and sweat. 

As she tugged through it, she felt a sharp pain spread across her scalp. Yelping slightly, she tore her hand back from her hair and frowned. This caught the attention of Minho, who was sitting a few feet away, taking occasional sips of water. 

"You didn't happen to bring a hairbrush, did you?" He chuckled, scooting over so that he was sitting next to her. His feet were brought in closer to him so his knees were in an upright position. He held his canteen of water with his left hand, and he slung his arm across his legs.

"Unfortunately not." River sighed, staring out at the other Gladers who were either chatting with each other or taking a nap. Everything seemed so casual. It was as if they had all come out her for leisure. 

"River..." Minho started. He seemed to be at a loss for words when he looked her straight in the eye. His expression was serious and made River's heart skip a couple beats. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah! Shoot!" She tried her best to sound relaxed.

"You know how WICKED tampered with your memories?" The stars were shining in his eyes and made him seem even more sincere.

"Aw man, I almost forgot." River joked, but immediately wished that she hadn't. Minho didn't seem to care, nor did he seem to notice.

"What do you remember from your Glade? The fake Glade I mean." River's heart quickened, trying to avoid the subject.

"It's weird. I forget the placement of some things, and I don't remember some apparently important people. Thomas brought up Chuck the other day and I had no idea who he was talking about."

"No River, I mean what do you remember about me? About us? Telling me won't do any harm. I just want to help you." He took her hand gently and rubbed circles on the back of it. River could barely look him in the eye.

"We actually did date. For a while." River focused her eyes on their intertwined hands, trying her best to stop hers from shaking. She didn't know why she was scared to tell him. Maybe she was worried that he would come out and say it was all true. "It was going well. You know, as well as relationships can go. But then the truth came out."

Minho nodded for her to continue.

"You didn't really like me. I was just the only girl in the Glade. But that was just the start of it. You would constantly remind me again and again about how no one would actually like me if there were more girls here. That I was just a piece of meat sent up for all the guys to enjoy. 'A little encouragement' you'd call it." 

River was now aware of the tear that was threatening to spill out of her, but she wiped it away before it could make any progress. "You would hurt me physically as well. Nothing too bad. Just the occasional push that would send me crashing to the ground."

"That's horrible. River, I'm so sorry." Minho's voice was soft and full of regret. Something that River would never get used to hearing come out of his mouth.

"That's not even the worst part." River slowly removed his hand from his grasp and looked him straight in the eye. "The worst part is that through all of that shit, I never lost my feelings for you. Not really, anyway."

"What?" The word got caught in Minho's throat.

"Sure, I acquired some new, more colourful, feelings for you; hatred, disgust, fear, and many others. I continued to love you somewhere deep inside of me. I'd just push the anger to the top and use it to push down my feelings. And that's what scared me the most. Not what you did to me, but what I did to myself. The constant approval that I desired from you, and the fear that I would never get it. Along with, of course, the crippling self doubt."

"Wow, River I don't know what to say." Minho scratched his head and bit at his lip; clearly searching for the right words to express how he was feeling.

"You don't have to say anything. It's not real. It wasn't you." She reminded him. "I know that now."

"I understand now why you acted the way you did when you got back. Honestly, I might have done the same thing." He looked back into her eyes, a small smiling playing across his lips.

"Yeah, well you never know." River chuckled.

"No, I guess you don't." Minho slung his arm loosely across River's shoulders, doing his best to comfort her although he was unsure if him being near her was what she wanted. As if answering his doubts, River shuffled closer to him, taking in the night sky once more.

"This doesn't mean we're dating." River stated plainly.

"You don't need to keep reminding me that." Minho couldn't hide the amusement from his voice.

"Yet." River finished.

"What?"

"This doesn't mean we're dating... yet." River bit her lip.

"But I hurt you!" Minho exclaimed.

"No, you didn't. But I will need some time to get over what I thought you did. And I can't keep denying that I feel something for you. So we're not dating, yet." She explained, continuing to stare at the stars.

"Yet... I can work with that." Minho smiled.

And with that, Thomas called out that the break was over and they were on their feet once again. A few people groaned, but River didn't mind. It was like a whole weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She had told him. She had been brave, and she told him, and it ended perfectly.

As they all headed out towards the town that was twinkling with hope and possible safety, River smiled. She may be in a horrible situation but she had friends around her. Great friends. Friends that she wouldn't trade for the world. And because of that, she had overwhelming confidence that they would all get through this.

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Author's Note

Alright! So now you know what River thinks that Minho did! Finally! To quote Dylan O'Brien: "(dances in underwear)". And also I updated again today because I felt so bad haha!

I hope you like this update, because I'm not sure of how proud I am of it but I needed to just get it out there! :)

Thanks for reading!

Marin <3