Hyunjin rolled himself out of bed the third time his alarm went off. Grabbing his phone off the charger he padded down the short hall to the bathroom. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he knocked on the closed door.

"Jisung. I know that's you in there, hurry up." he said leaning against the door frame and staring off into space. Waking up this early was never easy for him, especially when he was up past one am the night before. That happened to be when he remembered that he'd been painting last night and his hands were still covered in paint.

"Aish" He muttered to himself as Jisung finally opened the door with a towel wrapped around his waist.

He squinted at the bright light in the bathroom as he stood in front of the mirror. He had blue paint streaked across his left cheek and a green drop of paint on his forehead. His hands were covered in the same blue paint as his face, and his eyes looked a little puffy.

Sighing loudly he started scrubbing his hands under the warm water from the sink and when they were clean he scrubbed his face with a towel to get the paint off. He must've fallen asleep with wet paint still on his hands. "ugh" he said to himself when he saw how red his skin was after all the scrubbing.

"Let's gooo!" Chan yelled from the living room. Hyunjin rolled his eyes and walked back to his room to change, remembering they had schedules today. He wasn't sure how he forgot. "Hyunjin, c'mon. Hurry it up, we're leaving in five." Chan said pointing at him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm almost ready." He mumbled, still not fully awake. It was going to take some coffee to do that.

***

A few hours of practice later, and the boys were all sitting on the floor of the practice room covered in sweat. It was the first practice with the dancers for their performance and Hyunjin couldn't take his eyes off of one of the girls. Her long dark hair faded to a dark blue at the tips, her almond shaped eyes turned to little half moons when she smiled, he even found her slightly larger than usual front teeth adorable. They made her look a little like a bunny when she smiled.

"It's rude to stare, and you...have been staring all week" Felix said as he sat down next to him.

"Huh? I'm not staring, I don't know what you're talking about." He said embarrassed that someone caught him looking at her.

"Mhm, suuuure you're not." Felix said as he took a drink of water, "she's pretty, go talk to her."

"Nah. We're not supposed to anyway. Why bother."

The girl looked back over her shoulder at Hyunjin and he quickly flicked his eyes in another direction, feeling his stomach drop to his feet. He cursed himself for getting caught.

"Ohhhh, you've been caught. Good luck with that Hyunjin." Felix laughed as he stood up.

The girl came to the center of the room with the rest of the dancers and stood right across from Hyunjin. She averted her gaze as to not make either of them uncomfotable. The chroeographer stood in the center of the circle and all Hyunjin could think about was how badly he wanted to kiss her. He didn't know where that feeling was coming from. He wasn't the type of guy that would normally think things like that.

Felix looked at him and tried to stifle a smile. He could probably tell by the constipated look on Hyunjin's face how uncomfortable he was.

"So, let's take it from the top. Skz I need you guys up here, dancers towards the back. Pretend this is your final rehearsal. Pull out all the stops! Kill it!" The choreographer said clapping his hands.

Hyunjin shook his head slightly and moved towards the front, taking his place in the center with Felix and Minho on either side of him. Chan, Changbin, and Jeongin stood behind and Seungmin and Jisung filled in the back. He took a deep breath as the music started.

He was always nervous, he may be a professional at this, but that didn't mean he didn't get nervous. Everyone assumes that when you get big and famous and you do enough shows, that you don't get nervous anymore. No, he still got nervous every single time, most of the group did actually. Especially, when there was a cute girl two rows behind him.

Hyunjin didn't date much. He wanted to, he got lonely. He wanted a person that he could talk to at the end of the day about what happened. He wanted someone to listen to him when he was upset or stressed, and espcially a person that meant a lot to him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been on a date. Probably as a trainee, which was....four years ago. He hadn't been interested in anyone, honestly. He focused on his work, but something about the girl two rows behind him intrigued him and he couldn't get her out of his head.

At the end of practice, he stayed behind waiting for her to finish her conversation with the choreographer. He tried to make it look like he was looking for something in his bag. When she was done she went to the corner to grab the rest of her stuff and Hyunjin took his shot.

"Hi" He said as he got close enough for her to hear him.

She looked up at him with a confused look on her face, "Um. Hi?" She sounded very unsure of herself.

Hyunjin stood there like an idiot for a moment before he remembered he'd started a conversation. "Uh, I was wondering if...um....you maybe wanted to get coffee with me?" He said twisting his face into the most confused and embarrassed look he could imagine.

"It's nine pm" She said bluntly packing up the last of her things.

"Oh, yeah. I meant maybe another day...." He was drowning. He was spinning out. This was a disaster.

"I don't date" She said grabbing her water bottle and heading towards the door.

"Right." he said nodding his head. "Of course not" Hyunjin looked up at her again and grabbed her arm just before she left. "Wait"

She jerked her arm back defensively and stared at him with a wild look in her eyes. "Don't touch me" She said.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to...I'm sorry. I just...maybe we can just be friends. You have those right?" He asked giving her an unsure smile.

"I have enough of those." She said before giving him an upset look and leaving.

"Good job, Hyunjin. Now she hates you." He muttered to himself before he left and went outside to the waiting van. He took his seat in the middle row and sighed loudly to himself.

"She seemed pissed when she left. Good job, buddy" Seungmin said clapping a hand on my shoulder and laughing.

"Oh come on Felix!" I said putting my head in my hands. Trying to cover up the shade of red my face was quickly turning.

"I didn't say anything, they already knew. We all already knew. You're not very careful about your staring, bro." Felix replied laughing.

"What happened? Cause offending a girl will certainly guarantee that she'll never talk to you." Chan asked laughing along with Felix.

"Nothing. Nothing happened and I'm not talking about it." I said through my fingers.

"Come to the school of Binnie. I can teach you everything you need to know." Changbin said pointing his thumbs at himself, followed by a scoff from Minho.

"Yeah, the school of Binnie will guarantee you're alone forever." Minho joked.

"I'm smooth! I can get any girl I want." Changbin said proudly.

"No offense Bin, but I really am just going to stay single forever at this point. But thanks." Hyunjin said looking out the window. He hadn't expected her to be so....standoffish. During practices she smiled and laughed, cracking jokes with the other dancers. He had just assumed that she'd be that way with him too. Especially since she'd been glancing at him the way she had, but he felt really bad for doing something that made her react so poorly. He didn't expect that he'd feel bad, guilty even. He hadn't mean to scare her.

***

A couple days later and Hyunjin had been keeping his distance from her. Giving her the space she seemed to need. He couldn't help that he still wanted to get to know her. They went through their entire practice and when Hyunjin was packing up the last of his things, she came over to him with her arms crossed. He saw her feet in front of him and slowly looked up.

"I'm sorry." She said looking down at him.

"For what?" He asked looking back down at his bag.

"For being rude." She said sitting down next to him. "My friend tells me I need to branch out and make new friends. So..."

Hyunjin looked sideways at her. "I thought you had enough friends."

"I might need one more." She sad quietly, "I'm Minji" she held out her hand and Hyunjin shook it carefully.

"Hyunjin" He said instantly feeling stupid. "Nevermind, you probably already know that."

"I do, but it's still nice to meet you." She gave him a small smile, it made Hyunjin feel that maybe she was pushing herself into uncomfortable territory. "Wanna grab coffee?" She said pulling her duffle up higher on her shoulder.

"It's nine pm" He said copying her response from the other day.

"I have a class starting at ten. I could use a pick me up." Minji smiled helping Hyunjin up.

"Who takes a dance class that late?" He asked following her out the door.

"I don't have anything else to do. Why not?" She shrugged her shoulders and they left the JYP building walking down the street to a local coffee shop nearby.

***
"Minji!" her best friend Nabi walked up to her in class.

"Hey, sorry I'm a little late." She apologized. Her friend tilted her head and looked at her.

"Min. You're fifteen minutes early you weirdo." She said.

"Oh." Minji breathed. "I was...making a new friend" She said shyly.

"YOU WERE!?" Nabi said bouncing on her toes and clapping her hands.

"Don't do that. It's just a friend." Minji waved her hand in the air and pretended she didn't see how excited Nabi was.

"Min, I know you've been through a lot the last couple years, but it's good to see you open up again." She said calming down and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Can we not go there right now?" She asked looking Nabi in the eye, "I'm trying to make myself uncomfortable and make a friend, but lets not blow it out of porportion. Ok?"

Nabi nodded her head and smiled at her friend as the teacher leading the class for the night came in the room.

On her way home, Nabi was going on about something. She always was, it was part of why Minji got along with her so well. Minji kept to herself mostly and wasn't good at starting conversations. She usually had other things on her mind.

Giving Hyunjin a second chance may have been a mistake, but only for the reason that Minji was a loner. Two years ago she loved always talking to new people, and making new friends, and going out on Friday nights. Now, she felt like a completely different person. Just a ghost of who she used to be. Even after two solid years of therapy and working through what happened, she still found it difficult to trust new people.

She found Hyunjin handsome, but she also realized he was an idol. Idols could not always be trusted. On the other hand, he didn't seem like a typical idol. He was shy, and pulled out her chair for her at the coffee shop. He'd walked on the outside when they were walking on the sidewalk, putting space between her and the traffic. Maybe....

"You know?" Nabi asked looking over at Minji.

"Oh yeah. Totally." She said giving her a small smile as they walked into their shared apartment.

"What planet are you even on today? Cause it's not Earth." Nabi said as she walked towards her room.

"I'm just...I'm fine." she said waving it off. She didn't feel like hashing out her traumas and crying, and then regretting all of her life's decisions.

"You don't look fine. You look worried. I've known you long enough to know when your mind is going a hundred miles an hour." She said walking back towards her and giving her a hug. "Is this about that guy I saw you in the coffee shop with?"

"How do you do that? You always see me places like a creeper." Minji said sitting down on the couch and curling her feet up underneath her.

"Because we live and work in the same five block radius?" She laughed sitting down next to me. Minji forced a small smile before silence fell between them. "It's ok for you to move on, Minji" She said honestly. "It's been two years. You can't keep your life in a holding pattern forever."

Minji slowly nodded her head as tears filled her eyes. "I'm scared" She whispered looking up at her friend.
"I know you are. Sometimes being scared is a good thing. It means you're doing something to push yourself."

"How do I know it's not going to happen again? How do I ever trust anyone again after what happened?" Nabi looked over at her friend and pulled her into a hug.

"You won't ever know if you don't try, Ji"

Minji wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "He was really nice. He listened to what I said, he pulled out my chair, he--" She swallowed hard "He...He made me feel comfortable."

"Then that's good." Nabi said quietly trying to calm her friend.

"No. It scared me. I got up all awkward and just left. Told him I was late for class and ran."

"Minji. That was a big step for you. I'm proud of you." Nabi said still hugging her friend.

"You sound like my therapist." Minji said rolling her eyes.

"No one says you have to date him. Be his friend. Take things slow."

Minji nodded her head and pulled away from Nabi, "I think I just need to sleep."

Minji got ready for bed, brushed her teeth, and crawled into bed. At least she didn't have to work tomorrow. She could sleep in, and have a life crisis over what to do about Hyunjin. She hadn't let herself get close to anyone in the last couple years, it was easier to keep herself safe that way. But what was she supposed to do when they made her feel safe? She doesn't even know him, he could be anyone.

Rolling over in her bed, she mulled over what to do. Should she just go back on what she said and cut him off? She'd done that before, backed out of a friendship because it was too much to handle. She hated to admit it, but maybe she was more delicate then she thought. On the other hand, she wanted to change. She was tired of her life being lived in a tiny little bubble, but the bubble kept her safe, it kept her sealed off from the rest of the world. Nabi was the only one in the bubble, and for the longest time she was happy with it that way. Maybe it was time to make the bubble bigger, or maybe it was time to realize that she was happier alone these days and the bubble should just stay the way it is.