༄ FINALLY, she was able to meet Minho.

In the morning, her excitement overtopped the fact there could be chances it was going to be awkward.

She decided to dress a little better than the last weeks, in which her uniform had looked awful, and then struggled to do her hair.

What would Minho like?
She nearly slammed her head against the wall. She wasn't supposed to care about what Minho would like!

In the past, she did whatever she liked. Never, it depended on what a boy would think, 'cause she had never been in love with one before.

Well, not like this, at least.

In the weeks for summer vacation to January, almost February, she fell hard. The past month had been awful and though she didn't spend a lot of time being in love with him then, he did kind of show up in her dreams, when she was able to sleep.

Nearly jumping up and down, she waited for the clock to hit noon. That's when she would have a twenty five minute lunch break, and then Spanish. Jorge wouldn't mind if she showed up a bit late... or not at all. Hopefully he wouldn't betray her to her mother.

"Sam?" Excited the girl didn't lock herself up in the toilets for once, Brenda and Harriet stopped her from waking out of the building. "Hey— wanna sit with us?"

"Uh—" Taken aback, she froze. "Another time? Sorry, I've got things to do. See ya!"

She rushed away before they could protest, on her way to the sport building and you know who she would meet behind it.

With the pace she walked, it didn't take long for her to arrive, and see he was already there.

"Minho," she breathed, attacking him with a hug before he had the chance to look at her longer than a second.

Her heart nearly sprung out of her chest from happiness. She hadn't seen him for almost a month and after reading those texts, especially the one where he apologized and said he did really try, she only missed him more.

His hand rested on the back of her head as the other one slipped around her waist tightly enough for him to pull her so close that no space was left between them.

She felt his body push against hers. The simple smell of his deodorant and something floral. Her cheek touched his soft one, and he ran his hand up and down her back for a few seconds.

Then, they let go. Looked at each other for a while, which might've been a weird sight for other people, but probably heaven for Sam.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized quietly. "I wish I had been there to help, but my mom... you know, she was—"

"Don't worry about it." He took both of her hands. "Really, I only lost it once. The only thing I'm worried about right now, is honestly you."

She smiled poorly. "I've been doing better by the time, don't worry."

"Sammy," his hands squeezed hers, "I want to help you too. You help me, I help you. Don't keep all of it to yourself, please."

Sam looked down in shame. "My mom..." she started. "My mom kind of isolated me. She didn't allow me to sleep in my dorm, and she didn't want me to see you, purely because she guessed, just like others, we did things... together, you know...?" Embarrassment made her cheeks turn red. "And then my phone was gone. She said I probably lost it, but when I looked inside her office yesterday, it lay there. She'd texted you things and then started ignoring the things you sent back, without me knowing.

"She made me study, but I couldn't keep my mind off you when I studied for Spanish, because I was worried as hell. And for some reason, I couldn't fall asleep either. I got an F for Spanish, and then a lot more F's for other subjects. The longest I've slept in a month was yesterday, and after I spoke to Gally," she explained. "My dad is on a business trip, but he'll be home by tomorrow and I'm not sure if my mom is gonna pretend like nothing happened or tell him she doesn't want me to sleep in my dorm."

He didn't speak for a while. Rubbed his chin as he took all the information in. Then, hugged her even tighter. "I'm so sorry all that happened."

She closed her eyes during the physical contact. "It's okay. I'm just glad I'm with you now."

Minho took ahold of her shoulders when they let go. "How many classes do you have left today?"

"Spanish, maths, and English," she replied. "Why?"

"No reason..." He gave her a crooked smile. "I mean, a nerd like you wouldn't skip a few classes to be with this awesome guy, would she?"

Her eyebrows lifted. "What if she would?"

"Well, the awesome guy would be very happy with that."

They smiled even brighter at each other.
Minho took her hand and lead her to the back of the school, where, not surprisingly, his motorcycle stood.

Her stomach twisted less than the first time, but still, it was kind of scary. "Where are we going?"

"Where do you want to go?" He handed her the suit, which she immediately put on. He did the same.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "What do you want?"

"I know a place. Will be even better if we pick some food up first. You alright with that?"

She nodded in agreement.

"Perfect." He turned his back to her. "Climb on my back."

"What?"

"You heard me. Come on! I have a better way of getting you on there."

Hesitantly, she climbed on his back. Minho stepped onto the motor with her, which caused them both to sit on place right away.

"Hm." She hummed when he handed her the helmet. "I'm not sure if I like that better."

The chuckle that left his mouth faded away when he put his own helmet on. "Ready?"

"No," she panicked. "I've got to— Minho!"

He had started the vehicle for just a second, causing the thing to move only a feet further... and Sam to fall forward, her arms automatically wrapping around him.

Groaning by his smooth moves every time, she patted him on the leg to sign she was ready.

❤︎︎

Minho first insisted they would just get McDonald's or something, but Sam talked him into getting the cuter things, like strawberries and chocolate.

Then they drove so far away from the town, that Sam didn't recognize the area and for real thought he was going to kidnap her.

She yelped when they almost got stuck in mud while riding up a hill, and another one, and another one, all through woods.

But finally, the trees vanished and so did the hills. Grass and flowers replaced the mud. Before Minho would ruin it them all with the vehicle, he stopped, parked, and lifted her off the motor, as always.

"Where are we?" She pulled her helmet off. Lay it beside the motor and removed the suit off her body too.

"A place I found on one of my first rides. Just gotta walk a little further."

He took her hand and again, lead her to where he wanted them to be. Sam gasped.

The purple and pink flowers stood up in the high grass. In the distance, hills overtopped each other and a river ran through them, while Sam and Minho stood on the one part where the grass wasn't that high.

"Wow," she breathed, so amazed by the sight below her that she barely sensed Minho smiling at her. "This is... beautiful."

He mumbled something she couldn't understand while he lay a blanket on the side of another hill. He motioned for her to sit down, which she did after she recovered from the surprise.

Minho put the strawberries, chocolate, raspberries, and also blueberries down on the blanket too, muttering about how she was obsessed with berries.

"So, did I miss much?" She asked, popping one in her mouth.

Minho hummed. "Well, the whole team went crazy because you didn't show up."

"I caught that, yeah. Why?"

"Because you watch every single practice. No one else does that, so when you weren't there for three weeks, even Coach asked me where you were."

"Ah." She let herself fall backward after she discovered she couldn't look at Minho without internally screaming and butterflies exploding. "I'll talk to my dad once I see him again. I'm sure he'll allow me to go watch again."

"But," he continued," it's not like you actually watch us practice. You read and sometimes throw the ball back."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying I shouldn't watch you guys anymore?"

"What? No! No, no, no— you should totally watch me— eh, us practice!" He stammered, averting his now red face, though Sam couldn't see that anyway. "Totally. Even though you read we don't mind at all. At least I- we, got something to look at when I'm- sorry, we're bored."

Sam laughed under her breath, vaguely impressed even Minho could get flustered.

For the rest of the day, they spoke about everything. From most embarrassing moments to favorite colors to biggest fears and to literally anything.

When Sam finished speaking about the book she read a few months ago, she had to take a big breath and Minho smiled even brighter.

After that, he told some embarrassing things that he experienced in the years of being friends with Thomas and Newt, which Sam laughed at.

"The sun's going down," he announced. It meant they had been there for over five hours. Crazy, to be honest.

She turned toward him, leaning on her elbows. "Do you want to leave?"

"Do you?"

"Not really." She turned away again. "I don't feel like seeing my mom and getting a confrontation again."

"You're gonna have to go home at some point," he commented.

Sam groaned. "Don't let me think about that yet, please."

He gave her a weak smile. "Anything else to talk about, so you won't have to go home earlier?"

Her heart made a jump. "Yeah," she said carefully. "You texted me you wanted to talk about what happened on New Year's."

He was silenced. His Adam's apple bobbled, and he now sat straight up. "I mean— yeah. We could talk about that."

She sat up too, cringing because she made it awkward, though she forgot that soon, when she thought back about the kiss. Heat spread in her body.

He scooted closed. "Well, I thought you might've been pissed at me for kissing you and that that was the reason you didn't show up anywhere."

She shook her head quite heavily. "I wasn't pissed at all. I... enjoyed it. A lot." A pause. "It wasn't fake, right?"

Minho averted his eyes, which tensed her. When he looked back, he swallowed again.

Sam's heart jumped in her chest from nervousness. He seemed very hesitant right now. Had it been fake after all? No... right?

Finally, "I don't think anything was fake."