ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬-𝗦𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡
─◌✰್ 𝗁𝖾
❝𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗺, 𝗶 𝘀𝗲𝗲...❞

It was like watching an angry lion defending his territory, the way Minho all but stomped over to you and Hyunjin.

You gulped, bleary eyes widening as he headed your way.

In any other circumstance, you would have been affronted, pissed even, to think that Minho would consider you nothing more than his property, lion metaphor or not.

But right now, with your mind and body saturated in alcohol and tears, you couldn't help but feel nervous. He did look quite scary, with that usually calm, collected gaze smoldering with something you couldn't quite distinguish. It was kind of hot, in an annoying, alpha male sort of way.

"What the hell are you doing?" he growled, really solidifying the whole lion comparison in your head. He eyed Hyunjin distrustfully. "I should have known you'd pull some shit like this. Just because you can't get a girl of your own-"

"No, Minho, I swear I wasn't doing anything!" Hyunjin protested, face marble-white. "She was just crying, and I wanted to help!"

"Don't interrupt me!" Minho snapped. "You were clearly trying to steal my-"

"Your??" you demanded. Yeah, apparently even being drunk couldn't control your temper. Your friends had said you were an angry drunk, and you didn't believe them. Maybe you should. "You better not fucking finish that sentence, if it's something about me being yours. If you were my husband, where were you all night??"

Minho opened his mouth, face softening for a second.

"I vote we play truth or drink!" Riley yelled, so loud everyone in the room could hear. "I'm tired of boring old truth or dare, or spin the bottle! There's no drinking involved."

Alaska giggled from her seat next to Felix. "Hell yeah, I'm down! I have no secrets."

Felix chuckled at her, shaking his head. "Yeah, maybe you should. These people don't need to know everything about you."

Minho stared at you, as if imploring you to stay and talk. He hadn't gotten to respond to your angry words, and you wondered if you should give him the chance. It would be the mature thing to do, after all.

But being drunk wasn't giving you maturity, either. Because before you could stop and mull it over, you replied to Riley, "hell yeah, I'm in."

Hyunjin nodded. "Yeah, me too!"

One withering look from Minho had him scurrying away to sit next to Riley and Mya, the latter of whom who had just woken up.

As Alaska was still pouting from Felix's "totally rude" comment, and the rest of the group gathered in the middle of the room to begin the game, it was just you and Minho left alone, again.

"Tess, please, can we talk?" He reached out to grab your wrist.

You pulled away, shaking your head with a forced smile. Your head was just starting to clear from all that alcohol you'd drank, leaving room for more anger. "No!" you chirped in a most unnatural voice. "There's nothing to talk about, I'm fine. We're good."

"We are not good!" Minho hissed. "I see that look in your eyes, you're a terrible liar-"

You narrowed your eyes, preparing to snap back something you would regret later.

"Tessa, Minho, get over here!" Riley called. Clearly, the alcohol was wearing off of her and the others too, because her cheeks were less rosy, eyes more clear. She held a water bottle, most likely thanks to JJ. "We're about to get started, and we don't want to play without you!"

You shot Minho one final glare, before stalking over to sit between Renee and Robin. You could feel his eyes against your back the entire way, until he went to sit with Jisung and Christopher.

So far, those who had fallen asleep, thus out of the running for a date, were Mya, Renee, Jeongin, Jisung, Seungmin, JJ, Lanhua, and Minho. They were now all awake, ready to play.

"Okay! Who wants to go first?" Riley rubbed her hands together. "You can ask anything, but it can't be a yes or no question, or else the answer would be too obvious."

No one volunteered.

"Ooh, I have a good one." You raised your hand. "If I'm allowed to call someone out."

Riley shrugged. "Yeah, that's what makes the game fun."

You turned to the girl on your right with a smirk. "Renee..." You pointed at her, as she tried to hide in the hood of her onesie.

"Nooo, whatever it is, I don't wanna answer!" she cried.

"Who out of the people in the mansion would you most like to date?" you asked proudly. You knew she would basically have to answer, because the one thing she hated more than admitting her feelings was alcohol.

"Ooh good one." Robin high-fived you. "I've been trying to get her to admit that since the moment we all started rooming together!"

The two of you stared dead at Seungmin, who sat across from you in the circle. He stared back, a look of confusion written on his face.

Renee, noticing the complete lack of subtlety on your part, groaned. "Fine!" she huffed. "But only because I bet he already knows, since you're making it so obvious. If I could date anyone here, it would probably be... and don't judge me, because it doesn't make sense to me either... Seungmin." She mumbled the last word so quietly, you could hardly hear.

"Who?" You put a hand to your ear dramatically. "I don't think we caught that."

"Yeah, I didn't hear." Mya shrugged.

"Maybe because you were ogling Jeongin!" Renee countered, voice raised, cheeks red. "I said Seungmin!!"

Seungmin's eyes bugged out as he pointed at himself. "Me??" he exclaimed, face flushing to match Renee's. "You... you like me? I thought I pissed you off."

"You do," she grumbled. "A lot, actually."

"You like me!" Seungmin exclaimed, face lighting up. "Hell yeah!" He held a hand up to JJ in hopes of a high-five from his best friend.

JJ rolled her eyes, before turning back to Renee. "Your turn to ask someone, Renee."

Renee paused, thinking. Then she glanced at Robin, who sat on your other side. "Robin..." she grinned.

"Ugh, why did I know you were gonna pick me?" she complained. "Why not Tessa, she picked on you, not me!"

Renee shrugged. "It just sounded like fun. Plus, I have a juicy question for you."

"Ask," Robin said heavily.

"Did you really poison Jisung's drink on your date?" she asked. "Or was that just a rumor spread by the guys?"

That was something you'd been wanting to ask Robin, too. You just hadn't figured out how. Plus, you certainly hadn't had much time, what with your and Minho's date. That had taken up a lot of your mental energy.

Robin frowned. "Poison Jisung?" She glanced over at the earl, who was watching her with wide, bewildered eyes. "Why would I do that?"

Renee shrugged. "I dunno, your family is kind of known for that kind of thing. And Jisung came back from your date completely in love with you. How would that happen overnight? You barely know each other!"

Robin's nostrils flared as she glanced around the circle. "So that's what all of you have been talking about behind my back? You think just because my family is known for making love potions, that I would poison a guy here to make him fall in love with me? If that's really what you think about me, I'll set you straight. I didn't poison Jisung. It's not my fault he fell in love with me that fast."

Hmm, that was interesting, you thought. If Robin was telling the truth, and according to the game's rules, she was, she didn't poison Jisung. You wondered if-

"And just for the record, did you do what everyone's been saying?" Robin jabbed a finger at Jisung, who swallowed the handful of Doritos he'd been eating in one gulp.

"What have people been saying?" Jisung tilted his head in confusion.

Robin rolled her eyes. "They think that you knocked me out and tried to kidnap me, or something!"

"What?" Jisung's eyes widened in surprise, but you thought you saw something like panic behind his expression. "N-no, I would never!" He coughed, recovering himself. "No, no I didn't knock you out. Of course not."

Robin nodded, looking around the circle again. "See? Now you can all hop off this apparent gossip train you've been riding. Jisung and I like each other, is that so crazy? They found us in the woods because we were talking. And we didn't want the cameras to capture every moment."

Jisung nodded again. "I just wanted to get to know the girl I was on a date with."

While Robin narrowed her eyes at everyone, Riley shook her head. "Okay, so... Jisung, you want to ask a question?"

The game went on for another twenty minutes, mostly uneventfully. It seemed no one else wanted to ask any hard-hitting questions, for fear they would get yelled at. Renee was sulking next to you, not making eye contact with anyone.

Jisung asked Christopher what his ideal type was. He answered that he wants someone who is hardworking, passionate, and caring. Christopher asked Riley to share a TMI of her day, and she answered that all she had to eat that day was a s'mores Pop Tart and half of Alaska's grilled cheese.

"Oh my gosh, I knew I hadn't eaten the whole thing!" Alaska gasped, pointing an incriminating finger at her friend. "You lied to me and said I must have eaten so fast, I forgot!"

Riley couldn't say anything. She was laughing so hard, she just clutched at her sides.

Riley continued to ask Mya to rate all the guys (and JJ, upon Mya's insistence) on how good she thought they would be as a partner. After much waffling and protest, she finally named Jeongin as a 10/10, and ended with Hyunjin at the bottom, only because she didn't want to think about "basically her brother" like that.

As people asked questions, some of them refusing to answer and drinking instead, and others sneaking shots just for the fun of it, it was your turn to ask someone a question. You'd already gone once before, with Changbin asking what the craziest thing you'd done while drunk was.

Now, you knew exactly who you were going to ask, and what.

It was the only person who, as of yet, hadn't gone once. Of course, that "someone" was your loving, loving husband.

And seemingly, Minho knew you were going to ask him, too. He shifted in his seat as your gaze met his, and he studied the floor.

"Minho, why have you been ignoring me, ever since our date?"

He swallowed, and despite yourself, you couldn't tear your eyes away from the way his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. His jaw clenched, and he leveled a stare at you that was so intense, it turned your stomach upside down. He really was doing everything he could to make you fold, huh?

Clearing his throat one more time, Minho said, "Well, I didn't want to tell you in front of everyone like this but..." he trailed off. "I haven't known what to say to you since that night. I was kind of hoping that you would take the initiative and let me know how you felt first. Now, I know that was stupid of me to expect that of you. I should have just admitted how I felt. We're married, for fuck's sake. But I didn't want to tell you that I was scared you didn't feel as strongly as I do. I'm sorry."

You frowned at him skeptically, but your stomach, which had been subconsciously tying itself into knots all night, began loosening. All this time, he'd been too scared to admit his feelings to you, because he thought you might not reciprocate? And you'd just been jumping to conclusions and getting unnecessarily angry, as always. Even though you were depressingly inexperienced at the whole marriage thing, you knew this was not how it was supposed to work.

You needed to do better.

"You really thought I didn't feel the same?" you said after a long pause.

He nodded, cheeks flushed pink. It was an unusual look for him, but it was kind of endearing. Did that mean he truly cared?

"I had an amazing first date with you, and I hope to take you on many more," he responded, and it sounded earnest. "I won't avoid you like an idiot anymore, I promise."

You rolled your eyes. "Yeah, that was idiotic. And you need to stop getting jealous over nothing."

Minho glanced at Hyunjin, then at Changbin, and lastly over at Taehyung, who was manning a camera from behind Robin and Mya. You supposed those were just a few of the guys he'd been jealous of during your stay at the mansion. He really was possessive, wasn't he?

Scowling, Minho grumbled, "I don't know if I can promise that. If all these guys would stop being idiots-"

"I swear, I didn't do anything!" Hyunjin protested once again. "I asked her out back in middle school, let it go!"

"You what??" Minho growled, eyes positively sparking with anger. "When did this happen?? Why didn't I know about it??"

You were about to snap back that he'd only been paying attention to Alaska at that time, but you thought better of it. Rolling your eyes, you smiled at Minho. "It was so long ago, can we forget about it?" you asked. "We're literally married, and you're getting jealous of something that happened in middle school?"

Thinly veiled relief filled his eyes, as he chanced a smile back at you. You'd forgiven him for his idiocy, as long as he didn't do it again.

Things were okay between the two of you again.

But as the game eventually came to an end, and a few more started falling asleep against their will, you started to wonder...

Had your previous words about forgetting the past really been trying to convince Minho? Or were they to convince yourself?

laska's note —
well well well... all is good and well between minho and tessa, right? or is it...? it seems that she's trying to convince herself she's not upset about things that happened in the past. will she be able to forgive him? and what about minho? we know he has more to say to tessa than he's letting on, and he's even going so far as to lie to her face! what's up with that? will they work it out, or will the world keep trying to force them apart? and next chapter we're getting hyunjin and jj's date! i wonder what's gonna happen with that? 👀👀 what do you think?

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟯𝟴 - 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹
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