*Wow, so I never thought so many were going to read this and oh my gosh, it was a freaking pleasant surprise so here is an early update for all of you who requested and favourited and followed:) I really hope you like how it turns out and I hope I don't disappoint!
2.
(179 days ago)
The girl with the dark ginger hair and Asian features had been out for the whole night.
Minho wondered whether she was going to wake. He had not been supportive of John for attempting to force himself on the girl, but he did not exactly blame him either. After all, they hadn't seen a girl for nearly 3 years, and there was just so much self-control they could exert before giving in.
He wondered, with the perfect environment and opportunity, if he would do the same.
He shook that thought out of his mind. Poisonous thoughts would not do him any good right now. As much as he craved running (because it meant he was escaping the reality for one moment), he was glad today was not his turn. Things had happened so suddenly in the Glade, and he was so curious to see what the presence of a girl would do to the perfectly designed system in the Glade.
It was in the middle of the day, and she was given the task of a Slopper ('perfect job for a girl')- which she had realised to mean doing all the dirty chores that the other Gladers did not want to do. Clearing up after the Gladers (all boys, especially), Romana realised, was not easy. They rarely gave a thought to the Sloppers' feelings, carelessly discarding all their unwanted trash around. However, being grateful that she was not to be used like a whore, she took a deep breath and sucked it up.
As she was cleaning up the beds, she noticed a figure watching her from afar. She decided to ignore it.
It wasn't until lunch break that she had approached him.
'You've been watching me,' she announced, a corner of her lip turning down. He tilted his head to the side a little, as if he was evading her question. Her eyebrows pushed together, obviously frustrated by his lack of response. 'Why were you watching me?'
He chuckled. She was definitely not expecting that reaction. 'Is there a reason not to? You're the only girl in the Glade. We haven't seen a girl in 3 years.'
She rolled her eyes. 'Is that the only reason I'm still alive?'
He raised an eyebrow. 'I'm Minho. What's your name?'
Just like he didn't answer her, she ignored his question. 'Did I see you just before I passed out yesterday?' she asked again.
'Now is time for you to say, hi, my name's whatever.'
'Hi, my name's Romana. Were you there?'
He mock sighed. 'Yes, Romana, I was there. I pulled him away from you. Is there a reason you're asking?'
There was a moment of silence. Romana supposed that she must not have been a pleasant person, because those two words were so difficult to force out. 'I…thank you,' she finally managed to utter, a flush forming over her cheeks. 'I don't… I normally don't faint. It's just that…'
'He was trying to have sex with you so he knocked you out,' he finished. 'Yes, I understand.'
She swallowed. She had never thought of it like that. 'I don't… that didn't run thtrough my mind.'
He raised his eyebrow. 'Are you telling me that the whole time he was trying to grope you, you didn't for once, think that he was trying to knock you out so he could-'
'No. I don't want to think about it, and I don't want to talk about it. Thank you very much' she tried saying it as politely as she could, but couldn't keep the venom from seeping out from her words. I must have been such a fucking bitch.
It seemed like Minho didn't really take offense, because he only laughed. 'Girls.'
'Must all of you be such sexist pugs?' she muttered, standing up and taking her lunch elsewhere, until he grabbed her arm. She stared back at him pointedly, but he only nodded toward the seat next to him again. Sighing, Romana sat back down. 'Can I assume what you have to say is extremely important, and cannot wait until never?'
He shrugged, and then sighed, exasperated. 'You know, to some extent, I understand how it feels,' he paused, studying her reaction. When there was none, he continued. 'For a long time, I was the only Asian kid in the Glade. They used to give me klunk for it, until I became a runner. '
She glanced at him. 'Yes, but I'm both.'
Minho laughed. For a moment, Romana understood he was too, just a scared little boy who was trapped in the middle of nowhere. She understood that at that moment, he was just at the wrong place, at the wrong time. He did not answer, just gestured towards her soiled clothes. 'You should change out of that. It's proving to be quite the distraction for all of us.'
'I don't actually have clothes, unless you haven't noticed, I'm the only girl in a boy's camp.'
He smiled. 'I can always count on you to be so charming,' he teased.
For the first time since she had arrived, her laugh was genuine. Slowly, as their laughter died away, she put down her lunchbox and stood up. 'Well, I guess I should go. You boys chuck your bloody trash everywhere. It's almost impossible to clean up after you guys.'
Before she could say another word, he had followed her advice and dumped his box on the floor, walking off. She scowled after him, and he turned back to send her a wink. A twitch pulled at the corner of her lips, and she tried hard to resist it.
XXXXX
'Hey, greenie!'
She turned around abruptly, attentive all at once. A figure had collapsed onto the floor. Captiously, she walked towards it, until she was directly above him. Her expectations were met when she arrived to find Minho lying there, soaked in sweat.
She approached with little steps. 'Are you all right?'
'Get me some water,' he said gruffly.
She would have resisted, but Minho seemed to be extremely in need of the water, despite his lack of fundamental politeness. Turning, she went to grab a bottle of water and made her way to him again. As she approached him, he pulled on her wrist and let her lose her balance.
Unable to reaffirm her stance, she completely fell onto him, unreserved. He smirked, catching the bottle of water as it fell. She only managed to reach out her arms in front of her before she crushed him (not that she thought she could anyway), but she still did land on top of him. Romana wondered how inappropriate this position seemed to be, especially to onlookers. Minho screwed off the lid, and poured half of the liquid down his throat before dumping the rest over his head. And then, he turned back to smirk at her.
They were now in an extremely compromising situation. He had thrown the bottle onto the floor and pushed her closer to him with his hand on the small of her back. Minho realised suddenly, how small her waistline was. She was pushing against the floor, trying to keep herself off the floor. Her forearms trembled with the effort, and he had noticed. He stared at her, loving how her eyes were so dark, appreciating how her body felt against hers. Unconsciously, he gripped at the back of her dress, as if to keep her close to him.
However, he only managed to grip too tightly, ripping the fabric of her already fragile lace dress. At that moment, he realised how strong he was, and how small she was.
At the sound of her fabric ripping, she scrambled to get up immediately, accidentally kneeing Minho in the process.
He groaned in pain, rolling on the floor holding his crotch. 'Shuck!' he exclaimed.
Immediately, people were running towards them, and she was pulled back hands held behind her back. Minho tried to speak, but was unable to for a second. When he regained his speech, he held up a hand to stop them, an expression of pain still on his face. 'No, don't hurt her.'
'She just kicked you in the-'
He flushed. 'It isn't as if she's done it on purpose,' he muttered, scratching the back of his neck.
Alby raised his eyebrows. 'Then why's she-'
'She was trying to get up- she tripped.'
Romana's eyes widened. 'What? You pulled me-'
'Like I said, she tripped,' he repeated, a hint of a smile in his eyes. They released her, and she nearly stumbled to the ground in an effort to regain her balance. She glared at Minho, who simply shot her a smile in response. 'All a misunderstanding. It's not as if she'd be able to hurt me, anyway.'
She rolled her eyes and brushed her hair back as if to challenge him. He grinned.
'Stop flirting,' a distant voice called, annoyed.
'What, you angry you aren't getting any?' Minho called back, obviously amused.
Romana sighed. She didn't want to stand around here listening to boys argue like they were 12 years old. 'Are you done? Because since Minho damaged my dress, I would appreciate a change of clothes- unless of course, you don't mind me running around half-naked in the Glade.'
There were a series of murmurs. 'What were you doing in the first place?'
Minho's smirk became wider, and Romana turned to leave this embarrassment behind.
'Hey. Hey!' Minho called as she started to walk away.
She turned around and waited for him to speak up. You should really get changed now,' he said with a smirk. 'The back of your dress is completely ripped. Since it's my fault, anyway, I can lend you my clothes. But you're going to have to give them back.'
She stopped to contemplate whether it was a good idea to get attached to someone so early on at her time in the Glade. 'All right,' she finally managed to make up her mind. 'Even though it's highly improbably that I'll actually fit into the clothes, anyway.'
He shrugged, gesturing her to follow him. He did, and he rummaged through his belongings before pulling out a shirt and a pair of short pants. 'These are the only ones that don't fit me, so there's a chance that they may fit you. Try your luck,' he said.
She stared at him. 'Aren't you going to leave?'
He sighed. 'Regrettably. But next time you want us to treat you like one of us, I won't be holding back.'
And then he turned to leave the cabin.
Minho made her feel so conflicted. On one hand, he was such a rude little prick, but he was also the one who (how much she hated saying this, but) got her out of so many situations that she could not have managed to on her own. She pulled off her little dress. As she did, she discovered a little tattoo just below her right breast, but ignored it the best she could. Swallowing, she shrugged on the oversized t-shirt and pants. She had to pull really tightly on the strings of the waistband to make sure it wouldn't fall off.
Romana pulled the door open, and realised that Minho had already left. It was during times like this that she truly wondered how she felt around Minho. He was always so frustrating.
That night, they were sitting around the campfire.
'Cheers to greenie!' someone called, and they clinked their wine glasses together. 'So you wanna tell is who you are?'
'I know my name's Romana,'' she started, and she shrugged, adding, 'And that I'm a girl. Other than that…'
There was a little bit of laughter.
'And that you're wearing Minho's clothes,' another voice added, then the boy shrugged as the silence grew louder. 'What, did you think no one would notice?'
Romana's face reddened, and Minho simply looked triumphant.
'I tore up her dress.'
She couldn't understand how she could possibly be more embarrassed than she already was, but there it went. 'He doesn't- Minho, why would you say that? It's not real-'
'What do you mean it's not real? I did tear up that pretty little lace thing.'
Her jaw fell open. Wide. 'No!' she shrieked. 'He doesn't mean it like that! He just-'
'I think we've heard enough of you two's sexual escapades,' Alby said dryly, and decidedly unamusedly.
Quite briefly, she wondered if this was going to actually help her out. In fact, this could stop the other boys from coming after her. She had had a reasonable deduction that many boys in the Glade were actually wary (if not a little bit terrified) of Minho.
'Well, you definitely look good in them,' Minho replied, completely ignoring Alby's comment.
'Are you done taking out your sexual frustrations on me?' Romana asked in a matter-of-fact tone, 'because it seems as though it is all this gathering is for. And I don't really for any of that shit. So if you're not done, then I might as well go ahead and take the night off.'
There was a short silence, and Gally laughed, breaking the serenity. 'Well said, Romana,' he grinned triumphantly at the newbie, clapping at her effort to embarrass Minho. It seemed that he wasn't only impressed with her bravery, but also to whom her restlessness was aimed towards. She had noticed Gally's overall distaste towards Minho.
Minho rolled his eyes, but otherwise made no response.
'On a side note, I like her accent,' Gally smirked.
She raised her eyebrows. 'Got to admit, it is a pretty cool accent,' she grinned at Gally, who gave her a wink in return. Very quickly, Minho's expression completely changed. His expression darkened so much that Romana wasn't sure if she could recognise his previous face. She supposed she was too busy staring at Minho that she didn't notice Gally had picked up a bottle and went over to sit next to her.
'Here, have some of this.'
She took the bottle from him and as if initiating a challenge, raised an eyebrow and downed half of it.
He merely smiled, thumping on her back in approval.
