I Will Not Be Controlled By Him

     Hae Mina bit her lip. She wanted to march back into that room and slam her fist into his jaw. No one speaks to me like that! She mocked as she made her way through the maze-like halls. Ooh, if my brother's hospital bill didn't rely on you, I'd knock you out again, you conceited jerk! Hae Mina unlocked her room, tossed the door open and stormed inside. She kicked Kyung Jiho's bed then grabbed her foot in pain.

     "You okay, Jae-Woo?" Jeremy asked as he entered the room and shut the door with a soft click.

     "Yeah," she took in a sharp breath through her teeth. "I'm fine,"  She cleared her throat then sat on the edge of Kyung Jiho's bed, holding her foot. "Is it wrong for me to want to choke him out?" she asked as she examined her foot.

     "Yes," Jeremy chuckled. "It's understandable, but still wrong," he smiled. She closed her eyes and dropped back on the bed. "Why not take a shower and cool off," he suggested.  "Maybe after that we can try practice again."

     "Sure," Hae Mina released a puff of air before rolling from the bed then darting up the stairs to gather her clothes. Jeremy sat at one of the desks, intending to wait till she finished with the shower before he returned to the recording studio. She came down the steps with a bundle of clothes and a towel.

     "I'll wait for you," Jeremy informed. She gave a nod then entered the bathroom. Jeremy listened as the water from the shower turned on then decided to work a little on his homework. It was not something he did often, but he had nothing better to do, so why not?

     Nearly fifteen minutes later, Duskin entered the room. "How is she doing?"

     "She's doing well, but wants to…" Jeremy's jaw dropped and his wide-eyed gaze locked on Duskin, who gave a soft chuckle.

     "I've known since the first day. She is quite noticeably a girl. In fact, I'm amazed the others haven't noticed yet."

     "I'm not that bad at acting!" Hae Jae-Woo called out. She stepped from the bathroom dressed in her new clothes and her hair was pulled up under the wig.

     "No, but it's still obvious to me that you weren't Hae Jae-Woo." He smiled.

     "How?" she asked crossing her arms.

     "You're shorter than me," he stated simply.

     "But I said I had back surgery," she argued.

He chuckled, "The others may have believed that, but I know a back surgery of that scale would take well over four months to heal. Not a few weeks. Aside from that, your eyes have a lighter tint and your nose is more delicate. Actually, you are overall more delicate. Your shoulders are not nearly as broad and you have a heart-shaped face. Jae-Woo's face is more square and he has a bit more muscle around his neck and on his arms. Such observations are why I knew you were a female."

     How was it possible that this young man who hardly even knew her could see differences that even she never really paid attention to? Was it because she was so used to being mistaken for a boy?

     "When did you notice all of this?" she asked with a confused expression.

     "When you brushed past me and fought Jiho. Jae-Woo's clothes fit him before he left, but they hung rather loose on you. Besides, it's not in Jae-Woo's nature to hit strangers. He'd rather argue with them until they struck him first."

     "Don't I know it," she laughed.

     "So, what is your name?" Duskin questioned just before Cass stepped in.

     "Jiho has calmed down. Let's go finish practice before Jeremy and Dae-Su have to go to class," Cass interrupted the conversation and missed the quick attitude adjustment Hae Mina made in order to return to her brother's attitude.

     "Sure," Duskin agreed but gave a small frown.

     "Did I interrupt something?" Cass asked, noticing Duskin seemed annoyed.

     "Don't worry about it. We need to practice," Duskin motioned for the other to follow. The three obeyed.

     "Is he okay?" Cass whispered to Hae Jae-Woo.

     "He's fine. Just annoyed with Jiho and me," Hae Jae-Woo lied.

     After a few minutes, the four of them re-entered the recording studio and practice resumed. It did not take long, however, before the fighting began anew.

     "Jiho!" Hae Jae-Woo growled. He clenched his fist to his side. "If you do not shut up, I am going to knock you flat on your back. You'll wake up in a hospital bed," Hae Jae-Woo threatened.

     "I'd like to see you try," Kyung Jiho taunted with a smirk. Hae Jae-Woo swung at him, but Cass caught his hand. Hae Jae-Woo jerked away from Cass.

     "Let go of me!" he growled,  "I don't care what it takes, he is going to show a bit of respect!"

     "Will you stop?" Dusk called out.

     "Dusk's right, you guys need to stop. We are not accomplishing anything like this. Jae-Woo, you want to play at the concert in two weeks, right?" Yang Dae-Su asked.

     Hae Jae-Woo nodded.

     "Then you two need to work together. Being in the band is like being in a team. You have to get along. How about we play a game of basketball? That'll relieve a bit of stress and maybe get you two to work together. "

     "We don't have time for a game," Jiho pointed out. "you and Jeremy have class."

     "Missing one class won't kill us," Yang Dae-Su pointed out.

     "Fine," Hae Jae-Woo growled.

     "Whatever," Kyung Jiho huffed.

     The group then traveled down to the basketball court, led by Yang Dae-Su. Hae Jae-Woo was the last out of the locker rooms and the teams began to separate.

     "Jae-Woo, you have Min-Jun and Jiho. I've got Cass and Jeremy," Dae-Su stated.

     "I'd rather not," Kyung Jiho complained.

     "The point of this is so you two work together," Duskin reminded.

     "Fine," Kyung Jiho rolled his eyes.

     The game began and although Kyung Jiho and Hae Jae-Woo were on the same team, they struggled to work together; however, their dysfunction was not enough to keep Hae Jae-Woo from doing his best against his challengers

     "Why'd you have to stay good at this?" Yang Dae-Su teased after the fourth match; "I thought I had a chance against you this time."

     "No way."

     "Well, we did tie, so it's not like you've improve or anything," Yang Dae-Su laughed.

     "Hey, I'm willing to go again," Hae Jae-Woo grinned.

     "I can't keep up with you two," Jeremy laughed as he tried to catch his breath. "Come on, let's change." Hae Jae-Woo and Yang Dae-Su looked over at Jeremy and Cass who looked exhausted. The two laughed.

     "Guess it'll have to wait," Hae Jae-Woo replied smiling. When he turned towards the locker room, Kyung Jiho bumped into him.

     "Jae-Woo," he growled.

     "What?" Hae Jae-Woo questioned with a frown. Kyung Jiho only released a forceful punch into Hae Jae-Woo's gut.

     "That felt great!" Kyung Jiho gave a relieved sigh of relief.

     Hae Jae-Woo jerked up from the ground, spun, and kicked Kyung Jiho in the side, causing him to collapse on the court. He rolled over and rose again, ready to strike back, but Rhee Min-Jun and Jeremy slid in between the duo. Rhee Min-Jun put his back to Jeremy who faced Hae-Jae Woo.

     "Stop. People are watching," Rhee Min-Jun whispered. Yang Dae-Su came to their side.

      "If you insist on fighting, don't do it in public," he whispered. "You'll ruin Nightide." Hearing the words caused both to give a furious glare to the other, but they backed away.

     "Fine, we finish this at my house. Min-Jun, drive him there," Kyung Jiho ordered before turning and marching away.

     "Jae-Woo, you shouldn't have hit him back," Duskin murmured.

     "You would rather I let him take his anger out on me? I don't think so. I don't care who he is—or who he thinks he is—I will not be controlled by him, nor will I be his punching bag."

     "I didn't mean that you let him control you or use you as a punching bag, but if you hadn't struck him back, he would have felt like he won and would have left you alone," Duskin reasoned.

     "Well, if he wants to win, he has to earn it. I have no qualms knocking him down a peg or two."

     "This isn't going to get us anywhere, Duskin. Let's go. Maybe if they get this off their chest, they'll stop," Jeremy muttered. He gave Hae Jae-Woo a sad look.

     Duskin traded a concerned look with Jeremy but yielded. "Fine. Just try not to get hurt," Duskin warned.

     "I have no intention of letting him hurt me," Hae Jae-Woo replied then followed Rhee Min-Jun from the basketball court, outside and to his car.

     Hae Mina hesitated for just a minute upon seeing the sleek silver Porsche. Once more she was stunned by the amount of money these people possessed. She knew little regarding cars, but she had seen this car advertised for the past three months, so she knew not only was it brand new, it was ridiculously expensive. She shook the initial surprise away and climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. For the next eight minutes, Hae Mina remained oblivious to where she was going. All thoughts centered on overpowering Kyung Jiho.

     "Who does he think he is? Telling me what to do? Self-centered jerk. I ought to beat him till he's black and blue. Why does he think he can boss me around? Just because he is the grandson of Kyung Ji-Hoon? Ooh, he's going to get it when I get out of this car," she continued a stream of hateful words until the car slid to a stop. She looked up to see that they had stopped in front of a huge mansion. She slid out of the car and marveled. Her anger melted away. The place was beautiful. Green gardens overflowed with flowers, and vines climbed up the stone house's walls.

     "Where is this?" Hae Jae-Woo asked remembering to mask his voice.

     "Jiho's house," Rhee Min-Jun explained.

     "Wow," he muttered and stared in awe. But his observations were cut short by Kyung Jiho's fist colliding with his jaw. Hae Jae-Woo slid in the rough gravel, cutting up his side and a small portion of his back. With narrowed eyes, he twisted around on his back then launched himself back to his feet, then lunged forward with a swift punch. Kyung Jiho stumbled back, but managed to dodge, then grabbed Hae Jae-Woo's arm, twisted it then tossed his body to the side. Hae Jae-Woo fell forward and caught himself with his palms but before he could get back to his feet, Kyung Jiho dug a kick into Hae Jae-Woo's gut. Hae Jae-Woo released a shocked gasp.

     "Jiho!" Duskin and Jeremy both protested.

     Kyung Jiho sent another forceful kick, this one landing on Hae Jae-Woo's chest. "This brat will learn his place," Kyung Jiho spat.

     Hae Jae-Woo took advantage of Kyung Jiho's distraction and tripped the arrogant young man before rising to his feet. "I don't need you to watch out for me," Hae Jae-Woo informed Duskin and Jeremy. "You, get up," he barked the second part at Kyung Jiho.

     Kyung Jiho rose to his feet and once more the two faced off. Hae Jae-Woo's eyes followed Kyung Jiho's every movement and when Kyung Jiho moved to toss a punch, Hae Jae Woo ducked then sent three quick jabs into his Kyung Jiho's gut before taking a step back, spinning and then sending a solid kick to Kyung Jiho's chest. He fell back into the grass, but quickly returned to his feet. He launched into a flurry of punches, but Hae Jae-Woo read each movement with ease, and thus dodged or blocked eat strike. Before Kyung Jiho could fully retract his last punch, Hae Jae-Woo grabbed his wrist then elbow and twisted them swiftly, causing Kyung Jiho to lurch forward due to the sudden pain. Hae Jae-Woo then slammed his elbow into Kyung Jiho's face then quickly followed with a left hook that sent Kyung Jiho to the ground in an unconscious heap.

     Yang Dae-Su leaned down to check on Kyung Jiho. "He's just unconscious, but that is going to leave a nasty bruise on his face."

     Hae Jae-Woo released a huff, but his breath caught as a stabbing pain struck his chest. With this, he turned and pushed past the others and stormed down the street, pretending to still be enraged; however, once out of sight, Hae Jae-Woo slid into the bushes and cradled his torso.

     It was very unlikely that Kyung Jiho had noticed that he had struck her breast with his shoe, but every breath she took reminded her and her aching ribs made her fear she had fractured something. I shouldn't have struck him in the face, she thought, realizing that if it did not heal before the concert there might be a problem. As she took in another breath, she slid her hand under her shirt to assess the damage to her side due to the gravel. She could feel the sticky substance on her side long before she saw it on her retrieved hand. Grand. I'll have to clean this or it'll get infected. She rose from her hiding place and after checking to make sure no one was near, she stepped onto the sidewalk and made her way into town. After six minutes, she found herself within the town's boarders.

     She slid inside a shop and browsed through the clothing. She needed something to change into, quickly. Nightide would be looking for Hae Jae-Woo as soon as Kyung Jiho woke up, and she intended to disappear until they made it back to school. She found a white shirt, a gray male's hoodie and some jeans. Much better than her brother's school uniform. She bought the clothes and left the shop. She flagged down a cab and had it take her further into town.

     Four minutes later, the cab stopped in front of an ice cream shop. "Thank you." She paid the man and then turned around. The restaurant was empty. Hae Mina noticed it had just opened. The man behind the counter didn't even notice her as she slipped into the bathroom. She removed her clothes and used the mirror and paper towels in the bathroom to wash her cuts and to re-wrap her ace bandage. As she tightened the bandages she cringed. The bandages lay on her fresh wounds and squeezed a bit too tight for her so she removed the ace bandages. She didn't have anything to stop the bleeding so she quickly changed into the girl clothes and slid the others inside the shopping bag she carried. She knew she needed to find something to ease the bleeding, but with the thick shirt she wore, she figured she had enough time to find proper bandages. So she took a shallow breath and made her way out of the bathroom. Hae Mina smiled at the man behind the counter and waved before she left the shop. The man returned her wave and smile.

     Once outside, she stretched in the sun, then cringed a little. That was not smart idea, but she felt better being a woman. Her hair flowed like wild vines around her and danced in the wind. She restrained it with her hands and walked down the street toward the Maid's Diner.

     The cool air relaxed her tense muscles and the breeze calmed her raging mind.  She knew she needed to pull on the jacket she had bought, but she just wanted to enjoy the peace she had. However, this peace evaporated when she heard the sound of a familiar voice. She glanced to her left and saw Cass's red convertible parked behind her. Cass sat in the driver's seat and was asking a few young ladies something. Probably looking for me, she thought then paused. If he comes to ask me questions, he'll recognize me!