A/N: So here it is, part 3 :) Things are gonna get very interesting in the next chapter and you will see why when you read on. I wanna thank everyone for their lovely feedback and comments! Much love <3! Also, I am proud of myself for managing to post this pretty much on time. It is technically 12:08am on Thursday but since I haven't slept yet it is still on time cause my brain is on Wednesday. On that note, I'm off to bed. Goodnight.... enjoy. XxX

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The next day, Key couldn’t stop cursing to Taemin. No one had ever rejected him before and he was wondering why it was even bothering him this much. He kept telling himself that it was because his pride was hurt. ‘Yeah! That must be it’ Key convinced himself.

Taemin on the other hand had another theory completely. Had Key just ed to him a little and then got over it, he wouldn’t think anything of it. However, his friend wouldn’t shut up about this guy and so Taemin drew the conclusion that Key must have really actually liked this guy on some level. Of course, when Taemin announced this to Key he simply dismissed it and told the younger boy to let it go. As far as Key was concerned, he wanted this guy in.his.bed and nothing more. It just bothered him that the older had rejected him.

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On the other side of town, Jinki was sat in Minho’s room playing a video game with the younger boy. They were still at Minho’s parent’s beach house since it was the holiday and the large house was somewhat more peaceful than their flats in the city.
Jinki really liked it here. It reminded him of a simpler time when they were kids and had no worries besides what ice-cream flavour to choose. Now though, this house was also bringing back memories of last night where he had bumped into Kibum. He couldn’t seem to get the younger boy out of his head.
He kept re-playing how Key had leaned into his space and whispered breathily in his ear. At the thought alone, a shiver made its way down Jinki’s spine. Needless to say, the older boy had panicked big time and he was kind of disappointed too. He had hoped he was actually making a friend, he was also relieved that someone had chosen to come talk to him because he couldn’t muster up the courage to approach any one. However, he wasn’t going to deny that Kibum was attractive because he was, but Jinki hadn’t wanted to do that with someone he just met.

“Yes!! Beat you again hyung!” Minho exclaimed with a fist pump; successfully breaking through Jinki’s inner monologue.

“Hyung! – Yah Onew! – You okay?” Minho asked his friend.

“What? Oh sorry. Yeah I’m okay I was just… - thinking.” Jinki finished tentatively as he considered whether or not to tell Minho what happened. Finally, deciding against it, he did ask one thing:

“Hey, Minho – do you know some guy called Key? He was at the party last night.” Onew asked quietly.

“Oh Key – Kibum, same year as me?” Minho glanced at Onew to see him give a nod and then continued “Yeah, he’s in my English class. Why hyung?” Minho responded, wondering why Jinki was suddenly interested in Key.

“Nothing really, just wondered if you knew him that’s all.” The older replied with a far off look in his eyes.

“Yeah, he’s Taemin’s friend. The one I told you about who always scowls at me when I’m talking to Taemin. I don’t know what his problem is though.” Minho finished, now feeling a little agitated at the mention of the other’s name. Onew simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders as a sign that he didn’t know either.

Now that Onew had asked Minho about Key, it seemed that he was even more curious than before and once again, he couldn’t get the other out of his head.


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Just like that, the winter break passed and all of the boys were once again busy preparing for the next examinations, these were the big ones though – the summer finals.

Onew was in the library with Minho – again – and both boys were studying for the History final in silence. The older boy was highlighting through his textbook when he came across one topic that he didn’t know much about. 

“Minho-ah, do you know anything about the Chonun-ssang battle of 1845?” Onew asked, hoping that the younger might be able to catch him up on it.

“Sorry hyung, no. Is it in the textbook?” Minho asked with surprise.

“Yeah, it’s right here; part of the extra credit section.” Onew replied with a sigh as he could already see the amount of work it was going to take to learn and revise everything on the battle.

“If it’s extra credit, it probably won’t be on the test” Minho replied.
None the less, Onew was a straight A student and he wasn’t about to take any chances.

“I’ll go use the computer and find a book about it. You can borrow the book after I’m finished if you like?” Onew said, to which Minho nodded his head and gave him a small “thanks” before looking back to his textbook; continuing to take notes.
Onew headed off to the reference computers and managed to find a couple of books on the topic. He wrote down the numbers on a piece of paper and headed to the bookshelves to find it. The books actually ended up being on the 2nd floor.
Onew cursed his bad luck and climbed the two flights of stairs. This was not the only reason that Onew was cursing his bad luck though because as he walked past the seating area and to the tables next to the bookshelves, he noticed someone he really didn’t want to see.

Sat on the central table was Key. On Key’s left sat – who Onew recognised to be – Taemin and on the opposite side of the table was a boy Jinki hadn’t seen before with dark brown and spiked hair, said boy was chuckling at something Key had said. Immediately Onew noticed that he was staring at the three boys and tried to duck his head and hide as he searched through the ‘525-690’ book shelf where his book was supposedly located.

His plan was interrupted however, by another round of laughter from that table and Jinki found himself looking over once again despite his efforts not to. This time however, the three boys must have realised they were being too noisy for a library and looked around apologetically. It was at that moment that he saw Taemin smirk and tap Key’s shoulder and before Onew could comprehend to look away, Key’s eyes met his for a brief second before Jinki diverted his attention first and looked down at the bookshelf once again. 

Onew’s cheeks began to heat up and as much as he wanted t