Of course, I might simply be really excited to ditch my parents’ dinner party. I just saved myself and Taemin from being observed by a dozen adults for the next however many hours. A big win for sure.

“Awesome!” I say, and my head toward the other room, motioning for the kid to follow. “Come on.”

He looks up at his parents one last time before trailing behind me, his dress shoes tapping the wooden floor of the house at a hurried pace.

I turn back to see him when I reach the banister. “My room’s the last one.”

Taemin stops at the foot of the stairs and cranes his neck to locate the third white door I point out. “Okay.”

We climb the steps in silence. I start to worry about the things in my room, like whether he will think they’re too childish or boring. I still have some stuff I used to play with as a kid lying around, but at least I’d gotten my parents to get rid of the sport-themed wallpaper that lined the perimeter of my room, which remains baby blue from my waist to the floor. On another day I might be freaking out about it being a mess, but luckily—I guess—my mom made me clean it up earlier.

“What’s this one?” Taemin asks as we walk past the second door. He probably assumed the first one is my parents’. He’s right.

“My brother,” I say, not sparing it a glance as I open the door to mine. “He’s away for college.”

“Ah.” Taemin slowly crosses the threshold into my room and his eyes immediately start to take everything in: my bed pushed into the corner, desk below the window, TV and entertainment system tucked into another corner, and a dresser beside the door with a bunch of things sitting on it. Mostly family photos and stuff I borrowed from Jinki and Kibum. “It must be so cool to have a brother,” he muses while standing awkwardly in front of the light switch.

Leaving my shoes on, I climb onto the bed, swiftly wedging my stuffed teddy bear between it and the wall behind me. “Yeah,” I respond truthfully. “He’s the best and the worst.”

He almost laughs at that, so the corners of his eyes crinkle only a bit before he asks the next question.

“What’s his name?”

“Minseok.”

He nods.

“You can sit down, you know.”

“Ah… okay.” He idles for a second before choosing to sit at the very end of my bed, his back facing my side. His feet dangle and I’m sure of it because I can’t hear the soles of his shoes against the floor. “You’re lucky to have a TV in here,” he says eyeing the small flat-screen across the room. “And are all those yours?” He points at the line of cases standing on the shelf.

“No, some are mine, but most are my brother’s,” I say as I cross my legs. “He let me have them while he’s gone.”

“That’s awesome.”

“Yup. So you wanna play? You can pick whatever you want.”

Taemin looks over his shoulder at me and smiles with his eyebrows slightly arched. “I can pick?”

I smile back. “Yeah.” He is a guest, after all. I wouldn’t discourage him from choosing FIFA though.

He slides off the bed and makes his way to the other side of the room, kneeling in front of the selection of games to have a better look.

“Jesus, you have so many!” he exclaims as he pulls case after case.

That reminds me. “My mom told me where you go to school.”

He turns his head. “She did?” He sets the games down and drops onto his backside.

“Yeah. Do you like it there?” I ask, genuinely curious.

Taemin's full lips form a small grin and it’s hard to tell what the knowing look in his eyes means. “I do. It can be really boring if you don't know how to have fun. I'm lucky, I guess.”

I can't help but furrow my eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“My friend. He’s a third year, but we have a class together and we get along. He gives teachers trouble,” he admits, “but he means well.”

“Huh..” I don’t know what more to say.

“What else did she tell you?” Taemin asks.

The question puts me on the spot and I suddenly regret bringing up anything my mom said.

Taemin waits, the tiny curious smile on his lips faltering the longer I take to answer.

“Uh…” I begin dumbly, “You know moms.” I shake my head and hop off the bed. Taemin follows me with his eyes but it’s clear he doesn’t follow what I’m saying.

“She was being all weird,” I continue, feeling my heart speed up against my will. I try to calm down, but my hands start to tremble so I stick them into my pockets, hoping he doesn't notice.

I stand just beside Taemin and he’s looking up expectantly, his wide eyes boring into my soul or something. I can’t believe I’m about to put myself through this embarrassment again. I don't deserve this.

“She, uh, she said...” I laugh nervously and regret it because it comes out more nervous than humorous. Just say it!!! I scream at myself.

“You're handsome.”

“Oh..” he croaks.

“But no, you're cute.”

I wasn't supposed to say that. I messed up, I messed up! I feel my soul rip itself from my body, leaving me cold and helpless, but it's caught in my throat and I can't breathe. There isn't a single standard clock in the house, but I swear I can hear the second hand of one ticking, echoing in my skull, counting down the last moments of my life. And judging by Taemin's stunned expression, he hears it too.

Nothing can be worse than this.

“Sweetie!”

Oh no.

My mom swings the door open and walks in, her presence doing nothing to break the intense stare between me and Taemin.

“How are you two getting along?”

I turn around, probably still looking like an idiot, and she giggles.

“Minho, are you okay?” She takes a few more steps in and peers around me, bending over with her manicured hands on her lap. “My goodness, Taemin, what did you do to him? He's never speechless.”

I whip my head to look at her and beg with my eyes for her to stop whatever she's doing.

“Me?” he stammers.

“I'm only teasing, dear,” she laughs, taking hold of my shoulders to spin me around.

Taemin and I lock eyes again and I'm relieved to see the some confusion on his features. Surely he can see how weird my mom can be. That she is the cause of all this.

Lowering her head to address Taemin, she whispers, “I just didn't think Minho would be so shy around you!”

“Mom!” I cry out at the ceiling with my eyes shut tight. By now, I'm convinced I had to have done something really terrible to deserve this. That or my mom simply likes to see me suffer because she's laughing again; I can feel her doing so.

A chuckle that isn't hers catches my attention. It's somewhat restrained, but melodic. Taemin is laughing.

I snap my head back down and through splotches of greens and purples that invade my sight, I see that he's got a full grin on his face and his eyes are a pair of twinkling crescents. Though the twinkling could be due to my momentarily impaired vision.

“Since you're not even playing, how about you two come downstairs to eat? You don't have to sit with us, hm?”

I'm almost certain this is her making it up to me. I'll admit, it's not a bad start, so I nod.

She smoothes my shirt down once again and motions for Taemin to stand while telling him not to worry about tidying up. “Come on, let's not keep everyone else waiting.” Wrapping her arms around our shoulders, she begins to walk us out of my room. She catches a glimpse of us in the mirror as we pass it and she gasps as if she hadn't seen us before. “You boys are really handsome. I'll have to get a picture...”

I get the urge to groan, but this time it's not because my mom's making tonight unbearable. Despite all the embarrassment, I just don't want to stand for a term that I don't think fits. Taemin is not handsome like she says. He's cute.