Minho looked at Taemin treating the children at the deli cream with extra patience even though he looked a little edgy with their loudly cheering, he looked tired and his eyes were puffy, it made him believe he cried himself to sleep.

He felt like a stalker coming to see him again after their meeting yesterday but he couldn’t stop himself, he wanted to try again and promised himself that if Taemin would ask him to go he'll go without bothering him ever again.

Making his way he stood in line and waited, suddenly it hit him, the boy's face flashed in his eyes, he saw him at the hospital after his transplant.

"Yes, hello, how can I help-" Taemin choked on his words when he saw Minho in front of him, he looked around before his gaze turned back to him "what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to meet again" Minho said looking a little confused, now that he recognized the boy he had many more questions to ask.

"Look, I'm sorry, I told you that yesterday, I truly can't experience my sister's death again, it's too much for me, I thought I could-"

"I understand" Minho cut him off "and it's ok"

Taemin stared at him for a long moment but did nothing.

"…I couldn’t sleep last night, I have so many questions that I want to ask and by the way you look you hadn’t slept either"

Taemin nodded.

Minho glanced at his wristwatch "can we talk when you'll finish your shift? I can drive you home after that"

Sighing, the boy hummed and Minho went to sit at one of the tables in the deli cream, he waited patiently.

He sat over 30 minutes among loudly children and tired mothers, Taemin was busy helping his costumers and cleaning after them as well, once in while he went to the backroom and brought supply, he carried boxes that were bigger than him, when there weren't a lot of costumers he reached his table and brought him vanilla ice cream cone before he went back to the work, their eyes link and Minho thought he saw a small smile on the boy's lips as he bowed his head slightly to thank him.

When his shift over Taemin grabbed his bag and waved goodbye at the girl that replaced him, Minho got up from his chair and followed him outside.

"I don’t live so far from here so you don’t need to drive me home, if it would be long we could sit at the café… if you'll like"

Minho looked at the boy and noticed he was uncomfortable with his own suggestion, he was just trying to be polite "I can walk you home if it makes you uncomfortable"

Taemin's face softened and he nodded "ok"

They walked quietly outside the mall, the silence lasted most of the walk before the boy opened his mouth "I'm sorry for the way I reacted yesterday, Taeyeon's death still hard for me though it's been long ago"

"Someone's death it's never an easy thing, maybe I should have been more thoughtful about the subject, I thought it would be like those stories I read about the donor's family and forgot that not everybody reacting the same to the situation"

"I had mixed feelings" Taemin admitted "I was mad when Taeyeon died and meeting with you brought it all up again but it also made me kind of happy to know that she saved someone's life"

"I can understand that"

The silence between them renewed before Taemin stopped in front of an old house.

"I live here…"

Minho looked at the house and nodded "I know it's hard for you to talk about it but I do wish to, you have my number and you can call me when you'll feel like too, I would be more than happy"

Taemin nodded and mumbled small 'goodbye' as he took the three steps to the porch, Minho already turned to walk away when suddenly he called his name.

"…would you like to come in?" he asked quietly holding his keys in his hand, he hadn’t even opened the door yet "we could talk"

Minho's heart pounded wildly in his chest as he nodded and climbed the stairs, Taemin pushed the key into the lock and opened the door, he turned the lights on and exposed a nice clean living room with old furniture, on the dresser there was a television and few framed pictures, he wanted to look at them to see if Taeyeon was in one of them but hadn’t move, he waited politely for the boy to remove his shoes and bag before he followed him into the living room.  

"You can sit, I'll bring us something to drink"

Minho nodded and went into the living room while Taemin disappeared in the kitchen, he passed by the dresser and took a look at the pictures, he hadn’t seen any girl who looked like Taemin in them.

When he heard Taemin's footsteps he went to sit on the couch, the boy walked into the living room carrying a tray with soft drinks and sweets, he raised himself to help him but the boy said it's ok and placed the tray on the table "I hope you like sweet rice cakes"

Minho nodded, he wasn’t going to eat anyway, sweets weren't a part of his nutrition anymore since he had the transplant, he had this healthy life style now.

"It's a nice place…" Minho said looking around, even though the house looked like it seen better days.

"It's a dump" Taemin said simply "it's my grandpa's house"

"You live with your grandpa?"

"Used to, he passed away 6 months ago"

Minho felt sorry for the boy who lost two people in his life in such a short time "why aren’t you living with your parents?"

Taemin looked like he was thinking before he answered "I don’t have parents, grandpa raised us, me and Taeyeon"

Minho eyed him "so you live here by yourself?"

The boy nodded.

"Taemin, can I ask how old are you?"

"I'll be 22 soon"

Minho looked at him and felt sadness surrounding him "your sister was very young"

Taemin nodded "it happened a week after our birthday"

"How did she die?"  

All of a sudden the boy's chest rose and fell in harsh breaths, tears sprang in his eyes but he held it back, his voice trembled just a little as he spoke "she was on her way back home when a car lost it track and ran over her, she was still alive when the ambulance arrived but died from inside bleeding at the hospital's ER. I found out about it when she was already dead" few tears left his guard and he hurried to wipe his eyes however from that moment he couldn’t control his emotions anymore "I'm sorry" he mumbled trying to calm "I just…Taeyeon was…"

Two big arms wrapped around him made him stop crying immediately, Taemin froze in the comforting hug of that stranger in front of him, he held him for a long moment before he let go and their eyes linked, he gulped and opened his mouth to speak but no word came out.

"Don’t tell me more if it makes you sad" Minho said.

Taemin stared at him wondering why his heart pounding stupidly like it did.

"Yesterday when I met you for the first time you looked familiar to me, today I realized why, you were at the hospital after my transplant, didn't you?"

Taemin nodded weakly, still a little confused from the hug.

"Why?"

"I wanted to know if Taeyeon's heart was in a good person"

Minho smiled "I'm taking care of her heart in the best way I can" he said making the boy smile back at him "why haven’t you wanted to meet me all this time? I asked the 'national transplant center' to meet with my donor's family but they said that they refused"

"I wanted, it was grandpa who said no and I had to respect his wish, guess it was hard for him to deal with. After he passed away I was a little torn and mostly confused but decided to contact the center anyway and asked them to contact you, I wanted to… I don’t know, it's not like I was going to meet my sister ever again but she 'lives' in someone and I miss her, the thought she's in someone's made me feel a little better I guess" he shrugged.

"I can understand"

"We were really close with each other, she weren't just my sister, she was my best friend as well and I haven’t even…said goodbye"

They were silent for a moment before Taemin got up from the couch, he left the living room making Minho wonder before he came back with a photobook and sat closer to him on the couch, their knees touched and Minho could smell small scent of ice cream from the boy, it made his body shiver with weird and funny feelings.

Taemin opened the photobook and flipped the pages until he found the picture he was looking for "me and Taeyeon" he said quietly and handed the picture to Minho, two identical beautiful smiles and bright eyes looked at him, they looked the same besides the fact they were boy and a girl, Taeyeon was pretty just as her brother.

"She's…beautiful" Minho mumbled.

Taemin smiled softly "everybody loved her, she wasn’t just a look but a good person too"

Minho brushed his fingers over the picture "it was in your last birthday together?" he asked looking at the flower crown on his sister's head.

Taemin hummed as Minho brought him back the picture and he placed it inside the photobook before he closed it and held it protectively in his arms, he got up from the couch to place the photobook back in it place and when he came back Minho was already on his feet "Taemin…" he said and got closer to him "thank you so much for talking with me"

The boy just nodded.

"It meant a lot to me, I wanted to know who my donor was and mostly I wanted to thank the family"

Taemin looked like an abandoned puppy when Minho made his way to the door and out of the house, he followed him to lock the door behind him but stopped when Minho did and turned to face him "can I…can we stay in touch?"

Taemin tilted his head and looked for a reason in Minho's eyes, he didn’t know what to say.

"…as friends"

Small nod made him smile as he thanked him and left.