warning: this chapter may cause an extreme amount of cavities lol

Step Five: Be yourself, it’s a simple step but people always forget it.

“Taeminnie? Wake up, there’s some flowers here for you.” His mother’s voice echoed in his ears as he squinted the sun out of his eyes.

He groaned, cranky, and turned to face the opposite direction. “Later.”

His mother let out a light giggle while she walked over to help him sit up, “Come on, I know you’re on break but you need to get up to eat breakfast anyway. I’ll leave the flowers on your desk.” She kissed the side of his head and left, closing the door behind her.

“Seriously, mom?” Taemin grumbled, tossing around in his bed for a few seconds before getting up and groggily walking over to his desk.

His eyes instantly popped open at the appearance of the bright yellow sunflowers. He became more awake as he looked all over the vase and in between the flowers to find a card, but there was nothing else except for a lilac ribbon.

Taemin picked up one of the sunflowers and brought it with him to the breakfast table, a hopeful feeling erupting in his stomach that maybe things were starting to look up.

-

“This is so utterly cheesy and cute, it’s disgusting. I’m not only cringing on the outside, but I’m pretty sure my lungs are too.” Sehun scrunched his face together as he helped Jongin write on the pavement.

“Hey, Taemin actually likes these kinds of romantic movie scenarios, alright? Trust me, I know what I’m doing.” Jongin smiles to himself as he dusts his hands off on his jeans and tosses the piece of chalk to the side.

Sehun did the same and started walking to his car, “Yeah okay, says the guy who was oblivious to not only his feelings, but his best friend’s feelings for almost a decade.” He shook his head, “Tell me to trust you when you and Taemin actually work things out.”

Jongin casually flicked him off before taking one last glance at the pavement and running to the car.

-

Taemin stared at his phone, waiting to see if it was going to light up and Eunji just smirked before she sat down across from him. “Remember when I said you were hopeless? I forgot to add to that you’re hopeless and so utterly whipped and in love.”

“Thanks,” Taemin said dryly, hiding his phone away from his sight, “It’s just weird, one day he’s blowing up my phone and being annoying, but now he’s not. He just stopped.”

“Maybe you should call him and talk about what happened now.” Eunji said as she gave him a hard look, “You can’t keep ignoring him.”

Taemin turned to her disregarding her words, slightly panicked, “Oh god, what if he gave up on our friendship?”

Eunji deadpanned at his reaction and flicked his forehead, “Get a grip, Lee Taemin. You guys have been friends ever since he moved to Dongbong-gu in the sixth grade, I’ve practically lived as the third wheel, well, until now anyway.” She pointed her chopsticks at him, “Not that I liked being the third wheel, but I did like seeing you two together being happy. So for the love of everything, please, if Jongin tries to talk to you, tell me you’ll make an effort to talk back.”

“From what it looks like now, it doesn’t seem like he wants to talk any time soon, so I can’t exactly promise anything.” Taemin sighed loudly before talking a big bite of his barbeque chicken with a frustrated frown. “Eunji, what if I was too blunt? I should’ve never told him how I felt while I was pissed, I could have waited and done it right, you know?”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Eunji snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, “There is no such thing as a “right” way to tell someone you love them, you just say it and the meaning is always there. No matter how angry or emotional anyone is feeling, just saying I love you is much more sentimental than you think. So what, you said it while you were mad? You still meant it, and that’s what is important, Lee Taemin.”

-

“Omma?” Taemin uttered, as he peeked into his parent’s room, “Can I talk to you for a second?”

She looked up from folding the shirt in her hand and smiled warmly, “Sure, come in.”

He stepped in cautiously, unsure of how to put what he wants to say in words. “I...uh, I-I have a problem.”

“You know I’m here to listen, go on,” She urged him to continue as she ushered him to sit next to her, “What’s wrong?”

“Well, I guess it’s not really a problem, per say, but I got in a fight. Okay, I wouldn’t really say it was a fight, maybe just a small argument, or maybe not an argument-”

“Minnie,” His mother chortled, putting her hand on his shoulder, “What happened?”

Taemin took a minute to compose himself before breaking down what happened between him and Jongin in the last few weeks. His mom nodded in understanding here and there, and once he was finished, she pulled him into a hug.

“Oh Minnie,” She said while she let go of him to look at his face, “Sometimes love can be a sacrifice, but believe me honey, if it is meant to be fate will find a way to work itself out. I know it’s such an overused saying, but it’s true. I’m sure Jongin loves you as much as you love him and he’ll come to his senses to prove it to you, don’t tire yourself with all this worrying, alright?”

Taemin nodded, biting the inside of his cheek to keep him from getting too worked up. He gave his mother one more hug, “Thanks for listening, omma. I’m probably j