The first half of school ended as slow as it began. It was lunch time, the time he dreaded. Taemin never went to eat lunch. Which always gave him awful questions from teachers who spotted him in the courtyard of the school or in the hallways, always either doing his assignments or dozing off on his desk. Since he had no friends, he had no reason to go to the cafeteria because if he did, he would just be an easy target. Anyways, he always made up for his hunger by eating after school at some convenient store nearby. Noodles, usually. 

"Another year of being a slave to these walls." He sighed deeply as he slumped onto one of the grassy areas under a nearby tree. 

Though Taemin was passionate and loved his school course, the constant picking from other students and the loneliness got to him. But he knew he had to bear through it, for a brighter future. There was something else in his mind he couldn't shake off. That boy he saw. Taemin was so intrigued by him that he wasn't even able to focus on the math homework that their professor gave them. Who was he? Why does he feel so curious to know more about him? He just came here, and Taemin was already wanting to know more about him. Did he already become friends with the rude students? Was he just going to be another ? Or maybe...for the first time in a while, he could finally have a new friend. Taemin shook his head in agony and bowed his head back down only to continue his dreaded homework.

Soon enough, the school bell rang again. Taemin gathered his items and stuffed them into his bag before dashing off to his designated home room. One last class to go, he thought to himself as he rushed past the slow walking students in the hallways, trying not to let his appearance alert his special enemies. A miracle, nothing happened. Though he wasn't surprised to see that none of them were in class yet. The troublemakers always wanted to take their time to get to class, which was a huge relief for the boy.

As he slumped into his chair, he took a glance at the windows of their class, looking at all the students who were walking up and down each end to get to where they needed to be. Then he caught a glimpse of someone. It was that boy again. He didn't realize it, but his heart began to race. The boy sat right across from Taemin's seat, on the edge of the opposite class at the door opening. He chatted around with some girls who sat nearby him, very friendly. They seemed very into him. I mean, who wouldn't be, right? It was like his face was chiseled by the gods. And damn, that jawline. All these thoughts ran through his head, and Taemin wouldn't have stopped gawking at the boy if the troublemakers didn't arrive and blocked his way.

"Taemin-ah!" Sungwoon shouted, walking towards the poor boy's isolated desk, "Did you have a nice lunch?" he said, obviously mocking the fact that he never ate on campus.

Across the hall, a curious boy named Jongin caught attention by the loud voice. He was very attentive to what was going on even if the girl right next to him was telling a story. The big glass windows on the opposite room gave him enough room to see what was going on.

Forgetting that his seat mate was telling a story, he asked a question. 

"Who's that boy?" he said, pointing to the clear rucus that was going on in A-93. 

The girl softly laughed. "Oh. Him? That's Lee Taemin. He's basically the punching bag of the school. Poor boy. Anyways, back to what I was saying..." 

Jongin's hearing faded away as soon as he heard what he needed to. 

"Lee Taemin?" he thought to himself. It sounded very familiar. Like he'd known this person in another lifetime. 

His stare didn't falter as he continued to observe what went down. There was a boy, much shorter than Taemin who was obviously tormenting him. 

"Don't in, Jongin." he murmured to himself. He knew quite a lot about being bullied from his previous schools, and being percieved as a weak guy. So for the best, Jongin knew not to mess with the situation for his own good. Even if he did feel bad, the new kid shouldn't have a bad reputation if he wanted to survive the year. 

→

Sungwoon gave Taemin a heavy pat on the back, which caused for the blonde haired boy to cough out in pain. 

"You think you're special, don't you? Listen here, buddy. You're just-" 

He was cut off by their home room professor coming into the room and loudly clearing . 

"Mister Ha. Stop bothering mister Lee, unless you want detention for the next two weeks." she stated, walking towards her desk up at the front.

Their last class was the only class that anyone ever looked forward to. Specialties. Being that they were specifically a school for talent, everyone would participate in one class's specialty. All the way from acting, singing, dancing and even modeling. Eventually ending with the last because the institutioned hoped that by the time that the students graduated, they would know at least the basic skills of each field. The year usually began with what the teachers called "stretching" but it was essentially ballet class. Lucky enough for Taemin, he was talented in all fields, which no one could ever disagree with. Maybe it was the exact reason why people disliked him so much. Lee Taemin was gifted with everything, and they were envious.

As all classes made their way into the gym, they were all seperated according to their ranking, which was sorted out when they auditioned for the school. Taemin was the top ranking student in Yongwon, along with Sungwoon and his crew who barely made it into the top ten. They all got into their designated areas and classs eventually began.

Everyone sat on the hard wooden floor and Taemin chose to sit at the very back  by the wall, as usual. Less exposure, less attention. They were finally greeted by this year's physical instructor, and he mentioned that his name was Kasper. He began to explain their activites for the day and to their surprise, it was just stretching. Taemin thought he was kind of cute and young for his position. But something else caught the attention of Taemin in the room. His mystery boy had appeared, sitting at the front of the group.

"Could it be? He's in this class..." he whispered to himself, again gawking at the shiny black hair that popped out.

The class spread out across the floor and mirrored the simple stretches that Kasper was doing; an easy task for Taemin. He effortlessly copied the instructions and it caught the attention of their new coach.

"Lee Taemin, is it?" Kasper called out, standing up as the class continued their activities. He walked to the back and held his hand out for a shake, Taemin returning it.

He nodded softly and crossed his legs looking up at his new coach, "Nice to meet you Coach Kasper. Did you need anything?"

"No, no. Just wanted to check out the class's top star." He joked around. "Why are you so far in the back? Is this a technique of yours?" he asked curiously.

Taemin let out a short chuckle and shook his head, "No, I'm just..." he sighed deeply and gestured over to Sungwoon's crew.

"Ah." the coach glanced over to the pool of students who weren't doing what was assigned.

"Yeah. Literally." he snorted cutely.

Kasper smiled in return, though he didn't fully understand what he meant. "Ah..?"

"It's his last name. Ah...as in, a pun."

"You're a bright one, Lee. Just keep away from them, you'll be fine." 

Kasper walked away from the boy and returned to the front of the room. But right infront of him, was someone distracted with his neck turned all the way to the side. Jongin was glancing back at the ace of the school. It seemed to be always that he attracted the bad kids whenever he wanted to know what was going on, becase as soon as he took a look at the boy, Sungwoon's crew immidiately slid in.

Taemin eyed the short boy who approached him, "What do you want now, Sungwoon?"

"Awe look, Soojung! He knows his name. Love at first sight, isn't it?" Moonkyu chuckled.

She delivered a hard smack onto his arm. 

Sungwoon rolled his eyes and looked back at Taemin, "You're awfully alone back here, Taem. Why don't you join us?"

The smaller boy took a hold of Taemin's arm and pulled him close, sort of jerking his arm in a rude manner. 

"Let go of me!" Taemin shouted, struggling to get the other boy's grip from his arm.

Jongin was still looking at Taemin, and some part of him felt worried and frustrated that no one bothered to help out the tormented student. It was like some part of him was pushing him to go and help, despite being a closed out person. Jongin got up from his position at the front and barged his way in between the two who were tugging at each other.

"Get off of him." Jongin spoke in a firm voice.

Sungwoon immidiately looked up in unison with Taemin who had glistening eyes as soon as they landed on the new boy.

"Hey...you're the new kid, right?" Sungwoon spoke with much surprise, but still not letting go of Taemin's arm.

Jongin wasn't having it at all. He wasn't the type to easily become friends with people, having trust issues in the past. "Just let go of him, man."

Moonkyu butted in, "What's it to ya, pretty boy? He's just playing around with him." 

He side eyed Moonkyu, "It's Jongin. And you shouldn't be treating people like . Don't be a pertentious jerk." speaking towards Sungwoon.

Taemin was in total shock at this point. He didn't even care about the fact that Sungwoon was still holding onto his arm. Was this guy really standing up for him? Then he remembered. He mentioned his name. Jongin. So familiar and so warm that it brought a small smile onto Taemin's face.

"Jongin. Nice to meet you, I'm-"

"I don't care." Jongin snapped. "Just let go of his damn arm and get away from him."

Sungwoon immidiately raised both of his hands in the air while staring at Jongin.

⇔

Jongin. Taemin kept repeating to himself as he walked toward his dorm from school. He kept repeating the same name in his head, as if it was some sort of chant. As if Jongin was about to appear infront of him if he said it long enough. Oddly enough with that luck, he did appear. But it wasn't by chance. Jongin was walking the same direction that Taemin was, but just a little bit ahead of him. He seemed lost, continously looking down at his phone as he walked throughout the dorm compound.

"Where are you going...?" Taemin whispered to himself as he peeked over the side of a tree where he hid behind.

In the distance, Jongin murmured to himself, "Why does it have to be so hard to find..?"

He continued to follow the boy, jumping from one obstacle from another to try and hide away from his sight. That's when he stopped. Jongin heard something behind him, some sort of tapping sounds of feet. 

"Hello...?" he called out, just in case he was being followed as he thought.

Taemin kept still behind a trash bin as he heard the boy call out towards him, his heart racing.

"Hm." Jongin took a quick scan behind him and continued on with walking towards the dorms.

A few more minutes passed as they both neared the dorm complex, and that's when he heard a loud thud. Jongin turned back to see what it was and alas, it was the boy with the blonde hair. Jongin recognized him in plain sight as the street lights shone down on him. He had fallen onto the ground.

"Are you following me?" Jongin called out as he approached the blonde haired boy on the floor.

Taemin's ears almost deafened as he heard the new kid's voice nearing. "J-Jongin..." he muttered to himself, and as he looked up...there he was. Standing infront of him in his godly glory. Muscular build, broad shoulders, plump lips and a cute button nose. He looked so handsome.

But Taemin could barely make a sound. It was as if he was silenced by the presence of Jongin. The other boy waited for almost a minute for an answer back, feeling more awkward and uncomfortable over each passing second. 

"Are...you okay?" Jongin asked, hoping to finally get an answer from the boy.

Still, nothing. Taemin felt his body almost go numb, and he had no idea why. Did he get paralyzed ?!  He couldn't respond to Jongin in any way.

At that point, Jongin was slightly irritated. Oddly enough, he was in a bad mood of what he did earlier to defend this boy from the bullies. He admitted it to himself, regretting the choice he had made because it made him so emotional and sensitive and Jongin did not like that at all about himself. 

He let out a deep sigh, "Don't follow me." Jongin stated before turning back and walking right into the dorm main floor.

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