The last month and a half of school went quickly for Key. He hadn’t forgotten about Taemin, but he’d just accepted the fact that he wouldn’t see him anymore. And it didn’t matter, because even when he did see Taemin, Taemin didn’t recognize him at all. Key moved back to his own dorm room and rearranged it to be as it was before Taemin had arrived that fateful January day. It seemed fitting to revert back to the way it was when Taemin still had his memories.

            Yeeun wasn’t fazed at all by the occurrences. In fact, she was the person closest to Taemin now, because she spent so much time with Onew. She’d get giggly and turn a brilliant shade of scarlet whenever she was near Onew, and he seemed a little confused but he’d spend time with her anyway. And Taemin seemed to enjoy her company. It would have been an understatement to say that Key was jealous of her. He was absolutely writhing with envy whenever he saw the three of them together, because it reminded him of when he would go out with Jonghyun and Taemin.

            Key didn’t spend any time with Minho anymore, because he was just too much of a ball of misery to handle, and Key was sure that he couldn’t manage any more misery. He tried to focus on being happy, he sincerely did. He and Jonghyun spent every Friday night together, with Chansung gracefully spending the night in Jinwoon and Minho’s dorm room, even though he’d come home to two barely (if at all) clothed college boys in his bedroom every Saturday morning and grumble about how depressing Minho was.

            March quickly became May and before they knew it, the end of the term was upon them. He could barely recall what he did all of first semester, but he remembered from January on vividly, which was a bit ironic since many of his memories involved someone who couldn’t remember them at all. Key was finishing up finals, and it seemed like all that was going on was endless numbers of parties. It was weird to think of the year ending.

            Weirder was that Yeeun was leaving. It was an odd string of events that led them to become friends, and Key would be sad to see her go. She was going on to become an architect, but she promised Jonghyun that she would continue singing. To celebrate her graduation, she’d organized a party. Key was going to be one of maybe three or four sophomores there, but he didn’t mind. Even though he’d changed, everyone still knew him. He’d been to crazy parties before, but he never really enjoyed them, and so he was happy that he could count on Yeeun’s party to be friendly and sane. It was on a Sunday afternoon, and they were blessed with beautiful spring weather. Jonghyun had promised to pick Key up at three outside of his dorm.

            Suddenly Key found that he didn’t want to go. If this year ended, that meant that next year was on its way, which meant that Jonghyun would be graduating too. He thought it over, becoming more and more possessive of Jonghyun as he waited for that very man to come fetch him. He was completely lost in thought when he heard a knock on the door.

            “Hi, yeobo,” Jonghyun said as Key joined him outside the dorm room. Key pulled him close and kissed him deeply, sweet affectionate kisses suddenly becoming sloppy and lustful. He swept his tongue over the roof of Jonghyun’s mouth and then met Jonghyun’s tongue with his own. By the time Jonghyun pulled away for air, their lips were red and raw.

            “If we keep going, I’m not going to be able to stop,” Jonghyun warned Key.

            “I don’t care,” Key said, moving towards Jonghyun’s mouth again, but Jonghyun turned his head.

            “Kibum, we planned to go to Yeeun-noona’s graduation party. What’s gotten into you? You never start things.”

            “I love you,” Key hummed. Jonghyun grinned his goofy smile and gave Key a chaste kiss on the cheek.

            “I love you too, but now is not the time to—”

            “Why not?” Key pouted. Jonghyun looked amused.

            “We have a party to go to, come on.”

            “But it’s so far, and I can’t walk properly because I’m still sore from Friday night,” Key moaned suggestively.

            “So that’s why you wanted to do it again today. Logical,” Jonghyun teased. “Come on, Kibum, we promised Yeeun-noona.”

            “Fine,” Key said. “I hope they have lots of soju.”

            “They’re not going to; you know Yeeun. Anyway, the party is in the music building’s courtyard, and you know they’re not going to let alcohol through those doors no matter what the occasion.”

            They walked down to the music building (Key having no trouble walking at all, because really, Jonghyun was always gentle) and through the doors that wouldn’t let alcohol through.

            “Key, Jonghyun! I’m so glad you could come!” Yeeun exclaimed when they arrived. She looked ecstatic.

            “Congratulations on graduating soon, noona,” Jonghyun said. “You look really happy!”

            “I am, for more than one reason. But guess what? Onew asked me out!” she cried, practically jumping up and down.

            “Wah, nice,” Key breathed. Yeeun smiled at him.

            “Something even better though,” she continued. “Look over there.” She pointed over to a secluded corner of the courtyard, where Key could barely make out a certain someone sitting on Minho’s lap and covering his face with light kisses. His heart jumped as he looked back at Yeeun.

            “Did he…” Key trailed off, unable to speak.

            “Yup,” she smiled. That was enough for Key. He ran over to the corner, where Minho didn’t look at all miffed that Key was interrupting. Rather, he smiled, and that’s when Taemin turned around. His eyes lit up when he saw Key.

            “Umma!” he cried, jumping off of Minho’s lap and landing in Key’s outstretched arms.

            “Oh, my Taeminnie,” Key laughed, tears once again spilling out of his eyes before he could stop them. “It’s so good to have you back.” He hugged Taemin tight, as if he never wanted to let go of him again. “I made so many mistakes, I’m so sorry, I was always thinking of Kim Kibum and Kim Kibum only but I realized I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

            “Oh, umma, how did I ever forget about you?” Taemin looked up. “And you too, Jonghyun-hyung. I’m sorry I forgot about you all for these few months.” Jonghyun smiled. Key eyed Minho, who was also tearing up.

            “Yah, we’ll catch up later, okay? You and Minho could use some alone time, I think,” Key laughed. “Taeminnie, it’s good to have you back.” Taemin grinned and replaced himself in Minho’s lap. Key liked the way Minho looked at Taemin. It was as if he was the most precious thing in the world.

            And in a way, he was.

            That summer was the most fun summer Key had ever had, and that included the time his parents brought him shopping in Paris when he was seventeen. He spent a month at the beach in Haeundae with Jonghyun, Taemin, and Minho, and Onew and Yeeun stayed with them for a week during that time. It was absolutely blissful.

            Key thought back to the summer before. It was nothing like this. What did he even do? What did he even do for his whole life? He had always been used to being the popular kid yet untouchable kid, the one that nobody could approach. He didn’t mind having no friends; he didn’t think he needed them. He was too good for that. But why?

            As he lay in bed with Jonghyun at eleven o’clock on a beautiful summer morning, seeing Taemin and Minho laughing while making breakfast in the little studio kitchen through the bedroom door, he could feel all the meaning being erased from his old life.

            And he didn’t mind at all.

            Key snuggled closer to Jonghyun, letting the fresh scent fill up his mind.

            “Thank you,” he whispered, not only to the sleeping Jonghyun, but also to Taemin, because really, they were the ones who gave him what he’d never realized he wanted. 

A/N: Guys. Guys. This is the last chapter. It's over now. I am so thankful to all of you guys that read this. I remember posting the first chapter, hoping that someone, somewhere would read it, and now I have over 130 subscribers to this story. Thank you so so much. I'm really grateful to everyone who commented! I live for comments because I like to see how people react to my writing, and your feedback was overwhelmingly positive, so I'm extremely pleased with how this turned out. And to my silent readers as well, I hope you liked the story and I hope you'll comment in the future, because I'd love to hear from you. 

As of now I don't have a sequel planned. I don't think it really needs one. Of course, Persuasion is still going on, and I think I'm going to update that one in the same pattern as this one. It'll probably be slightly longer than this story, but then again maybe not. I hope you guys will read that as well. 

To reiterate, I adore you all and thank you so much. I hope to provide more stories in the future that you guys will enjoy as much or more than this one. 

Last comment replies!

@Taeryfai: Was this happy enough? Kekeke~

@wheresmybanana_: I already had all the chapters written though! I think this sums things up pretty well, don’t you?

@AsianNoodles: You cried? Wahh if you want to cry read A Love and a Double Edged Blade! This wasn’t meant for you to cryyyy ;~; But evoking emotions is always good :)

@heme-sanloveminho: Hope is everything :)

@violetwindspear: I totally agree with you. You don’t know how much you love something until it’s gone, right?

@AmythystJade: YAY. I like vocabulary a lot :D

@zianasue: Yeah, especially since Taemin already had a head injury and amnesia.

@SwiftyStalker: I hope you liked the ending~

@naznew: Did you enjoy it?

@vampireme12: Yeah…now that I think about it the nurse probably should have told Key over the phone, but…eh.

@citylights: Thank you!

@maedeh: Do you feel better about them now?

@keyloverlocket: Everything’s better now~

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Persuasion (2min multichap) | 366 (2min drabble collection) | On The Same Train (2min oneshot) | Dropping Pencils (2min oneshot) | Intoxicated (Jongkey oneshot) | A Love and a Double Edged Blade (2min twoshot) | Sunday Morning (Joonew drabble)

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