[Sunshiny]

There was a new girl in his neighborhood, a girl with short hair, cute giggles and boyish clothes, holding her older brother's hand and running around every day, sometimes passing by Jinki's house and waving at him. The girl's smile was so bright Jinki thought it could rival the sun. And Jinki was a sunflower. 

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2 weeks later he took all of his courage to ask her name. Taemin. Too masculine to be a girl's name. And then the girl whined that she was not a girl.

Jinki had never felt more embarrassed than that. But the girl, correct, the boy's sunshiny smile made him feel better. 

Day by day, it was Jinki's hand slowly replaced Taemin's brother's to wrap around those baby fingers, leading him around and around the neighborhood, childish laughter could be heard from everywhere. 

One time Taemin tripped and fell backwards, into Jinki's arms, who happened to stand behind him at that time. They both fell and tumbled, but Jinki caught Taemin fully in his embrace and Taemin was so soft and Taemin smelled so good and there were butterflies in Jinki's stomach and-

That was when Jinki was 10 and Taemin was 6.

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One time Taemin ran home with a goofiest and cutest grin on his face. His mommy couldn't get a word out of him, but Jinki could because Jinki was Taemin's closest friend. So there was a girl, her name was Jung Soojung, she gave him a chocolate candy and lent him her notebook for English class and most of all, she was so cute. Taemin talked about his little crush like an angel singing a harmony. But for the first time in his life, Jinki hated someone he didn't even meet.

But Jinki was Taemin's closest friend, so he listened to that little mouth dreaming about a future life with 20 dogs and 18 kids with Jung Soojung while holding that little mouth's little frame, rocking him like a baby cradle. 

One time Taemin came home with puffy eyes and his Valentine gift for Jung Soojung got thrown in the trash bin. Words travelled that Jung Soojung already had a crush and would be transferred to America. Taemin's first love ended like that. 

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Taemin discovered he liked boys when he was 13. He had been staring at senior Kim Jonghyun for most of their sharing P.E. time before he got a C for having not been concentrating hard enough in class. God didn't bless Kim Jonghyun with height but Jesus Christ was he absolutely handsome and those chiseled muscles peeking under his shirt really did things to little confused Taemin's heart. He freaked out and asked Jinki if he was normal. 

Jinki didn't know because he was busy admiring Taemin's sparkly eyes, plump lips and rosy cheeks. 

Taemin's friends at school, Jongin, Moonkyu and Kwonho had encouraged him to confess, but when he did, while Kim Jonghyun politely rejected, one of his classmates accidentally heard it and words travelled, and Taemin was too embarrassed to go to school. He cried himself to sleep and locked himself inside his room. Jinki knocked his bedroom's door next morning, tried to get him out because his mother couldn't. After 15 minutes of knocking, the door cracked open a little and one small hand reached out, dragging Jinki into his room and the door shut. Then Jinki had an armful of Taemin crying silently into his uniform, one of his hand gently Taemin's soft baby locks.

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Jinki "accidentally" kissed Taemin when he was 19, coming home from university to an excited 15 year old Taemin, hugging him too hard that they both stumbled on the ground, lips smashing together. Taemin tried to get up but Jinki fenced clumsiness to enjoy those peachy lips even more. The falling-down kiss turned into a small make out session. Their lips moving rhythmically against each other, and when Jinki tried to be bold and added a bit of a tongue to the kiss, Taemin's consciousness suddenly came back and he pushed Jinki away, wiping his mouth while laughing awkwardly. He apologized for being weird, but Jinki said he enjoyed the kiss.

And then time stopped. 

"We are best friends", Taemin said, "We are like brothers"

Apparently brothers don't kiss each other. 

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As soon as Taemin turned 18, he lost his ity. This time he found himself a boyfriend. Choi Minho. Really athletic, really handsome, really smart, really nice. The kindest of them all. They started dating 2 years prior, and seeing Taemin's eyes beamed with so much love for Minho, Jinki's heart ached. 

Jinki went back to university, finished his study and went abroad for 4 years. 

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At his 3rd year, he heard that Taemin and Minho planned to come to The US to marry. He cut off every connection with Taemin.

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At his 4th year, one winter night, he had his cousin Kibum banging his door for 15 minutes straight at 3 in the morning before he scrambled out of bed to answer the door. Kibum also went to Germany with him because they were on the same course. 

Kibum said Taemin and Minho had passed away in a plane crash. They were on the way to Germany because Taemin wanted to see Jinki, because Taemin cared about his best friend more than anything and said best friend has shunned him out of his life because said best friend couldn't have Taemin's love back.

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That night, in his tears, he dreamt of a little boy in his neighborhood, with sunshiny smile and softest baby hands in the world. 

The end. 

2019, October 8th, Ho Chi Minh City