The next day, Taemin made sure to find Kibum before anyone else could. He had to apologize - though he wasn't even really sure why - and make things right. He hated it when the senior was angry at him, especially when Kibum ignored him on purpose. The younger one tried to convince himself that the other one was just busy, but he knew better. He knew Kibum probably didn't have anything to do, he was just ignoring the junior the day before.

“Taemin!” The brunette paused his slight jog when he heard a teacher's voice; he knew running in the halls was prohibited, but he just had to find his boyfriend.
“Yes, Mr. Wu?” He asked; the Chinese teacher was not only their Mandarin teacher but their drama teacher as well, the one in charge of the plays the school came up with and managed.
“As you know, we have a new play coming up. Romeo and Juliet. I was wondering if you'd like to audition?” Taemin wasn't one for plays; he couldn't memorize lines, and practice facial expressions in the mirror.
“Oh, ah, sir, I don't think I'd be a good choice,” He tried to worm himself out of the icky situation - but he knew Mr. Wu would keep pushing until Taemin eventually agreed. That was why the Canadian-Chinese teacher was in charge of the drama department, after all; he has a good eye for which students would suit which role, and not once has he made a bad choice.
“Nonsense. With your hair and feminine looks, you'd make a fantastic Juliet,” He said and clasped his hands together - he was so serious about it, that Taemin felt his face flush.
“I-I'm sorry? Juliet? But...I'm a...I'm a boy,” He felt it necessary to remind his teacher of that fact; how was he supposed to play a girl's role? And that because of his looks? He didn't know whether he was meant to feel insulted by that or not. Maybe it was a backhanded compliment.
“I know, but well, I've tried looking for girls who would suit the part, and I've come up empty handed. Of course, I'll understand it if you're uncomfortable, so I won't push you. But we do want to show students that homouality is fine and not a crime here at school,” The student was stunned into silence; if that were the case, why not just make up a play with homoual characters? Wouldn't people feel offended by the fact that a boy was playing a girl's role in such a traditional play? The brunette didn't want to upset anyone...
“I-I have to go, sir, I'm sorry...?” He was still stunned as he waved to the teacher before he could further grow confused, and dashed off to find Kibum.

Again, Taemin had to wonder if being able to fit the role of a thirteen year old girl was a good thing or not, and he slowed his pace to a walk instead of a jog just to ponder it all. Of course, it had to be a compliment that Mr. Wu was thinking of him specially to do something like this, right? And especially for a main character in a play. He wondered who the drama teacher was thinking of to play Romeo. Maybe Minho, but his ankle was probably not ready for that yet, so Taemin wasn't exactly sure.
As he passed through the hallways, he noticed some of the posters for the play. It was asking for students to audition, stating the dates and times which practice would take place as well as the auditorium being the main room for practice. Approximately fifteen students were required for the play to take place, and auditions would be starting that day after school.

As he rounded the corner and glanced into one of the empty classrooms, he noticed Kibum and Jinki engaged in a heavy discussion. The brunette wanted to burst into the room and exclaim his arrival, how sorry he was for upsetting Kibum the day before, and also drag him away before Jinki could say anything weird to the two of them, but something told Taemin silence was the best plan of action for now.
He leaned against the closed door to press his ear against the wood to hopefully eavesdrop on the heated conversation, picking up Kibum's voice first.

“...just a friend!” Taemin could tell his boyfriend was angry, but that didn't matter right now. What was he speaking about?
“Bull he's just a friend! You kissed him, Kibum. I saw you,” Jinki said loudly, and the junior felt his heart spring in his chest; no, no, Jinki was probably confusing Kibum with someone else...
“How can you prove that? How do you know it wasn't someone else?” Kibum asked, and there was a sigh, probably from Jinki.
“I don't have proof of that but...I do know you're messing around. And Taemin doesn't deserve that,” The black haired man said, and the mentioned man felt his palms grow sweaty. Did Kibum know of Jinki's crush, or would that be coming out now?
“Just leave it alone. You're always poking your nose in places where it doesn't belong. Taemin is 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒, you got that?” For once, Kibum really sounded intimidating, even though his words made the younger one's knees turn to jelly.
“He stopped being yours when you ed someone else,” Jinki said so softly that Taemin really had to strain to hear it.
“You don't have proof of that!” Kibum yelled, and the sound of something like a palm hitting the table made Taemin jerk from fright.
“I do. I have the texts. Maybe I should show Taemin, what do you think?” Jinki sounded menacing, and the junior almost wanted to faint. If he didn't stop breathing so hard because of his racing heart, he wouldn't hear anything else they were speaking about, and he also would really faint.
What texts was Jinki on about? He had proof of Kibum cheating? Taemin wouldn't believe it until he saw it, he decided.
“You wouldn't,” Kibum sounded almost pathetic now, like he was trying to stop from crying.
“I would. I'm sure he'd love to hear about you and-” Jinki didn't even get to utter one syllable of Kibum's supposed lover, when there was a blood curdling scream.
“Don't you dare say his name! Stay out of this, Lee Jinki, Taemin doesn't want you,” It was Kibum who was the one that was screaming, and Taemin fought the urge to cover his ears at the loud yell. He was somewhat happy no one else seemed to be around the hallway, otherwise they definitely would've heard the yell.

The youngest felt confused as he stepped away from the door when he heard some footsteps, and the door opened to reveal Kibum.
“Taemin!” He was more than surprised, “how long have you been here?”
“What is he talking about? What texts is Jinki talking about?” He asked numbly, some of his brown hair covering his eyes. He didn't know what to feel, who to trust, who to turn to for help. What if it was true that Kibum was seeing someone else? Why would he do that? What did the other guy have that Taemin didn't...?
“I don't know. He's crazy, I think. Come on,” Before the brunette could even get a glimpse of Jinki or further pursue the subject, Kibum was already dragging him away.

His legs felt like jelly as Kibum's hand held his wrist, making him follow as they walked to the field. It was still at least a half hour before school began, so they had a lot of time left. Taemin didn't think he would find the older one that quickly, hence he came so early to school...he was beginning to wonder if it was a good idea considering what he heard.
He sat down with Kibum on the bench they did the day before when Jonghyun and Minho were playing soccer, and Taemin was reminded of the fact he had to apologize. He didn't want to anymore.
“You smell like strawberries,” Kibum noted with a smile as he brushed some of his boyfriend's brown hair over his shoulder, “you know how much I like it,”

Taemin didn't answer. He didn't feel like he had to.

“How's Minho?” He asked quietly after Kibum got the hint that compliments like this wouldn't work.
“He's fine, we spoke last night,” He answered, and the junior grimaced as he glanced down at the grass, hurt that Kibum had so much time for Minho but never for him. But then again, Minho couldn't do much since his ankle needed to heal, so it made sense.
“I don't know why you got angry at me yesterday after I told you it was an accident,” The junior said quietly. He had to address the (original) topic at hand.
“It just didn't look like an accident at that time. You know I don't like it when my friends get hurt,” Kibum said with a sigh, looking around the quiet field where only a few students loitered around. Some chatted in groups, others just practiced soccer.
“Mr. Wu spoke to me about the play a little earlier. He said I would make a good Juliet,” The brunette didn't know why exactly he was sharing this with his boyfriend; he never really seemed to care about these things in the past, why would it change now?
“Really? Hey, that's great. It's probably the hair. I'm sure all the girls are jealous of it,” The older one said with a smile, admiring Taemin's long hair again with his fingers, “I love it a lot,”
That was the only reason Taemin didn't cut it; even though it could be such a bother to him, Kibum liked how it looked, so he didn't want to cut it even just a little.
“I think you should audition for it and see how it goes. I'd be more than lucky to date the main character in a school play,” The senior said with a smile, leaning closer to kiss his boyfriend's cheek softly. Even though the junior was a little excited about it since Kibum seemed to think it was a good idea, the younger one still had low spirits. He wasn't sure if Jinki was right, or if he was lying, but the brunette had to find out anyway. He had to get some closure.

When breaktime came, Taemin felt his heart ache. He missed Lucas, Jongin, Mark...all his previous friends who had long turned their backs on him. Had he made the right choice by picking Kibum over them? Sometimes he wasn't so sure. He tried to convince himself over and over that the senior would find time for him, but how long had he been telling himself that? He didn't really know what he was holding onto anymore.
He sat alone by the field with his box of banana milk, playing with the straw. He watched Lucas score a goal in basketball, Jongin cheer, and Mark grumble - he was obviously on the opposing team. The brunette wondered if he would be able to go up to them, hang out just for the day, but decided against it almost immediately. They made it clear they wanted nothing to do with him, and he didn't want to annoy them with his presence. So he sat, sipped his milk, and watched the world go by without giving a second thought about him.

After school, he auditioned just as he said he would. Mr. Wu was happy to see him, and even though Taemin didn't really want to, he gave his all to get in. He wanted to make Kibum proud - that was all that mattered. Not the fact that he could have someone else, or that Jinki was right all along...no, just making Kibum proud. That was all.
“And for the role of Juliet,” Mr. Wu said with a pause, Taemin almost standing on his toes from the excitement, “Taemin,”
The junior almost couldn't believe it; he, 𝑎 𝑏𝑜𝑦, really snatched the role of Juliet! How amazing!
“Thank you,” He said over and over; it was decided that Taemin would be Juliet since only two or three other girls were interested in the part, and today was the only day that the role for Juliet would be chosen as well as the rest of the Capulets. The next day would be Romeo and his family. Clearly Mr. Wu wanted this done quick.

“Hyung, hyung! I made it!” Taemin yelled into the phone once he had called Kibum who was home already.
“Really? That's great, babe! Well done! The play is in two weeks, right?” He asked, genuinely sounding enthused about it. The younger one felt his heart bubble with happiness as he nodded as if Kibum could see it, and the junior began walking home.
“Yeah. You'll come, right?” He asked with hope thickly lining his voice; he almost sounded like a child, but he didn't care.
“Of course. I'd be more than happy to,” And that's all Taemin needed to hear.

The two weeks passed in a blur of mainly just assignments, practice and homework. Taemin had no time to really worry about the thing with Kibum, and Jinki could see the junior was much too busy to really approach the subject. Instead of mentioning Kibum, he helped Taemin as much as he could with homework and assignments, and also came to practice to show his support for the junior. Kibum only came once or twice, not that Taemin was too bothered with it; the point was that his boyfriend was still coming, still showing his happiness for Taemin, and the junior was more than excited that Kibum would be attending the play to see him. And once again, it was apparent to Jinki that no matter how much he did to impress Taemin or make him see just how much the older one liked him, one little ounce of attention from Kibum was enough to make the junior forget everything about the world around him.

The night of the play came, and Taemin had just finished getting changed when he got the message from Kibum.

𝑯𝒆𝒚, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕. 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒌. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 :-( [18:32]

Taemin felt his heart crack; all his hard work throughout the past two weeks seemed for naught now. Even though he wanted to show his actor side with people, it didn't matter so much if Kibum wasn't there to see it. It made the younger one feel nauseous in a way, and he almost wanted to run home, even in this silly dress he was going to wear for the first scene. Surprisingly, the students in school seemed to be happy about Mr. Wu's choice of having Taemin play Juliet, even congratulating him in the hallways. He didn't think so many people would be so happy about it, but luckily, the school didn't really seem to have any homophobes or transphobes. Maybe this play was a good idea after all.

But the younger one felt concerned that Kibum wasn't doing okay; just yesterday he was okay, and now he was suddenly so very sick.
“I should check up on him,” He thought to himself with a small nod - he did have some time before the play would start...or so he thought. As he stood up to get undressed and back into his normal clothes, Mr. Wu came in after knocking.
“Hey, are you ready to go through your lines quick?” Taemin wanted to say no, that he had a family emergency, but he had worked so hard up to this point that he couldn't just give up now.
“Okay...” He suppressed a sigh, and then took his little booklet to go through his lines with the drama teacher.

Before he knew it, it was time to go. Jonghyun was the Romeo, since Minho couldn't fill the position anymore, but he was going to be at the show. Or so Taemin thought.
Jongin would be Mercutio, Lucas would be Tybalt, and Mark would be Benvolio - although it was a little uncomfortable rehearsing with them, Taemin was somewhat happy to hang out with them again, even if it was forced. They also seemed to be opening up to him a little, Jongin more than the others.

Throughout the play, Taemin thought about his boyfriend a lot, but of course did his best to wow the audience. Though it was weird to feel Jonghyun kissing him, he didn't think of it too much. He noticed Jinki in the crowd, which warmed his heart, and even though he knew Kibum wouldn't come, he hoped the senior would. When he didn't see Kibum or Minho in the audience, he just tried to keep his cool and ignore the absence as much as possible, even if it was disappointing him.

He changed quickly after the play, not even waiting for Mr. Wu to come congratulate him; the junior missed Kibum, and he wanted to tell him all about the play, but to also check up on him.
“I'm sorry, sir, but I have a family emergency. I really have to go,” He tried to explain to Mr. Wu when he opened the dressing room door, squeezing past him to rush out to Jinki who dropped the brunette off before the play.

“Hyung, please could you take me to Kibum's house? He said he doesn't feel well, and I want to make sure he's okay,” He knew Jinki didn't like the other senior, but it really was an emergency. Okay, so maybe flu wasn't such an emergency, but Taemin did want to make sure his beloved Kibum was okay.
On the other hand, Jinki was almost completely certain the reason why Kibum wasn't here, was because he was with whoever it was he was cheating with. And hearing Taemin's reason, the older one was convinced that Kibum ditched the junior for the boy he was cheating with. It hurt Jinki to think of it that way, seeing how concerned Taemin really was, but he needed the brunette to see it with his own eyes that Kibum had someone else since he never seemed to believe Jinki whenever the senior told the junior that.
“Okay,” The older one felt cruel to be doing this, but he was doing it for Taemin's sake, not his own. Maybe it would seem selfish, like he was getting Taemin to see the truth for the junior to hopefully choose him instead of Kibum, but that wasn't what mattered to Jinki. If Taemin didn't choose him, he'd be okay with it, as long as he didn't have to see the junior get so excited for someone who didn't give a damn about him.

They drove in silence, and before Jinki could even potentially warn the younger one when they arrived, Taemin hopped out of the car to go to the front door.
He knocked a few times but got no answer, so he decided to just go inside when he found the door unlocked. Apparently, Kibum's parents were in Spain for a few weeks as a second honeymoon, which made Taemin worry even more since no one would know if something really happened to his boyfriend.
He was worried that the front door was unlocked, and he wanted to call out that it was him and not a burglar, but he wondered what would happen if Kibum was asleep. Either way, Taemin decided to just go up and check on him. The more he walked up the stairs, the more he thought it was a bad idea; the senior would be so scared to suddenly see Taemin here without any warning!
As he got to the top of the stairs, he noticed Kibum's light on from his bedroom. He wanted to announce his arrival now that he was almost sure his boyfriend was awake, and he walked to the bedroom door.

But what he saw wasn't a sick Kibum, something far from it really.
Taemin lifted his hands to cup his mouth as he gasped at the sight of Minho in between Kibum's bare legs, very obviously ing him. Both scrambled to cover their bare bodies, Kibum trying to pat his messy hair down after he threw on some boxers.

“Taemin! What are you doing here?” He asked in shock as Minho sunk down into the bed, like he could disappear into the mattress.
“Hyung...” The junior whimpered out, “I thought you said he was your ex,”
“He is! It's just...it's like a...fling, you know? It's nothing,” Kibum said as he tugged on his shirt as well - no matter how much the senior tried to explain, Taemin wouldn't believe it. There was nothing the older one could say to fix this.
“It's just . We broke up before you and me got together, Taemin! I just...when things are good between him and me, then this happens. But he's annoying!” The older one exclaimed, obviously not even caring that Minho was right there, “he looks like a frog!”
As upset as Taemin was, he had to disagree. Minho was attractive, even to him...but not anymore. Now he was just someone who had hurt Taemin on purpose, and he couldn't forgive that. He just couldn't.
“And you think that makes it okay?” He asked in horror and sadness, “I've done so much for you, hyung. I've done so much just for you to notice me, and it was never enough,”
“Of course it was!” Kibum exclaimed as he tried to hold the younger one, only for Taemin to shake him off with some tears in his eyes.
“S-so, all the times you s-said you were busy, you w-were really with M-Minho?” He asked in between sniffs, not even caring about his bangs that clung to his forehead; he had never experienced heartbreak like this in his life, nor had he ever been as attached to anyone as he was to Kibum. To see him with someone else, his 𝑒𝑥 on top of it, shattered Taemin's heart into thousands of little pieces.
Kibum said nothing to the previous question, and Taemin took that as an answer.
“Why did you even...why...why couldn't you just tell me? Why did you have to do this? Why, hyung, why? I thought you loved me,” He cried out as he hit his palms on the senior's chest, “I gave up my friends for you!”
It was now that he missed Jongin more than ever - he would know exactly what to do in this kind of situation, how to help Taemin, and what would be the best way forward.
“I didn't tell you to do that,” Kibum countered as Taemin tried to wipe his tears away, still sniffing loudly.
“I know, but I still did it for you. I did it so we would have time together, but I didn't know someone was already taking up all your time,” The junior said with venom in his voice; he could never look at Kibum the same. The man he loved so much probably didn't even feel an ounce of anything for Taemin, just like Jinki said.
“How long has it been going on?” He asked, and Kibum bit his lip, “over three months,”
As soon as the brunette heard it, he felt even more of a fool. He really hadn't noticed it, or wanted to hear Jinki out about it, because he thought Kibum would never do something like that.
“Three months? 𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠?” He shrieked out, not even properly able to comprehend it. He felt played, cheated, and just like a kid. Kibum obviously saw him as nothing more than that.
“Then stay with Minho. Maybe he deserved that sprained ankle after all,” He said lowly before he stormed out - as he thought, Kibum didn't chase after him. Disappointing, but not a surprise.

“So?” Jinki asked once Taemin was in the car, “who was it?”
The junior wasn't in the mood to relive what happened, so he just sent a nasty glare in Jinki's direction. “Just take me home,”
He tried to keep calm until the older one had dropped him off at home; he didn't want Jinki to see him cry when he was right about everything. He wasn't smug about it, but that didn't mean Taemin would open up about everything so quickly. He couldn't.

When he got home (without greeting or saying anything to Jinki), Taemin went up to his room and shoved his face in his pillow to let out a long, loud cry. His heart felt like it was ripped out of his chest and crushed; Kibum knew he was Taemin's first boyfriend, so didn't he feel even a little bad for everything he did? What was he thinking? He probably thought he wasn't going to be caught, that's all.
Without thinking about it too much, Taemin walked into his bathroom, and grabbed his scissors.

Jinki was right about it all, and Taemin was just too naive to think otherwise. He was so convinced of Kibum's love for him just because of the little bit of attention he got from the senior; he saw it as him being lucky that the older one finally had some time for him, when he was just putting Taemin away until him and Minho were good - they did argue a lot, so maybe Kibum decided to have Taemin around for when he was sick of Minho.
Grabbing his ponytail, the junior began snipping away aggressively until his long hair began to fall on the tiles as he cut away; he wouldn't be pretty for Kibum anymore. He wouldn't try to look so good anymore; it never mattered anyway. He wouldn't smell like strawberries; maybe citrus, since Kibum hated that smell. He wouldn't do so much just to be noticed by the older one, nor would he worry about whether Kibum was okay or not. And he wouldn't be the naive little boy the senior had taken advantage of anymore.