First, I would like to apologize for taking so long to update. I have been soooo lazy and my inspiration to write TaeKai has been minimal this past month. So, I'm sorry it took so long to finish writing the chapter. Second, I want to apologize again because this chapter is crap and it's all over the place and I just didn't know what the hell I was writing anymore because I'm a much too technical person and I had to pick at every detail about Kai's feelings and just blah. This chapter is just all over the place and I'm sorry huhuhuhu also, I've had about 90% of the chapter done for like 2 or so weeks, but was just too lazy to write out the end. I swear, this story is almost done!! I hope I finish it by December! LOL the new Maxstep MV is a source of inspiration so, hopefully....... anyway. I hope you still enjoy this chapter even though it's terrible. Also, like my previous chapters, this isn't proof-read. I'm too lazy for my life. So I am sorry for any mistakes (be it grammar/spelling mistakes, etc) ; AAA ;

Also. I warn you... when I was writing this chapter, I was reading a hell of a lot of SeKai....... so.... yeah. uhm. it kinda shows. OTL

Okay, without anymore distractions here's the next chapter..............

I woke up the next day feeling great. For once, I was actually up rather early on a Saturday. I couldn't wait to see Sehun and exchange stories with him. Tell my best friend about my day with Taemin and ask him what he did last night. So, once I rolled out of bed, I freshened up, put on some clean clothes and made my way next door. I didn't bother grabbing breakfast. I'd probably just ask Sehun if they had bagels or something.

"He was on a date with the freaking guy. No matter how much he wanted to deny it. What do you think? Is he?" Sehun was talking to someone. He wasn't alone.

So I pressed a bit closer trying to listen to Sehun's conversation with whoever else was in the room with him.

"It's not that I suspect Kai's totally into guys or anything. He could be biual for all we know… I mean, Taemin is prettier than most of the girls I've met." It was Luhan.

"Yeah, Taemin is pretty. I find him pretty, but I don't y'know, outright stare at him." Sehun says.

"I noticed that, too! The way he looks at Taemin. Like Jongin admires everything about him. Like he's a little too curious to know more about him." I bit my lip, I was very uncomfortable with what Luhan was saying. "And it's not his fault he's attracted that way. That's what I was wondering about." Luhan explains.

"So, you think it's just… admiration? Curiosity?"

"Maybe he's bi-curious?" Luhan suggests lightly.

"Stop being stupid. Answer me."

"Okay. I mean, yeah… maybe Jongin just wants to make new friends. We've been friends for a really long time, if he were into guys we'd probably have an idea. He could've hit on Chanyeol for all we know."

"That's just it. Chanyeol is handsome, but Taemin is pretty." Sehun says. "Maybe he has a particular type?"

"I'm pretty. Baekhyun's pretty. He didn't seem to be attracted to us." I roll my eyes at Luhan's reply. Conceited as always.

I heard Sehun laugh, "You're the worst." He comments.

"Look. If he's attracted to Taemin, there's nothing we can do." Luhan says. "And who are we to say who he can and cannot like?"

"Wouldn't you find it weird, though? If he liked Taemin?" Sehun asks. My heart started beating faster. Why was I still listening to this?

"The only way to find out is if you talked to him, Sehunnie." Luhan answers, "But don't be a about!"

"Hey, I don't plan on destroying whatever friendship those two have made. Jongin seems happier anyway, being around Taemin than he was with his ex-girlfriend, whatsherface."

Luhan seemed to agree. "Yeah, none of us really liked whatsherface. She was pretty, though."

"She was. But not as pretty as the Dream Team barista."

"I told you! I told you that's why he kept dragging you back there."

"Y'know, I like Taemin. He's a cool guy. As long as he doesn't steal my best friend from me, I won't have a problem."

I had eavesdropped on most of Luhan and Sehun's conversation on my way to Sehun's room. But it made me really uncomfortable. So many thoughts raced through my mind taking in everything they were saying that I didn't even know what they were talking about anymore.

I had this urge to confront them; at the same time all I wanted to do was run away because being talked about like that was so embarrassing. But my hands started getting clammy and my heartbeat was racing, I could feel the perspiration coming. And coming to my senses after what I heard, I had left Sehun's house as quickly as I got there.

But their conversation left me more confused than I already was last night. Couldn't I enjoy the company of someone without anyone labeling it as something? Then again the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a date, right? Was I okay with it being a date? Or would I just call it 'hanging out' forever? Because 'hanging out' with Taemin sure as hell feels different from hanging out with Sehun.

ARGH.

The only person I could talk to about all the confusion in my head was the same person who triggered it. For now, I guess I'm running away from the situation. I'm too scared to face him. But I couldn't avoid Sehun forever.

How I managed to get away from my best friend that weekend was beyond me. The moment I got home I called up my parents and asked them if I could visit my grandparents' and stay there overnight. They lived a little off the city, it was quieter in their place. Calmer than in the city. I figured I could use the serenity of their location as time to think.

My parents were okay with it. Since my grandparents lived about an hour away on a regular drive, I decided to just take a taxi. Taking the bus would take longer and it would probably bore the crap out of me.

I thought about Sehun and Luhan's conversation the whole weekend, and I don't think it did me any good, to be honest. I kind of of just got angrier with it. How could they talk about me like that behind my back? And judge me without confronting me? We've been friends for too long for that to be the case. Then again, I had no idea why I was being so defensive about it.

Even my grandparents wondered if something was wrong. Sunday morning they asked me and I only admitted half the truth. It was the longest I've been away from my best friend in 6 years. Like I said before. Sehun and I are attached by the hip.

So it was no surprise that my best friend had interrogated me the moment he saw me in school Monday morning.

"Dude, where the hell were you the whole weekend?" Sehun asked putting his bag down and taking his seat beside me.

"Visited my grandparents." I reply casually. Unsettled and misplaced anger still lingering.

"All of a sudden? You didn't tell me you were going to visit them."

I don't have to tell you everything. I wanted to say. But I kept my mouth shut because Sehun and I do tell each other everything.

When I didn't respond, Sehun continued. "And I was trying to text and call you the whole weekend. You didn't reply to any. I thought you were abducted or something."

"Their place has bad reception, sorry." It was mere mumbling, a pathetic excuse for a reply.

"Oh, okay." His tone changes. Sehun gets the hint.

We both remain silent.

"…well? Did you have fun at least?" He asks.

"It was alright."

And then silence once again. I was being cold on purpose. And I knew Sehun knew it too. Was I waiting for him to ask what was wrong? Maybe. Did I want him to ask what was wrong? Yes. Did I want to talk about it? I don't know. What would I even say?

Instead, he opts to start another conversation with, "So how was your Friday night?"

Thank God the teacher had walked in with a hell of a lot of classwork to be done.

Come lunch time, Sehun was pissed because we were already together but I was still avoiding him like the plague. He cornered me before we could leave our classroom.

"Okay. Spill. What's the deal?" He glares at me. And it's really scary when Sehun is mad. I remember why I chose to stay on his good side all these years.

I gulped. I couldn't say 'nothing' because he would harass me. Hell, this wasn't nothing.

"I- I don't know." I reply honestly--facade breaking, defense-mode coming to a stop. Because I know that only Sehun could help me figure this whole thing out.

His expression softens. "Come on, we'll talk about it." He drags me back to our seats in the classroom. No one else was inside, so it was the perfect time to come clean about the mess going on in my head.

Sehun is the first to speak the moment we take our seats, "Start from wherever you want. You know it doesn't have to be chronological with me."

I sigh. "Okay…um." I didn't have to be embarrassed to admit I was eavesdropping, right? This was Sehun. My best friend. My brotherfromanothermother. "Saturday… I was so excited to see you and tell you about Friday night…" I start. Sehun nodded. "So, I got up early and went over to your place…" He bit his lip. "Then when I got to your house, I heard you and Luhan talking." I finish boldly.

Sehun frowns, "How much did you hear?"

"Enough for me to avoid you the whole weekend."

It was his turn to sigh. "Jongin, do you think we had that conversation because we were judging you?"

I thought about his question before carefully answering him. "At some level, yeah."

"We're just trying to figure out what's going on…" He admits.

"Behind my back?" I say.

"Do you even know what's going on?" He counters.

I pause. "No but…" My voice literally got stuck in my throat. I did not know what to say next.

Sehun chuckles, "We're not judging you. We're just wondering what's… gotten into you lately…" He phrases it nicely. "You've been acting different, and your mood has changed these past few weeks. And not in a bad way."

I scratch the back of my neck. "You know how you and Luhan don't know what's going on…?" Sehun nods. "Your conversation confused me even more." I confess.

"…you're confused about…?"

"My feelings for Taemin." I finally say it out loud and Sehun's eyes widen.

But to my surprise it wasn't out of shock or anything negative, because now he's grinning and there's a mischievous glint in his eyes. He was going to say something along the lines of 'it-was-a-date-I-told-you-so'.

Sehun takes a deep breath and nods, "Look, I don't know how to figure this out myself, because I've never been in a position like yours. I don't even know what you're feeling but, let's try something…" He suggests.

I nod. I was all for it. Give it to Sehun to try to fix what's going on up here.

"In one word," He starts, "How does Taemin make you feel?"

I paused. How does Taemin make me feel? He makes me feel a lot of things… like nervous, happy, intimidated…

"Wait. Don't think about it!!" Sehun scolds me. "Okay, okay. Wait! Change of perspective."

"Sehun, my god. My head is all over the place, don't confuse me even more, please." I was begging.

"Okay, I'll say a bunch of names, and you answer the first thing that pops into your head. One word, okay?"

I nod. "Okay. One word."

"Lay."

"Partner."

"What?"

"…what?"

"Partner?!"

"He's my table-tennis partner!"

Sehun face-palmed. He actually face-palmed.

"I said how that person makes you feel in one word!!!" He scolds me again.

"I thought that was the first one with Taemin!!"

"Oh my god, Jongin!"

I wanted to melt into a puddle because I didn't know what the hell was going on anymore.

Sehun sighs. "What is the first thing you feel when Taemin is mentioned?" he asks me calmly.

I pause. Clear my thoughts for a split second and focus on one emotion.

"Happy." I say calmly.

"Do I make you happy?"

"You do." I say.

"Does Baekhyun make you happy?"

"He does. He makes me laugh too."

"Does Chanyeol make you happy?"

"Chanyeol makes everyone happy."

"What about Luhan? Does he make you happy."

"He does. I can't live without that bastard either." I tell him.

"But is it different?" Sehun suddenly asks.

"What is different?"

"The way Taemin makes you happy from everyone else?"

"You guys make me happy in different ways. Like, with you, I'm happy because I know I'm safe." Sehun smiles.

"You'd be a mess without me." He interrupts. And I laugh. It was true, though. I've told him many times that he's my second conscience. I would be in a lot of deep if not for Sehun and his brains. And, if I wouldn't be able to get myself out of deep , Sehun would be there right beside me.

"With the guys, I'm happy cause I know I've got a bunch of great friends who I can have fun and laugh with and talk to and stuff…"

"And with Taemin…?"

"I dunno. Just being around him makes me happy…? Like he doesn't even have to do anything." I say unsurely. "I just, I like when he's around…"

Sehun sighs. "This is getting nowhere. I can't judge feelings like this. I don't know anything about psych." He groans. "For all I know you like him just as much as you like us." He says. "Do you like Taemin?" He says after a short.

"I think we've established that we like him."

"Jongin, you know what I'm talking about."

"I do… but I don't know how much."

"Do you get the urge to hold his hand when you're walking alone together?" He says in the most monotone way possible. Like this conversation was the most boring thing in the world.

I cough. "Wh-what?"

"Would the idea of possibly dating Taemin be so farfetched and so completely out of the option that even the thought dating him has never crossed your mind?" The question was challenging. He was going for it. No more beating around the bush.

I stutter, "I- I never thought about… you know… dating him. Like I never really thought about it, y'know. But I like hanging out with him…"

"Just the two of you?"

"Y-yeah…" I say slowly. "I mean, I love having you guys around… but… it's different when it's just me and Taemin. Sometimes I like it just… the two of us…" I tell him carefully.

"Shouldn't that be an answer enough?" Sehun says.

"But!!" I quickly defend, "There are days when I just want to spend time with you…" I say.

"Stop using me as an excuse!" I'm being scolded by Oh Sehun for the third time in about 5 minutes. "I'm your best friend. We love each other in that weird way twins do, ya know?" He says, and I laugh a little. "But you like Taemin. If he were dating someone else right now, how would that make you feel?"

There you go. That's what hit the right cord.

"I'd feel…" I pause. "I'd feel sad? Kind of. But I wouldn't know why." I admit. "Normally, if any of you guys got a girlfriend, I'd be happy for you… but if Taemin got one… Err, well… I guess I'd be happy too."

"But there's that bottomless empty feeling of something you can't quite put your finger on?" He asks in that monotone voice, yet again. It's the tone he uses when the answer is really obvious. Like I've said it, but I can't figure it out myself.

"Fine!" I give in. "I like him. But it's weird. There's an attraction there."

Sehun smiles. And I don't know why he's smiling cause shouldn't he be freaking out that his best friend is attracted to someone of the same gender?

"Why are you so calm about this??" I feel like I'm yelling but not quite.

"I'm not judging you. You're my best friend. And… well… my cousin, remember Sohee?"

"Yeah, the one you're really close to?"

Sehun nods, "Mhm. She told me before that you can't really choose who you're attracted to. She was going through the same thing. There was this girl she really liked but everything was weird and messed up for so long until she finally just accepted her feelings."

"Yeah? What happened?"

"She gave it a chance. But the was a heartbreaker. Sohee had a hard time getting over her relationship, actually. But now she's dating someone else. A guy."

"Do you think the same thing will happen to me?"

"I don't know, Jongin. But I'm saying don't completely reject the unfamiliar." He tells me. "I'm not rejecting your sudden confession, right? Neither should you."

What would I do with my life if I didn't have such a smart best friend?

"And," Sehun starts, "Sohee is the cousin I'm closest to, you know that, right?" I nod, "And when I ask her about it, she always says she hated the break-up and all the months that came after, but she never hated the relationship because she told me how genuinely happy the other person made her."

I didn't know what else to do, so I just hugged my best friend. He cleared my mind, and even though the conclusion was so overwhelming, everything just made a little more sense.

"You're welcome." Sehun chuckles.

I pull back, "Thank you. Really. Sehun, you're the best."

"Just as long as Taemin doesn't steal you away from me." He teases.

I laugh, "Taemin would go crazy if he tried to steal me away from you. I wouldn't know how to organize my thoughts, he'd be left with a moron."

"Aww, give yourself more credit!" Sehun laughs.

"So… you're not freaked out I'm into guys."

"Taemin is really pretty, though. If he were a girl, I'd so date that." He tells me. "That face is prettier than our ex-girlfriends."

I laugh and smile genuinely because I had have the best bestfriend ever.

After the 'big conversation', things were normal again for me and Sehun. That is until the next day, after school, when we were both on our way to dance academy. Taemin was brought up again.

"You invited him to the showcase, right?" He asks me.

"Yeah, I did. He's way too excited to see us dance."

"You're putting pressure on me."

"Don't worry, I told him not to expect too much!" I say.

"So, we're getting all the tickets today, right?"

"Yeah. Did you bring cash?"

"Hopefully enough to buy everyone tickets." Sehun says, taking out his wallet and counting his bills.

"We could always split it?" I say.

"Dude, they're paying for their tickets."

"But we invited them, shouldn't it be our treat?"

"Excuse you." Sehun says, looking up from his wallet with an annoyed expression, "Luhan and Baekhyun invited themselves, they're paying for their tickets."

I laugh, "Okay, but what about Yixing, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Suho hyung? You know Luhan would throw a fit if he and Baekhyun were the only ones paying."

"We'll charge them, too?" Sehun laughs.

"I'm shouldering Taemin's, though."

"Of course you are." Sehun grins smugly. I smack him on the arm.

We decided that we'd sell the tickets to our friends at a discounted price, Sehun and I still wanted to profit. We got off the bus, and since it was still a bit early, we decided to head to the ticketing counter to purchase the ticket before class instead of after it.

"Hey Dani!" Sehun happily greets the girl sitting behind the counter. Dani works at the Dance Academy as part of the staff.

"Hey Sehun, hey Kai!" She greets us. "Are you guys buying showcase tickets?"

We nod.

"Uh. Where's Jinny? Isn't her shift the same as yours?" I wonder why Dani was seated alone behind the ticketing counter.

Then a head of bright red hair pops up from under the counter. "I'm here! I'm here!" Jinny stands up and straightens her clothes out.

"What were you doing?" Sehun arches an eyebrow. She looked really harassed.

Jinny holds up fliers for our Academy's showcase. "I spilled them." She sighed, "Needed to fix everything."

"…and Dani didn't help?" I raise an eyebrow at the other girl.

Dani shrugs, "Hey, we can't both disappear, people will approach the counter asking for tickets." She counters. "Like you two for example."

"True." Sehun chuckles, "Like us. Jongin and I are buying 12 tickets."

"Oooh! Lots of guests!" Dani teases.

"Our friends invited themselves, there's nothing we could have done." I say.

Jinny went to grab our tickets while Dani computed for the price. We paid up and got our tickets then we headed to the locker rooms to change. Dani and Jinny bid us good luck and said that they couldn't wait to see our performance. Apparently, word reaches all the staff about which students to look forward to.

It made Sehun and I particularly happy that our instructors talked about us.

Practice was an hour longer than usual because the showcase was in 4 days. So Sehun and I were extra tired. We were changing after class when Sehun had asked me if we were stopping by Dream Tea. I honestly just wanted to go home and crash on my bed, but I did really want to see Taemin, even just drop by to greet him. Plus, I needed to give Taemin his tickets.

So when Sehun asked, "Are we passing Dream Tea?"

I replied with, "Just to give Taemin his tickets." Then we wiped the sweat off our necks. Our practice shirts were soaked.

"Hey!" Taemin greeted us the moment we stepped in, with in his usual cheerful tone, smile reaching up to his ears. He frowns when he locks his gaze on Sehun and I. "Woah, are you guys alright?"

"Practice was just more tiring than usual…" Sehun sighs. I just nod and approach the counter so I could give Taemin his ticket.

"We're really tired," I say handing him the showcase ticket, "so we won't be staying, but here's your ticket. I'll see you on Saturday, okay?"

Taemin nods. "Definitely. But you too take care of yourselves."

"We will." I confirm with a tired smile.

"I'll text you." Taemin tells me.

"You better." And if not, I'd be texting him anyway.

I caught Sehun rolling his eyes at my reply to Taemin, I chuckled quietly and waved good-bye. Sehun did the same, and pulled me out of the shop as quickly as he could because he had spotted and empty taxi and wanted to get home asap, even though our fare would be more expensive.

"Bye bye!" was the last thing I heard from Taemin before I got dragged down the street by my best friend.

Guys, thanks so much for still reading and subscribing to this story. Even though my udpates are so slow and my writing has been reduced to chopped liver. Still, you stick around. That means a whole lot to me. I love you, dear readers!

now have some flawless dancing machines being y together.

come on, inspiration...