Taemin held your hands. His smile was warm like the summer heat and bright as the sun. Being at the beach definitely added to it.

“Share your thoughts?” He said.

You shrugged and grinned when he did first. “Nothing much.”

“You don’t have to be so shy, you know,” he said, fixing his falling black beanie. “Even though we don’t go out as much as other six-month couples do, I think we are comfortable with each other.”

There wasn’t anything wrong with what Taemin said. You liked the fact that he was mature in the relationship, much contrary to what you had thought of him before you two started.

“Mmm, nothing, really,” you laughed at him. The seagulls that flew over the both of you made its way towards the looming sunset. You sighed at the view.

“I was thinking of Roo,” you said. “He’s so adorable. I’ve wanted to keep a dog for years.”

Taemin looked at you. “Really? All this time you were thinking of a puppy?” You didn’t know what to say. He pouted at you.

You mimicked his pout and tightened your grip around his arm. “I think someone’s jealous.”

“I think someone’s going to have to make up for it,” he stuck out his tongue, pulling a cute merong.

“How?” You asked with a smirk.

Without warning, the brown-haired boy pulled your face to his and went straight for your lips. You pulled away half-heartedly and he finally let go with the cheekiest grin. “There. Done!”

“Taemin-ah!” You laughed and dug your fingers in his rubs, making him laugh at your shock. He was sensitive like that, and it made you smile so much.

“Yah, yah! Okay, you win. You win!” He said, conceding. Normally, he would tackle you in return but it seemed like he had something else in mind. He stopped by the edge of the pier the both of you had been walking on, and he started to fish around in his skinny jeans. His tongue was on the edge of his lips as he felt around.

“It doesn’t take you that long to find your phone, does it?” You said to him, crossing your arms.

“Wait for it, wait for it,” Taemin urges you to be patient. “Ah, okay.” He looks at you, standing ramrod straight, the sunset picturesque beside the two of you beyond the horizon. “You want a pet, right?”

“Yes?” You said. You were unsure of what to expect.

“I know our 6th month was just last week and we missed it, so I prepared us a little something to mark it. I don’t know, since we don’t live together, what couples usually do but I know getting a pet is one of them. So I got us something small and cute.”

Your heart started to beat. Then you turned around to see if there was a puppy behind you. Maybe a kitten, or a couple of hamsters. No words could describe your feeling. Your smile was widening as you spoke, “Yah, what’s going on?”

Taemin’s tight-lipped smile got wider. “Jaki,” he said as he pulled out something in his hand and something else in another. “Pick one. You can’t change after.”

You frowned. Where was the puppy? You thought. “What’s this?”

“Come on,” Taemin said, on his tippy toes. “Choose!”

You eventually touched his left hand, then switched to the right, and then back to the left.

“You’re so fickle-minded,” he teased you. You made a face at him as he opened his hand to reveal what he was holding. “Tadaa! You got the blue one!”

“What is this?” You said, taking the little blue, egg-shaped toy from his palm. He opened his other hand to reveal a pink one.

Taemin stared at you wide-eyed. “Yah! Don’t tell me you’ve never had a Tamagotchi? You’re not really 35, are you?”

Your face contorted into something Taemin couldn’t help but laugh at. “Yah, Lee Taemin! Do I look 5? You got me a Tamagotchi?”

“Don’t be silly!” He said laughingly, stringing the keychain on your ring finger, eyeing you as he did. “Take this as our part of our commitment. We have to raise this dinosaur well. Since we have one each, we’ll exchange when we see each other again and make sure it doesn’t die or something. If we’re doing really well, we could … consider getting Roo #2.”

You raised your head and looked at him with eyes wide. “Taemin…”

“Yes?” He grinned at you.

“This is either A, really dumb or B, really smart.”

Taemin bit his lip, and it made you want to bite his. “Can I pick C, really amazing?”

You quickly threw your arms around his small frame and pulled him to you, you facing the sunset. He nuzzled in your hair. “Thank you,” you said. “I’ll take good care of it.”

“What will you name it? I thought of Yorum, which reminds me of today and summer.”

“Mine would have to be Taegi,” you nodded.

Taemin looked at you. “What does it… Tae-gi… Wait, really?”

“Taemin and baby together, yes. Tae-aegi. To remind me of today and you,” you said to him, your eyes wide like him. “I’ll take care of it like I’ll take care of you, you baby.” He blushed when you bit your lip unknowingly.

He held your hand. “Well, since you’ll have to tend to it every hour, you’ll definitely think of me a lot of the time. You won’t forget me easily, and I won’t forget you. See how it all works out?” He said.

You rolled your eyes with a smirk. “I knew you had motives,” you said.

“Well, it’s kinda pointless without them,” the 17-year-old shrugged with a smug grin. He slipped his ring finger into his Tamagotchi keychain just like he did you yours. “I’ll just do whatever that makes you think of me, because I want you to be thinking of me as much as I will be thinking of you.”

There was that spontaneous smile you could never hold back when it’s Lee Taemin. “Yah, I’ll always think of you,” you told him gently before holding his face and pressing your foreheads together.