“Why were you crying in your sleep, Taemin-ah?”

Taemin choked on his bowl of rice as his housemate threw a simple question. He patted his chest repeatedly; trying to get rid of the rice stuck in his throat somewhere. Key shot him a sympathetic look before passing him a glass of water.

“C-Crying?” Taemin stammered as he wiped his tears, still trying to calm himself down. “I was crying?”

“Yeah. And you were mumbling something incoherent.” Key stated. “Well you know they said you’d feel better if you share your nightmare with someone else… So spill.”

Taemin gulped, looking at Key like the older boy was some kind of weird creature. He couldn’t possibly tell Key about his dream… Minho’s death isn’t a very pleasant tale after all. But it was clearly bothering him (seriously, wouldn’t dreaming of your crush dying every night drives you crazy?) so he took a deep-breath and made up his mind.

“I dreamt that I–“

Taemin stopped abruptly as some unknown force blocked his throat. He blinked rapidly, not understanding what was going on, his mouth gaping like a lost fish but no voice came out.

“You dreamt that you…?” Key raised his eyebrow suspiciously.

Taemin tried to say something but he couldn’t. As if his vocal chord just stopped vibrating, refusing to produce any sound at all. He tried to whisper but his body wasn’t even listening to his mind.

“Taemin?”

Taemin shut his eyes and shook his head. What was happening to him?

Key seemed like he was about to say something but the house phone rang at that moment, snapping both their attention. They exchanged a glance before Key hurried off to answer the phone.

Only when Key disappeared from the kitchen, that Taemin suddenly gained his body control back. His hand immediately touched his neck where his Adam-apple was, and then he tried to say something softly. He was thoroughly relieved that his voice was back.

“Taemin, the call is for you.” Key called.

Taemin exited the kitchen and mumbled “thank you” to Key before taking the call.

“Taeminnie?”

“Jinki hyung.” Taemin’s mood brightened for a bit as he recognized his cousin’s voice. “It’s been awhile!”

“It’s only a month, Taemin-ah.” Jinki’s melodic laughter was heard from the other side of the line, “I was busy with debut preparation. How are you?”

“I’m fine… I miss you, hyung.” Taemin admitted. Jinki chuckled once again.

“Why don’t we meet up for lunch today? I am free until about three or so. I’ll pick you up after your dance later.”

“Sure, hyung. I’ll see you later.”

Taemin ended the call, feeling lighter than before. He quickly finished his breakfast before Key could ask him about the dream again, and then excused himself to his room with the reason ‘need to prepare cause I’m meeting hyung for lunch’.

***

“…3 and 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and pose! That’s it~” Hyoyeon beamed, evidently happy that Taemin seemed to be focused today. “We’ll end here today. See you all tomorrow!”

Murmurs of ‘thank-you’ and ‘good-bye’ were exchanged, but Taemin has nothing else in his mind other than the fact that he was meeting Jinki. The only one who would understand his misery would be his cousin, since Jinki obviously know about their family history.

“Are you coming home for dinner later?” Key asked the younger dancer before the latter managed to sneak out.

“Yeah sure.” Taemin, who had finished packing his stuff, stood up while wiping his neck. “See you later hyu–“

“Taeminnie~”

Taemin looked up and his expression brightened at the sight of a dorky Jinki at the studio door.

“HYUNG~” He childishly ran to Jinki and glomped the older, making both Key and Jinki laughed.

Minho, who had been observing the scene for a while now, frowned at this. Who was that weirdo guy hugging his Taemin?

“I reaaaaaaaaaaaally miss you hyung~” Taemin said, voice muffled by Jinki’s chest.

“Aww, I miss you too, Minnie.” Jinki ruffled his hair affectionately. “Let’s go, I’m hungry…”

“Arasso.” Taemin pulled away, turning towards Key. “See you later Key hyung~”