Kai had been Taemin’s best friend since they were five. The two were practically inseparable. They spent insane amounts of time with each other, and they knew nearly everything about each other.

Things changed, however, when they turned sixteen. Kai got a girlfriend; her name was Seoyoen. She was one of the ‘popular’ girls in their class. She was also one of the kids that always gave Taemin a hard time for either his hair, or his grades. They even made fun of Taemin for being Yiruma’s apprentice, for Christ’s sake!

Kai seemed to turn a blind eye towards that, though. Whenever he would try to tell his best friend, he would just say that Taemin was being paranoid, or sensitive or something.

They stopped hanging out for a long time. Kai started eating lunch at the ‘popular’ table, and Taemin ate his lunch alone, at the table that used to be theirs.

It hurt Taemin, knowing that his friend was leaving him. Minho and Key could tell the second something was off with their son, and to get his mind off of it, they scheduled more piano lessons with Yiruma, and more dance lessons at Taemin’s studio.

_______________

“Okay, spit it out, peanut. What’s bothering you?” Taemin glared at his teacher for using the dreaded nickname.

“When will you quit calling me peanut? There’s not logical reason for you to have ever started calling me that in the first place.” The sixteen year old pouted, turning back to the piano, running his fingers over the keys.

“Don’t try to change the subject, kid. I know you better than you think, so just tell Ruma, neh?” Yiruma ran his hands through the boy's hair.

Taemin sighed, playing a random song. “Kai’s been ignoring me, lately. He’s been with his girlfriend every chance he gets.”

Yiruma sighed, “How about you come with me to Japan, then? Just for a week or two. To get your mind off of it?”

Taemin raised an eyebrow at his mentor, but shrugged. “Kay.”

That weekend, Taemin packed his bags to head to Japan for two weeks.

_____________

While they were in Japan, they had a concert probably every other night. Taemin would perform two of the new songs he had written, Lucifer and Hello. The two practiced and went sight seeing on their days off, and of course Taemin finished all of his school work.

It was the last night that they would perform, and Yiruma was fixing Taemin’s bow tie, just like he had the first time Taemin performed his own piece.

“Knock ‘em dea