S/N: This scene takes place a few days after Jonghyun visits Taemin and Minjung at the bakery, but before Jonghyun notices that Kibum is ignoring him.

“Oh, so now you’re going with the Christmas wintery feel?”

“No, more of a lonely snowy, December night feel.” Kibum replies, humming softly to himself as he swirls his paintbrush in a can of water.

“You’re such a drama queen.” Minho snorts, plopping down beside the artist on the couch and looking at the painting with his head tilted.

The paper is only half filled but it already gives off a dark and gloomy atmosphere. Dark blues, blacks, and wisps of white fill in the empty space of the night sky, a lone figure illustrated at the foreground of the page. The person is trudging along the snow, leaving small footprints behind with each step.

Kibum reaches over to paint a streak of red on the person, giving him a wool scarf to protect him from the fierce wind. The artist then faintly colors in the moon, more than halfway submerged in the dark clouds.

“Lonely lover?” Minho guesses, scrunching his eyes at the painting.

“Nope.” Kibum laughs, turning on his stool to face the other. “Lonely single.”

“What, you want a lover for Christmas or something?”

“It’s not always about me, Minho.”

The athlete makes a face. “Whatever happened to you telling me about the ‘author’s statement’ and how pieces are much more, whatever you call it, sophisticated? And how everything in art always has a meaning?”

Kibum leans forward and flicks his friend’s forehead, ignoring his overreacted howl of pain. “But remember, there’s more to things that what meets the eye.”

“Oh, don’t tell me.” Minho groans. “You’ve fallen in love with somebody and you’re longing for them.”

The artist rolls his eyes. “No, Min. You’re over thinking this. You want to know why I started painting this in the first place?”

Kibum motions for Minho to come closer, who expectantly leans in to hear the answer. Kibum places his lips right over his best friend’s ear, making sure to say each word slowly and clearly.

“Because I can.”

He jumps back to avoid Minho’s glare and laughs at the athlete, untying his apron from around his waist and hanging it on the coat rack.

“You’re so gullible.” he teases the athlete, who’s looking back at him with a glare.

“When you come back from Taemin’s bakery, I’ll kill you.”

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead lover boy. Let’s see if you still can when I bring Jinki hyung over and use him as my shield.”

“Hey!”

Kibum shuts the door with his jacket halfway on, evilly leaving Minho to boil in anger by himself.  Lately he’s been getting flustered whenever Jinki is being mentioned, and Kibum can’t help but tease the athlete about it. He finds the couple incredibly cute, especially their awkwardness whenever they’re together.

He still doesn’t know how the two ended up to be really close, but then again, almost everything is possible in this world.

The artist stuffs his hands in the pockets of his jacket and begins walking toward the direction of the bakery, his breath coming out in small puffs of air visible against the frigid weather.

All around him, snow has taken the place of what were once traces of summer and fall. The bare branches of the trees arched over him, drooping down against the weight of the snow which coated everything it came in contact with.

Kibum shivers as he digs his hands deeper in his pockets, quickening his pace to escape the cold air. He’s suddenly regretting his decision of walking instead of taking Minho’s car instead, but he stays on a positive note and argues in his mind that he wouldn’t have noticed all these beautiful details of nature if he had taken a car.

In minutes he reaches Taemin’s bakery, stepping inside and wiping his feet on the ‘Welcome’ mat. He comes up to the counter and is surprised to find Minjung talking with Taemin behind the register.

The two jumps up a little when Kibum announces his presence.

“Hi.”

“Kibummie!” Minjung squeals, coming around the counter to pull the artist in a hug. The other returns it warmly, smiling over at Taemin who’s looking at him with a smile behind pensive eyes.

Since Minjung had moved in the company, her and Kibum had gotten close quickly. They shared the same interests and personality; both giving off a warm and radiant feel to people around them. They had talked for hours about the latest trends in fashion, up to the history of art and when the first basic colors were created.

“What brings you here?” Kibum asks, pulling out of the hug.

“I’ve been coming here for the past couple of days to talk with Tae. You know, just to catch up and all.” Minjung nods over to Taemin who has his arms crossed over his chest.

“Who ruined your flowery mood today?” Kibum asks lightheartedly.

Taemin shrugs and offers the artist a small smile. “It’s been a long week.”

He takes a moment to take an order from a customer, as usual addressing them by name. He waves at the little girl in the woman’s arms and offers her a lollipop, who takes it gratefully with a cute little giggle.

Kibum turns toward Minjung. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Don’t worry, it must be because of the weather.” Minjung reassures him.

There’s a glint behind her eyes that Kibum almost misses, but he catches it at the last minute and examines her expression carefully. He frowns as he realizes he might be missing something here.

“Would you like anything to drink, hyung? Your cheeks are really rosy right now.” Taemin offers, finishing up the order at hand.

“A cup of hot chocolate would be nice.” Kibum replies.

Taemin nods and moves toward the kitchen. “It’ll be ready in a minute.”

“I’ll come and help.” Minjung says, following the baker and letting the door close behind them.

Through the small circular window of the door, Kibum sees the two talk amongst themselves.

Minjung is saying something with big hand motions, and Taemin is looking back at her seriously and shaking his head violently after she finishes speaking.

He responds by pointing at himself, at her, then toward the direction of Kibum, making an x with his hands as he shakes his head again. Minjung frowns at him and launches back into another explanation, and Kibum cranes his neck to try and hear what they are saying.

Their voices are unfortunately being muted because of the heavy door, and the artist sighs as he looks on to try and decipher what they’re talking about.

Taemin runs his hand over his hair and blows out a humph, looking back up at Minjung and asking her a question.

Kibum manages to read his lips and figures out that he’s asking,

“Are you sure?”

And then Minjung nods firmly, which doesn’t need much further looking into to decode.

“Yes.”

Taemin then sighs and nods his head in defeat, trudging away to work on the hot chocolate as Minjung watches him in concern. She too also sighs and waits until the baker finishes making the drink before heading out the door with him.

“Here you go, hyung.” Taemin says, handing the artist his drink.

“Thanks, Minnie. You two looked you were having a lover’s quarrel back there.” Kibum laughs, a tad worried as he sips on the hot chocolate.

Minjung and Taemin exchange quick glances.

“Yeah, about that…..” the baker trails off.

“We need to tell you something.” Minjung finishes for him.

“What, you two are dating?” Kibum jokes, half expecting the two to come out and confess that they were indeed together.

“I wish it was that easy.” Taemin mumbles under a breath, earning a jab in the rib from Minjung.

She turns back to Kibum. “I really don’t know where to start, so I’m just going to go ahead and put this out there.”

“Go on.” the artist says, cocking his head to the side in question.

“It’s about Jonghyun. Have you noticed something different about him lately?”

“Jonghyun?” Kibum repeats, ears perking up at the sudden mention of the lawyer’s name. “Um…….not really? I guess he hasn’t been showing up at work lately, and he’s been locked up in his house for so long I’m worried he might become a vampire or something.”

Taemin groans. “He hasn’t taken our advice yet.”

“Patience, all in due time.” Minjung nudges him. “Anyways, Kibum. I take it Taemin’s already told you part of Jonghyun’s past?”

“Yeah.” the artist says, thinking back to the day of the big revelation. “It’s quite tragic, isn’t it?”

“You have no idea.” Minjung breathes out. “But here’s the thing though, Taemin hasn’t told you an important part. He left out the most crucial point.”

“What?” Kibum asks, bewildered. He was pretty sure that the baker had told him everything.

“Sorry, hyung.” Taemin smiles sheepishly. “I wanted to keep it a secret for a bit longer since Jonghyun hyung would hate me if I say everything without his permission. But now, Minjung and I have decided that it would be for the better if we finally tell you the whole story.”

“But what else is there to tell?” Kibum asks, setting his mug down on the counter.

“Have you ever wondered who Jonghyun’s ex was?”

“I-“ the artist pauses, thinking back to the days he’d stayed up all night in bed wondering who that person could be. “Yeah, now that I think about it. Taemin never even specified anything about her.”

Minjung shakes her head. “Not her, Kibum. Him.”

“Wait, what? I thought that it was you the whole entire time!” the artist says, pointing at Minjung. He’s suddenly thankful that the bakery has closed by now.

“It isn’t me. Although yes, I did have feelings for Jonghyun. A long, long, time ago, back in the day when I was still young and careless.”

“Then, who was he?”

“It was me.” Taemin says softly.

Kibum’s jaw drops. He swears he can feel the room spinning, and he grips onto the counter to right himself for a second.

“That’s why everyone was so surprised back in high school. Because the popular kid dated for the first time, and his first ended up being a guy.” Taemin continues.

“But, but, you told me she was a girl!” Kibum counters, shaking his head disbelievingly.

“I didn’t clarify anything, hyung. I was saying ‘lover’ or ‘the couple’ and not stating any specific gender. It was only when you started using the word ‘girlfriend’ that I started using ‘her’ and going along with it.”

“I can’t believe this. Then you were Jonghyun’s first love? What happened to you two, Taemin? You said there was some rumor going around in school that Jonghyun’s parents was criminals.”

“Right. And those rumors were false. It had nothing to do with crime and all that. What really happened was that his parents neglected him for being the way he is.”

“They hated him because of his uality?” Kibum clarifies, instantly reminded of his own parents So that’s why the lawyer was so understanding when they were stuck in the elevator together. He understood the feeling of being looked down on.

“They were terrible, hyung.” Taemin shivers. “He almost got beaten to death by his father. But that didn’t stop us from being together though. My parents were more understanding; they accepted me for who I am. They’d often help us have secret dates or hang out together at my house to hideout and all.”

“What happened then?”

“Word spreads quickly when it comes to gossip, especially if it’s about one of the most popular kids in the school. Somehow one of the students spotted Jonghyun hyung sneaking into my house, and apparently they saw me kissing him on my porch.”

Kibum winces and almost stops the younger boy right then and there, but he wanted to hear the rest until the end. No more secrets.

“They reported it to Jonghyun hyung’s parents and…..” Taemin trails off, looking away for a second. “They went ballistic.”

The artist looks over to Minjung who also as her head cast down. Listening to Taemin’s soft voice as he continues,

“They forced us apart and threatened to expel me from the school if I ever went near their son again. They made me choose between my dreams or the love of my life. I was so angry, hyung. Why do they care so much if they barely cared about their son in return? Why did they have to make me choose between those two things?”

The baker pauses to wipe a stray tear from his eye. “My parents tried to protect and console me, but their words just never reached me. All I had in mind was Jonghyun hyung, and how I might lose him within a blink of an eye. I thought over it day and night, missed school for a whole week and rehearsed my plan over and over in my head. In the end, I thought it was the best chance we could get.”

“And that is?” Kibum asks.

“Eloping.” Taemin finally looks up to meet the artist’s gaze. “I loved him that much, I just couldn’t let go. I was willing to give up everything just for him. But was he willing to do the same? Turns out that he was willing to do even more. He agreed, right away. We packed our bags, headed for the woods, and went on our merry way. Happy ever after, right? But I freaked out in the end, and thought about his future if he decided to stay with me. We’d be on the run for most of our lives, and his dream of becoming a lawyer would be squashed down. I couldn’t let that happen to him, I couldn’t ruin his life for the sake of fulfilling my own.”

Minjung also has tears in her eyes by now, and Taemin laughs and wipes them away for her before continuing.

“He threw a fit, of course. Told me that I was just scared, that we were so close to finally being free. I argued with him though, right in the middle of the road. I said that with the decision we were about to make, we might have just wasted our lives on doing something stupid. I told him he could fix his life. Marry a girl, strengthen his relationship with his family, and go on to a good college and get a decent job as a lawyer. He could have a family, a baby girl or a baby boy. I couldn’t give all those things to him. Happiness, contentment, hope, sometimes those things don’t last. Sometimes things aren’t just meant to be.”

“So what did you do?” Kibum presses, his head throbbing with this much information.

“I said that we should break of our relationships and go our separate ways, I believed it was for the good of us, for the good of him. He started dragging me to the bus stop then, rejecting everything I said and focusing on telling me which route we should take on the bus. His parents arrived in the nick of time and forced us apart. We would’ve escaped if I hadn’t chickened out and taken up time. We were studying abroad, did I tell you that? Some fancy high school for those people with big dreams. I decided to move back here in Korea and open up a bakery with my parents instead of going to college and majoring in culinary arts.”

“But Jonghyun…..” Kibum trails off.

Taemin smiles sadly. “He freaked at first and went crazy. I thought I couldn’t handle leaving him in that state. We had a long talk afterward, until finally I convinced him into reluctantly letting go. Of course, on the day I was leaving he ran to the airport to try and change my mind. I had a feeling he was going to do that, so I told him the wrong time of my flight and he ended up arriving too late. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I saw him running toward me with tears in his eyes.”

“So that’s why he’s so closed off now?” Kibum says quietly.

Taemin nods. “I kept in contact with a friend who went to our high school to fill me in on how he was doing. I was tempted to fly back and come back to him every single day, but I forced myself to let it go.”

“How did you two end up living near each other?” the artist asks.

“That’s where I come in.” Minjung smiles, finally recomposing herself. “You see, I’m the girl who has the crush on the main character, minus the part about her being y and snobbish and all.”

She’s trying way too hard to ease up the mood, Kibum notices.

“Of course I’m hurt whenever I see Taemin and Jonghyun together, but sometimes life doesn’t always work the way you want it to, right? So I gathered my bravery, confessed to him, then decided to help them out a little so I can put my two cents in on the whole thing. After Jonghyun graduated, I helped him find a house near the bakery. He was surprised at first when he first came in here and Taemin was equally surprised as well, but it has been three years since their break up and wounds heal over time. I was hoping they’d get back together, but Jonghyun wasn’t quite the same as he used to be.”

“I can’t imagine him as anyone else other than who he is now.” Kibum says, picking his cup again and sipping on the hot chocolate which was cooling down rapidly.

“It’s hard to believe he was a kindred spirit back then.” Minjung says softly. “A year later and his heart is still rock hard and guarded heavier than before. To be honest, Taemin and I miss him. The old Jonghyun, I mean.”

“So,” the artist says, the rim of his cup. “What’s next?”

“We bring the final chapter to the story.” Taemin smiles, this time it’s a genuine one. “And you are the key to the conclusion of this whole mess that still needs to be cleaned up.”

“That’s a good nickname for him.” Minjung laughs. “Key.”

“Me? The key?” Kibum stutters. “How do I fit into all of this?”

“We can’t really tell you until Jonghyun hyung-“

The artist interrupts Taemin with a groan. “You’re kidding. More secrets and more waiting.”

“It’s not a secret, trust me. It’s more of a confes-“

Minjung jabs the baker in the ribs a bit too harshly, making the other double up in pain beneath the counter.

Kibum looks at them in confusion.

“That’s enough, Tae. We can’t interfere with this one, as much as I want to myself.” Minjung says.

Taemin nods weakly.

There’s a break in the conversation and Kibum finds himself letting out a long and labored sigh. He drains his cup of the hot chocolate and sets it down on the counter, wiping his lips with the back of his hand.

“I think that I’ve had enough for today.” the artist says.

Minjung nods. “We’ve given you a lot of information.”

“I’m glad you told me though.”

“So what do you think?”

“I need some time to do exactly just that. To think and process everything. I’ll get back to you guys some other time. I’ll be going now.” Kibum heads for the door, stumbling a bit as he walks.

“Key?” Minjung calls out the artist’s new nickname.

“Yeah?”

“Please don’t over think this.”

“No worries, I won’t.”

It turns out that avoiding over thinking is easier said than done.

As much as Kibum has mastered the art of staying positive and on task, he can’t help but slip into a coma like state that consisted of nothing but thinking. Surely he wasn’t over thinking?

But then he unconsciously starts ignoring Jonghyun, because by now he’s confused of his own feelings. He can’t exactly pinpoint the cause of it, but it seems like he’s slowly starting to think about the lawyer in a different light. In a more romantic and cliché light.

He hates himself for letting it turn out this way, but who can’t help it at this point? He avoids the lawyer because he’s afraid he’d give in. But give in to what? To liking him? Is it possible that Kibum actually likes him?

Of course he does, who is he kidding?

And to add onto that, he may be jealous of Jonghyun’s past with Taemin. He might be jealous that the baker has seen that side of the lawyer, that side of him that’s completely different than now. He’s jealous because Jonghyun will probably never look at him like he did at Taemin. He’s jealous because Taemin got to have him just for a little while. He’s jealous because those two shared so many happy memories together.

He doesn’t realize that other people are starting to notice his change of mood lately, namely Minho. The athlete bugs him every day of what his problem might be, so Kibum just randomly bursts out one night and finally tells him the truth.

Minho ends up taking the news badly.

Really, really, badly.

A/N: Unedited bcuz I'm tired and this is too long to read over after working on it for three and a half hours straight. Surprised, you guys? Are all of your questions answered? I tried dropping hints every once in a little while of Jonghyun's past with Taemin xD And remember that talk with gay couples between Jjong and Kibum a few chapters back? Yup, that was another hint. Watch out for the next chapter, its going to be another big one. Hint: It's bcuz of Minho. *cough cough*

No gifs since I will take this time to have a moment of silence for those who have passed away at the school shooting in Connecticut.