Taemin’s head spun as the strong odor of alcohol pierced his nose. Taemin frowned as the nurse dabbed a wet cotton ball at his torn lips.  

“This is only temporary so I recommend you to still go to the hospital. Do you want me to write a note for your teacher?”
“Yes, please.”
“Who did this to you? You can tell me.”
“I, uh, fell on my own.”
“Practicing the piano, huh.”

The school nurse shot Taemin a skeptical look but nodded when he bowed to leave the room. He closed the door behind him and found Soojung lingering by the door restlessly. She scurried after Taemin as he walked past her down the hall. 

“Are you okay?”
“No. I’m going home, so let my teacher know.”

Taemin handed Soojung the nurse’s note and she nodded obediently. He put his hands in his pocket only to find that his phone was missing; it probably fell out when Jongin knocked him down at the piano room. Taemin rubbed his dry face in irritation, all he wanted to do right now was to lie down on his bed and not think about anything. He glared at Soojung behind her, and she stopped tagging along. He speeded up again and heard Soojung’s footsteps running after him.

“Why are you following me?!”
“I’m worried about you!”
“Which is why I always end up like this when I’m with you, right?!!”
“Why are you yelling at me??”
“Should I be singing for you then??!!”
“Do you take requests?”

The ?! Taemin threw her a dirty look before continuing down the hallway. Soojung hurried after him and looked up at him inquiringly.

“How about a serenade?”

Maybe Taemin should be thankful of this whole situation, at least Jongin now had zero percent of dating this crazy girl, Taemin thought. Though he had hoped for his friend’s heart-wrenching crush to end in a more sophisticated way.

…His ex-friend, that is. The taste of rust filled Taemin’s mouth as he bit his lip and accidentally tore open the scar again.  

Taemin dug through the pile of chairs that crashed down on him like an epic scene in a movie, but his phone was nowhere to be found. Soojung watched him as she leaned against the piano and Taemin sighed as he got up to his feet.

“Are you satisfied with yourself?”
“…Well, this wasn’t exactly how I planned it to go…”
“……”
“Let’s date, Lee Taemin.”
“You’ve finally lost it, haven’t you?”
“You know we’re so much alike.”

Taemin didn’t respond. He already knew that much too well. He messed up his hair in irritation and Soojung continued.

“I didn’t expect Jongin to show up either. Now I know that he’s restless about you too. Kind of annoying, really.”
“Stay out of my life, I beg you.”
“I know that Jongin is a really nice guy, he’d make a perfect boyfriend if I wasn’t so crazy about you.”

…Was it normal for girls to just bluntly spit out so-called “confessions” to a guy they liked like this? But then again, Soojung couldn’t possibly be categorized within a mile diameter near “normal”. Taemin scrunched up his face as he glanced at poker-faced Soojung. She bent her eyes to pretty crescents and opened .

“Should I date Jongin just to make you jealous?”
“…Jung Soojung.”
“Yeah?”

Taemin’s anger was dangerously rising above his permit. He was smart enough to know that he couldn’t exactly blame Soojung for this entire situation, caused by his own blindness and stupidity. But as of right now, Soojung seemed to be the core of all misfortune.

“You probably realize that I’m really pissed off right now.”
“Hmm, yeah.”
“So can you please shut the up?”
“What if I can’t?”

Taemin’s fists clenched up in anger. He began to tremble, afraid that he might lose his control. Soojung looked taken aback, surprised by his sudden aura of hostility. Her cool poker-faced expression came back though, when she realized that Taemin couldn’t possibly do anything to her.

Instead, an ear-splitting noise shook the still room.

“Lee Taemin! Are you crazy?!!!”

Pieces of broken glass fell to the floor as they prickled about at Taemin’s feet. Taemin had thrown his fist into the dusty window; the irresistable anger that was beginning to overtake his conscience was beyond his own control. Blood trickled down through the cracks of shattered glass, dripping to the floor. …, it hurt.

Taemin released his clenched fist and blood flowed out through bits of glass pierced through his delicate skin. It was crazy, what he just did, but he had to take his out anger somehow or else something from his insides would’ve exploded from the frustration. Whatever the case was, Taemin wasn’t that far off from crazy either.

***

“What the hell happened to your hand?”

Chanyeol asked incredulously and Taemin slurped his hot chocolate, ignoring him completely. They were slurping their hot chocolate and coffee at a café of their local hospital, bandages wrapped around their hand and on their nose respectively. To explain the situation, Taemin