An empty stomach growled somewhere in the darkness. Clutching to his crying stomach, Taemin shifted in his spot and uncrossed his legs. His body was aching all over from the restrained circulation of blood, and Taemin wished he had that stupid electric massager in his hand. He had been squished into this cabinet for approximately two hours, and Taemin was almost reaching his limit –both physically and psychologically.


 

No matter how long Taemin and Chanyeol waited for help with their face driven into the slight crack of the doors, the domain of the guidance office was miserably deserted. According to the lost notion of Taemin’s mental clock, it seemed to be 6PM; the only people remaining inside the school building being their graduate seniors on their night study period and a supervisor on the third floor. Their only hope was a floor and a total of nine minutes walk away.


 

“Can’t you do something about it?!” Taemin cried out to Chanyeol, wrinkling his hair in desperation. “Break the damn door down if you can!”


 

“…Uh, its steel?”


 

“None of this would’ve happened if you left that stupid folder alone.” Taemin blamed Chanyeol, and the taller switched his cramped position in the dark.


 

“And why do you think we’re stuck in here like this?”


 

“Are you saying that this is my fault?” Taemin dropped his jaw in disbelief, and Chanyeol peered down at Taemin.


 

“Uh, yeah.”


 

Taemin swore he would’ve strangled Chanyeol if the cabinet’s narrow space had allowed him to do so. The large cabinet wasn’t so large anymore with two grown high school boys in it, and Taemin crossly shook his shoulder as Chanyeol’s body kept overlapping his.


 

It wasn’t that they haven’t tried anything; they kicked and punched at the door, almost killing themselves when the cabinet tilted forwards, and the two boys had to frantically push it back with their bodies and use up all the energy they had remaining.


 

As Taemin and Chanyeol just sat there in the dark, Chanyeol’s stomach rumbled softly. Suddenly, something brushed the back of Taemin’s mind, and Taemin floundered to reach into his pocket. Ignoring Chanyeol’s grumbling complaint, Taemin opened his hand to reveal a shiny wrapped lollipop that Sulli had given him once upon a time.


 

Choi Sulli… Choi Sulli… I promise you an entire Chupa Chups factory as soon I get out of here...


 

Taemin sniffled as he quickly unwrapped the candy, when a hand dived in and snatched his nutrition away. Taemin whipped around, and Chanyeol popped the pink sugarball into his mouth.


 

“THAT WAS MINE!!!” Taemin shrieked, and Chanyeol smirked with the white end sticking out from his mouth.




“You know you owe me.” And Chanyeol took the lollipop out of his mouth to wave it in front of Taemin’s huffing face. “Unless you still want it.”


 

Flinging his body back, Taemin glared and Chanyeol snickered as he stuck the candy back into his mouth. To Taemin’s dismay, another thirty minutes passed without a sign of another life within the cabinet’s radius. Taemin and Chanyeol lacking energy to even bicker, the two boys just lay in the dark like two wet towels. The heater must’ve stopped operating after the bells, and Taemin felt the winter chill creeping up his spine. Just when Taemin crossed his arms to rub at his biceps, Chanyeol dumped his uniform jacket on top of Taemin’s head.


 

“Take it.” said Chanyeol. 


 

“…It’s alright, take it back…”


 

Taemin automatically said out of courtesy, and Chanyeol reached for his jacket before Taemin could finish. Against his own will, Taemin instinctively grabbed onto the jacket for survival. Sparks flared in Chanyeol and Taemin’s eyes as the jacket became the rope for a game of tug-o-war, until Chanyeol let go with a smirk.


 

“You are such a loser.” Chanyeol said, eyeing Taemin with amusement. 


 

“…I wouldn’t be doing this if you hadn’t taken my lollipop.” Taemin snapped, draping the jacket over his shoulder.


 

“It’s not finished yet, here have the rest.” Chanyeol said and took out the lollipop he was .


 

“Ew, no. Gross.”


 

“We’ve kissed before, what’s the matter?”


 

“I TOLD YOU TO NEVER BRING THAT UP AGAIN”


 

As Chanyeol and Taemin’s fruitless conversation went on, Taemin felt sleep pressing on his eyelashes. He figured he should give up at this point, morning was bound to come and they’d be rescued then.


 

“What is your issue with piano?” Chanyeol suddenly asked. 


 

“None of your business.” Taemin replied, his voice weak with the lack of energy.


 

“Hey cut me some slack, I’m so ing bored.”


 

“…Okay then, what is your issue with basketball?” Taemin shifted, turning towards Chanyeol.


 

“None of your business.”


 

“...Well okay, then.” Taemin grumbled and Chanyeol snickered.


 

“Your teacher makes it sound like you’re some kind of prodigy Beethoven. Shelves of trophy, huh.”


 

“My mom was kinda… peculiar.”


 

With that Taemin closed his mouth. He didn’t want to say anymore, talking about it would just further bring up the dusty memories of his abundant childhood.


 

“You know our entire school –girls, I mean– fell head over heels for you when you made that grand entrance at the auditorium with the basketball team.” Taemin quickly changed the subject. “You can probably pick up any girl you want.”


 

“True.” Chanyeol nodded, and Taemin rolled his eyes.


 

“Then why did you get so pissed off... over a single Christmas card? You have girls lined up just to talk to you.”


 

“You pretend to hate me but you know a lot about me, don’t you?” Chanyeol winked and Taemin gave him an unamused look.


 

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really like basketball.” Chanyeol continued before Taemin could retort. “I was just desperate.”


 

“...For what?” Taemin blinked.


 

“For something to take my mind off of.”


 

Chanyeol answered as he spinned the lollipop in his hands.  Chanyeol didn’t elaborate and Taemin didn’t ask. The guy looked solemn for once and Taemin left him to fall into his own thoughts. The silence only lasted for mere seconds though, when Chanyeol spoke up again.


 

“Is Jongin your first love?”


 

“…Will you stop bringing him up?” Taemin gave Chanyeol an annoyed look. “We were talking about things entirely unrelated.”


 

“Well, you don’t know that yet.”


 

"You transferred here 'cause you had no friends, right?” Taemin countered pointedly. “It would seriously be impossible for you to make any-”


 

“Yeah, you’re right. I was a loner.” Chanyeol interrupted.


 

“…What?” 


 

“I was a loner.” Chanyeol nodded his head as he repeated himself.


 

“…You mean you bullied loners?” Taemin drawled suspiciously. “Honestly, considering your ty personality there’s no way you would’ve just let yourself become the loner…”


 

“Well, it was agreed between both parties.”


 

“……”


 

“Between me and the rest of the school population.” Chanyeol added as if to explain when Taemin stayed silent.  


 

“What happened?” Taemin asked cautiously.


 

“There was this girl I was ing crazy about.” Chanyeol’s voice was nonchalant as if he was tracing back to his lunch menu that day. “We went out for four years, since middle school… until I learned that she’d been cheating on me all this time. With my best friend.”


 

“…Oh. …Uh well, um. That ,…”


 

“You know how the popular kid is.” Chanyeol continued, grinning and pointing to himself. He chuckled and let his hand fall to his side. “I thought I had everything. Popularity, grades, basketball, and the girl of my dreams. Yeah, until I realized that it had all been a lie. I was just delusionally soaked up in a bunch of lies when really, I had nothing.”


 

“…….”


 

“With all those four years disintegrating into a lie, I snapped into reality. And reality was… different.”


 

“…Because of your first love…?”


 

“Well, that was only the beginning.” Chanyeol laughed hollow, staring at the spinning lollipop in his fingers.


 

“After breaking that off, everything else crumbled along as if planned. My parents got divorced, I started failing classes, and I had to take a break from basketball after getting into a motorcycle accident… as a result my personality turned ty like you said.” Chanyeol turned towards Taemin and laughed, the twitch resting on his lips.


 

“That probably sums up the process to becoming a loner.”


 

Taemin felt the words getting stuck in his throat. Chanyeol’s story of his tragic(?) past reminded Taemi