They’re sitting at a nearby café, quietly sipping on their hot chocolates. “So Xiumin hey?” Xiumin nods “Chen?” and Chen nods “How’d you get the nickname Xiumin?” Chen asks

“Ah one of my Chinese friends found Minseok too hard to say and I told him how my grandma nicknamed me Xiumin and bam everyone started calling me Xiumin” Xiumin explains “How’d you get Chen?”

Chen chuckles “Remember Kyungsoo? Kyungsoo and I sometimes performed together at our high school festivals and our stage names were D.O and Chen. The name just stuck after that”  

Xiumin smiles fondly “Of course I remember Kyungsoo. How is he?”

“Dating Jongin who is now known as Kai”

“Really! Wow I always knew they’d get together” xiumin exclaims laughing to himself. Chen laughs along with him and suddenly it felt like old times. “I missed you hyung” Chen says and suddenly the atmosphere turns.

Xiumin gulps at the look Chen is giving him. Chen is watching Xiumin affectionately and Xiumin’s heart aches. He remembers everything he has been trying so hard to forget and he thought he did, until he appeared in front of him again. The reason why he left home in the first place to stay with his grandparents here is because of this boy in front of him. Because of his feelings for this boy in front of him. And Xiumin must keep that promise he made to himself: to never burden Jongdae with his feelings and to…stay away from him so he can’t be tainted

“I-I’m sorry Jongdae-ah but I need to go” Xiumin stands up clumsily and Chen looks up in clear shock “What? Why? But we just got here-wait hyung!” Chen grabs onto Xiumin’s wrist before he can walk out and spins him around. Chen is fully in shock and his heart is pained as he sees the fresh tears falling from Xiumin’s eyes

“Minseok-ah. Why?” Chen asks, reaching forward to wipe the tears away “No!” Xiumin pulls back abruptly

“You can’t! I can’t! I-it…just leave me alone Jongdae. Please”

Chen doesn’t get a chance to ask why because Xiumin is already off and running. Chen pulls himself out of his shock trance and runs out of the café

“Minseok!” he screams looking around frantically. But Minseok is no where to be seen and in a town that Chen doesn’t know so well, he doesn’t even know where to start looking

“MINSEOK! MINSEOK!” he screams louder, “KIM MINSEOK!” Chen clutches at the empty space in his chest, his heart “Why’d you go?” he whispers silently

“Ya Kim Minseok!”

Xiumin has had a tiring night- not being able to sleep at all, with his mind always floating back to that one person whom he was sure he had forgotten…until he saw him again. So tiredly he floats down the hallways not paying any attention to anything or anyone…when…

“MINSEOK!”

Xiumin jumps I know that voice…

Turning around and taking out one earphone, he sees two people who he fully loves and has terribly missed since he decided to leave

“Kyungsoo? Jongin?”

“HYUNG!” The two scream together and Xiumin chuckles despite the tears slowly dripping, his friends hasn’t changed one bit, still saying the same things at the same time, still together. And the two finally close the gap, engulfing a sobbing Xiumin into their arms as they group hug

“W-what a-re you guys d-doing he-here?” Xiumin says between his laughing/crying fit. Eventually they let each other go and Kyungsoo chuckles “Babo do you know how long it took us to find you?”

“Us?” Xiumin questions

“Kyungsoo and I, along with Jongdae” Xiumin visibly stiffens at the mention of Jongdae

“Hyung you owe us an explanation” Jongin says disapprovingly “Especially to Jongdae. What happened yesterday? The boy came home so down Minnie” Kyungsoo says concerned for his two friends

Xiumin sighs “Look I’m sorry but I can’t answer. Plus I have a class to go to. It was good seeing you guys” Xiumin turns to walk away

Jongin looks to see his boyfriend pouting, obviously disappointed and sad. Jongin decides he can’t let his hyung go, after all the trouble he caused…especially to Jongdae

“Ya Hyung! You better answer us!” Jongin yells.

Xiumin turns around and Kyungsoo clutches to his arm “Hyung please. You owe us” “Let go of me Kyung-“ “NO!” Kyungsoo shouts. Xiumin’s eyes widen…not once has he ever seen an angry Kyungsoo…especially aimed at him

“You owe us” Kyungsoo says between clenched teeth “Look-“ Xiumin begins when his cut off by another familiar voice

“If you don’t let him go at this instant I’ll Wushu your so bad to the ground” Tao says threateningly. Xiumin turns his head to see Tao beside a very intimidating Kris “Let him go” Kris fumes

“Don’t talk like that to us you two giant -“ Jongin begins to say when “STOP YOU GUYS!”

Xiumin screams frustrated. Jongin has leapt forward to grab Kyungsoo away from Xiumin and hold him close to his side; glaring daggers at the panda looking guy with some blonde haired tall jerk that Jongin wants to kick so bad…especially that panda; who dares threaten my Kyungsoo!

“Look this is all a misunderstanding. Tao, Kris, these two are my close friends Jongin and Kyungsoo. Jongin, Kyungsoo, these two are also my very close friends, Tao and Kris” Xiumin explains

The pairs stare at each other when Tao’s face immediately softens and he is profusely bowing “Oh my goodness I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have reacted like that it’s just gege looked like he was in trouble and I didn’t mean it when I said I’d wushu your - Kris apologise with me!” Tao says nudging Kris

Kris coughs rather awkwardly “Yeah u-um sorry”

Jongin and Kyungsoo look at each other for a minute before they burst out laughing

At first they seem very intimidating and scary…but Tao is so adorably cute and Kris is so awkward it’s hilarious

“It’s fine. Were sorry too, I know what it must’ve looked like its just baozi hyung here owes us an explanation for disappearing all these years” Jongin says, turning to direct his stare to Xiumin who is shifting uncomfortably

“Baozi?” Kris asks cocking an eyebrow

“Yeah a friend of ours calls Minseok here baozi. You remember that don’t you Minseok-ah?” Kyungsoo gives Xiumin that scrutinising stare that he so ever hates

Now that Tao thinks about it, they don’t really know much of Xiumin’s past. He never speaks of it and they’ve never asked. All they know is that Xiumin moved from Daesun (A/N: random place I just came up with) to live with his grandparents, then at the legal age moved out of his grandparents home and is staying at an apartment, undertaking a part-time job as a Dj at a club- Blue lights (A/N: WHAT THE HELL?! Sorry I come up with the weirdest names)

Other than that…they don’t really know anything else

“Is that right Xiumin? Did you just disappear on them?” Kris’ deep voice sends shivers down Xiumin’s spine “I-I I can explain-

“SO THEN EXPLAIN!” Kyungsoo whines, seemingly frustrated. Tao feels sorry for the two…if Kris ge ever disappeared on him he’d probably Wushu everyone that gets in his way from finding Kris again

“I really do have a class though…in 2 minutes! I can’t be late! Look Kyungsoo, Jongin, meet me at 4 outside the university and I’ll explain alright. But with a catch”

“What is it?” Jongin says guarded

“You can’t tell Jongdae”

“BUT-“ Kyungsoo starts but Xiumin doesn’t let him finish “Either that or nothing”

“Fine. But don’t go back on your word. You owe us everything for all the you put us through baozi” Jongin states determined

Xiumin shamelessly nods “Good. It was nice meeting you two Kris and Tao. Baby let’s go” Jongin puts an arm around Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo gives Tao and Kris a nice smile before staring at Xiumin “You better not go back on your word hyung”

And with that the couple is gone….

But Xiumin is left with the stares of the TaoRis couple…

“Ge” Kris says frightfully

“N-ne?” Xiumin asks, giving them an innocent look

Tao puts a hand on Kris’ shoulder, giving him the ‘calm down and let me handle it look’. Kris gruffs and Tao takes that as a sign to go on

“Look ge, I know you have things you don’t really want to talk about. But think about it, they’re your close friends and you left them without any indication where you were going or why. They need to know ge. And you should know were here for you too. Always. When you’re ready you can open up to us. Now go to class before your late okay? Ge come on” Tao tugs on Kris’ hand and with one last look at Xiumin, they’re off too

Xiumin’s surprised at Tao’s words…Tao is a playful panda but he is very wise. Xiumin knows he owes his friends an explanation after being left in the dark for so long. But he cannot, absolutely cannot, face Jongdae…

…

“So? Any time would be good to start hyung” Jongin says playing with the grass on the floor

Xiumin, Jongin and Kyungsoo are at a park nearby Xiumin’s apartment

“I’ll start now” Xiumin whispers

Kyungsoo and Jongin briefly share a glance before turning their attention on Xiumin

“It started on my birthday, that time where Jongdae performed for the first time”

I watched as Jongdae walked up on stage. What the hell is he doing? I wondered. I stood there amongst the crowd, curiously watching as Jongdae took the microphone in his hand and smiled very brightly. This weird feeling bubbled up inside of me but meh, I just shook it away

“It’s my hyung’s birthday today and I’ve decided to sing. Ya Kim Minseok! You better be grateful!”

Jongdae yells out, laughing. Everyone’s eyes turn to me and I can feel myself getting flustered. I smiled awkwardly and mentally promised myself that I was going to teach that Kim Jongdae a lesson…

Baby, I can’t explain what I feel~ (What is love- EXO)

And Jongdae let out this beautiful voice. I stood there dumbstruck. I was shaken up…w-what is this feeling? It’s so much stronger now. Not once did Jongdae look away but he kept his eyes on me alone.

“Hyung!”

I turn around just in time before Jongdae’s body smacks with mine “How was I?” he asks excitedly, throwing his arms around my waist and holding me close. I blinked rapidly as I felt my heart beat increase…this isn’t healthy right? “You were amazing” I whispered to him

“Really? That was all for you Baozi” Jongdae whispered back to me

Suddenly it was like a lightning struck me…coming to a sudden realization that

My intense heart beats, the way Jongdae makes me dizzy whenever he smiles at me, the fuzzy feeling I get whenever he touches me…they all added up to one thing

That I love Jongdae.

“Umma I’ll be fine. Jinja” I said to my mother as she clutched onto me, holding me so tightly and crying. “MinMin, are you sure this is what you want to do? I swear it baby, Jongdae-ah looks at you the same way”

She said this all too many times. But not once did I see it.

“Umma I need too. I need too get away. I’m sorry. I really am” I let her go and kissed her before moving to my brother

“Junmyeon-ah” I hugged my older brother tightly as he in turn wrapped his arms around me

“You’re an idiot Minseok-ah. But if you need this, I won’t stop you. I will come visit you when I come back from the States arasso?”

Junmyeon hyung was leaving to the states for a while to study at Harvard after receiving a scholarship in music.

“Yes I understand”

I then turned to my father “Minseok, you can’t leave the person you love”

My dad was the hardest person to tell that I was in fact gay and in love with my best friend. But he supported me

“Appa I’m sorry. I’m really sorry”

I got into the car with my grandfather and looked at my family for once last time, shedding a few tears myself.

“Goodbye. Goodbye Jongdae” I whispered as we drove off

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything to you guys but if I did I knew you’d tell Jongdae and I couldn’t burden you guys with this. I’m terribly sorry” Xiumin said

Kyungsoo sighed “Hyung you’re scared. You left because of fear. Hyung answer this for me”

“What?” Xiumin asked confused

“You couldn’t forget him could you? You would always think about him no matter how hard you tried. Your heart still screams for him doesn’t it? Seeing him made the entire memories flood back huh? That’s why you freaked out and ran from him huh?” Xiumin just stares at Kyungsoo

“You still love him don’t you?” Kyungsoo ends

“I-I- how did you know?” Xiumin asks flabbergasted

“Because if I was in your position and I left Jonginie behind, I’d feel like that” Jongin gives Kyungsoo a loving gaze

“Hyung you should tell him” Jongin says

“Just give me some time. It’s all too fast” Xiumin whispers

Kyungsoo and Jongin sigh together

“Fine. But please don’t leave him like this hyung” Jongin says exasperated “if I could tell you I would but Jongdae swore us to secrecy because he wants to talk to you himself. Minseok please, don’t let him go again”

Minseok looks uneasily to his friends “I can’t promise you anything”