Time seemed to go by so fast in all the preparations that it was a surprise that it was almost February.

Eunmi blinked at the calendar hung up in the kitchen, “It’s February?! Only five days?! Since when?!”

“Did you know that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness?” Taemin said as he entered the kitchen.

“Shut up.”

“Deniaaaal,” Taemin sang, raiding the fridge. Eunmi hit his head as he took the last cup of yogurt.

“Where’s Jongin?” she asked.

“No idea,” he replied, grabbing a spoon and eating the yogurt. As if on cue, they heard the door opening and soon Jongin entered the kitchen.

“Jongin! We were just talking about you,” Eunmi said.

“You were?” Jongin blinked, sitting down at the kitchen table.

“Where’d you go?” Eunmi asked.

Jongin cleared his throat, “Oh um, a walk.”

Taemin raised an eyebrow, “You go on walks a lot.”

“Well I like them,” Jongin shrugged.

“You aren’t hiding something, right?” Eunmi asked.

Jongin played with the fruit bowl, “No.”

In all honesty, he wanted to tell them about the team he was supposedly coaching. But he didn’t want anyone to know at the same time.

What he didn’t know was that someone already knew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Last time, time went by much slower until the competition,” Eunmi said at the end of practice Tuesday after school.

“Nervous?”

“Obviously,” Eunmi said. “But even if I don’t get to the top four I think I’ll be happy cuz I worked hard and had fun.”

“Which would be even better if you were in the top four and then won the entire thing,” Daehyun added. They had met with Jongup the other day and he had shown Eunmi what he’d be able to do. He would change the lighting according to the feeling of the song and dim the lights during the slow parts.

“Uhuh.”

“Your English isn’t bad,” Daehyun noted.

Eunmi shrugged, “I’m good at imitating accents.”

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out and saw that Taemin was calling her.

“What do you want?” she said in a bored tone.

‘Is that how you answer your phone?’ he mouthed.

“Is that how you answer the phone when your amazingly good looking stepbrother calls?!” Taemin yelped.

Eunmi rolled her eyes, “Dear sweet brother, what is the reason for your call?”

“Kay princess, a little overboard there,” Taemin said. “Where are you?”

“At practice,” she said slowly.

“Oh well I’m so NOT sorry for interrupting, but you have to come home and take care of Yeon,” he informed.

“I’m coming,” Eunmi said. “I’ll be there in a 20 minutes.”

“Hurry up, it’s cold out here.”

“You’re here?!”

“Appa made me come and bring you a stupid coat,” Taemin muttered.

“Okay okay I’m coming,” Eunmi said before hanging up. She put her iPod in her bag and waved at Daehyun, “See you.”

Daehyun waved back and Eunmi quickly left the room. She found Taemin waiting outside the community centre holding a bag.

“What took you so long?!” he snapped, handing her the bag.

“I took less than three minutes!” Eunmi exclaimed, taking the bag from him and quickly putting the jacket on.

“And why’d you come without an extra jacket?! The walk was so long!” he complained as they began the walk home. Eunmi had taken a light jacket with her to practice since the sun had been out and it wasn’t so cold. But the temperature had changed drastically as the evening approached.

“You’re so unfit,” Eunmi rolled her eyes. “Why’d you call and ask where I was if you were already here?”

“I was seeing if you’d lie,” he answered promptly.

“Right. Now why am I needed for babysitting?”

“Me and the kid are going to the studio and abeoji was leaving for the restaurant,” Taemin replied, kicking snow. “Before he left he made me come and bring you a stupid jacket.”

“Is it necessary for you two to go to the studio in the winter?! Same with the basketball!” Eunmi exclaimed.

“Is it necessary for you to practice in the winter?” Taemin argued. It figured, if the two made a miracle like walking home together happen there was bound to be some arguing.

“Yes, it is! I have a competition to prepare for,” Eunmi pointed out. “You two play and dance for fun. Speaking of which, have you found a Boa?”

“No,” Taemin said grumpily. “Such talentless girls here. And it’s not for fun, we have something to prepare for too.”

“So you guys are practicing without a lead?” Eunmi raised an eyebrow.

“We’re almost done learning the moves. When we get a girl all we have to do is practice with her,” Taemin shrugged.

“What about the duet part? Who’s doing that?”

“Me,” Taemin said. “The only hard part is the kick and I’ve been practicing that.”

“Who are you practicing the entire part with? Key?” Eunmi laughed.

“I can just practice that later,” Taemin waved it away.

“What’s the main problem with the girl? Singing or dancing?” Eunmi asked.

“Dancing obviously, you small minded princess,” Taemin rolled his eyes. “Anyone can open their mouth and sing.”

“Excuse you, but it’s not that simple,” Eunmi said crossly.

“Of course it is!”

“Obviously an idiot like you would think that.”

“I’m the idiot? Who was the one looking through a fridge for a banana this morning?”

“I was sleepy!”

“And that made it even more idiotic.”

The two squabbled for the rest of the walk and it even continued by the time they were entering the living room. Jongin was watching the news there.

“What about the time you cut yourself with a knife two times in a row!” Eunmi yelled.

“That’s not nearly as idiotic as tripping over your own feet!” Taemin shot back.

“That was your foot!”

“Was not!”

“Was too!”

“SHUT UP!” Jongin shouted. Taemin and Eunmi stuck their tongues out at each other and sat down on either side of Jongin.

“I’m younger and I’m more mature than both of you,” he muttered, changing the channel.

“Well good for you!” Taemin gave him a thumbs up in a mocking way.

“Yeah, you want ‘Most Mature Tenth Grader of the Year’ award?” Eunmi scoffed.

Jongin rolled his eyes and stood up, “Hyung, let’s go.”

“Oh, right. Almost forgot,” Taemin stood up. He casually kicked Eunmi and followed Jongin.

“You’re a beast!” Eunmi yelled, rubbing her leg.

“Yeon is sleeping upstairs so be quiet!” Jongin called before leaving the house with Taemin.

Eunmi decided to take advantage of the peace and quiet and made herself some noodles. Then she settled herself in her room to do her homework while listening to music.

“Unnie, I’m hungry,” Taeyeon appeared in her doorway, rubbing her eyes.

Eunmi looked up from her work and took her earphones out, “Oh, okay.” She stood up and took Taeyeon downstairs to make her a quick snack. When she got there, her mother was in front of the door, taking her coat off.

“Oh, umma! Can you make Taeyeon something? I have work to do,” she said. Ms. Kim nodded, “Sure. You can go study.”

She took Taeyeon into the kitchen and Eunmi went back upstairs to finish her work before Taemin would come home and hide her textbooks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Louder!” Daehyun yelled, it was two days before the competition now and Eunmi and Daehyun had been at it for two hours. Eunmi didn’t have school the next day, it was a planning day for the teachers, so she and Daehyun were planning on spending the entire day at the music room.

“Okay, good,” he clapped. “You are going to nail this!”

Eunmi happily smiled as he handed her a water bottle.

 “My friends will be dropping in on practice tomorrow,” Daehyun said. “Tell your brother to come too, you can do a mini performance for them.”

“Which one?” Eunmi grinned.

“You can bring both,” Daehyun shrugged. “I think I’d be dead at the end of that session though.”

“Why?”

“You really want to know, huh?” Daehyun crossed his arms and leaned against the piano.

“Yes, please!” Eunmi pleaded.

“He hasn’t told you?”

“No,” Eunmi sighed.

“Well, you can go ahead and ask him,” Daehyun said, quickly heading to the door to avoid further questioning. “Bye!”

“Hey- what?! DUDE!” Eunmi ran to the door and saw Daehyun running down the hallway.

“Good practice!” he gave her a thumbs up before disappearing around the corner. Eunmi sighed again and shook her head before packing up and leaving as well.

When she got home, she flopped down on her bed but then sat stood up again.

I am definitely going to find out! She thought with a determined mind. She stomped over to Taemin’s room and burst in.

He was on his bed doing homework with his glasses on when Eunmi barged in. He looked up, “Uh, the only time you are allowed to burst into my room like that is when there’s a fire. Get out.”

Eunmi snorted at him wearing glasses, “You look nerdy.”

Taemin took them off, “Ta-dah, now I’m extremely handsome. Now get out.”

Eunmi cleared and then sat down at his desk. She crossed her arms, “I’m not leaving.”

“You have five seconds to tell me why or I will throw you out the window.”

“Tell me why you hate Daehyun,” she sang as Taemin slapped his glasses on him.

He stood up and took Eunmi’s arms, dragging her to the window.

“Ah, stop it!” Eunmi pulled away and ran back to his desk to slump into his chair.

Taemin thought about it and then let out a big sigh.

“Fine, since you keep bothering me. But just so you know, nothing leaves this room,” he stood up to close the door but Jongin slithered in right before Taemin completely shut the door.

Taemin looked at him, “What are you doing?”

“If noona gets to know, I do too!” he sat on Taemin’s desk and put his feet on the chair Eunmi was sitting on.

“Were you eavesdropping?”

“No,” Jongin blinked.

“Well, fine then. But nothing-” Taemin started.

“Leaves this room,” Jongin finished. Taemin rolled his eyes and sat down on his bed. Eunmi and Jongin expectantly looked at him.

“What?” he blinked.

“Speak!” Eunmi and Jongin yelled.

“Oh, right,” Taemin nodded. Then he mumbled some stuff and looked at them, “Kay, bye.”

“Hyuuung!” Jongin complained.

“Okay okay. Once again nothing-”

“LEAVES THIS ROOM!” Eunmi and Jongin yelled.

“Geez, you Kims are pushy,” Taemin made a face. “So, I had a friend in grade 9 whose name was Jungwoon……” He took a long pause.

“Hurryyy.”

“Hey, FatMuffin! It’s my story! I’ll tell it the way I want it!” Taemin threw his eraser at her. Then he continued, “I’ll keep it short and simple. We were really close and at that time Daehyun wasn’t an evil prick with a devil’s eyes and soul.”

“Must you insult him at every opportunity?”

“Stop interrupting me, you overgrown muffin!” Taemin snapped. “Anyways, so kid was great at dancing and we did a lot of stuff together. He was a good kid but he didn’t come from a good family. I didn’t really know much about his family life then, even though I should have.”

“What was up with his family life?” Jongin asked.

“No questions! This is already as uncomfortable as it is,” Taemin said. “So one day we had this huge performance, it was some talent show he forced me into. I didn’t really want to do that performance, but he made me. And then,” Pause. “in the middle of it, he uh, he collapsed,” Taemin swallowed. “There was something wrong with his lungs and heart. So he-”

Jongin and Eunmi realized it was getting personal and Eunmi immediately felt bad for bothering him so much.

“Hyung....”

“I think that’s enough for today, or forever. I think Yeon is calling me-”

“Sit down, Muffin!” Taemin barked. “I’m voluntarily telling you and now you don’t want to accept my information?!”

Eunmi slowly sat back down and fixed her shirt.

“So there was a really bad problem with his heart and lungs. It was so sudden, no one knew how it happened or what caused it. There was no trace of lung or heart troubles in the family.”

Eunmi wondered what Daehyun had to do with any of this.

“It was slow,” Taemin said, looking at nothing in particular. “Slow and painful. He didn’t deserve to go like that. And it’s all because of him,” his face turned dark.

Jongin and Eunmi waited for him to continue.

“Turns out Jungwoon smoked and cigarettes,” Taemin said. “For a while actually, I just didn’t know about it.”

“Daehyun sold him drugs?” Eunmi blurted.

“No, his dad. But he knew about it,” Taemin said. “He knew his dad was selling drugs to someone at our school and didn’t stop him. And it wasn’t like Jungwoon could deny it, his dad forced Jungwoon to do it so he could gain another customer.” Taemin’s knuckles had turned completely white because he was clenching them so tightly. “His dad was high always high when he told Jungwoon to do it, yet he didn’t bother stopping him.”

“That’s why you hate Daehyun?” Eunmi blurted.

“Why? Problem?”

“It’s just that.... there could be another side.... he doesn’t seem like the type to stand by for no reason,” Eunmi bit her lip.

“Yah Kim Eunmi, are you taking his side right now?” Taemin glowered at her. There was no playfulness on his face.

“No, it was wrong of him to just let his dad do that, it cost a life. But I’m sure there was a reason,” Eunmi reasoned.

“MY FRIEND DIED CUZ HE STOOD THERE!’ Taemin yelled, getting up. “AND YOU’RE REASONING?!”

“Hyung, sit down,” Jongin tried to calm him down.

Taemin looked at Eunmi, “Do you not believe me or do you just not want to?”

“No, I believe you!” Eunmi waved her arms. “But did you even talk to Daehyun?”

“He could have stopped it, but he just stood by and let his dad sell drugs to a ninth grader,” Taemin said darkly. “Now tell me, are you still going to act like he’s a good person?”

“He is a good person,” Eunmi insisted. “Besides, his dad is the one that sold the drugs to him.

“HE KILLED MY BEST FRIEND AND YOU’RE SIDING WITH HIM?!” Taemin burst out again. “Yeah his dad sold the drugs and forced him into it. If no one knew that that was happening, I’d be okay with it. But he knew, he knew what his dad was doing and didn’t stop him. Are you still on his side now?”

Eunmi stood up, “I’m not siding-”

“Then?! Then what are you doing?!”

“I’m just trying to see another side-”

“Why? What is he to you?”

“He’s my friend obviously!” Eunmi shouted as she headed to the door.

Taemin watched her in disbelief, “Guess I know what place I stand.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oooooooo

(you know that oooo when someone says something like that)

I was planning on updating before but then school started and yeah

I'm a science-ey person in case you're wondering ^^ I can never choose between chemistry and biology, but I hate all plant units in bio -.- 

I wrote another one shot :) I'm not too sure about it but whatever, hope you like it~

https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/541736/the-little-pink-notes-oneshot-sad-exo-luhan

Byeeee :D