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Two Years Ago:

Life was great. I was happily dating Jonghyun. I had the best friends that anyone could ever ask for, Onew and Minho, and the best brother that has ever walked on the earth, Taemin. Taemin loved to dance. It was his passion. He dreamed of joining the biggest dance crew in Seoul, but he still had a year before he could try out.

Taemin was dating Minho, which all started because of a celebration after one of Minho’s soccer games, romantic right? We had all attended this soccer game, hoping to be the lucky charms that Minho needed to pull off the winning goals for his last championship. Well we weren’t; so they lost. It was hard on Minho because if you know anything about him, you know that he was extremely competitive.

By this time in our friendship, we were all well aware of the growing feelings that Minho had for the youngest boy in our group; everyone except Taemin himself. I don’t know if he was just naïve or non-observant. Anyways, after the game, all of us boys went back to mine and Taemin’s house to hang out and eat pizza, hoping to get the sulking boy’s mind off of the previous activity. We decided that we were going to play some games first.

It had been my idea originally to play spin the bottle, even though it made Minho nervous, just thinking of the mere thought of placing his lips against Taemin’s. I had volunteered Minho to go first (I know; I’m a jerk), but Minho didn’t complain one bit. He reached down and grabbed the empty coke bottom, giving it a good spin. All of our eyes followed the rotating bottle until we became dizzy. Eventually, the plastic cylinder stopped and I smiled when I saw that it was right in front of Taemin.

Taemin looked up at Minho with his big brown eyes, filled with a mixture of worry and excitement. Taemin stood from his seated position next to me and took a couple of steps towards Minho, but before Taemin could get any closer to the tallest boy, Minho turned and ran up the stairs as fast as he could. I don’t think that I have ever seen someone run so fast. I yelled for him, but he didn’t even glance back down the wooden stairs.

“Oh, come on! Don’t be a baby!” Jonghyun yelled at the taller boy. “It is just a kiss.”

“Guys stop.” Taemin said, before running up the stairs after the tall boy.

“Oh, this is going to be good.” Onew said, watching the two youngest boys run out of the basement. “Wanna go watch?” He smirked before we all stood and began to walk up the stairs, trying to not let them know that we were coming.

We followed the two youngest boys out onto the patio of our backyard. By the time that we had gotten upstairs, Minho was already sitting in the swing with Taemin sitting close beside him. Minho was looking down at his hands, playing with his thumbs as if he was nervous or embarrassed about something that Taemin was saying to him.

We scooted closer, sneaking behind the bushes to get a better view of the scene in front of us. We could finally hear the words that were being exchanged between the two boys.

“So…beautiful weather today, huh?” Taemin said, to the much taller boy. Both of the boys looked up at the sky, squinting at the brightness of the summer sun.

Minho chuckled at the boy’s random remark, but his smile quickly fell from his face as he turned to look at Taemin with a serious expression growing in his eyes.

“Look, Taemin. I am sorry that I ran. It is just that-“

“Do you want to kiss me?” Taemin said, looking into Minho’s big eyes. My eyes grew wide as I waited for Minho’s answer, even though I already knew that he liked my younger brother.

“…yes, I do.” Minho said, looking back down at his hands.

Taemin didn’t waste any time before grabbing onto the back of Minho’s neck and pulled them close together.

“Are you sure? If you really-“Taemin’s voice was cut off by a pair of lips gently attaching to his own. Taemin fluttered his eyes as us three older boys looked at them in shock. None of us knew what to say as we saw the two youngest members of our clan kissing on our old wooden swing.

Before we knew it, the moment had passed and Minho pulled his mouth away from Taemin’s. Taemin looked up at the older boy, who still had a hold on his puffy cheeks.

“Taemin-ah, I like you. I have liked you for a long time. You mean everything to me. You make me smile and fill me with happiness every time that I am with you. I don’t want to live my life and only be a memory. I want to be somebody’s everything. Can I be your everything, Taemin?”