Taemin sat perched on a big log that was placed near the shore. Despite the start of winter nipping at every bit of exposed skin, he had his feet buried in the sand, and arms enjoying the wind biting at them. Kibum would kick his if he had seen him out here like this and his mother would kill him, but he didn’t care. He needed this; he needed something to numb him.

For the past month, he has been caught in the middle of his parents’ fights. He even found himself the topic of their fights and he sometimes envied Taehoon for leaving. He knew that he never would be able to, even if he had found the courage to.

Taemin phone rang and his brief moment of clarity was suddenly interrupted by the last person he wanted to talk to, “what do you want?”

"Well, hello to you too," he says, laughing immediately after. "Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?"

"I’ve had a bad month, okay, and I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, much less you."

"I gathered that from the hundreds of calls that I made to you over the past few weeks that you never answered."

"Why do you sound like it mattered that I didn’t answer them," Taemin asks, taking notice in the slight echo coming from the phone.

"It mattered to me because I was worried about you," he admits, clearing his throat afterwards. "I thought you were dead or something."

"Well, no need worry because I’m fine."

"Tell your freezing body that. I can see you shivering from all the way over here."

That confused Taemin; rather, scared him. This made him wary of his surroundings and he very subtly began to look around the beach, searching for anyone beside himself that may be on the beach. Not finding anyone on either side of him, he pushes himself to look behind him. Sure enough, there stood a boy that looked around his age, standing a few feet behind where Taemin sat.

"I said that I’m fine," he repeats, his eyes never leaving the boy not too far away from him. "I’m not that cold despite what my body might say."

"I’m not too sure that I believe you."

Taemin hears him laugh and grips at his phone tighter when the boy laughs too.

"You look like you want to hit me, Taemin," he taunts, his laughter, too, echoing. "Do you want to hit me?"

Taemin didn’t say anything; he just ended the call, and turned back around to put all of his things back on. He didn’t even want to begin to accept the reality of the situation that he was just put it, not even in the slightest. After sliding back into his coat and putting on his shoes, he gets up from his log and turns around once again. Only this time, he collided with another body, his face nearly kissing the face off the person that he was trying to run from.

"It’s nice to finally meet you, Lee Taemin. My name is Choi Minho."

•

At school the next day, Taemin tried his damnedest to avoid every area of the school that Minho may be lingering at. Even though it has been only less than twenty hours since he has officially met Minho, he felt like he has seen enough of him to know him for all his life. Not to mention the non-stop calls and text messages that he has received from older boy. You’d think that a high school senior would have so much more to do than follow around and bother a measly junior. But apparently he didn’t, considering the fact that everywhere Taemin looked, he’d see that uncomfortably tall boy with his hair dyed an annoying shade of caramel.

“Hyung,” Taemin whispers to Kibum, looking around for the boy he has be avoiding, “do you remember that person that I’ve been telling you about, the one that I’ve been having conversations with over the phone?”

Kibum nods and continues to shamelessly text Jonghyun while in gym class. “What about them?”

“I met him yesterday, when I went to the beach.”

“So it’s a him, huh?”

“Hyung, it wasn’t Jonghyun sunbae, so stop giving me that look.”

“It better not be,” he warns, setting his phone aside to put effort into paying attention to the class. “Jonghyun has been distant lately and he replies with short answers when I call him. I am starting to worry that he is cheating on me.”

“Hyung,” Taemin sighs, shifting in his spot on the bleachers, “this isn’t about you and your straight-out-of-a-fan-fiction-life with Jonghyun sunbae. This is about me and the fact that Choi Minho is stalking me!”

“Are you talking about the Choi Minho that is friends with Jonghyun? Is it that Choi Minho?”

“No, it’s the famous actor Lee Min Ho,” he answers sarcastically. “Yes, I’m talking about Jonghyun sunbae’s friend.”

“Whoa~ Lee Taemin… That guy must have a thing for you or something.”

Taemin watches one of the younger kids in his class- Oh Sehun as he skillfully makes his way past a few girls to jump in the air, spiking the ball to the other side of the volley ball net, earning his team another point. “Why do you say that,” he asks incoherently, shaking his head at the way Sehun boasts to the opposing team.

“From what Jonghyun has told me about him,” Kibum begins, also watching the volley ball match, “he doesn’t normally chase after people so intently. All the girls that he would have hanging off his arm were just toys that he’d pick up every so often to play with and then he would put them down when he got bored. He’d chase after a few girls just to get them to sleep with him, but that’s really as far as the chasing went. For him to be following you around so much, he must have a thing for you.”

•

And Taemin walked home with Kibum’s words in mind.

It didn’t really seem like it was like that, though. He guessed that maybe it was a bit like that after Minho brought it upon himself to personally meet him in person, but stalking? That certainly wasn’t the ideal way to show that you like someone. In fact, that was creeping Taemin out rather.

Just as Taemin was about to turn to walk onto his street, a familiar voice called his name from behind him, and he didn’t have to even guess, he already knew who it was: Choi Minho.

Cursing himself for not walking faster to get home, he turns around to greet the ever so person that he wanted to run from. “Are you following me home now, Choi Minho?”

“No,” he answers honestly, “I wanted to give you a birthday present.”

“My birthday was in July, dude, you’re late.”

“I know that, but I couldn’t give it to you then. I heard that dairy is rough on the stomach during the summer time because of the heat.”

Taemin looked at the older boy with a raised eyebrow, “following people before they know of your existence is frowned upon in society these days, you know?”

“Yeah, but I’m not looking to make the world smile either, just you.”

And it was in that very moment that Taemin lost his heart to the boy that he swore he’d never get close to.

Author's note: 

I don't have the energy to edit this. So there might be grammar and spelling errors in this chapter. I just wanted to get this posted before next week, because I won't have the chance to work on any updates. I must say, though, that my favorite part of this chapter is:

Taemin looked at the older boy with a raised eyebrow, “following people before they know of your existence is frowned upon in society these days, you know?”

“Yeah, but I’m not looking to make the world smile either, just you.”

I don't know.. I just found this really captivating, despite that it's too early for such things, but \o/. Anyway, thank you for reading and subbing and I want to wish you all a very merry christmas, even if you don't celebrate it, merry christmas anyway.