“Five…Four… Three… Two… One. Happy birthday, Lee Taemin,” Taemin whispered as he slowly closed his eyes and opened them again, silently hoping for something to happen. Anything that would change his life then. He stared around the room. An old, dusty attic actually. Nothing has changed. He still feels like the same little boy who’s confused about life. He sighs and closed his eyes. Then, he felt a tight grip around his neck. He couldn’t breathe. He grabbed onto the strong arm that was strangling him and struggled to get it off. He stared into the eyes of his dad. His dad then let go.

“What was that for?!” Taemin coughed out. His dad grabbed him and pulled him into a tight, warm hug. Taemin could feel water dripping on his old, tattered t-shirt. He assumed it was his dad’s perspiration as the attic is really warm. Soon, his dad let go and went down. Taemin was absolutely confused. He frowned and scratched his head. He finally gave up trying to understand his dad and attempted to sleep again.

Taemin groaned as he tried blocking the sun rays with his blanket. Finally, he got up and ticked off the baby cockroach on his shoulder. He let out a big yawn and stretched. It was 7am. He headed downstairs and washed up. His dad was in the garage, repairing an old truck. He walked towards the stove and for his breakfast. It’s pancake today. Taemin smiled happily and took the plate holding half a pancake and put in on the table. He took out some of his favourite banana milk from the fridge, careful not to drink more than half a cup and finished his breakfast.

“Go do your homework and then you can watch tv. I’ll check later.” “Ne,” Taemin said and headed to the attic to finish up his homework. He dusted off some dust on the ground and carefully laid his worksheet. He only had math homework. He finished it in a breeze. He then placed them back into his bag and ran downstairs to watch tv, just in time for his favourite dance show. Today, there is a group of boys dancing to hip hop. After a while watching them, Taemin stood up and cutely copied their moves and followed the beat.

“Oh you’re not bad,” his dad chuckled as he walked to the windows and locked them. Taemin smiled proudly and sat down again. Soon, he was helping his dad with the daily chores and loads of other work for his dad’s hardware store. All these went on till 5pm. Then, there was someone at the door. Actually, it sounded more like there were two. Taemin pushed himself out from under the car and was about to get the door but his dad quickly stopped him and ran to the door. He looked through the peep hole. His face became tense. The knocks got a lot louder. His dad quickly went back to their workspace and carried the severely underweight teen from under the car effortlessly. He grabbed a rifle on another hand. He put Taemin down onto the truck and quickly started the truck.

“Hold on tight.” Taemin could not process the command fast enough and almost flew off the truck when his dad drove at top speed out of the house.

“STOP!” Taemin heard the people behind them on motorbikes yelling. Then, he heard a gunshot. Taemin’s heart pounded quickly. He was shaking. He didn’t know what was happening or what was going to happen but he felt like it was the end of him. He couldn’t help but cry. The gunshots from behind continued.

“Stop crying, Lee Taemin. Be a man.” His father said strictly as he shot the rifle at the couple on the motorbike and took a sharp turn into a forest. Taemin didn’t. His dad continued driving for a while. The couple was gone. His dad stopped the truck abruptly, causing Taemin to fall off.

“I’m sorry,” his dad said and carried Taemin and ran as fast as he could. Taemin’s heartbeat was faster than ever. He closed his eyes. He could feel the strong wind against his face as his dad ran. His hair was all over the place. After what felt like an hour, they finally stopped. They stood in front of a house which looked terribly horrifying. There was also a grave outside. Taemin slowly stepped back, wanting to run back to his old attic and go back to his so-called normal life. He doesn’t like the change he’s getting. His dad grabbed him and pulled him back. His dad opened the gates and they entered. Taemin was covered in cold sweat and he was shaking uncontrollably.

The inside of the house was as bad as how it looked like outside. His dad brought him to a room and both of them stayed in there, catching their breath. Taemin was still shaking and frightened. His dad held Taemin’s face in his large, warm arms and looked into Taemin’s eyes.

“You are brave enough to have went through all that. So stop crying and shaking. I’m sorry you’re going through all these. That couple who were chasing us? They are your biological parents. They are here to take you ba-“

“Then why did you take me away?!” Taemin yelled with tears in his eye as he pushed his dad’s hands away from his face.

“No, you don’t understand. They want to kill you. I need to t-“

“Why would they want to kill me?! I’m their son! You’re lying! You’re a kidnapper!”

“No I’m not, Taemin. I saved you. They tried killing you as a baby! They’re mental! They just got released from jail!”

“You’re lying! Why would they want to kill their own child, huh?!”

“Cause they’re mental! Didn’t you hear the gunshots?!”

“They were saving me! From you! You monster!”

“No! Oh my god, Taemin, listen to m-“

“NO!” Taemin yelled as he took the rifle on the floor and aimed it towards his “dad”.

“Lee Taemin. You better put that rifle down.”

“Where’s my parents?! Who am I?!”

“Ugh Taemin, please. Listen to me, put that thing down. I took care of you since you were a baby!”

“You kidnapped me!”

“I saved you! Please Taemin, put that down!”

Before Taemin could say anything, the door burst open. It was the couple.

“Haha, I knew you’d be here, Mr Choi.”

“No! Get away from Taemin!” Mr Choi grabbed Taemin and put him behind his back but Taemin pushed him away.

“Oh Taemin, my son! I missed you!” Mrs Lee went towards Taemin and gently touched his face.

“Stop! Taemin, trust me, there are trying to kill you!”

“No, of course not! Why would I! You’re our beloved son!”

“That grave outside this house? That is my wife’s. You killed her! Taemin, they killed my wife while we were trying to stop them from killing you!”

“Liar! Your wife died and you were mad so you accused us of killing her and took Taemin away from us!”

“No! Stop lying to your own son! You were trying to kill him!”

“N-“

Taemin dropped to the floor. Mr Choi quickly ran towards him.

“Taemin! Taemin, are you okay?!” He yelled desperately.

“Well that was easy. We have not even gotten to the violent moment yet but he already died! Hahaha! That nuisance. I guess our job here is done.” Mr Lee said and smirked.

Both of them was about to head out the room when Taemin stood up and shot the rifle towards Mr Lee but Mrs Lee was fast enough and blocked her husband. She grabbed her wounded area and fell to the ground. Mr Lee put her head onto his lap. She died. Mr Lee put his wife down and stood up fiercely. He no longer held the pistol. He ran towards Taemin and punched him in the face. Taemin, being small, fell. He slowly got up but got another blow by Mr Lee. Before he got the third one, Mr Choi started beating Mr Lee up. They were both equally strong. Taemin was struggling. He could hear everything around him but his vision was blurry and he was in pain. He could taste the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

Finally, his vision cleared up for a second and he saw Mr Lee under Mr Choi. Mr Lee was trying to push Mr Choi away with his left hand and using the other to grab hold of his pistol. Seeing this, Taemin ran unsteadily towards Mr Choi and pushed him.

A gunshot was heard.

“NO!” Mr Choi cried. He grabbed the rifle and smacked Mr Lee’s head with it. He just kept repeating the action until Mr Lee stopped retaliating. He ran to Taemin. Taemin was still alive.

“I’m sorry.” Mr Choi said as he pulled Taemin into a tight, warm hug.

“No, I am sorry. And… thank you for the very first and last birthday hug,” Taemin whispered as he closed his eyes. 
 

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Thank you AuthorZ for informing be about the taeminbirthday fanfic and thanks to you people for reading till the end! ♥ I'm sorry it's sad... And I'm sorry I posted this four days late. Anyway, Happy Belated Birthday, Taeminnie! ㅋㅋ

-aiscream (: