"Morning, Tae," Kai whispered in his hyung's ear with a smirk as he propped himself up facing Taemin, his face inches away from Taemin's ear. Miraculously, the heavy sleeper Taemin groaned and stretched to wake up. "Huh who-" Taemin turned to his right to see where the voice originated from, and was greeted by Kai's handsome face and messy bed hair. "OMO! Y-you-" Taemin stuttered for a moment before remembering Kai had slept here the night before. "Aish jinja...stop scaring me like this! Yesterday tickles and today..." Taemin pouted. "Yeah, today what? Were you surprised by how handsome I am up close?" Kai leaned towards Taemin, teasing him and laughing inside but not showing it. The elder was caught off guard, and red flooded his cheeks. "W-What-no of course not!!" Taemin struggled to give a strong reply but kind of failed. Embarrassed, he gave up and escaped from Kai. "AISH, won't you stop teasing me!" Taemin groaned and crawled out of the bed to get ready, although he wasn't sure what he was going to do today, since it was a Saturday and there were no lessons. Kai laughed at his hyung's helplessness and sat up. "Yah, you think I'm handsome, don't you? You're blushing!" He continued teasing as Taemin quickened his pace down the stairs, blushing for whatever reason. 

                                                                                     ***
"Ah, Jong In, there you are. I've been looking all over the school for you." Ms Hee, the head of the arts faculty, approached Kai as he was walking down the corridor. "Goodmorning Ms Hee. And you were looking for me?" Kai asked, puzzled. "Yes, are you perhaps free now? I have some rather important news for you, can we talk in my office?" Kai nodded, and followed Ms Hee to her office. 

Once the door was shut, Ms Hee continued, "As I was saying, I have important news for you, Jong In. I just received a call this morning from an overseas renowned dance school, called Laselle if you have heard of it, and they are planning to offer you a scholarship to their school, since they have seen quite a few of your performances on TV and they think you have potential." Ms Hee smiled as she said. Kai was so surprised and his eyes widened. He could never have imagined this was happening. "J-Jinja?? Me? A dance scholarship? Are you sure they mentioned Kim Jong In, Ms Hee?" Ms Hee chuckled at Kai's shocked expression, and continued, "Yes, Jong In, they want you. I myself am very proud of you, but there is one condition they asked for." Kai nodded for her to continue. "They will only decide on offering you a scholarship if you get the position of main lead in the upcoming musical in our school, and if you give a performance up to their standards." Ms Hee explained, while Kai seemed to be deep in thought. "You can think about it and get back to me later, but try to do it soon," Ms Hee smiled and Kai nodded, saying his thanks and left the room. 

Wasn't it a good offer? Scrap that, it's my dream to be able to get such an offer...and why do I feel indecisive? Finally, my hard work has been noticed, but why didn't I accept it on the spot? I just have to perform well and get chosen for the musical, that's a piece of cake. It's just a school musical. But would I want to move overseas? My family and friends...no wait, I don't have a family. And friends...ugh, I don't know what to do. Kai's brows furrowed as he was deep in thought, and he placed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans while walking towards nowhere.
 
                                                                                    ***
Meanwhile, Taemin's phone sounded and he picked it up while walking towards the canteen, wanting to get some food. "Yoboseyo?" He answered, not knowing who it was since he didn’t have a caller ID. "Taemin-ah..." As soon as he heard the voice, he frowned and gritted his teeth. "Mom...yeah? I'm busy." Taemin said rather harshly, since the last time he heard from his parents was about the telling him he had no choice but to quit dancing. "Taemin-ah, mom is sorry. We're sorry for asking you to throw aside your hard work for the last few years and just quit...I'm not so against you dancing as your appa is, but you know who calls the shots right? I want to help you but-" "I get it. It's alright, you don't have to apologize. I'm hanging up-" Taemin said coldly, about to hang up when his mother continued, "Wait! I just wanted to tell you that I'm trying to convince your father, since I realized it was wrong of me to ask you to give up for our worries' sake. He agreed that if you can successfully practice and perform at your school's new musical without anything happening to you for these few months, it proves that you can take care of yourself and we will let you do what you want." Taemin was surprised hearing this from his mom, but it felt like he had hope once more, and he was happy. "Thanks, mom. I’ll do my best!" "Taemin ah, I love you. Mom loves you. Oh, and I forgot to say, your dad said if you're the male lead, he'll give it more thought...so try to get that role, yeah? Bye, son. Take care," With this, the other side of the line went dead and Taemin stood considering his options. He was still a little angry with his dad for being so unreasonable, but was relieved that at least he was given a chance to prove himself, which he would. 

                                                                                    ***

“Yah...yah! Where are you bringing me?!” Taemin tried to wriggle out of Kai’s firm grasp as he led him – more like dragged - somewhere. Kai growled in frustration. “Aish, just follow me. You’ll know soon enough.” Taemin just sighed and pouted while he was dragged along the corridors, some female students turning to stare at them. After ten minutes of dragging his feet, they finally reached a nearby Korean buffet restaurant on the street near the school. “Buffet restaurant? Seriously? It’s not even dinnertime yet...aish,” Taemin grumbled. Kai bit his lip and sighed. “Please? Eat with me, I need to get some things off my mind for a while and this is my only way of relaxing...” “Ara, ara. Fine, but you pay!” Taemin poked Kai in the chest with his index finger while Kai chuckled and both of them went into the restaurant.

“Oh! Omo, Taemin! Hi!!” A voice boomed through the restaurant the moment they stepped in, causing the two boys to turn to the source of the noise. Taemin chuckled the moment he saw Chanyeol waving with Sehun and Lu Han. “Yah, you guys...why didn’t you call me along huh?” Taemin faked a pout while ruffling Sehun’s hair. “Err, I-“ Sehun began, but was abruptly cut off by Chanyeol. “I just happened to pass by, that’s why I’m here. But he wanted to have an early dinner with that guy there,” Chanyeol gestured to Sehun and Lu Han nonchalantly. “Ah, I see,” Taemin giggled and hummed while Sehun started stuttering to explain himself but was clearly failing to do so. “Yah, i-it’s not like that!” Sehun stuttered, and Taemin tried to divert the topic to stop him from denying anything. “Hyung, you changed your hair color? Pink? That’s cute,” Taemin nodded towards Lu Han while trying to stop himself from laughing at Sehun’s desperate attempt to justify himself. All this time, Kai just stood awkwardly at the corner, putting his hands in his pockets as he wasn’t really good at making conversations. “Do you guys wanna eat alone or...? We can go and sit somewhere else,” Taemin teased Sehun. “No, no, it’s alright! Sit here,” Sehun blushed. “Okay then~ We’ll go and get food first if you don’t mind,” Taemin smiled and stood up from his seat and grabbed Kai’s wrist leading him to the buffet tables. There weren’t many people in the restaurant at this time, so it was rather empty. “Don’t you know Chanyeol? Why were you so quiet?” Taemin asked Kai as he wasn’t really smiling. “I’m...just awkward at conversations.” Kai scratched the back of his head. “Seems like you have a lot on your mind...cheer up!” Taemin smiled at Kai and scooped him some iced dessert. “They say you’re supposed to eat dessert at the end but who cares, it’ll make you happy,” Taemin chuckled and Kai let out a laugh at his cuteness.

As they were eating, Taemin was laughing at Sehun’s funny story together with Lu Han and Chanyeol, and occasionally Kai would join in. “You’re laughing so hard there’s food all over your mouth,” Kai mumbled as he reached out his hand across the table where Taemin was sitting when Taemin was about to say something to him. He brushed his thumb at the side of Taemin’s mouth to clean away some sauce that was left there. The elder was taken by surprise at the gesture and blushed a little. “T-Thanks...” Taemin mumbled as he looked down on his plate to avoid looking at Kai and awkwardness. “Ahem,” Chanyeol cleared his throat and Kai looked quizzically at him. “Yeah? OH,” Kai seemed to have done what he did earlier unconsciously as he retracted his hand immediately. “Is there...something going on between you two that I should know of?” Chanyeol narrowed his eyes while Sehun’s eyes widened. “What?! No!” Taemin and Kai immediately yelled as Chanyeol pretended to close his ears from the loudness. “Chill, chill! I was just kidding, man!” Chanyeol said while Taemin and Kai started blushing.

“Thanks for accompanying me to eat...I need to go somewhere, I’ll see you later?” Kai smiled genuinely as he and Taemin were making their way towards the school. Apparently Chanyeol still wanted to eat and Sehun and Lu Han had to accompany him. “Sure, call me out anytime, I’ll be there!” Taemin chuckled, “Seeya!” and suddenly hugged Kai really tightly, surprising him as he jumped slightly.  “Bye,” Taemin waved to Kai as he pulled away and bit his lip while smiling. “Uhh b-bye!” Kai stuttered as he his cheeks turned pink and he walked away while waving towards Taemin. Damn, he’d been stuttering and blushing too much today – or nowadays. 

A/N: Hey guys! I am so, so, so sorry that I haven't updated in a long time. I had exams until like November, and I didn't really have much inspiration after that...whoops. I thought of dropping this story, but I guess I'll try to find more inspiration cos I don't want to let my subscribers down! :) Hope you liked this chapter, I made it longer than usual :) Enjoy!