“Why are you so late today?”

             Taemin pushed the door open and the first one who welcomed him was Henry. “Something happened at home again?”

             “Yeah, well, nothing new. I’m getting changed.” Taemin sighed and walked into the lockers area.

             Since a few months ago, he has started working here in the café as a waiter. The pay wasn’t very high but at least Taemin could eat with that. He doesn’t want to depend on his brother all the time, considering that the both of them have to take care of their father’s debt as well.

             He opened his locker and threw his bag in until it hits the back of the locker. He removed his top and replaced it with a white shirt and tied a black apron just below his waist before heading outside.

             “Taemin! The customer there wants to take order.” The boss said when Taemin passed by the counter. Clearing his throat, he took out a notepad and a pen, and with a small smile, he approached the customer. “May I take your order, sir?”

Minyoung doesn’t know what she should do, or how she should react; especially when the guy has the same name as the little boy twelve year ago, and also happened to know how to make the same leaf ring.

             Maybe, just maybe, he was the Taemin that she met.

             And maybe, she should clarify the matter with him himself.

             She smiled and ran towards where Taemin headed just now, although she might not find him, but she was willing to try her luck.

“Welcome!” Henry greeted as soon as he heard the door being pushed open.

             Sighing, Minyoung found an empty table and sat down. Sadly, she couldn’t find Taemin anywhere else and she was getting tired and hungry.  But when she thought she couldn’t find him, it seemed like lady luck was on her this time.

             “What would you like?” A certain long-haired guy approached her with a notepad.

             A smile immediately lit up on her face, “a cup of coffee please.”

             “Sure, right up.” Taemin responded, and he didn’t bother to smile at her. “Wait!” She held his hand.

             “Get your hand off me, what do you want?” Taemin frowned and asked quietly, shrugging her hand off rudely before glaring at her.

             Of course, the glare was a little too much for her. She backed away, “can I ask you something?”

             “I’m working, if you haven’t realized it already.”

             “It won’t take long, I promise.” She pleaded.

             “Excuse me but I don’t have time for s.” And he walked away.

             “Is that your friend? You should tone down your glare, at least for a bit. It’s scaring people.” Minyoung heard Henry telling Taemin but he just shrugged it off with no expression.

He doesn’t know if she had left. He didn’t bother himself with her, but he knew that she wasn’t in the shop anymore.

             “I’m leaving,” he said to the ones at the counter. “Are you coming tomorrow?” Boss asked.

             “Yeah of course,” he sighed with a small smile, “see you.”

             He walked out of the café after throwing his bag over his shoulder. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes and stared into the night sky. Another day has ended.

             “Finally, you’re out.”

             He opened his eyes and to his right, he saw a girl squatting down against the glass panel of the café.

             “Why are you still here?” He asked. He couldn’t remember her name very clearly. Was it Minyoung, or Miyoung?

             “Ahh, my legs are numb now.” She groaned, struggling against the glass panel in getting up and Taemin clearly has no intention of helping out.

             He just stood there, staring at her, finding her awfully familiar to look at. Did he actually know or see her before?

             “I asked why you are still here. It’s late already.” He frowned, pushing the thought away at the back of his mind.

             “I said I’ve got something to ask you. And I won’t leave without getting an answer that I’m satisfied with.”

             When she was standing upright already, she walked towards him. She walked until she was so close to him, so close that his breathing hits her in her face. “What do you want?” Taemin asked hostilely.

             “I just wanted to ask you if,” Minyoung paused, staring at his face. “—what happened to your face?”

             Taemin’s breathing almost stopped. His face? Ahh, the slaps from earlier.

             “It’s none of your business, just what do you want? If you want nothing from me, I’m leaving.” And Taemin walked pass her with their shoulders brushing slightly.

             “No wait!”

              “I just want to ask if you did this.” He heard.

             Turning around, he saw the leaf ring in her hand. “Are you stalking me?” he asked.

             “Just answer me.”

             Taemin narrowed his eyes before picking up the strap that’s falling off his shoulder. “So what if I did?”

             Minyoung swallowed a ball of saliva, staring at the leaf ring and at Taemin again and again. “Did anyone teach you before?” she asked with cautious.

             “No, I did it myself.” He emphasized, “Really, what do you want?”

             She stood still for a while, her heart skipped a beat. She doesn’t know if she should ask; what if the answer wasn’t what she was expecting?

             “Are you…Lee Taemin, the mushroom-haired boy, the one that gave me lollipop, the rich little young master from twelve year ago?”

             What?

             He did not answer. Instead, he gave her an impatient face. “What are you talking about?”

“Why are you crying?”

“Cute girl shouldn’t cry like that,” he said before wiping off her tears away clumsily with his thumb. “What’s your name?”

“It’s okay, next time we will get married, and my dad will be your dad.” The little boy grinned, slotting a leaf ring into Minyoung’s finger.

The memories of the little girl flashed back in Taemin’s mind and he finally got an idea of why the girl in front of him right now is so familiar. Taemin snickered, as though he was mocking her. “What are you talking about?” he repeated.

             Even though he remembered her, even though he did not forget her all these year; he mentally cursed at himself for not recognizing her when he first saw her. But it’s all different now.

             The little girl he saw at the playground, the one who was crying because her parents were gone, the one who stole his six year old heart, the one who he wanted to marry, the one who he couldn’t face when his family went under bankruptcy.

             The one he likes when he was still a young master.

             “You’re not? The Lee Taemin that cheered me up…I don’t know, you were with me for one whole year, we played together every day at the playground. Why? And suddenly one day you don’t come anymore, and you did it without warning. Isn’t it you?”

             Anxiety curled into his stomach when she asked that. His eyes displayed uneasiness but she was too busy with her own emotions to notice that.

             “I’m sorry,” he shrugged. “I think you were mistaken.” And he walked away like nothing.

             …Mistake? She thought. Was she really mistaken?

“Hyung.”

             Taemin greeted the older one sitting in the living room with a book.

             “Hey you’re back, I left some food for you, want me to heat it up for you?” Jinki asked.

             “I’m not really hungry,” the young lad responded, dragging his feet into his room before closing his door shut. He threw his bag in the corner of the room and slammed himself against his bed.

             With his arms behind his head acting like a pillow, he stared at the ceiling as though it’s the most amusing thing right now. He did not expect Minyoung to appear after so many years, he did not expect to see her again. He did not.

             So why was he feeling a little happy inside?

             On the other hand, how should he face her?

“Do you have any idea what’s the time now?”

             Minho wanted to scold his sister for returning home late. He was worried sick about her, considering she was kind of new in this neighborhood and she was his only kin left. But when he saw her puffy red eyes and disheveled look, his heart soften. “What’s wrong?” he asked gently.

             “I don’t know,” she stood still at the door, refusing to come in. “What should I do, I thought I found him,” she sobbed.

             Minho was dumbfounded, was there something he should know but doesn’t know?

             That night, she told her brother everything, everything about the little boy—Lee Taemin.

“LEE JAE HYUN!”

             Taemin groaned loudly, covering his head with pillow before throwing on a blanket, hoping to block out the noises from the outside.

              this.

             Sighing and groaning at the same time, he got off the bed. “What’s going on?” He asked the middle-aged guy sitting in the living room with a troubled expression.

             “Shhh!” his father urged. “Don’t let them know I’m in.”

             “What?” Taemin asked, rather loudly on purpose.

             “BETTER PAY UP BEFORE I BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN.”              

             “Stay quiet? Our house will get burnt down.” Taemin challenged with a smirk before heading to the door and opened it.

             “Oh look who opened the door for us; it’s the son of the .” One of the tattooed guys said mockingly.

             “Talking about son of a with me?” Taemin asked in a threatening tone. Yes, he wasn’t buff, he wasn’t very towering tall, and he wasn’t hard to deal with. But with years of fighting experience with the numbers of loan sharks that came by his house all the time, plus his hooligan and tough attitude, Taemin’s reputation sort of goes up in the mafia world. Of course, it also led him in receiving numerous invitations to join their gang. And because of this, the reward for getting debts back from Lee Jaehyun goes up as well.

             Those tattooed guys backed away after seeing Taemin’s glare. It was so dominating. “Well,” one of the guys stepped out, “if you’re not going to pay, I’ll have to lock your house up.”

             “Why don’t you try?” Taemin asked with a smirk.

             The same guy frowned when he felt insulted by a young lad. He stepped forward with a chain in his hand and a lock in his other.

             “Are you going to let them lock us up?” Jaehyun whispered, standing behind his son like a scared mice.

             In one swift move, Taemin grabbed the collar of the guy’s shirt and have him pressed up against the metal gate. Despite the fact that Taemin was inside the house and the guys were outside, despite the fact that a gate was dividing them, the guys were scared of him.

             “Are you ing sure you want to do this?” The young one asked quietly. So quiet that it doesn’t sound like a question, more like a challenge, challenge such that if you dare to do it, you dare to face the consequences.

             The guy was stunned, his legs went trembling so badly that he doesn’t stand anymore; he was practically just leaning against the gate.

“Good morning, Taemin.”

             Taemin took a glance at his watch before looking at the girl in front of him. What was she doing here at this timing?

             “Don’t you have any idea what time it is now?” Taemin asked as he walked away, he knew that she will be tagging him behind.

             “Yeah but I was waiting for you,” she smiled, trying her best to catch up to him but his long legs was so much at advantage.

             “You’ll be late,” he responded. “You’re late too, we can be late together.”

             “You’re a new student and a good one; I’m just the pest of the class so it is different. We are different.” He said and after he realized how hard it was for Minyoung to catch up, he slowed down a little but not noticeable enough for Minyoung to find out. “And, I already made myself clear; I’m not that Lee Taemin you were looking for, you don’t have to do this.”

             Minyoung blinked when she heard this, she did not answer but by the time she wanted to say something, they’ve already reached the classroom. Since it was only her first few days of school, she got scolded pretty harshly by the homeroom teacher, and Taemin doesn’t seemed to care. He just went to the last row of the seats and sat there (despite the fact that the teacher was scolding him too), watching as Minyoung get scolded in front of the whole class.

             Why you had to do this, he thought.

“Alright, fifteen minutes break before I move on to another topic.”

             The sound of chairs shuffling around woke Taemin up from his sleep and when the noise level started to rise, he lifted his head off the table.

             “You know,” he turned to the girl sitting beside him who was holding a container of fruits. “Do you remember when you always give me lollipop when we were younger, it’s always fruit flavor?”

             Idiot, I thought I told you I’m not that Lee Taemin. He mentally sighed.

             And when the fruits were in front of him, he snapped. “You’re such a pest,” he said, and wanted to push the container of fruits back at her face. Even so, she should eat more, she’s so skinny. He sighed.

             But he overused his strength and it turned out that he pushed it so hard the container flew out of her hand, and onto the ground overturned.

             .

             Minyoung’s eyes widen, staring at the fruits lying on the ground splattered everywhere and at the overturned container. Did he actually hate her that much?

             “I’m—” Taemin started almost immediately. He wanted to apologize but when he thinks again, he kept quiet. Rather, he took a breath and stood up silently before making his way out of the classroom.

             It felt like hell when Minyoung get down on the ground to pick up the fruits. She felt humiliated because almost all the girls in the class were laughing at her saying how dare she try to get close to Lee Taemin. It was okay if no one wanted to help but some of the classmates were having so much fun humiliating her that they stepped on the fruits, and it wasn’t something she can bear with.

             “What were you guys doing?” She heard someone said before she could raise her head up, and when she saw who it was, she felt a little disappointed that it wasn’t Taemin.

             Key looked her in the eyes, and Minyoung wasn’t sure if it was a sympathy look or what. “Why are you doing this to yourself?” Key asked as he squatted down, picking up the fruits and placing them on his palm.

             She felt her heart getting stung, she couldn’t answer his question but she assured herself that it was just the process to get Lee Taemin back. Sighing, she replied. “What do you know? You know nothing.”

             “Don’t assume that people know nothing just because they know you only for a few days.”

             And when they were done, they stood up but Minyoung turned her back on him and walked away.

             Key stared at her as she went off, still holding a handful of fruits on his palm, he sighed.

For the rest of day, Taemin didn’t come back. Only till when the school ended for the day, Key came in and packs Taemin’s things. (Technically Key only came in to grab his bag; Taemin didn’t even unpack his stuff)

             “You know where Taemin lives?” Minyoung asked, still staring at the notes that she scribbled in hurried and wasn’t sure if she could read her own handwriting.

             “What?” Key narrowed his eyes at the girl who just spoke, he wasn’t sure if he heard correctly, he hope he did.

             This time, Minyoung stood up and turned her body, facing Key. “Give me his bag; I’ll pass it to him. Please, Key?”

             She doesn’t like the way Key was looking at her up and down in disbelief, but she waited for him to say something. Without speaking a word, Key took Taemin’s bag and head out of the class. “I’ll be waiting for you at the main gate. Hurry up. Taemin has work in the evening.”

             Minyoung sighed, standing at the same spot. It’ll be okay, she told herself before sending a text to her brother that she wasn’t going home early today.