Briiiiiing, the alarm went off at 10:30 AM sharp.

The little blond head's eyes fluttered open in a start. His head darted both ways by instinct and was greeted by a merciless, ringing cellphone. A sigh of relief and the blond mess of a head sank harshly back into the fluffy striped pillow.

God, that scared me. The blond head made a mental note to never put the alarm on loud again.

After a minute of staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes, the boy finally decided to get out of bed and get ready for the morning out.

He climbed out of bed and slipping on his Yoshi slippers. He picked out some clothes and dragged his feet to the washroom. Taking up his toothbrush, he uncapped his toothpaste and lined the bristles of his toothbrush with the white paste. Rinsing his mouth once, he started brushing the front teeth, the right, left and upper and lower. When that was done, he rinsed the foam out with water a few times. He reached for his towel and soaked it in water and began scrubbing his face clean.

Now, the hard part, brushing our his hair. Going through the drawer, he grabbed the biggest brush and dug it through his hair. When the vigorous part of untangling his was cleared, the last part of his morning routine was breakfast.

Running into the kitchen, the first thing he did was pull open the refrigerator door and pour himself a glass of cold milk. This will be enough for today, since Onew-hyung said he'll treat me out for lunch.

Picking his cellphone up from the counter, he noticed he had one unread text message. Before he even unlocked his phone he knew, it's Minho-hyung. The text was mostly about how he stayed up most of last night playing a game and being a sore loser.

Typing a quick reply, he told Minho to take a nap now.

He pulled his shoes on and left the house at around 11:00 AM. He walked down to the cafe a few blocks down the street waited outside for his friend. Leaning against the store's wall, he watched as people passed by. Ten minutes later, he finally arrived.

Smiling, Taemin waved to the brown haired boy walking towards him. “You sure took your time, hyung.”

“No, you're just early.” Onew laughed and entered the cafe. He turned around and looked at Taemin. “Why didn't you go in first?”

Taemin made a long face and laughed. “Why didn't I do that?!”

Onew shook his head and waited for the waitress to show them to their seats, smile never leaving his lips. “Stupid,” he said.

But Taemin laughed and pointed a finger to Onew. He joked, “I'm becoming you.”

Onew gave him a disapproving face and narrowed his eyes at Taemin who just giggled and sat himself the seat opposite him. He sighed and simply began smiling again, it was what he was best at. Besides, whatever Taemin did, you just can't hold a grudge against him. He was just too cute for his own good.

“So did he like the gift?” Taemin asked excitedly as he looked through the menus.

“Oh god, Taemin, he loved it!” the brown haired boy exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air to emphasize. With a proud chuckle, he slammed his hands down on the table as quietly as possible and said, “I knew bringing you along was a good idea! Thanks, Taemin-ah.”

Taemin smiled knowingly and stated, “And that's why you decided to treat me out for once, right?”

The older boy's mouth opened wide, about to object to what the younger one had just said, but figured he was true. “Yes, and for today you can order whatever you want.”

Taemin clapped his hands and started checking out the expensive, but delicious deserts the cafe offered. Proudly, he said, “I eat a lot, hyung.”

“Thank god you know. I hope that you also know that hyung here is kind of broke.”

Taemin waved Onew off and laughed. “It's just for today, hyung. You'll survive.”

Onew didn't reply. He only hoped that the younger boy was willing to share some of his food with him. Even without having him saying it out loud, Taemin already knew.

He assured him, “Don't worry, I'll give you some.”

Onew sighed in relief and crossed his arms on top of the table as he watched Taemin flipped through the menu and ordered his food carefully. Once he was done and the waitress left, he was about to tell him he really did eat a lot, but something else caught Taemin's attention before the words came out.

Behind the window stood a person very familiar to Taemin, a guy you can never miss. A tall guy with medium length wavy hair and a small face with big eyes, who doesn't turn around and does a double take when this guy looked like he could be someone famous. And this guy was tapping on the window where Taemin sat directly beside. Taemin turned his head and displayed a surprised face when he saw him.

“It's Minho-hyung!” Taemin pointed out. Minho waved with a friendly grin on his face. Taemin looked over to the confused looking Onew and excused himself. “I'll be right back, so don't eat anything yet.”

Onew watched Taemin's retreating back with a shocked expression. He gaped and choked out the words, “You're so mean to me, Taemin!”

But Taemin had already went outside and walked to where Minho was still standing. Taemin smiled and asked, “Why are you here, hyung?”

“I was walking to the market to buy groceries, then I saw you here and stopped to wave. Are you having lunch?” He took a peek to where Onew sat quietly waiting. He looked back to Taemin and asked, “Is he your friend?”

Taemin nodded and waved to Onew and did an introduction between glass. “Minho-hyung, that's Onew-hyung. Onew-hyung, this is Minho-hyung, you hear?”

Onew nodded and did a little bow to Minho who returned the bow with a force smile.

Taemin continued to smile and invited Minho to join them. “You want to join us?”

Minho shook his head and declined. He said, “No, it's fine. You go back inside, I'm going to go now.”

“Oh, well, okay. Too bad then, Onew-hyung is treating me, so if you wanted anything I could have just asked him.” Taemin shrugged and pouted.

Minho laughed and hit Taemin so ever gently on the forehead, you couldn't really even call it a hit. Nonetheless, Taemin's hand went up to cover his forehead in reflex. Minho said, “You wouldn't really do that to your hyung, right?”

But Taemin only giggled mischievously in reply.

Minho shooed Taemin back inside and left to buy his groceries after he waved to Taemin's Onew-hyung. Onew also smiled and sent a awkward little wave his way.

When Taemin took his seat again, Onew began questioning, “So who was that?”

Taemin stared at Onew for a moment to see if he was serious, and he was. Taemin sighed and guessed, “So you didn't hear a thing I said but pretended like you did anyway.”

“Did you really expect me to hear through the window when everyone is so loud?”

Another sigh, and Taemin repeated what he had said earlier. “Onew-hyung, that was Minho-hyung. He was the one I was with at the movies a few days ago.”

Onew clapped his hands together and shouted, “Oh, yeah!”

Taemin gave him a long “mmhmmm” and took a sip of water.

Onew continued with his questions. “And how long have you guys been friends?”

Taemin shrugged, “Three weeks, maybe?”

“Only? How did you guys meet?”

“In the swim—in the art room, actually. He made this really weird shoe, like it was a clump of paper, really. I made a comment about it but he was pretty okay with it. Next thing you know, I was in the pool and he was the one who taught me how to swim. Then things picked up form there,” Taemin said while he played with an ice-cube in his mouth.

Onew coughed in his water and laughed. “That's the weirdest meeting ever! And what year is he?”

“Second,” he answered. “He's really nice though. He taught me how to swim and bought me food.”

“Anyone who buys you food is nice to you. You're like kidnappers' ideal target.” Onew clicked his tongue and gave Taemin the “not good” look.

“That's not true!” Taemin defended himself with a frown on his lips.

Onew played with his napkin as he said, “So is he who you hang out with now that I'm always with Jonghyun?”

“Yeah...and he likes me,” Taemin added the last part in quietly.

Onew nodded and said, “That's good.”

But Taemin shook his head. Onew didn't understand. “He like likes me, hyung. As in how you like Jonghyun, but not as extreme.”

Onew froze at the further explanation. His mouth dropped and his eyes were unblinking. His shaking hands slapped himself and his lips finally spoke what he had been thinking, “It's a trap, Taemin! Don't fall for it!”

Taemin stuck his hand in front of Onew's face, stopping whatever more he had to say and spoke first, “Calm down. I rejected him. We're just friends.” Pulling his hand away, he scratched his head and added, “But he texts me a lot. He even calls once a day. Do you think he's obsessed or is it just me?”

“He's definitely obsessed, Taemin-ah! No matter what, you mustn’t fall for the trap!” Onew started shouting and flailing and warning all over again. His hands didn't get a break from flailing and slamming the table. His face didn't appear to lighten up from the scrunched up expression it contained either.

“Hyung, please, be quiet!” Taemin pleaded with clasped hands and puppy eyes. He insisted, “We're only friends. It's just...he likes me more than a friend.”

The older boy took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He nodded understandingly and spoke again with a more composure, “So do you like like him...?”

“No. Why else do you think I rejected him, hyung?” Taemin sighed for the nth time of the day.

Onew brought his finger up and shook his head exasperatedly. This time, Taemin was the one that wasn't getting it. He coughed. “I mean, now. Has your feelings changed?”

Taemin went silent.

“N-No...?” came his late reply.

Onew cursed in his mind. He had a bad feeling about this and he could only be right with such an irresolute answer. He swore, “If he hurts you in any way, I'll execute him on the spot.”
 

Minho turned off the lights in his room and got into his bed. Turning the lamp by his bedside on, he pulled out his cellphone and sent Taemin the last text of the night.

His thumb dashed across his screen and typed up a goodnight message like every other night. He wrote: I'm going to bed now, talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight~ ;)

He stared at the screen for a while, waiting for Taemin's reply. When his screen faded out and still, no reply came, he placed his phone on the side and lay on his side.

It was still too early for his to fall asleep, but he had nothing better to do. Especially today, since he was in a bad mood after he bumped into Taemin on his way to the market. Onew, he didn't like him. There were two main reasons why he didn't like him.

One was the way Onew looked at him the split second Taemin was looking elsewhere. The way his eyes narrowed at the corners and stared cautiously into Minho's eyes like he was scanning Minho's soul, looking for flaws. But once Taemin's gaze wandered back upon his, his eyes smiled and laughed.

Two, he just didn't like him simply because Taemin seemed to be really attached to him. He was only human, and it was only normal for him to feel jealousy. The dark feeling twirled and danced deep in his chest, lingering on the events of this morning.

Tomorrow, there's lots I want t talk to you about, Taemin.