“Yeoboseyo?”

Taemin answered the phone bright and early the next morning with his throat dry and his voice coarse from the low quality sleep. He was practically curled up in his bed the night before under his comforter, reluctant to fall asleep and trying to hear the slightest sound from next door, to hear Onew coming home.

Only until his lids couldn’t keep up with the emotional exhaustion from all that crying and the lack of appetite then did he shut down unwillingly.

“Taemin-ah, GM here. Onew hasn’t come back to my place last night and I couldn’t reach him. He’s been working two days straight with full schedules. I’m worried for him. Could you check if he’s next door?”

So Onew was with the General Manager when he didn’t come back. He was really going on with his schedules, even planning his own assignments, all without his manager. And that got Taemin pissed.

Hearing silence from the receiver, GM continued, “Oh, and Onew has two schedules later in the day. Let me know if he’s too tired to do it.”

“Just cancel it for me. Please.” Taemin said curtly before hanging up.

Taemin promptly erased any signs of him crying on his already damp sleeves, then flung his condo door open to get next door.

He pounded repeatedly on Onew’s door yelling: “Lee Jinki! Open up!”

It took seconds for a surprised Onew to swing his door open, staring wide eyed at the angry Taemin. The younger’s eyes were obviously red and puffy. The crease on the singer’s eyebrows eased up at seeing Taemin standing in front of him, calling for him.

“Taemin…” Onew started.

“Do you hate me that much?” Taemin yelled, “To go to the extent of avoiding me, even not willing to return home?”

Onew stared blankly at the younger, trying to digest those questions raised from groundless assumptions.

“First you go around with your childish acts, making things difficult for me, for everyone. You get angry at every little thing, every time I talk to Minho hyung. And you even took what he gave to me!” Taemin wailed, hot tears welling up in his eyes.

“Then after forcefully taking my first kiss, you go ignoring me; you wouldn’t let me contact you, you’d rather sleep at the GM’s house than come back to your own.”

He coughed out his choked tears before continuing, “Now you go handling your own schedules, doing as you like. Do you even ing care that I’m your manager?”

Tears flooded out of Taemin’s swollen eyes, his voice clearly upset and angry at Onew.

“Just to let you know, as your authorized manager, I’ve cancelled your next schedule. You-“

“What? No! I need to go to attend that. I’m late…” Onew panicked as he checked the clock.

This is not the time to go into these petty arguments now. He has mentally promised himself to explain everything to Taemin tonight when he comes back.

“WHAT PART OF ‘I HAVE CANCELLED IT’ DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? I AM YOUR MANAGER, AND YOU WILL LISTEN-“

“I won’t! This schedule forms a series, if I miss one I don’t get the full payment!” Onew hissed back at him.

Taemin only gripped on the idol’s arms, determined to make his point once and for all.

“You’re always selfish like that. You only think about yourself…you never really care for your fans…you never care for anyone.” The manager sobbed out softly, sniffing hard.

“For ’s sake, who do you think I’m doing this for? For myself? I’m doing it all for y-“ Onew cut himself off, “You know what? Forget it. You can think of me however you like. I’m ing leaving.”

Taemin’s blurry vision only saw Onew’s slightly hunching back leave him further and further, finally flinching from the slam of the door.

***

It seems the answer Taemin wanted to avert has laid itself before him, clearer than ever. He was never meant to manage Onew. The obnoxious singer never respected Taemin as his manager and never took the young boy seriously. It not like the situation would improve, as he’d hoped if he persisted long enough. He thought Onew would soon see Taemin as worthy to rely on as long as he worked hard. He thought his assertiveness would show Onew his seriousness.

But it only became a bother.

For a while Taemin just stood facing the door with his tears slowly drying up from his eyes, stained on his pale face. He took a deep breath and blinked the last tear away.

When his mind finally cleared, he dragged his heavy heart through Onew’s door and to his own apartment. His feet brought him to his room while his hands automatically reached out for the luggage hidden above the closet. Taemin hadn’t made up his mind to leave his post as Onew’s manager, but he felt compelled to do so since Onew didn’t give a hoot who he was; Onew was probably just being kind and tolerant of Taemin for Manager Lee’s sake.

The younger packed his bag slowly and carefully, folding his clothes one at a time, clearing them out of the wardrobe. Next he cleaned the toilet counter and his dressing table, packing it neatly with the rest of his items he’d brought in first. Taemin finally started to remove all his Onew merchandise gingerly; posters off the wall, CDs off the racks, mugs off the counters and the sheets off his bed.

By then, the skies had turned dark outside with the moon buried behind the clouds. The only lights that shone into the apartment were that of the street lamps down below.

Just with that little bit of brightness, Taemin curled in on his couch cosily, a large blanket wrapped him warmly keeping him from the cold. He let the radio play by the coffee table trying to occupy his mind from what he’d seen and heard today from Onew. It was quiet except for the constant ticking of the analog clock and the occasional sniffing from Taemin.

The latest hit music played one after another, but the heartbroken boy couldn’t enjoy any. He was letting himself be soothed by the sweet voice of the radio host on a talk show, gradually feeling his lids over his eyes.

“Annyeong!”

Taemin’s eyes instantly lit up, washed away of all tiredness. It was his idol speaking through the radio.

As if programmed in him, the little fan sat up upright against the couch and listened intently to Onew on the radio show, as he would while at home doing his homework. He laughed and giggled at Onew’s witty responses and comments, completely distracted from his previous unhappiness. Until when he heard:

“Well, there’s this one fan that I hold particularly close to me in my heart.” Onew laughed, “They’re caring and always putting others ahead of themselves.”

“They’re mostly stubborn, in the best way…and I love and hate this part about them. This fan would rather care about my feelings than their own, and often that makes me feel so helpless.”

“It’s like, I want to spoil them too, you know? For supporting me since the time I debut. But it’s seems they’re barricading me from them, afraid of upsetting me.”

“It’s really funny because it's just as though their world revolves around me, but the very fact is that this fan’s the one making me lose control of myself, doing things I’d never thought of doing.”

“Onew-ssi, that’s a lot going on there!” The radio host chirped, “Is that fan the one you’ve been mentioning lately – Mint?”

Onew chuckled before answering cleverly, “It may or may not be.”

The two on air laughed heartily and moved on to another topic of conversation.

Taemin turned the dial and switched off the music box, his mind churning a bunch of thoughts. 

Annyeong! Happy Lunar New Year to all who are celebrating it! 

And awwww, look at how Taemin treats his hyung so gently and sweetly (in the gif!)! Hehe

Let me know what you think! 

Thanks for reading and please comment! ♥