It was really cliché; how we turned out, he thought, scrolling through their old text messages. Shaking his head, he moves on to his photos and deletes every photograph of them together. It was so unexpected, yet so expected – the end of their love.

She had left him.

Just like that.

What was ever more important to her?

Who was more important to her?

(I’m really sorry Tae, I really am. I should’ve told you sooner. I hope we can keep in touch. To the moon and back, Naeun, she texts. He chuckles bitterly because 'why even put 'to the moon and back' if you don't love me anymore' before deleting the message, along with all of their other text messages, even her cell phone number. That day had haunted him up until this day.)

Sure she had her reasons (‘I’ve been chosen to debut,’ he vaguely remembered her saying) but beyond that, there was always something more. He was beating himself up, he could’ve – should’ve read the warning signs. Maybe he was just head over heels, blind for her. Young, stupid and oblivious, thinking that they would last forever.

She left him for the glitz and glamor of the idol world,

So he decided to leave her (where they left off) as well.

Yet when he walks down the street and sees her face plastered on billboards over the city, he finds it ironic that just over a year ago, that same girl had been burping the alphabet along with him and told him she loved him to the moon and back.

The thought makes his heart ache, yearn for the times when she only saw him, when she kissed him with so much intensity he felt he was going insane, whenever she asked ‘to the moon and back?’ whenever he told her he loved her and when it was just them.

What would become of him without her?

This is stupid, he thinks. Why is he still thinking of her when she probably didn’t even think once of him? Why would she waste a thought on him anyways? There were so many desirable men in the industry, she was busy with training and promoting and the fact that Lee Taemin was her past, not her present and will never be her future.

Why was he still thinking of her anyways? She made it obvious she cared more about her new life and he told himself he was going to move on too.

(He glared at the billboard with her face on it before stomping into the bar, muttering the words ‘ everything’.)

Just once, he’d like to see how her life is without him. Then, he’d be pleased. Then he’d be fine with leaving her behind. Then, he’d finally move on with his life.

Maybe then, he’d be satisfied. (Probably not, but he’d have to try it first to know.)

“Anything, as long as it’s hard.” He mutters as he slips into a barstool, the bartender nodding and quickly starting to pour his drink.

The bartender puts his drink down and the latter slams his money down in return, quickly downing the substance. The burn in his throat felt so right, so satisfying.

But yet again, as teenagers they had snuck some beer from his parent’s alcohol cabinet and drank at the park together. The memory caused a dull ache in his heart and a craving for more – more of that burning sensation down his throat.

He wanted to forget, no, he needed to forget.

(It was safe to assume that this whole mess could possibly turn him into an alcoholic – especially since 'this whole 'drinking' thing helped him to grow a pair by showing his true inner manly feelings' according to his friend Jongin. But Jongin, he decides; it seems more like he should grow a pair. Or maybe it's just that Taemin is drunk out of his mind, he assumes it's probably both.)

“More,” He croaks, almost inaudibly.

The bartender nods, chuckling slightly. “Calm down buddy, it’s only five thirty. Why are you here so early, the usual drunks are around at seven. Breakup?”

He nods.

“Is it recent?”

Taemin shakes his head.

He hands him a drink and Taemin once again gulps it down quickly, and they repeat the same pattern.

(At one point, he thinks this bartender guy – Jonghyun (Yes, he had read his nametag) was a bit too forward, but he realized that he was too drunk and bitter about everything to give a .)

“I never thought I’d be this heartbroken that I’d be sitting in a ing bar downtown wallowing in my misery about a breakup that happened a year ago.”

Jonghyun looks at him. “That . Did she say anything before she left you?”

“She sent me a break-up text.”

“Shut up.”

“No really. It said something along the lines of ‘I’m so sorry, I really am but I hope we can keep in touch. To the moon and back’.” He muttered.

 The bartender looks at him again, this time with a mischevous glint in his eyes.

He prepares a drink, sliding it across the table to him.

“Here, specially made just for you. Good luck, lightweight!” Jonghyun exclaimed.

The drink looked… interesting. It was deep red and had a really strong smell and probably had a really strong taste as well.

Yep, very strong, Taemin thought as he felt the familiar burn go down his throat, only so much stronger.

He felt worse for wear, absolutely terrible. If being heartbroken was a terrible feeling, he was sure this could rival it.

"Hey Jonghyun, is there some place you can take me to lie down?" He asks, "My head is starting to hurt." Jonghyun merely chuckles. "So, it's starting to kick in. Come back there with me. I've got a place."

(Taemin begins to question the bartender's motives (but then again, he never really trusted him from the beginning.) but then he thinks, hey, passing out in some room is better than passing out on a table with god-knows-what on it, right?)

When Jonghyun helps him lay down and quickly leaves with an "I'm still on my shift", the memories he's been desperately trying to forget comes back to haunt him. Those whispered promises that they vowed they would do together lay scattered on the floor, the yesterday he once thought would last forever had only left scars that would never heal, the only thing he had to show for how much he loved, cherished, cared, and gave his all for that girl.

'Ah, there it is,' He thinks, 'That searing pain in my heart is back.'

Then, he blacks out.

There, in the middle of nowhere, he recalls her face. Her beautiful, amazing face that he used to cradle in his hands and the soft, soft skin that was always oddly cold (and he would always be there to warm her up) . Her soft lips that he loved having against his, the feeling so good, so right. Her hands that when entwined with his, fingers tangled together, fit perfectly, as if they were made to be together like this. He could still remember her so clearly, she was etched into his mind. It was impossible not to remember the girl who had taken his heart captive and never gave it back.

"Taemin!" Her voice called out.

.

He really was going crazy.

"Taemin!" That familiar ring in her voice made him wince, she had always called him like this. It hurt a little that the Naeun in her imagination was still so informal and cute. She shouldn't be like this, he thinks.

"Taemin-ah, wake up! I know for a fact that you aren't dead. Taemin-ah!" The voice whined. The voice in his head was starting to get really annoying and even more real.

"Taemin-ah! Wake up, you ing drunkard!" She yelled, starting to hit lightly at his chest. Okay, that was probably real.

He suddenly opens his eyes and sits upright, scaring the female in the process. "Yah! I'm awake! Don't hit me!" He yells at her face, ruffling his hair in frustration. 

"Taemin-ah..." Her eyes start to well up and she embraces him tightly, her tears starting to soak his sweater. "You ing scared me, breaking contact with me for the whole year despite my efforts, seeing you enter inside this rundown bar and get drunk off your mind. I hate you, you bastard. Why did you make me so scared?" 

('Because you never loved me' he wanted to yell out, so loud that the whole world could hear. 'You never loved me, you never did. This was all a responsibility, a joke. Nothing but a little crush that faded away and couldn't get rid of until you became famous.' But he never had the guts to tell her that he had caught on, for he was still holding onto the vague hope that maybe he was wrong.)

"This was for myself. This whole thing is for myself, it's not all about you, Naeun." He said, almost inaudibly. She only tightens her grip on him as a reply.

There she goes, making him love her all over again.

 

 

 

 

After that night, Naeun had kept texting, despite how much he had ignored them. Though he didn't know her motives, he eventually caved in and texted her back, replying in a manner that made him seem cold. She always seemed to be into the 'bad boy' types.

(He knows, because one time they had watched Music Bank live together and this band, VIXX, he vaguely remembers, performed. She was very into their performance and at one point she had even pointed to a tall male who had an amazing voice but an almost intimidating expression. 'I like him, he looks really cool.' He remembers her saying to him. Because of her statement at Music Bank, he had tried (key word is tried) to imitate the 'bad boy' act but failed miserably.)

She had only shrugged off his act and asked to meet at their favorite café tomorrow. 

This was dangerous.

Why wouldn't Son Naeun let him move on?

Despite how many 'no's' and excuses he gave her, she never took no as an answer, saying that she wanted to be close again. Why only now, when we were teetering on the edge? Taemin asks himself constantly. Why did you only want to be like this now, a year after we broke up? 

Why are you doing this?

Why me?

Why now?

What are your motives?

I was supposed to prove that you were better off without me.

'Please Taem,' her text read, 'just once won't hurt, right?' Taemin caved in after that, letting his mind delude him with 'just once'. 

 

 

 

 

"You came!" She exclaimed, pulling him into her embrace.

"Look who's being bold." He muttered in reply, shrugging her off. She pouted cutely, lightly hitting his chest. "Yah, warm up a little Taem. This is supposed to be like old times." 

'Old times my ,' he thinks bitterly, a grimace on his face, 'you can never recreate what we once had no matter how desperate you are.' 

She drags him to a table nearby the window (like they always used to, she points out happily, before running to order without asking him because she always knew Taemin wanted an iced coffee) leaving him to mutter about his current situation.

"You don't love me..." He hums silently as Naeun sits in her seat right across from him (and he may or may not have sang that one line from his favorite girl group on purpose). "Ah, that Spica song? It's been getting pretty popular lately. I quite like the song myself." She muses, sliding his iced coffee across the table while he fumbles around his wallet for his money when she stops him. "No need, Taem. It's on me today."

"You sure? With your job, you don't have much pocket money." He replies.

"So what? It's been awhile since I've been able to spoil someone." She grins, her eyes fluttering closed and she leans against the table, her head resting on her arms. "But anyways, it's been a year. How have you been? What's been going in your life?"

"Oh, not much," except for spending my days with you on my mind at every single moment, "being an intern under a major publishing company is pretty easy, and I always end up not learning as much since I know most of it." and it gives my mind more time to occupy thoughts of you, like the worthless fool I am.

"Ah, so you're finally 'living the dream'?" 

"No, per say, it's not as exciting as I thought it was, but it's a day to day thing I need to work on. You know, enjoying things one day at a time." 

She hums in reply.

"So, how's your life?" He asks.

"Working in the entertainment business is extremely hard. I mean, I'm living the dream but what is everyone's dream is not preferably what everyone wants as their reality. I've been in quite a few dating scandals already," Oh, he recalls the past few dating scandals. It only made him more furious because they could possibly be true, but she, like she always does, will take him for granted and keep shut. "despite how new we are. It kinda frustrates me, y'know? The worst part is the lack of sleep and food, you know how much I-" 

"Love eating and sleeping." They both say at the same time.

They both stifled laughs (Taemin's more on the fake side) and he let Naeun continue.

"But yeah. It gets lonely, but like you said, it's a day to day thing. I also met VIXX, do you remember them? They're only more charming in real life." (Oh, them, he thinks sourly, cursing every pretty boy in the idol industry for stealing the female population away from the average-looking males in society and giving none of them a chance to find love.)

That one comment about that boy group had set a fuse (More like a full blown house fire). "I'm not into them." He replies coldly.

"Ah, don't be so harsh! It's probably just because they're males."

That's half the reason, what's the other, Son Naeun?

"Besides," She continues, "Leo-ssi is actually really nice. He's just shy."

Taemin completely ignores her statement and changes the subject. "Did you meet Spica during any recordings of any sort?"

She grins. "Oh yes. They're so much fun to be around, not to mention that they're such amazing performers." Blah blah blah, tell me something new, of course my queens are perfect, he thinks.

"And since I know you love them..." 

She fishes an album out of her backpack and slides it across the table.

He instantly grabs it and smiles for the first time today, nodding in approval when he sees it's been signed by them. 

Perfect.

"I love you." He blurts out.

.

.

.

"No problem dude. Though one day I need you to show up to a VIXX fansigning and take high-definition photos for me." He glares at her, with a giggle in response from her. "I'm kidding."

In a way, he was disappointed. 

Maybe he was hoping she would say 'I love you too', even if it was a joke.

 

 

 

 

Despite how minimal his replies to her are, Naeun constantly texts him nowadays with the most trivial things. 

He frequently gets teased by his superiors over the constant text messages. Though the banter is supposed to annoy him, attract a negative reaction they can make fun of, they find his only reaction is looking outside the rest of the day, sighing and drinking his cold coffee.

"What's wrong, my little ?" Jongin asks, slinging his shoulder around him. (Taemin forgets how he's even become friends with the younger, for he was probably one of the most annoying people he's ever had the misfortune of meeting.)

" off Jongin." 

Taemin pushes his computer chair across the room, resulting in Jongin falling off his seat while the rest of the office laughs at his misfortune.

Taemin doesn't pay him any mind, instead staring at his phone dejectedly when he finds that there were no new messages from her.

 

 

 

 

'I'm free tonight and I'm in the mood to gloat about my singing talent,' Naeun texts, 'Wanna rent a karaoke room, like the old times?'

Taemin laughs to himself. It will never be like the old times (Taemin has lost track of how many times he's thought that exact sentence or something along the lines of it). Instead of saying what was truly on his mind, he texted back with a 'sure' and left it at that.

He wasn't the best at expressing his emotions anyways. He just hoped that the whole event wasn't going to turn into an awkward heart-to-heart conversation on love, or a one night stand. 

But it's been awhile since he's sung, or acted like a complete idiot, so why not take up the offer. Singing sad songs while being drunk off your mind was really refreshing. 

'Complete with soju and crappy H.O.T duets?' He texts.

'Yes, and terrible high notes and dance breaks when trying to imitate Spica and Girls' Generation' She replies.

'Deal' 

With that, he declares the session over and grabs his jacket before running out the door.

No, Taemin is not excited because he wants to see Naeun.

 

 

 

 

"I'm genie for you boy~" Naeun sings, with Taemin dancing along to the song, laughing. 

They strike the ending pose for the dance and plop down on the couch, giggling and drinking their respective bottles of soju. 

"Ahh, the taste of soju after a good dance break is so refreshing." Taemin sighs out, a goofy grin appearing on his mind; his smile not showing his true intentions. "Well, here goes my turn to 'shine'." 

Naeun chuckles slightly, giving him the microphone. (Her chuckle makes him confident, since she has no idea what's coming to her.)

He presses in numbers before pausing, waiting for the lyrics to come on the screen.

It's been a long time since he's played this song, he thinks.

"Can you please remember just this?
That I was once by your side
Once in a while, thinking I might bump into you on the street
I look at my shabby self in the mirror and make myself over

You aren’t sick, are you? I’m very worried
Though you must be happy, I will pray for you
Remember, even when you meet someone else
That I was once by your side” He sings, feeling every aspect of the song.

It hurts his heart a little.

No, a lot.

His heart ached.

Just like it did a year ago.

Just like it always does when she's around.

She claps her hands eagerly, shouting and cheering for him. He got a perfect score of a hundred, but his singing doesn't matter to him.

Of course, he remembers, it's all nothing to her.

"Taemin-ah, you did so well!" She exclaims, "You should've been the idol!" She slings her arm around him casually, her face getting closer and closer to his. "I really mean it. Why didn't you?" He shrugs her arms off and shakes his head. "I couldn't do it." He replies, his voice cracking at 'couldn't'.

"Why not?" She asks.

"I'm not suited for that kind of life. All of that pressure, so many expectations being put on you, one wrong move possibly endangering your whole career, that kind of thing is something I can't take. I want to sing about things I love (Like you, he wants to say, but didn't have the guts to add in) and things people can relate to without being pressured to be someone else or being worked to my limits." 

"I understand." She replies.

"No, you really don't."

She goes silent, punching in numbers for her next song. To Taemin's displeasure, she had picked Narsha's I'm In Love. It was 'their' song in a sense back then. Taemin would play the guitar while she sang the lyrics ever so sweetly, hoping it would warm the hearts of others.

They were so young, so unassuming.

He hates the song now. The lyrics were too bright, too sweet, too similar to his feelings for her almost two years ago. Despite how many grudges he had against her, he couldn't stop loving her, no matter what she did or how far away she was. 

Maybe that's why after she had finished her song and sat down, that he had leaned in a little too close to her.

"T-Taem, what are you doing?"

(He resists saying 'Are you stupid? I'm trying to kiss you, ' out loud.)

He leans in closer to her, putting his arms around her, trying to get her close. She tries to push him away with no avail, and he catches her lips in a kiss, before she pushes him away again and he does the same as before.

The second time, their lips don't seperate. (Even with her lightly punching his arm as her act of definance, Taemin thinks that she's still kissing him back and that's not really definance, isn't it?) At one point she even opens slightly, letting the kiss deepen. 

But Taemin's come to his senses.

No.

He shouldn't have been kissing the girl. (He secretly blames it on the alcohol.)

"I'm sorry." He says, breaking the silence following their kiss. She shakes her head, her hair covering her face. "No... it's okay." 

He made a mistake. He let his emotions make a fool out of him again. Instead of the action making his heart feel whole, he only felt worse. His heart was already broken, but it felt like he had let her stomp on it for good measure. 

He doesn't stop her when she runs out of the room without a goodbye.

 

 

 

 

He wasn't expecting a text from her, but it had a week after the incident.

'Hey,' it read, 'we can't ignore each other forever, right? please don't play this game with me.'

'I miss you.'

'What do you want me to do other than text you?' He replies hesitantly.

'Come over today.'

('Was this a joke to her?' He thinks incredulously, 'If I was her, I'd avoid me forever and thinks that I was a creep or something.' He then snaps out of his trance to remember that no, he is not a creep. Okay, maybe a little, but hey, he was in love and people do crazy things for love, right? Like trust a bartender who magically summoned the girl he liked because he made him drunk? Yep.)

Taemin takes this as a sign to come over immidiately.

 

 

 

 

"You got beer?" Is the first question Taemin asks as he walks through the door.

"And chicken!" She replies, giggling and taking the six packs out of her fridge, setting it on the counter. 

"Such a charmer, already has alcohol on hand. I don't know if I can resist you tonight~" Taemin says in a joking tone (but he actually wasn't kidding, he's not exactly sure what he's capable of if he ever got drunk). "Who could resist me, drunk or sober?" She replies, serving up the chicken wings right after Taemin sits in his seat, opening a can and taking a sip.

"What's the event?" 

"Hmm, comeback's in a few weeks and I figured spending time with you while drunk off my mind is bound to be more fun than whatever my group members have got in store." She answers simply, with ease. 

('Don't you know that that exact plan is extremely dangerous?' He yells in his head.)

Sometimes he wonders if Son Naeun is just tantalizing him, or if she was really that dense.

She finishes a chicken wing, throwing it away quickly and taking a sip. "Ahhh, that's really good." She sighs.

"Never doubt the wonders of alcohol." Taemin blurts out, chugging the rest of his first can, then quickly opening another. "Have you got any salted nuts or anything? Those taste really good with beer too." 

She hums in reply and rummages through the cupboards. "Wouldn't be complete with some nice red wine and my personal favorite, wine coolers."

"I smelt barbeque. You made some, didn't you?" Taemin asks. She nods her head and points to the plate resting beside them. "Eat up you little stick. You need some meat."

"Says the skinniest stick in the bunch." 

"Touché."

They clink their beer cans together before taking a chug at the same time.

 

 

 

 

"Hey Naeun, why did we break up?" He asks out of nowhere.

She looked visibly taken aback by his sudden question, but she decides to answer anyways. "I realized something wrong about our relationship."

"Was it me?"

She shakes her head. "No, it wasn't your fault. Not at all. If anything, you treated me like a queen, literally. Any girl would be lucky to be with you, Taem." He frowns, still not getting the answer he intended. "Then what did go wrong?"

"It was me." She replies quietly, "I loved it when you told me you loved me, gave me flowers, celebrated those cheesy holidays with me even when I didn't remember them myself, and accepted me for everything. I loved how I was so comfortable around you and how we can still act like best friends but that's what I realized – even after all this time, I only thought of you as my best friend. Those kisses I gave you were more out of frienship, those 'I love you too''s didn't mean the same way you meant them, and I mixed myself up in the process. I do admit that I had a crush on you, but maybe after awhile I just couldn't feel it but kept going because I didn't want to lose you in my life. I loved the idea of loving someone, but I didn't really love you, the same way you did for me."

Taemin nods hesitantly. "Oh, I see."

"I understand how you feel but -"

"Maybe it's for the best if we stopped talking, you know, forever. This whole 'remending our friendship' kept leading me on and now that I've finally got the closure, I think I'd like to move on with my life. You know, not think about you every single waking moment, hang out with some of my guy friends, forgive myself and finally just let myself fall in love with someone who hopefully won't break my heart again."

She nods her head. "Sure, if you think it's for the best."

He smiles half-heartedly. "Thanks. It was nice, the time we spent together. I might see you around, I guess."

"You too." 

As he walks out the door, he hears her voice faintly say "I'll miss you", but he doesn't pay it any mind as he deletes her number from his contacts and deletes all of their text messages together, then proceeding to call his cousin.

"Hey Jinki-hyung, can you pick me up?" 

"Of course!" He replies, "But I'm at a bar with a friend. Is it okay if you stick around there with me for awhile? Only if you'd like, I mean, you don't have to..." Taemin chuckles in response. "Of course hyung, I'll stay. Can I stay in your apartment tonight too? I don't feel like going home.

"It's all good with me, haha." 

 

 

 

 

"Taemin-ah, this is my... friend, Jonghyun." Jinki introduces, pointing to the bartender.

"You...!" Taemin yells, attracting attention from everyone inside the bar who wasn't unconsious. "Yah, be quiet. Don't attract attention." Jinki pleads. "It's alright Jinks, me and this kiddo met before. I served him a few drinks, it's all good." 

"Can you please help me again?" Taemin asks eagerly.

"Oh yeah, what happened after that, buddy?" Jonghyun asks curiously.

"It only spiralled into something worse." He muttered, "but it's okay. I just want to forget her, get over this whole thing. Move on with my life, without her on my mind."

Jonghyun nods his head as a sign he was listening, already beginning to mix a drink for him. 

"Hey Jinki-hyung, why'd you pause before you said 'friend' when introducing him, hmm?" Taemin asks, a teasing smile on his face that was somewhat forced. He hoped his playful banter would distract himself from replaying those moments, those words in his head again. 

"Um... it's a long story..." Jinki replies with uncertainty.

"Come on..."

"Drinks are ready!" Jonghyun chimes in, effectively saving Jinki, flashing a dashing smile in the process.

"Thanks, Jonghyun." Taemin ays before taking a hesitant sip. 

"Hmm, tastes good. ...Fruity." He adds.

"Jjong... are you sure it's okay to give him that drink?" Jinki whsipered a little too loudly that Taemin could still hear. "Don't deprive me of good alcohol, hyung. I'm stressed, depressed and not well dressed. Let me live a little." Taemin states.

"Yeah Jinx, let him live a little." Jonghyun repeats.

"Shut the up Jonghyun." Jinki mutters, earning a giddly laugh from Taemin. "More Jonghyun, you're a ing god at alcohol. How are you real." 

Jonghyun laughs, "Secret." before sliding him another glass of the drink from earlier.

"Jonghyun, is it okay if Taemin loses all memories of her?" Jinki asks, this time quiet enough for Taemin to not hear. Jonghyun nods. "Well, everyone who knew of them together from childhood would forget all about her. It'll twist time completely so they go through different fates and don't meet so his wish of 'forgetting her' and 'starting over' will actually come true. We'll be the only ones who actually knew this happened."

"That's kind of extreme..."

"He wasn't specific enough, his loss. You know what they say, be careful what you wish for." Jonghyun shrugs.

"Jinki-hyung, i'm so drunk, haha. Drunk. Drunk as . The world is spinning, and so are you! Stop moving you guys, it isn't funny." Taemin giggles. Jinki sighs, feeling dissapointed in his cousin. He should've taught him better. 

"Okay kindergartener, let's go home, okay? I'm leaving first. Gotta take care of the little . Come back as late, or err, early as you'd like to avoid seeing undigested food in any surface of our flat. Clear?" 

"As the poop deck never was, captain." Jonghyun laughs, saluting him.

 

 

 

 

"Ugh, what the hell happened last night hyung?" Taemin asks as he stumbles and plants his face on the counter.

"Get your ugly face off my granite counter punk, you're lowering it's price." Jinki yelled, swatting his shoulder, "You drank with your friends again. Apparently you threw up on the tambourine. I picked you up but sadly I was hanging around the bar again and you kept begging Jjong for more drinks, even offering to call him oppa in exchange for one sip of beer. All of this drunken stupidity going on because there was some ing void in your heart that needed to be filled with sorrow since you can never get it back, I don't know." 

"I'm living the alcoholic life hyung." Taemin replies.

"Nah, you do it only on Fridays, thank god," Jinki pauses to do the sign of the cross and put his hands together, "but you need to get out of here pretty soon. Jjong needs to crash and you're too loud to let him nap. Shoo, shoo." 

"You don't want me here? I don't want myself here either." Taemin yells, laughing afterwards before grabbing his things and leaving, calmly walking down the stairs and outside the building. 

His head was killing him, damn.

He should really slow down on the whole drinking thing.

He pauses in front of a closed store display window, rearranging his hair neatly since he forgot to fix it while he had access to Jinki-hyung's brush, once again. He hums a song he doesn't remember listening to before, the words in his head flowing naturally. 

"Can you please remember just this, when I was once by your side?" He hums to himself quietly, resuming his walk down the street. 

He looks at the next makeup store ahead and see's a girl's face on a poster, advertising their new advance in cc creams. In the bottom of the poster, it said her name was 'Son Naeun'. Hmm, that name was familiar, but it didn't really ring a bell in his head.

That was odd, it seemed whenever he took a close look at the poster of her face, there was a dull ache in his heart.

He shrugs it off. 

It's nothing, she's nothing.

Then he turns his head and walks away like nothing happens, the beautiful girl on the advertisement dissapearing from his mind as quickly as it came.

"Remember; even when you meet someone else, that I was once by your side." He sings quietly. 

---

well, this is my conclusion to 'i was once by your side'! this took me such a long time to finish, and for that i'm extremely sorry. i had bouts of writer's block, not to mention that school was taking away my time and stress just came in and it only got worse. but i fought it, and i've been thinking long and hard about this plot since day one, and I've had so many alternate endings that i'll gladly tell you about if you asked, haha. i ultimately wrote this one since it was really bitter and suited the 'angst' theme of this whole thing. I felt that taemin needed a rest from his pain, even though he'd forget about the girl he loved so much. i also really wanted to write a semi-alcoholic character for the longest time, since i love drunk and stupid humor, so bear with me. i also really wanted to write something contemporary, things that can change fate and such since i've been interested in these kinds of things lately. (blame 'the giver' and 'before i fall' ;;) i'll let you make your own conclusions about jonghyun and the 'magic' he possesses. but here you go, this is 'i was once by your side'! thank you so much for putting up with me despite my lack of competence and i hoped you enjoyed this confusing story i've worked hard to write! thank you, really. <3