Taemin couldn’t bring himself to turn down his friend’s invitation. It was his first concert with his band, how could he not be present? Besides, he was there when Taemin had his. So, Taemin decided to go – because he had to repay his friend’s good deed was going to be his excuse to go. He thought it would be a good idea if Minho would come with him. Minho could witness that there were nothing between him and his friend. Maybe if Minho looked at it with his very own eyes, he would realize that his jealousy was unnecessary.

In the other hand, Jinki had secretly approached Minho to talk about Taemin – more like one side talking because Jinki was typing on his Galaxy Note instead of talking. Jonghyun told him how he found Taemin crying his eyes out right after he was back from Japan and Jinki thought that he had to take action, as the leader of this group. To cut it short, Jinki was having a heart to heart conversation with Minho about how he truly felt about Taemin. It was a little difficult to make Minho open up about this case but in the end, he did. Jinki learnt that it wasn’t merely one moment jealousy that made Minho lose his stance. It was the result of bottled up suspicion, disappointment, annoyance, jealousy – you named it – for years that finally exploded and caused him to turn his back to the younger. He couldn’t take it anymore when Taemin let him know that he was having a vacation with the other in Japan. Minho said not to go but Taemin disregarded it. That was it. He had had enough. So when they broke up, Minho didn’t feel so much of pain. Because he was numb, the weariness this problem brought had numbed Minho’s heart to the point he couldn’t feel anything anymore. Minho thought he would be down or some sort of that since he had been in relationship with Taemin for a long time but he didn’t. If there was anything he felt bad for was when he saw Taemin’s swollen eyes because really, he hated it when Taemin cry. That was as much as he could care about Taemin nowadays. He wasn’t even sure if he still loved him, when Jinki questioned him.

“I don’t know if I still love him, hyung. But I still hate it when he cries. That’s all that left.”

Seeing as how Minho could probably still have some affection left for Taemin, Jinki made him promise to give Taemin a second chance. Jinki explained how he really disliked the atmosphere between them lately and how it had affected the other members too. It wasn’t that Jinki forced him to make up with Taemin for the group’s sake. He only wished for Minho to give it a try, who knew it would work. If it failed then Jinki would try to hold a meeting with all of them to emphasize the importance of setting a fine line between work and private life so there would be no more awkward moments where no one basically knew what to do.

That was why when Taemin asked Minho to go on his friend’s concert together, Minho was quick to agree.

On the D-day, Taemin was both nervous and excited. He was nervous as to how to act around Minho because they were still very self-conscious with each other. However, he was excited with the prospect of showing Minho his friendship and the fact that Minho had agreed to go on the concert when he obviously disliked his friend was something else.

“Are you ready?”

Taemin nodded and then trailed behind Minho to the parking lot. It hit him hard how he missed the times when Minho drove him everywhere. He smiled at the thought and immediately straightened his lips, not wanting to get caught. The drive was silent, but what would they expect?

When they arrived at the venue, Minho caught the sight of his Super Junior hyungs and told Taemin to get in first. Taemin nodded and went in without Minho. He knew Minho liked his hyungs by a lot and Taemin didn’t mind it. Inside the venue, he cheered and screamed for his friend and label mates. However, he got bored shortly after the concert began and started looking for his hyung. He wondered what took them so long. Right when the VCR played, Taemin left the venue and went backstage in case Minho was there with the others. Sadly, Minho wasn’t there too because at the very same time, Minho was entering the stadium with a hyung by his side and sitting down on the bench near where Taemin was.

When the concert was over, the said friend was all over Taemin, thanking him for coming and stuff. He kept a close hold on Taemin, practically half hugging him. Taemin greeted and congratulated the others without breaking the skin ship they shared. It was when he saw Minho walking in he tried to detach himself from his friend. His friend, however, pulled him in again once he broke free. He was worried Minho would get it wrong but to his surprise, Minho was smiling and calmly pacing toward them. He flashed a smile before congratulating Taemin’s friend, and their other label mates. Taemin stared at Minho disbelievingly as the taller moved from one person to another to greet them. Taemin couldn’t even focus on what his friend trying to get him into. He wasn’t interested on seeing his friend’s acquaintances, nor talking to them. He just wanted to run over Minho’s side and joined his little group even though he knew he would feel like an outsider with the hyungs. He felt like knowing if Minho was actually fine to be here.

It was when Minho approached him again to let him know that he was going back and if Taemin wanted to stay but Taemin quickly opposed and said he wanted to go home with him. His friend was obviously disappointed and attempted to convince Taemin to stay but the he declined. Taemin quickly excused himself before the other could go any further. As he walked to the parking lot with Minho, he dared to ask Minho about the whole thing.

“Hyung, did you even get in and watch them perform? I didn’t see you inside. I was waiting for you.”

“I think I got in after you left. Sorry Taemin, we were so engrossed with our little talk. Were you bored? The others were there too, weren’t they?”

Taemin nodded. “But you know I’m not really close with them so I just waved my stick throughout the concert.”

Minho chuckled, “How cute.”

In a split second, Taemin wanted to stop the time and watched how Minho’s lips curved into a smile upon hearing about his behavior. Then he wanted to rewind and replay the part where Minho chuckled because of him. He hadn’t, for a quite long time, and Taemin kinda missed it.

Unable to form a proper reply, Taemin just smiled back to him. He pushed his anxiety to the back of his mind and enjoyed this moment. He wished there would be traffic everywhere so the drive home would last for hours. While holding back his smile, Taemin thought of what he could do next time to assure Minho that he was the only one in his heart. He was being all optimistic about making up with Minho in future. After all it was one-sided break up. He never wanted it.