Kibum's POV

“Five, six, seven, eight,” I nodded to myself as the loud bass beat filled the studio. As soon as I moved my arms to the dramatic starting downbeat of the song, I acted on muscle memory. A head twist here, a leg cross there… I focused my eyes on the mirror in front of me, gazing anywhere but myself. Dancing gave me time to observe, my own movements controlled by what I had practiced many times over and memorized.

I chuckled as I caught a glimpse of Taemin, his eyes closed and his face scrunched just the slightest at the intensity of his movements. He was one of the few people in our class that actually danced with his eyes shut, a skill that if I tried to do, I would end up whacking one of my dance mates in the face or another, more painful, location.

Sweat trickled down my forehead and my breathing quickened in pace as the song reached its pounding and I twisted my body in an especially difficult set of moves to perfect. As the ending techno patterns of the song came up, I took another look in the mirror and my movements froze. My knees shook and my arms fell limply to my sides, actions that went unnoticed by any of the people in my class as the song ended along with me.

What was he doing here?

My teacher’s voice was but a muted blur of words as I thought back to the prior day. He left me. He picked me up from this very studio, talked to me, made me think he cared about me, and then left me for that stupid, manipulative .

It had been well known around school during sophomore year that he and Sulli had been dating, and that had even gotten worse since then. At least two years ago she only slept around with the guys she was in a relationship with; yesterday she hooked up with Jonghyun while he didn’t even remember her.

I shuddered as I moved from the spot on the floor my feet seemed to be glued to, my habit of following Taemin off of the dance area taking over.

Jonghyun had hooked up with her. Yesterday.

My heart fell. I didn’t even want to know what they did after they left me in that arcade.

As Taemin and I approached Minho and him, I looked out among the sea of exhausted dancers, feeling his eyes on me. I didn’t want to look at him, not now. Because once I did, I would probably cry. And I refused to do that.

The way Minho praised Taemin just made the situation that much more awkward for me, the adorableness of the two of them contrasting so much with my distress and Jonghyun’s piercing stare.

And then he cleared his throat, clearly a tactic to get me to look at him. But I didn’t, my gaze staying fixated blankly at the dissipating number of people in the room.

“Come on Minho, let’s go,” his voice sounded in my ears. It was so different from the carefree way he spoke the previous day. His tone now was just… there. There was absolutely no emotion laced into it.

I clenched my hands slightly into fists, willing myself not to tear up at his cold front. God why did I have to be such a girl at times like these?

As soon as the two left, Taemin spun around to face me. I lifted my gaze to meet his demanding one. “What was that about?” He questioned.

I sighed. “Nothing, Taemin, nothing.” I breathed out, my mood falling even more as I heard the stress in my voice.

“Fine,” he replied. My body relaxed slightly as a wave of relief flowed over me at the fact that he decided not to pry.

I managed a weak smile. “Let’s just go Taeminnie,” I said as I picked up my sports bag from its position next to the bench and slung it over my shoulder.

He nodded. “Okay. To my house we go~”

My smile grew wider at his infectious happy attitude. He held his own sports back in place with one hand and interlaced his free hand with mine, squeezing slightly in a silent assurance that whatever I didn’t want to tell him would work out. For a friend like him I was eternally grateful. If he weren’t around I’d probably be in a somewhat state of depression.

We walked out of the studio, Taemin taking the liberty to swing our hands back and forth as he talked animatedly about how he finally nailed a small patch in the choreography that he just couldn’t get before. I smiled genuinely now, feeling infinitely better than I had with the slight tension earlier.

Taemin lived a few blocks from the studio, giving us the opportunity to walk to his house rather than drive; which really, we couldn’t do since neither of us actually owned a car. I laughed a bit to myself as we gained a few stares from the people we passed who took a look at our interlaced hands. Skinship was fairly common in Korea, but not many people thought of that when two males holding hands casually strolled the streets. It was a great thing I was such good friends with my Taeminnie or that might’ve created an awkward situation for the both of us.

As we reached his house, he unlocked his door and immediately dropped his bag to the floor, a small thud resounding through the front section of his house. “My parents are out of town right now, just put your stuff wherever you want,” he shrugged when I gave him a questioning look, knowing full well that his mom was a neat freak and demanded that he hang his things or dump it in his own room.

I nodded and slid my bag off of my shoulder, lowering it to the floor as I removed my shoes, kicking them off with my feet.

“What do you want to eat?” Taemin called as he padded into his kitchen. I followed him and chuckled.

“Yah, I’m you’re umma. I’m the one who’s supposed to be feeding you,” I joked with only slight seriousness in the fact that I really did want to cook something rather than eat microwaved leftovers because Taemin was clueless in a kitchen.

He laughed gestured to his fridge. “Go ahead then, umma,” he emphasized the last word.

I snorted. “That doesn’t bother me anymore Taeminnie,”

He smirked. “Good. Because I’m going to use it relentlessly now.”

“You already did before,” I pointed out as I took out a defrosted slab of chicken and placed in on a cutting board Taemin had laid out for me.

He just laughed.

“So, how’re things with Minho?” I asked, interest taking over me as I suddenly remembered how absolutely cute they were acting at the studio, the emotional stress of Jonghyun mostly gone.

He blushed, gaining a light laugh from me. “Well, he’s… nice.” He stuttered as I took out a knife and began to cut the poultry into edible portions.

“Nice?” I shot him a knowing look.

“Y-Yeah. He’s nice,” he glared at me as I laughed at turned back to my task at hand. “Is there something wrong with that?”

I smiled. “As long as he doesn’t hurt you, I’m fine.” And then a thought occurred to me. “He doesn’t know about the letter, does he?”

Taemin shook his head and his blush deepened. “Of course not! I’m pretty sure if he did then whatever friendship we’re starting to have would be over in a second.” He mumbled a bit sadly. Before I could counter his statement with something about how Minho probably wouldn’t just hate him, he changed the subject. “So, how’re things with Jonghyun?”

I paused for a split second before I went back to work slicing the chicken, deciding that he probably wasn’t referring to what had happened earlier because he knew I didn’t want him prying.

“Things are… fine?” It came out as a question, more to myself than anything. Because really, everything was fine in a way. He talked to me, got to know me, and then left me for a girl. Obviously. I mean, he’s straight as a stick and has the reputation as the school’s player. Maybe it was just me who was making this whole situation awkward. He didn’t know I liked him, and so he didn’t do anything wrong. But, if he didn’t, then why did I feel like he purposely took my heart and stomped on it?

Taemin hummed in response. “I’ll be back,” he said, as he walked out of the kitchen, most likely to the restroom.

My actions became mechanical as I poured oil in a skillet and heated up the stove. But even though it felt like Jonghyun broke my heart, he actually hadn’t. He just simply didn’t know about my feelings. Really, how could he when the day before was the basically the only day we’d talked?

I thought back to when I had run into him at the studio after venting out my family frustrations through dance. His voice and being were comforting and welcoming.

With renewed spirits, I whispered, “I love Jonghyun.”

No matter what he’d done, it wasn’t to me. That was just how he was. I just didn’t know him well enough personally, and now that I was getting to know him, I shouldn’t let it affect me. “I still love him,”

Anneyong ^^

So uh, I could say that I haven't updated in a month because of school and homework and being constantly half asleep because high school does that to you, but really, I was just lazy. Yeah. I don't have an actual reason for keeping you guys waiting so long....

But hey, here's an update:) And guess what? I'm off of school this week for winter break, and that means you'll be getting at least one more update from me! Possibly two, but don't get your hopes up because I have to work on my contest entry. (Because yes, the contest deadline is Februrary 2nd and I've still only gotten one chapter written, and I think that story is supposed to be about as long as this is right now IF I don't get lazy and skip out on stuff) I still think you should read it :P It's called The Colors Of Winter. 

Anyways, I hope you lovely readers had a marvelous Christmas :) Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays!!

Unless of course, you don't celebrate it... then just Merry Holidays.

Guess what today is!!!!!!!!!!! Well, Ima just tell you. It's...

CHAEJIN'S 16TH BIRTHDAY <3

Gosh he's SO fine <3 <3 AND HE'S MINE. SO BACK OFF. :)

And if today's his birthday, and yesterday was Christmas, guess what the day before that was!

Christmas Eve :) And also MY birthday~~ I'm 15 now :D And i still can't believe that Chaejin is less than a year older than me x) 

So ANYWAYS, I hope you liked this chapter:)

Don't forget to comment and subscribe~~~

Until next time,

xoxo