Chapter 22
Anonymous Confessions
Minho's POV
I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe for the world to suddenly make sense or perhaps for there to be the oh so cliché haze of pink colored bliss? But to be honest, none of it was happening. Krystal was a great girl, that much I could tell. Cute, funny, smart, not to mention completely honest… what else could anyone possibly want in a girlfriend?
I sighed as I ran my hands through my short black hair, my mind in a jumble.
She didn’t make me lose my mind with thoughts of her, but that was okay, right? Our relationship had just started, after all. She makes me happy. That was all that mattered.
Then why do I feel so guilty?
I shook my head and grumbled incoherently, trying to take my mind off of the subject. As I looked back up, I saw an all too familiar mess of red hair. Without even thinking about it, my lips curled into a small smile.
“Hey,” I called out to the figure in front of me.
Taemin spun around to face me. “O-oh. Hi hyung,” He mumbled, his eyes shifting to looking down at his feet.
“Uh, so, how’ve you been?” I asked slowly, not sure if I had just startled him or if he was in a bad mood. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you much yesterday.”
“I’ve been fine,” came his muffled answer. I knew he was lying. The tone in his voice was telling, and I felt a wrench of pain in my chest. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. No, now was not the time to be feeling strange things. Opening my eyes again, I thought of an idea. If Taemin was feeling depressed, maybe we could hang out again later today. It would probably cheer him up.
But something inside of me told me there was another reason that I wanted to spend time with him.
“Really? Well I was just wondering, do you want to…“ I started, gaining his attention as he looked up at me with hopeful brown eyes. My voice trailed off as I felt unwanted nervousness.
Why is it so hard to ask a friend to hang out? Come on, Minho. It’s no big deal.
“I thought that maybe you’d want to-“ I started again, but this time instead of my nerves cutting me off, it was a warm voice.
“Oppa!”
I turned my head in the direction of who I already knew was calling me. “Krystal!” I greeted brightly, a smile growing on my face. The least I could do was to not drag my girlfriend down in my confusion and just smile.
She and I shared a quick look before she grasped my hand.
“Oh, you’re Taemin, right? Minho told me how you forced him into dying his hair over the weekend. But it really does look nice on him. Good choice!” Krystal said, turning to Taemin, apparently having recognized him from when I introduced the two yesterday.
I was never good with affectionate compliments, and so my face heated up just the slightest. “You don’t have to be embarrassing,” I muttered, placing my free hand on the back of my neck in lack of knowing how to react.
“Thanks,” Taemin mumbled, his voice even more distant than it was before. I spared a glance at his eyes and saw almost no emotion in them, as if he were staring right past everything. And then he his heels and sprinted in the opposite direction.
My heart froze and then beat faster, my pulse racing with unknown anxiety.
“Taemin!” I called after him, but he didn’t turn around.
I was about to run after him, but Krystal tugged at my hand. “Listen, I don’t know what happened with him, but let him cool off. Try talking to him later, okay?” she said, looking into my eyes.
And all I saw in her eyes was genuine concern for my friend. I nodded. “You’re probably right,” I sighed, “I’ll just give him space and talk to him during class.”
“Well then, let’s go to our lockers, neh?” she said, trying to lighten the mood a bit. I nodded again and led her down the hallway.
By the time we got into class (barely making it in before the bell), Krystal and I were laughing hysterically at events that could have only occurred in high school went on with our friends. We took our seats just as our teacher started taking attendance. There was no difference in the usual buzz of morning chatter as our teacher looked to see who was in class or not, or so I thought.
“Is Lee Taemin not here?” Our teacher called out to the class.
“I saw him before class,” A girl offered as the class quieted down.
Krystal and I shared a knowing look, and my stomach twisted in a knot. I coughed before speaking out. “He didn’t look like he was feeling too well earlier.”
“So he’s at the clinic?” My teacher questioned.
I shrugged. “Maybe,” I said, my mood falling as I remembered his expression from earlier.
“Wait, Taemin’s sick?” I heard a voice yell out. I turned my head to see Kibum and the worried expression on his face. Right, they’re best friends.
“Does anyone want to go check to make sure he’s alright?” Our teacher offered, sympathizing with the look on Kibum’s face.
I raised my hand, gaining confused looks from all of my classmates. Obviously. No one knew we were friends. Then again, we hadn’t been friends for long so it was understandable. “I’ll check on him,” I said. My teacher nodded as I pushed myself up from my desk and exited the classroom.
I was feeling just slightly anxious as I walked towards the clinic. It’s just worries, I told myself. I mean, who wouldn’t be worried for a friend?
As I stepped into the sterilized nurse’s office, the feeling in my gut only got stronger. “Excuse me, is Lee Taemin here?” I asked the clinic attendant who was sitting at her desk.
“Aniyo. I’m sorry, he hasn’t come by here,” she addressed me.
I nodded, my stomach dropping further. “Kamsahamnida,” I bowed as I exited the room.
“Taemin ah, where are you?” I mumbled, not exactly sure why I was feeling so nervous for him.
I searched the hallways and behind staircases, finally resorting to looking in the bathrooms. “Taemin?” I called out to the fifth bathroom I had looked in. “Are you in here?” I hoped he was.
After a small silence, I sighed. He wasn’t in here either.
I was about to leave when a hoarse voice spoke up. “Minho?”
I sighed again, but this time with relief. I walked deeper into the bathroom until I saw an occupied stall. “Open up,” I said softly.
After some shuffling, the stall door swung open slowly. I felt my jaw drop as I laid my eyes on Taemin’s form huddled on the floor. What happened? Is he sick? Did someone hurt him?
It was only after I realized that I had been gaping that I coughed and spoke. “Taemin, are you okay?” My voice was dripping with worry and concern.
He tilted his head up to look at me and I gasped. His usual healthy glow was replaced by slightly sunken cheeks and bags under his eyes. Dried tear tracks stained his milky skin, and his plump lips were pulled into a trembling frown. Overall, he looked horrible and it completely and utterly devastated me.
“I-,” He started, but stopped short as he flung himself over the toilet. My chest constricted into itself as I looked at him.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I whispered in what I hoped was a soothing voice as I reached over to him and held his hair back, rubbing circles to calm him down with my other hand.
Why do I feel so heartbroken right now?
As I felt Taemin start to stand, I dropped my arms to my sides. But once he stood, his body trembled. He looked so weak, so helpless. I pulled him into a tight hug,
“I don’t know what happened, but you’ll be okay,” I cooed in his ear, rubbing circles on his back again. He just looked so broken, and I wanted to fix him.
I sighed and cursed myself as I felt wet spots start to spread on my shirt. Whatever or whoever did this to him would pay, and I would make sure of it.
“It’s okay,” I whispered again, and suddenly I felt his shoulder start to shake.
“It’s not,” Taemin whispered back in a cracking voice as his sobs started to rack his entire body. What was once silent crying suddenly became unrestrained wails. “It’s not okay, Minho. It’s not,” he wept out, and I was pretty sure that whatever was left of my heart had just shattered.
After a few long minutes, his cries died down to an occasional sniffle.
“Are you okay now?” I asked as I slowly pulled away from him and looked at his face. I brought my hand up and wiped the remaining tears away from his skin.
He shook his head as he gently squirmed away from me. Without meeting my eyes, he stepped out of the stall.
“It’s still not okay,” he said. The tone in his voice killed me a little. “Minho, I,” he started, pausing to take a deep, sniffling breath, “I don’t think we can be friends,” he said.
What?
We can’t be friends?
“But… why?” I asked, my voice failing me.
“I just can’t do it right now,” he muttered, avoiding my eyes at all costs. “I’m sorry,” he said before spinning around and walking out of the bathroom.
Something about the way he didn’t look back crushed me. And I knew that if my heart had broken while he was crying, but it was beyond repair now.
I wasn’t even sure why this made me so sad. Again, I felt myself denying the small part of my mind that kept screaming something I chose to ignore.
Anneyong ^^
I was planning to post this a few days ago, but for some reason, words wouldn't come to me ._. But here it is.
Dramatic irony ftw lol. What Minho doesn't know is that Krystal is, in fact, not honest and that he's the one causing Taemin to be like this.
On another note, thank you to everyone who read my NU'EST fic after last chapter ^^ There were a lot of you :) And sorry to you people who subscribed to it :/ I said there would be an update every Sunday AND that I would write chapters ahead of time to avoid hiatus, but it seems I DO have writer's block -___- I apologize.
Anyways, I hope you're looking forward to the JongKey confrontation next chappie <3 ^^
Until next time~
xoxo
This is a very late message, but if you haven't checked out my blog or profile yet, I'm currently on an indefinite hiatus. I'm not sure when I'll update. Sorry!
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