Taemin was often amused by the sight of his friends or band mates crying. After all, he had recorded Kai of EXO crying once. There was something fun about seeing his friends cry.

 

But Taemin wasn't smiling at the sight of this one person crying. In fact, it made Taemin anything BUT happy or amused.

 

She was a pretty young girl, fresh out of high school. He had seen her in the SM building from time to time—apparently she was the younger sister of one of the male trainees of SM Entertainment. She often brought gifts for her brother, and would even buy drinks and (healthy) snacks for the other trainees. In fact, she even treated some of SM's idols, like GG, EXO, and SHINee. Taemin never had a chance to catch her name, but he knew she was a bright, kind, and gentle person. It was like there was a ray of sunshine and happiness whenever she was around.

 

That happiness, however, was nowhere to be seen now. Taemin could only watch, frozen, as the girl cried. She sat by her brother—a pretty decent-looking young man—who patted her back awkwardly in an attempt to comfort her.

 

Her crying was the painful kind, where she had trouble breathing and gasped for air in between heart-wrenching sobs. She tried to keep her noise down; she and her brother were sitting in a dance practice room, though it was empty. Taemin found himself unable to enter the room; he had been about to earlier before he heard the girl's choked cries of sadness.

 

He peered through a small opening he had made before he had tried to enter. The poor girl was violently shaking, desperate to quiet her cries.

 

"Haeran, it'll be okay," the brother finally said. Taemin bit his lip as her brother added quickly, "He's a jerk and doesn't deserve you."

 

Oh...of course it's boy problems...why else would a girl cry like that? Taemin reasoned, though he didn't like the idea one bit. She was such a sweet girl, and she didn't deserve her heart to be broken for some jerk. Even her brother thinks he's an .

 

"B-But how could he?!" she managed to argue in between shaky, throaty sobs. "What did I do wrong?"

 

Taemin frowned then. She's blaming herself now?

 

Haeran's brother seemed to dislike the same thing Taemin was frowning for. "I told you: he's a jerk! He was a player back in high school...I thought he changed, but he obviously didn't..."

 

She was dating a player? Taemin wondered. The mere idea that such a kind girl was in a relationship with a guy like that didn't sit well with the member of SHINee. For some reason, it pricked a nerve in him. He could feel himself getting angry, and his rage only grew by the poor girl's crying.

 

She sat with her brother for about another ten minutes. Taemin felt like he couldn't leave, so he stayed and guarded the door. As he stood by the doors, his mind whirled with questions.

 

How did she even meet a douche like that? Was it a blind date? How long were they together? What EXACTLY did he do to make her cry?

But questions like this only made Taemin angry, both at the unknown boyfriend and at himself. Taemin wondered why it bothered him so much, which only made him more agitated.

 

The door swung open then, and Taemin watched as the brother stepped out, startled at Taemin's presence. "S-Sunbaenim!" he squeaked in surprise.

 

His sister froze beside him as she tried to step out, only to see Taemin by the doorway. Her eyes were bloodshot and still full of tears, and her cheeks were flushed a bright red from all of the blood rushing to her face when she had been crying. "T-Taemin ssi..." she whispered in shock. She turned away from Taemin’s gaze and ducked her head to hide her face, clearly embarrassed by her appearance.

 

She stayed quiet for a moment before tugging at her brother’s shirt gently. “Thanks for letting me stay for a little bit; I’ll be going,” she said softly. Then she addressed Taemin, saying, “Excuse me Taemin ssi.”

 

She bowed deeply before turning on her heel and quickly exiting the scene. Taemin stared after her with an unknown lump in his throat. He couldn’t let her leave like that.

 

“Go back to practicing,” Taemin practically ordered the trainee as he followed after Haeran.

 

“Wait,” Taemin said, not wanting to draw attention to him or the still emotionally distraught girl. She seemed to falter in her steps, but continued walking. “Wait!” Taemin called again, this time louder.

 

When she didn’t stop, Taemin clenched his jaw before he nearly shouted, “Haeran wait!”

 

The girl stumbled to a halt, spinning her attention to Taemin in surprise. Her still red and watery eyes were wide with confusion and slight fear as Taemin approached her. He jogged up to her before exhaling deeply.

 

“Can I help you?” Haeran asked, unsure of why Taemin had followed her.

 

Taemin himself was as confused as the girl in front of him was. He didn’t know what to do, but he didn’t want her leaving like that. “Haeran,” Taemin started, staring intently at her.

 

She fidgeted under his gaze, unable to meet his sharp eyes. “Haeran...I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

 

“Me?” she squeaked, blinking in bewilderment at Taemin. It was the first time she had met his eyes with hers, and Taemin’s heart fluttered.

 

“Yes,” he said seriously. “Are you okay? ...are you GOING to be okay?”

 

Haeran’s face reddened even more, but for a whole other reason. She cleared with uncertainty before asking, “Is there a reason you’re asking this?”

 

“I don’t want to see you upset. I don’t like not seeing you smile,” Taemin admitted.

 

Haeran continued to blush as Taemin said, “A pretty, happy person like you shouldn’t ever have to be upset, and that’s why I don’t want to see you cry.”

 

“You don’t want to see me...cry?” she asked. Then a look of mortified embarrassment crossed her face. “Were you watching?”

 

Taemin looked a bit guilty for being caught, but nodded seriously. “Yes. And I didn’t like it; you were crying, for whatever reason, and I don’t like it at all.”

 

“Why don’t you like me crying?” Haeran asked, confused.

 

“Because I don’t want to see the girl I like crying!” Taemin said.

 

His confession even surprised himself.

 

Do I really like her? he wondered. He looked over the girl standing in front of him. She was a lovely sun that had entered his life, that was always slightly near. Her smile could make even the cloudiest days brighter. Haeran had a natural, calming aura about her that soothed everyone she encountered.

 

And it wasn’t until Taemin had seen her tears that he really understood. Yes...I do like her.

 

“The girl I like...crying? It’s something I don’t ever want to see happen,” Taemin continued. He could only ramble on as Haeran stared at him in shock. “I want you to always be happy, and if you ever shed tears, they have to be tears of joy.”

 

“T-Taemin ssi,” Haeran whispered. Her eyes welled up and Taemin bit his lip as she started softly crying.

 

“Don’t cry,” Taemin gently begged. He reached out and wiped her tears. “Anything that makes you unhappy, or stressed...anything that hurts you, I want to take away. I’ll take it all away. Just don’t cry.”

 

“Do you know how cheesy you sound?” she whimpered in between sobs. Taemin chuckled then, glad to see she had some humor in her now.

 

“I’m trying to be serious,” he teased lightly, still wiping away her tears. He cupped her cheeks in his hands then and looked her in the eye. “Haeran, will you go out with me?”

 

“T-Taemin ssi!” she gasped.

 

“You don’t have to use the honorifics. Just Taemin is fine,” he said. He smiled in amusement when she made a face.

 

The girl blinked in consideration. She stared at him for a moment before placing her hands over his. “Are you being serious?” she asked in a small voice.

 

Taemin nodded, and repeated himself. “Haeran...go out with me.”

 

Haeran bit her lip. Her hands lowered his from her face, but she didn’t let them go. She ducked her head to hide behind her hair before answering, “I can’t.”

 

“What?” Taemin asked, shocked. His mind was screaming at him to ask a million different questions, but Haeran beat him to speaking.

 

“I just got my heart broken. I don’t want you just to be a rebound boyfriend,” she explained seriously. She lifted her gaze to meet his, and the honesty in her eyes made Taemin cave.

 

“I don’t mind,” he admitted. “But if that’s how you feel, we can wait. I’ll wait for you, until you feel like you’re ready. I want to be the one who takes all your pain and fears away, Haeran. Please give me that chance.”