Taemin sighed tiredly as he walked out of the school gate; he had agreed to meet Minho in the park just next to the school after classes ended, he doesn’t see any signs of the elder anywhere, his thoughts were disrupted when he was pushed onto the wall painfully.

“We meet again.” It was Chansung and his friends again.

“Could you just leave me alone, what did I ever do to you?”

“Let’s just say, you're very entertaining to bully around.” Chansung took a step closer to Taemin, making the younger shrink back, “and that guy from earlier really pissed me off, you know I hate getting pissed off.”

Chansung was standing closely infront of the red-head, a smirk forming in his lips; Taemin closed his eyes, tears slowly forming behind his closed lids.

“But since Jonghyun and Key aren’t here to save your this time and why waste such pretty face, why don’t we have some fun first, shall we?”

Soon, Taemin was being dragged to a secluded part of a park, he tried trashing around to loosen Chansung’s grip on his arm, but his efforts were useless when the grip on his arm tightened painfully, he knew if would bruise right after.

When they arrived at their destination, Taemin recognize the place, they were in the corner of the park, the corner was covered with trees and bushes, so the percentage of getting caught was slim.

“Help!” Taemin screamed, but he was only slapped across the face.

“Be quite!” Chansung said before throwing Taemin on the ground.

Taemin knew he should at least try escaping, so he did something he didn’t expect, he charged towards Chansung, kicking him in the crotch before kicking one of his friends in the face, knocking him out, Chansung fell on ground clutching his crotch in pain, Taemin ran away without looking back.

“Go after him!”

---

He was tired, he wanted to stop running, but he didn’t want to risk getting caught, Taemin stopped and hid in another part of the park, he tried to catch his breath, sweat was trickling down his neck, and forehead.

‘Why can’t they just give up?’

He ran off again, without looking back.

“.”

Taemin cursed as he stopped in a dead end.

“No where to run, no where to hide.”

Taemin flinched and looked back, Chansung was making his way towards him, he looked a lot angrier than earlier, making Taemin step back.

“You're useless Taemin, no wonder your father left you and your mother, he doesn’t want to take care of such a useless son!”

Those words made Taemin angry, he might not have grown without a father, but insulting his family was another level.

“You don’t know anything you ing bastard!” Taemin screamed, he charged towards Chansung and his friends, throwing kicks and punches, managing to knock out two of Chansung’s friends, before he was grabbed again.

“Seriously Chansung, when will you ever learn?”

Taemin looked up, he was thankful that Jonghyun was there, but he was surprised to see Minho along with him.

A fight broke out, it was a six against two, not including the two that Taemin knocked out, but it didn’t last, soon, Chansung and his friends were on the ground groaning in pain.

“I already warned you earlier, but I guess you were stupid enough not to listen.”

“I’m reporting this to the school, watch Taemin for me Minho.”

Jonghyun ran off towards the school, leaving Minho to look after a dazed Taemin.

“Hey, you alright?” Minho patted Taemin’s head.

“H-hyung.” Taemin suddenly hugged the older, “I was so scared!”

“It’s ok now Taemin, I promise I’ll protect you from now on.” Minho hugged the younger back, letting him cry on his chest.

---

“Hopefully the school is gonna take care of Chansung and his gang, I heard they were going to get expelled.”

After the event earlier, Jonghyun took Taemin home; Minho excused himself off, saying something about taking care of something.

“Hey Taemin, you alright?” Jonghyun waved a hand in front of Taemin’s face to catch his attention.

“I’m fine, hyung.”

“Oh by the way, did you knock out two of Chansung’s friends earlier? How did you do that?”

“I don’t even know hyung, Chansung insulted my family, and then I just got so angry.”

“Well, you should rest right now, I think you're tired, and I should get home, I have a lot of homework to do.” Jonghyun got up from his position on Taemin’s bed, and made his way towards the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Okay?”

---

(Minho’s P.O.V.)

I failed at becoming Taemin’s protector, what if I came too late? he could have gotten seriously hurt, I knew I shouldn’t have left him alone after class, it was a good thing I ran into Jonghyun.

We were suppose to hang out, but I guess another time, I didn’t even know why I asked him to hang out with me after school, something seriously weird is happening.

I was walking back to my apartment when I stopped by the convenient store; I was just planning on buying an energy drink, but then I saw something by the corner, it was Banana Milk.

Maybe I should ask Taemin to hang out with me again to make up for today, so I took a whole carton of banana milk, before going to the cashier.

The way Taemin hugged me earlier made me feel weird, but a good type of weird, it made me feel like I need to protect him a lot more, so I hugged him back, ever since I met him, unknown things kept happening to me, like when were in class earlier, when he smiled at me, it made me feel happy, the way he stared at me, every little thing he did caught my attention.

“What are you doing to me Lee Taemin?”

---

“Mom?” Taemin crept into the living room, where he saw his mom watching television, while knitting, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, sit down next to me.” Taemin’s mom turned the tv off while patting the empty seat beside her, “So what do you want to ask?”

“It’s about dad.” Taemin said nervously.

“Oh, what about him?” Taemin knew his mom didn’t like the topic at all when he saw his mom’s expression.

“I just wanted to know, why isn’t dad with us?”

“I knew that you would ask about him someday, I never had to courage to tell you about him, but I guess your old enough to know.”

Taemin calmed down a bit; his mother grabbed both his hands before telling him her story.

“I met your dad in high school, he was such a clumsy boy back then, much like yourself today, then one day, he confessed to me, and we became a couple, we dated secretly, he said it was safer that way, till college nobody knew our relationship, but then on a certain night, people came by my apartment, trashing the whole place, they told me to stay away from your father, then your father found out, so he told me everything,” Taemin’s mother stopped, and gripped his hand tighter, “He was the oldest son in the Lee clan, he said he loved me enough to keep our relationship a secret, to protect me. On our last day of college, I told him I was pregnant, he was happy, but during those times, he was facing a problem with his family, by the time you were born, he had to leave, he said it was getting too dangerous for us, so I was left to raise you on my own, up till now, I haven’t heard anything from him.”

Taemin was left speechless, so his father was part of a clan? He felt a lot more confused; his father left them, to protect them?

“What’s his name?”

“His name is Lee Jinki, I tried looking for him a few years back, I even went to his apartment, but he disappeared, it’s like he never existed.” Taemin looked up at his mother, he wiped away the tears that fell from his mother’s eyes, “but you know Taemin, I believe that his still alive, I know his out there, protecting us.”

“Thanks for telling me about dad, mom.” Taemin hugged his crying mother, “At least I know that dad didn’t leave us on purpose.”

“Why don’t you go to sleep now Taemin, you still have school tomorrow.” Taemin’s mom wiped away her tears, as he ruffled her son’s hair.

“Ok then, good night mom.” Taemin smiled at his mom before walking off to his room.

‘Oh Taemin, If only you knew the faith of being in the Lee clan, we're doing this to protect you.’

TBC~

---

AN: I apologize for the late update, I forgot to post this the other day! No update next week, I will be staying in Hong Kong for a few days :) anyone from Hong Kong reading this right now? Give me a comment! :D

So Minho and Jonghyun saved our dear little Taemin

These two... dorks...

The next chapter will be longer! I'll post the next update when I get back from Hong Kong! <3

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