Minji’s POV

I woke up Sunday morning to sunlight streaming through my bedroom window. Yawning, I sat up and stretched my arms over my head. As I did so, something caught my eye, and I turned to see a note sitting atop my dresser.

Good morning, Min!

Hope you caught up on your beauty sleep, because today you’re going on a walk.

Follow the trail!

I wrinkled my brow as I read, then looked at the ground to see a trail of silver leading from my bed to the door. The trail glinted in the sunlight, and I peered closer. Are those…Hershey Kiss wrappers?

I whipped my head around to look at the jar on my desk where I’d been putting my blind date’s Kisses—and sure enough, it was empty. Still, though, twelve Hershey Kisses was definitely not enough to make that long of a trail. What a waste of chocolate, I thought, smirking as I slid out of bed and slung a jacket over the top of my PJs.

The trail led down the stairs and right up to the front door. I glanced around the house, but there was nobody in sight. “I’m going for a walk!” I yelled, just in case anyone was there to hear, before slipping out the front door.

Upon stepping outside, I crashed into someone and unintentionally gave a little shriek. Looking up, my mouth dropped open.

“Kris?”

The tall blonde had his lips clamped together, looking as though he were trying not to laugh. I felt my cheeks burn red, and I protested crossly, “I’d like to see you try to look cool while walking into a six-foot human wall.” Then suddenly I noticed that he was holding a sign. Go to the park, it read.

“The park? Why?” I asked puzzledly, looking up. But Kris silently shook his head, and flipping his sign around, he pointed to the sentence on it: Sorry, I’m not allowed to talk.

“Ugh. Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes and pushing him out of the way. “To the park it is.”

As I made my way down the sidewalk, enjoying the sunny day, I came across five more of my blind dates—Suho, Xiumin, Tao, Lay, and D.O., all holding signs with arrows pointing the way to the park (in case I got lost every fifty feet or so). But each time I tried to talk to one of them, they would flip their signs, which all bore the same message: Sorry, I’m not allowed to talk. “Yeah, okay, got it,” I sighed, as D.O. flipped his sign with a slightly sheepish look on his face. “You’re not allowed to talk. My bad.”

I reached the park and looked around. After a moment, I spotted Chanyeol standing under a nearby tree and walked over, shielding my eyes from the sunlight. Peering at his sign, I read:

Congrats for making it this far! ^.^

Now follow the walking trail. And don’t get lost!

“As if I could,” I snorted, waving goodbye to Chanyeol and heading towards the path. “It’s not like I pass someone every two seconds or anything.”

Sure enough, as soon as I rounded the first bend of the walking trail, there—lo and behold!—stood Luhan with his sign. “Hi Bambi,” I said nonchalantly, waving at him. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, but before he could I grabbed his sign and flipped it over. “Oh, look at that—you’re not allowed to talk,” I sighed in mock disappointment. “How unfortunate.” And I turned to continue along my way, smirking at the indignant look Luhan no doubt wore behind my back.

As I made my way down the walking trail, I passed Chen, Baekhyun, and Sehun. When I came to Kai, his sign read, Almost there! I glanced up at Kai, who gave me a guilty look before turning his sign around. I’m sorry for kissing you, it read. It wasn’t my idea.

“Yeah, I know that now,” I laughed, waving a hand in the air. “It’s no big deal; Key and the others explained everything to me.”

Kai’s eyes lit up in relief, and I grinned good-naturedly at him before continuing down the path.

I came around another bend—and froze. Underneath a weeping willow was a bench, which was in front of a keyboard on a stand. And guess who was sitting behind the keyboard?

“Taemin,” I breathed, staring at him. He looked up, and I saw him swallow nervously before gesturing for me to sit on the bench. I complied, still staring at him, as he timidly placed his fingers on the keyboard.

Just then I noticed four figures come out from behind a tree—Key, Jonghyun, Minho, and Onew. They all stood behind Taemin, and as I stared at them in shock, Minho met my eye and winked.

Taemin played the beginning notes of a song, the music filling the air. Then Onew started singing, and I looked at him, stunned. Since when can Onew sing?

Suddenly Jonghyun joined in, and then Key. And when the chorus came they were all singing, and it was absolutely beautiful, and my eyes were drifting closed as their voices blended together in heavenly harmony.

Then Taemin’s voice filled my ears. It was so heartfelt, so emotionally-driven, that my eyes flew back open to stare at his face. His own eyes had fluttered closed, and his long, slender fingers danced over the piano keys, the sound emanating from them only adding to the beauty of the music. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, even when my vision began to blur.

The song came to a close all too soon, and only then did I realize that there were tears on my cheeks. I brushed them away quickly as Taemin played the hauntingly beautiful ending notes. He took his fingers off the keyboard, then stood up, making his way over to me. I could only watch him approach, and when at last he stopped in front of me, I looked up at his face—to see him wearing such a tender expression that it instantly made a feeling of warmth spread throughout my body.

“Minji,” Taemin said simply, and the sound of my name rolling off his tongue alone made me shiver. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed hearing him say it.

He took my hand, helping me up, and then just stared down at my face in awe, as though he’d never seen me before. For a moment we just stood there, looking at one another. Then Taemin drew breath.

 “I know I’ll never be able to make it up to you.” He bit his lip, taking both my hands in his. “And I know I don’t deserve a soul like yours. But seeing you with other people made me feel this…this pain I’ve never felt before.” His voice shook a little, and he squeezed my hands tighter. “It made me realize just how much I missed being able to call you mine.”

He traced his finger slowly down my face, my cheek with a gentle touch. “I love you, Minji,” he said earnestly. “And I want to be yours again, if only you’ll have me.” He swallowed hard, taking a deep breath. “Will…will you please give me a second chance?”

 There was a silence, filled only by the chirping of birds and the rustling of wind through the trees. And then all at once, feeling an overwhelming amount of affection for this beautiful boy standing in front of me, I blurted:

“Of course, you idiot.”

A/N: Wow, we've already arrived at the last chapter. Where has the time gone? o.O

Anyways, I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to subscribe, comment, and upvote this story. It really means a lot to me, especially since I'm a fairly new author who's still trying to establish herself here on AFF. So - to express my gratitude for all of my lovely readers - I have a little surprise/present planned in the form of a oneshot, which I'll divulge the details of next update.

Epilogue is still to come! ^^

P.S: The song I had pictured Taemin and the others singing for Minji is SHINee's "Sleepless Night". It's one of my favorite ballads, so in case you haven't heard it yet, here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCYROijMeQM