Enter you, 18 years old. 
Enter Taemin, 18 years old.

"...but it's so hard to take notes in his class," you sighed slouching over because of your books. 

"You just don't get enough sleep. You study and then you call me at one in the morning. It's no wonder you can't stay awake during your lectures. Idiot." Taesun laughed, not bothering to carry your books home while he carried nothing. Taesun's classes ended at 5pm, and yours at 7pm. Even so, he didn't mind waiting for you in the library and taking the bus with you home. For him, the two extra hours were nothing. 

You let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Why don't you try taking his lecture, then? See if you'd survive it?" 

"I don't need to," he snickered, walking faster. 

You followed him on a slower pace because your books weighed you down. Usually when a boy walks a girl home, the intention is sweet. With Taesun, it was like a workout. "Neeee~ you've got to lose all the weight you gained for the past six years of food I've bought you!"

You groaned, annoyed he even bothered coming with you if he was just going to make fun of you all the way home. 

You stuck your tongue out at him before reaching your house. Instead of doing the same, as the playful childish Taesun always did, he extended his arm out to touch your head. He shook your hair around before finally, putting a soft kiss on your forehead. "Don't sleep late and call me if you need anything." he grinned. 

You nodded, rushing upstairs to greet your parents before taking a nice hot bath. You dipped half of your face in, eyes becoming heavy at the steam emerging from the water. 

He'd been nice, that's for certain. What kind of guy would go that far for someone like you? To go that far even though he didn't have to. To impress constantly even you didn't want him to. To wait for you when you didn't expect him to. 

How long has it been since he'd gone so far for you? When did he start being so... kind? 

'Soul... mates.' You thought to yourself before submerging the rest of your face in the water. No one could change that. When there was no one else to listen to you, he was there. And you, for him. That, no one could change.

- - -

"Does this look cute...?" you asked yourself, looking at your outfit in the mirror. Though it wasn't uncomfortable, it was weird seeing yourself in the clothes that ulzzangs (fashion models) usually wore. 

There was a movie that came out a few days ago that you really wanted to see, so you decided to dress up nicely and ask Taesun to go with you. There would probably be a lot of people, so you decked yourself out in the clothes you'd never wear to school. This was okay, but only once in a while. 

Your parents were so used to you going out with Taesun that they didn't need to ask, which was nice. It wasn't as awkward for you either, since they saw him as a good friend / childhood friend of yours. 

"Yo~" you called through the window. "Oppa!" You held the movie tickets with excitement. Action wasn't exactly your type of movie, but Taesun liked it, so he might get a surprise from it. 

No response. Maybe he was at the back? You circled around the house's front and saw a parked car in the driveway. Maybe Mr. Lee had friends over? He always had his coworkers over often for tea and discussions, which was nice since he seemed really happy about them. 

You knocked again. "Taesun...?" 

"...get it!" a girl's voice called. When you realized that she wasn't part of the Lee family, you hid the tickets behind you. The door clicked open and the girl, probably a little older than you, stood directly inside it. "Annyeong~" she cooed, tilting her head to the side. She was so lovely. She had a small figure and her hair had natural waves that fell past her shoulders. She was gorgeous. 

"You must be Taesun's little sister!" she beamed, opening the door and giving you a hug. Why did she have to have a nice voice, too? 

"Mmm." Taesun replied lazily from the couch. What was her relationship with him? He stood up, stretching a little before making his way to both of you. "What's up?" he asked you. 

Were they dating...?

You tried making up an excuse. "I was just uh..." you looked at both of them, getting more and more nervous while they waited for a response. At the blankness of your expression, you noticed the couple bracelets they wore. Taesun had a red and white one, while she had a pink and white one, of matching beads and craftsmanship. Couple items meant they were really good friends, or, stating the obvious, a couple. "I was just..."

"Looking for me so we could watch a movie." said a painfully familiar voice. The tickets you hid behind you were snapped up and flicked towards the sight of Taesun and his illegitimate girlfriend. "Problem?" 

Taesun cocked his head to the side. "Are you showing off right now?" He peered from his brown eyes, showing a slight smirk of amusement. "Just go." he flicked his head forward, saying goodbye and closing the door. 

You couldn't turn around. You knew who it was. EXACTLY who it was. Even then, you didn't want to turn around. You couldn't. After he left... after all the emotions you built up, you couldn't turn around and act like it was all okay. 

"Pabo, are you going to look at our door all day?" he said. His voice was gentle. From the two years since you last heard his voice, it sounded gentle. It sounded fine. And that was the problem. The fact that he sounded fine while you were slowly crumbling away was the problem. You stared hard at the crevices of wood on the door, thinking that if you stared hard enough, you could wake up from some insane dream. 

"Come on," he said, directing you to him by taking hold of your wrist. The warmth of his hand was comforting, but you shook it off. You looked in the opposite direction of where he was standing, your ears getting warmer. It got harder to breathe through your nose, too, so you started sniffling. He was really unfair. When you dressed nicely, he always found a way to ruin it. When you thought it was okay if he wasn't around, he proved you wrong. When you bottled up all the emotions inside you, he burst it open and spilled them all back out. 

In a swift move you turned around directing yourself back home even though your eyes were clouded. Of course he wouldn't let you slip away. Of course. 

He took hold of your wrist again, pulling you to him. You turned, knowing this would happen, and fought to break free. He held you by your arms, pretty much giving you free reign to hit him. He looked good. After only two years, he looked great. His hair was a wonderful brownish red. If it weren't for the fact that you were supposed to be mad at him, you would have wanted to touch his hair. 

You hit his arms, hit your hands on his chest, and dug your nails in his coat. He didn't stop you. He didn't even speak. 

"You're unfair." you cried grabbing hold of the collar of his shirt and tugging on it as much as you could. It would probably stretch it, but you didn't care. It was too late to care about his clothes, no matter how expensive. "You leave me without even calling once. Once. Then you show up and pretend everything's okay!" You cried, not caring if you probably didn't look as pretty as you did when you came out of your house. "You didn't even come to graduation. You didn't even say happy birthday. You didn't buy me pat bing soo. You didn't even.... even..." you inhaled, not being able to speak any more. Now you were just hyperventilating, your face wet with tears for him. 

In an impulsive way to end your argument, you clung onto him, soaking his clothes with the tears that never seemed to end. 

You looked up to meet eyes with him, but were immediately covered by his hand. "What're you—,"

"Don't look at me." he said simply, but you didn't listen. You moved his hand away, only to see that he was looking somewhere else. His ears were also a bright red. You held his face with both your hands, turning him slowly so you could see him. Though he still didn't look at you, what you saw was clear enough.

Taemin, who never shed a tear in all his stage performances, was crying. Even though he was voted the manliest member of the group, his tears had fallen as easily as rain.

He said your name, his voice a soft, sweet whisper. "You never, for one second, left my mind."