~Taemin~

I was just a regular guy in the tenth grade.

I had friends, family, and health. What more could I have asked for?

Love.

***************

That one day. Where everything was taken from me. All except him. Who I brought down with me.

Kai- Hyung, I need to speak with you. It’s important. Please meet me after study hall in the park.

Taemin- Okay. I’ll see you then. ^^

I remember that day at school passing by so slow. I was so excited to see what he was going to get me that year for my birthday. My 16^th birthday. He was my best friend, so he knew me better than myself and always thought of the most special things to get me. I couldn’t keep still in my seat as I watched the final seconds of study hall tick down on the wall clock. I literally jumped up when the bell rang and ran out the door, out the front school doors, and towards the park.

It was dark by the time I reached the park. Bright stars filled the night sky as I walked to the bench and sat down. I decided to watch them as I waited for my best friend. I looked around but stopped as a cluster of five bright stars caught my eye. They were so beautiful; it didn’t seem that they could shine brighter than they were.

“Boo!”

I jumped off the bench and turned around, startled by him.

“Haha I got you! Happy birthday hyung!”

“Damnit Jongin you scared me!” I yelled in between laughs.

“Sorry hyung, but this will make up for it, I promise,” he said as he smiled and pulled a small box out of his coat. He handed it to me and smiled even brighter. I took it from his freezing hands and smiled back at him. I slowly opened the box and saw a locket necklace with a silver chain. The locket was also silver, and was engraved with:

“To: Taemin

I love you, hyung”

I opened the locket and tears began to form in my eyes when I saw what was inside. On the left was a picture of us when we first met in first grade, and on the right was a picture of us that I remembered taking a week previously.

I closed the locket and looked back into his eyes. I felt my tears run down my cheeks as I put the locket back into its box and pulled him into a long hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight. He put his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. I rested my head on his shoulder and tried to stop myself from crying.

“Happy birthday hyung. I love you,” he said.

“I love you too Kai. You are the best friend that anyone could ever ask for.”

“Here, let me put it on you,” he said, taking the box from my hand and pulling out the locket. I turned around so he could put the necklace on me.

I turned back around and looked down at the necklace. “It’s beautiful. Thank you so much.”

“I want to show you something else, but you have to promise not to be mad at me, okay?” he said, pulling away from the hug and looking into my eyes.

“Okay, I promise.”

He took a few steps away from me and told me to close my eyes. I did and waited for him to tell me to open them again. I felt the wind blow around me and saw colors flashing behind my eyelids.

“Can I open my eyes now?”

“Yes, open them.”

I couldn’t believe what I saw. I looked into the sky and saw that the stars spelled out “Happy 16^th Birthday Taemin ❤” I looked back at Kai and saw him smiling right at me. His hands were in a position that looked like he was controlling the stars’ movements.

“Are you… controlling that?” I asked, confused.

“Yes. Hyung, I have powers. Magic is what you would call it,” he said, stepping towards me again.

“Oh my god, this is so cool! What else can you do?” I said, sounding like an excited little kid.

“This,” he said, taking my hand, “Hold on tight!”

He took off into the air, bringing me with him. We were flying! Me and my magical best friend were flying in the sky on my birthday. I didn’t think that night could get any better. I held on tight to his hand as he brought us up higher. We were so high that we could touch the clouds, which I did. I looked at him and smiled, which he returned. My smile left my face as I shivered. My jacket wasn’t enough to keep me warm, especially when we were this high in the sky.

“Is it cold? Do you want us to go down?” he asked me.

“Yes, please,” I said, shivering again. He brought us down and we landed slowly but safely in the same spot of the park as before. We looked at each other and I hugged him again.

“Thank you so much Kai, this has been the best birthday ever. Why didn’t you tell me sooner about your powers?” I asked him.

“I had to be sure. But now I know that I am,” he answered.

“Sure of what?”

“Hyung, I love you.”

I smiled at him and hugged him tight again.

“I love you too Kai.”

“No, hyung,” he said, pulling away, “I mean that I love you. Not just as a friend. I’m in love with you,” he looked at me serious and took my hand. I looked at him and slowly pulled my hand away from him.

“Jongin… I’m sorry… but you’re my best friend. I don’t want us to ruin our amazing friendship with this. I can’t risk losing you; I care about you too much.” I said, looking into his deep brown eyes.

“But, we can just try being together. It won’t ruin us if we don’t let it. I really do love you, hyung,” he said, taking both my hands in his.

“No, Jongin. I’m sorry but I can’t.”

He let go of my hands and looked at me, his eyes full of hurt. I saw tears form in his eyes and felt my heart break into pieces in my chest.

“But… I did all this for you. I told you about these,” he said, holding out his hand to show his powers light up in his hand. “I’ve always been the best friend I could be to you. I always put you before me. I always loved you. Why can’t you just try? Why are you doing this to me?” he said, anger in his voice. Tears ran down his cheeks and he turned to walk away.

“Wait, please don’t leave!” I yelled as I ran to him and grabbed his wrist. He quickly turned to me and pulled his wrist away from me. I looked at his eyes and stepped back in fear. They were glowing red in anger. It radiated from his entire body. I stepped back again. I had never seen him this angry before.

“Kai, please calm-“

“Why? Why can’t you just try? I love you! If you really cared about me, you would do this for me!” He stepped towards me as I stepped back again.

“Please, don’t do this,” I said as I began crying again, this time in fear. I fell back onto the park bench as I stepped back once more in fear. He stepped forward and hovered over me, anger burning in his eyes.

“Taemin!”

I turned my head to look where I heard my name called.

“Key!” I yelled and ran towards my other best friend. I hugged him once I reached him and he put his arms around me, protecting me.

“What happened? I asked Krystal where you went and she said that you and Kai went to the park, so I came over here,” he looked over at Kai, who looked even angrier at the sight of Key.

“What happened to Kai…? Did he hurt you?” Key said, backing up and pulling me farther away from Kai.

“Leave us alone!” Kai yelled. All I saw was a flash of light and then Key and I flew backwards. We both fell on our backs with a loud thud.

“Taemin, are you okay?”  Key asked me as he tried getting back up.

“Yeah, I’m fine, are you?” I asked.

“I think so.”

I turned back to Kai and saw that the radiating anger was gone and was replaced with concern.

“T-Taemin… I’m s-so sorry, I didn’t mean-“

“How could you do this? I thought we were best friends! How could you hurt me? You never did this before!” I yelled at him in anger.

“I swear, I didn’t mean-“

“Shut up!” I yelled, pulling the locket from my neck and throwing it at him. It landed in front of him and he looked at me surprised.

“Not only did you hurt me, but you hurt Key too. I can’t believe you did this. Come on Key, let’s go,” I said, helping Key up from the ground and supporting him as we walked away.

“No, you can’t leave me. Never.” I heard Kai say. I had no chance to turn and see what he meant, but I saw another flash and we were no longer in the park. I looked at Key, who was still next to me. I looked around to see where we were, but all I saw were white walls and white floors.

”Where are we?”