CHAPTER 4

                     Taemin walked in with a bouquet of flowers to find Minho sitting up on the bed, his back propped up with pillows. He gave the bouquet to Minho and sat down next to him on the bed.

                     “Minho hyung, I know this is really random, but… would you like to go on a date with me?” Taemin asked Minho, having cupped Minho’s face in his hands.

                     Minho smiled. “Of course I want to, but… I haven’t been out of the hospital for a really long time and I’m not sure if it’s safe.”

                     “Don’t worry about it, hyung. I asked the nurse. She said it was okay. She was actually quite excited that you’re going to have a date! She promised me she would get you dressed and ready.” Taemin said confidently. He wasn’t one to take risks, but when it came to Minho, he was ready for anything.

                     “Why are you so sure that I would say yes?” Minho asked.

                     Taemin just chuckled and said, “Just had a feeling.” He winked at Minho. “I need to go now, but I’ll come by tonight at 7p.m. to pick you up. Get ready, alright!” Taemin said, waving as he walked out the door.

                     Jonghyun knocked on the door of Se Kyung’s apartment. Se Kyung let him in and offered him a drink. They sat down at the kitchen counter when Jonghyun asked, “So what’s the emergency?”

                     Se Kyung thought for a moment. “Hang on, I’ll be right back.” She walked into the living room. Not long after, Jonghyun heard a scream. He ran out to see Se Kyung had jumped on top of a chair, pointing at a cockroach on the ground.

                     “Ah! Help! There’s a cockroach!” Se Kyung screamed.

                     Jonghyun calmly walked over to the cockroach and slammed some newspaper over the cockroach. After making sure the cockroach is dead, Jonghyun turned around to help Se Kyung down from the chair. Se Kyung lost her balance and fell, but luckily Jonghyun’s reactions were fast enough to be able to catch her just in time.

                     Se Kyung blushed in Jonghyun’s arms. “Uh-uh… s-sorry!” She stuttered. She quickly jumped down and apologized.

                     “It’s okay. Now what’s so urgent that you called me over?” Jonghyun asked again. He wanted to get back to Key. After all, it was rare that they get an off day to be able to spend time with each other.

                     “Oh. Right. The manager wanted us to sign this. He wanted it by tomorrow, but I totally forgot about it. He said that if we didn’t sign this contract to be the spokespeople for Beauty Skins, we would lose a lot of money and opportunities. He left for Japan a couple of days ago so he passed this to me and asked me to get you to sign it.” Se Kyung explained.

                     “Okay.” Jonghyun said, glancing over the contract, and then signed it. “I need to get back now. You don’t mind, right? Is there anything else?” Jonghyun asked.

                     “Nope. Just needed you to sign this contract. Go home; I know Key’s waiting for you. It’s hard enough for the both of you to get to spend time together. I’ll be fine.” Se Kyung said, reassuring Jonghyun.

                     She likes Jonghyun, but she also knew that Jonghyun is way too loyal to Key. Besides, she liked seeing Jonghyun happy. And if that meant that Jonghyun had to be with Key, then she had no other choice.

                     Jonghyun smiled and hugged Se Kyung as a thank you for being an understanding friend. When he walked out of Se Kyung’s apartment, he noticed something familiar lying on the ground. It was Key’s favorite scarf. He picked it up. It even had that little tear on the side, like Key’s. Well, isn’t that weird? He thought.

                     Jonghyun kept the scarf in his pocket and went home. He wondered if Key had been spying on him, but then that would be weird. Hmm, I’ll just ask him when I get home.

                     Minho got dressed and waited for Taemin. Taemin showed up at exactly 7p.m., just like he promised. He wheeled Minho downstairs and got him into his car.

                     “Taemin? Where are we going? Minho asked, curious.

                     “Somewhere only we know.” Taemin chuckled, turning on the cd player in the car. The song ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ came on and Taemin sang along. “It’s one of my favorite songs, you know.” Taemin said, smiling.

                     Minho was too busy staring out the window, amazed by the sight of the world beyond the hospital. The streets of Seoul had changed since his last trip out of the hospital. Everything seems so new to him.

                     Taemin pulled up outside a restaurant. “I just wanted us to have a normal date. Is that okay? Or do you want to go somewhere else? I was planning on watching a movie afterwards.” Taemin asked Minho.

                     “Taemin, do you mind if we went to the beach after our dinner? I miss going to the beach. It’s been forever since I’ve been there.” Minho looked at Taemin, mustering the best aegyo he could.

                     “Of course. Anything for you, hyung.” Taemin said as he helped Minho get down from the car and wheeled him into the restaurant. They ordered pretty much everything on the menu, since Minho has a large appetite. They chatted away, and before they knew it, it was already 10p.m. Taemin drove them down to the beach and Minho lay down on the sand. He looked up at the stars.

                     “Do you know what stars are, Taemin?” Minho asked Taemin who was also lying down next to him, admiring the night sky above them.

                     “Things that give people hope.” Taemin smiled and answered.

                     “I was looking for a scientific answer, but I guess that’s true too. So what do you hope for when you look at the stars?” Minho said, laughing.

                     “Someone to love who will love me back. Someone like you.” Taemin answered without hesitating. Looks like he wasn’t the only one wishing for that.

                     Minho got up and helped himself back onto the wheelchair. “Taemin? I’m tired. Can we go back to the hospital?” He tried to hide his face, knowing that Taemin would spot the tears b at his eyes if he turned around to face Taemin.

                     Taemin kneeled down in front of Minho. He used his finger to lightly tip Minho’s chin up. “What’s wrong? I won’t believe you if you say that nothing’s wrong. I haven’t known you for a long time, but I know when you’re not okay.” Taemin said, looking into Minho’s tear-brimmed eyes.

                     “Well… I just don’t want you to love me because I know that I won’t be able to stay with you forever. I don’t want you to be sad, I’d rather have my heart broken now than be together with you and break your heart when I’m gone.” Minho softly answered.

                     “I won’t regret this, okay? I won’t regret anything I do with you. I don’t care if I’ll be heartbroken. I want to be with you. Let’s just make what we can out of the time we have, alright?” Taemin said, kissing Minho’s forehead.

                     “You’re so silly to do this, knowing you’ll get hurt.” Minho said, lowering his head again.

                     “I’ll be stupid if I don’t. I would hate myself if I let you go. Understand that, okay? No matter how you push me away, I’m going to stay.” Taemin said, kissing Minho on the lips this time.

                     “You’re making it hard for me to push you away, you know. How am I supposed to forget my first kiss?” Minho said, blushing. He couldn’t stop smiling.

                     “Good then. It was my first too.” Taemin grinned.

                     Taemin helped Minho to lie down on the sand again and this time, Minho put his arm around Taemin while Taemin rested his head on Minho’s chest. This time, neither of them let go.

**********

                     Jonghyun opened the door to their apartment. The house was weirdly quiet. Usually, Key would be blasting music from their room while singing along and sometimes even dancing along to the song.

                     He walked around the apartment but found that it was empty. Eh? Where did he go? He promised to wait for me here. Jonghyun wondered. He spotted a note on the bed.

I knew you were too good to be true.

I knew I was way too lucky when I had you.

I knew that nobody could ever be this happy.

Kibum x.

                     The note slipped from his hands when he finally noticed what was weird about their apartment. Most of Key’s things were gone.