3

It was 8am and Taehyun was sitting in the same bakery he was days ago, waiting for Mino to come as they agreed earlier that morning to meet here. He was all by himself, sipping coffee quietly, without the unfriendly vibes of his, probably because he was in a good mood, many eyes of many persons in the shop were stealing glances at him. Taehyun was popular, and people rarely saw him, so some of the students secretly took pictures of him with their phone.

Taehyun started to feel that this was a bad idea, to meet Mino at a place like this, but just when he was about to stand up and leave the shop, the older boy came in.

“Hey! Sorry I made you wait!” Taehyun looked up at the new arrival boy, he smiled a bit then nodded as a greeting. Mino wore a snapback with a silly cartoon character on it. It looked funny but somehow suited him very well. He rushed in with his clothes messy, he sat himself the seat opposite with Taehyun and hand the younger boy his sketchbook.

“Why there is so many people today?”, he looked around in the crowded shop while tried to fix his necktie. Taehyun didn’t say anything, he just open the book as soon as he got it in his hands.
It was impressive, really impressive. The younger boy smiled when he saw himself well drawn, but Mino and the other students couldn’t see because he intended to hide his face behind the book. He slowly observe the drawings one by one, carefully turning those pages. Mino just looked at the boy in front of him, wanting to see his hidden expression. “You like it?”, he smiled with his whole face after seeing the boy’s slightly nods.

Both of them had no idea that some students were taking pictures of them, or what would those students do with their pictures. They spent their time in the bakery, as long as they could before their class start. Taehyun was observing the drawing inch by inch, and Mino talking to the boy’s nods.

“Can I have all of it?”, the younger boy ask innocently, pointing at Mino's sketchbook, for the first time he looked like an ordinarily teenage boy, a cute one. Mino was startled by the sight that Taehyun had to asked him again.

“Oh, yeah, of course you can have it.”, he answered with a big and proud smile on his face. “Thanks.” Taehyun smiled back, also for the first time for Mino to see. The morning lighting was so perfect that Mino could feel the urge to draw Taehyun again. The yellow of the light sunray just made the younger one looked more perfect than he already was. “Don’t move.” Mino quickly took out his phone and took a picture of the boy with his confusing smile. “What is that for?”, he didn’t understand what his senior was doing. The older boy looked at what he just took, looking all proud and satisfy. “I’ll draw you another one.” He smiled at Taehyun and kept his phone back in his jacket. “Come on, let’s go, we’re going to be late.” Both of them left the shop and walked to school together.

“You are weird.”, said Taehyun to the other boy, making Mino laughed out loud. “You are the weird one, not me.”, being told that he was weird by a weirdo? that’s quite funny in Mino’s opinion. Taehyun just shrugged. He was used to being told weird or strange, so that didn’t bother him at all. Mino started talking about how he got up late this morning and he didn’t even do his hair properly, that was why he wore the hat today, and also the messy uniform. Taehyun just listen quietly, secretly enjoying the way Mino was telling his story.
Their way to school was short since the bakery was very close. They stopped in front of one of the buildings. “See you later, kid.” Mino pat at the younger one’s head a few times without his rejection. “Bye,” he whispered but Mino could hear it, and smiled again with his junior’s cute attitude. Then they separated in different directions. Mino ran to his class because he was late while Taehyun went straight up to the rooftop, skipping class again.

-----

Mino was scolded by the teacher because he was late, but it didn’t upset him at all, better things had happened before this. Jihoon watched his friend being in a good mood, grinning and humming. “Your secret date?”, he teased. “Friends, we’re friends.” Mino replied, saying that even though he wasn’t sure about it. Taehyun was his friend for sure but what about him? Was he the boy’s friend too?
“Are you sure?” Jihoon mocked his happy friend, Jiho also helped, “Last night you even rapped about him. This is serious, Mino.” The two friends high-fived, thanked each other for their support. Mino rolled his eyes, “It was just a random love song!” He spat out loud and got scolded by the teacher again. Jihoon and Jiho tried to hold their laughs. Mino bowed apologized then sat quietly, sending a death glare to his friends.
They continued their class peacefully. Mino’s eyes are on the blackboard but not his mind,he couldn't concentrate listen his teacher’s boring tone. Since he gave Taehyun his sketchbook, and he didn’t have one with him right now, so he doodled silly cartoons onto his notebook, waiting for lunch break.

-----

Taehyun was sitting on the floor of the rooftop, holding a cigarette between his index finger and middle finger, still looking at the drawings with admiration. He always interested in arts and Song Mino was sure a gifted artist. Taehyun finished his cigarette then lay down on the floor, looking up on the sky, holding the book in his arms. Taehyun didn't usually receive gifts from anyone, he felt like treasuring this piece, even though he asked for it but Mino gave it to him anyway. While he was thinking of a way he should thank Mino someone barged through the locked door. The boy tilted his head to see who came up and destroyed his peaceful world.

"Whoa, so you are here! I was looking for you all over!" An energetic boy with his front teeth like rabbits, and small eyes was standing there, overacting about how hard for him to find Taehyun. "Leave me alone, Bobby.", Taehyun said without looking at the new comer. Bobby came to Taehyun and sat next to where the boy was lying. "Don't be so cold to me. I already told you how I feel. Have you thought about it?" He leaned down and looked straight into Taehyun's eyes. Their faces were only a couple of inches distance, ready to go even lower to kiss the pretty lips in front of him. Taehyun rolled away from where he was and sat up, feeling disgust.
"I don't need to think about it. The answer is NO. Now, leave me alone." He talked firmly, fixed his strong gaze on Bobby, but that made him looked more attractive with his messy hair. Bobby smiled, like he didn’t hear what Taehyun just said. "You told me you weren't gay, and now you're seeing a senior! It's not fair at all!", he pouted but Taehyun didn't care except what Bobby just said. "What?? I'm not seeing anyone.", he frowned, getting confused because he could not think of any se--, oh, "Song Mino?" Bobby frowned after he heard the name. "That is his name? The girls in my class were talking about you having breakfast with him this morning. They even have prooves." Bobby showed some pictures in his phone, it was Taehyun and Mino in the bakery that morning, and Taehyun was smiling cutely at Mino.

. Taehyun cursed in his mind. "We are not seeing each other! We're just partners in our club!" He was mad now. Why these nosy people couldn't just leave him alone.
"Are you s---" Bobby haven't finished what he was saying and Taehyun shouted angrily at him, " OFF!"  This was his first time seeing Nam Taehyun this mad so he left immediately. Taehyun felt like throwing something into someone's face. He should have done that to Bobby, maybe with his shoe. He pulled out another cigarette from his jacket pocket, put it between his lips then lit it, breathing in the nicotine, hoping for it  to calm him down from this rage.

His phone suddenly buzzed and that made Taehyun even angrier, but not after he saw what Song Mino sent him. It was a silly doodles of the older boy crying, written 'I'm so sleepy~ why is history so boring~'. Taehyun could feel his rage decreasing. Mino sent another picture, a doodle of his teacher saying 'History is wonderful'. The younger boy chuckled, forgot what had happened for a while.. He was going to reply to the older boy but stopped his hand, he wasn't sure he should continue being friends with his senior or not. He didn't want to have these kind of rumor, of him being gay, and also didn't want to drag Mino into this kind of situation. Then he wondered, did Mino know about what was happening, that he was rumored being gay with Nam Taehyun. The younger boy hesitated, wasn’t sure whether he should discuss this with his senior or not.

-----

“. What the is this??” After all the morning classes had ended, Danah sent him a picture of two boys smiling at each other in the bakery, yes, it was Taehyun and him.

Just admit it already. kkk

Mino’s eyes widen with shock after a few friends came to him and also asked was he really dating Taehyun, because they also saw the pictures. It was spreaded widely among the students. He started to feel anxious. He knew how serious Taehyun was about this kind of topic. He collapsed onto his desk, whining ‘What should I do’. Was this why Taehyun didn’t reply his text? Why it had to happened again after he managed to be friends with the boy. Does Taehyun know about this? Ohh, this is so ed up.

“What should I do…”, he lifted his head up, looking at his best buddies for help. “Date him.” Jihoon said with a smirk. “ you, Jihoon. You are not helping at all!”, Mino yelled then continued his whine. Both boys just laughed. “Dude, it’s just a rumor.”, Jiho patted on his friend’s head and rested his hand there. “People will forget about it sooner or later.” Jihoon nodded to agree. “So I should act normal like nothing happen, huh?” Mino lifted his head up again, to see his buddies nodded with their pretending serious expressions. The boy wasn’t sure he should do that, but he couldn’t think of any better solution so he agreed to do what he was told.  
 

Mino refused to go to the cafeteria with his friends, after he could see students from other class pretended to walk passed his classroom to see who was this Song Mino who Nam Taehyun was dating, so he ended up waiting for his food alone in the classroom. He slid his finger to scroll the screen of his phone, checking what people was up to from their SNS. It was a disaster, everyone was talking about them dating. The boy sighed, and gave up looking for anyone to say 'they are not dating!'. He thought he should be more careful interacting with the popular boy Nam Taehyun. He didn’t want the boy to get bad rumors because of him, and also he didn’t want to be misunderstood. Although he agreed to his friend that he would let it go but he couldn’t. He felt like he had to fix this as soon as possible, or at least with Taehyun. He took out his phone again and started typing with his fingers,


Taehyun…
You knew what happened right?
I’m sorry I cause you trouble.

He sighed, feeling a bit better after he apologized. Just a few seconds later, Taehyun replied. He didn’t expect the boy to answered so soon. Mino could feel something strange happening inside his stomach, not sure because of the stress or he was just hungry.

I’m sorry too.

Mino sighed again, but this time with a faint smile. He felt relieved that Taehyun wasn’t mad at him. What made him felt better was because the boy replied him, that was the best part. He had thought Taehyun probably didn’t want to talk to him anymore. But still, he was worried about the boy's feeling.

Are you upset?

Yes.

Mino swore he could feel the distress from Taehyun’s word. He didn’t know what to say next, not wanting to make the younger boy more upset.  Mino hoped people would forget about his soon. Taehyun must felt very bad, had to deal with this y rumors about him being gay all the time. He felt pity for the boy.

Are you okay?

Taehyun asked after the long pause. He was also worried about Mino. The boy was now in the cafeteria, he could see Jiho with the other tall boy, having lunch together but Mino wasn't there, so he was worried something might happen.

I'm ok. Dont worry.

Everyone was looking at the younger boy, he stood still in the middle of the cafeteria because he was typing on his phone. "Hey, is that the Nam Taehyun guy?", Jihoon asked his friend, Jiho turned his head to look, "Yeah, that's the one." Both of them stared at the famous boy, and suddenly the boy looked at them, so they pretend a smiled. Surprisingly, Taehyun walked towards them, his face was expressionless so the two seniors had no idea what would happen.
"Where is Mino-hyung?" Taehyun asked them with concern. Jiho was startled, he did not know how to respond because this was not what he expected at all. Jihoon seemed to handle it pretty well, "He is at the classroom. He doesn't want to come out here, and you know why." He talked firmly and with serious expression, trying to sound like it was Taehyun's fault. And Taehyun felt guilty, it showed on his pretty face. He felt like Mino's friends were blaming on him, causing their precious friend trouble.
"...I'm sorry." Jihoon didn't say anything then sighed. The younger boy walked away feeling worse. He could feel the corner of his eyes burning hot.
"You are mad at him?" Jiho asked his friend who was so cruel to the younger boy. "Nah, I just wanted to ." He lift the corner of his mouth creating a sly smile. "Mino will kill you." They laughed, and hoped something interesting would happen.

-----

Days had passed and no one saw Taehyun, not even his shadow. Mino was wondering did the boy came to school? He hoped he would find out about it today. Now everyone in school believed that Mino and Taehyun were dating, and Mino could not do anything about it, even his best friends believed that so he just gave up.

Today was the day they would go to their clubs, and the older boy hoped he would meet the the younger boy there. And yes, Taehyun was there. He was sitting quietly and awkwardly with a group of students probably the same year as him. The boy looked at Mino when he came in and looked down to his knees, avoiding eye contact. Mino felt sad, really sad. He walked quietly to where he usually sat with Jiho, but today he was alone. Taehyun took a quick glance and noticed, the older boy was all alone and gloomy, wasn't cheerful like he normally was.

They had to draw a model. Everyone formed into one big circle with the model in the middle. Taehyun quietly moved to sit next to Mino.
"Hey." He said to the older boy while he pretended looking at the pretty model. "Hey." Mino greeted back, also gave Taehyun a faint smile. "Did you come to school? I never see you around." He spoke without looking at Taehyun, moving his hand sketching on his new sketchbook. Taehyun just nodded, he wasn't sure was this a good idea, sitting next to Mino like this. Since he could not tell how his senior was feeling so he decided to asked, "Umm... Hyung, can I sit here?" Mino turned his face to the boy, smiling. "You don't need to ask." Taehyun could feel his chest weight lighter.

They sat next to each other without saying anything the whole period, just drawing, till the bell rang. The students started packing their stuff, prepared to leave. Mino just noticed that Taehyun was using his sketchbook, the one he gave him days ago. He smiled and pretended a cough to cover his mouth. Taehyun looked at him, "Are you okay?", he asked with concern, making the older boy smiled wider. "Yeah, don't worry." He cleared his throat then stood up, "We should leave now. Let's go." Everyone already left the room. so they were alone. Taehyun nodded again and didn't move, "you can go first." He was worried about being spotted together again. "Huh? Why?" Mino was a pure idiot, he looked at Taehyun with confusion. Taehyun didn't know how to react, he might be too panic, so he agreed to leave with the other boy.

The school was quiet, some of the students are still there but most of them left already. "Where's Jiho-hyung?", Taehyun asked while they are walking side by side, on their way out of the building. "He was with Jihoon today, playing basketball." Mino answered casually. "Why didn't you join them?", Taehyun asked again. Mino turned his smiling face to Taehyun,  "You're asking so many questions today.", he chuckled, "I just prefer to be here, that's all." He stretched his arm upwards, groaning. Taehyun didn't ask anything more, he kept quiet, afraid he would annoyed the older boy.
Mino took a quick glance at his junior. "Do you have friends?", he blurted out without thinking, made the younger boy got the wrong idea again. Taehyun froze. "Fine, if you don't want me around you, you can just say so." The younger boy walked fast he almost ran. He could feel his body heating up with something he hate, anger.
"Huh?? Wait! What do you mean!?" He followed and grabbed Taehyun's arm firmly. Taehyun tried to flick his arm but the grip was too tight. "I don't have any friends!", he shouted, breathing heavily. Mino was in shock. He had no idea why the younger boy was mad. "Wh-why are you mad? I'm sorry." Taehyun seemed to calm down a bit, realizing that he could not control his anger again.

He took a deep breath after a while of silence, "I'm sorry." He apologized with a low voice. Mino just realized what happened, he had said something stupid and upset the younger boy. "I didn't ask you that to shove you back to your friends. I just never see you with anyone before. You are always alone..."
"I don't have any friends.", he repeated his answer with much calmer voice. Taehyun secretly wanted to add 'hyung, can you be my friend?', but it would sound cheesy and he was too shy to say it.
"Am I your friend?" Mino let go of the boy's arm. Taehyun was startled and he nodded right away, unconsciously. A big smile on Mino's face showed how much he was satisfied. And that made Taehyun's cheeks went pink, he looked so desperate, eagerly wanting to be friends with the boy next to him.
They continued their walk. Mino was talkative as always, and Taehyun enjoyed it. He didn't talk much but he smiled and laughed along with Mino's silly jokes and stories. They had a great time together, even it was very short, soon they have to go separate ways.

"See you tomorrow, Taehyun-ah!" Mino shouted and waved his arms. Taehyun smiled and nodded as he always did. Taehyun didn’t move, watching Mino walked home and when he was sure the other boy went far enough and would not hear, he whispered to the older boy’s back, “Thank you..”