“Welcome home!”

A chorus of those words was the first thing Kibum heard when his mother opened their house’s front door. He stopped trying to walk in and looked, wide eyed, at all the people in front of him. There were so many familiar faces and he smiled, grateful, for having his loved ones with him in this long awaited day.

“My Kibummie, you’re finally home.” His grandmother cried, throwing her arms around him. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.” He whispered, closing his eyes to enjoy the hug.

When she stepped back to give opportunity to other people to talk to him, Kibum scanned the crowd in search of a very particular face at the same time he was greeting his aunts. His eyes searched through every person and the smile he was supporting was slowly fading into a frown until he found Jinki.

Lighting up, Kibum excuse himself, ruffling his cousin’s hair and walked up to the other one.

“Jinki-hyung!” He called, seeing him turn around with a smile, making him repeat the action. “What are you doing here?”

“Your mother invited me to the party.” He explained, eyeing the cast around Kibum’s arm. “Does it hurt?”

The younger boy shook his head. “Not anymore. Do you want to sign it later?” He asked, laughing.

“Of course. I’ll just write good things.”

“Only your name will be fine.” Kibum joked but then his voice acquired a serious tone. “Hyung, where is Minho?”

“Minho?” Jinki repeated, gulping. He looked down, fiddling with the buttons of his jacket and coughed. Kibum found that strange but before he could say anything, the elder spoke again. “I don’t know. I… since the accident… I don’t know anything about him.”

"What? How is that possible?” He asked, bewildered, making a few heads turn to them. He smiled, apologetically and then continued in a hushed voice. “My mom said he never came to see me at the hospital but-“

“I’m sure he has a good reason for that.”

Kibum huffed. “I’ve been in a coma. I could’ve died, hyung. I know he has to have a good reason for not coming to visit me.” His breathing was becoming labored. “I just wished someone would tell me. Are you keeping it a secret from me? Is he in a worse condition than me?”

“Kibum, I-“

“Kibum, honey, I want to show you something.” His mother said, appearing out of nowhere, grabbing his not injured arm. “Am I interrupting something important, boys?”

“Of course not, Miss Kim.” Jinki said, smiling at the older woman before his son had the chance to speak. “Kibum and I were just catching up.”

“Good. Come on then, Bummie.”

While she dragged him to the middle of the room again, Kibum glanced over his shoulder at Jinki who just stared at him until someone began to talk to him and he was forced to listen to the other person with attention.

The rest of the afternoon went by really quickly and no matter how many times Kibum tried to excuse himself to talk to Jinki again, someone would come to him and engage in a conversation. First his uncles, then some of his friends from college that dropped by only to give him a word of encouragement and, lastly, even his little cousins were set in making him spend some time with them. By the time everybody started to leave and Kibum thought that he finally had a chance; his mother told him that Jinki had left already because, apparently, something important had happened and he needed to leave immediately, not having the time to say goodbye to Kibum himself.

“Mom, I’ll go put the garbage out, okay?” He shouted, already opening the front door and stepping outside, hearing his mother shout back at him.

The night air hit him and made him shudder. He jogged until the public garbage outside of their house and deposited his own there. When he was going back, Kibum heard a dog bark and looked at the side, noticing a tiny dog running down the street and soon after, someone appeared from the corner, also running.

“Eve! Come back here!” A voice shouted and the dog only barked louder, starting to run even faster.

Kibum chuckled at the sight and crouched down making noises that captured the small dog’s attention and made him run towards him instead. Kibum caught him, grabbing his leash and began to his fur, making him wag his tail.

“Hey, buddy.” He cooed to the dog that jumped on his legs and his chin. “Oh, you’re a cute one.”

Heavy footsteps were becoming clearer and, in no time, the owner of the dog was stopping in front of Kibum. He bent down, resting his hands on his knees to even his breathing that was coming out as harsh pants.

Still holding the dog’s leash, Kibum stood up and giggled at how exhausted the other looked. “Are you okay?”

The boy’s head snapped up and he locked eyes with Kibum. The moment he did, though, his mouth fell open in an unattractive angle. Kibum watched him shook his head and then straightened up, clearing his throat.

“I’m… yes, I’m good. I think.” He stuttered, looking down at his dog. “Eve, you bad girl.”

“Oh, she’s a girl?” Kibum asked, observing the dog too. “I thought she was a boy. I’m sorry, Eve.” He chuckled, directing his eyes, once again, to the boy in front of him, making said boy advert his gaze. “Hm, here you go.”

The boy blinked, staring between Eve and her leash that was still in Kibum’s hand. He quickly grabbed it and bowed. “Thank you so much.”

“No, you don’t have to. It was the least I could do.”

“Taemin.” He suddenly said, getting up.

Kibum stood there, confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

“My name.” Taemin explained, frowning when the words didn’t sound right. “I mean, that’s my name.”

“Oh.” He said, chuckling awkwardly after. “I’m Kibum.”

Taemin smiled, brightly, nodding at the same time. Kibum was already thinking about something to say that would end that uncomfortable silence when the boy’s eyes suddenly went wide.

“I gotta go! Bye.”

Just like that, Taemin began to run with poor Eve behind him and left Kibum more than a little confused in the middle of the street. Shaking his head, he turned around and took the way back to his home. He was sure his mother was already going insane with the fact that he wasn’t back yet so he decided to hurry up.

What Kibum missed was the pair of eyes that were still observing him from the shadows, following his every move.

**

“What took you so long?”

“Sorry, I met someone outside.” Kibum explained, leaning against the kitchen’s counter while his mother did the dishes.

“A friend?”

“Hm, not really.” He said, shrugging. “Look, mom… Talking about friends. I know you’ve said that Minho didn’t go to the hospital but I need to know what’s going on.”

“Yes, Kibum.” His mother nodded, still with her back him. “Go on.”

“Can you… Can you drive me to Minho’s?”

The woman closed the water and turned to him, cleaning her hands with a cloth. “Right now?” When he nodded, she walked to him and grabbed his hand. “I know Minho was your best friend.”

"He still is.”

“Right. But, honey, I don’t think you should worry about him anymore.”

Kibum arched an eyebrow and took one step back. “What are you saying, mom?”

“You should forget about him. He’s not a good friend.”

“Mom-“

“Go to sleep, Kibummie.” She said, kissing his cheek, ending the conversation. “You need to rest.”

Kibum watched her go until she reached her room’s door and waved at him again, before entering the room. The boy sighed and decided to do what his mother had said. But upon countless minutes lying on his bed, switching from side to side, Kibum got up, frustrated.

He grabbed a warm jacket from his closet and put it on, opening the door carefully to not make any noise. After confirming that no one was awake, he quietly jogged to the front door and exited the house. He was determined to know where Minho was and what was going on and if no one was willing to tell him, he would go after the answers himself. 

Hiii! ~

Did you all had a good year start? I hope so :D

Here's the first chapter of 2015 and we've finally met Taemin. He's going to have a important part in the story so keep your attention on him :)

i didn't have the time to answer your comments but know that I read them all. As always, I hope you ejoy the chapter and let me know what you think of it.