Mino reached the studio earlier to prepare for the recording since they would be receiving the finalized track lists and also notes on the changes to be made. Having worked with YG recently, he knew that Taehyun’s boss had a lot of say because the follow up email after the call was 4 pages long. Of course apart from the main stuff, there were other things that made Mino anxious about the day like seeing Taehyun again.

Taehyun’s heart was beating wildly and he had been a bundle of nerves about seeing Mino after receiving the same call a week ago. Opening the door and gingerly stepping in, he saw Mino already deeply engrossed with working on the notes sent by his boss. He was delighted when he saw a brown paper bag on his desk but before he could open his mouth to speak, there was a couple of knocks on the door.

“Hello? Taehyunie? Mino hyung? Am I interrupting?” ‘It was Seungyoon that popped his head in.

Both guys turned to welcome their friend into the studio catching up a bit since Mino left early during their last gathering. Seungyoon was telling them excitedly how much he loved their tracks and it went well with his songs as well as the general feel of his album. Taehyun could not help but smile. He was glad that all the crazy arguments with Mino paid off in the best possible way.

Taehyun was half listening to what Seungyoon was saying when his eyes widen in shock at the new person who just entered the studio.

“Changmin sunbaenim! What are you doing here? You are collaborating with Seungyoon hyung?” Taehyun asked as he and Seungyoon rushed forward to shake his hand and bowing with Mino following suit with an awed look on his face.

“Yah! I told you many times to call me hyung, Taehyunie.It was a last minute thing but I managed to work it into my schedule.” Changmin commented after the introductions were made mostly for Mino’s benefit since it was he first time meeting him.

The first session of recording went really smoothly. Seungyoon and Changmin’s voices blended really well together. Mino had to agree that the song will pretty much be a hit if it is released officially. Though the structure still needs to tweaking but over all the results were pretty good.

“I am surprised SM allowed you to work with us, Hyung. I cannot be more thankful.” Seungyoon commented with Taehyun eagerly nodding.

“They give a pretty much a free reign with our music interest. I am still waiting for the day to sing with Taehyunie in a song instead of just at the noraebang. You are letting your vocal talent go to waste.” Changmin commented making the younger smile shyly.

Through their conversations, Mino found out that Changmin used to guest lecture for a few of classes that the 2 younger guys enrolled during their time in college and would keep in touch often with the occasional meet up when Changmin’s schedule permitted since all were running around in the same industry.

However, Mino did not like the way Taehyun was really close with the respected singer, how he was smiling widely during the entire conversation and how Changmin was talking to the younger guy comfortably. He was also wondering how come he suddenly paid so much attention to reactions of the younger guy and why he was affecting him so much.

“Is that the guy you mentioned to me before in passing? Is him right? I could tell from the way you stare at him. “Changmin whispers as he pulled Taehyun aside before he was about to leave for another schedule.

“How did you..? I don’t remember telling you.. I was that obvious?” Taehyun answered laughing a bit bitterly that he is such an idiot to be so easily read.

“Even the blind can tell.”

“You don’t say.”

“Well, I’ve got to run. Take care of yourself ok, Taehyunie? Good luck!” Changmin said as he pat the younger head affectionately before bidding goodbye to Seungyoon and Mino.

Mino saw how Changmin pulled the younger guy aside to whisper something. He was bursting with curiosity as to what they were talking about because for a moment the younger guy looked sad and troubled. He hated how they acted so close, how he is starting to acknowledge that he was feeling the jealous and he may be acting a bit childish but he disliked the guy called Shim Changmin immensely.

~~~~~~~~~~

Taehyun instantly knew something had set Mino off because he started to act like the douche he was again. It was just that he was not sure what triggered it. Even Seungyoon slowly began to notice the change in Mino tone and attitude. Unfortunately, it lasted pretty much for the rest of the week.

“Do you think we can talk about the comments that YG wrote in his email? We don’t exactly have all day to review his notes.” instantly shutting up both Taehyun and Seungyoon who were chatting happily on Tuesday.

“Why did you tweak the melody so much? Now it sounds way off!” Taehyun rolled his eyes at Mino’s comment.

“The higher notes here made a difference to the whole feel of the song.” Taehyun gritted his teeth. It was already not a good Wednesday to begin with.

Seungyoon wisely did not dare to add any fuel to the fire seeing how Taehyun was the person bearing the brunt of Mino’s sudden mood swing.   

“Fine! Let’s agree to disagree!” Mino walked out on Friday evening. Taehyun lets out a frustrated sigh as he heard the door slammed.

It had been a week of treading carefully over the invisible landmines around Mino and Taehyun was mentally exhausted. Suddenly, he wondered why he even subjected himself to such torture. Taehyun swore Mino could give ladies who were having their period a run for their money.

“Look what your stupid idea did. Thanks for throwing this at me. I really appreciate the gesture hyung.” Taehyun sarcastically commended Seungyoon over drinks trying to ignore the pitiful looks Seunghoon and Jinwoo were giving him.

“I wanted to do something for you. You need to be happy too. I did not know he could be that bad. I thought you guys were ok? Now it reminds me, he became like this after Changmin hyung left.”

“Do you think he is because of that? I think he is jealous. It will make perfect sense” Jinwoo quipped as the thoughts crossed his mind supporting his boyfriend’s idea.

“Seriously, you are in the mood for jokes now? After my rundown of what happened for the past week? Wow your timing is impeccable, Jinwoo hyunng.”

“I think they are both right. You have not done anything out of the ordinary and the only thing that changed was Changmin hyung.” Seunghoon analyses the possible theories.

“Think about it over the weekend, Taehyunie then talk to him about it. I know am right.” Seungyoon suggested suddenly relieved that he and Jinwoo were never this stupid with their feelings.

Rolling his eyes at his friends taking turns to play aunt agony with Taehyun’s love life, he decided to stop mulling over the issue and drank his sorrows away at least for now.

Thinking about it was exactly what Taehyun did over the weekend after his mind calmed down considerably he came to realize that maybe his friends were right that Mino was feeling jealous but then again exactly what are they that he would feel jealous? After all, their relationship was never defined. Lying down on his bed Taehyun thought about the time when he first met.

Flashback:

It was the first day of college and it is a new chapter in Nam Taehyun’s life. After months of agonizing over what course to take and also objection from his family mainly his mother, he finally had his way and could pursue a degree in modern music. On top of that, Bobby will be attending the same college and course as him so that  was one friend he already has in his pocket before going in.

Taehyun was trying to make sense of his class schedule and getting his bearings around the school. It so happened that his first class for the first day was the one that Bobby could not get into since it was fill up pretty fast. Therefore, Taehyun had to fly solo for this.

He was standing at the hallway trying to make sense of the signs when he heard the girls started murmuring “he is here” in low hushed tones. Ignoring the whispers, he stood where he was until someone bumped into him.

“You are in my way” A deep voice with a slight hint of an accusatory tone was directed at him.

Taehyun looked up to see a tanned guy staring at him with an amused expression etched on his face. He did not find him particularly good looking except that he had very intense dark eyes.

“I will not be if you just walked around me instead of straight at me. I was standing here for a good 5 minutes ample time for you to change your course. Don’t you think?” Taehyun answered back with a roll of his eyes.

What a grade A pompous , only thinking about himself rather than the people around him.

When Taehyun finally found the correct classroom, he was left with 5 minutes to get ready before their professor strode into the class and dived right into the lesson proper. As he lets his eyes scanned across the class room, he was surprised to spot a familiar jacket, that pompous that he met at the hallway just now. Their eyes met and he could not help but let out a small gasp, facing in front he hoped that he did not catch him blushing or noticed anything that was out of the ordinary.

If Taehyun thought that his path with the pompous would just stop there despite being in the same class, then he was sadly mistaken. When he befriended Kang Seungyoon, who was his seat mate for the first day and for the rest of the term, he was already dating Kim Jinwoo. Sadly, the best friends of Kim Jinwoo were Lee Seunghoon and pompous also known as Song Minho.

Taehyun and Mino were complete opposites like day and night. Taehyun found Mino too reckless because he rarely looks before he leaps and things could go so horribly wrong if he does not land on the other side in on piece. On the other hand, Mino found the younger guy too cautious and afraid of taking risks or trying something different so he took pleasure in ruffling Taehyun’s feathers just to see what he would get. Mino was the personification of the word “social butterfly” because the whole school seems to know him while Taehyun is just quiet and introverted that even the gang had trouble getting to know him in the initial stages.

There was this one morning when Mino bought everyone sushi except for Taehyun who got a Japanese beef rice bowl instead knowing the younger’s aversion to seafood. Despite his impression of him, Taehyun found himself liking him more and more.

He likes the way Mino smiles and laughs at jokes because it makes people curious as to what is so funny and how easy was it for him to talk to people. Most importantly, Taehyun is drawn to way Mino works, how he ensures that each of the assignments they had was something that fit his personal standard. It was during such occasions where he felt Mino was most honest.

Taehyun never once said anything or hinted his feelings since he figured Mino would not see him that way since he would rather chew his head of and the fact that Taehyun would rather quietly observe than to take part.

 Anyways with both gender claiming him as their crush, Taehyun figured he would not stand a chance so he rather leave things status quo. Then again, he was not one to hopelessly sit and wait for one day Mino might actually look his way.

~~~~~~~~~~

With an exasperated sigh, Taehyun lean against the headboard on his bed, how did things got so complicated with Mino? They seriously need to have a good talk because this was slowly eating him up.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hihi I hope it is not a bad sign that I seem to be updating a chapter a day but is just I usually complete a few chapters at one go and spend the rest of the time editing so that they are ready for post... LOL anyways it is slightly angsty this one but the next chap is a fluffy piece after all the mildang and misunderstanding we should have something fluffy ya?

A big thanks for Msturtle for your lovely comments please keep the ramblings.. i like how you think :)

Hope to hear from you all too... Enjoy!