Taemin thought Key was up to no good when he realized he was acting weird for the past week.

It all started when he noticed Key always going out during their rest days. Key doesn’t like to go out saying he needed his beauty rest and all but lately Taemin could barely see his pink-haired hyung around the dorm. He’s always out doing god-knows-what and leaving the rest of SHINee tending to themselves because let’s face it, Key does almost everything in the house and without him life . And Taemin was forced to cook simply because he was too nice to let his hyungs starve to death.

And then there were also the time when Key arrived home with a box of chocolate cake. He doesn’t really like eating too much cake. He says it’s too hard to lose weight and exercising makes him disgustingly sweaty.

“Is it anyone’s birthday?” Taemin asked because Minho and Onew’s birthday will be 3 weeks from now and Christmas is still a month away.

“No. I just feel like eating cake right now. Wanna have some?”

Taemin grabbed the fork from Key’s hand and took a bite. Then he realized it really is delicious. “Where did you get this?”

“Jiyeon made it. You remember the girl at the cafe right?” Key said which made Taemin stop for a second. Then he continued to munch on the cake just because he missed the taste of it.

It reminded him of the time when Jiyeon baked him a chocolate cake on his birthday. It was so delicious with Chocolate Bavarian Cream filling and because Jiyeon knew he likes playing piano she decided to put a piano design on top made with buttercream flavored icing. But then the cake was ruined when his stupid hyungs smashed his face on top of the cake while muttering something about ‘traditions’ and ‘birthday cakes should be eaten that way’. Jiyeon was laughing so hard at his silly face full of black and white icing and for Taemin it was music to his ears.

He was halfway to finishing his slice when he suddenly found himself crying. After finishing everything, he drank some water, left and locked himself in his room leaving the rest of the SHINee members wondering why the maknae who never cries (not even during the first time they won an award) cried over a cake.

They looked at Key and at the box of cake on the table. "Is it that good?" Jinki voiced out what the rest of them were thinking.

Key didn't say anything and just offered him a slice as if saying, 'Try it to find out'.

~-*-~

Taemin was so convinced his hyung is really up to no good when he suddenly woke up one morning from too much noise in the kitchen. He was pissed off because he hadn’t been sleeping a lot lately and being forced to wake up so early makes him feel like cursing somebody. No one ever ruins his sleep and gets away with it so easily.

When he went downstairs to check who the culprit is, he saw Key setting up the new oven and other things for baking which he obviously bought recently because Taemin hadn’t seen those things yesterday.

“Oh, hi. Good morning,” Key greeted him as if there really is something good in the morning, completely forgetting the fact that he just ruined the maknae’s precious sleep.

“I can't find any good in the morning when you’re making all these noises. I need sleep, hyung.”

“Don't be grumpy and help me,” Key said completely ignoring the anger in the younger boy’s eyes.

“Why should I?”

“Because I need to set this up before Jiyeon arrives.”

Wait, what? “Jiyeon’s coming?” he asked because maybe- just maybe- he heard him wrong.

“Yeah,” Key said, confirming he heard right. “I've always wanted to invite her over. I just couldn't think of a good enough reason.”

“And now you do?”

“I asked her to teach me how to bake.”

“You invited her to teach you how to bake when you don't even have an oven?”

“I do now.”

~-*-~

Taemin suddenly wanted to run away. He wasn’t prepared for it. He decided to leave the house for a while. He can't be in the same room with her without feeling like crap. He wanted to tell her how much he loves her and miss her but he knew he couldn’t. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, hold her hand, kiss her and do all those things they used to do before. And Taemin was so frustrated because he damn well knew he couldn’t.

He went back to his room and took a shower. It’s impossible for him to sleep some more with thoughts about Jiyeon popping out of his head every time. It's all Key's fault. Now he was really convinced he is up to no good. It probably started a few weeks ago at the cafe. He must have noticed something is off so now he's messing with him.

He was on his way downstairs when he heard Jonghyun and Key talking.

"Can you say that again? I didn't quite get it," Jonghyun was asking Key who was busy frying eggs and bacon.

"I said we have a guest coming."

Key saw Taemin and noticed he was dressed up so he asked, "Where are you going?"

"Out." Taemin simply said.

Jonghyun completely ignored Taemin and continued his conversation with Key. "No, no. You said a girl is coming over."

Key felt annoyed for being told to say the same thing again when Jonghyun obviously heard him the first time. "That's basically the same thing,” he complained.

“The guest being a girl makes a lot of difference. Is she pretty?” Jonghyun asked and Key just rolled his eyes in response.

This isn't good, Taemin thought.

A sleepy Minho came afterwards. "I heard someone’s coming over?" he asked.

"Yeah, and it's a girl." Jonghyun's grin widens even more and Taemin thinks the dino looks so silly with all the excitement.

Taemin went to get some water and gulped it down hoping the liquid would calm him down just to realize it didn’t help much. He suddenly felt his head aching so he sat down, took off his shoes, lay on the couch, closed his eyes and massaged his temples.

Key saw him lie down and asked, "I thought you're going somewhere?"

"I changed my mind," Taemin replied without bothering to open his eyes.

~-*-~

Maybe he's just being silly. Jiyeon is old enough and would probably be able to handle herself on her own. But for some reason he couldn’t put his mind at ease. So he stayed at home and waited patiently for their guest to arrive which is already a freaking struggle on his part.

He wished she would suddenly remember an appointment she couldn’t miss and then change her mind about coming. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.

A few hours later, they heard a knock on the door. Taemin was already at his feet before anyone else. He reasoned that maybe if he saw her first, he can convince her to leave without a word.

He opened the door and there she was looking so pretty with her long hair down, a yellow dress and a smile on her face.

Not good.

"What are you doing here?" he asked although he already knows why. He tried to sound indifferent. He wanted her to run away and go back to wherever she came from.

 “I was invited,” she replied using the same tone he used.

“Are you sure?” he asked just to see the expression on her face.

“I wouldn’t be here if I’m not.” It made Taemin smile inside. She was still the same as he last remembered.

Before he could form a response, he heard Key yelling at him "Yah! Don't be rude to my guest." And so Taemin was forced to step aside so their guest could come inside.

~-*-~

Taemin realized he missed everything about her. He spent the rest of the day staring at her because although he actually wanted to do so much more he knew he couldn’t do anything more than staring.

He just couldn't help it. Just a few weeks ago he thought he won't be able to see that smile on her face again but now here she is looking so pretty and very much alive.

But then the rest of his day was a freaking struggle.

When Jonghyun was saying something to her he was leaning too close- too ing close- so Taemin was burning inside and he just had to throw that pillow straight at the dino's face just so he would stay away. Thank god he got the message and didn't attempt to flirt with Jiyeon afterwards.

"Key oppa," she said with a smile and Taemin wished that smile was directed to him instead. "Can you mix this up while I prepare the oven?"

"Sure," Key replied a little too sweetly and Taemin was thinking that if Key hadn’t been so nice to him when he got injured, his pink-haired hyung would probably find a fist flying towards his face by now.

It was already dark when the two finished making cakes. They baked three.

The first one was a salty chocolate cake because Key mistakenly put salt instead of sugar. Because Key didn’t want it to go to waste he made his friends eat all of it with a warning that he would never make them food again if they don’t.

The second one was a burnt chiffon cake which Key accidentally burned because he set the timer to 60mins. He thought Jiyeon said sixty when she actually said forty. Taemin wonders how Key could be so stupid as to mistake forty with sixty but Taemin decided it didn’t matter because at least Key was nice enough not to force anyone to eat it although Onew as weird as it may sound actually volunteered to have a taste. When Key refused (because the cake is not edible even for someone as weird as Onew), the leader showed a disappointed face.

The third one is a carrot cake and as much as Taemin hates to admit it, unfortunately the cake actually tastes good. He was already halfway to finishing his second slice when Key said, "Taemin, can you take Jiyeon home? I have to sleep early tonight. I have a schedule tomorrow.”

"You invited her, you take her home," Taemin replied. He had enough of Key’s antics and he decided he won’t let his hyung mess with him anymore. He was a little worried though because no one else seemed to be interested in taking her home.

Jinki was too lazy to care and Minho was too tired from his schedules. Jonghyun wanted to volunteer but he decided against it. He didn't want another pillow flying over his head. A jealous Taemin isn't something he wanted to see.

And so there was only Key and Taemin who were left fighting because neither wanted to take her home and both were forcing the other to do it.

"Guys, don't fight. I can go home by myself." She chose the best time to interrupt.

"No!" Taemin and Key both said at the same time.

Taemin who was worried that Jiyeon might suddenly get tired of waiting and decides to leave on her own, finally made a decision. He knew he couldn't let Jiyeon walk on the streets at night. The last time it happened she died. And so he was left with no choice.

“Fine. I’ll take her home.” Taemin said while fighting the urge to punch Key and take away that silly look on his face.