I opened my eyes when I heard him close the door and his steps disappear down he narrow corridor that connected the rooms of his small apartment.

I was in shock. For almost a minute, I lay there in his bed and stared up into the canopy over his bed.  Then the width of it all finally hit me. I kicked my legs and rolled over, taking in the scent of him that was everywhere in his room. 

He'd said... He'd said that he thought I was beautiful. He'd said that I, me, Taemin, Minnie, Tae, Min-ah, was beautiful.

Right in that moment, I wasn't no one anymore.  And I wasn't anyone, or even someone.  I was the one.

The thoughts kept spinning in my head and it felt as if my body would spontaneously combust any second. My cheeks were flushed and I almost screamed out my happiness out loud, but then again Minho didn't know that I was awake, so I didn't. 

I decided upon waiting in his room for ten minutes, and then go out to the kitchen or the living room or wherever he might be. I deemed that to be a sufficient amount of time, because I didn't want him to know that I'd heard him so I had to pretend to still be asleep for a while. But then again, I didn't know if I could wait that long. 

The shock wave of happiness ebbed out, and left my body being filled with a golden, warm shimmer that probably could be described as an emotional high.

I could barely contain myself.

But when the ten minutes ha passed - I kept a close watch at Minho's alarm clock - I didn't feel so sure of myself anymore. What would I say when I saw him? Did I trust myself enough to keep a straight face? SHOULD I keep a straight face? And what did he really mean about me being pretty? He couldn't mean that he liked me the way I liked him, or could he? 

Two more minute passed, and I started shaking with both anticipation and fear. My bad confidence started whispering thing sto me. Like, what if he'd seen that I was awake and wanted to prank me so that he could laugh a me later?

But I concentrated on what he'd done for me. Remember, I said to myself, remember that this is Minho. He would never do anything like that. He is not like the others. You know that. That's why you fell in love with him in the first place. Because he's special. He says what he thinks and he means what he says. 

And he is all you ever wanted. The reason why you know that you're not straight. The first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about before you fall asleep.

That's who he is, Taemin.

So go get him.

I swung my legs hesitantly over the edge of the bed. They were wobbling slightly when I stood up. Breathe, I reminded myself.  I took the blanket and wrapped it around myself since I couldn't find my shirt anywhere. Well well, it was dirty anyways. My ripped jeans could almost not be seen, I probably looked like a cocoon the way I was, wrapped in the blanket. 

I threw a glance at the mirror. And was taken aback. The paint remover must've somehow reacted to my hair, since it now was lighter and had a reddish tint to it. It didn't look ugly, though. If I'd seen the light halo of red and golden curls around my face on anyone else, I would have found it breathtaking. My skin was still as pale as ever, but together with my hair it didn't look so bad. And my eyelashes looked extra long and extra black in comparison to it. 

And what stunned me the most, was the smile that had been grazing my lips. I hadn't had to make an effort to put it there, I'd just smiled by myself - something I hadn't done in quite a while.

I looked at the beautiful boy in the mirror. Apart from the hair, nothing had really changed, right? And yet everything had, the moment Minho uttered that word; beautiful. 

Maybe, maybe there might be a slight chance that he wanted to get to know me better. That he'd want to hold me again, like he'd done in the school.

And I knew that I had to take the risk. I had to go out there and face him.

I remembered a poem I'd heard somewhere when I was younger:

Love is like water. You need it more than anything else.  Water can be scary, when the storms come and the waves are high, but it can also be the sweetest thing, like the reflection of the setting sun.  No one knows how to swim by themselves, you have to get help in order to learn, just pike you need someone special to fully understand the the most fantastic things with love.
Don't be shy to approach it. If you only dip your toe into it, it will feel cold an you'll draw your foot back, scared. So in order to get used to it, you'll have to dive right into it and trust that someone will catch you.

I smiled and looked into the mirror one last time before turning around and heading for the door.

"Minho Hyung, please teach me how to swim."