Kai was never the type to over think things much, but the fact that his best friend’s number was casually listed in the 2NE1 member’s phone, struck a cord of curiosity.

They seemed to be strangers...just colleagues if anything more. Taemin was a social butterfly, but only to those he knew..really knew. And 2NE1 weren’t just any flock of girls that one could stumble across. It was no secret that they had that scary intimidating image to just about everyone. Even if Taemin was a spitting image of the dandy pretty boy, he was never quite the proactive one to go around handing his number out.

As best friends, Kai figured that he would know better if Taemin was anything different.

But things did change once Taemin got casted in the virtual reality show that made him a married man at such a young age. Kai was certain that the masculine persona that SM kept shoving down the poor boy’s throat was starting to take a toll on him. He was no longer the innocent sunflower kid that the world had known him to be. He broke free and even began tagging along to the random outings with Kai, where the main point was to ‘play around’ with the female trainees.

It was strange at first to see such a change in his best friend, but Kai couldn’t deny the fact that he enjoyed how ‘free’ Taemin had become. With or without the change, he would always be his best friend anyway. He was still the same Taemin that he knew when they used to be gym rats trying to build muscles on their preadolescent scrawny bodies. Taemin was the same, with just a slightly more prickly personality.

The outgoing Taemin was like that with many girls but Son Naeun transformed him. In a phase where all he did was attend drinking parties here and there, the innocent APink member who posed as his wife made him believe in this ‘fake life’ that was all for TV. The drinking and partying was an outlet for the SHINee member to release the stress and the bountiful of negativity he had withheld. Since then, there was no one else but Son Naeun for the dancing boy.

“Jongin!”

As if on cue, the suspect appeared. His hair disguised itself as that of a glistening blonde under the building’s lights, but in reality it was simply just a fading ash brown. Kai kept a fixed gaze at his friend.

“You’re such a womanizer,” Kai huffed jokingly brushing his friend’s arm away. He was still hung up over the Americano bit.

Taemin was a pretty boy if ever anyone saw one.

“Such a delightful thing to say to your chingu after you literally ditched during lunch. If Bomi was like other girls, she may have ended up crying…” Taemin never understood why the EXO member was such a downer earlier that day.

“I told you I’m not trying to get entangled in a relationship…”

Kai saw first hand at what a girl could do to a man: make him beg on his knees, become a ball of fluff, start to have stomach inducing verbal diarrhea about cute little things… Kai was not interested...at least not with her.

“Such a cool free spirit you are~” Taemin glanced at his friend. His face was that of one without a care in the world. How nice of a life he seemed to have.

“What’s a busy guy like you doing lazing around here anyway? No extra team or solo dance practices for the day?”

It was out of the ordinary for Taemin to have such free time. At the most, Kai would only be able to see his best friend for a few short hours in the day. If he tallied the amount of times he had seen him today, it would likely have been a record.

“Heard that EXO’s finalizing the new choreo, so I’m here to whip you into perfect shape.” Sometimes it was scary at how Taemin could be as strict, if not more than their dancing instructors. But that may be because the guy knew him too well.

For years, the duo would participate in just about any of the free dance cliniques around Seoul. From ballet to jazz to even hip hop, Taemin and Kai had done a little bit of everything. Side by side, they would memorize each step to the beat, their limbs executing each move precisely in sync with the other. It was their thing… That is until the EXO began going through a rough patch with lawsuits and SM had the group of boys in a sudden lockdown for the months.

“Thanks for today though.”

“You’re welcome?” The sudden act of gratefulness was a surprise to Taemin, who despite his hardheadedness, was about certain that Bomi was a strike out for his best friend.

“So you actually want Bomi’s number and everything beforehand was just an act?”

“Are you mad? No.” Kai protested.

And then a sudden slip of a curve released itself onto his lips.

“It just so happened that I’ve met someone.”

It sounded like a confession to Taemin, something in which was rare for his ears to hear coming from Kai. “You know you can’t just trust any girl out there on the streets. For all we know she could be a sasaeng--”

“It’s Minzy.” He interrupted before Taemin could con