A boy was standing by himself in the train station, waiting for the transportation to arrive. He was wearing an earphone, a book in his hands, trying to block the bustle’s train station. Eyes on every words in the book, trying to immersed in it, flipping page by page, doing his best to forget the outside world.

Or so that was what he thinks.

“That’s Xiumin, right?”

His eyes who keep trailing over words suddenly halted when he heard a certain name. That boy, Luhan, turned his head to his left side, seeing two girls around his age, gossiping about a celebrity in the billboard across them.

A boy smiled widely, showing the beverages with proud. He tore his eyes from the billboard when the two girls started talking again.

“Yeah. Did you know some paparazzi caught him at the park? Apparently, he was going to send a letter!”

The other girl gasped, she didn’t expect a gossip like that at all. “Woah, seriously!? Perhaps his girlfriend?”

“That is what I’m thinking too!” The friend cheered triumphantly, finally her friend was giving her a good response after she was being ignored for ten minutes. “Xiumin is very popular because of his innocent’s image. They never thought he has a girlfriend! Therefore, many fans of his are feeling betrayed right now!”

He had enough.

Luhan stormed between the two gossip girls, made them surprised by the sudden action. The doe-eyed boy didn’t care the weird looks he got from them. He just wanted to go. He couldn’t bear to hear that any longer. Luhan tried to control his breath.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

The boy run out of breath and walked to the near bulletin board to support his tired body. Luhan realized on the board, there was a poster showing Xiumin’s concert, not being glued completely and torn.

The truth is Luhan knows Minseok (or according to his stage name, Xiumin), he had been known him for maybe around three years? Four years?  They were from the same school.

And how did them become a close friend?

He recalled the first time he met Minseok again.

That day, the weather was cloudless, but not Luhan’s heart.  Mat teacher had just given his exam’s sheet back and his score was under his expectation. That subject was the boy’s weakness. He knew he needed help, he just couldn’t care less for now because his favorite band had just released a new album and Luhan had to buy it before his friends.

Feet set him up to his favorite music store. The clerk greeted him and told him that the album was finally here.

Big smile appeared on his face while he was searching the album. His mouth gaped when he saw that there was only one album left. Hurriedly, he tried to reach that last album in this store. Luhan halted when he realized someone tried to grab it too.

Both boys blinked to each other.

Luhan admitted the boy was really cute. Brown hair, big eyes with single eyelid, pink lips and his cheeks are just like dumpling, his favorite snack. He snapped back to reality when the plump-cheeked boy called him.

“I’m sorry, you can have it.” Luhan stared at the album, no, at him. He has the sweetest voice Luhan ever heard.

Only incoherent words were out from his mouth, made the brunette’s eyebrows furrowed. “Pardon?”

“I mean... You can have it! I c-can buy it next time!” He grumbled. The boy must be thought he was really weird.

Instead disgusted look just like as he thought, he found the other boy smiled until his gummy was shown. Cute.

“Or you can borrow it from me! You are at the same school with me too, right?”

‘Ah, we are wearing the same uniform.’

“My name is Kim Minseok. You can call me Minseok!” Minseok showed his gummy smile again. Luhan replied his bow and finally talked without stutter anymore.

“Hello, Minseok. I’m Luhan.”

That was when their friendship started.

The more they were spending time together, the more they realized they have many things in common. Music, soccer (even though they cheer  for different teams. Luhan roots for Manchester United and Minseok roots for Barcelona), and coffee. That caffeine-contained drink is a must every time they meet up.

Once a week meeting become twice a week. And Luhan didn’t know since when, but suddenly they were meeting everyday after school, or as long as one of them didn’t have any clubs.

Knowing Minseok was really good at math, Luhan asked him to tutor himself. Slowly but sure, his score in Math was increasing. As a thank you, Luhan taught him Mandarin, since the brunette was really curious about Luhan’s native language.

The whole school called them ‘the inseparable couple’. When you see Luhan, Minseok will always beside him and vice versa. Little by little, Luhan noticed something changed in him.

He felt his heart throbbing faster every time Minseok showed his gummy smile. Stuttered every time Minseok held his hand and he couldn’t stop thinking about how perfect Minseok is. By the end of their second grade, he realized that he fell in love with him.

Lucky was on the doe-eyed boy’s side. He was in the same class with Minseok! As expected, they got closer and closer. They ate lunch together, went home together, and always became partners for every projects they had.

However, everything changed because of the singing contest he joined a while ago.

They were drinking coffee at their frequently visited cafe who served the best coffee in town. Minseok’s coffee was espresso meanwhile Luhan’s was macchiato. Luhan and Minseok sat at their usual spot, second floor, near the balcony.

Luhan realized the boy in front of him was slightly different today. He always smiled, you could also see sparkles in his eyes. What happened to him?

After one sip of his coffee, Luhan finally talked. “Okay. So what is wrong with you? You look very cheerful today.”

The gummy smile appeared again.

“You know, right... I joined a singing competition a while ago...”

“Yes, and you won second place. So what?”

Minseok hesitated a little, making Luhan impatient but he didn’t want to break their silence. He wanted the brunette to tell it without him asking it.

“An entertainment agency scouted me!” declared him while showing the name card of the agent. Luhan almost choked because of the sudden, surprising news.

“Seriously, Min? Congratulations!”

Luhan knew this was a big opportunity for him. The other boy always says he really wants to be a singer one day (that is why he joined choir club, to improve his singing skill too). “So, when will you starts training?” he continued, didn’t catch Minseok’s mood changed suddenly.

The other boy fumbled his hands, and finally opened his mouth, “the next two weeks… Therefore, we can’t hang out as much as we want.”

‘Ah, so that is the concern...’ Luhan thought. He reached and held the older boy’s right hand dearly. “It’s okay, Min! I will support you forever because you are...” The latter words never came out.

He wanted to admit it, Luhan had been hiding his feelings to the boy for a long time. He couldn’t deny his throbbing heart every time he sees Minseok any longer. Five minutes passed and there was still no words coming out from his mouth.

Minseok was still staring at him, smile still plastered on his face, waiting for Luhan’s words.

“My friend.” Luhan said with small voice. The other boy also replied it with smile too.

“Yes, friends...”

He regretted it.

Luhan thought that he just missed his first and last chance because Minseok didn’t have any time to spend with him anymore since he started his training.

Practice, practice, and practice.

The only time they could be together was only school time, but most of the time Minseok looked very tired, so Luhan didn’t want to disturb him. Their hang out’s time got lessen and lessen, and it had been happening until their graduation day.

They made a promise to still meet each other. If they couldn’t meet, then they have to stay in contact. It worked, at least for a month. They kept te