Description

In which Taehyun struggles to hide his feelings for Minah

so he could keep their friendship because it is too precious for him to risk losing.

Foreword

Bang Minah

and...

Noh Taehyun

Trailer (it's irrelevant now, please treat it as an FMV!)

Guidelines to reading this story:

• skip chapter 1-6 (those are 'filler' chapters, trust me those are a bunch of nothingness put into crappy paragraphs)
• look at chapter 7 because I compiled a few of their cute interactions!
• read chapter 8. yep basically the last chapter is the plot drabble for this story.

A/N: Although I think they make a perfect couple (that's why I write this fic '^^), this story should just stay... a story! Because I know there's zero chance these two will, have or ever dated. Their friendship is so precious, but my mind keeps urging me to think of their relationship in a more romantic way. Thus, the birth of this fic. Honestly, I hope this never gets to them XD (especially Taehyun cause he knows English). If they ever read this, it would be hella awkward, and I know how that feeling of others seeing your platonic friendship romantical stinks. I'm sorry sweeties, I just can't help it orz.

Happy reading! Some events are based on real life interactions but fantasized. And by the way, the story isn't really angsty as the graphics suggest though :)

(- 2017)

CREDIT CORNER

Graphics by "The Pearl" Graphic & Review Shop

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Visit my other stories | Minah stories

if you haven't read the foreword, last reminder to skip this chap and jump straight to chapter 8!

Year of the event: 2009 (estimated)

Just like any other day after school, Taehyun strolled down the street of Hongdae to go home. As usual, he bought three Odeng (Korean Fish Crepe) sticks with steaming sauce - just about enough to fill up his stomach for a small teenage boy like him.

He was the smallest of the small in his class, or maybe boys his age. His modest height was something he hated, but came to accept with an open mind. As a young boy having literally no worries about life and the like, he didn't give it much thought. Although sixteen-year-old boys were said to grow a lot taller than they were at the moment, he doubt it would be the case for him. Simply saying, his parents are just about taller than him by a few inches!

Although he didn't care about his shortness, he couldn't help but getting frustrated with it at times like this. A considerably large crowd was gathering near the food cart, and he was curious.

"Thank you! Delicious as always. Here's your money ahjumma!", mouth-ful Taehyun delightfully bowed to the smiley auntie who had been a little part of his daily life, and then strided towards the crowd. He slowered his speed as he approached the broadening crowd, and heard a voice singing more and more lively.

After a tough moment of finding good spot to stand in the crowd to have a see at the person singing, he finally found himself right in front of the person he was trying to reach. A smile unknowingly appeared on his face.

In front of him was a school girl, maybe about his age. She was around his height (which he considered tall enough for girls), her skin tone pretty much pale. She had her hair tied neatly in a horse tale, typical. Aside from that, she was also wearing a school uniform. There might have been nothing noticable about this girl. But somehow, Taehyun knew he would remember her for long.

There was something about her that drew him into her singing performace. Aside from her strong vocal, he noticed the way she was so into the song, how she danced to it from time to time as she felt the music... She was confident, and passionate. She was confident, for singing all by herself, carrying a heavy loudspeaker with her to play the instrumentals. She was passionate, he just knew it by looking at her. The aura was strong, that might be why there were so many people gathering to listen to her.

He ate his food as he was listening to the song for about two minutes, before the performance was over and she shouted "thank you" to the mic. She bowed one last time to slowly parting audience, and turned the loudspeaker off as it started playing another instrumental.

Taehyun clapped with the cup of soup still in his hand, smiling genuinely at the girl, although she didn't notice him. That made him a little bothered, he wanted her to know he liked her performance.

"Hey, you did great! Good job!" Taehyun came closer to the girl so she could hear him. Aside from him, there were only two people left surrounding her. The two men were carrying cameras, but Taehyun didn't give them much attention.

Upon hearing his compliment, the girl turned back to meet his eyes. She immediately grinned at Taehyun, her eyes got crescent shaped and at one brief moment, Taehyun found his heart skip a beat. The girl looked so cute.

"Thank you so much! I still have to practice a lot!" The girl shyly resisted with formal language.

"Well, aside from dancing, I think you don't need to practice anything else!" Taehyun remarked, making the girl a little off guard, but she reverted back to laughing.

"I was just dancing to how I felt, I'm not interested in dancing that much."

"You have potential though." Taehyun insisted. When there was a second of silence, he continued. "By the way, which grade are you in?"

"I'm in second year of high school." She replied, looking at Taehyun a bit more closely. "You look about my age. Are you also...?"

"Oh my, we are friends!" Taehyun cheerfully reached his hand out as the girl took his hand and shook it pleasantly.

"I'm Bang Minah! Do you live here?"

"I do!" Taehyun replied, "my house is just a few blocks away, actually. How about you?"

"Oh. My house is not near here, though. I'll have to get on the train to get home. I just came here to perform, that's all."

"That's cool. Will you perform again here? You have only sung one song." Taehyun said timidly and scratched his nape.

To his indication of wanting to see her again, Minah's cheeks grew pinkish. She turned to one of the two men, whom until very present Taehyun had noticed. They were watching them talking all this time.

"I performed three songs in total actually. And about that... I'm not sure... Oppa, will we go here again?" Minah asked the man from her right side, for which he shook his head.

"Minah is going to perform somewhere else. Meanwhile, thank you for the interest, kid. We are planning to debut her in the future. Just testing with the public attention and filming for her pre-debut material." The man talked in a fast pace to Taehyun, as if it was his duty to do promotional speech, but had a limited time. Now that Taehyun looked at the man, he seemed a litte bothered.

It took Taehyun a few seconds to digest what was going on.

"Wow. You are going to be an idol?!" Taehyun amusedly said, smiling brightly at Minah.

"Yes, technically. But I'm not sure yet, we still haven't found any other member to composite a team yet." Minah said, pouting slightly at that.

"But I'm excited for you. I wonder how people will react after you debut!" Taehyun excitedly said. "You are doing great so far!"

Minah smiled timidly at the compliment as she looked down to the ground. She let out a sigh of relief.

Taehyun was about to ask which company she was in, when that same man spoke up again.

"We should go now." He pointed at his watch, glancing at Taehyun, probably annoyed by his talkativeness.

"Sorry I have to go now." Minah said, her eyes significantly fell from the announcement.

"It's okay it's okay. Bye-bye!" He waived at Minah and nodded aprovingly.

"Bye!" Minah waived back, smiling at him once again. "Thank you for watching me!"

"Uh. no big deal!"

They shared eye-contact for briefly a few more seconds, before they turned their back against each other, going the opposite ways.

As Taehyun walked slowly away, he felt the need to say something to her. Just a few more seconds after they started going their ways, Taehyun turned back and spoke aloud. Coincidently, Minah also turned her head back and said something to him.

"Can we meet again?" One of the two said, very sincerely and in a platonic way.

Author's Note: I know you know who said that, don't you?

What would the other be saying, though?

Thank you for commenting and subscribing (and upvoting!) even though I haven't released the first chapter yet until very now. I hope I meet your expectations, but I'm not really sure I meet mine (lol). I think this story will be very crappy, as it is very delusional. But I will continue writing it, regardless.

Just a notice, but I won't end this story until one of them confirmed their dating news. Please pepare for a (remotely) sad ending, I guess.

if you haven't read the foreword, last reminder to skip this chap and jump straight to chapter 8!

"Can we meet again?", said Taehyun, innocently yet genuinely.

"What's your name?", said Minah, at the very same time.

They both looked at each other for a brief second, before letting out chuckles.

"I'll say first. My name is Noh Taehyun!" Taehyun put both hands on his cheeks and said his name especially clearly and slowly.

"Let's be friends for a long time!" Minah smiled while making the same gesture as Taehyun. "What's your number?"

***

They had not met again after that first encounter for two months. Despite that, they still spent time texting each other to get closer. Taehyun introduced himself to Minah as a krump dancer, and he was on a dance crew called Monster Woo Fam. People called him Kid Monster in the crew for him being the youngest yet his dance skills are amongst the best in the team, probably because he was energetic enough for krump, a dance that requires the movements from the whole body.

"So that's why you talked about dance last time. I have never heard of krump, though." Minah texted.

"It's a newer dance type, generated from the U.S. You know, some anger-release dance that doesn't involve with violent," Taehyun answered, not sure if his wordings represented his intentions or not. But he truly loved that he chose krump.

"Sounds aggressive." So it failed to impress Minah positively.

"You'll love it either way." Said Taehyun.

As an exchange, Minah told him that she was ready to debut as an idol in a group of five girls, much to his surprise.

"That fast?" He texted with great interest. While he was texting, a girl his age, but much bigger than him looked over his shoulder.

"Who are you texting with?" Hyeran asked, getting curious at his excited face.

"Oh... A new friend. Her name is Minah; we are all in the same age." Taehyun looked back to Hyeran but turned to his phone instantly as the phone rang, indicating a new message had arrived.

"Yes! Although it's a bit rushy, we feel like it's a good moment to debut. We are recording the last song for our first mini-album right now. Talk to you later."

"Is she pretty?" Hyeran asked, in a somewhat teasing way.

"What do you mean?" Taehyun sighed, putting his phone down. "Shall we continue what's left?"

"Sure. But tell me about that girl later."

Taehyun just nodded as he didn't mind about that at all. He and Hyeran had been friends for more than a year since they were classmates and their interest in dancing brought them together. As promised, Taehyun told everything he knew about Minah to Hyeran after they have finished their dance practice for the day.

"She's debuting faster than me; I'm gonna be her hoobae then," Hyeran said in apparent jealousy. She recently just became a trainee in a company, called Brave Ent. She was still unsure when they would get a debut, even when all members were ready.

"That company sure is fast on their feet. But don't worry, you'll get to debut soon." Taehyun reassured, patting her shoulder lightly.

"Let me befriend her too. Next time you guys go out, include me okay? I want connections in the industry."

"Sure, why not," Taehyun answered casually. The more, the merrier. But he wasn't sure when he would meet her again though.

Time passed without mercy. They remained texting buddies, but Minah never found a chance to get out of her dorm to meet up with anyone, but her bandmates.  Minah informed him that the official group name was Girl's Day, and Taehyun wished her good luck for her long-awaited debut, and on the day when the mini-album was out, he went to the music sites to give them a listen. However, he didn't like the song and didn't think that it would be well observed by the public.

Though he thought it was a bad song, he still wished they managed to gain some fanbase out of the debut. However, as people in general and he himself predicted, the song was hated, and people called them beggar idols with a weird dance move from the music video. Seeing this happen, Taehyun texted Minah to cheer her up.

"It's okay. Don't worry."

"Taehyun, this is not a song we wanted in the first place. I didn't want it; This is hopeless." Minah texted back after two days.

Taehyun could only sigh. That's the life of most idols. They got given songs and prompted to dance and sing to it without much choice.

A/N: next chapter will be about their second encounter :) thanks for your subs.

Oh and a side note, Girl's Day debuted with Tilt My Head, and the events around their debut are all fact-based.

if you haven't read the foreword, last reminder to skip this chap and jump straight to chapter 8!

"Taehyun, can I ask you for bits of advice? I'm going to appear in a show for the second time, but last time they gave me no screen time. This time, I have to show something to get myself some spotlight. Maybe a dance. That's my thought, but I can't decide which song I should dance to and how I should dance. Can you help me, Taehyun?"

Taehyun was happy that his new friend hadn't forgotten him yet. It was almost one month since they last talked via messages. He was worried for Minah, for Girl's Day. With a song like Tilt My Head as their debut, he honestly saw no hope for the girls' future.

When he received her long message, though, he was even more worried.

She was apparently desperate for attention.

"I will help you with the best I could. But when are you going to that show?"

Minah texted that she was going to Itaewon where he was living anytime he was available. After discussing schedules and all that stuff, they agreed to meet up at Taehyun's dance practice room in two days. However, this made Taehyun felt anxious, even till the day Minah finally came to his practice room.

"You don't look well. What happened to you?" Minah asked, handing her coat to Taehyun as he offered to put her jacket in another room. The place was empty, except for a few bottles scattered in the corner.

"I'm okay." Taehyun assured. He smiled brightly to make sure Minah was not suspicious.

"Well just tell me if something's wrong. If I'm bothering you, just tell me, and I'll leave." Minah said, completely assuming that she was making him feel uncomfortable. That made him even more upset because Minah took his feelings wrongly.

"No, I'm just worried that I won't be able to help you with dancing. I don't know the world of entertainers. What if I'm of no help and make your trip from Seoul to here a useless and time-consuming thing?" Taehyun said, at last, releasing a sigh and he went out of the practice room to take Minah's coat elsewhere.

His confession made Minah baffled, and so she blinked her eyes rapidly for a few times. She then smiled to herself. When Taehyun went back to the room, Minah gave the new friend a meaningful smile. Taehyun was not sure what was behind that smile, but he took it as her being grateful to him.

"Don't feel pressured. It can't be any worse than Tilt My Head. Also, if it doesn't work out, we will just figure something out then. We still have a few shows to do in the future. I want my group to be known... just a little bit will be great..."

They sat down to chat for a while to know how the entertainment industry worked. How rookies and unpopular idols didn't even receive money for appearing on shows, it worked the opposite way to the popular ones. Minah was not much better at Taehyun at these. She claimed that it was only the beginning, so she was almost just as clueless as Taehyun.

"I will know a lot more stories in the entertainment field if I can survive in the Kpop world." She said in a slightly sad tone. It was obvious there was no sense of confidence in her talking. Taehyun clenched his teeth, looking at Minah for a while, then he stood up.

"No worries about the far future. We have to come up with a dance routine for you to appear on the TV right now." Taehyun said, signaling Minah to stand up with his hand.

"Right." Minah looked into the distance for a while before replying to Taehyun. She stood up and told Taehyun there was this one song that she thought might be good to create a dance move out of it.

"How about this song?" Minah asked, showing the dance practice video of Hyuna for the solo single "Change" through her cell phone. Taehyun stood next to Minah, his head tilted to her side so that he could see clearly. While he was focusing on the young singer's energetic choreography, he shifted his gaze to Minah as she exhaled a forceful breath out of her nose due to laughing.

"What are you laughing about?" Taehyun asked, thinking there was probably something weird he did.

"You are even shorter than me," Minah confessed and kept her grin on her face. Annoying and silly, Taehyun thought. He deadpanned and returned his gaze to the phone screen. Usually, he would not get offended over his height. But when Minah told him he was short, in fact, shorter than her, he felt a bit offended. He thought they were not that close to talk to each other like that, yet.

"Are you sure you are not younger than me?" Minah kept on with the unfunny teasing. Taehyun had two options in his mind, either kindly tell her to stop or answer her question. With the first choice, it would make situation turned awkward and heavy. He didn't want that, so he chose the second one.

"Well I was born in October maybe that's why I'm not that tall, yet." He reluctantly said, even though he knew he would never get much taller.

"Would you be taller than me though if you were born sooner?" Minah kept on picking on Taehyun. He didn't like this teasing side of her at all. He didn't know the girl who sang gracefully across the street would be so stubborn and kind of irrational like this.

He knew the atmosphere would turn out so awkward and it wouldn't end up well between the two if he snapped at her, so he tried to change the topic.

"Whatever, hey do you think we could change the dance a bit? Like this?" Taehyun took a few steps back and bounced with his chest perked up several times. This made Minah startled, but she burst into laughter nonetheless.

"This looks hilarious! It matches quite well with the original dance in the chorus too!" Minah complimented.

Taehyun stopped catching his breath for solely a second because he was so surprised at her reaction.

"Say what?"

"I say, let's do this! I'll follow after you!" Minah squeaked and excitedly rewind the video to the chorus part and started dancing along to it like how Taehyun did. He just stood there and...

"You look like an idiot! Why are you dozing off? Help me fix my dance!" She said and kept bouncing, the power she put in seemed to get higher and higher with time.

He didn't mean to help her... like this. In contrast, it was only an instant idea he wanted to distract Minah from her silly joke; it was partly to express his frustration to what Minah had done to him. He didn't know a girl would approve of the idea.

And after a few seconds of contemplating at his new friend, he decided to help Minah, "fix" the dance and made it somewhat look even crazier.

And, somewhat thankfully, the dance became Minah's characteristic trick on TV Shows. She got more chances to appear on screen, while Taehyun got more chances to witness how desperate of her to become popular.

A/N: for some reason I almost lost this chapter lol I would be sooo hesitant if I had to write this chapter all over again lol.

btw here's Minah's legendary "change" dance

if you haven't read the foreword, last reminder to skip this chap and jump straight to chapter 8!

In a span of two years later, it seems Minah’s career had been going so well, although her group suffered from three lineup re-arrangements, although not as fast as, say, Sistar, or Miss A who debuted around the same time, but it was slowly and gradually getting more attention. Their music had been better in quality. They made a lot of comebacks, hence Minah couldn’t meet up with him that much…

On the other hands, his other female friend whom he saw as a close sister, was also doing moderately well in the idol field. Hyeran went for a stronger image in her group, Brave Girls, from the very first debut, “Nowadays you.”

It was not like he was not busy, either.

In a span of two years, he (as well as Minah and Hyeran) graduated from high school, decided to leave the study path by sticking with his krumping group, Monster Woo Fam. He was the youngest, but his position in the team was solid. Hence the nick name he received, “Kid Monster”. Although his parents were upset that he didn’t follow other kids for college, they gave their consent for him to move town, with his krumping crew to Seoul, making their names well known among the specific community, by competing at countless competitions. Many times, if not all the times, they always made it to the finals. Taehyun was short, sure, but his humble height was advantageous to do aggressive dance routines, and not surprisingly, he maintained robust physics compared with other team members. It was all thanks to his passion for dancing.

He even got a chance to be BIGBANG’s backup dancer, to meet up with Taeyang, a dance singer, basically. It was a great chance to talk to a famous kpop senior about life as an idol. This encounter with Taeyang enabled him to develop his positive feelings towards being an idol even more.

During the year 2013, however, he witnessed a great change in popularity gap between his two celebrity friends. Minah shot up along with her group with “Expect”, “Female President”… while Hyeran’s had a long hiatus because of bad company management. Brave Girls seemed to be getting no where, while Girl’s Day got more and more CF deals, acting gigs, and individual schedules.

Having two friends his age, already debuted and fighting their ways, he also wanted to follow their paths. But he was scared he could end up like Hyeran, and he had was hesitant because unlike Minah and Hyeran, his face was… not one of an idol.

The conflicting thoughts kept on running in Taehyun’s head for a year, as he got older, he tended to believe that it was too late for him to choose the idol path. He danced with Monster Woo Fam throughout the year, teaching other people how to krump, and lastly, deciding to go back to college soon.

When he shared his thought to Minah and Hyeran via text messages, unsurprisingly, while Hyeran told him a word of courage, Minah gave him a rather shocked reaction.

“I thought you wanted to be an idol!” She was rather impulsive over little things, hot in the head, always speak up honestly without much hesitation.

“I did.” Taehyun replied. But before he could heave a sigh, Minah called him.

“Hey.” Taehyun said, putting his phone on speaker and on the bed. He was living with two hyungs from Monster Woo Fam, in an apartment. They were currently out drinking late night as per usual.

“What’s with you? Didn’t you say you wanted to be an idol?” Minah showed her confusion clearly in her tone.

“Quiet down! I don’t want other people to hear it…” Taehyun said. He didn’t want the little passion he only revealed to his two celebrity friends to be known. And on top of that, Minah’s voice was piercing in the quiet room, echoing in his ears. She was so loud.

“Does it matter now?” Minah exasperated, making Taehyun jerk back his head a little. He pouted while hearing a girl complaining about her loud voice, probably a Girl’s Day member. He heard a door click before Minah spoke up again.

“Why suddenly decided to pursue your study? You can’t study as well as you dance, and sing!” Minah said rapidly, as if she was afraid he would hang up.

Taehyun creased his eyebrows, frowning at her words. Academically, Minah was in no place to complain about it to him. He was doing moderate in class despite spending his time dancing most of the time. He especially has a knack for learning languages, English and even Japanese as he picked up along the way of watching anime and reading manga. All that being said, he was confident he would carry on just fine with college. He was only two years late… it was still fixable.

“Look who’s talking.” Taehyun teased Minah, smirking even though he felt tired.

“Look I’m being serious here.” Minah said even though he heard a chuckle slipping in between her words. He found his mood getting better just by making fun of his friend. He missed talking to her. It must have been a long time since they last talked.

“Well I’m also being serious here. I will get nowhere being an idol.” Taehyun remarked, lying down and looked dreamily at the ceiling.

“Well… Hyeran she’s not doing well as an idol, is she…” Minah trailed off, sighing for a second before continuing. “You know, there’re not many girls as talented as her. She dances so well, her rap is top-notch. She’s still trying and enduring…”

“I know it’s hard, I know she’s having it worse than me. But isn’t she still trying?” Minah continued, Taehyun just listened on. It was true, he was afraid he would end up in a nugu level, like many idols, like Hyeran did. ”But don’t you want to try? I tried, Hyeran tried. Now it’s your turn.”

Taehyun closed his eyes, contemplating. All his life, he had been more than satisfied with how he lived. But idol life was something he always seemed to yearn for. He didn’t quite get how he wanted it that bad. What was so good about idol life that he wanted to experience?

“You want to show all you got to so many people, don’t you?” Minah said at last, breaking the silence that had been lurking for what seemed like a whole minute. Taehyun’s ear perked up, his eyes slightly opened wide for a brief moment.

His friend read him so easily. So accurately. She basically just translated his true greed into words. The greed he was always feared to admit.

“I…” Taehyun couldn’t say anything. His mind went blank.

“Honestly speaking, out of three of us, I think you have the most potential to gain popularity. Aside from that unique krump style, you can sing well and you can also rap. It’s me and Hyeran combined!” Minah’s courage made Taehyun flustered. He did find himself enjoy singing. At karaoke, he would be the second one out of the three to sing most songs.

“Not sure if I can sing that good though…” Taehyun confessed. He knew he was nowhere near good at singing.

“No no no. You got a nice voice. With practice, I think you will be able to support high notes even!” Minah kept on persuading.

“But aren’t I a bit too old for debuting now?” He kept on denying his possibilities to become an idol. He still felt like a kid, but in kpop world, he wouldn’t say he was young any more.

“Dummy, age is just a number. Sojin-unnie debuted when she was twenty-five. How about that?”

“How about my looks?” Taehyun reasoned, it seemed this was the last attempt he could do to keep his opinion unbothered. He ran out of one to defend his negative viewpoints.

It was amazing how effective her words were to him. He was more and more determined to become an idol. At this point, he knew he was partly looking for comforting, encouraging words. He felt a better sense of self-pride. The feeling was nice.

“Yeah… I’m most worried about my looks. I’m ugly, Minah. I can’t be an idol with an ugly face. But I don’t want to go to doctor Kim…”

Minah laughed for a few seconds, making Taehyun curious to what she was thinking.

“What?” Taehyun asked, looking dumbfounded.

“I mean, haven’t you seen my bare face? Come on, makeup will do wonders. But you are not ugly at all, I swear. You’re just… how can I say… not handsome at first look.”

“Don’t get it.” Taehyun chuckled.

“Your eyes are big even though they are mono-lids, not like mine. They can be slightly touched and you’ll look okay. Your eyebrows can be darkened. Just change the ahjussi hairstyle and you’ll be great. You have got a nice straight nose, your cheeks are cute… jaw line is sharp…”

The atmosphere suddenly felt so awkward as Minah stopped talking and Taehyun just kept quiet the whole time listening to Minah’s “analysis”. He felt his cheeks were burning. Why did he interpret her compliments in such a way…?

“Stop describing or I’ll think you save pictures of me in your phone.” Taehyun tried to break the heavy short moment of silence.

“I know right?” Minah let out dry chuckles on the other line. “I must have seen you more than I needed.”

“Well then you would never be able to forget what your ex-boyfriends look like.” Taehyun drew a joke. Even though he reminded himself that Minah had dated with many guys in the past, his heart still beat like crazy at the moment. It was weird.

“Haha, very funny.”

“Anyways, it’s too late now. Don’t you feel sleepy?” Taehyun suggested, knowing Minah was more than busy and she was merely sacrificing her sleep to offer him her company.

“Speaking of which… yeah tomorrow I have schedule…” Minah said, yawning in the process. “You better sleep as well, okay? Don’t stress out. Talk to me whenever you need.”

“Yes madam…” He smiled, picking up his phone, ready to hang up.

“Go with what you truly want, okay?”

A few seconds later, Taehyun nodded even though he knew Minah couldn’t see it.

“Okay. Thank you Minah. Bye.” Taehyun said, hanging up.

He lazily reached the lamp and turned it off. The lights from the moon went through the window, spreading parts of his bedroom dimly. Taehyun welcomed the lights from the stars and the moon into his eyes, until he went completely asleep. That was the best night he had ever had in a while...

A/N: Check out Taehyun's unique krump!

This chap was filled with some cringe-worthy contents... hope it was not too uncomfortable to read... and my grammar didn't hurt your eyes much. Thankfully, I'm currently having a beta-reader helping me with all the grammar stuff. Phew...

I can't find any interactions from these two during the years 2010-2014, hence this rushy chapter lol. I can't come up with anything to fill the gap I'm sorry OTL.

I appreciate all of your comments even though I might not reply to some of them (I just don't know what to say lol XD). Thank you so so much for reading and I hope I did not disappoint!

if you haven't read the foreword, last reminder to skip this chap and jump straight to chapter 8!

Right after the night Minah called, Taehyun apologized, thanked and left Monster Woo Fam for his fixed dream. It was absurd to the hyungs he had lived together with for years, but they understood and respected his decision. They wished him luck and said they saw potential in him as a dance singer.

He had been training for six months. The eager feeling as he wanted to debut was so strong. He felt more than ready, but the label he auditioned for seemed to be still in the production process. He didn’t blame them for being unresponsive, but he and other trainees couldn’t be more worried about their future.

Nonetheless, he was confident his team would do well, if they ever debuted. Junhyuk, Yoonsan, Hojung, Timoteo, Sungwoon, all of the five had something going for them. Everyone was special in their own ways. Taehyun was glad he blended well within the group. Living together with them at the dorm strengthened their relationship as teammates, and it actually eased the stress they had to endure to debut.

Minah would occasionally asked how he had been doing, or she would hang out with him along with their mutual friends they gradually shared with each other. However, it was rare of her to contact him anymore recently. He believed it was because Girl’s Day hit it big with “Something”, so they got quite busy with more schedules and then they had just made another comeback with “Darling”. It was no doubt another hit that gave them a few music show trophies, and steadied their popularity even more. His friend’s achievements were what he strived to get in the future.

He was glad she made it this far, but was quite curious to what she was doing.

A long day of practice had passed. Taehyun was lying on the upper bed of the bunk bed he shared with Yoonsan. His roommate was not in the room. Taehyun fumbled on his phone, searching for someone to bother, then he finally stopped at the line “Minah.”

“Hey Bread what’s up these days?” He texted to her, not anticipating much from his friend. Rather, he missed talking nonchalantly with his friend.

As he got close to Minah, he discovered she had a love for bread, her last name sounded almost the same to it, so he started calling her that, just to tease. She seemed to be okay to it, so more friends started to call her the same thing.

“Why? Aren’t you supposed to practice?” Minah’s message arrived ten minutes later. “Oh by the way, on the first date would holding my boyfriend’s hand a bit too much?”

Taehyun jumped back a little. Minah was indirectly informing him that she had found a new boyfriend. Taehyun only shook his head and bit his lip. She was so open about dating. It was not that he disapproved, he felt it was good for her as long as she felt happy and it wouldn’t affect her status as an idol.

“Wow surprise our Bread got a new boyfriend. I dunno, just go for it if you feel like it.” Taehyun replied. Looking at the phone screen for a new message notification. Instead, it was a phone call ring. He picked up.

“Oh.” He curtly said, waiting for Minah to talk first.

“You aren’t at the company now? Ador… abo something?” Taehyun chuckled at her mindlessness.

“Ador and Able. Anyways, no, I’m at the dorm, bored.”

“Okay… how’s everything?”

“As I said, no plans for debut yet.” Taehyun could sense how Minah felt based on the prolonged silence after that. “But no worries, we have just come up with a name lately. It’s Hotshot. Basically means shooting up to stardom in Korean, you know?”

“Hotshot? Oh okay, sounds nice. How many members?”

“Six including me, this is official line up I guess.” After receiving a curt ‘uh’ reply from Minah, he changed the topic. “Tell me about your boyfriend.”

A long squeal was heard on the other line. Taehyun smirked. “Here we go again, our Minah-ssi.”

“Son Heungmin!” Minah exclaimed, even though she was whispering, he could hear it clearly. But wait, what?

“Son Heungmin? The soccer player!?” Taehyun burst, sitting right up from the bed. “What?”

“Why?” Minah giggled. “I met him when we performed in a sports event. It was just weeks ago. I got the chance to meet him cause he approached me saying he was a fan!”

Taehyun felt his heart race. He was excited for her, he reasoned. Son Heungmin was definitely a big name in Korea. He was a rising star, a young potential football player. Even being not a huge football fan, Taehyun knew the name.

“So I was like… ahhhh!” Minah squealed yet again, making Taehyun scowl at her lousiness. “He was really handsome and the way he talks… he’s just so charming…”

“So, how old is he?” Taehyun asked as Minah seemed to be recalling her memories with Son, ignoring the phone call. Oddly enough, he never was interested in her dating life, until now. It was the first famous person Minah ever dated. It seemed he finally got to feel his friend’s popularity.

“One year older. Super handsome.” She exaggerated the word “super”, sending Taehyun an annoyed stared at his own phone screen.

“So… You’re gonna hold his hand for the first date?” Taehyun asked, shrugging his annoyance off for the mean time.

“Uh…” Minah paused. “What do you think?”

Taehyun scratched his nape instinctively. Dating was not his forte. To be frank, he had only dated two women in his life. One was with one of BIGBANG’s backup dancers, but sadly she broke up with him first because he was too “strict” about drinking and going to clubs. Well, Minah did go to clubs many times, but his friend didn’t drink and party like there’s no tomorrow…

The second girl he dated with was a mutual friend introduced to him. At first, he thought she was cute with her shyness and all. But later on he realized she didn’t open up to him enough… If only she had been as carefree as Minah like how they ended up sharing contact information from the first day…

“Are you listening, Taengie? Thinking about something?” Minah had been calling him Taengie just for an easier pronunciation. It bothered him at first because Taengie sounded a little girly and like a nickname of an empty-head. After hearing it a lot from her, he eventually got used to it and ignored it.

“Uh, nothing.” Telling her he was unconsciously comparing his ex-girlfriends with his dearest friend did not sound like a good idea. “Well if you feel like it you should go for it. I mean it’s just holding hands. It’s no big deal.”

And so, Minah listened to his advice. The evidence was that, after only a few weeks, a picture of them holding hands was spread all over Korea’s news websites, even on small to medium TV broadcasts or newspapers. Their dating scandal exploded on the media, getting them headlines and hot topic for a couple of days.

Well, no wonder. They were both well-known in Korea.

Taehyun was frustrated for a few days over the news. He was sure he felt so because of how after all those times of dating secretly, Minah got caught by paparazzies so easily that time; and he was dead-worried for all the fame she had been building so far in the industry. On a side note, he thought the couple was lovely and compatible. The tall, handsome, and popular man was a perfect ideal type his friend would want in a boyfriend. He was happy for her.

But looking at their dating pictures, especially the one where they were holding hands and smiling joyfully, caused him an odd distress sense at the back of his mind.

He was worried for his friend’s future a lot, wasn’t he?

Author’s Notes: Minah’s last name Bang is pronounced closely identical with that of “bread” (bbang). Notice she used it for her Instagram username also XD (bbang_93)

Merry late Christmas and hope you will spend the last days of your holiday beautifully! If you’re working, then fighting!

(Minah dating back in 2013...)

if you haven't read the foreword, last reminder to skip this chap and jump straight to chapter 8!

“There’s a new restaurant around. Want to explore that place?” Minah invited Taehyun through phone call, rather randomly on a random one day, when Taehyun was sitting lazily on their dorm couch, watching TV.

“Sure,” Taehyun answered unsurely, “who'll go with us?”

“Just us two. Sounds okay?” Minah inquired, her voice lowered by an octave.

“Okay.” Taehyun replied, raising his eyebrow. Why did she sound so scary? Usually, when Minah lowered her voice, things weren’t going well.

And then, there they were. Sitting across from each other in a private room of the restaurant, Taehyun decided to pull out his phone after staring at the emotionless Minah.

“Aren’t you ordering?” Minah asked, her gaze still fixed on the menu in front of her.

“I'm done choosing what I want to eat actually,” Taehyun answered, putting his phone down and picked up the menu in front of him, “should we order now then?”

Minah nodded meekly, looking at him with an unreadable expression.

“So, what’s the occasion?” Taehyun started after they had ordered from the water, his hands finding their way on the square table’s surface, fumbling.

Bang Minah felt weird today. She was usually not that hard to initiate a conversation with. He could tell clearly that there was a kind of a distant aura in her eyes that intimidated him. It was unusual. What caused her to feel so upset?

Minah only looked blankly at Taehyun for about a few seconds, opened , then closed it shut. She finally opened it again, but he knew whatever she originally was about to tell changed.

“I feel quite funny today.” Minah said, chuckling half-heartedly.

Taehyun only tilted his head, his eyebrows knitting together.

“You said that Hotshot is going to debut soon, right? Congrats.” She added, as if it was the most natural way to change topic. But Taehyun decided to just let it flow the way she wanted, so he went along.

“Yay! After forever, we are debuting!” He squealed, imitating the tone of a child. He didn’t know how, but it had become a habit of his. Thus, he quickly gained cute nicknames from his friends, one of them being Taebong.

Minah only smiled at his exaggerated response. A mysterious smile.

“Are you playing Mona Lisa? What are you thinking?” Taehyun’s shoulders sank. He didn’t know he ran out of patience that fast. But he never wanted to beat around the bush. He felt like it was getting nowhere if he didn’t take any action. He wanted to help his friends whenever they got troubles.

“I don’t know.” After a few seconds, Minah looked down. And at that point, he realized that she had been hiding this emotion until now. She was sad. She looked so vulnerable.

“What happened?” Taehyun inquired quietly, feeling a lump forming in his throat.

“I…” Minah said, “we got into a fight.”

Taehyun sighed, but a smile creeping up his face.

“Only three weeks in?” Taehyun chuckled, “it’s alright. Couples fight all the time and that’s normal.”

“Taehyun.” She called his name right after he had finished his sentence. Surely, what he said to her wasn’t taken in well.

“Uh.” He replied curtly, prompting her to continue.

“What do you think about me?”

The question came so suddenly, and it wasn’t something friends usually ask each other, so it make Teahyun baffled.

“What do I think about you?” Taehyun repeated the question, taking the wooden cup of water beside him and took in a feel gulps before continuing. “What do you mean?”

“I mean...” Minah looked up, trying to come up with the most suitable words to explain. “Do you think I’m attractive… as a woman?”

Taehyun only stared at her for a good few seconds. Then he felt heat rushing up his face. Why was he feeling embarrassed out of nowhere like this?

“So…” Taehyun cleared his throat, looking at Minah and he realized there was a red tint on her cheeks too, “he makes you feel like you are unattractive... as a... woman?” The tone of the last word felt funny, but Taehyun was glad she didn't ick up on it.

Minah’s eyes lit up a bit, “oh, that’s right! You are fast to catch on!”

Taehyun chuckled, finding his tension going away little by little, “I may be wrong, but usually the more couples grow close, the more of bad habits of wach other will show. He probably has found out something about you that he didn’t know before; that he didn’t expect from you. And so, he got disappointed maybe.”

Minah nodded through his speculation, “you have a point...”

“Of course, I know it just by hearing you ask me if… if I find you attractive.” Somehow he drove the topic back. Very great, Noh Taehyun.

Silence drew in between them. Taehyun excused himself out to the restroom, and Minah just meekly nodded.

“Why am I so flustered today?” He mumbled as he was making his way to the restroom. He shook his head a few times but the unwanted thoughts kept clouding on his mind.

“And why does she look so intimidated today? That’s not the Minah I know.” After a couple of seconds, he decided to shift the blame to Minah. He then recalled her bashful face just a few moments ago. That was quite cute.

And that was not the Minah he was used to. But somehow, he knew he had been wanting to make her feel that way. Wait, no. What was he thinking?

That tickling feeling at the back of his head hit him again, when he opened the door to see Minah wiping the metal utensils for him. As he sat down the pillow on the floor, Minah ignored his gaze. That made him feel even more confused and frustrated. Talking to her never felt this hard.

Thus, they spent the rest of the time together just eating and chatting about other irrelevant stuff that was not dating, until Minah brought it up again when they started eating desserts.

“Sorry I made you feel uncomfortable. I just felt like you might know what to do because you are a man,” Minah said, making Taehyun flustered at the mention of him being a man, “and you are my trusted friend,” she ended up smiling.

"What are you talking about? I will help if I can." Taehyun shook his head vigorously, "just tell me what exactly is going on between you two?"

"Thanks," Minah said with hearty eyes, "I actually have a lot to talk about."

"Whenever we hang out he would pick me up from my apartment with his own car, so I told him it's not good to do that always, especially now that we are dating puclicly do you think it's good to always appear in the news?"

"I mean it can be damaging to your career." Taehyun said, "that's quite unthoughtful of him."

"I told him I can manage myself but he got offended." Minah continued, making an unbelievable expression.

"... And then sometimes I go bare face in the morning he told me to put on some makeup and only on days that I wear make up he would take pictures like? He barely have any make up on his face the whole time yet he got all the grumpy and told me I must act more feninine or something!"

"What the heck?" Taehyun exclaimed in the middle of chewing his noodles, not caring about the bits of food spat out of his mouth, "You don't deserve this. Find someone who take you seriously. Just break up with him already."

"Is that so?" Minah asked sincerely as she didn't expect Taehyun to react so strongly about her complaints, "I mean I can understand it if the guy wants his girl—"

"Guys who can't even appreciate their lovers' natural face aren't worthy of the girls' trust," Taehyun cut his friend before she could finish, "I thought it would be just on trivial matters that make you guys fight but hearing your stories, actually in the long run you guys aren't for each other either."

"Is it that serious?" Minah prompted Taehyun to continue.

"Just break up already before you get hurt," Taehyun said after he swallowed all the food in his mouth, then putting down his utensils and looking at Minah, "he doesn't care for you and he seems to value beauty above anything else when he met you. Plus why would you act more "feminine" just for him to be pleased."

Minah looked dumbfounded, she didn't know how to respond.

"You look good barefaced or makeup on, and you don't have to change for someone's taste. I mean it's good to change for the better but you are losing yourself when you date guys like him," Taehyun threw in his last thoughts, "there's another football tournament coming up right? He will be away from you for a while. Just tell him you want to break up because you can't deal with long distance relationship. Yeah that's a good excuse."

Minah didn't say anything in response. She looked like she was taking in little by little Taehyun's words.

"But it might not be that serious..." Minah said unsurely after a long silence, she peeked a glance at her friend and looked back down intimidated, "he might just care for my image and he wanted to send more time with me. You know, he kisses me these days so he must really care for me."

Taehyun's heart sank for a brief moment when Minah mentioned kissing. But he got back to his sense quickly.

"Not we kiss but he kisses?" Taehyun sighed, "so did you like his kisses?"

"I guess so," Minah's cheeks blushed, "he's a good kisser."

Taehyun felt heat rising up his cheeks, he assumed he had gone mad and protective of his friend, "it's been only weeks and you guys already kiss on the lips? You are crazy."

"Well that's how couple show their affection you ." Minah chuckled at her friend who had barely on a dating experience before.

"There are many types of stuff couples do to show their affection. It happens naturally not just the kisses your boyfriend does without any prompt and unexpected. If he tries to pull random stuff at least have some concern over his girlfriend like there's boundary to everything isn't it?"

Taehyun was taken aback by how worked up he appeared. He was spewing whatever he thought in mind which was not really himself.

He was being too protective for his friend.

A/N: The last 3 lines were written on Nov 15 2021, as a lame continuation for the much lamer drafted chapter I wrote back in Apr 2018 :[

I'll be uploading one last chapter to put an end to this story as I no longer feel comfortable enough to portray Minah and Taehyun in a romantic way lol. they are just friendship goals T-T

Special: Taehyun x Minah interactions I found until 2018!

First, A/N: The reason for this note is because of a bad thing that nobody wants to talk about: motivation! Why? Because if I lose motivation, I can't write good stuff (at least to myself). I have been writing this story with full enjoyment in every chapter so far, but after this chapter I lost my enthusiasm to continue. The biggest reason for this is because I don't know how this story will go. I don't know how I should use any of their real-life interactions as a plot device. I guess I'm completely helpless because it's not just author's block but about wanting to be both realistic (with the interactions in real life) and alternative out-comings. I guess you don't have to get what I mean, cause I don't get myself either OTL.

So, this bonus will be a collection of all interactions I could find about Minah and Taehyun. I initially wanted to write every chapter based on every interaction but turns out I can't think of anything to write and how to make it read-worthy. Nonetheless, I just want to share these events~~

• SNL! Taehyun and Hyeran (and friends) went to Minah's SNL live to support her! (Sep 3, 2016)

• V app! (Sep 11, 2016)

To watch their full V lives, go here and here, to watch their few interactions, I recommend going to this video!

• Zombie run! (Oct 29, 2016) with Hyeran!

• Christmas Party! (Dec 24, 2016) Yes, with Hyeran again!

credit trans: x

• Minah supporting him in PD101!

(May 30, 2017)

credit: nohtaehyunfan @twitter

Last PD101 related post! After his elimination (I'm glad he made it this far but honestly he's one of the most talented among PD101 boys, ngl)

(June 10, 2017)

• roasting wach other on SNS...

Aug 19, 2017

(so our roh_taehyun was fanboying over Weki Meki album in his own world, and we have miss bbang_93 concerning over his actions ("what are you doing?")

• JBJ debut showcase on Oct 19, 2017! Minah came with another friend..

• Interviews

Minah on Taehyun:

"He's a friend who's very good at dancing so we grew close through talking about dance. Recently it seems like he's achieved success so I'm proud. I was both proud and embarrassed to see the side of a close friend receiving cheers from many fans".

Source: x

Taehyun mentioning Minah:

credit x

Another A/N lol: As I have mentioned, I have lost my will to write this story long ago (back in 2018) because of the greed to include all interactions in the plot. But I figure it's not the best option as I would just waste my own time writing something I feel obliged to and you having to reading MORE gibberish (let's act like there're readers here lol). This doesn't mean that I'll abandon this story, I'm going to write a somewhat readable drabble and that's gonna be the last chapter. It can (and should) be read as a standalone. No need to read the previous chapters (they were written back in 2018, when my writing was a lot worse than right now in 2021).

anyways... do you think they make a good couple? (I'm already glad they are friends, and acknowldge that they would never be dating, but still... what do you think?)

Taehyun's POV

I watched you and our mutual friends walk towards me backstage when my musical ended. Today's show was as successful as any other, yet I thought hard about what mistakes I might have made onstage.

"Oooh, Noh Taehyun. You were so cool!" You cooed, and all the silly thoughts I had moments ago disappeared.

It was so odd. I would get one validation and that was enough to make me happy.

Happier than the applause from many others.

Yes. You were that powerful, Minah. But you didn't have to know. I wouldn't let you know.

"Isn't this your last show? Let's party all the way tonight." You excalimed then everyone else followed. I didn't really get what others said after, because I was distracted by your hold on my arm, dragging me somewhere I wasn't sure of any, except for the fact that I would definitely enjoy being in said place.

I was right. You sat next to me in a restaurant. We started chatting with each other, then another friend of ours joined in, then two, then everyone. I was displeased a little bit, because I got to hear less from you. But who was I to complain? I should be more grateful, because I was afraid someone would pick up on the look that I was sure I only gave you.

I had been trying to look at you the same way I looked at our other friends. Most of the time, it seemed to work.

There was some time like today that my gaze became a bit too intense, it seemed.

"You've been looking at Minah's way for a while, Tae." Hyeran, our observant friend pointed out, her eyes were drooping a little thanks to the alcohol she had been consuming. Yet, I could still see the mischiviousness in those eyes.

"I was thinking," I said, thinking up a quick excuse, "how can a human be that noisy when they eat?"

"Shut up." You slapped my arm and glared at me. The others were laughing and I felt relieved that nobody pressed on further.

They better not know that I thought you looked extraordinary today with that new hairstyle that you got.

"A magazine photoshoot." You told me, still too busy eating to look at me properly. "Gosh, I had to change so many hairstyles these days. My scalp is screaming every second."

I knew you too well to know your complaints were sincere. You were literally bragging about your busy schedules yet I loved that you were a workaholic and enjoyed your job. Girl's Day practically disbanded and everyone went separate ways. Yet each one of you had your own solo career to go on. You weren't the most successful, but you had a stable career being an actress. And modelling.

Yes. And I refused to think I was a creep for secretly looking your pictures up once those magazines were out. You looked beautiful now, but I never got those gazes from you like those lucky camera lens did.

And those gazes you would give to your ex-lovers as well. But I should not delve too much. I have spent enough time on that.

I was pending more time to accept that you would never feel the same towards me. I was spending a lot more time to stop flirting with you. But I failed most of the time.

"Bbang you were cool today." I sounded completely casual, yet I avoided looking at you too much or else it would become too obvious.

You hummed in response, as though you already knew you were. That was what I liked about you, too. You were always confident in yourself. "You look cool yourself with that outfit."

I was wearing a mask and I swore the suffocating mask actually felt like my savior because I started to blush so bad I could feel the heat emitting from my cheeks. I scoffed because that was how usualy react to other friends, and I knew you never meant it more than a casual compliment you could give to anyone else.

"Take me a photo then." I said, fishing out my phone and handed it to you, standing in front of the movie promotional background.

It was that moment that I knew better not to ruin this friendship that we had built for the past ten years. You knew me well, and I knew you well.

"Thanks for the promo, Tae-ah."

Even if I can't be with you, we'll have each other.

A/N: That's really short because I don't know how to lengthen it OTL. Anyways, if you ever stumble upon this, I hope you enjoyed your read!

This story has come to an (abrupt and very ty) end. Gosh, I'll just write AUs from now on to prevent feeling guilty.