Taeil wasn’t at school the next day, or the day after that.  Yuta noticed that Jaehyun was being unusually antsy at soccer practice that afternoon.

“Hey, you okay?  That was the second time you scored for the other team.  Maybe you should take a break or something.”  This was Yuta’s nice way of telling Jaehyun to get his together or else he’d make him sit the bench during their practice scrimmage.  They were best friends, sure, but Yuta was the captain and he had a job to do.

Jaehyun slapped his face a couple times with his hands to wake himself up.  He couldn’t worry about Taeil now.  Their game was coming up faster than any of them expected it to.  He wiped the sweat from his eyes as he ran back to get into position.

During the weekends, Yuta usually came over to hang with Jaehyun or vice versa.  This weekend though, Yuta’s grandma was visiting from Japan, so Jaehyun was left with nothing to do.  Rolling around on his bed trying to will himself to get up and do something productive, he caught sight of Taeil’s notebook that was sticking out of his backpack. 

With notebook in possession, he hopped back into bed.  He opened to the first page, expecting to find song lyrics, but was surprised when the content was written in the form of a diary. 

March 12^th

Today was the first day of my senior year of school.  The first week of classes is usually the worst.  It’s when people are the most open to trying to make new friends.  Many people tried to start a conversation with me, but I made my point that I wasn’t interested. 

It’s a lie, though.  I always wonder what it would be like to have friends.  Friends is such a foreign word to me.  I don’t think it’s a concept I will ever understand.  I hope to someday, but that would mean I would have to remember someone.  What if I remembered one day but then forget another?  I can’t even imagine the pain that person would go through while I remained blissfully ignorant of the emotional storm that said person would go through.  I can’t bear to think of it.  This is why I have to remind myself that I can’t have friends.  I think I’m ok with it now, but that’s probably another lie too.

After school I went to my choir club.  Who needs to talk to people when you can communicate by singing?  This year I hope to land a solo part in our choir recital.  This is what I’m going to look forward to and work towards this year.  I think it’ll help get me by until I graduate.

Jaehyun skipped a couple pages.

March 20^th

Same.

He skipped another couple pages.

March 29^th

Same.

What did same mean?  It can’t be that day-to-day for him the same things happened?  What a terribly boring life. 

Many of the pages had random lyrics jotted down, which is what Jaehyun usually saw at lunch.

Not wanting to snoop into Taeil’s life too much, he gently closed the notebook and set it on his nightstand beside his bed.  He sighed and raked a hand through his hair.  Reading through his notebook made him even more determined to become Taeil’s friend, whether the boy liked it or not. 

Monday eventually rolled around, and Taeil finally came back to school.  Jaehyun was about to approach him at his locker when it hit him that there was a possibility that Taeil didn’t remember him.  Before Jaehyun could make a decision, it seemed Taeil did it for him.

Taeil spotted Jaehyun and shuffled over to him.  Yuta looked between the two before excusing himself to the bathroom, not wanting to get in the way of anything.

“You’re Jaehyun, right?”  Hearing Taeil’s honey-like voice utter his name produced a fluttering in the pit of his stomach.

Thrown off that Taeil remembered his name, the taller boy took a second to respond, “Yea I am.”

The brunette looked down at his feet and played with the hem of his uniform when he nervously asked, “Could I possibly talk to you during lunch?  We could meet up in the music room if it’s not a bother to you.  I just don’t want others to hear our conversation...” The boy was obviously skittish.  Jaehyun didn’t blame him since he didn’t really talk to a lot of people on an everyday basis.

“Er- yea that’s fine, no problem.”  The corners of Taeil’s lips barely lifted, but there was a hint of a small smile on his face.

“Okay, thank you.”  And before Jaehyun knew it, he was gone.

Jaehyun kept sneaking peaks at not only the clock, but also at Taeil during the morning classes to make the time go by faster.  Sometimes they would make eye contact and immediately look away with a hint of a blush on their faces.  Jaehyun was glad he wasn’t the only one who was looking forward to their talk. 

As soon as the bell for lunch rang, Jaehyun surged out of his seat to make it to the music room as soon as possible.  Jittery nerves completely dissipating his hunger, he skipped the lunchroom and headed for his destination.  This talk would be important in setting the base for his and Taeil’s friendship.

Jaehyun, in all his haste, ended up beating Taeil to the room.  Entering the dark room, he switched on the lights and took a seat on the small stage in the front.  Legs bouncing and hands twitching in anticipation, Jaehyun watched as Taeil appeared not too long after him and took a seat a little farther than necessary beside him on the edge of the stage.

After a few moments of silence, Jaehyun finally spoke up, “Are you ok? You know after that happened?  I was worried after you didn’t come to school the rest of the week."

Taeil wouldn’t look at Jaehyun and just kept busying himself with his packed lunch.  Picking at the crust of his sandwich, Tail slowly replied, “I’m ok.  It just takes me awhile to get over that kind of stuff.  I’m not mentally very strong so…” He brought a piece of the crust to his mouth then retracted it before asking, “My mother said she told you some stuff about me, about my short term memory loss.  She didn’t really specify, but what exactly did she tell you?”

This was where Jaehyun knew he had to be careful.  He didn’t want to scare the boy away.  “That’s all she mentioned, really; that every 24 hours your memory resets.  Other than that, there’s nothing else that I know.”

Taeil let out a breath of relief, for reasons Jaehyun had yet to understand.  Finally looking at Jaehyun, he inquired in a serious voice, “If I told you to forget about me, about my memory loss, would you?”

Jaehyun promised Taeil’s mother and himself that he would try as hard as he could to get Taeil to open up, so forgetting about Taeil wasn’t an option.  Not that he wanted to anyways.  “I’m afraid I can’t.  Whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me,” he ended with a dimpled smile.

Taeil groaned and put down his half-eaten sandwich.  “That’s what I was afraid of.” 

“Listen.”  Jaehyun pulled out Taeil’s notebook.  “I know you don’t want to hurt people, but just let me try, okay?  I want to be your friend.”

Taeil took the notebook from Jaehyun with a shaking hand.  “You read it, didn’t you?” he accused.  “Besides, why do you want to be my friend so bad?  There’s nothing that I can really offer you.”

Why did Jaehyun want to be friends with Taeil so bad?  Because he had a beautiful singing voice?  No.  That was just what caught his interest.  What Jaehyun wanted was to see him happy.  That’s just the type of person Jaehyun was.  He always went out of his way to ease someone out of pain or misery, and now that he knew the situation Taeil was in, he wanted to help.

Jaehyun shrugged.  “Everyone deserves friends, and you’re no different.  All friends hurt each other at some point in their relationships.  Your case may be a little different, but in the end it’s all the same.  That’s the beauty of friendships.  You forgive and forget.  Although, the forgetting part for you might be easiest part,” Jaehyun lamely attempted at a joke.

Taeil cracked a smile at this, and Jaehyun was beside himself with joy because that’s exactly what he wanted. 

“I guess before we decide anything I want you to know a little more about my memory.”  This was good.  Taeil was opening up little by little.  Jaehyun nodded for him to go on.  “It’s only people and the events that orbit around them that I forget.  Studying or reading is no problem for me.  For example, I will remember tomorrow that I ate here, but I won’t remember that the reason was you or that you were even here in the first place.  That is, of course, unless I write the person and whatever happened with them down in my notebook before I go to sleep.  So if I write about you and our conversation tonight and read it tomorrow morning, I will remember you tomorrow.”

Jaehyun clapped his hands together in excitement.  “Okay!  Then all you have to do is write down everything that happens with me every day and everything will be fine, right?” 

Taeil started playing with what was left of his sandwich again and sadly shook his head.  “It’s not that simple.  There’s actually a reason why I am like I am, and if anything similar to that reason happens, then my mind completely wipes itself, and I forget everything all over again up to the point of the event that caused my memory loss.” 

Before Jaehyun could ask what had happened to him in the past, Taeil shakily answered for him.  “I’m sure that if we do become friends, in time I will tell you what happened, but as for now I really don’t want to bring it up.  I-,” Taeil stopped speaking and Jaehyun realized he was shaking like crazy.  With a closer look, he realized Taeil had tears building up in his eyes.

Whatever had happened to the boy, Jaehyun was sure it had to have been a traumatizing incident.  Jaehyun lightly set his hand on Taeil’s trembling shoulder and softly murmured, “Taeil, it’s okay.  I won’t ever ask about it again.  Someday if you feel like telling me, that’s fine.  It’s also fine if you never tell me.  I don’t need to know your deepest darkest fears for us to have a friendship.”

Taeil’s shaking slowed and his breathing was becoming increasingly normal.  “C-can we take it slow?  I’ve never had friends before, so…”

Jaehyun wanted to run a victory lap around the music room in delight.  Taeil was willing to try being friends.  Nothing could make him any happier at this very moment.  His dimpled smile making another appearance, “I’ll go as slow as you need.  For now, let’s switch numbers?”

Taeil peaked up at Jaehyun and responded with his own smile.  “Sure.”

Both digging for their phones, Taeil took notice that Jaehyun didn’t have a lunch with him.  “Wait.  Did you not eat anything?”

Jaehyun chuckled, “I was too anxious to talk to you to eat, but now that I think about it, I am pretty hungry.”  He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“Well then here!”  Taeil handed him his second sandwich.  “My mom always packs me two sandwiches, but I only usually eat one.”

Jaehyun graciously accepted the food with a thank you.  While he ate the sandwich, the two switched numbers.  Not too long after, a bell rang overhead.  The two boys stared at each other with wide eyes, realizing they were going to be late for class.  They ran out of the room and into the hallway, where Jaehyun still had half a sandwich stuffed in his mouth.  Seeing Jaehyun’s absurd situation, Taeil let out a bark of laughter as they scurried down the hallway and eventually into their classroom.  Even if you paid Jaehyun a million dollars, he wouldn’t stop smiling the rest of the day for any of it.

Jaehyun woke up extra early the next day in excitement.  Today would be the day that confirmed their friendship, whether Taeil chose to write him in his notebook or not. 

“Wow, you’re here early.”  Yuta commented as he walked up to Jaehyun, who was already waiting for him at his locker.

“Do you think he’ll remember me today?”  Jaehyun questioned anxiously.

“Ah.  That’s why.”  Jaehyun had told Yuta everything that had happened after soccer practice yesterday.  If Taeil was going to be friends with Jaehyun, he would obviously have to be friends with Jaehyun’s other half, too.  Meaning his best friend, Yuta.

Back turned to Taeil’s locker, Jaehyun didn’t realize Taeil had arrived until he heard his shy voice, “Hi, Jaehyun.”

Jaehyun’s heart surged before he even turned around to see his new friend staring up at him.  “Hey!  You wrote me down in your notebook!”

Taeil dipped his head, “Of course I did.”  And then he asked in a worried voice, “We’re friends now, right?” 

“That, we are.  Oh!  Speaking of friends, this is my best friend, Yuta.  He’s the captain of the soccer team.”  Yuta and Taeil exchanged greetings before the three walked to class together.  Jaehyun insisted that Taeil not sit in the back of the classroom anymore and instead sit with them. 

Lunch was a similar situation.  At first Taeil sat by himself in his usual spot until Jaehyun dragged him to his and Yuta’s table. 

“So are you on the soccer club, too?”  Taeil asked Jaehyun. 

“Yep!  In fact, Yuta was the one that taught me everything I know.”  At Jaehyun’s words, Yuta confidently sat up a little straighter in his seat.

“Without me, he would’ve been a bench warmer.”  Yuta smiled cheekily. 

“Excuse you, but without me you’d only know how to say hello and thank you, so don’t get too cocky,” Jaehyun taunted right back.

“Wow, you two really are close.”  Taeil seemed to be extremely entertained by the best friend’s jabs at each other.

At that moment, Donghyuck made his appearance.  “Hyung!”  He pulled on Jaehyun’s arm and started shaking it.  “Their first basketball game is tonight!”

“Ok, and…?”  Jaehyun raised an eyebrow at his agitated dongsaeng.

“Go with me!” he whined and then added a cute little, “please.” 

“Ew, stop the aegyo.  It was cute when you were little, but now you’re just as gross as the rest of us.”  Yuta cringed.  “Besides,” he eagerly continued, “I’ll gladly go with you.”

“I always knew I liked you better!”  Donghyuck sang at Yuta as he stuck his tongue out at Jaehyun.

He must have just realized a new face was sitting at the table when he stopped his antics and stared at Taeil.  “Uh.  Hyung?  Who’s the new person?”  He scratched his head and looked at Jaehyun for an answer.

“This is Taeil.  He’s a friend.”  Honestly, Yuta was fine, but Jaehyun was a bit worried about Donghyuck being in the same vicinity as Taeil.  “Just be gent-“ Jaehyun started but about screamed because at that moment Donghyuck decided to tightly embrace his new hyung friend.

Jaehyun wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a human being’s eyes ever reach the size Taeil’s did at that moment.  Donghyuck pulled back, but Taeil didn’t unfreeze from the board-like position he was shocked into. 

“New-hyung?  Are you ok?”  Donghyuck poked Taeil in the cheek. 

Jaehyun immediately yanked Donghyuck away from Taeil.  “Donghyuck!  You can’t just hug someone you don’t know!”  Then he quickly whispered in his ear before Taeil could unfreeze, “You have to be extremely cautious with him, okay?  He’s not used to people touching him.”

Jaehyun gave Donghyuck the look before he could ask any more questions.

“Anyways.  Since Yuta is going to the game, I might as well, too.”  Jaehyun turned to Taeil, who was finally returning to life.  “Would you want to come with us?”

“Wha-?  Game?”  Taeil looked around confusedly.  The boys explained the plans to Taeil again.  “Oh.  Uh.  What time does it start?  I have choir club right after school.”

“Don’t worry about that because we have soccer practice, too.  Games don’t start until later, so we could meet up in the gym after our activities.  Is that ok with you?”  Jaehyun was a bit nervous for Taeil since he had always had a set schedule.

“I think it’ll be ok.”  He took a peak at Donghyuck as he said this. 

Jaehyun took the hint and reassured him with a smile, “Don’t worry, we won’t let him sit near you.” 

“Hey!”  Donghyuck bellyached.

“Besides, those two will be too busy watching their crushes with googly eyes to pay any attention to you.”  Jaehyun teased his two love-struck friends. 

Neither Yuta nor Donghyuck had anything to say to this because they both knew it was 100% true. 

Taeil seemed to be a bit confused but didn’t say anything.

True to their word, the soccer players and Taeil met up in the gym once they were done with their clubs.  Jaehyun was always jealous of the basketball team because they always had great turnouts.  He couldn’t understand why soccer didn’t have this many fans.  Of course, there was always the possibility that most of the people that came were there for the same reason as Yuta, to watch Taeyong play. 

The four students had found a relatively good spot in the stands that wasn’t too crowded.  Yuta looked around in irritation, giving the hairy eyeball all the fangirls that were holding Taeyong signs.  Jaehyun could hear him grumbling under his breath.  Something about “girls don’t stand a chance against me” and “I’m prettier than all of them put together.” 

Jaehyun shook his head at how utterly whipped his friend was.  Why he was here, he didn’t even know.  He honestly couldn’t complain, though, because to his right sat Taeil, who was sitting closer to him than usual, probably because he wasn’t used to large crowds.  It seemed Jaehyun wasn’t the only who realized how agitated Yuta was.  Taeil poked his side with his elbow and leaned into his ear to ask, “When you said their crushes were playing, I thought it was going to be a girl’s game.  So are they both…?”

Jaehyun knew what he was asking, but he was too distracted by Taeil’s super close proximity and hot breath on his neck to respond right away. 

Holding back a shiver, he finally answered, “Gay? Yes.”  Jaehyun watched closely for a reaction but got none.  Taeil was still really good at his poker faces.  He wondered if Taeil pondered the same thing of him since those were his two closest friends.  Jaehyun was relieved when Taeil didn’t scoot away in discomfort.

The buzzer rang for the teams’ 20 minutes of warm-ups.  Jaehyun decided now was a good time to get drinks and snacks.  He took orders and left for the concession stand.  By the time he got back, there was only a minute left until the game started.  He climbed back up the audience-packed seats to find Yuta and Donghyuck making their own signs. 

“Where-?” He started, but Donghyuck cut him off. 

“Taeil-hyung is awesome! While you were gone, he went to the office and grabbed extra supplies so we could make our own signs,” the youngest gushed.

Jaehyun looked at the blushing yet pleased Taeil as he handed out the popcorn and sodas.  He was glad Taeil was warming up to them. 

Yuta was still super concentrated on his sign and didn’t speak a word until it was utterly perfected.  “Done!” he cried out in triumph and he held up his beloved sign.

It read, (TAEYONG FIGHTING #01) with hearts littering the negative space. 

“Yuta… what if Taeyong looked up and saw your sign…?” Jaehyun warned.

Yuta paused in realization and hesitantly lowered his sign.  He looked over at Donghyuck’s sign, which was just as bad. 

It read, (I <3 MARK #10).  He had even taken the liberty of writing MARK on his left cheek and #10 on his right with permanent marker.

Donhyuck and Yuta made eye contact, shrugged, and held their signs up higher and yelled, “fighting!”

He heard a small giggle from his right.  Taeil looked up at Jaehyun and smiled.  “I think I made them happy.  They seem to really like those signs.”  Jaehyun’s dimples appeared as he ruffled Taeil’s chestnut hair.  Like a cat, Taeil slightly leaned into his touch.  Fascinated, Jaehyun played with his silky hair a little longer until the buzzer rang for the game to start, startling both Jaehyun and Taeil. 

What was he just doing?  He peaked at Taeil and perceived a slight rosy tinge on his cheeks, right where he knew he was growing hot, too.

Jaehyun looked to the court and was surprised to see that both Taeyong and Mark were starters.  Taeyong he was used to seeing in the hallways, but since the upperclassmen and underclassmen were split at separate ends of the buildings, it had been awhile since he had seen Mark, who was the same age as Donghyuck.  Mark had a small frame with slim arms and legs.  Despite his appearance, he was easily the best player on the court, aside from Taeyong.

The other starters he knew for the most part.  Ten was a cute and cheerful junior, Hansol a tall and quiet senior who you could tell apart by his frog eyes, and the super tiny blonde was the one he wasn’t sure of.

Jaehyun leaned forward to get the youngest’s attention, “Hey Donghyuck, who’s the small blonde one?  Is he a freshman because I don’t know him?”

Without taking his eyes off the court, cough cough, Mark, he shouted, “Yea!  His name is Jisung!  They say he’s a small prodigy that will be big news when he gets older!”

Taeil spoke up, “I wondered who he was too, actually.”

“Wait, I thought you didn’t remember people?” inquired a confused Jaehyun.

“Oh, well I don’t, but I do remember faces.  I had seen them all around before except the freshman.” Learning new things about Taeil always made Jaehyun happy.  He nodded in amusement.

The second half of the game was more interesting than the first since both teams were doing well and were in close point-range.  Things really started heating up in the last quarter, though. 

Taeyong went for a run-away lay-up and got fouled really badly with an elbow to the face.  They had to stop the game to clean up the blood on the court.  Despite his injury, Taeyong still played and continued to smile at his teammates that he was okay. 

Yuta, on the other hand, was not okay.  “No, seriously, let go of me!  I’m gonna go down there and give that guy a piece of my mind!  Look what he did to Taeyong’s precious nose!  If they broke it in any way I swear to god-“ Jaehyun was holding onto his friend for dear life.  Thank god he was stronger than the other or else they’d have a problem on their hands.

“Would you just sit still?  Look!  He’s fine!  Holy , he’s even smiling.  Never seen that before.”  At Jaehyun’s recommendation, Yuta focused back onto Taeyong and his smile instead of the other team member that elbowed his nose.

“Jaehyun.”  Yuta grabbed his arm and started shaking him.  “Look.  He’s smiling.  Oh my god.  That is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.  I am alive.”  Before Jaehyun could snap at him that he was the one that pointed Taeyong’s smile out to him, Yuta yelled with all his might, “TAEYONG FIGHTING!!”

Of course his friend yelled right at the moment everyone was silent.  Taeyong had already been facing towards them, so his head immediately whipped up right to where Yuta passionately screamed and was proudly flashing his sign. 

Jaehyun wasn’t sure, but he was pretty positive that when they made eye contact that both let out a deep gasp.  Yuta, he was sure of, but Taeyong seemed to have had the same reaction.

Yuta was in hysterics.  “Oh my god he saw me what do I do.  He saw my sign.  He knew it was me that yelled.  I’m screwed.  I’m so dead.  Someone hold my funeral.” 

“Jesus Christ calm down!  At least he finally noticed you!”  Jaehyun tried to soothe his crazed friend. 

“That was not something I wanted him to notice!”

Despite everything that happened, their team pulled out in the end and won with a five-point difference.

“I don’t care what you say, I’m never going to another basketball with you ever again.”  Jaehyun huffed at Yuta.

“I thought it was pretty fun, actually.”  Taeil chimed in.

“You know what?  You’re right, it wasn’t that bad,” said Jaehyun, pulling a complete 180.

 The boys didn’t realize they had been sitting in the stands for so long until they realized the players were already coming out from changing to greet the audience.

Donghyuck grabbed onto Yuta and pulled him down the stands to where the basketball boys were.  “Come on I want to tell Mark good game!” 

Jaehyun was fine sitting right where he was with Taeil until he noticed that Mark was glued to Taeyong’s side, and if Donghyuck and Yuta were heading in Mark’s direction, they would also run into Taeyong.  He had to go save his best friend.

Jaehyun leapt out of the stands after his realization but didn’t make it in time. 

“Good game Mark!” a very pink Donghyuck interrupted Mark and Taeyong’s conversation. 

Mark scowled at whoever had interrupted his conversation with his most important hyung.  He noticed Donghyuck and his scowled deepened even further.  “What’re you doing here?  And why do you have my name and number written on your face?”  Mark growled.  “Can’t you leave me alone for like 10 seconds?  Bothering me in class isn’t enough for you?”

Donghyuck pouted.  “But I was just here to support you…” 

Mark held his temples in annoyance.  He then turned to Taeyong and announced, “I’ll see you later,” and walked off without another word, with Donghyuck quickly following after him.

During Donghyuck and Mark’s interactions, Yuta and Taeyong were in their own world.  Taeyong seemed more composed than Yuta, who was babbling and attempting to walk backwards away from his crush.  Then everything stopped when Taeyong spoke.  “Your name is Yuta, right?  Captain of the soccer team?” 

Yuta stopped and stared at Taeyong before he registered that Taeyong was actually talking to him.  “Me?” he questioned as he pointed at himself.

“Uh, yea.”  Taeyong responded.

“Oh!  Yea!  I am!  How do you know me?”  Yuta was still red in the face but slowly composing himself. 

Taeyong reached up and slicked the sweat out of his silver locks contemplating on how to respond.  “Um.  The team kind of talks about you a lot.  It seems you have a lot of fans on the team,” he awkwardly chuckled.

“Ah.” Yuta didn’t know how to answer to that.

“So.”  Taeyong drawled out.  “Do you always come to basketball games?  I’ve never seen you here before.” 

Yuta shifted uncomfortably until he could come up with a valid excuse.  “Donghyuck, the kid that was talking to Mark, wanted me to come with him, so I did.” 

“Donghyuck, huh?  He must be the kid that always drives Mark up the wall.  Every day Mark comes complaining to me about that guy.  Says he never leaves him alone and teases him a lot.  If I knew any better I’d say Donghyuck has a crush on Mark, but that’s just me.” 

Yuta laughed at Taeyong’s accusation.  “Oh trust me, you hit the nail on the head with that one.”  Taeyong smiled at Yuta’s smile.  Jaehyun couldn’t blame him.  But then things got slightly ridiculous.  Yuta smiled even more at Taeyong smiling because that’s literally the second time he had even seen him smile.  The two kept responding to each other’s smiles until finally Jaehyun decided to interrupt. 

“Hi, I’m Jaehyun, Yuta’s friend.” Taeyong and Jaehyun shook hands, and Taeyong introduced himself, too. 

Taeyong turned back to Yuta.  “I’m afraid I never introduced myself, either.  I’m Taeyong.”  He reached for Yuta’s hand.  Yuta stared at the offered hand before hesitantly linking his hand with Taeyong’s. 

“By the way,” Taeyong interjects, “I liked your sign.  It was cute.”  His compliment got Yuta blushing all over again. 

Taeyong continued, “Since you were kind enough to come watch our first game, I might as well go to yours, too.  Next week, right?” 

Yuta was speechless, so he just jerked his head into a nod in response.

Jaehyun realized Taeil was still sitting in the stands all alone, so since Yuta was fine, Jaehyun decided it was time to leave.

Noticing that Jaehyun was leaving him, his one and only comfort, Yuta slightly freaked, bowed and quickly thanked Taeyong before following after Jaehyun. 

Not knowing where Donghyuck went, the three boys left the gym and headed home together.  Soon though, the extremely chattery Yuta had to go a different direction than Taeil and Jaehyun. 

Finally alone, they walked in silence, just enjoying each other’s presence.  The sky was a pink and purplish haze as they enjoyed breathing in the clear night air. 

“The weather’s really nice tonight,” Taeil mused. 

Jaehyun grinned and peered over at Taeil, tufts of hair fluttering in the breeze.  He didn’t know why, but Taeil looked cuter than usual.  They always said a happy person was more attractive than a sad one.  This made Jaehyun’s heart flutter.   The fact that they had already gotten this far and it was only day one was a miracle to Jaehyun. 

Too soon, they reached Taeil’s house.  Before opening the door to go in, Taeil turned around with tears in his eyes.  Seeing that Jaehyun was shocked, a choked up Taeil spoke, “I’m just so thankful… and happy.  I didn’t know this kind of happiness could exist.  In just one day I’ve met 3 amazing people, and it’s all thanks to you.” 

Before Jaehyun could respond in any way, the embarrassed Taeil ran into his house, waved a quick goodbye through the screen door, and closed the door for good, leaving Jaehyun speechless.

That was a good thing, he thought as he walked the rest of the way home.  Yes, those were happy tears.  Happy tears from a happy Taeil.