New story and this time it will be done within a year!
Enjoy!

Questions and Answers

If you were to ask people, they’d say these two boys were inseparable, these boys being Taemin and Jinki. They were known as best friends and they both acknowledged it. They both liked that fact. These two boys had the same dream of becoming a performer and sometimes they'd joke about how fate got them into the same idol group.

Everything was going well for Taemin until a certain day when the main vocalist, Jonghyun, talked to him out of nowhere. The singer had told him about something he's never heard of before or never has thought of before.

It was the afternoon and surprisingly a day off for all of them. All members except for Jonghyun and Taemin was home so they ate together at the table in silence until the older spoke.

“You know… I'm quite surprised.” Jonghyun started as he now played with his food. He glanced up from time to time as he waited for the younger to answer.

Taemin paused, having the spoon inches away from his mouth. He looked at the singer in front of him. “Surprised at what?”

Jonghyun took a moment to reply after finally putting a small amount of food into his mouth. “That you haven't noticed yet. Seriously, it's been years already.” the singer mumbled. Taemin brought his hand down to have his full attention on the singer. “What do you mean?”

Again, Jonghyun took a while to answer. “Nevermind… I'm just glad Jinki hyung finally moved on.” The singer had wanted the younger to only hear his first two words and not the last bits of it but now that Taemin was listening to every word that came from his mouth, the boy had heard it perfectly clear.

“Moved on from who? Hyung hasn't told me anything about him having feelings for someone… well not from what I remember.”

The boy tilted his head to the side, making it obvious that he was curious now.

Jonghyun looked up and saw the boy’s eyes full of something he knew was curiosity but it was also full of betrayal. He didn't want to ruin whatever Jinki and Taemin had so he continued, not wanting Taemin to ask Jinki about what he has heard from him.

“Look, I can't say too much because I myself don't know everything and plus I'm not in the right to say so… but I will say this. Jinki has always been cheerful.” Jonghyun said it in such a quiet voice that Taemin had to lean in a bit to hear.

“Yeah, I know that. Hyung is the sunshine of the group.” The younger said in his “duh” voice.

Taemin thought the conversation was done there but Jonghyun set his utensils down and sighed. The singer tapped his finger restlessly on the table and tried to get his thoughts altogether.

“Yeah… well, he's not always like that. I mean yeah he's happy all the time but this time he's even more happy.” Jonghyun stated. Now Taemin was hearing something very different. How could Jonghyun noticed that before him when he was Jinki’s best friend.

“He is?” the dancer asked which only led the older boy to nod.

Jonghyun knew he got the boy thinking now. Taemin had his eyebrows furrowed as he stared hard at the table.

Did I miss anything?

The dancer thought. He couldn’t possibly miss anything right? He’s spent most of his time with the leader and plus, he’d for sure know if the leader was feeling off. Jonghyun must be playing with him… but then again, he wouldn’t be so serious, most importantly he wouldn’t be talking in such riddles.

“What made him be not-so-happy before?” the dancer asked.

Taemin wanted answers but right after he said what he said, the older stood up and went to clean his dishes. The older boy turned around from the sink when he was done and all he did was smile sadly at the boy as he left the room.

Jonghyun had left him clueless but he couldn't ask Jinki because he was the best friend, so he was suppose to know this. He was supposed to be able to read Jinki like an open book.

***

Taemin has been off to himself lately after he and Jonghyun had that talk a few weeks back. He'd talk to s and everyone as if he wasn't thinking about something so deeply just a while ago. Because of this, people thought it was a new habit Taemin grew; spacing off. Yeah, he had the habit already, but more frequently, the boy wouldn’t know what they were talking about completely, unlike before, the boy would jumble the information together.

Jonghyun, however, knew differently. He observed their youngest member and although he got Taemin to think if Jinki did in fact change, he had a feeling that the younger hadn't asked their leader about it. He knew that Taemin liked knowing things about his best friend without him being told about it, so automatically, he knew that the the boy wanted to figure it out himself.

It was their flight back from Japan and during times like this, Taemin would forget a thing or two of his belongings but this time, he surprisingly had everything with him.

“Yah… I don't think this is Taemin we brought with us.” Key joked having seen Taemin pocketing his things. Minho slapped him on the shoulder with a chuckle. “Stop, he might hear you and magically forget that he put his phone in there.” The two giggled and it made Jinki look at the dancer.

The leader walked up to Taemin and asked if he was fine.

Just to make sure…

“Ah hyung, yeah I'm fine…” the boy answered with a brow raised. “Did I not seem fine? Sorry for worrying you.” Taemin smiled and went back to checking his things. “N-no… you're good, it's just that your hands aren't so magical anymore.” Jinki joked as he pushed out his lips, gesturing to the boy’s hands. Taemin laughed and shrugged funnily, “might as well get my life together.”

The two giggled together as they continued to joke around. They walked to the van that was waiting for them and smiled at the others as they were the last ones to get in.

***

The boys wanted to have dinner outside before going back to their dorm. Having finished fast, it didn’t take long for them to be home. It was nearing midnight and everyone was just so tired to keep a proper conversation with each other that they just agreed to head to bed.

As always, it took a while for Jonghyun to fall asleep so he was off composing a new song but every once in a while he'd look at the dancer, who was obviously having a hard time falling asleep.

Taemin was getting annoyed that he couldn’t fall asleep because he was constantly recalling his conversation with Jonghyun. This has been happening for so many days already so he gave up in trying to figure out why Jinki wasn’t so happy before.

The maknae turned to his back and looked up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes for a while and let out a huge sigh he's been keeping in. “Jonghyun hyung…” the boy finally called out.

“Hmm?”

The dancer looked at Jonghyun and seeing how the older didn't look back at him, he continued. “What did you mean when you said you were surprised a few weeks back?”

Taemin waited.

“Why are you asking?”

Taemin sat up, having his blankets pool at his stomach. He held onto his blankets tight as he began to play with it. “Ah, I don't know… Jinki hyung has just been so distant lately. Sure we still talk but not so much as before. I wanted to know if you knew something and just by your words, I know you know.”

That got Jonghyun wondering. He did see the difference but was it because Taemin has been thinking so much of this or because Jinki truly wanted to distance himself from the boy?

“Are you curious just to know or are you curious because it's getting to you?” Now, it was the dancer's turn to wonder. “I haven't thought of that but I'd say both… but it’s more of the second one…” Taemin whispered.

Jonghyun closed his devices to properly talk to the younger. It was silent for a bit and he observed the boy playing with his blanket. Now that he looked at him carefully, he could see that it was affecting the younger so much; he looked to be upset at something and there wasn't a slight sign of him smiling.

“Okay…” the singer clapped, “you're with Naeun right?”

“Yeah, but hyung… that isn't answering my question.” Taemin looked at Jonghyun.

Again, a brief silence.

“I was quite surprised to know you were with Naeun instead.”

Taemin knew that only Jinki knew of his feelings towards the girl. He hadn't told anyone else and only confided in the leader to know what to do. So to him, it made sense that Jonghyun was surprised. But he still asked.

“Why is that?” Taemin looked up at Jonghyun and this time Jonghyun was looking down at his hands. “Because during those days Jinki has been so happy.”

Taemin tsk-ed. Why was his hyung saying this again?

“But hyung, like you said he's always happy.”

Taemin looked at Jonghyun and to his surprise the older looked back at him. “Yeah, he's always happy but not to the full extent that I've seen him in.”

“Hmm?”

That made the maknae turn his head fast, but still seeing the confused face on the dancer made the singer sigh. Because of that sigh, Taemin knew that this just wasn’t the type of situation that would go away so easily—this was somewhat serious. He was upset with himself not being able to see such a serious situation that dealt with Jinki because he was Jinki's best friend.

“I… I thought you and…” Jonghyun mumbled, “Jinki hyung finally got together.” Jonghyun whispered but even then, the younger heard.

“Hyung and I?”

This had Taemin lie back down and close his eyes.

“I thought…” Jonghyun started but paused, he didn’t know if he could say this. Not when he didn’t even know everything. Taemin turned his head to look at the singer once again but he closed his eyes when he shifted his head to face the ceiling, “thought what?”

“I thought hyung finally had the courage to confess after all these years.”

Taemin's eyes were closed yet he still shut them as hard as he can and with a curious tone he asked “years?”

“Years… during debut, before debut, I-I don't know… but what I know is that he's loved you for more than five years.”

Taemin took in a couple of breaths. He knew this was serious, Jonghyun wasn’t the type to joke around with emotions. He wasn’t the type to lie about it either. Jonghyun didn’t expect Taemin to react to anything he’s told him so he sighed as he walked to the light switch and switched it off.

He slowly walked back to his bed and tried to fall asleep. Jonghyun wanted Taemin to realize everything because even if he saw Jinki being so happy, he knew that the leader was still sad. Yes, he thought that Jinki moved on, but even if the older did, Jinki would still think about his feelings for the maknae seeing how he was his first love.

There was a saying that “there’s no love like the first” and Jonghyun knew that to be true from what his friends has told him.

He knew that the leader wanted Taemin to fall for him and to want him. He knew that telling Taemin about what he knew wouldn’t change the boy’s mind about anything, but he wished it would. It would make the two people in his life that he cared so much about, contented with the love they found in each other.

***

Taemin still couldn’t fall asleep. He thought hard about it. If what Jonghyun said was true, was he insensitive to Jinki’s feelings? Jonghyun also couldn’t sleep because he constantly kept hearing the boy turn in his bed. The last thing Jonghyun heard from the boy were words that he knew were now bothering the younger.

“Five years…?”

There's the first chapter! I hoped you guys enjoyed it! Also “There’s no love like the first.” is from Nicholas Sparks, and I used it because it was similar to what I constantly hear from my family when I was younger. And knowing that it might be true I used it. I really hope you guys liked it! Please leave a comment if you like (you don’t have to of course!)
‘Till next time… Bye!