This took so long but I have it up now because I finally got my hands on a laptop. It’ll take a long time for the next chapter although I’m done with it so please bare with me. I won’t be able to use this laptop again in so long since it’s not mine so yeah
Enjoy!

Unrecognizable

If there was only one thing you needed to know about Taemin, it was that he was good at keeping things to himself.

His friends constantly nagged at him to tell them whatever he chose to keep inside, but sometimes they praised him for it. They knew that keeping something in for too long took great self control.

Taemin was the type of person who liked to keep things about himself from anyone else. Most times, his friends wouldn't even know about the things happening to him until that part has passed. It was only then that the boy would tell them.

His friends stopped asking questions when they sensed he was keeping something from them. It didn't take long for them to figure out the pattern the boy had. They didn't worry much about it either because they knew the boy wouldn't get himself into something that would get himself hurt.

They also knew the boy liked his privacy to the point he'd lie many times.

It took awhile for Taemin to tell his friends about his family too. Took him three years to be exact.He didn't like to advertise that he was pretty well-off. Jonghyun was the first to know and he too didn't say anything about it because Taemin had asked him to.

During the conversation they both had, Taemin had explained a rough outline of what his future would be like. By the end of it, Jonghyun was pretty angry, though at the same time he understood why Taemin was doing it.
Throughout the talk, Jonghyun couldn't believe that someone who was only 15 years old had his whole life planned out because of his family.

They both kept their mouths shut until Jinki caught them at a cafe talking amongst themselves and had heard a bit of it. Jinki had asked what it was about and a small nod from Jonghyun told Taemin he could trust his best friend.

After that day, Taemin told those who were close to him. There was really no point in keeping it in the dark when he figured that the group of people he was always with were like a second family to him.

***

The five were now starting their second year of university. The group of friends were still together; Jonghyun, Kibum, Minho, Jinki, and Taemin. Of course, they had more friends than just the five of them but these five were the ones who were the closest and were always seen together.

Jinki and his girlfriend Luna was still going strong and some even thought they’d continue their relationship throughout college and marry after their studies.

Jonghyun and Kibum were quiet about it but it was very obvious that they were together.
One time, Taemin saw a love bite on Kibum’s neck and when he asked about it — perfectly knowing what it was — Kibum answered that some stranger in a party did it. Jonghyun was with them when this conversation was happening, so when Jonghyun quickly turned his head to look at his lover in fake disgust from his words, Taemin couldn't help but laugh.
The couple weren't dense, they knew the group knew they were together, so when they later admitted that they’ve been dating for a year and a half, they earned “Oh really? I would’ve never thought you two would ever date!” and other teasing remarks.

They were best friends too. It was cliche to say the least — best friends turning into lovers.
Taemin tsked at that.

But he couldn’t deny that it was cute seeing both his closest friends love each other the way they should both be loved. He sometimes wondered when he would experience being loved like that.

Minho has been talking to a girl named Sooyoung and the four knew the boy had feelings for her since they’ve met. The two were close and teased their friends together, sometimes others would call them the Choi siblings and Taemin knew his friend got upset with that.

Minho didn’t want Sooyoung to look at him as a brother, he wanted something more with the girl. Minho’s story is the most cliche of them all, Sooyoung was the first girl to ever make him feel in love, he was always the one who studied hard and joined in so many school activities that crushes didn’t affect him, until he met her.

Their group was full of cliche stories.

***

Over time, Taemin became quieter and Jonghyun and Kibum noticed this. They both knew the youngest gave Jinki some space for the relationship the older had with Luna.

Kibum and Taemin barely got to hang out because of their schedules not matching up however, whenever they did get together, he couldn't help but feel upset for the boy because he was the first to know what happened.

It was the last day of high school and they all just graduated. They were taking pictures, smiling and making jokes on how they weren’t ready to enter university because of their small brains, though they knew otherwise.

The five friends took pictures with everyone who wanted one with them. They weren't “celebrity popular” but they were popular enough because they were a group of friendly people.

Kibum was asked by someone he didn’t know where Taemin was and he looked around to see that Taemin was walking away from the group. When Kibum looked back to the person asking for the boy, the person was gone and was taking pictures with his then secret boyfriend. Kibum looked back at the group and saw that Jinki was taking a picture whilst kissing Luna on the lips.

It was such a happy scene.

He quietly left the group to follow the boy. He had a strong feeling that Taemin was hiding something from all of them, even from Jinki, but he couldn’t get anything out of the boy. He always prioritized protecting the younger, everyone in their group did, so to him, he needed to know what was keeping Taemin distant nowadays, more than ever that is.

It wasn’t as if Taemin began being distant for a couple of months, no, it began exactly a month before their graduation. Kibum thought the boy was just stressed because the younger’s family was strict but he knew the boy would talk about that with them. That’s when Kibum knew it must’ve been something else that caused this distance.

It was behind the building that he found Taemin crouched down on a short staircase.

Taemin wasn’t crying but he looked at the school's field in front of him with a faraway gaze.

Kibum was about to call out to him but chose not to and hid himself to observe what was happening. He stayed hidden because this wasn't a usually sight you'd see, especially from Taemin.

Although they were close friends, Taemin only ever showed his full self to Jinki. Even Jonghyun, who knew the boy longer than anyone else in the group has never really been so close to Taemin.

No, Taemin wasn't holding up a wall, he just liked to keep everything to himself. The only reason he fully showed himself to Jinki was because the older argued about it with him, saying things like “you should at least have someone know what your deepest thoughts are otherwise, how would someone know you're hurting?”

Oh... how that conversation was forgotten.

Kibum looked around to make sure it were only the two of them, when he saw no one, he looked back at the boy.

Taemin later let his head fall to his knees whilst hugging them with his arms. Kibum didn’t know what was happening and he surely didn’t want to bother the boy. He knew that some people just liked to be by themselves and let everything out. He had thought that the younger was just overwhelmed with everything.

Nothing happened for a while and Kibum thought he should get out of hiding and head to the boy to bring them both back to the group.

He was about to head to where the younger was but stopped when he saw Taemin move his tiny hand to retrieve his phone in a slow manner, as if…

as if Taemin was too tired of everything to move.

He saw Taemin release an obvious sigh when he took off the case.

Kibum was getting worried at this point because this wasn't the Taemin he saw everyday. He looked at the case the boy was holding because they boy was staring at it for quite awhile. From the case, Taemin pulled out what seemed like a stiff paper folded once. Kibum couldn’t see what it was from where he was standing, to him it was just white right now, he couldn't see the other side of what Taemin was now looking at.

Kibum was about to leave thinking this was a really intimate moment for Taemin.

That is until he heard a sob coming from the boy who now covered both his eyes with one hand, the other clutching hard at the paper which seem to be the reason why the boy was breaking down. The younger boy crushed it into a ball as he finally let out a tear from one eye, which was only the beginning of a series of others.

Heavy sobs were heard and once again, Kibum looked around to make sure no one was around to see what was happening.

Kibum didn’t know what to do, he’s never seen the boy cry at all even if they’ve known each other since middle school and from what Jinki told him, Taemin never ever cried.

If Taemin’s best friend has never even seen him cry at least once, that meant that the boy couldn’t hold in whatever was making his heart hurt anymore.

He wanted to rush there and hug and comfort the boy but he knew that Taemin would just back away and say he was fine.

That’s just how the boy was.

Taemin never let anyone in the group know what was happening in his life until the problem passed. He never wanted the others to worry for him, yet he was doing just the opposite with constantly keeping everything to himself.

Taemin was saying something under his breath and the older tried to hear what it was but all he heard were heavy breaths and sniffing. He saw the boy unroll the paper from its ball and took a long look at it once again until both his hands ripped it into pieces.

The way the younger ripped the paper showed so much — It showed anger, regret, and sadness. Emotions the older has never seen from Taemin all at once.

The sight definitely surprised him.

He watched Taemin kick the ground out of frustration. Watched different expressions passed over the boy’s face in seconds.

By now Taemin let everything fall to the ground. It looked as if he was letting go of something. As if he was finally letting himself loose of something that was holding him down. Kibum watched Taemin looked forward with that faraway gaze again.

“Out of anyone in the world,” a pause as the boy let out a painful chuckle. Closing his eyes for awhile before opening them again to look down at the mess he made,

“why did I love you?”

Kibum was shocked and he knew he heard right, it was too quiet around them to have what the younger’s words be blurred out from his ears. The boy loved someone? Who was it and what did they do to Taemin?

Throughout all these years, Taemin never mentioned a person he was interested in, never showed signs of being interested in someone.

Kibum immediately hid when he saw Taemin stand up and wipe his tears, shaking himself a little and chuckled once more before he left. Kibum waited for a while before going to the spot Taemin was just at. He picked each torn piece up, making sure he didn’t miss one. He figured he’ll piece them back together once he was home.

Kibum decided to wait a little before going back to the group. He didn't want Taemin knowing he saw everything.

When he arrived at the front of the building, he stopped where he was and looked at the sight in front of him.

Taemin…

Taemin was laughing and smiling as if he didn’t just break down literally five minutes ago.

This was the Taemin he knew.
The Taemin from earlier was someone he hasn't even met.

“Hyung!” Taemin ran up to him, “Hyung? Are you okay?”

The boy didn’t look like how he did a while ago. His face didn't show a single sign of what he was like earlier. This… was a different boy in front of him.

Kibum shook himself mentally and smiled. “Yeah, we just graduated, what’s there to not be okay about?”

Kibum looked at the boy, trying to see any hint of what he saw prior.

He couldn’t see one little bit of it. No matter how hard he tried.

The younger giggled and pulled him to the group as he started rambling about what he wanted to do as a celebration later. Their parents later left them to do whatever they wanted.

Once the group began walking to the car, Kibum was pulled by his boyfriend.

“Hey, where were you? I saw you following Taemin but you guys didn’t come back together. Where’d you go?” Jonghyun looked concerned.
“Don’t tell the others you saw me following him, I’ll tell you… just not now.”

Jonghyun only nodded his head confusingly, not thinking so much of it. It was their graduation day after all.

Kibum spent his time with his friends but he always glanced at Taemin. The boy really didn’t seem like something was bothering him. To Kibum it felt like what he saw was just a dream, a hallucination.

That night Kibum took out the ripped pieces of paper from his pocket and placed them into a box for safe keeping, hoping he didn't lose a piece throughout the day.

He didn't want to look at it just yet, he knew Taemin wouldn't want anyone to know what he's been going through otherwise he wouldn’t have hid himself from the group. But the older wondered, why doesn't Jinki know? It was obvious the oldest didn't know what was happening or else he would've been there to comfort the boy — he would’ve realized the boy was nowhere to be found earlier.  Or maybe Jinki did know something but thought Taemin was through with the problem.

No...it was obvious that Taemin kept it from everyone because no one, literally no one knew he had feelings for anyone, until now that is.

Kibum forgot about the box the next day because the others came over early in the morning and his next couple of days included busy packing of clothes to go to London for a short trip before starting university. Slowly he forgot about what happened because Taemin was himself. Taemin was the person Kibum knew him as.

The box was left behind and was kept a secret… 

Almost like Taemin's feelings.
 

Hi! Like I said in the beginning, the next chapter will take a while to be up, so sorry.
I hope you all enjoyed this one and hopefully it wasn't so fast like the first chapter, sorry for that.
'Till next time, bye!