February 2006

13 year old Taemin is standing in front of the door to one of the dancing studio in the SM Building. Today is the day that he had been waiting since years ago. The first day of school of 2006.

Taemin had been waiting for today. The day that he can walk to the same school with Chanseul again. The day that Chanseul and him will no longer be separated by primary school and middle school. The day that they don’t have to meet at the tennis court during recess anymore. The day that instead of Kris squeezing in between them, perhaps this time, Taemin will be the one squeezing himself in between the two of them.

He had been marking every day on his planner, counting the day since years ago. And finally, the day has come. And here he is, in the SM Building.

Last night..

“Taem!”

“Neh, noona?”

Both of them are sitting on the bench in front of the orphanage, chatting, looking at each other, smiles, and chat again. The same activities they did every day since eight years ago. Taemin came to visit Chanseul tonight because he cannot stand listening to his parents’ fight, so he came to listen to Chanseul’s singing instead.

“Are you excited for tomorrow? You will finally be a middle school student! We can walk to school as usual, but we don’t have to separate in front of the school gate anymore!” the fifteen year old girl said, and Taemin can see that she looks really happy. Times spent with each other always make both of them happy, Taemin knows that much.

“Noona, I haven’t told you this, but tomorrow I have to go to SM Building,” Taemin said as he took Chanseul’s hand in his as he looks at her.

“Eh..? But tomorrow is Monday. Usually you went there for your training on Saturday. Which was two days ago,” Chanseul responded, looking into Taemin’s eyes.

“Neh. But then yesterday I received a call. They said from now on, my trainings will be.. how to say. More often? Um. So .. yeah,” Taemin sounded so guilty right now.

“Oh..” Chanseul tried to respond with more than one word, but failed. So she end up just playing with Taemin’s long fingers.

“Are you mad at me..?” the younger boy asked, looking at her.

“No..” Chanseul responded, avoiding his eyes.

“You’re not looking at me, noona,”

“Um..”

“You’re upset right?”

Chanseul didn’t say anything, and she stopped playing with Taemin’s fingers , too. Slowly she tilted her head, and her eyes found Taemin’s.

“You’re happy, right, Taemin?”

“…”

“I mean, you want to be an idol, right? This makes you happy, right?”

“Only if you’re happy for me too, noona..” Taemin’s words almost came out like a whisper, but the night is really calm and quiet, Chanseul can hear him clearly.

“Of course, I’m happy for you!” the girl quickly said, smiling at the same time.

“Jinjja, noona?”

“Neh! I mean.. of course I’m a little bit sad because you won’t be there with me on our first day of schooling, but it is okay. I’ll wait for the next day, and I’ll cheer for your dreams, too,” she said, smiling still.
 
The boy feels as ease, as smiles back at her.

“Komawo, noona,”

So, here he is in the SM Building when he is supposed to be with Chanseul on his first day as a middle school student.

Taemin was immersed in his thought when the door was suddenly opened from inside. A very handsome, dino-like boy popped up, and he looks very happy upon seeing the young boy.

“Taemin-ah!” he said as he quickly pulled Taemin into the studio.

“Annyeong, Jonghyun hyung,” Taemin bowed a bit as he walked into big room with big mirrors as walls. Jonghyun is also a trainee he got to know since last year. He is older by 3 years than Taemin, very good looking and sings amazingly well. Taemin hopes one day he can sing as good as this favourite hyung of his.

There are other trainees as well in the studio, and Taemin knows all of them. He is the youngest as of now, which led him to believe that he is not going to debut so soon.

And when he thought of the fact that he needs to be separated from Chanseul one day because of this dream of his, will he be able to get through it?

 

March 2007

“Chanseul-ah, chukka e,” Kris said as he walked into Chanseul’s class during recess, and took a seat in front of Chanseul’s desk.

“Sunbaenim!” Chanseul flashes her smile as soon as she saw him.

Even though he is already 18, and a final year student of the high school, it does not stop him from checking out on Chanseul every day. The fact that the primary, middle and high school buildings are all next to each other and connected within the school gate, all three of them; Kris, Chanseul and Taemin are taking advantage of it. To meet up with each other, whenever possible.

Kris placed the school weekly newspaper on her desk, and Chanseul quickly understands why did he congratulate her earlier.

“You saw the news..” she mumbled.

“Neh, and I’m really proud of you,” Kris said, ruffling her hair a little bit. The 16 year old girl smiles happily as he did.

“Want to celebrate?” Kris asked.

“Today? Are we going out for dinner?!” Chanseul quickly asked.

“If you want to have dinner, dinner it is, then!”

“Great! Taemin is coming home, too! I can bring him together right, sunbaenim?”

Kris’ smile faded upon hearing Taemin’s name.

“Oh. He’s coming home today? I thought he is going to stay there longer,” Kris responded lazily, just for the sake of responding his heartthrob.

“Aniyo. It is today, sunbaenim. I can’t wait to see him. He’s gone for too long,”

“3 days aren’t that long, Chanseul-ah,”

Chanseul just smiles to the tall guy. For her, three days are more than long when it comes to Taemin.

Since couple of months ago, Taemin was required to train more intensively at SM Building. It used to be one day per week. Within a year, it increases to two days a week, and right now Taemin can be missing from school up to three days excluding weekend.

It is really hard for Chanseul, since she is used to having him around her every day. But she knows it is even harder for Taemin. The 14 year old boy is working hard for his dreams, and struggling to maintain his performance at school.

“You’re really bringing him tonight?” Kris asked. Chanseul woke up from her imagination and is now looking into Kris’ eyes.

“Are you not comfortable with Taemin, sunbae?” she asked, trying to understand the meaning behind Kris’ question just now.

“Ani. I’m okay. I’ll wait for you guys tonight at the usual place,” Kris said as he stood up, trying his best to cover his annoyance.

“Neh!”

Chanseul, though she nailed almost everything that matters in her life; examinations and writing competitions, she is slow when it comes to heart to heart matters.

*     *     *

 

It is 8.15PM, and Chanseul is ready to leave the orphanage when the staff at the counter grabbed her.

“You’re meeting Taemin, right?” Jihyo, the 26 year old staff asked. She has been working at the orphanage since 3 years ago and like most of the other caretakers there, she is aware of how close Chanseul and her most frequent visitor, Taemin is.

“Neh, unnie!” the girls responded happily. She talked to Taemin on the phone earlier, and since the boy will be a little bit late, they decided to meet at the restaurant.

Jihyo then took out a strawberry lipbalm from her handbag and pull Chanseul closer to her.

“Pucker your lips,” she said and the younger girl did as she was asked. Jihyo smiles as she applied the sheer, pink coloured lipbalm on Chanseul’s lips.

“There, you’re ready,” she said as she motioned the girl to nearest mirror at the common area.

“I look .. different,” Chanseul said as she looked at the mirror.

“You look prettier. Now go, and be sure to come back at 10PM!” Jihyo gave her a slight push on her back.

“Neh, unnie!” Chanseul said as she stepped out of the orphanage, running. She can’t wait to meet Taemin after being separated for 4 days.

This is her first time walking alone at night. Usually she will have Taemin with her.

The restaurant is very near, but the night sky and the lack of street lamps made Chanseul really nervous. She fastened her steps so she can reach the restaurant faster and see familiar faces.

It was then when someone grabbed her wrist and turned her around. The girl shriek a little as she was really surprised, only to find Kris, standing in front of her.

“Sunbae! Do you really have to scare me like that!” she snapped, rubbing her chest at the same time, trying to calm down.

Kris smiles as he leans down a bit to match Chanseul’s height.

“Are you wearing make up?” he asked when his eyes matches Chanseul’s.

“A-aniyo, sunbae. Jihyo unnie just applied a lipbalm on my lips,” the girl chuckles, blushing at the same time.

“Really..? Why, though?” Kris asked as he took another step closer, smelling the strawberry scent on her lips, forcing Chanseul to take one step backwards in order to maintain the gap in between them.

“Um.. not sure.. she only asked if I am meeting Taemin before that,” Chanseul responded, still looking into Kris’ eyes, and this time she can clearly see the tall guy rolled his eyes as soon as Taemin’s name slipped out of her lips.

“Taemin this.. Taemin that.. Lee Taemin.. I wonder if you can stop talking about him for once,” Kris couldn’t hide his annoyance this time as he made the younger girl lean on the wall after taking one more step closer. He finally decided that three years of listening to his crush mentioning that certain name over and over again are too much and he should put an end to it.

Leaning on the wall, Chanseul is not really sure is she is trapped or not. The guy who is blocking her right now is no other than Kris Wu, who she had known for three years. He is always nice to her, and always being supportive of her interest in writing. But tonight, for the first time ever, Kris doesn’t look happy. He is not smiling and from his sentence just now, it does not take Chanseul long to realized that she must have talk too much about Taemin to him, only because she always thought nothing is wrong with it.

But tonight, she finally understands that Kris must have been pretending to be okay with everything she did because he is nice and doesn’t want to hurt her feelings all these while.

“Mianhae, sunbaenim..” Chanseul managed to apologize after a couple of minutes of self reflection.

Kris didn’t say anything, and didn’t even budge.

“Um.. I think we can eat together tomorrow.. or next time..?” she asked, still looking at the tall guy. Eating together with both Taemin and him is not a good idea right now, her brain managed to get to the conclusion really fast.

“Because you chose Taemin tonight?” Kris asked as he rests one of his arms on the wall above Chanseul’s head, trapping the girl even more in his human cage.

Chanseul, for being extremely close with a guy for the first time that she can actually feels Kris’ breath on her face, is right now really nervous she can hardly breath herself.

Kris, on the other hand, who can never hold Chanseul’s hand comfortably like Taemin always did before, is now finding himself caressing Chanseul’s cheek with his fingers. He feels a strange electrified-feels inside him as he did, not realizing how scared the girl is at the moment.

The tall guy closes his eyes slowly as he shortened the gap in between his lips and hers, only to find himself suddenly being dragged backwards roughly.

Kris involuntarily turned, and his eyes met Taemin’s, who just happened to be there when everything was about to turn into a mess, and he never look this angry in his whole life.

“What are you trying to do?” Taemin asked as he pushed the older guy by his shoulder.

“Yah..” Kris tried to defend himself but he is feeling confused at the moment. What did he just do to Chanseul?

“Can’t you see that you’re scaring her?!” Taemin’s voice is even louder right now as he pushed Kris even farther on his chest with his two arms.

Kris let himself being pushed by the younger boy, as he is still trying to understand the situation. It was then when he choked on his breath a little bit as Taemin grabbed him by his collar and pull him closer.

“Don’t you dare to come near Chanseul noona starting from today, ara?”

Kris knows the young boy must be really angry when he dropped the honorifics with him for the first time. He took a couple of steps backwards before he turns to run back home, still trying to reason out his strange behaviour just now.

Taemin quickly get to Chanseul, and he can feel the small frame of hers is shivering in fear and he quickly brought her into his embrace, as the girl bury her face on his chest comfortably now that Taemin is finally taller than her.

“Gwenchana, noona. I’m here.. I’m sorry I’m late.. I’m sorry for making you walk alone..” Taemin whispered into her eyes as he runs through his fingers into Chanseul’s long hair, trying his best to calm her down.”

Chanseul, not being able to utter anything at the moment, just nodded her head a bit as she wrapped her arms around this favourite person of hers.

“I’m here..” Taemin whispered again as he tightened the hug.

And deep inside her heart, Chanseul knows Taemin will always be there for her.

RAMBLES___♡♥♡
So, another two years had passed.
Taemin is 14, Chanseul 16 and Kris 18.
Things happened, and wait for the next chapter to see
if Chanseul and Kris will be okay again.
Taemin is finally taller that Chanseul,  and we should celebrate!

Please drop a comment as well, thank you so much.

PYNK