The first time I met Taemin was in seventh grade. Back then, he didn't have many friends, and would go straight home after school to practice dancing. Since I never thought of dancing for fun, I found it interesting and decided to ask him one day, when he was sitting alone in the schoolyard, eating his lunch, like every day.

"Hi... My name is Sunkyu... I've seen you since kindergarten but I never got a chance to really speak to you," I said, trying to be brave, though I was extremely shy. Our eyes met for a second and I looked away instantly, my cheeks burning. He was the first boy who I thought was cute.

"Ah... Hi... I'm Taemin~" He said, laughing to cover up his shyness.

"I hear you dance... That's pretty cool," I said, sitting next to him. I could see why he always sat here, in the same spot. It was under a tree, so there was some shade, and the ground was comfy.

"Yeah! One day, I wanna be in a group like h.o.t.," He said, looking up at the clouds. I could tell he really wanted it.

"That would be really cool. I'm sure you can, if you really try!" I said, and he smiled happily at me. I blushed.

From there, we spoke every day, and eventually, he showed me his dancing. I was the first one to see it. I didn't know that by the next year, he would be famous.

 

In eighth grade, I found an ad in the newspaper for and SM audition. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw that was Taemin. I cut it out and folded it, carefully tucking it into my pocket to show him later.

At lunch, we met up like every day, under the tree. 

"Hi Sunkyu!!!!!" He said, waving to me.

"Hi Taemin! I found something I want to show you!" I said, pulling out the newspaper clipping and handing it to him.

"An audition?" He said.

I nodded.

" ..But.. I don't think I'm good enough. H.o.t. was with SM," He said, insecurely.

"Are you kidding? Taemin, I've seen you dance! You're so good! You'd definitely get in," I encouraged.

"You think? Well, if I want to get in, I have to practice a lot," He sighed.

"Yeah, but I'll help you!"

"I don't know..." He hesitated.

"Okay, Taemin. Listen. Imagine if you got in and became famous. You would be loved by all of Korea. You would be the main dancer of the group. When you perform at concerts, all the girls will scream, "oppa, marry me!! i love you!!".  And you can marry someone like Lee Hyori. Why wouldn't you want a chance at that?!" I said. He couldn't pass up this chance. For some reason, I had a really good feeling about it.

"Fine... Fine.. I'll do it," 

"Seriously? Yay!" I said, hugging him.

 

We started practicing for the audition the next week. Since he didn't exactly know what music they would play for him to dance to in the audition, he couldn't really make up a dance routine. So Taemin and I looked at popular dances and he learned them, so he could mix them all together and dance to whatever song they happened to play for him. 

The day of the audition, I waited outside for him. I could hear his choked up voice introducing himself to the judges as they recorded him and then they a hip hop song. When the music was turned off, they told him that they wanted to see him for a second round since they really liked his dancing. 

He got out of the audition room, and hugged me, teary-eyed. 

"Thank you!" He said.

"For what?" I said.

"If you hadn't told me to audition this wouldn't have happened. I'm one step closer to getting in!" He said, handing me the paper that they gave him.

"Woah. This is so cool! When you become a kpop star, can you take me to music bank with you?" 

"Hehe, sure!"

We squealed as we walked back to my house. I went up to random people saying, "This is Lee Taemin, and he's a future kpop star."

People thought we were crazy.

 

That was until Taemin got a call after the fourth round of the auditions. It was from Lee Soo Man himself, asking Taemin to join SM. 

Taemin shakily agreed, running to my house in the rain to tell me.

"Hello??" He said, knocking repeatedly on the front door.

I opened the door and saw Taemin soaked. "Haha, Taemin, you're all wet! Come in!" I said.

"We need to talk!!!" He said, running up to my room and shutting my door behind us, quickly.

"Talk to me!"

"I... I got into SM! I'm a trainee!" He said, holding his breath to see my response.

For some reason, I started crying. "I... told you... you... idiot... ahh... this... is... so... cool..."

He sat beside me on my bed and hugged me. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm so happy," I said, bawling.

"Well, you should be. This is all because of you. Thank you so much. I don't know how to repay you," He said, wiping my eyes.

"You don't need to repay me! Just do your best," I said.

 

Then, five months later, he debuted in SHINee. He didn't think that "Replay" would be such a big hit, but suddenly, it was number one on every chart, and every Korean girl wanted to be with him. When it was time for his first performance, he got me a front row ticket and backstage pass, but while I was in the crowd, all I heard was "Taemin oppa!" and I couldn't help but feel jealous.

Taemin still came to school, but he often had to miss it. I had to make new friends, like Yoonmi. I told her everything about Taemin, and she was completely supportive.

Taemin loved his new life, but he was also sad. He never told me, but he wanted to spend his time with me, like we used to. Having sleepovers and camping in our backyards. He missed those times. Often, with his group members, he would talk about it and cry. But since I told him all he had to do was try his best, he did.

 

Years passed, and Taemin soon became one of the number one kpop stars in Korea. He wasn't even known in Korea. It was also all over the world. He often traveled overseas to the US, Japan, London, etc to perform. I saw him less every year. Our texts and emails got shorter, and I don't remember when it happened, but soon, we stopped talking altogether. 

 

Finally, in 11th grade, he came back. This time, since he never had a break since debut, he was getting a long break, and a chance to really focus on school again. When he came back, he clearly wasn't the old Taemin. He was a celebrity. All the girls surrounded him.

But at lunch, he went back to the tree, and I almost cried. Seeing him like this again.. even though he changed so much, I knew he still had the old Taemin deep down inside of him. Hopefully I was right. There was only one way to find out.

So I sat next to him.