Taemin wanted to hate Jonghyun. He wanted to despise him from the bottom of his heart, he wanted his name to become curseword, wanted to wish him the worst only.

However, Key’s boyfriend made it too damn hard.

When Jongin had told him about how great Jonghyun was, Taemin had wanted to punch a wall. The perfection that seemed to be Kim Jonghyun had made him feel aggravated because it was just unfair that someone could be so kind and good and handsome at the same time, so much better than Taemin.

Now that he had actually met him, though, Taemin couldn’t help but feel the same way about Jonghyun.

Key’s boyfriend was soft. His looks were, from his brown puppy eyes to his fluffy fringe, and his voice was. Speaking of his voice, it was the most beautiful sound Taemin had ever heard anywhere. He soon found out that Jonghyun liked to sing and again, he felt like the whole world was against him.

Of course, Key’s boyfriend had to have the voice of an angel. Of course, Taemin couldn’t possibly compete with him.

Other than that, Jonghyun fit into the group perfectly. He was a bit quieter than Minho and Key, but his retorts could get quite fierce and he definitely wasn’t a person who should be underestimated.

There was one thing that bothered Taemin, though, and that was the chemistry between him and Key, or rather the way he felt about it. Jonghyun and his girlfriend seemed to understand each other without words or gestures. They were so in tune with each other that it sometimes seemed like their minds were actually one.

Key seemed to know just what Jonghyun needed and her boyfriend in turn made her smile so effortlessly that Taemin should have felt jealous. But he didn’t.

It was very odd and even a bit unsettling that he didn’t feel envy when he looked at Key and Jonghyun. He had been prepared to hate the latter, to wish for what the other had what Taemin himself couldn’t have, but instead he felt at peace when he saw the couple interact.

Of course, he wished he was the one holding Key’s hand, but at the same time, he felt like Jonghyun was just right for her. A perfect boy for a perfect girl. In Taemin’s mind, it made sense, but it somehow also didn’t.

Why wasn’t he jealous? Why wasn’t he angry?

Before today, Taemin had been annoyed by the fact that Jonghyun was so superior to him. But that evening when he lay in bad, he just felt sad because he could never experience the connection Key and her boyfriend had.

In short, Taemin was confused. However, if he knew one thing for sure, it was how he felt about Key. After finding out she was taken, his feeling hadn’t withered at all. Instead, they were constantly growing and Taemin didn’t ever wish to end his friendship with her, as it was the most he could have.

_____________________________

The next day, two unexpected things happened. First of all, Jongin wasn’t at the bus stop in the morning and Taemin couldn’t shake off the weird feeling of being on his own all day.

He had become so used to going to school with his best friend and sitting through almost every lesson with him that he felt like something was missing now. Of course, there had been days when one of them hadn’t been at school, but today felt different – probably because Jongin hadn’t even warned him.

Due to his best friend`s absence, Taemin spent most of the morning on his own. In-between the short, meaningless conversations he had with his classmates, he realized that he had never really made an effort to make friends at his new school.

Dance practice and English tutoring had taken up so much of his time that he hadn’t noticed the passing of weeks, and now everyone had found their group of friends except for him.

Again, Taemin cursed Jongin for not showing up earlier, but he figured there was nothing he could do anyway. At lunch, he carried his tray with cafeteria food to the far end of a table where no one had sat down so far.

He had already accepted his fate of eating alone and was about to dig in when he suddenly heard a shout from somewhere close to him.

“Yah!”

Even though he wasn’t sure if the person had meant him, Taemin turned around – only for the second unusual thing to happen. Choi Minho was marching towards his table with his tray and an unnerving grin on his face.

“Hyung?”

Taemin knew he probably looked stupid staring at Minho like that, but he couldn’t believe his eyes. Why would Kibum’s best friend, who he had officially been introduced to only yesterday, choose to sit with him at lunch?

“Move over, kid!” Minho commanded and Taemin was too surprised to question him, simply obeying.

“What are you doing here, hyung?” Taemin finally managed to ask.

“Well,” Minho chewed, and, mind you, the food in his mouth did not look appetizing at all, “you were sitting here all on your own and we felt bad.”

“We?”

“Please excuse this pig’s manners!” another familiar voice suddenly rang out to Taemin and a second later, Kibum plopped down onto the chair opposite him with his own tray. “I’ve been trying to teach him how to behave for years, but he won’t listen.”

“Because you’re not my mum!”

“I feel like I am, though.”

No matter how flabbergasted he had been only a few moments ago, now Taemin couldn’t help laughing at his seniors’ interaction. He had been right when he had suspected that Key’s relationship with Minho was the same as Kibum’s with the tall male.

They kept bickering for a bit, hissing fake insults and mocking each other whenever they could.

It’s been a while since Jongin and I last were like that, Taemin realized and couldn’t help feeling a pang of guilt in his chest. He really should spend more time with Jongin, but he only missed his best friend now that he wasn’t there.

“By the way, Taemin, you didn’t tell me how your English exam went?” Kibum suddenly turned to him.

Taemin blushed a bit when he remembered Key asking him the same question yesterday. He had forgotten to answer it then.

“Ah, it went well I guess,” he awkwardly replied. “I’m not great at English and you know that, but I had to do one exercise that was just like the one we did together, so I think was able to do it well…”

“Yeah, I know the teacher through a few friends and she always uses the same kind of exercises. I’m glad you were able to transfer your knowledge, though.”

“Me, too, hyung, I hope I’ll pass this class so I can dance a bit more. Even though that means I won’t be able to come visit you as often.”

Taemin felt more than sad at that thought, but he told himself not to worry yet. First, he had to wait for his results and then everything else would work out somehow – he couldn’t imagine cutting all ties with Key, or her brother for that matter, anyway.

“You know, I’m failing English, too,” Minho suddenly admitted.

“Yeah, but that’s because you’re dumb and lazy!”

“You’re talking about the school’s sport prodigy right now. Who’s applying for a scholarship for volleyball? It surely isn’t you…”

“He keeps making fun of me because I’m bad at P.E.,” Kibum pouted. “But I just don’t like sweating and embarrassing myself in front of a group of teenagers.”

“God, would you stop complaining already. When did you last attend our P.E. class? Last year?”

“But hyung, if you don’t like sweating then why do you dance?”

“I’m a complicated person, Taemin-ah,” Kibum chuckled. “Dancing is the only exception because it looks pretty.”

“You are pretty, hyung.”

“Are you trying to inflate his giant head even more, Taemin-ah? It’s going to burst one day.”

Minho poked Kibum’s forehead and his best friend laughed, his dimples showing beside the corners of his mouth.

“Are you going to dance practice later, Taeminnie?”

“Yeah, will you be there, hyung?”

Kibum shook his head apologetically, biting his lip.

“Sorry, I don’t think so. I’m staying over at Jjong’s – Jonghyun-hyung’s – tonight and we wanted to go to the city together this afternoon.”

At the mention of Jonghyun, Minho’s expression changed. His brow furrowed and he glanced at Key with serious eyes that were full of worry.

“Is your dad home tonight?”

Kibum just hummed affirmatively and Minho nodded, contented with the piece of information he had received. Taemin, on the other hand, couldn’t help but feel like he was missing something here.

He had listened to Minho’s and Kibum’s entire conversation, yet the last exchange of words between them didn’t make any sense to him. What was so special about Kibum’s dad being home? And why had Minho looked so concerned all of a sudden?

“Stop worrying your head off, Taemin-ah, you’re going to get wrinkles,” Kibum suddenly told him.

The older boy stretched out his hand to smooth out the skin of Taemin’s forehead. His palm felt warm and soft, just like his sister’s.

“I- I was just wondering why Jongin-ah wasn’t here today,” Taemin quickly said. For some reason he didn’t want Kibum to know that he had been thinking about him. “He didn’t tell me anything.”

“Oh, Nini felt sick this morning so he stayed at home,” Kibum quickly told him. “That’s also the reason why my dad is coming home earlier than usual. I… You know I have a bad immune system so I usually try to stay over at someone else’s place when Jongin’s sick.”

He laughed a bit and though Taemin wondered what Key would do if her brother was staying with her boyfriend, he felt like things were making a bit more sense now. At least he had an idea about why Minho had acted so weird just now – he was probably just worried about Kibum’s health.

Satisfied with the conclusion he had come to, Taemin turned back to his food and began to eat the leftover noodles in his bowl. The only thing that was still bugging him was the fact that Jongin hadn’t considered it necessary to tell him about his whereabouts.

But, Taemin told himself, if Jongin wanted to be grumpy then he would let him be. After all, he had Minho and Kibum to hang out with.

_______________________

Since Jongin didn’t attend school the next few days either, Taemin spent a lot of time around Minho and Kibum. At first he had been afraid that his two seniors would get sick of his presence soon, but against his social character, Kibum didn’t seem to have many friends apart from Minho and the tall boy stuck to his side for most of the day.

If he wasn’t searching for the two older boys, Taemin could be found at the dance studio where he practiced for his upcoming performance. His mother had agreed to let him dance if Key didn’t have time for him, which was the case since Jongin was still sick and his sister didn’t want Taemin to fall ill too according to Kibum.

“Don’t worry, Taemin-ah, you’re good enough at English now,” he had told him in the hallway earlier. “You won’t fail the subject, I’m sure about that.”

“You did well today,” his coach said to Taemin when the team had wrapped up their practice, putting their things into their bags or heading off to the showers already. “It’s good to have you here more often. Are your grades better now?”

“I don’t know yet,” Taemin replied. As an afterthought, he added, “but Kibum-hyung – who’s also tutoring me – told me I was good to go.”

“You’re talking about Kim Kibum from twelfth grade, right?” the coach inquired. 

When Taemin nodded, the man let out a hum.

“I encounter him here at the practice room a lot, but in all the years he’s been attending the school, I couldn’t get him to join our team. Weird fellow…”

He trailed off and Taemin realized with a frown that Kibum seemed to be infamous at the school. His English teacher had made weird comments about him as well when they had last spoken to each other, but Taemin didn’t understand why.

From what he knew, Kibum had transferred schools sometime in tenth grade and ever since he had been the top student in his grade. If he got such good marks, why wouldn’t the teachers stop looking at him weirdly?

“Anyway, if you see him, please tell Jongin to come talk to me once he’s healthy again,” the coach’s voice suddenly pulled Taemin out of his thoughts. “I’m positive he will be able to do the choreography, but he’s still missing out on practice.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him!” Taemin quickly promised before getting up from the floor. “Tomorrow, we have practice too, right?”

“That’s right. Will I see you there?”

“Of course!”

“That’s good to know.”

The coach dismissed Taemin with a wave and the boy sped off, clutching onto the strings of his exercise bag. It was already quite late and he wanted to get home on time for dinner, since his mother had promised to make his favorite food for him, but he still had to get his schoolbag out of his locker.

Miraculously, Taemin still managed to catch the early bus, which meant he would get home half an hour before dinner. As he sat on his seat, he suddenly wondered if he should go over to Jongin’s house for a bit.

He honestly wasn’t in the mood to do so since his best friend hadn’t even told him he was sick, but at the same time, he felt like he should at least deliver the coach’s message to Jongin.

Maybe Jongin will be happy if I make the first move to talk to him, Taemin thought. I haven’t talked to him in a while.

Thus it was decided. Taemin got off one stop earlier than usual, though the way to Jongin’s house felt as familiar as the way to his own home. He had walked down these roads so many times after school whenever Key tutored him – Taemin knew the way by heart.

When he reached his best friend’s house, he noticed that the garage door was closed for once. It only made sense, though, since Kibum had mentioned his father being home to take care of Jongin and Taemin didn’t think much of it.

He wondered if Key was home, though. Since her brother was staying with Jonghyun, she technically had to be, but maybe she had gone over to her other friend’s house – was his name Jinki?

He had been at the café with them and Taemin was honestly curious how he and Key had gotten to know each other.

Taemin stepped up to the front door and rang the bell, only having to wait a few moments before the door was opened. Jongin’s father stood in front of him, frowning.

“Hi, I’m Taemin,” Taemin introduced himself in case the man didn’t remember him. “I’m Jongin’s best friend and I’m here to tell him our dance instructor wants to speak to him when he comes back to school. He’s also supposed to complete these exercises for Maths until next Monday.”

He stretched out his hand, waiting for Jongin’s father to take the sheet out of his hand.

“Thank you for bringing these over. I’m sure Jongin will be back at school next week.”

Taemin nodded, but didn’t move an inch, which made the frown on Jongin’s father’s face deepen.

“Is there anything else you need?” 

“Please tell him to get well soon. And…is Key home?”

He couldn’t help himself – the question had just slipped out of his mouth. Taemin hadn’t seen Key in almost a week and he already missed her terribly.

“Kibum isn’t here at the moment,” Jongin’s father responded pointedly. “Shouldn’t you be calling him ‘hyung’, though?”

“But I asked if Key was-“

“And I gave you an answer. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.”

“But-“

“I have to go back inside to make dinner now. Thanks for going out of your way to wish my son well, Taemin-ah. Have a nice weekend.”

And with that, Jongin’s father closed the door right in front of Taemin’s face. The boy’s shoulders slumped as he stared at the wooden surface before his eyes – this wasn’t what he had expected.

He didn’t know why Jongin’s father had reacted so harshly when he had asked about Key, but something was weird about this whole thing. Why had he told Taemin about Kibum? Didn’t he care about his daughter?

Suddenly, Taemin remembered the time he had come to Jongin’s house to find Key crying her eyes out. Later, she had told him she had had a fight with her father – a bad one, apparently, considering how wrecked it had left her.

That evening, Taemin returned home with a sour taste in his mouth and a frown on his face. Even though he knew he was probably overreacting, he really hoped that Key was okay and that she hadn’t fought with her father again. Taemin didn’t want her to be sad all on her own, especially when her boyfriend was hanging out with her twin brother.

_____________________________

this is so late i almost forgot to update, but at least it's a long one. i hope you're enjoying the story so far!

also, i have a job interview on tuesday and i'm fckng afraid rn bc it will probably be in spanish. now the thing is, i can write spanish but my speaking is terrible. in my head it sounds great and all, but i can't rlly form proper sentences. and i'm rlly afraid i won't be able to understand the questions i'm asked - my hearing isn't the best and i'm p much used to my teacher's accent.

pls pray for me! i'll see u next weekend!