It was a start of new day but Kibum was still thinking about what happened the day before. He couldn't get Jonghyun off of his mind. His kind smile, nice personality and beautiful eyes. No wonder, since they are both brothers, he thought with chuckle when he came to school. He hadn't met any of his friends which was very weird since they all had the first class together.

When he entered a classroom and saw that Taemin was already in his seat, he sighed. Maybe he's still mad at me. We really need to talk, he sighed again and sat down to his seat. Baekhyun was nowhere in sight and Kibum got curious. Although the boy wasn't as good at studying as he and Taemin, he has never missed school just like that.

When he remembered that his friends went out yesterday he turned to Taemin who looked surprised at sudden attention. But his face turned back to blank right a way which saddened Kibum even though he didn't say it aloud.

“Baekhyun's not coming? You were together yesterday, right? Did something happen?” he asked and for a moment he thought that Taemin will tell him something along lines 'you should have come and would know' but the latter just shrugged.

“He didn't come. He was tired. Text him if you're worried.” he said and for a moment it looked like he regretted being so cold to his friend. But he didn't want to back down. What Kibum said yesterday did hurt him.

“Tae..” Kibum started sadly and when he looked at him he continued. “Can we talk after class? I really don't want to be like this with you. You're my best friend.” he sighed and Taemin felt relieved.

“Yes. So..” Taemin started but was interrupted when the teacher came in and started talking right a way.

The class itself wasn't really interesting but the boys were listening like always. It saved the time, really. It didn't mean that their minds didn't wander to different things though. Because during the silent moments when they were supposed to write something, both of them were thinking about different things.

Taemin's head was filled with Minho and Kibum was trying to come up with what he should tell Taemin once the class was over. He didn't know how to tackle the situation because he has never fought with Taemin before. Should I just ask why he hates Hyunjoong so much? Or should I be more careful? He sighed and was surprised when he heard bell ringing, signalizing the end of the class.

People started slowly lifting from their seats and Kibum was ready to turn to his friend when he heard people gasping and looking at him. What- he frowned and looked at people around him before turning back to the front and almost getting a heartattack.

Hyunjoong stood right in front of his desk and was looking at him. Kibum didn't know how to breathe properly because this was still his crush and damn it, he still looked as handsome as always. But it was weird and surprising. Why would he come up to a nerd like Kibum?

“Hey. Uh..” he started in that soft voice and rubbed his nape. This gesture reminded Kibum of Jonghyun and that seemed to wake him up from his trance. This jerk has ditched him yesterday.

Kibum was about to stand up and ignore him (just like he did ignore him many times in the past) which was still very hard for him when Hyunjoong stopped him. “Wait. I.. about yesterday..” he started and Kibum widened his eyes in surprise.

Hyunjoong didn't really know how to apologize. Especially not to someone like Kibum but his brother's words repeated in his head and he took a deep breath. He looked Kibum in the eyes and his lips, trying to act as honest as he could. His hobby was on the line, after all. “I'm sorry..” he said softly and tried not to flinch over numerous gasps he heard from their classmates. “I didn't make it in time and I.. I'm sorry for that.”

Kibum's heart stopped beating the moment Hyunjoong looked into his eyes because he has never done it before no matter how much Kibum wished for it to happen. And now there he was, looking at him and APOLOGIZING! Once the boy remembered how to breathe he gulped and parted his lips to say something but he just couldn't. His whole body felt like it froze. This is.. god, he is.. His mind was a mess and if Hyunjoong didn't clear his throat to get his attention, Kibum would have kept staring.

“I..” he croaked and had a hard time forming a sentence. “It's okay.” he almost whispered and the smile Hyunjoong gave him as a reaction made him melt. Almost.

Kibum remembered why exactly he did have a crush on this boy. Maybe he's not really jerk. Maybe he just forgot about the tutoring.. he told himself before smiling widely at the boy in front of him.

Yes, definitely. He can't be a jerk.

“-day?” Kibum was brought back from his thoughts by Hyunjoong's voice and he was surprised that he was still standing there.

“I'm sorry, what?” he asked in embarrassment and Hyunjoong chuckled.

The 'prince' didn't want to but he had to admit that Kibum's reactions were funny and slightly adorable. But that didn't change a fact that he was nobody. A nerd. However, he still needed to get his grades up. “I asked if we could meet today. For tutoring.”

Kibum couldn't believe his ears. He was very happy, of course, and was about to voice it out when suddenly, Taemin stood by his side.

“No, you can't meet today. He's not free.” Taemin said coldly and Hyunjoong looked at him with raised eyebrow.

But Taemin didn't care. He just felt like he had to do something this time since he saw that his bestfriend was about to give in and agree. Hearing that Hyunjoong didn't meet with him yesterday made Taemin mad and he could easily guess the reason behind Hyunjoong's absence.

“I wasn't asking YOU, nerd.” Hyunjoong spat and if Taemin didn't grow immune to pain it caused first times it happened, he would flinch. But it didn't hurt. Not anymore.

“Well, I AM answering you, jerk.” Taemin said, not afraid to talk back to him.

They both heard another wave of gasps and Hyunjoong's hands formed fists. “What did you just say, loser?” he growled and Taemin almost laughed at his expression.

“What, you're deaf now, too?” he said and didn't give the other boy chance to speak again. “Kibum is busy today, he won't meet with you.”

For Kibum, who was watching them in shock, this felt like a final straw and he was afraid that they would get into fight so he stood up quickly. Both of the boys looked at him and it looked like Hyunjoong was waiting for his answer but instead he looked at Taemin.

“Tae..” he started and wanted to say the truth because he really wanted to meet up with Hyunjoong but once he saw the look younger boy was giving him, he felt like if he said it he would lose his friend. Because in that moment, Taemin looked vulnerable to him.

Therefore, even though it was very hard he looked at his crush and smiled apologetically. “Taemin is right. We gotta work on something together today, sorry. Maybe some other time?” he asked and couldn't stop the hope from sneaking into his voice.

It seemed like Hyunjoong noticed it because he sighed and nodded. “Yes, sure. It's okay.” he said, sending Kibum small forced smile before he left, bumping into Taemin quite hard which sent the boy to the side.

Taemin scoffed and shook his head. If Hyunjoong thought that this hurt him he was not just arrogant but also stupid. This behavior was nothing new to Taemin and he was used to it by now. The boy literally felt how people looked at him and he almost groaned.

“What!” he glared at their classmates who got surprised but then they glared right back at him.

“You should know your place, nerd.” some guy said with threatening voice but Taemin just rolled his eyes while saying dismissive 'yeah, yeah'.

“Tae..” Kibum started but didn't get to finish his sentence because the said boy nudged him forward.

“Let's go, hyung, I wanna get out of here.” he said and sounded both tired and angry.

Kibum hasn't seen him in this mood yet and truthfully, he was worried. He was sure that their talk couldn't be prolonged. They needed to talk about all this.

Both of them walked out of the class, aware of whispering that surrounded them but neither of them wanted to acknowledge it.

“Did you see it? Hyunjoong talked to the nerd kid.”

“Yeah, he's his tutor now.”

“Wow, this is time when I wish I was smaart so I could give him a tutoring he deserves.”

“What the hell does the nerd think about himself?? Insulting Hyunjoong?!”

“We should teach that loser a lesson.”

It was very loud but when Kibum looked at Taemin it didn't seem like he really cared about it. Or maybe he just stopped listening. And Kibum decided that he should stop listening, too. Those people didn't matter to him.

He was about to turn to the hall where their next class was when Taemin caught his wrist and pulled him to different direction.

Toward the exit.

“Let's skip.” Taemin said calmly while walking and Kibum looked at him, surprised.

“What? But we.. you.. have never skipped before. Are you sure?” he asked worriedly and after what felt like ages Taemin chuckled softly.

“There's always first time, right? And we need to talk.”

“You have a point there.” Kibum said with hum and followed Taemin out of school and down the street. “We're going to yours?” he asked when he spotted familiar route.

Taemin hummed with small smile on his lips. “Yes. Everyone's working so the house is empty.”

“Pfft, it sounds like you need your house empty. What are you gonna do, throw a party?” Kibum teased and laughed when Taemin nudged his side, making him skip few times just so he wouldn't fall.

“That would suit Baekhyun more than me. I swear, that boy so different from us. Why does he hang out with us, again?” Taemin chuckled but it was obvious that he was just kidding. Both of them knew that Baekhyun could like parties and people but he was much much better than those s at school.

“Because we're cool, obviously.” Kibum grinned and they laughed again before they finally arrived to Taemin's house.

It was big and beautiful. Kibum loved visiting because despite being big, the house felt very warm with all those family pictures and pretty furniture. And Taemin's family, despite being very busy, was always very nice to him. Whenever they would meet.

“It's been a while since I've visited. How's your brother?” Kibum asked once they entered the house and headed straight to the kitchen.

It was almost a ritual to go to the kitchen to fetch drinks and snack before they moved to the living room, making themselves comfortable on soft couches.

“He's very busy. But well, he's still him. Messing with me, eating and eating. Oh, and he's still very clumsy.” Taemin chuckled fondly and Kibum joined him.

“Aah, I see. I'm glad that the work isn't changing him much. Some people get.. different when the work piles up. Say, I don't think I have ever asked about his job before?” Kibum said, taking sip of water before he looked at his friend.

Taemin got slightly nervous this time and he hummed, knowing that this was something they had to talk about. It wasn't like he was lying, they have just never talked about details. Okay, let's do this. He took a deep breath. “Yeah. Well, you know that I'm rich, right?” he said and almost facepalmed because.. What the hell, Lee Taemin???

Kibum raised his eyebrows and then chuckled, gesturing to the house itself. “I noticed.”

Taemin groaned and rubbed his face. “But hyung!” he almost whined before continued. “Uh.. We're not just house-owning rich. But like.. company-owning rich.” he said and scratched his nape. He didn't look at Kibum but gave him time to let the information sink in.

“Oh.” he heard and then risked a glance at his friend. “Wait. What?” Kibum blinked his eyes and looked confused.

Taemin didn't blame him for that and if it wasn't a serious situation he would have laughed at Kibum's expression and his 'stupid' sentences. “Well.. yeah. The Lee's company that works with Kim's? The company people at our school always talk about? It's my family. They just don't know that I'm part of that family because I didn't want anyone to know.” Taemin said and shrugged. Now