Taemin's POV: 






“Please shut the up.” I request while I sprint on but Minho hops right in front me, hindering my sprint to get away from his existence.

No wonder he looks like a frog.

I look up and glare but it’s not fair when he simply makes this apologetic face, what for? Don’t ask me. If he wants to apologise for polluting my insides, it’s too late.

“Please, just listen to me this once!”

He has been repeating the same thing ever since I stepped out of my class and he was oh-so-not-creepily loitering against the wall, patiently waiting to annoy me. Although I turned my eyes away, trying to lose him somehow, he persisted and has been following me and honestly, I want to hear what he has to say but the problem is, he doesn’t realise that I want him to speak up already and stop with the hear me out, I beg you when it’s clear from my whole act of trying to get away that I in fact want to not get away.

Someone explain to me why did I lose my ity to this idiot?!

So now that he’s basically towering over me and has blocked my way, not really, because I can simply angle away and walk a different direction because I am not in a drama where the female character thinks the only way to move forth is through that one specific spot the male character is standing over.
I convince myself that I am the female character and so I roll my eyes, a rather exaggerated one with a deep, ragged sigh and stop, him finally speaking up.

“You’ve been avoiding me for over a week now. My texts, my calls, basically at every opportunity I want to talk to you about the….” He looks around to make sure no one is listening but that move annoys me even more because we are in a ing hallway, walls have ears as well! “…abortion.” I massage my temple not because I have a headache, it’s because I don’t when God has given me a walking headache and it’s making itself known at every given moment in life. “Why did you tell me about it if you’ve decided to abort it??”

Good question.

The answer is: I was dumb enough to consider Kibum hyung’s advice.

“Listen-“ I begin and immediately get cut off with a soft tone I am not ready to acknowledge because I am pregnant and the cause is pretending like he is the nicest when he maybe is but I don’t give a .

“Listening.” See what I mean by epitome of an annoying piece of ?!

I wet my drying lips as if I am standing in Sahara and begin talking with my hands in a rather hushed but stern tone. “-I didn’t want to let you know. It was Kibum hyung. I don’t give a -“

“-about the baby?”

I stop.

Okay I didn’t mean that but oh well, it’s too late. I ignore the hurt-oozing tone and simply go with what my brain suggests.

“We are not committed. I don’t see the point of this conversation even.”

At that he steps back and holds his head while angling his body away as if to contain his anger and honestly if at any point on he screams, I am going to end up crying because anger isn’t something I cope with well.

I could be screaming at you for hours but if you scream back even a single word, I am wailing a goddamn river and sobbing because how dare thou. Don’t you see that I am a baby? Oh . I can’t use that point in an argument anymore.

That, I don’t blame on the pregnancy hormones.

“Kibum told me your mom was calm about you having a baby with me. What’s your problem?”

Of course I live with ing snakes. I am done. Seen. Delete. This conversation never happened.

I begin brist-walking away but he catches up and I am even more riled up because I was actually trying to get away. We end up walking all the way out of the campus towards the field, him, all the way there calling my name like thousand times with thousand different tones, progressively getting softer yet urgent.

“Taemin wait!”

And I do wait, eyes watching the cloud laughing down at me with a rather sour look on my face. “Hyung, the problem is that it’s not my mom who’s having a baby with you. I don’t care what she thinks. I don’t want to go on with this. I am 16! I am not going to give up my career over an accident!”

There is silence while I rant and I thank God that there is no one in the field to listen to me vent out my anger. It’s when the silence stretches for too long that I avert my eyes back to him to check if he’s alive or his soul left earth to his original home: the mars.

And what do I see!

Blankness.

He also looks disappointed.

Maybe he’s trying to copy his mother’s face when he was born?

“I will home tutor you.” He finally speaks with a solemn tone. “Come on! You weren’t playing so hard to get splayed on the bed that night.” It’s a wonder how his tone changes from utter sincerity b one to pure mock.  

I intensify my glare to compensate for the heat I feel diffusing around my cheeks.

“Ehm.”

We choke. Synchronously.

“Hello Taemin-ssi.”

Holy.

.

I promptly go into eyes-fluttering, fingers palpitating, throat gulping mode when my eyes meet Mrs Choi’s. Whatever is she doing on campus?! I mentally ask this question to Minho but turns out he isn’t looking and looks equally stoned by her sudden appearance. 

“Mom…What- how-“

“Hi to you too, Minho.” She deadpans and if it was not for my own stupefied frame, I would have doubled over and laughed. And it looks even cooler because she gives this tiny smile and her raised eyebrows just virtually stab Minho in 1000 different ways over the disrespect.

“Er…Hi mom.”

“Taemin-ssi didn’t want to introduce himself to me so I figured I’ll take the initiative.”Mrs Choi talks with the same, slow and steady tone and that smile, now directed towards me and I am opening my mouth to apologise but my brain is malfunctioning real hard, me ending up with incoherent words and noises.

“I..er…um..n-ye…sorry.”

That translates to: I kind of want to agree but I am scared of your reaction.

“Seeing from how much you’re fumbling, I assume that you’re fearful I might have come here to give you death threats.” She cackles this time and the tension building up in my body diffuses out, a shy smile creeping its way on my lips.

What the am I shy for again??

I resume the sour look when I catch a glimpse of Minho’s smile, probably a mirror of my own. How can one stare at someone knowing the person knows they are being stared at and still not stop staring??

“Let’s sit somewhere and talk? You both are done with your classes for today, am I right?” I begin with a nod but it changes to a shake of head when I see that Minho is nodding too. “How about a café? Is that fine with you, Taemin-ssi?”

No???

I am 16???

And so going-with-strangers is still a thing in my age group.

She isn’t a stranger technically because my mom knows her and Mr Choi but I don’t. And nor do I have any plans on, in the near future. “I actually….” I start forming a lie, pointing somewhere behind me as if a portal is waiting to take me in when in fact there’s Kibum hyung coming our way which I don’t see but smell. His perfume is the reason as to how. “……I have to go somewhere.”

“No you don’t?” I catch his shrill voice and I poke my innercheek with my tongue, thumb still pointed towards my destruction and eyes looking up to complain to God for making Mr and Mrs Kim that night to make this creature. “Hello Mrs Choi!” He chirps and I curl my thumb back in and draw my hands together, cracking my knuckles.

“Oh hi Kibum, how’s Mr and Mrs Kim? I forgot to congratulate them for your sister’s baby, please send them my regards. I’ll give them a call soon though.”

Oh.

So Kibum hyung has started a business of making people make babies. I thought his interest was fashion but apparently not.

“Oh thank you! Sure sure, mum will be waiting for your call!” Do you ever feel so awkward during that one time when you’ve been talking to someone and all of a sudden there is this other random person greeting that person and the conversation shifts to them and so you’re just like am I joke to you?

I am about to say excuse me but Minho decides he has a mouth and begins using it, reverting Mrs Choi’s attention back to me.

“So, you’re coming then, right?” Mrs Choi’s eyes immediately shift to me and if her smile wasn’t already sweet towards Kibum, it turns even sweeter when it reaches me and so I am, once again, seen stuttering and looking everywhere to find some excuse but thank God Kibum hyung knows how to push me into my grave.

“Where to? A café?? Oh sure he is! He loves cafes! He loves coffee, Mrs Choi, like crazy but I guess he should cut down on the caffeine intake while he’s, you know-“ Then if I wasn’t awkward enough, he proceeds to elbow my ribs and I begin smiling with my teeth gritting in my mouth.

“That’s great! We’ll have a fun little bonding time with you. I hope you have some time to spare for us.” She speaks with such hope that my throat clogs itself up and my brain signals my neck to nod and the next thing I know, we are walking to their car.

Kibum hyung abandons me halfway through the walk with a hurried side-hug and a mess of my purple hair and an unneeded goodluck and I am forced into thinking that Choi Minho definitely has a competition in being annoying.

Also, halfway through the walk, Mrs Choi scolds Minho into taking my bag, which by the way, I refused to give at first but ended up giving knowing I could really use some help carrying 2 thin books and an empty water bottle because I am that tired of their .

As soon as we get in the car and I am pushed in the front passenger seat with Mrs Choi driving and Minho in the backseat, I realise that it’s pretty much real.

I am sitting with my baby’s other grandma.

Wow.

“Taemin-ssi, please inform your mother, she might end up worrying.”

What does she think Kibum hyung exists around me for? He tells her everything before I can ever breathe anywhere near her. But being the compliant tadpole carrier, I beam and nod, sending a quick text to my mom.

Mom, I know hyung already informed you but I am with Mrs Choi and she’s very nice and oh my God, she’s taking me to a café for this bonding time and I am scared. Also, I think she doesn’t know that I don’t want to keep it so it’s really awkward. Mom, help!!

And send.

The whole car drive is plain awkward from my side because it’s like Mrs Choi is having a conversation with herself and I play role of a sitcom where I laugh from time to time to tell her that I am listening and give tiny answers in my tiny voice and I don’t realise why Minho is so quiet till I hear Mrs Choi scoff and call out with an aggressive tone to pull your earphones out, do you not hear I am talking to you?? without an ounce of consideration that I, basically a stranger is a an eyewitness to the bullying towards her son and that I, an eye witness might continue this bullying in her absence.

He complies wordlessly and puts his phone away and joins in to make it even more awkward than it already is, leaning his entire body weight on his knees and rubbing his palms together.

Until….

“I see you’re not much of a talker.” Mrs Choi declares and this earns her a generous laugh from her son and I am looking over my shoulder to raise my eyebrows because when the did I ever talk to him for more than 2 seconds for him to open his mouth this big??

“He talks a lot but only if he isn’t awkward.”

Okay true but how the do you know?

“Oh it’s fine, first times are always awkward.”

I actually choke and so does he and I am sure Mrs Choi gets what we choked at but decided to ignore it by  shaking-her-head plus smiling.

Right in the bull’s eye.