Miyoung’s invitation had come to all three of them but Jinki wasn’t going because of his injury and Jonghyun already had plans with his family. So here Taemin was... a long drive away from home, sitting by the pool of the vacation home owned by Miyoung’s parents in a small town 2 hours away from theirs, that had been booked entirely for the weekend for her friends.

It was a little cold to swim but people were still going for it, one of them being Woojin. Taemin just helped out the small group who was preparing the barbeque, after which he really had nothing to do but sit and watch the people in the pool trying to trick the others into jumping in as well. He had politely refused to even dip his feet because he had seen one of them being pulled into the water by that very same excuse. To his surprise, even Haneul was around, but as usual, he ignored Taemin’s existence entirely.

The air suddenly changed when someone joined the party– it was Yuri, followed a step behind by Minho, who looked like he had been dragged against his will from the little furrow of his brows.

Taemin stayed glued to his spot, he had never actually met Yuri so greeting her was awkward and out of the question… and Minho… he had been  again caught in his conflict of whether to let go or hold on seeing him turn with Yuri had his hopes dampening and hence he had decided to avoid him as much as he could so he wouldn’t be tempted to hope again, to search again, for his feelings to be requited.

Woojin had climbed out of the pool and so had everyone else since dinner was ready. After grabbing a towel, he dropped down beside Taemin, explaining Minho’s presence, “I know you wanted to end it, but I was not gonna let the coincidence of Miyoung and Yuri being friends go. Not close, but close enough to get invited to the party. And drag a plus-one when I made Miyoung say it was compulsory.”

“Plus-one?”

“Plus-one can mean a lot of things.” Woojin supplied but Taemin had no need of those words, of any words that would explain Minho’s presence with Yuri. It didn’t matter.

“C’mon, let’s go before they hog down all the good stuff,” Woojin said, getting up and Taemin followed, reminding himself again and again with every step he took, every step that got him closer to share the same space with Minho. It didn’t matter.

Everyone had gathered around inside by the fireplace, sipping on coffee or hot chocolate. Miyoung got everyone to sit in a circle and pulled out a transparent ball that had many folded chits inside. A lot of people cheered and some groaned.

“Shut it. Everyone is playing.” She said before squeezing into the circle and switching on a playlist on the TV, in which, she explained to everyone while passing the ball, that the pauses had been pre-inserted by her elder sister and even she didn't know when the music would stop.

The chits had mostly Truth or Dare questions. The person got a choice… but some chits only had truth and some only the dares– failure to answer or do them would result in punishment at the end of the game. Taemin thought it could be fun as the very first chit was Truth– asking whether the person had ever watched My Little Pony. The next was a dare to act out the animal of their Chinese Zodiac.

Things started to get intense little by little, questions about people’s love and dating life started to pop out and Taemin grew uncomfortable, hoping his turn just wouldn’t come. Everyone thought that Woojin and he were dating… and even if that wasn’t the case, he wouldn’t reveal those things. Those were only his own to know, to protect, to cherish.

His mind was momentarily distracted, his heart panicking because the music had stopped and the ball was in Woojin’s hands… but Taemin was saved as Woojin hadn’t passed it over. Woojin took out a note and read through it, quite pompously.

“You have been saved but it’s a life for a life. You have the power to ask one question to anyone and they will have to speak nothing but the truth.” When Woojin had finished reading, everyone “oooh-ed” and people started discussing, trying to suggest who Woojin should ask and what. Woojin looked around and cleared his throat, “Minho, get ready.”

Minho straightened up, chuckling when everyone cheered him on, “Okay, shoot.”

“Is the person you like in this room?” Woojin asked right away, “Like, as in romantically. You can’t cheat your way through this.”

“...yes,” Minho answered and quite a few seemed surprised, while the majority of them looked at Yuri, who was sitting right next to him.

“Who is it?” Woojin asked.

“Is it Yuri?” Someone else asked.

“The rule was one question, guys.” Minho shot back and everyone groaned.

“You’re no fun, dude.”

Woojin had turned to Taemin and leaned closer, whispering, “See? It could be you.”

Taemin remained silent again. He knew Woojin had good intentions but everything that he had done today was somehow continuing to prove Minho’s involvement in Yuri and he felt his heart getting crushed further little by little despite having decided to not be affected. He was trying to give up, trying to conserve whatever feelings he had, trying not to let them tip over that cliff and fall into heartbreak. But his heart was just not cooperating. He shook it off, kept it at bay. There was nothing to be heartbroken about if he wasn’t trying to win over someone’s heart in the first place-- he reminded himself again.

A couple of turns later, the ball had landed in Minho’s hands and he read out his chit, “Kiss the person sitting five spots to the left.” He sighed, “Really?”

“It’s just a game. And you don’t want the punishment, trust me.” Miyoung answered before counting five spots to his left, everyone’s voices mingling with hers as they counted as well.

Taemin had been counting in his mind too and his heart almost stopped because he knew even before Miyoung’s slow, dragged-out count ended… that it was him, sitting five spots to Minho’s left.

“Taemin!” Miyoung smirked, before turning to Woojin, “No hard feelings, okay?”

Woojin laughed, “Yeah, yeah.” 

Miyoung had gotten up and dragged Minho to where Taemin was sitting, making him squeeze in there. He was protesting but it was evident he didn’t want to rudely push her off and hence he sat down beside Taemin. 

“Really? Won’t you ask the other party if they are okay with it?” Minho was arguing, seeming a little heated, “Don’t write down stuff that could make others uncomfortable.”

“You can always take the punishment, Minho.” Miyoung had a sly smile on her face, “You’ll have to let everyone crack an egg on your head. Do you really want twenty-one eggs on your head now?”

“Yeah–”

“It’s okay.” Taemin immediately said and suddenly everyone grew silent before a soft murmuring started.

Minho had looked at him with surprise and a few moments later, he leaned closer, whispering into Taemin’s ear, “I’m going to go for the hand.” He took his hand, placed a soft kiss just above the knuckles before leaning away, leaving everyone in the room in chaos.

“Hey, that doesn’t count!”

“The dare never specified what kind of kiss it had to be!” Minho shrugged, getting up and going back to his place.

There was a lot more complaining and arguing going about but Taemin was still caught up in that small moment, that small spot that tickled on his hand, it was messing up his heart and he felt heat rush into his face. He was so caught up into it that he didn’t realize how slowly he was passing the ball, he didn’t realize how many times the music must have stopped… but when he was passing it to Woojin, Woojin didn’t take it.

“The music stopped.” Woojin had whispered and Taemin realized the silence around him and shook himself out of it, though not entirely, but enough to pull out a chit and read it.

“Kiss… kiss the person to your right on the cheek.” 

“Okay, who in the frigging world made these chits?” Woojin scoffed, “Why are some loose-ended and some so specific like this one?”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter