It was finally the day of the fest and Minho had gathered in the audience for the music club’s performance, looking around, hoping–knowing–Taemin would show up. And there he was, just a row behind him, laughing nervously as he had almost tripped over Joon’s feet to get to his seat.

Minho noticed an empty seat beside him and was about to occupy it… but someone beat him to it so he settled back in his seat, turning to find Yuri occupy the seat beside his. The music club’s performance also took place in the school theater, and they had attracted more numbers compared to the crowd the drama club had attracted. The seats were filling, and the announcement began as the curtains slowly lifted, revealing two groups–or large bands. One side was dressed like the ’80s like the banner above them mentioned while the other was dressed in the early 2000s punk-rock style as their banner said 2010s. Everyone was cheering as the first song began.

The crowd was in chaos; the energy was something else. Minho couldn’t believe an hour had passed by so swiftly when he had glanced at his watch after the last song had finished. He had turned around once in a while to check on Taemin, and he was enjoying himself. He had been singing aloud, but the crowd had overpowered his voice. Minho truly regretted having missed catching the seat next to him. He turned back when Yuri pulled his arm in excitement, “OMG, look, I think they are going to play again.”

Minho furrowed his brows. The curtain was dropping, people were wrapping up their instruments, and he was about to deny what Yuri had said, but then he caught Jinki, who had been leading the mash-up from the 2010s side. He was tuning his guitar and caught everyone’s attention with a strum of his guitar before breaking into the tune of a song. The whole band followed right away, and not only Minho, but everyone had recognized it instantly and started cheering.

He's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky

Now and then when I see his face
He takes me away to that special place
And if I stare too long, I'd probably break down and cry

Jinki winked at Jonghyun, smiling as he sang the chorus, and the crowd erupted.

Whoa, oh, oh
Sweet child o' mine
Whoa, oh, oh, oh
Sweet love of– 

Before he could have finished, Jonghyun pulled Jinki into a kiss by the collar and Jinki let go of his guitar and pulled him closer, kissing back. Everyone had gasped before cheering on. The band that had stopped in surprise for only that one moment continued playing before the teacher got on stage and shut everything down, telling everyone to vacate for the next club as the curtains fell rapidly.

“Wow, I had a hunch something was going on with the way they both were singing throughout the performance, it almost seemed like they were flirting–” Yuri was gushing, but Minho had turned back to look at Taemin, sighing when he found his seat vacant.

There was a lot that had happened during the fest, but Jonghyun and Jinki getting together was indeed the highlight of it. They were cute together, as if they were meant to be but Minho was worried. Worried… because if there was even the slightest chance that Woojin’s claim was correct… then Taemin’s plight was too painful, being a friend to both the one he liked and the one his crush was dating.

But there probably wasn’t any truth to it, or Taemin was just that good at concealing his feelings. Because nothing seemed unchanged between the three. 

“I knew it was bull,” Kibum commented during lunch the following week. “Taemin and Jinki.” Minho turned to look at him, finding him look away from the same scene he had been looking at too, a few moments ago. Taemin, Jonghyun and Jinki goofing off, calling out to Joon who was shouting back at them rather heatedly before slamming his lunch tray on their table, joining them. “I heard from Yoona who heard from Rena, who heard directly from Joon... that they’ve been dating secretly for a while now and the only one who knew and helped them cover it up, was Taemin. Although, it’s true that rumors don’t start from nothing, I don’t think the reason for this rumor is Taemin and Jinki. Seriously though, can you laugh like that if your best friend was dating your crush?” Kibum hummed, watching Minho’s eyes drift back to Taemin on the sound of his laugh, “Hypothetically, could you be this chill if Taemin and I were dating?”

Minho turned to him swiftly. Just the thought of what Kibum had implied had rubbed him wrong in all the ways. It was worse than the time he had heard that Taemin and Woojin were dating. “No.” He whispered, “Not me.”

Kibum’s words had brought back the memory of how broken Taemin was after Miyoung’s party and looking at him now, he didn’t seem like he was in that kind of state. The worry clasping Minho’s heart began to dissipate.

“That’s a relief,” He said after a few moments, “I was worried for him.”

“You were worried?” Kibum asked in amusement, “Not happy that the one Taemin apparently liked according to the rumors, was now dating someone else?”

“I can’t be happy for myself… at the expense of his heartbreak.”

Kibum was silent for a while, a bit struck by his words. “I did hypothetically show you that he most probably isn’t heartbroken, Choi.” He whispered, “So you can be happy.”

“Happy?” It was Suho who had just put down his lunch tray next to Kibum’s. “What’s making you guys happy? Mind sharing? Because I’m feeling totally bummed that they ran out of dessert.”

“Lemme guess,” It was Jongin who had taken the seat next to Minho, “Coach’s new fancy coffee machine?”

“Oh yeah! How about giving the machine a try after practice today? I heard the machine can make flavored coffee. Even hot chocolate.”

“Hey, captain, we can’t sneak into his office if you’re not on board with the plan.”

“I’m not misusing the authority and the spare keys given to me.” Minho rained on their parade right away.

“Hey! You’re anyway gonna step down soon. C’mon, it’s gonna be fun.”

Minho chuckled, “Fine.” Jongin cheered while Suho pulled out his phone, informing the whole team about their plan, “But, I’m going to operate it. We don’t want it breaking just yet.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

As the conversation continued, Minho found his eyes darting to Taemin’s table again and watching him laugh so brightly, instilled the courage he had been trying to gather for so long now. But he knew that as much as he wanted to just walk up to him and speak away his heart, he couldn’t do it in a rush nor so lightly. 

Things around Taemin had only begun to calm now, and Taemin had only begun to return to his cheerful self. There had been times when Minho noticed the dimness in his demeanour, but they were gradually becoming occasional. Hence, Minho didn’t want to intrude just yet, shake him up and burden him when Taemin had only barely gathered himself.

And so, he decided to stay where he had always been for  just a little while more, drafting his steps as some time more passed. Time that would wipe away more of his inhibitions, wipe away the looming obstacles in his way. It was only then that he would trouble Taemin with his feelings, hoping… that the time that had passed would be enough for Taemin to regard his feelings, to be able to look at him the same way without any inhibitions of his own.

“What are you thinking so deeply about?” It was Jongin who had called out Minho’s unusual silence. “A plan?”

Minho knew Jongin meant it in a different context, but yet, he was right, “Yes.”

The talks about the fest only calmed down with Valentine’s Day approaching. As usual, courtesy of the Events Club, the whole school was decked in the colors of love, posters of famous romance movie dialogues were stuck everywhere, and love songs were playing on the school broadcast.

The music club’s performance had rubbed off on everyone as some songs spilling out of the speakers were old love songs. There was even a short segment, Stranger in Love,  scheduled and was being announced in between the songs. The broadcast club members were reading out anonymous love letters that had been submitted to them, and the segment ended with an announcement about the Farewell dance theme poll. 

Minho had come to school early that day, carrying a white rose which he had placed inside Taemin’s desk before quietly taking his seat in the last row. He dumped the chocolate he had received inside his desk for the time being and started watching the class fill slowly. He had caught quite a few people placing chocolates on their crush’ desk discreetly before hurrying out.

One of those early birds was Jinki, who wasn’t really trying to be secretive as he placed a huge box of chocolates on Jonghyun’s desk, adding to the three small boxes a group of girls had placed there just a few minutes ago. Jinki smiled at him as he left and Minho smiled back before returning to his camera.

When he had gotten bored with playing with his camera settings, he looked up, noticing that Taemin’s desk was empty and the fact filled him with instant regret of not having bought chocolates as well. 

“Is there any end to his pettiness?” Kibum whispered as he took the seat beside him, pulling out small bags of Hershey’s kisses from his desk, raising his brows as he separated all the different variants he had received.

“Whose pettiness?” Minho asked, resting back and letting Kibum take a peek inside his desk, who murmured ‘lucky’ as he pulled out a giant bar of salted caramel chocolate and exchanged it with one of his kisses packs.

“Woojin,” He answered, “I passed our classroom on the way to the restroom a while ago and saw him take away the chocolates from Taemin’s desk. He escaped before I could go after him.” He sighed, “Wasn’t spreading rumors about him when they broke up enough for his useless ego? I just don’t understand some people.” He was glancing at Taemin’s empty seat, noticing a white rose but no note inside his desk. “Are you, by any chance, bothered by the rumors?”

Minho looked up from his camera, answering honestly, “No. I am not believing anything that’s coming out of that bastard’s mouth.”

Kibum raised his brows, it was rare that Minho wasted his knowledge of cuss-words on someone out of their friend circle, and especially not as a joke. “Good.” He said, “Then… are you not going to tell him?” Kibum lowered his voice further, “It’s been three years. Three years, Choi.”

Minho cleared his throat, flustered, “I have a plan.”

“Which is?”

But Minho hadn’t been able to answer because Taemin had just entered the class and Kibum sighed, turning back to his phone, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer with how Minho was watching Taemin, trying to hide his gaze by furiously fidgeting with his camera, eyes rising up every other second to glance at Taemin, anticipating the moment he’d find the rose.