"Leave your body to the way you feel
It's spreading smoothly, I don't know how to stop
Feel this thrill and feel free"
~Ride Or Die by Kai~

Taemin was speechless. He had not expected the delinquent to shed tears – not to mention in public – and felt bad about it. The cursed boy approached him and hesitantly patted his shoulder. Kai covered his face with his palms and sobbed silently on the spot.

“Hey… are you alright?”, Taemin asked in worry and walked around him, tilted his head and tried to get a glimpse at the orange-haired boy’s face, “Lower your hands, please…”

Kai’s body obeyed and he had no other option but to uncover his face. Taemin looked at him and noticed that the tears of the delinquent were indeed real. Kai sniffed and kept his eyes closed as he did not want to look in the face of the cursed boy.

“Why are you crying?”, Taemin asked and crossed his arms, “It doesn’t suit you at all… Look at me.”

Kai lifted his head but remained silent and just shrugged. Taemin ordered him to answer right away as he really wanted to know why the orange-haired boy broke out in tears like this. Kai gulped and exhaled a depressed sigh.

“I- I’ve never been treated like this…”, he admitted and pointed to Taemin’s mask, “You tricked me... You made a fool out of me…”

“Uhm…”, the cursed boy was a little perplexed and blinked his dark eyes in confusion, “You were the one, that wanted to make me steal things. I had to pass the curse onto you. I’m sorry about it… but I really can’t live with it now that you know about it and are eager to take use of it like the devil.”

Kai bit his lips and sniffed again. He looked at the – although no longer – cursed boy and put on the saddest puppy expression ever. Taemin chuckled underneath his mask and shook his head in disbelief.

“What’s the way you put it? Nah?”, Taemin said coldly and stepped back, “Nah. I won’t fall for your fake puppy face but don’t worry, I won’t make you steal… I’ll make a better person out of you.”

“W- What?!”, Kai suddenly shouted – his tears stopped right away – and he clenched his fists and frowned at the geek, “How dare you?! I’m not a bad person!”

Taemin laughed at him and then tapped Kai’s forehead with his index finger thrice, making them both twitch each time due to the electrocution. The delinquent squinted his eyes and wrinkled his nose too as he became angry with the other one. He wiped his wet cheeks and stared right in the eyes of the older one.

“Sorry, but you are delusional if you think that you are a good person…”, Taemin broke the bubble that the orange-haired boy lived in, “You’re the worst person, I’ve ever met in my lifetime… Sure, I don’t know many people because of my condition, but by far, you are the evilest of them all. You chose to make me suffer, instead of letting me live peacefully. You even involved other people into this mess and hurt that girl’s feelings by making… me kiss her. And your sister hates you too because of your mean and reckless behavior. Your parents would be… very disappointed in you. I’m not even mentioning the forbidden matters with Mrs. Park…”

To the thought of it, Taemin blushed but shut his eyes and shook his head to get the image of them out of his mind. Kai’s face had turned entirely red too. He was mad but also embarrassed and kinda ashamed of being treated by another guy like this and being told all these things straight in the face. The delinquent knelt in front of Taemin and literally begged him in the public to take back the curse. He looked very pitiful.

“Forget it.”, Taemin assured him and added with a sharp tone, “Get up and stop asking me about it. I won’t kiss you. You won’t kiss me. We won’t ever kiss again. And now, let me check my notebook.”

He told Kai to follow him, and they went to a nearby café in the mall. They sat on chairs at a table for two, ordered some drinks and Taemin took out his notebook. He unwrapped the brown cord and took a deep breath. Kai was curious too and leaned forth to take a glimpse. Taemin flipped to the second page with the cryptic text and was stunned once again. He was able to read it clearly.

-Eternally, your only cure he shall be-

Kai blinked his eyes and was irritated as he no longer could read it. He suddenly grabbed the notebook and turned it around, focused on the weird signs and tried his best to see the words in front of his eyes, but nada.

“T- This makes no sense!”, he stated in shock, “T- This can’t be real! I- I read it! I saw the words! W- What was it…? Ugh… Uhm…”

“‘Eternally, the chosen one you shall be’…”, Taemin recited Kai’s words, that he had kept in mind, and added with a tilted head, “But now it’s ‘Eternally, your only cure he shall be’...”

Kai looked up from the notebook and stared him right in the face. The eyes of the delinquent were big. He was scared and overrun by the supernatural thing that was going on among them. The orange-haired boy gave it a deep thought. His mind went crazy. He needed answers. Taemin locked their glance and gulped nervously. Kai had beautiful features, mesmerizing eyes and his lips were perfectly shaped. Taemin quickly lowered his head and took a sip from his drink – he had clenched tight his cup – and tapped nervously with his feet.

“Okay… You’ve been cursed since your childhood, right?”, Kai suddenly broke the silence and flipped to the pages where the message was written for Taemin and he read it out loud, but only the two of them could hear it, since the coffeeshop music was running in the back, “Dear Taemin. Don’t forget that no one else but you is allowed to open this notebook. If you manage to keep this notebook by your side until you turn twenty-one, your curse will be gone. If, you don’t manage it, and someone else gets it in their hands, I must confess that you can’t be cured by charms and prayers anymore. The person that opens this notebook will be the one who can lift your curse. So, it really is dangerous. You don’t want your life to depend on a stranger, right? MAKE SURE THAT NOT A SINGLE SOUL GETS NEAR IT! Stay safe, and grow to a strong independent m