It's the most bitter morning Taemin has ever had to face.     The news channel has been on all night; its change in scenes of heroic acts of kindess and generous donations flickering across the room and expression that hadn't been shown in a long time, with the added feeling of hearing the voices of reporters and witnesses whispering in his ear after he turned down the volume.       It all gave his headache more reason to agitate him, and good grief it was still only morning. It hadn't been twenty-four hours yet since the official story of the realse of a man who had been in posession of drugs and had attempted to murder his partner was aired to the public viewers. That, on top of his date practically abandoning him, left Taemin on his own and stuck trying to figure out which feeling to focus on amongst all the different kinds that were swimming around in his stomach and suffocating his heart.        Of all the ways a date could've ended, theirs yesterday took the cake!--with it's own glazed cherry as well that might as well have been mocking them from its position at the top as everything came crumbling down. There's only one thing that such a 'cake', real or metaphorically otherwise, could go down well, and that's with a warm beverage.       But in this case, it's not tea.       So coffee springs to Taemin's mind, because it's what he despises. And that's what makes it a great, pitiful metaphor, the fact that he happens to feel like coffee right now, like when it's been neglected for a while. When it has then its either tepid or unbearably cold, and the taste becomes sickly, even more so if there are traces of sugar found at the bottom or circling around in it. This would leave the coffee without any relief in it or reason to perk up the consumer.       Therefore the cup is practically empty and might as well have been left in the cupboard, untouched.  

 

Tea is so different to Coffee, because it's lighter, softer and can calm the soul beneath the anxiously-tickled skin. Plus, Taemin has spent a lot of time watching dramas and in nearly all of them, there's a character drinking tea, usually in distressed situations. But...it's not like he can make a cup of tea right now like he always does. It won't turn back time and reveal multiple choice scenarios so it won't help. It's not like he's back with Minho and offering him tea while trying to help him salvage what's left of his broken heart after being dumped. Speaking of the university student, the last time he had been seen was last night, just before he practically leapt from the couch and dashed out the room. Perhaps he had gotten a better offer from someone else, and that's understandable. Hm, sure, of course, why wouldn't he have something better to do with someone he really wanted to be with?

      Taemin's only his neighbour.       Sure, it's not much to go by or start a relationship from but still....they had spent the entire week together. Taemin had done his best with trying to help Minho move on from his endless nights of allowing his depression to push him in to watching marathons of dramas by taking him out to all the fun places he could think of that would get his mind off things for a while.       So neighbour or not, this passed week must've brought them closer together in some ways, right?       It's hard to put an exact label on their unclear relationship. And Taemin can't decide on his own because he's not the only person involved (and becase he can expect Minho to object to his suggestions). And as hard as it was for Minho to open up and actually let Taemin pass the doorway in to his life, he had, and they were able to begin a stead friendship from there. But all of their time spent together had been building up to something special, Taemin was sure of it! Because if last night was anything to go by....when they nearly kissed--he didn't know, but that couldn't even begin to happen without any genuine feeling to motivate it, right?       "What am I even talking about? Really..." Taemin asks himself, groaning and brushing a hand through his hair as if that's all it'll take for him to stop overthinkin.        But he can't read Minho's mind to know what he's thinking, and he doesn't even know what happened. All he knows is that his phone rang, he answered it and just left...       "Ugh, and I can't even call him a bad word like...jerk, or anything!" As offended as he feels (because his date had technically bailed on him), Taemin doesn't have the heart to talk bad about such a nice, and attractive guy. Especially not while he's still hurting over a recent breakup.       'Was it her?.....Did Seohyun call him?'       Chewing the tip of his thumb's nail, Taemin starts to wonder about what it would mean if she had call, and where exactly would he go from there? Would that be it for him and Minho? Game Over? Or of of course, there's the possibility of the caller being someone else entirely, but that brings him to ask if it was still that important that he could excuse Minho from any scolding after he ran out on him.       "He didn't even come back and explain anything!" Taemin scoffs. He's annoyed, but he can't act like he doesn't care because everything still bothers him. So, with only half of him hesitating and trying to coax him back in to the couch to sit around and do nothing, he leaves his apartment to walk across the hall and stand right in front of apartment door no. 110.       There are mixed, complicated feelings about being near this apartment. But Taemin swallows them down, letting out a shaky breath afterwards like he had been holding it for longer than a few seconds, ignores the way his skin was tickling again, tries to fight off the thundering ambush of the overthought thousand questions swarming around...       And he holds up a fist, ready to knock, but--       Maybe he shouldn't. With everything going on, maybe he should just forget Choi Minho and leave him be. He must've ran out for a reason and whatever it was, it was probably more of a priority than dealing with such an annoying neighbour like he knew he was to Minho.       Taemin sighed and turned back round to go back to his apartment. His hand slipped over the door knob, his head ached more as the next batch of worries hautned his mind, and the door was already open by a slim amount and it was enough to the see the same headline recurring on the news channel again--       "Taemin?" By a weird chance, it's Minho who's just coming out of his apartment and fully dressed in a long coat and a scarf around his neck to beat the chilly air. "Good morning. Are you just getting in from somewhere?"       "No."       "Oh, right then. Well....I'm just on my way out."       "Okay."       Minho doesn't leave yet though. Instead, he sort of jogs and sways on the spot--you can tell he's anxious to leave but even more determined to stay and get something off his chest, so he's fighting with himself. "Um--So, about last night.....I'm sorry for, y'know...bailing on you like that. It was rude of me."       "Hey, don't sweat it." Taemin braves on a smile as he turns to face him. "I'm glad you're okay, because you seemed like you were in a hurry so--I was a bit worried. But it couldn't be helped and I'm sure the call was important"       Minho nods, stiffly. "Yeah, something like that."       "It was Seoyun, right?"       ".....Y-Yeah."       "Oh, is she doing well?"       "I guess. She didn't really say much last night but I'm on my way to meet up with her now."         "Yeah, of course you are."       Minho doesn't like how the silence comes again, and so easily. Usually, he can't really remember when his life was so quiet, beause the moment he moved in, Taemin entered and made everything noisy and ridiculously lively. But now, as he looks at him face the ground and stand around like he doesn't know what to do, it's like trying to get on with the rest of the day after expecting sunshine but getting nothing but a dull and damp weather.       "Taemin, are you okay?" Minho asks. "You're acting...different. Did something happen?"       "No, silly," Taemin tries to laugh it off. But something could happen, and that's what's bothering him. "What are you talking about? Of course not. I'm perfectly fine."       "But you just seem so--"