Minho's POV

“Minho.”

I literally jumped into him, holding Taemin in a tight embrace. After two long days, I got to see Taemin again and he was there in front of my house, smiling his usual flawless smile.

“Mi-Minho. I can’t breathe.” Taemin mumbled.

“Oh, gosh. I’m so sorry.” I suddenly let him go and he giggled.

“You are still the same Minho. I missed you.” My heart skipped a beat when he leaned closer to pull me into an embrace. This was different from the hug that I gave him, this was more sweet and warm. I melted in his embrace and we stayed like that for a bit longer before releasing each other.

“I’m hungry. Let’s eat.” He pulled me out of the house without second thoughts.

“But… I don’t have money with me right now.” I said while he was still gripping my hand, heading off somewhere I didn’t know.

“Don’t worry, this one’s one me.” He turned to smile at me and I almost stumbled.

The walk was finally over and I found myself in the park but in the area where I’ve never been before. This area looked pretty creepy because it was near the town cemetery so I never dared to go here. But now that Taemin had brought me here, I regretted not even getting close to this area because it turned out to be so peaceful and beautiful here. It looked like the front yard of some castle you see on television, with lots of greeneries and a fountain in the middle. Although the fountain was old and not working, it still looked beautiful.

“Pretty, isn’t it? I found this place last week and ever since then, it’s been my favorite sanctuary.” He pulled me again and led me to a big tree. Under the big tree, I saw a picnic basket underneath a blanket.

“I hope you don’t mind dinner under the moonlit sky, do you?”

“N-no, not a-at all.” I stumbled with my words, touched by the surprise Taemin did for me. “This is the first time I’m having picnic at night. This is so romantic.”

“Well, I thought about it for some time and I realized that I shouldn’t waste my remaining time just doing nothing so I decided to make the best out of my it and go back to you.” He admitted.

“Because…?” I asked, curious to what he is actually feeling right now.

“Because… I like you too.” He whispered loud enough for me to hear.

We ate dinner under the moonlit sky and talked for hours. It felt like the two days we were apart did not happen at all and we were just continuing where we left off. Though he was shy about it, he showed how much he liked me by doing simple gestures such as gazing at me lovingly, blushing whenever I look back, intertwining his hands with mine and by saying “I like you” so softly. We did not notice that it was already midnight so we headed home. We passed by the cemetery and I caught him looking inside longingly.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Nothing…” He simply said without turning to look at me.

“Do you have someone who’s there?”

“No, I mean, yeah… There’s someone very important staying there.” He said and started walking again. I took a last glimpse of the cemetery before following him. He must have some relative or friend there.

We arrived home and Taemin told me to go inside without him. I was going to ask him to sleep here for the night but with his mood right now, I didn’t. Ever since we passed by that cemetery, he seemed rather dazed so I offered to take him home to which he refused politely.

“No, I’m fine going home alone so just rest, okay? Don’t worry about me. See you tomorrow, Minho.” He tried to smile but it didn’t reach the end of his ears.

The days passed by in a blur, it was only 2 days until Taemin leaves and goes to some place he still hasn’t told me. I was aching so much to know where he’ll be going so that I could follow him but he never said a word whenever I ask him about it.

“Minho! Let’s go eat ice cream. It’s so hot.”

It was a weekend so that means no school, no soccer practice. Only a date with Taemin. I was so happy that I could spend the weekend with Taemin. He agreed to stay over at my house for the weekend since he’ll be leaving soon and today, we planned to watch a movie.

“But Taemin, the movie is about to start. Let’s just eat ice cream afterwards.”

I took his hand and went into the cinema. I gave my ticket to the ticket girl and waited for Taemin to give his. The girl did not look at Taemin or even asked for his ticket so I looked at her in confusion.

“You alredy gave my ticket, silly. You forgot to give me my ticket and kept it with you.” He said when he noticed me not moving.

“Oh, really? I didn’t notice.” He sighed and pushed me inside the cinema.

We watched this movie called “Sunny”. I didn’t want to watch it actually but because Taemin insisted on this movie, I gave in. And it was a good thing we watched it because by the end of the movie, both of us were crying like elementary kids. The movie was so touching, even I cried. Though I am a homoual, I still had that manly feeling in me and I swore to myself not to look girly and all because that just wasn’t my thing  but here I am right now, crying like a girl just because of that movie. It was hard to stop my tears from falling because the story was so moving. It’s hard to see the main character’s friends who lost hope in their once so-called dreams and live a different life from what they imagined. And the leader of their circle of friends died from cancer, making me burst into tears. The ending when they all reunited at the leader’s funeral was so touching that even though they were all smiling and all that, I was still crying myself out. It did not help when I heard Taemin sobbing beside me because I only wanted to hug him and cry out with him.

After the overly humiliating incident in the cinema, we found ourselves buying ice cream. I wanted to take Taemin to Baskin Robbins but he insisted on eating at home so we bought a gallon of cookies ‘n cream-flavored ice cream, requested by Taemin, at the convenience store near my house and went home.

We ate ice cream while laughing at each other because of that incident at the cinema. He would not stop teasing me about how manly and tough I looked like but how baby I was inside so I put ice cream on his face and he did the same. We played with the ice cream until we got sticky and wet. We ended the ice cream fight and I got up to my room to get Taemin’s bag so that he could get a change of clothes before taking a bath. I gave the bag to Taemin and went back to my room to shower as well.

When I finished showering, I put on my clothes and went downstairs only to see a now clean Taemin resting on the couch. His hair was slightly messy and his face looked so peaceful. I tucked the stray hair on Taemin’s face and looked at his sleeping face, reminiscing the first time I saw him. I almost forgot that this boy was a victim of bullying and wondered how such an innocent boy could be bullied like that.

“Minho.” I returned from my reverie and saw an awake Taemin looking straight into my eyes.

“Taemin, I love you.” I said without thinking.

“I… I don’t know… No, I mean… I love you too.” I chuckled at his expression as he struggled to look for the right words to say.

“I love you but… aren’t you worried?” He sat up and looked deep intro my eyes like he was looking for something.

“Worried about what?”

“About me… leaving you. I might disappear when you wake up next thing in the morning or when you go out. Aren’t you scared?” His eyes looked so depressed that he looked like he would burst from tears any moment now.

“Why would I be scared? As long as I know that we love each other, I won’t be scared. I don’t care how long you’ll be gone because I know that we would meet again.” I tried to comfort him but ended up making Taemin cry.

“Taemin… Don’t cry, it hurts me to see you cry.” I patted his back and pulled him into a hug.

“But… Minho. You don’t know where I’m going. It won’t be soon until we meet again.” I broke from our embrace to lean closer. I closed the gap between us and kissed him. He was stunned from my sudden action but soon melted into the kiss, trying to catch up with me. It was innocent and short but we poured all of our emotions into that one kiss.

“I don’t mind waiting.” I smiled and he chuckled.

“I will be the one doing the waiting, though.” He muttered.

“What do you mean?” I looked at him in confusion.

“Nothing… Let’s just promise to wait for each other, okay?” He put out his pinky finger waiting for me to pinky swear with him so I did just that. “Promise.”

We talked some more with him tucked in my embrace until we drifted to sleep.

The next day, I found myself alone in the couch where we fell asleep. I called for Taemin but got no answer. My head started spinning and I panicked, running around the house trying to look for Taemin. I almost hit myself with a pan when I saw a note at the table in front of the couch.

“I’ll be back soon. Just went out for a jog.” Taemin wrote in his elegant handwriting.

I soon calmed down and headed off to the kitchen to make myself useful. I cooked breakfast for the both of us and Taemin arrived just in time as I put the plates on the table.

“Hey, did you wait long?” Taemin asked as he entered the kitchen.

“No, I just woke up a while ago. And I promised right, I’ll wait for you so it doesn’t matter how long you’re gone.” I said, giving myself goosebumps. How did I get so romantic all of a sudden?

To be honest, I’ve never had a boyfriend or even a girlfriend for me to be expert in this situation called “love”. Taemin is the first person to ever make me feel this way. I’ve had tons of crushes, boys and girls, but because of my reserved attitude, I never dared to make a move on them. But Taemin was different, I felt like I’ve found the missing piece of my life in Taemin. So that may be the reason I’ve been so cheesy with him these days especially since it’s our last day together.

“Minho, are you going to drink that?” I looked to see Taemin eyeing my banana milk. I remembered him once talking about his favorite food and banana milk was definitely on the list so I gave mine to him and got a regular milk for myself in the fridge. He took the banana milk from my hands in a flash and in no time, he was drowning in happiness just sipping that banana milk. He looked so cute that I couldn’t stop myself from pinching his cheeks.

”You’re so cute!” He almost spit out the milk in my face when I pinched him and thankfully, he was able to stop himself from doing it.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve shocked you.” I grabbed a tissue to wipe Taemin’s mouth.

“It’s okay, you just got me off guard.” He beamed.

“I couldn’t help it, you looked so cute smiling like a baby when you were drinking.” He blushed from my blatant compliment.

“Whatever… just eat.” He rolled his eyes before going back to his banana milk.

We finished breakfast and just lounged at the couch while thinking of things to do. Taemin suddenly stood up and I held his hand. “Where are you going?”

“I forgot to do something important. I have to go out for a while.” He said without looking at me, making me panic.

“Y-you’re not going to leave and not come back, right? You will... come back… right?” My eyes widen and my voice trailed off.

“Of course I will. I still have something to give you before I leave.” He turned then to smile his perfect smile he knew would melt my heart. I let him go and he waved at me before going out of the door.

I didn’t know what I did the whole day, I only knew that I would be waiting for Taemin to come back and before I knew it, I fell asleep in my room.

A cold breeze woke me up from my sleep and my eyes fluttered open to see the veranda door open, a figure looking up at the dark sky.

“T-Taemin, is that you?” I groggily asked.

“Yes, Minho. It’s me.” He turned to face me, his face gleaming from the light given off by the moon. He looked so perfect, so extraordinary that he seemed so unreal. I feel like he’s just a fragment of imagination in my head and that anytime soon, I’ll be waking up from this seamless dream.

I stood up to join him in the veranda.

“Taemin, what are you thinking of?” I asked him while looking at the same sky as he did.

“I was thinking… how you would live your life without me.” I turned to face him.

“Well, I’m thinking how you would live your life without me.” I said, trying to make him smile and failing.

“Don’t think about it because I don’t have a life.” He blatantly said and I gaped at him, wondering what he meant by that.

“I have this… friend, Minho.” He started.

“And…”

“And he loves someone. He never felt love before so he wasn’t sure if this feeling was right and he ran away from the person he loves.” He stopped and looked at me. Is he talking about us right now?

“But he realized that he did love him so he came back but… there’s one problem.” I asked him what the problem was and my eyes widen from his answer.

“He’s already dead.” He looked at the sky again, avoiding my stare.

“What do you mean he’s… dead?” I put all my strength in trying to say the last word. I thought he was talking about us. It couldn’t be about us now, right? Since he’s not… dead. So he must really be talking about a friend.

“Yeah, he’s dead for quite some time now but he still met the person he loves.” My heart almost stopped beating from the words coming out of his mouth. I was not sure anymore if it’s really a friend he was reffering to or himself.

“But… how?” I was able to mutter.

“God lend him some time to meet this person and with his borrowed time, he was able to know him and without intending to, fell in love with him.” He turned to give me a sad smile. He reached for my cheeks to wipe away the tears that I didn’t realized were falling from my eyes.

“I love you.” Taemin whispered before kissing me again… for the last time.

“I love you too.”

I didn’t know how I drifted off to sleep, the last thing I remembered was Taemin pulling me to the bed and giving me an embrace before both of us were silently crying and muttering “I love you”s to each other.

The moment I woke up, I knew something was different. Something was missing. My heart stopped beating when I saw the other side of the bed empty. I quickly stood up, gaining a minor headache from the sudden rush of blood, and looked aroung my bedroom. I felt like everything that happened to me for the past 14 days was just part of a long dream but I confirmed it to be true when I saw an envelope on my bedside table. I quickly opened it to see the photos we took last time in the arcade together with a note. I laughed a bit when I noticed that Taemin was developed in the pictures, meaning he wasn't just a fragment of my imagination. But that thought led me to his words yesterday. My eyes were watery and my hands were shaking when I opened the note, “Find me.”

Without thinking twice, I stormed out of the house and into the cemetery. I didn't know where Taemin was resting but I felt someone pulling me and I ran to the part of the cemetery overlooking Taemin’s sanctuary at the park. My feet slowed down once my eyes caught the name of Taemin in one of the tombs.

Lee Taemin.

1993.07.18 – 2012.03.20

We will miss you.

I fell to my knees and my breathing was heavy as soon as I reached his tomb. I cried out loud, not bothering to care if anyone saw me. All I knew was that the one I love was dead and that I will never have a chance again to see his beautiful smile, to hear his melodious laughter, to hold his soft hands, to hug his lithe body and to kiss his perfect lips.

“I will be the one doing the waiting, though.” Taemin’s words rang in head.

“Was this what you meant about being the one to wait? You will wait for me until I die? If I die right now, you wouldn’t have to wait, right?” I was shouting at no one. I was about to stand up and look for something to kill myself when I saw a pink envelope with a “Minho” written in it.

I quickly opened the envelope to reveal a letter, handwritten by Taemin.

It has been 21 days since I met you. I don't know how to thank you enough for what you have done for me that day. You were the first person to stand up for me and you didn't even know me back then. That's why, on the last fourteen days of my life, I wanted to see you, thank you and move on to the afterlife. But things don't always go according to our plans. I did not know that I would get attached to you so easily that it was hard for me to say goodbye and I did not know that I would come to love you in such a short period of time. All I know is that the moment I saw you, you were special.

By the time you read this, I may already be on my way to heaven and I might not see you reading this letter anymore. But I am not worried that you won't see this because I know you would figure out where I was, or my resting place, at least.

I am sorry for not saying goodbye to you last night. I did not want you to see me off because I'll only regret ever coming into your life once I see you cry. Now that I'm gone, please take care of yourself and be strong. Do not be like the person you were before, be someone who would not hesitate to help others in need. Do not be scared to be a helping hand to others, just remember the time you saved me. Now that I think of it, maybe it was fate that made you save me from the bullies back then because I was able to change that bad attitude of yours. Smile more often because I love it when you smile. Laugh often because your laugh can lighten the mood of people around you, including me. Find things that would make you happy then look up in the sky and smile for me. Lastly, do not make your life miserable again once I'm gone. I've already pulled you out of your dark world once, there's no next time. Do not do anything rash and don’t even think about following me. Live your life to the fullest… for me.

The end is near and I feel it but I am not afraid because I know that I have done everything that I could with the borrowed time that I had to show you how thankful I was to have met you. Please do not cry for me and just put me in a secluded place in your heart. We may not meet again soon but I'm sure, someday we will meet in heaven. I’ll be waiting… as promised.

I love you with all my heart.

Taemin

A/N: I finally put an end to this fanfic. Hope you enjoyed reading it. I cried while writing Taemin's letter. T.T
Was it too cheesy? Or was it not satisfactory? Hope you comment out your opinion and let me know. ^.^
Thanks for reading!!! I love you! ^.^