Falling in love with your best friend should have been a wonderful thing. For Choi Minho, it wasn’t. Because the moment he realised he loved Lee Taemin more than a friend was the moment his best friend introduced his boyfriend to him.

“I didn’t know you and Kai-” Minho couldn’t even finish the first sentence he wanted to say to Taemin after Kai had left because the younger had eagerly interrupted him.

“I didn’t know either, hyung!” Taemin nodded in agreement. “But he confessed to me yesterday and I couldn’t find a reason to turn him down so I thought, heck, why not?”

Minho stared at Taemin like he had just spoken some alien language. In all honesty, he had the urge to hit Taemin on his head in hope of knocking some sense into the 18 year old that he should reconsider the reason why he’s dating Kai but then Minho remembered this was his best friend he was talking about. The best friend that was in his own world for majority of the time, the best friend who still had an air of innocence about him, the very Lee Taemin who always wanted to know what love was but never found the answer. Perhaps dating Kai would just lead Taemin to the answer he’s been searching for when neither Minho nor the dictionary could help him.

Minho sighed to himself. There was no way he was going to throw cold water on an obviously ecstatic Taemin. He found it useless to go all logical with his best friend because what is love if it was too rational? Minho also decided that his now apparent feelings for his best friend didn’t matter at that moment in time because what good would it do to suddenly spring a confession on Taemin when he was all excited about his new relationship with Kai? Not only would his honesty confuse Taemin but it would also change their friendship (whether for better or for worse, it was a gamble Minho wasn’t up for yet). If Minho were to truly react the way he wanted to (whether it was to calmly reason things or to confess his true feelings), it would just dampen the younger’s spirits and that was the last thing Minho wanted to do. So eventually, Minho ignored the hollow feeling in his heart, placed on a genuine smile (no matter how fake it looked) and pulled his best friend into a hug.

“I’m happy for you, Tae.”

Although it hurt, it was the truth. Minho meant what he said.

*

“Choi Minho, what do you think you’re doing?”

Kim Kibum, Minho’s roommate, tried his best to smack away the hand that was on his chin but his attempts had failed, which explained why he ended up glaring at the owner of said hand. Kibum’s glare had no effect on Minho though because his hand was still lifting the blonde’s chin towards him.

“Kibum, do you like me?”

Kibum narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Right now, at this moment, no.”

“Do you ever see yourself falling in love with me then?”

“No, I know you too well, you’re like my best friend.”

At Kibum’s answer, Minho finally released his roommate’s chin and sat back down on his chair with a huge sigh.

“It’ll never work out anyway…” Minho mumbled to himself.

Kibum rubbed his chin and raised an eyebrow at Minho. “Why are you being so weird?”

“I like Taemin.” Minho’s reply was out of the blue but Kibum was always quick to catch on.

“You shouldn’t be telling me this. You should tell Taemin.”

“Taemin’s together with Kai. And I mean, in a relationship, they have been for almost 3 months.”

“Ah. Well, that clears everything up.”

“Kibum, life .”

“Hasn’t it always?”

“If you can’t fall in love with me, Taemin can’t either.”

“What kind of reasoning is that?”

“I’m as close to you as I am with Tae.”

“Minho, you’re a wreck.”

“I know.”

Minho downed the rest of his beer and then dragged his feet back into his own room in hope of falling asleep so he could wake up to a better day.

*

“Hyung!”

Upon hearing his best friend’s voice, Minho paused the game he was playing and looked up from his PSP with a surprised expression.

“Hey Tae, what are you doing here? And how did you get in?”

Taemin waved a hello and dropped himself onto the couch right next to Minho. “Key hyung was just stepping out of the apartment when I arrived, and I’m here because I want to be here.”

If he knew his best friend well, something was up and Minho was going to find out.

“Taemin ah, what’s wrong?”

“Why does something have to be wrong?”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk now… we can talk when you’re ready.” Minho simply stated as he resumed his game and diverted his attention back to his PSP. Taemin remained silent, shifting to lie on the couch instead, resting his head on the armrest while he stretched his legs comfortably over Minho’s lap. The younger stared at the ceiling long enough for Minho to unlock a new level on his game before he finally broke the silence.

“Hyung…”

Recognising that the tone in Taemin’s voice meant his best friend was ready to talk, Minho placed his PSP aside and turned to look at the younger. “Yeah?”

“What do you think of Kai?” By then, Taemin was sitting upright with his legs crossed and body facing Minho.

“Well, I don’t know him as well as you do but I know him when he’s with you and from what I see, he’s a great kid.” Minho replied as he mirrored Taemin’s position.

“Why?”

“You trust him a lot… and you’re always happy when you’re with him. It’s like you have a permanent smile on your face when he’s around.” Minho explained and then added as an afterthought, “Plus, he’s respectful to me.”

Unexpectedly, Taemin scoffed. “You wouldn’t think that anymore if you knew about the argument we had recently.”

“What?” Minho was confused. “Why?”

“Well, for starters, he doesn’t even use your name when we talk, just refers you as ‘he’.”

Minho frowned. “Why would you two even be talking about me?”

“Because I’ll mention you when we do things together.”

“And why would you do that?”

“Because I can’t help but bring you into our conversation?”

“Taemin, you gotta be kidding me.”

“I don’t know, hyung, I always think about you. It’s like when I’m out with Kai at the movies, I’ll say stuff like Minho hyung would want to catch this movie, or if I’m with him at some eatery, I’ll be thinking about how I should introduce you to the place because I know you would like their food and Kai would get irritated because he says I relate everything to you, or some rubbish along that lines.”

“Tae, you shouldn’t say all this in front of Kai…”

“Why not?” Taemin crossed his arms stubbornly. “I know he’s jealous but come on hyung, you’re my best friend! He should understand!”

“Put yourself in his shoes, Tae.” Minho sighed. “If Kai keeps talking about his best friend in front of you, how would you feel?”

“Nothing.”

“Really Tae?” Minho had his doubts because from what he believed, two people in love shouldn’t have room for anyone else in the little world of their own.

“Really!” Taemin exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “I really couldn’t care less.”

Minho paused for a moment as he contemplated on whether he should be honest with his best friend. Eventually, he decided it would be better off to be blunt, not because he was selfish and wanted Taemin for himself but because he was Taemin's best friend.

“If that’s the case Tae, perhaps you should reconsider your feelings for Kai…”

“Actually hyung, I’ve been doing that ever since we started arguing.”

Taemin’s answer had certainly caught Minho by surprise. But if Taemin had continued to tell the whole story of their argument and that one statement that Kai had said which hit him the hardest, Minho would have been even more surprised.

*

“What is it this time, Choi Minho?”

Getting back to their apartment after a day’s worth of classes, Kibum was welcomed with the gloomy sight of his roommate staring into space and sitting as still as a statue on their couch. If he could, Kibum would have walked straight into his room and ignored Minho but he had this sense of duty that was preventing him from doing so (blame it on the fact that Minho was his closest thing to family in Seoul). Upon hearing Kibum’s voice, Minho blinked and slowly turned towards his roommate, moistening his dry lips before replying.

“Taemin and Kai broke up... and it hasn't even been half a year.”

Kibum raised an eyebrow. “Why the gloomy mood then? Shouldn’t you be happy the love of your life is available again?”

“Kibum…” Minho looked at his roommate reproachfully. “That’s just wrong.”

“Yeah, carry on being morally right and we’ll see where that will get you.”

“I can’t, Kibum. This is Taemin we’re talking about. He’s my best friend and-”

“You love him so you should tell him and then the two of you can finally live happily ever after. The end.”

“We won’t live happily ever after because Taemin doesn’t love me that way.”

“Tell me again what you said Taemin and Kai argued about.”

“Err, Kai said Taemin keeps talking about me?”

“Exactly.” Kibum nodded, looking expectantly at Minho and hoping he would get the drift.

Minho widened his eyes, suddenly shaking his head furiously. “That doesn’t mean Taemin loves me!”

Kibum sighed. “Fine, even if doesn’t mean Taemin loves you, you can’t deny that he should at least have some feelings for you since he seems so hopelessly attached to you…”

“Kibum…”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll kill you if your deduction turns out all wrong.”

“Please, I’ll even let you chop off my pretty head and sit on it.”

“Deal.”

As much as Minho would love to chop off Kibum’s head for all the times his roommate made his life a living hell with his powerful nagging skills, he wished he didn’t have a legitimate reason to do so this time round.

*

“Hyung, not that I’m complaining but why are you giving me so much banana milk?”

Taemin looked at the transparent plastic bag filled with bottles of banana milk that was placed down on the table he was sitting at in a café he had arranged to meet Minho at. He then looked at said person he had been waiting for and who had just gifted him with bottles of his favourite drink.    

“Sorry, I’m late.” Minho chose to apologise first as he settled into the chair opposite Taemin before answering his best friend’s question. “I just thought… it’ll be the best way to cheer you up?”

“Me?” Taemin pointed at himself. “Do I need cheering up?”

Minho cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well… you and Kai…”

“But Minho hyung, I’m not upset that we broke up.”

“You aren’t?” Minho raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, we both agreed we’re better off as friends, no hard feelings.” Taemin shrugged. “Besides, I still love him… just not that way.”

“Oh.” Minho nodded slowly and looked at the plastic bag that was almost occupying the entire table. “What should we do with the banana milk then?”

“I’ll still take it of course!” Taemin grinned. “But for now, let’s eat. I’m starving!”

“Sure.” Minho smiled adoringly at his best friend.

At that moment, he wished he could tell Taemin his true feelings, he wished he had the courage to let Taemin know he was in love with him, he wished Taemin wasn’t only his best friend anymore but his boyfriend as well but these were only Minho’s wishes that weren’t coming true at that moment or anytime soon as long as Minho didn’t dare take the gamble. Looking at his best friend who was enthusiastically telling him what was good to order at the café, Minho told himself that until the day he found the courage to confess his feelings for Taemin, he rather not lose what they had now.