“I should probably get you a towel,” Minho decided after seeing me shiver again. He jumped off of the bed and immediately headed over to the bathroom.

            “You, of all people, are gay?” I asked, completely flabbergasted.

            “Everybody is always shocked by it because apparently I look too straight to be gay. However, I am straight as well. Using technical terms, I am bi. However, I’m way more straight than gay,” Minho explained after rolling his eyes. He emerged from the bathroom with two towels in hand. He placed one over the jacket he had laid over my shoulders and the other on top of my head. Slowly, he ruffled my hair with the towel, trying to ring out the water. I bit the bottom of my lip as I was still confused.

            “I don’t understand.”

            “I’ve only really liked one boy, so I am a straight guy who made an exception,” he shrugged like it was no big deal.

            “If that is the case, then why even bother calling yourself bi?” I found myself remarking since I, for one, was actually bi. Minho ran his fingers through my hair to check how wet it was. Once he determined it was dry enough, he removed the towel from my head.

            “Because I would be willing to like another guy,” he proudly announced.

            “Would be?” I questioned, noticing the future tense.

            “I’m not too sure if I’m ready to like anybody right now.”

            “I see,” I sighed slightly. “Mind telling me why?”

            “Sometimes, I still feel… attached to Taemin. I know it’s wrong of me since he’s gone and I have no clue where he is, but I just – I don’t know,” Minho tried to explain, but failed. He ruffled his hair, running his fingers through the strands as he huffed.

            “You loved Taemin?” I was pretty startled by the new news.

            “I think I still do. I mean, every since he left, I never stop thinking about him. He is my best friend, and I let him go.”

            “It’s not like it was your fault he ran away,” I tried to calm him although I was still pretty dazed.

            “You don’t know what you are talking about,” Minho bitterly grumbled.

            “Then why don’t you enlighten me?” I offered softly before placing my hand over his. He flipped his hand over and intertwined our fingers before smiling lightly.

            “The relationship I had with Taemin was one like no other. We instantly became friends after I saved him from some bullies at school. In fact, I think we were each other’s only friends. Although I was pretty popular, I found my classmates to be barbaric and rudimentary. Nobody else wanted to associate with Taemin since he was poor and covered in bruises and cuts. However, that was only because he came from an abusive family.”

            “Taemin, get your down here,” my mother yelled furiously. I instantly ran down the stairs upon hearing my name, keeping my head down the whole time.

            “Y-yes, mother?” I whimpered while silently hoping the conversation would end quickly.

            “You lowly piece of , who do you think you are?” she demanded, stomping her foot for emphasis. I opened my mouth to respond, but I didn’t know what to say. For hesitating, she slapped me across the face, hard. “Answer me when I’m talking to you!”

            “I – I don’t know,” I cried as I placed my hands on top of my head for protection.

            “You want to know what you are?” she asked in a horribly fake sweet voice. In an instant, it turned sour and bitter. “You are lucky to be born, a useless piece of trash. Nobody would ever care for a thing like you.” When she said that, I couldn’t help but chant to myself that that was all untrue, that Minho cared about me, and that Minho thought I was more than that.

            “N-no,” I mumbled softly, trying to give myself confidence.

            “No you say? Ha, and who are you possibly thinking cares for garbage like you? Minho? I bet you that boy just feels sympathetic, looking at you like a lost cause.”

            “You’re wrong! Minho is my friend!” I argued as I tried to stand up straight. I was taller than her slightly, so I hoped that the fact would scare her slightly.

            “Somebody like you doesn’t deserve somebody like him as a friend,” she spat before slapping me again. I stumped back, and with an added push provided by my mother, I fell to the ground. She roughly kicked into my chest before scoffing and walking away. I curled up into a ball and cried lightly as I prayed to God that what she said wasn’t true.

            “I truly cared for him. He was really insecure though and sometimes told me to stop hanging out with him because he thought he wasn’t good enough to be my friend. It honestly really hurt whenever he said such things,” Minho sighed while placing a hand over his heart.

            I knew full well what he was talking about. After hearing those rude words spill from my godforsaken mother, I desperately tried to separate myself from Minho. I avoided him in the hallways at school, constantly lied about having to stay late after school. Eventually he kept pursuing me to the point where I spilled out all my feelings. I’m really shocked to find out that this is how he felt when I did such things.

            “Anyways, even though we had rough moments where we were basically fighting to keep our friendship, we definitely had more good than bad,” Minho smiled in a bittersweet way. His eyes were down casted as he reminisced in our memories.  “There was the time I took him to his first baseball game-“

            “Minho, it’s so crowded,” I exclaimed in awe as I looked around the full stadium. On the other side, it didn’t even seem like those colorful dots were people. While I was distracted, Minho hadn’t noticed my delay and walked off without me. I feverishly pushed through the people around me, trying to weave past and to Minho.

            “Watch it, kid,” some guy scolded me as his shoulder roughly banged against mine. I let out a whine while gripping onto my pained joint. Minho suddenly appeared beside me, holding me by my waist.

            “Excuse me, sir. You have injured him, so it seems you are in the wrong,” Minho snapped harshly. The man seemed taken aback by Minho’s attitude.

            “Sorry,” he muttered, only to run off in the opposite direction soon after. Minho glared at his retreating figure before turning to give me a worried gaze.

            “Be more careful, would you? Does it hurt? Let me see,” Minho’s caring nature took over as he tugged my collar down lightly. I felt my cheeks heat up from embarrassment while Minho examined my bruised bare skin. After he decided it wasn’t too bad, he quickly lifted my shirt back up and ruffled my hair. He took an extra precaution and held my hand as he walked us to our seats, not wanting to lose me again on the way.

            “-and I tried to catch a foul ball for him, but some lady elbowed me in stomach and took it from me. I was pretty upset since I didn’t get the ball, but Taemin ended up seeing the whole thing and got mad at the lady for hurting me,” he chuckled lightly at the end.

            “That’s cute,” I smiled at his giddy attitude towards my past actions.

            “He is,” Minho nodded enthusiastically in reply. “There was this other time when I took him to a carnival. Oh god, he was so scared of the clowns and the height of the rides. He clung onto me for dear life the entire time.”

            “Hello, kids!” a clown cheered as he approached Minho and I. When I noticed the makeup clad face that was decorated with stars and a big red nose, I instantly grabbed onto Minho’s hand and hid behind his back.

            “M-minho,” I cried as I fisted his shirt with my other hand.

            “It’s just a clown, Minnie,” he laughed as he nodded to the clown. The entertainer pulled out a balloon and knotted it into what seemed to be a giraffe.

            “For your shy date,” the clown sweetly offered as he handed Minho the balloon. Minho didn’t even bother to explain to the stranger that we weren’t dating and instead simply accepted the gift. When the clown finally disappeared from our sight, Minho turned around and passed the cute giraffe to me.

            “Here you go, baby,” he let out yet another chuckle as he wiggled the balloon into my hands. I figured the pet name at the end of his sentence was more of a tease than a couple tag name, so I stuck my tongue out at him before happily playing with the squeaking animal.

            “Oh, and I remember the time I took him to a swimming pool and had to teach him how to swim!”

            “I don’t want to go into the water, Minho. I’ll drown!” I whined with my arms crossed over my bare chest. Families were crowded around us, playing cheerily with their kids who were splashing the water earnestly. Minho stood halfway into the water with his arms outstretched, ready to catch me.

            “Don’t you trust me?” he pouted, trying to play the guilt trip on me.

            “I trust you, but I don’t trust the water,” I remarked as I looked down at the watery grave.

            “Well, you trust me more than you distrust the water, right?” he argued. I gnawed at my bottom lip, not knowing what to retort with. When Minho noticed my silence, he proudly smiled victoriously before waving his arms a little. With a sigh, I took the sign and walked into his arms. He gave me a quick reassuring hug before turning me ninety degrees so my chest was against one arm. Carefully, he laid me into the water, picking up my feet so I was horizontal.

            “Now hold your breath and lightly kick your feet,” Minho instructed just as my face met the water. I closed my eyes tightly as I followed Minho’s directions.

            “I forgot to tell him to exhale slowly as he kicked, and he ended up flailing his arms around as he gasped for air,” Minho laughed boisterously. Even though he was making fun of the younger me, I couldn’t help but smile at all this. Before I used to think I was the only one who cherished and reminisced in these insignificant memories, but it was nice to see that Minho did too. Perhaps they weren’t as insignificant as I first thought.

            “It seems you guys were very close,” I commented, smiling lightly. Minho bit on his bottom lip before nodding.

            “I never really noticed how close until the day Taemin confessed to me.”

            My eyes widened slightly at the reminder of that dreaded day. I distinctively remember every detail. I still don’t know why I chose that specific day, but it just felt like I needed to get it done before I chickened out completely. With a quick phone call, I shakily invited him over to a coffee shop near his house. When he came inside of the small building that reeked of the bitter caffeinated drink. I instantly dragged him outside. As I held his hand tightly, people gave us weird glances that I tried to ignore.

            “What is going on, Taemin?” Minho’s deep voice was music to my ears, and I found myself begin to fear that this would be the last time he would speak to me in such a friendly manner. I finally stopped at the back, right beside a tree. When I looked into his eyes, I took notice of the gloss of confusion that clouded his eyes. As I took a shake breath, I quickly traced the outline of his beautiful face, marveling over his plump lips and wide eyes, trying to take a mental picture just in case.

            “Minho, I know this is all random timing, but I felt like I really needed to get this off of my chest,” I quickly spieled a little introduction. When I got a nod to proceed, I took a deep breath. “I like you, Minho, as more than a friend. It has been like this for a while now, but I never wanted to say anything before because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. However, it seems like the burden of the secret has been really bothering me, and I just wanted you to know the truth.”

            “I’m sorry, Taemin,” Minho said the heartbreaking sentence after a long pause. “I – I don’t know how to respond since I’ve only seen you as a friend.” It seemed as if all the life was drained from my body, and perhaps it might as well have been. The person I cared for, my most important person, couldn’t return my feelings. As melodramatic as it sounded, it felt like my whole world came crashing down. The only person who bothered to give me the light of day was rejecting me, and the reality was just hitting.

            “You know,” I started as the bitter sense started to take over. It was all too much; I felt like I was going to throw up. My head wasn’t on straight, and things just came out of my mouth like word vomit. “I never expected someone as perfect as you to like a lowly piece of like myself.” A pang hit my heart instantly as I quoted the horrid things my mother called me.

            “Taemin, don’t say such things. I-“

            “I love you,” I cried the words out as tears ran down my rosy cheeks. My heart hurt so terribly; I felt completely crushed. “But if you don’t feel the same way, then this is goodbye!”

            “And then he ran. Even after I tried to chase after him, even though I was fitter than he was, he got away,” Minho solemnly finished the story. “And you know what hurt the most?”

            “W-what?” I stuttered.

            “He acted as if I was some kind of God and he was a peasant who was lucky to be graced with my presence. What kind of sick joke is that? If anything, I was the one who was lucky to have been with him. He was my only friend and meant the world to me. It hurt so much to think he thought that way.”

            “… Minho-“

            “And to top it off, his mother didn’t even care that he ran away. She told me she was absolutely glad that he was gone, so that she had one less mouth to feed. Can you believe such horrible came from the mouth of his mother?” Minho complained angrily, pulling his hair in frustration.

            “Oh,” I huffed, slightly feeling down by the news. I should have expected as much from them, but it still hurt pretty badly to hear that it was the truth.

            “I sent out search parties for him, but to no avail. His mother told me to just give up since she thought he was dead. But even though I feel like that is probably the sad cold truth, I refuse to believe it. Because after I felt so empty and lonely without him, I cursed myself for being stupid. I loved him back, and I never got to tell him.”

            As Minho told me something new, every time I found myself wanting nothing more than to throw myself at Minho and tell him that everything would be okay, that I was alive and here for him. However, as much as I wanted to, I knew that that was something I couldn’t do. Right now was pretty bad timing, and there were a few things that I needed to work out first.

            In the mean time, I merely comforted the boy. There was really nothing else I could do at this point. As he grunted furiously at the horrible memories, I rubbed soothing circles on his back, in hopes that it would help.

            ‘I’m sorry, Minho,’ I thought solemnly.

            “Anyways, you are still wet. Why don’t you change into something else?” Minho decided to change the subject when he noticed how tense I had become. He opened up his closet and pulled out a pair of basketball shorts and a plain t-shirt, both of which belong to him. I immediately stripped off Minho and I’s jacket before taking the offerings and heading to the bathroom. Once the door was shut, I peeled off my uniform that clung to my skin because of the water. I instantly felt relief and comfort after putting on Minho’s clothes, the warmth soothing my shivering body. I exited the bathroom to see Minho lying peacefully in bed. He heard the door opened and turned to smile in my direction.

            “Those clothes are way too big for you,” he laughed lowly.

            “But they are really comfy, so thank you.”

            “You’re welcome. They make you look so petite and cute,” he continued to comment. When I heard the compliment at the end, I felt my cheeks began to heat up.

            “W-whatever,” I scoffed as I made my way to the bed. Minho pulled me to lie beside him and kindly threw the blanket over my body. The warmth hit me instantly, and I found myself snuggling into the pillow and blanket to try and extract more heat. Minho noticed my attempts to get even warmer and wrapped his left arm around my waist. With a light tug, he pulled me into his chest and embraced me tightly.

            “Is that better?” he asked calmly. My heart began to race as I nodded slowly, fearing that my voice would crack if I tried to speak. Minho began to carefully pet my wet hair, combing through the strands every now and then. He occasionally shushed me as a way to lull me. It ended up working because I simply laid my hands against his chest, listened to his steady heart beat and slept. 

Author's Note: The 2Min is so... overpowering in this chapter. However, I hope you guys are happy. Thanks to Minho here, a major part has been revealed. This is the second draft of this chapter, and I'm still not too happy about the turn out. I feel like I could have presented the information in a different way, but I had this whole writer's streak going on, so I had to write. I hope it is okay for you all. Anyways, random note, two people guessed that Taemin confessed to him in the past and got rejected. Was it that predictable? It kind of makes me sad that this part of the story was guessed so easily. Oh well. The rest probably won't be too easy to figure out... I hope. :P 

And to my Ontae shippers here, since they didn't have a moment in this chapter, here is repayment:

Onew will be back in the next chapter c: He was busy dreaming about chicken in the dining hall. ^_^

On another note that is completely off topic, I'm getting a puppy soon! :) I can't decide between naming him Bacon (after EXO-K's Baekhyun) or Jjong (after SHINee's Jonghyun). If you guys wouldn't mind, could you vote? 

Thank you so much! Please leave a comment <3

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@xaria2729 - Lol, he'd be like minded. ^^

@minniemac - I'm so glad I could please your inner fangirl, lovely :) And oh my god, you are such a sweetie! Can I love you? Because I love you right now!

@Narakimmy - Minho has been suffering immensely. TT_TT But was this soon enough, dear? ;) Umm, yeah. I actually am Malay, lol (well, technically half and it comes from my mom's side). Why do you ask?

@SHINeeLove05 - Only like? What can I do to make you love my story? ;P lol, but seriously, thank you so much! That means a lot <3

@Z09Z09 - Oh, well, you are a wonderful guesser. It really isn't explained in the chapter, but Minho was 100% straight before Taemin's confession. :P lol, sorry for confusion, but don't you find yourself anxious in every chapter? :) I have a love-hate relationship with stories like mine ^^;; I am always on the edge of my seat and it keeps it interesting, but I just want to know! I'm weird, sorry ._.  But anyways, I did as you told me and got writing! :D How was this update? I hope it was sufficient.

@Emmauk26 - Lol, I left out the whole towel part to put it into this chapter, so people wouldn't forget. However, that was because I thought I'd take a week to write this chapter... :P Anyways, hahahhaa :) I actually forgot about how Onew fell asleep during all that, but now that you remind me that is pretty hilarious. He is going to go all ape on Minho's . (jeez, I'm such a potty mouth; sorry) But knowing Minho, he'll just be the cocky bastard he is.

Anyways, I know what you mean. I've seen people be bullied for being gay, and I think it is just horrible TT_TT Lol, the OnTae is so fluffy in this fanfiction. I think my inner hopeless romantic likes to write the OnTae parts, and my inner sadist is writing the 2MIn parts. :P I... I just...

Haha, sorry, I found all these gifs and just had to use them. :) But to be serious, thanks. Your comments seriously make me so happy. I read it at work and couldn't stop smiling. As soon as I got home, I went to work because of it. So in return for your love, I gave you this chapter as quickly as I could. I hope it was enough! >_<

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE COMMENTS <3