(Onew’s point of view)

I woke up with a shearing pain on my back. The room was still dark, the only source of light being the small table lamp. I rubbed my eyes, taking in the surrounding. I was in the living room. What was I doing here?

Then I realized that there was a ball of warmth hugging against my body. I looked down at the small frame of Taemin curling around me, a small smile tugged at the ends of my lips. It felt good. It felt amazingly natural and right to have him this close to me, as if this was where both of was supposed to be.

Taemin wiggled against me, shivering a little bit from the cold; I wrapped my arms around him, snuggling closer. It was perfect. It was a perfect dream, just a dream of my wistful mind.

One by one, everything that happened yesterday came back to me. The heart break I felt thinking that my one and only love was happily dancing around in the prom with someone else; the loneliness that had engulfed me as I took refuge in the darkness of my room; the elation I had felt as Taemin called me, hoping he suddenly realized that the one he loved was me not him, just to find the broken whispers that tore my heart apart even more.

When Taemin first told me that the school’s star basketball player confessed to him, and he inclined, I felt blows to my heart. But knowing that he was happy was a soothing balm. I could take the heartache as long as Tae’s angelic smile still graced his face. I was happy as long as he was happy. I could take on the whole world’s pain for that smile.

But what I could not take was the sobbing whispers of him over the phone.

‘Hy...hyung.. I do..don’t w..want t..t..to live a..any…anymore…’

This was the worst ever blow to my heart. I could not think straight. ‘What would I do if he did something stupid? What would I do if he really did something to hurt himself? Would I be able to live?’, were the only things swirling around my mind as I tried my best to calm him down and make him promise that he won’t do anything stupid before I picked him up.

He was sprawled across the school fountain when I got there, his whole form shaking from the bouts of sobbing. He didn’t say anything during the whole ride home. The car was silent apart from the occasional sobbing and sniffling. It tore me apart to see him like that, but I could not do anything.

I looked down at the sleeping form again, softly tracing his face with the pad of my thumb. He was perfect, pure. He didn’t deserve this. He deserved all the happiness the world had to offer. He should be always smiling, happily enjoying all that is good and pure just like him.

I felt like hunting down that stupid Minho and his friends and beat them up until they sprawled across Tae’s feet, begging from forgiveness. How dare they bet on my Tae? I won’t let them off that easily.

‘You just wait Minho…your life will be turned into a living hell…you just wait....’ I murmured.

‘Hyung…’ A soft voice nudged me back to the present. I looked at Taemin. He was looking up at me with sleepy eyes, his head still resting on my chest. I could feel a blush creeping up to my cheek. I ruffled his hair with my only free hand, the other being wrapped around him.

‘Yeah, Tae… You okay now?’ I asked softly.

'What am I doing here?' He looked a bit lost, as if he could not remember anything from yesterday.

He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. he looked like a little kid. As he drew away from my embrace, his expression changed, from confused to heartbroken. His eyes were all teary.

‘So he remembers now....’ I thought as I, myself got up in a sitting position, waiting for him to say anything, do anything, not knowing what to do.

But he didn’t say anything, neither did I. Both of just sat there, in complete awkward silence.