Taemin sauntered down the dark road to his house. Every single cell of his body hurt, and Taemin kept his head down, afraid of anybody seeing him in the state of irredeemable mess. Not that keeping his head down would improve anything, his blood-smeared uniform shirt now had absolutely NO buttons hanging on, and strands of his hair were leaping in all different directions. In short, walking with his head down right now was like running around - and wearing a paper bag over his face.

The taste and the odor of rust filled Taemin’s mouth and nose, his hand burned excruciatingly, and his chest and stomach hurt every time he breathed. A familiar fence leading to a gate came into Taemin’s view and he looked up, glad to have finally reached home.

Taemin’s feet stopped in its tracks. A figure was sitting outside his front gates under the dim street light. Taemin could only tell it was a person from the vague darkness. It was impossible to see the person’s face, but Taemin didn’t have to try much to figure out who it was. He too saw Taemin, and stood up. He walked towards Taemin, and Jongin’s face illuminated under the dim yellow lights.

Without a word, he looked at Taemin. Taemin breathed heavily. Something hot was emerging from within his chest. Strangely though, Taemin felt sad rather than angry. The two boys looked at each other silently for a while. Taemin then paced quickly towards Jongin. Jongin just stood, unmoved by Taemin’s sudden movement and without a warning, Taemin threw a strong punch into Jongin’s sound face. A thick outburst of friction broke the calm stillness of the neighborhood and Jongin staggered to the asphalt floor.

“Get up.”

Taemin voiced lowly, and Jongin got up to his feet as he wiped his mouth. And when Jongin’s gaze met his again, Taemin lashed Jongin on the other side of his face as hard as he could. Again, Jongin stumbled hard to the ground. Taemin didn’t think Jongin could be affected by his punch, but his rage must have been beyond the tolerable level than he had thought it to be. This time, Jongin stayed on the ground and looked up. A wave of resentment, guilt, sorrow, and unexplained emotions overwhelmed Taemin when he saw his friend’s face, and the hot lump in his chest emerged to his throat.

“You call youself a friend?!!! Huh?!!! And you call yourself a ing friend, you bastard!!!!...”

Taemin’s cry echoed the still road and Jongin got up to his feet without an answer. Trying his best to suppress the lump on the verge of bursting out of his throat, Taemin looked up at Jongin and spat out everything on his mind.

“…!… Fine, if this is what you really want, fine! Let’s just end this!! I won’t ever bother you ever again so just go ahead and around with Jung Soojung or Choi Sulli or whoever you want! Soojung kissed me before I could do anything and you just came in- …Shouldn’t you at least try to listen to me first? If you liked Soojung for eight years, …it’s, it’s been ten goddamn years with me, you jackass!! The least you could do is…”

Taemin lowered his head, unable to finish. He has never been this embarrassed in his life. Tears were streaming down his face and though Taemin wanted nothing more than it to stop, the continuous tears were out of his control.

“…is what…?”

Jongin’s voice was hoarse. Taemin looked up and saw blood covering the better half of Jongin’s good-looking face.

“…Forget it, . …Leave, I don’t need you, get lost..”

“What do you mean, just ‘end this’?!!!” 

Taemin was about to push Jongin out of his way and go inside when Jongin suddenly yelled, stunning Taemin to a stop.

“Why are you ‘ending things’?!!" Jongin shouted. "Who are you to end it?! You have no right to end anything!!”

“Then YOU end this!!" Taemin retorted back. "Stop avoiding me like a pathetic little girl, just ing beat the crap out of me and walk away from me!!! You know what? Just forget everything, just get lost. You are an inconsiderate bastard, Kim Jongin…”

Taemin shot back and turned around, but Jongin grabbed his wrist and snatched him back. The grip was so strong that Taemin almost faltered into Jongin, but he managed to find balance on his own feet. He glared at Jongin, but was surprised to find Jongin’s face flustered in complication of confusion, anger, frustration and despair.

As if to restrain the sudden outbreak of emotions, Jongin bit his lip and and stared intently into Taemin’s eyes. He scanned Taemin’s face thoroughly from one side to the other, and cursed harshly through clenched teeth. Just when Taemin was about to retort back in irritation, Jongin roughly let go of Taemin’s wrist and shouted.

“Who did this to you?!!!”

Then he let out short and heavy breaths like he was suppressing himself.

With a bloody and ruined face, Taemin stared at Jongin in surprise. 

“…You’re the bastard that left even though you saw me there!” Taemin replied. 

“Why do you go around getting beaten up?!” Jongin yelled again.

“Funny how it’s coming from a traitor who just leaves his friend behind, pissed about a chick problem.” Taemin spat as he rubbed the bruise from Jongin’s firm grip.

After looking at Taemin with a hardened gaze, Jongin spoke up more softly.

“…What is it this time? What do you even do to get those ers so worked up to kick your -”

“