First Encounters Through a Looking Glass
Ssangdungi Days (쌍둥이 일)
It’d been nearly two years since she’d walked down the hallowed halls of Hanlim Multi Arts High. It really hadn’t changed at all, for all the time she’d been away. Though they’d issued a new school uniform…
“Aish, so troublesome.” The girl thought. Absent mindedly, she brought a hand up to feel her hair. It was so weird to have it so short. Feeling suddenly self conscious, she opened her bag…
Mitsumi shuffled through the hall, head down, rummaging through her bag for a compact mirror. Glimpsing somebody, perhaps the janitor coming the opposite way through her peripheral vision, she stepped to the left to avoid a collision - and promptly crashed into a slim shoulder attached to a thin arm that rudely pushed her aside.
Startled from her daydreams, Mitsumi clasped the mirror she’d managed to find shut and glanced up at the rude stranger, who turned out to be a boy just slightly taller than her with a honey blonde bob cut.
“Ano... I’m sorry for bumping you.” she bowed slightly in apology, and then looked up sharply, “Was it really necessary to push me though?!”
The boy raised a graceful hand to brush his long bangs out of his eyes, raising his gaze from his cellphone to meet Mitumi’s and was apparently about to say something when he stopped to stare quizzically at the girl’s face.
Mitsumi felt her cheeks flush slightly. It was rather unnerving to be stared at so intently, and it was certainly undeniable that this boy was startlingly pretty. There was just... something about his face that was odd though. Something so very oddly familiar...
“Have we met?” the boy asked softly. His gaze hadn’t moved from Mitsumi’s face. She shook her head mutely in reply, unwittingly causing a lock of her short black hair to stick to her lips. On reflex, she brought her hand up to sweep it away, but the pretty boy had beaten her to it. Their hands collided, and only then did Mitsumi realise that she was still holding her mirror. There was a moment where they both froze, and suddenly, a moment of epiphany?
Mitsumi’s eyes widened and the mirror was quickly flipped open. The pair of strangers looked into the mirror together, feeling their breaths catch for a moment, before staring at each other again. Their hands were still brushing, but at that moment, it was insignificant. The only thought running through their heads was simply, why were they... the same?
“I-” they both began to say, and paused, letting the other speak.
“Do-” they once again said together and then glared at each other.
“Stop saying the same- ” They both started and then stopped again. Mitsumi felt twitch slightly. The pretty stranger-mirror-boy raised an eyebrow. There was a slightly awkward pause, before a soft giggle was heard. In this tense situation, the laughter-fest that followed was rather inevitable. Afterwards, as is commonly seen, it was as if the tense atmosphere had never existed.
Mitsumi smiled a beatific smile up at her mirror stranger, “Hello, my name is Lee Taekkul, I’m very pleased to meet you, Doppelgänger-sshi. ~”
The boy mirrored her smile, the resemblance between the two even more striking. “Annyounghaseyo. I’m very pleased to meet you too. It isn’t every day you meet somebody who looks the same, after all.”
“Ano... so... why do you think we look the same? Are we related somehow?” Mitsumi asked curiously. Inwardly, she knew that this wasn’t the case. It wasn’t a mere ‘likeness’ between her face in the mirror and the face before her; it really was the same face.
“Perhaps? I’m Lee Taemin.” He shyly offered a hand to shake.
“Really?” was the excited and surprised reply.
Taemin internally cringed. ‘Please don’t be a crazy fangirl, fanboy? That’s a boy, right?.. He doesn’t seem to recognise me.’
“Even our names are nearly the same!” Mitsumi exclaimed incredulously. This was a fairly weird situation.
“Are you new here?” she continued.
The boy nodded. “I transferred about a week ago.”
Mitsumi paused for a bit. “Arasso... Well, I was on my way to the faculty office to finalise my own transfer. It really was interesting to meet you, maybe I’ll see you around?”
She stepped back and waved awkwardly. Taemin nodded in agreement and tilted his head, looking his newly found ‘twin’ up and down. The boy.. Taekkul, was it?, was wearing rather loose skinny jeans and a large printed sweatshirt paired with matching silver high tops and messenger bag. His hair was glossy and black, cut in a pageboy style. They were about the same height, give or take a few centimeters... And he really did have Taemin’s face.
Meanwhile, Mitsumi was pondering about Taemin similarly.
‘How weird.’ they both thought, giving each other identical friendly smiles before parting down opposite directions of the hall.
Later that evening, as Taemin returned to the SHINee dorm, he realised that he’d never apologised for the unintentional shove he gave his ‘twin’ upon their first meeting.
SHINee's Dorm Bedroom (Though it's probably changed since then..)
“Hey Taeminnah ~”
Taemin sat up on his bed. “Oh, hey Key-hyung.” He waved tiredly in greeting and flopped back down on the bed.
“How was school? And do you have a pencil sharpener? I can’t find mine.” Key had already opened Taemin’s bag and was rifling around in it, searching for the pencil sharpener.
Taemin sighed. “School’s school. So far, it’s been less terrible than the last one, but as an idol, people don’t really talk to you...” He trailed off, staring at the planks of Jonghyun’s bunk frame. “Except for this strange guy who didn’t seem to know who I was.”
“Oh?” was the distracted reply. Taemin ‘hmmned’ in response and closed his eyes, enjoying the silence for a short momen--
“Omo, this is pretty! Where’d you get it?” A cold thing was suddenly pressed to Taemin’s cheek. He gingerly cracked an eye open and glared at Key who was hovering excitedly over his face.
The cold thing was removed and waved around in front of Taemin’s eyes and the blonde boy swiped at it a few times before turning to poke Key in the stomach.
“Yah, am I a cat or something?” Key only grinned in reply before handing the smooth round object to the maknae.
Taemin felt his stomach drop slightly. He opened the silver compact mirror and stared at his reflection. Key was saying something, but Taemin wasn’t listening. Instead, the maknae turned to his hyung and placed a finger on the elder boy’s lips.
“Do you believe in fate?” Key raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“I don’t know. Why so random?”
Taemin blinked a few times. The situation today was pretty weird. But he could clearly envision his ‘twin’ in his mind, the image taunting him, looking exactly identical to his reflection... Even the expressions were alike!
“Hyung, today I met a twin.” he began awkwardly. “He looks exactly like me.”
“As an identical twin should, but I never knew you had one Taeminnie...” Key’s skeptical eyebrow remained in place.
The mirror was closed and Taemin frowned at the engraved cover. “Neither did I! I don’t know Lee Taekkul... I think that’s his name? I’ve never met him before in my whole life and we’re not actually related... BUT WE HAVE THE SAME FACE.” He was practically shouting the last part when Dubu Leader Onew walked in.
“Who has the same face as Taemin?” he asked happily. Jonghyun followed behind, crowding into the shared bedroom. “I bet it’s a girl, right?” He laughed at his own lame joke.
Taemin scowled. “No hyung. I don’t think so, at least... He has exactly the same face as me. It’s so weird.”
Key scoffed. “Exaggeration! ~ No one has exactly the same face. Even if they do have nearly the same name as you... That’s just too weird.”
“I know it’s hard to believe... But he really really really did have the same face and also, I didn’t imagine him because this is his mirror!” Taemin tapped Key on the forehead with the mirror.
“Hmmn... whoever it is, they have good taste in mirrors. But I still don’t believe somebody can look alike as you say.” The diva of SHINee was obviously still skeptical.
Jonghyun, who’d been almost silent up to now, made a huffing sound of impatience, “Aish, stop arguing so much! Taemin, why don’t you just take a picture together, or tell your twin to come over?”
At this suggestion, Taemin cringed. “Isn’t it weird to invite somebody you just met over?”
“Not as weird as meeting somebody with the same face.” One thing about Kim Jonghyun was that he would never admit that he was wrong.
Onew suddenly walked over and picked the mirror up, examining it. “Why do you have somebody else’s mirror, Taemin anyways? Do you often take items from people you’ve just met?” The others looked to their maknae questioningly.
Taemin raised his hands defensively. “I honestly have no idea how it got there.”
“Weirder and weirder.” Key murmured, before breaking into a big smile. “Tomorrow, when you go to school, remember to take a selca with your twin and return the pretty mirror, okay? Is it dinnertime yet, Onew?”
“I think the cooking-ahjumma has been here for half an hour already! Let’s go!”
The four SHINee members scrambled up from their various sprawled out positions across the room and headed off into the kitchen, talking and laughing. Forgotten on Taemin's bed, a mirror was left behind.
This is the first real fanfiction I've let myself upload. Gaaaasp, I feel so self conscious! D= Is it good? Is the font okay? Is the writing style distracting? Is it confusing to follow? Is there too much dialogue? Am I describing actions too much? Should I take time off writing and make a banner or something?
I really want to do the best I can with this story, so if you have any comments, please don't hesitate to leave them behind. And I guess, the more feedback I get, the more I can improve? And I'm still looking for a beta, so, if you have time, please leave me a message too.
Okay rant over.
The next chapter pretty much just needs to be typed, it'll be out within the next few days? I'm on fall break now,, so yay. ~
I'm happy if you've read it. However, if I can have some proof you actually did read it, I'd be so much happier. Just leave a smiley emote [ie. :) or C: or ;3 or owo or ^^ or BD or whatever] in the commentbox if you can't be bothered saying anything else? I'll smile and mirror your smiley-face. <3
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