Seven

seven

[ Taemin ]

“Are you sure, honey?” the woman asks, meeting Taemin’s gaze in the mirror. “You have such nice hair.”

Taemin nods firmly. If he’s going over Jonghyun’s house to work on their project, the least he can do is avoid confusing Jonghyun’s parents about his gender by getting a haircut. His hair is almost shoulder length by now, mainly because he’s been too lazy to go for a haircut.

Today, of course, is special though.

“Make sure you get the sides,” he says as the hairdresser reluctantly picks up her scissors.

After paying at the counter with the unshakable feeling that he is too comfortable around all the sweet-smelling shampoos and scented towelettes, he climbs back into his car and squints at the piece of paper with Jonghyun’s address scrawled on it. He printed out the directions earlier in case his phone dies on him, like it’s apt to do, and he knows that Jonghyun lives in the richer part of town. But he can’t help but feel a bit cowed when he pulls up to the gated community where Jonghyun’s house is located.

“I’m here to see number 303,” he tells the guard.

“Just a minute,” the guard says as he turns in his chair, pulling up the phone.

Taemin glances at himself in the mirror while he waits for the phone call to go through. He sighs, because no matter how long he spends fixing his hair or coordinating his accessories, he still doesn’t have a chance with Jonghyun. He knows he should feel grateful for even being this close to Jonghyun, but he’s settled for things all of his life. Just once, he wants to show someone else who he really is, and be accepted for it.

“What’s your name?” the guard asks, the phone pressed to his shoulder.

“Lee Taemin,” Taemin answers, his palms sweating unnecessarily.

The guard nods and picks up the phone. “He’ll be right there, Mr. Kim.” After hanging up, he flips a couple of switches inside the guardhouse and the barrier in front of Taemin’s car swings up. “Go right on in.”

Taemin lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and smiles. “Thanks.”

Taemin presses on the gas and squints at the street signs as the car moves forward. Still slightly jittery, he carefully maneuvers around a manmade lake until he reaches house number 303, which, to his relief, is actually one of the smaller properties. The house has a brick front and a three-car garage, with a circular driveway. Taemin hesitates as he decides where to park, then remembers Jonghyun’s advice and kills the engine right in front of the front door.

He takes a deep breath as he looks at himself in the mirror again, then picks up his history notes and jogs up to the front door, prepared to knock.