He was sixteen and she was fifteen, both young, complacent and in ignorance to reality. But they knew one thing for sure—they were ready to conquer the world together. Everything was a tripping stone though. Taemin was attractive and successful as an entertainer; imagine all the possibilities that could happen to the future of his career. It would flourish and he would be basked in so much love, eventually forgetting about her,

The plain Jane

_______ wasn’t average, but neither was she perfect as he was. Her family was broken into pieces and it wasn’t something she wanted to mention about besides him. Taemin was there for her all along, giving her the things everyone else, including her mother who was on medication couldn’t. No one could understand what she really needed to make the pain stop; it wasn’t the therapies or counseling.

In the night, Taemin would hug her on the couch when she got too afraid of the darkness. And just before she could get out of bed in the morning and blame herself for all the wounds she had inflicted on her body, his voice would echo through the caller to remind her of something her family never did. He cared for her.

I love you his voice would shudder across the room.

As they graduated from middle school to high school, it all changed. Her predictions about Taemin’s career were right—he smiled more on stage and less in school. Gradually, she lost grip of everything that mattered so much to her. The meaningful conversations stopped; he no longer called and she began to lose grip of her life. Was it too late to tell him that she couldn’t live without him?

Lee Taemin moved on, leaving behind the things he thought wasn’t important—including her. While _______ was caught on the spot, struggling for an escape from the dark shadows that was hovering over her. She gave up trying.

Three years later

Taemin met her on the streets when he was on his way back home at dusk. The sight of ________ made his heart flutter and he became a little lightheaded. All the thoughts he had about her when they were younger came back to him in a flash—oh… there was so much that he wanted to say but never did.

She gazed at him and took a step back into the casted shadow of the old brick wall under the flickering streetlight, ashamed of the sorry state she was in. At that moment, every single memory she thought she had forgotten about started replaying in her mind—oh… what would they have became if they weren’t who they were.

“Hi.” He greeted politely.

“I waited.” There wasn’t a need for a proper reply. _____ finally garnered all the courage she was left with to tell him about how she felt. If Taemin thought it was just puppy love, he was wrong.

“I’ve waited for you, I’ve waited for mum and I’ve waited for dad. But none appeared for me.” Her eyes were filled with tears but Taemin said nothing. “I’ve waited for the moment for you to appear so that I could ask you if…if I could come along if you planned to leave.”

He took a step forward, taking a much closer and clearer look of her face—it had became a little blurry ever since he stopped thinking of her as much as before.

“And for the first time in my life, Lee Taemin, I actually thought of my future with you. Something delusional but happy. But you’re no longer there for me.” Her lips stopped moving and the rivulets of teardrops started rolling down her cheeks. For the first time in years, Taemin reached out his hand for her, rubbing the tip of his thumb on her cheek. Using his fingers to lift up her chin a little, the pair of timid eyes finally met his.

“_________. Could you….wait for me?” The tear stricken pools widened, finally coming to realization that her bottled feelings were reciprocated. She knew Taemin a little too long to decipher his uncertain thoughts. Could you wait for me? I will take you back and never leave you again. Because… “I love you. It never stopped.”

There she was again, waiting for him.

But this time, he appeared and he never left, ever again.

A/N: Really short one-shot. I hope you guys like it ^^