Bitter Advice
My Boyfriend's Best Friend
"This is an amazing opportunity for you, Sulli."
Sulli felt her chest tighten as another sob escaped .
"By going to SM High, you could give yourself a future."
She loved him. Or, at least, it was the closest thing to love that she had ever felt.
"You could support your family."
But she had other responsibilities.
"You could become someone."
She had people she couldn't let down.
"You could make us proud."
After school dance practice was so tedious. As much as beats and rhythms were his oxygen, his passion, the extra hours were starting to take a toll on his body. As he passed the front office, he peeked his head in to see what time it was. Discovering that he was only a couple minutes from being late, he began to jog down the hallway.
The dance instructor was a tiny man, yet he had a big temper. Taemin could already picture it; the dark-haired man rambling at him in angered Hangul, his face reddening and his eyebrows furrowing. With only a week until the end of year performance, the big day, he couldn't afford to miss any practice.
Rounding one of the corners near the dance studio, Taemin heard a pained sound coming from a nearby classroom. Though the noise was muffled, it sounded like crying.
For a brief moment, he weighed the two decisions in his head.
Option 1. Go to dance practice on time and not get yelled at, yet leave crying person by themselves.
Option 2. Go comfort crying person like a good person, be late for dance practiced, get chewed out by instructor.
He quickly made up his mind, following the faint sound sobbing to a closed classroom door. Wrapping his hand around the doorknob, he eased the wooden door away from its frame. Peering his head into the classroom, he saw a figure crouched against the back wall, crying into her knees, which were pressed to her chest.
"Are you alright?"
His voice seemed to have startled her because her head snapped up to look at him. As soon as he saw her face, he recognized her as Sulli.
He felt a pang in his gut as memories came flooding back to him.
His expression must have changed because Sulli hung her head back down. "Since you didn't realize it was me, you don't have to comfort me."
It had been weeks, months even, since Taemin had spoken to Sulli. He had nothing to say to her. That said, he still loved her. He couldn't ignore the fact that the woman he loved was sobbing at his feet.
He slumped down to the ground next to her. "Sulli, are you okay?"
She turned to him, shaking her head. "I made a decision that I believe is right, yet somehow it still feels like the biggest mistake I've ever made."
Taemin pondered her words. "I would give better advice if you gave me the whole story."
She hesitated.
It felt so easy, like she could just spill everything to Taemin without any consequences. Why was it so easy to tell her ex-boyfriend something she couldn't tell her actual boyfriend?
Well, Minho was also technically an ex-boyfriend.
Unable to hold it in, she told Taemin that her parents had bought her way into SM High, that they were counting on her, that Krystal was blackmailing her, that she had to break-up with Minho or Krystal would get her kicked out. When she was done, she didn't feel guilty. She trusted Taemin. She had hurt him but he would never do anything to harm her.
Taemin listened patiently to her explanation, shaking his head.
"You're disappointed that my family bought my way into this school, right?" She assumed, guilt on her mind.
"No, Sulli," he replied, surprising her. "I'm disappointed that you couldn't tell Minho everything you just told me."
"He would hate me for it!"
"Really?" Skepticism was written across his face. "Because I know what it's like to be in love with you and if Minho really loves you then he could never hate you."
Taemin noticed that she winced as he mentioned loving her. Apparently his love caused her pain.
"It's too late now. I can't ask him to take me back after what I did."
The boy stood up, wiping off his pants. "Maybe not," he agreed. "But I think you can still fix this."
After delivering his final words, he left the classroom, preparing himself for his dance instructor's wrath.
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A/N: It's been a while since we've seen our dearest Taem :(
I wanted some Taelli closure but, trust me, this isn't it~
Maximum 3 updates left dearies~
Our journey is nearing its close :'(
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