"A rose on a grave-site..."   Minho believed with all his heart that Taemin had the intentions of scaring the crap out of him. Whenever he would fall in to the depths of his own mind, Taemin seemed to have knowledge enough to speak something close to nonsense to bring him out of the void and back to the present.   "Excuse me?" he lifted his head from the black coffee. Cream and sugar were placed on the table for his convenience, but Minho left the amenities untouched and unwanted. He wasn't one to use cream and sugar normally, since he always seemed to need the extra kick that black coffee gave him. He had a feeling today would be no different.   "You don't talk much...." Tae deadpanned.   "Perhaps I have nothing to say."   Taemin looked up from his empty plate to stare at Minho's coffee. "Nothing to say...or nothing you can say?"   Minho pushed the coffee cup aside. The boy's eyes didn't follow it. "Sometimes what you can and can't say are two of the same things, Minnie. It's not always so black and white."   "No. It isn't. It's grey and red." He simpered as Minho's emotions didn't change. He was getting used to the unique personality of the young lad. "Like roses on a grave-site, Minho hyung. The outside may seem pretty and perhaps even a little weathered, but...underneath still lay the remains of a decomposing carcass. Naturally we only want to see what is appealing to our eyes...not the ugly secrets beneath the surface."   The door to the café jingled, signaling the waitress swiftly coming out to refill coffees of the patrons who sat outside. But there weren't many. It was a week day and students wouldn't be caught dead at a café while school was in session. At least...most students.   "More coffee, sir?" the woman asked, politely, quickly refilling Minho's cup when he nodded his answer. She then proceeded to move near Taemin to pick up the empty plate, batting her eyelashes at him also before whisking it away on her tray as she moved back inside, hips swaying. Obviously, Taemin brought out something in the flirt.   "Even a waitress as simple as she is..." Taemin traced an unknown drawing on the table's shell "...is appealed to surface beauty."   Minho looked through the door to the café to catch sight of the woman running back and forth. "She's...pleasant."   "That's a relative term..."   Genuinely intrigued by Taemin's train of thoughts, Minho decided to inquire more as he continued to gaze at the waitress inside. He was curious as to why Taemin seemed so impartial to one who had treated them quite respectfully. "How so?"   "When the woman has a breather, she will talk to her co-workers. Seeing as they are mostly women, she will point to us and, perhaps, blush a bit. You're attractive, handsome and clean-cut. You are the definition of: surface beauty. When one inquires about me...she may have acted sweet, but she will scowl and become a jealous , hyung." Tae's finger stopped in its tracing tracks on the table as he looked up at Minho.   His expression ranged from one with an open mind to one who didn't want to see reality any longer. "Do you peg people with this attribute often?"   "Only those that have it." he answered. "I...believe I am not very attractive to the eye. Quite the contrary, actually...I'm fond of scaring others."   Minho didn't stop his eyebrow from quirking at the comment. Yeah, he figured that out about him early on that he liked scaring others...but he was beautiful. And it didn't stop there. Taemin knew just when to strike up a conversation to scare the wits out of a person near him. He also heard from Key that Taemin knew how to manipulate others to do things he could not.   "Don't sell yourself short." He said with a grimace, placing the tip on the table, underneath a napkin holder to keep it stable. When he stood, he outstretched his hand towards the boy with an air that demanded he grab it or...die? Hmh. Curious. Taemin wasn't reading his waves wrong or misunderstanding his body language. "Come on." He added, shaking his hand for emphasis "We're leaving."   "So soon?" he observed. "You didn't even touch your second cup of coffee."   "I suppose one cup was all I needed."   It was a lie; a sad, pathetic, blatant lie.   In truth, he could have used that cup of coffee. God only knew he needed the added caffeine to break away the hold a new headache was having on him. But Minho couldn't risk it. Couldn't risk the awareness it may bring him, couldn't risk the surge of energy that might propel him to do something stupid. He couldn't risk the problems.   Taemin had enough knowledge to sense this, had enough curiosity to question it, but he refrained. Yes, curiosity often overruled his senses, but in this case, he was afraid to hear the answer. For once, sense told him it was better to just keep his mouth shut. And for once, Taemin listened.   With a sigh of feigned annoyance, he placed his hand softly in Minho's much larger one, waiting for him to lead the way.   Minho nodded and wasted no time to continue down the district, away from the café. His brow furrowed in annoyance; annoyance at himself, at the people in the café...but mainly at himself for being angry at those people.   He saw Taemin's prediction take place right in front of his eyes, hadn't expected any less to be quite honest. But he wasn't expecting the male employees to look over at the woman's gesturing. Hadn't expected them to look; hadn't expected them whatsoever to appear interested in Taemin; and most certainly had not expected them to watch his Minnie as if he were nothing more than a piece of meat. The eyes that roamed him up in down with a smirk off to the side inflamed a rage he thought wasn't burning within him.   Yes, he needed to get away from the café. Away from those people and the world they were living in. Away where he could infinitely deny the ugly emotions that he harbored within his own soul.   Because Taemin had been right.   Minho was like a rose on top of a grave-site. While he could blend in to society with little to no problem, inside he was no prettier than a rotting corpse. In f