Never before had Taemin seen so many boxes of pizza in one place. So many that they had been ordered from more than one restaurant to fill the order. But that made sense with the large amount of people there.

There for him. That was the hardest part of it all to take in—that they were all there for him and only him. It seemed like it was the whole company, but that was going out on a limb. The many bands and singers were there though, and trainees and managers and some of the stylists and Soo Man himself even stopped by and had a piece of pizza with them.

All for him. A birthday wasn't that big of an event, especially since it wasn't any milestone of a birthday either. Unless, that is, a possibly-last birthday is a milestone. Maybe it is.

"... So what do you think, Taemin?" Sulli and Krystal sat on either side of him, eyes wide waiting for an answer to a question he didn't even know.

"What do I think about what?" Anyone who heard couldn't help but laugh as the two girls realized they had been ignored for the past five minutes, their ignorer not even having realized what he had done.

With a small pout, Sulli looked into his wide eyes, trying to not look as upset as she was. "Do you want cake or presents first?"

"Oh... um..." His eyes wandered to the too-large cake and then to the huge stack of presents from everyone present. Which will do the least damage? "Presents? So that everyone can have a break between dinner and cake?"

"Okay then!" The voice was a little too chirpy for his liking as Sulli stood, pulling Krystal up with her. Both reported to Kai and Taemin realized with a start that his best friend had sent them just to find that out, instead of coming up to him himself. What's his problem? We haven't really talked recently anyways, but apparently he organized the party... With the hyungs' help.

He hadn't even known what was happening before he was being sat in a chair, above everyone sitting on the floor. The pile of gifts was moved over by him—making no sense when he could have simply been seated by the pile. But Taemin wouldn't question it as Kai and his hyungs and a few others ran the pile back and forth with smiles on their faces. All of it seemed like too much to him, but apparently not to anyone else. That was just proven as there were laughs at his surprised look as the stack seemed larger the closer it got to him. "I really didn't need all of these... It's enough of a present just being able to celebrate with everyone."

"Nonsense." Key lightly smacked his head, surprising Taemin. That was the roughest he had been with the maknae since they had found out he was sick—ignoring the music show incident. But that didn't count. To Taemin at least. "I wish we could have gotten you more, but it was really last minute to a lot of us, so this was a rush."

"This is last minute?" He looked at the diva in astonishment—until he realized who he was talking to. "Never mind. It'd be worse if you had known."

"Exactly." Key gave a smile before stepping back a little, towards Kai and the pile. "Let's get this started then! First off..." A present was handed to him by the Exo member and he handed it to Taemin. The maknae looked at the small box in confusion for a few seconds and Key eventually nudged it. "Are you going to stare at it or open it?"

The cake he had questioned the size of was almost gone, proving his judgment wrong. But that could have just been from how good it was. "Taemin?"

He glanced up from looking at the makeshift-dance floor to see Kai standing next to his seat, seeming almost nervous. "Hi Kai." A grin made its way onto his face as he greeted the younger dancer. "Take a seat." Almost reluctantly, he sat on the other side of the couch Taemin was on, completely stiff and not relaxing into it at all. "Were you looking for me for a reason?"

"Ah... yeah." There was hesitation in his voice and Taemin noticed it, but didn't say anything. "I wanted to apologize."

"What for? You haven't done anything wrong... I should be apologizing for not thanking you for the party yet. It's amazing and perfect."

Kai still seemed stiff and the compliment only made him grip his knees tighter, looking away from the elder now. "I... I haven't been a great friend. Let alone best friend. I've barely talked to you unless we just happened to be in the same place... I just left you alone through all of this even though I should be supporting you. So I'm sorry."

"Really?" Taemin's eyes were still locked on Kai, even if the other wasn't looking back at him. "I never thought of it like that. I just figured you were busy with your group and everything. I never blamed you." That didn't do anything to make the younger relax, so he stretched a bony arm until his hand reached a muscled shoulder. Kai jumped and immediately looked at him, catching Taemin's smile. "Really. You're still my best friend."

"But..."

"But none of that matters." He was cut off before he could protest, left looking into Taemin's eyes as the sick boy argued his point back. The music was still blaring in the room and their drunk friends were still trying to sing along and failing as bad as a professional singer could, but that disappeared for the two of them. "Really."

"But if I had..."

"If you had told me to go to a doctor, I wouldn't have listened. Or I would have been told it was anemia and I would have believed that for much longer and wouldn't have gone back to the doctor when my hyungs told me to." He let his arm slide off Kai's shoulder, but they were both still in the same position facing each other. "It seems hard to believe, but all of this happened for a reason. I was meant to get sick and I am meant to be going through what I am. We might not understand why now and no one ever might, but I know it was all planned. So I'm okay with however this ends. And you have to be too."

Kai gave a little nod and Taemin thought that was it, until the younger suddenly launched himself onto Taemin’s chest. Clinging on, Taemin had no choice but to just wrap his arms around the dancer, trying his best to comfort the sobs coming from him. "But I don't want you to go..."

"I don't want to go either." He looked around to see if there was anyone watching, but the only sober people that would have realized what was going on were trying to help their tipsy friends or were enjoying themselves alone. "But if it happens, you can't be upset. I'll still be here—you just won't be able to see me."