“You really are stupid, aren’t you?” Taemin mumbled as he made his way to you, “Why are you doing all of this for me?”

Normally, you would’ve looked up at him and replied, but this time, it was different. Everything Leo had been telling you was slowly ripping your heart into more and more pieces. He kept telling you to give up and he kept telling you that Taemin would die.

Every time he said a things like this, it caused your heart to be filled with pain. This feeling was causing you to feel lonely. It’s not as if you could tell Taemin any of this. He already thought you had gone crazy and if you told him that he was dying, that would only cause him to panic.

For his own good, you couldn’t say anything. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t bring yourself to tell the one you love that his life was ending. You just weren’t capable of doing something like that. It was too hard.

“I can’t give up…” was all you managed to say after Leo vanished in front of your eyes.

As you saw Taemin come over, your hands made their way onto his hands as you held them shaking uncontrollably. The only comfort you could find right now was that Taemin was still here, alive, and by your side.

Taemin’s eyes slowly became filled with concern when he saw your weak state, “Hey. Are you alright? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

Your face paled as you brought your arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, “Please, for me, could you just promise me not to go anywhere without me? I need to be present with you at all times or else, he… I can’t let you out of my sight. I just can’t.”

“What are you talking about?” Taemin pulled your arms from his neck, his eyes piercing into yours, “Jisoo, what’s wrong?”

“Just think of me as the childhood friend you used to hang out with. That Jisoo was your friend, right? Please, Taemin, I’m begging you,” your voice was weak as you spoke with a stutter here or there.

His eyes own reflected his own confusion as he saw the alarm in your eyes. He couldn’t understand why you were so insistent on being with him all the time. He couldn’t understand why you cared for him so much. He always thought that you didn’t care about his presence anymore. He always thought that you didn’t even see him in your gaze anymore, but now, it all seemed different. It wasn’t as he had thought. Was there a misunderstanding somewhere here?

“Look at me,” he said as he used his hands to cup your cheeks.

Hesitating, you found yourself slowly gazing back at him. His expression had definitely relaxed and something seemed familiar about him. For a second, you had thought you had seen the Taemin you once knew and loved.

“Answer me one thing, alright?” Taemin began, “Just one thing.”

A slow nod came from you, your voice barely audible, “…Okay.”

“Why did you distance yourself away from me when we first started school?” he asked, his expression unchanged.

However, the question confused you. Shouldn’t this be something you needed to ask him? You’ve never once tried to distance yourself from him. Something wasn’t right.

“I didn’t,” was your immediate reply, “I would never do something like that. It was you that distanced yourself from me.”

“I would never do something like that either,” he frowned noticeably, “Jisoo, weren't you the one that tried to get away from me? I mean, you’re the one who never showed up when we promised to meet. You’re the one who pulled away from me. I stopped seeing you around me, so I thought your heart had changed.”

Shaking your head quickly, you replied, “Of course not! I tried to fulfill all my commitments to you, but you have to realize it’s not as easy as you think. A simple task like eating with you at lunch is almost impossible for me to do. You don’t understand how many of your admirers come after me when you’re not around!”

The two of you looked into each other’s eyes looking for the one clue of sincerity. Sincerity meant that there must be truth in the words spoken. There had been a misunderstanding between the two of you. Taemin’s eyes suddenly widened as he seemed to have come across a realization.

“Wait, you said my admirers come after you?” he furrowed his eyebrows, "So that means… It was them?"

You were confused, “What?”

“They told me that you were avoiding me now, because you were jealous of my popularity. They told me that you would rather be alone than be with me,” he slowly stated in disbelief, “They told me that you didn’t care about me anymore. Those girls… Junhee and Seulha.”

The names that Taemin stated made your heart freeze as well, “…Those are the same girls who threatened me to stay away from you...”

Now, everything made sense. So Taemin never changed. The misunderstanding was something those girls had been planning to cause from the start. They wanted to ruin the relationship between the two of you.

However, you were still a bit puzzled at the relationship that they were ruining. It was all extremely one-sided. They actually had nothing to be jealous of. But, putting all that aside, you realized something.

At least, you had found your Taemin, the Taemin you knew and loved. Smiling, you realized that you might've actually found your happiness too, but that happiness, was immediately shattered when you found yourself hearing Leo's voice echoing in your mind.

"A mere human cannot change fate. Taemin will die, no matter what you do."

The smile froze upon your lips. Reality hurts. It hurts a lot.