It felt like a dream for both Minyoung and Kwangmin. She couldn’t believe that the brunette had just confessed to her, and so did Kwangmin. He couldn’t believe that she accepted his confession. Even after parting ways, the two could still felt their heart beating madly due to the excitement. Minyoung felt as if butterflies in her stomach wouldn’t go away. They were probably going to stay there for a while. Not that she mind, though. She actually enjoyed their existence.

In the meantime, Youngmin nervously waited for his brother. He had just come back from the family dining and felt extremely exhausted. However, he couldn’t bring himself to sleep just yet. He flipped through channels, hoping to find a good program to watch, but the midnight shows didn’t offer much. The blonde gave up eventually and decided to find something to drink. His throat had been sore since this morning and he had no idea why.

Youngmin walked down the stairs quietly, not wanting to wake the rest of his family members. When he reached the kitchen, he heard some strange noises. “Who could it be?” Youngmin muttered to himself. He couldn’t see anything because it was dark. Cautiously, he the switch and almost jumped when he heard a loud yelp.

“Ouch!” The figure in front of Youngmin cried in pain when his head hit something inside the refrigerator.

The blonde narrowed his eyes. “Kwangmin?” he said.

The brunette rolled his eyes. “Oh my God, Youngmin! You really scared me, you know?”

“You’re the one who scared me,” replied the older twin. “What are you doing here?”

Kwangmin held out a bottle of lemon water. “Just like what you see, I’m looking for something to drink.”

“Why did you need to sneak in like that? At least you could turn on the light… For a brief moment, I thought that you were a thief!”

Kwangmin chuckled at his twin’s words. “Well, I know it’s already quite late, so I don’t want to wake up the others… Why haven’t you gone to bed, anyway? I thought that you must be sleeping already.”

Youngmin scratched the back of his head. “…I just can’t sleep,” he said as he made his way to the fridge. The blonde then pulled out a carton of milk and poured its content to the glass.

The two of them drank in silent. However, Kwangmin’s smile didn’t go unnoticed by Youngmin. The blonde could feel his heart beating rapidly. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to know the answer, but he still needed to ask. He wanted to get rid of the curiosity that had been bugging him the whole day.

Youngmin cleared his throat, trying to get the younger boy’s attention. “…So, did she accept it?” he asked carefully.

Kwangmin took a deep sigh, but the smile hadn’t disappeared. “Youngmin… You have no idea how happy I am right now! I feel like the happiest man alive!”

“She said yes, didn’t she?” said Youngmin. He didn’t need to ask anymore. The answer could be seen clearly from Kwangmin’s expression. The brunette only nodded in response. Youngmin’s lips were curved into a small smile. “Congratulations, then!”  His voice trembled at the end, but luckily Kwangmin didn’t note it.

Kwangmin wrapped his arms around Youngmin’s shoulder. “Thank you!” he said sincerely. The brunette obviously had no idea about how Youngmin felt at the moment.

After finished their drinks, the twin decided to go to sleep since they have school tomorrow. Kwangmin went to bed with a fluttering heart. He couldn’t wait to see Minyoung again. It had only been a few hours, but he missed her already. Was this how it felt to fall in love?

At the other hand, Youngmin was trying hard to deal with the intangible sting that had appeared out of nowhere. He was facing the opposite direction from Kwangmin. His head was aching and tears were threatening to fall anytime, but he suppressed it with all his might. If he cried, Kwangmin might be able to hear his sobs and he didn’t want his twin to know about his true feeling. After hours of struggle, the blonde finally fell asleep due to his weariness.

***

Jooeun was completely shocked when Minyoung told her about her relationship with Kwangmin the next day. “So, you two are officially dating now?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yup,” Minyoung confirmed. “But don’t tell anyone about this, okay? I still want to live.” That was meant as a joke, but seeing her friend didn’t laugh at all, Minyoung raised one of her eyebrows.

“What’s wrong?” she asked with concern.

“Uh, n-nothing,” said Jooeun, obviously lying. “I’m really surprised… I didn’t expect your relationship to progress so fast! Congratulations!”

“I didn’t either,” Minyoung admitted. “To be honest, when I woke up this morning, I thought that it was a dream… But when I received a good morning message from Kwangmin, I knew that this is real.”

Jooeun could only fake a smile upon that statement. She was hurt and jealous, but she must not let Minyoung knew.

It was finally lunch break. Minyoung was startled when she received a text message from Kwangmin, asking her to meet him at the rooftop. She thought that it would be so much nicer if the brunette could come to her class instead of sending her text message, but she understood the circumstances. The fact that Kwangmin was one of SOPA’s most popular students didn’t allow them to show their relationship in front of public. Or else, Minyoung would become the target of Jo Twin’s fangirls’ anger.

Kwangmin smiled to his new girlfriend when he saw Minyoung. Minyoung smiled back at him in reply. They sat next to each other, leaning against the railing. The sun shone brightly, but not too hot. The wind blew tenderly. The sky was clear and different shapes of clouds could be seen above their head.

“Today’s weather is really nice, huh?” said Kwangmin.

“Yeah, it is,” Minyoung replied. After that, both of them went silent. It felt kind of awkward, so Minyoung took the initiation to open the lunch boxes she had prepared before. “Let’s eat!”

Kwangmin’s eyes widen in delight as he saw all the tasty-looking food inside the boxes. “Whoa…! Did you cook all these by yourself?”

A faint blush spread across her cheeks. “Yes, I did,” she said while flushing. “Why don’t you try a bite?”

“Okay.” Kwangmin grabbed the chopstick and put the food inside his mouth. After chewing it a few times, he said, “Mm, yummy!”

“Really?” Minyoung beamed happily, proud of her work. “I’m glad that you like it! Eat a lot, then!”

They chatted happily while eating their lunch. After finishing their lunch, they just sat there and enjoyed the pleasant weather. Suddenly Kwangmin got an idea and took out his phone. He then turned to Minyoung and said, “Let’s take a picture together!”

Minyoung smiled. “Okay,” she agreed. She moved closer to Kwangmin so that he could take a good picture of them. She was kind of surprised when the brunette put his left arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

“1, 2, 3… Kim-chi!” Kwangmin pressed the ‘capture’ button. Minyoung leaned closer to see how the picture turned out to be.

“What do you think?” asked the brunette.

“This is really well-taken. You have the talent to become a photographer,” she joked.

Kwangmin laughed at her words. “Take out your phone! I’ll send it to you so that you can put this as your phone wallpaper. I’ll set this as mine, too.”

Minyoung took out her phone and changed her wallpaper right away once the picture was sent. She looked at Kwangmin and they shared a shy smile. Kwangmin gave her a loving gaze before shoving his phone back inside his pocket.

“May I see the pictures in your phone?” Minyoung suddenly asked for permission.

Kwangmin raised one of his eyebrows. “Sure,” he said and took the phone out again. He handed the phone to the curious girl sitting beside him.

Minyoung looked at Kwangmin’s collection of pictures excitedly. Most of his gallery was filled with pictures of his friends and family.

“Isn’t this No Minwoo, your classmate from the special class?” Minyoung asked. “What were you doing at the studio?”

“Well, actually he’s under the same label as us and we’re going to make a debut in the same group.”

“Whoa, really? I’m sure that I’ve seen him in a MV before, but I can’t remember whose,” said Minyoung while trying hard to recall her memories.   

“Maybe you saw him in K.Will Hyung’s MV called ‘Can’t Open Up My Lips’. He starred there, together with IU,” Kwangmin explained.

“Ah, yes, that’s it! I remember now!” Minyoung squealed. She averted her eyes back to the phone screen. “And who are the rest?” There were six people in that picture aside from Youngmin, Kwangmin, and Minwoo. She didn’t recognize the other three, so they must not be students of SOPA.

“This one is Donghyun Hyung, the leader and also the lead vocalist. He’s the oldest among us and a really charismatic person. All the members respect him a lot,” said Kwangmin. He then pointed at the guy who sat beside the first one. “This is Hyunseong Hyung, the second oldest in the group. He sings really well, so he was chosen as the main vocalist. The last one is Jeongmin Hyung, also the lead vocalist. He loves to see his reflection on the mirror.”     

Minyoung giggled at the last explanation. “By having such handsome and talented members, your group is definitely going to be great!” she enthused.

“You think so? Well, who’s the best-looking member among the six of us?” Kwangmin asked curiously.

Minyoung tapped her finger on her lips, acting as if she was thinking hard. “Hmm, I think he is the most handsome one!” replied Minyoung as she pointed Jeongmin randomly.

Kwangmin pouted. “What?! How can you say that in front of your boyfriend?”

Minyoung laughed at Kwangmin’s cuteness. “I was only joking, you know! Of course I’d say that my boyfriend is the most handsome among them!”

Kwangmin’s pout immediately turned into a smile, satisfied with the answer Minyoung gave him.  

The girl shook her head at Kwangmin’s childishness. She continued looking at the pictures on Kwangmin’s phones. Her eyes widen when she saw an intimate picture of Youngmin and a beautiful older woman. The woman smiled gracefully to the camera with Youngmin’s arm entangled around hers. Youngmin used his fingers to make a ‘V’ sign and beamed brightly. He looked so happy in the picture.

“I’m sure I’ve seen her somewhere before… She’s from Sistar, right?” asked Minyoung.

“Yup, that is Bora Noona,” Kwangmin confirmed.

“She and Youngmin look so friendly in this picture… A-are they close to each other?” she asked again, stuttering this time.

Kwangmin thought for a while. “Well, come to think about it, I guess they’re close… Actually, Bora Noona is very friendly and nice to all of us. However, Youngmin seems to be closer to her than the rest of the group members.” The brunette shrugged. “They just get along so well since the start.”

Kwangmin’s explanation caused a stabbing pain in Minyoung’s heart. She didn’t know why, but she just didn’t like the idea of the blonde and Bora together. “Oh, I see.” Minyoung tried to remain composed, but her voice was betraying her.

Minyoung’s unpleasant tone didn’t leave unnoticed by Kwangmin. The brunette could sense a hint of annoyance in her voice and he started to wonder what was wrong with his girlfriend.

***

Today Kwangmin had to leave school early with Minwoo because they had to practice their rap. Their manager came to get both of them, leaving only Youngmin behind. After class ended, Minyoung came to the dancing room to practice as usual. She felt awkward when her gaze met Youngmin’s. The image of Youngmin and Bora clinging to each other she tried to bury so badly suddenly came back into view. The uneasy feeling started to grow inside her. Still, Minyoung tried to ignore it.

“Why do you look at me like that? It’s kind of annoying, you know,” Youngmin started the conversation.

“You’re the one who look at me strangely,” said Minyoung without facing the blonde.

Youngmin who felt as if he was just got caught turned his gaze to the other direction. “I-I heard that Kwangmin and you are dating right now…”

Minyoung was shocked by the blonde’s words. He didn’t expect him to suddenly bring up that topic. “…Yeah, he confessed to me last night after your performance.”

“Well, I just want to say congratulations!” said Youngmin while trying hard to fake a smile. “Kwangmin can be really unpredictable at times… He’s also quite scary when raging! But he’s a really nice and selfless guy. If he loves someone, he will protect that person, no matter what it takes. Please bear with him and take good care of my twin!”

Minyoung bit her lower lip uneasily. Youngmin’s congratulations only worsen the pain in her heart. Out of all people in this world, she didn’t want to hear those words coming from him. However, she couldn’t admit it to the blonde. A soft murmur of “Thank you” was all she managed to say in the end.

Feeling the tense building between them, Youngmin decided to get to the point. “Let’s start our practice, shall we?” Minyoung only nodded as a sign of agreement. Youngmin walked toward the music player and turn it on. Soon, a harmonious melody of music carried through the air. The two got into their position, keeping a safe distance between them, and started to dance in sync with the rhythm.

But the dance practice didn’t last long as Minyoung soon missed the tempo. Youngmin turned to face the girl when he saw her stopped moving. “What’s wrong?” he asked without moving from his place.

“N-nothing,” she lied. There was obviously something wrong with her, but Minyoung couldn’t figure it out herself.

She didn’t like the whole situation. She didn’t like the way Youngmin looked at her with a somewhat miserable gaze. She didn’t like the fake cheerful tone he used when congratulating her—she almost bought it at first, but no, she was way too observant to miss the hidden intention in his voice. She didn’t like the heavy atmosphere between them. She disliked the silent that seemed so hard to break. Moreover, she hated the way he stood far away from her, as if trying to avoid her as much as possible. The air was suffocating, it almost killed her. Minyoung found the current situation really irritating and she couldn’t stand it anymore.

She finally took a deep breath and said, “…Look, I don’t feel well today. Let’s just end the practice here, okay?” The girl turned her back and was about to leave when she felt a tight grip on her wrist. She turned around, only to find Youngmin standing close before her eyes.

“Why are you acting so strange today?” Youngmin fixed his gaze on her eyes in a demanding way, asking for her answer.

“Am I?” Minyoung tried to play fool. “Why do I feel as if you’re the one who’s acting weirdly?”

Youngmin’s eyebrows creased. “Am I?” he snapped back with the same answer—or question, to be exact. “What have I done that is weird for you?”

“I don’t know… The way you looked at me earlier, the way you talked, the way you stood far from me… I hate them all,” said Minyoung, refusing to look at him. His words when congratulating her kept ringing in her ears, making her sick. The image of Youngmin and Bora together made her feel even more disgusted.

Youngmin narrowed his eyes, couldn’t really grasp what she was trying to tell him. His eyes widen in shock when he saw the female figure in front of him tried to break free from his hold; her eyes were red and glistening. Minyoung was struggling to prevent herself from crying, but she realized her tears could burst out anytime with Youngmin standing in front of her.

Suddenly, Youngmin couldn’t stand it anymore. Seeing the weak and fragile girl in front of him made his chest tighten in a familiar pain. At the same time, the sight also triggered something inside of him. An irresistible urge started to build inside his body. He was losing his mind and all he could think about was the girl before his eyes.

He tightened his grip around her wrist and leaned closer to her, causing Minyoung’s body to automatically jerk in alarm. The girl took a step backward, but unfortunately, she hit the wall. She was completely trapped now. Her dark brown eyes enlarged in total daze when Youngmin inched his face closer and breathed to hers. She saw the blonde’s eyes filled with emotion and what she assumed as lust, but her mind suddenly stopped working as he captured her lips in a kiss.

And suddenly, the whole world stopped moving. It took Minyoung a few seconds to understand what was really happening at the moment. She quickly pulled away as realization hit her in an abrupt strike. Youngmin had just kissed her! The blonde completely aware of what he had done and didn’t try to avoid it when Minyoung’s slap landed on his face. He touched his right cheek which felt like burning and lifted his head, only to see Minyoung crying. Her body was trembling and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Both of them went silent. Minyoung didn’t avert his gaze from him even though her sight was blurring with tears. Agony and pain flickered through his eyes, but none of them made sense to her. She, herself, was experiencing different kind of emotions right now, but anger was the most dominant among them. Once she regained her consciousness, Minyoung didn’t wait any longer to leave the room.

Youngmin didn’t try to stop her. At this rate, he was sure that she wouldn’t listen to anything he said. The blonde felt weak and leaned on the wall. He took a deep breath while his chest, hoping to slow down his racing heartbeat and ease the pain he felt inside. He must have lost his mind by kissing his brother’s girlfriend!

Youngmin knew that he should have at least apologized to her, but somehow he didn’t want to. It was true that guilt slowly creep through him after he kissed her, but he didn’t think that what he had done was wrong. Call him selfish or whatever, he wouldn’t mind it. He wanted Minyoung for himself and he knew it.   

***

As expected, Minyoung couldn’t sleep that night. Kwangmin called her not long after she arrived at home. She tried to casually chat with the brunette, but she couldn’t deny the pain every time she heard his voice. Of course she couldn’t tell Kwangmin what had happened between her and Youngmin. It made her feel as if she was betraying Kwangmin. She did, indeed.

Although that was an unpredictable kiss coming from the crazy blonde, Minyoung had let other guy kissed her and that felt so wrong. Never had in her life she felt this guilty before. Minyoung wanted to apologize to Kwangmin so badly, but then the brunette would be wondering why, so she discouraged herself from doing so and kept up with the acting.

After taking a long hot bath, Minyoung sat in front of her desk. She had some papers to finish, but she couldn’t focus her mind on them. She kept thinking about the kissing incident with Youngmin. Her cheeks would heat up every time she recalled that embarrassing moment.

What was that kiss for? She couldn’t help but wondering why the blonde did that to her. At one moment, he congratulated her with a big grin plastered on his face. But then the next second, he kissed someone who he knew exactly was his twin’s girlfriend. Suddenly a real silly assumption popped into her mind. Could Youngmin possibly have been crushing on her? Minyoung messed up her hair in frustation.

That. Was. Impossible.

Youngmin had never shown his attraction to her, so that must not be the case. Unlike Kwangmin who treated her nice all the time, Youngmin could be really irritating at times. Well, they sure had some nice experiences together, for example during the earthquake incident. Her cheeks flushed involuntarily when she remembered how she felt at that time. It was not normal for her to feel this way toward him, wasn’t it? However, rather than a few good things she knew about Youngmin, there were a whole lot more bad things that she hated about him.

Minyoung reached for a pencil and began writing randomly on her notebook. She listed down all the things she hated about the blonde, wanting to remind herself not to fall for him in any way possible. She began with the first one.

One. Rudeness. The blonde was surely a rude boy when she met him for the first time. She remembered clearly how Youngmin yelled at her after she spilled her juice on him. It was normal for anyone to get angry after such an unpleasant accident, but everybody knew that the blonde’s reaction was too much.

Two. Arrogance. Youngmin slapped her hands away when she tried to dry his uniform using her handkerchief. Did he know how much he had hurt her pride that time? He even rejected her sincere apology.

Three. Self-importance. He always acted as if he was the most adored man in the whole world, while in fact, he was just simply the most popular boy in SOPA. Okay, he might be handsome and talented and wanted by the girls. But that didn’t mean that he was allowed to treat everyone as if they were lower than him. He only cared about himself and found it really hard to say such a simple word as “sorry”.

Four. Severity. Minyoung had lost count of how many times Youngmin said harsh words to her, even since their very first meeting. She felt like gradually becoming immune to his irritating words.

Five. Short temper. It was not a hard thing to trigger Youngmin’s anger because he raged easily. If someone offended him in the slightest way, he would still get really mad. If something didn’t go as his wish, he would start to rant and rave. Minyoung remembered how the blonde got angry at her during their first practice because he said she was hopeless and had no talent. Oh boy. She felt sick just by remembering that moment.

Six. Recklessness. It was weird how this thing joined the list of things Minyoung hated about Youngmin, but it was true, though. She hated how he seemed to put other people before himself. Normally, it would be a great trait of a person. But still, Minyoung disliked it because Youngmin almost got injured by trying to save people without giving a damn about his own safety. That thought formed another kind of pain in her heart. He’d better not be as reckless again or she swore that she would scold him for God only knew how long.

Minyoung sighed and leaned back on her chair. Why was she afraid to see Youngmin injured? Why was she so scared to lose him? The feeling she had on that day was the same with what she felt every time her mother had to be admitted to the hospital due to the weak body she had. Once in a while, if Minyoung’s mother got too tired or stressed out, her immune system would weaken and her face would change into a pale color which Minyoung feared the most. It was normal for her to felt that way about her mother, but what about Youngmin? That wasn’t normal at all.

Minyoung could feel her heart pounding inside her chest when she tried to recall the kissing incident this afternoon. When she closed her eyes, she could see the image of Youngmin inching closer to her and press his lips against hers. Her cheeks reddened at the imaginary sight. Minyoung quickly opened her eyes before drowning deeper in her imagination. She dragged her finger to her lips and touched it gently. As weird at it sounded, Minyoung could still feel the warmth and softness of Youngmin’s lips hanging there. 

She should be more freaked out about it. She should be angry at him and hate him for what he had done to her. Youngmin had stolen her first kiss, for crying out loud! But somehow, she didn’t. She started to think that the kiss was in fact really nice. And to tell the truth, for a brief moment back then, she actually enjoyed the kiss. It was nothing close to passionate, but somehow she could feel Youngmin’s feelings flowing through her body just by the single contact.

It was completely different from what she felt with Kwangmin, for example, when he stood close to her until she could feel his hot breath on her ears or when his fingers intertwined with hers. All the physical contacts she had with the brunette felt so nice; they gave her a secure feeling and left her contented. But they lack of passion and there was no sign of thrill or pumping adrenaline. With Youngmin, she felt her head spinning and her heartbeat racing—what an awesome yet indescribable sensation! But of course, she was too embarrassed to admit it out loud.

…Wait, this was so wrong! She should stop comparing her boyfriend with his twin. The brunette would get hurt for sure from all her previous thoughts about them. Minyoung groaned in frustration. She slowly began to lose her mind. She was scared to think about it, but that was the only rational explanation she could think of at that moment.

The poor girl took her pencil and wrote down the next thing she hated about that certain blonde guy. “And the seventh thing I hate the most that you do…” she trailed off while writing. Minyoung took a deep breath and huffed. “…You make me feel the things I shouldn’t. How are you going to take responsibility, Jo Youngmin?”

***

Unbeknownst to Kwangmin, Minyoung texted Youngmin during the first lesson and asked him to meet her at the library. Excusing herself to the restroom, Minyoung successfully left the class without having her teacher’s suspicion. She knew this was a brave action, but she had to confirm everything with Youngmin and of course, she couldn’t harm her relationship with Kwangmin by letting the brunette know.

Nobody used the library since everyone was supposed to be in the class. Youngmin was already there when Minyoung arrived. She suddenly became nervous when the blonde’s gaze met hers.

“What is it that you want to talk about?” asked him in a rather cold tone. “I’m having math now and we’re going through a new chapter, so please make it quick.”

“It won’t take long, I promise,” replied Minyoung. She took a deep breath, feeling really nervous now. She had prepared herself for this, but it still felt embarrassing to ask him such a question. “Give me an honest answer, Youngmin… Why did you kiss me yesterday?” she said bluntly.

Youngmin succeeded to maintain a calm attitude. He knew that sooner or later, Minyoung would ask him about his action yesterday. He just didn’t expect her to be this brave and straightforward. “Why did you ask?”

“What?!” Minyoung’s face twisted in confusion. “Of course I should ask because that was wrong… I’m your twin’s girlfriend, for God’s sake! You aren’t allowed to kiss me like that!”

Youngmin didn’t seem to mind it. His face was a hard mask. He lazily flopped himself on the nearest chair and said, “Do you want an honest answer? Sure that you won’t regret it later?”

Minyoung nodded, even though she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to hear it. All that she could do was to prepare herself for the worse. When she lifted his head, her gaze quickly met Youngmin’s and they stared at each other like that for a while. Minyoung clenched her teeth; hands were pulled into fists at her side.

Youngmin sighed. “…Well, the answer is simple. I just wanted to tease you. What are you expecting from me?” he said without looking at the confused girl in front of him.

Minyoung’s mouth flung open in disbelief. She was left confused and speechless. Did she hear it right? Youngmin only wanted to fool around with her?

Her mind was still busy forming words to say when Youngmin suddenly got up from his seat. “Is that all? Well, I should go back to my class now. See you later!” he said while passing Minyoung who stood still like a statue.

This time, Minyoung was clearly hurt. All these time, she tried to tolerate with Youngmin’s behavior and the all the bad things he had done to her. She still forgave him despite the pain his words had caused her. She still forgave him even though she was mistreated. However, there was no way she could forgive him this time. Jo Youngmin had stolen her kiss and the only explanation he gave him was that he wanted to . This was really intolerable.

“Jo Youngmin, you’re a jerk!!!” she yelled while running to the restroom to cry her broken heart out.

***

Kwangmin worried about his girlfriend who just kept silent during their private lunch time at the rooftop. He guessed something must have made Minyoung down. He tried to throw some jokes, hoping to see her laugh out loud, but a faint, forced smile was all Minyoung gave him. “Something really bad must have happened to her. Or else, she wouldn’t act this way,” Kwangmin thought to himself.

He became tired with the silent and sighed loudly, causing Minyoung to turn to his direction. “Minyoung, look at me,” Kwangmin said while holding both sides of her face, forcing her to look directly into his eyes. “You’ve been unusually quiet since this morning… I know that something must be bothering your mind. What is it?”

Minyoung shook her head weakly. “Nothing, I’m fine,” she said not-so-convincingly.

Kwangmin narrowed his eyes at her answer and took a deep breath again. He knew that she was lying to him and it disappointed the brunette. “You can talk about anything to me, you know,” he said in a sad tone. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I just want you to know that I’ll always be there when you need me.”

Minyoung was really touched by Kwangmin’s understanding. He didn’t force her to spit it out and that was so mature of him. Instead, he reassured her in a really comforting way. She was glad to have him as her boyfriend. Kwangmin’s words had somehow put Minyoung’s heart at ease, even the pain hadn’t completely gone.

“Thank you,” Minyoung said earnestly. Even it was hard for her, she still tried to show him a smile because she didn’t want him to worry any further. She felt all messed up after hearing Youngmin’s hurtful words, but she was glad that she still had Kwangmin by her side. His kindness never failed to win over her heart.

Kwangmin’s concern slowly faded as he saw Minyoung’s smile. For him, she got a smile that only heaven could make. That smile made her look ten times even more beautiful than she already was. Kwangmin looked at Minyoung’s eyes deeply without removing his hands on her cheeks. He was fascinated by Minyoung’s smile and wanted to do more to comfort her, so he leaned closer.

Minyoung could predict what was going to happen next. She closed her eyes immediately as Kwangmin’s face got closer to hers, preparing for the kiss the brunette was going to give her. But when she closed her eyes, Youngmin’s face suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She was startled and swiftly pulled away.

Kwangmin was shocked by Minyoung’s abrupt action. He didn’t expect her to reject his kiss. He was hurt, but he tried to hide his feeling. “S-sorry,” he stuttered while turning his gaze to the other direction.

“No, I’m sorry,” Minyoung quickly apologized. She felt really bad at the moment and couldn’t stop cursing herself silently for her foolishness. How could she think about Youngmin when they were about to kiss?! Oh my God… She must have hurt Kwangmin badly.

“No, it’s okay,” Kwangmin snapped back almost immediately. “I know that maybe this is too soon for you… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Let’s just go slowly, okay?” he smiled sheepishly.

Minyoung could feel her chest tighten in pain at the sight. Kwangmin had obviously gotten the wrong idea. Minyoung wanted to clear up the misunderstanding between them, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth. She was afraid that the truth would hurt him even more, so she only nodded while giving her boyfriend a rueful smile.

***

Youngmin’s heart was broken just as bad as Minyoung’s. He didn’t want to hurt her at all, but he was left with no choice. For a brief moment back then, he was tempted to tell her the truth she was asking from him… To tell Minyoung the reason he kissed her… To tell the girl that he loved her… To tell her how much Youngmin wished that she belonged to him instead of Kwangmin…

But,no, he couldn’t do that. What would she think of him if he confessed to her? Minyoung would be confused for sure, because no one expected him to fall in love with her. Beside, his love felt like a one-sided love. He always said harsh things to her, so she must hated him. There was no way in the world she could feel the same way about him. It was useless to confess if you were going to be turned down later.

That was not the only reason, though. Youngmin still had another thing on mind. How much his confession would affect everything if, let’s just say, she told him that she also loved him? He knew that was impossible, but if that was true, what would he say to Kwangmin? He couldn’t hurt his twin by stealing away his girlfriend—that was cruel.

Youngmin knew very well how much Kwangmin loved Minyoung; his love for her was unquestionable. If Kwangmin were happy, then Youngmin would be happy, too. He didn’t want to take away the brunette’s happiness from him. Although he was really selfish sometimes, he still loved his brother like no one in this world. And the appearance of a certain girl in their life was not going to change that fact.

And so, Youngmin decided to gave way, even if that meant he must sacrificed Minyoung’s feeling and his own feeling in return.

Youngmin tried to sleep, but he found it hard to breathe. He had been feeling unwell since this morning. His body felt so weak and he sweated a lot during their dance practice with other members. He even sweated more than the ‘Sweaty King’ Minwoo, which is very abnormal. Actually they had a recording session today, but their manager cancelled the schedule due to Youngmin’s condition. He had had a cough for days now and his voice was hoarse, so he couldn’t sing properly.

Youngmin’s breathing was becoming even more unsteady. He felt as if there was a lump in his neck. He wanted to get that thing out of his throat so badly, but he just couldn’t do it. The hitching sound of his breath finally caught Kwangmin’s attention and he immediately got up from their bed to turn on the light.

“Youngmin, what’s wrong?” he asked with a worried face.

Youngmin managed to take a few deep breaths before muttering, “I’m okay. I need to use the toilet.” His voice creaked.

Youngmin got up and reached for a glass of water on the end table beside the bed. He drank them in one go and limply walked to the bathroom. His steps were dangerous, as if he was going to trip anytime on his way. Kwangmin watched nervously as his twin brother disappeared behind the bathroom door. He had a bad feeling about this, but he tried to cast it away.

Just when he was about to lie back on the bed, Kwangmin heard Youngmin coughing loudly in the bathroom. He coughed louder than usual and it made the brunette felt worried. He then got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to check on his twin.

Luckily, the bathroom door wasn’t locked. Youngmin was still coughing hard in front of the sink when Kwangmin entered the bathroom. His hand was covering his mouth. The brunette patted his twin’s back, hoping to ease the cough, but they wouldn’t go away. After one last cough, Youngmin removed his hand and that was when they saw blood on the blonde’s palm.

Both of their eyes widen in shock. Kwangmin started to get panic, so he yelled loudly, “Mom! Dad! Come here…!”

Their parents and Hyunmin awoke because of his yelling. Sensing the hint of terror in Kwangmin’s voice, the three of them quickly climbed the stairs and headed toward the twin’s shared room. They hastily entered the bathroom and were shocked to see a generous amount of blood on Youngmin’s palm. His face was a pale color and he looked like a mess.

“Hyung, what happened?!” Hyunmin asked hysterically.

“I-I don’t know,” Kwangmin answered faintly. “Youngmin was coughing really hard and suddenly there was blood…”

“Youngmin, are you okay?” Their mother pulled Youngmin into a hug and began caressing his hair anxiously. “Are you hurt?”

“Let’s go to the hospital! I’ll go get the car,” said their father.

The whole family took Youngmin to the hospital. Youngmin kept coughing on the way there which made Kwangmin get even more worried. After what felt like a long ride, they arrived at the nearest hospital. Youngmin was quickly admitted to the emergency room. After running some examinations, the doctor still couldn’t find out the reason of Youngmin’s illness. He had a suspicion for a worse case, but then decided to use chest x-ray and run a CT scan for an accurate diagnosis.

Meanwhile, Kwangmin and the rest of their family members were waiting impatiently. They hoped that there was nothing serious with Youngmin, but that hope soon faded away when the doctor came out from the room with a stern expression.

“Are you Jo Youngmin’s parents?” asked the doctor.

“Yes, we are,” Youngmin’s father quickly answered. “How is my son’s condition? Is he alright?”

The doctor who seemed to be in his late 40s took a deep breath. “We tried to run some physical examinations and found a small lump in his neck. For further examinations, we decided to run a CT scan and found out that patient is suffering from laryngeal cancer.”

Kwangmin’s face turned pale at the doctor’s explanation. He felt dizzy all of sudden. Was he dreaming? Yes, he must be dreaming. This wasn’t real. He refused to accept it as the truth. The brunette dashed out from the hospital building, not minding his parents’ yelling at the back.

Whoa... I feel really bad for putting Youngmin in such a condition! If it were real, I would cry for sure! I love him too much to hurt him... :'(

This story will end soon, so I'm hoping to receive a lot of comments from my readers! Tell me how you want it to end, I might consider your suggestion! 

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Ppyong~♥