Taemin walked down the street with a few bags in his hands full of groceries. Key had left a few minutes ago after they had finished shopping at the market to go meet up with Jonghyun. It was a short distance from the convenience store to the apartment complex and he got home in just a mere five minutes. He set the two brown paper bags on the ground and pulled out his house key from his pocket to unlock the front door and walked in, closing it behind him. The lights were turned off so it was pretty dark as he walked to the kitchen and set the bags on the small table. He went around turning on the lights in the apartment before going back to the kitchen to start making dinner. After setting the rice cooker for twenty minutes he boiled some vegetables and cut up some chicken to shimmer and then had to wait awhile until that was done cooking.

Looking around the apartment, Taemin realized that it was pretty messy. He’d been busy all week with dance and homework, plus hanging out with Minho, that he’d neglected the housework; it’s not like his appa was ever home to do it. He was always working to pay for all the expensive hospital bills. Well, it’s not going to get done itself. He walked back to his room to dig around the top drawer of his nightstand and pulled out his ipod and plugged it in, blasting some music throughout the apartment. With that, he began picking up laundry from his room and his father’s and did a load of laundry. Heading back to the living room, he grabbed the mail from the side of the couch and brought it back to his father’s room and then went back to straighten the cushion’s of the sofa and dust. After an hour the entire apartment was spotless and he smiled in triumph.

The timer dinged in the kitchen, alerting him that the food was ready. He went to check on it and it looked fine. It wasn’t a dish that he particularly enjoyed so he wasn’t going to eat it. It was for his father since he was coming home early tonight and even picking Taemin of from dance class. He turned the stove on low so it wouldn’t get cold before his father got home. But since he was going to visit his mother next he decided to bring a plate for her. She was getting healthy, so hopefully that meant she’d be able to eat it. He set the plate on the counter and went back to his room to get his dance bag; didn’t want to walk back home after visiting his mother so he decided to just bring it with him. After putting in a pair of fresh sweats and a black wifebeater, he zipped it up and walked over to his mirror and brushed his hair back into a ponytail. Grabbing his bag, he turned off the lights and picked up the plastic covered plate of food and headed out of the apartment, locking it behind him.

The hospital was about ten minutes away, but he didn’t mind walking the distance because it was such a nice day out. The sun was still up and there were few clouds lazing around so it was pretty cool out, staring to get warmer as spring progressed. When the giant building came into view, Taemin quickened his pace a little bit and went inside, heading straight to the elevator and hitting the button for the sixth floor; long term patients. Her room was at the end of the hall and he knocked before he went in. Unfortunately, she was asleep. Taemin frowned and set the plate of food on the nightstand next to her hospital bed. Ah, well she needs to rest so she can hurry and come home, he thought as he set his bag on the floor and sat in the chair next to her bed. Even if she is asleep he would still sit there and spend time with her. He would do it for an hour every single day no matter how busy he was. Umma always came first.

As he watched her sleep he began thinking of all the things they could do together when she was able to come home. She would be able to attend his dance recitals, they’d be able to go shopping together again, cook together, all sorts of fun things they used to do. In fact, she had never even been to the apartment before. After she was admitted to this hospital, it was such a long commute to come visit her. Eventually his father sold their house and he and Taemin moved to the apartment. But it just wasn’t home without her there with them.

Nearly forty-five minutes passed in his musings, but time was ticking and she wasn’t waking up anytime soon. Taemin sighed softly and stood up, leaning over to peck her softly on the cheek and whispered he’d be back tomorrow night. He then picked up his bag and headed towards the door, just as the nurse was stepping in.

“Oh, Taemin, are you leaving already? You’re father was already here earlier,” Nurse Yuri informed him with a light smile. Taemin nodded and smiled at her; he liked this nurse, she was very sweet to him and kind to his mother as well.

“Yeah, I have dance class soon so I’m leaving early. I made her some food, it’s on her nightstand. Could you heat it up for her when she wakes up?” He asked hopefully. Nurse Yuri agreed and patted his head and then he left the room and headed for the elevator.

After leaving the hospital, Taemin pulled out his phone to check the time. There was still two and a half hours until dance class started. Generally he never had that much free time on his hands; Key would usually take up whatever free time Taemin had, but he was out with Jonghyun. He stopped for a second to check what street he was on and then smile; he was going to go visit Minho. He knew his boyfriend had soccer practice and thought it would be fun to go watch him since Minho would come watch him dance sometimes. He knew where the high school was, there were only two in town. Fifteen minutes of walking and he arrived at the school and it took another five minutes to locate the soccer field.

The team was running through a warm up, kicking the soccer ball around with each other. Taemin looked for Minho as he walked to the bleachers and set his bag down. He smiled widely when he spotted his boyfriend running with the ball. Minho glanced up for about two seconds and was so shocked to see Taemin standing there smiling that he tripped over the ball and face-planted the ground, much to everyone’s amusement. Taemin quickly covered his mouth hiding his giggles and sat on the bench and waited. The warm up ended a few minutes later and Minho quickly jogged over to Taemin, pulling him into a tight hug.

“What are you doing here, Taemin?” He asked excitedly, staring into his boyfriend’s eyes happily.

“I had some time on my hands so I came to watch you,” Taemin told him. Minho nodded and leaned down to gently kiss his cheek.

“Practice is over in fifteen minutes, and then we can go get something to eat, okay?” He said.

“Okay. Good luck!” Taemin replied. Minho nodded and smiled and went back to his team as practice started again. He watched ardently as Minho concentrated on the game. He saw a side of his boyfriend that he’d never seen before. Determined, hard working, godlike; Taemin loved seeing this. Fifteen minutes passed by quickly and the coach blew his whistle and dismissed the team for the day. Minho grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat from his face and headed back over to Taemin.

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