Chapter 21 (1/2)

I'm back with a new chapter!!! I've had this done for such a long time and I swear I had this started right when I finished the last one but idk what happened.This is quite long, almost 7k words, so this is pretty much the longest chapter I've ever done!! Also, please read the last chapter if you forgot what happened!Enjoy!  Surprises Jinki stayed home, happy to know that Taemin would be staying too. He plans to spend his time with Taemin for the day considering he doesn’t have a girlfriend to worry about anymore. But what he didn't know was that he'll be disappointed later on. Jinki was rather excited for today since he’ll be able to spend his day just like he used to during his debut days; watching a movie with his maknae or so he hopes. Since the other three left the dorm, Taemin has been stuck in the room still talking on the phone which was very important if he wanted whatever he planned to go right. Jinki, on the other hand was in the living room looking for a movie they both hasn’t watched yet. As Taemin was talking on the phone, Jinki was getting lazier and lazier to look for a movie. Almost all the movies that were on the list were watched by the both of them already. Also, rather than thinking about something to watch, Jinki’s mind was focused on something else that he wasn't even paying attention if he was clicking the right buttons. He recalled what happened an hour ago and it made him feel this fluttering feeling again in his chest.

"Onew hyung loves watching movies…” Taemin suddenly said. With this being said by the younger, the three in the room knew the maknae and leader knew some things they didn’t even know themselves. Key looked at the younger trying to read his expressions and yet he couldn't. It didn't make any sense to him, he was getting closer to the boy and yet he still didn’t know what was going on in Taemin’s mind. He knew the younger was wiser than everyone thought he was. He knew that Taemin could accept facts he knew a person deeply in love couldn’t. He wanted to get to the boy’s mind, to know every single thing the boy thought. Because even if he knew most things that was happening in the dorm, he knew the boy was hiding something from all of them. He just hopes to find out what it is before it’s too late. Taemin looked around at all four of them ignoring the looks given by Jonghyun, Minho, and Key. It was obvious that the three wanted him to continue on what he was going to say but he stopped. If he can, he would’ve said some things about his relationship with Jinki but he couldn’t because he wanted to at least keep those memories to himself only. He also would’ve confessed already but again, he couldn't, knowing the leader was in a relationship. He wanted this heavy feeling to be lifted already, yet it was impossible to do so and it irritated him. The dancer ignored all of them as he saw Key make a face telling him to speak but instead he continued to focus on his phone and food. It seemed like the three have forgotten about the plan they made just the other night. It made the younger smile though since just last night the trio was reminding him not to make any sort of contact with the elder unless it had to do with work matters. He wanted to hang out with Jinki today too but then he remembered a schedule. He doesn't know how it's going to play out but at least his plan will work… he hopes so at least. As Taemin was on the phone, he was texting Jongin about when they should meet up again, then another text came but from their manager. He quickly covered the screen, feeling that Jinki was stealing quick glances at who he was texting. How can Jinki be so predictable? Seeing how Taemin reacted to cover his phone, Jinki felt like the younger didn’t trust in him, it felt like Taemin wasn’t treating him as his best friend anymore and the thought of it upset him. They would always tell each other what they typed to the person they were talking to. That’s how much they trusted each other. What upset him more was that just a few minutes ago he was looking at himself in the mirror and comparing himself to Kai and now seeing Taemin text the younger deepened those unwanted thoughts he kept having. However, Jinki ignored the clenching feeling of his heart. He didn't want to cause another situation which can bring back what happened a few days ago. Just thinking about it made him wince. It seemed to him that he was only a band member to the younger but he thought wrong… so wrong. "And how do you know that Tae?" Minho asked, actually curious as to why Taemin knew this fact when many people knew Jinki didn't like movies. Taemin lifted his head at the question and looked at the three. He didn't know what to say, but he had a feeling that the others just wanted him reveal everything they didn’t know. But of course he doesn't plan on doing so. "I… I well, Onew hyung… I caught him watching a movie the day you asked if he wanted to watch a movie with you… a-and right after he was in his room… watching a movie…” The dancer replied in a whisper. He wasn't particularly lying with what he said, he just missed out the part about joining in and missed out the fact that there were multiple times that he and the leader would watch a movie together. The two always liked to watch movies together because they would make comments that were much similar to each others’ at the same time and giggle about it or they’ll pause at a certain scene and guess what would happen next. They also knew they wouldn’t be able to watch a movie without talking now and then while the other members were with them. It was obvious that the others got annoyed. So instead they would watch movies together, just the two of them. Alone. Jinki caught on that Taemin missed out a lot of details and looked at the younger. All Jinki can think of was that Taemin must've been embarrassed to admit that they have been spending their free time together alone. He wondered why the maknae didn't add anymore to what he was saying. The answer he can only think of was that Taemin didn't want to be with him and was probably only hanging out with him since he was older by four years and couldn’t say no to him. Because clearly, to him there was no other explanation. "Hyung! Why would you do that? Don't you want to hang out with me?" Minho whined as he stopped chewing the food inside his mouth, causing the food to be spitted out. "Hah! who would?" Key added as he wiped his side of the table with a disgusted look on his face. "Watch it!" Minho glared but only received an eye roll. "You watch it! Look at the food you ju-" Just as Key was about to talk back Jinki answered, which left Kibum muttering his thoughts towards Minho who didn't listen anyways. "I… I, no- I just like watching movies in bed you know? Cuddling with whatever is near me…” Jinki blushed as he recalled the times he watched a movie with Taemin.

However in Taemin's point of view, it seemed as if Jinki cuddling with him wasn't special, Jinki did say he cuddles with anything that's near him, which meant that he'll cuddle with Taemin not because he's special but because the leader had the urge to cuddle into something… It hurt, but he covered it like he always did… The maknae got another text and it said to go to a private place. He had no choice but to finish his breakfast as fast as he can. "Yah, Taemin-ah calmed down, there's more food! No need to stuff your mouth in one go… " Jonghyun said, afraid that the maknae will choke himself. "Haf to pinish pash, needto chalk to shomeone!" And with that Taemin finished and ran to his room as well as gripping his phone as if his life depended on it. The four looked at where the boy headed off to and shrugged, however they still wondered since Taemin was always on his own now. The trio took their time eating and once they've finished they bid goodbye to Jinki and yelled bye to Taemin.

Jinki still had no idea why Taemin would be telling the others that he liked watching movies if he wouldn't even tell it in full detail. For all he knew, Taemin could've just said Jinki didn't want to watch movies because it wasn't his thing. Many more questions popped into his head and made him feel a lot more confused. And believe it or not, he knew he was quite slow but he knew he was not as slow as Taemin. After a few minutes of thinking to himself, Jinki heard the front door opening and shutting loudly. Turns out Key's and Jonghyun's plans for today couldn't happen due to the elder's schedules he forgot he had. As the rapper was taking his off shoes he continued to mumble his rants. Because of the mood Key was in, he forgot Taemin and Jinki stayed at home. So as he entered the living room, he immediately stopped and stood at the door petrified as Jinki looked at him, surprised that Key was this mad about not having to hang out with his boyfriend. Just so you know… Key is scary when he gets angry. Just as Key was about to apologize to Jinki of how loud he was, Taemin came out of his room saying Jinki was too loud and wanted him to shut up for a while. "H-hyung!" Now, it was Taemin's turn to stand still. "I-it was you who closed the door huh?" He pointed to the diva, giving their leader an apologetic look. He seriously thought that it was Jinki making such loud noises. He knew that he shouldn't have said what he said but he really needed to know what his manager was talking about. "N-neh… sorry about that, I was just really annoyed and I forgot you two were home…” Key looked as if he really wanted to talk about it but he set it aside knowing Jonghyun had nothing to do with what happened considering it was the manager's choice. "It's okay… just no more of the door shutting loudly okay?" Jinki assured quite quietly because of what Taemin said. "Neh hyung, mianhae." Key didn't fail to realize that Taemin and Jinki were in separate rooms. He thought the two would use this day to catch up on what they both missed from each other, just like the other day. "Why were you two in different rooms?" He asked without caring that he must've sounded curious. "I needed to talk to someone important…” The younger replied as he was avoiding eye contact and was twisting his knees. "Until now?" Key checked the time on his phone. "I've been gone for an hour and the only thing you did was talk on the phone when Jinki was here alone looking for something to watch?" Taemin only shrugged wanting to pull off the look that he didn't care, in which he succeeded. "Oh come on, I see hyung everyday. I don't think I have to talk to him every single second and plus he has a girlfriend, there's a possibility that he talked to her as well while I was talking on the phone." Key agreed in his head because what Taemin said could have been right. "Hyung," Key sat close to Jinki "what are we going to watch?" Key continued as he cuddled into Jinki wanting to see Taemin jealous to rise up his mood. Jinki felt awkward because the latter never really did any skinship with him but he didn't say anything. When he was going to answer, the door rang. Key got up from the couch and walked towards the door. When he opened it he saw a bunch of cameras towards him which surprised him and saw a red mail box just to the side of the door. He took it and the cameras came in as well. Jinki was surprised because he knew what this mailbox was… and Taemin well, he wasn't at all surprised, but he needed to act right? "Ohoh hyung what's that?" The younger asked. "KYAAA Let's open it” Key took the tiny envelope from the mailbox since he too knew what it was. It was for the tv show ‘We Got Married’. Key open the envelope noticing that it was some kind of scratch card. “Yah! I need a coin, get me a coin” Key yelled. “Ani… there’s one in here.” Jinki pointed out as he showed the coin he found in the mailbox. Key grabbed it and sat on the massage chair as the other two sat down on the couch. When Key finished scratching the card, he whined and the other two — the leader— was curious as to why he reacted that way. The leader grabbed the card and he didn’t find his name but someone else’s. Jinki yelled… it was for Taemin. When Taemin heard Jinki yell he knew it was his turn to grab it and when he saw his name on the card, he cheerfully yelled. The dancer’s acting was great that even Key didn't catch on and to that, he smiled to himself. “Bwo? How are you suppose to be husband?” Key asked, still upset that he wasn’t the one who was chosen even if he had Jonghyun to be with. “I was waiting for this! And I DIDN’T GET CHOSEN!" As the rapper began to whine, Jinki wondered if this was the schedule Taemin might have been hiding from them. However, the reaction he got from the dancer didn’t match up which made that idea go away. The cameras were rolling as they talked about how Taemin couldn't be a husband since he was practically a child. Obviously, Key forgot that Taemin could be an adult if he wanted to and forgot that the maknae can be a bit sneaky when it came to his secrets. They kept talking and all of the sudden Taemin said “I hope she’s younger though" ending it with a smile.

“Wae, wae?” Key asked situating himself at the left side of the maknae. "I don't know… maybe because I've always been the maknae like in my family and the band? So I just thought that it would be nice to take care of someone…” Taemin explained purposely making his cheeks go red so that no one can suspect that he was tricking them. To this, Jinki felt… sad? Kai was younger, which meant Taemin could've been crushing on the dancer. He was older by four years… that gave him another reason as to why Taemin might've given up on him in the past. "Plus, if I was to get a lover I would want a younger person…” Taemin didn't forget about the fact that Key knew about his love towards the leader, no. The reason he said this was for the show, plan, and of course, for Jinki. Which hurt the leader further. So, I was right all along… Jinki thought. Key agreed to it, saying Taemin was somehow right but still looked at him, trying to understand the boy’s mind. However, since he wasn't a mind reader or anything he couldn't for the love of god, and gave up. Jinki looked into the envelope and saw a picture and gave it to the other two, they began to make some guesses; some were funny, some were serious, but all in all they knew they were wrong. However, Key being the only one to "baby" Taemin asked him what plans he would do since they'd be meeting in Jeju according to the picture. The three of them knew that there was a variety of amazing things to do while in Jeju but it seems that the only thing Taemin knew was the extreme sports he always loved. "Bwo? You have to remember you're not going to Jeju alone, you have a wife now!" Key said as well as wiggling his eyebrows to the younger. "I don't even know who she is though…” Taemin let out a pout. "Well… at least give me some tips on how to impress a girl!" He blurted out in which Key asked "was there ever a girl who made your heart beat fast?" Taemin thought for a bit and nodded. "It was a girl from a photoshoot, they put their arm around my shoulders." Of course he was talking about the leader but there were also a few photoshoots he did with a girl, "Eyyyyy?" The other two said. "But that doesn't count!" Key said and later asked the leader the same question. The leader answered "I liked it more with chicken!" In which he showed his signature smile. "Hyung you're never going to get on this show if you keep doing that…” Jinki only shrugged not caring if he will be on ‘We Got Married’ or not. Taemin then turned towards Jinki and asked "what about you hyung, besides chicken do you have any tips?" All of the sudden, Jinki reached out his hand towards Taemin's and looked into his eyes. Taemin only looked at the leader as Jinki was explaining how it would be nice to walk on the beach holding hands. The younger was trying his best to contain his blush, he succeeded but his smile couldn't be wiped away. When Jinki knew he was going too far, he let go of Taemin and Key didn't miss the smiles from the both of them. Only adding to the fact that these two surely do have a thing for each other. Well… he’s 100% sure that Taemin has feelings for the other but he wasn't so sure about Jinki since he was only basing his conclusions on Jinki’s actions towards Taemin. Key pushed those thoughts aside and looked into the envelope again and read something. It said that Taemin was to draw what he thinks his wife would look like and right away they knew it was going to be a mess. Even their fans knew how much of a bad artist Taemin was when it came to drawing.

*** The five members and even their managers especially the one who was with Taemin when he signed the contract got together. They sat in the living room with many snacks around them and waited for the previous show to end to watch Taemin and his supposed wife. At first it only showed the three members of SHINee in their living room but after that scene passed they got a blurry glimpse of the girl Taemin would be filming the show with. Almost all of them laughed at the way Taemin approach the girl, now known as Son Naeun. They joked around and laughed because it seemed like Taemin really needed to up his game with girls. Which wasn’t really needed for Taemin considering he already has someone owning his heart: Lee Jinki. They all continued to watch the show together making side comments as well, however, there was one person who wasn’t paying attention to both the show and their surroundings. It was impossible to pay attention to the show when one member was moving around in their seat. This member being Jonghyun. He looked at the leader and wondered what got him so bothered. As the show was playing, the leader watched intently, he caught the glances Taemin directed to Naeun. He never saw those stares in his whole entire time of being friends with the younger. Those glances looked as if the younger may have a small amount of feelings for the girl. But that couldn’t be true, he thought, Taemin himself said he was gay, if he had feelings for woman as well, shouldn’t the boy say he was bisexual instead? Rather than thinking about the possibility that Taemin was actually growing such feelings towards Naeun he thought about how this show will end up. Will the two continue to talk even after the show has ended? Lee Jinki, control yourself. It’s just acting. Although he was telling himself that, he was sure that there could still be a chance that Taemin would be straight. Naeun was pretty and could totally be Taemin’s type in his opinion. They had a lot in common, they both went to the same school for elementary, being religious, and they have already been together on set for a sitcom. After hearing that the new couple was to be called the ‘first love’ couple, Jinki cringed. He wanted to be the one to make Taemin feel fluttery, in which he does. He wanted to go on those dates the couple went to. He just couldn’t accept that it should’ve been him in the place of Naeun but he knew that couldn’t happen, after all he was a guy and considering Korea was not the type to allow such things to happen, he somehow lost his will to make Taemin realize. When the scene where Taemin was in the car with Naeun, Jinki stopped paying attention. Instead the leader has been texting, watching the show with jealousy from time to time and looking at Taemin with a panicked face. He was receiving text messages from Jungah again and at first it seemed like she wanted to get back together and it made Jinki feel uncertain about talking to the girl again. He didn’t want to raise her hopes up again for nothing this time.

To: Jinki Babe~ ♥From: JungahSo how do you feel?

Jinki didn’t know why he was suddenly receiving messages from his ex-girlfriend at this time of day. They were still friends and talked to each other quite often after the break up. However, what Jungah texted him confused him. Was this message for him or for someone else? Or was she asking him about how he felt after the break up, after all, it’s only been two weeks since that happened and they never really talked about the incident. As Jinki was contemplating on what to reply back, Taemin glanced at him. After all, he did all this for Jinki to be jealous even if he thought the elder could never give the same feelings he had back. He wanted to make sure that the older was watching every move he did in the show, but seeing the older not even watching, disappointed him. Who am I kidding? He almost never pays attention to anything anymore. Taemin ignored the rejected feeling once again like he’s always done. Instead, he watched the show and understood why many idols found the girl pretty and he admits, she was quite attractive. He was also surprised to see himself smiling in the show. He hasn’t been smiling or laughing for the past couple of days, so seeing that he was in fact doing so made his lips tug up. He remembered that day too. He was constantly nervous that he might ruin SHINee’s maknae's reputation by making jokes he too found lame but funny. It was like he was some other person but he couldn’t deny that he liked it because he did. Not only did he have fun shooting the first episode but he also didn’t think about Jinki. He didn’t realize that though. Jonghyun, the only one paying attention to the two noticed the smile the younger had and he knew it wasn't a good one.

To: Jungah♥From: JinkiWhat do you mean?

He didn’t wait long for a reply since the other replied right when she got the message.

To: Jinki Babe~♥From: JungahJinki-ah are you seriously playing dumb with me?

Now Jinki was completely confused. What exactly did she mean? Playing dumb? He didn’t even know what the other was talking about. Could she be talking about their whole relationship, which he was a 100% sure he didn’t want to have anymore. Although, he was thankful to her because even if his affections wasn’t fully true towards Jungah, he still felt loved and he gave some love back. He was also thankful to her because their breakup was something he wished: not much tears and no arguments.

To: Jinki Babe~♥From: JungahJinki… are you serious? You don’t know what I’m talking about do you? Are you even watching the show?

To: Jungah♥From: JinkiAni… I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I’m watching ‘We Got Married’ with the members and managers.