*This is a chapter dedicated to Lee Taemin's birthday on July 18th as of yesterday and today (depending on Time Zones). Because of this special day, I'll also soon post afterwards another chapter which focuses on his birthday. :) Oh, and I should probably point out that this chapter is mostly shonen-ai, but the whole story has a little shonen-ai anyways. Please enjoy this special chapter~

Happy 17/18th Birthday, Taemin!

Also, I got bored so I made a banner:


Anyone like? Couldn't think of much... sorry. hehe~

MinHo's POV

I checked the clock in the bedroom just now. It's 11:10p.m. July 17th. Tomorrow would be TaeMin's birthday, but I guess everyone forgot since all this ruckus happened with the Princess of our group.

I looked around the bedroom. The place only had 3 bedrooms - one with me on it near the bedroom window, next to me was Jjong-hyung sleeping with his eyes slightly open (I think he's trying to stay awake - fail.), and the bed next to his was where TaeMin is sleeping peacefully.

From what I could remember a while ago, after a long search and we came home, that guy by the name of Wang DaDong suggested he sleep on the couch while the others went to the 2nd bedroom in this apartment dorm.

As I stared outside the window and at the night sky, I remembered how I used to be like YuDi when I was 4 years old. Yes, I ran way from home when I was just 4. It was because I figured out how my family was different from any normal family I've seen. My family was broken into pieces - my mother and father were always yelling and shouting, hitting me, my older brothers, and my older sisters whenever they felt the need to.

One night my eldest brother and eldest sister snuck me out of the run-down house we lived in. They told me it was because I was the youngest that I should go and look for help while they keep an eye on the rest of our siblings. All I could remember was me running to the police for help. Next thing I knew, I was in an orphanage away from my family.

The people who ran the orphanage took care of me; I suddenly forgot I had a family to take care of (only my brothers and sisters). Four years later, I met the Lee brothers. At first I called the eldest brother JinKi-hyung, but then after a week, he wanted to form a group with 2 other friends he met on the street. His friend, JongHyun-hyung, was the one naming our group and had told us to call JinKi-hyung by Onew-hyung now. JongHyun-hyung also told me to call him Jjong-hyung and his stepbrother KiBum as Key.

Slowly, I started getting accustomed to their silly habits and found myself smiling for the first time. One unfortunate day, since Onew-hyung was declared leader of our SHINee group (we were still little and we weren't known as a gang until most of us were around 14 years old), he made up an initiation. That stupid initiation got me dating TaeMin that day.

~MinHo's flashback: 8 years old~
I looked down at the 6 year old boy next to me after the rest of our group of friends left us to hang out. The rule was to never kiss each other, which I thought was a stupid rule, considering the fact that we're all boys. But once I looked at TaeMin's face, I could see why Onew-hyung invented that rule.

TaeMin had facial features of a girl, but you could kinda tell he's a boy by his black, bouncy mushroom hair. (Now he has long, reddish-brown hair; but he still looks a bit like a girl.) By first glance, you could already tell his mind was full of innocence.

Speaking of which, at the time, he told me to close my eyes and wait until he says to open them. I did as I was told, and 5 minutes later, I heard him coming back towards me in front of the orphanage and told me to open my eyes.

I opened my eyes to a white piece of paper with an address of it. Puzzled, I looked to TaeMin in confusion.

He innocently smiled at me and said, "I snuck into the records at the orphanage and found this address. Let's go to it!"

Wow, he's a smart little boy. I wonder where this address leads to...?

My question was answered as we drew near the familiar spot. I don't know how exactly, but TaeMin had found my family house. His smile faltered a bit as he saw my reaction when I peeked at a nearby window. He looked in the same direction as I did and gasped silently.

There was my parents, whipping one of my brothers with a belt. I saw a few of my sisters in there, huddling in a corner, scared to death. The only people I couldn't find in the house were my older brother, my older sister, 2 of my other brothers, and one of the youngest sisters in my family.

Suddenly, I found 2 of my brothers hiding near the gate where I was standing, except I was on the outside of the gate with TaeMin. I suddenly had the urge to call to them.

"ChanSung-hyung, WooYoung-hyung!" I whispered loudly so only they could hear.

They seemed to hear me, but when they turned their heads and recognize me, their eyes were filled with hatred and betrayal. ChanSung-hyung reached through the bars of the gate to pull the collar of my shirt towards him.

"You got a lot of guts coming back here, brother." he said sarcastically.

"Yeah, what the hell happened to you 4 years ago when we needed you, huh?!" WooYoung chimed in, grabbing my hair throught the gatebars.

Suddenly, someone punches ChanSung-hyung's face and scratched WooYoung-hyung's arm, immediately making them fall back away from the gate, letting me go in the process. I looked in front of me to see 6-year-old Lee TaeMin standing, giving death glares towards my brothers.

I was shocked to see such an innocent-looking person stand up for me like that. My hyungs sweared right in front of him and ignored me while finally deciding to enter the house. Just as they entered the house, a girl with long black hair in a lovely white dress popped from behind the bushes. We recognized each other immediately.

"JinYoung-noona!" I whispered out to her. She gave me a quick hug through the bars.

"MinHo, I missed you!" she whispered back. I saw a sudden determined look in her eyes. Suddenly, JinYoung-noona said, "I'm escaping this hell hole."

She looked to see if the coast was clear, then she tried climbing over the gates, with the help of mine and TaeMin's. We quickly introduced each other and headed off straight to the police department.

"I heard you escaped, but why didn't you go to the police about our family 4 years ago?" she asked while running. Boy, JinYoung-noona must have been practicing for track or something, because she's fast! I soon caught up with her and answered, "I was running over there, but then I suddenly fainted and ended up at the orphanage, for some reason."

JinYoung-noona kept my words into consideration as she nodded, saying to me, "Well, you're lucky. I wouldn't blame you for not returning - you were only 4 at the time and our so-called 'parents' kept abusing you."

We quickly stopped running and turned to find TaeMin struggling to run behind us. I quickly ran back to him and gave him a piggyback ride to the police department.

After an hour of telling our story, most of the policemen immediately ran to the destination while one policeman was in charge of escorting me and TaeMin back to the orphanage. JinYoung-noona wanted to forget our broken family, so she was going to be directed to another orphanage in another city.

We said our last goodbyes and hugged each other at a nearby park. JinYoung-noona placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Yah, don't be upset, I'll be alright. You just gotta take care of yourself. And I won't forget you, I promise."

She wiped away the tears from my eyes. I managed to talk a bit more. "Will I ever see you again?" I asked her.

She just shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I'm thinking of dressing up in more casual outfits than these dresses. They're icky."

I chuckled as she went on, "I'm also gonna maybe cut my hair short and rename myself."

"What would you name yourself, then?"

"Hmm... maybe Amber? I like the color amber." She smiled and hugged me again, this time it was time she had to go. It was hard to see your twin sister leave you into a new life, after all. She was 5 minutes older than me.

Before she left, she turned to me and shouted, "Don't forget to protect your girlfriend there, MinHo." Then she smirked and got into the police car.

Why does everyone always think TaeMin's a girl?
---------------------------
I saw 'Amber' again when we were 14 years old. That was around the time our SHINee group turned into a SHINee gang. It started when boys started picking on TaeMin after school, and Onew-hyung and I were the ones to interfere into their fight. Pretty soon, the Kim brothers were in on the fights - only when it involved innocent people getting bullied.

Anyways, TaeMin and I almost didn't recognize her when we met her again on the street. She really did cut her hair and wore comfortable clothes. She looked like a street punk:



(in this story, MinHo and Amber are fraternal twins - they don't look much alike)

Amber seemed to recognize us quickly because she ran towards us at full speed. At first, I thought she just needed a stranger's help, considering the fact that she ran from a screaming crowd of girls. But then, she called my name several times and TaeMin's, pulling me and him towards the crowd of girls.

From Amber's rambling, I heard a friend from her f(x) group named Sulli was getting harrassed by a big group of guys. She and the rest of the group already fought almost all of them, but then there was a growing increased number of guys coming as backup.

Fortunately, TaeMin and I were hanging out with the rest of the SHINee gang at the time, so we helped Amber beat the crap out of all of them.

Afterwards, as if nothing happened, we all went out to eat before going back to our homes. Jjong-hyung and Key were surprised to find out that Amber's a girl. The whole group started laughing and got along well. After a while, Amber and I separated from the group to talk.

She kept telling me about her life in Taiwan, how the Tang family kindly took her in and she got used to living with her new older brother, YuZhe.

Going on the topics of older siblings, I finally asked her what was on my mind.

"Amber, whatever happened to JaeBum-hyung and Yoona-noona? I've heard from our other siblings, but not from them..."

Amber was quiet for a while, then she looked at me directly in the eyes with sadness and sympathy.

"MinHo, sorry. I thought you knew..."

"Knew what?"

"...sorry, MinHo. Oppa took full blame and got severely punished by 'them' at the time. He told Unnie to take care of all of us if something ever happens to him, but unfortunately, as she walked towards our house one day..."

"...Amber, I can take it. What happened?" In reality I couldn't tell what I would do if the worst happened, but I decided to keep my composture.

"...there was a drunk driver, and he wasn't watching the road. I saw Noona cross the road, then..." She didn't have to say anything more. I could fill in the blanks.

"She died right on the spot, didn't she?" I asked Amber. She slowly nodded then continued her story.

"Oppa heard the car screech from outside and quickly ran out of the house with wounds around his body. He made it outside of the house to Noona's body but collapsed beside it. All of us saw Oppa crying over her before he fainted. Everyone went in the house as the ambulance arrived. I was the only one to escape and rushed to the hospital with them. That's when the doctor told me Oppa died the minute we reached the hospital."

I didn't know what to think - I saw the look on Amber's face. She knew that I was blaming myself for their deaths.

"Yah, MinHo! At least because of you, Oppa, and Noona, we're all now free from our so-called parents! I've also gotta thank you and your girlfriend for helping me escape the last time we saw each other." She still thinks that TaeMin's a girl?

"And I also see that you're still with her, eh? Never let her go from your life. Start fresh like I did, and you'll be happy. Don't worry."

Amber gave me a comforting hug and a consoling smile before leaving me to my thoughts. She always knew what I wanted - we're twins, remember?

I watched her emotionlessly as she was talking to her friends and mine. Onew-hyung commented on how Jjong-hyung and Amber look alike and everyone laughed. Actually, she really did look like him. Next, Jjong-hyung tried making passes at Amber, but it was kinda hard, considering the fact that my twin is a tomboy type of person. This has got to be the only time I saw him in this type of challenge towards a girl. What topped off the group humour was Key's nagging for Amber's sense of style.

Someone lightly chuckled behind me, causing me to flinch and turn around. There was TaeMin standing near me. Maybe Amber's got a point about him:


(sexy TaeMin~)

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked my 12-year-old friend.

"Long enough to hear your conversation." he replied. Suddenly the ground looked so fascinating to me. A second later, TaeMin grabs my wrist and drags me out of the restaurant our group was in. As soon as we were outside away from everyone else, he lets go of me and turns to face me.

"Come on, let it out," he told me, "I know you want to. Don't worry, no one will see you."

We just stood there for how many long minutes, then he let out a deep sigh. He was about to walk back when I pulled him towards me and clung onto him, crying my tears out. I feel pathetic.

TaeMin patted my back as he returned the embrace. "Relax, don't worry." he cooed soothingly. "Just keep crying until you don't feel like it anymore. I'm always here for you, hyung."

I let go of him, and suddenly he cups my face with his hands. He pulls me in for a kiss, and believe me, I was completely shocked.

When he pulled back, he simply smiled at me. "Umma once told me when I was very, very little that you have to kiss a wound to make it go better." Ah, so that's why.

"Did I make your wound go away?"

I smiled softly at him and nodded. That's when I first fell in love with Lee TaeMin.
~end of flashback~

I woke up to find a beautiful angel waking me up. I blushed immediately when I realized that angel was TaeMin, who's sitting on top of me.


(haha~ he had a toy hammer also)

"Ah, MinHo-hyung! You're finally awake!" He smiled brightly at me.

"TaeMin-ah, why do you have a toy hammer?"

"You wouldn't wake up after 15 minutes of me shaking you, so just in case I got safety precausion..."

I smiled at his silliness and pinched his cheeks. He whined while rubbing his cheek.

"Hyung, that hurt!"

I laughed at his cuteness. "What? Want me to make it better?" I swear, my heart leaped as I said it.

TaeMin nodded at my suggestion and gestured for me to kiss his cheek. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I drew my lips closer to his cheek. Suddenly, he turned his head and our lips were in contact!

I was about to pull away until his hand held onto the side of my neck, telling me that he's not letting go. I was in deep shock - who is this TaeMin?!

He deepened his kiss on me, and I just followed while closing my eyes. Without knowing, I drew my hand to TaeMin's face and held it as well. The kiss was very passionate; I could say that other than that one time with TaeMin, this will be my 1st real kiss. And it's still with TaeMin.

He slowly let go and grinned at me.

"T-TaeMin-ah..." I stammered, not knowing if this was just another innocent act or not.

"MinHo-hyung, do you remember last year when you didn't buy me a birthday gift? Instead you said any one wish I make, you will be sure to grant it."

Puzzled, I looked at him. "Eh? But you never made a wish."

He turned to look away from me and outside the window, where you could see the starlit sky.

"That's because I was never sure what your feelings are towards me..."

What?! Did he just say what I think he just said?!

TaeMin simply smiled and turned back to look at me. Let's remember that he's still on top of me, for some odd reason, okay?

"And now since I know the answer to that question, I'd like to ask you to grant my wish."

"Uh... what exactly is your wish, Minnie?" I asked him.

There was a long pause, then he popped the question.

"Will you be my boyfriend from now on?" Omo, I think my heart just exploded!

I quickly nodded my head like an idiot and leaned in to kiss him. It was a simple kiss until TaeMin deepened it again. Boy, this kid can make me melt, and I'm older than him by 2 years!

"Ssskkkiiinnsshhhiipppp~" Jjong-hyung mumbled in his sleep while shifting his body on the bed next to us. His face was now facing us, and we broke the kiss to find him drooling on his pillow.

Suddenly, we bursted out laughing, then closed our mouths shut a second later, realizing there's more than just us 3 sleeping in this dorm. The beeper on my digital alarm clock went off, meaning it was already midnight.

I smiled cheekily and turned to face TaeMin. "Happy birthday, Minnie!" I exclaimed as I pulled something from underneath my pillow and gave it to the boy sitting on my lap still. He jumped in excitement as he unwrapped the gift and pulled out something that made him tear up:


"Omo! Thank you so much, Hyung!" he cried out as he happily embraced me in his hug and started giving me sweet kisses on the lips.

"And here I thought I was the only one who liked skinship..."

TaeMin and I quickly pulled oursleves off each other and looked at Jjong-hyung. His eyes were wide opened; shock and confusion was written all over his face.

"Jjong-hyung, how long have you been watching us?" TaeMin asked, hoping he didn't hear the conversation earlier. I was hoping the same thing.

"Since MinHo greeted you happy birthday. Very loudly." he said, emphasizing the last part of his statement.

TaeMin's phone suddenly rang.

Ring Ding Dong~
Ring Ding Dong~
Ring Dingy Ding Diggy Ding Ding Ding~
I can't understand you who has got the nice syndrome~

TaeMin checked his phone. "Eh? I recieved a happy birthday text from Noona!" he whispered loudly enough for only Jjong-hyung and I to hear.

I still had TaeMin on my lap, so I got to read his text. Jjong-hyung wanted to read it, too, so he got up from his bed and sat down on mine, shuffling next to TaeMin.

From: PrincessNoona

Wanna celebrate your birthday with your brother? Go to the LanTian Hotel around 9a.m. Make sure only MinHo-oppa and Jjong-oppa are with you. Okay? By the way, happy birthday! :D

As soon as YuDi sent that text, all 3 of us quickly scrambled quietly to pack up whatever we needed before leaving.

12:15a.m. was when we somehow crept our way to the outside of the apartment dorm without managing to wake DaDong or the others. We made sure we weren't being followed, then ran to the nearest bus station, which wasn't very far from where they lived.

Before turning off all our phones, Jjong-hyung took the liberty to rent a car, since his family's got a lot of money. Since Jjong-hyung's the oldest, he drove the car while I took shotgun. I made TaeMin sleep in the backseat of the car.

Want to know how rich the Kims are in this story? :


(that's the car Jjong rented)

"Ah~ I wonder if Princess is okay..." Jjong-hyung mentioned while driving to LanTian Hotel. Thank mankind for the invention of GPS Navigators.

Labels: fiction, story, your heart will tell you