Minho breathed in, and he felt himself drown a little in the humid air of the summer. His hair stuck uncomfortably to his neck, beads of perspiration clinging to his forehead. The morning sunlight dripped from the sky and into the trees, filtering through the air and beating down on hiw back. He felt as though he could reach up and brush it off, but he knew it was not so.
"It's really simple, hyung," Taemin said this breezily, carelessly, impatiently.
But it wasn't.
Minho frowned.
They sat together on the concrete steps in front of their dorm in the heat of the summer morning, the temperature already unusually high in relation to the hour.
"You understand that, don't you?"
Silence.
"Hyung?"
Still silence.
Minho knew, but he opened his mouth anyway, his voice coming out in a low croak.
"Tell me again, magnae." He didn't look up; he could feel the younger's eyes burning into the side of his head.
Taemin let out a small, impatient brath and scooted nearer Minho - maybe closer proximity would make him more responsive.
"I'm still leaving, hyung."
Silence.
"I'm leaving, and you can't stop me."
Minho drew in a slow breath, drowned a little more. The seconds marched by like leaves in the breeze. "I know."
"Then why are you so worried? I'll come back."
"You won't be the same Taemin when you get back."
Taemin hesitated, then chuckled softly. "That doesn't matter so much."
But even he knew it did. Being on a TV show and being an idol was bound to change him, and he knew it. Taemin gripped his suitcase as a yellow taxi pulled up in front of the dorm, idled in front of where the two were sitting. Minho did not look at it, just kept his head down, staring at the pavement under his shoes.
"See you later, hyung."
He felt hands in his hair and lips on his cheek, fingers pausing a moment before relinquishing contact.
A car door opened.
Slammed.
Sped away.
Minho did not look up, did not watch it fade into the distance.