The Thief ch. 8

Minho couldn't keep track of the days and nights that came after that day when he beat Taemin up. He couldn't decide whether he regretted it or not, whether Taemin deserved it or not. But either how, it seemed like it didn't matter anymore as he wouldn't see that person ever again. He wouldn't get the chance to apologize, even if he wanted to. He would have to carry on somehow, just like all the heartbroken ones someday have to. He would have to move on. But the hardest thing in life is to leave people you love and care about behind you and make them part of your past, not your future.

He was struggling to find a reason to recover. If Taemin had just told him that they wouldn't work out and they should separate, he would have accepted it. It would have hurt, of course it would, but still he would have been able to do it. But like this, when Taemin ripped his heart out and threw it away, it was so much harder to see the light again. Even though it really wasn't his fault in the first place, there was nothing he could have done to change the future.

But that fact was the one that hurt him the most. People are silly, we dream of stupid things and crave for such things we can never get. We desire what we can't possibly have and we want things that will harm us if we ever have them. And we can't see what we already have but despise it in every way, wasting it all while searching for something that exists only in fairytales. Yet still, when those hopes and dreams crash and collide, leaving us alone and bare, we can't help but mourn over them and pity ourselves. Minho was just a human as well.

It wasn't as if he was planning on taking his own life, he didn't even consider that forbidden option. But he just wasn't himself anymore. Who would have known that the skinny boy would have such a big impact on him in such a short period of time? But love does odd things even if it can't make miracles.

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One evening there was a knock on his front door. For a moment he thought of not opening it and just waiting that the person would go away eventually. But then there was another knock, louder and demanding. And then there was third and then fourth, annoying enough to make him get up and walk to the door. He threw it open without bothering to take a look through the peephole to see who it was.

He got the shock of his life. Taemin was standing there with his bag, nervously sifting his weight from one leg to another, glancing around him. He looked fine, as if he had had enough to eat lately. He had blood stains on his coat and slight bruising around his neck but apart from that he seemed to be doing better than when he had collapsed on Minho's arms on the street. And even though it shouldn't have been possible, he looked more graceful and beautiful than before, his skin almost glistening in the light.

"No, this can't be… I've gone insane", Minho whispered and shook his head, retreating a step backwards. That creature just can't be Taemin. Why would he come here? No, I must be imagining things. But shouldn't I believe it's true if it's just a hallucination?

Taemin smiled sadly at him. "I can't help but agree. Kicking my ass wasn't maybe the most reasonable thing to do, don't you think?" Minho took another step back. "What are you doing here? Don't you think you've done enough?" he breathed, still not sure if he was out of his mind or not. But even now, at a moment like this, Taemin was just as attractive as before, having the same effect on Minho as he had had from the beginning.

Taemin's smile faded away. "Could you please let me in first? I'd rather not discuss this here where anyone can bump into us any moment." For a reason Minho couldn't define, Taemin seemed honest and genuine, quickly making Minho's loving feelings take over. No! You can't trust that person again, you just can't be that stupid! And still, even when his common sense was screaming at him, he let Taemin walk in.

Taemin walked straight in and sat on the couch as if it was his home he had entered, not Minho's. Slowly, like a zombie, Minho shambled after him and sat down next to him, still keeping a small distance between them even though it was pure agony to him. But he didn't know if actually touching Taemin would hurt even more.

"Why did you come?" he asked again, his voice cracking. Taemin swallowed hard before answering, "Believe it or not but I still have conscience of sorts left, at least a small one. I was slightly worried that you'd kill yourself after you left me there on the alley but I see now that you didn't." He refused to look at the elder, his stare fixed on the floor. His words made Minho's heart beat irregularly as it got wild out of the false hope the younger was now offering, handing to him. But he had to resist the feeling. "I didn't. Was that all?"

"Why are you in such a hurry to get rid of me?" Taemin asked suddenly very softly, lifting his head up and turning to look at Minho. Now Minho could see that the cover was almost gone but still fighting to get through, as if the younger was battling with himself. "I think you can guess that much, can't you?" Minho whispered back at him, unable to stop staring at the boy.

"I can", Taemin answered with the same tone, cold and sad. "But Minho, I didn't come to bully you. I… I wanted you to know something." For the first time ever it seemed as if he was hesitating not because he weighed his words but because he really didn't know what to say. "I didn't know that you actually loved me or that I meant so much to you. I can't understand it, not at all, even though I've been trying to figure it out for fucking two days now. I'm not usually bothered by something like that, do you understand?" He sighed but didn't turn away.

"I really didn't know you loved me. I thought… I thought you just enjoyed fucking with me. I would have understood that very well but not this. And so when you mashed my head against the wall screaming that I had stolen and broken your heart, I was confused. It was the first time ever hearing that someone loves me." His smile was cold and bitter as he spoke.

"I'm sorry I betrayed you. I can't reason it because I didn't need to. You would have given me anything I asked for, wouldn't you? So I did wrong, even in my opinion.  I'm sorry and trust me, you don't hear me saying that too fucking often."

"Do you think your pathetic apology will change anything?" Minho breathed, his voice hardly audible. Tears were now forming in his eyes as he kept looking at the drop-dead gorgeous boy in front of him. "Do you think it matters?"

"I think it actually does, by the way you're shaking and crying", Taemin replied gently and grabbed Minho's hand, leaving the elder breathless with just that simple gesture. Touching the younger sent violent shivers through his entire body. No, don't let him fool you!

"Get your hands off me", Minho said and jumped up to his feet, shaking Taemin's hand off. But Taemin stood up with him and stepped closer to him, placing his small hand on Minho's shoulder. "I'm truly sorry for what I did, Minho. Can't you believe me?"

"No!" Minho suddenly screamed, grabbed the smaller male and dragged him to the hall. "Get out of here, now! You've already hurt me enough!"

But Taemin wouldn't obey. He clung on to Minho's shirt and refused to let go. "Minho hyung, listen to me just this time!" he begged, throwing his defenses away. "Please, listen! I came here to make a deal with you!" "And what would that be?" Minho asked, not even really curious. He's just fooling me but damn is my heart playing along with him!

"You were the first one to be nice to me in ages, Minho. And that alone was enough to make me like you. And then you tell me you love me! How do you think that makes me feel? Well I can tell you, it makes me feel important for the first time in my life. You make me feel like I'm worth something. And… And with you it seems like this style of life could have an end. I'm used to living on the streets but do you think I love it? No, I don't. I'm sorry I paid your kindness back like that, I truly am!"

And then, out of the blue, Taemin's brown eyes were filled with tears as well and his face expression turned desperate, revealing just how young he actually was. "You were kind to me, even in bed. I actually liked sleeping with you, to be honest. But that's not the point. Let's make a deal, please. I'll stay here and make all your suffering up to you. I'll do anything you want! Just let me live with you. Please, hyung." His tears spilled out at the last plea.

"Do you think that it's enough, that you just pretend you love me?" Minho whispered back at him yet he still wrapped his arms around the skinny boy. "Don't do..." Taemin shook his head and cut Minho off, "Do you think I'm not able to love anyone? Because I am able to! And Minho hyung, I… Fuck, don't you get it? I'm not as cold as I would like to be! I fucking had a crush on you, still have! Do you really think all the care and cute things you did to me didn't affect on me at all? Well they did, you idiot! I'm already on my way of falling for you!"

Silence fell over them. They just stood there, both of them panting in the intense atmosphere, staring at each other in the eye. "But why did you do that to me then?" Minho breathed in disbelief. "You could have just stayed here instead!" "But I didn't know how you were feeling and therefore it looked wiser to just flee!" Taemin replied. "I could have never imagined that you actually had other feelings for me than just mere lust!"

"You're like light to a moth when it comes to me", Minho said slowly. "I can't resist you. But it's just not because of your looks, because… I love you. But even now when my heart yells at me and tells me to carry you to my bedroom and make love to you, I still doubt whether you're just playing tricks on me."

"There was a time when you told me to just trust you, and I did. Couldn't you do the same?" Taemin whispered. "I know how much it is to ask but you can always throw me out later if I somehow fail to gain your trust."

"How could I believe that the only person I want and love in this world wants me too after that same person betrayed me and broke my heart?" Minho asked, still crying. Taemin hugged him tightly before replying, "Even though happy endings are such a cliché, it still doesn't mean that they can't exist, right? Minho, your heart wants me to stay. Will you listen to its advice or do as your common sense wants you to do?"

We all know that love's not reasonable. And as the skinny boy hugged him, all of his resistance gave in. With one fluid movement he lifted the younger up and carried him to his bedroom. "At least I know that I won't have my happy ending if I ever let you go", he said softly as he laid the smaller male on his bed.

Some princes manage to find their own princess. And some thieves are not bad inside out, some of them have still a heart.