no regrets 。taekai 。

xxx

taemin thinks spending time with his friends and bandmates had a really big part in his start to recovery.

he spent two whole days with his bandmates and on the third he felt much better, much more comfortable to speak than he had on the first day.

his doctor was also happy that taemin was feeling better and advised him to start speaking as low as he could for starters and as the days passed by to start speaking louder and louder.

taemin was now laying in bed with lucky sprawled on one of his pillows. the boys held off their schedule as much as possible for taemin's sake, but they couldn't take more days off so taemin was left alone for a day.

he wasn't sad, he actually assured the others that they didn't need to baby him and that he would call if he needed something. besides, jongin arrived in a few hours so he wouldn't be alone all day.

he was texting minho about what to post on his instagram to assure his fans he was alright when his doorbell rang.

lucky was the first one up, he jumped over taemin and ran to the door. taemin thought luck acted more like a dog than a cat sometimes. he stood up carefully, making his way to door slowly.

he pressed on the monitor and was surprised to see jongin standing there with his black cap on and a few plastic bags on both of his hands.

taemin promptly opened the door and hugged jongin who awkwardly tried to put the bags down.

"tae- wait..." jongin laughed and pushed them further inside the aprtment so he could set the bags down on the counter instead of the floor.

when taemin unlatched himself off of jongin for a second, the younger managed to place the bags carefully and close the door that locked itself automatically.

"i missed you too." jongin chuckled and came over to where taemin was standing to hug him properly.

"im getting better." taemin whispered, his voice still a little hoarse.

"i'm glad." jongin lifted his head from the older's shoulder and pecked his lips a few times before burring his head on the man's shoulder again.

taemin smiled and sighed, thinking he really could stay like this forever.

。。。

unfortunately forever wasn't an option. after a few weeks of resting, he had to come back to the company to meet up with his manager and ceo.

"i don't know if you're well enough to come back, taemin." his ceo sighed and sat down on the sofa.

"my voice is much better now, i could at least sing together with shinee, i'll sing less than the others, i promise!" taemin tried to change his mind but in this case it was two against one.

"i agree, taemin. even if you sing less, the doctor said you could strain your voice too badly and damage your vocal chords again. maybe it's best for you to... take a hiatus, maybe."

taemin was left speechless. hiatus? he had never thought of it, never in his 27 years on earth he even though to stop singing.

"the doctor said you can go to rehabilitation for a faster recovery and your voice will be much better than before." his manager added.

taemin frowned and looked at his hands.

"think about it tonight, let me know tomorrow what you think is the best option." his ceo smiled and stood up, going back to his desk.

taemin opened his mouth to tell him that he wasn't going on hiatus but thought best not to. he should think about it before deciding so hastily.

he made his way to the restaurant they had inside the building and there he found jongin already seated with two trays in front of him.

"hey jongin." taemin sat down in front of him and gently patted the other's hand, "thank you."

he took the tray and looked at the soup in front of him and grimaced, he forgot he still couldn't eat solid food.

"i met up with kibum." jongin mentioned.

"okay..." taemin said cautiously.

"he said your manager felt it was best for you to take some time off singing." taemin was ready to argue but jongin started speaking before the older could let a word out. "i know you love singing but kibum also mentioned that the doctor said that if you damaged your vocal chords again you wouldn't be able to sing normally anymore."

kibum that traitor, taemin thought.

"isn't the thought of not being able to sing anymore much more scarier than taking a little break. please, taemin. think about your health." jongin stared at taemin with very serious eyes.

taemin didn't want to disappoint anyone. he had worked so hard to get where he was, with the help of his fans he was able to do what he loved for the rest of his life. he owed a lot of people to where he was in his career and the last thing he wanted was to give up.

but deep down jongin, his manager and all the people who thought he should take a break were right. his health was more important.

"the faster you get better, the faster you can sing again, tae." jongin reached out to hold taemin's hand.

taemin nodded, "i'll think about it."

he smiled and squeezed jongin's hand.

"eat your soup, i'll go to the bathroom real quick." jongin smiled back and got up.

taemin looked back at his soup and sighed, he really couldn't wait to go back to eating anything solid.