----- July 5 -----

Another duet practice day. Kwangmin walked into the dance practice room and placed his bags in the corner. Minji was in the center of the room stretching but neither of them bothered to say hi. He took out his iPod and started listening to her songs while they waited for JYP to come. Minji looked over at Kwangmin who was singing along. "Can't you at least pretend to get ready for this stupid dance practice?"

"What?" Kwangmin took off the ear phone and squinted his eyes at her, not liking that she cussed so casually.

"I said 'Can't you at least pretend to get ready for this STUPID dance practice'?" She raised her voice. "Last time I checked, I was the foreign one. Who knew you couldn't understand your own native language."

Kwangmin took a deep breath to hold in his anger. He threw his iPod into his bag and started stretching. "There. Happy?"

"As a clam." She gave him a fake smile. After ten minutes, no one talked and JYP still wasn't present for the dance lesson. "I'm leaving." She walked to the door. "I knew I was wasting my time."

"Where are you going?" Kwangmin looked up from his (failed) attempt to do the splits. "We can just start without him." Minji didn't look back when she slammed the door shut. "At least help me out of this. I can't feel my legs..." He stayed in the awkward position for a couple of minutes because it was too painful to move.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I overslept and- OH MY GOSH!" JYP freaked out when he saw Kwangmin stuck in the splits. "EW Kwangmin! Please close your legs!" He covered his eyes and clutched his heart because of the scare.

"I'm... Kind of stuck like this..." Kwangmin muttered. "Help?"

JYP whinced as he helped Kwangmin up. "Where's Minji?"

"Owie." Kwangmin stretched his numb legs. "She got tired of waiting so she left."

"That little..." JYP  placed his hands on his hips. "I'm going to lock her into a dungeon soon."

Kwangmin laughed nervously. "Don't do that. She'll change back in no time."

"Why are you on her side? She's been extremely mean to you. And you're supposed to be her boyfriend? What kind of girlfriend is that?" JYP ranted. "You can find a better girl, Kwangmin. You probably had a much better girlfriend before her which means you know how to get girls. I don't see why you settle for that meany."

Kwangmin smiled. "She's my first girlfriend."

"Oh." JYP said softly. "Sorry."

~~~~~

"Ugh, what nonsense. I'm wasting my precious time with them," Minji said out loud as she walked into the nearest coffee shop. "They should know how important being a star means to me. Give me a Caramel Frappuchino." She slammed the money onto the counter.

The cashier lady looked scared as she asked for Minji's name.

"My name? Don't you know who I am? I'm Lee Minji, gosh damnit!"

Everyone in the shop looked at Minji and whispered to each other. 'What a horrible girl.' 'THAT'S Minji Lee? The K-pop princess? Seems more like the K-pop evil stepmother.' New article on AllKpop: Lee Minji Spotted At Coffee Shop, Yelled At Cashier.

"O-okay, Lee Minji. You're Frappuchino will be ready soon." The cashier didn't look Minji in the eyes.

"It better." Minji sat down at an empty table. A couple of girls across of her started pointing and taking pictures of her. She started getting irritated so she walked up to them. "Hello, girls, is something wrong?"

"Omo, is she really talking to us?" The girls said to each other.

She smiled, "Do you want an autograph? I'll give it to you for free."

The girls started laughing. "Who do you think you are? We don't want your autograph!"

"Then what do you want?" Minji crossed her arms.

The girls nudged each other. One spoke up, "We want you to stay away from Kwangmin-Oppa."

"Huh?" Minji was surprised to hear what they just said.

"We know you two are dating." Another girl stood up. "And as devoted fans to Oppa, we don't think it's right for him to date an awful person like you."

"Oh, no." Minji mumbled. "Sasaeng fans."

The sasaeng fans all stood up. They were all much taller and buffer than Minji. They looked at each other and smirked. "Get her." The girls trapped her in a corner and started pulling her hair and throwing her around like a rag doll. "You mess with Oppa. We mess with you." New article on AllKpop: Lee Minji Gets Attacked By Boyfriend's Sasaeng Fans.

"Help!" Minji screamed. No one came to help her.

"Your arm is so skinny." One girl grabbed Minji's right wrist. "It looks breakable." The girl held her arm in a way that looked like she was going to break it in half. Minji closed her eyes and anticipated a sharp pain. Instead of two hands snapping her arm in half, one loving hand helped her stand up.

"Did they do anything horrible to you?" A sweet and caring voice asked Minji.

She hugged him tightly, shaking from what just happened. "T-t-that was s-so s-s-cary."

"I know, I know. But I'm here, don't worry. I'll protect you." He rubbed her shoulders to calm her down. "Oppa's here to protect you."

She looked up. "Thank you for saving me."

"Anytime." Wooyoung smiled down at her.

"Lee Minji, your Caramel Frappuchino is ready." The cashier called out. Everyone in the store acted like nothing happened. Even though the K-pop princess was being mobbed by fans. And her body and face was full of bruises and cuts.

Wooyoung walked up to the cashier and yanked the Frappuchino out of her hand. "A young lady was here getting beaten up and no one did anything about it."

The cashier bowed her head, "Sorry."

"Think about what would've happened if Minji got seriously hurt. What would her fans say?"

"Because she's so mean, she doesn't have any fans," a worker sneered.

Wooyoung looked at each worker in the eye before dumping the Frappuchino dramatically into the trash can. He looked at all of the customers drinking their coffee without a care. "And you call yourself citizens." He grabbed Minji's wrist and dragged her out of the store. Minji stuck her tongue out at everyone.

"Lee Minji just lost all of my respect," the cashier shook her head.

~~~~~

"What happened to those crazy btchs?" Minji walked next to Wooyoung, smiling.

Wooyoung glared at her for swearing. "The fans? I just showed them that they were being video taped and they ran away."

She nodded. "Good job. They deserved it. But why the hell did you throw my drink away? I paid for that."

"You're not even going to say thank you for saving your life?"

"Fine. Thank you." She said sarcastically. "I should've beaten those btchs up. How dare they touch me. I'm the K-pop Princess!"

"That's it!" He turned to her before they enetered the JYP building. "What's wrong with you? Swearing. Not saying thank you. Being rude."

She rolled her eyes. "Ew. Not you, too. Get over it - this is the real me. And I like it."

"Well, I don't." He looked her in the eye. "I liked the old Minji sooo much better." He walked into the building.

"Old Minji was a !" She shouted after him. Her jaw was sore so she took out her mirror and noticed that every part of her was cut up or bruised. She shut her mirror angrily and swore. "If I ever see their faces again, I'm so gonna hurt them!"

~~~~~

"Dude, Wooyoung, where were you? You just missed Junsu shoving three bananas in his mouth." Taecyeon pointed at Junsu who smiled with his mouth full of bananas.

Wooyoung laid down on the floor and sighed. Nichkhun laid down next to him and rubbed his belly. "What's wrong, honey?"

"It's Minji. She's acting strange."

"Yeah, she used to be all sweet and hot. Now, she's not." Taecyeon agreed.

"I miss the old her," Wooyoung pouted.

"We all do," Nichkhun wrapped his arms around Wooyoung.

----- July 7 -----

Minji was in the dance practice room for 3 hours when JYP locked the door suddenly. She heard the door click locked and wiggled it, not believing what just happened. "Hey! Open the door!" She pounded the door.

"Not until you change your bad attitude!" JYP yelled from the other side. "You just got beatened up by Kwangmin's fan two days ago! You lost 100 fans over the past two days!"

"I don't care! Make up hides all of the cuts and bruises! Open up!" She wiggled the door knob.

"You should care! Without your fans, you're nothing."

"OPEN THE FREAKN DOOR!"

"Your swearing reached the top of AllKpop."

"Good. Now more people know who I am."

"No! Not good!" He took a deep breath to calm himself down "You want people to know you as a talented girl with a great personality, not a bad one."

"But-"

"Shut up and listen!" JYP yelled. Wooyoung walked down the stairs and upon hearing JYP mad, he ran back to his room. "You are not the 'horrible-mouthed rottom princess' news reporters have called you." Minji flinched at the sound of her new nickname. "You're Lee Minji. You're polite. You're well-mannered. You're innocent. You love to sing, dance, and play your many many instruments. And you're got at it. You're a musical prodigy." She sighed, frustrated with herself. "You were at the top of your class in America. You're brilliant."

She slumped on the ground and placed her head in her hands. I lost my way. I took the wrong turn and I'm ruining everything I worked hard for. You pulled a bobby pin out of your hair. Ah! Perfect! She picked the lock and the door swung open.

"Your company misses the old you." JYP stood infront of Minji. "I miss the old you... And so does Kwangmin."

She frowned at the realization. "I made a mistake, haven't I?"

JYP sadly nodded. "But it's never too late to fix those mistakes."

She hugged JYP. "I'm sorry for these past few days. You created me but I lost sight of my ultimate dream. I promise it won't happen ever again."

"Apology accepted. But I'm not the one you should be saying sorry to."

She gave him a confused look.

"Kwangmin. When I wanted to lock you in a dungeon, he told me that you'll change back to normal. He waited patiently for you for these past few days, enduring everything you said to him. He really loves you. Don't you think he deserves nothing but the best from his first girlfriend?"

"Huh? I'm his first girlfriend?"

"Of course. You didn't know?"

"No. He seems to know a lot about dating." She blushed at the memories of him.

"He probably learned from his hyungs."

She giggled. "He's the best."

"Now, he deserves the best from you."

She nodded. "Can you take me to Starship, please?"

"At 10pm? Why?"

"I have to apologize to the world's great boyfriend."

-----

*Knock, knock, knock*

"Who is it?" Kwangmin jumped out of bed with his pjs on. No reply. He peaked through the porthole and saw no one. "Nobody's there." When he turned his back on the door, the door bell rang. "Who is it?" Still no reply.

"Just open the door." Youngmin whined, bothered from his sleep.

Kwangmin opened the door and found a Pikachu stuffed animal on the door mat. He picked it up and smiled. There was a note stuck to it's back. '"Pika-pikachu." Means "I'm sorry" in Pikachu.' He looked around but the hallway was empty.

"Ah!" A pair of glasses fell into the hallway from behind a corner where Kwangmin could see. A girl's hand reached out to grab the glasses. He smiled when he recognized the ring on its pointer finger. He looked at his matching ring he kept on his own pointer finger.

~~~~~

"Ah!" Minji's glasses flew off her face. Darn it! I hope he didn't see that. Minji reached out to grab her glasses when Kwangmin picked it up for her. "Thanks..." She placed it on her face.

He looked down at the Pikachu in his arms.

She gulped. "Kwangmin..."

"Did you know that this Pikachu makes sounds?" He squeezed its belly. 'Pikachuuuu!' "Can you guess what that means in Pikachu?"

"It means, 'I'm sorry for being a horrible girlfriend and I hope you forgive me'." She quickly said, looking down.

He shook his head and squeezed it again. 'Pikachuuuu!' "It means, 'Of course I forgive you. Your boyfriend loves you too much. But give me attitude one more time and you'll have to catch yourself a new Pokemon'." He pulled her into a kiss.

----- July 8 -----

“And now, the latest gossip in the K-pop world."

 Wooyoung turned the volume up louder in the lounge room. It was dinner time and everyone - except for JYP who was in his office - went out to eat. “Miss A’s ‘Touch’ MV records over 1 million views on Youtube’, ‘Big Bang spotted filming ‘Running Man’, ‘2PM reveals new pictorial for NEPA’s Spring/Summer catalog’.”

“I look good,” Wooyoung checked himself out in the picture.

“And ‘Newly debuted Kwon Sara rumored to have a duet comeback with Boyfriend’s Kwangmin’.”

“Huh?”

Minji walked into the lounge and sat next to Wooyoung on the couch. “Oppa, I just came back from dinner. Is Suzy-unnie in her dorm?”

Wooyoung stared at her.

“Umm... Is something wrong?”

He shook his head, still staring at her. “Are you and Pickachu - twin still fighting?”

She laughed. “His name is Kwangmin and no, we worked things out yesterday.”

“So... Did you just come back from a dinner date with Pikachu-twin?”

“Kwangmin,” she insisted. “No, I went by myself today.”

“So... Are you two still promoting your duet?”

“I don’t see how that’s relevant but, yes, we are. Why?”

He frowned as he rewinded the news.

“‘Big Bang spotted filming ‘Running Man’, ‘2PM reveals new pictorial for NEPA’s Spring/Summer catalog’.”

“Wow, you look good in that picture,” she commented.

“Shh.” He frowned, anticipating the next headline.

“And ‘Newly debuted Kwon Sara rumored to have a duet comeback with Boyfriend’s Kwangmin’.” She stared at the screen.

He looked at her, concerned. “You okay?”

She shook her head and stomped to JYP’s office.

“Aish. Was it wrong to tell her?” He scratched his head and followed her from a distance. JYP’s office door was closed so she knocked. “Come it.” Minji walked in and sat in the chair infront of him. “What brings you here?”

“What's this rumor about Kwangmin and Sara doing a duet?” She asked bluntly.

“Huh? Duet?” JYP searched the topic on Google. “Huh... Starship didn’t say anything about this... I'll call them right now.” He took out his phone and dialed Mr. Kim. “Hi, yes, Kimmie-ah~ I just called to ask about this rumor about Kwangmin and-” JYP laughed nervously. “What are you talking about?... I don’t understand.” He frowned. “No! It’s not alright! How could you decide this without talkking to me?! Aish!” JYP snapped his phone shut. He rubbed his forehead in frustration. “They’re cancelling your duet. The rumors are true."

Her heart sank. “W-what?”

“Mr. Kim said that your recent bad attitude and sasaeng fans scandal isn’t good for their company.”

“No. Wait. I can do somehthing about this. Can you call Mr. Kim back?”

“No.” He strictly said. “Just leave. You’ve done enough already.”

She slowly stood up and left. Wooyoung was waiting out the door. “Minji-ah, so, what’s going on?”

“The rumors are true...” She was on the verge of crying.

“What?! Why?!”

“My swearing... It’s all my fault...”

“Whaaa.” He playfully hit her arm. “Every idol goes through a rebellious stage. You’ll get back up to the top in no time.”

She closed her eyes and let the tears fall down her cheeks.

“Oh, no! No! Don’t cry!” He quickly wiped her tears with his thumb. “Come on, I’ll give you a motorcycle ride. I love screaming at the top of my lungs down the street when I’m upset. You should try it.”

----- July 10 -----

“Minji isn’t answering my calls.” Kwangmin threw his phone at Minwoo after hearing Minji's voicemail message for the fiftieth time that day.

“Wah!” Minwoo screamed as Kwangmin’s phone attacked his shoulder.

Kwangmin laid down on the floor and screamed and wiggled around.

“Did you text her?” Minwoo scrolled through Kwangmin’s messages. “Wow. You like texting with hearts, don’t you?”

“I texted her 100 times today. She’s not answering.” He wiggled on the floor again.

“She’s probably mad because of your duet with Sara. Why are you doing a duet with Sara?”

“She threatened to ruin Minji. I can’t let that happen.”

“I think you should tell Minji that.”

“I can’t tell her when she refuses to answer her phone.” Kwangmin rolled on the floor again.

~~~~~

“Geujo haruga dojinasseul ppun~” (Kwangmin's rap in 'I’ll Be There')

Minji was in the dance practice room working on her dance moves for six hours straight. “Aargh!” She grunted when she made another mistake. She went back to her laptop, which was connected to the speakers, to rewind the song.

“Chacha kkedatgetjyo we iroke ganneunji~”

"Damnit! Why can't I get that move down?" She rewinded the song again.

JYP peaked through the windows and watched her dance. He knew she was frustrated by the aggression in her dance moves.

"Sigani heuruen dwie~ Sesange kkeuteso~"

*Crash* "Ah, fk!" She screamed in pain. JYP rushed into the room. "Minji-ah! Are you okay?"

She grabbed her wrist and whined in pain. She was on the floor. "Ah. I think I broke it." She swore again.

He ran to the freezer in the room and gave you an ice pack. "First, I'll get you a bandage wrap once the swelling goes down. Second, who the hell taught you these swear words? I need to scold that person for corrupting my Minji!"

She stared at her swollen wrist. "I'm sorry."

"No," he hugged her. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. And for yesterday. You're going through a hard time and I'm only making it harder for you."

"I deserve it." A tear fell down her cheek. "I'm a nobody now. I've been a bad person and now, I'm a nobody." Minji showed JYP the AllKpop thread labeled 'Who's Minji?' The following comments were all about her bad attitude and anti-fan spams. "My name isn't on the charts any more. It's like I just vanished. What am I going to do?"

JYP took a moment to think of what to say. "What you're going through right now has happened and will happen to everyone in the music biz. Ten years ago, my fame went so low that I had to work to pay off my debt to my company."

She started sobbing.

"But I would never make you pay for being a star!" He panicked.

"What do I do?!" She asked in between sobs.

He wiped her tears with his palm. "Here's what you're not going to do. You're not going to stay here and do nothing. All you need to do is build trust in your fan base. Easy. Just show them that what's been happening was just a phase. Show them the real Minji." She nodded. "There's a spot open at Strong Heart tomorrow. I was going to send Wooyoung but he has nothing to talk about. Maybe you can take the chance to clear things up. What do you hink?"

"Yes, please. Once things go back to normal, I promise to work harder than ever before."

JYP held up his pink. "Promise?"

She wiped her wet cheeks and linked pinkies. "Promise."

----- July 11 -----

"Hello." Minji bowed to everyone she passed by in the Strong Heart studio. They all ignored her. Lee SeunGi came into the hallway, "Hello, SeungGi-sunbaenim, I look forward to today's show." She genuinely smiled at him.

"Oh, Minji." He didn't look at her nor returned her bow. He walked away without another word and she gasped at the pain in her heart. "I deserve that." She reminded herself. She was all dressed up and sat on stage thirty minutes before the show started. Her mind bugged her about how she had to clear up all of the rumors.

"Get off."

Sheu looked up to see Infinite's Woohyun. "Huh?"

He stared at her coldly. "I know you're from America but you're in Korea now. And I said get. Off. That's my seat."

"Sorry," she bowed and looked around for her seat.

"Minji-ah! Over here!" Doghyun patted the seat next to him. She looked back at Woohyun and took her seat next to Donghyun.

"Long time no see. How have you been?" He poked the cast on her broken wrist. "You're hurt." He pinched her thigh. "You're so skinny, too. Have you been eating? What's wrong?"

"You don't have to talk to me," She looked down. "You don't want others to look down on you because you're talking to me."

"But then I'd be missing out on a fun conversation with the sweetest girl ever," he gave her a cheerful smile.

-----

"And, here, we have Lee Minji," Lee SeungGi announced past halfway through the show. Only Donghyun clapped at the introduction. She looked down, sad. "So," SeungGi started, uninterested. "How was life in America?"

She took a deep breath. "Honestly, my life was terrible." Everyone in the studio looked at her to see if she was joking. Usually, idols say their lives were great or at least average; never 'terrible; never honest. "I had no friends and I spent every second studying. My parents desperately wanted me to become a doctor."

"Why?" SeungGi asked, suddenly interested.

"They just thought about how economically stable my future should be. Nothing wrong with that but I was literally locked up in my room, reading about the parts of the body, day and night."

"When did you decide to become a performer?"

"I actually didn't take any lessons prior to going under the JYPE label. I just. Sang and danced whenever my parents weren't home and on my way to and from school. All of the feelings I was forced to hide from my parents flooded out. Sadness. Frustration. Joy. It was all pure feeling. You could say that music was my get away. Although, it was so much more. It was the one place I didn't have to worry about my grades or my future. My mom repeatedly told me that music was a waste of time. That I should be studying instead. She didn't know how I felt; she didn't really care. She only cared about whether or not I had money after college."

Some audience members wiped away their forming tears.

"Music just means so much to me. And it looks like I lost my way." She stood up and gave three big bows. "I'm sorry for all of the bad things I've done. I'm sorry for all of the bad words I've said. I'm sorry for all of the people I've offended. And I'm especially sorry to all of my past fans that I have disappointed. I have self-reflected and I'm ashamed of the bad person I've been these past few days. I don't expect you to forgive this girl who got caught up in all the fame. I was worried that you would all leave the boring me, so I changed. I was wrong to do that. I changed for the worse and I'm sorry. I will wait until you accept me back into the K-pop world because it's the least I can do. I can only wait until you want me back.

Once I come back, I promise to only be the true Minji that only cares about music and happiness and not let anyone down. I'm sorry." She bowed deeply.

Everyone was silent. "Come back to us, Minji!" A fan in the audience yelled. Suddenly, claps of welcome began. "Minji! Saranghae! Minji! Saranghae! Minji! Saranghae!" The crowd and all of the idol guests chanted.

She started crying tears of joy this time. "Thank you... For accepting me even though I've been a bad person. Thank you."

Donghyun patted her back. "Welcome back, Minji. We missed you."

----- July 16 -----

"One more time," Ms. Kwon started the duet music for the twentieth time that morning. Kwangmin rolled his eyes. Sara started dacing but messed up. Again.. "Okay, looks like we have to push the duet performance back a week."

"What?!" Kwangmin furrowed his eyebrows. "We're already a week behind!"

"Can't help it. Sara can't dance." Ms. Kwon left the room after glaring at her niece.

"I can dance!" Sara yelled at her aunty.

Kwangmin was about to walk out of the room when Sara grabbed his arm. "Oppa, you're not mad at me, right?"

"No," he shook her arm off.

She pouted. "If you're not mad, then be my boyfriend."

"What?" He scowled.

"I'm asking you to be my boyfriend. I really like you," she said genuinely shy. "You know that I've always been a big fan. I was so excited when I first got into Starship that I wanted to spend day and night with you." Kwangmin laughed at the memories. "You were the reason why I wanted to become a performer. Also the fact that I was never good at studying." She smiled at him. "I really mean it when I say that I think you're perfect. So that I could match up to your perfection, I lost weight and changed my style." She spun around. "When I finally debuted under LOEN, I knew this was my chance to share the same stage as you. Once I got to know you as my duet partner, you really were better than I hoped. Whether you meant to or not, you made me look forward to waking up in the morning. I want you to be mine." She held his hand. "I feel complete when I'm with you."

He looked at their hands and smiled. "That's great to hear." He squeezed her hand. "I feel the same way."