Washed my face to wake myself up. I had barely 2 hrs of sleep yesterday. I tossed & turned in bed, but I coudnt get a wink. This year ive been doing a lots of thing, I had my solo comeback, variety programs and now shinee’s comeback. I still have a solo performance for the upcoming MAMA and Shinee still have another follow up song to promote after this come back. I am pressed for time but ive been doing this for so long, nothing surprises me anymore.

*creak* the bathroom door swings open, “oh hello taemin sunbaenim, - a hoobae greeted him with a bow. I bowed back to him, wished him good luck on his group performance later and make my way to our practice room.

I was cracking my knuckles and playing with my rings, we arrived early so the alley to the practice room is practically empty. *ting* aish, I bend down to pick up my fallen ring. “oh hello taemin-shi

She stopped infornt of me, She wears black slippers. I looked up, “ah hello bomi-shi, m-m-morning.

If she’s surprised at bumping into me, she’s really good at hiding it. I clearly am bad at this.

“Don’t look so stunned Taemin-shi. We are having our comeback today too. Heard from Nae, I mean Soo Jung that Shinee’s comeback is today too. Fighting!

“Yea, thanks, all the best to Apink too! – I make a way for her to pass through. She bowed and walked to the the nearest door to me. Apink sign were pasted on the door. I went ahead to the next door just beside Apink, Shinee’s sign is on the door. What a conincidence.

“Yah, where did you go? The producers were looking for you, are you going to use the hand mic or the in ear mic? – Minho asked

“In-ear hyung, I need my dance to be smooth for the fans. They must miss their oppa smooth dance moves – I shaked my .

I just managed to dodge the pillow that Key hyung had thrown at me. We are all relaxing & waiting for our turn to do the practice rerun. I laid down on a black velvet sofa, plugged in my earpiece and planning to catch a power nap. Apink is here. So she is here. Bomi says that she knows im coming back today too. Why would she care. She didn’t even text me after that day. I hated her guts. She didn’t even apologised after what she did to me. I admitted I was buzy with other schedules but I didn’t expect her to be that kind of girl. She wasn’t my Son Naeun. *bzzzzzz bzzzzz* My phone vibrated on my chest.

“helloo, Han river tonight?

“Im not sure what time I will end today, who’s coming?

“the usual. Kwonho, JIhye, Soo Jung. Foods on me. Call me when you’re done, ill pick you up

“ill update you again

“Taemin-ah

“What

“Im not sure if you want to know, or if it matters anymore but ….

“She’s here, I know

“You know? You saw her already?

I sit up. I signalled to Key that im going outside for awhile. I went to the nearest staircase.

“Not her. I saw Bomi. Wait, You knew and you didn’t tell me?

“Don’t get all angry now. The last time I talked about her, you left a bruise on my lips remember. – I can almost see Jongin’s crumpled face.

“ah, sorry. But its not my fault, you couldn’t stop rambling that day – I take a sit on one of the stairs

“so what are you going to do when you bumped into her later?

“nothing.

“nothing?

“yep, nothing, we are stranger now. She choose him over me anyway. She lied to me Jongin. She …

“have you asked her what really happened on that day?

“it doesn’t matter anymore.

“You wont talk about it if it doesn’t matter anymore dude. Listen, come down later. You need to de-stress, you’ve been too buzy these past few weeks. See you. Bye! – he hung up on me.

I still remember what happened as if it was just yesterday. I was buzy with schedules back to back and so does Naeun. We understand each other line of work. We had to be careful for fans, paparazzi, saesangs etc etc. Even if we had the same broadcast, we try to limit our conversation to nothing. My fans, I love them but they love me the most. I am honestly very scared of what they would do if they knew Naeun was with me then. Enough with the creepy letters send to her, the last one was gorging the teddybear eyes that was on Naeun’s bed, in her bedroom, in Apink’s apartment.

Our relationship was never easy to begin with. We started off with just being an on-show virtual couple. Id never expected anything more to come from that show. But day by day, id fall for her. We talked about a lot of thing off set. It gets to the point that I hated when the director shouted “CUT” to end the filming. I used to think that it was a one-sided crush, but during the last day of filming, she actually asked me out to a nearby café. I was elated, I remember calling Jongin to share the news. That night I brought her to meet the rest of them at our usual place. Seeing her laugh with my closest friends, that was beautiful.

It was hard to meet up after that. Our schedules always clashes. Naeun’s too is slowly learning to act so she had to attend acting classes, press conferences, even fashion shows on top of her music classes. She will take a selfie of herself and send it to me without fail everytime even when she’s so buzy. I love her with all my heart, and her presence brings so much happiness to my life. But adapting to the changes of having another person’s heart to care of is not easy. During our WGM days, our meet ups are scheduled. But now, we don’t, there’s no reason to drop every other schedule just to spend time with each other. Because we were both so buzy, it was getting harder to meet. I had to travel back & forth to Japan for my Japanese promotions to the extent that Naeun even went to Han River alone to hang out up with our friends, she even attended my cousins wedding alone, getting my parents anniversary present on her own and a lot of other things that we are supposed to do together. Sometimes I wonder how she managed to find time despite her busy schedules to do all these things. I on the other hand am pretty bad at managing time. My life before Naeun is schedules after schedules, dorm, and if there’s time, I managed to meet up with Jongin & Kwongho at very late hours at Han River. The both of us are not good at phone calls, I am not satisfied with only hearing her voice and she herself prefers to listen to me rather than talking. So the only time we met each other is when our schedules overlapped with each other. Those were the times that I was looking forward for the most.

I just reached from Japan, Shinee had a schedule later today. Naeun had text me yesterday that they will also be having a broadcast at the same building, its been more than two months since we’d seen each other, I was kept buzy in Japan for my solo promotions, Naeun had been occupied with her drama filming. She still have a few weeks left before the filming completion. I had time to call her yesterday, we didn’t talk long because she told me she was tired from her drama filming. We said our goodbyes, and throughout the airplane ride, I cant wait to held her in my arms already.

I was preparing for an interview with Shinee when I bumped into Heechul hyung at the broadcasting company. “Yah Taemin-ah, welcome home. Hows Japan?

“Good but cant wait to breath the air of Korea, too long ah hyung

“ya ya. Not about missing your girlfriend – heechul punched me on my shoulder

“that too hyung – i smiled while rubbing my shoulder.

“Where are you heading? 3^rd floor?

“Yea, lets go hyung – we continued walking towards the lift.

“Junhyung was damn tipsy yesterday, I was drunk too, and luckily Naeun came to drive him home. Your girlfriend is his saviour man

What? Naeun went to see Junhyung hyung? I had to stop myself from slamming on the elevator door.

“Junhyung must have dialled her number when he’s drunk and she immediately came over. I was in the toilet when she came, saw her walking out of the bar with Junhyung. We went to the bar behind SM building. Junhyung was stress with B2ST situation & everything, so you know, we had to drink. We literally stayed until the bar closes. Anw, I forgot to thank Naeun for sending him home. Can you give my thanks to her too?

We are inside the lift. The bar closes at 12am.

“oi, you’re okay?

“yes hyung, ill pass your thanks to her. Ill be seeing her later today – I tried my hardest to force a smile on my face

The lift door opened.

“ya ya. Must be good to have someone by your side right – heechul hyung muttered, patted my bum and walked away.

I walked to shinee’s backstage room, dialled Naeun’s number and walked to the nearest staircase.