A/N: I forgot how long this chapter was (please bare with me tho) :]

Michelle drove her Infiniti coupe tentatively. Cho sat in the passenger’s seat biting her nails.

“Are you sure about this, Cho?” Michelle asked. As they drove closer and closer to the restaurant Michelle grew more and more nervous for her friend. Cho took a deep breath and fixed her oversized hat,

“I’m sure. Can you recognize me?” Cho asked. She and Dongho had agreed to go to an obscure restaurant for their date. They’d also agreed to be in complete disguise. They didn’t want any fans ambushing them, and most importantly, outing their secret. Cho wore an oversized black hat with giant glasses, a black and white striped scarf and dark purple lipstick. She looked like a rich Goth chick in the fall and she felt ridiculous but she hoped it would all be worth it.

“Well, you look like a crazy person who I’d normally opt not to talk to, but since I see you everyday, I still recognize you. Still, you might still look like a stranger to everyday people.” Michelle said, trying to sound optimistic. Cho rolled her eyes,

“They’re totally gonna recognize us,” she said as she sank back into her seat. Michelle drove to the front of the restaurant and they sat there waiting for Dongho. After a few minutes of not seeing him, Cho was almost positive that he’d stood her up. Michelle tried to cheer her up,

“Hey, it’s his loss.” She said. Cho decided to call him to make sure. After the phone rang a couple of times, he picked up,

“Hello?” Cho took a deep breath and prepared what she was going to say.

“Hey, um, where are you?” she asked, trying to sound calm. He laughed,

“I didn’t stand you up, come to side of the restaurant.” Cho exhaled out of relief that he didn’t stand her up and she gave a thumbs up to Michelle. After getting out of the car she asked Dongho,

“What exactly do you mean by ‘side of the restaurant’?”

“Um, I mean the alley on the side of the restaurant.” He said. Cho stood there looking extremely confused. After having to deal with countless passersby staring at her strange attire, she headed to the alley.

“If I get my ridiculous outfit messed up, I’m gonna kill you,” she said playfully. After waiting silently in the alley, a man approached her quickly from the other side of a nearby dumpster. Cho assumed he was going to rob her so she panicked.

“Don’t come any closer, I swear to you, I have mace and the cops are on speed dial!” she said as the wind almost knocked her hat off her head. The man stopped and doubled over in laughter,

“Cho, it’s me. Pretty convincing disguise right?” said the man. Cho was still skeptical, so she called Dongho’s phone again. When “Ring Ding Dong” played from the man’s pocket, she knew it was him.

“Really, Dongho? SHINee?” she said, walking towards him laughing.

“Hey, I’m a fan,” he said smoothly. Cho took a long look at what he was wearing then said,

“Two questions, one, why are you dressed like a hobo, and two, why are we in an alley?” Dongho looked surprised,

“Hello? I’m in disguise, and we’re in an alley because my disguise didn’t work. When I was waiting for you, a little girl passed me and asked rather loudly, ‘Why did you grow a beard Dongho?’ At that point, I pretty much had no choice but to move us somewhere else where no one could see us.” Cho nodded,

“I understand that, but an alley? People can still see the side of this place.”

“I know, which is why we’re eating in the back. I tried to set everything up nicely and the restaurant owner helped me out…as long as I gave his daughter an autograph,” Dongho said, laughing. Cho smiled; it really did seem like this guy managed to pleasantly surprise every time she least expected it. Cho was happy she showed up. He extended his hand hoping that she would take it. She did, and he led her to the back of the restaurant. There, he had their dinner set up with candles near it and a red table cloth under the food. For a date behind a restaurant she was pretty impressed. After they sat down, she noticed something unfortunate. He had ordered a salad for himself and a reasonably sized steak for her.

“Um, Dongho, I’m a vegetarian,” she said. His eyes grew wide,

“Really? I’m so sorry, I had no idea.” He ran his hands through his beard, looking for a solution.

“Could you lose the beard?” Cho said, jokingly, “It’s distracting.” Dongho laughed and removed the fake beard,

“There you go, and as for your present predicament, I am willing to switch dinners with you. You can have my salad, and I’ll take the…steak” He said. Cho was visibly pleased, what he was doing for her was extremely sweet. And without the silly beard, he looked absolutely adorable. She especially liked his hair. It wasn’t her favorite look on him, which oddly, was when his hair was in braids, but she still loved the new look. It was short, blonde, and spiky; she thought it looked really cute on him. Dongho switched their plates and smiled cordially. Cho returned the smile,

“This is really sweet of you,” Cho said, while Dongho poked around the steak with a coy smile on his face.

“Well, I don’t normally do things like this, but you’re pretty, so it’s ok,” Dongho said jokingly. After a few seconds his nervousness took over and he couldn’t help but add to the situation,

“Of course, I’m kidding…not about you being pretty, but about me not normally doing things like this, because I do…not often, I’m not a player, I just -

Cho cut him off,

“You’re rambling now, Dongho,” she said laughing, “How about we just do what people usually do on dates…” Based on Dongho’s awkward expression, Cho knew she had to make something clear,

“Not those kinds of dates, Dongho, I mean, let’s, you know, talk,” she said. He nodded, clearly understanding this concept much better.

“Well,” he started, “how about we get past the basics, where are you from?” This kind of question seemed so obvious, but really, it wasn’t at all, Cho prepared herself to explain,

“I’m from Maryland, USA, but the area I lived in can also be considered D.C.” she said, hoping not to confuse him. He nodded,

“Seeing as I’ve never been to either of those places, you can call them what you want to,” they both laughed. Their date then took a much more relaxed turn as the sun began to go down. The light around them was dim, and after a half and hour of laughing and having a good time, Cho’s jovial expression turned into one of slight panic.

“What’s wrong?” Dongho asked. Cho tried to calm herself.

"Well, for one, it's about to rain, and this blue isn't my natural hair color," she said jokingly, then she straightened up, "But seriously, I'm like ten minutes late for rehearsals." Dongho's brain scrambled for a way to fix this.

"You don't have a ride?" he asked caringly. Cho started panicking.

"No, Michelle was gonna be my ride, but she's most likely at rehearsal." Cho hid her face his her falms and took deep breaths. Dongho said,

"If you'd like, I could get Eli to give you a ride, you'd still be late, but at least you wouldn't completely miss it." Cho looked up and smiled. By this time they were both standing and Cho said,

"Really?Thank you, thank you, thank you, ummm, can I say thank you again?" she giggled. Dongho started to blush when Cho ran towards him and gave him a big, close, hug.

"Seriously, Cho, it's no biggie," he began to say as Cho gave him a kiss on the cheek and quickly hugged him again. He didn't know whether to be completely shocked that she kissed him, even if it was just on the cheek, or that she was being to affectionate,

"Um, wow, ok, well, I'm, uh, I'm gonna call Eli, and uh, you can, you know, wait...while I do that," he said, all the while nodding awkwardly. Cho smiled wide,

"I picked a good one." she said playfully. If Dongho wasn't blushing already, he was definately beet red by now. He smiled shyly and picked up his phone to call Eli. After he'd gotten everything organized he began to pick up the tablecloth and food from their date when Cho said as she flirtilly bit her lip,

"So...you know where we're going on our next date...and hopefully the one after that?"

Dongho almost dropped a plate and looked up at her. At first, he was going to ramble like he'd been doing for their whole date, but somehow, Cho's warm smile gave him some confidence,

"I'm not sure yet, but we'll think of something," he said.

And surely they did, for the next few months, four to be exact, they'd grown closer and closer together, and after a while, Dongho truly felt himself developing feelings for Cho that he'd never had for anyone else. Luckily, she was feeling the same way about him.

* * *

It was the day of G²'s first performance for the Help for Hearts benefit concert and all of the members were stoked, escpecially Cho, who'd not only had the honor of headlining such a famous event, but also the joy of a strong, yet still blossoming relationship. She and Dongho had become extremely close and now were not only dating, but were sort of best friends too. After her rehearsals that day, Dongho, being another person performing that same day, surprised Cho in her dressing room.

"Hey," he said, with his hands behind his back. Cho greeted him with a warm smile.

"Hey, babe, you guys finished your rehearsals?" she asked.

"Nope, we're just on a break right now, which is why I chose now to show you what I made you," he said with his eyebrows raised. Cho smiled wide,

"Awww, you made me something?"

"Not just something, I made you the something that you love," he said enthusiastically. Cho's eyes lit up. Dongho smiled, clearly pleased with himself. He moved his hands from behind his back and handed her the gift. When she saw it, she almost squeled.

"You made me shrinky dinks! I thought you hated them?" she said, switching from exited to curious.

"Well, I did," he started, "but then, after a good friend of mine showed me the wonders of shrinky dinks, I thought I'd return the favor. Read it." he said. Cho looked at the shrinky dink and fell open. In shrinky dink bubble letters, it read, Will You Be My Girlfriend? Cho was pleasantly shocked. In the four months that they'd been dating, they'd never discussed labels or anything official, but now that he brought it up, she really began to think about it.

"Are you sure you're ready for that, Dongho? I mean, won't it be super hard to maintain a real relationship without anyone else knowing?" Cho asked. She wasn't trying to discourage him, she loved the idea of being his girlfriend, but she still had her concerns.

"And that brings me to my second surprise," he began, "I wanna come out." Cho furrowed her eyebrows.

"But you're straight, right?" Dongho laughed at that reaction.

"Of course, Cho, I meant come out as a couple, as in, hopefully, after my performance. I was thinking that I'd bring you on stage and introduce you as my girlfriend, that is of course, if you want to actually be my girlfriend." Cho pursed her lips but her smile couldn't help but show. She walked closer to Dongho and said,

"Of course, of course. But, Dongho, you know doing this is going to show management what we've been trying to hide for months and your group members, what will they think, and your mom, I'm black, won't she be all over me and stuff..." Cho went on and on until she was forced to stop rambling. Dongho kissed her passionately. They'd kissed before, but it was always short and sweet, Cho figured now was different since they were "official". After getting over the shock of him kissing her like that, she realized what was happening and kissed him back. Dongho pulled back,

"Babe, believe me when I say this. I don't care one bit how management, my group, or my mom feels about us. You mean way too much to much to me to let other people's opinions get in the way of what we have," Dongho said sincerely. Cho believed him wholeheartedly, but still found herself wanting to...well, kiss him. She smiled flirtilly as he held her waist.

"When is your break over?" she asked. Dongho practically read her mind and laughed before saying, "Now that you mention it, I do have to get back, but if you want, I can stop by later and um, finish this?" he said playfully. Cho nodded and said,

"Well, I wouldn't want to make you late, boyfriend, see you later then?" she asked.

He had to force himself not to blush,

"Yep, girlfriend." They both doubled over laughing at that before Dongho said,

"I'm gonna get going," and headed out the dressing room. Before he reached the door, Cho did something extremely out of character and softly slapped him on the .

"Really, babe? slapping?" he asked jokingly. She laughed and waved at him as he walked out of the door laughing. When she knew he was gone, she turned to her shrinky dink, and then looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn't contain her happiness and started singing her group's hit song "Boys" as she did a vistory dance. She was still extremely nervous for Dongho's announcement at the end of his performance, but she was eager to be by his side, especially since in a little while, they wouldn't have to hide anymore. Cho smiled wide for the next few minutes, becuase, really, after what just happened, that was all she could do.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed :)