The first thing we all did when we got inside the van was look online to see what kind of news were posted about us.

            “Oh my Lord… these comments are so…” I said quietly, wanting to rip my own head off.

            “It’s okay, there’s no picture of you up there, so that’s good at least,” Kibum rubbed my back. I was sitting at the front seat because the van only had five seats in the back and Taemin offered to sit in the front, but that was just such a reckless idea.

            “Aniya, I’m not worried about me, I couldn’t care less. Look what it says about you! Am I the only one seeing this??” I looked behind at them and they didn’t even look half as worried as I was.

            “Don’t woooorry so much, Ellie-ah,” Taemin waved his hand. But I shook my head in protest.

            “Aniya, all the headlines say ‘Key and mystery woman’ or ‘SHINee Key’s One Night Stand’ or ‘SHINee’s visit to a dying fan’ or ‘Key, a womanizer’ and all the comments are horrible!” I looked at them, waiting for a reaction but they just ignored me.

            “Oh did you see the one that said ‘SHINee’s Key, Not Gay, Leaves a Lady’s Home Christmas Morning’???” Minho brought up and the member started laughing, even Key! It was actually the first article I saw but I didn’t want to bring it up.

            “They’re also saying bad things about you…” Kibum said slowly and quietly. Unsure of how I was going to take it.          

            “I reeeaally don’t care. It’s not like I work in showbiz that I actually have to care about what they think,” I shrugged, scrolling down my phone.

            “Ellie-ah… Are you sure you’re okay?” Jonghyun added.

            “They keep calling you a gold-digger or a sasaeng fan who hunted Key down and made him fall for you, and stuff like that…” Taemin said.

            “Yah!” Kibum shouted. I looked at them and they were all looking at me pitifully. Were they waiting for me to cry or something?

            “It’s okay, tell us how you really feel, I’m sorry you have to go through this…” Kibum exhaled.    

            “Honestly, it kinda to read all that, I don’t know how you guys dealt with stuff like this in the beginning, but I’m still grateful that the important people in my life, know the truth and what the actual story is, and know who I am,” I smiled at them, trying to make them forget about their worries.

            “Wah… that’s such a positive attitude,” Minho said. “I couldn’t handle all of those comments in the beginning…” he continued.

            “In the beginning? You still can’t handle it HAHAHA,” Onew laughed at Minho’s confidence.

            “Waaaaah, I’m just trying here, okay? Jeez,” Minho replied and shook his head.

            “Where should I drop Ellie-ssi off?” the man driving said, I think his name was Ki-Chan Oppa.

            “Oh right, I live i-,” I was immediately cut off.

            “Just bring us all to the dorm, Hyung, we still have something to discuss,” Kibum looked at me and I looked at him, confused. What did we have to discuss?

            “Okay, the dorm it is,” Ki-Chan driver Oppa said.

“Kids, wake up, we’re heeeeere,” Kibum said loudly and opened the van door. Everybody else moved with half their eyes open. Kibum and I were the only ones wide awake, but he assisted the members who were walking zombies towards the elevator doors.

            “Thank you so much for dropping us off,” I bowed to Ki-Chan Oppa. He bowed too.

            “Neh, have a good night, good luck to you guys, see you around,” he said and got inside the van. I waited for him to drive out of the basement garage and jogged to the members.

            “Are they always like this when they get home from schedules?” I asked Kibum, as I watched the members walk inside the elevator, barely awake.

            “Mmhmm, all of us, but I’m wide awake ‘cause you’re here,” he said, pushing the button to their floor.

            “Aiyooo, it’s not the time to joke,” I said, feeling all the blood rush to my cheeks.

            “I’m not joking, I’m only wide awake because I’m with you,” he said again and all I could do was nudge him.

Krrrrriiiing Krriiiiiiiing Krrrriiiiiiing.

Key’s phone rang the second we walked inside their dorm.

            “Hello?” he picked up. The members automatically walked towards their own bedrooms without saying anything and shut their doors. I chuckled as I watched this scene happen. “Neh?!” Kibum shouted. It was just him and I left alone.

            “What?” I mouthed.

            “Tomorrow?!” He ignored me. “Waeyo??” he listened to the other side of the phone intently. What now… “Okay, I understand… We’ll be there…” he said quietly and hung up.

            “Do you guys have another schedule tomorrow?” I asked curiously. He just shook his head and stared into nothing.

            “Ani… we have a meeting,” he pointed at himself and me.

            “What??” I said a little too loud. “Wh-what do you- what??” I asked again.

            “Director wants to…talk to us,” he said, getting ahold of himself this time. “Something about, nothing major that was bad was ever posted about SHINee…and now well, yeah, the rest is self-explanatory,” he explained further.

            “Wh-why me? I mean… like…why me?” I was so flustered that I spoke in English.

            “Why you? Beeecause you’re kind of the…uh, girlfriend?” he cleared his throat. We were still awkward at calling each other boyfriend or girlfriend.

            “I know… but is this really so important? For THE director to meet with us?” I asked, still not believing the news we received

            “I guess so…” he sat down on the arm of the couch then fell backwards.

            “Bahahahha! Oh my gosh,” I ran quickly to his side to help him up. He clapped his hands and started laughing too.  

            “Aigoo, I guess we needed that laugh,” he said once we’ve both sat down.

            “So what do we do?” I faced him with a concerned look.

            “Guess we’re meeting with the big boss tomorrow,” he shrugged and pretended to be calm but his eyes were wavering. “I’ll drop you off at home after I shower,” he got up and I just nodded.

            “Are you sure you should be driving me home? People might see again…” I said when we got inside his car.

            “It’s fine, it’s already 11 and it’s Christmas evening, nobody will be out,” he yawned as he said this.

            “mmm…okay,” I said and watched him drive for the first time. He looked so cool back out of the parking spot with one hand. “Wah…” I couldn’t help but react out loud. He looked at me and was trying to hold his confident smile in.

            “what?” He asked even though he knew why I was amazed.

            “Nothing,” I looked away and looked straight ahead. “You just look cool, that’s all,” I mumbled quietly.

            “tch… tch…” he scoffed then clapped his hands out of nowhere. “I know,” he said trying to hold in his smile.

            “Aigoo, you’re really something,” I looked out my window and waited for us to arrive.

When we did, he turned off the engine and we stayed in the car.

            “Do you think we’ll be okay?” he asked me. “I’ve been acting like we will be, but I have no idea anymore…If it gets too hard for you, let me know no matter what,” he grabbed my hand and twirled his index finger on my palm.

            “We’ll be okay… You too, I don’t understand why you’re so worried about me, why all of you are so worried about me, I’m too worried about you and the rest of the members,” I said with frustration.

            “Ellie-ah, we’re used to this, you’re not, if it’s too uncomfortable and too stressful, you tell me right away,” he patted my hand repeatedly.

            “Tell me too if it’s too much for you, you’re not in this by yourself,” I smiled at him.

            “Thank you… I told you this before but I’m grateful for you,” he smiled back at me and ruffled my hair.

            “Omo!!!”

            “It’s them!!!”

            “Is that the girl?!”

            “Key! SHINee, SHINee!”

            “Omo omo, what??” Key and I said at the same time, surprised at the girls standing outside my apartment. They had their phones out and our first instinct was to cover our faces.

            “What do we do???” I used my bag to cover my face, but the fans’ voices got closer and closer to the car. Key started the car again started to drive away.

            “The windows are tinted but not the windshield so they might have gotten pictures of us,” he said quickly, trying not to run anybody over. “Is there a backdoor to the apartment?”

            “Oh yeah, turn here,” I said, rushing the words out of my mouth. I was in major panic mode. Who knew people would be outside my apartment, just waiting?  “I’m just gonna get out here, even if they see me, they don’t know what I look like yet,” I said and Kibum stopped the car. He just nodded, probably feeling as anxious as I was at what just happened.

            “Text me when you get inside okay?” he squeezed my hand before I got out of the car, but those girls could show up any minute so I rushed out.

            “Text me when you get home, be safe,” I got out and waved. He gestured for me to go quickly and so I ran to the back alley quickly and listened to the car drive away.

            Kibum and I said we would just meet at the company by 10 in the morning because people were probably waiting outside my apartment again. Do people just have nothing to do? I went through the back door of the building again and hurriedly got on a cab. I decided to wear a cap today so I could hide my face just in case what happened last night happens again today. There was a café in the lobby of the building and that was where Kibum and I decided to meet. It felt unfamiliar to walk inside this building and the security guards at the door eyed me and I could feel their eyes following the direction I was walking. I obviously looked like I didn’t belong and it became more apparent when I started wandering around looking for the café. This was when the guards approached me and pulled my arm.

            “Miss, you’re not allowed to be here,” one of them said. The other stayed quiet and kept his hold on my arm.

            “Uh, no I’m just waiting for someone, I’m looking for the café?” I said as nicely as I could and I pulled my arm away as slowly as I could.

            “Yeah yeah, we know who you’re waiting for, there are no idols here today lady,” the other one said and pulled my arm again to drag me.

            “No, really, I’m just looking for the café,” I tried not to my irritation show because I shouldn’t be here anyways.

            “Yeah, okay,” they were ignoring me and we were almost at the door so I broke away from the other guy’s hold.

            “Fine, I’ll walk on my own alright,” I said, annoyed. The women at the front desk were whispering while watching me. Jeez, this is pretty embarrassing.

            “Ellie-ssi?? What’s going on?” It was Onew Oppa.

            “Oh thank God!” I ran up to him quickly leaving the guards frozen in their spots. Onew was wearing a black mask and pulled it down to smile at the guards.

            “What happened? Are you okay?” he asked me.

            “Onew-ssi, do you know this woman?” the guards looked apologetic to Onew but not to me, they wouldn’t even look at me.

            “Neh! This is my woman,” somebody’s arm was suddenly around my shoulder. I jumped from being surprised.

            “Omo,” I turned to see Kibum, smiling at the guards. “Yah, are you crazy?” I whispered.

            “It’s okay, we’re in our territory,” he said through his teeth.

            “Eh?” the two guards said then cleared their throats and looked at each other.

            “Sorry about that, miss,” they bowed but didn’t seem that sorry for dragging me so impolitely.

            “It’s okay, thanks for guarding the building so efficiently,” I bowed back and smiled at them. They were efficient, it was their job but I mean, they could’ve been much nicer, but whatever. They walked away back to their spots and Onew, Kibum, and I walked towards the elevator. The receptionists kept whispering and just watched the three of us walk inside the elevator.