A/N:  Good afternoon/Good morning/Good evening to you! Thank you for making it this far with me, first off, I want to let you know that this chapter has not been edited because I was super eager to post it, but I will do that ASAP. The ideas are flowing out of me so I want to write the chapter after this quickly and so I will edit it after that! Thank you for your patience as always lovelies!  ►►►

    “My ideal type?” he asked, flabbergasted. I nodded, twisting my fingers together nervously, because what if I wasn’t with his ideal type? 
    “Not like, stuff you say on broadcasts or whatever, what’s your actual ideal type?” I glanced at him as we walked past a garden with a pond. I found out we were actually in Daegu, once I read the road signs, of course. He took me to his hometown, more specifically, he was taking me to see his Grandmother. He was introducing me right away, to a person that meant the whole world to him. I was so nervous that I changed the subject by asking what his ideal type was without thinking. 
    “Mmm, honestly, I was honest on broadcasts, I like a foreigner and… I don’t wanna sound too uh, narrow but I guess, I care about uh, visual and fashion a lot,” he said slowly and carefully. I was quiet, but glad that he was honest. “I love personality too of course! Someone not too alike with me but alike enough that we can enjoy the same things… Also, someone patient, someone who will say what’s on their mind, someone who doesn’t care about my busy schedule, someone who takes care of others well, someone kind-hearted, beautiful… Mmm, you know, just…someone like you,” he added the last part and waited for my reaction. I giggled and exaggerated my cringe. 
    “Aigoo, you smooth-talking man,” I said and looped my arm around his, following his footsteps. 

    “Halmeoni, meet Ellie, Ellie meet my Halmeoni,” Kibum stood there and I bowed to the jar behind a glass where her ashes are in. (A/N: I obviously have no idea how Key’s grandmother’s body was taken care of, I’m just assuming here that she was cremated since it’s usually what I see in dramas! I mean no disrespect whatsoever and doing this simply for the storyline, thank you for understanding my lovelies!) “It’s nice to meet you… Thank you for raising such a wonderful person,” I said quietly and bowed again. 
    “You don’t have to keep bowing, just wave your hand at the picture!” Kibum said cheerfully, he probably noticed that I did not want to act disrespectful in any way at all. 
    “Yah, I can’t just wave,” I whispered to him.
    “Puahaha, Halmeoni! What am I gonna do with this lady, aigoo she doesn’t listen to me,” Kibum smiled a kind of smile I’ve never seen before. He had such kind eyes and a loving gaze. So, this is what he must have been like with his grandmother...I could only imagine their relationship and how much he treasured her… 
    “Halmeoni, Kibum’s worried I won’t understand his Korean if he spoke in his Daegu dialect because i'm a foreigner, so he won’t do it… Can you reassure him that I actually want to hear it and not because I want to make fun of him?” I said with my hands clasped. 
    “Halme, I’m only doing this because of you,” he said in dialect, with the accent that I’ve only heard on broadcast. 
    “Wuah, daebak, can I fangirl for two seconds,” I covered my face with two hands and tried not to squeal. 
    “Okay, two seconds, I know I’m cool,” he said, fixing his jacket. I hit the back of his head. 
    “Yah! We’re in front of my grandma,” he said, fixing his hair. 

    After a long talk with Kibum’s halmeoni, we walked back to the car and planned to drive by the house he was raised in, the schools he went to, and his old hangout places. For some reason, I pictured Daegu to be this small, rural area even though I knew it was a big city. I was still shocked at all the buildings, the lights everywhere, the people everywhere. It looked like another Seoul, really. 
    “Kibum-ssi, do you think you can park somewhere and we can walk somewhere isolated and take pictures?” I asked, looking outside the window, trying to take pictures with my phone and camera at the same time. 
    “I’m sorry…” he said, suddenly. His tone of voice made me look at him. 
    “Eh? What are you sorry for?” I asked and waited for an answer. He kept his eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel. 
    “Because… you have to go through this. Things like, hiding in alleys so that people won’t recognize us or wearing a hat and a mask, running out of the car to quickly get in your own home… I’m sorry that this is the kind of relationship I asked you to be in…” he said, with obvious sadness in his voice. It was definitely hard, we wouldn’t be able to do a lot of normal couple things, like going to the movies, drinking at a vendor stand, walking hand-in-hand in MyeongDong, entering different shops and shopping til’ we dropped. Despite all that, I’m grateful to be here with him and for him. 
    “Mmm… Oppa…” I started shyly, since I never really call him that. “I could’ve said no when you asked me. Believe me, I knew what it would be like when I said yes, I knew the risks and I’m here,” I sighed then offered him a small smile. “How long was this bothering you?” I asked. He then looked at me since we were at a red light. 
    “All this time… I was actually considering asking you whether you were still okay with doing this and being here,” he said quietly. The fact that he thought about this too made my heart drop. We were having the same thoughts but I was too selfish to bring it up myself. I felt my eyes getting teary so I looked away as fast as I could then the green light lit. 
    “I was actually having the same thoughts to be honest but this is where I want to be and I’ll tell you when it gets super hard,” I said with a smile, reassuring him that such a thing wouldn’t happen. 
    “Okay okay, I don’t know why I got so serious there! I’m the almighty Key!” he said smugly. But I knew he was trying to hide behind that façade. 
    “Kim Kibum, you know it’s okay to be weak in front of me, I’m not just a fan anymore, I’ve been your friend for a while now and now I’m…more. It’s okay if you wanna share how you feel. I know on tv you’re the diva and the ‘full of yourself’, ‘I love me’ guy, and I know that all that’s true even outside broadcasts,” I said jokingly to make him laugh and he did. “But, know that it’s okay to show your heart to me, I’ll protect you,” I said with a wink, because he looked quickly at me. 
    “Yah, I should be saying that,” he said with a pout. I shook my head. 
    “Aniya, let’s both say it to each other, why does only the other need protecting? We both do, silly,” I said and held his hand tightly then let go. 
    “Okay, call!” he said, finally with a smile. “I’ve told you before that I’m grateful for you, right?” he added. I nodded and finally we arrived at, what looked like a middle school. It was empty since it was the winter break, which we were grateful for. 
    “Wah! Is this the infamous school of SHINee’s Key?!” I jumped out of the car and spun around, looking at everything around us. 
    “Why, yes it is, shawol fan, let me give you a private tour,” he said and offered his arm, so I looped mine right away. 

    “Yah! Didn’t I tell you they would show up here sooner or later!” 
    “Aren’t you glad you didn’t go on vacation with your family?!” 
    “Omo, is that really them!” 
    “Yeah, look at that, he’s even wearing something so nice,” 
    “Are they on a date???” 
It was a bunch of middle school kids, some of them looked like they were high school students. About twenty of them have gathered and we quickly ran back to the car, using our scarves to cover our heads. However, Kibum kept his hand clasped around my fingers as we ran. The kids did not run after us, they were just waving and smiling. It looked like they just really wanted us to enjoy our time…? 
    When we got inside the car, I suddenly felt bad that we did not even acknowledge their presence. They looked like they didn’t mean any harm and they just seemed innocent. 
    “Sorry about that…” he apologized. Again! 
    “okay, you know what, can we make a deal where you don’t need to apologize every time we have to run away from your fans or run away from anything?” I said as he started the car. 
    “Okay, but I hope you know I’ll always be apologetic,” he shook his head as he backed out of the parking spot. I, then, cupped his face with both my hands and he pressed on the brakes abruptly. 
    “Kibum-ssi, you don’t have to apologize for achieving your dreams, this is only happening because you’re successful, you’re a singer, you’re an actor, you’re a celebrity, heck you’re a diva, so I don’t want you apologizing for something you worked hard for,” I said sternly. He pouted more and more as I kept on talking. Then a tear escaped his eye and he hugged me without giving me room to breathe. 
    “Yah, when did you get so smooth with your words? Thank you for telling me those things… All I could think about was how much our situation was hurting you but you always think about me first… I don’t know what to say, except that you have such a good heart,” he said then let go of his hold to look at my face. 
    “Aigoo, come on, let’s go,, before we get pictures of this posted online,” I put on my seatbelt and took off the scarf around my head. 
    “Okay, where do you wanna go?” he asked. 
    “Well, honestly, I need to use the toilet,” I said, without pausing. Why should I be embarrassed now?! 
    “Puahahahaha! It’s because you ate a bunch of different things all at once, aigoo,” he laughed, clapping his hands against the wheel. “That’s too much information right now, I wasn’t ready! I thought this was our first date, ahahahahha!” he kept going. 
    “Aniya, it’s not that, it’s uh, it’s that uh, time of-“ he cut me off. 
    “Oh, okay okay okay, what do you need? Do you have what you need? Should we stop by somewhere?” he said so quickly, I almost couldn’t understand him. I blushed at how caring he was being and that he stopped laughing. He was trying to make me feel comfortable about it, even though he was probably freaking out in his head. We haven’t even been friends for a year and haven’t been in a relationship for more than a week and we were already at this level…
    “yah, would I leave the house unprepared? I’ve got what I need,” I said proudly. He held back a snort, but it still came out, so he just laughed to get it out of his system. “keep laughing, you should be glad I’m not moody today, aigoooooooooo if only you knew… Keep laughing, maybe moody-Ellie will appear,” I nodded and kept my arms folded across my chest. He stopped right away. 
    “Neh, So Ra-ssi, I apologize for my behaviour,” he said politely and I chuckled. He knew the city well, so we quickly arrived at a karaoke room. It was perfect because rooms were private and we could order food and just hang out at the same time. I got off before he did to go inside the place, order a room, then went inside the washroom. 
    By the time I got back, he had already ordered food and it came fast because there were few customers. 
    “Is everything good? Are you good?” he asked, looking at my face then my stomach. 
    “Yeah, I’m good, relax, this kind of happens every month, for like, half my lifetime, so I’m kind of used to it by now,” I said sarcastically. 
    “Ha, ha!” he said, rolling his eyes. “Start eating, I’m gonna sing a song first,” he stood up then grabbed the microphone after inputting a song. At first I thought, he was planning to sing me a sweet song and serenade me, but uh nope! 
    “One! Two! One two three four! Bounce with me, bounce with me! Bounce with me, bounce! Bounce with me, bounce with me, bounce! Bounce with me bounce with me, bounce with me bounce with me, bounce with me bounce with me, BOUNCE! BOUNCE! BOUNCE! BOUNCE!” he was singing a song by Dj Doc ‘Run To You’ (A/N: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzIG2RY-MJc listen and imagine Key singing it, hahaha! Who else knows this song? Hands up!) 
I joined the rap part and he was so shocked that he started laughing, endlessly clapping but I kept singing the song seriously.
    
    “Uah…So this was where Kim Kibum spent his school days,” I said, as I chewed on fried chicken. 
    “Mmhm, yep, I’m pretty much best friends with the owners,” he nodded as he looked though the book of songs. He wasn’t eating because he was on a diet, so he told me to eat for him. I always felt bad every time he dieted and had to watch me eat, especially during our facetime days. We didn’t order much because I was the only one eating, so I was almost finished. “Where do you wanna go after?” he asked. I shrugged, because how would I know? 
    “It’s already pretty late, Kibum-ssi,” I said, wiping my hand with a wet tissue. He checked his phone for the time. 
    “Omo, it’s already 6! Okay, I’m just gonna go to the washroom, then we’ll leave,” he said then left the karaoke room we were in. Meanwhile, I opened up my phone to type Key’s name on the search engine, to make sure no pictures were up from today. The article at the very top of the page left my eyes wide open and my mouth agape. My heart sank as I read each bolded word of the title.

‘SHINee’s Key & Apink Eunji rumoured to be in We Got Married’