“We need to talk.”

Four simple words flashed on the screen of her phone but that was enough to make Suzy Bae’s heart drop. She might not have many experiences with love and relationships (the only experience she had was her current relationship with the sender of the message which also happened to be her first boyfriend) but she knew these four words were not to be taken lightly. Suzy’s grip on her phone tightened as she stared at the message as if willing it to disappear so she did not have to face reality. Call her pessimistic or whatever but the reality she had in mind was her boyfriend, Lee Taemin, having a problem with their relationship or worse, her, and therefore the need to talk. And if television dramas and movies taught her well, they might not even end up talking, arguing instead. Suzy could just imagine the scene in her head, Taemin looking all stern and serious, her looking like she was about to cry and everything ending in a break up. Suzy was afraid, so very afraid. What if Taemin really wanted to break up with her? She didn’t even want to think about the possibility of them breaking up let alone deal with having to lose Taemin all of a sudden. Suzy wasn’t a weak girl, nor was she reliant on Taemin, it was just simply the fact that her heart was on the line here. Knowing that one person could break her heart into a million pieces made Suzy realize that she may have underestimated her feelings for Taemin.

What was she going to do now? Should she reply, or should she just ignore the message? Suzy slumped further into the uncomfortable chair that she had been sitting on since Miss A’s performance at the SBS Gayo Daejun ended. It didn’t help that she was exhausted and deprived of sleep from all the practices and rehearsals for the three Gayo Daejuns performances that Miss A was going to present. That was also mainly why she decided to just sit down and wait in the assigned backstage tent, preserving her energy for the ending stage while the rest of her members disappeared to catch up with the other idols. Suzy would love to be able to find Taemin (or for Taemin to come and find her) but he was stuck with the rest of the SM family who had no clue they were friends, let alone knew they were in a relationship. The only people who knew of their secret were s and hers, all of whom were either not around or lacking the ability to help them this time round. Meeting each other backstage was a definite no-no at such a large scale event, a fact they both knew without having to discuss. Suzy was hoping that they could bump into each other accidentally, even if it was just for a minute, but luck wasn’t on her side. And apparently, Lady Luck was bent on not visiting her for quite some time.     

For the whole month of December, Suzy never met Taemin once, only keeping in contact with him through the phone since he was busy with his promotions in Japan while she concentrated on her own schedules. Yet, contacting each other on the phone was barely enough either since they never had the time for long heart to heart talks or text messages that never seemed to end. Their conversations on the phone lasted less than 10 sentences. Messaging was worse as most of the time, both Taemin and Suzy couldn’t reply each other immediately which led to conversations ending abruptly or left hanging in the air. Taemin back in Korea also didn’t make a difference because preparations for the Gayo Daejuns had begun which meant that they hardly had the time to breathe.

The night before the SBS Gayo Daejun, Suzy had to fight her sleepiness away just to send Taemin a “Rock that stage tomorrow!” message. She never expected a reply because she understood how busy and focused Taemin was, simply satisfied with knowing that she had sent a message to him and that he would eventually read it. So when a message from Taemin finally came in after both their stages were over (trust Taemin to choose a good timing to send the message and maintain his professional side), Suzy was thrilled beyond words. Yet, the four words that he had sent only caused her emotions to swing wildly with Suzy now feeling lost, confused and afraid, as though she had hit rock bottom.

It had been almost an hour since she received the message but Suzy still didn’t know what to do. Fortunately for her (or unfortunately), she didn’t have to rack her brains anymore since the sender of the message himself came sneaking into her backstage tent, heaving a huge audible sigh of relief which was what exactly had caught Suzy’s attention.

“Oppa!” Suzy widened her eyes in shock and sprung up from her chair. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

Walking quickly towards his girlfriend, Taemin placed a finger on his lips to remind Suzy to watch the volume of her voice.  

“I bumped into your members outside and they’re helping us keep a look out.” Taemin reassured a nervous looking Suzy.

“You shouldn’t have risked it…” Suzy disagreed. “What if someone suspected-“

“I really couldn’t care less right now when there’s something else that’s bothering me.” Taemin interrupted, placing his hands firmly on Suzy’s shoulders. “We need to talk. Did you get my message?”

Suzy froze as Taemin looked straight into her eyes. Out of her subconscious, she started fidgeting with the phone that was still in her hand. Taemin didn’t miss the guilty expression that was now on Suzy’s face and followed the direction of Suzy’s wandering eyes.

“So you did see my message…” Taemin spotted the phone in her hands and then looked back up at Suzy. “Why didn’t you reply me then? You weren’t busy right?”

Suzy bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “I didn’t know what to say.”

“Wait a second,” Taemin stared at Suzy harder, taking in the worried nervous look on her face. “Why do you look so scared?”

“You said… we needed to talk.” Suzy swallowed uneasily, unable to say anything more as she waited for Taemin to give her the death sentence.

Taemin raised an eyebrow. And for a minute or so, the young couple just simply looked at each other, both trying to figure what the other was thinking. Taemin eventually gave up and broke the silence.

“What exactly is going on in this brain of yours?" Taemin gently poked Suzy's head as he looked amusedly at her.

Suzy pouted, still refusing to say anything. She herself had the same question in mind for Taemin!

“If I had the time, I would continue teasing you but we don't so I'm gonna get straight to the point.” Taemin let out a sigh. “Sooji, I'm not breaking up with you.”

Suzy gasped. “How did you know-“

“We've been together long enough for me to read you well baby.” Taemin didn’t need Suzy to finish speaking for him to know what she was going to ask and so he interrupted her.

“But it seems that it hasn't been long enough for you... I'm disappointed.” Taemin sulked,pushing his bottom lip out in a pout.

A smile tugged on Suzy’s lips as she pushed her boyfriend playfully on his shoulder. “Stop acting, Oppa. SHINee Oppas may fall for your trick but you don't fool me.”

Taemin chuckled, hiding his smile with his hand.

Suzy resisted the urge to roll her eyes and turned serious instead. “So... if it’s not about breaking up, what exactly did you want to talk to me about?”

“Right.” Taemin's smile disappeared, immediately replaced with an equally stern expression.

Suzy could even catch a hint of frustration in his eyes and her nerves came back. “What is it?”

Taemin leaned down until his lips were only a centimeter away from Suzy's ear and then he whispered, “Stop looking so seductive, I don't like it.”

“Me? Seductive?” Suzy widened her eyes and pushed Taemin away so she could look him in the eyes. “Since when did I look seductive?”

Taemin crossed his arms and stated matter-of-factly. “Everytime you flip your hair and have that fierce y look in your eyes when you perform.”

“Perform?” An amused expression appeared on Suzy's face. “Oppa! Like you said, it's a performance, it's what I have to do!”

Like a spoiled upset child, Taemin huffed. “I don't care. Choose another way to perform. I don't want others to see you like that.”

Suzy was at a loss for words. Was her boyfriend throwing a tantrum over what she had to do for her job? Was that the problem that he so desperately needed to talk to her about? He was just... so... so…

"You're infuriatingly adorable you know that?" Suzy giggled and reached out to squeeze Taemin’s cheek.

“Don't call me adorable.” Taemin caught hold of Suzy’s hand and pressed his lips on the back of her hand. “If there's anyone who should be adorable in this relationship, it's you."

Taemin then pulled Suzy into his arms and buried his nose in her hair, allowing Suzy’s scent to fill his nose as he grumbled, “I hate how I have to share you with the world.”

Suzy wrapped her arms around Taemin's waist, stealing his warmth at the same time. “Oppa, has it ever crossed your mind that I'm in the exact same situation as you?”

Suzy sighed and muttered into Taemin's chest. “I hate how I have to put up with all the fangirls who swoon over you and every little thing you do.”

“But I love you, and only you. You know that right, Sooji?” Taemin immediately said with so much sincerity in his voice.

Suzy nodded and looked up into Taemin's eyes. “And that's what gets me through. So Oppa, just remember that because I love you too, you're the only one who'll see the true Bae Sooji that no one else can see.”

Taemin smiled and sneaked a quick kiss on Suzy's lips. They leaned their foreheads against each other, sharing a smile and enjoying the blissful moment. Yet, good things never seem to last because their moment was broken when Min came rushing into the tent, anxiousness evident on her face.

“Sorry lovebirds! Ending stage, now! Let's go!” With that, Min disappeared as suddenly as she had arrived.

Taemin and Suzy broke apart and shared a knowing laugh with each other. It was back to reality for now. But before they went their separate ways, Suzy caught Taemin by surprise when she suddenly grabbed the collar of his jacket and roughly pulled him towards her.

Staring at Taemin with the fiercest look she could muster, Suzy narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice to a dangerous tone, “Don’t ever use those four words on me again.”

And with that, Suzy released Taemin from her grip, suddenly looking all nice and innocent again as she smoothed out the creases in his jacket and flashed the sweetest smile to her slightly stunned boyfriend.

“Call me later, Oppa.” Suzy winked teasingly at Taemin and then walked out of the tent like a queen.

As he watched Suzy disappear behind the entrance of the tent, Taemin shook his head and laughed. “And she says she’s not seductive…”

Because if Taemin was concerned about one thing right now, it would be the naughty-nice personality switch that Suzy just revealed and well, that by Taemin’s standards was good enough to be labeled seductive. It kind of even drove him crazy. And if Suzy ever showed that side to anyone other than him…

Taemin let out a sigh at the thoughts that flooded his mind and the emotions that would take over him. Obviously, there was more communication to be done but for now, it was time for work, personal matters later. As he hurried out of the tent and headed straight to the stage, Taemin knew he’ll definitely be calling Suzy later. Besides, her wish would always be his command. Taemin wasn’t going to let her down. He would never.

Author's Note: oh goodness, i don't even know what this is. not satisfied with the ending but i can't seem to write anything more so decided to just go ahead and post it. i really do hope it's readable! heh. anyway, i think it's obvious that my other inspiration for this story is Suzy herself and how she performs Goodbye Baby. The look she has in her eyes and the way she flips her hair like she doesn't care, i find that really captivating (this coming from a girl is saying a lot)! alrighty, this is getting too long so i shall stop myself. thanks for reading if you stayed with me until this point. hope you enjoyed it! :)