A broad smile can be seen on Jonghyun´s lips as he watches how a girl walks towards him. Jonghyun has liked her for a very long time now and he´s very happy over the fact that this will be their first meeting outside work.  It´s almost like a date. The sound of her high heels hitting the pavement echoes as she approaches him with a rather shy smile on her red colored lips. She´s beautiful, but above that, she´s too kind to be true.

“Hello.” She greets him with a slight bow of her head.

The smile never leaves those lips of hers. Jonghyun simply smiles as a greeting before he offers her his arm, which she gladly accepts. A nice scent washes over Jonghyun s they walk side by side and he can´t help but wonder what kind of perfume she wears. It´s not too strong, yet he can easily pick it up and it seems to be the perfect scent for her. It reflects her personality nicely.

The two of them walks down the dark streets of Seoul together, shielded by the darkness and shadows around them. It´s a calm Sunday night and it seems like no one is around for the moment. Just the way Jonghyun likes it. He wouldn´t want her to get bothered by his fans. It could destroy her. They find a small, almost deserted coffee shop at a narrow street and they take a seat at a table far back in the corner.  They´re eating some sweets while drinking coffee after a while of waiting. These are one of Jonghyun´s favorite places and he wanted to introduce it to her. He has never taken a girl to a date here before because it´s too close to his heart.

Jonghyun glances at her when she´s too busy to eat her strawberry pie to even notice him. They´ve known each other for quite a while but Jonghyun finally got the courage to ask her if she wanted to take a coffee or something after work. He remembers her surprised face, those wide beautiful eyes and those lips in a cute pout as she just stared at him at a loss of words. She said OK with a shy smile after an awkward silence. He was surprised to see such a strong girl like her get embarrassed but that just made his heart beat faster… Now he just wished he actually asked her out officially, so he could be sure if this is considered a date or not.

She was the girl who dared to yell at him when he got too cocky, to scold him when he didn´t sleep enough, who forced food down his throat when he lied and said he wasn´t hungry when he actually was on a diet. She just bothered him in every way possible, just like an annoying mother, without caring what he actually thought of her. He disliked it a lot at first, that´s quite logical, but only until he realized he needs her to be alright. She isn´t afraid to hurt his feelings when she needs to, nor speak up to him, this is what first caught his eye.  She´s a little spitfire. His little spitfire. Jonghyun grins to himself.

“Is it that good?” Jonghyun comments as she makes a delightful sound upon taking another bite of her pie.  “Why are you eating it all by yourself if it´s that good?” He can´t help but chuckle.

She looks up at him with protectiveness of her pie in her eyes. “Don´t dare touching my pie!” She pouts before she puts another spoon of strawberry pie in as silent protest.

It makes him laugh harder: she´s hilarious. The usual reply he´d get from females is that they´d give them what they were eating without asking. She´s not like them. It´s like his status as an idol doesn´t affect how she treats him. It makes him able to be himself around her.

They glance at each other in a comfortable silence, smiling and maybe even a little bit of flirting on Jonghyun´s side. Jonghyun is planning to ask her to be his girl soon because he knows that if he doesn´t make the move some random guy might snatch her away from him. He´d hate himself if that happened. But, he has this feeling that she´s aware of that he´s trying to get her attention but doesn´t take him seriously because of he´s a star and can get almost anyone. It bothers him. It´s like she has this invisible barrier around her when it comes to love and relationships. Jonghyun has decided that he´ll be the one to break through that barrier but the question is: how?

Jonghyun doesn´t notice the slight change of atmosphere since he was thinking deeply to himself but the girl has turned a bit silent and she has stopped eating her pie.  Half of it is still untouched. She takes several sips of her glass of ice-cold water in a heavy silence. Her eyes are a bit distant and she has grown quite pail. Jonghyun looks at her silently but it seems like she´s trying to avoid his gaze. This is unusual.

 She meets his eyes after a while. “Excuse me, I´m going to the toilet for a moment, ok?” She tells him with a forced smile.

Jonghyun nods with a pair of slightly wide eyes. Her voices sounded a bit strained but he doesn´t pay much thought to it as she gets up and leaves. He thinks she just needed to use the toilet. Although, there´s this feeling in his gut that tells him something is wrong. He feels uncomfortable all of a sudden, especially when she´s away for quite some time. He´s about to go after her as she returns. His eyes follow her as she comes back and sits down in silence. She looks paler than usual and she won´t meet his eyes as she sits there, across the table, clutching her cup of water in her hands tightly. He looks at her intensively and he notices the small blush on her neck, and a small but noticeably swelling of her cheeks.

“I don´t feel well.” She tells him suddenly, in an eerily composed and slightly cold voice.

“What? Are you alright?” Jonghyun wants her to look at him. He´s starting to get worried.

She looks up at him, and he´s shocked over the hint of fear he can spot in her eyes.  She avert her eyes quickly. “I think….I´m about to get an allergy-attack…”

Jonghyun´s eyes widen. He did know that she suffer of severe allergy but he doesn´t understand what she means with an “allergy-attack”. What will happen?

“Will you be ok?” He asks her in a dry voice.

She´s eerily silent again. The silence is bothering Jonghyun, he wants her to tell him what´s going to happen because he thinks it´s really bad. He has never seen that kind of fearful facial expression on her face before. He´s impatiently waiting for a reply because he can´t know how to help her if she won´t explain it further.

“I´ve to leave.” She tells him abruptly before she´s on her feet and on her way towards the exit.

“Yah!” Jonghyun grabs his and her bags as he follows quickly. “Hey, hey, wait!”

He can feel how panic is taking a hold of him as she just keeps on walking away from him as if she´s fleeing from an enemy. It seems as she wants to handle this by herself but he won´t let her. An allergy-attack sounds dangerous to him and every gesture from her makes him worry even more. That worry is slowly turning into irritation when she keeps running away from him. Why doesn´t she stop? Why doesn´t she rely on him? Why?

“I said WAIT!” he shouts angrily as he forcefully takes a hold of her arm.

A pair of wide, scared eyes look up at him as she almost trips and falls into his chest at the sudden stop. The sight scares Jonghyun half to death.  She struggles in his grip but he won´t let go, not until he knows she´ll be alright. The swelling of her face has gotten worse, he notices as he leans closer to her, looking into her eyes, as he tries to calm her down.

“Calm down, and let me help you.” He tells her calmly while breathing hard from the run. “Do you want me to call an ambulance?”

He´s dreading the answer a bit. If she says yes he knows that there´s a risk that she´ll… that´s really bad and that she can´t get better without medical help. He stares into her eyes.

“Y-yes.” She nods. “Please call.”

His heart drops at the answer and it´s like he suddenly understands the seriousness of the situation. He´s quick to act. Jonghyun trusts her decision as he picks up his cell to call the emergency number. He regards her again, closely, while talking with a woman on his phone and he notices the way her lips and face are getting bigger for each passing second, how tired and afraid she looks but above all: how heavy her breathing is becoming.  She seems so calm and collected even though her life is in danger.  She´s trying to hide her fear: to avoid a panic attack.

His chest aches with fear as he pulls her into his chest in a one armed hug as he tells the woman where they are and gives information about her current condition. He feels how she rests her head on his shoulder. That´s when he notices how she´s shaking. Her hands, and legs are trembling slightly and she´s constantly biting her swelling lips. The sound of her heavy breathing scares him. She doesn´t say anything nor does she dare to look at him. It´s as if she´s embarrassed to show this weak side to him. She hides her face in the crook of Jonghyun´s neck. Jonghyun hang s up and tells her they sent an ambulance. His voice trembles a bit but he manages to seem calm even though he´s so afraid. Jonghyun frowns as he pulls her into his full embrace.

“It´ll be alright…”He tells her soothingly as he holds her close, drawing circles on her back. “They´ll be here soon.”

“I can´t… breathe…” She murmurs into his shirt.

Jonghyun´s body turns ice-cold. “Just… try to take long and calm breaths, ok?”

His dark brown eyes are full of dread as he tries to be strong for her sake. He can´t let his fear affect her. He just can´t. He wants to be there for her so he can´t be egoistic like usual which always ends up with that she checked up on him. It´s his turn to step it up and take care of her. He caresses her hair in a soothing manner,

“I´m here and I won´t let anything happen to you.” He tells her sternly in a low whisper. Lips touching her red and warm ears.

That´s when he feels how she clings onto him: hugging back oh so slightly. Fingers are grasping the backside of his jacket as she tries to pull him closer to her.

“Oppa…” Her voice trembles.

“Shhh…. Concentrate on breathing.” He tells her with a frown on his face. “The ambulance will be here soon.”

It doesn´t take long until the calm night is disturbed by the sound of sirens cutting though the silence. Blue, flashing lights fights the darkness around them, making the n neighborhood glow in a shade of blue. Jonghyun lets out a breath of relief at the sight of it but he focuses on the girl in his arms as he feels how she tenses due to the noise. She looks up at him for a moment and his heart turns ice-cold. Her face is really swollen: he doesn´t think she can see him due to her swollen eyes. Tears are falling down her red cheeks.

The car stops close to them and two men jumps out at the sight of the girl. They seem to realize the seriousness of the situation.

“Did you call, mister?” One man turns to Jonghyun but the girl answer.

“Yes, it´s me…” She coughs. “I need help…” Her voice is really hoarse.

The man´s eyes widen as he sees her condition and he starts to work immediately. He approaches them and takes a hold of the girl´s shoulders as he leads her towards the car. The girl is reluctant to leave Jonghyun´s arms at first but he pushes her away gently. He follows closely s they walk to the ambulance.

“Please jump in and we´ll help you straight away.” The man turns to look at Jonghyun. “Are you coming with us?”

“You don´t have to, I don´t…”The girl tells as she sits down in the narrow car. It seems that she doesn´t want to be a burden to him, nor want him to see this side of her.

“Of course I´m going...!” Jonghyun sounds angry. But the truth is: he´s probably more scared than she is right now.  

The two men in the small car are quick to act when they start to move towards the hospital. The man staying in the back with them asks a lot of questions. It irritates Jonghyun, he just wants them to give her the medicine it takes to make her healthy really quickly. She´s suffocating for God´s sake! The man gives her a small glass with water mixed with several pills and she drinks it without hesitation: as if this has happened several times before. After that, the man prepares to give her an injection of adrenaline in the bend of her arm. She turns away in fear and Jonghyun takes a hold of her free hand. He squeezes it gently.

“Your heart might start racing, miss, but that´s only a good sign ok?” He tells her gently.

She nods silently as tears keep on rolling down her red cheeks. Jonghyun glances at the needle that´s now connected to her veins. It looks so hurtful but she´s still keeping that strong façade. She isn´t neither complaining nor panicking anymore.  She´s eerily calm. Jonghyun keeps his eyes fixed on her during the quick ride to the hospital

She was rushed to the emergency department upon their arrival and Jonghyun was forced to stay back in the waiting room. The Korean Idol feels helpless and pathetic as he stands there, holding her handbag as she´s fighting for her life in the room just across from him. He sits down, gets up again and sits down before he forces himself to try to calm down. Some of the nurses seem to recognize him but they don´t dare to greet him since it looks like he could murder someone. He wipes away the sweat that covers his forehead as he stares at the floor. His heart is beating like crazy and he notices how his hands are shaking slightly: he´s in shock.  He clenches his fists as he leans back in the chair and takes a deep breath.

He murmurs her name breathlessly.

He feels how his phone keeps vibrating in his pocket but he doesn´t answer. He knows it´s either his manager or the guys that are calling since he´s been away for so long but he doesn´t answer due to the fear of his voice breaking. Jonghyun has this strong image but the truth is that he´s somewhat of a crybaby. His eyes are tearing up a bit as he images how scared and how much pain she´s feeling all by herself now. Jonghyun cover his eyes with his hand as he grits his teeth.  He needs to be strong now, or her sake.

He´s able to calm down after some time and a doctor comes after what feels like an eternity.

 “Kim Jonghyun?” He reads his name from a paper.

“Yes?”

“You may visit now.” He tells him. “By the way, my daughters really love SHINee.” He tells him in his own awkward to try to cheer the idol up.

Jonghyun forces a smile to his lips but it turns into an awkward grimace.  The doctor nods in understanding before he opens the door before he gestures to Jonghyun to enter. His eyes widen as he finds his favorite girl lying in a hospital bed in there. Her pale and tired face brightens up as she spots him in the doorway.

“Oppa.” She utters tiredly.

A breath Jonghyun didn´t know he was holding leaves his lips in a sigh. He smiles gently at her as he sits down next to her bed.  The ache in his chest is slowly fading as he now knows she´s alright and safe again.

“Hello there.” Jonghyun smiles. “How are you feeling?”

“A lot better.” She answers silently, almost in a whisper. “All thanks to you.”

 Warm feeling overwhelms Jonghyun as he stares into her slightly swollen eyes, probably swollen from crying. Other than that, she looks healthy again. Jonghyun´s happiness to see her well slowly turns to anger.

“I thought you´d die.” Jonghyun tells her in a serious and slightly angered voice. “Don´t ever scare me like that again. If it happens again, don´t run away from me, let me protect you.” He scolds her.

Her eyes widen at his slightly harsh words. “I´m sorry.” She nods with a weak smile on her pale lips. She seems to be happy over being scolded. Because getting yelled at by Jonghyun means that he cares enough to let you anger him. If he didn´t care he wouldn´t have wasted his time like that.

Jonghyun sighs to himself as he shakes his head. That was not what he really wanted to tell her. He didn´t want to scold her like that even though everything he said was true. He could have been a little more considerate about it. Another sigh leaves his lips as an awkward silence spread between them. This wasn´t how he wanted his “date” with her to end. He decides to tell her what´s on his mind.

“To be honest, I m quite angry with you. I wanted to tell you just how much you mean to me when we were at the café… but it got ruined…” Jonghyun murmurs with a hint of shyness in his voice.

“W-what?” She´s surprised.

The nurse and the doctor snicker a little in the background, this makes Jonghyun a bit uncomfortable, but he tries to focus on the girl.

“What I´m trying to say is: that I like you a lot and I want you to only look at me, rely on me and let me protect you.”

Her eyes widen at his confession.  It seems that it takes a while for her to grasp what he just told her but she smiles dreamily to herself as she finally does.

“I´ve been only looking at you for quite a while now.” She tells him shyly but she turns serious. “I would have asked you out if I knew you were serious about me… I just didn´t dare to think you´d actually like me when you have all those pretty women around you all the time. I thought you thought I was annoying and above that: too plain.”

Jonghyun laughs at this. This girl, who´s so strong and confident normally, actually was uncertain about those kinds of things? Doesn´t she realize just how beautiful and perfect she is? Jonghyun hasn´t been this happy before though. This means that she likes him too.

“Then, as your boyfriend, I order you to always call or tell me when this happens.” He tells her with a grin.

“Yes…!”  She agrees.

The two of them are smiling goofily at each other in silence. Jonghyun feels a bit cocky about that she agreed so he takes her hand with a content grin on his face.  She lets him take her hand but she gives him her tongue in a teasing gesture. His thumb caresses the palm of her hand gently as she closes her eyes to rest. She falls asleep after a while. It seems as if she hasn´t gotten any sleep due to her allergy so he doesn´t wake her up. Jonghyun is tired as well, but he keeps himself awake to watch over her.

“You´re free to leave.” The doctor smiles as he approaches Jonghyun just as he´s about to accidentally fall asleep. He flinches at the other man´s voice. “Mr. Kim, be sure to remind her to use the injection pen I told her about if this happens again.”

“Yes…I´ll tell her.” He agrees.

“And keep an eye on her, ok? The swelling might come back.”

An injection pen is a tool you can use to inject adrenaline by yourself in case of severe swelling of your mouth or throat. Jonghyun didn´t know the doctor talked about it with her but he´ll make sure that she gets it and always carry it with her from now on. A nurse who just starts her morning shift makes surprised sound when she sees Jonghyun. He flinches again, but smiles at her weakly. It seems as I she´s a fan of his. Jonghyun looks worried when the doctor meets his eyes. The word that Kim Jonghyun, the famous singer from SHINee, is here must have reached all the doctors and nurses by now. And he knows that there were quite a few people watching him when he confessed.

“Don´t worry, nothing that happened, been said or seen here will reach the outside.” The doctor tells the idol just as if he read his mind. “It´s our policy. I won´t tell my daughters either!”

“I´m thankful.” Jonghyun bows.

The two of them exit the hospital hand in hand and the weak sunlight greets them. It´s already morning. They´ve been at the hospital all night long. That´s also when Jonghyun remembers that he hasn´t called his friends or his manager yet. He yawns and his warm breath creates a small fog in the slightly chilly morning air. He doesn´t want to call them, he´s too tired to take an argument with them right now.

“I´ll take you home.” He tells her.

She complains a bit since she knows a lot of people will wake up and go to work anytime now but Jonghyun doesn´t budge.  He puts on a pair of sunglasses, a hat and wraps a scarf around his neck tightly as he takes a firmer hold of her hand before he starts to walk. They reach her apartment safely but Jonghyun is reluctant to let her go once she stands there next to her door.

“Thank you.” She smiles up at him sadly. “I´ll… make it up to you somehow.”

He smiles gently at her as he shakes his head. He stayed with her of his own free will so there´s nothing for her to pay back.

“I won´t leave you.” He tells her boldly, suddenly.

“W-what?” This surprises her greatly.

“I´m not leaving you alone when you are like this. The doctor said it could come back, didn´t he? I´ll stay for a while.”

“But…” Her eyes are wide.

 “I won´t do any weird stuff I promise.” He tells her honestly. “If you were honest about paying me back earlier, just let me stay, and the problem is solved.”

She bites her lower lip in hesitation before she nods in agreement. It seems that she really does feel that she needs to pay him back, enough to let him stay.  She takes out her key and tries to open the door but her hands are still shaking a bit. Jonghyun takes her hand and helps her open it in silence. She hides behind her fringe shyly as both of them enter her place.

He sits down in her sofa and orders her to sit down next to him. He wraps his arm around her as he gently pulls her into his chest as she does. She first tenses quite a bit, since this is the first time they´ve hugged without her being sick, but she relaxes after a while of silence. She leans onto him with her head against his chest. She can hear his slightly uneven heartbeat and a content smile cover her lips. Jonghyun gets a little embarrassed by the fact that he can´t keep a 100% calm around her after all.

“Sleep.” He orders as a hint of a blush covers his cheeks.

“Mmm...” She murmurs against his skin, he can feel her smile against his neck.

Jonghyun shivers at the simple touch and he curses himself mentally. It doesn´t take long until how he feels how her body gets heavier as she falls asleep in his embrace. He glances down at her peaceful sleeping face. She looks a lot calmer now when he compares to how stressed out she was before.  He frowns as he remembers everything that happened since their date at the café.  

“….I love you.” He murmurs as he kisses her forehead when he´s sure she can´t hear him. “And I won´t let you go through that alone again.”

Jonghyun is looking forward to their future dates dreamily as he looks through the window as he watches how the sun slowly rising higher and higher on the sky. A smile grows bigger on his lips as he slowly enters the world of dreams as well.