“So you’re actually cousins?” One of the girls asked, looking from little Taemin to and back. You gave her a forced sweet smile.

 

“Taemin is my favourite cousin in the world.. But I haven’t seen him in a really long time..” You told her while patting little Taemin’s head affectionally. He smiled and hugged you.

 

“Hyung is the best cousing in the world! I missed him so much!” The girls blushed and looked down.

 

“Mianhae.. We thought you were..” You gave her a weird look as if you didn’t know what she was talking about. It was really funny somewhere.

 

“You thought we were what?” You asked curiously. The girl blushed and refused to answer.

 

“We thought.. You were a couple..” A different girl said softly. You raised and eyebrow and glanced at little Taemin, who was giving you the same look.

 

“Me and hyung?” He asked, “that’s kind of weird..” You scratched your neck, trying to look a little embarassed. It seemed to work because the girls gave you apologetic looks.

 

“I think I can see how you jumped to that conclusion.. Taemin and I were always close..” You said. The girls laughed awkwardly and looked down.

 

“So.. You’re not..” One of them started. You blinked.

 

“I’m not..?” You asked as if you didn’t know what she was talking about, it was embarassing for her.

 

“Gay?” You bit your lower lip and glanced at little Taemin.

 

“Hyung? Gay? I don’t really think so...” He started, “but it doesn’t matter anyway since hyung only loves me! He said so himself!” He added happily while making a peace sign. The girls gasped. You repressed a sigh, but then concluded this might be a really good idea of him. As his overly caring hyung, you would not pay attention to girls. And he looked too cute to say no too.

 

“Yah Taemin.. Do you have to tell everyone? It’s embarrassing?” You said with an obviously faked anger. You did that on purpose. Little Taemin smiled contently.

 

“Yes.. I think it’s time for us to go! Come on hyung!” He grabbed your wrist and started pulling you along. You just let him, after all he was your favourite cousin. Key glanced at you, he was walking behind little Taemin and next to you.

 

“How’s your head?” He asked quietly. You only nodded, indicating it was fine.

 

“Is Taemin bothering you?” You shook your head at Jonghyun.

 

“He’s my favourite, how could he bother me?” You asked half jokingly, half whispered because the Noon Force girls were still close. He pouted and you smirked at him.

 

“I’m standing on the side line from here on dongsaeng, go and do what you’re best at.” You said as you reached the stage. You sat down next to SHINee’s manager which was on the left of the stage, where the audience couldn’t see you, but the people on stage could. One of the girls winked at you. You quickly pretended you didn’t see it and focused on little Taemin. He smiled and waved at you shortly when he noticed, then returned to the host.

 

“Alright! You know why you’re here right?! You’re on Master Challenge!” The audience cheered happily as the members smiled and waved at people. Jonghyun posed together with Key and little Taemin did a short dance.

 

“I heard you were injured.. Good thing you’re still here.” The manager said beside you. You turned to him.

 

“I promised I’d show up, so I couldn’t stay home. It’s not that serious anyway.. They decided that I’m Taemin’s cousin whom he hasn’t seen in years.” The manager chuckled, he seemed younger than Taemin’s manager and nicer too.

 

“Those kids.. I wonder what this story will evolve into?” You smiled but before you could answer anything your fake name, Hyun Jong, was called. You looked up and Key signaled with his hand that was out of the audience’s line of sight that you were to walk towards them. You glanced at the manager. He nodded his head and you slowly walked up the stage.

 

“Hyung!” Little Taemin sang happily. You raised an eyebrow.

 

“Why did you call me here again?” You asked, you really hadn’t been paying attention to the words of the host. The host laughed at you but you didn’t look his way. You kept looking at little Taemin.

 

“Aish! Are you sure you want this guy to join your team? He couldn’t even remember what I just said!” You chuckled and winked at little Taemin.

 

“That’s because I’m only here for my dongsaeng.. Why would I pay attention to you with him around?” You asked, not even in his direction. Little Taemin smiled and the audience aww-ed at it.

 

“You have a point there. Who wouldn’t love Taemin as a cousin.. Well then, you’re needed to join their team, since they’re an odd number. Now both teams are even.” The host said. You nodded at him then turned back to little Taemin and were somehow pulled between him and Key. Next Noon Force was introduced, and the audience cheered for them. Even though you didn’t like them, many people did. 

 

“Alright! Now should we start the challenges?” The host asked, obviously expecting a yes. The Noon Force members pouted and the host scratched his neck.

 

“Won’t the other team introduce themselves to us?” The boldest of them, a girl with pink dyed hair and equally pink nails, asked. She was glancing mostly at you, and you felt threatened.

 

“But you already know us..” Onew said, gaining an ‘ooh’ from the crowd.

 

“What about your hyung?” A girl with dyed blonde hair and lots of eye makeup asked while pointing at you. You took a slight bow.

 

“Lee Hyun Jong imnida, I’m Taemin’s cousin.” You said and gave them a smile for the sake of the audience not killing you. The girls introduced themselves to you which made the host feel the need for a bad joke.

 

“It seems the Noon Force noona’s like Taemin’s hyung over him! What will SHINee’s reaction be on this?” He turned to the boys and held the microphone in front of little Taemin.

 

“We’re sad of course.. But we still have hyung.” He said and you smiled at him.

 

“How do you know that he doesn’t like the noona’s over you as well?” The host asked. You stopped the microphone before he could hold it in front of the faces of the SHINee members and answered yourself.

 

“Taemin knows I wouldn’t betray him.. After all we’ve been through, there’s nothing that can come between us.” You said in a voice that was considered y when you were oppa. The audience squealed and little Taemin wrapped his arms around your neck and literally jumped in your arms. You held him in bridal style, though it was quite a weight. You were thankful for oppa’s heavy shirts that made your arms stonger.

 

“Whoa! That’s one intimate relationship!” The host said. You smirked at that and decided to make fun of it. You lifted the boy a little higher and looked into his eyes that had the same mischievous sparkle in them as yours probably had right now.

 

“Taemin-ah.. My dongsaeng..” You said in a husky voice, earning cheers from the audience.

 

“Hyung..” Little Taemin whispered. Minho opened his arms in front of you, indicating you should hand him over. You sighed dramatically and laid him in Minho’s arms.

 

“Take good care of him.. He’s all I have left.” You said dramatically, you could see Minho had trouble to stop himself from laughing.

 

“Hyung! Don’t leave me… You said you’d never leave me!” Little Taemin said, holding your sleeve like a princess in a drama, and you felt laughter crawl up. You took his hand and held it against your face.

 

“Mianhae my dongsaeng..” You saw Onew step in dramatically, he was in on this too. He put his arm between you and little Taemin.

 

“It’s forbidden.” He said with a deep voice. Little Taemin’s hand slipped out of yours. You pretended to have a huge heartache and put your hands on your heart dramatically.

 

“Ah… My heart..” You dropped your head at the same time you dropped to your knees and tossed your arms to the side, pretending to be mortally wounded. 

 

“A drama is developing in SHINee world! What’s this forbidden relationship?!” The host said jokingly, you could tell even he had trouble holding back his laughter. Jonghyun was laughing secretly in Key’s shoulder who was trying to keep a straight face, but failed since he had to cover his face every three seconds. You got up and brushed the hair out of your face.

 

“How was that?” You asked while helping little Taemin up from Minho’s arms, and the four of you took a bow together. The audience cheered and the only ones who seemed unaffected by the comedic act in it all were the Noon Force members.

 

“Let’s just start the challenges now.” The host said, still trying not to laugh. You smirked at him.

 

“The drama will release this fall.” You said jokingly, earning more laughs from people. 

 

“Enough already! I’ll look forward to that.. The first challenge is for you all to get across the following course!” A curtain was lifted behind you and you saw a really weird course. From the ceiling there were ropes intended for swinging above a small improvised puddle. You had to jump from one side to the other apparently. Next to it were stepping stones, four lines of them. Which you thought was odd. Next to that was a specially constructed hill, on top of which a small red box  and a small blue box rested.

 

“Alright.. Let me explain this.. You will do this race not with two legs, but three. For this mission, you’ll be tied to a member of your team. Together you’ll swing over the puddle and jump the stepping stones. After that one of you will carry the other one on their back up the hill. Once you reach the hill, you’ll take out a whistle from the box, and once you blow it, the next team of your team may start. The first team to blow their whistle for a third time wins.” The host explained, “you may form your own team.. Should we separate the cousins?” You blinked.

 

“But.. We already spent little time together.. Are you really going to take this time from us?” You asked half playing the upset bit, half really upset. You couldn’t tell what was going through little Taemin’s head.

 

“Mianhae.. It’s just unnatural.. And besides, s are getting jealous.” You sighed and agreed with the host, it earned you many aww’s, as the audience felt sorry for little Taemin and his hyung having to separate. The young boy pouted and made a face at the host.

 

“Want to team up hyung?” Onew asked you. You nodded as little Taemin formed a team with Minho and Key and Jonghyun were already tied together by their feet. Key didn’t really look happy with it, but you knew he and Jonghyun got along fine.

 

“Are you any good at swinging ropes?” You asked Onew. He shook his head.

 

“It’s really simple. You take a rope, jump as if you’re jumping back, then swing across the gap and let go of the rope once you reach the other side.” You said shortly, “just jump and let go when I say so arasso?” He nodded. 

 

“I can do stepping stones, you just have to go at a constant pace. I’ll carry you, you’re injured.” You sighed.

 

“No one thought about that before getting me involved.” Onew sighed too.

 

“Mianhae.. We didn’t mean to.. Your replacement will be here soon though..” You nodded, then raised  an eyebrow.

 

“Who’s my replacement?” You asked. Onew smirked at your reaction.

 

“Jiyong, otherwise known as GDragon.. He knows your oppa, so you might want to keep a distance in case he thinks the two of you look alike.” You nodded and let a coordinator tie your left foot together with Onew’s right foot. As luck would have it, you were up first.

 

“Ready.. Jump!” You shouted as you and Onew jumped back with the same force at the same time, “and drop!” You both let go, you were a little unbalanced for a second, but you’d made it. The Noon Force members seemed to have more trouble with their coordination.

 

“Hwaiting!” You shouted at them, then took the stepping stones with Onew at a constant pace. You somehow made it without slipping even once and started untying the knot. Once you’d managed that, you jumped on Onew’s back, who carried you up the hill. You took a whistle from the red box and he blew it. You felt the noise resonate in your head and put your hands against your temples. ‘Aish.. I need my painkillers..’ Onew gave you a concerned look.

 

“Hyung!” Little Taemin shouted, Minho held him back, knowing they’d be disqualified once they stepped on the course before Jonghyun and Key blew their whistle. The Noon Force members were slipping over the stones at the same time as Jonghyun and Key were, only Key and Jonghyun were the second group. They arrived on top of the hill at the same time as the Noon Force members, and Key almost threw the whistle at Jonghyun who quickly blew it while Key examined your head.

 

“Does it hurt?” He asked. You nodded slightly.

 

“I need my painkillers.. Where are they? I did bring them..” You sought your pockets, but couldn’t find them.

 

“It looks like Hyun Jong was injured and is looking for something!” He said, he then turned to you without his microphone, “gwenchana?” You nodded.

 

“I just need my painkillers..” You muttered, then you noticed the manager waving at you. He was holding up your painkillers. Apparently you had dropped them. You had to wait for Minho and little Taemin to arrive because else wise your team would be disqualified. Minho easily carried little Taemin under his arm over the whole course. It saved him time. He climbed up the hill and handed little Taemin the last whistle so he could feel like he did something too. The game was stopped and you walked over to the manager and took your painkillers. Your head was throbbing and you had a bad headache. ‘I shouldn’t have moved around so much..’ You thought before taking water from an assistant and swallowing a painkiller. You knew it’d take some time to spread the effect so you did as little as you could while the host explained the next challenge.

 

“For the next challenge, you’ll pick one member to do a task. There are multiple tasks shown on the board. Your task will be one of them, but we’re not revealing which one. So choose wisely.” He put the microphone down and glanced at you.

 

“Are you sure you’re okay? You look pale.” You nodded.

 

“I hope my replacement will be here soon.. Just as long as I’m not picked I’ll be just fine.” You said. Two of the Noon Force members came closer.

 

“Oppa, are you okay?” One of them asked, giving you a pouty look as if you had injured yourself for the sake of upsetting her. She seemed really selfish to you. You forced a smile.

 

“I will be.. Please make sure you don’t get injured yourself..” You muttered.

 

“Hyun Jong… How did you get injured?” The second girl asked. You shrugged.

 

“I hit my head against a door, or actually, the door hit itself against my head. I was out for dinner with my dongsaeng and just returned from the bathroom when it happened.” You said, making a story up out of the blue. You weren’t sure why you didn’t just say you hit your head. Little Taemin glanced at you, and smiled to let you know he was listening to you and memorizing the story. The girl in front of you pouted.

 

“That’s too bad.. It would have been fun with oppa playing.. I’m sure you would have gone easy on us.” She said, “but we’re happy none of SHINee are injured! I wouldn’t know what to do if Jonghyun got injured!” ‘Send him a get well soon card!’ You thought angrily, but just nodded at the girl currently drooling over Jonghyun.

 

“Who is your bias in SHINee?” You asked the first girl. She blushed.

 

“It’s actually Key.. He’s so adorable..” You smirked but managed to disguise it as a smile. Little Taemin adorable? Definitely. Key adorable? Not in a million years. 

 

“Oppa, are you debuting too?” The girl biased by Key asked.

 

“Aniyoh.” You said, not wanting to shake your head, “I wouldn’t hold up under the pressure.” She giggled.

 

“You know yourself so well! It’s so nice! Oppa is amazing.” You coughed.

 

“It’s not like that.. What is it Taemin?” Little Taemin had snuck up to you and was tugging your sleeve in a really cute manner. You gave him your full attention, not even because of the girl, because of his sad look.

 

“Did your head hurt? It’s my fault for going out to dinner with hyung..” You pulled him into a hug.

 

“Don’t say that.. It’s nowhere near your fault Taemin.. And like this my parents won’t allow me to travel so I’ll be forced to stick around.” He laughed softly.

 

“But hyung you work for us! You’re not leaving anytime soon are you?” You smiled softly at him while pulling some hair strands aside. Key was rubbing off on you.

 

“Aigoo.. You two are so.. Sweet!” The girl exclaimed before walking back to her own group. The first girl was trying to make conversation with Jonghyun who seemed to feel rather helpless. You walked closer.

 

“I’d like to nominate.. Oh excuse me.. Could you leave us while we’re discussing tactics?” You asked politely. The girl nodded, blushing in embarrassment and left. Jonghyun sighed as soon as she couldn’t hear it. 

 

“Thanks hyung.. None of those jerks wanted to help me.” He said, glaring at Minho, Onew and Key who were smirking.

 

“Reminds me of someone.” You said, half smiling. Jonghyun looked down in shame.

 

“Now as I was saying, I’d like to nominate Jonghyun.. Anyone else?” Minho, Onew and Key immediately nodded and Jonghyun glared at them. You chuckled softly and turned to little Taemin.

 

“And of course, what does my dongsaeng think?” Little Taemin nodded happily.

 

“Hyung, you should rest.. You’re really looking pale.” He said in concern. Key glanced at you.

 

“Indeed.. Didn’t the painkiller help? Are you still hurting?” You sighed.

 

“It just takes a while for the effect to show.. I can keep it up until my replacement is here.” You said and Key sighed.

 

“You’re admirable.. But you’re also injuring yourself.. You have to take a break.” You wanted to say something but the lights went off and there was a blue spot on the middle of the stage. Smoke appeared and you tried not to cough. Then a figure arose from the smoke. A guy you only recognized from TV. GDragon, or Jiyong. He walked up to you and smiled, taking a slight bow in front of you.

 

“Ahnyeonghaseyo.. There’s six of you already.. I know you, I know you, I know you.. Ah you’re new.” You shook his hand that he was holding out.

 

“You’re replacing me.” You said with a smile, “have fun.” He smiled back before giving you a closer look.

 

“You look familiar.. Why did you have to stop anyway?”

 

“I hit my head rather hard.. And now I have to take painkillers but they’re not working just yet and I’m late on taking them, so I’m in trouble..” You said. He chuckled.

 

“Sorry to hear about that.. Who are you anyway? You really look familiar but I can’t put my finger on it.” ‘Good job Key! Remind me to compliment him later.’ You mentally noted.

 

“I’m Taemin’s cousin..” You saw him flinch at the mention of that name.

 

“You look a little like Taemin.. I mean, Han Taemin.. We’re friends so.. You really look like him..” You covered your mouth.

 

“You think so? Oh God that explains why the girls were fawning over him.” Jonghyun said quickly, not really thinking about it. You turned to him.

 

“Jinja? I don’t want.. I’m definitely not Taemin..” Jiyong smirked.

 

“I’ll introduce you to him later, I saw that he gets along rather well with SHINee. I loved the prank you played on the managers.. Reminds me of Taemin’s and my days as trainee’s. Good times..” He smirked. You said goodbye to the SHINee members and Jiyong and went to sit down by the manager’s side. He glanced at you.

 

“Are you okay? If you’re really injured you should just take the day off.. Those are some pretty heavy painkillers you know?” You shook your head quietly.

 

“I’ll be fine.. I have to text oppa though. He knows Jiyong, so Jiyong knows my face.” You said. The manager nodded and you took out your cell phone.

 

From: Ae

 

‘Oppa! Jiyong just saw me, but while pretending to be Taemin’s cousin! He said he wanted to introduce me to you.. What do I do?!’ You just remembered you weren’t sure whether Taemin knew you were at work when you got a reply.

 

From: Taemin

 

‘You’re working?! You shouldn’t be! Are you okay? I was so worried about you!! Don’t worry about Jiyong, I’ll explain it to him. He can keep a secret! Just don’t look at him or he’ll recognize us!’ You mentally nodded at the message and leaned back, focusing on little Taemin who was asked to perform a dance of some sort to western music. You smiled at him but he didn’t see you as he was focused on dancing the right rythym. You put on your headphones and played the numbers on it. Most of the numbers were Taemin’s, but you also had some song of DBSK though you didn’t really listen to it, because Changmin had put it in the music player. The second song from the tri-angle album, Thank You, started. You smiled when you recognized Jaejoong’s voice for some reason. His voice was even more angelic than Jonghyun’s. 

 

“What are you listening to?” You glanced next to you and your heart dropped when you saw Jiyong.

 

“Just some music.. DBSK I guess.” You said while pulling the headphones down.

 

“I see.. Taemin doesn’t really like it.. Well, he does, but he’d never admit it!” He smirked and continued, “your eyes are so much like his.. And your nose too.. You two must be related.”

 

“I only have one famous family member.” You said, not wanting to lie to a friend of oppa. Jiyong smiled.

 

“Alright, I’ll cut it out. No one likes to be treated like he’s someone else.. What do you do in your spare time?” You coughed.

 

“I have little spare time.” You managed to say. He patted your back.

 

“Are you okay? You already injured your head.. Be careful with your health.” You nodded as little Taemin sat down on the other side of Jiyong.

 

“I’m already tired hyung! How much longer?” He exclaimed.

 

“Two hours.” You said, checking his schedule. The boy pouted and crossed his arms.

 

“I don’t want to.. Hyung do you have candy?” You sighed and tossed him a lollipop from your bag. Jiyong laughed at the scene.

 

“You wouldn’t say the two of you are related.. I mean you do look like him, but he’s so different!” He said, mostly to you.

 

“Taemin was only child, I was the oldest out of three.” You said, suddenly realizing how easily you were making all of this up. Jiyong glanced at you.

 

“I see.. Taemin will also be the eldest out of three soon, he suspects his parents of a new baby.” Without realizing, you nodded. You thought that too, though you weren’t as upset about it as Taemin was. Taemin was upset enough to ignore their calls, at least for a week, but you knew he would ended up calling them anyway. A pair of fingers snapped in front of you and you woke up from your thinking.

 

“Yes?” Jiyong laughed.

 

“Am I boring you? Mianhae. I just never met someone that looked so much like Taemin.. Though I have to say I never met his twin sister.” Your mouth dropped.

 

“He told you?” You hissed, then covered your mouth with your hand. Stupid stupid oppa! You mumbled an excuse and left the boys.