During the long elevator ride down to the ground floor, I leaned against the shiny walls and took deep breaths, trying to remain calm.

My hands couldn’t seem to stop wringing themselves.

Finally, the elevator slid to a stop and the doors rumbled open, revealing the lobby before me.  With an excited bounce in my step, I rushed through the lobby and out the front doors into the late-September evening.

A light breeze lifted my ponytail as I started through the parking lot, searching for Minho’s car.  I finally spotted it near the middle of the lot; a blue BMW with both its headlights and taillights blazing.  My heart skipped an anxious beat.

“Hey,” Minho greeted me as I slid into the leather passenger seat.

“Hi.”  I winced.  My voice was rather…breathless.

Once I’d shut the door and buckled up, Minho put his car in drive and hurried from the parking lot out into the streets of Seoul.

Neither one of us spoke a word at first.  It was very awkward; very nerve-wracking.

I was sure Minho could hear my heart pounding against my ribcage.  What do I do?!  What do I do?!  Do I speak first…or should he?!

I snuck a glance in the pop star’s direction…and my breath was taken from me.  He looked…beautiful.

The lights of Seoul flashed against him as we sped through the streets, each one illuminating the many flawless planes of his face and adding a gleam to his gorgeous eyes, which were rimmed with a very thin line of y black eyeliner.

His black hair stuck out slightly from underneath a cap, and he wore faded jeans, a blue undershirt, and an ed, black shirt rolled up to his elbows, exposing his muscular forearms.  I watched those muscles flex slightly as he turned his steering wheel, and butterflies swarmed my stomach.

Minho’s eyes suddenly cut in my direction, and I quickly snapped my head to the right, looking out the window at the passing scenery.  I dared to glance back after a moment, though…and there was a tiny smirk on his pretty lips.  I blushed; he had seen me staring at him…again.

“So, Seungmi…”  His deep, luscious voice reached my ears.  “Do you have a preference of food?  Or, should I just surprise you?”  He winked at me.

“Mmmm…surprise me!” I said, clasping my hands together.

“Surprise it is, then.”  Minho cut across three lanes of traffic and took a left turn at a busy intersection.  I marveled at the reflection of his shiny car in the shop windows we passed.

“Why are we doing this?” I asked bluntly…before the courage got away from me.

Minho smiled slightly.  “Because I’m hungry, duh.”  His fingers played with the A/C dials.

I frowned; maybe he hadn’t understood my Korean.  “I mean…why did you ask me to go eat with you?”

“Why not?” he replied with a casual shrug.  “Besides, the guys are all busy tonight…and you weren’t.”

My eyes widened slightly as he mentioned the other guys.  The other guys; Key!

I quickly whipped out my cell phone and checked my inbox.  There was, in fact, one new message from SHINee’s top diva himself.

“My little MiMi~~~~” it read.  “I miss you!  What are you doing? :)”

I read the message and glanced subtly over at Minho.  No way in the entire world would I tell Key exactly what I was up to at the moment.

“Studying,” I typed back.  “You?”

Key didn’t respond right away, so I put my phone back into my purse.

“Is he suffering from separation anxiety already?”  The sarcasm in Minho’s voice made me bristle slightly.  Although…his words were quite true.

“He’s just keeping in touch with me,” I replied defensively.  “You know…making an effort to be in my life.”

“Hmm…I’m sure he is,” Minho mumbled as he changed lanes.  I rolled my eyes and turned up the volume on the radio.

“Yah.  Did I say you can play with that?” the singer asked, swatting my hand away.  I immediately put it back.

“Too bad.  I am, whether you like it or not.”  I tuned the radio to an American hip-hop station, and began rapping the song word-for-word.

Minho laughed out loud.  He tilted his head back and literally laughed out loud.  I immediately stopped my rapping and glared at him.

“Take it from a professional rapper,” he said between chuckles.  “Don’t quit your day job.”

“Hmph.”  I flipped my ponytail.  “You’re not that great of a rapper, either, Min-Ho!”

“Ooooh, really?”  His fingers reached for the radio tuner.  “You’re gonna eat those words, Mi.”

He surfed through the numbers until he reached a Korean hip-hop station, and he immediately began rapping.  My eyes widened in amazement.

Minho’s rap…was mind-blowing.  His voice changed to its lowest octave, and the Korean words spilled out of his mouth so fast, I didn’t even know what he was saying.  He had rhythm and swag, and he could, of course, carry a tune.  He kept right up with the actual rapper on the song.  In fact…for a moment, I almost thought it was Minho himself on the radio.

I could only gape in his direction, eyes bulging, jaw slacking.  He continued to rap, never once missing a beat, never once slurring a word, until the song finally came to an end and commercials came on the station.

Silence built between us two until Minho slowed down at a red light, glanced in my direction, and smirked at me.

“Now…what was that about Minho not being a good rapper?”

I narrowed my eyes at him, sat back in my seat, and folded my arms across my chest.  “Hmph.  Show-off,” I muttered.

He chuckled a bit and reached over to flick my ponytail.  “Don’t be jealous, Mi.”

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

===============================================

“Here we are.  Surprise, surprise,” Minho announced a few minutes later as he pulled into a parking lot.

I gazed up at the green neon Hangul on the building in front of us.  “Pa…jeon?” I read slowly and carefully.  The new word was strange to me.

Minho nodded as he parked and unbuckled his seatbelt.  “Pajeon,” he said, correcting my pronunciation.

“What is it?” I asked, unbuckling my belt, as well, and getting out of the car with Minho.  I slung my purse over my shoulder.

I didn’t hear the soft thud of my cell phone falling out into the foot well below.

“Oh, you’ll see,” he replied with a wink as we shut our doors.  “I’m sure you’ll love it.”  He draped his arm across my shoulders and the two of us started towards the cute, little Korean café.

The smell...it swarmed my nostrils the instant we walked inside.  It was scrumptious; absolutely mouthwatering!  It smelled quite familiar, as well, but there were so many Oriental scents mixed in with it that I still couldn’t quite discern what it was.

“Know what it is yet?” my friend suddenly whispered in my ear as we approached the counter.  I stared hard at the large menus hanging on the walls before us; the Hangul was unfamiliar, but the pictures…almost looked like…

“Pancakes?!” I squeaked hopefully.  Minho smiled at me and nodded.

“Yup.  Korean pancakes.  Good job, Mi,” he said, squeezing my shoulders gently.  

I gazed up at him in wonder.  “Minho…how did you know…”

He shrugged.  “You like American pancakes so much that I figured you would probably love Korean ones just as much.  They’re a little different,” he explained.  “Like they’re not quite as fluffy or as sweet as yours, but…I still think you’ll find them pretty delicious.”

I my lips with anticipation and stared back up at the menu.  “What’s good?  There’s so much to choose from,” I murmured.

“Well, what do you want?” Minho asked, and I grinned up at him again.

“Surprise me!”

An older man came from the back kitchen just then, shouting Korean to somebody else back there, and then faced forward as he approached the counter.  His eyes widened when he saw Minho; he must have recognized him.  His eyes then fell upon me, and he looked even more amazed.

He was probably thinking something like, Why is SHINee’s Choi Minho with an American girl?!

I struggled not to make a sour face.

He asked what we would like to eat, and Minho began ordering, speaking so fast I couldn’t understand him.  So, I had no idea what he was ordering for me.  Perfect.

When it came time to pay, I reached into my purse and started to hand my wallet to Minho, but his hand suddenly grabbed my wrist and stopped my motion.  I stared at him in confusion.

“I got this,” he whispered smoothly before handing some plastic to the cashier.

I heaved a sigh.  These rich pop stars…

Minho then took my hand and led me across the café to a small table in the corner, where we could look out at the busy, nighttime street beyond the windows.

“What did you order for me?” I asked as we took our seats.

“Not telling.  You said to surprise you,” he replied with a smirk.

I glared at him before rolling my eyes and sipping on my water.  “Jerk,” I muttered in English.  But, he knew what I said, and snickered a bit to himself.

Neither of us spoke for a moment.  Minho rested his elbows on the small table and propped his chin on his folded hands, his eyes never once leaving my face.  The stare made me a bit uncomfortable and I shifted nervously in my seat.

I finally couldn’t stand it anymore.  “W-why are you staring at me?” I asked, swirling the ice cubes in my glass.

“No reason in particular,” he responded with a slight smile.  “I just like observing you.”

My face heated up.  “Oh, really?  Do you do that to a lot of people?” I muttered, and Minho shook his head.

“No.  Just you.”

I made the mistake of meeting his gaze, and my heart flew into my throat.

Why does he have to be so beautiful?!

“You know, Minho…I don’t know how you do it here in Korea, but back in America, most people talk about the weather, or school, or something…when they’re out with someone they don’t really know.”  I shrugged casually and put my lips to my straw.  “Just saying.”

“Oh, I know how small talk works,” he said.  “But, small talk is just that; it’s small.  You don’t get to know a person through small talk.  So…I don’t want to have small talk with you.”

I stared down into my drink, my heart racing in my ears.

He wants to get to know me?!  Agh, why?!

“Alright, then,” I said with feigned confidence.  I rested my forearms on the table and looked him square in the eye.  “What do you see about me, Minho?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but two plates of food suddenly arrived on our table, and my attention was instantly drawn to them.

I gasped quietly and gaped at the pancakes before me.  They looked absolutely delicious.

“Tell me, tell me!” I cried, lightly hitting Minho’s arm.  “What are these?”

He frowned.  “They’re pancakes, smart one.”

I made a childish face at him and said, “I know that; I’m not stupid.  I meant…they look different.  Why do they look different?”

One of the large pancakes was thin and almost crispy-looking; the other large cake was softer and fluffier.

“That one,” Minho said, pointing to the fluffy one with his chopsticks.  “Is called ‘hotteok’.  It’s got a sweet filling, and it’s the closest thing to your American pancakes.  That other one--” He moved his chopsticks to the crispy pancake.  “That’s a legit pajeon.  It’s not sweet.  Instead, it’s filled with green onions, beef, kimchi, and a few kinds of seafood.  I think you’ll like it.  I certainly do.”

My mouth watered just from listening to his words.  Eagerly, I grabbed my chopsticks, separated them, and dug into a slice of the crispy pancake first.

Minho watched me curiously as I took my first bite.  I chewed up the warm, spicy food and swallowed it, and then turned my wide eyes upon my friend.  He blinked, waiting for my reaction.

“It’s…amazing!” I cried, giving two thumbs up.  “Thank you so much!”

He chuckled as he watched me stuff my mouth some more, and dug into his own pancakes.  I devoured the pajeon within minutes, and then moved onto the hotteok.

It was just as delicious, stuffed with sugar, honey, syrup, and some other sweet fillings.  It reminded me very much of pancakes back home.

“Minho,” I said between bites.  “How did you know I would like this?”

He smiled, chewed his mouthful of food, and swallowed it before saying, “I just had a feeling you would.  Like I said, I enjoy observing you and getting to know you.”

“Well, if it gets me more free pancakes, then you can observe me all you want.”  I grinned at him before popping another bite into my mouth.

The pop star simply smiled and watched me for a few more moments, his eyes narrowed slightly in thought.

“Seungmi…”  His deep voice caught my attention, and my eyes cut to him.

“Why did you choose to be an exchange student?”

Just like that…the mood changed.  That one little sentence was enough to alter the entire air around us.

My face fell, my eyes dropped to the table below, and the pancake in my mouth didn’t seem nearly as delicious anymore.  I chewed it up slowly and swallowed it.  It went down like a brick.

“I…I…”

Why did you choose to be an exchange student?

Minho’s questioned echoed throughout my head.  Can I even answer this?!  Or, would he see right through it?!

I heaved a sigh, and set my chopsticks down, trying to drum up a logical explanation within the next, like, ten seconds; one that would be at least partly truthful.

“You see this window right here?” I asked, laying my palm to the nearby glass.  “I felt like…I had one of these in front of my face.  Like…I was stuck behind a big, glass window…just watching everybody else as they lived their lives.”

My hand slowly separated from the glass window, leaving a handprint behind.

“So…I made a change and went in search of some adventure; something to make my life unique.  A foreign country seemed like the perfect opportunity.”

Minho was scrutinizing me carefully; there was a hint of skepticism in his dark eyes.

“So, lemme get this straight,” he said.  “You spent the several thousand dollars it takes to get here…learned an entirely different language…immersed yourself in this entirely new culture…just to make your life more exciting?”

I nodded, my lips pressed together nervously.

“I almost don’t buy that, Mi…there’s gotta be something else.”

Dang it; he’s good.

“Hey, Minho,” I muttered.  “Remember what I said about small talk?  Use it.”

“Don’t change the subject,” he said.  “It just affirms my suspicions that you’re hiding something.”

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Don’t lie to me, Seungmi.”

“Don’t challenge me, Minho.”

Our eyes locked together, and neither one of us faltered even a bit.

The intensity –the electricity-- between us…it was almost tangible.  Excited knots formed in my stomach, and my fingertips began to twitch ever so slightly.

I shuddered.

“Whatever,” he finally said with a wave of his hand.  “You can tell me when you’re ready.”

I rolled my eyes with disgust before turning back to my pancakes.

Yeah, right; you’ll never know…

==================================================

Minho let me tune the radio to an American Top 40 station as we drove back through the busy streets of Seoul.

It was a nice, little treat to hear my native tongue again, and to hear these songs that were so familiar.  I smiled and sang along as I gazed out the window at the glittering city beyond.

“Do you miss it?”

Minho’s sudden question startled me a bit.  I turned my head and gazed at him curiously.

“Miss…what?”

“America,” he said bluntly.  “Your home.”

I blinked my eyes for a few moments before slowly turning to look back out the window.

Why does he always ask me these heavy questions?!

“Yeah…I mean, I guess I do miss it,” I finally admitted, my voice quiet.  “It’s my home, you know; where I came from.  I miss…some of the people.  And, I miss the food.  I miss hearing English all the time…”

Minho cracked a grin at those words.

“But, here…”  I nodded.  “Here is also good.  The people are nice, the food is good, the city is beautiful…But, yeah I do miss America.  I miss the memories I made there…”

“You can make new memories here,” Minho said.  “In fact, I think you already have.”  He smirked at me as he reached over to my ponytail, and I smiled back.

“You know,” he added after a moment.  “I’ve been thinking about what you said back at the café.  About how you felt like you were stuck behind a window.”  His eyes stared hard out the windshield. 

“I feel like that, too, sometimes.”

Whoa, what?!  I blinked at him in surprise.

“But…but, Minho…you have SHINee.  You have—”

“I know, I know,” he interrupted me.  “I have fame, fortune, talent…good looks.  Girls want me & guys want to be me.  What more could I possibly want, right?”

His fingers tightened around the steering wheel.  “But, that’s just the thing.  I do want more.  This whole pop star thing; yeah, it’s great…for now.  But, I certainly don’t want it to be my entire career.  I have…my own dreams, I guess you could say.  I want to live up to my full potential as something more than just a singing puppet for SM Entertainment.”

He turned his head in my direction.  “Do you understand what I mean?”

I nodded slowly, my eyes narrowed in deep thought.  “Yeah.  I totally get it, Minho.  Wow…”  I breathed a heavy sigh.  “I never thought a famous person would say something like that.  Nobody else in SHINee has said that.”

Minho smirked a bit.  “Don’t count on ever hearing it from anyone but me.  They all absolutely adore this celebrity lifestyle; they eat it up.”

“You are…really different, Minho,” I murmured with amazement.  “Totally different than what I thought you would be.”

“You are different, too, Mi,” he replied.  “You and I are somewhat alike…but we’re also quite different.”

I tilted my head to one side.  “Oh, really?  And, why exactly is that?”

He gave me a tiny wink.  “Ask me again sometime,” he said.  “For now, tell me your favorite flavor of frozen yogurt.”

My eyebrows knit together.  “Frozen yogurt?” I repeated.  “What the—”

I suddenly realized the car had stopped moving; we were sitting at a drive-thru for a frozen yogurt shop.  Wow, I had totally missed that.

“Uhhh, ummm…”  I struggled to read the Hangul on the menu.  “Vanilla is fine.”

Minho nodded before leaning slightly out of his window and ordering a vanilla cup for me and strawberry cup for himself.  He drove up to the window, paid for it, and then received two cute, little cups full of cold, frozen yogurt.  He handed the vanilla cup to me.

“Enjoy.”

“Thank you, Minho.  You didn’t have to do this.”

“I know,” he replied as he drove away.  “I wanted to.”

===========================================================

The frozen yogurt shop was not far from my apartment.  Only about six or seven minutes passed before Minho made a left turn off the busy street and pulled into the parking lot.

He parked his car, unbuckled his belt, and twisted a bit in his seat to face me.  We gazed at each other for a moment, both of us indulging in our desserts.

“Minho, I…would love to stay and chat, but…”  I watched the clock on his dashboard as it ticked to eleven o’clock.  “It’s getting late; school in the morning, you know.”

He nodded.  “Yeah, I know,” he said before his spoon.

A wave of heat rolled through my body as I watched him do that.  His tongue…the way he could twist it around the spoon, getting every last drop of yogurt…

I quickly averted my gaze before I lost all control of my hormones.

I like Key; I like Key; I like Key!  I chanted in my head as I took another bite of my treat.

My eyes suddenly bulged.  I gasped and dropped my spoon into the cup before reaching down to the foot well to rummage in my purse.  It wasn't there...

Minho watched me curiously as I pawed through its contents.

“Missing something?” he asked.

“Yeah.  My phone’s not in my purse!”  I tossed the pink bag onto his console and began to feel around the foot well below.  My fingers suddenly came in contact with something cold and metallic, and I knew that was it.  I closed my hand around the phone and sat upright again.

Ten new text message from Key; all from within the last two hours.  I winced.  My phone must have been in the foot well the entire time we were in the pancake house.

Key was literally going to murder me.

“Is everything alright?” Minho asked again, with more concern this time as he watched me cringe at the cell phone.

“I’m sorry, Minho, but I have to go,” I told him apologetically.  “Key’s going to kill me.  Thank you for everything!”

I unbuckled my belt and opened the door of his car.

“Hang on, I’ll walk you to your door,” he said, and got out of the car along with me.

We began to cross the parking lot together, chattering lightly and still nibbling on our frozen yogurts.  I offered Minho a bite of mine, feeding him with my own spoon, and then he gave me a bite of his.

I giggled as I opened my mouth and let him feed me.

“Lee Seungmi!  What is going on here?!”

I gasped.

That voice…!  It chilled my bones to the core.

I immediately froze, my mouth still around Minho’s spoon, and the pop star beside me also stopped walking.  He now stared straight ahead, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and placed a protective hand on my shoulder.

I didn’t want to look ahead, but I knew I had to.  Slowly and painfully…I turned my gaze away from Minho…and directed my eyes to the front, where I saw a person standing before the glass doors of my skyscraper.

It was none other than…

Key.

===============================================

OH SNAP!  XD

Caught red-handed.  ahahaha

Comment pwease & the next chapter will be up ASAPPPPP! <333333333333