Minho helped me recover from the effects of the cyanide.  He fed me a warm dinner and forced two pills down my throat, and then instructed me to sleep for a good, long eight hours.

I was more than willing to comply.

Lately these past few days, I’d been feeling so fatigued; more fatigued than usual, and it wasn’t just because of my lack of sleep in Key’s room.

It felt like…something else was involved, as well.

And, when I had another bout of nausea when I woke up on Saturday morning, my suspicions continued to mount.  All of the signs were pointing to—

Oh, no.

I quickly left the bathroom and pounced back onto Minho’s messy, unmade bed.  Luckily, he was already out in the kitchen.  I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and quickly accessed the calendar. 

Let’s see, I thought as I counted backwards.  Twenty-eight days, twenty-eight days…

I noticed that my fingers were shaking ever so slightly.  I was nervous.

Twenty-eight days ago was March seventeenth.  That was a week after my last…oh, no.  No, no, no.

My face twisted into a horrified expression as my free hand gently pressed against my abdomen.  My chest was heaving slightly, and warm tears pricked my eyeballs.

“It’s late,” I whispered to no one but myself.  “It’s one week late.”

My large, azure eyes tore away from my cell phone and gently traveled down to my stomach.  I was almost afraid to look.

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

Minho left the penthouse around eleven on Saturday morning.  Today was his father’s birthday, and he was going to spend the day and tonight at his parents’ home. 

He had cooked breakfast for me, but I refused to eat it.  I had no appetite; not after what I’d just figured out.

Then, he asked me what was wrong and why I wasn’t eating.  I refused to answer him.

He didn’t press the issue and instead, left me with a kiss and disappeared out the front door of the penthouse.  I waited until he was completely gone before I dialed Yukari’s number.

She answered on the third ring.

“Yukari,” I spoke urgently into the phone.  “I think it’s time for a girls’ day.  You down?”

She agreed to meet me downtown at twelve-thirty.  That gave me enough time to speed through a shower, brush my teeth, and catch a bus to my destination.

I did not have enough time, however, to compose my hysterical emotions.

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

“Seungmi, I think I’m in love.  Look at this top.”  Yukari’s cute voice chimed across the boutique we were standing in.  She held up a strapless, black top with stripes of neon pink, orange, green, and blue streaking across it.  A small belt wrapped around its middle.

I took one tiny glance at it and nodded.  “Yeah, it’s great,” I distantly said.

My eyes returned to the rack of blue jeans I’d been standing in front of for the past ten minutes.  I absentmindedly the rhinestones around the pockets of one pair.

“Alright, Seungmi, what’s going on?” Yukari demanded, throwing her clothes over her arm and stomping over to me.  “You’ve been staring at the same jeans since we got in here.  And, you hate jeans.  So, I know something is wrong.”

I shook myself out of my troubling thoughts and looked up at my Japanese friend.  She narrowed her eyes at me and searched my face.

“Nothing’s wrong,” I quickly said, stepping away from the jeans.  “I just…I just don’t really feel like shopping.”

“Then, why did we come to the mall?” Yukari asked with a small laugh.

I smiled, too.  “I don’t know,” I murmured.  “I’m just feeling really tired today, I guess, so I’m not thinking straight.  I don’t feel one-hundred percent.”

Yukari’s eyes twinkled.  “I have just the perfect idea to make you feel better,” she said.  “Hang on, let me go buy these clothes and then, we’ll go.”

I nodded and watched her scurry off towards the cash register.  As she was purchasing her items, I wandered forward a bit, gazing at the rows of pretty, frilly shirts lining the wall of the store.  My hand reached out to touch a light-pink shirt with gray butterflies and layers of ruffles.  It was something I would love to wear.

But, if my suspicions are true, I thought.  I can’t wear clothes like this for months…and months.

I heaved a desolate sigh and continued running my hands over the pretty shirts on the wall.

“Ready to go?!”  Yukari suddenly popped up behind me, a large shopping bag in her hand.

I spun around to face her and gave her the best smile I could muster.  It just came off as an exhausted smile.  “Yeah, let’s go.”

She grabbed my hand and led me back out into the bustling mall.  “This is going to cheer you right up, Seungmi.  I just know it.  This cheers every girl up.”

I curiously arched an eyebrow as I followed my friend.  What was she talking about?!

We weaved through the corners of the mall and hurried back downstairs to the first level.  She pulled me past countless stores before sliding to a halt in front of one in particular.

A very distinctive chemical smell reached my nose, and I flinched slightly.  Chemicals reminded me of Thursday in the biology lab…

“Tada!” Yukari announced, throwing up her arms.  “Guaranteed to put a smile on your face.”

I translated the red, neon Hangul sign above the store.  “Nail salon?” I asked, and she nodded.

“Let’s get pedicures!” she said, clapping her hands.  “They will make you feel so much better, Mi.”

I shied away from her and glanced down at my feet shoved inside of my sneakers.  They were swollen from water retention, and it was definitely noticeable.  “I don’t know, Yukari,” I mumbled.  “It might not be a good idea—”

“Nonsense!”  She grabbed my wrist again.  “Let’s go.”

I didn’t have a choice in the matter.

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

It was the most awkward pedicure of my life.  I usually adored pedicures, but…not this one.  The nail technician commented on my swollen feet, which of course, directed Yukari’s attention to them.

After a large gasp, she had demanded to know why my feet were swollen like that.  She said my ankles even looked a little puffy, as well.  I had tried to pass it off as bug bites, and had kept quiet for the remainder of the pedicure.

About an hour later, both Yukari and I emerged from the nail salon, my toes painted bright blue, and hers painted hot pink.  I had to admit:  I did feel a little bit refreshed.

“What do you wanna do next?” Yukari asked with a grin.

I gingerly laid a hand against my soft stomach – for more reasons than one.  “Let’s get something to eat,” I suggested.  “There’s a sushi café on the third level.”

“Sushi,” she breathed.  “Reminds me of home.  I love you, Seungmi.  Let’s go!”

About fifteen minutes later, we were seated inside the little, Japanese restaurant and I widened my eyes as I watched Yukari converse with the waitresses in Japanese.  I still spoke to them in Korean.

“You know, they speak some English,” Yukari said after they left.  “If you want to use your first language.  It’s nice to use it sometimes.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” I replied with a smile.  “We’re in Korea, not America.  I’m expected to speak Korean.”

Mentioning America made me think of Las Vegas, and a shiver suddenly ran up my spine.  As I casually sipped my glass of water, my blue eyes traveled across the table and settled on Yukari’s cute, round face.

Luckily, she wasn’t looking at me; she was reading some Japanese letters on the wall.

I studied her features hard; harder than I ever had before.  I mean, the eyes looked similar –almost a spitting image– but that was probably just the classic, generic shape of the Japanese eye.  Lots of Americans had similar eyes; lots of Koreans had similar eyes.

The eyes were the only thing I had to judge on.  The rest of that assassin’s face had been concealed.  I would never know if Yukari bore a striking resemblance to her or not.

It was lost with the past.

I sighed again and bit down on my plastic straw.

“Hey, Yukari,” I said, and she looked away from the wall to smile sweetly at me.  “You said you’ve been to America, right?”

“I have,” she replied.  “I vacationed in Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles.  I spent a little time in some rural town in Idaho, too.  But, I spent a year in Las Vegas; I actually lived there.”

I choked on my water.  “V-Vegas?” I repeated through my coughs.  “Las Vegas?  What did you do there?”

“I was an exchange student in high school there,” she innocently said.  “I wasn’t like in downtown Vegas.  I was in a small suburb to the south.  Why, Seungmi?  You look shocked; your face is a little pale.”

I quickly shook my head and used the condensation of my glass to cool my cheeks.  “I’m fine,” I said.  “Just a little surprised that you know my country so well.”

She grinned at me and lifted her cup of tea to her lips.  When she set it down again, her eyes were boring directly into my own.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Seungmi?” she asked curiously.  “You’ve been…kind of nervous all day; like you’re worried about something.  And, it’s not like you to ask me out for a spontaneous girls’ day, either.  Usually, you would be spending the day with your man.  Or…men, I should say.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Yeah, men,” I muttered sarcastically.

“So, what’s up?”  She folded her small arms on the black tabletop.

With another troubled sigh, I stirred the ice in my water glass and decided how best to tell her this.  After all, it was the whole reason I’d invited Yukari out today.

I needed her help.

“Yukari,” I hesitantly began.  My voice didn’t even sound like my own.  “You’re a girl, right?”

“Last time I checked, yeah.”  We both chuckled.

“Right.”  I nodded.  “So, you know how, like…because we’re girls, we have responsibilities, I guess?  We have things that we’re supposed to watch out for…or prevent.”

Yukari’s wide, black eyes were blinking at me.  “You aren’t making any sense,” she muttered.

Stupid language barrier.  I’m trying to not be awkward…

Our plates of sushi arrived just then, and I gazed down at mine as I tried to drum up another explanation.  I heard the snap of Yukari’s chopsticks when she separated them.

“Okay, how about this?” I said.  “Girls are different from boys, you know, and because of that—”

“Seungmi, just spit it out,” Yukari replied.

“I think I’m pregnant.”  The words tumbled out faster than I could stop them.

Clang!

Yukari had dropped her chopsticks onto her plate.  Her jaw dropped with surprise and her eyes were fluttering rapidly.  “P-p-pregnant?!” she cried.

“Shh, shh!”  I put a finger to my lips and glanced around the café.  “Yes, pregnant.  As in, having a baby.  As in…I wasn’t responsible.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out.”  Yukari laid her palms against the table and stared at her sushi in shock.  “Pregnant?!  Seungmi…you’re pregnant?!”

I dug my nails into my scalp.  “Please, stop saying it,” I muttered.  “I’m trying to not dwell on it.”

“Well, how do you know?” she asked, finally composing herself.  “Have you been tested?”

I shook my head as I picked up my own chopsticks.  “No, not yet.  I’m just guessing by the signs.  My period is a week late, I’ve had nausea, I’ve gained a little weight…my feet even swelled up!  It’s pretty obvious, Yukari.”

I chewed up a delicious sushi roll, and Yukari slowly ate another one, as well.  Her dark eyes were still staring off into space, as if trying to absorb this shocking information.

Imagine how I must feel.

“Pregnant,” she whispered, shaking her head.  “A baby…Seungmi, do you realize what this means?  You’re going to be a mother.  How can you be ready for that?!”

“Exactly!” I hissed.  “Don’t you think I’m freaking out enough already?!  I have no idea how to raise a baby!  I don’t even know who the father is!  He—”

I instantly clapped a hand over my mouth.  Uh-oh, big mistake.

My Japanese friend was staring at me; her expression even more astonished, if that was possible.  “What did you just say?” she whispered.  “You don’t know…who the father is?!  Seungmi!”

“I’m sorry!” I cried, throwing up my hands.  “But, it’s true!  Key or Minho, either one could be the father.  How am I supposed to know which one?!”

Yukari put her chopsticks down again and dragged her hands over her pretty face.  “Seungmi, Seungmi, Seungmi,” she groaned.  “How could you be so stupid like this?!  Whatever happened to birth control?!”

“I know, I know!  I’ve made a huge mistake,” I said miserably.  “But, what’s done is done, Yukari.  We can’t reverse it, so…I have to deal with it.  And, I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to deal with it alone.  I was hoping you would help me.”

She grabbed her chopsticks again and nodded her head.  “I’ll help you,” she assured me.  “Don’t worry; I’ll help you.  But, first things first…you need to get tested.”

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

Small bells jingled overhead as Yukari pulled open the glass door to the clinic beyond.  I bulked at the doorway, too scared to continue.

Too scared to find out the truth.

Yukari rolled her eyes.  “Seungmi, come on!” she whispered, grabbing my arm and pulling me through the door.  The bells jingled again as the door shut.  “This is for your own good.  You have to do it.  Now, c’mon.”

We were at a nearby pregnancy crisis center just about an hour after eating sushi.  Yukari had googled the center closest to the mall, and walk-ins were welcome there.

I had been a nervous wreck all the way from the mall to the clinic, and now…as my moment of reckoning approached, I was even more of a trainwreck.

My palms began to sweat.

“Welcome!”  A kind, old lady stood up from behind the receptionist desk.  She smiled at both of us.  “What can I do for you girls?”

“My friend thinks she’s pregnant,” Yukari said, gesturing at me.  “She would like to get tested, please.”

“Oh, certainly.”  The woman’s eyes swept over me and lingered on my tummy for a moment.  I self-consciously wrapped my arms around myself.

“Certainly, certainly,” she repeated.  “She just needs to fill out some paperwork for me.  And, then if she is pregnant, she’s welcome to meet with one of our counselors and discuss her options.  Everything is free here, you know.”

Yukari bowed slightly as she accepted the folder handed to her.  “Thank you so much,” she said before she began to lead me away.

I nodded my head and tried to say ‘thank you’, but my throat was dry like a desert.  Nothing came out except nervous breaths.

“Alright, fill this stuff out,” Yukari told me as we plopped down on a nearby sofa.  “Let me know when you’re done.”

She began playing on her iPhone, while I opened the folder of paperwork and began to read.  It was just generic medical information, like my insurance provider and my general physician, my personal medical history and my family history.  The pattern of my menstrual cycle, the date of my last period…

I went through the motions and answered all the information without a problem.  There was only one question that caused me to stop short.

Your relationship to the biological father:  married, in a relationship, separated, bio. father unknown.

My hand trembled as I slowly checked the box next to ‘unknown’.  Warm tears pricked my eyes as I stared at that ugly, black checkmark.  I felt so dirty; so ashamed of myself.

“You done?” Yukari asked, glancing over at me.  Her eyes skimmed across my paperwork, and I nodded.

“I am,” I said.  We stood up, crossed the room back to the front desk, and stood in line behind another girl; one who looked younger than me.

As she walked away towards the back rooms, I caught sight of her belly –her round, protruding belly– and my spine trembled with fear.  That would be me in just a few short months.

“Thank you very much,” the old lady said as she accepted my paperwork.  “Now, just follow me and we’ll get you set up.”

She led us down the same hallway towards the back rooms; some were counseling offices, some were examination rooms.  We were put into an examination room, and the woman handed me an over-the-counter pregnancy test.

“There’s a bathroom down the hall,” she said with a warm smile before leaving us in peace.

I stared at the kit in my hands…and then stared at Yukari.

“You know what to do,” my friend said, laying a hand on my trembling shoulder.

“I can’t do it, Yukari,” I whimpered.  “I can’t do it.  What if it’s positive?!  I can’t…I can’t…”

She pulled me into a hug.  “You can,” she assured me.  “Be brave, Seungmi.  You can do this.  You have to do this.  If you are pregnant, then you need to know now so you can start making the best decisions for your baby.  His or her heart is already beating, you know.”

I laid a palm against my stomach and squeezed my eyes shut.  One tiny tear managed to trickle past my eyelashes.

“Alright,” I whispered painfully.  “I’ll do it.”

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

The results were positive.

My head began to spin and I gripped the wall of this private bathroom to keep from collapsing.  I slid down until my bottom touched the cool, tile floor.

“Positive…” I whispered in English.  “Positive.  Pregnant.”

The words weren’t making any sense to my fuzzy, jumbled brain.  I put my head in my hands as I began to cry.

“Pregnant,” I whispered through my sobs.  “I’m pregnant!  Pregnant.”

I clenched my teeth together as the tears flowed down my cheeks and dripped onto the floor below.  A knock suddenly came against the door.

“Seungmi?” Yukari called.  “Are you alright in there?”

I wiped my eyes and nose and stood upright again.  I threw the kit into the nearby trashcan, filled mostly with other used kits, and left the bathroom.

Yukari took one look at my face and instantly pulled me into another hug.  I cried against her shoulder.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” she soothed, rubbing my back.  “You’ll be alright.  We’ll get through this.  You’re alright.”

“Yukari,” I choked out.  “What am I going to do?!  SHINee will be ruined.  Whoever the father is, whether it’s Minho or Key, his image will be completely trashed forever.  And, it’s all my fault, Yukari!  I will be responsible for the end of SHINee.”

“Then, that’s the way it will be,” she replied.  “A baby is much more important than a famous boy band.  Whoever the father is, he will need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for his actions.  His child will need him more than SHINee needs him.”

I continued to cry.

“Your baby will need you, too, Seungmi,” she added.  “You have to be strong for it.”

I leaned away from her and continued sniffling as I wiped the tears off of my face.  She smiled gently at me, and I eventually cracked a tiny smile, as well.

“Much better,” Yukari said.

After I’d composed myself a bit more, Yukari and I met with a very kind, understanding counselor.  She helped me calm down and relax, and she helped me feel better about myself and this baby, even though I didn’t know who the father was.

She discussed my options with me and when I said I wanted to keep the baby, she explained to me what these first few months of pregnancy would entail.

Mood swings, cravings, cramps, and rapid weight gain.  Great.

After she prepared a baggie full of brochures and a book about the first trimester, we were free to go and Yukari treated me to ice cream before we parted ways.  It was nearing five o’clock in the afternoon.

On the bus ride back to SHINee’s dorm, my cell phone vibrated with a text from Minho.

I miss you~  Hope you are having fun today.  I will come back to you as soon as I can.  Love you.

A tiny smile flickered across my lips as I read the sweet text, but it soon disappeared as I thought about how Minho could now be a father.

Or…how he could not be a father.

Key could be a father instead.

I put my phone away and leaned my head against the bus window, staring glumly at the passing urban scenery.  Visions of pregnancy, labor, a crying baby, dirty diapers, and nursing tortured me all the way back to the penthouse.

I felt half-insane by the time I stepped off the bus and out into the warm, evening air.

SHINee’s dorm was peaceful and quiet –the exact opposite of how I felt– when I unlocked the door and let myself inside.  The only light came from underneath Onew’s bedroom door.

I wondered where everyone else was; I wondered where Key was.

After leaving my purse and my bag from the pregnancy clinic on the couch, I wandered into the kitchen to make some food for myself.  Well, not only for myself anymore; I was eating for two now.

After preparing a sandwich and a plate of fresh fruit, I sat down on the couch in the living room and watched TV while I ate.  Nothing was really on; just the news, reality shows, and dramas.

Which was why I fell asleep soon after finishing my meal.

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

Jonghyun’s POV:

It had been a long day at SM.  Not to mention it had been a long Saturday at SM.

I hated my manager for calling me there on a weekend just to smooth out my vocals for SHINee’s new single.  Especially when school ended next week and finals were coming up.

I didn’t have time to juggle both school and singing.  Ugh.

The dorm was quiet when I arrived home, except for the soft sounds coming from a drama on television.  I kicked my shoes off by the door and ventured further into the penthouse.

I smiled a bit to see Seungmi curled up on the couch, fast asleep.  I grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned off the plasma-screen TV to give her some peace and quiet while she napped.

She was probably already experiencing the pressures of final exams.  I grimaced at the thought.

After setting the remote back on the coffee table, I my heel to exit the living room.  I froze all of a sudden as my keen eyes caught sight of something.

Something intriguing.

Near Seungmi’s purse at the end of the couch, near her feet, was a small white, plastic bag.  Several brochures and the corner of a book protruded from the top of the bag.

I squinted my eyes and peered hard, and saw a picture on one of the brochures; a picture of a young, pretty woman holding a smiling, new baby.  I also spotted some Hangul and it seemed to spell out the beginning of a word.

A word I knew all too well as pregnancy.

My gut slithered dreadfully to my feet.

After glancing at Seungmi to make sure she was still asleep, I silently peeked inside of the small bag and rustled through the papers inside.  Seungmi stirred ever so slightly, but she kept sleeping.

There was a brochure about the first trimester of pregnancy, another one about eating healthy during pregnancy, and a final one about coping with an unexpected pregnancy, specifically for single mothers.

The book was a week-by-week guide of pregnancy.

Pregnancy, pregnancy, pregnancy.

The word swarmed my head like an angry swarm of bees.  My eyes glanced back and forth between the bag and Seungmi –Seungmi, who was now pregnant?!

I had to sit down for this one.

Stumbling away towards my bedroom, I pushed the door open and bumbled forward until I collapsed on my messy bed.  I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the white ceiling.

“Pregnant?” I whispered to myself.  “She’s pregnant?!  I knew it.  I knew this would happen.  Minho was such a fool.”

I punched the mattress in frustration.  “What about SHINee now?  We’ll be ruined.  Manager will kick Minho out faster than he can say ‘stop’.  The whole scandal about Seungmi will be exposed, SHINee’s entire image will get ruined, we’ll be outcasts—”

“Jonghyun-ah?”  Onew’s voice suddenly came from my cracked bedroom door.  “You alright?  I heard you grumbling to yourself.”

I sat up as my hyung nudged his way into my cluttered bedroom.  “Hyung, come here,” I said.  “I have to tell you something.”

He shut the door behind him and crossed the room to my bed.  He sank down beside me, a quizzical look on his features.  “What is it?” he asked nervously.

“Seungmi’s pregnant.”  The words tasted like poison coming out of my mouth.

Onew blinked rapidly at me.  “E-excuse me?” he sputtered.  “What did you say?”

“She’s pregnant, hyung,” I repeated.  “As in, having a baby.  A crying, screaming baby.”

“A baby…” Onew breathed.  He gripped his forehead in disbelief.  “How did you find this out?”

“She’s taking a nap out there on the couch,” I explained.  “And, I didn’t mean to pry or anything; I just happened to notice that she had a bag full of pregnancy information.  And, I’m pretty sure it pertains to her.  One of the pamphlets was titled ‘Coping with an Unexpected Pregnancy for Single Mothers’.  I mean, that pretty much announces she’s got a bun in the oven.”

Onew was in shock.  He was staring at my dark-green quilt below and absentmindedly drawing patterns on it with his fingers.  His mind seemed to be a million miles away.

“You know what this means, right, hyung?” I asked bitterly.  “You know who the father is.”

SHINee’s leader met my gaze once again.  “Actually, no,” he replied.  “I don’t know who the father is.”

“What are you talking about?  It’s Minho.”

“It could be Key.”

My eyes nearly popped out of my head.  With a loud, irritated groan, I fell backwards onto my bed and stared back up at the ceiling.  Onew laid down next to me.

“Key,” I whispered.  “I forgot all about him, but you’re right.  He could definitely be the father, as well.”  I looked over at Onew.  “Hyung, what are we going to do?  If manager finds out that this girl has been living with us and sleeping with two of our members, and now she’s pregnant with one of their babies…”

“I know, I know,” he replied, nibbling on his thumbnail.  “We’ll be done for; worse than done for.”

“Completely annihilated,” I muttered hopelessly.

Onew heaved a sigh and pulled himself upright.  “I’ll think of something,” he said.  “We still have some time before Seungmi begins to show.  So…I’ll think of something.  For now, though, let’s keep this a secret between us.  Don’t even let Seungmi know that you know.”

“Why?” I asked as I sat up, as well.

“We have a new single coming out in six weeks, Jonghyun.”  My hyung shot me a look.  “Do you really want drama between the five of us?”

I hung my head.  “No.  You’re right.”

Onew departed from my room and I collapsed backwards onto my bed.  I tossed a pillow between my hands as I pondered this latest issue.

Minho or Key?  Key or Minho?

Which one was the father of Seungmi’s baby?

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

Seungmi’s POV:

I stirred from my dull, dreamless catnap and slowly blinked open my eyes.  The blurry image of SHINee’s living room came into focus, bathed in the last few rays of the setting sun.  The clock on the cable box read six-thirty.

I had slept for about an hour; sufficient enough.

After sitting up, stretching, and yawning, I gathered my bags off the couch and carried them into Minho’s room.  I didn’t even look at my pregnancy information; I had the next nine, long months to think about that.

Instead, I indulged in a hot, hour-long shower, steaming up every inch of Minho’s bathroom before I was finished.  I then dressed in comfortable pajamas –loose shorts and one of Minho’s t-shirts.

Anything that wouldn’t feel tight against my body.

I then slipped from the bedroom and padded out towards the kitchen to get a cookie –I was craving sugar.

As I stood on my tip-toes and rummaged through the top shelf of SHINee’s pantry, two hands suddenly s around my puffy waist and a pair of lips met my neck.

I gasped sharply and jumped a foot in the air.

“Relax, MiMi,” Key cooed in my ear.  “It’s just me.”

Still in his arms, I turned around to face him and put my back against the pantry shelves.  “S-sorry,” I sputtered.  “I’m just a little jumpy tonight, and I didn’t know you—”

Key suddenly pressed his soft lips against my own, and almost immediately, my body relaxed.  Some of the tension vanished from my taut muscles and I returned Key’s sweet kiss.

“Feel better?” he asked with a y wink once we’d separated.

I nodded.  “I do,” I replied.  “Where were you?  I thought you weren’t home.”

“I came home while you were in the shower,” he replied as he reached above me to grab two chocolate-chip cookies.  One for me and one for himself.  “I was studying calculus with Taecyeon all day.  We have our final next Wednesday.”

The mention of Taecyeon made me habitually glance down at Key’s exposed elbows.  Both of them were clean, much to my relief.  Key smirked as he followed my gaze, and I quickly chewed my cookie to seem innocent.

 “Where were you all day, MiMi?”  Key playfully arched his eyebrow as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ears.

I felt my body grow tense again as I remembered just where exactly I had been today.  My eyes stared into Key’s for a moment and a tremor rolled through me.

The baby…he could be the father.  He could be—

“I just went to the mall with Yukari,” I quickly replied, shaking those thoughts from my head.  “You know, girls’ day.”

“Girls’ day, hmm.”  Key’s fingers slipped underneath my shirt, and my skin instantly tingled from his touch.  “Then, how about spending the evening with me?”

He stepped closer to me and pressed his chocolaty lips against my neck again.  My hands traveled up his muscular forearms and gripped his broad shoulders.

“Deal?” he murmured against my hot skin.

“Deal,” I breathed out, and he straightened back up to my level.  He wore a grin on his beautiful face.

“Perfect,” he said.  “We’ll have so much fun tonight!  We can order a pizza and watch movies and play games and—”

I interrupted him with a laugh.  “Key, the other members are here, you know.  Minho is the only one who’s gone, so…we can’t be too disruptive.”

“Psh, it’s Saturday night,” he said, rolling his eyes.  “We can do what we want.  C’mon!”

He took my arm and pulled me away towards his bedroom.  For the first time all day, I felt a real, genuine smile cross my features as I followed him.

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

“Key, what are you doing?!  That’s not how you eat it,” I said as I watched him struggle with the melted s’more in his hand.  “You fail.”

We were standing in the kitchen around eleven o’clock at night, and I had just taught Key how to make s’mores.  He had struggled, to say the least.

He began to pout.  “I don’t know how to eat it!” he whined.  “Stupid American snacks…”

“Just bite into it like this,” I told him.  “Watch me.”  I took a bite of the warm, gooey, and delicious treat.  It reminded me so much of home.

“Okay, I got this,” Key muttered as he tried to maneuver the graham crackers between his fingers.  But, they wobbled too much, and sticky, melted marshmallow and chocolate began to seep from the sides.

I laughed out loud as he finally took a bite of the snack, but smeared it all over his lips in the process.  I threw my head back and continued to laugh.

“Shut up,” Key playfully muttered as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

Before I could react, he suddenly dabbed some chocolate across my nose.  My eyes shot wide open and my jaw dropped.  “Key!” I squealed, but he was already gone.

He took off at a run towards his bedroom.

“Get back here!” I cried as I darted after him.  The s’more in my hand left a sticky trail of melted marshmallow all the back way to his bedroom.

Before I went inside, I thought I heard the click of Onew’s door opening down the hall.  My head whipped in that direction, but I didn’t see anything.  His door was closed and his light was off.

He was sleeping.

I shrugged my shoulders and hurried inside Key’s bedroom.  “You’re a dead man,” I called out.  “This entire s’more is going in your face.”  I began to tip-toe towards the gigantic fort Key and I had built out of his sheets and blankets.  It stretched across most of his room.

“Good,” Key taunted from inside the fort.  “Then, you can clean it off for me.”

I laughed and popped the last bite of my treat into my mouth.  “You nasty,” I said before ducking inside the fort.  Darkness instantly engulfed me, and before my eyes had a chance to adjust, a pair of hands suddenly grabbed my wrists and pulled me down to the floor.

I landed with a gasp that was instantly swallowed up by Key’s mouth.  He pressed his soft, warm lips against my own and I reached up to caress his face as we kissed.

He tasted so sweet; the remnants of the s’more still lingered in his mouth.

We finally broke apart, both of us panting ever so slightly.  It was hot underneath these all these sheets and blankets, and Key didn’t make it any cooler.

I shuddered as the tip of his tongue suddenly cleaned the chocolate off of my nose.  “All better,” he whispered before running his fingers through my hair.  He smiled warmly down at me, and I returned it.

We spent the next hour telling ‘scary’ stories, keeping up with our camping theme of the night.  I told some silly story about ghosts haunting this penthouse and Key made up a lame story about the producers of SM turning into zombies and hunting down their idols.

I laughed my head off as he told it.

“Stop laughing!” he snapped near the end.  “It’s supposed to be scary, not funny.”

“That totally wasn’t scary,” I replied through my giggles.

“Neither was yours,” he shot back before he grabbed my ribs and began tickling me.

My laughter increased.  “Key!” I said.  “Stop, stop!  Ow…Key!”

I was literally rolling on the floor laughing as he continued administering his torture.  Key was giggling, too, as he dodged my flailing arms and legs.

Bam!

A fist suddenly slammed against Key’s bedroom wall; the wall that connected to Jonghyun’s room.  “Shut up in there!” the lead singer hollered.  “Some people are trying to sleep!”

Key stopped tickling me and we both bit our lips, trying to hold back our laughter.  “Oops,” Key whispered.  “Old man over there can’t sleep.”

“Old man.”  I giggled again, and Key grinned, too.

“It is almost one o’clock,” he said as he laid down beside me on our pallet.  “We should calm down.”

“Yeah.”  I gave a sudden yawn.  “We should.”

Key pulled a blanket over our bodies and then he settled down to sleep.  His eyelids fluttered shut and concealed his pretty eyes.

My eyes, however, were wide open.

My mind was racing with thoughts from earlier today.  In the silence and the darkness of this room, I felt even more trapped; even more suffocated by the news I had discovered today.

I gently laid my palms against my stomach and took a deep breath.  “Key?”

“Hmm?” he mumbled against his pillow.

“Can I…ask you a question?”

From the hesitant tone of my voice, Key’s eyelids fluttered back open.  He gazed curiously at me.  “Sure you can,” he said.  “What’s up?”

I bit my bottom lip as I thought about how to begin.  “SHINee is…SHINee is important to you, right?”

He nodded.  “Yeah.  It was my dream to become a singer,” he replied.  “And, now it has become my career.  Why?”

“I’m important to you, as well, right?” I asked.

He nodded again and frowned curiously.

“Well…”  I took another deep breath for courage.  “What if something happened, like what if something came along that was more important than SHINee?  And, this new thing…needed your full attention?  Would you be able to give up SHINee for it?”

“What is this thing we’re talking about?” Key asked with a little chuckle.  “I can’t really answer that question unless I know what we’re talking about.”

“Just anything,” I replied, which was really a lie.  “Anything that could be more important than SHINee.”

“Well, there’s not much that could be more important than SHINee,” he muttered.  “But, I suppose, if I felt that it were really more important than my career…I would turn my focus to it, yes.”

“Only if you feel like it’s more important?” I asked.  “What if it is more important, no matter what you feel like?”

He stared at me like I grew a third eyeball.  “Is your Korean getting rusty?” he said.  “Because you really aren’t making any sense to me at all.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and let my hands drop to the pallet below.  “Just forget about it,” I whispered.  “It’s not important.”

“But, you just said it—”

“Go to sleep.”  I rolled over and put my back to him so he wouldn’t see the tiny tears slipping out of my eyes.

Key had pretty much just answered my question.  If this baby really was his, he wouldn’t stick around for it nine months later.  His career –his dream of being a famous singer– meant way too much to him.

And, I had no right to take that dream away from him just because I was having a baby.

I sighed into my pillow and curled up into the fetal position, feeling cold and alone even though Key was right beside me.

That is, until he suddenly wrapped his arms around me from behind and laid a soft kiss against my ear.  “I love you, MiMi,” he whispered.  “Something’s troubling you, I can sense it.  Just tell me whenever you’re ready.”

He cuddled up to sleep with me, and I leaned back against him for warmth.

Whenever you’re ready.

What if I was never ready?  What if I wasn’t at all ready to have this baby?

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Yayyy! <3 Since SHINee's Japanese single dropped today, how about a double update to celebrate? ^.^ hehe

Seungmi's having a baybey....and she doesn't know who the father is. Uh ohhh. :/  Any guesses, intuitions, or hopes as to who it might be? lol Let me know! :)

And I will update again soon! Because I have nothing else to do now...summers are boring. lol

Thanks!!! I love you all! <33333 A Justin Bieber song is stuck in my head... >.>