Chapter 5:

            When they got there they just talked and talked and talked. After that they were all advised to go back to SHINee’s dorm and rest. In the van they were about to ask AeLin questions again but when they were about to ask her, she fell asleep in the van. 4 hours later the sun had already risen and SHINee had some schedules to do. They woke up around 8:00 in the morning. They were all awake including AeLin.

            “Where are you going today?” AeLin said. “We’re going to a CF filming.” JongHyun answered. “Can I come with you?” AeLin said. “Sure you can.” Key said. “No she can’t.” TaeMin said. “Why?” Onew said. “She can’t. Other people would see her. And that would be risky since she hasn’t made her official statement about coming back to the country.” TaeMin said. AeLin looked at him and felt touched.

            There was a slight pause in the dorm. “Yeah I guess so.” Onew said. “But I guess you can move around. Just wear your disguise.” Key said. “And also, don’t go far from the dorm okay? Anyways there are some new shops here that you might find good.” JongHyun said. “De.” she said and smiled. “Well then, we better go now. Bye AeLin.” Key said and went out of the dorm. “Bye AeLin!” Onew said and waved goodbye. “Come on hyung just go out.” TaeMin said and pushed him out.

            “Sheesh TaeMin; why so cranky this early morning?” Onew said. “I didn’t sleep well last night.” TaeMin said and just continued to walk out. MinHo was the only one left with AeLin at the dorm. He approached her. “Later, my schedule will end at around 5:00PM. If you want, we could take a walk somewhere. Just prepare okay?” MinHo said and gave her a friendly smile. AeLin paused for a moment. “Okay.” then smiled back. Then they were all gone. She was new to the dorm.

            SHINee had the dorm for a year now. Because the space at their previous dorms was getting smaller they transferred to a new dorm. She was roaming around the dorm going through every room. She slept in a separate room with SHINee and so she wondered if SHINee had different rooms as well. There were 4 rooms including the one where she slept in. In 2 of the rooms were 2 beds. Clearly one was for JongHyun and Key since there was stuff in the room with the gifts named to them.

            They also had night lights in their room and unlike the other dorm; they had separate beds, not those bunk beds. And the other room was MinHo’s and Onew’s. She checked the 3^rd room and saw that it was the room of their manager. There were papers and schedules posted all over the walls of the room. A laptop was also there with the name “MANAGER ^o^” at the back of the screen. The room was rather messy and stuff. She went out of the room and closed the door.

            “Wait, if the manager’s room is here and the other 4 members’ rooms are there, where does TaeMin sleep?” AeLin said and rushed to the room where she slept. She didn’t have time to observe the room she was in because she was in such a rush to go and greet the members good morning. She opened the door and saw that the room had just one bed, and that there were a lot of gifts scattered across the floor. She looked around and saw posters of SHINee and Harry Potter on the walls.

            Fan messages were also hanged on the walls. She scoured through the gifts and found that it all belonged to TaeMin. She recalled TaeMin saying “I didn’t sleep well last night.” And there she knew. “So it’s his room.” AeLin said. She sat down at the bed and noticed that it wasn’t tidied up yet and so she did. “TaeMin, you were generous enough to offer your room to her for the night. Why not ease up a bit on her?” JongHyun said. “Yeah, you’ve been acting cold around her ever since she came.” Onew said.

            “That wasn’t generosity, you forced me into it. And I just don’t feel like talking to her, that’s all.” TaeMin said. “Not talk to her? Why TaeMin, last time I remembered you were always fighting with her.” Key said. TaeMin just sat there and looked out the window as they rode their van to where they were to have their filming. “I wonder, if she found it…” he thought. Back at the dorm, as AeLin was making the bed she found something under TaeMin’s pillow. “What’s this?” AeLin said and picked the thing up. It was a small envelope and it seemed like it had something inside.

            She stared at it for some time. “I should return this. He might get mad if he finds out I opened this. Anyways, it’s not mine.” Then she put the envelope back under the pillow and finally finished making the bed. “Maybe I should tidy the place up, since I don’t have anything to do around here.” AeLin said. She went out of the room and started with the other 3 rooms. After a couple of hours she went to finish the cleaning with TaeMin’s room.

            Since the bed was already made she focused on organizing the gifts. She started with the bigger ones like the big stuffed teddy bear and other stuff. Then went on to the fan letters he received. She stacked it all up in one organized pile. “There we go.” She was sweating already. There was a window in TaeMin’s room and she opened the window panes and cooled herself. There were curtains at the sides which swayed along with the breeze. “Ahh…it’s been a while since I felt the cool air of Seoul.” She said.

            As she breathed the cool air she had her hands on the window sills. As she did, she felt something on that part of the window sill. She turned to look at it. She saw a small paper and an overturned picture squeezed into a tiny gap. She was just driven into curiosity and got the picture out. She flipped it and was surprised. She froze in the sight of the picture. It took a moment for her to put the picture back and decide not to read the letter.

            She closed the window and headed for the door. She looked back to where the window was. The part where the picture was wasn’t noticeable because of the curtains hiding it. She rushed out of the room and took a deep breath. “Get your senses back AeLin. It’s over.” She said. Soon she took a bath and at the breakfast that was left for her to eat. She dressed in a casual way. She still had her cargo shorts and loose shirt on and had a scarf around her neck. She also wore a cap and a surgical mask with matching fashion glasses on. And of course, her favourite shoe apparel, Converse.

            She was ready to go out into the open. Minutes later after doing some finishing touches she went out of the dorm and out of the building. She looked around the compound. There weren’t many people since it was a Monday and people were busy with school and work. She walked around and observed her new environment. There were shops and food vendors around. There was also a sports complex nearby. She went into the complex and found that they were also offering Taekwondo classes.

            She was already a senior brown belter and one more promotional exam she’ll have her name sown on her black belt. There she saw other people playing volleyball and basketball. There were other sports as well like badminton and table tennis. After a while of roaming around she looked for some place to eat. To her luck she found a restaurant serving Filipino cuisine. She was really happy and loved the fact that nearby was something to remind her of her primary home country.

            As expected in a Filipino restaurants a lot of Filipino’s work there. She was easily served as to how the workers there knew that she was Filipino as well. After lunch she roamed around once more. At the other side were record bars, more shops, a park and also a Catholic church. She went into one of the record bars and spent some time there looking at CDs and stuff. There were fangirls of SHINee, BEAST, and other singers; old and new looking forward to buying a CD of their idol group.

            At the Japanese section she found her latest Japanese single. She picked it up and looked at it for a while. “Japan…” she said and remembered her friends and all she went through there. She was also reminded of Ray as well. As Ray came into her mind she put the CD back and stepped back. “Ya.” She bumped into someone. “Ommo. Sorry! I’m truly sorry.” She bowed repeatedly. “No no, it’s okay.” The person said. She got a better look at the person she bumped into.

            He was wearing a rather similar get-up only that he was wearing a jacket and pants. Also he didn’t have a mask on but had fashion glasses. “Wait, aren’t you?” the guy said and looked at her closely. She panicked. “Uhm, sorry. Really I am. Bye!” AeLin said and walked away. “Wait!” he held her hand and he took off the scarf, fashion glasses, and his hat off.

            “Huh? You’re…” AeLin said and there was a pause. “Toma/AeLin!!” then they both covered their mouths. “Why are you here?” AeLin whispered. “I’m asking the same thing.” Toma said. “Wait, let’s go to the park and talk there.” AeLin said. Then Toma had his disguise back. Ikuta Toma was a Japanese actor who was under Johnny’s Entertainment as well. He was very good friends with AeLin since he was the one who would always make her laugh during her hard times.

            “What are you doing here In Korea?” AeLin then started to speak Japanese. “I’m here to promote my new movie. Our hotel is just near here and tomorrow we’ll be leaving that’s why I’m roaming around the place right now. How about you?” Toma said. “Well, you see, I’m coming back to Korea probably…to work again.” AeLin said. “Work again? But you have always worked in Korea.” Toma said. “No, what I meant is, really work here; as in performing here and living here.” AeLin said. “Wait…you mean you’re going to live here again?” Toma said. “I suppose so. I’m not really sure about it” AeLin replied.

            “EH???!!! Nande????? (Why) Your fans in Japan would go berserk if you don’t come back.” Toma said. “I know. I feel bad…I’m sorry, and I already talked about this with onee-chan (Megumi). She understood and I hope my fans would accept the fact that I’m going to work in Korea from now on. Anyways…I’ll be going back to Japan from time to time as well.” AeLin said. “Well, I guess it is your decision.” Toma said. “I’ll miss you Toma senpai (sunbae).” AeLin said and gave him a hug.

            “Aww…AeLin. I’ll miss you too; we’ll all miss you. It’ll be different when you’re not there.” Toma said. “You’re just making me feel bad.” “That’s the point.” Toma said and they both laughed. “No, seriously. It’ll be different now since you’re not there. But I do hope you become successful once more here and take your spot in the spotlight.” Toma said. “For you, I will.” AeLin said. “Well…I better go now. The car is waiting for me.” Toma said and pointed at a black car across the street. “Okay then, bye.” AeLin waved goodbye.