Chapter 8:

            As she went through the hallways her phone rang. “Hello?” she answered. “AeLin ah.” A familiar voice replied. “YoSeob oppa ah! Why did you call?” she said. “I wanted to ask you if you have something to do right now.” YoSeob said. “Right now? Well, none really.” She replied. “Let’s go hang out. I’m free today. Well, DongWoon wants to come so…is it okay?” he said.

            “Sure! Where are you right now?” she replied. “We’re in our dorm. How about you?” YoSeob replied. “I’m in SME right now.” She answered. “Good timing! Stay there, our dorm is close to there. We’ll be there in a jiff.” YoSeob replied. Then both put down the phone. As planned the 3 of them met. “AeLin ah, it’s been a long time after we saw each other.” DongWoon said. “You too oppa.” She replied then they went out of the building, AeLin with a disguise of course.

            “Oppa ah, how have you been? It’s been a year after we saw each other in umma’s memorial service and burial.” AeLin said. “Yeah I know. It’s great to see you again, and now, it seems like I’ll be seeing you a LOT more often here.” YoSeob said and gave her a smile. “Who would know the two of you were cousins. AeLin’s umma and hyung’s umma are sisters right?” DongWoon said. “De. I didn’t know that as well until me and my umma visited the memorial service.” YoSeob added.

            AeLin and YoSeob were cousins to be exact. Their mothers are sisters and because of AeEul’s work she didn’t quite manage to talk about her family a lot; although she did mention to both AeLin and OkHyun about YoSeob’s umma. AeEul was the younger sister and both were best friends when they were still in their young age. So it seems like the SHINee members were misunderstanding. For the rest of the day they went around the city which AeLin missed so much.

            The next couple of weeks she started to prepare for her comeback. She had song prepared for her and started training again. She practiced and even ended up sleeping in the practice room in either JYPE or SME. She was working hard and vowed to make her comeback successful. She also met her new manager. Her name was Lee JinHyun. She was older that AeLin for about 10 years.

            A month has passed and it was almost time for her comeback performance. Rumours started to spread that AeLin was going to do a comeback. It was now a day before the concert. A week before they released the concert teasers, one by one from each artist from SME and JYPE; SHINee, 2PM, Wonder Girls, SNSD, and those old and new groups from both agencies. And at the last day of last week they released AeLin’s teaser which after an hour of releasing made a heck of a viewer rating.

            The next day the ticket sales also went sky high. It seems like everything was going as planned. She was now back in South Korea and working there once more. She was with her dear friends and was ready to go up on stage and steal the heart of her fans once again. But then…although she’s excited for everything, she can’t help but die in nervousness as well. “I don’t think I can do this.” She said as they were in the middle of rehearsals in the concert halls.

            “Yes you can.” Key said as they were in the waiting rooms backstage. “You’ve been to concerts before right? Why would this make a difference?” Onew said. “Well…maybe because you’re all with me? And…this is Korea, different from Japan. I started here and coming back I’m afraid as to if I still have the fans that I had before. And I’m also afraid if South Korea, and the rest of the world, would accept me again.” She said and was sunk in deep thought.

            The SHINee members looked at each other and smiled. “You’re too worried about a lot of things.” MinHo said and sat next to her. She was sitting on the couch with Key sitting at the other side. “AeLin ah, we’ll prove to you how much South Korea has missed you a lot because you are SHINee’s Lin.” Jjong said and gave off a grin. That made her smile at least.

            Soon the concert was to be held. There were 6 hours left before the official start. They were all preparing with the make-up and hair and stuff and were doing their last screening for the concert. AeLin was now more of a woman than when she left. Although she did lose weight because of work, she looked more mature now. Her clothes were a bit different now but still had the same feel to it. She till wore sneakers and not too girly clothes.

            All of them waited for the start of the concert. She started to pray to God for the success of the event. She also prayed for a good outcome after she performs. They could hear the crowd cheering as the concert started. The MC’s were TaecYeon and Jessica. They were doing their stuff while the other artists backstage were preparing. “This is a new start.” She said.

            One by one the idol groups from both JYPE and SME came out and performed. AeLin was to come appear in the middle of SHINee’s performance of their debut song ‘Noona Neomu Yeppeo’which was AeLin’s debut song as well, only that it was titled ‘Replay’ only. She dressed like SHINee as well. The red tops and the black skinnies. She also wore a cap so that while she performs she won’t be discovered that easily.

            SHINee was out on stage performing their songs. They were in the middle of performing their 2010 hit song ‘Lucifer’ when she was getting ready to go up on stage. “Good luck AeLin.” NichKhun said. “De. I will.” She said and smiled. Soon the song ended and SHINee started to introduce their next song. “This song, is very special to us. With this song we kept and still keep a lot of memories ever since we became SHINee.” Onew said.

            The music started, the fans cheered, the dome was hyping up. She took a deep breath and held her chest. “Fighting ah, you can do this.” She said to herself. She was going to enter around Key’s part in the 2^nd verse after Onew sings. “Here goes.” She said and went up on stage trying to mask her entrance and making it look mysterious.

            The background dancers were wearing black and her red jacket really made her distinguishable. To be honest, her get up was like that of TaeMin’s costume. She was in a black shirt and red jersey jacket only that she had white shoes on. She didn’t sing though, she just danced along with them. As the performance went on the fans started to murmur. “Who’s that?” “Is that the surprise?” “Is that a new member?” a couple of fans said.

            Then the song ended. The background dancer then went backstage as the SHINee members lined up with AeLin. Her cap was still covering her face at least. “Everyone! I bet you’re wondering who this person is.” Jjong said. “De!” the audience replied in chorus. “Well, we’ll tell you who this person is. This person is the 6^th member of SHINee. This person is part of our family.” Onew said and the murmurs started to escalate. The fans got confused and stuff.

            “I’m sure you know this person. Please welcome this person once again…” Key said and got a hold of her cap. “I’m so shaking.” AeLin thought as she continued nodding and felt Key’s hand get a hold of her cap. She covered her face with both hands. “She has always been the 6^th member of SHINee, always has, and always is.” MinHo added as Key took off the cap.

            Her ponytail fell down and took its position. She lifted up her head and slowly removed her hands from her face. She took a deep breath and started to reveal her face. She saw the light pointing to her and as she got a better look she saw the fans seated on the concert halls. “It’s Lin.” TaeMin said. There was a moment of silence. “Annyeong hasaeyo.” She said and bowed 90 degrees. The fans grew wild. It seems like the Lintastics took their position and hoped for the best.

            “I’m sorry.” She added. “Aww!” Key said and gave her a hug. The fans grew wild again. “We have our Lin back. It’s her!” Onew said and got her to go forward. “Everyone, it’s really nice to see you again. It means the whole world to me to stand here in front of all of you once again. Thank you!” she said and bowed once more. “For the Lintastics who came, let me hear you say ‘we missed you Lin’!” Jjong said. Linstastics, of course responded.   

            She was so overjoyed that she started to tear up. SHINee then left the stage and left her there to perform. “Everyone, thank you.” She said as the song started and took her position. The song started and the night went on as it was planned. She performed for a total of 4 songs and headed backstage. She was then greeted by the idol members from both agencies. “Good job sunbae-nim.” One member said. “De. Thank you!” she replied. “Sunbae-nim…wow.” She thought to herself.

            She then headed to the waiting room and prepared for her next appearance. She got into this shirt and cargo shorts. As she finished preparing Jjong came into the room. “Where are they?” she asked as he sat down on the couch. “They’re getting a couple of drinks.” He said and gestured her to go and sit beside him. She then went to him and sat down. “AeLin ah, you’ve done well.” Jjong pulled her closer and said. He kissed her forehead and gave her a hug.

            “Thank you oppa.” She replied and smiled. “By the way, I have something to tell you.” Jjong said and looked at her. “What is it?” “You see, you oppa now has a girlfriend!” he excitedly said. “Ommo. Really? That’s great!!” AeLin replied and felt really happy for him. “It’s SeKyung.” He said. “SeKyung? Shin SeKyung? You had a crush on her right? Ommo, congrats!!” AeLin said and hugged him. “I know, and the fans have really been supportive.” He said. “Shawols are really nice. I love them.” She said and gave him a warm smile.

            “Speaking of girlfriends, who is your boyfriend?” Jjong said. Her smiled turned deteriorated and her face turned to a straight face. “Wait, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…but…we approve though you and YoSeob - ” “Wait…YoSeob oppa?” she said and looked at him confused. “Hm? Uhm…yeah, your boyfriend is YoSeob right?” Jjong said. “Huh? What? Who told you that?” then she started to smile. “Well, uhmm…no one really, but…you gave us a hint that you knew each other from a long time ago.” Jjong said rather confused.