Kai began to meander through the sea of idols waiting in the green room. He caught site of T.O.P’s blue mop of hair as he brushed past Bigbang and wondered vaguely if EXO would ever reach their popularity. But he was too busy to be star- struck for the moment. He had to find Taemin. Fast.

‘Jongin!’

He hears his name being called from the other side of the room, but he couldn’t see who called it.

‘Jongin!’

He pushed past the members of some girl group and headed towards the voice which he quickly discovered belonged to Onew.

Before he can get a word in edgeways Onew grabs his shoulders frantically and asks:

‘Have you seen Taemin?’

Kai feels a sinking feeling in his stomach. They would be called onstage in less than 5 minutes. What was Taemin playing at?   

‘No… I haven’t… I was about to ask the same thing actually.’

‘We need to be on first! Where is he?!'

Onew looked around the crowded room pointlessly. ‘He must be in here somewhere!’

They push back through the now disgruntled looking girl group and proceed to find the seating area where the rest of SHINee had managed to bag a couple of seats.

‘Taemin turned up yet?’ asked Jonghyun, looking mightily unconcerned considering the situation.

‘No’ Onew replied dejectedly.

Key was biting his nails nervously ‘I hope something hasn’t happened.’

This unfortunately provoked a string of worrying thoughts in Kai’s head. What if something had happened? What if he’d hurt himself? What if he’d been mobbed or kidnapped by some crazy fans? What if-

‘Oh look, there he is.’ said Minho, pointing towards the auburn blob of hair that was moving towards them.

As soon as he arrived Onew and Key were fussing over him.

‘Where did you go? We were so worried about you! We thought you wouldn’t turn up! Honestly Taemin, be more responsible.’

‘Sorry’ he bowed deeply ‘I just needed a breath of fresh air. It’s a bit stuffy in here and I had a few things that I needed to think through’. As he finished the sentence his eyes flickered over to Kai who was pointedly looking away from him. He didn’t want to blush any more than he was already.

It’s now or never Kai