the Onew exception
Description
She didn’t intend to.
Fall in love—and with him of all people.
Why him? How?
They were nearly opposites.
He was so awkward, and clumsy, and warm.
She was so chic, and composed, and cold—hence the ice princess nickname.
Aish. Why him of all people?
Why Lee Jinki?.
Foreword
Epilogue || Part I
o n e – y e a r – l a t e r, t w o – y e a r s – a g o
The feelings have probably been there long before she could recall.
“You’ll be performing a duet for So Nyu Shi Dae’s next album,” manager hyung had told her.
“With who?” she’d pestered on for days, though the manager had told her from day one she probably did not know him.
She finds out the following week.
It’s SHINee’s Onew.
She doesn’t know what to feel about this.
She didn’t know much about the SM’s new quintet boy band—other than their lead singer, Jonghyun was cute, and if she’d gotten to choose who she would duet with, it would be with him and his powerful vocals.
Later, Sica is glad she hadn’t gotten to chose. Because if she had, she’d never have gotten to know Onew’s sweet voice.
What a sweet voice was her initial expression of SHINee’s awkward leader.
The first day of their meeting was hasty—their schedules were mighty packed as per usual—there were no introductions, even.
She met him at the recording studio—they got to singing immediately—upon hearing his voice, she recalls, feeling like her heart was melting.
It’s one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard.
Though it did not compare to Jonghyun’s powerful vocals, Sica decided she’d preferred Onew’s voice if anyone was to sing her to sleep.
After the recording was when they were properly introduced.
He was awkward and stammered with his words, “Anyoung, Jessica noona,” insert polite ninety-degree bow here, “I’m Lee Jinki—err… SHINee’s Onew…heh.”
She finds his awkwardness cute.
She thinks it’s cute that he forgets he’s an idol now and should be introducing himself by his stage name.
She thinks his real name is cute.
However, she doesn’t let any of this phase through.
Unknowingly, by doing this, she makes new leader Onew feel incredibly terrified of her.
“Aneyoung, Onew,” she returns the ninety-degree bow, “You don’t have to call me noona,” she says sharply, “I’m sure I’m not that much older than you.”
He nods, refusing to make any sort of eye contact
“How old are you?”
“Nineteen,” he replies quietly.
“I am too. See, I’m not your noona.”
That was their first conversation.
Manager hyung then told Sica and Onew they would be meeting again a few more times to perform the song on camera—and perhaps maybe even on SNSD’s first tour—if it was their will.
The Ice Princess and the Tofu King then parted ways.
It was the rehearsal for KBS Music Bank.
It was the summer of 2009—June, to be precise.
SNSD was awarded. She was enjoying herself, teaching her Super Junior oppas the hacky-sack kick to Genie.
She was introduced to SHINee’s Jonghyun, he was immediately smitten—she was immediately aware of that. He asked for her number.
But at the moment, if there was any SHINee member she was interested in, it was Onew.
She would stare at him from afar while they were on stage.
The rehearsal was finishing; the SHINee members were preparing to leave the stage.
Next thing she knew, there was a group of people crowding around something.
The crowd cleared and she saw SHINee’s manager swing a still Onew over his back.
He’d fainted.
The audience went in an uproar of concern.
Their first live performance was on Music Bank.
It was August of that same year they met.
Their manager hyungs decided that Sica and Onew had so little to no chemistry it was best they’d not perform the song so close to each other—they’d learned this during the practice sessions. Jinki would stumble with his words upon instruction that he make eye contact with Sica.
Sica’s embarrassment and irritation was obvious.
So the performance ended up with Sica perched high on a boat, and Jinki singing on land. She remembered to smile—she always did. He, on the other hand—didn’t.
But nonetheless, they gave a great performance.
It bothered Sica that Onew never smiled while singing their song—it had grown on her until she’d secretly deemed it her favorite, as she found she could sort of relate to it… from past romances during her high school years; it saddened her that her singing partner couldn’t show any emotion while performing it with her.
Boldly, she confronted him about it.
After the performance and they ducked into backstage, Sica found Onew by the water dispenser having a drink.
“Onew-ssi?”
He looks up from his plastic cup and nearly chokes on his water at the sight of her. He chugs it down and tries to compose himself, “J-Je-Jessica-ssi! Y-yes?”
“You… I just noticed… you never seem to smile when we perform this song.”
He’s quiet, then manages a smile, “Well… we’ve only performed the song once, Jessica-ssi—“
“No—I know, I mean… during practice sessions too. You never smiled once.”
He gulps, he thinks he’s in trouble—when really, Sica, just wants an answer.
“You’re always so jumpy around me too…” she observes.
Jinki braces himself for the “you like me, don’t you?!” accusation. The question she asks is even worse:
“Do I scare you?”
He doesn’t know how to respond, because he doesn’t know the answer himself.
Does she? He becomes nervous in her presence and has the sudden urge to try and be perfect during performance around her. What is it? Intimidation…?
He never gets to answer her question, as the manager hyungs yet again, call on them.
And the two part their ways.
Onew knows they will meet again soon—there are still a few more performances coming up—and in the meantime he’ll think about the answer to Sica’s last question.
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A/N. well I hope you all enjoyed that. Give me feedback :]
All comments are appreciated <3
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