My phone stayed silent for a few weeks after we hung out with BAP at the arcade. I concentrated more on my class, resulting in my professor to actually begin to like me. This I was thankful for. What I was not, however, was the fact that I couldn’t even touch that mask I’d been given without feeling sad. I missed him.

                “Miss Keating,” my Professor called out to me after class. I stopped at the doorway and went back to his desk. He was smiling, holding up a sheet of paper. “I want you to take a look at this.”

                Reading it over my eyes widened. “A new internship offer? At TS Entertainment?”

                “They said anyone of my complete recommendation should be the first to apply and be accepted,” he explained. “I can’t think of anyone who has been working as hard as you in this class. You have my full recommendation.”

                I bowed a full ninety degrees and kept a straight face. “Thank you so much, Professor. I will not let you down.”

                “Then be sure to turn in your application to TS as soon as possible. And be sure not to draw anything that doesn’t look like a reference on your resume,” he laughed. I nodded and rushed off to find Lacey. Naturally she was in the dance studio, with Warrior blasted all the way up. Halfway through the choreography I jumped in, causing her to grin widely. We finished the dance with a loud cheer and I watched as she turned off the music.

                “Hey dear.” She swung an arm around me and pulled me into a side hug. “You’re early! And you look happy- did Zelo text?”

                My heart dropped for a moment and I shook my head, still smiling anyways. “No. But I got my first internship offering…guess where?”

                “SM?” she tried. Good guess for her, too- they owned SHINee and Super Junior, and I’d be equally excited.

                “Better yet- TS.”

                “TS?!” she screamed. I covered my ears and laughed.

                “Yeah, TS. I’ll be working under one of the main managers of a band. I’m unsure of whether it’ll be Secret or B.A.P.,” I said. She was still jumping around, though, singing.

                “Your first internship~! I’m so excited for you!” Her phone suddenly rang loudly and she rushed over to pick up. “Hello? Oh…Moontos!” My jaw dropped. “Yeah, we’re at SATA- why is that? Oh. Sure! Studio 3, near one of the main elevators. You’ll see it! Alright, annyeong!”

                She hung up the phone. “Lacey, what..?” I asked.

                “Jongup’s coming over to help me with my choreography!” she grinned. I looked down and bit my lip.  

                “That’s great Lace- I’m gonna head home, alright?”

                “Jenna, wai-“ she’d started, but I was already out the door. Gripping my strap of my backpack I checked my phone again. 0 text messages. 0 calls. It’d been like this for a while. Two weeks was a long time to not hear from someone. I didn’t want to tell Lacey that I was jealous, but I was. So I headed out the main doors of SATA when suddenly an arm went around my waist and another around my mouth. I was dragged backwards into the building. The arms were surprinsgly strong. As soon as they’d released me I turned quickly on my heel, prepared to punch the person directly in the face when I suddenly identified my kidnapper.

                “Yongguk,” I said with surprise. His lips pulled up in a grin.

                “Who were you expecting, an attacker? For you?” he laughed. I rolled my eyes.

                “It’s nice to see you again too, grump. You know, most normal people just ask nicely if someone wants to go with them and don’t drag them off.”

                “You looked pissed off,” he said. “You wouldn’t have said yes.”

                “Who says?” I started towards the door again when he stepped in front of me with a grin.

                “Told you! Now, come on back to the studio. Jongup isn’t the only one who showed up.” I allowed him to grab my hand and take me back to the studio.

                “Hey but wait- I ‘m still in my uniform. Can’t I at least go change?” I asked him mid-step. He turned quickly and surveyed my outfit.

                “What’s wrong with it?”

                I huffed out a long breath of air. “It’s a uniform, stupid. It’s ugly.”

                “Zelo would disagree,” he pointed out, and my eyes widened.

                “Zelo?”

                “Yeah. Now, hurry up.” Once again he dragged me to the room and opened the door. All of B.A.P. were there dancing with Lacey to Warrior now, laughing at missteps. As soon as I’d walked in the room Zelo’s eyes caught mine and instantly went down to where Yongguk’s hand and mine were still joined. I released it immediately and, mid dance, he came over to us with determination in his eyes.

                “Hyung, why were you holding my noona’s hand?” he asked.

                Yongguk shrugged. “She wouldn’t have come otherwise. She was angry.”

                “Angry? Why?” His gaze had softened as he turned to me. I rubbed the back of my neck.

                “I wasn’t angry,” I tried, then shot Yongguk a look. He rolled his eyes and left to join Youngjae and Daehyun, who had taken a water break. I sat on the floor beside a mirror and Zelo sat beside me, not touching me. “I’m not angry.”

                “You’re not happy,” he pointed out.

                I played with the edge of my skirt. “I shouldn’t be like this, because it’s dumb. But I felt hurt that you didn’t bother to text me at all the past few weeks. I know you’re busy, but I worry easily…”

                “You were worried about me?” I nodded and bit my lip. Shock raced through me as he put his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. “You don’t ever have to worry about me, Jenna! We had a fan signing tour. I couldn’t text because we’re not allowed to have cell phones, so we have to keep it a secret from Manager-sunbae. I would have if he wasn’t watching us like a hawk, I promise!”

                I sighed. “I feel like an idiot now.”

                “Never.” He put his head on top of mine and I felt the lightest pressure against it. His lips? “And where is the mask? You said you’d wear it!”

                “Actually, what I said was you didn’t have to give it to me….” I laughed. “It’s in my room. I’m afraid to wear it, because I might ruin it.”

                “Oh!” Suddenly he released me and stood quickly, running over to a few bags I hadn’t seen before. Retreving something out of it he ran back over to me and suddenly got very, very close to my face. He slid something around my neck and closed the back of it shut with a loud snap. I was too distracted to know what it was, though, as his dark brown eyes were so close to my own. His lips were pulled up in a smile, and I studied them carefully. Had they always been that light, beautiful shade of pink? He leaned forward and kissed the tip of my nose before backing off to study me carefully. “Perfect! You can keep it!”

                I glanced over to one of the mirror and gasped in surprise. “This is the mask from Never Give Up!”

                “You know that?” he said in surprise.

                “It’s my favorite MV…the little eye roll you do….it’s my favorite,” I continued without thinking, too distracted by the orange skeleton mask around my neck. “I watch it almost everyday!”

                “You do?”

                “I do!” I grinned in agreement and looked up at him. My jaw dropped. “Did I say all that out loud?”

                Zelo’s face lit a bright red, to my astonishment. “The little…eye roll?”

                “Forget it, please!” I begged instantly. “And take back your mask- it’s important to you, isn’t it-“ As soon as my hands reached around to take it off his went over mine and stopped me.

                “Jenna, keep it. It’s hard for you to accept things from me, and I don’t know why,” he whined. “Don’t you like it?”

                I blushed. “Of course I like it. I have nothing to give you in return though.”

                “All I need from you is a smile. Deal?” He held his hand out, as if I were going to shake it. “Isn’t this the American thing to do? Shake hands, for a deal?”

                I couldn’t help it- I laughed at him. “Just come here, Zelo.” I outstretched my arms and pulled him in, burying my face in his neck. “Thank you for just being who you are. The best gift you can give to me is being here.”

                “And the mask?” he asked. I bit back a grin and inhaled deeply; he had a sharp, musky scent that was addictive.

---*----*----*

                Partway through the dance practice I heard a large amount of noise outside of the door. Pausing in my effort to learn the Warrior choreography I went over to the door, peering just outside the crack. My heart skipped a few beats as I recognized the approaching group of boys. I wheeled around and waved my hands.

                “STOP THE MUSIC!” I shouted. Lacey jumped forward and stopped her iPod. “Is this room rented out?

                She nodded. “Yeah, at six- is it six? I was supposed to be out of here before that…the people that practice after me like their privacy….”

                “I can imagine why!” I ran forward and started grabbing bags, tossing them over my shoulder.

                “Jenna, what’s going on?” Daehyun asked, and both he and Himchan went over to the door, peeking out. “Whoa, that’s-“

                “-exactly!” I said, and looked at Zelo, who looked adorably confused. “Would you grab a few bags please, Zelo?” He nodded quickly and grabbed the last of them.

                “Why are you so nervous?” he asked.

                I gulped. “Let’s just say that it’s my second choice about to walk through those doors.”

                “I don’t-“ he’d began when the doors opened, laughter pouring in. I looked up in horror to see the entire group of SHINee standing there, staring at us. I walked forward immediately and bowed.

                “We promise we didn’t mean to disturb your practice time; we’re on our way out, and-“

                “-it’s fine,” laughed a very, very familiar voice. “Really. Aren’t you guys B.A.P.?”

                Yongguk stepped forward and nodded. “It’s nice to see you all. We really were on our way out.”

                “Hey, maybe dancing would be fun in a larger group- why don’t you guys stay for a while?” Minho asked with a grin. “Swap dances with us and stuff!”

                “Really?” Jongup looked thrilled. “That’d be awesome!” He turned to Lacey, whose face was a bright red. “Can we still borrow your iPod, Lace?” She nodded wordlessly and handed him the device, looking at me. We both sat at the edge of the studio and watched as the boys all laughed and danced. The sight itself was enough to send us both into fangirl shock.

                “Am I seeing this right? Or am I dreaming again?” I asked her, watching Taemin joke with Zelo. “Please tell me I’m dreaming.”

                “No, I’m seeing it too.” Her eyes looked to Onew and Jongup. “Should we leave? I think this is our cue to leave.”

                I stood and grabbed her hand to help her up. “If we don’t leave soon, my heart’s gonna explode all over the place. Besides, I have to finish that application fast.”

                “Oh right,” she smiled. “Well then…let’s sneak out while they’re all busy.” Grabbing our bags quietly we snuck out of the doors. I snuck one last look at Taemin and Zelo before finally closing them. I sighed and followed Lacey down the long, dark hallway.

                “What time is it?” I asked. She opened her phone.

                “It’s-whoa, it’s ten at night. We’d better get home quick.”

                “Yeah.” Suddenly a hand caught mine and turned me around fast. My eyes were locked inches from none other than my second bias ever- Lee Taemin. His lips were pulled up in a smile.

                “Where are you going?” he asked. “Don’t want to dance with us?”

                I gulped. “Uhm, no…that’s not it….”

                “Then come back!” He grinned widely and began to tug me back to the room. “We could use a few cute girls to dance with~-“

                “-HEY!” yelled a voice. I looked over to see Zelo running up to us. “Hands OFF my noona!” He ran between our hands and grabbed mine, pulling me to him. “As much as I respect you, sunbae, I can’t give you Jenna. She’s mine.”

                Taemin thought about this for a minute, then smiled. “Alright. But if I look once in a while, don’t take it too harshly.” To my surprise he gave me a wink and ran back to the studio. I looked down to Zelo’s hand, still gripped around mine, and blushed.

                “Zelo, you can let go….and what do you mean, I’m yours?” I asked. His hand was relentless though, and I looked up into his eyes to see him watching Taemin leave. Once he was finally out of our eyesight he sighed.

                “Good thing Lacey warned me,” he breathed, then turned to me.

                “Lacey warned you…?’

                He bit his lip. “When we were at the arcade I asked if I had any competition for you. Lacey said the only person she could think of was Taemin…and then he had to show up like that!”

                “LACEY~!” I yelled. My best friend popped her head around the corner. Had she been hiding and listening the whole time? I was going to kill her later.

                “Does this mean we’re going to back to the studio?” she asked innocently, and I shook my head quickly. “Aww.”

                “I need to study. So do you, dummie.” I hit the top of her head lightly and turned to Zelo. “And you…..I have questions for you.”

                The maknae bit his lip. “Difficult questions?”

                “First of all, you can’t tell every guy I’m yours!” I grinned. “But who says I would compare you and Taemin?”

                “Because he’s your number two bias,” Lacey interjected suddenly. “And Zelo’s your number one. So in fact, you switch the two a lot- I mean, you talk a lot about both of them, so-“

                I clamped a hand over instantly as my face lit red. “LACEY!”

                “Wha?” she said around my hand.