I smiled and took out my hand, shaking hers, “I can say the same about you too, Min-Ae…”

I’ll have to say—I didn’t think that the impossible can be possible. Maybe I can get along with her as “Sora”.

Ever since that day, as myself, she still treats me the cold way. But when she’s around me as “Sora”, she’s actually acting like herself for once. Every day, while I worked as her personal assistant, I steal glances at her “friends” who were happily chatting with her and began to wonder if they were really her friends in the first place. Did they come to her because she’s pretty and wanted to be popular as her? They like her because she’s not me, the nerdy wallflower?

Hey, it’s a title that had grown onto me, and to be honest, it sort of fits me, no matter how annoying it is.

There were moments when Min-Ae exchanged eye contact with me and I could see confusion, envy and wonder in her eyes whenever I’m with SHINee or around her when I’m doing her orders. It made me think of what she was truly feeling inside.

SHINee and Min weren’t really happy about it when I told them about the plan Kangdae-oppa told me, but decided to support me out in it anyways and wished me luck. Especially Key when he kissed my temples to prevent me from having headaches in my way.

Annnnddddddd cue the glaring and hissing.

It was easy as first, with me excusing and asking permission from Min-Ae to leave early so I can change into my disguise and be “Sora” to meet up with Min-Ae, but I didn’t realize it when I felt my “phone” vibrating in my back pocket and noticed that Min-Ae was calling me. I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom and answer the call there. Man, it ended up so long, and once I came back, I get bombarded with questions from Min-Ae about why I take so long in the bathroom.

It was hard, but what can I do? Blame it on Kangdae-oppa; he was the one who made this plan. But at least I’m getting along with her—sort of. She still isn’t ready to tell me about the reason why she hadn’t been to an amusement park after 18 years nor was she ready to tell me about her past.

Well, I guess I’ll have to keep trying. I don’t know how long this will last…

“Jonghyun…I understand you want to go to class with me but not like this…” I sighed as we walked down the hallway full of raging fangirls and glaring eyes as well with looks full of surprise, shock and anger. Apparently, this stubborn blond dino refused to let go of my hand. Our fingers were intertwined and he was holding my hand tightly. He had this goofy grin on his face as we walked hand-in-hand. He really has an intense love for skinship…

Jonghyun merely held me close by his side, kissing my cheek as we walked down the hallway. Great, get ready for more angry screams from the girls and disbelieving gasps from the boys, I thought with a deep sigh as my face burned red in embarrassment.

In case you were wondering, no, we are not dating.

“Mianhae~ but I had gotten jealous with Key’s way of kissing your forehead and in return—I have no shame of my skinship whatsoever—I wanted to do this with you! And it’s quite fun~! Teasing all these girls when they should know fully well that I cannot accept them~” He cooed. I narrowed my eyes at him in disbelief and annoyance.

I don’t even know my feelings for this guy anymore… That’s kind of harsh to do to the girls, Jonghyun…aish, he’s a total player.

I squeezed my hand out of his grasp and only stared at him who was pouting at me. “We’re here. Now wipe that pout off your face. Ani, Jonghyun, aniya—ai-goo, I said I have no time for this—Jonghyun~!” I moaned out when he kept tugging onto my shirt, that puppy dog eyes look plastered on his face as he continued to pout. I could see his big, brown eyes sparkling underneath his bleached blond bangs. I huffed in annoyance and stomped on my feet, pretty much pressured.

“Aish, alright, dino-boy… What do you want?” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I want a kiss… on the lips. Kiss me, Mi-ja.”

Well, that was unexpected. I stared at him in shock while he only smirked seductively at me. One step to me, I stepped back; another step forward, another step back.

“J-Jonghyun, seriously stop kidding around, w-we need to get into class…!” I was surprised to see that I had backed up against the wall, with nowhere to run. His hands slammed on the wall next to my head, making me yelp as I was now between him and the wall, being trapped by his arms. I gazed into those serious, chocolate brown eyes, my cheeks growing pink as I looked away shyly. His forehead leaned against mine, blond mixed with auburn as our hair were blending in together.

“Mi-ja…” He exhaled out as he leaned in closer to me. My heart was thudding so loud I was afraid that he might be able to hear it. He came closer; I can feel his hot breath masking over my lips.

“J-Jonghyun-oppa…ani…”

“Mi-ja… just this once…  Please…kiss me…” He whispered softly, gazing into my eyes. Ah, his lips were just an inch away… Wah~~ goodbye, my first kiss…! I closed my eyes tightly for the incoming kiss.

Just one problem: it never came.

I opened one eye to see him grinning at me, his arms no longer trapping me between him and the wall. I opened the other eye and stared at him in shock, my cheeks burning in both embarrassment and anger as I watched him laugh in amusement and ruffled my hair.

“Kekeke~ you can be so adorable when you’re nervous. And you called me ‘oppa’ too, I’m glad~!” He cheered with a smile before saying, “Annyeong~” as he disappeared behind the door.

I breathed out a tightened sigh that symbolized my anger (because he has played with me), relief (because my first kiss wasn’t stolen—I hadn’t taken care of my feelings yet!) and disappointment (because he knew I’d act like that, yet he doesn’t kiss me, aish!) My fist was shaking madly before I punched the wall next to the door. I was too angry to notice the pain throbbing in my knuckles.

“Aish, Jonghyun-oppa, you are such a short dino brat!” I screamed out and I heard him yell out from the other side of the door along with Key laughing (or cackling?) like a crazy monkey.

“Yah, I aren’t short nor am I a dino or a brat, you hear me!?”

Okay, let us skip to the end of university. We had classes, I suffered the bullying and the glaring from the girls; I had fun with SHINee and Min and the student council, suffered again from working as Min’s personal assistant, blah blah-blah. I sighed as I packed away my last books into my bag. I felt my phone vibrate and I let out a huff. Must be Min-Ae texting me—and by me, I meant, “Sora.” I decided to go into the bathroom to go and answer the text. I picked up my bag, slinging it over my shoulder and made my way to the female bathroom, not really sensing the dark aura nor the danger it had when I entered. I stood at the far end of the bathroom, into a corner as I stared at myself in the mirror. I better answer back to the text; it could be her wanting to meet up with “Sora”…

I was about to stick my hand into my pocket until I heard a voice, “Well, well, well. Look what we have here~”

Well, .

I turned to see that same girl I had bumped into when I was late for university: Hwang Su-Min, if I could remember properly. One of the snobbiest and popular queenka in the world (no, the university, duh) and is practically a as she sleeps with every boy she could find attractive. I think I know what her next target is: SHINee themselves.

And I think she wants to inherit their popularity and makes it hers. I don’t know if it’s just the popularity she wants to make it hers, but I do know that it’s rather the fact that she wants SHINee for herself. Ick, even Min-Ae didn’t like her for that. I heard her mumbling stuffs like, ‘She’s too greedy and picky,’ or ‘She isn’t the queen of anything but her stupid fanclub.’ …And many others.

I cursed myself for putting myself into a corner when I saw that she had brought two girls behind her, both looked like twins, and both mirrored the same smirk. “W-What do you want?” I asked shyly, going into wallflower mode as I desperately do not want to be involved in this. She stepped closer to me and what I can only do is push myself against the wall when her face was dangerously close to me, her hand gripping onto my shirt collar.

“, I’ll tell you what I want—I want you to keep out of SHINee’s sight, especially Jonghyun-oppa. I saw how he acted around you and it makes me sick that it’s you they are talking to!” She hissed and I winced, feeling her nails piercing my skin with my shirt. “You are just nobody. They are somebodies. I bet they just pity you because you look lonely. Soon, they’ll leave you alone and you’ll be back in the lonely cycle all over again.” She sneered, the two girls chuckling alongside with her.

I said nothing; I just stayed quiet taking in everything. I grunted when she pushed me to the ground. I screamed in pain when she kicked me in the stomach.

“Yah, get up nerd! I am not done with you yet!” Su-Min cried out as she nudged my head with her foot, that stinking high heel of hers.

One of the girls sneered, “How worthless. I don’t think SHINee deserve to be around you. I bet you are a in disguise, waiting to catch them at the right and take them away from us. How evil of you, !”

Okay, that did it.

I glared at them deadly and did a quick dragon sweep, hearing Su-Min yelp when she was then knocked off her feet. I stood up, brushing my shoulders as I watched the duo catch the fallen girl who eyed me in shock. “You call me a when you are the one who has been sleeping and ing around with a lot of boys? Look at you! You are nothing but a ball of filth that should be a disgrace to your own family! What happened: you had no hope of finding true love so you decided to play with the boys’ feelings?! No ing way are you taking my SHINee-oppas’ purity or their popularity! Why?—because I will be the one protecting them from danger. I will be the one encouraging them and not you, you little !”

I panted from exhaustion, my words paralyzing them for a moment, but it wasn’t until Su-Min screamed, “Get her!” and the twins lashed out at me. I tried to dodge the kick and the incoming fists from the twins, and we had gotten into a heated fight, with me trying to win and throwing the girls over my back (who surprisingly “sprung back to life” like, the hell!?) but eventually I was on the ground, curling into a ball of pain when they all stepped on me, hitting me with a metal pole (which I had no idea how they got it), causing my skin to be bruised.

The mirror glass was broken because apparently, Su-Min had grabbed my head and slammed it into the glass, thus having left side of my face to bleed.

I felt so tired and weak. I heard the door slam open and a female voice screaming, “Yah! The are you doing to her, you es!?” and a heck load of thuds and crashing.

Was it Min? No, it can’t be, she must at home already and there’s no way SHINee could possibly be here when they should be at MBC for rehearsal.

I looked up slowly, seeing the girls then knocked out on the bathroom floor. I touched my face, I hissed at the burn when my fingers slightly brushed my bleeding temples. I’m really surprised with my glasses right now; they hadn’t been broken at all. (A/N: OMG, Magic glasses! Naw no, they are just really good at being unbreakable.)

“Mi-ja…! Are you okay?” That familiar voice was filled with concern and worry. I groaned and sat up, holding myself up with my hand on the floor, and the other clutching onto my bleeding temple to prevent getting blood loss. I shook my head slightly to get rid of the dizziness and looked at the person who was speaking to me.

My eyes widen when I saw who it was that was being so concerned with me.

“M-Min-Ae…?” I whispered out in shock.

What in the world is going on?