Look, new poster and an update! Man, I'm sorry for that, really. Living without wifi is a . > n > ;;

“…Are we still friends, Key?”

“Don’t apologize; I knew you didn’t like me.”

“Plus, I know you like one of us.”

I couldn’t see the glaring eyes that stood by the open doorway of the studio.

Two weeks had passed now; just three more to go.

I sighed, twisting my rings all in nervousness as I sat in the park. I then outstretched my left hand, all of the accessories sparkling underneath the sun, but only one caught my attention.

The rainbow ring…

How I got it is blurry to me—how come I don’t remember who gave it to me? I remember finding this ring when I was reorganizing my things at age 10. My mom told me that a group of boys came and gave it to me before I left Korea, but never knew who they were.

I must have gotten their names somehow…

I shook my head, not wanting to pressure myself with the memory loss of the past. What matters is the Talent Showdown.

Min-Ae, Min and the rest of the girls had acknowledged me and did not bother to anger me again. Min-Ae still give out harsh words during our dancing practice, but not as harsh as they should be. I rolled my eyes in disbelief—it was unbelievable for them to see that even a nice person has a bad side.

We are improving well, with me being able to properly do the hips (all thanks to Key) and show off a y, chic side that none would have seen before. It shocked the group, but they pushed it aside. Well, the girls pushed it aside. Only Min-Ae and Min couldn’t let it go.

I hummed Taeyeon’s and Jessica’s parts of ‹I got a Boy› as we had then arranged our singing parts. Min-Ae had allowed to me to sing, which brought a huge surprise for me. I still accepted it despite my mind going into shock. Even Min was shocked to see that she even let me do it.

But even as we do dance practices, I’m still Min-Ae’s personal assistant. It’s only three more weeks until two months is up and the contract is finally over. During my travels (well our, since it’s just me carrying the stuff and Min-Ae doing completely nothing), when I pretend to look away, I always catch Min-Ae staring at the rainbow quartz that is finely cut.

I can see that she likes it – the longing in her eyes says it all. She would stare at it for a bit more before she calls me out and goes home. Even if she had money, she couldn’t buy it. It was just too much.

Plus, appa would be mad…

I still haven’t figured out Min-Ae’s past and what made her into this type of person, but I’m willing to wait. If it’s something so tragic to her, I shouldn’t push it. I’d understand the situation – it is not something that you can speak of so freely.

…I yet have to prepare for my performance. I know… I’m frustrated at myself too. What should I do for my performance?

I groaned and fell back onto the green grass, the blades tickling my neck as my red-brown hair laid sprawled against the ground. I tapped my feet, my red converses making soft thumping vibrations.

“I’m doomed,” I simply said. Why did I sign my name without having second thoughts? Why did I participate without putting too much thought into it? I shouldn’t have done it at all.

But this determination of wanting to win – the feeling of wanting to prove that I’m more than just a nerdy wallflower was just overpowering that I just… signed up.

Thus having Hwang Su-Min as my next biggest problem…

Her being the judge alongside SHINee is worse than me being forced to join Min-Ae’s performance and delaying my time to prepare for mine.

SHINee was having problems with her, as usual. I grimaced, my glasses moving as I scrunched up my nose, remembering the moment when Taemin complained to me last week that the was being disgustingly sweet to the maknae and he had to sustain himself when he could feel her sharp nails when she was rubbing her hand against his thigh.

That woman… she makes me cold to the core. My soul is just burning and my breath is heating up just at the thought of Su-Min ing around with the innocent Taemin.

Love isn’t a game—it is not something to be played with.

…Love.

I get up into a sitting position and looked around, seeing adults and children from afar.

Everyone has their own stories: happy stories, depressing stories; livid and dull; fluff and angst. Most of them would be inspired by a fantasy—like Cinderella or Snow White. So what’s mine then? I looked at the people at the park, the couples hand in hand; smiling and laughing, like they don’t have a care in the world. I knew that most of them will have their tragic times and suicidal moments, but their ending always turns out to be happy. If it were to be like that, what would be my ending then? What is love? What kind of story would it turn out to be?

I looked at my hands and stared at it. I can feel the familiar warmth that I cannot put my mind off from.

Holding hands… touching… kissing… who were the people that did these with me?

That’s right: SHINee.

I looked up at the sky and blinked, staring at the sky-blue colour. How did they come to me is an entirely different question. I don’t know the answer myself. They just…appeared to me out of the blue, wanting to be friends with me.

If they knew that I was new the first time I came here, they could have done so earlier. I chuckled and hit myself on the head. I forgot; they are still idols. Humans regardless, but still idols – of course, they probably never had time to introduce themselves to me.

It’s strange. We first started off as strangers, but by just looking at them at first glance, I feel deeply connected to them all of a sudden. I don’t know why, but I just do.

They are angels. Five shining angels that lit my dark world of loneliness… I never thought it would happen, but they are slowly bringing me out of the wallflower term and turning me into something… new. Like… metamorphosis? Turning into a butterfly? Hmm… something a bit like that feeling.

All the warmth they have given me; all the comfort they calmed me down with; all the moments that we had taken a good laugh out of; all of these were unforgettable. Yet they feel so familiar around me. They all do. Even their names sounded familiar!

It was like that day when a broken memory came to me during the bad morning commotion—I thought back on this a lot—and I thought that I was regaining memory of the group of boys who gave me the ring, but it was only part of it. I feel like that there’s so much left that I have to find out – and if SHINee were the reason behind my forgotten memories of my past…why? Why would they keep it from me? Just what are their secrets that they are hiding from me? Why is everyone hiding from me? Even my own father is reluctant to tell me something that he was unable to tell.

I furrowed my eyebrows, pouting slightly. It’s just not fair, I thought, it’s not fair that everyone gets to have secrets and not share them with me. I stood up, brushing off my blue skinny jeans and plain white buttoned up blouse.

Well, no matter…! I’m going to find them and get them all out! Even if it’s the last thing I’ll do! I smiled at the appearance of the five-years-old me grinning up at me before running off into the park, the image fading away.

I tucked in a strand of loose hair behind my ear as the wind softly brushed against me. Am I living in a fairytale? I’m just an ordinary girl with talents and a life so complicated that it makes my brain hurts. If I were to be a character, who would I be? What type of life am I leading? What’s my story?

I never knew love nor do I want to fall in love, but I’m curious. The confession from Key still hasn’t gotten out of my mind. I thought back to the unanswered question I made up myself when I first learnt about SHINee:

But… if I were to like SHINee, who is my bias then…?

I bit my bottom lip, the flesh growing red as Key’s words came next:

“I know you like one of us … But I don’t know who you like, but whomever that is, I’ll support both of you, even if it’s my band members.”

Who, who, who – the ‘who’ keeps repeating in my head so much that it’s suffocating me, cutting off my breath. It’s like fate hurrying me to choose and kiss the boy I like. I couldn’t possibly choose! My feelings for each individual were just too much. My racing thoughts for Key had ended, but the rest hadn’t. Taemin, Onew, Minho, Jonghyun; Taemin, Onew, Minho, Jonghyun – their names were repeating in my head and I just want to cry, to curse them for making me feel this way. I couldn’t identify my complete feelings for them anymore with the way they act around me; especially when Jonghyun and Minho almost gave kissed me and Onew and Taemin did it on one part of my face with an affectionate side.

Five shining princes… one normal princess… trapped in an inescapable kingdom.

The princess needs to choose one door… and be with the prince that she had chosen.

However, it was a tough decision: choosing one of five means losing four and keeping one. It means breaking up the five’s friendship when the princess choses one of the five princes’ door.

She’s trapped in the kingdom – she mustn’t escape from the fate that set her up.

Shaking my head, I decided to push everything to the back of my mind. It was just too much to think – perhaps at a better time when I have fewer things in my hands, I’ll able to think more thoroughly.

“Now, what should I do…?” Then I remembered, I promised Key that maybe sometime today or tomorrow, if he was free, we’d go shopping together. I truly feel bad for rejecting his confession, but I wanted to make him feel better by going out on a ‘date’. Though it’s not a real date, at least it’s just us two together.

I whipped out my phone from my pocket and sent him a text:

To: {♛ Diva!-Key
From: Mi-ja ★
Yahhhhhhhhh~ I hope you’re not sleeping!
Because I’m going to take you out shopping!
I promised you, remember? I hope you do…
And remember back at the café, you asked if I’ll
be your shopping buddy? Well~ wish granted!
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ (⌒▽⌒) meet me at the mall in Gangnam,
of course you’d know where it is; we’ve been there before!
Don’t be late, okay？！(´ ▽ `) ♥♥♥

I sent the text with a content feeling, a warm smile on my face as I put the phone in my pocket. I grabbed my bag and slung over my shoulder. Why do I have this bubbly feeling in my chest? I feel like bursting!

…No matter, I need to grab a bus to Gangnam.

I felt my Samsung phone vibrate with its ringing tone and I smiled, not needing to look to see that he had confirmed. He couldn’t possibly refuse an offer like this – especially when it comes to shopping.

With a light heart, I exited the park and went to find a nearby bus stop.

From: {♛ Diva!-Key
To: Mi-ja ★
I’m in, Mi-baby~!! (￣^￣) ゞ
See you in Gangnam! ㅋㅋㅋ