It’s the next day and I’m completely exhausted since I couldn’t sleep after seeing the article. I didn’t read the contents of it; just the title because I know there are pictures of them together and probably things about them that will just hurt me. Good thing is that my schedule doesn’t start early today so I’m in no rush to head out. I pick my clothes out for today and then check myself in the mirror before exiting my room. I do a big sigh just spacing out in the mirror, ‘I already knew about Minho and Krystal, but since it wasn’t confirmed by anyone before, I was hoping that it was a misunderstanding.’ With that thought, I head to the living room, but as soon as I leave my room, I hear loud voices. SHINee has today off and they’re usually loud in the morning, but this is different than any other day. Instead of walking into the living room, I decide to listen in on what the big commotion is about, but I already have an idea what it’s about.

“Yah! Hyung! Is this article true!? Are you really dating Krystal-noona!?” I hear Taemin’s voice first. ‘I guess Taemin now knows, but he doesn’t know that I already knew about it.’

“Ne, it’s true.” I hear Minho agree nonchalantly.

“How come we’re finding out about this now!?” I finally hear Key joining the conversation going into mother mode.

“We were supposed to lie low and not tell anyone about us until later. Someone must have found out about us.”

“Still! You could have told us about all this, instead of keeping us in the dark!” Jonghyun’s voice now makes an appearance. I didn’t hear Minho speak again probably feeling a little guilty for not telling them.

“You know you can trust us to keep a secret.” Onew speaks up, but his voice sounds muffled. ‘What? Wait…don’t tell me he’s…eating!? Onew is actually eating at a time like this!?’ I now peek from behind the wall I’m up against to see it my assumption is right and…I am. I see everyone standing around Minho while Minho is sitting on the couch. Onew though, is sitting at the table his attention towards the group, but holding a bowl of food eating it. ‘Onew, the woman that marries you, will never leave the kitchen.’ I chuckle to myself with that last thought and I shouldn’t have chuckled just now because my cover is blown.

“Oh! Kate-ah, you’re up.” I see Jonghyun look towards me while saying this and it then makes everyone else turn their heads towards me. I quickly make it look like I wasn’t snooping by standing straight up pretending like I just walked in.

“Ne, I don’t have today off, just a late start in my schedule.” I reply to them awkwardly.

“I guess you heard us since we weren’t exactly trying to be quiet. So, you know what’s going on?” Key now speaks.

“…Ne.” It’s the only thing I can say to his question. I now look at everyone who still has their focus on me. I look over to Taemin’s face which clearly reads concern and worry, most likely towards me. ‘Most likely he’ll want to talk to me about it.’ I then take a quick glance at Minho who is still sitting on the couch. His attention is on me just like the rest and he has no expression on his face at the moment where I can try to figure out what he’s thinking. I can then feel my heart start to sink from just looking at him and thinking about the day I saw him together with Krystal.

With that, I start to head for the door in a hurry, not wanting to stay any longer, “Anyway, I better get going before Seunghye-sshi scolds me for being late.”

“Aren’t you going to have breakfast?” Key asks me in his mother mode.

“I’ll get something to eat when I’m there. Let Onew have my breakfast.” I see Onew brighten up and immediately reach for my plate with no hesitation with a quick “Gamsahabnida” towards me. “Jal isseo!”

Dance practice isn’t going well for me today. I’m messing up a routine that I’ve worked on for a while and I know, but my mind is somewhere else. I keep on spacing out about Minho, Krystal, and the article that confirms it. ‘Ugh! Focus Kate! This isn’t the worst thing ever! It’s just a guy, and I should be happy for Minho.’ My dance instructor is frustrated from my many mistakes and tells me to take a five minute break. Like clockwork, in comes my always emotionless manager, Seunghye. She goes to talk to my instructor and then walks over to me.

“Kate-ah, you need to focus more and not have your mind wandering on other things.” She says already starting to scold me.

“Maybe it would help if I knew when I was going to debut. Has the head set an official date yet?”

“Anio.” She says to me with a straight face. I start feeling frustrated since I still haven’t heard when I’m debuting when I’ve been practicing and preparing non-stop.

“I’m going to go ask him myself.”

I start walking towards the door, but I stop suddenly when Seunghye says, “Well, he won’t tell you since I’m the one who determines when you will be debuting.”

“Mwoaeyo?” I ask turning back around to face her.

“The head gave me the authority of when you will debut or…if you will actually debut. You said no to the plastic surgery and already caused the debut to be pushed back. Based on what I have been observing, I’m not seeing you work hard enough or the potential in you at all.” I see Seunghye does her first actual expression, a smirk, “So, now that you know this information, maybe you’ll be more serious and work harder. Annyeonghigaesaeyo.” She now turns and exits the room leaving me standing there with a stunned expression. ‘Seunghye…has my debut in her hands!? How could the head do that!? …I have to work harder. Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse today. Now I wish I learned curse words in Korean!’ My break is over and now nothing is distracting me and I stay a lot later than what it says on my schedule. Everyone is in bed and so I do the same. I’m happy that I didn’t have to talk about Minho and Krystal with anyone. ‘Today is just not my day.’

It’s been a few days now and I haven’t seen any of the guys at all, just brief moments. Every day, I’ve been waking up really early and staying really late to practice in the SM building. I’ve been working hard each day so I can get better and nothing else has entered my mind, just practice. Today I have a day off and SHINee does too, but I plan on heading to the building to practice some more. I hear a knock on my door right when I’m about to head out. I answer it and see Jonghyun at the door way. He enters my room closing the door behind him.

“Kate-ah, I was wondering, since you enjoyed your first date with me…maybe we can go out on another date. We haven’t really hung out after that so I thought it would be nice if we did something today.” He says to me slightly nervous while looking down and rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Mianhaeyo Jonghyun-oppa. I’m going to the SM building to go and practice.” I tell him apologetically.

He now looks up at me in disbelief and concern, “Yah! You’ve been at the building non-stop these past couple of days. We have these days off to relax after working so hard.”

“I know, but I would like to go a practice a little more. Mianhaeyo, we’ll go out some other time, ne?” I walk past him out my room after I say that and leave the dorm while seeing all the other guys have confused looks on their faces. I stay late once again feeling successful of my practice today. Tomorrow will be the same as today and probably the days that follow.

It’s the next day and I’m dancing to a song I’ve been working on. After I finish, I get praise from my instructor on how much I’ve improved which makes me feel good. My instructor lets me take a ten minute break since she has to make a phone call. I exit the dance room and decide to walk a little around the halls. In my case, limp since my muscles have been completely sore and painful, but I push through it. I end up walking to one of the lounges in the building and see no one is here. ‘I’ll just sit here for a while.’ After plopping myself on the couch, I take a sip of water from my bottle, then lay my head back closing my eyes.

“Kate-noona?” I quickly open my eyes and raise my head to see that it’s Taemin.

“Taemin-ah? What are you doing here?”

“Me and the rest are taking a short break. What about you?” He replies while walking over and sitting next to me.

“Ah, I see. I’m taking a quick break too.” We stay in silence for a minute just enjoying the quiet since we live with guys who are never quiet. ‘Please don’t bring up the topic. Most likely he won’t since we’re in a public place. Still…I hope he doesn’t.’

It’s quickly broken when Taemin starts to talk again, “Kate-ah.”

“Mm?” My eyes are closed with my head leaning back.

“I think…you’re pushing yourself too much.” I hear the worry tone in his face and I look over to him to see his face matching his voice.

“Taemin-ah, I’m fine.” I give him a reassuring smile.

“Noona, no you’re not!” He shouts while standing up over me. I’m taken aback by how he’s acting since I never saw him like this before. I stand up with a little bit of effort since my muscles ache, but I don’t let Taemin see me wince from the pain.

“Seriously, I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself.” I look him in the eye and say to him calmly, but it doesn’t help.

“You’re not fine! I can see how tired you are, how you’re in pain, and that you haven’t taken a day off! We’re all worried about you and your health!”

I now start to get frustrated myself, “I know what I’m doing Taemin-ah! I don’t need you or anyone else to tell me what to do!”

“Ever since the article came out about Minho-hyung dating Krystal-noona, you’ve been practicing non-stop hardly seeing us! I think!...” Taemin cools down a little stopping himself from continuing.

“Mwoaeyo, Taemin-ah!? Say it!”

I refuel Taemin’s anger and he shouts, “I think you’re scared to face the problem! You’re avoiding the article, us, and hyung by practicing long hours!”

I’m so mad that I can’t even think clearly, “You’re wrong!”

I push past Taemin leaving him by himself. I exit the building too angry to go back to practicing, so I head to the dorm. No one is there since they’re back at the SM building. I start to pace back and forth in the living room still heated from the argument. ‘Taemin is wrong! I’m not avoiding anything! Yes, the whole thing with Minho upsets me and I don’t want to see him, doesn’t mean I would go so far as to…avoid him by staying at…the building.’ I stop pacing and stand in the middle of the living room and sigh from frustration. ‘Gah! Maybe Taemin is right…but it’s not the only reason for me practicing so hard! I have Seunghye on my case! ...but that doesn’t mean I have to practice so long. Ugh!’ I start walking towards my room, but then I almost trip over something. I look down to see a basketball on the floor.

“I need some fresh air.” I pick the basketball up and head out again. I walk over to the park and go to the part where they have hoops. While dribbling and shooting, I start to feel bad about the fight Taemin and I had. ‘I really shouldn’t have yelled at him, he’s only worried about me. I never saw Taemin get angry…it’s a little bit frightening. I now know to not get him mad again ha!’ I dribble and shoot for about an hour just going over my thoughts. Getting my arms into the right position, I get ready to shoot the basketball once again into the hoop, but when I do, it stops halfway from a hand that grabs it. I follow the hand down to the arm, down to the person and see, ‘Minho!?’

“So…you’re the one who snatched my ball.” He starts dribbling while talking to me.

“Oh, mianhaeyo. I saw it on the floor and decided to shoot some baskets.” I reply nervously looking down. ‘Great, it’s like the first day I met him all over again with me being super shy.’

“Gwenchana.”

“Um, what are you doing here anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be with everyone back at the building?”

“I finished early and was going to do some basketball, until I saw someone take it.”

“Mianhaeyo.” I apologize once again.

There’s an awkward silence but Minho quickly fills it by asking, “Would you like to play a game?”

I look up at Minho to see him holding the ball up and I say, “Sure…but don’t go easy on me just because I’m a girl.” We start to play a one-on-one game of basketball. Of course I knew Minho is great at any sport, but I’m pretty good at basketball despite my height. He scores a few points and I score a few points. With each passing point, I feel a lot better and have fun with Minho who looks like he’s enjoying it too. It’s the last game to decide who the winner is.

“Should we put a wager on this last game?” Minho asks slightly out of breath with a smirk.

“Hmm…you’re on! What’ll the wager be?”

“If I win, you have to tell me what’s wrong and if you win, you can keep quiet for however long you want.” I’m surprised to hear the wager. ‘So he knows I’m upset.’

“Fine.” I just say. ‘I better win.’

“It’s your ball.” I take the ball he tosses at me and we begin the game. I’m determined to win and I’m about to win. I go towards the basket and take the shot, but sadly my muscles gave in. Minho takes the opportunity to grab the ball and shoot the basket making him the winner. I collapse onto the concrete floor from exhaustion and sit down to catch my breath. Once Minho gets his ball he joins sitting right next to me. I sit hugging my knees while Minho has his right arm resting on his bent right leg and his left leg is stretched out with his left arm supporting him from the back.

His head turns towards me and I hear him say, “That was a great game. You’re really good, Kate-ah.”

I look down at the concrete to hide my blush, “Gamsahabnida.” There’s another long pause between us and I take this as my chance to talk to him about the situation. “So, Minho-oppa…how long have you been together?”

He looks up to the sky thinking about his answer and then says to me, “Not long really, we’re new. It’s maybe been about two weeks.” ‘Around the time I moved in with him.’

“Ah, I see…you guys look cute together.” It takes every ounce of me to say it without sounding hurt.

“Gamsahabnida. Anyway, I won so now you have to tell me what’s wrong.” Minho says quickly changing the subject. ‘Gr, I hoped he would’ve forgotten.’

I look back down at the ground, taking a big sigh before saying, “Taemin-ah and I had a fight.”

“What did you two fight about?”

I hesitate a little, “He was concerned about me with all the practicing I’ve done saying it’s too much, but me being a pabo, I disagreed.” Minho is looking at me; I can feel his stare on me while listening intently. I wait for his response and look over to see him looking straight thinking before turning his head toward me making eye contact.

“Well, I know Taemin-ah…and he doesn’t stay mad for long. I think you two will be fine once you two apologize for yelling at each other.” He gives me his famous charismatic smile which makes me melt a little but then grows back to a serious face, “I think Taemin-ah is right…you’ve been pushing yourself too hard. All of us want you to stay healthy, so please don’t practice too much.”

“Ne, I won’t anymore. Gamsahabnida.”

“Plus…I don’t think you need so much practice. You’re already amazing with your singing and dancing.” His angelic smile graces his face and the wind blows his hair perfectly like he’s taking a picture for a photo shoot, but this is much better. I can’t help, but smile right back at him. I forget all my concerns and I enjoy this sweet moment with Minho. The moment is quickly ruined when a phone rings. It’s Minho's and I let him answer the call.

About a minute later he hangs up and I ask politely, “Who called?”

“Krystal-noona, she wants to go out to eat later with me.”

“Oh.” All the hurt washes back over me remembering reality.

“We should head back, I need to get ready and you should rest.” He starts to get up and I panic a little. ‘No…I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want you to head to the dorm to get ready. I don’t want you to sweep Krystal off her feet in your date. I don’t want you to date her. No…no…NO!’ The next action I take is one I don’t even realize until after. I grab hold of Minho’s arm before he can get up and he turns back to me. I then lean in and kiss him on his lips for a few seconds, but quickly pull away when I realize what I just did. ‘Oh my gosh…’ I cover my hand with my mouth shocked by my own action and I see Minho also taken aback. I feel tears start to form in my eyes, so I quickly get up and run in any direction away from him. Even though I’m in pain from my aching muscles, I continue to run while I cry, ‘What did I just do!?’

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I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner. College is going to start again soon so I've been trying to see friends I haven't been able to see yet. I've been super busy BUT I still was able to write a new chapter so yay~! Oh! What do you think of the pics in the beginning of each chapter? I'm just curious what you guys think. I'm so happy that you guys like my story and I will definitely try to update more. Love you all~<3