I wake up to see that it’s still dark outside, so I look at the clock to see that it’s 4am. I sit up from my bed and look down to my right to see Taemin still deep in sleep. Getting up, I decide to get a glass of water from the kitchen before going back to sleep. My eyes still haven’t adjusted to the darkness, so I carefully walk to the kitchen. Once I get into the living room, I’m about to turn a lamp on, but then I see the refrigerator light. I walk over slowly and see when I get closer someone at the refrigerator. I can’t see who it is because they’re top half is blocked by the door since they’re bending down to get something, but once the person stands up, I stop walking. It’s Minho and he’s holding the pitcher of water, now reaching for a glass in a cabinet. ‘He doesn’t see me? Maybe I can slowly just go back to my room.’ I turn around slowly trying to escape before he spots me, only to bang my foot against the coffee table. It hurts a lot and I try to cover my mouth to hold in the sound I’m making as a reflex to the pain.

“Who’s there?” I hear Minho say quietly. In my mind, I’m trying to decide if I should still attempt to leave or just turn and face him.

I sigh and turn back around to see him look over at me, “It’s me.” I say it quietly, but enough for him to hear me. After I say that, I don’t hear a reply so I look up to look at his expression. Sadly, it’s hard to see since its dark. ‘Pretend like it never happened.’ I decide to say something again, “Um, I woke up and before going back to bed, I wanted to get a glass of water.”

Finally he replies, “I see.” He walks over to me and I start to get more nervous, “You can have mine, I’ll just pour another one for me.” Since he’s closer, I can see his face and there’s no expression on it, but I still can’t see clearly because of the dark. He holds out his glass of water to me and I take it.

Since I’m so nervous, I accidentally speak in English, “Thank you.” My eyes widen, and then I shut them tightly while I smack myself mentally for doing it. We talk in English to each other sometimes, but that was before the accident, before we got awkward, so I didn’t want to speak in English since I think it’s way too awkward.

“No problem.” To my surprise he replies in English. I open my eyes and look up at him slightly taken aback, but quickly change my expression since I’m supposed to act normal. He turns around back over to the kitchen, “Good night, Kate.” Once again he says this in English with a tone I can’t read. I want nothing more to see how his expression was saying that, anything to know what’s going through his head. I’m tempted to bring up the topic since it seems like a perfect opportunity, but I stop myself knowing that it’s best not to.

I just turn around and start to walk back to my room, “Good night.” Once I’m in my room, I shut the door and stay there for a moment. ‘Maybe, we’re fine. I mean, it seems like we’re ok because we spoke to each other in English. The little conversation I had with him just now makes me hope that we’re still friends. Of course it hurts a little that we’re only friends since I still like him, but that can disappear so I don’t have to worry about it.’ I walk back to my bed where Taemin is still in his dreamland and I crawl back next to him on it. I drink the glass of water and then put it on my side table. Luckily, I don’t have to keep pondering because I fall back to sleep instantly.

It’s been about three days and the hope I had before, quickly faded. Minho and I have hardly said more than two words to each other once in a while. He’s still been acting weird and the guys are wondering why except Taemin. I’ve been worrying and Taemin has been trying to come up with something to fix this, but no luck. Yesterday, I got my mind off it because Jonghyun took me out on another date. We went to a restaurant and then after walked around going in some stores. When we were walking down one street, I spotted the most adorable puppy stuffed animal in the window and I stopped to look at it. The puppy was brown and had the cutest face; it reminded me of Jonghyun instantly.

Jonghyun saw me staring at it with admiration and without even knowing it, he went into the store. I turn around looking for him once I stopped staring at the puppy, but didn’t see him, until he walks out of the store. He has a grin on his face and I look at him funny as to why he’s grinning. He then pulls from behind him, the puppy I was staring at in the store’s window. I grab it quickly hugging it, and then from excitement, I hug Jonghyun around the neck then give him a peck on the lips. He of course enjoyed my actions, but I soon get embarrassed realizing what I did.

I’m now in my room lying on my bed after a long day at the SM building. I roll onto my stomach and stare at all the stuffed animals I have received. The chicken from Onew, the panda from Minho, the cow named Uyu from Taemin, and now the puppy from Jonghyun. I smile at them remembering how I got each of them. My smile fades when I hear Key shouting. I exit my room entering the living room to see that he’s shouting at Minho who just walked in the door.

“Yah! This is the third time that you’ve come home late! Where do you go all the time!? Spending all this time with Krystal-ah!?” He points a spatula at Minho who’s taking off his jacket and shoes. All the other guys were sitting while watching both of them like me staying silent. Minho doesn’t say anything and starts to walk into the living room. I’m the only one standing and he gives me a quick glance before passing me heading to SHINee’s room. I hear Key sigh frustrated, “Yah…chincha. I don’t know what’s going on with that guy.” Taemin turns to me having a concerned expression on his face. I know that means we should have another meeting about this in my room later. After dinner, Taemin and I both go in my room to discuss the situation.

I start to pace in my room, “Ok, so we definitely know that it’s me! I mean, no one stays tired for that long!”

“Ne…I’m just wondering where hyung has been after we finish our schedule.” Taemin says sitting on the edge of my bed while I stay standing.

I stop pacing and face Taemin, “Have you talked to him? I mean, if I was ever brought up in conversation by any of you guys, how is he?”

Taemin ponders this for a while, “Well…when I talk to him, he seems to just be tired, but puts on a smile when he has to. Truthfully, I haven’t paid attention to hyung’s reaction when your name comes up.”

“Aigo! Taemin-ah.” I run my hands through my hair and sigh in aggravation.

“Mianhae, Noona.” Taemin says to me sadly. I realize that I shouldn’t take it out on Taemin, since it’s not his fault. It all started because of me and I need to fix my own problem.

“Gwenchana, it’s not your fault. Thanks for helping me so much, Taemin-ah.” I give him a smile and he cheers up from it. “Let’s go to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow.” He nods his head and says good night before leaving my room. While lying on my bed before I go to sleep the possibility of where Minho goes enters my head. ‘I guess I’ll check there tomorrow.’

Waking up the next morning is a lot harder for me. Usually I get up after a five minute snooze, but today it feels so difficult to get out of my bed. I feel like I have no energy and I’m also drowsy. For some reason my bed is extra comfy than other days and as soon as I stretch to attempt to get out of bed, I’m even more comfortable and shift into a new sleeping position. This goes on for a while until I hear someone at my door knocking.

“Kate-ah! Are you ready to leave?” I find out its Key outside my door. I just muffle my reply into the pillow, but of course he wouldn’t hear it. Since he doesn’t hear what I say, he opens the door entering to see me still under my covers.

“Aigo! Kate-ah! Get up! You’re going to be late!” He yells at me walking over to the side of my bed. My response to this is taking my pillow and putting it on top of my head so I don’t have to hear him. Key sighs in aggravation and I feel then something hit my back. Since I’m feeling lazy right now, I just assume it’s my other pillow. “Fine, you leave me with no choice. Jonghyun-hyung! Come in here! Your princess needs to be woken up!” I hear him yell and his footsteps leading out my door. A minute later, footsteps come back into my earshot range and stop on the side of my bed again. My bed moves slightly which makes me curious, but still not enough to take my pillow off my head.

“Jagiya, you have to wake up.” Jonghyun whispering sounds closer than I thought, but I don’t budge and just mumble a no. All of a sudden the right side of my pillow lifts up and I squint to see Jonghyun’s face inches away from mine smiling softly. “Please, for me.” He closes the gap between us and gives me a quick peck on my forehead. Instead of sitting up quickly which he assumed my reaction would be, I just turn my head away from him and pull the pillow back down to hide my blush. His weight on my bed disappears which means he’s now standing. “Arasseo…I didn’t want to have to do this.”

“Do what?” I turn my head back lifting it slightly to see what he means, but before I can react, Jonghyun dives towards my sides tickling me. I start spazzing and try to wiggle away from his hands, but it’s no use.

“I’ll stop if you promise to get ready.” Since I’m laughing too hard, my response is me nodding rapidly. “Promise?” He asks again still tickling me.

“Ne!” After I shout that, he instantly stops. I sit up trying to catch my breath from the laughing. I look around my bed to see that it’s a total mess from all the squirming I did. My eyes now land on Jonghyun who is standing in front of me with an amused expression.

“I didn’t think you were so ticklish, Jagiya.” He says with his infamous smirk. I give him a glare and he just chuckles. “Anyway, we’re going ahead of you because we have to do a radio interview and then we’re going to the SM building. Don’t be late; I have a feeling Seunghye-sshi will have a punishment if you are.” I groan in aggravation and flop backwards laying down again. “Yah! You promised!” I sigh again and finally stand up from my bed in front of him.

“Happy now?” I smile tiredly.

“Ne!” he smiles back, but then it falls into a frown “Usually you’re not this tired. I hope you’re not pushing yourself.”

“Anio, I’m not. I guess today is just…one of those days I feel lazy haha.” We both laugh from this. After that, I turn him around and start pushing out my door. He looks back at me confused. “If you don’t want me to be late, let me change. Go to your interview, I’ll be fine.” With one last chuckle, he says goodbye and darts out the door outside to the van where everyone else is waiting. I sigh standing in the middle of my room spacing out, ‘He really does care for me a lot.’

Sadly, Jonghyun’s prediction was right and because I was late, Seunghye made me stay later to make up for the time I missed in the beginning. SHINee already left a while ago, so today I’m going back to the dorms myself. When I exit the building, I see that it’s already dark out, but I’m glad that the weather is starting to get warmer. ‘I’m guessing Key is almost finished with dinner. I better get back before mine gets cold, like-’ I stop walking and remember what I’m supposed to do. I turn to another direction and start walking at a faster pace. ‘I guess my dinner will get cold. I just hope I’m right.’ As I get closer to my destination I feel my nerves kick in, but part of me wants to get there faster so I start to run. ‘Please let me be right.’ As I run, my head is filled with thoughts that I want to shake since it’s not helping the nervousness I’m feeling at this moment. When I see that I’m close, I stop running walking the rest of the way.

Finally, as I approach my destination I stop dead in my tracks. Across from the Han River is the hill with the giant tree at the top with a single bench underneath it, the place Minho showed me on White Day…the place where he goes to think. I slowly walk up the hill and notice that the tree is no longer bare like that first time I saw it. I can see now that the leaves are starting to grow on the branches since it’s getting closer to Spring. Once I’m close enough, I can see a figure sitting on the bench. From anticipation of wanting to know who, I walk faster and once I get there, coming here wasn’t a waste of time. The figure belongs to Minho and I now feel my heartbeat quicken with each step I take closer to him. He’s leaning forward with his arms resting on his knees and he’s looking down so he doesn’t notice me approaching him. ‘Just relax and act normal.’

I’m close enough to talk to him now, “I guess this is where you’ve been going these days…right?” Minho finally notices me and looks up a little surprised that I’m here. He doesn’t respond and just looks back down. I walk over to the bench and take a seat on his left staying about two feet away. Leaning back, I look up at the tree branches that are above us. “The leaves are starting to grow. Soon I’ll be able to see it in full bloom.” I try to stay light-hearted as possible, but Minho doesn’t respond to me again. I try one more time, this time while star-gazing, “I think this is the only spot where you can actually see the stars. You found a good spot to just think and star-gaze, Minho-oppa.” I don’t get a response, but this time he sits back and looks up at the sky to see the stars. We stay silent for a few minutes enjoying the view, but I can’t help but constantly wonder what he’s thinking about right now. I glance over to see a melancholy look on his face, enjoying the view.

“Kate-ah.” Minho finally speaks to me softly.

His deep voice breaking through the silence catches me off-guard, “N-Ne?” My head goes straight and turns towards him.

His head slowly turns towards me and now doesn’t have any expression on his face, “How are you and Jonghyun-hyung?” I didn’t expect him to ask me that and I’m taken aback by it.

I look away from him towards the ground not sure how to answer, “Um…we’re doing ok…I guess.” I glance over at him and his response is a simple nod. To be polite I ask back, “How are you and Krystal-ah?” When I don’t hear a response I look over at him and he’s back at looking at the sky. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. His relationship probably needs to be kept private so nothing leaks out.’ Once again there’s silence between us. ‘I should talk about it now. I might not get this opportunity again. Just relax, Kate.’ I take a deep breath before I talk again, “Minho-oppa, um…about that night…the night we were locked in the studio…mianhae. I was ignoring you, but it was because I was really busy at that time. What I said, that night as my excuse…I didn’t mean to. We were both shouting at each other and…I just blurted out anything so you could stop asking me. So…mianhae.” I say this all while my gaze was on my hands that were placed on my lap. This time, the silence isn’t peaceful, it feels suffocating. I want him to respond so I finally can know what’s going on through his head. The anticipation is slowly killing me and I need to know what he’s thinking.

“Was that a lie too?” Minho finally says.

My head shoots up quickly towards him in shock, “M-Mwo?”

He turns and looks at me straight in the eyes, “The day we played basketball…you didn’t actually trip did you?” I’m completely taken off-guard by this. I try to read his expression and it doesn’t look like he’s angry, but just wants to know the answer.

Feeling embarrassed, I tear my eyes away from him, “Ne…I didn’t trip.”

“And what you told me just now…it’s not true right?” He asks me with still no hint of anger in his voice. I just nod knowing that he’s still looking at me. I feel so bad for lying to him, but I didn’t want him to know how I feel about him. ‘I guess I couldn’t hide it forever.’ What I hear next surprises me once again. I hear Minho chuckle a little which causes me to look back at him, “You know you’re not a good liar, Kate-ah.” He now gives me a small smirk and by this point I have no idea what to think since I didn’t expect this reaction from him. I thought he would be mad at me yelling that he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore. ‘If he knows that I was lying…then that means he knows I like him. Is he going to ignore that I like him?’

“Mianhae, Minho-oppa…for lying…mianhae.” I lower my head feeling bad about it.

“Gwenchana…hajiman…you have to make up for it.” I nod my head thinking it’s fair. “You have to listen to what I’m going to say.” My heart starts to quicken and my nerves build, but I look over to him so he knows that I’ll listen. He’s leaning forward again with his arms resting on his knees looking down, but I can see a tiny smile. “In my eyes…she’s amazing in every way.” Minho starts off saying and pauses.‘So this is my punishment for lying to him…I have to listen to Minho talk about Krystal.’ “The first time I saw her, I already knew she was different. As I got to know her, just within a few days I was already completely comfortable with her. I watch how hard she works and it makes me want to work harder too…she makes me want to be a better person. Every time she gets embarrassed and blushes, I find it really cute. When she steps into a room, her presence brightens everyone’s mood in the room.” He pauses once again leaning back with a smile on his face looking up at the stars. With every word he describes Krystal; it feels like my heart is getting stabbed. I can already feel my eyes welling up, but I hold them in not wanting to show it’s affecting me, but I look down using my hair to hide my face. “It’s so easy to talk to her about anything and we can do anything with each other, even if it’s just sitting around…it’s fun. The way she smiles and laughs, I can’t help but do the same thing. It makes me happy knowing that she’s happy. The times she was hurting, I had to help her, I couldn’t just stand back and watch. All I wanted to do was be by her side because seeing her upset, hurt me too. I want to protect her from anything that can harm her and just see her smile. Being with her, gives me this new energy I’ve never had before. It’s like…looking up at the stars…I can look at them for hours admiring their beauty and I’m at peace, satisfied being with the stars forever…that’s how I feel about her. She’s like my personal star, shining brightly for me.” He finally finishes his long speech. From hearing his words, I cry and I can’t stop because it hurts too much. It’s so painful to hear his feelings for Krystal and he knows I like him, unless he thinks I like him as a friend. ‘But I don’t just like him…I love him. This punishment for lying to him…it’s too much.’ My hair is still covering my face so he can’t see. Even if he can’t see, I want to get away from Minho…being near him right now is too painful.

I try to compose myself and stand up, my back facing him, “That’s great to hear Minho-oppa. You should definitely tell Krystal-ah, she would love to hear it. We should get back now because Key-oppa must be wondering where we are. If you want to stay a little longer, I’ll go on ahead.” Before I even give him a chance to answer I run down the hill and along the Han River towards the dorm. My run is cut short when I feel someone grab my wrist which causes me to fall on my knees.

“Kate-ah, gwenchana?” I hear a worried Minho behind me.

I stand up quickly, “Gwenchana.” He puts his hand on my shoulder, but I quickly shove it off not wanting him to see me cry, “I said I’m fine, Minho-oppa!” I try to get away again, but he grabs my wrist even before I start running again.

“I broke up with Krystal-ah.” His words made me stop breathing for a second and my heart starts pounding quickly.

I don’t turn around, “Mwo?”

I feel him place his hands gently on my shoulders and then spin me around to face him, “I wasn’t talking about her.” The moon finally appears from behind the few clouds that are in the sky letting me see Minho’s face more clearly. Once again, the moon highlights all his features making him look more handsome than ever. I’m able to read his face now since I can see it and Minho’s expression is full of affection, even in his eyes once I lock them with mine. Seeing him right now takes my breath away and makes me speechless.

I still try my best to speak, but comes out in a whisper, “Then…who?” He gives me a soft smile and brings his hands to my face. With his thumbs he wipes away the tears from my cheeks. Slowly, Minho leans forward placing his lips gently against mine. I’m in shock with my heart beating quickly, but I melt into his kiss returning it. Minho’s kiss was soft, gentle, and full of affection like he’s saying he will always be there for me. Once he breaks the kiss, he rests his forehead on mine looking into my eyes.

Still with that angelic smile placed on his face, he says quietly to me, “Kate-ah, saranghae.” I never thought I would ever hear him say those words to me and it makes my heart skip a beat with butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

I smile brightly, “Nado saranghae, Minho-oppa.” From my happiness, I hug him and he gladly hugs me back. Since my head is resting against his chest, I can hear his heartbeat and his is fast like mine which makes me smile more. Even though I’m enjoying this moment and I never want it to end, I feel like someone is watching us, but it’s most likely a random person walking by witnessing the scene. I part from the hug and chuckle, “This feels like a dream and I’ll wake up at any moment.” Minho all of a sudden pinches me without warning. I pull away quickly and then shove his shoulder, “Yah! What was that!?”

He chuckles at my reaction then smirks, “Just proving to you it’s not a dream.” I attempt to shove him again but he grabs my wrist and then intertwines my fingers with his. “We should head back. Like you said, Key-hyung is probably wondering where we are.” I imagine how Key is going to be once we head back and it’s not going to be pretty. I nod and we start walking back hand in hand. Once we get to the entrance of the dorm I stop remembering something which causes our hands to slip from each other. Minho looks back slightly puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

I look up at him with a sad expression, “Jonghyun-oppa…” Minho’s face automatically matches mine once I said Jonghyun’s name. “Mianhae, oppa. I can’t believe I forgot about him. I’m a terrible person doing this to him.” I’m on the verge of crying until I feel Minho embrace me.

“Anio, it’s not your fault. If you have to blame anyone, it’s me.” He pulls away once I’m ok. “What are you going to do?”

I stare at the ground thinking, “Jonghyun-oppa has been so good to me…hajiman…” I sigh, “I think I’ve known for a while now that…my feelings for Jonghyun-oppa aren’t the same. I just didn’t want to admit it since I didn’t want to hurt him. If I stay in the relationship, it would just hurt him more later on.”  I look up at Minho, “I have to talk to Jonghyun-oppa…but I’m not sure when. Do you think you can wait?”

He smiles and nods, “Take however long you need.”

“Gomawo, Oppa.” I walk over to hug him one more time before we start walking to the dorm. We don’t hold hands since we’re not together yet. Once we enter, we get bombarded by an angry Key.

“Yah! Why are you both late!? I understand you…” He points at Minho and then points at me, “…but why are you late today!?”

“Mianhae, Key-eomma! I came late for my schedule so Seunghye-sshi made me stay later to make up for it.” I rub the back of my head with a cheesy grin. ‘Well I’m not lying, but it didn’t run this late.’

He looks at me sternly, but then softens sighing, “Arasseo, I forgive you. Aigo…everyone is coming home late today.”

“What do you mean?” Minho asks while we both take our shoes and jackets off.

“Now isn’t this surprising! Minho-ah is actually speaking more than two words!” We hear Onew shout from the living room. We walk towards there seeing Taemin sprawled out on the floor watching TV and Onew sitting on the couch comfortably with the coffee table propping his feet up. Key is in the kitchen washing the last of the dishes from dinner. Minho takes a seat next to Onew whacking him on the shoulder in the process and I stay standing.

Taemin sits up from the floor, “Jonghyun-hyung came in not too long ago.”

“Chincha?” I ask a little surprised wondering why he was out late.

Taemin nods his head, “Ne, he’s in our room right now. I think he said he’s working on some lyrics, just to warn you since he really gets into it.”

“Ah, arasseo…gomawo.” I glance at Minho and we make eye contact, then I start walking towards SHINee’s room. Talking to Jonghyun now about it wouldn’t be the right time to do it. I knock on the door, but I hear no response so I just open it to see Jonghyun sitting on his bed looking intently on the papers in front of him. “Jonghyun-oppa?” I stand on Onew’s bed which is between the two sets of bunk beds and put my head on my arms that are now resting on the edge of Jonghyun’s bed. He doesn’t say anything and continues to stare deeply into his papers. “We have off tomorrow. How about we have a date?” I say to him cheerfully.

“I’m busy.” He doesn’t even glance my way when he says it.

I try talking to him again, “I heard from Taemin-ah that you just got back not too long ago. Why were you out late?” This time he glances at me, but doesn’t say anything. I start to get frustrated from him ignoring me. “Yah! Jonghyun-oppa!” I grab the paper he’s looking at in his hands.

“Yah!” He attempts to grab the paper back, but I keep it out of his reach.

“Why won’t you answer me!?” I ask him angrily.

He hops off his bed standing on Onew’s bed facing me with an angry expression written all over his face, “Want to know the reason why I was late? I knew you were getting out late so I waited for you until you got out. I then saw you going towards a direction I didn’t know. I saw you go to a tree and sit with someone, but I couldn’t tell who it was. After a few moments, you ran crying and I was running over to you to see what happened, but then the person got to you first. I finally saw that it was Minho-ah who was the person.”

“Jonghyun-oppa.” I drop the paper I have in my hand. Jonghyun is looking straight at me with a mix of anger and sadness. I can see that he looks hurt and is about to tear up.

“I saw him kiss you and you kissing back. I saw you both embrace each other smiling and holding hands.” A few tears escape his eyes and I don’t realize until now that I start to build tears in my eyes.

“J-Jonghyun-oppa…I can explain.” Seeing how hurt he is, it pains me to see it.

Anger light up in his eyes and he glares at me, “I don’t want to hear what you have to say! I saw it with my own eyes!” He walks by me and out of the room slamming the door.

Without hesitation I chase after him “Jonghyun-oppa! Wait!” ‘This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen!’ He heads for the living room and everyone stands up once they see a fuming Jonghyun. I enter the living room, “Oppa!” He turns to me with the same glare as before, but then he turns to Minho. I start to panic immediately seeing that the situation is about to get worse. Jonghyun goes towards Minho and grabs him by his shirt. Onew and Key both immediately react by grabbing Jonghyun’s arms and pulling him away. Taemin is in a state of shock by what’s going on and Minho is trying to push Jonghyun off of him. Tears fall quickly from my eyes witnessing this scene and when I see that he’s about to punch Minho I scream, “Oppa geumanhae!!” I’m about to run over to him when suddenly my legs feel weak and the next thing I know I hit the floor. It’s hard for me to breathe and my chest feels heavy. My vision starts to fade, but before I black out I see the guys running over to me looking scared.

The last thing I hear is, “Kate-ah! Quick! Call an ambulance!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Learn some Korean~!

Geumanhae! - Stop it!

Aishhh! I keep doing long breaks and I'm sorry about that! Good news though...I'm finished with my semester and I have a month off! Which means more updates coming your way guys! Woooo!!! Keke~ XP Anyway, this chapter was kind of a "Happy Be-lated Birthday Minho!" chapter hehe! Oh yea! So 2NE1 came to NY and I won tickets to go see them on Monday...sad thing is that there were soooooooo many people who also got tickets, so right when we were just few people away from getting in...they said no more people could fit *tears*...BUT my friend and I plus the other people who couldn't get in got a little treat....2NE1 was came out to say to us and they were inches away from us!! Oh my gosh they're so tiny and flawless!! Haha! Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! There's more to come! Hmmm...what's going to happen next? Hehe~ Stay tuned to find out! :P