“Aish!” I mumble to myself. Waking up today seems harder than other days. Most likely from what has been going on in the dorm. I squint from the light shining into the room and slowly adjust to them. I’m not looking forward to the schedule that is planned today, but of course I have to go. I finally sit up and I hear footsteps in the hallway moving back and forth quickly. All of a sudden Key bursts through the door annoyed rushing over to me.

“Yah! Why are you still in bed!? The van is here waiting for us! Aish! Get dressed quickly, arasseo?” He says this to me while grabbing my arm and pulling me off the bed. He then turns around and walks out quickly to nag someone else. Even though I don’t like to be nagged by him, I still do what he said and change. Once I’m done, I walk out of the room to head for the bathroom, but I bump into Taemin.

“Ah, Onew-hyung! Are you ready yet? Key-hyung told me to come get you.”

“Ne, I’m just heading to the bathroom and then I’ll be ready. I’ll meet you guys at the van.” I tell him to ease his franticness. He nods and heads to the living room to tell Key what I just told him. I sigh and walk into the bathroom to do what I need and then head out. I do another sigh, but this time a bigger one thinking about how today will be. ‘I hope it’ll turn out a little better than the past two days.’

I head down the stairs to where the van is and already I can tell it’s not better. Jonghyun is sitting in the passenger seat while Minho is sitting all the way in the back and I can feel the tension that’s in the van. I get in and the driver takes us to the SM building. While we all head there, it’s silent, but thankfully Key starts chatting about something that I’m not really paying attention to. Jonghyun stays quiet, but Minho puts his two cents in at some points in the conversation. It’s not Minho who has a problem with Jonghyun; it’s just Jonghyun who has been the one in a bad mood being resentful towards Minho. It’s been two days since Kate and Jonghyun had their conversation, but I guess it was more him just being hateful towards her ending up with Kate crying. I didn’t see any of it since Key, Taemin, and I stayed in the living room, but Minho told us a summary of what happened. All we saw was Jonghyun storming out of the living room and from that, all three of us knew something happened.

Since then, Jonghyun hasn’t said one word to Minho or Kate, even though they have tried to talk to him. ‘I feel bad seeing Kate-ah since she has really tried to talk to Jonghyun-ah, but the way he just glares at her or just pretends like she doesn’t exist has really hurt her. Of course I’ve looked on his side, but I feel he should at least discuss what happened with her. Jonghyun-ah has always been a stubborn person, but eventually he gives in. If Jonghyun-ah really did or does love her, then he doesn’t like the way he’s acting towards Kate-ah and making her upset, but she won’t show she is putting on a smile for us. He will give in eventually, but Minho-ah is a different story. I hope it will work out with them too, for the sake of the group.’ We finally arrive at the building. Today we’ll be working mostly in the dance studio. Kate left the dorm first since she her schedule starts early today because she’s recording for most of the day. When entering the building and walking towards the studio, Minho then stops.

“You guys warm-up without me.” He glances at Jonghyun, “I just want to go do something first.” After he says that he walks away. I already know he’s going to see Kate to check on her. Key was a little shocked at first when he found out that they became a couple, but not me. Taemin didn’t seemed as shock, but later he told us that he knew Kate liked Minho. Funny thing is, I kind of knew most of what has been going on, but I don’t really say much since it’s not any of my business. The guys and Kate think I’m usually clueless with what’s going on and all I worry about if chicken will be in the next meal I eat, I sometimes do, but I’m more of the quiet observer. I had a feeling that as soon as I met Kate, she had a crush on Minho. After about a month, I saw Minho and then later Jonghyun like her. Jonghyun and Kate tried to hide that they started to date, but to me it was obvious they were. The only thing I had no idea about is when I got a call from her old phone. It’s hard for me to stay out of it, but it’s her problem, I just would like to know more about the situation. Plus, there is another thing I’m curious about wondering if I’m right about it. I’ll have to observe more, but if I am right then this will definitely not be the last of the drama in the dorm.

We did our stretches and did a few warm-ups so now we were waiting for Minho to come back. It’s been about five minutes and then he finally comes in apologizing for taking longer than he thought. Before I can speak up, Jonghyun beats me to it.

“You’re late.” By his tone I can see he’s just doing it to annoy Minho. Minho decides to keep his mouth quiet and just walk over to wear his bag is against the wall to take off his hoodie. Jonghyun is the one who ends up annoyed and he walks up to him quickly, grabs his shoulder and turns him around sharply. “Yah! Don’t ignore your hyung when he’s talking to you! At least apologize for being late!”

“Hyung!” Taemin calls out at Jonghyun looking worried something will happen.

Minho now looks slightly annoyed looking down at him, “I was only five minutes late during stretches, but fine, I’m sorry.” The tone he has doesn’t make the sorry sound sincere and I can see that Jonghyun notices it. He gives Minho a good shove in the chest and then Minho goes to shove him back harder. Before they start fighting, I step in between them. Key holds on to Jonghyun while Taemin does the same to Minho.

“Yah! You’re both being childish!” I hear Key shout at them.

I speak up finally, “Stop this now!” I turn my head to Minho, “You shouldn’t get provoked by Jonghyun-ah.” Then I switch to Jonghyun, “You need to calm down and control your anger.” Now I speak to both, “You guys need to work things out for the sake of the group.”

“I don’t have a problem with hyung, he’s the one who’s starting trouble with me and Kate-ah.” Minho says sounding frustrated.

Jonghyun tries to go towards Minho, but I hold him back, “I started the trouble!? You two are the ones who went behind my back to make-out!”

“We didn’t make-out! Stop making things up!”

“You still kissed Kate-ah when I was still with her and after that you two start going out!” The conversation has become a shouting match. Key, Taemin, and I could only watch while holding them back from each other.

“I’ve apologized for that, but you haven’t even listened to me!”

“Why should I listen to the person who stabbed me in the back that’s supposed to be my friend!?”

“Well if not me then listen to Kate-ah!”

“Wae!?”

“Because you’re hurting her!” After Minho shouts that, the whole dance studio eerily gets quiet. He takes a deep breath becoming more composed but still is glaring at Jonghyun. “You haven’t seen how this is affecting Kate-ah since all you’ve done is ignored her. I think you’re angry at yourself for being a coward and you’re taking it out on us. If you really love her, then how you’re hurting her, is also hurting you, so just it up and talk to Kate-ah.” He basically said what I think all of us were thinking. Jonghyun kept glaring at Minho and didn’t say anything. He then shakes Key out of his grasp, turns around and storms out of the room slamming the door on his way out.

I let out a sigh, “We’ll take a quick five minute break to ease off the tension and then start practicing. Just because one of us is not here doesn’t mean we can’t practice.” Everyone separates to relax after that dramatic scene. I step out of the room wondering where Jonghyun went. ‘Did he go see Kate-ah?’ I decide to walk over to the recording studio to calm my curiosity. When I get there, I peak inside and there was no Jonghyun in sight. Kate is in the recording both singing and on the other side are Seunghye and the producer. It looks like she’s really into the song, but then Seunghye cuts her off.

“Anio, you messed up at the chorus.” She says with a stoic face.

Kate looks slightly surprised, “Chincha? I thought I got it right this time.”

“Anio. Let’s take a quick break and we’ll try it again.” Kate nods and when she steps out of the booth I can get a better look at her. She’s forming dark circles underneath her eyes; her hair is messed up, and just looks overall tired. ‘If Kate-ah is like this, she should take it a little easier on her.’ I see the producer come towards the door to exit and I move away from the door leaning against the wall. The producer doesn’t pay attention to me and so I go back to peaking inside. Seunghye now talks one-on-one with Kate.

“Truthfully, I don’t think you’re doing the best that you can do.” Seunghye says bluntly to Kate. ‘Of course she’s not doing her best, it’s obvious that she’s worn out.’

“Ne, I’ll work harder.” Kate has her head down and does a slight bow.

All of a sudden I see Seunghye smirk, “I better see improvement after this break and in your overall practices. I can’t tell that you’re serious about wanting to be debut and be an idol.”

“Mianhaeyo, Seunghye-ssi. I’ll work harder, I promise.” Kate does a deeper bow to Seunghye and holds it. Seunghye then says she’s stepping out and will be back. I step away from the door again and she walks past me.

“Yah.” I call for her attention walking towards her and she turns around.

“Ah, Onew-ssi, shouldn’t you be with the others practicing in the dance studio?” She says to me.

“Ne, we’re taking a quick break and I decided to stretch my legs.” All she does is nod and then right as Seunghye is about to walk away I speak up again, “What’s your problem with Kate-ah?”

Once again she turns around with a straight face, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I’m her manager and it’s my job to help her to get her to her debut successfully.”

“From what I’m seeing it’s the opposite.” I bluntly state.

“Explain.” She cross her arms waiting to hear what I have to say.

“It’s obvious that you’re making things harder on her. You act nicer to others, but the way you treat Kate-ah…it’s like you want her to fail.”

Seunghye doesn’t say anything for a few seconds then speaks, “Well, the way you’re seeing things is wrong.”

“Wae? Why don’t you want Kate-ah to debut?” I ask ignoring her denial.

“I’m busy. I don’t have time for meaningless conversations.” She turns around ready to walk away from me.

“Noona!” I call out to Seunghye stopping her, “If it’s about what happened in the past…don’t take it out on her.”

Her head turns looking back at me, “Annyeonghigaesaeyo, Onew-ssi.” After that, she walks away. I go back to peek inside to see Kate-ah sitting on a chair leaning forward looking worn out. ‘I’ll have to keep an eye on Seunghye-noona.’ Realizing the time, I quickly go back to the dance studio. Stepping in, I see everyone except Jonghyun which I kind of expected. Even though he’s not here, we’ll still practice as much as we can.

After about four hours in the dance studio we take a lunch break and we all decide to go out to a near-by restaurant. All of us assume the Jonghyun went back to the dorm or is somewhere outside cooling down. It’s most likely the first option since idols can’t freely walk around on the streets at any time. Right now we’re collecting our bags and jackets getting ready.

“Yah, Yoropun! I think Kate-noona has a lunch break now too.” Taemin says all of a sudden before we leave.

“Ah, chincha? Let’s bring her with us then! Minho-ah, go get your jagiya!” Key shouts with enthusiasm bringing out his eomma side.

Minho lightly shoves Key, “Y-Yah!” Taemin and I can’t help but chuckle at Minho’s embarrassment.

“Mwo? It’s not like you haven’t called her that, right?” Key’s diva side slowly comes out now.

Minho doesn’t make eye contact with anyone and walks over to the door, “Kaja. I’ll go get Kate-ah.”

I smirk, “Looks like Minho-ah hasn’t called her that yet.”

“Aish! Wae!? She’s your girlfriend so it’s not weird calling her that!” Diva Key arrives and his target is Minho. Minho opens the door staying quiet and walks out leaving it open. Key walks out into the hall and I can hear him shout down it to Minho, “Yah! The relationship will go nowhere if you don’t start calling her that!” This alerts Taemin and I since no one else knows about Minho and Kate-ah being a couple. We rush into the hallway to Key with me holding him so he doesn’t start following Minho.

“Hyung, kaja. Minho-hyung and Kate-ah will meet us at the café.” Taemin goes behind him to cover his mouth so he doesn’t start ranting, but he’s having difficulty silencing the diva. We both start dragging him the opposite direction towards the exit of the building. Luckily when Key yelled to Minho, no one was around to hear it. Once we get outside, the diva side of him calms down. “Aigo, hyung you need to be careful.” Taemin lightly scolds Key.

“Wae?” He asks completely clueless. ‘Did he really forget?’

“No one but us know about their relationship and they can’t find out, at least not yet. Shouting about it won’t really help keep it a secret.”

“Ah.” He says dragging it out finally remembering. “Right, mianhae. I got carried away, but I am right! They’re both too shy and the relationship will go nowhere if I don’t give them a push every once in a while.”

“Actually, I think they’ll be fine on their own.” Key just scoffs when I say that and I just smile at the action. We enter the café, order, and then about five minutes later Minho and Kate walk in. Seeing Kate now, she looks different than when I saw her in the recording studio. She seems much more energetic and is smiling at us. Sadly, she’s just pretending most likely not to make us worry.

“Noona! Jal jinessoyo?” Taemin cheerily says hopping up and down a little in his seat.

She smiles more, “Annyeong! Gwenchana, Taemin-ah-neunyo?”

“Nado!” He replies brightly smiling. Minho pulls out Kate’s seat for her and from the corner of my eye I can see Key smirk. All I can do is roll my eyes with how much Key is acting like a mother with these two.

“Minho-ah, is Kate-ah so happy because you called her something?” He still smirks talking in a teasing tone towards Minho.

“Did you guys already order?” Minho asks me completely ignoring Key’s question. Kate looks confused and looks to Minho for an explanation, but he just stares at the menu.

“Key-oppa, what are you talking about?” Kate goes to him to get an answer since Minho clearly won’t say anything.

“Hm, I guess not then. Earlier I suggested that-”

“Yah! Key-hyung, what did you order for lunch? I’m not sure what to get.” Minho interrupts Key putting down his menu quickly giving him a look that reads “Shut up or I’ll shut you up.” His ears are red which means he’s clearly embarrassed. Key looks a little shocked by his outburst, but then starts laughing noticing his embarrassment. Taemin and I join in while Minho just lifts his menu up again burying his head.

Kate looks to everyone more confused than before, “Aish! What’s going on!? I want to laugh too!” She shakes Minho’s shoulder a little, “Minho-oppa, what did Key-oppa say to you?” Minho is studying the menu intently like he’s going to take a test on it. “Yah!” She shouts shaking him a little harder.

“Just forget about it, Jagiya!” Minho finally says something quickly as a reflex. It takes him a second before he notices what he said and his eyes pop out slightly. Taemin, Key and I stop laughing making it quiet for a moment, until we start laughing this time harder. I lean back almost falling out of my chair, but quickly recover still laughing. From my poor vision, I can see Minho drop his menu on the table burying his face into his hands.

“Aish, chincha!” Kate pouts still clueless in the situation.

Key’s laughing calms down, “There you go! It wasn’t that hard to say, right?” From that statement, I see the wheels starting to turn in her head. I can tell she realizes when her eyes go slightly wide, her cheeks start to go pink and her head sharply turns to look at Minho.

“Wasn’t that the first time you called me-”

“Ne.” Before she says it, he responds finally putting his hands down looking at her. Kate just stares at Minho and there’s silence since the three of us want to know what her reaction will be. Next moment, Kate goes into a fit of laughs taking all of us off-guard. She’s the only one laughing while we all stare at her dumbfounded, especially Minho. ‘I was not expecting that.’ I smile seeing the scene, ‘At least she’s feeling better now.’ After that whole big scene, the waitress takes Kate and Minho’s order; we all get our food, and enjoy the lunch break. It’s nice for us to enjoy a moment without any drama, ‘It would be nice if Jonghyun-ah was with us though.’ We all walk back once we’re done in the café.

Right before, we split Kate grabs my arm, “Onew-oppa, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Ne.” The guys walk into the dance studio, “Gwenchana?”

“Ah, ne. I know it’s your turn to do grocery shopping, so I just wanted to know if you can buy a few things for me.” She says a little fidgety not looking at me.

“Sure.” I smile glad it’s nothing serious.

She hands me a tiny piece of paper of the things she needs, “Gomawo! I better get back before Seunghye-ssi scolds me for being late.”

“Munje obsseo.” With a final bye she turns and jogs down the hallway. I look down at the paper Kate handed me skimming it nonchalantly until I land on the last item now knowing why she was a little fidgety. My eyes scan over the list again to make sure I read everything right and I look up shouting down to Kate, “Yah! Are you sure you made this list right!?” Sadly she’s now out of earshot from me. All I do is sigh and walk back into the dance studio. Taemin sees me come in and his face goes from a smile to a worried expression.

“Hyung, gwenchana? You look so pale.” Walking over to the mirror I see that I have gone slightly pale.

I turn to Taemin giving him a smile, “Don’t worry about it.” We practice until we notice it’s the evening and it’s time for us to leave. Usually we don’t practice for this long, but I guess we all just didn’t pay attention to the time today. The rest go back to the dorm, but I have to do the weekly grocery shopping before I can relax. Kate left earlier than us and is already at the dorm which makes me slightly worried. ‘I wonder how it is with just her and Jonghyun-ah in there.’

When I step into the store that’s not too far from where we live, one by one I check off the items on the list. I pull out the tiny piece of paper that Kate gave me earlier and start to find the things on it. I collected everything on the list, except for the last item which read, “Pads/tampons.” ‘Aish! Do I really have to!?’ For some reason I start to feel nervous. ‘I’m thinking too much about it. It’ll be easy; just pick it up, buy it, and leave. You can do this Onew-ah!’ Slowly I pass every aisle until I find the right one and walk down it until I’m in front of the item. When I see what’s in front of me, my face turns to horror and I feel nervous again. ‘Why are there so many different types!?’ There was a whole side dedicated to the product, ‘I have no idea which one to get.’ I pull out my phone and dial Kate’s number immediately. Her phone keeps ringing, ‘Aish, chincha!? I’m here buying this while I bet the others are enjoying dinner which is most likely chicken! Pick up, Kate-ah!’

I hear her finally pick up on the other side, “Yoboseyo?”

“Yah! Abort mission! Why are there so many!?” I shout into the phone, but quickly remember that I’m in a public area. I look at my surroundings and the coast is clear.

She does an awkward chuckle knowing what I mean write away, “Mianhae, Onew-oppa.”

“Wae!? Why do women need so many different types!?” I shout quieter this time. To Kate, I must sound like I’m in panic, which I kind of am.

“Well-”

“I mean, what’s the difference really!?” I pick one box up, “This one says “Comfortable fit.”” I pick another one up, “This box reads, “For women on their heaviest days.” What does that even mean!?….wait…ew!”

“Onew-oppa! Focus on the task at hand!” I stop my ranting and Kate continues, “Well, women have different types so that’s why we have a variety.”

“Kate-ah, too much information.”

“Heh, mianhae. Arrasseo, just get the one that says Always Infinity and you’re good to go.”

I scan for the name and grab it one it’s been found, “Got it.”

“Good work, soldier! See you soon!” After that, I hang up with Kate. Sadly, my mission isn’t over since I now need to go to the register to pay for it and everything else. ‘Hopefully they won’t even notice.’ I walk over to the cashier who, with my poor luck, is a guy. He scans the items one by one and then he gets to the item. I just look as nonchalant as possible not making eye contact, but I can see him give me a quick glance when scanning it from the corner of my eye. The cashier puts everything in a bag, I pay, and then I quickly leave the store back to the dorm. ‘Mission accomplished.’ Entering the dorm, I can hear chattering in the living room. Once my shoes and jacket are off, I walk over to the three couch potatoes.

Minho notices me first, “What took you so long?” I just put the grocery bags on the table except Kate’s bag. I walk back over to the couch and now all three have their eyes on me. I reach into the bag and pull out the item that took so much mental energy to get.

“This is why.” I hold up the item. Taemin and Minho’s face contort into and awkward one while Key seems un-phased by the object.

Key scoffs standing up snatching the item, “Was it really that bad?”

I look him in the eye with a serious face, “The nerves I had were worse than right before I perform on stage.”

“Oh please, it couldn’t-”

I cut him off, “Worse than the stage.” I snatch the box before Key can say anything else, but from the corner of my eye he does an eye roll. Taemin and Minho now look slightly uncomfortable. “Is Kate-ah in her room?”

“Ne.” Taemin responds.

“Jonghyun-ah?”

“In our room…probably sulking in bed.” Key speaks up. I give them a nod and then walk to Kate’s room. Knocking on the door first, I enter the room to see her on the bed with her laptop. I just toss the plastic bag with all the contents she asked for.

She gives me a smile and I see a slight blush most likely from embarrassment, “Gomawo, oppa.”

“Mm, cheomannaeyo.” I’m about to leave, but then I turn around; “Please…never again. Key-ah doesn’t seem to mind so make him do it next time.” She chuckles and nods. I enter the living room again and go straight to the plate Key made for me. Consuming the chicken feast like a vacuum, Taemin says something that make the others laugh but I miss it. “Mwo? What did you say?”

“You missed it because all your focus was on eating. Aigo, I swear that’s in your head is chicken and you have no idea what goes on around here half the time.” Key scolds me, but all I do is shrug and go back to eating. The day finally comes to a close with everyone going to bed after a long day that I thought would be simpler. Jonghyun is sleeping already with his blanket covering him from head-to-toe when I enter the room. The lights shut off and I have a last thought before drifting off to sleep, ‘If only they knew what I really thought about and what I know, but I’ll just keep it a secret…it’s more fun that way.’'

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Let's learn  Korean~!

Taemin-ah-neunyo? - How about you, Taemin-ah? (Basically add a noun/pronoun and then add "neun/eun yo")

Munje obsseo - No problem (obsseoyo is the formal)

Hey guys! How have you been? Things have been hectic with finals coming up...blahhh haha. It took a while because I decided to write more than one chapter just in case I didn't have anytime to write. I won't update it right away, but the next update will definitely be quicker since the chapter is already written. Soooooo....what did you guys think about this chapter!? A little dedication to Onew since you don't read much about him in my story (Mianhaeyo, Onew-ssi!!!) . Did you like that I did a different point of view? Anyway, tell me what you guys think, because hearing your thoughts help me write better! ^^