It’s been an hour now that we’ve been in the storage room and the fan girls are still outside waiting to see Minho. I’m still nervous, worried about how we’re going to get out. Minho and I are now sitting against the door next to each other in silence. I look over at him to my left and he’s staring at the floor in deep thought about what to do. Since it’s getting late, I notice the change in temperature getting lower and there’s no heater in this room. I rub my arms trying to stay warm and then put my hands in my pocket. I’m shivering slightly and stare at Minho’s sunglasses on the ground trying to not focus on the cold. All of a sudden a scarf gets wrapped around my neck and I turn my head to see Minho looking at me with a worried expression.

“Mianhae. It’s my fault we’re in here and you’re now cold.” His head is down like he’s ashamed to look at me.

I rest my hand on top of his, “Ani, don’t blame yourself. Fans have great skills in recognizing idols. Even if you were in an animal suit they would have eventually recognized you.”

My attempt to make him laugh works and Minho chuckles a little, “Still, I have to think of a way for us to get out of here without you being discovered.”

I nod in agreement, “How about we call one of the guys?” Minho gets out his phone and tries calling one of them, but it must be bad timing because none of them pick up.

“Aish! Jinjja!?” Minho shouts and throws his hat to the floor in frustration. From his outburst, the fans outside hear him and they start shouting to him again.

“Oppa! Come out!”

“I want to see you, Oppa!”

“Why are you hiding in there!?”

“Can I take a picture with you, Oppa!?”

“Who’s that girl with you!? Is it Krystal-ah!?” The last statement I hear from a fan puts me on edge and I can feel the fear rising in me again. ‘So they did see me. What if they took pictures of me while we were running? How long will they wait? Are all fans this extreme?’ I’m now not sure if I’m shaking from the cold or if it’s from fear. I feel an arm wrap around my shoulder and Minho pulls me onto his lap into a hug.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine and we’ll get out of here soon.” He rubs my arm to calm me down and it works. “Since I couldn’t reach one of them, I left all of them a message and they should get it soon.” I just nod resting my head on his chest and we stay in silence once again. After about ten minutes, Minho’s phone rings. He picks it up and it’s Onew on the other line. Minho explains the situation and once they talk for a few more seconds, he hangs up. I look up at him and he smiles down reassuringly, “They’ll be here in a van…about fifteen minutes. Key-hyung will call when they’re outside.”

“What about your manager? He’ll know we went on a date.” I ask a little worried.

“Jonghyun-hyung is going to drive here without the manager knowing.” I sigh in relief and then Minho speaks up again, “Thing is, they can’t exit the van once they’re here, so we’re walking to it.”

“Eoteokke? Won’t everyone see me with you?”

He gives me a small smile, “Ready to be in a disguise for the first time?” I nod answering him. We stand up and Minho picks up his hat putting it on me. He also picks up his sunglasses handing them over and I put them on. Lastly, Minho adjusts the scarf so it covers the bottom half of my face. ‘I guess this will be the first of many disguises I’ll be doing.’ All that’s left to do is waiting for Key’s call for us to come out. The wait isn’t long at all and Minho’s phone rings. He answers and they’re outside. Right before opening the door, Minho holds my hand tightly and then quickly says, “Walk fast, keep your head down, and pretend to be Krystal-ah.” He says the last part quietly but I catch it taking me by surprise. ‘What?’ I have no time to think about it because as soon as he opens the door there’s blinding camera flashes and Minho is pulling me making sure I don’t get lost in the sea of fans.

“Oppa! Saranghae!”

“Look over here, Oppa!”

“Are you and Krystal-ah on a date!?”

“Krystal-ah! Pose with Minho-oppa!” The fans keep shouting to us, but I don’t look up and keep walking forward. Minho and I reach the van opening the door quickly getting in. As soon as I’m about to close the door, I feel a fan grab me and the hat I’m wearing almost falls off. Minho reaches over saving me and closes the door. The van drives off and we escape the fans successfully.

“Noona, Hyung…gwenchana!?” Taemin looks at us both concerned and so do the other guys. I’m just staring ahead shaken up by what happened, so Minho answers for everyone. When I calm down, I stare out the window lost in my thoughts. The ride is quiet and I feel everyone looking at me obviously worried, but I just stay in my own thoughts. Once we get to the dorm, everyone but Jonghyun exit the van and he drives it to where it was parked originally. Once we enter the dorm, I head straight for my room closing the door, changing into my pajamas, and lay in my bed to sleep. I don’t feel like talking and I don’t think I even could since I’m still a little shaken. ‘Is that how it is with fans? I pretended to be Krystal. Are Minho and I going to get found out?’ So many thoughts run through my head that I can’t sleep. After about an hour, I’m just too tired that I eventually let sleep overcome me.

The blinding light wakes me up and I pull the blanket over my head trying to fall back to sleep, but then I remember the events that happened yesterday. I sit up and I space out remembering every detail, ‘Minho and I went to the zoo for our first date. It was great…until someone recognized Minho right at the end of the date. We were trapped in a storage room, but eventually we got rescued. I had to pretend to be Krystal…’ I can feel a headache start to form just thinking about the events. I pick up my phone and check the time, its 6am. ‘I still have one more hour to sleep, but I don’t think I can even though I want to.’ Contemplating on whether I can snooze for another hour or not, in the end I decide it probably wouldn’t make a difference. So slowly, I crawl out of bed, but since I’m drowsy, I don’t notice until I fall that my foot is tangled in the blanket. Thankfully, I didn’t make a lot of noise to alarm anyone in the dorm, ‘Is anyone even in the dorm?’ Getting up on my feet finally, I can feel the headache get worse and it’s probably from the fall. I drag my feet through the hallway, past the living room, and into the kitchen to head straight for some medicine to relieve the pounding in my head. I take the medicine, pour some water and take a sip to help it go down. I already feel some progress from the medicine and sigh in relief. All of a sudden I hear someone clearing their throat behind me and I instantly turn to see Taemin looking at me like I grew a head.

“Noona…gwenchana?” He says to me still looking at me strangely. Instead of answering, I look around my surroundings. I see Key and Onew sitting at the table with breakfast in front of them staring at me blankly. I look towards the living room to find Jonghyun sitting on the couch watching me with a weird expression. Then lastly, Minho, who’s standing near the hallway and also has a blank expression staring at me.

I blink a few times before speaking, “When did you guys get here?”

“Um, we were here the whole time and you completely ignored us when walking past us.” Onew speaks up.

I just blink, “Jinjja?”

“You really didn’t notice us?” Key says this loudly and because of that, my headache increases a little. I clutch my head trying to relieve the pounding.

Taemin puts his hand on my shoulder, “Gwenchana?”

I give him a small smile, “Ne, don’t worry, I just have a little headache.” I look at all of them again and when I make eye contact with Minho, I quickly divert my eyes away. “Why are you guys still here?”

“Our flight is tomorrow, we have to pack for it today.” Jonghyun says nonchalantly while turning his gaze back to the TV.

“Ah, arrasseo.” I start walking back to my room and when I’m about to walk past Minho, he holds his arm out in front of me.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” I finally bring my gaze to him and keep it there. From what I see, he definitely is worried and concerned about me. I have a feeling he’s not just asking about my headache.

Since I don’t feel like discussing anything I just smile at him, “Ne.” Minho’s arm drops back to his side and I proceed to my room again. Once I close the door, I sit on the edge of my bed and rub my temples. ‘Maybe I need some fresh air.’ Deciding to go out, I change into jeans and a hoodie. ‘Most likely I’ll go straight to practice so I’ll bring my bag.’ I quickly open my door and walk, but stop immediately when I see Minho right in front of me. He has his arm raised preparing to knock with a shocked expression. He clears his throat putting his arm down looking away, but then his eyes look me up and down.

“Where are you going?” He asks curious.

While resting the straps to my bag on my shoulders, I answer, “I still have an hour before I have to go practice, so I’m going for a walk. I think I need some fresh air to clear my headache.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” I can still see he’s worried about me.

I smile and walk out of my room past him, “Anio, you have to start packing for tomorrow. Plus, I want to walk around freely.” I stop suddenly mentally slapping myself for saying the last part. I turn towards him, “What I mean is-”

“You don’t have to explain, I understand.” Minho is smiling, but I can clearly see I hurt him.

“Minho-op-” I try to apologize, but he cuts me off again.

He walks to me still smiling and puts his hands on my shoulders, “I hope you feel better after your walk.” He bends over and leaves a light kiss on my forehead. “I’m going to start packing now, text me when you’re at the building so I know you got there safely.” I just nod my head and Minho gives me one last smile before walking off into SHINee’s room. I sigh turning around to leave the dorm. I let the other guys know I’m going for a walk and then straight to the building before I exit.

As soon as I step out, a slight breeze hits my face and I take a deep breath in enjoying it already feeling better. I can feel the change in the weather becoming warmer, which means I can take my time walking outside without wanting to rush back in from the cold. Instead of thinking of where I should go, I let my feet guide me. It’s early so not that many people are outside walking around. After dragging my feet wherever they wanted to go for a while, I notice that I brought myself to the water fountain in the park. My eyes spot an empty bench and I walk over to sit down. I pull out my phone to check on the time; I still have a half hour before practice. Once again I sigh and lean forward staring at the ground ahead of me. ‘I seem to be sighing a lot today.’ I seem to have spaced out a few minutes because I’m pulled out of my thoughts when I see feet in front of me. Looking up, I’m surprised to see Taemin looking down out me with a smile.

“Annyeong, Noona.” He does a little wave.

I just blink a few times before I finally respond, “Uh…Annyeong. Why are you here, Taemin-ah?” He moves forward to take a seat on my right so I scoot over.

“Well, you seem really out of it today, so I guess I followed you to make sure nothing happened to you. I mean, you could’ve got hit by a car crossing the street or mugged.” He rubbed his neck smiling at me and I can tell he’s embarrassed.

I chuckle at his slight paranoia, “Don’t worry, I’m aware of my surroundings, but thanks for your concern.”

Taemin raises his eyebrow at me, “Well, I stood in front of you for about five minutes before you noticed me.”

“No way! Jinjja?” I ask him surprised and he nods his head. I turn my head back to the ground, “Mianhae…I just have a lot on my mind.” It’s then silent after I say this and I can feel Taemin’s eyes on me, but I don’t flinch starting to drift into my thoughts again. After a few more seconds a sigh is heard, and it’s not from me this time. My head goes back to Taemin to see him lean back and look up.

“Well, if you have too much on your mind, then the only way to get rid of some of those thoughts is to talk about them with someone.” Taemin tilts his head towards me and smiles, “I guess that someone will be me since I’m the only one here you can talk to right now. I’m all ears.”

Usually I would talk to Taemin about my problems, but part of me didn’t want to say anything so instead I look back down at the ground. I hear another sigh come from him, and then a few seconds later he fills the silence again. “When SHINee first debuted, I didn’t think we would be popular and we would just have a few fans. It was true, but as time went by, the number of fans quickly grew. I didn’t realize until we had to do a fan signing, it caught me off-guard by how many people came out to see us. I don’t think anyone thought we would have that many fans there and we weren’t prepared, so things got hectic.”

“What happened?” I interrupt him when he pauses remembering his memory. Taemin looks over and smiles that he finally gets a response from me.

He then continues his story, “It was when we were leaving that it was a little crazy. The fans didn’t want us to leave so they crowded around us. When trying to head to the van, I tripped and fell. Onew-hyung tried to help me up, but it was hard since fans surrounded us. Eventually I was able to get up and go into the van.”

“Scary.” I say to myself.

Taemin hears what I say and chuckles, “Ne, it was scary, but then I got used to the huge crowds of fans as time went by.”

I start reliving my experience with SHINee’s fans, “I see.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking.” Taemin firmly says this to me.

Before I talk, I sort my thoughts out, “It’s just…I remember seeing videos of not just SHINee, but other idols being surrounded by fans at places like the airport. I thought it was pretty bad, but when I was actually a part of it…it was worse than I imagined. If that was the fans loving you, I don’t even want to imagine how it would be if that fans hated you for something. It’s sad…the only solution is that you just need to get used to it.” I look over to Taemin and I can tell he’s listening intently. “Will…will it be like that when I debut?”

I can hear hesitation coming from him before answering, “It’s not as bad for girls than it us for guys.”

“But it’s still bad.”

Taemin hesitates again, “Ne.”

I nod my head as a response, “Well, guess I’ll just have to get used to it.”

“I feel bad that we’re leaving tomorrow. The first time I encountered the fans, what helped me was the guys comforting me, but we can’t do that for you.” Taemin’s lips form into a slight pout.

I chuckle at his expression, “Aren’t you doing it right now?” I stand up and pat his head “Gomawo, Taemin-ah.”

When looking up at me he forms a huge grin and looks like a little kid, “Munje obsseo!” I smile brightly from his expression, but my thoughts get in my way and it falters a little. Taemin takes notice, “Anything else you want to talk about?”

I recover quickly, “Ah, ani!” I start to walk away from him towards the dorm, “Taemin-ah, kaja! I’ll tell Key-eomma what happened to his snacks if I get to the dorm first!”

“Y-yah! You wouldn’t!” Taemin quickly gets up and runs towards me.

As soon as I see him running, I start to run, “Taemin-ah! Bali! Bali!” We race the whole way to the dorm and ends with Taemin winning, since I have tiny legs that couldn’t keep up. When entering into the dorm, the first thing that happens is Key popping up right in front of us.

“Yah! Taemin-ah, you need to finish packing!” While saying this, Key grabs Taemin and drags him off. This lets me get a good view as to what is going on in the living room. To sum it up, everyone is walking back and forth, in and out of rooms packing. My eyes fall on the clock to see that the time is 7am. “Yah!” This time Key is addressing me and I look over to him. “Aren’t you supposed to be at practice now?”

My eyes bulge out once I realize that I’m now late. Without saying anything, I run back out and to the building hoping to not get scolded by Seunghye. Of course, I get to practice ten minutes late and I get scolded. Thankfully, the rest of practice wasn’t that bad and went by faster than I thought. My mind stayed focus on dancing and singing with no distractions the whole time. When packing my bag getting ready to head back, I check my phone to see if I got any text messages or missed calls. I first see a text message from Onew asking me to pick something up at the supermarket on my way home. I then check to see if I have any missed calls, and find that I have three. ‘Who would be calling me that many times?’ My question is answered before I even look at who it is because Minho then calls me. ‘Oh my gosh…I forgot to text him.’

I take a deep breath before answering, “Yoboseyo?”

“Kate-ah?” I get a little chill run up my spine hearing his voice through the phone.

“Ne, I just finished practicing for today and I’m on my way back now.” I’m not sure if he’s mad or not so I say my words carefully.

There’s a pause before he talks, “Arasseo, get back safely.”

“Ne, annyeong.” After I say that, Minho hangs up. ‘Ugh, Kate you’re so stupid.’ Before going back to the dorm, I first need to stop by the store for Onew. What I need to get is just one of his favorite snacks since he says they don’t have it in Japan. While browsing for his snack in the store, I remember when I asked Onew to pick up some things for me. I still feel a little bad for making him pick up my personal items, it was embarrassing for me, but from how he sounded through the phone, he was feeling worse. At the same time, it kind of made me happy that Onew was willing to do it instead of just ignoring it, it means we’re close. Once I exit after purchasing his snacks, I walk at a slow pace not looking forward to going back to the dorm. ‘I wonder if Minho’s mad. I’ve only seen him mad once at Jonghyun. From what I saw…it’s kind of scary.’

I finally arrive back at the dorm and when entering its surprisingly quiet. 'Hm, I thought they would still be packing all panicked since they left it to the last day.' I walk towards the living room and see Onew, Key, Jonghyun, and Taemin comfortably watching TV.

The first one to notice me is Key, "Ah! You're back!" The other guys peel their eyes away from the television towards me. I just smile and nod as a response, since I'm feeling a little nervous about talking to Minho. Onew's eyes then drop to the bag I'm holding and gets up walking over to me.

"Is that the snack I asked for?" He points at the bag and has child-like smile on his face. I lightly chuckle at his excitement and hand him the bag. He happily takes it his smile grows bigger, "Gomawo, Kate-ah!"

"Munje obsseo." I say this smiling and then turn to the kitchen to put the other things at the supermarket away. Onew sits back down to watch TV with the others. While putting the groceries away, I can feel someone's eyes on me. When I glance over at the living room I make eye contact with Jonghyun, but I quickly go back to what I'm doing. In the next minute, I jump from feeling a hand tap my shoulder and when I turn around, I'm face to face with Jonghyun.

Before I can ask why he's in the kitchen, he speaks first, "Yah...gwenchana?"

I stare at him blankly before smiling, "Ne, you just surprised me a little."

"Ani, before that…you're quiet and seem a bit anxious about something. You and Minho-ah are really alike." He chuckles a little when saying the last comment.

"What do you mean?"

"Minho-ah was quiet and anxious a few hours ago making sure he had his phone with him. He checked it a lot while packing." Jonghyun then smirks, "My guess is that it was about you, right?" After hearing that, I just feel guilty and more nervous.

I sigh and ask Jonghyun, "Oppa, geu-neun eodisseo?"

He points towards the hallway, "In our room finishing packing for tomorrow."

"Arasseo." I thank him and then walk over to their room. When passing through the living room I now feel the guys’ attention on me. 'Why does it feel like I'm walking to my execution?' Slowly, my feet take me in front of the guys' room. I can hear footsteps and drawers opening and closing on the other side of the door. I take a deep breath and then lightly knock on the door, but loud enough for him to hear.

It goes silent in the room and then a few seconds later he asks, "Nuguyo?"

"Neo..." I quietly say. I thought that I would have to repeat myself because I said it so low, but I didn't. Right after, I hear footsteps quickly come to the door and it flies open revealing a wide-eyed Minho.

Looking towards the ground, I start to apologize; "About calling you...Mianh-" I'm cut off suddenly when he grabs my arm and pulls me into a tight hug. I'm frozen because this is far from the reaction I assumed moments ago.

"I'm glad you're okay." Minho says this next to my ear while still hugging me.

"Mwo?" I'm now confused by the situation. Minho finally releases from the hug. He closes the door and guides me to sit on Onew's bed with him before speaking.

"I was worried because I thought ours fans might recognize you from yesterday. That was why I asked you to call me when you arrived at the building. When you didn't I thought something happened." Minho stares at the floor with his eyebrows furrowed while saying this.

The guilt in me grows and I shut my eyes tight, hands becoming fists, "Mianhae, oppa. I would've called, but I was late to practice and didn't get a chance to call you. I had no idea that you were so worried about me. Mianhae...changmal mianhae..." It's silent between us until he sighs and grabs one of my hands. I lift my head and look over to him. He gives me a small smile and does a light squeeze to my hand.

"Gwenchana."

"You're not mad?" I ask him hesitantly.

Minho shakes his head a little, "Ani, I'm just happy that you're fine." I relax happy that he’s not angry and smile. "Hajiman...did the walk you had this morning help you?"

"Ah, ne. It was just what I needed. Taemin-ah found me at the park and we talked."

"Ah…joah. So you're okay about yesterday?" He asks making sure.

I ponder the question before answering, "It's not the matter of being okay, it’s just that I've accepted the situation. I didn't like it, but I'll grow to get used to it in the future. It was scary, but as of right now, I'm fine." I finish my explanation with a reassuring smile towards Minho. He seems to be okay with my answer and nods. My mind then goes back to yesterday and how the fans thought I was Krystal. 'I still have to ask Minho about Krystal, but I don't think it's the right time.'

My face must have reflected what I'm thinking because Minho then speaks up, "Is there anything else bothering you?"

I quickly give him a smile, "Ani, it's just been a long day and I'm tired. I should let you finish packing so you all can go to sleep." I stand up and head for the door, but I feel Minho's hand grab my wrist stopping me. Turning back towards him, I see him stand up with his head down.

Minho looks at me and he looks hurt, "Wae? Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

I'm taken aback by his question, but I still keep myself in check, "What do you mean?" He lets go of my wrist letting my arm drop back to its side.

Minho does a heavy sigh while his fingers run through his hair before speaking, "It's obvious there's something wrong, but I don't know why you're not telling me. We just started dating, but we've known each other long enough to talk about our problems. You talked to Taemin-ah about yesterday, but not me. Why can't you tell me what's wrong, Kate-ah? Can't you tell me?" His voice slowly got louder with each word. I can tell from his expression that he's slightly annoyed, angry, and upset.

I look towards the ground and say, "Ani."

"Wae!?" Minho firmly asks me

By this point, I myself start getting annoyed, "I don't want to! Stop pushing me to talk about something when I clearly don't want to right now! You were busy and Taemin-ah just happened to be there when I felt like talking! Just be patient and when I want to talk I'll talk!"

"Well it seems like you never want to say anything to me! I'm your boyfriend, but I feel like you're always hiding things from me! I'm supposed to help you, but you're not letting me do that!" He yells back at me.

"Well, you're just going to have to wait until you come back from Japan to find out!"

"I probably won't even care by then!"

"Fine!" I yell while storming out of the room.

"Fine!"

"Have a good trip!" I shout at him before slamming the door and stomping to my room slamming that door shut too. I leap towards my bed, put my face in a pillow and scream letting out my frustration. For the rest of the night I stay in my bed trying to fall asleep and secretly hoping I would hear a knock on my door. My eyes start to grow heavy after an hour and I go into a deep sleep.

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

Learn some Korean~!

Bali! - Hurry!

Oppa, geu-neun eodisseo? - Oppa, where is he?

*Sobbing* I'M SORRY!!!! Oh my gosh! I haven't updated since January! At that time my family and I lost a family member, my dog Sam. A lot of things happened this year, with me and in the korean entertainment world. Part of the long hiatus was because I had things going on and the other is I didn't have any inspiration to write for this story. It's unfair to you guys that you subscribe and I just abandoned it for so long, especially after I left you guys with a cliff-hanger! I'm such a jerk! *Bows deeply* I'm sorry and I'm very thankful that you guys are still subscribed despite my terrible actions. Thank you all so much! I can't promise that you'll have an update every week as of now because I have classes and it's close to finals, BUT I'm never going to do a long hiatus again. Since I'm really rusty with writing this story, I hope you leave comments to tell me how it is, but I can understand if you guys don't want to comment. Tell me how your year was! What have you guys been up to? Anything interesting? I hope you are all doing well! Once again, thank you<3

P.S. - I have some news! I've started a kpop blog (no not tumblr) not too long ago! It's basically an opnion blog on new things that happen in the k-entertainment world. I might expand it to doing reviews and korean lessons, depends. I'll leave the link here if you want to check it out and maybe even share it with others: omoharuharu.blogspot.com