Hi lovelies! so as promised... I'M BACK!!!... and of course, with Chapter 12 ^_^ So yep I'm (kinda) enjoying our sembreak at this very moment, and thank God I was able to finally, at least, accomplish and finish a chapter of this fanfic :) I've missed writing a lot tbvvh :( I hope you'll enjoy this piece of update! And again, for the millionth time, thank you very much for all the reads, comments, and OMG, votes! It has reached a hundred thank you so so so much! In return, I've made this chapter quite longer than usual hihi :) I hope you still wouldn't get tired reading and waiting for my updates. So I've said a lot lol. Thank you once again and I hope you'll like this!

PS. for the last part, Taemin will be singing something. It's from the OST of TTBY entitled "U". It was a song sang by him. I placed both the romanized and english translation there so you'd somehow understand it if you're not familiar with it, though I'd recommend you to listen to it once you reach that part ^_^

Thank you~!

"Wow. This place is... huge." She muttered as she gazed at the vast land around them. "Why are we here oppa? What is this place?"

Minho looked around and smiled. "This was where I used to play soccer before, back when I was younger." He gazed at his foot, wherein the ground which is expected to be covered with grass, is now crusted with snow.

"Wow. Really?" Sulli can't help but feel amazed. "Well, why are we here? Don't tell me you want to play now." She said.

He traveled his eyes towards her but didn't reply.

She frowned. "Yah, do you really want to play?"

A smirk formed on his lips and he chuckled. "Of course not! Why, is it bad to stare?" He smugly spoke and reached for her and pulled her with him on a bench. They stared at the landscape before them in silence.

Suddenly, Sulli remembered something. "Oppa?"

"Hmm?" He replied.

"Why were you at my house the day San Yi got sick?" She asked. She's been longing to ask this question to him ever since, but this always seemed to leave her mind every time she'd get a chance to ask him.

"Oh... That?" He pursed his lips. "You left something inside the plane the last time, and I was planning to give it back to you personally, thinking that it might be a treat for your brother."

He hesitated for a moment but continued.

"Well... err-- I kinda asked Amber your whereabouts if you're wondering how I knew where your house is." He finally said, with a tinge of embarrassment on his voice.

"You had it? Her eyes widened. "Was San Yi able to see it?"

He nodded.

"Thank God..." She sighed. "Thank you oppa."

"Sure sure no worries." He said.

Silence then stretched around them as they ran out of words. Sulli stole a glance at him, and observed him as he stare into the place before him.

He looks so calm and prince-like, she thought.

Indeed he is beautiful. Looking at him... she wanted to touch his hair and feel its texture, to know if his silky-looking brown locks feels the same as how it looks. She wanted to touch his face, and wish she could make him warm by her touch. She wanted to reach for his hand, and fit her fingers to the spaces between his own; and that alone could give her such happiness even if it's just a simple contact.

But then she remembered her.

Why are you so insecure of her? There's no evidence Minho likes her anyway, her mind protested. Simple glances aren't enough to make you conclude that...

He clearly sees me as his dongsaeng, nothing more, she told herself, this thought clawing into her heart. And besides, the company forbids it. I'll be doomed once they knew about it. Probably make fun of me too.

"Hey... I want to go somewhere. I'm sure you'll be happy to go there." He said, grinning.

This broke her off her daze.

"Huh? But what if our managers look for us again?" She asked.

"We'll be quick. Since it's my birthday, it's a day-off for me, but don't worry for your case; I'll return you right away. Come on, wear your hood." He reached and pulled her coat's hood over her head. "But I'll have to stop by some store first, then we'll head there, is that okay?"

 

"Oppa. Why are we at my house?" She asked, confused.

She suddenly remembered San Yi, and she once again had to reassure herself that he's okay now. She called her older brother several times these past few days after the incident, and fortunately, she received a piece of good news knowing that her younger brother had recovered from his fever, and was able to go home yesterday healthy.

"Noona!" She heard her brother called out.

"Omo!" She bent down and pulled San Yi in a hug. Tears suddenly stung the back of her eyes, but she forced herself to suppress it and smiled at her brother.

On the house's threshold, Sulli's mother was staring at them, quite stunned to see her daughter visiting them without saying a word beforehand.

"Jinri!" She beamed a wide smile as she gestured her daughter to come inside. "You're just in time. We'll be having dinner! Why not come and join us?"

Mrs. Choi got back from the kitchen holding a plate of kimchi and passed it to them, quite excited and giddy to have her only daughter in their house once again. But with that, she can't help but feel curious why Sulli brought a man with her on her unexpected visit. Her daughter never have brought a boy with her in their house before, though she could only remember Sulli telling some stories about Heechul, which she knew as her daughter's only closest guy friend in work. But seeing this man, she had a feeling she'd seen him before, but she can't remember his name nor where she'd seen his face before.

"Jinri-ahhh..." Her mother started. "May you introduce me to this handsome young man you brought with you?" She smiled and gazed at Minho. Minho felt himself flush and bowed at Mrs. Choi. He actually planned to leave Sulli for a while to bond with her family, but her mother insisted he should come in and eat with them too. He tried refusing it, but it seems like her mother doesn't accept a "no" for an answer, leading him to give up eventually.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Choi for going here like this..." He spoke before Sulli could introduce him herself.

"I was just planning actually to check on San Yi, and brought Sulli with me so she could have a look herself... And it's a relief he's fine now." He bit his lip nervously.

"Oh... I see." Mrs. Choi was awed for a moment. "Perhaps were you... the one who rushed my son to the hospital?" She inquired.

It was Sulli who spoke and replied immediately. "Yes..." She smiled at Minho. "That's why I really owe him."

"Oh dear... thank you very much. I should have known." She paused. "I don't know how to repay you... You saved my son." Her mother's voice shook.

Sulli suddenly chuckled.

"Umma, can't you recognize him?" She asked.

"Huh?" Her mother's eyes narrowed at the boy in front of her.

"My name is Choi Minho. Nice to meet you... Mrs. Choi." Minho said, without any tinge of pride in his voice, and stood up and bowed again.

"Oh gosh." Mrs. Choi muttered, still stunned. "That's why you seemed so familiar! You're Minho from SHINee, am I right?" She placed her hand on . "You're definitely more handsome in person. What a very fine man."

Minho chuckled nervously, his cheeks turning bright pink. "Thank you for welcoming me into your house, Mrs. Choi. I must say... I could see where Sulli inherited her beauty." He smiled.

"You think so?" Her mother laughed. "Thank you so much, dear... Well, why don't you eat now? You probably have somewhere else to go. Eat a lot okay?" She smiled at Minho. "And by the way, you should start calling me auntie from now on."

Minho grinned at this and nodded.

She tapped her daughter's back and went back to the kitchen to get some more food.

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Krystal switched the channels absentmindedly, annoyed with the fact that not even a single show could capture her interest. She eventually shut it off, and laid back on the couch with a sigh.

"Krystal, is Sulli not home yet?" Victoria then emerged from her room, checking her watch thoughtfully.

"Jinri?" This immediately hooked her interest. She shook her head.

"Perhaps where do you think could be her possible whereabouts?"

She shook her head once again.

Krystal bit her lip and suddenly remembered the last time she and Sulli spoke to each other upon hearing the other girl's name, and guilt immediately stabbed her heart. Her last conversation with her didn't really went well, she recalled, because she was so hot tempered and bothered by a lot of things that time...

... bothered most especially of what happened that night. She didn't know why she felt so frustrated and sort of, relieved, when she heard it. Her thoughts and emotions were all mixed up that time she wasn't able to hide her frustrations and spilled it all out on Sulli -- to her best friend.

"I'll look for her unnie." Krystal eventually announced and stood up.

"Oh, I'll come with you." Victoria reached for her scarf on the dining table. "I've been trying to contact her but she won't pick up." She frowned.

Krystal dismissed Victoria's offer and smiled. "No it's fine, I could manage. And besides," she sighed, "I would also want to talk to Sulli alone, if you don't mind."

"Oh." Victoria nodded. "Ok then. Just be careful, okay? And wear your hood before you walk out of the building."

Krystal reassured Victoria with a smile and took off.

She secured her hood over her head and face as she strode around the hallways of the building down to the ground floor. It was eerily silent, and so when she heard her phone ring violently inside her inner pocket, she jumped in surprise and felt her pulse quickened.

"H-hello?"

"Soojung. It's me. May I talk with you?"

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"Where's the birthday boy?" Kibum exclaimed. "I already have the cake here guys!"

Jonghyun scratched his head. "He said he'll be treating us soju."

"He didn't." Onew laughed. "You just presumed that."

"Well it's a norm when someone is celebrating his or her birthday." Jjong shot back.

The oldest just simply smiled at them. "He took care of something. Give him this day, it's his birthday anyway."

"Took care of what? Damn, he's probably on a date now! How about the cake?"

They all sighed.

The room was filled with silence for a moment until they noticed the youngest sitting on the couch quietly, his eyes focused on a piece of paper.

"What are you doing?" Key broke the silence and approached him.

"I'm memorizing a script." Taemin replied absentmindedly.

"A what?"

"Script. Shh, let me concentrate."

The older three ran behind him and gazed at the paper.

"I have something to say, so please listen very carefully. But before anything else, I need you to promise me that you wouldn't get mad at me... I hope we could still be friends." Jonghyun read.

"Yah! What is this? Are you going to confess to someone?" The shortest barked.

Key scrolled his eyes down the paper filled with Taemin's sloppy handwriting and stopped on the last sentence.

"...i like you." Key finished. "I like you." He repeated. Everybody was silent for a moment once again.

"Wait. What?"

"Who is she?"

"Are you dating now? Are you serious, like really really a hundred percent serious about this? About this girl?"

"Hyung!" Taemin's cheeks flushed. "Stop it." He sighed. "Fine, you guys wanna know who?"

He cleared his throat and touched his nape.

"Well... uh... I'm planning to ask her out, guys, and I think I'm now serious with regards to dating. I guess I'm now matured and manly enough." He chuckled nervously.

The members were too stunned to even make a sound of panic.

"I really do like her and hopefully I could bring her out tomorrow because I already know a perfect place for a date. Jinki hyung, Kibum hyung, Jonghyun hyung... I'd want to confess to Sulli."

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Sulli fiddled for her phone and noticed 4 missed calls from Victoria. Her eyes widened as she realized how late it was; it was nine forty-nine already. She bit her lip and stood up, anxiety building up inside her.

"Umma, I'm so sorry but I think we have to go. I wasn't able to ask permission from our manager that I'll be going out, I'm sorry."

Mrs. Choi wiped with a napkin. "Oh? So soon? But ok... I understand. Go back when you're free again okay?" She smiled and asked her youngest son to greet Sulli and Minho goodbye.

"Would you still want to stay, oppa?" Sulli asked Minho.

He shook his head. "Anniyo."

Minho strode towards San Yi and took something from his back. He then knelt down infront of the young boy and placed the item on his small hands. "I thought you might like cars, so I brought you one. This is a gift from Minho hyung. Promise me you'll take care of yourself always, arraso?"

San Yi grinned and wrapped his arms around Minho's neck and nodded. Minho patted his head one last time and stood up to bow his head at Mrs. Choi.

"Thank you very much for welcoming me into your house. It's a pleasure and a great honor to meet you. We'll be going now."

Minho and Sulli proceeded outside and waited for the door to close. The streets now were more abandoned and frosted with snow for a moment they thought it was the gloomiest thing they've ever seen.

Sulli then gazed at Minho silently with scrunched eyebrows and a questioning look. As soon as the other noticed it, he flushed and felt himself panicked.

"What's wrong?"

The other was taken a back. "Well I was wondering... where did you get that gift?"

"What?" Minho laughed. "The car? You were worrying about that?"

"Well I--"

"I didn't steal that if that's what you were thinking. We went by a store before coming here, remember?" He smirked.

"I like San Yi. It feels like I really have a little brother when I'm close to him. It's the first I've ever brought something for a kid you see, so it's quite overwhelming to see that he appreciated it. I hope he'd still remember me though."

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Taemin excused himself and promised to answer all of the members' questions once he comes back. All he could think about was his script and his look, as he sat waiting on the stairs outside the building's double doors, combing his hair with his frozen gloved fingers nervously. He attempted to fetch her from her dorm minutes ago, but then the oldest member in their group, Victoria, informed him that Sulli lately called back and said she was out for a while, though VIctoria assured him that she would be home any minute since an hour has already passed since she received the call.

He sighed deeply and weakly kicked the snow that crusted the tiled stairs, impatience now creeping inside him. He hummed in the air and sang to himself softly then, trying to lure his boredom away.

"I couldn't bear to say that I like you

Just being by your side like this was good enough

Yes, should I muster up some courage one more time?

Should I tell you how I feel?

You don't even know my heart and you just smile brightly"

(Neoreul johahandaneun geu mareul

Chama hal su eobseosseo

Geunyang idaero ni yeope isseodo joha

Geudae hanbeonman deo yonggireul naebolkka

Nae mameul jeonhaebolkka

Ireon nae mamdo moreugoseo manyang

Hwanhage utneun neo)

"Aish... you shouldn't have drink a lot."

"I did not!"

"Pabo, that glass was filled with beer didn't you notice?"

"I'm sorry... I swear I ordered a different drink. It was a mistake."

Taemin stopped short upon hearing two voices approaching. Instinctively, he hid behind a bush and peaked to see who they were.

The first voice, a man, chuckled lightly.

"Sulli wait you'll trip!" Taemin heard a light thud. Alarmed, he stood up and ran away from his hiding space.

I knew it it was her, Taemin thought.

"Sulli--!"

He immediately stopped his tracks and felt his throat tightened.

There right before his eyes, he saw Minho lying on the snow crusted floor, clutching a woman on his chest, and their faces were only centimeters apart.

"S-sulli...?"

Everyone went silent as they gaze at each other with wide eyes.

"Taemin..."

"H....h-hyung?"