"I don't need to explain anything to you." Sua said in a cocky tone while glaring at Hyoyeon and Victoria. The pair had cornered Sua after one of Victoria's performances. Determined to get answers out of her they dragged Sua into one of the less popular dance rooms and locked the door.

"Yes you do. Like why you're all of a sudden so close with Taemin." Hyoyeon quipped.

" We were always close." Sua said slyly

"But come on Sua you guys hung out but always with the rest of us. You two alone have had only like what, one or two conversations? " Victoria jumped in

"Well things change." Sua said defensively

"Not in a few days!" Hyoyeon yelled in frustration

" WHY are you guys attacking me!? Remember YOU said you would respect me!" Sua said letting her temper get to her

"When the HELL did we say that!?" Hyoyeon shouted back

"Remember we all agreed we should respect Taemin's choice...? And right now it's me. So go ahead apologize and show me some of that so called respect. I can wait. I mean I've been doing it since I got into SM." Sua said bitterly. Her usually soft demure face had contorted into that of an angry one with her light brown eyes glaring at Victoria and Hyoyeon.

"Wait a second. So this is all for our respect?" Victoria said scrunching her eyebrows in confusion

"No-I mean... yes . Well kind of. I mean of course Taemin is important-" Sua started failing to articulate herself

"So this is how you earn respect? If anything you should have just stayed mad at Minzy. And another thing, you knew I liked Taemin and here you are going after him without even warning me or clarifying. " Hyoyeon added

Victoria could only roll her eyes "Seriously? This again? Look Taemin belongs to neither of you guys. I mean what about him and Minzy?"

"Who cares. She's insignificant now. She's just standing in my way. I mean give it some time, Taemin will forget about her" Sua said in a faux confident tone.

"Are you sure about that...? " Hyoyeon asked with venom in her voice "I mean it would be easier to get rid of and forget about you."

"Okay guys lets just try to calm-" Victoria tried to interject

"No. I want to hear what Hyoyeon has to say." Sua said forgetting about keeping her cool

"But-"

"Well to me," Hyoyeon started talking over Victoria "You're just a bitter wannabe. I mean in case you didn't notice we only tolerated you back at SM."

"Really is that why you let me in on all your little secrets and crushes and-"

"How naive are you....?" Hyoyeon smirked " The company couldn't handle anymore bad press. I mean with all the member leaves and contract issues, news about a trainee being 'bullied' by senior artists would have been a death sentence. So the CEO told us to look after the trainees more so they wouldn't go whining to the press or their parents"

Sua tried to remain strong but her demeanor faltered when Hyoyeon finished. All this time she thought she had earned their respect. That she had shown them she was worthy enough to be around them, but it was all a lie.

"We- Well I don't even care " Sua spoke in a weak voice.

"Really? Those pathetic tears in your eyes say otherwise" Hyoyeon remarked while pointing at Sua's glistening eyes

"You- You're just a- a huge bi--"

"GUYS!" Victoria finally shouted "This is stupid! Why are we fighting each other? Look you can say whatever you want Hyoyeon but we all know we considered Sua a friend. I did- I mean I do too. I mean yeah she's a little overly ambitious sometimes, but it's not like we weren't when we were trainees."

"Whatever, I don't need your pity" Sua said looking down at the ground since she was unable to look the other two in the eyes.

"No listen Sua. We do care about you or at least I still do . We're sorry if we made you feel inferior or anything, but you have to know you can't just come in as a trainee and get everything you want. You have to work for it. And you can't just act out when things don't go your way. " Victoria told her sternly

When Sua remained quiet Victoria sighed and continued, "Look theres really no point in arguing . Sua, you know Taemin likes Minzy. Hyoyeon, you had plenty of time to have him and it didn't happen so let it go."

Hyoyeon scoffed in the background at Victoria's remark

"We came here together as SM artists to dominate. Fighting sure isn't going to help, right?" Victoria looked to her side and saw Hyoyeon reluctantly nodding.

"So..." Hyoyeon started not sure how to conclude things

"Sooo truce?" Victoria said with a smile and extended hand towards Sua.

Sua looked up and returned Victoria's smile. After a short pause she spoke.

"Go to hell." she stated simply as her smile turned into a scowl and she shoved past Victoria, unlocked the door , and walked out. Behind her Hyoyeon and Victoria were left dumbstruck and unsure about what would happen later.

___________________________________________________________________

"....Taemin...hi" Minzy had managed to get out between all her stammering.

"Well I'll just leave you two to talk..." Kai said walking off , making sure to keep his distance from Taemin "And by the way it's not what it look like. " he said in a small voice as he passed Taemin.

Taemin only glared at Kai as a response. He then focused his attention on Minzy.

"Let me get this straight. You can talk to Kai who you were pissed at since he told the others, but when it comes to me....All you can do is ignore me ? " Taemin said in a cold tone

"That's not right Taemin... Look I tried to talk to you! But you had Sua on your tail like a freaking lap dog" Minzy answered

"Really? How about those past few days before your match with Bora or whoever. You couldn't even look at me. You sure as hell didn't make any effort then!" Taemin said getting mad "What was I supposed to think? That suddenly you wanted to talk? A few calls wouldn't fix things Minzy and anyway I thought you were probably calling to break up officially. " he finished looking down sadly.

"Then why didn't you just talk to me!? Why keep assuming things!? " Minzy yelled

"Because YOU said you wanted your space! If you didn't want it you shouldn't  have said that. I was just doing like you asked and yet you're making me the bad guy! I'm not a mind reader Minzy. Was I supposed to guess when you were ready to talk after you ignored me for days?" Taemin asked letting his frustrations out.

"You... you-!" Minzy started but couldn't finish

"I what Minzy? I'll let you have that I told ONE person about us. But other than that I didn't do anything wrong. You were the one ignoring me first."

Minzy stopped to think as she realized Taemin was right. Even though Sua may have told him something strange or not true she herself didn't help the situation by ignoring Taemin. She thought it would be the best thing to do, but now she realized how damaging it really was. She continued to stand there with tears gathering in her eyes as she looked down at the floor to avoid Taemin.

"Look," he sighed "Will you just break up with me already so I can stop feeling dumb for hoping we sill have a chance together?"

"Taemin..' Minzy said looking up "But... I don't...I want to- I mean I just"

"I get it. You don't want to be seen with me, you don't want to worry about the press... It's always the same. I guess maybe though it wasn't right of me to try and force you. If you didn't want to be with me I couldn't force you.  " Taemin said sadly

"I just thought we could...I mean we were happy right? I guess I thought we'd be happier if we didn't have to dress like shadows and duck and cover every second we were on a date."

"Taemin just listen.." Minzy started slowly not sure where to start "I'm sorry." she finally said

Taemin could only stare in surprise

"This is all my fault. I'm sorry I was never brave enough to just be with you. It was never you, the media, or anyone's fault. It was just me. I kept using everything as an excuse because I was scared. But then... then "Minzy said her voice quivering as she spoke "...I real- realized that you were more important than all of that. And that what we had or have hopefully, is more special. There's no use in worrying about people who don't like you anyway. Just like you said. "

Taemin continued to stare at Minzy somberly

"And...and I'm sorry for ignoring you. I just... I just guess it was me being scared again. I know it's a little late, and maybe the dumbest question right now. But...do you... do you think we could go back to us again? Just being silly, having our ice cream dates, and just being together..." Minzy spoke in a more stable tone and got more excited as she continued " You know all the things we loved- I mean that we love, minus being shadows." Minzy finished with a timid smile on her lips.

Taemin remained stoic for what seemed like a long pause. He looked down at the floor then back up again at Minzy as if considering how to respond. Minzy felt her heart shake as he took his time responding. Her small smile got weaker and weaker as the time ticked by. She thought all it would take was voicing her feelings, but maybe once again she was wrong.

"Well.... it's not the biggest or most elaborate apology but I guess it will do. " He said breaking into a smile and stepping forward to embrace Minzy in his arms. He let her head rest on his shoulder as his arms encircled her.

"I mean you could have at least tried to bribe me. " Taemin continued to tease

Minzy could only roll her eyes and wipe at them while her head was resting on his shoulder.

"You're so cheesy" Minzy teased after regaining her composure.

"But you love it. " Taemin bantered back smiling

"You know what I'd really like is for two things to happen" Minzy said pulling away from Taemin to look up at his eyes.

"Whats that?" Taemin asked taking her hand to it against his face.

"Well one, for both of us to make it to the end.. Wouldn't it be nice if we had the final dance in the competition together? I mean there are only a few matches left" Minzy mentioned

"I guess that's true. I didn't realize how fast everything went by.  I mean even the semi finals are coming up soon. Guess I was too busy with you, but now that everything is fixed. I'm sure we'll both have no trouble getting to the  end. " Taemin answered confidently

"And especially now since we won't be worried about anyone catching us or what people will say right?" Taemin asked for confirmation.

"Right." Minzy sighed with a content smile on her face.

" Anyway what's the second thing?" Taemin asked suddenly remembering

"Oh well that's easy. Lose your guard dog Sua." Minzy said jokingly but still with a serious expression on her face.

Taemin laughed loudly after seeing Minzy's jealous expression , "Don't worry she's not important now." he said leaning in closer to Minzy

"And besides...I'm all yours." he whispered before leaving her breathless with a passionate kiss.

*Alright another step closer to the end of the story. Now I can say for sure there will be two more chapters left.One of them though is kind of a special or intermission between all the drama and the finals. It will give the perspective of other characters besides Minzy and Taemin. Anyway as usual please leave lots of comments! And I'm curious what you guys think of Sua. I didn't think she'd become this major in the story but you never know I guess.....She was just interesting to use. But anyway do you feel sympathy for her or does she deserve it for her bad attitude? Tell me in the comments!