It´s a Monday afternoon and SHINee has just returned home from the studio after recording some of their upcoming Korean songs. The rain is pouring down outside as they enter their dorm, all of them wants to get their wet jackets of quickly. They´re all tired and beat after a hectic day so once they entered the dorm all scatter to rest.

“Are you not going to bed Key?” Onew asks the younger SHINee member as he´s in the doorway to their bedroom.

“No, I´ll check my mail first.” Key answers with a tired sigh.

Key sits down in the sofa and takes forth his small laptop. His face glows in the darkness as he turns on the device. It takes some moments before he´s able to log into his mail but dark brown eyes widen for a moment before a smile grows on Key´s lips. His eyes are glued on one specific mail : New Chapter, Chapter 10 of “What about my Dream?”.

Key makes a thrilled gesture but makes sure to keep quiet since the others are trying to sleep. It´s hard since he got so happy over the update. Ever since his Super Junior hyungs told him to start reading fafiction he´s been following this story about him on a site for fanfics about Asian idols. Key heard that there are all kinds of stories about them on the net: some to be aware of and some to enjoy. He found a story with several short oneshots about him and he couldn´t stop reading once he started. He first thought it´d be awkward to read what his fans write about him, he stumbled upon some scary fics, but this story is different. Key starts reading the new chapter with a smile on his face. His tiredness is long forgotten.

Taemin wakes up in the middle of the night for no reason, he groans loudly as a complaint. The youngest SHINee member turns around to look at the clock. It shows 02:12 in the morning. Another groan. Taemin closes his eyes again in an attempt to return to his dream world but it´s impossible so he decides to go and get something to drink. Some warm milk can do miracles, he ponders to himself. That´s also when he notices that a certain young man´s bed is empty. Eyes widen as Taemin hear a strange sound from the living room. Taemin makes his way there quickly with an alarmed expression on his face. Key´s crying. The older man is sitting in the sofa, hand covering his mouth as tears fall down his cheeks. It surprises Taemin a lot.

“Hyung, what´s wrong!?” Taemin asks him in a hurried whisper.

Key flinches at the sound of Taemin. He didn´t see the other boy come at all. A surprised gasp leaves Key´s lips as he wipes away some of his tears. He doesn´t want Taemin to see this side of him. It´s a side he didn´t think he had in the first place.

“The story was updated…” Key explains in a shaky voice.

Taemin feels relived that it wasn´t anything serious but he tilts his head to the side in confusion at the answer.

“A story I´ve been reading lately.” Key explains further. “One about me.”

Taemin nods his head before he makes an uncomfortable grimace. He has heard of the stories their fans has written about them and he can´t lie and say that all of them are pleasant reading. He knows that his Super Junior hyungs likes to please their fans by making the fanfictions as real as they can get on stage. He shivers at the thought. So what kind did Key read? I didn´t know he liked that kind of thing…,Taemin ponders to himself. He doesn´t need to ask though because Key starts to explain it further.  

“Sometimes, I feel as if the writer knows me inside and out because everything is so nicely described and true to my emotions….” Key explains as he wipes

away his last tears while doing gestures with his hands. “I know it´s impossible though… no one at SM could do such a thing without getting into trouble.”
Taemin shrugs a little again. He can´t understand the feeling his friend tries to describe. He looks at Key with a clouded expression on his face. Key has always been a person that is easily touched by things, but he seldom cries. The only time Taemin has seen him cry like this was during their first concert in Japan. Tears of happiness and bliss. This story must be something special to make Key cry like that.

“Anyway, hyung… you should sleep now. We´re getting up in…”Taemin checks the clock on the wall. “…in four hours….”

“Yes, I´ll go to bed soon…” Key murmurs with a nod of his head. Soon, not now.

Taemin shakes his head with a teasing smile on his lips. “Seriously hyung…reading is good for you´ll only hurt your eyes if you read this late, in this darkness.” Taemin complains.

“Yes yes…” Key shrugs. “Don´t give me orders, I´m your hyung!”

Taemin sighs and shrugs once again before he returns to bed after his glass of warm milk. He doesn´t notice his white, milk mustachio on his upper lip at all. Key chuckles a bit.  Key is left alone in the living room again and he doesn´t move an inch towards the bedroom: he continues reading. Eyes scan the Author´s Note at the end. The writer always writes a personal message at the end of each chapter. They´re random, short messages but Key always enjoys reading them because that´s the only way he can get a glimpse of the author´s life and feelings. Who is this person? The question echoes in Key´s mind as his eyes move over the text once more.

The author, who is a woman (Key checked her profile), never writes about romance or intimate things about him, she only mentions a person who you cannot name or see throughout her stories that helps and guides Key through hardships. The character she created has no face: she created the woman so everyone could relate to her or be her. But it´s hurtful because this girl with no face can never reach him: she is just there, helping him silently while he´s living his life in ignorance. The main character is suffering with feelings she can´t express and she´s too kind to even think about it. She´s caring too much about Key to even approach him: to make her existence known. Key shivers. He never thought his fans saw him like that: like an unreachable essence. It´s like the author cares about him too much to even think about being with him in anyway. He respects that but it also makes his chest ache in a longing manner.

Key can feel her strong emotions through her short stories. It´s like she knows what to write to move people. It´s a gift and it has made him cry, laugh and smile countless times. Key looks at the watch once again as he´s done with the story. Eyes widen and he curses himself for letting himself get side-tracked this late. Or do you say early? He shrugs as he thinks it was worth it. Key turns of his computer and heads of to dream land.  He got a very pleasant, but short, dream.

The muffled sound of an English pop song can be heard as Key plugs in his earphones. Lips part in a big tired yawn. Sleepy eyes stare at the old buildings passing by as the mini-bus takes him, and the rest of SHINee, back to the dorm. They´ve been recording a commercial on the countryside so it´s a quite long way back. A sigh leaves his lips. It´s Monday and he know that she has updated the story as usual. He wants to read is straight away but this trip will take ages. He glances at the other members: Jonghyun is in the front seat talking with the driver, Minho and Taemin is sitting behind Key fast asleep and Onew seems to be busy with his game. Key takes out his cell phone and uses it to check his email.

I´m obsessed. The thought enters his mind. Key smiles as he reads the short chapter. His chest feels so warm.

“Key, why are you smiling like that?” Jonghyun asks him with an awkward laugh as he looks at Key over his shoulder.. “Creepy…”

“Haha I read something funny.” Is his short answer.

Key continues to smile as he reread his favorite parts of this chapter. His heart gets comfortably warm. What kind of girl is she? She seems to be a really caring fan to write such a story…. Has she come to our conserts? Have I passed her by in the streets? All kinds of thoughts run through his mind as he starts to think about it. This is strange: Key has never cared about someone he has never met before. It makes him slightly thrilled but also a bit wary. This girl could be anyone.

He puts down his phone when he notices that the rest of SHINee roll their eyes at his behavior. Key shrugs at them with a sigh.

Days, weeks has passed and Key has become a lot more into the writer. He has now read all of her stories and fallen in love with her writing style. He sometimes wonders if he even has a crush on this writer he never met. The need to speak with her grows too great and he can´t take it anymore. Key creates an account at the site to contact his writer. Key scratches his head in thought as he chooses his nickname: FashionistaKey. He grins to himself. No one will know it´s really him even though the name is quite obvious. He smirks evilly. He´ll seem to be just like one of his fans. The smirk fades as he logs in and searches for his writer. He clicks the bottom to send her a Private Message. Key closes his eyes, a deep breath leaves his lips, eyes open again and he starts to write. His heart is beating fast after he pushed the send button, delivering a short but emotional message to the girl.

It took some days and Key almost gave up looking from an answer from her in his inbox but one day it was there. He almost got a heart attack upon seeing that mail there. He jumped up and down, waves his arms and squeals a bit before he actually sits down to read it.

To FashionistaKey: “Hello ~ ! I´m so happy over your message. I´m glad you liked my story that much. I feel honored! >////<”

Oh, a blushy face! Key thinks to himself while he feels how his own cheeks grow warmer. He´s quick to compose a reply. Key can´t help but squeal like a girl as he sends it. Key shuts off his laptop with a content smile on his face. He´s about to venture out in the kitchen when his eyes meet Jonghyun´s. The one year older man looks at him with a weird expression on his face.

“You´re acting strange lately.” He comments. “Grinning happily to yourself…it´s seriously creepy.”

Key laughs. “Nah…” As he shrugs with a teasing smirk on his lips.

The two of them starts to exchange messages on the fanfiction site and Key is surprised over how friendly the writer is. She seems to really care about her readers enough to spend time to write to them. However, Key secretly hopes she´s not exchanging PMs like this with anyone but him…. Key frowns at himself. He´s in way too deep already. The rapping idol shakes his head as he feels how his heart is pounding in his chest.

One day, she asked him which SHINee member he liked the best. Key felt as if she was asking that as if she was presuming he was a she. It made Key a little uncomfortable so he decided to reveal his gender to her. He´s been careful not to talk too much about himself in fear to reveal that he´s actually SHINee´s Key but it´s tempting to open up to her. He can be honest with her, when it´s about emotions, but not about who he really is. It´s a bit sad.

To___: “Actually, I´m a guy… so I don´t like SHINee like that. I respect them for their hard work though, so I became a fan. I really think Key is cool, what do you think?”

His heart is pounding, fingers trembling and he´s not able to breathe properly as he sends the PM. He both longs and fears to read her reply. What if she dislikes him? Well, her image of “Key”? Just what is he expecting? Key´s eyes widens when he gets a reply just a few minutes later.

To FashionistaKey: “Sorry, I always presume my readers are female, but SHINee sure has a lot of male fans as well! I´m actually glad, I´ve always wanted to meet a male fan they don´t seem to be as obsessed… Key? I like all SHINee members, and I think Key seems to be a fun guy. He seems very fierce and cool. I´d love to go shopping with him.”

Key´s cheeks redden. She thinks he´s cool and fierce. He makes a small happy dance to himself before he looks around awkwardly. Luckily no one saw him.  Shopping with him? That´d be so nice! He could help her find that kind of dress she described the other day. Key feels relived over hearing that she won´t ignore him because he´s male as well. His feelings for her are growing slowly: into something he might not be ready to accept. But what he does know and does accept is how much he wants to get closer to her.

After several weeks of PMing, they decided to talk more using KakaoTalk, an app for smartphones, and they got closer by each day by messaging each other on a daily basis. Key got to know that she´s actually a hobby novelist who´s trying to become a real author one day but she´s modest and is from time to time questioning her writing ability. Key makes sure he always encourages her when she´s down. He knows she can make it because she can move people with simple words. Key´s image of her is that she´s a strong independent girl that´s not afraid of saying what´s on her mind while she still can be very considerate and modest. It´s nice personality traits.

He loves how the two of them are messaging all the time. He longs to read her message while he´s practicing with SHINee. They´ve noticed that Key´s not that alert and eager anymore but none of them comments about it. Onew once said that he thought Key got himself a girlfriend and that he´d tell them when the time is right. However, all of them roll their eyes when Key´s phone keeps beeping and vibrating all the time. The sound is driving Jonghyun crazy.

Key is sitting in the bathroom, drying his hair, after a shower. He was just in the gym doing his regular exercises to keep in shape. His phone makes a sound and Key´s eyes widen as he reads her message. A blush colors his pale skin red as he sits there with the towel framing his face. Water falls from his hair to the ground as his eyes move over the hangul symbols over and over again.

“Can I get your phone number? I know this might be strange to ask, but it´d be nice… to actually get to know you….” Smily face.

Key bites his lower lip. Her question makes him unbelievably happy but his heart turns ice-cold quickly. He can´t give her his phone number because if she call she might recognize his voice. She´s a fan after all. His chest hurts at this. He doesn´t want her to just be his fan or for him to be just one of her hundreds of readers anymore but it´s a hard circle to break.  He hesitates as he starts to write the reply. The water is still dripping from his wet hair. There´s now a small puddle on the floor.

“Key, it´s time to go now!” Onew calls out suddenly. “The car is here!!”

Key flinches and almost drops the phone by surprise. He looks up only to see that Onew, Taemin, Minho and Jonghyun are standing impatiently in the doorway. The others are already fully dressed and ready to go back to the dorm. Key is up on his feet and starts to pull on his jacket and shoes after drying his hair for a bit.

“I´m coming!” He shouts in a hurry.

He runs out the door. Key puts his cell in his pocket after some pushing of buttons and slipping of fingers.

Days passed without another message. Key has constantly been opening and closing his cell phone to see if he got a reply from her. Nothing. Why isn´t she answering? Key is getting paranoid. Did his answer hurt her? His chest aches at the thought. He never wanted to hurt her but he´s afraid. His eyes widen when he realizes just how much he cares about her by seeing how messed up he´s just because of the lack of a reply. He didn´t know she´d mean this much to him. He doesn´t want this, their frail relationship, to end like this even though he´s not sure if he ever can get as close to her as he really wants.

“Hey, you´re obsessed with your phone lately…” Minho suddenly utters. He´s the only one brave enough to comment on Key´s strange behavior even though it seems like Jonghyun is the member that´s most irritated. “What´s wrong?”

“I...I´m waiting for a message.” Key tells him in a depressed manner.

“I see.” Minho nods.

“I´m afraid this person is avoiding me.” Key confesses.

“Do you like her?”

Key´s eyes widen a bit at the bold question. He looks at the ground in deep thought for a while. He looks a bit confused at first, which makes Minho a bit worried, but his gaze turns determined quickly.

“Yes, I think I do.” Key answers with a quick nod of his head. “No, I might even love her.”

“Then it´ll be worth the wait.” Minho tells him as he gives him a friendly pat on his shoulder.

Finally, KakaoTalk beeps to notice him about a new message. Minho flinches by the sudden sound but his surprise is exchanged to a smile when he reads Key´s happy face. The taller man gets up on his feet and leaves to give Key some privacy. Key reads the message quickly: eyes widening as he does so.

“Hey, I´m sorry for my last message. I guess I was a bit too pushy so I understand why you stopped writing to me. I just wanted to write a bit to you, talk to you, since I felt that we became so close… I wanted to become real friends… but that was maybe my own selfishness that was speaking?  
But would you…give me a chance?”

Key´s eyes widen at this. He must have accidentally closed KakaoTalk without sending the message and now she thinks he was angry at her because of her question. A strange sensation much like dread makes his whole being turn ice-cold for a moment as he realizes this. He writes an apology quickly, saying that he´d love to exchange phone numbers but that he´s still a bit too shy to talk with her on the phone. He says that he´s a text person, not a call person, with a smily face with its tongue out at the end of the message. She´s quick to reply and their message exchange is back to normal just like that.

“You should ask her out.” Minho tells him when he walks by.

Key is not as hesitant anymore so he simply answers: “Yeah…”

Key took Minho´s advice and asked her to meet him. He wrote something along the lines of that he´s a bad phone person and that he rather talk face to face. She agreed, saying something that she´d be nervous to meet one of her readers in real life but that she wanted to go. She also said that she´s worried what he´ll think of her. Key smiles weakly at this. He knows he´ll love her, no matter what, but he´s worried she´ll reject or change him when she gets to know FasionistaKey´s real identity.

Key knows that some fans would do anything to meet him, anything, and he wonders if she´ll be just like the rest when she realizes she has been talking with her idol this whole time. It scares him. She might even accuse him for lying to her and storm off angrily. However, he trusts her and believes that she´s different.  Key bites his lip. It´s not easy to fall in love when you´re famous. You don´t have the time do date properly, a lot of girls only wants your fame or money or you´re only surrounded by famous people of the opposite .  It´s difficult to trust people but Key has come to trust this writer with all his heart. He gave her a chance and he bet she´ll give FashionistaKey, no Key, a fair chance as well.

Key spots her right away. She stands there, with that blue scarf she told him she´d wear to make it easier for him to spot her. The wind makes her semi-long hair frame her pretty face beautifully. It takes Key´s breath away. He never wondered how she´d look like because he was so in love with her writing and personality already, but this… is unbelievable. His heart beats like crazy as he approaches her. She notices him and it feels like electricity runs through Key´s body as their eyes meet.

“Hi,____, It´s me…” He whispers breathlessly.

She smiles as she turns to him but her smile fades slowly. Her eyes widen. He´s wearing a scarf as well, a hat and a pair of sunglasses to hide his real identity from people but she sees through that immediately. is open wide.

“But you´re… ?” She starts in a low, surprised voice.

He smiles wryly at her. “I sorry I kept it from you, but I´m Kim Kibum… Key… of SHINee…” He whispers close to her ear: still trying to act normal so no one will notice him.

A blush covers her cheeks at the sudden closeness and Key is for a moment worried that she´ll act like a loud fangirl over him. But she doesn´t. She looks at the ground shyly, red as a tomato, but the smile on her face is radiating with confidence as she faces him. She seems embarrassed but thrilled about their meeting.

“And you read my fanfic? That´s so embarrassing…” She´s blushing like mad: it´s really cute, Key thinks. “I… Don´t know what to say…I…”

Key feels really relived. He smiles warmly at her and this makes her eyes go wide once again. “Let´s talk over something to eat, okay?”
She nods silently and follows Key as he leads her though the crowd. “But are you alright, being out here? People might recognize you.” She seems a bit uneasy.

Key can´t help but smile. A lot of girls would have glomped him if they were in her shoes, but she´s worried about him. She´s the one. His chest turns warm.

“I´m the master of disguise.” Key winks at her as he lower his sunglasses.

He takes her hand as he leads the way down the street. Her hand feels so small and nice in his bigger one and she doesn´t pull away, instead she squeezes his hand back confidently. It´s Key´s turn to be a little shy. He wonders if they look like a couple to others as they walk there hand in hand.
They sit down at a table at this quite old looking café. It has this Elvis feel to it. Key orders for both of them and she flushes red as he orders exactly what she loves the most: coke and chocolate cake. He is very considerate and gentle with her at first but then he notices that he doesn´t need to since she has such a strong personality. It doesn´t take long until he acts normal with her: like she was one of his old buddies. She laughs loudly as she talks with him and Key feels as if he´s drawn in by her passion and strength. He has always liked women that believed in themselves and doesn´t need to rely on someone all the time. He wants a girl that is independent and brave just like him.

She feels like a princess but this isn´t a fairytale: it´s reality and she can´t really grasp that. Key stares at her as she seems to space out.

“___, to be honest, I like you.” He tells her boldly, breaking the silence. “I haven´t been able to stop thinking about you since I first read your story and my

feelings for you keeps on growing stronger for each passing second.” Key tells her, it´s cliché but it sounds so sincere coming from his lips.

“But, how can you…?” She murmurs. “This is the first time we met…?”

Key smiles at her. He loves how realistic and down to earth she is. He knows that if she accepts him she´ll do it with all her heart and not because he´s Key. She´ll accept Kim Kibum.

“It´s hard to explain, but I feel as if I´ve known you a long time…” He scratches his head with a shy look on his face. “You don´t…like me?”

She looks uncomfortable for a while. Key´s heart drops. Key regards her as she takes a sip of her coke in silence. He doesn´t want to pressure his writer anymore so he lets the subject slip as he enjoys his strawberry cake after an awkward laugh. He flinches a bit as it´s her turn to break the silence.

“To be honest I felt something for you when we were exchanging texts and such… I can´t deny that.” She answers honestly, boldly. “I´m just scared that I´ll say yes to you only because you´re my idol. I don´t want that.”

She is thinking exactly the same as him. Her worry about her own feelings makes Key believe she won´t accept him because he´s famous but that she´ll seriously consider a relationship with him. It makes him believe she indeed is the one he has been looking for. A big smile grows in his lips and he´s able to laugh sincerely now.

“You don´t have to decide now. I´m happy just being here with you. Let me accompany you for some shopping.” Key beams since he remembers that you once wrote that you´d like to go shopping with Key the idol.

“W-wait, won´t I become a burden to you…?” She wonders hesitantly.

“You´ll never be a burden to me.” He looks her straight in the eyes. “I´ll treasure you because I know that all hardships will be worth it. I wouldn´t ask you to go out with me if I hadn´t considered the consequences already.”

She seems to be in deep thought for a while before she looks up at him with a smile.

“You were asking me out?” She asks him with a teasing smirk on her face: trapping Key in a verbal corner.

He laughs at her when he realizes this. She´s right: he didn´t ask her out properly so he decides to do just that since it´s seems that´s what she wants from him. He looks her in the eyes. “Please, won´t you go out with me?”

She blushes wide-eyed at this. “….Okay, I´ll…date you.” She answers in a very embarrassed but happy manner.

Key´s smile grows a lot at her answer. He looks surprised but very happy. She said yes! Key takes her hand in his as they sit there at the small table. She doesn’t withdraw her hand. Their fingers are now intertwined tightly.  They look each other in the eyes for quite a long time.

“Then, let me get you that dress you wanted…” Key suggests with a gentle smile. “And I want to make some memories with you.”

“Yeah, let´s.” She nods. "But I´m not letting you buy me anything, I can pay for myself." She gives him a wink.

The two of them get up on their feet while still holding hands and they make their way towards the main street. Who said fiction couldn´t turn into reality? That girl with no face finally reached him and the sad circle is broken. Key smiles brightly at the thought. He´ll treasure his writer forever.