It was a variety dance show. They were having a dance battle just for fun for all the performing groups. Being the lead dancer meant he was going up for sure, but that didn’t make him any less nervous. He still had so much to learn, and there were so many sunbaes here that some of his hardcore fans might say he danced better than, but in reality he really looked up to. Like Eunhyuk, who was entertaining the audience at the moment. Taemin wrung his hands nervously. Was he next? More than half the groups had gone up, and since Shinee was standing beside Super Junior, it probably meant that he was.

Motion to his left caught his eye. The YG family was there, which was rare, and Taeyang looked as if he was being pushed to the front by s. Taemin gulped. Taeyang was another person he looked up to; singing, dancing, a solo career; the guy had it all. As Eunhyuk finished, movement from that side caught the attention of the MC, who turned around and happily announced YG.

It seemed Taeyang was the shy type as well; he looked as if he was trying to convince another person to step up. Probably Seungri, who Taemin knew was the other dancer of Big Bang.

A figure stepped out, too slim and feminine to be a Big Bang member. She flowed to the music like any other dancer, but she had a certain flavor to her dancing that Taemin could only stare at in awe. There was just something unique about her transitions and the way she popped her body that Taemin couldn’t put his finger on. Her back was initially to him, but after a few minutes of dancing, Taemin could see the fierceness in her facial expressions clearly.

Taemin could vaguely hear the MC speaking in the background, and someone talking to him… his hyung? He wasn’t sure, but she was suddenly coming closer, until her face was right in front of him. She looked at him daringly and winked. And then with a flirtacious smile, she backed up, gracefully dancing back to her spot. Only then did Taemin clearly hear the dialogue around him.

“And it seems Shinee’s Taemin-ssi can’t wait for a shot at the dance floor…”

Hearing this, Taemin’s eyes flew wide open as he registered the MC’s words, and realized his hyungs were also trying to talk to him.

“Taeminnie, what are you doing?”

“Taemin-ah, you’ve been singled out, go!”

Still unsure of what was going on, he stepped out onto the empty space that made up the dance floor. He didn’t really need to know what was going on, he just needed to move to the music that was exploding out of the speakers. Absorbing the rhythms into his core, he reacted, and danced.

Then he was finished, with a cheer from the crowd. He smiled cutely and returned to his spot, biting his lip in retrospective thought. He wasn’t sure why, but he had messed up a little part in his choreography, not that it was noticeable. His mind had been a touch distracted, and it had somehow filtered out into his dancing.

The MC babbled something along the lines of Shinee’s maknae being cool and cute as Taeyang finally stepped out to amaze the audience, and then they were done. People were clapping and idols were bowing as they all made their way off stage. Minho was behind him as they were ushered with the crowd, and Taemin soon found himself backstage.

Idols were separating, heading to their respective dressing rooms, and Taemin realized he wasn’t sure where he was.

“Hyung, where…?”

Taemin turned around to no one. He’d lost Minho, along with the rest of Shine. He made a face and continued walking as he looked around for something that would lead him back to his room.

Eyes elsewhere, he turned a corner and bumped into someone, stumbling backwards and immediately bowing and apologizing.

“Aigo, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking!” he said quickly, still doing awkward bows.

“It’s alright. You’re Taemin-ssi. Shinee right?”

Taemin looked up, seeing a pair of sunglasses in the hands of the rapper leader from 2ne1.

“Yes.” He wracked his brain for a name. “Um… CL-ssi?”

She gave him a smile. “Chaerin is fine.”

“Oh! Chaerin-ssi.”

She laughed. “Taemin-ssi, you danced very well out there. You made our Minji-ah very jealous.”

Minji. Minzy. He knew that name, the maknae dancer from 2ne1, and the one that given him that wink. His heart thumped in his chest at the thought.

He quickly waved both hands in front of him. “I wasn’t, not compared to Minzy-ssi.”

Chaerin was grinning at him, and he could see the hint of playfulness in her smile. “Well, it was nice to meet you Taemin-ssi.”

She waved and walked off. Taemin watched her leave, turning and taking a step right into Minji. Minzy?

“I’m sorry!” they both chorused at the same time, doing simultaneous bows and lightly knocking their heads. Taemin quickly took a step back and raised his head to caress the spot; the pain was already fading away. He looked up to see her hand also by her head, her short brown hair falling messily in a way that Taemin found surprisingly attractive.

He gestured to her head. “Uh…”

She nodded, understanding him before he could even say a word. “I’m fine, you?”

His head bobbed up and down. Stupid stupid, he told himself. Why would you bow when you were right in front of her?

“Taemin-ssi? From Shinee.”

He nodded again. What was wrong with his voice? He swallowed.

“You’re Minzy-ssi…”

“You can call me Minji,” she replied shyly. There was no hint of the flirtatiousness she had going on from before.

“Oh! You can call me…” He hesitated. His stage name was his real name. “…Oppa…” The word slipped out before he could even process the thought. He bit his lip and hoped she hadn’t heard him.

“Oppa?”

Or not. Wrong time to be bold Taemin, especially when you’re not even sure if you’re older than her. Are you?

“What year…”

“ ’94.”

Relief flooded him. At least he was older. “I’m a ’93.”

Minji nodded as they stood in the hallway in silence.

“You were really good,” he blurted out awkwardly.

“So were you.” That shy smile again. “You— ”

“Minji-ah!” a voice called down the hallway.

“Chaerin-unni. Looks like I gotta go.”

“Minzy-ss— ”

“Minji,” she corrected him. “It was nice to finally meet you Taemin-ssi.” She timidly waved and walked past him.

Minji-ah. You weren’t just good. You were amazing.

He sighed and hung his head, and in doing so spotted something on the floor and bent down to pick it up. It was a wide metal ring, and he outlined the design with tip of his finger.

Minji must have dropped it when he almost bumped into her. He turned to see if she was still around, but she had disappeared, and Taemin soon realized that he was still lost. Pocketing the ring, he hurried off in search of his dressing room. Kibum was going to kill him.

When he finally found their room, it wasn’t only Kibum that was waiting to scold him, the rest of his hyungs were there as well. Apparently they were blaming Minho for losing the maknae.

“Minho-ah, if you weren’t hyung-— ”

“Kibum-hyung, it wasn’t his fault, I got lost on my own— ”

“Shush Taeminnie. You’re already in enough trouble. Did you know we all went to look for you? If I hadn’t kept my eye on Jinki-hyung, we would be looking for two members instead of just one.”

Kibum’s tirade was interrupted by Jonghyun, who successfully diverted their attention with his next comment.

“Hey Taemin-ah. What were you thinking out there?”

Kibum’s eyes widened as he remembered. “What were you thinking Taeminnie?”

Taemin blinked innocently a few times, thoroughly confused.

“I uh… was dancing?”

“Gosh no, that’s not what we’re talking about. Don’t you remember? You walked and that girl… and then the MC, I think you even came close to blocking one of the cameras….”

Taemin had no idea what his hyung was talking about, and Jinki had obviously noticed his confused expression as he interrupted the younger boy with a hand.

“Kibummie, you’re confusing him.”

“What’s there to be confused about? Sure Kibum’s explanations are bit fast but— ”

“Taemin-ah,” Jinki interrupted Jonghyun calmly. “While that 2ne1 member was dancing, you separated from our group. Actually, you separated from the semi-circle of idols… I guess you were walking around for a better look, but it kinda seemed like you were invading her dancing space… You almost walked into one of the cameras too…”

Taemin’s eyes were wide open. He did what?

The reason she ended up facing him while she danced. It wasn’t because she had turned, it was because he had walked around. It explained why she had approached him in the way she did. It was as if he was challenging her, and she had played along, dancing flirtatiously, and winking at him.

Thump. Taemin put his hand over his chest. Why are you acting like this? he silently asked his heart as a hand pressed on his back, pushing him forward. He looked up to see Minho ushering him back out the door and down the hallway, following their hyungs in front.

“You were spacing out Taeminnie, you alright?”

Taemin nodded, moving his handd from his now normal beating heart back to his side.

“You’re lucky manager-hyung interrupted to remind us we have another schedule, or they wouldn’t have dropped the subject.”

Taemin nodded again, he remembered; their schedule was tight today.

Hopefully, hopefully, when they got back home, his hyungs would forget all about the incident. He didn’t want to explain anything, not that he could explain anything in the first place. He was probably as confused about the situation as they were… and if only his heart would stop beating so hard every time he thought about it.