Taemin had done it on purpose this time, but it had not been easy. He really wanted to give her ring back to her as soon as possible, but meeting 2ne1 again was almost impossible. Everyone knew YG didn’t tend to play with the other companies, and so his hopes of randomly encountering them at some recording went down the drain.

He thought of his hyungs instead. Jinki recently had a phone conversation with Daesung from Big Bang, but Taemin was sure that was as far as it went. He remembered that Kibum went on a show with both Daesung and Seungri, but again Taemin doubted that they had exchanged numbers or anything. Maybe Minho would have connections through all his hyungs…

Taemin stopped his train of thoughts knowing full well that even if any of his hyungs did know someone from YG, he would still have to explain himself, and he did not want to explain himself.

He thought about his SNSD-sunbaes… Didn’t someone go to the same school as someone from Big Bang? He was also pretty sure one of them had connections with 2ne1, and perhaps Minji herself, but again, he ran into the same problem of explaining himself, so he would just have to hope that Shinee would have a similar schedule as 2ne1, and he’d have to hold on to the ring until then.

And he did, although the small task proved to be a bigger hassle then he thought. He kept it on him, hoping that as idols he’d run into her because of some schedule. He had kept it in his jean pocket, until the day he forgot to take it out, and spotted those same jeans in the laundry basket that Kibum was carrying back to their room. After a scolding from his hyung for bothering him, Taemin had panicked when the pocket was empty and spent hours (before and after dance rehearsal) searching for it. After many questionable looks from his hyungs and some excuses as to what he was really looking for, he finally found it. How it got into Kibum’s collection of expensive looking accessories, he would never know, but since he found Jonghyun’s missing CD and Jinki’s funny looking keychain, his hyungs didn’t bother him too much about it.

When this happened twice, he ended up slipping it on his own finger, a place where he’d never forget it, nor lose it, in hopes that one of their recordings would happen to coincide with one of the members of 2ne1, or Big Bang, or YG really, but they never did. He wore the ring long enough for some of s to start to notice the odd piece of jewelry that was never part of his usual attire.

“Taemin-ah, since when did you wear rings?”

Taemin smiled cutely at his hyung. “I’m just keeping it for a friend.” He wasn’t exactly lying, and Taemin was relieved when their leader didn’t prod any further; Minho had raised his eyebrows, but he also had chosen to say nothing. Taemin was secretly glad that it was Jinki and Minho who had noticed, whereas if it was Kibum or Jonghyun, he would have bombarded with endless questions.

Although he wasn’t saved for long. He absently played with the ring one morning in front of Kibum, who eyed his fingers for a few minutes before pointing it out.

“You’ve never worn a ring.”

Taemin froze, his free hand reflexively covering the one with the ring.

“Taeminnie, why are you hiding it?”

The worst possible scenario had occurred; he had inadvertently hid the ring, making it even more suspicious. He was saved by Jinki’s sangtae as the older boy stumbled into the room, most likely tripping over nothing. Taemin quickly grabbed his backpack and purposely walked past his packed lunch and headed for the door.

“Kibum-hyung, I’m off to school— ”

“Taeminnie! Your lunch! I took all that time and effort packing it, and you can not forget.”

Taemin spun around and accepted the box placed in his hands with the sweetest grin he could manage. “Thanks hyung, you’re the best.”

“Yeah yeah, have fun at school.”

Taemin could see his hyung was trying not to smile, but the corner of Kibum’s lip twitched, and Taemin beamed. Kibum forgot about the ring, and Taemin took care to not bring attention to it.           

When Taemin found out they were doing a recording next to the building 2ne1 was doing a radio show in, he knew it was as close as he was going to get, unless he wanted to wait 6 months for the end of year awards. He’d prepped, by wearing a hoodie and by dropping hints of not feeling well all morning. During a long break in the middle of their recording, he excused himself with having to use the bathroom, number 2, and dashed out the building, taking care to cover his wild hair with his hood. Getting to the building was no problem, it was getting in without being noticed that was the difficult part. Wait, what floor was it again?

Taemin walked into the empty elevator and stared at all the buttons. Why were there so many floors? If he remembered correctly, it was the 15^th floor. 15 it is.

As he stood in the elevator, he was suddenly aware of little things he hadn’t noticed before. Like how humid it was in this elevator. Taemin proceeded to pull his hood off his head and his hoodie.  And how sweaty his palms suddenly felt. Taemin wiped them on his jeans. He could suddenly feel his heart beating against his ribcage. He’d never been afraid of elevator rides before.

The light flashed signaling he’d reached his floor, and he carefully stepped off, looking around to make sure there were no (2ne1) fans around. Taemin walked for a bit, peering around the little glass walls to figure out where he was. It looked like one of the more business-like floors. He was doomed.

Taemin rounded a corner and re-found the floor directory to double check, just in case.

“Taemin-ssi?”

He spun around, and there she was, with a surprised-amused look on her face. She was in casual attire; dark skinnies and a simple graphic tee that Taemin found himself wondering where she had gotten it from.

“Taemin-ssi… you okay?”

“Bwa?” Oh shoot. He was staring, He probably had a blank look on his face right now… Was he even smiling?

Taemin’s face quickly broke out into a grin as he did a quick bow. “Minzy-ssi.”

She opened as if she was going to argue, but decided against it. “What are you doing here?”

What was he… ring. That’s right.

As Taemin automatically reached for his left hand, he suddenly froze. The ring was still on his finger. And he was going to take it off his hand to give it back, right in front of her. Damn it. How embarrassing was this?

Taemin fumbled a bit as he slipped the ring off his hand, trying to do it as subtly as possible.

“Um…” He paused to recollect himself. “You dropped your ring, that time…” He closed his fist and stuck his thumb out, pointing backwards as if the past were directly behind him.

Minji was eyeing his hand, and Taemin found himself trying to explain, himself.

“Oh, I originally had it in my pocket, cause I didn’t know when I’d see you again… but then Kibum-hyung took my things and I almost lost it… twice… here.”

He suddenly brought his hand out, palm up, metal ring lying coolly in the middle of his hand. Taemin could see that she was trying not to laugh as she accepted the ring back.

“Thank you.” She smiled at him. “Unni thought she lost this for good.”

“What?”

“It’s Chaerin-unni’s ring. She was looking all over for it for ages.”

“Oh.” … It was Chaerin’s ring, not hers.

“Thank you,” Minji repeated.

He absently nodded, starting off an awkward silence. She looked at him, a thoughtful expression written all over her face, before slipping a ring off her own finger and offering it to him. Taemin looked up at her, thoroughly confused.

“Take it. Your finger must feel bare without it,” she teased, nodding at his hands.

Taemin had unconsciously been rubbing the area on his finger once occupied by the metal band, and he quickly let go of his hand, realizing in surprise.

“I couldn’t…”

“Take it,” she insisted. “Chaerin-unni’s gonna be so happy to have her ring back, it’s the least I can do.”

Taemin would have refused, he should have, but Minji’s smile and the soft expression on her face made him think otherwise as he slowly reached over to accept the ring.

“Oh shoot. I gotta go!” She took a step before turning back. “I think you should get back before people start realizing you’ve disappeared too,” she added with a smile as she left, speed walking back down the corridor and disappearing around a corner.

Taemin found the elevator, sighing in relief as the doors opened to another vacant lift. Now that he was sure he was alone, his eyes fell back down to his hand where he still held her ring. Chaerin’s ring was a little more bold, its main focus on the rectangular design that matched the fashion trendy leader in subtle ways. Minji’s ring was lighter, with detailed markings only noticeable at closer examination. From afar, it looked like a normal metal band, with no obvious carvings indicating the ring’s unique design.

Taemin liked it. A lot.

The elevator dinged as he zipped up and pulled on his hood, slipping the ring in his pocket. He casually walked out and raced back his building, being as inconspicuous as possible.

He wasn’t going to wear her ring, that’d be weird. Now that he didn’t have to worry about returning anything, he could no longer find a logical excuse to keep it on him. Not to mention all the efforts it had taken to not bring attention to the piece of jewelry; with Chaerin’s ring before, he definitely hadn’t thought it through.

If he could recall, he had a spare silver chain at home, something Kibum had given him a while back. He’d never worn it as it was a touch girly (his hyung had even admitted that he’d only bought it because it was pretty) but now Taemin was going to put it to good use. He wasn’t going to lose the ring again.