Taemin moves to the rhythmical beat of ”Sherlock” as he is practicing in the dance studio all by himself. His long brown hair is tied up in a messy ponytail but sweat is still falling down his face as he swirls around in deep concentration. Deep breathes leaves his plump lips as he takes a short rest. He takes a sip of his water bottle as he wipes away the sweat on his forehead.

Taemin hasn´t been able to concentrate as well as he used to lately and that´s because his mind is clouded. He´s missing someone he doesn´t even know. A frown makes him look twice his age. All he can think of lately is the bright eyed girl, how she saved him twice and how that man yelled at her. Who was he? His angered face in his memory of the event bothers Taemin but what bothers him the most is that he has no clue who his special fan is. He don´t even know her name or where she´s from.  All he knows is her face and how extremely kind she has been to him.

SHINee has no plans to go to Europe anytime soon since they´re in the midst of promoting their new mini album in Korea. The Korean fans are so happy, since they haven´t had a Korean comeback for ages, but Taemin is restless. He knows that they’ll go to Japan to promote for God knows how long after this.

She wouldn´t be able to go to Asia to see me, right? Taemin shakes his head at these thoughts, it´s foolish. She´s probably being with her friends, on the other side of Earth somewhere. His eyes move to the clock on the wall. She must be in the middle of work… or her studies…right now. I think Europe is several hours behind Korea….He ponders as he wonder what she´s up to in this moment.

Taemin gets his things as he prepares to leave the dance studio. It´s getting late and it´s already dark outside. Key meets him in the corridor. It seems as if he was recording something together with EXO.  Taemin looks around but his close friend Kai is nowhere to be seen. Key gives him a friendly pat on the shoulder as the two young men prepares to leave the SM headquarters. Taemin notices that Key´s watching him but he stays silent and it´s Key that breaks the silence once they entered their ride. Lately, Key has been keeping an eye on him just as if he is afraid Taemin will break down.

“You´ve been thinking of her lately, right?” His question seems to bounce against the four narrow walls in their car.

Taemin isn´t surprised that Key noticed this but he´s slightly bothered about how obvious he must have been. The youngest SHINee member´s face darkens at this. A deep sigh leaves Key´s lips. He stares a bit at his own reflection in the car window as he ponders about how he should reply the older man. He doesn´t have to reply though because Key has more to say.

“You know in London, when I said do something I meant to get her phone number, email, address… anything!” Key snorts. “And all you said was will I see you again?”

Taemin shivers at his harsh words but he knows Key is right. He basically did nothing to get to see her again, just left it to her to follow him again. He wasn´t fare.  It´s not fare that she has to travel across the world just to see him.

“I couldn´t think.”Taemin explains.

He remembered being stressed, and a bit frightened, by the situation they were in and all he could think of was that she needed to exit the building without being spotted. Their fans would have ripped her to pieces.

“Promise me one thing.” Key breaks the silence once again.

“What?”Taemin´s eyes narrow a bit.

“If you meet her again, don´t let her go. Get her number, kiss her, do anything. Man up.” Key tells him in a complaining voice.

Taemin´s eyes widen a bit but he nods as he feels how his heart beats louder in his chest. The thought of kissing her makes him feel funny. If he meet her again, it´ll be the third time they meet by chance, and that must mean something. He silently promises himself to approach her if he sees her and he won´t do it because of Key, but for his own sake.

Taemin can´t breathe properly as their eyes meet. He loses track of reality, and accidentally mess up both his lines and dance during Sherlock. It´s SHINee´s last day of promoting their new album before going to Japan and she´s suddenly there. Taemin swallows his saliva as he forces his body and mind to cope, as he executes the performance. The crowd cheers loudly, squealing over his “cute” mistake.

She´s here! Taemin glances at her from under his fringe. A smile grows on his lips and he can´t stop it from growing no matter how hard he tries. Jonghyun gives him a look, silently asking what´s that funny. Taemin chest moves up and down as he catches his breath after the performance. It´s hard to calm down when his heart beats loudly not only because of singing and dancing. He forces himself to act professional when the MC introduces the next group and he avoids looking in her direction.

Key grins when Taemin starts running the moment they go backstage. It seems as if he has swallowed his fear and decided to act on his feelings. He has nothing to lose Jonghyun seems a bit surprised, it seems like he didn´t see the foreign fan, so Key just laughs at him a bit. Minho and Onew smirks silently as they return to their locker room all discussing how the youngest member of SHINee has become a man.

“Should we just leave him?” Jonghyun comments.

“Don´t worry, Taemin and that girl has been stuck together in the strangest places and they were still ok.”

“…Haha.”Jonghyun laughs awkwardly.

Taemin hurries down the corridor as if the devil is hunting him. He bows his head to the staff hurriedly, and they all turn around to look at him with confused expressions as he passes them by. Taemin reaches the exit and he´s struck with the fact that he can´t just go out there. There are herds of fans waiting for a chance to see an idol. A middle aged man with the black staff t-shirt walks by and Taemin is quick to get his attention. It´s someone he has seen around for some recordings of their performances.

“Can you do me a favor?” Taemin asks politely.

The man nods. It is his job, after all.

“That girl over there, please bring her to me.”

The man´s eyes widen. Taemin knows how bad it sounds, he does, but he can´t change what he wants. The man probably thinks he wants to meet her for appropriate reasons and it makes him a bit flustered. He´s about to explain himself when he sees that the girl is about to leave and he realizes he doesn´t have time for any explanations.

“Please, I´m not trying to do anything funny!” Taemin pleas.

The staff member seems to understand him, or at least understand that it´s important to him so he sighs and do as he´s asked.  Just in time too. Taemin´s heart beats faster as he sees how she gives the man a surprised expression when he walks up to her and her friends. A smile grows on his lips as he sees how she points at herself, probably asking if he got the right person. She follows the staff member wide-eyed and her friends stare at her, shrugging in confusion.  Her eyes widen even more as she spots him. Taemin bows to the staff member and repeats thank you over and over again. The man scoffs before he walks away, not wanting any problems.

“Taemin…” She utters his name in surprise and it sends the butterflies in Taemin´s stomach flying. “Why…?”

“I saw you in the audience.” Taemin grins. “I didn´t want to let this chance go.”

She chuckles a little at this but the happiness over that Taemin wanted to meet her makes that chuckle come out a bit funny. It makes Taemin laugh nervously. That´s also when he remembers something important.

“Oh, right! What´s your name?”

She smiles as she tells him her name and Taemin repeats it to himself. It´s a foreign name but it feels strangely comfortable on his tongue. He finally knows a bit about her. He knows who she is and where she´s from. It feels like he has known her forever.

“I don´t have a schedule now, do you want to… maybe… go out for a coffee with me?”

“I want to but is it really alright?” She glances at him.

“Yes, I know how to go by unnoticed when on home grounds.” Taemin tells her. “And I owe you after all you´ve done for me. I´m sure manager-hyung would agree. ”

“You don´t owe me anything…” She murmurs happily.

Taemin shakes his head, he won´t let her go without him “paying of his debt” to her. He´s actually looking forward to spend time with her and to show his gratefulness.

“Come with me.”

Taemin acts on impulse and takes her hand in his as he leads her into the building. The girl seems surprised by the sudden touch, but she doesn´t complain. Their hands feel strangely nice together: maybe a perfect fit?

The girl looks at her phone and she opens a window to write a text but stops herself. It seems as if she doesn´t know what to tell her friends, so she decides to write them something like “I´ll be back later, don´t wait for me”.

After a quick meeting with the rest of SHINee, Taemin takes her to a small but cozy coffee shop in the less busy streets in the outskirts of Seoul. The girl feels like a princess when Taemin orders a lot of sweets and drinks for them without even asking her to help him to pay. She usually dislikes someone paying for her but she got a feeling that Taemin would be discouraged if she complained so she stays silent about the matter. She knows it´s important to let guys feel like men from time to time so she lets him baby her a bit.

“Wow…” She´s amazed at the sweets.

“I ordered all my favorites, I hope you´ll like them too.” Taemin tells her in a soft voice.

Her cheeks turn red at this. She´s getting to know Taemin more and more for each passing second. Just simple things as knowing all of his favorite desserts make her unexplainably happy. There´s a lot of banana cakes, bread and chocolate desserts. It seems like they have pretty similar taste. The two of them digs in while chatting comfortably. It´s seems like there´s an ocean of subjects to talk about and the two of them are soon laughing together over their silliness.

“Why are you in Korea? How long will you stay?” Taemin asks after a while.

“Just sightseeing with some friends. I´ll stay for two more weeks.”

The two of them eat in silence for a moment. Taemin seems to be in deep thought, thinking something over, but she doesn´t notice since she´s busy trying all the sweets. When visiting a new country you have to try all kinds of food. She looks up as she feels Taemin´s gaze on her.

“To be honest…” Taemin hesitates and he suddenly thinks the floor is a more interesting conversation partner than her.”...I haven´t been able to stop thinking of you.” A hint of a blush can be spotted on the man´s cheeks.

She wants to laugh, telling him to stop joking but her smile fades a bit as she notices his serious blushy expression. It´s an expression she hasn´t seen him wear before even though she´s been a fan for such a long time. Taemin is not joking, he´s telling her his true feelings. A smile grows on her face and Taemin seems to relax, he might have been waiting for a rejection.

“I was so happy to be able to meet you again.” Taemin continues, smiling to himself.

“This is so unrealistic…” She murmurs, covering her burning cheeks with her hands.

Taemin leans over the table, takes her hands and pulls them away from her face with a shy smile on his plump lips. Her bright eyes widen a bit at the touch. Him seeing her embarrassed expression makes her even more embarrassed.

“Can I see you at least once more before you return?” He asks her gently, squeezing her hands.

It seems as if she lost the ability to speak, so she just nods, and this makes Taemin grin broadly to himself.  He can´t stop smiling when she´s around, it´s like her mere presence can take all his worries away.

Taemin somehow managed to get a day off to spend with her. She´s getting ready for her whole-day-date in the hotel room. She has her hair down for once, and she combs it carefully and braids her fringe.

“Why are you getting that pretty, only for meeting a friend you met at collage?” The guy asks her.

“You know, all girls want to dress up once in a while.” She chuckles.

She´s too happy to notice the jealous glint in the man´s eyes as she looks at  his reflection in the mirror when she puts on some make up. She feels bad about lying to them but she couldn´t come up with any other solution to it. She used to hang out with some international students back at home, so she used it. It´s not like she could tell them she´s meeting Taemin. She looks at herself in the mirror. Maybe she is egoistic, wanting to keep the short moments with him to herself, she ponders. An expression of guilt makes her look a bit sad for a moment, before she shakes her head and it up.

“Just call me if something happens.” She tells her friends as she leaves.

The guy nods her way while the girls are too busy to plan their day of stalking idols to even notice she´s leaving. The last thing she hears is them squealing loudly because of some idol ripping his shirt off.

Taemin is standing with his back to her as she arrives, so she coughs politely, and her eyes widen as Taemin smiles brightly at her. He´s dressed fashionably, but with a scarf and sunglasses to hide his identity. It´s a laid back style that isn´t suspicious at all, not on a day like this. She smiles at him as a thank you. She feels a bit embarrassed since he surely noticed she dressed up for him.

“So, what´s the plan?”

Taemin grins at you before he leads the way. It feels nice walking next to SHINee´s dancing machine and the girl can´t stop smiling brightly to herself.

He takes her to a zoo, and the two of them walks around while looking at the animals. Taemin is known to be an animal lover, and she loves to see his smile when he talks about them. It feels like a real date walking there, hand in hand, with the kpop idol. No one bothers them either since they can´t recognize Taemin. She wonders a bit how they can not see it´s him, but she doesn´t complain at all.

They decide to take pictures together after the zoo. They entered a small photo booth together, and the girl recognizes it as the Korean version of purikura. One takes several photos and you can later change the color, write, and make the eyes look bigger. She gets really thrilled while Taemin is amused about her reaction, it´s quite normal after all.

“Oh, you can pick to take photo with SHINee…” She murmurs amazed, as she looks through the already finished frames.

“But you got the real version.” Taemin laughs.

Taemin moves in closer to her and pushes some buttons on the screen. He puts his hand on her shoulder and moves in even closer. She blushes a bit at the closeness but tries her best to look good on the photo. She´s a bit nervous but is able to relax after taking some photos. They and up making strange poses and expressions, goofing around, in the small booth. Taemin takes them when they´re printed and he gives her half of the photos.

“I´ll keep these, and… please carry those with you.”

“I´ll be great memories of our time together.” She murmurs softly.

Taemin wants to tell her not to speak as if this will be their first, and only date together but he can´t bring himself to do it. He isn´t sure that they can meet again after all. He forces a smile as he nods.

Finally, they sit down at a nice restaurant to eat. Taemin asks her to try bibimbap and kimchi and she agrees, she wants to try the food the Koreans seem to love. Taemin looks at her curiously as she takes her first bite of the food.

“It´s so spicy..!” She makes a face, and he sees how tears are forming in her eyes.

“Don´t cry…!” Taemin chuckles a little as he hands her a napkin.

She takes it and their hands touch for a short moment. She wipes away her tears silently.

“I always cry when I eat spicy food, but, I actually love the taste of it… what a dilemma.” She sighs.

Taemin´s bright laughter makes her look up at him. His eyes are smiling, as he covers his mouth with his hand. She chuckles in embarrassment as she drinks some water before continuing eating. It´s really tasty, she loves it, but she has always been weak to spicy food.

Taemin turns quiet a while as if he´s once again thinking about something seriously. She glances at him but decides not to disturb. She is also thinking a lot, watching her wrist watch while fearing how quickly time passes by.

“I have to tell you something.” Taemin looks at her seriously after a while of silence. “I like you, no…. now I know I love you.”

Her eyes widen in surprise. She didn´t expect him to say something like that.  She opens and closes as she´s speechless. Taemin is watching her closely as he waits for a reply.

“Taemin….” Her tears turn to happy tears.

“Aigo, don´t cry….” Taemin sounds a bit worried. “You´re such a crybaby.” He laughs nervously.

“Are you sure?” She asks him as she wipes away her tears one again. “I´m not an idol, you know? I´m a fan…and I´m not Korean.”

“I´m 500 percent sure.” He grins as he realizes she´s not going to reject him. “You´re the most caring, kind and beautiful girl I know. My number one fan. I think, you already won my heart in that ferris wheel. How could I not love you?”

She smiles.

“Can I…” Taemin looks nervous.”… hear your answer?”

“I….” She starts but a sudden sound interrupts them.

“What the hell does this mean!?” A girl yells.

The two of them flinches at the sudden scream and turn to look at the source of sound. Taemin recognizes her from their trip to London, she was one of the girls who waited at the hotel. The girl, followed by some others, approach Taemin and his date.

“I met Taemin and we…”His date tries to save the situation but her friend doesn´t buy it.

“We saw you. You´ve been hanging out with Lee Taemin, from SHINee the whole evening and you didn´t think of asking us to come?!”

“I didn´t want to…”

“You didn´t want to share him?” She interrupts her loudly.

“Stop putting words in my mouth!” She frowns. “And please, don´t make a scene…”

His date is starting to get bothered by the ruckus her friend is making. People in the restaurant is starting to stare. She´s worried people will notice Taemin if it continues. Him being seen with loud foreigners will make him look really bad to the press.

“It seems like you knew each other too. Why was that staff member ask you? You´ve been lying to us.” The guy says in an angry manner.

“It explains everything! Why you were so dreamily happy after Paris, how you exited the hotel in London and how that staff member singled you out from herds of fans!” The girl screams.

Taemin, who wasn´t able to grasp everything, stares at them with slightly narrowed eyes. He doesn´t understand everything they´re saying but he knows they´re angry with the girl he loves. Those dark brown eyes narrow dangerously as the guy takes a hold of her wrist. Taemin is quick to stand up and grab the guy´s wrist in a firm grip.

“Let her go.”He warns him in Korean.

“I can´t believe this.” The guy stares at the girl and then back at Taemin.

“I said, let her go.” Taemin repeats in English.

“Listen little Tae-boy, you should let go. She doesn´t belong with you.”

Taemin´s eyes widen at this and it gets eerily silent around the table. The girl´s eyes widen inhumanly as she shakes her head at the other boy, pushing him away from her.

“Just stop this!” She tells them as she tries to get away from the guy´s grip. “I´m sorry, ok! I didn´t know what to do! And I´m no one´s possession!”

A strange silence spread in the restaurant at this.  The girl sighs loudly as she turns to Taemin and gives him a small bow as an apology before she pushes her friends towards the exit. She wants to get away quickly and spear Taemin the embaressment of being seen with them. Taemin is about to say something but stops himself as a waiter arrives, looking very angry.

Taemin didn´t hear from the girl after that. His heart is aching painfully at the thought. SHINee is preparing to go to Japan and they´ll stay for a while. They´re preparing to go to the airport. That means he might not see her again. A pained sigh leaves his lips. She´s the one person on Earth he wants to see 24/7 and yet she seems to be so far away, almost unreachable to him. The longing, aching and thoughts of her make it hard for Taemin to smile as he carries out his duties as an idol. The dancing machine goes to fetch his passport as he´s in deep thought. He gets it and heads off to meet the others by the SM back door.

He utters her name in surprise as he sees her standing there by the exit. It seems as if the same staff member who let her in the first time let her enter again. Minho is talking with her, and they laugh. The taller man smiles knowingly as Taemin approaches and he makes room. He gives the girl a small nod of his head before he walks away. Taemin looks at her in silence for a long time since he doesn´t know where to start, or to calm his emotions down. It seems like the pain he has been feeling for the last few days intensifies by her presence.

“You pierced your ears.” She states the fact as she breaks the ice. “It looks good on you.”

A nervous smile is born, and grows bigger, on Taemin´s lips at her comment. Taemin has recently cut his hair short and pierced his earlobes but there are still only a few people that had noticed it. He wanted to break away from his cute and feminine image a bit so he´s happy she saw it and above that, liked it. Taemin blushes a bit at the way she looks at him. It seems like she´s in deep thought, as she gazes on him. Her eyes look dream. He would certainly die inside if she looked at another man like that.

“It seems…” She tilts her head to the side.”…as if you´ve grown a lot since I last saw you even though it was a few days ago.”

“Constantly changing one´s image is an idol´s job.” Taemin explains while grinning.

She laughs at him and the tenseness between them is forgotten. The girl continues to smile as she moves in closer to take a better look at his ears. Taemin feels a bit awkward because he bet his ears are turning red by embarrassment. He has gotten used to be looked at, admired and loved by girls but this is different. She´s special. She´s the only one that makes his heart beat faster by doing nothing at all. She repeats that he´s very good-looking and Taemin laughs.

She turns serious quite quickly though. “Taemin, I´m sorry for what happened back at the restaurant. As you know, I didn´t tell my friends about you and when they realized I had been keeping it from them….”

Taemin listens intensively as she explains but they get interrupted by the sound of several footsteps. Onew, Minho, Key and Jonghyun passes by and the girl stops talking a bit as she nods in their direction. Onew tells Taemin it´s soon time to go and he answers with a short: I know. The four idols goes to their ride to wait for him.

“Who was that guy?” Taemin gets straight to the point as the others walked away.

“He´s a childhood friend…” She answers hesitantly, and Taemin knows he´s not only a childhood friend. The situation is more complicated than that.  “He confessed to me some time ago and he couldn´t take no for an answer… I don´t love him the way he loves me… and I´ve told him that… but it´s seriously difficult. I don´t want to hurt his feelings…But what I´m most sorry for is that you got in the middle of it. I wanted to protect you but it backfired…”

The word protect makes Taemin´s heart melt. It´s true, she always did think of his best and that put her in that bad situation with her friends. She sacrificed herself to keep him safe. It seems like the only person she has been looking at is him. Taemin´s chest grows warm at the thought. It´s strangely nice to have someone that care that much about you.

“Taemin-ah, we gotta go!” Onew shouts from the car and interrupts their moment.

Taemin glances at the girl with a desperate expression. He doesn´t want to leave like this and it seems like she feels the same. They still have a lot to talk about and the thought that this might be their last meeting haunts them.

“To sum it up….” She jokes in a dry manner. “….Taemin, I love you so much… “She finally dares to tell him.

Taemin´s brown eyes widen at her words and he starts to smile with a growing confidence. His lips twitch a bit as if he doesn´t know if to smile or cry.  It feels like his chest is about to explode with warmth and the pain he felt before is long forgotten.

“I just want you to know that before we part again.” She smiles wryly, glancing at the SHINee members waiting impatiently.

Bright eyes widen as Taemin suddenly embraces her. She´s pressed against his chest, and the soft scent, that is only Taemin´s, washes over her as she leans her head against his shoulder. He´s taller than her, so she´s drowning in the embrace as he encircles her. She returns the hug as she tries to print this moment into her memory forever. His scent, his touch, the feeling of his arms around her and his radiating warmth: she wants to remember everything. To remember him.

Taemin is reluctant to let her go but they have no time.

“This is my phone number, you can call or text me… don´t worry about the bill…” He tells her in a hurry as he takes her phone and adds a new contact.

She seems to fight her tears a bit as he gives back her phone, so he wipes away the traces of them with his thumb gently. Taemin wish they could part in a different manner. He hesitates for a moment before he gives her a quick kiss at her cheek and turns to join the rest of SHINee. It was a bit salty but warm. The kiss surprised her a great deal, but she doesn´t complain as his touch lingers on her skin even though they now is in the midst of parting. She waves as Taemin walks to the car and he looks at her over his shoulder one last time before he enters the ride. The girl withdraws her hand as the black mini-bus fades away in the distance.

The only thing that keeps her from letting her tears fall is that she has his number, a couple of digits that ties them together, in her phone. They are no longer strangers meeting by chance. She presses the phone to her chest as she tells herself she´ll be ok, over and over again.