BGM:

Taemin: 'Truth'

Apink: 'To Us'

This chapter is NOT inspired by any events. This is only based on my imagination of Taeun in the future. Please do not overthink or misunderstand. 

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Jan 1st, 2024. 

BREAKING: SHINee’s Taemin and Apink’s Naeun has confirmed to be dating. A 10-year love story. 

The couple first met more than 10 years ago, on a well-known Entertainment program: We Got Married. From there, their love blossomed....

Taemin and Naeun sat on the 6th floor of the SM building. With SM entertainment staff on one side, Plan A staff on the other, they discussed the plans of confirming the dating news. 

The director sat at the middle of the desk and explained to the young couple. 

“Taemin-ssi, Naeun-ssi, this will be the plan. SM entertainment and Plan A entertainment will release a full official statement to confirm to Dispatch’s news, then, we’ll look at the public’s reaction and see if it’ll affect your upcoming activities. We’ll come back for another meeting in a week’s time. Do you guys have anything you want to add?” 

Taemin and Naeun gave each other a look. Publicising their relationship is a big thing. They might lose fans, disappoint them, and lose their job opportunities. But this wasn’t the point. They loved their fans, and they knew some would be unhappy. They wanted to address them personally and apologise to them but also reassure them personally. 

Taemin asked. “Would it be possible if Naeun and I could write a hand-written letter individually to our fans?” 

Naeun added. “Can we post the letters on our social media accounts as well?” 

The director looked at the promotion team, then nodded back at the young couple. “Yes, that would be fine, but before you upload it, send it to us first to check.” 

On the way back, Taemin drove Naeun back home. In the black, spatial car, Taemin had one hand on the wheel, and one hand tightly grasped against Naeun’s. 

The car was quiet. Her phone buzzed with tons of notifications, but she turned them all off. Her friends and companions will all know when their companies release the official statement in an hour’s time. Surprisingly, after they got caught... she felt... relaxed. She had a tint of worry, but it wasn’t as much. They knew that someday they’ll have to tell the fans. After all these years, Taemin and her had developed their career and became what they wanted to be. She felt happy that she could finally tell the fans the truth, and most importantly... she could finally tell the world that she has a lover, a man who loves her dearly with all of his heart. 

As Naeun looked outside at the snowing night sky, Taemin stopped the car, then glanced at his lover. To be honest, he was worried, more worried than Naeun. Not only he was worried about his fans’ reactions, he was worried if Naeun would go through the hatred that happened 10 years ago. Granted, it’s been 10 years, but he could never forget the words, the faces and the voices of those haters. They flared at Naeun, cursed at her on the Myeongdeong street, typed hateful comments online. He still remembered Naeun’s reddened eyes when they were filming for the first episode. 

On April 17th, 2013, after the boat ride, Taemin and Naeun had some time to get changed and rest. He came back with a new set of outfit and saw her eyes with a tint of red. Back then, he didn’t really cared about internet comments. He had debuted for 5 years and he understood that there will always be haters out there. What he had to do was just made himself better, improve himself so the haters would shut up. But Naeun was a rookie. She wasn’t used to such a huge amount of hate. 

After checking herself against the mirror, Naeun bowed and forced a polite smile before the recording started. Taemin saw, but he didn’t mention about it. He gave her a reassuring smile and said, “It’s okay, don’t have to be nervous, I won’t bite you don’t worry.” She bursted into a shy grin and chuckled. “Thank you.” 

Throughout the recording, he tried his best to be funny, to make her laugh. It was funny, he only met her for the first time, but he wanted t