SM Practice Room

“So what’s going to happen now?”

“We lay low for a while. No activities for a while, meaning more time for us. We can stay with your family a bit longer. Especially since you just finished with the last Faky music video.” Changmin said laying his head on Civannah’s lap so she could play with his hair.

“Min. This is serious.”

“I know. There’s not much we can do, so leaving for the states is the best thing that could happen. And it works out in Katrina’s favor. She has to be fuming since this happened right after she left.”

“Hmm.” Civannah hummed, still playing with Changmin’s hair.

“Still not talking to each other?”

“I want to give her some space. What I said was uncalled for and I don’t even know how I can face her….”

“Just don’t wait too long…. it’s harder to save anything if you wait too long...maybe at the cabin you guys can talk.”

“Did Kaz send you the recordings yet?” Civannah asked, changing topics.

“I just need to pick it up from her. She's going to put it on a flash drive. A bit safer than sending over email.”

“I wonder who is behind this. Who would want to come between us?”

“I’m not too sure myself, but all that matters is we’re together now.” Changmin said standing up and pulling Civannah off the ground.

“Why can’t I just sit here?”

“Because you said you wanted to spend time with me and I still need to practice.”

“I can watch you from the floor.”

“I’d rather be up close and personal.” Changmin laughed. “Come on. I’ll teach you ‘Truth’.”

“Min, you know I can’t dance.”

“You act like you weren’t taking dance classes as a kid.”

“Ballroom, contemporary, and tap.” Civannah laughed. “Alright. I’m in, but you have to take me out for dinner.”

“Deal.” Changmin laughed as he moved to the sound system to start the song.

SM Office

“Gentlemen. I can't tell you enough how proud I am of you. Jopping went beyond our expectations. In light of Yunho’s rumors in the press, TVXQ won't be holding their concert in Japan. However, I would like to move forward with an album and states tour for SuperM.”

“Are you serious!?” Lucas and Ten yelled.

“Very much so.” Sooman chuckled at the youngers. “I want you all more involved this time. I’m a bit nervous, but I trust you all, so i’m giving you complete control. The songs, the video(s), wardrobe. It’s all what you want.”

“Wow. That’s such a huge responsibility.” Baekhyun said, already feeling the weight of the responsibility.

“It is, so I'm expecting great things from you older boys. Set a good example.” Sooman spoke, standing up. “Civannah will be in charge of your project this time. I’ll be meeting with her a bit later to tell her the news, unless you’d like to tell her yourselves.”

“Who’s Civannah?” Mark asked.

“Civannah is a member of our creative team. She worked with Giant Pink and Faky over the past few months. She’s also from America, so you can work on your english. We want you to feel comfortable with her because we would like her to go along on tour with you all.”

“What about Changmin?” Taemin asked.

“The choice would be up to him. I look forward to seeing what direction you all decide to go. Until next time.” Sooman spoke leaving the office as the boys bowed.

“Wow. An album and tour.” Mark said in awe.

“I know right! I thought Jopping was the end of SuperM.” Taeyong spoke.

“I wish that it was the end….” Jongin said a little louder than he wanted to, earning a glare from Baekhyun.

“Why don’t you guys find Civannah? Introduce yourself and give her the news.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Taeyong agreed, motioning for Lucas,Mark, and Ten to get up and leave with him.

“Okay! What’s the problem?” Baekhyun asked after the youngest had left the office.

“Why don’t you ask Taemin? He’s always hiding something.”

“I said I was sorry.”

“And I said to keep your pathetic sorry.”

“Seriously! You two, what’s going on?”

“Did you know that Katrina and Taemin have been dating behind my back?”

“We weren’t dating. We aren’t dating.”

“Lies! From the minute I showed you her picture you should have told me. You should have told me you knew exactly who she was. That’s why you knew her so well, all those guesses you made. You made me look stupid!”

“I didn’t do anything! You were clearly to blind to see that she wasn’t interested. Or rather you wanted to turn a blind eye to everything.”

“I never turned a blind eye!”

“Really? So after I told her about your little crush, it wasn’t you who went around ruining her image in Civannah’s eyes as a way to get back at us.”

“Why would i even do that? Do you really think i’d stoop to your level?”

“Okay you two!” Baekhyun yelled. “I told you back in Cali to end things with that girl. See what happens when you don’t listen. You heard Sooman. He wants us to set a good example for the kids and you two are doing anything but.”

“Then tell him to get his emotions in check.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“I’m better than you.”

“Okay that’s enough. You're really going to let some girl come between years of friendship?”

“She’s not some girl. She was never some girl. She’s the love of my life. I was stupid to not convince her to not hide our past together, but I followed her wishes. I never hid my true feelings. Anyone who really looked could tell that I love her.”

“What good is it for you to be bold about it now? She’s gone.”

“Not for long. Do you really think I’d sit back and let her get away from me again? I’ll tell you the same thing I told her. I’ve waited two years and I can wait however long it takes for her to come to me. I understand that you’re upset with the both of us. We’ve apologized. We’ve told you everything. It’s up to you to figure out how you want to handle things. You’ll always be my best friend….my brother….but if you plan to be passive aggressive about the situation then I’ll have no choice but to cut things down to being strictly professional. One day, Katrina and I will be together. I’ll bring her back to Seoul….I hope when that day comes you can stand beside me as our friend.” Taemin said and left the office.

Back in the practice room

“Wow! I know it’s been a few years since you’ve done dance, but you picked it up like you never stopped.”

“Coming from you, I’m flattered.” Civannah smiled as she gave Changmin a sweat covered hug. “I did a lot of competitions my final year of high school and the summer before college. Even though I had a scholarship, I figured all the money I got from the competitions I could save so I wouldn’t need to work in college aside from internships.”

“My girlfriend is beautiful, talented, and smart.” Changmin smiled, kissing Civannah’s temple.

“Girlfriend?!”

Civannah and Changmin quickly parted and looked over at the doorway.

“So that’s why Taemin asked about Changmin. We’d be taking his girlfriend away from him.” Lucas spoke.

“I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend.”

“Who are you?” Civannah asked, cutting their chatter.

“Sorry, I’m Taeyong. I’m a part of NCT 127 and SuperM.”

“I’m Mark. A part of basically every NCT unit and SuperM.”

“Ten of WavyV and SuperM.”

“Also a part of WavyV and SuperM, I’m Lucas.”

“Nice to meet you all.”

“Is there something we can help you with?” Changmin asked, a bit annoyed at their interruption.

“We just wanted to introduce ourselves to Civannah and tell her the great news.” Mark spoke for the group as the others nodded their heads.

“What news!?” Changmin and Civannah asked at the same time.

“You’ll be working with SuperM on our next project.” Taeyong said excitedly.

“You also get to come on tour with us.” Ten added, sounding like it was a privilege.

“Are you serious?” Civannah questioned, a bit skeptical since she hadn’t heard anything from the company.

“We just had the meeting with Sooman. Sorry we couldn’t all meet. Baekhyun stayed behind because Jongin seemed like he had a problem with Taemin.”

“That’s odd. Those two never have a problem.” Civannah said thoughtfully.

“Yeah it’s weird. Hopefully they figure things out soon.” Taeyong said hopefully.

The awkward tension was cut by Changmin’s phone ringing.

“Hey Kaz…...yeah, I’m in the building so I’ll be right up. See you in a few.”

“Who’s Kaz?” The boys asked Civannah while Changmin finished up the call.

“She works in the PR department.”

“Sorry to bail. Kaz finally got everything almost uploaded to the drive, so I’m gonna go wait on it to finish.”

“I can come with you.”

“No!” Shouted the boys earning a confused look from Civannah and Changmin.

“What we meant is that we have the day off, we could keep you company… it would be a good way to get to know each other.” Mark explained.

“Sure, but I’ve been hanging around girls for month so I’m probably not fun.” Civannah laughed.

“Then I’ll go ahead and leave then. I’ll be back to pick you up for dinner.” Changmin said, kissing Civannah and waving goodbye to the boys.

“Sooooo. How long has that been going on?”

“Two years. You guys really don’t know? Matthew told me everyone in the company knew.”

“We were busy with SuperM activities, but I think I remember Taemin mentioning it once.” Lucas spoke as they all sat in the ground.

“He does seem to always be in the know.” Civannah said thoughtfully.

“Probably because he debuted first. The company does hold Shinee in high regards.”

“That’s his group name right?” Civannah asked. “Sorry, I only know Jongin is in EXO, TVXQ, and Faky.”

“That’s it!?” The boys yelled causing Civannah to laugh.

“Yeah. I wasn’t big in Kpop before dating Changmin.”

“So how is it? Dating an idol?” Ten asked.

“We have our problems like everyone else. It’s just once we go public the whole world will be in our relationship as well.”

“So why go public? Why not just keep it private until you guys decide if you want to get married or not?” Mark questioned.

“Trust me. That has been one of the problems since I came here. We’re finally getting over it. But enough about me, what’s it like being in a group with two dance machines and a guy named Bacon?” Civannah asked with a laugh.

“It’s amazing. It doesn’t feel awkward working with them.” Taeyong spoke.

“Yeah. They take good care of us. Baekhyun makes sure of it.” Lucas spoke, Taeyong, Ten and Mark nodding in agreement.

“Qualities of a great leader, right?” Civannah smiled. “Do you think things would have been different if Taemin became leader instead? I know he made it pretty clear he didn’t want to be leader.”

“I think he could have done it and been a great leader. He’s always nice to us. He always puts others before himself. He helps in any way possible.”

“I remember when learning the Jopping choreography, he stayed up all night with me helping me practice. He never yelled at me when I did the dance wrong. Honestly, then I wanted to give up but he wouldn’t let me. He told me that he felt that way when Shinee was active.”

“Are Shinee not active anymore?” Civannah asked Ten.

“Three of the members are in the military. So Taemin is a bit lonely in my opinion.”

“It’s always a bit rough around December too. So we all try to make time so that he’s not alone.” Taeyong spoke, quietly.

“It’s also a hard time for the company.” Lucas spoke softly.

“Are you guys okay? Why is December such a hard time of the year for you all?” Civannah asked absolutely clueless.

The boys looked around at each other wondering if it was their place to tell her.

“Jonghyun passed away. His death anniversiary is in a few days.” Taemin spoke as he walked in, relieving the younger boys of their discomfort.

“Oh, Tae… I’m so sorry.” Civannah said getting up and running to Taemin to give him a hug.

“It’s okay. It hurts but it gets better everyday.”

“So what are you going to do for the holiday? You don’t plan on spending it alone do you?”

“It’ll be okay…” Taemin said rubbing his neck.

“It’s not! You can’t be alone for the holiday’s especially around Jonghyun’s death anniversary.” Civannah said and walked over to her bag and pulled out her phone.

“Who is she calling?” Taeyong whispered, looking over at Mark who could understand Civannah speaking in english.

“Her mom… Something about a cabin.”

“Something about a cabin? Dude you speak english right?” Ten asked.

“I cant understand if you keep bothering me.”

“Okay we’ll see you then.” Civannah spoke before ending her call.

“Is everything okay Civannah?” Lucas asked, seeing Civannah smiling.

“Yeah. You guys know how to snowboard, right?”