-Past 10 years-

"It's good that your nightmares are getting less frequent now." he said through the call. 

"Yes, thanks to the songs you suggested to me." The songs had became my favorite in no time.

"They are the songs I really like & listen to, when I need to be calm" "I'm glad you feel better listening to them." I could imagine him smiling while saying this, as a smile formed on my face eventually thinking likewise.

"Oh!" "I see!" No wonder his voice is so heartfelt, when he sings. He has a good taste in music & he also listens to classical music like me, which was so rare than my other friends.

"Yes they helped a lot" I looked at the mini music player I had kept on my desk which included all those songs.

"In fact I listen to them every-day when I want to relax now" I was kind of addicted to the mood of the songs just after listening to them for the first time.

"It's the kind of music I like," I told him after hearing his short expression of 'OH!'.

I gestured to appa to stop asking as I was going to answer him anyway after the call. He was restless to know when I looked at him sitting in front of me, as I kept replying Jonghyun oppa.

Jonghyun oppa had called me again to check on me as he wanted to help me when I told him about my counseling sessions & I was with my appa talking about my school & life overall as he was home on his off-day at the same time. Appa had promised me after that incident to talk to him about my daily life at least on weekends when we can spend time together so that he can be less worried that way. 

After I ended the call, he asked me who I was talking to, and that’s when I told him how Shinee happened to help me that day when I told him about the bullying & they were the one who told me to not hide it from my parents.

He was very grateful to them for helping me in such a situation & taking care of me so well back then. And wanted to invite them for dinner as a thankful gesture.

But I was really unsure if they had time to spare and was it really possible to happen as they were so busy everyday.

Before I could do anything, my father had called Jonghyun oppa himself that day. And then he told me and mom that the shinee boys were coming home on Saturday for dinner.

It was surprising to see the five boys whom I met in an absurd situation, in my home, having dinner with us, talking with my parents, talking with me about my life.

I was staring at them yet again in surprise, now knowing how popular they were. And what a fool I was to bump into them like a scaredy cat. 

I was eating from my plate looking down the whole time in an embarrassing image they had of me.

"Ryujin has always been a good child to us" my mom said looking at me when jinki oppa told them that their impression of me was so soft & vulnerable. He added that they wanted to help me when they saw me running on the street helplessly as I was very scared.

"We somehow were selfish parents, running behind our jobs and ignoring our own child." she continued to explain.

I knew how hard they both were working to raise me & give me all that I wanted till now.

I shook my head down in denial, feeling heavy by her words, as my heart was sinking in guilt of making her feel this way.

"She is a nice & kind person. And she will be braver too in future" jonghyun oppa glanced at me as if he was trying to cheer me up.

"She has her own experiences now" oppa said, looking at me as if he knows me all.

I stayed silent, seated beside him on the dining table, smiling with glee contained by his compliment.

He had a warmth in his voice which always made me feel safe whenever I was interacting with him.

"It's not something you both should blame yourself for" he continued to comfort my mom.

"I think it will be better if you consider it as an experience & be careful to not repeat it again in future, if I may say that" he said bowing to which my mom shook her head smiling to his straight-forward but polite reply.

"And it's good that she's recovering from it so soon" he was talking about everything so maturely, my parents couldn't help but agree. 

These boys were just a few years older than me but were mature enough to have a talk with my parents & even comfort them.

My parents were quite relieved after the boys comforted them by talking about the incident with them during that dinner explaining the situation really well.

"She has always been very sincere at everything she was doing till now" "And we never really had to worry about anything because she always stayed up to mark with her studies & her other activities as well" I heard my dad's voice breaking the short silence in the room after a previous heavy discussion.

"She always made sure that there were no complaints from her side" my dad was looking at me as I raised my head to look at him.

"We kind of took her for granted that everything was going well in her life" I was listening to him now feeling his eyes still on me as I looked down not knowing what to react. 

I continued to look at my plate fiddling with my spoon.

"Every parent does their best to love their child, It's okay." key oppa intervened the conversation this time.

"I think she knows how much you both love her." "So that's most important" he smiled at my father as appa had a smile watching him back.

He was right.

I didn't want them to take the blame for any of this, as any of it wasn't their fault at all. They were feeling responsible for ignoring my school days in their work schedules, which I was really understanding about from very first as I knew they loved me and that was most important for me till now.

I didn't understand why they both were opening up in front of these boys.

As the boys were talking it out so well, my parents kept on sharing one thing after another for the rest of the night.

"She's going to apply for medical school after her high-school." my dad said continuing the conversation, boasting about me suddenly, as he was relaxed from the pressure after talking it out. He loved boasting that I aspired to be a doctor.

My parents never forced me to do anything when it came to taking decisions about my career. But like all other parents, they thought it was lucky that I was focused on studies & had aspirations of my own to achieve in my life. 

I scrunch my eyes in embarrassment.

"Oh really?" I heard key oppa's voice as he shot a glad smile at me with surprise.

"So cool!" he said, arching his eyebrow as I smiled back.

I was kind of happy for the first time that my dad was boasting about me to know that I'm cool in the eyes of someone I considered to be my superheroes that day.

"Ryujin can be a nerd sometimes too, not leaving her room, and sitting among books for hours" "Very boring books with those heavy titles of science, you know!" my mom said, giving me a disappointing look with a grunt and then looking at taemin oppa for reaction, who just blushed & got more shy by mom's sudden interaction with him.

Everyone was laughing then at her complaining yet teasing statement. And I couldn't argue but roll my eyes at her, too shy to say a word.

My mom was one of those mothers who wanted her studious child to come out & enjoy her life sometimes.

At that dinner, we talked about each other and got to know more about each other.

That was the day, I came across the fact that the boys were as genuine and sincere as I saw them in the car that day. Not a single part of them was different from then, even when they were meeting us for dinner very unexpectedly. It impressed me and my parents a lot.

They were concerned if I was still compromising my mental health and wanted to know if I actually was feeling safe in school after the incident.

Shinee was busy with their concert preparations then so they even invited us for their recent concert that they were having in Seoul next month, that day. And my parents agreed to go. That's how I visited The Shinee concert for the first time in my life.

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We exchanged some more dinners together after then, as my parents couldn't stop having them at our home, both of them were very impressed by the genuine personality of these five.

The boys were lovable & too comfortable for an ordinary family like us.

My parents were literally head over heels over all of them.

Their popular life didn't have any shadow of their extraordinary aura over them when it came to their personal lives.

They visited our home often for various occasions and then we would celebrate events together, most of the time.

It was a gradual process that me and my parents' started adoring the boys & shinee as the days passed eventually.

My mom would nag taemin oppa for not eating properly & losing weight easily & would then feed him piles of food, as she did with me most of the time.

Mom was biased to taemin oppa because she always wanted a son like him & key oppa became her disciple in kitchen at some point, as he accompanied her in cooking most of the time.

But my dad was unlikely, more drawn to jinki oppa, minho oppa & jjong oppa, being the gag team of the house as the time passed.

For me being the maknae in the house, it became quite difficult when I had two teams sandwiching me, most of the time, when there were times I had to be on one for various reasons.

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"Are you going to call me Jonghyun-ssi forever?" he said, looking at me with a frown on his forehead, when we all were sitting together in the balcony of my house enjoying the cold tea made by mom on a Sunday evening.

They had stopped by my house that day before going on their Japan tour.

It felt awkward to drop honorifics and call them 'oppas' suddenly in 5 months of our interaction. Though we were unexpectedly quite close for that short time.

"Do you all want me to call you guys oppa?" I looked at five of them if everyone really wanted the same.

"You don't want to?" "Are you going to continue saying 'Minho-ssi;?" Minho oppa mocked my girly voice calling him 'minho-ssi', making me laugh at his voice sounding funny.

"Maybe after some time" I looked at them in pitiful eyes asking for some more time to be comfortable.

"I mean..." "I know I should" But it was still a bit awkward to drop honorifics.

"Okay, it's a bit sudden but I can try"  I looked at their disappointed faces.

"You don't have to force yourself" key oppa chuckled looking at me .

"It's fine if you don't add oppa & call me 'Jonghyun' or 'Jjong' but not Jonghyun-ssi please." he said with pleading eyes making me laugh.

"Aren't you flirting with her?" key oppa said adding on, and everybody was already laughing, which made Jonghyun oppa smack key oppa's shoulder.

"No” “Oppa is much better for me." I added before more discussion came into place.

"I may drop my honorifics in all sense otherwise" "You never know." I warned as they all watched me surprised by my statement.

I was slowly putting down my guards with them with our consistent get-togethers now, and hence I feared if I may start to treat them too casually, forgetting that they were older than me.

It wasn't often that I had older friends like them, I