“What is it?” Ryujin entered the cafe, as she placed her bag on the reception table, walking towards Hyerin, who was standing on the chair, fixing the light above the table near the big window.

“You’re earlier than I expected?” Hyerin watched her, as she stepped down, cleaning the chair with the cloth she took out from the pocket of her apron, before placing it on the table.

“I’m dying with curiosity” Ryujin was getting highly impatient, as she watched Hyerin with those demanding eyes, “Can you tell me now?” “What do you mean by important decision?” her frowned eyes, making her restless mind too obvious to notice, as she followed Hyerin to the counter,

“Should I make you a coffee or you want something sweet?” Hyerin moved ahead to the reception, watching Ryujin’s impatient face with a smile,

“What happened?” “Is it about cafe?” Ryujin complained seeing Hyerin’s subtle smile now,

“What are you planning, Park Hyerin?” Ryujin’s face was worried now, which made Hyerin laugh, as she moved to the reception to grab her purse.

Ryujin watched Hyerin take out a tiny blue velvet box, her heart reacting now, knowing what kind of box it was.

Hyerin had a blushed smile with the box in her hand when she walked back to Ryujin, as she extended it to her friend watching her with big eyes, “You’re serious?”

Ryujin’s stunned face made Hyerin giggle, as she responded with a quick nod, urging her to open the small box restlessly, as she found two diamond rings inside,

“Oh my god!” she literally screamed, as she couldn’t stop herself from staring at the beautiful rings inside, as her face was lit with happiness, “When are you doing this?”

“Tomorrow after the concert” Hyerin pursed her lips together, smiling shy.

“In front of everyone?” Ryujin's happy face was replaced by shocked one again, “Hyerin, don’t you think you’re being too bold?” she squinted her eyes on Hyerin in blinking anxiously,

“No..”

“No!” Hyerin left out a giggle seeing Ryujin's overwhelmed face, “At home” “After getting back home”

“Have you already planned?” Ryujin had too many questions to stop just yet.

“What do you think I called you for?” Hyerin sat down on the chair behind her, as Ryujin smiled, taking the seat on the stool near her, watching Hyerin’s blushed face.

—--------------

“Taeminah!” Key shouted, noticing Taemin, who had walked inside, to sit in the chair beside him, in the green room that had just him & Kibum for now, “Why are you roaming around?” “Your concert is gonna start in an hour” “Everyone was searching you to get ready”

“They brought your costume few minutes ago” Key glanced at the costume hung on the costume hanger in the corner, “What was so urgent?” he had his eyes on the mirror with a frown, observing the maknae in the reflection, taking a pout from Taemin in return, as he sighed, expecting that response from him.

After staring at Kibum for a moment, Taemin reached for his coat pocket, to get out a tiny box, placing it in on the table before them, as Key’s surprised eyes were stuck on it now,

“Wait!” Key had his hands on Taemin’s retrieving wrist, as the maknae looked up with innocent eyes, “This…?”

“Haww!” Key's expression changed to shock, making Taemin smile in return at his hyung’s cute reaction,

“Are you..?”

“Seriously?” Key whispered, widening his eyes again, when Jonghyun and Jinki entered the room, followed by Minho by a lapse of few seconds,

“Taeminah, where were you?” Jinki asked seeing Taemin and then Key as they walked to them,

“Guys!” Key was smirking, with the box in his hand now, exposing it to the sight of other three members,

“Is that a ring?” Jonghyun walked ahead with Jinki, both of them excitedly eyeing the box in Kibum’s hands, as Minho walked in following them, trying to get his head around the topic, as he walked to stand beside Jonghyun who had the box from Key in his hands then, opening it up, as they could see two rings inside, the smaller one studded with a crowned diamond, while the slightly bigger one was a simple ring of platinum studded with a tiny diamond.

Taemin got up to turn his chair around, eyeing the reactions of s, as he sat down again, blushing to himself unconsciously.

“Is this for-?”

“Hyerin,” Taemin answered right away, before Jinki could complete his question, making him scoff at the younger's quick response, as Taemin was grinning shy in response again.

“Like for?” Jinki asked again to confirm, as he saw Taemin nodding, confirming his assumptions, as he ended up smiling warmly in return.

“Yah!” Minho interrupted, taking everyone’s attention, “It’s so confusing to gift a ring to your girlfriend” Minho had his curled eyebrows watching Taemin, making him blink confused, as the maknae gasped, standing up in frustatration, taking the box from Jonghyun’s hand, who was shaking his head, smirking eyeing Minho now,

“What's confusing?” “I’m going to propose to her today” Taemin blurted, snapping at Minho, as he noticed Minho’s coy smile then,

“I see!” Minho was laughing now, after successfully teasing the maknae at his most nervous times,

“I was just confirming” Minho teased more, taking a pout from Taemin, who sat back sulking, making his hyungs laugh.

“You need to get ready now to finish on time though” Jinki reminded, making Taemin stand back in haste, nodding sincerely, as he walked himself to the changing room.

“Ah?” he came back from halfway, walking to Jinki, “Protect this for me, today” he pushed the box in Jinki’s hand, leaving him startled, as he walked back inside, taking the clothes from the hanger stand near the room.

The other three watching this scene, bursted out laughing again, making Jinki laugh too then, as he saw Taemin smiling to himself before closing the door.

“Do you all think he has a plan?” Jinki asked smiling confused, turning to the boys, as Key sighed, continuing to smile, “Looks like he has, by the way he is excited” he added, making Jonghyun & Minho nod in unison, “Ah!” “Can’t believe he’s gonna propose finally” Jonghyun was one to speak now, leading to their widened smiles, “It’s fascinating how he managed to prepare everything, all by himself” Minho added, smirking proud of his donsaeng.

“Looks like our little boy has really grown up” Key smirked, taking nods from the others,

“Hey, where’s taemin?” the voice of manager hyung had intervened, as the door opened, making all of them look in the direction, “I’ll send the makeup artist” “Has he changed?”

“Yes, hyung!” jinki answered, as the manager left giving a quick nod,

“Taeminah!” Key shouted, turning to the changing room, making Taemin come out in time, “Ready!” he gave a cheeky smile, walking to the mirror to fix his hair.

“We’ll be out now” “See you after the concert” Minho informed, as all of them started walking out leaving Taemin alone in the room.

-------------

As he was the kind of idol who would focus on his performance more than anything while he was on stage, he hardly had looked at Hyerin throughout the whole concert. But only he knew how fast his heart was beating with every passing second, knowing she was there, watching him perform today, and the day was very special for him by many aspects.

He messed up his ment in the same nervousness, but everyone was laughing at his cuteness, and he felt more embarrassed then, knowing Hyerin was watching him this way, among all of them.

He dared himself not to look in her direction, knowing he would mess up the rest of the concert then, which got him through the remaining show successfully.

He ended up enjoying the rest of the time with the fanchants getting louder after a while, that got him focused for the time, and he was having his time with his fans.

The concert ended after 2 hours. And moving backstage, after the final goodbye to his fans, suddenly the feeling of nervousness was all over him again, with the thought of meeting Hyerin for the purpose he had for today.

He was changing before wrapping up for the night, as his hyungs were already in the room, waiting for him, chatting & discussing random things.

“Taemin-ah!” he heard the manager who had entered with a pale face, reluctantly scanning his reaction, “You don’t know yet!?”

Taemin including the boys in the room were confused now, as the manager left a long sigh, watching everyone with a worried expression,

“Someone took a photograph of Hyerin at the concert”

Everyone was just too shocked to have any reaction, all of their faces turning as pale as the manager’s face now.

“Her face is not revealed” the manager held his hands in front as in to stop them from going overboard before he could finish explaining,

“They might have noticed Ryujin & were probably taking a snap of her, they saw Hyerin talking to her at the time, it has given room to assumptions” he continued to explain, as he turned to Jonghyun who had widened his eyes on the information.

“Hyerin’s back was facing the camera, so luckily, there's less room for any confirmations” he watched everyone relaxing a bit with the elaborated fact, but the string of tension was still there in the air.

“Eventually most of the fans already knew you were in a relationship” “But as the picture is going viral all over media” “It has led to a bit of chaos right now” the manager lent in all the information he had for them to know at the point of time.

“Where are both of them right now?” Key startled everyone, before the manager hyung could add anything more, as he turned to Jonghyun on his side for answer,

“Ryujin’s car” “Nobody knows her car thankfully” “So they should be safe!” Jonghyun assured, knowing the concern.

“Are you sure?” the manager asked, getting a firm nod from him, “She should take Hyerin home soon then?” “They shouldn’t stay here for long now” he added, as Jonghyun reached his phone to call Ryujin the very next second.

“I think you should call Hyerin too,” Key suggested, looking at Taemin now, as Taemin pulled out his phone immediately, nodding in response.

“Hello!” she had picked the call,

“Are you okay?” he was too obvious to sound worried, as Minho reached his shoulder to hint him to relax.

“Yeah!” “Why are you asking so?”“Are you ….okay?” she interrogated back, oblivious to the whole drama happening behind her back.

“I don’t think we can go for the dinner date today” “I’m sorry” his disappointment was taking control of his tone now, as he sounded really sad now,

“It’s okay” “You don’t have to say sorry with so much of guilt” she joked, making him purse his lips together in despair now,

“You should leave with Ryujin?” “I have some work with hyungs” he added, trying to act as calm as possible, as she hummed in response.

“Okay” her voice firm now,“I'm fine" "You should chill”

“You’re coming home right?” she asked, making him hum in response,

“So it’s all okay” she was the only one talking as he was way too sllent, she did thought something was wrong, as she noticed Ryujin who was talking to Jonghyun on her phone.

“I don’t mind going on dinner some other day” “It doesn’t have to be today” she kept going until she heard his short hum in return again, after the long silence.

“Are you okay?” she asked, worried now by the slight shake in his voice, and her instinct was just getting stronger.

“Yeah!” “Let me know when you both reach home” he added, getting hold of himself,

“Sure” she replied, as she disconnected the call.

“Don’t worry” “Ryujin is with her,” Jonghyun assured, making Taemin nod blankly.

“What kind of picture do they have exactly?” Key muttered, as he reached for his phone to check the photos on media & news, as all of them gathered, to see it together,

“How did they even know this is Ryujin?” Minho complained watching the picture uploaded, leaning forward to take a closer look for himself, as Ryujin’s face was not that clear too, from the distance the photo was taken, “This is insane!”

The manager hyung had gone out for a call at the same time, as he entered back, now tensed about something more, as the tension lines were prominent on his forehead again,

“I got a call from company” “Your tour has started today & they want you to stay in the dorms till you leave Seoul next week" he sighed, seeing Taemin close his eyes, "To stop the rumor from growing,”

Taemin took a heavy breath, looking away with tears in his eyes, as he found his heart sinking down with all his plans for today going in vain slowly.

“Can you give us a minute?” Jinki interrupted, observing Taemin’s watery eyes. The manager hyung nodded as he left, locking the door behind him,

“Should we go talk to them?” Jinki asked, worried now for Taemin, “You had plans for today?”

“Don’t you need to meet her?” he added, watching Taemin’s agonized face, as the younger one got himself a seat on the chair behind him, feeling really exhausted to keep standing further.

“Yeah!” Jonghyun added, seeing the maknae going through distress, “Or you should just go home, we can manage here” he assured, watching Taemin put his face in his palms,

“Hyerin is gonna come across the news sooner or later” he added, trying to communicate with Taemin, worried, seeing him in stress, “At least tonight, you should go home”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen today” Taemin murmured, angry at the whole turn of events now.

“You are still going with the plan, right?” Key asked, confused, as Taemin looked up, lines forming across his forehead, as all four of his hyungs were staring at him, curious about his answer.

He let out a breath, as the tear fell down his cheek, as he looked down, staring at the floor, “I don’t know” his voice was shaking with the sinking heart, due to the guilt he was feeling inside.

“It’s okay” “You can take your time” Jonghyun added, rubbing his back, standing beside him, as he hugged his side.

“I don’t want to-” he whined, as his voice cracked, “I don’t want to push it again”

“I really wanted to do this today”

“Then go do it” Minho added, making Taemin look up at him astonished by his answer, scanning the other members faces too, and all of them were agreeing with nods then, making him blink thinking about it,

“You already have a decision, so why back away now?” "Nothing's changed as such for you to give up" Minho continued, with a firm expression, as Taemin knew what he was indicating.

His head was clearing slowly with Minho’s words making sense, as they were shutting off this awful feeling of messing up the most important moment of his life,

“Right!” Key joined in, agreeing with Minho, trying to encourage Taemin,"This useless worrying is just gonna ruin your plan” he looked at Taemin who was waiting for him to finish, as he reached his arm, “Go and give her that beautiful ring you bought”

“We’ll talk to manager hyung & tell him you’ll get in the dorm tomorrow” Key added, taking a soft smile from Taemin, making him smile back proudly,

“I’ll drop you” Minho suggested, “Less chances for more doubts” “It will be safer too” he continued smiling, seeing light back in Taemin’s dewy eyes now.

“Thank you” he mouthed silently, blinking soft, as he stood up to go finally.

“You both should leave then” Jinki patted Taemin’s back, as he turned to Minho, making him walk to the door, “Let’s go!”

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