“Isn’t Taemin helping you with the cafe?” Minho asked, curious because Taemin had mentioned to help Key by himself, and now hearing Key complain about how it’s getting hectic day by day to handle the work outside the kitchen all by himself, as Jinki was busy too all day, finalising the menu since as they were going to shoot the ad this week. Minho was wondering now if Taemin was actually being helpful as he had promised.

“Don’t even get me started?” Key took a glance at Taemin on his side who had started eating already, as the meat was cooked & ready to get in his mouth, “I don’t think he remembers anymore that he offered to help me?” Key had a stern gaze on him, as Taemin was ignoring him now, continuing to eat.

“My fault, I thought he really wanted to help me this time” “But he just needed a reason to visit the cafe everyday to see someone else” Key went on ranting now, making Minho press his lips as he followed Key's words with the smile that was lifting his lips, turning to see Taemin on his side, “Oh! I can see where this is heading now!” 

“What’s heading where?” Jonghyun had arrived and sat beside Key, getting his chopsticks to have a bite quickly. 

“Naeun!”

“You remember the girls we met at the opening party” Minho was excited to explain, “The ones who are gonna handle the digital marketing for the cafe” Minho continued with his hyped tone now, getting Jonghyun nod quietly remembering both girls with their names, when Taemin was on his agenda of stuffing his mouth with another piece of meat that was grilled, as his cheeks grew when his lips went up into a soft smile gradually.

He had finally rested back on his chair, taking a sip of the beer in front of him, finding Key’s darting gaze on him, “Are you blushing just by her name now?” Key frowned, he was concerned, his 25 year old friend, he had known to have the most tedious face of all time, was blushing right before him on mention of a girl he had not even talked a single word yet.

“Seriously?” Key added with his genuinely surprised face, making Minho & Jonghyun smile at each other with the amusement of where this conversation was going to go now.

“I’m not!” Taemin had straightened his face immediately, fixing his curved lips, before taking a sip of the beer from the mug, turning darker instead.

Jonghyun chuckled watching Taemin’s cheeks turn red in those few seconds, “It’s too obvious, for you to be denying it” he smiled, narrowing his eyes on flustered face of Taemin, who was a chair apart from his, as they were sitting around the round table in the restaurant, waiting for one more person, whose chair was left empty between both of them. 

“Who’s blushing for what reason?” Jinki was finally there to fill his seat between them, giving Taemin no time to recover when he saw Minho opening his mouth again to speak, as he reached to pick a piece of meat from the pan, pushing it into Minho’s opened lips, shutting him off halfway, “Yah!” “It’s hot” Minho gritted his teeth watching him irritated by her steam burning his lips, as Taemin gave him a quick nod instead, “You’re supposed to eat it hot”

Though Jinki had noticed this, while trying to read the room silently for a while now, getting to know what he had missed in his absence, he turned to Jonghyun on his other side for the reference, making him point his chopstick in the direction of Taemin, finishing the food in his mouth in the meanwhile to speak, “Taeminnie is interested in someone” 

“Oh!” Jinki had a big smile, “Who?” Jinki was excited too now nudging Taemin’s arm on his side, adding more blush to the younger one’s shy face.

“Yah!” Key had straightened his back on his seat, “If you really like her so much, how about asking her out?” he was tapping his chopsticks on his plate, with that restlessness inside him coming out seeing Taemin’s shy face again for the nth time now, "You know normally people do that when they like someone" his sarcastic tone was coming out.

“At least use the time to impress her properly if you’re not going to help me, huh?” He couldn't resist the urge to school Taemin seeing him head over heels in love.

Key was the one knowing and seeing it all day, and watching Taemin lurking around in the cafe for no reason, managing to watch her work & doing nothing to have a word with her in the entire week he had spent there.

“It’s not that easy” Taemin had the whining, scrunched face, as Key was only more surprised by his answer now, “You haven’t even started?” he scolded, making the other three laugh silently, having their share of meat till these two were having their face off.

“Don’t you wanna try and maybe try talk to her?” Key kept going with his last attempt to convince Taemin about making up courage, but Taemin was not buying the idea of talking to her yet, “It’s too early,” he confessed, staying firm on his stance, making Key rest his case, turning his attention on his food again.

“Who’s the girl?” Jinki enquired again, finally finding the silent gap, still not knowing who they were talking about exactly.

“It’s Naeun!” Jonghyun whispered, sweetly blinking at Jinki, appreciating his strength to intervene in this tough match of negotiation.

“The girl we met at the cafe's opening last week?” Jinki whispered to Jonghyun, as he still had his attention, “Isn’t she working as our marketing agent?” “Is it the same Naeun?” Jinki’s trail of questions and curiosity was followed by another smile from Jonghyun, as he went on nodding quietly in affirmation to each question. 

“Oh!” Jinki finally had caught on the entire information, as he turned to Taemin now, “That’s why you’re coming to the cafe everyday?”

“I thought he had a crush on the other girl” Jinki smiled, which disappeared after finding Taemin’s dumbfounded eyes on him, making Minho burst laughing watching that, “Other girl?” “Seulgi?” 

Jinki nodded affirming, looking at Minho instead, he genuinely thought those two had sparks flying, but now that he could confirm, he was completely wrong about that, “I've seen him talk to her more” “So I thought he had something going on there, but it seems to be something completely different now!?”

“We were only talking about the suggestions for the promotions” Taemin was shocked by Jinki’s observation & conclusion, 

“Yah! You still need to be careful then” Jonghyun shot Taemin’s arm, “What if Naeun gets misunderstood in the same way?” he added, as Taemin watched him suddenly getting that serious face getting anxious now, 

“Shouldn’t you really try communicating more with her?” Jonghyun suggested, making Minho nod too now, “At least give her some hints she could pick if you don’t want to talk right away” Minho smirked, looking at Key's shaking head.

“I have tried my best, I have nothing more to say” Key sighed, making Taemin puff his cheeks, his head getting heavy from rush of thoughts, “I didn’t even do anything, how can it turn out this way” he was only more confused right now. 

He had not realised that in the attempt of stealing his time to know Naeun quietly watching her from side, he had started interacting with Seulgi more. Seulgi was incharge of the web-designing so he was helping her in providing information and his experience as a cafe owner himself. And as they both also had similar interests, they both would end up talking on other subjects here and there But he was not thinking at all how this friendship could put an impression on Naeun if she has also noticed it in similar way. After hearing Jinki now, he could understand how it could create similar misunderstanding in her eyes too. He was worried & curious now about Naeun’s impression about him.

“You don’t need to worry so much.” Minho was the one to speak again, observing Taemin’s concerned face, “You can still change your mind” he suggested, getting Taemin on thinking mode again.

“How about we have your piano recital in a cafe someday?” Jinki suggested, turning to Key, “We have a piano in the cafe” Key nodded back, as he clapped, amazed by the suggestion, “Actually, this is a really good idea!” 

“You should wear that white shirt of yours with some buttons down, and play kind of sentimental music” key added in the outflowing enthusiasm now, “How about this weekend?” Key patted Taemin’s back, making him smile embarrassed by the shirt description, “Why would I wear anything like that?” “She’ll think I’m some weird person trying to show off my chest” he had his face heating up in no time.

“No! He’s right!” Minho’s voice was a range higher than Key, bursting with excitement 7 slightly drunk too by now, “Girls like such concepts” “A handsome man playing sentimental music on piano in a y white-shirt…” he had the taunting gaze, cringing Taemin as he clicked his tongue to cheek feeling more flushed now, imagining himself in that look,

“It works!” Minho’s words had convinced everyone, except Taemin who still had that hesitating face, “Well, I can try playing the piano-” and seeing Key open his mouth again to add something more, he had to put out his next words quickly, “..with normal & casual clothes” 

“She doesn’t even know me that well yet” he was really worried about ruining his impression before making any.

“Yeah let’s keep it simple for the first time as he wants” “He should be comfortable after all” Jonghyun was giggling now thinking on it calmly, holding Key’s arm on his side, “You got a little too excited with that” 

“Can’t deny” Key had a blushing smile, knowing he couldn’t control his excitement, “I should ask her what kind of music she likes?”

“Good idea!” Jinki jumped on his chair in the middle of finishing his rice from the bowl, making all of them laugh on his cuteness coming out.

“Wouldn’t she find it weird to ask about her music preference?” Taemin had the tensed face again, making Key drop his excited shoulders, calming down,

“Well, I’m the only person she talks with the most right now, so isn’t it better to have an idea of her likes and dislikes?” “And even if she finds out, what’s the problem?” Key smiled, making Taemin frown in concern, “Hyung, please!” 

“Okay, but are you going to play any song you want then?” Key asked, making Taemin’s face drop going silent again, “I can just ask her favourite singer or something like that?” Key added, sounding plausible, as Taemin had to agree finally that it was a better idea to do so.

—-------------

“He looks different while playing the piano, don’t you think so?” Seulgi asked Naeun who was sitting on the chair beside her as Naeun had her attention on someone else.

She had noticed Key stealing a glance at them, as her suspicious narrowed gaze scanned the room, and found Minho doing the same, as she could feel the strange vibes through those secretive gazes, constantly eyeing them since a while now.

She turned her investigating eyes on Taemin still playing the song on the piano, lost in his own world, while Jonghyun was busy accompanying him with the guitar chords, sitting on the chair in front of the piano, also lost in his own world, so she now searched for the last guy she needed to check to confirm her suspicion. 

It was their main chef and the last member of that gang of friends, who was missing there, Lee Jinki.

While Key was actually the main owner of the cafe, and Jinki was the main chef and also Key’s partner in the business, Key and Jinki had their friends as part of the team, who were helping around with the cafe a lot since Naeun & Seulgi had started their work as the digital marketera for the cafe.

Minho being the digital influencer, was a celebrity, who agreed to be the face of the promotions with Naeun’s marketing ideas for the digital advertising.

Jonghyun was the friend who was also a music producer, so he would often spend the evenings there writing music with his guitar.

And Taemin, she had seen him around in the cafe the most, sometimes making fun of Key and sometimes doing errands for him too, but most of the times he would be in kitchen chatting with Jinki or otherwise chilling with Minho & Jonghyun when they both would be there, but according to Key, he owned a cafe himself, and hence was helping Key in the business.

She remembered that Jinki could probably be found in the kitchen, but she noticed him standing at the bar, flashing a sweet smile, as she gave a soft one back.

Although he was overall very sweet person, often giving her a smile without fail…. She was getting this feeling as if they were keeping watch on Seulgi & her for some reason.

It was hard to exactly tell what was wrong, but something was not right for sure.

“Seul, I think something is wrong with them” she whispered to Seulgi, finding Key again, catching his fleeting glance, as she could confirm now that they had something going on, 

“Who?” Seulgi, with no idea who Naeun was talking about, turned to find Naeun's detective eyes stuck on Key, as Seulgi bursted into a giggle, but she straightened her lips again before Naeun could notice her,

“Key and his friends” “They are keeping watch on us” Naeun whispered, completely immersed in solving the meaning behind these stealing glances, 

“So?” Seulgi couldn't follow what Naeun was thinking, “Is it something to worry about?” That’s what Naeun was thinking, but not in a relaxed state like Seulgi.

“I don’t know, something is fishy” “Key is very detailed about what he wants” “Is he thinking of replacing us by any chance?” hearing Naeun’s conclusion, Seulgi's forehead had lines of question mark, “Have we done anything wrong?” she asked, inciting Naeun’s mind too now. Have they done anything wrong? She was trying to remember it now.

Naeun went through the whole report of whatever they had done as the marketers for the cafe till now in a lightning speed of her thoughts, to come up with the slightest reason that could possibly satisfiy her doubt, as she realised they had only worked hard and neither Key had anything to complain till now.

“Well not really anything wrong?” she confessed, making Seulgi smile watching Naeun’s confused face, “Maybe one of them just has a crush on you?” Seulgi’s reply got Naeun laughing, as she relaxed back on her chair finally, "Crush on me?" she looked at everyone again, as she could recognize it wasn't the romantic gaze.

She came across Taemin, resting her gaze on his figure playing the piano, immersed in his role he really looked different, as Seulgi mentioned earlier.

She was intrigued, the gaze shifting down on his hands, dancing on the keys of the piano, moving too smoothly for a beginner, as she looked up to his face again, when his eyes were innocently focused on the keys, making her smile, remembering her thoughts about him.

She had judged him to be completely non-serious, but here he was immersed sincerely in something like music.

The song had ended, as everyone was clapping, so she did too, as his eyes raised to look back at her at the same time, making her fluster now with that sudden interaction, skipping her heartbeat with that soft glance suddenly on her.

He looked away awkwardly, as she did too then, feeling weirdly embarrassed now, thinking what he could've thought of her, staring at him with these soft, smiling eyes.

She couldn’t see herself but she knew she was flushed with the heat she could feel on her cheeks, as she wished she could just disappear from there

Her eyes turned to Seulgi, as she saw her giving thumbs up to Taemin,

“Do you like him?” Naeun teased, just fooling with her, though she knew how Seulgi had this friendly side, being enthusaistic with the people she liked even non-romantically. Seulgi had a surprised face as expected, “Who?” “Taemin?” she was laughing, making Naeun nod with smirk,

“Not me!”

“But he has a crush on you” Seulgi blurted further, taking Naeun by unexpected surprise, “Huh?"

“Where is this coming from?” she laughed nervously, this was either Seulgi teasing her back or Seulgi’s interesting imaginary story like other times, as she waited for the girl to explain further.

“You remember asking me for the coffee, the day before yesterday, when you were sketching the set-designs for the ad?" Naeun nodded, recalling, trying to hear this till the end now, "I had not even heard you, he was the one paying attention to you and made you the coffe as well!" Seulgi was enthusiatic but her voice was filled with sincerity, "You were so busy sketching the designs you didn’t even raise your eye from the screen” Naeun could remember and verify that she was too focused to notice more than a hand leaving the cup of coffee on the table in the hindsight.

“Actually, I knew it since the day we met everyone at the party, like his gaze was fixated on you” Seulgi added, as Naeun had this pit in her stomach growing with the nervousness.

It was strange feeling. she knew nothing about him, other than how they had not talked even once yet, but hearing all this was giving her butterflies.

"Since then I have been noticing things here and there“ “There's a few more…” Seulgi was suprised how Naeun had no idea.

“Okay, now drop it” Naeun mumbled before Seulgi could utter something further, as she saw Jonghyun and Taemin coming to their table, making Seulgi raise her confused eyes on her to get her gesturing her gaze behind, making Seulgi turn to finally notice them.

“Would you mind us joining you both?” Jonghyun asked, making Naeun shake her head quickly, as he smiled, taking the chair beside her, making Taemin sit on the chair beside Seulgi.

“Well, we haven't meet each other that often" "But if you need any help, count me in" Jonghyun offered with his sweet voice, taking a soft smile from Naeun, “Sure!” 

"i hope Taemin is helping well?" Her eyes went on Taemin eventually, and their eyes matched again, which only made her more anxious, with all this information in her head now.

This changing nervousness was annoying.

If Seulgi was actually making sense, and he has feelings for her, she was curious now how she wanted to react in such situation then..

"Yeah! We're working on the website and app too" Naeun looked at Seulgi, who had spoke responding to Jonghyun, and then Jonghyun again, she just wanted to look anywhere but that man in front of her now, "Hope you enjoyed the evening" she heard Jonghyun, and smiled back, stuck with her thoughts now.

"Ofcourse!" "You both were too cool" Seulgi added her enthusiasm, saving it for her, making Jonghyun blush laughing, "Good to hear that!"

Naeun had turned to Jonghyun, "If you don't mind" “We should leave now”

“Are we leaving already?” Seulgi asked, not ready to leave so early, the evening had started just now, and Naeun was talking of leaving already.

“Yes we are” Naeun gave her the stern gaze, "We have the ad shoot tomorrow morning" "And you have an extra meeting too", Seulgi gave out a sad pout, as she stood up, remembering that they still had things to prepare for tomorrow, as Naeun stand up too,

“See you again!" Naeun bowed to Jonghyun, making him nod with a smile, as Seulgi did a small handwave to both the boys, “See you guys tomorrow” 

Naeun had got her hand on Seulgi’s arm, as they walked together towards the bar.

“Seulgi!” they heard Taemin's soft voice, making Seulgi turn, as she had walked back to the table then, making Naeun continue walking further, approaching the bar, where Key & Minho were seated,

“Key oppa!” she had both Key’s & Minho’s attention with that call, “We’re shooting the video for the ad tomorrow” she eventually glanced at Minho reminding him as well, “Yeah I remember!” he smiled, as she nodded smiling back.

“Are you leaving already?” Key asked, as Naeun nodded, turning again to Minho remembering something again, “Sharp 8:00 am in the morning” she had her eyes warning Minho, as Key took the chance to take a glance at Taemin, who was talking with Seulgi in the time, "How was the evening?" he inquired, getting back Naeun's attention, "Should I ask him to play the piano everyday?" he narrowed his eyes on her, smiling cutely, making her smile again, "He'll attract number of girls for sure" she gave back a thumbs up, making Key and Minho smirk, watching each other.

"Ah?" Naeun exclaimed, taking back their attention again,

"I’m sure everyone would be busy but I’ll need one person helping me tomorrow" "Seulgi has another meeting in the morning" she had a kind request, taking a soft glance from Key now, “We do have an all-time free person for that” “Don’t worry”

“Taeminah!” he shouted, taking Taemin’s attention, as Naeun’s relieved smile had straightened, tensing her face, as she wasn’t even able to change it back to normal now.

“Naeun needs an all-day assistant tomorrow?” Key announced, as Taemin was flustered, having no context to that request, “Are you asking me to do it?” Key nodded, making Taemin pause for a second before nodding back, "Okay!" 

Oh! This was going to be super-awkward now!

Naeun wanted to deny the offer, but that would be awkward too, and answering the later questions would be even more crazy. 

So she stayed silent, as Key turned back to her, “Use him all you want!” he smirked, making Naeun sigh, and Key chuckle then, as she heard Minho scoff too on her side, “Why are you sighing like that?” Minho’s surprised question in his laughing tone made her shake her head innocently, “See you guys tomorrow” she had walked away, making Minho smile at Key, watching her already walk out of the door in that speed, “Good job!”

Key saw Seulgi come their way, “Naeun?” he gestured her to the door, as Seulgi had followed out.

Jinki had one more order, so he was busy again in the kitchen as Taemin & Jonghyun stood up to join Key & Minho at the bar.

"How can you put me on a spot like that?” Taemin was whining again, making three of them smile,

“What did I do?” “She just asked me if someone could help her tomorrow” Key was enjoying teasing Taemin now, “Aren’t you the one with nothing to do tomorrow?” he smirked, making Taemin more angry, “But-”

“Don’t you wanna spend time with her?” Key added, making Taemin more nervous about tomorrow, as he buried his head in his arms folded on the table, "I do"

“You’ll be fine” Jonghyun giggled, seeing Taemin’s anxious but cute state, “This is your chance” he reached for Taemin’s shoulder, who looked up to him now, “Relax! You'll do well" he smiled, making Taemin nod, still not feeling any less nervous.

—------------

Naeun took the fairy lights from the table inside, and walked out into the lawn, where they were supposed to decorate the trees around with the fairy lights that would appear in the ad.

She took the chair placing it below one of the trees, and climbed up to stand on it, sensing the uneven land, but stood carefully to find one of the ends of the loop to fix it on one of the branches first, but the branch was higher than she thought with the shaky landscape below, for her to manage this alone, she needed someone to help her hold that chair for her, as she looked around the spot.

Key & Onew were busy inside serving the customers, and Minho was getting his makeup done, while Seulgi was out as well, having a meeting with one of their new clients.

The only person she noticed sitting idle was Taemin, she could see him across the big glass windows, sitting near the bar, watching his phone, as she turned back to trying this on her own.

Since she had heard Seulgi’s conclusion about that crush thing, her mind was processing him differently, she was involuntarily feeling more cautious around him. There was no way she was gonna call him here to help when she was alone.

She got the hold of a branch trying to wind the end of the wire around it, but the untangled part was still short to go all around the branch, making her reach the tangled end to untangle it, in order to wind it properly, making her hold up herself, standing on her toes above the chair.

The chair had started shaking but she was hoping to still hold on for some time, keeping her balance, as eventually she lost it, back of her knees touching the top rail of the chair, as her heart was in in fear, but she still thought of jumping back in reflex, if it was at all possible.

But….

The chair didn’t fall back, and instead she felt a hand supporting her back. She looked down to find Taemin there. 

“You should have called me” “I was right there in front of you” he had his voice raised, trying to catch his breath before scolding her, probably he had ran here in hurry, after noticing her.

He held the chair straight, making her step down to stand in front of him, “It’s that, the wire was tangled, and so…” she was mumbling with the words on her lips, because of this unusual angry face he had right now, making her feel like an idiot.

“Let me do it” he pulled her away by arm, to climb the chair himself, as she reached to hold the chair, watching him fix the untangling now, he was a little taller than her so could reach up a bit easily, and was doing well with the untangling too.

As he jumped down, after fixing it completely sooner than she expected, startling her, to smile back, “Anything else?”

“We need to decorate two more trees” she added, making him nod in agreement, as she picked another coil of fairy lights she had kept on the table behind.

“Why do I feel like you’re avoiding me?” she heard him, as he was up on the chair fixing the lights on branch of another tree, when she was right there, standing down, making sure the chair was stable in the meanwhile..

“Hmm?” she looked up at him, as he was focused on his work, but smiling, “If it’s not so, forget it”

She looked down, thinking now how obvious she was that he noticed it. 

“One more left right?” he had jumped down again, startling her, as she nodded with that flustered face, making him chuckle, “You talk to everyone but me?” he digged further, making her raise her eyes on him this time, with her hand reaching her flushed ears. Why was she having this flush now?

She was quiet, making him smile at her, “Do you have a crush on me?” he asked, making her snap back at him immediately, “No!”

“Okay!” “I got it” he blinked, slightly intimidated by her raised tone, “You don’t have to be so aggressive.” he smiled, but she was staring at him blankly, thinking about Seulgi’s words again now and deleting that conclusion from her head completely.

I have a crush on him? She had an unknown frustration rising up.

Was she disappointed about knowing the truth about his feelings? Or was it about finding her own feeling getting clumsy now?

She reached to pick the last loop of lights, pushing it towards him, “Let's finish the work in time” 

She looked kind of angry, and he was scared now if he went too far with that joke.

He shouldn’t have mentioned it that way. But regretting now wasn't going to help him, and she was probably gonna stay more away from him, instead of being friendly.

He was so confused why he had to think of such a joke at that moment. This was definitely not going as he wanted it to go.

He fixed the last loop, stepped down, watching her avoiding his eyes too now, “I was joking” “Sorry if I offended you” he didn’t know a better way to fix this conversation now, “It feels different that we are the only ones not talking to each other” he added to the explanation which was strangely working on her, as she looked up at him, the frustration already melted when she saw his humble face, “But still you went far with the question as joke” she muttered softly, making him only nod back, and her giggle then with his face turning paler, “It’s okay” she reassured, making his eyes light up as he looked back at her.

“Is it uncomfortable talking to me?” he inquired, watching her smile constant now, trying to change this condition between them, taking the chance again, “No!” “It’s not that” 

“We never really got a chance to talk, and then….” she heard that from Seulgi yesterday.

Hardly a week had passed, meeting five of them, and the other four had approached her for one or other reason. It didn’t happen with Taemin. And she could see he was a shy type, so she wasn’t bothered by him not trying to talk or make efforts. Her work didn’t really involve him, so it was hard for her to make an approach too. 

Yes, there was always an awkward air between them, but she knew how it was to be a shy person, so she never wanted to force a conversation on either of them.

“As long as it’s not uncomfortable…” he trailed off in a brief silence himself, he recognised he was coming off strong with his feelings involved but that wasn’t the case for her, and had started to feel careful again, “We’ll be seeing each other often now, so I just wanted to …” “You know, you can talk to me comfortably as well” she could read his nervousness in the loss for words, so she nodded immediately, making him smile with relief, as she smiled back.

—-------------

She was walking as he entered before she could come out, almost bumping into her, “Sorry!” he was holding onto his heart, as her familiar scent was distracting him from the purpose he had came in with.

He stepped back, seeing her step back too, as they both were standing on either side of the door now.

“Me too!” she whispered, taking a widened gaze from him, “Huh?”

“I’m sorry too” she added, watching him with the puzzled gaze, as he ended up smiling at her cute face, nodding back.

“Do you need anything?” She raised her eyes on him, making him laugh softly again, as he touched his neck, probably contemplating his words, as she waited for him to speak, “The thing is….”

She was waiting as he took a glance out, observing everyone else busy talking outside, moving ahead to walk in, making her walk back, observing him with curiosity, as he looked back, getting another raised eye from her.

“Do you wanna go out for lunch?” he whispered carefully that his voice was low, making her burst into a smile, “Why are you so secretive about it?” she asked, smiling, as he blinked, “They all can’t know about it”

“Why?” she was also whispering now, instinctively following his voice without even knowing herself, 

“So you’re up for it?” he asked, making her blink in surprise holding back before agreeing completely but she eventually nodded back, as he took the dish with the croissant she was holding to take out, from her hands, pushing it on the counter beside them.

She was observing him, as he gestured her to follow him, before walking ahead of her, “Let’s go then” 

Before she could process, she eventually ended up following him, as he walked towards the back door through the kitchen, “I should atleast tell Key oppa” Naeun took a glance back, worried by this spontaneous escape.

“I’ll message him” “It’s your lunch hour too as other employees” he flashed the screen of his phone in front of her eyes, as they had walked out on the street, she noticed the time ‘1:00 pm’ turning her gaze back to him, “So that’s why you were checking the time since morning?” she questioned, watching his cheeks rise slightly, as he shifted his eyes away, “Let’s go!” he walked further, making her follow him to walk beside him, “Where are we going?” her voice had energy being chirpy yet light, as she watched his face for the answer.

“Keep walking straight” he was keeping his smile down, embarrassed now to answer her back, as she kept walking beside him, staring at his blushed face for a few seconds.

“Is this a date?” he heard her, his startled eyes finding her face again finally, “Date?” 

She nodded, surprised by his surprised gaze, “Is it not a date?” she was staring at him with a curious face, as he opened his mouth, but everything he was thinking to say seemed so childish, or cheesy, or merely unnecessary, as he went back to the silence, to hear her scoff back, feeling the peak of embarrassment now, that he was hot when his heart was racing fast, not really allowing him to think straight again.

“So, it’s not really a date?” she mumbled, trying to avoid intimidating him without looking at him this time. 

She could know how cringey it was, as she was feeling the shivers herself though she took the role of playing dumb when he got shy first, it was fun to keep teasing him, having that role in her hand now.

“It is” he mumbled back, as she had heard him almost to burst out laughing but managed to stay composed, “what is it?” she tried her best to not crack up, hearing him chuckle back then, “I don’t know” “Can’t you just keep walking along?” his laughing voice made her giggle too, as she cleared to speak again, “Till where do I need to keep walking then?” she had teasing eyes as he looked at her, clicking the keys in his hands, as she heard the sound of the car in front of her, turning her eyes in the direction.

He reached for the door, opening it, “Get in!” his voice had changed to a deeper tone, as she ended up raising her eyes with a smile, getting seated on the passenger seat quietly, as he closed the door, walking to the driver’s seat then.

She couldn’t stop herself from smiling, and watching her he couldn’t put his heart to rest now. 

A/N :

Here's a fun story!! With all the tension & worries about future of shinee being valid, I hope we all could still trust shinee's bond of more than fifteen years, which is deeper than what we have with them, and relax ourselves.

I had wrote this story including shinee and wanted to release it bfr the news came out, and was not sure if i should relaese it this week after the news broke with all the anxiety, but then as this one involves shinee's bond with Taemin, it felt right to give it to you all in such a time.

His hyungs have been his support for so long and so strong, that he has grown to be this confident that he can manage new challenegs on his own now. Let's support Shinee with their new journey with a confident heart ourselves.

Thank you for reading again!! And hope it was comforting and fun !!

See you all again soon !!

P.S : Naeun's birthday partner and my bias Seulgi as the cameo ^^