. F I V E . 

There was simply no way. Yuki must have been mistaken, because there was no way that her father was a kpop idol. How would that even work? Jihye knew little about the kpop industry, but she knew that idols were constantly kept busy, sometimes even working in unethical and inhumane conditions, and that any little scandal could end their career. She thought back to all the scandals that were caused simply because two idols were dating, with their agencies issuing official statements and the idols themselves sometimes even having to publically apologise for having a personal life. Not to mention all those crazy sasaengs who thought they had some claim over their oppas. And that was just dating. There was no way an idol could have a child and keep it out of the public eye. There was simply no way to keep it a secret.

But what if Yuki wasn't mistaken? After all, she knew what her father looked like. Was her father really a member of SHINee? Which one? Yuki hadn't pointed out which member, and the interview itself had been confusing. This Taemin guy seemed to be on a leave of absence, so maybe he was the dad? But the interviewer had said that he had only been gone for two years, and Yuki was four. So maybe his absence truly was health-related. Because also, if he didn't have to work, wouldn't he be at home with his daughter? So Jihye's suspiscions turned to the other members who had continued their activities. It would make more sense that active members would have absolutely no time to spare their young child. 

When Mrs. Park arrived at 8:30, Jihye avoided her gaze and said her goodbyes as quickly as possible. She mentioned that Yuki had been particularly upset about having to sleep in her own bed that night, but that she had fallen asleep after some milk and Jihye had carried her to bed without issue.

When Jihye got home, she immediately booted up her ancient laptop and searched through a backlog of news articles concerning SHINee. Around two years ago, Taemin had cancelled all his performances promoting his latest solo comeback, citing poor health, and then had pretty much vanished. Whereas before he had frequented game shows, interviews, talk shows, and stayed in contact with his fans by going live on Instagram, now there was nothing. The latest article to mention him was from three months ago, entitled "Where is SHINee's Taemin now?".

There were some conspiracy theories about it with people remarking that it was weird that he disappeared at the height of his career, but most people seemed to buy that bad health was the reason and sent him warm well wishes. In comparison, all the other members remained directly under the media's eye. It seemed like their every move was tracked as there were articles spotting them at airports, shopping malls, getting coffee, amidst articles reporting their official, hectic schedules. 

"No way," Jihye whispered in disbelief again. 

She had never payed much attention to SHINee before, but found herself on YouTube looking at their past performances. She was immediately impressed with their stage presence, their vocals and the seamless synchronicity of their dance routines. She found herself adding a few of their songs to her playlist, but then pulled herself together. 

Clicking off their performances and onto more casual videos where their personalities shone through, she found that the members genuinely seemed to get along. The way they joked around with each other, Jihye clearly saw the obvious affection they had for each other. 

Taemin, she learnt, was the youngest member and specifically well regarded for his dance technique. Although he had not originally been a vocalist, he had strengthened his tone and developed his singing skills, and had actually been the first SHINee member to debut solo. 

He was twenty seven now, but had vanished when he was twenty five, in the very midst of his sky-rocketing career. 

Was he Yuki's father? 

It was midnight when Jihye decided that she had to know. She called Euisoo, not caring that it was the middle of the night and he was probably fast asleep. She had to know. 

"Jihye, what's wrong?" He said groggily, answering on the fourth ring. 

"Did I wake you up?" 

"Yes, you did. What is it?" His voice was getting more panicked. Why else would Jihye call if it weren't an emergency? Jihye and Euisoo both lived in Seoul, whereas her parents lived hours away. 

"I'm sorry for waking you up like this," she said, suddenly feeling guilty. It was stupid to get this worked up, but Jihye couldn't let it go. "It's really stupid, but I'm going crazy cause I can't believe it. Yuki was watching tv, and this boy band started playing, and Yuki made it seem like one of the members was her dad. SHINee. Is it true? Or am I that gullible to be fooled by a four year old?" 

"You're ringing me in the middle of the night for this? Are you crazy?" He snapped at her, but she knew that his irritation was already fleeting. Euisoo wasn't the kind of guy to really blow his top or sustain grudges. It just wasn't in his nature. 

"It feels like I am," Jihye said, frowning. "I think I've just built up this super scandalous story in my head. It's super childish, but I still haven't met Yuki's dad yet and I'm trying to figure out why he's so absent from her daily life, for no other reason than to satisfy my personal curiosity. It's all just a little bit weird, you know? Mrs. Park doesn't even really mention him that much. Maybe he's just a deadbeat dad? Working all the time is no excuse to neglect family." 

"He's not a deadbeat," Euisoo said sternly.

Jihye bristled. She'd been so in her thoughts that she'd forgotten that the dad and Euisoo were friends, so of course he'd rush to his defence. 

"So...am I right? Is Yuki's dad a kpop idol?" 

Euisoo's sigh gushed down the line. "Yeah, it's true." 

"Really?" Jihye swore her heart stopped. "Which member is her dad?"

"You mean you haven't figured it out?" 

"If I had to put money on it, my guess would be Taemin. So...is it? Is he?" 

"...Yeah. Yuki is Taemin's daughter."

After watching so many SHINee videos, Jihye could picture his image clearly. In official performances, he seemed so cool and in control. But when he was just hanging with s, he seemed like a dork and