. S E V E N .

Jihye was internet stalking her employer. 

She felt guilty about doing it. A little bit dirty too, like she was doing something bad or shameful. But even though that nagging feeling ate away at her, she couldn't stop herself. Taemin's life was documented on the internet from the age of around fourteen onwards. His Wikipedia page had more citations than the 15,000 word dissertation Jihye had written for her undergraduate degree. She couldn't believe how much he had done and accomplished in his career so far. It was truly incredible, and she felt so lazy and unproductive in comparison considering he was only three years older than her. 

Most of her stalking, or "research" as she coined it, was watching old videos on YouTube. Past performances of his solo songs, or performances with the other SHINee members. Someone had uploaded an official recording for a SHINee world concert, which Jihye watched with full concentration, even rewinding certain parts to make sure that what she heard was in fact a live performance and not lip-synching. She learnt very quickly: SHINee did not lip-synch. From there she went even further back and watched their debut performances, and stumbled across a video where the members were literally on the street handing out physical copies of their debut album to strangers. She watched all of Hello Baby, where Taemin looked so incredibly young. He had basically been a kid himself and therefore was essentially the most hopeless SHINee appa out of them all. But apparently not much had changed since then. Even in more recent, casual videos, he said the most randomest things and had a general air of cluelessness. 

But what was the purpose of Jihye doing all of this? Curiosity? Did it really matter that she was working for a kpop idol at the end of the day? She had her own bills to pay, her own future to work towards. Baby-sitting was just a means to an end. A gig to help her along until she could secure a footing in her chosen field, and from there she could build a career. And she hoped that in five, ten years she would think back on this period without much consequence. "Oh yeah, I used to babysit while I was doing my masters." Nothing more. Nothing less. 

Jihye didn't know why she was suddenly obsessed. Only that she was. She prayed that once the newness of it all settled down, she would be able to interact with Taemin like a normal human being. 

A month went by before Jihye saw Taemin again. In a way she was relieved, because she didn't know how to behave around him anyway. It was just a boring Sunday evening. Usually she would be at work but Mrs. Park had informed her that she could have the entire weekend off. A rare treat that Jihye was taking full advantage of by having a cozy, lazy weekend in. She had just started to wind down for the night when her phone vibrated on her bedside table. Pausing Netflix on her laptop, she reached over to grab it. When she saw the caller ID, she instantly froze. 

Taemin. 

What did he want? He had never called her before. The phone continued to buzz in her hands as her thoughts raced. Were those heart palpitations?

"Oh my God, get a grip," she berated herself. Shaking her head, she accepted the call and lifted the phone to her ear. "Hello?" 

"Jihye? It's me..." A two second pause. "I mean, it's Taemin. Yuki's dad." 

As if Jihye had forgotten. 

"Hey," she said. "Um, what's up?"

"Can I ask you a huge favour?" She could hear the smile in his voice. "I hate to ask because I know it's your day off and you've been working so hard, but it's kind of important."

"What is it?"

"Could you come by and look after Yuki? Just for an hour or two. You'll get paid for the extra time and you'd have my eternal appreciation, too." 

Jihye perked up as soon as he mentioned her getting paid for what was essentially overtime. She felt like a cartoon character whose eyes suddenly turned into dollar signs. 

"Um...okay, sure, when?" 

"Now," he said, his voice becoming serious. "As soon as possible would be great." 

She checked the time. 6:08pm. She glanced down at herself. She hadn't changed out of her pyjamas all day. 

"Okay, sure," she replied. "I'll head over now. I'll be as quick as I can." 

As soon as she arrived, Taemin was already ready to disappear. Jihye knocked on the door and no more than three seconds later the door flew wide open. Taemin caught it clumsily before it could slam into the wall, his face lighting up when he saw her. "Great! You're here!" He said, hurriedly zipping his jacket up all the way to his chin. He slapped a cap onto his head and finished off the entire ensemble with a face mask. He was dressed entirely in black. It was quite flattering on him, but something about this entire get-up, combined with the fact that he seemed rearing to race out the door, struck Jihye as slightly suspiscious. 

"On your way to rob a bank?" Jihye joked. 

"Thankfully, SHINee has already repaid all our debt to Sooman so I luckily don't have to turn to a life of crime. Thanks for doing this by the way. I know it was super short notice but it's really important. I'll be back in around two hours." 

"It's fine." 

"Yuki's asleep in my room. She was super tired and went to bed early. I don't think she'll wake up." 

"Got it." No sooner had the words left , Taemin closed the door behind him. For a few seconds afterward, she looked at the door quizzically, as if it could explain Taemin's erratic behavior. 

. x x x .

A few hours later, Jihye jumped at the sound of the front door opening. She had fallen half-asleep watching late night Netflix on the couch, but as soon as Taemin stepped inside, she sat up stick straight, slapping her cheeks so she could beat some life into herself. 

"Hey," he said breathlessly, taking off his shoes by the door. 

Jihye stood up and stretched. Her limbs had fallen asleep, too. "Hey." 

He came closer to her. In his hand was a plastic bag, housing indistinct shapes. The contents inside clinked together, sounding like metal. "What you up to?" 

"Just watching..." Her eyes slid nervously towards the tv. Somehow Netflix had changed onto a show she had never even heard of. She wanted to die when she saw the title. The Hidden Truth: The Dark Side of the Kpop Industry.  "...some kpop documentary." She cringed internally as she said it, but she wasn't going to admit that she had fallen asleep on the job. 

"Oh." His face fell. The polite smile he always showed her disappeared clean from his face. "Do you like kpop?" He asked this with a curious lilt to his voice, but the hair on the back of Jihye's neck prickled, as if her senses detected that she was fast approaching some kind of trap. 

"Not really," she said honestly. "I used to really love SNSD," she added as an afterthought. "But I kind of just grew out of it all. I'm kind of glad. I don't have the money to buy twenty versions of the same kpop album," she laughed. 

"I see."

And what did he see, exactly? 

"And Yuki?" He continued, hovering in the middle of the room. 

"She didn't wake up." At least I don't think she woke up. 

"Well, thanks again for coming over. I owe you." He peeled the face mask off from his face, and that was when she saw how tired he looked. His jaw was tight, like his teeth were clenched. His furrowed brow cast shadows, and his sagging shoulders made him seem so oddly deflated. 

"It's not a problem. I should get going," she said hesitantly. 

"Hey..." he said suddenly, looking at her uncertainly like he was about to ask her a question. "I...I was just about to order some takeout. And I have beer." He shook the plastic bag dangling from his hand. That was what the sound had been. Metal cans clinking together. "Do you want to stay? It'll be depressing if I drink alone." 

Jihye's eyes dashed to the clock hanging on the wall behind the TV. It was 9:47pm. Jihye wouldn't be in bed at least for another three hours if she were at home, even though she had classes to attend in the morning. So it wasn't exactly late. But at the same time, she tensed with discomfort. It was her instinctive reaction. Like, who wants to spend more time with their boss than absolutely necessary? But when she looked more closely at him, she couldn't help but notice the hopeful light that shone in his eyes. And against her better judgement, she decided that a drink would be harmless. 

"I could eat," she said before she could second guess her answer. 

"Great." He immediately grinned. 

She sat awkwardly back down on the sofa, and he came round the little coffee table and sat down on the other side. He lifted the plastic bag up from the bottom so all the cans of beer came rolling out. One can took a dive over the side of the coffee table and disappeared underneath the entertainment system. 

Taemin cursed under his breath. "I'll find it later," he said. They ordered food from his phone, and then sat in silence, taking occassional sips from their respective cans of be