Eunmi and Taemin were inseparable from then on. Both Eunmi and Taemin enjoyed the freedom they felt in each other's company. For Eunmi, it was the freedom to be herself and knowing Taemin would never back down out of fear of her. For Taemin, it was the freedom of being with someone who didn't care that he was famous.

One day towards the middle of the school year, they were walking to Eunmi's apartment when she asked suddenly, "Taemin-ah, how come I've never met the other members of the group you're in? You talk about them all the time, but I've never actually met them."

Taemin frowned. "Because I don't want you to."

Eunmi stopped walking and looked at him. "You don't want me to?" Taemin nodded firmly and Eunmi jerked her gaze away from him and continued walking.

Taemin regretted the way he'd said what he did immediately because as much as she'd tried to hide it, he'd seen the hurt flash in her eyes a second before she'd looked away.

He draped himself over her and pouted. "What if you like them more than me and then they might take you away from me, then what do I do?" Taemin felt the stiffness ease from her shoulders and nuzzled into her neck.

She pushed him away. "If paparazzi or sasaeng see you doing that, then I'm in trouble." Taemin pouted, but backed away to a safe distance. Eunmi smiled and ruffled his hair. "Nobody can take me away from my dongsaeng," she said affectionately in reply to his earlier question.

Eunmi didn't ask about s anymore and Taemin never volunteered any information, but their friendship grew stronger. The two relied on each other more than anyone else. When Taemin needed someone to talk to, Eunmi was there. Eunmi wasn't much of a talker, but when she was down for whatever reason, she'd silently lean on Taemin's shoulder and he understood that she just needed to stay that way for a while.

They basically lived in their own little world for that entire year. Although Taemin was absent frequently for his promotional activities, Eunmi was always at school, but didn't make any other friends. Word had spread about the fights she'd gotten into with girls and Beahyul and everyone was too scared of her to ever bother her or Taemin. Whenever Taemin was at school, they spent lunch together: Eunmi sleeping, Taemin dancing. And if Taemin didn't have a schedule for a few hours or so, they'd go to Eunmi's house after school and eat or watch movies or just lay in the middle of her living room floor listening to music.

Taemin was honestly the first real friend Eunmi had ever had. She'd had a few girls that followed her around when she'd lived in America, but they weren't friends. They'd bullied people behind her back for months before she'd found out about it. They'd used her status as unbeatable in order to do it which always pricked her conscious.

Eunmi had learned to fight to protect herself. Girls had made fun of her for whatever reason for as long as she could remember and in fifth grade she'd been fed up with it and so had started with karate classes. She moved through different martial arts classes as soon as she mastered the one before because she bored easily. By tenth grade she'd mastered most forms of martial arts and stopped taking classes because she was bored with it all.

She was still looking for something to fill the time when Taemin started teaching her moves to some of his group's songs. She'd enjoyed learning it so much that she started taking dance classes three times a week.

Graduation came for Eunmi at the of that year.