“Tiffany is really pretty,” Minwoo shrugged as I walked out of my bathroom. I eyed myself in the mirror, holding the front of my jean jacket.

            “Jacket or no?” I asked Minwoo as I spun around to show him.

            “Wait, why are you all dressed for?”

            “I’m not dressed up,” I defiantly disagreed as I ripped the jacket off. I sashayed over to my closet and put it neatly back into place. As I was fiddling with the hangers, Minwoo called out to me.

            “So Tiffany?”

            “Hey, I thought I left you in charge of picking the girls for me to speed date?”

            “Well, it’d be nice if you gave me a second opinion,” Minwoo whined while I reentered the bedroom. I grabbed my phone on the bedside table and checked the time.

            “Wow, time flies. I got to go; you staying here?” I asked Minwoo as I put the communication device into my back pocket.

            “Are you just going to ignore my pleads for helps?” Minwoo pouted with his arms crossed.

            “Lock up when you leave!” I called as I headed out.

-----

“Hello,” Taemin greeted me again as he fiddled with his thumbs. His eyes were trained on the fingers, and he didn’t spare me a glance. If he greeted me like this the first time, I would have thought he was being rude. However, this was the fifth time he has said the word in an attempt to break the awkward silence. By now, I knew he was just starting to feel uncomfortable.

            “Hey,” I sighed, going along with his game. I began to look around the near empty café that we were sitting in, taking in the site. The small, wooden circular tables crowded the floor along with matching chairs. Besides us, there were two couples sitting on the other side of the room. My back was to the wide window while Taemin’s back was facing the counter where the barista was. He wore a black beanie along with knitted grey scarf as a disguise which matched nicely with his white graphic tee and dark skinny jeans. Compared to the stylish Taemin, I was simply wearing a plain v-neck along with some white-washed jeans.

            “Youngmin, right?” he asked, finally prying his gaze away from his seemingly interesting digits. He flashed me his usual kind smile that he often wore while tilting his head cutely. I simply nodded in reply with my lips pursued. His bright smile lost its shine slightly, and his head tilted down. Since his attention was once again averted, I checked my yellow Pikachu watch that Kwangmin had given me as a birthday gift. Letting out another sigh, I scratched the back of my head.

            “You know,” I started, snapping Taemin out of his daze. “If you don’t want to be here, you can leave; it’s cool.”

            “Oh, no!” Taemin began to protest with his hands waving in front of him. “It’s not that; I really want to hang out with you.”

            “You do?” I questioned, completely dumbfounded and lost for words. My eyebrows furrowed, knitting slightly together.

            “Of course,” he gave me a smile for reassurance. However, as soon as it came, it began to fall. “It’s just, being famous and all, I don’t know how to really make friends.” One of the corners of my lip stretched out while an eyebrow rose, giving me a distressed look.

            “But aren’t you friends with other famous people?”

            “Well, it’s complicated. My schedule is often booked, so I never get to interact much with people unless it is work related. Besides, I can’t just talk about anything,” he explained, ending with a shrug. Guilt suddenly washed over me from his simple story.

            “Oh,” I said. What else could I say? I had no clue how to respond to that explanation. To distract myself, I ran four of my fingers around my forearm. My thumb occasionally grazed the side which kind of sent a shiver down my spine.

            “You don’t have to feel bad. I mean, we could be friends right?” he ended his statement with a hopeful voice. When I looked up, his eyes were shining, begging me to say yes. I tried to open my mouth, but for some reason, that look was giving me intimidated me. I simply nodded which caused him to squeal in delight.

            We casually began to converse, actually able to find things we could relate to. Even though he is a star, he didn’t really act like one. Well, at least what you’d think a star would act like. He was very jocular and mature, yet so childish and emotional. It was strange how the boy could make so many jokes, but would be worried when I joked about him.

            “Hey, look over there,” I suddenly heard a girl whisper to my right. I glanced over through the corner of my eye to see three girls huddled by the door. They were staring at our table, whispering occasionally. I began to feel self conscious, completely unaware of why they were looking over here.

            “Youngmin, let’s go back to your place or something,” Taemin suggested softly in a hushed voice. He started pulling at his scarf to cover his mouth and get up. The girls started to get really excited as we both made our way to the door. Just as we opened the door and were almost out, a few people shouted out Taemin’s name. Taemin’s eyes widened as he gave me a distressed look. His face began to pale, and I just acted on instinct.

I quickly grabbed his wrist and took off running, dragging him behind. The girls were right on our tail as we shoved through the busy sidewalk. I easily maneuvered past the people, guiding Taemin to do the same. While we ran, I ducked slightly and pulled down on Taemin’s arm so he would be too. Behind us, I heard the girls screaming Taemin’s name and groan in frustration since they got stuck in the crowd. Taking this as an opportunity, I flagged down a taxi and jumped in along with Taemin.

“Just drive straight,” I panted to the driver as I slumped in my seat. My hand rested against my chest as I tried to steady my breathing.

“T-thanks,” Taemin managed to thank me through his heavy breathing. I nodded, gasping desperately for oxygen. My lungs felt like I stressed them too much, and my heart was racing.

“Man, I-I haven’t r-run that much in s-so long,” I stuttered my words due to my gasps. Taemin tiredly agreed with me as we both laid back. When we finally caught our breath, we laughed happily with each other.

“That was kind of fun though,” he chuckled as his shoulders jumped up and down. The smile he had on his face looked so sincere, I would have thought we were the best of friends or something. However, my mind quickly remembered who exactly this person was to me, and more importantly to Yuri.

“Y-yeah,” I solemnly agreed as I looked out the window. Through the ride home, I simply directed the driver without giving Taemin a second glance. When we arrived, Taemin and I ended up arguing on who paid.

“Allow me,” I politely offered.

“No, I couldn’t allow that,” he smiled to me, trying to convince me.

“Come on, it’s fine.”

“I have more money,” he tried to hiss lowly to intimidate me. He reached into his pocket for his wallet, but I quickly grabbed his wrist.

“You are the guest,” I continued to insist. At this point, the taxi driver was giving us the death glare.

“Just one of you pay, and get out of my car!” he yelled at us. Taemin and I glanced over at each other calmly before we both fumbled for our wallets. As I pulled mine out, Taemin was already searching for the right amount of money.

“How much?” Taemin asked while giving the driver a rushed glance.

“It’s-“

“Here!” I interrupted him as I shoved a few bills into his hands. Taemin jumped forward to grab them from the driver’s hands, but I pulled on his arms.

“Y-youngmin!” he cried as we landed on the sidewalk in front of the apartment. I slammed the door shut and watched as the taxi immediately took off. Taemin gave me a pout and tried to push a few bills into my hands which I quickly clenched into a fist.

“I said it was my treat,” I smiled victoriously to the star. I gleefully skipped up the stairs while Taemin trudged behind, trying to guilt me into taking his money. We entered my apartment and quickly kicked off our shoes at the entrance.

“You want a drink?” I politely asked as I headed to the kitchen while he struggled with his high tops.

“If that’s okay,” he groaned as he finally managed to pull off a shoe. I poured us both a cup of Coke and lead him to my room with both glasses in hand. Once upstairs, I noticed that Minwoo had left long before much to my relief. Who knows what he would have yelled at Taemin if he was still here?

“Wow, your room is nice!” Taemin exclaimed as he lounged into the desk chair. I took a look around from the bland walls to the near empty floor. I gave him a weird look as I sat on my bed.

“Are you crazy? It’s empty.”

“It’s clean.”

            “It’s boring!”

            “It’s homey,” Taemin countered with a defiant smirk. I raised an eyebrow but said nothing in return. Instead, I leaned forward with his coke on the end of my outstretched arm. Taemin rolled over with his seat and took the drink. He sipped it slowly while staring at me, as if wanting me to follow his example.

            “Out of curiosity,” I started, “do any of your friends know about Yuri?”

            “Sadly, I have to say no,” Taemin hunched his shoulders as he clenched tightly on the cup. I almost jumped up from my seat to scold the guy for not proudly showing off his girlfriend, but his deflated appearance extracted my sympathetic side.

            “I’m sure Yuri doesn’t mind; she’s a nice girl,” I tried to cheer him up. He smiled a small smile, trying to perk himself up.

            “Yeah, she is,” he said in a nostalgic tone. His down set gaze and forced smile immediately drove me to change the subject.

            “So how’s work?” I asked a little too enthusiastically. He noticed how I was trying to make him happy and chuckled lowly at my efforts.

            “Busy. I just got the acting role I auditioned for, so my schedule is going to be booked,” he shrugged as if it was no big deal. I, however, was sitting with my mouth and eyes wide open. This elicited another laugh from the older.

            “How can you speak so nonchalantly about that?”

            “It’s really no big deal,” he waved me off as his cheeks turned a little pink. I laughed at how he was getting embarrassed.

            “Don’t be like that. It’s really amazing; congratulations by the way,” I pushed his shoulder lightly in a teasing way. He smiled happily at my actions and playfully pushed me back.

            “It’s nice to have a friend to just play with,” he sincerely confessed.

            “Thanks,” I awkwardly said, not knowing what else to respond with. We ended up just joking around, chatting idly with one another. Our topics ranged from Yuri to his job to hobbies. Taemin even showed me a few of his dance moves which was neat to see in person. Whenever we got bored just talking, we played whatever I had around the apartment. I dug up an old karaoke machine my parents hid in their closet, and we sung for an hour or so.

           “Why don’t you sing more in your songs? You are really good,” I clapped for him as he bowed after his song. He merely shrugged as he took a seat beside me.

            “Jonghyun and Onew usually get the most lines, and Key and I get a few leftovers,” he explained as he gasped from air. The song he had just song ended with a long note which he immediately tried his best to hold. I guess he ended up exhausting his lungs. I checked my watch for the time while he was panting, only to notice how late it was.

            “Uhh…” I awkwardly tried to get his attention. “As much as I’d love to hang out with you, it’s getting kind of late.”

            “Oh!” Taemin exclaimed as he double checked the time with his phone. “I’m sorry.”

            “Nah, it’s okay. This was pretty fun,” I shrugged. We smiled kindly to each other while we both got up.

            “Yeah, same for me. Well, I guess I’ll see you later… friend,” he ended his statement with a blush. I laughed at his timid demeanor and pushed him lightly to the door.

            “Yeah, yeah. Now get out of my house, friend,” I as I unlocked the door.

            “We should hang out again some time,” he offered as he began to walk out. He stopped once he was on the other side of the gateway, looking at me hopefully. I nodded and waved him off as he walked down the stairs. I tiredly shut the door before stomping up to my room. Just before I threw myself on the bed, I noticed something on the bedside table. I shuffled over to see money and a note.

Dear Youngmin,

You probably won’t read this until after I leave, but I wanted to say I am having fun. I just couldn’t let you spend your money on me, especially since I am older. Please accept them even though you really don’t have a choice ^^’. I really hope we stay friends. Till next time!

Taemin

            Sighing, I put the note back on the table and stared at it along with the dollar bills neatly stacked. I should really just give up. Taemin seems like a really good guy for her, after all. Right?

Author’s Note: I have no clue what I am doing anymore. :p I’m going to be honest. I hope this chapter was satisfactory for you guys. Ugh, I’m a failure of a writer! T_T I’m a disappointment. I’m sorry! Well, I seriously need help. I still don’t know who is going to be Youngmin’s fake girlfriend. I’ve just been using SNSD so far, but I don’t think I’m actually going to use them. I thought maybe SiSTAR or APink would be good. What do you guys think? Hmm…. Well, until next time! :)

Oh, and thanks again for your comments! :) They are most definitely appreciated. I'd do a comment corner where I'd make commentary on your comments like how some other authors do... but I rarely ever get comments from you guys. Silent readers, please come out of your shells! T_T For those who do, thanks so much! ^^ I love you all! bye bye!