In a blink of an eye, it was a month later after reaching South Korea. But today, they had a SMTOWN concert in Tokyo, and I was allowed to tag along so I left Korea once again. Back in the waiting room, the nervousness was very evident on the members’ face, and I couldn’t help but giggle looking at them, to which Kibum side-eyed and said, “Good for you.” I giggled once more and patted his head. Meanwhile, Jinki and Jonghyun were getting their make-up done as they warm up their voices, singing Replay. Minho and Taemin were checking their costumes and monitoring the others’ performances, and I can’t help but notice Taemin fidgeting with his hands like he always did.

“Taeminnie, you’ll do great, chill.”

I flashed him a smile and went over to give him a massage on his shoulder. He took a deep breath and turned to look at me, squeezing a nervous smile for me.

“Thanks, noona.”

A couple of moments later, it was finally time for SHINee to be on stage. The five of them stood up and gathered around to do their usual “Hwaiting” cheers. To me, I could only hear Minho shouting a string of inaudible words so I was just looking at them with a weird look. After getting pumped up, I could see Jonghyun getting excited as he came to me and started singing the chorus of Replay, at the same time, giving me his playful flirtatious look. I shook my head and laughed, and the next second, he was dragged away by Jinki, throwing a “We’ll be back” to me and left the room with him. As they hurriedly make their leave, I could also hear Kibum nagging Jonghyun from behind, along the lines of “Yah, Kim Jonghyun! Stop flirting with EunMin noona…”

Soon after, the waiting room quieted down, with only a few staffs left and they were playing with their phones. I then rummaged through my bag, searching for the book I brought so I can read it now to kill time as I wait for them. Not long after I settled down with my book, I heard a few knocks on the door, and I instinctively stood up, curious to who had come to the waiting room of SHINee. The door was pushed open, and it turned out to be a group of girls entering the room while bowing politely to me.

“Annyeonghaseyo, we’re Girls Generation!”

They greeted in unison upon the signal of the girl in front, who I assumed to be the leader of the group. I bowed back immediately and introduced myself as “EunMin” to them. Again, as they introduce themselves to me individually, I tried my best to remember everyone’s name but I know I am just going to struggle the same way like how I first met Super Junior. “This’ll take some time.” I mumbled to myself under my breath.

“So, we heard that you’re someone very close to Jinki, right?” One of the girls, if I am not mistaken, who was named Jessica, questioned.

I stunned for a second, taken aback by that statement because it almost seemed like they knew the truth about the both of us. Before I reply to that, another girl, Sunny I guess, interrupted me.

“Yah Sica, don’t scare her like that hahaha.”

Jessica giggled and said “Sorry” in her American accent, so I quickly shook my head and cleared my throat, “Nah, it’s okay. And yes, we’re close… Friends. Nice to meet all of you.” I bowed politely.

The girls were seen discussing about something amongst themselves, and I got nervous thinking they might have notice my lie. Their leader, Taeyeon, then took charge and offer to shake my hand, and so I gladly do so as she replies, “Nice to meet you too.”

As we did some ice-breaking and stuffs, with them occasionally asking me about how I met Jinki, I can’t help but notice that Jessica grew more quiet as the time goes. It took me by surprise, seeing how she was pretty active and was even the first to approach me just now.

Meanwhile, Jessica sat next to Tiffany, deep in her thoughts. She thought about how she was reminded of the past when she sees EunMin and Jinki, wondered if EunMin actually knew about the terms and conditions on the contract they all had to sign prior to joining the SM family. “Maybe she knows, which is why she is cautious about the dating topic…” She took a glance at EunMin, then began to travel down the memory lane about her own romantic experience, particularly the sad ones. Tears unknowingly well up in her eyes, and when she regained full consciousness, she hurriedly wiped away the tears and pretended to listen to what the other girls were saying.

---

Later that night, the SM family decided to have a feast at a nearby restaurant, specially booked by Mr. Lee, to celebrate the success of the concert. I laughed at the sight of crying Jonghyun entering the waiting room after their last stage, but of course I didn’t forget to hand him a packet of tissue and even helped him wipe away the tears.

“Aigo, Jonghyun-sshi, you’re crying like a little kid who just dropped his ice cream. Come, momma will buy you a new one.”

I laughed once more when I say that to him, but he just took the tissue and sobbed in it. Looking at how sulky the other members also looked, I realized that the concert must have been a very memorable one. Jinki suddenly came to me and pulled me into a tight hug, without uttering a word. Minho saw us and came pouting like a little kid, putting his arms over us and squeezed tight. The other members also joined in to make it a group hug and the only thing I could think of at that moment, was that these guys are getting too emotional but I am about to get suffocated.

We stayed that way for a little while, before they break away as Jinki, playing his role as the leader, asked them to pack up and get ready to leave the venue. “We’re meeting up with the others at the ballroom, let’s get ready to leave fast.”

After packing, the members put on their masks and caps as disguises and we board the black van swiftly to avoid fans over-crowding the place. Finally, all on board, they began to take off their disguises and get themselves comfortable, and Kibum started playing songs from his phone. It only took seconds before all of them started having their own karaoke session, but Minho was seen putting on his blindfold to take a nap. Only then, I took a glance at the time and realized it was already past midnight. Before I know, I dozed off as well onto Jinki’s shoulder. Almost fully asleep with a little bit of consciousness, I could feel his arms wrapped around me comfortably as they sang their night away.

The van finally halted to a stop after god-knows-how-long. I was still sound asleep and Jinki sighed, looking at my dead sleeping face. He told the other members and the manager to carry on without him, as he will stay in the car for a bit, seeing how I will not wake up anytime sooner.

“You sure are a sleepy head.”

He chuckled as he caresses my hair and hummed “One Fine Day” in a low voice. Moments later, I woke up to the sound of this familiar song and surprised him when I sang along to the lyrics. I sat up slowly, then gazed at him with a cheeky smile. He smiled back, before pulling my face closer to give me a peck on my forehead.

“Finally awake, my sleepy head.”

Upon hearing that, my smile broke away and I side-eyed him with a pout, “Wow, haven’t been hearing that annoying nickname since forever.”

“It’s a fact, not just a nickname.” He chuckled, only to get hit on his shoulders by me.

We laughed for a bit in the car, before finally getting off to join the others at the late night party. After arriving at the ballroom, I could see everyone playing and joking around happily like a huge family, and it really warmed my heart to see such a sight.

“Ooooh, here comes the coupleeee!” Someone chanted, the both of us turned to look at the direction where the voice came, only to see a drunken Eunhyuk and Donghae beside him trying to cover his mouth. I narrowed my eyes and looked at Jinki, but he just shrugged it off.

“Don’t mind him, he’s not in his right state of mind anymore. Here, have a drink.” Leeteuk said, handing me a drink. I accepted it kindly, but was quickly dragged away after that by Jinki for some reason.

“Don’t even think about flirting with my hyungs.”

He muttered as he pulled me towards the table where the other SHINee members were being seated at. I rolled my eyes at his statement, shooting him a glare and replied rather loudly, “Who knows if you’ve flirted with the girls when I’m not around.”

“Shushhh….” He immediately covered my mouth after that sentence, because we have unknowingly garnered attention from our surroundings. I embarrassedly smiled at the crowd staring at us, before trying to hide my face by hanging my head really low. Nonetheless, I could feel Jonghyun, Kibum, Minho and Taemin narrowing their eyes at us and Jonghyun opened his mouth to speak, “You sureeeee you guys are not dating?”

In an instance, the both of us replied with another loud “No!” and the members just nodded half-heartedly while continuing to eat their food. The night went on with all of us partying hard, and soon enough Jinki and I got drunk. We clung onto each other and wobbled ourselves back to our homes in the same building, also with the help of other members to bring us back to our respective places. The last memory of that night was a nagging mommy Key complaining,

“See, told you guys to stop drinking, GEEZ!”