Taemin forces a smile and bows his head a bit to the screaming fans as he follows his hyungs on their way to their ride back home.  They´ve just been on a live radio show, talking about their new album and their plans about the future, and some fans got the opportunity to watch the, through a glass wall. The fans were escorted out as it ended but it seems like some fans were waiting for them.

Taemin is happy that their fans are so thrilled and excited to meet them but all he wants to do after a long day of work is to get back home, throw himself at his bed and listen to some music that´s not sung by him.  A deep sigh leaves his lips as he realized the reason why his hyungs stopped is because they´re surrounded by fans now.  Taemin is bothered about this, and a bit panicky.  He knows that they love SHINee but everything can happen in this kind of situation. Most of them are dressed in their cutest dresses, curled their long hair and winks at them with their fake lashes.

Taemin hides a bit behind his glasses, hat and scarf as he tries to make himself as small as possible. He makes sure not to look any of the fans in the eyes.  Dark brown eyes glance to his right and that´s when he sees her, or, her very different shoes.  Black leather boots covered in metal studs. Taemin can´t help but follow her with his eyes as she as she walks by without glancing SHINee´s way once.  His eyes move from her shoes, to her dark skinny jeans, her hoodie and then to her face.

Her long hair floats behind her as she walks down the street with a plastic bag with groceries in one hand and her iPod in the other. A pair of big, purple, headphones decorates her head. Her skin is porcelain white and her light colored eyes are framed by a heavy layer of black. Her ears are heavily pierced and decorated with all kinds of jewelry.  The rocker style is very rare among Korean females, but Taemin feels strangely attracted to it.

It seems as if she can´t see them, that she didn´t notice them, due to her music. Or that she just didn´t care or know about SHINee. It´s like she´s in her own world, a world where SHINee doesn´t exist. Taemin´s eyes are glued to her back as she slowly fades from sight. Her lips are moving to lyrics only she can hear.

To be honest, Taemin has been into heavier music like metal and rock lately. He has always liked it but never been able to express it since SM wanted him to have this cute and innocent image. A frown makes him look even more tired than he already is. He wish he could be like that girl: walking down the street by himself with the wind in his hair, free to express himself however he´d want. Even through music. That girl…was cool. Taemin ponders to himself. He´s forced to return to reality as Onew elbows him gently.

“Taemin let´s go.” He tells Taemin.

He nods and follows Onew through the crowd of people and into the car. Key sighs loudly once inside, he looks slightly irritated. Jonghyun wipes away some sweat silently while looking equally annoyed. Minho and Onew hides their annoyance well since they sit by the window of the car. Taemin stays indifferent as he pulls out his Ipod from his pocket and enters his second world.

Taemin looks at himself in the mirror. He has just taken of the extensions used during the Sherlock promotions and cut his hair shorter. A pair of red, slightly swollen, ears can be seen due to the new haircut. He recently pierced his earlobes and they´re still throbbing. Taemin looks at them and wince a bit as he touches them. He shrugs as he puts on his grey skull hoodie and sunglasses. He looks at his reflection once again: he does think he looks a bit cooler like this. He looks manlier, a bit more grown up and strong. A hint of a smile grows on his plump lips.

“Taemin ah, hurry!” Jonghyun´s complaining voice can be heard from the hallway.

“Yes hyung!” Is the younger man´s answer.

He takes his cellphone and leaves the dressing room to follow his hyungs to their ride.  SHINee are scheduled to do a fanmeeting for their fans today. It´ll be a long day for them. Fanmeetings are great because they can meet their fans personally, but it´s also quite bothersome. Smiling for hours, being polite for hours and being around so much people… Taemin prepares himself mentally. He knows that meeting fans is also one of the high lights of being an idol.

The day passed quickly and the SHINee members are literally glowing after getting all that attention from their fans. Jonghyun´s grin is bigger than ever when he brags about how this fan gave him a really nice, handmade, shirt. Some might think giving handmade stuff is old-fashioned but the guys are well aware just how much effort the fan must have put into that gift. Key shrugs as he tells them about how an ahjumma fan pinched his cheeks and told him to act less feminine. Taemin chuckles.

All of them return to their dorm.

“Taemin ah, where are you going?”

“Just to the convenience store down the street, I want some snacks and I have this sudden urge for ice coffee…”It has been a warm day after all, a cold drink would help him calm down.

“Buy me some snacks!” Onew shouts from the living room.

“I want lollipops!” Jonghyun tells Taemin.

Taemin smiles weakly. “Key hyung wants some of that jelly and Minho hyung… let´s guess… energy drinks?”

“Bingo.” Minho and Key answers in unison.

“You´re such a good Maknae.” Key grins at Taemin.

Taemin forces a smile to his lips. He has gotten used to be the errand boy even though it bothers him a little bit. No matter how much he grows, no matter how much he matures, the rest of SHINee will still be several steps ahead of him. This is the role of the maknae.

The air is chilly as Taemin heads out into the night.

After some minutes of walking he spots her, sitting on a stone fence by the road, staring up at the sky while listening to music. Her warm breath creates a small fog, and she wraps her black fluffy jacket around her tightly. It seems like she´s lost in deep thought. Taemin tries to make her spot him as he approaches, so he won´t scare her, but she won´t notice him.  The idol stops just in front of her.

“Hi.” He greets her in a slightly nervous manner.

She doesn´t seem to hear him so he repeats himself in a louder voice. The girl glances up at him with a “why are you disturbing me?” kind of way.

“Sorry, I didn´t hear you… what do you want?” She asks as she takes of her earphones. She didn´t bother with using the polite language, so Taemin guesses she assumes he´s younger than her. He thinks so as well.

“What are you listening to?” Taemin asks curiously.

She seems surprised and a bit defensive as she looks back up at him. What stranger would ask that? Is something she might be thinking at the moment.  

“Dir en Grey´s Cage.” She tells him because she can´t find a reason not to. “Why?”

Taemin´s eyes widen with excitement. “Oh, I like them too!”

The girl´s expression brightens a bit at this. An amused breath leaves her slightly parted lips. “Really? You don´t seem to be the type to like that kind of music. Here.”

Taemin can´t help but feel a bit sad about what she said but he gets no time to ponder about it because she offers him one of her earphones.  Liking the same music as her was the key to get closer to her. The young man sits down next to hear as he accepts it. Taemin is a bit tense at first but he relaxes as he loses himself to the music. It´s just his taste. Song after song goes by and it seems like the girl is once again lost in thought and doesn´t realize he´s there with her.  A lot of guitar sounds, base, drums and sometimes even keyboard. Loud masculine voices screaming, cursing, shouting, pleading English, Korean or Japanese phrases.

“I like it.” He comments with a pleased smile on his lips. The girl returns to reality at his words, and she seems impressed for some reason. “Do you like Kpop?” He can´t help but ask.

She looks at him and shakes her head. “Some songs are good, but it´s not like I keep track of it.” She pushes some strands of hair behind her ear. “I hear enough of the Kpop gossip at work, but stalking pretty idols have never been my thing you see.”

Taemin then knows that she has no clue who he is and that´s why she´s acting so natural and casual with him. It makes him relax a great deal.

“I´m leaving.” She tells him suddenly before getting up on her feet. “It was nice talking to you, stranger.” She grins as he gives him a small nod of her head.

The grin makes Taemin smile goofily, but he remains speechless as she gets up on her feet and walks away. He didn´t even get the chance to ask for her name. That´s when Taemin remembers he should have bought snacks, but the convenience store is already closed.

A smile grows on his lips as he spots her, sitting at the same stone fence close to the convenience store as the day they first shared earphones, but that smile fades quickly. She´s frowning as she stares up at two guys that are surrounding her. Their body language is enough to tell Taemin they´re not getting along.

“You have to come back.” One of them, that look like her sibling, tells her angrily.

She stares up at him and shakes her head vigorously. They argue for a while, and Taemin is about to interfere when it seems to turn ugly, but the men decides to leave rather suddenly so he stays calm.

“Are you alright?” He approaches her at last.

Her eyes widen as he sees Taemin, and he sees in her eyes that she remembers him. 

“Ah, you saw that?” She forces a smile to her lips as she shrugs. “I´m fine. It was nothing.”

There´s a tense silence between them and Taemin understands he, as a stranger, saw something quite personal. He feels a bit uncomfortable at this. He decides to change topic so he won´t bother her further. He doesn´t want her to be uncomfortable around him.

“You always sit here, listening to music?” He asks her with a gentle smile.

She looks up at him with an expression that tells him she just realized he has been watching her.  Taemin swallows his saliva. He knows it might seem as if he´s hitting on her so he smiles, trying to be innocent. She laughs at him.

“Oh, I go here when I need to get away to think.” She tells him while looking at the ground, still not wanting to tell him about it.

Even though he tried to change topic, she couldn´t let it go.

“I won´t ask what happened, but…are you ok?” He can´t help but ask once more.

“Yeah.” She forces a grin to her lips. “I´m strong.” She makes a strong-guy-pose by raising her fist touching her biceps.                                                                                                                                 

Her answer was too slow for Taemin to trust her but they do barely know each other so he can´t ask about it. It´d be rude.  It´s quite obvious she´s going through things right now.  Taemin glances at her from under his fringe. She seems to be a really strong and independent girl to him, but also that she has a hard time to let people get close to her.  His dark brown eyes travel over her face and his interest grows as he sees her heavily pierced ears. There are thuds, rings and even an industrial there. Piercings Taemin didn´t even know existed.

“Didn´t it hurt?” He asks her, finally managing to change topic.

“These?” She asks slightly wide-eyed as she points to her ears. “Well, yes… but that´s a big part of the fun.”

Taemin makes a surprised expression but nods after a while of silence. This girl isn´t afraid of pain. She´s unlike the other girls he has met in showbiz. He likes it. The girl looks at him with curious eyes.

“Don´t you want some more piercings, yourself?” She asks, glancing at his ears. “It´d suit you.”

“Well, I´d like some more… “He murmurs while thinking about it, his cheeks turns cherry red.

“Then, let´s go and do it!” She tells him cheerfully.

Taemin´s eyes widen a bit, but he can´t see a reason not to do it.

Taemin laughs as he and the girl walks down the streets of Seoul, night surrounding them, as his ears are throbbing once again. He feels like he´s flying: like he´s a free soul doing whatever he wants with whoever he wants. The dozen of unanswered calls from his manager and SHINee are forgotten as he focuses on her, and her alone.

“Let´s get something to eat.” She suggests. “I know this great place…”

Taemin nods eagerly. He wants to spend more time with her. She takes him to a small restaurant close to the river, and they sit down at a small table outside and orders two portions of pasta. It´s really cozy to sit outside near the water, blanket over their legs, as they eat delicious food together in the darkness. Taemin´s laugh echoes a bit even though he covers his mouth as she tells him a hilarious joke. Even though she is dressed in a manner that suggest she´d be depressed or even dangerous… she is really sweet, funny and kind.

Her strength makes Taemin braver, and he´s able to relax and be himself around her. He also hopes that she´s able to feel this too, around him. Secure, relaxed, comfortable and happy. Taemin smiles gently at her since he knows she might be doing this to forget what happened earlier.  He wants to make her forget about it, whatever it was.

They have good time together, but time passes to quickly and it´s already time to leave. Taemin smiles at her with bright eyes as he says good bye, but she murmurs something. She suddenly comes in closer, touching his newly pierced ear carefully. Her simple touch send shiver down his spine, and Taemin turns silent, eyes looking at her face.

“Make sure to clean them before going to bed, kay?” She looks him in the eye. “Don´t let them get infected.”

He nods. “Have a safe walk home.” He tells her.

She nods. “Bye bye.”

Taemin waves as she walks away from him. He smiles goofily to himself as he feels warm inside. He hopes he can meet her soon again. Taemin walks back to their dorm and is greeted by an irritated leader in the doorway.

“Taemin ah, you´re in big trouble.” Onew tells him with a dark expression.

Taemin got scolded for being out late without any security and without telling them. Their manager was angry, really angry, but what scared Taemin was that Onew seemed a bit disappointed in him. He thinks his hyung must believe that he´s going through a rebellious faze, the faze he didn´t go through, couldn´t go through, in his early teens because of the responsibilities of being a star. His punishment was to practice harder on his voice and dancing than ever before and his free time was lost. He wanted to sneak out just to tell her how it is but Onew kept an eye on him. It took two weeks before he saw her again.

She´s sitting at the fence, looking at the stars while listening to music. She looks a bit lonely to Taemin, so he approaches her quickly. Feeling happy that they can meet again.

“Hey.” He tells her with a bright smile.

She looks at him. “Oh, Hi. Long time no see.” She looks a bit bitter.

Taemin´s smile fades on his lips. It seems like she´s angry with him for not coming for the past days. They never agreed to meet up, but it was a silent promise, and Taemin gets a little happy she waited for him at the same time he feels guilty for not coming. It means she was thinking of him and wanted to see him just as much as he wanted to run back to her.

“I´m sorry, I—,” He starts but is interrupted.

“Don´t apologize, I understand you have other things to do than hang with me in the evenings.” She jumps down from the fence and dusts her jeans off. Just like that, she starts to walk away from him.

“It´s not like that.” Taemin shakes his head as he follows her.

“I´ve to go.” She tells him indifferently.

Taemin calls her name, but when she doesn´t stop walking away from him, he takes some steps forward to grab her wrist. This surprises her greatly. Like she thought Taemin wouldn´t have it in him.

“I wanted to see you! Because I like you.” He tells her wide-eyed in frustration.

She stops, making Taemin bump into her back. Wide eyes look at him as she turns around. She seems surprised at this but her expression makes Taemin think she don´t believe him. It´s like as if she´s not used to people liking her, caring about her, and especially not used to confessions.

“You like me, like… like that?” She asks him, pointing at her face.

“Yes.” Taemin smiles weakly. His nerves are shining through.  

She stares at him for a long time before she blushes a bit, averting her gaze. “You know that… I´ll never be cute, right?” She asks him suspiciously, referring to her style, and that she probably think someone cuter would fit him better. “And you still want to be with me?”

“I want to be with you…” He tells her boldly. “You may not be the typical cute girl, but you are cute, strong, independent and amazing in your own special way…You´re unique and strong… I fell in love with all of it.”

She starts smiling, laughing, a little at this.  She´s embarrassed at his cheesy words. “That´s a first time someone told me something like that. It makes me strangely embarrassed…” She scratches her head shyly.

Taemin grins as he´s overjoyed by seeing this new, flustered, side of her. She always seemed so strong, independent and a person not to be swayed by sweet words, so this is a new side of her. His heart flutters wildly in his chest. 

“But, if you like me, why did you stop seeing me?” She asks him as she suddenly remembers why she almost stormed off.

Taemin bites his lip as he decides to be completely honest with her. He pulls out his Ipod and hands her the earphones. She looks a bit confused, but doesn´t complain. They have always been listening to her music. Taemin turns on one of SHINee´s songs, Replay, and lets her listen to it by herself. Her puzzled expression is strangely cute.

“I don´t under—,”

Taemin interrupts her by singing. Her eyes widen as she realizes that what she just listen to was Taemin, and some others´, song. She stares at him as he sings, taking her hand in his. Her eyes grow wider as he sings how his Noona is so pretty over and over again.

“I´m a singer, and my manger freaked out when I ran out in the evenings to meet you. My punishment was to train harder, which left me no free time at all. I´m sorry. I wanted to contact you but I didn´t have your number.”

She looks at him eyes wide in surprise. “I feel stupid…” She murmurs after a while and she faces the ground as if she´s ashamed.

“Please, don´t.” Taemin murmurs gently in return.

She starts smiling hesitantly after a while and that makes Taemin relax a bit. The two of them grin at each other for a moment or two, before she gathers the courage to take Taemin´s hand in his. He doesn´t pull it away, but intertwines their fingers together firmly.  A small blush cover his cheeks as he pretends to be all cool about it. She chuckles before she rests her head on his shoulder in silence for a while.

“You seem tired…” Taemin murmurs with worry in his voice. And edgy…

He has been away for some time, and he wonders what could have happened when he was gone. A deep sigh leaves her lips.

“I had a fight with my brother…” She whispers.

“Are you alright?” He asks her as he remembers the guys from before.

She glances up at him as she decides to be completely honest with him.

“You know, I´ve some problem at home. My bother wants me to return home because he and dad doesn´t approve of my lifestyle. I have a job, I study and I can afford a small apartment… I don´t see why they´d be angry.” She takes a deep breath. “I think they want me to become their little princess again and all they see me as is a thug.”  She adds.

“You are great the way you are.” Taemin murmurs tenderly.”A rocker and the prettiest, most independent and strong girl I know.”

“Thank you, I think I can stay strong with you by my side.”  She blushes.

Taemin feels how his whole body turns warmer at this. She´s completely relying on him and it makes him feel a lot more grow up. He wants to protect her, even though he is well aware she´s strong, maybe even stronger than him.  They´ll support each other: just like a relationship should be. Taemin hugs her close before he kisses her quite boldly. A surprised gasp leaves her lips at first, but she is quick to return the gesture of affection.

Taemin is where and who he wants to be: right now.