Flashback

Key’s POV

Jonghyun and I stood outside a dinky apartment building at some shady looking area in Seoul. I tightened my wool coat around me, secretly wishing I wore something less… flashy. A bright red Topshop wool coat was a bad article of clothing to wear to this seedy part of the city. Two creepy guys passed Jjong and I, wolf-whistling to me behind my back.

“Hey baby, cold night isn’t it?” One of them called out.

I shuddered, folding my arms around me even tighter as the two men continued walking away, laughing out loud.

“What are they doing? Can we just leave?” I whined, clutching Jjong’s arm in fear. I cautiously looked around for any signs of the two guys or some other abominable creeps who are ready to kidnap and me.

“Don’t worry, they’re coming.” Jonghyun said, placing another call on his phone.

“Well, what’s taking them so long? Wait… don’t tell me…”

“What?”

I slapped my forehead. Once. Two times. Several times.

As many times as I could to remind me of how stupid I was for following Jonghyun here.

Jonghyun put his phone back in his pocket and took a hold of my wrists. “What are you doing?”

“You pabo!!” I squealed, slapping him this time.

“Ow! What did I do? You’re the one who’s hitting yourself!”

“Idiot! Pabo! Fool! Son of a !” I cursed.

“I don’t like playing guessing games, Key.”

“I don’t like playing games, Jjong! How could I be so stupid?” I nearly yelled at him.

Pure ambiguity dawned over Jonghyun’s expression. “I really don’t understand where you’re going with this.”

“You! You’re dragging me here to have with a e??”

Jonghyun stepped back, clearly shocked with my assumption. “M-mwo??’

“I can’t believe this, Jjong! You… you’ve made me look stupid! This is the girl you wanted me to meet? A ty, good for nothing, harlot? Do I look desperate to you?!”

Jonghyun still stood there, frozen with the same expression. But I continued ranting, nonetheless.

“I should’ve just stayed at home at this time, cooking or cleaning up the dorm. Poor Taeminnie wanted to try my new recipe for japchae, but that just had to wait because I was ignorant enough to follow you here to this brothel! What is this?!”

“Oppa?” A soft voice rang in my ears. I turned around to see the owner of the voice, and saw a short-haired girl skipping up to Jonghyun. She waved her hands brightly at him, causing the confused look on his face to subside. He was now gleaming down at the girl.

“Jiyeon! Finally, you’re here!” He said, giving her a quick hug. He then looked up at me. “Kibum, this is Jiyeon, my cousin. Jiyeon, this is Kibum, one of my SHINee groupmates.”

“Call me Key,” I told her.

Jiyeon bowed slightly to me, smiling widely. “Annyeong Key~ Sorry we were late. We expected you to come a little later. Jjong-oppa used to tell me how you usually took your time getting ready, so we decided to step out for awhile till you came.”

“We?” I asked, bewildered.

As if to answer my question, she then gestured towards something behind me, nodding enthusiastically. I turned around again, and saw that she was not the only one that walked in on my rant. There, I saw another girl.

Hmm, decent looking, I thought. Don’t tell me a girl like her lives in a place like this.

Jiyeon pulled her in front of me. “Kibum, this is my best friend, Hae Young.”

Hae Young smiled, sending all sort of mixed messages to my brain. God, was she a cutie. Perplexed by her smiling eyes, I sheepishly raised my hand. It hung in the air, awkwardly.

Why the is my hand in the air?

Hae Young looked at my hand suspended in between us, wondering whether to shake it or give it a high five. Then, without thinking I touched her cheek.

I. Touched. Her. Cheek.

The poor girl looked over at her best friend and Jonghyun. Both of them were looking at me like I was some escaped mental patient. I was aware of all their expressions, and yet, my hand did not leave her face. It was soft and smooth, like a baby’s . Oh, baby’s butts. I began brushing my fingertips up and down her cheek.

Oh my God. I’m molesting her.

Snapping back to reality, I retracted my hand from her face. As if to mock me, three seconds of awkward silence passed.

“So…” Jiyeon spoke up, raising her eyebrows. “That’s Key’s way of meeting girls?”

“I’ve seen him act this way before… when choosing bed sheets,” Jonghyun replied.

“Don’t tell me I’m gonna get laid… on,” Hae Young said.

The three of them chuckled at her comment. Oh, she’s hilarious.

Jonghyun stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Anyway, shall we proceed? I’m getting hungry.”

“Definitely! Let’s go!” Jiyeon answered brightly, leading the way down the street.

Jonghyun followed her, leaving me behind with Hae Young. We walked side by side, not saying a word with Jjong and his cousin chattering away in front of us. I could smell the girl. Cherry blossoms? No, and thank God that that wasn’t her scent. I’ve had too much of that damn aroma just from standing next to the SNSD-noonas in awards and music shows. It couldn’t be vanilla? Our f(x) dongsaengs practically are drenched in that stuff, so I’m grateful once again she doesn’t smell like them. I couldn’t put my finger to it… but she smelled like candy… and flowers.

“So, how old are you?” I heard her ask me. Her voice was so melodic. Could she be a singer?

“Me?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“No, the ghost standing next to you.”

I bit my lip. Your sarcasm’s gorgeous, dear. Abso-ing-lutely gorgeous.

“Oh, I’m nineteen.”

She squinted, scrutinizing my godly facial expression. “Nineteen? You don’t look nineteen.”

“I look younger, right?” I chuckled, flattered by her compliment.

“No… You look older. I thought you were 20 something. Thirty, if you weren’t wearing that bright red coat.” She said before skipping to her best friend, who was calling over to her to ask her a question.

Oh, that .

Jiyeon and Jonghyun led us to a simple little restaurant that took us fifteen minutes to get to. I wiped the bead of sweat from my brow with the back of my hand. Ew, I never wipe sweat with my own hands. I looked over at Hae Young. She was just as perky and lively as she was when we first met. And, she didn’t even perspire. Not even one drop. This girl was like some sort of goddess.

Why am I complimenting her?

“Key, are you alright? You look a little pale.” Jonghyun asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Huh?” I snapped back to reality.

“And sickly,” added Hae Young, who cocked her head to see my face.

“I’m fine,” I said, waving my hand in front of them, shooing them away. Jonghyun shrugged and moved ahead with Jiyeon, who was now finding a table for the four of us in the restaurant. Hae Young looked at me for a second, and then followed the other two. I did the same, and took a seat at the table Jiyeon chose.

My hands were feeling clammy… and why do I feel a ticklish sensation inside my stomach? All I could hear was a buzzing sound, engulfing my companion’s conversations. Is that the room spinning? Why were there two Jjongs all of a sudden? Am I really sitting next to an angel? Oh, hello, there. Have I come to meet my Maker? Holy , you’re beautif –

End of Flashback

Hae Young’s POV

Laughter overcame Taemin, who was now on the floor, literally rolling.

“You… fainted?” He said, with difficulty due to his laughter. "So much for Hae Young falling in love with you. You, quite literally, fell for her!"

I chortled a bit, always getting amused when he reached this part. At least he was honest, and wasn’t exaggerating this time.

Key glowered down at the both of us. “Quit laughing! It’s not funny!”

“But it is!” I said, bursting out with an even louder chuckle. “You know it is.”

My boyfriend closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Aigoo… you don’t know how stupid I looked then.”

I got up, finally. Listening to Key’s long account of how we met actually did some good by removing the pain that was in me. I leaned over, closer to Kibum.

“It’s okay,” I said softly against his ear. “I always thought you were cute because of that. My thought never changed since then.” I let my lips brush slyly against his ear, earning a soft whimper and shudder from him. I smiled, then kissed him at his weak spot on his neck.

“Ahem.”

I broke away, hearing Taemin clear his throat.

“I think that concludes your story for the day,” he said, getting up. He reached over and ruffled my hair slightly. “I’m just glad you’re better, Hae Young.”

“Thank you for your help, Taemin.” I smiled up at him. He returned the smile, and headed back to get his luggage to put back in his room.  Though his back was turned to us, I could sense the slight hurt that emanated from him.

Being with Key had its disadvantages. Sure, he was an absolute princess. But the one other factor that ached me was seeing Taemin hurt. He doesn’t know that I know. I’ve caught on since the beginning, but I’ve kept the same ignorant persona for the sake of the SHINee members. But I knew all along. I know the pain he goes through seeing me with Kibum.

Love hurts Taemin the worst.

Author's Note: Second Part! (:

This is kinda out of context, but today I stumbled upon this Keyber video (Key + f(x)'s Amber):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUgjsChAj4Q&feature=feedf (skip over to 0:40 to see it)

At first, I never approved of any Key-pairing outside of SHINee. No way. But after watching that video, I was like "OH. MY. GOSH. It totally describes the relationship Hae Young and Key have in my story. Especially the part where Key says, "She's my baby." And Amber replies, "He's my boo." and then Key says something like, "No, not she, HE." 

Yeah, that's what I wanted Hae Young and Key to be like. So, it was very coincidental that I came upon that clip. And now I'm slowly realizing why this Keyber pairing is awesome. Key = feminine, Amber = masculine. It's a perfect fit. :3

Also, Amber's English was like, WHOA. Haha I didn't know she could speak English that well. AND LOL. Key baby is so  adorable with his English. "Oh my God I'm freaking tired *pout* " (Total diva, if you ask me)

Alright, I'll shut up now.