BEAST’s Yoon DooJoon & MAKIKO’s Lee RaeIn are Dating?
Yoon DooJoon and Lee RaeIn caught wearing the same necklace!
Reporter Kim JooYeon 

It would seem that love is in the air amongst the idols these days, and the newest couple to appear on the radar is none other than Yoon DooJoon, the leader of the idol group BEAST – whose popularity has been undoubtedly skyrocketing in the past few weeks - & Lee RaeIn, leader of the female trio MAKIKO, who made their big debut only two months ago.

Speculation as to whether or not the young couple was possibly dating began after the pair was noticed sporting matching necklaces – potentially couple necklaces.

During BEAST’s recent Anniversary performance, DooJoon was seen flaunting his necklace during one of his parts of their Shock of the New Era follow-up song, “Special.”

Only a few days later during the broadcast of a recent episode of SM group Bakery’s variety show, “Picnic with Bakery,” RaeIn was seen with an identical necklace and even proceeded to talk about it during one of the interviews:

“My necklace. The person who gave this to me believes in me and gives me encouragement. When I’m lacking confidence, I’ll remember that I have this around my neck; seeing this reminds me why I should stop being insecure. That’s why this is my most cherished item.”

When asked about who had given her the necklace, the MAKIKO leader refused to say. CUBE representatives have spoken up saying that the two are not dating, nor do they have a romantice relationship of any kind and that the members of the two groups (including their sister group, 4Minute) have all been close friends since their trainee days.

However, fans seem unconvinced that the identical necklaces, both of which seem to hold some significance to the two leaders, are simply the work of the stylists. DooJoon and RaeIn have yet to comment on their alleged relationship.

…could it be that there actually is romance blooming within the CUBE?

——-

“This is Andro and Derrick…”

“…And you’re tuning into ‘Rising Dough!’”

“For our guests today have some special, special, special guys, whoa-oh!”

“Welcome to our show, BEAST’s Yoon DooJoon and Yang YoSeob!”

“Annyeong,” YoSeob greeted into the microphone as he held onto his headphones.

“So what brings you guys onto our show?” Derrick asked.

“It’s almost November, so we wanted to remind you guys that we will soon be releasing the second part to our ‘Mastermind’ mini-album! Please support us, B2UTY!” DooJoon responded eloquently in his variety show voice.

“Nae,” YoSeob continued. “We worked very hard and practiced a lot to bring you a better sound. So don’t forget to pre-order~”

“You guys hear that?” Andro repeated into the microphone. “Part two of their ‘Mastermind’ album coming soon! But we’ll talk more about that later. For now, let’s get to know our guests…”

“…but let’s switch it up a bit. Introduce yourselves in English.”

“Okay,” DooJoon cleared his throat. “I am BEAST leader Yoon DooJoon! You know?”

“I am BEAST main vocal, Yang YoSeob! Light-yo, fire-seob!”

Andro and Derrick clapped, praising their guests on their introductions.

“All right, now let’s get really started. The topic everyone wants to hear about today has to do with our BEAST leader.”

DooJoon shifted uncomfortably in his seat but held back from reacting vocally.

“Yoon DooJoon… Do you have a girlfriend right now?” asked DooJoon’s Bakery leader counterpart, Andro.

“Now?” DooJoon exclaimed. “No. Now, no.”

YoSeob looked at DooJoon oddly, though DooJoon was too flustered to notice.

“So this scandal…” said Derrick.

“It’s just silly. Raein & the other MAKIKO members & 4Minute are all like sisters to me.”

“They’re all like sisters, huh?” the radio hosts teased. They knew very well what went on behind the scenes due to their close friendship with MAKIKO.

“Yeah,” Doojoon replied. After a pause he added, “Just like you guys and your group mates. Or you guys & SNSD.”

“You’re right about that!” Andro replied nonchalantly, looking away to try to play it off.

“What about you, YoSeob?”

“Yes?” YoSeob jumped up, not expecting to be called on.

“How do you feel about MAKIKO and 4Minute?”

“Oh, I agree with Hyung,” YoSeob laughed, pointing at DooJoon. “The members are all sisters that I love!”

——-

“Love?!”

“N-no!” JunHyung responded, now flustered. “Not love yet, but I like her… a lot.” He looked away too shy to meet KaHee’s sly grin. KaHee watched as he shied away, feeling slightly giddy at his sincerity. However, something about the situation didn’t add up for her.

“So the reason why you called me to hang out the other day…” KaHee started.

“…I was wondering if you could help me,” JunHyung continued sheepishly.

“You pabo,” KaHee retaliated. “Tch, and you called me pabo. She has a boyfriend, remember?”

“She didn’t tell you?” JunHyung was surprised. “They broke up.”

“What are you talking about?”

“DooJoon and RaeIn broke up.”

“No, they didn’t,” KaHee denied.

“Ah, I guess she really didn’t tell you.”

“They didn’t break up!”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know about the scandal either…”

“No! Be quiet! If anything happened with Unni, she would tell me!”

Gaji ma~ Nareul tteonagajin ma~

Suddenly KaHee’s phone rang. She made a face at JunHyung that told him that she wasn’t finished talking to him, before excusing herself to answer her phone.

“KaHee-ah!”

“Hi, SaRang-unni!”

“KaHee,” SaRang’s voice was stern, which surprised KaHee a little bit because usually SaRang was very carefree. “That ring that you always wear.”

“Yeah, what about it?” KaHee gushed, holding her decorated hand in front of her face, admiring her ring again.

“You have to take it off. You can’t wear it in public anymore.”

“What?” KaHee exclaimed, not even caring how loud and troublesome she was being. “Why?”

“Just… Please, take it off. We can’t have anymore scandals.”

“S-scandal?” KaHee repeated when SaRang hung up. She walked back to JunHyung, her eyes curious and suspicious. “You said something about a scandal, too.”

JunHyung sighed and reached a hand out to grab KaHee’s arm, but stopping himself before he made contact, remembering the earlier misunderstanding. Instead he motioned for KaHee to follow him. He walked to his bag where he brought out a newspaper. He flipped through the pages and handed the paper to KaHee, whose eyes widened in surprise as she saw the side-by-side promotional pictures of DooJoon and RaeIn.

“BEAST’s Yoon DooJoon and MAKIKO’s Lee RaeIn are dating?” KaHee read out loud.

“Yeah…”

“Why didn’t Unni tell me?” KaHee whispered loudly, suddenly feeling very hurt.

“I…”

“I can’t believe Unni would keep something like that from me! I need…” JunHyung attempted to calm down the hot-tempered maknae, though she was too quick for him and she immediately made her way back to the BEAST practice room.

“JulSu!” she yelled. JunHyung attempted to stop KaHee from doing anything drastic, but it was too late; she was already dragging JulSu out of the practice room.

“Ka—“

“JunHyung, let’s get back to practice!” YoSeob called out. JunHyung had reached a hand to stop KaHee as she walked by. He looked at YoSeob then looked back at KaHee and JulSu who were too far away now. He looked back at YoSeob and sighed, defeatedly, before following YoSeob into the practice room.

“Where are we going?” JulSu asked.

“Does Unni have anything on her schedule today?” KaHee asked frantically.

“I’m not sure… Why?”

KaHee and JulSu were sitting in a couple chairs in the lobby, waiting for SaRang to pick them up. KaHee took a breath before explaining to JulSu everything she learned from JunHyung; how he liked RaeIn, how RaeIn and DooJoon broke up, and how now there was a scandal. She handed JulSu the newspaper article that JunHyung showed her.

“Why wouldn’t Unni tell us though?” JulSu asked sadly, skimming over the article.

“That’s what I said!” KaHee replied angrily. “That’s why we have to talk to her.”

“That’s crazy though – and now JunHyung-oppa likes her?”

“Yeah, that threw me off!”

“Well,” JulSu started. “They have been spending a lot of time together lately…”

“You’re right! Ever since they started filming together…”

JulSu paused. “How do you think RaeIn-unni feels about JunHyung?”

Realization dawned on KaHee’s face and she looked at JulSu in disbelief. “You don’t think RaeIn-unni and DooJoon-oppa broke up because of JunHyung, do you?”

For a couple minutes, KaHee and JulSu just looked at each other quietly with narrow eyes. They were trying to digest the situation by communicating with their minds, hoping that somehow they would channel RaeIn’s thoughts in the process. However, when their telepathy failed…

“We should ask her about it,” KaHee whispered to JulSu, who nodded in agreement.

——-

“Yoon DooJoon… Do you have a girlfriend right now?” said Andro’s voice through the radio.

“Now?” DooJoon exclaimed. “No. Now, no.”

RaeIn narrowed her eyes at the last part before shutting the radio off.

“Well, yeah, now, no,” she scoffed. In a second, her emotions took a 180-degree turn and she felt a pinch of guilt. “Well, I guess that’s because I…” Again, her emotions flipped. “But he shouldn’t have said that!” She glanced at the clock and noticed that it was almost 2:00 PM. She sighed, knowing that she would have to leave for her own radio show soon. Hers was scheduled with the female radio counterpart of “Rising Dough” – “Cupcake Icing” with the female Bakery members as MCs.

RaeIn walked into her room and looked for something nice to wear. Once she picked out a shirt, she held it in front of her in the mirror. She noticed her necklace bounce as she faced the mirror, and immediately placed the shirt on her bed. She approached the mirror, watching as her hand grabbed onto the pendant.

“You’re what started all this!” she directed at the necklace’s reflection in an annoyed tone. She furrowed her eyebrows then realized how ridiculous she sounded blaming the necklace. “How did this happen?” she sighed, as she adjusted the necklace around her neck. She took an extra second, admiring the pendant for the last time before reaching behind her neck to unclasp the hook.

Earlier, RaeIn and DooJoon were called in to speak with President Hong regarding their scandal. When RaeIn arrived, DooJoon was already there. He stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets, occasionally pacing the area outside of the office as he waited for RaeIn. When he finally noticed her approaching, he looked up with wide eyes, unsure of what to say. RaeIn paused as she settled her nerves. She took a deep breath before she continued walking.

“Hey,” she greeted first, not wanting to make the situation more awkward than it already was. She didn’t know what that simple statement would do; they hadn’t had a decent conversation with each other since the break-up. They both weren’t sure if they needed any more closure beside that.

“Hey,” DooJoon replied. After a moment of awkward silence, DooJoon opened the door and cleared his throat before directing RaeIn inside with his other hand.

“Thanks.” The two sat down in respective seats in front of President Hong’s desk.

“Oh, you two are here already?” he said out loud, though he did not expect a response.

“Yeah,” DooJoon answered for the both of them.

“You both know why you’re here, right?”

“Yeah, we do,” DooJoon answered again. RaeIn allowed him to answer for the both of them, partly since he was her sunbae, and partly because she felt embarrassed about the situation.

“We’ve already given a statement to the public saying that you two are definitely not in a romantic relationship,” President Hong began. “Just to clarify, you guys aren’t in a relationship, right?”

“Right,” DooJoon and RaeIn answered almost too quickly.

“Okay, good. Now we have to prepare for the next step.”

“What’s that?” RaeIn asked tentatively.

“I already spoke with SM’s Kim Young Min, and since we knew that Bakery and MAKIKO are pretty close groups, we’ve scheduled you two to appear on their radio shows.”

“T-together?” DooJoon asked.

“No, DooJoon, you will be going on ‘Rising Dough’ in the early afternoon. RaeIn, you will be going on ‘Cupcake Icing’ in the late afternoon.”

“Oh,” DooJoon replied, unsure of whether or not he was disappointed that the two of them wouldn’t be appearing on the program together.

“DooJoon, we’ve also scheduled YoSeob to go with you.” DooJoon nodded in response. “That’s all, you guys can go now. Don’t forget about your new schedules! It’s very important that you guys deny the scandal as well.”

“Right,” RaeIn replied just to say something since she had been quiet most of the time. RaeIn and DooJoon said their good-byes and followed each other out of the office. This left Hong Seung Sung alone to peruse through a couple of articles online. He skimmed through the comments, trying to gauge the public’s reaction to DooJoon and RaeIn’s scandal.

“Hm, of course there are some antis, but there seems to be a good amount of people in support… We can use this later…”

DooJoon closed the office door behind him. When he turned to face RaeIn, she was already walking to the hallway.

“Hey, wait up!” he called out. She was hesitant at first, but RaeIn stopped walking and waited for DooJoon to run over. “Where are you headed?”

“Back to the dorm,” she replied.

“Are you going by yourself? I can take you back.”

“No, that’s okay… SaRang-unni’s waiting for me…”

“Ah, I see.” Suddenly a glint from RaeIn’s neck caught her eye, and he traced the source to the double-eighth note pendant hanging from her neck.

“You’re still wearing the necklace,” DooJoon observed, feeling a confused contentment.

“Oh, you’re right,” RaeIn said, pulling at the chain. “I forgot I had this on.”

“Have you been wearing it this whole time?”

“I don’t remember. I have to go,” RaeIn said wanting to quickly end the dangerous conversation. As she walked away from DooJoon, she scolded herself. “How could I forget to take this off? Why have I been wearing this necklace anyway?”

This leads us back to RaeIn staring at her reflection in the mirror. Now she cupped the chain in one hand. She reached for her jewelry box on her desk with her free hand and opened it, carefully sliding the necklace inside.

“You are a very pretty necklacae, but I’m sorry I won’t be able to wear you anymore,” RaeIn whispered to the trinket as she poked at it. After a few more elongated seconds of admiration, RaeIn closed the jewelry box and carefully pushed it away on her desk, fully prepared with the mindset that she would never even look at that necklace ever again.

——-

“This is going to be our last song for today! Everyone please say good-bye to our special guest, MAKIKO Lee RaeIn~”

“Bye-bye~” RaeIn said into the microphone. “Thank you for listening!”

“Yes, this was ‘Aegyo That Deserves a Cupcake’ Rafi a.k.a. DJ Rain Storm…”

“…and ‘Icing Charisma’ Shelly a.k.a. DJ Seashell! Thank you for listening to ‘Cupcake Charisma!’ Annyeong~”

Once the radio MCs bid their listeners farewell, they started playing SHINee’s “Hello.” The three of them, Shelly, Rafi and RaeIn, packed up their things and started playing around in front of the radio’s camera. They danced along to “Hello” and pretended to sing along before waving goodbye.

“Bye, RaeIn~ Thanks for being on our show today!”

“No, thank you guys for letting me guest on such short notice!” Now RaeIn bid her friends farewell. However, she was surprised when she found JunHyung sitting outside in the lobby. He was dressed down, not exactly incognito, but definitely not attention-grabbing. He was leaning forward with his fingertips touching, but sensing someone approaching he looked up to find RaeIn.

“JunHyung-oppa, what are you doing here?” RaeIn’s face showed amusement.

JunHyung got up to meet RaeIn half-way. “SaRang-noona got caught up in a meeting so she asked me to pick you up.”

“She asked you?”

“Well, she texted JiYong-hyung and he asked if any of us were willing to volunteer…”

“So you volunteered to pick me up?”

“Well, I figured it wouldn’t be appropriate if Hyung was the one,” JunHyung grinned.

RaeIn rolled her eyes, laughing. “Right, right. So where did you park?”

“Follow me,” JunHyung said smirking as he turned to lead the way. RaeIn followed close behind. When they exited the building, they passed a couple of the staff-members smoking out. RaeIn held in a cough until they were a good distance away.

“Yuck,” she said sticking out her tongue after a mini-coughing fit.

“What’s wrong?” JunHyung asked, looking behind him.

“Nothing, I just hate the smell of cigarette smoke. It’s disgusting,” she replied making a face and sticking out her tongue.

JunHyung laughed at her. “You’re cute.”

“What did you say?” RaeIn asked, unable to hear through her own giggles.

JunHyung brought a fist to his mouth and coughed, realizing what he just said. “Nothing,” he replied, opening the door to the passenger’s seat.

“Oh, am I driving?” RaeIn joked, pretending to walk around to the driver’s seat.

“Well, if you insist,” JunHyung played along, pretending to get into the car.

“No, I was kidding!” RaeIn replied, sprinting to the passenger’s seat door and beating JunHyung inside. With an eye-smile, she said, “Thank you~”

JunHyung couldn’t help but laugh in amusement before carefully closing the door and making his way to the driver’s seat.

——-

JulSu and KaHee lounged around on the couch waiting for RaeIn to return. The whole time they continued discussing their leader’s issues and complaining about how RaeIn didn’t trust them enough to confide in them. Their eyes widened on cue once they heard the front door being unlocked. Suddenly, they sat up straight and pasted on stern expressions, reminiscent of parents waiting for their child to come home after passing curfew.

The door opened revealing RaeIn and JunHyung laughing with each other.

“You really didn’t need to walk me all the way here,” RaeIn said to JunHyung, oblivious to the maknaes waiting for her inside.

“It’s not problem, I wanted to,” JunHyung insisted giddily. He was the first to spot JulSu and KaHee in the living room. Their stern stares pierced through him and suddenly he felt very uncomfortable. Clearing his throat, he addressed RaeIn. “I’d better go now, though. The other members will probably start looking for me soon. Bye! Bye, JulSu! Bye, KaHee!”

“Bye…” RaeIn waved, confused at JunHyung’s sudden departure. JunHyung’s eyes stayed focused on the living room while he bid RaeIn good-bye, so once he left she curiously checked to see what he was looking at.

“Hi, JulSu! Hi, KaHee!” she said, once her eyes focused on the pair on the couch.

“RaeIn-unni, we have to talk,” KaHee stated.

“We will drop formailities for now,” JulSu continued, feeling as though she was on an episode of “Intimate Note.”

“Okay?” RaeIn agreed letting out a nervous chuckle, confused and amused.

“Why didn’t you tell us about the scandal?”

“Why didn’t you tell us about you and DooJoon-oppa?”

“Why didn’t you tell us about you and JunHyung-oppa?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” RaeIn laughed nervously again, sticking up her hands in defense. “Me and JunHyung?”

“That would be the only thing she noticed,” JulSu said sadly.

“No, I heard the other things too, but…” RaeIn shook her head. “So you guys heard about the scandal?”

“Yeah, we saw the newspaper,” KaHee replied, purposefully omitting the fact that JunHyung was the one who showed it to her.

“Why wouldn’t you trust us with something like that?” JulSu followed up. RaeIn sighed and sat on their opposite side so she could face them both.

“I’m sorry, guys. It’s not that I didn’t trust you, because I trust you guys so much – too much, even. I trust you guys with my life. But I just felt like such a burden bringing the group problems already.”

“You’re not a burden. You’re our leader.”

“Yeah, but we probably have a bunch of anti-fans now.”

“We don’t care about that. Swear like we even use our cyworlds. We all closed ours ever since we were trainees,” KaHee laughed.

RaeIn didn’t know how to feel or what to say. Suddenly, her decision not to tell her other members didn’t make sense. After a pause, she repeated, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, Unni. At least the scandal was something we would have found out about anyway,” said JulSu.

“But why didn’t you tell us about you and DooJoon-oppa breaking up?”

“I… don’t know, either, actually. I guess I just didn’t want to talk about it. And I didn’t want to burden you guys since lately you’ve all been really happy. I didn’t want to bring the mood down.”

“We told you you’re not a burden already!” KaHee said getting annoyed.

“Why did you guys break-up?” JulSu asked.

“Everything got too… complicated. I couldn’t handle my feelings anymore,” RaeIn began before explaining in detail the events with SeKyung, JunHyung, the necklace, and the music drama.

“If it makes you guys feel better, this is the first time I’m really talking about it,” RaeIn offered, unsure whether this fact would make up for her mistake. “The only other person I talked about this to was JunHyung-oppa, but I didn’t go into this much detail.”

“Mmm,” JulSu let out a pensive, suspicious sound. “JunHyung-oppa.”

JulSu and KaHee caught each other’s eyes. They gave each other a short nod before KaHee asked, “RaeIn-unni, how do you feel about JunHyung?”

“He’s nice. He’s my good friend and sunbaenim.” She laughed. “Why do you asked?”

“Do you like him?”

“Of course, I do. He’s my friend,” RaeIn replied.

“But do you like him?”

“You guys are being silly.”

“I’m just saying,” KaHee said. “I would not mind if you and JunHyung-oppa got together. I mean, you guys have been getting along really great lately. And DooJoon-oppa was being a jerk anyway!”

RaeIn was frozen, still unsure about what to feel and what to say, and she was pretty much dumbfounded as to what exactly was going on at the moment.

“I don’t think you should do anything, though,” JulSu quickly added, surprised at KaHee’s words. JulSu thought that they were on the same page, but apparently not. “Don’t forget you still have the scandal with DooJoon-oppa to think about. And you two just broke up recently. And, I’m not going to lie – I still think you and DooJoon-oppa really make a good pair.”

RaeIn made a sour face at JulSu. “Too soon to be saying things like that.”

JulSu matched RaeIn’s expression with a disappointed one. “But that doesn’t mean that there’s no chance for you guys to get back together, right?”

JulSu and KaHee waited for RaeIn to answer, but she didn’t give one.

The trio hadn’t realized that the radio was on throughout the duration of their conversation. At first all they could hear were their voices in conversation. Now, all that could be heard was BEAST’s “Break Down” and they realized that their sudden silence was not so silent afterall. Appropriately enough, it was DooJoon’s voice that reached their attention first.

“Love is over, love is over.”