“He didn’t bring it today!” Sulli exclaimed when the thought came to her mind.

“No, I saw Minho put it into his pocket this morning.” Minho’s mother commented.

Sulli’s stare returned to Minho. She gave a patronizing smile to the mothers and then pulled Minho to a corner.

“Why what do you want to do to me?” Minho gave Sulli a warning look, as if Sulli was going to do something M18 to him.

“Yahh what do you think I was going to do to you!” Sulli slapped him on the head after seeing his awkward behaviour. She then recalled that the mothers were still watching them from the other side of the studio. She mentally scolded a ‘’ then changed her tone, “Ahh such a huge fly. It’s finally dead!” before pretending to sweep the imaginary fly off her hands. She then pretended to caress Minho’s head, lightly saying “did I hurt you?”

Minho stared at the girl in front of him in disbelief. What fine acting here. He thought to himself.

“Yah it hurts so badly that you should kiss me to soothe the pain.” Minho teased in response to Sulli’s mono-act, purposely raising the voice higher so that the mothers could hear, so that Sulli had to do it. Her eyes widened in absolute shock.

“Aigoo our Jinri and Minho look so sweet together.” One Mrs Choi commented.

“Exactly, it seems like their engagement is a right choice.” Another Mrs Choi complemented.

All focus was on Sulli. DAMN IT YOU CHOI MINHO! She cursed inside her head.

“Aiya, I don’t want to kiss you in public.” Sulli pretended to be shy and all that, slowly moving away from Minho.

“It’s okay. It’s not like we have not done it before.” Minho replied, lying through his teeth. He then wrapped his arms around Sulli’s waist and pulled her closer to him, closer than before she made her slow steps away from him. They were just centimeters away. Sulli swore that if the two mothers were not there, she would have given him a tight slap coupled with a few kicks.

“Aigoooo…” the mothers started to give off that ‘such a cute couple’ look again.

Sulli knew that she had no choice. She started to inch closer to Minho and just when their lips were just a breath away…

“Mr and Mrs Choi, get your rings and we can start the photoshoot!” Taemin’s voice sounded from the distance.

THANK GOODNESS! Sulli heaved a sigh of relief. Then she realized that they had not touched on the actual matter yet. THE RINGS.

“Why did you bring the rings here?” Sulli questioned Minho in a whisper.

“Yah! I was planning to pass them to you since my mum keep asking to see the contents of it.” Minho replied with another whisper.

“!” Sulli cursed in another whisper.

Exactly, ! Minho thought to himself. He was almost succeeding in his plan to tease Sulli if not for Taemin’s spoilsport reminder of the rings. He took a quick glance at this Taemin person. Somehow a teeny winch of dislike grew in him.

“Mr and Mrs Choi, get ready soon!” Taemin called for them again as he adjusted the camera.

“Just wear them. We’ll see how it goes.” Minho took over the lead and commented. Sulli nodded in response. Minho then retrieved the rings from his pocket. The skull and coffin were still flashing brightly under the light. She wore it on her left while he wore it on his right. Just when Sulli was about to head off to the area of photo shoot Minho took her left hand in his right and held it tightly.

For now, let’s just try to hide the rings. He looked at and hinted to her.

Sulli got his secret message and nodded. She peered over to her left hand and somehow, she did enjoy the kind of warmth travelling from his hand to hers.

“Ahh we have such a sweet couple here.” Taemin lightly commented. Just when he was about to start the photo shooting, he caught a glimpse of her from outside the transparent door. His eyes widened in disbelief and excitement. Without a single word he quickly put down his camera and went for the door. He disappeared from the sights of the mothers and the ‘couple’ quickly.

The mothers were feeling puzzled but at the same time, it was their chance to see the ‘legendary rings’. As much as Minho tried to hide the pair of hands behind him, he was no match for the two mothers who worked together to pry open their hands and finally, the ring was revealed to the mothers.

“Jinri, what rings are these?” Sulli’s mother was in total shock. Doesn’t she know that such symbols are so inauspicious? She thought to herself.

“Omma…about this…” Sulli tried to weave an excuse.

“Mrs Choi, it’s like this. We wanted to get rings that would remind ourselves to be faithful to our other half. Thus we got the skull and coffin, to constantly remind ourselves to be devoted.”

“Or else the marriage will end up like the skull and coffin.” Sulli complemented his words. Minho nodded.

“Oh so it’s like this.” The two mothers nodded in agreement. “That’s why I said they must have a good reason for getting those…unique rings.” One Mrs Choi commented. “I feel so glad seeing them so faithful in their relationship.” Another Mrs Choi replied.

“Thanks.” Sulli said gently to Minho as she smiled while the mothers are back with their ‘mothers’ talk’.

“Yah Choi Jinri, I feel so unused to your gentleness.” Minho .

“Choi Minho! Are you itching for a slap or something?” Sulli warned between her teeth so that the mothers would not be able to hear it.

Minho laughed in response. She laughed along knowing that he was just teasing her. For that moment he thought her smile was so beautiful.

…

He finally caught up with her. He grabbed her left arm. She turned back.

“Tae…min?” She uttered his name in shock as her eyes widened in disbelief. Why is he…here?

“I finally found you.” Taemin panted while he smiled in his sentence.

“No, why did you come and find me? You should have continued your playboy days in the States.” She tried to wring her arm off his grasp but failed.

“Krystal! Why did you run away from me two years ago?” Taemin questioned in frustration. She wouldn’t know how hard he tried to look for her.

“What do you think I should do? Stay in the States as the bogus Mrs Lee? Anyone would have left knowing your personality.” Krystal replied with a tinge of dislike. “Now let go of me before I shout ‘’.” She continued.

Taemin had no choice but to release her. He saw as she ran away with all her might. “Am I really so detestable that you want to run away from me so much?”He muttered to himself.

He returned to the shop to find a different atmosphere. It was as though the feeling of blissful engulfed the entire shop. The harmonious and the slight tinge of love he saw through Minho and Sulli, he was envious of all that. Lee Taemin, brace yourself together. He told himself. He took in a deep breath and picked up his camera once again.

“Ok, Mr and Mrs Choi, look at each other with tenderly love.” Taemin instructed.

Tenderly love? How is that done? Both Sulli and Minho stared at each other with question marks in their mind. Taemin was about to click the button when he saw that the portrayal of the photo isn’t right.

“Mr and Mrs Choi, tenderly love please.” Taemin repeated his instructions.

“How do we do that?” Sulli shifted her gaze from Minho to Taemin in puzzlement.

EH? How would she not know? Taemin thought to himself. He thought for a moment then replied, “Just think of the person you love.” Somehow the photo was successfully taken afterwards.

After a few changing of poses and a few shots, “let’s take more intimate photos.” Taemin lightly said, as if it was nothing big. However, that was rather news to the Minho-Sulli duo.

“Like what intimate poses?” Minho was the first to question.

“You know, like the usual hugs, kisses, and piggyback.” Taemin lightly replied. Say what? Sulli’s mind was overwhelmed with all the words. The earlier close contact had already stirred her heart in a weird manner, and is he saying that they are going to do more of it?

“Say Taemin, can we skip all that?” Sulli cautiously inquired.

Taemin thought for a moment. “Oh okay.” Sulli heaved a sigh of relief. She was rather certain that Taemin wouldn’t comply with her absurd request. “Then let’s just skip to the bed shots now.” Taemin continued.

What bed shots? Wait a moment; what have I gotten myself into? Sulli panicked as she thought to herself. Minho grinned as he heard Taemin’s continuation and saw Sulli’s response. He thought that she was really interesting, all the expressions on her face revealing her thoughts. He decided to chip in and .

“Come on Jinri, it’s not like we have not done that before.” Minho joked.

“Yahh Choi Minho! What…what are you saying?” Sulli exclaimed. Her face was flushing with embarrassment.

Minho placed his mouth near her ear and whispered in an unintentional seductive tone. “Remember the photos?” He chuckled near her ear. He realized that he was pretty much enjoying teasing her.

“You…yahhh!” Sulli exclaimed in displeasure.

“Okay Mr and Mrs Choi, proceed to the next room.”

“Tae…Taemin! Forget what I have just said. Let’s just go the usual way. No bed shots.” Sulli said.

“Yet.” Minho continued.

Sulli glared at him once again.

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hope you all enjoyed this chapter! :D

and finally, the beginning of Taestal that seemed to relate back to 2 years ago.