- Soo Min POV -

I open my sleepy eyes when I feel the van slowing down its speed. After we got through all the traffic jams in Tokyo we finally arrive at the concert hall, where some fans have already gathered for the show this afternoon. They try to find some shelter  from the falling snow underneath their banners and are singing SHINee’s songs to warm up their cold bodies. I feel sorry for the poor girls out there in the freezing cold and want to invite them inside, but I am well aware no one inside that beautiful building will appreciate such an action. When the car takes halt at the backstage entrance I grab my stuff and head inside.

Once everyone has left to where they are needed I search for the dressing room of the boys to let Onew know I’ve finally arrived. It takes longer as usual to find the room I am looking for, since there are no familiar shouts of excitement and happiness to show me the way. Worried frowns wrinkle my forehead as I stand in front of the silent room. I slowly open the wooden door and peak inside as I didn’t get an answer after a few knocks. When I open the door a cloud of depression smothers me. I was prepared for an always hyperactive Taemin  to jump from behind the couch or a lovely Onew to almost kill me with tight hugs, but the only thing I see are five desperate boys and a horrifying silence that sets your teeth on the edge. My heart is crushed when I see the worried look in Onew’s eyes and the red-stained cheeks of Taemin and Key. Also the always calm and collected Jonghyun has tears in the corners of his eyes. And the tallest boy in the room is clenching his fists while his eyes shoot fire. Just when I’m about to ask the boys, who still haven’t  said a word, what is going on, my phone rings and I’m called to the podium. As I close the wooden door I hear some curses followed by Minho’s fist hitting the wall.

I’m called to the stage to give some instructions to the background dancers who were practising one last time. Afterwards I have to go to the styling room to do a last check-up on the clothes SHINee will wear today. As the head choreographer I’m the person who’s most aware of what the boys can and cannot wear for certain dance songs. Although I’m being overwhelmed with questions and tasks, I keep thinking about the depressive mood in the backstage area. Some make-up and stylist unnis have already mentioned the artists’ weird behaviour and even SHINee’s manager asked me whether I knew what was wrong with his boys. The manager is the only one, excluding the band mates and our families, who is informed about the close relationship between Onew and me. The only thing I could do when the poor man came to me was shake my head in denial.

No matter what is going on, it has to be something personal if they cannot tell their trustworthy manager. But what can make them so sad that Key and Taemin had cried their eyes out, that also Jonghyun was at the point of crying, that Onew had lost his goofy smile and that Minho had almost broken his knuckles? I have to find out. No problem is without solution. And I knew they wouldn’t forgive themselves if they ruined the concert for their fans.

First I try to accost the oldest rapper and the blonde maknae when they enter the styling room to fix their make-up, but they both ignore me completely. After that I cross Minho in the hallway, but the tall frog-like rapper disappears behind the corner before I can even open my mouth. The lead singer isn’t nowhere to be seen either and if he indeed  has a bad mood there was only one person who can talk to him properly, and that isn’t me. So there is only one person left who knows what’s going on with the not-shining SHINee boys. Luckily for me the leader is the easiest prey to make him spill what’s bothering his mind.

I walk through the corridors under the stage, asking everyone that passed by if they have seen SHINee’s leader by chance. The first three simply shake their head and continue their way. The fourth, one of the make-up unnis I’ve met before, points towards the wooden door a little farther in the hallway. So he’s still in their backstage room, huh? I knock on the door before entering, not waiting for an answer. My always bright boyfriend doesn’t even look up when I open the door. He just stares at the blank smartphone, a worried frown plastered between his eyebrows.

- Onew POV -

“Why are you not happy and excited for the concert?”

A voice calls me back to reality. The shock hits me so hard I almost fall next to my chair. I look over my shoulder and see my girlfriend leaning her back against the white  wall next to the door, arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Oh, Soo Min-noona. I didn’t hear you entering. I’m just so nervous for the concert. We all are, I guess.”

“You’re not only nervous for the show, Onew-shi. When you have to perform adrenaline rushes through your veins and you get fired up, not depressive and moody like you are now. Something is wrong and I want to know what.”

“I’m fine.”

“Lee Jinki, don’t lie to me.”

I hate it when she calls me by my full name, it spells trouble.

“I know something’s wrong, maybe not with you personally but there’s definitely something going on. I saw Key’s red-stained cheeks, the tears in Jonghyun’s eyes and Taemin’s watery orbs. I even heard Minho curse and hit the wall with his fist. What’s the reason he’s so fired up?”

Silence.

“Yeobo, why has this ugly frown soiled your handsome face the entire day?”

She softly touches the three lines between my eyebrows.

“You know you can me.”

For one second the frown and its causal worries disappear. Afterwards a deep sigh escapes my lips.

“Jonghyun and Key broke up.”