She’s just another girl, Key thought. Then why does she bother me so much?

Key watched as Sunhwa interacted with s, pursing her lips and then laughing as Onew asked for double servings of chicken and Minho smacked him on the head. He watched her writing, quick and efficient but neat to keep up with the rapid-fire words coming out of Jonghyun’s mouth. He watched her ruffle Taemin’s hair with motherly affection after he used his aegyo to get ice cream. He almost…wondered why he hated her so much.

No! You can’t think like that! She’s still a peasant. A lowlife. She doesn’t deserve to be here, Key convinced himself.

That’s not what you should think, a voice from the back of his head told him.

He squashed that voice immediately, barely avoiding squeezing his eyes shut and withdrawing into himself to get rid of certain thoughts flashing through his mind.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Taemin’s innocent voice startled Key out of his thoughts.

“Neh? Uh…of course I’m fine. When am I not?” he said, albeit a bit shakily.

Sunhwa was staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Anyone else would have squirmed. He didn’t, however, and met her gaze steadily. “What are you looking at, peasant?”

She snorted and said, “Finally gone crazy, haven’t you?”

“Shut up,” Key responded, unable to think of with a better comeback.

Sunhwa grinned victoriously and said to the table, “I’ll be right back.” She left and Key gritted his teeth, knowing that they both knew that she had just won their verbal battle.

What the heck is wrong with me?

-

“Where were you last night?” A sharp voice cut into the hurried blur that was trying to make her way out the door.

Sunhwa stopped short with her hand on the doorknob. “Work?” she replied, the word coming out as a question.

Her mother stood at the top of the stairs, arms crossed over her chest. “Are you sure? You don’t seem very productive lately.”

Sunhwa bit back a sharp retort and answered, “Yes.” Why was her mom interrogating her all of a sudden?

“You know that I trust you to be responsible, especially since I’ve given you this chance – ”

“Yes, and I assure you, I’m not wasting it,” Sunhwa snapped, unable to stand it anymore.

Her mother’s eyes flashed. “You have no right to be talking to me that way, young lady – ”

“I’m going.” Sunhwa yanked open the door. “I’m going to be late.”

“Come back right now!” she shouted after her, but Sunhwa didn’t listen, stepping out into the bright sunlight and starting down the street.

-

“Sunhwa yah, is something wrong?” Taemin asked concernedly as their waitress set down a plate of steaming vegetables in front of them. Minho had insisted that they get their daily servings of greens, something that Onew had only halfheartedly supported as the leader. But all of them – except for Key, maybe – had noticed that something was off about her today.

“Huh? Oh,” she seemed to start and smiled distractedly at him. “Ani. Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” he started to press, but Minho stopped him. He glanced meaningfully at Taemin and said, “Don’t bother her, Tae.”

“Why not?” he asked, clearly confused.

Onew coughed indiscreetly, but even Sunhwa heard the whisper that came out of his mouth. “It’s her girl thing.”
 

Jonghyun burst into laughter as Key just looked disgusted.

“Onew, you don’t just say that!” Minho scolded, temporarily taking the place of Key the umma.

“Wait…so you think it’s my period?” Sunhwa stopped for a second, and then cracked up, too.

Everyone unconsciously brightened at the rare sound. Sunhwa wasn’t a big expresser of her emotions, and it was a welcome change to hear her laugh every once in a while. Minho looked offended. “Is it not that?”

Jonghyun was positively howling now. This only made Onew more and more flustered, and he attempted to cover up their blunder by saying, “Well, we just thought you looked a bit down the past few days, so…” he trailed off.

Sunhwa managed to calm down, wiped her eyes, and then patted his head. “Sure. Whatever you think, bud.” Then, still chuckling, she walked away.

Minho turned and glared at his group members. “Will someone please explain to me what just happened?” he demanded.

As all eyes turned to him, Taemin defended, “Don’t ask me, hyung!”

-

“Unnie, help me!” Hyun Jin called desperately as she scribbled down another answer for a math problem that she was doing.

Sulli laughed and stood up from stretching to walk over. “I don’t think I’ll be much help. I graduated a while ago.”

“It was only a few years ago, or are you so old that you don’t remember already?” Luna teased as she too bent over the paper.

“Yah!” Sulli stuck her tongue out at her friend.

Luna stuck her tongue right back. “Choding,” she mocked.

“I am not a choding!” Sulli screeched as she chased Luna around the practice room. Hyun Jin sighed in hopelessness. “How am I ever going to finish this?”

“I could always help you,” Sunhwa offered as she sat down on the bench next to her.

Hyun Jin’s eyes widened. “You?” She recovered immediately and apologized, “Mianhe, Sunhwa yah. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that you’re so young…”

Sunhwa smiled and took the pencil. “It’s okay. I was pretty good at math in high school.”
 

Before Hyun Jin could even open to question that statement, Sunhwa had written down a formula, plugged in the numbers, and solved the problem.

“Done,” she said, circling her answer with a satisfied smirk.

“Wh – what – you…” Hyun Jin’s mouth was hanging open.

Sunhwa laughed. “As I said, I liked math.”

“Ew, how do you even like math?” Luna remarked, sitting back down from her game of tag.

“We always knew she was a strange one,” Sulli said, flashing a toothy smile.

Hyun Jin was recovering gradually. “But…” she said slowly. “How have you graduated high school already? You’re younger than I am!”

“You’ve graduated already?” Sulli asked with interest.

Sunhwa nodded modestly, looking at her lap. “Neh.”
 

“Aigoo, you must be so smart!” Luna smiled, clapping her hands in appreciation.

“Of course she is,” Sulli said conceitedly and pulled the girl closer. “She’s our Sunhwa.”
 

“Stop it, Sulli unnie.” Sunhwa rolled her eyes, but she had a smile on her face. She had only told SHINee about her early schooling because they needed to know, but other than that, she didn’t feel comfortable talking about it with anyone else. Letting the girls know that she may have been a dance-obsessive freak in high school – even going to the lengths of graduating early for it – and that they accepted her for it, was something new.

So Sunhwa just sat there, listening to Sulli and Hyun Jin squabbling about the best formula to solve the next problem, with one of the most genuine smiles she had in a long time.

 -

Sunhwa walked up to the regular practice room in her usual t-shirt and sweats, duffel bag in one hand and a carton of chocolate milk in the other. She tried the door, but it was locked. Only then did Sunhwa notice the sign taped to the door, “Go to Room 304”. She shrugged, turned around, and, sipping her milk, went to find Room 304.

Sunhwa had barely gotten the door open to 304 (after getting lost no less than three times) before she was attacked by a pink blur known as Hyun Jin.

“Argh!” She should have been used to it by now, but Sunhwa still made this weird strangled sound as she tried not to drop anything.

“Omo Sunhwa why are you here so late? I can’t believe what’s happening right now look at all the people and stuff and why didn’t they tell us they were coming beforehand – ”

Sunhwa patiently waited as Hyun Jin ran off for her to stop rambling and then asked, “What’s happening again?”

A man in slacks, a button-down, and sunglasses, imposing even though he was wearing casual clothing, noticed the two girls by the door and walked over. He looked at Sunhwa for a second, as if evaluating, and then his mouth quirked up into a tiny smile. He tilted his head slightly and said, “Annyeong, Park Sunhwa. My name is Lee Soo Man. You may remember me, perhaps?”

Sunhwa gasped for a tiny second, then recovered her wits and bowed deeply. “Annyeonghaseyo, Soo Man-sshi. Neh, you were at my audition.”

Soo Man’s still had a poker face on, but he was eye-smiling. “Of course. I saw that you had very much potential here at SM. So today,” he gestured toward the few bustling people, lights, and cameras, “we’re going to be running through the program.”

“N-n-neh,” Sunhwa managed to squeak out.

Hyun Jin saved her. “Mianheyo. It was nice talking to you, but I think I hear Manager Kim oppa are calling us,” she said, showing off her blinding pearly whites to Soo Man and bowing while dragging her friend away.

* Lots of honorifics in this chappie, so sorry if I messed any of them up!

ASAA! Another long chapter, yeah? You all should repay me by commenting on it. ^.^ Thanks!

The weather has gotten a lot nicer, which makes me very happy. xD K thanks bi :)

- tigress