“Thank you, and please keep supporting SHINee. Good luck on your exams!” he added as the girls blushed and bowed repeatedly as they left with his signed poster.

“Hello, what’s your name?” he asked the next girl. “Who’s fan are you? Do you like SHINee? Anything you want me to write?”

And to the next one.

And to the next one.

And to the next one.

He flexed his hand, cramping from signing and writing, hands all smudged with black marker.

“I wanna go hooome,” he whined into Key’s ear, who was next to him.

“You’re such a baby,” whispered Key back into his ear. “If only you were one. You would be much more fun.”

“I wish I was a baby too,” whispered Taemin. “Then I wouldn’t need to work and I get to play all day.”

“Can I look after you? I think you’d be so cute,” whispered Key. “I’d dress you up in girl clothes and spoil you, I promise.”

“Deal,” whispered Taemin, giggling.

“Hello, what’s your name?” he asked the squealing girl whose turn it was amongst all the other squealing, blushing, fawning, swooning, fanning, crying fangirls. He loved them all, he really did. So he smiled at the girl who looked like she wanted to faint and signed her poster of debut SHINee, internally wincing at his face. God, he used to pull such dorky expressions.

No more fangirls were let in as they took a break for lunch.

“This fanmeet is going great!” enthused their manager. “Not that much pushing and shoving, and the screaming has been loud.”

The SHINee members and crew all murmured their agreement.

The members all sat in a circle as little white parcels were delivered to them full of food.

“Where’s our water bottle?” he asked Onew as he pulled apart his disposable chopsticks.

Onew looked at him quizzically. “Taeminnie, you were the last one who had it.”

“I must have lost it,” cursed Taemin, angry at his stupid habit.

“Excuse me, can I have something to drink?” he asked one of the people who had handed them the food.

“Only if you get it yourself,” said the person, gesturing toward a direction.

Taemin tried to keep his inner diva intact as he got up, annoyed. It was their job to give him food, why didn’t they do it properly? He didn’t even know where the water was. He grumbled internally as he made his way toward the tables where they had been signing.

“What water?” he groaned when he saw none.

His throat was so parched, when he swallowed it felt like sandpaper and it hurt. He really needed a drink.

His eyes wandered onto the sign table, and his heap of gifts. A lot of it was banana milk and food.

It wouldn’t hurt, right?

They were banned from eating and drinking stuff from fans after what had happened to Yunho hyung. Taemin still shuddered when he thought about that story, about how his hyung could have died.

But all these things looked sealed.. and they were his fans, they all looked nice and he had done nothing wrong, they wouldn’t try poison him, right?

He dug around the boxes of banana milk, trying to find a more thirst quenching drink.

He found a bottle of aloe vera juice.

I’ve never had aloe vera juice before, thought Taemin. He had always wanted to try it as well. He unscrewed the cap and took a long gulp.

It was not what he had expected- very sweet, almost cloying. It was even sort of thick. It tasted like nothing he had ever had- it was toothachingly sweet, like melted candy. He made a face as he pulled it away from his mouth.

He ran back to s to eat lunch.

“Hey Taemin, I found the other water bottle,” said Minho when he sat down.

Taemin grabbed it from him in relief and swished his mouth with water before drinking.

“Have you guys ever had aloe vera juice before?” he asked. “It’s so disgustingly sweet and thick, right?”

“Really?” said Jonghyun as he dumped his chicken onto his rice to soak up the sauce. “I didn’t think it was that sweet. Sort of like.. sweet water with little lumpy bits of jelly.”

“What?” said Taemin, stilling. “Water? Little lumpy bits?”

“Yeah,” piped up Minho. “You know how you can see little lumpy bits through the bottle? And yeah, it’s like water, I wouldn’t say thick.”

Taemin could literally feel his heart stop. Oh God. That definitely had not been aloe vera juice then. It could be anything. A weird concoction that could kill him from a fan girl. Poison. 

He couldn’t tell anyone, or he’d get in deep trouble for drinking something  a fan gave him. It was against the rules, big time.

He dropped his chopsticks in fear.

“Taemin!” they all chorused. Onew stopped a worker to get another pair for Taemin.

“You okay?” asked Key as they sat in their seats again, looking at him closely.

“I’m fine,” snapped Taemin wiped his brow. He was sweating for some reason. “Just the lights are really hot here,” he lied.

Key stared at him in that unnerving manner that made Taemin flustered. He was NOT sick from the drink.

“You don’t look fine to me,” said Key suspiciously. “You look like you have a fever.”

“It’s because you’re staring at me like that,” snapped Taemin again, fanning himself. “God, why is it so hot in here?”

He took off his jacket only to get goosebumps and to shrug it on again. He put his palms on his face, feeling the heat radiate off them. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He nearly jumped when he felt a hand on his forehead.

“You’ve totally got a fever Taemin,” he heard Key say. “You should ask to go home.”

“I need to work,” said Taemin, opening his eyes. “I can’t not work! I can’t just walk out because I want to! This is my job Key, and not only will I get in trouble with all our managers and bosses, but all the fans will be angry that I’m not here when it says I will be! It will explode all over the internet if fans get angry.”

“I’m sure they’ll undersrand,” said Key.

“No,” ruled Taemin. “I am an idol. An IDOL. I have to maintain my image. It’s my career, hyung.”

“Sangtae-goon,” said Key loudly, pulling in the attention of the person sitting on the other side of Taemin. “A certain child between us is sick and being stubborn.”

Onew had a turn putting his hand onto Taemin’s forehead and fussing, agreeing and talking to Key about whether Taemin should go home or not.

“I’m fine,” growled Taemin after savouring Onew’s soft and cold hand. “I’ll grin and bear it.”

The first maybe 10 girls were fine. Taemin felt like he could push himself.

But it got worse. He was sweating more, and feeling weak. He felt like he wanted to cry. 

“I told you so,” nagged Key as he put his arm around Taemin who was now leaning into his side, his head on Key’s shoulder.

“I need a drink,”mumbled Taemin, scraping his chair loudly as he got up.

He thankfully managed to get behind the curtain before his knees gave in.

“Gyeongshik hyung! Choi jin hyung!” he heard Onew yell from behind him. Taemin closed his eyes as they were getting misty.

“Taemin, Taemin,” said the familiar voices of all his staff as they milled around him.

“He’s sick, Gyeonshik hyung,” he heard Key say. “He can’t work like this. Please let him go home.”

“Of course,” he heard his manager say. “He is no condition to work. He should have told me earlier he was feeling ill. Can you stand, Taemin? Climb on hyung’s back.”

“it was the aloe vera,” he babbled to the manager in the car. “The candy. The candy melted aloe vera water.”

“Are you delirious?” asked the manager. “You’re sicker than I thought. Straight to bed with some medicine, and I trust your hyungs will look after you tonight. We’ll go to the doctor tomorrow if you’re not better.”

“Chewy jelly bits!” Taemin said desperately.

“What am I doing, talking to a delirous boy,” said the manager to himself.

Taemin fell onto his bed, curling up into the sheets after taking some cold medicine. He suddenly felt really, really sleepy and exhausted. He went to sleep praying that he would get better, that the fake aloe vera juice would not hurt him, that he wouldn’t die.

When Jonghyun went into the room he shared with Taemin, Taemin was sleeping peacefully.

“He’s fine,” he called out to the others before putting the back of his hand against Taemin’s forehead. “Still a little bit warm, but he seems okay. I think he’s better.”

“Taeminnie, how are you feeling,” cooed Jonghyun the next morning as he took hold of the top of Taemin’s covers. He could see some soft strands of brown hair poking out. “Do you need to go see the doctor? Do you still have- OH MY ING GOD!” he screamed when he pulled back the covers.

A/N It has really been hard trying to get people to notice this :( share it around if you like it :D :D don't forget to comment and tell me what you think :)

Happy Chinese New Year! <3 <3

Esther :)