“Okay and so we will have Onew and Jonghyun from SHINee back with us after the top six. Stay tuned!” the DJ announced, pulling off his head set and smiling at the boys across from him. “I’m just going to the cafeteria; you’re more than welcome to stay here though.”

“We will, thank you,” Jonghyun replied and the older man left the studio, closing the door quietly behind him. Onew reached for his mobile in his pocket and smiled at the flashing light telling him he had received a message. He flipped the screen around and read the message, his smile growing until it hurt his cheeks.

“Is that Chelle?” Jonghyun asked and Onew nodded. “What did she say?”

“That she’s snuggled up in bed with Tofu-Bear.”

“Tofu-Bear?”

Onew nodded again. “I believe that’s what she called the teddy bear I bought her.”

“Oh.” Jonghyun grinned. “You too are going to be very cute together.”

“It’s a very weird experience,” Onew stated and the dongsaeng beside him tilted his head with curiosity. “I was so nervous when we first kissed but-”

“Wait on!” Jonghyun exclaimed and grabbed Onew’s upper arm in his hand. “You’ve kissed her already? On the cheek?!”

“Not exactly,” Onew replied with a blush and Jonghyun’s jaw fell apart. “What?!”

“Do you not respect her enough to wait before kissing her? You haven’t even been together a month yet.”

“Jonghyun, I would never do anything that was disrespectful of Rochelle. She is very important to me,” Onew scolded and Jonghyun shook his head repeatedly.

“She is alright with this?”

“Rochelle is not from our culture, remember? This isn’t a traditional Korean courting.”

Jonghyun became thoughtful. “I guess if you are both comfortable with it, the members and I will respect that. It’s a bit like Romeo and Juliet, yes? You meet her and then everything moves so fast.”

“As long as it doesn’t have the tragic ending,” Onew stated and Jonghyun chuckled.

“Oh our Tofu has become a man,” claimed and then grinned at his hyung. “I am envious!”

Onew went to reply but the DJ returned then, and after sending a quick text back to Rochelle, he shared a smile with Jonghyun about their conversation. It was odd to think of himself as a man, he was still so young. But he knew that the admiration Jonghyun currently felt for him was genuine. Onew hoped he could work hard at his relationship with Rochelle so his dongsaeng’s would be proud.

“And we’re back with Jonghyun and Onew from SHINee!” the DJ said, pulling Onew out of his reverie.

“Hello!” the two boys chorused together and the man leaned on his elbows, looking interested.

“It’s time for questions! I’m sure you’ve had this one a lot, but as the oldest members of SHINee, I have to ask. Have either of you experienced love like in your songs?”

They shared a look and Onew shook his head. It wasn’t a lie, he hadn’t fallen in love.

Yet.

“Hello Jinki,” she greeted as the phone call was picked up and he smiled, going into his room and climbing under the blankets on his bed. The others were still up in the living room, and he was thankful for the privacy for his phone call.

“Hey, how are you feeling now?”

“Fine, and it was good to listen to you on the radio show too. You got asked a lot of personal questions. You did well.”

He chuckled. “I thought I’d slip up, but Jonghyun was very supportive of keeping our secret.”

“I just thought you weren’t ready to say you were dating someone,” the girl replied softly. “Why is it a secret?”

“Well, you seemed so adamant of not being seen as someone using my fame,” he pointed out, rubbing his tired eyes for a moment. “And I have to speak with my manager and let him know.”

“Are you not allowed to date? Is it in your contract?” she wondered, her voice sounding a little a higher than usual.

“No, it’s just important for me to let him know.”

“Oh.”

“Are you okay with it being like this?” he wondered, feeling a little off at her reaction.

“Of course Onew, I don’t want the whole world to know yet. I understand how this affects your image.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your purity. SM Entertainment has made you into a golden group. You’re meant to appear alluring to females all around the world, but not actually take yourself off the market.”

Onew frowned. “What? Why am I not allowed to date?”

“It makes your fans disappointed. You’re a symbol of the perfect gentleman remember,” she explained and sighed.

“This is confusing. So I’m meant to make my fans happy by making their dreams of being with me still alive, yet not have my own happiness?”

“That’s the one,” the girl answered with a giggle. “Poor Tofu, you’ve broken all the rules now.”

“Why can’t I still be respected for my singing and dancing capabilities?”

“Because you dating someone will be seen as a scandal. The press are going to enjoy it when any of you appear even slightly close to another girl and you watch everything explode online. Not everyone is like that though, there are lots of girls who would be happy for you, I’m sure.”

“I think you’re over analysing this,” he told her, although he rolled over to reach for his laptop under the bed.

“I might be, but let’s change the subject for a moment and not think of the outside world.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“What do you have to do tomorrow?”

“Ah, Taemin will be busy with his drama stuff, but we’ll be at Pops in Seoul for an interview with their VJ. And then we have an endorsement shoot and finally I’m going to see if we can pick you up and bring you back to ours for dinner.”

“Ooh how could a girl turn down making extra work for your chef?” she teased with a giggle. “But I would like to see you tomorrow. I’m so bored, and I miss your schedule. It kept me busy.”

“Well injured people aren’t meant to be busy.”

“If they had given me crutches I could get back to work,” she replied and let out a huff of air. “I better go to bed Onew, it’s getting late. And if your day tomorrow is going to be busy, you should sleep too.”

“I will go to bed shortly,” he assured with a smile. “Sweet dreams.”

“You too, goodnight.”

He hung up from his call and dropped the phone onto the bed, picking his small laptop up and typing in the URL to shineee.net forums, then waited for the page to load. He signed into his secret account and skimmed the front page, wondering what area to look in. He clicked on his section in the Chatterbox area, his eyes widening at some of the titles. He had been naïve to think Rochelle was wrong, and let out a dejected sigh.

“Everything alright Tofu?” Key asked as he came into the room, evaluating Onew’s expression and climbing up onto his top bunk bed.

“Yeah, I was just checking up on something online,” he answered, closing the lid to his notebook and putting it back under his bed. The rest of the members started filing in for bed then, and Onew pushed his thoughts away, chatting with his roommates until he fell asleep.