Taemin's POV 

"Good afternoon, noonas!" I bowed to them as I walked towards the gorgeous ladies of After School during their short break at a variety show. Jung Ah noona, though a bit older now, still looks breathtaking. No wonder Onew hyung would fall in love with her. She's a goddess. I figured since it was only 3 days since the rumors started, fangirls would still be hot on her heels. 

"Omo hello, Taemin-ah! What are you doing here? Where's Jinki, doesn't he have a schedule today?" Jung Ah asked. 

Yea of course she'd want to see Onew hyung instead of me. And she's so familiar with hyung's schedule. God this woman. 

"Come here Taemin-ah, don't just keep standing." She pats the seat beside her. "I saw you standing there almost the whole afternoon watching us, you must be tired." 

Her eyes are so mesmerizing. Her heart is so kind and pretty, just like her face. Sigh. How can I ever compete with that? It's only right that hyung would rather look at her than me. 

I hopped over and sat down next to her. She passed me a bottle of water and used a tissue to wipe my forehead. I haven't realized that the weather was getting into me. I blushed a little and retracted a bit at her sudden affection. 

"Ah jinjia Taeminnie you're so adorable! No wonder Jinki dotes on you so much!" Jung Ah gasped. 

Yea I totally wished it was that way. 

I just smiled brightly at her. 

We talked a bit more, and I really did ask her on some tips about singing and dancing. Then a crew member walked over and passed Jung Ah noona a delicately wrapped parcel. It had a little handwritten card on it that wrote: "Dear Jung Ah unnie, hope you like this! It's specially for you!" 

And the next thing I knew was Jung Ah noona flipping the box over and hugging me so tightly. Her head was buried in my chest and I could hear her crying hard. I slowly rubbed her back to calm her down. The other noonas and the rest of the crew came swarming over to see what the commotion was. There, in the box was a freshly severed rat, blood still red and wet now splattered onto the concrete floor. On the under side of the cover it wrote: "This should serve sufficiently as a warning." 

The women were gagging and the stench was horrid. The males of the crew quickly covered the rodent with newspapers and began cleaning up. We all went to our separate holding rooms. I helped Jung Ah noona walk to AS' room. All this while she gripped me so tight and I felt really sorry for her. This was nowhere near her fault, why is she receiving such hateful mails?

"Noona, are you okay?" I continued rubbing her back, her face still planted in my embrace. 

Between quietened sobs she nodded her head. She calmed down a bit and sat up straight, reaching for a napkin on the table to wipe her face with. 

"I'm sorry Taemin. I just wasn't expecting that. I'm okay now." Jung Ah took a deep breath and said. 

"Ani, it's okay. I was shocked too. Who would do such a psychotic thing?" I asked, infuriated. 

The other seven noonas came around and comforted Jung Ah. I'm honestly quite terrified at what fans can do. Dating should be a simple affair why are there so many obstacles for them? This is so depressing. I stuck around a bit more and left only when I'm certain that Jung Ah noona is slightly better. 

*************

"Where'd you go? Only coming home this late? You have a schedule tomorrow right?" Onew questioned as I opened the door to the dorm. 

He's sitting there on the couch with only a single lamp on. Like a husband waiting to catch his cheating wife red-handed coming home with another man. 

"I just went out with my friends." I said simply, my mind was somewhere else. 

"Really Taemin? Do I know them?" 

"Yea sure. The ones that I usually go out with. My high school friends." I walked briskly to my room and closed the door.

If Jinki were to find out where I was and what I did today I would have a lot of explaining to do. And besides, I shouldn't be touching his woman, even in that situation. He would be disappointed in me. He might not even talk to me anymore! 

*************

Onew's POV 

That daredevil. Where'd he get the guts to lie through his teeth to me? I was at the same building that After School was doing a recording today at. I saw what happened. I saw Jung Ah noona gently wiping Taemin's forehead and he was so happy. I saw how noona just dived into his arms at the unfortunate incident. Ah then all my guesses were true, about Taemin and Jung Ah. And that was obviously the act of a deranged fan, just what Taemin was wary about. Since Taemin is working tomorrow and I'm not, I'll be on duty then to protect Taemin's girl. 

************

"Jung Ah noona! Annyeong!" I waved and bowed to her. 

After School were doing an outdoor photoshoot today for a magazine. Jung Ah seems a different person from the crying one yesterday. Well, I guess you've got to be tough to face anti-fans when you want to be with someone so lovable like Taemin. I'm so jealous. 

"Annyeong Onew! Nana's having her photoshoot now. What's up? Haven't we already settled everything?" Jung Ah gave me a friendly wink. 

"I know. I just came around because I was free today. I heard about yesterday." I explained. 

"Ah. That's embarrassing. Even you knew?" She flushed slightly. 

"Yea I was in the same building noona, did you forget? I told you I would probably pop by for a quick chat to confirm the plan. But it's okay, I'm sorry about yesterday." I apologized sympathetically. 

"...Onew. Which means you saw everything? Look, I didn't mean to just go into Taemin's arms. It was that he's just beside me and I was horrified. You wouldn't hold that against an ahjumma right?" She joked. 

"No no. Of course not." I laughed awkwardly. 

Why should I? It's only right for that to happen. 

"And noona, I might want to cancel the plans we made for Taemin and I. He kind of found out our secret surprise and he wasn't thrilled by it at all. In fact, he's bothered by it. I don't want to do this anymore." I confessed. 

"Bwoah, wae?! We planned so long and so hard." She gave a pouty face. "Did you talk in your sleep again, pabo!" 

"Ani! We don't even share the same room anymore since I found out about the way I feel!" I defended.

Hur if Taemin and I were to continue to sleep in the same room, I'm pretty sure the times I would ravage his body would be countless. The mental restrain was already a torture. 

No, but then really. How did Taemin find out? Unless he was talking about another secret. But I swore I never kept another secret from Taemin! He's the one keeping secrets. Aish he's such a headache! 

"Whatever Onew. Go home already, I wouldn't want another tabloid featuring us together! I'll explain to Taemin later anyway!" She gave me a warm smile and left to speak to Jooyeon noona. 

Geez noona you're not afraid of people scrutinizing your relationship with Taemin but you're afraid of some groundless tabloids?