PART TWO:

“What do we have here?”

Minho and I share a quick look before turning and we see Lee Soo Man himself. I look to Minho for help and he himself has a foreign despair in his eyes. His eyebrows are furrowed and his forehead creased. I have never seen him so worried about something other than losing before.

“I saw everything, no need to hide now.” He walks toward us. He walks step, by step, his boots making a soft sound against the concrete ground. Minho grabs my hand from behind me and gives me a squeeze. I see the four other boys tumble in from behind of Lee Soo Man – I haven’t gotten used to calling him Soo Man just yet – and looking sheepish. I’ll kill them later.

“Wh-wh-what are you doing here?” Minho stutters, and I gasp inwardly. He never stutters. “I came to visit my boys debuting. Don’t you know I love to show tender loving care to SHINee?” Lee Soo Man harshly whispers. He is now barely three feet from us. Minho and Lee Soo Man are the same height, but of course, he’s the boss.

“I’m sorry I can –” “Alright, two of you, explain. And the rest of SHINee? Go take an extended break.” Obviously the boys just had to want to take their extended break. Taemin has the courtesy to at least bow apologetically before he leaves. ‘Mianhaeyo, noona’ I see him mouth. I shake my head slightly.

“Choi Minho, you may explain first. Yoona, dear, please don’t say anything.” “See, Mr. Lee Soo Man, we’ve been secretly dating for a while… now, yeah a while, and we haven’t told anyone except SHINee and SNSD – even the managers don’t know so if we keep it quiet do you think maybe we can get a-way… with… this? I mean if we don’t let them know and all…”

“Alright, Yoona, now it’s your turn. Explain.” I look at Minho and he nods. “You see, Mr. Lee Soo Man –” “Soo Man.” “Soo Man, Minho and I really haven’t been causing any harm to our groups… and we haven’t met for a while now because of our busy schedules, so…” I stop and falter a little, and with a bated breath I watch his eyes fall over Minho and me.

“I’ll speak to both of you about this after the filming. Let me think about it. Meanwhile, don’t try anything fishy.” We nod and smile furtively, thanking him on the way out and rushing back to the set. Before we go in, Minho whispers in my ear, “Don’t try anything as he said. Just pretend to be normal. And, if anything happens, know that I love you.” I smile and he leans in to kiss my forehead quickly. I kiss back. Seconds later we hear his footsteps – he’s coming.

We stop and hurry into the set.

Throughout all of the filming I worry but both Minho and I do our best, as well as the rest of SHINee though the suspense is probably killing them. We don’t talk to each other and there aren’t any more long breaks.

After the filming, SHINee and I change out of the outfits and go back to our daily wear. Lee Soo Man is waiting for us in a private room. We exchange furtive looks and dash towards the room.

“Take a seat please, all six of you.” He motions for us to take a seat and we do, though very uneasily. I tug at the hem of my top, biting my lip in worry. Lee Soo Man’s lips form a straight line and he looks at us strictly, eyeing even the other SHINee boys, and me especially. When he looks at me everyone else does to, and I kind of move around in my seat uncomfortably. I cross and uncross my legs.

“So let me get this straight. You’re trying to make me let you guys continue dating. Minho and Yoona. SHINee, what do you think of this? Onew, please express your opinion.”

“Yes sir. I think this is um, good for the group, because Minho seems to have adopted a better personality nowadays because of Yoona. He’s less shy and reserved as before, and he shows more love toward his fans.” Onew nods.

“Key and Jonghyun?”

“Um, Mr. Lee Soo Man sir, I think you should let them date, secretly of course, because it benefits the group. As what Onew says.” Key says. “Oh yes, and um, besides, you’ve allowed Se Kyung and me to date before, so why not?”

“Alright, since you are so keen on it. I believe that you can date, but one condition. You publicize it. And in no way am I to see you, Minho, involved in any scandal, or I will make you two break up, for real. And you will not have any, I repeat, any promotional activities together anymore.” As soon as the words come out of Lee Soo Man’s mouth, we are so shocked, we’re speechless.

I couldn’t speak. Literally couldn’t speak – I just sit there in shock. Lee Soo Man gets up and leaves the room silently. Taemin’s the first one to snap out of it and shakes my shoulders. “Noona you can date hyung now!” The reality finally dawns on Minho and me. He comes around and picks me up, spinning me around happily. “Finally, we don’t need to hide anymore.” He whispers in a husky voice and kisses me again.

“Ahem.” Lee Soo Man’s voice cuts in, he appears. Minho puts me down. “Sorry to interrupt your, um, intimate moment, but just to tell the media, we are holding a press conference tomorrow. All of SHINee and SNSD will be attending. I will inform your managers. Don’t do anything publicly just yet okay?” And he leaves again.

“GROUP HUG!” Onew declares and we think for a second. Nah, we’ll give it to him this time. The boys take extra care not to hug too hard so that my bones don’t break. “Aw…” Onew breathes in the middle of it. We all laugh heartedly.

Later when I get back to the dorm, I open the door and a surprise awaits me. The room is dark and the second I blink, all of SNSD have a cake in their hand. It says ‘Congratulations’. They know already! It’s barely been three hours.

“CONGRATULATIONS!” They yell and Taeyeon puts the cake down before they gather for a hug and I’m right in the middle. I start tearing up at their kindness. “Aw, Yoong, don't cry, this is how we express our love for a fellow group member!” Sunny smiles. “Though I am jealous. Jonghyun and I aren’t allowed to date. Guess we have to do what you did huh.” Yuri winks at me and I proceed to cut the cake.

The following morning, we get up at 6, as the filming. But this time it’s for the press conference. I’m quite sure the boys are early too. They would be picking us up in a limousine later, at about 8. The press conference starts at noon.

It’s really hectic as soon as we wake up, but we manage to get some order with Tiffany yelling at us to shut up and follow her.

“SHUT UP!!! Yoona, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, you four go to the bathroom first to wash up. The bathroom down the corridor on the left. Taeyeon, Sunny, Jessica, Seohyun and I will go pick out our clothes first. We each have ten minutes. Move out!” Tiffany yells. Everybody moves to their respective places. The four of us manage to clean our faces. I hear the other five tossing their clothes crazily trying to find outfits. “TEN MINUTES IS UP!”

We gather back at the spot. Tiffany screams, “Swap!” And we do. Hyoyeon and Sooyoung goes to their room, Yuri and I go to ours. We pick out clothes that suit each other and smile when we’ve found the perfect ones. We quickly change into it. “Everyone! Change into your outfits!” We change and finish everything except makeup, bags, shoes and breakfast. It’s already 6.30. But it’s not that late.

After we’re done, we move to the living room and each grab a tray of breakfast Seohyun’s already made for us and eat it. We finish by 7.15, and we move to makeup. Makeup takes a longer time. We told manager that we’d do it on our own for a day, and we don’t want them to come over. Makeup is done by 7.45 and we’re on schedule, according to Tiffany.

Our bags and shoes are grabbed from the wide selection we’re given and off we go!

“Annyeonghasaeyo, SHINee-imnida!” SHINee greet us brightly at our doorstep. “Welcome, ladies!” Onew goofs around and they open the limo doors for us. “Thank you.” As we go in, the boys shuffle in too, and they take seats respectively. Onew and Taeyeon, Minho and I, Taemin and Seohyun, Jonghyun and Yuri and of course, Key and Sooyoung. The rest who are ‘single’, huddle together. “Peace for singledom.” Hyoyeon solemnly ‘swears’ and we all laugh.

Along the way we play childish games. Like, Have You Ever and Truth or Dare – it’s like a return trip to high school. I miss those times.

“Ladies, and gentlemen, welcome to the news centre of Seoul.” No one knows about our press conference yet, so there are no fans. We make our way into the building and the reporters are waiting. We take our seats. SHINee on one side, SNSD on the other, with our managers right at the end and Lee Soo Man in the centre.

This time it’s a press conference where no questions will be answered, Lee Soo Man will just make a speech. We’re just here to make it official.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m glad to see you here on a fine morning today. We are gathered here because I would like to announce a public relationship of a hidden couple that have not been spotted by any of the media or the fans. And the hidden couple is Choi Minho and Im Yoona. May I invite both of you to stand? –” We stand and bow before sitting back down. “Yes, as you have just seen, these two will be a publicized couple and I hope that you will follow their relationship closely and welcome this two people into the dating world nicely. And of course, they should be given some breathing space too, yes? SHINee and SNSD hope to receive much love and minimal disruption of their activities during this period of time, and I hope that the fandom wish their idols success. Thank you.” The reporters keep clicking and clap at the end of his speech.

After the conference, our activities proceed as normal, and the fans, at first are shocked, but then they eventually give in and support Minho and I as a couple. One of the days, Minho and I receive our first card from one of our fans that support us.

Dear Yoona unnie and Minho oppa,

Know that us FlamingDeers will always be behind you! We promise to ship the MinYoon couple and hope that you are forever happy. Finally, the CF Queen Yoona – the nation’s natural beauty – and the charismatic king of all Minho are getting together! If you didn’t know, we’ve been observing you and we spotted all of your moments! Thank you for getting together after so long! MinYoon hwaiting!

Love, your fans.

“So we’re MinYoon now?”

I ask and Minho wraps his strong hands around me. “I’m taking that as a yes.”

How was it? That's the end of my oneshots. Gosh this is the third. I think the next few will be sequels and prequels, no? ;)