Painful headache was the first thing to welcome me when I slowly opened up my eyelids. The eye-blinding lights made it even worse. “Ah,” I quietly groaned. I adjusted my sight to the brightness and calmed myself down.

I patted my head, praying that doing so would somehow make the pain go away, but what I got in return was, unfortunately, a jumping heart. Needle, an IV needle was attached to my left arm and it hurt so much when I moved. “Aargh.” This time my groan was louder than the one before.

Where on earth am I now?I felt kind of scared. How did I end up here?

I sensed that something was slightly moving, as the bed I was lying in shook a bit. Being more alarmed with my surrounding, I finally noticed that someone was resting his arm on the left side of my bed, functioning it as a pillow to support his sleepy head. He lazily woke up and when his worn out eyes met mine, it suddenly lightened up and he suddenly got up from the chair he was sitting on. “You’re awake,” he said, tone mixed with gratefulness and concern.

“Where are we?” I asked in a pleading way. “Minho, why are we here?”

“You fainted, remember? I was panicked when you fell unconscious and my logic told me to drive you to the hospital. So here we are,” Minho explained. He caressed my forehead down to my cheek. I felt kind of uncomfortable with his action. Not to mention, his furrowed eyebrows and tense facial expression added the awkwardness in the scene.

I glanced at the room. Private one, even equipped with TV and coffee maker. But such luxury did not make the room comfortable for resting. At least the wallpaper was light brown, not white. “Can you do me a favor?” I carefully asked Minho. He shrugged his shoulders, signaling me to continue. “The lamp. Turn off. Dizzy. Please.” He did as he was told. Nice kid. “Thanks.”

Minho sat down again on the chair. He put his both arms on my bed. “Do you want to know what the doctor diagnosed?” Without waiting for my answer, he coldly continued, “He said you lacked of energy and were dehydrated. And the rate of anxiety in your heart―or mind, I was not sure―was more than normal. He’d let you out tomorrow morning.” The way he explained it was rather hard. So unsympathetic, considering the fact that I was ill, lying weakly right in front of him. He sighed heavily. “Do you want me to contact your parents?”

I unconsciously snorted. “They’re probably thinking I’m staying at Ye Eun’s. Eh, how about Ye Eun? And Krystal? What time is it?”

Minho glanced at his watch. “Almost one o’clock. Ye Eun is probably drunk now. I already told Jinki to take her home after the party’s done.” He looked slightly uneasy. “Now tell me, what happened?” His eyes that were glaring straight at mine were begging for a sensible justification which explained why such accident could occur.

“Nothing,” I shortly answered. Could he not leave me for just a moment? I was exhausted, physically and mentally. Could Minho make it easy for all of us and cut the crap? But something suddenly appeared inside my mind... “You don’t tell Jung Soo anything, do you?”

Minho took his phone out. Please make it a no. “You want me to?”

What? Is he out of his mind? Does he want Jung Soo to know that his pathetic girlfriend fainted when she was supposed to have fun?“No, don’t.”

“But please tell me what’s wrong with you, where it hurts...” My heart thumped when Minho said that. But his focus suddenly diverted to his phone. “Huh? He’s calling me.” He looked up and gazed at me. He? Not Jung Soo, right? “I will put it on speaker phone.” Then he pressed a button. “Yeoboseyo, Jung Soo hyung.”

Oh no. I gulped, unconsciously covering my mouth with my palm, afraid that I would make a sound.

“Ne. Yeoboseyo, Minh0-ya.” Jung Soo tried to answer it casually. Which he failed. Because he sounded more to tired than casual and laid back. “Are Wookie, Kyuhyun and Henry still there? We’re having late practice for tomorrow’s comeback on Music Core and until now they have not showed up in SM Building yet...,” he said, clearly he was tired.

Minho nervously glanced at me again, biting his lower lip. How was he supposed to know Ryeowook’s, Kyuhyun’s and Henry’s whereabouts when he was not there with them? “Ah hyung. Um, I’m not with them right now, but I will try to contact them, okay? Bye.” With that he hung up the call. “I was rude...”

I could only put a bitter smile, as that short previous conversation between my boyfriend and my best friend bugged my mind a lot. It’s one o’clock in the morning for God’s sake. If he still needs to practice, what time will he finish? How is his body going to survive such lifestyle? I sighed very heavily.

“Hey.” A poke on my arm pulled me back to the world. “Your phone is vibrating,” Minho said as he took my cell from the table and gave it to me.

One new message.

“Party’s over, party’s over! Now go home, drive safely and quickly sleep. Oppa is going to sleep too >.< Let’s meet each other in our dream ^^ Love you Y-Teuki oppa”

Oppa is going to sleep too... Oppa is going to sleep... My heart ached as I read the sentence. And just as if Minho could read my mind, he said, “Jung Soo’s life is so hectic. Donghae hyung told me that these days they usually slept at five. In the morning.” Stop it, stop it, Minho! I seriously did not need him to tell it all right in front of my nose. “You must be worried so much of him. He can fall sick anytime. His stamina is not as good as before. Have you any idea how much vitamin he consumes regularly? Even I got shocked when Kyuhyun shared it to me. The man is physically fragile. And mentally, he has way too much going on inside his mind.” And those terrible things he said were nothing compared to his last lines. “I can make his condition worsen, ______. If you refuse to tell me what the heck went wrong with you, I will tell him that you fainted.”

Minho was threatening me, when I was sick. Wow, I growled in frustration. “Your way to get me talking is dirty.” I cynically looked at him.

“And you think that you’re doing the right thing by hiding it from all of us?!” He snapped, frustrated. “Don’t play with me, okay? I am not a fool. I am calm most of the time, but I have boundaries. Hey, hey why are you crying?”

Crying? Oh... Oh. So the sound of that painful sob was coming from me?

I gasped for air in a second, and continued sobbing again. The tears freely escaped from my eyes, and it somehow broke my own heart. There was something... Inside... It felt like I was being stabbed over and over again. I held onto my chest, protecting my heart from shattering. Darkness was all I saw and the air seemed gone. Something blocked my throat, it deterred me from talking and breathing in. Minho watched me crying in excruciation, having no clue what he should do to calm me down.

Die!

Why don’t you just die in your sleep?

You , filthy .

Getting thinner, huh? I feel successful.

Our oppa deserves someone so much better than like you.

Lol, you.

Frustrated much? Good!

The sooner you die, the happier I get.

Stop messing with oppa.

Let me tell you one ugly truth: oppa is just playing with you.

You’re so ugly you look more like an animal. Pig? Monkey? Oups, even they are better looking than you.

“Don’t tell him anything,” I managed to mutter some words between my sob. “I will tell you everything...”

The guy let out a relieved sigh. He faintly smiled. Caressing my hair, he said, “Tell it to me tomorrow. Now get some rest, everything is going to be okay. Remember that.”

But Minho... things are always easier said than done. I gradually closed my tired eyes.

--

Minho carefully held my shoulder, helping me walk to my house.

This was another morning, the doctor had let me to go home. He told me to eat more healthy food and get enough sleep. Whatever drug I regularly consumed, he said it was better to cut it off. I was still young, and what could effectively help me the most was absolutely not serotonin. Someone to talk to, either family or friends, was what I needed. A good environment and a controlled lifestyle would also help. I thanked God that I was not accompanied by Minho when the doctor explained it all to me.

“We should talk, you know...,” Minho said, sitting on the sofa. We were now in the living room. It was Saturday, my parents were out for their own personal matters.

I suddenly remembered the reason why Minho was here. Aargh. He was the type who took his words seriously. But one more attempt would not hurt anyone. “Do you really have to know?”

“Oh no, I don’t.” Minho smugly grinned. “I am just gonna tell yesterday’s incident to your lovely Jung Soo oppa.” Nappeun namja.

I deeply breathed in before replying him again. “Promise me you won’t do anything about it? That you won’t get mad? At me, nor at anyone?”

Minho shook his head. “It depends.” The smugness on his face disappeared. “Whatever turned you like this... it must be something really important. I will try to brace myself, though.”

“Okay, brace yourself,” I said before getting up and walking towards the stairs. “Come on, Minho.” The guy looked weirdly at me but followed me in the end. We both walked to my bedroom. “I can’t tell it to you. I gotta show it to you.”

--

“This is like the first time I stepped inside a girl’s bedroom,” Minho said, kind of astounded. “Imagine how people will react. Jung Soo hyung will kill me, most likely with his own hands. Manager hyung will also do the same. Taemin will accuse me for cheating. Fans will sob.”

I could not laugh at his joke. My mood had drastically changed the moment we entered my bedroom. “Take a look at the box there.” I pointed my finger at a particular corner in this room, the farthest from the door, the place where all the packages stored, and then I sat in my comfy bed. With my back facing that corner, I let Minho do things by his own.

One minute had passed, five minutes had passed... “Are you not done yet?” I asked hoarsely.

Minho did not answer me, but instead, I felt somebody sitting beside me, wrapping my shoulders with his big arms. Such action easily touched me, I could again feel a shake inside my fragile heart. I was burning within. Not the positive kind of burn, it was the type that destroyed your inner self. Trembling in fear, I started sweating.

Minho patted my back, running his hand in circle. “Ssh, ssh,” he calmly hushed. “I’m here...”

“I can’t,” I cried. “They are going to kill me!”

My best friend broke the embrace. “No one is going to kill you. Now tell me, how long have you received this intimidation? And by any chance, do you know who they are?”

“Since SMTown concert in Japan,” I weakly replied. “I don’t know for sure... But I think it’s Jung Soo’s stans. They probably know that I’m dating him. Will this affect our relationship, Minho? Will they force Jung Soo and me to break up? No, right?” I pleaded an answer from him.

“You really think that way...?” Minho asked sarcastically. I gave him a weird look and he quickly continued, “Think about it. Remember once Jung Soo hyung scolded us for hanging out in public? He had a point there. He’s a careful guy. Apart from your last date, have you two ever gone somewhere to public places so comfortably? Just like what we always do?”

H-huh?This was not going to what I thought it was, right? “But you said it yourself, your fans knew that I am your friend!”

He scowled. “The people who understand, I see them as my fans. But ones like these... The one who did such thing to you, having no guts to confront us and only hiding behind anonymous threats, do you think I still can call them fans? They’re not my Shawol.” He gritted his teeth so angrily, heatedly clenching his fists.

There was a long silence after that. Both of us were deep in our own thoughts. I started to consider Minho’s hypothesis. If he was right, I completely had no idea how he felt by now. Hurt? Mad? Betrayed? Terrible? What should I do towards him?

“I still think it’s done by Jung Soo’s fans,” I said.

Ting-tong, the door bell rang. There was a visitor. Minho glanced at me. “Who’s that?”

It was noon and my parents had their own key so I knew it was not them. Jung Soo had recording for Music Core so it was not him too. I shrugged my shoulders. “Ye Eun?”

The both of us decided to open the door together. Turned out that it was... the postman. I mentally cursed at the situation. It must be them! It had been several days without any threats.

Minho held the package, which was of course sent for me. He thanked the postman and closed the door again.

“It is it,” I coldly stated. “I bet twenty bucks it’s them.”

The SHINee’s rapper gave me an encouraging smile. “You got me. It’s okay.” It was sort of amazing that Minho could still beam... even though it was a fake one. He looked so unstable inside, still shocked. But then again, who wouldn’t be when the ones that loved you most likely endangered the ones you loved?

I wished I could open the package together with him, but I was not sure of how I would react. “Um Minho, I’m taking some drinks from the kitchen. Just open it first.” We parted as I went to the kitchen and left him alone in the family room.

Oh my God, what is it again this time...? I thought as I poured out some juice from the box to the glasses. In the process I spilled out some of it to the pantry because of my shaky hands.

Back to where Minho was, I saw some printed photos scattered on the table. I put down the glasses beside those pictures. I was about to take one of it and see it more clearly, but a lifelessly sitting Minho got me shocked. He covered his face with his hands and his shoulders were slightly wobbly. I ignored the photos and quickly approached him.

“Minho.” I put my hand on the back of his neck. My eyebrows furrowed. “Minho,” I called him again.

The guy saw me in horror. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry I caused you suffer.” He heaved a tired sigh. “Look at what they sent to you. Horrible...”

I turned away my stare from Minho’s weary eyes to the photos on the table. I slowly took one of it. I almost choked when my brain processed the image I saw to an information. It was the picture of me and Minho in Baek Eok two days ago. They drew an X sign with red ink on my face. The quality of the photo was good and it scared the hell out of me as I realized that this thing could ruin Minho’s reputation. Other pictures showed basically the same thing; us, only in different poses.

There was a card attached to the package. Unsurprisingly, it was written there, “Which part of “STAY AWAY FROM HIM” do you not understand? Should I make your legs stop working so then you can also stop seeing him?!”

Minho’s hypothesis turned into a fact. I shivered.

“I don’t know how you managed to deal with it,” Minho said, hurt. His apologetic eyes looked at me sadly. “I’m really sorry.”

Watching him apologizing over and over again, for something that he did not directly do was terribly ridiculous. He did not have to say sorry! “It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault that there are actually people out there who love you so much they hate to see you with other girls.”

“I’m just... you know, disappointed. How could they be so harsh to you? You’re a friend of mine, for the truth’s sake!” Minho raised his voice. “And you’re part of my private life, they have nothing to do with it!”

The situation was really awkward. If Minho did not force me to talk, then it would not end up like this. He would not need to face such fact, and I would probably sob alone inside my room now. “Minho. You said you wanted to help me but why are you the one who gets upset the most right now?”

“This is just too much to take. They call you names, they tell you to go die. Then they take pictures of us, and threat you again.” He sounded so sad, so helpless, so desperate...

“Minho?” I called him.

The guy murmured. “Mmm?”

It was just something that crossed in my mind. “They did not upload those images to the internet, did they?”

Minho looked at me, stunned, shocked. But a second later he managed to gain his composure back as a logical thought pierced into his mind. “No. If they did, manager hyung would have mutilated me by now.” Hearing his explanation, I sighed. The last thing I hoped to happen was Minho’s image got ruined because of me. “But wait, I think we still need to check Naver, just to make sure.” -_________-

Minho and I pulled our cell phones out. “You go to Naver, me Daum Search (a/n: Naver  and Daum are search portals like Google),” I said, proceeding to open the web browser. I typed two words on the search box, ‘Minho’ and ‘Girlfriend’. How relieved I got when what I found was, “Nothing. Minho, I found nothing about us.”

“Same here,” he said. “I don’t think they have the heart to do it. It won’t affect only you, but me as well. They must really love me,” he uttered mockingly.

“That’s an advantage for you.” I continued, “So we finally knew that it’s your stans that have been doing this to me.” I was still surprised. “What should we do now?”

Minho took a breath. “No seeing each other in public places. At least not without any disguise, and that applied to you too. And Ye Eun. And Krystal. I will also leave a message on the fancafe, or my me2day; somehow making them sure that I have no girlfriends in an implicit way. Hopefully it will reach them. We have no other ways to contact them and confront it right in front of their face. An advice or two from Jinki and manager hyung shall help me too.” Jinki? Manager? Just like he could read my mind, he continued, “They have the rights to know. They are responsible for what happens with the team. If this matter somehow surfaces to the public, at least they won’t be surprised.”

I remained silent. Too many things going around inside my mind right now... A truth was so hard to take. Why did every problem I had almost always involve Minho in it? Why did everyone―Jung Soo, his stans―mistake him as my boyfriend? “We’re not even dating and they do this to us. Minho, I think life is playing with me.”

I don't re-read it. It's super late here, I shall go to sleep lol. I will reply comments tomorrow, thank you people :)

And also, Happy New Year! :D