Blue - English

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Key’s POV

“Hellooo? Any minute now,” I complained still not diverting my eyes away from my phone.

“You look... familiar...,” the female across me said suspiciously. The moment she finally said that, my body stiffened for a slight second and I suddenly snapped my head up and my sun glasses had fallen onto the table due to the sudden jerk of my head. I saw her eyes widen and a deep gasped escaped . ‘Oh no! My cover is blown! Do something!’

I hastily dropped my phone on the table. I leaned forward and cover with my hand to keep her from ear-piercingly scream out of excitement; I mean, come on, I’m SHINee’s Almighty Key, who wouldn’t be screaming right now? As I clasped my hands over , her eyes widen at the sudden contact and she struggled under my capture. Bringing up her slender hands up, she slapped my hands and attempted to pry it off. ‘Oh Hell No! I ain’t letting you expose me!’  I hardened my grip on signaling her to be quiet, but unfortunately, she was able to take my hands away from her face. On instinct, I suddenly rise up my guard to stay alert and my gaze follows every movement she tries to make. Her breath was fast and unsteady afterwards. What it seems like a while, her chest stopped heaving up and down. But her sudden outburst shocked me.

“What the hell was that for?!” she yelled at me in English. I stared at her in confusion, but my mind suddenly clicked. ‘Fans… they only want the same thing.’

“So, what does it take to shut you up?” I coldly asked backed in English, folding my arms across my chest. I don’t care about my image in front of her anymore. Everyone should know the insecurities celebrity would feel. From her expression, I can see she was taken a back by my sudden interrogation.

“What makes you think I want anything from you?” she confusingly asked. Unexpectedly, her expression loosened and I can make out a smile appearing on her face. A smile that says I’m-so-stupid-for-not-figuring-this-out-sooner.

“You thought…” she chuckled as she uttered those words, “You thought I was going to squeal loudly and… and… and…“ She weren’t able to finish her sentence due to the stifling laughter projected from her body. She clutched her stomach hard to suppress her chuckle. When she stops, she turned to face me and looked at me with an expression I can’t describe. It was between confusion, pity, care and… hurt?

“Why would I scream?” she asked, but it sounded more like a reassuring statement for me to know that she wouldn’t scream.

“Why wouldn’t you?” I retorted back, still confused but letting down my guard slowly.

“I don’t have a reason to ear-piercingly scream in your face. Besides, I don’t see the fun in that,” she plainly stated.

“Unless you want me to, I can voluntarily,” she raised her hand stopping at the same level as her shoulder, “scream for you,” she continued with a playful tone to break the tension that formed momentarily, and she succeeded when an invisible string decided to lift my lips upwards, and she, too, had the string do its job. As a result, we ended up snickering at our stupid and stubborn actions, which mostly were mine, washing away the tension. ‘She seems… different.’ I let out a relief sigh. ‘I hope so… Don’t regret it now Kim Kibum. You’re the Almighty Key.’

“I’m-“

I brought my gaze up to her, but her sentence was cut off when she decided to divert her eyes away and focused her attention right past behind me. She brought her hands up and waved it.

“Unnie!” she shouted. I twisted my head to the side when a shadow casted down on me. A tall girl, about the same age as the girl sitting in across from me, approached the table. Before she noticed my presence, I took a second to study her facial features, and it was almost the exact replica as the girl I had conversed with earlier. The new girl finally noticed my existence when her body jumps a little indicating that she was startled. She confusedly walks to the other side with a disbelief face and seated herself next to the girl that had called her over. I took my time and examine both of them carefully. ‘Are they sisters? Wait a minute… both of them look so… familiar. Where have I seen them before? Did I saw them at a concert? Fan signing? I don’t think so…’

“You guys… look familiar,” I mumbled enough for them to hear. They responded with puzzled expressions.

“That’s… impossible. This is our first encounter,” Joonhae unnie spoke up.

*Flashback*

(A/N: Grey are his thoughts)

“Ugh…” I inwardly groaned. “So tiring. Stupid practice!” I complained to myself.  We were let out of practice early because we just landed about five or six hours ago from our last tour in Thailand. As the eomma of the group, I decided to buy bubble teas for our members especially Taemin, who was complaining that if he doesn’t get bubble tea soon, he will die. ‘That EXO people corrupted his mind. Oh, who am I kidding?! Taemin is easy to influence and manipulate!’   

“Hey there,” three guys made their way to two foreigners with tanned skin. “Wanna hang with us?” one of the guys asked. I carefully take cover behind the nearest wall to eavesdrop or more like spy on the situation because I don’t like where this is going.

“Excuse me, I don’t understand what you’re saying,” the girl with bangs swiped to her right side said innocently. The moment she uttered those words in English, they became confused.

“Uhhh… you… uhh… lost? Me andeu my prendeu can heleup you,” he finally said, trying to communicate with the foreigners. I heard the other girl giggling in the back which I can tell that she’s trying so hard not to crack up in the middle of the street; while on the other hand, the girl with bangs just smiled.

“No thank you, we’re fine,” the giggling girl finally stopped laughing and maintained her posture.

“Hyung, maybe we should grab and take them to the nearest club and drag these two girls,” one guy whispered but loud enough for me to hear. “Yeah, I haven’t had a time with pretty girls who are foreigners before. It should be fun,” another guy added, “they’re too pretty to be ignored.”

‘Uh oh! This is not good! Those girls don’t know what’s going on at all!’ On instinct, I came out of my hiding spot. But I stopped in my tracks when one of the girls shouted.

“YA! You wanna die?!”

When she shouted, I can see that the guys flinched at her sudden outburst.

“You think we didn’t understand what you were saying?!” one of the girls added. “This is why you shouldn’t believe strangers so easily. I can call the police right now or yell for help.” They looked surprised and scared at the same time.

‘Smart.’

“But thank you for the compliment, though. It was worth it,” the girl with no bangs cheerfully said letting go of the situation. They both turned around and walked away leaving the guys in a shocking state.

‘They are so witty,’ I mentally commented as a tiny chuckle escaped my lips. I walked past the guys that tried to flirted with the two foreigners and bump my shoulder hard against them.

“Hey watch it!” one of them shouted.

“You deserved it!” I muttered against my breath. I kept my sight on those two girls and followed them to their next destination to make sure their safety. When I saw them entered a building, I relaxed to see it was an apartment. ‘Good. They’re safe.’ I sighed out of relief. ‘Wait. Why am I following them? They are just strangers.’ I confusedly questioned myself and came out with one simple conclusion.

“Instinct. It’s instinct to make sure of other’s safety,” I chanted to myself as I made my way back to Black Pearl to buy the bubble teas I promised my members.

*End of Flashback*

“Oh! I remember now!” I shouted after the unexpected flashback.

Joon Ah’s POV

I was not the only one who was startled and confused by his sudden outburst. Joonhae unnie had, too.

“Remember what?” unnie curiously asked.  

“You two were the girls that those three guys flirted with. Am I right?” he stated.

“How did you know? You were there?” I responded.

“Yep,” he shortly replied, “I was on my way back from the company to buy the members bubble tea.” Unnie and I nod at him, showing our understanding.

“I have to say, it was very smart to manipulate those guys with language,” he complimented.

“Why thank you, it was an idea we came up with on the spot,” unnie proudly replied.

“Oh gosh! Where are my manners?!” I suddenly exclaimed. “I’m Yoon Joona, by the way,” I introduced myself, “and this is Yoon Joonhae, my twin sister,” I explained while gesturing at the seat next to me. I saw Key skeptically raised his eyebrows at me.

“It’s disrespectful. We’re talking to each other and I know your name, yet you don’t know ours,” I replied.

“Touché,” he responded, acknowledging my reply. “I’m Kim Kibum, and I am well known to the public by my stage name, Key,” he suddenly said. This time, I was the one who had raised my eyebrows at him.

“It’s disrespectful. When one is introducing oneself, the other person has to comply as well. And it’s called common knowledge,” he cheekily copied my reply with a grin plastered on his face.

“Touché,” I wittily responded the same way he had responded to my reply. The table filled with laughter from our way of conversing by using each other’s words.

"You handled the situation pretty well," he commented. "You had many guys flirted with you?"

"Not... really," unnie answered, "A few guys had flirted with us, and it was... kind of unpleasant."

"And why is that?" He asked out of curiosity. 

"It's ist," unnie started. "I can't believe guys still thinks girls as toys. We're not just some object that you can pick up so easily. Many women have protested about these, yet most guys still hasn't learn?"

"We simply hate, no, despise guys who flirts with us or flirts in general," I stated. "It's just... so... uncomfortable, and..." I glanced at unnie as she glanced back at me, and we faced Key, "Bleeeegggh," we said in unison making a puking sound with a grimaced face. When we did that, Key laughed so hard at our actions. 

"You guys are so weird!" He continued to laugh while clapping his hands like a seal. "How can you change from being so mature to childish in a split second?" he asked with a satisfied smile displayed on his face showing how he was entertained by our actions.  

"What do you expect? We're seventeen; and compared to you, we're like kids," unnie stated.

"Seventeen in Korean, but fifteen turning sixteen soon," I continued.

"Sixteen?! You guys are sixteen?! I did not see this coming! But you look..." he exclaimed as he gestured his hands in front of us. 

"Yup. We get that a lot. We look older and/ or taller for our actual age," I agreed. "And just between us, we hate being called kids. Everyone should know the obvious reality that teenagers simply detest being labeled as 'kids'," I added. 

"Wow. I feel really.... old," Key responded as I laughed at his weird comment. "We're like seven years apart," he added while shaking his head out of disbelief. 

“Right, I just remembered. I haven’t ordered anything yet. I’ll be right back,” Key informed us after he snapped back to reality.

“Wait! I’ll go,” I called him, making him sit back on his chair with a puzzled face. “Just stay here. I’ll order for you. We don’t want you be to discovered now, do we?” I said.

“Okay, then; if you insist,” he responded, “I’ll take a pink lemonade.”

“Unnie, what do you want?” I diverted my attention to Joonhae unnie.

“I’ll also take lemonade. Make it red lemonade,” she stated.

“Sure thing! I’ll be right back,” I informed the table. I walked over to the counter, which is now less crowded, with my wallet in hand.

“Jeogiyo, can I have three lemonades?” I asked, “One blue, red, and pink, please,” I added.

Joonhae's POV

"So, are you guys a Shawol?"

"A what?" I asked him.

"You know what? Nevermind..." he replied dejectedly and returned his face back on his phone.

"I'm joking!" I exclaimed and chuckled a bit. "Were you really that disappointed when I said I didn't know what Shawol was?" I asked him and he sort of nodded. "We're a Shawol... sort of."

"What is that suppose to mean?" Key asked. He and folded his arms across his chest and raised his left eyebrow.

"SHINee is my sister's number one favorite boy group. But she's not a complete Shawol," I started. "She likes other boy groups, too of course."

"Ohh~" he replied. "Well, I guess everyone's like that. What about you? Are you a Shawol?"

"Yes, but unlike my sister, SHINee's number two on my list. SHINee used to be my number one, though," I answered and smiled.

"Wae?! What is more better than SHINee?!" he asked angrily. I just laughed looking at his angry face. 'So cute!' I thought and was still laughing. "Stop laughing! You're an EXOtic, aren't you?" he suddenly asked.

"How did you know?" I sarcastically asked. "Is the clothes I'm wearing pretty much giving it away?"

"Yes. Your clothes practically scream 'I'm an EXOtic!'" Key answered. And he was squealing like a little girl when he said my clothes were practically screaming 'I'm an EXOtic!'

I couldn't hold it in and just laughed. He, too then joined in. We both couldn't stop laughing. I tried to stop laughing and just took a deep breath. "So, what are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Just chilling. I got out from practice early and BOOM! I'm here," he answered and laughed. "What about you and your sister?"

Joon Ah's POV

“That’ll be ₩ 24, 000,” said the cashier. I handed him the money and while waiting for the change, I looked over to our table and I saw unnie making small conversations with Key comfortably. “Here’s the change and your orders,” a voice suddenly brought my attention back.

“Gamsahabnida!” I thanked the cashier and start making my way back to the table. “So, what did I miss?” I asked curiously about their conversation.

“Nothing really. I just asked the reason why he was here,” unnie remarked. “He was let out early from practice, so he decided to come here to 'chill’.”

“I asked the same thing,” Key added.

“Okay, then,” I said, understandingly.

“Here is your pink lemonade,” I said placing it in front of Key, “Here is your red lemonade,” I did the same thing to unnie’s order, “and here is my blue lemonade.”

“Thanks,” a short thank you escaped out of his lips.

“Wait! Don’t drink it yet!” I yelled.

“Wae?” Key asked, looking confused.

“Instagrammie time!” I answered happily while lining up our drinks facing against the window and took a snap of it with the outside scenery faintly showing in the background.

“Perfect!” I exclaimed.

“You have Instagram?” he asked as he took a sip from his pink lemonade. I didn’t reply because I was focusing on my new post, so instead unnie replied.

“Yeah, we both do,” Joonhae unnie answered. “In fact, we even followed you on Instagram.”

“Cool. Oh and here is your money back,” Key said while handing me some cash making me look up from my phone and stared at his hand.

“Keep it. It’s my treat. I made you insecure in the first place, so this is the least I could do as an apology,” I informed looking at his disbelief but acknowledging face.

“What happened when I wasn’t here?” unnie asked out of the blue, a feeling of being left out creeping up on her. 

Key and I begin to retell the story from the beginning, alternating point of views. We explained slowly and unnie obediently listened to our story and making little comments.

Key's POV

“And now we’re here,” the girl goes by the name Joona finally said, ending the story telling.

“Yup,” I agreed. “By the way, why did you yell ‘what the hell was that for?!’ at me? Don’t you know respect?” I said to Joona.

“You placed your hand over my mouth unexpectedly like a kidnapper. And you expect me to show respect for you after what you did to me?” she stated the obvious, “And beside, you should know the reasons already.”

“Reasons?” I questioned emphasizing the ‘s.’

“Yeah, the reasons as to why I ‘disrespectfully’ yelled at you,” she commented quoting the word 'disrespectfully.'

“First, it was because of your sudden grip over my mouth, and second,” she softened her voice, “if someone were to see that, pictures of you would be up all over the internet and the scandals would threatened your company, saying that ‘SHINee’s Key Threatened a Fan in a Café’ or something between those lines, and I don’t want that to happen.” She explained softly with care showing in her tone. 'I can't believe she's sixteen years old. She seems so mature and.... caring. I don't think I'll have a problem befriending them.'

“Why did you think our conversation was in English the whole time?” I asked.  

“Okay, enough with the sappy atmosphere,” unnie dismissed. “Oh, God! Look at the time. Joona, we have to go now,” unnie informed.

“That reminds me, I have to go too,” I said. “It was nice meeting the both of you. Hopefully, we will see each other more often in the future.” After taking the last sips of our lemonades, I cleared my throat to bring back the girls' attention to me. 

“Do you mind if we exchanged phone numbers?” I asked hesitantly, “Both of you seems fun to hang out with. Pretty witty, too,” I said. "And I think I'll need someone who can make me laugh when I'm stressed or tired or simply bored."

“I don’t see a problem with it,” the girl called by the name Joonhae agreed. All three of us fished out our phones out of our pockets and begin exchanging.

“Well, next time swing by the company to meet the rest of the members,” I suggested.

“We’ll see,” Joona playfully said. “Kibum-ssi, it was nice to have finally met you," she said looking at me, and in return, I showed a shy but acknowledging smile.

We exited the café together and at the entrance, we glanced at each other one last time, and they smiled sincerely at me as we went our separate ways. 

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YAY! Updated! Sorry, it was supposed to be updated yesterday... I was lazy to start writing and ending up to break my promise to NazNew. 

Hopefully, you will like this chapter. Thank you for reading!

-TaeYyi

P.S. All pictures credits to the owners ;)