Happened before...

“What happened?” I asked, focusing my gaze on the people around me. I needed answers.

Junghoon refused to meet my eyes.

“You were attacked,” Sungmin was the one to tell me. His voice was quiet; regretful and embarrassed.

“By who…?”

“Our fans… Pictures of you are all over the press.”

...

“My place? Park Jungsoo, who do you think you are talking to?!”

“Guys…” I gulped and gathered my courage:

“Just STOP!!!”

Instantly, silence filled the room and all eyes were on me. They were waiting for me to say what I had to say.

I took a deep breath.

“I’m moving out of the dorm.”

Now...

Twelve pairs of eyes stared at me. The idea of leaving had been on my mind for a few days already - even before yesterday’s accident. And I had just announced my decision; I had to leave. It would be better for all of us, I told myself. Besides, I couldn’t stay there forever anyway. I felt like a young adult living at her parents’ place. It was time to move out and be independent.

No-one said anything, so I turned around to leave. Before I could take two steps, someone grabbed my healthy arm.

“What are you saying?”

I had never seen Leeteuk so serious.

“Do you hear yourselves...? ‘You need to find your place’?” I looked at Leeteuk and then Heechul, “‘Who do you think you are talking to?’ ... How can you talk to each other like that?”

“Hana… You don’t need to leave because of that,” Zhoumi’s voice interrupted. I could see the worry in his eyes.

“Then why were they fighting? Because of me,” I insisted. “I’m not here to cause fights between you all. So… I’ve decided to get my own apartment. Like that, I won’t be linked to the group and I won’t cause more trouble.”

Carefully, I yanked my arm from the leader’s grip.

“I’m waiting in the car,” I told to the silent group of people. I took the nearest exit out.

No-one talked much on the way back to the dorms. Junghoon had heard about what I had said so when we got to the dorm, he asked if he could talk with me on the balcony. He closed the door behind him with a sad expression. I knew what was coming.

"Hana, are you serious about moving out?"

I nodded without hesitation, "Yes... I've been thinking about it seriously and I think it is the best option right now."

"You don't need to do that... We all love having you here."

I took a deep breath. This was a battle I had decided to win. "I feel like all I've been doing here is cause trouble to everyone... I don't want that to happen anymore."

"Hana, please..."

I shook my head: "I'm sorry, Junghoon-ssi. I'll start looking for an apartment today."

“If it’s because of what happened… We can protect you in the future…”

I shook my head again. “No. I need to be able to take care of myself. I want to feel safe and I want no-one to know who I am...”

I asked to be alone for a moment. I stayed at the balcony, so I didn’t hear what Junghoon said to everyone inside the apartment:

"I'm not sure who she listens to... but someone, please make her stay."

That afternoon, the dorm got visitors. Other idols in the company had seen the press conference. Amber, the woman who helped to save me, came over and she was soon followed by Taemin and two other members of SHINee. It was my first time meeting her, Jonghyun, and Key. I felt nervous, and more than anything, embarrassed. I knew my face looked awful - I had seen recaps of the press conference we had in the morning. It looked worse than in the mirror.

I had thanked Amber probably a thousand times, when Taemin showed up. He ran to hug me even before greeting his hyungs.

“Noona, are you okay? Taemin was so worried!” he pouted scrutinizing my hurt face. He had a tendency to talk about himself in third-person when he did aegyo.

“Don’t worry. Noona’s fine,” I smiled to him despite my cheek hurting every time I did so.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Sungmin glaring at the maknae of SHINee.

“Noona, I brought two of my hyungs with me,” he told me, then introducing me to the two. “This is Kibum and Jonghyun.”

The SHINee members seemed to get well along with the mem