(Author’s note: This is Seungyeon’s POV and I am sure you can guess who ‘he’ is in the story. Enjoy!^^)

 The Thin-Shouldered Boy

On my first meeting with him, he sang his group’s debut song to me, carrying a box, my birthday present.

A simple T-shirt he wore made me notice something a bit quirky for common people to notice.

His shoulders.

They were thin.

But, as I think further, it was normal for a male at his age having shoulders with no bulging muscles yet. And because of that undeniable fact, I regarded him as a boy. A kid I did not pay attention to. I could only memorize his unique stage name, without even bothering to remember his face so hard when I had totally forgotten how it looked like.

When I knew that my group was going to be collaborated with SHINee for this Christmas special stage on MBC, I automatically remembered the thin-shouldered boy I met months ago.

How was he?

Still, nothing changed much. Only that he had turned into a brunette whose hair got shorter and I could still notice the same thin shoulders he had which were shown even more as he wore a sleeveless T-shirt on our first practice for the performance, the first practice when I had the first talk with him. The last time we met, he was so shy that he even did not say any words to me besides the words in a form of a song from his debut song.  It was quite surprising that he took an initiative to start a chat first. But, each topic ended quite awkwardly as I had no idea how he sometimes looked so lost at words bashfully when I responded quite well to the topic he had started. So, it was quite natural, for me, if after the live performance had officially finished, there was no contact anymore between us.

But, I could still remember them. The thin shoulders he had.

SHINee’s fourth single song had been really ringing all the time in my mind when one of my fellow members played it nonstop even when she went to the bathroom, especially after I first saw the music video on TV.  I could not believe at all that he, whom I always nicknamed as the thin-shouldered boy, had changed. His shoulders were not that thin anymore. In fact, he had become more built than the last time I saw him.

It became clearer to me when, on our practice for the special stage for MBC Gayo Daejun, his thin T-shirt showed his slightly wider shoulders. I felt them even more when he held me on our last pose when I should lean against one of his right shoulder a little bit. I admitted that his kid image in front of me had somewhat crumbling. More shocking thing to me about him was when this time, as we converse together in our break time during the practices, he always had words to say, not like what had happened in our last meeting, although sometimes I could not stand his not-so-funny jokes.

And I finally knew that he was not just a brainless celebrity. In fact he was quite a brilliant student as he came second from a prestigious school in Seoul. However, I was surprised in amazement even more because he was also a very humble person contrary to his abundant popularity in Asia when he said that the achievement he had from his school was not really a thing which could be plentifully proud of. He added that everyone had their own talents.

Then, our conversation often continued via text message. We became much closer as we always came up with things we would like to talk about that it had become a usual thing for us to flirt with each other. I always thought that the flirting was a just a joke, but I had been completely wrong when he finally said ‘I love you. Be my girlfriend.’ at my dorm with very serious eyes which I rarely see on him. No mischievous smile was seen at all on his face. It was fortunate that no one was present in the dorm or else, at least a girl would tease me to death after he was gone from this place.

I knew deep down in my heart, I had fallen for his charm as well. For three months already, we had known and cared about each other like a couple always did that I never realized we had gotten too far. We had chosen a road which most idols commonly avoided. Being lovers would likely decrease our fans numbers in our websites, our popularity and later would crush our careers to pieces. That was the reason I told him when I rejected him. It was a hard thing for me to do.

Really.

He was in a deeply solemn expression, not daring to see me in the eyes, when I felt that my tears were about to roll down from my eyes. Hence, I stood up from the couch we sat on, reluctant to show the painful tears in front of him when his hand grabbed my wrist and later, he hugged me tightly, yet lovingly.

Those shoulders, the slightly wider shoulders with my head on one of them, made me feel safe despite the hot tears successfully flew from my eyes. Then, I closed my eyes to deepen the sensation of his body on mine while putting my hands on his back.

But, still I made to go back to my senses.

I pushed him off and told him that it was still impossible for us to move on to the next step. I begged him to leave the dorm to just give me a piece for myself for a while.

However, the last words he said to me, standing a few steps from the door, while staring straight at my eyes, startled me.

“Noona, let’s make a bet. In Dream Team shooting tomorrow, if I won, if I made to grab the flag first, you have no rights anymore to reject me. But, if I don’t win, then, I will not even bother to greet you when we meet again somewhere.”

He showed his last bitter smile to me before he finally opened the door and left the dorm.

The Dream Team script had been sent to us two days before the real shooting which was going to be done today. I arrived with my bandmate, Nicole, quite early. Once again we studied the script to make us be more ready while the stylists were prepping us up. When Nicole shouted the SHINee members' names, who arrived not long after us, I was shocked. I even felt butterflies in my stomach when his name was lastly shouted by her. To show my respect, I nodded to the male idol groups, but failed to show my sincere smile only towards him. In fact it had turned into a very awkward smile which was replied, much to my surprise, by a very confident smile I had no idea where it came from.

When he finally turned his back on me, my eyes unconsciously stared at his shoulders. The warm shoulders which one of them had comforted me before.

The baggy training clothes he wore disguised his shoulders. They looked wider and it made him be even more manly.

I had a sudden craving to put my head on his other shoulder.

It was when he was getting ready to race; I decided to cheer him up as the MC asking the girls one by one who they would hope for to win the race.

I desire him to be the person who grabbed the flag first, I desire him to win the bet. I desire him to be my boyfriend, although, still the reason I told him yesterday still haunted me and it made the little part of me wanted him to just let one of his other two bandmates be the winner.

With the mic in front of my mouth, I declared to him indirectly that I had finally lost to the dominant part of me which wishing him to be the person to reach the flag first.

“I don’t know why, but I identify with Onew.”

A little blur reason. I never wanted the public to know the bet we had made.

“I think he and I are similar in many ways.”

Sure. We were both in love with each other.

“I think we are both smart, but our bodies don’t cooperate.”

We were both smart enough to know the consequences of our deeds, but our bodies could not obey what our brains had told us to do.

Stop this stupid thing.

“That means your mind and body are not in synch?”   

Absolutely.

When the MC finally shouted the command for the racers to start running, accompanied by puffs of fume bursting through the hole behind the starting line, my heart suddenly beat faster and faster as they were getting closer to the flag.

He was leading.

Please, let him lead until the end.

The three of them threw their bodies to the pool of small-squared Styrofoam almost at the same time. My eyes could not see clearly whose hand managed to grab the flag as it was gone from the place where it was stuck before, only in a blink of eyes.

Just the word ‘happy’ could not describe the feeling inside me when I saw he appeared from the pool with some Styrofoam still on the fabric of his clothes, the flag in his hand.

I had no idea whether my cheering up had really worked or just the inside of him burned with the eagerness to have me wholly. After he bestowed me the flag, I waved it happily. I smiled, knowing that although not verbally, officially, we had become a couple. 

Later, I would ask him to hug me again, with my head spoiled on his other shoulder.

####

“I never knew you have noticed my shoulders that much. Even I did not pay attention to them.”

“But, when you let me sit on those shoulders in Pattaya, it was when I noticed that the thin-shouldered boy I once had, did not exist anymore.”

“Still, you love the used-to-be thin-shouldered boy, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yah-“

I pecked him.

His eyes were widened in bashful shock, when I could see later the mischievous smile appeared on his face.

I smiled.

 He backhugged me, my head leaning against one of his now wide and muscled shoulders, while we were enjoying the night city scenery of Bangkok on the balcony in our hotel room.

Today was the first day of our honeymoon.

Today was going to be the first day also when I would fall asleep on his comfortable shoulder.

Those shoulders I would possess for the rest of my life.

Only for myself.

THE END

(Author’s note: Perhaps you think that Onew’s shoulders are not that thin, but this is just the result of my wild imagination. kekeke.. So, what do you think?^^ Please comment.^^ Thx. Jlu)