“Oh GOD! I am so late and so very dead today!” I was literally running from the university gate towards the conference room. It was a very important meeting, one to decide the next batch of students in my class and I the teacher was about to be late. It was all because of the unruly morning I had.

Me, the very careless me, had set the alarm for 6 but not 6 am rather 6 pm. So when I woke up it was already 7:30 am which left me just an hour to reach college and attend the 8:30 meeting. The worst part was that it takes ½ an hour from the bus stop to the university gate and another 15 minutes from the gate to the conference room by foot! Hurriedly I got ready and had locked the front door when I realised that I didn’t have my bus pass! I quickly unlocked the door, found my bus pass, locked the door again and did a 400 m race to reach the bus stop in time to catch the 7:50 bus.

As I got onto the bus, I realised that maybe today everyone was late for work for there was not even room to breathe in the bus. But I had no choice. Suffering for ½ hour from the elbow hits, sharp turns, people stepping on my foot and loads of pushing and pulling, I finally stepped down at the university gate. It felt like I could breathe again but soon realised that the bus ride cost me my hair clip and that now my hair was like what it was when I woke up in the morning. But I had no time to whine. I started a marathon to reach the conference room in 10 min which ordinarily took 15 min.

“Ah…atlast!” I was standing in front of the conference room with 2 min to spare. I walked into the nearby restroom to make myself a bit presentable for I had done too many sprints in such a short time. In my mind I knew that with a start like this it was bound to be a bad day today!

The meeting too was a disaster for I forgot to bring the necessary papers in the hurry and had to apologise and had to do the required debriefing using my tablet… But the good thing was that my class for the next semester was full, a lot of students had signed up for my class but the dark side to that was that there were many idols in the batch and more celebs meant more trouble directly or indirectly. After the meeting as I was about to leave, the HOD of my Dept. came up to me and warned me not to come unprepared next time in a meeting and to take them seriously.

“Waah! It is such an awful hot day full of lousy events. What more is there today?” With that I thought I’ll take a cab home but to my dismay, in a hurry I left my wallet in another purse. Again an awful ½ an hour bus ride jam packed with sweaty people made me crave for a good shower at home. But I guess GOD took my wish too seriously for as soon as I got off the bus it started to rain heavily!

I admitted that I had too much of bad luck today, and headed back home. I was about to turn left towards my street when a car stopped right next to me and the window slid back. It was Key,” Get in, we need your help!” I knew that getting into the minivan would only increase my problems ; but they were friends now…

As I slid into the car JinKi sitting behind me kept a towel over my head “dry your hair a bit lest you’ll catch cold”. I did as told and I asked “What help?” and to that Jjong replied that they’ll tell me when we reach their place.

In 5 min we reached their place but Hong sighed and said “Guys there are fans in the front, they are still here in spite of the rain. I guess we should go from the back.”

As the car stopped, Key gave me an umbrella. I got off. Opened the umbrella and Key and I together went inside the building through the back door. The interior wasn’t that grand as I had thought for SHINee was such a famous group. On the second floor, third door from the right was their apartment. I was a bit nervous for I was for the first time entering not one but a house of 5 guys in Korea and that too probably the top 5 handsome guys of korea!!

As the door opened, the sight took me aback for in a tiny room like corridor were stacked so many shoes… I guess a 100 to say the very least! JinKi saw me and said “Ya, we have to change shoes with each dress, so the large no of them, plus they are for 5 men!” I simply nodded and moved forward following Key. After a small corridor with 2 rooms one left and one on the right, we entered the main parlour. Well it wasn’t much, just a big black sofa, a massage chair, air conditioners and a big theatre system, I was guessing mainly for games.

But what caught my attention was the large number of awards displayed near the Theatre system. It confirmed how good these guys were at their job. On the other side was a small dining room with a computer table too fitted in that room and through that room I could see a neat kitchen. Across the parlour was another corridor leading to more rooms. I looked at the guys “Are you now going to tell me what help you need?”

“We will, I think you’ll need to change, you’re soaking wet. I think Taemin’s clothes will be ok, he’s the thinnest among us, and we’ll tell you everything while your clothes dry off in the dryer.” I saw JinKi saying all this with a serious face so I didn’t argue, took the clothes Taemin handed me and followed him to a room.

I quickly dried myself and changed. Taemin’s tracks did fit me perfectly except for the length and the sleeves which I had to fold. “God! Taeminie is so skinny, but so are the others. I guess they have to be for their work…” I looked around and saw a shelf full of books, the books were of totally different genre, some anatomy; some physics; fiction;  G.K; science and then I spotted course books. It was JinKi’s room… everything was stacked up at one side with a dressing table in between. The bed was very neat though with some cushions and stuff toys maybe gifts from fans. Then I looked closely at the stuff near the dressing table, there were some polaroids stuck on the wall- five young members holding a trophy, a framed picture possibly of family, accessories and more books. I thought maybe he likes books, just like me. Then at the top of the small study table, there was a pin up board which had a yellow note. Something was written in Korean along with my name Aansha. Since the last tour of the city where I couldn’t tell JinKi where I was due to my incapability of reading Korean, I had been learning the language on my own through books. So I could make out my name in Korean and an I but the rest I couldn’t read for I wasn’t fluent enough to read handwritings. I was trying to decipher it when there was a knock.

I opened the door and JinKi came in. “Are the clothes ok? Sorry my room is a bit of a mess, actually the other members were shy showing their room so Taemingun lead you to mine. Why don’t you come out, coffee is ready.” Before he could go out I asked JinKi “what is written on this note along with my name?” He blushed an in a hesitant manner, almost stuttering said “Oh! Its written ask  Aansha for help…Come on now…”

I sipped coffee and Key started speaking. At the end I understood that Choi

Jin as making them do private performances which they didn’t want to do but can’t say no due to contract. They want me to tell Choi Jin about some work these 5 have been allotted to get extra credit and so today they won’t be able to perform.

“No JinKi, I can’t say this. What if he enquires from the Dept. and comes to know that I lied! Then I’ll be in great trouble or may even lose my job…How can I?”

JinKi said “We’ve already told him, he has bought the lie but wants to confirm by calling you. And trust me; he won’t confirm from college coz he is not reporting this private performance to SM. The money is going into his own pocket. He thinks that we are ignorant of this fact…”

I looked at all the 5 of them. In my mind I knew it was wrong but…” Okay, when will he call? But if I get caught, its all on you!”

All 5 of them were really happy and Key told me that Choi will call at 10. I looked at my mobile, it was ten and now my mobile was ringing. I picked up the call , said a lie and just like that ended the call. “So its done, I should head home now. Thank you for the coffee. Do you mind if I return the tracks a little later and borrow an umbrella?”

“No need, we are also coming with you…” at MinHo’s answer I jumped and said “Why?”

“Well we can’t be in our dorm for our manager thinks we are at college. We can’t be in college because we are not supposed to be there. We definitely can’t be seen in public for it will burst our bubble. So yours is the only safe place”

Key’s explanation left me puzzled and all I knew was that I was pushed into Jjong’s car which then stopped in front of my house and now all 5 of them holding umbrellas were queued in front of my house’s door, waiting for me to open it.

Meanwhile when all this was happening, SHINee and Aansha were unaware that they had been captured on someone’s lenses while leaving SHINee’s dorm…