Did I just read it properly? Was this reality? Was I dreaming? Was it a nightmare?

“f(x)’s Sulli and SHINee’s Taemin have been seen together many times alone recently. Fans have said they even saw them hugging in the airport as they separated, and they had also been the last two to get out of the airplane. Taemin and Sulli have been spending time together apart from their groups. Some recall them walking together late at night with little disguise. We’re all probably guessing they got closer to each other by being labelmates and the age closeness.

Well, who has the truth to this relationship?

Of course, it’s none other than the company itself!

SM Representatives have told us that Sulli and Taemin have been dating for a while now. They tend to go out late at night because there are less people, and that’s when their schedules are done most of the time. They have been meaning to make it public, but could not do so due to their packed schedules. Well, I guess they kinda of made it public at LAX.

So, what do you think of this new couple?

Well, it’ll be a while until you see them on the streets of South Korea. Many SM artists are currently in L.A for the SM Town Live ’10 World Tour press conference and concert. They are busy rehearsing and doing last minute checkups for anything wrong. Guess we’ll be seeing this couple roaming the streets of L.A for now, right?

Keep an eye out for this couple and wish them luck!”

……You liar.

No, this was not the reality I wanted.

~~~~

*Jonghyun’s POV*

I stared at the screen, unable to think of what to do. Thoughts filled my mind. What are we going to do? Reporters will gather when we go back to Korea. Maybe they’re in L.A too. What did Taemin just do? He wasn’t even with Sulli before….

I sighed. Of course. How could I forget? There was the airplane. We had all left, leaving Taemin, Sulli, Jihyun, and a few Super Junior hyungs behind.

Hmm, I should probably talk to Jihyun about this, right? She’ll probably know.

I was about to get up and call Jihyun, only to be pushed back down by Key. I looked up at him confused. What did he want?

“Oh, you know what I want. I want to know what you’re doing around Jihyun. You know that I….”

I smirked. I see. He was jealous. Wow, Minho’s plan really did work.

“I’m not doing anything. I’m just treating her like I’d treat my little sister. Why, you jeaaalloouuusss~?” I said truthfully and .

“NO! PFFT, WHY WOULD I BE JEALOUS? I’M KEY. I DON’T GET JEALOUS.” I could see the lie in his eyes though. Jihyun has changed him…. Oh boy. He’s going to be heartbroken. I felt bad for him. What are we going to do?

Wait…… didn’t Amber like Key? Hehe. Bingo.

“Fine then, ignore me. But one more time I see you messing with Jihyun, and you’re going dowwwwnn.”

“DOWN DOWN~ WE GOTTA GET DOWN~ DOWN DOWN~ WE GOTTA GET DOWN~” I started singing BEAST’s ‘Bad Girl’.

He left, giving up on even trying to lecture me.

“AMURI SAENGGAKHAEDO MALDO ANDWAE BAD GIRL~ JAKKUMAN NI SAENGGAEKAE MICHYEO MICHYEO BAD GIRL~~~” I sang louder.

He kept on walking, but I could see him getting irritated. I giggled. He shut the door behind him loudly as he went into his room.

Anyways, back to Jihyun. I got up to see if she was in her hotel room. I went to tell manager hyung I was going to visit Jihyun and left.

After knocking on her door for 3 minutes, I figured she wasn’t there. But Taemin should’ve opened the door at least…. Where was he?

I called Jihyun. She answered on the 3^rd ring.

“Hey, Jihyun, where are you?”

“……At a mall…..am I supposed to be back at the hotel? Are you going somewhere?” Something about her voice was a bit off.

“Ani, I just wanted to ask you something. Is something wrong?”

“Ooh. And no, nothing’s wrong…. What did you want to ask me?”

“…Nothing really. I’ll just ask you when you’re back. By the way, where’s Taemin?”

“I don’t know.”

….What? She didn’t know? Taemin would usually tell her where he went…. Even if he was older. Something was going on with Taemin…. Was Sulli possessing him or something?

“….Jonghyun oppa?”

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts as I remembered I was still on the phone with Jihyun.

“Ne…mianhe. I’m going to try to call Taemin no-“

“Don’t bother. I tried. He either turned his phone off or left it at the hotel somewhere.” I could hear the bitterness in her voice.

“Jihyun-ah….are you looking for Taemin?”

“Well, what else can I do? What if you have to go somewhere? It’s not like we can make up an excuse for Taemin’s absence. I- I found Taemin.”

“Where was he? Is he with anyone?”

“……He’s at the entrance of the mall…. With Sulli.”

“WHAT? Why didn’t he tell us he was going on a date?!?!!” I was angry. I can’t believe he’d go out on a date without telling us. Well actually, went anywhere without telling us.

Jihyun kept silent. Right. She didn’t know either. She must be as angry as I am… or sad. I could hear her walking somewhere. Maybe towards Taemin? Was she going to ask him what he was doing?

I waited a few more minutes before I heard her gasp.

“Jihyun?? What happened??”

“………Uh….nothing I’m gonna come back to the hotel now. Bye.” And she hung up.

…..Something definitely happened.

Taemin, what’d you do?

~~~~

*Key’s POV*

I overheard Jonghyun talking to Jihyun. What happened? Well, it wasn’t time to be a cold Key anymore. What if something big did happen?

…..Wait, I heard Taemin’s name. Did it have something to do with him? He wouldn’t hurt his sister…..right?

~~~~

*Jihyun’s POV*

I ran outside the mall. Why didn’t he tell me that they were going out? Such a liar. I even asked him last night if something happened between him and Sulli. Since when was Taemin like this? Did Sulli change him? It’s only been like…3 days since we arrived in L.A. Well….now that I think about it, he did become more distant from SHINee and me. And I share a room with him too! Like seriously….

I stopped running at the stoplight. Come on, light, turn green. I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. What if he saw me? Well, would he even run after me? Maybe his girlfriend would stop him. She does hate me.

I looked at the light. It had turned green. I ran nonstop to the hotel.

I only had one thing in my mind now: I hated liars.

~~~~

*Onew’s POV*

I heard a knock on the door. I started walking towards it but then stopped. Wouldn’t Minho and Key have their cards with them?

I went over and looked to see who it was.

I quickly opened the door, coming face to face with a semi-sweaty Jihyun. She looked up at me. What happened? She looked sad…..

“Jihyun, what happened? Are you okay? And why are you sweating?”

“Annyeong Onew oppa. I just ran back from the mall. Do you know where Jonghyun oppa is?” Even though she smiled, I could see the hurt in her eyes. She didn’t bother answering if she was okay. There was no point in asking her again, because she’ll just avoid it again somehow.

“He might be in his room….I’m not sure. I don’t think he went out though..”

“Arasseo, gomawo oppa~” She left to look in Jonghyun’s room. Well, I’ll just ask Jonghyun what happened later. I went back to watch TV.

~~~~

*Jonghyun’s POV*

I heard a knock on the door. I was about to ask who it was but then the person opened the door and came in. ….Jihyun?

“Yah..weren’t you just at the mall? Which is 15 minutes away?”

“Yeah….I ran back.”

“WHAT? Why’d you run back??”

“Didn’t you want to ask me something?” She asked, avoiding the question. Dangit, she was good….

I asked her the question. Even though her expression didn’t change, she looked troubled and….sad?

“I don’t know either. Just because I’m his sister, does that mean I have to know?”

I stared at her wide-eyed. Something was wrong. I asked her, but she refused to tell me. After about 10 minutes I finally got her to tell me what happened at the mall.

…..Taemin, what exactly is going on?

~~~~

*Taemin’s POV*

After a few more hours with Sulli, we went back to the hotel. We said goodbye and hugged. It still felt a little weird….but I guess I was getting used to it.

I opened the door to find everyone waiting for me, but Jihyun nowhere to be seen.

“……Why are you guys here? Isn’t this Jihyun’s and my room?” I was a little confused.

“Not anymore. This room is for the 5 of us now. Jihyun’s in the other room.” Jonghyun hyung said bitterly.

“……What happened? Why are we sharing a room now?”

“First things first. Where were you this morning? Why didn’t you tell Jihyun where you were going? Why’d you leave your phone home? What if we had practice or something, what would you do?”

“I was at the mall with Sulli and I didn’t tell Jihyun because she wasn’t awake and I didn’t want to wake her up. I forgot my phone…..”

“Why didn’t you leave a note for her then?”

……I was speechless. Why were they being so weird? It’s not like I haven’t done this before…

“Taemin, you weren’t like this before. What happened? Jihyun was worried about you. She even went out to look for you.”

….Jihyun went out to look for me? Why? It’s not like I’m going to get lost or something….

“It’s because she was worried you babo. Seriously, what happened? You weren’t like this before.” ….Did I think that out loud? Or maybe me thinking why was obvious..

“It’s not like I haven’t forgotten my phone and wandered off before, hyung. Why are you being like this?”

“Well, for the months that Jihyun was here, you would at least leave her a note. And you didn’t even think of it this time. Too busy thinking of your girlfriend?” Key sneered.

“AISH, HYUNGS, I’M 18 NOW. I DON’T NEED YOU TO BABY ME.” I was starting to lose it.

“But I do think we need to teach you a lesson. Going out behind our backs? Or is the company just lying? Since when were you going out with Sulli? And you didn’t even tell Jihyun. Do you know how hurt she was?”

“I wasn’t going out behind your backs. We started dating since the day we got here. Yes, the company’s lying. We told them to, so it wouldn’t be weird that we’re a couple all of a sudden. And it’s not like I’m cheating on her or anything. Why does she have to worry so much?”

“You think we don’t know what you did at the mall? Why’d you kiss Sulli? You haven’t even gone out for 2 days, and here you are, already kissing. Even I haven’t done that when I was dating.”

“….Hyung, you FOLLOWED me when I was at the mall?”

“No, Jihyun just saw you when she was walking around. But I guess she doesn’t have to worry about you anymore because you don’t care for her anymore.”

“I never told her to  worry about me.”

“AISH, THIS KID…. That’s it. Just go to bed. Pretend nothing happened. But you’re dealing with it by yourself if there’s fancams and whatnot of you kissing tomorrow.” Frustrated, Jonghyun hyung left and Key hyung followed. Minho hyung and Onew hyung retreated to their bedroom.

There weren’t really going to be any pictures or videos of us kissing……right?

I wasn’t even the one who started the kiss….Sulli just randomly pulled me in.

Why’d she even do that in the first place?