Eavesdropping and Shopping
Tutoring an Idol
Gianna woke up bright and early at 8:00 am. And it wasn't because an alarm went off. It was because the Sun was so bright that it pierced her eyes! Oh, come on, Seoul Sun! Why must you be so bright?!
She saw almost all the blankets on the floor and picked them up, assuming that she kicked them off in her sleep. She pulled out a hairtie from one of the dresser drawers and pulled all of her hair up into a big ponytail, then grabbed a fuzzy pink robe from the closet. As she walked to the bathroom, she could hear a conversation coming from downstairs. Curious, Gianna crept towards the stairs and leaned in to listen.
It sounds like Onew and Minho talking... she thought.
It sure was. And they didn't sound as happy as they did yesterday. Though she felt bad about eavesdropping, she still stayed and listened. Mostly because she heard her name as she was ready to leave."
"I need to ask you something, Hyung."
"What's up?"
"You know that question you asked Gianna last night?"
"What about it?"
"Why did you ask her?"
"Didn't you guys want to know? I mean, you, specifically, have been asking about it since we got her picture in the mail, and I thought you'd ask. You didn't so... I did."
"I know, but I thought we could ask her... you know, after she was here for a while and got used to us!"
"And, well I have to admit... she's pretty. And if she had a boyfriend back home, I wasn't going to try and show her I liked her."
Wait, so they think I'm pretty?! ...okay...
"So what're you saying... do you?"
"Like I said, she's pretty. I never said I liked her. What... do you?"
"She's nice. I bet we'll be good friends."
"You like her, you liar."
"No I don't, Hyung! You're crazy."
"Whatever, Minho. Whatever you say."
And then it was over. One of them must have walked away, but then she started hearing footsteps coming up the stairs! She ran back into her room before one of them caught her and shut the door, taking off her robe and ripping off her pajamas so the person wouldn't come in her room... that is, if that was where the person was going. When she went to her closet to grab some clothes, there was a knock at her door. "Are you decent?" It sounded like...
"Taemin? Is that you?" Oh, thank God.
"Yeah. Are you decent?"
"No... why?"
"Well I need to ask you something, so can you just throw something on?"
She chuckled. "Is it that important?"
"Yeah!"
She quickly put her robe back on and opened the door enough for her to stick her face out and see Taemin looking tired as ever. His hair was a mess and his pajamas... Oh, the pajamas. "Cute PJ's, dongsaeng."
He looked down and saw his embarassing pajamas. "Oh, whatever," he said, attempting to hug himself, "I look cute!"
She laughed. "Okay, then! What'd you want?"
"Do you want to go on a shopping trip with me? It's my turn to shop for the house and I thought it'd be cool to take you around."
Gianna smiled. "Taemin, that's sweet! Of course I'll go!"
He started snapping his fingers. "Then chop-chop! I'm leaving in a half hour, and just because you're new, doesn't mean I'll wait for you!"
"You got it. Downstairs in a half hour."
He nodded in satisfaction. "I'm gonna wake Jonghyun up now. He's the only one not awake! See you in a half-hour!"
Gianna smirked and shut the door, hearing Taemin yelling at Jonghyun through her thin walls. She shook her head, trying to find something to wear. Even though they were just going shopping, she understood that these guys were musicians, so they had to have a few fans. She decided to grab some of the most casual clothes in her closet: a hooded sweatshirt she stole from Jack when she first moved into his apartment but never gave back, a white t-shirt, plain jeans, and a pair of Converses. Putting on very little make-up and letting her long hair down, she looked in the mirror, thinking I should do this more often while fixing her frizz, then walked downstairs to a waiting Taemin, all set in his baggy sweatshirt and sunglasses. The rest of the boys were walking around the house, saying "Good morning!" as she passed by. Taemin looked at Gianna and smiled. She looked down at her clothes, asking, "What? Is it too much?"
"No, it's fine. You'll blend right in! Well, as much as SHINee's English teacher can."
"You'll just need these!" Key yelled from the kitchen, running to her and putting a pair of aviators in her hand. "Sunglasses help when you're trying to hide your face from all those fans."
Gianna put the aviators in her sweatshirt pocket. "Why am I going to need these?"
Minho went over to the window, pulled the curtain toward him, and motioned Gianna to stand next to him. As she walked over, she saw a car parked in front of the dorm and behind the gate, a hundred... hell, fifty million fans all over the front yard. I didn't think they were that famous! He sighed. "I love them, but this is the part I hate most."
Gianna looked at Minho. "Not being able to go anywhere because of your stalker fans?"
He let go of the curtain and walked away. "No. Not being able to get out of the house without being suffocated."
Jonghyun finally walked downstairs and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know if it was the Shawols screaming outside or Taemin beating me with a pillow. All I know is I have a big headache and I want to go back to sleep!!"
Gianna smirked. "I'm sorry, Oppa." She then thought of the word Jonghyun used that she didn't understand. She turned to the rest of the guys in the kitchen and asked, "What's a Shawol?"
"Oh! We call our fans that!"
Taemin looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time to go to the store. "Okay, we have to explain some things before we leave. Kind of like... rules."
"Rules?" Gianna asked, "Why do we need rules?"
"Because fans can sometimes go... well, let's just say ape-crazy... when they see someone they don't know with us."
Jonghyun added, "Especially girls!"
"We just want to keep you safe. There can be no accidents for our English teacher!" Key said.
Gianna chuckled. It it was only to keep her safe and not be a fuss, she would take the offer. "Okay, what are these rules?"
Minho stepped up and held up a finger. "One, don't associate with the Shawols. Leave the talking to us."
"Yeah, no talking, waving, gestures... anything that will attract you to them," Jonghyun added.
"Two," Taemin said, "If one of them tries getting your attention, don't answer. Just do what you would do in Rule 1, I guess."
"And three," Onew finished, "When you're out with us, you stick with at least one of us. That way, if someone decides to pull out our English teacher's hair at an event, we can prevent that."
Gianna smiled. "Okay. Thanks, guys, really. I'll do my best!"
They all smiled, then Taemin lightly grabbed Gianna's wrist. "We gotta go! I don't think the driver wants to wait anymore."
"You have a driver?" Gianna asked.
"Sometimes," Taemin replied, "I don't drive very well and you just got here, so we have a driver to take us to the store!" He started dragging Gianna to the door, then stopped. "Hey, put your hood up and your glasses on." She did as she was told, then put Taemin's hood up. "Don't you need yours up, too?"
He nodded, "True." He waved to the guys. "We should be back in a couple of hours. See you!" The guys waved as Taemin opened the door with one hand and gripped Gianna's hand with the other. "No matter what happens, keep walking."
All Gianna could hear was screaming. High-pitched, ear-bleed-worthy screams. And Taemin's name. Lots of girls squealing, "TAEMINNIE! COME OVER AND SAY HELLO, OPPA!" and "MARRY ME, TAEMIN! OPPA, I'M LEGAL!!" Taemin and Gianna speed-walked to the gate while the young girls tried squeezing through and even climbing through the gate. Unfortunately, for the Shawols, the gate was very high and had small, close, and tightly-welded metal bars. Taemin and Gianna pushed the gate open and sprinted for the car. When the fans saw them, they started running after them, screaming some more, and taking pictures. As they were approaching the car, a few of the fans looked at Gianna and figured out her basic identity.
Gianna heard a few of the fans yelling, "TAEMIN, WHO IS THE GIRL?!" "IS THIS YOUR GIRLFRIEND?" "YOU COULD DO BETTER, TAEMINNIE!" while others just said, "SHE'S VERY PRETTY!" and "TAEMIN, FIGHTING!"
When Taemin and Gianna approached the car to open it, a few Shawols came up behind Gianna and started pulling her back, trying to reveal her face. Gianna screamed from a girl grabbing her hood and some of her hair, throwing her to the ground, and Taemin jumped out of the car. He pushed the girls away and got Gianna on her feet and into the car before the Shawols decided to get her some more. Taemin shut the door and the Shawols pressed their faces against the car and tried opening the door. Taemin shouted, "Can we go to Ki-baek, please?"
AN: Ki-baek isn't real. It's a first name, but I thought it was a cute name. And if it is... total coincidence!
The driver drove off as fast as he could, leaving the Shawols in the dust. Taemin turned to Gianna as she buckled into her seat. "Are you okay?!" Taemin asked, "Those girls took you down hard."
She chuckled, easily brushing it off. "I'm fine. Head's sore because of that one girl, but we're good." She rubbed her head to ease the small pain she had from being thrown onto the concrete. "I mean, this is stuff I have to expect when living with you guys!"
"Well, I'm happy you're okay," he said, suddenly making a funny face at Gianna. She started to laugh as he continued to make more faces. "Stop! You're killing me!" she giggled, trying to calm herself down.
For the rest of the ride to Ki-baek, Taemin just tried to make her laugh. He told jokes, attempted to dance in the car (and failed), and even accidentally hit his head on the window when the driver hit a bump. When they arrived at Ki-baek, Gianna was red and out of breath from laughing, and Taemin was sore from hitting the window and stretching his face too much. Gianna looked around, thinking Wouldn't they have known we were coming here if they were outside the house?
She and Taemin exited the car and entered Ki-baek, which was empty. Gianna looked at Taemin, worried. "There's no people here. Why is this place so... empty?"
He smirked. "Are you asking to get thrown on the ground again?"
"No! I'm just wondering..."
He chuckled. "I'm just kidding. It's empty because the store's not even open yet. I do my shopping when no one's around, so I can get what I want and take my time."
"Well, great! How long do we have to shop?"
He looked at the clock, seeing it was 9:15. "45 minutes. The store opens at 10."
"Okay, let's do this!"
Taemin took a shopping list out of his pocket, ripping it evenly in half and giving it to Gianna. "Find this half of the list, and I'll find the other one." He looked at Gianna and gave her a cute, but at the same time, devilish grin. "Wanna make this even more fun, Noona?"
She gave the same grin back to Taemin. "Sure. What's at stake?"
"The person who is slowest buys banchan at Babtol's."
AN: For those of you who don't know or who need a fresh reminder, Babtol's is the restaurant Super Junior's Yesung bought for his parents to own.
What the hell is a 'banchan'? Sounds like soup... I like soup.
"You're on!" she yelled. They both started running around the store finding everything they needed. Luckily, Taemin got the part of the list that had the hard things on it. Gianna had six things to grab: soy sauce, a big bag of rice, sesame oil, hot pepper paste, a bag of chips, and chocopies. For some reason, though, the handwriting for chips and chocopies looked different than the rest. "Taemin, who wrote chips and chocopies?!" Gianna yelled across the store.
"I DID!" he yelled back, "I WANT CHOCOPIES!"
"Okay, I'll find them!" One by one, she made her way finding the things on her part of the list. She found the soy sauce and sesame oil first, since they were on the same shelf. Thank God. If they weren't next to eachother, I don't think I'd ever be able to find them! Then came the rice. But once she tried picking it up to put in her cart, Taemin was already at the counter dancing a victory dance. Gianna sighed, taking her three items up to the register. "I accept defeat," she said, "You win."
He went into the aisles, dancing and gathering the rest of the items. He took them up to the register, paid for the items, and they both ran back into the van, just before the store opened for the day.
"So," Taemin said, still gloating about his win, "are you ready for some banchan?"
She shook her head. "Fine. Let's go."
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