“Stay away from Taemin.”

Once those words escaped Key's lips, he backed off and left, leaving you speechless. Was that really Key? Sure, he was the "umma" of the group but that was just taking it too far…

Unless…

Was he in love with Taemin? Maybe…an affair?! Your heart started beating faster at that thought. You didn’t know why but it just sounded so good.

Key's words were echoing in your mind. It wasn’t like you were going to steal Taemin from him or something. Images of TaeKey floated in your head, causing you to zone out in the middle of the hallway. You wouldn’t have even known if you were drooling. You snapped yourself out of the reverie and noticed people staring at you. 

You decided it was time to walk back to SHINee's dressing room and avoid looking like a total idiot. Before you opened the door, you heard laughter from inside. You knew it was wrong but you couldn’t help but take a peek inside and eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Hyung, how much do you bet?" you heard Taemin say. 

"I bet 20!" Jonghyun replied. He was reaching for a 20 but remembered he only had 5 dollars left.

"I don’t have money, but I’ll give you my coupon for chicken legs. Buy 5 boxes, get one free!" 

That’s got to be Onew for sure. You couldn’t help but smile when you heard him say that. You were sure the other members were pissed off about that though.

"Yah, Taemin, you shouldn’t be playing with her. You'd get in deep trouble for that," Minho said. 

Your smile disappeared. What was that about? You leaned in closer.

"Hyung~ I’m bored though. Making girls fall in love with me, then ripping their heart to shreds makes life fun. And what makes it even more exciting is that my next target is our manager's daughter. I wonder if she's already in love with me," Taemin said with a laugh.

Your eyes widened in disbelief. You could not believe what you were hearing. It just couldn’t be true. The maknae who was supposed to be the most innocent of the group was an absolute player. 

SHINee's place in your heart dropped down to the depths of hell after knowing their true personalities. You finally understood what Key meant. You felt disappointed in many ways. For one, they were playing with you all along and secondly, TaeKey probably never existed.

"Can you move aside so I can head in?"

Your soul practically jumped out and left your body when someone discovered you. 

"Appa, don’t scare me like that!" 

You threw punches at him for doing that. He easily dodged them and went inside. Minho, Onew, Jonghyun, and Taemin quickly turned their heads toward you guys. You begged to god that they didn’t know you were eavesdropping on their talk.

"Annyeong manager-sshi. Noona, come sit next to me! Don’t go sitting with my hyungs or I'll get super duper jealous okay? ^^" beamed Taemin. 

You could almost see a tail wagging behind him and cute little dog ears on top of his head. You took a glance at the others who were stashing the money back into their pockets. Onew was panicking. He shoved the coupon in his mouth, trying extremely hard to swallow it.

Out of nowhere, Key showed up. He walked in and sat down in front of the mirror.  

"Aishhh! My hair's a mess~" he complained, frowning at his reflection.

It was weird that he pretended that you never had that small talk earlier. 

"Noona, how long were you at our front door?" 

You became nervous after hearing Taemin's question. Does he know? He sounded normal, but deep down, you knew he was testing you. He wasn’t what he seemed to be. Before you could give an answer, the staff barged in. 

"There's trouble!"