I lay in bed, relaying the events of today in my head.

Donghee had come in and accused me of two timing with his friend and another man. I screamed at him that it wasn’t true and that it was just the tabloids but he wouldn’t hear any of it. I swear I was going to explode from embarrassment. I was sure Donghee understood that it was all the journalists’ fault but he still decided to make fun of me. I ran and locked myself up in my room for the rest of the night. Nari and Donghee needed the alone time anyway.

And so here I was, laying in my bed and surfing the internet. I was going to email Jade and Adrianna but I really did not feel like telling them what happened.

My laptop rang. I got a new email from Adrianna. I clicked it open and grimaced.

“I saw the photos! Why didn’t you tell me?!” it read. I groaned loudly. Did the whole world know about this?!

I replied shortly, “Because I didn’t want everyone to know. I could get mauled for this.”

She sent back a message almost immediately despite the time difference. It made me wonder what she was doing now. “Have you not read the comments the netizens are making? I mean, sure, there are some jealous girls but it’s mostly debate about who should you end up with and who you look good with.”

I was genuinely surprised. I expected a lot of hate comments. But apparently I have a lot of support? Curiosity got the better of me and I checked one of the leading hallyu websites. To say I was taken aback was an understatement. The whole comment page of the photos was one giant debate.

“She obviously looks better with Siwon! They’re both so model-like and statuesque!”

“Minho is a model too! And he looks more like her age! Siwon is too old!” How old were they anyway? I shrugged, doesn’t really matter to me.

“She better be with Siwon. I want her to stay away from Minho.”

The realization finally came to me. I see now. The fans of Siwon wanted me with Minho and the Minho fans wanted me with Siwon.

In other words, they were still kind of hate comments.

I put my face in my hands. I was going to die tomorrow.

The next morning I woke up cranky. I hadn’t got a wink of sleep last night because I was worried about the company’s reaction to the rumours that surfaced online. Getting dressed and ready was the longest time of my life. All the excitement I felt about getting in to SM was dwindling.

Nari called me down for breakfast. I trudged out of my room with a sense of dread surrounding me. When I entered the dining area, I was relieved that Donghee was no longer around.

We ate in silence and a quickly left for my orientation appointment. Every point up until the arrival at the building passed in a surreal blur. I practically choked when I saw all the journalists waiting around the area.

“Miss, are you getting out?” the taxi driver asked. I nodded and quickly dashed out of the car. My sunglasses were on and my hair was tied. I wore high tops so I wouldn’t be recognized as that really tall girl that hung out with Minho and Siwon.

Much to my relief, the cameras completely missed me. I think they were expecting someone else to come by.

When I entered the building, the receptionist took one look at me and grinned. I swear to God…

“Are you here for the orientation?” she questioned. I nodded and she asked me to fill out a few forms. A few forms my . There was a huge stack here!

I handed back the stack after what seemed like hours of writing and she called someone down to show me around. I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited around for my tour guide to show up.

“Ami-ssi, nice to see you again!” I looked up at the newcomer to see Amber smiling at me. The receptionist was surprised.

“Amber-ssi? I thought Joon Gi was supposed to come down,” she said. Amber shrugged.

“I told him I’d do it,” she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the elevator. My legs were still not quite fully functional, as the sight of Amber shocked me.

“I-I— what are you doing here?” I stuttered.

Amber looked at me, “I work here.”

“Y-you work here?! Why didn’t you tell me when I told you I’d be a trainee?!” I shrieked.

She chuckled, “I thought it’d be funny.”

“I hope you got your giggles because I’m having a major freak out right now,” I said darkly.

Amber stopped laughing, “oh yeah. I’m supposed to take you to one of the reps after the tour.”

“After the tour?” Why would they give me a tour and waste my time instead of dropping my contract right then and there?

“Of course, they’re still keeping you. They just want to set some ground rules.” Amber assured. I felt some of the tension lift off of my shoulder. So I was still staying? Thank the Lord.

Amber took me to the recreational room and told me it was the place most trainees hung out during break. We visited the cafeteria and she introduced me to her friends, the members of f(x).

“That’s Sulli,” Amber pointed to one girl. Amber was speaking in English so Sulli just gave a small accented hello. Her hair was short and highlighted blond. She had a bright yellow streak on her right side.

“I’m Krystal,” another girl waved. Her English had that San Fran accent. She had very choppy black hair with the ends dyed blond. “You’re the trainee in the tabloids right? The one with Siwon and Minho?” Aish, she brought up something I didn’t even want to hear.

A brunette girl with red tips elbowed her. She spoke in mainland Mandarin to me. I was able to follow but it was a bit weird because I only knew Taiwanese Mandarin and I thought she pronounced things funny. “Sorry about that. I know you probably don’t want to talk about it. I’m Victoria, the leader of this band.”

I shrugged with a huff, “yeah and it’s not even true.”

Victoria shrugged, “you get used to it. I’m in a fake marriage but many are convinced it’s real.” I gave her a weird look for a brief moment before I decided not to pry.

“Hey yo wassup man? How you do? I’m Luna!” the last girl shouted enthusiastically with broken English, the rest was just gibberish.

I laughed and switched to Korean, “hello Luna-ssi. I’m Ami Kwan.” Luna was momentarily surprised before she started chatting excitedly with me. I almost wish I didn’t let her know I knew how to speak the language, because she addressed the thing I really did not want to talk about.

“Who do you like better? Minho or Siwon?” she asked. I turned red and spluttered.

“I-I don’t really—”

“Okay we have to continue the tour. Catch you guys later,” Amber pushed me out of the cafeteria.

“Thanks for that,” I smiled. She shrugged it off.

“No problem, but you have to learn to be quick on your feet for journalists and variety shows.” I groaned. “They’ll teach you. Don’t worry.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” I said.

We headed to the smaller training rooms that were designated for trainees and then we made way upstairs to the floor for the artists. The training rooms were much bigger. They were all decorated with that tacky sky wall paper.

We peered through the door window of one of the used training rooms and saw Shinee practising their new song, which Amber calls “Lucifer”. The music stopped and the members crashed to the floor.

“Ami-yah!” Jonghyun spotted me after they decided to take a water break. Amber ushered me into the room and we both greeted them. “Orientation day?” he asked.

I nodded. Key sighed and leaned on Amber, “I remember my orientation day. I was so intimidated by my sunbaes.” Amber laughed and patted him on the shoulder.

“Key-ah,” he turned to me. “Is it hard?”

He looked indecisive, like he didn’t know how to word it. “I-it is. And there are some days where you wish it would all end or that it’s not worth it,” he looked down. “My best advice to you is to not sweat the small stuff and do your own thing at your own pace.”

Taemin nodded in agreement, “and you’re not alone right? You have us, noona!” He gave me a one armed hug around the shoulder. I smiled. They were very kind-hearted for idols. Before I met them, I was under the impression that all idols were pompous and conceited.

“Yes, I have Taemin-ah, Key-ah, Jonghyun oppa—”

“And Onew oppa! Right, jagiya?” he grinned at me and gave me a hug. I smiled and returned it. I suppose this was the invite for me to call him oppa. I wasn’t sure what “jagiya” was though. Perhaps I’ll ask Amber later.

“Ami-yah, have you checked the internet recently?” Key eyed me. Amber tensed, as did Onew and Jonghyun. Taemin still remained his smiling self. It was then I noted a missing person.

“Y-yes,” I mumbled. It was quiet for a moment before Taemin spoke up.

“It’s not true right?” he asked. I shook my head violently. “Not even the Siwon hyung part?”

“No! We’re just friends,” I said. And I’d be having dinner with him tonight. I probably shouldn’t mention that.

The door opened and the last person I wanted to see walked in with two water bottles, “hyung I have your—” Minho stopped dead when he saw me and Onew still intertwined. He glared, although I’m not sure at whom. Aish, I thought he was starting to become nice.

“Minho hyung,” Taemin greeted. Although said man was still focused on me.

“Ami-ssi, about the tabloids—” Minho got straight to the point. He made a grab for me but Amber pried me out of Onew’s embrace and pushed me out the door.

“Sorry guys, we gotta go!” we hurried out of the floor.

“Oh God that was horrible,” I breathed as we entered the elevator. Aw crap, and now I had to meet one of the reps.  Amber gave me a comforting squeeze on the shoulder as we headed down the hallway of offices.

I went into one of the rooms Amber pointed to alone. A man was typing away on his computer when he looked up at me.

“Are you Kwan Ami?” I nodded. “Okay, let’s keep this short and sweet. We know you’re in the tabloids. We’ll keep you on board but you have to promise us something while we wait for the buzz to die down.”

I agreed, “of course, sir, anything.”

“Stop hanging around Minho and Siwon.” 

Few! Another chapter done. I am never going to get to that dinner. I keep planning to write it, and then my story gets more in depth. Shinee wasn't even supposed to appear in this chapter.

Although I suppose them appearing isn't so bad, especially since you aren't going to see Minho and Siwon anymore. Right? RIGHT?

And if you don't know what "jagiya" means...

That's okay. Onew took advantage of the fact that Ami had no clue what he was talking about. Ahahaa.

Anybody from Canada? Or Sweden? Or Russia? Was anybody watching the hockey game? No. Okay...

FINE! I'll be a hockey fan by myself!

Where are you guys from anyway? I want to get the timezones right so I update when you're all awake! And I want to know where all my readers at! Probably the states, yes?

Although I guess you would just get an alert.

Thank you to all who subscribed since last! Please remember to subscribe and comment and tell others about this story!

-Lilmisschique