You smiled to yourself and decided to go online. To your surprise, Soojin was on as well and you ended up chatting with her over Skype. It turned out that she had trouble sleeping because she had a falling out with Seyong earlier that day over something silly. You offered some advice and then tried your best to cheer her up. Kibum came back a little while later while you were still in the midst of your conversation with Soojin.

You looked up from the screen and saw him mouth “hello” to you before ducking into the kitchen. You couldn’t be sure whether he was still shy from what he had said earlier or if he was just being considerate.

“What are you smiling at?” Soojin asked.

“Oh, Kibummie just came back from the supermarket. He’s going to make me pizza for dinner.” You beamed.

Soojiin laughed. “Wait. Did you just give him a nickname?”

You flushed. “It’s nothing. I accidentally called him that when I was practically asleep but he liked it, so I’m just going to call him that from now on.”

“Are you sure that’s all?” She asked, sounding a little suspicious of you.

“Yes, omma. It was really an accident. I don’t even know why I called him that. Anyway, I should go help him with dinner. Talk to you soon! Good night!” You waved to the webcam, wanting to end the conversation as quickly as you could.

She let out a breath. “Ok. Have a good dinner then! Bye!” She waved back and you ended the chat.

That was close. You knew that Soojin didn’t believe your explanation even though it was the truth. You just hoped that she would have already forgotten about it the next time you talked to her.

You went into the kitchen and saw Kibum cutting up the pineapple, ham, and bell peppers into smaller chunks. “Do you need my help?” You asked.

He shook his head. “Nope, it’s fine. I can manage.”

You leaned against the kitchen counter and continued watching him cut and dice the ingredients.

“You don’t have to stand here and watch me. I’m really fine. Why don’t you watch television or read?” He suggested.

“It’s ok. I don’t mind.” You answered and you really didn’t. It was nice to see the look of concentration on his face when he was cooking. You thought that he looked really handsome like that.

You perched your elbow on the countertop and propped your chin in your palm. “Why are you so perfect? Is there anything that you can’t do?” You asked as you watched him put together the pizza.

“You only know what now?” He smirked. You found it strangely adorable.

“You know, I used to like the nice side of you more than the cocky you…” You smiled when his stopped smirking. “But now, I like both sides. You just won’t be you if you’re not diva one moment and  super nice the next. Anyway, I think you’re adorable either way.” You smiled when you saw his slack-jawed expression.

You felt accomplished knowing that you that the ability stump him. You reached out and gently closed his mouth. “The flies will go in, Kibummie.”

He snapped out of it when he heard his nickname. “You know, you need to stop saying that I’m adorable. People find Taeminnie adorable, or even Jonghyun hyung, but never me. You’re going to ruin my image.”

You stuck your tongue out at him. “Speaking of them, how come you don’t webcam with your friends?”

“They’ve been very busy with training. We usually just email each other. Why?”

“No. Nothing. Just curious.” You shrugged.

“I can try to call them after dinner. If you’re still curious then, I could introduce them to you.” He said casually. He was reading your mind again.

You waved your hands frantically. “You don’t have to…”

“I know. I want to.” He smiled, passing you the pizza that he had just taken out of the oven. “Be careful. It’s hot.”

You blew on the pizza and took a small bite. “Mmm! Yum! Hawaiian’s my favourite!”

He smiled. “Good. At least we have one thing in common now.”

After dinner, Kibum had gone to set up his laptop while you were doing the dishes. You were more than happy to get dish duty since Kibum always cooked delicious meals for you and also catered to your crazy cravings.

You heard muffled voices coming from outside the kitchen and presumed that he had managed to get his friends on webcam. You finished up the rest of the dishes before drying your hands and walking out of the kitchen. He saw you immediately and motioned you over to join him. You started to feel a little nervous as you walked over to the dining table and sat beside him.

He shifted his laptop and pulled you closer to him so that you were now within the frame captured by the webcam. “Hey guys, this is -------. Lee -------.” There were 4 guys on the screen. He pointed to the one on the extreme left, the one who looked lost and confused. “That is Jinki hyung…” The said person waved to camera when he heard his name and his face lit up with the brightest smile. 

“Jonghyun hyung…” The dinosaur-looking guy smile, waved and said “Hello.”

“Taeminnie…” The boy smiled shyly and squeaked out a soft “Hi.”

“And Minho.” He had the largest pair of eyes out of all of them, including Kibum. But now that you’ve seen all of his friends, you couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit insecure. They were all so good-looking!

You leaned closer to Kibum and whispered something to him. He burst out in laughter, causing Jonghyun to protest. “Why were you whispering right in front of us?? It’s rude, you should share!”

You just sat there not knowing what to do, until Kibum got a hold of himself and stopped laughing. “Wait till you guys hear what she told me!”

Your eyes widened. “You can’t, Kibummie!”

“Sorry…” He apologised but his voice sounded too happy. “It’s just too funny not to share!” He grinned.

He turned back to face the screen. “She said that Jjong looks like a dinosaur, Minho looks like a frog, and that Taeminnie looks so adorable that she wants to squish you.”

You bowed you head, extremely embarrassed. There was a moment of slience before Jinki, Jonghyun, Minho and Kibum started laughing like crazy, so much so that Jinki even fell off his chair! Only Taemin sat there with the cutest pout on his face.

When the roars of laughter finally died down for the second time that night, everyone who had been laughing had their hands on their stomach and Jinki finally managed to crawl back into his seat. The good thing though, was that now, all the awkwardness that existed before was gone.

“Noona! I’m not adorable! I don’t want to be adorable.” Taemin whined and pouted even more.

You gave Kibum a worried look. “Taeminnie doesn’t like it when people say that he’s cute.” He explained.

“Oh! I take that back then. I think Taeminnie is very cool.” You corrected.

Taemin beamed at once and turned to Minho. “Hyung, did you hear that? Noona said that I’m cool.” Minho nodded with a smile and ruffled his hair.

“What about Jinki hyung? You didn’t say anything about him?” Kibum looked at you with an arched brow.

You looked at Jinki. “Er.. I think he has a very nice smile?” You offered, feeling your cheeks get hot.

“Woah! What is this? You say that I look like a dinosaur and Minho looks like a frog but Jinki hyung has a nice smile? Why?!” Jonghyun complained.

“Okok. Jinki oppa looks likes a bunny. Better?” You offered back.

“Hmpfh. Not even close.” Jonghyun huffed.

“Okok. Stop bullying her, Jjong. It’s not her fault that she’s so honest.” Kibum cut in and offered you a smile that told you that he was on your side.

“Yah! You’re supposed to be my best friend!” Jonghyung whined.

Kibum rolled his eyes, while the other members just ignored him. It seemed like this was a regular occurrence for them. You chuckled quietly.

As the conversation went on, you started to realize that they actually knew a lot about you. You figured that Kibum must have told them in his emails but it still felt a little strange because you didn’t know much about them. They were really fun to talk to though, with Jonghyun and Taemin being so hyper all the time and needing Kibum and Minho, but mostly Kibum, to rein them in, and Jinki watching over them quietly and laughing at and with them. There was something about his smile and his laughter that made you feel all warm inside. It was, as cliché as it sounded, like sunshine!

Just from a single conversation, you understood why Kibum always spoke so wonderfully of his band members and why Taemin called him “omma” and the rest regarded him as their mother too. Even though he was all the way on the other side of the world, he still nagged and fussed over them constantly, trying to take care of them.

That night, you went to bed with a warm feeling in your heart and a big smile on your face. Although you had just gotten to know them, they welcome you warmly and made you feel like you were part of their strange “family”.

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Yay! The other members of SHINee finally make an appearance :)

Happy reading everyone!