You cringed slightly and slowly turned around to face the person. “Kibum.” You said, trying not to sound like you had been caught doing something illegal and you succeeded on that end but your expression completely gave you away.

“What are you doing here?!” He asked, incredulously. You were amazed by how quickly he covered the distance as he strode towards you and couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

He opened his arms out in an attempt to hug you when he finally closed the distance between the both of you but you shook you head and took a step back, moving away from him. He pouted slightly and looked slightly hurt at your rejection but you couldn’t give in to him on this. “Not here. People already recognise you.” You said softly.

He looked over his shoulder and saw that some of the patients were indeed pointing in his direction and whispering. “Sorry. It’s just that I forgot where we were the moment I saw you.” He confessed sheepishly.

You smiled at that and couldn’t help blushing a little. “Anyway, why are you-“

“Lets just split up and meet back at room 306 ok? I’ll explain everything later.” You said quietly.

He nodded. “Ok, I’ll see you there in 10 minutes.” He informed you and started to back away.

You acknowledged his words with a smile and bowed slightly before squatting down to pick Minhyuk up and walking towards your mom’s room.

“Omma, who was that?” MInhyuk asked as he rested his chin on your shoulder and looked at Kibum walking in the other direction.

“Hmm? You didn’t recognise him, Minnie?” You turned your head to look at him in surprise.

He shook his head. “No.” He said and buried his face in your neck.

“That was Kibum appa. You remember him right?”

“Kibum appa?” He frowned a little and shook his head. “That’s not appa. Kibum appa doesn’t look like that.” You frowned a little as well, unable to understand him at first but let out a soft laugh when you eventually figured out what he meant.

For some reason, Kibum was still in his stage outfit which consisted of a black blazer thrown over a black leather zip-up vest and red dress shirt, black skinnys and finally, black boots to complete the look. His hair and makeup were equally dramatic as well, with black eyeliner lining his eyes, red highlights in his hair and his asymmetrically-cut fringe covering his left eye. Everything just made him give off a dark aura, which you guessed was what their concept was all about.

Poor Minhyukkie had just failed to recognise Kibum behind his stage costume and makeup. You placed a kiss in his hair. “It really is appa, Minnie. Later I’ll let you take a closer look and then you can decide, alright?” You felt him nodded against your chest.

You were back in your mom’s room just a minute or two later with Minhyuk fast asleep in your arms. You placed let him lie against your chest as he slept because there wasn’t any place that you would let him lie down. You placed the fruits that you had bought from the cafeteria on the bedside stand and went to sit in the chair beside Soojin.

You were talking to your mom about your university arrangements when Soojin suddenly cut in and asked, “Sorry, but have you told Kibum that you’re back?”

You bit your lower lip and bowed your head sheepishly.

“Did you even tell him that you were coming back?”

You shook your head.

“Not even Jinki or Taemin?!” She exclaimed disbelievingly.

“Err.. No?” You finally spoke up.

“What?! I can’t believe you! You realize how upset he’s going to be when he finds out right?” She chided.

“B-But they’re having their comeback right now. I didn’t want to add to their worries and cause them even more stress.” You tried to reason. It wasn’t as if you weren’t going to tell them. You were sure that you would tell them… eventually. “Anywa-“ You began but got cut off, this time by your mom.

“Soojin is right, ------ah. You should have informed them, or at least one of them. They care about you too right? Can you imagine how sad and left out you would feel if your places were switched?” The kind tone of your mom’s voice only made you feel even guiltier than you were.

“Yeah, I understand but as I was saying just no-“ You tried to pick up from where you left earlier but was interrupted yet again.

*knock knock*

You let out a soft sigh. The other three had puzzled expressions and Seyong was already on his feet about to make his way to the door when you stopped him. “It’s ok, oppa. I’ll get it.” You said and carefully sat Minhyuk, who had woken up sometime during your conversation, on the chair beside Soojin before making your way to the door.

You were greeted by a rather shocked Kibum when you first opened the door. He stared at you for a few seconds before blinking quickly a few times, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The next thing you knew, you were being pulled into a really tight hug. “You’re real! I wasn’t dreaming after all!” He exclaimed.

You remembered that your mom was in the room as well and tried to pull away from the hug but he just held you even tighter. He tilted his head and whispered in your ear. “I’ve missed you.” You felt your entire face heat up upon hearing that and tried to hide your face by resting your forehead on his shoulder.

He chuckled at your reaction, which made you try to hide your face even more. You felt a light tug but didn’t look up as you were sure that your face was still red. However, you did look up when you felt a stronger tug and saw a pouting Taemin standing behind Kibum.

“Hyung! Let go. It’s my turn now.” Taemin whined.

“Go away, Taeminnie.” Kibum replied and you hit his back lightly.

“Don’t be so mean, Kibummie.” You scolded lightly. You felt Kibum’s hold loosen just a little and took the chance to take a few steps back and pull away from the hug.

But before you could even feel relieved at getting out of the hug, you were pounced on by Taemin, who gave you a bone-crushing hug. You could never figure out how someone so small could have so much strength. “Noona! You’re back!! I missed you so much!” He said excitedly.

“T-Tae-m-min. C-can’t. B-breathe.” You forced out and immediately felt the pressure around you disappear. You bent forward slightly and took a couple of deep breathes before regaining enough energy to speak. “Thanks, Minho.” You said without looking up.

“No problem, noona.” He replied and you could hear that he was smiling.

You mentally ticked off the names and realized that you had not seen or heard from both Jinki and Jonghyun. You looked up and saw that Jonghyun was carrying Minhyuk, who had somehow managed to make his way towards you and taken a sudden interest in Jonghyun’s dark golden blonde and bleached hair.

“Where’s Jinki oppa?”

“He’s the reason why all of us are at the hospital.” Kibum answered and you raised your brows.

“What happened?” You asked.

“Before we tell you, you have to tell us why you’re back first.” Kibum folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes at you. His drastic mood changing skill was at work again.

You eyed him for a bit before deciding that you wouldn’t win against him. Your shoulders slumped a little and you knew that he saw it because of the smirk on his face. “I’m back because my mom got admitted into the hospital after she fainted at home. The hospital staff called me while I was in LA and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stop worrying if I remained there, so applied for leave from UCLA and took the next flight back.”

At the mention of your mom, all four of them suddenly got serious. “Your mom?! Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” He scolded and then all of them immediately turned to your mom and bowed. “Omonim, sorry for not greeting you earlier. Are you feeling better?”

Your mom eyed them and you with an amused expression on her face. “Ani. It’s nice to see all of you interacting comfortably with my daughter.”

They proceeded to introduce themselves to your mom one by one while you stood back and watched them. It was rather endearing to see them so concerned as they fussed over your mom, offering to adjust the inclination of her bed, pour her water, and even wanting to peel some fruits for her. You could tell that you mom was enjoying the attention she was getting from the four SHINee members so you decided not to say anything. Your gaze fell upon Minhyuk, who was now being carried by Kibum, and you could see that he was looking very closely at Kibum’s face, even pushing aside his fringe. You had to bite the insides of your cheeks to prevent yourself from laughing at the confused expression on Kibum’s face.

“You were right, omma. It really is Kibum appa.” Minhyuk finally said after a few minutes as he hugged Kibum about his neck.

You laughed out as Minhyuk succeeded in making Kibum even more confused than he was earlier and just as he was about to question you about it, a ringing tone went off in the room.

“Oh, it’s mine.” Kibum said, trying to get his handphone out of his pocket with one hand and balance Minhyuk with the other.

You reached out and carefully took Minhyuk from him. “Come here baby boy. Lets allow Kibum appa take that call alright?”

“Hello, hyung.” Kibum answered when he finally got his phone out of his pocket. “Yes, they are with me.” He said as he looked up at the other members, who were also looking back at him. “Ok, hyung. We’ll be there.” He said before ending the call.

“That was manager hyung. He has Jinki hyung and his medicine already. He wants us to meet him at the carpark now.” He answered the curious stares of everyone.

He turned to face you. “Sorry, but we have to go already.”

“Please don’t apologize for that. You still haven’t told me what happened to Jinki oppa though.”

“You have a phone right? Give me your number, I’ll text you later.” He held out his phone to you and you took it but eyed him suspiciously. “I promise.” He added upon seeing your reaction.

You handed the phone back to him after you had stored your number. He gathered s and they bowed again to your mom. “Omonim, sorry for leaving so quickly. We’ll bring our leader along with us the next time we visit.”

Your mom returned the bow. “Don’t worry about it. All of you must be so busy. Please take care of yourselves.”

They said goodbye to Soojin and Seyong before coming to give you and Minhyuk a hug. Jonghyun was the last one and when he was about to pull away, he whispered in your ear before giving you one of this trademark smiles. “It’s really good to see you again.”

“Thanks.” You flashed him a warm smile. “Tell Jinki oppa that I said hi and to take care of himself.”

“I will.” He replied.

“See you again soon, noona.” Taemin waved happily.

You smiled and waved back as they started to walk away. “See you!”

=================

Happy Leap Year everyone!! ^^

This is the LONGEST chapter I've written so far with close to 2000 words -.- and I blame Kibum and Soojin for nagging talking too much! I had SO much dialogue to type out! Maybe I should try and keep Soojin and Kibum apart..

Anywho, sorry to disappoint those who wanted the person to be Junhyung. I'm trying to make his story clash with actual events that happened to them so yeah.. you'll see why it's SHINee in the next chapter :)

Junhyung supporters, just be patient for a tiny bit longer. He'll be making an appearance before you know it!