Part 2: Protecting You Because I Want To

remember: Mandarin Chinese, English, and thoughts

Location: Woobang Tower Land

The remaining staff in the last destination seemed to cooperate well with Hee Chul as he started taking pictures of the reunited buddies playing around like they were little children. Pleased with himself after an hour, Hee Chul decided to stop and gave everyone thanks for efforts. All of the staff was startled at first to hear such nice words from the famous bipolar photographer, but then they decided to take advantage of his mood when he called a break. He also instructed before he left that after the staff's break, the last location of the day would be at Mangu Park by 7p.m. with pajamas and nightgowns as the photoshoot outfits.

Nikka sat on a swing and checked the time on her watch. It was 5:40p.m. Out of nowhere, Onew jumps on Nikka from behind her. She shrieked and turned around to find a smiling tofu staring back at her. She chuckled, then let Onew push her from behind to make her swing on the swing set.

"Veronica."

"Hm?"

"... you remember all our memories together?"

"Yeah, now I do. Sorry about forgetting. I wonder why I forgot in the first place...?"

With this question, Onew stopped Nikka from swinging on the swing and walked over to the swing seat next to hers. He sat there and watched other children in the park playing around them.

"I tried to stay away from you all these years."

Nikka got confused. "Why?"

"Because I was afraid you might remember the nightmare from that night - it was the last time we ever hung out."

"...was it that horrible for me to not remember?" Onew slowly nodded at this and began telling the whole story slowly to her; from eavesdropping the business argument to getting hit by a car while they were running away, with blood still running out from their wounds.

"Your right hip has a scar - that came from a madman who used to work for Grandfather Han. Because of Grandfather Han's mistakes, he caused almost everyone who worked for him to lose everything in their lives."

Nikka just kept nodding in agreement, slowly remembering every detail of what happened from Onew's explanations. She turned her head to look at Onew.

"Jinki, is that why you have a left scar on your stomach? I noticed it when the wind blew while Hee Chul took photos of us." She pointed towards his buttoned shirt. Onew stared at the buttons, then began to unbutton them slowly. He carefully showed a healed semi-scar on the left side of his stomach as if it was never fully healed to begin with. Nikka slowly reached out to touch his scar, running her fingers along his soft skin. Her fingers then drifted off to his neck, where it hung a golden pendant. As she touched the piece of jewelry with one hand, she used the other to hold the identical necklace dangling around her neck.

A tear escaped from her eyes and ran down along her cheek. "I'm sorry I forgot, Jinki. Please forgive me..." With this, Onew hugged her by natural instinct. He held her in a tight embrace as she continued to cry on his shoulder. "No, I'm sorry I left you. You don't have to feel sorry. I promised to be your guardian angel, didn't I?"
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Location: SHINee dorm ~ 8:45a.m. of February 15

By now, everyone was exhausted from the photoshoot. Since Abby and Nikka made an unexpected extended stay in Korea until the end of spring (official school business), their Manager-oppa failed to arrange a hotel room. (Manager-noona they had earlier was caught stealing from the company and selling stolen items off the streets of L.A., thus replacing her with an old friend of Nikka's who graduated last year. This "Manager-oppa" of theirs was preferred to be called "Ah Chu" instead.) Ah Chu and SHINee's Manager-hyung decided to let Abby and Nikka stay at the the same room they previously occupied during the holidays - across from the SHINee dorm room.

After helping Abby and Nikka with their traveling bags and school supplies, everyone went to the SHINee dorm. Key insisted on making breakfast, and so did Wang Da Dong. (Fahrenheit decided to tag along with SHINee and MVP, since their schedule was clearer than expected on their trip to Korea.) Key and Da Dong discussed what to make for breakfast as Onew tried opening the lock and security on the door. Abby chatted along with Wu Ji Zun about random topics as Kim Jonghyun seemed to be in an intense conversation with Chen Yi Ru and Nikka, which no one else paid attention to.

"You promise to keep this quiet?" asked Nikka.

Yi Ru raised his right hand in the air. "I promise with all my heart and soul that I'll keep your secret until you guys decide when it's right for you two to come open to the public." He flashed his Sunshine Boy smile at her.

"See, Nikka? He's trustworthy enough." Jonghyun reassured her. She smiled and gave Yi Ru a bear hug.

Onew finally opened the door and entered the dorm room. Everyone took off their shoes as Jonghyun turned on the lights. Immediately, Key and Da Dong went straight for the kitchen to cook. Everyone laughed as the two "kings" kept boasting about their cooking abilities to each other. Yi Ru excused himself to use the restroom as Onew led Ji Zun to the living room to relax. Meanwhile, Jonghyun snapped his fingers as he just thought of something. He quickly grabbed Nikka and pulled her away from the kitchen.

"Oh, crap! We forgot about Taemin and Minho!" he whispered raspily.

Nikka smiled and replied, "Hey, it's supposed to be schooltime right now. It's not like they stayed in..." They both glanced at the shoes near the door. Sure enough, Minho and Taemin's school shoes were still on the floor. Adding more clues, Yi Ru got out of the bathroom with a shirt in his hand. "Hey, I found this on the floor. Does this belong to anybody?"

Jonghyun and Nikka's eyes bulged out staring at the pajama shirt with mushroom cartoonfaces on it. "Taemin." they answered in unison. Onew came over and suddenly noticed Taemin's shirt in Yi Ru's hands.

"Eh, Chen Yi Ru, why do you have Taemin's pajama shirt in your hands?" Onew asked.

"First of all, drop the formalities. Just call me Calvin, okay?" Calvin pointed at Wu Ji Zun flipping live shows with a remote control, finally ending up watching Star King on T.V. with Abby. "Also, you can call him Chun and - " he pointed towards the kitchen. "you can call King Kong over there Jiro." Forgetting the situation at hand for a second, Jonghyun and Nikka giggled over "Jiro"'s nickname. "Second of all, I found this shirt on the bathroom floor. Who does this belong to?"

"Ah, that belongs to Taemin." Onew took the shirt and walked towards the bedroom door. "He's probably in school, so I'll - " and that's when he found Minho and Taemin's shoes still near the front door. Onew quickly spun around to face an unsettling couple near the bedroom door.
"....." Onew was speechless.

"Yah, it was your fault. I didn't think we'd be coming home the day AFTER Valentine's Day..." Jonghyun quickly defended himself. Nikka, on the other hand, bowed in front of Onew. "I'm sorry, it was all my fault. I told Jonghyun over the internet to plan this, but I didn't think - " A hand held onto her shoulder to make her stand upright. "It's not your fault, it's mine." Onew said, "I should've known never to agree with this in the first place."

Still knowing it was both their idea, Jonghyun and Nikka hung their heads low as Onew slowly opened the bedroom door. His head peeked inside the room, causing Jonghyun, Nikka, and even Calvin to peek inside the room as well. Onew's hand flicked the light switch open, and the lights had just unveiled a PG-13 sight, leaving all 4 pairs of eyes open wide as they stared at what layed ahead of them...............
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For all the fans out there who are NOT interested in the 2MIN pairing, I'm truthfully and utterly deeply sorry.

The four artists found Taemin cuddled into Minho's arms, but from where they can see them, they were sleeping without shirts on and a big blanket protected the rest of their bodies. Worse yet, the 2MIN couple were sleeping on Onew's bed. Since there weren't any boxers scattered around the bedroom, everyone took a big sigh of relief.

Apparently, that woke both Taemin and Minho up. Taemin stirred in his sleep, slowly waking up to look up at Minho's face. He let out a small smile and kissed him on the cheek. Minho blinked twice before he fully woken up, smiling as he looked down upon Taemin's angelic face. Just as he slowly tried to kiss Taemin on the lips, a loud cough was heard in the bedroom.

Taemin and Minho's eyes were shot open and pulled away from each other, now seeing 4 unwanted people in the bedroom. Onew was lost at words, Jonghyun and Nikka's jaws were hung open in shock, and a strange, tall, yet familiar man stood there gawking at them.

Without saying anything, Onew quickly rushed over to his bed and pulled his blanket off of them. By natural instinct, Jonghyun covered Nikka's eyes with his hands, only to have Calvin pull his hands down, seeing how Taemin and Minho were wearing boxers the whole time. Onew pointed to the closet and to the bathroom.

"Off. My. Bed. Now." he instructed, causing Taemin and Minho to scramble to their feet and running off into different directions. No one, I mean, no one would want to see an angry Onew. Minho rushed to the bathroom while Taemin darted to the closet. Finally getting the point of why Onew is really pissed, Jonghyun stammered, "I-I'll go-o get a-a new bedspread a-and blankets for y-you!" and ran out of the dorm room to go buy those items.

Onew saw Jonghyun run out of the dorm, then turned his glare onto Nikka. Finally getting what Jonghyun thought of a moment ago, she stammered, "I-I'll help y-you clean the-e bedroom with y-you..." and started to help rip off all the bedsheets. Not forgetting who else is in the room, Onew shot a death glare at Calvin. Calvin gulped and retreated out of the bedroom, calmly stating, "I'll just make sure nobody else knows about this... my lips are sealed." With that, he quickly darted out of the room and into the living room, trying to forget what he just saw in the bedroom.

Meanwhile, Abby and Chun were enjoying watching Battle of Music (made up a random show title) as Calvin suddenly bursted into the atmosphere.

"H-hey! Isn't it about time we call Yan Ya Lun in America?" Calvin randomly asked.

The question caught a cooking Jiro and Key off-guard. Jiro accidentally dropped an egg on the floor, along with a bowl of flour. Coming to his "umma-style" reflexes, Key bent down to clean the mess in frustration. "Oh, sorry." Jiro apologized and helped Key clean up the mess he made. Everyone paid attention to the kitchen at that point. Just what were these two trying to make in the morning? All 3 people could see flour not only on the floor, but also on the table, eggs were splatted randomly on the wall, and the sink was filled with lots of dishes. Even without Calvin's question in the air, it seems that the two Selca Kings did not have control of what they were "cooking" whatsoever.

It seems Jiro was able to answer Calvin's question. "Yi Ru, Ya Lun's coming to Korea in about a few days."

"Eh?" Calvin and Chun exclaimed in unison. "Why?"

It seems Key was able to answer the next question. "The devil is settling in Taiwan on a scholarship program until spring ends. She'll be at National Taiwan University."

Calvin and Chun's reactions were in confusion. "Devil?" asked Calvin. "So Ya Lun chose the selected students already?" asked Chun.

"Wait a minute - I'm confused! What's going on here? What about Connie?" Abby asked Key. When he mentions devil, I know he's talking about Connie! But, on a scholarship? In Taiwan? Awwee! Why can't she get one in Korea? Darn, my crappy learning of Chinese language!

Key took in a deep breath, and as much as he hated Connie, he had to fill in details about her arrival. While they were discussing it, Jiro and Key managed to finish what looks like pancakes. After telling this with Jiro's help, Key waited for Abby's reaction. Abby couldn't help but smile. She shot her fist in the air.

"Yay! My best friend's coming~! But wait - is it possible for her to change schools to study in Korea?"

"Actually, it takes a while, but yeah, it's possible with Yan Ya Lun. His English name is Aaron Yan, by the way." said Chun. Key shot him a death glare, but everyone ignored it. Suddenly, an idea came in Chun's head. Didn't Abby describe to me once yesterday about her ideal guy? Hey, it's Aaron! But, what about Onew.... hmmm...I think he's been meaning to date Nikka instead, based on what Abby said yesterday.

"Eh, Abby, based on one of the things we talked about yesterday, I think Aaron Yan's your ideal guy!" I just hope I'm doing a good thing - Aaron's been meaning to find the right girl to fall in love with anyway. This is also for Abby, so she can forget about Onew. It seems she's in pain every time she sees him with Nikka.

Abby stopped smiling and stared at Chun. "What?!" She grabbed him by the collar of his polo shirt. "Are you for real?!" "Yes! Now please let go, so we can eat now! I'm starving!"

Abby jumped up and down while screaming, and started hugging him really tight. Minho, Onew, Nikka, and Taemin ran into the kitchen to see where the screams were coming from. Upon noticing their arrival in the kitchen, Abby ran towards Nikka, giving her the full news, which made Nikka smile as well.

Onew has barely noticed, but he can't help but like Abby's smile. It was different from how he likes Nikka's smile - he couldn't brush the feeling off. He never took his eyes off of Abby, then suddenly he remembered the photoshoot yesterday, when he convinced Abby to just wear the icy blue formal dress. She looked really good in it. Heck, she looks good now without it - eh? What's this feeling? Am I sick? When he heard how excited Abby was about meeting Aaron Yan, however, Onew's bright smile faltered.

Upon seeing his frown, Chun Wu was confused. Isn't he supposed to be happy just standing next to Nikka? So why is he frowning? Abby started giving Onew a bear hug, which regained back the smile on Onew's face. Wait - don't tell me he likes her, too? But I thought - As if on cue, Jonghyun comes bursting into the room with big bags filled with new bedsheets and blankets. He looks awfully tired, he must not be a sportsman, like this tall guy next to me - hey, he's as tall as Calvin! Key and Nikka rushed over to Jonghyun, with Key nagging at the tired man. Nikka looked as if she was really worried about Jonghyun's stamina, wiping his sweat with the long sleeves of her shirt.

Then it hit Chun. Are those two together? He turned his attention back to Onew and Abby. It looked like Onew barely noticed Nikka's presence no longer next to him, and is now focused on Abby's random blabbering while they were eating pancakes. (Key and Jiro's creation was supposed to be an artistic cake, but failed and decided to make easy pancakes for the morning.)

Oh man, what have I done? Chun thought as he munched into his pancake. The taste of the pancakes caught him offguard - it tasted like there was icing inside the pancakes.

"So," Calvin began to speak as everyone gathered around the dining room table. "Minho, right?" He started to chat to the tall man next to him. The tall man nodded as he took a serving of pancake for himself. Calvin began to speak again. The topic was about soccer - Calvin and Chun love soccer. Chun had told Minho and Taemin that since they went to the photoshoot yesterday, and that the maknaes of SHINee stayed home throughout the day, if they had watched the soccer game that night on T.V. Minho said he did, which brang up Calvin's question.

"So," he began to ask, "what was the score in the bedroom - eh! I mean, in the game! Soccer game!" He forcefully closed his mouth with his hands. But it was too late.

Everyone froze, dropping everything they were holding in the process. Calvin looked nervously around him. Starting from his right (then to everyone else's right), Jonghyun and Nikka shot death glares at him, Taemin stared at him like a deer seeing car headlights in front of himself, Minho's large eyes grew even wider in shock, Chun's large eyes also grew wider in shock (they both look similar; like the both of them were ripped right out of a comic book), Abby's jaw dropped open while she was in the process of chewing food, Onew shot his own death glare at him as if he ate the last piece of fried chicken, Jiro's dumbfounded look of innocence, and lastly, Key.

Let's just say no one would be able to predict what his face looked like at the moment, okay?

Labels: fiction, guardian, story