Part 2: Whisper My Serenade

remember: Mandarin Chinese, English, and thoughts

Taemin’s POV

Minho pops out of nowhere and blocks the punch that was meant for me. I blinked several times and looked everywhere around me. The school ground was filled with an unmoving audience of students, teachers, and even the principal of the school! Why are they all just standing there, I wonder. Shouldn’t someone be stopping this fight - oh, that’s right! Flaming Charisma’s next to me. Hehe~

I noticed another schoolmate trying to hold onto Abby - like really close. She let out a scream in fright, causing the boy to slap her across the face. The nerve of that man! He was about to lean in closer when someone grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around, punching him straight across the face. As the schoolmate dropped to the ground, I find Nikka with an evil smirk on her face. I haven’t seen this side of her since forever!

Everyone was nervous, but at the same time they clapped for joy, rooting for Minho and Nikka. I closely looked up to my Hyung and my Noona, still pressing myself to the wall. I feel so weak, I can't even stand up alone without the support of something to lean on. Still, I witnessed Flaming Charisma and Sweet Sugar Princess in action. Well, you know what they say. When there's something sweet, there's bound to be something sour beneath it. That's Nikka-noona's sweet personality and sour fighting skills. In America, she told me she called them mere defense skills, but I definitely can prove that she was made to be a street fighter. So was Minho-hyung. Heh.

I stared in awe as Minho bent the schoolboy's wrist sideways and pushed him towards two other boys, knocking them down like bowling pins. 3 down - 5 to go. The only schoolmate left to try hurting me again ended up needing knee surgery later on. So that leads half Crazy 8z. Minho carried me in a princess style lift, asking me if I was okay. I nodded shakily, scared of what just happened. I was also happy and embarrassed that Minho could carry me like this, but it seems that the school audience around us were pleased with our "love story", as they kept calling it out loud.

In the meantime, Minho and I heard a scream from Abby again. We turned our heads to look at the sight. Abby was about to be raped by another schoolmate (that's the 2nd attempt) and Nikka knocked him down with just one blow to his neck (that's the 2nd blow she gave out). That leads to 2 other schoolmates left. Nikka gave them the icy glare towards the two. She smirked.

"This is for the Ice Cold Princess." She bolted towards them, only to have them running away. She leaped up in the air and fell on top of one of them, headlocking him in the process, then twisted his neck - not to kill him, just to make him unconscience. She's the first one who I've known has done this neck thing more than once, which sometimes I find really scary. The last Crazy 8z ran back to Nikka, pulling out a knife from his pocket.Everyone was scared; even I found Minho's body shivering as he lunged towards Nikka-noona, only letting her jump to the side, missing his target. She still had the time to wink at him and smirk again.

"You want to dance, huh? Well, then, let's dance!" She charged a leap kick towards him, only to have missed him by a few centimeters as he ducked. She landed upright, turning her head to see her opponent. For the past few minutes, you could actually see the two attack each other as if it was all a part of a dancing act. In reality, this wasn't a dancing act that was rehearsed. The knife that the schoolmate was holding is in fact real, and if Nikka-noona gets attacked, then it'll be my fault.

Before I knew it, the scary schoolmate lunged forward and so did Nikka. He swung the knife at her, cutting her right hip. That's when I noticed that her scar had been showing while she was moving freely; she didn't seem to notice. The student had reopened her healed scar, which gave her a memory of physical pain. Thinking this was an advantage, he lunged forward one more time, this time running like a wildman pointing the knife towards Nikka. She quickly twisted his wrist and pushed his arm forward, somehow causing the knife to plunge into the student's stomach.

Everyone gasped as he slowly fell to the floor, watching Nikka unbutton her shirt, using it as a bandage for the student who lashed out on her. Don't worry, she had a grey wife beater on underneath. She carefully wrapped the schoolshirt around his abdomen and slowly made him lay on the ground as the principal of the school finally called the ambulance and police for Crazy 8z. I kept staring at Noona's bleeding wound, remembering the conversation in which Jonghyun-hyung and I had to listen to about Onew-hyung's past with Nikka. They were sweet memories, but the meaning behind those scars - Onew-hyung never wants Nikka-noona to join the world of business trade. I wonder how the hyungs will react to this...?

The next day~

Taemin, Abby, and Nikka were just released from the hospital before the tabloids posted news of Flaming Charisma and Sweet Sugar Princess in action. From now on, SM Entertainment were actually a bit pleased with the positive outcome; there were no wrongdoings this time when it came to image. The head of SM Entertainment decided to rechange Nikka's nickname into Sweet & Sour Princess due to tabloids. And with deep concern for his artists, he gave SHINee, MVP, and even convinced HIM Company to let Fahrenheit take a break for 2 weeks until Nikka's scar has been healed properly.

Key and Connie were surprisingly gone to the train station and were already on their way to Jungang and Daeshin Underground Arcade, then they planned to go to a softball game; according to Key earlier before he and Connie left the dorm. Nikka was proud of her sister for finally dating Key, so she requested not to let Key and Connie know about the school incident. She was sure they'd freak out the most out of the whole gang. Calvin Chen and Chun Wu reluctantly agreed as they made several phone calls. Knowing where Nikka was cut, Onew and Jonghyun both had to take care of her in the SHINee dorm. Jonghyun was a bit jealous of Onew when Nikka had to lay on Onew's bed. But, noticing the way Onew looks at Nikka now, he can't help but feel content with it. It's as if he knew Onew was no longer seeing Nikka as a lover, but more like a sister.

Taemin was bruised up pretty badly, so he had to lay on his bed for several days, which is next to Onew's bed. Taemin glanced at his noona's bandaged wound while she stared at Taemin's bruises. They locked eyes together, then started laughing together. Onew watched carefully by the side of the room as Minho fed Taemin warm soup and as Jonghyun carefully treated Nikka's wound. Both couples were holding hands with their companions. This made Onew lonely and walked out of the bedroom to find only Jiro Wang on the couch, reading marie claire Magazine. Onew's eyes shot open to find what was on the cover - their photoshoot snapshot of all of them together in their pajamas and nightgowns at Mangu Park!

"Hey, I thought that won't be released until the beginning week of March!" Onew exclaimed loudly.

Jiro continued to search through the magazine. "It was released early in Taiwan - I had Aaron purchase a copy for me on his way over here."


"Oh." was all Onew could say. He realized something else. "Eh, where did everybody else go?"


"Ah, Chun and Calvin went to buy groceries for you guys. They'll be cooking here tonight. Hope you don't mind." Jiro looked up at Onew shaking his head. He took it as a 'no' and continued to inform him where everyone was. "Aaron noticed Abby looked restless, so he took her somewhere outside. Don't worry, they'll be right back." He noticed the painful look on Onew's face. He puts down the magazine on the couch next to him and looked up at Onew. "Onew, is there something wrong?" He just keeps shaking his head and turned his head to avoid Jiro's eyes. That's when Onew noticed the page that was open from the magazine. He saw a picture of Abby riding on Chun Wu's back while Chun seemed to look like he was running across Ap-san Park. Abby, you're so beautiful in that fall dress. Then he took notice of the next page. It was a photo of Onew and Nikka playing with water around Woobang Tower Land.

Jiro let out a small smile as he saw Onew's face changed into several different expressions. "Hey, looks like you've found out about your feelings for Abby." Still silent, Onew finally regained posture and looked at Jiro as he continued speaking. "Love is very hard to find, you know. People search for the right person to be with for the rest of their lives, but sometimes you may never know that the person you truly care for in loving terms is usually the person who's been in front of you the whole time." He stood up from the couch and walked towards Onew, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Don't give up. Now that you realize she's been there the whole time, you can make her realize that you've been a part of her life as well. Go after her, go!"

With a smile on his face, Onew bowed in front of Jiro, shouting "Thank you!" before running out the dorm room to find Abby outside the building.

When Onew finally reached Aaron and Abby, they were dancing to a reggae song from Aaron Yan's boombox. Since there was no one around at the local park, Onew decided to come closer and cut in. He coughed loudly enough for Aaron and Abby to stop the music.

"Um, is it all right if I talk to Abby in private?" Onew asked Aaron.

"Sure. Just be careful with my boombox later, you two, okay?" He flashed his killer smile at Abby as he left the park to give privacy.

Onew was about to talk to Abby, but seeing as how she fidgeted around, he knew he had to do what she usually does to calm down. With an idea, he walked over to the boombox and played a classical piece from Beethoven. He slowly led Abby to a formal dance, which surprisingly calmed her fidgeting down to a minimum. Onew figured that he might as well talk to her while they're dancing together.

"Okay, you usually don't fidget around unless something happened to you. What's wrong?"

Abby was shocked to find out that Onew remembered her small habits. She tensed up, avoiding eye contact with Onew, even though their faces were 3 inches apart. Their bodies moved more slowly, closing the gap between them.

"Abby, I heard from Taemin and Nikka that you almost got raped by two schoolboys. Is this why you've been fidgeting?" Again, Abby was shocked and at a loss of words. How did - does he really care for me this much? Doesn't he have Nikka now? I mean, that's why I used Aaron Yan; to forget all my feelings for him. This doesn't feel right....

Onew suddenly pulls Abby into an embrace, stopping themselves from dancing any furthur. "I promise, I'll always be here for you. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you at the time. Then again, if I would have been there instead of Nikka, I would've have killed the students who tried to hold you this close as I'm doing right now." He held her tighter in his arms, and Abby was still at a loss of words. This time, she was on the verge of tears. "Maybe then, I would've taken any wounds for you instead of another person. Abby, I'm sorry I never realized this, but if it's not too late..."

He pulled Abby out of their embrace and looked gently into her eyes. "If it's not too late, I ask permission to date you as long as you're here in Korea. Is that okay?" Abby looked tearfully into Onew's eyes, and saw tear drops slowly escaping from his eyelids. She nodded her head in a shaky manner as she hugged Onew, crying into his shirt. Onew started sobbing as well, crying into Abby's neck as they once again embrace in a loving way.

Aaron Yan watched from afar as he talked into his cellphone. "Yeah, maybe it's better off this way. Maybe I could fall in love with someone else real soon. I want the same love those two are experiencing right now." Although right now his heart felt pain, he let out a faint smile and turned his body to walk to the SHINee dorm. While he was walking, Jiro told him over the phone about Chun and Calvin cooking dinner for everyone, and to help hide Taemin & Nikka's wounds and bruises from Key and Connie when they come back.

Labels: fiction, guardian, story