“Mianhae hyung… But I was safe with JaeHwa,” TaeMin assured the umma.
Onew came over, clapping the dancer on the back lightly. He gave a cute smile to him and JaeHwa before saying, “Kamsahamnida JaeHwa, for taking care of our maknae.”
JaeHwa blushed a bit, giving a small nod of her head.
“I like taking care of TaeMin~ He’s fun,” she said with a smile. She nudged him playfully, flaring off another round of sparks between them.
As the hyungs shared a moment of playful teasing with TaeMin, JaeHwa half zoned out. She really, really wanted to go somewhere with TaeMin… Just to go to a place, on a date maybe, so she at least knew he wanted to try being with her.
“We should probably get going now,” JongHyun started, initiating the “plan”.
MinHo, who was behind TaeMin, pinched his sides lightly, trying to tell him to ask JaeHwa to lunch.
The maknae caught on and blushed crazily. He fumbled with his tongue, trying to get himself to say what he really wanted to say.
“Erm… Actually hyung…” He began.
Everyone paused and leaned in anxiously. Because they really weren’t being obvious doing that…
“Ne?” Key urged, raising an eyebrow.
“I-I was actually going to ask JaeHwa if she wanted to go have lunch with me.” The last part was a bit mumbled and rushed but everyone understood him anyway.
The girl dancer was more than a little surprised to say the least. Her jaw fell and her eyes widened to the size of golf balls.
“You really want to have lunch with me?” she asked incredulously, attempting t mask her shock. She never thought in a million years that Lee TaeMin would be asking her out to lunch. It was kind of like a date…
Okay, calm yourself JaeHwa.
“Yes… I really do,” TaeMin answered, smiling cutely.
“Then yes! I’d love to have lunch with you. Just let me go tell manager oppa… Don’t move,” she playfully threatened.
As JaeHwa walked away, the SHINee boys swarmed in on TaeMin, saying a bunch of things all at once.
He caught Key saying something along the lines of: “AIGO~! I TOLD YOU SHE’D SAY YES!”
JongHyun was repeated saying, “Nice TaeMin! Go TaeMin!”
MinHow hyung was giving him pointers on how to “act cool” and Onew hyung was telling him not to blow it.
“Shush hyungs! She’s coming back!” TaeMin whispered.
“Here’s some money! Make her fall in love with you!” Key hissed before dragging everyone off. When he walked by JaeHwa he gave a massive smile.
“Have a fun time! Tell Haneul to call me when you see her!”
“Have fun,” Onew added, squeezing JaeHwa’s hand momentarily before leaving her alone with TaeMin.
JaeHwa blushed but went after TaeMin.
“They’re funny those guys,” she said when she reached TaeMin.
A slightly awkward pause settled between the two as they tried to work their way back up to a comfortable zone.
“Uhm…” TaeMin shoved his hands deep in his pockets. Behind JaeHwa, he could see that his hyungs and Juliette’s manager waving their hands and mouthing, ‘Go! Go!’
He blushed even more and went to stand beside JaeHwa. One final look over his shoulder gave him the courage to gently but shyly grab the dancer’s hand.
“Come… I know a place we could go to,” He said. A small smile graced his lips as he gently tugged her along to the café that Key was talking about.
Blushing enough already, JaeHwa could do nothing but follow. She was nervous… No guy had ever held her hand (or talked to her…) before.
“Did you leave your puppy with manager hyung?” TaeMin asked, noticing that the spotted bundle was no longer with them.
“Ne~ He’s bringing him home for me… I just wish I’d given him a name before he left.” She smiled innocently, feeling quite guilty about leaving her puppy behind, but this was TaeMin! The guy she’d had a crush on for months. Years if you countered her predebut days.
“Mwo? You don’t have a name for you puppy yet?” TaeMin asked in disbelief.
“Aniyo… I feel bad~!” the girl yelled, covering her face with her unoccupied hand.
TaeMin giggled and held JaeHwa upright.
“We can think of a name for him together~” he suggested. With a quick squeeze of her hand, TaeMin kick started the brain storming process of dog names.
One after the other, the maknaes threw puppy names at each other. They vetoed every so often, giggled at their silly suggestions. They basically had the dog to thank for making them so comfortable like that.
“You should name him Chicken” TaeMin suddenly exclaimed.
JaeHwa burst out laughing at this one name.
“Why Chicken?” she asked.
The boy blushed a bit before explaining, “Well, because I was thinking of Onew hyung and how he’s really hyper like your puppy and Onew hyung likes chicken… So… Chicken!”
The two maknaes giggled together. However, JaeHwa did also really like chicken… And TaeMin’s reason for the name was too cute to reject.
“Okay~ Chicken it is!” she agreed.
TaeMin was surprised that she’d actually accepted the somewhat ridiculous suggestion that he’d just randomly thrown out there.
“Jeongmal?” he asked.
The girl nodded, covering her smile with her hand.
“All right then…”
They changed topics after that, having almost reached the café anyway. Being a gentleman, TaeMin held the door open for JaeHwa, waiting for her to walk through before going in himself.
“Komawo~” the dancer thanked.
The two sat at a table by a window, noticing how a couple people half already noticed their arrival. A few people had their phones out trying to secretly snap pictures.
Having been used to it, though, TaeMin ignored them. JaeHwa had a slightly harder time ignoring them since she wasn’t as used to the fame and fans completely yet…
“You can get anything you want~” TaeMin informed the girl once they were seated.
“I don’t want to get a lot… I don’t have much money left,” JaeHwa admitted.
“I’m paying for you! I’m the one who asked you out on the date,” the maknae interjected.
JaeHwa grinned, feeling herself blush.
“So this is a fate?” she asked shyly.
TaeMin reddened all the way to his ears once he realized what he’d said. But nonetheless, he wasn’t about to reject the fact that he did want this to be a date.
“Ne~ If you want it to be…”
“I do want this to be a date…”
And that’s how it was settled. The maknae’s were one step closer to getting what they really wanted…