#yoonmi.shinee

[ggukkiedae]

miya

[3:30am kst, 231217, wc: 620] [cw: jonghyun (read at your own discretion)]

(from c: i miss jonghyun loads. words can't explain. he has been one of my longest running role models, and i just really wish he's happy and at peace making music for all the angels and stars up there with our moon)

Yoonmi never felt lonelier.

Her members, her brothers, her constants were all in the military, and she had restricted access to communication with them. In fact, she wouldn’t be able to contact four of them for a few weeks at all. Her siblings by blood and on paper were both busy, and her boyfriend just arrived in the country and was probably tired.

She sighed to herself as she looked over to her photowall, a floor to ceiling section filled almost completely with photos, one catching her attention in particular.

Sitting up gently to keep from startling her pets, she approached one specific photo. One of her and someone she used to always go to for advice or comfort when she couldn’t ask her members.

“Hey, Rajah,” she looked at her kitten, “there’s someone I want you to meet.”

The small kitten just looked at her curiously, patiently letting her owner pick her up. After getting her kitten in a sweater and herself in sweatpants and a coat, Yoonmi grabbed her helmet and the body harness for her pets and made for her motorcycle.

The drive was cold.

There was no other way to describe it. It was the middle of December, the beginning of winter, but she didn’t care. Those thirty minutes she spent driving to him would always be worth it.

She silently greeted the security guard, one she grew familiar with over the years, and handed him a pack of brownies as she placed her helmet on her motorcycle. She knew the security guard would guard it like he always did. After a deep breath, Yoonmi walked past the gates.

It was a minute walk before she reached her destination, the person she wanted to see. With a smile, she sat down across from him and gave him a smile.

“Jonghyun oppa,” she bowed her head to his resting place in respect, “I feel like I’ve been bothering you too often, but you know you’re one of my safe people.”

She gently lay a brownie piece on her handkerchief and placed it by him. “I know I’m a day earlier than you probably expected, but I brought brownies! Though I will have to take this piece back when I leave. I don’t really want to litter.”

A laugh escaped her lips as she gently began to unfasten the harness around her torso. Small mewls filled the air as Rajah was shaken out of her comfortable position.

“Oppa,” she showed off the kitten, “this is my new baby, Rajah. Rajah, that’s Uncle Jonghyun. Isn’t she cute, oppa? Jimin oppa got her for me so I wouldn’t be too lonely over their enlistment period.”

She sighed as she set Rajah down, watching as the cat curled up just under Jonghyun’s name. “I made it through the SHINee oppas and their military service, but this is different, you know? I’ve had the oppas with me almost every day for the past thirteen years, and now all seven of them are going to be away for so long.”

“I guess I feel lonely.” A sad smile made its way to her face. “Especially because everyone’s so busy… I know you are, too, but you’re right here with me, right?”

Something, she didn’t know what (or maybe she did), prompted her to look up. Right in her field of view, a star shone brighter than the others. Maybe she deluded herself into thinking it had a slight pearlescent aqua hue.

“Thank you,” she smiled back at him, petting Rajah slightly and taking out a small paper slower she had made from her backpack and placing it next to his name. “I miss you lots, Jonghyun oppa. I hope you’re happy up there.”

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[ggukkiedae]

notes: yoonmi visits shinee for the first time since minho got discharged

setting: early january of 2021

Yoonmi walks towards the SM practice room, an excited bounce in her step. No, she wasn’t on the way to visit her boyfriend. She was on her way to visit a few people who she’s known for longer than she’s known her boyfriend.

“Oppa!” The moment she opened the door, she ran straight towards Minho and gave him a hug. “You’re back!”

Minho chucked and hugged her back. The 31-year-old patted her head. “Yes, and in one piece.”

“Nice to see you, too, kiddo,” Key snorted from the side.

Yoonmi laughed and let go of Minho to approach the three other members. She gave Key a hug and felt herself being sandwiched from the back by Taemin. Giggles were all that came from her.

“To be fair, oppa,” she reasoned, “this is the first time I’ve seen Minho oppa since his last break. I’ve been seeing you three constantly the past month or so. And I saw Taemin oppa like every week for the past year.”

“That’s right,” Taemin poked her cheek.

She pressed her lips into a tight smile and escaped their hug sandwich. Next thing she knew, she was tucked under Onew’s arm and smiling at them.

“You’re complete,” she cheered. “After two years, all five of you are here!”

The four older boys gave her soft smiles. She grinned in content and wrapped her arms around Onew’s middle. It was nice to see them all there. She could see the small photo of Jonghyun that they stuck up on the mirror as if to have him watch over them while they practice.

“I still think it’s unfair that you clearly have your favorites,” Key booped her nose. “I mean, you waited for Jinki hyung’s discharge right outside his station.”

She scrunched her nose at him. That was true. She had ran and hugged the elder, and it was an airport moment. Onew had lifted her, swinging them a little to keep them from toppling over due to her momentum. A video of that somehow made it into twitter and trended for a week.

“I’m not playing favorites,” she stuck her tongue out at the Daegu boy, “you guys are brothers. Jinki oppa is a dad.”

“Well aren’t you a smart little kid?”

“I’m an adult now!”

“Stop,” Taemin groaned, “You can’t be an adult! You were literally a baby when we met you!”

She gave him a playful smile before laughing. She remembered that day. She was a small and shy 13-year-old girl who met the group that inspired and comforted her. Now, they were as good as family to her. Almost as much as Bangtan.

“It may have been eight years,” Minho ruffled her hair, “but she’s still a baby.”

She gave him a look. “You sound like the Bangtan oppas.”

“I’ve been chatting with Taehyung a lot recently.”

Onew chuckled and patted her head. “Okay, I’m gonna go and order lunch. How about you learn the dance to our comeback song while waiting?”

Her eyes lit up as she skipped over to the center of the practice room in front of the mirrors. The three younger SHINee members followed after her to show her what their choreography looks like. Onew smiled fondly at them and pulled out his phone to order food. With how excited the boys get whenever the little ray of sunshine visits them, their energy just skyrockets.

“Oppa, nothing too spicy, please!”

Onew looked up and smiled at the younger girl while Key lightly teased her about not being able to handle spicy food.

“As always, Yoonmi.”

[ggukkiedae]

What are the most fan favorite moments between Yoonmi and Shinee, that Army's and Shawols still think about?.

An ArmyWol’s Starter Kit: SHINee’s Hello Baby Season 2 ft. BTS’s Miya

1. Jonghyun’s Instagram

jonghyun loves taking yoonmi out to places and just overall being a doting brother like he is with yeri

he has a bunch of photos of her and the two of them on his ig and they’re just adorable

it’s also proof shots of when jinki takes her out to places too or when he and kibum visit

2. SHINee’s Military Enlistments and Discharges

she was there when jinki, kibum, and minho enlisted, and she’s gonna be there for sure when taemin enlists

she posted pictures each time and gave the boys little presents

not to mention she did visit quite a bit and made sure to make some time for them when they had their leaves

then there’s the iconic video of her hugging jinki when he got discharged

3. The Fuzzy Jacket

the shinee boys’ first gift to her was a fuzzy jacket

yes, she wore it everywhere for at least a year

yes, it’s a little smaller now than it used to be

yes, she still wears it very often

4. Good Evening/Fake Love Era

this era was a win for people who stanned all shinee bts and wanna one tbh

anyway, yoonmi was constantly at shinee’s pre-recordings with her lightstick

and the boys would always take the breaks to talk to her or even bring her up on stage

many many photos were posted

5. M.Y. Everyday || keeping our promises (pt. 1&2)

basically they promised each other they’d go to each other’s concerts

for shinee world V and the wings tour final, she vlogged herself with them

there were a lot of hugs, imitating, and proud smiles

[ggukkiedae]

❝𝕒𝕕𝕧𝕚𝕔𝕖❞

𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

⇢ yoonmi decides to look for comfort and advice from someone who isn’t directly affected by the group’s dilemma

⇢ set on november 12, 2017

⇢ just a note from me, something really important in yoonmi’s life is december of 2017, but i won’t be writing about it directly out of respect for jonghyun and because i’m also still quite sensitive about the situation. for now, though, here’s jonghyun in his wise and caring nature

𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜:

⇢ signs of panic attacks, jonghyun (please don’t read if you can’t)

𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜:

⇢ conversations written in italics are spoken in english. requests and feedback are highly appreciated!

“Hey,” Jonghyun opened the door and let Yoonmi in his place, “I thought you were going to America tomorrow.”

Yes, she was supposed to be resting before her flight. She was supposed to be back at the dorms. She was supposed to be with the boys. She was supposed to be in a group that stuck together. She was supposed to promote with them all the way until the end. She was supposed to have all seven of her members want to stay together like they promised her.

Her knees gave in, and she broke down right in the doorway.

“Oh no,” Jonghyun knelt in front of her and pulled her into a hug. “Come here. What’s wrong?”

She wanted to tell him. She wanted to say almost everything was wrong, but she couldn’t. Only nonsense came out of her mouth, words distorted by how hard she had been crying. It was too much for her. She had been holding it in for a little over a month.

Jonghyun silently comforted her, a hand gently rubbing her back.

It took nearly twenty minutes before he managed to calm her down and get her breathing back to normal. Though she wasn’t asleep, she stayed completely still, a stark difference from how much she had been shaking.

She let the older boy pull her up and walk her over to the couch.

“Stay right there,” he instructed. “I’ll go get you a cup of water.”

She nodded and watched Jonghyun go into his kitchen. His dog, Roo, made her way up into her lap and nuzzled her head into Yoonmi’s stomach. It was as if the puppy knew she needed comforting. Her hands instinctively went down from tugging at her own hair to playing with Roo’s fur.

“Thank you,” she said under her breath when Jonghyun gave her a cup of water. “I’m sorry for breaking down on you like that.”

“You don’t have to feel sorry for that,” he gave her a comforting smile and sat on the couch next to her. “Don’t feel sorry for expressing emotions. But what’s got you like this?”

She hesitated, fingers tugging a little too tight at Roo’s fur. Yoonmi immediately let go of the puppy in surprise of her own actions.

“I’m sorry,” she gently stroked Roo’s fur, avoiding eye contact with Jonghyun. A deep sigh escaped her lips as she tried to formulate the words to explain. “Oppa, have you ever— I mean, as Shinee…”

“Problem in the group?” he asked. “I could message Onew hyung. He’d have more advice as a leader.”

“He hasn’t been picking up my calls for the past few months,” she trailed off.

“Right,” Jonghyun nodded. “If I remember correctly, he doesn’t want to drag you into his scandal by having people see you with him.”

“Those people know nothing,” she huffed.

Jonghyun chuckled. “No, they don’t. Come on, Yoonmi. What’s got you all shaken up?”

“They want to disband,” she whispered under her breath. If Jonghyun was shocked, he didn’t show it. He held out his hand, which she took while continuing. “Something about leaving while we’re at the peak instead of fading away. I don’t understand.”

A stray tear spilled out of the corner of her eye.

Jonghyun wiped it away. “Did you talk to your brothers about this?”

“Yoonsung oppa doesn’t know,” she shook her head. Her voice was wavering, “and Channie oppa’s worried about keeping his team complete without JYP eliminating anyone.”

She closed her eyes in an attempt to stop her tears. Roo lifted her head in confusion when Yoonmi’s hands left her fur to rub her eyes. Yoonmi could feel the lump forming in her throat again, and her breathing was getting shallow. Her chest got heavy, and her head was starting to spin.

Jonghyun lifted her hand that was holding his and placed it on his chest. “Listen to me, Yoonmi. Follow my breathing. Don’t let this consume you. Keep your mind here, okay? Can you tell me about anything right now? How was working with Seo Taiji sunbaenim? You haven’t told us about that yet.”

“He,” she paused, gasping a little while trying to control her breathing. “He was really sweet. He complimented us a lot, and he let me call him dad during our preparations. He keeps in touch every now and then and asks me to call him either uncle or dad.”

“That’s great,” he stroked her hair. She was pretty sure he was pertaining to how she stayed conscious and kept her breathing as steady as she could. “Keep going. How about the performances.”

“We learned a new dance style,” she commented. “It was old school, like how Hobi oppa used to show us when we were trainees. It reminded me of our start as a hiphop-centric group. Oppa, they promised me it would be us from start to end, why are they leaving me behind like this?”

Tears flowed freely down her face. Jonghyun gently nudged Roo off of Yoonmi’s lap and pulled her onto his for a hug. Her tears drenched his shirt as she clung onto his sleeves.

“I don’t want to disband,” she gasped out. “I don’t want to leave them. I don’t want them to leave! They promised me until the end!”

Jonghyun shushed her. This was new to him. He had seen her upset before, silent tears or a sulking mood, but he had never seen her completely break down like this. Well, not since 2015.

“It’s okay,” Jonghyun reassured her. “No matter what happens, you know they aren’t leaving you. They care about you so much more than any of your Shinee oppas do, and none of us are leaving you. What more them?”

“They said we’d be Bangtan until the end,” she whispered.

He sighed, wondering how he could say this without triggering her. “Have you ever considered that this could possibly be the end?”

Her head snapped up as she looked at him in disbelief. He just cradled her face and wiped the tears away.

“I don’t mean the end of your friendship,” he told her. “I mean the end of the group. Personally, I think you guys can still reach higher points. But, to them, maybe this is the end they want. This doesn’t mean they won’t keep taking care of you or being your family.”

“I’m just scared they’ll leave me behind like,” she didn’t finish her words, looking down to avoid eye contact once again.

“Those people were horrible human beings that don’t deserve you,” he pulled her to his chest. “The boys aren’t like that. If anything, they’ll probably fight over who gets your attention the most. One thing’s for sure. Even if you do disband, they aren’t leaving you. Ever.”

“For real?”

“For real,” he nodded. “Do me a favor, Yoonmi? Don’t fight with them. Make the most of your time with them as a group, okay? God knows how tense your promotions must be now if you guys are divided.”

She let that sink in. Maybe she had been too tough both on herself and her members. She didn’t like being upset with them, and, if they really were disbanding, this might be their last time promoting together. If it had to end, she wanted it to end on a good note.

She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the door slamming open.

“I’m here! We need to catch u— WHO MADE MY LITTLE SISTER CRY?”

Yoonmi was shocked to hear Key’s voice at the door. She looked at Jonghyun who just shrugged at her.

“I messaged the group chat when you messaged me you were coming,” he explained. “He’s the least busy one.”

“No, no, honey,” Key approached her and squished her cheeks. “You shouldn't be hurt! Come on, let’s get that makeup off. We are going to pamper you before we ship you off back to your dorm.”

She watched as Key opened his bag and rummaged around it before heading to Jonghyun's bathroom to check his skincare things. She exchanged a look with Jonghyun.

“It’ll be fine,” he told her while tilting his head to his room. “I’ve got a pretty good birthday gift for you, and maybe it’ll come to good use when you go to America.”

(She got ready to leave the next day, a new brown knitted cardigan on top of her outfit. Taehyung looked at her curiously, tilting his head.

“That’s a new sweater,” he noted. “Why are you in a skirt?”

“Jonghyun oppa’s early birthday present,” she smiled. “Oh, and I like skirts.”

“Did Key hyung fight him and say he has a better gift again?”

Her laugh was all the confirmation Taehyung needed.)

[ggukkiedae]

The mini hide and seek with Yoonmi especially when she was younger and her SHINEE oppas making sure she actually wins the hide & seek HAHAHAHA the headache joon would’ve had 💀

They’ll let the game keep going until they hear the words ‘ten minutes to stand by’ ‘YOONMI STAND BYYYYYY’ 🤡

alaskdhfh it’s hella adorable and that’s how yoonmi made all the idols in the music show fond of her aksjdhf you know how shinee’s like friends with everyone? they’d elicit a bunch of people’s help to hide her (and they’d hide jungkook too sometimes)

the worst case of namjoon’s headache was around 2016 (bs&t, 1of1) because it wasn’t just shinee hiding yoonmi, it was also the got7 boys... then there’s also 2018 when shinee bts and wanna one were all promoting... daehwi is clever, we can say that

lmao sometimes she’s actually in the stage wings waiting for everyone and namjoon’s kinda just “please, princess, i don’t need gray hairs this early” “but it’s not me! it’s the shinee oppas!”

[ggukkiedae]

I can imagine them filming a Bangtan Bomb, and Yoonmi isn't there of course so Jungkook, who is filming goes where SHINee is at and he's like "Army you know the rule, I know the rule, so I have to bring her to you".

oh my god for suuuuuure aksjdhf whenever they have overlapping promotions (which isn’t too often tbh) there’s always a bangtan bomb released of compilations of like namjoon or yoongi knocking on the door to bring her back and you see her face light up when she opens the door and sees them alsjdhhf

then there’s the occasional other members (mostly jungkook or jimin) who are trying to get her to come back but kibum’s like “i don’t see a namjoon or yoongi” so they just end up hanging out there aksbfbf

lmao during fake love promos there were clips of namjoon being stressed bc he never knew if yoonmi was in shinee’s waiting room, shinee’s pre-recording, wanna one’s waiting room, or wanna one’s pre-recording so it’s just a big game of “finding yoonmi”

[ggukkiedae]

Hey Yoonmi, I just wanted to say that Jonghyun would be really proud of you, and I'm sure he would have loved seeing your relationship with Mark. (Obviously he's watching over you). And the rest of SHINee of course.

“thank you so much, this means a lot to me! jonghyun oppa has given me a lot of advice as one of my mentors when i was younger, so i’m trying my best to live the way i think he’d want me to... that reminds me, mark oppa and i have to visit jonghyun oppa before he makes his comeback” *pulls out her phone to message* “the other shinee oppas are gonna want to come, huh? it would be nice to go together”

[ggukkiedae]

I can imagine during the start of SHINee's and Yoonmi's friendship there were some "Hey, can we have Yoonmi back please, we have an interview". "But she's so cute, plus Key's spoiling her right now".

alsjdjhf truuuueee esp because they met while promoting everybody and no so shinee would kidnap her from bangtan’s waiting room all the time aksjdhf not to mention the shinee boys made a rule that they’ll only give yoonmi back if it’s namjoon or yoongi who comes for her ✊🏻🤧

[ggukkiedae]

Question for Key: Before you met Yoonmi what was your impression of her, and how much an impact has she made on your life and the rest of the members?

“in all honesty, the first time we heard of her was when she was about to debut. it became a big deal when it was revealed to the public that there’d be a group with 7 boys and 1 girl. i thought it was interesting. then she debuted. at that time she was a lot smaller and daintier than she is now, and she held herself with such confidence on stage that she became a different person entirely. i’m pretty sure all i thought was ‘damn, this kid is good, and i’m grateful she’s a shawol’”

“we knew we were opening the opportunity to get close to her, but we didn’t expect how much of a constant she’d be. yoonmi almost instantly became like family to us, and she’s been a big help both in terms of work and life. work part aside, she brings out the nurturing side in all of us, as weird as that sounds. i think we all silently agreed to try and give her as normal as a childhood that we could while she still had years of being a kid left”

“i don’t know when exactly, but each of us realized that yoonmi was helping us as well when we thought we were helping her. she made us feel quite a bit happier, and we would be able to feel like we don’t have problems when we hang out. she has like this energy that makes people comfortable and at ease, so i think she’s one of the people who’s helped keep the five of us sane for so long”

[ggukkiedae]

I can see Army on Twitter reacting to Kibum helping Yoonmi decide what the furniture is going to be like in her apartment. "Guy's, K-armys said they saw Chan and Yoonmi shopping for furniture at an Ikea". "That's nice, at least she has her brother to help". "They also said they saw Key". "Oh, God".

aksjshfb it’s the way people would find it completely wholesome but also wonder if yoonmi vlogged it for her m.y. everyday videos because they’d wanna see what went down aksjhdf (spoiler: she didn’t vlog it)

you’d just here stories from witnesses on twt that they’d say hi to people who recognized them, they’d carefully look through everything, chan would actually listen intently to key, and chan and kibum would lose yoonmi at some point while she’s checking out the plushies and talking to a fan she ran into 🤧

[ggukkiedae]

When the news came out that Mark was dating Yoonmi, did Shinee talk to him about not hurting her.

actually, one of the first things they did after mark asked her to be his girlfriend was visit jonghyun’s grave. jonghyun introduced them, and jonghyun was hoping for them to get together for the longest time

honestly, the whole of shinee were rooting for her to get with one of the three boy dreamies that she was close with (minho had his bets on hyuck and taemin firmly believed she’d end up with jisung)

when they found out, it was cheering, and exchange of money mostly. jinki just gave mark a quick reminder that if he hurts her she literally has the whole of bangtan, shinee, and her older brothers ready to fight for her but nothing too heavy 🥰

[ggukkiedae]

Key, if Yoonmi were on Amazing Saturday what would you do?

key: “my little sister! please, i’d love to have her on there, but she’d have to be on my team. she’s a wiz at songs, and she’s practically friends with the whole industry at this point! but rest be sured i’m gonna look after the kid since she does tend to get quite shy”

[ggukkiedae]

Okay, but of course Yoonmi has her M.Y. Everyday vlog going on and say it's 2016. She's just filming herself walking around music bank or wherever, and you hear Key in the background. And Yoonmi's just like "And this is how it starts".

please it’s the way you’ll hear a distant “yoonmi, where are you?” and the camera just starts shaking and you hear laughter, hushing, and frantic footsteps that’s usually minho picking her up and running away from namjoon and her managers aksndnfbfb

[ggukkiedae]

Has. Yoonmi been able to hang out with any of the Shinee members, also have any of them been to Hybe?

yoonmi: “i actually had dinner with jinki oppa the other night! and i’ve mostly been keeping up with the other oppas through text... i have actually brought kibum oppa to my studio, it was for something about his album”

[ggukkiedae]

You know that one vlive with Key and Taemin when they said that their manager needs someone, like trying to be a matchmaker. I can imagine Taemin asking Miya for advice like "Jonghyun brought you and Mark together, why can't I do the same" Yeah, that was Jonghyun, but you're you.

lmao the way in that same vlive taemin calls yoonmi and is all “hey, i can be a good matchmaker right? like hyung did with you and mark?” and there’s like a few seconds of silence and she goes “sorry, oppa, seokjinnie oppa says i can’t lie”

the laughter from key is on a whole ‘nother level while taemin’s just appalled and yoonmi’s giggles are flowing through his phone’s speakers aksjfhfh (she apologizes and says she’ll bring over brownies)

[ggukkiedae]

request! was there ever a post/story abt miya and mark meeting for the first time n jonghyun is like 😁😁😁 I know you said they met in 2014? AHA I was stalking ur masterlist cause I love your writing <3

oh my gosh thank you so much 🥺🥺🥺 i never actually wrote how they met, did i? weeeell we have jonghyun to thank! we all need a little mischievous jjong in our lives rn sooo hope you enjoy! 🥰💖

italic conversations are spoken in english

WARNING: jonghyun (if you’re still a little sensitive about him, please don’t read this. i completely understand. it took me a while before i could even say his name out loud again)

“Jonghyun oppa,” Yoonmi looked around worriedly, “I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to be talking about Taemin oppa’s album, not camping out in your artist lounge.”

“Relax, Yoonmi,” the older told her. “No one’s going to scold you. Besides, have trust in your oppa, and eat this SHINee cupcake.”

Yoonmi could only laugh at the insistent look on his face. Jonghyun had snuck her away from the conference room while Taemin went to the bathroom. He could get in trouble for that, so the least she could do was eat the cupcake he bought for her.

“You know,” Jonghyun told her, “I can introduce you to people around your age. As much as I love you, I’m literally eleven years older than you.”

“I don’t mind,” she smiled at him. “Besides, I have my friends from JYP, remember? The two trainees? And Jinki oppa already introduced me to one of the SM trainees. Donghyuck oppa is my friend now.”

“Yes, but how about some more SM friends?” Jonghyun trailed off as he spotted someone and called him over. When the boy approached, Jonghyun spoke again. “Taeyong-ah, this is BTS’s Miya. Yoonmi, this is Taeyong. Now, where are mini shinki?”

“They’re in school right now, hyung,” the trainee who she assumed was Taeyong told the elder after giving a bow to Yoonmi who stood up and bowed back in greeting. “Mark is in the training room, though.”

“Call him over, would you?”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Oppa,” she tugged on Jonghyun’s sleeve while slumping down in her seat. “I can’t talk to people out of nowhere! You have to give me a warning before making me meet people! Meeting Heechul sunbae and Donghyuck oppa already made me freaked out enough.”

“Consider this a warning,” Jonghyun laughed and patted her head. “You’re about to meet Lee Mark, one of the most hardworking trainees I know. He’s still a little older than you, but still younger then Jungkook.”

“Oh my god.”

Because she buried her face in her hands, she didn’t see the boy walk into the artist lounge and approach them.

“You were calling for me, hyung?”

She froze a little at the new voice. She felt Jonghyun wrap and arm around her shoulder.

“I have someone I want you to meet, Mark,” he began while pulling her up a little. “This is BTS’s Miya. Yoonmi, this is Mark. He’s part of the SM Rookies.”

Mark immediately bowed once he processed that the girl in front of him was a debuted idol. She felt her cheeks flush as she bowed back.

“It’s nice to meet you, Miya sunbaenim,” he told her.

“Oh, uh,” she began, her mind buffering a little bit. “You, too, Mark-ssi. Please, don’t call me sunbaenim. I’m fine with just Miya or Yoonmi even.”

“Oh, okay.”

There was a small silence between them where Yoonmi chewed lightly on her lip. Jonghyun looked back and forth between the two of them with a smile. He nudged Yoonmi with his elbow and mouthed to say something.

“I,” she began with a little bit of hesitation, “I’m not really good with talking to new people, I’m sorry.”

Mark tilted his head a little, scratching the back of his neck. “Would speaking English be better for you?”

“You speak English?” she gasped.

“I’m from Vancouver,” he chuckled awkwardly. “I’m guessing you’re not from America?”

“I grew up in England,” she smiled, “but I kinda switched back and forth between places, so my accent’s messed up.”

“I think it sounds cool.”

“Thank you.”

Jonghyun sensed another silence coming, so he stood up and made Mark sit across from Yoonmi. She looked up at the SHINee boy with slightly panicked eyes. He gave her a face saying to stay seated before dusting off his hands.

“I’m going to go call Taemin so we can have our discussion here with snacks,” Jonghyun began. “Mark, I’m trusting you to keep my kid company.”

With that, the older walked out the door. She turned to the Canadian in front of her. He didn’t look that much older than her.

“How old are you?” she asked. “I hope you don’t mind me asking. Jonghyun oppa says I need to make friends with more people nearer to my age, so he introduced me to you.”

“No problem at all,” he reassured her. “I’m sixteen if we’re talking Korean age. 1999. That’s two years from you, if I’m correct?”

“That’s right,” she nodded. “How’d you know?”

“I’m a fan,” he flushed. “Most of us trainees are fans, actually. SHINee sunbaenim showed us a few videos of you guys’ performances, and I guess your music and skills kinda just resonated with us.”

“That’s... a big honor. Thank you!”

“It’s well deserved recognition,” Mark shrugged. “Wait, so you really don’t have friends around your age?”

She shook her head sheepishly. “Just three, but two of them, we don’t get to meet up often because idol schedules, and they’re training in JYP. The third is Donghyuck oppa, like, from here. Our friendship is a little new. Other than them, it’s my members, a trainee at the company, a few older JYP trainees, and the SHINee oppas.”

“Woah... You know, I can introduce you to a few of the younger trainees here. I think you might get along well with Jisung.”

She tilted her head curiously.

“He’s our second youngest at the moment,” Mark explained with a fond smile. “Oh! I should introduce you to Hannah! She’s from England, too!”

This got her interest. Another person from England, Donghyuck had mentioned to her before as well. Before she knew it, she and Mark were sucked into a long conversation mostly about more people, being a foreigner, and different trainee stories. She only noticed Jonghyun left them alone when her manager called to say he was at the front of the building. Mark brought her to her car with a promise that they’d hang out another time. Once settled, she pulled out her phone and saw a message from Jonghyun.

우리 선생님 오빠 🌕: hope you had fun with your new friend today! we can talk about taemin’s album next week ❤️

me: thank you oppa ❤️