Chapter 13

After what felt like a life time I finally pulled up to my house.  Thankfully there were no fans waiting, but I swear I could see photographers hiding. 

I stepped out and entered my house with my security bringing my bags with them.  I turned to thank them as they left swiftly.  I strode through the house into the kitchen to find Jen and Yuni in there sitting at the counter laughing. 

‘Here is our boy!’ exclaimed Yuni running over and hugging me tightly.

‘We all missed you here’ She said excitedly.

‘I missed you guys too’ I smiled down at the small lady.  She had helped me with a lot from the beginning, she was like a second mother to me and I trusted her completely. 

I looked over at Jen who was looking away her gaze focusing on the kitchen. 

I looked back at Yuni and asked her ‘Everything ok?’ she knew what I meant.

‘All fine Taemin’ she told me.  ‘No one suspects for now.  Remember you have a meeting at 11am tomorrow about this.  But I’ll let you be for now and settle home.’  She gave me a warm smile and added in a whisper ‘She’s really lovely’.

I grinned back widely my bones filling with warmth that she approves of Jen. 

‘Ok my dear, I need to be going, I’ll see you soon’ Yuni turned back to Jen and gave her a quick hug. 

‘Thank you for everything’ Jen told her hugging her back. 

‘It is my pleasure my dear.’ Yuni winked at me as she made her way through the door down to the basement to leave. 

We were home, and we were alone.  Jen looked at me, a little shyly before quickly looking around the kitchen again. 

I suddenly became very nervous. 

‘Hey’ I said going over to her and putting my arms around her waist. She looked up into my eyes making me soft.

‘Hey’ she replied smirking at me.  She cocked her eye at me making me question her.

‘What’s up?’ I asked her.

‘Is it always like that?’ her face was quite serious.

I sighed and threw my head backwards. ‘Yeah, or worse. It is the way it is.  I love the fans, but I don’t know how they manage to find out about me all the time’

I looked back down at her, her eyes were full of concern but she didn’t say anything else. 

‘Sometimes I wish I could close the door, from me on stage to my private life’

‘It’s hard to give up everything to them’ she said. 

I smiled sadly.  I did love the fans, for without the fans I would have no career.  But it is true that in Korea at least there was no boundary between your own life and what you could do as a human, and your stage persona and what you gave them.  It was never enough for them. 

‘Are you tired?’ I asked her changing the subject. ‘Hungry?’

‘Hmmmm, I’m not sure, I think I still have all the adrenaline of the last hour left in me’ she said. 

I checked my watch.  It was 10am.  We had the whole day free to settle. 

‘Ok, come with me, I’ll show you the house’.  I pulled her arm my hand finding hers. 

I wanted her to be comfortable in my house and I felt a little shy showing her around.  I walked her through the large living room, with huge windows but assured her they were one way, you could see out but no one would be able to see in, this was the same in every room of the house.  I walked her through everything downstairs.  The house wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small, it was modern and I hoped she would feel comfortable. 

I showed her into the bedroom.  It was quite simple with a huge bed in the middle and mirrored built in wardrobes all around.  On the far end was a dressing table and a TV on the wall.  It had an en-suite. 

‘So, this is the bedroom.’ I said shyly, having left this room for last.  ‘Our bedroom’ I said quietly, she turned her focus onto me as I said this and smiled shyly at me. 

She walked around the room, taking in the sparse furniture and the minimalist look. 

‘Where can I put my things?’ She asked me. 

Idiot Taemin.  ‘Oh here, this side has always been empty’ I ran over sliding one of the doors of the mirrored wardrobe open for her.  ‘Is it enough?’

She laughed.  ‘I think so, I don’t have a lot of things.  Why has this always been empty, why don’t you use it?’ She asked me watching at me quizzically. 

I shrugged half not wanting to tell her and feeling slightly silly.

‘Taemin tell me’ she poked me

I looked at her with a serious face ‘I always kept it empty because I always wanted to share this room with someone.  I wanted them to have a place in the room even if I hadn’t met them yet.  It was kind of stupid, it always made me feel bad seeing it empty’

Her face softened from an intense stare to a soft smile.  She grabbed my hand and said, ‘Well I might not have much stuff but I think I can stop you feeling bad about it being empty now’. 

I stopped feeling silly immediately, a warm feeling spreading over me. 

I scrunched my nose at her smiling and pulled her closer to me to kiss her lips. 

I looked down at the bed and then back at her.

‘Let’s go to bed, then we can get up and eat something later’ I said in a low voice.

‘But, I’m not tired’ She answered me. 

‘Neither am I’ I replied.  ‘I wasn’t intending for us to sleep.’