Roi-ah's birthday story!! ^^

Roi~ah’s Birthday Story! ^^

Intro

Taemin woke as the telephone went off beside him. It was 3.25am the bright screen informed him as below that the

caller ID flashed “Unknown number”.

He sighed and clicked the hang up button. It wasn’t the time for him to be answering phone calls, especially ones from an unknown caller.

He lay back into the soft pillow. Soon he fell back to sleep as the tiredness of the performance just a few hours previously caught up with him.

Part 1

It had been three long years. Enough time for him to forget. But he hadn’t.

All it had taken was two minutes. He noticed her first. She had been walking through the street surrounded by a group of friends, taking pictures and jumping excitedly. The typical tourists.

And then he saw her smile. A cute little grin that spread wide across her face. A sparkle in her eye shone brightly and that’s when it happened.

She met his gaze.

For a moment they stayed like that, transfixed in each other’s stare. Until one of her friends dragged her away from where she stood.

“Yah!” she squealed in protest.

“Roi~ah, come ON! Everyone has already gone into the shop,” her friend shouted.

She glanced back over her shoulder at the deep red cheeks of Taemin while he stood motionless. And then she was gone.

Roi, Taemin heard ricocheting around his head. He stood still in a daze.

What is wrong with me? He wondered, I’ve seen pretty girls before but this one she’s...she’s....different... She’s Roi...

Inside him he felt a strange sensation creep up within him. His heart felt like it was being tugged around his chest. He looked down and saw that his hands were shaking violently.

I must have her, his first thought. Straight away followed by, What if she doesn’t want me?

In all his confusion Taemin hadn’t noticed that his legs had already made up their mind and were crossing the road for him.

A large speaker system blared out one of his songs through the record store as the door shut behind him.

This might not be a good idea, he thought as he carefully looked around for fangirls about to pounce on him and more importantly her.

He edged through the aisles swiftly, scanning every cm for her.

Where did she go?!

Suddenly he heard a loud scream, coming from a few metres behind him. It was quickly followed by a

chorus of “Oh my GOD! It’s Taemin oppa!”

He wheeled around on his heels to see a large group of young girls running for him.

Taemin looked around in panic as the girls approached quickly. Before he could dart around the next shelf they had engulfed him. Hands were pressing all around him and each high pitched screamed seemed to stab his ears.

He tried to back away from them but they had circled all around him, tugging at his hair and snapping pictures of Taemin’s disgruntled expression.

“Aigoo ~ Taeminnie so

KYPOTA!” they all squealed as his famous pout surfaced.

He couldn’t move at this point. He could barely even breathe.

If Minho hyung was here he could rescue me, he thought. He could probably find me the pretty girl as well, Roi.

At this point Taemin got so claustrophobic, feeling so powerless against the large group of fangirls.

There is no escape!

A tear rolled down his soft cheek as realisation set in.

I’ve lost her.

The tear was follow

ed by a flood as he openly wept in front of the girls. Instead of helping the distressed teen they screamed and took more photos.

A large pair of hands pushed back the girls and grabbed Taemin from their clutches.

The shops security guard led the still weeping Taemin into the back room. He pushed him gently into a chair beside the manager’s desk and left to make sure the troublesome fangirls went.

The manager gave the teen a sympathetic smile as he pushed the phone towards him.

“So sorry for the inconvenience, sir. Would you like to like to call someone to come pick you up?” he gently asked.

Taemin sniffed and no

dded as he dried his tear stained cheeks.

“Ok. I’ll go get you a glass of water,” the manager said as he left Taemin alone in the room.

He brought the phone forward and typed in the first number that came into his head.

“Hello?” a voice answered by the third ring.

“H-hyung, help m-me,” he said through sharp breaths.

“Taemin~ah?! What’s wrong? Where are you?” the voice said, filled with panic and worry.

“I’ll tell you w-when you get here,” he whispered as he informed his hyung where he was.

“Ok, ok! I’ll be there in ten minutes!” he replied hurriedly as he hung

up.

Taemin let out a sigh of relief. He was going to be fine now.

The manager reappeared with a glass of water and Taemin slowly drank the cool liquid to calm himself down.

He should be feeling fine now. It was all over. But there was a deep worry creeping up within him.

Have I lost her forever?

A few minutes later the manager entered with a tall man standing behind him.

“Taeminnie!” the tall man called as he rushed over to his friend.

“Minho hung, you got here faster that I thought possible!” Taemin gasped.

Minho shrugged as he examined his friend’s swollen eyes, a worried look across his face. “Never mind that! Are you ok? The manager said that there was some ‘situation’. Taemin~ah, what happened?”

Taemin stood up from his seat and put a hand on his hyung’s shoulder. “I’ll tell you all later,” he said and then turned to the manager and bowed low, “Thank you for all of your help.”

The two left the record store and got into the car.

As they drove Minho cleared his throat, “So are you going to tell me what happened now?”

Taemin let out a long sigh, looking out the window as he said the first thing that popped into his head. “Hyung, what is love?”

Minho almost crashed the car as the maknae spoke.

“Emmm...” he stumbled upon the right words to say.

What the hell is up with this kid all of a sudden?! He thought to himself. Taemin crying...Questions about love...What happened?

“I mean. How do you...How do you really know if you’re in love? What sets it apart from other feelings?”

Minho stole a glance over at the teen who was still looking longingly out the window.

“I-I don’t know if I’m the person you should ask these things to...” he mumbled, embarrassed.

Taemin nodded in reply.

“What happened to you?” Minho asked after a while to break the awkward silence that had engulfed the car.

Part 2

The bright sunlight shone in from the window as the curtains were violently pulled open.

“Yah! Wake up you two!” Jonghyun shouted as Taemin bolted up from his bed and Minho lay motionless across the room.

It had been a very restless night for Taemin. His mind had refused to relax enough for him to sleep properly. It was nearly 6am by the time he had fallen into a deep enough sleep. For the two and a bit hours previous he would wake as soon as he drifted off a bit.

The day passed in one big haze for Taemin. By the time he had completed his schedule he collapsed on his bed, exhausted.

“What’s wrong with me?!” he wondered aloud, “Why am I losing sleep over –“

He stopped as Minho entered their shared room. He paused and looked over at Taemin sprawled on his bed.

“Is something wrong?” he asked as he sat acro

ss from Taemin on his own bed.

“Oh nothing, nothing,” he replied quickly.

“Was it that phone call last night?...You didn’t expect me to sleep through that shrill ringtone!” he added seeing Taemin’s shocked expression.

“That-that was an unknown caller. I didn’t answer it,” he stuttered.

“Ah, I see. Then what is bothering you?” Minho quizzed refusing to drop the subject.

“I don’t know..I guess..It’s just..” Taemin took a deep breath then blurted out, “the phone call made be start thinking again about that day. The whole thing replayed in my head. Her. Roi.”

“Oh,” Minho was taken aback by this answer.

Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn’t this.

“Hyung, I thought I could eventually forget. But it has been three years. Three years! And she still invades my mind. I have to find her.”

“Again? Taemin~ah you tried this before and it just made you even more frustrated! All you know is her name, well, in fact you don’t even know if that is her name.”

“Her friend called her that,” Taemin snapped. “And how do you know that it will turn out like the last time? You can’t predict the future!”

Minho sighed, “I just don’t want to see you get so upset like the last time. You’re 20 now, not a little kid. You have to let go eventually.”

Taemin jumped up suddenly. “Hyung, since I’m not a kid anymore I can do what I want. I’m going to

find her and nobody will hold me back from that!” he shouted as he stormed out of the room and out the front door avoiding the shocked looks from his other members.

Without thinking he got into his car and began to drive away.

A few hours later and darkness had engulfed the road Taemin was driving down. His eyes were drooping and he knew he had to stop soon or else he was going to crash the car. A hotel appeared down the road and he decided it would be a good idea to stop there for the night.

He pulled up the car and stepped out into the night breeze. He

shivered as he walked towards the main door. The place looked abandoned but it was worth a shot trying to see if it was open.

The dust covered the door made it difficult for him to see inside it. He tried pushing the handle but the door wouldn’t budge. It was abandoned.

He sighed as he walked back to his car. Maybe I’ll just sleep in here tonight, he thought as he shut the door.

A hand traced his chest. It moved in slow circles making his skin crawl. The nail slightly scratching his skin through his light t-shirt. But Taemin didn’t mind.

The hand had now reached his collar. It tugged at it and ripped it slowly making his bare chest visible for the whole world. The nails now scratched the pale skin, leaving slight red marks everywhere they moved.

Suddenly it stopped. Taemin wanted to call out and ask why but he was so relaxed he couldn’t do anything. The hand moved away from him momentarily then swiped down on his skin, slicing his bare chest, right above his heart.

Taemin tried to move away, shout or at least put his hands out to protect him but he was paralysed.

The hand continued to draw back then sla

sh his skin, getting deeper and deeper with each cut. He could feel his warm blood pumping running down his stomach.

Out of nowhere he could hear his phone ringing. Jerking awake and hitting his head of the roof of his car Taemin reached down for his phone in the passenger’s seat.

Rubbing his head where he had hit it he looked down at the small screen. Shining brightly it read “3.25am” and below that “Unknown number”. He went to click the hang up button when he stopped.

Wait, I turned off my phone when I left the dorm. How is this happening? He wondered.

Looking down at his chest he noticed that the top of his t-shirt was ripped and there was blood stains on it. He ran his hand down around where his heart was. There were large red marks covering the places where he was slashed in his dream.

I have to ring my hyungs, he thought as he reached for the phone only to find it was still ringing.

After a moment’s thought he answered it.

“Hello?” he whispered into it.

No reply.

“Hello!” he shouted being to get frustrated thinking it must be some weird joke somebody was pulling.

Finally he heard a small cry coming from the phone. It sounded like somebody was in pain.

“Who is this?” he demanded.

A small sob was his reply.

“A-are you ok?” he gently asked. What if it was someone who needed help?

A harsh whisper replied “You’ve finally arrived”

Taemin looked at his phone. He had to have imagined that. It was beyond weird.

“Come in Mr. Lee. We have been waiting for you,” the voice called out.

Taemin peeked outside the window and noticed that the lights had turned on in the hotel. The main door now wide open, eerily inviting him in.

“We can give you anything you desire, Taemin. Forget about your hyungs, they don’t believe in the power of love but we do,” the voice now seemed to be no longer coming from his phone but instead his head. It had developed a soft, calming tone that echoed around Taemin’s head.

“Maybe..Maybe I’ll just go have a look,” he said as he left the car and made his way to the entrance.

I’m probably still just dreaming.

The reception was lit brightly up and he had to blink a few times for his eyes to adjust. As soon as they had he noticed a small figure beside him. It was a little old woman with long nails and wiry grey hair.

Was it her who had scratched me?

“Now, right this way Mr. Lee,” she said, grabbing his arm and guiding him through the corridors before Taemin could protest.

They reached a large room and she pushed him forwards into the darkness. He stumbled with the un

suspected force from the little woman. He looked around as she carefully locked the door behind them.

“Mr. Lee, we can get you what you want. What your heart desires,” her voice seemed to multiply as she spoke.

“W-we?” Taemin spluttered out.

Out of the shadows more small figures emerged. They were circling around him as he backed away to the door.

“What do you want from me?”

The crowd continued to approach him and the old woman replied “We won’t be looking for much from you Mr. Lee only your soul.”

“My soul?!!!” he gasped.

“Well we are giving you your heart’s desire. Do you not wish to get the girl? The pretty girl you haven’t stopped thinking about. The one you call Roi?” they all said in unison.

Taemin reached back and tugged at the handle to find it was locked. Sweat began to fall from his brow as he panicked.

The hands reached for him and pulled him to the centre of the room. There was flashing of lights and shouts as they tugged at his clothes.

Just a nightmare, just a nightmare. Why does it feel so real though?

“Why are you doing this to me?” He cried out and received harsh laughing as his only reply.

He never felt so lost and alone. Nobody knew where he was and he was about to be ripped apart by some strange small figures.

This is it. This is the end.

A pair of hands parted the crowd and grabbed Taemin from their clutches. The darkness seemed to disappear as the hands held him firmly. A sense of relief filled him when the warm hands guided him through the hotel and out into the car park.

As soon as he exited through the door the light from within the hotel disappeared and everything seemed to be exactly as he had seen it the first time, dusty and abandoned.

The heat left him as the hands let go of him.

He spun around to see who had rescued him and there she stood.

“You!!” Taemin cried out, his jaw dropping. “How..How..What!”

Roi giggled as she looked up at his cute confused expression. “I’m psychic!”

“Really?” Taemin gasped.

“When it comes to you it seems I am,” she shrugged.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he mumbled shyly.

“Me too,” she whispered.

The two stood there for a moment, gazing into each other’s eyes just as they had the first time they met.

“I’m Taemin,” he whispered.

“I know,” Roi giggled. She looked up at his sparkling eyes and shivered as a gust of wind blew.

Taemin grabbed her by the hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

They made their way to his car, Taemin going into gentleman’s mode and opening the door for her.

As they drove away from

the dark, creepy hotel a thought popped up in Taemin’s head.

“How did you get there so fast?” he wondered.

“In a spaceship of course!” she replied.

“Ah..Thought so..” he said as he pulled into an empty rest stop.

If this really is a dream, I might as well enjoy it.

“Why are we stopping here?” Roi asked.

Taemin turned to face her puzzled expression with a mischievous smile. “Well, we’re in the middle of nowhere and...” he laughed quietly, “You’re all mine now!”