Things were finally starting to calm down a bit for Tae Kyung when suddenly - as always, when the timing was most inconvenient for him - Tae Kyung's mother showed up. She had never wanted him, wouldn't even acknowledge him, so what was the point? Couldn't she just leave him alone? But no, it seemed she couldn't. Tae Kyung couldn't even say any of what he really wanted to say, not with President Ahn there, too.

And then… shrimp.

Of course. Of course his mother would offer him a dish with shrimp.

It wasn't as if she knew anything else about him, why should she know this one thing?

This one thing that countless of strangers knew about him.

But then, wasn't she a stranger, too?

"Hyung-nim?"

What? Why was Mi Nam here?

"Hyung-nim, are you sick?"

Tae Kyung just coughed again before walking past him. He needed to get out of here. Mi Nam followed him, as he'd half expected him to and soon enough they were outside and his breathing was back to normal.

"Did you eat shrimp, by any chance?"

Of course. Mi Nam knew. Everyone knew. Everyone but his own mother.

Ugh, it didn't matter. That woman didn't deserve thinking about.

Apparently Mi Nam had been with Shin Woo when he stumbled upon Tae Kyung. That in and of itself was normal enough; unlike Tae Kyung, Shin Woo enjoyed playing the supportive big brother. No, what was weird was the theme park thing. What was Shin Woo playing at?

"Normally people go with their girlfriends," Tae Kyung pointed out.

It really was a boyfriend-girlfriend thing. Not that Tae Kyung had ever dated a guy long enough for that sort of thing, but he couldn't really imagine going there with just a guy. Groups or straight couples were fine, but two guys? People didn't do that.

"I think he has a girlfriend," Mi Nam told him.

Really? Shin Woo? The most straightlaced of them all? He'd have expected this from Jeremy, but Shin Woo? Odd.

So maybe it had been a bit silly of Tae Kyung to insist on finding his own way back instead of taking a taxi or asking for help, but he felt he was entitled to being stubborn after the day he'd had. He needed the distraction to keep from thinking about… her.

"I like your new hairstyle," Mi Nam told him when they'd finally found their way back.

Really? He was only now noticing? Tsk. Tae Kyung deserved more recognition than that.

"Why did you change it?"

Tae Kyung made an annoyed sound.

"It's your fault I had to," he told Mi Nam.

"Mine? How can it be?"

"Because a reporter has a picture of us running away from that changing room," Tae Kyung explained.

"How does that affect your hair?"

Tae Kyung sighed heavily. Had Mi Nam really never heard of thinking for yourself?

"The rumors, dummy," he told him and rolled his eyes.

While Mi Nam nodded and stopped asking questions, it didn't look like he really got it. Tae Kyung supposed he didn't really either. If the story was going to get out there, what would his hairstyle matter? But things were as they were, he couldn't change that.


Tae Kyung was good at his job. His main job, as he saw it: singing and songwriting. He could come up with new songs quite easily if he put his mind to it and perfecting them was only a matter of time. Right now, though, it was more than his base competence and professionalism that was pushing him forward; ideas for a specific melody had been kicking around in his head all day and now he finally had the chance to write and play it out, figure out exactly how it should work. He enjoyed music a lot in general, but this, working based on pure inspiration, this was his favourite thing.

So of course he was interrupted. By He Yi of all people, too. Probably the last person he wanted to see. Well, apart from his mother.

She wanted him to open the door for her? Not a chance. Tae Kyung didn't have time for it and, more importantly, he didn't want Yi was annoyingly persistent as always, though. Now she was banging on the window and pointing to where she'd written:
I know your secret.

Pfft. As if he had only one. As if it mattered whether she knew, so long as she couldn't proof anything. She'd made a spelling mistake, though, and so he saw his chance to get rid of her and back to his song. He made a face as she left and then went back into the state of deep concentration he always found himself in when composing.

Later that day, while they were eating lunch, President Ahn announced that Mi Nam's single was scheduled to be released before the band's 6th main album and that Mi Nam would be singing Tae Kyung's new song. Tae Kyung didn't mind much either way - Mi Nam had a nice voice, after all - but Mi Nam seemed surprised.

"Oh, I didn't… so soon…! Oh wow, I don't..." he rambled, somewhere between anxious and excited.

"You'll have our support," Shin Woo said.

"Since you'll be singing my song, we'll make sure you don't mess it up," Tae Kyung added.

Shin Woo shot him an unimpressed look, but Mi Nam didn't seem to mind the threatening nature of his reassurance.

"Of course, Hyung-nim," he just said and laughed.

Tae Kyung felt something stir in him at the sound, but decided not to think about it. Tae Kyung was good at that; deciding what he should and should not let himself think.

As they broke from lunch, Tae Kyung noticed Mi Nam trailing after him. What now? He had songs to compose. The one Tae Kyung suspect President Ahn wanted for Mi Nam's single still had a few kinks to work out. When would Mi Nam learn to solve his own problems?

"Hyung-nim!" Mi Nam sad as he came up on the side of Tae Kyung. "Could you tell me about the song for the single?"

"You'll hear it soon, so wait till then," Tae Kyung just said.

"Ah, but Hyung-nim, I'm nervous, and I think if I knew about the song…"

"I don't even know which one Presiden Ahn meant," Tae Kyung said. "I have composed several songs we haven't released yet, you know."

"But Hyung-nim…!"

"Mi Nam, stop it," Tae Kyung said and actually stopped walking himself. "If you can't figure out how to handle your nerves yourself, maybe you're in the wrong industry."

Tae Kyung and Mi Nam just stared at each other for a long moment after that. Finally, Mi Nam broke eye contact and asked:

"Do you know if Myungdong Cathedral is near here?"

"What?"

"Myungdong Cathedral," Mi Nam repeated. "The Reverend Mother who raised me is in Seoul currently, I wanted to visit."

"It's not far…" Tae Kyung said.

The church wasn't Tae Kyung's favourite thing and he had a hard time fathoming Mi Nam's continued relationship with it. Not that Tae Kyung was from a Christian background, but Christians spoke the loudest on certain issues. Did this reverend mother know about Mi Nam…? Did she call Mi Nam by that name?

"Okay, then I'll just get going," Mi Nam said and turned to do just that.

Images of Mi Nam swarmed by fans immediately flashed before Tae Kyung's eyes.

"Stop it," he said.

Mi Nam turned to look at him, puzzled.

"I'll drive you," he told him. "You can't go in that, though. We both need to change. Meet me by my car in 10 minutes."

"Yes, Hyung-nim!"


There was something off about Mi Nam once they'd gotten to the car. He looked just a little bit different from how he normally looked and Tae Kyung couldn't put his finger on it at first. Then he realised that some of Mi Nam's chest was showing under his loose-fitting clothes, and that said clothes were some of the most feminine clothes he owned. He didn't look male or female, exactly, but he looked less masculine than he usually did.

"Why do you look like that?" Tae Kyung asked once they were driving.

"Hm?" Mi Nam asked. "Oh, I… well, the Reverend Mother doesn't know, so…"

Tae Kyung sank something. Well, this was a topic he could relate to, if nothing else.

"I see," he said, sounding a bit too neutral to his own ear. He didn't know what he was supposed to sound like in this situation.

"I'll tell her once I look like a man," he said.

"Don't you now?" Tae Kyung asked. Mi Nam did, after all, have most of South Korea convinced at the moment.

Mi Nam smiled melancholically.

"You know what I mean," he just said.

Tae Kyung got the idea, but didn't really know that he knew what Mi Nam meant. What did transgender individuals do? There were surgeries, right? And hormones? What was Mi Nam's plan? When were all these things meant to happen? Had he expected that no-one would notice, once the entire country's attention was on him?

"One day, when I look how I want to," Mi Nam said. "I'll put on a suit and a nice tie and I'll go find the Reverend Mother and tell her who I am."

"You don't have any nice ties," Tae Kyung commented, for lack of anything better to say.

"I'll have to buy one," Mi Nam said with a laugh.

Tae Kyung's chest did that thing again, that thing he'd been electing not to think about.

After dropping Mi Nam off, Tae Kyung drove around a bit. He considered looking at clothes or shoes, but he had a whole team of stylists, so it seemed rather pointless, and definitely not worth getting recognised and chased around over.

Before Tae Kyung could decide what to do, he got a call.

He hung up the minute he heard who it was.

It rang again.

"Why did you call me?"

"Why did I call you?" He Yi repeated, smugly.

Tae Kyung rolled his eyes.

"I'm hanging up again."

"I have pictures of you with a man!" He Yi yelled.

Tae Kyung almost froze on the spot, but remembered himself enough to keep attention on his driving.

"What do you mean?" he asked as evenly as he could manage.

"You know exactly what," He Yi said.

"On the contrary, I have no clue."

"You've been to Itaewon, haven't you?" He Yi asked in her fakest sugary sweet voice. "Have fun, did you? It looks like it."

Tae Kyung hadn't been to Itaewon in almost a year, how had she… She must be lying. She had to be. She was just trying to scare him. To what end, he didn't know, but she had to be. Who would have a picture? If they had, why would it only have gotten into the hands of someone who'd use it now? What was the odds of a picture like that being clear enough that you could definitely tell it was Tae Kyung?

"You're lying."

"Am I?" He Yi laughed. "Well, we'll just have to see if the reporters think I am, too, once I show them this picture…"

Tae Kyung bit his lip to hold back a sigh. So this was with had come to. Blackmailed by a nasty actress. What did she even stand to gain from this? If he took this seriously, it was just confirm whatever He Yi knew, but if he didn't and she did have a picture…

"Where are you?"