Simple, adj.

-easy to understand, deal with, use; not elaborate or artificial

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Taemin was about to head into APINK's dressing room when he bumped into Eunji. For some reason, the universe had aligned the planets and made a way for SHINee and APINK to appear on the same show together, at the same time. It was going to be a white day special and he expected that there were going to be couple games and quizzes that would pair him up with Naeun, and hopefully, the punishments would involve a lot of skinship. He saw Eunji first and greeted her, making her look up.

“Annyeong!”

“Taemin-ah!”

 
“Is Naeun in there?”

“Oh! She didn't tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“She's sick. She's at the dorm resting.”

“She didn't tell me.”

“I'm pretty sure she had good reason not to tell you.”

“Thanks for telling me. I have to go.”

Before Eunji could reply Taemin had already run off to go see his manager.

“Hyung!”

“Wae?”

“I have to go. Something came up!”

“What?”

“Naeun is sick. I have to go look after her.”

“You can't leave like this. You can’t abandon your duties.”

“Please, Hyung!”

“If it was up to me, I'll let you, but you have to see the PD. He’ll make the decision.”

“Okay, hyung! I'll go first.”

Taemin then ran around the building trying to locate the director. When he found him, he was huffing and puffing from all the running around. Taemin gave a deep bow.

“Annyeonghaseyo, PD-nim!”

“Taemin-ssi, is there anything I can do for you?”

“Ahh...ne! Is it alright if I don't participate in this recording?”

“Is this to do with Naeun-ssi not being here?”

“Yes, sir.”

The director took a few moments for consideration into the young man’s plea.

“Okay. Taemin-ssi, you can go. But promise that when Naeun gets better, you and she will come on the show together. A lot of viewers will be disappointed to know the nation’s couple won’t be here.“

“Ne. We will. Our members will give you a good show. Gamsahamnida! I'll go first.”

“Ahrasso. Take care!”

He went back to his dressing room where s and manager was waiting. He told them that he was allowed to go, wished them good luck and then ran off to the car, not even waiting for their reply. While driving to APINK's dorm, he noticed a flower shop and decided to buy some flowers and soup to cheer Naeun up as part of Taemin’s own brand of ‘care package’. Feeling very proud of himself, he picked up his gifts, entered the passcode in and walked into Naeun's room, fully armed and prepared to take care of his girlfriend. She didn't even stir when he walked in. He put the soup and flowers down and found that she was fast asleep. She was shivering but her forehead was extremely warm. He got out the soup and put it into a bowl so that he could reheat it later, took the flowers and put them into a makeshift vase made from and old jam jar and placed it by her bedside. He then took a small towel and a basin and filled it with cold water. He soaked the towel, wrung it out and placed it on her forehead. She was still shivering so he climbed into bed with her and wrapped his arms around her. She stopped shaking and he too fell into dreamland.

Two hours later he felt someone turn around in his arms, and start tracing his facial features. His eyes fluttered open to find that Naeun had finally woken. She was tired, slightly groggy, her hair was a mess, flattened out into an array behind her, but still absolutely stunning in Taemin’s eyes.

“Oppa…”

“Did you sleep well?”

She nodded her head.

“Do you feel better?”

He lifted the back of his hand to touch her forehead again. She was still warm but much better than when he came in.

“Thanks to Oppa, I feel much better…”

“But why didn’t you tell me you were sick?”

“I didn’t want you to worry and I know that you’d try to be hero and take care of me when you should be filming with your members…”

“Naeun-ie is more important that a show. Besides, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t take care of you?”

“Good point.”

“Are you hungry?”

“A little…”

Taemin got out of bed and went into the kitchen to heat up the bowl of soup. He came back in with a tray to find Naeun sitting up in bed. He set it down, grabbed the spoon and started to feed her. To his surprise, she didn’t protest or try and insist that she could do it herself.

“Did you bring the flowers?”

“Eung…just for you…”

“Well, who else could it be for? Maybe you brought it for your other girlfriend?”

“Eyyy…you’re sick but you can still make jokes? Uri Naeun-ie has definitely gotten better with her sense of humour!”

He ruffled her hair slightly.

“You need to take some medicine…”

He brought out a glass of water and two pills.

“I don’t need it.”

“You do…”

“I’m feeling better anyway now that I’ve eaten…”

“Naeun-ah…as amazing as I am and as good as my care package of soup, flowers and a wet towel are for you, you need to take some medicine…”

He coaxed her for another five minutes before she finally gave in.

“Happy?”

“Very!”

“There’s no more medicine after that right?”

“There’s one more…”

“Oppa! I’m not taking it!”

“I think you’ll like this one…”

“What person wants to take medicine?”

“This is special…”

“Show it to me first!”

She held out her hand expecting for him to drop some more medication into them, but instead all she received was a soft kiss on the lips.

“What was that?”

“That was called ‘kiss-pirin’, also known as the medicine of love.”

Taemin winked at her and she giggled, but then yawned.

“Medicine making you sleepy?”

“No…”

“Ahrasso…just lie down then…”

Naeun lay down first and then Taemin followed suit by putting his around her to act as another pillow for her head.

“Tell me a story…”

“About what?”

“Anything…”

Taemin cleared his throat dramatically and began his story.

“Once upon a time, there was a prince and a princess. They had to get married to satisfy the citizens of the kingdom. At first, they were really awkward and didn’t know how to act around each other because they had not been in a relationship before. But, after a while, they started to like each other…”

“Oppa? Is this about us?”

“Shhh…you have to let me finish the story!”

“Ahrasso…”

“They couldn’t directly admit to each other that they liked each other, especially the princess because she was shy and the whole kingdom was watching their actions. They did many things together and made many memories. Time passed, and they found out that they weren’t actually married. It was for a show; a way to unify the kingdom. The prince and the princess were very sad….”

“What happens next?”

“The prince told the princess that he loved her and she told him that she loved him too. They decided to be together in secret, but word got out. Most of the kingdom was happy but some were not, especially the princess’ suitors. But the prince and the princess didn’t care. They were just happy to be together. The end.”

“That’s it?”

“For now…”

“What does that mean?”

“The story hasn’t ended yet because they still have a long way to go…”

“But, Oppa…what do you think their ending is?”

“I think that they’d live happily ever after. They’d get married. For real this time. They would successfully rule over the kingdom together. Maybe, they’d have their own little princes and princesses. They’d live in a castle. They would just...”

Taemin trailed off thinking of a word to describe the situation in his mind, but Naeun finished off his sentence.

“Be happy?”

“Exactly. They’d be happy because life would be easy…”

“Life’s not easy for everyone though…”

“Life is easy when you have love. Love doesn’t complicate things. It simplifies them so that you only have one choice.”

“And that is?”

“To be happy with the person you love.”

“I love you, Oppa…”

“I love you too…”

They lay in silence for a few moments before Taemin spoke up.

“So…do you think about our future?”

“Of course I do…”

“What do you see? Don’t think too hard about it”

He winked at her playfully.

“It’s easy…”

“What is?”

“Us. We’ll live happily ever after. Just like in your story…”

“It wasn’t a story. It was us…and it was real”

She leaned up to kiss him, then lay her head back onto his chest, where they both fell asleep, dreaming of their tomorrow; dreaming of their forever.