Laura’s POV

My first day with Taemin started with a bang.

He was leaning down to kiss me, and this time, I was able to kiss him back instead of being yanked from a dream by the sharp cries of my niece.  I curled my hands around his neck and in his hair and his own hands held me closer than anyone’d held me in months.

I smiled despite not wanting to ruin the moment, and he smiled too, our lips now just shy of meeting but our faces so close I couldn’t focus on his eyes without going cross-eyed; so I closed them instead, leaning forehead-to-forehead with him and enjoying the moment.

He kissed me lightly, and did it again, and again another peck, and yet another and another until he was showering my face and neck and my hands as I leaned away to giggle.  He laughed and tugged me closer, embracing me once more before letting me go.

“You look better than you looked yesterday,” he said, and I faintly remembered resembling a raccoon the day before when I looked in the mirror.

“Well, I got to sleep last night; the baby was quiet,” I said.  Taemin grinned wider and looped an arm around my waist before kissing the top of my head.

“I’m glad.”

“Me too.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too, oppa,” I breathed, and he stood straighter as someone came into the room.  It was Minho oppa, and I hugged him when he held his arms out.

“It’s great to see you,” he said, and nodded before pulling away.

“You look like you’ve gotten even more handsome since the last time I saw you,” I said, and Taemin whined from behind, coming to back-hug me and rest his chin on my head.  “Don’t worry, Tae oppa; you’ve always been the most handsome.”  He seemed to relax and tucked his hand into my front pockets, still half-embracing me from behind.

“How have you been?  I heard you were really busy,” Minho asked, looking worried, and I nodded, feeling tired just thinking about it.

“Yah, I had the night shift for my niece, so I was always tired; I’m going to rest up here, though, so it’s okay.”  I yawned unintentionally and Taemin snuggled closer.

“I’ll show you where your bags go,” he mumbled into my hair, grabbing my bags, and Minho told us bye before leaving for an afternoon practice.  “The rest of them are really busy these next few weeks, so you probably won’t see too much of them.  At least not awake.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I sleep in,” I said, helping him carry my things into a cleaned-out room.  I wouldn’t be sleeping in the same room as Taemin, and not out of my own preferences.  I’d had a doctor’s appointment before taking the plane over to Korea, and the result wasn’t favorable.

My heart was enflamed and alternating between beating too fast and too slow.  It was in a state of caution, Dr. Keopka said, and I was to take it easy.  So no funny business, no irregular amounts of exercise, and I had to wear a heart monitor while I slept.

I was nervous about him seeing it because I didn’t want him to worry, so I planned on spending most nights alone in my new room, all to prevent him from stressing.  I was going to be fine anyways; my heart had pulled through things worse than this.  But just to be safe…

“No, of course I don’t mind,” he responded, setting my things down on the bed.  “Anything you want.”

“Even a pony?” I asked, smiling.  He raised his brows.

“How about we go to the zoo instead.”

“Sounds like a plan for another time,” I said, yawning again without trying to.  He smiled lightly before grabbing my arm and pulling me from the room.

“Before you take a nap, say hey to the others; they’ve been worried about you.”

“You told them?” I asked, slightly horrified.  “Why would you bother them with that?”

“They wanted to know how you were, so I told them you were too busy to keep up with it all.  They were concerned, you know?”

“That’s what I don’t what,” I said, sighing, and he laughed to himself.  “I’m not joking.”

“Neither am I.  You’re taking a nap after you say hi; you look like you need it.”

“But I want to spend more time with you.”

“Me too,” he said, stopping and turning around to face me, making my heart beat a little faster.  His soft, curving face was so gentle I could never imagine him any other way, and I didn’t want to.  He was as close to perfect as I’d ever known a person to be.  “But I want even more for you to rest up; so we’ll do something tomorrow, and for now you can nap.  Sound good?”  He smiled the smile he knew I couldn’t resist and I nodded hesitantly, biting my lip.

“Okay.”

“Great,” he said, and kissed me on the cheek.  “Come on, I think Key’s in the bathroom.”

“Wait,” I protested, “I-I don’t wanna bother him if he’s-”

“He’s just preparing his facial products.  Every day at six.  It’s a habit.”

Ten minutes later I’d said hello to all the boys except for Jonghyun, who was working out in the gym.  Taemin made me retire to my room, promising to let me sleep in.  He even guaranteed breakfast in bed, despite my protests.

“Goodnight, baby,” he called, and closed my door.  I dropped onto the bed and instantly felt a familiar wave of exhaustion wash over me.

I fell asleep smiling.

Second Day

Taemin’s POV

Laura was so beautiful, so angelic, that she almost seemed to glow while sitting next to me on the couch.  She was flipping through a book, mulling over each page with a finger that trailed down and over the words she had just read.

I watched her her lips in thought and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, and I realized just how much I’d missed her careless beauty.  I scooched closer and turned to face her, cross-legged on the cushions.  She noticed I’d moved and looked to me as I put my head in my palms, just staring at her.

“What?” she asked after I said nothing, and I shook my head, entranced and feeling euphoric.

“Nothing,” I said, and she frowned.

“Something on my face?”

“No.  I’m just struck by how pretty you are,” I responded, a devilish smile creeping across my face.  She looked at me funny and turned back to her book.  Her side profile was just as alluring, though, and I leaned in close, taking a strand of hair from behind her ear and twirling it between my fingers.

She gave me another look and would’ve pulled away had she the chance.  But I pressed my mouth to hers and moved even closer.  She melted and dropped her book to grab my shirt in both hands.  I grinned against her and she giggled before pulling me nearer.

Her lips were so soft, and their ghosting presence around the corners of my own sent shivers down my back.  I’d never admit just how much she affected me; it would make me feel too vulnerable to know she knew.

My fingers were splayed against her lower back, and I was about to lean completely over her on the couch when she pulled back sharply.  Laura gasped for air and let go of me to grasp at her chest as if she couldn’t breathe.  As if her heart wasn’t supplying her with oxygen.

A surge of panic rolled over me and I tried to formerly articulate my fears.

“Are you…  Laura…  Do-do you need me to call 911?” I asked frantically, gripping her arms and moving to stand.  But she shook her head and let go of her shirt to grab onto me.

“I’m okay,” she breathed, inhaling long and deep.  “My heart, for a moment…  I don’t know, but it hurt.”  She swallowed and looked up at me, apologetic.  “Sorry, but I don’t think…  I don’t think I can…”

“No, no, no; it’s fine, jagiya,” I assured her, understanding that I couldn’t push her heart too hard or it’d act up.  “I’m so sorry that happened.”

“It’s okay, really.”

“I mean, I honestly thought you were going to have a heart attack,” I continued, sitting back down and wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her close to my side.  “I know I’m handsome, but I didn’t actually think I could give someone heart troubles.”

“Shut up,” she muttered, and punched me in the chest.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

That Night

Laura's POV:

I made sure to check my heart monitor was securely attached to my chest in the places it was meant to.  The monitor itself was like a purse, only smaller; while I slept I kept it at my side, its suctioned-wires sticking to my chest and back.  In a week I’d send it back home to be looked at by my doctor, but for now I’d have to keep it secret.  I didn’t want to worry anyone anymore.

After the earlier accident I needed to be more careful, especially around Taemin, who made my heart plummet and soar more than any deficiency.  I laid down, slowly, as not to dislodge any of the monitor’s tentacles.  I, as I’d done the last two nights, fell into a deep, uninterrupted sleep.

Third Day

Laura's POV:

The daylight was seeping through the windows and I was standing in line, waiting for the couple in front of me to hurry up and get their burgers.  I was getting lunch for everyone, since I was the only one who could go unnoticed in a crowd.

Being the secret girlfriend of a famous K-idol had its advantages.

“Order 72?” someone called out, and I smiled, walked to the counter, and grabbed the five bags from the attendant’s hands.  He looked apprehensive and offered to help me carry them to my car, but I assured him it was fine.

Two in each hand and on sanctioned between my teeth.  Problem solved.

I somehow managed to wave down a taxi without any flailing arms, got in, and set everything down on my lap, feeling the paper burning through my jeans to warm my thighs.  The driver dropped me off in front of the large company building, and I snuck up to one of the many dance practice rooms, where we’d agreed to meet.

Once there, I let the boys dig through to find their order while I sat with Taemin.  He let me lean into him as I unwrapped my diabetes-on-a-bun.  “Any trouble?” he asked, and I shook my head.  “Good.”

“You know what,” I said, taking a bite and nodding in surprise, “this is really good.”

“I told you so,” he sighed, and began to eat.  “But you didn’t believe me.”

“Well, you can’t blame me.  You like to eat things like spicy tuna, which is absolutely disgusting; so it’s not my fault for thinking that maybe this supposedly delicious burger joint was actually going to be gross.”

“You like dill pickles, which are also gross.”

“More than spicy tuna?”

“Spicy tuna’s good.”

“No, it isn’t,” I laughed, and as he continued to protest and complain about my lack of appreciation for good food, I admired his perpetual smile and half-dimples.  His eyes always shone like cloudy diamonds, made clear only when he got teary.  I never liked seeing him cry, even if it was for winning an award, but just being able to look into his eyes when he was… it was like diving into a jeweled pool.

And I often tended to drown in them.

Fifth Day

Taemin's POV:

“Do you know we have a concert tomorrow?” I asked, and she nodded from where she sat across the table from me.  “You’re coming, right?”

“Well of course,” she said, not even looking up from her meal.  We were all sitting around our dining table, eating avidly and generally not provoking any conversation besides ‘this is good,’ or ‘thanks Laura for making this for us.’  “How could I miss it?”

I puffed out my cheeks, feeling uncomfortable and wanting to discuss it further, but unable to due to the extra, unneeded company.  So I resigned to my meal, which happened to be delicious, and waited for everyone to be done to scooch over to her and whisper lowly.  “I saw the heart monitor this morning.”

She paused, chopsticks raised in the air and noodles falling off slowly.

“I wasn’t trying to see it, but the package was on top of some mail and I read the label, and…”  I stopped, nervous and thinking back to her breathlessness when I’d kissed her a couple days before.  “I’m worried about you.”

“That’s…”  She sighed and ran a hand through her hair after setting down her utensils.  “…that’s what I didn’t want to happen.  I didn’t want you to know and get stressed about it.”

“Well, I mean…  How could I not be?”

“Exactly why I didn’t tell you.”

“Is it serious?” I asked, leaning closer so the occasional passerby couldn’t hear a thing.

“Not really; I’ve had worse.  But right now my heart is just really unstable, probably brought on by the bad conditions I was working with at home and all, which is why I’ve been trying to take it easy.”

“You should stay home for the concert,” I said, feeling protective.  “I don’t want the noise and lights to send you over the edge-”

“I’ll be fine, really,” she said, looking at me with big, doe eyes, batting her lashes and grinning childishly.  “It's not that bad.”  I wasn’t too convinced, and bit my lips in thought.  She continued to stare at me with pleading eyes, trying to worm her way into my heart and convince me that she could go.  I wanted to say no, I really did, but in the end I couldn’t, not with her wanting it so badly.

“Fine; but you’re getting to stand really close to the stage, where I’ll be able to see you and I can arrange for some guards to see to it that you’re not crushed by the crowd.”

“Sounds amazing!” she squealed, and I chuckled as she fell into me purposefully, kissing my cheek once before snuggling close to me.  Over the five days she’d been with us, she was sleeping less and awake more, rejuvenated and energetic.  Perhaps she was really was alright.  That monitor-thing was probably just some routine thing she did all the time.  Nothing to get worked up over.

Nothing worth making her skip our concert.

Sixth Day

Laura's POV:

I felt bad for lying.

I was truly much worse than I’d let onto.  The monitor was telling me some pretty bad numbers, but bad numbers could always get better, so I tweaked the truth just a tad so Taemin wouldn’t feel so conflicted.  I was going to see that concert, whether he wanted me to or not.  It was just easier when he wanted me to.

And I was supposed to be taking it easy.

“Not that one,” Taemin objected, motioning a slash through the shirt I’d been holding up for him.  “Nothing with our names on it.”

“But it’s a concert for you guys,” I said, tossing it into the ‘no’ pile.  “What am I supposed to wear?”

“Something that makes you stick out, so I can see you,” he said and I rolled my eyes.  “I’m being serious.”

“I know; I just happen to find you a bit ridiculous, that’s all.”

“I’m not being ridiculous.”

“Okay then, what about this one?” I asked, getting off the topic by holding a bright lime green shirt for him to see.  It would certainly stick out amongst a group of young fans all dressed in black, white, and red: all the colors of their Married to the Music album.

“I like it,” he proclaimed, and came over to hold it for himself, laying it against me and nodding to himself.  “Definitely the one.”

“Can I at least wear black pants?  Maybe the SHINee pair that have ‘Lee Taemin’ along the-”

“Nothing with our names; it makes me feel conceited,” he said, and while I personally thought he was half-crazy, I let it slide and chose white shorts to please him.  “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied, setting aside the outfit for the next day before wrapping arms around his neck.  He lazily looped his own around my waist, and I sighed, making him frown.

“Are you okay?”

“Better than okay,” I whispered, and pulled away to spin around the room giddily.  “I’m going-” I spun once. “-to a SHINee-” Twice. “-concert!”  Thrice.  “I’m gonna-” I started to get dizzy. “-have so much-” He was but a blur in my tornado of glee. “-FUN!”

I fell onto my bed in a heap, the world doing pirouettes and my smile bright.  The ceiling fan was suddenly four ceiling fans, and I closed my eyes tight to stop the visual disaster.  When I opened them again, Taemin was leaning over me, hands in his pockets, looking amused.

“Are you done?” he asked, and I nodded happily.  “Good.  I don’t want to see you throw-up on this rug.”

“Hey, I may have a weak heart, but I don’t have a weak stomach,” I complained, and he laid next to me, arm thrown over my torso.  I continued to look at the lights above me, but could see from the corner of my eye his attentive gaze.

“I have a weak heart too,” he murmured, brushed a lock of hair from my face, “but only with you.”  My chest panged, and I tried to stifle my joyous grin.

“Me too,” I mumbled back, “but for you, not me.”

“Well, I figured.”  We continued to lay like that for a moment before he pulled himself closer, tucking his elbow under my head so I was against him, using his arm as a pillow.  I turned to face his chest and he wrapped his other arm around me.

I buried my face into his shirt and breathed in what Taemin smelled like: faint, somewhat feminine cologne and the dance studio.  The dust of that room had seemed to seep into his very being, and he had come to smell like it; like it and its musty, old scent.

I loved it.

It reminded me of what else he loved whenever I thought selfishly about his consuming schedule; it reminded me that he had a desire for dance and the stage and his own voice booming out of stereos large enough to drown out everything else.  I wasn’t the only thing he loved, and sometimes I just needed a good ’ole whiff of the dance room to remember that.

So I breathed him in and snuggled closer, feeling safe and secure and wanted in his arms, noting to never place myself in front of his dreams because I knew he would pick me every time, and I didn’t want him to have to choose.

Concert

Laura’s POV:

The lights were so bright and the noise was loud that I was positive I’d go home blind and deaf.

But it was way too much fun to worry me.

Everyone was moving simultaneously and together, and I loved the sense of welcoming insanity that it developed in everyone, including me.  I jumped and swayed and shouted the fan chants where they were needed, and SHINee was on fire.  Not literally, but even if they were they couldn’t have been hotter.

The stage was burning where their feet landed and the fans were fainting wherever their gazes swept.  Their voices were rippling through the throng of people like a tidal wave that only grew.  I was captivated by it all so much I almost didn’t want to blink, scared I’d miss something.

Taemin winked at me, and I couldn’t help but explode like the rest of the people around me, shouting and waving my hands, mindful of the guard to my right.  I didn’t like the look of him and his dark eyes, dark hair, and hair gloves.  His skin was paler than anyone I’d ever seen, though, and only added to his frightening complexion.  Hitting him wasn’t on my list of things to do, so I stepped away slightly.

Minho began to rap my favorite part in my favorite song and I clapped along, trying to keep up but failing with the rhythm like I always did.  The girls and sparse guys around me pushed and shoved, but it was nothing like what the crowd looked like farther away.  I must’ve been in a special section, courtesy of my overprotective boyfriend.

The bass line was so loud I could feel it in my feet, tremoring up into my legs and core.  I let it bounce me, swaying on my own accord.  I couldn’t remember why I’d ever want to this place.

My heart beat faster as Taemin shot me another look, complete with smirk and body wave.  I swooned just a tad, holding it together for him and my guard, who was looking thoroughly unentertained by any of it.  My pulse was beating in my ears loudly, sounding like a drum that I moved that.  Bum-ba-bum, bum-ba-bum…

Bum-ba-bum, bum-ba-bum, bum-ba-

Suddenly I couldn’t hear it, couldn’t feel it, along with everything else.  My fingers tingled and my legs were wobbling; my ears popped.  I tried to in a strained breath but it did nothing; there wasn’t a problem with my lungs.  It was my heart.

The last thing I saw before my eyes clouded over was Taemin, looking at me, confused, horrified as I collapsed into the mass of bodies, unconscious.