12 COLORFUL

(POV: Kibum)

Lithe as his physique looks, Taemin is surprisingly heavy in his dead weight. I feel like I won an Olympic medal when I finally managed to lay him down on the bed.

I pulled off his jacket and removed his shoes and socks. There was no way on earth that I’d strip an unconscious guy, but Taemin has performed on stage and partied tonight. I couldn’t just let him sleep in his sweat-dried skin and dirty clothes. I’d be mortified to wake up in such a state.

I grabbed a hand towel from the bathroom railing and ran it under warm water to function as a washcloth.

I removed Taemin’s sweater and jeans and wiped every area of his skin that isn’t covered by his boxer shorts. Although the sight of Taemin almost and sprawled on the bed looks more delicious than any buffet spread I have ever seen, I allowed decency to prevail; I didn’t lift or fold his legs to avoid seeing his privates through the leg-holes.

Scrubbing on his skin lightly has left a sensual kind of pinkness on his fair skin. Taemin, even passed out, still looks unbelievably great. He has the face of an angel and the body of a swimmer... lean but with the beginnings of buff.

I think I drank beyond my capacity to stay sensible tonight because I suddenly had the urge to cry over how beautiful Taemin is.

When a single tear fell from my eye, I pulled the duvet over him and ran the back of my hand against his cheek. I cannot be attracted to you this much. I came home to pick up the pieces of my life. I cannot afford to mess up. 

I lay down on my own bed. I know I miss New York. I miss literature and the classics. But at this very moment, as I look at Taemin deep in slumber, the Shakespearean sonnets and lines I love and indulge in are suddenly making sense to me on a more personal level.

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”

(A/N: What Kibum recited is a line from Act 1 Scene 5 of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”)

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(Third Person POV)

Taemin wakes up grateful that his headache isn’t as bad as he expected. Maybe Kai and Heechul’s shenanigans got the alcohol in his blood stream evaporating with the angry heat he felt. At least I have those two fools to thank for this mild hangover.

Sitting up, Taemin realizes that he slept in his boxers. Kibum must have helped me out of my clothes. Damn, I wish I didn’t look stupid when he did.

As Taemin stretches his limbs, he notices that his skin looks and feels clean. He glances at Kibum, who is still sleeping soundly and is looking so radiant that it seems the sun is shining inside their suite.

Taemin sees his watch, wallet, and phone on the bedside table, along with a glass of water and a pack of ibuprofen. He also sees an unfamiliar round object among these. Taemin grabs it and recognizes it as the balm Kibum used to massage his head when he had a headache back in Tokyo. He smiles at the thought that Kibum assumed he’d be dealing with a throbbing head and left it on Taemin’s bedside out of concern.

Taemin stands up and finds his used clothes neatly folded on the couch. As he steps inside the bathroom, he sees a rolled up hand towel and a glass of tap water on a small tray by the sink. Now he knows why his skin is clean.

He has only known Kibum for a short time but Taemin feels that the interpreter has taken care of him more than anyone has ever had in his life.

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Kibum and Taemin usually have their English lessons for a couple of hours after breakfast. Today is an exception, since they had to participate in press interviews with selected SM artists at the hotel’s conference hall.

After a long session of sit-down interviews with various media outfits, Jonghyun tells Taemin that he has a few hours of free time before his concert. The sparkle in Taemin’s eyes tells Jonghyun that the entertainer intends to use his free time for something worthwhile.

“Jjong-hyung, can I use our car service for going around a bit? Key mentioned during our flight that he has places he wants to see here in Singapore.”

So the boy is going to use his free time, which he rarely gets, for Key’s enjoyment.  What is this? Jonghyun pulls out his phone to call the driver and tell him to be on standby.

“That sounds nice, Taeminah. I’m glad you want to do this for Key. You know, I’m really happy we hired him. Jinki and I were talking about the interviews earlier, and you know what… Key doesn’t just translate your answers. I mean, we’ve worked with several interpreters and that’s all they just do- translation. But Key handles your answers differently. It’s as if he wants it to be you expressing yourself through him. Jinki and I know some English because he loves to read and I’m a lyricist, and we both got the impression that your answers were interpreted by someone who gives your answers a lot of thought. Actually, by someone who gives you a lot of thought.” 

Taemin has heard the ph