The next day, Key was feeling very sorry because I hadn’t been able to celebrate my birthday as “I should have done it”. So, he made sure I spend with him every second (when he wasn’t recording) with him having as much fun as possible. And when Kim Kibum says you are going to have fun, it means you are going to HAVE FUN. Onew and Jonghyun also helped a lot, I may add. I’m glad I didn’t see Taemin the whole day. I know, I probably seem like a scary cat but Hey! I was still a little bit confused, ok? I mean, we did say hi in the morning as any other day… Maybe I was the only one having social issues there.

We came back home at night and during the plane trip I sat next to Minho again. And I slept in his shoulder again. And Key woke me up making me feel embarrassed and like a loser again.

I went into my room not without saying Hi to my roommates. There were 3 of them: Susan, Ariana and Hye Min. I didn’t talk much with them, to be honest. We barely see each other since 2 of them were studying physics together and the other one was majoring in Germany Literature or something like that. In any case, I never understood what the heck she was doing in Korea. We had breakfast together every morning, though. And what was always the topic during those 20 to 3 minutes (when I was late) (something that happens to me often) of my day? Yes, it was Kpop idols and associated topics. Of course I never told them I knew some of them because: on one side, I haven’t told anyone just in case it was supposed to be a secret in order to avoid drama and unuseful gossips; and on the other, because I was sure they would never let me rest in peace ever again, especially Susan and Hye Min since they were hardcore taemints.

A few weeks passed and we were already at the beginning of December. The weather was cold and I got depressed frequently just by thinking there was still at least 3 months to go like this (or colder). The truth is when it’s hot I hate it because I become desperate and sticky and I feel dirty and disgusting, but I also hate this awful cold that doesn’t allow you to move your articulations because of the clothes you’re wearing and that makes your skin hurt and all that. I just didn’t like extreme temperatures I guess. But I didn’t like Fall either because it’s boring and in Spring there are all those bugs… Anyway, let’s just say I’m a person full of hate and today it’s not my day so my thought are as dark as my mood. How can I be in a good mood when Mr. Kang is abusing my arm muscles again?

5 hours later I was finally free from that old grumpy man. Trust me, I am not exaggerating. I know I do it often but not with this. You can ask Min, she already quitted! I want directly to my house. It was 1 am when I got there. I entered my room and changed quickly into my pajama. I put on the ugly one because it’s the most comfortable. There is a Pikachu drawn on the front of the shirt and the pants have little Pokeballs print. It is not ugly because of that, it was actually pretty when I bought it… 5 years ago. Now, the shirt reveals 5 cm of my belly. I’m glad I was at home and nobody has to see me like this.

=================================

TAEMIN’S POV:

Stupid Kang Woo. I hate you. Burn in hell. Have diarrhea for the rest of you live. Lose your hair and have birds pooping on your head forever. I hope you cut yourself with you toenails at night.

I touched my cheek with my cold hand. It still hurts a little. I hope it’s not turning red or anything because I have an Etude photo shoot tomorrow. I wish you had done this a year and a half ago; I could have sued you for violence against a minor!

I was lost in my deep hateful thoughts when I felt something cold touching my nose, and my hands and my chin. It was falling down everywhere. Aish, what a perfect moment for it to start snowing… I covered my head even more with my puffy scarf and my beanie. If I keep walking like this to the dorm I will die before getting there. Plus, I really don’t want to stay alone all night in my room. Maybe I can wake up one of my hyungs or go sleep with them as I did when we debuted and I missed my old brother… No, no. They must be very tired with the heavy schedule we have this week. I can’t wait to have some holidays. At least a week free of work! I could go have a picnic with my old friends from school. Oh, but they are busy with their studies :/ Mmmm well a picnic with the hyungs wouldn’t be that bad. As long as there is food I’m in. And we could also bring other people, like Manager hyung’s wife and Onew’s dear friend Joon. Jonghyun hyung could bring his sister’s dog Roo, Minho could bring Krystal and maybe Krystal would bring Sulli. Kibum hyung would be there with Amber or Sophie. Sophie… Ah! Sophie! Why didn’t I think about her before?

I turned to the left and speeded up a little. I bowed to some girls who were talking pictures of me and I greeted an old man that was doing the same --“ How do they recognize me? I can barely breathe with this scarf all around my head. Anyway, I should be too far away. I kept walking for 10 minutes when I finally found the building I was looking for. We had given Key a ride a few times before when we (Minho hyung and I) were going to have some dinner. Thanks Jesus I have a good memory for random things.

It’s in the 5^th floor, I think. I went there but a 30-year-old lady opened the door. She screamed when she saw me and I hurry up upstairs. Ok, then it must be the 6^th floor. No, it was not. It was actually the 9^th. I didn’t ring in all the doors, though; I knocked in a few of them ;)

I rang at the door of the apartment 902. 2am is not too early for a friendly visit, is it? After a few seconds I heard steps coming closer to the other side of the door. Was she going to get mad at me for coming here? The door opened and a girl with a Pokemon pajama that was obviously too short for her appeared. She looked tired and sleepy but cute with her belly showing up. Cute and… a liiiiiiiiiitle (but seriously just a very little bit) y.

-Soph- I was about to call her name when she widened her eyes and covered my mouth with her hand. She pushed us out of the apartment and closed the door.

-Ya! What are you doing here?

-I… I came to visit you. - It was kind of true.

-Do you know what time is it? Almost 2am in the morning! Go home. – She pushed me towards the staircase.

-Andwae…- I was about to protest but I decided not to since I didn’t know how to tell her the real reason why I was there: I fought with my “stepfather” and it was too late and cold to go to my dorm, and there were no buses, and I wanted to walk, and I didn’t think about taking a cab because I’m stupid and I don’t like them too much, and I didn’t wanted to be alone, and I didn’t wanted to disturb my hyungs, and she was one of the few people that knew about this, and I wanted to see her, and wtf is wrong with me, it’s not because of the last reason! Not at all. So I stood there looking at the floor.

I heard her sigh and then I felt a hand pulling me by the wrist into the house.

-Stay in silence, please.

I couldn’t really see what her apartment looked like since the lights were off but it wasn’t as little as I imagined it to be. Soon we were in her room. She closed the door and looked at me.

-Look at you. You are covered in snow and all wet. - She was avoiding eye contact. She went to her closet, opened a few cabinets until she found something and threw it at me. It was a pair of comfy trousers. - It’s from my brother; it’s the only thing I have that fits you well so put them on. The bathroom is behind you.

I went inside the bathroom and changed. My clothes were all wet so I hung them where I could. My torso was but I guess that’s better than catching a cold by wearing wet clothes. I went out and saw a few sheets on the floor. She was sitting on her bed looking at me with surprised eyes when I came out.

-Y-y-ya! Why are you so… ? Put on some clothes! - She covered her eyes blushing.

-Do you have some, Pabo? From what I can see your shirts doesn’t even fit you so… Just imagine I am Key or something… - I felt a little embarrassed. Even with all those y pictures that came out for our Sherlock promotions I didn’t feel at ease wearing just a pair of pants in front of a girl yet.

-I can’t do that! You are not him. - Wait, what?

-So, have you seen Kibum like this? - How deep is their “friendship”? JFC

-That is none of your business. Just, turn off the lights and sleep there. – She pointed out the sheets on the floor and immediately lay down on her bed with her back facing me. I didn’t even have a blanket. I got in my “bed” anyways and tried to make myself comfortable, without succeeding.

-Where is your sense of hospitality? - I said sarcastically.

-In the same place your sense of “when should I come to people’s house” is…- I smiled at her reply. Aish, this girl… I closed my eyes and hardly felt asleep.

===========================

I opened my eyes. Something was disturbing me so I could sleep. An hour had past and Taemin kept breathing heavily and making noises of pain once in a while. At first I thought he was just making a scene because I made him sleep on the cold and hard floor with just a sheet and no blankets. I swear I tried to find something to build him a decent bed but all those stuffs were in Ariana’s room. I couldn’t wake her up and take them out without giving her a convincing explanation, which I didn’t have. I was able to get him into my room when he came with a lot of luck since no one woke up; I wasn’t going to tempt the devil…

Anyway, I was starting to get very worried about the guy. I softly got out of my bed and knelt next to him. He was sweating even if the night was so cold. We couldn’t set the heater at a high temperature because the electricity bill will be expensive.

-Aghh…- He groaned.

-Taem… Taemin…- I touched his shoulder but he didn’t wake up. - Taeminnie…- I shook him. - Wake up, Taeminnie…- He finally opened his eyes. I saw pain in them, just as I did when we were outside an hour ago. – Are you ok? - He nodded making a huge effort. - Of course you are not!

-Then don’t ask me, pabo…- Pshhhhh even weak as he is right now he’s a jerk.

-You are sick. And dumb… but that’s not something new. - I smiled ironically. - Hey, get up. You are sleeping in the bed tonight.

I helped him to get up and lie in my bed. He didn’t say a word. When he was settled I gave him some medicine I had on my desk for emergencies. I put the blanket over him and went to sleep on the sheet on the floor. Jesus, THAT was uncomfortable. Now I feel like such a horrible person for making him sleep there.

-Sophie-ah~…

-Mwo.

-Sleep with me.

-Ya! What are you saying? You must have high fever. Shut up and try to sleep. - I blushed unconsciously at his proposition.

-Annee… Sleep with me…- His voice was weak and husky.

-Stop saying nonsense and sleep.

-YOU are the one saying nonsense. I can’t let you sleep on the cold floor while I sleep on your bed… It’s snowing... You are going to get sick…

-No. It’s ok, really. I have good immune system.

-Your immune system , Key told me. Come to the bed or I’ll go sleep with you on the floor…- He was serious this time. AISHHHHHHHH! Why does he make this so difficult?

I got up and slowly approached the bed. I lift a side of the blanket and when inside. WOAHHH… it was so warm! Then I realized how close we were. My bed was made for one person so there was not a lot of place for 2 people. I could feel the skin of his back against my arm. He wasn’t sweating anymore but his skin was so hot and soft. No no no no no! Don’t think about his skin! I turned around so our backs were touching. Well, at least there is tissue between us. I must try to sleep now. Go ahead, Sophie, you can do this. But then he moved and I felt his breath on my neck.

-Are you sleeping? - Yes, yes I am sleeping. Pretend your dead if you have to but DON’T ANSWER.

-Yes… I am. – Niiiice! This is top of my brightest moments for sure.

-Thank you for letting me stay with you. - His hot breath brushing against the skin of my neck didn’t allow me to say anything. - Tonight would have been a horrible night if it wasn’t because of you.

-You have an injury on your cheek, I saw it. – Finally, some coherent words coming out of my mouth.

-It’s because of Kang Woo, my mother’s husband. We fought tonight and I fled from my house. - There was bitterness in his voice. I guess all the Kangs are the same… but at different levels I may add.

-You were brave then. - I heard him laugh silently behind me.

-I don’t think so. I ran away after all. And I didn’t want to face reality, I didn’t want to go to the dorm and realize everything is still the same. I am not strong enough to make a change. That’s why I came here. You popped in my mind on my way to the dorms. - I did? Don’t listen to him, Sophie. He is sick and he’s not aware of what he is saying.

-Do you feel better now? - Maybe changing the topic slowly will help.

-Neh. Everything is okay. Your medicine is magic. - Is he talking about being with me or the pill I gave him 15 minutes ago? I’ll go for the 2^nd option. I felt him moving his head closer to mine until his forehead was touching the back of my head. Thousands of butterflies started flying without control inside my stomach. Ottoke? - Your hair smells good...- He whispered.

I remained there, quiet and paralyzed. A few minutes later he began to breathe slowly and leisurely. He was asleep again but this time I could only feel peace. I eventually felt asleep too.

//////////////////////////////////////////////

Tachan! Another chapter :D And I should be writing an essay right now :/ And I bet you should be doing something else more productive now too! Hahahahaha

Leave a comment if you liked the chapter so I will feel inspired to write better in the future :D

I love you! <3

Ps: I thought it was about time to start writing from Taemin’s POV too J

Ps2: I may be not be able to upload next week because I have a horrible week full of exams -____- BUT I will upload more often after that since the worst will have past already and Summer is coming! :D