"I love SHINee! If they were girls I would so totally want to date them. No offense, sweety."

She just raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly.

Teamin spoke up first in an innocent, naive manner, "You two aren't siblings?"

"Oh! Ew no! Sorry I failed to introduce you guys properly. This is Kim Gongcheul, my fiancé," replied the girl. Gongcheul pecked a kiss on her hair and then bowed, "Pleased to meet you! I am Kim Gongcheul."

Onew said casually, "You never told us that you were getting married."

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't, didn't I? I guess the subject has never really come up," she blushed lightly.

Gongcheul pouted, "You didn't tell them? Aw...Actually, worse is how you didn't tell me that you knew them! Well, anyway, now you know me! Yeah. She and I have been engaged since forever. It's arranged. We're not really complaining. We know each other and I know she will be a good wife and I will treat her right."

The girl blushed heavily now. She changed the subject. "Does anyone want tea or something? I'll go make some!" She retreated to the kitchen. While she was shuffling around, the guys in the living room sat pretty quietly. There was a tension in the air that everybody but Gongcheul could sense. Nobody said a word. Gongcheul was too busy staring at how pretty Minho looked to really notice the awkward silence.

A little less than ten minutes later, she came back with a tray with teacups on it and a kettle. She kneeled on the ground to begin pouring the tea for everyone. After she finished, she began passing them out. Jonghyun helped passed Gongcheul a teacup full of the steaming liquid. Upon grasping the cup, Gongcheul shouted, dropped the cup and spilled scalding liquid on his shirt and jeans. Steam could be seen coming off his clothes. "Man! That's hot! Why are you serving us boiling tea?!"

"Oh my goodness!" She ran over Gongcheul and knelt next to him with a washcloth to try to wipe at his clothes. "I am so sorry! I didn't think it was that hot!" She looked like she was about to cry. She lifted up his shirt a little to wipe the tea from his body and gasped at the angry red of his skin. "Oh! I am so sorry Gongcheul!" Gongcheul didn't say anything else but let her try to clean him up. He didn't look happy anymore though.

The SHINee boys sipped at their cups.

"Mine isn't too hot. It tastes just right too." Taemin said curiously.

"Oh my gosh! Your fingers!" She lifted Gongcheul's hand to her face to examine the blisters that were quickly forming.

Seeing that SHINee had no problem with the hot tea, Gongcheul played off the pain. "It's nothing."

She was really crying now and stuck his finger in like how they used to do when they were kids and they would get a boo boo on their hands. All the guys were really shocked. Gongcheul's features softened and he her hair with his good hand. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't hurt anymore. You made it all better. I forgive you." She pulled away, wiped her tears and nodded. She moved to clean up the mess of the cooling tea on the ground and the dropped cup that was thankfully still in one piece.

Minho quickly moved to her. "I'll help you." Before she could even begin to wipe up the mess on the floor or close her hand around the cup, Minho picked up the cup, stole the rag from her and mopped at the floor.

"I'm going to go head home now, honey. I'll see you some other time." Gongcheul left the house in a hurry, wanting to change his clothes and maybe get his mom to look at his burns.
She sat on the couch stiffly with her head down. She sniffled lightly, the aftereffects of crying.

Onew sat next to her. "You should calm down. He told you not to worry about it right? The tea was just fine. We all drank it and were fine." She took deep breaths and calmed herself.

Taemin sat down on the floor in front of her. "So...how close are you and your fiancé?" They all wanted to know the answer but they didn't think Taemin was going to be so direct about it.

"Oh...I met Gongcheul when I was twelve and that was the same time that my parents told me about the arranged marriage. You can say I hadn't really experienced any crushes yet so I wasn't really that much opposed to it. And since I knew that I was already promised to somebody, I knew I couldn't go out with any other guy so I never really liked anyone else. I already knew I had Gongcheul."

"So you two have basically been going out since you were...twelve..." Jonghyun questioned.

"Well, not really on dates or anything like that. We just see each other occasionally when my parents invite his parents over on special occasions and we sometimes visit each other's houses to keep the parents happy too."

"So you're not really happy then?" Jonghyun asked.

"What? Oh! Gongcheul is a great guy! He'll make a good husband."

"But you're not happy?"

She paused to consider her answer. Something compelled her to speak honestly. "I can't say I'm unhappy....But I'm not in real love if that's what you're asking." She joked, "Or maybe I am and don't know it. Since I've had only Gongcheul I don't really have anything to compare it to. And I'm not going to bring love down to the level of a crush."

Jonghyun spoke up, "You've never had that bell go off in your heart? The one that sounds every time you think of the person you like? It's like a giddy feeling that attacks you spontaneously when you're at a distance from the person you love and you're thinking about him."

Minho continued quietly enough that she had to strain her ears to really hear him, "And when you do get close to that person and talk to them finally or are just physically close to them, you feel a great warmth. Something that you've never felt before and will only feel near the person you love. It makes you happy and you just have to smile even if you try not to."

Key added, "And so you keep going back because you want that feeling again and you just know that that person is the only one that will make you feel that way. You just want to touch them or hold them and hope that person never leaves you."

She laughed, "Heh. What's up with this? YOU'RE trying to teach ME about love?" But then thought about it and added dreamily, "That sounds nice and all. But it almost sounds like obsession doesn't it?" She ended it with a joking tone. "Ah. Whatever. It doesn't matter now. I'm marrying Gongcheul as soon as I finish my studies at the university. It's already been decided."

Quiet...

"Well, enough about me. How about you guys? I haven't seen you all in a while."

Leader Onew answered, "We're still preparing for our comeback. Busy busy."

"Oh! Why are you all still here then?! You should all be resting or something!" she moved to stand up but Onew held her down by the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. We like spending time with you," Onew assured her.

"It rejuvenates us!" Jonghyun reassured her.

She laughed. "Hahah! You all are great! Sometimes I wish it was just the six of us together. Escape to a deserted island....deserted island resort, and just hang out for a while." She yawned and found her head resting on Lee Jinki's shoulder as her eyes blurred from fatigue. It was pretty late out now. "Sorry I'm so tired guys. I would love to listen to you guys some more. Must be still recovering from my accident" She yawned cutely again.

She didn't remember who said it but she heard, "Don't worry. Rest. When you wake up, everything will be just what we wished for." She smiled and took a long blink. "Yeah, sure."

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Posted: 2009 Dec. 28th (on Winglin)
Posted: 2010 Juy 18 (on Asianfanfics)


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