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Kris never talked about the Dark World with Asriel. Nearly three years have passed, yet not once have they even breached the topic, with Kris desperately trying to stir away each time they sensed it approaching. The two of them never spoke of the Red Soul, or what was inside the shelter, what really happened to Dess, or how the world had nearly ended… So why would they tell him about something which was so stupid and insignificant by comparison?
When Kris and Susie sealed Castletown away for good, they had not talked about any of it either. They never talked about Ralsei, or Lancer, never spoke Noelle's name again, even though Kris could tell Susie was itching to say something. In that brief period of silence that lingered between them, Kris thought that this could have been the end of their friendship too. Any sort of… affection they might have harbored was still short-lived back then, but maybe it was the fear of actually losing everyone that caused them to keep quiet, while somehow clinging onto each other so tightly.
Susie never really told Kris that she forgave them, but they knew she did anyway. They were relieved to have never heard it.
It was catastrophically unfair how through all these earth-shattering events, the reason for their falling out was so mundane. It all happened so fast, and they never did officially break it off. One day they were laying tangled up in one another on Kris’ bed, approximating normalcy, the next Susie had all her things packed up, ready to be relocated to her new home. Kris never did come to wave her goodbye one last time. Their last memory of her was still in their room, comfortable on their sheets, within Kris’ hold… Kris genuinely thought one day they'd learn to live with this being the last image they had of Susie. Up until the events of last week.
Why could Kris not be more normal about this? At this point, Susie was a distant, cherished memory for longer than she had been theirs, so it should not have been such a big deal. Susie was being normal, or at least by Susie standards!
It was only an accidental run-in, supposed to be mundane again. Asriel kicked them out of the apartment with the mission of getting some groceries, but no list, meaning they would likely end up eating instant noodles and Monster energy for dinner yet again. It was not so long since Kris moved in with their brother, but they were already starting to get familiar with the neighborhood - enough to feel somewhat homely while dredging along the well-worn path towards the store.
They happened upon each other in the school supply aisle, which was such a stupid coincidence it made Kris want to tear their hair out. They were only there to grab a notebook or two, since Asriel was starting to get on their case about skipping all the classes they signed up for and Kris knew very well they should probably start taking notes whenever they did appear. They might have not even noticed Susie, too caught up in replaying all their brother's nagging, if she didn't accidentally bump into them, way less apologetic than a stranger probably should have been.
Seeing Susie… she did not change much at all, only her clothes were a bit nicer. Her hair was still a mess though, which only made Kris reminisce of how nice it was to run their hair through it. They would have probably ran away then, bolt out of the store just in case and returned to Asriel empty-handed, if not for the fact that Susie looked them in the eye first.
Her pupils widened and her jaw hung open. Even so, she did not look angry, or sad, or horrified, or any other number of intense adjectives Kris would have expected out of her. She simply seemed surprised, meanwhile Kris felt a cold shiver run through them as if they had just seen a ghost.
“Kris?... Is that you?” She was the first one to speak up.
They nodded, a bit too frantically, straightening out their back from their usual hunch. To call the conversation that followed awkward would have been an understatement. They hurriedly caught up on where they were in their life now, through half-sentences with them accidentally cutting each other off repeatedly - Kris starting their degree while sleeping on Asriel’s couch, speaking about their studies with no passion, and Susie living on her own, jumping between jobs at the moment. Kris almost cracked a smile at no position being able to contain her. Susie’s expression as well alternated between nervous apprehension and a kind of hopeful relief.
The topic ran dry quickly, and Kris still wanted to escape. Even so, somehow they stumbled their way into asking Susie whether she would like to come over for dinner sometime. She looked hesitant, staring at them with a dumb-founded look, before finally mumbling out:
“Sure thing, yeah. You know, you should meet my new girlfriend too! I think you, uh, would really get along.”
That’s how they ended up in their current position, miserably wriggling about on that same fucking couch, hours away from Susie’s arrival. They groaned at the memory of it all, clutching at their hair, their bangs falling onto their face. They were struggling not to start nervously chewing on it.
“Kris? Are you alright over there?”
They nodded instead of answering verbally and though Asriel couldn't see it with his back turned towards them, the rustling noise must have been informative enough.
The only thing they told him was that they invited over some guests, probably slipping Susie’s name somewhere along their hushed explanations. If Asriel knew anything about Susie beyond what he had picked up in their single meeting back then, it was probably through their mom’s recollection over the phone. So, mostly mushy gushing.
Their brother abruptly stood up then, walking closer to the couch to throw a pillow directly at them. It was a bit ridiculous, since he hardly used any force and it landed softly on their stomach, softening any sort of impact the gesture could have had otherwise.
“You should get up soon, unless you want your guests to arrive and see the place like… this.” He waved his hand at the general state of disarray of their apartment. At least 70% of the chaos was Kris’ fault, their belongings still haphazardly thrown just about everywhere. They hadn’t really been able to find a proper place for many of them, with a general lack of cabinets or shelves around. Served Asriel right for refusing to drive them to ICE-EA.
“I’m done with my assignment, so I’ll be leaving in half an hour - I won’t be able to watch over you and check if everything is in order, like mom does.” He joked and Kris shot him an incredulous look.
“Why are you looking at me like that? I told you I’d be going out with some friends from class tonight…” He smiled down at them sheepishly.
Kris truly did not know which was the more awkward alternative, being the sole host welcoming Susie and her girlfriend in or having Asriel around, like he was chaperoning them. Either way, it was pretty obvious to them they’d like Asriel to hang around - an anchor, to not get overly emotional. Their sibling bond was going through a bit of a weird period, mediated by many annoyed jabs from Asriel’s side and Kris constantly lying by omission, but still their brother was the only person left who even somewhat understood them - understood them enough to freeze in place above them, inspecting their face closer with careful suspicion.
“Seriously, Kris, what is going on? Are you not happy to see your friend after so long?”
They were happy, of course, probably more than they should have been. Though at some point, the feeling of excitement became rather indistinguishable from worry and Kris supposed, even if they attempted to be a semi-well adjusted close-enough-to adult about this, they did have much more to worry about here. The tense exchange of words before they last separated, broken promises that still lingered, for one. Lies that they have both kept up this whole time, or else one of them would have ended up on the news by now… but Susie must not have minded their shared baggage so much if she still agreed to visit, right?
Slowly, they did their best to stretch out their crooked spine, vertebrae by vertebrae, until they slinked up into a sitting position like a slinky. Asriel sarcastically applauded their great effort in getting up, walking over to the kitchenette. They wordlessly joined him, oversized sweater dripping down their arms and bunching up at their wrists.
“I got some stuff for you to make butterscotch pie, like we did with mom… A nostalgic touch, you know! I am sure I don’t have to help you with that.” He waved a bunch of ingredients, neatly set up already as if he didn’t just say he would not help.
A nostalgic touch was the last thing that Kris wanted, or even needed. It would not do them any good to accidentally slip back into that longing - a feeling that never really left, but that was at least comfortably satiated at some point when they still knew Susie. No matter what they ate together, shared together, the fact that it was the two of them made Kris giddy even in the most dire of circumstances. It was far too dangerous to indulge in something like that, especially now that Susie was with a different person, was a whole different person herself.
And yet they were already rolling up their sleeves, picking up a large plastic bowl and measuring out the dry ingredients for the dough. Did they have enough time to let it chill properly? Maybe they could time it so that the pie would be out of the oven exactly as Susie arrived… How stupid was all that?
When they heard Asriel shuffling out the door, they screamed after him about the apparent lack of pie pans anywhere and the two hurriedly rummaged through all of the cabinets, still overflowing with junk left by the previous tenants that their brother never bothered to throw out (again, how fair was it for him to complain about Kris' mess?). They turned up a single pan. It looked like it had seen much better days, a little small and bent out of shape. Still, Kris smiled shyly. It would do.
It was funny, how even with the dozens of memories of them preparing this exact dessert with their family, when their parents were still together and the Holidays could all come over, Kris' focus was solely on that one time they baked a pie with Susie. Anything to do with family felt like a scab too fresh for Kris to pick at, even with lighthearted moments still present in there somewhere. In comparison, the thought of Susie, with her sleeves rolled up and flour smudged on her face, was almost enough to put them at ease.
At some point in-between kneading the dough and anxiously glancing at the wall clock, Kris got into the near robotic motions of getting the place ready, shoving items in drawers with no consideration of where they were exactly supposed to go. The mess would be out of the view of the guests, anyway. Back in the day, Kris wouldn’t have thought twice about letting Susie see their messes, but now they fretted. Would a good re-do on a first impression make up for everything that happened?... Obviously not.
The fact that they had a chance at any sort of do-over was already more than they deserved. Kris reminded themselves they should stay satiated with that, instead of already letting their mind wander over what-ifs of past and present, the question of what comes after, hanging onto a hypothetical next time if only they played their cards right…
They barely registered the passage of time, up until they heard a series of knocks at the door. The first one had been so shy that Kris chose to ignore them, assuming it was meant for one of the neighbors they’ve still yet to learn the names of. Just a couple of months in the city had Kris growing less wary of the noise surrounding them, when back in Hometown even a gust of wind could have drawn mom’s attention, cautiously parting the kitchen curtains to see what all the commotion was about. Even a racket of a heated argument in the apartment just next door was something they paid no mind to now. If anyone around them went off and disappeared around here, they would have no clue…
When they failed to respond, much more assertive knocking followed, accompanied by Susie’s booming voice.
“Kris, you in there? I sent you like a gazillion messages.”
They flipped their phone open, seeing that indeed they had at least a dozen unread messages and a couple of missed calls. It was a miracle that Susie still showed up while getting no response from them all day. They shuffled towards the door, shouting back something apologetic. They felt their embarrassment growing as they struggled with the locks on the door, almost as if their hands were acting on their own, trying to stall their and Susie’s re-reunion.
Finally, they managed to wrestle the door open. Only to be met with…
Susie, smiling. Same as she always did, sharp teeth on full display. It was comforting. It was overwhelming to make Kris forget they should probably be talking, welcoming her in.
“Hey there, dumb-ass.” Susie spoke in their stead. She was blushing, just barely noticeable on the soft skin poking out from behind her scales. Her hand flew upwards to bashfully scratch the side of her head. “This is, uh… My girlfriend. Belle. Belle, this is Kris.”
Kris’ gaze, previously fixated squarely on Susie’s face, moved towards the girl to her side. Belle.
Belle, who was… a human.
It felt a little out of nowhere, though logically it really shouldn’t have. It made no sense that Kris assumed otherwise and even less sense that they felt so offended by it.
She was… pretty. Prettier than Kris, at the very least. Her sun-kissed blond hair fell over her shoulders in gentle curls, effortlessly elegant.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!” She said, sounding a little too enthusiastic.
Even after spending a couple of months in the city, getting to see other humans more frequently, Kris found looking at human faces rather unnerving - so they stared down at that gorgeous hair of hers, the modestly expensive dress. Her playing with the hem of her sweater nervously, freckles scattered across her soft, unblemished arms. Her hands gripping onto Susie’s forearm, and it looked suffocating, but the monster girl only smiled and continued bashfully scratching her head.
Finally processing Belle's greeting and her outstretched hand, Kris perked up at the implication that Susie actually did talk about them. It couldn’t have been anything good, could it… If Susie wanted to complain about them to her new partner, Kris couldn’t blame her, but just the knowledge of Belle potentially having that ammunition against them did not make for a good first impression.
They quickly muttered a “you too”, though they had previously not heard a single thing about Belle and were dreading meeting her from the very moment they learned of her existence.
When the couple shuffled past the doorstep, Susie looked Kris straight in the eyes with a nervous sort of apprehension. They understood she was silently pleading for them to not address the obvious thought which rose to the surface, with how Belle looked, dressed, acted - something which already stood out in their first moments of introduction. For both of their sake, Kris did not feel like opening that can of worms yet either.
The apartment was fairly small, so naturally Kris could only lead their guests onto that small couch of theirs. They weren’t really good at this whole hosting thing, never were. They asked Susie and her girlfriend if they wanted anything to drink, letting Belle name drink after drink that they didn’t have, from wine to orange juice to chamomile tea until she finally decided on water. When in the kitchen, they grabbed all the food they had prepared as well, and two cans of a favorite soda brand for them and Susie.
“Oh wow, that is a lot of food. You really shouldn’t have-”
“Are those the limited edition Dragon Blazers collab Plays chips? Sick, dude!” Kris smirked as Susie excitedly patted them on the shoulder.
Their inability to host extended itself into an inability to make small talk. In Hometown, there was no need for small talk because everyone already knew each other and at college, there was no need for small talk because all their social interactions consisted of straightforwardly asking people for their notes. If any of their classmates looked at them funny, they would just ask someone else the next time.
Kris did not, under any circumstance, want to hear about how Susie and Belle had met or anything else regarding their relationship, though that would have been an obvious topic. What else was on the table then? Even talking about something as mundane as the weather felt too heavy.
Before they managed to stammer anything out, Belle relieved them of their burden.
“So, Kris… Susie told me you moved here for college! What are you studying?”
Bio-informatics was nowhere near as cool as it sounded, and that was a judgment Kris felt confident about despite barely starting on their degree. Or maybe their professors just lacked any passion, so Kris felt no reason to pretend like they had any either. They mostly stumbled into it. Their mom thought it was so future forward, one of the few degrees she would willingly support them through - and their grades were not nearly good enough for anything properly ambitious, like medicine. Not that Toriel would be that picky either way. It was not her money that put them through college, anyway.
“Oooh, that sounds so cool! Very serious… I, uh… I am studying music, which I know is kind of silly! But I have always been passionate about it, and if it goes nowhere I can always try another Bachelor after!”
“Don’t say that, Belle! I’ve seen how talented you are, there’s no way you’ll go nowhere!”
With surprising genuineness, Kris could only nod along and say they were somewhat jealous.
“Haha, oh come on, guys!” Belle’s flustered laughter had no right carrying such a familiar note, a giddy trill through prominent front teeth.
“Kris, you haven’t even heard me perform! Don’t go agreeing with her-” She threw herself onto Susie’s arm, earning an entirely different kind of awkward chuckle from the monster girl. “before I show you off!”
She spoke with boisterous politeness that didn’t carry any intention of actually following through with her offer. She had just met Kris after all, and even in their few exchanged sentences, they were already cringing at how jittery they must have come off. Still, maybe that was all the more reason to try to take Belle up on the offer and see her reaction.
They didn’t actually respond, drumming their fingers on the coffee table. Their knee was brushing Susie’s, all three of them huddled together on the compact couch.
“Ah, what am I saying! You must be busy with classes, making new friends and stuff!” Sure they were. Belle clearly meant nothing much by it. “Even Susie is yet to properly come to one of our shows! I, uh… I play in a little band with a couple of childhood friends. Bass and some vocals!”
“Oh come on, you do so much more than that! Like all those cool visual effect thingies! You know the lights!” Susie nudged Belle with her elbow affectionately, moving away from Kris’ space. Suddenly, their legs felt so cold.
“I am surprised you remember all that, showing up late every time!” She sighed out an exaggerated huff, a small admission of some underlying feelings - bitterness? Dissatisfaction.
Susie was not oblivious, so it was a clear choice on her part when she did not address it, only wrapping her arm around Belle tighter and playing a bit with her hair. Belle sighed and closed her eyes, leaning into it. Kris felt like they should have looked away, but they kept drilling their gaze into Belle's small figure resting against Susie.
Susie caught them staring through the bangs hanging over their eyes. Way too perceptive for Kris' sanity, she smiled and move her hand from Belle's hair to ruffle theirs.
"You're just as weird as ever, you know that? Looking so serious and not saying anything…"
There was nothing to say, with a complete lack of overlap between the things that weighted on Kris' tongue and appropriate subjects to bring up. All thoughts coming to a halt, they shocked even themselves by letting out a small, low growl in response.
Susie immediately snorted, doubling over herself and pushing Belle to the side. "Pfft, you still do that? You're just proving my point, dude."
"H-Huh? What?…"
"Sorry you had to find out this way, Belle, but… way back when, I only had weirdos like Kris talking to me." She elbowed them, the most friendly and not-at-all romantic gesture, but it still made Kris a little lightheaded.
"See that sinister smile now? That's like one of only two expression they got going on."
"Aw, but that is not always such a bad thing! I mean, you've met Brian, his range of expression is- well-"
Susie grimaced, which only made Kris smile wider. "Don't even get me started on that Brian! Why do we even hang out with him?!"
"You know he is an old family friend-"
For the rest of the night, conversation flowed about as smoothly as a viscous nosebleed, Susie and Belle trading weirdly tense quips and taking turns trying to include Kris in the conversation. Admittedly, as uncomfortable and regretful as the situation made them, Kris did learn quite a lot from listening in on the couple.
As they had assumed, Belle came from a "good" family - no divorces, or untreated emotional problems, mysterious disappearances or lonely resentment, at least at first glance. Against their unspoken wishes, they were treated to a lengthy recollection of how her and Susie met, sickeningly sweet story of senior year sweethearts, only becoming open with their relationship once they both hit 18 and were ready to face the potential consequences. Susie and Belle still had weekly dinner at her parents' place, along with what seemed like half the neighborhood, though clearly it was not Susie's favorite thing.
It was hard not make more assumptions, totally uncalled for and immature, but it really seemed like Susie's actual favorite thing about Belle was that she was… comfortable.
They had no business comparing themselves to Belle, but needless to say Kris was anything but comfortable. They anxiously traced scratches just beneath their sweater's fraying sleeve with the tip of their finger.
When the tension they felt finally filled the room to the point where their guests could no longer ignore it, dragging their weight down by the ankles, the three decided to dig into the alcohol supply that Asriel's apartment did provide - cheap beer, mostly. One drink in already, Kris only felt worse. None of that desired loosening effect, instead they were saddled with a deeply uncomfortable heat pooling in their chest, but they couldn't just strip some of their layers or even roll up their sleeves without feeling way too exposed.
Kris suggested they move to the balcony for a bit, though it was not big enough to comfortably support three people. Not to mention the view was shit, facing the back of the opposite building. Susie still made a ridiculous but endearing comment about the moss that was creeping its way up the concrete wall, nuzzling at the bottom of some less-than-inspired graffiti.
It was not exactly chilly that night, but one could feel the faint touch of wind, lightly brushing up against the DIY wind chime of old utensils Kris made with Asriel on a particularly boring weekend. The wind always looked good on Susie, her fluffed up hair gently swaying to its irregular rhythm.
"Um, Kris, would you be so kind and point me in the direction of the bathroom?" Belle spoke up and Kris nodded vaguely towards the right door. She stared at them for a bit longer, fishing for a more illustrative answer, but soon left with a resigned "I'll figure it out!"
Belle closed the balcony door shut behind her, something which was both confusing and clearly purposeful. At last, Susie and Kris were left alone.
They would be lying if they said weren't hoping for this happen. For the past three years, against the rational desire to let go, they have been dreaming, if not anticipating. And now that their chance has arrived, they didn't have a clue of what to say. All this time thinking over hundreds of imaginary arguments, different scenarios in which Susie yelled at them, forgave them, hurt them, left them all over again or held them tight and never let go… all that and they couldn't get started on a single one.
It would be unjust to ask Susie to take them out of their misery one last time here. They had been the one to make this so difficult in the first place, turning down the last opportunity to speak with her before she would be taken away and making their last actual conversation, an unfilled promise, retroactively sting like a slap to the face. They didn't deserve someone else taking them by the hand through this talk just because it was hard.
Still, that is exactly what happened. Susie hesitantly opened her mouth, and Kris pressed their back against the railing, pleading for an escape.
“Kris." They didn't like how regretful she seemed, just over the sound of their name.
"I was really angry at you this whole time, you know. Furious actually.” A hint of sharp teeth shone through her sardonic smile. “When you, you know… Didn’t want to run away with me, it felt like- I don’t need to tell you what it felt like! You left me, Kris.”
Their grip on the railing tightened.
“After everything that happened… I thought you were the only one who could ever understand, and then you left me! It made me feel freaking crazy, like was any of that even real? Was it all just a dream, because I was so… because we were-...” She was getting progressively louder, until that final question fizzled out in a whisper. She turned back to lean back with them, so close to them it burned. Her eyes roamed the balcony, but she didn’t look at Kris. They observed her intently.
“But… I kind of get it now. Don’t get me wrong, I am still pissed, but… it was selfish of me to ask that of you. You still had Toriel, your dad, N-... Noelle’s family, all that history that you couldn’t just leave either. And me? I was like… just a passerby.”
Kris wanted to scream. Susie could not have been further from the truth, even now she occupied their thoughts, concrete dead weight in their heart and not just some passing feeling.
But they couldn’t bring themselves to say anything like that. Not when Susie’s girlfriend was still right around the corner, bound to come back any second. Not when this thing between them had always been doomed, from the start, because of the prophecy, because Kris should have never meddled with it, should have never hurt Dess or Noelle, or Susie, Susie who should have never gotten herself mixed up with them-
They grabbed onto Susie’s shirt, feeling it crease under their tight grip, finally moving their eyes away from her. Shit, what could she possibly have thought right then? She must have realized how pathetic this all was from them, clinging onto her now when she was right to call them out about abandoning her - they could have left with her, tried to seek her out sooner if they missed her so much, anything other than what they have done would have been a better ending to this whole fiasco.
Kris heard her laugh. It was not exactly a pretty sound, low and thundering, but Kris had always found it delightful, even back when she was laughing at them and not with them. It had been so long since they heard it.
“Yeah, right. I know you must have been… pretty conflicted about it too. Probably went pretty crazy on your own.”
And for the first time since they went out in the gentle October chill, their eyes met.
Susie had always had this ability to sense exactly what Kris had been thinking without them having to say anything. Even when the Red Soul still used their body as a vessel, she extracted their meaning by reading between the lines, their own intent, from each word and each action. Kris really did love this about her.
“It was Belle who actually helped see through all that-”
“Don’t.” Don’t bring Belle into this, not right now.
And again, Susie understood exactly what they had meant, a quiet gasp escaping her lips. Susie was never the quiet type and the oddness of her sudden gentle disposition made Kris want to grab her by the collar, pull her close, to draw that signature boldness out of her again. Picking on these subtle town shifts, Susie blinked her soft shock away and shifted so that she was facing Kris head-on.
Kris wasn’t sure what kind of expression they were making themselves… If they could truly forget about all this, forget about Belle as they instructed Susie, they probably would have been grinning like an idiot. Vaguely, they sense their mouth twitching, curling up into a smile. It was so long since they had last smiled, genuinely…
Susie smiled back easily, only a little strained, parting her lips like she was going to say something. She didn’t. Quietly, gracelessly, she leaned over towards them, their foreheads very nearly touching-
The sliding balcony door slammed open with a creak.
“I, uh… got lost on my way to the bathroom. Sorry for taking so long.” She spoke in a slightly higher pitch than previously. She must have seen something through the hazy glass. If she had only come in a second later, who knew what she could have walked in on.
“Belle, it is good you are here! Because, I was just thinking- it is starting to get late, we should go!” Kris shook their head, then tried to make up for it by nodding eagerly. Real smooth.
“A-Are you sure? I feel like I’ve just interrupted something.”
Kris shook their head way too fast again. It was hard not to stare daggers at Belle then, so much bitterness must have shown through their gaze, so they glued their eyes to the floor and muttered some kind of an excuse about an early class tomorrow… The clock neared 9 PM on a Friday evening. Their deescalation skill matched Susie’s, really.
Still, proving Kris’ initial assessment of her gentleness, Belle in all her kindness let it go. She did not prod further, nor did she attempt any kind of territorial displays that Kris would have expected right then - arms wrapped around Susie’s waist, a frantic kiss, pretending she aimed for Susie’s cheek and it only landed on her lips by mistake, which Kris would nevertheless watch intently with a sort of sick satisfaction. But Belle did none of that, moving out of the way when Susie passed her in the doorway to grab her shoes.
All she did before joining the monster was smile at Kris, a kind smile that they were starting to recognize as her signature. It felt like she was pitying them. If they had wanted to feel bad about themselves that night, Kris would have used this image as a jumping off point to speculate what Susie must have told them about her to warrant this reaction… After everything they did that night, they decided it’d be best to sleep it off, knowing Asriel would not dare wake them up before noon the next day.
Their goodbye was not in any way noteworthy, save for Susie’s comment of how they should do this again sometime - “this” purposefully not defined in any way. Kris hummed affirmative, waving Belle goodbye, but when it came to parting with Susie, they surprised even themselves by going in for a tense hug which lingered a bit too long.
Maybe there was some previously undiscovered hint of possessiveness in Kris, not Belle. Maybe they liked the feeling of almost getting caught, giving the lovebirds something to talk about on the way back home.
At the end of the encounter, the conclusion to it all seemed rather obvious. Puppeteered by the Red Soul or not, giving up their autonomy or taking initiative for the first time in forever, they could not escape the simple fact - at their very core, Kris was still a bad person, plain and simple.