There was an empty silence in the hotel suite that night. The door between the two rooms remained closed and securely locked. Leeteuk and Hankyung sat on one side, nervously glancing between the door and the TV which they were trying so desperately to distract themselves with to no avail.

As soon as they had entered the room, Heechul had walked straight through the door that led to hers and Hankyung’s room, locking herself in and Hankyung in Leeteuk’s room. Since then, she had made no move to leave. The only thing that let the two men know that she was still even in the building was the occasional clank of glass against glass against table and shifting creak of the mattress.

“I can’t take this anymore.” Hankyung said, standing up from his position and walking towards the door to the hallway. “I’m going to go get something to eat. Do you want anything?” Leeteuk shook his head.

“I’m fine. I might try to talk some sense into her if I can get in there before you get back.”

“I’ll take my time then.” Hankyung said with a heavy sigh and walked out, sliding his jacket over his shoulders as he did. They had stopped by a few stores on their way back and bought more clothes, having lost all of theirs in the fires.

Leeteuk waited for a moment, watching the silent screen flash in front of him until he could take the tension no longer. Hesitantly, he knocked on the door separating the two rooms.

“Heechul?” he said as quietly as he could. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. Much to his surprise, the door swung open violently causing him to nearly lose his balance and stumble against the doorframe.

“What?” Heechul stood in front of him. She was a mess. Her curly hair stuck out in disarray and her make-up had run and smeared all over her face. She had obviously been crying and smelled strongly of alcohol. The sight nearly made Leeteuk tear up. He reached up and wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye.

“I thought we agreed you were finished with drinking when you’re upset.” He inquired somewhat playfully. Still, there was a hint of seriousness in his tone. Heechul rolled her eyes.

“Well sometimes people don’t exactly tell the truth.” She turned around and headed back into her darkened room.

“You can’t put this all on Hankyung, Heechul.” Leeteuk followed her as she stumbled over to the bed and landed on the mattress as ungracefully as humanly possible. He shook his head at the pitiful sight. The woman was constantly resorting to alcohol to solve her problems. She had done that years ago when the unit had first formed and the stress became too much for her to handle. But after they left to go into hiding, she left the bottle behind and would only drink socially from that point onward. Obviously she had fallen into her old habit of numbing herself to the situation. It was her way of handling things, even if it was a way that Leeteuk disapproved of.

“There were other people at stake with this. There was no way he was going to put other people in danger by telling anyone.”

“And he couldn’t tell me? Who would I have told, Leeteuk? Heebum?” Her words were slurred and it took Leeteuk a minute to comprehend what she was saying but eventually her meaning came across.

“You know that’s not why he kept that from you. He didn’t even tell me.” He tried consoling her but in reality he had no clue what to say to her.

“Like that makes me feel any better.” He could barely hear her mutter. She wasn’t going to be in her right mind when she was in this state. There was never any reasoning with her when she was drunk. Leeteuk sighed and sat next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder when she leaned against his side. After a moment of silence, the slender frame beneath him started trembling. He didn’t need to look at her to know that she was crying. He curved his arm so that it brought her against his chest and allowed her to sob into his shirt, rubbing comforting circles over her back and shoulders with his thumb. He felt her hands fist the back of his shirt as he did so.

“I don’t know what to do anymore, Jungsoo.” Heechul mumbled, her sobs calming down when she reverted to his given name. “Why don’t people tell me things? I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
Leeteuk chuckled.

“Of course you are.” Heechul looked up at him, a severe expression on her face.

“Are you mocking me?” Leeteuk laughed again and pulled her against him once again.

“Only a little.” She hit his shoulder lightly and looked up at him. In that moment, their eyes met, sharing so many unanswered questions and silent prayers.

What was this feeling? Leeteuk had been a childhood friend. They had been close and were always there for each other. Heechul supposed that if she thought about it, this feeling had always been there. The slight butterflies whenever she went into his office or the smile she felt creep across her face whenever he would flash that dimple of his at her from across the room. But no, these feelings were wrong. She was with Hankyung. There was no way she could be falling for her best friend. How could something so wrong feel so right?

Before she could consider anything else, her eyes closed as their lips met in a slow kiss equally as passionate and loving as any she had shared with Hankyung, if not more. The thought scared her; but not enough to remove herself from the warm embrace she hadn’t realized she had longed for.

***
Hankyung had just walked out of the hotel when he realized he had forgotten his wallet. He checked in all of his pockets. He had no desire to walk back into that room. Sighing, he his heel and trekked back up the stairwell. He opened the door and spied the black leather wallet on the other side of the room where he left it after Heechul had thrown it at him when he attempted to come into the room. The door in between the rooms was open and there was no sound coming from the darkness that encased it. Hankyung walked right past it, picked up his wallet and started out the door again when he saw shadows cast by the light that was spilling from that room into the other. He stood stock still at the scene before him.

Heechul and Leeteuk were in the middle of what appeared to be an intense lip lock. One of his arms was around her waist, holding her flush against him, while the other hand rested on her neck. She melded into him, arms against his chest and hands entangled in his hair.

Hankyung blinked back the prickling feeling behind his eyes as he walked briskly out of the room, not caring whether he broke the door off of its hinges or not. He just knew he had to get out.

***
Leeteuk had to be the one to break the kiss.

“Heechul. No. We shouldn’t be doing this. You have Hankyung.” He protested weakly, giving a half-hearted attempt to pull away from the woman in his arms. “This isn’t right.”

“Then you turn around and walk away. Tell me to never look to you again.” Heechul answered, not moving from her position. She watched the man in front of her as if daring him to obey her. They remained silent as they stared at each other. After a moment, Leeteuk placed a single kiss on Heechul’s lips, turned around and walked out of the room, trying to ignore the tear that he saw slide down her cheek. His head said to keep walking but his heart said to turn back. Leeteuk had always been a man proud of his ability to think logically and clearly. But the wrenching in his heart seemed to numb that ability. Leeteuk was also a man able to control his emotions, something he once thought a blessing but now considered a curse as he closed the bedroom door behind him.