Chapter 6

...Dawn Redemption... 

As soon as Jonghyun heard Key’s voice, he bolted for the door. But Onew blocked his path and with one hard kick to the stomach, Jonghyun fell backwards. The set of keys inside his trousers pocket fell out and slid on the cold tiles of the bathroom. Before he could regain his strength, Onew grabbed the keys and smiled mockingly.

“Bye- bye~” the leader said in a sing- song voice and quickly slammed the bathroom door shut, locking it from the outside. Jonghyun cursed under his breath and tried to get up, but as soon as he did that his world seemed to rock and he fell back onto the tiles. The pain in his stomach started to subside, but Jonghyun couldn’t waste one second lying helplessly in the locked bathroom while Onew told some high story about him being there. Jonghyun brought his arms to his sides and pushed his body so that he was upright again.

He groaned as his headache came again, but he shook it off and rattled the doorknob. “Dammit, Onew!” Jonghyun yelled, his hand still clutching his stomach. He winced at the pain but continued, “Get me out of here right now or—” An urgent conversation stopped Jonghyun and he pressed an ear to the door to get a better hearing. Panic began to electrify his body as he realised that Onew was talking to Key.

“… so glad that you’re awake, Key,” Onew said in a relieved voice. “J-Jonghyun knocked on my door. I thought he needed something… B-but then, he a-attacked me!” Jonghyun spat in disgust hearing Onew’s fake story. He kicked the door and clamped his fingers into his hair. Frustration and anger swirled in Jonghyun’s body and he began thrashing the bathroom, trying to find something that could break the door down. If he didn’t get to Key now…

In the midst of panic and searching, Jonghyun heard Key’s voice soothing the ‘terrified’ leader. “It’s okay, hyung. But, where is he now?”

“I-I managed to lock him in the bathroom when he p-pushed me in there…” Onew said in a small, cracked voice. Key didn’t say anything at first. Jonghyun could hear silence from the two as he stopped in his tracks. Just then,  a loud bang came from the other side of the door and Jonghyun jumped in surprise.

“Jonghyun, are you in there?!” Key’s voice sounded both on the verge of tears and anger. Jonghyun flinched at the tone, but he kept quiet. “How dare you attack Onew- hyung! You know this is never going to work. You’re doing this the wrong way.” Jonghyun pursed his lips as Key continued. How could the diva believe that he had a thing for Onew? The latter wasn’t even his type!

“…so you’ll just have to stay in the bathroom until morning,” Key was saying and Jonghyun perked up. “Then I’ll tell everyone, including SooMan-ssi about your uncontrollable behaviour. Seriously, all of this has got to stop!”

Jonghyun’s eyes widened and his body tensed. If they were to know about everything, he would be sent somewhere else; away from Key. And that meant Onew winning the challenge! He gritted his teeth and looked at the door, imagining Key and Onew standing outside. He cleared his throat.

“Aniyo… Please, Key. Just listen to me. I- I can explain the truth,” Jonghyun said. Although his voice wasn’t that convincing, he really hoped that the younger would listen. What he needed right now was someone to talk to; and Key was the just the right person to do so. “Do you see my set of keys on the lock outside?” When Key didn’t reply, Jonghyun heaved a sigh and continued.

“If you do, then think about Onew- hyung’s story again. If he said that I had ‘knocked’ on his door and attacked him when he gave me access, why didn’t I just use my keys to unlock his door and attacked him surprisingly?” Jonghyun explained and he could hear Key mumbling something in realisation. He knew it was a simple explanation but that was all he could cook up at the time being. Jonghyun sighed in relief— but victory was a long way ahead.

Outside, Key was beginning to see light in Jonghyun’s statement. He looked at the door and at the keys in the lock. Noticing the change in the diva’s face, Onew frowned. But then, he smiled and groaned in pain while clutching his head. Immediately, Key averted his focus towards the leader and came to his aid.

“Hyung? Wh-what’s wrong?”

“I think the bump I got when Jonghyun pushed me against the wall is starting to burn…” Onew whimpered. Jonghyun cursed under his breath and Key looked back at the bathroom door; with Jonghyun’s explanation lost at the back of his mind. He helped the leader up and walked towards his bedroom. When Jonghyun heard their retreating steps, he banged the door.

“Hey! You guys can’t just leave me here!”

Key turned his head towards the door. “Like I said, Jonghyun; you’re not getting out from that bathroom until the authorities get here,” Key said in an icy voice. And with that, he slammed his bedroom door shut and panic began to rise inside Jonghyun. The thought of Onew stealing his victory kiss was enough to rise his panic metre to the limit.

Jonghyun flung open the boys’ toiletry cabinet and rummaged for anything— just anything that could bust him out of his stinky, damp prison. He threw everything out; from face cleansers to lotions, from medicines to concealers, Jonghyun didn’t care. He was so desperate that he didn’t see his effort as a stupid action. If he was sane, he would laugh his off at what he was doing. What could he possibly find in a bathroom to help him in escaping it if it was locked from the outside? He needed a key— and from where he was searching, he doubted he could find anything useful…

As he threw a seemingly empty medicine bottle, he heard a small clatter from within. Jonghyun stopped in his tracks and slowly looked down at the bottle. He was expecting to hear what all empty bottles sound like— but that was no ‘empty’ bottle. Something was hidden inside it. He stooped down and seeing the outline of the object, memory gushed into him like a bullet train. He quickly uncapped the bottle and shook out the content— a duplicate key.

Jonghyun practically jumped and whooped with joy. He remembered that in their debut days, the members loved to play pranks on one another, and their most favourite victim was Taemin. The boys would always make fun of him by locking him inside of the bathroom until he begged to come out. Jonghyun guessed that Taemin had learned his lesson somewhere along the way and made a duplicate key for him to get out with ease.

So this was how Taeminnie got out. What a sly mushroom… Jonghyun thought and gripped the key harder. If he could do it, so can I! He got up and slammed the key into the keyhole and turned it. The bathroom door opened and he wasted no time in running towards Key’s room.

He turned the knob and was surprised to find it locked. Jonghyun didn’t have time to skid to a halt and his head slammed onto the door and he yelped in pain. He pulled away from the door and rubbed his sore head. From inside of the room, Jonghyun heard Key and Onew gasping in shock. He then heard footsteps padding towards the door.

“J-Jonghyun? Is… is that you?!” Key’s voice was that of shock and something else that Jonghyun couldn’t put his finger in. “If you are then just get lost. Don’t hurt Onew- hyung anymore!”

“Key, please listen to me. Onew is not what you think he is. He has other intentions and he’s gonna—” Jonghyun pleaded but was silenced by one of Key’s diva warning. He rattled the doorknob hopelessly and suddenly remembered his set of keys still in the bathroom keyhole; which was where Onew had left them. Jonghyun slapped himself inwardly and rushed back to the bathroom to pull out the keys.

As he ran back to Key’s room, he fumbled with the set to find the right key. He even almost tripped as his focus was not mainly on the floor. After he found it, he jammed it into the keyhole and flung open the door.

Key was already standing up from attending to the leader’s pathetic excuse of injuries to shielding the latter from Jonghyun. Jonghyun caught his breath and opened his mouth.

“Key… Please, just come away from Onew- hyung before he…” his voice trailed off. What could he say? That he and Onew were in a war to fight for the diva’s heart? It sounded wrong and if Key knew about it, the latter would take matters into his own hands in knowing two men were fighting for him. But Jonghyun didn’t want that to happen. He needed to do it on his own.

Key let out a dry laugh and Jonghyun snapped out of his thoughts. “Why are you still putting up this façade, h-h-hyung…?” The younger stuttered at the last word. It has been a long time since Key had talked formally to Jonghyun. He wasn’t used to it because they were together before and no formalities were used. But now, he saw that there was nothing special between them and used it. Even Jonghyun flinched at the word ‘hyung’.

“We both know that you’re just trying to get to Onew- hyung.” Key continued after the short awkward silence after his addressing to Jonghyun. “But the way you’re doing it is just stupid! You didn’t even tell me about your affection towards hyung. And thinking that I can’t know about it, you shoved me away, giving excuse that I was too comfortable with Onew- hyung so that you could have him all to yourself.”

Jonghyun opened his mouth to intercept, but Key’s anger had an iron grip on the situation and his explanations and accusations flew out of his mouth. “And… and for being such a pabo I believed every single word you’ve ever said because I love…” Key’s voice quivered and he shook his head to snap out of it. “…Because I loved you. But seeing as you’ve shown your true colours, I can’t even trust you anymore.”

The younger then pointed towards his bedroom door, indicating it at Jonghyun. “Hyung, just get out of here and never bother Onew- hyung again. And I promise you that I won’t go telling anyone. Not even SooMan- ssi…”

Jonghyun finally found his voice back and he was surprised at how loud it was that after that, he clamped his mouth shut. “ANIYO! Key, would you just listen to me?!” He hadn’t meant to shout, and definitely not towards Key. Onew jumped in pretence fright and hugged Key from behind, earning a comfortable flinch from the younger.

Before Jonghyun could sense what Onew as doing, Key’s body was backwards and he landed on his bed with a shocked outburst. Jonghyun advanced towards them but it was Onew’s turn shielding Key from him. He growled in frustration as he saw the leader’s evil smirk.

Onew raised his voice so that it sounded demanding. “Kim Jonghyun, leave this room immediately. If you don’t, then you know who we’re telling first thing in the morning.” Key relaxed at the leader’s orders and flashed Jonghyun both a pleading and persistent stare. The former stare however, was too little for Jonghyun to detect properly, but it was definitely a pleading stare. And a desperate one, too.

Jonghyun looked back at Onew and the latter’s mocking grin boiled the anger inside of him. Without thinking, he took furious steps towards the both of them and with every step, he saw Onew leaning to Key and at the last moment, turned his head in order that their faces were dangerously close with one another. And every instinct in Jonghyun told him to act NOW.

It all happened in slow motion. Jonghyun leaped towards them and had his hands extended. They closed themselves around Onew and his fingers pried the leader’s body away from Key’s and his body knocked Onew onto the floor. Jonghyun tried to manoeuvre his fall to the other side of Key, but his body refused to respond and he fell on top of the diva instead.

As Onew got up, he smirked and sighed mockingly in defeat. Key and Jonghyun’s lips were plastered to each other and the latter broke it while scooting away from Key. Right now, he didn’t care about the challenge. Rather, he was afraid that Key would burst into tears or rage and yell at him for being in that sort of manner. But the reaction that Jonghyun was just waiting to emerge from Key never showed up. The boy’s face was blank!

Key’s fingers touched his lips and he screwed his eyes shut. Time seemed to stop as Jonghyun waited anxiously for the younger’s reaction. And time stopped in such a way that they didn’t hear Onew leaving the room and closing the door, and in their own paradox, they didn’t hear another door opening and closing soon after.

After a really long wait, Key opened his eyes and looked at Jonghyun. His eyes gave nothing away and the elder gulped in nervousness.

“Jonghyun- hy-hyung… Please just tell me the truth. I don’t want to end up hurt and I know you don’t want that to happen…”

“Y-yes, Key… Anything.” Jonghyun’s heart skipped a beat and he sighed inwardly at Key’s calm and seemingly weird reaction.

Key took a deep breath and looked at Jonghyun straight in the eyes. “Why did you do it?”

Jonghyun was quite taken aback by the question and he stared at Key for him to explain further, but the boy’s question stopped there. Before he could answer, Key silenced him. “Never mind that!” The diva sighed irritatingly. “Do you… love me?”

“Ye- yeah! Of course I do.” Jonghyun blurted.

“Are you sure?” Key’s voice became hostile, much to Jonghyun’s surprise. He sighed and gently clasped Key’s delicate hand into his. He caressed them softly and affectionately.

“Yes… Of course I do, Key. Look, whatever happened to me and Onew… I know you’ve seen the bad side of it. But I promise you, it won’t happen again.” Jonghyun soothed.

“How do I know you’re not lying?” The hostility was no longer in Key’s voice. There was only uncertainty and… something else that didn’t quite belong to the diva’s character.

“Because I love you and only you, Kim Kibum. Not even Onew- hyung can match you.” Jonghyun smiled as he saw Key’s cheeks began to colour themselves a bright pink. The elder chuckled and pulled Key into an embrace. The latter mumbled something and Jonghyun pulled away, staring weirdly at Key. But the diva gave nothing away as he smiled brightly at Jonghyun, who was his boyfriend again.

Key gave a peck on Jonghyun’s lips and got up from his bed, already grabbing his towel to have his morning shower. “Yah, it’s 6.00am already. When are you going to remove that stench from your body?” Key pinched his nose and scrunched up his face in a teasing way and Jonghyun couldn’t help but laugh. And with that, the diva strutted out of the room and towards the bathroom.

“But I hate you… And I’ll never, ever forgive you.” Although Key’s mumblings were faint, the words began forming themselves inside Jonghyun’s mind, taunting him into thinking that that was what his boyfriend had said. He shook his head to erase the sentence and got up from Key’s bed, following the diva’s example of taking a shower.

Key was his now. He shouldn’t get negative thoughts about anything. A heavy weight lifted from Jonghyun’s shoulders and he gasped in relief. The long fight between him and Onew had been justified. Nothing could make his day any better than knowing that there would be no one there to steal Key away from him ever again.

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~Replying to comments~

@vampire12me... Wow!!! Well... I think you'll find ALL of your answers in the epilogue that's coming, dear! ^^

This fic is only until chapter 6 and the epilogue... Sorry I couldn't make it longer though... =p

Many of your questions are REALLY close to what is going to be revealed but yeah... In the end, you guys would have to guess who's who! >< Heehee~

Oh and thanks for loving this fic~ <33

@mushroombaby12... Yeah... me too! But this is only a fanfic! :) I just made him the badguy coz it seemed like a nice twist to the story.

@pencil91... Ahh, well. There IS  a reason to his naive- ness... Ngee~ :D

@Anis... Here Kitty, Kitty~~~ <3 Mistress has prepared CHAPTER 6 for you~~ :DD