Key flipped a page in the newspaper, sitting with one leg draped over the other, a bored look on his face.

He glanced at their youngest member, his face sorrowing immediately.

"Taemin, why won't you wake up…?" The only answer to Key's question was the steady beep that came from the heart monitor.

"You're safe now…so I don't understand…" Key took the boy's hand in his, wiping his tears away with his other arm.

Every time he laid eyes on SHINee's maknae, it felt like a stab to the heart.

I know I shouldn't blame myself…but I do…just like Onew, just like Minho…what would have happened if I had let Tae and Minho stay home from school? Maybe you'd be still be okay if Minho hadn't had that math test, and wasn't so worried about it, that he forgot to look both ways before crossing the road? Normally, Taemin was cautious before crossing too but…

Key shook his head, clearing it of his nagging thoughts.

I need to stop beating myself up over this…

After staring at the maknae for a little while, hoping for a response, Key sighed and slumped back in his chair.

He wished for something, anything, but silence. Just a twitch of a finger would help. But there was nothing, there was always, nothing.

"I just want you to be okay…" He whispered, his voice choking with emotions.

Key reached his free hand out and brushed his fingers through Taemin's silky hair, humming softly as way to distract himself from the situation.

He smiled slightly.

It just looked like Taemin was sleeping, that's all. His eyes were closed peacefully and, if not for the oxygen mask covering his face, or the IV in his arm, it would have looked normal.

"Taeminnie? What did you think of Jonghyun's present?" He asked, referring to the large bear the lead singer had brought in earlier along with the banana milk, which they were waiting to share until Onew got back from his meeting with their Manager.

"He's a good hyung to you, isn't he? Yah, I should have thought of getting you a big teddy bear! How dare he think of that first!" Key joked, chuckling slightly.

When Jonghyun had come into the room with a bear larger than he was, Key hadn't known what to do. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry both in happiness and sadness. So he settled for a smile instead and went over to give their strong singer a large hug.

"You know…Minho and Onew are good hyungs to you too. Minho-ah has always been there for you, you always seemed to be more comfortable around him then the rest of us when we first met. Maybe it was an age thing…or maybe it's just because he's always so quiet and laid back." Key couldn't help but smile. "Jjong and Jinki-hyung are always so loud! You're quiet too…so that's why I think you and Minho-ah got along so well at the start. Now, Onew-hyung…he cares a lot more about you than you think. He may be awkward and clumsy, and may not know how to say how much he loves you but…he does. We all do, Taemin."

He had read once in a health magazine that playing music, reading or talking to a person who is in a coma will help them.

We should all get together and sing Replay for Taemin…our first song…I think he'd like that.

"What do you think, Taeminnie? Would you like us to sing for you? Jonghyun-hyung is an amazing singer…and he was training you! Minho-ah – you remember him don't you? – is an amazing rapper too. Onew-hyung, he's our leader, Taemin – "

A knock at the door interrupted Kim Kibum from his rambling and he stopped and turned towards the door to see Jonghyun enter.

Key smiled and gave him a small wave, which he returned.

"How's Taemin?" Jonghyun asked quietly.

Key didn't fail to notice the dark bags under the older boy's eyes, and he frowned.

"Good. I was just telling him that we would sing Replay for him."

Jonghyun grinned, though it was without its usual life.

"That's a good idea. We should play all our songs for him, one every day. Just until he gets better...it won't be the same, without Tae that is, but…it might help."

Key nodded, smiling.

"That's what I was thinking."

He sat back in the chair again, picking up the newspaper and absently thumbing through it as he watched Jonghyun slowly walk towards Taemin's bed.

He almost smiled.

It was almost like Jonghyun was scared.

"Yah, do you think he'll bite-" He started saying but stopped with a gasp.

Jonghyun's head snapped up and his face went from concern to fear.

"Key?"

Jonghyun's voice seemed far away, almost like it came from a whole other world, as Key stared at the picture in the paper.

There he was.

That man.

He took in the man's blonde hair and big, brown eyes, saw the smiling face…

His shoulders started to shake with both rage and sadness.

This man ruined their lives – there was still a chance that he could take Taemin's, since no one was sure the boy was going to wake – and here he was smiling.

In a fit of rage, Key stood up rapidly, knocking down the chair and bumping the nightstand. The glass lamp that had once rested there, tumbled towards the ground and shattered.

No one this mattered to Key, for he couldn't stop staring at the picture…

Key through the newspaper as far as he could, a choked sob and a cry of outrage leaving his throat, before collapsing to his knees amongst the glass shards that dusted the floor.

He heard Jonghyun screaming his name, heard the heart monitor's consistent beeping quicken, felt the glass cutting into his palms and his knees, and felt Jonghyun's strong arms wrap around him protectively…but he didn't care. He just wanted Taemin back.

He wanted everything to be normal again.

With an anguished scream he curled up in a ball, sobbing like a baby.

"Key…Key, it's going to be all right." Jonghyun's soft voice, thick with his own tears, made its way through his fuzzy consciousness and he looked up at him with tear-stained eyes.

"How can you say everything's going to be all right! How could you! Nothing is ever going to be the same again!"

Jonghyun looked slightly hurt that Key had yelled at him.

Kibum never yelled at him, he never yelled at anyone.

That was one of the good things about their group; they never fought with one another. They had disagreements, sure, everyone did. They sometimes got a little mad at one another, but there's never been a full out fight between them. If they said something that hurt the other than an hour or two later, if not sooner, they would apologize and everything would be fine.

Key flinched upon seeing the look on his hyung's face but he pushed it aside.

Jonghyun swallowed hard before carefully choosing his next words.

"Key, if Taemin gets better, everything will be fine. It may not be how it used to be but –"

"J-Jonghyun just stop!" Key wailed. "It's not going to be the same again! Taemin and Minho might get better but it won't be the same!"

Jonghyun clamped his mouth shut, knowing that Key wouldn't listen to reason. So instead he held his friend tighter, fighting back his tears.

"Kibum, it's going to be okay. I've got you, you're okay." He whispered, his shoulders shaking as his body begged to cry alongside the boy in his arms.

No, I can't cry…

After a couple minutes of nothing but Key's quiet sobs and the beeping of the heart monitor by Taemin's bed, Key finally spoke.

"I'm g-glad that man got what he deserved." Key hissed vehemently, shocking Jonghyun once more.

Key never spoke like that either.

"K-Key?" He spluttered, his eyes going wide.

"I'm glad he died! He ruined our lives! Taemin might die because of him!"

Jonghyun's shock was quickly replaced with anger.

"Kim Kibum, look at me." He demanded coldly.

"No!"

"Look at me!" He cried.

Now it was Key's turn to look completely shocked and with wide, disbelieving, tear-stained eyes, he looked up at the older boy.

Jonghyun's jaw was set in a defiant line, something close to a scowl on his face, and his eyes looked dark, darker than usual.

For the first time in his life, Key was afraid of Kim Jonghyun, his greatest friend.

"I don't ever want to hear you say that again, Kim Kibum! Do you understand? Never! I know it was that man's fault, for being drunk and deciding to still drive! I know it was his fault that Taemin and Minho ended up here! I know it's his fault that Taemin is lying in a coma! But…that doesn't mean he deserved to die! What if he had family or friends that loved and cared about him very much! He made a mistake, Key, everyone does. No one's perfect…and think, it was almost just as much Minho and Taemin's fault for not looking as they crossed the street as it was that man's. So you all need to stop blaming yourselves! It's over! It happened! We can't change anything!"

By this time, the tears had escaped and were streaming down the older boy's face. His whole body shook and he found it hard to talk past the lump in his throat.

Key stared at him in shock and, without thinking, pulled his hyung into a large hug, deciding that Jonghyun needed more comfort than he did.

"I'm sorry, Jonghyun." He whispered. "I'm so sorry. You've been so strong for us…and all this time no one realized that you were really breaking inside…we've all been blaming ourselves and we haven't paid any attention to you…I'm sorry."