Hehe, now didn't author-nim shock you with this quick update (readers: no you didn't *author-nim gets embarassed by her stupid intro and overly-confident self and runs away from the scene)? Well author-nim is bored and might as well give you guys and quick update. Or maybe to compensate for the direction of where the plot is going to....

Hongbin had been ignoring him for days.

Technically a week and a half since Hongbin hit his head on the wall.

Actually, 'avoiding" was the more suitable word.

Sanghyuk subconciously counted the days they hadn't really interacted with each other. He wants to know why, but he couldn't, and was too scared to. Somehow deep down, he felt that things between him and hyung didn't work out very well. At least something changed.

For the record, Hyuk had always felt a little inferior in the group. Not that his hyungs said anything that made he feel this way, and he didn't really hate the feeling of being treated as a baby, just all maknaes. Back then when they had just debutted, Hyuk had many things to learning, seeing that he had only trained for three months before their debut. He had to learn dancing from N hyung, singing from Ravi hyung and Leo hyung, and also some talents from Ken hyung. It was a life completely different from his classmates and friends. He trained for 9 to 12 hours a day with little rest, returning to their dorm at 4 in the morning and immediately leaving at 7 for school. He couldn't live with his parents, and no longer knew what his friends were chatting about at school, it was almost as if he came from another world.

Automatically, the members became his parents, having more authority over him and more care and love. N hyung, always nagging and overly intimate with hugs and pat-on-the-heads like an eomma. Leo hyung, silent and strict but forever supportive and encourage like an appa. Ken hyung and Ravi hyung are like his brothers, playing, teasing and messing around the dorm, but also giving useful advice and teachings. And Hongbin was ... there.

It wasn't that he and Hongbin weren't close, in fact much closer than he to other members. They played Overwatch way past midnight, talked about nonsense for hours, waiting to get on stage and perform. They planned pranks on N and Leo and of course Ken, pissing them off and running away in laughter. "Partners in Crime", comments Ravi. They were close partners, friends, almost like soulmates, but never really family.

Family was just too plain to describe their bond.

"Hyuk-sshi, we have arrived," says manager-nim, opening the car door. Hyuk, who was weirdly quiet the whole ride, snapped out of his deep thoughts and slowly peeled himself off the car seat, stumbling a bit as he left the car.

'Hyuk-sshi, are you feeling well?" Manager-nim notices how Hyuk was quite pale and as if he was in a daze. However, the 22 year old maknae had been growing up strong and well built for the past few years, rarely sick and over powering his hyungs by his height and strength. In this rather chilly January, N and Leo are the people that need the most care, seeing that they were somehow frequently sick. Especailly Leo, who always had a couple of colds every winter, and couldn't seem to come back without breaking his leg or getting a swollen face after filimg Idol Star Athletics Championships.

'That leaves to the conculsion that Hyuk had been feeling sad or depressed by conflicts between him and members, seeing that he didn't encounter any problems at work,' manager-nim thought to himself. He had told the members a long time ago that he would not interfer with problems among members unless really needed, seeing that it was part of the company's policy to train idols to be able to cooperate with each other and develop a stronger bond with through solving difficulty and learning to understand each other's flaws.

Watching from afar, manager-nim observed Hyuk as the MC asked him questions in an interview, which Hyuk responded professioanlly and even joked around a bit. Seeing that he was able to perform well on air, manager-nim decided to let him resort to solving his problem himself.

When Hongbin came back, Hyuk was already there, seated on the couch playing with his phone. Hongbin immediately paniced a little, trying to avoid eye contact as he slipped past the living room into his room, and apparently unsuccessful to go unnoticed.

Sanghyuk was staring at him, as if expecting him to say something, Hongbin turned away, but simply knew too clearly that Hyuk also felt the tension between them.

He was aware that he was both subconciously and intentionally ignoring Sanghyuk. Well, "avoiding' might sound better. And to be exact, it started from the very moment after he hit his head. Hongbin knew he himself was the problem, but he didn't want to solve it. He was too afraid to.

If N hyung or Leo hyung were there, they would have spotted this weird changed between him and Sanghyuk. They were like parents afterall, tending to their every need, and Sanghyuk could always turn to them and tell them his problems, and they would trying solving it. If they were here, they would have gotten between them, and possibly force them to talk and end this strange phase.

But they weren't there, both too busy at work. 'Then Sanghyuk must have had someone else to help him...'

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The realisation hit him that he had always subconciously helped Sanghyuk with his problems when N or Leo weren't around.

There were times when they were talking about random things, like finding the best temperature to cook steak or how to make new ways to prank Ken hyung, they would suddenly go to serous topics like facing problems at work. In fact they both shared some problems of their own, like feeling that they didn't perform well while filming, wanting to be funny and tease other idols but too afraid that it would come out sounding offensive, or facing mean comments and crazy scandals that they had no idea how people managed to report. They helped each other, and it never occured to him that he was of a higher authority than Sanghyuk, he didn't feel like an elder brother to him, it was more likely that they were equal. And that they kept each other balanced and in check. Maybe they were really "Partners in Crime".

And now he left Sanghyuk confused by the sudden distance between them, knowing that he needed him to be there.

He was just too afraid to see what's coming ahead, and too afraid to know what Sanghyuk feels about it.

Well, well, this is a very interesting chapter, isn't it?

Too bad author-nim always likes to torture her readers and characters a bit. Awww poor Hyuk and Bean.

BUT! There are a few thing that author-nim wants her readers to notice if they didn't in this chapter, and give yourself an applause if you did notice:

1. Notice how Hyuk and Hongbin had changed the way they called each other.

2. Notice how the two of them thought of the same things and also made some similar realisations throughtout the chapter.

3. Notice the necessity for them to get a breakthrough by themselves, as realised by manganer-nim and Hongbin.

4. Notice that fear is dominating the both, though unsure of what fear and their reasons behind.

And now, my friend Watson (adopts Sherlock Holmes mode), answer this question: Who will end the "some"? (please comment below with a reason)

Oh and yes the title, perfectly fitting "The Closer''s lace blindfolds. They will have to take the blindfolds off the continue the performance, which in this case author-nim asks, what is the purpose of this blindfold to be placed at the first place, if it was needed to be taken off at the first place? (Answer the question, and you will be rewarded a hint to the next chapter.)

There is something more powerful than fear, isn't? Or is it? (Answer where I got this quote and the answer to the questions 1. the thing that from the source of the quote that is more powerful than fear 2. the second question questions if the answer from 1 is truly more powerful than fear, suggest something else that is more powerful than fear. You will be rewarded a hint to the next chapter, but different from the hint from the above question.)

Author-nim loves games, riddle games. Who doesn't like to play a little game?