Taemin's POV

I feel a little sick getting stripped by Jonghyun, but at least thank God it was only the chest and nothing else he put his lips on.

I felt disgusted, but not as bad as how much heartache it was to see Minho hyung.

Not being able to move, it was hard for me to watch him getting whipped everywhere on his body by Jonghyun. His chest was only exposed, too, thank the Lord.

But, I'm still upset and angry over this piece of s***.

Kim Jonghyun, why the hell are you doing this?!

I still believe it's been hours, not days since we've been here, but it feels like weeks to me. Jonghyun keeps watching us in each room one at a time, Minho hyung being too weak to even try to escape and save the both of us. Me, I'm a bit weak myself, but I think I can manage to escape and help both of us together.

Strange thing is that Jonghyun only hugs me and tries to hold me...like a lover would? Calling me Key softly beide my ear...it brings shivers down my spine.

It then dawned on me that he loves Kibum hyung no matter what. That sort of scares me the most.

As Jonghyun left to go to Minho hyung's room, I found a way to untie the rope arouns my wrists. By the time I saw Jonghyun towering over Minho hyung sitting down, I managed to untie my wrists and slowly creep out of the room.

I don't know what got into me - maybe it's because this whole situation is f***ed up and I don't want to see my Minho hyung hurt anymore.

I'm tired of this s***.

As I quietly stand by the doorway, I panicked once I saw Jonghyun pick up a whip from the ground. Not thinking correctly and acting upon impulse, I glimpsed at an old textbook on the floor. That should be heavy enough!

I swiftly carried it with both hands and creeped up behind Jonghyun. I slammed the book against his head with all my might, causing him to go unconscious with a shriek of pain and slump to the floor.

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Minho's POV

I heard a loud shriek of pain coming from Jonghyun, so I looked up curiously to find him falling to the ground unconscious. Behind him, I saw a beautiful angel holding what looked like a heavy old book. My eyesight was blurry, but I can tell that this angel is Lee Taemin, my angel Taemin.

I could feel him untying my wrists from behind me. I heard him hiss a few times, but he had quickly removed the ropes from my burning wrists and managed to pull me up. I looked down at him warily feeling light-headed, and immediately crushed him into a hug.

".....Taemin-ah...." I softly mumbled into his collarbone. My head felt dizzy from exhaustion, but then I started shaking. It turns out Taemin was shaking me with his hands on my shoulders.

"No! Wake up, Minho hyung! We have to get out of here!" Taemin cried out to me. Hearing his voice gave me some strength left in me to stand and move a bit faster than my body could take. Taemin carefully held my left arm around his shoulders as he helped me walk faster out of the warehouse.

Pretty soon, we were already outside about a block away from the warehouse, trying to run for our lives. I felt the cold rush of air breeze past my skin, making me realize we were both still without shirts. The only difference is that Taemin right now looks stronger besides me. I could still feel the stings from the cuts of that whip Jonghyun had earlier.

Sirens can be heard ahead of us.  We glanced up and sighed in relief as the police cars managed to find us and quickly drive by, stopping immediately right in front of us.

Jinki hyung and Kibum hyung ran out of the front seats of the police car in front of us and ran towards us.  I would've assumed that Jinki hyung would hug his own nephew first, but surprisingly, he glomped me into a hug first.

"Minho!  What the hell happened?!  Are you okay?!"  He cried out and let go immediately, scanning my cuts everywhere on my body.  That's when I realized both me and Taemin were shirtless and how cold the wind really is.  I shivered from the weather as I watched Kibum hyung run towards Taemin, immediately going into mother mode.

"TAEMIN!  OH GOD, MY BABY!  ARE YOU AND MINHO OKAY?!  ARE YOU HURT ANYWHERE LIKE YOUR HYUNG?!  TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!"  He started shouting and panicked, causing the other officers to try to calm him down.  Despite the fact that we were tired, I found it amusing the way Taemin seemed to be struggling from Kibum hyung's panic attack.

Just then, Jinki hyung slightly chuckled and pulled Kibum hyung towards me.  "Bummie, take care of Minho before the paramedics come here, alright?  I'll talk to Taemin."

Kibum hyung glanced up at him and slowly nodded before calmly coming towards me.  Okay.....how did hyung do that? o_O  The other officers also had that expression on their faces.

While Taemin was telling a few officers and his uncle what happened, Kibum hyung made me sit in the front passenger seat in one of the police cars while he carefully aided my wounds across my chest with a first aide kit.

I slowly glanced at him as he dabbed alcohol on my chest.  The way he goes caring for me....reminds me too much of Eunae.

It then hit me how much I missed my sister.

Eunae used to be so well concentrated on my cuts when we were younger....she used to aide me when I fall after playing sports with the other kids. 

I remember one day when I came home from school and only Eunae was there at the time.  She took a worried glance at me and sighed, heading towards the kitchen and gesturing me to follow her.

"Aish, Minho, why do you insist on playing soccer today?  You know they're still fixing that area because of the gopher holes, and yet you manage to not sprain your ankle yet.  Be careful next time!"  she lightly scolded at me as she dabbed alcohol on my slightly wounded knee.

I stared at her as she fully concentrated on bandaging my knee.  Finally, I asked, "Eunae noona, why are you so focused into medicine?"

She looked up at me and pondered on the question for a moment before replying, "Because I want to be a doctor someday, Minho.  I want to help others, and I also want to help Onew oppa."

I looked at her quizzically.  "You mean Jinki hyung?  What does he have to do with you focusing on medicine?"

Eunae noona suddenly laughed out of nowhere.  "Have you seen your hyung lately?  He's so clumsy!  I'm surprised he's still surviving now!" she joked.

....well, what she's saying is true.  It's amazing how Jinki hyung can be so clumsy.

"And besides,"  she continued, "I want to be there for him when he trips and falls so that I can take care of him.  I want to be useful to him in the future because I plan to stay by his side forever!"  she cheered proudly.  I cheered the same way.

This was back when she was 12 years old and when I was 10.  Back when we were so young and didn't exactly know the definition of love; just living life to the fullest.

I miss her.

I miss Eunae noona.

Again, I came back to reality just to stare at Kibum hyung treating my forearm now.  I got curious, so I blurted out, "Key."

Kibum hyung's eyes widened as his movements stilled, his gaze meeting mine.

My throat sounded dry and hoarse, but I managed to say the few words I've been wanting to say.  "Take care of hyung for me.  Stay by his side, can you do that?"

He nodded slowly once he glanced at Jinki hyung, then met my gaze again, as if silently questioning me why the hell I said 'Key'.

I took a deep breath and slowly said, "Jonghyun's unconscious in the warehouse nearby.  I think Taemin hit his head pretty hard with a heavy old book."

His eyes widened in panic.  I curtly nodded at him, gesturing him to finish his business with Jonghyun before anything else.

I realized his past would always haunt him, because at some point he loved Kim Jonghyun.  In order to let go, there has to be some fixing amends, and of course I want Jonghyun to stay alive to have that happen.

Kibum hyung ran towards the warehouse.  I saw Jinki hyung spot him and ran after him as well.  The few policemen followed them by car as the rest stuck around to babysit me and Taemin while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

All of a sudden, I felt a tight embrace.  I looked up to find Taemin bending over to hug me, since I'm sitting down.  I warily smiled at him, cupping his face with my left hand and his cheek with my thumb.  He gently smiled at me and leaned in to kiss me.

I noticed how manly this boy can truly be sometimes.  It feels nice being like this...before I knew it, darkness called to me and made me sleep.

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Key's POV

I rushed to the warehouse and scanned the place, immediately covering my face.

Not to be a diva at the moment, I try not to gag at the smell of cow meat uncooked.  Yuck~

I saw a door on the side of the wall opened with a low light in view.  "Jjong?"  I called out, different emotions flooding through my system.

I jogged up to the door to find him on the floor not moving, the huge book sprawled out beside him as f it was dropped quickly.  What Minho said must've been right.

"Jjong!"  I cried out and ran towards him, trying to lift him up.

Suddenly, some weight has been lifted off of me and helped me carry Jjong up.  I glanced at the person on the other side of him.  "Onew hyung?"

"Let's get out of here and send him to the hospital, okay, Bummie?"  I nodded and helped Onew hyung carry Jjong out of the warehouse.

2 days later...........

Jjong had been in the hospital unconscious, under the watch of policemen outside his room.  A few rooms down the hallway, Minho had been admitted in and is resting at the moment.  I didn't want Taemin to miss school, so Onew hyung & I promised him we'd pick him up after school to bring him to the hospital again.

Today was the 1st day I wanted to visit him.

Onew hyung and Minho kinda forced me to go.

Onew hyung waited patiently outside the room as I slipped in and analyzed Jjong's body for a second.

He's still as handsome as ever, and I could pinpoint reasons as to why I loved him.

But now...I think my heart changed, but I'm not sure why.

I crept closer to him and stood over his bed, staring at him.  Then silence filled the room.

I placed my hand onto his gently and rubbed my thumb against his palm, waiting for him to wake up.  But, what's the point if he's still unconscious?

As if God read my mind, Jjong's eyes stirred in his sleep.  I blinked several times and decided to pinch his cheek to see if I was imagining things.

"Ouch!"  he cried out and slowly opened his eyes looking irritated as to who pinched him.  He glanced over at me, and stopped, his face suddenly brightened yet worried.

"Key?"  He slowly sat up and cupped my face with his hand.  "Oh!  I'm sorry I didn't come home last night!"  He looked around the room in panic.  "Did I go to the hospital or something?  What happened?"

Confused, I raised an eyebrow at him.  Before I could say anything, he started to talk again.  "What happened to that guy?"

"You mean Minho or Taemin?"

Now Jjong looked confused as ever.  "I thought it was only one guy... wasn't it one guy that was a burglar?"

"Wait, wait, Jjong.  What burglar?  What are you talking about?"  I keep asking him.

He has a look of disbelief on his face.  "So a robbery in the library was a dream?" he mumbled to himself, but I can hear him clearly.

My eyes widened at him.  "You mean you thought last night you were at that library?!"  I asked in pure disbelief.

Jjong nodded dumbly like a puppy - the Jjong I used to know.  "I was in there last night, wasn't I?  What am I doing at a hospital?  What happened to the burglar?"  he kept asking me.

I was too shocked over the fact that maybe he doesn't remember what happened after that.

I watched him glance over at his arms, his eyes suddenly widening.  "Since when did I have these muscles on my arms?!  They're huge!"

Yep, he doesn't remember.