Chapter 20
When It's Time to Let Go
Jaejoong ran up to the front desk of the hospital and faced the receptionist. She looked up at him and her eyes widened. His hair was wild and his look was frantic.
“Is Kim Youngmin here? I’m looking for him.”
The woman nodded and began searching through her database. She looked up at him and shook her head, “He’s in the morgue, sweetie.”
Jaejoong nodded and ran off.
“Yah! You can’t go down there!” she shouted as he took the flight of stairs down to the basement floor.
Jaejoong burst through the double doors of the morgue. The mortician looked up at him from his work table and stared.
“Where’s Kim Youngmin?” he asked, looking around frantically. The mortician pointed to a stretcher and Jaejoong ran over to it.
Staring down at the white sheet, Jaejoong could feel his eyes start to water. He watched as his hand reached out and pulled the sheet back. He looked down on the pale, cold face that belonged to Kim Youngmin.
“Yah. What are you doing dead? You were fine when you were last harassing me. Did my leaving you behind cause you to die? Don’t die over things like that. It’s not worth it. You should have kept your heart healthy. You loved those Western fried donuts. Why did you eat so many at a time? Why did you die like this? You died after trying to patch things up with me and before I could even yell at you, or reprimand you, or thank you.”
Jaejoong poured his heart into those words. When he was finished, he was standing and breathing heavily. Looking at Youngmin who usually always had something to say back was hard when he wasn’t speaking back.
“Yah. Don’t you have anything to say for yourself? Yah! Yah!”
Sobs tore from his chest and Jaejoong sunk to the floor. As he sobbed, he could feel all the pain melting away. Arms wrapped around him but Jaejoong didn’t look up. He just continued sobbing.
“Its going to be okay. It’s all going to be okay”, he could hear Jason saying into his ear. As the two sat on the ground embracing each other, Jaejoong, for the first time in a long time, finally felt whole.
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Days later, the four boys sat in silence, staring across at both the JYJ and DBSK managers. The two managers exchanged weird looks with each other and then looked back at the boys.
"Well, this is certainly a change for all of us", said the DBSK manager. "Its good to see you Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu. It has been a while."
The boys nodded, politely. The silence continued for a little bit longer until finally Junsu piped up,
"I have a date with my girlfriend. So..."
Yoochun rolled his eyes. "Really Junsu? Is your girlfriend more important than us?"
Junsu rolled his eyes and the JYJ manager began explaining before the fight could grow any larger.
"The original plan was to have your re-debut in mid-March. Unfortunately, Yunho has not yet returned so we're uncertain if he has read our letter. So, we'll be postponing it until late March, early April. While we wait for Yunho, we'll immerse all four of you in intense training and preparation. I know Changmin and Yunho were working on a single and JYJ was working on an album. The album will be mostly DBSK music with the two side groups music infused. We'll have four promoted songs: Together Again and Let's Go by DB5K, I Don't Need You by JYJ, and Apple by HoMin. Together Again will be our title track. It's a catchy song with great lyrics and good beat. Let's Go is a dance song with fierce instrumentals and raps. I Don't Need You and Apple are ballads."
"Is using I Don't Need You a good idea when their song is Apple?" asked Junsu.
The JYJ manager laughed. "Probably not. Netizens will find many conspiracies but its what Youngmin requested and we have to honor the contract."
"That little bastard", muttered Jaejoong.
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