Minho took a short glimpse at the corners of his eye at the young magnae who was sitting on his own bed, leaning his back on the pillow which was propped up against the wall. Music could be heard blasting from the headphones as the boy had his eyes shut tight. Taemin had given him the cold shoulder for the past few days and he showed no intention of stopping this whole thing anytime soon. Somehow, by this simple knowledge of not being able to hear Taemin's voice made Minho annoyed. No one had ever done this to him. No one had ignored Minho for so a long time and Taemin was definitely not going to do this to him. It made him feel so uneasy all over. A deep growl escaped his throat but soft enough that Taemin could not hear it behind the loud music.

His eyes was fixed on his blanket cover. No, he did not care if his soccer poster was coming off the wall. No, he did not care if one out of his three alarm clocks were faulty. No, he did not care if the stash of money he kept between his book pages were gone...

Ever since... ever since that day at the practice room, Taemin refused to talk to him. He refused to look into Minho's eyes. 

He remembered the way Taemin avoided his gaze and barely exchanged more than a few words with him each day. He would pretend to be asleep whenever they were alone in the bedroom or like now, would have on his headphones and keeping the volume high enough to drown everything around him and maybe even the reminder that Minho too, was in the room.

His fingernails dug deep into his flesh and it hurt. Anger rose in his body as he tried to take in deep breaths to calm his nerves down. He wasn't going to let his emotions take over him.

Maybe Taemin was just tired after all that had happened.

Maybe Minho was being too paranoid himself.

However, he knew it was a lie. A lie in which he could not bring himself to believe.

Maybe... maybe he was just afraid to admit. But maybe Taemin wanted to make him feel guilty. Make him feel guilty for being selfish and not putting himself in Jinki's shoes. 

He got up from his own bed. It was as if his legs had a mind of its own. No matter how his brain shouted for his legs to stop moving, he continued walking towards Taemin. It refused to listen and before he knew it, he was standing right in front of the boy who had him feeling restless the whole day.

Taemin always smiled at him. He had been the one who brought so much laughter to his life.

Minho wanted to tell him how much it hurts to have him behave the way he did. How he hated it. How he wanted everything to be the way it was before.

Minho wanted to make him feel like . So he didn't have to feel like .

All in all, he just wanted to show him that he was capable.

Of hurting someone.

--

Taemin realized someone was standing beside him. He looked up and found himself staring into the burning eyes of Minho. Those pair of huge eyes were now dark. No humor. Nothing. This was the first time he had seen him so serious. His chest was heaving up and down as though he had just finished a fight and his tall built blocked away most of the ceiling light. Taemin took off his headphones and studied the taller boy's face.

He looked flustered. All Taemin could see now was a mixture of emotions in rampage inside his eyes, in flames, and in confusion. The child-like innocence in Minho was replaced by his ferocious aura, his disappointed and sad-stricken scent.

Just by his sudden change, fear seemed to grip Taemin's heart with icy tentacles. His heart palpitated wildly as his eyes never once left Minho. He was afraid. Minho was scaring him.

He seemed to be wondering why Taemin had been indifferent to him. He seemed to have a certain desire of lashing out at him, scolding him and asking why Taemin could have ignored him and acted like everything was fine. There seemed to be a shock that immersed his soul, and he just stood there, just staring at him, wordless, yet eyes conveying a thousand messages. His eyes seemed to be saying 'Why did you do this to me? How could you just run away from me like this? Why are you behaving this way?'

They stared at each other still, not even moving an inch.

"Hyung?" Taemin said timidly.

"Shut up," he immediately interjected with gritted teeth.

His reply made Taemin's mouth drop open. "Hyung, why are you like this?"

"I said shut up!" Minho sneered.

"Hyung... why are you like this? Tell me!" Taemin demanded.

Minho's lips remained shut.

He tried to hold Minho's hand. He flinched. "What are you doing?"

"I-" Taemin paused, not knowing what to say.

"Why did you do this?" Minho emotionally blared. "Why do you have to punish me like this?"

"Hyung, stop it..." Taemin's voice wavered. "You're scaring me..."

"I'm scaring you?" The handsome man scoffed. "No one's at home to protect you anymore. What can you do to me?"

"If you still insist on doing this, I'm going to tell-"

"Tell who?" Minho's deep and sultry voice interrupted Taemin. His eyes narrowed at him like a hungry wolf as a pure instinctual, almost bestial expression took over his face.

"Tell... tell..." His abnormal behaviour made Taemin momentarily lost for words. He had never seen him like this before, and so he didn’t know what to do. His heart began to race as Minho's dangerously seductive eyes continued to stare at him.

"Hyung, why are you like this! It's really scaring me." Taemin cried out but it was no use. Minho didn't seem to hear him. He was an entirely different person. No longer was he the calm and collected person known to the media. His eyes now were clouded with lust as he his lips.

Minho pushed Taemin back down onto the bed and went on top of him, covering every inch of Taemin's small frame. The magnae tried to struggle against Minho's tight grip but to no avail. Taemin also became aware of how close his face was to Minho's. Stunned, Taemin could only blink his eyes unceasingly.

At such close proximity, Minho could see Taemin's face clearly in the dim light. His big chocolate brown eyes matched perfectly with his succulent lips and high nose. His oval-shaped face was tiny and was further enhanced by his thick wavy hair which covered his forehead and the sides of his face. He looked exactly like a girl. Even prettier, perhaps. He wondered how it was like to have Taemin's soft lips on his. Minho unknowingly let out a low predatory snarl.

Seeing Minho so animal-like scared Taemin. He didn't like the sordid look he had. It no longer looked like the mature and caring Minho he had known and felt secured against.

Taemin closed his eyes and whimpered.

His cries awakened Minho's lustful reverie. Taking a look at the shaking boy under him, the taller of the two felt his heart tightened. He despised himself for doing this to Taemin, someone whom he loved and was concerned for as an older brother. His fear became Minho's fear, and suddenly his anger and whatever that was left of him vanished, his eyes a fleeting discomfort. Why did he allow his own desires to cloud his judgement and rationality? What was he thinking of getting out from this? More awkwardness? Furthermore, why had he behaved this way when Taemin, like him, was also a guy?

No. He was a perfectly straight man. He liked girls, didn't he? He only wanted to teach Taemin a lesson, didn't he? Yes, this was payback for making him feel lousy.

He mentally slapped himself.

Taemin could feel Minho's body being lifted from his. He sat straight up and looked confusingly at Minho's back. It was as though he could feel Taemin's eyes on him for he said, "Promise not to ignore hyung ever again?"

His eyes widen. All that had happened was just because of Taemin's nonchalance towards him the last few days? The Minho he knew wasn't sensitive. He was a confident man who knew what he was doing and would set out to accomplish something he was bent on completing. Knowing Minho was uptight over it made Taemin feel guilty and somewhere in his body flutter. Nodding his head, Taemin muttered a sorry.

Minho turned with a smile on his face as he ruffled Taemin's hair affectionately. "You must remember what you promised me today." He hooked pinkies with Taemin, patted the magnae on the head again and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Unknown to Minho, Taemin had heard him mumble the words, "I'm sorry too." 

Somehow, that apology made his skin tingle.

--

Jessica: "I gave you my heart
I gave you my soul
you still remain unmoved
Maybe if you knew 
how it hurts me inside..."

Jonghyun: "My hands become cold
the memory of love coldly draws near
it becomes painful
I don't want to be unfair to you any longer..."

The background music faded slowly and outside the recording studio, through the glass window, Jonghyun could see the producer giving a thumbs up with a huge smile plastered on his chubby face. He was mouthing the words "great job". It made Jonghyun feel good. It made him feel his existence was worth something. Something more.

He had helped with the music arrangement and took part in writing the lyrics together with Jessica. In a way, it was his and Jessica's baby. They worked hard for it and he was excited for its release. He had no idea how fans would react to it. Would they love it? Or would it end up nowhere?

But he trusted Lee Soo Man. That man has got some great marketing skills going on. He could turn even the worst song into number one on the charts. "If you believe its going to be a hit, it will definitely be." He had once told Jonghyun. Just like he did for 'Juliette'. It was a mere remake of Cobin Bleu's 'Deal With It'. Nothing spectacular. But Lee Soo Man instructed him to work on the lyrics. Fans will forget that it's a remake and be impressed by the fact he wrote the entire song, he had said. He was right. Even though there were harsh comments by critics about SHINee being just another pretty boyband with no solid songs to boast of, what had happened in the end? They topped charts and earned themselves two mutizens in a row on a music show.

Jonghyun had not much confidence to start with as he had always hated himself for being shorter than most guys. Or at least, when he was a nobody then, seeing DBSK hyungs being all tall and awe-inspiring on stage made him feel inferior. His passion for music was also restricted to the occasional talent competitions held in school and sometimes playing in a small band formed with his other friends to a small group of people. His conduct in school was bad, always getting in trouble for all sorts of things. Vandalising the school toilet, damaging the school's desk, playing truant during lesson time... it was an endless list. He was going nowhere in life. But Lee Soo Man had spotted him and given him a chance. He had given Jonghyun so much in terms of learning experience, and a new-found confidence. In return, he promised to work very hard for the man who had saved him from sinking deeper.

"Jonghyun?" Jessica snapped him out of his thoughts. She was a long-legged beauty with blond hair and a pleasant face. Jonghyun gulped as his eyes travelled along her small waistline and down to her legs.

He gulped again, suppressing himself. He tried to shift his thoughts elsewhere.

"Jonghyun? You okay?" She asked again, her voice filled with concern.

Jonghyun shook his head slightly. How could he look at Jessica that way? She was a sunbaenim and she treated him as family. He did treat her as family too. They were one big family under SM. "I guess I'm tired. It has been a long day."

"Yeah. With all the bad news recently, it's no wonder you're tired. How's Jinki anyway? I didn't get to see him around." Jessica said, twirling her hair with her fingers.

"He's coping just fine." Jonghyun said behind gritted teeth. Probably he sounded like a real petty man, but he could not quite bring himself to forgive the leader for his irresponsible act which almost brought the whole group down with him. Seeing Jessica's questioning face, he quickly changed the subject, "Let's get out of here. It's getting quite late."

He gave a loud yawn and stretched himself. Boy was he exhausted. He set his headphones down and headed out the studio with Jessica, departing ways when they got into their respective vans.

Tomorrow would be another long day.

He'd better get his much needed rest tonight.