Chapter 71
Are you drunk?
“What’s going on here? Yah Key what did you do?!” You turned your head at a voice that sounded strangely familiar. Right, he looked like that one other guy in the group.. You couldn’t even remember correctly. The guy gave you a worried look as he saw the confusement in your eyes.
“Yah! Ae.. Key answer me!” The boy who was still sitting on top of you with multiple brushes in his hands merely glanced at the guy you now recognized as Jonghyun.
“I did nothing.. Just experiment a little.” You groaned slightly.
“That explains why I feel like a labrat..” You muttered, trying to recollect your behaviour. You weren’t sure how long you had been stuck in this position, but it was long enough to make you go into a state of nothingness that you’d seen on Taemin if he was really really tired after a long day. He said he didn’t really feel anything or remembered anything from the time when he got into such a state.
“Key! Did you handcuff her to the couch?! What the..-” Jonghyun started.
“Key, my legs are sore, please get off..” You mumbled. Jonghyun’s jaw dropped, but he quickly recovered and as his face turned dark Key got off you, reluctantly, and a run for it.
“Yah.. You have the keys to these things.. I’m hungry..” You said, trying to get your voice at a normal sound. Jonghyun frowned and chased after Key and you were left alone in the room. You felt your wrists hurt and glanced at them shortly. Your face felt rather heavy. You were shocked to see your skin red and at some points bleeding. You felt slightly more awake every second and managed to sit up even though your hands were still handcuffed to the couch.
“How am I going to explain this to Taemin? Maybe he won’t notice..” You thought out loud.
“Won’t notice what?” You blinked and noticed Minho next to the couch with little Taemin leaning on him. The poor kid looked exhausted. So it was possible.
“Not him.. Oppa.” You said, you wanted to signal little Taemin while you said ‘him’ but couldn’t since your hands were still handcuffed to the couch.
“You were handcuffed to the couch? Your wrists.. They look really bad..” His face became more pale every second.
“I know.. Could you get them off me?” You asked.
“Noona? Is that you? Handcuffs.. Noona, your wrists look..”
“Bad, I know.” You said, not in a snappy way. You glanced at the maknae who looked very much as if he’d just woken up. Even if your legs and wrists hurt and you felt like you’d been drugged, you felt worse for him. He looked so young right now. So fragile.
“I’m getting tools to break those off.. Taemin, stay here and make sure Key stays away.” Minho said, dropping little Taemin on the couch in front of you. He nodded and glanced at you.
“Mianhae noona.. We didn’t know it was going to be this bad.. I wouldn’t have left.. But they made me..” He yawned in a really cute manner. He reminded you of oppa in his trainee days when you did get to see him. It hadn’t been very often and he usually looked like this.
“I’m fine, as long as I can get these off and eat something.. I’ve been stuck here since.. What time is it anyway?” You asked, trying to get the sleepy feeling away from you. Even if you hadn’t been working out like Tamein, you had been protesting and struggling for a good 90 minutes before entering the state of near conciousness.
“It’s ten to five.. Were you really stuck here since this morning?” You nodded, feeling the urge to yawn but unable to do so since your hands were still handcuffed and you couldn’t cover your mouth. You bit your lip.
“I’ll protect you better from now on..” Little Taemin muttered, trying to sit straight. He kept sliding. He was too tired. You knew you should have been with him, checking on him to see if he got enough rest.
“Mianhae Taemin.. I should have been with you.. What kind of cousin would do that to the favourite cousin?” You asked softly, trying to repress the yawn.
“Hold still! I’m going to break these off.” You glanced up at Minho who had managed to get a chisel and a hammer. Your hand was currently on a wooden plank so as to keep your wrist straight and prevent the couch any damage. You felt the metal sink into your skin with the first hit, but with two more hits your first hand was released. You pulled it close to you, trying to see if it could still move. The skin was red and the upper side of your wrist was bleeding, but at least it was free.
“Kamsahamnida..” You muttered as Minho relocated the plank under your other hand and started to work on the second pair of handcuffs. You bit your cheek so you wouldn’t scream when the hammer slipped once and hit your wrists. Painfully the handcuff came off and you softly rubbed the part of the skin that wasn’t bleeding. It hurt.
“Mianhae.. Gwenchana? I’m not as coördinated as I usually am..” You nodded and sat up straight. Your back hurt. You rubbed it, trying to get it back to normal.
“I’m fine.. Just sleepy and stiff..” You said, “and hungry.. What about you? You look as bad as I feel and Taemin looks worse.” You added, glancing at Minho. He sighed.
“That’s our assistant manager.. We’re good. At least better than you. Just tired. I’ll go make something to eat for you..” You tugged his sleeve as he tried to get up.
“It’s okay.. You don’t have to..” You said. He shook his head, he was feeling guilty about letting Key do as he wished. Even if he could have helped you, he had his schedule. You knew that. You were in charge of it. Three seconds later Key stormed back into the room, followed by Jonghyun who was still chasing him apparently.
“Ae.. Yah! Your wrists!” Suddenly Key jumped on the couch inbetween you and Minho and held your wrists. You were too tired to give him an angry glare, or any kind of glare in fact.
“Do they hurt? Ah! It’s bleeding! I’ll go get some water and clean them up. I’ll make it all better! Gokjonghajima.. I’ll take care of you now.” You coughed at his sudden change of character. He flinched.
“Are you ill? Gwenchana?! Are you cold? I’ll get you a blanket!” He dashed up the stairs and probably entered a room you couldn’t see form your current location.
“What was that about?” You asked and turned your head to Jonghyun who ahd entered the room after Key. He shrugged and sat down beside little Taemin.
“I think I know.. Key decided to stop play salonowner and wants to play hospital now.” Minho grunted beside you. You laughed, due to tiredness it seemed like a really funny thing. Key the fashion diva was now also a nurse? The absurdity of it all barely sank in, but did when you remembered his exagerated concern about your head before.
“Right.. I forgot.. Well if he can fix them before I go home it’d be nice. Even on a pink cloud Taemin oppa would notice.. This..” You muttered, staring at your wrists.
“That looks really nasty.” Jonghyun commented, “should I get you something?” You shook your head.
“Key’s doing that.. And I’m not awake enough to feel most of the pain.. I think. Though I do feel my legs.” You said, rubbing your upper legs softly.
“He didn’t do anything.. Inapropriately.. Did he?” Jonghyun asked. You raised an eyebrow, you weren’t too tired for sarcasm.
“No it wasn’t like I was held hostage here all day handcuffed to the couch with him on top of me while he made me feel really uncomfortable.” You said, smiling vaguely.
“It wasn’t? That’s good I guess.” Little Taemin mumbled with his eyes closed. Jonghyun punched him softly.
“That was sarcasm. She was held hostage here all day, handcuffed to the couch with Key on top of her while he made her feel uncomfortable.. You know that sounds really wrong?” You nodded slightly.
“It sounds more wrong to say he was molesting my face. Or taking advantage of my face.” You muttered. Jonghyun covered his ears.
“Yah! I don’t want to hear it!” He squeeled like a little girl.
“I didn’t want to experience it!” You yelled back. A warm blanket was thrown over you and you looked up.
“Don’t yell at her Jonghyun! She’s ill and needs her rest!” He said rather harshly before turning to you with a sweet smile, “I’ll get your medicine now! Stay here, you can’t move around like that!” And then he practically skipped off. You turned your head to Minho who was also partially covered by the blanket.
“Minho.. Play patiënt along with me? I don’t want to suffer this fate alone.” You pleaded. He sighed and nodded.
“I guess he’ll let us rest.. Taemin’s already asleep and Jonghyun just ruined it by opposing the two of you.” You nodded, it had been your train of thoughts too. You knew Minho felt sympathetic for little Taemin too.
“Where’s Jinki by the way?” You asked, crouching closer to Minho and covering him with the blanket too.
“He’s got to do extra stuff.. Since he’s our leader. It must stink to be him.” You nodded. Oppa always did things on his own which was hard, but having to take care of everyone must be worse.
“I got your medicine.. Ah, Minho are you ill too?” Key seemed a little too happy when he came back into the room. Minho nodded vaguely while Key sat down in front of you and took your hands from under the blanket. He cleaned the wounds carefully, it only stung a little bit but that could have been cause by your tiredness as well. He then put some kind of paste on your skin and wrapped it in bandages.
“I know it needs air, but for now it’s better if you don’t touch too many things with it.. You look a little pale.. You must be hungry! I’ll make you soup.. Minho too.. You could both use nice, warm chickensoup!” With that he walked off into the kitchen where you had been once or twice. You leaned your head against Minho’s shoulder since he was taller.
“Thank you for suffering together with me.” You mumbled.
“This isn’t too bad.. As long as he doesn’t try to feed me any kind of medicine.” Minho said. You chuckled softly and closed your eyes.
“I feel like a child again..” You muttered.
“Key must be a lot like your umma.. He’s a lot like any umma.” Minho muttered. You shook your head.
“Aniyoh.. When I was ill oppa took care off me. He wouldn’t let people near me, not even appa and umma.” You muttered, half aware of the tings you wre saying. It was true, Taemin had always taken care off you. You felt happy to have such a great brother, and happy that he’d found someone he liked. He deserved it.
“When I was little my umma would bring me hot water bottles to hold next to me so I’d stay warm.” Little Taemin muttered dreamily, “and she’d make me porridge too.” You smiled happily.
“Ne.. Umma made me porridge too when I was little.. I’ll make it for you one day. When I feel less tired.” You muttered. You opened your eyes and noticed Key in the kitchen working on things. He looked a little stressed. He must really worry about his groupmembers. It seemed like it. He probably just put the act on. But it was a nice act.
Author's note: This was so much fun to write ^^ I hope it was fun to read too!
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