Listen to Moonlight by Yiruma while reading

Chapter 5 - Bonding And Returning

“哥，他怎么样？奎贤醒了吗？” （Ge, how’s he? Is Kyuhyun awake?）

Zhou Mi’s voiced echoed through the receiver.

Hankyung sighed. He was sitting on the bed, leaning against the bed, legs spread apart. He was calling the two other members that were in China. Despite them not being officially classified as Super Junior members, the bond between them and Super Junior was as strong as the bond between the members themselves.

“不。。。还没有。你有给 Henry 讲吗?（  Not. Not yet. Did you tell Henry?” ）Hankyung asked.

Some shuffling noises were heard over the phone before a short “No” was given back. Zhou Mi then continued to explain in a mix of Chinese and Korean to prevent his parents from understanding. When Super Junior was in China, they had crashed Hankyung’s and Zhou Mi’s house. Zhou Mi’s parents had welcomed them with open arms, especially Kyuhyun.

“我不想要 Mochi 担心。 奎贤醒了后，我才告诉他。” (I don’t want Mochi to worry, so I’ll tell him when Kyuhyun wakes up.）

“What did he say?” Heechul asked as he walked into Hankyung’s room.

Hankyung put a hand over the receiver before mouthing ‘He didn’t tell Henry’. Heechul nodded and plunked himself onto the bed. Hankyung moved to make way for him and placed the phone on loud speaker.

They didn’t tell Henry because no one wanted to see him sad. Having a crying Ryeowook, a self-blaming Leeteuk, a sobbing Eunhyuk, and a frantic Donghae was bad enough, but having an emotional Henry was even worse than all four of them added together. Furthermore, Henry was sitting for his exams and they didn’t want him to abandon his exams and rush over to Korea. Kyuhyun wouldn’t want it either. He would probably skin his hyungs alive for doing that to Henry and ask them why they wanted to bother Henry when he was busy. No one had to heart to break it to the real maknae too.

“我需要挂电话了。Henry会过来吃晚饭。我也需要帮他复习功课。等他五天后考完试，我们立刻过来。” （I have hang up now. Henry is coming over for dinner and I have to help him revise. His exams will end in five days’ time and we’ll come over immediately after that.）Zhou Mi replied while clanking sounds could be heard, presumably him in the kitchen getting ready to make dinner.

“那时再见。” (See you then.) Hankyung said.

“Stay strong, Seasoning.” Heechul chimed in.

Tutt.....

The sound continued monotonously as Zhou Mi hung up at the other end. Heechul stared at the phone that was lying on the bed between them - Hankyung and him, before reaching over and putting it on silent mode. With a sigh, he rested his head on Hankyung’s lap while the Chinese man ran his hand through the diva’s hair affectionately. The cat-like diva shut his eyes as he allowed himself to bask in his best friend’s warmth. 

It had came as a rude shock to him when the news of Hankyung leaving SM Entertainment was all over the newspaper. He knew that Hankyung would be leaving SM Entertainment, but it didn’t occur to him that his best friend would be leaving Super Junior, would be leaving him. Maybe it did already but he was in denial. Only when Hankyung told them face to face was he then forced to accept reality. Having lived in the same dorm as Hankyung for a few years and having a special relationship with him, the stab Heechul had received in the heart was big.

The week Hankyung left Super Junior, the day Hankyung left him, the minute Hankyung walked out of the door and maybe walking out of Heechul’s life for forever, was the second that a part of Heechul had left with Hankyung, had died. After that, Heechul was never the same. He went into depression for days, no, not even weeks. The diva went into depression for three months and secluded himself from the rest of the members, his only friends being his two cats, which he had named after Hankyung and himself, along with some of his closest friends. He didn’t even attend the stage or year end award shows. Thankfully, SM Entertainment had been understanding enough to not pressure him and let time heal his wounds, which could never be healed by a doctor, even the most professional ones. He only wished that SM Entertainment could have been this understanding to Hankyung. Maybe even if they had showed half of it to the Chinese man, Hankyung wouldn’t have filed the lawsuit.

He had posted on his cyworld minihomphy pictures that they had taken together, the fun times they had, together with a statement - ‘I was in a big chaos. It was difficult for me to laugh on TV and dance on stage.’ And he even revealed in a interview, ‘I had some lingering emotions. Since I did not meet any people, depression got worse. I had lived with Hankyung, drank together and was really close. It was mentally difficult.’

Every day he would either lock himself in the room, not even coming out for meals or even going out for schedules. The only times he went out was to a bar where he would get himself drunk and had to get a member to drive him back. The minute he goes back, he would lock himself and the routine would begin all over again.

The wound the other members have received was painful too, but no one’s pain could be compared to Heechul’s, not even if they add their pain together. The pain the members felt would be intensified each day when they see Heechul in depression. They wanted to reach out to the diva and save him from sinking further. But the only person who’s capable of doing that was gone. And he would never be coming back. So imagine their reactions when they found a surprise waiting for them at the door step one evening around 7pm.

~ Flashback ~

“Rrrring.....”

“Rrrring.....”

The doorbell of Super Junior’s dorm rang incessantly. The members looked up in surprise. They weren’t really doing anything. Just lazing around and staring out of the window, looking at the world go pass. Things have changed since Hankyung have left. Laughter was hardly heard at all. Words were hardly spoken. Members were treading on thin glass whenever Heechul was around, which was hardly, as if any word about Hankyung could send the Cinderella into pieces. After Hankyung had left, the members had obtained permission to drag Zhou Mi and Henry over to Korea and stay with them. They didn’t want anyone to experience this devastation alone. Anyway, they were at a loss at what to do when they heard the doorbell ring. They weren’t expecting any visitors that day, and no one would visit them at night, and their manager had left to attend a meeting. Super Junior had already given up all hope of Hankyung returning. For the first month, whenever the doorbell had rung, all of them, especially Heechul, used to rush down the stairs and fling open the door, expecting to see Hankyung standing there, with a smile on his face, only to sigh in disappointment when it was only a member or their manager. At times, it would be one of TVXQ’s members who would come to check up on them and console them, since they had gone through the exact pain only a few months before them. 

“Rrrring.....”

The doorbell rang for the third time before Donghae sighed in frustration and stood up, going to the door to open it. He stormed his way there, footsteps full of annoyance and irritation, but underlying it, with no one noticing, not even Donghae himself, was a small tint of hope, for somewhere in his heart, he was still hoping for Hankyung to return. They were all still hoping.

The members returned to their own business, only to turn their heads back in the direction of the door rapidly when Donghae screamed.

He had walked over to the door and flung it open, about to shout out a rather irritated ‘What’, which immediately died in his throat, not even succeeding making its first syllable out of his mouth when he saw the figure standing outside the door. A surprised scream made its way to his throat, this time succeeding leaving his mouth, before he quickly muffled it with his scream and stared at the figure w