Chapter 14

Once Jonghyun had come to, aside from a lovely bump on the back of his head from where he caught a wall corner on the way down, the singer seemed to have come to the decision that he would ignore the relationship, in its entirety, and literally try to pretend that none of this had ever happened.  It was the only way he could find to move forward with the group without dishonoring his parent’s wishes – at least as far as they would be aware.  In doing so he knew that he was causing a separation between him and his fellow members, but this was the least hurtful path, and it was all he was prepared to follow for now.    

Minho wished him luck with that in as joking a manner as possible when he told everyone else, but was silently grateful because that meant that Key and Taemin would make doubly sure to not show anything around the common areas of their dorm.  He was trying to deal with the situation but he couldn’t deny that it all still felt weird, and it probably would for a while.  It wasn’t like they were really acting any differently from before, but the sure knowledge that there was a deeper meaning behind their affection for each other did change things for Minho, and his mind was working slowly and trying to figure out how he was meant to function in this new environment.  With Jonghyun’s reaction, he was being given a reprieve of a sort and getting more time to figure things out without having to have it pushed in his face every day.

Jonghyun’s plan did seem to be working though.  At least on the surface, SHINee returned to normalcy, they all knew that there was more behind it, but at least they could pretend and keep up the image that everything was alright.

The second day like this found the group sitting around the living room, playing video games or reading.  From the other room they heard a cell phone go off and Minho rose to end the incessant tone chiming from their bedroom.  The rest of them focused back on whatever they were doing, but it was only momentary.

All of a sudden Minho came charging down the hallway of their dorm.  His face was both surprised and frantic, an unusual sight on the usually stoic rapper.  “Is everyone here?!” His head swiveled around trying to track everyone down, “Good, we have to go. Now!”  He started bundling people up off of couches and towards their shoes.

“Minho, what’s going on?” Onew said as he slid his feet into his own high-tops. 

“I just got a call from Eunhyuk, we’re scheduled to be on Star King this afternoon.”  Minho said grimly.

Everyone looked at each other shocked, “No we weren’t…” Jonghyun voiced, “We didn’t have anything for a couple of days…”

Minho pressed his lips together in a thin line as his finally managed to herd everyone out into the hallway.

“It was our manager wasn’t it?” Onew asked quietly.  “He’s trying to set us up now, to make us look bad for not showing up for an appearance.”

Minho nodded.  “It seems that way.  The only reason Eunhyuk called me is because he thought it was so strange that our manger came in demanding that we be put on the show today.  He wanted to know what was up…”

They sped-walked their way out of the dorm and, since they didn’t have access to a van on such short notice and without their manager the resigned themselves to being spotted on the subway.  Thank God for small miracles though as they managed to make it all the way to their end station before a fan squeal alerted them to being spotted.  Normally they would have indulged the fan, but there simply was not time.  As they ran up the stairs, away from screaming fans, Jonghyun called over his shoulder, “Sorry, but we’re late for a taping and we have to go!”  Disappointed groans followed them onto the street but they did not stop to assuage them.

Once out of the subway, by some silent agreement, just didn’t stop running, bolting their way through the streets of Seoul to the studio.  Somehow, they managed to skirt in on time, to make it into the recording without delaying anything.  The PD glared daggers at them as they walked onto set, but he couldn’t say much as technically they had made it, if by the skin of their teeth.

They managed to make it through the tapping and when Eunhyuk cornered Minho after the show, he managed to somehow concoct a story that explained everything away.  He did ask though, that Eunhyuk and the rest of the hyungs in Super Junior who are so connected in the media world to please give them a heads up if they see SHINee listed as guests on any programs.

“Are you guys alright?”  Leeteuk asked, having come up behind the rappers out to answer his own curiosity about the situation.

Minho smiled as best as he was able, “It will be fine hyung, we just need to work some things out with manager-hyung.  Just give us a heads up, yeah?” 

Sharing a look, Eunhyuk and Leeteuk shared a glance and gave Minho a slow nod.  “Yeah, we’ll keep an eye out for you, but if you guys need anything, just let us know alright?  You don’t have to deal with everything on your own.”  The Super Junior leader told him.

“We know,” Onew’s voice carried in, “But some things we just need to work on out our own.”  He didn’t want to drag any more people into the problem than was absolutely necessary. With his patent smile, Onew bowed out a goodbye and pulled Minho to leave with the rest of them.

The Super Junior members were concerned about their dongsaengs; they knew that there was much more going on then they were telling.  There were perks to being members of a massive group though, they would make sure that all of Super Junior pitched in on keeping tabs for SHINee until they worked everything out.    

You ever start writing a story and fully intend for it to go one direction and wind up with it going somewhere entirely different - yea, that's this story.  It also seems to be demanding to be written, whether in order or not.  Sometimes I'm getting hit with these perfect scenarios and ideas for the story that I just have to write down.  At this point, I practically have entire later chapters written out, but nothing seemed to be coming for this one so I just sat down to bang this out while simultaneously writting the major of the story.  Trust me, it was a very unique experience.

And for a Keytae story - there doesn't seem to be a lot of keytae going on...it should become more prevalent towards the end of the story, but it's not going to be nearly as intensive as I once intended it to be. 

Please review!