HARSH LANGUAGE AND ACTION AHEAD!

You have been warned.

Chapter 19

SHINee had settled well into their new dorm, happy to not have to concoct elaborate schemes every morning just to make it out of the building un-accosted by raving fans.  They hadn’t been called by Lee Sooman yet, even though a month had now passed since Onew had sought the aid of the man, so Onew was still acting as SHINee’s manager.  Onew almost wanted to complain, doing the work of two people could be really hard, but since he knew that they had gotten off lightly the first time around, he didn’t want to bring anything else down on their heads.  Word had actually gotten around in some media outlets about Onew’s unique position, but all Onew said was that their manager was taking a temporary leave and Onew was filling in for him for a little bit. 

Onew, along with Minho and Key, had gone off for a three day shoot on some kind of champion-idol show, leaving Taemin and Jonghyun home to handle schedules around Seoul.  Taemin and Key were looking at this as a test for their relationship.  They hadn’t been apart for so long since they had gotten together in the first place, and due to recent events they had been even closer than normal.  It was ironic that their former manager’s adverse reaction and wanting to stop Taemin’s relationship with his boyfriend had actually thrown them closer together. 

During their three days in Seoul, Taemin and Jonghyun only had one scheduled event, a two-hour taping for a talk-show that they were sitting in their waiting room now for.  It was nice being able to rest a while and just be them. 

Jonghyun was happily flitting in and out of their waiting room, talking with other singers and actors who were also appearing on the show.  Taemin was trying to finish up some of his homework, besides he was kind of shy outside of the members of SHINee anyway.  “I’m going to go and talk to Yesung-hyung alright?  If I’m not back make sure you get yourself out onto set alright ok?”

Taemin waved his hand vaguely in Jonghyun’s direction indicating that he had heard him while he searched his backpack for his textbook.

When Jonghyun headed off to talk with the member of Super Junior, Taemin settled himself down on the couch in the waiting room.  He had a little history reading left to finish up and he wanted to get it down before the show began.  He relished the relative quiet (after all the noises from the other rooms did leech through the walls) of the waiting room without Jonghyun in it, and smirked a little to himself.  The singer really was clinging to the idea of ignoring Taemin and Key’s uality, at least consciously.  But, to his credit, he did seem to treat Taemin like he had before – just like a little brother. 

Taemin shook his head, snuggled down farther into the cushions of the couch and focused on the words in front of him.  He heard the door open and shut behind him, but he was almost finished so he remained focused on learning about the Japanese colonization of Korea in 1910.

The only hint then that Taemin had that something was about to go horribly wrong was a short sniff from directly behind him.  The next thing he knew, a hand was fisted tightly in his hair and he was being pulled backwards over the arm of the couch, his flailing legs sending his textbook flying into the make-up counter and scattering products everywhere.  A yelp involuntarily left his lips as he was then forced to his knees and his arms batted away at the one holding him.  His head was yanked back so that he was forced to look up at the ceiling and he cried out in fear when his old manager’s face swam into view. 

In fear he struck out, trying to force the overpowering man to release him, but Taemin was too small, and from his angle he couldn’t land a decent hit.  He let loose a yell as he continued struggling, “HELP!  HELP PLEASE!”  But Taemin knew how loud it would get back here, people in other rooms would be talking, blasting music, watching TV on max volume, cheering on their sports teams…they weren’t going to hear him.   

The dark haired man laughed harshly, “FREAK!  No one is going to come to your rescue, no one would want to save a scrawny, useless, piece of trash like you!  You’re a waste of space that was never good enough to match up with the rest of SHINee anyway!”  When Taemin continued yelling and thrashing about, the man became enraged and yanked up the young dancer and used his free hand to strike out at Taemin’s face, colliding strongly with his lower jaw.  The force from the blow sent Taemin careening into the make-up counter, his side colliding with the sharp corner and for a moment stars bloomed in front of his eyes and the shock of pain was all that he was aware of. 

He was on his hands and knees, trying to regain his breath and spitting out blood pooling in his mouth from the punch.  As he tried to push himself to his feet, a foot sprang out from his left and collided with his stomach.  His back slammed up against the underside of the counter and he cried out again and pain lanced through his body.  He had never been in such pain before, all he wanted to do was curl up and will the world away, but he couldn’t.  He had to move, had to get away.  Key’s laugh echoed through his head and Taemin found some grim determination within him, he tapped into something desperate deep inside, something primal and he knew that he was not going to fall so easily.

With more strength than he thought he possessed, Taemin stretched his left arm out to the stool in front of him.  Grasping a leg, he swung the stool as hard as he could to his side and his mouth twitched with a grim smile as he felt the chair connect, and heard the manic laughter become disrupted by a grunt of pain and a crack of bone.

Operating on adrenaline, Taemin surged to his feet and ran for the door – just on the other side was salvation, was help, just a little further…

But it seems his tormentor was faster than him.  He felt two arms encircle his waist and lift him bodily off of the floor and found himself being physically thrown several feet across the room.  He handed harshly on his left hip and felt the throb of pain begin anew.  Why was this happening to him?  Taemin thought as he struggled to gain balance and prepare himself for the coming onslaught.  He tried to fight, he really did.  Tried to defend himself against the horrific battering that he was receiving, but the flurry of fists and feet colliding with his body were too much.  He instinctively curled in on himself, trying to protect what he could. 

When Taemin stopped reacting, stopped striking back, stopped crying out, it seemed that tormenting the poor boy had lost its appeal.  His assaulter stopped his barrage and stepped back, as though admiring his work.  “You deserve it!  You are a disgusting piece of and you, and everyone like you, deserves to die!  Trying hiding everything now you FREAK!”  With one more burst of crazed laughter the man walked calmly to the door and walked out. 

Outside, the man quickly laced his way through the people making their way up and down the hallway.  Stepping in and out of preparation rooms where people were laughing and enjoying themselves, or running through their parts once again, or fixing their outfits or hair.  No one knew that behind that lone closed door, Taemin lay in pain.  Bruised and bleeding and at some point beyond using tears to express it.  The only thought running through his head though, was how thankful he was that Key had never spoke up when their manager was around – because then this might have happened to him too.  Taemin would not have been able to handle that, seeing Key hurt, bleeding and bruised.  Beat up by some monster that he had once trusted like an Uncle.  No, he would never have been able to see through that without flying off into a murderous rage.  So once again, he was thankful that Key was not here, and that the manager didn’t even know to target him.  It was the only hopeful thing he could cling to right now.   

Uncurling from the ball he had formed, Taemin hauled himself up onto the couch and tried to sort himself out.  He felt like he’d been through the ringer.  He glanced up at the clock and saw that the show was starting in fifteen minutes.  He didn’t feel as bad as he would have thought…and there was only the one hit that made it to his face.

Taemin bit his lip.  The entire point of their hiding everything and carrying on as normal was so that no one would find out.  If he didn’t go on with this show, or let everyone see what happened then all of that would be put to waste.  It was only a two-hour taping, Taemin though to himself, so he should be able to hold it together long enough to finish the recording and then go and get himself fixed up, until then…

Taemin got up and shuffled over to the make-up counter and tried to make sense of the mess that had befallen it.  He located his foundation and make quick work of applying it to all of his visible skin to hide the bruising and red blotches.  By the time he thought he looked mostly normal again it was past time to head towards the set.  Taemin was the last one to find their place on the set, and he gingerly sat himself down.  He almost laughed, apparently he was better with the make-up then he thought, no one was even questioning his appearance. 

Jonghyun’s boisterous laugh sounded to his right, and his hyung turned towards him, with a smile still on his face.  “Hey Taemin, what took you so long?  Finishing up that homework?”

“Yeah hyung,” Taemin said with a smile, “I just finished it,” he lied with a small smile and glanced down.  He just had to get through the next few hours.   

O poor Taemin!  I almost cried while writing this chapter.  This really happened to a friend of mine.  His Uncle beating the crap out of him when my friend came out as gay.  I'm mirror my friend's experience with Taemin now so injuries and healing will follow my friend's experience.