“I am definitely coming back to visit you,” Myungsoo mumbled not really wanting to leave so soon, but his week was over.   Jaejoong smiled at his younger brother. He enjoyed this one week that he was with him, though he came at a very dramatic time. It was hardly a time for relaxation between the two since Jaejoong was busier with handling the promotions and dealing with Nana all at the same time. Of course, the stars of the shoot had their own drama going on as well.   Myungsoo reached over to hug his older brother tightly, “don’t let these young bucks run you, you hear?”   “Young bucks?” Jaejoong laughed. “Why do you sound all old all of a sudden?”   “I just don’t want you getting hurt playing this game of ‘business’, be careful. I will back before you know it, ok?”    Jaejoong shook his head gratefully, “I look forward to that time.”     ~~~~~~~     Tao was able to sneak away from Jongdae the same day. The older boy had managed to work himself into a fitful sleep from that morning all the way till the next morning. Of course all the boys walked quietly around the suite so as to not wake him up.   But when he did…he spoke to no one.   He came out of his room fully dressed, went into the bathroom, and then left out the door. No one had left for their usual morning activities since they had classes in the afternoon, so they all tried not to watch the boy who broke down in front of them just yesterday. As soon as that door shut, signaling that he had left…   “Doesn’t he just give you the creeps?” Luhan whispered loudly, as if the boy was still in the room.   “Don’t say that!” Tao nearly shouted.   Everyone snapped their heads toward Tao. They knew that he was the only one to be brave enough to comfort the broken Jongdae and Yixing knew that he heard things yesterday that the rest of them weren’t privy to.   Yixing put his hand on the others back comfortingly, “Do you want to talk about it?”   Tao diverted his eyes downward. He wasn’t sure if he could exactly repeat what Jongdae had whispered to him. The boy simply was not in his right mind during his all tell moment. He couldn’t even be sure if Jongdae even remembered that he had said all of those things to him. Tao knew one thing from that conversation however; the look that Jongdae got in his eyes every now in then, seemed to make so much more sense now. He had been through so much more than all of them put together and Tao wasn’t so sure he felt comfortable with that knowledge now swimming around in his head.   He wanted to talk.     ~~~~~~~   “What brings you here this morning Jongdae?” Nana asked, sitting down against her brown leather couch, her similar brown leather suede dress fitting around her body and blending in with the sofa, as Jaejoong continued standing near the armrest.   The dark haired boy didn’t bother putting on his mask this morning. No, the bags under his eyes fought to be there and they finally won. The natural slant of his eyebrows in worry had finally taken over, showing how unhappy he was. Though his lips naturally quirked in the corners as if he was always smiling, the dim light in his eyes showed that he was frowning more than not.    “I,” he paused almost immediately, not recognizing the weakness in his voice. It had been so long since he sounded like that, “I, need to know if I can get out of going to classes these three days,” he whispered.   “Are you ok Jongdae? Is something wrong?” Jaejoong spoke up.   The younger could feel his eyes watering in the corners, “you know about my situation. You know all the details. I just need these three days off, please.”   “Jongdae, why don’t you sit down and tell me why you need these days off,” Nana offered, crossing her legs and leaning back.   “I can’t, I don’t want to sit down,” he took a deep breath. “I need to see my mom. Her sentence has been served and I just need to visit her before it’s too late.”   Jaejoong’s eyes furrowed slightly at the news. They all knew that she was served the death sentence, but they didn’t think much about her since Jongdae never alluded to the fact he cared any.   “Weren’t you only visiting her because your therapist recommended closure?” Jaejoong spoke up again.   “Yes,” the boy whispered. “But I finally realized why I was supposed to be seeking closure. It’s not her fault for what she did, and I blamed her.”   “Jongdae, you have said so yourself, she killed your rightful guardian remember?” Nana said, not at all affected by his solemnest.    “I was wrong! I have to see her!” Jongdae was on the verge of tears again listening to his past words getting thrown back at him.   “Dear, we chosen to do this because we figured everything will be ok for you boys to not be free for this week. We seriously pondered this, I am sure you can forgo seeing your mom for this week,” she said dismissively.   “Well, I think we should talk about that, Nana?” Jaejoong said while looking at Jongdae’s stony face.    “What is there to talk about?” she turned to look at her right hand man.   “Who is ‘we’? I don’t remember making such plans with you,” he asked her.   “We is Kris and I. You weren’t needed for those plans,” she smirked as if remembering something private about that moment. “Besides, I thought it was a good idea from him for the guys to get extra training for the influx.”   His idea…   Jongdae’s head pounded at the thought. Of course Nana wouldn’t think of something so dictatorial even though having to sit and learn for a week wasn’t that harsh. Nonetheless with his circumstances factored in, it seemed excruciating to have to do.   “It’s ok Jongdae, you will see her again before her sentence is served,” she smiled.   But that’s what she didn’t know. His mom had already been hiding her sentence for some time from him. He had only found out two weeks before it would be executed. The first week he visited her everyday…this is the last week, only six days before he would never see her again.   “Yeah…” he tried to keep his face from bawling up into a cry, “I am sure I will see her again.”    He got up stiffly, holding his breath and walked out of the room with his head drooped in exasperation. He didn’t know where he wanted to go until noon, but he certainly didn’t feel like seeing his roommates so early. His mother would be expecting him soon, but he wouldn’t come, he couldn’t come.   There were so many more things for him to learn about her. About why she had left him and what she was doing when he didn’t see her. He wanted to let her know the things he thought about so she could get to know him better…but no, it wouldn’t happen, it couldn’t happen.   “Why did you talk to Kris about such important matters without me being present?” Jaejoong asked Nana who had risen from her seat