Sitting back in the single chair he was given, Onew allowed the others to monopolize the interview, with Jonghyun smoothly taking over the position of leader, the other three members laughing, joking, and reminiscing together. Key word being together because now together didn't include him, the family didn't include him, and Shinee didn't include him. Noting the eldest's awkward position, the PD directed a question specifically at him, hoping to start a conversation with Shinee as a whole. Unfortunately, as the eldest began his response, the other four quickly quieted down, not bothering to look over at the leader, giving no signs of acknowledgement. As Onew wrapped up his statement, the room was enveloped in the suffering air of awkwardness. Onew slouched back into his seat once more, wanting to simply disappear as his four dongsaengs threw themselves back into a comfortable conversation, not noticing the shattering of their leader's heart. As the interview wrapped itself up, the four members continued the brotherly conversation, not caring to wait for the eldest. By himself, Onew disconnected the wire to his microphone, giving the sympathetic staff a full 180-degree bow, his noe practically touching his knees.

“Arigatoo gozaimasu.”

“Domo itashimae.”

Receiving the response, Jinki arose from his position, giving another nod of appreciation before heading into the dressing room. Taking his seat at the make up station, he noticed that the other's belongings were already gone. Allowing himself to show a bit of weakness, the leader rejected the make up artist, wiping the foundation off himself. Staring at the old picture on his iPhone's home page, the singer gave a broken smile. His eyes were fighting back tears as he relived the moment when Shinee had their first music show win. He remembered the issue with the camera placement and how the two groups constantly had to switch spots and how backstage the five clung onto each other and bawled their eyes out. The photo quickly faded away as a common number appeared on his screen.

“Hello? Hyung? Yeah, I'm heading out to the car right now. Um... do you think you could bring me a copy of my contract tomorrow?”

The next day in the airport

Onew stared longingly at his former brothers, his eyes begging for one of them to see his despair and welcome him back into the household known as Shinee. Unfortunately, the four continued their discussion, not giving a second thought to their leader.

“Oh, hyung! Hi!” Taemin quickly jumped out of his seat as their manager approached the group. Quickly following the maknae's lead, the other members jumped to their feet, giving respectful bows.

“How are all of you?” Seungri gave the group a loving smile as he questioned the performance in the interview. Receiving four enthusiastic nods of approval, he questioned the avoiding eyes of the leader, “Well we have the flight back and then you're all due in the set to begin the music video for Dazzling Girl. Okay?”

“Yes, hyung.” Grinning back at the eagerness of his group, Seungri remembered the odd request of their chicken-lover. “Jinki-ah, here's the contract you wanted.” For the first time in a while, all the Shinee members gave their complete focus to Onew, questioning his need for the contract. Allowing a fake, comforting smile to appear, Onew simply shook his head, stating that he just needed to brush up on what he could and couldn't do. That was enough of an explanation to divert their attention away from him, giving the leader a chance to relax; however, his lie was quickly caught by Seungri, who merely cocked his eyebrow in suspicion.

“Hey look, our jet is here!” Onew quickly pointed towards the window before he dashed off, avoiding the manager's nerve-wracking stare.

On the plane

Looking over his shoulder, the eldest gave one last loving glance to the table of four, even though it was made for five. Glancing back down to the pile of papers, he began to trudge through the never-ending packet, his highlighter attacking the sentences that would help him.

“Jinki-ah,” Humming in response, the leader didn't bother to look up, knowing that his manager was staring down with hard eyes. “What are you doing? Why aren't you sitting with the others?” The leader had to hold back a small scoff, looking back a the one seat that would have been his. Unfortunately, his seat was filled by the bags for the four laughing boys. “Jinki, why are you highlighting your contract?” Suspicions began to build up as the confirmation of the ostracized state was revealed.

“Hyung!” Snapping out of this thoughts, Seungri looked down to his now teary-eyed member. “Can you please cancel all of my schedules for tomorrow?” A bit taken aback, Seungri wasn't entirely sure what to say knowing that the company would kill him, but he just couldn't say no. “Hyung, please. I really don't ask for much.” Rubbing the back of his stressed head, the elder gave a loud sigh.

“Aish, fine, but your spots will be filled by the other four, okay?” Onew couldn't help but light up a bit more, seeing Seungri give a small wink after giving the 'punishment.'

“Thank you, hyung. For everything.”

Once they get home

All five members went their own ways, and headed to their respective rooms to unpack. Slowly putting his clothes back in their original spots, Onew blinked back tears as he heard the sounds of his dongsaengs leaving to celebrate without him. Still, he made no move to catch up to the four, knowing that he would be that awkward fifth wheel that no one really wanted around. Thinking nothing of it, the leader quickly threw the rest of his clothes onto his bed before making his way to the other rooms. Emptying the four suitcases in one large pile in the living room, Onew began separating the clothes; light, dark, white, and Key's. The elder absentmindedly continued his job as the hyung, throwing the first load of laundry into the washing machine before going into the bare kitchen. Slumping at the empty table for five, Onew cloed his eyes, letting a small smile grace his features as he remembered their old family dinners; Minho and Jonghyun fighting over the biggest piece of meat, Taemin complaining to Key about the vegetables, and the Almighty Diva sitting in peace as though there wasn't a mess of dinner going on. A loud bell unfortunately awoke the elder from his daydream, causing a defeated sigh to escape his lips as he pushed dead feet forward to continue his team's laundry. Finally finishing the second load, Onew began his gourmet dinner: cup of noodles. Heating up the saltyentrée, Onew could practically hear Kibum's scolding on how he should be eating healthier because they have their comeback soon. Retrieving the heated meal, the elder sat mindlessly in front of the TV, silence suffocating him until he was forced to tune in to Inkigayo.

“Noona neomu yeppeo.”

The leader watched as the newly formed Teen Top covered their debut song. He watched as their hoobaes dances circles around the stage like they once did. He watched their smiling faces and Onew's own became solemn, his mind racing to their debut stage and Taemin's microphone incident. Laughing at the memory of Key's little outburst after the performance, Onew glanced down at the empty cup in front of him. He forced himself up one more time to clean his own little dinner mess before finished the last round of laundry. As he hung the member's clothes up, the time finally caught his attention. It was nearing 2:30 AM and the other four had failed to return home.

“I hope they're being safe,” Closing the door to his own room, Onew picked up the heavy contract and the bright highlighter once more before he plopped down at his desk. Flippinf through the endless pages of terms, conditions, and loopholes, Onew didn't leave his desk for the next three hours; not to get water, to use the bathroom, and definitely no to reprimand s for coming home an hour past curfew. Finally, at the break of dawn, he found the one statement that he was searching for, the one loophole.

I'm signed to SM, and SM only.

The next day at the SM building

“Lee Jinki, what are you saying?” The current CEO was put into a state of shock as the leader of one of his most successful groups appeared unannounced in his office, requesting the most outrageous thing.

The boy bowed his head in a solemn surrender, “You heard me correctly, sir. I mean what I say,” Kim Young-min slumped in his seat, unable to formulate a response, “my contract ties me to SM and I am not leaving SM. I am staying within my contract rules.” Onew eyed his boss, worry filling his whole body at the thought of his loophole backfiring.

“What will the fans think?”

“Sir, they already realize the change. This can be a test, to see how they react and how sales are affected.” SM's CEO really had no other way out; Lee Jinki had thought through every aspect of the situation and now had the man backed into a corner. “Please, sir.” The voice rang through the room with utmost hope. Looking up, the idol Youngmin saw a new side of Onew. One where he wasn't the strong, fearless leader of Shinee; but rather one where he was broken and tired, where insanity was slowly creeping back into the leader. Giving an exasperated sigh, the CEO raised his white flag.

“I will run this past Lee Soo Man and it will depend on his judgement. You will find out tonight along with the rest of us.” Bowing a full 180 degrees, Onew cried out millions of thanks before allowing his boss the privacy he was entitled to. “Aish... this will be an interesting meeting.”

At the meeting

Youngmin watched the different idols and managers file into the large conference room. Catching the eyes of Onew, he gave a single nod confirming the founder's decision and motioned for the singer to separate himself from Shinee. Walking to the opposite direction of the room, Onew sat facing his dongsaengs rather than next to them like the other groups. Meeting Jonghyun's gaze, Onew stayed still as the vocalist motioned for him to come to the open seat next to him.

“Welcome to the monthly review,” The room quieted down as Youngmin began the informational meeting. Confirming TVXQ's Catch Me comeback, Super Junior's schedule, and SNSD's Japanese and Korean comeback, the CEO reached the moment he was dreading, “Now, Shinee–“

“I will address that at the end of the meeting.”

Turning to the door, all occupants were surprised to see the founder of SM Entertainment enter the room. The surprise suddenly turned into curiosity and worry, since Lee Soo Man rarely came to these meetings. The last time he came was when JYJ announced their leave from TVQ, which meant that the news with Shinee was big. Nodding at the motion to continue, Youngmin went on to F(X) and EXO plans along with a recap of what went well and what completely and utterly failed at SM Town. Coming to a slow close, Youngmin turned to his boss, giving up the floor to one of the biggest names in Seoul. As Lee Soo Man stepped up, all were waiting for the same thing. The fate of Shinee.

“Shinee will not be promoting Dazzling Girl in Japan as planned.” Shock ran through all member as comebacks are never halted, especially a week before the music video's release; however, the feeling was most evident on four of the member's faces, but Seungri caught the calm look on the face of the leader, as though Jinki already knew of the news. “Instead, they will be promoting a remixed version of A-yo as a follow up song for the repackaging of Sherlock.” Jonghyun immediately stood up, questioning the company's decision, as the teasers for Dazzling Girl had already been released and they had all worked hard to perfect it. Raising a hand for the vocalist to reclaim his seat and calm down, the founder waited for the room to refocus once more. “They will be promoting a new album that states Shinee as a four-member unit consisting of Lee Tae Min, Choi Min Ho, Kim Ki Bum, and Kim Jong Hyun, with Kim Jong Hyun acting as leader.” Within the blink of an eye, the four named members cried out in a mixture of outrage and shock, too far gone to remember respect. After five long minutes of yelling, Seungri was able to force all the members into their seats and shut their mouths without the use of tape. Turning to the CEO, he asked the once question all had on their mind: What will happen to Lee Jinki?

“Lee Jinki is now in change of all song production for EXO's debut. He already wrote and helped produce What is Love? and History, so now he will finish the album. He will not be a part of Shinee, for the time being.” Taemin's soft voice sang through everyone's ears, questioning the permanence of the new member change. “From how it looks, Lee Jinki will not be rejoining Shinee.” As this was said, the other managers began to quickly shuffle their members out of the room, the groups giving their condolences to the now broken group. The five members stayed in their seats, nodding at every touch and small comforting word given to them. As the room was cleared out, both the founder and CEO shared glances between the two parties in the room.

“Um, sir?” Both turned to the weary Seungri. “Can we know why Shinee is being broken up?” Lee Soo Man merely looked to Onew, causing Seungri to swallow the newfound lump in his throat. Working hard not to have his voice crack, he questioned the actions. Looking between his dongsaengs, Onew was caught within a mess of anger, betrayal, and sadness.

“Yeah, Lee Jinki. Why?” Jonghyun's voice mocked the elder's name, his words dripping with pure anger with a slight bit of disgust.

“Hyung...” Taemin's voice was broken as he allowed the tears to flow freely, unable to contain how upset he was.

“I... I...”

“You what?! Dammit, Jinki!” Key's English curse sliced through the elder as the diva rose to his feet, gripping the edge of the table until his knuckles turned white.

“This is what is best for Shinee.”

“And who are you to decide what's best for Shinee, huh?” Minho was now on his feet as well, punching the wooden table as anger and rage rose within him.

“I was the leader.”

“A pretty crappy leader, I think!” Jonghyun now followed in suit, wanting nothing more than to slap some sense into his hyung so that he would return to Shinee. So caught up in his own emotions, Jonghyun failed to notice the pools of water that had begun to spill over.

“It's our fault, right?” Taemin's small voice once again gained all attention. He let a small hiccup escape before he brought the connection to the table. “We're the reason you're leaving, right? Because of us. Because you think we don't care for you anymore.”

A loud slam came from Onew's chair as he gave a respectful bow to his CEO, announcing his leave. Turning to the door, Onew hesitated to grip the handle for a second, before taking a deep breath and making the decision that he knew he wouldn't be able to back out of once it was done.

10/24/12 Edit: Betad by the amazing Kojafras