(A week later)

Ring ding dong

Ring ding dong

Ring dinggi ding ding-

Pressing the off button, Onew rubbed his eyes sleepily, realising that it was only 6.30am. *Tae’s going to be discharged at noon… I wonder if the others are up yet. But I’m going, no matter what!* Onew thought determinedly, looking around the room to find the other three members sleeping.

Tiptoeing outside, Onew walked to the kitchen to fix up breakfast for the other members as he didn’t usually do it. “Should I cook eggs? Or make a sandwich for each of them?” Onew asked himself, deciding on eggs as there wasn’t enough bread.

Onew fried an egg for each member, finding some ham to go with it. He then proceeded to cooking porridge and some simple vegetables. By the time it was done, it had been an hour since he woke up. *They’re still sleeping?* Onew thought. Opening the door to their room, Onew saw that the three members were still sleeping. “They must really be worn out from their daily visits to Taemin…” Onew muttered guiltily. Going back out, he closed the door gently to prevent waking the sleeping members.

Setting the table neatly, Onew smiled sadly. *If only Taeminnie was here, things wouldn’t be so bad… But then again, he is coming back today… Aish, he’ll see me with noona then…* Onew thought, feeling a little depressed. Hearing the door open, he put on a fake smile and turned around to face Key.

“Hyung? Wow. When did you ever prepare breakfast like this for us?” Key asked incredulously, eyeing the leader worriedly.

“Since you were all sleeping, I just decided to. And also to thank you for taking care of Tae when I couldn’t. Kamsa hamnida, Kibum. I wouldn’t know what to do without you,” Onew said gratefully. Key saw tears welling up in his leader’s eyes, and he knew that Onew missed Taemin a lot.

“I know you miss Taeminnie, hyung, but you can’t be like this. This is for his own good, and you want him to be safe, right?” Key asked, his own tears welling up in his eyes.

Suddenly, something snapped. “Don’t tell me what to do! You’re not me! You don’t understand anything! It was you and the sunbaes’ idea to make me and Tae break up! It’s all your fault that we’re hurting now! Why would you do this to us?! Why…” Onew screamed, breaking down from all the stress.

Minho and Jonghyun walked out of the room, woken up by their hyung’s shouts. They were shocked to see their usually fun and somewhat funny leader rolled up into a ball on the floor, crying his heart out. Jonghyun gave Key a concerned look, as if asking ‘what happened?’, but Key just shook his head sadly, kneeling down to hug Onew in comfort. Minho saw tears streaming down Key’s cheeks, but decided to keep quiet.

“Jonghyun hyung, Key, let’s go to the kitchen for a while and leave Onew hyung alone,” Minho suggested in a whisper. The two of them nodded, Key releasing Onew slowly and standing up. Minho walked into the kitchen, the other two following behind him.

“What was that?!” Jonghyun shouted the moment they walked into the kitchen. Key shot him a death glare, looking at the open door. Jonghyun immediately paled, understanding what he just did. “Mianhae…” Jonghyun apologised quietly, closing the door before looking at Key.

“I’m not very sure what happened. I was just telling hyung that the breakup, the pain, it’s all for Taemin’s own good. Then he just started screaming at me…” Key said, not wanting to remember the horrific incident.

“I think that the sunbaes and SM ought to know about this. We should tell them to meet in our dorm tomorrow noon to think of a new plan,” Minho suggested.

“Should I tell f(x) too? I swear, that day, when they visited Taemin, they were talking about the plan. I’m sure of it!” Key said confidently. Jonghyun and Minho exchanged looks, nodding at Key who immediately took his phone out.

“But we should meet in SuJu’s dorm. Taemin’s not likely to go out tomorrow, and we don’t need him to know of any plan,” Jonghyun added. Key nodded, starting to text the people involved in the next meeting.

{From: Kibum

Sunbaes! Meet in SuJu’s dorm tomorrow noon! Sorry for being so rude and bossy… URGENT!! Tell your band members about this. Gomawo^^

To: Leeteuk hyung

      Taeyeon noona

      SM hyung}

{From: Kibum

We’re meeting at SuJu’s dorm tomorrow noon. Tell the other members. NOT VICTORIA NOONA!!! Discussing OnTae plan. Kamsa:)

To: Luna~}

SM saw the message, sighing aloud. *What has happened to them? Am I not a good enough boss and role model?* SM questioned himself. He replied a simple ‘Yes’ to Key. He then cancelled SHINee, SNSD and SuJu’s schedule for tomorrow, texting them of the change.

In the SuJu dorm, Leeteuk felt his phone vibrate. Leeteuk took it out, a shocked expression appearing on his face. Noticing the leader’s face, Heechul got worried. “Teukie? What’s wrong?” Heechul asked the leader. Hearing the question, the other members turned to face Leeteuk, who was replying ‘Ne’ to Key.

Opening his mouth, Leeteuk began to speak. “SNSD, SHINee and SM hyung are coming to our dorm tomorrow. From the tone of Key’s message, I would say it’s rather urgent. I’m assuming that you’re all cancelling your plans for tomorrow, RIGHT?” Leeteuk asked, raising a brow at YeWook, EunHae, KyuMin and ZhouRy, who were sticking beside each other.

“Ne… SM cancelled our schedules already?” Eunhyuk asked, sighing at Donghae. Leeteuk looked at the new message, replying ‘Gomawo, SM hyung’ before nodding. They knew that they were all thinking of the same thing: It’s OnTae again, isn’t it? What now?

Meanwhile, Taeyeon had also received the message, announcing it to the SNSD members. She replied ‘Arasso. See you!’ to Key. “Cancel your plans for tomorrow. SM already helped clear our schedules,” Taeyeon added, seeing the message from SM and replying ‘Kamsa hamnida!’.

“Why? Who called for the meeting?” Sunny asked.

“Key. Looks like he’s really worried. I bet it has to do with OnTae…” Taeyeon said sadly.

“What now?” Tiffany asked. Taeyeon shook her head, smiling lightly. She then gestured for the members to follow her to practice for their Japan comeback.

In the f(x) dorm, Luna had seen the message too, and was looking at the other members’ expressions as she showed the message to them. Afterwards, she replied ‘Alright:)’ to Key. “We’re going, aren’t we? Do we have any schedules tomorrow?” Luna asked.

“I doubt so. It’s a Saturday after all. Let’s go tell noona. She’s going out with oppa tomorrow, right?” Krystal asked. Shrugging, Sulli looked outside to make sure that Victoria wasn’t  listening before she spoke.

“I’m not really sure if she’s going out… Although she has been really hyper since last Thursday… Onew oppa must want to spend time with Taemin oppa, and…” Sulli explained, stopping immediately when she saw Victoria walking towards the room.

“Unni, are you going out with Onew oppa tomorrow?” Amber asked. Victoria nodded, looking at Amber suspiciously.

“Ne. Why?” Victoria asked.

“We’re going out tomorrow, so we don’t want to leave you alone. We would have asked you to come along if you weren’t going out, but then again… we’re going out with Heechul oppa and Key oppa, and we know how you find Heechul oppa weird, so… Yeah. But we’re glad you’re going out too! At least that way we won’t feel guilty for leaving you alone,” Luna lied, blabbering due to nervousness.

“Good thing, too. Heechul has always appeared as quite a weirdo to me, you know what I mean?” Victoria asked. The other members nodded, sighing in relief when Victoria walked back outside to watch TV.

“So we’ll meet tomorrow. Let’s go practice!” Krystal exclaimed. “Sica unni is going to practice soon, too, so we can discuss some plans. Ok?” Krystal asked. The other three nodded, walking out to tell Victoria where they were going.

“Want me to come?” Victoria asked, getting up from her seat and turning the TV off. Panicked, the four members looked at each other.

“Anio, unni! You’ve been practicing so much lately. Just relax, arasso?” Sulli asked desperately, praying that Victoria would say ok. Much to her relief, Victoria nodded, sitting back down and turning the TV on again. The four members then went to the practice room to find SNSD so that they could get a clearer idea of OnTae’s background.

While all this was happening, Onew was still having a breakdown, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Key sighed, looking at the other two guiltily. “This is all my fault. Hyung is right. I’m not him, so what right do I have to tell him how he should or should not feel? It’s not like I’ve experienced anything like this before… He was so happy, preparing breakfast for all of us, then I went to lecture him, and look what’s happened…” Key reproached himself continuously. Jonghyun pulled his boyfriend in for a hug, kissing the tears off his face.

“It’s been an hour, and you’ve been blaming yourself constantly. We have to take some blame too. It was us who agreed, knowing how Onew hyung loves Taemin…” Minho said, suddenly feeling a pang of jealousy. Jonghyun just smiled slightly and nodded in agreement.

“Kibummie, it’s already 8.30am, I think we should eat now. We have an hour to prepare, then we’ll leave for the hospital, let hyung have some time with Taemin, and we’ll get him discharged, arasso?” Jonghyun asked while patting Key’s back in comfort.

“Ne. I feel so helpless now… I’m supposed to be the umma of SHINee, but look what I’ve done. Hyung is having a breakdown, Taeminnie is injured, sad and lonely. It’s breaking my heart to see the most loving couple I’ve ever seen in this state… What can I do?” Key asked. He felt his phone vibrate, typing ‘Ne’ to Luna in reply, too tired to care about why she lied and turned to face the two members.

“It’s not your fault… Come on, let’s eat already. No use blaming yourself now, since they’re already in this state…” Jonghyun said, pulling a chair out for Key.

Shaking his head, Key sighed. “No. you guys eat first. I need to get hyung ready for the hospital trip. Can’t have an idol looking so haggard in public, he’s sure to get criticized…” Key muttered, the last part more to himself than others.

“Ne. Be careful,” Jonghyun cautioned. Key nodded, knowing fully well what his lover meant.

*What if hyung goes ballistic on me again? I don’t think I can take the shock and sadness of it all…* Key thought as he walked to the living room, approaching Onew slowly. He knelt down beside Onew, patting the crying leader to get his attention. “Hyung. Get up and change your clothes. We’re leaving in an hour. After you come out, eat breakfast, arasso? Hurry,” Key instructed gently, not wanting to startle Onew.

Onew nodded robotically, standing up and walking into the room, oblivious to the tears streaming down his face. He applied some make-up and changed into a hoodie and jeans, his movements still seeming programmed. After a few minutes, Onew walked into the kitchen, sitting down and eating, not even acknowledging the others’ presence. Tears kept falling, but Onew didn’t realise anything in his trance. The three members exchanged worried looks, unable to stomach anything. They just ate quickly, forcing the food down. After half an hour of awkward silence, all four members finished their breakfast, washing their plates in the sink before meeting in the living room. They then went down to meet their manager at 9.30am. during the one-hour drive to the hospital, nobody spoke a single word, just looking at Onew’s blank expression.

Finally arriving at the hospital, SHINee and their manager went into Taemin’s room. Upon seeing Onew’s tearstained face, Taemin stifled a gasp. He looked at the other members for answers, but they just nodded at each other and left the room to give OnTae some privacy. *Great. Why won’t they tell me what happened? Why would hyung cry?* Taemin thought to himself worriedly. “Hyung?” Taemin asked softly, as if talking to a frightened child. Taemin reached out a hand to touch Onew’s arm, but Onew pulled away as if shocked. Tears brimmed in Taemin’s eyes, threatening to overflow. “Hyung, what happened?” Taemin asked again, a little impatient due to worry.

Onew snapped back to reality, absorbing his surroundings. *What just happened?! Somehow, I think I pretty much had a nervous breakdown… Crap… Omo! Taemin saw… Oh. My. Gosh…* Onew thought to himself in horror, lifting a hand to his face. He noticed Taemin’s tears, instantly getting worried. “Tae? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?!” Onew asked hysterically. Seeing Taemin smile, tears finally falling, Onew realised what a grave mistake he had made. “I-I mean, Taem-min… I d-didn’t  know what I-I was s-saying…” Onew stuttered nervously, mentally face-palming himself for being so stupid and forgetful.

Out of the blue, Taemin hugged Onew tightly, unable to hold back the tears of joy. “HYUNG!!” Taemin wailed, smiling to himself. *He called me ‘Tae’! f(x) weren’t lying! Hyung really still loves me! How could I have ever doubted him?* Taemin asked himself, scolding himself for being so gullible.

“Ne, Taemin-ah?” Onew asked worriedly, trying to break out of the hug. Taemin just held him tighter, not willing to let go.

“Hyung! Stop calling me ‘Taemin’ or ‘Taemin-ah’. I miss my pet names… I already know that your relationship with noona is to make sure she doesn’t hurt me. Stop lying to me already! It’s so annoying…” Taemin complained. Immediately, he wanted to take back his words. *Oops… I wasn’t supposed to tell…*Taemin sighed, regretting his words.

“M-mwoh?! You knew? How? Why? Who? When?” Onew asked, looking at Taemin who just grinned. *… I just admitted that what Taeminnie said was true… Stupid!* Onew cursed himself for breaking down so easily.

“On that day you visited me with noona. I shouldn’t tell who, but it was before you came. They just told me that they overheard you and Victoria noona talking at the back staircase,” Taemin explained, still grinning from ear to ear.

“You won’t tell noona, right? I mean, she’ll kill you if she knows. Literally…” Onew warned, contemplating the possible people who might have told. *f(x)? Possible… I went to their dorm the other day to look for noona, so they might have followed us…* Onew thought, deciding that it was f(x) who leaked the secret.

Shaking his head, Taemin frowned. “No way am I going to tell noona. I am so not suicidal right now. I still need to dance and stay together with you!” Taemin exclaimed happily.

“Ne. I love you, I’m sorry, and thank you for understanding, Taeminnie. Me and noona are going to the amusement park tomorrow. Not too sure about the other three though… And I won’t tell them that you know, arasso?” Onew told Taemin, who immediately sighed.

“Ne. Dang… I thought we could spend some time tomorrow… And hyung? I love you, you know that?” Taemin asked, finally breaking the hug to look at Onew.

Onew nodded, smiling at Taemin. “Of course! And when I go out with noona, I think it’s best that you stay home. It’s not really convenient to move around with that cast…” Onew explained, making Taemin sigh again.

“I know… What’s been going on with you nowadays?” Taemin asked, changing the subject, more to find out what he missed out on than to avoid talking about his injured leg.

“Well, last Thursday, I watched a horror movie with Victoria noona,” Onew started, stopping when he saw Taemin gaping at him. “Aigo, you look down on me too much…” Onew pouted, earning a pinch from Taemin.

“Yes, it is shocking. And you deserved that pinch. How could you watch a horror movie without me?!” Taemin asked, feigning anger and sadness.

“Aww… You know I didn’t mean to…” Onew said. “Noona asked if I wanted to watch a movie or go to the amusement park. I said movie cause I wanted to see if she knew of my fear. She did not, sadly. But I wanted to be man, so I just went along. Not a good idea though. I didn’t talk afterwards, except to ask if I could come today. Without her,” Onew added, seeing Taemin grin slightly. “Before that, we ate chicken for lunch! I ordered eight dishes? I finished it in half an hour, and she was freaked out! Proves more about her limited knowledge of me… Then we went back to the dorm. The next few days, we went shopping. Three days at Myeongdong, then Dongdaemun for the next three… Yesterday, we went to Namsan Tower. Oh yeah, we were mobbed by fans on ‘movie day’, took neoprints, but it wasn’t as fun as it was when I took them with you though…” Onew sighed, reliving all the walking he did and shuddered.

Suddenly, Key burst into the room, fury written all over his face. “Hyung, you’re forgetting one very important piece of info…” Key said, exasperated. Onew looked at him with a confused expression, while Taemin just looked at Key. “You really don’t remember?!” Key asked questioningly. Onew shook his head, causing Key to get even angrier. Minho, Jonghyun and their manager were watching from outside, looking worried. They all knew how Key could get when he was really angry, and they didn’t need things to get out of control.

“Hyung? What happened?” Taemin asked. *What could make umma so mad?* Taemin thought. Onew shook his head, shrugging his shoulders.

“Taeminnie, you want to know what happened?” Key asked angrily. Taemin nodded, wanting to know the reason behind Key’s anger. “Fine. He had a freaking NERVOUS BREAKDOWN!!!” Key stressed the last two words loudly.

Tears started to form in Taemin’s eyes as he looked at Onew. “Why?” Taemin asked, choking on his tears. Onew looked at Key, who threw his hands up in frustration.

“He told me that me and the sunbaes are making you hurt unnecessarily, that I’m not him, I shouldn’t tell him how to feel, all that crap,” Key shot Onew an accusing look.

“I remember that, but then my next memory is being here…” Onew stated, genuinely confused.

“Oh, so now you have amnesia?” Key asked incredulously. Onew shook his head frantically, giving up when Key sighed loudly.

“You know it’s not the sunbaes’ fault, and you know it. It’s that of a Victoria’s fault! I don’t care, you two can have quality tomorrow. Me, Jjong and Minho are going out at noon. But now, we’re leaving, got it?!” Key asked. Knowing that he wouldn’t take no for an answer, OnTae just nodded sheepishly, packing Taemin’s things. Key stomped out of the room, Jonghyun trailing behind him.

Minho walked into the room with their manager, giving OnTae an encouraging smile. They smiled back, continuing to pack. After they were done, they walked to the manager’s car where JongKey were waiting for them. Key as tapping his foot impatiently as Taemin hobbled into the car with his crutches. They went back to the dorm, none of them speaking a word throughout the entire hour’s journey.

Hi!! :) I've been too lazy to update the past few weeks, so here's a really long chappie:D and pls comment to let me knw your opinions on my story so i can change it ^^ oh, and notice Minho's jealousy? o.O try to guess what happens next XD