(An hour later)

Arriving at the hospital, Onew rushed into Taemin’s room, the others following behind him.

“Hyung!” Taemin exclaimed, smiling. Onew ran over to the hospital bed, embracing Taemin in a tight hug. “Hyung, what happened? Why can’t I remember what happened to my leg? All I remember is going for lunch, then there was a shot…” Taemin said, trailing off as he saw that Onew was not replying him, only looking at him sadly. “Hyung? What’s wrong?” Taemin asked, concerned.

“Anio, it’s nothing. And as for what happened to your leg…” Onew said, not wanting to break the news to him.

“Taemin-ah,” Donghae started, volunteering to announce the news. “You see, when you went for lunch, there was an attack, probably by Victoria, and you were shot…” Donghae said, unable to continue.

“You won’t be able to dance for the next three months, or your condition will worsen, maybe till you can never dance again…” Eunhyuk continued, walking to Donghae’s side. Then, Donghae wrapped his arm around Eunhyuk’s waist for comfort. Taemin’s eyes just widened.

“Mwoh?! This can’t be true… Hyung, tell me this isn’t true,” Taemin pleaded, looking at Onew, who just shook his head sadly. “B-but… why? Why me?!” Taemin demanded. Key turned into Jonghyun’s arms, unable to watch any longer.

*This is all my fault… Mianhae, Taeminnie, but this is for the best…* Onew thought, nodding at the others to leave the room. “Taemin-ah…” Onew started, before Taemin started crying. “Taemin? What’s wrong?” Onew asked, worried.

*Hyung never calls me by my name… Never… So what’s he going to do now?* Taemin thought, as he kept on sobbing. “It’s ok hyung. I was just upset that I won’t be able to dance for quite some time…” Taemin said, lying. *Why am I so worried? Hyung will stand by me, right?* Taemin thought to himself.

“Arasso,” Onew said, glad that nothing was wrong with Taemin. “As I was saying… I want to break up with you, Taemin,” Onew continued, tears already welling up in his eyes. *I’m so sorry, Tae, but it’s for the best…* Onew thought, looking down.

Hearing Taemin’s laughs, Onew looked back up, only to see Taemin crying and laughing at the same time. *What’s wrong with him?* Onew thought, more worried than ever. “Haha… Hyung, I thought I just imagined you saying that you wanted to break up with me… What a joke, right?” Taemin said, laughing, but tears were streaming down his cheeks. “Please tell me I heard you wrongly, hyung… Please…” Taemin pleaded, not laughing anymore.

*Is he in shock? Oh no… This can’t be happening… And I’ve only said that I want to break up with him… What about the coming days that we spend away from each other?* Onew thought, cursing himself. “Taemin-ah… I’m so sorry…” Onew said, as Taemin burst into tears, unable to hold them in.

“WHY?! Why do this to me when I need you, hyung?!” Taemin screamed. *Why would he do this to me? He promised to stay with me forever… Was that all a lie?* Taemin thought as he continued crying.

“I have… fallen in love with… Victoria… I realise now that I only loved you as a brother, no more than that. The past year I spent with you was great, Taemin, but it’s time to let go…” Onew said, turning away as tears started to trail down his cheeks. *First the accident, now this. I don’t know how much Taeminnie has to go through till this is over…* Onew thought, crying silently. He was broken away from his thoughts by Taemin’s screams. Turning around, he saw Taemin trashing around on the bed. *Oh, no… Taeminnie… Don’t do this… It breaks my heart to see you like this…* Onew thought, wanting to reach out to Taemin, but deciding against it for now.

“How could you?! You promised never to leave me! How could you break your promise to me?!” Taemin asked, upset. “How could you…” he repeated. When Onew finally reached out to him, he pulled away. “Don’t touch me,” he hissed. “What happened to ‘true love conquers everything’?” he demanded.

Shaking his head, Onew took a step backwards. “I found out that what we had was not true love… I only loved you as a brother, didn’t I tell you?” Onew said, raising his voice a little.

Suddenly, Key came into the room. “Key? What is it?” Onew asked curiously. This was not discussed earlier on. Without answering, Key walked up to Onew and slapped him. “Yah!” Onew shouted.

“Onew hyung, how could you break your promise to Taemin? He loves you so much! How could you?!” Key shouted, before Heechul and Jonghyun came in to pull him out. Looking at Taemin and the door of the room, Onew ran out, leaving Taemin alone, crying.

“Key! What was that about?! How could you slap your hyung?” Onew demanded, rubbing his cheek at the spot where he was slapped.

“So, did it work?” Jessica asked, while Onew stared at her blankly.

“Mwoh?” Onew asked, more confused than before.

“You see, Onew, we came up with a plan just now.” This time, it was Kyuhyun who spoke.

“If Key went in to slap you, it would make the breakup seem more real,” Yoona explained.

“And as we all know, Key is the nosey one amongst us, so it would make more sense if he was the one who was eavesdropping on your conversation, right?” Seohyun added. Onew just nodded, realising that this idea made sense.

“Yah! I’m not nosey!” Key shouted, protesting. The others just ignored him, watching Onew’s reaction.

“Well… It makes sense,” Onew said, and the others sighed in relief as Onew was not mad at them. “But Key…” he continued, “did you have to slap me so hard?” Onew asked, eyeing Key.

Key scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Mianhae hyung…” he apologised. Onew just nodded at him, smiling lightly. “I think that you should go in and finish your conversation with Taemin,” Key said, reminding Onew of what he had to do. The others nodded at him in encouragement, and Onew went back into the room.

“Taemin-ah, this is goodbye. Don’t try to get back together with me… I’m not worth it. I’m sorry… but it’s for the best…” Onew said, before turning around and leaving Taemin alone again.

“NO! Hyung! Don’t leave me!” Taemin shouted, starting to trash around again, but was held down by Heechul and Key. *It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this… Why would you leave me, hyung? Was the past year really just a lie? Did you really treat me only as a brother?* Taemin thought, crying loudly, as he was soothed by his ummas.

Outside the room, Onew was crying too, and was being comforted by his sunbaes.

“Onew-ah… it’s for his own good, you know that, right?” Tiffany asked. Onew nodded at her, still crying. “Then stop crying already. You have to stay strong for Taemin, if not for yourself,” she continued, trying to reassure Onew.

“Ne, kamsa hamnida, Tiffany noona,” Onew said. *Mianhae, Tae, jeongmal… I’m so sorry for leaving you broken like this, but it has to be this way until Victoria is taken care of* Onew thought, determined to get back to Taemin sooner by solving the problem with Victoria quickly. Till then, he has to stay away from Taemin to prevent further harm being done to him. *Mianhae…* Onew thought again. “Sunbaes, I’m going back to the dorm. There’s no point in me staying here now, arasso?” Onew said, informing his sunbaes of where he was going. They nodded at him, watching him go.

*Why did it come to this? You were so loving with each other… What lies ahead?* the sunbaes thought, worried about what the future might hold in store for their two hoobaes.

Really sorry if this ending is a little abrupt… didn’t know how to end it:( I hope you enjoyed this chapter:D personally, I think that it’s really touching:) please look forward to the next chapter! Will post it sometime next week:D remember, comments are loved:)