23.  I Just Can’t Bring Myself To Hate You

Key clenched his fists as he watched Jonghyun wrapped his arms around Soo-Man. How could he feel sympathy for that ? Soo-Man had stolen and beaten their friends, tortured SHINee and Jaejoong, and now pulled their friendship apart, and all Jonghyun could do was kiss that man’s . Key looked at his hands that were sore from cleaning for the past hour.

“Jonghyun... Please see sense!” Key spoke with a tone of both sadness and regret. He hated that Jonghyun was now with that horrid man, but sad and regretful that he hadn’t opened up to him sooner. All he wanted to do was hug his hyung, and stay with him forever. “How can we get you back?” Key looked around the large office, he was alone and it seemed quiet outside. He couldn’t get the thought of the water out of his head. It was too weird not to be taken seriously.

Slowly, Key opened the doors to the office and poked his head out, sighing in relief as he saw that the entire hall was silent. Soo-Man was going to be a boiling volcano of anger once he found out that Key had sneaked out before doing his jobs, but it; he had to tell s about his suspicions. Key walked silently down the hall, constantly looking around for any signs of the guards.

“Hey maid boy, what are you doing out here?” Key froze as a voice called out to him. His brain screamed at him to run, but that would have made it far too obvious that he wasn’t allowed to be outside the office. Key turned around, shielding his fear with a wall of confidence. All he had to do was be convincing enough to trick the guard in allowing him to see his band members. The guard walked towards Key, his fingers ready on his back pocket to grab his gun if needed.

“I finished cleaning the office, so I’m looking for the others to help them. I’m just following orders; if you don’t take me to them then your boss will be very mad at you.” Key stared the guard down, feeling very confident as he nodded and took his hand away from his pocket.

“Fine, I’m not going to disobey his orders.” The guard roughly seized Key by the arms and pulled him down the hall. “You better not be lying to me you brat, or only pain will come to you.” Key shook his head, terrified as he knew he was going to pay for his actions, but still wanting to hide that fact.

"Are you going to take that chance?" Key raised an eyebrow at the guard, getting a little cocky in his natural diva style. The guard responded by tightening his grip around Key’s arms, ignoring as the idol yelped in sudden pain. But he wasn’t that bothered, as long as he could tell them about his theory about the water that Jonghyun was forced to drink, he would take all the pain that Soo-Man caused to him.

“What is he doing out here?” The guard watching over the SHINee members raised an eyebrow at the guard that held Key by the arms. Taemin, Minho, and Onew stopped cleaning and looked up in confusion. “I didn’t tell you to stop!” The guard shouted at the idols, which he caught in the corner of his eye. The three quickly looked back at the floor and continued to wax the floors by hand.

“The kid said that the boss gave the order that once he finished the office, he was to come here and help with the halls.” The guard shoved Key to the floor next to Onew, who placed his hands on Key’s to calm him down before Key broke into sobs of fear. “So I brought him here.”

The guard watched Key, who shuffled about uncomfortably in the dress and looked down at the floor. “You really think the boss said that? What if he’s lying to us?”

“So what if he is? He knows that he’ll just suffer for it. Let the little do what he likes, I don’t care.” The guard scoffed and walked down the hall, returning to his duty.

Key bit his lip as the guard walked in front of the additional person he was left with and kneeled so he was eye-to-eye with him. “You better not be messing us about, because if you are; I’ll personally beat the crap out of you!” Key stayed silent as the guard paused to think for a moment. “Cameras are watching, so stay here and carry on with the job, I’ll be right back.” The guard stood up and walked away from the four idols, leaving them alone for a short while.

“Why did you come here? You’re gonna get caught out and punished for this you know Key!” Minho stared seriously at Key, who shrugged like he didn’t care.

“I couldn’t keep this to myself. I think I know why Jonghyun is acting strangely, it’s only a theory, but I’ve seen enough evidence to back it up.” Key took a breath as his band members stopped waxing the floor and looked at him with a glint of hope. “Soo-Man forced Jonghyun to drink this weird water in the office, and it caused him to go dizzy. I’m thinking there’s also a drug in it that alters his behaviour.”

Taemin looked at the floor, remembering how desperate Soo-Man was to get him to drink the water before. It suddenly began to make sense, some of it at least.

“So you think he’s drugging Jonghyun into doing what he says, like some sort of a drug testing guinea pig?” Onew suggested, rubbing the back of his neck in astonishment. Who knew that Soo-Man was such a dirty-playing scumbag?

“Um...” Taemin paused as everyone’s eyes averted to him, suddenly putting pressure on him to speak. He was still in shock of being horribly treated by his hyung; it was hard to even talk about him or the situation. “B-Before, Soo-Man tried to force me to drink some water in his office, he seemed really desperate about it. He was going on about having a son and building up a new life after the lawsuit.”

Minho threw the cloth to the wall in pure anger. “Well that gives him no ing reason to drug our friend like that! So what if he wants to start a new life? He still can’t kidnap someone and force them into living with them!”

Taemin quickly placed his hand on Minho’s shoulder, begging him to calm down before the guards came to see what the noise was about. “But throwing a flaming charisma temper tantrum isn’t going to help him or ourselves for that matter! Just calm down and breathe~”

“How can you say crap like that with all the ing you’ve done to Soo-Man?” Minho narrowed his eyes at Taemin, who took his hand away and shifted slightly embarrassed. Minho instantly regretted his actions and threw his head back, frustrated with himself. “Tae I didn’t mean that. I’m just one the verge of~”

“Will you two sort out your differences later? Right now we need to keep Jonghyun away from that water and get his brain back on track!” Onew quickly scolded the two younger members.

"Jonghyun acted slightly different before when were in the office." Key bit his lip, trying to recall every detail his brain could remember. "He was violent towards everyone in the dinner hall and the bedroom, but not was bad when he was with me and Soo-Man."

Onew snapped his fingers, remembering when Jonghyun was with them in the bedroom. "Did anyone notice something about him after he hit Taemin? When Minho was shouting at him, his eyes changed and started to tear up, like he knew and regretted what he had done."

Minho cocked his head to the side. "I was too busy shouting to realise... I kinda feel bad about that now."

"But if you didn't shout at him, he wouldn't have shown that emotion." Onew pointed out, rubbing Minho's back to comfort the younger singer.

Taemin nodded, understanding the situation as much as he could. "So the drug is tricking him into being manipulated by Soo-Man, but his emotions are fighting to break through, right?"

"Exactly, and when we were in the office, he comforted me when Soo-Man was hurting me. It was as if his feelings really came out and blocked the drug's affect for a moment." Key sighed in regret, he wished that he could turn back the time and tell Jonghyun how he really felt. "But if I keep him from drinking the water or most of it, his feelings may overtake the affect and bring him back."

The three exchanged looks, smiling at the idea. "Then we'll get Jonghyun hyung back!" Taemin clapped in joy, making his hyungs laugh at his sudden burst of cuteness. "Just keep talking to him and~"

"He told you what? I never said such a thing to him! Why didn't you drag him back into the office?" Everyone froze as Soo-Man and Jonghyun walked down the hall, lead by the guard that left them minutes ago. It was easy to tell that Soo-Man wasn't happy one bit with Key, but he didn't care. He had told his friends about Jonghyun and that was enough for them to come up with a plan. "What do you think you're doing out here?"

Key tried to find his voice, but failed as the dominating man towered over him, leaning so he was only a few inches from Key’s head. “I... I, um...” Key’s band members stayed silent, unknowing what to say.

Soo-Man lost his patience and grabbed Key by his hair, yanking his head back so he could look at the idol directly in the eye. “Are you trying to tell me you just decided to disobey me?” Key began to shake in fear, as much as he wanted to stand his ground, he couldn’t help but to be terrified of him.

“I...I don’t know. I just~”

“YOU DON’T KNOW?” Soo-Man reached for his pocket, ready to get the remote out, but before his hand even touched the fabric of his blazer, Key threw his head back and screamed as the ankle bracelet suddenly jumped to life. The older male let go of the idol, allowing him to squirm about on the floor, and looked behind him to see Jonghyun holding his remote, eyes fixed on Key.

“So you just disobeyed him? What kind of servant does that?” Key bit his lip and looked at the floor, he hurt when he was violently handled by Soo-Man, but hearing that awful tone in Jonghyun’s voice mentally broke him apart. Jonghyun walked to his Appa’s side using the crutch, his hand still holding the remote firmly. “Appa let me take care of him. I want to teach him a lesson of my own.”

Key’s head snapped up to the pair that controlled them, then at his band members who gave him signals of encouragement. He knew that if he could get some alone time with Jonghyun, he could try to talk to him and reach his feelings again. It was a long shot, but he had to try.

“Very well, do what you like. I can’t stand dealing with these wastes of life anymore. Once you’ve dealt with him, get him to finish the office work.” Soo-Man turned around and walked down the hall. He was still pissed off with Key’s actions, but he could trust his own son to take care of it. “Let them rest before dinner, I have some things to deal with.”

“So we are suing the company for unfair acts on our part?” Changmin rubbed his forehead as he tried to take in the huge amount of confusing facts. His brain was finding it hard to remember what information was a lie and what the true reality was.

“Yeah, I think so. According to this; the company changed our contracts without us knowing, and copied our own signatures on the new unfair contract to make it seem legit.” Yunho bit his lip trying to make sense of what he was reading.

Jaejoong nodded and pointed to a section on his paper. “When that happened, Junsu, Yoochun, and I placed the lawsuit. The company prevented you to file the lawsuit by blackmail, explaining why only the three of us split from the band.”

“Oh, I get that part now...” Yunho wrote on a note book, trying to remember the key facts for his speech.

Yoochun and Junsu shared notes quietly, looking just as confused as the other band members. “So we all met up and came to Soo-Man for help, and that is why we are here currently, right?” Junsu bit his pen, watching as Yunho looked at his own notes to confirm.

“We all decided to defend the final two members at this time as the company can’t pay for a decent lawyer, plus it’s unfair that the company make a large sum of money off the hard work, and then drop their artists with no money to live off.” Yunho passed his book to Junsu, who began to take notes and re-read them again.

Yoochun sighed and dropped his book on the floor, almost ready to give up on the entire plan. “This is going to be useless though. Unless we have some sort of evidence to prove that the company has done all this crap to us, the lawsuit won’t be taken seriously.”

Jaejoong nodded and hummed in agreement. “But knowing that devious pig, he’s got all of that sorted.”

“AISH, I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!” Changmin threw the papers in the air and hid his face in his hands. “This is pointless! I just know that in the end we’re not going to be set free! We will end up just like SHINee, or maybe he will just kill us and toss our lifeless corpses into the sea!”

Junsu quickly crawled to Changmin’s side, allowing the younger to rest his head on his hyung’s shoulder. Changmin eventually broke down, sobbing into Junsu’s neck. "It's ok Min Min. I'm sure he wouldn't kill us, everyone would find it suspicious if we were in the stoplight one day, and gone the next."

Yoochun rolled his eyes at Junsu's failed attempt to give a pep-talk and sat next to Changmin in the other side. "We won't let anything happen to you or anyone else. I promise you that once we get this lawsuit delt with, the five of us and SHINee will walk out of here safely."

Changmin sniffled and turned to look at Yoochun, still huddling close to Junsu who was holding him tightly. "You promise? You promise that we will be ok?"

"Of course we will Minnie." Yunho smiled as Jaejoong put his arm around his shoulder. "As soon as we get out of here, we will become a 5 again. Jaejoong and I will go to extremes to make sure it happens. Just trust us both ok?"

Changmin nodded and allowed his hyungs to crowd around him, embracing in a much needed group hug. A shiver crawled down his spine as Junsu whispered something into his ear, but it was a good shiver. It opened up a new feeling that he hadn't felt in a while. "No one is going to kill you my little Min Min."

Key gulped as Jonghyun slammed the door behind him. The pair stood silently in the office for a few minutes. Key didn't dare to look Jonghyun in the eye. It wasn't that he was scared to say something to him, it was the fact that he wasn't sure what he should say to him. Of course we wanted to reason with him, but at the same time he didn't want to grovel and beg.

Jonghyun sighed as he watched the terrified boy stand in the room, his head aimed at the floor, in fear probably. He knew he had put himself and Key in an awkward situation. As he stood in silence, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he cared for the boy. He wasn't sure why, but his brain was trying to get him to remember something. "Why?"

Key looked up, startled at Jonghyun's sudden question. "W-Why what?"

Jonghyun sighed and paced around the room, unsure of how to continue. "Why do I feel different towards you? Why do I feel unsure of myself? Why can't I do what my Appa says?"

Key gulped and fiddled with his fingers. Jonghyun was already fighting the drug inside of him, but if Key said the wrong thing to him, it could end up in the affect reversing and sending his hyung into his wicked abnormal state again.

"I brought you here but I can't do this! It's like my brain is telling me that I'm forgetting something! Just tell me why! I need to understand!" Jonghyun fell to his knees, gripping his hair in a state of desperate confusion.

"Tell you what? Jonghyun what's wrong, what do you want to know?" Key ran to his friend, kneeling by his side and rubbing him gently on the back. Maybe he didn't have to say anything at all. Maybe Jonghyun's heart was stronger than the drug, all it needed was time.

Jonghyun turned to face Key, wrapping his arms around his torso and pulling the surprised singer into a sudden hug. Key's heart flipped a few times when a warm feeling of love and reassurance took over his body. A feeling that he had desperately longed for. "Tell me why I just can't bring myself to hate you..."