January 9, 2012

  “1,2,3,4! Uri ga ganda (We are going), Ultra Shinee Byeonshin!”

  The boys were backstage huddled in a circle and shouted their “transformation” chant like usual. Well, it was like usual, but Onew wasn’t there. He was stilll at the hospital in Korea getting his injuries treated and all. Or so the boys thought.

  It had only been a week since the accident and here they were in Japan and in another schedule.

 Singing a few crowd favorites, the people cheered excitedly though the members were clearly distracted from compared to their usual selves. After they finished, the boys thanked the audience and went back.

  This performance was arguably one of their worse performances as according to those who watched it live. Sure the camera caught their charismatic dance moves and concentrated expressions, but their hearts and minds didn’t seem present during the event. Each of them was secretly worried about their leader.

  The event website announced that Onew would not be participating because of high fever. The boys only came to know this after their schedule because SM didn’t even bother to give them an update about their leader’s health.

  “It’s just not the same without hyung.”

  “Taemin-ah, I know, but Jinki hyung’s still healing at the hospital. Not to mention he has a fever right now, so he has to rest. There's still four of us, right?” Minho ruffled the maknae’s hair, trying to comfort him.

  Kibum nodded and Jonghyun blankly stared.

  All of them were inside Taemin and Kibum’s hotel room, it was their usual practice when they were performing overseas. They would hang out in whichever room Taemin was staying in, call room service and talk. Taemin mostly stayed in a room with Kibum at the hotel when they were on trips.

  Kibum sat on the bed where Jonghyun made himself comfortable while Taemin and Minho sat on the other bed.

  “I wonder how hyung is doing at the hospital… Has his fever gone down?” Taemin scratched his head.

  “I’m sure he is doing fine.” Kibum smiled.

  “Why don’t you send him a message?” Jonghyun said. Scratch that, he actually whispered. Kibum's keen ears heard is soft voice and clasped his hands together.

  “That’s a great idea, Jjong! Taemin send him a message on your phone.” The almighty Kibum proposed. Well, more like ordered him to send a message.

  “Where is your phone?” Taemin eyed Kibum. Usually, Kibum was the social butterfly who texted everyone.

  “Did you forget that Gyeongshik hyung is keeping our phones for us?” Minho took a sip of his orange juice, briefly mentioning their manager's usual practice.

  “Oh yeah… But why do I have mine?” the clueless boy dramatically looked at his hyungs then to the phone at hand.

  “Because Taemin, you told Gyeongshik hyung that you couldn’t find your phone at the airport. So he assumed you lost it.” Jonghyun chuckled. It wasn't the first time Taemin told their manager he had lost his phone. Gyeongshik, being the manager that knew them so well, just let it be since it would be better off like that than continuosly doting on the maknae.

   “Oh yeah…” Taemin slightly blushed at his own blunder. He thought he had lost his phone at the airport and began complaining to the members about his “magic hands”, only to find it just now buried somewhere in his bag when they were unpacking at the hotel.

  “Taemin-ah, quick, text that Yonggam!” Kibum said a bit impatiently this time, pointing dramatically at Taemin’s phone.

  Taemin did as he was told and quickly sent the leader a message, asking how he was doing at the hospital.

January 11, 2012

  A week had passed since Jinki woke up from his coma. He decided that he wanted to come with me on my morning walks. Sometimes he would wake up earlier than me and just sit there till my alarm clock did its magic. He was still staying in my room, nothing really changed except for the fact that we have become good friends. He still doesn’t remember anything from his past, but the wound on his forehead has gotten a lot better. Also, there was still no news from the police about people looking for him.

  Today, I woke up earlier than Jinki and way earlier than my set alarm for the first time. I rolled over to the side of my bed and watched Jinki sleep. There wasn’t much to see, I mean he literally covered his face with the blanket.

  I carefully lifted the blanket away from his face. I’m still wondering about the secret to his flawless skin and stared at his baby face.

  Somehow, it felt familiar… Like I’ve seen his face way before I brought him here. Hmmm…

  “What are you looking at?” I heard a slightly raspy voice say. 

  “… What? Nothing!” I was zoning out and didn’t even know he woke up. Oh my gosh, I’m feeling so embarrassed.

  “Up for a morning walk, Yong?” the brunette scratched the puppy’s ear.

  Without further ado, we were out the house and went on with our morning walk.

  “Say uh… Jinki…”

  “Yeah?”

  I hesitated a bit before asking my question.

  “Were you disappointed when you realized how messy I was?” Crap, why did I ask that question. My thoughts aren't really organized in the mornings and I just usually blabber without processing them in my head.

  He laughed and it was a high pitched laughter that I didn’t usually hear.

  “Yeah, I thought girls were supposed to be clean and organized. And forgive me, but you are absolutely none of those.” Jinki grinned at me and started to run.

  “Why you little…” I muttered under my breath and ran after him.

  “Yong, catch him!” I shouted as I let go of Yong’s leash. Luckily there was no one living around here, or else they would have thrown stuff at me because I was so noisy.

  Then again, I wasn’t the most organized or the cleanest person on Earth, books and notes were all over my bed and I was too lazy to put them back on the desk, so I just placed them at the bottom corner of my bed.

I would have bits and pieces of clothing lying all over my room. One time, Jinki got unintentionally got a hold of my undergarments while he was searching for clothes he could wear and I almost smacked the living day out of him.

  I could almost reach his jacket and…

  I tripped on a rock.

  Jinki stopped running after noticing the sudden quietness and rushed over to me.

  “Hye Jung-ah, are you alright?” I took his hand and stood up slowly. I felt pain on my left knee. I must have scraped it…

  “Yeah… Yah!”

  I wasn’t stepping on the ground anymore and I felt arms supporting my calves. Jinki is giving me a piggyback ride.

  “Stay still, you wouldn’t want me to drop you” He said as he pretended to let go. I immediately stopped squirming; I don’t want my butt on the ground.

  “Yong, come here boy!”

  The puppy ran back to us at the sound of my voice and stayed close to Jinki.

  “Hye Jung, I’m sorry”

  “It’s not your fault, I tripped by myself. It’s not like you put that rock there… Or did you?” I grinned and there was a hint of playfulness in my voice.

  “You caught me, I knew you were coming after me, so I deliberately put a rock there” Jinki joked and laughed.

  I actually fell asleep while I was on his back as he was telling me about the tragic story of a flying chicken that got eaten by a dragon.

  “H-Hye Jung-ah, I think you have a guest.” Jinki whispered, waking me up.

  I rubbed my eyes open as I eyed the small figure sitting in the living room.

  “You’re back!”

___________________________________________________________________________________

Finally, all the boys in one chapter. Although the Jonghyun, Kibum, Taemin and Minho only got a bit of screen time this episode, I promise there will be chapters on them only in the future! 

I'm really thankful for all the input you guys have given me, it really helps mold the story.

Like always, please don't hesitate to tell me your ideas for this story ;) 

Please subscribe if you haven't yet=)

I'm sure you guys are having your winter breaks now. Also due to the lack of gifs and pics in this chapter, please enjoy this Christmasy picture to celebrate the holidays.

Pic credits to owner