JULY 2010

YOONA'S POV.

I stood in the abandoned practice room, the now air-stale dusty room a mere shadow of its former glory. I have absolutely no idea as to why I've set foot in here. The girls and I were given a twenty minutes break after a grueling dance session and the next thing I know, I'm walking towards the older part of the building; into a room in which no one ever uses anymore.
 

"Maybe this is a way of you expressing how much you miss their presence." whispered my subconscious. Oh shut up, annoying subconscious alter-ego me.

It still feels so surreal despite the fact that more than half a year has passed since the practice room was last occupied. It was almost as though I was still expecting to hear the melodious harmony of voices or the boyish laughters any minute now, or even to see any of one of the five to stride right into the room with a smile and a friendly wave, like as if nothing has ever happened...

"Still feels like they are still here, doesn't it?"

Snapping out my reverie, I whipped my head towards the source of the voice, only to find Heechul and Eunhyuk standing by the door.

"Oppa, what are you doing here?" curiosity getting the better of me, since this place is almost considered taboo here in SM.

"The same reason as to why you're here." replied the diva while giving an indifferent shrug.

The three of us were quiet, reminiscing the memories that we share with DBSK; running down the hallways when we were kids, sneaking to the park nearby, practicing our vocals, dancing to this particular silly routine that we came up with when all of us were still trainees...

As if telepathic, the three of us stared at one another with a knowing grin. On cue, we started dancing along to the choreography of the silly dance, going back in time to our carefree trainee days.

"I missed this, I almost forgot how much fun we used to have."  I mused internally. "All of us were so happy then, where did it all go wrong?" not realizing that I've spoken aloud. The other two stilled in their movements, giving sympathetic looks in return.

"Yoona-ah... are you really not going to talk to the three of them? Junsu... Junsu is a total wreck right now. It hurts just to see him in this state and being unable to help." asked Eunhyuk helplessly.

"You know why I can't oppa." I whispered softly, feeling the familiar sting in my eyes.

"Till this date, I can still remember vividly the threat that the CEO gave, down to his every word. No contact, no meeting, no helping, no passing any messages or whatsoever. Including the condition that the trio can never know the reason behind me cutting all forms of communication. One false move and he's gonna disclose more negative press about both the duo and the trio. I can't risk hurting them, not when they're already suffering so much..." biting my lip, I tried in vain to hold back the tears that were threatening to overflow.

"Sneaky bast*rd." snarled Heechul.

"Really, doing all these just because they had the guts to stand up to him in public. The stupid threat aside, he even took your old phone away and planted a spy around you to keep tabs on you, on the pretext that you girls need an additional manager, tsk. He's just determined to make them lose what they had; friendship and support, and to make sure Yunho and Changmin won't leave." commented Heechul in agitation.

"He's watching Suju closely as well. I'm just lucky that the fans already knew that Junsu and I are BFFs, if not, I'm pretty sure that I'll be forced to cut off all contact with Su too."

"No doubt to ensure that he doesn't lose any more fans than he already have should the fans find out what he's doing to us." sneered Heechul.

"Yoona, don't worry. I'll see what I can do to help things between you and Su. Come on now, Heechul-ssi, we have a recording to go to and Yoona-ssi, I'm sure you have a dance practice to get back to." joked Eunhyuk, leading us out of the room with his arms around our shoulders.

We were walking down the hallway in comfortable silence when we saw Key and Taemin running towards us.

"Where have you guys been?!" a red-faced Key, no doubt due to all the running, questioned agitatedly, his arms flailing in all directions.

"Noona... hyung, we have no time to waste, follow me!" chirp Taemin, who was eagerly pulling me along with him. Strange... what is up with this kid today?

Bewildered, we cast frantic looks at one another as we were dragged to wherever the two hoobaes wanted us to be.

"YAH! IS THIS ANY WAY TO TREAT YOUR SUNBAES?!!! DRAGGING--" Heechul's shrill rant paused midway as we arrived at our destination.

No way... Can it be...?

There they stood in the middle of the room, humble yet majestic, surrounded by a crowd of grinning colleagues and label-mates.

My eyes racked over them hungrily, taking everything in. They look... Good, better than what I've expected at least. For one, they look better rested than they had been in a while, healthier with a little more meat on their bodies and sun-kissed tan on their toned skin. Changmin had his hair grow out a little, Has Changmin grown even taller?  While Yunho still has his neat short hair, along with stubbles on his face... but... their eyes... The eyes that bear the mark of a tortured soul, sure they seem to sparkle now; a certain light in them, but deep within, there is an unmistakable trace of sorrow that lingers.

"Hyunggggggggg!" I took off running to the older man, engulfing him in a tight bear hug. [A.N: I know technically girls call older guys whom they are close with oppa, but in this case, hyung is simply a nickname. Since Yoona was somewhat tomboy-ish when she was young, she started calling Yunho as hyung as a joke then, but that soon became a nickname that Yoona only calls Yunho by.]

"Ooof!" Caught off guard, Yunho stumbled back a couple of steps before he was able to regain his balance again.

I heard Yunho chuckle before returning with an equally tight hug, "How has my favourite yeoja dongsaeng been doing?"

"She missed you too much that she's going cray cray, looking more and more like a grandma that I always say that she is since she's developing more wrinkles from worrying so much." replied Heechul with a cheshire cat grin, appearing out of thin air. Eunhyuk stood by Heechul's side, having a tough time in holding back the laughter triggered by Heechul's words.

Scowling, I turned to face the diva to give him a mock offended look before muffling into Yunho's chest, "I missed you, hyung. This is why you should have returned earlier, to protect me from the evil Heechul oppa and his insulting remarks. Tsch."

A loud laugh escaped Yunho upon my remark, ruffling my hair affectionately before breaking the hug to push me gently towards the other side of the room. "I missed you too. Go on, there's one more person waiting for you."

Giving Yunho one last smile and Heechul an annoyed look, I walked briskly across the room to the taller man.

"Min-ah!" hugging him as I called out.

I felt him stiffen for a fraction of a second, before a pair of muscular arms wrapped itself around me, "Have you been well, Yoong?" asked Changmin with an unexpectedly gentle voice, a small smile tugging on his lips.

I nodded in response, hugging him even tighter, "I missed you snarky best friend. Are you guys really back for good?"

"I missed you too. Yeah... SM's scheduling our comeback early next year or so, so Yunho and I have to start practicing and recording the tracks, you know the usual. Now that we're done with the touchy touchy moments, you can let go of me now, I don't like skinships... with men." said Changmin, sporting a lazy smirk.

With an eye-roll, I broke the hug, only to give a light punch in his stomach. "Yah! I'm a yeoja, not namja. Geez, to think that you'll know after knowing me for years."

"Really? Could have fooled me with that punch of yours, Him Yoona." wheezed Changmin, his left hand clutching the side of the stomach.

I was about to retort when a blur of colours flew by to tackle Changmin with a brotherly hug, the blur of colours who goes by the name of Choi Minho. I was staring fondly at the scene of Changmin trying half-heartedly to squirm out of Minho's hug when Hyoyeon materialized by my side. "Heartwarming isn't it."