CHAPTER ELEVEN

Key’s angry rant continued endlessly, but it fell on deaf ears. Jonghyun couldn’t hear anything past his heavy heartbeat ringing in his ears. His mind was running through worry filled thoughts. His contemplations were as scrambled and complicated as brail. His heart was beginning to sound like Morse Code. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know if he could do anything. He tried sending a signal from his brain down to his legs and arms to move. He didn’t care what they did just as long as they moved.

“How could you?” Minho’s voice pierced through Jonghyun’s continuous thoughts as his eyes never left the older one.

Jjong’s eyes widened at the accusing tone in his best friend’s voice.

“He didn’t do anything, Minho,” Key declared as he stood his ground next to the tall intruder and pointed at the door that was left wide open. “Now leave!”

Jonghyun’s body seemed to have finally gotten the message his brain had sent to them as he rolled off the couch in one quick clumsy motion and jumped to his feet. “M-Min,” his friend’s nickname rolled off his tongue which earned him a confused look from his boyfriend as Key obviously tried to connect the pieces that were practically handed to him. “I didn’t know, Min.”

“Ugh,” the raven grunted in disgust as his eyes fell on the older one’s opened shirt.

Big brown orbs followed the other’s eyes to his own chest that was covered in dark red marks from the kisses and nips left from Kibum. “I didn’t know Key was your ex,” Jonghyun muttered as his eyes glanced up from his chest to stare at his friend. One of his hands tried to keep his shirt closed. “Min-”

“You ing !” the athletic one yelled. “How could you do this to me? I thought you were my ing friend! You were my ing best friend! ! You ing promised me, Jonghyun! You promised you would help me get him back and what do you do? You ing him behind my back!”

Jonghyun’s heart clenched painfully. “I-I only promised that because I wanted you to be happy, Min. When you came to me that day… you looked so miserable. Never have I seen you look that way before when someone has broken up with you,” he said honestly. His eyes were glued to the floor he as his bangs covered them in shame. “I just wanted to help you. I didn’t know I was breaking our promise, Min, I swear.”

“Yeah, right! I bet you knew it all along! I bet Onew let it slip that I was trying to get Key back-”

Jonghyun felt slight tremors take over his body. He nearly jumped out of fright with each screaming word that came from his friend’s lips. His fingers twitched with every accusation that was made. “Please stop. I don’t want to argue. Especially not with you, Min. Please.”

“-and you decided to play this little game! Jonghyun, you’re taking it too ing far!”

Game?

Jonghyun’s fingers slowly clenched as his head snapped up. His eyes narrowed as he stared at his friend in disbelief. He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat as confidence began to stir in the pit of his stomach. “This isn’t a game, Minho. I would never stoop that low. Yeah, I made a promise to you, but I obviously ed that up. So what do you want me to do about it, Minho?”

Minho’s words were simple and direct, yet for Jjong they were difficult and hard to believe. “Break up with him.”

“No,” the voice was firm and menacing. “You’re the one obviously taking this too far, Minho.” Key, who had kept his mouth shut for a while, grabbed the raven’s wrist.

“Stay out of this, Key,” Minho warned him as he yanked his wrist back, but the other had a tight grip on him.

“No. I won’t stay out of this,” his almond-shaped russet eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at his ex-boyfriend. “Whatever involves Jonghyun involves me too. It involves me even more since your trying to get my boyfriend to break up with me. ”

Jonghyun let out a lifeless chuckle, catching the other two’s attention as he asked, “In order for me to make it up to you, I have to break up with Key? In order for us to go back to being friends, I seriously have to break up with him?” He bit his bottom lip he shook his head in doubt. “No.  No, I won’t do it, Minho. I finally found someone who wants to date me, me of all people in real life, and you want to take it away from me? How could I?” The brunette asked as stepped closer to Minho. “How could I? How could you? I’ve always done everything for you, Minho. I was there for every break up, every tear that you cried… I was there. I always put your happiness before mine and when I finally get that happiness that I always wanted, the partner that I always dreamed of, you just have to try to take it away, don’t you? Yeah, well you, Minho!”

A loud crunch was followed by a piercing scream that resembled his name. Jonghyun’s back hit the floor below him as his hand flew up to his nose. He groaned as the pain enhanced from the touch. The taste of copper was present on his tongue. As he pulled his hand away, the sight of the crimson-red blood was prominent on his hand.

He could hear Minho’s words echoing in his ears beside the pumping of his heart and the electrifying strikes of pain ringing. “Just wait, Jonghyun. Just you wait.”

“Jongie,” Key said softly as he slipped his arm underneath the injured one to help him back up into an upright position. “Jongie, you have to sit up. You have to keep your head up. You can’t let the blood enter your mouth.”

“Too late,” Jonghyun groaned, his head pounding from the movement. He used all his strength to keep himself from going back down to the comfortable position on his back when he felt Key’s arms leave him. He could hear the other’s quick foot steps as he ran off to go find god knows what. Jonghyun could barely focus on what was going on around him. Everything within grabbing distance looked like blobs, but from the lack of screaming he did conclude that Minho was gone. “God,”he grunted as he almost fell back, but caught himself by placing his hands on the floor behind him. He tried to blink away the fuzzy film covering his sight.

“Here,” Kibum said as he kneeled next to Jjong. He opened the bottle of Tylenol and slipped out two tablets. “Open your mouth,” he demanded before putting the pills on the brunette’s tongue. Key held the glass of water to his boyfriend’s lips as he let Jonghyun take a sip to swallow the medicine. He put the cup down on the floor next to the open bottle of pills prior to grabbing the moist cloth. He gently grabbed Jjong’s chin as he dabbed at the dried blood, damping it so it’d be easier to clean off. “Everything will be okay, Jonghyun.” His rubbed at Jonghyun’s cheek. “But you need to calm down. You have to stop crying. If you keep on crying it’ll only be more painful.”

Crying? Jonghyun questioned. He hadn’t even known he was crying. He didn’t think that this situation could get any worse, but it obviously did. He was crying in front of his boyfriend. He grumbled; this can’t get anymore embarrassing.

“Come on,” Key whispered as he wrapped his arm around Jjong’s waist to help him stand up. Once on their feet, he gave Jonghyun a pack of ice. “Put that on your nose and keep it there. I’m taking you to the doctor.”

“I don’t need to go to the doctor. I’m fine.”

“Really?” Key asked. “Take off the ice pack.”

Jonghyun hesitantly took the freezing bag off his damaged nose. “See-ah!”

“Think you should go to the doctor now?” the diva-like man asked self-righteously as he kept his finger on the tip of the Dino’s nose. 

“Fine. Fine!” The brunette yelled in pain. “Just don’t. Do. That. Again.” As they walked up to the door, Jonghyun uttered, “Key.” The younger one ignored him as he opened the door. “Key.”

“What?”

“The key’s on the floor.” Jonghyun pointed with his unoccupied hand towards the golden metal key lying in front of the door. “Don’t forget your key.”

“That’s not mine. That’s Taemin’s and I’m leaving it there. It’ll teach him a lesson to stop leaving his key around.”

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“Stop staring at me,” Jonghyun said. His eyes never left the menu in his hands, but he could feel Taemin’s eyes on him. He loathed the way people would look at him now. He always hated being in the center of everyone’s attention. His hands trembled just from the thought of how he looked now. When he had asked Key how he looked, Key had sugarcoated the truth. He had said that Jjong looked like he had gotten into a rough fight, but was the victorious one. To Jonghyun, that was a very nice way to say he looked like . He wanted to know the truth. He wanted to know what Key really thought, what he was really thinking when he looked at him. He wanted to know what everyone thought, yet it seems that everyone had a sweet tooth. With all the nice, good, barely noticeable, and greats he’s been getting, the brunette swears he got a cavity from all the candy-coated comments.

“Sorry,” the younger one sitting across from him muttered, but he couldn’t help the way his chocolate colored eyes would find their way back to his older friend’s obvious injury.

Jonghyun let out a long frustrated sigh as he threw his menu on the black table. “How do I look, Taemin?” He stared at the reddish-blond waiting, needing the answer.

“You look great, Jjong! In fact, it’s barely-” he pursed his lips together in obvious thought, “… noticeable?” he questioned before nodding to himself and returning to the menu.

“Great? Barely noticeable? God, Taemin, I want the truth. What do you truly think?”   

“The truth?”

“Yes!” Jjong smiled as he chuckled. “Finally, someone who will tell me!”

“Jjong,” Taemin started, “You know how in our gym we have a room all the way in the back for the boxers?” He waited for a nod. “Well, it looks like they put a metal chain on you and hung you from the ceiling, where they each took turns punching you like if you were a human punch bag.”

“Oh,” Jonghyun said as he lowered down in his seat trying to shield himself with his menu. “I think I preferred the coated version.”

“If it makes you feel better, I exaggerated.”

No you didn’t. I do look like that. Jonghyun was just thankful it was a simple fracture that should heal within six weeks. The second doctor (the first one had been chased away by Key’s chants and demands of an x-ray) had told him to stay away from rigorous activities, especially sports that would cause more damage. The worse part of it all wasn’t the pain (pills took care of that nicely), it was the bruising. He had to tell many people that he wasn’t punched in the eye; the black and purple bruise was a nice little side effect of having your nose nearly crushed inward. “Thanks for taking me out anyway.”

“It’s the least I could do. I just wish Key would be on time. If he doesn’t get here in the next five minutes I’m not paying for him.”

Jonghyun took his phone out of his pocket to text his boyfriend that he was about to miss out on a free meal if he doesn’t get his nice down here, but the date that flashed as he turned it on had him frozen. It’s been a week. A week since he almost had with Key, a week since Minho walked in on them and fractured his nose, seven whole days since he’s talked to his best friend. He absolutely despised the way things turned out. He wanted his best friend back, but he also wanted to keep his boyfriend. He loves Key. He can’t give him up. But with the way Minho made it clear. He couldn’t have both.

To: Min<3
I know you don’t want to talk to me right now, but please. Can we please talk this out?

“Sorry, I’m late,” Key exclaimed as he sat down, his fingers running through his hair to smooth down the fly away strands. He took the seat next to his Dino. Key’s cheeks were slightly pink and his fingers wouldn’t stop moving, first they were running through his hair next they were playing with the menu in front of him.

 “You got here just in time, Mom.”

Jonghyun stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He kissed the milky white cheek as he put a hand on his frantic boyfriend’s thigh. “Hey, Honey.”

“How are you feeling today? Did you take your pills?” Key asked as he caressed the older one’s cheek, which earned a nod from Jjong, before going back to the menu. “Good, because something happened.”

“What?” Both the brunette and reddish-blond questioned in unison.

“My mother called me,” the feline-like man said as he took a deep breath. “She was freaking out. She was yelling non-stop a hundred miles per hour. I could only catch parts of what she was saying, but I think my father got into an accident.”

“What?!” Taemin yelled earning him a look from the customers around them.

“Are you sure?” Jonghyun tried to make sure everything was clear. “Did you try asking?”

“The phone disconnected before I could calm her down and I tried calling back, but no one is answering,” he said as he laid his head on Jjong’s shoulder. “I have to go back home and make sure that everything is okay. I have to make sure my father’s fine. I’ll probably be gone for the rest of the summer until fall semester starts.”

“I’m sorry, Key,” the older one apologized as he wrapped his arm around the slim waist.

“You didn’t do anything.”

“I know,” he said. “But, I also know you and the reason why you’re not on a bus right now on your way home. I can take care of myself, Key. What happened between me and Minho isn’t your fault. You’re family needs you. So go. Just text me when you get on the bus and when you get there. Don’t make me worry, ‘kay?”

“Jongie.” He pressed their lips together for a short kiss, before getting up. “Thank you.”

“Before you go Key,” Taemin stopped him, as he turned to look at the bruised man in front of him. “You should go with him, Jjong. It’ll get your mind off Minho.”

“How did you kno-”

Key interrupted him, “No.”

Taemin gaffed at him, “What? Come on, Key. “

“No.”

“Why don’t you want me to go with you?” Jonghyun jumped in.

“Don’t get it wrong or anything, Jjong.” Key put his hand on his shoulder. “I want you to go with me, but it’s my family.”

“Are they strict?”

“Crazy is more like it,” The youngest one added. “Key is just scared they’ll chase you away like the other few boyfriends he’s brought home during high school.”

“Key, Honey. They won’t chase me away. Please, let me go with you. Pretty please! I want to meet your family!”

“Fine,” Key sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “But you’re asking for it.”