Eight

Hyesung glanced at his watch nervously. He bit his lower lip, and then glanced at the device again, before he heaved a long sigh and turned towards the others. Minwoo held Dongwan’s hand and the younger guy tapped his feet on the floor, while the maknaes were antsy all over.

“Where is he!?” Hyesung snapped all of a sudden.

“I tried calling him,” Andy responded. “But he has switched off his phone.”

Hyesung did not know where it came from, but he suddenly glared at the two shortest members of Shinhwa. Minwoo quickly removed his hand from Dongwan’s and looked away from him, avoiding gazing at any of the people present. Junjin clung onto the mommy bird, holding him so he would not do anything impetuous. Especially since they were waiting for their press conference to begin.

“He will come.” Dongwan assured, getting up from the sofa he had been sitting since the beginning. “He is the leader after all.”

Junjin nodded and faced his mommy bird. “He is right. Eric hyung will come. He would not leave us all hanging.”

                ***

The press conference commenced, but Eric was nowhere to be seen. He was late, and at some point, the rest of the members wondered if he’d come at all. Honestly, neither of them had seen the leader in couple of weeks. Minwoo had told about their breakup, and what else had happened. Hyesung had made a conclusion that Eric was trying his best to be as strong as he could.

“Where is Eric?” One of the managers interrogated worried.

“He won’t come.” Junjin answered and gestured the man to go away.

Without any further ado, the conference continued with continuous questions about the leader. Members explained that Eric had been sick for some time already and he needed to rest, which was the reason for his absence today. Luckily the interviewers bought everything.

Minwoo held Dongwan’s hand under the desk, his mind wandering around as he could not stop feeling guilty because of the leader. He could feel the coldness that lingered from Hyesung, and sometimes from Andy too. Junjin had not chosen any sides. And he wouldn’t.

“Let me in!” Shinhwa members shifted their heads towards the door once they recognised the voice. “I am Eric Mun!”

The door was kicked open, as the smell of alcohol pushed into the room and entered everyone’s noses. Minwoo’s heart must’ve cracked fully and audibly, as Dongwan squeezed his hand tighter.

The leader plodded in, and every person in the room could see why he hadn’t been recognised. Andy felt pitiful to see the same shirt he had worn days earlier when he had visited him secretly. Hyesung noticed that the stubble had grown and it was now a beard. Junjin felt annoyed as the hair sweltered onto the forehead, and Minwoo was ready to break down any time soon.

Dongwan just ogled, and soon Eric stopped and glared at him, scoffing out loud.

“Eric,” Hyesung whispered. “Are you drunk?”

The leader burst into laughter and shortly the cackles of painful joy transformed into tears and Eric’s lower lip quivered right in front of the brand new couple. He had been broken. He could not be fixed anymore. The leader everyone knew as a weirdo was now gone.

“Eric,” Hyesung tried again.

“What if I am?” The leader mumbled and stepped behind the desk, his obvious home clothes smelling awful, as the other members pulled their chairs so the oldest could fit.

Minwoo had been tense ever since the door had been kicked open, and he could not relax anymore as it felt like everyone was staring at him though no one actually was. Dongwan was breathing heavily next to him, the knuckles turning whiter and whiter as the grip around the other hand became tighter and more painful than it had been before.

“Can we continue?” The person in charge of this everything interrogated.

“Yup.” Eric shoved his hand rudely and hardly even looked at the interviewer. “That’s why we’re here.”

                ***

Hyesung and Junjin carried Eric to the bedroom, while Andy brought the dirty clothes to the laundry basket. The leader was dozing off, but occasionally he let out whimpers and howled Minwoo’s name. Eric was hoping that this all was just a big, long, nightmare, and he would wake up as soon as he was pinched really hard. But it wasn’t.

“Take off his shoes.” Hyesung commanded Junjin.

“Yah,” Eric abruptly yelled.

“What?” Hyesung hissed while tucking the older man in. “What is it?”

The angry gaze disappeared and the eyes glowed as Eric was now directly leering at the brown orbs of the main vocalist, ready to cry for the umpteenth time.

“Is it possible…to get him back?” Eric crooned, his voice shivering.

Hyesung and Junjin heaved a sigh, and Andy entered the room. The mommy bird sat down next to the leader and glimpsed at him quickly.

“I doubt it.”