"J-jongin..." Taemin mumbled when he heard the other pick up his phone.

"You sound really bad buddy... I'm guessing you got reprimanded for those pictures too." Kai sighed. "...I'm sorry Taemin-ah... I should have thought before I kissed you, I'm really sorry..."

Taemin shook his head. "It's okay, I don't really care about that but... Jinki hyung..." his throat tightened at the name.

"H-how bad is it?" Kai asked, scared that he might have ruined everything for his friend.

Taemin swallowed the lump in his throat and wiped his eyes that were starting to water. "He won't talk to me. H-he wants me to admit t-that I'm dating you...He said he was d-disappointed in me and t-that he c-can't bear to look at m-me." Taemin weeped. "H-he g-gave me the r-ring back... H-he said i-it belonged to y-you and not h-him."

Kai's heart sunk to the bottom of his stomach in guilt. He could only imagine how badly it hurt to hear such words from a person you loved as much as Taemin loved Jinki. "I-I'm so sorry Taemin. Please forgive me, I never wanted... I'm so sorry, p-please don't cry." he stuttered, his own eyes welling up with tears.

Taemin wiped his eyes once again and pressed his lips together to calm himself down. After a few seconds he exhaled slowly and nodded. "I-it's fine now. H-how are you doing by the way? How's Kyungsoo hyung?"

Kai sighed and bit his bottom lip. "He's giving me the silent treatment... When he's not sending me deathly glares he acts like I don't exist. He ignores me when I try to talk to him and nine out of ten times he leaves the room when I appear. But really... It's not important, he can never stay mad at me for too long so don't worry about it." Kai laughed, though it sounded a little forced and humorless.

"I hope everything goes well between you two." Taemin said and squeezed out a small smile even though the other couldn't see it.

"Yeah... You shouldn't give up either Taemin-ah. He'll have to talk to you sooner or later and then you'll explain everything to him and everything will be fine. You just have to keep trying."

Taemin nodded and sniffled. "Thanks. Talking to you made me feel a bit better."

"Always at your service. Keep your head up Taemin-ah and good luck with Jinki hyung. Love you."

Taemin stared anxiously at the sofa where Onew and Key were sitting. He decided to try to approach his hyung once again hoping that this time he'll be able to explain himself. He took a few steps forward, his feet heavy, and stood behind them, nervously fiddling with his sweaty hands.

"H-hyung can we talk?" he stuttered staring down at his feet, his shoulders slumped.

Onew didn't look away from the TV, his face remained expressionless. "Are you ready to finally admit the truth?"

Taemin's eyes teared up in frustation. "Hyung you're wrong, I-I told you there's nothing going on between us-..."

"This is getting boring Taemin... Please... go away and don't show up until you're ready to stop lying." Onew retorted not sparing the maknae a single glance.

The younger let out a shaky breath and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand before slowly retreating to his room, his body shaking with restrained sobs.

Key looked at Onew sympathetically as the older hid his face in his hands, a few tears making their way down his face.

"Look... I don't know what happened between you two but this really needs to stop..." Key said, his voice low. He the leader's hair a few times, then softly wiped his eyes with his thumbs. "You're both hurting, this is not right. Give Taemin a chance, let him tell you his version of the story."

Onew shook his head pressing his lips tightly together and then hurriedly wiped a tear that was getting ready to fall. "The manager showed me a picture of Taemin and Jongin kissing. There's nothing more to say, he didn't even try to deny it was him." he smiled bitterly then pursed his lips. "I'm trying to be a leader and take care of it professionally but... I can't... I know we never defined our relationship but... before I knew it the feelings were already there and I feel like I've been cheated on. We never put that thing between us into words and maybe it was all in my head, maybe I lived in a delusional world that I made up all by myself. It's not Taemin's fault that I made assumptions and thought we were something more but I can't help it. I'm not a freaking robot, I have feelings and I can't just turn them off. It hurts so badly to look at him and it hurts just to hear his voice... And yet " he laughed "I am expected to talk to him, to explain that what he did was irresponsible and that he should keep his private life out of the public eye. But here I am, hurting him and getting angry and I really can't help it... I can't..." Onew breathed out and bit his lip to stop a sob from coming out as a lone tear rolled down his cheek.

Key's heart squeezed in pain at the sight of his hyung so broken like this. He wrapped his arms around the older and rested his head against Onew's shoulder. "It's okay hyung... You're a great leader, the best in the world. Everything will be fine, you'll see." he rubbed the leader's back in small circles to calm him down.

A few tears rolled down the older's face. He snuggled a little closer to Key letting himself be rocked gently from side to side. "What would I do without you Bummie..." he uttered quietly.

Key's lips stretched into a small smile as he ran his fingers through the leader's hair. "You'd do perfectly fine because you're amazing... But since I'm already here I can look after my hubby right?"

Onew buried his face in the younger's neck wetting it slightly with his tears. "Yes, please..." he whispered.

After a few minutes Onew sniffled and straightened up in his seat. "Bummie could you check on him and see if he's okay?" he mumbled looking down at his lap.

"Of course hyung." Key smiled and pecked the older on the cheek standing up from the couch, then went towards the maknae's room.

"Minnie it's me, can I come in?" he asked after knocking a few times on the door. He waited, but no response came so he turned the handle and peeked inside. Taemin was curled up in bed, hugging his pillow tightly with tears streaming down his cheeks. Key's face saddened at the sight, he bit his lip and slowly stepped inside the room. Then slipped into the bed next to the maknae and wrapped his arms around him protectively.

"He h-hates me, doesn't he?" Taemin looked up at the older with his eyes full of tears. "I-I don't know w-what to do, he never h-hated me before. H-he was always there, no m-matter how bad I s-screwed up."

Key the younger's head lovingly. "Don't be silly Minnie, he could never hate you, he loves you way too much."

"He h-hates me. He c-can't even bear to l-look at me anymore." Taemin's lips quivered. "I-I don't know h-how to live a-anymore hyung. I d-don't know h-how to live in a w-world where h-he hates m-me. I n-need him..." he sobbed out.

The older reached out and grabbed Taemin's head with both of his hands. "Listen to me Taemin. Jinki hyung doesn't hate you, even if he wanted to he's not capable of doing so. You're really important to him and you did something that hurt him. He wouldn't be suffering this badly if he didn't love you as much as he does. He'll be ready to hear you out one day, you just need to give him some time so that he can deal with his own feelings. I promise everything's going to be fine, you just need to give it some time, okay? And when you guys make up you'll give him a nice juicy kiss."

Taemin sniffled nodding slightly, a small smile appearing on his face because, yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

Sigh... I'm unhappy with this chapter. I dunno, I just couldn't put into words situations that I had in mind. I kept deleting and rewriting it over and over again and I feel like it doesn't have a nice flow. Sorry about that, I hope next chapter won't give me so much trouble.

Thanks for reading anyway ^^