Chapter 6

Two doors were connecting the lounge room with the rest of the building. The first was the one that the intruder shut with the barriers; impossible to be opened no matter how many times Jae crashed his body against it. The last one was a sliding door, old enough to get stuck with one pull, but it was Jae’s only hope and he had to give it a try if he didn’t want to end up from a hot singer of a Korean band to a roasted singer of a Korean band. Then again, during such a grave situation who was able to think straight and figure out what’s the best way to get out? Of course, burning waves of fire getting closer and closer was a reason enough for your brain to start functioning faster than any other time, but what about your body? The brain might give orders and have a plan as simple as running, jumping from that high window and get out even with a broken leg or arm. However the limbs… the limbs have a mind of their own. Right the moment when you think ‘run’ they get stuck and when you think ‘stay’ you walk away without a second thought. Everything in this human structure is going wrong, conflicting the desirable result.
 

And Jae.. Jae’s mind was frozen. After giving up on the main door he moved to the sliding one. The temperature inside the room was getting higher and higher that the young man had taken off his shirt using it to wipe off his sweat. Only a few moments before the fire was about to surround him and there was no sign or chances of escaping. His hands took a tight hold of the knob and the other was holding onto the wall, for more resistance to be applied. And he was doing great. He could hear the creaking noise of the construction as if it was being opened. A slight smile dared to appear upon his pale and sweaty face. Hero relaxed a little but as soon as the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of the awaken fires in the distance of the inner room, he hurried up. Once he would go in he would run straight to the emergency exit and get out of there at last.
 The struggle was huge and his body was in pain; every single inch of it was hurting him in unbelievable amount. The exhausting training, the endless hours of practice in the studio was nothing to what he was feeling there; both physically and mentally. However, the adrenaline and the strong desire to survive were keeping him running. He shut his eyes and let out a loud yell as his muscles tightened to slide the door. One last try and freedom was right ahead of him. One last try and he would be out of this hell in no more than just a minute. One last try and…

He did it! The door was pulled away, giving Jae the chance that he was after. He was happy… he was too happy and—he coughed several times. The atmosphere was polluted by thick dark smoke and you could easily listen to the dancing flames turning everything in their way into dust. The young singer covered his mouth and nose with his arm and took a step inside. It was now or never. A deep long breath and swift steps brought him closer to his salvation. Jaejoong looked around. It was so hard to find anything in this misty place. As if he was walking blind… it was worse than the darkness before…and way more terrifying. He bit his lower lip and narrowed his eyes, trying really hard to notice anything. Even the smallest detail was going to be important because this way he would somehow picture the room and finding the exit door would be less difficult if not easy at all. His hands were caressing the wall and his fingers were playfully tickling it until he reached…glass… there was glass on it. He slid them further down and the material was no longer solid but softer than steel, more like aluminum. He knelt down and he trailed it till his fingers reached the floor. He could sense patterns similar to the front doors; small squares with an inch of depth. That was the door. That was definitely the door. He was finally going to be—

A loud thumb that echoed in his ears and then… everything became blurry till that disturbing darkness and blackness that he was so afraid of, embraced him. His tired body fell on the warm floor.

Right when he was about to get out…something would always make it seem like an utopia.

In the meanwhile.

“GO FASTER!” Yunho yelled at Junsu who took a sudden turn. The streets were really crowded and driving to the highway was pretty much of an achievement than a daily routine.
“I’M TRYING!” Xiah yelled back and another sudden turn was made, causing Max and Micky who were sitting on the backseats to fall one on another.
“Apparently you are not! Give me that!” the leader grabbed the steering wheel from Junsu who go tall panicked, losing control of the car.
“Yunho! What are you doing? You will get us all killed!” Junsu complained and elbowed his hyung hard enough to push him away.
“If we don’t get there in time, who knows what will happen to Jae!”
“But if we get killed we won’t be able to go and save him…” Yunho turned his head to the back, throwing a death glare at Yoochun and at the comment that he was so brave to whisper. The singer simply raised his hands in defense and shrugged as he looked at Changmin who was apparently too scared to speak.
“You know… none of this would have happened if you three had told me the truth right from the beginning! What in the name of god where you thinking? Huh?” he sounded angry and his fury was well justified. Junsu rubbed his face and sighed.
“OK, you are right, we did a dumb thing playing this game to you but—”
“We had enough of your fighting! Both of you always not wanting to talk to each other and always walking around with long faces! Whenever you were to find Jaejoong – hyung another fight would come up because he wasn’t ready to talk. And things would turn into a…a loop! ” everyone was staring frozen. Even the driver had turned his look away from the driveway. Everyone blinked and glanced at each other before looking at the youngest of the group. Changmin was pouting and had his arms crossing upon his chest. “What? If we told you that hyung wasn’t home yet, you would storm outside; start looking for him and then things would go worse…again!” Max shouted and his eyes returned to the window..
 Xiah and Micky mouthed together a ‘well…’ and both looked at their leader. “He is right….he could have said it better though…”
“Yeah…but still…Ah, it’s green again.” Junsu spoke happily and hit the gas.
Yunho said nothing. He sat back and just thought the words that came out of Max. Their fights not only had an impact to them but also to the rest of the band… It was clear now. One reason more to try and stop arguing that much.
Fighting and jealousy and yelling and an hour of heart-breaking… none of these mattered at that moment. As long as Jae was fine and safe, nothing else mattered to Yunho.

“Here we are!” Junsu pulled the breaks and once again Max and Micky fell in the front, hitting their heads on the back of Yunho and Xiah’s seats.
“Wait a second…” Yoochun pulled his hair back at the same time when he glued his face on the window. “Shouldn’t the Fire Department be here? Just like it was said on the news?”     

Everyone got out of the vehicle and looked up at the building. The fire was not that huge yet but it seemed to be dangerous for anyone who was inside.
“Quickly!” Yunho sounded and rushed to the gate to see whether it was locked and if it was necessary to climb the big dark wall.
“The lock is broken!” Junsu pointed at crushed thick chain and a locker just a few steps away from them.
“OK we need a plan, guys. We really do—YUNHO!” Micky yelled as their leader had already opened the gate and dashed to the burning building. The other three simply took a quick look at each other and shrugged, following a worried and hurried Yunho. “We can’t let him go in there all alone!” Junsu said in one breath.
“And what do you expect us to do?” Max stopped and turned his back at them.
“Changmin!” Yoochun complained. “What are you thinking?”
“Keep on running you two! Someone has to stay behind—“
“Stay behind for what?! Jae is in there and Yunho as well going in that hell and…” Junsu pushed the younger member but Micky stepped in between them.
“Exactly! Already two of them are in danger! So what’s the point of helping if we get our selves killed? Yoochun, you said it before!”
“We are their friends! WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO--”
“BOTH OF YOU STOP!” Micky shouted at both of them and took a deep breath. “Do you really think it’s the right time to have this fight?  Changmin is right…” Junsu scoffed and turned his look. “He is.  Yunho is playing his part in this and we should do ours. There might be a reason why no one is around; no police no Fire fighters. We should try and make more calls. If not the cops people that we know… people willing to come and help. . . And let’s hope for the best…”
Junsu sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Alright.” He agreed and Max did the same.
“Good…” Yoochun added “Now give hands and let’s make some calls.” Doing so, Max, Xiah and Micky focused on bringing more help, letting Yunho handle Jae’s rescue all by himself.