They never actually got to discuss why it was that Jinki and Taemin had become so distant over time, because it was just so hard for Jinki to explain it that he ended up being pulled into Jonghyun's chest. The younger didn't ask about it, but Jinki could just hear his silent questions even as Jonghyun soothingly rubbed his back.

Though Jonghyun wanted to know, Jinki never explained and for a week, it seemed like he was never going to get an answer, due to Jinki's constantly busy schedule and the fact that the elder actually seemed like he was ignoring his bodyguard for some reason.

All the free time Jinki had was spent locked in either his room or studio, and even when he was with the younger three, he made sure to pretend they weren't there so he could continue on with his life.

Jonghyun didn't voice any complaints, though Jinki knew that he was guarding the elder from outside of the room he was in anyway. Jinki felt bad for that, so he left a chair outside of the room before he locked himself up, but he refused to let Jonghyun in any deeper into his heart, because that was a place no one should have to be. 

"Jinki!" One morning, Jinki was quickly wrenched out of his sleep when he heard his manager call from him down the stairs. He knew his manager would only call him for something important, so Jinki threw his door open and bolted down the stairs only to find both his manager and Taemin's manager, as well as his younger brother and both of their bodyguards sitting around the living room, and it was obvious they were waiting for him.

Kibum was blatantly snickering at his disheveled appearance, and Jonghyun wasn't too far to follow with his own chuckles of amusement, but Jinki was too busy glaring at his manager to pay attention. His manager patted the seat on the sofa next to him, but Jinki was content with standing and glaring until he was told as to why he was called down so early.

"What is it?" his voice sounded raspy and exhausted in his own ears, so he groaned and rubbed at his face tiredly, only barely missing the look of concern Taemin flashed towards him. 

"It's nothing, hyung." Taemin's voice startled everyone, for it was calm and not betraying anything that was obviously going on, "You can just go back to bed."

Jinki wanted to do just that, honestly, but just hearing Taemin's tone as he spoke had Jinki'd mind fill with doubt, so the elder turned his faze to his manager before fixating on something grasped in the manager's fingers. Without missing a beat, Jinki lunged forward and ripped the envelope his manager had been holding, surprising the manager as he tried to get it back with no avail.

His fingers fumbled slightly as he opened the envelope because he had a feeling he knew what it was, and held back a sigh of resignation when he pulled out an expensively done part invitation. The name of the host was on the front of the card in large cursive letters, and when Jinki read the words "You have been invited to a party held by Choi Minho" he wondered just why the male would have sent an invitation to the Lee brothers anyway.

"I know you don't want to go, Jinki," his manager was speaking slowly and hesitantly, because he knew for a fact that Jinki wouldn't be pleased when he uttered the things he had to say, "but after Taemin's accident,  it'd be best for his career if the two of you showed up at a public event like this. The media will be there filming the entire party."

The elder Lee's gaze then shifted onto Taemin's without faltering as his own gaze was met by Taemin's slightly worried one. Jinki didn't want to go, and it was obvious to everyone in the room that he wasn't feeling up to the task of going to the event, but he knew the manager's words were right and that the public needed to be convinced that Taemin's recovery was going on smoothly. With a light sigh, his eyes flickered to Jonghyun, who was watching him with the gentlest of gazes, and Jinki almost choked under his gaze.

"Alright," his voice sounded exhausted and just plain uncaring to his own ears, and the managers themselves seemed to be surprised by his quick acceptance of the situation, but Jinki quickly set his gaze on the pair of bodyguards, "You two are expected to come with us, of course. You may bring dates, but your priority is to protect Taemin. Jonghyun, for the night of the party, you will also be Taemin's bodyguard, not mine."

Several of the men in the room wanted to argue about it, including his brother that certainly would say he would be fine without the extra protection, but Jinki's expression was stern and left no room for dispute. Without another glance, Jinki spun on his heels, grabbed a coat, and walked out of the house as fast as he could so he could actually breathe again. Usually, Jinki would have not reacted that way, especially when thinking of how it could benefit Taemin if they were to go to the parties offered by other celebrities but not everyone had a deep impact on Jinki's life like Minho did. They had been best friends once, but like most idol friendships based on their success, their friendship didn't last and was broken in a cruel way that had Jinki cringe whenever he thought about it.

"Jinki!" Jonghyun's voice called from several meters away, and Jinki threw a glance over his shoulder to see that Jonghyun was running after him from a few blocks down. Jinki had originally gone outside to be alone for a few minutes, but he supposed having Jonghyun around wouldn't be too bad, so he stopped and waited for him to catch up before continuing at a normal pace. Panting, Jonghyun reached forward and placed his hand on Jinki's arm to keep him still, "Who's that guy to make you react this way? You hardly ever get angry."

When Jinki first entered the music scene as a singer, his first public encounter with another celebrity was a reality show in which he ended up competing against an actor on a series of small. The male, Choi Minho, proved to be overly competitive during the games, but had been quite the friendly conversationalist later on when the two of them were backstage, and they quickly became friends. They started taking on more schedules that included the other, and were practically joined at the hip.

At least, that was until Taemin entered the spotlight. When Jinki introduced the two later on, Minho's attention shifted onto Taemin so quickly that Jinki didn't know how to react, though he was certainly jealous of the budding friendship. Suddenly, all the things Jinki did with Minho were replaced with things Taemin did with Minho, and all the things Jinki did with Taemin was replaced with things Minho did with Taemin. At first, Jinki didn't realize why he'd felt jealous, until he had come home one day to see the two of them kissing on the couch.

When they had realized he was there, Minho only smirked and went in for another kiss, but Taemin gaped in concern at Jinki's expression and later admitted that he hadn't realized Jinki was in love with Minho, or he wouldn't have let them kiss. Jinki confronted Minho about the situation, but Minho had quickly flipped the situation around, saying Jinki was delusional enough to think anyone would even love him in that way when they could easily have Taemin instead. Though Jinki knew it was true, it didn't stop the hurt from taking over his heart, and their friendship had ended immediately. Taemin had found out about the situation quickly and also ended all communication with the actor, because that was before everything had been destroyed between the brothers.

"You loved him?" Jonghyun's eyes hardened as he asked, but Jinki could feel the anger well up inside of him again as he remembered the taller young man. 

Accompanied by the anger he felt was the hurt, because Choi Minho was certainly neither the first or last to prefer Taemin over Jinki, and every time Jinki thought he'd find someone who would finally pick him, he was proven wrong and then left abandoned. 

"It was years ago." with that, Jinki started walking again, his hands shoved into his pockets as his feet dragged against the sidewalk, but Jonghyun was able to yank him back so they were once again face to face.

"Be my date to the party." Jonghyun's words had Jinki blank for a moment, but it wasn't like the younger was done talking, "You said I could bring a date, right? Be my date, Jinki."

After a moment of processing the younger's words, Jinki gently brushed some of Jonghyun's hair behind his ear as a gentle smile lit his face, "Sorry, Jonghyun, but I already said you'll be taking care of Taemin that night. He'll need the protection-"

"What about you, then?" Jonghyun's eyes had narrowed and Jinki blanked once more, even taking a small step backwards in slight fear as to what the younger would say, "You might have a stronger heart, Jinki, but you and I both know you need much more protection than Taemin."

Jinki didn't realize it, but his hands had clenched at his sides when hearing the words and his own eyes narrowed back at the male, "Kim Jonghyun, don't forget that you are my bodyguard, not my psychiatrist. You don't know me well enough to know what I do or do not need."

With that, Jinki roughly passed Jonghyun and returned to the house, forgetting his original purpose as thoughts swam around in his head. He didn't understand what led him to get so angry at Jonghyun, who was only offering to help, but he knew he didn't like how Jonghyun was trying to get into his head. Jonghyun was a bodyguard and more of a friend to Taemin, so of course getting too close to the younger would only prove to become a pain for the elder, just like Minho and several others.

Jonghyun followed after him with his own angry footsteps, and Jinki felt a little guilty about making the younger upset like that when Jonghyun was only trying to be a good friend to him. The elder Lee opened the front door and started up to his room, not even faltering as the door was slammed behind him and Jonghyun ran down the other staricase to his own bedroom. Taemin and Kibum, who had been watching television in the living room, jumped at the loud sounds made by the elder pair, but Jinki ignored the two and jogged up the staircase before changing his destination to the studio.

It was as he was trying to edit some music as the weight of his words finally sunk in and he realized just how harsh he was being when Jonghyun was trying to help. On one hand, he knew it was him trying to guard himself so that he couldn't be hurt again, but on the other hand, he knew he couldn't live without getting hurt. As he thought of ways to apologize to the male, his eyes gazed at the track he'd been editing when Jonghyun arrived, and a smile stretched onto his lips as he grabbed an empty MP3 player.

Half an hour later, he was calmly exiting his room in search for the younger male, and eventually found him in the dining room with Taemin and Kibum, eating dinner; well, Taemin and Kibum were eating, but a dejected Jonghyun was stabbing his food with a fork.

"Eat with us." it was a simple suggestion from Kibum, and it had Jonghyun tense for a moment before he returned to playing with his food.

"Sure." Jinki pulled up a chair, to their surprise, and sat right beside Jonghyun, who tensed again as he felt the elder's presense. Jinki waited until Taemin and Kibum were busy talking about who knows what before he slid the MP3 player into Jonghyun's pocket and stood up with his plate of half-eaten food, "I'll head back to my room now."

After hurriedly putting his dishes away, Jinki ran back up the stairs, though he could feel Jonghyun's curious gaze on him.