Shinee was on a busy schedule as they got ready to promote for their Japanese album "I'm Your Boy". They'd been quite busy from their schedules and multiple appearances on music shows and interviews. It was terribly overwhelming.
Not to mention, they were already feeling a bit homesick since it had been a month away from home.
Sure, the Japanese fans were amazing, the food was absolutely delicious, but the boys really missed their own dorms and rooms and comfortable beds rather than the hotels they currently stayed in.
They'd decided on roommates and since there were only three rooms, Jinki and Taemin shared, Jonghyun and Minho shared, and finally, Kibum and the manager.
One morning, on the day of a fan meet, the members had all set their alarms for 7:30am since the makeup crew and staff would be arriving at 8.
However, Taemin burst into Jonghyun and Minho's room at around 7:45. Jonghyun was taking a shower and Minho was getting dressed.
"What's up Taemin?" he asked as he put a shirt on.
"Jinki hyung is sick", Taemin said, "He isn't getting up and he has a cold".
Minho groaned, "Seriously? Of all days... Ugh, I don't know. Just tell manager hyung".
"I'm not a messenger boy, you tell him", Taemin muttered, "I need to get ready too".
Minho went to the manager's room where Kibum was in the washroom while the manager was on the phone. He waited patiently for him to finish up before he informed him of the sick leader.
The manager frowned before following Minho to the room.
Taemin sat watching TV as a woman worked on his hair.
"Yah, Jinki, wake up", the manager said, shaking the boy.
Jinki's eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the light; he felt extremely exhausted.
And he looked very pale and had a runny nose.
The manager sighed; there was no way Jinki could attend the fanmeeting in this condition.
"I'm sorry, hyung. I- I think I caught the flu", Jinki said; his nose was blocked and his eyes were teary from the flu.
The manager nodded and just told him to rest. Taemin finished his makeup and skipped out the door to inform everyone else of Jinki's absence.
The manager left and Minho sat down on the edge of the bed.
"This is really careless of you hyung. It's our first fanmeeting for this album and for there to be a member missing, it's going to look bad on us", Minho grumbled.
Not too long after, Kibum and Jonghyun barged in.
"You're not coming to the fanmeeting hyung?" Jonghyun demanded.
Jinki shook his head. He was too tired to speak and his head was throbbing painfully. All he wanted was peace and quiet, and an Advil.
"Why?" Kibum demanded, "It's just a cold! What are we going to tell the fans? This is ridiculous!"
Jinki coughed, "I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sure you'll all be alright".
His voice was hoarse and it was painful to speak.
"Of course we will!" Jonghyun exclaimed, "It's the fans. It'll look bad if one person is absent. The fans will think we're lazy".
Before Jinki could apologize, the manager called them all, saying it was time to leave.

Jinki wanted to ask for a glass of water but he was too exhausted to get up.

The poor leader opted on swallowing his pill dry before falling into a well needed rest. He didn't know how long he was asleep but when he awoke, there was a tray of food and he decided it must've been room service. He finished the warm soup and returned to sleep.

The second time Jinki awoke was from the slamming of the door. His eyes shot open when he saw Taemin enter.
"Taemin-Ah, how was the meet?" Jinki asked, sitting up.
"Fine".
"I see. Um, can you get me a glass of water; I'm really thirsty", Jinki requested.
"Hyung, you were lying in bed the entire day okay?" Taemin snapped, turning to the leader with an angry look, "Shouldn't you be the one to offer me water?"
Jinki was silent. His dongsaeng had never snapped at him in such a manner.
Feeling guilty for not realizing Taemin's exhaustion and missing the meet, Jinki's throat was even more dry but he forgot about his thirst. He his lips and pursed them together.
"I-I'm sorry. I should've realized--" Jinki began.
"Quit it hyung", Taemin said coldly, "You wanna know how the meet went? The fans were upset and they thought that they weren't a priority to us. But that's not true! You know why? Because we went to see them!"
Jinki swallowed and decided to keep his mouth shut.
He should've been at the meet; Taemin seemed really stressed.
He silently closed his eyes and pretended to sleep even though it wouldn't come. Burrowing into his blanket, Jinki reflected on what had happened.
He felt terrible, inside and out and got up silently to wash his tired face. His stomach hurt painfully at the movements but he managed to leave the room.
"Hey hyung, what are you doing?" Jonghyun spotted him.
"Ah, Jonghyun-ah, how was your day?" Jinki forced himself to smile.
"Oh forget that hyung, shouldn't you be resting instead of wandering around like this?" he demanded.
"I was just going downstairs to grab some water", Jinki explained.
"Wait here", Jonghyun said as he hurried into his own room. He returned with a water bottle.
Jinki smiled, "Thank you Jonghyun, that's very kind of--"
"Just go to bed hyung. You need to take care of yourself", the latter interrupted, "How would you be a good leader if you can't even take care of yourself?"
Jinki's eyes widened; that really hurt.
He didn't know what to say. Jonghyun would never say such a thing to him.
The poor boy's watery eyes stared at Jonghyun.
"Ugh that's not what I meant to say. I'm just tired hyung", Jonghyun said quickly, "Just-just rest please".
Jinki stood silently before the door was slammed on his face. Although he felt terrible and alone, he decided to still go and greet Kibum.
The younger boy opened his door and it seemed like he was in the middle of removing his makeup.
"Hey Kibum, I hope today was alright", he offered kindly with his regular smile.
"Yeah, how are you feeling?"
"I think I'll be better soon", Jinki replied.
"Stop joking hyung, you can barely talk right", Kibum snorted.
"But we have a concert and manager hyung said that I can go for an appointment before it just for some cough syrup or whatever", Jinki explained.
"Kay, well, I'm tired", Kibum said as he finished.
Jinki was a bit slow so he didn't get the hint.
"Mind if I hang out here?" he asked the younger.
Kibum said nothing.
"Kibum-ah, do you think everyone is mad at me?"
"All I know is that I'm tired hyung. And i can barely understand your scratchy voice!" Kibum exclaimed, "You should rest as well."
Jinki felt dejected and cold as he silently got up and made his way to the door.
He faked a wide smile to show he wasn't affected by Kibum's words, "Have a nice rest!"
He didn't receive a response so he silently shut the door behind him and walked down the hall.
He only wanted some affection but he seemed to have made everyone angry.
He silently stood outside of Jonghyun and Minho's room. He was contemplating whether he should go inside and greet Minho but he decided against it.
Besides, Jonghyun was already mad at him and he really didn't want Minho any angrier at him so he avoided the younger boy.
Returning to his room, Jinki snuggled into his covers and let the tears come out. He soundlessly cried until sleep took over.

He didn't know how long he'd been asleep but this time, it was Minho who woke him up.
Jinki opened his eyes.
"Hyung, it's breakfast time. We have a day off since the interview was cancelled", he explained.
Jinki nodded and stretched, only to yelp loudly before bending into a fetal position. He was hit by a blast of pain in his stomach.
"Hyung, are you alright?" Minho asked concerned.
"My stomach is killing me", the elder groaned painfully.
Minho frowned, just realizing that the others all ate before returning home.
"Maybe it was the food here?" he said, "What did you eat yesterday?"
"S-soup for lunch", Jinki managed to gasp.
"That's it?!" Minho exclaimed, "No wonder!"
Jinki only realized the source of his pains. He'd forgotten to eat last night since he didn't  feel hungry.

Minho hurriedly left the room to grab some food for the elder. That morning he also noticed tear steaks on the elder's face as well.
"Where's Jinki?" the manager asked looking up from the table that the others were sitting at.
"He didn't eat anything last night so his stomach is hurting", Minho replied, "I'm gonna eat with him".
"Seriously? He can't even join us for breakfast?" Taemin pouted.
"He's not feeling well", Minho said firmly.

The next day, Jinki missed his schedule once more so the manager told him that he scheduled a doctor's appointment for him. Thankfully, there was a clinic in the large hotel so it was only a few floors away.

The group was returning from the schedule around 9pm when the manager said, "Jinki's appointment was at 4pm but he never showed up".
"Maybe he was sleeping; he's been doing that a lot lately", Jonghyun said.
"But he would've informed me by now", the manager disagreed.
He knew Jinki was a responsible man; this wasn't his regular behaviour. And so, he decided to check up on the matter when they arrived.
Meanwhile, everyone else headed to their own rooms. It wasn't long before Taemin burst into Jonghyun and Minho's room, "Jinki hyung fainted!"
Everyone hurried to the leader's room to find him on his bed still unconscious.
Kibum and the manager managed to return him to his bed from the bathroom.
"He was on the floor of the washroom", the manger told the doctor, "And probably since before 4pm".
Minho's eyes widened as well as the rest of the group's when they thought of Jinki lyng unconscious on the floor for five hours.
Not to mention, he had a dark bruise on one cheek which collided with the bathtub.
"The hit probably knocked him out. But he initially fainted from lack of nutrition. Not to mention, he's quite dehydrated. He's supposed to consume more water during a fever", the doctor concluded after giving the elder a check up.
The manager nodded, "Thank you very much. We will make sure he gets lots of rest and care".

After the doctor left, the manager sighed, "Jinki has been quite upset these past days".

"It's probably since he's not feeling well", Minho offered.

"It's been too stressful for him", the manager said, "He got sick since he put too much pressure on his body since the CEO had a talk with him about the group getting too comfortable".

The members were surprised to hear this; Jinki never mentioned a meeting with the CEO.

"But hyung, he never told us that!" Minho said.

"Of course he didn't! He didn't want to discourage you guys or be a pushover. And he figured it was himself being too clumsy and too silly", the manager said, "You boys might not know this but Jinki has been getting less sleep because he has been practicing late at night. And I guess the stress was too much as well".

Everyone felt very guilty when they heard the manager's words; they hadn't been very kind or respectful to their hyung.

"Yesterday, he didn't even bother to come talk to us", Minho said stubbornly, "So we assumed he was getting rest."

"Actually", Taemin said, "Jinki hyung was asking me about the day but I snapped at him".

"I kicked him out of my room because I was tired", Kibum admitted.

Jonghyun sighed, deciding to come clean.
"And I kinda implied that he wasn't a good leader".
............................................
When Jinki awoke a few hours later, he was surprised to awake to the delicious smell of chicken.
He sat up and almost got a heart attack when he heard loud cheers.

"SURPRISE!"

He looked at s not knowing how to respond.
"Its not my birthday guys", he finally spoke.

"We know that hyung!" Kibum giggled, "We just wanted you to know that you're the best hyung ever!"

"Yeah! And we are sorry for bot being respectful towards you and your health!" Taemin added.

Jinki's eyes became watery as a wide smile spread along his lips.

"I think I'm feeling better already!" he grinned.
He couldn't ask for anything better at this moment.