Secret Agents Dictionary:

Pattern: The behavior and daily routine of an operative that makes his or her identity unique.

- 3 years ago -

Audrey was late for work that day. Luckily she worked alone so no one would be waiting for her inside the lab she worked, ready to scold her.

She placed her finger on the scanner and the door opened letting her enter the lab.

Aeon, the machine she was working on was in front of her and Audrey smiled at her as if she was her only friend. After all she was used to speak with it, alone inside the office, now that Professor Han died.

However this time she wasn’t alone. Someone else was there, a woman wearing a black dress and holding a box in her hand.

Audrey was a little taken aback and almost stepped back to call security but suddenly it all made sense to her.

“Oh…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you!” The woman said softly “I’m Professor Han ‘s daughter. I only came to collect some of his personal items.”

“Of course…” Audrey did hear about her, although she never managed to see her before. “But how did you enter?”

Only two people besides Dokko Sunbaenim were able to enter that room and one of them was dead now and Audrey was sure she wasn’t the one who let her in.

“I have a card.” Professor Han’s daughter answered showing it to Audrey. “It was specially made for me.”

The woman seemed extremely sad and Audrey felt sorry towards her. However it was strange how she had a special card to enter a lab where they were making such an important machine.

The beautiful woman seemed to sense Audrey’s uneasiness about the matter “Don’t worry. I’ll never come back inside this room anymore. I hate that machine and everything that comes with it.”

Audrey widened her eyes finding that answer strange.

“My father was a prisoner here for my sake…”

That comment didn’t make much sense to Audrey at the time. She thought the woman meant that her father was a workaholic, not once she took that comment as what it really meant.

Professor Han was being threatened to work for Dokko so they wouldn’t kill his daughter.

Unknowingly to Audrey that beautiful woman in front of her eyes with a special card was Gi.

- Present  Day -

Audrey knew everything about time. She studied it, she built a machine to travel through it, she often wanted to make it go fast when she was a kid or simply stop when she was with someone she loved. At the moment, time was everything she had and didn’t at the same time.

She wanted it to go fast so she could have more news about Kibum but at the same time she feared that the time she had living in the same world as him was running out.

“Lay down in the bed.” Areum said gently, speaking to Audrey as if she was a kid like she did when she was bullied back in high school.

Audrey did as she asked, out of energy pulling the covers down and settling in the middle of the bed. Areum sat beside her, pulling the covers over Audrey’s legs that were still covered with her jeans.

“I won’t sleep.” Audrey cried raising her teary eyes to Areum that didn’t look much better than her even though she pretended to.

Areum ignored Audrey and took two pills from the small bottle in her hand. Her hands were trembling while she picked up the glass of water but Audrey didn’t say anything. Both were missing a part of them, a part that was somewhere in Japan fighting for life.

“Take this. It will help you rest.”

“I’m not going to sleep. I need to know about him and…”

Areum widened her eyes acting like the scary mom that was going to scold her and Audrey pursed her lips, swallowing back tears.

“You won’t help Kibum if you get sick too. I'll wake you up if something happens. I promise.”

“You should rest too…the baby!”

Areum nodded her head offering the glass to Audrey “I will! Don’t worry! Just take them!”

Audrey did as she said lying down on the bed. Areum pulled the covers over her and brushed Audrey’s hair away softly. “Everything is going to be alright. I’m sure of it!”

It wasn’t a lie; it was Areum’s wishful thinking, her optimistic sweet side that always made Audrey and Jinki smitten with her.

Audrey closed her eyes.

They were sweet words, but that was only what they were…words.

Kibum saw Gi.

He waited for that moment for a long time. He joined SHINee so he could meet her and save her and was working for them, undercover, inside one of Dokko’s weapon warehouses when he saw her arriving accompanied by several bodyguards and of course Jae.

She didn’t seem hurt, on contraire she seemed very healthy, no longer pregnant and wearing fine expensive clothes.

For days Kibum hid his face from her and Jae, avoiding meeting them until the right moment so his cover wouldn’t be blown.

On the day before SM invaded the building Kibum approached her when she was alone.

She didn’t receive him as he expected with a smile of relief, instead she seemed apprehensive that he was there and paled when she found out the true meaning of his presence.

The reality was that she was no longer a victim.

It was too late now. She was no longer a prisoner inside Dokko; she was there willingly beside Jae, raising their baby. At first she was used to make her father help Dokko but now she was a part of them. That’s what she told him.

Kibum suffered, he even questioned the mission, wondering if he could stop SM, save Gi from being captured or maybe get hurt be he couldn’t. He simply couldn’t back away now.

That Gi was no longer the one he loved, the one that was strong and he admired knowing that she would never bend under anything.

That Gi was Jae’s Gi, different from Kibum’s one.

She chose her path and Kibum chose his.

The day when SM attacked the warehouse, destroying it was the day she died in front of him, in front of Jae. But Kibum wasn’t like Jae that walked away leaving her behind, lying on the floor, bleeding from the gun wound inflicted by the “good guys”.

Kibum stayed with her in his arms, not because of who she was now, but because of the old Gi, the one she wasn’t any longer.

He waited for her last breath, mourning his best friend, his first love.

 “My baby…Jae has him…”

Of course, the baby! She barely spoke of him the previous day and Kibum that wasn’t the father didn’t realize it sooner. Gi stayed, Gi made sacrifices for her baby, not because of Jae, but because of the baby he was raising, the child she gave birth to.

“I thought you lost it….”

“My baby boy, Sung-Hwan…please Kibum. You must save him!”

She held into him, her hands slowly losing strength and Kibum that barely could see her from behind his tears nodded his head.

“I promise!”

 He could remember her face perfectly, the pale skin, the lips red of lipstick, her eyes almost glossy while she mumbled words to him “Please save my baby Kibum…”

That’s why he couldn’t die. He needed to find that baby.

There were so many other things he wanted to do. He wanted to take his dogs to the beach, visit his parents that he didn’t see in a while, travel to other countries, and take Audrey to Paris…Audrey…

Kibum opened and closed his eyes the image of Gi disappearing and Audrey was in her place instead.

“Save me…” She cried, flames around her like on the day of the almost failed mission when Jinki did what he couldn’t do. If that happened today he wouldn’t have hesitated, he would have jumped into the fire…he would do anything to save her.

Kibum raised his hand, his fingers trying to reach the crying Audrey in his imagination but he couldn’t move much, he couldn’t touch her. There was a glass between him and Audrey and she was suffocating, moving for air, her skin growing pale as pale as Gi’s when she was dead in his arms.

Kibum closed and opened his eyes again, grimacing in pain and this time instead of Gi and Audrey he saw Minho.

“Hang in there pal…” Minho said grabbing his hand and Kibum tried to speak but he barely could focus with his eyes.

His eyes moved to the red ceiling and down again. They weren’t in a hospital and he couldn’t even form words to ask where he was.

He started to lose consciousness again but his eyes set on something else. A red tube coming from his arm and going to another person beside him - Jinki.

He didn’t look well either, he had blood covering half of his face and he seemed so pale and yet he smiled at Kibum. It wasn’t a sincere smile since it didn’t reach his eyes. Even though Jinki was smiling as if to tell Kibum that everything was going to be alright, Kibum could see the fear in his eyes. Jinki was scared…was Kibum dying!?

He tried once again to speak but he barely had any energy left. Minho squeezed Kibum’s hand.

“A-a…”

“Don’t speak Kibum!” Minho asked gently his voice coming from very far away. ”You need to gather your strength!

He couldn’t die. He still had the baby and Audrey to protect. He promised.

“A-Audrey…” Kibum couldn’t even feel his tongue and he wasn’t sure if he was truly speaking or just imagining it in his head.

“Don’t close your eyes, no! “ Minho said eagerly his image slowly disappearing, his voice almost inaudible to Kibum as if he was entering a tunnel, a very dark cold tunnel. “STAY KIBUM! STAY!”

Kibum tried to speak again - “Tell Audrey I won’t make it to the date.” – but he was sure he only said that inside his head.

Kibum was in total darkness now.

“Excuse me.” Taemin moved to the side so he could let a woman and her small daughter pass.

Normally he would have noticed them before they actually needed to ask for him to move out of the way. But he wasn’t in his right mind.

He was inside the airport, ready to board to Japan only carrying his backpack his mind fuller than the bag.

Kibum was badly hurt, Jinki – his brother – was hurt and Mina…Mina was the person he said he would kill someday.

Taemin leaned against the glass of the airport, his eyes outside on the plane slowly moving towards the boarding tunnel where he probably would enter.

He couldn’t say that he had an easy life. He never did even though now he was rich he never felt as if he was truly Lee Sooman’s son. He liked the old man, he respected him but for Taemin only Jinki was his blood. SHINee…they were his family. A group of 5 young wounded men searching for revenge or at least to help others.

And that team only existed because Taemin almost forced Sooman to do it. A small smile escaped his lips. He was proud of it, of how they grew up, how good they were together, how they cared for each other despite their differences.

But, Taemin knew that that team was ending. If one of them died, if one stepped away, it wouldn’t be SHINee anymore. They could even keep working but nothing would replace the lost member.

Taemin felt guilty but he didn’t have time to linger on those feelings since his phone rang.

He quickly opened his backpack scolding himself since he never forgot to turn the sound off of his phone and took it from inside it.

Mina.

She was calling him, probably worried since he wasn’t by her side like he promised that he would.

Mina was always the reason of several mixed feelings in him.

At first he didn’t know what it meant but now he did. Love.

But her father…her father was the man he vowed to kill. He swore he would kill his family, the one she loved the most. Could he kill Mina? Could he kill an innocent sick kid?

Taemin groaned, watching her name on the screen.

No. He wasn’t a killing machine. Something kept him human all those years. The love Lee Sooman’s family gave him, a kid they didn’t know well. Jinki’s love…Mina’s love…

He couldn’t kill a kid, he could never hurt her.

It didn’t matter anyway. That man didn’t seem to love his kids, maybe it wasn’t necessary. Taemin only needed to kill him.

But even though he didn’t love his kids like he should that didn’t mean his kids didn’t love him, it didn’t mean Mina didn’t love her father.

The phone stopped ringing and Taemin muted the sound before he put it away in the pocket of his jacket.

The plane was now in place waiting for him and he had a mission to focus on.

Revenge could wait a little longer.

Areum scanned the fridge for something to drink and took out a bottle of beer.

“No! No way are you drinking that!” Mi Jung almost screamed from behind her stealing the bottle.

“What? Why?” Areum asked clueless. She truly needed a drink since she wasn’t handling the wait for news very well, nervously chewing on her lip.

“Because of the baby!”

It was the second time that night someone had to remind her that she could be pregnant.

Areum picked up a bottle of water instead and sat at the kitchen table. Mi Jung did the same drinking the beer that was meant for Areum.

“How is your father?” The older woman asked making Areum wake up from her dazed state.

“He is recovering well.”

Her father arrived from the hospital in the middle of all that mess and Areum almost had no time to be beside him.

“He must be confused with all this!”

Areum nodded feeling tired. She probably should try to rest but she promised Audrey she would tell her if there were any news about Jinki and Kibum.

“Is Audrey sleeping?” Mi Jung asked again being too talkative for Areum’s mood.

“She cried so much and I didn’t know what to do so I gave her the pills Jon-“  She still couldn’t say his name as if he was a common person and not her idol “Base gave me!”

Mi Jung didn’t say anything else and Areum moved on her seat, tears coming to her eyes “THIS IS SO NOT FAIR! Audrey never had an easy life…and finally she is in love and…” Areum bit her lower lip, cleaning her tears with the back of her hand “And Jinki…he might be a father and…it’s not fair!”

Mi Jung caressed Areum’s back softly knowing what she meant and imagining how much she was suffering. Two of the people she loved the most were going through a bad time in their life.

“How is your father?” Areum asked sniffing.

“He closed himself in his study. He doesn’t share when things like this happen.” Mi Jung smiled sadly “When my mom died he disappeared inside that study for days to the point that I wondered if he was alive. Then one day he came out and it was as if one year of mourning has passed, speaking of her fondly with a smile.” She drank her beer “Jonghyun is like him in so many ways. Maybe I do have a daddy issue.”

Areum swallowed realizing that she didn’t see Jonghyun for a while. Maybe he was also hiding somewhere.  It must be lonely for Mi Jung though; that they were so focused in their own pain that sometimes left her out.

“Here!”

Areum picked up the package Mi Jung gave her.

“The pregnancy test!”

“You should do it and be sure once and for all.”

Areum moved the white box in her hand remembering Jinki’s reaction when she told him that she might be pregnant.  He seemed so happy, as happy as he was in the day she accepted to marry him. “No. I’ll wait for Jinki. I’ll do it with him.”

It was the right thing, to let him celebrate it with her, to let him be the one to hold it and be the first one to know. She could wait.

“I understand.”

A little girl showed up at the door and both women turned to her.

“Bora, what are you doing here? You should go back to bed!”

Bora entered the room wearing her bear slippers and a cute black and white pajama with a big panda on the top. She was supposed to be sleeping in one of the mansion's guest rooms. “I can’t sleep. The bed is too big and Roo isn’t here.”

“Roo?” Areum asked confused.

“Roo is our puppy. She is back at my place.” Mi Jung explained approaching the little girl “Do you want me to go and pick up Roo?”

“Will she sleep with me?”

“Yes, I’m sure she will.”

“She should be with daddy.”

Mi Jung tucked the little girls black hair behind her ears. “Why?”

“Cos he is crying and Roo always makes him smile.”

Mi Jung pulled her daughter closer to her and kissed her forehead. “Dad is not crying. He is only worried. “

“No he is crying. I saw him. He is at uncle Jinki’s bedroom.”

“Your dad is a very sensible person. “Mi Jung chuckled trying to lighten the mood because Bora already seemed very scared “He cries over everything! He even cried when you did that pretty drawing for him at school.”

Bora eyes moved to Areum that was watching the conversation without saying anything and back to her mom.

“Is daddy going on a trip? Is he going to save uncle Jinki and Kibum?”

“Why?” Mi Jung caressed the little girl's arms.

“Because he was packing before I went to bed.”

“Packing?” Areum asked rising from her chair slightly.

Mi Jung turned to Areum with a sad expression “He insists on going and I can’t really seem to stop him.”

“He has a daughter. He needs to stay!”

Mi Jung didn’t answer and Areum stood up. “If he decides to go I’ll stop him. No way I’m letting him go!”

Unconsciously Areum touched her stomach. No one else needed to get hurt. No other child needed to lose its father.

“Mommy is uncle Jinki and uncle Kibum going to die?”

Bora’s question made both women focus on her again.

“No sweetie. No.” Bora knew her mother always said the truth and she was taught that you should say the truth always but that time Bora had her doubts. Aunt Areum was covering her face like Bora did when she wanted to cry in secret and people always cry when someone they love is hurt. Bora cried when daddy got hurt at work, she cried when mommy was sick and when her horse broke a leg.

“They can’t die.” Bora said suddenly panicking “Uncle Jinki says that when people die they become stars. That my hamster is a star now, that his parents are stars too.”

“Calm down Bora!” Mi Jung grabbed the girl in her arms and sat down on the chair with her in her lap. “No one is going to die.”

“He can’t. I don’t want them to be stars. You can’t hug or play with stars!”

“They won’t…” Mi Jung said once again but Bora pushed her arms away and slide from her mother’s lap.

Mi Jung watched her while she ran around the table and stopped beside Areum.

She knew that she and Jonghyun raised her daughter well, that Bora had a good heart like them. She was mimicking what Mi Jung did so many years ago when she met Jinki for the first time, what Jonghyun did when he met Jinki at school. She was offering her hand, a little bit of hope.

Bora pulled at Areum’s hand making her aunt uncover her teary eyes to her and grabbed her big hand with her tiny one.

“Uncle Jinki is very strong. He always carries me on his shoulders which makes daddy upset and Uncle Kibum is good at everything! Sometimes mommy gets upset because he teases her and says he has better taste in clothes than her!”

Mi Jung chuckled cleaning her eyes from possible tears.

Areum smiled weakly and Bora wrapped her tiny arms around her giving Areum a warm hug. Areum hugged her back, caressing her soft hair, inhaling the baby shampoo scent that came from it. If she wasn’t so worried with the present situation she would have been celebrating that step up in their friendship.

“Uncle Jinki won’t be a star. I promise. I won’t let them leave us!”

Minho watched the scene in front of him nervously. His once pretty expensive suit was now ruined. He lost his coat and the white shirt was now dirty with blood and even ripped at some parts.

They were inside an old cheap motel and he managed to contact a doctor they knew that came to help.

Soul was sitting on an old pink couch wrapped in a blanket, once in a while because of the pain she felt in her broken arm that got worse thanks to helping Minho and Jinki pull Kibum.

Jinki wasn’t better, lying beside Kibum in the bed, fighting the tiredness he felt, his eyes half closed, his energy draining slowly, and half his face dirty with blood originating from the cut on his temple.

Kibum…

Minho bit his lower lip. Kibum didn’t still hasn't gained his consciousness back. There was a time while they were giving him blood - Jinki’s blood that lucky for them was O RH+ - when he opened his eyes and mumbled Audrey’s name. After that he fell into sleep.

“I need to be honest with you.” Doctor Song, the doctor that helped SM several times, whispered to Minho. “Key is not ok. I think he has a head trauma. He lost a lot of blood from the wound on his leg and I’m not even sure if he didn’t get severely hurt in it. He needs more blood and we can’t keep using Onew’s. He is hurt too, probably some broken ribs, several cuts that need medical attention and he is weak already.”

Minho only nodded his head, swallowing, not knowing what to do.

“Kibum needs to get examined, he needs surgery. His pulse is weak. How long will we have to stay here?”

“Until Ace arrives or a team…”

“We can’t wait that long.” Doctor Song took off his plastic gloves “Onew might be able to survive the night if his wounds don’t get infected. The girl will be able to take the pain with some painkillers but Kibum…”

Minho his lips knowing the question he needed to ask.

“How long does he have?”

“A few hours…maybe less.” Doctor Song grabbed Minho’s arm “Minho, he is going to die if we don’t take him to a hospital. I can’t help him more than I did.”

Minho leaned against the wall, cold sweats taking hold of his body. Soul was in pain, Jinki's head was pending to his right while he tried his best not to lose consciousness and handle the pain of his wounds and Kibum. Kibum was a pale ghost lying on a bed.

He never wanted to have to take a decision like that but no one could do it at the moment.

Doctor Song grasped Minho’s arm as if to try to make him pull himself together.

“I can’t take them to a hospital…not a normal one.” There was another alternative though. “But…”

If he wanted to save his friends he would have to make a deal with the devil.

- 8 years ago -

Mi Jung left her bedroom and stepped into the dark hallway as silently as she could. She placed her bare feet one after the other in slow motion and crossed the hallway passing by the stairs in the direction of Jonghyun’s bedroom.

She shouldn’t visit him in his bedroom, not in the middle of the night, not wearing only her short pink nightgown and , but she didn’t care.

Jonghyun would care. She could picture his surprised and worried face once he saw her show up in his bedroom. How he would panic and send her back to her bedroom but she wasn’t going to obey.

She wanted him. After that first time in her bedroom they met a few more times in the stable which Jonghyun seemed to hate, and once in the gym.

Last night he said that they needed to stop it, that what they had was madness. She knew what he thought. That it was only but it was so much more than that.  Sometimes they didn’t even have and only kissed or talked in the middle of the caresses.

That’s what she needed that night, to have with him and lay in his arms feeling his warmth under the covers of a comfy bed and that was what she was going to get.

Mi Jung opened the door of his bedroom with no ceremonies and Jonghyun that was on his bed wearing only his underwear reading a book gasped covering himself with the covers.

“Wh-“ He almost screamed and lowered his voice while she closed the door “What in God’s name are you doing here?”

“I came for you…”

“You can’t enter my bedroom like that without knocking. What if I was…”

“ing?”

“NO!” He blushed with her suggestion and Mi Jung laughed sitting on the bed in front of him making Jonghyun move uncomfortably in the bed. “I could be !”

“I don’t care! I saw you already! I like it!” He shook his head “Do I make you nervous?” She asked grabbing his hand and pulling it to her chest “Because you make me really nervous.”

Jonghyun took a deep breath and kneeled on the bed so he could kiss her passionately.

Mi Jung won as she knew she would. He couldn’t resist her as much as she couldn’t resist him.

He held her in his arms, burying his fingers in her hair while they kissed. His level of oxygen was decreasing quickly so he had to take a break to talk. “Your dad is going to kill me.”

“He won’t.” She caressed his chest and down to his happy trail that she loved to kiss “I won’t let him.”

Mi Jung pulled her nightgown over her head and threw it to the floor. Jonghyun didn’t hesitate and grabbed her in his arms making her fall on the bed beside him. Mi Jung squealed of happiness caressing his head while his lips moved from her neck down to her s.

If her father found out he would probably go nuts accusing her of seducing Jonghyun as a whim of a spoiled brat but this time it wasn’t like before. Mi Jung wasn’t doing it to upset her father. She truly enjoyed it and it was so much more than tease a rookie of SM. She needed Jonghyun. She needed and wanted him so much that it hurt deep inside her, a pain only his kisses and touches could take away.

-

- Present  Day -

Taemin’s gaze fall on the man at the entrance looking at him fiercely with a gun in his hands but his gaze didn’t falter even though he was outnumbered and had part of his team inside.

“I’m with SM…”

“I know.” The man answered in Japanese stepping aside for Taemin to enter. He did so, moving his hand over the grip of his gun hidden under his coat and walked in the direction of Minho that he spotted right away, clothes dirty with dry blood, wrinkles of worry on his face.

Minho walked to him almost immediately and Taemin barely had time to react when Minho hugged him.

“You came.”

Taemin patted his back awkwardly but warmly. He couldn’t even imagine how worried Minho was all those hours alone.

“How are they?” Taemin asked immediately lowering his voice noticing how two of the men in black were looking at them, probably recognizing Ace from some not so happy events from the past.

“Better….”

“Why did you bring them here?” Taemin asked pulling Minho further away “This belongs to the Japanese Mafia. Are you insane?”

“Kibum was dying. I needed to save him!”

Taemin rubbed his lips, his eyes on the Yakuza man instead of Minho. He couldn’t relax there, he was like a cat trying to protect his kittens from possible danger.

“How did you even manage to take them here?”

“I asked for help. Ilana, my Dokko contact.”

“They work with Dokko sometimes.” Taemin his lips “They might give us away to Dokko. How do we know that we can trust them?”

“We don’t but I had to take the risk. Our Kibum was dying. Jinki, he isn’t well either. He lost too much blood and had to give a blood transfusion to Kibum. He was weak. They wouldn’t have made it for long. I did what I had to do.”

Taemin knew he was right, that in a desperate time like that he would have done the same.

“Ok. We can’t stay here longer. Once they are ok to travel we fly back.”

Minho agreed with Taemin since that was the wise thing to do and being there made him nervous too.

They stood in silence and Taemin’s gaze fell on the door of the room where probably his friends and team mates were. He needed to go see them but wasn’t sure if he could. Imagining them hurt, imagining Jinki hurt covered in blood like his brother once, was making him sick.

“What did you trade for this?”

The question didn’t surprise Minho and he pursed his lips before answering.

“After Choi Jihun died, Yoon Kyung-Min, one of the idiots that worked for him tried to take charge of The Union. Apparently it didn’t go well and he has some problems with the Yakuza. They want him.”

“So you promised to get him didn’t you?” Taemin asked joining the dots “How are we even going to get him?”

“We? Me! It’s my promise!” Minho knew that it was going to be difficult to do so now that the true leader was dead. “I need to make him come out. I need a trap. He needs respect to undertake the Union and the best way to have it and make everyone accept him is by catching the killer of Choi Jihun.”

Taemin raised his eyebrows “You are not going to tell them about Nana right?”

Yes Minho used to say he would kill Nana once he met her but Taemin knew he was lying.

“No, of course not. I would never place her at risk. No one truly knows who did it, only the ones who were there. It might have been me! If I can’t go to him than he can come to me.”

“Are you nuts?” Taemin asked maybe a little too loud. That plan of Minho although it was smart, it was very dangerous.

“I need to do this.” Minho said firmly, his gaze on Taemin “I must do this!”

Taemin frowned but he knew what Minho meant and why he was telling that to Taemin.

There was also something that Taemin needed to do alone. Both were facing the ghosts of their past.

“Don’t tell the others please. Specially Base. He can’t know.”

Taemin nodded.

Minho didn’t want to place anyone else at risk and Taemin knew why.

“I won’t. I promise!”

- 8 Years ago - 

Mi Jung couldn’t sleep and was watching Jonghyun instead. It was her first time spending the night beside him and she just learned that he had insomnia and normally spent half the night awake reading or practicing. He even started to write, wanting to make his dream of publishing a book come true.

He did most of the talking that night and slowly her gaze on him started to make him embarrassed.

“You really should go back to your bedroom.”

“No. I think I’ll come every night.”

That seemed to agitate him and before he complained Mi Jung planted a wet kiss on his lips.

“You can’t do this.” He whispered passionately caressing her body that was against his “it’s too risky and you are making me go insane.”

Mi Jung ignored his warning and instead laid her head on his chest, hugging him tightly “Let me stay please. Let me stay every night.”

It was such an eager request that he didn’t dare to say no. His chest was overflowing with feels, her scent making him fall into a sweet slumber. It was relaxing to have her with him even though it was madness.

“You can stay…” He said kissing her hair, the ache in his chest beating records making him want to say a nonsense, a very real nonsense.

“I love you.”

Once the words left his mouth he couldn’t simply take it back nor he wanted to. Jonghyun was always the type to say what he felt, to not be ashamed of his feelings or scared.

Mi Jung however didn’t answer back and closed her eyes tight.

Even though Jonghyun knew that she wasn’t sleeping he didn’t say anything, losing his will to sleep again.

- Present Day - 

Mi Jung entered Jinki’s old bedroom that was filled with boxes with clothes since he was moving to the couple bedroom he had with Areum now.

In the middle of the clothes, Jinki had  his single bed, where Jonghyun was sitting on it, his head downcast, and hands in his hair.

Mi Jung walked to him and kneeled in front of his legs, cupping his face. His skin was sticky from the tears and she kissed his forehead.

“I know how you feel. Jinki is also my brother and Kibum is a good friend. They are family.”

“I am their leader, their friend…” Jonghyun’s wounded voice made her chest ache “I-I failed. Jinki…he should have been the leader all along. I told your father! Jinki was always the real leader of the team I’m just…”

“You are the leader Jonghyun and you didn’t fail. It could have happened with anyone leading and…even though Jinki is the glue that sticks the team together, Taemin made it happen, Minho silently cares for everyone even if he denies it and Kibum often makes things go forward. And things wouldn’t get done if there wasn’t someone behind them giving his face for the cause…” She caressed his cheek “You Kim Jonghyun. That’s why they see you as a leader even though everyone is equal inside the team.”

She kissed his lips softly. “It’s not your fault.”

“I should be there. It should have been me!”

Mi Jung released him immediately and her hurt expression scared Jonghyun.

“Don’t ever say that again! You have a daughter...you have me!”

“Kibum has Audrey! Jinki has Areum and…a baby…maybe…”

“She didn’t make the test yet, wants to do with him.”

Jonghyun groaned hiding his face between his knees. He still remembered how nervous he was when he found out he was going to be a father, how happy he felt when he held Bora in his arms for the first time. Would Jinki ever do it?! The sole thought that his friend would never go through that happiness made Jonghyun cry again.

“You belong here!” Mi Jung insisted knowing what he was thinking about doing, crazily follow Taemin to Japan. He was out of shape now and she wouldn’t let him go. “SHINee won’t end even if all of you stop being agents. It’s more than a team, it’s a family.”

He raised his head to look at her since her voice sounded different. Mi Jung wasn’t the crying type, she wasn’t like him and yet her eyes were filled with tears. She was suffering as much as him. “You are here now and soon Jinki will be like you and have kids. And someday it will be Minho and Taemin. This shouldn’t be a thing for whole your life. I don’t think my dad wants that…” She bit her lower lip “Kibum too.”

Jonghyun knew why she left him for the end and grabbed her hands on his.

“Kibum is dying Mi Jung…”

“He can’t!”

“Minho isn’t contacting me anymore but last time he said he wasn’t going to make it. How am I going to live knowing that…that…” Mi Jung hugged him, caressing his hair “How will I tell Audrey?”

“Jonghyun you can’t save everyone!” Mi Jung said rubbing his back “You simply cant. You already protect so many people…you are so amazing.”

Mi Jung moved away from him and Jonghyun kissed her.

There were so many things running through his head. How lucky he was that he met her, that she gave him Bora, that she accepted him as he was.

A noise at the door made them broke away. Audrey was at the door, her horrified eyes on the couple, the soft light of the bedroom giving her a ghostly appearance.

“He is dying?” She managed to ask grabbing the door for support and Mi Jung stood up immediately to hold her.

Jonghyun couldn’t say anything since his phone started ringing. He picked it up from over the bed and read the message immediately.

“It’s Taemin. They are at the hospital. They are flying back in the morning.”

Audrey blinked her eyes confused “What does that mean? Is Kibum ok?”

“It means that he is recovering, right?” Mi Jung answered her eyes on Jonghyun that wasn’t saying anything “He is ok. He wouldn’t be flying back if he wasn’t.” Mi Jung laughed hugging Audrey “Everything is going to be fine! What a relief!”

Audrey didn’t smile, her eyes on Jonghyun that wasn’t celebrating either, probably wondering why Taemin didn’t say the real conditions of their team mates.

Flying back could mean two things.

Kibum was recovering or he was dying and they couldn’t save him and were bringing his body back to his family.

Areum couldn’t stay still; she nervously played with the sleeves of her big sweater, eyes on the road.

Audrey was sitting on the stairs leading to the house with Mi Jung. Jonghyun was a few steps away from them speaking with Lee Sooman.

Even though it was quiet outside only the birds singing, and the view of the lake was beautiful and relaxing, no one was paying attention to that, fidgety eyes on the road waiting for the van that would bring SHINee back to Korea, back home.

“Why are they taking so long?” Areum complained voicing out everyone’s thoughts. “They said they would arrive this morning and it’s almost lunch time.”

“It takes time.” Mi Jung explained “Kibum comes in a gurney. It probably takes longer.”

Audrey didn’t say anything not daring to move her eyes one inch, silently praying to herself that Kibum would be ok, that he would smile at her and even roll his eyes at her calling her an idiot for waiting outside.

A black van surrounded by two cars showed up from behind a tree suddenly and Audrey stood up and walked down the stairs a small smile spreading on her lips. Mi Jung and Areum followed her and even Jonghyun and Lee Sooman quieted down and waited for the van.

They were back.

The big van came to a stop in front of the house and Taemin came out from the passenger’s seat. Everyone ignored him of course; eyes on the back of the van but Taemin didn’t blame them. He helped the driver open the door on the back and Minho was the first one to jump outside. He looked extremely tired but still managed to smile at Jonghyun that hugged him immediately, patting his back. “Good job! You did really well!”

They would have talked more but Areum was already peeking from behind them her eyes on the man just behind Minho looking at her with a bandage around his head.

“Jinki!” She cried in a mix of worry with relief, her eyes wet and Minho stepped away so she could reach her husband.

Areum wrapped her arms around Jinki making him complain and push her back softly.

“I’m sorry.”

“He almost broke his ribs. He is ok but hurt.” Explained Minho before turning to Sooman “I left Soul were she asked me to.”

“You did well.” Jonghyun repeated again watching Areum and Jinki that were looking at each other lovingly “You did well.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you!” Areum said caressing his chest and Jinki shook his head softly.

“It’s ok. I’m ok.” He joined his forehead with hers softly and she kissed him not able to hold on anymore. She didn’t care that everyone was witnessing that gesture of love, she was too happy to see him there, breathing, hurt but apparently fine.

“We should…” Jinki pulled her by one hand that he didn’t let go, out of the way and Minho stepped inside with Taemin so they could pull out the gurney where Kibum was lying.

Areum turned around wondering where Audrey was and she spotted her behind everyone, peeking over Mi Jung’s shoulder.

What was she doing?! The man she loved was back…

Then she realized that Audrey needed her at that moment.

Areum whispered in Jinki’s ear telling him to wait a second and then she sneaked in the middle of everyone, including several agents that were curiously watching. She grabbed Audrey’s hand that widened her eyes and pulled her, mumbling some excuse me’s until they reached Jinki again.

Audrey's hand was cold and she was trembling but Areum didn’t let go. She held Audrey’s hand and grabbed Jinki’s with her free hand. The people she loved the most needed her right now.

Audrey gasped when the gurney was brought outside and she could see Kibum’s face. He looked so pale, with tubes coming out from his arm and connected to the IV pole. He had a bandage around his head and a neck collar. But the worse thing was his closed eyes, the lack of reaction as if he was a porcelain doll. With beautiful features like he had and pale, that was what he looked to Audrey.

The doctor SM sent to receive Kibum pushed the gurney, and Audrey hesitated, trying to reach for Kibum’s  hand to see if it was really him and not a sick imitation of him but the gurney was pushed in the direction of the house without giving her time to do so.

Both Areum and Jinki noticed it and Areum grabbed the gurney receiving a glare from the doctor.

“Wait please.” Jinki asked being more diplomatic.  “Can she go with you?”

“She is his girlfriend!” Areum explained and Audrey took that moment to grab his fingers in hers. They were even colder than her hand and once again she was near tears. Yet, it was him. She was sure it was him and that realization hurt as much as it made her happy.

Yes. She was his girlfriend, she was going to call herself that until he woke up and rolled his eyes at everyone complaining that he would never date a nerd annoying girl like her.

“Ok. As long as she follows the rules.”

“She will!” Sooman interrupted making the doctor change his attitude immediate.

“Follow us. We will be staying in the infirmary.”

Audrey sent Jinki and Areum a thankful nod and followed after them inside the house.

She had to release his hand so they could push the gurney ahead of them but she followed diligently, her eyes never leaving Kibum’s sleeping form.

The only thing that distracted her was Director Oh that was at the end of the stairs watching the scene, a weird expression on her face.

Audrey almost stopped wondering if she saw right and Director Oh was crying, but when she tried to look a second time she was already climbing up the stairs, her back to Audrey.

“How is he?” Sooman asked Minho.

Jonghyun, Mi Jung, Jinki, Areum and Taemin were the only ones in front of Sooman, inside his office. It was a family reunion like Sooman called it but sounded more like a work one.

Minho didn’t answer immediately, letting his tired body fall over the chair in front of the older man’s desk.

“He had surgery. “Jinki answered in his place “He was bleeding internally from a head trauma but it was a success. Now we need to wait and see if he recovers well.”

“I see.” Sooman stood up from his chair and looked at his kids.

Jonghyun and Mi Jung clearly didn’t sleep anything and that could be seen on their tired faces. Minho was looking even worse than them, with a small cut on his cheek and bags under his eyes that made him look older than he was. Taemin was in a corner lost in his thoughts, troubled about something. Jinki just left the hospital and he needed to rest properly even though he was holding his wife's hand with all his strength.

“Well then! It’s time to go and eat something before everyone goes to bed.”

“Bed? In the middle of the day?” Mi Jung asked and her father pushed her to the door. In his way there he also grabbed Taemin and Jinki who dragged Areum with him.

“Exactly! I’m putting my kids to bed! All of you. Don’t worry about anything and just go rest!” his “kids” didn’t have much strength to complain since they truly needed the rest “Let’s eat something delicious to lift our spirits!”

“Father!” Mi Jung complained outside the room and Minho turned to follow them just when Jonghyun stopped him.

“Now that we are alone there is something I want to ask you.”

Minho swallowed hard knowing that that moment would come. Jonghyun wasn’t an idiot and even though Jinki respected Minho’s decision, earlier that day, of not telling him what deal he made, Jonghyun wouldn’t be as easy to convince as him.

“There is a funny rumor going around.”

“Rumor?”

“Yes about a certain SM agent that killed Choi Jihun. Last time, you told me Nana did it.”

The seed Minho planted was growing well. Soon he would get his target to come for him.

“She did!”

Jonghyun grasped his arm stronger and Minho stood his ground ready to lie if it was necessary.

“Then tell me why they say Minho did it.”

“W-what nonsense. Well rumors are rumors.” Minho laughed it off but Jonghyun didn’t seem amused.

“This is no joke…what did you trade with the Yakuza?”

This was Minho’s time to lie to his friend for the first time in his life.

“Nothing. They decided to be nice for a change.”

“You can’t possibly want me to believe that!” Jonghyun’s pained eyes on Minho made him feel guilty. He was so much like Sooman, he had that need to protect everyone, to feel responsible for everyone. That was probably the reason he was chosen to be his successor. Luckily he was also his daughter’s husband.

“You and Taemin are acting too weirdly!” Jonghyun accused.

“Taemin?”

“Yes. He asked me for a few days off. He says he has something important to do. I don’t like it…” Jonghyun released Minho “Jinki is hurt. Kibum is hurt…and Taemin is going away? He won’t stay to see them recover? It’s not like him. It makes no sense.”

Minho his lips nervously. Even though he didn’t know what was wrong with Taemin he knew he needed to respect it.

“I don’t know anything. I swear!”

Jonghyun groaned pained and pulled Minho for a hug that he reciprocated.

“You are being very gay!” Minho teased but didn’t release his friend.

“I thought I was going to lose you too. I’m so glad you are safe…”

Minho patted his back friendly “I know. I’m sorry.”

Jonghyun stepped back holding his friend's arm “You know you are a part of this family too, right? We love you as our family. It doesn’t matter how you come to join us. You are my brother.”

“I know.”

He did. That was why he was doing that alone.

He was going to do that without risking the life of everyone he loved. That trade gave Kibum and Jinki a chance to survive and go back to their family even if it cost Minho’s life. It was ok, they did so much for him already and it was his time to give back.

When Nana sacrificed herself and stepped away from Minho he didn’t realize what it meant but now he did. He was doing the same, he could now understand her and if he could he would ask her to forgive him but it was too late now. With that crazy plan he was even protecting her which made him proud. She was the real murderer after all and in that way he was repaying what she did for him. It was a full circle. Perfect.

Yes, now he completely understands. When it comes to love there is nothing you can’t do.

The hot water made his skin wounds burn so instead they were showering with almost cold water. Areum didn’t seem to mind even though she was trembling. Jinki pushed her away several times, telling her he would shower alone but she insisted, getting and stepping inside it with him, cleaning his wound with a sponge diligently, rubbing the dry blood that was hidden under his clothes and he wasn’t able to wash away.

For a while Jinki watched her, how she pursed her lips every time she spotted a new cut, how she bit her lower lip trying to hold on the tears, how she kissed some of the marks of his body as if he was a kid and her kiss truly had healing powers.

He resisted her for a while, holding his feelings in but it was too much for him so instead he leaned forward and kissed her, burying his fingers in her wet hair pulling Areum against him.

She raised her hands trying not to touch him, afraid to do so and hurt him but he wrapped an arm around her waist and she slipped on the floor right into his arms. Once she placed her hands on his chest to steady herself he cried and she immediately took her hands way.

“I’m so sorry!” She panicked stepping away from him looking horrified at him while he turned to lean against the shower, hiding his face of pain from her. “I’m really sorry. Should I call the doctor?”

He smiled in pain and turned to her. Areum was near tears like the big kid she was looking at him as if he was dying. The image was adorable and yet very painful to him.

“I’m fine. I’m not going to die cause of this.”

Areum didn’t move with the sponge in her hand looking at him scared. She wasn’t sure where to wash anymore. He had a big ugly cut on his temple, several cuts on his chest and several dark bruises all over his body.

He seemed to sense her fear and grabbed the sponge from her hand.

“I’m clean already. It’s ok.” He turned off the water and turned to her “Come here.”

“I’m scared to hurt you.”

“You won’t. I'll touch you instead. I’ll show you where you can place your hands.”

That made her smile and he knew she was having ert thoughts. “Oh I like that game!”

“It’s a nice game.” He grabbed her gently pulling her closer and she raised her arms cutely so she won’t touch him again. Jinki cupped her face pulling her in for a kiss and while he kissed her passionately he moved his hands to her arms pulling them down beside her body.

Areum closed her eyes kissing him back fighting the urge to touch him but broke the kiss once he caressed her stomach, their gazes meeting.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you and the baby.”

“That’s why you can’t get hurt anymore.”

“I’ll be careful from now on!”

“You said that and look what happened!” She pouted her lips and he stole another kiss from her before leaving the shower.

She followed after him grabbing a towel and carefully started to dry his hair.

“I have the pregnancy test.” The announcement made him stop her.

“What is the result?”

“I didn’t do it. I want you to be the first one to know…even before me.”

Her decision seemed to please him because he forgot about his wounds and pulled her to his arms for a kiss that left her breathless.

“Let’s do it!” He said against her lips. “We need to be sure so we can start taking some measures.”

He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist walking back to the bedroom. Areum did the same, but took longer trying to wrap one around her wet hair which wasn’t working that well. She never knew how to do it anyway.

“What measures are you talking about?” She asked when she entered the bedroom. Jinki was wearing his underwear already and sitting over the bed, careful to not get hurt, ready to sleep. “Are you going to give up on being an agent?”

“I can’t.” The answer didn’t please her and he knew it “Not now at least. I meant taking you to a doctor to check if the baby is alright. We are not sure when you got pregnant and you went through a lot including…”

She knew what he meant. The time she was tortured by Smoke. If she was pregnant back then she could have lost the baby.

Areum crossed her arms “I knew it. You won’t ever let go of your revenge not even for your own baby!”

“Areum!” He called to her. She couldn’t understand. It wasn’t the revenge alone. SM was part of he was now. He would never be able to step away from it.  “Please don’t be upset with me. My team is a mess right now. I can’t leave them. They are also my family.”

She bit her lower lip looking at him sadly. He had his cute bunny face and she couldn’t say no to him when she knew he was right anyway.

“You don’t have to leave the team.” She sat by his side throwing the towel of her hair away since it was falling, letting her wet hair fall on her back. “You can be Like Base. You have an IT degree right?”

“It’s not that simple…” He caressed her face.

“I don’t want to be a single mother. I also don’t want you to be a star. I need you here with me, with us!”

“Star?!” He frowned connecting the dots “Who told you that?”

“Bora. She said you told her that when someone dies they become a star.”

He grabbed her hand on his admiring the way it was smaller than his and yet she was so strong. His hand was also small compared to his father's and yet he used to tell him that he would do big things someday. That baby…that would be the biggest thing he would ever make. He was sure of it.

“My dad used to say that. When my grandmother died, my mother wouldn’t stop crying and…” he was trying really hard to connect the memories inside his head which made him flinch in pain and Areum caressed his hair.

“It’s ok. Don’t force yourself.”

“No. I must remember. I need to!” He closed and opened his eyes again focusing on the small fragments of memory as if it was a frames burned of a film, slowly coming to life. “I guess I asked my father about grandma and why mother was crying and he said…she was a star now. It made total sense to me now. Even though mother could see her or even talk with her, she could never receive and answer back from her, or hug her. It seemed very unfair to me.”

It was to Bora too and Areum caressed Jinki’s neck.

“It is unfair.” she kissed his forehead as if he was once again a kid. “That is why you can’t be a star. I can’t be apart from you. I need you.”

“Can we discuss this whole SM matter another time?” He asked softly, his head hurting now “Let’s get the confirmation.” He said rubbing her tummy over the towel.

“Right! I must pee then! Give me a second.”

Areum stood up and grabbed the small package from over the beauty table and walked to the bathroom while he watched her.

Jinki laid down on the bed while she was inside.

He felt extremely tired and he couldn’t relax yet. Even though he was home and safe he couldn’t stop thinking about Kibum and the whole accident experience. It was too scary for him, so scary he couldn’t sleep at all. The images that came to him during the accident were very confusing and were mixed with the ones from the accident years ago, the same one that killed his parents.

However there was something he remembered that didn’t make sense.

His mother was on the passenger’s seat beside his father that was driving and yet when he was helping Minho pull Kibum from inside the car he remembered it clearly, how he kneeled in front of the broken window of the car before laying on the floor, stretching his arm as long as he could to reach her hand and yet he never seemed to get there.

Something was fishy in that memory but he wasn’t sure what.

“It’s ready!” Areum’s voice made him sit up on the bed forgetting all about past memories.

The baby was more important now. He beamed at her certain of the result and Areum gave him the test.

“It says to wait…a purple line means baby…”

“Ok!”

She sat in front of him nervously moving her hands and he grasped the test on his hand, his eyes never leaving the place the little line would show.

“Are you nervous?” She asked him and he shook his head.

“Are you?” He raised his eyes to her and noticed how she wasn’t even looking at the test but at him instead.

“Yes. It’s a big thing…it’s a baby…”

“Are you sure you want me to see first?”

“Yes!”

It wasn’t only because it was a baby. Now she was scared it would be negative. He longed for that baby for such a long time and in the meanwhile she started longing for it as much as him.

Nothing happened for long minutes and his smile faded slowly. She could see the disappointment on his face immediately “I’m sorry.”

He lowered the pregnancy test so she could see it and Areum had the confirmation she feared.

No purple line. Not pregnant.

“I’m so sorry!” She covered her eyes ashamed, feeling horrible that she gave him false hopes when she wasn’t pregnant after all.  “Guess it was truly gases.”

She tried to smile and yet she started to cry. He moved on the bed ignoring the pain and hugged her against him.
Areum tried to move away but she would hurt him so she stood as still as she could. “I’m so sorry. I really wanted to make you a father.” She rose her wet eyes to him “As soon as you feel stronger we can try again. I’ll let you have with me as many times you want. I don’t mind.”

That made him smile widely and he kissed her, tasting her salty lips form her tears. “I know you don’t.” She wrapped her arms around his neck softly and he cleaned the tears of her cheek. “It’s ok. Next time for sure…I’ll work hard.” He smiled with his pun and Areum chuckled too.

“I’m so disappointed.”

“You are?” He wanted to kiss her so badly but waited to hear what she wanted to say.

“Yes. I know you said before that it wasn’t the right time and I agreed in a certain way but…”

“But?”

“It’s your baby. I would be crazy if I didn’t want to have your baby.”

He kissed her then, breathing in her scent. It was ok. They had time. They weren’t married for long. It only felt longer since they barely had time to be together, to properly have their honeymoon and enjoy each other as a couple married.

“I think I can…work…right now...”

“Are you insane?” Areum pulled him away softly “You almost died Lee Jinki!”

He chuckled with her reaction. “I’m kidding! But tomorrow…for sure!”

She grinned wanting the same. “As long as you tell me where is safe to touch!”

He leaned his head against hers “I’ll do the touching. I'll guide you!”

Areum raised her finger to his lips, caressing him down to his chin. “Are you going on a new mission agent Lee Jinki?”

“Hum?” He was confused with her words and she softly pushed him down in the bed.

“Mission Get Song Areum pregnant!”

“Oh!” He liked the idea.

She pulled the covers over him and then kneeled beside him taking the towel around her body off before she entered the bed.

“But first we must sleep!”

Audrey woke up with the sound of a kid laughing. She sat on her bed, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of her bedroom.

Slowly she could see the pink bunny by her side in the bed and the small playing kitchen her father bought to her on her birthday.

It was Christmas and if kids were laughing then Santa has arrived.

She pulled the covers down and placed her bare feet on the white carpet of her bedroom, stretching her small arm to turn on the lamp that had the shape of a turtle.

The light made her blink her sleepy eyes but Audrey wasn’t scared anymore.

She run to the door and quickly pushed it before stepping into the dark hallway. At the end of it she could hear the laughter again, Christmas carols and something else. A toy train was moving on a yellow railroad and Audrey could see it on it until it disappeared from her sight.

“What is my princess doing up?” A man grabbed Audrey and she giggled wrapping her arms around his neck, the familiar scent of her father making her feel safe.

“Daddy! Santa arrived!”

“Aigo! Yes he did arrive early!”

“What did he bring me?”

He placed her on the floor carefully and squatted in front of her poking her nose “You must see for yourself!”

“Are you up already?” The sweet voice of her mother made Audrey look in the direction of the room that shined so brightly.

“Mommy!”

She smiled at Audrey with a plate of cookies in her hand. “Come eat the cookies and drink milk!”

“Your mom really goes all the way with these things doesn’t she?” her father said caressing Audrey’s hair.

“It’s tradition!” Audrey’s mom placed the plate over the table “Back in France, when I was little I used to do this every year.”

“Let’s go!” Audrey’s father said grabbing the little girls hand and she followed him in the direction of the light.

But once she stepped into it everything changed.

The carols ended, the train disappeared, her mother's smile vanished and his father's touch was cold now.

Audrey opened her eyes. Darkness again, her cheeks were wet with tears and she still could hear her mother's cries in her head. She was so scared and there was smoke everywhere, so much that she couldn’t breathe or open her eyes.

Audrey wished she had a place to hide, that her father would grab her in his arms again…

She wasn’t alone though, someone was near her, a voice familiar to her, which also made her feel at home.

“Audrey…wake up…wake up…”

She trusted that voice so she opened her eyes and stretched her hand.

Audrey woke up from her dream with her face wet of tears, trembling as if she was back to that cold place of her nightmare.

She raised her head from the bed bellow her and stretched on the chair she was sitting.

She was inside the infirmary taking care of Kibum when she fell asleep so Audrey stood up to peek at him, hoping that he would look back at her.

No luck. He was exactly as he was before she fell asleep. Motionless like a porcelain figure.

“Are you there?” Audrey poked his cheek “How can you sleep for such a long time? Are you really that tired? Or are you trying to avoid going on a date with me?”

Audrey cleaned her wet cheeks and leaned forward hovering over his lips.

“I’m going to kiss you Kibum. Do something about it!”

She waited but nothing happened which made her cry of despair. “Where are you? Are you also lost? Afraid to open your eyes?”

Audrey grabbed his hand like Areum used to do before when she was scared about something and leaned closer to his ear.

A long time ago, if that memory was real, someone that was special to her called for her name and made her open her eyes and step away from that dark place. Maybe if Kibum heard her he could also come back to her.

“Kibum…wake up…I'm here…wake up!”

Taemin jumped a few more times with the jumping rope and then threw it to the floor before he got ready to kick the blue boxing bag that was hanging from the ceiling, ready for that effect.

“You are training a lot!”

He wasn’t surprised that Jonghyun was there. He felt his presence already.

“I’m trying to keep in shape.”

Jonghyun didn’t seem convinced.  Ever since he was back from Japan Taemin didn’t stop training and even though Jonghyun convinced him to stay until Kibum woke up, something that didn’t happen already and was making everyone in the house crazy with worry, Jonghyun was sure something was weird about Taemin's determination.

“Did Kibum…?” Taemin asked.

“No. Not yet.” It was two days already and even though his body seemed to be recovering he didn’t gain consciousness yet.

Taemin's wall of indifference that he let fall for a few seconds to ask about Kibum was back up and Jonghyun that wanted to try and find out more about his intentions tried to use another trump that he was sure would work on Taemin.

“I’m happy you decided to stay. Jinki is recovering well.”

“He is!” Taemin sat on the bench drinking a little of water from his bottle.

“You probably don’t know, since you barely leave the gym now…” it seemed like he was criticizing him “But Areum’s not pregnant. “

“Really?” That seemed to make the wall fall again “Jinki must be sad.”

“He is…but since they barely leave the bedroom now, I’m sure they are working on that already.”

Taemin chuckled filling his mouth with water making him look like a hamster “I’m glad. They never managed to have their honeymoon!”

Jonghyun sat beside Taemin and he hesitated. He couldn’t reveal what he knew but he wanted to make Taemin understand how important that was, so he would not do something crazy – whatever it was - and stay. “Jinki lost a lot…but he…he has people he loves now. He has you…and…Areum…”

“He didn’t lose everyone…” Taemin enigmatic answer made Jonghyun widen his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“I know!”

“What do you know?” Jonghyun paled searching Taemin’s eyes and the younger man grinned.

“I listened to it. To the conversation you had with Sooman.”

“H-how?”

“You underestimate my skills sometimes. It wasn’t something I wanted to listen to, I confess. It’s a very big secret and those are dangerous! That moment is high on my list of things I didn’t wish to witness, next to you almost having with Mi Jung inside the stables.”

“!” Jonghyun blushed making Taemin even more amused while he wrapped the white bandages around his hands.

“You never told Jinki although you know.” Jonghyun couldn’t understand at all. That secret could change Jinki’s life and Taemin that, instead of Jonghyun, didn’t make an oath to never reveal it, never did so. “Why?”

“I shouldn’t. It’s not my secret. It’s something Sooman must tell him. He was the one who did the mistake. He is the one who must correct it.”

Taemin pulled the bandage around his hand firmly “Besides, I believe that the day he will know will come very soon. Destiny is not something you can play with.” Taemin smiled like a boy even though his words were way wiser than the age he had.

“It’s actually curious…I wonder about it so many times…how somehow…”

“He end up finding Areum, how she end up here and everything fell into place.” Taemin finished “Its destiny! Everyone must follow his!”

And his steps were guided towards Mina. His heart was stolen for her for a reason.

For him to meet the man he was going to kill or die trying, her father.

“I’m sure destiny is going to catch up with Jinki very soon!” Taemin repeated.

His was catching up with him already.

Areum hummed happily placing the big bowl with chicken soup and two spoons on the tray; she cooked that meal for Jinki and herself, to give him strength. However he didn’t seem weak at all in bed. She giggled remembering how strong he did seem earlier that day when they had .

With that thought in mind she walked with the tray into the hallway and almost bumped against Director Oh that was still looking very nervous, probably because Kibum didn’t recover properly yet. 

“What is that?”

The question didn’t trouble Areum that was used to that woman butting in in everything.

“Soup…for my husband! I made it!”

“Is Lee Jinki better?”

Apparently perfect Director Oh wasn’t doing her “spy” work enough lately.

“Yes. Very much.” She blushed a little still not able to shake that morning and the mission make Areum pregnant away from her mind. “Now I must go before it gets cold.”

Areum couldn’t walk further away because Director Oh blocked her way again “Are you drinking the medicine I gave you?”

Areum blinked her eyes surprised with her concern. When she moved into the house and she barely knew her, Director Oh offered her several bottles of Herbal Medicine so she could recover her forces but she never truly asked Areum if she was drinking them.

“I am, it’s almost finished. Maybe I should give it to Jinki…”

“No. He is taking medicine already. I’ll get you more. You must not stop taking it! Audrey should take it too. She doesn’t seem well…which makes sense.” Director Oh trailed off looking very sad and Areum heart wavered. Maybe that woman had a heart after all.

“I heard you are not pregnant.” Director Oh said coming back to her usual self “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. I will be very soon. We are working on that!” this time she said it with no embarrassment.

Director Oh expression didn’t change but Areum felt that her answer didn’t please her. There was something about the way Director Oh looked at her, as if she hated her above everything else, something that made no sense since she never did anything to her.

Areum used that opportunity to pass by the older woman but after a few steps she turned around, making the spoons on the tray slide on it and hit the bowl.

“Jinki isn’t a machine. He is a person and I’m going to do everything to make him happy. I’ll get pregnant. I’m going to give him a lot of babies and a lot of reasons to make him choose his family over revenge.”

Director Oh didn’t answer but her gaze on Areum made her nervous.

Areum was gullible and she wasn’t good reading people and yet Director Oh gave her the creeps.

“I’m going to protect him!” Areum said before turning around walking quickly away from there.

She wasn’t sure why she said it but somehow Areum knew that she had to do it.

- Later that day -

“Can I come in?” Jinki asked making Audrey turn on the chair.

“Of course.”

They changed Kibum to his bedroom, now that he seemed to be stable, even though he wasn’t waking up yet.

Of course Audrey insisted to be beside him and even though everyone was trying to convince her to rest properly no one dared to kick her away from the bedroom that was now her favorite place of the house.

“Did you eat anything?” Jinki asked softly approaching the bed, taking a good look at his motionless friend.

“Areum brought me something. I’m fine.”

“Ah yes…” He sat on the bed facing Audrey and she swallowed hard knowing what would follow. Areum tried before, Jonghyun did too, even Mi Jung and Sooman but she wasn’t going to leave him alone.

“I know what you are thinking. Areum asked him to tell Audrey he would keep watch while she went to sleep on a proper bed instead of a chair beside the bed of an unconscious man.”

“And did she?”

“Yes.” Both chuckled “I know a little bit of what you are feeling and if it was Areum in this bed I would be doing the same. However she is worried with you, so for her sake and for yours and Kibum’s sake, try to at least take some hours to sleep properly. I won’t mind staying here. It’s been 3 days already. You will get sick this way.”

“You can’t stay here! Areum told me about your mission!”

Jinki blushed knowing what she meant and wondering if Areum did hide anything from Audrey at all.

“She is my sister!” Audrey said as if she read his mind “She tells me everything! So you must work hard on making Areum pregnant project. You can’t stay here!”

Jinki laughed covering his mouth and Audrey smiled victoriously.

“I’ll get it done very soon…I trust my warriors.”

“Aigo!” Audrey chuckled feeling a little better. For the first time in a while she was able to smile again and for that Jinki visit was already worthwhile.

“I’ll wait until he wakes up!” Audrey insisted “I’m sure it will happen really soon.”

“Am I interrupting anything?” Areum asked from the door carrying another tray with food and Audrey frowned.

“I’m not hungry anymore. You brought food not even one hour ago!”

Areum ignored her comment, although she did spend the whole day either inside the kitchen or her bedroom, and instead placed the tray on the bedside table, avoiding the IV pole for an inch. “I made cookies! Christmas cookies! You said the other day you dreamed with that!”

Audrey was speechless, feeling emotional with Areum’s action. She was acting more and more like a mother, cooking for her and Jinki, taking care of them.

“I have milk too! I know it’s not Christmas but maybe you will want it.”

“You are too precious to be real!” Audrey mumbled almost crying and Areum grabbed a cookie from the plate and offered it to her.

“Eat one!”

“Can I have one too?” Jinki asked suddenly fixated on the plate.

“You like them too?”

Jinki frowned a little confused “I think I do…”

“I have cookies for everyone!” Areum picked up two other cookies offering one to Jinki and sat beside him, the three of them eating. “What were you talking about?”

“About Jinki’s and your eggs.”

“Damn!” Areum chocked on the cookie which made everyone laugh.

“You can go you know. I’ll be ok by myself.”

Areum frowned sadly but Jinki stood up from the bed.

“The offer is still up.”

Audrey nodded her head “Its ok. Go! You have a mission to accomplish!”

“It’s not like we have all the time you know?!” Areum said offended, her eyes moving from Audrey to Jinki that smiled with her comment “We don’t! Jinki is still recovering!”

“You were the one who told her about the mission! Don’t look at me now!”

“I did but…”

Audrey wasn’t listening to them anymore, drinking the milk and eating her cookies while she looked over Kibum.

Jinki signaled for Areum to join him at the door and she did hesitantly.

“Let’s let them be alone.” He whispered pulling her by her arm.

“But…”

“It’s her decision. We should respect it.”

Areum sent Audrey a last look and then asked Jinki to wait a second.

She almost ran to her friend and back hugged her, kissing her cheek. “I’m here of you need me ok?”

Audrey caressed her friend hand “I know!”

“They know!” The woman cried “Minho please contact me…this guy from The Union is after me….I'm scared less! Somehow they know I’m helping you. They want your head….I'm ed…call me!”

Minho replayed the message on his voice mail trying to see if he could hear any back noise and then tried to call the phone number of Ilana that he memorized.

He let it ring several times waiting for her to answer and when he was almost panicking wondering if it was too late a woman crying answered.

“Ilana! Thank god, your message worried me.”

“Minho I’m not ok. I changed hotels several times. They are going to kill me.”

“Who is?”

“These guys, they work for Yoon Kyung-Min, he…”

“I know who he is.” He was the person he needed to catch for the Yakuza. His trap was working perfectly. He was after him already, however it was placing people who contacted with him in danger, which was not good.  “Did they hurt you?”

“No. I ran away, but I’m scared. I have no place to go. You need to help me! You said you would!”

“I will. I'll hide you in a safe place.”

“I want the mansion. You need to take me there.”

“No way, I can't do that!” Minho whispered, blending into the shadows of the piano room where he decided to secretly make the phone call “Are you insane? I can’t bring someone that works for Dokko inside SM headquarters.”

“They are going to kill me and it’s going to be your fault.”

That was enough to make Minho guilty. “They won’t. I’ll pick you up. Tell me where you are.”

“I can’t. They might be listening. I’ll call you later from a safer place.”

She turned off the call and Minho cleaned the sweat of his neck. Lately his life was a living hell of worries and now there was another problem over his shoulders.

Minho walked outside the room and froze when he saw Director Oh waiting for him in the hallway.

She smiled slightly since he looked like a deer with eyes wide open wondering if she heard anything.

“Director Oh, you surprised me!”

“I can see that!”

“Did you…”

“I have matters with Sooman Sunbaenim, excuse me!”

She crossed the hallway slowly without looking back smiling to herself knowing exactly that Choi Minho was trembling with fear because of what she heard.

It was funny how everyone  always used to look down on her ever since she was a little girl, not realizing that she knew more than she let it seem. Inside SM was the same. She knew about everything happening under the mansion’s roof and even outside.

She was Lee Sooman’s best ally for years.

“Can I come in?” She asked stepping inside Sooman’s office that turned to her with a smile.

“Sung-hi! Please come in!”

Oh Sung-Hi. He was the only one who called her by her real name. No wonder. Sooman was the one who took her from the awful house she used to live with her aunt, the one who gave her a proper job. She was only a teenager back then but she fell in love with that older man that was gentle, that lived alone with a daughter and an adopted son.

While he treated her as if she was a version of her older daughter, Sung Hi fantasized about him falling for her, admired with her professionalism and marrying her. Someday she would be the owner of that beautiful mansion and they would rule SM together.

However years passed and it never happened. Sooman still treated her as that little girl and even though he respected her work he never let it become more than that, work.

She once dared to tell him about her silly crush and he laughed it off patting her head as if it her feelings weren’t more than a joke to him.

Then he adopted another kid, a rebellious teenager that was also an orphan, Lee Taemin. And Sung –Hi realized that she wasn’t special after all.

It was a normal thing for that man, to pick up kids that didn’t had anyone, give them a place to stay and teach them to work for him. She felt used and almost left the mansion.

However she didn’t. When she entered that mansion she promised herself it would be hers someday and if the old man didn’t want her than his oldest son could.

Somehow her feelings for Sooman transferred to his adoptive son Lee Jinki.

He was handsome, gentle, respectful and a good agent. He was perfect.

Until the day he fell for that stupid girl in a mission and even married her.

Every one of her plans were being ruined for her and Sung- Hi was slowly losing her determination.

She only needed to wait for the right time to rise again and get what she wanted.

Sung-Hi was doomed to be just a secretary inside the agency, just one employee in the middle of the others and she would never let that happen.

“What is wrong?” Sooman asked grabbing a few files from his desk and placing it inside one of the drawers of the cabinet behind his desk.

“I think I know who the mole is.”

Sooman turned around to face Sung-Hi and she smiled internally.

She was as always his best ally.

Gymnopédies No.1 of Erik Satie, a French composer, was playing in the background in repeat for more than one hour now.

Audrey read that sometimes music could help in cases like Kibum’s. Unfortunately she didn’t know what kind of music he liked and it took her a while to find the right music. She didn’t want something happy but she also didn’t want something sad. That was the perfect one, every note of the piano mimicking the beating of her heart, the steps he was giving towards her, back to where she was waiting for him. Besides she found an album of that composer in his bedroom. Maybe Kibum bought it in Paris, maybe it brings happy memories to him…maybe…

Audrey grabbed his hand admiring his fingers. Now that he couldn’t scold her or run away from her she could touch him and admire him as much as she wanted and how bittersweet it was that she would give everything to turn back time to when he would run away from her. How she would trade everything for a few hours with him speaking, smiling, alive.

She kissed his fingers one by one taking her time. Suddenly time was all she had and it passed by so slowly at the rhythm of his peaceful breathing.

“I hate you.” Audrey said placing his dead arm over his chest so she could sit beside him in the bed. “I hate you Kim Kibum! You are an idiot!” He didn’t scold her like he normally would and Audrey grabbed him by his shoulder and shook his body, near a mental breakdown “Are you listening? Just answer….give me a sign that you are there listening to me!”

She was going insane and if anyone saw her do that to a sick man like him they would certainly forbid her to return to his bedroom alone.

“I love you” She bit her lower lip trying to hold the tears but crying was all she has done the past few days. Crying, hoping, praying, wishing and yet nothing was changing.  “I can’t wait any longer.” She lay on his chest hugging his body and wondering if he was still there hearing what she was saying. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t lose anyone else…I need you.”

Nothing. Only the music kept playing in the background and Audrey let herself stay there, tearless waiting for her tears to dry while she heard his heart beating.

Maybe she could ask Taemin to play the music for him. Maybe live music would have another effect. Maybe…

She sniffed rubbing her nose. She needed to blow her nose or she would dirty his pajama. That was a no no. Kibum would scold her for sure if that happened. She almost felt tempted. Instead she kissed the thin fabric of his pajama shirt over the place his heart was and sat up.

Her eyes widened and her heart stopped.

Kibum was looking back at her with dazed eyes a confused tired expression.

She didn’t react wondering if she was dreaming but he closed and opened his eyes again slowly very slowly as if he woke up from a very long nights sleep. He truly did.

“Don’t cry.” He said in a low husky voice and Audrey jumped from the bed stepping away from it.

Was she dreaming? Did she go crazy?

“JONGHYUN!” She screamed to the door knowing that he was on the room next to hers working. “HE WOKE UP!” She wasn’t certain yet. She needed someone to see it too.

Jonghyun entered the room panting a huge smile spreading on his face and Audrey dared to believe.

She didn’t hesitate any longer throwing herself over him again, hugging him tightly.

Kibum didn’t move, opening his dry pale lips to breathe, raising his hand tiredly to brush her hair away from his face before he placed it on her back. The gesture making her cry harder.

“Kibum are you ok?” Jonghyun, his friend, asked with his eyes wet. Apparently everyone was missing Kibum very much and he smiled with that thought. He had no idea of what happened and he was so confused. “What is your name?” Jonghyun question made Kibum roll his eyes.

“Kibum…you just said it genius!”

“HE IS OK!” Jonghyun cried before he laughed heartily “I’m going to call the doctor! Don’t let him fall asleep.”

Audrey raised her head and now they were alone in the bedroom again.

“This song…”

“I found it here….”

He didn’t answer, remembering how he bought that album in Paris with Audrey in mind as an apologize gift for what he did to her, for pushing her away from him, for giving her false hopes. He was inside one of those cute Parisian coffee shops when the music started playing and he imagined himself waiting for Audrey outside, watching her step by step walk in his direction like a tourist marveling at everything, a smile that was brighter than the sun, a cute beanie on her head, her beautiful curly hair moving with the wind.

He never had the courage to give the album to her.

However maybe music did have magical powers after all.

“It’s actually yours.”

She didn’t know what he meant but smiled cupping his face, caressing his cheeks, nothing mattered anyway, just that her prayers were heard and he was back to her.

He sighed and closed his eyes again so Audrey kissed him making him immediately open them.

She was never that bold about her desires, she never kissed him like that and that gesture surprised him.

“You can’t sleep. I won’t let you! If you close your eyes again I’ll kiss you!”

He smiled like a beautiful sick cat which made her cry of affection. “That’s one more reason for me to close them.”

“Don’t joke!” She cleaned her tears since she needed to see him well. If before she was keeping an eye on him to be sure he opened his eyes now she was trying to be sure he wouldn’t close them. ”Please don’t leave me again!”

“I won’t…” slowly he was remembering the accident “I thought I was dying.”

“You can’t die! I forbid you! You have a date with me! You promised to take me to Paris and to help me find out about who were my parents!”

He swallowed with difficulty “I’ll ask Base to help. I’m too weak to do that right now.”

“I can wait! I’ll wait…I’ll wait as long as it takes. I’ll wait for you, always!”

 They weren’t talking about her parents and he knew. Instead of saying anything he closed his eyes.

“Kiss me. I have my eyes closed!”

Audrey laughed before she kissed him, placing her hand over his heart. Finally she could say he was truly alive.

“Oh he is certainly fine!” The doctor said after witnessing the scene and Audrey stepped away from Kibum blushing.

Jonghyun laughed agreeing with him and the doctor started measuring Kibum’s blood pressure.

Audrey wasn’t paying attention to anything, her gaze on Kibum that was also only looking at her.

“His blood pressure is fine.” He placed the stethoscope in his ears and started ing Kibum’s shirt to listen to his heart.

Kibum stretched his arm in Audrey’s direction and she pursed her lips wondering what that meant.

“Don’t go...” His request made her step closer. “Audrey stay. I need you!”

She grabbed his hand and warmed it against her chest like she did so many times before while he was unconscious.

“Yes.”

Maybe he heard her when she said she needed him, or maybe he truly needed her.

“Don’t go.”

“I won’t!”

No. He definitely needed her, this time he didn’t push her away and he was the one requesting her presence in his life.

Jinki covered his mouth laughing to himself while Areum twirled with a hula hoop around her hips.

“This is so easy! I can do this!” She said happily twirling around shaking her which made Jinki grin fade. It was actually y. She had a nice that made him go crazy and with the thin legging she was wearing it was even worse. He had to look away since he wasn’t there to have with her and focus on what they were doing at the outside gym. Training.

“You know...” He said gazing at her briefly “That hula hoop is not part of what we use to train.”

“What?” she didn’t stop, but she was panting now.

“That belongs to Bora probably or Mi Jung.”

Areum let the hula hoop fall to the ground and placed her hand on her knees panting. “Are you kidding me?”

“Can you imagine agents doing that? No I’m not kidding!”

“You should have said it before!”

“You were cute and y doing it! I enjoyed the show!” Jinki laughed and Areum groaned before she walked to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“We are here to train!” He said even though he hugged her against him, his hand moving to her groping her.

“Which kind of training?”

He grinned knowing that she was referring to their cute baby mission.

“Well you were the one who said that you wanted to learn how to defend yourself.”

“Right!” She pushed herself away from his hold and he groaned because she hurt his chest again.

“What should I do then? Run?”

Jinki was going to answer when Taemin showed up behind Areum with a stern expression.

“Did Kibum?”

“No. He woke up!”

“YES!” Areum screamed happily “I should go see Audrey.”

“Please stay!” Taemin interrupted. “I need to talk with you two.”

Now that Kibum was ok Taemin needed to go but before there were people he needed to say goodbye to. He wasn’t sure he would ever come back.

He saw Kibum and Minho. He hugged Jonghyun when he told him happily that Kibum was ok. He played with Bora and exchanged a few words with Mi Jung. He even visited the old Sooman in his office.

But he left the hardest goodbye to the end.

For days he wondered about what he would tell Jinki, what he needed to tell him and it all came down to one thing.

“I’m sorry I interrupted you.”

“It’s ok.” Jinki didn’t smile like he normally did and Areum suddenly felt nervous. Something wasn’t right and she wasn’t sure why Taemin asked her to stay.

“I’ll be spending some days away, maybe more.” He touched the rosary in his wrist and took it off. The gesture made Jinki raise his eyebrows and Areum bit her lower lip.

 “What are you doing?” Jinki asked stepping forward, closer to Taemin.

Taemin played with the rosary in his hand.

“What I am going to do I must do alone and I’m not sure I’ll be back!”

“You found him!” Jinki widened his eyes, pain filling his features.

Areum had no idea what they were discussing and they were talking to each other as if she wasn’t there anymore.

“I did find him.”

“You can finally get your revenge.”

Areum didn’t like the way Jinki eyes shined. Revenge. He still had the will to do it inside him and it scared her. He would never leave that life.

“I wish I could ask you to stay but I understand!”

“I’ll contact you every day…if I stop then you know what happened.”

Jinki grabbed Taemin arm “Who is he? Tell me!”

“No. No way! I know you. You would come with me.” He couldn’t let that happen. “I’m going to kill him Jinki. I won’t be able to fully do what I planned. “He could never hurt Mina or anyone innocent. “But I will kill him and Taemin too.” That made Jinki expression drop. He didn’t intend to come back at all and Jinki knew it.

“Don’t do this Tae…”

Taemin turned his back on Jinki and instead walked to Areum that looked at him curiously. He grabbed her hand and she widened her eyes “I was going to give it to Jinki but you should wear it instead.” He placed the rosary on her wrist and released her.

Areum exchanged a questioning look with Jinki that was running a hand through his hair in despair. What did that mean?!

“Why?” She asked Taemin.

“This rosary protected me all my life and now it will protect you and the baby you will give Jinki very soon. It will protect his family. I have no use for it anymore.”

“Taemin please…”

Taemin turned to Jinki that now had tears in his eyes. “Wait longer, until I recover. I can be your back up. One two days…please!”

“I can’t! Now that I know where he is I can’t let them walk around breathing when my brother and grandma are no longer here. I waited too long.”

Taemin hugged Jinki and the older man hugged him back tightly. They could count with their fingers the times they hugged each other, which made that moment even more meaningful.

Areum rotated the rosary on her wrist watching the scene in front of her. She had Audrey, a sister that wasn’t her blood and she never realized Jinki had Taemin too.

“You are really my brother.” Taemin said in a low voice “We might not be connected by blood but we are by heart.” Taemin closed his eyes shut. That was everything he needed to tell Jinki ”Thank you.”

Jinki didn’t answer but Taemin knew, stepping away, avoiding looking at Jinki’s eyes filled with tears.

That was a goodbye.

Taemin was the brother Jinki never had and he grabbed his arm in impulse before he slowly released him.

Lee Taemin was like a wild animal and he always knew that the only one who could change his pattern was himself. One day they would have to let him go hoping that he would come back to them.

Areum back hugged Jinki while he watched Taemin walk away and caressed his chest leaning her head against his shoulder.

“He will come back. He belongs here now.”

Jinki the salt of his tears from his lips and caressed her hands, touching the rosary around her wrist.

He wished that she was right, that somehow the bonds he created in the time he was there were enough to make him come back. They were sweet words, but that was only what they were…words.

One thing Jinki was sure of.

SHINee Team was slowly falling apart.

Oooooh here we are.

See? Im nice! I didnt kill Kibum.

This chapter is sad though....BUT very filled with clues. *grins*

At last Minho understands Nana. Lets hope it isnt too late.

We find out a little more about Director Oh.

Areum not pregnant....ow...T_T

Audrey and Kibum are closer than ever.

And Taemin says goodbye to Jinki...

Is SHINee doomed to end?

Which part was the saddest for you?

Also sorry...im terrible with medical stuff XD 

I hope you still enjoyed it! ;)

See you soon ~

Also song

Reread that part with the song playing. Cry.

If it worked I did it well. XD

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