Jonghyun POV:

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Jinki hyung.

I stared at his sleeping face, still choking with tears. Taemin was by my side, gripping onto my arm tightly in an attempt to get me in control.

Minho was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, face dark. His phone lay at his feet, broken. He threw it there the moment he stepped back in.

I could see the frustration boiling in him, but I knew that couldn't just be it.

He knew the smallest pains that he went through. I stared at him. His eyes were unmoving, looking directly at the sleeping Onew hyung. His eyes snapped to meet mine, and I flinched. It burned. Anger burned in there, the flames rolling, reaching high. It threatened to at what had hurt our hyung this way.

Onew hyung stirred, whimpering. Taemin reached out hesitantly, fingers twining into his hair.  The duvet snapped up, tossed over us, cutting our view off. Short, panicky intakes of breath was heard with the crash of the glass of water sitting on the bedside table was most likely sent spinning across the room by him. 

"Hyung. HYUNG. JIN HYUNG. It's us. CALM DOWN." Minho's voice resonated through the duvet, low and reassuring. 

I inched out, Taemin struggling to even move. Onew hyung came into view, pinned down by Minho. Taemin was right under Onew hyung, just separated by the blanket. I scrambled to Minho's side.

His eyes were panic-stricken, his face painted in pure hysteria. Minho had leaned down, whispering words into his ear, weaving sentences one after another. His laboured breathing slowed down, but he was frozen, hands gripped onto Minho's wrists as Minho pinned him down by his shoulders.

I cursed inwardly, and before I realized it, I had pressed my lips to his. 

It seemed forever, but suddenly I felt Minho move away, and a keening whine slipped out from Jinki hyung's lips. Relief washed over me and I pulled away. 

"What.. what are you guys doing here?" he asked, completely oblivious to his state of undress which revealed everything he wanted to hide.

"Instead of asking us why we are here..." Minho stated dryly, furrowing his brow in concern over the casual tone that Onew hyung carried despite his condition.

"You might want to tell us why those are there." I finished for Minho.

"Where?"

"Here." Onew hyung toppled over, roughly pushed away by the buried Taemin. Taemin repeated his words, or to be exact, word, and pressed hard on one of the bruises on Onew hyung's shoulder.

He jumped, lips pressed tightly together. He raised his eyes to meet ours, and the steely cold stare was not what we had really ever seen before. He got up suddenly, pulling open the door of his wardrobe to slip on a shirt. 

"Don't ask." the words came out, sharp as knives.

I opened my mouth, and then shut it again. Minho muttered something. Taemin's head snapped towards his direction, his hearing sharp enough to have caught whatever he had said.

"P-past?" 

"Nicole." Minho mentioned louder, like it was the answer to everything.

Minho POV:

I glared at Jin hyung, angry. He flicked a glance at me, before turning back to look at me closer. He faltered, swallowing hard enough to be heard in the room.

"I don't know what past you're talking about." he stated obstinately.

"It has to be. Nicol-"

"Nicole doesn't know ."

"She knows plenty enough for me to think it's them."

I was faintly aware of the fact that Taemin and Jonghyun were watching us at the sides, confused. Onew hyung blinked, and I saw nothing that was fear. 

Pain? No.

Defiance. Anguish. Burden. Care. Distress. Love?

I pressed a hand against the wall as I tried to figure out this impossible mix of emotions. 

"Please understand.... I can't... can't let you all get hurt." I flinched as I realized that Jin hyung had come up to whisper in my ear in my distraction. His breath fell, soft as a feather, on my neck.

"He doesn't recognize you anymore either."

My legs gave out under me.

I felt a warm body press against me, enveloping me, and I breathed in the light scent of Taemin, hands reaching to hold his.

I looked up to see Jonghyun hyung pinning Jin hyung to the wall, their arms at their sides, fingers entwined. Jin hyung had his face buried in Jonghyun's hair, shoulders sagging.

"Why won't you tell us... " Jonghyun hyung murmured, not having caught what he had said to me.

"They can't touch you...not now, not ever." Jin hyung pushed him away to look at him in the eye. "And I don't expect any arguements from you guys."

His voice held the ring of demand, but also the undertone of a pleading man that only wanted to protect who he loved. That was him. That's Lee Jinki.

Everything Jonghyun hyung had said then, made complete sense now.

"What do you mean by him being more than we ever could be?"

"I haven't known him for long. Neither have I loved him for so long. But he's too pure. He's too kind, and so he keeps everything bottled up inside. He loves us... more than we could ever love him."

Jonghyun hyung stared silently back at him.

Jinki POV:

I stared into those eyes that I loved so much. They were exuding a quiet contempt. He didn't want to accept what I had said.

I couldn't. I can't. I won't. 

The simple image of them getting hurt, leaves me sick in the stomach, heart throbbing painfully.

"Jonghyun..." I sighed.

"No."

"Jonghyun."

I don't wa-"

"Don't look at me like that, Jonghyun."

"I don't see why not when you are being selfish by hurting yourself." he muttered.

"I already said."

"What?" he shot back, exasperated and upset. 

His eyes were wet with soon to be tears, but a small fire was burning in them. I breathed heavily, before pressing my lips to his. I fit my palm to the curve of his face as I pulled away, looking into his eyes once again, before murmuring,

"Don't look at me like that. I just want you safe."

A.N: I'm editing on my phone, and I realized I have forgotten whats the code/HTML for the straigh line across. Anyway, here you go :) Thank you for waiting patiently to receive this chapter even though it's not much longer than the previous. And for those who are telling me indirectly or not, that I for giving such a short chapter, I'm sorry.

oh, and my mid years are coming up, from 25th April onwards, so I can't update till after, which is 10th May :( So do wait till then. Love y'all <3