“From now on… I will be in charge on the things that my son has responsibility for.”  Minho’s mother sits sternly in the GM chair. They were currently holding a meeting with many of the other staff in ECHO hotel.

“I’m afraid it’s not that easy…” A man speaks up. His hair is a dark brown and eyes. He is currently Deputy GM.

All the staff looks at him.

“What is the problem, Jinki?” Jonghyun asks.

Lee Jinki smirks. “The press isn’t going to let us off that easily. Plus, I had a talk with David and it seems he had found out about the disappearance of Choi Minho…” He leans his elbows on the table. “Let’s just say… His attitude was very cold yesterday.”

Jonghyun bites his thumb in thought. “ECHO’s livelihood… Depends on the expansion of Lotus Flower Motel.”

Jinki smirks and leans back in his chair. “I’m glad were finally thinking on the same level here, Kim Jonghyun.”

“I hope you can take care of the demolishment of Lotus Flower Motel.” Jinki said to Jonghyun.

Jonghyun looks up in shock. But he slowly nods. “I will get the construction crew to the motel immediately.”

Jinki claps half-heartedly.

“Meeting dismissed…” Jonghyun declares and all the staff departs. Key helps take his mother-in-law out the door.

Outside of the meeting room, Jinki stops Jonghyun.

“Regarding the driver of the car that Choi Minho was in… Donghae… Why do I hear that you’re on good terms with him?”

Jonghyun pauses but stares into Jinki’s eyes.

“I have nothing to hide. I’m not afraid of gossip.” Jonghyun said boldly.

Jinki finally nods. “Ok. That’s good. I just don’t want to see anything happen to my company.” He walks away with his assistant.

Jonghyun was brought back to reality as Key tug gently on his sleeve.

“Jonghyun… I would like to go to Lotus Flower Motel to take a look. Please?” Key asks.

Jonghyun hesitates but nods. “Let’s go.”

Taemin and Minho were drinking soup with Taemin’s mother. Taemin takes big spoonfuls of soup, slurping it down loudly.

He suddenly pauses and looks at Minho. He was drinking it slowly and politely, wiping the bottom of the spoon against the side of the bowl.

Taemin and his mother stare at him dumbfounded…

Finally, Taemin’s mother clears . “Okay Okay! Enough eating. Go and wash the dishes.”

Minho looks up in shock. He hasn’t finished eating but decides not to protest. He gathers up the bowls and brings them to the sink.

He lets the water run while he rubs his hands with soap.

Suddenly, Taemin mother comes over and shuts down the water. “What are you doing? Water costs money! Go Go I’ll do the dishes!” She elbows Minho aside.

Minho stares in confusion but wipes his hand and goes back to Taemin.

Officer Tam barges into the house. “Guys I have news!”

Taemin quickly stands up in shock.

Taemin’s mother stops washing. “What is it?”

“They say even with Choi Minho gone, the demolishment is still going to happen!”

“EH?!” Taemin and his mother were shocked.

Officer Tam nods sadly. “Anyway, they said you have to get your belongings sorted out as soon as possible before they arrive, and- Hey you look familiar.” The officer suddenly turns his attention to Minho.

Minho points to himself in question.

Taemin facepalms himself. “!”

“Oh my goodness! Taemin I just remembered the truck is out of gas! Go with Minhyuk to get it.” Taemin’s mother said.

“But I thought the truck-“Minho was cut off by Taemin dragging him out the door.

Officer Tam stares after them with a confused expression and looks back at Taemin’s mother. She just smiles fakely.

Taemin gets into the truck and waits for Minho to get in before he starts driving.

Jonghyun drives quietly with Key in the car. He glances over and notices Key’s uncomfortable expression.

He takes out a toffee candy from his pocket and hands it to Key.

Key looks at it in surprise and slowly takes it “Jonghyun…”

“I’m just telling you not to worry. Don’t always bottle up your sadness… Your heart will freeze.” Jonghyun said gently.

Key pauses but said “Jonghyun… Even though Minho isn’t here… He’ll never change in my heart.”

Jonghyun’s eyebrows scrunch together. “You’re not thinking… That I’m taking advantage of Minho’s absence are you?”

Key looks up in shock.

Jonghyun scoffs. “To think a friend’s shoulder is so unreliable… Don’t worry. This is the last candy… I was just trying to show concern. For a good friend.”

Key stares at Jonghyun with a sad and regretful expression.

Taemin and Minho arrive at the gas station. They stop by a fill-up tank.

“Regular please!” Taemin said. The assistant nods and gets ready to fill it up.

“Ah! No I’ll do it!” Taemin stops him and takes the filler (A/N: I don’t know what those things are called sorry…).

Jonghyun and Key arrive at the same gas station. Jonghyun stops the car and looks at Key with concern. “You alright?”

Key slowly nods and unbuckles his seatbelt. “I’m going to buy some water… Do you want any?”

Jonghyun smiles and shakes his head. Key gives a small smile back and gets out of the car. He makes his way into the convenient store.

Taemin gets the filler ready and suddenly see’s a familiar face. “Omo! It’s the other dude I saw in ECHO Company. The kind one!”

“Minhyuk! Fill it up for me.” Taemin drops the filler and skips over to Jonghyun’s car.

Minho gets out of the car in confusion but takes the filler and connects it to the car, filling it up.

Taemin traces his finger on the car and walks over to the driver’s area.

“Hello!” Taemin surprises Jonghyun.

Jonghyun looks up in shock and smiles. “It’s you!”

Taemin nods happily. “What are you doing here?”

“Just getting some gas for my car, you?” Jonghyun asks.

“Same here!” Taemin gushes.

The assistant comes to interrupt them. “Sir that would be 110 dollars please.”

Jonghyun turns back to the assistant and nods. He takes out his wallet to reveal his credit cards and cash. Taemin’s eyes suddenly light up.

Jonghyun pays the man and turns back to Taemin. Taemin smiles back double the brightness.

Key walks out of the convenient store with water. He has his head down as he made his way back to the car.

Minho was finished filling up the tank. He turned his back to put the filler back and once he turned back he saw thought he saw someone familiar.

He decides it’s probably nothing and looks for Taemin. Once he sees him, he calls.

“Taemin! Come and pay!”

Jonghyun’s smile fades as he recognizes the voice and he whips his head to where Minho is. He only see’s a glimpse before Minho is blocked by an assistant.

“I got it!” Taemin yells back annoyed. He looks back to Jonghyun. “Is something wrong?”

Jonghyun turns back to Taemin and slowly shakes his head. “Nothing… I thought I saw someone familiar. Must be my imagination.”

Taemin smiles again.

“Oh right! I never got to know your name!” Jonghyun brings up.

“My name is Lee Taemin.” Taemin said. “What’s yours?”

“Kim Jonghyun.” Jonghyun smiles.

“I’m glad we finally got to know each other’s names.” Jonghyun said. Taemin nods in agreement and was about to go on when he sees a pretty looking person get into the seat beside Jonghyun. (A/N: Yes Taemin totally mistakes Key for a woman.)

“Well we got to go now. It was nice talking with you Taemin!” Jonghyun said and drives away.

Taemin waves sadly. “Darn… Was that his girlfriend?”

He walks sadly back to Minho. “Don’t you even have your own money?” He asks angrily as he pays the assistant.

They both get back into the car. Taemin checks his hair after he buckles his seatbelt. Minho puts on his seatbelt in a daze. Taemin notices. “What’s the matter?”

Minho shakes his head. “Nothing… I thought I had seen someone familiar… Must be my mistake.”

Taemin scoffs in amusement. “Yea. Why would you recognize anyone?”

Minho tilts his head in agreement as Taemin starts the car and they make their way back home.

Several black cars arrive in front of Lotus Flower Motel, including the car Jonghyun and Key are in.

Taemin’s uncle comes out of the motel. “They sure come fast…” He said to himself.

Jonghyun and Key get out of the car along with the other staff. Jonghyun walks over to Taemin’s uncle. “Is the room ready?” He asks.

Taemin’s uncle nods. “The conference room is ready. This way.” He ushers the staff and Jonghyun into the motel.

Key is the last to go in but he stops to look around. He sighs and walks into the motel just as Taemin and Minho pull to a stop outside the motel.

They both get out of the car and make their way into the motel. Minho stops and peers at one of the black cars. The symbol for ECHO hotel was on the car and it looked so familiar to him.

He was interrupted by Taemin pulling him. “Come on.” He said and pulls Minho into the motel.

“Don’t wander around on your own and don’t let the old man see you, okay Minhyuk?” Taemin asks. He receives silence as an answer. He turns around to find that Minho was no longer behind him. “Minhyuk?”

Taemin’s uncle was bringing all the staff into the conference room. He goes in after them and Jonghyun helps guide Key into the room. Right around the corner, Minho was walking around curiously in the motel. He walked right past the conference room just as the door closes.

He hears the door shut and stares as the room curiously. Right then, Taemin finds him and stands in front of him with a furious attitude.

“What are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you not to wander off?” Taemin asks.

“You don’t need to get involved with the meeting. Why don’t you go outside and take a look around?” Jonghyun asks Key.

Key pauses but nods and walks back to the door.

“Come on.” Taemin grabs Minho’s hand and guides him away from the door. Minho follows, pouting. They turn a corner just as Key walks out of the conference room.

“Wait here.” Taemin puts Minho in the check-in area. He walks back to the conference room and hears discussion. Out of curiosity, he pressed his ear against the door.

“Mr. Lee… I think you know why we are here…” Jonghyun tells Taemin’s uncle. He nods sadly.

“The demolishment is happening soon… I ask you again to be cooperative so we can have this issue done and over with quickly.” Jonghyun said calmly.

Taemin couldn’t believe what he was hearing… He needed to put a stop to this. He bursts through the door. “YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

All the staff, including Jonghyun, turns to Taemin in shock.

Taemin’s uncle stares at Taemin like he just lost it. “Taemin, what are you doing here?”

Taemin walks over to his uncle and looks at Jonghyun. “You can’t take uncle’s motel away! I won’t allow it!”

Jonghyun finally regains himself and smiles. “We just ask you all to understand-“

“Kim Jonghyun! To think that I trusted you!” Taemin said angrily at Jonghyun. “You bullied my old man, and that’s all I need! Let’s end our friendship right here.” Taemin presses the top of his two index fingers together with his thumbs up. “Cut your hand through it, and that signals the end of our friendship.”

The staffs all look at each other in confusion. Taemin’s uncle scratches his bald head in embarrassment of having such a nephew.

Jonghyun stares at Taemin, questioning if he’s actually serious. Once he sees that he is, he sighs and gently slices his hand down Taemin’s two fingers.

“There! Now we are no longer friends! Get out of our motel.” Taemin commands.

Taemin’s uncle stops him before he goes too far and said to Jonghyun. “Please… Give me some more time.”

Jonghyun hesitates but answers “We can end the meeting here. But the time for the demolishment will not change… So I hope you will figure out quickly whether or not you will cooperate with us.”

With that, Jonghyun stands up, along with the other staff and they make their way out the door.

Taemin’s uncle sighs. Taemin rubs his back to reassure him. “Don’t worry uncle! I will help you save Lotus Flower Motel for sure!” His uncle looks back at him with a sad smile.

Minho was looking around at the check-in area, when he noticed a presence outside. He slowly walked out and see’s the person he thought he saw at the gas station.

Key was standing beside a tall palm tree. He slowly takes off his yellow scarf and wraps it around a thick branch. “Minho… I believe you’ll come back.”

Minho continues staring curiously when Taemin smacks the back of his head. “Ow!” He rubs his head in pain as he turns to Taemin.

“Why are you dozing off? I was there fighting to give old man his motel back and you’re here not doing a single thing!” Taemin complains.

“But you told me to stay-“ Minho was cut off by Taemin. “Aish! Whatever, let’s go.” He drags Minho out of the motel and back into the truck.

Jonghyun drove in the car with Key. “Where did you go that made you that deep in thought, Key?” Jonghyun asked.

“I think… This all happened because I was taking things too slowly.” Key confesses.

Jonghyun glances at Key in confusion.

“If I hadn’t told Minho to wait and take me to a special place to put on the ring… We would have never gotten on the hot air balloon… And the ring would have never been lost.” Key was cut off by Jonghyun’s hand gripping his.

“Don’t blame yourself Key… None of this happened because of you. You need to learn to hold your head up high and continue walking forward.” Jonghyun said. He was about to pull his hand back but Key gripped it tighter. Jonghyun looked at Key in surprise.

“Help me… Won’t you, Jonghyun?” Key asks softly.

2 Hours to make this. =_= And I am not impressed with the result *headdesk*

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I gave Onew a bad character GOMEN!!! And sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes it’s the morning and this took me till the afternoon so BE ING GRATEFUL.

Okay I’m going to go eat something sweet. LOL PEACE!