Silence. It hung heavy in the atmosphere and everyone afraid to speak. One wrong word could fray their nerves. As the deathly silent car ride to the Han River progressed, Yoochun noticed that the sky had become darker, clouds greying and emitting a foreboding aura. Junsu was the bravest to call for Yoochun's attention. 

"Y-Yoo--"

"Don't speak, Junsu-ah," the baritone snapped rathe harshly. 

Junsu shut his mouth, leaning back into the car seat. Chills ran through the singers' bodies. Fear and worry ate at their hope that Jaejoong was alive. 

"We-We're here..." their manager said, voice cracking and on the edge of tears. 

Yoochun quickly jumped out of the car, eager to know if Jaejoong was still alive, although a bit frightened. He paused when he noticed Junsu had yet to follow. Walking back to the car and pulling the door open for Junsu, Yoochun asked, "What's wrong, Susu? Let's go..."

"I'm afraid..." he whispered. "What if Jae--"

"Don't..." Yoochun interrupted. "It'll be fine... I'm here for you, okay?"

Junsu nodded and gingerly took Yoochun's hand, and then they proceeded toward the river where Jaejoong was. The air was thick and moist, almost suffocating in itself. Junsu's feet dragged across the polished stones, his body shaking with anxiousness. 

A crowd of investigators and policemen were clustered beneath a barren tree. Junsu looked away from the scene. "I can't, Yoochun," he nearly sobbed. 

Yoochun put an arm around Junsu's shoulder and continued on. The sea of people parted and Yoochun saw a sight to behold, a gruesome sight. 

"Brighter than city lights, Junsu-ah," Yoochun muttered with disgust, anguish, and sorrow. "Much brighter..."

Junsu gazed up and there he was--the great Youngwoong Jaejoong with skin a ghastly, nearly translucent grey that made the tall building lights behind the body look dull, like comparing the sun to a candle; Jaejoong's skin nearly glowed with death. A thick rope hung around his neck, the other end strung to the tree. The clothes the body was wearing weren't entirely his own; in fact, the shirt was Yoochun's, but the pants were his own. 

Junsu couldn't stand the sight and ran from Yoochun's arms. Getting as far as the river waters, the tenor vomited. Beneath the tree, Yoochun fell to his knees, arms wrapping around himself. Hot tears streamed down his cheeks. Too many questions were running circles in his mind. Was this really suicide? Why had he done this?

But Yoochun knew all the answers. Yes, this was suicide, because the sasaeng fans had gone too far and forced Jaejoong into an insanity that he couldn't handle. It hadn't been enough just to have Yoochun and Junsu with him; there hadn't been enough protection from the monsters. 

"This isn't protocol," Yoochun heard an officer say to their manager, "but I feel required to ask if we may take the body down now."

"I say yes," their manager whispered. It was obvious that he, too, was shedding tears of anguish and sorrow. "But you should ask Yoochun and Junsu..."

"T-Take him down..." Yoochun murmured through soft sobs. 

Junsu, being so far away, wasn't accounted for, as he was still retching, the images of Jaejoong's dead body implanted in his mind. It was only when Junsu heard the sound of a gurney rolling over the ground that he turned around and ran to Jaejoong's dead body. 

"Hyung!!" the tenor screamed, reaching out for Jaejoong's body with open arms. 

Yoochun instantly halted Junsu as he approached, embracing him fully. 

"Jaejoong hyung!" Junsu wailed as he tears poured down his face. He clung to Yoochun's tear-soaked shirt, leaning on the older for support. 

Incredible pain wracked Yoochun's and Junsu's bodies. Their beloved singer was dead, a ghostly pale. Even his thick lips were the color of death, kissed by the angel who stole lives from the living. Junsu gingerly touched Jaejoong's limp hand. Cold as ice and hard as stone, the singer was definitely dead, but pretty. Jaejoong was still pretty; however, death was not his best color. 

"He's not dead..." Junsu muttered. "Yoochun-ah! Tell me he's not dead!!!"

Yoochun only shook his head and cupped the tenor's cheeks in his hands. "Joongie's... Gone... Okay?" He was on the brink of breaking down again. The words tasted bitter in his mouth. 

"We'll need close friends and relatives of Mr. Kim Jaejoong--"

"Youngwoong Jaejoong!!" screamed Junsu. 

The officer stared at Junsu, stunned. "Y-Youngwoong-ssi..." he said almost uncertainly. 

"Boys, follow the man and answers his questions," their manager said, wiping stray tears away. "I'll go call Jaejoong's parents." And he walked away. 

"I don't want to answer questions, Yoochunnie..." Junsu murmured. 

Yoochun watched dazedly as they loaded Jaejoong's dead body onto the ambulance. His arm hung limply, lifelessly. This isn't the Joongie I know, Yoochun thought. This shell is void of any and all aspects of the man I knew. 

"How long have you known Mr... Youngwoong?" the investigator asked. 

The doors to the ambulance closed with a loud thud that rang in Yoochun's ears. 

"What relation do you have to the victim?"

The medics climbed into the ambulance, starting the engine. The lights flashed and the siren wailed, but Yoochun could only hear his own heartbeat. 

"Excuse me--"

Jaejoong's heart was strong and big, always caring. 

"Mr. Park--"

Where was that heart now?

"Mr. Pa--"

Fresh tears cascaded down the baritone's face as he screamed, "Jaejoong!!" He ran to the ambulance doors and pounded on them, furiously but fruitlessly trying to pry them open to see his best friend's face one last time. The medics jumped out of their seats and raced to stop the singer from injuring himself. 

Yoochun was relentless, and watching him go berserk caused Junsu to break down crying again in front of the investigator, who had decided that today wasn't the best time to ask questions. 

"This wasn't supposed to happen!!" Yoochun screamed. "Jaejoong!! Come back!!"

"Jaejoong hyung..." Junsu sobbed, falling to his knees. 

Their manager came from nowhere. He hauled Junsu to his feet, coaxing him with soft words of assurance, some of them plain lies. "It's alright, Junsu," he said. "It's just a cruel joke."

"Liar!" Junsu wanted to scream, but he was unable to form the word due to his weeping. Shoved into the car, he was left there to cry his heart out.

Yoochun was removed more forcefully. "Jaejoong!!" he wailed, clinging to the ambulance doors so tightly his knuckles turned white. 

"Yoochun-ah," his manager said through gritted teeth. 

"No!" the baritone shouted. "I want Jaejoong back!! He's not dead!!"

His manager gripped Yoochun's wrist with vice, attempting to make him release the door, but instead, Yoochun held on tighter. A thin red river of blood ran down the singer's wrist, hand cut from gripping the metal too tightly, but he didn't notice. He wanted Jaejoong back. 

Ultimately, his manager pried the broken singer off the ambulance which took off at high speed once the signal to leave was given. Yoochun was a broken child as he screamed and kicked while being dragged forcefully back to the car. 

"Jaejoong!! Kim Jaejoong!! Youngwoong Jaejoong!!"

Yoochun's screams of anguish and wanton calls for his soulmate reverberated through the gloomy skies of another normal city day. Crows cawed and left their perches upon trees and telephone wires as the scream of the singer plagued their ears, as if afraid of the man himself rather than the noise that emitted from his throat. And afraid they should be, because there was nothing worse yet nothing better than an emotional Yoochun. 

Junsu stared out the window with puffy as, watching his bandmate beat the hard ground with his fists, crying out for Jaejoong, the soul of what once was TVXQ.