Exhausted because he hadn't slept much last night due to the uncomfortable thoughts of screaming girls outside his apartment, Jaejoong was in a weary, foul mood this morning. Earlier he'd nearly made Yoochun cry when he asked what was for breakfast, and Jae threw a bowl at him, screaming at him to make his own food for once. And then after that, he almost slapped Junsu when he gripped onto his arm, afraid of getting lost in the sea of fans as they walked into the hair salon. 

The paranoia of constantly thinking that a sasaeng fan was always right behind him was starting to get to him. The singer forced his eyes open as he ran his slim fingers through his stiff, sprayed hair. Disgusting, he thought to himself. He was a paid for product, a primped and preened kitten on display for the world to see, to admire, to stalk. Throwing the blue scarf he'd been handed over his shoulders, Jaejoong puffed out his chest and squared his shoulders, a sign to the world that he would face this job even if he hated it. 

"Are you okay?" Yoochun asked, focused on placing his gold scarf prettily over his shoulder.

Jaejoong scoffed and turned toward his friend, helping him with his wardrobe. "I'm fine," he said. "How's Junsu? I nearly slapped him this morning."

"He's fine now, I think," Yoochun answered, rearranging some of the hairs that he thought the stylists had placed awfully. "He's getting his clothes on now. Last I saw, he was having trouble getting in those jeans because of his ."

Jaejoong chortled, mentally imagining Junsu jumping around like a dolphin similar to one in those aquatic marine shows while trying to get a pair of ridiculously tight skinny jeans past his plump rear. Anything about Junsu could make Jaejoong laugh, even imagining his wardrobe mishaps and frustrations. Shaking the amusing sight from his mind, Jaejoong patted Yoochun on the shoulder. "I think you should go help him then," he said.

Yoochun turned his head and giggled. "No, here he comes," he chuckled. 

Junsu, blushing red with his embarrassed face toward the floor, sauntered over slowly. Yoochun hooked arms with him as Jaejoong threw an arm over his shoulders. 

"You look adorably cute today," Yoochun sneered.

"Shut up," Junsu said softly, twiddling with his red scarf. 

"I hear your pants didn't fit," Jaejoong added.

Junsu mumbled something incomprehensible.

"What?" the other two asked.

"I ripped the first pair of pants..." Junsu repeated softly.

Jaejoong and Yoochun burst out laughing before they could hold it in. Embarrassed beyond belief, Junsu stormed away, shouting over his shoulder, "Let's do this quick! I want to go home!!"

Seven long hours of being stuck in a photo shoot, being around for other scene locations, more preening for different concepts, and consciously noting the fifty to seventy fans that'd managed to track them down, Jaejoong was only numb to the core, all too used to the stalker fans and routines of a photo shoot. Security guards shooed the fans away--or tried to--by the fourth hour they'd been hanging around, but some refused to be persuaded to leave. By the end of the day, Jaejoong was too exhausted to even care about the stupid taxis following. Scrutinizing the dark clouds, Jaejoong decided that today would rain. The clouds, dark, swirling with omnity, and swelling with a dark foreboding, told the singer that he'd have much more to deal with today than just a distant mob of fans and some pictures, but all he wanted to do right now was jump into a hot shower, wash out all the caked makeup and stiff hairspray, and then sleep the day away. The sasaeng fans were the last thing on his mind.

That was... Until his phone beeped at him. 

Unsuspecting of anything and without checking the ID, Jaejoong opened the text message he received. 

"Oppa, you left the photo shoot so quickly today!" he read out loud softly. 

He frowned deeply as another ring signaled another incoming text. 

"Why don't you reply, Oppa? Don't you remember me?"

Jaejoong's hands shook as another message came through.  

"Oppa! Reply! Maybe you don't remember me. ㅠ Here's something to remind you."

Jaejoong didn't even have enough time to close the message before a picture text popped up at him.

He knew he should toss his phone away. He should stop checking these stalker texts and get a new phone number again, but curiosity had eaten up his rationality. He wanted to see how these sasaeng fans thought and how they looked up close. Were they as crazy eyed as he thought? Or as desperate as they had been portrayed through insane actions? Were they really as harmful as they meant to be? He opened the picture.

He didn't expect anything. It was a simple selca picture like any typical Asian girl would take. The lighting was bright and showed the girl's blushed powdered cheeks as a rosy pink. Her puckered lips were moist with pink gloss and her skin tone wasn't too dark, yet not too light either, unlike Jaejoong's own pasty complexion. She had single eyelids and large dark brown eyes. Her hair was dark and straight, very pretty. However, the picture didn't calm Jaejoong at all. In her eyes, he saw the minute hint of insanity, the fiery spark of an unrequited passion. Her thin lips were stretched too far for anyone's comfort. It wasn't a forced smile, yet it wasn't natural for a girl's lips to reach almost literally from one ear to the other.

I know this fan, Jaejoong thought to himself. She was everywhere, he realized. She'd been the one that had unnerved Yoochun at the airport; the one that had completely and thoroughly touched every single part of Jaejoong's body at the crosswalk; the one who had bore through Jaejoong's glasses in the elevator; the one who had been one of the many sasaeng fans outside their apartment. She was the sasaeng fan that had freaked Junsu out the most. 

Another text snapped Jaejoong out of his reverie. 

"Oh~ You still don't remember me, Oppa? Oh well... You will soon :)"

Jaejoong shuddered as Yoochun sat forward, noticing his hyung's discomfort. 

"Is anything wrong?" he asked.

Jaejoong quickly shut off his phone, nearly ripping out the battery too fast. "I'm fine," he said, nearly tripping over his words.

"Joongie..."

"I'm fine, Yoochun," he snapped. 

"Hyung..."

Jaejoong glared at him, and the baritone gulped, afraid of the intense gaze.

"You can always talk to me if something's bothering you," he said flatly.

Jaejoong just nodded curtly and turned forward, pulling his iPod and headphones out of his pocket. He definitely needed to get a new cellphone.

Yoochun suddenly tapped the lead singer on the shoulder, a concerned look in his eyes. "Hyung," he said softly, holding out his phone. "I think this is for you..."

Jaejoong frowned, eyebrows creasing together as he read the anonymous text.

"Joongie Oppa! Shutting off your phone won't get rid of me, remember that."

Jae shoved the phone back onto Yoochun's hands. "Shut that thing off," he ordered.

"Hyung--"

Jaejoong unbuckled his seatbelt and kneeled in the middle of the isle. "Where's Junsu's phone?"

Yoochun pointed to the bag by the maknae's feet. Zipping open the bag, Jae's hand desperately and blindly searched through the contents of Junsu's bag for his cellphone. He finally grasped the plastic device as it buzzed in a text. Pulling the phone out, Jaejoong instantly tore out the battery pack of the phone. 

Jaejoong's heart raced, pounding against his rib cage as if he'd just skydived off a helicopter. His head throbbed from the stress. The sasaeng fans were getting crazier and crazier, he knew. How was he supposed to protect Yoochun and Junsu from them? There were too many of them, with more than enough time on their hands than any of the idols. 

Yoochun's phone went off again. 

"Turn the damned thing off!" screamed Jaejoong. 

Literally jumping in shock of Jaejoong's demanding scream, Yoochun quickly unhinged the back of his phone and removed the battery pack with shaking fingers. Handing the separated pieces of his phone to Jaejoong, Yoochun asked, "What's wrong, hyung?"

Jaejoong only shook his head as he sat back in his seat again, head resting against the window. "I just... Want to sleep..." he murmured softly. "I need to sleep."

Yoochun scooted forward in his seat and held Jaejoong's hand. "Don't hold it all in, Joongie," he said. "Tell me what's wrong. It's not good to keep it all to yourself. Is it... Are you like this because of SM? Is it Junsu and me? Is it...?"

Jaejoong shook his head again as he turned to his friend. "The fans... The sasaeng fans!" he hissed lowly. "They're everywhere... And that one... She won't... Just... Chunnie-ah... I can't take this anymore."

"Don't you dare say that, Kim Jaejoong," he snapped. "You are the strongest of all of us. With just Junsu and me, we're really strong together, but you? You're just as strong as us by yourself! Don't say you can't go on anymore. If Junsu and I are still here, so are you, because you are stronger than both of us. You will be the last of us to survive, and then after all of this is over, you will continue to be strong for us."

Jaejoong shook his head furiously. He couldn't be strong... Not in this state. He didn't feel strong. Broken inside, heart wanting to burst from all the paranoia and lungs desperately wanting air that hadn't been breathed by a sasaeng fan, Jaejoong thought that Yoochun was completely wrong. 

Yoochun brought a hand up to Jaejoong's head and caressed his hair with a gentle touch as the older poured out his worries to his friend. 

"The sasaeng fans are too powerful, and we can't do anything about it, Yoochun. They live off of our presence. If we're around, so are they. They're parasites, Chunnie. Feeding off what we produce and give to them and all of that, they chew up and keep every single promotion we've done. And that's still not enough. Even after pouring our sweat and blood into a performance for them, they decide that it's not enough from us! So they take matters into their own hands and follow us. You saw the crazy girl's eyes and smile. It's so normal for her. I swear she never stops grinning like that!"

"Hyung... I think you need to calm down," Yoochun whispered softly, concerned about waking up the sleeping Junsu next to him.

Jaejoong tilted his head to face the baritone. "They're everywhere, Chunnie," he murmured softly, as if there were a secretly hidden camera somewhere in their car. "We don't need to even do anything and they'll find us. They'll find a way."

Yoochun awkwardly hugged Jaejoong from the back. "Don't worry about it, Joongie. Rest. Sleep. And I'll wake you when we get home."

"No," Jaejoong barked. "I won't sleep. If this world is still full of sasaeng fans while I'm awake, I don't want to come back to it. If I sleep, I won't ever wake up, Chunnie. I don't want to!"

"Hyung--"

"Excuse me," their manager who'd been driving the car interrupted. He tossed his phone into Jaejoong's lap. "I think that's for you."

Jaejoong shook, refusing to look down at the text, already knowing who it was from, so Yoochun picked it up and quickly murmured it aloud.

"Ha! You think turning off yours and the others' phones off would stop me? Joongie oppa, YOU ARE MINE!!! And don't you forget it. Even Yunho oppa does not own you. I do!"

Jaejoong shivered, the possessive words rattling his insides until he was visibly shaking. 

"I think we all need new phones," Jaejoong muttered, handing the phone back to their manager.