Taemin sat on a chair next to Minho, who he could feel staring at him as they were doing an interview in the SM training room. Minho was very protective of Taemin, although Taemin didn’t really know why. Minho was always trying to shield him from the limelight and not have questions aimed at Taemin.

“We just want to keep working harder, keep being loyal to our fans and really impress them,” Onew answered behind him.

Taemin knew he wasn’t well. He felt nauseous and his stomach was kept churning. Maybe he should’ve eaten breakfast. His also felt fidgety, but maybe his skinny jeans were too tight today. He ruffled up his brown hair to try centre himself. This was a live broadcast. He could not mess this up.

“So Taemin, why is your dream girl Emma Watson?”

Taemin opened his mouth and regretted it. It seemed to make him feel more sicker and so queasy. He was grateful he hadn’t eaten breakfast after all, he would’ve thrown it up. Why was he sweating? He wasn’t even hot. In fact, he was a bit cold. He rubbed his clammy hands on his jeans shakily.

“I…” he took a deep breath. “I don’t know.”

There was a beat of silence before Key jumped in.

“He likes her because she’s a fairy, because his mind is obviously with them at the moment. I think Ke$ha is cool! I did one of her songs with Taemin on our last tour,” said Key, trying to steer the conversation off Taemin.

The interviewer nodded, not satisfied with the small reaction she had garnered.

‘Don’t you miss your parents when you're on tour? Are you lonely?” the interviewer asked.

Taemin quickly closed up. The interviewer had hit a nerve and he was scared just how much she knew.

He rubbed his face, panicked. His forehead felt clammy. Why was he feeling clammy? He blinked harshly, trying to focus. He felt sick. His stomach felt bad.

“Sometimes I love SHINee and sometimes I hate it,” he blurted out. “I love my hyungs but I hate how crazy busy we are. I hate how SM entertainment just throws us into doing things. We don’t have a choice. I’m practically a slave. They control my life and have ruined it. Oh my god, no, I didn’t mean that!” spluttered out Taemin.

He knew his hyungs were gasping and he could see the publicists, the managers and the rest of the team totally mortified and in shock.

He suddenly stood up.

“I’m so sorry, I was just joking,” he tried to say, his whole body lurching and unbalanced. What had he done? His skin was crawling. He was going to lose everything.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t think anyone understood my joke,” Taemin blurted out quickly, hearing his own shrill and nervous voice. He knew he sounded fake fake fake! He looked back at his hyungs. The whole room was spinning in slow motion.

“I’m so sorry, it was a mistake! I really didn’t mean it, I think I’m sick, please stop filming!”

‘Sit down Taemin,” Onew said softly.

Key tried to tug him back to his chair but he batted away the arm. He wanted to stop this spinning, sick swirling of his body. Sound slowly faded out and his ears started ringing as he tried to take a step back. All of his strength just drained out him as he saw static and heard a loud “thwack!” Pain filled his head, and he surrendered to the darkness.

Key was the first to scream as he saw Taemin lie frighteningly still on the floor, and the scream triggered action. People flurried about and panicked.

Key flew to his knees next to Taemin along with Jonghyun and Minho.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” he kept repeating as his hands travelled all over Taemin’s limp body.

“Taemin? Taemin can you hear me?” Key frantically asked as he gently but firmly lifted the unconscious boy’s head.

“Oh my god,” he started again as he caught a glimpse of blood and felt a wetness on his hands.

“Someone call an ambulance!” cried Jonghyun.

"Oh my god Taemin, oh my god,” Key couldn’t stop saying, his heart hammering against his chest so hard it hurt.

A/N Yes, I wrote ‘centre’! I’m from New Zealand and we use British English. So I spell ‘favourite’ and ‘colour’ with the u’s! What did you think of this chapter? Please comment! This was inspired by my near fainting in P.E. class when I was in high school. Embarrassment level to the max. I want to scream everytime my friends bring it up :/

Wow I can't believe I've gotten subscribers and a comment! Thank you so much :)