I'm so sorry for the wait everyone~ T.T So to make up for it, I've tried to give you an extra long chapter. Thank you all for reading :) I appreciate it tons! Well, um...this chapter is still kinda sad and depressing, but it will get better in the next two, I promise :D Once again, thank you!

Jonghyun watched with wide, watery eyes as Taemin received the first blow. The small whimper that escaped the maknae's lips made him break - and he latched onto Key, the nearest person. He buried his head in his best friend's shoulder, trying his best not to cry, because he had so much today that his head hurt.

"Jonghyun..." Key whimpered, clinging to Jonghyun just as desperately as he was to him.

Minho just watched, his eyes filling up with tears, and his fists clenched tightly, trying to remain strong for the others, though he hated seeing Taemin, the innocent boy that had done nothing wrong, being beat.

The manager looked over at them and saw Jonghyun leaning against Key and tore him away from the rapper's arms, forcing the young male to face Taemin and Onew's direction.

"You're the one that made this happen, you're going to watch."

And he did, when Minho was punished, when Key was punished -

He watched, because he knew that it was his own fault that this was happening.
 

Jonghyun limped into his room, the one he shared with Minho, an hour or so later.

His whole body hurt.

His eyes burned, his head felt stuffy. He had dug crescent moon shaped cuts into the palm of his hands because he had been clenching his fist so tight throughout the night.

But he didn't care, nor really notice, the other pain - because the pain in his heart and his hips hurt more.

He stumbled across the dark room, not even bothering to turn on the light to see where he was going, pulled his t-shirt over his head, tossed it to the side, and crawled under the blankets of his bed.

He took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of his familiar pillow, and just lay there - thinking.

When Minho came in a couple minutes later, after checking on the rest of the members, especially Taemin, Jonghyun was asleep, dried tear stains on his face.

Onew tried to be the strongest one emotionally in the group; he was the leader, he couldn't afford not to be.

But he really did try.

He had to hit Jonghyun at least twenty times with all the strength he had in his arms, because the manager knew them all enough that he would have been able to tell if he hadn't, and by the time he was done, dark patches of blood were beginning to appear through Jonghyun's dark skinny jeans.

In order to get through this horrid ideal, Onew had focused on every frustration, every bad memory he could. He ended up taking out all his pain right now on Jonghyun, who although got them into this mess in the first place, didn't deserve any of it.

It was like he was in a trance, that's how far he had buried himself in his memories, but it broke at the first sight of blood. He had tried to be strong when he saw it, but he just couldn't. He didn't know of anyone who would have been.

He had watched with growing horror as the blood stain grew, when Jonghyun began to tremble, and when Key rushed over to Jonghyun's side, screaming and yelling at Onew.

"What are you doing?! Are you trying to kill him?! What the hell happened to you, Jinki?!"

And then suddenly everyone was yelling.

Jonghyun was trying to calm Kibum down. The manager was yelling at Key for speaking disrespectfully. Minho was trying to calm them both down, and then Taemin was standing a little away from the group, looking lost and scared.

The broom in Onew's hand slipped from his fingers and clattered loudly to the floor as he processed what Key had said.

Only Taemin and Jonghyun seemed to react to the noise.

The fight between Key and the manager had incorporated Minho, who had originally tried to separate the two but ended up screaming at them as well.

Jonghyun turned towards Onew, taking in the horrified expression on his face.

"Hyung, it doesn't hurt! Honest! It's okay! I'm okay! It looks worse -"

Onew managed to croak out a reply.

"Don't lie to me." He rasped, his mouth dry and his tongue thick all the sudden.

Jonghyun looked slightly hurt.

"...But I'm not lying..."

It was all Onew could do to look Jonghyun in the eyes, he blinked away his tears and managed to speak.

"Stop pretending, Kim Jonghyun. Stop trying to make me feel better." He turned to Taemin, his expression showing nothing. "Taemin, go to bed. We have a busy schedule in the morning - that is," he glanced at Jonghyun. "If we still have jobs in the morning."