Key smiled to himself, cutting up carrots for their dinner.

Onew's pot of rice wouldn't have been enough for all of them to eat, especially now that Taemin and Onew had taken the liberty to only share between themselves while he had been asleep. He decided that he'd make something small for him and Minho, whenever the younger boy returned home from hanging out with his friends.

Ever since Jonghyun had left them a couple weeks before, Onew had been diving deeper and deeper into depression each day. Honestly, they all were depressed - even if Minho and Taemin put on strong fronts for their hyungs, Key knew them well enough to know that they were upset and taking it hard too.

After seeing Onew in such a state, hardly eating and never leaving his room unless forced too, for so long...that now, seeing him happy and walking around, made Key feel like he could fly.

He had woken up to Onew's laughter, directed at Taemin who was at the end of one of their leader's jokes, and had been confused. 

It was weird, weird, to see Onew smiling, to see him walking, to hear him laughing again.

Key had actually convinced himself that it was all just some freakish dream trying to get hopes raised only to be dashed again - that is, until Onew forced him to try his cooking. He knew he couldn't be imagining such a horrible taste. Well...it hadn't been all that bad, but Key felt that he could make it so much better, therefore Onew's dinner was inferior to his taste buds.

Key shook his head, chuckling a bit as he put the sliced carrots in the pot.

It hadn't just gotten better overnight though.

Onew was still upset, still depressed, and still hating himself.

Key could see it in his eyes.

It would take a while to be finally over it, but he was slowly getting better, which counted for so much more.

They all knew that Onew had finally realized that he'd been anything but a leader to them as of late. He had pulled himself away from the past to focus on the future, no matter how dark that future looked and how hard it would be to travel in.

Key wasn't sure what had made Onew realize that after several long weeks, a whole month now, but he was glad that he did.

Key stirred the pot and hummed to himself. He hadn't heard from Jonghyun since he had last called, and was upset by the fact, but with Onew's recent recovery, he felt everything could turn out okay in the end.

Minho kicked a rock down the sidewalk with a sigh, his hands in his pants pocket as he made his way back to their dorm.

It was a beautiful day. There was hardly a cloud above him and the temperature was perfect. 

He had been out all afternoon, playing soccer with some of his old friends from high school. It had been nice to hang out with them again.

Minho paused in his walking and closed his eyes, tilting his head up so he could feel the gentle wind against his cheeks and hair. He took a deep, cleansing breathe and smiled.

He felt so...free.

Since Jonghyun had left, the manager had pulled a couple of strings and gotten the rest of SHINee more days off to try and recover from the shock of suddenly becoming a smaller group. It was nice to have a couple days off only have to worry about schedules for a couple hours now instead of a whole day.

If it weren't for the dark feeling in his heart, reminding him that things were different now and would never be the same, he would have thought everything were normal again, perfect again.

He knew that as soon as he stepped foot into the SHINee dorm everything would be different.

Onew wouldn't be sitting at the kitchen table, happily reading a book. Before, Onew would lift his head up and smile at Minho, asking how his game went and responding enthusiastically to Minho's questioning of his own day. He would remind Minho of the schedules they would have in the morning, and tell him to get a good nights rest and set his alarm for early.

Minho would nod, seeing Onew go back to his book, then walk into the living room to see Jonghyun sitting on one of the chairs, playing his guitar, humming, and scribbling down lyrics on a piece of paper.

Taemin would be next to him, either watching TV or helping Jonghyun out with new lyrics.

Key would be in his room, watching variety shows or dramas on his laptop.

Minho would sit down next to Taemin and talk with the maknae, the two of them joking around or playing video games.

Now though...now it was the exact opposite.

They had been so predictable before, spending their free time in almost the same way everyday because it was what they loved doing...but now, everything was out of order and it was scary.

Onew was never at the table. Onew was never asking how his day went, reminding him of his schedules, teasing him over something, tripping over everything. He was in his room, doing who knows what while drinking away his sorrows. Minho had heard him cry himself to sleep each night though. The walls were so thin that Minho often couldn't sleep when Onew cried at night and he was sure none of the others could either.

Key would still be in his room, though probably doing the same thing Onew was doing. Sulking. Never eating. Never being their 'Umma'. He didn't cook for them anymore. He woke himself up, he didn't bother waking anyone else as he used to, made breakfast for himself and only himself, then disappeared back into his room, or sat in silence on the sofa.

Taemin was the first of the three that tried to get over Jonghyun, trying to be optimistic at such un-happy times. He put on a happy face, though Minho could see right through his facade. He tried to act strong and helped out around the dorm and at work as much as possible so Onew and Key didn't have to worry so much. Taemin also did most of the talking on the radio show they were invited to the day before, explaining how Jonghyun was sick and couldn't make it, and also making as many jokes and things as he could to keep Onew from having to talk more than he wanted to.

Minho was proud of their maknae, he always was, but even more so now. He figured it'd be the hardest on Taemin, being the maknae, but he was wrong...he didn't even know why he though Taemin would take it hard. Taemin had continuously proved himself to be mature in tough situations.

Minho sighed and continued walking, going as slow as he could. He didn't want to go back to the dorm and see everyone's pathetic faces.

He loved them. He loved each and every one of his SHINee brothers...but everyone has become so different and pathetic that he hates even looking at them sometimes.

He just wished that Jonghyun wouldn't have done this to them.

Didn't he once promise them that he'd never, ever, leave their sides? Didn't he promise them all that they would be the shining SHINee for ever, even after they disbanded? Didn't he promise them that he loved them?

Minho kicked another rock with a quiet scream of frustration, putting all of his feelings into it. The added strength behind the kick sent the rock hopping through the road, somehow missing the cars parked along the side of the road by people's houses, and into a large puddle, slowly sinking to the bottom.

That's us...that rock.

SM kicked us...started us on our journey across the road of stardom...Jonghyun brought us down...he's sinking us...

Soon we'll hit rock bottom.

Taemin finally felt like everything was going to be okay when Onew asked how Minho's day went when the rapper stepped foot through the door.

When Key had told Onew that Minho had gone to play a soccer game with his old friends, Onew had gone to his room, making Taemin fear that he was going to shut himself inside again. Onew had come back out with his old book, which he hadn't had the chance to touch much since even before Jonghyun had left.

Onew then sat himself in his usual seat, opened the book and began to read quietly.

I only just realized this morning that when I first started this story, Onew was the main character and now it's quickly gone to Jonghyun.

Urgh...sorry about that. I had meant to keep an even balance between the two of them, but Jonghyun has gotten more screen-time than our dear, sweet dubu has...Sorry, Onew T.T You know I love you right? 

Hehe, so yeah. Now that I've realized that, and realized that you all like Onew much better than Jonghyun in this story (I do too honestly, maybe Puppy-Jjong act like this is really hard for me to right because it's just not...him, you know?)  I'm going to try and add much more Onew scenes, maybe interacting with the other SHINee members, showing that he's healed, or interacting more with the manager/company and perhaps more with Super Junior. I have also realized that I should add a little more about Minho, Key, and Taemin - which is what I did with this chapter. I have no idea why, but Taemin is just so easy to write about...

Anyway, as usual. I would like to thank any, and everyone, who read/commented/subscribed. It really means a LOT. Like seriously, if you're a fellow writer, you know how good it feels. 

BRB.

Spamming you with ONEW PICTURES!!!! I'm sorry... I can't help it. It'll be just one though...so it's not really SPAMMING~ but...HAPPY 4TH OF JULY FOR THOSE OF US IN AMERICA :D

Okay never mind about the one picture thing...I saw this one and couldn't help but want to put it up. My friend said he looks like a llama in this picture...I admit that he kind of does~ Puppy, Dino, AND Llama? Gee, Jjong... XD