IMPORTANT: Last chapter could be read as the last in the story. If you feel more comfortable leaving it there, that is totally okay, but I am going to continue this for a bit more...... So here goes.

Eeteuk stayed on the rooftop for a while after his conversation with Siwon. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that he did the right thing, even though the creeping feeling of loneliness wouldn't go away. He didn't want to fight it anymore and decided to welcome it instead. It might even be healthy to be alone for some time, he thought, even though it would be difficult to have no one to help him distract his thoughts when things came crashing down. He sighed heavily before getting up and making his way to the stairs. It was about time he stepped back into the leader role for real. He made his way to the dorms with a new found determination.

When he entered the 11th dorm it was completely deserted. He frowned while going around the rooms to check if it really was deserted before going back to the elevator to go to the 12th floor instead. He heard quiet conversation from the living room and made his way towards it.

"I say we don't tell him yet," he heard Yesung say in a hushed voice.

"Me too. As long as it is not one hundred percent confirmed, we don't need to get his hopes up to have them crushed again," Hyukjae agreed. Eeteuk decided to make his entrance then.

"What are we not telling who and why?" he asked suspiciously and the present members seemed to freeze up.

"It's just that there is this huge Star Craft competition-thing and I entered Kyuhyun in it," Sungmin said quickly. Eeteuk noticed only now that Kyuhyun and Siwon was absent from the gathering. "but it is not completely sure that he can actually compete because of some weird regulations.”

“Did this happen before?” Eeteuk asked, since they had said he didn’t need to be disappointed again.

“Yeah. It was another competition though, so there were some other rules for the participants,” Yesung said. “He was really sad when he was forced to leave it.” The others nodded.

“When did this happen? I don’t think I have heard about it before?” Eeteuk asked curiously.

“It’s about 5 months ago, hyung,” Shindong said and Eeteuk fell quiet. Of course he hadn’t heard about it; five months ago he didn’t even leave his bed to eat. He felt ashamed.

“I had no idea,” he said quietly. “I really hope he gets to compete this time then. I will be on first row to cheer him on,” he said with a sad smile and the others smiled back at him, though their smiles also seemed to hold a kind of sadness.

“We hope so too. It really means a lot to him, so it would be very nice if he got a