It had been three years since the duo promoted "Keep Your Head Down", they were now both sitting in the CEO of SM Entertainment's office as they were called in for a rather alarming proposal.

"Beg your pardon?"

The CEO rolled his eyes, this was the fourth time he repeated his statement. "You heard me loud and clear, Changmin."

"And it would never be clear enough, that's not going to happen."

Changmin was defensive, more so than usual. He was being used, regardless of whether Kim Youngmin was the CEO or not, this was an act against his human rights as a born breathing being.

"I understand your position of thought, Changmin. But you both know you need the attention after the last incident, the --" the CEO searched for the right word, he waved his hand in thought until he was cut off yet again by Changmin.

"The breakup?"

"Changmin," Yunho sighed softly, he spoke as though he were telling a child to stop complaining.

"Hyung, he is literally using us as a way to revenue --"

"Then you should have gone with them." Yunho snapped.

The room stood silent after Yunho's response, as Changmin was not furious as this response because of it's hostility, but rather because of its truth. But he stayed for a reason, and Yunho did not know that reason. Without Changmin, the group would have been broken up completely and TVXQ would have simply consisted of the one and only, high and mighty: Jung Yunho. Now, Kim Youngmin had no say between these two. Fans have always blamed the owner, Lee Sooman, for the mistreatment of these idols. But it's a matter of multiple people that put together this contract, those with immense talent and popularity get a formulated contract that kids would sign without a single thought to push their pen away, a seventeen year old wouldn't push away guaranteed fame for eighteen years in a row. If anything, Kim Youngmin had to give the contractors a bit of credit, it was smart marketing and the only problem was letting the kids grow up into adults. Adults that grow up in this hell of a business. 

The entertainment business is not as loving and fame - inducing as you think it may be, take the worst case scenario you could think of that could happen to an idol or an idol group, perhaps an actor or a comedian. Say you own a company that has literally over one hundred people that are aiming for fame and glory, it doesn't mix with the perks of being a human. Yunho sighed at his thought, little did he realize that he and the CEO were thinking alike at this moment. Fans have always been commenting and creating stories based upon these idols, their lives, as if they were toys. Just a character to fill in with presumed thoughts and blames, perhaps dreams and hopes of a future spouse or just a partner. That's something that always got Yunho to feel the least human, those comments that are consistently geared simply towards a love relationship or a personal life. He understood the belittling things about being human, everyone had tendencies. But sometimes, people that don't know him take it so far that he felt as though dying would really be an escape with less pain and no faulty.

Yunho shook away the thought and closed his eyes for a brief moment, "We have been through these things before, framed scandals and such to get attention." He spoke to Changmin, though he chose not to look at him.

It was a good thing that Yunho didn't look at him, because his blunt expression would have only brought out sympathy. A blunt expression of robotic movements, decades of training that got him a fame that he would rather give up than to pursue. "Silly me, I forgot you craved attention ever since your spotlight chose to move to another company and form a separate group."

Yunho's head whipped to the side, shooting the younger a look.

"Alright, you two. Don't do this, it's a bad idea. I know it very well." Youngmin tried to change the subject subtly, if anything he wouldn't want to see the two most respected artists in this company beat the life out of each other.

Changmin smirked, his sarcasm always came in handy with his anger. "Yeah? Then why are you suggesting it?" He looked over to Yunho, the man was now looking away and although his features were facing the CEO, he was obviously not focused. Changmin could only imagine what this man was thinking, and it was only now that he regretted coming here in the first place. He then began to regret a lot of decisions he made in his past, one of them was actually looking at Yunho at that moment because he turned and made eye contact. Then he looked down and away, it wasn't cowardly but it wasn't charismatic. Changmin turned his own head and listened in to Youngmin, he couldn't blame Yunho for running out of juice.

"I'm asking for you to do this because otherwise you may be forced to do worse things, just -- bear with it."

"It's in our contract, isn't it?" Changmin asked the question with slight sarcasm hitting the tip of his tongue.

"Not exactly word for word, but to oblige with a request that acts upon the idols' welfare and marketable trend as an idol certainly is part of your contract." Youngmin knew the words by heart, he had to repeat them often enough that he should know them even further. He pressed the button on his receiver before either man could respond to him, if anything he'd just have to show them hopefully to convince them. "Show them in, please."

Yunho and Changmin eyed Kim Youngmin slightly before turning around to the sound of the door opening, and to be frank, nobody was really glad to see each other again. Yunho's eyes met with Soojin's and immediately he knew exactly what this was about, she looked at him not with the usual greeting but rather as though she were nervous that something would go far more wrong than intended. He's known her for a long time, they even tried dating before but at this moment he couldn't bear to take the situation into hand. Yeonhee followed behind Soojin and looked up at Changmin, she was bold. Yunho gave a very small, limited smile to Soojin and looked over at Changmin to drag him over to the couches but it was plain to see how unhappy the maknae was about this situation.

It makes sense, no human being would want to do this.

Note the clear emphasis on 'human being'.

Youngmin stood and adjusted his suit jacket slightly while making his way around his desk, speaking while motioning for everyone to sit down. He faced the two couches and leaned on the front of his desk, hoping that somehow he could make this situation a little more humane than it already wasn't. "Now, you all know each other. I've explained to the girls and their managers what's going on, but of course it has to be a mutual decision regardless of your contracts with your company." He eyed Changmin who simply looked down and away, he looked as though he simply didn't have the patience to even fight back. "I assume you guys would be able to come to an understanding conclusion, I'll be down in the lobby."

The four remaining adults waited patiently until Youngmin left, but as soon as the door closed there was nobody that was willing to speak. On one couch, Yunho sat beside Soojin comfortably as he never felt strange beside her after all these years. Even when they dated, when they broke up, when they continued to be close friends. But now, they were forced to restart a process that they tried and couldn't succeed. There were morals being tied down with this decision, as insignificant as it was to the rest of the world these four adults somehow felt obligated to do as they were told because -- they were never told any different. In this room there was anger and frustration, as well as nervousness and slight anxiety. There was hope and a forced bright input, but there was also a dark overtone to it all. 

It is forced love,