I quietly opened the door to our dance room. I peeked inside to see if our teacher arrived yet, when Taemin called out.

“Jonghyun-hyung!” he ran over to me. “How’s Kibum-hyung?” he asked.

“Mm…I took him to the hospital, but we don’t know the results yet.” I answered.

Taemin’s eyebrows furrowed with concern. “That …”

“Jonghyun, what are you standing in front of the door for?”

I whirled around in the door way, facing our teacher who was standing behind me.

“Oh. Um. Nothing.” I moved away from the doorway, letting him in.

As teacher walked in, he asked, “Is everyone here? Where’s Kibum?”

The room went silent.

Hesitantly, I spoke up. “Teacher, Kibum…Might have sprained his ankle.”

“…MIGHT have?” his voice rose.

I started shaking. “Y-Yes, he’s at the hospital right now… We don’t know the results yet.”

Teacher was quiet.

“Tch.” He left the room, and slammed the door shut.

We were silent for a while.

Jinki-hyung spoke up. “…What do you think he’s going to do…?”

I continued to keep my head down and stare at the floor. “He might delay Kibum’s debut. Or worse, he might kick Kibum out.” I clenched my fists and ran out the door.

I heard Jinki hyung call after me. But I just ran. I ran until I reached the back door of the building. I stepped outside, breathing in the spring air. Shutting the door, I sat on the ground with my back against the wall and sighed.

--

“Six goddamn weeks.”

I grabbed a hand rail on the bus, while clutching my crutch with my other hand. There weren’t any seats, even for an injured person. I let out a sigh of annoyance. “Can’t even afford a taxi…”

I got off at my stop, and walked the rest of the way to the SM building. By the time I reached the front door, I was pretty much out of breath.

I made my way to the dance room on the second floor. It felt like a funeral in there.

The members looked up and ran to me, all at once.

“KIBUMMM!!” Taemin cried, while hugging my waist.

“Alright, alright! What’s with you people?!” I said, shaking Taemin off. “It’s not like I died.”

“Sorry,” Taemin stood up. “We were just really worried.”

“How long will it take to heal?” Jinki hyung asked.

“Six weeks.” I sighed, and the rest of them became quiet.

To ease the tension, I asked, “Where’s Jonghyun?”

“He ran off to somewhere a while ago. We don’t know where to, though.” Minho replied. “Maybe you should go look for him. You’re pretty much useless now anyways.”

That last comment set off the bomb.

Jinki-hyung tugged Minho’s sleeve. “Yah. Was that necessary?”

Minho didn’t back down. “It’s the truth.” He stated. “Even if he comes back after he heals, he would have missed six weeks of training. He won’t be able to match our level. This isn’t elementary school, where teachers give you your missed homework when you come back.”

Taemin urged Minho to stop. But he didn’t stop me.

“What is WITH you?! Why are you so annoyingly arrogant?!” I snapped.

Minho stared me down. “I don’t know,” he replied. “Maybe because you’re a terrible hyung, injuring your ankle like that.”

“Hyung?! Why am I your hyung!? WE’RE THE SAME GODDAMN AGE.”

“You’re older than me.”

“BY TWO MONTHS!”

“It still doesn’t change the fact that you’re older than me, plus you’re my sunbae as well.”

Unbelievable.

“We don’t have a ing monarchy between people of the same age in Daegu.”

Minho looked at me with the coldest eyes ever.

“This isn’t Daegu.”