Author's note: sorry for the long wait! but here it is! yayay! 

Lee Donghae. 1 Month Earlier. After Kyuhyun leaves the practice room. 6:00pm

“W-what? Who did Kyuhyun get pregnant? I didn’t even know he was dating anyone.”

“Yeah, well, neither did any of us,” Sungmin shook his head, “We don’t know either. Hyukjae just heard Kyuhyun talking on his phone about it yesterday and then told Leeteuk hyung.”

“Is that why you were so angry with Kyuhyun earlier? Jeez, Hyukjae, don’t scare me like that! I thought you guys were fighting or something.”

“Yeah,” Hyukjae rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, “well, honestly, I’ve been having some relationship problems, so I kind of took it out on him. I guess I should apologize, I mean, he’s going through a lot right now and I probably made him more stressed out than he was before.”

“Yeah, you should!” I punched his arm, “But I guess that explains why he was acting so out of it in the van earlier. Poor guy.”

Leeteuk entered through the sliding door a minute later, his face looking even more tired than usual, and I realized that Kyuhyun was not trailing behind him.

“Hyung! Where’s Kyuhyunnie?”

Leetek turned his bloodshot eyes in my direction, “He had to take a call. That kid, if this gets out, who knows what will happen with the group; I just can’t believe he’d be so irresponsible.”

Hyukjae shifted, “Well, I mean, I’m sure he was careful. Sometimes these things just kind of...happen. But I’m sure manager hyung will find a way to solve this.”

Leeteuk looked unconvinced, “Yeah, I doubt it. But anyway we can’t dawdle forever. Everyone, get in formation.”

“What about Kyuhyun?” Ryeowook said, “Shouldn’t we wait for him?”

“No, we’ve wasted enough time already. We can practice without him for now.” Leeteuk walked to the center of the dance floor, “Come on guys, we don’t have all day.”

Everyone hurried to his respective place in the lineup while I headed towards the door.

“Donghae, where are you going?” Leeteuk hissed.

“I’m going to get Kyuhyunnie. Don’t wait for me. I’ll be back soon, promise!” I didn’t wait for his response before I set off down the hallway in search of the missing maknae. It didn’t take long to find him, what with the area that we were allowed to walk through freely being limited as well as because of the fact that Kyuhyun had a very distinct voice that I could recognize from a mile away. He had snuck into an empty practice room near the end of the corridor and as soon as I got up to it, I double checked that it was him, and immediately went to eavesdrop on our lovable maknae’s conversation.

“Yes, dear, I missed you very much,” Kyuhyun’s voice sounded dry, “So, what is it that you want exactly. I’m not sure I understood you properly the first time, dear.”

Was Kyuhyunnie talking to his girlfriend? Oh, this is the perfect chance to and, you know, meet his girlfriend! I grinned.

“Enough with the petty formalities, you.” I pressed my ear closer to the door, “I’m tired of your games.”

“This has to stop. You have to stop this, it’s already gone too far, but maybe if you come clean and-” I slowly opened the door, trying to sneak my way in without Kyuhyun noticing.

“No, no, that’s not what I’m suggesting. I just mean-”

Kyuhyun’s eyes widened when he finally noticed me and I stifled a chuckle, “No, look, can we talk about this later? I kind of have to-” Kyuhyun choked back a growl, “I swear to god, if you so much as ing touch a hair on Joohyun’s head I will ing rip your throat out.”

What?

“Ji eun I mean it-” Kyuhyun sighed, defeated, “I’m sorry. I was out of line. Just please don’t. Please.”

Silence.

“Thank you. I’ll meet you later,” Kyuhyun stiffened, “I love you, too. Bye.”

I stared, shocked, without knowing what exactly to say; this was too much for me, for anyone, to take in at once. Kyuhyun was having an affair with Ji eun? Ji eun was pregnant? And that threat...what did it all mean? I remained silent, watching Kyuhyun struggle for the right words, if such words even existed, to say, hoping that this story wasn’t as horrifying as I suspected it to be.

“How much did you hear?” Kyuhyun said without looking at me.

“Enough.”

“I suppose you must hate me, huh? Go on; curse at me, throw something at me. I deserve it.”

“Curse you? I’m not going to waste my breath. Tell me why.” I demanded, grabbing him by the shoulder in an attempt to force him to look at me. He didn’t budge.

“Why not? She wanted to, so I did. End of story.”

I slapped him, “You’re lying. Why were you talking about Joohyun then? Tell me the truth, Kyuhyun!”

Kyuhyun looked at the ground.

“Kyuhyun, what’s going on? Is she threatening you? Come on, you know you can tell hyung anything, right?” I felt tears begin to form, “You can trust hyung.”

Kyuhyun looked up, his brown eyes wet with tears; contemplating; hesitating, “I-I can’t, hyung.”

“Why not? You can’t trust me?”

“No, it’s just, I can’t tell anyone.”

“Tell me, Kyuhyun, or I’m going to have to tell Jungso hyung,” I bluffed, turning to walk out when I felt a tug on my sleeve.

“No, please don’t tell him,” Kyuhyun sobbed, “Please, hyung, no one can know.”

“Then tell me the truth or else I will go and tell all the other members,” I challenged.

“You have to swear that you will not tell anyone, and no matter what I say, you will not reveal this information. No matter how tempting it may be. You have to swear, hyung.”

“Fine.”

“Ji eun is...sick, I guess I’ll say,” Kyuhyun paused before continuing slowly, “She approached me about seven months ago and threatened to hurt Joohyun if I didn’t sleep with her. She’s been forcing me to sleep with her ever since, and now she’s pregnant, and hyung, I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

“What? Ji eun? The same Ji eun who is dating Hyukjae?”

Kyuhyun’s eyes dulled, “You...don’t believe me?”

I looked him in the eyes, searching for lies, for any reason to doubt what he was telling me, but all I saw before me was a broken man struggling with guilt and shame. I wiped his tears with my thumb, “I believe you. But Kyuhyun, why didn’t you go to the police? Or tell one of the members, or your family, or anyone?”

Kyuhyun sniffled, “I couldn’t, hyung. For one, no one would have believed me. Certainly not Hyukjae, and God, Ji eun would have been right there to point her finger at me and accuse me of coming onto her or something. And, you know Hyukjae would take her side over mine any day of the week. He’s so blinded by his love for her that he can’t see how messed up she has become.”

“And the police?”

“Her father is the police chief. It won’t do me any good to go there. And really, who would take a man’s word that a woman was threatening him? If she claims I did something to her, they would automatically believe her and condemn me.” Kyuhyun sighed, “I’m just so tired, hyung. I’m tired of the lies, the betrayal, of all of this. Sometimes I think it would be better if I just disappeared...”

I forced Kyuhyun into a hug, “Don’t you ever think like that Kyuhyun. You almost died once, and I am not about to lose you again to something like this. Don’t worry; Hyung will take care of you. Hyung will help you out of this mess.”

I felt Kyuhyun’s tears splash onto my shoulder, “How? There’s no way out hyung. And now she’s pregnant, and I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

 I Kyuhyun’s hair, “Shh, don’t worry about that anymore. It’s okay. You are not alone anymore.”

“And Hyukjae hyung will hate me when he finds out, hell, everyone will hate me and you know, I wouldn’t even blame them. I hate myself, too.”

“Maybe we should just go to Hyukjae now and tell him; try to make him understand. I don’t think he will hate you, if we just-”

“No! He can’t find out!” Kyuhyun screeched, as he practically shoved me away from him, “You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone, hyung.”

“But Kyuhyun,” I protested, “that’s the only way to get you out of this mess. We can’t let Ji eun win! We have to fight!”

“It’s too late. I’ve already lost. Ji eun holds all the cards in her hands to kill me, and the only thing I can do now is be killed alone or take her down with me.”

“What? Kyuhyun, why are you acting this way? You’re scaring me,” I took a step towards him, “What exactly are you planning?”

Kyuhyun’s eyes hardened, “Death,” he said simply, “and a ticket to hell.”

And I cried, swearing that I would not let it get to that, that I would protect Kyuhyun and somehow get him out of this mess. For the first time in a long time, I got on my knee’s right there, dragging Kyuhyun down with me, and prayed. I prayed for his safety, for my sanity, and for some miracle that would fix this mess. If only I had known not to waste my breath praying for a miracle that wouldn’t happen.