Credit for the poster goes to the Sugary Delights Graphic Cafe.

Taemin let out a sigh as he lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling of his room as he attempted to make himself comfortable on his bed. A few moments later another sigh left his lips, and he sat up, ruffling his hair in frustration. The memories brought on by his recent encounters with BAP and Soon Bok just wouldn't go away. No matter how hard he tried to think of something else, he couldn't, even when he was with the rest of SHINee.

"Ah, you're scared that you're going to get hurt?"

"No; I could care less about that. I'm scared my friends are going to get hurt because of me."

"Don't worry so much, okay? Everything is going to be fine."

Her words were like a stab to his heart and his own words had felt heavy on his tongue. He was lying to her, obviously; he knew what his hyungs had planned to do to BAP, and they definitely weren't going to be "fine". So why did he lie to her? Why didn't he just tell Soon Bok how things really were? Why did he get soft on her all of a sudden? Sure, she was kind of cute despite some of her masculine qualities, but she was still just some girl that was merely a piece in something bigger. So why?

Because she reminded Taemin of himself, a younger Taemin, a better Taemin. A Taemin that would grow to regret what he had done to get where he was now.

"Taemin?"

The nineteen-year-old looked over at his doorway to find Jonghyun poking his head into his room, his face blank, but his eyes intense. Taemin motioned for the man to come in, laying back down on his bed and throwing his arms over his eyes. The partially blonde man quietly entered, carefully shutting the door before sitting beside Taemin. The teen tensed at his hyung's oddly docile actions, sensing that something was wrong with Jonghyun or that Jonghyun thought something was wrong, which was something unusual; he didn't usually think about whether something was wrong or not -- he just did what he had to. For example, he joined SHINee and became a gangster without considering the morals of it because he needed the money that came with it. How else was he going to take care of his sister? He certainly couldn't depend on the two deadbeat parents that were now nowhere to be found.

Taemin sat up again and looked over at Jonghyun, a questioning and concerned look in his eyes. The man in turn cleared his throat and looked down at the floor, rubbing his hands together out of habit.

"Are you going to be okay with this? I mean, you acted fine when we kidnapped their baby, but you also didn't have to actually go up against any of them. Are you--"

"I'll be fine." Taemin stated adamantly, now extremely uncomfortable with where the conversation was leading.

Jonghyun took no heed of his dongsaeng and continued to speak. "Are you going to be okay if you have to fight Zelo? Even back then you didn't actually hit him yourself; the others did all the work while you stood by."

"I'll be fine, Hyung."

The older male raised an eyebrow, now facing Taemin and staring him straight in the eyes. "Are you sure? He was your friend."

That was what killed Taemin the most.

~BackToSoonBok~

Aish... I sighed and ruffled my hair, laying my head down on the desk that was positioned in one corner of the room. I was supposed to be looking through different universities to apply to, but these boys and their freaking gangster business was making it hard for me to concentrate. I still couldn't completely understand why they had to get back at SHINee so badly, and the knowledge that they would definitely be getting hurt was killing me. Why did I say I would stay out of their business? Am I stupid? Those boys... I let out another sigh and laid my head sideways on the desk, pushing my laptop away a little more for space. They're going to do something stupid; I just know it...

A knocking on the door jolted me from my thoughts. "Soon Bok-ah! It's time for dinner."

I mumbled a, "Coming," slowly getting up.

"Better hurry before Daehyun eats all of the soup!"

It didn't take me very long to get to the table after I heard "soup." I hadn't had any in a long time, and it was probably one of my favorite meals. Well, if one cooked the right kind of soup.

Even with the tho