Sorry! I was overseas and so yeah.

“Let me go!!! Taemin! I GOT TO SEE LEE TAEMIN!!!”

Minho ran towards the noise to see his hyung struggling like mad while some nurses and doctors held onto him. Minho froze for a second and then proceeded to Onew.

“H-Hyung!”

The leader of SHINee stopped moving his limbs all over the places and panted as he looked at Minho.

“Minho…” he uttered, barely in a whisper.

“Minho, please… Tell them I need to see Taemin.” His gaze looked so intense as stared into the other’s eyes.

“Hyung… I-I”

“Tell them my condition is fine!” he yelled. Never before did Minho saw his leader act this reckless. Letting out a breath, Minho walked slowly towards the other and gave a nod to the hospital staffs. They understood the gesture and let the patient go. And with that Onew ran straight inside Taemin’s ward with a quiet Minho following behind.

Minho went wide eyed. He couldn’t recall a day where he’d been more shocked in his life. Maybe it was that he came from a really healthy and fit family which was why he actually never been into an ICU. His eyes wandered around and eventually landed on a pale body lying on the green bed. His body was strapped with all sorts of wires connecting to a few screens. The scene looked exactly like the set he used to act in his drama, Top Medical Team.

The only difference is that it was real. And Lee Taemin was the one who’s on that hospital bed.

It was a really painful sight and Minho couldn’t help but wonder how Onew is taking this in. He turned to look at the shorter who was holding Taemin’s hand in front of several doctors. They were there for probably two reasons,

To monitor Taemin’s and Onew’s condition and to make sure Onew-hyung and I don’t do something stupid to Taemin or to the ICU.

Minho imagined that his hyung’s expression would be full of pain and despair but boy, he was wrong. Onew was quiet, no tears, no sobs, just a silent poker face. And at that moment, Taemin’s pinky finger made movements, making Onew’s eyes sparked up. Everyone’s eyes in the room looked at the youngest face.

Taemin’s eyelids fluttered open slowly and immediately closed back due to some bright lights above him. Then slowly, he opened them and even though there were so many people to look at, Taemin delicate eyes landed on Onew. The maknae didn’t say anything, instead, a beautiful smile was curved upwards on his face.

“Hyung… You know it’s okay to cry.” The words came out softly from Taemin.

“Pabo, I’m not gonna cry in front of you. I’m your hyung.”

“I saw you cry like a million times with Jonghyun-hyung, I think you’re well aware of that.” Taemin let out a pathetic chuckle.

“Taemin…” he in a deep breath, “Taemin, I’m so sorry.”

“No…” Minho could see Taemin’s hand holding onto Onew’s tightly as he said that. The maknae was saying something and as much as Minho wants to listen, the doctor interrupted his action instead.

“Do you have his family contacts?”

“Pardon?”

“Lee Taemin’s family contacts, do you have them?” he asked once again.

Minho glanced at his two members and didn’t hesitate to say,

“We’re his family.” He wasn’t lying. True, Taemin still had his biological family and they’re well off but his parents and brother haven’t contact him for a decade now.

The doctor looked at Minho with one eyebrow raised, an obvious expression indicating that he doesn’t believe what the other just said. But thanks to the innocent face Minho put up, he couldn’t argue.

“Are you two his only family members?”

“There’s another two at home. They’re his parents…” Minho definitely hesitated to say that but Taemin had told him that Jonghyun and Key had treated him much better than his parents did.

“Well, hurry up and ask them to hurry here. The young boy’s time is almost up.” The doctor told him in a whisper. Minho just kept quiet and nodded.

I guess what I thought was right.

The boy couldn’t help but to feel stupid for not figuring this out sooner even though he was the first one to find out. He looked at Onew for one more time before going out from the ward. Without wasting any time, he snatched his phone out from his pocket and called Jonghyun. He dialed his hyung’s number and once it was answered, he told Jonghyun a short message without even giving a chance for the receiver of the call to say a word.

“Come to the hospital. The address is sent through message. Ppali, it’s urgent.”

“W-What… Why?”

.

Minho knew very well that it was Key’s voice not Jonghyun’s. There was an obvious reason why Minho decided to call Jonghyun instead of the other. It was because the puppy-eyed never went hysterical and panicky like Key.

“Minho! Tell me what happened!” Key’s voice was starting to get higher, it always happens when he gets excited or when he was crying, and Minho was a hundred and one percent sure that he wasn’t excited about this. The second youngest in SHINee remained silent and soon heard a voice in the background.

“Key? What’s wrong?”

“Key, give me my phone.”

“Hello, Minho?”

“Hyung, see the address in your phone and come here immediately.” Minho told.

“Is it serious?” Jonghyun knew that it was best if he knew that important piece of information.

“Don’t tell Key-hyung but he doesn’t much time left…”

“What!? Minho, what are you–” Minho ended the call before his hyung could finish his question and rushed back into the ICU. He almost had a heart attack when he saw Onew’s tears leaking out of his eyes. He was sobbing uncontrollably, and for a second there, Minho thought Taemin was dead. But to his relieve, he saw Taemin’s hand reached upwards to touch the elder’s cheek in the intention of wiping his tears. Minho let out a deep breath and walked towards Taemin’s view, putting his calm face on.

But his acting was all pointless when a tear seeped out from his eye when Taemin looked at him and said his name.

“Thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be blind.” He told the tallest there with a smile.

“Mianhe… for hurting you before–”

“Yah… That’s in the past, arra?” he said while making the ^^ face.

“K-Key and Jonghyun-hyung’ll be here soon…” Minho wiped his tears and smiled along with Taemin. He was sure that Taemin wanted to see him smiling instead of crying his lungs out. He turned to look at his hyung and it seemed that Onew knew that too since he was smiling – it looked more sad that his tears though.

“Ah… How would I ever tell him the whole story?” Taemin tried to laugh but he ended up coughing instead.

“I’ll tell him then.” Minho suggested.

“Thanks. I owe you so much that I think I’ll be reborn as your maid in my next life.” Both Onew and Minho realized that it was a joke and laughed but they regretted it immediately since it sounded so insincere.

 “Onew-hyung… Can you sing me Life again? Just your part?”

Onew nodded and sang as Minho stood behind him. Minho saw Taemin closing his eyes as he enjoyed their leader’s beautiful voice and Minho was afraid that Taemin wasn’t going to open his eyes again like how it always happened in movies and dramas. Despite his worries, his mind was still absorbed in his hyung’s singing and he was sure Taemin was too. It was peaceful and the lyrics of the song echoed in the room.

“Geudae jichigo himdeul ddae

Budi geu yeop.jariae nareul itgae hae
Badgiman han sarangeul dashi deuril su itgae
Ee salmi kkeutnagi jeonae

When you’re tired and having a hard time
Please let me stay by your side
So I can give back to you the love I had only received

Before this life ends.”

“You want to know why I keep asking you to sing that?” Taemin asked without opening his eyes. He didn’t give us a chance to answer.

“It’s because it exactly what I should sing to you, hyung.” His gentle voice escaped his smile as he looked at SHINee’s leader.

“You gave me so much. I want to give you back your love, treat you like how you've treated me. That's why I invited you on that date. I knew I had gave you a hard time, so yeah that's why. And- ”

"And you want him to stay by your side till..." Minho paused, wondering if he should continue.

“Taemin, I…” Onew paused after saying two words then continued a new sentence.

“I love you, Taemin. I really really do.”

“After all you’ve done, I know you do.” The blonde haired smiled. It was a sweet moment, really, but it didn’t last long because one of the monitors beside the patient started beeping. Soon, almost all of the monitors turned red and beeped loudly. Doctors and nurses rushed to his side doing god-knows-what while Onew started to get a little panicky.

And right at that moment Minho’s phone rang.

“Minho, I’m sorry we took–”

 “3^rd floor.”

“A-Alright.” And with that Jonghyun hung up. The lead vocal knew it meant business when Minho spoke with that tone of voice. Either he was angry or he was frustrated or he’s upset about something. Jonghyun thinks it’s all three. His focus was in two places right now. One is to focus on to getting up to Taemin’s ward and the other is to make sure Key is fine. Key has been awfully quiet and that was scary.

“Yah, don’t panic. You look weird when you’re not calm.” Minho heard the whisper that was directed to his hyung. Onew breathe in to relax himself and it did help him, even if it was just a little.

“Minho-hyung, I want to be buried in a bright place, not in a cemetery, they .” Taemin paused to in oxygen. “I want people to wear white clothes, not black. I want SHINee sing to me.”

“Taemin, that’s…”

“Wae, hyung?” the youngest looked at Minho with a pout then coughed.

“Tae, don’t talk if you can’t…” Onew informed.

“I’ll die anyway, so what? I’ve just repaid you for a day when you’ve been good to me for almost a decade.”

Silence. No one dared to say a word or even make a sound after what Taemin had said. However the pregnant silence was soon broke by the sound of Taemin’s rapid heartbeats and pulse. The patient’s chest rose up and down in a fast pace as he panted.

“I should have treated you better when I was alive.” He paused,

“Hyung, saranghae.”

“I know, Taemin. You don’t have to tell me.” Onew grabbed hold onto Taemin’s right hand as if it was gold and to Onew, it was.

Minho heard footsteps and the sound of them were getting louder by the second. A red eyed Key and a sweaty Jonghyun came in view. They both saw Taemin and during that time it was silence. Everyone froze at the scene they saw in front of them. A clear green line was formed on the monitor. Their little Taeminnie was gone and everyone in the group heard his last words clearly.

“SHINee-hyungs, saranghae.”

Things were eerie after that. The doctor told that everyone had to leave Taemin’s ward.

 It was over.

Onew was the first to get up. But instead of leaving the maknae’s ward like everyone expected, he leaned down and kissed the younger’s lips.

Minho would have thrown a party to celebrate this if it wasn’t the fact that Taemin’s no longer here. He was glad that both Onew and Taemin found their paths. He was the first to leave the room. He took out his phone with the intention of calling their manager. He made a promise to himself to keep SHINee together despite the fact that their maknae was him now. He knew Onew wasn’t in the condition to do his responsibility now and Jonghyun needs to care for Key.

He took in a deep breath and got ready to take all the responsibility for this. Key on the other hand left the ward too. His eyes were just focused on his feet as he exited with Jonghyun right behind. The lead vocal followed the quiet figure until the other stopped walking. Key then started sobbing and crying. It wasn’t long till he started pulling his hair screaming something between how he didn’t notice it and what kind of umma was he.

Jonghyun held the other’s arms firmly with a hug, preventing the sub rapper from hurting himself any longer. The both of them just remained in that position; a sobbing Key who kept repeating the word Minnie over and over in Jonghyun’s crying arms in the middle of the hospital’s empty hallway.

Onew looked at the body lying there. The body that was once a happy life then got confused then became happy again but by that time it was too late. He the maknae’s cheek that was beginning to loose colour.

“I’ll make sure you’ll get the funeral you want, nae? Everyone must be crying right now but I’m not gonna do that. If you smile right now I will too. That’s right. I love you too.”

FINISH!!! Do comment on your opinion whether it's negative or positive. And I won't do a sequel. Maybe just an epilogue? If you guys want it I guess.