"Who is this lady?" Kibum asked as he reached to pick the picture up from between Minho's fingers when it was jerked backwards abruptly like two magnets repelling against each other. Key stopped in the middle of the foyer, "Yah, what's the big deal?! If I'm going to be scanning it, I'm going to need to hold it!" He said. If this picture wasn't as beaten up as it is, Key would have snatched it right then and there, but something about this picture changed Minho's aura in a completely different way. Key had to admit, he would take this Minho any day over the usual stubborn and cocky Minho.

"U-Uh," Minho stuttered, "Sorry, this picture is just really damaged and I'm just nervous that it will rip even more." He said, slowly extending the photo for his manager to take a hold off.
Key glanced up at the younger, trying to figure out the reason why he was acting this way as he took possession of the extremely light and flimsy thing.

"Oh crap," He said wide eyed as he lifted his palm up and down, feeling the light-as-a-feather weight for himself.

"I know. Just promise to be careful for me, and once you're finished with the errands, don't, I repeat don't throw this away or leave it somewhere. It's important." Minho explained, putting much, much, emphasis on his words.

"I'm and organized person, Minho. Which is why I'm your manager, stupid," Kibum said as he flicked Minho's forehead without even taking his eyes off of the woman on paper. Thus proving that the two has had many moments like this, enough for Key to memorize where Minho's features were without even looking. "But hey, why is this so special?" He asked as he traced his fingers over the cracks of the paper.

Minho looked down at the floor and scratched his neck, digging for an excuse that he hasn't used on Kibum yet. When it was impossible for him to search the ruins of his mind, he settled for just avoiding a straight answer.

"Look, just do what I told you, okay? But no matter what- Hey, look at me when I say this!" Minho hit Key on his chest to get his attention. The younger bent down and leaned in closer to Kibum's face as whispered, "Whatever you do, absolutely do not tell Tae-"

Just then, the front door opened with a loud sound that echoed in the nearly empty lobby. Wide open, the door let in bursting white rays of light which completely engulfed the figure whole, until that person walked through cut off the bright source. 

"Well speak of the devil." Kibum whispered as he quickly folded the picture, and hid it in his back pocket. Minho watched intently for the figure to reveal itself. Being unlucky, of course it had to be Taemin.

Taemin walked through the door expecting to find nobody. He thought that everybody would still be busy scarfing down as much barbeque as they could hold and assumed that Minho would be busy being bored since his personal torture toy was away at the moment. But there Kibum was. No, wait, scratch that. Kibum and Minho.

Being the understanding person he is, Key flashed a smile, knowing that it wouldn't be the right time to check up on the boy. At least not with actual words and not after what had happened. After having the brief gesture in greeting, the oldest looked back up to Minho with viper eyes and walked the opposite direction. On the other hand, Minho planted his feet firmly to his spot and watched Kibum walk down the hallway, hoping that Taemin would just ignore him. He didn't want to be that jerk anymore and he didn't want Taemin thinking bad of him if he just walked away.

Taemin stood there motionless, the tension in the room riding to a new height that had never been reached before. And this was probably as high as it was going to get because there was nothing worse to Taemin than his ex-role model disrespecting his mother. Especially, when he's been taking advantage of her care, when Taemin had nobody but himself. At times he had Jongin, but he doesn't count in this situation. It was disgusting to him, how spoiled children could act so disrespectfully to their parents when others did not have any.

The younger eyed the man with a stare as sharp as daggers, hoping that Minho could mentally feel them poking, proding at him. Drive him mad, possibly. Taemin stood there almost dumbly, not knowing what to do since Minho wasn't giving him the usual orders. Should he go back to the kitchen and resume cleaning? Should he go ask Onew-hyung for a list of chores? But why would he do that? This was probably the most free time Taemin has had ever since.... Well, before starting work there.

He assumes that he has the rest of the say off, since even Minho wasn't telling him what to do. But it wouldn't matter, Taemin wouldn't do it anyway. He won't follow Minho's orders for at least the rest of this day. All the trauma Taemin had endured up until this moment and now this to add to it? Dealing with physical labor was already , but now he has severed his one-sided bond between the idol. Having to snap back into the cold reality of living with so many broken relationships and hopes, now having to go through this, without the one who had indirectly saved him- guarded him like an angel.

Finally disbanding the thoughts along with the long stare he had on Minho, Taemin took his time in walking back to his room. His steps were clear and almost deafening to the two men. The click of his heel followed by the flat ending of his sole tapped into the older's brain and sent him the message that he was fed up and done with him. Done to the point where once he gets to his room, the merchandise he stored would be sent to the dumps.

It was working. The paced strides were working. Each step rang out ten times louder than it should ever be, and suddenly, Minho got fidgety. The idol grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt and began rubbing at a slow pace and sped up gradually as it became harder and harder for him to think. Finally, he snapped.

"Taemin." He called without turning towards Taemin. He surprised both Taemin and himself for breaking the ice. To Minho's relief, Taemin's walking came to a halt, ending the clamorous noise in his ears. "I-"

"Don't." Taemin interrupted mid-sentence with that single word, leaving Minho's tongue dried out with culpability.

With that order from worker to master, nothing more was said. There was nothing more to say at the time. Minho couldn't bear to dig himself into a deeper mess than he was already in. The best thing for both of them to do: walk away. And so they parted ways.

Taemin was eager to be having the rest of the day off. Rejuvenating himself with what he needed most: sleep. His stomach was to remain unfed for the day, as a punishment to himself. The worker smirked in a satisfied yet slightly evil way because he enjoyed how he handled Minho. That word that Taemin said, was the only one needed to state that he wasn't going to be under Minho's control anymore. In the spiritual and fanboy kind of way.

Walking past the hole in the wall, Taemin didn't question it. When he walked into his room and noticed that his closet door was wide open, he never thought about it twice. As he walked by the slightly cracked open drawers of his desk, he simply kicked them closed to solve the problem. Despite it being the afternoon, Taemin wanted nothing more than to lay in his bed, think, and then bore himself to sleep with that. If he woke up? Repeat those steps again, until he feels like he could take on the world.

He climbed onto the mattress, resting his head at the foot of his bed instead of by the pillows just like he did yesterday. Taemin's limbs were all spread out, looking as if he were making a snow angel. The smirk on his lips was long gone and was replaced by a blank expression as he stared up at the white ceiling with no movement. A huge sigh was released from between Taemin's perfectly shaped lips.

"Oh mom," He said out loud, thinking that he was speaking to his precious photo. Taemin's head turned slowly to the right, "What am I going to-" The young man bolted up and observed the spot where he last saw his mother stationed. Unable to spot the picture, Taemin's heart was ready to burst right out of his chest. In a frenzy, Taemin fell off of his bed and onto the floor. Quickly, he crawled up to the desk and popped right back up.

His shaking fingers frantically danced over the table top, under objects, inside of drawers, and soon the whole room was checked. There was no sign of it anywhere.
No, no, no. Where is she?! Where is she?! He screamed inside of his mind. Silent tears streaked down his face for the second time today. His wobbly fingers combed through his hair, only to jumble it up and tangle it. The room, the room was spinning. Instead of the silence he should be hearing, it was his father's negative outlooks on his youngest son. 

"Why did Eun Mi even bother carrying you around for nine months? I didn't want you, and even she didn't want you."

By this time, Taemin cowered into corner of his room and wept. He didn't care about the pathetic sounds he was creating, nobody would hear it and he felt nobody would bother to come and help him out. The shaking, the words, the spinning wouldn't quit messing with Taemin. No matter how many times he begged and prayed for them to stop, they seemed to crescendo.

Despite what he told himself earlier, there was no way that he could refrain from running to get his iPod from under the sheets and pillows. Right now what he thought about Minho was totally pushed aside by the full blown anxiety attack that he was going through. He fumbled with the headphones so much that he decided to pull out the plug and play it straight from the iPod's small speaker. He was so desperate to breathe normally and stop the pain in his chest that he wouldn't care if somebody found him listening to Minho's work.

A slow melody started playing, but it was hard to hear over the dying animal noises being composed from him. Taemin had no strength at all to even change the song so he began to wail even louder than before. But out of nowhere, the lyrics became clear to him- even louder than the beats themselves. It was slightly muffled though, it sounded like the lyrics were being sung through a door or a wall. His head pounded from a headache and his ears began playing tricks on him, but it was really working.

Taemin's chest heaving became less violent with every couple seconds that passed. His tears dried gradually, too, and same thing with his running nose. The boy curled up into the fetal position, and wiped his dripping wet face with a blanket that fell on the floor with him earlier. Taemin's eyes became as heavy as lead,and shut on themselves, releasing the boy into a worry-free land where nothing was real.

~~~~~

"Serenading to your lover, Minho?" Jonghyun smirked as he crept up behind the idol who was leaning up against Taemin's door.

A/N: This chapter was shoooooortttttt, I'm sorry! (But I realized that a lot of authors make their chapters short keek) I was really tired writing this, and I began to procrastinate a lot! Even though Minho did wrong, he was being to cute at the end >< I felt like I rushed at the end, but again, sorry! I really try my best to write, but sometimes I need to cut it short when I'm tired. Until next chapter!
          Annyeonghigaseyo!~ Queen S