Arraso, i'm not even going to try and make any excuses because they are all pretty useless. Just please know that i am SO VERY sorry for making you all wait so long for an update and just going off on a work hiatus without anouncing it. It won't be happening again!

Anyway, i'm still in the middle of my GCSE exams but they will be over in a couple of weeks and i am determined to get more regular with my updates once more. So please stay with me!!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! ^_^ 

Minho and Taemin continued hugging for a few minutes before going back upstairs to check on their Hyung. When they got there, the diva was still fast asleep and curled into his covers. He seemed so innocent and peaceful as he slept, the only marks of what had happened that day were the half-dried tear tracks down his face and the forming purple bruise on his cheek. Other than this, he seemed completely blissful and at peace.

Minho stepped forward, leaving Taemin by the door frame as he went over and using a cloth he had brought from downstairs, Minho gently started to caress Key's face with it to clean it of the tears. When he tried to ghost it over his bruise, Key's face scrunched and even though he didn't wake, he stirred and moaned in his sleep. Taemin shook his head.

“That's it. That's it! I'm calling Onew!” he said forcefully, but quietly at the same time so as not to wake his Umma Hyung.

The tall boy looked up from his task and over to his boyfriend who had already pulled his phone out of his pocket and was dialling their eldest Hyung. When it was done, he held the phone to his ear and looked into Minho's eyes. Minho nodded at him, to which Taemin returned an identically determined one and disappeared out of the door and downstairs again, so as not to disturb Key's sleep.

“Tae, what can I do for you?” Onew's usual cheerful voice came through the line. Taemin sighed, he hated to ruin his good mood but this was important.

“Hyung, Key Umma's in trouble.”

“In trouble? Is he ok? Where's Jonghyun” Onew's voice was full of alarm.

Taemin sighed once again and sadly recounted the tale of what had occurred, from when he received the phone call from his Umma up until they discovered the fake texts. Once he had finished, Taemin trailed off unsure of what else he should have said. Onew just replied in a stone cold voice,

“I'm coming over.”

From only these three words, Taemin could tell he was both shocked and livid. Taemin shuddered, even hearing that venom in his usually happy-go-lucky Hyung's tone frightened him. It was rare for him to ever have to face that side of Onew and he was glad of it.

Once the phone disconnected, Taemin put it back in his pocket and turned to see Minho reaching the bottom of the stairs.

“So?” Minho asked gently, the cloth rolling between his hands

“Onew's on his way over.” Minho nodded.

“How much does he know?”

“Pretty much everything” Minho nodded again.

There was a pause and Minho saw Taemin's hard expression slip ever so slightly and in a moment Minho walked over to him and developed him into another hug just as Taemin started to cry once more.

“Hey now, shush, shush. It's ok” He said softly, rubbing his hands on his boyfriend's back. Taemin just nodded into his shoulder, taking steadying breaths until he was calm again. All this emotion just kept getting to him, he had always been very emotional and childlike so it wasn't exactly surprising.

Minho continued to hold his boyfriend even after he could tell he had stopped crying.

“We're going to get to the bottom of this. Ok?” He felt Taemin nod again. “Onew and I are going to figure this out” Taemin nodded for the third time and pulled out of the embrace, Minho's hands came to rest on his shoulders. “Will you stay and look after Key? Just that I know you want to help...” Taemin looked up into Minho's face and managed a small smile, shaking his head.

“Ani, it's ok. I want to look after him. Plus i'd probably rip both Jonghyun's and whoever is responsible's throat out” he said, trying to lighten the mood with a little humour.

Just then the door rang, Minho went to answer it, grabbing his coat on the way. When he opened the door he saw Onew standing on the porch, his fists clenched and he still seemed to be seething.

“We're gonna find the person who did this.” He said, practically hissing between his teeth. Minho nodded in agreement with a solemn expression on his face, he turned around and said,

“You'll be alright here with Key?” Taemin just nodded and kissed his cheek before closing the door and leaving both men outside.

As soon as the door was closed, Onew looked to Minho almost wishing he would suddenly crack a grin and tell him it was all a silly joke;

that the whole conversation with his youngest dongsaeng on the phone had only been a prank call;

that Key had not been kicked out of his own home by his boyfriend;

and that he had not been crying his eyes out in Minho's arms only minutes ago...

But the hardened look on Minho's face told him the opposite.

Onew's face took on a look of anger mixed with confusion and disbelief.

“I heard the news, I still can hardly believe it” He said, his voice bitter, but Minho could tell the spite was not meant for him.

“I know, I have never seen Key Hyung so distraught or my Minnie so worried, he practically begged me to find out what really happened.” Minho said back, his voice also containing anger but more importantly real genuine concern for both his boyfriend and his Diva Hyung. “Jonghyun is one of my best friends, but he has gone too far.” Onew nodded in agreement.

The two of them then lent against the hood of Minho's car, deciding that first they had to decide what to do and where to go. Onew spoke first;

“So what is the deal with this Seyun girl? Taemin mentioned her”

“She is an old friend of Key's who recently moved back into town. He bumped into her in a shopping centre one day with a friend. Key was so happy to see her, or at least that's what Tae told me. She was the one who seemed to have been on the other line of the fake texts, so Tae and I think she must be involved somehow, even if she isn't the one doing it. Then again, she could be.” Minho explained briefly, knowing his boyfriend had already given Onew a rundown of the facts and that he didn't want to waste time. Onew thought for a moment,

“But does she have an ulterior motive?”

“Hmm, it's possible but we can't think what it could be” Minho replied. There was another pause when the two of them thought it over,

“What do you want to do first?” Onew finally voiced, knowing they would have to come to a decision soon.

“I think going to Seyun would be a good starting place. She's our most likely suspect behind this, and if she isn't, she's an old friend of Key's and as Key has been framed, we can assume she was a victim too.” Minho decided and Onew inclined his head in agreement. They both stood up together and Minho unlocked the car so they could climb in. They sent one last worried glance back at the house as they pulled away from the driveway and over to Seyun's house, the address for which Key had given Minho before he fell asleep.

Soon the two arrived at the house and they exited the car, neither sure exactly what they would face or what they would say. Onew stepped up to the tall door and wrapped his knuckles against the wood; when it was opened, they were met with a sight they certainly didn't expect. There stood Seyun with tear tracks down her flushed cheeks and she seemed to still be sobbing gently; in her hand she held a damp tissue, which she brought it back up to her face as she looked at her guests. Onew's anger had faded, as had Minho's and concern filled the elder's eyes as his usual compassionate self returned.

“Hello, we're Onew and Minho, we're friends of Key's. What happened?” He asked. Seyun just waved them off with a sad expression and stepped aside in a silent invitation to come in.

Once they were inside and Seyun had closed the door, she led them to her living room and offered them a seat. They sat down together on the couch while she took the armchair and pulled her feet up towards herself, wrapping her cardigan closer around her figure as she did so. Minho's eyes fell upon a tub of ice cream and a spoon on the table beside her. Onew looked at her with piteous eyes and asked,

“Seyun, what happened? Are you ok?”

Seyun sniffed before answering.

“Someone's been going around, telling everyone I had an affair with a boy in a relationship just to break them up, and now people have started treating me differently and Jinju won't even answer my calls or emails” Onew and Minho looked at each other,

“But I thought Jinju was your friend? That's what Taemin told me.” Minho said, at the confused expression on Seyun's face, he added, “Sorry, Taemin is like a son to Key” to which Seyun just nodded in understanding before answering,

“We were, but I don't understand why this happened.” Minho reached inside his pocket and pulled out Key's phone, unlocked it and handed it over to Seyun.

“Do you recognise any of these texts?”

Seyun took the phone carefully out of Minho's hand and curled back into herself as she read them. She looked from the first one after they had met in the shop and nodded as she read down to the one just before the party. Suddenly her eyebrows furrowed and a small gasp left her lips as she continued onto the other incriminating messages. She looked up with wide, frightened and upset eyes as she looked to the men in her living room for answers and handed the phone back to them.

“I didn't write those! You have to believe me. Omo, who would have done this?” Her eyes once again filled with tears and Onew looked at her in sympathy, handing over a tissue which she accepted with a grateful nod of her head as she brought it to her eyes.

“It's ok, we believe you” Onew assured her with a small smile. “But that is what we are trying to find out. Do you know how this might have happened? Or why?” Seyun took a shaky breath before answering.

“I don't really know, I mean I only arrived a couple of months ago, and I haven't had any fights with anyone.” Minho considered this for a moment, before a question suddenly popped into his head.

“Seyun, could I please see your phone?” He asked in a gentle tone so as not to upset the poor girl any more than she already was. Seyun nodded and patted her pocket but a confused look passed over her features as she realised her pocket was empty, before a look of understanding washed over her face.

“Mianhae, I don't even have it. I leant it to someone... I can't remember who, it happened a little while ago but I forgot about it; what with everything that's been going on.” Onew raised an eyebrow at this as if to question how such a pretty young lady like herself could forget her phone was missing. Seyun caught this glance and quickly added, “I don't really use my mobile much. I use the house phone normally or I prefer to use my email account” To this, Onew's expression relaxed and he ducked his head slightly in understanding. There was a pause in which nobody said anything as they sat and registered all that had been said and who could have done it.

Suddenly something seemed to come across Minho's eyes as he had an awful realisation and in that moment, had the urge to slap himself in the face for his stupidity of not noticing it before.

“Seyun” He asked and Seyun looked over to him with wide, questioning eyes. “Do you know roughly when you leant your phone to someone?” Seyun thought for a minute before the realisation came to her,

“I think it was the night I was at Jinju's house for a big party she was throwing to celebrate my coming back. Key and his boyfriend - 'Jonghyun' was it? - were also there.” Minho pulled his hand down his face and sighed as he further evidenced his suspicions in his mind.

“Seyun, can I ask... Was it Jinju who borrowed your phone?”

Seyun's eyes widened as she nodded slowly,

“Ne, it was.” she admitted, but then suddenly her eyes snapped to Minho's “Wait, you don't think she did this, do you?” Minho looked both saddened and angry as he in turn nodded back.

“I think I do.” He gazed over to his Hyung who signalled that he explain further. “Well, from what I heard, Key had given his phone to her as well, just before he left the party because she said she had to make a call. But then Jonghyun dragged Key off before he could get the phone back. There is no way it's a coincidence that she asked for both of their phones at the same time and didn't give either of them back...”

“...Especially as the party was at her own house where she could have just used the house phone anyway.” Onew finished,

“Exactly” Minho concluded.

There was a pause as all three of them tried to digest this new revelation, then Seyun just furrowed her brow and murmured in a quiet and hurt voice,

“But why? Why would she do this to me?” Onew, being the kind and compassionate man he was, reached out his hands and took hers in his in a soothing and reassuring way.

“I don't know” He admitted, “But it's going to be alright, I promise. We will figure this out” Seyun sniffed and nodded, once more pulling the tissue inclosed in her free hand, up to her eyes.

Minho, who had still not broken out of his brooding pose, also snapped his head up and asked,

“Seyun. I'm afraid Onew and I do not know much about Jinju. Only the little that Taemin and Key told me before we left. Would you mind telling me more about her and your relationship with her?” When Seyun hesitated, Minho urged, “It might help us work out why she did this” Seyun closed her eyes, took a breath and nodded.

“Well Jinju and I first officially met when she came to visit her relatives who lived close to where my family and I were living. She goes to visit them during the holidays and we ran into each other at the mall and started talking. We had a lot in common and we became really good friends. We went shopping all the time and just hang out and talked about girly stuff, I guess.” Onew nodded for her to continue, “Well she had to go back to Seoul so we started talking online instead. We became even closer even though we weren't together in person. We talked about everything, our hobbies, family... first crushes...” she said, blushing slightly. Minho noticed this and his head tilted a little to the left before his eyes seemed to enlarge in understanding.

“Seyun?” Minho asked, rather more hesitantly than before so as not to intrude. Seyun looked up and met his eyes. “Would you mind me asking, your first crush wouldn't have happened to be Key, would it?” Seyun lowered her eyes to her lap, a faint blush blossoming over her cheeks.

“Yes it was Key... don't get me wrong, I knew he only saw me as a friend and I was ok with that – I really was, I promise. I got over him anyway. Of course I missed him like crazy while I was away but I could never see him as anything more than a friend now, especially after he seemed so happy with his partner.” She assured. Onew and Minho couldn't help but cast their eyes to one another at the mention of Key and Jonghyun's supposed happiness together.

Seyun caught the look in their glance and her eyes seemed to fill with even more pain. “Ani. Tell me this hasn't hurt what they had. They seemed so good together; I can't believe this would happen to Key, he is such a nice person, he doesn't deserve this!” The boys looked in their laps, both hurt by what their friends were going through. Onew decided she deserved to know at least the basics of what had befallen her childhood best friend,

“I'm afraid it has put a huge strain on their relationship at the moment. It would appear that Jinju has managed to convince Jonghyun to accuse Key of cheating and currently he has kicked Key out of their apartment.” Seyun looked aghast at this revelation. “Which is why,” Onew continued, “We really need to figure out why she would do something like this”

“So what happened after the online messages?” Minho brought them back to the topic at hand.

“Well during the holiday, Jinju suggested that I should come back to Seoul for the beginning of the next school year so that we could study together and still not have to move halfway through a term or something.” She admitted. “Well I told her I'd love to, I really have missed Key Oppa so much, but I told her that I didn't think it would be possible because of all the expenses and all but then...”

“She gave you money, didn't she?” Onew said.

“Wait, so you dropped everything and moved suddenly because this girl offered you money? Doesn't that sound a lot like taking a bribe?” Minho added in, sounding a little harsher than before. Seyun's eyes widened at the accusing tone and waved her hands in front of her and shook her head,

“No, it wasn't like that at all, well at least it didn't seem like that at the time. My Appa was offered his job back with a promotion and he was really excited, the only issue was my education but Jinju's father is the Headmaster of one of the best universities in Seoul and she talked to him so that I could get a scholarship into the school... it was a done deal.” She rushed in explanation.

Minho felt a twinge of guilt at snapping at her like that, he knew she hadn't meant to hurt anyone, but he was still bubbling away at the treatment of one of his best friends.

“I know, i'm sorry” He sighed. Seyun offered a small half-smile,

“It's ok. Anyway, after I moved we hung out a lot, going shopping mostly and chatting more about ourselves and our pasts. Jinju was interested in knowing about Key and what he liked and all that.” She looked into their eyes once more, as if searching for assurance that they believed her innocence.

“I honestly didn't know about her plan to spilt them up. I didn't even know she knew Jonghyun at all, I knew she wanted me to introduce Key to her, and to be honest now that I think about it, she didn't seem at all surprised by Jonghyun, it was as if she expected him there.” Onew and Minho shared another look at this piece of information. “I swear, after we first met them she told me she was interested in becoming friends with Jonghyun and Key but that was all she told me, I had no idea that she wanted to break them up.” She claimed.

Onew and Minho remained in Seyun's house for a little longer, reassuring Seyun and trying to find any other small details about her relationship with Key and Jinju, incase anything could be of importance at a later time. Once they were sure that Seyun knew they would do all in their power to right what had been done, they said goodbye and headed immediately back to Taemin's house.

There was an urgent knock at the door.

Taemin opened the door and looked expectantly at the two figures standing there.

“Taeminnie, you will never guess what we just found out...”

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, and once again I am very sorry for the wait. I want to thank each and every person who viewed and subscribed and commented on this story and has stuck with me through this busy and stressful time! I want to say Kamsahamnida especially to 

LaeMeka, cla7data, kmadness, JiKyungSung, thehiddenme14, Ilonahaku, NaRunSHINee and Sapphire-eyes for subscribing during my hiatus. I really appreciate your support. All of you are my motivation to keep writing, so thank you all very much! I hope to be able to update soon! Please feel free to subscribe if you are a new reader and comments are much appreciated! <3