“You’re back early..,” Leeteuk commented as Hankyung drug himself into his apartment. “We weren’t expecting you until morning.”
 

   “So, how did it go?” Siwon questioned from his position in front of the television.
 

   “I don’t want to talk about it.” Hankyung grumbled, before heading down the hall to Leeteuk’s guest room. Once inside, he buried his head in the mattress and began to weep. It seemed as if he’d cried enough tears to fill up the ocean the past few months. If he went on this way, it was sure to kill him.
 

    “I think you need to talk about,” Siwon’s soft voice soothed as he sat down next to Hankyung on the bed.
 

   “I guess my plan didn’t work.” Leeteuk concluded from the doorway.
 

   “Well…,” Hankyung began, turning over onto his back and staring up at Siwon’s concerned face. “He was really distant at first…,”
 

   “That was to be expected.” Leeteuk answered, stepping farther into the room. “You did practically crush his entire being, mentally and physically.”
 

   “Was that comment meant to help things?” Siwon questioned, giving his hyung a dirty look. “Go on, what happened?”
 

   “He didn’t say much until desert..,” Hankyung continued, going over each detail about his and Heechul’s confusing encounter.
 

   “He just got up and told you to leave?” Siwon questioned after Hankyung was done talking. “But, things were going so…,”
 

   “Well!” Hankyung finished. “I really thought he was beginning to forgive me. I don’t understand what I did wrong this time.” Hankyung sobbed, tuning back onto his stomach. “Love is so complicated!”
 

   “Love is a battlefield,” Leeteuk sighed from the doorway.
 

   “You’re quoting again,” Hankyung laughed pathetically into the comforter. That seemed to lighten the mood as they all three burst into a fit of laughter.
 

   “I have a feeling this is going to be a long night,” Leeteuk stated, a hint of laughter still hanging in his voice. “I’ll go make us some hot cocoa.”
 

   “Yeah, because chocolate fixes everything,” Siwon agreed, watching the leader disappear through the open door.
 

   “This is a disaster…,” Hankyung breathed. “How did we get ourselves into this?”
 

    “Hormones and tour buses,” Siwon answered, lying down next to Hankyung.
 

   “What?”
 

    “That’s how we got into this,”
 

    “Very funny…, we’re not a bunch of hormone infuse teenagers. We should have had better control over ourselves.”
 

   “Correction, you should have had better control. I was only involved with you and….,”
 

   “And…?”
 

   “We’re musicians there’s always an and involved.”
 

   “I don’t want to know…,” Hankyung smiled, leaning his head over on Siwon’s shoulder. “I really am sorry about all of this.”
 

   “I know you are,” Siwon answered, gently playing with a few strands of Hankyung’s hair. “We just need to get Heechul to see it too.”
 

******************************************************************************************************************************************    

    “I can’t believe this!!!” Heechul’s harsh voice woke Hankyung. “I thought you said you were sorry!”
 

    Hankyung rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the figure standing in the doorway. “What’s going on?”
 

   “Why don’t you tell me?” Heechul answered. “What happened last night got me thinking about a few things. So, I came over here this morning to talk to you and I find this!!!”
 

   “What?” Hankyung asked again, trying to regain some sort of consciousness. He really wasn’t a morning person. Setting up slowly, Hankyung tried to untangle himself from Siwon’s arms. Wait…, Siwon? Oh, !
 

    “Heechul it really isn’t what it looks like this time!”
   

      “I’m so out of here,” Heechul scoffed, turning to retreat down the hallway.
 

    “Not this time, Heechul” Leeteuk ordered, blocking his path. “Running away and sulking like a child isn’t going to fix things.”
 

   “Get out of my way Jungsoo!” Heechul demanded, taking a step forwards.
 

   “No,”
 

   “Why did you let me in and point me down the hall if you knew this is what I’d find?” Heechul questioned, stepping another inch closer to where Leeteuk stood.
 

   “And what exactly did you find?”
 

   “Them together, like before!”
 

   “Not like before!” Leeteuk stated loudly. “Heechul use your head and stop letting your bruised ego get in the way!”
 

   “What is that supposed to mean?”
 

   “Nothing happened in there. If I hadn’t of had to go to the door and let you in, you would have found me piled up with Hankyung too.”
 

   “Is that supposed to make this better? So you all decided to do each other last night; that makes it ok?”
 

   “Good lord no!!” Leeteuk yelled. “Hankyung came home crushed to pieces after what happened at dinner. So we sat up talking all night. He needed his friends and we were there for him, that’s all! Get your mind out of the gutter!”
 

   “That’s all that happened?” Heechul whispered, slouching.
 

   “That’s all,” Hankyung answered, appearing in the hallway behind him. “We just ended up falling asleep. Leeteuk hyung and Siwon were just trying to help me feel better, be a shoulder to cry on, so to speak.”
 

   “Why should I believe you after what you did?”
 

    “Because there’s no point in lying anymore. It’s done nothing but get me into trouble and I want it all to stop!”
 

   “Please, Heechul lets all just sit down and talk about this.”  Leeteuk added, moving so they could all make their way into the living room.

     Once they were all seated in the living room Leeteuk called the band meeting to order. “Ok, we usually don’t have to have many serious band meetings, but this situation has become out of control.”
 

      “Wait,” Siwon interrupted. “Technically, the entire band isn’t present.”   
 

     “Oh,” Leeteuk answered, glancing around the room. “Well, everyone else don’t know half of what’s happened anyway. We’ll fill them in later. Ok, why don’t we start by hearing everyone’s side of the story?”
 

    “I’ve already heard everything he has to say.” Heechul answered, pointing a thumb in Hankyung’s direction.
 

   “I can only explain myself so many times.” Hankyung agreed. “I just wish you’d tell me what you’re going through.”
 

    “Why?” Heechul exclaimed, climbing to his feet and fumbling for his crutches. “You know good and well what I’ve been going through. The one person in the entire world I thought maybe, just maybe I was beginning to fall in love with, took my heart and jumped up and down on it. How do you think that made me feel? Betrayed, hurt, sick…, Then I had to watch you suffer. That hurt even more. I don’t like what’s become of us Hankyung; I just don’t know how to fix it. How am I supposed to trust you again? I want to believe that you care about me and just made a stupid mistake…,”
 

    “But, that’s exactly what it was.” Hankyung whispered, standing. “It was all a stupid mistake. I should have realized what was happening in front of my eyes. I was falling in lo…,”
 

   “I wish you two would stop talking like I’m not even in the room.” Siwon added, rising as well. “Is that what I was to you Hankyung, a stupid mistake?”
 

   “What? No!”
 

   “I know we didn’t share the connection you and Heechul did, but it wasn’t some stupid fling. You’re one of my best friends I could never see you as a mistake.”
 

  “That’s not what I meant!” Hankyung pleaded. “I meant lying to you both was a mistake. Trying to be there for you both at the same time, was a mistake. Not being with you.”
 

    “Whining and begging is unbecoming,” Heechul stated flatly, turning away from Hankyung and Siwon.
 

    “Heechul…,” Hankyung began, moving closer to where Heechul stood. “I don’t want to beg and apologize anymore, but I don’t know what else to do. I’m trying to make up for what happened the best I can and at the same time I’m trying to make you see that I really do love you…,” Hankyung whispered, tenderly placing a hand on Heechul’s turned shoulder.
 

    “Don’t say things you can’t back up…,” Heechul answered, turning and pushing Hankyung away from him. The force of his anger behind the shove caused Hankyung to topple backwards over the autumn and land painfully on the carpet.
 

    Hankyung’s eyes filled with tears as he attempted to stand. “I can’t do this anymore!!” He screamed, finally righting himself. “I’m leaving and this time it’s for good! This band is going to tear itself apart if we continue like this and I can’t bear to stay and see that. Things will be better off if you guys continue on without me.”
 

     “Hankyung…,” Leetuek protested.
 

    “No Hyung,  you can’t stop me.” Hankyung interrupted, heading for the door. “I’m on the next plain home. I’ll send for my stuff later.” With that, Hankyung walked out the apartment, leaving them standing in silence.
 

   “…,” Siwon exclaimed, breaking the silence that had filled the room. “That was not how things were supposed to go.”
 

    “Well, you didn’t help the situation with your harsh accusations!” Leeteuk yelled back. “We were supposed to work as background noise for Hankyung and Heechul’s issues, not add to the problem!”
 

    “I’m sorry! I couldn’t just sit there and let him call me a stupid mistake!”
 

    “You didn’t have to make things worse either!”
 

   “Shut up!” Heechul yelled, causing Leeteuk and Siwon to stare at him. “Don’t you see what that foreigner’s actions have done to us? Stop yelling at each other and do something productive!”
 

   “You’re one to talk!” Siwon spat back. “We’ve been trying to get you to do something about this for weeks. But, all you could do was sit in your apartment and sulk like a child! He hurt your feelings, Get over it!”
 

   “How dare you talk to me like this is all my fault. You’re part of the problem as well!”
 

   “I had no idea there was a problem. It’s not my fault he decided to go fall in love with your girly while we were together!”
 

   “Guys,” Leeteuk interrupted. “Turning on each other is not going to help things. I suggest we go after Hankyung and drag him back here.”
 

   “Fine,” Siwon agreed, fumbling around in his pocket for car keys. “We can take my car.”
 

   “I’m not going,” Heechul stated, heading for the door. “I’m going home.”
 

   “What?” Leeteuk exclaimed. “You don’t care that one of your best friends in the entire world is about to walk out of our lives forever?”
 

   “He’s not my friend anymore,” Heechul answered, shutting the door behind him.
 

   “Hankyung’s not going to come back if Heechul’s not with us.” Leeteuk stated.
 

   “You’re right, but we have to try.”