The click of the door knob attracted everyone’s attention. The door swung open with a small squeak and the loud crying in the room seemed to have lost its sound. A doctor in his long white lab coat walked in with the soft click clack of his formal shoes.

“Are you Lee Taemin’s guardians?” The doctor broke the silent atmosphere which only held the short sniffing and hiccups. Everyone stared at the doctor with wide eyes, willing for someone to say something. Finally, Taemin’s parents took the initiative to answer.

“Yes, we are his parents. How is he?” Everyone held their breaths in nervous anticipation.

“His condition is still very unstable. First, he broke his nose and his hip bone. We have inserted screws to fix then back into position, but his hip bone is a relatively large bone and would take a really long time to repair itself. Secondly, he was cut by many shards of glass. We had to remove them one by one and stitch him back up. There were countless bits from his arms, his legs, his chest and especially in his back. The most troublesome part was his ribs. He had multiple breakages of his rib bones and the impact was so great that a few impaled his lungs, causing the blood to accumulate in them. This restricted his breathing and caused him to vomit out blood as he tried to breathe. We had to cut him open to insert a tube in order to allow him to breathe easier. We have removed the blood from his lungs and realigned his rib bones, putting rods in them, but he is still very weak and any little mistake can cause the wounds reopen and aggravate."

"He has suffered from a major blood loss. This caused his heart rate to go erratic and we had to put in a device to regulate his heart beats. His blood pressure is also extremely low, which is called hypotension; if prolonged, his organs like the brain, kidney and heart may be affected from the lack of oxygen. We have given him medication to try and bring up his blood pressure, but it is not immediate and we need to observe him very closely. We have also transmitted blood into him so that it is into the healthy and normal region, but he may suffer from shock when he regains consciousness. He will regain consciousness very soon, but he will be extremely weak. He will be able to hear you but don't expect that he will be able to speak. We have put an extensive amount of morphine and anesthesia on him, in a way that he might not be able to move even if he wants to because we do not want to take any chances of him reopening his wounds. We have transferred him to the Intensive Care Unit where the nurses and the doctors, including myself, will have a constant care of him.” Silence covered the room once the doctor was finished. It was a huge amount of information to take in and everyone was trying their best to understand all the terms even though the doctor explained to them in layman terms.

“Can... Can we see him?” Key finally asked.

“Because he is in the ICU, only a maximum of two visitors for ten minutes for now. We will keep a track of his condition and if nothing goes wrong, you will be allowed to stay for a longer period from tomorrow, but only two people per visit. Although that is so, you can see him from the ICU waiting room through the glass. All visitors must be above the age of 18. No food in the ICU or the waiting room. Remember to switch off all your mobile phones as the radiation may affect some of the machines there; in fact, try not to use any electronic devices at all. Please do not bring in flowers or scented objects as it may affect the patient’s breathing. If you want to prepare a gift, a card will do. Visiting hours will be from 9am to 9pm,” the doctor enforced strictly. When no one asked any other questions, they thanked the doctor and broke into chatter the second the doctor was out of the room.

“Two people? I want to see him!” Key called out immediately. Onew smacked Key with his good hand.

“Behave,” he scolded. Key scowled at his hyung - he didn’t like to be embarrassed, especially not in front of his parents. Onew looked at Taemin’s parents again. “Abonim, Omonim, I think it would be best if you saw him first.” Onew wanted to see Taemin as badly as Key wanted to as well, but he knew better than to steal the chance from parents who could hardly even see their own son on normal days. “We’ll watch from outside,” Onew whispered to Key. Key pouted in disappointment but nodded hesitantly.

“Thank you Jinki-sshi, Kibum-sshi.” Taemin’s mother nodded her head in a small bow at them as she wiped away her tears. She tugged against her husband’s sleeve as they made their way out the room, impatient to see their son. Onew hopped off the bed onto his good leg, swaying slightly in imbalance, and Minho quickly reached out to hold him up. Onew grabbed the crunches that leaned against the wall adjusting it to his height and then trying to put it up into a comfortable position.

“Let’s go,” he finally announced to the room full of people. He stride awkwardly, learning how to use the crunches for the first time. Loud screams erupted the minute they opened the door and came in view. They actually forgot about how persistent these fans can actually be. The hospital must have let them in when the crowd started to die down relatively.

"Oppa!" They squealed and cried, all trying to ask for their well-being. The SHINee members just bowed as they normally did. They did respect the fans' patience and love for them in waiting for them for such a long time after all. But Heechul put a hand on the shoulders of Onew and Jonghyun who led the group in the front, pulling them to a stop. He got everyone's attention as he turned to the horde of screaming fans.

"All of you are fans right? You want your oppas to perform on stage powerfully, don't you? So can I please beg of all of you, when you are driving to pay attention to the road? Just taking your eyes away from us when driving is not going to kill you; it is looking at us when you are driving that is going to kill. No one wanted this to happen, but if all of you can be responsible drivers, this could have been prevented," Heechul lectured the group. It was not the first time he did this; he did the same when he got into an accident as well. His eyes welled up slightly at the memory. The screaming girls fell silent now. Some hung their head low, some nodded in agreement, others muttered in a low voice in complains of being wronged. Jonghyun tugged Heechul away before he could say more. They bowed at the fans again before hurrying down the hall.

"Thanks, hyung." Jonghyun whispered in the midst of pulling Heechul away. "We wouldn't have been able to say that ourselves." Heechul was walking in pace with the others now.

"You should say your piece. We are celebrities, not some stunt-puller. None of you should be in living in fear because of foolish acts like this. It really pisses me off to see all of you injured and suffering just because some girl decided that she was a super driver that doesn't need to look at the road when driving. And it wasn't even a minor accident; your van overturned several times! This time, it was only Taemin that is seriously injured, but just imagine if it happened before Taemin had warned any of you. But even after his warning, all of you came out with broken ribs, you with a cracked head, Onew with a crushed leg... He could have really saved all your lives. I'm seriously extremely angry at whoever caused this. Taemin didn't deserve this; neither do any of you. If she wanted to do something stupid, she shouldn't be dragging others down with her just because of her stupidity," Heechul spat out with fuming anger. Jonghyun rubbed his hand on his hyung's back in attempt to smother the flames but remained silent at his comment.

They finally arrived at the ICU waiting room where thankfully, the visitors were filtered, allowing little or even no fans into the area. Key and Minho were already at the counter enquiring while Onew tried his best to catch up to them. The lady behind the counter stood up and went round the reception desk in quick little steps, leading them to the room personally. The rest of the group hurried not to be left behind. The petite lady that led them pointed out the room as they were approaching it, and Key immediately left the helping of the leader to Minho and rushed up, pressing his palms and leaning his nose into the glass. It didn't take long before everyone was doing the same as well. Silence dawned upon them as if they lost their tongue the minute they caught sight of the boy that laid in the hospital bed just a glass and a few meters away.

There were no words sufficient to describe what they saw. There were tubes and machines all over the place, that it almost seemed messy. Although the blanket covered him from chest down, they could see the bandages peeping over his chest and wrapped around his arms and hands. A bulge could clearly be seen over the covers on his right hip area, where he must have broken the bone. The cast covered his thigh and wrapped around his waist to keep it held firmly. His face was covered with bandages as well, wrapping across his features to cover a large patch on his nose. Where he had no bandages, he was blue and black. A huge elaborate oxygen mask was pulled over his face, covering almost all his facial features. The soft misting that formed and dispersed on its cover was almost non-existent. He was unrecognizable.

Key dropped to his knees. Onew unconsciously let the crunches loose as he fell to the ground together with the 2 metallic sticks. They knew just how bad Taemin's condition was, but looking at that frail body wrapped in bandages, they wanted to deny with all their senses that that was the same boy that they saw smiling just this morning.

Key's chest was starting to ache from crying so much, the diva's eyes were swollen and red but he didn't care anymore. He hiccupped and coughed, crying against the throbbing of his chest. He had been waiting for the leader for 4 hours, it was about time he took his own painkillers, but Key wanted nothing to do with those medicines. There, was his precious baby fighting for his life, against so much pain and blood... Surely his own wound couldn't even compare to 1 percent of what the younger was suffering from. Maybe he could feel a little more connected with the mummified body just by feeling some pain.

Onew scrambled to stay strong. He didn't want to fall apart when his dongseangs were all hurt emotionally and physically. He grabbed his crunches and started apologizing to no one in particular. No one seemed convinced. They just gave him sorrowful looks and helped him up. He tried to tell them to help Key first, but Key was throwing such a fit that he curled up in a ball on the floor and swiped away anyone who touched him, with Minho and Jonghyun at the raw end of his attacks. Onew felt a hand rest on his shoulders comfortingly and he turned around to look - his parents. He missed them so much, but for them to meet in such a situation, he could only feel ashamed as their son. He felt as though he had put their name in shame since he not only failed to protect his dongseangs, he even got them in a worse position. He was a worthless leader.

"Appa, umma... I'm sorry... I've let you down." Onew dipped his head low, not meeting their eyes. Just how many people could he have let down in one pathetic morning? Not only s, their parents and the manager, but he probably let down the fans as well - those crying their hearts out upon hearing about or seeing Taemin. His father placed his wide palm on Onew's head, pulling him closer. Onew wasn't going to cry anymore; he had to stop crying. s needed someone who could stay firm and strong.

"You have done well. We are proud of you." His parents, who watched him take everything into his hands, apologizing to Taemin's parents, trying to stay strong, and blaming himself for everything, felt their hearts twist. They knew anything they said would just make him feel worse, but they also knew their son would figure out a way to stay strong without breaking down. His mother rubbed his back tenderly and with a soothing voice, she whispered "Everything is going to be fine, he’s going to be okay. You’re doing great, so stop putting yourself down. We’re just glad that nothing bad happened to you."