So initially...almost everyone was going to the hospital for one thing or another...so I changed it since the same scene seem to come up and it’s a bit boring O-o But to disappoint you all...the cliff hanger from previous chapter...will continue to hang. :D

-

After successfully kidnapping Kira, Lee Jonghyun placed her body onto his shoulder and headed back to the Headquarters where Mr Hiew waits patiently for his return.

“My job is done, sir. Can I have it now?” Jonghyun sighed once he laid Kira onto the sofa. He glanced at her with his solemn yet guilty expression.

“Well, of course. You deserve it boy,” the old man’s lip slanted slightly before shoving a cylinder container towards Jonghyun, which contained none other than his own heart.

“And Kira?”

“Not a single hair would be harmed. Why are you still protecting her? I thought you would kill her the moment you had the chance,” Mr Hiew enquired as he slouched down his chair.

“Sometimes, humans are forced to do things which they don’t want to do. If she didn’t do what she did that day, I probably wouldn’t be standing here right now, right?”

That caused the old man to suddenly stare at him in disbelief. “You mean, you knew?”

“It wasn’t that hard. The moment we failed our mission, my friend and I already knew we wouldn’t be able to live. Even if we ran to the opposite side of the Earth - it wouldn’t guarantee us safety,” Jonghyun explained as he approached him. “By taking my heart away, our lives were saved. In some way, it was like a trade. It’s what you taught us. Before gaining something, you must lose something first.”

Mr Hiew simply glared at him as if he could throw a knife to his throat any second.

“I shall be leaving now if you don’t have anything to say,” Jonghyun bowed towards him respectfully before dismissing himself, provoking Mr Hiew’s anger even more.

-

“Is everything going according to plan?” Jonghyun asked hesitantly on the phone as soon as he left the building.

“Yes, how’s it going over there?”

“It seems he’s not suspicious of me, he’s got Kira right now. Is it time for stage 3 yet?”

“The plan...has changed. I can’t save Kira yet.”

“What?!” he yelled down the phone, yet the only reply was the continuous noise, signalling that she had hung up.

-

In the SM building, chaos roared fiercely. Screams echoed in every corner, bullets continued to fire endlessly like water molecules flowing in a stream. The metal that made contact with the floor sounded like someone had just dropped a box of pins. The vibration, the tingly noise simply stimulated more fear in everyone’s hearts.

Blood crawled across the marble flooring, trying to warn everyone that danger had arrived if they hadn’t noticed. The most unexpected was that people within SM turned out to be traitors. Killing off people who they spent years with, those who taught them, those who worked with them, they killed them all. No one knew who to trust and the girls were just stuck in between. Karen hid far away, praying that it was all just a dream. Anna had just arrived in the building and was unable to escape; hence she too tried to hide from all the chaos. Renee on the other hand, was still fulfilling her duty as the bodyguard of SHINee, protecting the main vocalist; Kim Jonghyun.

“What are you doing?!” he tried to stop her from fighting, but she simply ignored him as she pulled out a gun from her bag. “Aren’t you one of them?”

Once she heard that line, she let her guard down and received a slash on her left arm. Blood trickled down until drips dropped onto the floor, creating a puddle of her dark crimson blood.

“Be quiet!” she commanded as she fired bullets into her enemies’ heads, yet the more she killed, the more people arrived to attack them.

“Stop it! Why are you turning against them? You’ll die!” Jonghyun was about to pull her away, but a member of the Headquarters stopped him by shooting a bullet through his right leg, causing him to fall instantly as well as screaming in agony.

Renee wanted to go straight to the wounded Jonghyun, but before she could do so, she received a kick in her stomach, causing her body to slam against the wall. Unwillingly, she spat out more blood, adding more stains to the building. She saw the blade shine above her and she waited for the final, fatal blow that would surly kill her. To die in a fight where she was protecting someone she cared about was an honour to her. At least it would make her feel less sinful, and possibly receive a lighter punishment in hell since she finally did something which could be considered as ‘right’.

She closed her eyes to prepare herself for the pain, but she the pain never came. Was it too sudden that her brain couldn’t respond to it?

“I-it’s okay. I-I f-forgive you.” Those words rang in her ears. Never did it occur to her that she would be afraid of his voice. For once, she was terrified of that voice – as it caused her heart to stop. She was reluctant to hear it, because it could only mean one thing.

Her eyes opened and proved that her theory was correct. The idiot who she was trying to protect ended up protecting her instead. Her nose reddened as it introduced her tears to him. His actions were beyond words. Her emotions were in turmoil as she witnessed his pale face. His lips were dry and colourless as if his soul was already taken out of his body. His eyes were slowly failing as he continued to smile at her.

“No,” she finally managed to choke out, blinking those useless tears away. She took his body into her arms and shielded him from another attack. Once again, the expecting pain did not arrive. She looked up to see it was Leeteuk who saved her.

“L-Leeteuk oppa? H-how?” her voice shook as she watched him fight with just a few pencils in his hands. A few pencils were thrown and went straight through the enemies’ eyes, whilst some went directly into their hearts, taking away their lives instantly.

“Don’t underestimate little things like a pencil. They’re very useful,” Leeteuk continued to smile innocently as if nothing had happened once he destroyed all his opponents. “Once you’re out there, take him to the hospital immediately,” he ordered, and she simply nodded as she placed Jonghyun onto her back and quickly followed Leeteuk to an exit.

Not long after, people of the Headquarters were finally retreating. Just when they all thought they could relax for a while, Leeteuk received a phone call about Kyuhyun being submitted to a hospital. Leeteuk himself was already despondent when he heard the news. He was so devastated that his eyes instantly glowed in a dark scarlet colour.

---

“Welcome back.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be leaving soon,” Steph sighed as wandered around the room. “Now, I hear we can do business together.”

“I knew you’d be interested. You are the type of person who’ll stand by the side which benefits you,” Mr Hiew cackled mischievously.

“Certainly – that’s exactly what one needs to survive. What’s our deal?”

“Work for me again, and not only will I give you your medicine, but I can also spare your friends’ lives when I destroy SM – except from one.”

“And who is that unlucky one I may ask?” she enquired in a professional manner.

His head motioned towards the sofa, where Steph saw a tied up Kira who was slowly regaining consciousness.

“Friend?” Steph just stared at her soullessly before turning back to him. “But anyways, I don’t like this deal. How about, you guarantee you won’t attack anyone from SM anymore apart from her and Lee So Man? At the end of the day, it’s him you want to suffer.”

“Being ambitious are we?”

“As always.”

“Fine,” he threw her his gun which he took out from the drawer. “Kill her now, and I shall consider it.”

Steph looked at the gun as if it was some kind of foreign object to her before randomly pointing the gun at various directions.

“It’s hard, but I guess there’s no other way,” she sighed as she twirled the gun in her hands before pointing it towards Kira. “It’s been fun, huh?”

“You...are really unpredictable,” Kira shook her head in doubtfully.

“If I’m predictable, I wouldn’t be me. Close your eyes and I promise I’ll make it as painless as possible.”

Kira did as she was told, and the bullet was fired. In less than a second, blood splattered in every direction, following by a high pitched screamed calling for Kira’s name.

Steph’s arm froze as she recognised the owner of the scream. Once again, things were crumbling down like the avalanche – possibly even quicker.

“Why is she here? Let Anna go!” Steph ordered demandingly. Then, suddenly, Anna was clinging onto her arm bawling her eyes out.

“Tell me it’s not like this. Steph, tell me you didn’t just kill Kira,” Anna’s eyes widened in horror as her hands continue to shake frenziedly from the scene she had just witnessed.

“Anna, calm down.”

“Calm? How?! Were you always like this?” she began to move away from Steph as she began to feel frightened just being close to her. She tried to go towards Kira’s corpse, but Steph immediately stopped her.

“Don’t go there. Please, Anna - don’t go there.” Panic, discontent and trouble seemed to have all mixed together within her voice, yet Anna was too appalled to sense such things. Once she finally took a closer look at the body which was lying recklessly on the ground, Anna was finally silenced and glanced back at Steph who seemed to be in a world of her own.

Anna’s eyes dropped as she was beginning to understand what was going on, even though it seemed extremely complicated.

Mr Hiew noticed the awkward silence, hence he too when to take a closer look at Kira’s corpse.

“H-how?” he was astounded the moment he realised that the person who was on the floor was not Kira.

-

Kira waited and waited for her death. Yet nothing seemed to be happening apart from the feeling that someone was shaking her back and forth.

“Kira? Kira, can you hear me?” someone called her, pulling her back into reality.

“Rae? What’s...what’s going on?” Kira was simply dumbstruck as she saw Jonghyun standing beside Rae.

“Forget about all that for now! Kira, Kyuhyun is in hospital” Jonghyun exclaimed.

“What?”

It just seemed that before one thing could be settled, something else comes up pushing her to the edge of sanity. When he told Kira about Kyuhyun, she sprung onto her feet and clung onto Rae’s sleeves, asking her what she should do.

“There’s not many public transport during this hour, it’s 2:45AM now,” Rae exclaimed timidly as she witnessed how tears were building up in Kira’s eyes.  

Without any further hesitation, he sprinted towards the hospital. Rae attempted to chase after her, yet she was stopped by Jonghyun.

“Only this way would she realise how much she cares about him. We shouldn’t interfere,” he smiled wisely.

Kira continued to run, neglecting the fact that her feet were hurting. She could feel herself sweating, but she refused to stop. The only thing she wanted to accomplish was to see Kyuhyun herself.

-

“C-Ch-Cho K…” The nurse eyed her awkwardly as Kira couldn’t stop panting. Her hair was coarse and damp from all the sweat her body produced.

“Kira!” Kira turned around to see Donghae waiting for her at the side. She ran up towards him with optimistic eyes, hoping he’ll be able to tell her that Kyuhyun was going to be alright. Unfortunately, Donghae didn’t say anything. Instead, he shook his head which caused her legs to collapse onto the white marble floor.

“Kira.” He knelt down to her eye level. “Have faith in him, he’s undergoing a surgery right now. He’ll be alright. He lived through the last car accident, didn’t he?” he tried to comfort her. “Go home for now, there’s nothing you can do right now. I’ll call you when the surgery is over,” he smiled as he patted her back, even though he wasn’t so sure himself. He was doubtful about Kyuhyun’s chance of survival. The doctor mentioned that the accident wasn’t as bad as the previous one, but because the injury last time was so extreme, it reduced the chances of the surgery being a success.

-

In the end, Kira walked away from the hospital lifelessly. She was hoping to actually see him before she left, but they wouldn’t let her. She didn’t understand why she felt like that. All she knew was that she was afraid that he would die.

Strolling along like a living corpse, she decided to take a trip to the Super Junior’s dorm.

Once she arrived, she unknowingly made her way to Kyuhyun’s room, like a lost soul who was having difficulty to walk properly.

She entered his room with a burdened heart and a weak smile appeared as she remembered how he always wanted her to enter his room. She started to explore and soon, a box with her name engraved on the side caught her eye. Gently, she hovered her fingers over the wooden box. Afraid that Kyuhyun might not be able to tell her what was inside, she decided to invade his privacy like usual. However, this time she wasn’t doing it to tease or annoy him; it was because she wanted to know more about him before he was actually gone for good.

When she opened the box, a letter surfaced from a stack of CDs. Her eyes began to water as she began to read the contents of the letter.

-

...Because I have met you and because I have gotten to know someone like you in this lifetime – I am happy. I love you, Kira.

Below are a stack of CDs, recording my feelings for you every day. I don’t even know why I’m doing this; maybe I’m just being a little too hopeful, because you may never hear them.

I love you.

Kyuhyun

-

Her grip on the piece of frail paper tightened, but she forced herself to put it down. After reading it and absorbing the words, she simply rolled her eyes whilst her tears travelled down like a person with torchlight. Her tears were glowing with sincerity, grief and burden. In a hurried manner, she inserted one of the CD in his CD player and pressed the play button. Not long after, the voice which she longed to hear emerged, provoking more tears to surface.

“It’s been 562 days since Cho Kyuhyun fell in love with Lee Kira, ha ha ha,” the recording began, and she started to laugh along whilst her grip on the CD player tightened.

“Today, we fought again. Unlike before where I would be more than willing to compromise, this time I don’t. Instead, I want to give up. It’s getting to a point where I’m scared that you’ll continue to reject my feelings. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to make you realise how much you mean to me. You always appear to be strong, but in reality you’re really fragile, and I’m afraid to hurt you. You’re like a new born kitty; delicate, yet feisty because you want to protect yourself. If I really am hurting you, then I’m willing to give up for your happiness. Knowing you won’t be able to hear this, I’ll say my last words here. I love you, and I’ll love you until the day I die, because like you said, I am an idiot…” The recordings continued to play one after another, and Kira found herself crying on Kyuhyun’s bed, holding the CD player close to her heart, murmuring the words which he longed to hear.

“You idiot! I love you. Please be alright, I beg you,” she cried. Then, something caught her eye - a harmonica which sat calmly by his bedside table. Why it was so important to her, she could not remember, but it simply caused the song to replay in her head. She remembered the first time hearing him play the harmonica – she felt comforted. She picked the instrument up and decided to play the same song whilst she prayed until she received a phone call.