A/N: Chapter 4 ^_^ It's a little shorter, but i didn't kow how to end it otherwise. As always, comments are more than welcome and I hope you enjoy! :D

“Do you like him?”

Kibum looked up at Minho and didn’t know what to say. Sure, he didn’t like lying but he didn’t like everyone knowing either.

“I know you don’t lie.” Minho said as though he had read his mind. “You don’t have to answer, I think I get it.”

Kibum continued to look at him.

“I do.”  He heard himself confess, his voice was barely above a whisper.

It sounded weird in his ears, like he was in another room listening in on the conversation.

“And Onew-Hyung knows?” Minho asked with raised eyebrows.

Kibum nodded.

“That was unexpected.” Minho chuckled.

Kibum smiled to his own astonishment. He should have gone to Minho more often when he was sad, he thought. It was as if he was working magic. Their relationship wasn’t that good though, hadn’t been since their debut. Kibum kind of regretted it a little at that moment.

“I know. I thought Taemin would be the first to know since he is probably the smartest in our band but...”

“I think he figured it out tonight.” Minho said apologetically.

Kibum shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll be keeping my distance from Jonghyun now anyway, until I can set my mind straight again. I can’t keep it up like this... like you noticed.”

Minho’s grip around his shoulders tightened. “If you need to talk I can listen.”

Kibum sniffled and mumbled a ‘thank you’. Then he let Minho help him up and they went to brush their teeth together before going to bed. Kibum was a bit worried what Jonghyun would say to Minho, but decided not to think about it too much. He trusted Minho not to do anything stupid. Minho smiled at him and wished him a good night before he opened the door to his shared room with Jonghyun and disappeared. Kibum smiled a little to himself and opened the door to his room, hoping that the other two were already asleep. Fortunately, luck was on his side and he went straight to bed without any annoying questions.

If anything good comes out of this, he thought sleepily and snuggled deeper into his sheets, it would be that my relationship with Minho got better.

And with that he fell asleep.

The next morning Kibum didn’t even bother trying to sit beside Jonghyun and pretend everything was normal. Luckily for him, Jonghyun decided to take a shower when he woke up and that made it possible for Minho to take his place. Or, Kibum forced him to, but whatever.

The bad part was that Jonghyun looked more betrayed than ever finding his seat already occupied and was about to protest when Jinki told him to just sit down and eat since they were in a hurry.

When their manager came to pick them up he held Kibum back while the others went to the car, telling him that they needed to talk. Kibum had a hunch he already knew about what.

“I’m fairly sure Jonghyun has told you by now what he has been doing during his free time.” The manager said once Taemin had gone through the door, being the last of the other four. “I know that you two are close, but I think you should tone down on the fan-service now that we’ve confirmed him dating Sekyung to the media.”

Kibum stared at the floor to keep himself from reveal the feelings that were tumbling through him.

“I know.” He said in a monotone voice.

The manager put a hand on his shoulder. “Good. I know all of you have good heads on your shoulders, I just thought that I should tell you anyway.”

“I understand.” He said in that same voice.

When he got into the car that would take them to the studio Jinki caught his eye and silently asked if something was wrong. Kibum shook his head at him and took the seat beside Taemin. Jonghyun had called shotgun, which he always did when he got mad at one or more in the band, ignoring the others for the rest of the ride. There wasn’t much to ignore anyway, as everyone sat in their own thoughts in silence.

“Why?” Jonghyun asked as soon as they were sitting down, waiting for their turn to record.

Kibum had somehow ended up sitting next to him while Onew was recording and Minho and Taemin were in the bathroom but he had no recollection of how it had happened.

Kibum kept his eyes trained on the wall in front.

“I-I just needed to talk... to Minho...” he stammered.

“You needed to talk to Minho?” Kibum knew Jonghyun was trying to keep a conversational tone, but the anger seeped through. “Since when do you go to Minho for that stuff?”

“S-since yesterday... I guess.” Kibum hated how his voice sounded so small and fragile. Where was the Almighty Key?

Suddenly Jonghyun grabbed Kibum's chin and tried to turn his head towards him. Kibum stubbornly refused and slapped his hand away.

“Kibum,” he could hear Jonghyun was close to tears now, “why won’t you even look at me?”

Kibum didn’t answer as he also was dangerously close to tears. Instead he stood up, not once looking at Jonghyun, and left.

The other three members noticed both Kibum's and Jonghyun’s red-rimmed eyes once they were back in the van on their way to their next schedule but silently agreed not to mention it. If there was something they would work it out when they were ready. However, Minho kept close to Kibum for the rest of the day and continued to do so from that day onwards as support.

All of that led to him and Jonghyun not talking for weeks. They became awkward around each other and didn’t speak to one another unless they absolutely had to. Kibum busied himself with finding other friends and going out so as not to have to be home knowing that Jonghyun was off doing something with Sekyung. But he sometimes caught Jonghyun looking at him, his eyes filled with sadness and so many questions it made Kibum want to cry. Kibum really thought that their ties would be severed for ever if it continued like that, until he one day came home to find Jonghyun lying on his bed and crying like the world was going to end.

Kibum thought he would be home alone that evening and had gone out to by some snacks and drinks for the movie he was going to watch. Taemin and Minho were out someplace with friends and Jinki had gone home to visit his parents.

It had Kibum flying into the air in shock and drop all of his bags when he heard someone sobbing in one of the rooms. At first he was convinced it was a ghost and had his phone out and ready to call their manager or another member. But when he listened closely he realised that he knew those sobs very well. So well that it sent his heart up in his throat and he almost threw himself in through the door without a second thought. He managed to stop just in front of it though, raising his hand uncertainly.

He knew he definitely wasn’t over Jonghyun. Not one bit. But hearing his former best friend, and probably his biggest love, cry like that made him want to kill whoever had started it. He wasn’t sure what he was doing until he had silently slipped inside the room and was standing beside Jonghyun’s bed, looking down at the ball emitting the sobs under the cover.

Kibum gently laid his hand on top of it and he could swear Jonghyun jumped about ten feet into the air.

“Sorry.” He mumbled as Jonghyun turned to stare at him in shock.

Kibum accidentally looked at Jonghyun’s face although he had decided not to. His eyes were red and puffy, his hair was a mess and his clothes were in no better shape. His iPod, which he had been listening to to calm down, had fallen to the floor when Kibum had scared him. The sight of him looking so devastated made Kibum lose his breath and he could feel himself tear up.

“Kibum?”

Jonghyun’s voice was small and fragile and it was all Kibum could do standing still. He was sure that if he moved a muscle he would either run away or throw himself at Jonghyun, neither of which was a good option.

Jonghyun’s tears continued to flow but his sobs had somehow gotten quieter.

“Are...” Kibum's voice failed him and he had to stop to clear his throat. “Are you okay?”

Jonghyun bit his lip and shook his head. “D-do I... l-look okay?”

Kibum didn’t answer. Jonghyun took that as a sign to continue.

“The fans are all leaving because of me dating Sekyung and she is continually being harassed on her web-page and I have somehow lost my best friend without even a good reason. So no, Kibum, I am not okay. Far from it.” He rambled with a steadier voice.

Kibum didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t thought it had been so hard on Jonghyun, but he had apparently only seen himself in this mess. He bit his lip and felt a few tears escape.

Jonghyun reached out and grabbed Kibum’s hand. He tried hard to not pull it away but he couldn’t help the flinch that went through him. Jonghyun noticed it too and grabbed on even harder.

“I want my best friend back.” He said and sniffled. “I want to go back to how we used to be Kibum.”

Kibum's tears started to flow thicker. “I-I don’t know…”

“How can you not?” he demanded.

Kibum couldn’t answer that. Or, he could, but he didn’t want to. Kibum was silent for so long that Jonghyun's sobs started up again. He let go of Kibum's hand and curled up into a ball again in a sitting position.

“F-fine… do w-what… y-you want!”

Kibum realized that this was the moment when he would have to make one of the most important decisions in his life. And he had no idea of what he wanted. Either he left and that would really be the end of his and Jonghyun's relationship or he stayed, reconciled with Jonghyun and tried to live as his best friend until he somehow got over him.

Kibum closed his eyes and sighed.  He really wasn’t ready for this. Then he got onto Jonghyun's bed, reached out and pulled him as close as he could.

Jonghyun hiccupped in surprise but wasn’t slow to put his arms around Kibum's waist and they toppled over into a laying position. Soon he was crying his heart out into Kibum's chest, while Kibum mumbled ‘sorry’s and ‘it’s going to be okay’s into his hair.

They lay like that until Jonghyun fell asleep from the exhaustion of crying and Kibum's shirt was drenched with his tears.

He freed himself from Jonghyun's arms gently when he was absolutely sure the other was asleep and wiped away the lingering wetness on his cheeks softly with his sleeve. Then he bent down, placed a light kiss on Jonghyun's cheek and got out of the bed to go to his own room.

This was going to be a real heartache, was the single thought that went through his head before he fell asleep.