The ECG had flatlined, but Donghae stayed in his father's arms, still crying harder than ever with no sign of stopping. I was heartbroken for Donghae and was crying silent tears as well, as was the entire team and Donghae's family. We stood around the bed without saying anything for a few minutes, but the manager hyung tapped me on the shoulder, as with Leeteuk and Sungmin. We looked at him, and he beckoned us to follow him. We wiped our eyes and followed him outside the room, then he spoke.

"I know it's hard right now, and I hate to be insensitive, but you guys still have to go to your variety show recording," he said quietly.

We dropped our heads, but then nodded.

"Okay. Jinsoo's waiting with his van outside, so I'll drive the three of you to the recording in his van, and he can take the bus back with the rest of the team," he said. We nodded, and he walked outside the hospital with us following with our faces covered with our hands.

When we reached the van, Jinsoo hyung and Seunghwan hyung looked at each other, then Seunghwan hyung said, "Make sure you take care of the press and let the company representatives know." Jinsoo hyung nodded, and Leeteuk got in the passenger seat of the van while Sungmin and I got in the back seat.

Little did we know that it would be a very difficult drive; the heightened emotions made all of us a lot more irritable than we would have been, and we said things that we never would have if we hadn't been put through such emotions. An hour into the drive, we were all silent except occasional sniffles when the manager hyung broke the silence.

"Try to control yourselves. I don't want you guys going on air with swollen faces," he said. Leeteuk and Sungmin looked out the window, but I bit my lip.

"Sir - I'm just - I'm just wondering if it's okay for me to go to the recording today," I said quietly. "I still did make the mistake yesterday."

The manager hyung sighed. "They haven't told me either way. We'll just have you go for now, and if they want to pull you from the recording after we get there, we'll figure it out then."

"Yes, sir," I muttered, then I wiped my eyes dry and looked out the window.

"At least it seems like there was no impact on the group as a whole," he said. I nodded in appreciation of that fact, but Leeteuk was less impressed.

"By the way, Cho Kyuhyun, do you have your script prepared for the recording?" asked Leeteuk. I looked at him.

"Um - a - a bit, but - " I stammered.

"Do you have it on you?"

"Yes, sunbaenim," I said.

"Give it to me," he said, holding out his hand. I opened up my bag and gave him the script that I had written for myself two nights ago, and he took it from me without looking at my face. He read the sheets over, then he sighed.

"Maybe it would be better if you just don't do the recording," he muttered, giving me back my sheets of paper. I flushed and looked at him as I took them back in my hands.

"What - what do you - "

"Good luck trying not to be edited out with those lines," he said, tilting his head back. Hurt, I looked at my script again. The manager hyung glanced at us while he drove.

"Teuk, maybe you'd like to give him a hand. It's his first variety show," he said. Leeteuk frowned a little.

"No," said Leeteuk, turning his head away. I dropped my head while the manager hyung gave him a small glance of disapproval.

"Come on, Jungsu. I know you're not too pleased with him right now, but - "

"Can I not deal with this right now? I'm having a really, really hard time," said Leeteuk in annoyance, then his eyes welled up again. "I told Donghae - I told Donghae that - " He stopped to steady his voice, then he continued. "I told him that his father was going to be okay."

There was another silence, then the manager hyung stole a glance at Leeteuk. "Hey, I know it's hard. But if you just get through today, I know I can cancel your broadcasts for tomorrow," he said.

Leeteuk sighed and looked at the ceiling while wiping his eyes.

"So Jungsu, please give Kyuhyun a hand with his script," said the manager hyung, reaching over to pat his shoulder. Leeteuk sighed again.

"Give it to me," he said, and with a look of resignation, he held out his hand.

"Thank you," I whispered, and I gave him the sheets of paper again.

"Give me a pen," he ordered, and I hastily reached into my bag to hand him one. Leeteuk sighed again and started working on the script. I was just looking out the window when Leeteuk sighed.

"Hyung, it's too much of a mess," said Leeteuk. The manager hyung ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Re-write the whole thing if you have to," he said through clenched teeth.

"But hyung, it's - "

"Damn it, Jungsu!" shouted the manager hyung, clearly furious. "You're not the only one with a lot on your plate right now!"

Leeteuk brought his fist down on the armrest, and he sighed again. I eyed Leeteuk and the manager hyung in turn, then I spoke.

"I'm - I'm so sorry," I said quietly. "Maybe I can somehow fix - fix it - "

"Just be quiet," said Leeteuk in annoyance. I closed my mouth and looked into my lap again.

"I'm so sorry," I repeated, my voice barely audible.

The manager hyung glanced at the two of us, then he looked again at Leeteuk in annoyance before putting his eyes back on the road. "Jungsu, I'm getting tired of how hard you're on Kyuhyun," he said. Flustered, I squeezed the manager hyung's shoulder from behind him.

"Sir, no, he's - he's not," I said, glancing at Leeteuk's expression. "And forgive me for being so rude, sir, but I don't think now's quite the time to - "

However, Leeteuk didn't pay attention and glared at the manager hyung. "You think I'd be doing this if I really was trying to be hard on him?"

"This and that is different. The way you treat him and you helping him for work is different! One is your job, and one isn't!" shouted the manager hyung. "At least be consistent in the way you treat him."

Leeteuk glared at him with clenched teeth, then he looked at me with fiery eyes. "Fine, you can just do it on your own," said Leeteuk, then he threw the pages behind him from the passenger seat. They fell near my feet.

I lowered my head and bent down to pick up the pages with a small "Sorry," but before I could reach them, the manager hyung slammed down on the brakes and pulled up to the side of the road among honks from cars behind us. I hurriedly reached for and held on to the handle in front of me not to get thrown off my seat and managed to stay in it. When the van came to a stop, I looked up at the manager hyung with widened eyes in total shock to see his angry face.

"ENOUGH!" yelled the manager hyung, glaring at Leeteuk. Leeteuk glared right back as I just sat there, unsure of what to do. The manager hyung opened his mouth and drew in a breath to speak again, but Sungmin finally exploded.

"PLEASE!" screamed Sungmin. "STOP THIS!" As we stared at Sungmin in surprise, he spoke again. "Can we just take a few minutes to calm down? It's hard for everyone. Let's please - please just stop taking it out on each other and try to get through this, if only for Donghae's father. This isn't what he would have wanted."

The manager hyung bit down on his lip while Leeteuk put his head back on the headrest. I carefully picked up the pages from the floor while we sat there in silence for a few minutes. Then Sungmin looked at Leeteuk.

"I'll re-write the script, hyung. You can just give the final okay," Sungmin said, then he took the pages from my hands. He then turned his attention to the manager hyung. "And sir, can we just drive without talking for a few minutes?"

The manager hyung silently complied, and we drove in silence for the rest of the ride to the broadcast station.

We showed up at the set of the variety show at least two hours late, sullen-faced and without having our hair or make-up done, much to the annoyance of the staff and everyone else involved. The producer scolded the three of us angrily for being irresponsible new singers while Seunghwan hyung was chewed out as being an unprofessional manager by the director for a few minutes. As the stylists quickly worked on us, the producer glanced at us, annoyed.

"Hurry up," he urged. We bowed in apology, then we got on the set, but there was no way that we would be able to laugh and joke like we were supposed to. An hour into filming and consequently, an hour into the three of us not saying a single word except when spoken to, the director threw down the script in frustration.

"The three of you had better start acting like professionals," he seethed. As we hung our heads, the manager hyung threw up his hands in the air in frustration.

"Come on!" yelled the manager hyung. "They're going through a tough time!"

The producer turned his head to glare at the manager hyung instead. "I'm not paying them for them to look like statues. If they're not going to contribute, get them off the set."

The manager hyung glowered at the producer, but Leeteuk spoke quietly. "Sorry, we know that's no excuse. Please give us another chance."

The producer gave us another disapproving look while Leeteuk looked back at the two of us. "Start smiling. Come on, we learned how to carry ourselves in these situations as trainees."

Sungmin and I nodded, then as the cameras started rolling again, I let out a deep breath and put on a wide smile that would mask the difficult time we were having.