Key dropped the cup he was holding and Jonghyun barely caught it before it hit the table and shattered, but the diva shared the same shocked expression as Minho. Jonghyun seemed to have been expecting it and wasn’t as surprised, looking to the managers more than anyone else for their reaction. “Well then, you better start going through training classes again as soon as possible.” The head manager placed his utensils down on his plate carefully before standing, pulling the other up with him. “We are going to take our leave now to work out your schedule. Expect us back tomorrow morning to take you to your classes.”

They left the dorm, leaving just the band in there now. “Key? Minho? Are you guys okay?”

“You’re coming back hyung?” Key’s voice came back as his shock faded, but the same couldn’t be said for Minho, who Taemin was still trying to coax a reaction out of.

“Yes. I’m coming back.” Before he even knew what was happening, arms were being wrapped around him tightly, making it hard to breathe. “K-Key… Too… tight.”

The hold loosened slightly, but not enough to make a difference to Jinki. Jonghyun even stood to pry Key’s arms off of the leader, but before he could, the boy let go and held Jinki by his shoulders an arm’s length away. “Really? You really want to join us again?”

He nodded a little. “I-I want to try. I might be different now from how I was before, but I hope you guys help me get back up to where I should be.” And he was encased in a hug again. “I know I’ve said this before, but can someone get him off of me?”

Jinki pulled the hat on his head a little lower, trying to block out the stares from the trainees in the classroom as they waited for the singing instructor. He knew they were curious as to who is was and why he was special enough to be in the program while looking like he almost died recently—but he almost had. And he was the Lee Jinki, Onew, the leader of SHINee. He had every right to be there, no matter what his condition was.

When the instructor finally walked in and called them all to attention, he wanted to thank whatever god saved him, but it was soon ruined when the instructor looked at him. “I’ve heard about you, but don’t think you are getting any special attention because of your condition and who you are. Get up here and introduce yourself. You also have to sing a song for me to gauge you ability.” Kill me now.

But Jinki still grabbed his crutches and hobbled to the front, making sure his hat was still low. It didn’t matter anyway, since nobody would recognize him with the glasses he was wearing and the amount of makeup Key had put on his face that was already burned beyond recognition. There was still the fact of his burned hair he hadn’t gotten around to cutting yet and if any of that was seen, there would be plenty of useless questions he didn’t want to answer. “Hello. I’m Jinki. Please take care of me.” He tried to bow as best he could, before swallowing hard. Now to just sing… “I will be singing ‘In Your Eyes.’” He saw a few of the students perk up a little at the fact that he had the nerve to sing a song from one of the stars under the company, and even the instructor straightened up a little. Yes, I’m singing a song by Onew. Because he is me. Or… was.

“I have been told once but
I felt the heart beating on that day

I know from the start
I was not sure what, we sounded like it is destiny

Love me and
Time will lead you
Forever without breaking up
I thought I was dreaming, like a real dream

Remember that day when we first met
Dazzling and radiant eyes and gave me such a day
Thank you for what you gave me.”

After looking around the room at the end, he realized a lot of the trainees were talking with each other. “He sounds exactly like Onew!” Pretty much the same thing was being said around the room, and Jinki almost wanted to hit his head. Did I just blow it?

“Sit down, Jinki-ssi. You have a lot to work on. Your range isn’t all that large and you were struggling with some of the higher notes. Not to mention your breathing; it was terrible. Holding notes seemed to be almost impossible for you, which is unbelievable seeing as even a kid can do that.” Jinki sat in his chair, taking in all the instructor was saying. “Your pronunciation can use some work as well. See me after class so I can explain it more to you. You’ve missed lessons on all of these topics already.”

As they started to get into the class, music sheets were passed around with the instructions to learn the song for the next day. Great. Homework. At least it is something to keep me busy.

“Hyung has homework?” Key couldn’t hide his laughter when Minho told it to him, and Jinki heard them in the kitchen all the way from the living room.

“Yes, I do. And I’m trying to do it.” He wanted to go anywhere but near them, but seeing as their keyboard was in the living room for the time being as Taemin worked on his practicing and Jinki needed it for the composing class work, he was stuck there. After hitting the same key a few times, he sighed and leaned his head on his hands, elbows resting on the keys and creating a loud noise. “Why is this so annoying?”

“What do you have to do?”

“Stop sneaking up on me, Taemin!” Jinki jumped—again—when Taemin spoke from right behind him, putting a hand on his chest to calm his pounding heart. “You’re going to give me a heart attack!”

“Sorry…” The maknae didn’t seem sorry though, instead looking over his hyung’s shoulder to the keyboard. “So, what’s so annoying?”

“My composing homework…” Jinki nodded to the papers by blank sheet music. “It’s too easy!”

“Say what?” They both heard Key from the kitchen, and the diva came running out seconds later. “What do you mean, easy? I looked at that and gave up. That’s like the level you were in composing before the accident.”

“Well, it’s easy.” None of them were fazed at mentioning “before the accident” anymore, and just went over it like it was normal now. It was for the most part. “Ready?” He turned to the keyboard and got set, before his fingers started flying across the keys, creating a beautiful melody. Before they knew what he was doing, Jinki was singing to the song as well. After the last note was done, he sat back in the seat. “Done. But now I have to write all of that out!”

But through the complaints, he hadn’t noticed the glances Key, Taemin, and Minho were exchanging. “Jinki-hyung?” Taemin called him by his actual name, which surprised Key and Minho, but the leader seemed comfortable with it. More so than when they called him Onew. “You were working on that song before you left. But you never wrote it down or recorded it, because you could never seem to get the words right with it…”

He froze up a little and looked that the three. “Really?” All he got was nods in response. “…That’s why it was so easy…”

“Somewhere in your mind, you remember before the accident. Now we just need to get that back.” Key rubbed the top of Jinki’s head a little, messing up his hair, but the oldest didn’t react to it. “Until then, we’ll just make new memories to take the place of the old.”

“How long until I can get the cast off?” Jinki asked Dae-Ho as the doctor examined the healing burns and cuts that covered most of his body.

The doctor didn’t speak at first, focusing on the task at hand. Once he was finished, though, he sat and looked Jinki straight in the eyes. “It’s going to be at least a few more weeks. And after that, you’re going to need a brace on your leg for a while, not to mention rehabilitation to be able to walk properly again.” He was straightforward with it, not wanting to hide the truth from the boy. “It won’t be easy, but I think you’ll be able to do it.”

“I have to.” Jinki’s eyes hardened a little with his resolve. “I have to do it, and do it soon. I have a promise to keep.”

“Oh?” His interest was piqued with the way Jinki responded to the news. “And what is that?”

“To be back on stage by the end of the year.” Kibum bit his hand as he hid right next to the doorway after hearing that, trying to fight back from making any noises of excitement. “And I don’t break my promises.”

“But it’s already almost April! It’s impossible for anyone to be back on stage after an accident like yours in that amount of time!”

“All the more reason for me to do it.” I will. I promised you, Taemin. I promised you would see your hyung back on stage before my next birthday.

Jinki struggled to get around in the kitchen since it was too small to use his crutches but too large to stay in one spot and work, yet he managed without having to wake any of the others for help and ruin the surprise he was planning. As he finally started cooking his surprise, the smell alone got Key up first, thinking the apartment was burning somewhere. “What are you doing?”

For once, Jinki didn’t jump when somebody spoke from behind him, finally getting used to everyone silently sneaking up on him. “What does it look like? I’m making pancakes.”

“But…” Key looked around the surprisingly clean kitchen, trying to figure out the leader’s logic. “Why?”

“It’s Jonghyun’s birthday, you guys have a bunch of schedules throughout the day and probably won’t get a good meal until dinner, I have a few major exams to find out if I can be moved to the next level in training, and I’ve been up since four this morning with nothing to do.” He shrugged, flipping a pancake off the pan and onto a growing stack. “Can you wake the others for me?”

“Sure…” Key shuffled out of the room, still not quite believe Jinki was actually making breakfast, before something dawned on him. “It’s Jonghyun’s birthday? Already?”

“It’s the eighth, isn’t it?” Jinki’s voice reached his ears even all the way in the hall, but Key brushed him off as he finally entered the room to wake the others.

“I can’t believe you, Jonghyun.” Key stared at the head of the singer from the backseat of the car, as if he would be able to feel it. “I can’t believe you would stoop so low.”

“…What did I do?” He even put his phone away to look at Key, honestly confused about what he was talking about.

“You told Onew-hyung your birthday when he has so many other things to worry about, and now he’s worrying about your birthday instead of them.” Key crossed his arms as he leaned back in his seat, still glaring at the older boy. “I can’t believe you would go so far for attention.”

“I never told him my birthday…” Jonghyun was wide-eyed as he spoke, and soon Key was looking the same. “Honestly. I thought you told him when he said happy birthday to me this morning.”

“You-you never told him?” Jonghyun shook his head. As this was going on, Taemin and Minho were only watching for entertainment, but they now joined in.

“Maybe he remembered something else. It could be like with the phone.” Minho gave a reasonable suggestion, but it was quickly dismissed by Taemin, who was trying to hide his laughter behind his small hands and failing.

“Remember when Jinki-hyung and I were left alone in the dorm for a while? He asked me about you guys. You’re birthdays, what you guys like and hate, all that stuff. And I’m pretty sure he’s read a lot of facts about everyone online.” He was still smiling behind his hands as he looked at his confused hyungs. “He wanted to learn more about everyone, to see if he remembered anything.”

“Did he?” But Taemin didn’t answer them, instead hopping right out of the car as they parked at their schedule. What was perfect timing for him was the worst timing for the others, but at least they knew a little more than before. Hyung really went as far as asking Taemin about us? But why didn’t he want us knowing? Jonghyun wasn’t getting an answer anytime soon. From the maknae at least.