Jongin was on his way back to the dorm after being out for about an hour without noticing the time. He was about five minutes away when he received a message from Taemin. He thought Taemin would be asking him where he was or telling him he was worried or something but when he opened it he felt something was wrong. Without replying he started running to the dorm and pushed the door open only to find s there, but no trace of Taemin.

"Hey you're back. Where have you been?" Joonmyeon asked from his spot on the couch. 

"Where's Taemin?" Jongin asked hastily instead of answering. His gaze wandered around but couldn't find Taemin. He looked back to the door and couldn't find Taemin's shoes where they've previously been.

"What do you mean? No one was here when we came, the light was still on but it was empty. Weren't you supposed to be with him?" Jongin started panicking and they knew something was wrong.

"No-yes he was here but I got mad and-and I left to think an hour ago and I th-think I made him sad. He sent me a message saying he's sorry and he loves me and I know something's wrong and I don't know where h-", Jongin stopped his rambling when he suddenly thought of something. "The waterfall!" He sprinted out of the dorm and ran as fast as he could. 

He hoped he would find Taemin there since that's the only place they go when they want to be alone from everything - together or alone doesn't matter - that's the most peaceful place they know. As he was near and could hear the waterfall he got his phone up and somehow managed to call Taemin without tripping on the tree roots. 

He was really close now and saw faint light on the ground in the shadows; Taemin's phone. He felt relieved to have found him but the moment he stepped out from the forest was the most terrifying moment in his life. Jongin saw how Taemin, who was in the lake, had let go of the edge of the ground and was going with the stream toward the waterfall. Jongin woke up from his shock and sprinted towards the water.

"TAEMIN!" He shouted as loud as he could. He was about to jump into the water when his body automatically stopped and his brain told him that he would die too. He didn't want a life without Taemin but God must love him since Taemin drifted closer to the edge as he floated forward with the stream. 

Jongin ran ahead so he would be able to grab Taemin when the stream carried him forward. When Taemin was close he reached out, a bit too far, so he was ready to grab him and was about to fall into the water and backed away from reflex. Taemin was about to pass him when he reached out as fast as he could and managed to grab Taemin's arm. 

"Come on! I can do this!" Jongin said to himself through gritted teeth from how hard he was trying to tug Taemin in.

The stream was strong and Jongin almost lost his hold on Taemin but he held on stronger and tried to lift Taemin out of the water but he was too heavy with all those clothes. But Jongin still wouldn't give up, he tugged him one more time with all his might and finally got him up on the ground with a little more tugging to get him farther away from the lake. 

The first thing Jongin did was cup his cheeks, slaps them lightly and chant his name but Taemin wouldn't respond. Jongin notice how cold he was even if he was in the water for about three minutes. Jongin put his ear to Taemin's chest and could hear a faint heartbeat, at least he was alive but he was really pale, slightly blue, and he was barely breathing. Jongin pressed on his chest a few times and Taemin coughed up water but still didn't open his eyes or move more than that. 

Jongin didn't have any time to lose so he quickly slid off Taemin's jacket, both to make him lighter and for the cold to not seep through more from it, and put his own jacket over Taemin then he put his arms under Taemin's legs and back and carried him bridal style. Jongin started running as fast as he could back to his dorm, not caring how his legs ached from the running. All he could think about was that he had to take Taemin inside, warm him and take care of him.

Jongin sighed in relief when he saw the dorm but now was not the time to calm down. As soon as he stepped inside the still unlocked door he started shouting commands at his clueless members.

"Someone warm up a bath fast! And give me some thick blankets and a towel! Questions later, hurry!" Jongin didn't care taking off his shoes and quickly walked to the couch since that's the closest thing he could find to put Taemin on and started stripping Taemin. 

The members were quickly doing what they were told and the ones who didn't have anything to do flocked around them, asking what was happening but Jongin didn't have time to answer; Taemin was starting to get blue from the cold. 

Baekhyun came back with some thick blankets and Joonmyeon got two large towels. When Taemin was completely Jongin wrapped the towel around him and started drying him. Afterwards he put the blankets around him and tried to warm him up as much as possible. 

Jongin was really anxious and when Kyungsoo announced that the bathtub was filled, he quickly took off all the blankets except for one and carried Taemin into the bathroom. 

"Take off the blanket", he commanded someone to do and Luhan quickly did as told. Jongin carefully let Taemin into the bathtub and used his now hot hands to warm Taemin's face. He his cheeks then his hair out of his still closed eyes and suddenly felt how his eyes watered. Jongin put his head down on the rim of the bathtub and started crying silently. 

He immediately felt someone hug him and he cried into that persons shoulder. It's so scary to think that if he had come a few seconds later he would've lost Taemin forever and it would've been partly his fault. When he finally calmed down he lifted his head and saw that the arms belonged to Kyungsoo who always looked out for him.

No one asked what happened and Jongin, with the help of Yifan, silently got Taemin out of the bathtub and draped a new towel around him. Then Yifan offered to carry Taemin to Jongin's bed and Jongin let him, not wanting to take the risk of dropping Taemin with how much he's shaking. 

They all followed them to Jongin's room but stood a bit away from the bed to let Jongin have some privacy. Jongin dressed Taemin in his thickest clothes he could find and tucked him under the blanket. Jongin sat beside him on the bed and took his hand, squeezing it a bit.

"Idiot. Why would you do that?" Jongin said quietly with sadness in his voice. "I told you I would be back. How could you...? You can't leave me..." Joonmyeon slowly approached them and put his hand on Jongin's shoulder.

"Would you like to explain what happened? I mean, if you feel like you're able to talk about it that is", Joonmyeon carefully asked. Jongin was quiet for a while, only looking at Taemin, then he started telling them what he heard from Taemin from the beginning to the end. They were of course speechless. Who would've thought their closest idol group could do something like this to their youngest member and make him feel like the only way out is to take his own life.

"Do they know about this?" Yifan broke the silence. "Do they know how he's been hurting himself or is too afraid to eat?"

"No. He felt like if he would've told them they would have another reason to call him a freak. Stupid, how could you think that?" The last part was meant for Taemin.

"I think we should tell them." All eyes were on Minseok. "I know you think that's a bad idea but don't you think they should know what they've done? Not to give them guilty feelings but to make them know how close they were to lose him because of their behaviour. Maybe they'll wake up and stop." What Minseok said made sense and even if Jongin didn't want them anywhere near Taemin he needed to do something to help. 

"Do that and tell them to come. I want them to see for themselves what they've done." Jongin's voice sounded angry but his face didn't show any emotions while he was staring at Taemin.

 They all left the room to make the phone call and to give some privacy to Jongin and Taemin. Jongin was still holding Taemin's hand tightly as if he's afraid that if he let go Taemin would disappear. 

"My prince... How could I let this happen to you? Never leave me again, ever." Jongin kissed Taemin's forehead then put his head on their entwined hands and closed his eyes without any intention to sleep. But he must've fell asleep because the next thing he knows is that someone opens the door with force and he jolts up from the sudden sound in the quiet room. It's them.

They stood in the doorway just staring at Taemin until Jinki slowly stepped forward followed by Minho and Jonghyun, Kibum just standing by the door with eyes wide at the bedridden Taemin. Before anyone could reach the bed Jongin's had stood up and blocked their way.

"Can you see what you've done?" Jongin started with venom dripping from his voice. "Do you know how afraid he is of you and your judgements? Do you have any idea how hurt he's been because of you? Do you know?!" No one was moving. Jongin started trembling and his voice went into a whisper. "This guy, he's my life. If someone's hurting him it hurts me too. If something's making him sad it saddens me too. If he would've died, I would've followed right after. You can't see how much he's hurt himself from where you're standing but if you take a close look you'll see how broken he is. I can't let you hurt him anymore. It's either you fix this or I can never let you see him again and I don't care if that means having him removed from the group." Jongin didn't realise he was crying until he felt Joonmyeon's arms around him pulling Jongin's head down to his shoulder. 

That's when Jongin completely broke down. It was like he couldn't get out any emotions from the start, maybe it was the shock, but when he saw the people who caused most of this mess he just couldn't hold anything in anymore and it all came out at once. He was mumbling some inaudible things between his sobs but Joonmyeon hushed him and stoked his hair to relax him a bit. It took some time but Jongin eventually stopped crying and Joonmyeon sat him down at a chair just beside the bed and left to get a glass of water. 

Jongin was too tired to glare at anyone so he settled it with only looking at the SHINee members until he suddenly felt a trembling hand touch his hand that was on the bed.

"Jongin, I'm cold..." Taemin said quietly with a hoarse voice.     

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It's went well for me to update the week after last update (even tho it's basically Monday since it's past 2 am but I still haven't slept so let's just say I updated a week after xD). Anyway Taemin is okay! ^o^ I guess this story is nearing it's end? I just went with the flow and now I'm kinda running out of ideas but I should put some fluff in it too so I could say it'll end within 5 more chapters or so :~: of course I'll put in what happens with shinee too so let's say I'll update in two weeks this time since I'm kinda on a vacation xD but wow this was probably the longest chapter I've written and now this a/n is getting long so bye xD