For this story you really should have read The Showdown first.  There is some recap in here, but it would be better if you already knew the whole story.

#13 – Twisted

They couldn’t believe it when they had got the news.  Kibum had been the one to answer the phone.  Taemin had been getting their two-year-old daughter Jinae dressed and only knew something was wrong when he heard the phone clatter loudly to the floor. 

“Wha was zat?” The little girl asked. 

“I dunno, guess your Appa got a little clumsy.”

Though Kibum wore a smile as Jinae ran up to him and demanded a hug, Taemin could tell that it was strained.  Something had happened.  Something bad. 

Kibum was quiet as he steered the car through the complex highway system as Taemin sang repetitious children’s songs with Jinae. 

They had planned a get together with the rest of SHINee and their families, but now Taemin was worried about Key rather than looking forward to a long-overdue reunion. 

Jinae laughed and giggled with Onew and Minho’s daughters.  They still thought it was funny that someone there were no sons being born to the SHINee boys, but they loved their children desperately. 

“Hi Uncle Taemin!” Chohee, Onew’s eldest daughter called out, running up and hugging the man around the middle.

“Look at you!” Taemin cried as he picked the five year old up and swung her around, delighting in her giggles.

“Me too!  Me too!” cried Myunghee, Chohee’s younger sister.  But before Taemin could do anything Kibum picked up the two year old in one arm, with their Jinae in the other. 

Jinki’s daughter’s spent so much time with the couple that they referred to the men as Uncles and saw Jinae as a cousin rather than just the daughter of their parent’s friends. 

Jinki’s wife Hosook grabbed Myunghee out of Kibum’s arms and placed the girl on her hip.  Her kind brown eyes took them in and she welcomed them with her calm voice.  She was a little more detailed than Jinki and a little quicker to act, but she balanced the easy-going Jinki well.

“Hey everybody!” Jonghyun’s voiced carried up the grassy hill they had met up on at a local park.  He was walking hand in hand with Hwayoung, the latest girlfriend, but one they all thought might finally stick with the brash man.  She was a clothing model who was known for her striking eyes and deep double eye-lids.  She greeted them all warmly and waved happily at Jinae who had shying smiled at her as the couple drew even. 

A few moments later a short trim woman with dark brown hair to the waist came into view.  Misun, Minho’s wife led the three year old Sunjung up the slope while Minho came up behind them carrying a bag of food and other things for his daughter.

And everyone was there.  It was the first time in months that all of them were able to get together and they had come ready to enjoy the day, but the tension coming from Taemin and Key was palpable to the adults.  Just from the way that they men were standing and not looking at each other, they knew something was up. 

They women decided to clear up and let the guys handle this, knowing that they would be told what had happened later tonight anyway.  So the wives, or girlfriend in the case of Jonghyun’s newest conquest, decided to take the children down to the playground that had been set up in the middle of the park.  Hwayoung gently lifted Jinae from Kibum’s arms and led the small girl down to the park to play with the rest of the children. 

Once he was sure that they were out of hearing range Taemin rounded on Kibum.  “Okay, no more silent treatment.  What the hell is going on?!”  His voice was steely.  Taemin was clearly irritated and the rest of SHINee looked on the couple with surprise.

“Guys…” Jinki started, eyes shuffling back and forth between the two, while Minho reached out to lay one hand on Taemin’s shoulder.

Kibum closed his eyes for a moment and sighed, “No, it’s alright, but you guys should all hear it too.”  Kibum sat down at one of the unoccupied picnic tables and motioned for them all to do the same.

Despite being irritated at the man, Taemin still sat next to Kibum and grabbed his hand, waiting to hear what was going on. 

“We got a call this morning…from the parole board.” 

Taemin’s hand clenched painfully around Kibum’s and the color started to drain out of the faces in front of them as the other members of SHINee began to connect the dots.

“They’re hearing a request for him to be released.”  Kibum didn’t need to say who, they all knew.  The man who had almost killed Taemin, who had almost destroyed SHINee, could get out and walk among them again. 

A collective shudder moved around the table. 

“Taemin, they want you to testify at the hearing.” 

Taemin placed his head in his hands and groaned.  “Oh god no…”  He was silent for a moment and Kibum rubbed his back in gentle circles.

Taemin’s heart pounded against his chest.  He swore that if you looked close enough you would be able to see it beating away under the skin. 

He gulped.

He thought that he would never have to face any of this again.  He thought that when he had been cleared to restart his activities with SHINee, that he could put this whole horrible act behind him, and he wouldn’t have to confront it ever again outside of his own memories and the nightmares that still appeared out of nowhere sometimes. 

It was Jonghyun who broke the silence.  “How can they even think about letting him out?!”

“They say he’s ‘rehabilitated.’” Kibum bent the first to fingers on each hand in the air as he said that last word. 

“How?” Minho said quietly.

“I don’t know.  I was so shocked this morning I could barely even figure out what he was saying.  I was told to have Taemin call them back tomorrow.”

Taemin had looked up at this point and was watching the children below playing with their mothers and pseudo-Aunts. 

“He’s not getting out.” Taemin declared.  “That sick, twisted son of a is not getting out where he can get anywhere near my family.” His voice was cold and sharp as a blade.  He spoke with the fierceness of a warrior, heading into battle. 

“You’re not alone Taemin,” Jinki said suddenly.  “We’re all in this with you.  We’ll go to the hearing too, say our piece about what he is like, why they shouldn’t let him out.” 

Minho and Jonghyun nodded their heads fervently. 

And so they did. 

On the day of the hearing all of SHINee showed up in force and the media lined the hallways of the courthouse and the concrete steps outside.  Flashbulbs popped and questions were shouted but the men gave no reply.

As their former manger was led into the courtroom, hands and feet shackled, Taemin felt like a child again as the cold twisting in his gut doubled in speed. 

Each member of SHINee said their piece, asking for him to remain detained.  Onew sighted his tendency towards violence before he ever attacked Taemin showing a history and that it was not just a one-time temporary moment of insanity that led him to attack Taemin that day all those years ago.

Jonghyun pointed out that it was not something that had happened in the heat of the moment, that he had taken several steps along the way to hurt SHINee and through that Taemin, that he must have planned greatly to manage to land himself inside the studio that day – speaking of premeditation to cause Taemin harm.

Minho simply stated that he had committed an attempted murder, attempted only because of the amazing doctors in the hospital that managed to save Taemin’s life even after his own body had given up the fight. 

Kibum spoke of what it is like to see the person you love suffering and feeling utterly helpless to do anything about it.  The terror that all of SHINee had felt as the man had done his evil deeds and how they didn’t know where to turn at the time.

Even Lee Sooman had spoken his piece about how unjust it was for a man to be released for trying to brutally kill a child after only 15 years.

But now it was Taemin’s turn.  He was the last person to speak before the parole board was to make their decision. 

Taemin slowly stepped up to the table in front of the board and sat down in front of the lonely microphone. 

He coughed a moment and poured a glass of water from the awaiting pitcher, his mouth suddenly as dry as a desert. 

“State your name and age sir.” A nasally voice droned from the man taking down notes to the side of the room. 

“Lee…Lee Taemin.  And I’m 32 years old.” 

“Mr. Lee,” A man up on the dais started, “you were the victim of this man’s attack yes?”

“Yes sir.”  Taemin rasped. 

“Can you describe the impact of this man’s crimes on you?”

Taemin stared at the man who spoke.  A mouse of a man who clearly thought that he was better than those around him and that his position gave him prestige.  He liked being in control, Taemin hated that about people.

“Yes sir,” he said his voice clearer than before.  His annoyance at the speaker made his voice find assurance.  “In the months leading up to the attack, we lived in constant fear of what he would plan next.  He started by running us ragged through our schedules and trying to ruin our reputations by destroying faith in us and our performance abilities.  As an idol you’re only as good as your last performance.  He was threatening our livelihood and our health by acting as he did.  He also released our address to the public which could put our lives in danger, not to mention threatens the safety and security of every other occupant of that building.”

Taemin took a breath and another drink of water.

“We had to move after that, so he was able to drive us out of our home.  He even showed up at my school once, but Kibum managed to alert me before I came outside.”

“School?”

“Yes sir, at the time I was a senior in high school.”

“Carry on.”

“Yes sir.  Then there was the attack.  It was completely unprovoked and unwarranted.  I was literally sitting there doing my homework and he started to beat me.  I was sustained multiple injuries and almost lost my life.  My heart actually stopped beating in the operating room.  I very easily could have died that day.”

“But the fact remains Mr. Lee, that you did not die that day.”

“So the fact that I happened to have incredibly talented doctors means that he should get a lighter sentence?”

Taemin’s voice was cold and his eyes threw dangers at the parole board. 

The members of the board started prattling on about rehabilitation. 

“His feeling sorry for where it landed him doesn’t change what he did.”  Taemin interrupted.  “He committed a crime and he should have to pay for that, to the fullest extent.”

“He has been a model prisoner…”

“And he was a model manager…right up until he started his campaign against us.” 

Taemin stared at the board in amazement.  They wanted to let him out.  Was this whole thing a sham and they had already made up their minds?

He studied the people up there.  The squeaky mouse of a man wanted to let their slimy manager out.  But what about the middle-aged woman on his left?  Or the elderly man on his right?  Had they made up their minds?

“Can I ask you a question?” 

“You may…”

“Do you, any of you, have children?”

The other two members of the board nodded theirs heads.

“I have a daughter.  She’s two years old.  She is everything to me.  And I cannot live with the thought of something happening to her.  And if this man is released I can’t help but think that he will try something again.  And either that little girl is going to lose her father, or she will be hurt to get to me.”

Kibum was crying in the chairs behind Taemin as he talked about his fears for their child.  Like any parent, Taemin was more concerned with her than himself. 

“You know what I noticed this morning as I was leaving to come here?  In my apartment building, on the floor that I live on, there are three open apartments.  If you should let him out of here – he could rent one of those apartments.  There is one three doors down from me.  He could move in three doors down from me and my family.  And what recourse would I have?  To move?!  Then he has driven me from my home for the second time.”

He looked between all the members of the panel and pleaded with them.  “Rehabilitation does not matter.  Not when your crime is almost killing someone.  You cannot let this man out on the streets.  He has proven once that he is willing to kill and plan it out.  What is to stop him from attempting to do so again?”

Silence filled the courtroom, broken only by the scratching of pen on paper as the words that Taemin spoke were noted for the record. 

“Do you have anything else to add Mr. Lee?”

Taemin shook his head, sure that he should have said something else, sure that through some fault of his own that horror of a man was going to go free. 

“No sir, I cannot think of anything else.”

Taemin stepped away and walked straight out to the hallway, needing some air out of the stale courtroom.        

After a moment the hearing room emptied out and Kibum found him. 

The couple just hugged for a moment and tried to pretend that they weren’t even there.  They were anywhere else, doing something happy. 

Minho clapped a hand down on Taemin’s shoulder.  “They are going to deliberate.  You’ll find out in a couple of days what the board has decided.”  He said it quietly.  “But you know what Tae?  After you said that part at the end about Jinae – their faces changed.  Maybe they’ll think again about letting him out…”

“Maybe…”

“Alright, now Hwayoung has all the kids and we should probably go and rescue her,” Jinki said lightly trying to pull them out of the stupor and focus on something else. 

For the next three days Taemin lived in a kind of limbo.  Not knowing if the man that had almost stolen his life would be allowed out on the streets, Taemin couldn’t focus on anything.  He took personal days from work and tried to just hang around with Jinae, who didn’t know what was going on and was so blissfully innocent that Taemin found his worried drifting away when he was with her bubbly self.

Then the phone rang again: no parole. 

And Taemin could smile again. 

The new names to this story and their meanings:

Taemin and Key’s daughter (age 2): Jinae – truth and treasured

            - Re-cap: daughter of Taemin and Key’s cousin through a surrogacy. 

Onew’s family:

Wife: Hosook – goodness and purity

Older daughter (age 5): Chohee – beautiful and joy

Younger daughter (age 2): Myunghee – bright girl

Jonghyun’s girlfriend: Hwayoung – eternal and beauty

Minho’s family:

Wife: Misun – beauty and goodness

Daughter (age 3): Sunjung – upholds honor and follows heart

And with that I am officially out of girl names on my list.  Every single one I had is now accounted for, if not with this story than with other ones that I have started working on.  So again – if you have any suggestions please leave the name and its meaning in a comment.  Thanks!

Oh and I have received an idea from one of the reader of this – so you all should thank Alalena for giving me a good idea about what to base the next one shot on because I was clear out of ideas on that one.  So now you should get something quicker than what was going to happen before.