“It was such a funny movie hyung! And he bought me banana milk and liquorice and gummy bears…” TaeMin named about six more different candies before Jessica interrupted him.

            “Jesus, did he buy you a whole candy store or something?” she asked.

            “No… But I wish he had!” The smile already dressing his face grew, spreading like a disease to all the other employees around him.

            “I’m happy you had a good time, TaeMinnie,” JongHyun said, ruffling the young boy’s hair.

            “Hey!” he whined. He replaced the mussed strands of his hair with a pout before launching into yet another story about his outing with MinHo.

            JongHyun gave him another smile before fixing up the post card display (it had fallen when a wind had gusted in with a customer).

            Chatter filled the small store, mostly coming from TaeMin. Jessica made some comments that she probably thought sounded uninterested except her tiny grin told everyone that she had fallen for his cute charms just like everyone else.

            With the problems JongHyun was having with money he was grateful for his bright mood. Lack of sleep was already taking its toll on JongHyun. After a week of working the double jobs he could feel himself getting weary. It didn’t help that he hadn’t told anyone about his job at the convenience store. If he told TaeMin he would just get an earful of nagging and be forced to listen to how all of this would only end up hurting him. He wasn’t going to tell Key because he was only going to get mocked if he did. And he definitely didn’t want to tell Onew because he would just feel guilty for not giving him more shifts.

            He had to keep his second job a secret no matter what.

            “You put Hello Kitty with the smiley faces,” Jessica said.

            “Why don’t you do some work then?!”

            Two pairs of eyes stared at him incredulously. Never before had they seen JongHyun so cranky (at least, not at work).

            He sighed and fixed up his mistake. As he worked he checked the time, counting down the minutes until he had to leave. Eight o’clock finally came much to his displeasure.

            “I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” JongHyun called, grabbing his bag.

            TaeMin hopped off the counter (not forgetting his banana milk).

            “Wait for me! I want to go home with you!” he said.

            “No!”

            He froze. TaeMin was used to JongHyun letting him tag along everywhere with him. And usually he never rejected his company since he got really lonely in his apartment.

“H-hyung…” TaeMin mumbled, still looking like a deer in headlights.

“Not tonight, okay? I have a lot to do,” JongHyun quickly said. “I’ll call you later or something.” He knew he never would. From this job to his next he only had thirty minutes of free time and then he was gone until one in the morning. By the time he got home it would be way too late to late to call his old friend…

~

            The door creaked open to welcome the exhausted JongHyun to his drab apartment. The living room came first – if it could even be called that – followed by the run down kitchen. A door in the living room led off to his miniscule room with a bed and dresser and another door gave way to a bathroom big enough to hold a toilet, shower and sink and no more.

            JongHyun went there first. He took the few steps it took to reach the bathroom and flicked on the light.

            The room stayed dark.

            Had he not been so tired he would have groaned in frustration. He had forgotten that his electricity had been cut off since he had failed to pay his last bill. Which meant he had no phone, heat or working kitchen appliances. At least it was summer… That way it wouldn’t matter if he had heat anymore.

            It remained eerily dark in the apartment and JongHyun did his stuff. He lit a candle to give off some light, making a mental note to buy more. His uniforms were tossed carelessly onto the couch. The mound of clothes piled up t here reminded him once again that the washing machine was broken. He would have to go the Laundromat…

            His stomach grumbled, bringing him to his next destination. The kitchen held more light than the rest of the rooms thanks to the small window. Opening the fridge door was the worst idea JongHyun had ever had. A musty, rotten smell poured out adding a putrid odour to the air surrounding the short male.

            “Right, no electricity,” he grumbled.

            Begrudgingly, he set about removing everything from his fridge and freezer and moved on to the cupboards. Bread and packaged noodles was all that filled the shelves but it was all JongHyun could afford these days. A plain meal that he savoured nonetheless.

            That night he went to bed with a heavy load on his shoulders. Surprisingly, he found his thoughts lingering on Key, though, and the way his brown eyes had glittered with worry – even if it had  only been for the briefest of moments.