“Aish! Why am I doing this?! Shouldn’t JongHyun hyung be lifting all the boxes? Where is that stupid dog anyways? He’s supposed to be working today!” Key continued his rant as he struggled to push the trolley holding the entire latest inventory.

            All morning, he and Onew had been lugging boxes to and fro like they had before JongHyun had been hired. Needless to say, it was greatly aggravating Key to be sweating in the heat doing the dino’s job when he still considered himself a handicap.

            Onew came up behind his old friend, dumping his boxes beside his.

            “Didn’t I tell you? I sent JongHyun home for a while – banned him from the store until he rested up,” Onew said.

            At this, Key stopped fussing over his hair to listen to. Worry seeped into the cracks splintering his diva image.

            Had JongHyun done something wrong?

            “Why?” Key asked.

            “He passed out yesterday so I made him take a small, paid vacation… Oh! He told me to tell you to meet him at the café down the street Tuesday at lunch so he can tutor you.”

            Excitement blurred with Key’s concern until his insides were fluffed up like cotton candy. He couldn’t decide whether to be worried about JongHyun’s health of completely school girl crazy over the fact that he’d get to be alone with the hunk for a couple hours at least.

            “Oh, my God!” Key suddenly yelled.

            “What?” Onew asked, panic tainting his voice.

            “N-nothing… I-I thought I saw a spider,” Key lied.

            He watched his hyung’s eyes widen in fear scream ‘Where?!’ a few times and then run out of the store.

            It left time for Key to think about what had just happened. For a moment he had lost all sanity and thought of JongHyun in positive ways. Albeit, he realized he had grown soft with that display ruining dog, but he hadn’t lost all the hate he held for him… Had he?

            Key wasn’t sure. The line he had carefully drawn between co-worker and friend had been crossed the minute he had decided to go into the same university program as him. Even then, he thought, he kind of crossed the line between friendship and…

            “Love…” Key whispered. He quickly brought his cast up to wack himself in the head with it.

            This was not love. It was a crush… A crush he had on the puppy man… A puppy crush. That’s it. He could accept that.

            A near giddy emotion possessed Key and h found a goofy smile on his face.

            Yes, he could deal with a puppy crush.

            IF it had been up to Key, he would have stayed up floating on could nine until noon, but a crash startle him from his reveries.

            “Hyung!” he exclaimed, racing over to Onew’s side.

            The post car stand lay on its side where it had been knocked over. Onew lay in a boxy mess beside it. With a groan he managed to at least sit up.

            “We really need to move that thing,” he said pointing to the metal frame.

            All Key could do was laugh and set it upright. Gathering up the post cards gave him the excuse he needed to back out of box moving. Onew could survive alone to bring in the last few boxes (hopefully).

            While the two boys busied themselves with work they found themselves thinking of the same person.

            Onew thought about his newest employee’s health and wondered what was making it deteriorate so quickly. You could clearly tell he was stressed every time he came into work, but every time someone tried to pry further into the reasons why, he closed himself off.

            Key, blinded by his newly realized puppy crush, could only think about his fantasies involving JongHyun. He pictured them at the café holding hands while JongHyun tested him on all the theorems. He imagined getting hugged by those big, strong arms and being brought to his place.

            “What happened here?”

            Both boys turned to stare at Jessica who had just entered the store.

            “Why are you here?” Key asked, his mood turning hostile.

            “I’m taking over JongHyun’s shift, duh,” she answered. Her purse slammed down on the counte4r with a cacophony of jingling clasps. She stepped round the counter, throwing a small fit when her pink uniform shirt snagged on the postcard rack.

            “JongHyun’s shift started at nine; it’s almost eleven,” Key sneered.

            A bright innocent look with small traces of Jessica’s evilness lingering in it fixed itself on Key.

            “I saw you guys moving boxes so I thought I’d grab a late breakfast, but then I saw my favourite store having a sale and I just had to go in and see if they had anything good in stock!” she said in a honey sweetened voice.

            It’s not okay to hit a girl – even if she is Satan reincarnated, Key reminded himself.

            Fortunately for her, Onew saved her from any word lashes she had coming her way. He placed his last box on top of a small stack and came to stand as a mediator between the two.

            “You could have come in anyways, Jessica. You know I don’t expect you to lift them, just -”

            “Sort the items and stock up the shelves. I know. I’m sorry… I’ll come right in next time,” Jessica apologized.

            The way Jessica acted around Onew made Key want to gag. She was a noona and acting like she was infatuated with him. It was gross. Key could only hope that he would never look like Jessica around JongHyun. He was going to have to stick to his tough attitude.

            “Where is the mutt anyways?” Jessica asked, once Onew had slipped back to his boxes.

            “Onew hyung sent him home to take a small vacation… Apparently he passed out while working yesterday,” Key explained.

            “Huh… I guess that’s a good thing since he’s been looking pretty bad lately,” Jessica said. She ended the conversation by pulling a magazine out of her bag and flipping through the pages.

            Key was left to wonder if he had been the only one oblivious to JongHyun’s worsening physical condition. He had been so wrapped up in himself that he hadn’t noticed the guy changing right before his eyes.

            His mood dwindled down to a tiny flam of nothing. He felt the dark cloud above his head rain on his parade. What kind of friend was he if he wasn’t even able to tell when his friend was suffering?

            “Jessica! Key! Come help me set up these things!” Onew called.

            “Coming!” Key called. He forced everything to the back of his mind and tried not to let everything worry him. He had to focus on his work...

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I forgot to type up chapter 18 so I had to fix it >.< If you've already read this chapter, read the one before it~ ^^; Sorry!!!