Trigger warning: mentions of suicide

Hullo, hullo! I was *this* close to updating on time, but my eyes were acting up so I had to stop writing :U But here it is, so yaaaaaaay~ =u= Welcome again, new subscribers! And thank you all for the upvotes! Please continue to leave comments and things <3

*Note: This chapter follows the same timeline as last chapter. So this is basically those same six days, but at the Winner dorm.

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No One’s POV

Day 1

Seungyoon lies on his bed, head in Seunghoon’s lap as he sobs without abandon. Last night, he’d skipped dinner and went to bed early, angry tears eventually luring him into sleep. The reality of the situation hit him this morning when he woke up and Taehyun wasn’t there next to him. His eyes stung as he sat there staring at his lover’s pillow with growing despair—a strand of his hair was still left on it. His cries woke up Seunghoon, who went to him immediately. Now, the older man sits somberly on Seungyoon’s bed as he the younger’s hair, letting him cry.

He’d failed. He’d promised Taehyun that this would never happen, but it had anyway. He couldn’t do anything to stop it, and now Taehyun’s worst fear had come true. Seungyoon hated himself for it… he couldn’t protect him.

When Jinwoo comes to tell them breakfast is ready, Seungyoon declines. Seunghoon decides to stay with him since he felt he shouldn’t be alone, so they both skip breakfast. The leader alternates between weeping, silence, and drifting off to sleep throughout the day, Seunghoon never leaving his side. Soon it’s time for dinner, and Seungyoon still doesn’t feel like moving. However, he felt bad for Seunghoon since he hadn’t eaten all day, and he told him to go eat. He was reluctant, but his hunger won out in the end. He left Seungyoon after he’d promised he’d be fine without him, even though they both knew it was a lie.

Seungyoon ached to talk to Taehyun, to know he was alright, to hear his voice. He reached for his phone sadly, knowing that he couldn’t do any of those things with the other’s own phone confiscated. Unlocking his phone, he looked at his wallpaper and felt tears coming again—it was still that same picture he took of them that one night before bed. Seungyoon was grinning widely and Taehyun had a small smile gracing his face, tired but happy. He touched his lover’s face on the screen fondly before he broke and had to put the phone away, turning to cry into Taehyun’s pillow, which still smelled faintly of him. The night passed with Seungyoon forgoing eating altogether and drowning in his sadness.

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Day 2

He woke up with heavy eyes, feeling drained from all of his sobbing the previous night. His body ached, and he could feel a headache coming on. He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling in deep thought. He decides that he won’t cry so much today, and that maybe he’ll get up and leave his room, if only to eat.

What he really wanted to do was stay in his room forever and forget that there was a world outside of it, but he knew he couldn’t. Despite the immense pain he was going through and overwhelming sense of loss, he knew it’d be selfish of him to hide away by himself—his bandmates had lost someone too: their little brother, their friend. He couldn’t just shut down completely, at least for their sake.

Sitting up, he thought of something else. Even if he never got Taehyun back—a thought he refused to dwell on—he’d see him eventually. He has to keep going so that when that finally does happen, Taehyun would know that he hadn’t given up; that he'd waited for him, and he could smile knowing that.

With that in mind, he (reluctantly) gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom to take a shower. Once he’s out and dressed, he sits in his room quietly, still thinking of Taehyun as he waits to be called for breakfast. His bandmates are happy to see that he’s up and moving once it is time to eat, though they themselves still feel the somber atmosphere throughout the dorm without their maknae there.

As he eats, the leader redirects his thoughts onto a new path. Rather than continuing to think about how broken he is with Taehyun gone like this, he starts focusing his attention on what he can do about it. Is there a way to get him back? How? What could be done, and how could he do it? These were the thoughts racing through his head as everyone sat around the table quietly, too heartbroken to speak.

Whatever he did, he knew he couldn’t do it alone. This was made clear as he recalled how he’d pleaded with YG to see their side to no avail. The president wouldn’t listen to him, that’s for sure. But then who would he listen to?

Stumped, Seungyoon decides to stop thinking about it for now and focus on the state of his bandmates. Jinwoo’s eyes were red like he’d been crying, and Minho was pretty much in the same state, jaw clenched. Seunghoon just looked tired and melancholy, probably trying to refrain from crying too much himself in order to be strong for his love and his dongsaengs. The situation didn’t just affect Seungyoon… it affected each and every one of them at the Winner dorm.

It had been a while since everyone finished their breakfast; they were all just sitting there, lost in their own thoughts. Jinwoo slowly stood up and began collecting everyone’s plates, moving to the sink to start washing them. Minho and Seunghoon both got up and went to their rooms, leaving Seungyoon to sit quietly by himself at the table. It hadn’t yet registered in his mind that he should probably leave as well, as he was still off in his own world.

He only snapped out of it when he’d felt arms wrap around him tightly. He looked up to see that it was Jinwoo, his body shaking with grief. Seungyoon quickly returned the embrace, holding his hyung as tears slid down his own face. They stayed like that for a long time, neither of them finding it necessary to say anything. Jinwoo pulled away first, sadly petting the younger’s head before he went to the room he shared with Seunghoon. The leader wiped his tears before he stood up as well, rushing to his room.

He closed the door and flopped down on his bed, grabbing his phone and dialing a number. It rang a few times, and Seungyoon waited anxiously for the other person to pick up. Finally, he heard a deep voice on the other line answer.

“Hello?”

“Hi, hyung,” Seungyoon said, not sounding much like his usual self to Youngbae.

“Hey. How’re you holding up?” He immediately felt stupid for asking.

A humorless chuckle left Seungyoon’s lips. “Not good... Not good at all.”

The older man hummed, letting silence overtake the both of them. Eventually, Seungyoon spoke again.

“I don’t know what to do, hyung… tell me what to do.”

“…I’m afraid I wouldn’t be much help to you.” Youngbae frowned, feeling awful about how little of use he’d be to his dongsaeng. “I have no idea what it’s like to be going through what you’re going through right now.”

“But hyung,” the younger argued, “you had a member leave your group, too.”

“Yes, but I wasn’t in love with him, Seungyoon-ah. I let it happen because… well, these things happen in the idol business.”

Youngbae was right, Seungyoon knew. He was just frustrated because that wasn’t the answer he wanted. It was different because he wanted to get Taehyun back.

“Don’t you know anything I could do…? What it would take to change his mind?” He was desperate; he wanted to get his love back as soon as possible.

“Sorry, Seungyoon-ah, but I don’t. It’s hard to change that man’s mind about anything, so that’s really up to you.”

“But he won’t listen to me…! He doesn’t understand—”

“So find a way to make him understand.”

"...Okay."

With that, they both hung up, Seungyoon not any less confused than he was before. Make him understand...? How was he going to do that?

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Day 3

Everyone is in the living room, feeling the absence of their fifth member. Seungyoon is taking up the entirety of one of the couches, barely awake as he lies in Seunghoon’s lap; Seunghoon, however, is completely asleep. Jinwoo is pretending to pay attention to the TV as he lies draped across the other couch while Minho sits in the armchair, waiting. Bobby is supposed to be coming over today, and everyone is anticipating what he’ll say when he comes. Minho especially is looking forward to the visit because he needs the comfort of his boyfriend, but that will come later.

Soon, they hear a knock on the door, and everyone becomes alert. The two Seungs—with the younger one staying in the older one’s lap—wake up, Jinwoo sits up, and Minho gets up to answer the door. When he opens door, he sees Bobby standing there, looking tired and as dejected as everyone else. He perks up a little upon seeing the older rapper and greets him with a small smile.

“Hi,” he says, relishing in the warmth of the hug he’s enveloped in.

“Hey,” Minho mumbles into his shoulder.

“How are you…?” Bobby whispers, already knowing the answer from the moment he saw him.

“Awful.” Minho pulls away and ushers him inside where everyone else greets the younger boy. Jinwoo makes room for him to sit and Minho goes back to the armchair.

“Can I get you anything?” Jinwoo asks quietly. Bobby shakes his head, noting how significantly less cheerful his normally bubbly hyung sounded.

They all sit in silence for a few moments, the atmosphere becoming awkward. Impatient, Seungyoon breaks the silence. He props his head up on his arm and addresses the rapper. “So,” he says, clearing his throat. “How are… things at the dorm…?”

Bobby understood the hidden question. “Not much better than here…” he begins, sighing as he recalls the harrowing past few days. “Everyone is really stressed out and saddened by what happened.” He looks over at Seungyoon, who is staring at him with an intense expression on his face. Looking at him, his own eyes become teary as he thinks about how hard it will be for the leader to hear what he has to say next. “But Taehyun-hyung, he… we’re really worried about him.” Seungyoon’s eyes shine as he listens. “He’s not… he’s not eating. He’s not responsive. He won’t do anything besides lay in his bed. The look in his eyes... It's hard to look at him like that. It's like he's not even there...”

Seungyoon looks away, closing his eyes as his expression turns into one of pain. Beside Bobby, Jinwoo’s silent tears escape from his tightly shut eyes, and Minho’s face falls. Bobby continues, sniffling as he wipes his own eyes dry. “We’ve tried everything… we can’t do anything. We’re worried because we don’t know how long he’ll do this for… It’s like he’s given up.”

It was especially difficult for Seungyoon to listen to this. Just yesterday, he’d told himself that he couldn’t give up for his sake; now he hears that Taehyun isn’t so strong. It’s extremely hard for him to hear how badly his love is doing, and he’s worried that his health will decline if he continues like this.

As Seungyoon was having a hard time finding his words, Seunghoon spoke up. “…Really?” No one had ever heard Seunghoon sound this way; he was always the strongest out of all of them, but here he is, just as broken and sorrowful as the rest. He takes a moment to gather himself before he continues. “What was he like when he got there…?”

Bobby winces, knowing that this won’t be any easier to hear. “Well, we had no idea what was going on when he came. The security came and kind of threw him into the dorm in a hurry, since hyung was no doubt trying desperately to get away.” Seungyoon was now hiding his face in Seunghoon’s lap, his hand clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. “He was screaming a lot and crying and acting really wildly, so we had to hold him back and take him to another room… It was a long time before the shouting stopped.”

“And he hasn’t spoken since…?” Minho asked.

He shook his head. “No. He hasn’t really moved since, either. Since he’s sharing my room with me, I had to go in and get him into his pajamas and into bed since he’d long since fallen asleep on the floor.”

Seunghoon just nodded, looking pensive. They asked Bobby a few more questions about what was going on at the dorm before Seungyoon had to excuse himself and they decided that they’d heard enough for now. That was when they all went their separate ways, with Seunghoon and Jinwoo going to check on the leader while the younger rappers went into Minho’s room.

As soon as they were inside, Minho gathered Bobby up in his arms. He felt wetness on his shirt as he did, and he knew his boyfriend was crying again. “It’s okay, jagi-yah…” he murmured, rubbing his back as he tried to comfort him.

“I just feel really bad that I can’t do anything to help either of them,” Bobby moaned woefully.

“It’s not your fault, Ji. We’re all at a loss for what to do now.”

Bobby rested his head on Minho’s chest as he closed his eyes and sighed, wiping his face. “…I really missed you. I needed this.” He squeezed the older man for emphasis.

“Same,” he replied, resting his cheek on top of his head.

The younger boy looks up at him then. “Can you just… hold me for now? Like this?”

Minho nods and moves them to the bed, lying down on it as Bobby climbs onto him and holds him tight. He wraps his arms around him, noticing that the door isn’t all the way shut. He disregards it, figuring it wasn’t a big deal unless Bobby complained about it. For now, he basked in the presence of his lover and held him tight.

A few hours later, Seungyoon sits up and blinks his eyes groggily. After he’d run off to his room earlier, he’d fallen asleep, feeling worried and heartbroken over discovering how poorly his maknae was doing. He felt awful because he couldn’t even offer any comfort to him due to the strict no-communication rule.

Rubbing his eyes, he realizes that he’s hungry and gets up to head to the kitchen. As he walks down the hallway, he hears voices. Bobby must still be here, he thought to himself, since the voices seemed to be coming from Minho’s room. He was going to walk right by without a word, but when he heard Taehyun’s name mentioned, he slowed down. Stopping by the door, he listened, feeling a little guilty for eavesdropping but curious about what they were saying about Taehyun. New news, perhaps?

“…you guys watching him?” Minho was saying.

“Not closely,” Bobby answered, “but I am getting more and more nervous.”

“Because of his behavior, right?”

Seungyoon frowned. What are they talking about…?

“Yeah. I can’t say anything to the others because you and I promised not to tell, but I’m still getting really worried.”

Minho sighs. “Please watch over him, Jiwon-ah. You’re the only one there who knows…”

“I know. I’ve been thinking about it, but now I’ve decided that I should check on him more frequently throughout the day. We already sleep in the same room, so I doubt he’d try anything while I’m in there.”

Seungyoon was growing more and more confused. Just what are they saying? They're talking in circles suspiciously and alluding to something... he just didn't know what. He was about to go in there and ask them himself when he heard something that made his blood run cold.

“Yeah, do that… you can’t let him even have a chance to try and kill himself. We don’t want him to be successful this time.”

What…? Seungyoon thought. They think… they think Taehyun would try to commit suicide…?! How could they?? That’s prepost— He suddenly remembered the last part of what Minho said.

This time…? What do they mean, this time?? His face fell, and his thoughts became frantic.

Seungyoon heard the conversation stop, and then an “Oh, …”

He must have said his last thought aloud.

Minho came to the door and opened it wider to see Seungyoon standing there, white as a ghost and the most anguished expression on his face that he’d ever seen. “!” Minho cursed, realizing that the leader had heard everything.

Seungyoon took a step closer, his expression still painful to look at. “Wh… What…” He couldn’t even form a complete sentence, he was so rocked by this information. Minho pulled him inside and shut the door completely, sitting him down in the chair before going to sit next to Bobby on the bed with his head in his hands.

It was silent for a few moments before Bobby spoke. “So I guess you heard all that…” Seungyoon just continued to stare at the floor. The younger sighed. “How do we even begin…?”

“So… so you mean to tell me that… that Taehyun-ah… my Taehyun-ah… tried to…?”

Minho swallowed. “…Yes.”

Seungyoon bit his lip and closed his eyes, putting his head down and pulling his hair. This information felt so surreal to him… he almost accused them of lying, trying to pull some cruel, sick joke on him. He’d known that Taehyun’s mental state could be fragile at times, but he’d never thought that his mind could go to such a dark place that he’d want to end it all. It tore his heart into pieces to hear this.

“When…?” His voice wavered as he asked this, no louder than a whisper.

Bobby wrung his hands nervously as he answered. “You were in the hospital. It was the day my bandmates and I came to see you with the others.”

Seungyoon’s heart pounded faster as he felt sick to his stomach with realization. “So that was why…?”

“That’s why we came late,” Minho finished for him. “I was mad at him for leaving before you woke up the day before, so we left without him. I’d yelled at him then, too.” He winced at the memory. “But then I got a weird feeling, so I got out of the car with Bobby and we hurried back to go get him. When we got to the dorm, he wasn’t answering me when I called for him. He… He’d locked himself in the bathroom…” He paused for a few minutes, finding himself unable to go on.

Bobby continued for him, rubbing his back as he spoke. “When we knocked down the door, he found Taehyun in the bathtub, completely submerged. He… he tried to drown himself.”

At this, Seungyoon let out a sob, unable to listen anymore. He couldn’t believe it. Taehyun had almost left. Left his bandmates, left his family, left him. He came dangerously close to losing him that day… if Minho hadn’t went back for him, or if he’d went back a few minutes too late…

He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think at all anymore. It was too much for him. So he stood up and walked out, going back to his room and slamming the door shut, sliding down against it as he let the pain overtake him.

Seunghoon and Jinwoo came running out of their room to go ask him what happened, but the rappers stopped them, knowing Seungyoon wouldn’t be able to answer them. Instead, they told them themselves, and the hyungs were equally as shocked by the news—Jinwoo clapped a hand over his mouth as he felt himself begin to cry again while Seunghoon was just numb. As the four of them stood there, hearing the leader cry out in despair, they felt their hearts break just a little more because they knew it was the sound of Seungyoon’s heart breaking completely.

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Day 4

Early the next morning, a soft knock was heard at the front door. The sky was just beginning to turn pink, and the time was six in the morning. Seungyoon was the only one awake, as he was expecting a guest. He’d barely been able to sleep at all last night, now worried out of his mind about Taehyun and whether or not he’d try anything. He was tempted to run over and go to him, consequences be damned, but he knew he wouldn’t make it to him. So instead, he’d texted Chaerin to ask her to meet him.

She’d come, and as Seungyoon opened the door for her, she held out a cup of coffee for him before enveloping him in a big hug. She didn’t know much about what was going on, but she already knew that just the two lovers being separated like this was hard on the younger leader. He held her back tightly before stepping aside to let her in.

They sat at the dining table, Chaerin wearing a look of absolute concern and Seungyoon wearing one of complete exhaustion. She reached over and took his hand in hers, leaning toward him slightly and asking softly, “What happened?”

He told her about how careless he and Taehyun had been and how that led to YG finding out about their relationship. Of course, he didn’t appreciate the news at all and ultimately ended up separating them. The entire time he spoke, his face was drawn and his tone was melancholy. Chaerin, however, went from being shocked to being completely upset and saddened by the news.

“How could he…?” she said, looking away. “This is beyond extreme, even for him…”

Seungyoon just shrugged. He didn’t know what to say about it anymore—it’d already happened, so what was there left to say?

She turned back to him. “What can I do?”

“I don’t know, noona…” He took a sip of his coffee. “I honestly don’t.” Suddenly, his eyes lit up a little with an idea. “Can you… can you go see him for me…?”

She looked a bit nervous at this. “Of course… but I know he’s not too fond of me these days—”

“Please,” he cut her off. “He’s not eating. He’s not moving around. They’re saying that he’s barely even living right now. I’m desperate…”

At this, Chaerin knew she couldn’t decline. Even though it was a tall order, she’d do anything in her power to help her dongsaengs. She nodded, saying, “Okay. I’ll go over there later today.”

Seungyoon sighed in relief, sitting back in his seat. “Thank you so much… I just feel so helpless. It’s bad news after bad news after even worse news when it comes to his condition nowadays.”

She rubbed his hand with her thumb. “Hm? Is there something else…?”

Seungyoon immediately felt tears run down his face as he recalled what he learned yesterday. He did nothing to stop them. He took a shaky breath as he started to speak again. “They told me that… that a while ago, Taehyun…” He sniffled and had to pause for a minute before he continued. “He tried to kill himself…” Chaerin’s hand left his to cover in shock. “And now, with him acting the way he is, they’re worried he might try again...” At this, he leaned his elbows onto the table and sobbed quietly into his hands, Chaerin moving to hold him once again. This news was beyond shocking to her; she’d never imagined that anyone she knew would ever do that, much less Taehyun.

It took a while for Seungyoon to calm down. When he finally did, he leaned back and wiped his eyes. “So that’s why… that’s the biggest reason why. I need for him to get out of that dark place he’s in right now. He can’t go any farther, or he might… try again.” Chaerin nodded slowly, understanding.

Her blood began to boil with how angry she was. She knew that sometimes, YG could be a cold man, but he’s honestly gone too far. “I really can’t believe the president… does his cruelty know no bounds…?” she said quietly, her voice shaking. She can’t see the man who bought her Chinese noodles on a lonely New Years’ night being the same as the man he was nowadays; it was hard to see that side of him now as he almost never lets it come out.

Seungyoon looked up, noticing her sudden change in attitude. “Noona…?”

“No, Seungyoon-ah, I can’t. He can overwork us to the point where Dara-unnie gets sick frequently… restrict us from things we want to do professionally while our sunbaes could already do whatever they wanted at this point in their careers… call us ugly to the point where Bom-unnie doesn’t even love herself anymore…” Her eyes became wet and she quickly wiped them; she does not cry in front of anyone. “I put up with all of that. I know he doesn’t really care about us anymore—”

“Noona—”

“—But for him to show his cruelty to you... to mess with your lives like this, especially when you’re so young…” She shakes her head. “I don’t see it. I don’t see how he can be so satisfied with himself. It’s not fair. Especially when he knows you’re in love and what it would do to you both if he did this, but he didn’t care. He hasn’t a care in the world, which is why this ‘YG Family’ mess he tries to sell is nothing but a bunch of lies. It’s a business environment here, just like everywhere else—no less cut and dry than SM or JYP.” Seungyoon could only sit there, stunned; he had no idea his noona had such deep feelings about the company. But then, who would know? It’s CL, the strong woman who doesn’t show her feelings to anyone else. “Maybe a long time ago… a while ago, this may have been true… from the way oppa and Jiyongie talk about their trainee days, maybe. But not now. The family vibe has dwindled greatly… What father would do this to his children…?” Chaerin sat back, finished with her rant.

Seungyoon scooted closer to her and laid his head on her shoulder. “Noona… please don’t get so worked up about this. I know you care, but it’s our problem to worry about. You don’t have to worry for us.”

She shook her head. “No, I do.” She sighed. “Everyone has to struggle when they first enter this business. I know that, and I’m not sorry for that because it ultimately gives you experience and wisdom as you move forward and become more successful. But this… this doesn’t count. This is crossing the line. He can’t just play with people's feelings like that under the guise of business… it’s a whole different ballgame. The same rules don’t apply, and he needs to know that.”

Seungyoon just listened, closing his eyes as he leaned on her further. He knew how headstrong she was and how set she was in her beliefs. “Please don’t do anything, noona…”

She smiled bitterly. “Nothing I do would mean anything to him anyway. I’m sorry I can’t do more, Seungyoon-ah. I’m sorry this happened.”

“It’s not your fault. This is enough,” he said, meaning every word.

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Day 5

Seungyoon has grown restless. If he was serious about getting Taehyun back before, he’s absolutely adamant about it now. He isn’t content with sitting idly by, wondering what he can do. He’s ready to take action—he just isn’t sure which action to take.

Now, everyone is convened in his room, trying to think about what actions they can take. They know that they won’t be Winner without Taehyun. They won’t do it without him.

“I honestly don’t think that there’s anything we can do by ourselves,” Seunghoon said frankly.

“Yeah,” Minho agreed. “If we get out of line, he’ll disband us altogether in a second.”

“Then what can we do? Who would help us?” Jinwoo wondered. “We’ve got to be realistic, here… not everyone in the company will be so understanding about our situation.”

Seungyoon growled, frustrated. “There must be something…! We can’t just do nothing!”

Minho thought. “Well, administration is out. The staff is bound to automatically take sajangnim’s side because they don’t want to lose their jobs.”

“Then that just leaves YG artists… which really aren’t the best choices since we’re all just employees, too,” Seunghoon added.

“BUT,” Seungyoon said, “We’re the ones who make him his money, so we have more pull than the administrative staff.”

“True, true,” Jinwoo admitted. “But he’s not going to give a second thought if just anyone says something.”

Minho thought. “Then who’s the highest in the food chain here out of the all the YG artists?”

It takes barely a second for all of them to say together “Bigbang.” Jinwoo frowns. “But why would they help us? Not to sound rude, but those hyungs are kind of stuck on themselves, and for good reason, too. How could we convince them to do anything for us?”

Suddenly, Minho recalled that time G-Dragon had a talk with him during the YG Family concert. He remembered how laid back and open-minded he seemed and got an idea. “Hey, hey… Jiyong-hyung.” Question marks appeared on everyone’s faces. “Remember how I told you guys all the things he said to me during rehearsals that one time?” They all say, “Ooooh,” as they remember. “He told me he believes in love, so he may be the most inclined to help us out of anyone.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Jinwoo said, getting excited. “And everyone knows that President Yang is closest to Jiyong-hyung!”

Everyone agreed and began to talk animatedly about the subject more. It seemed like they might be onto something. Did they really have a chance at getting their maknae back…? But there was one hiccup.

“How are we going to get in contact with him, though?” Seunghoon wondered.

The leader thought a little before he answered. “I can ask Youngbae-hyung.”

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Day 6

“What?” Youngbae said, confused and slightly incredulous.

“What do you think, hyung?” Seungyoon called him and told him about what he and s had discussed the previous day. So far, though, Youngbae didn’t seem convinced.

“I’m not too sure about this… I mean, it’s Jiyong. You guys don’t know him like I do, remember?”

“I know, I know… I just thought—”

“Look, despite whatever he may have said to you guys and how nice he seems, he’s got a million other things he could be doing and thinking about. What reason does he have to drop what he’s doing and do you any kind of favor? To worry about you when he has his own problems? He's not too much of a selfless guy.”

Seungyoon sighed, knowing he was right. And on top of it all, the fierce leader was damn near unapproachable; he approaches you, not the other way around. Really, why would he do the rookies any favors? They’re no friends of his.

“I don’t know, hyung… I just thought that the way he talked to Mino-yah that day seemed promising.”

“I’m not saying that you can’t try; go ahead. Just don’t expect anything. He isn’t the type of man to act on beliefs alone. More often than not, he needs to have an incentive. He was probably just in a really good mood when he spoke to Mino.” The older man sighed. “Plus, he’s kind of pissed at you guys because this whole debacle interfered with his activities.”

The leader groaned. That’s right; YG had restricted the majority of YG artists’ actions for the time being. But he was getting desperate, as he was running out of ideas. “Listen, hyung… I have to get Taehyun back. There is no other option right now. I refuse to even consider it.”

“I hear you.”

“I’m a desperate man, hyung… It’s not even just about me and him anymore. It’s about the five of us. It’s not Winner unless he’s here, too. All of the members are torn up about this. And I’ve given it a lot of thought as well. As the leader, I’ve decided that we can’t just sit by and let this happen to us. I see problems down the road if we just leave this alone.” He sighed. "At the very, very least, we need closure."

“…” Youngbae was silent, still not totally convinced.

“Please… I have to try. Even if you think this is the worst idea ever, I have to try. So please, help me.”

“…Okay.” He sighed, worried for his dongsaeng. “Next week, Jiyong is supposed to be at the studio. I’m not too sure about the exact day and time, but I can text that to you later. That’s your best chance of gaining any kind of audience with him.” Seungyoon thought briefly that from the way he talked about him, Jiyong sounded like royalty. He supposed that in a sense, he was.

“Thank you so much, hyung… I know you don’t think anything will come of it—”

“Not to mention that he’ll definitely be mad at me later,” Youngbae added, laughing a little. “But I understand you. He really is your best shot right now, I guess.”

“Yeah… I don’t know what else to do.”

“Please take care, Seungyoon-ah.”

Seungyoon hummed before hanging up, rubbing his temples. Now he had to think of a convincing argument in order to get G-Dragon on board with his plan. That was going to be a challenge for sure.

He flopped back onto his bed, wondering if he was in over his head. Would any of this work…? Were all of his efforts in vain? …Would he ever hold Taehyun in his arms again…? It’s almost been a week now, and all of the stress was definitely taking a toll on his body. Never once did he think to give up, and the news about Taehyun’s condition only motivated him more. But whether his undying love and dedication for his maknae would be enough to fix Winner once and for all remained to be seen. He could only hope that he was enough.

Suddenly, he felt his phone vibrate. He groaned and fumbled around in his pockets, searching for it. When he pulled it out, he saw that he had a text message from CL. He opened it.

From: Chaelakkuma

Minzy said she got Taehyun 2 eat n that he’s cleaning himself n speaking now

Fighting~

The text made him smile, and it was a reminder of why he was doing all this. He couldn’t worry about the unknown and whether this would work or not. He wouldn’t stop until he had Taehyun in his arms again, and that’s all that mattered.

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Hope you liked it :] Anticipating about only two more chapters :O