The doctor had been right, Taemin didn't wake up until the morning. Minho didn't leave his side, didn't even sleep.

He stayed up in a chair by Taemin's bedside and held his hand gently through the entire night, just waiting for his love to wake up. He cried, pleaded for Taemin to just open his eyes. He didn't know what he was supposed to do if the boy died.

He'd already had his heart broken once, when his fiance had died. He couldn't bear to have it broken again when he'd finally found someone that made him feel complete again.

He was relieved when Taemin woke up, and so happy that he almost tackled the injured boy.

Taemin's face twisted into a look of pain and he shifted, his eyes opening to find himself in a room with Minho and he panicked. He shoved himself out of the bed and pushed himself away from Minho.

“T..Taemin?” The elder's voice was hesitant. “You're alright, don't be afraid.”

Taemin shook his head, whimpering. Though he wasn't touching Minho, the elder could hear Taemin's voice just as clear as day inside of his own mind. He was shocked.

So Taemin could now speak to him without having to touch him? This was a new development and Minho wondered if it was triggered by whatever had happened to Taemin.

“Taemin, please don't be afraid.” Minho whispered and crawled onto the bed.

This only seemed to scare Taemin more, but Minho grabbed him carefully and held him tightly to his own chest. Taemin struggled at first, seemingly wanting nothing to do with Minho other than to be as far away from the man as he could possibly be.

Minho's heart broke at the thought, but he continued to hold onto the younger boy until he stopped struggling and just laid there in Minho's arms, clinging to his shirt and sobbing.

“Oh, Baby..” Minho whispered. “What did they do to you?”

He really wasn't sure that he wanted to know, but he had to ask. He needed to know what that bastard had done to his precious Taemin and how badly he was going to have to hurt the other to get revenge. He wasn't going to sit around and just let the other man get away with doing something like that.

He'd already killed one person Minho loved, he couldn't have Taemin too.

“He tortured me..” Taemin's voice rang inside of Minho's head. “He t..touched me and..and he shoved things inside of me..”

Minho's grip on the boy tightened protectively with every word as Taemin began to quietly detail the events that had happened to him, leaving out certain things so that Minho would not become suspicious.

After a while, though, Minho stopped Taemin by placing his finger over the boy's lips. “The doctor will be here in a little while, and you're probably hungry, right?”

Taemin nodded hesitantly. Minho smiled and then pulled Taemin up and out of the bed. He held him carefully as he carried him through the house and down into the kitchen.

“What do you want to eat?” He asked, ignoring the fact that Taemin was shaking in his arms. He didn't even want to entertain the notion that the boy he loved might have been afraid of him, which was what his mind was trying to suggest to him. It just wasn't possible.

He sat Taemin down gently on the cushioned seat in the kitchen and the staff immediately got to work on making him something to eat.

As always, they made much more than he could have possibly ever eaten. Minho didn't touch a bite until after Taemin had finished eating everything that he wanted, which was a surprisingly good bit, even for someone who hadn't been allowed to eat for a few days. Only then, did Minho grab a muffin and eat it quickly before taking Taemin into the living room.

“The doctor will be here in a little bit.” Minho told him, placing him on the couch only to have him move to the other side.

Minho sighed and looked down at his hands. “Do you..are you...afraid of me?”

Taemin's eyes went wide and he quickly shook his head.

“Then why do you keep moving away from me?” He asked.

Taemin bit his lip lightly and looked away. “I'm Sorry..” His voice whispered inside of Minho's mind. “It's because I can't give my heart to you.”

The words shocked Minho, broke his heart into a million shattered pieces. Taemin did not love him? He had not expected that to come from the boy. He'd almost just naturally assumed that Taemin would accept his feelings.

“Please, don't be upset..” Taemin's voice whispered into his mind again. “It's really for the best, Master.”

The word hurt Minho even more, and he didn't respond. Taemin started to worry that he'd done something terribly wrong when Minho would not give him any response.

After a few minutes, though, the tension was broken when a knock came at the door. It was the doctor, finally there to check up on Taemin.

Minho was more than happy to leave the room and let the doctor look at Taemin alone. He walked into his studio and sat down in his chair. A moment of silence passed before he broke down and threw a book across the room.

“Dammit!” He nearly yelled, keeping his voice and his tantrum at a level where Taemin and the doctor couldn't hear him from the living room, but he cried. He hated to cry, but the tears poured down because of his broken heart.

Taemin had denied him, and now he didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to handle the situation, and so he did the only thing that he could think to do in a situation like this.

He called his hyung. The man picked up after three rings.

“Siwon Hyung.” Minho spoke into the phone. “I need your help.”