Minho felt a pair of lips come in contact with his and force water into his mouth.  He swallowed it gratefully.  He hadn't had water in what felt like forever.  The cool liquid soothed his burning throat, bringing sweet relief.  He slowly his dry lips, savoring the feeling and letting out a satisfied sigh.

Minho waited for the lips to feed his some more of the sweet liquid, but they never came.  He felt light footsteps on the floor.  It was but a second until they were gone and Minho opened his eyes for the first time in days.  

The small amount of light from the sun was blinding compared to the pitch black darkness Minho had been getting used to.  He squinted his eyes and brought his hand up in front of his face causing a dull pain to spread in his shoulder.  He sat up for what was also the first time in days.  His muscles ached slightly at the motion.

After his eyes adjusted to the light, Minho took the opportunity to observe his surroundings. It seemed that his was in a wooden house, and a very small one, about the size of Taemin's bathroom (which was a large bathroom).  There was a door on the opposite corner from where he was, but it seemed to be missing the actual door, so it was just an opening.  There was no furniture besides the three beds which were merely blankets on the floor.  One was about the size of his own bed and the other was tiny, like it was meant for a child. There was a pile of old, ratty clothes next to the small bed, which also looked too small to fit an adult.  The house smelled like early spring, but Minho could not hear any wind blowing or water running.

This place obviously sheltered poor people, which made Minho curious about something.  Why was he here?  He should have been at the palace protecting Taemin.  The name opened a flood gate and memories poured into his head.

He remembered Onew telling him what the villagers where planning, then saying goodbye to him forever.  He remembered giving his first kiss to his prince in the tunnel.  He remembered the fear while walking into the crowd after Jonghyun and Key.  He remembered getting caught when Taemin tripped and his hood fell.  He remembered falling off the stone wall only to be greeted by unconsciousness, leaving his lovely Taemin all alone.

Minho felt his heart squeeze uncomfortably and he grabbed for his chest, trying to rid himself of this feeling.  What happened to Taemin?  His heart squeezed even harder when he voiced the concern in his head.  Tears were already threatening to spill out his eyes before he thought his next thought.  Was he safe?  He felt some vibrations on the floor similar to the footsteps earlier and looked up towards the place he felt them coming from.  

In front of the door were two boys, one of them a teenager, the other one just a child.  The child had black hair and wide eyes.  He was holding the older boy's hand and yanking at it desperately while saying something that Minho could not hear.  His attention was on the other one.  The one with the slim, weak body.  The one with perfect auburn hair cut in the shape of a mushroom.  The one with perfect fair skin and plump kissable lips.  The one with innocent brown eyes that clearly conveyed the owner's feelings.  The one that he loved; Taemin.

After Taemin caught sight of the person in front of him, he let out a silent gasp and clamped his hand over his mouth.  Minho merely stared at him, breathless and relieved, tears rolling down his face.  This meant that Taemin was safe.  

The little boy yanked at Taemin's hand once more, bringing Taemin back to reality.  He quickly ran to Minho and dropped down on his knees to embrace his love.  The prince's body shook with silent sobs and all Minho could do was comfort him.  He felt Taemin's lips move against his shoulder as if he were saying something, but it was quiet enough for Minho not to hear.

"I'm sorry," Minho whispered into his prince's ear, surprised when the sound didn't reach his own ears.  

"I'm sorry," he repeated, with what he thought would be a louder voice, but he couldn't tell for he still heard nothing.  Taemin moved his lips once more and Minho strained to hear some sort of noise.  He heard nothing.

"Taemin," he whispered, pulling back slightly from the embrace so he could see the boy's face.  It was red from tears and his eyes were puffy.  Minho leaned forward slightly to kiss each of Taemin's cheek.  Taemin said something that he could not hear.

Minho shook his head.  "Taemin, I can't hear you."

Taemin lips moved again.

"Taemin, I can't hear."

A confused expression crossed the young one's face for a moment before a fresh wave of tears spilled from his eyes and he buried his face in Minho's chest once more.

Minho rubbed Taemin's back soothingly.  "I'm sorry."

A/N- IM SO SORRY

I have many reasons why I haven't updated in almost two weeks but i doubt you actually want to hear them, so please forgive me!

This is pretty much the last chapter of the actually story,  the next chapter will be more of an epilouge

and if you didn't understand, minho is deaf!

btw, i drew minho! nothing too special, but i tried.

so please comment! i promise i wont take that long to post ever again