Yunho didn’t sleep that night. He couldn’t get his mind off Changmin. He’d given the maknae the best advice he could give, but even then, it had been Changmin’s question that had stopped him in his tracks. What would he do? All Yunho knew was that if he was given the choice, he would’ve gladly switched places with Changmin and allowed the sasaeng to hold him prisoner instead.

His alarm went off far earlier than he would’ve liked. A few hours of the nothingness of sleep had done nothing to curb the anxiety and worry he was once again feeling. How could he have even given that kind of advice to Changmin? How could he even suggest trying to befriend a sasaeng of all things? Sure, it would probably work, but Yunho shuddered at the thought of forcing himself to be kind to a sasaeng who was holding him prisoner. He could only imagine that Changmin was feeling the same way.

Yunho marked another X on his calendar, counting the days Changmin spent in captivity. Today was the fifth day. He silently wished the police would hurry up and find him. There was only so much waiting Yunho could do before he started blindly following trails that lead to nowhere so he could find his friend. He was already on the verge of getting in his car and just...driving. The only thing that kept him from doing so was the hope that today, maybe today, the police will have more information.

He kept that hope in mind as he stepped into the SM building that morning. For the last four days, it was the same thing. He would wake up, head to SM, and wait for the police to show up to give the update.

Today for sure, Yunho thought. They had to have something by now.

Yunho attempted to distract himself with dance practice and singing, but even that was difficult. Every time he heard the parts Changmin was supposed to come in, he felt cold on the inside. Whenever he had to perform a dance move that involved interacting with Changmin, he felt even worse. The blank empty space in front of him was more obvious than ever.

He was sitting on the floor with his back against the mirror when at last, the police officers came. Yunho got to his feet quickly, shutting off his music player and pulling the headphones off his ears.

“Anything?” He hoped his voice didn’t sound as frantic as he felt.

The officer shook his head. “We’re still searching for the getaway vehicle, and no persons of interest have been located. If we still can’t find anything tomorrow, we’ll have to call the case cold,”

It was the last thing he wanted to hear.

“What the hell are you good for then?!” Yunho shouted. “Changmin’s been missing for five days! Are you telling me some sasaeng was smart enough to cover her tracks?!”

“Jung-seonsaeng-”

“You call yourselves police officers when you can’t even locate a kidnapper?!”

“We’re doing everything we can,”

Yunho scoffed. “Get out,” he spat.

The officer merely bowed and left the room, leaving Yunho to stew in his anger. The idol turned, catching sight of his reflection in the mirror. The broken expression on his mirror self’s face only made him angrier. He let out a shout and slammed his fist into the glass, cracking it and slicing his knuckles open. He grimaced, clutching his hand, fighting back the tears that threatened to run down his face. He tore from the practice room, ignoring anyone who called out to him. He yanked up his hood, pulling the strings to hide his face and ran from the SM building, wanting nothing more than to get as far away from anything and everything.

A car suddenly skidded to a stop, right on the crosswalk in front of Yunho. He froze, staring at the tinted window. A moment later, the window rolled down just enough for Yunho to see the face of the driver.

“Get in the car,” an all too familiar voice said, voice stiff.

Yunho didn’t hesitate to yank the passenger door open and leap inside. It had barely slammed shut when the driver stamped on the gas, shooting them down the street once more.

“I want to ask where you came from,” Yunho said breathlessly, turning towards the driver.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been outside SM, waiting for you to show your face,”

Yunho turned towards the man next to him, somehow able to crack a small smile. “Am I that hard to contact?”

“Extremely,” he said.

“Sorry about that,” Yunho turned his eyes forward again, a strangely relieved sigh emerging from his lips. Somehow, everything had just gotten better. “It’s good to see you, Jaejoong,”

“It’s good to see you too, though I wish these weren’t the circumstances,” Jaejoong said calmly, focused on the road. “Now what the hell did you do to your hand?”

...

Changmin ate his lunch in silence. He hadn’t said a word to Hyeonjin that day. She’d spoken to him of course, but he simply chose not to respond. When he woke up, he lay passively while she cuddled up to him, resting her head on his chest. Her hand had been on the middle of his stomach, her fingers drawing slow circles over the muscles beneath his shirt, but he still didn’t move. At breakfast, she’d played with his hair while he ate. He didn’t stop her from doing that either.

Now, it was lunch time. Hyeonjin sat across from him on the bed, occasionally glancing at him while she too ate her lunch. Submissive silence was the only thing that could describe his current state around the sasaeng. It left him feeling numb and emotionless, something he wasn’t too fond of. He silently wished Yunho would call him and tell him everything was going fine with the investigation and that they’d gathered new leads. He knew he was just getting his hopes up, however.

Hyeonjin looked at him once again, watching him eat with bright, almost childlike eyes. Changmin forced himself to look away, not wanting to think of the sasaeng as anything even close to innocent.

“Changmin?” She said suddenly, making him glance back in her direction, chewing the carrot in his mouth slowly. “Can I feed you?”

The question surprised him so much, he forgot about the vegetable in his mouth. When he eventually swallowed, Hyeonjin had picked a piece of fish off her plate with her chopsticks and was holding it out to him, smiling.

Changmin stared, completely silent. Yunho had told him to try to befriend her; get her trust so that maybe she’d let him out of the room. The mere thought of eating the food from her chopsticks sent an unpleasant twisting sensation in his stomach. Could he do it? Could he swallow his pride and make an attempt to be friends with Hyeonjin, even if it was just another escape attempt? One part of him told him yes – the other part of him shuddered in revulsion.

Hyeonjin held the chopsticks closer to him, leaning over her tray to hold it just inches from his mouth. All he had to do was lean over and eat it. His eyes darted up to her face, seeing the soft smile firmly planted there. It was almost motherly, really. Loving, Changmin thought to himself. Did she honestly love him?

He leaned over and ate the fish from her chopsticks, hearing her breathe in, the warm smile turning into a brilliant grin. His stomach twisted again, making him look away from her. He chewed and swallowed the fish silently, mildly surprised to see that she wasn’t holding out more food for him to eat. He reached for his own chopsticks once again, but drew his hand back, unsure if he even wanted to eat more.

“Do you want more?” Hyeonjin asked.

Changmin just shook his head.

“Are you sure?”

“Tell me again,” Changmin said suddenly, speaking for the first time that day. “Why did you kidnap me?”

She watched him for a second, then set down her chopsticks, folding her hands in her lap.

“I’ve...always admired you, Changmin,” she said, keeping her eyes on the floor. “I know you’d never notice me, though. I wanted to spend time with you and get to know you better. I know I could’ve tried to do that without kidnapping you, but I already told you that I wanted to save you from SM, and kidnapping you was the only way I could do that,”

Without his mind clouded over with exhaustion from his outburst a few days earlier, he was able to process the words a little better. So maybe she did love him. It didn’t mean her actions were justified.

“How did you get me here?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“I drugged your water,” she said, her head falling even lower if it was possible. “Then I hid in your closet and waited for you to fall asleep. Then I put you in a wagon and brought you to the car I had parked out back and put you in. Then I brought you here,”

It was such a simple kidnapping plot, but somehow, he hadn’t been found yet. Changmin knew there was probably a lot more to Hyeonjin’s official plan that he didn’t know about.

Hyeonjin picked up her chopsticks again. “I just hope you don’t hate me for it,” she said quietly, picking up a piece of celery. She held it out to him, that small smile back on her face.

Changmin stared at the chopsticks once more, hesitating for the briefest of moments before once again, eating the food she was holding out to him.

...

The first aid kit flew towards Yunho so fast, he barely managed to catch it. He was silently glad Jaejoong kept a small, handheld one with a fabric case. One of the plastic ones like his mother always kept probably would’ve hurt.

Yunho treated the injuries on his knuckles, calmly glancing up at Jaejoong every once in a while. His ex-band mate couldn’t sit still, yanking the blinds of his apartment down and double checking the front door, making sure it was locked. He was still pacing by the time Yunho had taped the last bandage in place.

“Will you sit down, Jaejoong-ssi,” Yunho said, feeling anxious just watching him.

Jaejoong planted himself in the armchair, tapping his fingers on the fabric, staying silent. His eyes darted around the room, and a moment later, he took a breath and let it out.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m just a little freaked out. We’re not supposed to see each other,”

Yunho glanced away. It was true, really. When Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu filed their lawsuits and split from TVXQ, almost immediately Changmin and Yunho were forbidden from even associating with their former band members. Besides, the tensions had been high between the two parties at the time of the split. Yunho still felt the aching scars if he thought about the old TVXQ too much.

“And we didn’t exactly part on a good note,” Jaejoong added, his voice quiet.

“No,” Yunho agreed. “We didn’t,”

There had been an argument, and a rather large one at that. Jaejoong had tried to do everything he could to convince Yunho to file a lawsuit as well and abandon SM. Yunho had refused. His contract might’ve been tampered with as well, but he didn’t want to risk his career over a small piece of paper. He’d called Jaejoong foolish, reckless and even went as far as to call him shameful. Jaejoong had retaliated by calling Yunho SM’s lapdog, and they’d both nearly come to blows. Changmin had to hold Yunho back while Jaejoong was dragged away by both Yoochun and Junsu. Yunho had a feeling Changmin would’ve dragged him if he could, but Yunho had been fighting the maknae too hard. They’d only seen each other from a distance after that, but Yunho had always silently missed Jaejoong, grieving over their final words to each other.

“I’m sorry,” Yunho just said, his fingers laced together.

“As am I,” Jaejoon responded, his voice just as soft.

Yunho held his hand out, offering Jaejoong the start of the handshake they always shared. Jaejoon reached over, slapping his fingertips against Yunho’s and curling his fingers so they interlocked for a moment before bumping their knuckles together and splaying their fingers like an explosion. Despite everything that had happened over the last several days, Yunho found himself laughing; Jaejoon’s brilliant smile matched his almost perfectly.

“Mind if I call the others over?” Jaejoong asked.

“No,” Yunho said, feeling lighter than he had in days.

Jaejoon quickly punched a number into his cellphone, holding it to his ear. He sat in silence for barely three seconds when once again, the smile reappeared.

“Junsu? Get Yoochun and come to the apartment. I’ve got You-Know-Who over here,” he flashed Yunho a cheeky grin. ‘You-Know-Who’ was the secret and universal nickname they had for Yunho. It was a play on his stage name. Changmin thought it was so funny, it had put him to tears the first time he heard it. It didn’t surprise Yunho in the slightest, considering the maknae had more than likely associated the nickname with Voldemort.

Jaejoong laughed at something Junsu said. “Snacks are probably a good idea since we have yet to go shopping,” he met Yunho’s eye, still smiling. “Yeah, see you in a few,”

Yunho couldn’t believe the entire band was getting together again. He only wished Changmin was here to see it. His face fell with that thought.

“What’s wrong?” Jaejoong asked, picking up on his sudden change of emotion immediately.

“Changmin would love this,” Yunho said softly.

“I know,” Jaejoong said, grimacing. “But I’ll tell you this: if he wasn’t missing right now, I probably wouldn’t have even waited for you outside SM. When we do find him, he can come to the next one,”

“You still care?”

“Of course I do, he might be your maknae now, but at one point he was our maknae,” Jaejoong smiled weakly. “We might not work together anymore, but it doesn’t change the fact that we were a band once, and we were a damn good one at that,”

Yunho cracked a smile once more. He glanced away, losing himself in thoughts of TVXQ being five and performing on stage in front of millions of fans. They might’ve gone their separate ways now, but Yunho knew he would always treasure those memories.

...

Changmin had caved. He was taking a shower.

The hot water poured across his body, making him breathe a sigh of relief. He was alone for once. Hyeonjin had left the room to clean up the lunch dishes and start getting the preparations for dinner ready. Changmin had taken the opportunity to shut the bathroom door and jump into the shower. He scrubbed his hair furiously, getting the built up oil out of the strands.

He emerged from the shower earlier than he would’ve wanted (he was still worried Hyeonjin was going to walk in and start peeping), but regardless, he felt refreshed. He dragged the comb through his hair, trying to dry it out a little more before returning to the bedroom, flopping on the bed. He felt himself smile slightly. He really did feel better.

Hyeonjin reappeared in the room, making him look up. She smiled at him, slipping the key into her back pocket. Changmin watched the action mutely, committing every second to memory. He caught himself staring and pulled his eyes away.

She crawled onto the bed beside him and cuddled up to his side. A moment later she’d nuzzled closer, her face buried in his neck.

“You smell good,” she mumbled. “You showered, didn’t you?”

Changmin didn’t answer that, just staying perfectly still as she ran her fingers over his cheek once more. He felt the hairs on his neck stand up as they trailed downwards to his collarbone. Her fingers slid just beneath the neck of his shirt as she traced the line with her finger. He forced down a shiver, trying not to roll over so she couldn’t do that. The touch was incredibly intimate, and it was making him uncomfortable.

“Stop that,” he said out of compulsion as her hand began to trail lower.

Her hand paused for a moment before going back up to his cheek softly. The action was unexpected and unnerving. He’d asked, and she’d stopped. She was still touching him, but he’d been dealing with her touching his face for so long, he could deal with it. It didn’t mean he liked it, but he could tolerate her contact.

She nuzzled closer, sighing softly against his skin. He internally shuddered, closing his eyes. He thought about the key in her pocket once again. Maybe, he thought, if she fell asleep here, he could pluck it from her pocket. A small voice in his mind wondered what would happen if she woke up and caught him. He tried not to think about that. She probably wouldn’t trust him ever again, not to mention getting caught with his hand in her pocket? It was a little too much to think about.

“Changmin?”

He mumbled, telling her he was listening.

“I love you,” she cuddled him slightly, playing with the hair around his ear.

Changmin didn’t respond, instead focusing on the stucco ceiling above his head.

“It’s okay if you don’t,” she went on. “I know you won’t like me just because I ask you to,”

He couldn’t help but turn his head towards her. He immediately wished he didn’t when he discovered his nose barely an inch from hers. For the briefest of moments, he held her eyes before looking away once more.

Hyeonjin drew a shaky breath and let it out, her hand curling over his shoulder. She didn’t say anything for a long time after that. Changmin did everything he could to think about the key, ignoring how uncomfortably close she was. The key was the only thing keeping him rooted to reality. She shifted again, her lips brushing the side of his neck a little too deliberately. He jumped to his feet, pushing her away.

“S-Sorry,” she stammered.

Changmin didn’t respond, keeping his back to her. He grimaced when her hand touched his back, taking another step away from her. Her hand clenched on the back of his shirt, pulling him back.

“Don’t run,” she said.

“Let go,”

“Changmin-oppa,”

“Please,”

She let go, but it didn’t make Changmin feel any less sick.

“I’ll...go start making dinner,” she said quietly, retreating from the room. Changmin listened to the door open and close before pressing his hands to his face. Was he even his own being anymore? Or was he doomed to forever be the pet of a sasaeng? He felt tears burning out of his eyes. How much more of this could he take?

.

.

.

A/N: WHAT UP JYJ. Please, oh please, do not post in the comments below that JYJ and TVXQ are still friends. I chose this circumstance for the sake of the story itself. If JYJ and TVXQ are still friends and the communicate from time to time, then YAY. I'm glad they do! Like seriously! But for the sake of the story, it's been a rather long time since they communicated with each other. So please, do not tell me they're friends and this is wrong XD

Sorry it took so long to update. I started a new job and it's really been taking a lot out of me xAx (plus I just don't have internet at home soooo yay me) Thanks for reading!! ~~