Third Person's POV:

                    The doors of the Choi mansion slam open, 14 men storming into the area without any hesitation.

"What are you doing here?!" on of Choi's guys yell, a loud wave of murmurs and mumbling following his question.

"I called them here. No need to be so rude. They were invited this time." Choi explains as he smiles to his visitors. His lackeys continue to talk and mumble amongst themselves, confused.

"Where's Donghae?" Heechul almost growls. He doesn’t like the expression Choi has on his face, it really annoys him for some reason.

"He's upstairs, and should be coming down very soon."  Choi replies. Just as he begins to talk, Donghae steps down the staircase, and stands to face his 14 brothers.

"Hyung" a couple of them say, glad that he looked okay. The others who remained speechless sigh in relief.

Donghae smiles, and nods at them.

"Hey," he answers, just as glad as they were that they were okay.

"Let's go now, Hyung." Henry smiled.

Choi laughs, "You must be mistaken. You were called here, not to take Donghae back but to join us here."

The fourteen visitors become confused and give each other uneasy glances.

"Donghae has decided to prolong his stay here with us, permanently." Choi explains.

                     Donghae's face becomes grim as he glances down. He didn’t think that hearing those words being spoken out could have been so hard for him to hear. He suppresses his expression and looks up to face the people he loves the most.

"Hyung... I don't understand..." Henry says quietly.

"Guys, I've decided to stay here. And I wanna ask you guys to stay with me."  Donghae responds, not looking at any one of the people in front of him directly.

                    The shock on their faces turns to a look of horror. What in the world is he saying? They thought.

"Are you crazy? Has being stuck here gotten to you?!" Kangin shouts, unable to hide his shock and anger.

"No. I'm perfectly sane. It's just, after being here... It's opened my eyes. Don't you see? If we all become one force, we could accomplish so much more. We wouldn't need to fight, we wouldn't need to have to constantly be on guard, or anything like that." He tries to reason with them.

"Have you forgotten everything we've endured because of them? Have you forgotten how much you used to hate these people? Have you forgotten about your father?" Hyukjae speaks up finally. His voice is full of anger, but his eyes were like a broken child's; lost, confused, scared.   Donghae exhales, teeth together.

"No. I haven't forgotten. But I think it's about time... We all move on, don't you? Holding onto the past won't get us anywhere. We have to look to the future." he answers, his chest stinging from the shot Hyukjae's words made.

"You were never one who cared for business, or 'force', everything you did was because-"

"I know." Donghae interrupts Hankyung. He just couldn't listen anymore.

                    The other members all tried to reason with Donghae, but it did no good. They all continued to talk and try to get him to reconsider his decision, everyone except Kyuhyun. He just stood there, absorbing every word, every look and every emotion that crossed Donghae's face.

"So you're really not coming back." Zhoumi states, in disbelief. Ryeowook put his hand on Henry's shoulder; Henry isn’t taking the news well. Donghae can’t even look at Henry anymore; he doesn’t want to look at any of them anymore.

"Then there's really nothing left to say." Jungsoo says. "Donghae, I hope you really like it here. Remember though, if you ever want to come back home, your spot is always there."

                    Donghae's jaws clamp together as he nods once. He catches a glimpse of Henry as he turns his gaze away from them, he really wished he didn't the expression on Henry’s face. Just seeing him for that split second made Donghae’s heart rip open. And every glance he got before each of them slowly backed away spread the wound further and further apart.  

                    Just a couple more seconds, Donghae. A few more seconds. You can do this, Donghae repeated to himself in his head as each of them turned away to leave. Hyukjae hadn't moved an inch away from him even though the others were leaving. Kyuhyun walked to stand right beside Hyukjae, and grabbed both of his shoulders. Kyuhyun had an expressionless face, just like Donghae did.

"Donghae," The harshness of Kyuhyun’s tone caused a couple of their members to look back in shock.

                    Of all fourteen of them, Donghae was the one Kyuhyun respected the most, and had never once spoken to him like that. Ever. Donghae was a little shocked too, and looked at him with surprise.

"Moving on is okay. But breaking our promise of being brothers forever is different. Of all of us, I expected you to be the last person to leave us." He continued. Donghae's stare intensified, keeping in his raging emotions.

"Jungsoo Hyung might have said that we'd always have that space open for you, but not me. Not anymore. Once I step through these doors... I don't know you anymore."  

                    These words really killed, but Donghae managed to keep his words inside. He wanted to apologize and tell them everything, but he couldn't. Not with everyone watching. Kyuhyun glared at him, becoming more and more furious.

"And you've opened your eyes, right? So tell me, where's Gaheun? Was she around when you had your 'realization'? Has she seen the new you? Because you know what? I'm sure she'll be thinking the exact same thing we are. You're not the same Donghae we grew up with. You're not the same Donghae she loves. You're not our Donghae." Kyuhyun finished as he shook his head in both disappointment and anger.

                     Hyukjae just looked down as he turned away; he agreed with Kyuhyun, he just couldn't accept it yet. They walked out of the mansion, never looking back.

                    I'm sorry. It's because of you guys I'm doing this. It's because of Gaheun I'm doing this. I don't want to... But I just don't have a choice anymore. I haven't changed. I'm still me.  Donghae thought as he watched the doors close behind them. He really wished he could’ve said that thought out loud so they could hear. He really wished that he could tell them he wasn’t breaking their promise, he really wished he could tell them that this was all an act. If he did let them know the reality, he wouldn’t be doing his job of protecting them, which was a promise he made to himself.

"Thank you, Donghae. You've kept your end of the bargain, now I'll keep mine." Choi said in a cheerful tone. Donghae didn't bother to look at him and walked back up to his room in silence. However, the tension that emanated from his body didn't leave with him.

                    Kyuhyun stepped outside of the mansion and heard the doors close behind him. He let out a sigh of relief. Hyukjae looked at him, confused.

"Maybe there's hope, we just have to wait. I know it" he assured Hyukjae.

                    Why was Kyuhyun so relieved? Because the moment the stranger stepped in front of them 15 minutes ago, Kyuhyun knew something wasn't right. The news he was giving was enough to weaken their judgement, but that's why Kyuhyun focused on his face, not his words. And when Kyuhyun spoke to him at the end before he left, he was glad to find what he was looking for in that person; Donghae.