People say that when you’ve reached rock bottom, there’s no way but to go up.  However, Hye Sung can’t imagine how that can be true in his case, now that the worst case scenario he could ever imagine has become a reality.  After all, singing was the only thing he knew how to do.  Unlike the other members who had other skills, his career had been more one-tracked.  Any investment he’s done in the past had turned to dust, leaving only his investments in Liveworks and Shinhwa company, both of which will soon suffer losses due to his indiscretion.

“Sunggie…”

Warm hands over his own brought Hye Sung back to reality, and he fixed his gaze at the older guy, whose eyes were filled with worry.  “Gwenchana?”

A timid nod was all he could muster as a response.  He was not okay, and Eric knew it.  However, people tend to regress to conversations like this when faced with something that they have no words for.  So, Eric started to mumble passive words of comfort while squeezing his hand and, although it didn’t really make him feel better, it at least made him feel a little warmer.

A round of buzzing made Eric pull his hands back, and he scurried to pull out his phone from his back pocket.  “Who is it?”

Eric showed the phone display as a response.  It was Dongwan.  “Put it on speakerphone.”

It surprised Hye Sung to find Eric—who silently answered the phone and placed it on the console between them—not putting up any resistance, and allowed himself a sarcastic smirk.  How bad did he look for Eric not to be his usual stubborn self?

“Eric, have you reached the cabin yet?  I’m in the company with Minbong right now.  We’ve already released a statement regarding the video, and he’ll just need to arrange for the press conference tomorrow night before we catch up with you guys.  Andy has called to say that he’ll just discuss the issue with our legal team over the phone to save time.  We’ve also told Jinnie to cancel his schedule for the day, in case the media decides to harass him instead, okay?  Hello?”  Dongwan’s voice echoed inside the car, his tension apparent in its pitch.

“Mmm, arasso.” Eric responded passively as he turned the car back to the highway.

“How is Sunggie?”

“He’s fine.”

“Okay, better not let him touch his phone.  I reckon it would not be good for him to read the netizen reactions right now.  We should break the news to him first.  Anyway, just play cool for now…Eric, are you still there?”

“Actually,” Eric sneaked a quick glance at Hye Sung as he said his response, “He already knows.”

“What the—You had one job, Eric!“  Hye Sung heard Dongwan breathe out a couple of curse words before continuing “ How? Didn’t Minbong tell you—“

“He’s on speakerphone right now.”

Hye Sung heard another series of muffled curses coming from the other end of the line, then silence , before a calmer Dongwan once again spoke from the other line.  “Hye Sung…Sunggie-ah, just empty your mind for now, okay?  We will get through this together.”

 Dongwan’s words—both the words of comfort he said just now and the frantic narrative he did earlier—proved just how much Dongwan and the rest of the members were willing to do for Hye Sung, and without realizing, tears have already started to crowd Hye Sung’s eyes.

“Thank you, Wannie.”  He whispered while choking back the tears. “For everything.”

“What are you doing?”  Hye Sung meekly asked, as he sneaked a glance at Eric’s makeshift study.  He had showered and changed into the plain white shirt and city shorts that Eric lent him, and tried to sleep, as Eric had suggested when they arrived in the quaint cottage that served as Eric’s fishing cabin.  However, after an hour of tossing and turning proved that his insomnia had once again kicked in, he decided to get up and look for Eric.  He had questions, and he was not getting any sleep until those questions were answered.

“Oh, you’re awake?  Do you want some lunch?”  Eric said as he looked up from his computer screen.  It seemed to Hye Sung that Eric was adamant on hiding the gravity of their situation from him, based on how Eric immediately shifted his facial expression to a brighter one as soon as Hye Sung walked into his study.

“Not really.  What I really want is to know what is happening.”  Hye Sung replied as he took the seat opposite Eric’s desk. 

Eric rested his gaze at him, as if weighing if he was able to handle the situation or not, and Hye Sung puffed out his chest to show that he was stronger than what they thought of him. 

Stronger than he felt.

Finally, Eric leaned back on his chair and said in a resigned tone.  “Right now, we are still assessing the situation.  There is currently a lot of backlash against the video, but that is to be expected.  In any case, we’ve already scheduled a press conference for tomorrow to formally address the issue, as you’ve heard from Dongwan earlier.”

“Why tomorrow?  Why not today?  Don’t you think I should step up earlier in order for this issue not cause further harm to Shinhwa?”  He was getting impatient with the situation, especially since he felt like everyone knew more than him.  He needed to know more to be more involved.  After all, this was a problem that he created in the first place.

Eric didn’t seem to notice his growing impatience though.  “Well, the PR team reckons that if we step up now, we might actually cause more damage to the situation.  It would be better to do it once we’ve gathered sufficient data on our side.  Right now, we’re still trying to get information on the video and its source.  “

Hye Sung’s stomach lurched at the mention of the video, and a hundred questions started zooming past his head.  Where did the video come from?  What was the intention of the uploader?  How much did the video show?  “The video—can I see it?”

Once again, Hye Sung felt Eric eyeing him curiously, assessing whether he was able to take on the video or not.  This angered Hye Sung to no end.  After all, this was his problem—his mistake.  Why is everyone so adamant on trying to protect him, when he was the cause of all this in the first place?  The anger that he was trying to hold back started to resurface.

Fortunately, Eric turned the laptop to face him before he could say anything out of spite. Hye Sung looked at the frozened scene on Eric's screen, and felt his heartbeat pick up its pace astook a deep breath before clicking on the play button.

The screen showed him being held back by Dongwan and Jun Jin, while Eric was in front of him with arms extended on each side.  Andy and Minwoo were crouching over PD Yeo, who was obscured from the video angle.  Their managers were rounding up the rest of the staff towards the exit as he screamed while pulling his arms from the members’ grip.

Suddenly, everyone was silent, and he saw Andy turn around while Minwoo dropped his head down.  Dongwan froze in his spot and Junjin stood there agape, as he looked around at everyone’s reaction.

“Y—you’re gay?”

Hye Sung saw himself freeze at Eric’s words, saw how his arms fall on his side, saw how Jun Jin tried to pat his shoulders, and how Dongwan signaled for him to stop.  Then he saw his head drop down, just like how he remembered it.  However, watching it from another angle brought him another wave of emotions—emotions that he thought he had already dealt with. 

“That’s enough.”  Eric said, as he pushed the laptop lid close, moved to the seat across Hye Sung and dragged it closer so that their knees touched.  Eric pulled one of Hye Sung’s hand into his own, as the other reached out to wipe off the tears that he didn’t even realize were flowing.

Hye Sung forced a laugh as he wriggled his hand from Eric’s and covered his face with it.  He had wanted so much to believe that Eric and the rest of the members were okay with who he really was that he forgot about how they reacted the first time they heard of it, but the video had reminded him of it.  “I’m sorry.”

“Did I not tell you before to stop saying that?”  Eric’s voice was stern, compared to the gentleness in his hands as they took Hye Sung’s.  “This is not something you should be sorry for.”

Hye Sung knew Eric was right.  However, the insecurities that were latching on to him were starting to overrule his mind.  “But because of me, all our hard work…it’s gone.  I’m not even sure if the rest would still be willing to work with me after all this…or if you—“

“How can you even think that?  I’ll kill anyone in our team who backs out just because of this—even you.  Even me!”

Eric’s ridiculous outburst made Hye Sung chuckle, and soon, both of them were once again grinning at each other.

“! When did I become such a crybaby?!”  Hye Sung muttered in between muffled sniffs, as he wiped the dry remnants of tears off his face.  He can’t believe that he had almost allowed his insecurities to once again get the better of him, if not for Eric and his silliness.  It suddenly occurred to Hye Sung how Eric was always there whenever he had something going on, and he had always known what to say or do to make him feel better.  Simply being with Eric made it easy to believe that everything will be okay—although his own feelings might be something the leader can’t do anything about.

He looked at Eric, who was busy fussing over his hair.  He was so close that Hye Sung could almost feel his breath on his skin, and as his gaze shifted to Eric’s slightly parted lips, he couldn’t help but feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. “I must look like a mess right now.” 

 “No, you don’t.”  Eric gently responded and Hye Sung was about to react with a round of sarcasm to hide his growing awareness of Eric’s nearness, when Eric’s next words rendered him speechless.

As Eric moved to fix his fringe, he murmured “You look perfect.  You’re perfect.”

A/N:

Waaaaaah!~~~

Sorry for making Hye Sung cry so much in this chapter, but I needed to get that out before I can move the story forward. lol

And there's a shinhwa cameo!hahaha  

To be honest, I initially intended on writing dongwan's part for minwoo, but I realized minwoo wouldn't be the type to go on and on like that. He would remain to be mr. cool guy, while dongwan would be the one to freak out (just look at how he reacts when he can't find his bag!hahaha)

Once again ,thanks to all who subscribed, voted up, and commented on my story. I am honestly not good with long fanfics, as I tend to loose interest very fast (ADHD, anyone?hahaha) but I'm able to keep this story running (and updated!lol) because of all the love I received from you guys! Sarranghaeyo yeorobun!!! <3 <3 <3