I heard everything. I didn’t want to hear it, but hear it I did.
   I looked around after I won the match – as well as twenty thousand won – just in time to see Junsu get up from our table. A smirk spread across my face and I decided to follow him, for no apparent reason. I grabbed my shirt off the counter, taking my winnings and pushing past everyone, growling internally at how slow people weremoving.
   The hallway that led to the bathroom was a lot quieter.
   And then I heard everything. I heard about Rain hyung leaving JYP, and his ‘relations’ with Jaebum hyung. I frowned, it must have been so hard for Su to hear those words.
   When I could no longer hear anything, I put my ear to the door, shoeing away some guy that tried to come up to use the bathroom. He fussed about it and I turned to him, mouthing my words. “Get the hell away.” He backed off when he saw how serious I was.
   I put my ear back to the door, trying to hear something . . . anything. But I couldn’t.
   Then itdawned on me. What if Junsu hyung was crying? Or . . . or worse? I couldn’t take it, so I pushed the door open and blinked when I saw Jaebum standing by the sink, looking just as disgusted as ever at Junsu.
   “Yah!”  I shouted at the oldest. “What did you say to him?!” I barely noticed Junsu look at me, I was focused on Jay.
   Jaebum didn’t look at me, which made me angrier. I was about to grab him and shake him but he finally responded. “Nothing he wouldn’t have eventually found out anyway.”
   I snorted. “Babo!” I felt a growl low in my chest. “You’re heartless.” He was. He had to be in order to do that to Junsu hyung. In order to say those things and make him frown the way he was. He had to be completely heartless.
   “I think I’m merciful,” Jay said with an eye roll. “I didn’t prolong his pain.”
   That was it.
   I closed the distance between us, raising my fist before I even thought about what I was doing. My knuckles collided with his jaw and sent him falling backwards. I ignored the pain in my hand and grabbed Junsu’s wrist, pulling him away from that horrible place with that horrible person.
   We had to get out of there. I could see it in Junsu’s face. He needed to be far away from this, far away from pain that he was surely feeling.
   “Hyung! Dongsaeng!” I heard Taec call out from the dance floor. Ugh, just leave me alone hyung. I didn’t even look at him, I just tightened my grip on Junsu’s wrist and pulled him outside.
   I let go when we got to the street and looked around, trying not to kick the nearest thing. I glanced at him. “Junsu Hyung,” He looked at me when I spoke. “I’m sorry . . . taking you out was a bad idea.” I frowned.
      He didn’t reply. He just looked away and bit his lip. It made me sad, seeing him like this, but I knew I couldn’t do anything. The damage was done and could only be repaired by someone that was not me. I sighed, pulling out my phone and calling for a cab.
   I looked downJunsu, he was sitting on the curb with his face in his hands. I walked up to him, knowing there wasn’t anything I could say. Junsu wasn’t the type that could feel better simply by someone’s encouraging words. He thought about things a lot. Too much, in fact.
   With a deep sigh, I sat next to him. What should I do?I chewed on my lip, worrying. I always worried . . . about him. Why did I always worry? I rolled my eyes, hoping he didn’t see me.
   Unexpectedly, he laid his head on my shoulder.
   I couldn’t help but smile when I felt how warm he was. It was nice.
   STOPPIT! I yelled to myself in my head. Only idiots thought things like that about people who were in ‘relationships’. And I definitely wasn’t an idiot.
   Sure felt like I was though.
   “Chansung-ah.” I almost didn’t even hear him whisper.
   “Hmm?” I responded, smiling.
   “Thank you for saving me,” He paused when his voice cracked. “You’re a good maknae.”
   Yeah. That sounded about right.
   I was Chansung. The good maknae. I would forever be nothing more. “Of course, hyung.” I closed my eyes and focused on not sounded disappointed.
   “How’s your hand?” I felt his warm fingers touch the back of my hand and immediately opened my eyes, looking down at him. “That looks like it hurts.” He said, pouting.
   He had a cute pout.
   “Not at all,” I lied expertly, smile big on my face. “I’m too buzzed to feel anything.”I laughed at how stupid I was for lying to him about something so little.
   He stared at me for a moment, narrowing his eyes the way he always did when I spoke. “I don’t believe you.”
   I smirked. Like me, Junsuwas smarter than people realized. “Yeah?” I shrugged. “Oh hey, the cab’s here!” I stood and held my hand out to him, smiling as his fingers wrapped around mine and I pulled him up.
   “You’ll have to let me put a band-aid on your hand when we get home.” He mumbled as he eyelids dropped a little.
   He was cute when he was tired too.
   I chuckled. “Whatever you want, hyung.” I opened the cab door, letting him get in before sliding in after. I told the driver the address and sat back.
   The ride was quiet.
   Not that I minded much. Silence never bothered me. Well, awkward silence did, but this silence wasn’t like that. This was more like the quiet time right after a horrible storm. Everything was destroyed, but still . . . it was peaceful. I looked over at Junsu, his head hung forward as he nodded off. I took advantage of this and carefully pulled him closer just a little, smirking when his head rested comfortably on my shoulder.
   Even in his sleep, he looked broken . . . tired. I frowned. Why, hyung? Why do you let yourself hurt like that? I thought, already knowing the answer.
   The only way someone could be so broken up over another person is if they loved them. Junsu loved the man that was not me.
   I was better than him. I knew that from the first time I met him, when JYP hyung introduced us. And when he showed up at our dorm that first time and walked right inside. He was better looking. He was already famous. He had more money. But I saw through the smile that fooled everyone else and knew I was better than him.
   But hyung liked him, therefore, I tried to like him too.
   I sighed, mumbling. “He’s not even that cool.” My voice was little more than a faint whisper.
   “Chansung?” I nearly choked when I heard his soft voice. Had he heard me speak? He didn’t wait for me to respond before he nestled his face into my shoulder. “You heard everything, didn’t you?”
   With a frown and a sigh, I nodded. “. . . Ne.”
   The car stopped in front of our building. I paid the man and got out the car, pulling Junsu with me. Now that we were in the light I could see his face more clearly than in the dark cab. The corners of his eyes glistened, filling with tears that were ready to fall.
   He pulled his arm away from me and walked inside our building, keeping his face hidden.
   I frowned, following close behind him as he made his way to the stairs. Why does he always take the stairs when the elevator is right there?I wrinkled my nose, taking each step slowly, like him.
   We were one floor away from ours when he stumbled backwards.
   “Hyung?!” I caught him by his shoulders, wrapping one arm around him and gripping the handrail to make sure we bothdidn’t fall. “Hyung are you okay?” I murmured, easing him down on the top stair and examining him.
   He clutched my shirt and curled against my side.
   “. . . Hyung?” I whispered. The only response I got was a sob.
   He was crying – sobbing – over the man that was not me.
   “Uljima, hyung . . . please don’t cry.” I whispered to him, holding him close to me.
   “Why not?” He choked out, voice broken and hoarse.
   I dared not say what I thought, no . . . that would be tooreckless of me. Instead I bit back my response and stood up, pulling Junsu into my arms and lifting him up. Damn, he’s heavier than he looks. I ignored the strain on my muscles and carried him up to our floor, stopping when I got to the front door and staring at it like it was evil. .
   “J-Junsu hyung,” I whispered to him. “I need you to stand up for a moment, so I can open the door.”
   He nodded, so I gently let him down and reached into my pocket.
   I blinked when he pushed past me once the door was unlocked, walking into the dorm. I followed him down the hallway. “Do you need anything?” I asked quietly, unsure exactly what to do. He just walked straight to his room and shut the door, leaving me in the hallway.
   As always, he didn’t even see me.
   I closed my eyes, letting my head rest against the door. “Kim Junsu . . . you evil man.”
   The door opened after a few minutes and I looked up.
   Junsu had changed his clothes and was now wearing a pair of flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt. His eyes were dry. “Thanks for bringing me home . . .” He smiled at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
   I blinked at him.
   He then took my wrist and pulled me to the bathroom. “C’mere, dongsaeng.” He led me to the bathroom, flicking the light on and blinding me as he pushed me to sit down on the toilet. “Sit right there for a moment.” He opened the cabinet, pulling out a box of band-aids and leaning against the sink counter. “Give me your hand,” He said impatiently.
   I raised an eyebrow, slowly holding my hand up.
   “Yah! Are you deaf or something?” I always chuckled when he yelled at me, it was comical. He grabbed my hand and laid it in his lap, carefully peeling apart band-aid after band-aid as he placed them over the light red marks on my knuckles. “You punch too hard.” He smirked.
   “I could have hit him so much harder.” I snorted, flinching when he touched a sore spot on my knuckles.
   “It’s good that you didn’t, though . . . It’ll probably be awkward, being around Jaebum for a while.” He mumbled, looking down.
   “I don’t care about Jaebum.”
   He rolled his eyes at me, looking away. “You say that now, but wait until the drama starts.”
   “I don’t care about drama.” I stared at him, begging him with my eyes to look at me . . . to see me.
   But he closed his eyes and then stood up, walking out of the room.
   Shamefully, I followed him like a dog. “Hyung,” I braced my arm against the frame of his bedroom door.
   “Thank you for taking me home. Goodnight Chansung.” He smiled another lying smile at me and then closed his door, leaving me in the hallway yet again.
   He didn’t come out for three days.
 

To be continued . . .