Everyone was taken completely by surprised by Jonghyun. He recovered from his bite quickly. Kibum tried to cling to the hope that Jonghyun wouldn't get sick, but he knew better. Even Jinki said he would croak at some point. Every night Minho woke up with nightmares about the night Taemin lost his mind, Kibum wanted to comfort him but he didn't know how. Jinki woke up screaming when he remembered his eye was gone, but Jonghyun was all hunky dory. He didn't shed a single tear for Taemin, or himself for that matter. He was known for being the rock of the group when Jinki was damaged. Jinki was very damaged at that point, he couldn't stay focused on anything. He constantly played with his eye, or lack there of. He would stick his fingers underneath the bandages and into his eye socket, to do what Kibum didn't know. All Kibum could do was pull his hand away and yell at him. Jinki never responded, he just looked anywhere but at Kibum. Kibum also had nightmares, and could remember every detail of that night. From the moment Taemin had thrown up onstage to when he took his tragic end. Taemin had become so "insane" that he started attacking everyone. The security guards tried to reason with him but when they found out he wouldn't listen they called the police. About thirty police officers showed up and surrounded Taemin. They shot him probably more than forty times. They kept shooting him until he fell on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Not once did any one of them aim for his head. Taemin didn't die when they shot him, he just kept getting up and snarling at them. The officers didn't know what to do until Jinki grabbed one of their guns and put a bullet in between Taemin's beautiful brown eyes.
Kibum couldn't grasp what was happening until he saw Taemin's brain splatter on the floor and the officers behind him. The youngest member's eyes rolled back in his head and his knees buckled. The thud of his bleeding skull hitting the ground was horrific. Kibum could still hear it echo in his ears. Jinki sat wallowing in guilt for about a week and then became aware of the fact that Jonghyun had not died yet. Kibum noticed Jonghyun didn't get sick like Taemin did, nor did he lose his healthy tan skin. His eyes were clear of any weariness and sorrow, he told the others that at least Taemin wasn't sick anymore, at least he wasn't suffering. Minho seemed to be wound tighter every time Jonghyun gave this speech. One day when Jonghyun started his speech about how Taemin was in a better place, Minho snapped.
"You guys know that Taemin's in a better place now, at least he's not hurting any-"
"JUST SHUT UP!" Minho yelled, he stood and walked up to Jonghyun, who looked terrified.
"W-Why?" Jonghyun stuttered and Minho's nostrils flared. Minho wrapped his fingers slowly around Jonghyun's neck, squeezing tightly. With the look in Minho's eyes he probably would've killed Jonghyun if Kibum hadn't been there. But it took Kibum a while to get Minho off of Jonghyun, considering Minho was stronger than him. When he separated the two, Jonghyun was panting and gasping for air, while Minho was crying. They were lucky Jinki wasn't home. Jinki would've beaten Minho to a pulp. Jinki had developed this habit since Taemin died. He liked to sleep around, get wasted and then come home and beat the shit out of whoever was in front of him. He even beat Jonghyun. Kibum was tired of it all, he didn't like how Minho cried all day, he didn't like how Jonghyun acted like nothing happened, he didn't like how he was constantly beaten by Jinki. He didn't like it but he didn't like the thought of leaving either.
Jonghyun went three weeks without feeling sick. The fourth week was like hell, it was like it all came at once. Jonghyun threw his guts up all day and night for about four days and then all the sudden stopped. Kibum was absolutely terrified when he saw Jonghyun, his cheeks were hollow and his teeth had started to fall out. Every day he would walk into the living room and show Jinki his bloody teeth in his hand, he kept them in a box and told the other three he wanted them to keep them. For what reason Kibum didn't know. After Jonghyun had lost a good amount of teeth, his hair began to fall out as well. His body grew weaker by the minute, he said he could feel his heart stop when he dozed at night. He refused to sleep because he would either choke on the blood or teeth or perhaps just die. The skinnier he got the harder it was for Kibum to look at him. Kibum didn't want to help him bathe, he didn't want to feed him chicken broth, but he was the only one who would. After about a week of pain Kibum gave in and forced Jinki to take Jonghyun to the hospital. Jinki complied almost immediately but once Jonghyun found out he protested fiercely. Minho seemed to not care one way or the other. Jonghyun was so frail that he couldn't walk, Kibum had to carry him to Jinki's car and into the hospital. Kibum could sense that Jonghyun's pride had taken a serious blow because Jonghyun didn't want any sort of care at all. He said he was fine but clearly he was not. The doctors told Jinki and the others that there was nothing they could do and to just take him home to be comfortable. They barely even looked at him out of fear that they would catch whatever he had. Kibum was seething in anger by the time they had gotten home. He was very unprepared for the words that left Jonghyun's lips that night.
"Bummie, would you lay with me tonight?" Jonghyun asked and Kibum's heart cried at the sound of Jonghyun's voice.
"Okay, if I fall asleep wake me up." Kibum said and lay down in Jonghyun's bed with him.
"Kibum can you sing for me?" Jonghyun asked taking Kibum completely by surprise.
"You know I'm not very good at it, I'm sure Jinki would sing for you." Kibum offered but stopped when he heard Jonghyun's audible sigh.
"I want to hear your voice...before I die." Jonghyun whispered and Kibum almost started crying but he knew he couldn't. he took Jonghyun's boney hand and started singing a song that Jonghyun had wrote for him a long time ago.
"Please be gentle when you kill me Bummie." Jonghyun said and Kibum choked, he stopped singing and began to sob.
"Jonghyun I'm sorry..." he cried and Jonghyun didn't respond. Kibum looked up and Jonghyun had closed his eyes and had a smile on his face. Kibum saw his chest was unmoving and screamed for Jinki.
