Hello everyone! Sorry this took so long but my editor was very busy and I was too. But she edited the rest of the story now so next week (exactly) I will post the last part to this fic! Enjoy!

Kris was getting ready for bed. He’s had an exhausting day– photoshoots, interviews, and trying to keep in touch with Luhan. He’s barely had time to at least text Luhan. But today, Luhan was upset. Upset that he left his friends. He had wanted to be treated better like Kris had wanted to, but Luhan never wanted to lose his friends. Luhan looks at his friends’ comeback videos everyday and cries. He misses being a part of that and having fun with the members. He misses every one of the members and so did Kris. But there’s one in particular that he could never forgive.

Before he could continue this thought, he heard his phone ring. He looked at the ID but there wasn’t any. All he saw was familiar numbers. He couldn’t remember whose number it was but he didn’t want to be rude to the person he might know. So, he picked up the phone and said, “Hello?” Kris was in shock with what he heard next. A gasp and then a sob. Someone was crying on the other end of the phone. But why? If he recognized the number it must be someone he knows. But who? Kris’ heart was racing with worry. He didn’t want this person to be crying.

“Hey are you okay? Why am I even asking of course you aren’t. I’m sorry. I don’t have your number saved but it is familiar to me so I know it’s someone I know. Please talk to me. I need to know you’re okay.” All Kris heard on the other side of the phone was sobbing, sniffling, and the rustling of tissues. What Kris heard next is what shocked him into silence.

“Kris?” It was a small voice that had an obvious crack in it and sounded hesitant. Despite the voice sounding like this, Kris knew exactly who it was on the other end of the phone; it was Tao. He could never forget the voice he fell in love with, the same voice that belonged to the person who said he hated him so easily. Kris was silent. He didn’t want to talk to Tao at all. And yet he couldn’t bring himself to hang up the phone for some strange reason

“I know you’re still there, Kris. I can hear you breathing. I shouldn’t have said anything or even called you. I just wanted to hear your voice again. I’ve been so lost without you. I know I hurt you Kris. I hurt you so bad. I’m just like that stupid company. But please listen to me. I need to tell you something. It’s import-” Kris had to cut him off. He couldn’t take the shaky and cracked voice any longer.

“I don’t want to hear anything from you. You hate me. I know you do. And because of that hate I distanced myself from you. You obviously don’t want me in your life anymore. Go back to hating me like you always have.”

“Goddammit Kris would you please listen to me? You don’t have to talk to me. I won’t force you to. You just have to listen to what I’m about to say to you. I need to say it to you directly or I won’t be able to live with myself anymore.” Kris fell silent. How can Tao sound so broken when it was Kris who was broken by him? Kris gave a nod but shortly after gave himself a mental slap. ‘Tao wouldn’t know that you nodded you idiot.’ Kris was about to say something when Tao continued.

“I think by now you would’ve nodded your head so I’m going to say what I have to say now.” ‘Tao did know. Does he still remember me like that?’ “Kris, after I had my lawsuit with SM and I left EXO for good, I realized what an I was to you. I realized how horrible they were treating you. They only treated us like that, including Luhan and now even Lay. They’re treating everyone like animals who are only used for money. I realized that you were going through the same hurt I did and possibly even more since you had the surgery afterwards and because of…” Tao had drifted off here and sniffled. Kris knew exactly what Tao was going to say next. Tao cleared his throat and continued, “You were even more hurt than I was because of me. I hurt you so much and I’m so sorry. It’s just that you never told any of us what was happening. I thought you left just because you felt like it. I thought you left me without a second thought. Like I wasn’t even on your mind anymore. Especially after you left, you never called me or texted me. I felt heartbroken and said things that was stupid and in the moment. I didn’t mean any of those things. I don’t hate you. I think about you everyday and how I’ve messed up everything. I can’t seem to function properly at this point. Funny, huh?”

At this point Kris heard Tao give a short laugh that sounded all kinds of wrong. It was broken, full of sadness, and didn’t sound like the usual laugh that Kris fell in love with. Then, once again, Kris heard sobs. Tao was crying again. “Daddy?” Kris froze. Who was that? It sounded like a little girl. But Tao doesn’t have a kid as far as Kris knows. ‘Did he move on despite what he said? Typical.’

“Boxuan! What are you doing up! Look at the time. I put you to bed an hour ago.” Kris heard rustling and sniffling coming from the phone but the thing that surprised him the most is how calm Tao sounded now. It was as if all the hurt was gone and he wasn’t broken anymore. “Get back to bed Boxuan you’re supposed to be asleep. You have school tomorrow.”

“Sorry daddy. Boxuan woke up and heard daddy crying again. Is daddy okay? Boxuan wants to make daddy feel better again. He hasn’t been happy today.”

“I’m fine Boxuan it’s just grown up things that you wouldn’t understand but daddy is happy that you worry for him. But don’t worry too much, okay? I’ll be fine. Let’s get back to bed.” Kris had no idea what was going on. When did Tao have a kid? It didn’t make sense and Kris was overwhelmed by an odd pain in his chest. He didn’t know why his chest is hurting this much.

“Daddy? Boxuan can’t sleep. Can daddy tell me a story?”

“Of course I can. What story do you want to hear?”

“Boxuan wants the story about daddy’s first love. Boxuan loves that story even though it’s sad in the end.” Kris heard nothing for awhile but then a sudden sigh was heard. “If that’s what you want Boxuan.” Kris then listened to Tao tell the story of his first love which matched exactly to their story: When Tao moved to Korea to train in SM but knew very little Korean. How Tao first saw his first love and knew instantly that he liked him, possibly even loved him. Their adventures together in the teaching of Korean to Tao and how Tao slowly fell in love even harder with this man as the days went by. Tao described every little thing he loved about this man, even how this man seemed cold but deep down he was the sweetest thing. Then, Tao had talked about the amusement park where Kris had first told Tao that he loved him.

“The amusement park I took you to today? It was there that he first told me he loved me and kissed me, at the top of the ferris wheel. At the time, I knew nothing but him, Boxuan. Everything was beautiful and I never felt better than I did then.”

“Daddy must’ve really loved this man. Daddy looks happy when he talks about him. Every time daddy tells this story Boxuan hears a new thing that daddy loved about him.”

“Is that so? I thought I always said everything. But I guess I remember new things to tell you.” Another laugh, but this time, it sounded happy with a hint of sadness mixed in. Kris never knew how much Tao had loved him. He never knew every little thing Tao had loved about him. But once Tao talked about Kris’ departing from the group and what Tao had said, Tao became audibly upset and somber. When he finally finished his story, Boxuan spoke up.

“Boxuan still thinks daddy should talk to the man again. Daddy really loves the man. Boxuan doesn’t think daddy should let the man not talk to him anymore. The man must love daddy too.”

“I don’t know about that Boxuan. He really doesn’t want to talk to me anymore. I doubt he still loves me. Go to sleep now Boxuan. I love you.”

“I love you too daddy. Feel better, okay?”

“Don’t worry about me. Worry about how you’re going to wake up tomorrow.” With that Kris heard a kissing sound and then the closing of a door. “You’re still on the phone? I expected you to hang up since you didn’t want to talk.”

“Oh. Well I’m still here. Who’s the kid?”

“Boxuan? She’s mine.”

“Well obviously. Who else does she belong to?” Kris doesn’t know why his chest feels like it’ll break at any moment or why he’s asking this question because he couldn’t care less but the words are coming out without his control.

“No one. I adopted her. Like I said, I can’t function properly so ChenChen suggested I adopt a kid. He said getting a kid might take my mind off of things but when I’m by myself it doesn’t work too well.” Kris didn’t know what to say. He didn’t understand why he had to ask that question or why it felt like a weight was lifted off of him once Tao said that he had adopted Boxuan. But Kris could think of nothing but how damaged Tao sounded now. Tao easily hid how hurt he is from Boxuan, as if he did it everyday.

“You sound happy with her though. She must give you motivation at  least.”

“She did at first. I wanted to do nothing but make her happy but when it’s just me, there’s too much pain. It overwhelms what she does to me. Every time I think of happy times I can do nothing but remember the bad parts of it too. It’s just hard when everything seems likes its been doing nothing but spiral down, you know?”

“Yeah I guess so. It could get hard when you have no one.” Kris didn’t know what else to say. With ignoring Tao, he also learned how to live without him, but Tao didn’t seem like he had learned anything. There was a long silence before Kris continued, “How often do you tell her our story?”

“Almost everyday. She loves hearing it every time. I guess that’s also why I can’t seem to let go of anything because I’m constantly reminded of us and what we had. Which is why I broke down in the amusement park.”

“Broke down? What are you talking about?”

“I lost it in the amusement park. I saw the ferris wheel and I couldn’t handle it, so I started crying.”

“Zitao…” Kris never knew. He never knew how broken Tao really was. He never knew that in reality, Tao didn’t hate him and wasn’t faking anything. He suddenly heard more tears coming from the phone and panic struck Kris at once, “Zitao? What happened? Why are you crying now? Did I say something wrong?”

“No there wasn’t anything you said that was wrong. It’s just that…” more sniffling resounded from the phone keeping Kris in a panicked state, “That was the first time you said my name this entire time. It wasn’t just Tao either. It was Zitao. I just… I’m really happy you can at least say my name now.” Kris hadn’t even realized it before but yes, this was the first time he said Tao’s name not just in their conversation, but ever since he left EXO. This was the first time he said his name and it felt right. It felt normal. Like nothing ever happened between them. And this is when Kris finally came to a conclusion about himself: he still cares for Tao.

“Anyway Kris, I’ll leave you alone from now on. I said what I had to say. You don’t have to deal with me anymore. From now on, you won’t have to hear me or talk to me. Goodbye, Yifan.”

“Zitao wait!” He waited for a response but so much time had gone by Kris had thought he missed his chance.

“What is it?” Kris still had his chance. He wouldn’t have felt panicked over Tao crying if he didn’t care for him. And he wouldn’t have felt that weight on him when he heard Boxuan if he didn’t still love Tao.

“I need you to listen to me carefully. Write this down somewhere.” Kris heard hurried steps and rustling of paper until he heard nothing, taking that as a cue to keep talking. “I want you to go to this park tomorrow with Boxuan. I’m going to give you the address and you have to be at the fountain there, okay? And make sure no one follows you.”

“Okay. Tell me the address.” Kris had a new found fire in his heart, one he didn’t know he needed before.

And there it ends! This new found fire Kris has, what is it making him do? Cliffhangers make me happy when it's not happening to me hehe. Anywho thank you once again to my Unnie @bangtanekos on instagram and @nani-bot on both instagram and tumblr. Btw her instagram is nothing but memes so if you're a meme lover you should definitely take a look at it! Thank you to you guys too your comments make me really happy! I promise 100% the next part will go up next week exactly! Anywho it is once again 3 in the morning so I have to sleep. Have fun wondering what the actual hell is going to happen! ^.^ <3