"Chen." Kris reached the pub and found a familiar figure drinking away. He sighed and trudged over, ignoring the flirtatious looks the other girls in the pub were shooting him.

Chen looked up at his hyung, his eyes bloodshot and tear stained. Kris raised his brows. *Chen's crying?*

"Hyung." Chen faked a smile but it turned out to be awfully bitter. He raised his hand to call a glass of alcohol for Kris and the hyung eyed the many empty glasses on Chen's table. He frowned.

"How long have you been drinking, Chen?" Kris's face contorted in disgust. The EXO-M boys had one thing in common and that was not liking alcohol addiction. They could handle it of course, but they didn't like what alcohol did to people.

And perhaps partly to what Xiumin said about Tao being too young for all this hence the hyungs too cut back on the alcohol.

Which was why for Kris to see Chen drinking away wildly and immersing himself in the thrill alcohol brought to hide the pain he was feeling, it was the first time. And Kris really didn't want to see it again.

Chen blinked confusedly, scratching his head for a bit. "How long...?" he laughed slightly. "Since Haejung ran away from me in the afternoon perhaps?"

Kris's eyes widened. "Are you kidding? That was in the afternoon! Now's 8:30pm!" he snapped. "Chen you know better than to drown your misery in alcohol. It's cheap. It's freaking cheap."

"And it doesn't help." Chen blurted. "It doesn't help at all." he pushed the glasses away and rested his chin on the bar. "It doesn't help hyung," Chen whimpered. "The alcohol didn't help at all."

Kris flinched. Damn why must he be the leader? He wasn't good in this sort of emotional thing. They should get Lay or Xiumin or something. Maybe even Tao would perform better.

But he was the duizhang and he needed to do something about it.

"Chen, stop drinking." Kris grabbed the cup from Chen's hands and pushed them far away so he couldn't reach them. He sighed and looked at his dongsaeng. "So? Ready to tell hyung what happened?"

Chen stared off into the distance and watched the lights on the ceiling as the colours changed frequently to the music. "She really loves him, hyung." Chen whispered. "I never imagined her to love him that much."

"I mean," Chen swallowed. "I thought it was just infatuation. I thought when Luhan was gone for long enough, she'll finally realize how stupid it was to waste her time on some robot that isn't even alive. I thought....I thought she would notice me." his voice broke.

Kris patted Chen's shoulder comfortingly. "You should never have doubted it, Luhan. Can't you see how in love those two were together?" he asked. "I never once underestimated the magnitude of their feelings."

Chen let out a whimper. "She said that today. She said she could understand why I called the RB company up to tell on them. She could understand that I was trying to protect her." he mumbled. "But she couldn't accept how I underestimated what she and Luhan hyung had together. Those were her words."

Chen turned to look at Kris. "Did I really?"

Kris nodded. "I think you did." he admitted. "I mean, Luhan always seemed interested in Haejung. I don't know whether it was because he was programmed to only look at her, but it really seemed that way to me. He didn't look at any other girl besides Haejung and he really did cared for her. Everything he did, every action every step, they centred around her. They were done for her. If he was a human, I would say he was living for her. That was how much he loved her."

"And Haejung," Kris sighed. "Maybe it's because I'm not as talkative as you guys and I don't join you guys when you guys fooled around in games and jokes, I tended to notice people and things around me better than others."

"Did you even see how Haejung looked at Luhan hyung?" Kris asked. "In the beginning I could tell she was a little annoyed with his always cheerful character. But then there came the acceptance, the occasional amusement. And soon, the glimmer of affection. Have you noticed how her eyes would search for Luhan in a crowd? How her face would light up when he appeared?"

Chen swallowed. She did? He watched Haejung for a long time, he noted the glimmers in her eyes and her sparkling smiles. But perhaps he focused so much on her that he failed to recognize that those smiles were there because of Luhan?

"He may be a robot, Chen." Kris finished. "But you cannot deny that Haejung loves him. And he loves her, as much as his robot heart allows him to."

There was a period of silence after this and Chen thought about what Kris said. He thought about his unrequited love and his frustration to this matter. Why couldn't Haejung just forget Luhan?

But then again, why should he hang on to this love of his when it clearly wasn't working out? Why should she be the one learning to give up instead of him?

"Hyung, I think Luhan hyung may not be a robot." Chen finally blurted.

Kris blinked. "Huh?" he raised a brow. "Yeah I know he doesn't look and act like one but according to the website-"

"No." Chen shook his head. "Haejung told me that Luhan fell sick several days ago. He caught the cold and fever from Haejung and he fell sick together with her. Robots can't fall sick."

Kris nodded, frowning. "True."

"And another thing," Chen continued. "Remember Haejung told us she went to the RB company and found that the Dr Yang person had already erased all memories of her?"

Kris nodded. "Well, I went to the company again after that." Chen admitted. "And I saw Luhan. He was being kept in this cell and he...he was crying and shouting and yelling and screaming." he flinched. "I can't even explain the pain and anguish I heard in his voice. And you know what? He was shouting for Jungie."

Kris's eyes widened. "That means..." Chen nodded. "He didn't forget. The Dr Yang guy told the scientist to feed Luhan a few more of those memory cleaning pills or something and apparently it didn't work. If Luhan was a database, pressing delete will erase everything. But if he was human, losing your memories in a car crash doesn't mean they're forever lost. You can find them back again."

"What you're saying is that Luhan might be a human?" Kris gasped.

Chen bit his lip. "What I'm saying is this. I believe in science and technology but I don't believe science is able to mimick the human movements and thoughts so flawlessly till a robot like Luhan is created. If such a feat was true, shouldn't there be tons of news about it?" he asked.

"I'm not exactly sure if Luhan hyung is a really a human though." Chen admitted. "There are evidences that he isn't. But he isn't exactly robot either. He's something like an in-between. And I think Haejung's right. The RB company might be hiding things from us."

Kris had almost jumped out of his seat from the news. "Gosh Chen why didn't you say so earlier?" he frowned. "Have you told Haejung? She deserves to know!"

Chen gulped. "I was contemplating on whether to tell her. I thought maybe if she forgot about Luhan hyung I wouldn't need to tell her anything. But....I guess it doesn't matter what I do. She loves him. You're right, she deserves to know."

Kris nodded, glad that Chen had thought it out properly. "Good. Then we'll tell them tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Chen sighed, grabbing his glass of alcohol and gulping it down again. Talking made him more awake than ever and the pain returned as well.

Kris sighed and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry Chen. Your time for love will come. It's just not now."

"Wait what you're saying is that Luhan remembers me?" Haejung's eyes lit up.

Chen nodded. "Yes. I heard him screaming for you." he told her. "He was locked up in the cell and he kept screaming for Jungie. He remembers, Haejung."

Haejung and the EXO-M boys stared blankly into space as they digested what they just heard. Haejung hugged Luhan's baseball jacket that she had carried around everywhere she went. "He's got more. Listen." Kris told them.

Chen nodded and explained to them his theory of Luhan not being fully human and not being fully robot. They listened attentively, not even Xiumin butting in for a quirky comment or of the likes.

"So you're saying you agree Luhan might not exactly be a robot?" Haejung beamed brightly. Chen was suddenly relieved he decided to tell her. Looking at her smile in that way right then made up for all the pain he had to endure.

"Yes. That's what I think." Chen nodded.

"YES I KNEW IT!" Haejung pumped her fists in the air. "How can Luhan be fake? I mean, I know. I can feel it. We've got to get him back!"

"But how?" Tao asked, scratching his head. "How can we prove that Luhan hyung isn't a robot? And besides we don't exactly know what he is. He's definitely not human either."

"Yeah, he's too clever for words, he's strong, he doesn't sleep much, and Haejung said she heard the buzzing sound where his heart was supposed to be heard." Lay agreed.

Kris looked at them. "But you all agree that something is wrong with the RB company? That they're hiding things from us?"

"YES." they all chorused.

"Good." Xiumin grinned. "Now all we have to do is to brainstorm ideas on how to find out about the truth again. I'll search the internet." he grabbed his phone from his bag.

"Yeah, go to the RB website and let's read the rules and stuff again. Maybe we missed something." Tao shuffled closer to take a look.

Chen turned to look at Haejung and she was smiling so so so brightly at him. "Thank you, Chen." she murmured, hugging the jacket.

Chen nodded, sending a small smile.

"And..sorry." she whispered.

Chen's heart gave a small lurch. A familiar lurch. It seemed he was feeling this way too frequently. He watched as she gave him one last smile and she squeezed between Xiumin and Tao to look at the RB website.

*You did the right thing, Chen. You did the right thing.*