Chapter 8

Timeline: 12th of September 2012

"Hurry! Our plane's in another two hours. We can't miss it. That's the only plane flying to France for today," Lay hurried the other two taller than ordinary boys who were walking so casually as if the whole world revolves around them.

"It won't fly off without us. Stop worrying, Lay," Kris tried assuring the shortest male among them.

"It won't wait for us, you know! We're not VIPs or the crippled," Lay protested, his hands on his hips. Tao chuckled beside his Daddy as they hurried their steps. His Papa was trying to act intimidating but he was failing, what with his lips twitching badly in the upwards direction.

"Papa, we can easily catch up with you in a second," Tao teased his Papa. His Papa responded with a glare before turning away from the two of them with his head held high.

"I'm not that short! Sure, you two have longer limbs but I'm not exactly that short. I have the average height of all males in South Korea. You two are just gigantic. And I do not, I repeat, do not have trouble walking if I were to follow behind you two." He huffed and walked further away from them.

Tao and Kris sniggered behind Lay before walking alongside with the shorter male, each on one side.

Waiting for the airplane to land and get evacuated, the three decided to stroll about, looking at stuff sold in the nearby shops.

"Things at the airport seem more expensive," Tao commented as he looked at the price tags.

"Of course. They're going to your wallet dry like a vampire off human blood. Those tourists won't know anything about it. Nobody's going to tell them anyway."

"Well, only certain items were cheaper here," Lay added to Kris' statement.

When the arrival of their airplane was announced, they hurried to the gate to wait for their turn to get in.

Boarding the aeroplane, Tao began to tremble with excitement. This was his first time on a, well, a bit old-fashioned airplane. In his time, airplanes could fly twice as faster than in year 2012 and also, more cool-looking. As in, they were not as dull a colour as the airplane he was boarding right at the moment. Don't get him wrong. He like old-fashioned stuff too but modern-looking ones were more attractive to his eyes.

Lay caught his hand and he quickly grabbed his Daddy's too. Some people just could not wait for their turn. They squeeze in anywhere they like and cut queues.

His Papa would not want them to be separated even if it was just for a while until they reach their assigned seats. By the way, he was thankful towards his Uncle Xiumin for booking three seats together in a line. That way, flying to Europe with his parents by his side would be so much better and so much fun compared to sitting beside random strangers.

Tao was not complaining that Lay had led them towards their seats, still hand in hand. He felt warm and bubbly inside as if he was going to burst into bubbles like in the story of the little Mermaid. It was an amazing feeling to have both his parents' hands in his, one smaller than his and the other bigger. How the three of them fit together nicely. But Tao would not want to get too attached to them or he would never leave when it was his time to return.

Sure, they said that they would have him if he decided to stay back but as he said, Tao Number One and Number Two cannot coexist. Either one must go. So of course, Tao decided that he himself must do so because the future Tao had so much waiting for him to see and his Papa would get to experience lots of things ranging from changing baby diapers to trying to handle emotional teenagers. He wondered if what second Tao experience in the future would reach him in some way or another. Maybe once he returns to his own time, he would forget everything before and get new lovely memories.

But that was just wishful thinking in his part.

Looking up to see both of his parents bickering childishly over who should take the seat beside the window, Tao settled their problem for them. He slipped into the seat next to the window and smiled beautifully. At first, they just gaped at him like some goldfish but his one-billion-won-worth smile won over their hearts.

Sighing dejectedly while burying his hand into his already messy hair, his Papa took the seat beside him and Daddy Kris sat in between the aisle and Papa Lay.

"How long does it take to fly from South Korea to France?" Tao questioned casually.

"Twelve hours, give or take," Kris answered while taking out a book from his backpack.

"I'm going to sleep. Wake me up for lunch," Lay announced as he pulled a blanket and laid it on his lap.

In a few minutes, Lay was snoring quietly and quite cutely, might Kris added. His head was dangerously falling towards his shoulder so Tao gave a little nudge and adjusted Lay's sleeping position till Lay's head was on his Daddy's shoulder.

Kris watched Tao carefully throughout the whole process, his book laid untouched.

"You don't seem to mind us getting too close. Don't you worry that I might take your Papa away from you? You might not get born, you know?"

Tao shrugged as if he did not care. Truthfully, he did. He just wished they would marry already or something.

"Your uality is still ambiguous and even if you did, my Papa would still one day meet my mother and he might just gets swept out of your hands."

Way to go, Tao, for placing that dark look on his Daddy's face. It was a bit scary but what was the fun in it if he could not tease his father.

And there was the fact that he voiced out his Daddy's uality. That would give him a lot to think about. His Papa had suspected that his Daddy was perhaps biual but he was not entirely sure about that so here, Tao was giving his Daddy some homework to wonder about.

The rest of the flight was awkwardly silent until the stewardess pushed a cart beside Kris and asked what they would like for lunch. She was a pretty lady and quite tall but she was older than he, that much Tao could tell. And she was terribly smitten with his Daddy. Too bad. He was taken by the one and only, Papa Lay. And they would be so much in love that they would be inseparable.

Tao shook his Papa lightly on the shoulder while his Daddy chose some simple lunch which consist of chicken, fries, salad and orange juice.

His Papa woke with a yawn and thanked the stewardess with a dimpled smile. She blushed hotly and then remembered suddenly that she had others to serve as well.

So long. You won't stand a chance, Lady. Tao snickered at his thoughts.

The three of them tucked into their food and the youngest of them started picking at the tomatoes. Eww... He hated them with a passion. Something about tomatoes screamed Yucky to him. Okay, Panda Tao loves all sorts of food except tomatoes and lady fingers. They were disgusting and his first time tasting them also marked his last. He parted the tomato slices from the rest of his lunch.

"Aren't you eating those?" Lay pointed to his red juicy (and gross-looking) tomato slices and he shook his head violently.

Lay chuckled, poking the tomatoes with his fork and brought them to his lips.

His Daddy watched his Papa swallow the tomato scandalously as if it was a crime to eat those with a blissful expression.

"You remind me of someone here who doesn't like tomatoes too."

Kris looked back to his plate and cursed in every language he knew. There sat two pieces of tomato slices innocently, trying to tempt him to eat them. Of course, they were losing badly.

Lay took Kris' tomatoes and ate them too as if they were much better-tasting then the chicken.

Finally, they cleared away their plates and lounged in their own seats.

Lay borrowed Tao his mp3 player and his son hummed along to the song played with an adorable expression, enjoying the soft music playing in his ears. He looked to his left and noticed Kris almost dozing off while reading his novel.

He took out his Galaxy Note and plugged in his earphone to listen to some sad songs. He was in the mood for something touching. Watching the clouds rolled by through the window, he tucked his hair behind his ear and listened contentedly.

About twelve hours later, the airplane landed safely at the Charles De Gaulle international airport at around six in the morning. In Seoul, it should be around ten at night. Tao wondered if they were going to get jet-lagged.

They took a taxi to the hotel Xiumin have booked for them and Tao staked a claim over the bed closest to the window once they had checked in.

"We're going to go apartment hunting later and see if we could get an apartment with cheap rental fees," Kris said and Lay placed his luggage next to the extra bed placed in between the two original twin beds. He did not seem to mind the state of it. Tao felt guilty that he had not chosen that bed and given his Papa the better one. But he wanted his Papa to be near his Daddy.

He was hoping that one of them would roll into the other's bed. It would be so funny to watch them wake up in that weird position.

"Going to sleep a little bit more," Kris mumbled, falling back into the soft bed beside the closet. He slept then, like a child, except for the fact that one of his long legs was sticking out of the bed.

Watching Kris sleep like a log, both Papa and Son decided to take a little nap too. And so, they drifted into Wonderland in just a few minutes.

To be continued...

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It's a lil' shorter than usual. Sorry. 

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