Chapter 9

Timeline: 12th of September 2012

Tao was the first to wake up from the much needed nap. He groaned as he rubbed his eyes like a baby with his fists. Scratching his back, he turned to look to his left and regretted it instantly. Well, not fully regretting what he saw. Half of him was smirking evilly, his lips twitching upwards.

His parents were tangled together, limbs and all, with the bed sheets wrapping around them. Aren't they just adorable like that? How did both of them ended up in that position anyway? Wouldn't you like to know?

It was Kris' bed they were sharing at the moment. His Papa must have rolled into his Daddy's bed, searching for warmth in any form from the coldness of the room. Half of it was Tao's fault actually. The extra bed had thinner blankets and the three of them had forgotten to turn on the heater before going for their nap.

They continued to sleep that way for a long time, even till after Tao's bath. They must be pretty exhausted from that dreadfully long flight. Snapping his fingers, Tao suddenly got a pretty brilliant idea and praised himself for it.

He scanned around the bedroom, in search of his Papa's cell phone. There it was, lying innocently on the dressing table. He tiptoed towards it, making sure not to make any noise which might wake them from their beauty sleep.

Boy, was he lucky enough? His Papa did not lock his cell phone with any passwords or patterns. He swiped the lock screen and found the camera application on the front page. Hey, although he did not own a cell phone but his Papa secretly had one. The Red Forces took every cell phone anyone owned in his time. It was terrible.

Also, it does not take a genius to figure out how to use a cell phone. Constantly playing with it with no aid whatsoever from anybody helps you figure things out quicker and better.

Alright, now, where was he? His thoughts were always meandering off to somewhere such as LaLa Land. Is that even a place? There he goes again, mind not concentrating at the task at hand. It was a bad habit he should change. His Papa said so too.

Where was he again? Ah... He was supposed to be taking pictures and save them into the memory card. His Papa would really appreciate those photos. And his Daddy would too. Perhaps not now but in the future.

Switched on silent mode? Check. Flash mode off? Check.

Sweet. Okay, here goes nothing.

He took position, taking a silent deep breath and began clicking away like a professional. Maybe he should consider being a photographer when he returns to his own time. He likes photography a lot. You get to get out more and explore the world. Taking pictures and meeting new people of all sorts out there. All in all, a fun thing to do.

Out of the blue, the Samsung Galaxy Note he was holding rang, screaming like a banshee. It almost slipped out of his hands through his fingers.

Cursing, he switched the annoying alarm off. So much for peace and quiet.

Tao heard some grumbling and a yawn from the other two in the hotel room and turned to face them in utter shock.

Panicking, he speedily saved whatever photos he took and scurried to return the cell phone to its original place on the dressing table.

Lay was comfortable sleeping against something warm and solid instead of cold and soft. This bed sure was nice. He loved it. He cuddled closer to whatever was radiating heat and warmth to him, wanting to drift back into sleep.

He heard someone chuckle from behind him and opened one of his eyes, only to see messy blond hair and sparkly eyes, watching him with surprise clearly written on his face.

Suddenly, reality hit him like a ton of bricks. In a flash, he scrambled out of Kris' bed and into his, almost knocking into his son. Oh great, escaping from one tall guy and then running into another. Why was his world full of guys taller than him? And to add to that, he was going to live with them until his last breath on Earth. Not that he was complaining. It would be blissful to live with them. Honestly.

"I was going to wake you two. Seems like it's not needed anymore." Tao grinned from ear to ear.

Lay blushed hotly under the gaze of the one and only Kris. The silence was stretched for minutes with each of them trying to comprehend what had just happened. Well, the elder two wondering about what the other was thinking while Tao was thanking the Goddess endlessly that his parents did not manage to find out he took some of their photos in bed secretly.

Finally, Tao broke the fragile silence. "Can we have breakfast soon 'cause I'm starving." His stomach growled loudly in response, triggering the other two elder boys to laugh lightly albeit a little nervously.

"Okay. We'll get changed."

"Hurry up, Papa. I wanna have pizza," Tao whined like a six-year-old kid not getting his ice-cream.

"Pizza early in the morning?" Lay sounded really horrified at the idea. "No. It's perfectly unhealthy. We should have cereal or eggs and bacons."

Kris entered the bathroom and locked it behind him, leaving the pair of boys to decide where and what they should be eating. Remembering the event of a few minutes ago, his ears turned a little red. It was nice to have Lay close to him. Really close. They were cuddling. Truly unbelievable. For the four years they had known each other, they had never cuddle before. The only person Kris had cuddled with in the past was Chanyeol. And that was also when they were kids.

He wondered if Lay had cuddled with anyone before. Perhaps Tao had, with Lay? A little envious over that fact, Kris hurried his bath so that Lay could have his turn in the shower.

After all of them were ready, they decided to have their breakfast in the Pizza shop beside their hotel. Oh yes, Tao won. Lay begrudgingly agreed to let his son have his way.

They sat at the table closest to the window so that they could keep a look out for any evil Red Forces.

Flipping open the menu, Lay smiled cheekily, saying, "We should order De France."

At once, both Kris and Tao shook their heads quite vigorously.

"No way I'm eating that. The whole pizza is filled with tomato slices. I don't want that." Tao said, sticking out his tongue. Kris agreed fully, nodding his head in affirmative.

Lay giggled. He got to tease these two with tomatoes in this lifetime. Cool.

"Seafood Fantasy and Sunshine Fantasy," Kris suggested, smoothing the pages of the menu.

"I want that Sunshine Fantasy. Looks mouth-watering," Tao voiced out, almost drooling.

The waiter came by to take their orders. After that they waited patiently for their pizza to arrive.

"So, after breakfast, we should go apartment hunting? Where to start?" Kris questioned the other two.

"Cheap places. We're only going to rent for a week or two. Then, we have to be on the move again. Don't want to get anyone suspicious and all." Lay said, glancing about.

"I want to go for sight-seeing in Paris." Tao pouted cutely, hoping that his parents would give in and bring him to Paris even if it's just for an evening there.

It almost worked. Well, for Lay, that is. Kris adamantly told him no. They were not going on a vacation. They were only here to search for any information about the Tree of Life. Vacations can wait till after they have defeated the Red Forces.

Tao sulked throughout the conversation even after their pizza had arrived and Lay found it very adorable actually.

Kris took out his beloved Samsung Notebook Series 9 and connected to the Wi-Fi nearby. While taking a bite of his scrumptious Pizza, he waited for Google Chrome to load Google Map.

“Where is the best place to look for cheap apartments and least occupied by other France citizens? We need somewhere abandoned so we can train too.”

Lay leaned over to look at the map already marked in a few places with red thick dots. His breath ghosted over Kris’ arm and the taller boy almost shuddered.

Was Lay just oblivious of how he affected him or did he do it on purpose just to ?

Tao coughed loudly to get his parents’ attention.

“Uncle Kris should know better than us about these stuffs since you’re the eldest.” Tao shrugged as he happily chomped away his piece of pizza. If he were at home, he would have his fingers cleanly, not leaving any crumbs. To him, every food is like ambrosia to him. With the exception of tomatoes, of course.

It still felt peculiar to call his Daddy ‘Uncle’ when you already knew that he was your father. He could not get rid of the discomfort in his heart. Half of him was screaming to tell his Daddy about the truth already but another half stopped him from doing so. The second half had always win so far.

Swirling his soda while thinking absently, Lay heard the blond boy warning him about not spilling his drinks over his beloved Notebook. Lay rolled his eyes as he slumped back into his seat.

They had a lot of things to do and more things to think about. If only there was a single simple spell that could wipe the Red Forces off the face of the Earth, how magnificent that would be. But nothing is simple. Because if everything were that way, good things would have been hard to come by. People would enjoy life even less than before. At least, when you have challenging tasks to do, it makes you keep going till the end and it makes you stronger.

His mind strayed towards the Twelve Stones. Hopefully, the Goddess would guide them towards the right path. If they succeeded, everyone in world would get to live in peace and harmony.

And if they succeeded, he could have his family. He could have Kris and Tao in his future. That would be the most wonderful gift given to him by the Goddess ever.

To be continued...

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Chapter 9 was supposed to be about BaekYeol but I pushed it to the next because this chapter bellows to be written. So BaekYeol shippers, the next chapter is for you. Please anticipate BaekYeol moments or hints of it. ROFL.

I do enjoy HunHan, BaekYeol and KaiSoo. They're like the second, third and fourth OTPs on my list. Of course, first is dedicated forever to Kray!

So, I'm gonna enjoy writing the next chapter. LOL.

Don't worry. HunHan and KaiSoo will be coming soon.

I have a need to develop every character and their relationships so that the fiction makes sense. Well, that's what I think anyway. :)

I just love you guys so much for reading, reviewing, subscribing and voting. It makes me very very very happy! Thank you so much, my lovely readers (including the silent readers, if there's any. XD Truthfully, I've always been a silent reader too until recently).

Okay. Sorry, folks. I'm rambling too much already.

Author's note should end here. Or not...

Oh Gosh! Have you guys seen the Yahoo video about EXO-M? The whole thing just screams Kray!

Alright, I really should stop for now. Bye bye~