“Where is it,” Yixing muttered under his breath as his hands rummaged the shelf of tapes he had so neatly packed just the day before and here he was, messing it all up again for that one tape. The audition tape of What Is Love that he had borrowed previously sat on top of his backpack while he tried to look for a second audition tape but an hour of searching had passed and no tape surfaced.

How could it be that there was only one audition tape? Why wasn’t Kris in it? Somehow, it felt like Kris’s audition clip could expose one of the many secrets the other wasn’t telling him. But no, as hard as Yixing tried to find the tape, it just was not there.

Either someone was hiding it or Kris never auditioned.  

Chanyeol’s audition clip replayed over and over in his mind as Yixing left the MBC Headquarters in the evening. He tightened his hold on his backpack and took a quick glance at his watch. Jongin was expecting him to report to work in two hours but he was certain he was going to mess up orders again if he didn’t get a proper answer.

Will be late, Yixing typed on his phone to Jongin. Need to stay in MBC for a bit longer. Before he could change his mind, he pressed send and flagged for a cab.

***

He couldn’t blame the look of surprise on Baek Hyun’s face when he opened the door for him. After all, he was supposed to be at work instead of pressing the doorbell to the apartment unit of his former cellmate. Granted, Yixing could have picked a time where Baek Hyun was working since he already knew the passcode to his house, but he was far too impatient to wait for the next day.

“Hey Bacon,” he greeted mildly, dropping his backpack to the floor. “Do you mind if I come in for a while? I think I dropped something in Luhan’s room the other time I came.”

Baek Hyun shrugged and trailed behind Yixing to Luhan’s room. “Aren’t you supposed to be heading to the pub?”

“I am… but I really need my… phone,” Yixing improvised quickly, “Don’t let me bother you. I’ll just grab it and let myself out.”

The other nodded. “Sure. I’m just going out for a while to grab dinner. You want any food—?” Yixing shook his head. “—Okay. We can head over to the pub together later? Kyung Soo told me you were the replacement singer yesterday.” A hint of a grin appeared on Baek Hyun’s lips. “How was it?”

Yixing’s face warmed. The whole night had felt so surreal to him he couldn’t even think about it without his insides buzzing. Honestly, he missed singing. When he had been arrested and the company had dropped him, he lost hope of ever performing again. He had actually grown to get used to the idea of not being able to reach his dream of becoming a musician. But last night had reminded him of it and fed his yearning for more.

“It probably won’t happen again,” Yixing said and quietly nudged Baek Hyun. “Aren’t you getting dinner? Go on – we’ll talk later. Buy me a Hoji tea latte on your way back.”  

He turned away and pretended to be digging around Luhan’s desk for his phone until he heard the final click of the main door. He poked his head out of the room. “Baek Hyun?” Yixing called cautiously, slowly inching out of the room. “Baek Hyun?”

When there was no reply, he jerked into action and shoved the door to Baek Hyun’s room. Guilt crept up his spine as he pulled open drawer after drawer for that box of letters he had seen Baek Hyun hold onto in prison.  Doing this was invading Baek Hyun’s privacy, but Yixing was certain that Chanyeol would have written to his former cellmate about the drama auditions. Baek Hyun must know something he didn’t.

His breath hitched when fingers dusted against a hard wooden box at the back of Baek Hyun’s wardrobe, hidden underneath piles of clothes. Swallowing his misgivings, Yixing sat on the edge of the bed with the box in his lap and flipped through the letters sorted in chronological order.

He knew very well which letters he needed. As he pulled out letters dated within the six months timeframe of the drama audition, Yixing did his best to organise the remaining letters so it would not look like any was missing and hurriedly stuffed the box back into the corner of the closet before shutting the room door behind him.

Sitting onto the edge of the sofa, Yixing picked up the first letter and scanned through it. In it, he could feel Chanyeol’s excitement bouncing off the words as he told Baek Hyun “something good might be happening to him”. Could it be the audition?

He grabbed a letter from the middle of the pile and was about to open it when the sound of footsteps outside the door floated to his ears and without thinking, Yixing crammed all of the letters into his backpack.

“Here’s your tea latte,” Baek Hyun said cheerily over his shoulder as he stepped into the apartment and shut the door. “Don’t tell Kyung Soo I betrayed the café and got you something from our rival.”

“Thanks,” he said, quickly zipping up the backpack before he took the latte from Baek Hyun. “You ate really fast.”

Baek Hyun shrugged. “I didn’t want you to wait too long for me. Did you find your phone?”

Phone…? Oh, yes. “Uh-huh, got it right here,” Yixing muttered, patting the pocket of his jeans where his phone had been all along. Wait a minute… his eyes slowly flickered to Baek Hyun who had turned away from him. Did he see that tell-tale rectangular shape in his pocket earlier?

If he did, he would have called his bluff, right?

***

Jongin clapped a hand onto his shoulder the minute Yixing walked into the pub with Baek Hyun by his side. “Guess what,” he sighed, “That singer is still sick. Guess you’ll have to perform today again heh?”

A frown hung on his lips as Yixing bore a hole on Jongin’s face with his eyes. “Still?” he asked suspiciously despite the elation burning in his stomach. “Shouldn’t you ask them for a refund? I thought one of the clauses in your contract was that they weren’t allowed to be absent without providing a replacement first.”

The loud sigh Jongin gave him was like a breath of hot air on his ear. Yixing scrunched up his nose at the latter and couldn’t help feeling a little bad for him.

“What can I do? I can’t just fire them and ask for a refund. It’s too short notice for me to find anyone else,” he whined and raised an eyebrow at Yixing. “Unless you are offering yourself to be my fixed singer? Can you play any instruments?”

“Guitar and piano,” Yixing said automatically before he froze and shook his head vigorously. “I’m not offering – don’t be mistaken—”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not g—”

Jongin snorted at him and ushered a flustered Yixing to the staff room without sparing Baek Hyun a glance. “Don’t act modest. Y’know, several customers came up to me with compliments for you. How am I supposed to answer to them if you don’t perform again?” He paused. “The pay for a musician is more than a cook, just so you know.”

A musician.

“Okay,” Yixing blurted out, cheeks flushed with exhilaration. There was going to be a lot of work if he was going to sing onstage but that didn’t dampen his mood.  He was going to have to dig out the old songs he had written and practise, practise, practise. “Thank you.”

Jongin’s grin broadened as Yixing enveloped him in a tight hug. “Don’t thank me,” he laughed, patting him on the back. “Thank him.” Jongin pulled away and nodded at the figure behind Yixing. “I’ll leave you guys to talk.”

Yixing’s voice caught in his throat. Even without looking back, he knew.

“How do you know I’m here?” he asked coolly, slanting a gaze up at the taller man before he moved to open his locker.

“Long story,” Kris murmured, taking hesitant steps towards Yixing. “Why won’t you pick up my calls?”

Yixing shoved his backpack into the locker violently. The last time he had seen Kris had been outside his house when the other had been arguing with Luhan. It made him angry again how Kris knew Luhan had been the one who informed the police and yet didn’t tell him. Not to mention the mixed signals Kris kept giving him. Was it wrong of Yixing not to want to talk to him?

“Where’s Chanyeol?” he snapped, his back to Kris. He dug into his backpack to search for his apron – he figured he might as well return it since he wouldn’t be using it any longer – when a piece of paper fell out. Oh , Chanyeol’s letters –

“Wait—” Yixing started to say, his eyes widening when Kris picked it up.

“I fired Chanyeol,” the blond replied flatly and turned over the paper. “… What the is this?”

Heart racing against his ribcage, Yixing snatched the letter back and hurried to think of an excuse why he would have Chanyeol’s letters. It took him a second before he realised the paper felt different from the other letters in Baek Hyun’s box.

Yixing drew in a sharp intake of breath at the bold print on the paper and slowly met the gaze of the other man.

ZHANG YIXING. STAY AWAY FROM KRIS.