The bed was empty when Yixing woke up from a restless sleep. Sunlight streamed into his eyes, causing him to fumble blindly for the mobile phone he left on the side table before he went to sleep last night. The time read a little past 9am, which was usually too early for Kris to be up.

“Kris?” he called while stretching his arms above his head. That was when he noticed the yellow post-it note and pulled it up closer to his vision to read Kris’s messy scribble.

Gone to Myung Hee’s. Don’t worry & go to work.

All exhaustion immediately left his system. Yixing hurriedly dialled Kris’s number, worry and irritation seeping into his veins at how the celebrity left without telling him. They were supposed to discuss what their game plan was last night, but after the fright from being arrested a second time, they got a little too distracted and wound up cuddling in bed. Yixing had thought they’d talk about it in the morning, but clearly Kris was working on something with Luhan that Yixing didn’t know about and that pissed him off a fair bit.

He swore under his breath when he got the answering machine for the third time and directed his glare at the post-it note, which he proceeded to crumple in frustration. Fine. He was going to go to work. Only because he didn’t know where Myung Hee lived.

Yixing was at the entrance of the Exo Artists building when Baek Hyun called to tell him he wasn’t able to come. So much for hoping Baek Hyun could distract him… without his bandmate there, there wasn’t much he could record. At least there were a few completed tracks he could try re-mixing.

Easier said than done.

After the third time he accidentally deleted the track, Yixing tossed the wireless mouse onto the table exasperatedly.

“You should take a break.”

Yixing jerked up at the sudden voice in the room and quickly straightened when his eyes found Junmyeon. Good, he was still contemplating whether or not it'd be rude to go to the rep’s office.

“Junmyeon!” he said eagerly. “Do you have any… information?”

The agency rep sighed heavily. “Not much,” he admitted as he gestured for Yixing to follow him out the studio to the pantry. “It only states that the company was registered earlier this year. I can’t find the founder’s name, the financial status or anything else. They are pretty good at covering their tracks.”

Yixing groaned and plopped down onto the chair while Junmyeon made them both coffees. “Why do we keep hitting dead ends?”

“I’m sure something would come to light soon,” Junmyeon said softly, clicking the television on before he set the mugs on the table. “We just have to be patient.”

“I don’t know how much longer we can afford to wait,” muttered Yixing under his breath, “I really think—” He paused and cocked his head at the television screen where it was currently showing the news. Heart pounding in his chest, Yixing swiftly picked up the remote control and increased the volume.

“… In an earlier report, Chief Inspector Lee claimed to have received a tip from an anonymous caller, citing suspicious activity. About 50 police raided a warehouse at Yeouido and found it to be the core location of a drug trafficking ring…”

“Luhan!” he blurted out, eyes wide as he caught sight of his best friend on the television screen talking to the cops. What—? How—? Why was he there? He was supposed to be with Myung Hee… unless she was somehow involved in this!

The sound of his mobile phone ringing startled him out of the revelation. Still keeping an eye on the television and the news anchorwoman, he gave his phone a cursory glance and immediately jumped up when he saw Kris’s name on it.

“Yah, how dare you—”

“… Don’t be ridiculous, I will never break up with him,” Kris was saying, and obviously not to him.

Yixing heard a woman laugh; the minute she spoke, he knew it was Myung Hee. Instinctively, he pulled the phone from his ear and quickly pressed the Record Conversation button before listening in again.

“Did you forget? You belong to me,” she snarled. “I paved the way for your career and paid out your contract. You’re in my debt.”

Yixing’s eyebrows furrowed at the pause, his heartbeat racing. There were sounds of shuffling – then a loud bang nearly had him drop his phone. His eyes flickered up to the television screen where he heard the exact same thing – and in the next moment, the warehouse burst into flames. He leapt up instantly, barely swallowing the bile that was rising up in his throat.

“Junmyeon, can I borrow your car?” he asked urgently, his gaze wild with horror on the TV screen while he struggled to hear listen in on Kris's conversation with Myung Hee. Damn, Kris must have dropped his phone! “Please!”

Too panicked to try and explain things to a bewildered Junmyeon, Yixing grabbed his car keys and sprinted out of the Exo Artists building where the carpark was, all the while pressing his ear to the phone. He started up the car, the roar of the engine so loud he almost missed her next words.

“… Since we’re at this stage, I might as well tell you. Guess who supplied you with the drugs years back? Me. It was laughable, how you tried to hide your addiction from Jinho. He was the one who started it by sneaking it in your drinks. How else could I get you to be more desperate, more obedient, hmm…?”

Yixing tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white and a swear word at his lips. Kris’s manager got him into drugs. No wonder they knew Yixing took the fall for drug use when Kris’s agency didn’t – because they had followed Kris’s journey with drugs all along.

“Why are you telling me this now?” Yixing could vaguely hear Kris warily ask.

“Because if I can’t have you, then no one can. I want you to die here with me.”

The sudden sentence stole Yixing's breath away and if it weren't for the honk behind him, he would have driven straight into the car in front. No. Kris couldn't die. Not when they were so close to finally being happy.

It took about half an hour from here to Yeouido… if he sped through all the red lights, maybe he could get there in fifteen minutes. Wait for me, he thought desperately, and stepped on the gas pedal.

***

Embers seemed to rain from the sky when Yixing stepped out of the car in front of the burning warehouse. Even at a distance, the heat was unbearable, and his senses reminded him of the time where he was trapped in a fire at Kyung Soo and Jongin’s place. He ought to stay still in his spot and let the firemen do their jobs but he couldn’t bear the thought of knowing Kris being stuck in the same situation he was in.

“Step back, please!”

Without realising it, Yixing found himself already at the barrier where policemen were holding off civilians like himself. There weren’t many, but it really wasn’t much of a surprise considering this place was more or less secluded.

“My friend… he’s in there,” he tried to say, but the policemen kept repeating the same old lines about how the firemen were going to rescue him. He didn’t miss the look they exchanged and knew that they were thinking it didn’t matter whether these drug traffickers perished in the fire or not. It would be much simpler to report hose people died than go through the tedious process of interrogation, wouldn’t it?

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Yixing waited for their attention to be diverted before he dashed into the fire, flinging off an arm that tried to stop him. In the background, he could hear someone call his name, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. Because that voice wasn’t Kris’s voice.

Smoke engulfed him the second he set foot into the warehouse. Covering his mouth, Yixing lowered himself so as not to breathe in too much carbon dioxide, but some still seeped into his respiration system. The smoke was so thick he could hardly see, and it didn’t help to hear things crashing around him.

“Kris!” he yelled, coughing. “Kris, where are you?”

A loud boom from the side deafened Yixing’s ears and sent him sprawling on the scorching ground. He got to his knees and started crawling, repeatedly shouting for Kris until his throat was sore and scratchy.

His eyes flew to a lump just a metre away from him and he knew, without even looking at his face, that it was Kris. Overwhelmed with dread and anxiety, he moved as quickly as he could to the unconscious figure.

“Kris!” He scooped the other man into his lap and shook him hard, hoping that would wake him. Fresh blood ran down Kris’s forehead, sending a wave of panic and fear through Yixing. Terrified that he’d worsen his injury if he shook him too hard, Yixing threw Kris’s arm around his shoulder and struggled to pull his weight up.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Before Yixing could figure out who said those words, he was brutally shoved backwards and barely missed falling back into the fire from Kris’s weight.

True enough, the last person he wanted to see was in front of him, looking completely different from how Yixing always saw her. Her branded clothes were filthy and the edges were torn, soot covered her arms and legs, and her hair resembled a bird’s nest. But it was her face that drew his attention – her perfectly plastic face that was contorting to a shape that wasn’t due to the fire but due to the venom she had for him. Her hatred was making her exterior ugly.

“I heard what you said to Kris,” Yixing hissed, tightening his hold on Kris as he slowly inched away from her, mentally calculating how fast he could run from her with an unconscious Kris. “I have it recorded. Let us go or I’ll send the recording to the police.”

Myung Hee’s lips curled in disgust and she looked at him with cold, dead eyes. “Not if you’re dead.”

The scariest people were those who had nothing to lose, and right now Myung Hee was one of them.

He should have predicted it but Yixing was still unprepared when she lunged towards him and his back collided with a row of heavy crates by the wall. It didn’t take long for the fallen crates to be devoured by the fire. In a split second, Myung Hee was onto him, her hands around his neck, and her tight grip effectively cutting off his air supply. As he struggled to push her off, spots formed in his vision and threatened to take away his consciousness.

But he couldn't give up. He didn't want to die, not yet, not when he hadn't done anything with his life. He was finally going somewhere with his career and with Kris.

Kris.

The name sent a sudden burst of energy through him. With a deep growl, Yixing ruthlessly stabbed her eyes with his fingers and the second he felt her ease her hold on his neck, he used every ounce of his remaining strength to throw her off him. He didn't give himself the chance to feel bad for attacking a female; after all, she was the one who kept stubbornly coming after them.

Without looking back at her, Yixing scrambled to his feet and wrapped his arm around Kris's middle. The blood didn't stop flowing down the side of his head, and it scared him so badly to see Kris in such a bloody state he would be crying if he wasn't so desperate to get them out.

Kicking away the broken crates in his path, Yixing half-dragged Kris towards the exit. He wasn’t the religious type, but at that very moment, he was praying to every God to keep Kris alive.

Voices drifted to his ears, arms were clamping down on him and before he knew it, his feet were off the ground.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now.”

A/N: STILL AN EPILOGUE TO COME.