The twenty minute walk into town with Xiao-Xing was awkward. However, dressed in Tao's hat, he felt comforted, and could almost pretend Tao was safe. And when Xiao-Xing suddenly decided to talk about her brother, was surprised, but strangely, not freaked out by it.

On the way there, she told him that, as a family, they had lived in china until she was six, and Tao was four, then they’d moved to England, and had to learn English, after a nasty divorce, in which their mother had won custody rights over the children. Then a few years later, they'd moved to Korea.

“I can still speak a little Chinese, like enough to have a conversation with my mum. But Tao doesn’t really remember much at all. Which is a shame,”

“Say something in Chinese for me,” Sehun teased, trying to allieviate some of the foreboding that had been creeping up on them. They were about to case a location, like robbers, or something. Well actually, it made sense, since they were trying to steal Tao back.

“No” she refused, blunt as ever. 

“What, why not?” He tried to sound indignant, but he can't pretend he hadn't expected that answer.

“Because I don’t like you,” 

“Good to know,” He retorted, his tone saturated with sarcasm. She laughed.

They turned a corner, and the pharmacy warehouse loomed before them, most of it was grey breezeblock, but one part of the building, on the left side, looked cleaner than the rest of it. Maybe it was a recent extension. Surrounding the peculiarly pretty structure and it’s car park, there was a chain link fence, but it didn't have barbed wire on top, which was good. He wondered if they would be able to get through the gateway, or whether they would have to climb over it. Or even cut their way through.

There weren’t any guards except the one sat in the little cabin by the gateway-one of the ones with a bar that lifted up to let cars pass through- and he had the blinds drawn, but there were several security cameras dotted around the place.

“How many cameras can you see?” Xiao-Xing asked him,

“Uh, five?”

“Five? I can only see four, where’s the fifth?” He pointed out all the cameras he could see. She pulled the paper pad with the map in out of the rucksack she had the foresight to bring, along with a pen, and makes a (fairly inaccurate) sketch of the warehouse, and marks the locations of the cameras.

“Are you sure this is the place? It looks pretty unguarded to me, would they really keep Tao here?” He gave her a sceptical glance,

“I’m absolutely positive this is the right place; any ideas on how to actually get in?”

“Not really, we’re going to get seen by someone if we just walk in. I think we need a distraction of some kind.” The only problem was, he couldn't think of a way to distract them for long enough for them to not see them. It would have to be something huge, like a riot, maybe. Or perhaps that was over the top, then they might just increase security. Something big, but not too big.

His phone buzzed in ihs pocket, and it turned out Luhan had texted him.

To Sehun:

Is tao with u? hes not answering me -___-

Ok, now he had to shake Luhan off the trail. Should he tell him yes and get relentlessly mocked for it? Or should he say no and make him worried? He dithered for long enough that Xiao-Xing notices, and she snatched his phone out of his hands, and typed a response, while holding it out of Sehun's reach,

“Hey, what the hell?!” He yelled at her, groping the air to no avail. She was obviously skilled in the art of keeping things away from other people, which probably meant she did it to Tao a lot. After checking that it was sent, she handed it back. Sehun grabbed it out of her hands, almost dropping it, and frantically checked what she put:

To Luhan:

U interrupted us

He mentally cried. He was totally going to get made fun of because of this. He turned around and started to head back the way they came, fuming. She was insufferable, how could anyone stand to be around her? He pitied Tao for having to deal with her all these years, he must’ve-

His phone buzzed again; Luhan’s reply glowing on the screen,

To Sehun:

Ooo get it hunnie

He rolled his eyes, and looked around to check where Xiao-Xing was; still drawing out the building. He stalked back up to her, looking smug as she saw him approach. He stood uncomfortably while she finished her diagram, full of arrows and sketchy lines. He squinted at the building, wondering where Tao might be inside there. It looked huge, and he could be anywhere in there. It could even have underground floors which they didn't know about- they could be standing right over him!

“Ok, I’m done now, we can go if you want,” she announced a moment later, which had Sehun sighing in relief. He waited impatiently as she picked up her bag, shoved the paper inside unceremoniously, and flung it onto her back. Before leaving he sent one last wistful glance over at the building containing his boyfriend, wishing he could just storm right in there and take him back.

On the way home, Xiao-Xing wanted to make a detour, and dragged Sehun along with her, because it was his ‘responsibility’. At least it was a newsagent she forced him into; he would’ve left if it were anything else. He bought himself a chocolate bar, and walked outside with it, eating it sulkily while waiting for Tao's sister to do whatever it was she was doing. He was shoving the wrapper into his pocket when Something in his peripheral vision caught his attention.

He took a second look; and saw that it was Jongin. He was alone, as far as he could tell, so he called out to him, pleased to see a familliar face. He looked up, surprised, and then spotted him waving him over.

“I thought Luhan said you were with Tao?” he said, his tone and furrowed eyebrows implying confusion. .

“Oh, did Luhan tell you that?” He laughed awkwardly. Even though usually he was good at lying, it was embarrassing to have been caught out like this. Jongin suspected something’s up, it was obvious. And then everything got worse; Xiao-Xing came out of the shop, unaware that Jongin was right beside him, and calls Sehun.

Could this get any worse?

“Um, Sehun?” Jongin tentatively probed.

“I really can explain,” he promised, not making eye contact. It was one of those moments in which you just know that whatever choice you made was going to change everything.

So should he make up some awful excuse? Or should he tell him everything? Because, technically he hadn’t even told Xiao-Xing everything yet. She didn't know the reason Tao had been kidnapped, and now that she was in on the plan, he was worried that her ignorance was going cause problems. And Jongin still thought Tao was recovering from an illness.

He sighed a defeated sigh. He didn’t really have that much of a choice, did he?

“Let’s go to Tao house,” he mumbled, finally meeting Jongin's eyes, and then flicking to Xiao-Xing, who seemed bewildered too, “I’ll explain everything,” he assured them, shoving the last piece of the almost-forgotten chocolate in his mouth, so he had an excuse not to talk anymore.