Wednesday Afternoon

"Jongdae!" Kai cursed himself when he heard his voice quiver. "Don't. Give it here. Give me the knife."

"No!" Jongdae screamed. "I'm done! I'm so finished. I can't do this anymore! It's too hard living without him!"

"Jongdae, I'm begging you," Kai pleaded. He fell onto his knees beside the butler. "He wouldn't want you to do this. Please give it to me." Jongdae shook his head and aimed the tip of the knife at his own lower abdomen. "Jongdae...JONGDAE!"

The boss' son grabbed the butler's wrist, trying his best to pull the knife as farther from his body as possible. Jongdae, on the other hand, pulled the knife towards himself. Why couldn't Kai just leave him be and let him do this? He'd been wanting to do it for a while now, and nothing would make him happier. Kai was ruining everything.

Kai found himself sitting on top of Jongdae and fighting for the knife. The butler kept moving it out of Kai's reach. Its position near his stomach soon switched to near his neck, and vice versa. Kai had an awfully difficult time keeping up with it. He attempted pinning Jongdae's wrist to the floor, but that only resulted in the butler turning the tables and flipping the both of them over.

Jongdae tried prying Kai's fingers away from his wrist. However, Kai had latched his digits around it like a clamp. He refused to let go. No matter how hard Jongdae shook their arms and even bit down on Kai's fingers, the boss' son wouldn't allow Jongdae's hand to move freely against his well being. He wasn't going to let him join Joonmyun.

Kai flipped the two of them over again, both hands now on the one Jongdae was holding the knife with. The butler had fisted it up in a clamp of fingers of his own. He wasn't planning on giving up himself either. Kai began peeling away finger after finger with great difficulty, having to restrain Jongdae's arm whenever the butler tried to strike at him.

Because Jongdae was on the edge. He was more than pissed at everything and Kai wasn't making it any easier for him. In fact, the boss' son was simply infuriating him. He aimed the tip of the knife at Kai's shoulder and forward, cringing when the younger howled in pain. Kai fell off of Jongdae, clutching his wound.

Finally! Jongdae was able to do this without anyone stopping him! This was all that he wanted. He glanced at Kai with an apologetic look on his face when he sat up, gripping the hilt of the knife tightly until his knuckles turned white. Kai felt his shirt drench with blood, the red liquid oozing through the threading of his shirt. He turned towards Jongdae.

"Please don't do this," he whispered at the butler. "Jongdae..."

"Shut up! You don't know how much it hurts! You don't know how much pain I'm in right now! Your wound will never be as painful as what I'm feeling." Jongdae's entire body shook as a hot wave of tears spilled out of him. "You lost your mother, someone you loved, but that's a different kind of love. Imagine losing Kyungsoo! You think you'd be able to sit there calmly and sip tea with the rich snobs? No, Kai! You'd be like me, trying for any chance of you being with him. Eternally." Kai reached out with his blood soaked hand as a last attempt to take the knife. Jongdae swatted his hand away. "Enough!" He aimed the blade at himself.

And the next thing they both knew, Jongdae was on the floor again, crying, with another weight on top of him. Eunhyuk. The driver had come to return Jongdae's forgotten backpack, asking the consierge downstairs in which room he could find the butler. He stared down at Jongdae with an expression of fear mixed with determination. 

Jongdae didn't fight him back. He sobbed severely, his tears spilling from his eyes like water shooting from a water gun. As soon as Eunhyuk got off of him with the knife now in his posession, the butler curled up into a ball and cried harder. Eunhyuk stood up and righted himself, placing the knife onto the bed stand. Jongdae began punching his ankles.

"Your backpack's on the bed," Eunhyuk told him, watching as Jongdae's fists collided with his own legs. He then turned towards Kai. "Good Heavens! Are you alright?!"

Kai stood up, holding the fleshy wound in his shoulder. "Fine, fine. Just a scratch, really." He grabbed the knife and stuffed it into his pocket. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few phone calls to make." 

Minho and Taemin should have never taken Jongdae out of the ward. Kai knew that now. Taemin may have been alright, but that was only because Minho came back. He returned to share his love with Taemin again. But Joonmyun's condition was much more different than that. He wasn't exactly in the shape to come back to the butler.

Kai ran back to his room with Kyungsoo. He tried his best to avoid society. He could only imagine what people would think when they saw an Asian boy running around such a luxurious hotel with blood seeping out of his shoulder and through his fingers. He hissed when he had to remove his hand from his shoulder to press down onto the elevator button.

The doors opened and Kai dashed inside. He leaned against the wall of the elevator as the doors closed. The contraption started taking him to the third floor. It was then when he realized that he hadn't pressed any buttons as to where he wanted to go. He looked to his left, only to see the old woman again. She was the one to press the button for the third floor. How did she know it was the third?

He decided not to say anything. WIth a curt nod, Kai ran out when the elevator doors opened. He banged his fist against his door, hoping Kyungsoo wasn't inside. He didn't want the doll to see this. But alas, the door was opened and that familiar, gorgeous face appeared. Kyungsoo gasped when he saw the blood running down Kai's arm from his shoulder.

"What happened to you?!"

"This is no time to panic, doll face," Kai told him, pushing him out of the way. "First Aid. I need the First Aid kit. There's gotta be one here around somewhere!"

"I brought the one from home," Kyungsoo breathed. He ran for his suitcase, ping it with the speed of light. He rummaged through it for the kit, soon giving up and turning the entire thing over and shaking everything out. The kit was on the very bottom, and Kyungsoo grabbed it with much haste.

Kai sat down in a chair beside the bed and rid himself of his shirt. He pressed the cloth to the flesh to stop the bleeding. Jongdae stabbed him. He couldn't believe it. It hadn't even been an accident. The butler had done it on purpose. Kai bit his lip, trying to forget the fact that Jongdae was turning into a selfish monster. This wasn't happening. All just a nightmare.

Any other moment, Kyungsoo would be gawking over Kai's torso. He was far from that right now. The doll rushed to Kai with the kit, fumbling to dab the bleeding wound with disinfectant cream. Kai's back arched and he hissed from pain when the cream stung his flesh. He kicked at the bed beside him, eyes clamped shut.

Kyungsoo's face painfully contorted. Oh, he hadn't meant to do that! He delicately Kai's hair, imploring the younger to calm down. Everything was going to be alright. They both knew it hurt, but Kai had to get over it. Kai seemed to relax under Kyungsoo's touch. At least, he relaxed himself enough for Kyungsoo to be able to give him one more dab of the cream. Kai puffed his cheeks out to trap the scream threatening to rip out from his throat.

"Seriously, what happened to you?" Kyungsoo asked, wrapping a bandage tightly around Kai's arm which weaved around his shoulder in the process. 

"Jongdae," Kai mumbled, "stabbed me. By accident."

"Are you sure it was an accident? He hasn't really been himself lately..."

"Accident." Kai sounded stern. "Total accident."

Kai was going to call the hospital here in Ottawa. He was going to have them take Jongdae away and have him somehow transported to the ward in South Korea. But then, he realized he couldn't. He just couldn't send his friend back to that dreadful place with nobody to care for him properly. And if he went back there now, Kai knew Jongdae's brother would never let him out of there. He'd keep the butler in there forever.

Besides, Kai wanted Jongdae at the ceremony tomorrow. He wanted the butler to be there for himself and Joonmyun. He felt that wherever Jongdae went, Joonmyun was right beside him. And Kai would very much like it if both Jongdae and Joonmyun attended the wedding ceremony. It would mean a lot to him.

Even if Jongdae did try to kill him.

"All done!" Kyungsoo snapped Kai out of his thoughts. He adjusted the bandage on Kai's shoulder to perfection. "Does it hurt, though? Should we take you to the hospital?"

"No," Kai replied. He stood up and went to find himself a clean shirt. The one he was wearing before was completely soaked in blood. "Where are Baekhyun and Chanyeol?"

"We waited for you and you never came back so they went back to their room and I went back to ours," Kyungsoo explained, "as you can tell hehe."

Kai flashed him a small smile before opening his suitcase and pulling out a random shirt. "Go find them. We're going out."

Kyungsoo nodded excitedly and ran out of the room to find the chaffeur and accountant. In the meantime, Kai clothed himself. As soon as his shirt was on his body, he ran out of the room. He was going to go back to check on Jongdae. He took the stairs this time, skipping one with each step. Cut the time it took him to get to the top in half.

Kai burst through the butler's door. He was on his bed, shivering as if it were dreadfully cold in the room. Eunhyuk was watching over him in a chair, biting his lip to the point of protrusion. Kai approached the driver from behind and put a hand on his shoulder. Eunhyuk's entire body jerked from the sudden contact. Relief washed over him when he turned to see Kai.

"Thank you for everything," Kai said. "You can go now."

"I can't just leave him here!" Eunhyuk protested. "Are you going to stay and take care of him?"

"That would be rather dumb considering the fact that he's not staying here either. My friends and I are going out and he's coming with us."

"Are you mad?!" Eunhyuk demanded. "You're letting this boy, this lunatic, out onto the streets of Canada?! What if he attacks someone else?! Someone who's family will sue you, huh?"

Kai walked around him and gently unfolded Jongdae. The butler shot him a murderous glare. "That's a risk I'm afraid I'll have to take. Come on, Jongdae. We're going sight seeing. We can go anywhere you want. We'll take you there."

"I hate you," Jongdae hissed. "You and Kyungsoo and Baekhyun and Chanyeol. I hate you all!"

"Come now, Jongdae," Kai insisted. He pulled the butler slowly off of the bed. "Think of how much fun you'll have. Come on. We'll take you anywhere you want to go. No hockey games if you don't want them, Justin Bieber if you do." He looked at Eunhyuk. "And Eunhyuk can come along if you want him to." The driver feigned shock.

"Tell him to get out," Jongdae ordered. "He's trying to make me forget about Joonmyun."

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose then looked at Eunhyuk again. "You heard the man, get out!"

Eunhyuk stumbled out of the room. He slammed the door behind him. Jongdae immediately relaxed and let Kai drag him off of the bed. The butler's shoulders slumped back onto Kai, and the boss' son barely managed to catch him. Jongdae's head was spinning, and he couldn't see properly anymore. Everything was off. Nothing was balanced without the boss' assistant in his life.

"Take me to the Ottawa River," Jongdae begged him. "I want water."

"I can get you a glass of water," Kai told him, but Jongdae shook his head.

"Only from there. I need only that water. Please, Kai."

The boss' son nodded. He draped his arm around Jongdae to keep him steady, and began to lead the butler out of his hotel room. They had to take the elevator to the main floor since Jongdae was seemingly too weak to take the stairs. The old woman wasn't there this time. Kai breathed a heavy sigh of relief for that.

Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol were all waiting for the two of them in the lobby on a couch. They stood up when they saw Kai and Jongdae approaching. Baekhyun hid behind Chanyeol, scared that the butler would pull a knife on him out of the blue. He wasn't sure he'd be able to trust Jongdae anymore.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, greeted the fragile boy with open arms. He engulfed Jongdae in a hug that left the butler gasping for air. The accountant rubbed Jongdae's back, promising everything was going to be okay. And it would be if Chanyeol didn't manage to crush Jongdae before it could be. Jongdae was turning blue.

"So where are we going?" Kyungsoo asked after Chanyeol let go of Jongdae.

Kai glanced at Jongdae. "Ottawa River. There's a bridge around here that we can look at it from. Come on."

They filed out of the front doors of the hotel in the form of a train. Kai was in front with Kyungsoo holding his shoulders. Jongdae was stuck behind him, Baekhyun's hands holding him uneasily. Chanyeol had the honor of being the kaboos, which wasn't really a honor, but to him it was. The accountant smiled goofily as he was the last one to exit the hotel.

They got onto a bus standing at the bus stop on the street. Kyungsoo sat down next to Jongdae to keep an eye on him. The butler stared out the bus' window, not returning his or anybody else's glance. He obviously wanted to be alone. Kai stared him down, making sure he wouldn't do anything funny to Kyungsoo. Because if the butler went that far, Kai wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

The bus stopped on a street that Baekhyun recognized from his brochure. "The bridge is here. I remember! We need to get off at this stop."

So they exited the bus, once again in their train formation. Baekhyun's hands now firmly grasped Jongdae's shoulders. It was as if he was afraid the butler would disappear. Losing Joonmyun, one of Baekhyun's best friends, was more than enough for the chaffeur. Jongdae was basically the only link left to the boss' assistant.

They searched for the bridge. Kai even stopped and asked directions from some people on the street. It took them half an hour of winding through streets and narrow passageways before they came upon the bridge over the Ottawa River. They smiled at its tranquility, only to scream in horror when Jongdae ran to jump off of the bridge.

"Damn it!" Kai yelled, on the verge of ripping his own hair out. "Catch him! Catch him!"

They chased after the butler. Chanyeol, having the longest legs, caught up with him first. He grabbed Jongdae's sleeve and pulled him back. The butler fell onto the ground. Baekhyun pinned his wrists down while Kai kneeled beside him again. Jongdae shook from head to toe seeing Kai's angry face. Kyungsoo bit his lip.

"I think I've had just about enough of you," Kai growled. "Get over it, Jongdae. Joonmyun's dead. Stop acting like a drunken fool. You're better than this. Let him up."

Baekhyun let go and Jongdae scrambled up. He pointed an accusing finger at Kai. "When you suffer the way I'm suffering, you'll understand. You'll see how much it hurts."

"Hold him," Kai ordered. "And let's go to that Basilica. It sounded interesting."

~*~*~

Kris flipped open his phone and dialed a sequence of numbers which he knew by heart. Bringing the phone to his ear, he waited. And waited. And waited a little more. No answer. Kai wasn't picking up the phone. Sighing, he stuffed his phone in his pocket and clutched the strap of the backpack hanging on one of his shoulders.

Tao pranced up into step beside him, eyes lowered onto the floor. He watched his own feet as they took steps forward into whatever direction Kris was going. He followed the son of Mr. Kim's former Chinese partner employer. That was until Kai ruined it all. He commended the boss' son for refusing to marry Kris' sister.

"Kai didn't pick up?" Tao asked.

Kris shook his head, his usual face expression present. "No. I know they're here in Ontario, but where exactly?"

Tao shrugged and followed Kris as the native Canadian travelled through the airport. They had arrived just a few moments ago. Tao felt sick from the plane ride though he didn't show it, and the last thing he wanted was to go out searching for Kai right now. He needed to sleep. To rest. And he wanted Kris beside him in bed. They hadn't been near eachother for such a long time.

Kris walked through the sliding doors in the front of the airport. Tao was right at his heels, blindly following Kris. He had no idea whether the older knew where he was going, but he certainly knew more than Tao. And besides, Kris was blessed with the abiltity to speak English, something Tao was yet to be lucky enough to learn.

Kris stopped at an empty taxi standing on the side of the road. "Waiting for someone specific?"

"No, sir," the driver replied. He sounded British. "You can come on in if you want."

Kris waved Tao over, and the panda boy rushed towards his lover. Opening the door for the younger, Kris let him go in first. He shut the door after he himself got into the taxi. The driver immediately revved the engine and pulled out of his parking space at the speed of light. Tao involuntarily slumped forward from the speed. If it hadn't been for Kris grabbing him, Tao would have smashed his face into the driver's seat in front of him.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"The nearest hotel," Kris answered. He leaned back, folding his arms over his chest.

The driver tried a few times to start a small conversation with the two boys in the back. Tao had no idea what he was saying expect for a few bits and pieces of sentences. Kris just didn't want to talk. His replies were short and choppy. The driver soon simply gave up and drove in silence. This gave Kris time to think.

Where could Kai and the others possibly be around here? Mr. Kim had distinctly ordered Kris to bring the five missing young men back as soon as he found them. They couldn't stay in Canada. The only problem was that Kris had idea where to even start looking for them. So how on earth was he even supposed to find them.

He looked out the window. Canada. His sweet old Canada. Though he'd lived in Vancouver, Kris knew this part of Ontario very well too. He'd been here mutliple times as a child. He smiled as they passed by some familiar stops. He'd definitely have a lot to show Tao during their time here. They could spend some time sight seeing.

After all, Kris hadn't seen Tao for a while. With him being in China with his father and the panda working for Mr. Kim in Korea, they had barely any time to spend with one another nowadays. Tao had been very smart to ask Mr. Kim to let him accompany Kris on this 'mission.' Although, that meant that Kris would be more distracted. Aw well. As the French say: c'est la vie!

Kris turned towards his panda. Making sure the driver wasn't looking, he grasped the younger's hand and laced their fingers together. Tao lowered his head, his bangs shadowing his face. It gave him an aura of mystery, and his eyes twinkled in the dim darkness. Kris loved it. It somehow made Tao look even ier than he already was, if that was at all even possible.

Kris lifted Tao's chin though. He hadn't seen the boy's face in ages, and he didn't want Tao to hide it from him. His face expression dissipated as his eyes soaked in every detail that was Tao, every element that made up the boy's face. It was stunning. Simply gorgeous. He never wanted to stop looking at him. 

"Gege?"

Kris shook his head and tore his gaze away from Tao's face. Alright, so that was awkward and embarassing. "Sorry."

Tao's eyes twinkled with mischeif. "Can't get enough of me, gege? Miss my beautiful face?"

"Aren't you cocky," Kris sneered. "No, I just thought you had something on your face."

"What? Flawlessness?"

Kris smirked at the window. Tao saw the reflection in the glass and beamed. "More like ugliness." Tao's face warped into one of displeasure. "Take a joke, panda. Come on, I'm teasing. Honestly." He cupped the boy's cheek. "But you do have something on your face." He turned Tao's head to be better able to access the little shimmering dot beside his eye. "Glitter? What the hell, Tao?"

"The maids have taken a liking towards throwing fistfuls of glitter at me," Tao explained. Kris raised an eyebrow. "I'm not joking! The young ones really do that to me!" He coughed into a fist. "Anyways, where are we going?"

Kris shrugged. "Wherever that bozo takes us." He jabbed his thumb at the driver, who was rocking to some song on the radio. "Teenage freak."

They drove in silence the rest of the way, the only sound being the music coming from the radio. Kris banged his head repeatedly against the window. He wanted to get out of here. Out of this damn taxi. He didn't remember taxi drivers being so annoying in Canada. My, how some things greatly change.

The car soon pulled up to some building that greatly resembled a castle. Tao's eyes widened, his mouth dropping open. Woah. This was definitely not a hotel. What a rip off! The driver was trying to make them pay for a castle! The panda turned towards Kris to see if he was experiencing the same reaction, but Kris looked calm. He was searching for money to pay the driver with.

Kris got out of the taxi first. Tao assumed that they were seriously going to stay here. He got out too, slowly shutting the door behind him as his attention was focused onto the hotel. He cocked his head like a confused pup when he tried to read the name written on a sign over the front door. Fairmont. Hm. He'd heard of this place. At least he thought so.

"I can't believe this is the closest hotel," Kris mumbled, taking both his backpack and Tao's. He started for the front door. "I'm going to be broke by the end of this trip."

"You don't suppose Kai could be here?" Tao asked. "I mean, he's got all the money in the world and I'm sure this place is to Kyungsoo's taste."

"We can ask the front desk," Kris began, "but it's not a guarantee that they'll disclose which residents they have here."

The automatic doors opened for them. Tao and Kris stepped inside. The younger almost fainted at the sight before him. All of this, this, was a hotel?! It looked like a place made for kings! Adrenaline rushed through Tao's viens as he scurried all over the lobby, taking every image in. Kris watched him with a smirk on his face while the woman behind the concierge desk checked for an available room.

As soon as Kris was handed the room key, h