Prepare for an anti-climactic and horribly ty chapter, everyone. Also, sorry about my absence. Also, cheese. So much cheese. Kris is the king of cheesiness. 

~ Tao POV ~

"I fully, and undeniably, have fallen in love with you, Huang Zitao." Kris gripped my hands tighter in his and a look of hope and fear was present in his eyes. My heart was beating at a frantic pace and I could feel my face heat up.

"K-Kris, I... -," before I could even mutter a word, the door slammed open and in walked the paramedics.

"Huang Zitao, we're here to take you to the hospital." One of the uniformed men spoke up. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you think I thought you came here to take me to see the Queen of England for a spot of tea and crumpets?" I know I was being rude, but holy that was horrible timing. I glared at them and turned to look at Kris who frowned at me for my wretched manners. I shrugged at him and allowed myself to be lifted onto a stretcher. 

"Your friends can join you at the hospital." The same uniformed man said, seemingly unharmed by my snarky comment a few moments go. I looked over to Kris and he nodded at me.

"I'll have the Black Horse get the school van together and bring our friends to see you, okay?" I smiled in gratitude before the men pushed me into the ambulance and shipped me off to the hospital.

It seemed like my friends took an eternity to arrive after I finally made it into the hospital. I stared blankly at the wall and tried desperately not to scream in frustration over my impatience. Good God they were so slow. I slammed my head back against the plush feather pillows that the nurses propped my head up with and let out an agonized groan. My body was seriously hurting all over and all I wanted to do was sleep for a decade. 

"When's the cremation for our dead friend here, nurse?" The muscle under my eye twitched at the irritating voice that carried a just as irritating and not funny whatsoever joke.

"I told you I'm not ing dead, you ." I bellowed from my room as I waited for the door to open, which it did only moments later. Unfortunately the first face I saw was Chen's. I frowned, making my forehead crease in agitation.

"Tao! You're breathing!" Chen exclaimed, his eyes glinting mischievously with a stupid smirk on his face. I glared at him some more and crossed my arms over my chest. 

"I seriously hate the out of you." I muttered with barely contained anger. As everyone filed into the room, I noticed that one tall blonde was absent. "Where's Kris?" I seriously didn't think my mood could plummet anymore, but it most certainly did.

"After the Black Horse heard of the incident, he ended our trip early and took everyone back to the cottage. Kris said he was going to stay back and make sure your shared bed was suitable for your return from the hospital." Kyungsoo spoke up, eyeing Chen as if he were a parasite. Chanyeol and Baekhyun moved forward with sad expressions on their faces. 

"We really shouldn't ever leave you alone if Jessica is going to keep acting like this. It isn't at all fair to you who did nothing wrong." Baekhyun stated rather morosely. I unfolded my arms and reached out to Baekhyun and grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 

"This is nothing I haven't handled before, you know. I've been bullied since as far back as I can remember, and I've never backed down like some weak imbecile. Jessica and her pawns will never really get to me. They can get to me physically, but not at all mentally or emotionally. I've never been easy to break. You can ask all the kids that have had to have nose jobs." I smiled at my dear friends. 

~ Kris POV ~

I stalked around my expensive cottage in search of one person, and only became more enraged as I could not find them.

"Where is that ing ?" I muttered bitterly under my breath before reaching the last room on the first floor, turning the knob and slamming it open to reveal Jessica sitting on her bed, reading a fashion magazine. At his presence, she smirked and put the magazine down.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence in my room today, Kris?" She sneered as she stood from her bed, offering me her best glare as she placed a hand on her hip. Everything about her was condescending, and it pissed me off way more than it usually would have under normal circumstances. Just seeing her face fueled my rage even more, making me approach her bed and snatch her up by the collar, pulling her until her feet weren't even touching the floor anymore. 

"You ever have any of your cronies touch Tao ever again, and I'll put you six feet under my ing self, you selfish ." I bit out through clenched teeth. She grabbed at my hands, trying to claw away from me as her air supply began to dwindle, her eyes bugging out of her head in fear. I threw her away from me hard enough for her to hit the wall loudly. She whimpered and sank to the floor as I walked out of the room.

(Jesus , Kris. Calm your )

~ Jessica POV ~

I couldn't stop my body from shaking as I felt like I was in a near death situation at the hands of Kris.

"Hey Jess, I saw just saw Kris walking down the hall and he looked really- Holy ! Jess, are you alright?" Yoona cried out in worry as she rushed to my side. I thanked her as she helped me get up to sit on the edge of my bed.

"I-I'm fine." I tried my best to stop shaking, even wrapping my blanket around my body. I looked up into Yoona's worried eyes and had a brilliant, coniving idea. "Yoona, I have something to tell you."

"What is it, Jess?" Yoona asked, sitting next to her on the bed.

"I was talking to Tao yesterday, and he actually told me himself that he thought you were really cute. Maybe when he gets back from the hospital today, you could talk to him a little?" Yoona's face lit up like a fire as she looked down to her lap, twiddling her thumbs nervously.

"I-I don't know, Jess. Isn't he horribly close to Kris?" Yoona asked, her voice wavering. I looked at her and grabbed her hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

"They're only friends though, right? You totally have a chance! He even said he thought you were cute!" Yoona smiled, squeezing my hand back.

"You're right, Jess! I think I have a good chance! Thank you so much!" She jumped up happily from the bed and ran out of the room gleefully.

~ Tao POV ~

The sun made it's way out of sight as I treaded carefully up the steps of the cottage, trying not to trip as I had Baekhyun and Chanyeol spotting me from behind.

"I know how to walk, guys." I rolled my eyes, silently grateful for their help.

"Yeah, but you're hella fragile right now, and Kris would have us buying our own caskets if you fell under our watch." Baekhyun stated, catching me as I almost fell backwards down the steps.

"Baekhyun is right. I'm way too young and handsome to die now." Chanyeol blurted, earning a smack on the by Baekhyun. 

"You'll be old and dead soon enough, Yeolie~" Baekhyun teased as we finally made our inside the warm cottage. Kris was sitting on the couch in the living room, seeming to have been sitting there for quite a while, waiting for us to return. He visibly softened when he saw that I was going to be just fine. 

Soooooooo, I an insanely huge amount of for taking so long to update. I've got three jobs and I'm in college still, so you can probably imagine how busy and tired I am. It's going to get a little intense in the next chapter, and I'm not referring to stuff. It's going to be a while yet for that, but it will come in due time for my subbies that are in to that kind of thing. Anyway, thanks so much to all of you for sticking with me this long and I'll definitely try my best to actually update more frequently.

Love you guys!!

<3