"What do you think you're doing?"

Tao stops midway from sitting up to look at Sehun leaning against the door frame, his eyebrow cocked up.

"I was going to join you for dinner," he answers, unsure. Is he doing something wrong? Evidently, the "poison" hadn't really been a poison. Only something to make him a bit sick and tired, but nothing that wouldn't have worn off after a couple hours. He feels better already, and thought that he should take the privilege of accompanying Sehun to dinner like he usually did.

"Absolutely not." Sehun shakes his head in disappointment as he crosses his arms and makes his way to the bed. Tao's not sure why he's still in Sehun's room. He'd just woken up from what had been a relatively short nap after having been denied access to walk back to his own room. The young master is making overly protective efforts to make sure he stays in place and gets his rest, though he doesn't feel like he needs it.

"Do you even know how to take care of yourself?" Sehun takes a seat at the foot of the bed. "I've sent for someone to send up the meal."

"Thank you." Tao says. He props himself up on the pillows.

"It's snowing again," Sehun murmurs quietly, staring out the windows. Fat flakes are drifting through the air outside, piling on top of the already one foot high snow on the ground. Tao nods in acknowledgement.

"Do you ever think," Sehun continues, "this'll ever be over?" His eyes seem to glaze over at the thought. "That I'll be able to leave. That I'll go back to school and return to my normal life. That things can rewind. Do you ever think this might just go on forever since I'm trapped in here because everyone thinks something might happen? Don't you think all this precaution is driven by fear?" He turns to look at Tao, who can only furrow his eyebrows at the words. He feels a mixture of pity and something else that eats away at his conscience.

"Sehun..." He wants to say something, but he can't predict the future, and he can't stop fate. He's trained for solid protection, not emotional care.

The younger feels tired and restless. He barely knows what day it is anymore, if it's a Monday or a Friday, and clocks only provide the constant ticking of time to remind him that it hasn't stopped. There's nothing to do in the old manor, nothing to say, nothing to feel. He turns to Tao with a grimace. "Sorry, I didn't mean to go on like that."

"It's fine," Tao is rather surprised at his sudden change of emotions. It's like he's unstable. Almost. "I'd rewind time for you," he says, and he means it. It feels awful knowing that all Sehun wants is to go back to the better days, just months ago. It feels even more awful knowing that he has part in all this change.

A servant comes in a moment later with a tray and a prop up table for Tao to eat on the bed, interrupting the conversation before Sehun can reply. The food and table is set and Tao feels himself blush again. He's not used to being taken care of, more the other way around. It's weak to have to succumb to this.

Sehun sits down on the ground next to him, his back against the bedside. There's a tray in front of him too, decked out in fancy dishes and whatnot. He isn't touching any of it.

"Sehun, you should eat." Tao points at the food in front of him.

Sehun scoffs. "You're telling me to?"

Tao raises an eyebrow. "Well you're not telling yourself."

Sehun lifts up his fork and picks away at the the small bowl of rice on the corner of the tray. He mumbles something incoherent and puts the utensil back down. "Not hungry," he says more clearly this time.

He sits himself up a bit and lets his head fall back onto the bed, next to Tao's arm. Sehun closes his eyes and mutters, "I miss the outside world, Tao."

Tao lets out a laugh, but he has no response. Carefully, he sets the table aside and straightens his back. His ears perk up. There's a ringing from across the hall.

I hate him, he thinks to himself. "Sorry, Sehun, I have to take a call."

"Yeah." Sehun looks up, curious, his eyes trailing after the boy as he leaves for his own room in a rush. He stands, food forgotten, and heads outside in the corridor. Tao had intended to close the door behind him but in haste, he hadn't noticed that his own bedroom door had been left open a crack.

It's a rather wicked thing to do, not at all aligned with Sehun's morals. Downright rude. But can he help it? He's overcome with desire.

He stands right next to the doorway, listening. Waiting.

"I can't see what we have to talk about, Kyungsoo." Jongin gulps. He's not ready for this. And, he sees, neither is Kyungsoo. His now-ex.

"Do you love him?" Kyungsoo asks, trying to keep his expression hard. He'd forced out the question, spat it out with a heavy breath.

Direct. Blunt. Straight to the point. It was a side of him Jongin had always found rather endearing. He shakes his head. "No." The word comes out as a whisper.

"Then why?" His demeanor breaks. Just for a millisecond, but Jongin doesn't miss it.

"I don't know, Soo. I really don't." He tries to search for the answer himself. Somewhere, it ought to be hidden.

Kyungsoo is at a loss for words. His eyes start to sting, his heart is jammed in his throat, he can feel his character breaking.

"What am I supposed to do, Jongin?" His voice is breaking, getting quieter and quieter with every sound he has to force out of his throat. He had wanted this conversation to go somewhere, not for him to break down after a mere two minutes.

Jongin shakes his head. "I really don't know Kyungsoo. There's nothing. Nothing you can do."

Kyungsoo brings his hands up to his face and covers his eyes. Jongin can't see him cry. He cannot. It just won't be done. He cannot see how weak he is right now, how fragile. He is shivering glass caught in a storm, he is the side of a cliff getting beat with waves, he is the reddened leaf at the end of autumn. "Don't say that," he's left with the whispers from the back of his mind. He must sound like a lunatic right now, spouting nonsense and bubbling with all the feelings he's been left with. Why is there nothing he can do? There is always something, there must be something. He can't be left with no options...that can't be.

"I'm sorry, Kyungsoo." Jongin shakes his head and bites his lip.

Kyungsoo rubs his eyes with the heels of his palms, keeping bits of moisture from crawling down his pale cheeks. "Jongin," he addresses him. 

"Yes, Soo?" He looks up.

Kyungsoo hates it. Hates that he calls him "Soo" with such affection. Hates that he looks at him with those round eyes full of indecision and sadness, says those words with such pouty lips. Hates that he made him hate him. 

"Are you happy?" He asks, holding his breath.

Jongin pauses, having to think about it. He tries to search inside his mind for the truth, because Kyungsoo deserves at the very least that. It's too little to just ask himself if he is happy. Instead, he wonders if things could be better. If he had made the right decisions. Instead, he wonders why he did what he did and who's he doing it for and why. The seconds it takes to think these questions feel like minutes, feel like hours, feel like years. "I think so, Soo," he finally answers. But once the words are out, he senses a growing regret in the pit of his stomach. So many final decisions were in those four words, and it was already too late to take them back. He bandages them up with, "I don't know, but I think so."

The other boy nods his head firmly, his hands never once moving away from his face. It's no longer that he doesn't want Jongin to see him cry, but it is that he can't bear to see Jongin now. He doesn't want to know what he looks like as he says that he is happy. He doesn't want to see Jongin smiling, overflowing with yes, my life is great but he also doesn't want to see him crushed, doubting himself and his own emotions. He doesn't know what he wants. His angel wants Jongin happy, but his devil wants him to be guilty. He wants Jongin to come back to him, but he knows he will never forget this even if he did. So he doesn't think about it, and promptly turns and leaves the room as quickly as he can. 

If he can get out, then maybe there is relief elsewhere. There is nothing left in his heart to break, only the little sweeps as shards of what once was are pushed away.

There's a shuffle of feet against carpet. Then the sound of curtains being drawn to a close. The creak of the bed springs. A beep.

"What is it?" Tao's voice sounds hostile. Sehun strains to hear the conversation. 

Maybe it's the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Eavesdropping is not something he would ever do, but there's a certain thrill to it. He doesn't want to get caught, but there's that question in the back of his mind. What does his bodyguard need to talk about with his agency all the time? If the calls were only occasionally and short-lived, then it'd seem less suspicious. Check up calls, that would have been what Sehun would have thought they were. But no, the calls are frequent and appear to drag on longer than need be.

"There's no need for you to, so I don't see why," he hears Tao growl. There's no doubt the person he's talking to is no one pleasant.

"Don't rush me," he continues.

Who the hell is he talking to and why is he being rushed? Sehun thinks to himself. He's a bodyguard, what other task is there than to protect him? Does he also need to find the enemy? He can't fit one and one together; it doesn't quite make sense.

"Why are you doing this now?" Tao's voice is growing steadily more and more agitated. "Just be patient like before. There's a time and place for everything, and I'm waiting for the right moment. You can't expect me to simply do things on a limb here!"

A pause.

"What the  do you mean by that?"

The caller clearly gets on his nerves.

"I understand," He's trying to contain his irritation. "Please don't call me that." Tao sounds like he's speaking through gritted teeth.

The conversation starts to get more hushed. Sehun takes a risk and takes a step closer to the doorway. It's too late to turn back. He needs to make sense of things.

"Yes, I know."

He's calmer.

His next few words come out in a whisper, "The gun is in the back pocket."

Sehun feels a chill run down his spine. Weapons are not things that bring back any good memories. He involuntarily shivers.

"Please stop."

Sehun snaps back to attention. Tao's voice had suddenly gotten so serious.

"He'll be gone soon enough."

...What?

"I can promise, in due time, the Ohs won't have an heir."

But... what?

"Why make me say these things? What's wrong with you today?"

The gears in Sehun's head have clogged, have jammed, have sputtered to a stop.

He turns ice cold at the sound of Tao's last few words before there's a click and Sehun knows he must return to his room lest he get caught in the act. It causes a ringing in his ear and all the blood drains from his face.

"The young master will die at my hands."

He feels nauseous. Whatever food he's had in the last twenty four hours is sure to come back up his throat. A churning in his stomach. Thoughts don't process. Legs don't work. Brain doesn't comprehend.

Sehun falls to his knees. In an attempt to get back to his own room, he forces himself to crawl across the hall. He makes it to the doorway of his own room before curling up against the wall, his eyes wide and mouth gasping for air. 

There's no oxygen, none in his lungs. He can't breathe right. 

Betrayal. Blindness. He's been a fool. 

Footsteps approach. He has to move away. But he can't bring himself to get up. His entire body resists his brain's futile struggle to make his limbs move correctly.

"Sehun, are you okay? What's wrong?" Tao sounds genuinely concerned.

Sehun's head turns up at the voice, and he quickly falls back on his hands. He scurries back, up against the wall, until there is no more room for him to escape. His heart pounds. Fear. A mountain of fear piling up on his shoulders, forcing him down to the ground.

"Sehun, what is it?" Tao takes a step closer.

He wants to disappear. Yet he knows that if he keeps acting this way, surely his bodyguard -- no, just Tao now -- will find out what he's done. That could be his end.

"I - I'm fine." He compels himself to ever so gradually stand up, pretending to casually brush himself off. He stares at the ground, unable to meet Tao's eyes. There's no way he could do that now. Not today, not anytime soon, maybe not ever.

No. The last one was a lie. 

"Do you want to lie down? Do you need anything?" Tao places a hand on his shoulder, and he stiffens under the touch. 

But damn his heart, blood rushes to his cheeks at the contact as well.

"I'm fine, Tao." It's a miracle he got the words out. He didn't think he could speak. "I'll just lie down a bit, yeah."

He makes his way to the bed with limping steps. One foot in front of the other, he reaches his side of the bed and buries his way into the blankets. He hides his face on the pillow. Outside, night falls.

Oh yes, he's been a fool.

"Do you want me to keep you company?" Tao's voice has always sounded a bit raspy, but edged with a touch of airiness. 

He nods his head yes.

A horrible fool.

He feels Tao climb under the blankets. A second later, an arm reaches around his back and slowly pulls him in. His forehead is against Tao's chest, his head tucked under Tao's chin. He knows it's because Tao thinks he's unwell. Only because he cares. 

"Is this okay?" The older boy questions him. Always uncertain of his actions. How cute.

The worst type of fool.

"Yeah. It is."

Who has fallen into the clutches of the worst type of emotion.

"Good night, Sehun." Tao's other hand rests on Sehun's hair. He rubs circles onto Sehun's back to comfort him. "Feel better soon."

Love.

He moves closer to Tao and wills himself to sleep. 

"Good night."

A/N YAY FOR PLOT ADVANCEMENT! Wow, the biggest percentage leap I've done yet! And it's a relatively short chapter too! I'm sorry it's short, but I think I wrote a lot in a little (?) I didn't want to a) overwhelm by writing any more or b) lessen the tension or diminish its importance by continuing. OuO I really want to move this story along and I think it's long overdue haha I know there are already comments with predictions and guesses and words of emotion for my story~ thank you so much for those~

Also, thank you to the 32 amazing people who clicked that upvote button, thank you to the 161 people who clicked 'subscribe', and thank you for heartwarming and affectionate comments xD I really appreciate it all and i'm super happy you all seem to be enjoying the story! I love you guys~