Wednesday

Kris watched the sleeping boy quietly. The other had yet to wake up that morning. After yesterday's cacophony of discussing with the other, he'd won the battle in the end, the latter had fallen asleep since then. After he had made sure the other was tucked away peacefully, he had continued to get some work done before hitting the hay. That morning, he woke up early and found the other still sleeping and he was glad the other was finally obeying his orders. In his opinion, the other really needed a much deserved sleep.

And now he was sitting there, doing nothing in particularly. He didn't know why he was actually there, but he was. After he got the news from Luhan, saying that he had practically ran into Tao, his heart had skipped a few beats. His worry level shooting sky high for both Luhan and Tao. At that exact same moment, he didn't care that he had abruptly ended an important meeting. He was, after all, the one leading it anyway, so he could start and end whenever he deemed appropriate. After he'd paged his secretary to cancel whatever he had on yesterday's schedule, he left his company and hurried to the address Luhan had given him.

The moment he saw the somewhat disheveled Tao, he had sighed out in relief and was happy that nothing serious had happened to both his brother and the other lad. At least the other wasn't badly injured. But still, that didn't let him stop worrying about the other. Kris felt the need to take care of the other from that moment and what could he think of then deciding on his own to take the other under his wing? The other didn't make it easy for him, though, but he got the other in his house eventually.

A soft groan brought his attention back to the still sleeping lad. His fiance was finally coming back into the world of the living and he was almost afraid the other would throw a tantrum again.

"Tao... are you awake?," he finally asked and evacuated himself from his current position to the bed.

Carefully the black disheveled hair, Kris waited for the other's answer. Tired and bleary beautiful eyes looked up into his own. He provided a smile and still waited for the other to respond him.

"Where am I?," Tao croaked out.

"On the bed. My house," Kris simply replied.

Tao nodded his head slowly and tried to get up with the help of the other. He wondered how long he'd been sleeping and why Kris was in the room. It took him a few minutes to finally focus on the other sitting on the bed. Tao tried to fight back a yawn, but eventually it escaped out of his lips, before he could even do anything. And that was when Kris felt something strange in his heart. 

"Finally, you are up," Kris said.

"Uh...,"

"Get ready. Breakfast is ready in a few minutes," Kris commanded and before Tao could even say anything, the other had already gotten up and left the room.

Tao frowned at the retreating figure. He didn't and couldn't understand the other. One moment, Kris would act so cold, the next minute the other could be so nice and sweet towards him. What was with the other guy anyway? How could Sehun even like such a person? He groaned in himself thinking about his best friend again. Tao had promised himself to stay away from his best friend's fiance and yet, here he was getting closer instead, if staying at the other's house was what was seen as getting closer.

A few minutes later, Tao was led into the kitchen by Luhan, who had found him wandering around because he was lost on his way to the kitchen. Kris was already seated at the head of the eating table, reading a newspaper while taking time to finish his own breakfast. Luhan pushed him to a random seat, which was next to Kris and when his breakfast was finally put infront of him, Tao then decided to just dig in and not care whatever they would think about him. He was starving and he really needed food to satisfy his angry stomach. Once he was finished eating, Tao then decided to say something.

"Uhm... I... I want to thank you for... everything and all... but... I think... I am going to go now... I have work and can't be late," 

"There's no more work for you," Kris said calmly, finally putting down the newspaper he'd been reading the whole time.

"What do you mean?," Tao asked in confusion.

He hoped the other didn't mean what he thought the other meant, because work was his only source of revenue. And getting a well paid job like the one he already had was not an easy one.

"It means, you don't have to go to work anymore, Tao. Ge has everything set for you already," Luhan chirped with a big smile.

Tao deadpanned. The other had done exactly what he'd feared. And slowly he felt his anger rising again. How dared the other take decisions for him! The other wasn't even allowed to. The other didn't have the right to. Ugh! How he could get his hands on the other and make the other regret he was ever born in this world.

"How could you do that? You don't have the right to!," Tao almost screeched out.

"I can do that, because I am the owner of the shop," Kris said.

"Wh-what? You can't be the owner, be-,"

"I bought the coffeeshop this morning, so that makes me the owner and as the owner of the coffeeshop, I can decide whether or not to let you continue your services at my coffeeshop," Kris explained and to emphasize his words, he pulled out a printed sheet of owner transfer.

Tao slumped in defeat. He really couldn't believe his ears. The other was the owner now. Why did such horrid things have to happen to him? What had he done in his past life to suffer such consequences? His eyes landed on the signature of his previous boss and an unfamiliar one, which probably belonged to the devil sitting not far from him. If only he could let that signature disappear with his venomous glare.

"Hey, don't worry Tao. That way, we can take care of you and you won't have to worry about anything. Besides, you are going to be ge's spouse in just a few days, so why not enjoy the free time while you can?," Luhan opted.

Tao looked at the other in shock. In a few days? What the hell? He never agreed on anything. He hit himself mentally. Of course, the other didn't know that he was just a mistake. He wasn't supposed to be there to begin with. He really had to make sure to straighten things out as fast as he could, because this was getting even worse than he'd thought.

"Look... uhm... I have to tell you guys something... I am not who you think I am," Tao started.

It was now or never. 

A shrill ringing of a cellphone going off interrupted his words and he cursed out loudly, earning a disbelieving look from both Kris and Luhan. The song didn't want to stop until it was answered by him. Plucking out the annoying device from out of his pocket, Tao answered the call with a simple click on the device.

"Hello?," 

"Hello?! Hello!? Tao, are you there? Where are you?!," a voice bleared out of the phone, surprising him.

Tao shot up from his slumped position and positioned his phone better to his ear. His attention was piqued immediately and he practically cried out in happiness. He was finally saved! His best friend was there to come and rescue him from his difficult position. His best friend was finally going to be his rescuer for the century!

He was about to say something, but found his device ripped out of his fingers and in the hands of the devil who claimed him as his fiance. Tao fumed and was close to kicking the other on the shin, but missed and kicked the table instead. Howling in pain, Tao quickly sat down and cradled his painful foot with one hand while the other tried to make a grab for his abducted phone.

"Sir, there is an important talk going on here. Please, do call back after an hour. Thank you, sir," Kris said, not caring whoever was on the other side of the line.

The moment he'd ended the call, Kris tucked the phone away in his pockets. If there was one thing Kris hated, it was whenever a call would interrupt something important. It didn't matter to him if it was he who had to say something important or the other. Kris just didn't tolerate that. 

"You were saying?," Kris asked waiting for whatever the other was going to say.

"You-! You-! Ugh... I am out of here!," Tao huffed and stomped his way out of the house.

"Wait! Tao!," Luhan tried calling out to the other, but the vibrating of his own phone stopped him from going after the other.

Kris rested his head on the back of his leather chair. What had he done? What was wrong with him? After Tao had disappeared, Luhan had scolded him for who knows what. He tried going after the other, but something stopped him from doing so. His secretary had called and told him he was going to be late for a meeting. Deciding that he would deal with the other later, he had hurried to his company and started with the meeting.

He had just finished the meeting a few minutes ago and he felt drained already. Kris hadn't expected having a fiance would take so much energy from him. But he had to bear with it. His father had demanded him to do so and this was the result of listening to his father. But then again, Kris didn't mind too much actually. He had actually taking a liking in the other the first time they met. It was as if something alluring attracted his attention. The other was quite interesting and he was sure he'd never met such an eccentric person in his life before. Something pulled him to the other like a string. Something strong he couldn't describe at the moment.

It's been a few day already and Kris felt the need for the other to be close to him. He wanted the other to be his, but somehow after the other's words, Kris wasn't so sure anymore. The other had said that he wasn't what he thought the other was. Had he been wrong all the time? He was sure he didn't make any mistakes, because Kris Wu never makes any mistakes. He had made sure to read through everything before coming to a decision and that was what he had done in this case too. He had only agreed on taking a fiance because it was what was expected of him and nothing more. But, the first time he met the other, Kris felt something. He felt something strange tugging inside him. The same tug had made itself known earlier. And that strange tugging, he'd figured out, was him starting to develop something to the other.

What was going on with him?! Kris raked a hand through his already tousled hair. He'd been doing that lately, he'd noticed. There were feelings. Peculiar feelings which he'd never been exposed to before and he needed to find out what it actually was. Did the other feel the same way he was feeling? Kris didn't know. He had never taken a liking to anyone in his life before. His life only consisted of work and work and work again. The thought of suddenly liking someone had struck him like tons of bricks. 

"You are in love with him aren't you?,"

Kris looked up from the sudden interruption in his brooding. Luhan had entered his office without him even noticing and seated himself on his desk, not bothering to notice the scowl he had already put on his face. 

"Go away," Kris demanded.

"No way! How can you be so rude to your own baby brother?," Luhan faked a painful look on his face while clutching the hem of his shirt.

"And don't sit on my desk!," Kris ignored his brother's words and tried to arrange his desk to point out that he was busy and didn't need his brother to be a bother in the office.

"Well, in that case...,"

Luhan hopped off the table to only plant himself on his brother's lap, glomping the other in the process. The futile attempts coming from his brother to escape from his clutches, were simply ignored.

"Oh, don't be such a grumpy, moody poopy," Luhan chirped as he had two fistful of Kris' hair, pulling in different directions. "No wonder everyone wants to stay out of your way,"

"What do you want Luhan?," Kris demanded and pried his brother's fingers away from his hair. 

He sometimes wondered if Luhan really was related to him. The latter was simply the total opposite of him and didn't even know when to behave as an adult. Luhan simply looked more like a kid trapped in an adult body. But, sometimes Kris was happy he had Luhan like that. At least, Luhan didn't have to suffer whatever he'd suffered when he was younger.

Everything he had missed out in his childhood was given to Luhan. He was the eldest and expected to be the example for his brother. And taking his role seriously, Kris had done whatever it took to make his parents proud and did everything as expected. He didn't want to let Luhan suffer the way he did, thus everytime Luhan was reprimanded, Kris would always be there to help Luhan escape whatever punishments their parents deemed was proper at the time. Having protected Luhan practically his whole life, Kris couldn't blame the other to act all childish around him. He had taken part in making the other the way he was now.

"Ge... why are you here? Shouldn't you be going after Tao?," Luhan asked.

"I don't know, Luhan," Kris sighed. He really didn't know. He was tired and his head was hurting him.

"Well, if you love him, you should go after him," Luhan said.

"L-love? Whoever said anything about love?," Kris sputtered out, shocked at Luhan's words.

"Of course love. You love him, ge. I can see it," Luhan stated calmly, still perched on Kris' lap.

Kris was quiet. He didn't know what to say. Was it really true? He had never thought about love. Yes, he did like the other and seeing the other was his fiance, to begin with, he could go with that. The other didn't really look too bad to his own taste. But LOVE? No. The word LOVE didn't exist in his dictionary. And most important, there was no such thing as love in this cruel world. Kris knew that. He had seen it coming from their parents. Their parents were married because of their parents wanted to emerge business and whatever he was going through was the repeat of their parent's history. So, he could LIKE the other, but never LOVE the other. Kris was sure about that and who knew that better than himself?

"You can say whatever you want, Luhan... but I know it's not love," Kris finally answered back, earning a frown from the other.

"Hmm... ge... Tao is a good person. I like him. Don't go hurting yourself or him, ok?," Luhan pleaded as he got off his brother.

Before Kris could ask whatever his brother meant, the door opened to reveal a tall, well built man in his mid fifties, wearing a black suit and having a stern look on his face. A sudden tense aura erupted in Kris' office and he felt almost as if he would suffocate any minute. Both Kris and Luhan turned to bow at the man respectively, welcoming him.

"Good afternoon, sir...,"

"Hm... you two are looking fine, I see. Let's have a small chat, shall we?," the man said.

Tao slumped down on an unoccupied bench and watched the scenery in front of him. They sky was clear and the weather was rather good. A nice day to go out and relieve some stress. There was a family having picnic not too far from the tree next to the bench he was currently occupying on his left. Turning to look at the front, he could see a couple of people having fun with a frisbee and then there was a couple sitting close to each other on another bench. Lovebirds. Psh.

He sighed out loudly. Tao had noticed he'd been doing that a lot since that morning he'd stormed out of Kris' house. He couldn't really do anything about it, because he was stressing at the moment. His phone was abducted by the other, he was jobless, he had no one to turn to and his best friend must probably hate him now.

Tao was sure his best friend had heard Kris' voice and would wonder why he was actually answering Tao's phone. And those words... He groaned in himself. Sehun was someone who could not be fooled easily and if the boy ever asked him why Kris was even with him, Tao didn't even know how to explain to the other. He definitely didn't want to lie to the other anymore. He had lied to the other enough already and he was feeling even more guilty by the minute.

A few seconds passed and Tao simply let the fresh air caress his cheeks. He didn't feel like leaving the park yet. He had no place to go anyway. At least, he could feel at ease there and no one who could disturb him.

His mind drifted off to the tall and y guy he had met and was trying to avoid all the time. He wondered how it would feel to have the other touch him intimately. Those perfect, big hands and the well toned body. Tao felt his cheeks getting warm at the thought of the other touching him. What the hell was he thinking?! Trying to shake away the thoughts, he found out he couldn't and continued to think more instead. Whenever the other was near him, he would feel all uncomfortable and unable to do his work properly. His heart would beat faster with every second. Whatever the other had, it effected him dearly. Tao didn't know why but he quite actually liked the other near and with the other now taking care of him, it felt as if it was his dream come true. Remembering the way the other had taken care of him yesterday, made him feel cared and loved for the first time. When did he start developing feelings for the other? Tao had to admit though, he actually liked the attention he got from the other. If only... He smacked himself mentally. This was not good, He couldn't think of the other like that again. It was forbidden territory. Like he had told himself lots of times and yet ignored his own warnings,

"I am so screwed," Tao groaned in himself.

"Tao? Is that you?,"

Tao froze at the sudden voice. It was the oh so familiar voice belonging to someone he had been fearing of finding out the truth the whole time now and groaned even more. He was definitely screwed.

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A/N:

Yay! Another update! Finally! Ugh... took me long enough. Hate those writer's blocks, but can't help it. I hope I can update another chapter soon. Am working on it. 

Hmm...Oh yeah... HAPPY NEW YEAR, my lovely dearies!! Hope this year will bring you much prosperity and love!!

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