Zitao and Yixing don’t go back on their pact to have nothing but fun without a worry towards anything happening in South Korea. In the time of his stay Yixing does try to contact Kai, but after a 37 minute long intermittent Skype video call, no other attempt at contact is made.

Zitao does his best to keep Yixing busy, sometimes taking on the role of an overly eager puppy on the days when Yixing really doesn’t want to do much besides stay inside under the cooling blow of an air conditioner. Even without the added activities that Zitao and Yixing had come up with, Yixing still found himself busy meeting old friends and bonding with his family.

Their first week and half which was spent in China’s capital city of Beijing had definitely been the highlight of Yixing’s vacation. He made it a point to see as much as the city as possible, snapping picture after picture for both himself and Jongdae, because Yixing wasn’t exactly sure when he’d get another chance to he see the city like that again.

During that time Zitao did manage to place first in his tournament, and unlike the previous competition, Yixing was there watching over and cheering on his cousin.

The flight back to Seoul is just as earlier as the flight to China. Yixing’s mother isn’t exactly a morning person but she firmly believed that the earlier something is done the better it would be for everyone. In this case, it’s like the quick removal of a bandage. The only difference between a flight to China, and a flight to Seoul, was the emotion that the latter possessed.

They weren’t leaving for a few weeks in a summer, they would be gone for months and months on end. Zitao will once again be separated from his family for another year, he’s going to have to spend another school year being comforted by skype chats, and long distance phone calls.

On the plane ride back to Seoul, Zitao is always quietest. He’s always seems to use that time to reflect on his past bad decisions instead of falling asleep like he usually does. Yixing too, is never sleepy while riding back to Seoul. He sits quietly holding his cousin’s hand, or doing some other comforting gesture, as he tries not to disturb Zitao’s state of pensiveness.

Before Zitao had joined Yixing and the older boy’s mother in Seoul he’d given his parents both headaches and heartaches. It wasn’t until Yixing had come to visit did he promise to shape up. It was too late then and by the end of summer he’d left to a foreign country, miles away from his parents and all he really knew.

Yixing feels anxious, as soon as he reaches home he wants to run off to see Kai, but he doesn’t. Not only will his mother not allow him to, but it was also the fact that the younger was probably still sleeping.

Yixing had planned out his arrival since he had first heard of their return date. He had planned to surprise Kai and maybe even talk about going to the next level like what he’d brought up with Jongdae. The time away made him realize that he wasn’t confused and knew exactly what he wanted. He had never had a talk of that sort, but Kai was someone that wouldn't push too far without a sort of verbal expression on Yixing's end.

They hadn't even touched each other as openly as that one time and that alone made him worried. Yixing was pretty confident about his body so he doesn't think Kai had cringed when seeing him so it had to be his inexperience that scared Kai, if not scared then possibly hesitant in doing something that Yixing might not be ready for.

Yixing leaves during late into the afternoon, the sun high in the sky and hot on him. He closes the door just in time to hear his mother asking Zitao if he has a girlfriend.

Yixing takes his time on his way to Kai's house. He has a bag with a souvenir he's more than sure Kai will like and if he doesn't then Yixing's sure now will be the time to see if Kai will accept anything Yixing gives him just because it's him giving it.

The door to Kai's house is unlocked which means someone is home. He slow opens it and closes it behind him, he feels like a secret spy as he creeps inside the house doing his best to keep the noise he makes to a minimum. The stairs are a tricky and they creak and groan underneath his weight

At the top of the stairs, down the hall, Kai's bedroom door is open. Kai never keeps his door open and that catches Yixing off guard but nevertheless he continues forward if anything that must mean Kai is home which means he won't have to wait for an unspecified amount of time for the younger to return.

Another thing that catches him off guard when he makes his way to the exposed steps is the ring of overlapping laughter coming from the attic bedroom. He can feel a hint of timid embarrassment bubbling under the surface of his skin as he begins to climb the stairs, he felt flustered imagining the all-knowing smirks he would receive if one of the guys happened to be in Kai's bedroom. He didn't mind the teasing but he hadn't seen his boyfriend in such a long time that he's sure that whatever they conjured up in their erted minds wouldn't be too far off base.

He hears a voice just as he's able to see into the younger boy's room and he finds himself frozen in confusion.

Kai is lying on his bed. Yixing can only see the bend of his knees downward but the toned and lightly tanned legs could belong to no one but his boyfriend. Beside Kai is someone Yixing doesn't know, the boy's back is to him, his frame is petite, and he has dark hair that stops at his nape. Yixing can't see much of the fair skinned boy but he knows it's not someone he's ever seen before. They're talking, his boyfriend and this stranger, and Yixing takes note of how the unknown boy's hand rests itself on Kai's lap.

Yixing then focuses on their words, Kai's telling this boy to stay with them and Yixing frowns at the command. It’s lighthearted and playful enough, but still, who was this person that Kai felt comfortable enough to allow in his room, and on his bed.

He doesn't want to be there eavesdropping, but now like watching a terrible car crash, he can't turn away.

"Kim Jongin," the boy says in a playfully scolding tone, his hand slapping lightly against Kai's thigh. Yixing frown deepens not at the boy's action but at the name he called. Kim Jongin? "Where are we supposed to stay? And I'm warning you now there's no way in hell I'm staying in Junmyeon-hyung's messy room or Chanyeol's for that matter."

Yixing finds himself biting on his bottom lip and shuffling back down the stairs. He won't come to any false conclusions he tells himself, he just needs some time to himself to gather his thoughts and attempt to understand and grasp what he'd just overheard. He had absolutely no idea what exactly he’d just witnessed, and he needed the time to process it.

"You can stay with me then Hyung," he distinctly hears Kai's voice say just as he reaches the second floor of the house. No false conclusions, he reminds himself.

He doesn't know why he tosses the gift bag onto the sofa in the living room. Maybe it's a passive aggressive move, let Kai see his gift on the sofa and hopefully give the younger male an incentive to explain what exactly Yixing just witnessed.

I'm home," Yixing says flatly.

"So fast," his mother asks. "Zitao was just about to go to Kris's house, you should go with him."

"I'm actually really tired mom," Yixing says in reply. "I'll meet with Kris-ge later. I just want to sleep at the moment."

"Not too long ago you went racing out of the house like a bullet and now you're tired?" Yixing nods and his mother sighs softly. "Fine," she says in a dismissive tone of voice. "Go sleep the day away if you want to. It’s your break from school."

"Thanks," Yixing says trudging up the steps to his bedroom. With each step his foot falls heavy against the stair and it sighs underneath him.

When Yixing wakes up the first thing he does is check his cellphone. There are no new messages or missed calls and he sighs crashing against his bed in despair. His mind wanders, conjuring up images of Kai and that boy and he groans loudly. He knows his thoughts won't stop wandering till he gets answers and but at the moment he couldn’t even begin to think up the all the questions he needed answers to.

"What did your perfect misunderstood boyfriend do to make you so upset?" It's later in the day Zitao has returned home from being with Kris, and now he had decided to spend his time in Yixing's room to attempt to figure out why the older male. as sulking.

"I'm not telling you," Yixing says, turning away from his younger cousin.

"I'm trying this thing where I give unbiased relationship advice to my cousin when he seems like he needs it. I'm not going to tell you to dump him," Zitao tells him. “Well I might, but it’ll be said with your best intentions in mind.”

"Even if you did I probably wouldn't listen," Yixing retorts. "I don't want to give you more reason to hate Kai."

"Did he break up with you," Zitao asks. Yixing snorts and mumbles a no. "Did he cheat on you," Zitao asks next. Yixing hesitates a second too long and shakes his head no, words muffled by his pillow as he presses his face deep into the soft cushion as if to smother himself.

"He didn't," Zitao asks his tone harder as if he didn't believe Yixing. "Fine," he huffs out. "Why are you acting so down? I'm the only one that can give you advice at the moment so if I were you, I'd it up and just talk to me."

"Fine," Yixing says a moment later turning to his cousin. He bites his lip and closes his eyes as he tries to figure how to put his worries into words. "Let's say you think you love someone. All you know about him is what he tells you and you figured he told you all of the more important facts of his life, but you find out that he may have left out something major." He groans then, burying his face once more into his pillow. "Never mind," he mumbles out. "It's too complicated."

"How important is this thing that he left out," Zitao asks.

"As important as names," Yixing says.

"What does that mean," Zitao asks. When Yixing shrugs he decides to figure out the meaning himself. "Names are like your identity right? So what he didn't tell you was something dealing with his identity?"

Yixing frowns but nods his head a second later. "I don't know who he is."

Zitao frowns at that. "Relationships are complicated things. My advice is to talk to him and figure out why he's hiding something you see as important, maybe has a really valid reason behind it."

"Did you just give me good advice," Yixing asks turning to his cousin with a grin.

"This is the first and last time though," Zitao tells him teasingly. "I still don't approve."

"Thank you little cousin," Yixing says, ruffling the younger boy's impeccably styled hair.

"You're welcome," Zitao says. "You know if he hurts you, you don't have to excuse it."

"You know I'm not as pathetic as you might think. I try to be understanding but I'm not as much of a pushover as I might seem."

"I know," Zitao says. "It's just, you worry about me, and I worry about you. It's what families do."

"I think I'm going to ask Jongdae a few things before I talk to Kai," Yixing muses aloud.

“Why," Zitao asks.

"He knows Junmyeon and probably knows a lot about Kai as well or at least their group. He probably knows why Kai would keep such a secret. I want to hear his opinion before anything else. I don’t want to be lied to."

"Can't I come with you," Zitao asks eagerly. "I'm curious now. If I can't come with you can you at least tell me what you find out?"

“No,” Yixing says. “Besides, what Jongdae tells me is just to,” he trails off then, eyebrows furrowing as he thinks of why exactly to say. “I don’t want to believe anything unless Kai confirms it, so you can’t go.”

My new update date is Sunday but unfortunately while I was editing this on Sunday my power went out and I just got it back. Anyway I had this part of my story planned since the very beginning.