There was a reason Tao didn’t talk about his past. Him and his parents had moved away from China when he was about to begin high school to escape. They settled into Canada and never heard from what they were running away from, the person they were running away from. Tao’s grandfather, 爷 (Ye) Huang. He was the leader if the Chinese Mafia and had many people killed on a whim. His mother’s father put their family in constant danger by either police or civilian attacks. He’d also trained Tao in martial arts to work as one of his men.

That’s right, Tao’s killed people, obviously not by his wishes. Most of the time it was indeed self-defense, defending himself or his parents. They’d tried running away from that life before, multiple times. They were almost successful, Tao and his mother made it to a train station. Right before the train arrived though, one of his grandfather’s men had pushed his mother into the tracks. If Tao hadn’t stopped time at that moment, she would’ve been killed. Not that that mattered to Mr. Huang, he only cared about having Tao as his right-hand man, the successor to his empire.

When he moved to Canada, he met Kris and the two fell in love. Twenty-four times. Tao had turned back time twenty-three times and this twenty-fourth had seemed to end the cycle. So here he was, trying to survive the life he would’ve lived had he not been a Titan. He was working for his grandfather, for now at least.

The martial artist had run into Zhou Mi on the streets of Seoul late one night and the older told him about the prophecy. So, he wrote a note to Kris, explaining the situation they were in, with his left hand because his dominant hand was sore for some unknown reason. Even though Tao had written in the note that he wouldn’t see Kris for a while, he couldn’t stay away after seeing his face. It was a short period but that was all he needed. Tao has fallen for Kris quickly while the two were in high school. Kris was one of the only people to welcome the foreign student and the two shared many interests. Kris was smart, reasonable, manly, and sometimes a bit dorky, but most of all he was gentle. That was hard to find now-a-days in such a cruel world. To Tao, Kris had become everything. He didn’t want to forget his love, not after all the work he’d put in to keep it alive.

Now Tao was somewhat stalking Kris, carefully watching over him and protecting him. He didn’t like when Kris had to pretend to be married to that one chick though. She wasn’t even that pretty, or at least that’s what Tao told himself so he wouldn’t get too jealous. That’s okay, Tao thought, reset time 23 times, make you love me 24.

Kris and that one chick, who he found out was named Taeyeon, were staying at a fancy hotel. He kept watch around in the lobby most of the day, sitting until the ‘couple’ would leave the hotel. So, so many times Tao’s heart told him to run up to Kris and suffocate him with hugs and kisses, but things could get ugly if he showed that personal connection.

This particular morning though, Tao woke up with a splitting headache and stomach pains. When he’d met up with Kris before, he’d been a little scratched up since a gang of punks tried to jump him. Tried being the keyword. This pain was more internal and aspirin wasn’t helping at all. His hand also felt jolts of pain.

“Crap, it’s already noon. I should’ve been down at the lobby by now,” Tao cursed at himself. He struggled out of bed and flicked two of his fingers toward him, a motion that’s usually allow him to go back however many hours or days he wished. This action just caused the pain to intensify and he fell to the floor.

Another day, another piece of his tattoo disappearing. And his powers were weakening. On top of that, the consequences that comes with the ability to manipulate time were catching up with him. His body was getting weak because of how many times he used his ability. He wondered if Zhou Mi had suffered the same fate as he was.

Making his way down the lobby, he scowled that his Kris was nowhere in sight. He felt someone tap his shoulder.

“Are you looking for someone by any chance?” said a well-groomed man in a suit.

“No-er yes actually. You wouldn’t know them though,” Tao sighed.

“Are you looking for Kris?”

“You-who are you exactly?”

“Kyunhyun, Ancestor Titan of Wind, at your service,” he bowed. “Kris and some girl left a couple of hours ago, they were going to some sort of television interview.”

Tao thanked him and was about to storm up to his hotel room to do some private investigation about where the older might be, but Kyuhyun stopped him.

“I’ve noticed you lingering around our lobby very often. There isn’t a problem with you doing that, but would you tell  your men that we don’t appreciate them hiding in our fake plants.” Kyuhyun nearly whispered the last part.

Tao’s eyes widened, so he was being followed. That stubborn old man just doesn’t know when to quit!

“Don’t move.”

Tao heard the barrel 0f the gun click. Quickly surveying the scene, one man, the ‘leader’, held his gun towards Tao, and there were four other men holding up the lobby, each armed with a handgun. A measly handgun. Tao smirked. He was just spin kick the daylights out of this guy and take out the others when-

“Tao!!”

Kris and Taeyeon had just entered the hotel, unaware of the situation at hand. Two of the men blocked the exit and shoved them further into the room.

“Do’ya know this guy?” One of the men snickered.

“Nope,” Tao frowned, “haven’t seen him before.”

“Well that’s a lie, you’ve been stalking him this whole time.

“Tao…” Kris furrowed his brow.

“Why are ya such a pain in the ?!” The man grabbed Tao’s hair and shouted in his ear.

“Hey! Let go of him!” Kris growled.

“Stay out of this,” the other men threatened. “Tell you what Zitao, come with us peacefully or we’ll start shooting up this place,” the ‘leader’ called out in Chinese.

“Starting with the girl,” one man pointed his handgun to Taeyeon. Panic set in. Taeyeon started crying and pleading. Tao gulped, how would he get himself out of this predicament?

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

Upon pure instinct, Tao flung himself at Taeyeon, pushing her out of the way. The sound of the gun shot. Tao shut his eyes tightly, mentally preparing for unbearable pain.

Tao was trembling.

He couldn’t think properly. He could hardly take a breath.

But he couldn’t feel the pain.

Had they missed?

Tao gasped when he noticed Kris crouched in front of him, his beautiful wings completely extended. Police sirens where heard outside and Kris took that as a sign to book it. Scooping Tao into his arms bridal style and launched into the air, escaping the lobby through a convent giant window that just happened to be open (Curtesy of the well-groomed lobby manager, Kyuhyun).

Once they were a safe distance, Kris landed on a roof top. He gently set Tao down before crouching over in pain. Tao smacked him sharply across the face before taking his lips.

“Kris, are you okay?”

“I’ve been looking for you.”

“Those men, they’ll be after us now,” Tao’s voice trembled as tears brimmed his eyes.

“How long have you been following me?”

“You need to go to the hospital, your arm is bleeding.” Tao ripped the sleeve off of his shirt and applied pressure to the other’s wound.

“Why didn’t you want to meet with me again?”

“Kris, we don’t have time for-“

“I missed you.”

“You should put your wings away, they’re just wasting your energy.”

“I love you,” Kris cupped the younger’s face and gently pressed their lips together. He could taste salty tears and chapped lips but it was a kiss with the person he treasured most in this world, so he really didn’t mind.