Tao led him through tall, iron gates and into a building that was also tall and solid. It honestly looked a bit frightening, but Kris was determined to do this. He needed Baekhyun back. That was obvious to him. 

He noticed a tall young man in black jeans a white tee-shirt approach him, followed by a shorter man with amazingly beautiful bone structure. He shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the pretty guy. “Hi. I’m Kris Wu, and I was told to come here,” he glanced at Tao. “He brought me here.” 

The tall man smiled at him slightly. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” he spoke in broken English, and Kris could hear a Chinese accent. “My name is Zhang Yixing. If you’re certain about this, come with me.” He glanced at the pretty Korean behind him. “Jongdae, could you please go get my bag? It’s on the bookcase in the sitting room.” 

The shorter man nodded, smiling at him. “Sure.” He left quickly, and Kris got the distinct idea that Yixing wanted to speak with him alone. 

He nodded when he realized he was correct. “You know, when you do this, there will be no turning back and going back to your old life. If you do that, Tao will simply turn the time back again…and this will have never happened and live without Baekhyun for the rest of your life.”

Kris nodded, his mind made up. “I know, and there won’t any going back on my word. All I want is Baekhyun back.”

Yixing smiled at him. “Okay. Come with me, then. We’ll return things to their original state, if you can succeed. If you fail, and cannot recognize the scent, that’s it…No second chances.”

Kris swallowed hard. “I did to do this. If it fails, please just kill me, or I will do it myself. Got it?”

Yixing nodded, seeing that he was serious. “Got it. Let’s go, then.” 

They walked to a room, and Kris shivered when he felt a powerful feeling radiating from it. He figured it must be magic, which he had never felt before. Yixing took out a key, turning it in the lock and opening the door. Kris noticed that there were several candles burning, and Yixing made eye contact with him. “Go in and concentrate on each of the candles, until you smell the one that brings you back to Baekhyun. When that happens, the transformation will be complete, and you’ll be taken back to the time before this accident happened. Do you understand?” 

Kris nodded, feeling a bit suffocated by the magic in the room. “Yes. If I can recognize Baek, I can have him back.” 

Yixing nodded, turning to walk out. “You have only three hours to complete this, so get to work, and concentrate hard.” He smiled. “Good luck.”

 Yixing walked out and met Jongdae in the hall. “Thank you for bringing my bag. I’ll need it, if this goes wrong.” 

Jongdae smiled at him, looking nervous. “You’re welcome.” 

                    ************

Kris took a deep breath, smelling each candle as if his life depended on it. His life did depend on it. If he didn’t get Baekhyun back, he didn’t have a reason to continue living. 

He smelt many different scents, from pumpkin to lavender to other scents that he didn’t recognize. There were even fruity scents, like cherry and pomegranate. However, he wasn’t coming across anything that took him back to Baekhyun.  

Walking to the thirteenth candle, he was becoming to become doubtful, so he sat down on a dark red couch that was morbidly the same shade as blood. Closing his eyes, he took in all the scents that wafted through his nostrils. He still hadn’t smelled anything that took him back to Baekhyun’s scent, and he was becoming sleepy from all of the scents. 

Standing to his feet, he glanced at his watch. The time had flown by, the better part of the last hour spent sitting on the couch, trying to recognize Baekhyun, and also trying to stay awake. He wondered if the sleepy feeling was part of the charm, or if it was simply the candles. 

Sighing, he continued to smell the candles again, walking to each one and concentrating on them. There were several candles that reminded him of certain things about Baekhyun, like his energy, his vigor for life, and his passion. However, none of them felt like Baekhyun, himself. 

Pausing, he noticed there were only three candles left. One of them just had to be the right one. He now had fifteen minutes, so time was running out. Taking another deep breath, he breathed out completely, so he would only smell the scent of the next candle. It smelled like orange and also like chocolate, which reminded him of Baekhyun’s love of mixing ice cream flavors. He smiled, remembering the last time they had gone for ice cream. He had been distant, and hadn’t realized that it could have been the last time he had seen his lover. 

Walking to the next candle, he didn’t notice anything special about it. It was bland, smelling very similar to dirt. It was most definitely not Baekhyun. He looked at the last one, knowing that it had to be Baekhyun, because the others hadn’t worked. He only had five minutes left now. 

Sighing again, he was feeling disheartened as he walked to the last candle, smelling it with a deep whiff. The scent of the candle was so terrible, with a hint of blood. The smell caused him to become dizzy, and it brought tears to his eyes as he sank to the ground. All he could see was blood and loss. He had lost Baekhyun, and now he didn’t have the time to regain him. Closing his eyes, he felt a calm feeling come over him and he saw the dark, hawk-like eyes that he now recognized as Tao’s in his head. 

Opening his eyes quickly, he felt reenergized. There had to be another candle. Looking around the room, he caught a scent that caused such longing that it hurt his heart, as if someone was squeezing the life out of him.

Walking to the back of the room, he saw a candle that was shining from the dark shadows of the walls around it. He bent over and smelt the candle, only to be overcome with grief and sadness, mixed with longing and happiness. He felt all the anger from losing Baekhyun, but also all the happiness he had shared with the beautiful young man.

 Feeling dizzy again, he began to lose consciousness. Before he out, he felt a gentle breeze and saw all of the candles go dark. The last thing he saw in his head was a clock moving backward from 9:35… 

                    ************

Kris woke up, and saw light shining through the window of his dorm room in Korea. Sitting up, he was bewildered. He remembered it all clearly, from Baekhyun’s death to the candles. Grabbing his phone, the tall Chinese man noticed that his hands were shaking. He felt tears coming to his eyes as he typed in Baekhyun’s number and hit send. He could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest as he listened, waiting. 

“Hey! I wasn’t expecting to hear from you at this time,” Kris closed his eyes in relief at the sound of Baekhyun’s voice. The tears that had been threatening to fall dropped onto his hand as he smiled. 

Taking a deep, shaky breath, he replied. “Hey, babe. I just wanted to hear your voice. I miss you. I’m going to move my flight date to tomorrow. I need to see you.” 

“That’s great! I can’t wait to see you, either.” Kris could hear Baekhyun’s bouncy excitement over the phone, and he was bursting with happiness. Butterfly.

“You have no idea how much I want to see you.” Kris whispered, shaking. 

The next day, Kris flew to America. He had noticed that his bank account was now holding a much smaller amount than before, which was the price of bringing Baekhyun back. He didn’t care, as long as he could hold him again. 

When he saw Baekhyun at the airport, Kris was overcome with emotion. He pulled the small young man into a warm embrace, breaking into tears as he felt his heart beating. 

Baekhyun laughed softly. “Love, are you okay? You’re crying.” He pulled away, searching Kris’ face with concern. 

Kris kissed him deeply, unconcerned about the other people around them. “I love you, Baekhyun. I want to move in with you, and never be away again.” 

Baekhyun’s eyes lit up, and he looked like he was about to explode from hyper energy. “I love you, too, but…Really?! What about your life in Korea?”

Kris kissed him again. “Baek, are are my life.” 

The End