The two of them enjoyed their week off. Most of the time they just stayed in the dorm relaxing and watching TV. In fact, they watched all twenty episodes of a K drama in just two days. They spent another day going for a slow walk around town and doing a small food shop. Since they didn’t have much money they only stuck to what they really needed to eat, but at least they had food at all.

However the week was coming to an end unbelievably quickly and they had only one day until work resumed. On the way out of the dorm to buy milk from the nearby shop one morning Min called out to Kris.

“Kris! Could I have a quick word?”

“Sure.” Kris said strolling over.

“Lee Soo Man has arranged a meeting with you which is in two hours’ time, he asked me to let you know.”

“Oh.” Kris said, stunned “Where is this meeting?”

“You remember your elevator staff card key?” Min asked.

“Yeah?”

“Insert that into the slot in the elevator and go to the topmost floor, that is where your meeting shall take place.” Min explained.

“Thank you.” Kris said, feeling worried as to the nature of the meeting.

Half an hour later he was back in the dorm with a bottle of milk. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about this mysterious meeting.

“What’s up?” Lay asked, seeing Kris’s face.

“In a little over an hour I have to go out. Apparently Lee Soo Man wants to speak to me.” Kris said, putting the milk in the fridge and joining Lay on the couch, who immediately extended his arm out for Kris to nestle into him.

“How odd, what do you think he wants to talk about?” Lay asked.

“I have absolutely no idea.” Kris said frowning. Lay kissed his forehead and tutted.

“Don’t frown, you’ll get wrinkles. Don’t worry about it right now. Let’s watch TV for a little while and I’ll make us both lunch before you leave.”

Kris nodded and smiled at his boyfriend. Lay had a way of instantly making him feel better and more relaxed.

After eating lunch and making sure that Kris had his staff key card on his person, he set out for the meeting with Soo Man. He had never been to the higher floors of SM before, he was curious as to what he would find.

When the elevator doors opened Kris was faced with a small room that looked almost like a waiting room, and the only door that lead from that small room was a large mahogany door which was clearly expensive. Walking forward Kris rang the intercom on the wall.

He heard Soo Man’s voice through the speaker.

“It’s Kris, you called for a meeting?” Kris said into the intercom.

“Ah yes, come inside.” Soo Man said happily.

The door next to Kris gave a small click notifying that it had been unlocked. Kris turned the handle and entered the room beyond.

It seemed to be a large living quarters, marble flooring, mahogany wood and polished surfaces were what met Kris’s eyes. The first room seemed to be an open living space. Sofas in the middle of the room facing a large TV that hung from the wall. To the left a stair case let to a second level and at the back of the room a large archway lead openly into a kitchen and dining area.

“Kris!” Lee Soo Man said fondly from the kitchen. “Do sit down, make yourself comfortable! Can I get you a drink of some sorts?” He called out.

“Just a water please.” Kris said awkwardly, perching himself on the edge of one of the expensive leather couches.

Soo Man joined him moments later and sat down on a couch opposite from Kris.

“You must be wondering why I called you for a meeting, especially at such short notice.” Soo Man started, Kris just nodded. "I shall mention more on that in a moment, firstly I would just like to know how my fantastic employee is doing."

Kris thought for a moment before deciding the truth was the only was forward.

"Actually I'm not too great." He started. "Last week I collapsed and was admitted to hospital."

"I heard about that, I hope you're all right now." Soo Man said with a tone of sympathy that Kris believed was as genuine as much as pigs could fly.

"I'm on the mend. But I don't think I'll stay this way for long. The long and strenous work hours are severly affecting mine and Lay's health." Kris said.

"For that I am awfully sorry. However I'm afraid the only jobs available for you to do are strenous."

"Then perhaps we could have more time off or work less hours?" Kris asked hopefully.

"The current situation at SM means that the hours you are being given are the least we can give you. We are simply too under staffed at the moment. Though you could book more holiday in two months time." Soo Man said.

"Two months?" Kris asked.

"Every two months you will have an opportunity to book time off, with a maximum of a week at a time, and you can have up to five weeks off a year," 

Kris couldn't believe what he was hearing, for the work he did and the state of his health he would have expected more. Before he could think on the matter any more Soo Man started to speak again."

“As to the original nature of this meeting, it turns out I have had an offer from somebody! But more on that in a moment.  I would just like you to know that if any of the hosts here show potential, you are definitely one of them.  Not only is it your skills, but looks are very important for hosts, and as such I think it is important that we maintain this.” Kris nodded again, unsure as to what Soo Man was getting at. “That offer I was talking about,it is from a cosmetic agency who are recently doing exceedingly well with their business, and to promote that they wish to join forces with SM. In our agreement, it was decided that our Hosts could go to their surgery for reduced costs. You were the host that I first chose to enter this agreement.”

Kris looked confused and so Soo Man continued. “I have booked you an appointment for cosmetic surgery in just under a month.” Soo man added.

Kris froze as he processed it, but his reaction soon followed. Kris was mid-sip of his water when it dawned on him what was being said. He choked before swallowing and setting the glass down angrily.

“What?!” He asked, outraged. “Surgery? Plastic surgery? You didn’t even ask for my permission you can’t just do this!”

“Actually I can.” Soo Man said calmly, moving backwards in his seat. “I can and I have. You will have this surgery on Friday the 27th, there is no questioning it.”

“But I don’t want it. I refuse!” Kris said, standing up furiously.

“Unless you wish to disrupt an agreement worth millions of won and find yourself facing a law suit from SM Host Club you will do as your boss tells you to!”

Kris remained in angry silence. He had neither the money or power to refuse what his boss was telling him to do, but it went against all of his views to go through with this.  He may change all through his life, but his looks were him. They were the way that he and others saw him and changing that would be to change what his Mother had made him.

“Do I really have to do this? Why do I have to change my looks if I already show potential?” Kris asked quietly, but the anger seemed to fill the atmosphere nonetheless.

“Of course you have to do this! SM’s reputation rests on the appearance of our hosts, and so does the compliance of our hosts with other industries. In these hard times companies have to support each other. If you don’t go through with this you will be damaging a reputation for not only this company but many others, it will all be on your hands.” Soo Man said.  There was a moment of silence and Kris made to leave, not wanting to hear any more.

“Well if we’re done then_"

“Not so fast.” Soo Man said “There is a second reason why you were called here. There has been a change of the work schedule which will be put into place from tomorrow onwards.”

Soo Man slid two papers across the desk towards Kris. “The top paper shows your schedule. The bottom one is Lay’s, would you be able to pass that on to him.” Kris took them and went to leave but was stopped yet again.

“Oh! And Kris.” Soo Man said as Kris turned away from him, drawing his attention back. “If you dare to not turn up for the surgery…” Soo Man clicked a remote and the TV lit up, playing a compilation of CCTV footage of Lay and Kris together. Firstly it showed just them together working and smiling, then images of them discretely holding hands. Next it was footage of them kissing in the alley next to SM and lastly and most horrifyingly of all, footage of them at the ice skating rink. “I will have to file a law suit reporting a breach of contract and for your information that would cost you ₩1,700,000,000.”

. , . Kris was ed, that's for sure. 

Kris returned to the dorm with a heavy heart. In the elevator ride he looked at the new schedule. That made him feel even worse.

He now had to work from 9am until 12pm with Kai. Then he had to work from 12pm until 4pm with Sehun. His hosting hours continued as usual which meant that the hours he had to work had increased by fourteen hours a week, and he spent none of those hours with Lay.

Soo Man must have done this on purpose. When Kris finally entered the dorm he pulled their old schedule down from the fridge where it was held by magnets. He then went on to screw it up and throw it at the bin, placing the new schedules angrily down on the kitchen work top and walking angrily, straight to the bathroom beofre locking the door.

The whole process had taken Kris just seconds and Lay had had no time to react. He sat stunned on the sofa before getting up.

“Kris? What happened?” He went to the worktop and saw their schedules.  Assuming Kris was only angry that they had to work longer hours and got even less time together he decided to try and calm Kris.

“Kris its fine. We’ll book more holiday off soon and we’ll get to see each other then. We could always sit together when he host and…” Lay rambled on, talking to Kris through the bathroom door.

To be honest Kris wasn’t even listening.  He was staring at his face in the mirror, looking for any imperfections that would desperately require surgery. His skin was flawless, if not a little on the pale side. But pale was usually considered a good thing, and could easily be changed by makeup. His nose was straight, his eyes weren’t small, they were even double lidded!

He started to imagine them changing his face. His face that held the last signs of his mother who couldn’t be found. His face that Lay had liked enough to want to be with him. It was his, and only his. But it was going to be changed.

Kris lashed out, throwing a whole shelf of bottles flying across the room. His fist made contact with the glass and a small crack formed in the bottom right corner of the mirror. Luckily none of the glass hurt Kris’s hand.

“Kris! What the hell are you doing in there? Open the god damned door or I swear_” Kris unlocked the door before Lay could finish.

The door swung open and Lay looked at the mess Kris had created.

“We have to leave. We have to quit SM.”

“What?” Lay asked, stunned.

“We work too hard for too little. We’re getting ill because of it. We have no freedom anymore and we even have a ban on dating people. We’re basically forced into doing whatever we’re told like slaves. That’s what we are, we’re slaves!”

“Kris calm down. We can’t leave! Where would we go? We would first need to find a job, which we both know is almost impossible. We would also need to find a place to live. And we can’t even go through with that until we can afford it.”  Lay reasoned.

“I don’t care about that. Living on the street would be better than here!” Kris walked out of bathroom and went straight towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Lay asked, tears forming in his eyes from fear and anger.

“I’m going to resign. I can’t do this anymore.”

“No you can’t resign just yet! You have nowhere to go! Just stay here until something comes up. Apply to other jobs until you get an offer, then leave.”

“In what spare time can I look for jobs? The two hours where I get to sit down, eat and shower? Or maybe in the seven hours of sleep I get after hosting for eight hours straight?” Kris turned his back on Lay as he opened the door to their dorm.

“Then what about me? I can’t get a job out there right now. I can’t even speak Korean. I stand no chance here or in China. What about me?” 

Kris hesitated a moment before walking out of the door and closing the door between him and Lay. He felt his insides breaking apart. He didn’t have to be in the same room to know that Lay was probably crying his eyes out. It was too easy for Kris to imagine Lay curling up on the floor, staring at where he had just walked out and left him.

Composing himself a bit he walked as calmly as he could to the reception desk.

“I would like to resign.” Kris said flatly when Suzy asked how she could help.

She was shocked for a second before she replied. “Do you have the money required to exit the contract?” That silenced Kris, but by now he really was past being shocked at this kind of request.

“And where am I to get that money from?” Kris asked a little too calmly. “The extortionate amount of money I’m paid every month? Or maybe a family member or friend, which just so you know, I have none of.”

Suzy looked pitifully upon Kris before replying “I’m sorry but the contract is the contract, and to leave you must pay your way out.”

Kris ran his hand through his hair.

“Well then I’ll just be going to see if I can get a loan from somewhere shall I?” Kris asked, anger seeping into his voice again as he left SM.

He emptied his bank account off everything he could before turning his phone off and walking away.

He knew he couldn’t get a loan. He knew after treating Lay like that he couldn’t go back to the dorm, at least not yet. And most of all he knew that returning to SM would result in illness, bankruptcy and surgery.

He walked, he walked, he kept on walking. Away from SM. Away from everything he hated and the one thing that was important to him. He kept on walking away until he collapsed from tiredness and curled up on a bench at the side of a road. He let a few silent tears slip down his cheeks before turning his emotions off completely.

Whatever happened next was fate. Whatever happened next he had coming anyway. He didn’t care anymore. Whatever happened he had already lost too much to care.

What happened next was indeed fate in the form of a Chinese voice asking a simple question. “Kris? Is that you?”  

It's almost 3am here and I'm up writing this for you, aren't I kind? After what I just wrote, I don't think I am. Don't hate me!

Today has been one of those days that . Nothing seemed to go right and I was in a rotten mood for most of today. However seeing the new comments, new subscribers and new upvotes certainly turned that around and I've devoted the early hours of the morning to creating this. Yes I know it's evil, what did I just do? It's all part of the story, just you wait and see my darlings. Just you wait. 

I'm totally not awake right now :P  I'm now expecting death threats or something, so go ahead and do the worst. I deserve it after this right? 

What do you guys honestly think? Leave a comment below, I'll definitely read it and maybe even reply! 

Also I have started a two shot angst story about Taeyang, if any of you are interested please check it out! The link is here: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/757705/your-body-my-body-2ne1-angst-bigbang-taeyang-taerin-twoshotcollection

I love you all so much!!!

-1990stalker-