Kris woke up a few hours after returning to bed after having talked with Tao. Heading downstairs in a plain white dressing gown that he found in his room he went into the kitchen for breakfast. Tao was already at the table, papers of research and an address book were littered across its surface and Tao was mid-phone call.  Helping himself to a glass of fruit juice Kris sat down and waited for the call to end.

“That was Suho.” Tao said to Kris after the call had ended.

Kris gave him a blank look. “Who?”

“Oh come on! You must have heard of Suho!” Tao said in disbelief. When Kris didn’t reply he carried on. “He’s a Lawyer, and an extremely good one at that! He has won every single case he has taken on which has earned him the title ‘Suho’, or ‘Guardian of the Innocent’.  However his real name is Kim Joonmyeon.” Tao informed Kris.

“So you just spoke to him? What did he say?” Kris asked.

“He said he’d be willing to help us with this case.” Tao said.

Kris looked at him for signs that he was joking. “This Suho guy is actually going to help us?”

Tao nodded and more hope built in Kris’s stomach. If they had the best man for the job, the money and influence, and a strong witness then SM would surely fall, wouldn’t it?

Lay would be free, Kris would be free. No more pain or hunger, just freedom.

“He’s actually going to visit tomorrow and we’re going to start working out our plans.” Tao added after taking a bite of his breakfast. “Aren’t you going to eat?” He asked to Kris.

Kris didn’t feel like eating for two reasons. One, he had gotten so used to not eating he forgot that it was even an option, and two, he knew that for Lay it still wasn’t an option, so for Lay he refused to indulge until his boyfriend, or who was his boyfriend at least, was free from SM.

“I’m not hungry yet and I’m not really a breakfast person.” Kris said, making up excuses. Tao simply gave him a judging glance and shrugged.

“I have to go out for a few things and to arrange some meetings with people and what not. You’ll be okay here won’t you?” Tao asked Kris. Kris nodded. “Ask the staff for anything you need and you can go pretty much anywhere you want, just please don’t leave. I expect SM are looking out for you right now.”

After Tao left Kris slowly made his way back up to his room, feeling uncomfortable by himself in Tao’s house with staff standing nearby. After returning to his room he realised that he only had one set of clothes with him. He called for a member of staff and asked where the washing machines were kept.

“That’s okay sir.” An elderly member of staff replied. “I’ll have this washed and dried for you and back in about an hour, just relax until then.”

Kris walked into the bathroom and took off his robe. He should have expected the grandeur of what he just walked in on, but he didn’t. To the left there was a large walk in shower and steam room, opposite and slightly to the right was the biggest bath tub Kris had ever seen. On the opposite wall to the bath and to Kris’s right was a sink, and then behind a wall of frosted glass was where the toilet sat.

Deciding to run himself a bath for the first time in years, Kris waited twenty minutes for the large tub to fill. He slowly sank his body into the hot water and tried to relax his muscles. It was about 11am and he wondered what Lay would be doing now. Would he have to do Kris’s work too? Was he eating properly? Was he alone or did he talk to the other hosts, even if it was just Kai? Kris pondered Lay’s condition until he unknowingly fell asleep, exhausted emotionally and physically.

He was woken around forty minutes later by a quick rap on the door.  The water had cooled drastically and he got out of the tub as quickly as he could, wrapping a towel around his waist and almost slipping as he hurried to the door.

He opened it a small amount and looked around the door to see who was there. Tao stood holding his clothes which were washed and neatly ironed. 

“Thanks.” Kris said, reaching out for the clothes. However Tao just opened the door all of the way and walked in.

“I only realised when I came in to see the cleaner holding these that you don’t have any clothes with you.” Tao said, eyeing Kris up and down, noting his lack of clothing. “So if you could get dressed and meet me downstairs please...” Tao said, laying Kris’s clothes atop of the bed before looking him up and down one more time and making his way to the door. "I'll be waiting."

Kris emptied the bath tub and dressed in his clothes before doing as Tao said and meeting him downstairs.  Tao immediately handed Kris a hat, sunglasses and a large black coat.

“What are these?” Kris asked.

“Put them on. We don’t want anyone from SM recognising you, and seeing as you only have the same clothes we have to cover them up.”

“We’re going somewhere?” Kris asked, expecting some action or a move to be made on SM.

“Yeah. Clothes shopping.” Tao said smiling widely.  When Kris went to protest Tao interrupted.

“Look, this could take a little while before we bring SM down, do you want to wear the same clothes every single day?” Tao asked.

“But I don’t have any money for clothes.” Kris said uneasily. Tao let out a sarcastic laugh.

“Babe that’s all covered.” Tao said, taking his card out and flashing it in front of Kris’s face.  “Come on.”

Kris was reluctant to shop at first. He didn’t want to spend Tao’s money and the shops that they went into were way above Kris’s usual standard. However after a little while it started to become… fun.

Tao had him trying on all sorts of clothes in the changing room before modelling them for him. He caught himself laughing when Tao came out of a changing room in a black top.

“Isn’t that a woman’s top?” Kris asked.

“No. I thought it looked nice.” Tao pouted, looking in the mirror again.

“It’s a woman’s top Tao.”

Tao pouted like a small child and pulled the curtain shut to hide himself.

“Fine I won’t buy it.”

When they had finished their shopping trip Tao called for his driver. They filled the trunk with bags and then got into the back of the car, resting their aching legs.

A comfortable silence settled in the car as they drove until Tao turned to Kris.

“I’m sorry by the way.” He said quietly but sincerely.

“Sorry? For what?” Kris asked.

“For that night at the host club." Kris instantly knew what night he was referring to. "You were a test subject, I had set up a secret camera in the room beforehand. I was going to capture evidence of how easily the hosts could come to harm and also prove that the alarm system didn’t work all with one video. You just got caught in the middle of it. The night I privately hired Lay I collected the footage and also discretely asked him questions about the host club.”

Kris’s mouth fell open in shock but he nodded understandingly. “Fair enough then.” Kris said, feeling a little better towards Tao, after all Tao had proved his use over the past few days.

When they returned to the estate Kris went to his room to unpack his clothes into the wardrobe. As well as buying clothes just to wear any other day, Kris had bought a couple of suits which he would need when they took SM to court.  He had only just finished hanging up his new clothes when he was being called to go downstairs.

“Dinner is served!” Tao said, pulling Kris a chair out at the table.  Kris couldn’t deny that he was now getting incredibly hungry, he hadn’t eaten barely anything in the past two days now that he thought about it. “You’ll need to keep your strength up if we’re going to go up against SM. Eat!”

Kris sat down and was quickly joined by Tao and together they finished off the home cooked Chinese meal.

The next morning the two of them awaited Suho’s arrival. Tao took out all of his and his mother’s research on the case and Kris was told to remember every detail of his stay at SM.  The doorbell rang and the guest was brought through by a member of Tao's staff.

“Lawyer Kim!” Tao said in Korean, standing up happily to bow to his guest. Kris followed suit and bowed too.

“Please just call me Joonmyeon.” Suho said.

“Joonmyeon, I am Tao and this is Kris.” Tao said gesturing to himself and then Kris.

“Nice to meet you.” The two exchanged their greetings before sitting down and getting to work.

“Okay I think it would be easiest if I could hear what Kris has to say first.” Suho said, taking a note pad and turning to Kris.

Kris explained SM from the very start, firstly explaining why he had come to SM, then the work that he had been asked to do, the issues with payment, the difficulty booking holiday and the trouble for himself and Lay when they had been sick. Lastly he mentioned the surgery which had forced him to leave.  He had had to speak to Suho in Korean so the process had taken a little longer than it had when he told Tao. Joonmyeon had nodded along and taken notes. When Kris had finished explaining he started to talk about the procedures that were going to take place and the work that would need to be done.

However very complex Korean was being used that even some natives wouldn’t understand and Kris found himself day dreaming, unable to understand what was being said. After about an hour Joonmyeon stood up to leave.

“Okay, I’ll go back to the office and see what I can do for you.”

“Thank you, I’ll stay in touch and tell you immediately if there are any developments.” Tao replied, showing Joonmyeon to the door.

Kris waited until Joonmyeon had left before talking to Tao.

“So what happens now?”  Kris asked.

“Joonmyeon is going to look over the evidence and what you have said, he will look through SM’s contracts and he will find all of the places where SM have breached their contract or have broken human rights. A case will be put together and when things are looking good we will make the first official move towards SM.”

“So when will this be done?” Kris asked.

“Hm… It’s likely to take around a month to complete this step.”  Tao said nonchalantly.

“A month?!” That long?” Kris asked in disbelief.

“These things take time Kris, and if we are to do this we must do it properly, otherwise we ruin our chances of winning.  If we file against SM too soon they could hide the evidence before the authorities can even begin to start looking into this.” Tao explained.

Kris sat in the lounge and wondered what to do with himself.  He had a month of sitting around in an estate doing nothing while Lay was alone. If only there was a way to contact him and tell him that it would be alright. He would assure Lay that he himself was alright and that above all else, he was sorry. Lay was one of the kindest humans in existance and he knew that even though it was his fault that all of this had happened, Lay would still be worrying about Kris. 

“Tao…” Kris said, turning to Tao who was reading through some papers.

“Yes Kris?”

“Do you think that you would be able to talk to Lay? Just to make sure that he’s okay and to tell him that I’m fine.” Tao pondered for a moment before smiling.

“Actually that has inspired me. It’s been a while since I visited the host club.” Tao hurriedly looked through his papers and then stood up, picking up his phone. He rang the host club and waited.

“Hello? Yes this is Tao. I know hehehe I haven’t been in a while have I? I’ve been busy. Well actually I was wondering if I could book a private host room. Okay, well which Hosts are currently free to be booked… Oh, well maybe I’ll try a host I haven’t tried before then. Yes Sehun sounds nice. Thank you.” Tao hung up and looked at Kris.

“Apparently some of the hosts are unable to booked privately at the moment or something. I had to just go with someone called Sehun.”

“I know him. He’s quite young compared to the other hosts. Barely of legal age I would say. When did you book him for?” Kris asked

“For a couple of nights time. Don’t worry, I’ll ask him about Lay and hopefully get more information about what’s going on in SM.”

The next few days passed painfully slowly for Kris. He had nothing to do and couldn’t even leave the building. Tao was busy with his work and Kris could rarely help him with it.

Kris found himself spending a lot of time reading random books that he found around Tao’s house or spending large amounts of time in his large bathtub. He had considered reading in the bath but his habit for falling asleep in the tub meant he would have dropped the books in the water.

The boredom mixed with his longing for Lay. If he ate, he thought of Lay not being able to eat. If he slept in in the mornings, he thought of the exhaustion Lay was probably going through. And if he joined Tao to watch TV he remembered snuggling with Lay back in the dorm, watching TV together in their rare spare time.

Kris got out of the bath that he had currently been laying in for the past hour and a half. His skin was wrinkled and he was starting to shake from the water that had long since cooled down. Drying himself off he put on a white robe and sat on his bed. Yes, he felt bad for being able to not do things with Lay and for leaving him behind, but what he missed most was Lay’s touch, his kind eyes, his soft lips.

 He lay across his bed, unable to stop the hysteria building in his chest. His body shook as he let out silent sobs into the mattress beneath him. He lay face down to hide his face from the world and let out his feelings.

His door opened and Tao walked in saying something happily before stopping. Tao looked at Kris who was breaking down by himself and he felt as if he was watching somebody crumble out of existence.

“Kris…” Tao said sadly, closing the door behind him before going over to the bed and gently rubbing Kris’s back soothingly. “Come on sit up.” He said gently, pulling Kris into a hug and kindly rubbing his back again. “It’s okay Kris, we’re working on sorting this out as quickly and as best as we can.”

Tao hugged Kris like that for half an hour, trying not to tear up himself at how distraught the man in his arms were. “Gege please.” Tao said and then stopped himself.

Kris pulled back and looked at Tao with red eyes. “It’s been so long since somebody said gege to me.” Tao smiled and looked embarrassed.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve said it.”  Tao leant forward and tears from Kris’s eyes. “Come on stop crying. It isn’t going to help anyone is it?” Kris shook his head and tried to stop the tears which were gradually slowing down. “Let me see that smile of yours again.” Tao said.  Kris gave a small smile to Tao.

“Thank you.” Kris said. “Thank you for being there. If it wasn’t for you I would have probably gone back to SM.”

“Or frozen to death on that bench.” Tao added, shaking his head.

Kris nodded. “Yeah, or that.”

Tao’s hand was still resting at Kris’s cheek and they both realised at the same time. Tao blushed a little and went to pull it away but Kris stopped him.

“I don’t mind.” Kris said, closing his eyes and leaning into the hand. “It’s comforting.”

Tao smiled even though Kris couldn’t see him.

However Kris’s eyes opened in shock when he felt something he didn’t expect.  Thin lips were pressed gently against his own and Kris tried to protest, he honestly did. But the fight was lost somewhere between his brain and the transmitters to his muscles, and rather than pulling away he found himself leaning closer, seeking even more. 

Sorry that I couldn't update yesterday guys, I was having writers block on how to write this. But here it is. It's incredibly scandalous huh? Tell me what you think... And also for the upvotes, new subscribers and comments THANK YOU~

-1990stalker-