Kris hadn’t said a single word during the entire car journey.  As well as driving home Tao had had to pop into Joonmyeon’s office to sort through his findings at SM. Kris had waited in the car patiently until he rece again.

They soon returned back to the house and Kris went up to his room to put away his coat and hat. Tao went to his room too which had been cleaned and tidied since the previous night’s activities. Tao changed from his suit and into a t- shirt and jogging bottoms which would be comfortable to wear around the house. He was just about to go back downstairs when he heard a loud thud from Kris’s room.

After finding Kris gone and the window wide open earlier he was taking no chances now. He rushed into the room and at first he thought Kris was gone again. However Kris’s feet were visible sticking out at the end of the bed and Tao rushed over to find the rest of him.

Kris was sprawled on the floor, eyes rolled back in his head and his skin sticky with sweat.

Tao stood up and ran to the phone on the bedside table. He dialled a number and waited.

“Hello? Jang ssi? Mr Jang? I need you to come up to Kris’s room, he’s collapsed.”

Mr Jang was Tao’s favourite member of staff. He was soon approaching old age and grey hairs and wrinkles were becoming a more frequent occurrence on this man’s head but he was nevertheless a person that Tao respected and trusted deeply. Within minutes Mr Jang was kneeling my Kris’s side.

“He has a raised temperature, he might have caught a fever. We could call 119 to come and look at him?” Mr Jang said.

“You used to work as a rescue worker. Can’t you tell what’s wrong with him?” Tao asked.

"Without equipment all I can assume is that he has a fever. Maybe he overdosed, has he had any tablets?” Tao looked around and there was no evidence of drugs.  “If as you said he has a heart condition it could be that. Or something entirely different.”

“Then I’ll ring 119.” Tao said, looking like a terrified child. “But what if they take too long?”

While Tao was panicking Kris started to regain consciousness. Tao and Mr Jang looked at him in concern.

“Kris? Can you hear me?” Kris tried to lift his head but was too weak.

“Kris I need to know a few things, have you taken any medication?” Mr Jang asked.

Kris mumbled out a weak “No.” In response.

“Has your chest been hurting you or have you had trouble breathing?” Kris shook his head slightly before dropping his head completely back.

“He seems to have just fainted. He should be okay again after a little while. Let’s put him to bed and see how he does.” Mr Jang told Tao.

Together they lifted Kris onto the bed, they removed his shoes and with much effort replaced his dark jeans with a loose pair of pyjama pants.

The quilt was pulled up to Kris’s chin and Tao took a cold damp flannel and laid it on Kris’s head. Mr Jang dimmed the lighting to a low level and left Tao to take over.

“Call me if you require assistance.” Mr Jang said before leaving.

Tao stayed by Kris’s side for hours, replacing the flannel that was on Kris’s head so that he didn’t get too hot.  After a while Tao fell asleep and was woken again when Mr Jang entered with a meal for the two of them. Neither had had the time to eat since breakfast and it was now late in the evening.

“Thanks.” Tao said, accepting the food. He put Kris’s on the side and quickly ate his meal first, getting it out of the way. He then gently tried to wake Kris. Kris’s eyes slowly fluttered open and he looked sleepily and weakly at Tao.

“Dinner is here. Do you want to eat?” Tao asked, gesturing to the soup.

Kris turned away from the food and shook his head. “I’m not hungry. Thanks anyway.” He turned sideways and attempted to sleep again.

“Just try a little bit, you need to eat to regain your strength. Or at least have something to drink.”

Tao managed to convince Kris to drink a small glass of water and a few mouthfuls of soup.

“There you are.” Tao said, moving the dishes away from them and putting another fresh cold flannel on Kris’s head after checking his temperature.

“Can I sleep now?” Kris asked groggily like a small child. Tao chuckled at the sight.

“Of course, get some rest.”

The next day Kris seemed much better. His temperature had gone down and he wasn’t anywhere near as weak. Kris somehow seemed to look happier, and it was almost convincing apart from the fact that the happiness never met his eyes.

At breakfast he would smile at Tao and the staff, he ate breakfast without much hassle too, although he didn’t eat much it was still an improvement. Tao and Kris sat in the lounge together watching TV.

Tao glanced at Kris every now and then and found Kris had barely moved since they entered the room. He seemed hypnotised by the programme on TV.

“Do you like this show?” Tao asked.

Kris blinked as if he hadn’t even known Tao was in the room. “Uh. Yeah.” Kris said, adding one of those peculiar smiles.

Tao watched Kris for a while longer, something didn’t quite feel right in Tao’s gut. It dawned on him that Kris hadn’t spoken a single word unless spoken to. He changed his gaze back to the TV and watched the program.

It was a program about finding things in your house and selling them at an auction, it was in no way interesting. After five more minutes Tao couldn’t stand the show for any longer and he clicked the remote to see what was on the next channel over.

Kris didn’t even blink. He didn’t even appear to notice the channel had changed.

“Do you like this show?” Tao asked again, frowning at Kris.

“Uh..Yeah.” Kris responded, smiling in Tao's direction again before looking at the TV.

Weird. Very weird. What the hell is going on with Kris?

“I have to go out later by the way.” Tao said to Kris, trying to snap him out of his reverie and spark a conversation in him. “I need to finalise the work with Suho and then I’m done on our case, we can submit it in a day or two.”

“Oh that’s good.” Kris responded smiling. Tao nodded.

“You don’t seem very excited.” Tao observed.

“Shouldn’t you be excited? It’s your case.” Kris replied. This left Tao speechless for a moment.

“Well considering what this means to you…” Tao shook his head, thinking of a different way to phrase his thoughts. “This case if more important for you than me. At the end of it you’ll get more out of it.”

“More important to me? What exactly is this case?”

“Hah hah.” Tao said sarcastically. He turned back to Kris a moment later. He couldn’t be serious. “It’s the SM case. Your case!”

“SM? That host club?”

“Duuh.” Tao frowned and looked at Kris. He had had the whole conversation staring hypnotically at the TV screen. Tao turned the TV off and looked at Kris.

“Do… Do you like this show?” Tao asked.

“Hm? Oh um, yeah.” Kris replied.

Tao looked at Kris with worry in his face. Had Kris hit his head last night, why was he so out of it?

“Kris, are you acting this way because of Lay?” Tao asked hesitantly.

“Who’s Lay?” Kris asked, eyes still on the TV.

Tao’s mouth hung open. “What? What do you mean who’s Lay. He’s Lay. He was your boyfriend. You lived and worked with him.”

Kris didn’t respond. He just smiled at Tao and then looked back at the TV screen.

Tao picked up his phone and dialled Joonmyeon.

“I have a rather large problem.”

Joonmyeon and Tao sat opposite Kris and then gave each other a look.

“How long has he been like this?” Suho asked worriedly.

“Since this morning. He woke up and suddenly can’t remember anything. However yesterday he did faint, maybe he hit his head.” Tao frowned.

“Kris?” Suho called to him.

“Yes?” Kris asked, looking in Suho’s general direction and smiling, his eyes never connected with Suho’s though.

“Would you come with us to the hospital, we need to see if you hit your head yesterday.”

“Um, okay.” Kris said, seeming a little confused but going along with them nonetheless.

The three of them got in Tao’s car and were driven by the driver to the hospital. Kris did as instructed and seemed to have no opinion on anything. He kept that strange false smile on his face and stayed silent unless spoken to. When questioned about his past his responses did not often match to the truth.

“What job do you have Kris?” The doctor asked.

“Job? Hm… I don’t have one at the minute. I’m going to be a rapper.” The doctor nodded and turned to Tao, who nodded back. That answer was fair enough.

“What did you do yesterday?” They asked him.

“I just stayed at home.” He replied.

“All day? Didn’t you go out or see anyone?”

“Nope. I stayed home all day.” Tao frowned and the doctor made notes on his paper.

“Do you have any family Kris?” The doctor asked.

“No, I live with Tao.” He replied.

He was questioned for a while longer before the Doctor left Kris in his hospital room and asked Tao to follow him into the hallway.

“We just have to wait until the MRI scans come through now. Then we should be able to detect any problems.”

“Doctor, do you think this could be more to do with a psychological trauma?” Tao asked.

The doctor frowned. “It’s difficult to tell without the scans. What makes you think that it's psychological?”

“Recently Kris went through a lot of trouble at work and he also separated from his partner on bad terms. I've only heard small snippets about his family but he doesn't know where either of his parents are and is otherwise alone in the world. If the stress of that got too much could it have caused this?”

The doctor nodded. “That is a possible cause, as I said, until the scans we cannot understand what could have caused this. I have to check on another patient for now, I’ll be back soon when the results are out.”

Tao went and sat beside Kris who smiled as he entered but didn’t look at him.

“How are you Kris?” Tao asked.

“I’m good.” Kris replied.

Tao sat in the chair beside Kris’s bed and put his head in his hands. A moment later Joonmyeon entered with three cups of coffee. He handed them out and sat beside Tao.

“What did the doctor say?” Suho asked.

“Nothing yet, we’re waiting on the scan results.” Joonmyeon nodded and sank backwards into his chair. Tao sipped the hot coffee and held it in his two hands, staring sadly at the lid. “How are we going to continue with the case if our main witness and victim has no memory of anything that happened?”

“It will be difficult. However depending on what results come out of this we may be able to use it in our favour. If as you guessed it is a psychological trauma we could pin it on the actions of SM causing him to become this way. Although it doesn't feel right using something like this to our advantage, it's a low move to make."

"I agree, but it's not like we're making it up, they genuinly caused this. They need to be stopped." 

After a few more minutes the doctor entered with scans of Kris’s brain and some other paper work.

“As you can see there are no abnormalities visible, everything seems to be functioning properly and there are no signs of even a bruise on his head. There is no evidence of bleeding or tumours, he seems just fine in that sense.”  Tao seemed more relieved but still worried.

“So” The doctor continued “It may be as we discussed earlier, an underlying psychological problem may be the issue. I have arranged for a psychotherapist to ask some questions and see if she can get to the bottom of this. She should be here in a few minutes. I’ll leave these with you.” The doctor said, leaving the paperwork and scans on the desk.

As he said, a woman entered the room only a couple of minutes later.

“Hello, My name is Kim Minah.” The others introduced them except for Kris, who was sitting and staring blankly.

“Kris?” Minah called out after looking at the paperwork and hearing Tao’s account of things.

“Hello.” He said, smiling.

“Hello Kris I’m Kim Minah, could I ask you a few questions?”

“Yes.”

Minah spent the next half an hour asking Kris questions and making notes. When she was done questioning Kris she turned to Tao, asking his version of events.

“Okay.” She said after a small moment of silence. “I have a feeling this may be a case of repressed memory syndrome. This is where a memory is hidden in the subconscious so that the individual, in this case Kris, doesn’t have to think about it. It may cause them too much grief or depression that they physically cannot handle the memory. It is pushed in the subconscious where it will surface again in later life, and may also affect Kris’s dreams.”

“How do we turn him back to normal? Is there anything we can do?” Tao asked, panicking.

“He can undergo psychotherapy sessions weekly. With matters like this it is impossible to predict the outcome the therapy will have, but generally people tend to get better.”

“When could we start this therapy? We actually have a court case in about a month. If Kris can’t give evidence it may have huge repercussions on the outcome.”

“I see. The therapy cannot be rushed and no one can force Kris to acknowledge what has happened, but if I have one or two sessions per week starting this week he may improve in time.”

The three of them got back in their car and returned to Tao’s home.

“Well, Kris’s condition may actually help us in this case. His experience was obviously traumatising enough for psychological damage. This will surely aid us?”  Tao just shrugged and finished writing up his paper work.

Suho too went through the work. Kris had gone up to his room when they returned and the two had left him, asking staff to keep their eyes and ears out for any problems.

Tao finished all of his work and handed it over to Suho who checked through and added signatures in places where it was needed. He sat back in his seat and stretched his arms.

“Done.” He said. “We can finally file against SM.” Tao smiled but the look of exhaustion and apprehension washed away its happiness.

“How do you think SM will respond to this?” Tao asked Suho as a member of staff brought in two bottles of beer for the two of them to relax and celebrate with.

“They’ll deny everything probably. Or say that they can’t understand why such claims are being made, that they take the best care of their workers and all of the appropriate precautions are taken.”

Tao nodded. “That sounds like them.”

The two gossiped for longer and at times like this where they were talking about things that were not just paper work and cases they realised that they actually really enjoyed each other’s company.

“I can’t have another.” Joonmyeon said, shaking his head at the offer of another beer. “I have to run this work down to the office and file it officially.”

Tao pouted and looked sad. “My driver could take you there and bring you back. You don’t have other plans do you?”

Suho chuckled at Tao’s childish face which he so rarely got to witness and patted him on the head.

“Fine, fine. How can I resist such a cute request? I forget your age when we have our business meetings but here like this you are such a child.” He chuckled and stood up, preparing to hand the paper work in. “Would you like me to buy you some candy on the way back? Perhaps the one with the toy inside?”

Tao pouted further and stood up. “I am technically an adult now you do know that?” Suho laughed at his face and Tao looked at the floor embarrassedly. “But I do really like those chocolates in the pretty red packet…”

Suho couldn’t stop the chuckles that he was now producing and he wrapped an arm around Tao’s shoulders. “Then should eomma bring some home for you?”

Tao blushed and batted the hand away. “Yah! Stop making fun of me it’s embarrassing.”

“Okay, okay.” Suho said, following Tao’s driver to the car with a file of paper work in his hand. “Back soon baby panda.” With the glare that was thrown his way Suho chuckled again and nodded. “Okay I’ll stop now. I’ll be back later, you better have some beers ready for me.”

Suho left and Tao went upstairs to see Kris. Kris was fast asleep in bed. Tao smiled sadly and turned out the lamp that was by Kris’s bedside. The room was completely silent apart from Kris’s deep breaths. He turned away but froze when he heard Kris’s whimper.

“Dad… Dad don’t leave. Mum where are you? I’m sorry. Lay, no! I’m sorry. Sorry.” Kris’s mumbles grew fainter and he rolled over in bed and started to drift off  once again.

Tao waited downstairs with a bottle of beer and awaited Suho’s return. He flicked through the music channels on TV and took deep breaths. Now was the calm before the storm. Tomorrow the proceedings would start and the world would find out what really went on behind SM’s closed doors. 

PLOT TWIST. Omo omo omo 

What the hell is happening guys? Kris has forgotten everything to do with his family and SM but the law suit has just been filed. What are your guesses on what's going to happen?  I should probably finish my work for my meeting with my boss which is tomorrow. This chapter took me an hour longer to finish and proof read than I expected. I hope you like it. Now, work calls :'( 

-1990stalker-