It was 10am when Suho was knocking on Tao’s bedroom door. Tao had slept in, he blamed the beer and the mental exhaustion of preparing for what was to be a very busy time ahead of him.

“Who is it? What is it?” Tao asked, pulling himself quickly from bed and wrapping himself in his leopard print gown.

“It me.” Suho called out. “Guess what!”

Tao sat opposite Suho in the lounge. “All arrested?” He gasped, shocked at the news he had been told.

“Yeah. They moved in earlier this morning, arrested Soo Man on the spot!”

“So the others were arrested for questioning?”

“Seems that way. All of the staff there have been taken to the police station for questioning and then they'll be released.”

“This must have been one of the biggest operations to take place in years.” Tao mused.

The two smiled happily and ate their breakfast which was being served by the staff.

“Things are really being taken seriously. We should probably head to the station and see what the situation is.” Joonmyeon suggested.

Tao nodded and once they had finished eating they both stood, heading upstairs to get dressed. “I’d have loved to have been there when Soo Man was arrested, could you imagine?” The two laughed and went off into their separate rooms.

Once dressed the two got Tao’s driver to take them to the police station.

“Zitao, Joonmyeon, you’re here!” A police officer said, walking over and greeting them. “Thanks to you two we caught this crook. The other hosts are here for questioning for a while so we can get more evidence on SM while it’s all fresh. Hopefully we can interview them all and get them all away before the media swoop in.”

“What exactly took place last night?” Tao asked.

“We sent in practically all of our forces. Most were parked just around the corner while one team went in to search the facility and make sure that some of the claims written in your file were true. If we sent our men in without warning SM then there was no chance they could hide the evidence before we got there. The receptionist refused to let the police upstairs and Soo Man was called down. Obviously he kicked up a fuss and was quickly arrested. The staff all heard the commotion and started to leave their dorms, the rest of the force were called in to keep everything under control and to arrest anyone they saw for questioning.”

“So all of the staff and hosts are back there?” Tao asked, gesturing to the holding cells.

“Yeah, wanna come through and see?” The officer asked. Tao nodded his head and Suho stayed behind to look through paper work with other officers.

Tao looked into the cells to give him a sense of how much evidence he might be able to gather, but also to search for Lay.

He passed each one, scanning the people inside then moving to the next. He reached the end cell and frowned. Amongst the people in the cell he noticed two males that he remembered from the club.

“Sehun!” Tao called out.

Sehun nodded to him and rfrom where he sat in the cell, arms crossed and looking bored.

Someone stood up angrily and was held back by a small male with large eyes. Sehun glared at him and stood up, helping the small man to pull him back.

“Kai, behave yourself.” Sehun said disapprovingly.

“He’s the one who did it!” Kai spat angrily at Tao. 

Tao looked around once again and asked Sehun “Where’s Lay?”

“Why’s that?” Kai in. “So you can have him arrested too? Traitor.”

“I did this to stop you from being exploited. There were all sorts of illegal actions taking place in SM. So where is Lay? Is he okay?”

“I don’t know.” Sehun said. "None of us have seen him since yesterday. Or was it the day before? I don’t remember. That guy over there was last to see him. Hey Luhan!”

The pretty Chinese man came over and looked between Sehun and Tao.

“Hello, I was wondering if you could tell me where Lay is.” Tao asked him.

Luhan frowned. “He received some letter and then left, saying he had to go find someone. He didn’t come back to SM after that. Wait.” Luhan said, looking at Tao’s face. “Weren’t you the one that dropped that letter off at the desk?”

Sehun looked at Tao. “Did you lure Lay out so that he wouldn’t be arrested?”

“Actually no. I was delivering that on behalf of someone else. He hasn’t come back since? Do you know where he might have gone?”

Everyone shook their heads and Tao frowned. “I’m going out to look for him and to make sure he’s okay, but he could be anywhere by now.”

“Not really.” Luhan said. “Lay is quite weak, he can’t walk far without needing a break so he wouldn’t have gotten outside of a three mile radius of SM I’d say.”

“Let me guess. You’re going to bring him here so he can be arrested like the rest of us?” Kai asked.

“I’m going to bring him back here so he can be questioned. Then he can go wherever he pleases.” Tao said, losing patience with this Kai.

“You’ve closed down SM.  If after this we actually are released where the are we going to go?”

Tao froze. That was true. Perhaps this wasn’t as well thought out as planned. These people were probably in SM because they’d had nowhere else to go, now they would have to face the streets.

“I’ll sort that all out, don’t worry.” Tao said after a moment. So long as they were here they were okay, right now Lay was missing. 

Tao left quickly and got in his car, driving around Seoul looking for one man in the crowds. He peered down backstreets and alleys, he scanned busy shopping areas. Losing inspiration of where to look he drove around and around again. He decided to take a different approach and went to SM, starting from the beginning and working out where Lay could have gone from there. He pulled up further down the street and stared at SM. The doors were guarded by two policemen and tape covered the entrance, forbidding people to enter.

Almost giving up Tao went to drive off again when he saw a figure frozen on the sidewalk. They were staring at SM and holding onto the wall for support as if they might collapse. Tao got out of his car and ran up to them, taking in how the purple zip up hoodie was hanging way too loosely around the thin body it concealed.

“Lay?” The persons head snapped up to look at Tao. His face was hollow, his eyes were blank and he looked absolutely exhausted. Dark blue bags hung under his eyes.

“Tao.” Lay ran forward and grabbed onto Tao shoulders as hard as he could. He tried with his little strength to shake him. “Tao, where is he? What’s happening? Where’s Kris? Where? Where?”

Seeing this man in front of him, so weak and so frantically searching for the one he loved Tao almost couldn’t resist telling Lay that Kris was at his house and that he would take him to him. There were however two problems with that. One, Kris couldn’t remember Lay at all. What was going to happen if Tao took him to Kris then? The second reason was a lot more selfish, but Tao didn’t want them to meet yet. He couldn’t justify why, but Kris was in his house and had become Tao’s concern. Lay would ruin the way that things had settled.

“Right now Kris isn’t in the country. He’s doing work to help us take down SM. You’re going to have to come to the police station for questioning so that your evidence can help us. When this is over and Kris has finished his work you can see him then.”

Lay nodded, seemingly relieved and he climbed in Tao’s car.

“He’s been trying to help me escape SM all this time?” Lay smiled, closing his tired eyes and leaning backwards into the chair.

“Not a day passed where he didn’t miss you and want to tell you what was going on. He’s been a fantastic help to the case.”

“So why didn’t he tell me?” Lay asked sleepily.

“If he’d have told you that would have meant turning up at SM, which considering his reasons for leaving wouldn’t have been a good idea. The only other way was to ring, which could be intercepted by SM. His last choise was by mail but that could also have spread the news.”

“His reason for not being able to come back was me?” Lay asked sadly, opening his eyes and looking at Tao.

“What? No his reason for leaving was that he was being over worked and if he had stayed he would have been forced to have plastic surgery, why would it be you?”

Lay’s mouth opened wide in shock. “Plastic surgery? He never said anything about plastic surgery. I thought it was our argument. I didn’t know why he wanted to leave so urgently, I told him to wait. Oh my god.” Lay started to freak out, believing that he should have realised or listened to Kris.

Tao patted Lay’s knee. “If he didn’t tell you I’m sure he was trying to protect you, he didn’t want you to worry. I’m sorry, don’t cry now.”

They arrived at the police station a few minutes later and Lay was questioned as soon as possible, which was straight after the host who was currently being interviewed had finished. 

“Joonmyeon…” Tao asked Suho when they stood outside the interview room.

“Yes?”

“Would you be able to take Lay back to yours? He needs somewhere to stay where people can keep an eye on him, he obviously can’t come back to mine, Kris is there.”

Suho nodded. “Okay that’s fine. What about the others?”

“I’ll see if they have a friend or family member that they can stay with, otherwise I’ll give them all a small sum of money and direct them to a hostel or something. I’ll also see if I can find them a place to work for a while and I’ll pay them so that they don’t speak to the media.” Joonmyeon looked at him in surprise.

“You would do all of that for them? Even Kai?”

“To not do that would be wrong of me. They need a chance.”

Tao’s phone beeped and he looked down at it.

“Right I have to go, Kris has his first therapy session today.” Tao said, waving to Joonmyeon and heading off.

“Good luck! I’ll look after Lay don’t you worry.”

Kris sat opposite his therapist and stared blankly at the wall behind her.

“Hello Kris, do you remember me?”

Kris’s eyes quickly looked at her then away again.

“Hello Minah.” He said.

“ Do you know why you’re here Kris?” She asked.

Kris only stayed silent.

“Is that a yes or a no?” Minah pushed.

“No.” Kris said eventually.

“It seems like you struggled to answer that question. Are you telling the truth or are you saying what you wish was the truth?” Minah paused but she knew she wouldn’t get anything out of Kris.

“I was told about your situation with your boyfriend. But I haven’t heard anything about your family situation. You dream about them all a lot don’t you?” It wasn’t really a question but Minah wanted Kris to clarify himself.

Kris replied as if something was stuck in his throat. “Yes. All of the time.”

“Are they nightmares or nice dreams?”

“Nightmares.” Minah nodded sympathetically.

“I think you blame yourself too much for things Kris. If you’d have known the true impact of your actions would you have still done it?” Minah waited. When Kris realised he was supposed to answer he spoke again dryly.

“No.”

“If you know that then why do you feel bad? Tell me about your mother Kris.”

“I don’t have a mother.”

“Don’t play this game, everyone has a mother.”

Kris sat in silence for a few minutes but his eyes weren’t as unfocused as before.

“I left her.” Kris said.

“Where did you leave her to go to?”

“My father.”

“Is it a crime that you should see your other parent? I’m sure your mother understood.”

Kris shook his head. “We argued before hand.”

“She has had a very long time to calm down about that argument now. What happened at your fathers?”

“He had a new family and I didn’t fit in. I tried to fit in for a few years but I just didn’t.”

Minah nodded and asked him to continue.

Kris gulped nervously. “Then I went back to my mum’s house. She wasn’t there anymore. I don’t know where she is.”

Minah nodded slowly. “So how is that your fault Kris? You wanted to live with your father for a while.  What son wouldn’t want time with his dad? As for you mother, you had no idea that she would move and you have no idea why she moved. How can you be responsible for that?”

Kris nodded slowly and Minah smiled at him.

“Many sons have been much worse to their parents and have gotten away with it, others don’t care what happens to their parents. Yet you’ve barely done a thing and feel so guilty. It’s true you’re not a golden child, few of us are, but you have done nothing that warrants you to feel this way. Certainly shutting them out and pretending that they don’t exist and that you don’t know or care about them would make the situation worse.”

Minah spoke to Kris for longer and his responses became much more open. The psychotherapy and counselling session seemed to be working well.

“Tell me about Lay then.” Minah said.

Kris seemed to turn to stone and his muscles tensed.

“I don’t know a Lay.”

“I think you do Kris. You’re blocking him out. How do you think that would make him feel if he knew?”

“It would be better off if he didn’t know me. I only hurt people.”

“But you can’t make him forget by trying to forget yourself. That’s selfish. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve done that’s hurt him so much?”

Kris just sat playing nervously with his sleeve.

“You haven’t intentionally hurt him Kris, and from what I know of the situation you went out of your way to protect him. You didn’t tell him about the plastic surgery, you covered his shifts for him when he was ill as well as doing your own. You would not hurt him intentionally, so pretending to not know him will hurt him more than anything you’ve done before. Because this is intentional. This is something that you can control.”

Minah could see that she had done all that she could with Kris today and called in Tao. Tao had spent much of the time that Kris was in his session arranging things down the phone with Suho and the police. He ensured that all of the hosts and workers at SM who were innocent would be moved into accommodation and given a small sum of money that would be enough to get them by for a little while.

“How was he?”

“Slight improvements. It’ll take a while longer.” Minah said sadly.  Tao nodded and walked Kris to his car outside.

“What do you fancy for dinner Kris? I’ll ask the staff to cook up a celebratory feast tonight.”

“What are we celebrating?” Kris asked, staring blankly out of the car window.

“Well, the law suit against SM is looking really good for us right now. Also the doctor said you’ve improved. That seems like reason enough for a celebration.”

Kris didn't answer him so he gave up.

Tao stared out of the window feeling both happy and sad at once. He wanted to be happy, his mother’s case that was now his was going well. But here he was next to one of the victims who may never be the same mentally again. He really, really liked Kris but couldn’t do anything for him but solve the case. He couldn’t do anything for himself about Kris either. Kris was very much his ideal type, but Kris already has someone else. Or had had someone at least. Making a move now would be selfish of him when Kris was going through so much.

That night that Kris came into his room he was happy but it wasn’t full happiness. He knew Kris was drunk, he knew Kris was probably wishing it was Lay.

Tao frowned out of the window and the car slowed as they stopped at a red light. Sehun was sitting on a bench and frowning, he held a handful of money and seemed to be counting through it. It didn’t look like an awful lot.

“Hang on a second.” Tao said, climbing out of the car. “Sehun!”

Sehun looked up and instantly put the money back into his pocket, leaning back on the bench and hiding his frown with a small smile.

“Hi Tao, What are you doing?”

“I could ask you the same. Didn’t you get given money and accommodation for a little while? What are you doing out here?”

Sehun sighed. “The accommodation wasn’t fitting. And I can’t accept others money like that.”

“Wasn’t fitting? How so?”

Sehun ran his hand through his hair. “I used to live in that hostel. It wasn’t a good experience for me. I’m not going back there.”

Tao froze for a moment with his mouth open as if he was silently saying ‘oh’.

“Then why don’t you come back to mine until you find a place to stay? You can’t live on the streets.”

Sehun shook his head without giving it a thought.

“I don’t want to get in the way. I’ll work something out don’t worry.”

Tao snorted “Get in the way? There’s way too much space at mine, you couldn’t get in my way if you tried.” Sehun seemed to be thinking about it but beeping made them both look around. The light had turned green and Tao’s car was blocking the road.

“Come on.” Tao said, grabbing Sehun by the hand and dragging him into the car. Tao climbed into the middle beside Kris who still stared out the window exactly as he had been doing when Tao left. Sehun pulled the door shut behind him and they drove off. For a moment Sehun was quiet but then he spotted who else was in the car.

“Kris?”

Kris didn’t respond. Tao quickly put his hand over Sehun’s mouth and shushed him. Sehun raised his hands to show his innocence and Tao moved his hand.

“What is he doing here?”

“You know the whole story about him leaving SM right?”

“I heard that he had gone away to see family or something. But that was what Soo Man told us. Other rumours spread that he left Lay and walked out. Does Lay know that he’s here?”

“No. And he can’t. Not yet at least.” Sehun went to object but Tao quickly continued. “Kris isn’t quite… in his right mind at the minute.”

“What do you mean?” Sehun asked.

Tao sighed and then called out to Kris.

“Hey Kris.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to tell Sehun about Lay?”

“Who’s Lay?”

Tao turned to Sehun and Sehun’s mouth hung open.

“He’s mad.”

“He isn’t mad.” Tao defended. “He’s put up a mental block.  Too much happened to him, and he was too stressed. His guilt consumed him and now he’s like this. He’s seeing a counsellor and hopefully he’ll be okay. But Lay can’t see him like this. It will break him.”

Sehun nodded. Everyone that knew Lay loved him instantly. Sehun wouldn’t want any harm to come to him.  They pulled into Tao’s estate and Sehun stared out of the window in amazement.

“Where are we?” He asked.

“This is my house.” Tao said as the driver opened the door for them.

Once inside Tao told Sehun to sit in the lounge. “If you wait here I’m going to take Kris up to his room. I’ll be with you in a minute, if you want anything to eat or drink ask any of the staff and they’ll be glad to help.”

Sehun nodded and Tao went upstairs.

“Kris, what are your plans for today?” Tao asked.

“Watch TV.” He replied.

“Okay but first I think you should have a shower and get changed. I’ve laid out these clothes for you, they’ll be nice and comfy.” Tao walked to Kris. “Go on you awkward dweeb, have a wash you stink.” He playfully slapped Kris’s arm and pushed him towards the bathroom. Kris smiled and went inside, closing the door.

Tao sighed and then looked around. He wanted Kris to return to normal, it broke his heart seeing Kris like this. Tao was about to leave when he noticed something under the bed. The book that Kris liked to read the most must have fallen and ended up under the bed. Tao took it out and dusted it off before lying in on the bed next to the clothes before leaving.

“Sorry that I took so long. Would you like a tour, I’ll also show you to your room.”

Sehun stood up and followed Tao as he was shown to the kitchen and the offices and then up the stairs and told where Kris’s and Tao’s bedrooms were.  Now then you can pick between these three bedrooms. Or I could show you to the other buildings where you would be living completely by yourself if you would rather live more privately, however there are no staff in those buildings to tend to you.

“Here is fine.” Sehun stammered. “are all of these three rooms the same?”

“Pretty much, the view would be different but that’s about it.”

“I guess I’ll just have this one then.” Sehun said, walking into the door they were currently closest to. Tao gave Sehun some slippers and a spare pair of pyjamas.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a little while for your belongings from SM, if you need anything desperately I can always take you into town.”

Sehun nodded his thanks then went into his room to shower. Tao decided he probably should as well with all of the rushing around he’s been doing today.

He changed out of his suit and lay out some black jogging bottoms and a black t shirt before going into his bathroom.

Kris emerged from the shower and dried himself off slowly. He didn’t realise he was crying for a long while, he assumed it was just shower water. He took the pile of clothes from where he had thrown them on the floor and a ring fell out from the pocket of his jeans.

He dropped the clothes again and knelt on the floor to pick up the ring which had rolled under the sink. More tears fell down his face and after a while they weren’t just a silent flow of tears but sobs from deep down in his stomach. He somehow managed to get back into his room and dressed into what Tao left him, leaving his clothes dumped in the corner he lay across his bed and clutched the ring while crying himself out into the sheets. When he was done he rolled over and felt something else on the bed. He saw the book that he loved to read so much and he picked it up, turning the front cover and reading from the start.

Sehun and Tao looked at each other. They were both changed and sat with a mug of hot chocolate in the lounge. The house was completely silent but for the small sips of drink they took every now and then. Kris had finally stopped crying and Tao took in a deep breath and hung his head.

“You’ve done what you can.” Sehun comforted, rubbing Tao’s arm.

“It doesn’t feel like I’m making things better. I feel like I’m making things worse. Kai and other hosts are more angry than happy about SM going down. It might have been full of scandals and illegal dealings and exploitation but to many it was their home. Because of me there are dozens on the streets without a single penny. Kris is going bonkers and Lay doesn’t know a thing. I feel bad that he doesn’t know but then I face the dilemma of how much it would hurt him if he did. I have this whole stupid estate to live in but I’m alone and I’m in this situation because my mum bloody died and left me with just this crappy job in her place.” Tao stopped and breathed in.

Sehun looked at him in wonder and raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry.” Tao said. “I guess that had been building for a while.”

“Don’t apologise, just get it all out.”

“I don’t have gas.” Tao joked.

“I’m not sure what would be more preferable.” Sehun chuckled. Tao laughed and finished his hot chocolate.

“You’re not alone though.” Sehun said. “You have all of your staff who care about you. Kris is here too.”

“My staff care about me because it’s their job and they’re paid. Kris… He isn’t himself right now, and he doesn’t care about me. He hated me before I brought him here you know.”

Sehun frowned. “You live in such an amazing place and have a good job and money, how can you of all people be alone? I have no family, or at least none that want me, and I don’t have barely a penny to my name.”

“That can change. Especially with this case. I can sue SM for all they’ve got and more, I don’t want that money to go to me but the victims of the case.”

Sehun looked at Tao curiously. Compared to what he thought rich people would be like, Tao was completely different than expected. 

OMGOMGOMG I missed you guys so much. I've been annoyingly busy and thought about this so much but never had the time. :'( 

But I spend all day refusing to leave my room and sitting down and writing this, it's much longer than I expected it to be too. 

Right, now that I've done this I'm off again. :'( leave a comment, I missed you all so so much.

-1990stalker-