“Hello?” Joonmyeon’s voice flowed down into the receiver.

“Joonmyeon, it’s terrible. Kris is missing!” Tao almost yelled down the phone to Suho.

“Kris? Are you sure he’s missing? He isn’t… ”  His voice faded out as he failed to think of an excuse for Kris’s absence.

“The staff say they haven’t seen him since the early hours of yesterday morning, and his counsellor hasn’t seen him in two days.”

“Okay, stay calm. We’ll look around the general area for him, he might have gone shopping or checked into a hotel. If he doesn’t show up soon enough we’ll call the police. I’ll sort things out so that we can delay the court trial today.”

“Okay, thank you. Don’t tell Lay just yet though, if that okay with you, he doesn’t need this on his plate at the minute.” Suho agreed and Tao hung up after saying a small goodbye. He grabbed his jacket before heading out of the door, returning to instruct Sehun to stay home and message him if Kris returned, before turning and leaving once again.

Lay had woken with just a slight hang over but with no memories of the night before, much to Joonmyeon’s relief. He was currently out on a walk, something Lay always did every morning.

Lay was presently wandering the most scenic route he had found so far in the nearby area. His walk took him through some of the older streets of Seoul before taking him over a bridge which crossed the Han River, and then into the part of the City where there were the most shops. It was on this bridge where he saw a familiar face on the other side of the bridge, several lanes of traffic between them.

Kris had his back to Lay and was staring out over the water, his hands tightly clenching the railings until his knuckles were white. Lay observed from afar, too timid to approach. He noticed that Kris had a backpack on his back, which wasn’t his usual style and had Lay wondering what he could be doing out here. He never seen him on his walks before, and Kris hadn’t been an early riser back at SM. Suddenly he watched Kris start to move, his foot reaching up onto the first railing that separated the road from the drop to the River below, his other foot soon going up to meet the second rail. Lay realised with a stab of fear what Kris was doing and he rushed across the road, no longer caring for his own safety. His only thoughts were on Kris. He had to save him. Kris could not die on him. It was hard to cope right now because Kris wasn’t himself. But it had been harder for Lay when he hadn’t known where Kris was or how he was doing. Knowing that, he had no doubt that his survival would be nearly impossible if Kris were to vanish from the Earth forever.

Cars swerved, slammed their brakes on and beeped as Lay threw himself across the road to stop Kris. He reached the other side as Kris’s leg was moving up to the third and final railing, and time seemed to take twice as long as usual, a growl of frustration ripped from Lay’s throat. He grabbed Kris around the waist and pulled him back, Kris letting out a startled cry. Lay stood with his arms around Kris, refusing to let go lest he try to do something stupid. He was panting hard and tears started to pour down his cheeks.

Kris hadn’t seen the person behind him yet, but the arms around him felt familiar somehow. Another flash of a memory slipped across his mind. He was taken back to a time where he stood in a shower cubicle, and although the memory wasn’t visually clear, the emotions that filled him were strong. He knew that at the time of the memory he was grievously upset about something and arms similar to those around him now had encased him then too, one of those hands had gone up to his hair, and he had been cared for in his time of need.

His chest panged painfully and his legs felt too weak underneath him.

The stranger found his voice and sobbed into Kris’s back. “Why would you do that? How could you even… you idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!”

Cold tears of ice ran down Kris’s cheek and he spoke in no more than a hoarse whisper. “I’m sorry… for everything.”

Lay’s eyes widened and he wondered if Kris had finally remembered. His arms were being pulled open and Kris turned to face Lay, whose arms had dropped numbly to his sides.

“Kris?” Lay just needed one sign that it was him, his Kris.

“I know that I have been a very, very bad person, and I know that you deserve someone who will love you and treat you right.” Clutching his painful chest Kris bent down to pick up his rucksack. Lay’s heart pounded harder than ever. He knows! He knows who he is, he knows who I am. But then he processed what the words meant and he thought his heart might not take much more.

Lay frantically shook his head, both in denial and to clear his thoughts.

“I believe you now. That I knew you in the past. But that’s all it is. It’s all in the past. You should move on before I hurt you even more. Goodbye now, Lay.”

Lay felt his heart breaking once again and his head was in no better condition. He had led himself on believing that Kris was back. But he wasn’t and his hopes seemed to be crushed along with that same realisation. When he finally had sense to move Kris had crossed the road onto the side from which Lay had just ran from. Lay turned to follow, desperation was his fuel.

However a lorry blocked his way back across the road and he hurried along the path, trying to find an alternate place to cross. Though it was just his luck that he only managed to get one lane across the road before he was forced to stop again. Cars beeped but Lay didn’t care. He craned his neck to look for Kris but the traffic blocked his view. Weaving his way through the busy morning rush hour traffic he finally made it to the other side. Looking left, there was no sign of Kris, and looking right was just as futile. He leant hopelessly onto the railings and sobbed hysterically to the water below where ripples spread swiftly across its surface. As he cried a dark shape rose to the surface of the dark cold water and bobbed along as the river flowed peacefully, unaware of the turmoil on the bridge. Lay’s heart stopped as Kris’s backpack drifted further away from him. 

DOUBLE UPDATE DOUBLE DOUBLE UPDATE~ 

On the other hand: WHAT HAVE I DONE? KRIS~~~~~ COME BACK!

You have no choice in the matter. Tell me what you think of this chapter at once! 

-1990stalker-