Tao had fallen asleep with his guard down, his knife loose against his fingers and right next to Kris. He falls into a deeper sleep than he was used to; and his ears and eyes blind to movement. It was not his body that had fallen asleep but his guards and conscious-  he had trusted Kris to take care of him; and Tao had never regretted his decision so much. 

Tao wakes up with his entire left side numbed and prickling. He immediately knows something is wrong, his side strangely empty and his movements restricted. He recognizes the biting ropes around his torso immediately, and flops around testing the ropes, only to come to the unsurprizing conclusion that there were perfect with not a single loophole. In other words, he is in the total mercy of the person who tied him up. 

. 

Tao narrows his eyes, anger and betrayal firing his blood up. There was no doubt who exactly was the cause of this- and Tao- registers a funny aching feeling taking up refuge in his heart. and seeing Kris stand in front of his tied body, totally unharmed, a smug smirk adorning his face. 

He recognizes the feeling as hurt. 

Tao watches as Kris bends down in front of him, the maddening smirk still marring his features. Tao felt his heart throb painfully as he searches for a hint of his friend in this stranger, only to be truly disappointed when Kris stares back at him and that's when Tao knows everything was just a bloody lie. 

"Didn't anybody tell you that you aren't supposed to leave your guard down?" Kris taunts, face centimeters from Tao's face, as Tao struggles a little in discomfort. Tao glares back at Kris; spitting straight into his face. 

Kris wipes the spit off his face, but his facade of friendliness had gone down with it. Tao looks on as Kris turns into a monster he has never met before, a far cry from the friend he used to have. He doubles over in pain as Kris's fists hit their target, even more painful since Tao himself had taught Kris how to punch.

Tao feels the salty tears run down, and tries to ignore the bitter feeling that was killing him inside. There was only sorrow etched in his face. 

Tao was truly bruised and defeated. His whole body ached with the beating Kris had delivered- perfect and brutal like Kris himself. Tao felt the cruelness with every direct hit he took, sharp and merciless; the way Kris had betrayed him- 

Or did Tao betray himself? 

He had been taught; and he had learnt never to let his guard down- that everyone- everyone was never to be trusted. No matter how sincere they are; one day, they would still sell you out. One day, your importance to them would be forgotten- and that was when the knife of betrayal would strike.

They always never meant to, but something will always be more important.

He had taught himself to get used to the lonely life of a killer- taught himself to live the life of an outcast. 

But when Kris came along, Tao had left all those morals in the dust. He thought he found someone that could understand how it felt like.

He let making a friend be more important than his life- and that's where Tao went wrong. 

Tao stares at Kris as he unties Tao's wrist to shove food into his hands. At that split second, Kris's loosened his hold on him and Tao knew that he could have escaped at that moment. Tao knows that all it would have taken was a quick wrench and a painless knockout before he could be gone. 

But Tao didn't move. He calls himself stupid for doing this just for this one stranger that he had only just met, but something about Kris had unlocked a little part of Tao he had left behind when he changed. 

Belief. 

And then Kris smiled. 

 He had taught Tao his third lesson- anyone could be his enemy.

But most of all, that everyone is afraid of hurting. Of betrayal. But still, they trust, because they refuse to believe that everyone is bad. 

a/n: Thank you for subbing and leave a kind comment!