I woke up slowly, not wanting to get up at all. I was too comfortable. Opening my eyes and having to wake up wasn't a an idea I favoured. Though, the noise coming from the earbud that must have fallen out of my ear when I crashed last night was slowly beginning to annoy me. I grabbed the earbud and began looking for the phone attached to its wires. I turned to my left and saw Tao sleeping next to me, my phone being held firmly in his hand that rested on his stomach. Where was his other arm? I looked up and noticed it was the pillow I had been laying on near my neck. I couldn't help but blush. Soon enough, Tao began to stur a bit and wake up. I never realized how long his eyelashes were. They were darker than Kris'......

 Kris.

 Why did he always have to haunt me?

 "Good morning, sleeping beauty" I rolled my eyes and grabbed my phone from his hand.

 "Good morning, idiot." I said, sticking my tongue out at him. I realized how close we were, so I backed myself closer to the wall. Especially now, I felt being close to him wasn't safe, but why? We already reconciled and the dark atmosphere around us disappeared, hadn't it? Did I really not trust him?

 "Amber...." I looked up at him, taken out of my thoughts by reading the concern on his face and in his voice. Damn, I was too obvious.

 "Tao, I need to know you have no more intentions of hurting me....or Kris." I whispered, unable to look at him and stared at my hands on my lap.

 "Amber, honestly the only thing I want is you. If I have to fight for your trust again, let me be that warrior because I won't give up. Kris can go kill himself and live his life, I don't care anymore. Only you matter at this point." I looked up at him, a bit shocked at his words.

 "Tao, that's a little extreme." I chuckled. Did he just say warrior? It was sweet, but it seemed a little extreme.

 "I mean it. I like you, Amber. More than like."

 "T-Tao...." I stuttered. He leaned in a bit closer to me for a second, our faces not too far apart, but then withdrew and got off my bed, moving his hair out of his face.

 "I'm not expecting an answer right now. I'm sure you still have feelings for that douchebag. For now, we will stay as friends. I can't leave your side just yet, Ms.Liu." I giggled as he called me Ms.Liu.

 Soon, he left saying he had to cut his hair a bit so seeing wasn't an issue and take a shower. We made plans to meet you at the arcade in an hour. I really think Tao can help pull me out of my depression. Perhaps, he was the only one.

 "Hey Amber!" I turned my head around and saw Luhan happily waving at me from a distance. He began walking up to me, me in shock to see him out by himself in daylight.

 "Luhan! I never see you freely walk the streets, especially only with sunglasses. What's up?" I asked, grabbing his hand and giving him a bro hug.

 "Oh nothing, just enjoying the rest of the summer heat before fall hits." He looked up at the sky, soaking in the heat. However, this made no sense.

 "Luhan, you hate the heat. You're like a polar bear, what's gotten into you?" I put a hand on his forehead, feeling it wasn't warm at all.

 "Can't a guy just spend some time with his good friend?" Good friend? We were friends, but we weren't particularily close.

 "No, it's fine. It's just I gotta go soon because I made some plans to hang out with Tao at the arcade. First I gotta get a drink though."

 "Dammit, I have a photoshoot with Kai and Xiumin. I would have loved to come." He pouted, sad that his self-made invite backfired. I would be a little annoyed, but Luhan made it seem too cute. Following me into a small coffee shop and taking the seat across from me, I rolled my eye. Was he really glued to me now or soething? Though, I looked around the shop and my sincere smile soon returned. I was happy where I decided to go. I didn't want to go to any of the old coffee shops right now, as being around them brought out too many memories that held emotions I had to keep at rest for now. One cool thing about this place is that I didn't even have to get up to order here.

 "I'm sorry." I apologized half-heartedly.

 "I don't see much of you these days." he put one hand on the tiny, circular table and rested his face on it, beginning to pout again. I raised an eyebrow. Now I'm suspicious.

 "I saw you like....a few days ago. That's more than often, since we aren't too close and your schedule is always packed. What's really going on? You're making me nervous." Before I could add on to whatever I said, a waitor came up to us and smiled.

 "Good afternoon." the young boy smiled "What can I get you?"

 "I'd like a caramel frappe. You, Luhan?"

 "Oh, I'll get the same." he said.

 "Okay, I'll be right back with your drinks." the waitor walked away and as soon as he did, I was jolted with the attack of surprise with what Luhan had to say.

 "Don't hang out with Tao."

 "What? Why!?" I furrowed my eyebrows a bit. What the hell? Where did that come from?

 "He isn't....good Amber." Luhan looked down at the table, putting his eyes to the fingers he suddenly found interest with.

 "How the....? Luhan, who the hell have you been talking to?" I barely was able to keep my voice some-what calm, not wanting to cause a scene and sure as hell didn't want either of us - especially Luhan - to get discovered right now. No fans would be good right now.

 "No one, I can just tell." That's a lie.

 "You never mentioned Tao like this before. Who contacted you?"

 "He wasn't anyone important."

 "Kris...." That son of a .....bringing other people into this. How weak did he think I was!? I definitely now held some anger, but a lot of it was disappointment. Is that what he thought of me? A completely weak, stupid person?

 "Okay, maybe with his help I understood the problem at hand."

 "Tao isn't bad." I instantly fought back, naturally defending Tao. "Kris had every reason to be worried before, but I can take care of myself. Besides, Tao has apologized and shown who he truly is. We've made ammends."

 "Are you insane!? That easily, you're going to trust him!?" Luhan began to yell, getting some awkward stares from people in the shop. I looked around and gave everyone an uneasy smile, hoping they'd go back to not paying attention.

 "Here you two go." the waitor gave us our drinks, giving us weird looks before quickly walking away. Great, now this guy thinks something's up. Just awesome.

 "Amber, I'm just trying to look out for you here!"

 "Yes, and I appreciate that! Thank you! Though, I think I can make my own decisions and honestly, I don't even have any other choice. It's either him or drown back to hell."

 "Drown back to hell? Amber, why don't you just talk to Kris then?" I glared at Luhan, each of my fingers on my right hand hitting the table as if I was playing a piano. Talk to him?

 "Why the hell would I want to speak to him after everything he has done!?" now my voice rose.

 "He really cares about you, Amber. He is worried sick about you and won't even go back to China until he knows you're okay."

 "Where the hell was he when he left? What about an explanation? Don't buy into this, Luhan. You shouldn't even be involved in this and I'm teribbly sorry." Luhan then lowered his voice to barely not a whisper, leaning in towards the table to get closer to me.

 "Amber, he didn't have a choice. Believe me, I hated that bastard. Hell, almost as much as Tao probably still does. Though, I realized why he did it. He explained everything to me and it all makes sense now."

 "How do you know his words are true?" I wanted to believe Luhan, but my body was so hesitant to think anything these days.

 "Backstage, after certain performances, he would run to the bathroom and lock himself in there. He said it was his nerves, but I heard him vomitting like crazy and panting. It just didn't make sense because he wasn't like this before. He didn't have stage fright in the beginning, so why would he be nervous all of a sudden? Honestly, I'd talk to Kris if I were you. Us EXO members, we all like you. You were so kind to us in our trainee days and then supportive when we debuted. We supported your relationship with Kris. I have no reason to hurt or lie to you, Amber. I wouldn't want that."

 "How many other people know about....this?" I asked, looking out the window. I didn't want to look at him. I was starting to feel hope again with Kris and it both made me excited and repulsed me. I'm tired of my emotions being swung around like this.

 "He has only contacted me, which surprised me. He didn't call YiXing or Suho. He chose me, which is weird but I guess he trusts me. My point is, please talk to the guy. He has to have another medical examination soon in Beijing, but he refuses to go because he is worried about you."

 "Fine. I'll contact him somehow." I grabbed my drink and stood up "I gotta go meet Tao now. I'll talk to you later. I'm sorry to leave like this. Bye." I couldn't give him a second look, making me feel a bit guilty. All I knew was that I had to get out of there. I needed fresh air. He didn't do anything purposely to hurt me, rather to help me, but it's like this hell of a year keep getting more complicated. I just got Tao back, now could I actually get Kris back? Was he worth it? I walked out into the sidewalks and took a sip of my drink, staring at the ground. I was glad Luhan didn't follow me out.

 Did Kris deserve to be a part of my life again? Everyone hated him, besides Luhan now I guess and deep down....me. Luhan seems to faithful to Kris, though. It is completely opposite from the things he said before. If I were to guess now who were to attack me for revenge towards Kris a few months ago, I would have guessed Luhan due to his ice cold words that unintentionally sliced up people who heard them. He had so much distain and anger that it made Tao seem like a cupcake when Kris was mentioned. Then again, I spoke even less to Tao then I did with Luhan back then. God knows what he was saying around that time.

 "Ooof!!" I yelled, running into to someone. I looked up and bowed.

 "S-sorry." I said, embarrassed knowing it was probably my fault for not paying attention. I checked my drink and to my relief it didn't spill or anything.

 "No, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." I know that voice. I looked up and my eyes widened.

 "Kris...."

 "Amber!" He looked surprise.

 "Ummm, hey." I gave him a half wave, not knowing what to do.

 "Hey. How's life?" he asked, seemingly nervous. I could tell by the way he spoke and how he put his hands in his pockets. He tended to do that when he was nervous about anything. I remember thinking that it was cute and kind of attractive.

 "Good. Can you do me a favor?" I took a deep breathe, preparing myself for what was going to be said next.

 "Okay? What is it?"

 "Go back to China." He looked at me in awe. I couldn't tell if he was angry or shocked or confused or hurt. It made me visably annoyed, but for the wrong reasons.

 "What?"

 "Luhan....he told me how sick you are. I can't have you here watching me like a child when your health is at risk. It isn't fair." I realized what I was feeling now. I wasn't mad that he was here. I was feeling guilt - guilt for having him come all the way back here because I couldn't properly take care of myself. Dammit, I wanted to hate him but I just couldn't.

 "No, Amber. I'm not leaving you here, not in a hundred years. I'm not making that same mistake again." Don't make me feel worse. Please, Kris. I looked down, not wanting to show him any of my emotions.

 "Please, I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

 "I know you can, but there are people that even you can't see coming. I need to make sure you're safe. I can't leave until I know you're safe and happy."

 "Aren't you filming a movie or something?"

 "I finished that a long time ago. I don't care about any of that anyway. I only care about you." I felt my heart beat a bit faster.

 "Please, Kris. Don't do this."

 "I'll be fine." No, you won't! That's the problem! I had to think fast....

 "Fine, then take me to China with you! If that's what I have to do, I will."

 "What?? Are you insane? You can't just leave Korea like this!? Are you out of your mind?"

 "I'll consider it vacation. The 'Red Light' comeback is over. You said you're gonna protect me, so protect me as I leave the country by myself."

 "Amber...."

 "I'm going the day after tommorow. It's been decided. Stay here and not protect me, or come with me to Beijing."

 I had left him standing in the middle of the street in shock as I turned around and headed back to my dorm. Once I entered, I put my drink on the kitchen counter and walked back into the livingroom. To my surprise, which caused me to almost jump out of my skin. Tao was there.

 "Tao? What are you doing here? How did you get in?" I chuckled at my last part, both a little concerned and confused. Why was he here? Should I be nervous?

 "You were with Kris. I figured this would be the next place you go. Remember to lock your doors next time, you don't want sasaengs in here." He was playing with his sunglasses in his hands, but then put them in one hand and looked towards me. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but I hope he wasn't angry.

 I put my hands up, nervous and deffensive. "Tao, I swear I wasn't going to ditch you." Oh my god, I can't have him thinking that.

 "No, relax. I wasn't thinking that way. I saw you with....Kris. What did he say? What I really want to know is are you alright?" I smiled lightly, his comment warming my heart a bit. Though, my smile then turned to a nervous one. I put a hand behind my head and looked down for a second before giving Tao eye contact as I spoke.

 "Well, I'm going to Beijing tomorrow?" Tao's eyes widened in shock, dropping the sunglasses he held in his hand that instantly hit the floor.

 A/N: Things will only get better from here. Love you guys! It was hard writing this chapter because I had so many angles I could have went at. Though, then I thought of this little plot twist and it made me even more excited to write the next chapters. It'll be good and I'll try hard not to disappoint! Please comment with your thoughts and everything. Thank you for reading!!