Joonmyun had told the others to go easy on him to begin with. Sure this was hurting the members, but it was hurting Tao the most. 

He would deny it, tell everyone there was nothing wrong and that he was completely fine. However his actions told them otherwise; how he would sit there in the dorm staring at the door waiting for it to open and reveal him, how he would spend some nights sat up in bed waiting, waiting for someone to come and lie down next to him like they always did. 

The others were able to accept the facts and move on. They wanted to move on, but with Tao's actions constantly reminding them of what had happened it was too difficult to do so. 

"It's been almost two months now, surely he can just let it all go now" Baekhyun muttered one day, he and Kyungsoo watching from the kitchen as Tao sat there with his eyes glued to the door.

"I know" Kyungsoo said moving around Baekhyun and cleaning the kitchen to keep himself busy 
"But you know for a fact that if this happened with Chanyeol you would probably be the same. Just give him time and go easy on him like Joonmyun said to, he'll come around eventually" but he shared the same doubt as Baekhyun; was Tao going to be able to move on?

Hey, you've reached Kris. If I'm not answering then obviously I'm busy, so leave a message and I'll call you when I can 

Some nights Tao would keep on ringing his phone just to hear his voice. He would call it three, four maybe even five times just to hear that voice he had come to love so much. He needed it for the comfort, the reassurance. Tonight though, tonight was different. 

"W-what's taking you so long?" he asked, voice shaking 
"I'm here waiting for you, and yet you haven't shown up. The others, they're saying to just let go and move on... but you promised me, you said that you would be back soon. I'm waiting... where are-" 

He couldn't say anymore. The stupid answering machine wouldn't let him and with that Tao took it as his cue to get ready to go to bed. 

"Lights out TaoTao" Yixing said, sighing as he walked in to find Tao sat up in bed 
"Yeah I'll go to bed soon I've got to wait for-" but Yixing wouldn't let him finish his sentence. Instead he marched over to Tao's bed and pushed him so he would lie down.

"What are you doing?" Tao asked 
"Tao, you look shattered and you need a good nights sleep" but Tao couldn't sleep. He had to sit up and wait for Kris to come in, he wanted to be awake so he could cuddle up to him and fall asleep in his arms. 

"B-but I need to stay up. I need to stay up and wait for Kris" he replied. Yixing wanted to tell him to stop. Tao needed to stop. This was taking everything out of him and he was slowly degrading into the shell of the man he once was. He wanted to tell Tao he had to let go and move on, but Joonmyun was always constant prescence telling everyone to give Tao time. For now, for now he would just have to play along. 

"Look Tao you need to rest. Do you really think Kris is going to be happy if he walks in and see's you staying up in the state you're in?" he asked and watched Tao paused to think before slowly shaking his head. 

"But he will be here soon, right?" he asked as Yixing tucked him in 
"Of course. Now go to sleep" he replied gently, ruffling Tao's hair before exiting the room. Just how long was he and the others going to have to keep this up for? 

Schedules are hard. Hard and tiring. Especially when you have one after the other and get hardly anytime to sleep in between. But people learn to make light of them. No matter how many they have or whether they are pushed to their limits, they still need to maintain a positive attitude and continue to create a positive image of themselves. 

When completing schedules, it was hard. Everyone could see how Tao had just completely lost interest in everything they did now. He wasn't as enthusiastic, as connected as he use to be. They could see that he wanted to share stories about the better times, but he was prohibited to do so. How he would always look at the other end and expect to find someone just as tall as Chanyeol standing there, only to find the space vacant. 

Rumours began to fly about. Was Tao losing interest in being an EXO member? Would he quit before the year was up? Was the group close to breaking point?

They wanted to say something, but Joonmyun stopped them. He always stopped them. He had the same opinion as the others, of course he did, but they weren't going through what Tao was going through. After every schedule they had to watch Tao drag himself back to the dorm before curling up in the seat. Eye trained to the door, sitting there and not moving until he saw fit to. Every night the others would have to keep their mouths shut and watch. 

But tonight, tonight was different. 

"Just stop it!" 

Baekhyun wasn't one to raise his voice, in fact it was rare that he did. It was only when he reached the end of his tether did he finally snap. 

"Baekhyun" Joonmyun warned, but he didn't listen. Even when the others tried to stop him he just ignored them and carried on. 

"Tao just stop this! Look at what you're doing to yourself. You are killing yourself because you're constantly pining after something that's not going to come to you. We get it, you're devastated by this. You're not the only one though. But we've moved on and it's about time you did too. Just accept the fact that Kris is gone, he's gone and he's not going to be coming back!"

There. He did it. After two months of keeping it in, he finally poured out everything not only he but the others had all been thinking since this had happened. He didn't care what happened to him after this, he just wanted Tao to stop doing this to himself!

"That's easy for you to say!" Tao shouted back catching everyone, even Baekhyun, of guard. 

"You can stand there and tell me to stop. You can stand there and tell me to just let go and give up hoping. But you don't know what it feels like, you don't know what it feels like waiting for someone you hold dear to you because you still have your Chanyeol just like everyone else has each other! 

"You lot can keep telling me to just give up and move on. You can get pissed off with me because I'm causing the group more harm than good. Until you experience something like this though don't you dare speak to me like that again".

The others tried get him to come back, they tried apologising and tried to coax him out of his room. All they got in return was a stubborn and foul mouthed Tao in return.

Hey, you've reached Kris. If I'm not answering then obviously I'm busy, so leave a message and I'll call you when I can 

"You're at keeping your promises, you know that?". 

"Are you sure you can't come back with us?" 
"I'm sorry Tao, there's something I've got to do here". 

Tao hated it when he was separated from Kris. Whenever the two weren't together, that meant nights of one of them sulking because they were without the other in a dorm full of other soppy couples doing their own things. 

"And you're sure I can't stay here with you?" hoping that the pout on his face would convince Kris otherwise, only to having Kris peck his lips and shake his head 
"Sorry TaoTao. I won't be away for ages though. I'll be back in Korea in a few days before you know it!" he replied, trying to cheer Tao up just a little. 

"But I'll be in the dorm with the others like a complete loner" Tao whined 
"I know, but I've just go to take care of things. Don't worry though, I promise I'll call you when I can. Even when I'm about to get on the plane and I land at the airport I'll call you" as Tao stuck out his pinky finger. 

"You promise?" as Kris smiled and linked his pinky finger to Tao's 
"I promise". 

Waiting for something that has yet to arrive is a long and tedious task. Tao though, he kept waiting. He spent every waking moment waiting for the call. Just one call, that's all he was asking for, was that so much?  

He wanted to keep believing that Kris was going to call him. That the next phone call he got wouldn't be from his mum or another member asking him where he was. The next phone call he got would be from Kris who would have an excellent excuse ready as to why he hadn't called Tao for almost two months. 

He kept holding onto that belief. He didn't want to let go. He never wanted to let go. 

"Tao, please come out" came Yixing's voice as he gently knocked on the door, expecting a curse from Tao in response. Instead though, Tao held his phone in his hand, pushing the call button and holding it up to his ear. Five times the phone would ring, those five times the call wouldn't be answered and instead would go straight to the voice mail. 

Hey, you've reached Kris. If I'm not answering then obviously I'm busy, so leave a message and I'll call you when I can 

"I'm keeping my end of the promise here Kris. I'm here waiting each and every day for your call, waiting for you to come home like you promised me. I'm keeping my end of the deal and yet you're slowly beginning to break yours and it's breaking my heart Kris. W-where are you? Talk to me. Just let me know you're alr-" 

Tao didn't know that he had began to cry until he threw the phone down on his bed and a tear drop fell onto his hand. He didn't even wipe his tears away as he slowly walked over and unlocked the bedroom door to let Yixing in. 

"Oh Tao" he said, pulling the guy in for a hug. For the first time in two months Tao had finally allowed his emotions to take over and he allowed himself to let it all out. 

Promises, they can easily be made and oh so easily be broken. 

It's easy to hold onto something. Hold onto it and keep holding on in fear of letting it go and never have it come back. It's easy to hold onto something, but it's just as easy to let go. Let go and finally be able to move on in life...

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What the heck did I just write?!? o.O 
Ah well! Hope you guys enjoyed that... and that it makes sense... :S