When he was young, Kris father once told him: "When you grow up, you will realize that a lot of people in the world make the wrong decisions. Decisions that plague them for the rest of their life. You may it see it, you may not. But if you do, you might feel like they are demons. You might think the the world is hell inhibited by Satan's slaves. Don't feel sad because it does nothing for you. Instead, son, pull these people out from the dark, help them walk in the sun. Because sometimes, these people had no intention to be in the dark. You, my son, is my light and I love you."

At that point of time, Kris was eight and he had brushed it off like any other kid would when their father goes all wisdom-like on them. But when Kris father died a few weeks later he went numb. The conversation was on repeat in his head and a thousand questions bloomed. Why did dad die? Didn't he say I was his light? Wasn't having me enough? The young boy blamed himself for being not careful, for not looking after his father well enough, for not saying 'I love you' enough.

But maybe he was a little more mature for his age, maybe his father taught him well. He knew that regret does nothing. Every experience was a lesson learnt. So from that moment onwards, he made a promise to himself that never would he let someone slip out of his grasp again. He will learn, save, fix whatever it takes.

His mother was the very first person he saved. She was grieving for her husband's death, hiding in a hole she built herself and refusing to come out. It was through coaxing, telling her that he needed her, that he loved her, did Kris's mom heal. Slowly, he could see that he was piecing her back together, concealing the frayed parts and helping his mom be whole again. The scars that showed weakness was still there and will always be there. But she wore them proud, evidence that she survived a battle everyone at some point in their life will go through.

With his mother's support Kris studied psychology and graduated with a master's degree. He was offered to join many firms but he chose not to. Instead he became a freelance fixer, or so it says on his name card. He was known only through word, friends, friends of friend. Anyone who needed to be fix called him for his services.

He chose to go freelance for a very good reason. He refused to sit in a dingy office where patients only see him once a week. It's no use. He preferred to follow them around, observe their habits and then help them. The pay grade he was getting was a little more than enough to get by because he was good. Clients are always 100% satisfied.

Today though, he's got a feeling that the current client's rating of him is below average. Forget the 'very good' option, if he could get his ratings to go above 'poor' it would be a miracle. Kyungsoo was currently giving him the stink eye. Okay, he admit that it was his fault for agreeing to the annual high school get-together that Kyungsoo was invited to without his permission. But the yellow envelope he found on the office table that one fateful day was like a gift from heaven.

For the three months that Kris had been following Kyungsoo around that midget have not gone for a single meet-up or hang out that consisted of more than three people, including him. Kris was vying for that opportunity to see Kyungsoo interact with a larger crowd and to know him a little better. It was obviously not the right decision to make a choice for the other without his consent but he could not resist plus he had a feeling that Kyungsoo would say no anyway.

So he figured that he should skip the argument to reduce the risk of the fancy yellow invite going into the paper shredder located beside said owner's desk.

Speaking of which, the paper shredder was operating for more than an hour now. Shredding piece after piece of his photo that Kyungsoo had manage to find online. When the ticket for the gathering had landed on Kyungsoo's desk, passed to him by his very surprised secretary, Kyungsoo had exploded silently. Kris was rudely interrupted from his nap from the sudden vigorously clicking of the mouse. Not a moment later, the printer started churning out photos of Kris, photos Kris was quite sure were taken during his college day doing things he felt were better left unsaid.

Of course after the initial shock from the slew of embarrassing photos, he thinks his lucky that Kyungsoo was only shredding them while glaring at him. Granted he could feel every ounce of resentment form Kyungsoo at the moment, at least Kyungsoo was not distributing the photos.

"I'm sorry."

Apparently, that seem to agitate Kyungsoo even further because in went the stack of photos. The next paper that was about to join Kris shredded body was an even brighter yellow.

"Not the ticket! Come on Kyungsoo, be reasonable!" 

"Be reasonable? I am being reasonable! I never sent the confirmation letter for my presence at the gathering, so I don't understand why this ugly piece of crap is in my hands right now! Its only reasonable for me to let it join the other ugly pieces of crap that is having the time of their lives sitting where they belong. In the dustbin filled with other crap."

The hostage inched closer to the shredder. Kris flinched every time Kyungsoo said the word 'crap' because damn he never heard the word 'crap' being said with such sarcasm before and its not a nice feeling to be called crap at all.

"I admit that I sent the confirmation letter! That is true. But I did it only because I wanted to see you hang out with more people! You hardly go out with anyone other than you best friend and me! And you only go out with me because you are obliged to. So come on Kyungsoo, give it a go. For me?"

When Kris said the last two words with puppy dog eyes and a whiny voice, it was an extremely wrong move because Kyungsoo was not a person to be played with. The stark yellow paper entered the shredder about an inch and Kris panicked. The next thing he knew he was on the floor on top of a utterly irritated Kyungsoo.

He looked around frantically and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that most of the yellow paper was still in Kyungsoo's hand, enough to be usable after a few trims.

"Say you'll go." Kris was taking advantage of the situation.

"Get off me Kris! You're heavy!" Kyungsoo was surprisingly strong for his size.

"Not until you say you'll go." An adamant Kris was slightly stronger than Kyungsoo. Very slightly.

"Why do you want me to go so much?" Kyungsoo had stop struggling and his voice had become small, enough for Kris to be washed over by guilt. Kris let go of Kyungsoo and sat up, leaving the younger to stare forlornly at the popcorn ceiling. He looked at Kyungsoo, his sad eyes and unhappy frown.

"Because... Because I thought you would be happy. Maybe a little happier when you meet the people you haven't seen for so long. Because surely, wouldn't it be nice to see the people you spent six years of your life with?" He watch Kyungsoo close his eyes in surrender, limp on the floor.

"Yeah... Maybe it's about time to meet them again." Kyungsoo said, his voice was resigned. Enough for another wave of guilt come at Kris head on.

Kyungsoo stood up to and sat at his desk, switching off the buzzing shredder without another word. He folded the slightly tattered ticket and placed it into his top drawer. Kris picked himself up and head to the couch, the whole time with his head down, trying his best not to pout. He was not a petulant child.

"Pick me up at 6.30. And don't be late." That made Kris grinned like a fool, eyes practically shining. He thinks he sees Kyungsoo blushing but he kept hush about it.

When they left the office, the employees that were still working sniggered when they saw him. The lady who had the hots for him was even more daring than normal, what with all the lips biting, half-lidded gaze and purring that was accompanied by claws. When he saw the tell-tale shake of Kyungsoo's shoulders, he concluded that he learned a valuable lesson that day.

He should never mess with Kyungsoo.

Kris and Kyungsoo were standing in front of the restaurant door, Kyungsoo was glaring at the handle while Kris looked on. There was only one word Kris could describe Kyungsoo at the moment and that was frightened. If Kyungsoo's dilated eyes were anything, it was a sign that Kris should probably grab Kyungsoo and run, far far away from that horrible restaurant filled with Kyungsoo's high school mates. But that was not the case.

"Kyungsoo are you sure you want to do this? You can back out you know. Go. Just run. You shouldn't have to do this if you don't want to."

"You lost the rights to tell me that when you sent in the confirmation letter Kris." Kyungsoo forced out through gritted teeth. "Besides, I have to do this sooner or later so let's just get it over with."

Kris didn't have time to argue otherwise because Kyungsoo had already push open the restaurant door. Right away there was a chorus of "Kyungsoo!" and "It's been so long!". Kris was dragged the other way as a group of girls pounced at him, shooting him personal questions one after another. As politely as he could manage, he disclosed his name and dismissed himself, trying his best to get back to Kyungsoo.

Kyunngsoo, on the other hand, had no time to look after Kris. It was exerting enough trying to control his nervous heart as he is reminded of his high school mates again. An overly enthusiastic friend by the name of Chanyeol, or so he thinks he remembers correctly, was single-handedly dragging him through the crowd to re-introduce him to everyone. Kyungsoo fidgets as he was presented to everyone, bowed his head in greeting and smiled. It's not so bad, he thinks, just be kind and look normal, easy.

But just as he was getting used to it, the next person standing in front of made him freeze at his tracks. He didn't even register Kris stumbling to stand beside him.

That person was Kim Jongin.

"How are you Kyungie?"