Sehun laid his violin back in the case, setting the bow next to it before closing the leather container. He had just finished his practice for the day, packing up the rest of his belongings and stepped out of the practice room. His friends greeted him as he walked down the hallway and he replied with a smile, not wanting to stop for a chat. The person he wanted to talk to wasn’t any of them.

Sehun’s days were lonelier now, Zitao was back in South Korea and he was still here in Vienna. Usually, after his own practice he would pick the other up, allow himself to oblige to his duet requests, before finally emerge out from the other’s piano practice room an hour later. Then he would talk about what to have for dinner, and as always, Zitao would ask to get snack or dessert first before an actual meal.

Sehun smiled.

He could never say no to Zitao.

He was walking past Wiener Staatsoper when he realized Zitao hadn’t contacted him for a while now. He felt a little forgotten. Indeed, Tao had told him that he was going there to fulfill an invitation to play with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra a while back. Sehun had wanted to offer to company him, but when Zitao excitedly told him that his brother Chanyeol would pick him up, he refrained from doing so. He was amongst little people who knew that Chanyeol and Zitao have had relationship problems since they were little. They always had a lot of catching up to do, but whenever the elder came to visit his brother in Vienna, Sehun would always tag along and that had lessen their time to actually talk and catch up. So this time, Sehun only took Zitao to Vienna International Airport after making sure the other had booked for a direct flight to Seoul. Sehun won’t let Tao wander around at some foreign airport for transit by himself of course. If that were the case, he would’ve insisted to company him all the way.

So while a part of him felt a little forgotten, a part of him felt grateful. At least this would mean that Tao is having a good time in Seoul. He didn’t mind waiting a while more. It’s not like Zitao texted him everyday anyway. Sehun had asked him not to. He wanted Zitao to spend his time well in Seoul, especially after Chanyeol had told him that the elf was engaged. Soon, Chanyeol would have his own family and Zitao wouldn’t be able to spend time as much time with him anymore. Sehun wanted Tao to spend his time wisely.

Sehun made a turn, and walked ahead towards Sacher Eck, the hotel they often visit together. They do, because according to Tao, the hotel makes the best Sachertorte in the whole world. Sehun thinks he’s exaggerating. To him, all Sachertorte tasted like chocolate. But he would always cater to Tao’s wishes, if the reward is to see his delighted face when he took the first bite of the cake.

He entered the café as soon as the door was opened for him. It was only a couple seconds until Luca, their usual waiter, spotted him.

“I haven’t seen you in a while! A table for two as usual?” he asked in thick northern accent.

Sehun smiled as he shook his head, “No, I’d like to have a slice of Sachertorte to go, please,”

Luca looked surprised, “Zitao hasn’t come back yet? I thought the concert was months ago,”

“Yeah, I guess he was spending time with his family there. Remember his brother Chanyeol? We took him here several times when he visited?”

Luca nodded.

“Well, he had just got engaged, so Zitao is spending time with him I guess,”

Luca grinned, “Ah so he forgot about you, eh? Your face looked so sour,”

“Shut up,” Sehun rolled his eyes, “To go, Luca,”

“Coming right up!” Luca said cheerfully before making his way to the cake display, swiftly dodging the other waiters who were busy delivering orders here and there.

Sehun sighed. He doesn’t usually eat Sachertorte alone. Desserts are not his forte. He just got this because he missed Tao. He knew it.

After some more nagging from Luca, Sehun finally was allowed to pay for his cake and made his way back to his apartment. He was climbing the stairs, stopping at the first floor to stare at the closed door. It was Tao’s room on the first floor and his on the second. It had been a while since Tao would pop his head out of the door and call his name, telling him to get ready for a night out or something else he’d have in his mind.

Sehun sighed and continued to climb to his room. Damn, he missed that boy so bad.

Sehun continued to climb the stairs to get to his room, unlocking the door when his phone rang. He fiddled to reach his phone. He had always put it in his bag, and now with a cake box and violin case in one hand, he really regret doing so. When he finally got a hold of his phone, he stared at the screen for a while.

It’s Chanyeol’s number.

And he knew something must have happened.

He swiped the blinking green icon and pressed the gadget on his ear, “Hello?”

“You’re flying out on the earliest flight tomorrow morning to Seoul. I’ve got everything arranged,” he heard the elf said, his voice sounded alert but tired.

“What happened, hyung?” he asked, frowning, not wanting to hear his worst nightmare.

“Sehun, Zitao was involved in an accident. He was in a coma for the days and he had woken up today. He asked for you,”

That was the first time in his life that Sehun has ever dropped his violin. The Sachertorte was crushed underneath it.

When Tao woke up the next time, he felt foreign and so out of place. As if the body that he wakes up in wasn’t his own. His movements were limited and any position he put his hand or leg in, was not comfortable. Everyone in the room tried to help him with his pillows and all, but it doesn’t really help.

But Baekhyun was so nice. He kept his promise; he was there when Tao woke up. He told him that the nurse had left some food for him to try and start eating again, but Tao only drank the water, with Baekhyun’s help. His throat still hurt and he didn’t want anything else to go pass it. The memory of a pipe choking him is enough to keep him from stuffing anything down there for a while.

“Mom… is not here yet?” he asked, taking off his mask.

Baekhyun bit his lip turned towards Chanyeol. The taller sighed silently as he stepped closer to Tao’s bed, pulling a seat with him.

“Zi, there’s something else I needed to tell you,”

Tao was silent, pursing his lips; “They’re not even in this world anymore, are they?” he said, finally asking what has been on his mind this whole time.

Chanyeol took Tao’s hand carefully, holding it against his cheek, “They left several years ago, Zi. You were there next to me at the funeral…”

Tao’s lips trembled, and Kris knew he was crying again behind the bandage, “I’m so sorry, Zitao,” he said softly, holding Tao’s other trembling hand.

Tao sobbed loudly, and Chanyeol rose from his seat, pressing his face close to Tao’s cheek; the only way possible with all his injuries to let his brother know that he’s close, that he’s there for him, “I’m so sorry,”

He listened to Tao’s desperate sobs and he knew what is coming. He knew that Tao would demand explanation about what happened, about where their parents are, about their relationship. It took both of them years to get to were they are and Chanyeol was afraid that this time, it would took even more of them because it would all happen at once.

Chanyeol had let Tao leave when he was so young, when he still depended on Chanyeol yet the elder wasn’t there for him. They had only reconciled on the summer break several years ago, before their parents’ unfortunate accident. It took them a long time, indeed. Zitao left when Chanyeol was just starting middle school and they were only reunited when Chanyeol was in the university. That summer when they finally reunited, they cried in the middle of the crowd, earning weird stares from a lot of passersby but Chanyeol never regretted it. That was when he got his younger brother back.

But now he could feel that he’s losing him again.

Chanyeol knew, Tao would be mad. He would cry all over again, trying hard to process the new facts that he would be told about, and blame himself for everything again, because their parents were involved in an accident on their way to Vienna to meet him.

That didn’t make his brother at fault. Tao was never wrong, and Chanyeol had to convince him of that again.

“I… Did I say goodbye?” Tao choked after minutes of tears, “Was I good enough to t-them?”

“Yes,” Chanyeol said in between his own tears, holding both Tao’s cheeks, “You are their greatest pride, don’t you ever doubt that for a second, Zitao,”

Zitao gasped repeatedly before managed to blurt, “And- Did I tell them I loved them?”

“Yes, you always do,” Chanyeol kissed Tao’s cheek, right below his damp bandage, “You never let them forgot that, and neither did Mom and Dad. They loved you so much, Zi. Remember that always,”

Tao choked before sobbing again, reaching to hold Chanyeol’s sleeves, “I miss them… I miss them… Why…”

Why did his parents left without him remembering anything? Why did all of this so unfair for him? Why did Chanyeol get to keep his memories of them but not him?

“It’s okay, Zi… It’s okay, I miss them too…” Chanyeol said, leaning close again, circling arm around Tao’s figure, letting his brother pull his sleeves again and ruined the pressed fabric, “I’m sorry,”

There’s no way Chanyeol could understand what Zitao is feeling right now. But he wanted him to know that he’s still here for him, to help him understand. That he’d never leave him alone anymore.

Kris patted his best friend’s back in attempt to comfort him. Baekhyun stepped in too, holding his fiancé’s arm. But both of them knew, only Chanyeol and Zitao can comfort each other at this moment.

“It’s okay…” Chanyeol whispered repeatedly, trying to calm both Zitao and himself, “It’s okay…”

An hour later after Zitao finally calmed down, Chanyeol had told him almost everything. Their meeting in Vienna, their parent’s accident, why he was in Korea and not in Vienna, that Chanyeol was engaged to Baekhyun and who Kris was.

“And… And Yifan ge is my fiancé?” Tao asked with a small pout, making Baekhyun smiled as the elder glanced at Kris.

“Yes,” Kris smiled softly, drawing circles on the small of Tao’s hand, “We got engaged three months ago actually. I gave you a ring, but most of the time you took them off when you want to play the piano. So I got you a bracelet, but they took it off before the surgery. It’s in the drawer there,”

A bracelet?

He remembered something about a bracelet. A bracelet and the sea. But what was it? Was it a dream?

Before Tao can ask more, there was a knock on the door.

“Hello, I am here to take off the bandage,” Dr. Zhang came in, smiling, followed by another doctor and a nurse.

“Oh, hear that, Tao? We could take it off,” Baekhyun said, making a way for Dr. Zhang.

Tao only bit his lip, but Kris patted his shoulder reassuringly. Baekhyun and Chanyeol stepped back to give room for Dr. Zhang.

“Okay. So I would open the bandage from here, and when I take it off, you can open your eyes slowly, and tell me what you see. I have to remind you that your eyesight might be limited for now, but don’t be scared okay?”

Tao nodded nervously, biting his lower lip.

Dr. Zhang started to roll the bandage around Tao’s head, doing it painfully slowly for their liking. He finally lifted the cotton pads and everyone can see Tao was moving his eyes.

“Would you open your eyes, Tao?”

Tao did, slowly, as Dr. Zhang has reminded.

“Can you see anything?” he asked.

Tao frowned, squinting his eyes, trying to adjust with the lights.

“It’s so bright,”

Dr. Zhang chuckled, “Indeed. Let me turn off this light,” he said, flicking one light off, “Now, what else do you see?”

“Shapes… Shapes of people… I can see the white of your coat,”

“Good,” Dr. Zhang said, “What about the faces? There are six people here aside from you. Can you see our faces?”

Tao squinted again. Yes, he saw the six shadows. But they all looked like a flock of wool, blurry and dark. He shook his head.

“That’s okay,” Dr. Zhang smiled, patting Tao’s shoulder, “My friend Dr. Yoo is here and he will come and check your eyes in a minute but there’s nothing you should be worried about, okay?”

Tao nodded nervously and let the said Dr. Yoo examine his eyes. He kept on blinking, his eyes felt weird and tired, although he had been sleeping a lot.

“How—How long would the transplant be? How long is it until I can see again?” Tao asked nervously.

“You are on the transplant list. We wouldn’t know when we would get a donor, but you are on the list, so it would be alright. We would contact you when we got you a new pair of corneas,” Dr. Yoo answered.

Tao looked like someone just made him swallow a tennis ball. His face gets paler by the seconds and it looked like he was about to explode.

“But…” he started, his voice barely above a whisper, “But I am a pianist. How can I play my piano? How should I see my music sheet? How am I supposed to practice, and perform, and—”

“Tao…” Kris called and tried to calm him, but Tao wasn’t listening.

“Why- Why is this happening to me? Are you even really who you said you were? Are my parents had really passed away? How am I supposed to know that you guys are not lying to me?!” he said in one breath. Everything was just too much and he couldn’t hold a grasp on anything. What is this about accident and everything changed to everything he had never even imagined! Everything were just so different than what he had remembered and he didn’t know what was right and what was wrong anymore.

“Zi, you’re not making any sense. All these doctors are trying to help you,” Chanyeol said, stepping closer to his brother’s bed.

“No! Go away, all of you go away, I don’t want to talk to you!” If everyone was just going to tell him that everything he had believed and remember was wrong, he would not listen to anyone.

“Zi—“ Kris called but Tao only yanked his hand away.

“Go away! Get away from me!” Tao said in his ragged breath. It’s hard to breathe when he was so scared like this. He could feel his whole body trembling.

“Mr. Park, I really am your doctor. I’m Lay hyung, remember? You called me that yesterday,”

“For all I know you all could be conspiring to lie to me! Where is Sehun?” Yes, Sehun is the only person he actually knew in the world. Sehun is the only one who could help him. He was the one he grew up with, who knows him like the back of his hand.

“Is he even here? Did you really called him? I bet you don’t even know who he was! Go away!” Tao gasped, “Go away!!!”

He’s so scared. It’s like he was the bullied kid again. Like he was never the successful pianist in Vienna. Was he really in Vienna? Was there really a Sehun? What was right? What was wrong? What are the things that actually happened?

“Zitao, if we really were conspiring to lie to you, would we be nice to you?” Baekhyun stepped in, and Tao was silent in an instance. His lips were still trembling but he was no longer screaming, “We are really who we said we were, sweetheart,”

Tao blinked repeatedly, but the tears kept falling from his eyes. Kris reached to wipe them, but the moment his thumb touched the younger’s cheek, it was slapped again.

“P-please… Leave me alone, would you?” Tao whispered, more tears flowing from his closed eyes. He couldn’t understand this. Everything was just too overwhelming.

He heard Chanyeol’s deep voice the next. His voice sounded choked, like he was hurt, “If it’s what you want. Please call us if you need anything,” 

Zitao didn’t like that tone. It sounded like this Chanyeol was giving up on him. But he couldn’t care. Was that even really his brother Chanyeol?

He then heard shuffles, “Tao, its Lay hyung. I would come back by the hour to check on you, and you have to let me, okay?”

When Tao didn’t answer, Lay just motioned for everyone to come outside with him.

Kris watched Tao’s expression until he reached the doorway. The younger looked so crushed, biting his lip to forbid himself from crying but he only cried even more. Kris wanted nothing but to hug him and make it all better for him. But what could he do when Zitao rejects him even being in the room?

“Doctor, what could we do?” Kris asked Lay the second he closed the door to Tao’s room.

Lay looked like he was thinking hard, “Is there someone close that he remembered? Someone he could trust?”

Kris sighed and eyed Chanyeol, “You called him already, right?”

Chanyeol nodded, “Should be here before nightfall,”

“Then we could only wait,” Lay said, “I know this is hard for you all, but believe me, it’s a nightmare for him. I know you wanted to be in there with him, but I have to ask you to stay outside for the sake of his recovery. He should not move too much, a lot of his bones are broken and we cannot fix them if he kept on moving vigorously like that,”

Kris nodded, “Thank you,”

“I will come every hour to check on him myself,” Lay said as he nodded back, excusing himself.

“By him, did you mean this Sehun guy?” Baekhyun asked as the three of them took a seat on the bench.

“Yes,” Chanyeol nodded, “Flew him in this morning,”

Baekhyun ran his fingers through Chanyeol’s hair, “Was he nice?”

“He was… He was Tao’s first friend in Vienna. Helped him through a lot. I was supposed to be him. I was supposed to do what he did for Tao,” Chanyeol mumbled, looking very sorry and overwhelmed by guilt. This is the first time Baekhyun had ever seen Chanyeol like this.

“Oh baby,” Baekhyun whispered, “You’re doing the best you could,”

“But back then, no. I didn’t, Baek. If I did, Zitao wouldn’t say what he just said. He would remember me as someone he could rely on. He would trust me. But he didn’t,”

Baekhyun sighed. Indeed, it was somewhat true. But then again, it had happened in the past. There’s no way to change that. They could only fix it.

“Do you know him too, Kris?” Baekhyun turned to the other giant.

Kris looked up, “No. Tao had only mentioned him a few times. Never even seen his face, ever. I just knew now that they were actually that close,”

Baekhyun sighed, “I’m getting coffee for both of you,” he said into Chanyeol’s hair, standing up.

“Thanks,” his fiancé mumbled, watching Baekhyun disappear into the elevator.

Kris leaned back into the bench; he was so tired he could feel his back giving up on him. His phone vibrated, alerted him of an attempted phone call.

“Mother,” he answered.

“Yifan dear, how is Zitao? Can we meet him this afternoon? Your sister had just baked some cookies, Zitao would like them,” Kris could hear his mom’s expecting voice. He almost couldn’t tell her what actually is happening, just to keep that excitement.

“Mom… I- Zitao couldn’t remember anything. He’s awake but he didn’t trust us near him… We are waiting outside right now… I don’t think today is a good time,” Kris sighed tiredly.

“………Oh honey… Are you okay?”

“No, mother,” Kris answered honestly, “But I would be, once he remembered me. When he could smile again, I would be fine,”

When he would remember me, though?

“Oh dear…” his mother sighed worriedly, “Alright then, please just tell us if any of you need anything. Update us on him if anything happens?”

“Yes, mother,”

“Stay strong, Yifan… He would come back to you,”

Kris smiled softly, thankful of his mother’s encouragement, “Thanks, mother,”

His mother’s voice could only energize him a little. His fiancé had forgotten everything about them, and now he didn’t trust him to even be in the same room with the younger. What should he do?

“Kris,”

“What?”

“Stop thinking. Its annoying,” Chanyeol mumbled.

“Right back at you, sour face,” Kris scowled.

Chanyeol chuckled, before sighing deeply, “Haa… What should we do?”

“Wait,” Kris answered shortly. There’s nothing else they could do anyway, “I swear if this all are really that Ok’s doing… I am having his head,”

Chanyeol took a deep breath, “Even if it is, its still a long way until we could prove it. That bastard ran a black market for ’s sake. He knew how to deny things and dodge law,”

Kris groaned. There’s so much going on and he couldn’t see the light at the end of the way, “… Yeol, This Sehun, would he be able to help Tao?”

Chanyeol shrugged, “Hopefully,”

The traffic was heavy and it was already late when Sehun entered the hospital grounds. He dashed out from the car Chanyeol sent for him, and immediately entered the hospital building. He mentioned Tao’s name and was given direction to the third floor.

When the elevator opened to the said floor, he was immediately recognized Chanyeol, but the two other men, he didn’t know.

“Where is he?” he asked, watching Chanyeol stood up heavily.

“Inside,” the elder motioned to the door.

Sehun turned and opened the door slowly, the sound of it opening alarmed Tao.

“I said leave me alone,” Tao mumbled. His voice strained, and he looked so pale, covered in casts and bandages here and there and it looked like it took him his whole energy just to breathe and turn his head to Sehun’s way.

He looked like a shipwreck, and Sehun didn’t like it one bit.

“It’s me,” Sehun said, walking towards the bed.

Tao blinked multiple times, looking very surprised. Did these people managed to get the real Sehun? Was everything true, then?

“H-hunnie?” Tao whispered, lifting one of his hands, trying to reach towards where Sehun’s voice came from.

“Schatzi…” Sehun rushed close and caught Tao’s hand, throwing his bags on the floor, “What happened to you?”

“I don’t know… I don’t remember,” Tao replied, rushing his German Sehun could barely decipher what he’s saying, “They said I- I was in an accident and I couldn’t remember and I couldn’t see, Sehun, I couldn’t see anything… I couldn’t see you…”

“You couldn’t see me?” Sehun frowned, looking at Tao’s eyes closer. Indeed, they looked torn, “But are you okay? How are you feeling?”

“I’m scared,” Tao sobbed, “Everything hurts and I-I ‘m really scared…”

“Oh Schatzi, I’m so sorry… I’m here, I’ll fix this… I’m here,” Sehun said as he hugged Tao close, or more like he leaned and stay as close to Tao as all his casts allow him to.

“I couldn’t see anything, and they said my hands are broken and- how am I supposed to play piano? What should I do? Why is this happening to me?”

“It’s okay, I’m here… I would fix this, as always… Do you remember that, Tao? Do you remember me? We got through everything alright, didn’t we?”

 Tao nodded repeatedly, breathing in Sehun’s familiar scent, “Help me, hunnie, wake me up, take me away from this nightmare,” Tao sobbed, his eyes were swollen and his face were red. He looked so scared, and desperate.

“I would… I would Schatzi…”

It was two hours later that Sehun managed to calm Tao down and coaxed him to sleep again. He then stepped out of the other’s room to meet Chanyeol and two other men that had been there too.

“How was he?” Chanyeol asked, looking worried and tired.

“Resting. What the hell happened?” Sehun asked with a deep frown. How is it that Chanyeol and who ever these people behind him failed to take care of Tao? Hell, Tao and him only have each other in Vienna and they did fine, and now here where his brother had a whole army of people who should have done the job of taking care of Tao had resulted in him being hospitalized.

Chanyeol sighed, motioned for Sehun to sit. The younger obliged, waiting for an explanation.

“First of all, sorry you have to come home like this. If the situation was any different, I would have ask you nicely to come instead of commanding you to fly here,”

“I don’t mind, hyung,” Sehun answered, “What happened? When did this happen?”

“Frankly speaking I don’t know,” Chanyeol answered honestly, “We have teams working on investigating all this, police too. We have speculations, but not proof at this point. We have confusing results of what could be gathered for now, and… In short, he was involved in an accident. We were called by this hospital two weeks ago, and Tao had been in a coma for more than a week. He woke up two nights ago, and you were the one he asked for when he did. He couldn’t remember anything, not about the accident, us reconciled several years ago when I visited him in Vienna the first time, nor about him being engaged to Kris,”

“Engaged?!” Sehun gasped, “Are you kidding me?”

Chanyeol raised both his eyebrows, “Really? At times like this and you thought I would kid you?”

Sehun looked more than surprised, “And who the hell is this Kris and why did Zitao never mentioned him to me at all?”

Kris cleared his throat, offering his hand to Sehun, “I am him. Kris Wu, nice to meet you,”

Sehun gaped, watching Kris closely before shaking the other’s hand.

“To be fair, he had never really tell me about you either. That day when he woke up was the first time I knew that your existence is significant for him,” Kris said, his voice alert and calm. He could sense that Sehun somehow is very protective of Tao, and he couldn’t say that he liked that one bit. But he had to be patient and tolerate him. He could be the only one that could help bring Zitao around.

“And this is Baekhyun, my fiancé,” Chanyeol said, circling one arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders.

“Nice to meet you,” Baekhyun said with a smile as he shook Sehun’s hand, “Sorry about the circumstance of our introduction,”

“Pleasure is mine, and no worries. At this rate, I need all the good news I could get to calm down,” Sehun smiled back before straightening his seating, around him everyone doing the same.

“So… What’s the plan?” Sehun asked after a minute of silence.

“Make him recover, gain his trust. Sehun, he thought we were lying to him. That’s why we’re out here and not in there. He wouldn’t let us come near. We really need you to help us tell him that we are indeed who we said we were. We mean no harm,” Chanyeol said, “It’s just that he didn’t remember anything,”

Sehun stared at Chanyeol for a moment, “Does that mean… Your parents?”

Chanyeol shook his head, “He didn’t remember either. I told him everything earlier today, but then he decided that it wasn’t the truth…”

“And… How far does he remember?”

“We don’t know,” Kris answered, “He hasn’t let anyone run a test on him. He even tried to reject the doctor to check up on him. All we know, he didn’t remember me or Chanyeol apart from his memory before he went to Vienna, not about Baekhyun, and not about his parents passing away. He only remembered you,” the elder finished, looking dejected.

Sehun nodded slowly, staring at the floor, sighing.

What should they do?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, guys!

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