“Zi, you have to eat something,” he heard Baekhyun said, the smell of food reaching his nose.

The day was new, bringing new hope for the four men waiting on Tao. Kris and Chanyeol had stepped out of the room a while ago because of a visit from a detective. Both of them didn’t want Tao to be involved if it wasn’t necessary yet. There’s no need to add more stress on the boy. But even though they were intending to do something good for him, Tao had immediately become silent again upon their leaving.

“Is Yifan ge here yet?” he finally said something since Kris and Chanyeol left the room.

“Not yet, sweetheart,” Baekhyun smiled a little, “He’s still with Chanyeol outside,”

“Why isn’t he back yet? What took him so long?” Tao frowned, sinking into the bed.

“I’m sorry baby,” the elder brushed a flock of Tao’s hair with his finger, “Maybe he has a lot of question to answer. But he’ll be back soon,”

“Humn…” Tao mumbled, blinking tiredly. He pulled his blanket again, intending to sleep.

“Meanwhile, would you have something to eat first?” Baekhyun had been trying to make him eat for a while, but Tao kept on refusing.

The younger shook his head once.

Baekhyun sighed and turned to Sehun, silently asking for help.

Sehun came closer, opening the lid covering Tao’s food. The steam from the soup smelled so good to him.

“It smelled so good, schatzi! I bet you’ll like it,” Sehun said, getting the spoon out of the napkin wrap.

“No,” Tao refused again, his eyes still swollen and tired. He just wanted to sleep.

“You have to,” Baekhyun said again, “Even just a little. You haven’t had anything since you wake up and that’s almost a week already,”

“No…” Tao said, pulling the blanket to cover his nose.

“Come on, schatzi,” Sehun coaxed, “One bite,”

“Don’t call me that,” Tao frowned, “It makes me sounded like a little kid,”

“You looked like one if you keep on pouting like that. A sweet, spoiled, little kid,” Sehun grinned, even though Tao couldn’t catch it.

Tao pouted again, blinking tiredly, “No…” he sighed, closing his eyes slowly.

Baekhyun watched as Tao finally fell asleep, caressing the younger’s head and sighed, “He needs to eat so he could recover faster. I don’t like him looking very pale like this,”

“Makes two of us," Sehun said, looking at the hospital food, “And quite honestly, for hospital food, this dish looked surprisingly appetizing. Smells real good,”

Baekhyun smiled, “It does, but don’t eat it. Save it for Tao,”

Sehun laughed, “I know,”

Baekhyun rose from his seat next to Tao’s bed and moved over to the sofa on the other side of the room. Sehun followed after setting Tao’s meal aside and sat next to the elder.

“How did you two meet?” Baekhyun asked in a low voice, so not to disturb Tao as he opened a bag of cookies and offered them to Sehun.

Sehun took one gratefully, before giving his answer, “Right on the day he arrived in Vienna, at his Grandpa’s house. Herr Huang, his and Chanyeol’s grandfather, gives private lessons for kids around the neighborhood. His assistant helps him to arrange the schedule for it, and I think Frau Seliné forgot to inform my mother that my lesson was cancelled. So I was there, with my violin when he moved in. He didn’t even spare me a glance back then!” he laughed, “Little brat,”

Baekhyun chuckled, “And when did you became really close?”

“Gradually. He’s like onion, you know. Got to peel it little by little. Takes a long time but it was worth every second. But the turning point was when his grandfather was tutoring me. Herr Huang asked me to play a piece from Vivaldi, and when I was, Zitao appeared out of nowhere, companying my play with his piano,” Sehun paused to grin, “He was very talented. The day he moved in was the day he first learned how to play piano. Within a month in Vienna, he was able to company my play without the piano sheets,”

“Yes,” Baekhyun smiled, “I attended his concert with Seoul Philharmonic. He was breathtaking,”

“Indeed,” Sehun responded, swallowing the last piece of cookies, “I think that’s also why he’s very scared, about not being able to play piano. I believe Chanyeol had told you about their bumpy past?”

Baekhyun nodded. Chanyeol hadn’t exactly moved on from that too and now he was slammed back into it.

“Well, playing piano had helped him cope with all that, with everything. It’s a big part of him,”

“I believe so. Only someone so dedicated could play so beautifully like he did. I really hope everything would work out just fine. We have talked to his team of doctors and he had a long time of recovery and therapies ahead of him… I hope he would come around and be willing to do it,” Baekhyun’s eyes travelled to Tao’s figure, who’s now fast asleep.

Sehun leaned back to the sofa, “He didn’t mean it, you know?”

Baekhyun turned to meet Sehun’s eyes, “Sorry?”

“What he said. I guess he’d be what you called butthurt. There’s a part of him that was jealous, and mostly scared, of Chanyeol choosing you over him,”

Baekhyun was taken aback, “But it wouldn’t be like that. I wouldn’t want it to be like that,” he said, “Did he really thought of it like that?”

“When it comes to him, I’m usually right,” Sehun said proudly, smiling, “But he likes you already, he perked up when I mentioned your name. He’d warm up to you fast enough,”

“Onion,” Baekhyun smiled, staring at Tao again.

“Onion,” Sehun repeated, taking more cookies.

“Hello, Mr. Wu, Mr. Park. I am detective Kim,” the buff man said, shaking both Kris’ and Chanyeol’s hand.

“Hello,” Chanyeol said, flashing the detective a smile, while Kris gave him a nod as he shook his hand.

“So, Kris, Chanyeol, detective Kim here would like to ask you guys some questions about Zitao,” Zhoumi said, earning another nod from Kris.

The four men walked towards the cafeteria and sat on a secluded table. Thankfully the room wasn’t crowded, allowing them to talk privately. Since both Kris and Chanyeol had refused to leave the hospital, Detective Kim had agreed to question them there.

When the four of them had sat comfortably with a cup of coffee in front of them, detective Kim took a deep breath before turning to Kris.

“Mr. Wu, I understand you are Mr. Park’s fiancé?” he asked, eyeing Chanyeol.

“Not me,” Chanyeol said hurriedly, laughing, “My brother’s,”

“Oh. Forgive me,” detective Kim and Zhoumi chuckled along, “You are the fiancé of the younger Mr. Park?”

“Yes,” Kris smiled at last, as if that fact had brightened his lately gloomy days, “I am,”

“Congratulations on the engagement,” the detective smiled sincerely.

“Thank you,” Kris smiled wider.

“So, Mr. Wu, you and the younger Mr. Park were living together prior to the accident?”

“Correct,” he confirmed.

“Could you tell me what happened on the day of the accident? Any different routines, behavior, anything?”

Kris took a deep breath, trying to remember everything that happened that day, “Everything was as usual, we woke up, had breakfast, and we separated in front of the house, I drove to the office in the business district, and he had a driver to take him to his studio. Usually he’d wait until Tao finishes, but I had planned a dinner for us both. I remember asking him to leave the studio after he dropped Tao off so I could pick him up in the evening instead. He’s usually off around five. That day I had a meeting with a new potential partner when I got a phone call from the hospital and he was already here,”

“And what time was that phonecall?”

“Around two? I immediately drove here so I arrived here around that time too,”

“I see,” detective Kim nodded, “And how long has this driver been working for you?” he asked again.

“A while. Well, not long after we moved in together. My fiancé wasn’t familiar with roads in Seoul and so we found him a driver,”

“Why a driver?”

“I just told you he wasn’t familiar with roads in Seoul. Of the whole South Korea. My fiancé grew up in Vienna. I have a full time job, so does Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and all the rest of my family members. We couldn’t drive him around, nor he worked close by from ours and so we got a help,” Kris answered, looking a little annoyed.

“Can I have the name and contact of this person?”

Kris looked through his contacts and gave Tao’s driver’s number to the detective, which he immediately wrote down. Zhoumi was doing the same.

“His name was Im. Im Hyun Sik,”

“And how did you find this driver?”

“My secretary found him,” 

“Her name is Fei, I could provide you with her business contacts,” Zhoumi said.

Detective Kim nodded in response and proceed with more questions, “According to younger Mr. Park’s surgeon, he was injured right before he was brought to the hospital. We were in touch with Mr. Park’s staff at the studio, and all of them confirmed that Mr. Park didn’t check in into the studio prior to his admittance. Do you know where he could possibly go from when he left the house until his accident?”

Kris’ eyes widened. Tao never arrived the studio?

“I just knew about this,” he said, baffled, “He usually go there and stay from 9 to 5, at least. He was currently composing a concerto for orchestra, he told me about it and had been telling me that he wanted to finish it as soon as possible. He had worked overtime the week before,”

“Mr. Park, do you know something about this?” Detective Kim turned to Chanyeol, who shook his head.

“He indeed had been telling me about the composition too, but not about ditching his studio time. That’s very unlikely of him, especially when he’s on a deadline. Even without one, he could stay with his piano for hours after office hours ends,” Chanyeol said, frowning deeply.

“And your driver, sir, had he been checking in with you?”

And that’s when Kris realized it. Tao’s driver hadn’t been checking in with him since the accident.

“I have not returned to our house for a while now. Not since I got the news. When I do leave the hospital, I stayed at Chanyeol’s place. It’s more practical if we had to rush back to the hospital,” Kris responded, “I haven’t checked in with any of our house staff, including him,”

“Could he be involved in this?” Chanyeol asked in disbelief.

Detective Kim took some notes before answering, “There’s always possibility,”

“But he had been working for us this whole time. He had so many opportunities, why now?” Kris asked, eyes still wide. It didn’t click for him yet.

“That’s why we’re trying to investigate this. Like I said, there’s always a possibility. Him being the culprit, an accomplice, or maybe another victim,” detective Kim replied, adding something on his note, “And you said you have house staff?”

“Well, its Im, the driver, he’s the only one who came in on a regular basis. We had a cleaning lady who comes in every Monday, she’s outsourced from a company, and a gardener and cook who came on call,” Kris answered again, while detective Kim wrote down everything. As Kris said it, he’s thinking to just fire them all. If there’s a possibility of Zitao’s driver committing crime to hurt his fiancé, then there’s a possibility they’re all allies. Maybe someone in Zitao’s studio had something to do with this? Is it really Ok’s doing, like what he and Chanyeol speculated before?

Kris could feel that headache coming, but he could not stop thinking about this either.

Chanyeol sighed next to him, “Again, you couldn’t have seen this coming. Don’t overanalyze it,”

“Sorry?” detective Kim looked up from his note, confused.

“Oh, not you. Him,” Chanyeol said, nodding towards Kris, “He has that habit. I could tell by his expression,”

Kris turned and eyed him, looking very pissed of himself nevertheless, and of his best friend, for pointing that out.

“What Chanyeol said was true, Kris,” Zhoumi reminded Kris.

Kris didn’t respond but scowled, and detective Kim decided to move on.

“And do you have any information on who called the ambulance for him?” the detective asked.

“No,” Kris answered, taking a sip of his coffee, “I have no idea that he was involved in the accident until this hospital contacted me,”

“Is there anyone who could confirm that?”

“Fei would be able to, and give you contacts of personnel I have the meeting with. They would be able to confirm my attendance and all,” Kris answered again, gulping his coffee. Bad decision. The headache is worse.

Detective Kim seemed to understood and decided to move to Chanyeol, “Thank you, Mr. Wu,” the detective gave him a smile, before turning to the other, “And Sir, do you know?”

“I was contacted by the hospital around the Kris did, I think. We arrived in front of the OR at the same time. I was at the office the whole time, everyone I worked with could confirm that,” Chanyeol replied, taking a deep breath, “How far have you gone with the investigation?”

“Not very far. What we have know is, like Dr. Park informed you, the younger Mr. Park was indeed hit by a bus. The bus driver said that the younger Mr. Park suddenly appeared in front of the bus, and he wasn’t able to step on the brake in time. He called the ambulance, but the one that arrived was not the one he called. Someone had called an ambulance earlier,” the detective said, closing his notepad.

“My father said that it looked like he was being at the wrong place at the right time,” Kris said, “Was it true?”

Detective Kim took a deep breath, “We don’t know for sure. The only person we could question now was the younger Mr. Park but his doctor had told me that he had lost his memory and could not recall the accident and some of his own other life events. The bus stop was deserted that time and there was no witness. There were only a couple passengers in the bus. We have questioned them as well but they sat at the back and so they didn’t see the younger Mr. Park coming. Even so, we actually speculate that he was running from something and was trying to get attention from the bus driver, not intentionally throwing himself in front of the vehicle. We had something similar in the case from a while ago,”

“He was escaping?”

“Most likely,”

“Smart boy,” Chanyeol said rather proudly.

Detective Kim smiled, “Nevertheless, without witness, confession, or evidence, its still just a speculation. We would continue to investigate this, please contact us should you have any more information,”

“Of course,”

The detective then excused himself and Kris chugged down the rest of his coffee, not minding his headache “Damn. I hate this. A part of me just want to focus on Tao’s recovery, but a part of me wanted to find the bastard that did this to him and made him pay the price,”

“I swear, you read my mind most of the time,” Chanyeol said, still looking very tired, “Sweet Merlin, I need sleep,”

“Both of you do,” Zhoumi said, shaking his head.

“Did Chen or Xiumin found anything on Ok? Is detective Kim informed about our little incident?” Kris asked Zhoumi.

“Nothing significant yet, and no, I haven’t relay any information to him. We have no proof for now and saying so would just leave us under suspicion,” Zhoumi replied, “But I just knew about your driver Kris, you should have come to me first,”

“I just knew about him as well! I didn’t even know Tao never arrived at the studio!” Kris snapped.

“Chill, mate,” Chanyeol said, tapping Kris’ shoulder, “You’re definitely sleep deprived,”

Zhoumi took a deep breath, “Well, we have a new lead now. I would try and find Im, tell me if he contact you,”

Kris nodded, sighing deeply, “Is there any chance they were ambushed on their way to the studio or something?”

“There’s a possibility, sure,” Zhoumi pursed his lips, “In the mean time, is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”

Both Kris and Chanyeol shook their heads, “That’s all we know,” the elf stated.

“Alright. Our team would be working on this too. Don’t you guys worry,” Zhoumi said as he stood, “I’ll go back to the office now,”

“Thanks, Zhoumi,” Kris rose from his seat, briefly hugging the elder, “Call me if there’s anything new?”

“Of course,” the lawyer replied. Kris gave him a brief smile and walked ahead towards the elevator. Chanyeol followed behind him, walking with Zhoumi.

“Is it just me, or does he looked extra tense with sprinkled crankiness?” the elder asked, eyeing the tallest.

“Well, lets see. Zitao was awake, but lost his memory, asking for another man when he did, and refused to talk to us until earlier before this meeting. Kris had been thinking that everything was his fault the entire time, so two weeks now. My brother recognized me, sort of, but refused to talk to me too. He just yelled at me, telling me to leave him alone,” Chanyeol said, summarizing the late events, rubbing his temple again.

Zhoumi turned, “I’m sorry,”

Chanyeol shrugged, “Hasn’t been the easiest, these days,”

“Please call if you need anything, really,” Zhoumi said empathically, now realizing both Chanyeol and Kris’ messy state.

“Thanks,” Chanyeol smiled.

“I’ll get going then,” the lawyer excused himself, “Would you call me if Tao remembers anything?”

“Sure,” the other replied as they parted at the hospital lobby. He turned to find Kris already in the elevator, and he hopped in, making their way back to Tao’s room together.

“Can you believe it? There’s a possibility I have hired a criminal to drive my fiancé around,” Kris said, leaning his head on the wall.

“Stop. There’s nothing definite yet. Don’t overthink it,” Chanyeol said, calming his friend down. He couldn’t get around this himself either. There’s so little information for now.

The elevator ride was silent until they reached Tao’s floor.

“On a cheerier note, that’s very nice, what you said back there,” Chanyeol pointed out as they stepped out of the elevator.

“Hmm?” Kris looked at him with questioning look.

“To Tao, about starting over. I couldn’t say it to him. He hates me,”

Kris’ expression relaxed immediately, remembering what just happened in the younger’s room earlier, “What I said was the truth. I missed him, and I want to help him with all my might. And he doesn’t hate you. He’s confused. That’s different,”

Kris frowned, looking at his best friend who looked helpless, “Don’t stop trying,” he encouraged the elf.

“You know I won’t,” Chanyeol pursed his lips, “I just need him to give me a chance,”

Kris raised both his eyebrows, “Years of studying business and practicing it and you’re waiting for an opportunity to come?” he scoffed, “Create it,”

“,”

“Right back at you,”

Chanyeol sighed, “What do I do after this? Should we take him to our parent’s place? Mine? You guys’?”

“Any of those places are equally foreign to him honestly. But I don’t think he could leave anytime soon. He doesn’t look like he’s actually recovering,” Kris said as they finally reached Tao’s room, opening the door carefully, greeted by Baekhyun and Sehun looking at them from the sofa.

“You’re back,” Baekhyun rose and hugged his fiancé, “How was it?”

“He questioned a lot of things, but there’s nothing much he could tell about what happened. We’re suspecting Tao’s driver, among some other people, but then there’s no other lead,” Chanyeol replied, kissing Baekhyun’s temple, “How was Tao?”

“He’s fine, but he refused to eat, and none of us wanted to force him to. He’s sleeping again,” Baekhyun answered, looking at the bed where Tao was still fast asleep.

Chanyeol pursed his lips and took Baekhyun’s chin so he could see his eyes, “I’m sorry for what he said to you,”

“It doesn’t matter,” the shorter looked up, smiling softly, “I understand,”

“You’re amazing,”

“With you, I am,” Baekhyun smiled wider, pecking Chanyeol’s lips.

Kris flashed them a smile and walked to the bed, sitting next to Tao, watching him sleeping peacefully. All his worries about Tao’s odd accident disappeared for a while from his mind, and he finally focused on his fiancé’s condition. Must have been very uncomfortable to sleep in all those casts. Tao still looked pale, and pretty much not improved. All the stress that he had been experiencing since he opened his eyes didn’t help anything. He wanted Tao to have nothing but a peaceful recovery, at least.

Sehun followed and stood opposite him, at the other side of the bed.

“Does Herr Huang know?” Sehun asked, taking away Kris’ attention. The elder stared before answering.

“Yes, we have informed him. Unfortunately it’s rather inconvenient for him to fly all the way here to visit now with his age. So we just update him through Frau Seliné everyday,” Kris responded.

Sehun obseved the taller man attending on Tao, caressing his pale cheek with his finger. A part of him wanted to slap that hand away, “I wonder why he had never mentioned you,” Sehun mumbled.

Kris lift his head and raised an eyebrow, “I could tell you the same. I knew there was a Sehun but Tao had never mentioned that you two are very close,”

“Maybe he didn’t think that you’re worth mentioning,” Sehun replied, his eyes sparked with rivalry.

Kris eyed him, only chucking at that, “I could say the same but I have more pressing matter at hand,” he said curtly, returning his attention back to Tao’s sleeping figure.

Sehun scowled, eyeing Kris with bold annoyance, “Don’t wake him up. He needed his rest,”

“Tao,” Kris called him, patting Tao’s healthy shoulder softly, completely ignoring Sehun’s remark, “Wake up, lets eat first and drink the medicine, then you can go back to sleep,”

Tao whined, turning away from Kris’ voice. The elder gently ran his hand on the flock of Tao’s hair, just beneath his temple, “Just a little,” he coaxed, “Come on,”

And Tao opened his eyes slowly, looking very sleepy, “I’m not hungry,”

“This is not about your hunger, xiao ai… You need food to be healthy again,” Kris said, leaning close to his fiancé their noses were just inches apart.

Sehun watched silently from the side, assured that Tao would just go back to sleep like what he did when Baekhyun and himself tried to make the boy eat.

‘Yeah try all you want. He won’t eat.’ Sehun thought.

Tao lifted his left hand, showing Kris the needle inside his skin that has been providing liquid nutrients from the IV fluid.

Kris chuckled, “Yeah, that’s not going to be enough for your recovery,”

Tao sighed, and finally mumbled, “Okay,”

Sehun swore his jaw must have dropped and rolled free on the floor. What did he just hear? Did Tao really just agreed?

“Okay,” Kris smiled and turned to reach for Tao’s food, but was immediately stopped by the boy himself, his fingers into the elder’s shirt.

“Tao! You shouldn’t move like that,” Kris halted in surprise, turning and holding Tao’s hand immediately, “You shouldn’t even be moving at all,” he added worriedly.

“Don’t-“ Tao choked, his lips trembling.

“Does it hurt? Does something hurt?” Kris asked, scanning Tao’s upper body, worried that he might have pressed his weight on the younger earlier. Tao pulled the fabric of his shirt slightly, and he knew Tao wasn’t in pain.

“Zi?”

Kris stared at the boy on the bed; waiting for a continuation, watching Tao’s eye flicker and blinking repeatedly before saying, “Don’t go again, you- you said you wanted to help,” his voice small and hesitating, referring to when Kris left the room for the meeting with the detective.

Kris smiled in relief, “Of course,” he said, and Baekhyun, who had been observing them hurriedly came over, bringing Tao’s tray of food with him, smiling triumphantly.

“Here you go,” he said, glancing at his own fiancé who was watching the scene that was unfolding from across the room. Chanyeol was really glad Tao had finally started to open up, at least to Kris.

Kris took the spoon, taking a small amount of the soup with it and brought it to Tao’s mouth, “Open up,”

Tao did, and it stunned Sehun. Him, Tao’s best friend for his whole life, could not make him agree to have anything but this person succeeded in one try? He watched as Kris managed to feed him a couple more spoons before Tao puts his hand over his mouth and refused to eat any more.

“Just a little more?” Kris coaxed again.

“No…” Tao mumbled, “Dizzy,”

Kris then simply gave him his medicine with Baekhyun’s help.

“Do you want to go back to sleep?” Kris asked softly after Tao swallowed the pills.

Like before, Tao blinked repeatedly, his eyes searching before focusing on Kris’ shadow.

“And… And when I wake up, are you going to be there?” Tao finally asked, frowning.

Kris smiled again and Sehun scowled, “Promise,”

“Hm…” Tao replied before closing his eyes again, “Promise…”

And Tao fall asleep again, his fingers still curled in Kris’ shirt.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

nyaawww sweet mother of gooey custard, my ship is sailing~~!! <3

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