"What was that all about?" Ga In asked after everything had calmed down. Baekhyun was singing some upbeat pop song, trying to raise the mood back up, but Lay was sitting on the couch where Tao had been, his face devoid of it's earlier animation. Suho was sitting with him, making a comment here or there, but it didn't seem like they were holding a full conversation.

I looked at Kyungsoo, hoping he could clear some of it up for the both of us.

"I don't know all that much myself," he began, "I just know that Tao's been having problems with his parents and with Lay. I'm not sure what it's all about, I just know that it's been getting worse. He was really mad when he heard that Lay was going to be here tonight. I can't even begin to guess what it is. They used to get along really well. This has only been happening recently. And it's really weird because Lay's not the kind of person you get mad at. He usually goes out of his way to be nice to everyone."

"That doesn't make much sense..." Ga In said, glancing over at Lay.

Kyungsoo just shrugged before turning his attention back to Baekhyun, clearly not wanting to continue on talking about it.

We sat in silence for a few minutes after, listening to Baekhyun sing, and then Suho, who had moved away from Lay who appeared to want to be alone. I eventually got up, needing to go to the bathroom, and walked out of the room by myself once Kyungsoo explained where they were to me. Thankfully, they weren't that far away, but I was suprised when I saw someone sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall across from the bathroom doors, legs pulled up close.

Tao was staring at the wall dejectedly from where he was sitting. When he heard me coming, he turned his eyes to see who I was without even moving his head. When he saw it was me, I noticed his brow crease and the corners of his lips turn down in irritation. Clearly, he was not pleased to see me.

"I don't want to talk, if that's why you're here," he said, turning his eyes back to the wall in front of him, the space between the girls and boys bathrooms.

I wanted to snap back at him with something witty about how that wasn't even my intention, but when I looked at his face again I decided that might be a little mean in this situation.

"Since you're sitting outside of the bathrooms that are the closest to our room where you are guaranteed to bump into one of us it really looks like you actually do want to talk," I said, clasping my hands in front of me as I moved to stand in front of him, leaning against that wall space between the bathroom doors.

At my comment, the look of irritation on Tao's face grew quickly, almost into a glare.

"There's nothing wrong with it," I continued. "I'm just saying."

"I'm waiting for Sehun," he said, glancing at the mens bathroom before his eyes came back to me, indicating where Sehun was.

"Oh." I noded. "Are you okay?"

He didn't reply to me, just turned his gaze to the guys' bathroom door, as if willing Sehun to come out faster.

"It's just a yes or no questions," I said, beginning to feel irritated myself. "You won't really be telling me anything about the situation by answering it."

Tao heaved a heavy sigh as he looked back at me.

"No."

I hesitated, regretting my feelings of irritation. Tao was hurting, the effects of it clear on his face, and it wasn't really any of my business. He wasn't obligated to answer my questions or tell me anything, really.

I stood up from the wall, mad at myself. 

I want to be there for people and help others, but I never knew quite what to do. Earlier Ga In tried telling me about her problems even though I knew she didn't want to, simply because she knew I wanted her to. If I had let her, that wouldn't have been helping her so much as helping me feel better about myself, which wasn't the point of wanting to listen to her problems at all. Now here I am, acting like Tao wants to talk to me about his problems, a person he really doesn't know that well. Talking to me probably wouldn't help him much either since I'm not involved in what ever this is, and I'm not close to him or anyone that actually is involved.

I really wanted to help people when they were going through tough situations, but it didn't really seem like I was cut out for it. I guess I just don't fit the mold.

"Everything is going to be alright," I said, hoping encouragement would be better received than prying.

While he was no longer looking annoyed, the change in his expression was actually much worse. He now looked weary and defeated.

"No, it's not," he said before burying his face in his hands. "It's not because I'm a failure."

My heart ached, and I didn't know what to say. I walked until I was standing in front of him and crouched down so we were eye level, even though he wasn't looking at me.

"Tao," I said, a bit quietly, but nothing else. I waited until he looked up at me before I continued on. "At the risk of sounding cheesey and cliche, I want to say this; you're not a failure, not until you've given up. You might not be able to do what you initially wanted, but while trying to I'm sure you've done something, accomplished something, and that's better than nothing. You might have failed at whatever it was, but that doesn't make you a failure. You've succeeded at other things, I know you have."

"But I failed at the only thing that mattered," he countered.

He wasn't trying to be argumentative, it was just something that he seemed to sincerely believe. As sad as it was, the only thing that seemed to really be holding him together at that point was his resolution, but his resolution was what he had just said; that he was a failure because he failed at the only thing that mattered, whatever it was.

As I looked at him, I realized just how tired he was. I could see it in his slumped shoulders, that the dark circle under his eyes were darker than usual, the look in his eyes themselves as they stared back at me, and that he had gotten paler recently. Tao was tired. It made my heart ache even more, knowing that there was something that he was working so hard at but was ultimately not able to accomplish it. I hated seeing how much it ate him up.

"I promise you," I began, hoping that at least some of what I was saying was the right thing to say, "there are more things that matter more than this one thing. Whatever you claim you failed at, it may be important, but its not the only thing that matters. I know you're upset, and I know it , but it will get better."

Tao stared back at me, his expression unreadable. I wasn't sure if my words really reached him, if they meant anything to him or if they were just sounds that came out of my mouth. I wasn't expecting what I said to do much for him, I wasn't that arrogant, and I really didn't know that much of the situation, and I'm just not the best at giving advice or pep talks, but I did hope that I had helped, even in a small way.

After a few seconds, I heard the guys' door open behind me, and I stood up and turned to see Sehun walking out. I took a step away from Tao, realizing just how close to him I was. It was another second before Tao stood up as well.

"Sorry I took so long," Sehun said, looking at Tao. "You ready to go?"

Tao nodded, looking at the ground, his eyes distant, his mind somewhere else. He began walking down the hall after that, towards the exit, without saying "good-bye" to me or even a backwards glance.

When he reached the end of the hall, Sehun spoke up.

"Thank you, for doing that."

I realized he must have overheard our conversation from the bathroom, must have waited until the conversation was over before walking out. I was actually embarrassed, and I was a little ashamed of that. I was sure I hadn't done a very good job in comforting Tao; he was too upset and I was too inexperienced, and he really hadn't seemed all that affected by anything I had said. I was embarrassed that someone had overheard my pathetic attempts at helping someone, and I was ashamed at how that had, for a moment, flaired up bigger than my concern for Tao, who was obviously deeply distressed by something. My own embarrassment must have been so small compared to whatever he was feeling.

"N- I just-... Of course," I fumbled out, not sure how to respond. I didn't feel like I deserved being thanked, but I was having trouble thinking of a response without belittling Tao's feelings. "I just don't know if I did much."

"Still, you tried. See you at school." Sehun shot me a smile before following after Tao, leaving me alone in front of the bathrooms.

As soon as Sehun rounded to corner in the hallway, dissappearing out of sight, I hurried into the restroom, only then remembering that I needed to go, and the need had only grown stronger while I was distracted by Tao.

After I had taken care of that, I hurried back to the room where everyone else was. When I walked in, I noticed that both Kyungsoo and Ga In had moved. Kyungsoo was now singing, and I was suprised by just how good he was even with Jong In's warning. I hadn't expected him to be quite that amazing. I glanced back over to the couch to make sure my way was clear, intending to sit and just listen to Kyungsoo sing, because I could probably honestly do just that for a few hours, his voice was so incredible, but when I did look my eyes landed on Ga In. She had moved to the couch Lay was sitting on, and they seemed to be a very serious conversation, just the two of them.

I was a bit caught off guard. Usually, it was the guys persuing Ga In, so if they had been sitting on the couch we had been earlier, it wouldn't have suprised me all that much. The fact that Ga In seemed to have gotten up and walked over to sit next to Lay really said a lot about how much she wanted to talk to him, since Ga In wasn't one to want to move around much after she sat down. Everyone usually had to go to her.

"Where have you been?" I heard Jong In say in my ear, startling me. I jumped, and he laughed, and for some reason I felt a little better.

I looked up at him to see him smiling brightly back down at me, clearly having a wonderful time. I couldn't help smiling back up at him.

"I just went to the bathroom."

"Good, I was scared you had run off."

I gave him a confused look.

"Why would I do that?"

"You didn't forget what you said the other day, did you?" he asked, a playful smile on his lips.

"Apparently not."

He narrowed his eyes, like he didn't believe me.

"Well, it doesn't matter whether you remember or not," he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder as he began steering me towards the group, towards the karaoke machine. "What does matter is that you have commited yourself to singing a song, and you're up next."

"What?" I was suddenly too scared to even think, but my body was able to respond by digging my heels into the ground, trying to keep me away from the karaoke. "Jong In, no, I'm not singing."

"Please?" he begged, pulling me closer to him and bending his head down to mine, trying to pout even though the corners of his lips kept wanting to turn up into a smile.

I felt my heart start to beat faster, and I couldn't stop myself from grabbing the mic in front of me.