Midnight Shine

===

And the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can’t replace

===

It’s already Thursday night when Tao realizes the real deal.

Kris Wu is an engaged man.

Yet he’s having a date with that man tomorrow.

Or maybe, coming to the theory he had built for the whole week, Kris Wu was just joking about it. Of course. Upper-class people and their ty personality. Thinking that they can play with other person’s feelings and will be forgiven for it in the end because that’s just how life works for them.

Tao was drowning in his own demons when his phone rings. Maybe it’s Baekhyun, or Minseok. Or maybe even Chanyeol because they will have the same shift this Saturday at the downtown bar. He picks up his phone and turns on the screen. From an unknown number.

Will pick u up at six tomorrow

He gasps. No. can’t be real.

You don’t even have my address

Who says?

Tao was about to snort, because no way Baekhyun will go to that extent, giving his address to some stranger, but then another text comes.

I’m in front of ur apartment rn

I don’t believe u

Will honk twice

And just as he was about to type his reply, he hears the honking sound. Twice. He immediately runs to his window and yanks the curtain away, looking down at the parking lot. A shiny red Ferrari is chilling in front of the entrance gate.

Too shiny?

Are u a stalker?

Maybe I am

Tao frowns really hard. What the hell is Kris Wu doing?

Anw see u tomorrow

==

To his expectations, somehow, Kris Wu appears in his casual attire, just like in their first meeting.

Which is, again, so different from the image of the current CEO of the mega corporation Wu Enterprise that has been embedded in everyone’s head. Kris Wu is supposed to be wearing specially tailored suits, not the navy blue Adidas hoodie he’s wearing right now. He’s supposed to be walking with shiny dress shoes, not the white sneakers on his feet. And his obnoxious blonde hair is supposed to be gelled neatly instead of being hidden under the navy blue baseball cap which Tao notices he also wore last time.

“I’m flattered,” Kris smiles smugly, “I can always make you stare at me in awe.”

Realizing how stupid he must seem, Tao immediately hisses. “Definitely not in awe with you.”

They’re strolling around at the side of Han River – both couldn’t be creative enough to find any other place to go to. It’s around three pm, the season is in the transition from summer to autumn, and the sky is not really the clearest blue, painted in white, dull shades. Somehow Tao finds it quite melancholic, the view. “I like it when someone defies me.” Kris smirks.

“What? Why? So you can bit them back later?”

A short silence. “So I can be reminded that real communication do exist.” Kris says rather carefully, and somehow Tao finds Kris’ smile is a little bit melancholic, just like the sky above them, as he says this. “Y’know, where people can agree and disagree with each other, where both parts are equal in the conversation?”

Tao finds it quite odd, how Kris describes it. But then he understands something hidden behind those words. “You’re saying that all your life, people agree with you easily.”

“Either that, or I would have no saying in the conversation. Mostly with my dad. And my mom. And my brother.”

Tao considers to say ‘poor you’ but then how can he say that to a Wu? He then thinks he can say ‘isn’t it great that people agree with you all the time’ but then it might be a little bit too snappy. So he ends up saying; “well you can have a real communication with me. I will occasionally agree with you and disagree with you most of the other times.”

Taciturnly, Tao notices that Kris is glancing at him, and if he’s not mistaken, he sees fondness in Kris’ eyes. “Yeah.” the other mumbles. “That will be cool.”

The atmosphere is getting awkward, so Tao settles up a sigh as he stretches his arms outwards. “Why are we here again?”

They eventually stop at some spot, slightly leaning against the railings. Kris kicks the tip of his sneakers against the ground beneath them out of habit, and Tao really thought he was going to say some cheesy lines like ‘because we met here the first time’ or ‘because the river reminds me of you’, but he notices the small smirk on Kris’ plump lips. Oh holy plump lips – what? “Because you couldn’t pick any better place.”

“Excuse me? You were the one who stalked for my phone number and my address and asked me to go with you for a date,” Tao presses his index finger gently against Kris’ broad chest, “how was it my responsibility to choose the place?”

“But I said ‘we can go wherever you like’, I gave you the luxury to choose, yet you didn’t use it well.”

“I’m starting to believe that it was just a spur of moment when you asked me out. You never asked anybody to go on a date before, huh?”

“How can you know me so well in the span of like, thirty minutes?”

Their first date ever, technically, is filled with nonsense bickers and some bets – ‘I bet you never swam before’ ‘I bet you can’t cook’ ‘excuse you I can play piano really well’ ‘you won’t believe how neat my closet is so shut up because you seem like you’re no better than me in when it comes to tidiness’. Weird, Tao thinks, as the night finally dwells further and he’s finally on his bed, unknowingly smiling goofily over some pictures he snapped with Kris just a few hours before. Isn’t first dates supposed to be calm and collected? Like, the both of you would sit down in a café, on a table right next to the window where people would occasionally pass by at the outside, and some calming songs would play at the background. A cup coffee or maybe an iced chocolate blend will rest on the table in front of the both of you, and you will talk about things you like and you don’t like, your opinions about things, and you will smile from minute to minute, because it’s something new, something refreshing.

Yet Tao thinks back again, and all he can remember about their first day is their bickers about who is smarter between him and Kris, and how he had spent good five minutes laughing over how Kris had said that he’s an alpha in a wolf pack’ to describe himself when they first met, and the soft, warm smile on Kris’ lips that lasted for no more than five seconds when he said to the blonde haired guy ‘I believe that people, be it good or bad, rich or poor, old or young, has their life as complex as everyone else, so basically no one has the right to judge the others, aren’t I right?’

And as he starts to fall asleep, Tao recalls how he never mentioned to Kris about his thoughts regarding the latter being engaged.

===

When you love someone, but it goes to waste

Could it be worse?

===

There’s a wedding anniversary party at one of the most prestigious Italian restaurant in Gangnam, precisely at the VIP floor. The entire space is decorated in the grandest way possible, the combination of silver and gold, with fancy looking main courses and treats. This whole thing is no surprise for Tao, since the orchestra group he has been playing for years in has always been contracted for such occasions. They’re trained for high-class parties like this, nothing less, a little bit more. So Tao isn’t supposed to be nervous as his fingers dance swiftly on the black and white blocks, reciting Fur Elise smoothly, backed up by the violinists and cellists behind him. He knows the music sheets to the end and back, the scores, the tempo, he aces it well.

Thus, again, he isn’t supposed to be nervous like this.

He still can control his fingers so it won’t affect his performance, but he’s literally sweating cold, and his heart is thumping fast inside his ribcage, because right there, less than three meters from the grand piano he’s hiding behind, is the ever so glorious looking Kris Wu, with his rich, obnoxious blonde hair and such height that makes him stands out like a sore thumb. His right hand is holding a glass of red classic wine, which is such a graceful match to his inky black suit. And the smirk, oh, that sinful smirk Kris Wu is showing off at him is tempting him to stand up and shove the music sheets into that alligator mouth of his.

Why are you looking at me, Tao groans internally as he finishes off the session, look somewhere else, look somewhere else, look –

“Tao, you okay?” Baekhyun whispers from the back. “You look quite pale.”

He decides to just give a thumb up to Baekhyun and signs that he can carry on. He doesn’t want to look at Baekhyun in the eyes because maybe, just maybe, he might burst into a frantic mess in front of almost a hundred pairs of eyes. He can’t ruin the night.

But Kris Wu is still boring holes all over his face, with that d