Hello my lovely readers! Happy Valentines Day! <3

First of all, thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much for all the subscriptions I got *hugging you all* Thank you all for reading, subscribing, commenting... I love you!!

I am deeply sorry that I don't update that frequently >.< I have a lot to do at the moment since I now am in my last semester of my studies and have to write job applications etc etc. (yeah, and study for my exams >.<) Ihope you can bear with me <3

Now, since it's Valentines Day, I decided to give you a next chapter ^.^

I hope you like it :D

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Ever since Tao had joined EXO, he hadn’t gotten to see his family all too often – well, it was a given, seeing as EXO was, after all, a Korean band, and even if he was part of EXO-M and therefore had a lot of activities in China, he didn’t have much time on his own, time that wasn’t filled with schedules of all kind.

So, suddenly being face to face with his father whom he hadn’t seen in six months, was a little bit overwhelming, if not to say quite shocking. Sure, they were in China at the moment, but still, they were in Beijing… nowhere near his hometown, where his family was living.

“B-Baba?” the black haired boy chocked out, not really sure how to react. Not that he wasn’t happy, of course, just... well, shocked. It was quite unexpected after all.

“Hey son” his father greeted him with a content smile and a warm hug “how have you been?”

“Fine” Tao answered as he hugged back. It wasn’t a complete lie, well… maybe a stretch of the truth, with the injury of his ankle and everything, but all in all, he felt fine. Could have been worse, he told himself.

Silently, he gestured his father to sit down on their couch in the living room. Thank God no one was in their dorm at the moment, he didn’t want any of his four brothers to interrupt his alone-time with his Dad. They hadn’t seen each other in quite a long time and really had to catch up.

There was so much to talk about, so much to hear, it made Tao all giddy inside.

And talk they did.

He asked about his parents well-being and their company*, asked about his beloved grandmother whom Tao missed terribly, asked about his friends which he hadn’t seen in over a year and also asked about his erstwhile neighbours. There were a lot of things he was curious about.

Eventually, his father asked about him, about how Tao was doing, how he felt. 

Of course, the black haired boy would answer with ‘fine’ and that he was doing ‘great’ even though he had to slightly shift his position countless times because of the new injury on his back and had to massage his foot unnoticeably half the time he was talking with his Dad in order to get it to heal faster. They had a showcase tomorrow and until then, it had to be healed enough to get him on that stage and through their performance without him breaking down.

Ah… what a nuisance.

But he had to endure it. Had to endure it silently and without a word – to not worry their fans or their families, his parents in particular.

And once again, he wished Kris to be by his side, and even if it was only to be able to rant about how much it hurt and how he had to clench his teeth every time he put weight on his foot, or to get his gege to massage his foot while talking about nothing in particular. Or… or just to hide himself in the elder’s arms and not think about what tomorrow would bring.

“Tao… Tao… Zitao!” his father’s voice combined with twitchy finger snipping in front of his face, pulled him back into reality. Reality without Kris.

Of course.

Because Kris had betrayed them.

How could he forget…

“Yes?” the boy asked hoarsely, trying to refocus on his father’s words “What were you saying?”

One glance towards the serious look on his father’s face told him that he had missed an important part of the conversation. A very important part, if the elder’s crestfallen expression as he had told him that he hadn’t paid attention, was any indication.

“I was saying that… that…” Mr Huang hesitated, clearly not knowing how to say what he was going to say. It would change everything.

Everything.

But it had to be done.

He had waited way too long – in his opinion, at least. But then again, it wasn’t his call to decide that, even if it was his son they were talking about. It wasn’t he who would decide when the time was right. There was one man, who had a lot more say in this, than Mr Huang. And that man alone… he alone, would decide when the time was right. He would decide when everything had to start.

And judging by the phone call he had gotten the morning before, that man deemed it to be now.

The time had come.

 “I have to tell you something” Mr Huang resumed, coming to the conclusion, that the direct way was the best. Quick and easy, like taking off a band-aid.

“Hu? Okay” the rapper smiled, not knowing what was coming onto him.

Silently, Mr Huang took a deep breath, gathering his inner thoughts.

“Leave the band” he spoke, holding his son’s gaze strong with his own.

“W-What?” now, that was a joke, right? His Dad couldn’t possibly be serious, right? Not knowing what else to do, Tao laughed. He laughed hard, until he almost fell from the couch, clutching his stomach.

“Right… hahahahahaha God, really… hahahahaha” he tried to catch his breath, just to break out in obnoxious laughing once again.

“Son, this is serious” the man tried to talk some sense into his son “I am serious.”        

“Of course you are” Tao wiped a laughing tear out of his eyes, still clutching his hurting stomach. God, his Baba was funny… really funny.

“Now, what did you really want to tell me?” the black haired boy sat back onto the couch, facing his father and trying his best to remain as composed as possible – not easy after such a laughing fit.

“This is”