It was the second day of being imprisoned by Suho and Tao woke up earlier than expected that day. The midnight shift guards were still outside standing and Tao wondered if they even doze off for a second. Tao would give them kudos if they actually stayed up the whole night without snoring for even a second.

          Tao wanted to know the time but unfortunately he didn't have a watch on him, so he asked the guard about the time instead. Tao may or may not have accidentally scared both of the guards less when he randomly popped up and asked them about the time — one of them screamed while the other one flinched. In the end, it was the one who flinched that answered the question since the other one was too embarrassed to say anything. 

          To Tao's utter shock, he woke up a tad bit too early — it was only two o'clock in the morning. 

          The guard had asked if Tao needed to use the bathroom since that would most of the time be the reason why people wake up early in the morning. However, Tao said otherwise and went back to his bed to try and go back to sleep. The guard was confused by Tao's sudden retreat but decided not to bother about it, shrugging to himself before going back to his duty. 

          Tao tried to get back to sleep — tossing and turning in search for the perfect sleeping position — but to no avail. 

          Tao had tried with the 'dead man' sleeping style first — back fully on the mattress while his hands were folded on his abdomen — but he soon changed into another position. Tao tried sleeping on his sides next — lying on his left side then to his right side — but that also proved to not work. Tao's final sleeping position was to sleep at the edge of the bed — lying on his stomach with his left arm and left leg dangling off the side — but he didn't last in that position for long since it was uncomfortable to sleep like that. 

          Tao let out a frustrated sigh and sat up on the bed, crossing his legs while messing with his already messy hair. Tao let out a huff as he harshly put down his arms, glancing up towards the door when he felt a pair of eyes on him. One of the guards was looking at him with a weird look. 

          "Are you okay?" The guard asked. 

          Tao scoffed, shaking his head, "Can't sleep." 

          The guard chuckled, "I could guess." 

          Tao leaned back against the wall, his head tilted to the side as he stared off into space. The guard didn't say anything else when he received no replies from Tao. Tao was enveloped by silence as his mind drifted to some place else. 

          Tao's mind was drawing a blank, there wasn't anything in particular that was on his mind at that very moment. Tao's body felt tired — he could barely lift his feet off the ground when he walked and his eyes were just barely opened — but his mind was wide awake. Tao's mind may be awake but he wasn't thinking about anything, just that his mind wouldn't allow him to go back to sleep. 

          Tao groaned to himself — the worst part about waking up in the middle of the night is you're bound to have difficulty going back to sleep after waking up. Insomnia isn't exactly the problem here most of the time, it could also be because of their minds' sleeping hours — some people could sleep for days to end, but there are also people who could only need an hour sleep and they'll be energetic again. There are many things that keep people up in the middle of the night after they wake up. 

          Tao wondered whether it was the insomnia or the sleeping hours that had kept him up — he wished to think that it's the sleeping hours reason that had him wide awake since he has no record of ever having insomnia. If it had been the sleeping hours, then maybe he could just stay up throughout the whole night until it's morning — whenever morning is coming. If it was the insomnia, then there's nothing that Tao could do but to stay awake. 

          Either way — no matter which one was the cause of Tao's problem of inability to sleep — Tao was still going to have to stay up throughout the whole night until it's morning and the birds are chirping. 

          Tao groaned to himself as he flipped himself onto his stomach and buried his face into the pillow — this was going to be a long night. 

          Tao decided that maybe he should pass the boring time by counting sheep. Tao hoped that by counting sheep he not only will clear his mind of boredom — counting still needs a person to have an active mind, unlike lying down and doing nothing — but also hopefully he would be able to get some sleep again. Tao doubted that it would work but if you don't try, how would you know, right? 

          Tao closed his eyes and imagined a field with a lone fence standing somewhere, and on one side of the fence there were lots of sheep. There were sheep of both colours — the typical white and the rare black — and different sizes — some were bigger than others. Since that were only two kinds of  colour for a sheep, Tao decided to give himself a challenge by imagining how many white sheep jumped over the fence. 

          Tao imagined one of the sheep coming up to the fence and jumping over it. Was it white? Was it black? The sheep jumped over the fence landed on the other side of the field and that's when Tao saw the colour. It was white, which made that the first sheep. 

          Tao imagined another sheep jumping over the fence not a moment after seeing what the colour of the first sheep was. The sheep this time went by in a swish of dark colours and when the sheep landed, he wasn't surprised with the colour. The colour of the sheep was black, so that didn't count. 

          Tao imagined the third and fourth sheep being a bit mischievous, jumping over the fence at the same time. Tao waited for the sheep to land before quickly inspecting what the colours of the sheep were. Were they both white or black? Or were they both different colours? In the end, when the image cleared, Tao saw his answer — both sheep had different wool colour, so he got another sheep. 

          And just like that, Tao continued to imagine sheep jumping over the fence and what the colours were. Sometimes, only one sheep jumped over the fence; sometimes, the sheep jumped over the fence in groups; sometimes, the sheep wool was white; sometimes, the sheep wool was black. Tao continued on like that until he counted up to almost one hundred and twenty-five sheep before stopping. 

          Tao decided to switch the challenge after stopping the previous round. Tao shifted in his bed so he was lying on his side and staring at the wall the bed was against. Tao then closed his eyes again and reimagined the scene — picturing the field, the fence and the sheep. They were the same sheep, all of both colours and different sizes. Then, Tao started counting the black sheep. 

          The counting sheep process went on like that for a while but no matter how many sheep Tao counted, he just couldn't feel sleepy or even tired. It was frustrating him — not being able to go back to sleep and needing to wait until morning comes. But then again, what was there for Tao in the morning? Tao was a prisoner here, it wasn't like he get to do anything special in the morning. Tao thought he might as well die here. 

          Death, now doesn't that sound promising? No need to fight any more than he needed, just succumb to defeat and go to Heaven or Hell — whichever place gets to him first. Hopefully Tao's death won't be painful, no way on God's Heavenly Hellish Earth would he wish to die feeling immense pain. The more sudden the death would probably be the better. And also hopefully Tao goes to Heaven if he dies, although he doesn't believe in these sort of things. No way on Earth would he damn himself to Hell — that doesn't sound like a nice idea at all. 

          Tao widened his eyes as he realised what he had been thinking about, slapping himself hard and shaking his head rapidly to get the thought out of his head.Just what the Hell was he thinking? How could Tao just give up on life so easily? Tao can't do that, no way! Tao can't break, not for them and especially not for Suho. 

          That's right, all of this was thanks to Suho. If Suho hadn't came into Tao's life, then Tao wouldn't be right here almost breaking down. Tao must not give what Suho wanted, which was for him to break. Tao would never break. Tao might bend but never will he break, never in a million centuries. 

          Not even if he's breathing in his last breath. 

          Speaking of, Suho said that he wanted Tao imprisoned because he was useful? Suho also said something about wanting to use Tao to get back at some 'bastard'. Tao furrowed his brows as a thought suddenly came to mind — who was this 'bastard' that had Suho all riled up on revenge? What did this 'bastard' do to have offended Suho so greatly? What was it about this 'bastard' that deserved such attention from Suho himself? 

          What was Tao's relationship with this 'bastard'? Now that is a million dollar question. 

          Tao let out a sigh, his head throbbing from thinking too much. Tao held his head and looked over at the door and at the two guards still standing guard outside.

          "What time is it now?" Tao asked out of the blue and he didn't miss the way the guards reacted — the same people reacting the same way as they did before — which caused him to grin to himself. 

          Jumpy now, aren't they? Tao chuckled at that thought. 

          The same man who had flinched glared at Tao through the bars of the window, "Is it a job of yours to scare others?" 

          Tao gave the guard the most innocent look that he could put on as he shrugged, "I don't know. Do you think that this could be made into a job?" 

          The guard scowled at Tao's remark, causing the latter to only grin wider. The guard closed his eyes and inhaled a long breath, sighing it out through his nose to calm himself down from slamming the door open and beating Tao up into a pulp. The guard opened his eyes and he gave Tao the calmest look that he could master as he answered. 

          "It's already four in the morning," the gaurd told Tao, "Another two more hours until out shift ends." 

          Tao nodded and turned away from the guard, "Thanks for the info." 

          The guard grunted but that's it. 

          Another two more hours until the shift ends, then does that mean that Tao would see Chen again later at six o'clock? That doesn't sound bad, but then Tao remembered that with Chen there's Xiumin and almost instantly his mood dropped below zero. Hopefully Tao doesn't get to see Xiumin later. 

          "Libgug," the male heard one of the guards calling out and judging by the unfamiliar voice, Tao figured that the person talking was the one that kept jumping everytime Tao scared them. 

          "What is it, Gonghwang?" Libgug responded. 

          Tao silently shifted on his bed so he was facing the door and watching the conversation. Libgug was looking over at Gonghwang, his head turned to the right at the slightly shorter figure. Gonghwang was looking back and forth as if he was making sure that no one was going to hear what he was about to say. 

          "I was just thinking," the shorter guard paused for a moment before shaking his head and looking away, "Actually, n-never mind. Forget that I ever said anything." 

          Tao could see Libgug frowning even though the lights were off and the hallway was lit by dim red lights, "Are you sure?" 

          Gonghwang hesitated before nodding. 

          "One hundred percent sure?" 

          "Yes," the shorter breathed out and Libgug nodded. 

          "Okay then," the taller guard then walked towards the bathroom opposite of them. 

          Gonghwang — apparently alarmed by even this small action Libgug made — looked panicked as he asked with a scared tone, "Where are you going?" 

          Libgug looked at Gonghwang with a look filled with surprise and confusion, pointing to the bathroom door as he excused with a simple word, "Toilet."

          Tao may not be able to see Gonghwang's face but he could imagine the flustered look on the shorter guard's face after hearing that answer, "O-Oh." 

          "What?" Libgug had a brow raised, "Do you want to use the toilet too?" 

          "N-No," the shorter guard quickly shook his head in denial. 

          "If you want to use it, you can use it first," the taller male stepped away from the bathroom, "I can use it later." 

          "I'm okay," the shorter male was panicking at this point, "I don't need to use the toilet!" 

          Libgug looked in doubt, "Are you sure?" 

          "I'm sure," the shorter guard said as firmly as he could, walking up to Libgug and spinning his taler partner around before shoving him to the bathroom. 

          Libgug was caught by surprise so he didn't have time to react when Gonghwang opened the bathroom door and shove him into the bathroom, the door slamming shut as Gonghwang quickly rushed back to his post. Even though the dimness, Tao could make out Gonghwang's figure. Gonghwang had his face in his hands, as if trying to hide his face that might be burning from embarrassment. 

          "I screwed up," the male heard Gonghwang saying, "I ing screwed it up with him now." 

          Instantly, Tao knew what this was about. 

          "You like him." 

          Gonghwang jumped in surprise — once again — when he heard Tao speaking, spinning around to face Tao through the small window of the door. Tao held back a laughter at Gonghwang's jumpiness but it seemed that the latter noticed and he seemed flustered than ever. Tao didn't know whether it was the dim red light of the hallway playing tricks on his eyes but he thought he saw Gonghwang's cheeks turning a darker shade of red. 

          "You scared me," the guard accused and Tao rolled his eyes at him — the room was dark so Tao doubted Gonghwang would notice it. 

          "You're welcome," the male bowed his head. 

          Gonghwang huffed and turned away and just then, Tao struck again. 

          "You like him, don't you?" 

          Gonghwang tensed at the question and even without him answering, Tao already knew the answer to the question. 

          Gonghwang's head hung as he shifted from side to side, muttering so softly that Tao almost couldn't catch what he was saying, "It's one-sided, nothing much." 

          This time, Tao didn't hold back the laugh that escape his mouth, surprising Gonghwang. 

          "What's so funny?" Gonghwang demanded and Tao calmed himself down. 

          "It's nothing," the male said after his laugh calmed, "Just that I find these sort of things amusing." 

          Gonghwang looked interested, "What kind of things?" 

          Tao smirked at the guard, "You know, love and stuff." 

          Gonghwang leaned in, "What about them?"

          Tao shrugged and lied on his back, "You know, how two people obviously have interest for one another and everyone knows it except for those two people themselves." 

          Gonghwang took a moment to process the information, his eyes widening at what Tao was implying and stumbling backwards in disbelief. 

          "Impossible," the guard echoed and shook his head, "He won't like guys like me. Heck, I don't think he's even gay!" 

          "True, he's probably not gay," the male shrugged, "Have you seen him sleeping with females though?" 

          Gonghwang looked embarrassed about saying it, "Y-Yes." 

          "Ah," the male nodded in understanding, "No wonder you doubt that he would be gay." 

          "Oh well," the male shrugged again as he looked to the wall on his right, "There could be a possibility that he can be interested in a man." 

          "I doubt it," the guard said stubbornly.

          Tao rolled his eyes, turning to face the guard as he asked, "yes, the possibility is there, you're just too blind to notice. It's called being biual, just so you know." 

          "Biual?" Gonghwang raised a brow. 

          Tao stared at him as he deadpanned, "Don't tell me you don't know what biual is." 

          "What is 'biual'?" Gonghwang and Tao almost doubled over. 

          "You got to be-" the male stopped himself before he finished his sentence, shaking his head as he explained the definition of the word 'biual', "It means being attracted to both es." 

          "There is such a thing?" Gonghwang asked in shock and Tao squinted his eyes at the gaurd. 

          "Are you gay?" 

          "What?" 

          "I asked," the male said each syllables slowly, "Are you gay?" 

          Gonghwang hesitated for a moment before nodding. 

          "Do you not like men?" 

          "I do." 

          "Then what is your thoughts on men who sleeps with women and vice versa?" 

          Gonghwang shrugged, "Nothing." 

          Tao nodded, "How about men sleeping with men and the other way around?" 

          "Same as my feelings towards men with women." 

          "Then, how about men or women with both men and women?" 

          Gonghwang's face scrunched up in what looked like disgust, "Why would people want to sleep with both es? Isn't one enough?" 

          "It's in their interest," the male shrugged, "Is there something wrong with that?" 

          "They sleep with two es." 

          "The same two es, may I remind you," the male said firmly, "The same two es that other men and women fall for, just so you know." 

          "Well yeah, but-" 

          "Do you like him?" Tao suddenly asked. 

          "Excuse me?" Gonghwang looked at Tao in confusion. 

          "Do you like Libgug?" Tao repeated.

          "I thought I told-" 

          "Do you like him?" Tao cut Gonghwang off, asking with a firm tone. 

          Gonghwang looked irritated and he somewhat exclaimed, "Yes! i like Libgug, okay? What is your damn point?" 

          Tao was surprised by the guard's outburst, but he was quick to recover as he asked, "So, are you going to deny him a chance of loving you if he's biual?"

          "Libgug couldn't be biual," the guard denied, earning an eye roll from Tao. 

          "That's what you say," the male scolded, "Have you asked him yourself?" 

          "No-" 

          "And you dare say it in my face that he's just straight?" Tao roared at Gonghwang, scaring the guard. 

          Gonghwang opened his mouth to say something, but ended up closing it since no words were willing to come out. 

          "Let me ask you again," the male got up on his bed, crossing his legs as he stared sternly at Gonghwang who had hung his head under Tao's intimidating gaze, "Would you deny Libgug the chance of loving you if you were to find out that he is not straight but biual?" 

          Gonghwang didn't answer for a while and for a moment Tao was worried that he might have hurt the guard. However, as much as Tao was worried, he wasn't sorry for what he said. Tao was a man of neutrality, he takes no side which also means that he's not straight nor was he gay. Hearing Gonghwang's ignorance fueled his anger and he just couldn't help but to get his point across with the thick headed guard. Tao wasn't looking for a victory — he was looking for an understanding. 

          Tao never liked people who doesn't give others the chance of coming clean. Tao believed that everybody deserves a second chance and a chance to be understood. Tao loathes it when someone ignorant thinks that they are the absolute right and there won't be any need to understand others. 

          Tao sometimes wondered if he's being a hypocrite with this thought process. 

          "I can't." 

          Tao snapped his head upwards, being caught off guard by Gonghwang's sudden answer. 

          "What was that?" Tao asked, leaning closely. 

          "I said," the guard repeated, puffing his chest out as he repeated a bit confidently this time, "I won't not give him a chance of loving me." 

          Tao smiled, "And why is that?" 

          Gonghwang smiled at Tao, "I guess, love works in weird ways." 

          Tao laughed — it was a good enough answer. 

          Libgug exited the bathroom then and almost instantly Tao and Gonghwang stopped talking, Gonghwang immediately turning away from Tao. Libgug looked between the two before shaking his head and standing at his post. Tao expected silence but, well, let's say Libgug wasn't allowing any of that. 

          "I heard you guys talking just now," the gaurd said and both Tao and Gonghwang held their breath. 

          "Libgug," the shorter guard turned to his taller companion, "I can-" 

          "I am biual," the taller guard said — cutting off Gonghwang's sentence and forcing him to keep quiet — and turned to Gonghwang, "And I know that it makes you uncomfortable." 

          Tao heard Gonghwang taking in a sharp intake of breath as he plead, "No, it's not-" 

          "But," the taller guard managed to successfully shut the shorter guard again, his features softening as he looked at Gonghwang with a small smile forming on his face, "I am very happy that you are willing to give me the chance." 

          Tao saw how Gonghwang gaped — can't blame him, Tao was gaping at Libgug himself. 

          "I will prove it to you," the taller guard stepped forward towards Gonghwang who was nailed to the spot, "How much I love you." 

          "So," the taller guard reached down and took hold of one of Gonghwang's hand, smiling down at the shorter companion as he brought the hand up to his lips, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to prove my love to you." 

          Tao heard Gonghwang's breath catching when Libgug brushed his lips to the former's knuckles and in a blink of an eye, Gonghwang wrapped his arms around Libgug's neck and pulled the taller male down to him. Their lips crashed and Tao saw how Libgug's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden act, but the wide eyes quickly fluttered shut and within milliseconds Libgug was kissing Gonghwang back. The two guards shared a passionate kiss, delving in each other's warmth. 

          Funnily enough, Tao wasn't disgusted by the scene. It was strange, he always reacted negatively whenever he sees Baekhyun and Chanyeol kissing, but why doesn't he react the same way as he watched Libgug and Gonghwang kissed each other? What's the difference between Baekhyun and Chanyeol's kiss with Libgug and Gonghwang's kiss? 

          Maybe it was because Tao had a part in the making of this romance, or maybe it was because he watched this romance grow. 

          Either way, Tao was glad that he didn't need to swallow down any bile today. 

          The two broke away after a while, pulling away from one another slowly as their eyes slowly fluttered open. They stared into each other's eyes and after a small shy smile from Gonghwang, a grin broke out from Libgug's face. Tao's heart fluttered at the beautiful romantic scene. 

          "Later for breakfast," the taller guard asked, "Do you want to eat with me?" 

          Gonghwang nodded excitedly, "I would like that." 

          Libgug nodded and looked at his watch, checking the time, "Just a few more minutes to go." 

          Gonghwang's eyes sparkled in glee, "That's great!" 

          Libgug grinned before pulling away from Gonghwang fully, "We still need to guard in this few minutes." 

          And Tao's mood instantly went sour. 

          "True," the shorter guard chuckled while Libgug smiled, taking Gonghwang's hand and surprising the shorter of the two. 

          "Don't worry," he told Gonghwang, "Just a few more minutes." 

          A few more minutes ain't anything if you were Tao, but he showed no signs that he was unhappy. 

          Gonghwang smiled up at Libgug, looking down for just a second before scooting closer to Libgug and leaning his head comfortably against his shoulder. 

          The few minutes passed by in silence. 

In a blink of an eye, it was already six o'clock in the morning. Tao literally slept for two hours before staying up for the rest of the night. Tao didn't know whether he could go through the whole day with much energy, but then he remembered that he was a prisoner and there was nothing that he needed to do. 

          Tao didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. 

          Not long after it was six, Chen had arrived to take over for  the morning shift. Chen thanked the guards for their hard work before excusing them so they could rest. The guards bowed their head in return, thanking Chen too before they went off. 

          "What do you want to have for breakfast?" Tao heard Libgug asking. 

          Chen had also looked over at the two new couple as Gonghwang replied, "I'm okay with anything." 

          Tao didn't move from his spot on the bed as Chen watched the two guards left the hallway. Tao figured they had turned the corner when Chen turned back to look at Tao. Tao smirked despite himself when he saw the shock look on Chen's face, like he didn't know what he just saw. 

          Chen pointed to where the two guards had left and asked, "Are they a couple?" 

          Tao nodded, "Just declared a few minutes ago." 

          "Wow," the black haired male continued to stare after the couple even though they were already long gone. 

          Chen then shook his head and turned back to Tao, "Do you have anything to do with it?" 

          Tao only smiled — there wasn't any need for him to say anything. 

          "Damn, Tao," there was a small smile slowly forming on Chen's face, "These two had been pining over each other for a very long time now! Now that they're finally official, we can all rest in peace! Thank you so much for finally letting them see each other in a different light!" 

          Tao raised a brow, "How long had they been at it?" 

          "Two years, I think," the black haired male looked thoughtful, "Gonghwang joined two years ago, and started pining over Libgug around the same time." 

          Tao nodded in acknowledgement, "Same goes for Libgug?" 

          Chen laughed and shook his head, "Libgug was taken at that time, but then a few months later he was dumped so the pining didn't start until then." 

          Both Tao and Chen laughed at that. 

          Tao calmed down after a while and suddenly noticed something missing. Tao looked around himself, trying to find what it was that was missing. Chen noticed the change in Tao's behaviour and frowned at the male in worry. 

          "Is there something wrong?" Chen asked as Tao continued to look around the room. 

         Tao looked up to meet Chen's gaze, momentarily glancing to beside Chen as if he could find an answer there. And he did — Tao quickly realised what it was that felt different, why he felt as if something was missing. Well, actually, it wasn't something more like someone. 

          "Where's Xiumin?" Tao asked as he turned back to Chen. 

          Chen blinked a few times at Tao's question, processing it for a bit before looking down with a rather sad and disappointed look on his face. 

          "Suho tasked Xiumin to do something," the black haired male explained, turning around to stand in his post, "Along with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, so these three will be absent for a while." 

          Ah, so that's it. 

          "What was the task?" Tao asked but one look from Chen told him that he didn't want to know. 

          "Onto another topic," the black haired male said instead, "Did you have a good night sleep?" 

          Tao huffed, "I only slept for two hours!" 

          Chen laughed and Tao stared at the black haired male until he finally stopped laughing. When Chen saw the serious look on Tao's face, his face immediately dropped to one of worry. 

          "You seriously only slept for two hours?" Chen asked and Tao nodded. 

          "What time did you wake up?" Chen asked again. 

          "Two o'clock," the male answered and Chen's eyes almost popped out from their sockets. 

          "Why so early?" Chen asked and Tao gave him an incredulous look. 

          "Who should I ask that question to?" Tao fired back a remark and Chen sighed. 

          "Never mind," the black haired male sighed again before asking, worry still lacing his tone, "Are you tired?"

          Tao thought about it for a moment before shaking his head, "I feel as energetic as I could possibly be." 

          Chen smiled and nodded, "That's good then." 

          Silence filled the air after that. 

          For a while, the two stayed quiet, not talking to one another. Tao's mind then started wander, thinking back about things that had happened. There were a few interesting things that had happened so far, but Tao somehow always finds himself wondering back to the two new couple — Libgug and Gonghwang. 

          Thinking about the two's relationship, Tao suddenly thought about the other two relationships that he had seen so far — Chanyeol with Baekhyun and Kai with Kyungsoo. As far as Tao knew, there were three official couples and Tao's curious mind started to wonder if there were others. 

          "I can feel you thinking about something, my friend," the male looked over at Chen who had put on a voice of an old man. 

          Tao scoffed, "You su