Tao was already awake before the sun had fully risen, the sky a deep shade of blue before turning orange and a bit of yellow where the sun would be rising in a few more minutes or so. Tao walked out from the bathroom with a towel draped on top of his head, steam rolling out from the bathroom as he stepped onto the cold tiled floor of the bedroom towards his bed. Tao dried his hair with the towel, drops of water flying about in the air as his hair got ruffled whilst he was drying it. 

          Tao his heel once he was near the bed and plopped down onto it, pulling the towel down from his head so that it was now resting on his shoulders instead. Tao hummed as he let go of the towel and hunched forward, resting his elbows on his thighs as he stared off into space. Tao mindlessly played with his fingers, rubbing soothingly and pulling softly at the digits. 

          There were still droplets hanging for dear life from the tips of his hair, eventually slipping their holds and propelling down onto the woollen towel on his shoulders. The wet towel was damping his shirt but Tao didn't care, his mind already some place else as he continued to toy with his fingers. There was only silence in the room as Tao daydreamed, eyes distant and a low hum emitting from his throat. 

          Tao heaved a sigh since he didn't know what he should do, letting himself fall backwards and letting his back meet with the bed. Tao closed his eyes for a second, breathing in through his nose and out from his mouth steadily before opening his eyes. Tao let his eyes glide over to the fan that spun from the ceiling, his eyes easily catching up with the slow paced fan. 

          Tao had woken up from his sleep not too long ago courtesy of his need to use the bathroom, and he hadn't expected himself to not be able to go back to his beauty sleep when he came back out and laid on his bed. Tao had tossed and turned multiple times, taking up many different kinds of positions that included having his head hanging off from the edge of the bed while resting his feet on his pillow. Tao had gotten up from his bed in the end with a defeated sigh when his attempts on trying to go back to sleep proved to be useless, deciding on taking a bath instead which led to the current situation. 

          Tao got up from the bed, pulling the towel off from his shoulders to hang it on the rack in the bathroom before making his way towards the door. Tao was wide awake so he might as well try to find something to pass the time with until it's time for breakfast. Tao turned off the fan before resting his palm on the doorknob and turning the round object, stepping out into the cold hallway and letting the door close behind him. 

          Tao walked down the hallway, the sole of his feet connecting with the warm fuzzy carpeted floor and his bare arms feeling the chilling breeze of the still night air. Tao shivered slightly at the feeling but quickly and easily shrugged it off, continuing his way down the hallway and through the maze. Tao had lost count of how many hallways he had turned into and was surprised that he even knew where he was going — then again, Wu Lei had shown him around the mansion the day before so of course he would know his way around now. 

          Tao soon found his way to the stairs, slowly resting his foot onto one of the cases and causing a creaking sound to resonate in the quiet air. Tao winced slightly at the sound and stilled, his muscles tensing as his eyes darted back and forth to see if there was any signs of life around him that had awoken from the small noise. Tao saw nothing and his muscles relaxed, slowly descending the steps and hearing more creaking sounds — only, they weren't as loud as the first one so Tao didn't flinch when there was a sudden noise from the staircases he stepped onto. 

          Tao's bare feet soon met with the marble floor of the living room, the coolness of the surface instantly shooting chills up his spine which made the male jerk a little under his own skin. Tao let out a breath and looked around for a bit, his eyes only meeting with darkness and nothing more. Tao shrugged to himself before making his way to the back of the house, turning the corner to the movie room. 

          Tao entered the dark room, his hand blindly moving around on the wall before he felt the switch's location and flipped it. The room instantly lit and Tao squinted his eyes at the sudden brightness after being in the dark for so long, blinking a few times to get his sight back into focus before looking around the room. The room was just as how Tao remembered it — beanbags, pillows and blankets scattered on the right side of the room while a television hung on the left side of the room with a rack full of DVDs under it. 

          Tao walked up to the rack and knelt down before it, picking out some cases and looking over at the covers to see what shows or movies were there on the rack. Tao recognised some of the movies — there were a few Cantonese movies, but most of the ones that Tao had plucked out were English and Chinese. Some of the movies and shows looked old — with their not-so-bright colour schemes and not-so-stylish hair — while some others were newer and Tao even found a few Disney movies among them — Tao didn't think that people like them would actually watch such stuff. 

          Tao didn't find any movies or shows that interest him so he stood back up and looked around the room a bit before making his way out of the room, switching off the light on his way out and pulling the door closed behind him. Tao looked around for a bit and wondered where else he could go, remembering the second floor of the mansion and deciding that he could probably find something to pass his time there instead. Tao made his way back up the stairs, passing the first floor where all the bedrooms were to get to the third floor. 

          Tao reached the top floor and made a beeline for the library, entering the large room that he was still not used to. Tao was surprised to find the library's lights on and he wondered if they forgotten to switch it off or something, soon shrugging the thought off since it was none of his business. Tao stood by the door and checked the library out for a bit, trying to find something that might catch his attention before deciding to examine the books on the nearest shelf. 

          The books on said shelf were in English, Tao noticed immediately due to the words written on the cover — obviously. Tao's English wasn't good — he could speak the language and read and understand it, but it wasn't like he grew up speaking English so he wasn't all that good with it, something like how Jinfu had been in Korea for a while already but still preferred Mandarin over Korean. Tao placed the book back onto the shelf before moving his way to the next shelf. 

          The next few shelves that Tao came up to were also filled with English books, their covers hard and painted with many eye catching colours. Tao tried to read some of them, but soon put them back onto the shelves because he could not get his attention to stay on them — plus, there were quite a number of words that Tao did not know the meaning of, so it made it more difficult for him to understand what the story is trying to say. Once Tao reached the end of the row and to the last shelf against the wall — all of the books that he had investigated were in English, right up to the last shelf in the row — he went over to the shelves across from the row, pulling out a book that had a surprisingly simple looking cover and sighing out in slight relief when he saw that it was in Mandarin. 

          Tao read some of the books on the shelf, flipping through their pages and putting back any that were romance cantered. Tao was never a fan of those things, mostly preferring action and fantasy over drama and romance. Tao hated drama — they were stupid in his opinion and Tao wondered just who in their right mind on this planet would not tell their lover when they're diagnosed with a terrible disease — and romance wasn't his cup of tea to begin with — mostly because he kept reading the same over and over, like love-hate or bad boy falling for good girl and basically the typical kind of love stories that are so cliche that even babies can't bear to spare such a book a glance — which was why Tao skipped a book every time he saw the genre to be either drama, romance or both. 

          Tao read a few of the action and fantasy centred books that he could find and he couldn't help but to get interested in them, his heart pounding at the buildup and his brain wanting to know more of what happens next. Tao wasn't sure if he was allowed to bring the books back to his room — and he really wanted to read them — so Tao opted on just taking the books out from the shelves and placing them on a table. Tao had the desired books hugged against his chest as he went around finding some more books that he might find interesting. 

          There wasn't many books that Tao took — only about three to five of them, the rest weren't as interesting as the ones he was holding — and when he reached the end of the row, he went up to the table situated closest to the library door and placed the stack of books down onto the table. Tao quickly went back to finding other books after the ones he picked out were placed neatly on a table, checking the last row of shelves since he had already studied the other two — the row to the door's right and the other row against the other side of the wall. Tao reached the third row and picked out a book, raising a brow in interest when he saw that the language of the book now was in Korean — this library sure had many books in different languages. 

          Tao looked through the row of shelves that held the books written in Korean, not finding anything that caught his eyes as he reached the last shelf at the end of the row. Tao let a sigh escape him as he closed the last book he checked and returned it to the shelf, walking back to the books that he had picked out and placed on the table near the door. Tao contemplated on whether or not he should read some of the books at that moment, deciding against the idea and instead wanting to tour around the mansion a bit more. 

          "I'll only come back if there's nothing else better to do," the male promised to himself with a nod, looking down at the stack of books and smiled while patting the book placed at the top, "I'll come back for you guys later." 

          Tao left the library and went to his next destination, opening the door and entering the next room — it was the gym room. The gym room had two walls of windows that stretched from the ceiling down to the floor, allowing sunlight to stream into the room and light up the place. Tao blinked in surprise at the presence of light, not realising just how much time he had already spent in the library — it was still dark when he entered the library, and now it was bright like the sun had came out more than a few minutes ago. 

          Tao walked up to a few of the gym equipments, testing out some of them since he had nothing better to do. Tao tried to lift some of the dumbbells first, pumping his fist up in the air and pulling it back down a few times. Tao grunted at the weight — it wasn't really heavy, the one he was holding — and quickly placed down the dumbbell in favour of another much heavier one. 

          Tao kept trying out the dumbbells — testing out the different weights — making a few pumps with them before he moved on to the next one. Tao got bored after a while and decided to use the treadmill instead, checking around the buttons and pressing the one that activated the machine. Tao started off slow, gradually picking up speed and eventually stopping the speed when he started to feel himself panting. 

          There wasn't really a lot of things that Tao could do in the gym so he made his way out of the place and towards the next one, entering the music room and being greeted by the sight of instruments being stored away in cases on the wall opposite of the door. Tao went over to the cases and opened a few of them, checking out the instruments inside before closing the box and moving on to the next one. It wasn't like Tao knew how to play an instrumens, so he didn't try to pick any one of them out and play it. 

          Tao found that most of the instruments in the cases were guitars, but of course there were also others like trumpets, flutes, clarinets and many more. Tao got up and walked off to the piano in the middle of the room, his fingers running lightly along the keys and yet not putting enough pressure to press any of them. Tao paused at one of the keys, shyly pressing down on it as if he was testing the key out. 

          A melody sounded in the music room and echoed off the walls before silencing into a low hum, the key still pressed down by Tao's finger although not making any sounds since it already had. Tao huffed and let go of the key, turning his attention away from the piano to walk around the room a bit more. Tao tampered with some of the sheet music rack before he decided that he had enough with the music room and left for the obstacle room. 

          The obstacle room — like the music room — had a wall window that let sunlight to stream into the room. Tao walked over to the salmon ladder almost instantly after entering the obstacle room, a small smile creeping up his features as he looked from left to right and up to down at the obstacle. Tao scanned it for a bit before reaching his hand up to grip the bar, twisting on the surface of the bar before lifting himself off from the ground. 

          Tao swung back and forth as he dangled from the bar before heaving and pulling the bar out from its hold, quickly pushing it upwards and jamming it onto the next level of supports. Tao his dry lips, leaving his tongue to poke out at the side before heaving the bar upwards again. Tao made it to the fifth rung before the bar slipped and he fell onto the ground, stumbling backwards a bit before catching himself and getting his balance — luckily this salmon ladder wasn't too tall. 

          Tao replaced the bar back onto the first hold before glancing around the room, walking over to some of the obstacles and trying them out for the lack of something better to do. Tao played around in the room for a bit until he grew bored once more and stopped with his sports, deciding on going back downstairs. Tao exited the place and was on his way to the stairs when he passed by the library and paused in front of the door, contemplating on whether or not he should take the books with him — in the end, he decided he could do that later and ignored them as he went straight for the ground floor. 

          When Tao reached the living room, he heard noises and his gaze followed the direction of where he supposed the sound had came from, eyes landing on the doorway to the dining area. Tao blinked a few times, looking to his left and right as if to make sure that the sound was really coming from the dining room. When he was a hundred percent sure that the noise was indeed emitting from the kitchen and not anywhere else, he decided to check out what the ruckus was about and walked towards the dining room. 

          Tao entered the large dining area, looking up at the crystal chandelier that hung high above from the ceiling before scanning the long dining table placed in the middle of the room. Tao noticed that a few dishes had already been placed on the dining table and he quirked a brow, walking up to the dishes and checking them out. Tao was immediately attacked by the fragrant aroma wafting from the dishes, pulling back with a shock expression due to the nice smell from the food before slowly smiling approvingly. 

          Tao heard noises again and turned, this time his eyes landing on the doorway that led to the kitchen. Tao could already guess who was up so early and making breakfast for everyone, walking over to the doorway and poking his head in to see if his guesses were correct. Tao confirmed his guesses when he saw the suspected person standing in front of a stove and cooking something, a small smile playing on his lips in triumph though it wasn't as if he had bet with anybody about this. 

          Tao leaned against the doorframe as he watched the person cooked, his gaze soft as he stared at the person's working back. As if sensing Tao's presence there, the person turned around and made direct eye contact with the male. The two stared at one another in silence, none of them knowing what to say to the other. 

          Finally, after a long time of just staring at each other, the person before the stove cleared his throat and let a dimpled smile to take over his features, "Good morning, Tao." 

          Tao felt himself relaxing at the sight of the smile — the person practically looked like an angel when he smiles! — and he nodded at the person in bidding, "Good morning to you too, um-" 

          The person chuckled and opened his mouth, about to say his name to Tao when the latter held a hand up and prevented the former from announcing his name. The person raised his brows in surprise at Tao's gesture but quickly got what the latter was trying to do, his head tilting to the side — in such a cute manner that Tao mentally squealed at the sight — as he looked at Tao with wide curious eyes. The person turned back to the stove only for a split second to pull the pan away and turn off the gas, looking back at Tao as he waited for the latter's answer. 

          Tao snapped his fingers a few times, a look of concentration plastered on his face — eyes shut tight and brows furrowed with lips pressed tightly into a line — as he tried to remember the person's name — after all, he had only been introduced to said person the day before and their encounter didn't exactly last long, only a few minutes or so until the person had to leave for work. Tao opened his eyes and looked at the person that was holding the pan, pointing at the person and flicking his wrist at the same time in a thoughtful manner. Tao closed his eyes again before the name hit him and he snapped his eyes open with a bright smile, looking at the person and snapping his finger in recognition. 

          Tao pointed at the person and the latter raised his brows with a hum, listening as the former asked for confirmation with the smile still on his face, "Lay, am I right?" 

          The person smiled to confirm Tao's guess, clapping his hands to congratulate the latter, "Yeah, that's my nickname." 

          Tao grinned at the person — Lay, as he had guessed the name to be — before his eyes landed on the pan that Lay had been holding onto since Tao had started with his guessing game, gesturing to the iron pan with his hand before looking up at Lay as he asked, "Do you want me to help you with anything?" 

          Lay blinked and followed Tao's hand gesture to the pan in his hand, his mind processing the heavy weight before a smile slowly crept up onto his face and he looked back at Tao, nodding his head and shrugging nonchalantly, "Sure, I don't see why not. I could use some help in some place after all." 

          Tao smiled and walked up to Lay when the latter beckoned for him to come forth, standing beside the chef and watching as said chef poured the contents in the pan — it was fried rice — onto the serving plate with a spatula. Lay turned away once the serving place was filled with the cooked fried rice, placing the pan away into the sink and turning the tap on. Tao on the other hand inspected the fried rice and swallowed down the saliva that threatened to escape from his lips, staring at the steam that floated from the food and admiring the different colours — the whiteness of the chicken strips and rice, the vegetables' greenness and the yellow from bits and pieces of the egg. 

          Lay turned back to Tao and chuckled at the sight of the latter eying the mouthwatering dish, walking to stand behind Tao and patting on said person's shoulder to snap him out from his thoughts. Tao blinked a few times and looked over at Lay, feeling embarrassment creeping up his neck when he saw the knowing smile on the latter's face and he looked down to the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world to avoid Lay's gaze. Lay chuckled at Tao's gesture, letting go of the latter's shoulder as he gestured to the plate of fried rice on the working table. 

          "Please help me serve this on the dining table while I work on my next dish," the chef instructed, prompting Tao to look up. 

         Tao's eyes connected with Lay's and he swallowed for no particular reason, nodding his head quickly and whipping around to face the working table behind him. Tao took the serving plate into his hand and lifted it up, quickly hurrying out of the kitchen and into the dining room to serve the plate of fried rice. Tao placed the plate down onto the dining table and turned to look at the other dishes that were also served, feeling his stomach protesting shamelessly at the sight. 

          Nearest to the edge of the table — not too near though or else it might accidentally get knocked over and it could fall off the table — was a bowl of shark fin soup, the brownish yellow liquid thick but clear with strips of meat floating in the substance. Beside the big bowl of shark fin soup was a plate of spaghetti, wisps of steam streaming into the air from the bundle of yellow strings covered in red sauce. Between the plate of spaghetti and the plate of fried rice that he had just served onto the dining table was a tray of of baked rice — the cheese may have covered the rice but when he bent down slightly, he could spot the rice in the see-through tray.

          Tao's stomach gave out another hungry growl which caused the owner to scowl and look down at his tummy, his face had a look of disapproval plastered on it as he stared at his belly like he could communicate with it and scold it for being so loud. After a while, Tao went back to the kitchen, thinking that Lay might need help with something else. Once entering the kitchen, Tao's sensory of smell got assaulted by the smokey smell of something delicious cooking. 

          Tao took in the sweet-scented smell of the cooking food, a soft sigh leaving his lips at the satisfying feeling that the aroma left behind. Tao then walked to behind Lay and peeked over the latter's shoulder to see what he was cooking, holding in his breath so it won't tickle on Lay's exposed neck and bother him from his work. Tao could feel his stomach rumbling at the sight and he momentarily didn't bother the sound that came with it, only staring at the delicious looking meal that Lay was preparing.  

          Lay turned his head to look at Tao then which surprised the latter into stepping backwards and away from Lay, thinking that maybe the former needed some space for his cooking and that he was interrupting him in some ways by standing too close. Lay chuckled at Tao's thoughtfulness but reassured Tao that it wasn't what the latter thought it was as he beckoned to the empty spot by his side, as if trying to tell Tao that he should stand beside Lay instead of behind him. Lay flashed a soft smile at Tao before reverting his attention back to his cooking, stirring the noodles in the wok while Tao went and stood beside Lay like he was told to. 

          Tao admired the way Lay's hand swiftly moved the spatula to stir the noodles, watching as the noodles flipped in the wok and the dark sauce coating it splashed. Tao recognised the dish to be jajangmyeon and he couldn't help the goofy smile that took over his lips, taking in the sight of the Korean-Chinese dish — from the black bean sauce that coated the dish to the diced pork and vegetables along with the noodles which were covered in the dark sauce — and having to remind himself to not drool. 

          It was silent the whole time Tao watched Lay cooked and after some time had passed, the noodles were finally done and Lay gave himself a nod of approval before asking Tao to help him get a serving plate from the cabinet in front of his — Tao's — legs. Tao did as he was told, stepping back since his legs were blocking the door before bending down and pulling the cabinet door open. Many stacks of serving plates that came in different shapes and sizes were what greeted Tao when he opened the cabinet door, wasting no time in choosing as he took out a simple oval shaped plate and straightened his back, closing the cabinet door with his feet and turning to Lay for further instructions. 

          Lay smiled and gestured for Tao to bring the plate closer to the wok which the latter did, being careful at holding the plate so that his thumbs that were holding it in place wouldn't be burnt by the newly cooked dish while Lay moved the noodles from the wok onto the plate. Tao watched Lay as he used the spatula to scoop up some noodles and quickly shift them onto the plate — the noodles slid down from the spatula and onto the clean white plate, staining the serving plate with its black bean sauce. Tao continued to hold the serving plate close to the wok while Lay kept on scooping and pouring the noodles, working together silently until the serving plate was full with jajangmyeon and all there was left in the wok was the black sauce that glistened from the light shining onto it. 

          Lay turned off the stove and placed the wok away into the sink, giving Tao a better view of the other side of the stove which was further away from him. Tao noticed the silver pot that was placed on the other stove and his eyes glinted in curiosity, his head tilting to one side as he wondered what was inside the pot. However, Tao was cut short in his train of thoughts when Lay told him to serve the jajangmyeon, nodding to the latter even though said person was busy washing the utensils before turning around and making his way to serve the plate of jajangmyeon onto the dining table in the other room. 

          Lay was tending to the contents in the pot when Tao came back from the dining room, the wok and spatula forgotten in the sink along with the pan from before. Tao quickly walked over to Lay and stood beside him, craning his neck to see what Lay was stirring. Inside the steel pot was mushroom soup and Lay was stirring the creamy substance with a ladle, the soup inside twirling along to the movement of the ladle. 

          Tao hummed at the sight of the mushroom soup and suddenly a thought came to mind and he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. Lay looked over at Tao when he heard the chuckle, his eyes inquisitive and curious as to what was going on in Tao's mind. Tao only shook his head and told Lay that it was nothing, which even though Lay didn't believe — for obvious reasons — he didn't say much about it and just shrugged at Tao's strange behaviour before turning his attention back on his task of stirring the mushroom soup in the steel pot. 

          The two passed the time in silence with Lay cooking and Tao watching, none of them intending on breaking the silence and just enjoying each other's company. Tao didn't know why but usually, he would feel weirded out when he's close to someone that he knows nothing of and would try to avoid being with them. However, Lay gave off the kind of feeling to Tao that he could be trusted and wouldn't do anything that might make Tao feel uncomfortable, which only added more reasons for Tao to be more relaxed around Lay. 

          Tao didn't know how much time had passed but soon, Lay was asking Tao to prepare a big bowl so he could pour the soup in. There were bubbles forming on the surface of the soup already, popping very soon after its formation as other bubbles in different sizes also formed and popped. Lay switched the ladle to his other hand while his dominant hand pointed to some place for Tao, and the latter followed Lay's finger before landing his eyes on a cabinet. 

          "That's where the serving bowls are kept," the chef told him and Tao turned back to Lay who smiled at him, "Help me get one, please?" 

          Tao smiled back and complied, walking over to the cabinet and kneeling down while his hand busied itself in pulling the door open. Tao scanned the serving bowls in the cabinet before taking one from the stack nearest to his hand. Tao then stood back up with the serving bowl in hand, a huff leaving his lips as he closed the cabinet door before making his way back to Lay and presenting the latter the serving bowl that he got. 

          "The serving bowl you asked for," the male told Lay simply, earning a soft smile from the latter. 

          "Thank you," the chef bowed his head slightly and gestured for Tao to bring the bowl closer, which the latter did without any complaints. 

          After Lay transferred the mushroom soup from the pot to the bowl, he asked for Tao to place the bowl onto the dining table while he busied himself with washing the utensils. Tao obeyed Lay's orders and left to place the dish, coming back into the kitchen to find Lay already washing the utensils with the water running and a sponge in one of his hand, foam was already forming from his scrubbing on the utensils. 

          "Let me help," the male offered as he walked up to Lay, a finger pointing to himself as he waited for Lay's approval. 

          Lay chuckled at Tao and nodded, gesturing with his head, "Well, come on then. I'm not stopping you."  

          Tao smiled and quickly walked over to Lay's side, taking the sponge that Lay passed to him before picking up the pan — Lay was washing the pot — and starting to wash it. Tao rinsed the pan with water first before scrubbing it with the detergent soaked sponge, washing away the oiliness and any scrapes that got stuck to the pan. Tao finished washing the pan in no time and when he asked Lay on where he should keep the pan, the latter replied by gesturing to the side where a cloth was placed and told the former to just leave it there and that he would take care of it later. 

          Tao did as he was told and placed the pan on the cloth that Lay had gestured to by the side of the working table, reaching over to wash the ladle — Lay was washing the spatula — when Lay suddenly asked, "How are you feeling?" 

          Tao looked over at Lay in surprise and watched as the latter finished washing the spatula and placed it to one side, flicking his wrist and sending droplets flying before looking over at the former with a soft smile on his face as he elaborated, "So far, how was your stay here? Are you feeling comfortable? Anybody that is making you feel unwelcome?" 

          Tao processed Lay's words in his head, slowly nodding as he replied to the questions, "Yeah, I guess. It's okay here, I mean, it's not that bad. I do feel comfortable here, and no, no one has been making me feel unwelcome. So..." 

          Tao wasn't sure what he had wanted to say when he trailed off, his eyes glancing away from Lay and to the ceiling. While Tao was distracted by his thoughts, Lay went ahead and washed the ladle, placing it to one side once he was done washing it and turning back to Tao who was still deep in thoughts. Lay chewed on his bottom lip before letting out a sigh, nudging Tao's side to bring said male out from his train of thoughts. 

          Tao jerked a little at the sudden nudge, whipping his head over to Lay who chuckled at his jumpiness. This caused blood to rush up to Tao's face and he turned away from Lay in embarrassment, trying to hide the blush that had appeared. There was a chuckle from Lay again and Tao felt his shoulder being patted, but he didn't turn to look at Lay and just continued to stare into space, taking a sudden interest in the emptiness beside him. 

          "How about you go and wake the others up for breakfast?" Lay suggested and Tao felt the hand slipping away from his shoulder, hearing footsteps walking away from him as Lay continued to speak, "I still have to go to work today, so can you help me wake the others while I go change?" 

          Tao didn't answer in time and when he finally did react to Lay's question — turning his head around to face the direction where Lay had went off to — the latter was already long gone. All Tao could do after that was to close his mouth and press his lips into a thin line as he stared off into the nothingness, his mind drawing a blank as he tried to process the situation. Finally, after wasting some time just standing there in front of the sink and doing nothing but stare, Tao shook himself out from his thoughts before exiting the kitchen, making his way up the stairs in the living room. 

It was not until Tao arrived to the first floor when he realised that he did not know which rooms were occupied and which weren't. With a deep sigh, Tao walked up to the first room and knocked on it, calling to see if anyone was in there. Tao also tried twisting the knobs and when he opened the door only to find no one inside, he would quickly advance to the next room and thank the Gods up there that no one was with him and watching him fail epically at trying to find people's bedroom. 

          Tao didn't know how many doors had he knocked on and opened until finally, he found a room that was occupied. The room that he had arrived to was simple looking with beige coloured wallpapers, a bed that had already been neatly tidied with the folded blanket placed by the end of the bed. The running water coming from the bathroom was what told Tao that the room had an occupant and soon the sound of water stopped, signalling that the room owner had finished taking their bath. 

          Not wanting to be there when the room owner was out from the bathroom, Tao quickly closed the door and made his way down the hallway, continuing to knock on doors only to open to more empty rooms. Tao sighed as he arrived to the next room, knocking on the door once again but as he was about to twist the knob, he heard someone from inside answering a word of permission to enter. A brow quirked in interest, Tao carefully turned the doorknob and opened the door slightly, peeking his head into the room through the gap. 

          Sitting on the bed in the room was an all too familiar face, his arms busy on drying his hair with a towel. Tao brightened up when he recognised who the person on the bed was, opening the door wider and stepping into the bedroom with a wide grin plastered on his face. Upon hearing the door creaking open further, the person looked up at Tao and had an equally bright smile on his face. 

          "Good morning, Tao," the person breathed a bidding as he stood up, quickly taking a trip to the bathroom to hang the towel before going over to stand in front of Tao. 

          "Good morning, Jinfu," the male replied back, earning a chuckle from the person — Jinfu, as the person was revealed to be. 

          "Here to call me for breakfast?" Jinfu asked and Tao nodded. 

          "Yeah," the male replied and there was a hum from Jinfu. 

          "Care to join me?" Jinfu asked and there was a sheepish but apologetic smile on Tao's face. 

          "Sorry, but I was told to wake the others up first," the male explained and received an understanding hum in response. 

          "Then I'll go on ahead first," the elder said as he softly pushed Tao out of the room, closing the door behind him. 

          "Okay, I'll go and wake the others," before Tao could do just that though, Jinfu took hold of his wrist and Tao was forced to look back at the elder. 

          "Wu Lei's room is the last door at the end of the hallway," the elder instructed, his hand gesturing down the hallway, "The door to the right is his room." 

          Tao smiled gratefully at Jinfu's help, bowing his head slightly and thanking the elder as said elder let go of his wrist. The two waved at each other before parting ways — Tao making his way to the instructed door and knocking on the wooden door a few times. There was a reply from the other side that granted Tao entrance and the male didn't waste a beat in opening the door. 

          The room had light blue wallpapers and the navy coloured curtains were pulled back, allowing light to stream into the place. There was a bookshelf beside a drawer cabinet and another smaller shelf placed on top of said cabinet, the shelf filled with figurines. There was a door in the corner of the room which Tao believed it to lead to the bathroom, looking around the room a bit more and spotting an alarm clock on a bedside table. 

          Tao's eyes soon found their way to the male standing in front of the bed and folding a blanket, placing it on the bed neatly and smoothing it out. The male turned around and the first thing Tao noticed was the boyish features, following after that was the tall and lanky figure along with the long legs. It took Tao a while to realise who the person was and he felt like hitting himself over the head for only noticing the person's identity now — it was no other than Wu Lei. 

          Wu Lei grinned when he saw who was peeking out from behind his slightly opened bedroom door, chirping excitedly, "Good morning, Tao!" 

          Tao let out a noise in reply to the bidding as he opened the bedroom door wider and slowly entered the room, not being able to take his eyes off from the interior. Wu Lei stood by his bed with his hands placed on his hips, watching as the elder considered his bedroom. After a moment, Tao turned back to Wu Lei who was grinning widely back at him. 

          "I was just finishing up," the younger told Tao and thumbed to his bed, sparing a brief glance back at it before looking back at the elder and nodding his head towards the door, "Come on, let's go and have breakfast! I'm famished!" 

          Before Tao could comprehend any further, he found himself being shoved out of the room by Wu Lei who pulled away from Tao just enough so he could close his bedroom door, returning to pushing the elder once his bedroom door was closed. 

          Tao protested as he tried to plant his feet down and slow down the pace, "W-We need to wake the others!" 

          Wu Lei tilted his head at Tao before grinning and shaking his head, "Nah, it's okay, there's no need to wake them!" 

          At Tao's confused expression, Wu Lei quickly explained, "I'm pretty sure Jinfu is already awake and probably helping himself to breakfast at this very instant; then there's Lay who most definitely had already went and woke up Zhixiang so there's no need to bother about him; Ta-Lu should be done with his shower by now; while Kris and Luhan wakes up very early so there's no need to worry about those two either." 

          All Tao could do as he listened to the quick explanation made by Wu Lei was to nod, letting the younger push him to the stairs where Wu Lei took the lead and pulled Tao downstairs to the living room. Tao was practically dragged by Wu Lei to the dining room where the younger abruptly stopped and causing the elder to run into him, both of them stumbling forward slightly since Tao was taller and heavier than Wu Lei. Wu Lei looked back at Tao who had an bewildered look on his face, smiling sheepishly at the elder as he rubbed the back of his neck and bowed apologetically. 

          "Sorry," the younger shrugged, "I got awed by the food, that's all." 

          Tao nodded but soon yelped as he found himself once again being pulled by Wu Lei, this time towards the table. Wu Lei pushed him down onto one of the seats before sitting on the chair right next to his, already bringing food onto his plate. Tao shook his head fondly at Wu Lei's antics before looking up to see who else was in the dining area — there had been someone who was eying them ev