I looked up from my seat in the waiting room to see Kris walk in. I stood up to meet him. “You must hate hospitals right now,” I joked. “You’re always called to them.”

He grinned in response and shrugged. “I guess I’m used to them now. Do you know how many times we need to be sent for IVs and stuff? I mean, Lay can only do so much.”

“Are you here to give Tao a charm from Lay?”

“That’s one of the reasons why.” He bent down so we were eye-to-eye. “Are you alright?” His worried eyes searched my face.

I nodded. “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” I said lightly.

He shook his head with a wry smile. “Don’t test that theory to the fullest.” He took the seat next to mine. “Look, we have to talk about your school.”

My throat clenched, then relaxed when I realized I wouldn’t have to face Mr. Hua. He was gone, buried in the Earth.

“If you don’t want to go back, it’s fine. If you want, I can enroll you in a school in Korea. It looks like EXO will be there most of the time anyway.”

“I…” What did I exactly want?

He patted my shoulder. “You don’t have to make your decision right now. So, how is Tao?”

“He hasn’t woken up yet, but they have taken him out of the ICU. I think they’re planning surgeries to set his broken rib and wrist.” I shrugged.

“Did you guys…talk?” Kris asked tentatively. In that moment, I knew he knew everything. At least, he knew everything from Tao’s perspective.

I smiled. “Yeah. Thanks for not getting involved. It was something I needed to figure out on my own.”

“No problem. Just because you’re my cousin doesn’t mean I own your life,” he joked.

I glanced at the clock on a nearby wall. “Well, we better get going. Visiting hours are going to be over soon.” I started to go in the direction of the door that Kris had just entered.

“Hey, where are you going?” He grabbed my arm. “The door is that way.”

I smiled at his confusion. “Remember how I was telling about my interview yesterday?”

“Ohhh.” He let me go as understanding flooded his voice. “Are you sure-“

“I checked on him this morning. Are you coming back to the apartment?”

“Tonight, yes. But I have orders to come back to Korea as soon as possible.”

“I understand,” I replied, trying to keep disappointment out of my voice. “Anyway, you should go. The nurses are pretty strict here.” I pushed him in the direction of the hospital rooms.

“Good luck on your interview!” He called out to me as I left.

I smiled in response and walked out into the sunshine. It was amazing how time just went by so quickly, and nature was renewing itself once again. Summer would almost be here.

Time was running out for me to find my own path. Maybe if Tao was here with me, he could freeze time so I didn’t have to decide. But he was stuck in an unconscious state and he wasn’t by my side. I didn’t even know if he would ever be by my side.

I took a deep breath and started walking down the street. My heels clicked on the pavement as I scanned the buildings for the address on my business card.

A minute passed as I found myself waiting in front of a receptionist desk.

The woman looked up with a smile spread politely across her young face. “He will now see you. Just take the elevator to the third floor.”

“Thank you.” I followed her directions, my nervousness stilling all the thoughts in my head.

The metal doors opened to reveal a door to an office. I took a deep breath, then opened it. 

[A/N] So I had this huge thank you note written for this chapter, but you know what? I'll save it for the end, when I know it's the last chapter. For all I know this is just the beginning.

Haha just kidding we're definitely in the falling action but the ending doesn't look like it's coming anytime soon.

Thank you so much for being patient. My policy is to never force creativity out and sacrifice quality just to get more readers. In fact, it's kinda nice being one of those "Indie" authors, ya know? Those ones who don't ever say "COMMENT" and "UPVOTE IF YOU LIKE THIS"

Yeah um don't. Upvote I mean. It would be weird to see that arrow have a number on it and plus I honestly don't want to be featured. All those poor authors usually just get people flocking to the story saying "CONGRATS" and they don't even read the freaking story. >.< Save your votes for author who really deserve it. I would love comments but I totally know what it's like to be a silent reader-you just want to enjoy reading. So enjoy away!

I feel like Tao is somewhat ruining bias list. WHYYYY but it's okay, Suho is more of a bias list ruiner hahaha y grandpa...-cough-

Until next time!