“Is everything alright, babe?” his mother’s tired voice asked over the phone. “It feels like you’re… not all there today.”

“What?” Kris said distractedly, dragged away from his thoughts. He sighed and pinched the space between his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah Ma…everything’s fine, I’m sorry. I’ve just been…worn-out lately; been factoring in some late shifts for extra cash at the diner.”

“Yi Fan just let us send you some money.” She insisted exasperatedly. “You’ve gotta stop worrying about other people’s problems and focus on your own, you’re a college student for God’s sake and you’re working eight shifts a day.”

Kris yawned before ruffling Luhan’s hair while he was fast asleep, clothes on, on the futon. It seemed like Sehun was busy yesterday so Luhan didn’t get his booty call. He came in earlier than usual and just crashed.

“Well if that isn’t exaggeration I don’t know what is.” Kris said, lazily. “Ma, please. I’ve got this all under control, so stop worrying. I work two shifts twice a week; it’s not a big deal. Anyways, how’s Hong Kong treating you?”

“Oh, it’s fantastic.” She said, her tone changing into a cheerful chime. “Your father finally found another job and the wages are so good. Aside from not taking you with us, I don’t regret moving here if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That’s great, Ma.” Kris said, smiling. He reached his arm out behind him and snatched a celebratory card off his bed. In the picture his parents stood in a park, lit with lots of orange and red lanterns celebrating the Winter Solstice festival. Their faces were red from the cold but lit up with delight; he turned it around and read the greetings written by his mom and dad. “Keep sending those postcards.”

“We found a new place for them; it’s so adorable; they do cute designs on the borders in any way you like.” She chuckled. “Anyways, xiǎo zàng guǐ, you coming to Hong Kong for New Years’?”

“Stop calling me that.” He said. “I don’t know. I’ll ask my boss tomorrow.”

“Okay babe.” She said, “Don’t forget. Talk to you next week.”

She made kissing sounds through the phone. “I love you.”

Kris chuckled. “Love you too, Ma.”

He placed the phone back on the hook and lay on his bed, crossing his arms behind his head. He closed his eyes and replayed the semi encounter he had yesterday with arguably one of the most striking people he had ever seen.

The tall, dark young man had been on his mind the past hours, as he annoyingly lost focus completely sometimes thinking about the sad, beautiful eyes that were close to tears.

He didn’t know if there was ever a chance where he would see the guy again. All’s he knew was that if there ever was an opportunity, he would certainly not hesitate to take it.

He rubbed his forehead. This was certainly unusual for him, he never believed in any soul mate or love at first sight allegory. Not that he thought this boy was his soul mate.

He grumbled. He was messed up over all this.

He glanced at his wrist watch and noted that he was cutting it close. He needed to clock in at the diner so he grabbed his yellow and green work shirt and slipped it on over his black long sleeved top.

His keys, wallet and phone were packed in his back pocket. He left a note for Luhan before going out the door.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Order up!” the chef in the back called, setting two orders of food on the station.

Kris grabbed a tray and placed the meals on top before retreating to the table of a middle aged woman with her son and handing them their food.

“Enjoy.” He said.

The diner that employed Kris was not one to be mentioned in any travel guides therefore pretty unpopular. There weren’t any number of frequent guests, just people that were extremely hungry at an extremely late hour.

The exteriors were painted cheerful colors, the ceiling was curved, the lights were orange, and it was all quite juvenile. It smelled mediocre, too, usually of frying oil.

“This place is pretty gay…” Chanyeol once said after eating at the diner as a last resort. He surveyed his surroundings and grimaced. “Why the are there paintings of happy suns and es on the walls? For chrissakes, I can’t focus on my food.”

“They’re mushrooms, not es.”

Chanyeol had left and complimented the food before saying he would never come their again.

Popular songs from the 80’s played in the background, attempting to give the place a vintage feel but ultimately being drowned out by the scraping of utensils on plates and loud conversations.

AC/DC’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ was playing subtly as no one took a second to mind it. Kris mouthed the lyrics as it happened to be one he recognized and somewhat enjoyed as he picked up the used plates from an abandoned table.

But the walls were shaking,

The earth was quaking,

My mind was aching,

And we were making it and you...

Shook me all night long,

Yeah you, shook me all night long,

Knocked me out, I said you

Shook me all night long

He bobbed his head slightly to the drummer’s beat and his mouth moved to the words, as he wiped down the ketchup marks on the table top.

“Had me shaking and you, shook me all night long, well you shook me…”a raspy voice sang along with Brian Johnson.

Kris was surprised that someone that came to this diner actually knew the lyrics. He chuckled and turned to glance at the person before being taken back at who it actually was.

The boy from yesterday, wearing significantly similar looking clothes from when Kris had last seen him, he sat dejectedly at a table in the corner, alone and away from any potential physical contact as Kris would assume he wanted to avoid.

The corner tables were uncomfortably close to the diner windows, but he just seemed to be staring out into the distance as the people outside scurried out in the cold weather trying to find warmth.

As he sang quietly his breath fogged up the window before clearing up like water under a sponge.

Kris glanced around. The restaurant was empty and there didn’t seem to be any other waiters attending to him. He set the plates down on the counter for pick-up and slowly made his way to the boy’s table.

The boy didn’t seem to notice Kris at all as he just continued to sing along. Kris cleared his throat and the boy jumped before turning around and facing him with wide eyes.

“O-oh, sorry…” he stuttered.” Was I disturbing or something?”

“Oh, no.” Kris said, waving his hand. “You’re just sitting in a restaurant with no food, so I just assumed that you wanted to order.”

Kris joked along and the boy smiled, his lips were curved like a kitten’s. They looked so perfectly shaped, like a renaissance statue.

He sniffled, wiping his eyes. “Yeah, sorry, I’ve been pretty out of it today. Could I just get a chicken salad?”

“Coming up.” Kris said, scribbling on his note pad.

As the chicken salad was being constructed Kris watched the gorgeous raven-haired stranger sit and lip-sync the words to almost three other songs like he was a mirage bound to disappear if Kris had ever dared to blink or turn away.

Coincidence was a sometimes. Kris wanted so badly to talk to him, but social conduct prevented him from doing so. What should he have said, realistically? He didn’t know the person, they had only met eyes for a split second before he turned and walked away yet he lingered in Kris’s mind the following hours like the numbness of a wound.

“Chicken salad.” The chef called and Kris hurriedly brought it over to him.

“Thank you.” The boy said, cautiously grabbing his fork and sifting through the mess of lettuce leaves, cherry tomatoes and chopped chicken .

Kris nodded, lingering awkwardly for a minute before turning away.

“I like this song…” the boy said, softly as Nena’s 99 Luftballons flowed through the speakers. “I can’t sing along to it though… I tried learning German but it was just too difficult for my tongue.”

Kris turned to look at him. “You seem to know all the songs.”

“I have the CD.” He replied, looking glumly at his salad. “‘Hits of the 80’s’, I bought it last year.”

“Nena’s been a favorite of mine since I was a kid.” Kris said. “But I never listened to a whole lot of 80’s music.”

The boy looked at him, scanning him up and down as if he had just taken notice of what he looked like. He squinted like he was trying to remember something.

“Have we met before?”

Kris looked around the diner. It was completely empty so he sat down on the chair adjacent to the boy’s.

“Not exactly.” Kris said, lacing his long fingers on the table. “We saw each other though, yesterday. I was in a coffee shop and you just happened to glance over.”

The boy sniffled again; he’d been crying recently. “I think I recall it… But I’m not sure.” He said, rubbing his forehead. “I can’t believe you actually remembered that though.”

“I have good memory.” Kris lied. He couldn’t have forgotten about this person and now that he thought of it, the boy smelled good too; winter, washed clothes and hint of peppermint.

He looked even more handsome in person, enough to make a woman cry. He looked strong and dark, the type of character described in cliché romance novels discarded in the corner of every bookstore and yet Kris couldn’t help but notice the aura of frailty around him. He was afraid and innocent despite the way he looked.

“I like Nena.” The boy said. “Ever since I listened to ‘Willst Du mit mir gehen’ I was hooked.”

“It’s one of my favorites.” Kris said. “But the best album by her is probably ‘Und Alles Dreht Sich’.”

“I didn’t like that one much.”

“It’s just how hard I looked for it.” Kris said. “It took me 8 months to find and after the effort it makes the music sound a lot better.”

He only poked at his chicken salad.

“I bought this just remembering that I don’t have any money.” The boy said, focusing pretty hard on the salad as if trying to levitate it with his mind. “Now I’m not exactly sure what position this puts me in.”

“Well you haven’t eaten it.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that I ordered it.”

“How about I pay for it?” Kris offered. “It’s a pretty cheap salad and to be honest it tastes like crap.”

The boy locked his eyes onto Kris’s. “Thank you.” He said his voice soft and sweet. “But I couldn’t do that.”

“I insist.”

“Then I have to pay you back somehow…” the boy said, pondering on what to do.

“How about I pay for the salad and you let me take you out to a nice dinner.” Kris said.

“But that’s redundant; you’ll still be paying for me.” The boy retorted, furrowing his brows.

Kris was silent for a moment before sighing and looking straight at the boy.

“I’m going out on a limb and being brutally honest here, I think you are the most… dazzling person I have ever seen and I want to take you out, perhaps for a cup of coffee, in hopes that I’ll get to spend time with you in a more sophisticated atmosphere, hopefully when I’m not wearing a smelly work shirt with a cartoon turtle on it. I don’t know you and you don’t know me and I’ll get it if you reject my offer, but I just want you to know that it stands even after you leave and probably never come back.”

The boy stared at Kris, incredulously, trying to register what had transpired just then, he tapped his fingers on the table and turned his gaze ahead of him with a perplexed look.

“O-okay…” the boy said, looking down and batting his long eyelashes. “I’ll let you take me out to for coffee if it’ll make you that happy. You really put me on the spot there.”

“Apologies.”

“But thank you…” he said, scratching behind his ear sheepishly. “Y’know… for the ‘dazzling’ thing. No one’s ever called me that before… I’m pretty sure I’ve never hear heard anyone being called that before.”

There was an awkward silence between them for what seemed like a long time.

“So, I guess I should get your information.” Kris phrased in more of a questioning way.

“Yeah, yeah.” The boy said, hurriedly. He searched around for a pen. Kris handed him his notepad and pen and the boy scribbled anxiously. He handed Kris the notepad and Kris scanned it over.

“Zitao?” Kris said. “It’s a nice name.”

“I wrote Zitao?” he asked, nervously. “I meant to write Tao, no one ever calls me Zitao, not even my parents.”

“Okay, Tao.” Kris said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “I’m Kris.”

“Kris…” he repeated, slowly as if trying to learn a word in a different language.

“When are you free?”

“Saturday night.” Tao said, quickly.

“I suppose I’ll pick you up Saturday night then…” Kris said. “How’s seven sound?”

“Seven sounds great.” Tao said. “I-I gotta get going. If you want to get a hold of me, the number’s on the paper.”

He gathered his things and rushed out and Kris just stared at the words etched into the notepad messily.

Like a dream.

_____________________________________________________________________________

“You have ing date?” Luhan asked, dubiously, as he lazed on the couch, his thin legs swinging over the edge of the arm rest.

“Shut up.” Kris said, buttoning up his white dress shirt.

“I haven’t gotten a call in three days and he has a ing date.” Luhan said, swinging his arms in the air. “You know what? you. I don’t need you anyways. Who cares about moral support? I have no ing friends to give me moral ing support!”

Kris combed through his dark hair. “You done yet? I have to leave in a few minutes and permitting you to stay here with a fit is not on my agenda. I just cleaned the place, seriously.”

“He hasn’t called, Kris.” He grumbled into a pillow.

Kris sighed and picked up Luhan’s cherry red flip phone. He skimmed the new text messages and missed calls.

“You have 18 missed calls from six different guys.”

“None of them are from him...” he said, weakly, burying his face deeper into the pillow, falling back on the couch. It sounded as if he were on the verge of tears.

Kris looked at him shook his head. “You call him then.” He said, while spraying some reasonably priced cologne on his wrists.

Luhan looked at him with wild eyes, like he had just done something horrendously disgusting. “Are you ing stupid? Are you?”

“I’m leaving.”

“And stay out!”

“Bye.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

“Refill?”

“What?” Tao asked absentmindedly, his elbow propped on the table as he stared at the surroundings of Destin Savoureux in a trance. “Oh, I’m sorry. Yes please.”

“Is something wrong?” Kris asked, raising an eyebrow as he held Tao’s cup up, signaling the waiter to refill it.

Tao blinked and was suddenly pulled out of the daze he’d been in. “N-no, no it’s nothing just…”

“Just what?” Kris asked, sipping his café au lait.

“It’s…” Tao shook his head searching for the right words. “It just feels different in here, like a really warm feeling.”

The waiter brought back a glass of peach-colored liquid, ice cubes afloat and a neon-colored straw poking through the foamy surface; a Black Tie, traditional Thai iced tea.

Kris knew exactly what he meant but didn’t feel the need to pursue the topic further; he merely nodded and smiled as he watched the dark-haired beauty nip his drink.

“I didn’t know they sold these anywhere around the city.” He said, smiling at his beverage cupped between his hands. “I always loved having these back in Hong Kong. It’s kind of nostalgic.”

“My parents live in Hong Kong.” Kris said, “They moved there about two years ago.”

“They moved?” Tao asked, furrowing his perfect brows. “They moved to Hong Kong without you?”

“Actually,” Kris said, knocking a cigarette out of its box, but then looked up at Tao with an inquisitorial glance. “Do you mind?”

Tao waved his hand. “I’m a smoker, myself.”

Kris offered him one and Tao took it graciously. They lit them up with Kris’s cheap, plastic lighter. Kris held the cigarette between his fingers and puffed it twice before answering Tao’s question.

“It was more my decision than theirs.” He said staring at Tao as he delicately took a drag of his own cigarette. “I was in my senior year of high school when I finally decided to move out and get a job.”

“Were they… cruel to you, by any chance?” Tao asked, trying to find the right words.

Kris chuckled, a deep, pleasant-sounding laugh. “I can see how you’d think that, but no. They… they were the best.” Kris trailed off but then snapped himself back to reality. “My dad, he got fired from his day job so money was real tight, what with my mom working at a tea shop and having to pay for the rent and my school. So, I spared them the load and moved out.”

“How rebel slash compassionate of you.” Tao said, sipping his drink. “My brother lives in Hong Kong.”

“What about your parents?” Kris asked, lightly.

Tao coughed unpleasantly before averting his eyes. “That’s uh…”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was a touchy subject.”

Tao smiled. “Not at all,” He said, taking another drag. “My parents are sort of divorced. You see, I’m originally from Qingdao but after the separation my mom up and left with my brother and me to Hong Kong where some of our relatives were.”

Kris listened intently; so separation was an evident theme in both their lives. “Why did you parents decide to go to Hong Kong of all places?” Tao asked, resting his cigarette hand on the table.

“To be honest with you,” Kris began, scratching his blond head. “I don’t get really understand why. My mom always had this vision of going to Hong Kong; it was her dream city for some reason. Last thing she said to me about the matter was how she felt ‘connected’ to it. My dad just... wanted her to be happy so he decided to up and go there with her saying how it would probably be easier than working in a foreign country.”

“I think I can understand your mom’s dilemma.” Tao said, dreamily, sipping his tea. He swallowed before speaking again. “Seoul was always the place I had to be, or my ‘dream city’. There’s no explaining it, just a need to be amongst the lights and colors; something about it just pulls you in.”

Kris thought about it. Indeed, the feeling seemed familiar; but not towards any certain cities or countries. He recalled his friends and how their little group came to be, helpless, pathetic souls connected by feelings of need. For what? They were not really sure, perhaps a want for something bigger, something more exciting.

Right now, all of them seemed to be stuck in an inevitably infinite stand still and it depressed most of them to frightening degrees.

“I think I understand what you mean,” Kris muttered, sipping at his café au lait, the milk design distorting, mixing and merging with the caramel-colored liquid. “This is kind of comforting; talking to you in my native tongue.”

Tao giggled; Kris nearly grimaced at himself, finding a man giggling ‘cute’. “Agreed, but you don’t have any other Chinese friends?”

“I have this one.” Kris said, shaking his head. “Most people call him Luhan; I usually refer to him as the sole spawn of Satan.”

His date snorted. “Satan? Isn’t that a bit harsh?” he chuckled. “What the hell does he do?”

“He’s a bit of a loose cannon.” Kris said, stirring his drink with a spoon, the color annoyingly reminding him of Luhan’s hair. “He’s... indecisive, you could say.”

Tao’s mouth formed an ‘o’ before nodding.

Kris shrugged. “But he’s still a friend; a best friend actually. We’ve been roommates since high school.”

Tao froze and looked at Kris confusedly. “O-oh, roommates?”

Kris took note of his conflicted look and shook his head. “Nothing like that; I promise. Luhan’s someone I trust immensely, but I wouldn’t go near him with a ten-foot pole.”

Tao laughed this time, a surprisingly loud sound, ending as quickly as it started with a hand covering his mouth embarrassedly. “Sorry.” He said, chuckling as he took another sip. “I’m having a great time. As much of a great time I can have with a stranger that asked me out in the middle of a kid’s diner.”

Kris laughed, showing him a toothy smile. “I’m having a great time, too. I haven’t been on a date in a while but this went surprisingly well. You being immensely attractive is sort of a contributing factor.”

Tao’s eyes widened as his pale cheeks turned a shade of pink before quickly taking his iced tea and slurping. “Rascal.” He muttered.

They talked non-stop in the car, having exited the coffee shop not ten minutes ago. Kris sat at the wheel telling the infamous “Luhan got Sehun drunk and had to call Kyungsoo to sneak him back to his house” anecdote. Tao was wheezing in laughter.

“That happened to me once.”

“The passing out drunk thing or the getting up at 3 in the morning to help sneak in a passed out drunk thing?” Kris asked, amused.

“Depends on which story you want me to tell.”

“No thank you.” Kris said, with wide eyes and a trace of a chuckle on his lips. “I had enough trouble listening when Luhan was telling it.”

Tao breathed out his laugh and they sat in silence for a couple minutes. Kris contemplated on whether to ask him a certain question or not. He gripped the steering wheel tighter; couldn’t hurt.

“Is it alright if I ask,” Kris said, turning to glance at him for a second. “Why were you crying that day?”

Tao looked at him confusedly before it registered; the day that Kris saw him on the street. His sat back in his chair and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’m not holding a gun to your head; answering is optional, I was just curious.” Kris said, fanning out his fingers on the wheel.

“Just a bit of trouble with an ex,” Tao answered quickly, playing with his fingers. “Nothing big and it was more my fault; I guess I really know how to pick ‘em.”

“Says something about me, doesn’t it?” Kris said, looking towards him with a grin.

Tao shook his head. “No, I didn’t mean it like that-“

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up about how your ex is a douchebag.” Kris said, eyes on the road. “You left him and nothing he does is worthy of your sadness, let alone your tears.”

Tao looked down at his lap finding it exasperatingly cute how such a manly-looking person could say corny talk-show worthy like that and pull it off beautifully. He gazed at the red marks on his hands and his eyes softened as he turned them towards Kris.

He parked the silver Ford Marauder in front of a looming apartment building, orange squares of light beamed through the cement and brick as people lay awake watching whatever late night program was on, or perhaps having frivolous second or third affairs in haste as they hurriedly buckled themselves up in an attempt to get home.

“I’ll walk you up.” Kris said, unbuckling himself. Tao mimicked and opened the door, getting out feeling the cool winter air hit his cheeks.

They went inside, rode the elevator up with a bored looking woman in suggestive clothing in a painfully long journey to the 6^th floor. As they stood in front of apartment 602, Tao began to make small talk.

“Is this the part where you reveal yourself as a serial killer and chloroform me?” he asked, a playful smile adorning his bow lips.

“Damn, I knew I left something in the car,” Kris said, snapping his finger irritably. He shrugged. “Chloroform will have to wait until next time.”

Kris suddenly straightened up, looking at Tao, enquiringly. “Is there a ‘next time’?”

Tao bit his lip and sighed. “I don’t know, that whole chloroform thing kind of put me off.” He chuckled.

A bloom of red sprouted on his cheeks. He scratched himself on the forearm again, a nervous habit. He swiftly reached in and kissed Kris on the cheek before bolting inside his apartment, leaving Kris stranded in the hallway.

“That’s a yes, by the way.” He called from behind the door leaving Kris with a grin. He stood against the wall, his head rested on the surface unknowing that Zitao was in the same position on the other side of the partition.

__________________________________________________________________

Kris entered his cozy apartment finding Luhan, yet again, asleep uncharacteristically early and he managed to feel bad  for the blond demon. As happy as he was from his successful night, he sat beside Luhan’s sleeping body and his hair awaking the small, beautiful boy.

Luhan looked up at him with eyes red and swollen. His face contorted in a sob and he hugged the taller male, his small arms wrapping around his neck. Kris rubbed his back feebly, shushing him. As if the of his hands were removing the bad thoughts climbing up his weak body into his brain; Luhan appeared to be lovesick and it scared Kris somehow.

And Kris decided to end his night on that note, disallowing any other negativity into his mind deciding only to focus on the crumpled paper in his desk drawer denoting the name and number of a person that had actually made him forget that he was pathetic.

He rolled over and the futon, wrapping his best friend in his arms as he cried himself to sleep and Kris tried to replay the images of Zitao smiling, talking, smoking, breathing in his mind to keep the darker thoughts at bay.