My place at 7. Bring wine. It's urgent. 

-Lu han

The message was short and direct. And Tao knew what it meant.

He slipped his iphone back into his pocket before turning back to the little bodies who were quietly sitting down behind him. 

"Ok that's the end for today, remember to bring your sticks the next lesson! " Tao said with a grin as he watched the children ran towards their parents. 

Tao let out a soft smile before glancing at the now empty martial arts studio. He had taken over this place ever since his grandfather had gave him the position. It was a dream come true.

Tao came from a wealthy family. Ever since young, his parents had wanted him to become a business man but Tao was never interested in finance. He was only interested in martial arts ever since the day that his grandfather had brought him to his martial arts studio. When Tao turned twenty and told his parents he had aspire to become a martial arts teacher, his father was furious but said nothing, only slapping him directly on his left cheek.

That was when Tao knew that he could no longer trust his parents, only his grandfather.

"Tao, this will be your own place one day," Tao's grandfather said with his teary brown eyes, hands on his skinny shoulders, as if he was about to hand down a knighthood.

Tao's grandfather was precious to him. No one seemed to have so much patience with him. He'd never disciplined or shout at Tao ; even when he had whacked one of his most precious vases down from India with a broom stick while practicing. Instead he just chuckled quietly to himself.

A warm feeling had built up inside him when he thought about his grandfather, who had never doubted him once.

Tao had never thought he would go that far as well. He was a quiet, stubborn man, with black hair and mysterious eyes that came off as scary to almost anyone. But even still, he was handsome, that was his charm and he knew it. Everytime he went into a club both guys and girls would try to hit on him, but he would only politely refuse.

Luhan, one of Tao's best friends, lived a few blocks down the road, thus it was common for Tao to stay over at Luhan's place if his classes had ended late.  

The twenty five year old stopped by at Pieroth Korea and bought a bottle of wine, chips and a packet of chocolates before catching the bus. It was gonna be one of those nights, and today it was Luhan, he could tell. Both of them weren't heavy drinkers but Tao thought that tonight they might need a glass or two.

In 20 minutes the bus had pulled up infront of Luhan's house and Tao got off, carrying his bag of food.

"Hey," 

The door opened slowly, revealing Luhan with his duck pajamas, sniffing away, nose all red. His appearence made Tao cringe a little inside, his best friend already skinny but now Luhan was even skinnier, it definitely showed the significant loss of weight  after the two short weeks they had been apart. It was a bad sign.

"You look horrible, " Tao said as he stepped inside, following Luhan, wine bottle in his hand.

"I know, i just... i don't know why sehun left me," Luhan sighed, plopping down on the couch.  "Anyway i have already ordered chinese takeaway. "

The order arrived five minutes later. They poured out the wine as they heated up the food, before proceeding back to the sofa to enjoy it all.

"So, care to tell me what happened? " Tao asked, lifting a chopstick full of noodles into his mouth.

Luhan's face instantly changed, sad eyes looking down at his plate of noodles, untouched. "I honestly thought everything was going smoothly with us you know. We even discussed our future. Get married, have a baby! or maybe a whole soccer team! It was all so promising. But..... it just all went wrong. " Luhan finished, taking his glass of wine, downing some of its contents.

"What went wrong? " Tao gently probed, shifting closer to Luhan as he know Luhan was going to be in a crying mess soon. He had been friends with Luhan for five years and he knew all of Luhan's habbits and such. 

A small tear welled up in Luhan's eye and ran down his cheek. 

"This is so embarrassing, I'm so sorry, " Luhan said, wiping his face as more tears started roll down.

"Don't be, we're all human, we all get sad sometimes, " Tao coaxed, rubbing Luhan's back gently. Luhan laughed a little, despite his tears.

"He just stopped texting, and everytime i called him he would cut me off, even when i tried visiting him, he was always out. At first i thought he was just busy. But after a few days he finally sent me a text , and all it said was "I'm sorry, we can't continue" , that was it, i'm confused as ." Luhan frowned, looking at his friend with utter despair.  "I.. just don't get it, i really don't. " 

Tao sighed softly, not knowing what to say, he wasn't really good at comforting others as he was always awkward with people. It was hard to react in these situations, Tao learnt. He had done his fair share of dating when he was in his teenage years, until he had met Kris, it had been like this. You never really felt safe, he remembered. Men ; they cheated, lied and confused you. But Tao knew that he would never do that to Kris, because he loved him deeply. 

"I don't know why he dissappeared. But all i can say he was dumb, since he will never find someone like you, and he will regret it. So you just have to hang in there and don't blame yourself ok? Tao assured, silently praising himself for coming up with such an advice.

Luhan smiled bravely, finally picking up his fork before eating his dinner. Tao looked at his friend and wondered why did Sehun left him. Luhan was the ideal son-in-law of every mother, he knew how to cook,clean and he was really good looking.

"You're right, I will be fine on my own. I'm just paranoid that nothing has been working out for well, a long time. " Luhan admitted with a look of defeat on his face.

"I've got an idea, " Tao said, eyes perking up with enthusiasm, which was rare as Tao seldom smiled. "What do you think about internet dating? " 

AN: boring chapter but please stay with me!