It's half past 10. Your 26th day here. You plan on packing up all your stuff tomorrow, a task that could take hours, but you stay up late anyway. You want to be awake on your last free day here. Unable to stand the thought of sleeping and waking up the next morning to an empty pit of dread, you had bought coffee earlier and now you're scrolling through the internet. What you're looking at now are several EXO comeback rumors.

ExOticGirlLovexoxoxox said: I heard their comeback's going to be in late May or beginning of June!

Maybe. If SM would stop delaying it.

KpopRuinedmahL1F3 said: I heard they're going to perform a new song soon.

You haven't seen this one yet. Feeling skeptical, you click on the post. It leads you to a new tab, some Korean Music site. The website says:

"SM's latest rookie group EXO has been confirmed to be on M!Countdown music show for comebacks along with..."

You scan the paragraph.

"Rumor is that they'll be performing a new song! Their twelve members have been repeatedly saying that their comeback is 'almost done!' and 'coming very soon~!' Could this be it?"

It's hard for you to believe a rumor now that you've heard so many. You sit there, deep in thought, letting the fangirl side of you take over. And without knowing it, you fall asleep. Unfortunately, your dreams don't leave you alone.

You're in the airport again. You glance around you and there they are, those strangers waving goodbye to their loved ones as they depart on their journeys. They turn back and wave too. You look left and right at all these sad, smiling people. Why are you here?

"No..." You whisper. "Please." You look forward. And there he is, walking away with his back to you. He looks back and gives you a happy wave as if to say "I'm off now!"  As if he could come back in a few hours. He opens his mouth and a last and final word drifts out of his smiling lips.

'Goodbye.'

He walks away. And all you can do is stand there frozen, watching.

A loud ringing wakes you up. You're not surprised to find that you had fallen asleep on your desk and that there are small puddles of tears. For a few seconds, you're dazed, unsure of where that ringing was coming from. Checking a clock, you see that it's midnight. You look around your room and see a bright blue light from your nightstand.

It's your phone.

You run to it, seeing the bright blue light. A call. You look at the number and try not to let the disappointment or worry crush you. "Lay" You say, disguising your voice to sound like you were awake the whole time.

"Ah!" Someone on the other end says your name with surprise. "Is that you? Ah, sorry. I forgot I had my phone in my pocket and I must have accidentally dialed your num---"

"Are you guys all there? Awake?" You ask hesitantly.

"Well, uh, yeah. Yes. I..guess." Through the phone, you hear an intake of breath, as if he's going to ask you a question too. He's probably going to ask why I'm awake too, you think.

You stop him before he can. "You guess?"

"Well, Tao, he's..."

You're frozen. Silent. Waiting.

"Well, he's not here right now. In the dorm, I mean."

"Lay--I mean, Yixing. I need to see him."

You're out the door before he can stop you.

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You run to the dorms. Your grandparents are asleep, they don't even know you left. You're still in your pajamas, and over-sized t-shirt and sweatpants, but that's enough for you. You had thrown on your sneakers before you left. The people on the streets look at you weirdly, and you even hear a few laughs, but you ignore them. This is something you have to do.

You see Lay outside the building, sitting patiently on the steps. His head is in his hands and when he looks up and catches your eye, he looks insanely relieved. He knows what you want to ask.

"He left for a walk. Tao walked out the dorms saying he'd be back in a bit."

"That's...all...he...said...?" You ask, panting. Running never was your strong suit.

"Well..." He gives you that uncomfortable look Luhan had given you the other day. "Well, he...he was really sick. That's why he wasn't in rehearsAL." The last syllable in his sentence is said with a loud grunt as you hug him tightly.

A tear rolls down your cheek as you look up at Yixing. "Thank you." You say to him. You realize that he's become one of your closest friends in no time and he can sense it too. He gives you two pats on the back, and with a warm smile, he nudges his head.

And you run.

It's as if he can whisper to you telepathically. As if you can sense where he is already. And you run towards that park. That park where you two just walked and talked and got to know each other. He said he liked that park. He said he liked taking walks. You always thought that he "likes to take walks alone", but he had walked with you.

You arrive at the park. And there he is, with his back turned towards you, walking away. You stop and take a moment to look at him. Is this really him? It reminds you of your dream, of him leaving you and never coming back, and you can't take it anymore. You run up to him...and you hug him from behind.

"Oh!" You hear him say in surprise. He turns about and sees that it's you, not just another random fan. "What...are you doing here?" He starts coughing. He's still being hugged tightly by you and at that moment, you really couldn't take it anymore.

"I...love...you..." You say between hiccups from your crying.

"What?" He says. Shocked. His eyes widen slowly as he tries to comprehend your words. "You...I..." You release him from your tight hug to wipe away your tears. 

"I'm sorry....so sorry..." You hiccup out. You struggle to wipe away more and more tears as you find that you can't stop crying. You finally said it. 

"No...wait." And you do. You wait to hear the rest. But you don't. He cups your face in his hands, you can feel your heart rate rising rapidly. So is your temperature. His hands are so warm, they feel feverish. He looks you in the eye, then looks away quickly, embarrassed. Then he looks back at you, and without warning...

He kisses you.

It's the sweetest thing in the world. You feel his warmth pass through you. It's tender, soft, not harsh and desperate. Like a peck on the lips, it's over in an instant. You feel your face turn a tomato-red. His hands are still on your cheeks. He moves his thumb in a soft up-and-down motion, as if trying to calm you down. He puts his head on your shoulder.

"Now you're going to get sick too..." You remember now. Yixing had said that Tao had been really sick. You understand why his hands are so warm. You put your hand on top of his, still on your face.

You manage to find your voice. "I..don't care."

"Go home." He says, barely a whisper. "Please."

His voice isn't annoyed. It's not irritated. It's not distressed. It sounds concerned, worried, pleading, embarrassed. He lifts his head up and let's you go. You nod your head once in understanding. "Bye." You whisper.

And you leave.