Tarin received a phone call exactly twenty four hours after he’d called to Canada.

                “Iris Toquia moved from Vancouver two years ago, after her husband got his citizen ship.” Alexander whispered in the phone. “She lives in Toronto, Ontario now, but that’s all I can tell you because the Conservatives are looking for every piece of evidence to win my city. I spoke with someone who works under the premier’s supervision and she’s send me her address. I’ll fax the information over to you.”

                Alexander didn’t give Tarin much time to talk after delivering his information. He knew he was already crossing so many lines, having called the CEO back for his requested information. He could lose his job and end up in jail after violating a Canadian citizen’s privacy.

                Tarin thanked him kindly before, “Tarin, don’t call my number ever again. I’m done affiliating with your institute. Find your boy and get rid of my number.” There was a harsh scratch as the line as the phone hit its base and Tarin smiled.

                He was sure he’d find Soonyoung.

---

                Kris woke up that Saturday morning next to Iris. She was latched onto his arm because she was a sleep-cuddler. It was cute until she started to drool. With practiced hands, he pried her arms away from him and replaced his spot with a pillow, which she happily smothered instead. He chuckled slightly, because it never failed to amuse him, and went to wash up a bit.

                Both Kris and Iris had the weekends off, with her working a desk job for a publishing company and him as a travel agent. For the most part, they spent their time relaxing in each other’s company. Sometimes they would go see a movie they wanted to watch or go to a restaurant, but neither of them felt any need of outside entertainment.

                He made breakfast for them, knowing Iris would soon realize she was snuggling a pillow instead of his arm and wake up. They had a good relationship, the two of them. For two years they have been “married”, and Kris never would have thought it would be this… easy. Aside from sleeping in the same bed and the occasional session of coupling, it was like living with a really good friend.

                They were comfortable enough with each other to act like a couple in front of people and he was accustomed to having his arm around her waist even at home. 

                Kris’ hands stopped as he was scrambling eggs. He thought back to the dinner they had with Soonyoung and Keo.

                “So, Kris,” she said over her food. “I’m not trying to put you on the spot or anything.” She took a bite from her mashed potatoes.

                Kris raised his eyebrow at her, waiting for her to continue.

                “And I know you’re grateful for Iris not being a creepy weirdo, but do you, like, love my sister?”

                “Keo,” Iris frowned at her.

                “It’s a valid question,” she stuck out her tongue. “Because you two are only married because my sister is too lazy to go out and actually meet someone, and you’re basically her slave because she bought you. Do you actually love her? It’s cool if you say no.”

                “Keo, I swear to God you-“

                “Yeah.”

                The two sisters looked at Kris. Soonyoung busied himself with his peas. “Yeah, I love your sister.”

                Iris’ offence deflated. She coughed slightly. He could see her blush. Quickly, before he could comment on it, she changed the subject. “So Soonyoung…”

                In truth, Kris did love Iris. He owed his life to her. She respected him like a normal person, and he never had that before. She let him be who he was, not an item to be sold. But Kris knew that wasn’t the kind of love Keo was talking about.

                He set the table and made coffee as he pondered her question. Honestly, Kris had never thought of it himself. He was happy with his situation, with the arrangement he had with Iris. She was better than everything he had hoped for and was now, aside from Soonyoung, his entire life. Thinking now, Kris would have to spend his entire life with her. He had no problem with the idea before, but was Iris okay with growing old with someone who may not love her the right way?

                As he was closing the fridge door with milk in his hand, he felt two arms slide around his waist.

                He smiled. “Morning.”

                “Smells good,” Iris muttered against his back. He suddenly found it hard to hold onto the milk with a steady hand.

                “Thanks.”

                He turned around to return her hug. She was wearing shorts and her favourite pyjama shirt, which just happened to be his shirt. She smiled sleepily at him, with her brown hair a mess on her head. Kris chuckled and kissed her forehead.

                Maybe he did love her the right way.

                The phone line rang loud in the quiet morning. Iris slumped away from Kris over to the phone. “Hello?” She answered with as much pep in her voice as she could conger up after having just gotten out of bed.  Kris didn’t pay much attention to the conversation happening on the other side of the room. He only turned to face Iris when her voice changed tones and her expression was serious.

                “You’re going to be here tomorrow night? You want us to meet you where? Okay. No problem, sir. Goodbye.” Iris slid the phone on its base staring at the inanimate object.

                “Who was that?” Kris asked, slightly worried.

                “Your CEO.”

---

                “It’s going to rain Soonyoung, are you sure you don’t want to stay home?” Kris said, fixing his belt around his dress pants. “If you wait until we are back, I’ll drive you over.” Soonyoung agreed, watching Iris fix Kris’ shirt and smile up at him.

                “We’re going now! Try not to burn the place down while we’re gone,” Iris joked, slipping on her shoes and pulling Kris out the door.

                Once the two had walked a decent way down the hall Iris slowed her pace and lazily dropped her arm from being linked with Kris’. “Why would your CEO want to see us? Is it because of Soonyoung?”

                Kris shrugged getting in the car. He could see the clouds threatening to rain over top of the sky scraper buildings and wondered if Soonyoung would be okay on his own.

                Iris sped around the streets of Toronto, looking for a specific restaurant. She squinted at the clock from time to time murmuring, about how they were supposed to be there at 7:30, but it looked like they were going to make it half an hour late.

                Kris wasn’t being of any help. He was concerned watching the light rain come down on the few pedestrians that were walking the streets. Soonyoung didn’t like when it rained. He came back to reality when Iris nagged at him and within seconds they were in the restaurants parking lot (Kris complained about how the woman never really could see what was right in front of her).

                Cautiously, the couple made their way to the back of the dimly lit restaurant to a reserved area. They sat down after exchanging awkward but polite greetings. Tarin spoke first,

                “It’s been quite a while since I’ve last seen you, Kris.” Kris tried not to look bitter about this meeting. He’d really rather not see the cruel man that forced him through hell for nineteen years. “How have you been? Good?” he asked, almost mocking Kris. Iris rubbed her hand on his knee in attempt to comfort him.

                “And how about you Mrs. Toquia? Have you been good?” Iris attempted to smile, but Tarin’s way of approaching people was too suspicious for her to handle.

                “Good. Y-You can call me Iris.” Iris held out her hand for a handshake; however Tarin just looked at her hand as if it were decaying. She dropped her arm.

                “Mrs. Toquia, last I recall you lived in Vancouver. Why did you move here?”

                Iris could feel herself tensing up for no specific reason. “My family lives here. I wanted to be closer to them, so I moved back.” She watched him nod as if this piece of information were the most interesting thing in the world.

                “Anyways, I’ve brought you two here because there is someone from my institute missing, and I thought maybe one of you would know his whereabouts. More or less, Kris would know the answer rather than you, Mrs. Toquia.” Tarin smiled a sickening grin and turned his attention back to Kris.

                “Your younger friend Soonyoung – the one you brought back from the streets all those years ago – I’m afraid he’s gone missing.” Iris clutched her hand around Kris’ knee. Kris tapped her hand until she let go, giving him a look. “One of the trainees said he ran away, but I don’t know where he could have gone. I was hoping that you could help me. You knew him better than anyone else.”

                Iris started to panic silently beside Kris. She knew enough to keep on a composed face. But her feet tapped quietly against the cold hardwood floor and she could feel her palms start to sweat. He knows, she thought to herself. He knows we snuck him out of Korea. He knows everything.

                “I don’t know where he’d run too,” Kris said, casually slipping his arm behind Iris. “The institute is all he has. He has no family to go to, and now that I’ve been gone for two years, he’s probably been latched onto Tao.”

                Tarin was not amused with Kris’ answers. “You know he had a job?” Kris kept a stony look on his face while Tarin seemed to laugh. “It was at this host club. The one down town. You know which one I’m talking about? At first I couldn’t believe he dropped out of that school you put him into, he was doing so well, but then I couldn’t believe that club hired him. I mean, he’s a minor still.”

                Kris knew what Tarin was doing. He was aggravating him. He wanted some kind of kick out of seeing Kris again.

                “I stopped by one day to promote the institute and they had him dressed up in this cute little costume. It had frills everywhere and looked almost too short for him. You could see-“

                “Stop,” Iris interrupted. Kris was squeezing her side painfully. “I think that’s enough.” Tarin shot a dirty look over in Iris’ direction. “Now, if that’s all you needed from us, I think we should go.”

                Tarin held up his hands, stopping Iris and Kris from getting out of their seats. “No, no. Stay. You haven’t even had a meal yet and I still have some questions.” Kris gritted his teeth after taking a deep breath. “I found this in your old dorm.” Tarin said pulling a small yelled folded piece of paper and tossing it in front of Kris. “Look familiar?”

                Kris unfolded and smoothed the paper and its worn creases and stared at his Korean scribbles. He brushed his thumb over the ink and watermarks from tears, feeling his heart dive into his stomach. “Now, I don’t know what exactly that note says, but I do know that note was from you to Soonyoung before you left.”

                “It was a goodbye note since you didn’t give me any time to say goodbye to my friends.”

                Tarin ignored Kris’ retort. “What did it say? Maybe the location of a place Soonyoung could run too after you left?”

                Kris laughed without humour. “I left this for him two years ago. If it had something like that written on it, don’t you think he would’ve run away then?” Tarin grumbled; Kris had a point. “I think we are done now.” Kris said pushing his self off his chair whisking Iris up with him.

                Tarin trailed behind them, demanding they stay and finish their meeting.

                Kris whirled around on last time. He put on a tight smile. “Next time, Mr. Kim, when you feel the need to ask irrelevant questions about situations that do not involve me, I request you do it over the phone. It’s very inconsiderate for you to take up mine and my wife’s time.” He took Iris by the waist and led her out of the restaurant.

                Kris practically shoved Iris in the car before getting into the passenger seat. “We need to hide him. That rat is going to send out watchers around our apartment,” he snapped once shutting the door. “Drive.” Iris followed his command slightly scared seeing Kris get angry.

                Heavy rain was pouring around the car and thunder was booming freakishly close to the couple’s apartment. Iris wanted to cling on to Kris’ waist and enjoy the storm, but he was feverishly hot while he scribbled down plans for Soonyoung.

                “He has a student visa...”Kris muttered to himself, creating some sort of checklist.

                Iris didn’t like the idea of sneaking Soonyoung out of Korea when it first came to light and even now didn’t like it. She knew how horrible life was for them in Korea, however illegally smuggling a boy into another country didn’t seem very good either. How Kris managed to plan out every detail really did make her revaluate their marriage.

*A/N: Sorry I hadn't updated earlier before the last chapter. Its was exam and culminating activity time and I was very pressured. But I did see you all excited when I came back! I'm so happy you all liked the last chapter, though it was a little heartbreaking to write. 

Remember, more comments = faster updates ;) 

Happy Reading.