"So... what's with the boss?"

        Chanyeol looked up from his laptop screen towards his cousin and shrugged. "I dunno. He was like that since this morning. He didn't even glare at me when I pounced on him at the lobby," he said. 

        Baekhyun gasped dramatically. "You did that to him in front of the whole employees?? And he didn't do anything about it??"

        "Nada."

        The smaller male frowned as his cousin went back to his work. Baekhyun had decided to hang inside the taller male's office after Kris locked himself up in his office, refusing to let anyone in to see him. He had even cancelled all his schedules for the day and drowned himself in his pile of work. The personal assistant had tried to get inside with many different excuses, but he was only met with silence. The only clue he had that his boss was still alive was the sound of his keyboard being clicked away non-stop.

        The sound of the door being opened attracted the attention of both cousins as they both turned to see their unannounced guest. A doe-eyed male with a recently blonde dyed hair walked in with a frustrated look on his face. Without bothering to wait for any of them to invite him in, Luhan entered the room - not before slamming the door behind him and throwing whatever papers he had in his hands onto the couch in Chanyeol's office.

        "What crawled into your and rot?" Chanyeol asked, causing Baekhyun to snicker in respond.

        Luhan scowled as he made his way to the chair next to Baekhyun and plopped himself on it. "Shut it, giant. The real question is what crawled into Kris's and rot?" he hissed.

        "You too, huh?" Baekhyun asked.

        "What? He's been avoiding you guys too?" Luhan asked, slightly surprised.

        "Well yeah..." Chanyeol nodded and leaned back in his chair. "I walked into the lobby the same time he did this morning. I pounced on him even cause I sensed some black aura around him and I wanted to cheer him up I guess? Anyways, he didn't even glare at me."

        "And knowing Kris, he would've slaughtered Chanyeol for doing so in public," Baekhyun added. 

        "But he didn't?" Luhan raised his eyebrow at this.

        Chanyeol scoffed. "Do I look dead or even slightly injured to you?" he questioned. "He just stopped walking, waited till I moved away and proceeded walking to the freaking elevator."

        "...wow." was all Luhan could say.

        "Wow indeed." the two echoed in unison.

        All three sighed as they thought about Kris's sudden weird behaviour. They were used to a y, strict Kris all the time - especially in the morning - and seeing him suddenly hiding away and not about them worries them. They wondered what had happened to the male but none had spoken with him for the last few days since he had just returned from a meeting in China.

        "Do you think something had happened there?" Baekhyun suddenly asked.

        "In China?" Luhan asked and the younger nodded. "I heard everything went well. The meeting went on without difficulties, the contract is signed and nothing bad was reported."

        "Then at home maybe?" Chanyeol guessed with a knowing smirk. "We have forgotten about someone, it seems."

        "Nina-sshi?" Luhan and Baekhyun asked in unison. 

        "Of course." Baekhyun nodded his head eagerly. "But what could happen this time?"

        "Whatever it is, it has the dragon crawling for good." Luhan scoffed.

        Chanyeol nodded and grinned when an idea struck him. "Do you know how we could get more info on this?"

        Luhan and Baekhyun smirked. "Huang Zitao."

        "You called for me, gege?"

        "Yeah. How is she?"

        Tao sighed at the disoriented sight of the male seated behind the dark mahogany desk. His face was pale, his eyes showed no emotions while dark circles started to appear underneath his eyes. It was clear that the man had had lack of sleep, and Tao knew exactly why. It has been a week since Nina had walked away, and Kris had been like this since. Of course, he tried to hide it from the eyes of his mother but it was obviously useless. Mrs. Wu was more than worried about him, and she has been asking Zitao to watch over Kris for her.

        "She's in Jeju island at the moment. She went to visit her mother." Tao replied, earning a bitter smile from his boss.

        When Kris spoke nothing in return, Tao walked forward and sat on the chair at the opposite of the male's huge desk. Kris had his eyes fixed on the ceiling above his head and the younger knew what he was thinking about. For the past few days, Kris had had him keep an eye out for Nina. At first, Tao had sent Nina back to her apartment as ordered but she had asked for him to drop her off at the airport after that, carrying a slightly larger suitcase then the one she had before. She told him she had missed her mother and she wanted to visit her, but Tao had gotten curious and did a slight research. He contemplated if he should let Kris know about this, and seeing the look on the male's face, the younger decided to just let him know.

        "Kris-ge, don't get mad at me but I did a research on Nina-sshi." Tao said. That earned the male's attention as Kris turned to look at him with a questioning look. "She asked me to send her to the airport after I dropped her to her apartment and I got curious of something. Kris-ge, Nina-sshi's mother is dead."

        "What?" Kris asked, surprised. "If... if she's dead, then whose mother is she visiting now?"

        "Her stepmother. She's divorced to her no good of a father, though. Apparently, it was her stepmother who had taken care of her since she was young, and they've been living apart ever since Nina-sshi started working in the city."

        "I didn't know that." Kris muttered.

        "Did you even asked?" Tao snickered.

        Kris glared at him. "Shut it, Zitao. Or I won't get you that new Gucci bag," he threatened, earning a gasp from the younger male.

        "You can't do that!" he protested. "You said you'd buy it for me in exchange for updates on her."

        "Then don't sass me."

        "Fine," he huffed and pouted in defeat. He then looked up to Kris and bit his bottom lip. "Uhh... gege?" Kris hummed in response. "Smile a bit for me. Please? I hate seeing you like this."

        Kris turned to look at him with an empty gaze that pained Tao deeply. He smiled bitterly as Kris flashed him a smile - a sad, sad smile. Tao sighed and reached up to rub his temple, trying to avoid eye contact with the older male. Just seeing him like this makes me wanna cry. Silence engulfed them until it was broken by Kris's weak cough. Tao knew the male was starting neglect his health since he had lost his appetite and he hated it. Kris used to appear as a strong and stubborn male - somewhat like an alpha - and now the younger can easily see how weak the elder was. Who knew such a girl could weaken such a strong man like Kris-ge?

        "What are you going to do now?" Tao questioned, not wanting to drown in such silence.

        Kris sighed and took a moment to answer him with a defeated shrug and sigh. He had heard a certain news from a friend this morning which confuses him and he knew he can share it with the younger - no matter how loose his lips are. "Zitao, Suho called this morning. He wanted to talk to me about something."

        "What about?"

        "Nina."

        This caught his interest. Tao sat up in a speed of light and waited for the male to continue his words. Kris frowned at him, unhappy that he was excited about news involving Nina. Ever since he admitted his feelings towards her, he hated it whenever Tao would ask him questions about her. She belongs to him. Period.

        "Gege~" he whined childishly when Kris continued to frown at him. He groaned at the male's jealousy. "Gege, I have no such feelings towards Nina-sshi. She's just my friend. Now can you please tell me what Suho hyung told you??" Tao was literally begging at the male. Kris looked away and cleared his throat.

        "She resigned from work this morning," he announced.

        "What?" Tao asked, taken by surprise. "Why?"

        "I don't know. She didn't say."

Beforehand, I shall throw flowers and flying kisses to you cupcakes for all your comments. I enjoyed reading them so much and I thank you all for such lovely feedbacks. Now, I shall not waste your time reading nonsense and continue forth with the story. Ngehehehe~

So some of you had asked me about the Nina's mother that was mentioned in chapter 5 but later I announced as dead in one of the chapters (i forgot which one :/). Heh. Well here's the answer to that! The eomma is her stepmom who has been taking care of her since she was young, eversince her father left the family. I will reveal more things about Nina in the future updates so do anticipate it kay? 

Kris baby, don't be too sad. I'll make you happy again, I promise. I love you, my alpha. <3 <3

Oh God, this is breaking my heart... ;_;