He wishes that he can calm himself down at the washroom, but apparently what waiting him at the small room only worsen the chaos he is experiencing.

Kyungsoo makes his way to the gents slowly. As he reaches the gents's doorstep, he bumps head first into someone's chest - someone as in one of two persons he avoided all this while. "Oomph! Sorry, sorry... Kyungsoo-ssi?" says the tall, lanky male. Kyungsoo's eyes widen as soon as he hears his name. He looks up only for his gaze to meet with Chanyeol's worried one. He looks away immediately and planning to run away again; but a tug on one of his arms makes his plan vanishes into thin air. The grip of the hand on his left arm is not as tight but sure is strong enough to restrain his movements.

"Are you alright?" Chanyeol asks with a tone that laces with coherent worry and concern. Chanyeol observes Kyungsoo's pale face and can't help to ponder that there must be something bad happened. Kyungsoo does not trust his voice for now, only nods his head as he lowers his gaze to his feet. He cannot run away this time, he feels weak and really run out of excuses. "Can we talk?" Chanyeol says softly but no less encouragingly. Kyungsoo has reckoned this; but with the tall man's soft tone he decides to not run away and concede with his wish this time. "Su.. Sure," There's a hint of hesitance in his voice. "Yes, Sure." He says once again, more convincingly.

They walks away from the gents to go to an area with more privacy. The emergency exit it is. There's no one there unless emergency situation emerges which only happens once in a blue moon. Chanyeol lets Kyungsoo leads the way; he implies to be polite but truthfully, he just wants to make sure that Kyungsoo will not run away again. Kyungsoo halts his steps when he thinks that the area near the emergency exit is secluded enough and turns around to face Chanyeol. Not before taking a long, deep breath though. "What is it? What do you want to talk about?" He thanks God when his voice comes out without stutters albeit a little shaky.

"First of all, I'm sorry. I am truly sorry. I should not do what I did to you and Jongin. I should not interrupt both of you that time. I knew that you have mutual feelings towards each other, yet I still want to get into your way. I am so selfish that my judgement during that time messed up a bit. I really liked you. Still do, but as long as you are happy with the person you like, I am happy for you. So... Will you forgive me?" Chanyeol blurts out all the things that have been accumulated in his mind for so long. He did stop mid-speech but he still feels out of breath. He is now panting a little, left hand clutching his chest to calm down. His heart is beating erratically in his chest as he anticipates Kyungsoo's reply.

Kyungsoo stays still for a moment as if he is trying to absorb Chanyeol's words one by one into his head. He is wearing a lost kid expression, everyone will say the same when they look at him - with his big eyes staring into nothing in particular and jaw drops a little luckily with no drools coming out from his slightly gaping mouth. For a good 5 minutes, none of them says anything. As the silence starting to suffocate him, Chanyeol decides to speak, "So, what do you say?". Kyungsoo jumps a little like his soul just comes back to him after wandering to God knows where.

Chanyeol's words are all absorbed and interpreted; so, he composes himself before uttering, "Urm, how to say this, emm.. I've forgave you long time ago Chanyeol-ssi. Please don't worry about it anymore. I can imagine if I were at your place, so, I understand. As for Jongin's and my feelings, you're wrong. We don't have mutual feelings. I just knew about it. Yes, I admit that at first, I thought like that too, but what I saw earlier says otherwise. He said that he likes me but I know he 'loves' someone else. So, don't feel guilty. You didn't interrupt anything; we have nothing in the first place. Instead, I am the one who should apologize to both of you for running away when all you want is an apology, but I'm being a coward. I'm sorry Chanyeol-ssi," Kyungsoo bows a little towards Chanyeol. He himself does not know from where the words come out. What he knows is that his heart feels lighter like a gigantic load has just been lifted up from his chest. He praises himself silently for saying those words without breaking down. He is not that weak - at least he knows that. He holds his gaze on Chanyeol's as he flashes a small smile.

"I'm relieved to hear that from you. Thank you, Kyungsoo-ssi. But, I think you have misunderstood Jongin. I don't know what you saw earlier but I am pretty sure he lik-- loves you. I can see it from his eyes; the way he looks at you like you mean the world to him," Chanyeol sincerely says. Kyungsoo pale cheeks are tinted with baby pink hue now. He can't fight his shyness upon hearing Chanyeol words. 'How can he said it like he's the one who mean it - the last part sounded the most sincere,' he says in his head. "No, I am certain that he doesn't like me anymore. He.. He looked so in love with him; they looked good together to add that," Kyungsoo mumbles softly, but still audible to Chanyeol, he places a hand on his left chest as it hurts to say it with his own mouth. Chanyeol on the other hand can't help but wonders who Kyungsoo means by 'him'. "May I know who.. You know," He cannot hold his curiosity. He is reluctant at first but he tells him afterwards, "It's Taemin. I saw them hugging intimately earlier. They looked so in love." Kyungsoo hates that his voice wavers shakily. Chanyeol does not know what to feel, even more what to say. What occupies his mind right now is '1001 ways to kill Kim Jongin'. "That little..," before he curses the dancer, his good, more rational side takes over him. "I'm sure there must be reasons for it, Kyungsoo-ssi. They hugged, but not necessarily means they are in love. It might be just a friendly gesture," Chanyeol says as he tries to convince Kyungsoo, and he himself. 'Must consult with that kid later,' he reminds himself inaudibly. Kyungsoo does not saying anything, excuses himself to go back to work instead. Chanyeol does not prod further and complies with his wish.

They walks to the dressing room together, after making a promise to be friends to each other. Both of them notices that their steps feel a tad bit lighter after the talk. When they arrive at the dressing room, both of them bid goodbyes to each other to go to their own ways. Their faces are adorned with sincere smiles. From a distance, there is a poor soul witnessing their interaction with mixed feelings of anger, jealousy, regret, desolation and misery. As an after-effect, his performance today is not to be proud of. "You've done your best," his best friend pats his back to comfort him after Taemin's stage ended. His mind was so disarrayed that he ended up making few mistakes, thankfully minor ones. The concert wraps up successfully that night. All of them should feel relieved but there are 3 individuals packing up their things with unsettled hearts.

*******

Chanyeol paces back and forth in front of a mahogany door with a golden plate stated '204' on it. He looks warily at his wristwatch; the watch reads 12.45 a.m by now. "It's late," he mumbles to himself. He has been there for about 10 minutes, just wandering aimlessly as he contemplating his decision to inquire a certain tanned skin dancer. 'Yes, it is a right thing to do. I promised to fix this, so I must do it!' his mind tells him. He raises a hand to knock on the door. At the fifth knock, the door swings open and a male he identifies as someone from back-up dancers line stands by the door. "Yes, how can I help you?," the male asks sleepily. "Is Kim Jongin inside? Can I see him?" Chanyeol asks back, feeling slightly guilty. "Wait a minute," the dancer says shortly before striding back into the room. "Who.. What do you want?" Jongin emerges at the door after a minute. His voice sounds a little groggy because of the sleep. "We need to talk," Chanyeol says sternly. Knowing that it's not a suitable place to discuss (or argue), he goes into the room to grab his sweater and follows after Chanyeol out of the room. Chanyeol leads the way towards the hotel's lobby to talk. None of them know that their conversation that early morning will change their fate forever.

To be continued..

a/n: What fate? Is it good or is it bad? Please anticipate next chapter! Thank you for reading my story~ Thanks to my lovely subscribers and upvoters~ <3