Kyungsoo woke up to find himself draped over the edge of his bed, apparently in a subconscious attempt to save his mattress from last night’s meal just in case it decided to chuck a U-ey. Chanyeol had treated him to dinner at a nearby restaurant in apology for ruining the ancient wok that he was going to throw out anyway, and somewhere along the way Kyungsoo had thought that it would be a good idea to try to build up his alcohol tolerance, which turned out to be not a good idea at all since he had no idea how he got home. On that note, how did he get home after Yixing’s party? In any case, making Chanyeol a possible accessory after the fact was a justifiable enough reason to drink even if he obviously couldn’t. Now that he thought about it, Chanyeol was the reason he ordered that first glass of beer, wasn’t he? There was something about the way he acted and the things he said that made Kyungsoo feel like Chanyeol wasn’t taking him seriously at all, even when he was at his wit’s end and that was frustrating to say the least. There was a very real difference between acceptance and empathy, and the latter was what he needed right now.

Perhaps it was too much to expect when he had only revealed the elephant’s trunk, but wasn’t the trunk the most significant part? Maybe he should just be grateful that Chanyeol was still with him at all. Kyungsoo pushed himself off the side of the bed and rolled over only to realize that he was alone. What was he supposed to be grateful for again? Trying his best to quieten the alarm bells going off in his head, he reached out a hand to touch the mattress. It was far from warm. He sat up with a jolt and immediately ran his gaze to the spot on the floor next to his wardrobe. The half-unpacked suitcase was still there, just as unsightly as it had been the day before. Kyungsoo took a deep breath. Don’t jump to conclusions, Chanyeol would tell him. Maybe he was just on the other side of the closed door, making breakfast.

Mentally hushing the thought telling him that it definitely didn’t smell like there was anything cooking, Kyungsoo turned to the small bookshelf beside the bed to check the time. The small bedside clock on top of it was missing. Why would he leave his clothes and take the clock, of all things? Nobody left, Kyungsoo quickly hissed at himself. All he had to do to know that for sure was get off the bed and open that door. But why was the clock missing? Kyungsoo wracked his brain for a possible explanation, before remembering that the wall clock in the kitchen had died the day before – or maybe longer, he couldn’t be sure. Maybe whatever Chanyeol was making had to be timed. There was a timer in the third drawer in the kitchen but Chanyeol didn’t know that.

Finally gathering enough courage, Kyungsoo pushed the covers aside, walked towards the bedroom door, and placed a hand on the doorknob. There was no plausible reason for someone who seemed completely fine the day before, who was cracking flippant jokes about inappropriate things as if there was nothing out of the ordinary, who probably dragged Kyungsoo home when he got drunk even though he said he was going to give up on drinking just that morning to go AWOL all of a sudden. Unless he said something irreversible when he was drunk last night. Kyungsoo tightened his grip on the doorknob. Did he? He wished he wasn’t an amnesiac drunk, then at least he would remember all the stupid things he had done and properly repent of them.

But thinking about it wasn’t going to help. What did Chanyeol say once? If he thought about something, he’d think of the opposite and everything would seem like doom and gloom, or something along those lines? Not bothering to psych himself up, Kyungsoo twisted the knob and pushed the door open because seeing Chanyeol’s familiar figure would be all the reassurance he needed – if he could find it, that was. Kyungsoo looked around the areas of the house visible from the bedroom door. There must be a simple explanation as to why the house was empty, he just had to figure out what it was. With hasty steps, he headed to the living room to find it empty too. A quick look at the recently cleaned master bedroom and garage presented him with the same result.

There was nothing to worry about, Kyungsoo told himself, half a step away from panicking. Maybe Chanyeol was at the grocery store, or the local bakery, somewhere where he was going to come back from. All Kyungsoo had to do was call him. Picking up the mobile phone that he didn’t remember leaving on the kitchen bench but apparently did the night before, he called Chanyeol. His eyes were drawn to the empty spot on the wall as he waited for the call to connect. Maybe that’s the simple explanation he had been looking for. Maybe Chanyeol went out to get batteries for the wall clock.

“Your call couldn’t be connected. Please check the number and try again.”

Kyungsoo stared at his phone. That made no sense. The call would’ve gone to voicemail if Chanyeol had forgotten to charge his phone as he did that one time. He tried dialling the number again, looking around the house wondering if he should do another quick search as if Chanyeol would be hiding somewhere, but halted when he spotted the post-it note on the fridge.

“Your call couldn’t be-”

Kyungsoo ended the call, cutting off the automated voice, and took the small piece of paper from the fridge door. This day was turning out to be the stuff nightmares were made of.

Back in a bit.

P.S. You didn’t kill anyone last night.

P.P.S. You’re cute when you’re drunk sleeping.

Kyungsoo carefully tore the last line off because it sounded creepily predatory, and hesitated before tearing the second line off too because read the wrong way it could be incriminatory. He stuck the post-it note that was now less than half its original size back on the fridge.

Back in a bit.

Kyungsoo knew better than anyone that that kind of statement didn’t necessarily mean what it should. ‘A bit’ was even more subjective and vague than ‘tomorrow.’ If his hunch was correct and this day was in fact his worst nightmare, then a post-it note on the fridge was undoubtedly the most heartless way to go about it. You’re overthinking things and jumping to conclusions, Chanyeol would no doubt tell him, and maybe Chanyeol did deserve the benefit of the doubt, but why set himself up for heartache? If Chanyeol really was going to be ‘back in a bit,’ then why was his phone unreachable? And why in the world would he take clocks with him? How many years would it take for Kyungsoo to try to figure that out? Sitting himself down on the barstool in the kitchen, he scrolled through his list of contacts and called the second person he was closest to.

“I’m kind of busy right now-”

“I need to talk to you,” Kyungsoo interrupted. “It’s important.”

There was a momentary pause before Tao mumbled, “I should start charging for this. What is it?”

“Do you remember what we talked about last time?”

“What happened at the rave?”

“Yeah. I told him.”

“The truth?”

“Part of it.”

“Did he dump you like you thought he would?”

Kyungsoo hesitated. “I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“He seemed alright with it when I told him, but when I woke up this morning he was gone.”

After a slight pause, Kyungsoo heard the creak of a bed as Tao apparently sat on it. “'Tis the season to walk out on people, I guess.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. So he just packed up and left in the middle of the night, is that what you’re telling me?”

“Not really. His things are still here but he took my clocks.” There was a long pause, long enough for Kyungsoo to think Tao had hung up. “Hello?”

“He took your clocks,” Tao repeated.

“Yeah.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know. If he’s trying to screw with my head, then he’s doing a mighty fine job.”

“Clock stealing aside, he’ll have to come back for his things, right?”

Kyungsoo chewed that over for a moment before giving a slight shake of the head even though there was no one to see it. “My father never did.”

“Well, just give him a few days to see if he’s as much of an as I think he is. I have something I need to do so-”

“There’s one more thing.”

“I think I look like a pushover,” Tao muttered under his breath. “What is it?”

“He left a note on my fridge.”

“What did it say?”

“He said he’ll be ‘back in a bit.’”

“Now that’s a ty move. He knows your story, right?”

“Of course he does. Everybody does.”

“I told you to dump him ages ago but you didn’t listen. I’d be happy to gloat and say I told you so if you weren’t my friend.”

“But what if he’s actually coming back in a bit?” Kyungsoo asked despite being less than hopeful himself.

“You think so?”

“He’s a bit dense that way, you know that.”

“Then call him and ask.”

Kyungsoo hesitated. “That’s another thing. I can’t reach his phone.”

“He has it turned off?”

“I keep getting a message saying the call can’t be connected or something.”

“Did he change his number?”

“I don’t think so. If he did, he would’ve told me.”

“Or maybe he’s been planning to leave you for a while.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Kyungsoo said, frowning. “He told me he loves me for the first time just yesterday.”

There was another momentary pause. “Do you two have some kind of minding competition going on?”

“No.”

“Okay, then let’s take a different approach. What did you say after he amped up the cheese?”

“I said he shouldn’t.”

“He shouldn’t love you?”

“Yeah.”

“And then?”

“And then I told him what I did. He said he was okay with it and that we’ll work it out together. And then I told him I love him too.”

“Right,” Tao said flatly. “Maybe that’s the problem.”

“What is?”

“Maybe he was just throwing out the word for fun, but you took him seriously and that crept him out.”

Kyungsoo paused, trying to make sense of that, before slowly shaking his head in doubt. “He wouldn’t leave like this just because I told him I love him. He’s not that malicious. He’s not malicious at all.”

“You never know.”

Kyungsoo heaved a weary sigh. He didn’t feel any less confused than he had been this morning, and he probably wouldn’t until Chanyeol came back – if he was coming back. “Can you come over?”

“I can’t. I meant it when I said I have something to do.”

“Is it something I can help you with?”

“No, I’m almost done. I’m moving out.”

“Really? Where to?” Kyungsoo asked idly.

“Close by. I should head out now and I kind of need both hands.”

“Sorry,” Kyungsoo mumbled, taking the hint. “See you, I guess.”

“Yeah.” Kyungsoo was about to hang up but halted when Tao suddenly said, “Kyungsoo?”

“Yeah?”

“If he doesn’t come back, throw out his things. If he does, dump him. Okay?”

Kyungsoo hesitated. “I’ll think about it.”