The sun was setting, the water reflecting its pink light and making Kyungsoo crave cotton candy. Although he guessed he actually couldn’t be craving something he never actually had eaten. Not for real at least. He could remember eating it as a kid and also later when he was older when Jongin had dragged him to the town fair to “celebrate finishing their endless homework” (they hadn’t). He could feel the sweetness on his tongue, remember how it melted in his mouth and how sticky his nose got after Jongin had placed a cotton candy kiss there. And yet it wasn’t real. It had never happened.

He looked at the flat stone in his hand. He had picked it up almost an hour ago, seeing it on the shore and immediately thinking that it was a perfect skipping rock. His father had been amazing at it, always making them skip at least six times before they finally sunk beneath the surface with a plop, and he had taught Kyungsoo during their summer vacations when Kyungsoo was still a kid. One of the moments his father deemed as his proudest was the time Kyungsoo beat him in a skipping rock challenge. Kyungsoo had picked it up meaning to throw it into the lake, counting the skips as it went. However just as he was about to do it he stopped. Suddenly realising that his memory wasn’t real. Afraid that he wouldn’t be able to do it anymore. That since his memories of the vacations with his father was just a figment of his imagination so would his “skipping rock talents” be. But he couldn’t just let the rock drop to the ground again either. That would be a disgrace, as his father would say. If you find the perfect rock it’s your responsibility to use it to its full potential, he would say to a young Kyungsoo making his son laugh. And even though he might not be Kyungsoo’s real parent he couldn’t bring himself to not love him and his weird antics.

“D.O.” Kyungsoo was brought back to his surroundings by Lay sitting down beside him on the small dock. He glanced at the stone in Kyungsoo’s open hand and smiled at the other.

“Skipping rocks?” He asked. Kyungsoo, seeing Lay’s gaze, quickly closed his hand around the rock.

“No.” He answered shortly and looked out over the lake again.

“Okay.” One thing Kyungsoo really liked about Lay was that he had a way of knowing when not to ask questions. He always knew exactly when to ask, and when to let it go.

“It’s beautiful out here, right?” Lay continued and Kyungsoo nodded in answer. “I usually come here in the mornings to watch the sunrise before I have to drive into town. I love it here. It has a way of making you think.”

The last phrase he directed to Kyungsoo as if he knew that that’s why Kyungsoo had went here. To think. And he was right. Kyungsoo had really needed a quiet place to just be. To be alone and just go over things in his head. He had been out here for almost three hours and he still felt none the wiser.

“I don’t know what to do, Lay.” He whispered.

“About what?”

“About me. About my ‘memories’”.

“What about them?”

“How I know that I have two sets of memories and even though I know that one of them aren’t real I still can’t seem to forget them, no matter how much I try. They just don’t want to go away.” Kyungsoo started, gesticulating wildly as he got more and more frustrated.

“Why do you want them to go away?” Lay asked calmly, not reacting in the slightest at Kyungsoo’s flailing hands not even when he almost got hit in the head.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Kyungsoo asked, turning to look at Lay incredulously. “They’re not real! They never happened!”

“What does it matter they never happened? That doesn’t mean they’re not real.” Kyungsoo looked as if he was about to argue but Lay held up a hand, quietly asking him to listen.

“Think about dreams. Do you remember them?” Lay asked and Kyungsoo nodded looking slightly lost in where the conversation was going.

“And yet they never happened in real life, right?” Once again Kyungsoo nodded. “The dreams are real memories so why wouldn’t these memories be real?

They might be constructed for you but they’re still real, they’re just like dreams. The only difference is that you actually share these memories with other people. A difference that I would claim make these memories even more real than dreams. Nobody but you remember your dreams, but almost all of these memories you share with your parents.”

“But they’re not my real parents.” Kyungsoo mumbled, seeing reason in what Lay was saying but still having trouble believing it.

“Aren’t they? Maybe they’re not your biological parents but you would never call adoptive parents ‘not real parents’. That couple back in London thinks of you as their son and I think that very much qualifies them as your mother and father. Even if you now know that you’ve only been with them for a couple of years, for them they’ve raised you since birth. I would actually dare to say that these humans are more your parents than the ones who gave you up the moment you came into this world.”

Kyungsoo opened his mouth but closed it again when he realised he had nothing to say to that. He looked out over the lake again, the sun was almost completely gone behind the trees now.

“I guess you’re right.” He said after a few seconds of silence.

“When am I not?” Lay smiled cheekily at him and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but smile back. 3 hours alone with no result and it had taken Lay all of five minutes to clear Kyungsoo’s head out. If he’d known that before he wouldn’t have gone here in the first place. Then again he would’ve missed this incredible sunset.

Kyungsoo felt incredibly grateful to Lay. It felt like a weight had been taken off of Kyungsoo’s shoulders and that he could finally breathe again. He could treat these human memories as a very long and elaborate dream. He didn’t have to forget them, he didn’t have to place them beside his other memories and figure out which were real or not, and he could bring them with him and accept that even if they were just a dream they had shaped him into what he was now. But most importantly he didn’t have to give up on his parents. He just hoped they still remembered him.

The last bit of sun disappeared behind the trees and Lay stood up, dusting off his pants from nonexisting dust and dirt.

“Come on, Kyungsoo. I came here to bring you back since dinner was almost done so I think that if we want to evade Luhan’s wrath we should hurry up a bit.” He said and helped Kyungsoo up before starting his way back to the house.

Kyungsoo was just about to follow him when he remembered the stone he was still holding. He looked out over the lake for a second and then he threw it. He watched it skip one… two… three… nine times before it sank through the surface far out in the lake. His father would be proud.

~ * ~

Who had thought that this was a good plan? Okay, so it had been Chanyeol’s own plan but why hadn’t anyone told him that it was a plan? They were currently sitting in the reception area in the Byun headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Like they had been for the last six days. They had found a small closet that nobody else seemed to notice and that’s where the five of them were staying. It was a wonder that they hadn’t been found out by anyone yet, seeing as they were all looking more and more disheveled each day. Chanyeol was longing for a real shower. But this had been his plan and he couldn’t be the first one to give up. Not for something like a shower.

The plan was to stay at the headquarters until they found either Baekhyun or someone who could lead them to him. The problem was that nobody seemed to know him, and that it was impossible to book a time to see him. He was a strange boss, that man, if he was a man. If this Baekhyun was their Baekhyun, then yes, he was a man. But this Baekhyun could also be a completely different Baekhyun and therefore they couldn’t know for sure. He was a strange boss, that person.

Since nobody seemed to know their very own boss or even what he looked like the five young men who all really craved a shower and a real bed had decided that it was no use to speak to the workers. They had decided to split up instead and to simply watch. To see if they could see someone that looked very important, because who could be more important than the one and only Byun Baekhyun?

Chanyeol, Kai and D.O were sitting on a bench on one side of the huge reception and Luhan and Lay was somewhere on the other side. Chanyeol was just about to complain that nobody looked more important than anyone else here, they were all wearing suits and carrying folders and running determined towards somewhere as if they were chased by an enormous fire bird, but his complaint got stuck in his throat as Kai elbowed him hard in the ribs.

“Look over there!” He hissed and nodded his head violently in the direction to the doors closest to them. Chanyeol really thought Kay would have learned more about the very nice phrase “Discretion is key.” but apparently not.

But Chanyeol didn’t care to point this out as the one walking through the doors looked highly important. So important in fact that Chanyeol was sure that it must be Baekhyun. It couldn’t be anyone else. He just looked so important. The biggest thing pointing to him being the most important being in this very building was the fact that he was not running. He was calmly walking towards the elevators while looking through the papers his assistant was giving him. The calm confident walk was one thing but his whole posture just screamed of importance. Nobody knew what Byun Baekhyun looked like, but there were rumours that he was very young and very good looking, and that that was the reason for why Baekhyun didn’t want to be known. This guy was both very young and very handsome. He looked like he was in his early twenties, his honey blond hair fell perfectly around his beautiful face with big eyes and plump lips. He was tall, almost as tall as Chanyeol, and Chanyeol was sure that everybody that laid their eyes on this guy would fall in love at first sight. He was just so pretty. He must be Baekhyun.

Chanyeol, Kai and D.O sat perfectly still as the man and his considerably shorter assistant walked past them towards the one elevator that nobody else seemed to use, proving their point even further that this must be their man, he had his own private elevator! They all knew what they had to do. They had to calculate the distance, and the timing. And then when the time was right they had to run. Run so that they just barely got inside the elevator before the doors closed around them, starting to climb to the top floor of the building.

“Excuse me?” The tall man gasped, looking highly offended that three, very much not clean, young men had forced their way into his elevator.

“Excuse accepted.” Chanyeol quickly answered trying not to show exactly how tired he was from the short sprint they’d just made. “I’m sorry for barging in on you like this, Baekhyun, but we need to speak about something very important with you.”

“But I’m-”

“I’m sorry, we don’t have time. Baekhyun, you just need to listen. We three,” Chanyeol pointed at himself and then Kai and D.O. “plus two others are looking for the rest of our group. We are supposed to be twelve, however because of unfortunate circumstances we all lost our memories and now we’re trapped in different places on Earth. We believe that you are one of us, Baekhyun, and we need you to believe us in what we’re about to tell you.”

“But I’m not Baekhyun.” The tall guy finally managed to say when Chanyeol stopped to take an inbreath as well as pausing for dramatic effect. The elevator continued to climb in silence for a second.

“Excuse me?” Chanyeol asked blinking. D.O was looking at Kai in confusion who felt just as confused himself.

“I’m not Baekhyun.” The man repeated, this time slower and with more conviction.

“Of course you are.” Kai said as if this would make the man realise that he was wrong about his own identity.

“No-” A clearing of a throat interrupted the tall man and they all turned to look at his short assistant.

“I’m Byun Baekhyun.”

AN:

Wow this spring has been crazy. Auditions and performances and mental breakdowns from left to right but now its finally done. Summer break here I come!!!

And I just need to write this somewhere!! I got into a school in New York!! In New York!! I might actually move from tiny Sweden to New York this fall?? WTF?? I first need to check how to do with money first though... uhuhuhu... But hopefully it will all work out because I really really really need to go there. Like, yes, the school in Stockholm would be totally amazing too, but this is like my dream school. I need it to work out. I need to go there! Although I will miss my friends like crazy... but I know that our friendship will last no matter where anyone of us move so it will be fine <3 just very far away... if everything works out that is.
Sorry, just had to get that out from my system.

Hoppas detta kapitel var till belåtenhet~ <3