"What have become of those vaccines, Lay?" Yixing stiffened before looking over his shoulder and seeing that it was only his comrade, Suho. Very few people were privy to these experiments that he have been in charge of for 5 years, ever since Big Brother had given him the job. 

Even after 5 years, he's still as reluctant as ever to get the job completed. But a job is a job and he's here in SM to work. 

He released a breath he didn't know he was holding and gripped the pink tube in his hand a tiny bit harder. 

"It'll be completed soon."

Yixing doesn't doubt it this time. 

He skipped lunch that day. Yixing obtained a special permission from the Health Services Officer before the young man clad in a green uniform had given him a special pass to allow him to stay behind in the lab room to continue his experiments. 

Big Brother made sure that everyone was where he wanted them to be at specific times. If you weren't there, you needed a pass to show for it. This pass will determine if you were into the black hole or not. 

Yixing shivered again as he slipped a pink pill in the solution. It sizzled a bit and it died down, but it changed the colour of the solution. 

Yixing wished he could be like this pill for his city.

Yixing got back to his own room at exactly 6pm. He couldn't manage to get another pass for arriving at his dormitory late again. It wasn't allowed. Yixing tore off his white lab coat and hung it behind him on the door and proceeded to lie down to get some rest before dinner time. He was sure Brother would be watching the cameras to check for him, given his absence during lunch. But for now, he doesn't care about being monitored, he just wants some rest before trudging back into the lab tomorrow to finish up his experiments. 

He had no more time.

The human trials were scheduled in 3 days' time. His own schedule, of course. He couldn't allow BIg Brother to know he actually had his own calender. 

But a simple white piece of paper lay on his desk - something that wasn't there this morning. 

Meet me at behind the dinner halls after dinner, the third alley on the right. 

It had no name but Yixing knew who it was from. 

Dinner did not come easy. The mashed potatoes makes Yixing feels like he has taken in too much carbohydrates inside his body. But of course that's not true, Big Brother monitors their calorie intake very seriously and they never came a day where they were given 'too much' of something. Too little was an area up for debate. 

The potatoes didn't mix in well with the soup he'd gotten with the privilege that comes with his white coat. But Yixing washes down them down his throat, hopefully the food will stop him from saying things he didn't wish to voice to the person he's going to be meeting later on. 

He swallowed the tasteless potatoes along with the words he'll never get to say.

It wasn't difficult finding the sender of the secret letter. He was exactly where he had instructed Yixing to be, casually leaning against a wall filled with posters of Big Brother, as if the decorations on his back were nothing but a distant memory. 

It was exactly the same stance in which Yixing saw him before the Yellow Turn. Casual, relaxed and approachable. 

Except now, Yixing knew he was anything but approachable. He was on the opposite end of the spectrum. 

The figure shadowed by darkness stood up straight and pushed off against the wall as he saw Yixing approaching. Yixing's body became rigid. 

"The soup was horrible today." 

"I'm surprised you even take them."

Yixing exhaled a breath he didn't realise he was holding. The figure slowly stepped out from the darkness, with only a lightly lit street lamp illuminating his tan face hidden by the mask he was currently wearing. 

"I am a good sport, Lay. I take things that I'm given - including you, Yixing."