Kris sat in his office ruffling his hair. What was he thinking going into Chanyeol’s office like that? It was obvious what his true intention was and now Tao probably thought he was some creeper. A knock on the door interrupted his internal tantrum.

“Excuse me sir? I need you to sign this form that grants Park Chanyeol permission to go to China next week for the business agreement with the Shanghai Corporation.”

Confused Kris took the document and scanned it over.

The employee Park Chanyeol will be sent to Shanghai China to discuss the merger between the Shanghai Corporation and the new budding company GE Reveal for duration of one week.

All air travel and hotel costs will be covered.

Kris stopped reading and quickly scribbled his signature down at the bottom of the page. If Chanyeol was in China that meant that Tao was going to be alone in Korea after all, there was no way that the company would allow Chanyeol to take a child with him on business. The secretary picked up the paper and bowed before exiting out of the door. Kris cracked his door and watched as she made her way to Chanyeol’s office and knocked on the door. The door closed and Kris yipped with glee. As far as he knew there was no one else closer to Chanyeol than he was so he would be the first choice when it came time to choose a residence for Tao.

The day went by slowly and for the first time in year Kris left when the day was over instead of staying late at the office to do work. For once he finally had purpose. Locking his office he met Chanyeol at his with a grin on his face.

“That’s creepy Kris are you trying to make me pee my pants?” Chanyeol asked as he stared at Kris who immediately stopped smiling and cleared his throat.

“Sorry, I heard that you’re going to be sent to China next week I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know that they were going to send you away so soon.”

Chanyeol allowed Kris to join him and Tao as they made their decent in the elevator to the ground level.

“Yeah, but it’s alright. I’m actually glad that they’re sending me on trips again, it means that I’m regaining my status here.”

Tao pulled on Chanyeol’s sleeve with a pout, “But what about me Hyung? What am I supposed to do when you’re gone?”

Chanyeol looked down at Tao and ruffled his hair; “Sorry kid, maybe they’ll let you come with me?” he looked over at Kris with hopeful eyes, but frowned when Kris shook his head. “I’m not sure; I guess you could stay with Baekhyun.”

“Baekhyun...? No offense, but he’s weird and I don’t really know him, is there anyone else that I could stay with? What about Kris?”

Both Kris and Chanyeol stiffened at the sentence and stared at each other. Then back at Tao’s shining eyes, and finally back at each other before letting out a sign and groaning.

“It would be no trouble Chanyeol, besides it’s only for a week. I can take him to work with me and he can continue to train so he isn’t behind when you get back.”

Chanyeol still looked doubtful, “I don’t know Kris, he’s just a kid and he doesn’t know much about the world. I don’t know if I feel comfortable leaving him. Maybe they could send someone else instead of me?”

“I doubt that Chanyeol. Besides, didn’t you want to regain your position here? If you turned it down it would be a pretty big blow to your image.”

Tao tugged on Chanyeol’s sleeve again, “Hey I’m not a kid anymore and you need to worry about your job so you won’t get fired. If you get fired there goes my future and then I won’t have anything to do with my life. I’ll be fine staying at Kris’s house. It’s only for a week.”

“Let me think on it when we get home. I’ll let you know by the end of the week what I think alright.”

The elevator dinged as it reached the bottom floor and the three men exited. Kris’s car was parked near the entrance and he slid into the leather seats. In his rearview mirror he saw Chanyeol walking with Tao and frowned when Chanyeol wrapped an arm around Tao’s shoulder.

‘Just you wait Chanyeol, after you get back from China you won’t be the only arm wrapped around Tao.’

The week went by agonizingly slow for Kris as he waited for Chanyeol’s answer and finally Friday arrived. Chanyeol’s flight was due to leave Sunday morning and he had to make a decision

After rushing through his final papers Kris shut his office door not bothering to lock it as he rushed to Chanyeol’s office. He heard muffled voices as he was about to knock and soon they escalated into shouts. A loud crash was heard and Kris burst into the room. Chanyeol was standing at his desk looking disheveled and Tao was in the corner of the room. Between them shards of glass lay on the floor.

“What happened? I heard shouts and then it sounded like something fell, I’m guessing it was whatever that used to be.” He said as he motioned the glass on the floor. “I’ll call a janitor to clean it up. Why don’t you two go wait in the hall it isn’t safe for you to be in here?”

Kris waited in the room until the janitor came and glanced around Chanyeol’s office. It was clean and simple with a couple paintings and photos hanging on the wall. As he was looking down he noticed that the cream colored carpet had deep red stains of them. Touching it with the tips of his fingers he rubbed it between the pads and discovered it to be blood.

The janitor knocked on the door before entering. Bowing in thanks Kris quickly took off to locate Tao and Chanyeol. He found them sitting silently in chairs glaring off into the distance.

“Chanyeol, did you make a decision? If Tao’s going to stay at my apartment he should pack and head over tomorrow night.”

“Yeah he can go. He can do whatever he wants. I don’t care.”

Kris was surprised by the cold response, but took it anyways.

“Tao I’ll go bring the car around to pick you up. You can pack tonight and I’ll drop you off tomorrow.” Chanyeol stood up and briskly walked off to the parking garage.

Tao still sat in his seat staring ahead angrily. Kris went and sat down next to him.

“Hey what’s wrong? You seem upset and I’m sure whatever broke in the office wasn’t an accident.”

Tao’s eyes darted over to Kris and glared, “It’s none of your business.” He said coldly.

Kris frowned, he didn’t want to play the boss card, but Tao wasn’t opening up and he didn’t see an alternative.

“Actually it is my business. If that item was company property than I have to file a report so you need to tell me what happened or Chanyeol will be in lots of trouble.”

“Good. He deserves to be in trouble.” Tao muttered as he crossed his arms and turned away.

“Come on Tao. You can tell me. I promise that I won’t tell anyone.”

Tao hesitantly glanced up and Kris and sighed, “Fine. We were talking about me staying at your house and he said no so I got mad. I hate when he treats me like I’m a kid. I told him that I was going to stay with you whether he liked it or not since it was my choice and he just blew up at me. He said that I was betraying him and that I was being ungrateful. The glass was from a picture of us that fell on the floor. Chanyeol stuffed it in his desk before you came. I can stay with you though right?” Tao looked up at Kris with delicate eyes.

“Of course you can, but first give me your hand.” Kris held out his hand for Tao to set his in.

“What?” Tao gave Kris a funny look.

“I saw the blood on the carpet, you cut yourself didn’t you?”

Tao slowly pulled his hand out from under his arm and put it in Kris’s hand. There was a cut across his palm that wasn’t deep enough to require stitches, but enough to leave a scar. Kris pulled out a bandage and gently wrapped the wound.

“Thanks.” Tao muttered as he examined his hand.

“You should go. I’m sure Chanyeol is waiting for you up front.”

Tao stood up and bowed to Kris. “Ok thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tossing Kris a wave he ran off to the front.

As soon as he got home the first thing that he did was go through his home and clean up every little thing he could. Although it was clean on it’s own he made sure that every little smudge and speck of dirt was gone for Tao’s arrival. He did have a guest room even though he never had guests so it was in perfect condition. Stepping into it he noticed it was a simple room with a large white bed in the middle, a walk in closet, and a large bathroom complete with a whirlpool. He hoped that Tao would be happy with his living arrangement.

He decided to take Saturday off just in case Tao arrived early. The thought of the boy sitting alone outside waiting for Kris to come home made him sick so for the first time in decades he took a day off. The secretary that answered was worried that he was in the hospital or dying and tried to call 911 for him and it took him a whole 10 minutes to explain that he just wanted a day off. ‘Jeez,’ he thought to himself, ‘if it’s that big of a deal for me to take a day off, maybe I should take them more often.’

Tao didn’t arrive early and Kris spent the entire day loitering around the house. He was just making himself dinner when a knock on the door jolted his attention. Resisting the urge to run to the door he slowly opened it and tried to keep a cool look on his face even though he wanted to scream with joy when he say the teenager standing at his front door with a suitcase and pillow in hand.

“Good evening Tao, is Chanyeol with you?” he looked around the hallway, but found it empty.

“No he wanted to get to the airport early so he just dropped me off. I’m glad that I found the right one. I was worried that he sent me to the wrong room. Wow you’re house is really nice! It’s so… clean!”

Kris smiled, “Thank you. You’re room is this way.” Picking up the suitcase he opened the door and stepped inside. Tao’s eyes widened when he took in the room.

“This is where you will be sleeping.” Kris said as he set the suitcase down on the bed and turned back to Tao.

“This room is for me?”

“Yes.”

“Only me?”

“Yes.”

“And this closet… it’s all for me?”

“Yes Tao, everything in this room and the bathroom is for you and only you.”

“Sorry it’s just so big. I don’t have my own room at home.”

“You don’t? Chanyeol’s apartment is plenty large if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah it is, but he makes me sleep with him, I forgot why, but it’s a stupid reason and whenever I bring it up he get’s mad so I just deal with it.”

“Well dinner is ready. Sorry I only make simple foods so it’s just white rice and curry. There’s plenty there so feel free to come out and have some whenever you’re ready. I’ll just be watching TV in the living room or something. The fridge is stocked along with the cupboards so I hope that you can find something to eat.”

Kris left the room pleased with his performance. He pulled down a plate and spooned some food onto it before turning on the news and plopping down on the couch. The house felt warm with the presence of another and he found that he liked it. After a while he heard a shuffling and noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He was tempted to ask Tao if he needed anything, but decided that it was better to let the boy adjust on his own.

Tao was still amazed by the size of the apartment and it took him a few minutes to place his things around the room. When his stomach growled he forced himself out of room in search of food. He entered the living room and saw Kris sitting on the couch eating his dinner. Although he was dressed in simple house clothing he still looked like a model and Tao couldn’t help, but stare.

‘No Tao. This is the man who didn’t want you. The man who abandoned you. You’re here for revenge not to stare at him.’ Tao shook his head and went into the kitchen. Opening the fridge his jaw dropped. He was expecting to find milk, water, fruits, vegetables, stuff that a guy like Kris would eat, but instead it was filled with soda, desserts, and other sweet treats. Next he tried the cupboard and again he was surprised to see every kind of chip he could imagine along with multiple kinds of ramen and fruit snacks.

The scent of the hot rice and curry tickled his nose and he noticed that there was a plate already set out for him. Spooning some on he sat down at the dinner table and started to eat. He noticed that it seemed brand new and unused.

‘I guess Kris doesn’t eat with people very often.’ Tao thought to himself.

Kris noticed Tao sitting along at the table and frowned. “Tao, come sit and watch the news with me. You don’t need to eat at the table.”

Hesitantly Tao picked up his plate and went to the living room. Carefully he placed himself on the couch next to Kris making sure that he wasn’t too far away or too close. Kris seemed focused on the news so Tao ate his meal quickly. He set his dirty plate down on the table next to Kris’s and focused on the news.

“Tsk, stocks are dropping; hopefully Chanyeol gets that merger signed.” Kris said half to himself and half to Tao.

Although the news was interesting, Tao found himself dozing off. He teetered to one side and then the other. Leaning back he felt his head hit the headrest and he let his eyes close.

Kris was about to try to talk to Tao again when he heard small snores coming from beside him. Looking over he saw Tao asleep leaning back against the couch.

“Your neck is going to hurt if you sleep like that.” Kris said even though he was pretty sure Tao couldn’t hear him.

As if he could hear Kris, Tao suddenly leaned forward and then to the side placing his head down onto Kris’s lap.

Kris tensed and didn’t move. He wasn’t sure if he should wake the boy to go to his room or if he should stay and let him sleep. Decided that it wasn’t that bad he tried to focus on the news even though he could feel the vibrations from his snores tickling his leg. After an hour or so the soft snores turned into small cries. Glancing down, Kris saw tears budding in the corners of Tao's eyes before trailing down his cheeks and onto his pants. 

“Ge… please… don’t leave me…. I promise I’ll be good… don’t leave Tao.”

Kris bit his lip hard as he listened to the pleas slid from Tao’s lips. Leaning over he pressed his lips against his forehead and brushed a tear away with this thumb.

“Don’t worry Tao, Gege will never leave you again.”

Hello everyone! Yay an update! Things are finally heating up between Kris and Tao now that they have some alone time together. ;) I hope you enojyed this update and please look forward to more in the future. 

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***  =.= ugh greasy oppa ***