Universally Acknowledged [Chapter 3]
Title: Universally Acknowledged
Chapter: 3/4
Pairings: Taoris, Baekyeol
Genre: Romance, humour
Rating: PG
Summary: In which Chanyeol and Kris' sudden appearance in the lives of Joonmyun's tight-knit family starts off a series of events involving laughter, heartbreak, misunderstandings and love.
Disclaimer: inspired by the web-series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modern retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. i.e. I don't own the plot.
“But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them for ever.” - Pride and Prejudice
The last thing Tao expects is for Kris Wu to show up at Kyungsoo’s apartment on a Saturday morning with a letter in his hand. Kyungsoo forces Tao to actually go and receive the letter from Kris. “I know he made you mad, but you should at least hear his side of the story.” Kyungsoo points out reasonably.
Tao hates it when Kyungsoo gets all reasonable, but accepts the letter from Kris in a civil manner. “Please read it.” The older man entreats before bowing slightly and leaving. Tao is a little surprised by Kris’ courteous attitude, and curiosity forces him to open the letter and read it. It’s written in Chinese, and the style is more formal than Tao is used to.
To: Huang Zitao
Before you worry that I’m trying to pursue you by writing this, you can rest assured that I understand your feelings towards me and won’t do so again. My purpose in writing this letter is to explain two of the issues you brought up in our last conversation.
Firstly, you blamed me for causing Chanyeol and your brother Baekhyun-ssi to be separated. While this is absolutely true, I would like to explain why I did so in full assurance that it was the right thing to do. It was obvious to everyone that Chanyeol liked your brother, and as his best friend, I could see that he was seriously attached to him. But when I looked at how Baekhyun-ssi behaved towards him, he was kind and friendly, but didn’t seem to return the same depth of feeling for Chanyeol. Based on what you said, and the fact that you obviously know your brother better than I do, I admit that I could have been wrong about his feelings for Chanyeol.
You asked me whether I thought Baekhyun-ssi was leading Chanyeol on for the sake of money. Even though I said a lot about the differences in our social standing (none of which I rescind), I never once thought that Baekhyun-ssi was doing so, especially since I believed him to be somewhat indifferent to Chanyeol’s love. However, I must point out that both your older brother Joonmyun and your younger brother Sehun have mentioned more than once how Baekhyun’s relationship with Chanyeol would help with your family’s financial difficulties. I know it must hurt to hear someone speaking about your family like this, but I am only being honest. And believe me when I tell you that there have been many other guys in the past who have taken advantage of Chanyeol’s trusting nature and his wealth, and that I feel responsible to make sure it doesn’t happen as far as I can help it.
After he left for Seoul, I convinced him that he was better off forgetting about your brother. Despite all I said about the possibility of your family wanting his money, and how it would reflect poorly on his position, he only relented after I assured him that Baekhyun-ssi really didn’t love him back in the same way. Something you may only have guessed at is that I was actually aware of Baekhyun-ssi coming to Seoul, but I made sure that Chanyeol didn’t know about it. I was concerned that if they met up, Chanyeol would go back to pursuing your brother, who might be too kind to let him down properly. If I have really hurt your brother by my actions, I apologise, but I did not know that I was doing so, and I believe I acted for the best.
Secondly, you accused me of having wronged Han Geng by robbing him of money that my father promised to him. I don’t know exactly what he has told you, but I will explain the situation as it really happened.
Han Geng’s father was one of my father’s employees, and was a good and honest worker. My father was his friend, and treated Han Geng like a godson. And even after his father died, my father took him in and paid for all his private schooling and any living expenses that his own father’s assets couldn’t cover (due to Han Geng’s mother’s previously extravagant lifestyle). He was one of my best friends then, and it was a long while before I became aware of what his true character was like.
After my own father died, he put it in his will that I should make sure that Han Geng’s higher education should be paid for, as well as a good place to live until he started working and earning his own wages. He also left him a particular sum of money for his own. Not long after that, Han Geng informed me that he was hoping to study at Beijing University, and that he would need more money that that initial sum to cover his living expenses, as well as the money for tuition fees. By then I already had some idea of his poor character, but hoped that he would be serious about his studies. So I made sure the funds were transferred to him, and thought I probably wouldn’t really see him much after that.
I heard about his extravagant lifestyle and some gambling problems, and after a couple of years, he called me up to ask for more money because his had run out. He also said that he’d dropped out of his course at university and wanted to sign up with some performance company that required him to provide some start-up money as a guarantee. He tried to use my father’s love for him to persuade me, but since I realised he was just going to keep wasting my father’s money, I refused him. Obviously, he resented me for doing so, and no longer considered me a friend.
Now, I must mention an event that was very painful, and that I hope you will keep to yourself. I think you know that I have a younger brother called Luhan, who was young and impressionable at that time. He had always looked up to Han Geng as a beloved older brother when we were younger, since he was always very kind to Luhan. I never really told Luhan what Han Geng’s true unprincipled character was like, which I regret. Han Geng had continued to keep in contact with Luhan, and my brother fancied himself in love with him. Han Geng had managed to convince him of his dire straits, and my brother was quite ready to transfer a lot of it over to Han Geng without question, maybe even run away with him. Thankfully, Luhan ended up telling me the whole situation, and I made sure to let Han Geng know that by no means would he be getting any of Luhan’s money. He has not bothered us since.
I understand that Han Geng must have lied to you about what really happened, and so I don’t blame you for your ignorance in the matter. I hope you can now understand that I have not deliberately been cruel to him. If you don’t believe me, you can check with my cousin Yixing, who was fully aware of the situation.
I wish you health and good luck in your future endeavours,
Wu Yi Fan
--
Tao rereads the letter several times, just to make sure he hasn’t missed anything. His first inclination is to scoff at Kris’ explanation of Baekhyun’s “indifference” and ignore everything said against Han Geng. But the more he reads the part about Han Geng, the more doubts he has. Kris’ account of the situation is far more detailed than Han Geng’s sketchy one was, and Tao thinks that Yixing will probably corroborate the story.
And when he thinks more critically about Han Geng, he admits that there’s something not quite straightforward and honest about the guy. But then, it doesn’t make sense for him to only believe the second half of Kris’ letter and not the first bit about Chanyeol and Baekhyun.
“Are you going to tell me what happened between you and Kris Wu?” Kyungsoo sits down beside him on the bed. Tao miserably waves the letter in his face, and Kyungsoo peruses it briefly. “You know I can barely read Chinese characters, right?”
Tao explains most of it to Kyungsoo, though he remembers to leave out the part about Luhan. “Wow, it’s like one of those weekend melodramas.” Kyungsoo comments after hearing about Han Geng. Then Tao tells him shortly about why Chanyeol left, and Kyungsoo sighs heavily. “I told you that Baekhyun-hyung should have been more obvious!”
“It’s all Kris Wu’s fault for interfering!” Tao retorts.
“Well, yeah, I’m mad at him too.” Kyungsoo reassures him. “But I think I can kind of see where he’s coming from. And I mean, I’d be a hypocrite if I said I hadn’t once thought that Baekhyun marrying Chanyeol would solve our financial problems. Then I wouldn’t need to have taken up this job.”
“Oh, hyung.” Tao pats his brother sympathetically, but Kyungsoo shakes his head and smiles to let Tao know that he isn’t bitter about his situation. “Should I tell Baekhyun-hyung?”
“I don’t know.” Kyungsoo sighs again. “What if Park Chanyeol has already moved on? Maybe what Baekhyun-hyung needs is to just get over him, and not get mixed up in more of this chaebol drama.”
“Is that meant to be a warning to me too?” Tao asks impishly.
Kyungsoo snorts. “If you’d accepted Kris Wu, I think I’d have to disown you. Now come on, you need to start packing.”
Later on, Tao bids an almost tearful farewell to Kyungsoo, promising to come and visit whenever he can. Tao is pleasantly surprised when Minseok also comes along to the train station to see him off. Even though the older man is somewhat reserved, he’s a goodhearted fellow who has indeed been taking good care of Kyungsoo in Daejeon, which Tao really appreciates. “Thanks for taking care of us, hyung.” Tao decides to ignore Minseok’s reservations and hugs the surprised man.
Minseok awkwardly pats the tall boy. “It was good to have you here.” Then he shoves a paper bag at Tao. “It’s just something to eat on the trip back.”
Tao peers inside to see a few steamed buns, and grins. “They remind me of you, hyung!” He holds one up to Minseok’s chubby face for comparison, and they all laugh.
--
{August}
In the end, Tao decides to tell Baekhyun about the Han Geng story. As expected, Baekhyun is horrified at what a terrible person Han Geng has turned out to be, especially since he was absolutely charming when they’d met him. He does try to console Tao for having wholeheartedly believed Han Geng in the first place.
“I feel kind of sorry for Kris Wu now.” Baekhyun muses and Tao’s eyes widen. “I mean, you rejected him really harshly.”
“What the…” Tao splutters. “Can you blame me? He was going on and on about how inferior I was!”
“Yes, but you were already prejudiced against him based on your first impression of him, and what you thought he did to Han Geng-ssi.” Baekhyun reminds him gently. “And now that we know what really happened in the past, it certainly paints Kris Wu in a much better light.”
“His confession sucked.” Tao defends himself grumpily. “And it’s not like I like him back, so there.”
“Well, I’m happy as long as you’re happy.” Baekhyun smiles.
And yet Tao can see that Baekhyun isn’t happy. He can tell from the way Baekhyun expresses regret over not being able to meet up with Chanyeol, how he isn’t interested in meeting anyone new, and how despite Sehun’s insistence, Baekhyun still defends Chanyeol’s character to the end. Tao knows that Baekhyun did love and still loves Chanyeol. The only problem is whether Chanyeol himself has moved on already.
And so he can’t bring himself to tell Baekhyun about how cruelly and unnecessarily he was separated from Chanyeol . He also decides not to tell Joonmyun and Sehun about Han Geng, mainly so as to protect Kris and Luhan’s reputations. It’s all for the best.
--
{September}
Hi everyone!
Nothing much has happened since I got back from Daejeon and Beef-hyung returned from Seoul. There’s a lot that I can’t tell you, but all you need to know is that I had a rather tense exchange of comments with Beijing Guy over Facebook, and I’m glad to say I’ll probably never see him again. Milk Boy doesn’t know about it, and continues to chat with him, mostly about dancing. I don’t really think it’s anything to worry about, though I wish Milk Boy would start thinking more seriously about what he’s going to do for the rest of his life. There’s nothing wrong with being a dancer, but it’s not easy to succeed in that area.
Then again, who am I to dampen the dreams of another? After all, you can do anything you put your mind to!
Oh, I almost forgot that I applied for this short program for my degree which allows students to get some work experience in a Chinese company, and that I got accepted! This means that I get to go to Beijing for a short stint and that someone will supervise me and give me a report at the end of it. Personally, I think I got picked because I’m actually Chinese, and will find it easier to learn over there. There’s another guy in my course who’s going as well, though I don’t know how fluent he is. It’ll be a good chance to make a new friend!
Signing off, Kungfu Panda Tao
--
The other student going along with him is one Kim Jongdae, a short boy with enviable cheekbones and a GPA higher than Tao’s. The first thing he does when he meets Tao is to introduce himself in accented Mandarin. “Hi! My name is Jin Zhong Da! My family has four people: Dad, Mum, my older brother, and me. Nice to meet you!”
Tao has to struggle not to laugh at the other boy’s enthusiasm, and introduces himself as well. “You speak Mandarin really well.” He compliments him in Korean.
“Thanks!” Jongdae beams. “I’ve been learning it since I started university. With the rise of the Chinese market, it really helps to know how to communicate in Mandarin.”
Tao is suddenly reminded of Kris being a Chinese businessman based in Beijing. But then he remembers that Kris is probably still in Seoul, and that Beijing has about 20 million other people for him to bump into. His mind starts wandering, and he finds himself pondering what nickname to bestow on Jongdae for his blog. Then he notices the other boy’s bright orange bag and shoes, and smiles.
--
{October}
Hi everyone!
My new friend Chenchen and I have arrived in Beijing! For privacy reasons, I can’t tell you which company we’re posted to, but it’s a pretty big one! We’ve only met a couple of the people in charge of us here, but they’re very welcoming. Our supervisor even speaks some Korean! From what they’ve said, the whole company provides a very cohesive working environment, thanks to their CEO’s policies. He sounds like an all-around good boss - that is, as long as they’re not just being bootlickers.
Chenchen’s Mandarin is gradually improving. He kept on bugging me during the plane ride here to teach him all kinds of phrases. I think the other passengers around us probably thought we were idiots. To be honest, my Mandarin isn’t that fantastic, having spent quite a significant part of my life growing up in Korea. And the people here have this accent that makes it harder to understand them. It’s kind of similar to Duizhang’s accent, come to think of it.
I know I said I wouldn’t talk about him anymore, but he just seems to sneak into my mind when I least expect it! I guess after having had extended exposure to him in Daejeon, my opinion of him has changed a bit. At least, I no longer think of him as an evil jerk who gets his kicks from making others suffer. He’s still arrogant, snobby and rude, though. I doubt that would ever change.
Hmph.
¬--
“You boys are in luck today.” Their supervisor, a tall man named Zhou Mi tells them excitedly.
“Why?” Jongdae asks. (It’s one of his favourite Mandarin phrases, along with “what’s that”.)
“Our CEO happens to be in town - he’s often away in Korea to oversee our other branches,” Zhou Mi explains, “and he said he’d like to meet the two students interning in our department.”
“Meet us?” Tao echoes in surprise. Interns like them - who aren’t even really interns, more like students on placement - are small fry in a company as large as this. “Oh wow.”
“Now, there’s no need to be nervous.” Zhou Mi reassures them with a wide smile. “Our boss is a great guy. You just need to get used to his formal way of speaking. He expects a lot from us, but also sees to it that we as employees are treated well.”
“Zhou Mi.” A pretty young woman calls him. “Can you come over for five minutes and have a look at this spreadsheet?”
“Oh, sure.” He follows her, leaving Tao and Jongdae in the office.
“Do you think there’s time to go to and grab a biscuit?” Jongdae reverts back to Korean and looks longingly in the direction of the pantry. “I’m kind of hungry.”
“Can’t you wait, like, half an hour?” Tao glances at his watch. “We’ll be going for lunch soon.”
“I’m a growing boy.” Jongdae insists. “And I know you want some tea too, so just come on.”
“Okay.” Tao grumbles. “If we get in trouble, I’m blaming you.” He doesn’t quite understand how a poor scholarship student like Jongdae can be so carefree when it comes to his studies. He supposes it’s because he’s brilliant enough to do well.
They notice a tall man in the pantry making tea. Though they can only see him from the back, he looks a little too well-dressed to be one of the regular office staff.
“I wonder where the biscuits are.” Jongdae muses. “I’m so hungry.”
The tall man turns around, and Tao nearly falls over in shock at seeing Kris Wu standing in the pantry, staring back at him.
“Hello.” Tao bows immediately, feeling his face grow warm with a sudden rush of unidentifiable emotion.
“Hello.” Kris returns, looking a little surprised to see them there.
Jongdae automatically says hello when he hears the two of them greet each other, but takes a closer look at Kris’ face and steps back. “It’s the boss!” He hisses at Tao in Korean.
“What?” Tao glances back and forth between Jongdae and Kris.
“He’s the CEO! Didn’t you see his picture in the lobby?” Jongdae sounds exasperated now, and Tao tries to picture the lobby he’s always just hurried through.
“He’s right.” Kris acknowledges in Korean, and Jongdae blinks, only just remembering what Zhou Mi said about the CEO having to manage business in Korea very often. “How do you find the working environment here?” He asks Tao politely.
“It’s um… great.” Tao stutters, still aghast at defying all the odds to meet the man he’d yelled at and rejected not too long ago.
“We’re really thankful for the opportunity to be here.” Jongdae rattles off after he realises that Tao’s brain seems to have shut down temporarily. “Everyone’s been very kind and helpful.” He continues talking about the technical aspects of what they’ve experienced, but it all sounds like gibberish to Tao.
Kris looks fairly pleased with whatever Jongdae just said, so Tao guesses it was good. “I’m glad to hear it. The university told the HR department that they were sending two of the brightest students in your year. I was informed that you’re one of the few recipients of the Lee Soo Man scholarship.”
“Yes, that’s right.” Jongdae smiles bashfully, looking much younger than his actual age. “I couldn’t have afforded the tuition fees otherwise.”
At that, Tao’s gaze immediately flicks to Kris, wondering if he’ll be just as snobby to Jongdae as he was to Tao and the rest of their neighbourhood. To his bewilderment, Kris merely nods and starts talking to the Korean about his education and future job prospects.
Tao stares as the two of them leave the pantry and continue talking. It’s as if Kris is a different person from the guy he met all those months ago. Perhaps if he’d been like this all along, Tao wouldn’t have refused his confession of love.
Woah, where did that thought come from?
--
Surprisingly, Kris invites Jongdae and Tao to sit in one of his lunchtime meetings. Zhou Mi informs them that it’s because Kris is generally too busy and has to schedule certain in-house meetings over lunch. In order to make up for it, he makes sure that a good spread is catered for the employees who have to attend.
“None of that sandwich tray or packet fried rice nonsense.” Zhou Mi informs them happily.
“Hotpot?” Jongdae asks, his eyes shining.
“Don’t be silly.” Tao admonishes him. “How can you have hotpot in an office?”
Nevertheless, they’re both pretty excited about being allowed to sit in at such a meeting, since it’s good experience for them as business administration students. The lunch turns out to be excellent, to Jongdae’s and Tao’s delight, and they both studiously note down their observations in for their reports. The meeting also shows Tao the professional businessman that Kris Wu is, and his esteem for the other man grudgingly increases.
At the end of the meeting as people are filing out, Tao feels the need to grab the opportunity to just talk to Kris about the long letter he wrote. Before he can do so, a slight young man slips into the room and dives straight into a conversation with Kris. The young man is handsome, almost pretty, and talks to Kris with a familiarity that makes Tao feel uncomfortable. Tao doesn’t think he’s ever seen Kris smile like that before, and it does weird things to his stomach.
“Hey, are we going?” Jongdae nudges Tao in the side. “We’re supposed to follow Zhou Mi-hyung for his other meeting.”
“I got it.” Tao rubs his side in annoyance. “There’s no need to poke me.”
The handsome young man suddenly stops talking to Kris and turns around to look at them. Then he looks back at Kris and asks, “Are they the ones from Korea?”
Kris nods, and the young man hits him lightly on the arm. “I suppose you’d like to meet them.”
“Of course!” The young man practically tugs Kris over to the two students, and Tao tries to ignore the weird feeling in his stomach.
“These are the two students from Pusan University.” Kris introduces, sounding a little reserved.
“Hello, I am Jin Zhong Da! Nice to meet you!” Jongdae bows and shakes the young man’s hand.
“Hello, I’m Luhan.” The young man replies cheerfully, and turns to Tao expectantly.
The name sounds terribly familiar to Tao, who only realises who this person is a few moments later. “Oh.” He realises he’s been staring blankly into space and hurries to introduce himself. “I’m Huang Zitao.”
“Hello.” Luhan smiles. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Really?” Tao’s eyes widen, and he glances at Kris, who looks a little uncomfortable. What exactly has Kris told Luhan? That Tao’s an adopted orphan? That he does martial arts? That he rejected Luhan’s brother’s feelings?
“Only good things, don’t worry.” Luhan chuckles, and then notices Jongdae’s look of confusion. “Oh, I’m sorry.” He switches to perfect Korean, even less accented than Kris’. “It must be difficult for you to do an internship at a Chinese company.”
Jongdae gapes at him. “You speak Korean?”
“Yes. I studied Korean at Seoul National University.” Luhan explains. “I love Korean food, the culture, the music… it’s so nice to have Korean people to talk to.” He turns to Kris. “We should all have dinner tomorrow when Chanyeol-hyung comes over.”
“Park Chanyeol is coming?” Tao asks incredulously, his thoughts immediately going to Baekhyun. Kris looks even more uncomfortable.
“Yes, you’ve met him, haven’t you?” Luhan doesn’t wait for a reply. “Okay, it’s settled.”
“Shouldn’t you ask them whether they actually want to go for dinner with us?” Kris points out. “They might have other plans already.”
“Come on ge, don’t be a wet blanket.” Luhan pouts, and really, who can resist that face? Certainly not Kris, who promptly gives in.
--
It feels weird to see Park Chanyeol again after so long. Tao isn’t as mad at Chanyeol as he was before reading Kris’ letter, and Chanyeol is such a happy, friendly person that it’s difficult to stay angry at him anyway. In some ways Chanyeol and Luhan are quite similar, especially when compared to the quieter, more solemn Kris. But as far as Tao can tell, there’s nothing romantic at all going on between Chanyeol and Luhan, which means that Choi Jinri was just speculating over nothing.
It all brings back thoughts of Baekhyun, and Tao desperately wishes he could tell whether Chanyeol still likes his brother. The topic comes up when Chanyeol asks after Tao’s family, and Tao purposely mentions that Baekhyun had been in Seoul for work.
“If only I’d known! What a pity.” Chanyeol says. “It would have been nice to get a meal with him.”
Before Tao can continue to press the issue, Chanyeol starts talking to Jongdae about his family, and Luhan seizes the chance to ask Tao about what his first impression of Kris was. Tao feels kind of bad for being so prejudiced against Kris from the beginning, and tries to tone it down a little when recounting it to Luhan.
“You do martial arts, right?” Luhan asks.
“Yes, I’ve been practicing for many years.” Tao affirms, and then shoots Kris a cheeky look. “But your brother wasn’t too impressed by it.”
Luhan appears confused. “That can’t be true. He’s the one who told me about it. He said you’re really good at wushu!”
Tao blinks. “He did?” He looks at Kris, who shrugs noncommittally. “But… how would you know?”
“I saw you practicing some routines that time when you were staying over at Chanyeol’s place.” Kris admits. “It was impressive.”
“Oh.” Tao finds himself at a loss for words. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Luhan notices both of them blushing slightly, and smiles to himself.
--
“You’re lucky I always carry my charger around.” Jongdae snorts and hands the charger to Tao.
“Thank you, Jongdae-goon. What ever would I do without you?” Tao bows mockingly and starts charging his phone, leaving it on his desk. It’s been dead almost the whole morning, and even though there’s probably no one calling or texting him, it still irks him to have an empty battery.
He returns a couple of hours later to get something from his desk, and notices Kris talking to Zhou Mi in the office. It seems kind of odd that he’s managed to see so much of Kris when the older man is supposed to be terribly busy. Luhan also tends to pop by quite a bit, but he’s given to understand that the younger brother isn’t that high up on the hierarchy yet. Even Chanyeol managed to drop by to have a chat once, the highlight being that he actually asked whether Baekhyun was seeing anyone else, to which Tao had happily informed him that he wasn’t.
He picks up his phone and notices seven missed calls from Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, Joonmyun and their home phone number. Panicking a little, he quickly calls Baekhyun back. “Tao-yah?”
“Hyung, you called me like three times! What happened?”
“Oh my gosh, it’s terrible! Sehunnie’s in trouble!”
“What?”
“He left us a message saying that he ran off with Han Geng-ssi in order to pursue his dreams of becoming a dancer!”
“WHAT?”
“Apparently Han Geng-ssi told him that he could help Sehunnie get into an entertainment company to train him to become a dancer. But he told Sehunnie that it would require a particular admission fee as a guarantee that he wouldn’t just drop out of the training. And obviously the amount was more than he has in the bank, but he didn’t ask Joonmyun-hyung or me or Kyungsoo for the money, and he’s gone now! He told us not to worry about it, but I’m afraid he might have done something silly like borrow money from loan sharks!”
Tao can physically feel the blood draining from his face, and he clutches the edge of the table, his knuckles turning white. “Do…do we at least know where he might be?”
“No…I don’t know! I’m sure he’s still in Korea - he left his passport at home, so he can’t have possibly followed Han Geng-ssi all the way back to China. Right?”
Tao slumps back, because it hadn’t even occurred to him that Sehun might have left the country. “Yeah, I hope you’re right.”
“Oh, Joonmyun-hyung says the latest text he got from Sehun said that he’s already signed some contract with the company, but that they never got the money from Han Geng-ssi, so he needs to come up with more! Tao-yah, I’m really afraid he’s gotten into trouble with them, and doesn’t know how to get out of it, or else maybe he’s unwilling to ask for our help! You know how stubborn he can be…”
“Okay, that’s it.” Tao shakes his head furiously. “I’m coming home on the earliest flight I can get, and we will figure this out together, okay?”
“But your internship hasn’t ended yet-”
“Hyung, that doesn’t matter! This is a family emergency!” Tao figures he’ll give the university some reason for special consideration, or get Jongdae or Kris to make excuses for him, whatever works. “I’ll call you later. Bye.”
He turns around to see Kris standing next to his desk, a worried expression on his typically serious face. “Did something happen?” He asks in concern.
“Yes…I… it’s a family emergency. I… I need to go home. Book a flight.” Tao’s finding it hard to string his words together in proper sentences, focusing instead on stuffing his things into his backpack. “Oh my god. How…why…”
“Zitao, calm down. Look at me.” Kris grabs him by the shoulders and steadies him. Tao looks at Kris in surprise and panic. “Just breathe, in and out, nice and deep.” Tao obeys him and feels his heartbeat slowing down to a less frantic pace. “Now, tell me what happened.”
Thankfully, the office is pretty empty, and Tao’s desk is far away enough to ensure that no one will overhear them. Tao shakily recounts Baekhyun’s disorganised story to Kris, who looks grim from the moment Han Geng’s name is mentioned. Tao thinks his own explanation is even more garbled than Baekhyun’s, but Kris doesn’t interrupt him until he’s done.
“I need to go home.” Tao repeats. “I need to be with my family. I know that my internship is supposed to be for a few more days, but I need to go home.”
“Don’t worry about the internship. I will make sure that it’s all sorted out.” Kris assures him firmly. “I will book a flight for you back to Korea,” he holds up a hand when Tao starts to protest, “and you can go and pack whatever you need to go home. If you leave anything behind, Jongdae-ssi will get it for you.”
It’s nothing short of amazing that Kris is handling this so well, and that Tao trusts him implicitly. “It’s my fault, you know. You told me about Han Geng and what kind of person he is. I could have told Joonmyun-hyung and Sehun, and then this wouldn’t have happened.”
“It is not your fault.” Kris insists. “If you’re going to blame yourself for that, then I should be held responsible myself for not broadcasting his misdeeds years ago and ruining his reputation.”
And by that admission, Tao knows that Kris does blame himself, and knows exactly how Tao is feeling at this moment. His lower lip trembles and his eyes feel damp, but Kris’ hand on his shoulder keeps him steady.
--
“He must be in Seoul.” Joonmyun mutters, almost to himself. “That’s where his school friend told us he was talking about going to. That’s where all those entertainment companies are based.”
“What are we going to do if we find him and it turns out that he owes someone a lot of money, along with interest?” Baekhyun worries. “How are we going to pay that kind of money?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, right?” Tao paces up and down. “The main thing is to find him and get him to see sense and come home.”
The phone rings and Joonmyun dives for it. “Hello?” He says frantically, before relaxing. “Kyungsoo-yah.” He listens for a while and his eyes widen. “Yeah, that sounds familiar!” There’s more talking, and Joonmyun smiles a little. “Okay, that sounds great! Call us back when you know more, okay?”
“What, what did he say?” Tao jumps in the moment Joonmyun puts the phone down.
“He says that Sehun has this ex-classmate who moved to Seoul, and that perhaps Sehun might have contacted him for a place to stay, you know…” Joonmyun gestures, and Tao and Baekhyun nod. “I’m going to call some of his friends to see if we can get any contacts.”
“I can do that.” Baekhyun volunteers. “I’ve spoken to some of them before.”
“Okay. Also, Kyungsoo said that our cousin Minseok has a friend in Seoul working in one of the big entertainment companies, so he’ll try to see what he can do.”
Tao begins to feel slightly more hopeful. But to be honest, he doesn’t think any of this will work unless Sehun himself wants to come home. He wonders when they started neglecting Sehun so much that he didn’t think he could trust them enough to tell them about all this or to ask for help.
--
“Let me do something.” Luhan tries to stare his older brother down, which is kind of hard to do when Kris is several inches taller than him.
“Look, there’s nothing you can do.” Kris grits his teeth. “It’s all happening in Seoul, you have no idea what Oh Sehun looks like, and even if you found him, what would you do?”
Luhan hates it when Kris treats him like a helpless little boy, even though he knows that Kris is probably right about it. It’s just that the memory of being manipulated by Han Geng makes him so mad that he would do almost anything to prevent it from happening to anyone else, much less the younger brother of his new friend Zitao.
“I think I can find Han Geng.” Luhan realises aloud, and Kris looks both annoyed and confused at the same time. “I know a few of the people in his dance troupe.” Kris looks like he’s about to object, but Luhan ignores him. “Ge, I’m not the stupid kid I was back then. I am not going to be swayed by a handsome face and pretty words. I am just going to find out where they are, so that you can hunt him down.”
Kris looks at his younger brother, who doesn’t seem so young anymore, and sighs. “Fine.”
--
When Sehun finally calls back, the rest of them are nearly beside themselves with worry. “Sehun-ah, are you okay?” Joonmyun asks, putting their youngest on speakerphone.
“Um, yes, I mean, I don’t really know.” Sehun’s voice sounds strained, but Tao can’t tell whether it’s because of the phone.
“Sehun-ah, you need to come home.” Baekhyun pleads.
“I can’t. Maybe if I stick to this, it’ll all work out in the end.”
“But it could be a scam!” Tao says exasperatedly. “What kind of bona fide company needs this kind of payment from prospective trainees?”
“You don’t know that!” Sehun says defensively, but they can tell that he’s having doubts as well. “You guys never supported the idea of me becoming a dancer anyway.”
“Sehun-ah, it’s really not like that.” Baekhyun tries to calm things down. “We just want you to come home. Or at least tell us where you are, so that we can come and help you. If this company is genuine about training you, then we’ll have a look at the contract and then do whatever we can to get the money.”
“I haven’t actually met them yet.” Sehun admits in a small voice. “Han Geng-hyung has been the one doing all the talking to his friend in the company.”
Tao feels his stomach sinking. “Sehun-ah, there’s something you should know about Han Geng-ssi.”
--
“Here’s your stuff.” Jongdae presents a bag to Tao at school.
“Thanks. I’m sorry you had to go to the trouble of bringing it back.” Tao says sincerely.
Jongdae shrugs. “What are friends for?” Then he grins. “Besides, Kris sunbae-nim paid for the extra baggage cost.”
“Oh.”
“I think he likes you, man.” Jongdae whispers conspiratorially even though there’s no one around to hear them. When Tao fails to respond to the teasing, Jongdae’s expression becomes serious. “So, how’s the family emergency…thing?”
Tao manages a weak smile. “We’re making some progress. I’ll let you know when it’s all taken care of. We’ll invite you to a celebratory dinner.”
“Sure.” Jongdae chuckles. “Just let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
--
“Sehun-ah?” Joonmyun blinks in confusion. “Slow down! Say that again?”
“What? What’s he saying?” Tao prods Joonmyun urgently, and the older man quickly turns the speakerphone on.
“You were right about it being a scam, hyung. And it’s all okay - I’m out of there and I don’t have to pay out any more money.”
“The last time you said you were okay…”
“I’m serious, hyung! I was just being a brat because I didn’t want to believe that I’d been tricked by Han Geng-ssi. But Tao-hyung was right about him. I managed to get the money back too!”
Tao is elated, but a niggling suspicion remains because this sounds utterly too good to be true. How on earth would Sehun have been able to get all his money back from Han Geng?
“And the best part is, I auditioned for SM Entertainment and got in!”
Now, even Joonmyun, who doesn’t listen to much pop music at all, knows about SM Entertainment. “You’re going to become an idol singer?”
“No hyung, I only auditioned under the dancer category. It’s all thanks to Minseok-hyung’s friend, Kim Jongin. He’s one of the backup dancers for DBSK, and he managed to get me an audition!”
“That’s amazing!” Joonmyun says, wanting to be supportive. “When are you coming home? We really miss you.”
“I miss you too.” The affection in Sehun’s voice is sincere. “The company was quite understanding about my situation, and said I can go home now to get my stuff, but I need to start being there full time in a week’s time.”
“Did you read the contract carefully?” Tao asks.
“Yes. Jongin-hyung helped me through it. And before you say he works for the company so he can’t be trusted, he said he was doing it for Minseok-hyung’s sake.”
“I wasn’t going to say that.” Tao grumbles half-heartedly.
--
The first thing Tao does is to call Baekhyun to let him know the good news. The next thing he does is to call Kyungsoo and ask him for details on how exactly Sehun got everything sorted out.
“I don’t know.” Kyungsoo sounds just as puzzled. “All I know is that by the time Kim Jongin managed to contact Sehunnie, he’d already fixed the whole money issue.”
Tao exhales slowly. “I don’t understand how this could have happened. There’s no way Han Geng would have just returned him the money just like that. I don’t care how much Baekhyun-hyung claims that he must have had a change of heart.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t make sense.” Kyungsoo muses. “Either he’s lying to us about the money issue and thinks he’ll fix it somehow, or someone must have helped him. When he comes home, make sure he explains everything, okay? I don’t want to come home to find that our house has been mortgaged to pay off a bunch of loan sharks.”
“I know. And can you do us a favour? Please let Minseok-hyung and this Kim Jongin fellow know how grateful we are for their help.”
“Of course.” Kyungsoo sounds a little insulted. “What do you take me for? I’m inviting them both over for a home-cooked meal.”
“Lucky them.” Tao grins.
--
Comments mean the world to me!
Chapter: 3/4
Pairings: Taoris, Baekyeol
Genre: Romance, humour
Rating: PG
Summary: In which Chanyeol and Kris' sudden appearance in the lives of Joonmyun's tight-knit family starts off a series of events involving laughter, heartbreak, misunderstandings and love.
Disclaimer: inspired by the web-series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modern retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. i.e. I don't own the plot.
“But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them for ever.” - Pride and Prejudice
The last thing Tao expects is for Kris Wu to show up at Kyungsoo’s apartment on a Saturday morning with a letter in his hand. Kyungsoo forces Tao to actually go and receive the letter from Kris. “I know he made you mad, but you should at least hear his side of the story.” Kyungsoo points out reasonably.
Tao hates it when Kyungsoo gets all reasonable, but accepts the letter from Kris in a civil manner. “Please read it.” The older man entreats before bowing slightly and leaving. Tao is a little surprised by Kris’ courteous attitude, and curiosity forces him to open the letter and read it. It’s written in Chinese, and the style is more formal than Tao is used to.
To: Huang Zitao
Before you worry that I’m trying to pursue you by writing this, you can rest assured that I understand your feelings towards me and won’t do so again. My purpose in writing this letter is to explain two of the issues you brought up in our last conversation.
Firstly, you blamed me for causing Chanyeol and your brother Baekhyun-ssi to be separated. While this is absolutely true, I would like to explain why I did so in full assurance that it was the right thing to do. It was obvious to everyone that Chanyeol liked your brother, and as his best friend, I could see that he was seriously attached to him. But when I looked at how Baekhyun-ssi behaved towards him, he was kind and friendly, but didn’t seem to return the same depth of feeling for Chanyeol. Based on what you said, and the fact that you obviously know your brother better than I do, I admit that I could have been wrong about his feelings for Chanyeol.
You asked me whether I thought Baekhyun-ssi was leading Chanyeol on for the sake of money. Even though I said a lot about the differences in our social standing (none of which I rescind), I never once thought that Baekhyun-ssi was doing so, especially since I believed him to be somewhat indifferent to Chanyeol’s love. However, I must point out that both your older brother Joonmyun and your younger brother Sehun have mentioned more than once how Baekhyun’s relationship with Chanyeol would help with your family’s financial difficulties. I know it must hurt to hear someone speaking about your family like this, but I am only being honest. And believe me when I tell you that there have been many other guys in the past who have taken advantage of Chanyeol’s trusting nature and his wealth, and that I feel responsible to make sure it doesn’t happen as far as I can help it.
After he left for Seoul, I convinced him that he was better off forgetting about your brother. Despite all I said about the possibility of your family wanting his money, and how it would reflect poorly on his position, he only relented after I assured him that Baekhyun-ssi really didn’t love him back in the same way. Something you may only have guessed at is that I was actually aware of Baekhyun-ssi coming to Seoul, but I made sure that Chanyeol didn’t know about it. I was concerned that if they met up, Chanyeol would go back to pursuing your brother, who might be too kind to let him down properly. If I have really hurt your brother by my actions, I apologise, but I did not know that I was doing so, and I believe I acted for the best.
Secondly, you accused me of having wronged Han Geng by robbing him of money that my father promised to him. I don’t know exactly what he has told you, but I will explain the situation as it really happened.
Han Geng’s father was one of my father’s employees, and was a good and honest worker. My father was his friend, and treated Han Geng like a godson. And even after his father died, my father took him in and paid for all his private schooling and any living expenses that his own father’s assets couldn’t cover (due to Han Geng’s mother’s previously extravagant lifestyle). He was one of my best friends then, and it was a long while before I became aware of what his true character was like.
After my own father died, he put it in his will that I should make sure that Han Geng’s higher education should be paid for, as well as a good place to live until he started working and earning his own wages. He also left him a particular sum of money for his own. Not long after that, Han Geng informed me that he was hoping to study at Beijing University, and that he would need more money that that initial sum to cover his living expenses, as well as the money for tuition fees. By then I already had some idea of his poor character, but hoped that he would be serious about his studies. So I made sure the funds were transferred to him, and thought I probably wouldn’t really see him much after that.
I heard about his extravagant lifestyle and some gambling problems, and after a couple of years, he called me up to ask for more money because his had run out. He also said that he’d dropped out of his course at university and wanted to sign up with some performance company that required him to provide some start-up money as a guarantee. He tried to use my father’s love for him to persuade me, but since I realised he was just going to keep wasting my father’s money, I refused him. Obviously, he resented me for doing so, and no longer considered me a friend.
Now, I must mention an event that was very painful, and that I hope you will keep to yourself. I think you know that I have a younger brother called Luhan, who was young and impressionable at that time. He had always looked up to Han Geng as a beloved older brother when we were younger, since he was always very kind to Luhan. I never really told Luhan what Han Geng’s true unprincipled character was like, which I regret. Han Geng had continued to keep in contact with Luhan, and my brother fancied himself in love with him. Han Geng had managed to convince him of his dire straits, and my brother was quite ready to transfer a lot of it over to Han Geng without question, maybe even run away with him. Thankfully, Luhan ended up telling me the whole situation, and I made sure to let Han Geng know that by no means would he be getting any of Luhan’s money. He has not bothered us since.
I understand that Han Geng must have lied to you about what really happened, and so I don’t blame you for your ignorance in the matter. I hope you can now understand that I have not deliberately been cruel to him. If you don’t believe me, you can check with my cousin Yixing, who was fully aware of the situation.
I wish you health and good luck in your future endeavours,
Wu Yi Fan
--
Tao rereads the letter several times, just to make sure he hasn’t missed anything. His first inclination is to scoff at Kris’ explanation of Baekhyun’s “indifference” and ignore everything said against Han Geng. But the more he reads the part about Han Geng, the more doubts he has. Kris’ account of the situation is far more detailed than Han Geng’s sketchy one was, and Tao thinks that Yixing will probably corroborate the story.
And when he thinks more critically about Han Geng, he admits that there’s something not quite straightforward and honest about the guy. But then, it doesn’t make sense for him to only believe the second half of Kris’ letter and not the first bit about Chanyeol and Baekhyun.
“Are you going to tell me what happened between you and Kris Wu?” Kyungsoo sits down beside him on the bed. Tao miserably waves the letter in his face, and Kyungsoo peruses it briefly. “You know I can barely read Chinese characters, right?”
Tao explains most of it to Kyungsoo, though he remembers to leave out the part about Luhan. “Wow, it’s like one of those weekend melodramas.” Kyungsoo comments after hearing about Han Geng. Then Tao tells him shortly about why Chanyeol left, and Kyungsoo sighs heavily. “I told you that Baekhyun-hyung should have been more obvious!”
“It’s all Kris Wu’s fault for interfering!” Tao retorts.
“Well, yeah, I’m mad at him too.” Kyungsoo reassures him. “But I think I can kind of see where he’s coming from. And I mean, I’d be a hypocrite if I said I hadn’t once thought that Baekhyun marrying Chanyeol would solve our financial problems. Then I wouldn’t need to have taken up this job.”
“Oh, hyung.” Tao pats his brother sympathetically, but Kyungsoo shakes his head and smiles to let Tao know that he isn’t bitter about his situation. “Should I tell Baekhyun-hyung?”
“I don’t know.” Kyungsoo sighs again. “What if Park Chanyeol has already moved on? Maybe what Baekhyun-hyung needs is to just get over him, and not get mixed up in more of this chaebol drama.”
“Is that meant to be a warning to me too?” Tao asks impishly.
Kyungsoo snorts. “If you’d accepted Kris Wu, I think I’d have to disown you. Now come on, you need to start packing.”
Later on, Tao bids an almost tearful farewell to Kyungsoo, promising to come and visit whenever he can. Tao is pleasantly surprised when Minseok also comes along to the train station to see him off. Even though the older man is somewhat reserved, he’s a goodhearted fellow who has indeed been taking good care of Kyungsoo in Daejeon, which Tao really appreciates. “Thanks for taking care of us, hyung.” Tao decides to ignore Minseok’s reservations and hugs the surprised man.
Minseok awkwardly pats the tall boy. “It was good to have you here.” Then he shoves a paper bag at Tao. “It’s just something to eat on the trip back.”
Tao peers inside to see a few steamed buns, and grins. “They remind me of you, hyung!” He holds one up to Minseok’s chubby face for comparison, and they all laugh.
--
{August}
In the end, Tao decides to tell Baekhyun about the Han Geng story. As expected, Baekhyun is horrified at what a terrible person Han Geng has turned out to be, especially since he was absolutely charming when they’d met him. He does try to console Tao for having wholeheartedly believed Han Geng in the first place.
“I feel kind of sorry for Kris Wu now.” Baekhyun muses and Tao’s eyes widen. “I mean, you rejected him really harshly.”
“What the…” Tao splutters. “Can you blame me? He was going on and on about how inferior I was!”
“Yes, but you were already prejudiced against him based on your first impression of him, and what you thought he did to Han Geng-ssi.” Baekhyun reminds him gently. “And now that we know what really happened in the past, it certainly paints Kris Wu in a much better light.”
“His confession sucked.” Tao defends himself grumpily. “And it’s not like I like him back, so there.”
“Well, I’m happy as long as you’re happy.” Baekhyun smiles.
And yet Tao can see that Baekhyun isn’t happy. He can tell from the way Baekhyun expresses regret over not being able to meet up with Chanyeol, how he isn’t interested in meeting anyone new, and how despite Sehun’s insistence, Baekhyun still defends Chanyeol’s character to the end. Tao knows that Baekhyun did love and still loves Chanyeol. The only problem is whether Chanyeol himself has moved on already.
And so he can’t bring himself to tell Baekhyun about how cruelly and unnecessarily he was separated from Chanyeol . He also decides not to tell Joonmyun and Sehun about Han Geng, mainly so as to protect Kris and Luhan’s reputations. It’s all for the best.
--
{September}
Hi everyone!
Nothing much has happened since I got back from Daejeon and Beef-hyung returned from Seoul. There’s a lot that I can’t tell you, but all you need to know is that I had a rather tense exchange of comments with Beijing Guy over Facebook, and I’m glad to say I’ll probably never see him again. Milk Boy doesn’t know about it, and continues to chat with him, mostly about dancing. I don’t really think it’s anything to worry about, though I wish Milk Boy would start thinking more seriously about what he’s going to do for the rest of his life. There’s nothing wrong with being a dancer, but it’s not easy to succeed in that area.
Then again, who am I to dampen the dreams of another? After all, you can do anything you put your mind to!
Oh, I almost forgot that I applied for this short program for my degree which allows students to get some work experience in a Chinese company, and that I got accepted! This means that I get to go to Beijing for a short stint and that someone will supervise me and give me a report at the end of it. Personally, I think I got picked because I’m actually Chinese, and will find it easier to learn over there. There’s another guy in my course who’s going as well, though I don’t know how fluent he is. It’ll be a good chance to make a new friend!
Signing off, Kungfu Panda Tao
--
The other student going along with him is one Kim Jongdae, a short boy with enviable cheekbones and a GPA higher than Tao’s. The first thing he does when he meets Tao is to introduce himself in accented Mandarin. “Hi! My name is Jin Zhong Da! My family has four people: Dad, Mum, my older brother, and me. Nice to meet you!”
Tao has to struggle not to laugh at the other boy’s enthusiasm, and introduces himself as well. “You speak Mandarin really well.” He compliments him in Korean.
“Thanks!” Jongdae beams. “I’ve been learning it since I started university. With the rise of the Chinese market, it really helps to know how to communicate in Mandarin.”
Tao is suddenly reminded of Kris being a Chinese businessman based in Beijing. But then he remembers that Kris is probably still in Seoul, and that Beijing has about 20 million other people for him to bump into. His mind starts wandering, and he finds himself pondering what nickname to bestow on Jongdae for his blog. Then he notices the other boy’s bright orange bag and shoes, and smiles.
--
{October}
Hi everyone!
My new friend Chenchen and I have arrived in Beijing! For privacy reasons, I can’t tell you which company we’re posted to, but it’s a pretty big one! We’ve only met a couple of the people in charge of us here, but they’re very welcoming. Our supervisor even speaks some Korean! From what they’ve said, the whole company provides a very cohesive working environment, thanks to their CEO’s policies. He sounds like an all-around good boss - that is, as long as they’re not just being bootlickers.
Chenchen’s Mandarin is gradually improving. He kept on bugging me during the plane ride here to teach him all kinds of phrases. I think the other passengers around us probably thought we were idiots. To be honest, my Mandarin isn’t that fantastic, having spent quite a significant part of my life growing up in Korea. And the people here have this accent that makes it harder to understand them. It’s kind of similar to Duizhang’s accent, come to think of it.
I know I said I wouldn’t talk about him anymore, but he just seems to sneak into my mind when I least expect it! I guess after having had extended exposure to him in Daejeon, my opinion of him has changed a bit. At least, I no longer think of him as an evil jerk who gets his kicks from making others suffer. He’s still arrogant, snobby and rude, though. I doubt that would ever change.
Hmph.
¬--
“You boys are in luck today.” Their supervisor, a tall man named Zhou Mi tells them excitedly.
“Why?” Jongdae asks. (It’s one of his favourite Mandarin phrases, along with “what’s that”.)
“Our CEO happens to be in town - he’s often away in Korea to oversee our other branches,” Zhou Mi explains, “and he said he’d like to meet the two students interning in our department.”
“Meet us?” Tao echoes in surprise. Interns like them - who aren’t even really interns, more like students on placement - are small fry in a company as large as this. “Oh wow.”
“Now, there’s no need to be nervous.” Zhou Mi reassures them with a wide smile. “Our boss is a great guy. You just need to get used to his formal way of speaking. He expects a lot from us, but also sees to it that we as employees are treated well.”
“Zhou Mi.” A pretty young woman calls him. “Can you come over for five minutes and have a look at this spreadsheet?”
“Oh, sure.” He follows her, leaving Tao and Jongdae in the office.
“Do you think there’s time to go to and grab a biscuit?” Jongdae reverts back to Korean and looks longingly in the direction of the pantry. “I’m kind of hungry.”
“Can’t you wait, like, half an hour?” Tao glances at his watch. “We’ll be going for lunch soon.”
“I’m a growing boy.” Jongdae insists. “And I know you want some tea too, so just come on.”
“Okay.” Tao grumbles. “If we get in trouble, I’m blaming you.” He doesn’t quite understand how a poor scholarship student like Jongdae can be so carefree when it comes to his studies. He supposes it’s because he’s brilliant enough to do well.
They notice a tall man in the pantry making tea. Though they can only see him from the back, he looks a little too well-dressed to be one of the regular office staff.
“I wonder where the biscuits are.” Jongdae muses. “I’m so hungry.”
The tall man turns around, and Tao nearly falls over in shock at seeing Kris Wu standing in the pantry, staring back at him.
“Hello.” Tao bows immediately, feeling his face grow warm with a sudden rush of unidentifiable emotion.
“Hello.” Kris returns, looking a little surprised to see them there.
Jongdae automatically says hello when he hears the two of them greet each other, but takes a closer look at Kris’ face and steps back. “It’s the boss!” He hisses at Tao in Korean.
“What?” Tao glances back and forth between Jongdae and Kris.
“He’s the CEO! Didn’t you see his picture in the lobby?” Jongdae sounds exasperated now, and Tao tries to picture the lobby he’s always just hurried through.
“He’s right.” Kris acknowledges in Korean, and Jongdae blinks, only just remembering what Zhou Mi said about the CEO having to manage business in Korea very often. “How do you find the working environment here?” He asks Tao politely.
“It’s um… great.” Tao stutters, still aghast at defying all the odds to meet the man he’d yelled at and rejected not too long ago.
“We’re really thankful for the opportunity to be here.” Jongdae rattles off after he realises that Tao’s brain seems to have shut down temporarily. “Everyone’s been very kind and helpful.” He continues talking about the technical aspects of what they’ve experienced, but it all sounds like gibberish to Tao.
Kris looks fairly pleased with whatever Jongdae just said, so Tao guesses it was good. “I’m glad to hear it. The university told the HR department that they were sending two of the brightest students in your year. I was informed that you’re one of the few recipients of the Lee Soo Man scholarship.”
“Yes, that’s right.” Jongdae smiles bashfully, looking much younger than his actual age. “I couldn’t have afforded the tuition fees otherwise.”
At that, Tao’s gaze immediately flicks to Kris, wondering if he’ll be just as snobby to Jongdae as he was to Tao and the rest of their neighbourhood. To his bewilderment, Kris merely nods and starts talking to the Korean about his education and future job prospects.
Tao stares as the two of them leave the pantry and continue talking. It’s as if Kris is a different person from the guy he met all those months ago. Perhaps if he’d been like this all along, Tao wouldn’t have refused his confession of love.
Woah, where did that thought come from?
--
Surprisingly, Kris invites Jongdae and Tao to sit in one of his lunchtime meetings. Zhou Mi informs them that it’s because Kris is generally too busy and has to schedule certain in-house meetings over lunch. In order to make up for it, he makes sure that a good spread is catered for the employees who have to attend.
“None of that sandwich tray or packet fried rice nonsense.” Zhou Mi informs them happily.
“Hotpot?” Jongdae asks, his eyes shining.
“Don’t be silly.” Tao admonishes him. “How can you have hotpot in an office?”
Nevertheless, they’re both pretty excited about being allowed to sit in at such a meeting, since it’s good experience for them as business administration students. The lunch turns out to be excellent, to Jongdae’s and Tao’s delight, and they both studiously note down their observations in for their reports. The meeting also shows Tao the professional businessman that Kris Wu is, and his esteem for the other man grudgingly increases.
At the end of the meeting as people are filing out, Tao feels the need to grab the opportunity to just talk to Kris about the long letter he wrote. Before he can do so, a slight young man slips into the room and dives straight into a conversation with Kris. The young man is handsome, almost pretty, and talks to Kris with a familiarity that makes Tao feel uncomfortable. Tao doesn’t think he’s ever seen Kris smile like that before, and it does weird things to his stomach.
“Hey, are we going?” Jongdae nudges Tao in the side. “We’re supposed to follow Zhou Mi-hyung for his other meeting.”
“I got it.” Tao rubs his side in annoyance. “There’s no need to poke me.”
The handsome young man suddenly stops talking to Kris and turns around to look at them. Then he looks back at Kris and asks, “Are they the ones from Korea?”
Kris nods, and the young man hits him lightly on the arm. “I suppose you’d like to meet them.”
“Of course!” The young man practically tugs Kris over to the two students, and Tao tries to ignore the weird feeling in his stomach.
“These are the two students from Pusan University.” Kris introduces, sounding a little reserved.
“Hello, I am Jin Zhong Da! Nice to meet you!” Jongdae bows and shakes the young man’s hand.
“Hello, I’m Luhan.” The young man replies cheerfully, and turns to Tao expectantly.
The name sounds terribly familiar to Tao, who only realises who this person is a few moments later. “Oh.” He realises he’s been staring blankly into space and hurries to introduce himself. “I’m Huang Zitao.”
“Hello.” Luhan smiles. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Really?” Tao’s eyes widen, and he glances at Kris, who looks a little uncomfortable. What exactly has Kris told Luhan? That Tao’s an adopted orphan? That he does martial arts? That he rejected Luhan’s brother’s feelings?
“Only good things, don’t worry.” Luhan chuckles, and then notices Jongdae’s look of confusion. “Oh, I’m sorry.” He switches to perfect Korean, even less accented than Kris’. “It must be difficult for you to do an internship at a Chinese company.”
Jongdae gapes at him. “You speak Korean?”
“Yes. I studied Korean at Seoul National University.” Luhan explains. “I love Korean food, the culture, the music… it’s so nice to have Korean people to talk to.” He turns to Kris. “We should all have dinner tomorrow when Chanyeol-hyung comes over.”
“Park Chanyeol is coming?” Tao asks incredulously, his thoughts immediately going to Baekhyun. Kris looks even more uncomfortable.
“Yes, you’ve met him, haven’t you?” Luhan doesn’t wait for a reply. “Okay, it’s settled.”
“Shouldn’t you ask them whether they actually want to go for dinner with us?” Kris points out. “They might have other plans already.”
“Come on ge, don’t be a wet blanket.” Luhan pouts, and really, who can resist that face? Certainly not Kris, who promptly gives in.
--
It feels weird to see Park Chanyeol again after so long. Tao isn’t as mad at Chanyeol as he was before reading Kris’ letter, and Chanyeol is such a happy, friendly person that it’s difficult to stay angry at him anyway. In some ways Chanyeol and Luhan are quite similar, especially when compared to the quieter, more solemn Kris. But as far as Tao can tell, there’s nothing romantic at all going on between Chanyeol and Luhan, which means that Choi Jinri was just speculating over nothing.
It all brings back thoughts of Baekhyun, and Tao desperately wishes he could tell whether Chanyeol still likes his brother. The topic comes up when Chanyeol asks after Tao’s family, and Tao purposely mentions that Baekhyun had been in Seoul for work.
“If only I’d known! What a pity.” Chanyeol says. “It would have been nice to get a meal with him.”
Before Tao can continue to press the issue, Chanyeol starts talking to Jongdae about his family, and Luhan seizes the chance to ask Tao about what his first impression of Kris was. Tao feels kind of bad for being so prejudiced against Kris from the beginning, and tries to tone it down a little when recounting it to Luhan.
“You do martial arts, right?” Luhan asks.
“Yes, I’ve been practicing for many years.” Tao affirms, and then shoots Kris a cheeky look. “But your brother wasn’t too impressed by it.”
Luhan appears confused. “That can’t be true. He’s the one who told me about it. He said you’re really good at wushu!”
Tao blinks. “He did?” He looks at Kris, who shrugs noncommittally. “But… how would you know?”
“I saw you practicing some routines that time when you were staying over at Chanyeol’s place.” Kris admits. “It was impressive.”
“Oh.” Tao finds himself at a loss for words. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Luhan notices both of them blushing slightly, and smiles to himself.
--
“You’re lucky I always carry my charger around.” Jongdae snorts and hands the charger to Tao.
“Thank you, Jongdae-goon. What ever would I do without you?” Tao bows mockingly and starts charging his phone, leaving it on his desk. It’s been dead almost the whole morning, and even though there’s probably no one calling or texting him, it still irks him to have an empty battery.
He returns a couple of hours later to get something from his desk, and notices Kris talking to Zhou Mi in the office. It seems kind of odd that he’s managed to see so much of Kris when the older man is supposed to be terribly busy. Luhan also tends to pop by quite a bit, but he’s given to understand that the younger brother isn’t that high up on the hierarchy yet. Even Chanyeol managed to drop by to have a chat once, the highlight being that he actually asked whether Baekhyun was seeing anyone else, to which Tao had happily informed him that he wasn’t.
He picks up his phone and notices seven missed calls from Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, Joonmyun and their home phone number. Panicking a little, he quickly calls Baekhyun back. “Tao-yah?”
“Hyung, you called me like three times! What happened?”
“Oh my gosh, it’s terrible! Sehunnie’s in trouble!”
“What?”
“He left us a message saying that he ran off with Han Geng-ssi in order to pursue his dreams of becoming a dancer!”
“WHAT?”
“Apparently Han Geng-ssi told him that he could help Sehunnie get into an entertainment company to train him to become a dancer. But he told Sehunnie that it would require a particular admission fee as a guarantee that he wouldn’t just drop out of the training. And obviously the amount was more than he has in the bank, but he didn’t ask Joonmyun-hyung or me or Kyungsoo for the money, and he’s gone now! He told us not to worry about it, but I’m afraid he might have done something silly like borrow money from loan sharks!”
Tao can physically feel the blood draining from his face, and he clutches the edge of the table, his knuckles turning white. “Do…do we at least know where he might be?”
“No…I don’t know! I’m sure he’s still in Korea - he left his passport at home, so he can’t have possibly followed Han Geng-ssi all the way back to China. Right?”
Tao slumps back, because it hadn’t even occurred to him that Sehun might have left the country. “Yeah, I hope you’re right.”
“Oh, Joonmyun-hyung says the latest text he got from Sehun said that he’s already signed some contract with the company, but that they never got the money from Han Geng-ssi, so he needs to come up with more! Tao-yah, I’m really afraid he’s gotten into trouble with them, and doesn’t know how to get out of it, or else maybe he’s unwilling to ask for our help! You know how stubborn he can be…”
“Okay, that’s it.” Tao shakes his head furiously. “I’m coming home on the earliest flight I can get, and we will figure this out together, okay?”
“But your internship hasn’t ended yet-”
“Hyung, that doesn’t matter! This is a family emergency!” Tao figures he’ll give the university some reason for special consideration, or get Jongdae or Kris to make excuses for him, whatever works. “I’ll call you later. Bye.”
He turns around to see Kris standing next to his desk, a worried expression on his typically serious face. “Did something happen?” He asks in concern.
“Yes…I… it’s a family emergency. I… I need to go home. Book a flight.” Tao’s finding it hard to string his words together in proper sentences, focusing instead on stuffing his things into his backpack. “Oh my god. How…why…”
“Zitao, calm down. Look at me.” Kris grabs him by the shoulders and steadies him. Tao looks at Kris in surprise and panic. “Just breathe, in and out, nice and deep.” Tao obeys him and feels his heartbeat slowing down to a less frantic pace. “Now, tell me what happened.”
Thankfully, the office is pretty empty, and Tao’s desk is far away enough to ensure that no one will overhear them. Tao shakily recounts Baekhyun’s disorganised story to Kris, who looks grim from the moment Han Geng’s name is mentioned. Tao thinks his own explanation is even more garbled than Baekhyun’s, but Kris doesn’t interrupt him until he’s done.
“I need to go home.” Tao repeats. “I need to be with my family. I know that my internship is supposed to be for a few more days, but I need to go home.”
“Don’t worry about the internship. I will make sure that it’s all sorted out.” Kris assures him firmly. “I will book a flight for you back to Korea,” he holds up a hand when Tao starts to protest, “and you can go and pack whatever you need to go home. If you leave anything behind, Jongdae-ssi will get it for you.”
It’s nothing short of amazing that Kris is handling this so well, and that Tao trusts him implicitly. “It’s my fault, you know. You told me about Han Geng and what kind of person he is. I could have told Joonmyun-hyung and Sehun, and then this wouldn’t have happened.”
“It is not your fault.” Kris insists. “If you’re going to blame yourself for that, then I should be held responsible myself for not broadcasting his misdeeds years ago and ruining his reputation.”
And by that admission, Tao knows that Kris does blame himself, and knows exactly how Tao is feeling at this moment. His lower lip trembles and his eyes feel damp, but Kris’ hand on his shoulder keeps him steady.
--
“He must be in Seoul.” Joonmyun mutters, almost to himself. “That’s where his school friend told us he was talking about going to. That’s where all those entertainment companies are based.”
“What are we going to do if we find him and it turns out that he owes someone a lot of money, along with interest?” Baekhyun worries. “How are we going to pay that kind of money?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, right?” Tao paces up and down. “The main thing is to find him and get him to see sense and come home.”
The phone rings and Joonmyun dives for it. “Hello?” He says frantically, before relaxing. “Kyungsoo-yah.” He listens for a while and his eyes widen. “Yeah, that sounds familiar!” There’s more talking, and Joonmyun smiles a little. “Okay, that sounds great! Call us back when you know more, okay?”
“What, what did he say?” Tao jumps in the moment Joonmyun puts the phone down.
“He says that Sehun has this ex-classmate who moved to Seoul, and that perhaps Sehun might have contacted him for a place to stay, you know…” Joonmyun gestures, and Tao and Baekhyun nod. “I’m going to call some of his friends to see if we can get any contacts.”
“I can do that.” Baekhyun volunteers. “I’ve spoken to some of them before.”
“Okay. Also, Kyungsoo said that our cousin Minseok has a friend in Seoul working in one of the big entertainment companies, so he’ll try to see what he can do.”
Tao begins to feel slightly more hopeful. But to be honest, he doesn’t think any of this will work unless Sehun himself wants to come home. He wonders when they started neglecting Sehun so much that he didn’t think he could trust them enough to tell them about all this or to ask for help.
--
“Let me do something.” Luhan tries to stare his older brother down, which is kind of hard to do when Kris is several inches taller than him.
“Look, there’s nothing you can do.” Kris grits his teeth. “It’s all happening in Seoul, you have no idea what Oh Sehun looks like, and even if you found him, what would you do?”
Luhan hates it when Kris treats him like a helpless little boy, even though he knows that Kris is probably right about it. It’s just that the memory of being manipulated by Han Geng makes him so mad that he would do almost anything to prevent it from happening to anyone else, much less the younger brother of his new friend Zitao.
“I think I can find Han Geng.” Luhan realises aloud, and Kris looks both annoyed and confused at the same time. “I know a few of the people in his dance troupe.” Kris looks like he’s about to object, but Luhan ignores him. “Ge, I’m not the stupid kid I was back then. I am not going to be swayed by a handsome face and pretty words. I am just going to find out where they are, so that you can hunt him down.”
Kris looks at his younger brother, who doesn’t seem so young anymore, and sighs. “Fine.”
--
When Sehun finally calls back, the rest of them are nearly beside themselves with worry. “Sehun-ah, are you okay?” Joonmyun asks, putting their youngest on speakerphone.
“Um, yes, I mean, I don’t really know.” Sehun’s voice sounds strained, but Tao can’t tell whether it’s because of the phone.
“Sehun-ah, you need to come home.” Baekhyun pleads.
“I can’t. Maybe if I stick to this, it’ll all work out in the end.”
“But it could be a scam!” Tao says exasperatedly. “What kind of bona fide company needs this kind of payment from prospective trainees?”
“You don’t know that!” Sehun says defensively, but they can tell that he’s having doubts as well. “You guys never supported the idea of me becoming a dancer anyway.”
“Sehun-ah, it’s really not like that.” Baekhyun tries to calm things down. “We just want you to come home. Or at least tell us where you are, so that we can come and help you. If this company is genuine about training you, then we’ll have a look at the contract and then do whatever we can to get the money.”
“I haven’t actually met them yet.” Sehun admits in a small voice. “Han Geng-hyung has been the one doing all the talking to his friend in the company.”
Tao feels his stomach sinking. “Sehun-ah, there’s something you should know about Han Geng-ssi.”
--
“Here’s your stuff.” Jongdae presents a bag to Tao at school.
“Thanks. I’m sorry you had to go to the trouble of bringing it back.” Tao says sincerely.
Jongdae shrugs. “What are friends for?” Then he grins. “Besides, Kris sunbae-nim paid for the extra baggage cost.”
“Oh.”
“I think he likes you, man.” Jongdae whispers conspiratorially even though there’s no one around to hear them. When Tao fails to respond to the teasing, Jongdae’s expression becomes serious. “So, how’s the family emergency…thing?”
Tao manages a weak smile. “We’re making some progress. I’ll let you know when it’s all taken care of. We’ll invite you to a celebratory dinner.”
“Sure.” Jongdae chuckles. “Just let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
--
“Sehun-ah?” Joonmyun blinks in confusion. “Slow down! Say that again?”
“What? What’s he saying?” Tao prods Joonmyun urgently, and the older man quickly turns the speakerphone on.
“You were right about it being a scam, hyung. And it’s all okay - I’m out of there and I don’t have to pay out any more money.”
“The last time you said you were okay…”
“I’m serious, hyung! I was just being a brat because I didn’t want to believe that I’d been tricked by Han Geng-ssi. But Tao-hyung was right about him. I managed to get the money back too!”
Tao is elated, but a niggling suspicion remains because this sounds utterly too good to be true. How on earth would Sehun have been able to get all his money back from Han Geng?
“And the best part is, I auditioned for SM Entertainment and got in!”
Now, even Joonmyun, who doesn’t listen to much pop music at all, knows about SM Entertainment. “You’re going to become an idol singer?”
“No hyung, I only auditioned under the dancer category. It’s all thanks to Minseok-hyung’s friend, Kim Jongin. He’s one of the backup dancers for DBSK, and he managed to get me an audition!”
“That’s amazing!” Joonmyun says, wanting to be supportive. “When are you coming home? We really miss you.”
“I miss you too.” The affection in Sehun’s voice is sincere. “The company was quite understanding about my situation, and said I can go home now to get my stuff, but I need to start being there full time in a week’s time.”
“Did you read the contract carefully?” Tao asks.
“Yes. Jongin-hyung helped me through it. And before you say he works for the company so he can’t be trusted, he said he was doing it for Minseok-hyung’s sake.”
“I wasn’t going to say that.” Tao grumbles half-heartedly.
--
The first thing Tao does is to call Baekhyun to let him know the good news. The next thing he does is to call Kyungsoo and ask him for details on how exactly Sehun got everything sorted out.
“I don’t know.” Kyungsoo sounds just as puzzled. “All I know is that by the time Kim Jongin managed to contact Sehunnie, he’d already fixed the whole money issue.”
Tao exhales slowly. “I don’t understand how this could have happened. There’s no way Han Geng would have just returned him the money just like that. I don’t care how much Baekhyun-hyung claims that he must have had a change of heart.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t make sense.” Kyungsoo muses. “Either he’s lying to us about the money issue and thinks he’ll fix it somehow, or someone must have helped him. When he comes home, make sure he explains everything, okay? I don’t want to come home to find that our house has been mortgaged to pay off a bunch of loan sharks.”
“I know. And can you do us a favour? Please let Minseok-hyung and this Kim Jongin fellow know how grateful we are for their help.”
“Of course.” Kyungsoo sounds a little insulted. “What do you take me for? I’m inviting them both over for a home-cooked meal.”
“Lucky them.” Tao grins.
--
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