Obsession

Chapter 4

Kris didn’t know when it had gotten dark around him, neither how long he had been sitting on the couch like that. All curled up in the left corner. His arms wrapped around his legs, which were pressed against his chest, on top of them rested his head.  No sound was heard from him, no sobbing anymore, even his breathing was shallow.

Kris' head shot up when he heard someone knock on his door. Quite disorientated he looked around the room, through the whole apartment, the biting scent of smoke could be smelled. When his glance met the window it was still pitch black night out there, giving him no hint of what time it could be. He must have fallen asleep some time ago. Another knock on the door made him snap from his thoughts. With shaky hands he reached out in the dark for his phone, getting grip of it after a few seconds of searching. 11:40PM it said, blinding Kris with it's bright screen. Lots of thoughts were rushing through his head just now. Who'd visit him at this time? It couldn’t be him.

It took Kris a lot to shift himself off the couch, barely able to stand on his feet. He hadn’t moved for that long, his legs felt all numb. Trying his best to not give in and sink down he forced himself further and further towards the door.

Kris' voice sounded way more shaky than he had planned it to be when he asked, refusing to open the door until he knew who stood on the other side, who was out there. His eyes grew wide when he could figure a well known voice out, replying in a singsong voice. Rather stumbling, Kris took a few steps back. His voice not more than a thin whisper, he told himself that this was impossible. Though he would point out Tao's voice from hundreds and exactly that boy stood in front of his door just now.

Still Tao would continue to knock on the door, in his singsong voice he repeatedly said that he knew that Kris was home. Adding that Kris was all alone, in a tone that made shivers run down Kris' spine.

If he just wouldn’t let him in he would be fine. He just needed to keep the door closed and he wouldn’t have to face the boy who was still convinced that Kris loved him and who wouldn’t hold back to again hurt the elder.

Kris considered to just grab a knife from the kitchen but quickly he pushed away that thought, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to actually use it. So it wouldn’t make sense at all if he know got one. In the same moment he could hear a metallic clicking from the keyhole. Just seconds later he had to face the one who had decided to turn his life into a nightmare. Every time he just thought of the black eyes that used to show a soft gaze, yet they had turned cold. Again Kris took some steps back, the younger following him. When he could feel the cold wall pressed against his back, Kris knew he was trapped. Tao moved closer and closer until he was only inches away from the elder, to whom he had to look up, due to their height difference. Kris could feel the younger's hot breath against his skin as he whispered into his ear: "Have you missed me? I sent you a present, didn’t you receive it?". Only those few words were enough to send some more shivers down Kris' spine. In such a long time he hadn’t heard that voice. Before he had the chance to just think of an answer he felt the small, yet rough lips of the younger pressed against his own. Kris was unable to react in any way just then, he simply would freeze and pray that Tao would just leave again, not willing to admit what was happening in this very moment. The fact that the elder showed no reaction, didn’t return the kiss or anything, made Tao furious. The loud bang, caused when his hands slammed against the wall just slightly above Kris' shoulders, caused the elder to flinch. A faint but pleased smile appeared on the younger’s lips. If Kris wouldn’t love him, he should at least fear him. Teasingly he ran his thumb across Kris' side, knowing well where he had to search until he would find the scar he left. He could see how Kris' brows narrowed, trying to back away again but he just hit the bare wall, against which he was already standing rather close.

Kris' gaze met the still open door, a shimmer of hope. If he could just make it to the door he would be able to run. He didn’t even know where to, neither did he care, just as far away as possible. With a swift move of his hand, he pushed the younger away, causing him to nearly trip. That was all Kris had needed. For this short moment Tao's attention wasn’t focused on him anymore. He wasn’t able to clearly think anymore, the only thing on his mind was to run, get out of the house, out of Tao's sight.

He barely reacted when the ice cold wind hit his bare arms as he ran out of his apartment, through the hallway and finally out of the main entrance. Tao's cursing and yelling could be heard in the distance but Kris didn’t pay any attention to that. As well as he ignored the fact that his arms slowly became numb due to the cold. His whole body shaking, partly in fear and partly because of the scathing cold.

Kris was clueless about how long he had been running but yet he found himself on the ground after his legs simply had given in. He had huge troubles to reach for air and he didn’t feel safe yet, so he just wanted to continue running, if just his body would be able to bear a little more.

Kris heart skipped a beat when a hand grabbed his shoulder, throwing him around. Still troubled to breath he fell, now on his back he glanced up. His eyes meeting black, in anger narrowed, eyes. The younger was barely out of breath. Kris panic began to increase. Quickly he pushed himself backwards, rather crawling away from Tao.

Kris didn’t even know that he had that much air left in his lungs until he let out a yelp when the younger’s boot was crushing  against his chest.

Unable to count how many times he had been kicked by those boots, Kris now remained silent. Not even giving a single noise anymore he just remained on the freezing cold ground, enduring the pain which was flashing through his torso, as well as his head, again and again with every hit.

His sight was all blurry and Kris knew he was close to blacking out. It took him a lot to keep his eyes open but he wouldn’t let the younger have that triumph. He would do anything to stay strong and not give in. Yet he didn't even know why he let all of that happen to him. He was strong. If he wanted to he could beat the other one down with less than two hits but something held him back. After all it was still his Tao, the one who he had loved so dear. He couldn’t bring himself to hurt the person whom he promised to always protect.

"We aren’t over yet." Were the last words Kris could hear until the younger let go off him and his vision finally went black.

Kris quietly groaned, burying his head in the pillow. He didn’t want to wake up, not yet. With a swift move he pulled the blanket up until it almost covered his whole body but his feet. His legs were simply too long or the blanket too short, whatever. It was more important to him that his face was covered since he didn’t want to face the sunlight that was brightly shining into the room. His head began to hurt, his eyes suddenly flinging open when he remembered everything. Hastily he ruffled his blond hair, another groaning sound coming from his lips. He had a nightmare again? He had been quite sure that he finally was over that. This obviously had been a mistake.

Just in this moment, Kris realised that something wasn’t right. This scent on the sheets, that was different. He wasn’t at home and this was not his bed. Kris now shot up, soon realising that this had been a bad idea. A sharp pain flushed through his head, black dots dancing in front of his eyes. Quickly he hid his face with his hands, his eyes tightly shut he tried his best to deal with the headache that was now constantly pounding his head.

Not knowing how long he had remained like this, Kris finally let his hands sink down, now taking a look through the room. He had been here already. This room was familiar. When the door opened and a tiny person nearly flew on top of him, causing him to fall backwards, crashing down on to the bed. When he slackly wrapped his arms around the boy on top of him, he had to realise that Yixing was crying. Since Kris had never been good with words he just silently caressed the younger’s back, intending to calm him down again. Yixing finally seemed to be dried out of tears, lifting his head to give the elder a honestly glad smile, still dried tears on his cheeks.

It was impossible for Kris to remember anything after he had blacked out until now. He was clueless about how Yixing found him, how he carried the elder to his home, stuffing him in his own bed where Kris had been sleeping for more than 24 hours straight. This would explain to him why he felt that worn out. He didn’t eat for more than two days now. Yet he had no idea about anything that had happened after he fell unconscious.

Kris knew that he now would have to explain that to the younger, as much as he disliked it but Yixing deserved to know it.