Zitao steps out of the building during lunch break and heads off to his favourite coffee shop, far away from where he works. The coffee shop is built amongst retail parks, and though they do provide parking spots, Zitao would rather walk instead of bring his car, just so he can enjoy the calm atmosphere at this time of the day. It’s only when the weather’s bad that he brings his car, and Zitao can only hope that the traffic won’t be so bad because his lunch break isn’t that long.

                He’s one of the regular customers in the coffee shop, so the barista doesn’t even bother asking for his order when he enters. His usual order is served minutes later after he takes his seat, and Zitao never forgets to thank the barista with a smile.

                Across from where he’s sitting, a group of girls are whispering excitedly amongst each other, occasionally turning their heads to look at Zitao with a smile on their faces. Something like this happens quite often – people swooning over his looks – and for more than once, his colleague tells him that it’s because he’s good looking, with his chiseled jaw and high cheekbones, tall body and broad shoulders.

                Despite his looks, he’s still single. It’s not that big of a deal to him, but it is to Lu Han, for whatever reason. Lu Han told him to sign up for online dating a few months ago, but that received no attention at all, and ignoring Zitao’s firm refusal, Lu Han goes to his apartment, wanting to look at his online dating profile to see what’s made it neglected. You are handsome, Lu Han had said, there’s no way no one’s not into you, I have to see it.

                Which has led them here, in Zitao’s apartment, with Zitao leaning over his desk, palms flat on it with his laptop in between them. It’s not like Lu Han to listen to him at all, so Zitao shouldn’t even reject him in the first place when he knows that any form of rejection that comes out of his mouth always falls on Lu Han’s deaf ears. “Are you sure about this?” He asks, turning his head towards the man that’s sitting on his chair.  

                “Of course,” Lu Han smiles, lips curled and eyes crinkled in a way that makes him so beautiful, so innocent, but Zitao knows that’s just a part of his false advertisement. He turns back to his laptop, ignoring Lu Han’s comment about his panda wallpaper as his fingers go to type a few things before letting the man look at his laptop screen, an expectant look on his face that quickly changed into despair. “Tao, that is so lame.”

                “What?” Zitao turns back to look at his online dating profile.

                Huang Zitao. 24. Single.

                It said, with no profile picture. “No wonder you didn’t get a lot of attention.” Lu Han says with a roll of his eyes as his shoulders slump. “It’s so boring.” Well, yes. Zitao did that purposely, just because he’s not interested in this online dating or anything of the sort. He imagines his future lover to come crashing down at him, like your average teenage romance where two people bump into each other and meet up for the first time, with butterflies flying inside their stomach, making them unable to stop looking at each other. Like this, their feelings can slowly blossom to a point where he can enjoy every single bit of the process.

                “I thought that was good enough.” Is all Zitao says, walking away from the desk. He sort of expected it, because Lu Han is that type of guy, and it’s not like Zitao put in much effort in his online dating profile. Their friendship go way back, so he’s not wounded.

                “I am seriously questioning your definition of ‘good’.” Lu Han comments, sighing. “I’m going to fix this.” He states, standing up from Zitao’s chair and picking the laptop up with one hand. He picks his drink up from the desk with his free hand and walks off to Zitao’s bed, jumping on it.

                “Be careful with the laptop.” Zitao hisses, watching as Lu Han positions the laptop on his lap, take a sip of his drink before typing violently with one hand.

                “I need to get comfy if I’m going to fix your profile.” Lu Han says, paying no attention to the look Zitao casts him. He gets it, “Calm down. I’m not going to on your laptop.” He sighs exasperatedly as Zitao turns back to his wardrobe. It was a known fact that Lu Han was not innocent, so any sort of mischievous schemes he has inside his head always drives Zitao nuts, it has him paranoid of what Lu Han would do that is capable of ruining his reputation.

                “What’s ?” Lu Han hears him ask. Then again, maybe Zitao ruined his reputation himself.

                “Where have you been, Doctor Huang? You need to get laid.” Lu Han says mockingly. Zitao is not one to catch with world trends, so when Lu Han spins his head to give Zitao a look that corresponds to what he had just said, he sees Zitao holding up three neckties, all with different, ugly patterns and hideous colour combinations.

                “Which one should I wear tomorrow?” Zitao asks him.

                Lu Han visibly scowls. “None of them. God, Taozi, no wonder you’re single.” He adds, pulling all three neckties away from Zitao. “You and I are going shopping tomorrow. After work.”

                Okay, so now Zitao is wounded. He pouts, upset at the face that Lu Han paid no heed to it. “So what necktie do I wear tomorrow?”

                Lu Han rolls his eyes again. “You don’t.”

~

                Not wearing a necktie has his colleagues complementing him, saying things like, “You lost the tie. Finally.” And, “It’s nice to see that you don’t have a necktie with you,” and Zitao isn’t sure whether to be thankful to Lu Han or be offended so he just smiles his usual charming smile. Perhaps everyone hated his choice in neckties but decided to keep quiet about it.

                One of his colleagues hands him a cupcake, and he stares at it in confusion before looking up at Yixing at the reception desk, a questioning look on his face. He holds the cupcake high enough for Yixing to see. “What’s this for, Xing?”

                “Nothing.” He replies easily, picking up a pen from the desk. “I made cupcake for everyone.”

                “Oh,” Zitao breaks into a smile. “Thanks, ge, I’ll eat it later.” In the clinic, Zitao thinks Yixing is the nicest, with his ever present dimple and approachable look. Zitao would always come to him for advice, and Yixing has never failed him yet. In most cases though, Yixing will still be his confidant and favourite ge. 

                Zitao swears he saw the corner of Yixing’s lips quirk up and he’s about to question him about it when Baekhyun appears behind him, loud and bright as ever. “Good morning!” He greets. Baekhyun is the opposite of Yixing. He’s not nice, he never even gives Zitao any good advice when Zitao needs it. Though they may be of the same height, Baekhyun is capable of creating chaos in the clinic. Zitao never leaves the clinic without Baekhyun slapping his at least three times.

                “Good morning.” Zitao and Yixing greet back.

                Baekhyun picks up a paper from the desk and begins writing something on it, and when he lifts his head, he sends a smirk at Tao’s way. Zitao prepares himself for whatever Baekhyun has to say for today. “Tao, I heard from Lu Han that he fixed your online dating profile.”

                Okay, whatever he was expecting, that was definitely not it. “Shush!” Zitao hisses, pointing a finger at him. Yixing looks up from the papers in his hands, a surprised look on his face.

                “Tao’s single?”

                Baekhyun nods his head as an answer. “Yes. And I know,” He sighs. “It’s hard to believe that Zitao’s single.” He turns to Zitao again. “Can I see it?”

                “No.” Zitao shakes his head.

                “Oh, come on, why not?” Baekhyun laughs, watching as Zitao walks away from the reception desk.

                “I’m going to my office now.” He states, ignoring the cries from the shorter man.

                But unfortunately, his rejection also falls on Baekhyun’s deaf ears. The door to his office opens and he expects it to be his first patient for today, but he looks up to see Baekhyun instead, walking up to the chair beside his desk that are specifically for patients. “Baekhyun, what are you doing here?”

                “I want to see your online dating profile.” Baekhyun replies with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Like a magician, Baekhyun always has a trick up his sleeves, but instead of making people amazed out of their heads, he makes them lose their mind instead. Being friends with Baekhyun certainly made him question his sanity and how they even became friends.

                “No.” Zitao says sternly. “Get out, what if a patient comes in?”

                “Let me see it, and I’ll leave.” Baekhyun puts his hand out, looking at Zitao with the same intensity. Their staring contest lasted for a mere three seconds before Zitao heaves a sigh of defeat, taking his phone out from his pocket and Baekhyun smiles smugly. Zitao presses a few things on his phone screen before handing it to Baekhyun, letting him read the profile and he comments, “Not bad.”

                “Not bad?” Zitao lifts both of his eyebrows. “Lu Han told me that this profile was the bomb.”

                “Yeah, not bad.” Baekhyun repeats again, looking up to meet Zitao’s eyes. “It’s still weak. Sign up for a one night stand.”

                Before Baekhyun could even alter his profile, Zitao snatches his phone away from him. “I’m looking for a serious relationship here!”

                Believe Zitao if he says he can give a speech, and he’s about to when Baekhyun suddenly barks out a laugh. That kind of reaction was something Zitao did not expect, because what could be funny about something he had just said? He holds his phone mid-air and waits until Baekhyun finishes laughing. “Why are you laughing?” He asks with a glare.

                Immediately, Baekhyun looks shocked. “Oh, you were serious?”

                Zitao slaps his shoulder, taken aback by his response. “I can’t believe you, Baekhyun.”

                “Well, I’m sorry,” Baekhyun shrugs, raising his palms in surrender when he sees that Zitao was about to hit his shoulder again. His attention turns from Zitao to the cupcake placed at the corner of his desk, and he points a finger at it. “Don’t eat that cupcake.”

                “Why? What’s wrong?” Zitao asks, turning to the cupcake and picking it up.

                “Did it occur to you how terrible Yixing is at baking? Or cooking?”

                Zitao looks down at the cutely decorated cupcake in his hand, lower lip jutting out and eyebrows creased in question. Have I ever eaten anything Yixing cooked? He asks himself, and realizes that he never does. Yixing himself has never brought any homemade food. “No, not really.” He replies, “I’ve never tasted his cooking before.” He’s about to take a bite off the cupcake when Yixing enters the office, pout evident on his lips.

                “Hey, don’t underestimate my ability in baking–”

                He barely finished his sentence when Zitao suddenly spits the bite of cupcake out of his mouth, face clearly in disgust as he pulls out a tissue from the tissue box to wipe at his saliva. Both Yixing and Baekhyun are wearing similar shocked expressions before they burst out laughing, clapping their hands together and dropping to the floor as they clutched their stomachs. “Xing ge, what the hell–”

                “You added soy sauce?” Baekhyun asks Yixing in the midst of his laughing.

                Zitao sends a skeptical look at him. “You added soy sauce?” He repeats the question, only emphasizing more on the soy sauce. “Why the hell would you add that?”

                Baekhyun grips the corner of his desk to haul himself back up on his feet. “I taught him that.” He replies with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

                “Hey, don’t bring Xing ge into your tactics,” Zitao tells him. “I’ve had enough of yours, I don’t need it doubling!”

                Yixing scrambles to his feet, smile wide on his lips, clearly proud of the prank that he had just pulled. “Sorry, Zitao.” He apologizes. “But this is fun.”

                Zitao’s shoulders slump, and he turns to Baekhyun with an angry look. “Hyung!”

                “Okay, okay.” Baekhyun drops his hands to his side. “We’ll go now.” He sends Yixing a look that has him laughing before they both exit his office.

what do you think????