Baekhyun rested his head comfortably on his boyfriend’s shoulder while his eyes were fixed on the TV screen, but he wasn’t paying any attention to the movie. His mind was elsewhere, in a place where his insecurities and fears haunted him mercilessly, they were like voices hanging around his mind all the time and they were telling him things. The smaller tried very hard to ignore those stupid voices, but it was hard to do so when he knew deep down they were right somehow. After all he wasn’t stupid, somewhat naive, but by no means stupid. For all he knew his fears were very real and were perfectly justified, it wasn’t something that came out of nowhere. No. The evidence was right before his eyes. Every time he saw Chanyeol the puppy could tell that something was happening. It was the way in which the giant seemed to distance himself increasingly from the blond haired boy, it was the way he always seemed busy when the petite boy wanted to have his attention, it was the way he always seemed distracted when they were together or it was just the way in which Chanyeol refused to let him in. Even now; the blond-haired boy practically had to beg him to watch this film together, wanting to  have some time alone with his distant boyfriend desperately and yet the latter still didn’t acknowledge him. Chanyeol was merely focused on the screen of his phone with a stupid grin on his face, oblivious to what was happening around him and certainly ignoring the fact that his boyfriend had his head resting on his shoulder looking for some affection and attention.

No matter how much the puppy longed to share time with his love, he just couldn’t concentrate on the movie and act as if nothing was bothering him when his boyfriend was behaving like this. Baekhyun was about to lose his patience, which didn't happen very often, after all the blond-haired boy was characterized by being calm and demure, so it was very difficult to make him angry. However, he didn't tolerate being witness of how the giant's phone became the latter's best friend, since Baekhyun was beginning to notice that even that stupid cellphone received more attention than himself nowadays. And the worst part was that Baekhyun himself didn’t even understand what was happening. Chanyeol no longer talked of his day with him, therefore they couldn’t talk about what was happening between them. There was almost no communication between the two. That hurt seriously, all this rejection and misunderstanding from the man he loved with all his heart hurt too much, and the smaller didn’t know what to do to fix this. He had already tried to have a serious talk with the giant, but all he got was evasions and sweet nothings, it was as if Chanyeol hadn’t realized how much he was hurting him with his carefree attitude and that worried him frantically, because it had never happened before. His tall boyfriend always gave him his attention unconditionally, he was always there when the puppy felt depressed and was always there to show him how much he loved his baby boy. But lately – exactly since seven weeks ago – his giant boyfriend started acting strange, somehow the taller was still the same but he looked happier, more joyful … more enchanted with life, and Baekhyun wasn’t complaining about that, of course he wanted to see his boyfriend happy. Heck! That was all he wanted for Chanyeol, happiness, but it was all very sudden. Everything started since he came from that damn job interview and that was extremely suspicious, especially considering the state in which he was at the time. Actually the blond-haired boy had several theories regarding this issue, and the most convincing was the most painful one unfortunately. The puppy didn't want to even think about what he would do if Chanyeol were cheating on him with another person. Baekhyun didn’t want to think about that, since he really wanted to trust in his boyfriend, but the latter’s attitudes explained very well this theory. That would explain for example the constant need of the giant to have his phone nearby, as lately the tall guy seemed to text someone constantly. Hence the petite boy had enough reasons to think that Chanyeol was having an affair or something of the sort. And all this suspicion intensified by the fact that there was no time for the two, no time for them to be together, and of course, it didn’t help either the fact that Chanyeol were busy all the time with his new job – at the end he was accepted into the company that had applied in first instance – which by itself already took away enough time with his giant, so he didn’t need other mishaps in his plans.

“Channie, please. You've been with your cellphone far enough, can we watch the movie now, please?” The smaller guy finally said while lifting his head to look at his boyfriend, who was still immersed in his sacred mobile.

Chanyeol was too focused on what he was doing to hear the voice of his boyfriend in the distance. Neither he realized that now his boy was staring at him intensely, almost judging him. His mind and his attention were being monopolized by the object between his hands, so he completely ignored his little boyfriend without even noticing his presence. And obviously Baekhyun noticed this, which left him with a bitter taste in his mouth, feeling really forgotten, something that happened often these days.

“Chanyeol, look at me.” He tried again, attempting to remain calm and unaffected by the indifference with which he was being treated. However the black-haired boy wasn’t paying any attention.

“Chanyeol, please, stop ignoring me.” He muttered pathetically with watery eyes. Generally the puppy-like boy wasn’t so fragile and sensitive. He didn’t cry that easily, believing that nothing was solved by crying. Yet at this point he felt really helpless, because naturally this wasn’t the first time he was ignored like this in these last weeks and he didn’t know what to do anymore. Unwittingly he began to cry silently or so until suddenly the silence was broken by a sob of his.

That small but bitter sob was sound enough for Chanyeol to finally look up on alert, not liking at all that heartbreaking and melancholic sound. When he turned his head to look in Baekhyun’s direction he opened his eyes wide open in bewilderment, and without wasting any more time, he left aside his mobile instantly to cradle the smaller’s face at the speed of light, his wet cheeks with his thumbs gently, as if he were touching a delicate flower petal. With confusion the taller observed the face of his beloved cautiously; trying to register what was happening, without knowing why his baby boy had started to cry so suddenly. He was alarmed and concerned because his puppy didn’t cry often, in fact he could say for sure that he had seen him cry only twice during the five years they had been together, therefore he was pretty worried.

“What’s wrong, Baek? Why are you crying, love?” He asked him gently, still frowning with concern.

The petite guy didn’t answer, actually he started crying harder because it was the first time in weeks that Chanyeol stared at him with such sweetness and concern, so he couldn’t help feeling overwhelmed by the feeling the smaller always experimented when his boyfriend looked into his eyes with such intensity. For some, the small guy was overreacting, but he felt that forgotten and neglected.

“Oh no, don’t cry, my baby boy.” The taller cooed wrapping him his arms ever so gently.

Baekhyun meanwhile hugged him back as he buried his pretty face into the crook of the taller’s neck, inhaling the masculine scent of his man to try to calm himself a little bit. And in this position Baekhyun stopped sobbing gradually while Chanyeol caressed his back gently, saying sweet nothings into his ear in the process as well. When the petite male finally managed to keep his composure he pulled away from the giant to look into the other’s eyes sadly, with an unintentional pout on his cute face, making Chanyeol melt at that view, because even with cheeks soaked in tears and reddened eyes for all the crying he did Baekhyun looked certainly cute. So without being able to stop himself, the giant cradled his pup face again and kissed him softly. It was a simple kiss without tongue involved, just a sweet and tender lip movement which was enough to fill the heart of the smaller with warmth.

“Hey, love, talk to me. Why were you crying?” The black-haired boy breathed against the other’s mouth, brushing his lips against his softly.

Baekhyun didn’t want to talk about it, because he wanted to keep kissing his boyfriend now that he finally had his attention, but knew that it was a perfect opportunity to discuss what was going on, priorities first forgive the redundancy. So he pulled away from his man resignedly and looked at him in the eyes decisively.

“Chanyeol, haven't you realized what is happening? Do you really not know the reason why I was crying?” He inquired tentatively, with a soft and gentle tone of voice.

The tall boy cocked his head as he frowned in confusion, without knowing how to receive those questions because he didn’t know what his boyfriend meant with those words, after all if he knew the reason behind those tears he wouldn’t be asking. Of course he didn’t know anything. And with innocent eyes and an expression that showed the purest confusion, the black-haired boy shook his head indicating that he had no idea what was going on.

The cook sighed in disappointment despite the fact that he knew in advance that this would be the answer, he could tell that Chanyeol was totally clueless on everything that was happening around him. But Baekhyun hoped that at least the giant could have a small idea of what he was talking about, since it wasn’t difficult to notice that this was as close to a conversation they had had in weeks and the fact that his boyfriend hadn’t figured that out it broke his little heart even more, as if he weren’t important enough for his boyfriend.

“Chanyeol, do you realize that you haven’t given me any attention lately? Haven’t you noticed that you no longer even look at me when you're at home because all you do is keep an eye on that stupid cellphone of yours? What is so important to the point of forgetting about me? Who are you texting all the time, huh? Tell me, Chanyeol! Who became more important than me in your life?!” He exclaimed furious all of a sudden. Baekhyun didn’t want to act like this right now, didn’t want to yell at the other guy either, but he couldn’t help himself after all he had suffered from the indifference of the man he loved, it was natural to react in this manner and he knew it, yet even so he felt a little bad about yelling.

“Since you came from that interview you haven’t been the same. You don’t look at me anymore, you don’t talk to me about your day as you did before, you no longer kiss me … and you don’t even notice my presence. You are so focused on your little world that you don’t realize the pain you inflict in me every time you ignore me so cruelly.” He looked down and added sadly. “It hurts, Channie.”

Chanyeol’s heart shrank in pain upon hearing those words, but mostly it pained him to see how vulnerable his boyfriend looked at the moment. The guy who was always smiling, the guy who always proved to be strong and positive now looked smaller, younger and terribly lonely, like a small child suffering from the adversities of a cold and cruel world. It was a sight that the giant certainly didn’t want to see either now or ever. Nevertheless, he was also upset, totally disappointed in himself, because now that he thought about what his boyfriend had told him he realized that the latter was totally right; Chanyeol had been carried away by the illusions of his childhood and past life, making him neglect his own lover. He was so focused on recovering what he had lost with Kyungsoo that he hadn’t realized he was losing precious time with his cute puppy. He was behaving like an insensitive jerk and that, he couldn’t stand it. Because here, in front of him, was his hopeless boyfriend demanding answers for his insensitive behavior, looking incredibly exposed and hurt. Chanyeol couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to forget about his baby boy, like seriously. Even worse, he couldn’t believe he had privileged his time with Kyungsoo at the expense of the valuable time with his Baekhyun, because no matter what, the latter always had to come first for him.

The truth was that in the last seven weeks the giant had been hanging out and spending his free time with his former lover. They had been catching up in every way, almost patching up their lost friendship. Chanyeol knew that maybe this wasn’t the best of decisions taking into account his illicit feelings for his ex, but his intention wasn’t to go beyond a platonic friendship. Maybe his heart still had a place for him, but the giant had no intention of going back to him, he just wanted to stop missing him, he just wanted his company to fill at least a little bit that small hole in his heart. In fact Chanyeol often talked about Baekhyun with Kyungsoo. The actuary constantly told him about what a good cook his boyfriend was, of how kind he was, how cute he was, how much he meant to him and things like that. The taller always tried to involve Baekhyun somehow into the conversation with the sole purpose to make his lost friend understand that nothing was going to happen between them, and he wanted to keep it just like that. Besides fooling around wasn’t included in his dictionary, Chanyeol would never cheat on his boyfriend, especially when he himself hated people who did that kind of thing, so he didn’t want to be one of them anytime soon. The tall guy was just making up for the lost time with his former best friend and he really thought so, convincing himself that the flirtatious glances that Kyungsoo gave him whenever the latter had the chance were only his own imagination and that the small boy understood perfectly the nature of their relationship.

Clearly Chanyeol was content with what life had planned for him so far, and having encountered with Kyungsoo made him happy, because finally the giant could get the explanation he desired so much, the little guy finally explained to him in detail why he had gone abroad at the age of eighteen. Kyungsoo had been forced by his parents to leave his best friend behind, they had forced him to leave the country in an attempt to keep him away from the sinful relationship he shared with the giant, since Kyungsoo’s parents didn’t agree with the ual orientation of their only child, so for them the only option was precisely separate him from the person who derailed him from the right path. And the smaller also explained why he had been cold and distant during their farewell, it turned out that he thought that if he didn’t do it like that he wouldn’t have the strength to finally leave. Needless to say that when the taller heard the real reason behind his best friend's departure a tremendous weight disappeared from his heart. Now he felt he could be at peace, and according to him it was fair to give their friendship a chance, because after all Kyungsoo had been above all his best friend, his only friend actually, therefore he couldn’t pass this opportunity to fix everything. However, he hadn’t realized that the happiness he was feeling had been at the expense of the happiness of his own boyfriend and because of that he felt really bad. Chanyeol never meant to hurt him, that was the last thing he wanted to do but his bliss had blinded him so much that he hadn’t realized what was happening with his boyfriend. It wasn’t fair to Baekhyun, not at all.

The giant was quick to wrap his boyfriend protectively between his arms again, holding him as if his life depended on it, giving him the warmth and appreciation that he hadn’t given him in weeks. But the blond-haired boy didn’t return the hug this time, he only remained motionless, which only made the taller feel guiltier. He squeezed him and pressed him against his chest as he positioned his head in the crook of Baekhyun’s neck, and he couldn’t help kissing the delicious skin of his lover, realizing at that moment that he hadn’t felt that smooth surface against his lips for a while now.

“I'm sorry, love. I’m so sorry. I'm sorry for having hurt you, I’ll never do it again. I promise.” He whispered apologetically against his skin, still kissing his neck. “Please, don’t be sad anymore.”

The smaller male could feel the sincerity in those words, but even so he wasn’t satisfied, clearly an apology didn’t help to understand much and even less when solving this whole matter. They had to talk about it, like really talk about it. Nevertheless, he welcomed gladly the apology of his man, after all he knew that Chanyeol was really sincere.

Baekhyun pulled away from the embrace gently to see his face with seriousness written all over his face. “I accept your apology, Chanyeol. But you have to tell me what is happening, and you cannot keep avoiding the subject. You know you can always trust me because I'll never judge you. You used to tell me everything, but now we hardly talk, do you no longer trust me?” He asked with concern in his voice.

The tall guy shook his head fervently, because that was not true. He had hidden his outings with Kyungsoo because he was afraid of the reaction of his boyfriend. He didn’t want him to think that he intended to get back with his former lover, not wanting to make him feel insecure about it. But the male failed to notice that keep him in the dark would only make him feel more vulnerable and lost. Hence he was willing to work things out; he was going to tell him everything, besides he didn’t have much to hide anyways.

Chanyeol grabbed his small and delicate hands carefully and brought them close to his mouth to kiss them gently. Gesture that softened Baekhyun’s expression instantly, making him smile slightly at the sincere display of affection. Then the giant looked into his eyes intensely, still kissing those soft and beautiful hands.

“You're the only person in whom I trust unconditionally, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol stated heavily brushing his lips against his knuckles.

The other boy blushed slightly since the intensity emanating from the giant was suffocating him, especially now that he received his attention after weeks of being ignored, besides he had almost forgotten the way in which his boyfriend used to stare at him. Yet he put aside his sudden shyness and focused again on the main subject.

“Then why? Why did you ignore me when I asked you what was wrong with you? Why did you stop talking to me so suddenly?” He inquired softly.

The black-haired male sighed, and after giving one last kiss on each hand he placed them in the place in which he had found them. “Alright, it's a long story, so I'll try to summarize everything. Please keep an open mind and trust me, okay? And promise me that you won’t interrupt until I finish the whole story, deal?” He said with an arched eyebrow, eyeing his boyfriend warily. And when he received a determined nod in response from the smaller the giant continued with his explanation. “Well, I think you may have noticed that everything began the day I had my first job interview. On my way home I met ... Kyungsoo,” The taller could see how Baekhyun stiffened upon hearing that name after so many years, but made no move to interrupt, so he continued, “At first I tried to remain indifferent to let him know that I didn’t want to associate myself with him once again after all he did to me, but he gave me his number and I accepted it. Eventually I asked him out to catch up and since then we have been hanging out constantly. But I swear that nothing happened between us! We are only friends!” He hastened to add when he saw the startled expression on the other’s face.

Baekhyun was shocked and very alarmed, and he had every reason to be. He couldn’t believe that all this was happening, it was too surreal and reckless what Chanyeol was doing and the puppy felt utterly incredulous at the foolishness of his boyfriend. But he also felt extremely hurt, because now he knew he had prioritized Kyungsoo instead of his own partner. Chanyeol had ignored him because he was so busy putting all his attention on his former lover and that obviously made him feel insecure. Of course, the giant said that nothing was happening between them, but that was very debatable, after all the taller had forgotten about Baekhyun by the mere fact of keeping in touch with his ex and that said a lot. Perhaps – effectively – Chanyeol wasn’t cheating literally, but he was blinded by Kyungsoo’s company to the point of forgetting his own boyfriend and that – for the blond-haired boy – was enough to suspect that something was really happening with his giant. He was always aware that Chanyeol had an unfinished business with his former lover; he knew it from the beginning because Chanyeol told him everything, so he knew that he still felt something for the other guy. However, he never thought Kyungsoo would return to ruin everything Baekhyun had built with his love, much less so abruptly soon. The petite male wasn’t prepared for this, but certainly he wasn’t going to let this destroy him, because after all this is what would determine his future with his boyfriend. This would determine everything and it was going to happen sooner or later, so he had to trust that everything would be fine. This was a sort of test that their relationship had to suffer to finally get the happily ever after. This will allow Baekhyun to see if his boyfriend was prepared to give him all his heart from now on or if he really couldn’t through any means move on from the past.

“Ok, let me get this straight,” The blond-haired male started to say with a collected and calm tone of voice, without showing how truly alarmed and concerned he was about this whole situation, “You've been ignoring me all these weeks because your mind was only focused on one person which would happen to be your ex-boyfriend, and let me ask you … Am I the only one who thinks there is something wrong in all this? How do you think I feel now knowing that you've been seeing your ex-boyfriend behind my back, Chanyeol? Because there are enough reasons to misunderstand this.” He said as calmly as he could.

“Look, I know it sounds bad and yes, it's my fault for not telling you from the beginning, but you have to trust me, baby boy. I love you and I'm not cheating on you with him, I swear, I just want to get back the friendship we lost. Besides it turns out that everything was a misunderstanding, he didn’t leave me because he no longer cared about me; it was because his parents forced him to end our relationship.” He explained softly, hoping to ease the possible uncertainties that could arise in his boyfriend from this somewhat unorthodox situation.

The puppy looked at him with eyes full of uncertainty, he was lost and didn’t know how to digest and understand his boyfriend’s intentions. He wasn’t sure if he could accept this fully, since he still felt uncomfortable and unsure about all of this, which was totally normal, anyone in his position would feel like this. And again, the smaller still couldn’t get out of his head the fact that Chanyeol had been forgotten about him because of Kyungsoo, it was simply very alarming. He knew he had to be careful from now on, but didn’t want to be paranoid all the freaking time. Furthermore, he couldn’t forget that Chanyeol had to face the past sooner or later. He didn’t want to distrust the love of his life, but everything indicated that he had to test him in some way, and for that Baekhyun had to pretend to agree with these meetings between the giant and his first love. But leaving all that aside and to find the bright side to all this, at least now the puppy knew the reason behind his lover’s nonchalance, at least he knew with what he was dealing with and at least Chanyeol had confessed it.

When the giant immersed himself into Baekhyun’s eyes he realized that his boyfriend felt really uncomfortable and he could understand that obviously, in fact the puppy had every right to get angry and even forbid him from seeing the other boy. And if that were the case the taller would obey without hesitation, because he didn’t want to lose Baekhyun, it was the last thing he wanted and if he had to eliminate Kyungsoo of his life he would do it. It would be difficult to do so and he would feel somewhat empty after saying goodbye to him for a second time, but the giant was willing to do it for his special someone.

“Baek, I'll do whatever you want me to do. If you want me to stop seeing him I will do it.” The giant declared solemnly.

The puppy-like boy studied his expression carefully and knew his boyfriend was dead serious; he was being sincere and knew he would keep his word. And he was tempted to tell him to move away for good from the grasp of Kyungsoo, but the smaller could not be selfish and ignore the giant's feelings, for better or worse it was in his nature to always think about others’ feelings before his own and he could tell that Chanyeol was really happy to see his best friend again and who was Baekhyun to deny him that happiness?

“Okay, you can keep your friendship with him.” He said after sighing in resignation. “But I have some conditions.” Added quickly.

The black-haired boy smiled from ear to ear as he nodded eagerly.

“You cannot keep ignoring me, please. I don’t want him to become your priority. I don’t want to see you texting him all the time as if I weren’t there. I don’t want you to cancel our dates to go out with him instead. I don’t want you to spend so much time with him as you have been doing so far. And above all …just keep loving me. Kiss me, touch me. Don’t just forget me, Channie.” He said sheepishly, playing nervously with his dainty fingers.

Chanyeol immediately wrapped his arms around his boyfriend once again and pulled him into his lap, holding him tightly against his chest, not wanting to let him go. The guilt rose to another level upon hearing the desperation that hid behind those words, filling the giant’s heart with sorrow and anguish, unable to believe he had neglected his boyfriend so ruthlessly, especially now that he could tell how much it had affected his baby boy. Definitely he never was going to do something like this again.

“Oh my God, you're so lovely. I promise not to hurt you again, love. I love you so much. You're the best boyfriend in the world. No one can compare to my puppy.” He muttered squeezing him with apprehension.

The smaller male snuggled against his giant’s chest to enjoy the warmth that he had missed so much the last few weeks, wanting to feel in this so cherished way forever.

“You only say that because I pamper you too much.” The blond-haired boy commented with a lopsided grin, but Chanyeol couldn’t see it because the puppy had his face buried in his broad chest.

“No, I say it because it's true, Baek. You know, all my friends think I'm a lucky bastard to have you as my boyfriend, especially Kris.” He his blond hair slowly.

Baekhyun raised his head and looked into his boyfriend’s eyes with surprise written all over his face. “What? Kris? But I thought he disliked me, he’s always so mean to me.” He whined frowning cutely, making Chanyeol smile sweetly at that lovely view.

The tall guy chuckled softly. “He is only pretending, because I know that Kris has a very good impression of you. He just wants to keep his distance, you know that he doesn’t like to socialize much with people.” He said nuzzling his baby boy’s soft cheek with the tip of his nose. “Even that stupid Chen, he has confessed to me that he has a crush on you … that bastard.”

“Chen likes me?! Really?” The other inquired with a happy smile.

The tall guy studied the face of his radiant lover and frowned somewhat annoyed, not understanding why his boyfriend looked so happy to hear that. “Yah, what does it mean that smile? Do you have a thing for Chen?”