From the moment Yixing drove into the wedding venue’s front entrance, he could feel the overwhelming presence of the one-percenters that inhabited East Asia. Compared to the Hyundai he owned, which was the only car that he could afford on a broke college student’s budget, every other guest seemed to step out of either a BMW, Bentley, or a Rolls-Royce. Yixing briefly considered leaving, embarrassed to be seen in his lousy but cost-effective car in front of all the other moneyed guests.

“Baekhyun, I know I’ve met your parents before and all, but do you really think I’ll fit into this crowd?,” wondered Yixing out loud. “I’m wearing a suit that I bought five years ago and is several sizes too small.”

“Relax, Xing Xing! No one’s gonna pay attention to you. They’ve all got their judgemental eyes on the bride and her poor family anyways” said Baekhyun.

Yixing let out a long sigh. “Can you stop calling them poor? I looked her up online and apparently she’s from a family of general practitioners. They’re not exactly scraping by,” he quipped.

“I didn’t mean it like that! I completely support Junmyeon for marrying her. I meant to say that I felt bad for all the the bride’s family is getting,” retorted Baekhyun.

“Yeah, ok,” said Yixing resignedly.

Yixing dearly loved his friend Baekhyun. But sometimes, Baekhyun and his family’s wealth got to him. Since Baekhyun came from a family of multi-millionaires, he had a much easier time navigating life’s obstacles than Yixing did. Baekhyun’s family could afford to pay for four years of tuition at one of Korea’s most prestigious and expensive university upfront for Baekhyun to pursue a finance major. Eventually, Baekhyun would probably end up getting an MBA, and then would later take over the family business. It wasn’t to say that Baekhyun didn’t work hard for his accomplishments, but his life was definitely a lot simpler to manage than Yixing’s.

Yixing, on the other hand, had to fight tooth-and-nail for his university scholarship, and even then, it barely covered 40% of his tuition. It took months for Yixing’s parents even begin to consider letting him study in a foreign country for three times the cost of universities in China. But that was the price he had to pay if he wanted to stand a chance in breaking into the K-Pop industry, which was his best chance at international fame. However, even when Yixing found himself lamenting his circumstances, he never allowed it to affect his friendship with Baekhyun.

Eventually, Yixing and Baekhyun got out of the car and headed into the lobby of the church hall. As soon as they walked in, Yixing gazed in awe at the beautiful room. A massive but delicate chandelier was the brightest light source in the spacious room. The entire floor was covered in ceramic cream-colored tiles to match the clean white walls. Yixing imagined that this was what the gates of heaven might look like.

Baekhyun noticed the glint in his friend’s eye as he absorbed the view of the waiting room. “If you’re impressed by this, wait until you actually enter the church. Impeccably flawless is an understatement for how it looks in there,” he commented.

“You’ve been here before? No wait, don’t answer that. I’m actually not that surprised,” said Yixing, which earned him a smack on his shoulder.

At that moment, a middle-aged couple made their way towards Baekhyun and Yixing. The man was dressed in a black suit and had a wrinkled complexion that suited the stern expression that adorned his face. The woman was dressed in a long sleeveless ball gown and a pearl necklace and looked equally as perturbed as her husband.

“Hello Mother, Father. How are you today?” asked Baekhyun when his parents reached him.

“Good, I suppose. I do hope you try the sashimi. The appetizers here are simply wonderful. That’s more than I can say about this marriage” Baekhyun’s mother replied, mumbling the last sentence.

“Oh…. yeah… I guess I’ll check that out later,” responded Baekhyun hesitantly. He then turned to his right. “This is my friend Zhang Yixing, from college. I’m sure you remember meeting him last time” he introduced while he gestured to Yixing.

“Yes, I do. What happened to Chairman Park’s son? Was he not going to come?” brusquely asked Baekhyun’s father.

“Yes, he was supposed to come, but he was busy with school work, so he couldn’t,” Baekhyun explained.

“How unfortunate. I was looking to catch up with him and his family. They’ve recently become business partners for the company.” And with that statement, Baekhyun’s parents departed to another corner of the room, most likely to socialize with the other influential businessmen.

Baekhyun released a deep breath after they were out of earshot of his parents. “What did I say? They’re nuts. I can’t believe I lived with those people for 18 years.”

“Come on, they weren’t that bad. They’re probably just grumpy about the wedding,” consoled Yixing.

“I also can’t believe the way they treated you. My mother looked at you like you were a smelly garbage can! And my father wouldn’t shut up about Chanyeol!”

“It’s not personal, so I don’t really care that much,” Yixing responded with a small shoulder shrug.

Before Baekhyun could argue back, an announcement was made for all the guests to enter the church. He curled his hand in Yixing’s and led him inside.

As previously mentioned by Baekhyun, the church was indeed “impeccably flawless”. White lilies and blue hydrangeas littered the walls, the sides of the pews, and the center stage. Twinkling fairy lights also made the whole room feel like a magical paradise. In addition, this was also the largest church Yixing had ever seen. It was so big, it felt like he had to take a five minute drive just to reach the other side of the room.

“Didn’t I tell you? Come on now, let’s sit down,” said Baekhyun as he leaded them to a church pew.

The wedding ceremony was fairly standard. The bride came out in a stunning dress that only her soon-to-be-husband’s family could afford, the groom was nervously excited (but mostly just nervous), and everyone watched the couple with hawk eyes.

After the ceremony was over, all the guests were eventually allowed inside the reception hall. It had felt like Baekhyun was leading Yixing from one expensively decorated room into another. Yixing wondered why people wasted so much money and time planning a five-hour event. He supposed it was more about exuding wealth and opulence than anything else. It was all very unnecessary to him.

The bride and groom were separately making their way through the crowd and personally greeted each guest. As soon as Junmyeon spotted Baekhyun, his face instantly lit up like a lightbulb.

“Baekhyun, hey! How’s it going?,” Junmyeon asked.

“It’s good. Congratulations, Hyung! You’re finally married now!,” exclaimed Baekhyun as he pulled him into a warm hug.

“I know, I can’t believe it. It feels like a dream come true. I’m floating on cloud nine.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m really happy for you, hyung. How’s the family doing? Has Auntie been giving you any today?,” asked Baekhyun.

“Mom hasn’t said much today. I don’t know if it’s because she’s come to terms with it or if she’s too shell-shocked to speak. But I’m not going to worry about that right now.” Suho looked over at Yixing. “Hi, are you Baekhyun’s boyfriend by any chance?”

Yixing quickly shaked his head. “No, I’m his college roommate. My name is Yixing.”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. Well, thank you so much for coming to my wedding. It was nice seeing both of you.” Junmyeon waved them goodbye and then left to attend to the other guests.

Baekhyun looked around the hall. “Let’s go eat, I’m positively dying of starvation and there’s a buffet calling my name” he said.

“I agree,” added Yixing.

The two hungry boys made a beeline for the tables filled with seemingly endless amounts of food. After they filled their plates, they looked around to find their seats. They noticed that their table was the only “kid” (meaning anyone under the age of 25) table in the room. As they walked to their seats, Baekhyun noticed two boys, his younger cousin Jongin and his boyfriend Sehun, who also happened to be one of Baekhyun’s close friends at college. Both of them were raucously laughing and flinging peas at each other’s faces. Baekhyun released a breath that he didn’t know he was holding in.

“Hey guys, what’s up! Finally, some normal people at this party, am I right?,” said Baekhyun while slapping hands with Sehun.

“You brought Xing Xing with you? Jongin better hold me tight, or otherwise I just might end up in his arms tonight,” playfully warned Sehun as he gave an exaggerated wink to Yixing.

“Shut up, moron,” said Jongin, and smacked Sehun hard on his head. “Anyways, this wedding is lame as hell. I guess when they were making the guest list, it said ‘strictly saggy-faced rich old men’. I bet Junmyeon hyung wants to leave as much as I do.”

Baekhyun expressed his agreement at the statement and sat down to eat. It was obvious that around Jongin and Sehun, Baekhyun was more visibly relaxed than he had been the entire evening. Besides Yixing, Baekhyun was also close friends with Sehun, who had initially bonded over their shared dislike for their calculus professor, who never gave any partial credit on exams. They were quite a rambunctious pair, which often meant that they were the life of any house party they attended. Baekhyun also invited Sehun to many of his family’s social events in order to avoid having the entire night become one giant snooze-fest. It was at one of these gatherings where Sehun had met his eventual six-foot, bronzed Adonis of a boyfriend. Baekhyun couldn’t have been happier with the arrangement, since it meant that Sehun was practically family now.

Yixing, on the other hand, was somewhat nervous about the way the evening was going. These surroundings, with these people and their wealth told him that he clearly did not belong here. Although he felt alright with just Baekhyun by his side, as he watched Baekhyun eagerly converse with Sehun and Jongin about the various foreign summer getaways they had, he felt the disparity between people like himself and people like Baekhyun. It was bad enough that he had a limited fluency in Korean and could barely speak, but he also could not relate to the stories of extravagant escapades in St. Barts and Aspen and wherever else they went. But Yixing was not jealous… No, never jealous. However, it did plant a small seed of fear that Baekhyun would eventually leave him to be with people of his status.  

Since Baekhyun visibly seemed to be engrossed in conversation, Yixing thought it would be ok if he stepped outside for a few moments. With his drink in hand, Yixing walked to the balcony, which had a spectacular view of the nighttime Seoul skyline. He perched one hand on the ledge and sipped wine from the champagne flute resting in his other hand. His breath was taken away by the view. His eyes drank in the tiny lights that came in various shades and colors. He thought about how each light represented the presence of a single human being, who alone had a colossal universe that no one knew about except for them. Combined, Yixing couldn’t imagine how several billions of human beings could possibly coexist all at once. The world fascinated him.

Yixing didn’t know whether it was because he was distracted or tipsy, but he failed to notice that Baekhyun had somehow apparated next to him and was staring out into the distance.

“Yixing, don’t you think it’s a little cold outside? We should really go back in,” commented Baekhyun as he rubbed his hands on the sides of his arms.

“You can go back inside, I’m fine,” said Yixing.

“You can’t stay out here, you’ll definitely get a cold!” scolded Baekhyun. “Anyways, what’s up? DId something happen? You haven’t said much tonight.”

“No, I’m fine. You know my Korean isn’t that good,” answered Yixing.

“You sure? You seem kinda distant. It’s obviously related to why you chose to come outside and freeze your off instead of staying warm inside and trying out the cake” Baekhyun said.

Yixing gave him a long glare. “Baekhyun, it’s ok. I’ll be back inside in a couple of minutes. It’s just stuffy inside, that’s all,” he consoled.

“Fine. But if you’re not back inside in five minutes…” warned Baekhyun, trailing off his sentence.

Baekhyun went back inside and eventually, so did Yixing. Soon after he stepped in, Yixing heard the music change to a slow song. People went off in pairs to occupy the dance floor, including Sehun and Jongin. Unfortunately for Baekhyun, he was left alone and was slumped at the table. Baekhyun wanted to go drag Yixing back inside, but he sensed that his mood was somewhat off, so he didn’t want to piss him off.

However, Baekhyun’s luck changed when he peered up and saw Yixing standing in front of him with his hand extended to him. Yixing had a small grin on his face. He coolly asked “Wanna dance?”

Baekhyun immediately accepted, quickly reaching for Yixing’s hand. Yixing led him towards the dance floor, stopping at a spot on the side. Yixing and Baekhyun looked at each other, both wondering what to do with their hands. Eventually, Yixing accepted the role of the lead and gently placed his hands on the dip in Baekhyun’s back and on his shoulder. Yixing felt a pleasant buzz in his chest. Holding Baekhyun felt like being wrapped in a warm blanket. Plus, he swore that the boy smelled like fresh lavender (more specifically, like Yixing’s shampoo).

They didn’t dance all that much. Instead, they just settled for swaying back and forth, taking no more than two steps away from their original spot. It was good enough for Yixing, though. He could spend hours doing just this. Gazing upon Baekhyun’s face, which was illuminated by the soft lights, made Yixing’s heart swell with unbridled happiness. God, he was in love.

Then, like a lightening strike, Chanyeol’s face popped up in Yixing’s head. Only then did occur to Yixing that he was crossing, or at least hovering, over a line. A line that he wasn’t allowed to see the other side of. It made Yixing stiffen, who was disturbed by the thought that he was probably sabotaging his best friend’s relationship.

Luckily, Baekhyun hadn’t noticed the change in his friend’s attitude, and continued to dance. Yixing, on the other hand, anxiously wished the song would end so that he could get out of Baekhyun’s arms.

“Baekhyun-ah, I must’ve eaten something bad. My stomach hurts. Let’s go home,” complained Yixing, taking the opportunity to unwrap Baekhyun’s hands from his body.

“Oh no! Do you need me to buy some medicine on the way back?,” asked Baekhyun with a worried expression on his face.

“No, it’s fine. I think I have some medicine at home.” said Yixing.

As the pair headed off to the car, Yixing couldn’t help but feel guilty for lying to his friend. However, he didn’t think he could stand to be around Baekhyun in such a romantic environment any longer. He didn’t know what could happen or what he might do if he stayed any longer with his charming best friend that he was secretly in love with. It was at that moment that Yixing promised himself that he would get rid of his feelings for Baekhyun once and for all.

Hope you guys liked the chapter! Thanks for reading it!