Chapter 18: Out Of My Way

Aeri strolled in, her black high heels clicked and clacked along the marble tiled floor, her arms decorated in a tremendous amount of rings and bracelets that it seemed as if it would drop to the floor as soon as she raised a finger. She was one of those who never had to lift a finger for anything. It made Ziyu jealous; he couldn’t help himself. Sure, he loved his life with Baba, but sometimes the outer world really gets to someone. 

“Sehun-ah.” said Aeri, her hoarse smokey voice crept across the room as she scraped her long nail along Sehun’s neck, but he made no movement to move away even if he cringed. “I missed you, my lovely fiancee.” whispered Aeri in his ear. 

Sehun frowned and pused her face away. “Do let me have my own space, Aeri, will you?”

She pouted and crossed her arms, not used to having things not her way. “I have no idea what you are talking about; shouldn’t you embrace me in your warm arms? That what Sohyon says her boyfriend does to her.”

Sehun hissed. Sohyon was as much of a devil as Aeri, only slightly less greedy. Her boyfriend was a friend of Sehun’s that Aeri made him introduce to her. Something about having the ideal family and friends. Sehun hated it. Aeri and Sohyon were everything but perfect. They were the pure embodiment of torture and stupidity. 

“Shouldn’t you be in Jeju by now?”

Aeri frowned again. “That’s not what I asked you, Sehun!” she flailed her arms around. “I want you to give me a hug, at least before I leave. Will you?”

Sehun’s frown etched deeper in his face. “I’d rather not.”

Aeri twisted . “Fine.”

She slowly looked up from her hands, setting her deep black calculating eyes on Ziyu. The small boy quickly shied away from her gaze. “Who’s.. that thing?”

Sehun didn’t utter a word as he also stared at Ziyu, but there was a small glow in his eyes that almost showcased his pity for the small boy. 

Aeri inched closer, her cold hand settled atop Ziyu’s soft tufts of hair. “You don’t mind me, do you small child?”

Ziyu started to back away, but Aeri’s hand gripped harder. Ziyu stopped, knowing it was best to cooperate with the elegant lady. Sehun couldn’t look anymore. He started to get out of the chair until Ziyu shouted out the forgotten words, “Appa!”

Sehun stopped and dropped back in his chair. 

Aeri slowly turned her head to gaze at him. “What does he mean, Sehun?”

Sehun in a deep breath of air. “Nothing to do with your business, love.”

Aeri contorted her whole face into one of an immense distaste. “No. I think you should explain.”

“Oh get over yourself Aeri. I have nothing to explain to you, you filthy piece of trash.” Sehun opened his eyes from their small break of slumber. “Do get out of my sight. You disgust me with your greed, your cooking, your body, your face, your personality. Never let me see you again.”

Aeri started to tear up, quickly loosening her hold on Ziyu as she ran over to Sehun’s side. “What have I done?”

Sehun sighed. “Go. Go to Jeju.”

“Sehun- Sehun-ah, I’m sorry. Please let me--”

“Aeri.”

Aeri, too scared to shake the ice even more, ran away as fast as she could to call Sohyon. 

Ziyu shook under Sehun’s cold eyes that were now directed on him; too scared to rub the hair that Aeri pulled, he sat with the uncontrollable desire to flatten the soft layers.

“Ziyu.”

Ziyu shook as he heard his name uttered from the older man’s soft lips. 

Sehun threaded his long fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry about my outbursts lately. Things have been.. stressful.”

Ziyu lightly smiled and bobbed his head. He knew that the reason why appa was so stressed was because of him. “It’s okay, appa.”

Sehun sighed, “I would appreciate it if you didn’t call me that.”

Ziyu nodded again, mustering up a small smile once more, “I’m sorry too.”

Sehun nodded and stood up, brushing down the wrinkles that were left in his nice dress pants. 

“You said you know a Baekhyun didn’t you?”

Ziyu nodded, too afraid to utter another word. 

Sehun stiffly nodded, “Why don’t we give Baekhyun a call, I’ll have him pick you up so you can go back home to Luhan.”

“Okay..” whispered Ziyu, biting his lip. For some reason, he didn’t want to leave his appa even if appa didn’t want him. 

-

“Ziyu.” whispered Luhan, tears running down his eyes, “You shouldn’t run away like that.” Luhan dropped down to his knees as he hugged the small boy. “Baba loves you, you know that don’t you? Am I not good enough?”

Haowen stared into Ziyu’s eyes, pleading him to say something that would comfort the broken soul. 

“I’m sorry, Baba. I only want to see if what Haowen was saying was right.” Ziyu wrapped his short arms around his Baba’s head, letting his cheeks touch Luhan’s soft honey brown hair. “Ziyu didn’t mean to make you hurt like this, Baba.”

Luhan slowly looked up to give an eye smile to both of the twins. “You won’t do this again will you?”

Haowen immediately shook his head, implying Ziyu to follow. 

“Of course not, Baba. We love you. We love you. We love you.”

Luhan let tears of joy escape his beautiful face. 

“We’ll have a new life soon. When we get to Pairs you’ll make new friends. We’ll be a happy little family.”

Haowen nodded, “We’re happy right now. We’ll be happy as long as you’re with us.”

Ziyu nodded. “Haowen is right.” He giggled, “Haowen is always right.”

Luhan burst out laughing, looking at the wooden roof, whispering, “I’ll prove myself that I can be a better man than you, Oh Sehun. You’ll see.”

AUTHORS NOTE: :) It’s been a while.. sadly my pre written chapter has been deleted, so I had to rewrite this. 

Do you think Luhan will meet anyone new in Paris? If so, who?