It was a rare sight for everyone in the palace.

The young boss of Phoenix, the strongest man in South Korea right now, with his consigliere and big number of his other subordinates in tow, marched into the gate of South Korea palace. If the boy-don had not informed the palace first, the palace people might as well thought that they were being attacked by them.

The air surrounding the palace immediately turned gloomy and suffocating. That was how strong and intense Phoenix’s presence was. If they came to the palace, the king himself always be the one who welcomed them. Everywhere they went, they immediately became the top of the chain.

Chanyeol always felt struck by the elegance of the palace. The Phoenix and the royalty were at the opposite poles in so many things, including the respective palaces they lived in. The royal palace was all guilded with gold, while Phoenix head-quarter was more luxurious in a simple way, all black and white. Chanyeol still prefered his own home.

“To what honor do I owe this visit?”

King Junki stood in front of him with all his mighty. He wasn’t that much older than Chanyeol. Only ten years older. He himself was also a boy-king. So Chanyeol bowed to him, the usual bow, not the one kneeling bow that usually done in front of a king. Their rank were the same in this country anyway.

“I’m sorry if I interrupt your peaceful morning,” Chanyeol said as soon as he straightened his back.

“I supposed this is an urgent matter that even the don himself asked the permission to come to see me.”

“It is an urgent matter,” Chanyeol stepped forward. Since he left his quarter, leaving Baekhyun behind, he had been on the edge for every second. The time was ticking very fast. Every second, Baekhyun’s thread of life was getting thinner. Every ing second counted.

Sensing Chanyeol’s tension, the boy-king made a serious face before he finally understood what Chanyeol wanted. He brought the don to one of the room and let everyone out.

“Is this about your husband?” he asked as soon as he closed the door, facing the tensed don.

“He’s... Baekhyun is—“

“Calm down, Chanyeol. I’ve been meaning to ask you about him since the first day you let him stay. What’s with that?”

Junki knew about Chanyeol’s deal with all the wives and husbands. When Mastro gave the ultimatum to him, the first person Chanyeol came to, outside the circle of Phoenix, was the boy-king. Junki was the one who helped him to get every law in the country checked for his upcoming act of marrying teenagers across the country. As much as Chanyeol wanted to brag the rank of Phoenix in this country, he’ll still be demolished to the ground without Junki’s help.

Chanyeol didn’t realize that Junki had gently pushed him to sit down. He didn’t want to sit down, but he realized he need that. Chanyeol never really liked him, but Chanyeol honestly can’t imagine his life right now without Junki’s kind help. He hated to admit that he owed his life to him.

“The country’s a mess because of you.” Junki sat down in front of him. “What happen with our deal? That agreement was already messy itself. I’ve dirtied my reputation in this country for you as the king who did nothing when his people were being taken away by a freak mafia. Now after what I’ve done, after what you have done for a month, you stopped?”

“This is more complicated than you think, Junki.”

The king had refused to show a hint of amusement, but failed. “Life is always complicated, Chanyeol. But not love. Love supposes to make life easier.”

Chanyeol did not just dislike him. He hated the king. As he could easily read him, no matter how hard Chanyeol tried to put all the layer of wall surround him, to hide his feeling. But Baekhyun... since he met Baekhyun, Chanyeol had been too raw. Too transparent.

Now that even Junki could read him, it was only a matter of time before his every enemy realized the same thing Junki did.

A shadow crossed Chanyeol’s eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I think you know what I meant, brother.” Junki got up from his golden seat.  The King used his hand to smoothen his hair before he put both of his hands in his pockets, making Chanyeol suddenly felt small. “Now, I believe you need my help, again?”

Chanyeol gripped the handle of his chair tighter. He said nothing and let the boiling shame inside him to reside. When he felt like he could speak without any tremor, he got up too.

“I’m planning to stop this once for all, Junki. And I’m well aware that I couldn’t do this by myself if the time come when the Mastro launched their attack. So, I come to you, begging you to help me.”

“Why should I help you again?”

“Because this is your country. I’ve been fighting for this country of yours, your people.” Chanyeol stopped for a moment, not letting the blind rage to consume him. “I know that this happened because of my father, therefore I took full responsibility of it. Only I would carry this monster title. But this is wrong, Junki. And I don’t understand why I only realize it now, but this is wrong. I should fight them, not surrender to their threat. And you, as the king... God, you were supposed to set me straight, but you agreed to this.”

“So you blame me?”

“I don’t blame you. I just... I realize that this is wrong. I’ve ruined the future of those thirty people. I can’t continue any longer.”

The king looked straight into his eyes. His sharp eyes became sharper, judging every movement of his change of expression. “I agreed to that because you said it was better to ruin the lives of one hundred people than ruin the whole country. What if they really send a nuclear here? You know that they would actually do that.”

“They wouldn’t. You and I know if it happened, World War III would be occured. God, why were we so stupid back then?” Chanyeol ran his fingers through his hair. “I need to stop this, Junki. I need to stop them.”

Chanyeol watched as the stern expression of the king turn into even more stoic. The king was obviously running the gear inside his head, thinking hard. “You’re right. Jesus, Chanyeol, what is this situation you got us into?”

Chanyeol had been blind all this time. Blinded by the lost of his parents. Blinded by the ignorance of the lives of a hundred people. He’d been doing the worst monster on earth could do. And all it took to make him sober from drowning in this sin was Baekhyun.

Baekhyun made him weak and strong at the same time in all strange possible ways.

“So what is your plan?” Junki popped his bubble of thought. “What do you need from me?”

Chanyeol shook his head. “I still don’t know. I still need to go all around the world to seek for help. I just need to know that I get your support.”

“You got my support and protection. Solve this problem. You get Phoenix blood running inside you. You can do anything.” Junki placed his hands on Chanyeol’s shoulders hard. “But be careful. As no matter how beautiful love is, it will be the thing that could destroy a human the most.”

 

~

 

“Did you ever get out of this place, Kyungsoo?”

“Yes. And you’re not going to get out of the quarter, master. Not even an inch.”

“I thought the vans are bulletproof. What if Jongin and Sehun come with me too?”

“Not a chance. Now, master. Leave me alone.”

Baekhyun scrunched his nose, mouth pouting and revealing his inner pink lips. He laid his back once again at the hard surface of wooden chair. His whole body was hurting because he had been laying down there in the middle of greenhouse for almost two hours, reading history book that Kyungsoo forced him to read, though Baekhyun had read that book before.

While his right hand holding the history book, his left hand traveled down to brush the soft fur of Ariel’s on the ground.

Baekhyun was still lucky that now he had one additional company. A really big yet cute golden retriever named Ariel. She made his day more bearable to endure. Sometimes, playing with her got him to forget the ache of missing Chanyeol.

“I’m so booooored,” he whined, making Ariel flinched in surprise. “Chanyeol, please come home soon. Kyungsoo is torturing me.”

It had been three days since Chanyeol left and marked his one week of living there at the Phoenix head-quarter. At Chanyeol’s empire. As the master, the husband of the don. It had been surreal, but as real as it was at the same time. It was weird that right now he felt like he already used to this life.

He thought he could live with this.

He had spent these uneventful three days by a heavy heart, scared of something might happen to him, to this quarter, afraid that he’ll hear bad news from outside of this place, especially regarding Chanyeol and all the mafia feud fiasco. But fortunately, the days remained uneventful.

He mostly spent his times with Kyungsoo or Ariel. When he was alone at night, he usually sneaked out of his room with Sehun, visiting the kitchen to get a bite of sweets he craved. Baekhyun hoped it could keep being this calm for the next seven days.

“Do you think I’m not bored spending my times with you?” Kyungsoo bit back. His back was facing Baekhyun as he focused on watering the plants.

“Then let’s go out. Do something fun like playing basketball, or let’s just eat something at my favorite beef restaurant. It’ll be my treat.”

“Goodness God. Chanyeol is a moron for keeping you.” Even without seeing Kyungsoo’s face, Baekhyun knew that his maid was rolling his eyes.

Baekhyun sighed and sat up. His blue blazer started to wrinkle. “Okay. Can we at least go to the shoot training ground?”

“Are you for real?” Kyungsoo turned around, facing him. His face was contorted into disbelief expression. “Do you want boss to kill me?”

The little master grinned. “I won’t let him kill you. I’ll protect you.”

“You’re impossible.”

“Could we at least—“

Baekhyun’s sentence was cut off by the sound of the greenhouse’s door being opened. Jongin emerged from behind the door. Baekhyun immediately got up, alarmed by Jongin’s serious expression.

“What’s wrong, Jongin?” Kyungsoo too had stepped closer.

Jongin bowed to the master. “Nothing’s wrong, Master. There’s just... a condition that needed your assistance.”

“What condition are you talking about?”

The head of defence scratched his hair. “We had a visitor, an important visitor. Can you receive him on Chanyeol’s behalf?”

Baekhyun blinked. Once. Twice. Was this really happening? This would be the first time that Baekhyun got to meet someone outside the quarter.

“You got the permission from the don?” Kyungsoo asked. “He’ll be furious if he knew Baekhyun meet someone without his consent.”

“Actually, Boss was the one who called me in advance, asking me if Baekhyun Hyung could greet the guest,” the head of defence sneered at the servant. Then he looked at Baekhyun once again. “So, what do you think, master? You can do something master-ly for me?”

 

~

 

Baekhyun started to think that the idea of wearing colorful suits was bad, in this kind of pressing situation. He made a proposal of wearing bright suits because he thought he would not meet anyone other than people inside the quarter.

He certainly had no idea he would meet a freaking King of South Korea in the absence of Chanyeol.

He didn’t have the time to change. Or specifically, he didn’t bother to change, as soon as he knew that a king was waiting for him. He didn’t want to make the king wait any longer. He thanked the gods and goddesses in heaven that he wore dark blue today. Had the king come yesterday, he’d see the master of Phoenix in bright yellow suits.

The first thing he did when he entered the room and saw the king—oh my god, the king—was taking a deep breath. For a few stunned moment, he really didn’t know what he should do. But Jongin had given him a nudge from the back, making him jumped in surprise, and making King Junki landed his eyes on him for the first. Gulping, Baekhyun put on his best smile and walked toward him.

“Your Highness,” Baekhyun bowed deeply when he was already in front of him.

The master didn’t straightened his posture until King Junki answered him. “Please, sit down, Baekhyun. Comfortably. This is your home after all.”

My home. Yes.

Baekhyun should had felt comfortable inside his own home. But the king’s presence was overwhelming—though not as overwhelming as Chanyeol’s—that he started to feel like he was the guest here.

“Did I interrupt your study session?” King Junki asked. Both of his hands were on folded on his thigh.

Baekhyun blinked. Study session? Oh. That.

“Uhm... yeah, history. But you’re not bothering me at all, Your Highness.”

“And did you like it?”

“I think It’s not really interesting.”

Baekhyun saw an amused glint cross over the king’s eyes.

Never did Baekhyun dream of talking to a king. The King. King Junki was in front of him, talking to him, in person. Technically, he was visited by a king. It did sound really glorious, but Baekhyun felt nothing but restless.

What was a king doing here?

Baekhyun quietly pushed his negative thoughts. Nothing was wrong. Jongin said he already had Chanyeol’s permission. Chanyeol believed he’ll be able to fill in his absence. He was the master of Phoenix after all.

The young master cleared his throat before speaking. “Is there anything I can help you with, Your Highness?”

“Oh, please. Don’t be too formal. It makes me uncomfortable,” the king laughed. His eyes were playful. “Besides, this country owed you tons of soul, with just your presence only.”

Baekhyun felt like his body sink deeper into the couch. “What do you mean by that?”

The king’s eyes lingered on him. He scanned every single inch of Baekhyun’s face, as if memorizing it, or rather calculating it. His playful eyes had turned serious in a matter of second.

“I’m not sure whether Chanyeol had told you the reason of this whole ordeal,” King Junki finally responded. “But he, and me, did all of this to protect the country. I see that you’re not surprised. He had told you, huh?”

“I’m not trying to be rude, but what’s your point, King Junki?” Baekhyun narrowed his eyes.

King Junki gave him a really familiar look. The look that Kyungsoo and Jongin gave him back then before they said now I know why Chanyeol made you stay. Up to this point, Baekhyun still had no idea if it was a compliment or not.

The king didn’t immediately answer. To Baekhyun’s surprise, the king now avoided his eyes and opted out to look into the distance outside the window.

“Chanyeol is a dear brother to me, Baekhyun. I was only twelve and Chanyeol was four when we met the first time,” he started. “Both of us were the only child, so it was only natural for us to get along.

“You might think that the mafia title on this family means they are the bad guys, the monsters. But you’re wrong. Everybody’s wrong. All this time, all these years, Phoenix is always the one who help to protect the country. They act behind the shadow. The royalty, the government, the law sides... we’re never afraid of them, we respect them. A lot. But they never wanted to be mentioned as the good guy. Because being the good means people would have grand expectations on them.”

For the first time after a while, the king looked into Baekhyun’s eyes.

“So could you imagine how hard it is right now for your husband? To be doing something as low as this. It destroyed him. And he’s only eighteen.”

“He lost both of his parents, the same day he received the ultimatum from Mastro. He wasn’t thinking straight when he asked for my support, and I wasn’t on my right mind either at that time,” King Junki exhaled heavily, before he got up, followed by Baekhyun. “I don’t know whether to call you a miracle or a plague. As soon as he met you, he refused to let you go. Moreover, he refused to take another husband or wife, because he didn’t want to cheat on you.”

Baekhyun regretted standing up. His legs could barely hold him up. His palms grew really cold and there was a ringing sound in his ears. He didn’t want to hear this explanation any longer. This was too much. Phoenix were the good guys all along?

“So where does that leave us?” King Junki took a few steps forward, eyes never left Baekhyun. “Because of you, he can’t send anyone anymore. And it means this country’s fate is on the line.”

“This is not what I want either,” Baekhyun’s voice trembled. “I... I knew nothing about this when I first came. And Chanyeol... and you... and everyone made me feel like I’m holding this country’s fate. I’m just a boy, Your Majesty. I’m just a goddamn high school student. I’m nothing.”

“You don’t know how much control you have over Chanyeol, Baekhyun. I don’t know what you did to him to make him like this, but right now you’re pretty much his everything, even though you think you’re nothing. That boy would destroy the world if you asked him to. That is how much you mean to him. He would do anything to protect you.”

 

~

 

 “Meeting the Yakuza really drained your energy, huh?” Kris took the front seat beside the driver of their black sedan. He casted a glance at his boss at the back, then ordered the driver to take off to the airport. “Should I cancel our meeting with Bratva and Sinaloa?”

The boss barely opened his tired eyes. “You can’t blame me. Talking to them always exhausts me. Kento is really something else.”

“I wasn’t blaming you.” Chanyeol can tell his consigliere was smiling. “If anything you got my respect. You selaed the deal with them in just two tries. That’s a great accomplishment.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Although we almost couldn’t get the deal after you threatened to kill Kento when he said Master look kawaii.”

Chanyeol growled at that. “He ing hit on my husband in front of me.”

“For god’s sake.” Kris’s shoulders shook from the laughter he held. “It’s called complimenting. Not flirting. Beside, Baekhyun wasn’t even there.”

“I will never let Baekhyun meet Kento.”

Chanyeol let Kris giving him a judging stare. At least, the consigliere had the audicity to not laugh at his childish possessiveness. Gosh, Chanyeol could feel that he had gotten really weird since Baekhyun came to his world.

Kris turned his back on Chanyeol once again. “Do you miss him?”

The question threw Chanyeol off guard. He didn’t reply yet—mostly because he had no idea how to response. He knew the answer. Of course, he missed Baekhyun, a lot. But it was too personal to share it to his consigliere.

“Jongin just informed me that Master had finished meeting with King Junki.”

Kris’s report peaked the don’s attention. “How did it go?”

“Based on Jongin’s report, Master was shaken. But he was fine.” Talking to Chanyeol by not looking at him directly seemed to bother the consigliere so much. So now he turned his body toward Chanyeol again. “I’m surprised you let him talk to Junki. Letting him know our true identity, that Phoenix actually allies with the royalty. You’re not afraid if Baekhyun would betray you?”

Chanyeol didn’t know if Kris was serious or not with the question. But it certainly offended him. “Of course I trust him. What do you mean?”

Kris shook his head. “You put too much trust on him. Remember, Chanyeol. He’s a commoner. And you know, the public is always our enemy.”

“You’ve got to be ing kidding me, right? He’s not a commoner anymore. He’s my husband.” All the easiness had left his tone. “Seems like you tend to forget about that.”

Through all the rage that started to boil, Chanyeol saw Kris jerk up and shock bloomed on his face. The consigliere probably didn’t expect that his boss would really snap because the insult he threw to his husband.

Kris nodded and kept his head hung low. “I’m terribly sorry, Don.”

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes on him, and tried to see the sincerity behind the words. When he knew that Kris was trully sorry and understand his standing in this matter, the young boss exhaled the rage inside of him. “You talk about him one more time, I won’t forgive you, ever.”

Kris only paused for a beat before answering. “Understood, Don.” Kris looked up and he was just about to turn around again facing upfront, but stopped and threw Chanyeol a question. “Do you want me to call him?”

Chanyeol in a breath. For the past three days, each day, Kris had been asking him that very question. And it tempted him everytime. Right now, the urge was unbearable. “Call him.”

“On it.”

Chanyeol tucked his head on the backrest as Kris already had his phone on his ear. He tried to regulate his breath. Now that his temper had gone down, he realized that he was too harsh on his advisor. Sometimes, Chanyeol just can’t think straight if it came to Baekhyun.

“Jongin? Are you with Master?” Kris’s voice boomed after a few seconds of silence. “Yes, please, put him on. Chanyeol wants to talk.”

When Chanyeol received the phone given by Kris, he realized his palms were getting clammy. It surprised him, how he got so nervous waiting for Baekhyun’s voice from the other end of the line.

“I can’t believe it takes three days for you to call me.” A familiar voice rushed through Chanyeol’s ear. It was amazing how by hearing his voice, only one sentence, his nervousness, his anxiety, his anger, his disappointment, all of it were gone.

“Do you ever say hello?” Chanyeol asked in between his involuntary smile. He took a glance at Kris for a second, and saw his advisor looking at him with a look of astonishment before he gave Chanyeol privacy by facing upfront. Chanyeol didn’t care. Right now, he was talking to his husband. It was all that matter.

“Not really,” Baekhyun answered. “But hey, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Chanyeol absentmindedly rest his head back. His hand unknowingly reached his suffocating tie and loosened it up. He took a deep breath for the first time since he got out from Yakuza’s quarter. “I just had a really long day.”

Chanyeol winced at his tone. Did he just whine?

“So am I.” Baekhyun blew a loud sigh. “This is strange.”

“What is?”

“Hearing your voice through phone.”

And somehow, it wasn’t enough for Chanyeol. This was what he afraid for. Once he heard Baekhyun’s voice, it wouldn’t be enough. He needed him here, in front of him, beside him, within his reach, in his arms. “So, you talked to Junki?”

Silence for a while, before Chanyeol heard another sigh. “Yep,” Baekhyun said with a loud sound of ‘pop’ at the end. “He did not go easy on me with the secrets.”

“That’s because they’re not supposed to be easy secrets.”

 “I still can’t process it.”

Chanyeol closed his eyes, feeling the ache in his head starting to disappear. “I understand.”

There was a shuffling sound. It seemed like Baekhyun was changing his position into a more comfortable position.

“We will talk about this,” Baekhyun said. It wasn’t a question, or even a request. It was a demand.

“Yes,” Chanyeol answered. “We’ll talk about this when I come back.”

 After a couple second of silence, Chanyeol cleared his throat, determined to change the heavy atmosphere between them. “So, how are you, these past few days?”

“Uhm,” Baekhyun hummed. “What do you think? I’m practically Kyungsoo’s prisoner.”

Chanyeol didn’t realize he started to smile. “I heard about what you’re doing on daily basis. Jongin’s report. What I want to know is something I do not know yet.”

That sound pretty much like a stalker. But it was true. Jongin called him everyday, reporting everything that happened at the quarter to him, and of course, how the master was doing. That was Chanyeol’d favorite part of the report. He liked it when Jongin talked about Baekhyun to him.

“Well, how am I suppose to know what you already know?” Baekhyun asked.

“Come on.” Chanyeol’s smile was getting wider. “You know I know, that my husband wouldn’t just study all day.”

It was like Chanyeol could almost see him grin. Because Baekhyun took some times—like he was trying to not to smile—before he answered Chanyeol’s accusation. “Fine,” Baekhyun huffed out. “I may or may not play in the kitchen once in a while.”

“Kitchen?” That wasn’t really what Chanyeol expected, but this was Baekhyun, and Baekhyun was the definition of unexpected since the first time he met him.

“Do you know that your cooks are really nice? Like really, really the nicest people in your house. They’re the sweetest.”

“Yeah?” Chanyeol’s lips twitched. “What do you do there? Cooking?”

“Goodness, no. You wouldn’t want your quarter to get burn down to the ground, would you? The cooks always give me my favorite food.”

“What’s your favorite food?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t know. I thought you know everything about me.”

Chanyeol closed his eyes again. God, he can do this everyday, just listening to Baekhyun’s voice, talking to him about the simplest matter. For once after a long time, Chanyeol felt like there was a chance of him to love his life again.

“Apparently not,” Chanyeol answered. “I don’t know what you like.”

Baekhyun laughed. And Chanyeol’s stomach went a little funny.

“Oh, Chanyeol. I love a lot of things. But first thing you need to know is that I love sweets. I don’t think I can live without them. So the cooks usually make me a dozen of cupcakes, and a lot of cookies too. But I love cupcakes more. Without Kyungsoo knowing, of course. I usually go at midnight, with Sehun and Ariel. And then...”

As Chanyeol kept listening to Baekhyun’s voice, Chanyeol imagined that this was his everyday life. That his reality was only consist of Baekhyun.

By the time Chanyeol ended his call with Baekhyun, they had arrived at the airport. His consigliere gave him a look.

“What?” Chanyeol asked as he removed his seatbelt.

Kris shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

Chanyeol’s lips curled upward.

“Good. If you do, you might fall for him.”

 

~

 

“Umfh, this is so, so good.” Baekhyun the vanilla frosting off his fingers, savouring it ‘till the last sweep. “I think we should go with this recipe for the rest of the year. I’ll never get sick of it.”

“You sure? I have another better recipe,” the cook named Jisook took a seat in front of him at the kitchen island. He put another cupcake on the table. “This one had cinnamon in it.”

“If you keep feeding him sugar, by the time Don comes back, he’ll be dead because of diabetes.” Kyungsoo stole the cupcake meant for the master and ate it instead. He won’t let his master eat more than five cupcakes a day. He was lenient enough today for letting his master not eating his breakfast.

After the phonecall with Chanyeol, Baekhyun told the secret of him diligently going to kitchen to his personal assistant.No matter how much he hated Kyungsoo, he thought Kyungsoo deserve to know. Or Baekhyun just tired of sneaking around behind Kyungsoo’s back. Besides, he wanted to get closer to Kyungsoo. He missed the feeling of having friends. And in this quarter, Kyungsoo was the closest one to get the title ‘friend’ out of him.

Fortunately, and unexpectedly, Kyungsoo loved cakes too. And somehow, in this kitchen, they formed a weird yet tight bond, through cupcakes that Jisook made, yep.

As Baekhyun looked at his servant taking a bite of the new cupcake, his mind drifted to Chanyeol. It had been four days since their phonecall. He didn’t get any calls again from him. When he asked Jongin about that, the head of defense could only shake his head, saying that the don was really busy nowadays.

It meant he hadn’t seen his husband for a week. His stomach knotted everytime the thought of him crossed his mind. Baekhyun just missed him, a lot.

The weirdest thing was that he missed Chanyeol more than his family. Sometimes Baekhyun missed his father and little sister, too. Jongin occationally updated him about his family, assuring him that they were in good hands, just like Chanyeol had promised.

He didn’t realize he was spacing out until Kyungsoo nudged him lightly in the ribs, startling him. “What?”

Kyungsoo stared at him. The look that Baekhyun had been so familiar with because that was what Kyungsoo usually gave him. The stare that meant ‘you stupid goat, I’m talking to you but you’re not listening to me, I’m wasting my breath’.

“I’m sorry. I’m just...” Thinking of Chanyeol. “Anyway, what’s up?”

 Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “I said that last night Jongin told me something interesting. Obviously your gloomy attitude had affected the whole quarter, so Jongin wanted to do something about it.”

Baekhyun flinched at that. Was his loneliness that obvious? But nevertheless, his ears perked up at the news. “What? Are we having a party?”

“We never had a party,” Jisook said matter-of-factly.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. “You tin’ me.”

“Nope, he’s telling the truth. We never had party,” Kyungsoo jumped down from the stool. “But we’re probably gonna have it in the near future since we have you now. Who knows what you’re gonna propose to the don, right? But not now.”

 “Aww, that’s too bad. My mind went wild for party ideas for a second there.” Baekhyun slouched again.

“Well, save those ideas of yours for now. Jongin had waited for you outside the kitchen. We’re having gun practice.”

Now Baekhyun was sure that Kyungsoo was ting him. “No way.”

Kyungsoo smothered a smile. “Get down from the stool. I need to change you into proper training clothes.”

Baekhyun’s eyes immediately flickered with light of excitedment. Finally, this was what he was waiting for. He was so happy he almost yelled. “Let’s go then.”

 

~

 

Kyungsoo watched his master jumped down from the stool with a smile on his face. He never expected that seeing his master smiled could give the muscle on his face a will to smile too.

Baekhyun always had that power over him—over the whole quarter, actually—to make people around him happy when he was happy too. And Kyungsoo, along with other Phoenix members, realized that joy had not come to Baekhyun for a few days.

So Jongin came to him last night, saying that they needed to do something to their don’s husband, for the don will be upset if he knew that his husband was not happy. He agreed to what Jongin proposed, though Kyungsoo hated to admit that Baekhyun’s gloomy mood affected him. They asked for Chanyeol’s permission, assured the boss that nothing bad will happen at the training ground. They believed that Chanyeol will grant anything if Baekhyun’s happiness was on the line, and they were right. They got his permission, in exchange they will keep the master safe.

Kyungsoo and Jongin just didn’t realize that the danger wouldn’t be in the training ground.

Kyungsoo waited when Baekhyun went around the island to hug his favorite cook in the quarter goodbye. Then the master dashed toward the kitchen door immediately. The servant shook his head. He would never understand how Baekhyun could have so much energy in him.

“Jongin,” Baekhyun called as soon as he saw the head of defence on the other side of kitchen door, with Sehun beside him. The master’s smile was so wide that Kyungsoo almost expected one of his teeth to sparkle like in a toothpaste advertisement. “Gun training? Seriously?”

Jongin’s smile mirrored Baekhyun’s. “Anything you want, Hyung. Gun? Body defence?”

“Actually,” Baekhyun began to walk away from the kitchen as he put his hand around Jongin’s shoulders. Jongin stiffened for a moment. Kyungsoo already familiar with Baekhyun’s friendly demeanor, but not Jongin. Even the easy going head of defence needed more time to be used to around the master. “I think I’m interested in shooting arrow.”

“Arrow?” Jongin threw his head back, laughing, seemingly at ease now. “It never crossed my mind, but it indeed sounds interesting.”

Baekhyun scowled at his last confession. “I can’t believe you just said that. But for now, gun shooting will do.”

Tailing behind them, Kyungsoo could only smile listening to their amusing conversation, but mostly Baekhyun talking. It was like the world came to life when Baekhyun was around. Kyungsoo could totally understand why Chanyeol wanted him to be the one on his side. Baekhyun brought life into him, into the whole quarter, since Chanyeol’s parents died. His jokes brought laughs and his presence brought joy.

Kyungsoo prayed silently, that everything would be going well. For his don, his master, all of them.

They rounded the corner and came to a big door that was Baekhyun’s room, guarded by two of Sehun’s men in the either side of the door.

They gave Baekhyun and Jongin a deep bow before the master greeted them. When they arrived right in front of the door, they stopped, allowing Sehun to go pass them, as he was the one who had the key to Baekhyun’s room.

Kyungsoo took a position right behind his master as he watched Sehun unlocked and opened the door slowly, revealing Baekhyun’s room.

On the surface, everything seemed right. Master’s room looked serene with ray of sunlight seeped through the big curtain.

After a few second of no one saying anything nor moving, Kyungsoo heard a gasp from Baekhyun, and there was a sudden jerk from Jongin, forcing Baekhyun to take a step backward.

Alerted, Kyungsoo immediately moved forward, trying to see what the fuse was about. His eyes traveled around the room and he saw something that should not be there.

Ariel, the quarter’s dog, was lying unconscious beside Baekhyun’s bed, blood coming out from .

On instinct, Kyungsoo’s hand reached toward Baekhyun, pulling him behind his back. His heart was in his throat as Jongin and Sehun kneeled beside Ariel after they examined the room thoroughly.

“She’s still breathing,” Sehun muttered, his face was unbelievably more stoned than he was ever be. “, we don’t have veterinarian.”

Hearing that, Baekhyun quickly released himself from Kyungsoo’s grip and joined Jongin and Sehun.

Kyungsoo followed Baekhyun who already squated down beside Ariel, looking at Ariel intently, examining her. That was the first time Kyungsoo saw Baekhyun’s face. His master’s face was pale. His eyes filled with panic, but he was serious.

“It’s internal bleeding,” Baekhyun said as he forced to open Ariel’s bleeding mouth. “What in the world did she eat?”

Kyungsoo bit his lips and looked around the room. Fear sealed Kyungsoo’s lips immediately as he saw the food that was supposed to be Baekhyun’s breakfast this morning was scattered on the bedside table.

Did...did Ariel...?

Noticing Kyungsoo’s look of horror, Baekhyun followed his servant’s line of vision. Ah, Baekhyun understood. It was supposed to be him. The one who was supposed to be in Ariel’s position, it was him.

And just like that, every breath of joy in the quarter died.

~

 

 

 

 

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A/N: Long update because I haven't updated for a month. I hope I'll fall into the usual routine. In case you guys didn't know, I usually update this story once every two weeks, every Friday evening.

I hope you like this update!