Baekhyun woke up with a surprising—yet amazing—view in front of him. His husband’s face.

What happened last night after they talked about their upcoming date for tomorrow? Well, technically, today, because apparently it was already morning as Baekhyun could see the light was seeping through the thick layer of curtain of his room.

Baekhyun didn’t bother to look at his curtain for so long because, why would he look at anything else when Chanyeol was in front of him? Laying, sleeping beside him.

Oh my god, he just spent the night with him. He just slept with Chanyeol.

“Why are you staring at me?”

How could Chanyeol know that he was staring at him when his eyes were obviously closed, Baekhyun would never knew. Sometimes, Baekhyun thought Chanyeol had some kind of super power. The man can know everything about him it was starting to creep him out.

“Are you awake?”

Chanyeol smiled lightly. Then he opened his gorgeous eyes. God, Baekhyun could stare at it for hours. “You and your questions.” Chanyeol shifted, laying flat on his back, extending his arm out for Baekhyun to lie on top of. “Come here,” he said in his groggy after-sleep voice.

Baekhyun remained silent for a while before he rolled around and settled on top of his arm. Then Chanyeol curled his arm and pulled him over until his face met his chest. That was when Baekhyun saw what Chanyeol wore.

“You’re wearing hoodie,” he stated, eyes strikingly opened now. He hurriedly yanked their blanket away and looked at Chanyeol’s lower body part. “And sweat pants.” He gasped. “You actually have something other than suits.”

Chanyeol’s low laugh rumbled. “I’m a normal human being. I changed my attire after you were asleep last night.”

“And came back here?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “I promised you we will spend the night together.”

Baekhyun tried hard not to smile, but it was difficult when Chanyeol was being so sweet in the morning. The first morning that they spent together, when Baekhyun actually woke up beside him.

Chanyeol shifted him in his arm, allowing Baekhyun to relax himself inch by inch. A contented sigh escaped his lips. “Good morning to you, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun didn’t care, he went all out with his smile. “Good morning to you, too, Chanyeol.”

“Give me five minutes, then we can get ready for our date today.”

 

~

 

“Jisook is here.”

Chanyeol looked up from his laptop to see Kris standing in front of his desk. His mood instantly grew somber. With a smack, he closed his laptop. “Get him in.”

Kris nodded and left the room for a while and came back almost right after, a familiar boy tailing behind him, followed by Jongin and Sehun. Kris took place beside Chanyeol, while Jisook found himself standing in front of Chanyeol, his chin dipped onto his chest.

The mood inside the room got eerie at once. Chanyeol can feel his fists trembled and his vision started to turn red. “I’m waiting,” he said.

Kris cleared his throat. “Jisook, talk.”

Chanyeol looked at Jisook closely. He never talked to this boy—who he was sure only a bit older than him—though he had met him for a number of times. He didn’t even know since when this chef entered the quarter. So he really had no idea about the possibilities as to why he was brave enough to attempt poisoning on his husband.

“I was just trying to protect our family,” he started. “Our quarter.”

Jongin scoffed. “Who are you even?”

“My family had been working as chef for Phoenix for decades,” Jisook said.

Chanyeol closed his eyes, trying really hard not to let his anger took control. “Here I was trying to protect Baekhyun in order to protect this quarter and you just decided that what you were doing is the best way to do it?”

“Look,” Kris stepped in. “I’m glad that we have some of loyal people like you, backing up our family. But you forgot that Master now is also our family.”

Chanyeol tilted his head to look at his consigliere. Huh. Kris finally got a grasp on the situation after hating Baekhyun for so long.

“If Baekhyun weren’t here, our family would still be safe from Mastro,” Jisook raised his voice.

“Oh my god, shut up,” Jongin walked closer to him. “Chanyeol hyung, I can’t stand him anymore. Let me take him.”

Chanyeol wouldn’t let someone like him making him explode in wrath. He willed himself to look at his chef one more time as he leaned his body toward his desk, laying his elbows on top of it then resting his chin against his fist.

“Baekhyun really likes you, and you did this to him,” his tone descended into lethal quiet. “I don’t want someone like you inside my quarter.”

As soon as Chanyeol said that, Jongin and Sehun immediately pulled Jisook away and brought him out of the room. At least the chef was compliant.

Chanyeol exhaled a pent up breath, releasing his fury once for all as he will see Baekhyun after this and he didn’t want him to sniff his mood.

“Why are you dress like that?” Kris’s voice came from the front. The consigliere had taken his place in front of him once again.

Chanyeol looked at his attire. White t-shirt, black bomber jacket, dark blue jeans, and white sneaker. He can see why his consigliere looked so confuse.

“I have a date,” he replied shortly, standing up and fixing his jacket. He took the cap he put on his desk and put it on top of his head.

“What?” Kris’s jaw fell to the floor. “I’m sorry, did I hear you right?”

Chanyeol stared at him and smirked. “Why are you so surprise? It’s not like I’m single.”

“No, I mean—“ Kris followed his movement as he walked around his desk toward the door. “You have a date with Master?”

“Who else would I have a date with?”

“You only have two weeks before this situation will turn into massive disaster, and you go out with Baekhyun?”

The don tossed the consigliere a look, as if telling him that he was not gonna hear anything he was saying. Chanyeol put his hand on the doorknob, but stopped midway. “I don’t need anyone to follow us, you hear me? We’ll go alone.”

Chanyeol didn’t bother to hear Kris’s spluttering words and pushed his door open. He was welcomed by Baekhyun, leaning his back on the wall across his room. His attire was pretty much the same as Chanyeol, but without the cap, and instead of a jacket, he wore a simple long-sleeve tee. Kyungsoo accompanied him beside him.

Chanyeol scrunched his forehead. Since when he had been standing there?

Baekhyun looked up, and his shaking pupils confirmed Chanyeol what he was afraid of.

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol said carefully.

“Why Jisook came out your office with Jongin and Sehun pulling him?” Baekhyun asked with monotonous tone, his expression flat.

Chanyeol stepped closer, “Let’s talk in the car.” Chanyeol spared Kyungsoo a nod before he dragged Baekhyun along the corridor. He bit his inner cheek when he could feel Baekhyun’s cold hand.

Damn, this was not how he pictured his date would go.

“He was the one who put in the poison, wasn’t he?” Baekhyun mumbled from behind him when there wasn’t anyone around them anymore. “He... he planned to kill me.”

Chanyeol stopped on his track, making Baekhyun bumped onto his back. He turned around and pressed his body to his husband. “Baekhyun,” his voice sterned. “He was just one of many people that will come at you, get close to you just to hurt you. There will be many people as low as him. And when I want you to take lesson so this kind of thing wouldn’t happen again, I also want you to believe me when I say that you can’t prevent it from happening. So, don’t you ever, ever blamming yourself.”

Chanyeol noticed Baekhyun’s ragged breath as well as the tears pooling in his beautiful brown eyes. And he hated it to the gut.

“I’m sorry that this happened. But he didn’t deserve your tears.” He brushed the corner of his eyes and put on a smile. “I want to see your smile for today.”

Baekhyun sniffed. Chanyeol can see that the smaller guy was trying hard to control his emotion. “You’re right.” His voice was raw. “We have a date, and this should not ruin it.”

For a few minutes, Chanyeol let Baekhyun to calm himself down. A couple of his subordinates passed by, but they didn’t say anything at the close approximity of their don and master. Good, Chanyeol thought, people had to adapt to this scene because he was sure he’ll do this a lot around here.

“Let’s go.” Baekhyun exhaled.

Chanyeol looked down to get a better angle of his husband’s face. “You sure? Because when we stepped outside of this house, I don’t want any of this…” Chanyeol pointed out everything around him, “...follow us. We’ll pretend that we’re normal people with a normal life, we’re a normal couple with a normal dating life.”

Even though his voice was still hoarse from the cry he had been holding, Baekhyun still laughed. “When we stepped outside, you become my boyfriend. Not my husband that forcedfully married me.”

Chanyeol grimaced, then shrugged it off, knowing that it was just a joke. “Okay, let’s go.” Chanyeol put his hand at the small of Baekhyun’s back and led him toward the main door of the house.

“His cupcakes were really delicious though,” Baekhyun mumbled.

Chanyeol took a brief glance, noticing that despite his sad tone, his expression was not. “Stop talking about it.”

Baekhyun took a deep breath. “Okay. Normal people. Normal couple.”

 

 

~

 

 

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to be here? So many people here,” Baekhyun said in loud voice, trying to beat the sound of even louder music, as his eyes kept scanning around the crowded large park.

‘Many people’ was an understatement. This place was packed. And Baekhyun could see through his expression that Chanyeol started to think that this was a bad idea.

“Crowded place is actually better than less crowded place. People are busy with their own business. They have no time to look at other people,” Chanyeol assured him. His hand crept into Baekhyun’s and locked them together. “You’ll love this place.”

“You’ve been here before?”

Chanyeol nodded as he pulled Baekhyun to start walking. “Last year. This is annual event. It’s called Rhythm Fest. A bunch of indie bands of various genres gather here to perform on many stages.”

Baekhyun pressed his body closer to Chanyeol as a group of teenage girls passed them, then looked up to the taller man with interested eyes. “I never knew you like music.”

“I’m not.” Chanyeol looked down. “I’m not music geek or anything. I brought you here because last year Jongin sneaked me out to come here. I enjoyed it back then and I thought I’ll come here again the next year, just for the sake of being in between crowd of passionate people.”

Suddenly Baekhyun’s heart felt heavy. It was like he knew where this conversation was going. So Chanyeol looked away.

“After what happened last month, I thought that, ah, it’s impossible for me to comeback.” Chanyeol tipped down his cap and smiled at Baekhyun. “But miracle happened, and I’m here.”

Now his heart felt like it was squeezed. What wouldn’t he do to make Chanyeol happy.

Baekhyun yelped when the hand that held him move to his waist. “I told you no more tears the moment we stepped out of the house.”

Baekhyun didn’t even know that he was tearing up. “I’m just happy that we get the chance to come here today.”

“I’m glad too,” Chanyeol said as he stirred the smaller man to the small stage area where some bands were going to perform. “That’s a record, isn’t it? I made my boyfriend cried after only one hour of dating.”

A smile crept into Baekhyun’s face. His tears were wiped out of his eyes as he rolled his eyes. “You made me cry on my first night in the quarter, boyfriend.”

“You cried? I didn’t recall...”

“Well, you can say that I cried silent tears. I don’t know why after two weeks staying in your house, I become an actual cry baby.”

They settled in between a sea of people, standing rather awkwardly, having no idea what to do. Baekhyun tried to see the performer. A band of four men which include two vocalist with guitars, one keyboardist and one cajon player.

Not even one minute after Chanyeol pulled him to seat on the grass beside him, one of the vocalist pulled a long screechy note, making the audience cringed, including Baekhyun, and he knew Chanyeol was too, inwardly. On instinct, Baekhyun looked at him and giggled.

“Wanna try the other stages?” Chanyeol asked with one of his eyebrows raised.

Baekhyun continued smiling. “Nah.” He scooted closer to Chanyeol until their shoulders touch, and he hugged his knees. “This one’s pretty good.”

Chanyeol’s expression softened. He might say that as soon as they stepped out of the quarter, they had to become normal people. But Baekhyun can see that it was like right there and then, with them sitting side by side listening to an amateur accoustic band with all strangers around them enjoying the bright warm spring day, Chanyeol truly put down all his barriers. He truly became a normal person.

And Baekhyun, too, for the first time that day, he truly forgot about the mess he were in.

 

 

~

 

 

The next rock band was much better.

They had not moved their from the latest place they settled on. Chanyeol had picked a good stage. After the slight incident of the accoustic band, the show went on smoothly. Each band had forty-minute set, and this rock band performing in front of them was he and Chanyeol’s third band. The band was almost finished with their set, so it meant they had sat there for an hour and half.

Baekhyun was starving. And Chanyeol always noticed everything about him.

“Let’s have lunch,” Chanyeol said as he put his hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder.

Without words, Chanyeol helped him to get up and steered him out of the stage area. The park before him was even more packed right now. Different groups of people gathered to enjoy the thing that unite them. If they were not in the stage area, they were swarming the booths selling band merchs. Baekhyun’s adrenaline was pumped up for some reasons.

“Where are we gonna eat?” Baekhyun’s eyes scanned the park and he could only see stages, people, merch booths, and more people.

Chanyeol pointed at some area that Baekhyun cannot see. “I think food stalls are over there. It seems like people are going there.”

Chanyeol was right. All these people were walking at the same direction where delicious smell came from. Baekhyun’s empty stomach was now growling and he heard Chanyeol chuckled.

“What do you want to eat?” Chanyeol asked.

“Hotdog or corndog seem like a good match for event like this.”

Chanyeol’s eyes brightened. “Good idea. Thanks god you didn’t choose anything hard to find.”

Baekhyun tried hard not to jump around when the food area finally came into view. His memories of school festivals rushed in and he felt so nostalgic. But then he quickly gasped, “Chanyeol,” he pulled the said boy’s jacket. “I don’t bring money.”

Chanyeol pressed his lips, trying hard to not show so much amusement. “Baekhyun, I’m your boyfriend. We’re on a date. Of course it’s on me.”

Once again, Baekhyun let himself get dragged by his supposed boyfriend. The strong smell of food made his mouth watered. Excitement colored his eyes.

After a long moment of pondering which hotdog stall they should choose, they stopped before a stall that had less people lining up. At this rate of hunger, they didn’t care about which one had better taste.

They only had to wait for two minutes before they can get their hands at the weird looking hotdogs. But they were too starving to care.

Baekhyun took a big bite of his hotdog before Chanyeol even got to make him sit down at one of the table at the far corner of the park.

“Umfh, gosh, this is heaven,” Baekhyun said, then took another big bite. “This hot dog could be made of rats’s meat and I wouldn’t care.”

Chanyeol too took a big bite. He might not say much but Baekhyun can see the big guy was even more starving than him.

They ate in silent before their initial hunger was subsided, and Baekhyun started to not feel like he was going to die if he did not stuff his mouth enough with the junk food.

“This is a nice date.”

Chanyeol’s eyes went from focusing on his hot dog to Baekhyun’s eyes. “Really? But we haven’t done anything.”

Baekhyun shrugged. “I really like hanging out with you. You’re a nice companion.”

“Well, thanks.” Chanyeol finished off his hot dog and crumpled the paper wrap with his hands, tossed it to the bin, and focused back on Baekhyun. “So, Baekhyun, you’re a science freak?”

Baekhyun stopped chewing midway, his eyebrows shot up. Was Chanyeol trying to have a normal conversation with him? Like a normal couple who wanted to know each other better? This had strangely become an ideal date.

Swallowing up his remaining food, he did the same thing as Chanyeol before, crumpled the paper wrap and tossed it to the bin.

Baekhyun drank up his soft drink and put his hand on the table to support his chin. “Yeah, I’m pretty good at it. I even got scholarship for it. But because of... our situation, I can’t really go to college.”

Chanyeol’s eyes dropped for a second, and Baekhyun mentally cursed himself for saying it as if he blamed him for what had happened.

“Actually,” Baekhyun put down his drink and straighetened up his back. “I want to be a doctor. So I don’t think I missed out so much on not attending that major.”

He was telling the truth. Although he was good at it, Baekhyun can’t say that he enjoyed it so much. All his life, he wanted to do something that could help the world. Being a doctor probably something that he could do with the brain of his.

“What about you, Chanyeol?”

The said man was now the one who raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

 “Your high school story.”

“I’ve graduated high school.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. “What? But we’re the same age.”

“I was home-schooled. I practically had classes everyday. I finished high school two years ago,” Chanyeol replied non-chalantly.

Baekhyun nodded. It made sense. Of course the mafia boss’s son would be home-schooled. Phoenix never let the children of the family to be exposed. But then, even after now Chanyeol became the don, his face was still not revealed to the public.

“Which university you want to enter?”

Taken aback, Chanyeol froze for a few moment, blinking confusedly. “Uhm, I have a family inheritance that I need to take care of.”

Baekhyun let out a strangled laugh. His attempt to get rid of sour mood had undoubtedly failed.

“Nobody have never asked me if I even want to go to college. It’s like a given for me to continue family legacy.”

“If you could go to college, which one would you choose?” It was a stupid question. Baekhyun knew that if Chanyeol could attend college, his name alone could get him the easiest way to any colleges he wanted.

Chanyeol tilted his head in consideration. “Which university you will go to, Baekhyun?”

“Seoul University.”

“Then I’ll go there, too.”

Baekhyun picked his cup again, drinking his nonexistence soda drink, trying to hide his blush. “What, you don’t want to be separated from me that much?”

Chanyeol smirked. “We’ll be the power couple there.”

“No kidding, we would,” Baekhyun laughed. “What major?”

“Probably law.”

Baekhyun stayed quiet for a moment, nodding in consideration. But a second later, he bursted out laughing. The sound of his laugh attracted some people to look at them, so he tried to stiffle his laugh.

His stomach hurting from laughing, he wiped the tears on the brim of his eye. “You live as someone who breaks every single law and you want to study law? Oh my god.”

Baekhyun continued to laugh, and Chanyeol looked at him from over his cup. “Your laugh is so nice,” he said in a low voice that Baekhyun almost missed it.

“Well, you’re kind of funny.”

“Thank you.”

They sat in comfortable silence. They were accompanied by distant sound of music and people’s chatters around them. Like he said before, Baekhyun can’t help but smile in satisfaction that his date had gone so well and nice.

Baekhyun was still playing with his straw when he saw Chanyeol’s gaze on him moved toward something—or rather someone—standing, towering beside him. Baekhyun followed his gaze and was met by two men he was unfamiliar with.

Baekhyun looked back and forth between the two men and Chanyeol. The look in Chanyeol’s eyes was enough for him to know that they needed to get out of here, asap. But they can’t draw any attention to them.

So, Baekhyun sent Chanyeol a reassuring nod before he turned to the two men beside him and got up to level their height. Baekhyun didn’t like the fact that they were towering him.

“Can I help you guys with something?” Baekhyun asked in neutral tone, trying to look as calm as possible.

He looked at the two men in front of him. They looked like rock band fanatics. They wore all-leather, and Baekhyun can see the two of them had ink. All in all, they looked pretty harmless. Baekhyun prayed to god that these men just wanted to flirt with him.

“We’re from Black Snakes,” the bearded one spoke up. “I’m the guitarist, he’s the bassist. We wonder if you want to join us in our backstage.”

Oh, thank god. They were nothing but trying to flirt in a cliche way. But please, can’t they see that he was with Chanyeol?

Speaking of Chanyeol, it was clear as a day that this was not a simple flirting matter to him. His piercing gaze signed that he was ready to kill the men.

Baekhyun swallowed and returned to face the tattooed men. “Look, I’m flattered. But I’m with—“

The bearded man cut him off by grabbing Baekhyun’s hand. And not a second later, Chanyeol was in front of him, in between Baekhyun and the two bandmates.

“I suggest you two to go away,” Chanyeol practically growled.

The other man who kept quiet until now smirked. “You’re the one who need to get away, man. We’re talking to the cutie behind you.”

“No, you’re talking to my husband. Unless you want me to rip your body apart, I suggest you two to turn the around.”

Fear sealed Baekhyun’s lips. This was bad. People started watching them. He stepped between them and held up his hand, touching Chanyeol’s chest, but his eyes were pierced to the two bandmates. “You heard him, ers. Go away.”

Although it was apparent that they were annoyed, Baekhyun was surprised to see another expression on the two tattooed men’s face. There were fear. The two of them stepped back without saying anything, and Baekhyun released a relieved breath.

He turned to look at Chanyeol and he was still sporting a murderous look, his eyes had not left the two leaving men.

“Alright, big boy. Calm down.” Baekhyun pressed his hand to Chanyeol’s face.

Baekhyun’s voice probably was effective that Chanyeol’s face finally softened as he looked down at him. “I want to kill them.”

“We’re not killing anyone today.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes, and he grabbed Chanyeol’s hand and dragged him out of the park.

They stopped behind a big tree. As Baekhyun turned around to look at the tall guy in front of him, he can’t help but smile, laughing at their situation.

“I thought we were supposed to be boyfriends today.”

Chanyeol shrugged, tension still etched every inch of his body. “Boyfriend. Husband. Same thing. You’re mine. Nobody can take you away from me.”

“You and your possesiveness always amaze me.”

Chanyeol huffed heavily. He shook his head as he put his hand around Baekhyun’s waist, drawing him closer. “You’re too gorgeous for your own good.”

Baekhyun’s mouth dropped open. “It’s not like it’s my fault that I’m beautiful.”

Chanyeol laughed and rubbed a hand through Baekhyun’s dark hair, making it messy. The smile he gave him was so mesmerizing that Baekhyun forgot how to breathe. His eyes looked so dark and deep Baekhyun was drown in them. Suddenly, the warm heat, the sounds, the people around them fade to blur.

And just like that, Baekhyun’s body went weak when Chanyeol’s lips touched his. His breath warmed the inside of his mouth. His mind races, numb at how good the kiss felt like. It was so good it sent tremors to all over his body.

Before he knew it, Chanyeol pulled back. His breath ragged, his chest heaved up and down, his eyes hooded. He looked so y Baekhyun wanted to faint.

“You okay?” Chanyeol chuckled, his voice was hoarse.

Baekhyun nodded, not trusting his own voice for he was sure it would be much hoarser than Chanyeol’s.

“Alright,” Chanyeol snatched his cap off and settled it over Baekhyun’s head. “I think you need it more than I do. We have to hide that beautiful face of yours because I’m not sharing.”