“Have a nice day, madam.” Baekhyun smiles as he hands the lady her shopping bags and receipt. A sigh of relief leaving him as he notices his shift will be over in five minutes.

Working in a shopping Mall during summer was exhausting. People wouldn't just stop coming in. The queue would be so long, Baekhyun would even have to give up on his break sometimes. It has been pretty much the case this whole week.

One of the cashiers “feel ill”. At least, that's what he reported to the manager. Therefore, Baekhyun's and his co-worker, Sehun's, shifts had to be re-adjusted. They had to work longer to compensate the lack of staff. Hopefully, that idiot would feel better by next week. He better, cause Sehun knows where he lives.

“Almost done.” Sehun yawns, stretching his arms “This day has been tiring.”

Baekhyun nods in agreement. “This whole week, to be honest.” he adds.

“Glad it finally came to an end. Jongdae better show up his here next week. I bet he isn't even sick.”

Baekhyun chuckles. He doesn't think so too. It was probably an excuse their co-worker used to get away with work. They all do that at least once.

“By the way, have you planned something to do tonight? It's Friday, after all.”

“Resting.” Baekhyun curtly replies as he finally closes. “Maybe ordering a pizza too, cause I'm too tired to cook.”

“As if you can cook.” Sehun scoffs, closing as well.

“Hey!” Baekhyun hits the taller playfully. “At least, I try. Not my fault I at cooking.”

Sehun sneers at him as he walks to the locker-room to change himself. After checking everything is fine, Baekhyun closes the shop and goes to fetch his things and change as well.

“You want me to drop you by?” Sehun asks as he puts on his vest. Unlike Baekhyun, Sehun has a car, which comes pretty handy when he ends his shift at ungodly hours.

“No, it's fine. Thank you.” Sehun is not even surprised.

“Are you sure? It really doesn't bother me.”

“Yes, don't worry. I still got time to catch the last bus.” Baekhyun reassures.

“... okay. Have a good night then.” Sehun gives up, picks up his backpack and leaves.

“Thank you, you too.”

To be honest, Baekhyun is just not used to receiving favors from others. Even less, accepting others help. He is so used to be on his own, so used of doing with what he got, that he unconsciously turns down any helping hands reaching for him.

It's understandable for an orphan. He lost his father when he was very young, and was taken away from his mother to be put in a foster house. Baekhyun never really understood why, but he knows, no foster house ever felt like a home.

He made the decision to live on his own when he was sixteen. With his brilliant results, he got a scholarship for both high school and now college. He just needs to work for a living. Bills, food, and rent are all in his responsibility after all.

There are two specific reasons that make him hold on:

The first one is thinking about his paycheck at the end of the month. It always motivates him to make it through the day. At least, he is getting something from that suffering.

The second one is his boyfriend. The first ever and only boyfriend he ever had. The one who makes his heart skip a beat at every “Hey” with his deep honey voice. The one who takes his breath away every time he smiles or laughs. And Baekhyun just wonders, why him? Of all people out there, why did he choose him?

The way they met had nothing romantic nor magical. Sad to say this, but it was under a youtube video. Baekhyun rarely comments on Youtube, but he couldn't help himself but agree with the user “CY Park”, who somehow managed to say his exact thoughts and feelings about a classical piece.

Chanyeol replied and that's how they started a conversation. To carry it on, Chanyeol asked for his twitter, which Baekhyun didn't hesitate to give. Their talks then grew gradually from music topics to more personal topics. Chanyeol never pressured him to talk about things that made him uncomfortable. On the contrary, he would immediately change the topic. Which Baekhyun noticed, and truly appreciated.

When they became comfortable enough with each other to even talk about their personal lives, that's when Chanyeol asked for his instagram. And again, Baekhyun agreed with no hesitation.

Seeing what each other looked like was a—shock. A big surprise for both of them. But of course, to talk this charmingly, you must be really handsome. Baekhyun should have expected it.

“You are really cute Baekhyunee ^^ ” Baekhyun remembers Chanyeol sending him this message the following day after they became mutuals on instagram. He was so embarrassed cause he spent all night stalking ALL chanyeol posts and trying hard not to click on like, so the other wouldn't know.

Chanyeol was so ing handsome.

“You are really handsome too (:” Baekhyun replied back.

Let's say, from that moment onward, things changed between them. Baekhyun wasn't as carefree as before with him, because he couldn't tell if Chanyeol was just joking sometimes; or there was more.

It came to no surprise when he realized, indeed, there was more. And it made him kinda, happy?

Few weeks after knowing enough about each other, Chanyeol asked him out. Baek honestly thought it was just a joke. After all, it was pretty random. Baekhyun was talking about his friend's clumsy boyfriend. Then, Chanyeol asked him if he knew a lot about relationships. To which Baekhyun replied:

“No, I actually never dated anyone.”

Then out of the blue Chanyeol said:

“I can be your first then.”

How was Baekhyun supposed to take it? Of course he laughed cause he thought it was a joke. He told Chanyeol not to take pity on him but, the other reply completely blew him.

“I'm serious Baekhyun. I'm completely smitten by you. I have been wanting to ask you out since we met but I thought it was maybe too early? :( ”

Baekhyun blinked at his phone for several minutes. Wondering if he was reading right or his brain was just making things up. He was speechless.

“Are you there? Did I scare you away? I'm sorry :( ”

Baekhyun realized he spent too many minutes spacing out and quickly sent a reassuring text to Chanyeol. Which the other replied with:

“I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. I get it, if it sounds gross to you. We haven't known each other for long, after all. Not to mention we never met in real life, haha.”

Baekhyun wanted to pull all his hair out. It wasn't the case, he wasn't grossed out, at all. He was ing happy. Because, let's admit, Chanyeol is literally those dream boy straight out of romance book. Was he even real? So, how could Baekhyun feel grossed?

He got that it's his too long silence that cause this misunderstanding, so Baekhyun went for a straight answer, to clear it.

“I'd like you to be my first, Chanyeol.”

… Baekhyun realized it implied way too many things, but it was too late to delete it. He already sent it. This time it was Chanyeol who took time to answer. Baekhyun thought he would die of embarrassment.

“I—I mean... first—” he didn't have to finish tapping his message that Chanyeol sent him another one:

“Oh God, Baek, I want to hear your voice.”

Baekhyun remembers his face heating up as he entered his phone number and sent it to Chanyeol.

“I'll call you, is that okay?”

Baekhyun nodded to himself as he typed a, “Yes, Go ahead.”

It was already past midnight. The brunette waited nervously for Chanyeol's call, the device resting in his sweating palms. They talked a lot through messages, but it would be the first time they talk to each other.—the first time they hear each other voi