Kris was a lucky man. All he had to do was voice his desires and it would be his on a silver platter. Being the son of a CEO who owned a series of luxury resorts and hotels, Kris was indeed a very fortunate man.  However, his parents made sure that Kris was taught not to abuse his power and to realize just how lucky he was.

Kris often found himself volunteering at numerous homeless shelters, teaching ill children how to read, walking elders across roads, and simply smiling at passersby. Kris grew to become a very nice man…most of the time. Kris had his moments where his desires blinded his good will.

He had a childhood friend, a boy who was the son of his parents’ closest business partners. All it took was one of Chanyeol’s crooked and hesitant smiles and Kris was hooked. They played and grew up together from childhood to young adulthood. However, Kris selfishly kept the naïve boy away from other people, hiding the hidden jewel that was Chanyeol. Chanyeol was to be his treasure and only his treasure. Across the years, Kris's overprotectiveness affected Chanyeol’s social capabilities drastically. The boy was homeschooled but wasn't taught properly on how to interact with anyone besides Kris. It hurt whenever someone judged Chanyeol unfairly, but it just reminded Kris that Chanyeol only needed him and no one else. It would just be a matter of time before Chanyeol would realize this. Kris was a very nice and patient man and he could wait.

His wait ended sooner than expected though and not in the way he foresaw it. They visited a regular old candy shop due to Chanyeol’s addiction to the sugary confections within it. Kris always thought if it were some other day, if it were some other shop, they wouldn’t have met. They wouldn’t have seen each other and maybe Kris and Chanyeol could have been. But what ifs weren’t the reality.

Chanyeol came to their apartment one day, all smiles. He blabbered about his new friend Baekhyun and how nice he was. Seeing Chanyeol so happy, Kris regretted being so overprotective in the past. He quickly took that thought back when he realized Chanyeol’s glazed eyes and flushed cheeks whenever he sang Baekhyun's praises and muttered endearments about the other man.

It was too late. Before Kris could do serious damage control, Chanyeol shyly confessed to Kris his feelings for the candy shop boy. Kris was devastated as a result. He hid it well of course. He ruffled Chanyeol’s hair and behind a practiced smile. He supposed it was his punishment for keeping Chanyeol all to himself all these years.   

Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s relationship progressed with some bumps and some helpful pushes from Kris himself. Before long, their relationship blossomed completely after what had to be the cheesiest confession in the history of time (which only Kris knew Chanyeol could be capable of). The new and very much in love couple practically eloped and started up their own candy business. Chanyeol's parents eventually accepted the turn of events and grew to love Baekhyun as their own.

Chanyeol was happy. And Kris kicked down his selfishness for once and decided that Chanyeol’s happiness was more important than his own.  Of course, this wasn’t the easiest for Kris to do since he was so used to having Chanyeol by his side at all times. In between his wounds, Kris immersed himself in work. Since the Wu and Park corporations had recently merged, Kris was plenty busy and he managed to fill his mind with names and faces of his clients, competitors, and partners.

There were times that Kris would visit Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s candy store.  Some visits being on business terms and some simply personal. On this day, Kris was wearing a crisp suit and was all business. A very important client’s child was to have a birthday and the client insisted on having a candy station. Kris kindly offered that he would take care of said request and that he knew exactly the shop that would meet the client’s expectations and more.

And he would be able to fulfil the client’s request effortlessly if the dark eyed boy blocking his way to Chanyeol’s office would just move.

“Sir, I’m afraid only employees are allowed beyond this point,” The boy stated stiffly, glare deepening.

Kris raised a defiant eyebrow before trying to shove by. However, the boy was much stronger than he appeared and he easily pushed Kris back despite Kris having a few more inches in height.

“I cannot let you pass, sir.” The boy said, maybe a little more threatening than before.

“You’re kidding, right?”  Kris stared the boy down, hoping his usual intimidating glare would do the trick. It didn’t. “Listen,” Kris glanced down to the boy’s name tag, “Tao…Do you even know who I am?”

Tao didn’t even flinch, “Although we have not been acquainted, only employees are allowed past this door and you are not an employee. I will need you to state your business or step away from this area.”

Kris straightened out his suit and stood taller, mumbling on why he had to deal with issues like this on a task that was supposed to be simple. Kris took it upon himself to attempt to push past Tao again. However, Kris soon realized just how strong Tao was when the boy maneuvered himself and restrained both of Kris’s arms behind his back and pinned Kris to the wall next to the door.

“What the—!“

“I warned you sir,” Tao cut in, tightening his hold on Kris as he struggled.

“Tao?...Kris?” 

Both Kris and Tao looked toward the voice and saw Baekhyun gaping at them. “T-Tao! Let Kris go! Now!”

Kris was immediately released and he flipped around to glare at the boy. His anger faltered when he saw the look of complete shock on Tao’s face.

“Baekhyun, d-do you know this man?” Tao’s voice immediately softened into a pathetic tone. Kris could almost see imaginary dog ears flopping down in fright.

“Yes, Tao. This is Kris, he’s a long-time friend of Chanyeol. We also work a lot with him for events and stuff like that. But god, Tao…why did you have to pin him to the wall?” Baekhyun tsked and flinked Tao in the forehead. Tao flinched and leaned his head down, looking regretful.

Tao hesitantly raised his droopy feline eyes to Kris, cheeks flushed with traces of pink. “I’m sorry, um, Kris, or sir, if you prefer. I was just, I’m sorry.” Tao linked his fingers together in a messy tangle and bowed his head down again.  Kris suddenly felt like he was the bad guy in the situation and not like he was the one pinned to the wall seconds before.

“Uh, Kris is fine. You’re forgiven, you were just doing your job…or something like that.” Kris scratched the back of his head nervously, unsure of what to make of the dark haired boy before him. Tao upon hearing his forgiveness shot his head up and regarded Kris with dewy wide eyes. He bowed his head again fervently and gave Kris a dazzling smile. Kris was surprised when he felt his insides melt a bit. Kris did have a weakness for cute things and Tao was being unexpectedly cute.

 Baekhyun cleared his throat and eyed Kris suspiciously. “So Kris, what exactly are you here for anyways?”

Kris tugged on his suit and turned his gaze away from Tao. “An important client’s son is having a birthday celebration at one of our hotels. I reassured him that your expertise would be needed and that you would deliver the best of the best.”

“Well, you’re right about that.” Baekhyun smirked, “I’ll go get Chanyeol and you guys can finalize everything. Just a second.” Baekhyun waved his hand before he opened the "employees only" door and disappeared behind it.

Kris glanced over to Tao who looked exceptionally uncomfortable. Being the nice and forgiving guy that Kris was, he tried to ease Tao’s nerves and start up a friendly conversation. “So, I see you’re newly hired. How long have you been here?”

“A few weeks,” Tao mumbled, playing with the hem of his shirt.

Kris nodded accordingly. “And you like it so far?”

“Yes, of course!” Tao belted out insistently, “I really do like helping around the shop, and Chanyeol and Baekhyun have only been nice to me.”  Kris couldn’t help back a chuckle at the childlike aura Tao oozed despite his intimidating appearance. Tao did remind him of Chanyeol a little in that regard, but everything else about the two differed. Tao seemed a lot more independent but he still had a good amount of innocence within him. Chanyeol, on the other hand, relied a lot on others and was a little less determined when it came to any troubling issue.

“Kris!” Chanyeol cried and gave Kris a hard and friendly pat on the back. “Nice to see you! I hear you have some more business for us?”

Kris smiled to Chanyeol, relieved not to feel a familiar ache in his heart. “Sure do, but this client is hard to please, so you better step up your game.”

Chanyeol snorted and slapped Kris’s arm with the back side of his hand, “You say the same thing every time and every time we deliver, so shut your trap!”

Chanyeol directed Kris away from Tao and Baekhyun, chatting up ideas that went through one ear and out the other. Kris glanced over his shoulder and sent a small wave goodbye to Tao. Tao’s face brightened, his eyes squinted cutely into half circles as he waved back.

“What are you smiling about?” Luhan, Kris’s assistant, asked him as he passed him some documents a few days later in his office.  Kris casually waved him off as he stared at the candy container he kept on the left side of his desk.

“Do you like candy, Luhan?”

Before Luhan could reply, Kris took all the candy out of the container and shoved them into Luhan’s hands. A startled Luhan spluttered out words of confusion and tried not to drop the excessive amount of candy within his grasp. Kris smirked and saluted Luhan before he grabbed his coat and exited his office.

 It wasn’t long before Kris was browsing through the aisles of Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s candy shop. He snuck glances at a busy Tao who was helping a customer get something from a tall overstock shelf. It was all right. Kris was a patient man. He could wait until Tao noticed him. He was going on a hunch but he thought that getting to know Tao a little better would be a good idea.

Kris was analyzing the candies labelled under the "fizzy" section on the bottom shelf when Tao surprised him from behind. “Is there anything I can help you w—Oh it’s you!” Tao raised his eyebrows once he recognized Kris. Kris smiled back at Tao's expression.

“Hey.” Kris gave a small wave and stood up from his crouched down position on the floor. “Nice to see you again.”

Tao smiled back and nodded, “Nice to see you as well, would you like me to get Chanyeol for you?”

“Ah, no. I’m here on personal business actually. My candy stash suddenly went low, so I was hoping to restock.” Kris scratched the back of his head while looking at the wall of candy before him “The thing is I’m not sure which ones to get.”

Tao laughed a little with an honest smile, “We do have a lot of candy. I’ll go get Baekhyun if you want, he knows more about the selection than I do. I just hope I know as much as he does someday.” Tao smiled shyly and began turning away. Kris immediately reached out and stopped him.

“Wait!” He said a little louder than he would have like, “Um, that’s okay. He’s probably busy. Why don’t you show me the ones that you like best?”

Tao blinked up at Kris and then down to the hand gripping his arm. Kris let go of Tao quickly and leaned back, attempting to act suave and casual once more. Luckily for him, Tao continued smiling at him and modestly agreed to his request.

Within the half hour it took to pick out Kris’s new and rather large stash of candy, Kris learned a few more things about Tao.
One: Tao loved strawberries. It wasn't hard to conclude considering nearly everything Tao picked out was strawberry flavoured.
Two: Tao has had years of wushu training under his belt. It was nice to know that after getting pinned by him. Kris felt a little less pathetic.
Three: Tao was Chinese. Kris continued their conversation in their native language after learning this fact and Tao was ecstatic to finally speak his mother tongue after such a long period of time.
Four: Tao was goddamn cute. Like really cute. Like, Kris could barely keep his arms to himself because he wanted to squish the boy’s stuffing out, cute. Kris's thoughts escalated to the point where he wondered if cute Tao would became goo in hands if he kissed him. Yes, Kris would have very much liked to have that figured out.

But alas, Baekhyun was giving him the evil eye from across the store when he wasn’t busy helping out customers. Kris just ignored the glares and Tao totalled Kris’s purchase at the cash register. Kris gave Tao a large bill and told him to keep the change. Tao thanked him kindly and wished him a good day.

“I thought you didn’t like strawberries…” Luhan asked, eyeing the candy container that nearly overflowed on Kris’s desk.

“I changed my mind,” he mumbled, looking through a folder. “Hey, is your birthday coming up?”

“No—"

“Fabulous, what’s your favourite candy flavor?”

“But my birthday’s in—"

“Banana? Great.”

“B-banana? I hate—Kris! The papers!”

Kris found himself in a familiar candy shop for the second time that week. Tao was a great help picking out items for Luhan’s supposed birthday and packaged everything up in a cute basket with birthday wrapping paper. Kris stuck around a little longer than necessary with the two of them relating over their childhood memories back in China.

“My birthday isn’t for another few months, Kris,” Luhan murmured, eyeing the gift basket that Kris offhandedly gave him.  Kris didn't pay him any heed as he absentmindedly tapped his pen on top of the letter he was supposed to be writing. Ideas zoomed through his head and then it struck him.

“Quick, give me a charity or something.”

“Why?”

“If you don’t name one within 25 seconds, you're fired.”

“What! Kris—“

“20 seconds.”

“You can’t be—“

“15 seconds.”

“Um, the... World Wildlife Fund ^©!”

“Perfect. Contact them and say that on behalf of Wu Corporations, we would like to host a charity event to show our support for saving… give me an endangered animal.”

“Kris, what is this even for?”

“Do I need to start counting again?”

“Fine! Pandas!”

An image of Tao flashed in Kris’s mind and he chuckled to himself. How coincidental. “All right, pandas it is. Now, shoo, I’ll take care of the food and whatnot.”

Kris waltzed into the candy store later that day and searched around until he spotted Tao. He smiled and took one step forward before Baekhyun blocked his path, equipped with a glare and crossed arms. “What is it this time? Your mother’s cousin’s graduation gift?”  Baekhyun hissed.

Kris went defensive, “I’m here on business matters. There’s a charity event that I’m organizing and a candy selection was specifically asked for.” Being in a cutthroat career taught Kris how to lie through his teeth expertly. However, Baekhyun was one of those special people who could see through his every lie effortlessly.

“Listen, Kris. Whatever you’re doing with Tao, I want you to stop unless your intentions are pure. I swear if you do anything to that boy, you’ll have to hear from my fist,” Baekhyun hissed and raising his fist for added effect.

Kris raised his eyebrow, “I would very much like to see you try.”

“Don’t tempt me, butthole.”

“Mature.”

“Okay!” Baekhyun waved his arms dramatically, “The moral of this conversation is that you better take care of Tao properly or there’ll be consequences.”

Kris looked over to Tao and managed to catch his eye. Tao smiled immediately on contact and waved over to him. Kris felt his lips easily form a smile of his own and he waved back. “You have nothing to worry about Baekhyun. I really like Tao. I just hope he’ll feel the same soon.” Kris ruffled Baekhyun’s hair before he walked toward Tao, not once taking his eyes off him. Baekhyun muttered his curses after Kris with a shaking fist.

“Fancy seeing you again.” Kris spoke to Tao with what he hoped was the smoothest tone imaginable. Tao just grinned as he usually did and Kris wondered if it was easy for Tao to appear as calm as he looked, because it sure wasn’t for Kris.

“Last time I checked, I worked here,” Tao jested. Kris laughed a little in response. He couldn’t help but feel pleased that Tao felt comfortable enough to joke around with him.

“Listen, I have this event coming up. I was hoping that you could help me out this time around,” Kris rasped out softly, looking through his lashes at Tao. He felt his heart soar when Tao visibly gulped and looked away in order to conceal his blush.

“I-I don’t know. Baekhyun’s better at that than me. I mean, it’s an important event, right? I don’t want to mess it up or anything,” Tao mumbled lowly, directing his attention to the string that secured his apron in place around his waist.  

“You won’t mess anything up.  All you have to do is suggest something and I’ll say yes or no. The event is for raising awareness and to help conserve pandas through the World Wildlife Fund ^©. Don’t you want to help out your distant relatives?”

Tao blinked up at Kris confused, “Distant relatives?”

“Yeah, I mean the resemblance is startling.” Kris smirked, lightly poking Tao on one of his eye bags and making him blink. “Your dark under-eye circles don’t help your case much either.”

Tao pouted cutely and swatted Kris’s hand away. “I’m only helping for the pandas,” Tao murmured, trying hard to hide the growing smile on his lips. He tugged on Kris’s sleeve and guided him through the candy shop. Together they picked out candies that were black and white in colour, a theme suggested by Tao that Kris quickly took to. With some help from the more experienced Chanyeol and Baekhyun, Tao managed to fulfill the candy request on time and Kris happily reported that it was very well received from the WWF^©.

Kris was returning some props that he borrowed for the event  two days afterward, only to learn from Chanyeol that it was Tao’s day off.

“Listen, from one good friend to another, just confess already.” Chanyeol leaned and placed a sleazy arm around Kris’s shoulder. “And with a guy like Tao, the cheesier, the better.”

Kris groaned and shook Chanyeol’s arm off of him. “It’s not that easy, Chanyeol. I’m not even sure if he's even interested. And for your information, I don’t do cheese.”

“If Tao doesn’t accept you, I will cut myself off of candy for a month. And for your information, you are cheesier than cheddar when Tao’s involved.  Don’t think I didn’t hear about the whole panda comparison. Also, I’m just doing what you told me to do ages ago with Baekhyun and look where that got me.”

Kris looked Chanyeol up and down. “Okay, what have you done to the awkward Chanyeol I used to know?”

“He fell in love and changed for the better. By the way, Tao likes cake. A lot. Good luck bud.” Chanyeol clapped Kris on his shoulder before walking past him and up to Baekhyun. A shriek rang in the air as Chanyeol crept behind Baekhyun and scared him. The couple became too sappy to watch after that.

Kris was a nice and patient man. However, Tao was truthfully driving him mad with want and his patience was wearing thin. He decided he was done waiting for a sign from Tao. He'd waited for Chanyeol and that hadn’t exactly worked in his favor. He was a little thankful it had ended the way it did though. Baekhyun was admittedly the perfect guy for Chanyeol, and Kris probably wouldn’t have met Tao in any other circumstance.

So, Kris took Chanyeol’s suggestion to heart and very literally. He went into a cake shop the next day and his eyes zeroed in on a strawberry cheesecake decorated with strawberry jam hearts. He bought it right away and headed down to the candy shop with the cake box in hand.

The shop wasn’t overly busy with only a few stray customers. Kris searched for Tao and found him sweeping away diligently off to the side. Kris marched right over to him with determination occupying his veins. Tao heard the heavy footsteps approaching and looked up from the floor to find Kris nearly stampeding toward him.

“Here,” Kris said oh-so-romantically and shoved the box into Tao’s hands. Tao blinked a few times before examining the box. He undid the ribbon around the box and lifted the lid once it was free of its constraints. Tao's eyes widened before they slowly shifted between Kris and the cake.

“Why—"

“I know we don’t know each other all that well but I would like to change that. I was hoping you would possibly allow me to take you out on a date.” Kris released the string of words out clearly but rather quickly as well. Kris figured he might as well get his point across so his possible rejection could be straight to the point.

Tao’s eyes began to have a dewiness to them and his face probably ran through the entire red colour spectrum. “W-What? Why me?”

Kris sighed and gave Tao a soft smile, “There are many reasons I could list and there'll probably be a lot more if you gave me the chance to get to know you better. So, would you be interested on taking me up on my offer?” Tao continued to gape at Kris and suddenly, tears started to trail down his cheeks. Kris immediately panicked. “Whoa, Tao. Why are you crying? I-I’m sorry, I’m not really sure what I did, but I’m so—“

“No,” Tao wailed softly and gripped onto the cake box tightly. “No, I’m…I’m happy Kris. I didn’t think you would—no one has ever done something like this to me before. Oh god, I'm sorry for crying. I get stupidly emotional sometimes.”

Kris froze, “So…is that a yes?”

“Yes! You big dummy!” Tao cried louder, attracting more attention to them. Kris looked around and awkwardly smiled to the onlookers. Kris gently took the cake box from Tao’s hands and placed it on a shelf next to them. He lightly tugged on Tao and pulled him to his chest. Kris marveled at how wonderful it felt to have Tao in his arms and just how well he fit in them.

“I did say be cheesy but this isn’t exactly what I meant. I guess it still works though.”

Tao leapt out of Kris’s arms quickly and bowed to Chanyeol while profusely apologizing. Chanyeol easily calmed Tao down, “Don’t worry about it. Now, Tao, you should go take a break and share this cake with Kris in the backroom before it goes bad. I’ll take care of stuff up here for the time being.”

Tao protested at first but with both Kris pulling Tao toward the backroom and Chanyeol pushing him, they successfully forced Tao to rest. Tao said he loved the cake. Kris said he loved his smile. Tao flushed and Kris smirked.

Their first date was a walk in the park, literally. Kris knew Tao didn’t like money being spent on him and that Tao liked feeding the ducks who hung out around the park’s pond. It was a simple and fun occasion where they talked more than anything and Kris couldn't be more happy.

The second date was dinner in a restaurant with cramped spaces and delicious food. They shared their meals and knocked their knees. The chemistry between them sparked and burned.

The third date, Kris caught some guy eyeing Tao. His ugly side appeared in front of Tao for the first time. Instead of inching away, Tao came closer and stated that it was nice to know Kris wasn't perfect. Kris got flustered and Tao smiled brightly.

The fourth date was a blur because all Kris could remember was the feeling of Tao's lips finally on his. He took Tao by surprise, but with the way Tao's tongue that chocolate ice cream of his, Kris couldn't hold back any longer. 

“Give these to Tao when you’re alone,” Chanyeol whispered as he slipped a few pieces of candy into Kris’s coat pocket. Kris was preparing himself for Tao's and his 3^rd month anniversary when Chanyeol swung by Kris's condo to wish him luck and... give him candy.    

“What does this even say?” Kris squinted his eyes at the foreign text sprawled around one of the candy's wrapper.

“Don’t worry about it. Oh, and preferably give them to him when there is a bed nearby. A comfy bed.”

Kris rolled his eyes and pocketed the candy.  It was nearly time for Kris to leave; he didn’t want to waste any more time figuring out Chanyeol’s ulterior motives.

“Whatever. You have a good night, Chanyeol.” Kris pushed Chanyeol toward the entrance and opened the door.

“No, no. I think you’ll be the one having the good night,” Chanyeol said as he stepped out and winked. Kris raised an eyebrow and just closed the door.

Kris was a nice and patient man. But with Tao, Kris was a selfish and impatient lover. Luckily, Tao accepted that side of Kris with an adorable grin that made Kris’s heart race.  Kris could only hope he could make Tao’s heart beat the same way.

---

Dundundun

Finally! It's out. /ledies. Sorry for the wait, I've been unexpectedly busy. I've been gone for like a week combined the past two weeks. Also, I have my other stories I need to update. Ughhh. Why do I do this to myself?

Anyways, I hope everyone likes this. It isn't much, but meh. WOOO Taoris! 

My gods, why are so many of you subscribed to this? You're all nuts. But I still love you all the same. I'll probably lose a few of you now that it's done, but anyways, THANK YOU EVERYONE fjdhsjfhd!!

Special thanks to siahna who offered her wonderful beta-ing services to me again. I'm so fortunate ;A;. 

Buh bye now!


Gahh, so cute!
ps: I felt weird mentioning WWF without properly crediting them. So um, yeah that's what the links are for. ...BYE <3