“Hey Zi Tao! Come and change the clothes for Baek Hyun!” the handsome blonde store owner called for his assistant who was carrying a box of the new season outfits from the truck. “Yes, I will be there soon Kris Gege!” Tao replied back.

It was just like any other normal day in Exo Boutique, with customers flooding in every second. The store was famous for their fashionable clothes and accessories, and the good looking store owner and assistants are a big factor for the never ending sea of female shoppers.  

“Hi Baek Hyun, we meet again~” Zi Tao greeted the mannequin as he started to take off the set of clothes it was wearing. The mannequin just stared back at the grumbling male who was now complaining of how Kris didn’t make him ramen he had promised last night. Of course Zi Tao knew that the mannequin wouldn’t reply him back but still, he had this feeling that Baek Hyun was somewhat real. Putting on a new set of clothes for Baek Hyun, Zi Tao left the mannequin for display as a few customers came forward to take a look at it.

The bell chimed as a delivery man went straight for the counter. “Parcel from XXX Antique Store.” the deliveryman looked at Zi Tao and handed the acknowledge receipt to him. “Kris Gege! There is a parcel!” Zi Tao shouted into the staff room. “Oh it’s finally here!” Kris hurriedly signed the acknowledge receipt and happily opened the large box, revealing a brand new mannequin. Though he was a bit shorter than their current mannequin, Baek Hyun, his eyes are much more bigger.

“Gege! Can I name this mannequin?” Zi Tao ran next to the tall man and stared in awe at the new mannequin, “He looks so real! Just like Baek Hyun!” Kris chuckled at the younger male before retreating back to the storeroom. After brainstorming for a good minute, Zi Tao’s eyes lightened up and pointed at the doe-eyed mannequin staring at him. “I shall name you D.O!”

Zi Tao has the habit of naming the mannequins in the store because he felt that they are different from the other typical mannequins. They look so realistic that Zi Tao can’t help but peek at them every few minutes, trying to catch them moving but of course to no avail. After putting on a set of outfit for D.O, Zi Tao placed it beside their old mannequin and returned to whatever he was doing before.

“Ding-dong!” a new customer walked into the shop. “Welcome to Exo Boutique! May I he-” Zi Tao was welcoming the new customer in when time froze, well not for everyone though.

“FINALLY! About time I’d say.” Baek Hyun stretched from his original position. “Hello D.O! Welcome to Exo Boutique! I finally have a mate to play with!” Baek Hyun exclaimed happily and frolicked towards the new mannequin. “Why can we move..?” the new mannequin questioned Baek Hyun, confusion written all over his face. He wasn’t told that he could move, he’s a mannequin after all! And mannequins aren’t supposed to move in the first place.

“Well, to cut a long story short, we are not the typical mannequins you’ll see in other boutiques. Do you even know you have a face? Most of them are usually faceless. Yucks.” Baek Hyun made a disgusted face as he paced around the boutique with D.O listened intently, gaze never leaving the taller male.

“Sadly, we can only move freely for 10 minutes every day. As to when can we move, I have no idea.  It’s all random. Oh, and we are only able to talk during this 10 minutes. But don’t worry, I figured out some time ago that we are able to talk to each other through telepathy.” Baek Hyun then used the remaining minutes to tour D.O around the boutique before both of them scurried back to their position at the last few seconds.

Every day, the two mannequins had fun; teasing the shop assistants, hiding the clothes, creating a ruckus in the store. Of course no one knows who did all these, except for them. They heard Zi Tao accusing them for being the culprits one day, but it only make things worse when Kris started suspecting Zi Tao to be the one doing all these and trying to push the blame to the mannequins. A cold war started out between the two males, and the two mannequins started to feel guilty about what they had done. The pair then purposely locked the couple up in the storeroom the next day, hoping that they will sort things out on their own. After what seems forever, the couple finally came out of the storeroom hand in hand, smiles etched on their faces.  “I will reward you tonight.” Kris said, only to make Zi Tao blush and slap the older's male arm. Glancing over at the mannequins, Zi Tao thought that he just saw Baek Hyun smirking at him.

Kris decided to close the store for a day to revamp the interior, as Zi Tao kept bugging him to give the store a new look. Carefully placing the two precious mannequins outside the entrance, the couple went back in to pack the clothes up. While they were packing up, a loud thud was heard from the outside. They hurriedly ran to the entrance to check what happened, only to see Baek Hyun lying on the ground with an injured cyclist next to him. Zi Tao gasped when he saw Baek Hyun’s condition; his right arm had a huge crack, and his legs were twisted at an absurd angle. Zi Tao lashed out at the cyclist immediately, only to be pulled back into the store by Kris before the taller male went out again to apologize for Zi Tao’s rude behaviour.

The two then spent days trying to fix the broken Baek Hyun. They even went back to the antique shop, only to return with disappointment. “Gege, how?? Is there really no way to fix him?!” Zi Tao asked as he tried to hold back his tears. The older male managed to comfort the sobbing male, only to agitate him again when he broke the news that they had no choice but to throw Baek Hyun away.  

D.O kneeled in front of Baek Hyun, who greeted him with his usual eye smile. “Baek! They are going to throw you away?! How can they do this! I mean you are still fine and all, you just nee---” Baek Hyun placed his hand on the other’s arm to calm him down, which worked as D.O stopped and looked at him in worry. “D.O ah, everyone has a time limit.  And it seems that mine is ending soon. But don’t be sad, I’m sure that Zi Tao and Kris will get a new mannequin to accompany you.” D.O shook his head continuously at Baek Hyun’s words. “NO! NO ONE CAN REPLACE YOU! YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST A FRIEND TO ME!” Baek Hyun wasn’t expecting the sudden confession, and was stunned when the younger male pulled him into his embrace, but returned the hug after regaining his senses. D.O pulled away from the hug and was about to speak when both of them became immobile; time was up for them again.

Zi Tao stomped into the storeroom after the conversation with Kris. He was really mad that Kris wanted to throw Baek Hyun away, since he had already treated the mannequin as his friend. The male picked D.O up and gasped in shock; there was a wet trail on the mannequin’s cheek.

Kris carefully placed the broken mannequin outside of the store. Before leaving, he looked into the mannequin’s eyes. “I’m sorry but I had to do this. Goodbye.” Sighing, he went in the store and set D.O up on the window display. A few moments later, a blue truck stopped in front of the boutique. A man came out of the truck and began to pick up the trash that is left outside of the store. D.O tried to move when the man picked up Baek Hyun and placed him among the other bags of trash at the back of the truck, and could only helplessly watch the truck drove off with Baek Hyun lifelessly lying at the back.

D.O rushed out of the store and followed the route that the truck took off. It has been a few hours since trash collector had left. D.O ran as fast as he could, hoping that he could see any traces of the truck. However luck was not on his side, as the 10 minutes was soon up and he slumped against a tree. For the following days, D.O tried to find Baek Hyun and finally on the fifth day, he spotted the familiar blue truck in front of some boutique. Walking closer, he noticed the same man who took Baek Hyun trying to get into the truck. Confirmed that this was the truck that he had been looking for, he climbed on board. A small smile appeared on his face, he will be able to reunite with Baek Hyun soon.

The trash collector placed D.O on the ground and hopped back on his truck before driving off. D.O looked up, and saw a clock in front of him. It was 3:00 PM.

D.O frantically called out for Baek Hyun, as he ran around the huge dumpster. As time passed, D.O got more and more demoralised, still unable to find where Baek Hyun is. “ARGHHHHHHH!” the frustrated male kicked a bag of trash next to his feet. Turning around, he saw a silhouette of a human figure. Without a second thought, he rushed towards the figure. A wide grin was evident on the male’s face as he finally found Baek Hyun. A faint light next to Baek Hyun caught D.O’s attention. It was a LED clock, with 3:09 PM shone faintly on its' rectangular body.

“Baek Hyun ah!!! I finally found you!” the younger male hugged Baek Hyun tightly, but the older male showed no response. Pulling back, D.O saw a weary look on the older male’s face. “D.O ah.. I guess this is my last 10 minutes, and… you know what that means right? But I’m glad that we have the chance to meet again before I’m gone.” Baek Hyun voice croaked as he struggled to speak. “No! Don’t say this kind of words! YOU WON’T DIE! YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME!” the younger male grabbed the other’s collar and buried his head into his chest.

Baek Hyun slowly pulled D.O back after and cupped the sobbing male’s face. “D.O ah, I want you to go back to the boutique after this. Just forget about me, I’m all broken and old already. And like I’ve said before, I’m sure Zi Tao and Kris will get you a new companion who will be better than me. Ahhh.. I guess it’s time for the final goodbye.”

“NOOO! I LOV—“ Before D.O could finish his sentence, time stopped for them as both bodies grew limp. The younger male stared at the LED clock before him; it was 3:10 PM.

Shifting his gaze towards Baek Hyun, D.O tried to telepath with the other male, though he knew that it won’t work anymore.

‘If we can meet again, I will love you more than anyone else in this world’