Chapter 19

Kris took a large bite from his pizza as he watched Chanyeol, right across the table, struggling to clean some cheese off his cheek.

The boy missed the spot and grumbled angrily at his food and at Wu Fan who was currently smirking mockingly and possibly at the world for being so cruel.

“This doesn’t feel much like a date.” The boy muttered, glaring at him a little. “You’re not even helping me wipe the cheese off my face.”

“That’s because I’m you boyfriend. Not your mother.” Kris shrugged.

“Haven’t you seen any dramas? When you like someone, you’re supposed to gently lean over and slowly wipe their face and take a moment too long to move away, because that builds tension…” Chanyeol was making big moves, trying to describe some drama scene to the Canadian who just stared at him, oblivious of the part he was meant to play in this drama.

“Never mind…” The younger guy just sighed. “I don’t know how you were labeled the ‘romantic’ one in this relationship.”

Then it seemed like a new thing had popped in the boy’s head, because his eyes flashed up at Kris worriedly.

“Or perhaps you don’t want to do it here, in public, because we’re not one of those couples people like.” His voice had dropped noticeably and the blonde felt his chest tighten a bit.

He paused to think about it.

Was he by any chance ashamed to be Chanyeol’s boyfriend, because –well…- he was a guy’s boyfriend?

Instead of an answer, though, he raised a hand from the table and grabbed the curly-haired guy’s chin, forcing him to stand up a bit and move towards him.

He only shot him a mischievous look, before putting his mouth on that cheese infested spot on Chanyeol’s cheek and away the food.

“Any other questions you’d like to ask?” He smirked cheekily at the boy’s blushing.

“V-very funny…” The Korean hid his crimson face behind a napkin.

“You might say this doesn’t look much like a date, but, this is our first time out for dinner.” Wu Fan continued eating, his mood improving even more.

“I guess it counts as an upgrade, from eating noodles outside of convenience stores, or tasting you awful cooking…” Chanyeol nodded absentmindedly, causing Kris to furrow his eyebrows.

“I’m sorry what?” He wasn’t exactly angry at the boy, but this was an insult straight to his pride as an experienced cook.

“Well, to be honest, this morning, when you left before I woke up, I contemplated eating your food, you know, like a punishment for leaving me. It smelled so bad, though…” The crazy guy shut his nose with two fingers and grimaced for the effect.

“Really?!” Kris stared at him, slightly crestfallen.

“I’m just kidding, relax!” The boy sniggered evilly taking another piece of pizza and stuffing it to his mouth.

“To tell you the truth, it doesn’t matter much to me, where we go, or what we eat.” He continued more seriously after a few seconds of wild chewing.

“Are you going to say something sappy like ‘I’m happy as long as you’re with me’?” Kris put in jokingly.

“Actually, I was going to say, I’m happy as long as you’re paying.” Chanyeol’s deep voice rang with happiness and the older couldn’t possibly get angry at him for his rudeness.

“You’re starting to sound like Sehun.” Kris commented, sipping from his glass of water.

“I guess he’s rubbing off on me.” The curly-haired Korean agreed. “Now that you mention Sehun… What is going on between him and Luhan-sshi?”

Sensing that Chanyeol was interested in some gossiping, the Canadian leaned forward and lowered his head.

“They’re kind of crazy for each other.” He whispered, making his lover giggle a little, though it didn’t sound much like it, with his deep voice.

“I can see Sehun drooling all over the poor guy, but I didn’t know Luhan-sshi felt the same way.” The younger of the two raised his eyebrows with interest.

“Please!” Kris rolled his eyes. “Luhan could never resist that playful nagging of Sehun’s. What surprises me more is that he’s restraining himself.”

The curly haired guy’s brown eyes widened in shock.

“You mean he hasn’t made a move yet?” He asked.

“He doesn’t even hold the boy’s shoulder for too long!” The blonde assured, a little proud about his accomplishment.

“But I thought Luhan-sshi was… ehem… rather enthusiastic with his relationships.” Chanyeol rubbed the back of his neck, looking rather embarrassed to be saying that about Wu Fan’s friend.

“Oh he is! I mean, he was.” The other agreed. “He just feels bad that Sehun is so young.”

The Korean hid a knowing smirk behind his hand. “You guilt tripped your poor friend into keeping his hands off Hunnie, didn’t you?”

“I might have warned him against it a couple times.” The blonde cleared his throat indignantly.

“Thought so.” Chanyeol shook his head in exasperation. “Really, don’t you think you’re being too much? Luhan-sshi is going back to Shanghai in a week; don’t they deserve to enjoy their love while they’re still together?”

“And then Luhan will go back to Shanghai and meet some douchebag, like he always does and fall for him and Sehun will be heartbroken.” Kris muttered darkly, knowing that maybe this time Luhan cared about his crush a little too much to just forget about him when he’d go back to Shanghai, but still worrying that something might go wrong.

“If Luhan-sshi cares about Sehun as much as Sehun cares about him, I don’t think he’ll do that.” Chanyeol reasoned and the blonde knew he had a point.

“Look, it was Luhan’s decision. I didn’t force him or anything. And Sehun is graduating in a couple of months, so they can meet up then and have their romance.” He pointed out, hoping that their infatuation for each other would survive two months of separation.

“So…” The younger guy narrowed his eyes and looked thought over at his lover. “You’re ‘putting their love to the test’ as they say.”

For one more time, Wu Fan marveled at how well the boy understood him.

“You could say that.” He smirked back.

“I never understood that idea.” The boy confessed. “Why would you need to test your love? Isn’t loving someone and having them love you back, enough?”

“Love can hurt you.” Kris mumbled under his breath, not wanting Chanyeol to hear the tinge of fear that colored his voice.

“No it can’t.” The boy retorted quickly, with certainty. “If it’s love, then it can’t hurt you. The problem is when people don’t really love each other. Then one of them does the hurting and the other one gets hurt.”

Somehow, Wu Fan’s good mood from before began to slowly evaporate, like water out in the summer sun. He wanted to say so much. To explain that maybe you can hurt someone you love, because you didn’t really know you loved them at first. Or because you were desperate and you had lost all hope on people. Or because you’re just a big jerk. Or possibly all of the above.

However he said nothing. Just stared at his plate patiently waiting for Chanyeol to change the subject.

“Anyway, I’m still confused about the whole ‘testing your love’ thing.” As if reading his mind the Korean took a new piece of pizza and went back to the previous topic.

“Because not all loves are strong.” Kris said with more confidence.

“So a strong love should be able to last, but a weak one not so much?” Chanyeol munched on his food.

“That’s the idea.” The blonde nodded.

“Still, I’d much rather spend every day with you. I don’t care about those serious, relationship rules.” The curly-haired boy shrugged, easily and grinned at his lover.

“Well, yeah, that’s why everyone thinks you’re a five-year-old in the body of a full-grown man.” Wu Fan sighed, because, really, this kid was deep and mature the one minute and acting like a complete idiot the next.

“Are you calling me childish, right now?!” Chanyeol screeched, his mouth gaping in fake shock and his eyebrows rising in fake anger.

“Your face alone, proves my point.” The blonde answered nonchalantly and to his great distress his boyfriend decided to prove exactly how mature he was by throwing a slice of pepperoni at him.

The greasy piece of meat landed on top of Wu Fan’s thigh, leaving a trail of tomato sauce all over his pants. The Canadian gasped and cursed under his breath, before glaring embarrassedly at Chanyeol.

He took his cellphone out of his jean’s pocket, checking if it had been affected by the pepperoni attack and realizing it hadn’t, he placed it carefully on the table.

“Very mature.” He grumbled. “I’m going to the bathroom, to wash this off.” The tall blonde said decisively, trying not to blush even more as his boyfriend laughed loudly opposite of him.

He stood up and headed to the small bathroom of the Italian restaurant that was probably never going to let them in ever again after today.

Cleaning off his jeans Kris smiled at himself in the mirror.

A year back he’d have never believed that he could fall in love so deeply. Let alone go out on dates with his boyfriend in Italian restaurants, smudging pieces of food on each other’s clothes.

It was a change he was thankful for, though. More thankful than he had been about anything in his life.

With a last look on the mirror, he fixed his hair and headed back to the table.

Chanyeol was staring over at his phone with a very serious look, yet as Kris approached, he realized it wasn’t really Chanyeol’s cellphone, but his own.

The boy was burning holes at the screen of Wu Fan’s phone.

And that was when the blonde understood something was wrong.

“Chanyeol-ah, wha-” A glance full of rage stopped him midsentence.

The Korean bit his lower lip, not in the cute way that he used to do when they were making out, but in a very hard manner that made Kris think he was trying to hold back some sort of scream or curse, or something not pleasant at all.

“What is this?” To answer his question Chanyeol flashed the phone in front of him and Kris read the message clearly.

It was Park Sukjin Hwejangnim.

‘Are you sure you, don’t want this money Wu Fan? I feel very bad for taking it, after the deal we made.’ It said, in small black, typed letters.

The thing clicked to the blonde’s mind faster than he thought possible. The phone had ringed. Because Kris had left it on the table, Chanyeol had seen the sender, and had opened the message.

The consequences appeared clearly in his head as well.

“Why is my father messaging you, Wu Fan?” Chanyeol hissed in a deadly serious tone. “And what money?”

Kris felt a lump in his throat, getting bigger and bigger, straining his breath. He looked around him, lost for words, or maybe lost in general.

“I’ll explain everything.” He managed to say in the end, yet his lover didn’t look very impressed at his promise to explain.

“What the hell could explain this message?!” Now Chanyeol was shouting and people were starting to stare.

“I’ll explain, just, please, please let’s get out of here.” Wu Fan practically begged. He hurriedly pulled out his wallet and left some money, a lot of money probably, on the table.

He tried to take Chanyeol’s hand but the younger guy stormed out before he had the chance.

“A deal!” The moment they were both out the Korean was talking again. “You made a deal with my father.” He said pointedly, like he was challenging Kris to deny it.

Kris didn’t deny it, though. He just nodded, feeling his whole body tense at the boy’s angry looks.

“What deal?” He asked and the blonde thought he was forcing him to spit everything out, so that he could scream at him some more.

“It was about you. About you not being-” It was so hard to say this in a way that would not infuriate Chanyeol further.

“Me not being a good heir? A good business man? A good son? Which one?” Chanyeol provided, not so helpfully.

Kris had only fought with the boy once in the past. Other than that one time, Chanyeol had been kind and caring to him, always understanding and worrying about the blonde.

Right now, however, Wu Fan was seeing the boy’s ruthless side. Because, no matter how good a person you are, some things would definitely make you snap.

“One of those. Or all of them. I don’t remember anymore.” Kris said earnestly, messing his hair.

“You don’t remember!”Chanyeol’s nostrils were flaring up and his eyes were breathing fires and his mouth was nothing but a white, thin line.

“How long have you been working for my father?” He asked coming dangerously close to Wu Fan.

“I-…” Kris knew no easy way of saying this.

“What? One month? Two months?” Chanyeol had his gaze pinned on him and without really daring to look up, Kris shook his head.

“More? Then what? Three…” The boy’s deep voice faltered, as realization hit him.

“Since the beginning.” He said and it wasn’t a question anymore. He sighed and his hot breath made the blonde shiver.

“From the very moment we met. No. Probably even earlier… You came to my class because of that deal. You became friends with me because of this deal. You-you…” From the corner of his eye Wu Fan could see the deeply shocked face of his lover, while a sharp pain in his chest made him wince.

“Every time we studied together, every time we went out for coffee or karaoke… I thought you liked my company,” The boy gulped visibly.  “But in reality you were working your plan. To make me study, to make me socialize, to make me open up.” He choked out the last part, pain lacing his every word.

“I care about you.” Kris blurted out, unaware of how much it’d hurt to talk.

 “You were ing training me! Like I’m some watch dog… Did you do it because you cared for me?” The Korean’s voice echoed in Wu Fan’s ears and pierced through him like blades.

“You’re trying to tell me that there wasn’t even a moment, where you thought about yourself. Not even once that you saw me as nothing more than a money-making machine?” Chanyeol put his hand on his forehead, like he was afraid he’d lose his mind any time now.

“I did. I did ok? At first…” Wu Fan clenched his fists and finally dared to look up at those fiery eyes. “But that’s not what I feel about you now.”

He tried to put a soothing arm on the boy’s shoulder but Chanyeol pushed it away.

“Can you not touch me right now?” He said through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry. You have no idea-” Kris fought to keep the tears away.

 “You’ve been lying to me for four months, while you were working for my father. Actually working for him!” Chanyeol laughed a dry laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

“But I have to admit you were the best one. The others he sent, before you, only gave me stupid advice and annoyed me. But you- you got to my head with all your words and all your touches. No. Not only my head…” The boy’s tone was miserable now and the Canadian wanted to just kill himself for having caused that misery.

No matter how much it hurt him, nothing compared to the pain Chanyeol should have been feeling, because of him.

“Well, you did a good job.”  Chanyeol’s eyes flashed with unshed tears. The blonde could tell he was putting up a lot of effort to keep his voice straight.

“You surely deserve all the money you were paid. I mean, how good of an actor you must be to- to kiss me like that and say you c-care…” A muffled sob escaped from the boy’s throat.

The Canadian wanted to scream that this wasn’t an act, that he meant all of that. However, at the same time it dawned on him that regardless of what he said; Chanyeol wasn’t going to forgive him.

Because, to be fair, such behavior shouldn’t be forgiven.

He couldn’t beg for forgiveness. He shouldn’t even dream of it, like he had.

He told himself he had been such an idiot to think that he could be forgiven, that this was going to be okay.

“No need to worry, Wu Fan.” Chanyeol let his hands fall on his sides, lifelessly.

“I’ve already promised my father. I’ll take care of his precious company. You taught me well.” It was like Kris was listening to a different person. Like something had been turned off, from inside the boy and now he was kind of empty.

“So what are you doing standing here? Aren’t you going to spend your money?  What are you doing wasting your time here with the looks of me?” Then the blonde understood what was wrong. The warmness was gone from Chanyeol’s voice and the fire in his eyes was suddenly put off.

“Go celebrate you success. Go tell your friends how you tricked a total idiot into thinking you loved him. Go! Just go…” The boy wasn’t even shouting anymore and he was staring past Wu Fan as if he wasn’t even there.

So Kris did as he was told.

The streets were covered in ice and probably soon enough Chanyeol’s tears. Because it was still winter in Seoul and it was snowing yesterday and the wind was suddenly blowing wildly in his face.

Wu Fan obeyed the boy’s order, because it was suddenly too cold to bear.

 A/N: I know everyone had their own theory about what would happen when Chanyeol would find out.

I suppose you might argue that Chanyeol would never react so badly at the news, since he's such a bundle of joy, but still, who wouldn't feel betrayed, right?

Well, anyway, please leave a comment.

Tell me if you liked this chapter, or if you thought it was stupid, or anything really.

And WOW, double update this week?! What is wrong with me? Hehehehe

Kisses guys.