Chapter 4 

One month later

It was seven in the morning and Kris hadn’t even showered when his cell phone rang. He briefly wondered who it could be. He didn’t have many Korean friends and it was too early for Yixing or Zitao to be calling him.

He pressed the green button and sleepily answered the phone. However, the voice he heard coming from the other end of the line made him wake up immediately, all signs of drowsiness disappearing.

“Hello, Mr President.” He said formally and the caller chuckled.

“Did I wake you up, my boy?” The older man inquired politely while Kris replied that, no, he was already awake.

“That’s good. Frankly, I called to ask you to come over this morning. I thought that if I called early you could visit me and then hurry back to college and not miss any classes.”  Park Sukjin- Hwejangnim clarified and the blonde smiled at his employer’s thoughtfulness.

If only Chanyeol were this thoughtful he wouldn’t have used Wu Fan’s notebook as a racket to check if rice balls were bouncy when they were thrown on a wall. And he wouldn’t have shouted out that libraries were no fun when Wu Fan was studying in one, causing them both to be thrown out and banned for the semester. Not to mention that he wouldn’t have started a food fight in the dining hall last week, resulting in Kris being showered from head to toe with tomato sauce and smelling like garlic for -he briefly checked himself- more than a week.

“You’re very thoughtful.” Wu Fan commented, trying to repel images of himself walking around campus with stained clothes while Chanyeol and Baekhyun laughed their asses off.

“So are you coming?” The President asked and the Canadian agreed that he’d be in Sang Cha Rim’s main building in less than an hour.

And so he was, because this time Kris didn’t have the two Korean idiots to stall him in the way because they wanted to eat street food or prank call someone from a telephone booth.

He entered the President’s office at five to eight, not without a sense of dread about what he was going to hear.

“Hello, Kris.” Park Sukjin was sitting on a big leather couch drinking his coffee. He motioned for the blonde to take a seat as well before offering him an identical cup of coffee which Kris politely refused. His nerves were already taking over him without the caffeine anyway.

“You wanted to talk to me.” The Chinese-Canadian reminded the President.

“Oh yes!” The older man nodded. “I was wondering whether you met my son yet. I know it’s only been a month since classes started, still, I’ve got to admit I was curious about how things were going.”  He confessed and then on afterthought he added, “Curious and a little worried too.”

The last sentence drew the blonde’s attention for some reason.

“Worried?” He questioned politely.

“Just tell me how it’s going and I’ll explain why I’m worried afterwards.” The President encouraged.

It was not a conversation Kris wanted to have with Park Sukjin- Hwejangnim yet. He was feeling neither confident nor comfortable speaking about his meeting with Chanyeol. Nevertheless, he knew he didn’t actually have a choice in front of the man who was paying his college fees and accommodation.

“I met him.” Wu Fan started seriously, trying to find a way to describe the situation without putting any color in his voice.

And it was hard.

How could he talk about Park Chanyeol and not let all the colors paint his words? How could he do that when every day with the crazy heir was so colorful?

“I understand why you are anxious to see him mature.” He said slowly watching the President’s face frown a bit.

“He is not a bad person, though. He is smart too. He has an energy that not many people show.” Wu Fan stared down at his intertwined hands, trying to calm himself a bit after saying this much.

“You saw that too?” His employer’s frown deepened, but Kris was still looking down so he failed to notice it.

“Yes.” He confirmed plainly. “I am on good terms with him at the moment. However, I haven’t managed to change him a lot.”

Wu Fan could have stopped at that point. It was not necessary to keep talking and reveal even more of his failure. All the same, he decided to be honest with the President.

“I’m afraid he’s influencing me more than I am influencing him right now.” The Canadian confessed.

“I understand. I was expecting this to happen.” Park Sukjin sighed. “That’s why I called you here today.”

“You knew this would happen?! Has this happened before?” Wu Fan heard his tone weakening as he spoke and he knew his surprise was no longer concealed.

The older man laughed.

“Did you think you’re the first?” He asked a smile stuck on his mouth. “Did you actually believe no else has tried to change Chanyeol- that you’re the only one?”

Kris didn’t expect it to sting.

He thought he was prepared for pretty much any scolding he was going to receive that morning.

Every night he stayed awake for at least an hour thinking of the bad choice he had made taking up this unorthodox job. And every night he decided that since he had already stooped so low, nothing would stop him from succeeding. No matter how much he was scolded, no matter what they said to him he would take it coolly and keep it going.

So, honestly, Kris didn’t expect it to sting.

He was not prepared to feel his throat drying once he heard others had approached the Chanyeol too, trying to change him.

“N-no…” He stammered pathetically. “I mean, I-I knew he had tutors-” His voice failed him.

“Tutors, professors, relatives, I even persuaded some of his old friends to talk to him.” The President said effortlessly.

“I thought Byun Baekhyun is your son’s only friend.” Wu Fan asked.

“He’s the only one who refused to co-operate with me. My son cut all ties with the rest of them and only talks to Baekhyun now.” At this, the blonde felt his hands going numb.

So that was how Chanyeol reacted to betrayal. Now he knew what was going to happen to this fake friendship he had started with him. It was like seeing the future that was coming, inevitably.

“I see.” Kris whispered.

“Well, now that you’ve updated me on the situation, let me tell you why I’m worried.”  Park Sukjin- Hwejangnim stood closer to his new employee and took a sip from his coffee.

“All these tutors and all these professor and friends were not useless at all. They were smart and professional and serious, just like you. And they did their best, I know that for sure, but they still failed.” The man explained.

“Do you know why?” He asked and Kris shook his head; he didn’t know.

“They failed because they thought Park Chanyeol is just an innocent kid that you can manipulate easily.” The President crossed his arms.

“So, I’m letting you know from the start, my son is many things, but easily manipulated is not one of them. He may look friendly and overly affectionate but he doesn’t trust people fast.” Wu Fan looked seriously at the owner of Sang Cha Rim and realized just how right he was.

“What I’m saying is that all these very efficient and clever people I sent were swayed by Chanyeol, before they managed to sway him. Does that make any sense to you?” The Canadian considered the President’s question.

His mind went back to his second day of the semester, when he had pretended to fight Chanyeol to scare off a group of rude people. He still remembered the younger boy’s sneaky smile and how it threw him off.

“It does make sense.” Kris agreed. “To tell you the truth I felt that way too, when I talked to him. Like his goofy personality was winning over my logic.”

 “It’s okay. I am happy you admit it.” Park. Sukjin said with a smile.

“However, you only have eleven months. So from now on you must gather all your strength.” He patted him in the back encouragingly.

“Don’t forget, no matter what he says or how he acts you must be strict with him. You cannot like him or let his smiles stun you. If you want to succeed you cannot be swayed.” Despite the old man’s good intentions Wu Fan felt more burdened than encouraged at the moment.

Not be swayed by Park Chanyeol… was it something you could do, just because you wanted to?

He slowly got up and said goodbye to his employer. He promised to do his best and exited the office.

Walking down the street he realized he had been too slow. It was already half-past nine and his first class had started already.

Although the thought of sneaking in anyway crossed his mind, he discarded it quickly.

He was not in a mood to pay attention to class or take notes. And he was definitely not ready to face Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

So he just walked around Seoul for hours, until his feet were sore and his heart was beating normally again.

“What am I even doing?” He asked no one in particular.

He was feeling guilty and trapped. Guilty because Chanyeol had treated him so well while he was getting paid by his father to manipulate him and trapped because somehow as time went by it was harder for him to turn around and leave this business behind him.

“And why can’t I just turn down the job?” He exclaimed angrily.

The answer came to him easily.

Even if he wanted to leave, he had nowhere left to go.

He was told to leave Canada three years ago and he had sworn to never go back again. So that was out of the question.

And what about Shanghai? Sure, he had friends there, Zitao, Yixing, Luhan, Chen and Xiumin, yet they didn’t know what had happened three years ago and he didn’t plan on telling them at the moment.

If he went back and announced to the President that he couldn’t go on with the plan, he’d be broke and jobless again. In that condition, how could he go to China and become a burden to his friends?

As for staying in Korea, he’d have to hide well, because Chanyeol was not stupid and he didn’t give up. He’d try to find him and even if his father didn’t tell him about their agreement, the curly-haired guy would figure it out on his own sooner or later.

And then, would he tell Kris he didn’t want to lay eyes on him ever again? Would he order him to get lost and never come back to Seoul?

Probably yes.

Of course there were more countries in the world, but Wu Fan was tired of living like this. He was sick of getting kicked out of apartments cause he couldn’t pay the rent, sick of begging for a job at a convenience store, sick of having no money to even buy food for himself.

And frankly if he was going to be hated, he’d rather do it after he finished his last year in college and had some money in his pocket.

Chanyeol could hate him then.  

He put his head between his hands and messed his hair.

“I can do this.” He gave himself a pep talk. “I was never a good person anyway. Park Chanyeol will be furious when he finds out I deceived him, but he’ll be ok after a while. He’ll still have Baekhyun and his father and this huge company all for himself.” Wu Fan tried to feel better.  

“I’ll be ok and he’ll be ok too. In two years from now, he won’t even remember my name.” With that thought in his mind the blonde sat on a bench and slowly drifted to sleep, not caring that the morning sun was blinding him or that people were giving him strange looks.

When he woke up again the sun was already setting. He checked his watch and realized he’d been sleeping for the better part of the day. Standing to his feet he started running back to his dorm.

It was not dark yet but the shadows of the buildings covered his path, forcing him to walk cautiously. He had his keys on his hand before he even made it to his dorm, in an attempt to not lose any more time and just storm in.

Yet, reaching his doorstep he came to a halt.

Hanging from the wall outside his dorm there was a tall man, with his hands inside his pockets. He had his oversized hood over his head. Kris couldn’t see his face, but he easily recognized the hooded person.

“Chanyeol?” He said slowly, checking his voice for signs of hesitation.

The tall guy moved away from the wall and stretched out with a yawn, causing his hood to fall on his back.

Two big, shining eyes gave the Canadian a once-over.

“Duizhang! Where have you been all day?” Chanyeol asked in that deep voice that nothing in his demeanor prepared you for.

“Out.” Kris said curtly, avoiding the other’s eyes.

“You missed all today’s classes.” The curly-haired guy pointed out fixing his clothes.

“I was busy. Something came up.” Replied the blonde, feeling rather uncomfortable with a serious Chanyeol in front of him, but still trying to maintain his cool exterior.

“Was it very important? I thought you hated skipping class.” The younger guy’s voice became softer.

“Today, it could not be helped.” Kris thought Chanyeol would get the message that he didn’t feel like explaining himself.

The boy nodded thoughtfully at his lacking explanation.

“Ok.” He murmured. “But, you could at least have called.”  

Now it was Wu Fan’s turn to look carefully at the younger kid.

“Have you been waiting-” His words were cut off by a bush of curly hair shaking right and left.

“Me? Waiting? Why would I-…N-no way!” Chanyeol denied hotly.

“I see. Well, then…” The Canadian tried to move past the tall younger guy to unlock his door.

“Are you alright, Duizhang?” A long hand reached for Wu Fan’s shoulder, preventing him from going in.

Kris was already not used to ‘serious Chanyeol’ and now he had to face ‘sad Chanyeol’ too. It was too much. He felt sick in his stomach for some reason, like he had too much coffee without eating anything- that sort of feeling.

“Sure. I’m fine.” He lightly brushed the other’s hand off.

“Then make me dinner!” Chanyeol’s face brightened up a bit. “I was sitting here for so long that I didn’t have lunch…”

The blonde raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said you weren’t waiting for me.” He smirked and the younger boy blushed a little.

“Whatever. I had nothing better to do.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest defensively.

Kris forced himself to not laugh. He could not get carried away again.

“Sorry, I can’t make you dinner tonight. I need to study. You should go study too.”  He proposed.

“We can study together.” The curly-haired guy leaned closer to Wu Fan, making puppy eyes. 

It was not a bad idea, the blonde thought. He could make sure Chanyeol was studying properly that way. However, Kris was not in shape that night.

“Maybe next time.” He said, carefully brushing the younger boy’s hand off his shoulder.

He heard Chanyeol draw in a breath but decided to ignore it. He went inside and took his shirt off preparing to take a shower.

That was when his doorbell rang.

“He’s still here?” Kris wondered and, for a moment, he hesitated to check. When he finally looked over from the peep hole, there was no one out there.

Slowly he opened the door and saw a red notebook lying on the doorstep.

The Canadian picked it up and curiously opened the first page.

‘Park Chanyeol’ it read. Wu Fan’s heart was about to burst from having suppressed so many smiles. So he just let go and smiled for once, since nobody was looking.

There was a post-it, used as a bookmark, to point out today’s notes. On the post-it he recognized Chanyeol’s hurried handwriting.

‘Duizhang, I thought you’d want this. Study well! Chanyeol.’

“Damn this stupid guy!” Kris cursed when he was back inside his dorm.

“Yah, Park Chanyeol!” He shouted at the image of a curly-haired, grinning boy in his mind. “You just gave your notes to a guy who’s pretending to be your friend for money. You’ll regret it someday!”

Kris was feeling sick again, like someone would feel being on a small boat during a rainstorm. So he fell heavily on his bed, the red notebook resting on top of his chest.

“You’ll regret it, Park Chanyeol. And so will I.” He whispered. 

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