2.1 Unrequited Love is Painful 

“These ing PAs,” growls a furious Byun Baek Hyun as he slams the phone down loud enough for the entire office to hear. “How many times do I have to yell for them to remember to get the part-time artists release form signed!? How the am I going to pay them without a release form!?”

“I hope it’s not my PA you are talking about,” a voice says, almost nervously. Baek Hyun looks up to find the newest assistant director standing next to his table and frowns a little at him.

“Yixing, your PA,” he grouses, “is only one level better than them. He gets them signed, alright, but he writes the wrong ing time on the release forms. I end up either paying them more or less based on the hours he wrote! Does he not have a watch!?”

Yixing cringes at the complaint and looks down; it is then Baek Hyun notices the stack of blue release forms in his hand. His palm crashes against his forehead as the realisation hits him from nowhere. Of course.

“Please tell me you haven’t been doing your PA’s job,” Baek Hyun hisses, snatching the release forms from Yixing to survey. Aish, indeed it is his ex-classmate’s handwriting. He should have seen it the first time round! Yixing is infamous for being forgetful – only he will end up remembering the time wrongly. “What the is Oh Sehun being paid for!?”

 The sentence causes another figure to stop in front of his table. Their producer, Junmyeon, peers over the partition to cast them a concerned look. “Does your PA still disappear on set?”

“All. The. ing. Time,” snaps the casting director, who answers in place of Yixing because his high school ex-classmate is too damn nice for his own good. Baek Hyun shoots Junmyeon a fiery glare. “Can’t you just fire him already? On that note, can’t you fire all of these useless PAs and hire some good ones?”

The argument is a common one Baek Hyun has with the producer – along with other key topics like better pay negotiation and transport claims. It is so common that even before Junmyeon opens his mouth, Baek Hyun knows his answer is no, no, no. He rolls his eyes, turning a deaf ear as the producer does indeed goes through the reasons why they cannot fire Oh Sehun or the other PAs and before he finishes his long speech, Baek Hyun grabs Yixing’s wrist and drags him out of the office.

 “I’m not done with my requisition forms,” Yixing protests weakly but he knows Baek Hyun well enough to not resist too much when Baek Hyun has that death glare in his eyes. Baek Hyun all but shoves Yixing into the cafeteria that is thankfully quiet.

“Just do your requisition forms later,” Baek Hyun tells him. “Besides, even if you make any mistakes, your boyfriend dearest wouldn’t dare to shout at you too much.” He waggles his eyebrows suggestively. “If he does, just tell him he’s not getting any for the week.”

A faint blush colours Yixing’s cheeks at Baek Hyun’s comment on the director. Kris and Yixing have only started dating about two weeks ago but the entire production house is still shocked by it. Kris Wu, the hotheaded director, is known to brutally insult anyone who makes the slightest mistake and ever since he joined Exo Studios, 13 assistant directors have quit in the span of four years. Yet somehow, Kris is so besotted with Yixing that one small comment from the new assistant director, he’d immediately retract his horrible words to other staffs. It is nothing short of a miracle how much he has changed in 2 weeks.

“So what’s going on with you and Kai?”

Baek Hyun is so amused by Yixing’s reaction to Kris that he nearly forgets for a moment that he is avoiding the other man until he chokes on his rice at Yixing’s question. This time, it is Baek Hyun who does the blushing. He ducks his head, pretending to find the rice grains incredibly interesting.

“Kai was just asking if I heard anything about his character in the upcoming episodes,” Baek Hyun mutters but from the look on Yixing’s face, he can tell he isn’t buying it.

“I heard some… sounds last night outside your office,” Yixing points out with an arch of his eyebrow. “And the two of you look pretty disheveled when you open the door.”
 

Argh. He isn’t going to be able to hide this forever. “Promise not to judge me,” the casting director mumbles as he pokes the rice in his bowl around. “But Kai is hard to resist when he –” The remaining words fade to the back of his throat when he feels a familiar ache in his chest and he looks up, gaze falling on Chanyeol entering the cafeteria by himself. Their gazes clash and Baek Hyun has to force himself to scowl at him. It turns out Baek Hyun shouldn’t have worried Chanyeol would approach them because he too has an annoyed expression on his face. An invisible hand squeezes Baek Hyun’s heart as he tears his eyes away from the taller man.

“I don’t understand why Chanyeol hates me,” he hears Yixing say quietly. Baek Hyun doesn’t reply. Because he knows.

Two years ago when Park Chanyeol first joined Exo Studios as a camera assistant, Baek Hyun was a production assistant that happened to be assigned to the same drama project as Chanyeol and the two of them bonded over the idiots known as their bosses. Chanyeol was under this experienced but old cameraman who took joy in complaining how Chanyeol was an overly eager boy who only knew to create more trouble than to mend his mistakes.  At that time, Baek Hyun was working for Kris, who was then only an assistant director and needless to say, Kris was a pain to work with.

Chanyeol asked him out for dinner one day and he agreed.

Six months into what Baek Hyun thought was a relationship, he noticed that Chanyeol had been sticking around Kris a lot, often making (un)funny jokes about their director and lapping up the attention the AD gave him. Baek Hyun then noticed majority of the conversations he had with Chanyeol actually revolved around Kris and it hit him: Chanyeol had asked him out as friends to find out more about Kris.

The realisation was like an electric shock to his brain because by the time he found that out, Baek Hyun had fallen for the latter’s huge eyes, his wide smile and his stupid noodle hair. Hence when the project ended, Baek Hyun requested a transfer, ending up a casting director on the far end of the studio away from Chanyeol.

So naturally, Chanyeol would dislike Yixing because he accomplished in two weeks what Chanyeol couldn’t in two years – getting Kris.

Baek Hyun shrugs at Yixing instead. “Who knows,” he echoes quietly and looks back down at his lunch, feeling another bit of his heart chip away.

-

“Where the did Baek Hyun find this woman!?” a voice rages from a long distance away.

Baek Hyun doesn’t even have to put the voice to the face to know that the person yelling his head off is Kris. Who will dare swear so loudly in front of dozens of staff and outsiders but the great director? The only time Kris is on his best behaviour is when the sponsors come to visit, but as Baek Hyun nears the soundstage, he notices with much amusement that Yixing may be able to tame that wild beast because standing outside the soundstage is Yixing with his arms crossed and despite being the shorter one, he is somehow glaring down at the repentant director. Baek Hyun raises an eyebrow when Kris awkwardly apologises to the part-time actress who ceases her crying to stare at the director in shock.

“Bullying the talents again, Kris Wu?” Baek Hyun asks sarcastically and in return, he receives Kris’ fiery glare. So much for thinking he will change overnight. It is only when Yixing coughs loudly that Baek Hyun realises he and Kris were having a staring match. Sometimes he finds it so difficult to like his ex-boss. Thank goodness he no longer works under Kris.

Ignoring the couple, Baek Hyun strolls into the soundstage where majority of the staff and talents are gossiping about none other than the director and the AD themselves. “Better than a weekend drama, I see,” he murmurs to himself, noticing Sehun, the annoying PA, looking more animated than normally when it comes to idle chatter.

After he has cheerfully greeted the staff, Baek Hyun makes his way towards the part-time talents and starts handing out their schedules and scripts, doing his usual assurance that their salary will be coming in a few days’ time and it’s the stupid finance department that is taking so long when really it’s the stupid assistant directors’ fault. His smile widens when he notices Kai in the corner of the studio practicing his lines, sadly (or thankfully?) alone. The poor second lead actor is so misunderstood by the rest of the project team. He is just about to saunter over to Kai when he hears a sudden scream and Baek Hyun turns to see a child talent frozen in spot in front of a teetering light stand and the entire 19kg HMI light is about to fall on him.

He doesn’t think – he just moves, running the short distance to hug the child and cover him from the falling light. Baek Hyun shuts his eyes and waits for the crushing impact of the studio light but it doesn’t come and instead an arm pulls him just barely out of harm’s way. The child talent in his arms pulls away to run crying to his mother and it is then Baek Hyun warily peeks out.

“Chanyeol!” he exclaims, eyes wide and stomach flopping when he sees the foot of the cinematographer caught underneath the lightstand. Vaguely aware that the rest of the team is crowding around them to help get the light off, Baek Hyun’s pulse races in fear and he crouches down to an obviously in pain Chanyeol. “Stupid… why did you do that for?”

“A simple thank you would suffice,” Chanyeol points out in gritted teeth as Baek Hyun snatches the bag of ice from their props master and tentatively presses it to Chanyeol’s ankle, guilt rising up in his throat at the wince on the cinematographer’s face.

“What the ?” a voice shouts, tall shadow looming over Baek Hyun’s face. Kris glares furiously at the two of them. “I step out for a minute and I come back to this? We have at least a dozen scenes to film!”

Something in Baek Hyun snaps and he stands up immediately with a glare as fierce as the director’s. “Thanks for your concern,” he spits sarcastically, angry that all Kris cares about is delaying the drama progress. Poor Chanyeol has wasted his crush on an like Kris Wu. He doesn’t even have to look at the cinematographer’s face to know how hurt he must be. Baek Hyun kneels back down and forces Chanyeol’s arm around his shoulder, the other more helpful staff aiding him to stand. Even if Baek Hyun is far shorter than Kris, his furious stare makes up for it.

“I’m taking Chanyeol to see the doctor,” he tells Kris flatly, before addressing the horrified assistant director behind him. “Yixing, you might need to ask the Crew Leader for a temp cameraman.” Without waiting for any of them to come back with a response, Baek Hyun walks out the soundstage with Chanyeol hobbling next to him.

-

The casting director paces outside the doctor’s office where Chanyeol has been in the past hour, impatiently staring at the door as if it will magically open if he stares hard enough. What is taking the doctor so long? He’s so worried he’s about to explode from nerves. Is Chanyeol going to be okay? Can he walk? Will he be paralysed? He gulps, frightened. If Chanyeol’s going to be a wheelchair the rest of his life then Baek Hyun is going to dedicate himself to looking after the tall man. He did rescue him, after all.

The door finally opens after what feels like ten hours. Baek Hyun rushes up to Chanyeol who has his injured foot in a thick white cast and is balancing precariously on one crutch.

“What did the doctor say?” he asks anxiously, sitting the latter down on the bench against the wall while he blinks worriedly at him.

Chanyeol shrugs, lips pressed in a flat line. “That I can only take out my cast end of the week. So I won’t be able to work until then.”

Baek Hyun lets out a huge gush of air in relief. “So you can still walk then!” he cries out. “I don’t have to sign my life over to taking care of you and be your slave oh thank god.”

The taller man gives Baek Hyun an odd unreadable look and he takes a moment to think about what he said. Oh. Did it sound awful? He bites his tongue and opens his mouth again to reword his sentences but Chanyeol beats him to it.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says monotonously. “I wouldn’t want your life anyway.”

Yeah, because Baek Hyun isn’t Kris Wu.

Forcing a smile on his lips to show that he isn’t the least bit affected by Chanyeol’s words, Baek Hyun claps his hand and adopts a bright voice. “Well, let me take you home! It’s the least I can do since you saved me.” Ignoring Chanyeol’s protests, he pats his own shoulder and pokes it towards Chanyeol’s face. “Here, rest your arm on my shoulder. You look like you’re going to fall and break your other foot with that one crutch.”

Only when their cab is entering a way too familiar neighbourhood does Baek Hyun realises that holy crap, Chanyeol actually stays in the block next to him. Why is it that he hasn’t ever seen him?

Because Chanyeol is a cinematographer and has hours that clash with yours, stupid, Baek Hyun thinks to himself. He isn’t quite sure how he actually feels about living so closely to the man who broke his heart 2 years ago. At least they haven’t bumped into each other so far, but he finds that the idea isn’t so bad now that he thinks about it. If it isn’t for Chanyeol, he will have been the one with the twisted foot.

“You really don’t have to take me all the way,” Chanyeol says but Baek Hyun isn’t listening to a word when he hums loudly and jabs the elevator button. In return, he sees an amused smile on Chanyeol’s face directed to him, for the first time in at least a year. Annoyingly, his heart starts to pound quickly but before Baek Hyun can acknowledge that his heart is once again beating for Chanyeol, the elevator arrives on the ground floor.

Why did Park Chanyeol have to be so heroic, dammit?

As a casting director, Baek Hyun knows what it means to have ‘thick skin’. His skills of persuasion have reached a level that is almost equal to their shameless producer Junmyeon. He knows how to convince a talent to sign on to a project the other hasn’t intended to and he knows how not to take no as an answer. So when Chanyeol opens his main door and thinks that is the end of their little escapade from work, Baek Hyun brazenly barges into the apartment and heads straight for the kitchen.

“I’ll make you dinner,” he calls over his shoulder. He doesn’t have to look to know Chanyeol has that dazed and confused look on his face. Baek Hyun isn’t much of a cook, to be honest, so he counts his lucky stars when he finds ramyun packets in Chanyeol’s kitchen cabinets and makes enough for them both. He is so caught up with measuring the amount of water required to make 2 packets of ramyun that he doesn’t notice Chanyeol standing right outside the kitchen watching him with a faint smile.

Baek Hyun takes the pot of steaming ramyun out to the small dining table meant for 2 where Chanyeol is already sitting at with the cutlery. “No bowls?” he asks the other with an arched eyebrow, amused that Chanyeol forgot the biggest objects when he set the table.

The cinematographer shakes his head. “Let’s just eat from the pot,” he suggests. “Less to clean up later. Besides… didn’t we used to do this?”

Mhmm. Midnight snacking on instant ramyun between shoots, eating and chatting the whole night through to stay awake instead of napping for the 2 precious hours. Life was hard and exhausting then but he wouldn’t trade those memories for the world. Baek Hyun has pretty much pushed them aside, though, back when he applied for a transfer to the casting department – now Chanyeol is kindly reminding him again of what the casting director thought was part of their “relationship”. A relationship conceived from the mind of Baek Hyun.

He smiles anyway, uncertainty apparent in his eyes, before he ducks his head and digs into the ramyun. Sneaking a peek at Chanyeol in time to see his face stiffen at the taste of the soup, Baek Hyun quickly takes a sip too and his face promptly drops.

“I made sure to measure the right amount of water!” he tells Chanyeol defensively, frowning at the pot in distress. So much for a thank you dinner to his knight in shining armor… they may as well be eating noodles in tasteless coloured water. His eye power at the pot may not make the soup any tastier, but it lightens the mood when Chanyeol starts barking in laughter.

“You didn’t change at all,” he says between gasps, eyes twinkling with mirth. Baek Hyun frowns at him.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“Noooooope,” Chanyeol chokes out, but he doesn’t stop chuckling until Baek Hyun whacks him with the back of his spoon.

“You try cooking for two!” Baek Hyun retorts haughtily, and sniffs. “At least my noodles are the right amount of… of springy!” To prove his point how good they taste, he stuffs his face with more ramyun, grumbling under his breath about how he’s going to eat them all so you ungrateful bastard can’t eat them and Chanyeol starts to complain that the ramyun belongs to him.

It has been a long time since Baek Hyun feels this relaxed with Chanyeol. As he peers over the pot of ramyun at the man who’s practically inhaling the noodles, he can’t help but feel overly aware of the tingling sensation in his chest.

He can’t help falling a little back in love with him.

-

“Earth to Baek Hyun.” Baek Hyun blinks at the blur of silver in front of him and makes a face at Yixing waving his spoon at him. The assistant director pouts at him over their lunch but since Baek Hyun is no besotted Kris Wu, he’s immune to the dimple that dents Yixing’s cheek.

“You’re not listening to me,” Yixing complains before he drops his spoon next to his near empty plate on the table. “What’s up with you lately? I hear the writers talking about how you’ve been leaving the office on the dot… kind of rare for Mr Workaholic, don’t you think?”

Automatically, Baek Hyun says, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” He curses inwardly at what gossipmongers the entire company is, especially a particular writer by the name of Kim Jongdae. There is no point in arguing with Jongdae because all the other will say is that gossip makes for good stories and writers always need stories. Yeah, yeah.

The truth is he has been spending a lot of time with Chanyeol. Since it isn’t really convenient for Chanyeol to walk around with that huge cast on him, Baek Hyun thinks the least he can do to express his gratitude is to make things more comfortable for him. He has been shopping for groceries and doing plenty of recipe research to improve his cooking skills. Yesterday Chanyeol actually complimented him on the grilled chicken, that it was juicy and delicious if he peeled off the charred chicken skin.

“I hope you remember our high school reunion dinner is this Sunday,” comments Yixing casually, who smirks when the realisation strikes Baek Hyun and he smacks his forehead for forgetting all about it. “Are you bringing Kai?”

Kai? Why will he bring… oh. Oh. Yixing thinks he’s with Kai. He kind of wants to laugh but that will give Kai’s secret away. Instead, Baek Hyun opts for a nonchalant shrug, his mind already floating to the face of another person he wants to bring.

-

It takes Baek Hyun a lot of stressful gum chewing and a bottle of soju before he manages to blurt the invitation out to his reunion dinner. He is almost offended when Chanyeol gives a straightforward “sure” because hey, he took so much effort to compose a nice little speech so shouldn’t Chanyeol have the courtesy to give him a couple more words than a “sure”?

He looks over sulkily at the tall man but his eyes aren’t behaving themselves when they sweep down the very well-built cinematographer in a tight-fitting shirt and a tighter-fitting pair of acid-washed jeans. It really isn’t fair how cameramen get free workouts with their bulky, weighty cameras while Baek Hyun sits in the office all day and watches his own bum grow bigger.

“Like what you see?” teases the deep, rumbling voice and Baek Hyun tears his gaze off with a fiery blush to his cheeks.

“I’m just checking you look presentable to my ex-classmates,” he claims huffily and pushes the door to the bar and restaurant where most of his old friends already are. A bright genuine smile lights up Baek Hyun’s face as he introduces Chanyeol to the group and sits the two of them down at the last few tables where four chairs remain.

“Is Yixing not here yet?” Baek Hyun asks them curiously after he gives his and Chanyeol’s orders to the waiter. “I bet he mixed up directions and got lost.”

“… Yixing?” Chanyeol repeats slowly and it hits Baek Hyun the same time as Yixing bounces over to their table… with Kris in tow. He feels Chanyeol’s arm stiffen next to him and one glance at the cinematographer’s black face is enough to tell Baek Hyun how much he doesn’t want to be there anymore. A sudden stuffiness overwhelms Baek Hyun’s throat and he swallows, uncomfortably.

Yixing’s jaw drops when he sees Chanyeol at the table and his gaze flickers from Baek Hyun to the cinematographer repeatedly. “I thought you were bringing Kai!” he exclaims, oblivious to the tension settling on them. Baek Hyun mentally strangles Yixing before he fixes a tightlipped smile on his face.

“I didn’t ask Kai,” he says, hoping the words are sufficient for Chanyeol to know that he isn’t the second choice for Baek Hyun. He nearly sighed aloud in relief when the waiters appear at their tables with the food, and the topic is dropped.

Baek Hyun isn’t blind enough to not notice that Chanyeol isn’t enjoying himself. His heart sinks a little when he catches sight, more than once, of the cinematographer sneaking glances at Kris. It feels like déjà vu again; all Chanyeol wants is attention from Kris Wu and all he sees is him. He stabs his steak angrily, convincing himself that he isn’t jealous but invisible ropes of envy are circling his chest and his throat suffocatingly and he can't stand another second of this –

"Excuse me," he says abruptly. "I'll be right back." Baek Hyun quickly disappears to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his BB cream-ed face and kohl-lined eyes. He stares at his reflection in the mirror, slightly disgusted with how he loses control so easily. He is Byun Baek Hyun, yah, the hottest man in EXO Studios. Men and women fall all over themselves to get him to notice them. How can he let one person disintegrate his self-confidence like this?

Baek Hyun draws in a deep breath. He can get through this.

Sauntering out of the bathroom with feigned poise and cheeriness he no longer feels, Baek Hyun notices that there are more empty seats at the table. Chanyeol isn’t there. Nor is Kris. He falters slightly when he catches sight of the two giants at the corridor outside the restaurant and hates that he ignores the inner voice that tells him to return to his seat. Instead, Baek Hyun slowly nears the two, a lump forming in his throat when he sees Chanyeol’s hands on Kris’ shoulders and his head moves to kiss him. His heart crashes to his feet and shatters into a million pieces.

He whips his head around and walks off the other way, out of the restaurant and out of the building. With shaking hands, Baek Hyun takes his mobile phone out and presses speed dial #1.

He feels stupid for still harbouring the hope that Chanyeol might fall for him. It’s been more than 2 years. Clearly they are not meant to be. Baek Hyun needs to move on.

“… Hello?”

“Kai?” he chokes unsteadily. “Can you come pick me up?”

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I'll try to write Chanyeol's part quickly. In the meantime, please upvote and leave comments! n__n