“... there is nothing wrong for a couple to spend a romantic night at a hotel,” Uncle Heng declared in the screen of the gigantic plasma television on the wall of the Palace’s living room. “Especially when they are engaged.” Bright camera flashes exploded on the screen but the older man looked unfazed, as if he knew this day would come. As if this wedding of Luhan and Zhang Bi Ren had been planned months ago and they were merely waiting for the right time to tell the world.

Yixing turned the television off and buried himself deeper into the couch. The house was quiet, what with majority of them at the press conference, leaving him to suffocate in his loneliness,  despite the fact that he was surrounded by dozens of staff.

“Master Yixing, your breakfast is ready.”

He looked up at the kind housekeeper standing at the side of the couch with her hands clasped and faked a smile. Yixing knew he looked like crap, with his red-rimmed eyes and his hair sticking out in all directions but he brought it upon himself for crying himself to sleep.

“I’m not hungry,” he said in a quiet voice, standing up from the couch slowly as though his arms and legs were made of lead. “I’ll be going to work now.”

It was near impossible to concentrate at work. Yixing felt as though he was more forgetful than before, frequently leaving things out when he compiled sales reports and research findings. It took extra effort to chat and smile and pretend nothing was wrong, but his acting skills must have improved because he managed to fool his colleagues. Except Kris, who annoyingly called him on his office line repeatedly to ask him what happened, so much so that Yixing had to mute his phone.

At exactly 5:59pm, Yixing had his backpack all packed and was ready to leave the office. Fully intent on avoiding Kris, he stood up and practically ran out, only to crash on a stiff chest, and arms went around him to stop him from falling over.

“What’s the hurry?” Kai asked in mild amusement, hands on Yixing’s sides to steady him.

“Woah, here to pick up your boyfriend from work?” a voice teased from behind. Chanyeol grinned widely, wiggling his eyebrows at the two of them and rested his elbows on their shoulders. “You guys advance really quickly!”

“He’s not—” Yixing started to say, the same time Kai interjected, “Yeah, we’ll make sure to invite you as the guest-of-honour to our wedding.”

He couldn’t help but stiffen at the word. Feeling the tension in Yixing’s arms, Kai paused and lightly shoved Chanyeol away. “Get lost, you’re being the third wheel here,” he said playfully and held Yixing’s hand, surprising the latter when he gave him a serious look. “I’m taking you out on a date, Yixing.”

Ignoring the catcalls from Chanyeol, Kai pulled Yixing out of the office and to the streets. Yixing tried to wriggle his fingers out from Kai’s hold but the younger man only tightened it with a hopeful smile.

“I’m sorry if I came on too strong on you yesterday,” Kai said remorsefully. “You’re not angry at me, are you?”

Yixing shook his head and was rewarded by a beautifully bright smile he couldn’t help but return.

“Will you go on a date with me then?”

A date? The word caused incredible stuffiness to his throat. Was he ready for this? He had only just had his heart broken (continuously) – could he go out with someone new? Was he ready to set himself up for more heartbreak, knowing that Kai was eventually going to return to South Korea?

But if he didn’t... how was he going to move on from Luhan? How was he going to let go of the fact that Luhan only saw him as a temporary plaything, that how he felt for the idol could never be matched?

“Okay.”Guilt crept up on him when he saw how delighted Kai looked. “But not today. I want to visit some place today.” Yixing paused, and added shyly, “Would you go with me?”

Yixing quite liked the grin on Kai’s face when he nodded vigorously at the small offer to spend time together. At the back of his mind, he knew he was making use of Kai to get over Luhan but he hoped – he really sincerely hoped – that he would come to fall for Kai so deeply he’d forget the idol. 

With hands tightly holding onto each other and fingers intertwined, they arrived at the Book Attic about an hour before it was closing. Almost right away, Yixing felt at ease when he stepped into the book café, the whiff of new books and aroma of coffee floating to his nose. Only books could make him feel like this, so comfortable, so at home. At least they wouldn’t judge him, couldn’t hurt him.

He brightened up when he caught sight of a tall blond looking as though he was dozing off in the storeroom and forgetting that he was still holding onto Kai, Yixing dragged the latter over and rapped Sehun’s head lightly with a balled up fist.

“Sleeping on the job?” he said loudly, chuckling when the younger boy jerked up with a deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression. Sehun relaxed when he saw it was Yixing and only when he arched an eyebrow at Yixing’s intertwined fingers with Kai that Yixing pull out of Kai’s hold. Yixing blushed but he was determined not to address it. “You ended school early today?”

Shooting Kai a curious look, Sehun nodded and yawned loudly before peeking out of the storeroom onto the book café floor. “Ge, some of our regulars aren’t coming anymore,” he whined. “Because you’re not around. Can’t you come back?”

If only he could. Pushing the question aside, Yixing tugged Kai forward, mildly surprised to feel the other man tensing up. There was a strange look on Kai’s face he had never seen before but Yixing didn’t stop to think about it. “Sehun, this is Kai. Kai, my annoying baby brother, Sehun. I’ll go make you some coffee so Sehun, be nice.” He quickly slipped out of the storeroom, leaving the two of them in there while he absorbed the very much missed atmosphere of the book café, a genuinely happy smile playing on his lips.

 Not knowing how Kai liked his coffee, Yixing decided to go for the safe choice and made him a flat white while he chatted with a few of the customers sitting at the café area. He really missed this, this relaxed environment when he did things at his own pace and actually loved his job. No one could ever claim crunching numbers for sales statistics was interesting.

He carefully held the mug of coffee as he navigated out of the café area, politely greeting the new employees Qiuyue hired on the way, when he heard Sehun say, “—Stop staring at me. I’m not your type. If you cheat on Yixing ge, I swear I will chop your head off and feed it to the wolves.”

“Oh? Do you know of any wolves around here?” he heard Kai ask.

“T-the zoo has them!” Sehun spluttered, which was the cue for Yixing to enter the storeroom.

“Are you bullying Sehun?” asked Yixing in amusement while he passed Kai his mug of flat white, and started to laugh when Sehun nodded forcefully and Kai shook his head with equal fervour. They were such kids. He ruffled Sehun’s hair, blatantly ignoring the younger’s complaints. “Shouldn’t you be working? It’s nearly time to do closing.”

He watched Sehun reluctantly walk out with an affectionate smile, nearly forgetting Kai in the same room if he didn’t let out a soft cough. Startled, Yixing almost knocked the coffee out of Kai’s hand. He flashed him a sheepish smile, cheeks flaming with every second Kai was looking at him.

“Thanks for coming here with me,” Yixing told him smilingly. “I hope Sehun wasn’t too rude.”

“He’s really your brother?”

Yixing nodded, leading them out of the storeroom and towards the café chairs. “Foster brother. We’re... adopted,” he said, his voice softening suddenly at the last word. “But, um, I found my real family so... we’re kind of separated at the moment.”

He didn’t add that his foster mother didn’t appear to want him around, that he started to feel unwelcome in a home that he was in for the past decade, but Kai seemed to know because all of a sudden, he set the empty mug down and pulled him into a tight embrace. If there were still customers in the book café, Yixing might have pushed him away but instead, he selfishly held onto Kai too.

“It’s okay,” murmured Kai. “You’re not alone anymore.”

***

“GET LOST, TAO. DON’T MAKE ME PUNCH YOU,” Luhan shouted furiously, trying in vain to shove Zitao away from the main door. His blood was boiling after watching the idiotic press conference that he was banned from on television. He was so infuriated veins were popping out the sides of his neck and his face was even redder than when he got drunk. How could that Zhang Heng decide things for himself? He glared harder at Zitao. “You’re such a useless manager. Why didn’t you stop him!?”

Something in the previously calm Zitao snapped and the manager grabbed Luhan up by the collar. His manager was well-versed in Wushu and probably in another dozen other fighting techniques but Luhan was far too angry to be intimidated. “You know I can’t ing get engaged – my career’s going to be ruined by that old man!” he continued to rant but before Luhan could continue, Zitao dragged him across the living room and dumped him on the couch.

“Can you just calm the down,” spat Zitao with narrowed eyes. “Nothing’s good going to come out of you running in there and point out Zhang Heng’s lies. You were caught in a hotel with her. If you don’t follow along, hell, he’d probably accuse you of trying to his innocent daughter.”

Luhan punched the cushion irately before flinging it across the living room, sending it bouncing off the television. “But I can’t just suddenly announce I’m getting engaged! That Abel scandal was just a couple of weeks ago! It makes zero sense why I would get engaged to someone in that short period of time!”

Zitao let out a long, heavy sigh that would put an old man to shame. “Don’t explode on me again, but the plan right now is that you and Zhang Bi Ren were childhood sweethearts who split up when you started training to become an idol. You two grew apart and lost contact until recently, when her company signed you up for an advertising campaign.” He folded his arms, face impassive when a string of curses left Luhan’s lips.

“But listen. If you go through with this, your celebrity status might skyrocket after the initial shock blows over,” Zitao said. “I talked briefly with their team and they have 6 upcoming advertising campaigns that need an ambassador. Six. They’d be yours. Not to mention working with famous producers and songwriters... we could never accomplish that on ourselves, Luhan.”

“It’s your choice. Do you want to rebuff Zhang Heng’s words, be slapped with a possible lawsuit and have your name dragged in the mud; or do you want to go along with his lie and in return, let them repay you with endorsements and collaborations?”

Zitao... was right. Luhan hated it when he was right. He fell silent and stared down at his feet. Truth be told, he had been praying for a sponsor to do all that for him ever since he debuted. Luhan had seen how celebrities with sponsors had their fame shoot up when they had talents less than his. It wasn’t fair and for someone who felt that injustice since he was given up for adoption, he thought he ought to deserve this sort of good treatment. Life was tough enough for him.

“Okay,” Luhan said in defeat. “Let’s get engaged.” Lifting his eyes, he stood up from the couch tiredly and froze when he saw three figures at the door. How much did they hear? His gaze immediately flew to an expressionless Yixing. It frightened him even more than seeing Yixing cry. His throat suddenly felt extremely dry. “Y-Yixing. I can expl—”

“Congratulations,” Yixing interrupted quietly. The tanned man who punched Luhan the other day reached for Yixing’s hand and lightly squeezed it; this action didn’t go unnoticed by Luhan and he balled his hands into fists tightly, fingernails leaving crescent marks in his palms. “I hope you become the biggest star in Beijing.”

A/N: Hiiiiiii, I'm home. If you guys like this story, do me a favour and upvote? Feel free to ignore, lol.