That Wu Yi Fan person, Chanyeol doesn’t know personally. They’re not even closely acquainted, let alone friends. In fact, he probably doesn’t know if there exists a Park Chan Yeol, the insignificant individual who lives at the bottommost low of the underground world.  

That Wu Yi Fan person, he was once a legend. (He still is). Wu Fan is the boss to the boss to the never ending list of people that yield higher rank than Chanyeol, that is if Chanyeol even has a rank in the gang. He is basically a god. He kills people faster than he spell his own name, unblinking. He’s a machine, emotionless, ruthless, merciless, a killing machine nonetheless. And then we have Chanyeol who can’t hurt a fly. If there is anything that terrifies Chanyeol more than spiders, it’s Wu Yi Fan. Oh and he’s Chinese, which means he probably has twenty years of martial arts under his belt.

“What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to come in?” Rainbow-head’s nasal voice pulls him out of his trance. Chanyeol widens his eyes on the threshold to the puppy’s little abode, him being a very hungry and voracious wolf. Is Rainbow-head inviting him in? Does this mean anything besides the fact that he’s going to have a warm bed to sleep on tonight? Chanyeol is not sure what is going on in his head but he dies a little bit inside at Rainbow-head’s radiant smile.

“I-I’m coming.”

Soon enough, Chanyeol ends up somewhere between the comfy chair and Rainbow-head’s scrutinizing stare. His room looks like an overdone version of his pastry shop, complete with fancy chandeliers and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow wall. It smells oddly like milk, and it takes Chanyeol a while to locate the little milk-scented candle resting on the table. It irks him. It irks him quite a lot.

“Why are you staying on the streets? Where are your two monkeys?” Rainbow-head grabs him by the wrists, and where he touched it burns like a bonfire. There is something warm pressed against his palm, and Chanyeol gawked at the glass of steaming hot chocolate complete with a candy cane for the long-gone Christmas spirit.

“I was out of job as soon as you kicked me out of your little gay bakery. Jongin and Baekhyun left me for a better leader,” Chanyeol says bitterly. The floating marshmallows in his hot chocolate can’t divert his attention from the boy’s deep brown eyes.

Rainbow-head stays silent for a while, but Chanyeol knows the hint of guilt in his eyes is more than just pity. The younger stands up and disappears behind ajar doors. He comes back with a jar of gelato-looking pudding and shoves it in Chanyeol’s hands.

There is something more than music sounding off in his ears; there is something fluttering, like a swarm of butterflies, like a lot of flowers and trees and sunshine, like he’s going sick. It’s pulling at his heartstrings; he can feel his aorta filling with oxygenated blood a little too fast to be healthy and it’s going to burst because of overflow. It’s a feeling both terribly infectious and aesthetically pleasing.

“But wait, how do you know Wu Yi Fan hyung-nim ?” Chanyeol asks curiously, the “nim” feels burdensome on the tip of his tongue. The spoon in his hand is hesitant to scoop the tasty-looking dessert.

If Wu Yi Fan is a scary person, and Rainbow-head knows him well enough for the word “hyung” to roll off his tongue as easy as pie, then the boy standing before him is not one to mess with. Chanyeol once wondered how the steamed bun vendor was wiped off the face of the Earth a few weeks ago, but never looked into it. Now he knows why. Rainbow-head probably tells Wu Yi Fan to annihilate the restaurant himself.

“He’s my stepbrother.” Rainbow-head cracked a smile, his eyes disappearing behind eyelids. Chanyeol almost choked on the savory dessert.

“He’s what?!”

Chanyeol may or may not have let out a very unmanly scream, but later on he soon learns that beauty lies in the name of Oh Se Hun, and oh, how his life has changed.

-

It’s no use sugar-coating it, but Sehun’s pastry shop really makes Chanyeol want to throw up.

Not really, though. But Chanyeol’s head says he’s sick, sick, sick.

Sehun is accomplished as a decent pâtissier, but the flow of customers probably comes from his looks. The kind of attractiveness that only appeals to teenage girls who have nothing better to do and middle-age women who can’t stand staying home alone all day. Chanyeol knows this as he sneaks glances at the petite boy from behind a newspaper. Sehun’s little fangirls are sneaking glances from afar, too.

And his tongue. His sinful tongue. Someone needs to lock that tongue in its rightful place until it stops moving. Chanyeol doesn’t mind being that someone, though.

“Here, try mixing the heavy cream with the milk. Then add the confectioner's sugar,” Sehun’s soft voice rings in his ear, sending another wave of shivers down Chanyeol’s spine. Chanyeol is not sure why he signed himself up for this, but here he is, an apprentice to the attractive pastry chef Oh Se Hun, doing things that a manly, gangly thug should never be allowed to do. Baking should be made illegal for males, he thinks.

“No, Chanyeol, you have to be more careful with the eggs. The shells are going to ruin this!”

“I’m trying! I’m trying!”

“Then you’re not trying hard enough!”

When Sehun raises his voice, Chanyeol feels as if his heart just jumps out of his ribcage. His head hurts and his wrists throb from the kneading and mixing, but his eyes are never tired for Sehun’s crooked smile when he gets it right.

-

Chanyeol may or may not be addicted to panna cotta, but sometimes it is okay to say that he is more addicted to Oh Se Hun. (Just don’t say it out loud when Wufan is around). It doesn’t help his case that Wufan thinks he is an incompetent jerk who can’t even pass off as a wanna-be gangster, but at least Chanyeol tries hard at awkward dinners with Sehun’s family.

“So you’re Sehun’s new intern,” Mr. Oh starts before he takes a bite of Chanyeol’s freshly baked blueberry cheesecake. “Oooh, this is really good! Even better than that Zitao kid, right, Sehunnie?”

Chanyeol thinks Sehun’s Dad is faking it because he doubts that he puts in enough of anything, but Sehun nods like an enthusiastic puppy and Chanyeol sort of dies a little more inside. Wu Yi Fan stays silent while eating his dessert.

“Chanyeol makes good tres leches, too” Sehun his lips again, and Chanyeol’s mind starts to go through all the kinds of milk he can wash Sehun’s rainbow hair with. He thinks Sehun bathe and shower in strawberry milk too, because when he makes cakes under Sehun’s instruction, it smells just like the younger.

“You look very familiar. Have I seen you before?”

Chanyeol shudders at Wufan’s husky voice. It is true, as rumour has it, that the man has the voice so deep it makes you lose your balance. Chanyeol feels his death inching closer day by day.

“Um...uh..” Chanyeol slips over his words, not sure how to address himself. “Hyung-nim, I once w-worked for Yixing-ge.”

Keeping his eyes on his plate, Chanyeol tries not to look up at Wufan. Beside him, he feels Sehun going tense.

“Oh yeah? “Once”? You mean not anymore?”

Chanyeol gulps.

“Do you know that if you quit, you get beaten to death?” Wufan raises his voice, causing Sehun to jump in surprise. Chanyeol widens his eyes in shock.

Then, Wu Yi Fan cracks up in laughter but Chanyeol can’t revert his eyes to their normal size.

“Hahaha, you should have seen your face! It’s really hilarious! Do you seriously think that I’m going to kill you?”

“N-no, hyung-nim. Absolutely not,” Chanyeol shakes his head, his voice shaking a little bit, also.

“But in all seriousness, if you ever hurt Sehunnie, I’m going to have wild wolves bite off your . Understood?” Wufan creases his brows, intimidating, and Chanyeol’s heart fails once more.

It’s going to be really mind-wrecking, but when Chanyeol walks out of Sehun’s house one fine spring day, Chanyeol walks out with Sehun’s love.

-

“Why did you choose me, Sehuna? Of all the pandas and deers and all that unicorn s, why did you choose me?”

Chanyeol remembers Sehun pinching his nonexistent chubby cheeks.

“Because you’re easy to manipulate.”

Chanyeol widens his eyes.

“Oh, god, why...”

“Ke ke ke, I’m kidding, I’m kidding! You are very cute.”

“Not as cute as you, top grade milk,” Chanyeol giggles, butterflies in his stomach.

“Heol, so you’re only here for the milk...Wufan hyung!!!!”

-

And they live happily ever after. Chanyeol very much approves of his lifetime supply of panna cotta, even though he is terrified for life by Wu Yi Fan.

The End