“Are you sure? You don’t have to do this, you know.”

Eunhyuk cradled the phone closer to his cheek as he spoke, keeping it sandwiched between his ear and shoulder.

“I-I know. But we made a deal and I lost so I’m keeping my part of the deal. It’s between you and me, and I always keep my promises.”

“But what about you and Kyu—”

“Kyuhyun does not play a part in our deal.”

“You sure you won’t get affected?”

There was a pause while Donghae plopped onto his bed on his back. He sighed into the phone.

“N-No, at least I hope not.”

It had already been a month since the disastrous wedding and Donghae felt a little guilty for not showing up at the salon for work ever since. Kyuhyun did try contacting him before, but he’d always ignored the calls and eventually they died down. Donghae then decided he was done with his mourning and wanted to return to work. Hangeng was a little apprehensive about the decision however, but since Donghae insisted on it, he could only sigh and let it go.

“Alright then, I’ll see you tomorrow morning. If you suddenly don’t feel like it, you can always let me know.”

“Okay, thank you, Eunhyuk. Bye.”

Donghae ended the call and dropped his phone somewhere in the middle of his bed. In less than 24 hours, he would be back at the place where he still dreaded but he braced himself to face tomorrow, simply because he was a man of his word, and he still had his end of a bargain to keep. He only had to stay away from a certain tall hairdresser to whom he was once engaged to only a month ago. It probably wouldn’t be easy even if the salon was simply huge, but hopefully Kyuhyun would have gotten the message and leave him alone.

Besides, Eunhyuk was treating him a little better now, so perhaps it wouldn’t be too dreadful after all.

* * *

“Of all the days to pick from, she just HAD to pick today, didn’t she??”

Zhoumi flinched; he happened to arrive for work just a tiny bit earlier than usual today, and had picked up a very disturbing call that had now sent his boss into a flying rage. Eunhyuk was seated on his office chair, one hand supporting his forehead on the table while the other hand was irritably drumming fingers against the wooden surface. He looked absolutely stressed out, and the look of pure hatred was evident on his face.

“What else did she say?”

“She merely said that she’ll be arriving around noon. I’m afraid that’s all, sir.”

“Is she coming alone?”

“She did not say, sir.”

“Dammit, everything is fine, fine, fine, why the heck does she want to come and ‘check on things’?? Why is she even back in Korea in the first place?? I swear she’s just trying to worm her way into here. I don’t need her taking over this branch at all, do you hear me??”

Eunhyuk looked at Zhoumi so fiercely that the poor man didn’t know exactly how to respond. Luckily for him, Kangin knocked on the door just then and announced that Donghae was out there looking for him. He pretended not to hear the poor receptionist’s relieved sigh before bowing and leaving the office. Shaking his head, the director got up from his chair and followed Kangin out to meet the employees for their emergency morning briefing, since she was apparently coming to pay them a visit today.

* * *

“Who did they say was coming again?”

Ryeowook whispered to Donghae as they worked at the sinks. Donghae scrunched up his face and tried recalling the name that so many of the staffs were afraid of.

“I think her name was Victoria,” he thought aloud, causing the nearby staffs to whip their heads around in fear just at the mere mention of her name. “I don’t know why everyone’s so afraid of her but I don’t think I want to find out, Wookie.”

“Maybe it’s because her name sounds scary,” the younger whispered back, rinsing shampoo off his hands. “They say she fires anyone and everyone who displeases her, even if it wasn’t intentional.”

“I thought I told you I didn’t want to know?” Donghae wailed, almost forgetting for a moment that he was still under the eyes of the watchful director. He dried his hands on a towel before towing Ryeowook away back to their stations, which happened to be situated next to each other again.

Eunhyuk frowned at the sight of two of his employees chatting away at work, but decided to let it slip for once, just because.

* * *

“Hae, we need to talk.”

Donghae froze in his steps when he heard the voice. He’d know that voice anywhere. After all, he’d been trying to avoid its owner ever since the last disaster happened. He knew a long talk between the both of them was long overdue but he wasn’t exactly prepared to face him just yet, mentally or emotionally. Perhaps not ever, but he knew it was inevitable.

Besides, it was their break, and unluckily for Donghae, he shared his break with Kyuhyun today. It seemed only right that they sorted out things between them so he let out a quiet sigh before nodding his head subtly.

“Okay,” he muttered.

Kyuhyun led the way to the employee’s lockers with Donghae following loosely behind. They sat down rather awkwardly on the couch with the younger looking anywhere but at the stylist. Kyuhyun let out a small breath before attempting to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Hae.”

Donghae bit his lips and nodded again, still not looking at him. He waited for the other to continue with his side of the story. Donghae knew that the wedding disaster wasn’t entirely Kyuhyun’s fault, and he wasn’t mad at him for the crashed wedding. Rather, he was mad at the elder for not being completely honest with him and for not telling him that he had had a son with someone else. Even if Kyuhyun was also baffled by Henry’s appearance as much as he was.

Silence ensued for at least five minutes before Donghae spoke up. “That’s it? You’re not even going to elaborate?”

The stylist sighed and messed up his own hair at the back of his head. “I honestly don’t know where to start, Hae.”

“Is the kid really your son?”

“Y-Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“S-So what are you going to do about him?” Donghae asked, voice slightly quivering but he willed himself to be strong. “He’s staying with you at your place now, isn’t he?”

“Uhm, yeah. Min has been helping me to look after him for a while… Because I still don’t know a thing about caring for a kid.”

“Do you have anything else you want to tell me?”

“I… I want you to give me another chance.”

Donghae’s eyes widened into saucers at the request. “You… what?”

Kyuhyun stood up and crossed over to Donghae’s side, lightly scooping up the latter’s hands and making the other look at him.

“It’s very selfish of me to be asking you this, I know. But I have never stopped loving you. And I know you probably still hate me for everything that’s happened, but I’m only asking for another chance.”

“… what?”

“We’ll start all over again. You and me, we’ll just pretend nothing happened,” Kyuhyun said gently, caressing the younger’s knuckles in his hand.

Donghae was torn on the