Once, there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen.  There begins the tale that we all know of, but really, this one doesn’t begin that way.  It begins, instead, at sunset, where the sun has created vermilion across the sky and making rooms glow with orange-ish feel.  A boy sat by his bedroom window in one of Seoul’s most exquisite mansions, looking at the setting sun.  A book is resting on his lap, the page where he stopped reading marked by a dog-ear.

“Have you been reading fairytales again?”  A man standing in the doorway asks him.  The boy turns around and smiles in greeting at the blond haired man in front of him.  “Isn’t that a rather childish thing to do?”

“I don’t really think that Andersen’s fairytales are childish at all; and besides, he wrote the better version of The Little Mermaid.”  The boy replies just as the man grabs a chair and places it beside the boy.  “But I don’t think you went here to talk about fairytales.  Did you, Luhan?”

“Yes, I didn’t.”  The man—Luhan—replies as he gazes out into the horizon.  “We need to talk about your father’s last wishes, Kris.”

“Can’t it wait?  I’m still not out of college anyway.”

“But you will be very soon.”  Luhan replies, sighing.  “Kris, I know that you don’t like what your father is asking you to do, but we cannot let the family business fall into the wrong hands.”

“At what?  The sake of my own freedom and happiness?!”  The boy—Kris—replies, standing up and holding the book high with a raised hand.  “He’s asking, forcing me to marry when it’s clear that I still don’t want to!”

“Would you rather let the business fall into the wrong hands than make a necessary sacrifice, then?”

“You don’t understand.”  Kris replies, subdued.  He paces around the room before standing in front of the window and looking out at the horizon.  Night is beginning to fall, indicated by the little stars that are beginning to twinkle at their appearance.

“I try to.”  Luhan replies, voice solemn.

“Then you’re not trying hard enough.”  Kris replies.  There is a quiet pause between the two of them that seemed to stretch on for minutes.

“I guess we shall have to continue this some other time.”  Luhan replies.  Kris doesn’t even notice when he stands up and puts the chair back to its original place before leaving the room, too busy to stare at the night slowly eating the sun.

~O~

It is early morning the next day when a young boy enters a shop, greeting his co-worker a good morning.

“Uh-oh, you don’t look too good to me, Chanyeol.”  The boy’s co-worker says upon seeing the state of the boy.  The boy—Chanyeol—goes straight to the staff room behind the main area to drop off his bags and put on his uniform while his co-worker just stares at him from the doorway of the staff room.

“Shouldn’t you be manning the register, Baekhyun?”  Chanyeol weakly asks his older co-worker.

“Yes, but I am more concerned about you now than some stupid register which is most definitely still locked.”  Baekhyun replies, showing Chanyeol a key dangling from a chain looped on his neck for dramatic effect.  “You on the other hand… what did they do this time, huh?”

“Baekhyun…” 

“What?!  Did they not let you sleep this time?  Or have they been starving you?”  Baekhyun asks, his voice rising.

“Baekhyun…”  Chanyeol says, voice a little laced with hurt.

“Seriously, Chanyeol, you should not let them do this to you!  You deserve better!  You… Chanyeol?”  Baekhyun asks, voice softening once he sees the state of his friend.  Chanyeol is almost doubled over, an arm draped across his stomach.  His face is scrunched up in pain, and there are few trinkets of salty liquid running down his cheeks.

“Chanyeol?”  Baekhyun says as he approaches the other quickly.  “Chanyeol, what’s wrong?”  Baekhyun asks as he holds his friend’s arm.

“Hurts.” Chanyeol manages to say before completely doubling over in pain.

“Where?  Where does it hurt?”  Baekhyun asks frantically, grabbing his phone.

“Stomach… no, Baekhyun…”  Chanyeol pleads, grabbing the phone from his startled friend’s grasp.  “No doctors.  Can’t.  Please.  Oh God!”  Chanyeol cries as the pain intensifies and he ends up curled in a ball at Baekhyun’s lap.

“Okay, okay.  Listen; let me take you home, okay?  I’ll call Minseok and Joonmyeon, okay?  I’ll ask them to cover for us today.  They won’t tell, they understand.”  Baekhyun says.  After quite some time, Chanyeol finally nods.  Baekhyun immediately takes his phone out of Chanyeol’s weak grasp and calls Minseok.

“Minseok?   Hey, I’m sorry man, but can you and Joonmyeon cover for us today?”  Pause.  “It’s Chanyeol, it’s an emergency.”  Pause.  “Yeah, he is.  I swear to god, I’ll kill that man with my bare hands if he weren’t our employer.”  Pause.  “He doesn’t want to go to the hospital, so I’m bringing him home instead.  And yes, I’ll call once we get there and you guys can come over once your shift’s done.”  Pause.  “Thanks, man, really appreciate it.”  Baekhyun says before ending the call.

“There you go,” he tells Chanyeol as he hoists the other up on his arms, earning a small whimper of pain, “let me get you settled on the couch as I prepare the shop for Joonmyeon and Minseok, okay?  We’ll get going as soon as they get here.”

~O~

“He what?!”  Huang Zitao, Kim Jongdae, and Zhang Yixing all exclaimed at their friend’s revelation. 

“Uh…”  Kris says, trying to gauge if he should answer the question or not.

“Are you serious?!”  Jongdae clarifies and Kris tries very hard not to laugh at the pieces of salad on his hair.

“Yes.” 

“Why would he do that?”  Yixing asks, frowning at his french fries.

“To piss us off, probably.”  Tao replies, glaring at the nuggets in front of him.  “Are you seriously going to abide by what he asks?”

“It depends.  I mean, I clearly don’t want to, but there’s no other way to keep the business!”  Kris replies, exasperated.

“Why can’t he just let you fall in love on your own?”  Yixing asks.

“’Cause he’s nosy like that, he wouldn’t be my dad if otherwise.”  Kris replies, rolling his eyes.

“So, what’s the game plan, then?”  Jongdae asks.  Yeah, trust Jongdae to move on and pick up like that.

“Well, Luhan’s planning a party… and yeah, that’s the best we could think of.”  Kris replies.

“I bet there’ll be a steady stream of high-class girls waiting to get their hands on Mr. Wu here.”  Yixing jokes.  “But really, they’re just going to get disappointed, aren’t they?”

“Aww… Kris, break their hearts gently, okay?  But break their hearts nonetheless.”  Tao says, smiling.

“That’s why I like you guys.”  Kris says, and the others break into laughter.

~O~

When Chanyeol comes to, it’s with the feel of soft sheets and fluffy pillows and tea.  He feels lighter and a whole lot better so he sits up and tries to make sense of his surroundings.  It’s when he was about to get up and check outside the window when he hears a familiar voice, causing him to turn around.

“I really don’t think you should be out of bed yet.”

Baekhyun is there, standing in the doorway and cradling a cup of tea in his hands.  Outside, he can hear the bustle of activity that is made of cars, people, and more cars and people.  All of a sudden, his surroundings make sense to him—he’s in Baekhyun’s apartment, in Baekhyun’s bedroom, in Baekhyun’s bed.

“Baekhyun, what…?”  Chanyeol asks, worrying his lower lip.

“You don’t remember?”  Baekhyun asks as he approaches the bed.  Chanyeol shakes his head, frowning.  The other reaches the bed and places the cup of tea on the bedside drawer before feeling Chanyeol’s forehead.  “You still have a slight fever.  You had an upset stomach—a really bad one, based on your reaction this morning—and could barely move because of the pain.  I asked Joonmyeon and Minseok to cover for us today so I can take you here since you refused to go to the hospital.  On the way; we went by car, by the way—Joonmyeon offered us a ride and I was just too glad to take it; you started to develop a fever.  That was this morning, it’s now afternoon; you’ve been asleep all this time.”

“What time is it exactly?”  Chanyeol asks.

“Around 5pm.  Why?”

“5pm!  !  I really need to get home!  Yoochun’s gonna kill me if I’m late!  I still have chores to do at home!”  Chanyeol exclaims, getting out of bed and rummaging for his things.

“What?!  Chanyeol, did you hear what I said?  You were sick and probably still are!  You can’t go on around like this!”  Baekhyun exclaims, trying to halt his friend’s movements.

“Well, I can’t not go home on time either.  It’ll be harder for me, believe me.”  Chanyeol replies, putting on his socks.

“Chanyeol…”  Baekhyun says, exasperated.  Baekhyun did know what was going on; heck, he’s known Chanyeol ever since they were kids!  He knows what Yoochun and those two idiot stepbrothers of Chanyeol’s are doing to the boy, and he knows that he doesn’t deserve it, not one bit.  But what can he do?  The only thing that he could do is to transfer to the same shop that Chanyeol works in to keep a close eye on his friend to make sure that even if he isn’t being treated properly at home outside, he gets everything that he deserves. 

But things aren’t always going to stay like that.  Things are getting worse, Baekhyun can see, which is made obvious by Chanyeol’s continuing loss of weight and health deterioration.  It’s happening right under his nose and he’s powerless to stop it.

“Baekhyun, I’m sorry.  You know Yoochun, he wouldn’t really make it easy for me if I do something that he doesn’t like.”  Chanyeol says, eyes full of apology.

“It’s okay.”  No, it’s not because you’re my best friend and I promised that I’d take care of you.  But look at what’s happening now.  “At least let me walk you home.”

“Okay.”  Chanyeol replies as he keeps his head hung low while he ties his shoelaces.

~O~

 Baekhyun, Minseok, and Joonmyeon are all waiting for Chanyeol when he arrives at the store early next morning.

“.”  Minseok says upon seeing their youngest co-worker.

“Told you so.”  Baekhyun says, following Chanyeol and taking his bag for him.  “Stay here, I’ll get your stuff from the staff room.”  He says before disappearing to the back.  Chanyeol faces his other two friends’ worried faces.

“Chanyeol, when Baekhyun said that it was an emergency I thought you had the flu or whatever, and that your best friend was just freaking out; but I wasn’t expecting this.”  Joonmyeon says, eyes scanning over Chanyeol’s thin and sickly figure.  “You can’t let this continue, Chanyeol.  You have to get out of there.”

“And go where?  It’s not like I can just leave; I’ll be penniless and homeless.”  Chanyeol replies, head hung low in shame.

“You can stay with us!  You can stay with Baekhyun!  Just get out of there, please.”  Minseok pleads.

“Minseok, I would love to, really, but…”  Chanyeol begins but is cut off as someone enters the shop. 

A group of boys has entered the shop and is currently looking around, eyeing the records mounted on the walls and flipping through the CD racks.  Baekhyun returns when he hears the sound of the front door opening and closing.  He eyes Chanyeol warily and hands him his uniform, which he puts on top of his plain white shirt.

“Sorry guys, you have to go.  We got this.”  Baekhyun says, eyeing Minseok and Joonmyeon warily.  The two follow Baekhyun to the front door, leaving Chanyeol to deal with the register.

“Baekhyun, we have to get him out of there; it’s going to kill him.”  Joonmyeon whispers harshly as soon as they’re by the door.

“I know, Joonmyeon.  I just don’t know how to do it without hurting Chanyeol along the way.  I mean, you know Yoochun.  What he wants, he gets.”  Baekhyun replies, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry, we’ll think of something.  In the meantime, make sure he’s okay.  Got it?”  Minseok says.

“Got it.  Thanks guys.”  Baekhyun replies.  But Minseok and Joonmyeon have already gone out of the shop, quietly planning their proper course of action.

~O~

“Excuse me.”  A deep and rough voice says, and Chanyeol pries his attention away from Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness to look at the said person.  Chanyeol’s pretty sure that the boy in front of him shouldn’t even be in that area of the town.  Tailored coat, pristine white button down, tailored pants, shiny black leather shoes, and gold watch; he’s definitely sure that he belongs to the other part of town.

“Yes?  What can I do for you?”  Chanyeol asks, putting down the said book and waiting patiently for the boy right in front of him to answer.

“Do you have any albums of The Beatles in here?”  The boy asks.  “I mean, uhm…” he continues, seeing Chanyeol’s raised eyebrows, “I’ve only seen the remastered versions of their old albums on CD but I haven’t seen any vinyls.  Do you have any?”

“Yes, we do.  They’re at the back… I think.  I might have to check it out.”  Chanyeol replies, but as he is about to move from his spot and go check the storeroom, Baekhyun magically appears beside him.

“The Beatles vinyls, you say?  I’m definitely sure they’re out back.  Let me get them for you.”  He says and smiles at the two of them before disappearing into the stock room.  Chanyeol just gives up and goes back to the counter, sighing as he once again picks up the book he was reading.

“I can understand, you know.”  The boy who inquired about The Beatles vinyls says.  “You don’t look so good to me.”

At this, Chanyeol shoots his head up and looks at the boy’s face once again.  Instead of the usual curiosity that customers always have when members of the staff have been interacting weirdly, this boy’s face holds true concern.

“It’s been a rough week.”  Chanyeol replies, sighing once again.

“Yeah, tell me about it.”  The boy replies before eyeing Chanyeol fondly.  “I’m Kris, by the way.”  The boy says, offering his hand.

“Chanyeol.”  Chanyeol replies, shaking the boy’s hand.  “Nice to meet you.”

“So, Chanyeol.  Tell me, how come it’s been a rough week for you?”  Kris asks, leaning against the counter.  Chanyeol decides to put down Le Guin’s book for good.

“I have so many things to do at home, there’s also work, I got sick yesterday, and now my friends won’t even let me move a muscle.  It’s been tough.”

“And yet you still read Ursula Le Guin?  Isn’t that somewhat stressing?”  Kris replies, eyeing Chanyeol’s book with curiosity.

“I like reading books, especially Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle.  It helps me relax, I guess.”  Chanyeol replies, resting his elbows on the counter and supporting his chin with his palms.

“Sorry man, I’m not really that much into sci-fi.  I prefer Ishiguro.”  Kris replies.

“Kazuo Ishiguro?!  Really?  I love his books too!”  Chanyeol replies.  Kris was about to reply but then Baekhyun appears with a couple of The Beatles vinyls.

“Here you go, sir.  Go check them out.”  Baekhyun says, and Kris has to call his friends so that they can check out what they came for.

~O~

“It’s now The Dispossessed, huh?”  A voice says and Chanyeol looks up from his book.

“Kris.”  He greets with a smile.  Chanyeol puts down his book and looks at the CD that Kris’s holding.  “Mariah Carey?”

Kris looks down and promptly blushes once he’s caught sight of the CD he’s holding.  “Nah, I just grabbed a random CD so that I can use it as an excuse to talk to you.”  He finally replies, waving the Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi.

“You could use a better excuse, then.”  Chanyeol replies with a laugh.  “Go grab one of the Radiohead CD’s down the second isle then we’ll talk.  I cannot risk anyone seeing you with a Mariah Carey CD; it’s bad for your image.”

It’s been weeks now since Kris and Chanyeol’s first encounter, and Kris visits Chanyeol at the store every day.  They’ve known a lot about each other; like how Chanyeol’s eyesight is really bad, how Chanyeol’s afraid of bugs, how Kris plays the drums (“Really?  I play the drums too!”  Chanyeol said when Kris said this fact about him, while running his finger across a CD of The Smashing Pumpkins), and how Kris has a problem with his father’s will.

Kris returns with Radiohead’s OK Computer and puts the said CD down on the counter.  “I’ll buy this one later; it’s the only Radiohead CD I don’t have yet.”  He explains.

“Okay.”  Chanyeol replies, jotting down the CD on his list.  “How’s it going with your dad’s will?”

“Not good.  My lawyer’s planning this party thing this weekend and I don’t want to go.”  Kris replies, frowning.  “I’m pretty sure it’s going to be useless and boring.  I might end up ditching it for a night of Xbox with the guys.”

“Well, at least you can look forward to that.”  Chanyeol replies before he can stop himself.  He immediately regrets saying it when Kris narrows his eyes and looks at Chanyeol questioningly.

“What do you mean?” 

“Nothing.  It’s just that I have so many chores to do at home and I have so little time…”

“You know, you have an obscene amount of chores to do, Chanyeol.  Even the maids at home don’t do as much…”  Kris says, the ends of his thick eyebrows almost meeting as suspicion mars his features.

“It’s just that… things aren’t really that great at home and it’s the least I can do, I guess.”  Chanyeol replies, which isn’t, really.  Because he knows he’s doing too much and is suffering too much, but he’s powerless to help himself.  Pathetic, you’re so pathetic; he thinks as he eyes the album cover of Kris’ soon- to- be Radiohead CD.

Kris, sensing that it’s a sensitive topic, just lets it go.  “Well, at least you don’t have to go through the tedious and energy draining process of sitting down while girls throw themselves at you.”  He says instead, earning a fond laugh from the other.

“It’s really like that?”  Chanyeol asks, amused.  “When you said party, I thought it would be you know, dancing and like that.”

“Well, for others it’s just like that.  But for me, it’s sitting and trying to survive all the girls and boys trying to throw themselves at you.”  Kris replies bitterly, making Chanyeol laugh all the more.

“Do you really have to be married to inherit your dad’s empire?”  Chanyeol asks Kris.

“My father believed that a man becomes more serious and committed to his obligations if he’s married.”  Kris replies, scrunching up his features.  “I really don’t get it; I mean, there are really successful entrepreneurs who are single.  I just don’t get the significance of marriage.”

“My dad believed that too.  Maybe it’s a dad thing.”  Chanyeol replies, smiling.

“Uh… Chanyeol.  I’ve been meaning to ask you, I hope you don’t mind.”  Kris says after a while, unsure whether he should continue or not.

“About my parents?  What happened to them?”  Chanyeol replies, earning a nod from Kris.  “They died three years ago.  My mom was killed in a car accident.  My dad, who had leukemia, kind of gave up and let go a few months after mom died, so…”

“And Yoochun?  What’s your and your parents’ relation to him?” 

“Absolutely nothing.”  Chanyeol replies and was about to elaborate when the door opened and another customer came in.

~O~

Chanyeol enters the house dripping wet because of the unexpected rainfall right after he got off duty.

“What the hell, Chanyeol?!  Make sure you don’t get the floor wet, you !”  Someone screams, and he’s pretty sure it’s Yoochun.  As soon as the last words left his lips, though, loud footsteps came running towards him, causing Chanyeol to move back and hit the door.

“What the hell did you just say?!  I’m not Yoochun, you er!”  The person replies; who Chanyeol realizes is actually Jongin. 

“Sorry, man.  Didn’t realize it was you.”  Chanyeol replies, eyes downcast.

“Whatever, loser.”  Jongin replies, rolling his eyeballs.  “Just change your clothes and do your chores, Cinderyeol.”  He finishes, laughing at the nickname.  Chanyeol just obliges and goes straight to his “room”, the attic.  The “attic” is really just a small room (more of space, as Chanyeol likes to tell Baekhyun) with a lot of clutter, a futon, and a small lamp that Chanyeol bought from the thrift shop down the corner.  But what sets apart Chanyeol’s attic from the usual attic is the amount of books in pristine condition present; books that Chanyeol has been collecting since he started living with Yoochun.  Bradbury, Shakespeare, Palahniuk, Wilde, Fitzgerald, Gaiman, Tolkien, Rowling; name it and he probably has it.  He takes out Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and drops it on his futon for a little reading before going to bed.  Next, he gets his duffel and gets a dry pair of sweats and a shirt, grabs his towel and toiletries and goes straight to the bathroom.

It’s already half past six by the time Chanyeol’s done dressing up, so he hastily goes down to the kitchen.  He is stopped, however, by the front door opening and closing and the silence that follows after.

“Yoochun, who’s that?”  He hears Taemin, Jongin’s brother, say.  With this, Chanyeol immediately goes out to the front door with a heavy heart.  Yoochun is standing by the door, also dripping wet.  But this doesn’t catch Chanyeol’s attention, what catches it is the young boy beside Yoochun.

“This” Yoochun begins, presenting the young boy beside him, “is our new boarder.”  He pushes the boy a little, causing him to take a step forward.  If possible, the boy looks more lost, Chanyeol thinks.

“What’s your name?”  Taemin asks, eyeing the boy with curiosity.

“Sehun.”  The boy replies with a soft and scared voice.  With this, Chanyeol turns to go to the kitchen to cook dinner for him, Yoochun, Taemin, Jongin, Sehun, and for all the others in the house.