The house is a bit too quiet when Zitao pokes his head in, but it’s expected. After all, Yifan’s at work and the kids are in school. It takes two trips from the car and back for Zitao to get all the groceries on the kitchen island, but he doesn’t mind. In fact, he’s feeling very giggly today. And how can he not? Today is his and Yifan’s sixth anniversary. The kids probably (still) won’t understand, but they’re always enthusiastic to help Zitao with preparations for the anniversary dinner. Or rather, Luhan will always be enthusiastic to help Zitao with preparations for the anniversary dinner while Sehun lounges in his room and play now that there’s no one else to steal his toys.

 

Zitao would’ve done something more, but his strength lies in the kitchen, and that’s where he will focus. He’s not really the planning-out-the-entire-event-from-day-to-night kind of guy. That’s more of Yifan’s forte.

 

Zitao pulls his phone out of his pocket, dialing a number and looking for the apron. “Hi, Baekhyun, hyung!” he grins when he hears a greeting.

 

“What do you want, Tao?” His friend sounds pissed off. Maybe Zitao interrupted something he was doing. “I’m busy! Chanyeol’s been given a half-day and I have to finish the chores before he comes back or he’s gonna kick my ! Did you know that he’s a total clean freak?”

 

Zitao chuckles. “I just wanted to ask you for a little favor.”

 

A sound of something metal hitting the floor echoes loudly in Zitao’s phone, followed by a screech and a curse. “Okay, what? This better be ing important, the ing frying pan dropped on my toe.”

 

“You’ve got to stop cursing so much,” Zitao’s eyes light up when he finds the apron, unhooking it from the back door’s doorknob. “What if Jongin and Kyungsoo pick up that habit from you?” He gasps. “Baekhyun, if Sehun picks up cursing through Jongin, I’m gonna dropkick your all the way to the center of the Earth.”

 

“Huang Zitao, I swear to God …”

 

Zitao sighs. “I need you to pick up the twins from school today and drop them off at my house.”

 

“Um, why? I mean, not that I mind, but why?”

 

“Well, you see …” Zitao blushes. “Today is Yifan’s and my anniversary … and I can’t really get distracted, so …”

 

“Oh. Ohhhhh.” Zitao swears he can hear the smirk in Baekhyun’s voice. “Your anniversary … So, you planning something for Big Daddy Wu?”

 

“Please don’t call him that.”

 

“Something big, I expect.”

 

Zitao goes even redder. “Baekhyun.”

 

“But I’m sure that whatever Wudaddy got planned for you, it’s much, much bigger.”

 

This was a mistake. “Goodbye, Baekhyun.” Zitao hangs up the call and promptly drops it on the counter, shivering from Baekhyun’s choice of words. “Ugh, he’s so … crude. Ugh, I need to pour nitroglycerine into my ears because of him.”

 

With another sigh, Zitao puts on the apron, cracking his knuckles and setting to work.

 

 

 

 

 

“Mama!”

 

Zitao looks up and brightens instantly at the sight of Luhan running towards him. He laughs when Luhan begins to hug the life out of his legs, too short to reach any higher. “Luhan, my legs can’t breathe! They need air!”

 

Luhan pulls away and grins brightly at Zitao. “Mama, mama! Jonginnie and Kyungie are here!”

 

Zitao looks up again, smile widening when Sehun walks through the door, pulling Jongin’s hand who’s pulling Kyungsoo’s hand. Baekhyun brings up the rear, chuckling as he closes the back door behind him.

 

“Sorry for barging in like this. But Luhan sort of just sprinted in here,” Baekhyun shakes his head.

 

“It’s fine,” Zitao smiles. Luhan finally lets go of his legs and totters to his room, presumably to put his bag down and change his clothes before helping his mother. “How long are you staying over?”

 

Baekhyun thinks for a while, focusing on how his older son wouldn’t let go of Jongin. It’s his first time in Yifan’s and Zitao’s house, and he’s scared of unfamiliar places. He bends down and scoops Kyungsoo into his arms, the latter whimpering in fear and burying his face into Baekhyun’s shoulder.

 

“Aw, I’m sorry, little guy,” Zitao smiles apologetically. “I forgot that you haven’t been here at all, even though your brother’s been here plenty of times to play with Sehun.”

 

“Kyungie, don’t cry!” Jongin looks particularly alarmed at his brother’s tears. “You’re brave like papa, right? Hunnie and I will protect you!”

 

“An ironic thing, considering how you’re both younger than him,” Baekhyun raises his brows at Jongin.

 

“Oh, let them dream,” Zitao laughs, turning back to the refrigerator to get the eggs out before Luhan tackled his legs. “Sehunnie, would you mind bringing both Jonginnie and Kyungie to your room to play?”

 

Sehun looks as if he had been graced with the presence of an angel. “O-okay, mama!” Baekhyun lets Kyungsoo down and Sehun grabs his hand, running upstairs to their room.

 

Luhan reappears a second later, hair held up messily with a Hello Kitty hair tie and wearing a change of clothes. He looks slightly disgruntled. “Sehunnie didn’t say sorry when he pushed me.”

 

“I’ll make sure he will later on,” Zitao promises, setting the eggs down. “Now, wanna help me crack the eggs?”

 

Luhan’s eyes sparkle and he nods, climbing on the stool next to Zitao and grabbing a handful of eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

A few hours later, the mother and son are done, both collapsed on the floor as they try to rest their sore arms. “That was fun, mama,” Luhan smiles tiredly.

 

Baekhyun had collected Kyungsoo and Jongin, much to the displeasure of Jongin and Sehun, and had left two hours after he had brought the twins home. Sehun’s now holed up in his room, presumably sulking.

 

“Yeah, it was,” Zitao agrees. “Do you think daddy will like it?”

 

“Of course!” Luhan says immediately. “Daddy will love it! He’ll come home, smell dinner and be all ‘wow, this looks amazing, mommy!’ and then you two can go make us a sister!”

 

Zitao blushes furiously at the mental image. “H-hey, you crude kid. First off, I don’t think daddy calls me ‘mommy’. Secondly, I can’t give you a sister, Luhan. I’m not a girl.”

 

Luhan frowns. “Then how did you born me and Sehunnie?”

 

Zitao bites his lip. He’s sure as hell that Luhan is far too young to know about the birds and the bees. He’s also far too young to understand what a surrogate mother is. “Um … I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

 

“You always say that,” Luhan grumbles, folding his arms.

 

“Come on, up you go,” Zitao pats Luhan’s . “Daddy’s gonna be home soon and I have yet to clean the kitchen and take a bath.”

 

“Ooh, ooh! Let’s take one together, mommy!” Luhan cheers, pulling Zitao up.

 

Zitao rolls his eyes. “Okay, fine. But I need to clean the kitchen first, all right?”

 

Luhan can’t stop bouncing excitedly. He loves taking baths with his mother. Zitao makes sure he’s squeaky clean and it makes Luhan feel all warm and bubbly inside. “All right, mama!”

 

 

 

 

 

“How do I look, Luhan?”

 

Zitao has on one of his best dress shirts, a nicely pressed pair of slacks clothing his long legs and hair gelled up slightly too show a y yet playful look. He’s also wearing a bit of makeup, kohl lined around his eyes to give them a sharper look and a hint of lip gloss to make his pouty lips sparkle. He chooses to forego wearing any jewelry, though the only exception he makes is the ring necklace Yifan had given him on their fifth date together. It’s the date which made them fall in love with each other, the date where they proclaimed to see each other exclusively.

 

That date holds such high regards to Zitao’s heart, a fond memory he is not willing to let go.

 

“You look so pretty, mama!” Luhan is definitely in awe. “You’re so pretty! So much prettier than Auntie Baekhyun!”

 

“Um, thanks?” Zitao isn’t sure whether he’s supposed to accept that as a compliment. But since Baekhyun’s always been prideful of his looks, sometimes even becoming unbearable, Zitao takes it as a massive praise. “Okay. Now you go off to sleep. I’ll tell you what happened after you wake up.”

 

“Okay, mama. Good luck!” Luhan kisses Zitao on the cheek and goes off to his room.

 

Nervous yet excited, Zitao lights the two candles sitting on the kitchen table and turns off all the lights in the house. He stares fondly at the dinner he had prepared, all of his day’s hard work and love put into the meal. He glances up at the clock. 8:46pm. Yifan should be home any minute.

 

Zitao sits on one of the chairs, giddy with excitement.

 

 

 

 

 

The clock is almost about to strike midnight and there’s still no sign of Yifan. The candles had burned out long ago and the food’s gone cold.

 

Tears escape Zitao’s eyes and he wipes them away for the nth time that night. He sighs heavily, the ticking of the clock the only accompanying sound, reminding him how lonely he is. The clock strikes midnight and Zitao automatically stands up.

 

He rips off the necklace and lets it clatter onto the table, feeling utterly betrayed. How can Yifan do this to him? How can Yifan forget their anniversary, a special event that commemorates their undying love for six full years, for the sixth time straight? Yifan’s always been forgetful, but Zitao had hoped that Yifan will remember this special day, just this once.

 

Once again, he was proven wrong.

 

Zitao shucks off his dress shirt and pants, pulling on some old shirt and sweatpants. Tears won’t stop flowing, and as the fatigue from preparing the, now useless, dinner now sets in, coupled with the hurt and pain in his heart, Zitao begins to sob into his hands.

 

Why would Yifan do this to him? Was work really that important? Didn’t he say that he’ll take fewer work hours to take care of his children?

 

Heartbroken, Zitao washes away the makeup and locks the bedroom door, crawling into bed and clutching at his blankets. Stupi, stupid Wu Yifan. Zitao hates him. He hates him. He hates him, hates him, hates him …

 

 

 

 

 

Yifan stumbles through the door almost fifteen minutes past midnight, shirt and hair an absolute mess. He sighs, running a hand through his hair and messing it up even more. He was hoping that he could go back home to his lovely husband and kids after he was let off earlier than usual. Chanyeol had beat him to the door, though, throwing him a surprise anniversary party and flinging him into the back of Joonmyun’s Mercedes and driving to a club.

 

Yifan had fought tooth and nail to escape the club, worryingly eyeing the clock every five or so minutes. He was released around five, an hour early, and had been in the club since six-thirty the same day. He never expected Chanyeol to get so boisterously drunk and keep him in there against his will.

 

And when Yifan finally did escape the club, he was ambushed by an angry Jongdae, baby Minseok sleeping in his arms as Jongdae screamed at Yifan if he knew where Joonmyun was. Jongdae took about forty-five minutes ranting at how irresponsible his partner was for forgetting about Minseok in the kindergarten and coming to a club instead, as Jongdae was busy doing things “you men wouldn’t understand” (which made Yifan stare in confusion because isn’t Jongdae a man too?) and Yixing had to take care of Minseok until Jongdae was free and able to pick up his son.

 

All in all, it was a pretty crappy day, and Yifan wouldn’t mind resting in Zitao’s arms for the rest of the –

 

He freezes when he takes in the impressive dinner Zitao had obviously took a lot of effort into making. The two candles have already burned down to tiny butts in their candleholders and the food’s gotten stone cold. Yifan takes a tentative step closer and notices the necklace he had given to Zitao seven years ago abandoned on the table.

 

Oh God. Was Zitao waiting up for him?

 

“,” Yifan mutters under his breath, panicking. “.”

 

He heads for his bedroom, panicking even more when he finds the door locked. “Zitao?” he calls out softly, tapping on the door gently. It’s past midnight and he’s sure the kids are asleep. He doesn’t want to wake them up. “Zitao? Sweetie, open up. It’s me.”

 

There’s no answer.

 

Yifan leans against the door. “Zitao, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I … the guys … they brought me out to a club and …” he sighs. “Zitao, I’m sorry. Please, please open up.”

 

Zitao still doesn’t answer, but Yifan can hear the faint but clear sob through the door, the heartbreaking sound piercing his heart.

 

“I’m sorry,” Yifan whispers, tears in his own eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t come home on time. I really did. I tried. I …” He swallows. “Zitao, please speak to me.”

 

There’s silence for a few moments, then – “Why do you do this?” Zitao sobs. “Why do you always forget our anniversary every year?”

 

“You know I don’t mean to,” Yifan’s a little desperate, now that Zitao’s talking to him. “It’s just that work –”

 

“It’s always about work,” Zitao cuts through. “When will I come first? When will I matter to you?”

 

“You do. Oh, baby, you always do.” Yifan wants to bang his head against the door. Zitao’s always been this insecure little thing, he should have known to pay more attention to his husband on days like this. “The guys … they brought me out partying to celebrate our anniversary. I swear I never forgot this year’s anniversary.” , the one time he remembers and this happens. Zitao’s never going to trust him at this point.

 

“I don’t know if I should believe you …” Zitao sounds torn now. “I … I need to think. I need some time alone. … I don’t want to see you.”

 

Yifan’s heart sinks. “I understand. We’ll talk in the morning.” He stares at the door a while longer. “I love you.” He flashes it a half-hearted smile and leaves for the living room, shrugging off his outer clothes and folding them neatly. Now down to his boxers, Yifan lies on the couch, beating himself up for being so insensitive.

 

“Should’ve known he’d be waiting for you, idiot,” he mutters to himself. “He always does.” He rests an arm over his eyes, drifting off to a restless sleep. He only hopes that when he wakes up, Zitao will be ready to talk and listen.

 

Somehow, something tells him that Zitao won’t be so willing as he usually is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

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- Can you tell that I like writing Luhan in here more than Sehun? xD
- I hope you can realize that Kris and Zitao dated for a year before they got married.
- Sorry about the lack of details in the cooking scene(s). I was feeling lazy and didn’t really feel up to looking through cooking procedures c:
- I made a kind of reverse thing here, where Luhan loves to take baths with Zitao, but he doesn’t want to in real life \o/
- Next chapter will be the fight. Who’s excited for that? I know I am! \o/ \o/ \o/
- So angry because I fell sick today, and I had a class today in which the attendance is required for my grade. Four points are subtracted for each absence, and they don’t care what your excuse is. THAT’S THE STUPIDEST THING EVER AND I’M ANGRY BECAUSE I DIDN’T GO TO SCHOOL BECAUSE I WAS SICK AND NOW FOUR POINTS ARE SUBTRACTED FROM MY GRADE I JUST WANT TO PUNCH SOMETHING.