Chapter 2

There they were. Mrs. Kim sitting in the armchair on the right, smiling warmly as usual, while his own parents sat uncomfortably on the couch. Just like how it was when he and Jongin announced their engagement.

Except this time, the chair beside Baekhyun- the one that Jongin had sat in, squeezing Baekhyun’s hand in excitement and exultation, was now taken by Jongin’s brother, who was looking clueless and nervous.

And Baekhyun hated how Jongin’s brother was so different than Jongin himself.

“Ah, thank you for inviting us in, Baekhyun-ah.” Mrs. Kim spoke first, with a tone that sounded as if the words hurt her. “We will not stay long; we have just one thing to tell you. First of all, you know Jongdae, right? J-jongin’s brother. He’s quite a sweet boy, and-

“To cut to the chase,” Baekhyun’s father interrupted, “you’re getting married to him.”

The growing dread in Baekhyun’s stomach disappeared, replaced by blankness.

“Baekhyun…” his mother started, prepared for her son’s explosion.

But Baekhyun simply shook his head. “I get it.”

The two parents glanced confusedly at each other.

“Yeah, I get it. When Jongin got engaged to me, you finally had a reason to join the Kim and Byun companies, right? And now that he’s dead, the joining of your companies was too inconvenient to stop. So you couldn’t wait long enough for poor Jongin to settle in the ground to marry me off to his brother. I completely get it. Business before family, right? Like it’s always been. Well, I have work to do. So just give me the contract and you can leave.” All sympathy and pity for his parents earlier was gone, replaced by nothing. No hate, no betrayal. Just...nothing.

Unblinkingly, Mr. Byun handed his son the contract. Baekhyun grabbed a pen, skimmed it over and scribbled his signature onto the contract, handing it to Jongdae, who looked completely dazed.

“What...what’s this...married? Mom...why?”

Mrs. Kim lowered her head, unable to look at her remaining son.

Jongdae shook his head. “I can’t…I can’t believe you.”

“Just sign it,” snapped Baekhyun, shoving the papers into his now-fiance’s face.

“Why should I?” inquired Jongdae, beginning to turn from shocked to angry.

“Because they control our lives,” Baekhyun muttered, “and they’ll control them until their death.”

“And then the guy says,” Minseok gasped between laughs, “he says, ni hao, ni de ming zi…?”

Luhan bursts into another fit of giggles, and Chanyeol sulks on the couch. Why did Minseok have to know Chinese, too?

No. Pfft. Chanyeol was totally not jealous. Totally.

He just wanted his Lulu’s attention back…stupid Minseok!

Pouting, he flopped back onto the couch, wincing when he hit his bandaged arm. After he’d gotten a long gash on it from a bicycle crash, amongst other small cuts (okay, so maybe he wasn’t looking where he was going and landed in a bush-tree thing), Luhan had fussed over him and patched him up and maybe cried and kissed him in the process. Chanyeol blushed, touching his lips.

Aha! He just needed to get injured.

Hmm...maybe he’d make cookies. He remembered getting multiple burns and small cuts from making cookies before.

And he’d just use the excuse of preparing a snack for the oh-so-lovely visitor here.

Smirking, he glanced at the living room.

Crap.

Minseok was leaning closer and closer to Luhan’s beautifully plump lips. Mm. Those lips, boy. Those lips...ah, Chanyeol, stop getting distracted!

Well, this was it, he thought grimly. Now or never.

Luhan laughed. “That’s amazing!”

Minseok’s giggles died out, and he smiled at him.

“Luhan, I’m so glad that I found you again.”

Luhan grinned nervously and bit his lip. “Minseok…”

Minseok shushed him. “Luhan…”

Luhan could feel his old friend’s breath warming his chin.

And then, there was a giant crash from the kitchen and Chanyeol’s deep voice shouting curses.

Luhan leapt up, panicking. “Channie!” Dashing to the kitchen at a constant, stumbling speed, he was met with a pitiful sight.

Chanyeol was sitting on the ground, long legs splayed out. The giant’s baby face was in a miserable expression, tears b in his eyes.

His hand was stuck in a pot.

“Channie!” Luhan slid to the ground and immediately burst into tears.  

Chanyeol put on his best pout, fake tears sliding down (okay, maybe they were kinda real). “Lulu! It hurts!”

Luhan had no time to blush at just how wrong that sounded because dang it, he was going to save his Channie. Quickly, he flung open the fridge door, grabbed the butter (well, really, it was margarine) and slathered it over Chanyeol’s hand, pulling it out of the pot.Chanyeol sniffed as he stood and put his throbbing, margarine-covered hand in the sink. “Thanks, Lulu.”

Minseok watched, bewildered at the scene before him: two guys crying, one with a hand in the sink, a pot lying on the ground and butter everywhere.

“Well, Jonginnie, I’m sorry. I know I’m why you died. And it kills me every day.” A pale hand reached out and caressed the cold marble of the tombstone. “And all I ask is that you’re nicely in heaven, maybe sitting on a cloud, playing a harp.” A sarcastic chuckle echoed through the graveyard. “Lovely, right?”

The doe-eyed boy stood, brushing his hands off on his coat. “But if you’re so angelic…then why didn’t you tell me that you had a fiancé?” He dropped two carnations onto the tombstone and walked away.

However, I will have a lot of time to write next week, so (maybe) expect an update then :)

Forever,

(Unless I change my username),

RiverFawn