“You’re going to China?” Se Ryeong doesn’t know what made her blurt out that silly question when Baekhyun already blatantly told her so. Neither does she understand why her first thought was ‘but you told me as my boyfriend you’d help me with work!’. Of course she immediately crushed that thought, rephrasing it to ‘you said you’d help me with work!’. If she was upset, she made sure not to let it show. “How long?”
“A week.” Baekhyun sighed. “And I fly out tomorrow night so we don’t have much time.” his brows furrowed slightly and Se Ryeong couldn’t help but reach her fingers out to massage the worry lines away.
“Hey, my offer still stands. I’ll let my brother know immediately and we can think of a plan to sneak your mom out tonight.”

They spent lunch once again at the rooftop garden in favor of privacy whilst Se Ryeong makes the call to Sehun and put it on loudspeaker so she could explain the circumstances and they could go over their plan in detail. Baekhyun then put through a call to Sulli as well to go over their plan with her, the younger girl gasping before screaming in joy and excitement. Se Ryeong was all smiles by the time lunchtime ended, and Baekhyun found himself mirroring it with a huge grin of his own as he temporarily parted with her so he could meet up with his mom’s caretaker. And even when the damned lady demanded for an exorbitant amount of money for keeping her lips sealed, nothing could wipe the silly grin off Baekhyun’s face.

Se Ryeong had to remind Baekhyun to keep his expression in check when he picked her up after work for a quick meal before heading to his house.
“Oppa is already here.” Se Ryeong threw a discreet glance at the black sedan parked down the street with all of its lights off and Baekhyun could make out a faint silhouette of Sehun only if he stared hard enough. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before interlacing their fingers.
“Okay,” he was slightly giddy at the thought of finally taking his mother out of the house for good and the businessman took a deep breath before leading the way into his house.

“I’m home,” Baekhyun bowed in his father’s direction.
“I hope you’re doing well.” Se Ryeong followed suit with a smile on her face.
“Have you both had dinner?” it was rare - very rare - for Baekhyun’s father to be extending such welcome towards his acquaintances if they were not Kris, and therefore Baekhyun was slightly taken aback when his father was about to request for two additional sets of rice. Jong In only stared at the food in his bowl and his mother looked equally surprised.
“We’ve had dinner.” Baekhyun stopped the maid before she could leave the dining hall for the kitchen. “I’ll be going to China with Kris for the next seven days. I fly off tomorrow so I’ll be going up to pack now.”
“I’ll get the maid to send up tea and fruits.” Jong In’s mother smiled a sickeningly sweet smile in his direction.