If there was anything that Byun Baekhyun prided himself in, it would most likely be his unparalleled professionalism in all sorts of situations. Whether it was dealing with his difficult boss or his sassy assistant or with his displeasing – but high-paying – clientele or with his parents who simply demanded perfection in whatever he does, Baekhyun knew that he could take on even the most difficult of tasks with a pleasant smile which simply screamed “I’m a Professional and I do not take from anybody”. However, there were people in the world who could make even saints cry.

          That was the case with a certain Kim Jongdae.

          Baekhyun had met the little rodent a mere two days ago while walking along the banks of the Han River, beating himself up over the fact that his final sketch was taking longer than forever to pass his standards of perfect. Since it was well past three in the morning, Baekhyun counted on being the sole human present on that murky night, and trudged over with nothing more than his sketch pad and drawing materials, hoping to God that he would find inspiration to at least figure out what he wanted to come out of his last design. He certainly did not account a wild street magician popping out literally out of ing nowhere.

          “Good evening, good Sir! I am Kim Jongdae the Magnificent and I am here to blow you away!” was the nutjob’s first statement, and as soon as the last syllable of his sentence slipped out, Baekhyun knew he wanted absolutely ing nothing to do with anyone who called himself magnificent.

          Being the tight-scheduled, completely-stressed, sleep-deprived, high-strung man that he was, Baekhyun made the move to shoo the grinning magician away like a cockroach in his home (not that he had any), but no matter how hard he tried to ignore him, the magician pestered him like no one’s business.

          “Pick a card, any card, and I will show you my heart!” Jongdae had urged, literally shoving a deck of playing cards in the designer’s face, earning a hard glare from said pissed-off male who huffed like an old train.

          “If I pick a card, will you leave me alone, you weirdo?” An eager nod.

          The Ace of Diamonds. Baekhyun silently followed Jongdae’s orders of how he should return the card into the deck, grabbing his hands unceremoniously and instructing him to shuffle and cut before winking playfully, throwing both stacks into the air like confetti raining down on them. “What the ?” Baekhyun immediately shrieked, feeling a particular Queen of Spades clip him well and good on the arm.

          “Is this your card?” Jongdae questions, unabashed as he flicks two fingers; a playing card caught in between. It was the Ace of Hearts.

          “No.” Baekhyun was well put-out already, and the goof playing around with him was doing nothing for his temper.

          “I know,” Jongdae then grins, flipping the card. “I told you I’d show you my heart,” he added, because right there, taped to the back of the ace card was a diamond ring which had no right to be there. “And this,” he announced, gesturing to the obscene (in Baekhyun’s opinion) ring, “is your Ace of Diamonds.”

          “What—listen, is this some kind of sick joke?” Baekhyun immediately rises to his feet, wide-eyed and petrified at the meaningful glint in the magician’s twinkling eyes.

          “It seems like a joke, doesn’t it? Here I was last night, just thinking of what trick I should come up with to hit the Big Leagues when boom! Your face pops right into my mind. Just your face. And I knew I had to find you and I had to meet you, because everything fell into place! I’ve been searching and searching and here you are! My muse!”

          “Get away from me, you sick creep!” Baekhyun all but sprinted away, sketch materials tucked securely underneath his arm.

          “I’ll find you! I can do it! I’m Magnificent!” was hollered at his retreating figure.

          Baekhyun had had to take a long, hot bath after that frightening encounter and diligently prayed to every deity he could think of (including Batman, mind you, he was that serious) in hopes to burn away the memory (hence the slightly numb sensation all over his body due to the scalding bath water) and to never, ever see the stranger-than-strange male ever again.

          This is probably why I’m an Agnostic, seriously, is all that’s running through his head as he made his way over to the receptionist’s desk, stopping for a split second when a grinning magician popped into his vision. “Damn it,” he muttered, nodding towards the woman at the desk eyeing him and the strange man who immediately clobbered him into a bone-crushing embrace with a gossip’s curiosity. (Baekhyun just knew there would be new rumors starring himself as soon as lunch break hit in half an hour.)

          “I told you I would find you!” was Jongdae’s form of a greeting, only earning a not-so-subtle raise of an eyebrow from the receptionist who was totally eavesdropping.

           “Listen, I really don’t know what your deal is but this is my workplace; you can’t just barge in here and bother me. I’m working. And besides, I don’t ing know you!” Baekhyun hissed, pulling the male aside towards the elevators where, hopefully, he wouldn’t have to worry about all the damned gossips on his floor.

          “But Baekhyun, I—”

          “And that’s another thing! How do you know my name? Because I’m pretty sure I’ve never met you before two nights ago and I distinctly remember not introducing myself in that time,” Baekhyun huffed, “I don’t even want to know how you know so much about me…”

          “I told you, you came to me in my—”

          “No! Look, whatever sick game you’re trying to play here, Jongdae or whatever,” Baekhyun waved him off, mostly ignoring the boy’s pitifully hurt expression; eye twitching in annoyance, “But I’m in a really stressful position right now, okay? My line’s only halfway done sewing, the fashion show is in two weeks and I have a tone of things to do, I still have to hire a photographer and models for my pieces, and I have had very little sleep, so please, leave me alone because I’m so stressed that I might just start pulling my hair out!”

          “Maybe a magic trick will—”

          “Baekhyun! There you are!” It is with a sickening feeling, ladies and gents that Baekhyun’s woeful day had only started, because just then, the Devil Incarnate had stepped off the elevator, icy blue irises (contact lenses) glinting with malice as sharp manicured talons wrapped around the crook of the poor designer’s elbows. Jongdae looked just about ready to kill at the contact, but smartly kept his mouth shut, probably sensing danger.

          “Good morning, Krystal,” Baekhyun grunted, wincing ever so slightly at the feeling of nails digging into his skin. “What can I do for you?”

          “This,” Krystal waves a pale hand over to the short, smart-looking male beside her, “is Do Kyungsoo. He is one of our fashion show’s biggest benefactors.”

          “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Byun Baekhyun, one of the designers and organizers of this season’s show.” In a flash, the Baekhyun who was just about ready to explode like a little volcano transformed into his usual professional self, sending a winning smile over to the man who was, to be put honestly, most likely the source of this month’s income; ignoring the twinkle in the male’s eyes which just screamed ill intent.

          “The pleasure, Baekhyun, is all mine,” Kyungsoo says firmly, face way too happy to be considered merely polite.

          “He wanted you personally to show him the stage,” Krystal states, gaze piercing at the sight of Baekhyun’s very blatant expression of “I don’t want to; I don’t have time for this bull”.

          Baekhyun truly wondered if any of his past lives were Adolf Hitler. Why else would he be subjected to so much horrifically stressful things? It’s not even lunch time yet, what the hell, Universe? Is there no mercy on this Earth anymore? He quite literally would love to pull his hair out in frustration already; sink to the ground and grovel pitifully at his life.

          The eerily empty hall seemed awfully quiet for a typical Tuesday morning so close to the season’s show, and it probably had something to do with his boss nearly chewing the heads off of anyone excluding himself and their guest who dared stay inside while he “gave a tour”. In his defense, though, this Do Kyungsoo did act the part of a responsible adult (in part due to the fact that Krystal lingered in the back, unsure of whether or not the designer would not botch up this connection), listening very patiently as Baekhyun ran through the program which the show would be running, explaining complicated terms when need be and describing how the – still – half-finished stage set.

          It was only when Krystal excused herself to answer a call from one of the higher-ups that the petite business man really… got down to business. And this is when Baekhyun really cursed his life; eyes wide with fear as the [slightly] shorter male quite harshly shoved him up against the runway’s side. “D-Do Kyungsoo…”

          “You do not know how much I’ve been dreaming to meet you, Baekhyun-ah…” the wide-eyed entrepreneur whispered breathlessly, scorchingly brown irises dilating with desire. Baekhyun could only manage a dog-like whimper; fingers curling around the male’s wrists in fear. “You’ve been driving me crazy…”

          “K-Kyungsoo-sshi, we’ve only met today…” Pathetic.

          “I feel like I’ve known you forever,” the conglomerate murmurs, dangerously eyeing the young designer’s slanted Cupid’s bow with a smile barely obscuring evil intentions. “Baekhyun-ah, I’m a very rich man. I have a lot of things – people think I have everything – but I would trade it all… for you.”

          “Kyungsoo—”

          “That’s right, say my name,” Kyungsoo rasped out, making the blood in Baekhyun’s veins run cold. The boy squirmed much like a fish caught on a line, almost gasping for air in nervousness. But, thankfully, the Universe chose to spare him for once, and he sent out a quick mental thank you to Krystal for coming back.

          That relief was short-lived, though.

          “Baekhyun! There are models here to see you,” she announced, ushering in two males. “I didn’t think you had this in you, Byun Baekhyun!”

          “So we’re hired?” one of the staggeringly tall males – the one with really good skin which girls would envy 100% – asked winningly, grinning like a child on Christmas morning. Baekhyun truly questioned the existence of a god at that point.

          Just when he thought his day could not possibly get any worse, the two people he did not want to see most just came to make him question his entire existence.

          “Of course, Sehun! You and Jongin are the best after all!” Krystal said cheerily. Both models grinned at each other, then turning to the designer who had gone ghostly pale, still in the clutches of one Do Kyungsoo. And just when he thought Jongdae’s creeper magic and Kyungsoo’s creeper intensity were bad enough, he met the eyes of two greasily smirking male models who he knew was out for his blood.

          . My. Life.

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