"You started a business? How come you never told me? Well, okay, fair enough, we haven't really contacted each other in five years, but, yeah! I'm getting married, Minseok," Baekhyun grinned from ear to ear, trying (and failing) to conceal the happiness scribbled all over his face like a child's doodle.

While he and Minseok chatted about this and that, their marriage and Minseok's lingerie business, over the phone, Baekhyun crossed out Minseok's name on his notepad. Tracking down his friends for a reunion of sorts was harder than he thought since most of his high school friends had moved out of town, changed their numbers, and had gotten accepted into colleges across the country. The only person that actually stayed from high school was... Chanyeol, but Chanyeol had always been a constant in Baekhyun's life, or, at least, the last six years of it.

He had to pull some strings to contact his long-lost friends, but when new methods failed, Baekhyun wasn't opposed to the idea of flipping through a local phone book to locate a few of his buddies that he dearly missed.

He wondered how they were doing, what they had become, what five years had done to them, and most importantly, if they thought about him as often as he did.

So far, he only had a bit of luck contacting Nam Woohyun, their ex-captain of the soccer team, since it turned out he hadn't changed his number within the last five years, but the two only exchanged a bit of small talk before Baekhyun realized how long a five year gap really was. Who was this guy anymore? Why did he sound like some senile old man who worked an eight-to-five office job? Oh, right, because he did. It turned out their soccer star had given up his passion and hobby for a more practical occupation in society, and god, did Baekhyun feel sorry for the guy.

Woohyun agreed to attend his wedding, however, and Baekhyun was more than happy to cross his name off and dial Minseok's number next.

Kim Minseok. Baekhyun remembered how the team would always tease Minseok about his "otaku" ways, and it seemed like five years hadn't changed his friend at all. He was still a geeky ert who had somehow leveled up and was now selling anime body pillows and lingerie to "Narutards" worldwide.

"I'll give you an uncensored body pillow for a wedding gift," Minseok laughed.

"No thanks, maybe when I get divorced," Baekhyun sneered. He set his phone on speaker mode and flipped through his phone book to the page he had bookmarked earlier. "Hey, do you know Jongin's—"

"How's Chanyeol?"

"Chanyeol? Oh, he's fine. He's kind of bummed out that we're moving out of our apartment this week." Baekhyun twiddled the pen between his fingers, watching his stepbrother out of the corner of his eyes. Even if it was just one glance, he couldn't help but feel like "watching" Chanyeol was more like monitoring his behavior to make sure he wouldn't do something... dangerous. "He'll get over it. Yeah, like I was saying before you just interrupted—"

"Sorry."

"Damn it, let me finish, Minseok," Baekhyun snorted in amusement. "Do you know Jongin's number? I got Sehun's just now from Woohyun."

"Jongin?"

There was an uncomfortable pause on the other end.

"I'm not sure," Minseok said. "We haven't really talked after graduating. I mean, after you left, we all kind of drifted apart. I'm not even sure Jongin went to college, all I really know is that he went off with Soojung."

"Jung Soojung?"

"The very one."

"Oh, ew," Baekhyun scoffed. He had been under the thoughtful impression that Jongin had finally changed his ways, screwed his head on right, and went for better women like Taeyeon, but if Minseok was right, maybe Jongin had lost his way. Or, maybe he hadn't. Jongin had always been a bright kid despite his lackluster motives, so Baekhyun believed (or wanted to believe) that he was all right. Surviving, at least. "I'm sure Sehun might know Jongin's number."

After Baekhyun exchanged a few more pleasantries with Minseok, he hung up the phone and searched the list for Sehun's number which was scratched out a few times but circled at the very last one.

Just when he was about to dial it, Chanyeol bolted from the floor to answer the door like his life depended on it. If he had been going any faster on those clumsily long legs, he would have planted his face quite literally into the floor and Baekhyun would not have enjoyed cleaning the aftermath of it.

"Hyeri!" Chanyeol chirped.

"Hyeri?" Baekhyun copied in confusion, trying to stand on his two feet. He wobbled, of course, but regained his footing to see his betrothed at the door. He attempted not to show that he still relied on some other support to keep himself standing, but Hyeri must have known that he was struggling because she held his hand and let him fall against her. He grimaced in shame.

Chanyeol took the awkward hug as an invitation for a group one, so he wrapped both his arms around the two and squeezed them against him. "Group hug!" he screamed.

"No, no group hug, let me go, you giant doofus!" Baekhyun protested, although his face was alit with laughter.

Hyeri chuckled and ruffled Chanyeol's hair as it had grown past his brows and the tips of his ears to resemble a dog's shaggy cut. "Hello to you too, Chanyeol," she giggled before helping Baekhyun to the couch where he could sit and rest his sore leg. It had only been two weeks since Baekhyun had gotten his third surgery for his busted leg and Hyeri was visibly upset that he was hardly allowing his body to recover before doing reckless things with Chanyeol again. "I told you not to walk around without your stroller."

"What am I, a seventy year old man?" Baekhyun scoffed and curled an arm around Hyeri's shoulders with a sleazy smile that one would expect from a erted seventy year old man. "I thought I told you not to pop in without calling first. You know I hate it when you do that."

"Well, maybe if you start listening to me," she cleared .

"What's the worst that can happen when my girlfriend's a nurse?"

Chanyeol watched them argue, following each banter like he was observing a ping-pong tournament with the ball being knocked this way and that. He squeezed between the couple and sunk into his seat, silently begging for attention as his head leaned against Hyeri's chest.

"I need to talk to you," Hyeri said while combing her fingers through Chanyeol's hair. "Privately."

The tone of her voice unnerved Baekhyun a bit, but he blamed it on the fact that they were both undeniably antsy with just one week left until their wedding night. Hyeri barely had the time to enjoy some leisure since she was working graveyard shifts at the hospital and she would always return to make Baekhyun's day equally as sour in any way she knew how. Baekhyun loved her, but sometimes she was a ing psychopath.

As soon as they relocated, Baekhyun crossed his arms and looked at her expectantly, trying not to mind the towers of packed boxes that surrounded them. He almost felt a little claustrophobic. Just a little.

Hyeri shattered the silence with her first words. "Did you pack everything?"

"Everything but the stuff we need to last a week. Chanyeol packed most of the stuff, so things that don't belong with each other should be packed together, unfortunately."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I don't... I don't think it's the best idea for Chanyeol to move in with us."

"What do you mean?"

Hyeri crossed her arms too and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, trying to think of the best and harmless way to tell Baekhyun that she wanted their new apartment to be free of his mentally challenged stepbrother. "I mean, I thought it would be better for Chanyeol to move in with your mother," she suggested.

"You said it's okay that he moves in with us."

"I did, but, we're going to be married and is it so wrong that I want to live with my husband, alone?"

Baekhyun sighed as he heard Chanyeol's head thunk loudly against the other side of the door. So, Chanyeol hadn't been the brightest crayon in the box but he and his brother were practically inseparable. "Chanyeol needs me, Hyeri, he can't—"

"I need you," Hyeri frowned.

"Oh, don't do that to me."

"Do the four years we spent together mean nothing to you, Baekhyun? What if we have kids someday? Is he going to babysit them? He's practically five, baby. There's only so much I can take," Hyeri mumbled quietly, her face clouded by a scowl. "Well, think about it, I need to go." She slung the strap of her purse over one shoulder and headed for the door in quick, angry strides.

Baekhyun cringed when he heard the door slam. She was furious. He knew it would take weeks of sending corny text messages (he had already trained Chanyeol to send those for him) and a whole paycheck's worth of Godiva chocolate to soothe the beast, but he figured he had brought this upon himself. She was right. How would any girl like marrying a guy with... extra baggage? Chanyeol wasn't a pet, after all. He was a responsibility and another human being, another guy, and he understood why Hyeri wasn't ready to take that leap of faith for him. "But why?" he sighed and sat down ruffling Chanyeol's frizzy hair. "You're so god-damn stupid and adorable. She could just think you're a Yorkshire terrier and our troubles would be behind us."

"Hyeri nuna mad?" Chanyeol asked and laid his head on Baekhyun's stomach.

Baekhyun might have passed some gas and Chanyeol might have passed out.

"I don't know, Chanyeol, she's probably on her period," Baekhyun groaned and reached for his phone. He had forgotten about calling Sehun with Hyeri dropping by so suddenly.

"What's a period?"

"That is one of the things you never, ever want to know in your life, ever, and you sure as hell don't go looking it up on Google, too. That will scar you for life," Baekhyun shook his head, remembering the first time Jongin had told him to go search up Boku no Pico. Never again.

Baekhyun put his altercation with Hyeri behind him for the moment while he called Sehun. Reception in Hong Kong was horrible so he had to try at least three times before he heard his friend's voice on the other end. It turned out that Sehun had broken up with Luhan long ago, but certain circumstances kept him in Hong Kong for a while, and hey, the kid was even going to college, too. "You are now the coolest you'll ever be in your life for going to college in Hong Kong," Baekhyun snickered. "So, yeah, I hope you can come to my wedding. Maybe bring Jongin with you if you know where the hell he is."

"I don't know, no one's really seen him after high school."

"Huh," Baekhyun frowned. If Sehun didn't know where he was, either, how was he supposed to find him? "First thing's first, get the next ticket to Korea, you can crash at my place until the wedding."

"All right."

After Sehun, Baekhyun called Jongdae, Lu Han, Yifan, Kyungsoo, and even Zitao to join the festivities. Jongdae agreed to attend in a heartbeat since he lived rather closeby and was helping with his family's Chinese restaurant. Baekhyun had only dined there once, and one emergency trip to the hospital for food poisoning was enough to keep him at bay. Lu Han had been harder to reach since he was in Shanghai, but the boy who had once been "out of his league" obliged to attend his wedding. Yifan, despite being moved out of the city due to a promotion, agreed to celebrate his wedding and also offered to drag Kyungsoo along. Zitao had been the second hardest guest of honor to locate, but it turned out he hadn't moved very far from his last home and also agreed (after Baekhyun bought him a bowl of ramen) to dress up for the event.

Now, the only person Baekhyun needed to find was Jongin.

He just had no idea that the sirens wailing outside were leading Baekhyun straight to him.