2 Years Later

A second spring comes in what seems much less than a year. Flowers blossom in Kyungsoo’s heart; radiant daffodils and magnificent roses, carnations niveous in their colour, and elegant lilies. Just the same as the flora that blooms in the garden he shares with Baekhyun.

Six months after they had first started dating, precise to the very day, Baekhyun surprised Kyungsoo with a new house. A little place tucked away in their own slice of suburbia, with a garden for Kyungsoo to tend to in his spare time. Close enough to the coffee shop. Haneul moved in with Minseok in order to “help with the rent” as she described it. Everybody knows otherwise.

Thriving business is present at the coffee shop, with a new worker there by the name of Oh Sehun, and a  fresh set of customers every day, along with a few regulars. Kyungsoo long since published the first novel, which was a large success. Although it didn’t quite reach number one on in the bestsellers list, Haneul is sure that his next work-in-progress is bound to hit the top.

Kyungsoo is happy. In fact, today, Kyungsoo is more than happy. Because Baekhyun proposed just a week ago. Right in the coffee shop. Right where their life together really began. Today, a few people are coming over to celebrate with them. A small gathering at their house.

Baekhyun is the one who opens the first ring of the doorbell: Minseok and Haneul. This time, Haneul’s hair is dip-dyed a bright pink, bringing out the cheery flush in her high cheekbones when she smiles kindly, ‘Congratulations. Even though I’ve said that already,’ and she s a gift into Kyungsoo’s waiting hands. It is delicately wrapped in pretty wrapping paper, tied with a silver ribbon. He tugs on the ends of the bow and lets the material unravel in his hands, rips the paper with a satisfying sound. Inside is a book – the latest book by Kyungsoo’s favourite author, actually – and a smaller box on the top.

‘That one’s for Baekhyun.’ Hanuel quickly interrupts. Clearly excited, Baekhyun dives forward and flings the lid open. A watch. ‘Jeez, this must have cost you a bomb!’ His eyes glitter in the reflection of the golden watch face.

Minseok shrugs, ‘It’s alright. No problem at all. Just paying you back for all the years.’

Meanwhile, Kyungsoo has taken a seat at the round dining table, mesmerised by the text in the book.

It is only when another knock on the door interrupts his literary trance. This time it is Sehun, diving into the house with a polite smile to everyone in the room. His smile is rarely seen, and for a while he has been a subject of conversation between Kyungsoo – the author – and Baekhyun – the photographer. Baekhyun sees a way to create art from Sehun’s solitude; a gentle depiction of what loss of love can do to a man, in the way a smile rarely graces his lips and a loneliness often clouds his eyes. Kyungsoo imagines writing a second story, from the point of view of a person on the other side of an affair. Sehun, on the other hand, hasn’t the slightest idea that they have even noticed how lonely he is. Not once has he considered it.

Kyungsoo feels sympathetic. He remembers when the only smiles he gave were simply polite and lacking in a genuine sense. And so, he gazes at Sehun as he chats to Minseok, thinning his lips into a line while he thinks about a way to break his new friend out of this state. Nobody deserves this, after all.

‘Where’s Luhan got to?’ Baekhyun asks loudly, glancing at the clock on the wall.

‘Who’s Luhan?’ Sehun asks. ‘Have I met him before?’

‘No, old friend of mine.’ Baekhyun waves off, ‘I think you’ll like him though. He’s a dancer, too. The ballet kind.’

‘Ballet?’ Sehun snorts.

‘It’s a man’s sport!’ Minseok counters, a slight grin on his face and Sehun can’t tell if he’s serious.

‘Oh, yeah… Don’t insult Luhan’s masculinity.’ Baekhyun is almost reminding himself.

‘Why not?’ Sehun almost doesn’t dare to ask.

‘He’s a little… sensitive when it comes to that stuff. There’s a chance he’ll try to prove himself to you and he could end up hurting himself trying to do push-ups or something.’

Just as the sentence ends, the front door receives a knock. Minseok darts out to grab it, and a loud, ‘MINSEOKIE!’ Rings through the corridor. Sehun’s eyebrows raise and he frowns, looking down at his feet just as he tends to do.

The man named Luhan charges in then, all ripped jeans and leather jacket, tousled caramel hair falling toward twinkling doe eyes, his lips crinkled into a delightful smile. This, the first moment of eye contact between the two, is when Sehun realised that Luhan can’t be fit into a box… He fits all kinds of stereotypes just in the way he looks, and later he will find a complex personality lying underneath, a maze that Sehun will never grow tired of exploring.

‘CONGRATS BAEKHYUN!’ He cheers, enveloping said guy into a hug, before turning to Kyungsoo, ‘Kyungsoo!’ He claps him on the back. ‘How are we all today?’

‘Brilliant,’ Baekhyun grins, ‘Happy as ever, of course.’

Sehun is stunned into silence, eyes boring into Luhan with his lips slightly ajar. Kyungsoo is the only one who notices, and smiles inwardly. Perhaps this is precisely the thing Sehun needs. A sudden, overwhelmed feeling takes over Sehun when the sparkly smile is aimed directly at him, ‘Hi, I’m Luhan.’ He says. A moment of silence, where Sehun forgets his name and his home address and maybe even his very existence. ‘S-Sehun,’ he stutters out.

‘Awesome.’ Luhan smirks a little.      

‘Luhan, no, don’t start on him too,’ Minseok teases.

‘What?’ Luhan giggles a little, looking between himself and Sehun. Kyungsoo smiles to himself, trying to mask the pure enjoyment on his face as he remembers the story Baekhyun told him.

Clearly puzzled, Sehun looks at each face in the room individually. ‘What? What’s going on?’

Baekhyun and Luhan share a glance, but Luhan looks away, clearly submitting to the fact that his friend is going to rat him out.

‘Luhan had a huge crush on Minseok for, like, ever… And he refused to accept the fact that he was straight.’

‘You’re gay?’ Sehun, if he had had a drink, would have choked on it. Obviously incredulous.

‘Problem?’ Luhan glares at him.

Sehun blushes wildly, ‘No… M-me too, actually.’

An eyebrow wiggle from Luhan says it all.

This time, when Sehun looks down, the action holds the purpose of hiding his blush. However, his smile is genuine. Kyungsoo takes note, because he remembers that feeling. The feeling that things are looking up. He reflects on the past year or so, the turmoil that his body went through in weight loss brought about by depression, the suicidal feeling and the self-hatred. Living each day like a dead weight, with the awful feeling that life wasn’t for him. And yet, here he is, standing in his kitchen surrounded by friends and his fiancée, the self-proclaimed happiest boy in the world.

Baekhyun breaks him out of his thoughts by hugging him and kissing his cheek, ‘Are you alright? You seem zoned out.’

‘I’m… wonderful,’ he exhales un-diluted happiness, ‘You’re wonderful, Baek. Everything’s wonderful. I’m alive.’

Baekhyun smiles, understanding the struggle to grasp vocalisation of his feeling. He knows that Kyungsoo is simply realising how far he has come. So, he holds him tighter and nuzzles his neck, ‘You’re right. You are wonderful. I love you so much.’

‘And I love you,’ Kyungsoo reciprocates the hug.

They both turn around in time to see it. To hear Luhan saying, ‘Oh, you like bubble tea too? My favourite is taro. What’s yours?’

‘Chocolate,’ Sehun mutters, the blush only faintly present now.

‘You know, we should go for bubble tea together sometime.’

‘Yeah,’ Sehun has the appearance of a toddler on Christmas morning. ‘I’d love that.’

Everyone in the room shares a glance. Out of the six in the room, only two are single, and even they are going on a date together. Things did fall into place, Kyungsoo thinks. He considers that closing a book on such a scene would be a cliché ending, but then again the “ending” is never an end. Something always happens to the characters after the book. And this leads to thoughts of his wedding, of Minseok and Haneul’s wedding, of Sehun and Luhan’s. Although, perhaps the relationships won’t work out. Or maybe they will.

After all he has been through, Kyungsoo knows that things can take a horrendous plot twist turn for the worst, and yet he can still pull through. The same applies to Baekhyun, who lost Chanyeol, and to Sehun who lost Jongin too. Even to Minseok and Haneul at some point or another in their lives. Pain is real, he knows, but so is strength.

As he glances around the room and listens to the enjoyable chatter, he can’t suppress the smile. From here, his life could take any sort of unexpected turn, but it all makes for experience. And either way, he will always have these moments, always have the memories to cling to. Of Baekhyun’s lips, and Minseok’s laughter, and seeing the first real smile on Sehun’s face. All a matter of expression.

And finally, he pays a thought to Jongin. Even if he did temporarily ruin Kyungsoo’s life, in the end he made everything perfect.

Thank you, Jongin. You might have made everything wrong, but it had to be wrong for it to become right. I’ll always remember you. I hope you found what you were searching for, found the thing that makes you happy.

He turns to peer at Baekhyun, his partner’s face set in the happiest of expressions. I certainly found mine.

a/n So there it is, the short and sweet conclusion to the story. I've written a lot of things in my time, but I've never liked anything as much as this fanfic. I am proud of what I've written for the first time, and all your comments and subscriptions and upvotes kept me going. I was quickly attached to the idea of this story. Thank you so much for reading, and I really hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did. 

Here's my tumblr if you have any questions about the fic, like my thoughts on writing or writing tips or even exo biases. I don't know, just ask me anything you want! I like when my followers talk to me!

Also, I am in the process of writing a new fic, as I mentioned before. I'm not going to start posting it until it is completely finished/nearly finished so that I can stick to a weekly update schedule without having to worry about deadlines. So please anticipate another fic from me in the future!

I love you all, and again, THANK YOU!