CHAPTER NINE

It was just a few minutes before Joonmyeon’s day would end and as he sat there in his office, he silently prayed that no one would enter his office anymore. Just as it was down to the last five minutes, a knock came on the door and Joonmyeon sighed heavily in disappointment for the heavens did not hear his prayers.

 

“Come in.” he says and the door opens. Chen enters his office with a smile on his face; a smile that was all too bright for Joonmyeon’s liking. “Yes Chen?”

 

Joonmyeon didn’t know if his eyes were deceiving him but he swore he saw a small smirk on his colleague’s cat-like face.

 

 

The next day… Joonmyeon entered the office with Kris and Aiden; they were talking about something involving stocks and Kris’s plans of future investment when Yixing suddenly came into their view. He looked horrible, it was as if he had spent the night without a wink of sleep because of getting his heart broken but Kris and Suho knew their friend all too well. If ever there was a reason for Yixing’s unattractive get up, a broken heart was not it.

 

“What’s up with you?” Kris asks him. Yixing stops and turns to the two of them, his tired expression never faltering; as Yixing scans the two gentlemen up and down, his eyes eventually fall onto the young boy in Kris’s arms. Gasp. “YOU!” He exclaims whilst pointing an accusing finger at the baby, “YOU DID THIS!”

 

Kris frowns and he swats away Yixing’s finger, feeling offended for the baby. “Don’t point a finger at him”

 

Yixing drops to his hands and knees in despair, “He… he… HE CAUSED MY BILLS TO GO THROUGH THE ROOF!” he cries out. Joonmyeon exchanges looks with Kris then they both turn to the young boy. Why is uncle crying? “What bills?” Joonmyeon asks. Just as Yixing was about to answer, another voice spoke.

 

“I believe he means his mobile data bills” it was the man of the hour and not to mention, Aiden’s first baby sitter for the day, Chen. “Apparently, the little guy” he ruffles Aiden’s hair, “made some expensive video calls yesterday”

 

“TO MY MOTHER TOO!” Yixing adds as he cries some more.

 

Kris shakes his head; he had no time for this. It sounded so undoubtedly ridiculous! He couldn’t even fathom how a kid of Aiden’s age could operate the device but then again… he is a smart kid and Yixing is sort of careless so maybe it is possible. “Probably just an accident of some sort, Yixing… so I suggest that you it up and let it go because we have schedules ahead of us” Kris concludes.

 

“Wait…” Yixing calls out to Kris just before they would part ways.

 

“What?”

 

“Aren’t you gonna pay for Aiden’s damages?”

 

First, there was silence then a scoff, “You wish. The contract states that you guys are responsible for everything that happens to him during the span of the agreement. I believe I owe you nothing, Lay”

 

And Kris leaves the distraught businessman to wallow in his own pool of misery.

 

CHEN

 

People call me lots of things including: genius, because I am.

 

I’m also ingenuous so I’m going to be honest… I do not want to babysit Aiden. Ofcourse, I have my reasons because I know some of you will be asking me why? It’s simple. One: I’m a businessman, which means there could be plenty else I could do for my company’s greater good rather than waste half of my day on a kid. Two: babysitter and Chen do not go together! I am far too awesome to be called a babysitter. Lastly: I was supposed to have the lunch of my life with a hot chick! Damn it.

 

But because I have no choice at the moment, I have decided to use my brain instead and get things over with and by the end of today, I will see to it that I be done justice!

 

Anyway, going back to me being a bona fide genius since I was born in this corrupt planet; I only have one goal in mind: to keep Aiden from unleashing his screams of death –which is another term for crying- and what better way to do that than entertain him? Yes! I have the solution and my other idiot for friends will wish they could’ve thought about this!

 

“Before we go any further… I would just like to say thanks to you, Joonmyeon” I smile at our beloved CEO and proceed to my presentation –if you would call it that. With one last intake of breath, I unlock the doors to the supposed empty office and without even turning around, I could sense Kris and Suho’s disbelief, awe, adoration, amazeme – “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE HERE?!” Suho shrieks.

 

Smirk. “I called in some guys to make it into this bouncy room. One hundred percent safe for babies and every inch are covered.”

 

As what I have said earlier, I am a genius.

 

AIDEN

 

It’s fun! Very fun! So fun!

 

I can’t stop laughing at all! This is the happiest day of my baby life, I’m in a place where I can bounce and bounce without ever stopping and there are so many toys in here too! Uncle Chen is very fun; he is the best uncle ever! Daddy should think about getting a room like this because I can stay here all day! HAHA!

 

But wait… what’s that?

 

 

 

 

BRRRT. BRRRT.

 

Chen halts bouncing for a moment and fishes out his phone. , he mentally cusses as he sees the name flashing on his screen. Chen checks on Aiden for a moment and sees the boy crawling around; he then decides to leave the room for a moment to answer the call.

 

“Hello?” he answers.

 

“I have the information you need” the person on the other end says. Chen adjusts his tie, “Do tell”

 

“What do you take me for, an idiot?” the person chuckles. Chen rolls his eyes, “Tch. Alright, let’s meet up later. Give me what I want and I’ll give you the exchange” “Good. I believe your friend will appreciate the help”

 

“Oh, he will.”

 

Meanwhile, Aiden was in his own little world. He had been dazzled by the item he found inside the bouncy room that his uncle had no knowledge about. In his hands was Chen’s wallet –which must’ve fallen out of his pocket when he was bouncing around earlier; Aiden had no idea what it was or how it held such important things because all he knew at the moment was that the shiny thing inside was pretty and he wanted it.

 

So he pulls out the shiny, flat item and ogles at it “Ohh ~”

 

He tosses away the wallet, letting some of the bills inside scatter all around but he could care less about it.

 

By the time that Chen had returned inside, he found Aiden on one corner where all the fluffy toys were. The young boy was playing with several plushies; he looked like he was making conversation with them from Chen’s point of view. Little did he know the boy really was talking business. What seemed to be gibberish words actually meant another inside Aiden’s mind.

 

In his own world, the stuffed animals were his army, he was their leader and they were planning world domination with the flat piece of plastic in Aiden’s possession. He didn’t know much about it but he has seen his dad and mom using it now and then, so he guesses that it must be valuable or atleast useful.

 

“Aiden-ah ~”

 

Aiden turns around at the call of his name, he sees his uncle walking towards him –trying his best to maintain his balance while doing so. As Chen successfully reaches him, he flops down next to the boy and pulls him towards his open lap “Are you hungry?”

 

I want milky ~

 

Aiden pulls himself up on his feet and faces Chen, he then reaches out a hand and touches his uncle’s chest “Milky ~”

 

Chen bursts out into a fit of laughter, he pulls away the young boy’s hand and wags his finger at him “No… uncle doesn’t have the wonder ies that will give you milky, only your mommy does”

 

Unless, you’re father has been feeding you with his –ugh, disgusting! Chen shakes his head frantically to wash away the thought, “Let’s go get lunch, shall we?”

 

 

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

 

Where are they? Baekhyun thought as he checked his watch nth time, since he had arrived at the meeting place where he was to take over the babysitting duties for the day. Chen wasn’t the kind to keep people waiting, so he was wondering what was taking him so long. If it was Aiden then Baekhyun guesses that his job wouldn’t be as easy as one, two, three… he hopes that whatever Chen’s reason may be, it would not be the baby.

 

He was not the kind of guy that could handle children well, thus marriage and family life were the least of his concerns. He had a lot of relationships and he did fall head over heels for a girl a time or two, but it was never enough to make him think of settling down. In addition to this, he just could not fathom to lose his freedom… maybe, not yet.

 

Judging by Kris’s current life status, Baekhyun concludes that he won’t be giving up his life as a bachelor anytime soon. Nope.

 

“Sorry that I’m not sorry for making you wait but, here we are!” Chen grins as he arrives at Baekhyun’s table. The latter huffs out some air and rolls his eyes at Chen, “About time you got here” Baekhyun sees the young boy and immediately raises a brow as he sees a leek in his hand. He points at the item and questions Chen “What’s with the leek toy?”

 

Chen shrugs “I don’t know but I thought he would look cute while holding it, so I bought it”

 

“Like Hatsune Miku?”

 

“Yeah!” Chen exclaims “Like Miku-chan ~”

 

Baekhyun shakes his head. Hopeless, as smart and devious as Chen was, he was also just as equally an idiot and Baekhyun finds it a shame. But, nobody is perfect… tsk. Chen finally hands over the young boy to Baekhyun, including the baby bag –ofcourse- and gives the latter final words of encouragement and luck, and then he strides away in freedom. Finally, his duties were over and he could now sabotage Huang Zitao for putting him through such a position.

 

Left behind with the rest of the baby duties, was Byun Baekhyun.

 

Sigh, he looks at the boy “What do you wanna do?”

 

 

 

 

HANA

 

Travelling around the city of Paris to check up and chatter with a queuing number of investors and business associates was not a joke and I can very well see why businessmen and women alike can be so uptight. The respect that I have for Kris just went through the roof because honestly, with limited time and energy to finish duties within a given time is something that not everyone can do. Maybe this is why heirs and heiresses are trained at such a young age because judging from what I have experienced over the days; one does not simply remember every up, down, left, right, nook and cranny in a few days.

 

It was already around midnight when I got back to the hotel, the dinner with some magazine editors seemed to have drained out my energy and my personal assistant didn’t seem to take it so well either. I almost feel sorry that she had to translate everything to me for the whole day which reminds me that I should leave her with a gift before I depart by the end of the week.

 

Speaking of personal assistants, it just dawned upon me how different things are now. To think that just a couple of years ago, I ventured off to Wu Enterprise on an empty wallet and on the verge of bankruptcy with only a bag of wishful thinking and dreams, it’s almost insane how I managed to deal with all of the sudden promotions, demotions and double jobs that had been thrown at me, and now… I’m in a position that I only once dreamed of and who would’ve thought that I would get married to the man who I once called my boss?

 

PING.

 

I tear my attention away from the ring on my finger and grab the phone from the bedside table; there was a text message from my boss. My eyes widen in surprise and sudden joy upon reading the contents of the message, I almost forgot how exhausted I was.

 

 

 

 

As what people say, you have good days and you have bad days. As for Baekhyun, his day was going well for the most part wherein he finished his reports in time, Aiden wasn’t being wailing like he’s on his man-period and the fact that the boy was in possession of something that Baekhyun found to be both amusing and at the same time rather peculiar –scratch that, Baekhyun’s day was going awesome.

 

It wasn’t like he was doing anything wrong nor committing any crime at all because technically, the flat piece of plastic came with Aiden like a discount card and should the owner ever accuse the young boy of theft, well… that’s just plain ridiculous because look at Aiden? Look at the face of a future heir, the chubby cheeks and adorable aura will make one swoon before one could even point a finger at him! So, as a responsible adult and a good babysitter Baekhyun did what he thought was best… make sure that Aiden is happy!

 

And what could make a child much happier than toys? Lots and lots of toys!

 

“Sir, that will be ₩1,310,029 ($1200)” the cashier states and Baekhyun swiftly hands over the shiny black card towards her, with one swipe the amount was paid and the bags full of stuffed animals were handed over to him which he then passes on to his personal assistant. He holds Aiden with one hand and upon the return of the card; they exit the store and head to a nearby ice cream parlor for a well-earned dessert after long hours of walking around the mall.

 

Aiden looks around the colorful place as he was placed on a high chair, he was a little bit confused as to why he was there in the first place but for some reason, he liked it there. The pictures on the walls were enough to make him smile, especially the one which depicted an ice cream in a cone.

 

Ice cream ~ his bright eyes sparkle with delight and he claps his hands in joy when a bowl of froze goodness was placed before him.

 

“Eat up, Aiden-ah!” Baekhyun says in an ardent manner, ruffling the boy’s soft locks of hair. Aiden takes the plastic spoon the slowly takes little scoops and take bites with little difficulty, despite how much he misses his mouth sometimes and ends up poking the spoon onto his cheek, he was pretty well off on his own. After all, he is at the age of learning.

 

As Baekhyun was about to take the first bite off his own ice cream, his hand had stopped halfway and his mouth hung agape when he took notice of an all too familiar figure outside of the glass partition. It was Chen and although he was supposed to be bothered because the owner of the credit card that he had been using was wandering in the same mall, he wasn’t because for some reason the said card owner was not in pursuit. He wouldn’t be surprised if Chen hasn’t noticed his loss yet, the guy –as much of a genius he is- can be pretty naïve.

 

What managed to catch Baekhyun’s attention and interest, however, was the fact that Chen was meeting up with someone who looked very much like Wu Enterprise’s private investigator.

 

 

 

 

Chen shakes hands with the man clad in a business suit and takes the envelope which was then held towards him. Silence falls upon the two gentlemen for a brief moment as Chen opens the parcel and takes a quick look over the documents inside.

 

“A hundred and fifty billion dollars sounds a little ridiculous to me…” he comments, pushing back the documents inside and tucks it under his arm, “Are you sure you didn’t find records of the transactions?”

 

The man shakes his head in dismay, “Unfortunately not but some sources tell me that they keep a log of it in their safe, the only problem being that the said safe is inside their home. So, it’s a bit more tricky to gain that kind of information, sir” Chen clicks his tongue and puffs out some air, he runs a hand through his dark locks before turning back to the man with a grave expression on his face “Can you do it or not?”

 

The investigator looks around for a moment then turns back to Chen, “It’ll take much more time, sir”

 

“So, is that a yes or a no?” Chen questions and the man answers him with a brief nod, “Good. And also, I want every dirty little secret that the family has. Scandals, bankruptcy reports, controversies, everything.” He asserts and the man nods his head before heading off. As Chen was about to head off his own way, his eyes catch sight of Baekhyun and Aiden at an ice cream shop. With a few more minutes to spare before he gets back to the office, he decides to approach the two which somehow seemed to have made his colleague panic.

 

“Hey kiddo ~” he exclaims upon entry, ruffling the boy’s hair and takes the free chair beside him just across Baekhyun, “What are you doing here?” the latter asks which makes Chen raise a brow “What’s with the polite tone?”

 

Baekhyun scoffs and rolls his eyes “Can’t I ask a question? Geez…”

 

From the corner of his eyes, Chen beams at a black card resting beside Baekhyun and quickly snags it. “Ha!” he exclaims, “Do me a favor and treat me to some ice cream, okay?” he says and happily skips off to the counter to buy himself a cup.

 

“Mr. Kim Jongdae?” the cashier asks then states the total amount which seemed rather odd, “How do you know my name?” he asks the lady behind the counter, she responds with a smile and hands him back the card along with his order “It says so on your card, sir. Enjoy your ice cream!”

 

With wide eyes, he slowly takes the card and lifts it up to read then sure enough, there was his name plastered onto the front of the card and it takes a few minutes for him to realize that Baekhyun had been using his card, perhaps all day without him even knowing it. As he was about to throw a fit, he only then came to realize how his colleague and the baby were no longer seated on the table where he found them.

 

“Byun. Baek. Hyun.” He hisses.

 

 

KRIS

 

Friday.

 

Fortunately, after the events that took place yesterday which involved Chen, Baekhyun and Chen’s black card, wherein he had trudged into Wu Enterprise and almost choked Baekhyun to death had it not been for the others holding him back and Suho giving them a long lecture how violence does not solve anything which then forced them to bow before Aiden and apologize over a hundred times for their uncanny and barbaric action, I survived and so did my son.

 

And as per agreement to the contract, Hana was not to be informed about any of the events that would take place during its span.

 

It was already around lunch time. Suho, Xiumin and I were sitting around a restaurant enjoying a hefty meal while waiting for Jongin to arrive with Aiden so that he could hand over the babysitting duties to Xiumin for the rest of the afternoon.

 

“By the way, I received an invitation for a party in China… will you be there?” Suho questions me. Tsk, I forgot to check on my e-mails, Meifen must’ve sent me a notice about that, “I suppose.” “You should be” Xiumin adds, taking a quick sip of his lemonade.

 

He seems to know something about this party, “why should I?”

 

“Because,” he begins, “Ms. Wei –a.k.a the loan shark- will be there and it just might be an opportunity for you to talk it out.” “And why should I settle for something that sounds like… begging?” I ask, showing great distaste for the idea but Xiumin doesn’t seem to see my problem with it. He takes a deep breath and sighs, “Kris, I know how much you value your pride but sometimes you have to it up because it may just be the key to prolonging your business and personal net worth”

 

As much as I would hate to admit it, Xiumin has a point and although it sounds like the most scornful thing to ever hear, it just might work.

 

“I’ll be there too… so, I can help you out with it if you want” Suho offers with a smile.

 

Just as I was about to shake my head and ask them to drop the subject, my vision suddenly goes dark as a pair of hands are clasped over my eyes. Raising my hands, I touch the pair and the sweet chuckle enters my ear; however, instead of getting excited and overjoyed by the surprise, I was panicking because…

 

“Guess who?” she asks in a teasing manner and I knew that that voice only belonged to one girl, one female that I knew all too well.

 

“Hana?” I guess and the two hands disappear from my sight, I catch a glimpse of Xiumin and Suho’s bug-eyed expressions before turning around in my seat and find my wife standing before me with a blissful smile on her pretty face. She pecks a kiss on my cheek and her smiles disappears, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost… what’s wrong?”

 

She was here and Aiden was nowhere to be found. .

 

---

 

 

SURPRISE! :D