Chapter 2

Confusion

The clock struck noon, and not even a second had passed when Baekhyun looked up from his half-way done article to eye the packed lunch placed beside his laptop. Followed by the very familiar laugh that came from an all too familiar dork, the omega knew instantly who it was (not like the lunch box wasn’t enough of a hint) that had decided to step into hell and bother him.

He sighed as he felt the arms of his friend wrap around him, over his shoulders and chest, and leaned back as per habit. The other placed his chin on his head, and Baekhyun could feel the wide smile his friend was sporting.

“I heard you’re having a bad day.” Came the deep voice of his best friend, and now Baekhyun could imagine the sudden flip from a smile to a childish pout.

“Aren’t I always?” He asked, rolling his eyes at the concern displayed from his friend already, but he couldn’t help but feel better now in the arms of comfort, of family (not really, but that’s how it felt to him), of his best mate. “Chanyeol-ah, there’s no need to worry, your sources must’ve caught me when I was a bit grumpy.” The journalist placed his hands on those of his friend’s much larger ones and squeezed for a second before removing the arms of the younger from the hold he currently had him in. There were enough rumors from other offices and enough teasing from Kyungsoo; he did not need more proof for something that didn’t even exist.

Chanyeol’s pout deepened, and when Baekhyun turned around in his chair, he only chuckled at the typical kiddy behavior the giant was displaying. The ginger, as he had declared himself, stood up and stretched a bit, his eyes roaming around the office until they landed on his other best friend, who was too succumbed in work at the moment and probably hadn’t heard the clock.

“Go get Kyungie, I don’t feel like eating in the office today.” The older ordered with a pointed finger towards the wide-eyed man in his working space, “Tell Jongin he can join us if he wants to, I recon it’s something Kyungie would hate.” He added with a grin as Chanyeol had taken just one step in the direction of the work-immersed Kyungsoo. The big-eared man chuckled lightly and shook his head but he walked over nonetheless, placing his hands inside his hoodie’s pockets.

“Soo-hyung!” Chanyeol called loudly, grinning widely at the man as he approached his second favorite "hyung".

---

Tao discarded the jacket on the couch and sat right on top of it. He tilted his head back and rested it before bringing his arm over his closed eyes as a sign of fatigue.

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for a date with our hot boss, Tao?” A blonde model asked, walking in and standing in front of a mirror that reflected Tao for him to see while he fixed his makeup.

Tao sighed deeply as a response, concerning the older man, but then he replied with a question of his own, “Ge… do you think there is no chance for Gege and I?”

The other sighed deeply and sat on the coffee table in front of Tao, leaning over and placing his elbows on his knees, “Did something happen?”

It took sometime before the younger of the two dropped his arm from his eyes to his side, showcasing the pair of dark lined and teary eyes, “He cancelled, said he was going out with her.” He bit his lip, and this had his friend immediately pulling him into his arms. The older knew it was not right to give hope to the younger when it came to romantic matters and their boss, but it was hard to say anything negative when he knew he would have to face the precious tears of his panda, and not out of glee.

The pair of friends stayed in the gentle embrace for a while, Tao letting his tears fall though in a quiet manner as he did not want to start sobbing because of something so stupid. Really, it was a miracle his crush had suggested to have lunch without Chanyeol or someone else in their office, he had been hoping for too much from someone he knew only saw him as a little brother.

The moment was broken thereafter with three gentle knocks, followed by a, “Luhan-ge?” then the owner of the voice slowly opened the door and peeked in. When his eyes landed on the pair, they widened; this was his first official day, and so far, he had seen nothing but smiles from Tao, so this was shocking to him. The male swiftly walked in, making sure to close the door behind him before walking over and sitting next to the pair, only then the eyes of the youngest meeting his.

“Tao, are you alright?” the question surprised both Luhan and Tao as it came out filled with concern. They were acquainted, yes, but even then, very few alphas actually displayed genuine worry for anyone they had just met.

Tao untangled himself from Luhan, because even though he really wanted to just snuggle and silently cry himself to sleep until lunch was over in the arms of his ge, society rules stated that anyone above you, meaning all alphas in his case, was granted respect at all times. So, the youngest wiped the tears running down his cheeks with the back of his hand and nodded, giving the alpha a tight smile.

“Don’t worry Lay- I mean, Yixing-ge, it’s nothing…” He murmured softly. And he thought that like any other alpha, the other would nod and give him his space, so when the other placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled, showcasing a beautiful, deep dimple, he couldn’t help but nod and believe what the other told him.

“If you ever need another set of arms, I wouldn’t mind,” Yixing had replied with, squeezing his shoulder, “And I’m a great listener too. But I won’t force it, don’t worry.”

Tao nodded again and smiled more truthfully this time.

“Well… since you don’t have plans for lunch today, how about we go eat together?” Luhan asked Tao before his eyes returned to Yixing, “And you can join us if you’d like.”

“What about Sehun?” Tao asked, “Don’t you usually have lunch with him?”

At the question, Yixing could only blink a few times as he was new to the company and was not well acquainted with many people. In fact, if it had not been the boss himself who scouted him, he probably would not even know him. As for Luhan, he just shrugged, “It’s his day off, and he figured he should probably catch up with some studying or something.”

Tao’s eyes widened and he stared at Luhan for a while before asking, very comically at that, “Sehun actually studies?”

Luhan sighed and stood up, shaking his head, “How should I know? He might just be using that as an excuse to laze around all day at home or something. Now C’mon, I’m getting hungrier by the second.”

Tao nodded and stood up, “Yixing-ge, are you joining us?”

Yixing nodded, a soft smile in place, “It’d be nice.”

---

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow as his boss walked out of his office, listening to Joonmyeon update him on some things as he fell in step alongside the boss.

“Why are you staring at Kris like that?” Jongin asked, flicking his hyung’s forehead.

“I’m surprised, it’s all. Tao isn’t by his side already.” Baekhyun responded with a shrug, fingers coming up to touch his forehead as if he had just registered the flick on his forehead by the younger, “Did you just flick my forehead?” he asked incredulously, his eyes widening and glaring at the tanned boy.

Jongin chuckled nervously and shook his head, taking shelter behind the amused Chanyeol, “No hyung! I would never do such thing! I didn’t do it, right Chanyeol-hyung?” to which Chanyeol smirked, “I don’t like lying to Baekkie, Kai.”

Baekhyun’s eye twitched, he did not approve of Jongin’s “cute” antics. And to think he was even helping the boy spend more time with Kyungsoo, all for what? All this ungratefulness? Unbelievable, really unbelievable. So, when Kyungsoo walked over to them after dropping off a document to Jongdae, Baekhyun did what any normal Baekhyun would do. He linked his arms with the wide-eyed male and walked off without a word to the other two. Chanyeol would follow, their food at hand, that was a given. Jongin, well… for all Baekhyun cared, he could go cry to Mama Suho.

When Baekhyun sat down on one of the benches at the roof and pulled down a rather silent Kyungsoo, as predicted, he was followed by Jongin and Chanyeol. Jongin opened up his own lunch and begun to dig in without waiting for the others, while Chanyeol took care of opening his prepared lunch box for Baekhyun and setting it in a way that was easy for Baekhyun to access while the alpha could still take a few bites from things here and there; he never really ate much around lunch time, he snacked too often during working hours. And Kyungsoo, he pretty much did the same as Jongin, except he actually waited for Baekhyun to take a bite before he begun.

“So where are we going tomorrow night?” Kyungsoo asked Baekhyun. Per habit, since their college days, every Saturday night Chanyeol, Baekhyun and he would get together and go out for some fun. Whether it’d be clubs, movies after dinner, or some late night stroll through the park, it was a tradition they hadn’t changed. There were exceptions sometimes, as it wasn’t always the greatest date for one of them, but most Saturday the three could be found together from afternoon to midday Sunday as they slept over at Kyungsoo or Baekhyun’s place after their hang outs.

“I was thinking of going clubbing, we haven’t done that in a while. And Jongin can even come this time around if he wants.” Baekhyun replied, tapping his lower lip with his chopsticks a few times, “Though, I might need to go shopping before we go… Well, what do you guys think?”

Kyungsoo nodded, rolling his eyes when Jongin excitedly said, “I’m in!”

When Chanyeol remained silent, the trio looked at him, as he was unusually unenthusiastic about something Baekhyun had said.

“Yeol?”

“Chanyeol?”

“Hyung?”

The giant grinned at them, then rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled sheepishly, “Sorry… um, I won’t be able to this week. I promised noona’s boyfriend I’d go to a concert with him tomorrow night.”

Baekhyun nodded, chewing the food in his mouth before saying, “That’s fine, Bom-noona will probably get mad if you don’t go anyways.”

Chanyeol chuckled once more and nodded, taking a roll from one of the containers with his chopsticks and flying it straight to his mouth.

It took mere seconds for Baekhyun to start up a lively conversation, starting from the gossip trending online to the gossip within their own office. Things that were completely random, honestly; they varied from “And I heard that the new model is a y piece of , is that true Yeol?” to “And like, she actually dared to say I had gotten the brand wrong. Like, no , I know my fashion!”

---

Yixing chuckled at the pout Tao was displaying, completely oblivious to the fact that he had whipped cream from his cupcake smeared over his cheek.

“Ge! It’s not funny!” Tao pouted even more, stomping his foot under the table.

“Sure Tao, keep telling yourself that.” Luhan replied, chuckling lightly as he wiped off the cream from the alpha’s cheek, earning a cheeky grin from the alpha.

“But ge! It’s not-“

“It’s not what, baby Panda?” Luhan teased, earning a soft chuckle from Yixing before both blinked at the suddenly Tao staring somewhere behind them. His gaze seemed to be directed at the line to the ordering counter, Luhan noted, and both he and Yixing looked over.

“Oh…” Luhan said, snapping back to look at Tao who was now taking his stuff to then stand up.

“We should get going ge… I’ll wait by the car…” he said with a shaky smile, tears forming at the corner of his lips, before he stalked away to the exit.

“What happen-“

“Let’s go.” Replied Luhan, hurrying to throw away their trash and following after Tao.

Yixing said no more, recognizing the panic in Tao as something worrisome and alarming. Though he was confused completely as to how the sight was alarming to Tao and Luhan.

Because that was clearly just his boss chatting happily with some blonde lady.