Kyungsoo repressed a groan when his doctoral supervisor scoffed yet again at his notes and suggested he redo most of them and work harder next time. Kyungsoo nodded politely with a bow before excusing himself to take his leave. His professor was never satisfied with his work no matter how many modifications the doe eyed male made, and it took everything within Kyungsoo not to give up on his doctoral thesis and call it quit for good, every single time they had a meeting together.

The campus was crowded with students of all ages, running around with clear sunken eye-bags that spoke volumes on their sleep deprivation and lack of hydration as they struggled to keep up with hefty deadlines. Kyungsoo stopped for a moment to organize his papers, irritated that he had to redo everything he’s been working so hard on for months now. He nestled his messenger bag under his arm, while simultaneously biting on a notebook and holding the cursed papers with his hands. He tried his best to keep his balance while going through his papers in hope of organizing them based on priority, a few were given the green light by his professor to keep, so he needed to put them apart from the rest.

As he got lost in his scattered papers, Kyungsoo failed to notice a looming figure approaching him with steady steps.

“Need help?”

Kyungsoo jumped in his spot, almost dropping his messenger bag and papers. He glanced up only to come face to face with none other than Kim Junmyeon. A charming smile on his pale face, and a delicate hand outstretched towards Kyungsoo.

“Humph,” Kyungsoo mumbled as a form of response as he was still biting into his notebook, gesturing for Junmyeon to save him from his mess. Junmyeon shook his head in amusement, before taking the bag and papers away from a struggling Kyungsoo. “Thank you.”

“Wan to have coffee together?” Kyungsoo blinked at that for a moment, unsure of whether he was ready to face Junmyeon yet or not. He carefully took back his papers, shuffled them into his bag along with the notebook, before glancing apologetically back at Junmyeon.

“I have plans Junmyeon-ssi.” Kyungsoo pretended to check his phone, before adding. “Thank you for the offer, but I have to go.”

“Alright, that’s fine.” Junmyeon rolled his eyes slightly, clearly not happy with Kyungsoo’s blatant rejection to his generous offer. “I’ll walk you to your car then, I was leaving myself anyways.”

“You don’t have to.” Kyungsoo made a move to start walking, but Junmyeon was fast to stop him in his tracks by moving in front of him with a determined look.

“I insist, Kyungsoo-ssi.”

They walked together in a deafening silence, Junmyeon looking as if he was struggling to voice his thoughts out loud, while Kyungsoo kept his pace fast so he can quickly get into his car and drive as far away as possible from Kim Junmyeon and the stiff tension that came with him. He stole a few glances of Junmyeon’s constipated face, praying the man would struggle voicing those thoughts long enough until they reached the parking lot. Until he was safe enough from the agonizing guilt that washed over him every time Junmyeon’s face popped into his mind, and now that the man was physically beside him, the feeling of guilt intensified.

“How are you, Kyungsoo-ssi?” Junmyeon finally spoke, and Kyungsoo was glad the question was friendly, and held no accusatory tone.

“I’m fine I guess.” Junmyeon pursed his lips with a light nod, brows deeply furrowed, Kyungsoo couldn’t really tell what he meant by that action. Out of politeness, and lack of anything to say, Kyungsoo shot Junmyeon’s question back at him. “What about you, Junmyeon-ssi?”

“Not fine I guess.”

“Oh, why is that?”

“Oh, I don’t know Kyungsoo.” Junmyeon motioned for Kyungsoo to stop for a moment as he moved towards a vending machine. He checked his pocket for change for a while, grunting and cursing under his breath when he found nothing.

“What do you want?” Kyungsoo walked closer to him, carefully extending a few bills towards Junmyeon. “Here, it’s on me.”

“Kyungsoo, why did you dump me?” Junmyeon stood against the wall next to the vending machine, his voice cracking as he struggled to not come off as aggressive or, god forbids, desperate.

“Do you want coffee? Chocolates? Green tea?” Kyungsoo busied himself with the menu, hoping Junmyeon would just drop it already.

“I want an explanation, Kyung!” Junmyeon gritted, clenching his fists, and Kyungsoo sighed in defeat.

“I’m sorry Junmyeon, but I already told you I was in love with someone else, and you still chose to pursue me.”

“He’s already in a committed relationship with someone else, god damn it!” Junmyeon cried out, attracting with his loud voice a few curious glances around them. His words echoing through the hallway walls of the campus, ringing loudly inside of Kyungsoo’s ears like a nausea inducing alarm. “How could you Kyung! Have some self-esteem for god’s sake! I was ready to do anything for you, and you go ahead and dump me only to settle for someone who’s treating you like a ing dirty secret! A sidechick, Kyung, really? Is that all you’re worth?”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes shut at that, not having enough strength to argue back and forth with Kim Junmyeon about his own personal affairs and how he was supposed to mange them. He had a long tiring day, and he was more than ready to retreat back to the comfort of his home.

“Junmyeon, it’s none of your business.”

“He loves Yixing, Kyung. He doesn’t love you. You’re setting yourself up for heartbreak! I don’t understand why you refuse to see it, he’s using you!” 

“Goodbye, Junmyeon.” Kyungsoo felt sick to his stomach as a few students gathered around them, hungry for some gossip as they whispered in each other’s ears discreetly pointing at the two men. He felt insanely embarrassed as he almost sprinted away from Junmyeon. His day was officially ruined, and Kyungsoo felt tears well up in his eyes and blur his vision as Junmyeon’s words swirled in his mind for the rest of his ride home.

♭

Luhan held back a wide grin while simultaneously sipping chamomile tea and spreading tarots cards on the kitchen table. Blonde honey locks reflecting the sun rays that managed to sneakily make way towards the kitchen room. Yixing glanced at his friend, curious to know the reason behind his friend’s sudden grin, but not enough to actually ask him.

It’s been a couple of days of Luhan religiously coming over every single morning to keep Yixing company and entertain him with fun gossip and future business ideas. Thanks to his friend and the lovely maids, the house was crowded enough that he’s barely pumped into Kim Jongin since that awkward night in the kitchen.

They’ve successfully avoided each other for almost a week now, Yixing thought Jongin would be more of a pain in the , and for the longest time, was truly terrified Jongin might dare and call his grandfather to snitch on him. He didn’t, and Yixing was oddly thankful to the younger. His mind kept drifting back to that night in the kitchen, Jongin being vulnerable and almost child-like as he took Yixing’s berating comments with a bowed head and teary eyes.

It was unlike him, unlike the image Yixing had of him. What he did was wrong obviously, but Yixing sort of expected him to own it and fight back. Lie and come up with tons of excuses, anything but apologize and promise to do whatever it took to make Yixing feel safe and comfortable again. He was an arrogant man with a pride the size of his Seoul’s estate, the Kim’s estate was enormous and so was Jongin’s pride. He was known to be selfish and prioritize his own desires over anyone else’s, even his own parents suffered with him. Yixing was confused.

Confused about the Jongin part, but mostly disappointed in himself as he failed to make any progress during these past couple of days with his mother’s case, he was utterly helpless. He had no lead whatsoever, no people to help him and certainly no specific destinations to start with. He attempted asking Meixiang one last time, but the elder head maid politely refused to cooperate and claimed she never met his mother before, since he was born in Seoul and she only got to meet him once he was a one year old child. Yixing didn’t know if she was being honest or not, he couldn’t tell.

He was supposed to find a woman called Mai Lee in Changsha whom he was told in those shady messages he kept on receiving will be a great help to him in finding his mother’s whereabouts. Changsha was no small town; however, as it turned out it was nearly impossible finding this unknown woman with that generic name. Jongin also made him doubt everything he stood by as he previously pointed out the fact that there was no valid reason for him to trust those anonymous tips, Yixing was simply desperate, but he was also logical and thoroughly considered Jongin’s claim in his head.

Yixing’s head hurt as his thoughts quickly rotated back to Kim Jongin and that awful night.

That night was mostly blurry for him, but by the look of it, Jongin wanted to make a scene where Yixing would come off as a nasty cheater who slept with his lover’s brother like figure. He probably filmed the whole thing, and thinking about that now made Yixing’s skin crawl. Last thing he remembered was Jongin’s plump lips against his thighs.

Yixing felt his face heat up and a sense of nausea took over him, he reached his slender hand towards a glass of water, nearly chocking as he gulped the refreshing liquid down. Jongin claimed things stopped at that, and Yixing was forced to believe him for now. Luhan eyed him curiously from across the table, brows raised as he questioned his friend’s sanity.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m leaving today. Will you be okay on your own from now on?”

“I’ll be fine, Lu.”

“Did you talk to Chanyeol?”

“Yes.” Yixing answered on autopilot, sick and tired of hearing that question.

“No, you didn’t.” He didn’t. Quite frankly, Yixing didn’t even think he wanted to talk to his boyfriend anymore, at least not as long as he was in Changsha. He will deal with Chanyeol once he’s back in Seoul.

“I want to ask you something, Luhan Gege.” Yixing didn’t want to talk about Chanyeol, and luckily for him Luhan didn’t push for it.

“Sure.” Luhan took three random tarots cards and positioned them in front of himself on the table. “But first, correct me if I’m wrong. You’re a Libra sun, Libra moon and year of the sheep, right?”

“I think so? I’m not sure about the moon one.”

“What’s your rising?” Yixing blinked at his friend in confusion, pouring himself a cup of tea while making perplexed faces.

“Huh, what does that mean exactly?”

“Never mind then.”

“Why are you asking me about my astrological signs, Lu?”

“So, Kim Jongin is a Capricorn and you’re a Libra, the cards are speaking to me, Xing Xing. You two definitely have something going here. I don’t know about Chanyeol though.”

“Why are you matching Jongin’s astrological sign with mine?” Yixing was genuinely curious. 

“For educational purposes, darling. Don’t worry about it.” Luhan made funny faces as he looked through his tarots guide book for meaning behind the cards he chose, Yixing smiled softly at that. His friend was weird, at times it felt like Luhan was living in his own world, and Yixing envied him for it sometimes, only sometimes. “What did you want to ask me, Xing?”

“You said you disliked Jongin, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“But why make an exception for his friend Sehun? They’re literally joined at the hips, how is Sehun any different from Jongin?”

“Sehun is Jongin’s minion, yes, I admit.” Luhan rolled his eyes at that, and Yixing leaned his cheek against his hand, intrigued by Luhan’s obvious attempt to villainize Jongin and victimize Sehun. “But he’s a sweetheart when Jongin isn’t bossing him around. He’s the most considerate boyfriend I’ve ever been with, we’re always happy until Jongin decides to jump in between us and fill Sehun’s head with disgusting ideas.”

“Sehun is an adult, Gege. He has free will, you can’t blame his lousy passive personality on Jongin.”

“Yes I can, as a matter of fact, I am currently doing it.” Yixing chuckled at his childish friend, taking a sip of his tea while suppressing a teasing smirk from blooming on his face.

“You’re just pressed because Jongin has equal control over Sehun as you, and it pisses you off.”

“Do you have a crush on Kim Jongin or something?” Yixing chocked on his tea, mortified by Luhan’s absurd, and quite offensive, claim. “You seem to be up to the douchebag at my expense, Xing.”

“Wha—“ Yixing chocked even harder when right at that moment Jongin made his way into the kitchen. Luhan glanced up from his cards towards Jongin, taking in the boy who for whatever reason seemed to be in a hurry to leave. He was dressed in all black, hair slicked back and body smelling of expensive cologne. The tanned male looked really good, both Luhan and Yixing couldn’t tear their gazes away from him, following his every move, as the younger gulped down a glass of water across from them. His Adam’s apple bobbing up and down and black dress shirt buttoned halfway down, exposing an immorally toned chest. The action was more than mundane, but his good looks made the scene beyond mesmerizing, which made both boys quit talking for a moment in favour for gawking quietly at the younger.

“I’m going out for the night.”

“Ah, okay, I—Yeah, okay...yeah.” Yixing chocked again, feeling like a deer caught in headlights at Jongin’s sudden attention towards him. He was staring, and Jongin clearly noticed. Luhan snorting at his awkward response didn’t help with the heat that was quickly spreading over his face and neck. “Would you like the chauffeur to drive you somewhere?”

“No thanks, someone’s picking me up.” Jongin fixed his dark velvet blazer for a moment before excusing himself to take his leave. Luhan and Yixing both stared at him until he fully disappeared from their visions, his intoxicating smell lingering behind him like a potion spell.

“You’re drooling, Xing.”

“No, I’m not!”

“He’s too ing hot for a douchebag, it’s not fair.” Luhan pointed out before hurriedly getting off his chair, almost falling over head first against the wooden ground. Luhan practically run towards the window, he was beyond curious to find out who Jongin’s date was.

“I thought you couldn’t stand him.”

“I can’t stand him doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge he’s hot, Yixing.”

“I no longer get you, Lu.”

“You’re quite the modern family man, Xing.” Luhan tsk-tsked, pulling the curtains away so he can have a clearer vision of the outdoor yard. Eyes trained on Jongin’s figure as he smoothly made his way towards the stranger who was picking him up.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, allowing your soon to be husband to go out with other people dressed like that is quite modern of you, not going to lie I didn’t expect this behaviour from you.”

“Are you insane?” Luhan shushed him dramatically, motioning for him to come closer in order to take a look as well.

“It’s a girl.” Yixing couldn’t help it, he was curious. Jongin hasn’t been spending much time in the house for the past couple of days, and Yixing wondered if this was the person with whom Jongin was spending most of his time with. “Who is she?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Luhan gave him a sassy onceover laced with disappointment. Yixing rolled his eyes at his annoying friend, opting to keep his mouth shut and eyes on the girl’s fancy car.

“He’s your husband for god’s sake Yixing, what do you mean you don’t know?”

“He’s not my husband.”

“You’re engaged to be married, Xing. It’s practically the same thing.” The car moved to leave the Zhangs’ property and Luhan made his way back to his chair, a playful grin on his face as he reached out for his tarots guide book once again. “Now, little brother, spill the tea, you really wouldn’t mind him bringing back a random girl in the middle of the night to your room?”

“Why would he bring a girl to my room?”

“You guys are sharing a room, no?”

“Don’t be ridiculous Gege, we sleep on separate floors.”

“Huh, why? Isn’t the whole purpose of this trip to play pretend and get to know each other or something of that sort?”

“Eh, no.” Yixing shook his head at the ridiculous claim. “I told you I had business to do and Jongin simply tagged along. It’s an arranged marriage, it’s not going to happen, I’m—well, Jongin and I, are merely stalling until we can talk some sense into our grandfathers, convince them that their decision, albeit is definitely wise and we respect it, isn’t going to work for us. Also, I’m still in a relationship with Chanyeol, Lu. Why would I sleep in the same room as Jongin, are you crazy?”

“Ah, yes. Park Chanyeol, the man who’s been ghosting you since you set foot in Changsha.”

“All couples have issues, Gege.”

“You two haven’t slept together yet, correct me if I’m wrong?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Just curious.”

“Yeah, well you and Sehun aren’t exactly any better!”

“It’s different. I have personal issues and trauma, the thing is, I don’t want Sehun to sleep with me with no strings attached, I’m not like that. Doesn’t work for me. Never did. You and Chanyeol, however, have been committed to each other for over a year now. You claim you’re in love. I don’t really get it, you’re both attracted to each other yet nobody has made the first move yet.”

“It’s perfectly normal to wait, we simply don’t want to rush things.”

“It’s been over a year, Xing.”

“So? Time means nothing, we have our own pace.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want him to you!”

“Gege, please stop, it’s none of your business.”

“You’re ually frustrated, Xing. Why is he not making a move on you already, you guys practically live together! And don’t even try to tell me that it was your idea to wait, you used to literally your former lovers in club bathrooms!”

“I changed, alright!”

“No, he changed you. It’s a form of control Yixing, you can’t possibly tell me you haven’t noticed!”

“Don’t be stupid, Luhan. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do.” Yixing swiftly got up on his feet and made a beeline towards the exit door, ignoring Luhan’s repeated calls and feeling a heavy weight settle on his chest.

He came back after a while, Luhan was going to head back home to Seoul and Yixing needed to give him one last bone crushing hug and promise him things were going to be alright, that he was more than capable of staying behind in Changsha on his own. After all, it was his own decision to come here, and drag none other than Kim Jongin with him. He pushed a few gift bags against is older friend’s chest, a few for him and others for his mother, before walking him out towards his car.

Yixing rolled his eyes and poked his tongue out at Luhan as the slightly elder threatened him with vulgar promises that if he was ever to even think about ghosting Luhan’s calls and messages once he’s back is Seoul, he will take a plane and come right back to Changsha. Luhan claimed he