“The chief executive officer of Zhang Enterprise is expecting your presence on the upcoming meeting,” Minseok calmly says, repeating the red circles on his calendar, tucked in his hands. “Do you agree on attending the meeting, sir?”

Apparently, Wu Yifan has better things to do rather than attending some blunt meeting – he recently discovered one person who gives him this strange feeling of excitement and all he could think is that he wants to see that person again. His secretary, Minseok, simply, disagrees.

“When is my next meeting with Byun Baekhyun?” He peeks over Minseok’s shoulder, trying to get a view of the calendar. “I wanna see him again.”

“Sir, Zhang Enterprise is currently the best shareholder in the city. We would have an advantage if we –”

“Shh,” Yifan tilts his head to his left, placing his index finger on his lips. “You hear that?”

Minseok wants to punch his own face. “Hear what?”

“Can’t you hear it?” Yifan teases, “It’s the amount of s I give.”

His secretary frowns. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly; neither do I.” Yifan smirks in triumph. “Now let me go and see Byun Baekhyun again.”

Fame had flamed him with words that he never meant to say and society’s acceptance had burned the person he never meant to hurt.

Concupiscence and adoration entwined, Chanyeol could not begin to explain how much he yearns for the presence of this man in front of him, crying over the two little boys and Chanyeol stands there, perplexed. Questions run around in his head, darting down to his mouth before his brain approves; a small ‘Why?’ is by the tip of his tongue – one word that needed millions of explanations. 

“Appa was so worried,” His fingers twitch at those words. Chanyeol is somehow frightened of what would arrive next. “Don’t you ever do that to appa again…”

He looks stunning, as ever. The Byun Baekhyun whom he knew back then was shy, small and gentle, beautiful, soft strands of hair falling against his forehead, with his smile tucked slightly upwards on his face. Even as years passed, even if Baekhyun has changed, physically – light brown hair ran through his slender fingers, pink lips wet and figure small, but strong – deep inside, Chanyeol is sure that he, Byun Baekhyun is still the boy he first fell in love with. He’s panting, he was running, he’s panicking, his breaths come out fast and rapid, though he pays no mind to Chanyeol who has been standing, frozen by the lollipop stand.

“Baek…” Chanyeol gulps, “Baekhyun?”

The latter snaps his head up to the sound of his voice so fast that Chanyeol thinks he heard something crack. And with no consent of himself, Chanyeol’s legs and feet bring him nearer to the man he once loved and put to shame. Baekhyun looks fairly shocked, himself, standing up straight and bringing the two boys nearer to his figure. At the sight of the small children, Chanyeol instinctively searches for a possible ring on Baekhyun’s fingers. There were none. Chanyeol breathes a sigh of relief out.

“Hi,” Baekhyun smiles awkwardly. “It’s quite odd to be seeing you here, Mr Park.”

Mr Park; Chanyeol wants to scoff. They’re back to formalities again?

“I just had some stuff to buy, for Chaeyoung,” He scratches his head. One of the boys in Baekhyun’s embrace starts to whimper softly, tugging at Baekhyun’s shirt for attention. Chanyeol wants to ask, wants to question, but he bites his tongue. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Baekhyun’s lips are thin as he purses them, nodding before he carries one of those boys in his arms. “Well, I should go…”

“Wait!” Chanyeol reaches out and yanks on Baekhyun’s hand so hard that he almost drops the boy clinging onto him. Baekhyun glares at him and he stills. “I… About that phone call the other night, I –”

“I thought we were over that,” Baekhyun softly says. “I thought we were over.”

That sentence hit Chanyeol hard, so hard that he backs away. “I’m sorry.” And he was sorry for a lot of things. “For the phone call; I’m sorry.”

“Appa,” The boy whines, “Appa…”

Baekhyun’s grim expression softens as he smiles; warm, before he plants a small kiss on the boy’s head. “Okay,” Baekhyun whispers against thin, brown hair. “Just a minute, okay?”

Chanyeol finally, finally finds the guts to speak up. “Who… Who are they?”

“Them?”

Baekhyun’s face brightens at the mention of the twins and ever so subtly, he grins and shyly swipes his hair behind his ears. “They’re—”

His phone rings so loudly that the boys jump, startled and Baekhyun is immediately shut off, small mouth gaped open as the device continues to vibrate in his front pocket. Chanyeol merely apologizes before fishing out his phone and stares at the words appearing on the screen.

“It’s my fiancée,” He says, unintentionally – but reaches Baekhyun’s ears. Chaeyoung’s pretty face on the screen remains.

The smaller man looks dejected, but he complies and bows. “Ah… You should answer that. I’ll be going now.”

“No, wait—Baekhyun!” He cries out, but Baekhyun is already out of his sight. “.”

He takes two steps backwards before clicking on the answer button and runs his fingers in his hair, frustrated – also, somehow heartbroken.