“I’m going to kill you.” Jongin hisses to the other line. His grasp on the cell phone is so tight that his knuckles are red, yet his contorted face softens when he glances at the way Junhyun stare at him in wonder. “Minseok, I swear, the next time I’ll be seeing you will also be the last because I will kill you.”

“I’m sorry!” There comes a helpless squeak. Jongin could already picture the pitiful look on Minseok’s face as he apologizes. “There was nothing that I could do! Yixing was looking forward to having a nice dinner but then he texted me saying that he saw my boss sitting with someone on the table that we reserved…”

Jongin glares at his own phone, knocking his spatula on the pan full of stir fried broccoli. Jaehyun is too dangerously close to the stove, peeking curiously at the sizzling pan as he stands on the tip of his toes. He sighs in defeat before he slows down the heat, carrying the toddler with one arm as he heads to the living room where he continues to shout into his phone.

Half an hour ago, Jongin received a text from Mr. Byun. A few sentences completely on caps lock filled with angry emoticons (and a terrifying threat on Jongin’s monthly salary, for some reason) when he realized that Mr. Byun’s blind date was the last person that Jongin wants the man to be seen with.

From: Mr. Byun

I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU. OH MY GOD. HOW DARE YOU. I KNEW I SHOULDN’T TRUST YOU ON THIS. WHY IS MR. WU SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME? GREAT NOW HE’S CHOKING ON HIS FOOD. WHAT IS THIS BETRAYAL, KIM JONGIN. I HOPE YOU LIKE WORKING AT MCDONALDS BECAUSE I WILL FIRE YOU. I SWEAR TO GOD.

“Minseok! You told me that your friend, Yixing is a decent, nice man! Does he even exist?” Jongin grunts, running back to the kitchen before his broccolis are burnt. “You probably just lied to my face, didn’t you?”

“He does exist! And he’s a nice man!” The man on the other line whines. “I’m so sorry that my boss had to ruin all of this. He can be so stubborn sometimes, he just won’t listen!”

Jongin grits his teeth. “You know, I won’t be the one who will get fired and end up working at McDonalds. I will drag you there with me. Mark my words, Kim Minseok.”

Minseok continues to cry, begging him for mercy. “I am a victim of this situation…”

Jongin sighs, slapping his palm on his forehead. “Honestly, we both are.”

“I just hope my boss isn’t suffocating your boss too much.”

Jongin stares at Mr. Byun’s threatening text as he doubts Minseok’s words. His boss is definitely suffocating right now, and Jongin has a feeling that he will end up working at McDonalds.

—

“I’m going to kill Jongin. I swear to god, I’m going to ing castrate him.”

Kris only continues to sip on his iced tea, sighing when the wedding planner couldn’t stop rambling on how bad he wanted to kill his personal assistant. It seems like said wedding planner has forgotten all about the fancy dinner and blind date, judging by the way he’s constantly stabbing the innocent piece of salmon on his plate with a butter knife.

“Relax, Baekhyun. It’s just a dinner date with me, your husband,” Kris rolls his eyes dramatically, satisfied when he catches the surprised look in the wedding planner’s eyes. “You’re acting like it’s such a bad thing to be having dinner with me.”

“There must be some kind of mistake here. Jongin hates your guts. ing despises you.” Baekhyun almost yells in confusion, angrily shoving the (finely sliced, by yours truly, Kris Wu) salmon into his mouth. “I bet you’re not even supposed to be here. Ha! I bet you kidnapped my original date and replaced him. Or her. I don’t know. Repent on your sins, you bastard.”

“Wow, you curse a lot when you’re not with your kids.” Kris stares at him in awe before laughing fondly. “In all seriousness, Jongin doesn’t know that I’m here. Actually, my personal assistant’s friend was supposed to be your date but why would he go on a blind date with my husband? That's just absurd, so I told him to order some Chinese food and do that Netflix and chill thing all alone while I have this decent dinner with you.”

“I’d rather have a nice dinner with your personal assistant’s friend or your personal assistant himself than being here with you.” Baekhyun snorts. “But…”

“But what?”

“I do have something to tell you.”

The way Baekhyun’s small smile drops so swiftly makes Kris anxious all of a sudden as he waits for the wedding planner to finish drinking his wine. “What is it?”

“Chaeyoung…” Baekhyun pauses, both men aware of the fact that Kris immediately drops his fork and knife, stiffening at the mention of the soon-to-be married woman. “She came to see me the other day, crying and everything. She told me that Chanyeol was cheating on her. Said that he came home at four in the morning and refused to tell her where he went.”

Kris scoffs at this, laughing sarcastically as if to show that he doesn’t care. “So? Don’t you think she deserved that kind of treatment? It’s only fair; she cheated on Chanyeol with me. She almost had a child with me. And now she’s whining about Chanyeol’s new ?”

Baekhyun frowns, clearly uncomfortable at the way the other customers are eyeing them—Kris, particularly, who is having a heated conversation. “Kris—”

“What did Chanyeol do, hm? Had some drinks with a girl?” Kris questions provokingly, voice rising each minute. “Stared at his pretty secretary? What? What did he do?”

“He was with me, Kris!” Baekhyun exclaims, slamming his hand onto the table. The glass of wine shakes, resembling the wedding planner’s eyes. “Chanyeol… He was with me that night.”

Kris stops in his endless complaint, chest heaving as he glances at the exasperated man in front of him. The waiters are staring at them at this point, judging by the way Baekhyun is fidgeting. He sighs, pulling out his wallet and places a few bills on the table before he stands and covers the wedding planner’s shoulders with his coat. “Let’s go.”

Baekhyun hesitates at first, before he buries himself in the large coat with a resigned sigh.

“You could probably guess how guilty I felt when she was practically crying on me,” Baekhyun shrugs, clutching onto Kris’ coat that’s draped over him as both of the men walk along the riverbank. “I can’t believe I almost ruined a wedding that I’m supposed to plan on.”

The taller man stretches his hands as he walks ahead, inhaling the evening breeze before he stops in his pace, startling the wedding planner when he spins around. “I don’t think you should feel guilty. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Well, technically, it is. Half of it is,” Baekhyun says. Despite it being a fine evening, there aren’t many people strolling along Han River. He shouts in frustration, earning a surprised look from the taller man before him. “I hate what love does to people! Love is stupid!”

Kris chuckles, hands tucked in his pockets as he leans his back against the railing, watching as the smaller man shouts at the river. “Is this some kind of a therapy session?”

Baekhyun laughs softly, perhaps realizing how silly he looks—screaming at the river like that. “A few years ago, when I found out that one of my sons was deaf, I ran away. I went to a riverbank nearby and shouted for hours. It made me feel better in a way. You should try it sometimes.”

“Why not just talk to someone?” Kris turns around to face the calm river—slow waves contradicting the beat of his heart. “That’s better than shouting at a lonely river, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t have anyone to talk to.” The smaller man murmurs, looking evidently smaller in Kris’ coat. “I still don’t, I think.”

Talk to me, the man almost says, before he hears Baekhyun sighing as if he’s about to break down any minute. “Honestly, Byun, I don’t think you did anything wrong.”

“You didn’t see the way she cried,” Baekhyun grumbles, hitting his clenched fists on the railings. “She was having so many doubts that she changed her mind about the wedding.”

Kris freezes, genuinely surprised. “She wants to postpone the wedding?”

“No. She wants it to be a few months earlier, so that she could get everything over with.” The wedding planner hides his face in his palms, groaning. “I don’t know what else to do…”

How can the silly girl want everything to be a few months earlier? They have already set the date for the venue, the band, the flowers, the photographers—everything. “That’s just impossible.”

“Kris, you own the hall that the wedding will be held in. Can’t you do something about it?” Baekhyun practically almost begs with his eyelashes damp and cheeks flushed. He looks completely lost. “Everything else is reserved, t-they said all the dates are full, I-I tried calling them but they’re rejecting my calls on purpose—”

“We’ll talk to her,” Kris says, trying to assure the smaller man that everything will be okay. “The both of us. We’ll talk to Chaeyoung, try to tell her that the venue is fully booked and there’d be no photographers. When’s the next appointment?”

Baekhyun seems to visibly calm down; breathing slowly as his eyes adverts to the river once again. “Tomorrow morning.”

The taller man smiles as he nods. He leans in to place a quick kiss on the wedding planner’s cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

Baekhyun jumps a little, flinching away. He clears his throat before he tugs on his suit jacket, smiling slightly. “See you.”

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