Baekhyun stares at the tall man standing at the door, unsure of what to do or say. He blinks as he watches Kris’ smile disappear the longer they stand in silence; and his breath catches in his throat when the taller male takes a step forward in his direction. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t sound so anxious, Baek,” Kris says, crossing the length of the shop towards the baker. “I mean no harm.”

Baekhyun matches each of Kris’ forward steps with a step backwards. He inwardly groans when his back hits the wall, and is suddenly thankful for the counter separating the two of them. “That’s close enough,” he says quietly, eyeing Kris warily when the taller male nods and leans forward to rest his forearms on the counter. 

“I never thought I’d see you again,” Kris says softly, looking around the shop and then back at Baekhyun. He smiles, and from all the Baekhyun knows about him, it appears to be a genuine smile. “You know, when you left I tried to look for you.”

Baekhyun raises his eyebrows in silent questioning. 

“No one would tell me where you went though. They all said they didn’t know,” Kris laughs bitterly. “Of course, I knew that they all knew… They just didn’t want me to know.”

“Why?” Baekhyun asks, furrowing his eyebrows and crossing his arms across his chest. “Why would you even look for me?”

Kris sighs and turns to walk towards one of the tables in the corner. He pulls out a chair and sits, and smiles when he looks up to find Baekhyun taking tentative steps towards him. Baekhyun doesn’t sit across from him, but rather, stands leaning against the wall with his arms still folded. “We didn’t end things very well,” Kris says, looking down at his hands folded together atop the table. Baekhyun scoffs. “I just wanted to clear things up…get some closure, ya know? I just… I wanted to talk to you.”

“And I wouldn’t have wanted to talk to you,” Baekhyun replied blankly. “We didn’t have anything more to talk about. I’m not sure we still do.”

“Come on, Baek,” Kris all but begs, “please. If not for you, then for me. I really need the closure.”

Baekhyun sighs and pushes himself off of the wall, and then circles around the table and stands behind the chair. “If you’re looking for forgiveness, Kris… Then fine, you’re forgiven. You can leave now.”

“Baekhyun…”

“What do you want from me?” Baekhyun yells, feeling his self-restraint slipping. “What do you–”

“What the are you doing here?”

Baekhyun turns around and widens his eyes when he sees his friend, seething, standing by the door. Jongdae’s hands are fisted into the plastic bags he’s holding at his side, and he’s shaking, radiating anger. Baekhyun’s sure that if this were a cartoon, Jongdae’s head would be enlarged and red, and there would be puffs of smoke coming from his head. “Jongdae…”

“I asked you,” Jongdae yells, tossing the bags onto the ground and storming towards Kris, “what the are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to talk to Baekhyun.”

Jongdae grabs the Chinese man by the collar and pulls him up from the seat. “He has nothing to say to you,” Jongdae says, “Leave. Now.” 

Kris stumbles back when he’s shoved by Jongdae, and holds a hand up, making to take a step towards Baekhyun when he catches Jongdae’s irate gaze. “Fine,” he says, holding his hands up, “I’ll go.” He walks towards the door, pausing to send a pleading look at Baekhyun, and then exhales as he pulls on the handle and exits. 

Jongdae watches the taller male walk down the street, and only when he sees him turn the corner does he turn on Baekhyun. “What the were you thinking?” he asks through gritted teeth.

“Jongdae, calm down,” Baekhyun replies dejectedly. 

“Calm down?” Jongdae walks over and grabs Baekhyun’s shoulders, turning him to face him. “Calm down?”

“Yes!” Baekhyun shouts, pushing Jongdae away from him. “I’m fine, Jongdae! Nothing happened, okay?”

“This time!” Jongdae yells back, raising his voice, making Baekhyun flinch. “Nothing happened this time.”

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun sighs, sliding a hand over his face, “I’m tired, okay? I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Please… just let it go.”

Jongdae watches as Baekhyun turns and heads into the kitchen, where he knows the brunet will proceed to bake until he’s able to calm himself down. Jongdae, however, doesn’t have such an outlet. He turns and stares at the door as if Kris were still there, standing in their shop, and yells in anger as he grabs the closest thing he can get his hands on to toss across the room. His anger dissolves as the glass tip jar hits the opposite wall and breaks, and is replaced with fear. Jongdae feels the strength leave his legs as he slides down on the ground, choking back a sob. He glances over his shoulder, towards the closed doors leading to the kitchen. “I’ll protect you this time, Baekhyun,” he whispers as tears begin sliding down his face. “I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

“I thought I’d find you out here.”

Chanyeol turns around and smiles at his sister, who stands leaning against the doorframe of the front door holding two glasses in her hands. “Where are the boys?”

“Mom’s giving them a bath,” Yoora replies, holding out a glass to him. “So, the boys tell me you’ve been seeing someone?” 

Chanyeol accepts the glass of lemonade from his sister and scoots over, giving her room beside him on the porch steps. “They did, did they?”

“Well,” Yoora says, sitting down and stretching her legs out in front of her, “they didn’t say that you were seeing someone, exactly…but both Jongin and Sehun have been mentioning a certain Uncle Bacon a lot since you’ve all got here.” Yoora side-glances at Chanyeol and smirks around her glass. “So tell me about him.”

Chanyeol can barely contain his excitement as he turns himself to face his sister. “He’s great, Yoora. Even better than great! He’s kind and smart and beautiful, and he’s such an amazing cook. He’s so good with the boys and oh my God, Yoora, he makes amazing cheese bread. He’s just…he’s amazing.”

Yoora chuckles. “He sounds like a great guy.”

“He