[A note from me in the end <3 ]

Baekhyun was counting every second.

Every single tick of the white, round clock on the wall. 

It was slowly numbering minutes till the lunch break, that Baekhyun had passed waiting beside his desk, and the minutes he has yet to pass there. It's actually been a while since he started doing this. And it looked like he was going to do it for a while more. At least he thought so, quite desperately.

As strange as it would seem, he counted minutes not because he was that hungry, although certain need to fill his stomach with something warm was certainly there. The real problem was that he has been sitting in the corner of Chanyeol's office for two hours now, throwing occasional glances at the general manager's crouched profile, and asking himself what was he, Byun Baekhyun, doing there in the first place. 

What was he doing there?

Two hours back, Baekhyun was striding confidently out of the elevator to the marketing team's office, having a nice morning, ready to start working on the advertisement plans. With a small thought of giving Chanyeol a break today. But then he was stopped right at his tracks. Jongin was waiting for him there, leaning on the wall beside the office and smiling excitedly.

That smiledi didn't give Baekhyun any suspicions.  

Then.

"Hyung." Jongin greeted cheerfully. "Come with me for a sec."

Baekhyun was a little surprised by the suddenness of the invitation, but followed after jumpy Jongin either way. Like, what did he have to be afraid of? What bad could have Jongin done to him, except uhm, maybe leaving Baekhyun locked with the person who probably hates him after yesterday and kind of ignores his existence?! Of course not.

Yes, exactly that.

 But Baekhyun didn't know it then, and calmly followed Jongin to wherever the taller was taking him. The path was painfully familiar, and Baekhyun soon found himself walking into Chanyeol's office, a little surprised of why, yet still calm.

"Yeollie!" Jongin waved cheerfully at the concentrated Chanyeol by the desk. The latter rose his head to look at his visitors, and Baekhyun could see a glint of discomfort when their eyes met.

Of course, it was to be expected. Yesterday was still quite fresh in both of their memories.

"What are you doing?"

"Reviewing proposals for a new product." Chanyeol answered seriously as leaned back onto his chair, and rubbed his tired eyes. He looked as if he would use a long and continous nap for a few days. "What are you doing here though, Jongin? Shouldn't you be meeting our sponsors now?"

Before answering, Jongin ushered Baekhyun to sit in front of Chanyeol, and plopped down happily onto the other black leather chair right beside him. 

"The meeting is postponed." he chirped at the two others, and then threw in a proud smirk. "And I'm here, because I have an idea, Yeollie."

Hearing that, Baekhyun raised his eyebrows, while Chanyeol tilted his head in question. Both were equally surprised because of their co-workers or best friend's randomness.

"Oh come on." Jongin pouted like a child and blew a raspberry, clearly expecting some kind of excitement from the spectators. "It's an awesome one, I promise. Useful to both of you."

Baekhyun highly doubted that now.

"What is it?" Chanyeol asked carefully, although his thoughts seemed to be on the same page as Baekhyun.

The chocolate-eyed male squinted his eyes at the other two, one waiting for an answer, and the other one clearly uncomfortable. He looked a little bit disgruntled at the way Baekhyun and Chanyeol reacted to his words, but decided to tell them anyway. Afterall, they could only understand the awesomeness of his idea after knowing it, right? 

"So." he coughed, still a little grumpy but willing to speak. "I was thinking about what Chanyeol told me the other day. You know, about the advertising plans? Baekhyun working on them?"

Chanyeol nodded, while Baekhyun let out a polite "yes". This was already going in a worrisome way.

"So, I was thinking." Jongin said as he laced his fingers on his lap. "Baekhyun doesn't have that much experience in the company yet. And even though he's talented, I believe he still feels a little lost, as anyone in a new workplace would. He probably has tons of questions that need an answer, but he doesn't always have someone to pose them to. So I thought again - who better than you, Yeollie, could answer those questions?"

"But I said yes already." Chanyeol agreed, looking confusedly at Jongin. "So why are you asking me again? I agreed."

"Well, you said yes to helping Baekhyun," Jongin said with a smile, and leaned forward. "But not to letting him work in your office for two months. And that is exactly what I came up with."

"Huh?" Chanyeol's eyes widened, and so did Baekhyun's. "I-in my office?"

Excuse me, Kim Jongin?!

"Yep." Jongin nodded happily and quickly took out his phone. "I just talked to Mr. Park about bringing Baekhyun's desk over. He should be here any sec- oh, that's probably him!"

There was a knock on the door while Jongin spoke, and the male jumped up to trot to the door cheerfully and let in two men, carrying the desk.

Meanwhile Baekhyun and Chanyeol both wore same expressions of utter shock as they watched what was going on. Chanyeol's was that of a stunned child's, unsure what to do and a little mind-blown. Baekhyun's was more like in between "what the hell is going on" and "can somebody stop the idiot like now".

But Jongin happily occupied himself with deciding Baekhyun's desk new location.

"Somewhere here... yeah, to the right from Yeollie's... not that close..okay, perfect!" Jongin cheered as he turned to see the other two's faces. "Do you like the spot, Baekhyun hyung?"

"I...I d-don't know.." Baekhyun stuttered, not knowing what to say, and threw a nervous glance at Chanyeol.

 Obviously, Chanyeol looked lost and a little speechless, seeing Jongin rearrange his office to his liking without asking for any consent whatsoever. But then again, he didn't look angry or mad for that matter. There wasn't even a spark of anger or annoyance in those big, brown eyes of the guy, and Baekhyun was once again lost.

He didn't get it. Anyone, especially someone who has such a high position in any company, would get mad for stuff like that. Scream at people. Maybe even insult Jongin. Nobody would look at others changing their office to their own accord calmly, just because the other person was their best friend, or even their parents, for God's sake.

It just didn't make any sense. 

Yet Chanyeol did sit silent, and let Jongin do whatever he wanted. He didn't object, and neither he showed any emotion.

"Uhm.. Could I talk to you in private for a second, team leader?" Baekhyun asked politely, giving Chanyeol a look to make sure he wasn't offended for not being invited to their conversation.

Luckily, the taller looked more interested in the additional desk at the corner of his office, than conversations with them.

"Sure, Baekhyun hyung." Jongin nodded, and pointed at the door. "We'll be right back, Yeollie."

The two of them left the office together with two desk carriers, and as soon as those were gone, Baekhyun gave Jongin a kicked puppy's look.

"What are you doing, team leader?.." he asked in a sorrowful voice.

"Isn't this great, hyung?" Jongin asked, clearly not aware of Baekhyun's internal struggle. "You can be next to Chanyeol constantly now! It will be much easier to get closer with him."

"Yeah, but the problem is we're not close yet." Baekhyun whined as he looked up at Jongin pleadingly." We're awkward. Especially since yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?"

"I asked Chanyeol a few questions, and he looked absolutely lost and shocked because of them. He told me to leave after, too."

"So what? Just ask him later then."

"But team leader... how do I become friends with him, when he is keeping his distance like that?." Baekhyun asked, upset. "He doesn't even want to see me, I guarantee you that."

"He does, Baekhyun hyung. All you got to do is spend more time with him, and that's exactly what I asked him to let you into his office. You can use this chance to your advantage now, right?"

"I don't know how." Baekhyun shook his head and closed his eyes while leaning on the wall beside Chanyeol's door. He was starting to feel cornered. "Chanyeol is avoiding me now. I made him think about things he would rather not think about, and he considers me uncomfortable. Strange and uncomfortable. And now, getting stuck with me everyday in that office is going to make him think that I am also part of his jail. He will never want to be friends with me, then."

Jongin's face was getting sourer and sourer as Baekhyun spoke. 

"He doesn't like me. And I think I should stay away for a bit now, because-"

"So what you are going to do, then, Baekhyun?" Jongin cut him off, voice scarily low. "Sit around in the office, earn money, and feed me the excuse of Chanyeol disliking you?"

Baekhyun could only shake his head.

"No, team leader, but I don't think I can-"

"Baekhyun, we made a deal to help Chanyeol." Jongin said, eyes dark.

"I know.."

"And you're cowering now."

Baekhyun opened his mouth, trying to object, but Jongin just scoffed at him.

"I trusted you to help my best friend, yet it looks like you don't even want to put any efforts in that. That's pathetic."

"I want to!" Baekhyun pushed himself off the wall, offended by Jongin's mean words. "I'm just trying to be careful, because locking me up with Chanyeol in one room won't solve anything! It will just make him hate me more."

Suddenly, in the moment of anger, Jongin slammed his palm onto the wall, and the harsh sound made Baekhyun flinch in fear. Jongin looked dissatisfied, eyes dark and full of annoyance that Baekhyun had never seen before. He took a step closer to Baekhyun, and clasped his fingers around the shorter's tiny shoulder.

"Then try, damn it, Baekhyun, just try." he said in a low voice. "Ask, talk to him, get him out. Take him out for lunch or anything in whatever way, do not run away just because you made him feel bad once. If you keep your distance now, Chanyeol won't trust you even more, Baekhyun, and then the chance is really damn lost. You're really going to be hated by him, then."

"I.."

"That's what I hate the most. That's what Chanyeol hates the most, too." Jongin suddenly said as he closed his eyes. "It's disappearing without even trying. Without telling why."

Baekhyun looked at Jongin, and didn't know what to say. He admits - he is scared. He is cowering. But who wouldn't be? It was because nothing went right since the start of his relationship with Chanyeol, and Baekhyun was disappointed with himself. He was fearful of failing, making mistakes, pushing Chanyeol even further away. Was it that wrong of him to feel so, or was it wrong to not to feel so? He had no idea, really.

But that didn't make him feel any less guilty. He hurt Jongin, and he disappointed his trust, too.

"I'm sorry." Baekhyun sighed heavily, looking down to the grey floor shamefully."I'm sorry, team leader. You're the one who's right. I am cowering."

Hearing that, Jongin's eyes softened, and he relaxed his fingers hold on Baekhyun's shoulder. He settled his hand on it instead, trying to comfort the other  and to show him that it was okay. Everybody gets scared from time to time.

"It's okay, Baekhyun hyung. I got a bit too emotional too. It's just that...I want to get him out of there soon, and I can't wait long. I know that Chanyeol is dying in there." 

Baekhyun nodded. It was not the time for him to be selfish, and this fear of his was indeed a very