Baekhyun sits silently waiting for Joonmyun to talk to him. Coming back after visiting Yifan, he didn’t have to say anything to neither him nor Luhan for them both to know that it hadn’t gone well. It was Luhan who had told Baekhyun to just leave him alone, that he’ll come talk to him when he’s ready. Whilst it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience, watching his friend throw himself into his work 24/7, Baekhyun had to respect the fact that his friend probably wanted some space and would come talk to him when he was ready.

Until such a time, Baekhyun keeps himself busy. Like they had promised Joonmyun, Luhan and Baekhyun got to work immediately in coming up with a statement they could release to the gossip hungry public until Joonmyun and Yifan figured out what was going to happen between them. Seeing how Joonmyun looked after coming back from seeing Yifan, they had to start from scratch and after pulling a few strings, were able to connect with Yifan’s team, both sides putting out a joint statement. It was nothing spectacular, nothing too fancy, but it did get everybody off of Joonmyun’s back.

“You can stare at me all you want, but I’m not going to talk about my feelings or whatever you want to ask me”

“Oh, I know”

Baekhyun’s response clearly surprises Joonmyun. He stops eating and looks at his friend, clearly expecting some sort of fight or whining to ensue because Joonmyun wasn’t giving him what we wanted. When he didn’t get the expected reaction, of course it shocked him.

“R-really?” he asks

“Yep. You don’t have to talk to me, I’m not gonna force you or anything, I just want you to know that if you ever feel like talking, I’ll be here for you” Baekhyun replies “I mean, we both know from experience that I’m a terrible advice giver… but it’s what friends do”

Finishing his little speech, he gets up and pats Joonmyun on the shoulder before heading out of the lunch hall. He wants to play the role of the doting friend, but at the same time he has places to go and people to see, and until he’s mastered the job of multitasking, he needs to learn to prioritise.

“Wait! Where are you going? We still have some time before lunch is over” Joonmyun calls after him

“I have questions I need to prepare for some interviews and a meeting with Minseok to discuss where I’m going next” Baekhyun calls back “I’m hoping to get off early today”

“Oh really? Why? Rushing to get back to Chanyeol?” Joonmyun asks, smirking when Baekhyun doesn’t answer his question and instead shrugs and shuffles his feet about. It was no secret that Baekhyun had been seeing Chanyeol a lot more recently; whether he knew it or not, Baekhyun would freely tell Joonmyun or anybody else when asked about his plans for the evening that he was meeting Chanyeol. It gave Joonmyun all the ammunition he needed to tease Baekhyun.  

“I’ll have you know it’s called a private life for a reason” Baekhyun begins “But if it’ll settle the nosy person living inside of you, why yes, I am meeting Chanyeol after work” he finishes and saunters out of the lunch hall, not without noticing the smile on Joonmyun’s face however, and with it being the first genuine smile he’s seen in a while, Baekhyun leaves the hall with an even bigger smile on his face.

They were supposed to have left over half an hour ago. It was Soojung’s suggestion that she and Yifan went out for a meal that evening, let themselves go with some amazing food and some drinks to loosen themselves up. Yifan didn’t need to tell her that something was bothering him, she could see it, and when he finally did tell her what is was that had been bothering it, she suggested dinner to help as a means of not cheering him up, but giving him some time out from life in general.

Sat in Yifan’s study, watching as he paced back and forth with papers of work, laptop streaming the news for some background noise, she begins to think that maybe he had forgotten about their supposed meal.

“If we leave now we could probably get a table and skip starters” she tries, checking the time on her watch, sighing when Yifan doesn’t reply.

All he had been doing lately was throwing himself into his work. Whether it was Qian coming to tell him to eat or to sleep, or whether it was Soojung coming to collect him for their evening out, he was always working. Soojung could kind of see why Yifan was doing this to himself, but at the same time wished that he would just slow down before he worked himself silly.

“You know, it’s alright to just sit down and take a break, the world’s not going to change or anything whilst you rest for your own health” she says out loud and this time Yifan does hear her

“I know what you’re trying to do Soojung, but please it’s not necessary” he replies “I’m not overworking myself like everyone seems to think I am, I’m just helping Siwon out because a lot of work has been thrown on him and the company lately and I’m helping him to minimise the stress… that’s all”

Right. Like Soojung could believe that. Rolling her eyes, she sits back in her seat, turning the laptop in her direction to see if the news was as interesting as her life right now. Doing so, she happens to catch it just in time to see Joonmyun’s report on some situation between some companies in America, turning up the volume slightly and watching to see if Yifan reacted.

“… so what does this actually mean for the parties involved?” Joonmyun asks, moving aside as a graph pops up onto the screen behind him “If the rates continue to fall as catastrophically as we’ve seen them fall today, it could not only spell disaster for the companies involved right now, but also other parties who have known links…”

“Not overworking yourself my ” she mutters to herself

“What was that?” Yifan asks, finally looking up from his work as Soojung shoots him a tight smile and turns the volume down on the laptop

“Nothing, just... adding my own commentary to the news” she replies as Yifan nods his head and checks the time, finally realising how late they are

“Ah crap, just give me a minute or two to get these all sorted into their correct files and we’ll be out the door I promise” he says, quickly moving about to get himself sorted

“It’s fine Yifan, take your time, we can still make somewhere within a reasonable time” Soojung replies, watching as he sifts through some folders and slips in a few sheets of paper into each of them. Amidst his rushing, there’s a knock on the door that releases a few expletives from Yifan, but he still lets the person in hoping it’ll get them moving more quickly.

“Qian, if it’s somebody who wants to see me, anything to do with a partner business, or just work in general please leave it until tomorrow” Yifan calls over as Qian shakes her head and quietly shuts the door behind her.

“I-it’s not that Yifan, it’s actually about your father” she replies “Something’s happened to him”

Very belated holidays wishes everybody! I hope you had an amazing Christmas, got the presents you wanted, and pigged out on lots of chocolate and didn't regret it at all (I know I did!)

This chapter is kind of an aftermath chapter (like the title suggests) and kind of a filler chapter to lead nicely into the next few which are coming up. Whatever way you want to think, quite a lot has happened... I'm putting them through so much and I really don't regret it at all...

Until the next chapter!