The Studio

"Good Morning, Mr. Yoon!" A voice cheerfully greeted the security.

"Good morning, Ms. Jung! You come earlier today," the security greeted her back.

"Yeah, because I need to practice more or I might get killed by Chanyeol oppa," she told him gesturing slashing . "So can I have the key to the room?" She asked him, batting her eyelashes, and opened up her palm. She waited for him to give the key right away before the oppa, she knew, would complain.

Mr. Yoon just laughed making her confused.

"I'm serious Mr. Yoon!" She pouted and put her hands on her hip. "Please can you give me the key?" She whined to him.

"Pardon me, Miss. Well, the room is already open because Mr. Park is inside."

"What?!" Krystal gasped. "He's already inside?" Her eyes grew wide as panic settled in. "I'm doomed! How come he came so early!"

"Actually he was here since last night, Miss. And he hasn't gone home since." Mr. Yoon told her with laughter.

With a quick mutter of thanks, she immediately dashed for the studio room where Chanyeol was already in.

Oh no! What am I going to tell him? I'm going to die! He's going to be mad at me! She panicked.

When she entered the room, she saw his chair's high backrest facing her. It faced the large glass of window where the recording room was. Seeing how the chair was slightly moving from side to side, she guessed Chanyeol was sitting on it. She closed the door behind her and took a deep breath.

"Hi, Oppa!" She tried to sound cheerful. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I suddenly couldn't come to practice with you." She held her breath, as there was no answer from Chanyeol. He must be really mad now. She thought as she continued, "And I'm sorry that I didn't know you've called me for few times." She quickly added, "I had called you back right away though! But you didn't picked it up."

There was a soft hum from Chanyeol, but he didn't turn his chair around.

"And so I'm thinking to practice early today. So here I am now! Tadaa~" She opened her arms wide and grinned.

Exasperated by the lack of reply, she walked to him and shoved the chair to turn. "Oppa! I'm talking to you-" She stopped and her annoyance dissipated upon seeing Chanyeol sleeping. "Aigoo," she sighed. "You must be so tired, huh?"

A small smile curled on Krystal's lips. Her gaze then landed on the scattered papers on the table. Oh! He wrote another song. She read the unfinished song lyrics and knew right away that it was for Bora.

She looked back at the sleeping Chanyeol and sighed. Too bad he was someone's and he still likes the same person now. She stooped down; their faces now only a few inches away. She smiled as she stared at his peaceful face. Do you know how handsome you are? She lightly scoffed to herself feeling ridiculous. But no matter what you're an oppa to me.

Chanyeol shifted on his seat and Krystal's eyes grew wide when his eyes fluttered open. Yet, try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to move away and was frozen instead. His sleepy eyes were immediately widened when it caught sight of her eyes being so close to his. In shock, he abruptly sat up accidentally bumping his head with hers.

"Ack!" They both groaned and winced rubbing their forehead.

"Ya!" Krystal clicked her tongue.

"What?" Chanyeol retorted still wincing. "What were you doing anyway? Why were you staring at me? Was I that handsome?"

Krystal was suddenly flustered. "I-I wasn't!" She denied.

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes at her and snorted with a little amused smirk.

She gulped. "Ok fine, I did it! But because there are so much wrinkles on your face! Ha! You're getting really old, Oppa!" She poked out her tongue at him.

"Aww Krystal," Chanyeol cooed. "You care about me that much?" He stood up crossing his arms and leaned closer to her.

"Whatever!" She grumbled and sat on the sofa while Chanyeol just laughed at her.

Chanyeol then proceeded to prepare the song that she need to review and the recording stuffs. Krystal silently read the song lyrics to practice.

"By the way, why didn't you pick up the calls from me?"

"Sorry, Oppa." She briefly glanced at him. "My sister's getting married," she announced nonchalantly as she returned her attention to the song.

"Really?" Chanyeol asked surprised. "Congratulations then!"

"Thanks. Anyway, I had to accompany her looking for some souvenirs yesterday. I saw missed calls from you, and I tried calling you back, but I couldn't reach you," she explained.

"Yeah?" He checked his phone. "Oh! My phone's battery was dead so I didn't get a chance to call you back." He offered her a lopsided smile.

Krystal just nodded and reviewed the lyrics again. But after a while, she asked, "How are you with Bora?"

When Chanyeol heard Bora's name, he was reminded of patting her head yesterday. He wondered what Bora actually felt when he did it. Back when they were in high school, she would usually become flustered and pinch his waist to hide her shyness. He concluded that girls would just act like that when a guy did so. But yesterday, she didn't react much other than staring at him. He wondered if he still had it in him to make girls flustered.

"We're okay." He shrugged answering Krystal's question. "I guess," he added. "Hey Krystal, can you help me?"

"Help what?" She blinked cocking her head to one side.

"This..." He approached and crouched down in front of her with his arm reaching to her head. He gently patted her head.

Krystal felt her heart rate skyrocketing upon his gesture. She could only stare at him. Then silence passed between them for a moment.

"What did you feel?" Chanyeol asked retracting his hand.

However, Krystal was too stunned with his sudden action and blinked her eyes twice looking very blank. Feeling heat rushed to her cheeks, she lowered her head to hide her blushing cheeks, but Chanyeol noticed it. "What do you mean?" Clearing , she pushed him away and he almost completely dropped to the floor.

"Hmm. I get it!" Chanyeol smiled at her, inwardly feeling proud somehow, and stood up again while Krystal glanced at him. So he still got it in him to flutter a girl's heart. Maybe Bora was flustered too yesterday. "Review them again for awhile and let's start the recording." Chanyeol pointed at the papers in her hands.

A beautiful voice sang across the room. The song had ended and so did the recording. Chanyeol, the music producer, and other staffs, who cooperated inside the studio, were clapping their hands for Krystal who just came out and have finished singing the new song.

Chanyeol's phone beeped. He checked his phone and the screen flashed a reminder for him to go to House of Hope.

"Oppa, let's have lunch together!" Krystal appeared and hooked her arm with his.

"Next time Krystal." He smiled ruffling her hair. "I gotta go to House of Hope," he told her and bid farewell to her and the staffs.

House of Hope

"Where's Chanyeol oppa? Where's Chanyeol hyung?" The toddlers were looking for him and asked Suho, who brought fruits for them before their naptime.

"Usually Oppa is already here and later he will sing us a song to sleep." Luna pouted.

"Ok, how about you guys eat these fruits first while I'll call him?" Suho smiled and patted Luna's head.

Though still pouting, the kids agreed nodding their heads. Suho lightly shook his head amused and dialed Chanyeol's number.

After a few rings, Chanyeol finally picked up the call. "Oh hyung, what's up?"

"Where are you? The kids are waiting for you now." Suho asked him.

"I got stuck in traffic jam right now, so I might come very late. Please tell the kids I'm sorry, but I'm trying to arrive there as soon as possible." Getting stuck in a heavy traffic alongside numerous cars wasn't something he predicted. The loud honks coming from cars around him were making him stressful. Checking his tablet for information on the traffic, he found out there was an accident still a little far ahead.

"Traffic? Really? You're not lying right?" Suho asked him back curiously.

"Of course not, Hyung!" He chuckled a little. "There's an accident ahead so yeah..." Chanyeol sighed.

"Alright. Safe trip here! The kids kept on asking me to tell you to be right here right away. Jongin said that if he had the power to teleport, he would pick you up in an instant." The older one laughed.

Chanyeol laughed along at Jongin's high imagination and at how the kids were missing him already. After giving a little more assurance for Suho that he would drive safe, Chanyeol ended the call. Suho then explained to the kids that Chanyeol would be late because there was an accident.

"What is accident?" Hearing the word for the first time, the kids asked him with rounded eyes.

"Hmm." Suho thought of how to explain it to the kids. "Accident is-"

"Who got into an accident?" Victoria who just entered the room cut him off with a question.

"Chanyeol told me-"

Victoria gasped loudly. "Chanyeol? What happened to him?! Is he okay? Tell me, tell me!" She panicked.

Although they didn't fully understand what happened, the kids grew worried seeing Victoria panicking. Their lips quivered and when Luna cried, in a matter of seconds the others wailed along. Thinking something horrible had happened to their favorite brother, they became a crying mess. Suho's and Victoria's eyes grew wide and they started to panic as they tried to calm the crying kids. Bora came in confused upon seeing them cry.

"Why are you guys crying?" She asked and crouched down when Kyungsoo ran to hug her.

"Noona," he sobbed, "Chanyeol hyung accident."

Her eyes grew wide. "What?"

"Please, all of you calm down first." Suho heaved a deep breath then turned to Bora. "I called Chanyeol minutes ago and asked him why he hasn't arrived yet. He said that he was going to arrive late because he got stuck in a heavy traffic caused by an accident. Then, the kids asked me about the meaning of accident and when I was just trying to explain it to them, she-" He pointed a finger at Victoria "-just entered the room and cut my explain. Then she threw herself into panic mode thinking Chanyeol got into an accident. That's why the kids started to cry." He sighed.

Bora's mouth formed an "o" and she hugged a little girl who came to her and asked whether their favorite brother was okay.

"Don't worry your favorite brother is safe and nothing happened to him. Suho oppa was trying to say that Chanyeol oppa's gonna be here very late." Bora told her and the rest of the kids. "Now, let's sleep, kids."

"But we can't sleep without Oppa's singing," one of them protested.

"How about I sing for you now and Chanyeol oppa will sing for you tonight?" She negotiated so they could have their naptime.

"O-okay," Luna hiccupped. "Promise me that he will sing it for us tonight. Pinky promise?" Luna showed her pinky finger.

Bora wiped away the little girl's tears on her cheek and intertwined her pinky finger with Luna's. The kids slowly fell into sleep under their own blankets as she sang a song for them. Suho and Victoria were also listening to Bora's beautiful voice. However, having to do other jobs, they went out after hearing it.

Chanyeol arrived half an hour later. Before he entered the room, he heard a beautiful voice from the room. He opened the door slowly and peeked inside to see the kids were sleeping soundly. He knew that the beautiful voice came from Bora and smiled. She turned and smiled upon noticing that Chanyeol had arrived. She slowly stood up and tiptoed out of the room. To Chanyeol's surprise, she took his hand and dragged him far from the room.

Once they were far from the room, she naturally let go his hand to Chanyeol's dismay. "Chanyeol," she started.

Does she remember me now?Chanyeol's held her gaze with his.

"I promised the kids that you will sing a song for them tonight," she told him. Chanyeol nodded and waited for her to tell some more. "Oh! And Suho oppa invited us to have a dinner and some karaoke together later. He said he just got his salary from his part-time job. So he wants to treat us." Chanyeol silently nodded again while she smiled. "I gotta go back to the kids. Don't forget the promise!" She reminded him and left.

Hours had passed by and night came. Chanyeol had fulfilled the promise for the kids. While the ladies were getting their bags, Suho saw Chanyeol who was going to walk out from the house.

Suho called to stop him, "Chanyeol! Where are you going?" He approached Chanyeol who looked at him with rounded eyes. "Hasn't Bora told you that we're going to have a little party just the four of us?" Chanyeol nodded. "Then you're not going?" Suho asked him again.

Chanyeol shrugged. "I haven't got enough sleep since yesterday. You know... recording and stuff."

Suho understood the tall guy's perspective, but he still persuaded him to come with them telling him that it may helped him to refresh his mind if he had a little fun. However, Chanyeol still said that he wasn't going. Bora and Victoria came down from checking the kids.

"C'mon let's go!" Victoria cheerily exclaimed.

"Chanyeol's not coming," Suho revealed to the girls.

"Why?" Vic frowned.

Chanyeol was going to answer when Suho cut him off with a sigh. "Too bad, our Channie can't go with us to sing along, have chit chat and drink." Suho patted Chanyeol's shoulder with a sigh. "C'mon ladies! Bye Chanyeol." They walked out the house.

Before Bora closed the house's front door, she looked back at Chanyeol who was standing still like a statue. Weirdly, she felt quite upset that he was not coming along with them. She thought she could get to know him more. With one last lingering look, she closed the door.

Drink? Chanyeol questioned in his mind. "Wait..they're going to drink? His eyes grew wide. A second later, he ran out the house and stopped them."Hyung, you're going to drink?" Surprised, the older nodded with blinking eyes. Chanyeol heaved a frustrated sigh. "But you didn't say that we're going to drink before." Suho just smiled. "Hyung, if you said it from the start, I will say that I'm in."

Suho chuckled perplexed while Victoria was excited hearing that. Bora didn't say anything, but she was inwardly smiling. She lowered her gaze when Chanyeol glanced at her.

"Why a sudden change of heart?" Suho asked him curiously with a raised brow.

Because I'm worried she would drink too much. Chanyeol's thought glancing at her before turning back to Suho. "You said it might help refresh my mind."

"Good then!" Victoria cheered.

Suho didn't buy his reason and narrowed his eyes on him. Chanyeol look a little flustered by his stare and cleared his throat. "Let's go!"

A/N:
Hello readers, it's been a long time since this story was last updated. Sorry if we let you down or waiting for so long and also thanks for your patience, all. Since the story has been updated very late, we'll try to update another one soon. Hope you, guys, still stayed tuned to this story. Cranes Squad! 🤗