i'm sorry it took so long, my hand got swollen again and i couldn't do much (and still is) hope you enjoy the last part as well~

Baekhyun gets two days off before his mayor trip to Tokyo so he spends them with Chanyeol at their little cozy home. He’s finally able to relax a bit now that more than a week passed and he and Jongin had minimal interactions. His mind is clearer, his heart lighter, and he enjoys cleaning around their apartment for tomorrow. Chanyeol said Sehun, Luhan and Minseok will come for Christmas Eve so the place has to be pretty and welcoming. It isn’t the first time the three of them come over, since Baekhyun has told Chanyeol a couple times to call them over for dinner some weekend nights. They are great company, from what he’s gathered from the stories Chanyeol will often share because Sehun did something embarrassing again, Luhan slipped somewhere, or Minseok told yet another customer off.

Baekhyun has always been a bit jealous of Chanyeol’s work, but he also knows that he would never be able to survive such a job. He wasn’t fit to serve people. He was to persuade them on terms that were unfair to them, and sell services they didn’t know they needed. That’s what Baekhyun knows; to fool people, mislead them, change their opinions with mischievous ways, get what he wants from them. It’s no lie almost everyone in the company side-eyes him. Not so out of disgust, more out of distrust.

But that’s what working in public relations is made for; always smiling and always playing nice, even when the motives are ill-natured. So it kind of bothered him when Jongin waltzed in his routine and proved to be better at deceiving people. It hurt Baekhyun’s pride. And it still kind of does.

Chanyeol is the messy one in this relationship—Baekhyun got to know that a long, long while ago. It was he who was constantly moving furniture around because he liked that one there, he who did most of the house chores and he who was the perfectionist, so much so that he’d often swipe twice the whole apartment because he felt like he’d missed a spot. It’s only laundry and cooking on his fiancé, and even that because Baekhyun never has time for that. So when Chanyeol walked out of the bathroom with a piece of crumbled paper in his hand after doing laundry, Baekhyun stopped fluffing up the pillow he held on.

“I found your co-worker’s card in your pants.” Baekhyun watches with slight panic in his eyes as Chanyeol reads the messed up contact card. “Public relations? I didn’t know you had a co-worker in your specialty.”

“He’s new. He came like, less than two months ago.”

“So you split work now?”

“More like go through files twice and discuss any issues or faults in them,” Baekhyun mentally winces at the way Chanyeol’s eyes don’t leave the card. “Just to know we haven’t overlooked anything.”

“This is why you’ve done overtime?” Now, Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun and something breaks in each of their chests. “They hired another person for you to work overtime?”

“It wasn’t just me. We were both held back.”

“Oh…” Chanyeol breathes out and offers the card to Baekhyun. “Here, in case you need it later on.”

Baekhyun almost groans as the other walks off into their bedroom. He quickly follows but only has the door slam into his face. “Chanyeol, don’t be like this!” he enters the room after him and at this point, he is only glad how they don’t have a lock there, and how they never actually bothered to think of it before. “It’s not bad to have a damn card of your co-worker’s!”

Chanyeol only glares at him before pulling his shirt off and getting into his sleep-wear. It’s a known fact Chanyeol hates it when Baekhyun raises his voice at him.

So, he takes a breath to calm down, and starts over. “I didn’t have my phone out and he was in a hurry to leave. So he just gave me the card and we parted ways. I haven’t even called him yet for any matter.”

“Yet,” Chanyeol repeats and Baekhyun really feels like he’s going to rip his hair out.

“Chanyeol, what is the problem here?” he tries in defeat and Chanyeol stills for a short while. His eyes are piercing into Baekhyun’s face, almost as if he’s looking for something and wishes to not find it there.

“Is he going to Tokyo as well?”

It feels like it’s a trick question and Baekhyun sweats a bit. He worries that he’ll choose the wrong answer, as if he’s being tested or walking on glass.

“Yes.”

Chanyeol purses his lips together into a thin line, before relaxing and turning to the closet. He opens a wing and pulls a spare blanket before throwing it at Baekhyun, who barely catches it. “Take your suitcase as well. You’re sleeping on the couch.”

And Baekhyun opens and closes his mouth in surprise but Chanyeol pays no attention. He only lays in bed and faces away from him. So Baekhyun groans lightly and takes both his duffel bag and the blanket and out he goes. He knows it’s futile in talking with Chanyeol now that he’s this upset. And he’d rather not pester the other when at this state because it could end up much worse. Morning would come and it’d be better, and he’ll try his best to make up whatever he said wrong after dawn. Only that he’ll have to wait two days for that. He’s supposed to be at the airport pretty early tomorrow so he doubts he’ll see any of Chanyeol before he has to leave. And it kind of pains him because this problem will have to wait.

It’s when he sits on the couch with the blanket under his arm that his mind goes overdrive and suddenly he feels like he’s walking on glass again, or sitting on needles. He connects the dots and Chanyeol’s questions and somehow it slowly starts making sense, and Baekhyun really wishes it’s not the case, because if it is, Chanyeol knows, and if Chanyeol knows, god forbid his poor .

He buries his head in his hands, and he wants to scream in frustration because now his brain can’t calm down and his heart is beating way too fast. If Chanyeol suspects him, what’ll be left of their engagement? Of their relationship?

But of course, who would be able to burn themselves on the collarbone with a damn hair straightener? Baekhyun really wishes he could have made up a better lie to his fiancé, but he hadn’t. And all these nights he worked overtime, and how he’d never mentioned of Jongin, and how he’s distanced himself from Chanyeol. How he’s avoided many times in getting physical with him. And how carrying a business card in his pants was the cherry on top of it all.

It didn’t take an idiot, and Chanyeol was surely not one.

Baekhyun only lays on the couch, his eyes piercing the ceiling as he prepares himself for a long, sleepless and restless night. It kind of annoys him; being unable to lie to Chanyeol, being unable to cover himself, to use all what his job required on him. He knows that that is because of their relationship and how Chanyeol was that one special person, but at this moment, he can’t but wish having the guts to actually do it. If he could, he wouldn’t be in this situation now.

It irritates him more and more as he thinks about it.

It is at six that he finally fell asleep from over-wearing his mind, only to wake up an hour later because his phone rang the alarm he set last night. He can already feel the exhaustion in his bones but he soothes himself with the promise of sleeping in the airplane. After readying himself, he peaks into their bedroom to find Chanyeol’s form sound asleep. He wants to jump on the bed and kiss all of Chanyeol’s worries away, but he knows his fiancé won’t appreciate it. So he opts to leave a small note on the nightstand by Chanyeol’s side of the bed with a light ‘good morning’, a casual ‘I’ll call you when I land’, and a small ‘I love you, your Baekie’.

The ride to the airport is short and his pace falters a bit when he sees Jongin standing by the check-ins. Baekhyun only lowers his head a bit and follows the other’s steps without as much as looking at him, so Jongin doesn’t talk to him either. It isn’t an awkward silence since it was so early and both are still sleepy, so they both over-look it. It doesn’t take long until they board the plane and as they settle down side-by-side, Baekhyun turns his head to face the window. At this point, he’s just glad he has his earbuds and neck pillow with him.

He’s shaken into reality a couple hours later by a just as sleepy Jongin. The music has stopped in his ears and he hears his co-worker’s muffled voice coming through and telling him they have arrived to Japan. Baekhyun’s not very fond with how it’s just the two of them in a different country and how they also have to count on each other because of work matters. Sure, Baekhyun knows Japanese, but it’s not much so anything beyond asking directions and introducing himself, he’s kind of flopped. So he has to lean on Jongin’s perfected Japanese to translate anything else, and it ticks him off more as the seconds pass and he watches the other laugh and talk with the lady behind the reception at the hotel they’ll be staying at tonight and tomorrow.

“Took you long enough,” Baekhyun mumbles under his breath as they enter the elevator and Jongin sends him a look while pressing their floor’s button.

“Why are you so salty?”

“No reason.” Baekhyun is annoyed, and he doesn’t put any effort in hiding it, so Jongin just ignores him.

The hotel room their boss has booked for them is on the small end but decent enough, with two nice beds placed on either side of the room and a big dresser in between. The tv is small, and the fridge as well, but Baekhyun doesn’t expect much from a tourist hotel. The bathroom is nice however, and he already sees himself relaxing in the bathtub later on.

“Well,” Jongin starts, putting his duffel bag down by one bed. “It’s better than I expected.”

“At least we have air-conditioning,” Baekhyun mumbles as he grabs on the remote control.

“I don’t think we’ll need it if we just sleep in one bed.” The wink Jongin sent him makes Baekhyun twitch a bit, but he switches on the heat anyway.

“We’re here for work, Jongin” he softly says, and Jongin shrugs his shoulders before lying on the bed and pulling his laptop out of his bag.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun.”

Baekhyun ignores the anticipation and excitement that suddenly mess his insides, and sits on the other bed. He pulls out his phone and stares at the screen. He promised he’d call Chanyeol as soon as he landed, but truthfully, he didn’t. And it’s not like he couldn’t find some time to do so, he just avoided it. He doesn’t know what to say and is afraid that whatever he does say, can be picked up the wrong way. So he skips talking and just types in a simple text of ‘I just entered the hotel’ and ‘I miss you already’.

It’s not a lie per se. He does miss Chanyeol, and the home-sickness already slapped him the moment he stepped on Japanese soil. But he knows that Chanyeol needs some time off of him, and Baekhyun wants to hope that his co-workers will be enough to lighten him up. Because he’s almost sure his text will go unnoticed.

 “We can go sight-seeing,” Jongin says from where he sits and Baekhyun snaps to look up at him from his phone screen. “I can google some interesting places that aren’t too far from here.”

He glances down at the screen once more, with no hint of any reply from Chanyeol, and looks back at Jongin. He only forces a small smile; “Sounds good to me”.

The next two minutes it’s pretty quiet and the only sound that can be heard is Jongin’s fingers pressing down on his laptop’s keyboard. Until he finds a couple places they can visit and he sends the directions to his phone before closing the laptop’s lid and jumping on his feet.

“Let’s go!”

Baekhyun hesitates a bit, his eyes snapping between his cell phone screen and Jongin’s bright smile. He’s not really feeling it but then Jongin stretches out his hand for him to take, and he does. And a smile grows on his face.

There’s no one to witness them here, no one knows them, no one cares enough to notice them. There’s this freedom Baekhyun knows he won’t ever be able to experience when they return to South Korea. So he just lets himself go with the flow, and lets Jongin lead him across the streets and in different directions while talking about the smallest things.

To his surprise, Baekhyun finds himself enjoying Jongin’s company much more than what he’d firstly expected.

***

The event takes place in a well-known luxurious hotel and the room that hosts it is big. Despite the many years he’s spent attending these kinds of places, Baekhyun still feels out of place and a bit intimidated even. Jongin, on the other hand, seems to blend nicely with the attendees, with his slicked back black hair and matching tuxedo.

Baekhyun has to remind himself a couple times to stop staring at his coworker. So he’s kind of relieved when he spots the man who hosted the whole event. He’s fast to approach, his heels clacking on the marble floor and he hears Jongin following him closely behind so they don’t lose one another in the crowd.

“Ah, Byun Baekhyun, am I right?” the man smiles warmly and Baekhyun’s half surprised he remembers his name. It’s been over six months since the man visited their company in Korea where they were also introduced. Baekhyun just assumes that being a businessman takes great memory.

“Yes, sir,” Baekhyun smiles back with all of his charm. “Very beautiful event that you host.”

“Thank you, mister Byun.” The man eyes Jongin then, and Baekhyun opens his mouth to introduce him, only to be cut off by Jongin himself.

“I’m Kim Jongin, co-worker of Baekhyun. I’ve been in the same department for a couple months.” The smile Jongin shows makes Baekhyun gape and stare with slightly wide eyes, almost mesmerized. “It’s my pleasure to meet a man like you, sir.”

Baekhyun knows this event is nothing but a way for him to put out the company and meet as many people he can, and hopefully exchange contact information. But as the night progresses, he finds Jongin to ace the job. Everyone seems to open up to him, and Baekhyun stands by his side, slipping some words here and there all the while watching him. Jongin’s way of words, his charming smiles and respectful speech makes Baekhyun bite on his lip because the man again appears to be perfectly-made. And as much as Baekhyun admires him for his well-done work, he’s also jealous.

It’s an hour later that Baekhyun parts himself from Jongin and just slips to stand by the drink bar. He hasn’t even drunk any alcohol yet, and that’s because he and Jongin had been circling around being introduced to all kinds of businessmen and women alike by the host himself. He’s not even in the mood to drink, but he knows that carrying around a colorful cocktail would make him look fancy so he orders one nonetheless.

“Already tired?”

Baekhyun looks up in surprise at the familiar voice and a smile etches on his face immediately. “Yixing?”

The man’s clad in a light grey tuxedo, his blonde hair styled nicely and a flamboyant drink in his hand. He’s a bit taller than him, just like Baekhyun remembered him to be. And a little bit on the muscled side, from what he can notice.

“What are you doing here?” Baekhyun just wants to hug him, but he opts for a manly handshake because he has to keep up a front here. Yixing used to study business in the same university as him, but he has always been well-off due to his heritage, so he aimed far and wide and eventually landed in Japan. From what Baekhyun remembers of their last chat three years ago, Yixing had plans of opening a company just in his name. Back then, he didn’t know what it’d be about, since they were still so young and had many outcomes of their future. It’s three years later that Baekhyun gets to know that Yixing never actually started his own company, but rather extended his family’s name in Japan. Yixing also surprises him that he’d like to own a magazine, sometime, as well, and Baekhyun feels kind of intimidated by his plans.

Yixing wants to achieve so much, and Baekhyun’s just settled down with the first firm that took him in after university. He was comfortable with what he had, or rather, never strived for more.

“Please tell me you’re still with Chanyun,” Yixing tells almost jokingly and it kind of picks at Baekhyun’s insides.

“Yes, and it’s Chanyeol.”

“Same guy,” Yixing dismisses him and takes a sip of his drink. “How come you are here on Christmas Eve?”

“I’m in charge of public relations in a company so I had to show up here.”

“Public relations do suit you,” Yixing leans one elbow on the bar counter, a smirk on his handsome face. “You’ve always been chatty and out-going.”

“Yeah… I guess,” Baekhyun adds and then he hears Jongin approach, a hand sliding by his side and Baekhyun’s suddenly too flustered to notice Jongin did it to wave at the barman. Yixing’s eyes are piercing and Baekhyun quickly scoots away from his co-worker. Jongin doesn’t even seem to notice him being there and that kind of sends relieve down his spine. Yixing’s stare, however, is something between disbelief and interest.

Almost too comically, he snorts; “Chanyeol, huh?”

And Baekhyun grits his teeth just before emptying his cocktail on Yixing’s shoes.

The taxi ride to the hotel is quite silent since both of them are speechless from what happened at the event. Jongin apologized in Baekhyun’s place while pulling the glaring man away from him. There weren’t many looks directed at them since Baekhyun did it so stealthily, but Jongin still excused themselves and bid farewell to the host himself before almost running out the door. Baekhyun hasn’t said a word, he only plops on his bed and brings his phone out to check for any message when they reach their hotel room; none. It feels like another weight was placed on his shoulders and he hunches his back in exhaustion.

“Do you want some?” Jongin asks from the shelf a couple wine bottles sat. As soon as he entered the room, he went straight to it and he’s been contemplating which one he should open. Baekhyun’s sure it’s not a good thing to mix alcohol with them being alone somewhere no one would see them. Especially when he feels this down. But then again, doesn’t feeling down justify his interest in wines?

He merely nods and when Jongin asks if he has any preference, he shrugs his shoulders. “As long as the price is cheap.”

Jongin glances at the bottles again and takes the one he’s been eyeing until then. Baekhyun feels a bit uncomfortable because he doesn’t check the prices. He’s pretty sure Jongin gets the same paycheck as him, and that amount does not allow you to spend freely on overpriced wines. His eyes watch as Jongin takes two glasses and then comes to place them on one nightstand. Baekhyun has to admit that seeing a man open a wine bottle expertly, and pour in his glass adds to his attractiveness.

It’s an hour later that Baekhyun is sitting on the floor with his back against his bed, legs sprawled in front of him. Jongin is opposite of him, more or less in the same position and they stare at each other. Their wine glasses are on the floor, the bottle standing within both of their reach, half of it gone already. It’s the sweetness of a good wine brand that has made Baekhyun’s cheeks flush and sometime during this hour, he’s loosened his tie much like Jongin. The air conditioning is still going strong and although both of them felt hot from the alcohol, neither wanted to stand up and turn it off.

It is nice on the floor, where they drink and talk and Baekhyun has gotten to know some of Jongin’s background by now. From some childish high school stories to how he ended up working in the same company as Baekhyun. And Baekhyun has also shared his part of the story, some bits of his life here and there, until the point they met. They share a couple laughs and Baekhyun feels much calmer, at least now that he’s gotten to know Jongin more, he’s relieved. Because as perfect as he feared Jongin to be, he also has his own sets of worries and traits that made him human.

“And that’s why I haven’t gotten a text yet,” Baekhyun groans as he sends a look at his phone again. “He probably still hates me.”

“Maybe this whole marriage isn’t your thing,” Jongin mumbles but Baekhyun keeps glaring at the phone’s screen. All those messages he has sent the past hour staring back at him. “Maybe you’re meant to still have fun. You’re too young to think of marriage either way. You’re not even wearing the ring again.”

Baekhyun smiles a broken smile and looks at this hand now. He’s not even sure he took it with him to Japan at this point. Because he didn’t put it on that morning and he doesn’t recall putting it somewhere. “I’m screwed,” he slurs and doesn’t elaborate when Jongin looks at him quizzically. If Chanyeol finds it, he might as well stay in Japan because he’ll have no one to return home to.

“It’s pretty pathetic,” Baekhyun starts, “that we try to find solace in each other. We barely know each other.”

Jongin doesn’t reply, he only looks at him with piercing eyes.

As much as Baekhyun loves his job, he hates these events of pretend. So he downs the rest of the wine and throws his head back on the bed, closing his eyes. At this point, he doesn’t even know if he wants to hurry with everything and go home to Chanyeol, or for these two days to never end. And it pains him a lot as he realizes that he is in this position.

It’s when he feels light kisses on his neck that he comes back from his thoughts and he lets a small content sigh.

 “Are we really sleeping in separate beds, though?” Jongin raises an eyebrow at him and Baekhyun sighs as he places his phone on the night stand, before gazing Jongin’s way with a challenge in his eyes.

“Would be stupid to miss out such an opportunity, wouldn’t it be?”

It’s the freedom of being in a different country that makes Baekhyun open up more. Relax some and forget a bit of home. Act like he’s somewhere different where other rules apply and there’s no one to catch him or scold him. Where he doesn’t need to hide from anyone or anything. Where there’s no Chanyeol to worry about.

Baekhyun should have gotten used to Jongin’s lips and tongue by now, yet he still sighs and gasps in surprise. Their hands start roaming and the alcohol makes them rush a bit because why not? There’s only this need and lust between them and Baekhyun drowns himself in moans when Jongin on his lower lip and his hand travels under his shirt. He’s a bit surprised it’s not as cold as he expected, but he enjoys the touch either way.

It’s intoxicating, the smell of Jongin now that his senses are a bit too faded, his movements a bit too needy, his body a bit too heated. Everything turns into a blur and Baekhyun’s brain registers some things here and there, a kiss, a touch, flesh against flesh, some ing. He’s in and out of the feeling and the wine he drank does not let him enjoy it fully so he’s a bit dizzy when his phone rings.

Baekhyun pushes Jongin away for a split second and grabs it, the caller ID flashing so bright in the darkness. He doesn’t hesitate and answers it, his breath a bit rugged and he turns with his back at Jongin. Baekhyun can feel Jongin’s hands still roam on his body but he tries to swat them away, suddenly kicked sober as he breathes out a small “Chanyeol?”.

H