« Thanks for picking me up, Dae. What’s my schedule for today ? »

« You have a fitting and a photoshoot for ZTao’s new collection in a few hours. However, I don’t know how long it will last, so you don’t have anything else planned for the day. Sehun will be making this shoot with you, so we’ll have to come by his house and get him. He’ll tag along. »

« Okay. »

Chanyeol sighed, and rested his head against the cold surface of the foggy car window. He squeezed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, while he felt a slight dizziness washing over him. The events of yesterday night had exhausted him in some way, as the pressure he tried to overcome was getting more and more unbeareable.

He looked in front of him, and his gaze met Jongdae’s worried one in the rear-view mirror. « You look tired though. Did you take your medication ? Those headaches are no good. Maybe you should go see the doctor once again if it gets worse ? Do you want me to take you to the hospital ? »

At those words, the actor grinned a smile full of malice, despite the fact he still felt a little nauseous.

« Is that an excuse to see Doctor Kim Minseok ? »

« Whaaat ? I… I don’t » replied almost immediately a very flustered Jongdae.

« Okay Mom, I’ll go see him when I’ll have the time. You can accompany me if you want to. »

« Hmm…yeah, we’ll see. » Amused, the actor noted the red tint his friend’s cheeks had taken.

« Yah, why are you looking at me like that ? Stop it, you weirdo. Changing the subject a bit, how about we talk about your love life. » The party concerned frowned a little at those words.

« I heard that future Mrs Park Chanyeol engaged our Byun Baekhyun as your wedding planner. You met the other day, right ? »

« Indeed… » couldn’t help thinking Chanyeol. He rolled his eyes internally. « Looks like everyone in this city must have heard about it by now. »

« News sure travels fast. Are you going to sermon me ? »

« No, of course not. Definitely not my style. »

« Sermon you ? No way in hell. That would be such a waste of my time. Someone will do it for me, if it hasn’t already been done. Trying to reason the stubborn blockhead that you are…Pff, nonsense. » That’s what Jongdae was tempted to retort, even though he knew pertinently he wouldn’t. « But I have to know what’s going on with your private life, since, let me refresh your memory, I’m your high school chingu converted into your manager. And therefore, I’m trying really really hard to avoid any scandal to emerge from your sometimes irresponsible behaviour. »

« Look who is talking… Kim Jongdae, pretending to be my miserable excuse of a manager. And who said that you are my friend ?»

« Ah waeee…You’re hurting my feelings, jinjja. So, how was it, with Baekhyunnie ? I didn’t even get the opportunity to talk to him at Junmyeon’s and Yixing’s wedding. » Jongdae had taken a light and humorous tone, but Chanyeol perfectly knew where he was coming from.

« Awkward. I acted like a bad jerk. »

« What ? Why would you… »

« So that I won’t regret the choices I made » Chanyeol wanted to say. Instead, he shrugged, feigning to concentrate his attention on the bystanders wrapped up in coats and scarves rushing to work in the street. « It will be easier for the both of us if we keep our distance. We can’t really stay away from each other due to the situation we are in, but he didn’t seem he wanted to have anything to do with me either way. »

« He must have his reasons. »

« Of course. »

Jongdae ignored the slight bitterness he heard in Chanyeol’s voice, while the latter’s phone suddenly rang. Incoming call from ‘Ungrateful brat’.

« Just a moment… » uttered the tall man. « Yes ? What is it ? »

At the other end of the line, he heard the sound of something crashing against one another.

« Sehun. Where are you at this instant ? We are near your building, we’ll be there in less than thr… » Chanyeol asked, his tone slightly exasperated.

« I’m coming out in a minute hyung ! It’s okay, we’re not running late… » the other interrupted.

« Yet ! I feel like we’ll be because of you. »

However, the call was disconnected before he could even finish his sentence. The actor looked at the phone in his hand in disbelief.

« This dongsaeng, so impolite ! I swear I must have been really desperate to hire this guy as a model for the company. »

Shortly after, the car door of the van was opened all of a sudden, startling its occupants, and a huge, fluffy, white dog made his surprise entrance, soon followed by its famous owner, who was wearing a black cap and a black mask covering half of his face. Chanyeol’s eyes widened at the sight of the puppy before him.

« Annyeohaseyeo hyungnims ! Sorry for the wait, but… »

Jongdae pressed the palm of his hands against his face, trying not to get annoyed. He count from one to ten in his head, while two of the most coveted idols in Korea started a catfight in the back of his van. « 1…2…3…4… »

« I had to take Vivi. »

« Are you ing kidding me ? I’m not letting this dog in. Why couldn’t you let him be at home ? »

« Look ! He looks so miserable. And it’s not because you’re a bad master to Toben that I should follow your example… »

« 5…6…7…8… »

« What ? Say that to my face again. »

« You heard me very well the first time. »

« You punk ! How can you talk like that to your hyung ? »

« 9…10. »

The manager grabbed the steering wheel with both of his hands, his knuckles turning white, and breathed a deep sigh of annoyance.

« Chanyeol, we have to go now. I’ll take care of Vivi during the photoshoot, don’t worry. » Jongdae even let out a small appeasing smile, though he was tempted to shout at the two irresponsible guys he had to give a ride to. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, he was somehow used to handle these kind of arguments, which were happening way too often in his humble opinion. As soon as they were back on the road, Sehun asked in Chanyeol’s direction « Hyung ? »

The other pretended he didn’t hear the younger one, however, as Sehun kept on insisting, he had no other choice but to answer him « Hmm. »

« Why do you still have this old phone ? Even Jongdae hyung has a more recent one than yours. Does that thing even has Internet ? »

Chanyeol took a quick glance at his phone. It was a model that he had since high school, and he never changed his phone number since then. It wasn’t that old, so the man responded in annoyance « Why ? Are you getting me a new one perhaps ? »

Jongdae grinned largely, his Cheshire smile reappearing, and interrupted.

« Don’t try to understand him, Sehun-ah. Chanyeol likes to live in the past. He has the habit of not letting go of things that remind him of old times. He is what we could call a materialist keeper. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to bother with memorizing a new number. That lazy guy still uses his old one. Waiting for a special someone to contact him, am I wrong ? »

Chanyeol sent a chilling glare to his manager. Nevertheless, Jongdae, unfazed, preferred to simply play dumb ; whereas Sehun, who wasn’t able to understand what the man had implied, lost interest in his hyung’s odd choice of mobile device and quickly changed the subject of their conversation.

« Have you heard ? The word spread Taeyeon noona is going out w