PART I 

I was tired.

Physically. Mentally. Emotionally.

Physically, because while being a senior resident at one of the biggest hospitals in Seoul paid well, it your soul out. It was exhausting enough to follow Dr. Zhang like a puppy all over the hospital, but I also had to deal with Taehyung's consistent jabbering. He was one of the people at the hospital that I could call a friend. The rest of them were competitive, back stabbing snakes. Even though Taehyung, a junior resident, was completely trustworthy, he did talk a lot for my tastes. 

I lived alone in my flat that I used to share with Jong In before he got married, so most of my time at home was spent in solitude. The hospital, however, was a different story. I was specializing as an ob-gyn and being one of the youngest on the team meant that you had to work twice as hard to gain a little respect. My work involved a lot of screaming women, crying babies and of course, blood. 

No matter what anyone says, you never get used to the blood. You just learn not to let it show. 

Mentally, I was tired, because- let me be honest. If you were friends with the people I'm friends with, you would have gone insane at this point. Every week they tried to set me up on dates. Unsuccessful ones, I might add. 

They said it was because they didn't know my type. They'd set me up with a younger guy, an older guy, a guy who was in medical school, a guy who worked at an architecture firm, a guy who was a bartender, a guy who used to be a male , and so on and so forth. 

Apparently, my type was tall, had four different part time jobs, had a kid he left for hours in a day care centre, had failed countless times at scoring a full time job with a decent pay, did not have his own place, and went by the name Park Chanyeol.

He was also the reason why I was emotionally drained. 
-
-
I had seen him for the first time in over two years, last Saturday at Kyung Soo's day care centre. Jong In had called me a minute after my shift got over. I was packing up my stuff and heading down to the parking lot when I got his call. 

"Baek, can you do me a favour?" He had sounded a bit nervous.

"Sure. What's up?"

"Can you go and get Bo Na from KSoo's?" I groaned. "I'm stuck in a meeting and Krystal's out of town."

"But it's far!"

"I'll give you chocolates. Please, Baek, just this once."

"Fine, but don't ask me to do this again."

I hung up and got into my car. Kyung Soo's day care centre wasn't really that far from the hospital. It was a few minutes past my apartment but the traffic in that area was really a to deal with. Especially on Saturday evenings. 

I glanced at my watch, honked at the car in front of me and groaned inwardly. Kyung Soo closed at eight. It was seven thirty right now. He would kill me if I made him wait. 

It took me thirty minutes to get there and then another five to find a parking spot. I had to run all the way to the building and barged into the reception area completely out of breath. Kyung Soo looked up at me and smiled.

"Jong In called me. You can take Bo Na." He tapped his watch and added. "You're lucky I'm not killing you." 

"Where is she?" I looked around since mostly the kids waited here for their parents. The only other person, other than Kyung Soo and me was a little kid with a mop of curly hair and huge elf-like ears. 

"She went to the toilet," he said. "Sit down while you wait. I have to make a call. That kid's Dad isn't here and hasn't called me either."

I nodded and took a seat next to the kid as Kyung Soo disappeared to another room. The kid eyed me warily and turned away quickly when he saw me looking. I offered him a smile but you know how kids are. They never smile back. Only ogle. The kid was now staring at me and well, it was a little uncomfortable. I wondered if I should say something when I noticed that he had scraped his knee. 

"Fell down?" I asked, pointing to the wound.

The kid nodded slowly. 

"Does it hurt?"

"No." The kid puffed up his chest. "I'm strong."

I laughed. "I am sure you are but why didn't anyone give you a band-aid? It looks clean but you should still be careful." I dug around in my bag and found a band-aid with the batman logo on it. "Here, I'll put it on for you." The kid shrinked away and I added soflty, "It's okay. I'm a doctor. You can trust me."

"You.. give... in'ection?" 

"No, don't worry, but if you don't put on this band-aid, I might have to."

The kid shook his head violently and shifted his foot towards me. I put on the band-aid for him and when I was done, he beamed at me. 

"Thank you, Doctor Ahjussi!"

"You can call me Doctor Baekhyun. What's your name?

The kid opened his mouth to answer but he was interrupted by three people entering the room in succession.

"Seo Jun-ah!"

"Oh, there you are Bo Na!"

"Chanyeol, do you know what the time is?"

All of my attention went from Bo Na who was making her way towards me, to the man who had just entered.

Chanyeol.

Yeah, as in Park Chanyeol from Yanggu.

He looked just as suprised to see me. 

"Baekhyun, hey." He said, a little breathless, his eyes darting between Bo Na and me.

"Appa, he's Doctor Baekhyun," the kid (Seo Jun?) said and pointed to the knee. "Gave me this!"

"Ah, thanks-"

"No problem," I squeaked as Bo Na tugged at my coat.

"Let's go. Where's Appa?" She said.

"Meeting," I told her. "Just a second." I turned back to Chanyeol who was looking at me with an odd expression. "You moved to Seoul?"

"Yeah, a few months back," he nodded.

"You should have told me," I muttered. "Would've got you a house warming present. Where do you live anyway?"

"Oh, er-" He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away when he answered. "Just a couple of streets down. Not far from-"

He was interrupted by Bo Na's loud yawn, "Leggo!"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." I gave Chanyeol a tiny smile. "See you around. Later, Kyung Soo!"

I heard Kyung Soo call goodbye but I didn't look back.
-
-
All it took was a minute long conversation with him for my mind to get preoccupied with all thoughts of Chanyeol. I asked Jong In if he knew about him moving to Seoul but apparently they hadn't talked in a long time.

"I wonder why he moved to Seoul now."

"Forget about him, Baek." Jong In had snapped. "He's a douchewad, okay? Don't waste your time on him."

Chanyeol hadn't attended Jong In's wedding so he was still a miffed about it. I didn't broach that topic in front of him even though I kind of understood why Chanyeol had missed his wedding.

Because no matter how many years pass, you'll always know your best friend inside out.
-
-
In the last four years since Chanyeol had got married to Ga Young, I had only seen him twice. We hadn't talked on either occasion. 

We had seen each other, both times, on a funeral.

My grandmother's.

And Ga Young's.

I'd heard from people that Ga Young had died a few minutes after giving birth to their firstborn. Too much blood loss.

Blood.

I almost hated that word now.

I had seen how broken Chanyeol was back then. I couldn't get that image of him, avoiding looking at his child at the funeral, tear stains on his face, out of my mind for days. At that moment, I had wanted to go up and talk to him, because I knew how ty it felt to be arranging someone's funeral. 

It would have been okay. For me to talk to him as a friend. But I never found it in me. I only talked to his mother, glanced at the kid and left after all the proper bows. 

A few times, I did wonder how Chanyeol was doing now. If his kid was all right. If he was all right. Always, I would realize with a pang that there was no Grandma to ring up and ask. There was no reason for me to go back to Yanggu and find an excuse to visit Chanyeol.

So, I tried my best to forget.
-
-
"Baekhyun hyung," Taehyung whispered as he walked up to me in the coffee room. It was supposed to be a snack room but all it had was a pathetic coffee maker. "You know what I just saw?"

He was using his 'I-have-juicy-gossip' voice and even though I was hardly interested in what he had seen, I said, "No."

"You know that new intern, Jungkook?" He waited for me to give a sign of recognition so I nodded despite having zero clue who he was talking about. "I saw him kiss one of the patients on the fourth floor."

"Fourth floor is cancer patients," I said, a tad bit concerned. 

"Yeah, it's that college student." I raised my eyebrows. "Stage one, Osteosarcoma? Park Jimin!"

"Oh," I said, finally placing a face to that name. I had heard about the kid. Apparently, he was a straight A student at SNU. "He'll recover."

"That's not my point."

"What is?"

"Jungkook is gay!" Taehyung said, "He likes men."

"Okay, and?"

Taehyung scratched his head and pouted, "And nothing. That's it. He's gay. Doesn't that bother you?"

"No. I'm gay." I added after a pause. "Does that bother you?"

Taehyung's lips formed a perfect O and he shook his head. "Not really. You're cool."

"What's that supp-"

"Cough up, loser!" I heard one of the girls, Seohyun walk up to a senior resident, Heechul, wiggling her fingers. "Told ya Baekhyun oppa's gay."

Heechul rolled his eyes and handed over a few bills from his wallet. I watched the exchange quietly, my mouth hanging open whule the rest of the people in the room laughed. 

Seohyun winked at me. "Thanks so much, oppa. You did me a solid."

I huffed indignantly and said, "Don't make bets on this sort of stuff!"

But she was already out of the room, whistling an unfamiliar tune. 

I had been in the hospital for over four years now and pretty much everyone knew about my ual preferences. I mean I neither tried to hide it, nor flaunt it but most of my seniors knew. And as long as they didn't have a problem, I didn't care.

"Hyung!" Taehyung said, looking at his watch. "Wanna go get lunch somewhere out?"

"Can't. My next shift starts in half an hour." 

"You have really weird shifts." Taehyung frowned. "Doctor Zhang tortures you so much."

"It's all right." I cast a look at my own watch. "I'm going down to the convenience store, though. Want anything?"

He did. And so did a few of my fellow residents. That's how I found myself navigating the aisles of the store, which was a three minute walk from the hospital, pushing a cart full of junk food in front of me. I was in the cereals row. One of the supervisors, Dr. Jun was pregnant and apparently, craving. I searched the row for her favourite strawberry flavoured flakes when I saw him.

Chanyeol.

He was wearing an old flannel shirt and equally worn out jeans. His hair was greasy and there were dark circles under his eyes, that were scanning the back of a cereal box. He caught me staring almost immediately.

I looked away and then back at him. Smiling, I said a small, "Hey!"

He smiled back but it wasn't one of his usual smiles. It was.. dim.

"Hi, Baekhyun." He added with a smirk. "Oops- Doctor Baekhyun."

"Haha, Baek's fine." I rolled my eyes. "Where's your kid anyway? Seojun, right?"

Chanyeol nodded. "KSoo's."

"Oh, right." I muttered. "Do you work around here?"

"No. Why?" Chanyeol said, pushing his cart forward, dropping the box into it. I quickly picked up the strawberry one and followed him. 

"Well, this store is a bit far from your house," I said. "Weird to come all the way here to shop."

Chanyeol threw me a confused look. "What? It's not far!" He said and we moved to adjacent biling counters. 

"Um, it takes twenty minutes to get here from Seongbuk," I said and emptied my cart. "On days when there's no traffic. Which is literally never."

"Seongbuk?" Chanyeol said. "I am staying here at Jongno. Five minute walk."

"Jongno? You moved?" I asked. 

Chanyeol looked at me, back to his empty cart, opened his mouth and then closed it.

It was my cashier who spoke next. "That's 10,000 won." I took out my card and handed it over to the cashier. I looked at Chanyeol after entering my pin and saw that he was doing the same.

"I'm sorry but your card got declined, sir." Chanyeol's cashier said.

Chanyeol breathed in sharply. "Can you try it again?"

The cashier nodded and then said, "Sorry. Still declined."

My cashier handed me back my card and began to bag my stuff. Chanyeol nodded slowly and reached for his wallet, checking its contents. A single 5,000 won note peeked out.

I reached over to his counter and gave the cashier my card. "I'll pay."

"Baekhyun-"

I held up a hand. "It's okay. Just pay me back later."

I turned to Chanyeol and he still wasn't looking at me. His ears, though, were completely red.

Once we were out of the store, Chanyeol grabbed my arm.

"Baekhyun, you didn't have to. I'll definitely pay you back." He started. "It's just that I-"

"It's fine, Chanyeol." I shrugged. "Take me out for coffee sometime as interest."

Chanyeol relaxed visibly. "When are you free?"

"Sunday afternoon work with you?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm busy on Sunday. I had the afternoon off today so I was shopping."

"Oh, so how about tonight then?" I said. "I'm free after eight thirty."

"Me too, but-"

"Yeah?"

"Is it okay if Seojun comes along?"

I cracked a smile. "Does Seojun drink coffee?"

"Well, no, he's only two years old, so-"

"Let's get dinner then." I cut him off. "There's this new Korean restaurant a couple of blocks away. Masizzim. I'll see you at nine."

And before he could refuse, I was off.
-
-
"Taehyung!" I said as I shrugged off my scrubs. "Do you have a clean shirt in your locker?"

"Yes. Blue. Why?" He said and swung open his locker. 

"Because I'm sweaty and this shirt stinks."

"So? You're going home, right?" He threw the shirt at me.

"No, I'm going out to get dinner with a friend." I looked around and since it was just the two of us, I ed my shirt and put on the one Taehyung had given me, making sure to tuck it properly.

"Like a date?"

I paused before I said. "No. Just dinner."

"You hesitated." Taehyung pointed out. 

I didn't answer.

But I had been thinking about it too. Why had I asked Chanyeol for dinner? To catch up? Well, sort of. I wanted to know how he was. More importantly, I wanted to know how he had managed to get a new place in a week but didn't have enough money to pay for groceries. 

"Do I look okay?" I asked Taehyung who looked me up and down.

He nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Who's this friend you're going with anyway?" 

"Oh, we were in high school together," I muttered. "I'll get going. See you tomorrow." 

When I got to the restaurant, I spotted Chanyeol and Seojun right away. They were waiting outside on a bench, talking animatedly. Both of them gave me a huge smile when they saw me.

"Hello, Doctor Baekhyun," Seojun said with a bow and I laughed. 

"Ah, so polite." I smiled back at Chanyeol. "Let's go in." 

He nodded and the three of us went inside. The owner of Masizzim was Kim Minseok, a friend of mine and so we didn't have to wait long for a table. We had our rooms on the same floor when we were at SNU and he had invited me to come check out his new restaurant. I had been unable to drop by what with my busy schedule and all. 

We got a decent table by the window and a waiter was there immediately, two menu cards in hand. Another quickly replaced him and poured us three glasses of water. I browsed the menu and so did Chanyeol. A few minutes later, I said, "What do you want to order?" 

Chanyeol looked at me and then back to the menu. "Baekhyun... um, this place is a bit expensive, don't you think?" 

"Oh? We'll get a discount," I said. "Don't worry. I know the owner." 

"Still." He looked a bit uneasy. 

"We'll split the bill," I assured him. 

"But-" 

"Come on! I can treat my best friend and his kid to dinner, right?" I said and then realised how flimsy it sounded. Best friend. I hadn't talked to him in four years. Seojun looked at the two of us and piped, "I'll have ice cream." 

Chanyeol threw him an admonishing look and I laughed, "I hear the desserts here are amazing." Seojun grinned at me while Chanyeol glared. "Should we order?" 

"Baekhyun!" 

"Yes, Chanyeol?" 

"Are you doing this on purpose?" 

"No. What do you mean?" I blinked at him innocently. 

"You know perfectly well what I mean." 

I sighed. "Fine. I'm sorry. Just let me get this one meal, okay?" 

"You don't have to." 

"I want to." I beckoned to the waiter. "I'll order for everyone, okay?"

Once the waiter had noted down our order, I turned back to Chanyeol. 

"So, how come you're in Seoul?" I asked. "Job?" 

I felt stupid after asking that. He was a P.E teacher at our old high school. Why would his job bring him to Seoul? 

He shook his head. "No. Just... needed a change of scenery and stuff." He said. "How are you doing these days? Where's your-uh, kid? Bo Na, right?"

"Oh. Bo Na is Jong In's daughter." I said. I looked at Seojun who was now pressed against the window and watching the people outside. "He was in a meeting so I went to get her." 

"So you're still single?" He asked and took a sip from his glass. 

"I hardly get time to take a shower," I laughed drily. "When will I find the time to date someone?" 

"You work at SNUH?" I nodded. "You're almost a celebrity back home. Everyone's always talking about how much you earn." 

I grinned. "Ah, is that so? How is everything back home?" 

Chanyeol shrugged. "Same old. Sehun's dating boys, all thanks to you." I cracked another smile. "The rest is pretty much how you left it." 

Our conversation was interrupted by Minseok who stalked over to me and slapped me on the back. 

"Finally this guy shows up!" He looked at Chanyeol. "Can you believe him? I opened months ago." 

"One month ago, Minseok," I said. "It's a great place." 

"Of course it is," Minseok smirked. "Oh, I'll get you my special for dessert. You'll love it." 

"Yeah, ask your staff to hurry up, though!" I said. "I am really hungry.  Haven't eaten since like three." 

"Aish, this kid!" He gave me a stern look. "I'll have a tiffin sent over to your hospital if you don't take your meals properly." 

"Give me my meal now. I'll be happy with that," I pointed to Chanyeol and said, "He's a friend from Yanggu." 

Chanyeol smiled at him politely and said, "Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Chanyeol." 

Minseok too was quick to smile. "Kim Minseok. And who's that handsome young boy?" 

Seojun, who was now listening to our conversation, grinned toothily and said, "Park Seo Jun." 

"There's a playground in the back," Minseok said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You might want to check it out." 

Seojun's face lit up and he turned to Chanyeol. "Appa, let's go." 

"Maybe after dinner," Chanyeol told him. 

Seojun nodded and began to play with the napkin in front of him. Minseok said, "I'll go see why your order's taking so long." 

It took only a few minutes after that for our order to arrive. And honestly, it took just one meal for Chanyeol and I to fall back to our old ways. We were talking like we used to in high school, before we had started dating. Something in the last four years had changed or maybe we were both adult enough to look past it, but I was glad I'd met him that Saturday. 

An hour passed and by now, Seojun was growing sleepy. 

"Appa, playground." He mumbled sleepily. 

"What if you fall asleep on the swing?" Chanyeol said as I payed the bill. 

Seojun widened his eyes and said, "I won't." 

"One ride won't hurt." I added.

Seojun nodded. "Then we can go back to Uncle." 

I looked at Chanyeol and said, "Uncle?" 

But he only shook his head and tugged Seojun through the back door. "Let's go, Seojunah!" 

Seojun bounced along and I followed them with a frown on my face. The playground, despite the late hour, was full of little kids screaming and laughing. Seojun decided on one of those carousels with horses for seats. Chanyeol got the tickets and tucked him safely onto the seats while I waited. Once a few more kids were on it, the ride started and I beckoned to Chanyeol.

He shook his head but I glared and walked over to him instead. 

"What Uncle was he talking about, Chanyeol?" I had a bad feeling about it. It was a little past ten and definitely not the time to be visiting relatives. "Why would you go back to an Uncle or whatever." 

He hesitated before he sighed and said, "I'm crashing at a relative's place. One of Mom's cousins." 

"Why? What happened to your place?" I asked and tugged him to the side so we could talk without the kids' screams interrupting us.

"I don't exactly have my own place." 

"What?" 

"I've been sort of freeloading at everyone's house." 

"For how long?" 

"Last six months." 

"Are you- wait. Where have you been staying?" 

"I stayed for a month at a friend's house. Another two at Kyung Soo's. And then a relative. Now I'm-"

"Whoa, whoa wait up!" I said. "Why? Doesn't your job pay enough to get a place?" 

"Seoul's expensive, Baekhyun. All of the money I get goes to Seojun's stuff. And since I can't afford nannies, I leave him at Kyungsoo's while I'm at work. He gives me a discount but it takes up a lot." He looked clearly agitated as pushed back his hair from his face. "I'm juggling four different jobs right now but it's not enough." 

I didn't reply straightaway. I looked at Seojun, laughing on the merry go round and said, "How long were you planning on doing this, Chanyeol? You have a ing kid to take care of! Do you know how all this is going to affect him? Why didn't you stay in Yanggu?" 

Chanyeol looked away and mumbled. "I can't. I can't stay in that place." 

"Ugh, then why don't you ask your parents for money?" 

"I don't want them to worry." I opened my mouth to reply but he cut me off. "Baekhyun, I'm almost thirty. I'm not asking my parents for money." 

"It's not about your ego, right now, Chanyeol. You're a father! You have responsibilities." 

"I know. I just need time, I'll-"

"Why didn't you call me?" 

"What?" 

"If you were having trouble getting a place, you could have called me." I said as I tried to calm myself down. "I would have helped you look for a cheap place. Why didn't you ask Jong In?" 

"Yeah, I kind of thought you'd hit me the moment you saw me." 

Hypothetically speaking, I would have. But in reality now that I was faced with this situation, I had no trouble saying what I said next. 

"Move in with me." 

"What?" 

"Jong In's room is still empty. I keep some of my books in there." I started. "It's not a lot so I'll move them today. Then whenever you're free you can bring in your stuff. I bet you don't have a lot yourself if you're hopping from one house to another." 

Chanyeol shook his head. "Baekhyun, you don't have to do this for me." 

"I'm not doing it for you." I said defiantly. "I'm doing it for.. Ga Young. That's right. You can stay there till- I don't know. Till you can afford your own place." 

Chanyeol didn't look convinced but he nodded. "I hated asking those people for favours. I don't even know them." 

I shrugged. "Well, you are kinda stupid." Seojun's ride had slowed down to a halt and Chanyeol went and helped him down the horse. 

Seojun grinned and rubbed his eyes. I looked at Chanyeol. "Come on. I'll give you a ride." 
-
-
I helped Chanyeol and Seojun bring over the rest of their stuff from their relative's place in Jongno to mine in Seongbuk on Sunday evening. It was around seven when we finished up. Seojun was curled up on the couch and fast asleep and Chanyeol was sprawled on the floor. 

I was on the couch next to Seojun, flipping through the channels on the TV with the volume turned down. A few minutes later, Chanyeol sat up. 

"I have to go to my part time job in half an hour." 

I glanced at the watch. "Now? Where are you working?" 

"At a convenience store." He rubbed his eyes, the same way Seojun did when he was sleepy. "It's not far. Walking distance." 

"How many part time jobs do you have?" I frowned. He had one in the afternoon. 

"Four. I told you the other day." 

"All four are part time?" I said incredulously. 

"Well, I don't have a very colourful resume so there aren't a lot of people lining up to hire me." He said. 

"Where else are you working? Tell me your entire schedule right now."

He sighed. "Monday, Wednesday, Fridays and Saturdays, I bus tables at a Thai restaurant for seven hours." He counted on his fingers. "Sundays for three. That's where I was this afternoon. The convenience store thing is from seven in the morning till one. Everyday." My jaw dropped. "Tuesdays and Thursdays I work at a bookstore for eight hours. And two hours everyday at a café." 

"Okay. Wow." I muttered. "Why are you going to the convenience store now?" 

"I'm covering for a guy. He did me a favour last month when I had to go get Seojun from KSoo's." 

I nodded my head slowly. "Wait a minute. When will you be back?" 

"Midnight?" 

"I have my shift from ten." 

"Oh. That's okay. I have the keys." 

"What about Seojun?" 

Chanyeol looked at him and then back to me. "I could take him with me. It's not very crowded at night anyway." 

"He needs to sleep. Where will he sleep at the convenience store?" I said. 

"I can't leave him here alone, right?" 

"Hmm. I can ask Jong In." I thought. "Oh wait! There's Junmyeon hyung!" 

"Who?" 

"He lives on the third floor. He can look after him." I said and picked up my phone, dialling his number. "He's got a kid too. A year older than Seojun, I guess. Anyway, he's a stay at home husband so I doubt he would mind." 

Chanyeol nodded and went into his room to change into his work clothes. Which were a cleaner pair of jeans and green T shirt. 

"Junmyeon hyung says Seojun can stay the night." 

"It's only for two hours. I'll be back by twelve." 

I nodded and he pocketed his phone and wallet. Once he was at the door, he turned around and said, "Thanks, Baekhyun." 
-
-
The next couple of weeks passed uneventfully. From six thirty in the morning till eight at night, Seojun was at KyungSoo's. Then if I didn't have a night shift, I'd look after Seojun since Chanyeol had landed a fifth part time job at a bar. I didn't like the fact that he was a bartender but apparently it paid well. In case both of us were busy, Junmyeon hyung was more than happy to look after him. He would also teach Seojun alphabets and new words sometimes. 

"He's smart for his age." Junmyeon hyung had told me once, and I had weirdly, puffed up with pride.

Most mornings, Chanyeol fixed breakfast for the three of us. I had almost forgotten how good his cooking skills were. 

"You don't have to get up early and make all of this!" I had told him one morning. 

"If I don't, then who will?" He said. 

"I can cook too." I said. 

"Hmmm that's why your cupboards were full of ramyeon packets when I moved in." Chanyeol said. "You're a doctor. You especially, should eat healthy." 

"Fine, eomma!"

"I have a question, though." He said. "Where's your piano?" 

"I don't have one." I answered shortly. 

"Really?" He looked up from his own breakfast. "Why not?" 

I shrugged. "Don't play it anymore."

"What?" He almost shouted. "Why?" 

I grew a little uneasy as I remembered exactly why I had stopped. I shook my head. "No time to." 

He still looked a bit sad but didn't ask me further. Instead he brought up another uncomfortable topic. "About the rent.." 

"Hmm?" 

"I-um, how much do I have to give?" He was staring at his breakfast and avoiding my eyes. 

"Did you pay rent when you came over to my Grandma's house back in Yanggu?" I said, deadpanned.

"That was different." Chanyeol said, finally looking up. "They were sleepovers." 

"Please. You were there too often for them to be called sleepovers." I rolled my eyes. 

"You know my Mom and I had an argument about it once." He cracked a smile. "I was always at your house and she would tell me 'Why don't you ask Grandma Byun to adopt you'. She thought I went there because of the food." 

I laughed. "It's a totally legit reason." 

"Yeah, so I had to tell my Mom that it wasn't because of the food." Chanyeol continued, the smile still on his face. "It was because I had a crush on the boy who lived there." 

I stopped chewing and looked away from his stare. "Pretty obvious crush." I tried to joke. "I think the boy knew." 

"I hope so," Chanyeol laughed. "I used to kiss him a lot." 

I felt my face go warm and Chanyeol laughed again. It was a while later, almost noon, when I realized that he had been sort of flirting with me.

A/N- I knew I said it was a one shot but then I decided to split it into two parts. Here you go. I got a lot of response for this so I just spent all day typing and my wrists are aching. T-T

I'll try to finish Part II as soon as possible. It won't take long since but meanwhile, let me know what you think in the comment section below. And yes, the whole "Why Chanyeol chose Ga Young over Baekhyun" issue will be addressed in the next chapter. 

xoxo