“Sehun, it’s not like it’s the first time dinner you’re attending a family dinner. You should know how to behave,” Mrs. Oh says, voice stern and serious, “Eat something, you haven’t even touched your plate yet.”

“If all I have to hear how disgraceful of a son I am, then no, I don’t really know how to behave” then pushes his plate to his mother’s side, “I am not really hungry.”

“You haven’t eaten anything since—”

Mr. Oh scoffs from where he is seated. “Look at the brat, how he’s talking as if he isn’t at fault.”

“I apologized for it, didn’t I?” Sehun argues. “What’s the point of bringing it up again and again?”

“At least you will feel ashamed and will not even think of doing what you did the last week.”

Sehun sighs and leans against the chair. “Ashamed is something that I am not really feeling,” he lies, “I am just feeling annoyed of hearing the same thing again and again. I apologized to the Board; I apologized to everyone who you asked me to. Stop bringing the boring stuff again and again.”

“Sehun,” his mother begins, “don’t you know how to talk to elders? Have you forgotten even that?”

Sehun doesn’t answer and stares down at his lap in annoyance. His mother is supposed to be his side, not his father’s. God, family dinners always .

“The kid that I told you about, dear—the PA of his—is new to the company and yes, I know I am repeating that. He was preying on that kid, what is wrong with him? Ask him yourself; if possible, make sure that he hears what you have to say. I am tired of covering everything for him, sometimes, there’s this girl, sometimes, there’s that boy. Is it what his life revolves around; bedding everyone that comes to his reach? Why don’t you try to settle him down with some beautiful girl that would give—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sehun nods, cutting off his father, “some pretty heiress or daughter of a businessman who would give me an heir and this company a future. We already talked about that, and my answer is the same; No.”

“Sehun, first of all, learn how to speak. Then, your father isn’t wrong, you’re twenty-nine, soon going to be thirty, marry someone. We are not even pressuring you; you can marry whoever you’ve chosen, from a rich family I hope. Marry her; secure the company future, that’s it. We are not asking much.”

“You’re asking a lot, mom,” Sehun argues in a firm voice, “you’re asking for me to settle with someone that I don’t even love. I don’t love anyone and I don’t have anyone in my mind.”

“What have you been doing all these years?” Mrs. Oh frowns, patting her husband’s hand when it looks like he’s about to speak. “Sehun, you have been CEO for straight nine years, what have you been doing all these years. There are so many beautiful girls around here, so many successful ones. Some of your friends have settled—”

“None of them are worth falling in love with though,” he answers instead, “with none of them have I felt this connection. With none of them have I gotten this feeling of protecting them, leaving everything for them, pampering them and this and that, and this and that. With none of them have I felt anything, even an ounce of feeling.”

His heart is trying to provide a name. But it's blur, the name, the face of the person. Never mind; Sehun doesn’t even listen to his heart in these matters.

“So,” Mr. Oh begins, a look on his face, “you want time to fall in love with someone?”

Sehun sighs and gets up from the chair. “I don’t need time,” he speaks and grabs his suit coat to drape it over his broad shoulders. “Falling in love doesn’t need specific time; even though I haven’t fallen in love with anyone I know that at least. It will happen suddenly, and I am willing to wait.”

“Playing with people will never help you falling in love with someone, Sehun,” Mr. Oh says and its firm, the way he speaks as if he wants to knock some sense into his son’s head. “If that’s what you’re running after, that is. How would you know if you have fallen in love with someone?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Sehun answers with a shrug, “maybe I will feel jealous of seeing them with someone, maybe after that, I will become protective of them, maybe after that, I will try to keep them away from that certain someone, maybe I will court them then. Maybe I will do this, maybe that. Who knows, it depends I guess?” Sehun presses his lips in a thin line and with a quick nod to both of his parents walk out.

His mother shouts from behind for him to eat something. He doesn’t listen, his stomach grumbles but his head hurts more; maybe some other fragile stupid part of his too. After unlocking his car and quickly settling in, he thinks about the whole conversation that he had with his parents till this day. They are, honestly, more like business dinners with his parents than family dinners.

Sometimes to talk about the company; sometimes about the shares, sometimes about their rivals; sometimes to devise plans to make sure that their rivals don’t get ahead of themselves. Sometimes how they need to make sure that their idols stay in line and don’t do anything reckless. Sometimes, most of the times (Sehun would say it’s his father’s favourite topic to talk about or more like to humiliate him), they would talk about Sehun’s reckless behaviour and playboy personality.

“Just don’t get someone pregnant. That will be the end of us,” his father warns almost every other day. Not like Sehun listens to him or something, bedding someone is fun even though the pleasure is almost fleeting; it’s fun, no doubts.

It’s late in the evening, he realizes, eyes scanning his surrounding as he drives on a familiar road. After getting off the thoughts that he actually needs to find someone because his parents are asking him to, he thinks about his flings. Not that he remembers any name, except a few; like Irene, a girl whom he’d slept when he was twenty-five or something. That girl was great, is now an heiress and will probably own the Bae Industries in no time. Although the one night stand between them was never a one night stand, keeping in mind how many times they met and slept together.

They are friends now; they haven’t slept together for a long time. He wonders if he should ask her for a night then with a shake of his head, stops himself from doing so. She has recently announced that she was dating someone (that had created scandal).

His car, however, comes to be a complete stop at the sight of a very familiar figure: Jongin. The sight of the younger alone takes his breath away; Jongin in an oversized shirt, Jongin in skinny jeans, Jongin in sneakers, Jongin’s hair falling over his pretty brown eyes, Jongin looking down at the watch around his wrist, cutely mumbling something to himself before looking up and ahead. Ah, something shouts from inside of him, Jongin is worth falling for.

He gets out of the car, mind not really up with a plan. He just wants to greet Jongin, maybe ask him if he would like to accompany him to somewhere peaceful for some time. Sehun wants someone’s company at this moment, someone who he doesn’t know much; someone who doesn’t know Sehun much. His feet lead him to Jongin faster than he thought is possible and before he knows he’s suddenly standing in front of Jongin; Jongin, seeing his boss suddenly in front of him, stumbles on his feet and accidentally into Sehun’s arms.

Jongin squeals and pulls himself away from Sehun’s hold. “S-sorry, sir—” the younger quickly crouches down to pick up the fallen book from the ground. “I didn’t see you coming, I am so sorry—” Jongin bows immediately and keeps on doing until Sehun asks him to stop already, with a smile, of course.

It’s crazy how Jongin, someone who he spent only a few days with, can lighten up his mood with just his clumsiness (or adorableness for that matter). Jongin brings a smile to his face, even in those moments where his heart feels heavy and instead of smiling or laughing, he wants to lock himself in a room and maybe cry. Sehun wonders if that means something; maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.

“I came in front of you all of a sudden; it should be me who should apologize to you. I am sorry; are you hurt you, Jongin?” To make sure that Jongin knows how serious he is, he quickly scans Jongin’s smaller frame, then holds his PA’s hands and looks at them for any injury.

Its crazy how he’s being overdramatic, Jongin wouldn’t even be hurt. Sehun wonders if that makes him look stupid, kind of desperate to grab Jongin’s attention from something else. Sehun wonders if worrying so much about someone means something; maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.

“No, I am fine, sir,” Jongin says and then looks at his face, straight into his eyes as he searching for something. Jongin’s expression falters a little, cracks a little. “Sir, w-were you crying—” Jongin stops at the sight of clench of Sehun’s jaw. “I am sorry, sir, I should not—huh, what?”

Sehun gulps the bile in his throat and repeats, “would you like to go out? I mean, not like that, I-I just want to spend some time alone and I thought if you would accompany me to this place I am going to visit now? I mean, you could always say no. I-I will understand.”

With his head hung low, and the nervous fidgets of his long, thick fingers, Sehun looks alone; desperate for something that he doesn’t have control over. Jongin gulps and stares at his boss’s face for the first few seconds in silence before looking down at the watch around his hand. He has been in Sehun’s position a lot of time, maybe the reasons are and will always be different, but the feeling is the same; almost same. He thinks back to his son and Lucas, they must be waiting for him at his apartment and then he looks back at Sehun. He decides at last.

“I will need to give a call to my son though, just to inform him.”

“Oh,” Sehun says and his smile brightens his face more, if possible that is. He looks handsome in a handsome kind of way; for someone Jongin could fall for how human they look. “Sure, sure why not. Please do, I will wait,” he points to a car then, his own parked car. “That’s my car, I will be waiting there, or should I wait here...?”

Jongin shakes his head and passes Sehun a smile of his own. “That’s alright, sir. I will come there; I just need a minute to talk.”

“Sure, sure,” Sehun says with a nod and walks away. It’s funny, Jongin thinks, how Sehun acts so happy all of a sudden just because of him.

He shakes his head and after a quick look at Sehun and Sehun’s car, he pulls out his phone from his jeans pocket, dials a very familiar number and waits for Lucas to pick up. The younger picks up after three rings, and he sounds worried.

“Hyung,” Lucas says from the other end, “are you okay? Did something happen? Should I come there, I can leave Jin to mom’s care, should I—”

Jongin giggles; Lucas stops. It’s funny, Jongin thinks, funny and cute how Lucas always looks after him. “I am fine, Lucas, I just wanted to ask for a favour.”

“Oh, thank God,” Lucas breaths from the other end, “oh, what is that, hyung? I will help you; you don’t even need to ask me.” Jongin imagines Lucas rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. He speaks and acts so confident around him as if trying to prove Jongin something. A part of Jongin does, keeping in mind how much time he spends in Lucas’s presence but it’s better to be ignorant about that, for now.

“I just met someone important, my boss, I mean. I have some... business that I need to attend to. I have to go out with him; would it be alright if you look after Jin for some more time?”

“Your boss,” Lucas asks from the other end and this time, his voice has a little strain in it. “Of course, you can. I will look after Jin, umm, hyung, take care though.”

“Thank you so much, Lucas. I will try to make this quick, thank you. Please take care.” Lucas returns the words and Jongin promises him that he will call the younger if something happened. He hangs up the call, takes a deep breath and turns around to a Sehun frantically waving at him to come to him.

Sehun, Jongin decides, can look cute sometimes. He shakes his head at that, blushes a little at even thinking something like that and walks toward Sehun with calculated steps. For a moment, Jongin sees Kyungsoo in Sehun. In their early years of dating how Kyungsoo would wait for him outside of his car, then would take him out for dates and this and that. A wave of painful emotion passes through his chest, Jongin waves it off and upon reaching Sehun, passes a smile to Sehun.

“We are good to go, sir.”

Sehun smiles down at him, opens the door for him, closes behind him with a gentle click and walks to his own side. “I am sorry if I am troubling you Jongin,” Sehun says as soon as he sits on his own seat. He starts the engine, looks at Jongin when the younger only replies with a “no, sir, you are not”. He bites his lower lip, taps his index finger on the steering wheel and keeps staring at Jongin. if Jongin keeps flustered at such a behaviour, he doesn’t point that out.

“Uh, Jongin, you know when we are out, you can, you know, call me hyung. T-that’s will be alright,” then gulps when Jongin looks at him with wide eyes. “Only if you want, that is.”

He quickly looks straight, focusing on driving the car between the heavy evening crowd rather than his erratically beating heart.

Jongin’s answer comes minutes later and it’s shy and it’s cute how he speaks. “If you’re comfortable, then I am too. I will call you hyung, hyung.”

Sehun has never blushed so hard in his entire twenty-nine years of life. “I do; I mean, I feel comfortable, besides I have no one to call me hyung.”

“But I am here, aren’t I?” Jongin says with a small shy laugh.

Sehun’s mood lightens up. The monster ert side of his is thrown at the back of his mind, and the desperate, lonely side of him is demanding for attention from someone as precious as Jongin. “You lighten up my mood, Jongin,” the words are out of his mouth even before he could register what he said. “I mean, God, this is so embarrassing—please forget what I said.”

Jongin nods and the fact that he could never forget what Sehun just said earlier bring a blush to his soft cheeks.

Sehun drives them to his favourite place in a peaceful silence; nothing is said from Jongin’s side, his PA is too shy to start something anyway, and nothing is said from Sehun’s side either.

His favourite place, one in the opening of a small forest just at the outskirts of the state, has always been an important part of his life; ever since he found it when he was ten. It’s on the hill to be exact, hidden behind hundreds of trees, a place from somewhere he could see the whole city. He is absolute sure Jongin will love it, or at least hopes that Jongin will love it. It’s night, so it should look more beautiful.

It takes them quite a lot of time to reach there, Jongin is a little worried, Sehun believes, with how he’s fidgeting on his seat. Sehun can’t deny his worry; he should have warned Jongin where he was bringing the younger. It’s his fault; it has always been his fault for everything wrong happening around him. He gulps the bitter bile down his throat before looking at Jongin just after parking the car in an appropriate spot.

“We reached,” he announces before getting off the car and walking toward Jongin’s side even though the younger is already out. “Don’t worry, it’s not dangerous. In fact, what I—or more like, nature—have in store will amaze you.” He promises with a small nervous smile. Not much is visible at such an hour, but the moonlight penetrating the place gives them enough of an advantage to look at each other; it’s dim but it’s alright for now.

“Um, I have never been here.” Jongin tightens his hold around Sehun’s hand when the man walks further inside the forest.

“Not many people know about this place, Jongin,” Sehun says and gives Jongin’s hand a squeeze in reassurance. “But I know this place well, like the back of my hand, so don’t worry, Jongin. Just trust me.”

Jongin doesn’t reply but Sehun takes it as an answer, the younger probably is too scared to speak. It’s slippery, Jongin realizes, whether it’s the grass or soil, he doesn’t know. Still, the need to have something solid to hold against is very high and without having a second thought; he quickly latches onto Sehun’s arm. Sehun slips a little and then gives Jongin an amused laugh before continuing his walk.

Sehun hums under his breath, thinks it would help Jongin in some way. It does, but Jongin doesn’t tell Sehun that.

They reach the place minutes later, silence heavy around them. “We have reached,” Sehun says to Jongin and it’s funny how Sehun is constantly trying to make sure that Jongin doesn’t feel scared of being in a completely new territory. “We just have to climb that rock,” Sehun says and points to a particular rock. “After climbing that, we will reach my favourite place. Shall we?”

Jongin nods and quietly watches as Sehun quickly climbs the said rock without any problem. He steps a little ahead when Sehun asks him to.

“Just place your feet on the exact places where I did earlier—you noticed, right?” Sehun hears a hesitant hum. He stretches a hand from where he is sitting above the rock. “The rock is a little slippery, so be—oh, Jongin, careful.” He quickly grabs Jongin’s hand before the younger could fall down. “You just place your foot, and I will pull you up. Is that alright? Don’t worry.”

“Uh, sir,” Jongin whispers just before giving a nervous squeeze to Sehun’s hand, “I hope I won’t die falling from here.” Jongin gives a nervous laugh.

Sehun sighs but doesn’t say anything, instead puts more of his effort in making sure that Jongin climbs up the rock without any serious injury, or injury for that matter. It’s harder than he thought it would with how Jongin is unconsciously putting more weight for Sehun to pull him up. He clenches his jaw, fists his hand on the grass he’s holding, gives a final groan before finally pulling Jongin up.

They fall on the earth with a dull thud, Jongin’s weight now light on Sehun’s broader frame. Sehun laughs, Jongin doesn’t pull away, instead breathes heavily through his mouth. “God—”

“Was I heavy?” Jongin asks, realizing where he is before pulling back with a nervous blush sitting over his cheeks. “I should work out more often.”

The thought of Jongin working out sounds y to him; the result of Jongin working out not that much; with how much Jongin’s sides will sharpen. Sehun likes Jongin’s almost soft sides; it makes him want to place his head on Jongin’s body and sleep for an eternity. Jongin will make a soft cushion anyway.

He clears his throat before getting on his feet. He stretches a hand to the younger. “Now that we have reached; let me introduce you to beauty.” Jongin quickly takes his hand, huffs a little before following Sehun’s gaze.

It’s silent for the first few seconds.

Then Jongin squeals; then bounces up and down in excitement. “T-this, wow—this is pretty!” From here he could see the whole city or at least a part of it. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t look pretty, it’s more than just simple pretty. “All these lights make it prettier; I think I can guess why you fell in love with this place. I bet it will look pretty during the day too but now, during the night, its whole nother thing!”

Sehun laughs and scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment. Well, he did that. “It is, right?” Then sits down on the ground, it’s not wet, not that much at least. “Sit here,” he says and pats the space next to him. “You could look there even after sitting, you know. You’re not that short.”

Jongin hums and quickly plops next to him. “It is pretty, sir—” Sehun clears his throat. Jongin squeals. “I mean, hyung,” he shyly says. Sehun hums. “I wish I’d found this before.”

“You did now though. You should thank me at least, you ungrateful brat.”

Jongin’s blush is visible in the dark. “T-thank you, hyung,” he says, it’s cute; the way he sounds. Jongin sighs and looks ahead at the beautiful scene in front of them. “I still can’t believe I am witnessing something as pretty as this.”

“Well, we humans did that. Sometimes, we can do magic too.”

Jongin hums. The two go silent, but it’s not awkward: the silence. A sudden cold breeze passes them; Jongin involuntarily shivers in his thin shirt. Sehun notices this, so he quickly shuffles out of his suit jacket. “I apologize, Jongin, I should have warned you about this.” When Jongin refuses to wear and tells Sehun that he shouldn’t do that because he himself will get sick, Sehun firmly places it over Jongin’s shoulders and then tells him to wear it by himself. Jongin follows his instruction when Sehun refuses to take it back.

“I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if you get sick, hyung.”

“My immune system is strong, Jongin.” Sehun chuckles and sighs in satisfaction realizing Jongin will always look small in his clothes. “Is it okay, I mean it looks big on you? I have some clothes in my car; if you want, I could bring some.”

“No, this is fine, hyung,” Jongin says, and then as if remembering something; “hyung, if you have, then bring one for yourself; it’s cold here, you’ll get sick.”

Sehun clears his throat and stares ahead. “I just remember I have nothing.”

Jongin narrows his eyes at the elder, then “oh, I am actually feeling cold. My legs—oh, no,” Jongin mumbles to himself, voice high because he wants Sehun to hear it.

“Is that so?” Sehun asks and quickly gets on his feet. “Wait; let me see what I have in my car. I will bring something, just wait here. Don’t go anywhere.”

Jongin passes Sehun a smile. He watches as his boss quickly climbs down the rock, and then a grotesque figure running toward the opening of the forest. Hyung, Jongin thinks to himself, I had a husband and I am raising a kid. I know what you were doing just now. He looks around himself, then realizing that he’s alone in a very unfamiliar place (and its dark everywhere); he resolutely looks down at his tangled fingers on his lap. God, this is scary.

Sehun comes minutes later, much to Jongin’s relief. The elder climbs up the rock in an inhuman pace then crawls to Jongin, his voice breathless when he speaks, “here, I found this jacket.”

Jongin pats Sehun’s hand with a small laugh. “Hyung, you must be cold, please wear it.”

“I am cold? Jongin didn’t you say—” Then realizing what Jongin did, sighs. “Oh, you wanted me to wear something so that I don’t catch a cold.” Sehun smiles and it’s hidden behind his hand. “Thanks, for playing with me.” He jokes.

Jongin laughs. “It’s for your good, hyung. You cannot always go around thinking about others; you have to think about yourself too.” Then he pats the space next to him. “Sit, hyung.”

Sehun quickly gets in his jacket and sits next to Jongin, still smiling that (“creepy smile,” Baekhyun says) smile of his. “You think about others too, otherwise you wouldn’t have come with me.”

“That’s why everyone loves me so much, hyung,” Jongin jokes.

Sehun laughs even though he doesn’t like the thought of everyone loving Jongin, or everyone loving Jongin in that way. Then they go back to being silent, letting the cool breeze and beautiful scene around them talk. Looking at the city, Sehun thinks about the earlier conversation with his parents; then the thought that he would end up living in one of those houses with his future spouse suddenly scares him and leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.

He knows it’s that kind of topic which he cannot, no matter how hard he tries, ignore for long. He is twenty-nine, soon going to be thirty and he knows they need an heir now. With him being careless almost every other day with someone here or someone there, he can understand his parents’ struggles and worries. Funny, how a peaceful place and a company that doesn’t annoy him are all it takes for him to understand and realize his mistakes.

Jongin’s phone ringtone breaks the silence between them. Sehun watches as Jongin quickly fishes out his phone from his jeans pocket and picks the call up. Jongin talks to someone in a hushed tone, and then with a quick bye hangs up.

“Who was it?” Sehun asks, he tries to sound as natural as possible.

“Um, Lucas, my neighbour,” Jongin answers and quickly types a message to the said boy. “He is a university kid and helps me look after Jin when I am at the office. His mother picks up Jin from school. Sweet family, isn’t it?” Jongin laughs to himself with a nod.

Sehun hums, “sweet family indeed.” Then he runs a hand through his hair. “D-do you, uh, want to know how I found this place?”

“Sure, sir—I mean hyung.”

Sehun hums. “There’s this spot, and it’s perfect for a campsite.” Sehun points somewhere. “I was ten at that time, and we—my family and I—were here for camping for a night. It was late in the night and I had to pee—” Jongin laughs. Sehun squawks, “Hey, you cannot laugh at someone just because they want to pee—I was a kid!”

Jongin shakes his head and purposefully avoids the elder’s eyes. “No, it’s just—” he wheezes before clearing his throat. “I am just imagining you as a ten-year-old.”

“Oh,” Sehun says; it’s loud in the silent ambiance around them. “What do you think then?”

“I-I,” Jongin stops; even though the darkness around them envelops them and almost nothing is visible; Sehun can still tell that Jongin is blushing. “I think you must’ve been very adorable back then,” Jongin answers shyly. “Like every other kid,” he adds when the silence between them stretches too long.

(Sehun is grinning; he’s not looking at Jongin to make sure that the younger doesn’t notice his satisfied smile. Nor hear the sound of his erratically beating heart.)

Sehun hums after some time; he doesn’t say anything about that again. Instead, when Jongin asks him to continue his story, he starts from where he left. “I was ten; I was a big boy, so I wanted to keep my privacy—” Jongin giggles. Sehun dramatically sighs with a smile. “You’re disturbing me, Jongin.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” Sehun says and waves him off with a careless flick of his hand. “So, I went too far, I lost my way and somehow reached here. I remember spending my time here for a few long hours. Alone, and scared less. My parents came searching for me and found me crying. I was scared but I was happy with what I had found. Since then, I always come here.”

“Whenever you want peace, hyung?”

“Whenever I want peace,” Sehun agrees with a smile.

They go silent once again. Sehun does not have any idea how many hours pass after that but what he does know is the number of times Jongin receives calls in those hours. Jongin talks to the boy—Lucas, for some time in a hushed voice then hangs up. It’s not until he looks down at the time on his phone that he realizes its past two in the morning. “It’s very late,” he whispers, then apologizes to Jongin.

He gets up from the ground; helps Jongin up; then down the rock and they quickly walk toward his parked car. Jongin is sleepy; Sehun realizes when the younger keeps yawning. Whenever Sehun apologizes, the younger only hums. It brings a smile to his lips, watching Jongin being sleepy and cosy on his seat in his car. It takes them almost another hour to reach Jongin’s apartment when they do he realizes Jongin has already fallen asleep.

It takes a lot of effort from his side to wake Jongin up. The younger quickly bids him good night then, waves Sehun off when he apologizes with these sleepy eyes and cute pout. “Message me when you reach, Sehun.”

Sehun freezes for a moment and then watches as Jongin quickly stumbles to his apartment. Jongin rings the doorbell, someone young (and unfortunately, handsome) opens the door; Jongin gets in with that boy; the new boy closes the door behind them. He tightens his hold on the steering wheel, before driving away. Upon reaching his own home, he quickly gets out of his clothes, changes into comfortable trousers before diving face first on the bed. He picks up his phone when something hits him, opening the chat box of Jongin, he furiously gets to typing,

i reached safe and sound

thank you for accompanying me

Jongin

i really liked your company

...

you called me Sehun

Sehun has never blushed this hard in his life before.

joke intended, duh.

i still don’t understand how idols falling in love or dating someone is a scandal: controversy.

are you even serious?

lmao, you immature es, get some life.

(oh i said that, lmao, i did)