Visiting New York was nothing like Baekhyun had imagined it. The buildings were taller than he had expected, the streets were more crowded, and Sehun, his boyfriend of nearly two years, was busier and less excited to see him than he had been every time they had talked about Baekhyun's upcoming trip over Skype.

Sehun was supposed to meet Baekhyun at the airport when he had landed earlier that morning, but just as the airplane taxied to the runway and the captain had given the go to turn mobile devices on again, his phone pinged with notifications. He quickly opened it up to discover two text messages, one from Sehun and one from Jongdae, his best friend. The text from Jongdae was simple, a quick 'text me when you arrive so I know you haven't been kidnapped' message. Baekhyun rolled his eyes upon reading it and shot off a quick response reading, 'Made it, you .' The one from Sehun, however, was not as happy. It said, 'Soundcheck for the show this evening is running late. Not going to make it to the airport. Grab a cab to the hotel and I'll meet you at the after party when the show is finished.' He typed a quick 'Ok' in response.

And so, Baekhyun had done just that. He grabbed a taxi from JFK airport to the Hilton in Midtown, and once he had checked in with the hotel staff and had acquired a room key, he made his way upstairs to shower.

Once clean and smelling less like the stale airplane, he flipped on the camera and began a short video. "Hey, followers!" He began. "I'm here in New York and it's going to be so much fun! We've got some trips planned to Central Park and the top of the Empire State Building. And of course our meet-up! I can't wait to see you all! But, first, I'm gonna get ready to go to a party! Bye for now!"

He finished recording and then Baekhyun grabbed his wallet and hailed a cab to 1 OAK. His nerves had him on edge and his anxiety grew as the taxi passed each subsequent street. He fiddled with his phone, checking it for messages from Sehun, but finding none present.

"Sir, we've arrived at your destination," the driver said, gesturing to the building. The man's heavily accented English taking Baekhyun by surprise.

"Thank you," Baekhyun replied. He reached in his wallet, fished out the fare and exited the taxi into the cool summer air.

"Name?" the man at the door said in English, pulling Baekhyun from his head space.

He stared for a moment, taking in the man’s finely cut suit and red striped tie. His mind raced as quickly as it could to translate the question, and then he smiled. "Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun. Sehun is expecting me," he said slowly, hoping the man had understood.

The man nodded and looked down the list of names on his clipboard and then back up at Baekhyun. "You can go in," he said, lifting the velvet rope behind him that blocked the way to the party inside.

Baekhyun nodded and walked past the man, who secured the rope behind him. He was excited to Sehun and he hoped that Sehun was excited to see him. They hadn't seen each other in nearly two months and now, finally, Baekhyun had been able to take some time off of work to meet his boyfriend in New York after his latest gig.

He made his way down the dimly lit hallway, the smell of alcohol and fried food and sound of the DJ washing over him the closer he got to the party. He breathed it all in and his heart began to beat faster in his chest with every step he took forward.

Within a matter of moments, Baekhyun found himself standing in the middle of the dance floor. Men and women grinding on each other as the bass line pulsed through the room. His eyes quickly caught the bar and he made his way over, ordering a simple vodka martini while he looked around for Sehun.

"Whoever you're looking for is very lucky," a deep voice said in English from behind him.

"He is," Baekhyun responded in carefully chosen English. He refused to turn around to acknowledge the new stranger at the bar. Sehun was someone and he needed to see his boyfriend.

He finally spotted Sehun across the room, leaning on a table and engaged in conversation with a man. Smiling, he grabbed his drink from the bar and made his way across the room.

"I missed you," Baekhyun said, sliding up beside Sehun and placing his drink on the small cocktail table.

"Baekhyun-ah," Sehun said, turning to meet him. "You made it."

Baekhyun smiled, rushing forward to wrap his arms around the tall, lithe man's waist. He nuzzled into Sehun's chest, before quickly pulling away and looking back at Sehun. "I did. The flight over was just as awful as I could have imagined, but I get to see you now. So, that makes it worth it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation with my rambling," he paused, turning his attention to the man across the table Sehun was talking to. "Byun Baekhyun. Nice to meet you." He bowed slightly and reached his hand across the table, ignoring the blush that crossed Sehun's face and smiled.

"Ah. Yes. This is Heechul-hyung," Sehun said, nervously gesturing to the man standing across the table from him.

"It's a pleasure. He's cute Sehunnie," Heechul said, returning the handshake. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Heechul--" Sehun began, trying to make subtle instructions for Heechul to leave with his eyes, but failing.

"What? Can't I offer to buy a cute boy a drink? Hunnie, if you're going to be with me--"

"Heechul--" Sehun cut Heechul off.

"Fine. I'll leave you two alone," Heechul said, throwing his hands from the table. He grabbed his drink and sauntered away into the crowd.

Baekhyun gnawed on his bottom lip, staring down at his feet. He took a deep breath and then met Sehun's eyes.

"I wanted to tell you. I...I tried to tell you," Sehun said. "But, you...I didn't want to hurt you."

"So you let me come all this way to what?" Baekhyun said voice drained of any emotion. He turned his attention back to his martini, swirling the clear liquid in circles.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

Baekhyun nodded, his eyes becoming glassy. He refused to blink and let tears fall down his face. Instead, he finished off the martini in his glass, placing the glass back on the table, and turned away looking for the exit. "Right. I...I need to go."

"Baekhyun--"

"No, Sehun. No. I can't stay here. I...I..." He froze, his hands falling to his sides and his breath caught in his throat. "I'm so stupid," he mumbled.

"You are not," Sehun responded.

"Yes, I clearly am. I don't know how I missed it."

"Baekhyun--"

"I've got to go. I'll get my things from the hotel room. I...have to go," Baekhyun his heel and began to walk toward the exit. He felt the warmth of tears trickling down his face as he made his way back outside. He waited a moment, hoping Sehun may come after him, but he never did.

He lamented how badly he had packed his things as he rolled his one suitcase and one duffel bag back into the lobby, the suitcase in particular wobbling from the odd weight distribution. In his haste to make sure he was not around when Sehun returned, he hadn't bothered to actually fold any clothing or organize his suitcase. He returned the room keys to the front desk, and then made his way over to the restaurant bar.

Pulling up a stool beside a man with short black hair and dressed in a blazer with jeans, Baekhyun flagged down the bartender and pulled out his cell phone. He quickly sent a text to Jongdae with the words, 'It's over,' and then glanced over the menu.

"What'll it be, sir?" the bartender asked, his English tinged with an accent that caught him by surprise.

"Oh. Ummm...vodka martini," Baekhyun responded.

"Right away, sir," the bartender replied, fluttering off to make the drink requested of him.

Baekhyun sighed and placed his head in his hands. Thoughts of a mere few hours ago swirling through his head. He needed to figure out where he was going to go and he needed to figure it out fast.

The bartender returned moments later and placed the martini glass in front of Baekhyun. Baekhyun paid and sipped quietly at the martini. This was definitely not how this trip was supposed to go. He imagined what it would it have been like if Sehun had picked him up at the airport and had been happy to see him. How he would be out dancing and possibly having amazing when they returned.

He looked down at his glass and swirled his martini before downing the whole thing in one swallow. The bartender appeared almost immediately in front of him replacing the empty glass with a new one.

"Bad night?" the man sitting next to him at the bar asked.

The Korean caught Baekhyun's ear and he glanced at the man before he looked down at the fresh martini and sighed. "Yeah, it is." He responded, the words of his native language flowing off his tongue.

"I'm sorry and I apologize for my manager earlier tonight. I apologize if he added to your bad night," the man sitting next to him at the bar said.  

"I'm sorry?"

"The man who tried to pick you up at the bar. I was watching him strike out again. He's very good at that and it always amuses me," the man said.

"Oh. Right. Him. I'm sorry, I wasn't even paying attention to him."

The man laughed. "Oh, I know. I watched him fail. It was spectacular."

Baekhyun chuckled. "I'm glad I was able to amuse you," he paused. "I'm sorry if this is out of turn, but where are you from? Your Korean is very good."

"Seoul. I'm here for work. Yourself?"

"The same. I was supposed to be...nevermind," Baekhyun said, downing the last of his drink.

"Supposed to be what? You don't have to tell me, but if you're looking for someone to talk to, I'm here. And bored at the moment." He shrugged and took a sip of the light colored liquor in front of him.

"It's just. I was so stupid. I should have seen the signs. Sehun clearly didn't want me to come, but I insisted--"

"Wait, Sehun? As in the Sehun who just performed at Pier 36."

Baekhyun hesitated for a moment, frozen in terror. He and Sehun had never been out in public nor had Sehun ever made mention of his uality and here he was blabbing it all to a complete stranger. "Yes..that Sehun," he said, lowering his voice to just above a whisper.

"Huh," the man replied. "He's never mentioned you."

"What?"

"He's just never mentioned you. Or dating anyone for that matter." The man took another sip from his glass. He'd been nursing the same drink since before Baekhyun sat down, he noted.

"You know Sehun? How do you know Sehun?"

"I guess you could say he's a colleague of mine," the man said. "I see him at events sometimes. We--"

"There you are!" A man in a charcoal suit, with light brown hair that Baekhyun vaguely recognized rushed over to the bar, interrupting the conversation with the stranger.

The man Baekhyun had been speaking with smiled at Baekhyun and gestured to the other man. "My manager," he said.

"What? Who are you talking to Kyungsoo?" the man asked.

The stranger, or Kyungsoo rather, looked past his manager at Baekhyun. He quickly furrowed his brows. "I don't actually think I caught your name."

"I'm sorry. It's Baekhyun, Byun Baekhyun," Baekhyun said, smiling.

"I've just been talking with Baekhyun here for a majority of the night. He's been having a bad night," Kyungsoo said to the man very matter of factly.

Kyungsoo's manager turned around, took one look at Baekhyun, and immediately turned back to Kyungsoo.

"You didn't mention he was the guy from the party," Kyungsoo's manager whispered.

Kyungsoo shrugged and rolled his eyes. He leaned past his manager toward Baekhyun. "As I was saying, this is my manager, Chanyeol."

Chanyeol turned around to look at Baekhyun and Baekhyun chuckled, reaching out a hand to Chanyeol. "Pleasure to meet you, though according to Kyungsoo, we've already met."

Chanyeol groaned causing Baekhyun to chuckled again, louder than before. "Yeah, we briefly did. I'm sorry about that."

Kyungsoo snorted. "No, you aren't."

Chanyeol glared at Kyungsoo, but Kyungsoo ignored his gaze.

"It's alright. Really, it's fine," Baekhyun said, interrupting the two of them. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. He noted that Jongdae had responded to his text, and tried to call seven times, but he would take care of that later. "I actually have to get going. Figure out what I'm doing with myself. It was nice to meet you, Kyungsoo. If you see Sehun again, tell him I hope he's well. Nice meeting you, Chanyeol."

He climbed down from the bar stool, grabbed his luggage, and disappeared out of the restaurant and the hotel into the crisp night air.

"I need to exchange my ticket to Seoul, please," Baekhyun said slowly to the woman behind the ticket counter of Asiana Air. "As soon as you can is fine. I'm just leaving sooner than expected."

He handed over his passport and the confirmation for his flight later in the week.

"Did you have a good trip, sir?" The woman asked as she began to type on the keyboard in front of her.

"What? Oh. Yes," he said. He fidgeted with the buttons on his shirt, watching the woman type quickly on the screen in front of her. The typing quickly fell silent.

"There is a flight at seven thirty tonight. Is that ok, sir?" She looked up at Baekhyun and he felt the world shrinking around him.

"Yes," he responded. "That's fine."

"Ok. I'll just need your form of payment and I'll have this all set for you. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

Baekhyun handed over his credit card and shook his head, his once neatly styled hair now flopping into his face. "No, thank you."

A few more clicks on the woman's keyboard and he was handed his passport, credit card, and new ticket and he was ready to go. He grabbed his suitcase and headed toward the security line.

After the surprisingly quick process through security, Baekhyun made his way to his gate to wait for his plane. He sat alone near the window that overlooked the planes coming and going, and then he pulled his phone from his pocket. Another text message from Jongdae had just arrived. He sighed and opened up the sixteen messages.

'What do you mean it's over?' 'You can't just ignore me like this.' 'Baek, answer the text.' 'Do you mean it's over with Sehun?' 'No.' 'No.' 'I'm calling you.' 'Answer the phone you prick.' 'Seriously, answer the phone.' 'Are you ok?' 'Why aren't you answering.' 'You're starting to worry me now.' 'Please answer the phone.' 'I called Sehun.' 'He said he doesn't know where you are.' 'Please don't do something stupid.' 'Please don't be dead.'

'I'm alive,' Baekhyun typed back. He hit send and within five minutes, his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"You disappear off the grid for nearly five hours after sending a text saying and I quote, "it's over" and then just answer the phone with "hello?" Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Jongdae screamed into the phone.

Baekhyun laughed, a little bit of weight leaving his chest making him feel lighter.

"What are you laughing at? I was really worried! I haven't been able to focus on anything all day!"

"It's just...it's nice to hear that you care," Baekhyun said through small giggles. "I'm sorry."

"You better be. Care to fill me in on what happened?"

"I shouldn't have come. Sehun is doing just fine, but he's seeing someone else. He wanted to tell me, but didn't know how...and I was too dumb to see that he really didn't want me to come."

"Well, that explains why he didn't know where you were. So, where are you?"

"I'm at the airport. I'm coming home. I didn't have anywhere to go and I didn't want to stay."

"Oh," Jongdae said, his voice clearly deflated on the other end. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Baekhyun replied. "I'm coming home. Pick me up at the airport?"

Jongdae laughed. "Fine, fine. I'll see you in what fifteen hours?"

"Yes," Baekhyun said.

"Ok. I'll be there," Jongdae replied.