Sorry for the typos. 

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The bell chimes, signaling the presence of a new customer.

ByunBaekhyun quickly turns around from the shelf of the Jazz CDs section to greet the newcomer with his cheerful demeanor, “Welcome to Hot tracks!”

His smile dampens as soon as he sees not one but a dozen men strolling no less than 25 huge boxes into the shop. A frown quickly sweeps away his usual rectangle shaped smile and confusion becomes evident through his furrowed eyebrows. Junmyeon, his boss, didn’t say anything about a new order of albums coming this night. His boss asks him to spend the holidays out but knowing how his Christmas would be, lonely and cold, Baekhyun insisted on taking care of the shop. Even though it’s against Junmyeon’s will, he understands the boy so he let him.

“Where to, kid?” One of the men who was handling the God-knows-what content of the boxes asks.

“Huh?” The 25-year-old music store attendant is still in a haze of confusion and in a state of racking his brains as to what was going on.

“Oh wait, let me check.” He goes behind the counter to see if there are any scheduled deliveries of albums which costs around a house and lot for him judging from the number of boxes inside and outside of the shop. Nostalgia hits him hard succeeded by fear.

He searches today’s date for confirmation, December 24. Christmas Eve. Nothing was scheduled under this. The next delivery is still on the next day. Ugh, the big delivery. Merry Christmas. Baekhyun lets out a sigh of relief as he made no error.

“I’m sorry but I think there’s a mistake. There’s no scheduled deliveries for tonight.” He explains to the men are all carrying the heavy loaded boxes.

He feels sorry for the efforts of these men thrown away in vain.

“Uh yeah, about that,” A man who Baekhyun assumes to be the head of this delivery operation raises a finger, “This is actually the December 25 delivery. For this branch, a total of 5,000 albums are supposed to be delivered, however, since the order is big and it’s especially on holidays, we decided to split them; today and tomorrow in order for my men to have an early leave for Christmas.”

Baekhyun’s jaw slacked as his brain comprehends the explanation of the man.

They get to have an early leave while he’s going to deal all of these!

Well, it wouldn’t have made any difference if they were to deliver all of them tomorrow. This would be a head start for him then.

“Okay, so right now, you have 2,500 albums in hand?” The man nods and his head starts to ache.

“Just leave them in the storage room. Right that way.” He points at the door, and the men starts to stroll the boxes into the room.

“Jesus,” Baekhyun mutters. “It’s that time of the year again.”He sighs.

This is going to be one hell of a night.A night full of unloading heavy boxes, cutting thick scotch tapes, and rolling gigantic posters of Park Chanyeol.

And indeed, he is correct.

After rigorous hours of going through the list of orders for Park Chanyeol’s winter comeback album; packing the correct number of albums per customer; rolling the corresponding amount of gigantic posters into their respective poster tubes with such difficulty, Baekhyun is actually proud of himself for finishing the his first five hundred, but not without a series of complaining:

“What?! Who the hell buys 300 copies this stupid giant’s album?!”

“Woah, this poster is huge as . I could totally use it as blanket if I were to be a homeless man.”

“These girls are totally crazy for spending money on him when they could’ve just donate the money to feed the kids in Africa.”

“God, my arms hurt.” As he opens his 10^th box.

“, I cut my finger! My precious finger!”

“Ugh, I hate life. I give up.”

“Why did I even choose this kind of job?”

“I’m going to submit my resignation letter first thing in the morning! I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE.” He shouts as he surrenders, layingdown on the floor surrounded by countless of poster tubes, tapes, boxes, and posters. After minutes of contemplating, he then continues to start where he left on.

4 more to go.

He sighs for umpteenth time. Curse you, your talent, your popularity, and your face, Park Chanyeol!

After five years of being a music store attendant, he should’ve gotten used to this kind of job. Don’t get him wrong; he loves his job. He loves organizing things and listening to music, especially when he sings his undying love for Girls Generation and dances to the steps he knew by heart. Plus, he gets to listen to the albums of his favorite artists in advance too. But when a certain Park idol decided to own the entertainment industry and capture the hearts of millions of girls with just one stupid smirk of his, Baekhyun began reconsidering some things.

Five years has passed ever since the idol singer/music producer, Park Chanyeol, released his first full album titled Ignite which became a golden jackpot. He was the first solo male singer to reach a million album sales reviving the physical album market; setting the standards to a whole new level for solo artists; and increasing the number of albums Baekhyun had to work on prior to his every comeback.

To be honest, Baekhyun wasn’t immune to the Park mania; he too can’t stop listening to his title song, Fire Within, but that was ages ago. His view changed when a certain delivery exceeded to the amount of boxes he was used to deal with. At first he thought that the boxes held albums of different artists’ come backs for that month but Junmyeon informed him that the boxes all contain albums of Park Chanyeol.

Surprised, to say the least, Baekhyun was in awe as he look around. Woah, that big, huh?

All hell broke loose when his boss alerted him in a serious tone, “Baekhyun, we need to pack all of them fast since the release date would be two days from now. I need you to start packing according to the order list now.”

EH?

The very first comeback of Park Chanyeol was Baekhyun’s first break down in his job. There were just too many albums to handle by just one pair of hands. At times, Jongdae and Kyungsoo would help him in order to finish his job.

The singer releases his comebacks in a consistent 3 times a year schedule – full album, repackage album, and winter album – and Baekhyun barely survives every damn time. His comeback is the toughest one to deal with when you’re working in a music store. The night before his comeback release, fans would flock outside the music store just to be the first ones to get their hands on his album despite the cold harsh weather of Korea. Junmyeon would pity the kids and with Baekhyun’s help, they distribute hot packs for them. Junmyeon’s Hot tracks branch rose into recognition the first time they did this act of kindness, and ever since then, more people come to this branch; a furious scowling on Baekhyun’s part.

And even after Park’s album releases, they’d still get major orders from his fans. The first month would always be hell for Baekhyun as the girls pack the music store. He’s short and his presence is small, so sometimes, management control is hard to handle especially, with these crazy fans.

So in a matter of 5 years, Baekhyun dealt with 14 comebacks already, and every time, he’d just pray to the gods to give him the strength he needs to finish this and the patience not to behead a particular singer with a string of colorful curses on tail. Now’s the 15^th comeback, the last one for this year.

Yeah, he should get used to this by now.

But then again, this is another set of order with an additional boulder in comparison to the previous comeback orders, and for making matters worse, there’d be the second wave tomorrow.

He’s regretting this alright.

Two nights filled with cups of caramel macchiato espresso; hurting his body all over; and of course, Park Chanyeol’s winter comeback album, Sleep, My Love; oh, the irony, Baekhyunfinished his work with the help of Jongdae, Kyungsoo, and Suho. All arrived as soon as they hear the puppy cries and begs for help from the other line on a Christmas morning.

“I can’t believe we did all that. Baek, I can’t believe you did all first one thousand.” Jongdaehuffs. Standing from his indian position on the floor to swipe all dust and dirt on his pants.

“I know. I can’t believe I endured this ‘til the end. Park Chanyeol’s albums just keeps on increasing comeback after comeback. I hate it so much.”

Baekhyun sighs and turns to Junmyeon with his finger pointing at him and the other hand on his waist, “One of these days, I’m going to actually put my resignation letter on your desk. I’m telling you.” He warns.

Junymeon chuckles, “Baek, you say that every time we finish packing Chanyeol’s albums.”

He surrenders, “Well, point taken.”

Guess, he just loves his job too much that not even a six-foot tall ogre can make him go away.

“Okay, that’s a wrap!” Junmyeon announces. “Thank you for everyone’s help, Kyungsoo and Jongdae. And Baekhyun, please get some rest. The night of December 26 would be the last battle you’d be dealing with, alright?”

“Oh please, tell me about it.” Baekhyun attempts to be sarcastic despite the drowsiness tries to overtake his body.

“Technically, several hours from now since it’s 3 in the morning. I’ll take care of the shop for now, and come by 8 in the evening later. Merry Christmas!” His boss instructs.

Baekhyun can do only so much by nodding, packs his things, and then walks out of the store. Kyungsoo and Jongdae trailing behind, looking out for their friend in fear of him fainting in the dark and cold streets during Christmas.

As soon as they reached Baekhyun’s apartment, his friends bid him goodbye followed by warm Christmas greetings which Baekhyun also returns.

As he trudges his way to his apartment in his sleep-deprived state, he didn’t notice a number of boxes blocking the hallway of his floor.

“!” He curses as he trips on one of the stupid boxes scattered.

It’s a good thing his body reflexes are still awake despite his mind being as blank as a clean sheet of paper. With both hands and knees on the floor preventing his face to kiss the ground, a loud, deep, and apologetic voice rings in his ears. Baekhyun shakes his head as familiarity swipes in.

Nah, impossible. Probably just too much of his cd playing last night.

“Oh , man! I’m sorry!” He feels himself being held up from his previous position. At this point in time, Baekhyun doesn’t have the energy to be embarrassed.

He comes face to face with a worried-looking guy whose ears he has already seen on Star Wars, whose legs, clad in black joggers, could go on for miles, and whose face he has spent more than 24 hours hating and cursing.

Impossible. Probably just too much of staring at his posters while rolling them.

“Are you alright?” The Park Chanyeol look-a-like asks.

Still in a haze, Baekhyun shakes his head. “I must be crazy. Jesus, I need to ing sleep on my ing bed. I do not need another image of Park Chanyeol in my head. Let alone, a 3D version of it! This is too much. Pure torture I tell you. Pure torture!” He mutters to himself.

Or so he thought, not realizing he’s saying it out loud.

Park Chanyeol, the new guy in the building, chuckles as he watches the comedic scene right in front of him. The midget has his hands on his hair as he continues pulling and tugging it while shrieking in that lovely voice of his. He was surprised to hear his name from the guy’s rant based from the guy’s initial reaction, but what was more hilarious is the fact that the guy think he isn’t real, although he doesn’t understand where this animosity is coming from.

Oh, just so he wait when he sees Park Chanyeol in flesh.

The cute guy stops at the second door. He enters his password and the door unlocks. He enters it with a loud crash.

From his leaning position on the wall with his arms crossing his chest, Chanyeol got startled from the sound. Seeing as the door of his neighbor is left ajar, he peaks inside. He sees the man lying across the floor. Panicking, he picks up the guy. He is taken aback by how hefty this nameless man actually is. He seems light as a feather but weighs a sack ton of rice.

Does he have gold bars in his pockets?

With great effort and difficulty not to trip with his gangly legs, he makes it into a room which he guesses to be the owner’s bedroom. He lays him on the bed and places a blanket to protect the man from the coldness winter brings forth. The man cutely snuggles deeper into his slumber still shivering.

Now that he’s seeing the man’s face up close, he notices how small, soft, and angelic his facial features are with his long eyelashes that would put fake ones to shame; his pink, clear and smooth cheeks cold from the winter’s night; and his pale, thin but somehow plump lips that he could kiss for days.

He could kiss for days.

What the hell?

Chanyeol just met the man and now, he’s thinking of kissing him already? He beats himself from going on any further with these thoughts. Seeing the guy’s face becoming redder by the second, he places his palm on his forehead and he knew it.

It’s almost 4 in the morning and he still haven’t finished fixing his things into his newly acquired hiding place, but he’s here taking care of a man sporting a fever whom he barely knew.

Being unfamiliar to the place, he feels like an intruder searching for valuable things in the room, only that what he needs are fresh towels, a basin, hot water, and a first aid kit. He hesitantly opens the cabinet seeing neatly folded tops, bottoms, and other clothing materials organized into their respective places.

This guy is a neat freak. Chanyeol could seriously use his expertise in tidying his own place.

He locates the towels just on top of the cabinet and gets two of these. After that, he goes into another door he hopes to be the bathroom. Alas, he is correct and finds the basin and the kit with no sweat. He notices that same as his bedroom, all necessities in the bathroom are all tidied up.

He sees a particular pink bottle duo; one big strawberry shampoo and one small light pink colored fluid.

Cute. As he pinpoints the sweet fragrance of the guy’s hair to the big- shampoo.

He diverts his attention to the small tube beside it thinking what that could be as he inspects it closely.

Strawberry-flavored Lube. Oh. His ears and cheeks suddenly flames into deep red.

Never in his life has he became this flushed. He fans himself and stops his mind from forming cruel images that would go down south. Literally.

He hastily goes out of the area and finds his way into the kitchen to boil water. He sees the electric boiler, fills it up with water, and waits for it to be done.

As he was waiting, he looks around the place. The apartment’s plain and simple, but there’s a touch of coziness and a warm welcome of home that the place offers. He likes the atmosphere this place brings in. He catches the colorful display of pictures and handwritten notes on the refrigerator alongside with magnets of different countries around the world holding them in place.

So this guy travels a lot.

A particular note catches his eyes.

Baekhyun’s December Agenda:

• Pay electricity and water bills.
• Pick up Mom & Dad’s package in the Post Office.
• Monthly grocery.
• Park Chanyeol’s December Comeback (Dec. 26! 12:00 MN KST)

A smile turns up on his face as he reads the last agenda. A warm fuzzy and giddy feeling creeps up to his heart and churning of acids in his stomach.

So Baekhyun’s a fan.Baekhyun.

He beams at the thought which is rudely interrupted by the whistling of the boiler. He pours a considerable amount of hot water in the basin and brings it back to Baekhyun’s bedroom. The sick boy was still shivering. He gets another blanket from the cabinet and places it on top of the other. Baekhyun scrunches his nose, but welcomes the further intrusion of the movement.

He’s so adorable.

Chanyeol holds the digital thermometer he got from the first aid kit and places it into the man’s mouth while restraining his thoughts.

38.4 Degrees Celsius?!

Jesus, he needs to move quick.

After two grueling hours, the clock showed a six in the morning time slot, and the evident sun rays peeking from the window across the room. Chanyeol woke up lying on the other side of the bed feeling an arm latching on his waist and a heavy breathing coming from somewhere on his chest.

Not somewhere – someone, perhaps.

Still trying to remember the dusky dawn of the morning events, all things seem to be falling into place except for this part; Baekhyun snuggling on the singer’s side. He remembers wiping the pretty boy’s face and arms with the towel soaked in hot water placing another one onto his forehead; and deciding to take a nap on the other side of the bed since his back aches while he was waiting for Baekhyun’s body temperature to drop. He clearly made sure that there were a lot of space between them, but then again, there they were.

It’s a nice feeling though. Having someone to cuddle with in this freezing weather especially on a Christmas night.

Chanyeol never really had a special someone in his life before. He was so focused on his reaching his dream of becoming a world-renown artist of youth and now, he’s just too busy to even think about having a relationship. Sure, he had some flings with men here and there but that was it; for stress-release purposes and temporary bliss before going back to his bustling life of a celebrity.

His company never made a big deal of him being gay and are aware of his preference since they had debuted him. That was one of the things in his terms and conditions of being their solo artist; for him not to hide his true identity and never force him into publicity relationships.  He knows the dirty side of the entertainment business so he acted on it before damage can be done to him.

Although he hasn’t come out in public and never dealt with facing the surrounding gay rumors around him, he has left some hints in interviews, variety shows, and other promotions. True to this, majority of the fans caught up, and he was glad his fans were accepting. Some weren’t, but he didn’t mind. He knows there’s always a positive and a negative response when you’re a celebrity. You just have to deal with it.

Before digging deeper into his thoughts, he remembers it’s his comeback date today. He curses as quietly as possible, and carefully removes himself from Baekhyun which earns him a whine. He quickly uses a pillow for Baekhyun to hug, and adjusts the blanket for him. His temperature is back to normal so he’s no longer needed.

And with one last look to the sleeping form, the singer quickly slips out of Apartment 614.