8 - The Beginning

Park Bo's Bar

If there’s one thing that Chanyeol is great at, it’s talking. The guy can talk for hours and not even run out of topics. No, seriously— it should be on the world record. 

They talked about when they supposedly started dating. Chanyeol suggested that they should be dating for at least 2 months. However, Baekhyun had something better. 

“What if we started like 2 years ago?” Baekhyun suggested

“Weren’t you dating someone years ago?” 

“Please. I’ve been single for years, how about you?”

“Makes sense why you were back at the fashion show.” Chanyeol smiled “Isn’t two years too long for us to be dating?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. It was for the show. This is my first dating scandal, and might as well make it long so I’ll be seen as someone who can hold a relationship for a long time. How about that?”

“I’m cool with that. So, where did we meet? How, about at my fashion show two years ago?”

“You’re such an old man! That’s boring. Let’s make it stupid,”

“Do you have any suggestions then?” Chanyeol took a sip from his drink. It was his 6th glass— the guy can surely drink. Baekhyun on the other hand can’t hold his liquor. Not even a drop.

He’s a non-alcoholic wine type of guy. If he ingest any alcoholic beverage, he’ll do things an idol (or any sane human) shouldn’t be doing in public. 

“I’m thinking of tinder”

“What? Are you crazy?” Chanyeol’s voice was a bit louder this time.

“Just think of it. We found each other on Tinder, matched, met each other, and started dating. Wouldn’t that be a story worth publishing?” Baekhyun raised his eyebrow as he sipped at his non-alcoholic wine.

“No! That would be outrageous. How about I saw you at a cafe?”

“Again—  boring. Might as well say that we saw each other in Paris, Cliche and boring. Plus, I’m not a cafe-visit type of guy, I just order take outs. My fans know that, so that wouldn’t be believable”

“I’m all out of ideas, do you have any good ones Mr. Idol?”

“I really want the Tinder story. I swear.”

“I’m telling you. It’s stupid”

“Exactly! Let me at least have fun”

“Okay. Tinder. But then we stopped using it right away and started texting”

“Correction! Face-timing. We should be face timing because you wouldn’t believe I was the real Baekhyun”

“That’s a  bit conceited of you” Chanyeol commented and raised his phone “Also, I’m an android user”

Baekhyun gave him a judging look before he continued talking 

“So, that means you were also surprised that I was wearing something from your brand. I have a shirt in my closet that’s Legacy Korea. I had it around 4 years ago but I stopped wearing it in public”

“I’m good with that. Go on”

“Wait a moment— why am I the only one creating the story! I need your input too”

“But isn’t the Tinder thing your idea?”

“Well, duh? So at least you should add something”

“Okay. How about I find out that you were interested in designing clothes and asked you for a collaboration but then you refused because you were too shy. And only revealed your designs during the recent one.”

“That would be great! It would be like your Anniversary gift for me or something. That’s actually so sweet”

And the two went on talking about the conditions which includes what they should and shouldn’t do in public. 

First, Kissing is okay— IF and only if one asks the consent of the other. They’re not exactly that young anymore and it would be stupid if they don’t kiss in public. Hello? Their scandal exploded because they were liplocking. 

Another thing is that no one except Chanyeol, Heechul, and Baekhyun should know about the arrangements. So much is at stake and they can’t afford to lose more. 

That means Chanyeol should meet Kyungsoo, his brother, one of these days, as his boyfriend. But that’s a thing in itself. For now, they won’t talk about it. 

They also exchanged numbers, so they will be able to contact the other, in case one needs the other. 

They were already talking about their likes and dislikes when Baekhyun noticed familiar faces. It was a girl wearing a mask. She had a black, bob with a bangs hair and was wearing a mask. 

This is one of his fan. 

“3 o’clock. My fan, she’s holding up her phone and she’s going to share this on twitter. Hold my hand” Baekhyun grabbed Chanyeol’s hand and smiled. 

“What’s up with the 3 o’clock?” Chanyeol laughed and used his other hand to cup Baekhyun’s face while his other is still holding his hand. He lovingly stared at the idol and pinched Baekhyun’s cheeks ever so slightly.

“Ow!” Baekhyun overreacted, smiled, and lightly hit Chanyeol’s hand. The two then laughed it all off and continued to talk. 

Without any doubts, that was the fakest thing one could ever witness. Forced smile and no chemistry. It was an utter embarrassment for someone like Baekhyun— an actor (not so seasoned one) but can still act.

It even looked like Baekhyun overreacted. However, in the eyes of the fan, it looked perfect. For a fan that was fed with the rumor, they saw the sweetest thing one could ever witness. 

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There’s no way a picture or a video won’t be leaked on twitter.

A video of this and a few snaps of that, Baekhyun and Chanyeol was well on their merry way to more backlash.

"You must find them to be an inconvenience" Chanyeol uttered out of the blue. Baekhyun was taken aback by what the person in front of him has said. 

"They made me into who I am, of course— I don't"

"I know how precious they are to you. What I mean to say is, don't you ever get your own private time?"

"Well, if I stay home and watch Netflix shows, I get to enjoy my own private time"

​​​​​​Chanyeol took another sip of his wine "Why can't you just have your vacation somewhere else, perhaps stay in other country for days?"

Baekhyun simply smiled and shook his head "Some of my fans here will follow me. Been there"

"That's sick. Why can't you just tell them off, you need your private time."

"I can't. Let's be honest, I live off of their delusions that one day, they're going to marry me. I mean, look at all the ruckus I created, and we haven't even confirmed anything. It's sort of my job to make them happy. And K.H. Entertainment are milking them for that." He looked at the direction where his fans were standing.

"They might seem like a huge bother, but I am grateful for them. They made me into the man, the idol that I am today" Baekhyun unknowingly sighed and smiled while looking at the direction with love. 

Chanyeol saw love.

This guy is inlove with his fans. So inlove to the point where he's blindly letting his fans abuse him. 

Chanyeol wasn't a fan— heck he didn't care about this idol before any of this happened. He doesn't care much about this guy at the moment— but he was dead curious with what's going on inside Baekhyun's head. 

"You know that's abuse right?" Chanyeol's question pulled Baekhyun's attention back to the topic.

"I'm sorry but what do you mean, abuse? It's not. This is just my job" Baekhyun felt insulted. He knows himself more than this arrogant businessman.

"Them constantly invading your privacy. That's abuse." Chanyeol just couldn't comprehend how Baekhyun couldn't see the abuse. 

"Can we not talk about this? I'd rather have us walk around the nearby park than talk about matters you know nothing about"

And that's what they did. They walked out of the place and walked around the park. Nobody was around, except some of Baekhyun's fans, perhaps the paparazzi, who knows. But Chanyeol knew they weren't alone. He felt as if he was being eyed— and he hated it. He feels as if someone will attack them any moment right now.

"I can feel your uneasiness. Don't worry, you'll get used to it" Baekhyun smiled and nodded.

After a bit of walking around, Chanyeol brought Baekhyun back to his unit before he went home.

His impression of Baekhyun definitely changed. He presumed Baekhyun was going to be a brat, perhaps leaning more on the selfish side— but he wasn't. Baekhyun doesn't love himself— at all. And Chanyeol wondered why. 

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