On their way to the restaurant, Jongdae and Baekhyun talked about nothing in particular but at the same time were talking about rubbish. Just like they always do, everyday. They chatted with the ahjummas for a little bit, asking them about their life and health. After receiving a few mangos from their favorite old lady, they cheered and thanked her for it before bidding farewell.

Baekhyun’s stomach growled loudly the instant they kept one foot inside the tasty aroma filled four walls. He pulls Jongdae excitedly to a vacant table and drums his fingers impatiently on the wooden table.

“Stop that,” Jongdae said, annoyed by his constant tapping. “My head hurts.”

“Why is no one coming to take our order?” Baekhyun looks around to search for any waiter who is free to come and take their order.

“Maybe they didn’t notice us yet, wait for a few minutes. They all look busy.” Jongdae shrugged and started playing with the worn out hem of his sleeves. He has considered buying a few new clothes but they are a little short on the budget at the moment. But hopefully, for the lantern festival, he will buy at least one. He needs to look good to please the ladies, even if no one glances his way. Who cares.

When it was already ten minutes in, Baekhyun finally lost his patience and roamed his eyes around the place once more, looking for a familiar face. When he noticed the tall lanky man, he stood up and strode towards the man who was busy serving a table in the middle. He grabbed Chanyeol by his right arm and pulled him to a secluded corner in the restaurant. After he was sure that he doesn’t have anyone’s attention, he took Chanyeol’s thick writing pad and wrote down his order. When he passed the pad back to the giant, Chanyeol in return scribbled on his order and turned to leave. Baekhyun blocked his way and snatched the pad back in his hand and wrote the same thing again. And Chanyeol did the same thing he did before, scribbled on it to make it invalid.

This went on for a few minutes and when Chanyeol finally lost his temper, he held Baekhyun wrists tightly and harshly pulled him towards his father. The shorter of the two was shocked by the action as it was so sudden and made an eye contact with Jongdae who was looking at him with confusion evident on his face.

Chanyeol’s father watched as his son made his way towards him with a boy following behind, unwillingly. His expression went rigid when he noticed the familiar face. Chanyeol stands in front of his father with Baekhyun beside him. Jongdae hastily gets up and joins the scene, standing beside Baekhyun and holding the elder’s hanbok to assure him that he is there with him.

“What is this Chanyeol?” Hyunsol gritted his teeth as he looked sharply at his son. Chanyeol started ranting about all the times Baekhyun and Jongdae coming to their restaurant and never once even paying a penny. He waits for a while, for his father to respond but all he gets is a hard glare. “How dare you treat my customers like this?”

“But father, they never pay for the food!” Chanyeol exclaims.

“And that will be because I said them not to,” Father spats back in reply. The whole restaurant is looking at the scene that is unfolding in front of them while Chanyeol looks flabbergasted, shifting his sight to and fro from his father to the duo standing beside him. Not believing a single word his father had told him.

“What do you mean by ‘because I said not to’?” Chanyeol asks his father. His mom pauses her work and signals her co-workers to take over and quickly rushes outside when she heard a commotion going on.

“He saved your sheep from drowning” Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun with shock evident in his eyes and mutters a quiet ‘I wasn’t aware of that’. “Go, sit inside all three of you. And,” he turns to face his wife and continues, “ prepare food for them and take your son away from my sight before I slap him in front of our customers”, Hana, Chanyeol’s mother, takes his hand and ushers them inside their house before her husband loses control of his temper.

Chanyeol eyes sting as he tried to not let his tears fall, resulting in his nose turning red.

“I always say you not to talk to your father like that!” His mom reminds him as she makes him sit down on a chair and motions Baekhyun and Jongdae- who felt completely out of place, to follow too.

“But he didn’t have to humiliate me in front of everyone, old man.” he sniffs and looks at the wooden table in front of him, not wanting to meet anyone’s eyes and embarrass himself more. His mom playfully slaps his arm when she hears the last words of the sentence.