~10 Years Ago~

This is a nightmare.

Baekhyun must have had the tiest luck in the world. He couldn’t believe that out of all five hundred students in his school, his parents had to work for Park Chanyeol. The Park Chanyeol. The insanely good looking, popular senior--a total opposite of Baekhyun--Park Chanyeol.

Baekhyun had always known that Chanyeol was rich, but to think that he had a house that resemble a freaking castle? Could he not be any more perfect than he already was? Handsome, athletic, smart, and rich. Some people were born with too much of the God’s favor, it seemed. And obviously, Baekhyun wasn’t one of them.

As he now tried to move all the things he had into his new room--in the Parks’ residence--he let a heavy sigh escaped his mouth. His new room was located in the basement, at the most corner part of the house. While Chanyeol’s room was on the second floor; the second biggest room, Baekhyun’s mom revealed to him earlier. Not that Baekhyun was disappointed over the fact that their rooms were so far away. If anything, he didn’t want to crosspath with the football athlete at all. He could imagine how the tall 18 years old boy would mock him to death, for being a servant’s son.

It wasn’t that it was a secret in his school that Baekhyun was poor. Everyone knew that his parents were servants. His mother was a maid, and his father was a gardener. But it wasn’t a big of a deal because he wasn’t the only poor students in his school. But those other “poor students” never had Park Chanyeol as their employer. Well, not Chanyeol himself, more like his rich parents, but still.

Baekhyun refused to believe that there was a social hierarchy in his school. But if there was actually one, Chanyeol would be definitely at the top. He was the ruler of the school. He basically owned it, figuratively speaking. He knew people adore him, that was why he was being a jerk about it, rubbing it on everyone’s face that he was above them all.

Baekhyun scoffed. Own the school, my  . Baekhyun never cared about the jock, but now that he was living under the same roof as him, it was a different story. Somehow, he knew that his life would change forever from now on, and it wouldn’t be for the better.

Baekhyun looked around his new room. It was small but definitely much better than his old room in their previous shoddy apartment. As he laid his back on his brand new bed, Baekhyun thought this couldn’t be that bad…

Right?

~ Present day ~

“What did you just say?”

Chanyeol had always known that his stepfather was a complete dickhead, but not to the point of a freaking bag. If Chanyeol’s hearing hadn’t failed him a few seconds ago, or his brain hadn’t registered a wrong meaning from what his stepdad had said, Chanyeol truly just heard that the bag would retire from his position as the CEO of this company their family owned--more like Chanyeol’s biological father’s company--and he would have his own biological son to take over this company. Not Chanyeol--the biological son of the real owner of this company.

“You heard me, son. I plan to retire and have Minki to take over this company,” the sixty years old man said, sitting on his black leather chair with the sign of his name on his glass desk. His face that Chanyeol hated so much sported a slight sly grin.

ing bastard .

Chanyeol closed his eyes and took a deep breath, not wanting to show that this matter affected him so much in front of his stepdad, step brother Lee Minki, and the general manager of their company, Mr. Woo. When Chanyeol opened his eyes again, he had calmed down a little. If he was still the hot-tempered himself from ten years ago, he would  surely already blow up right now. “Okay, first, don’t call me son, Minhyuk. Second--what in the ever-living ?--you seriously choose Minki to be the CEO?”

“Language, Chanyeol,” Minki muttered under his breath.

“Shut up, Minki” Chanyeol snapped to his step brother, then turned his attention back to the CEO. “Now, tell me why? Is it because he’s your beloved son?”

Minhyuk rose from his seat. “You know that I’m not playing favorite here, right, Chanyeol? I just thought the best for our company.”

Our company. Chanyeol really hated it when his stepdad said that phrase. This was the company that his father built from dust. But after his dad passed away and his mother moved on to the wrong kind of man, the company fell onto this man’s lap. The very man in front of Chanyeol right now. The exact definition of an .

Chanyeol loved his mom, don’t get him wrong, but he couldn’t help but cursed her every day. How can she fell onto this man’s trap was beyond him.

“Tell me why he’s more qualified than me, then?” Chanyeol gritted his teeth. He really barely hung on a thread here, his emotion spilled over.

The old man stuttered. Chanyeol was challenging him to answer with the true reasons, since the pure general manager was here. And the retiring CEO knew well that he couldn’t say any bulls like Minki did better because every single person in the company knew that Chanyeol was much, much better than Minki. So really, Chanyeol was looking forward to hear what kind of his stepdad would say to fool the general manager.

Minhyuk cleared his throat before speaking. “You’re excellent at your job, son. But Minki, he’s calmer than you. That’s a good trait for a boss. Besides…”

Chanyeol tried so hard to not crack a smile. As expected, his stepdad never disappointed him in term of being ridiculous with his reasons. This was probably the only side of his stepdad that Chanyeol didn’t hate to his gut. Him being stupidly stupid like the true stupid man he was.

“Go on,” Chanyeol urged him to continue, stifling his amused smile.

“Minki already has a fiance.”

Uh, what?

Chanyeol’s brows furrowed. “Did I miss something here? Is there a requirement that says a CEO should have a fiance?”

Minhyuk waved his hand like he was trying to shrug it off. "Not like that. What I mean is, Minki's fiance is a daughter of ZT Oil. If they got married and Minki became the CEO, imagine how it would be profitable for our company? We could merge with them!"

Chanyeol's jaws hung open as he saw his stepdad made a triumphant smile like he was proud of himself for being able to think of that reason in the last seconds. Chanyeol knew that he also only had seconds to think of his own comebacks. His options were always limited when it came to argue with his stepdad. He either had to go retort him, go around him, or surprise him. And right now, Chanyeol chose the latter.

Chanyeol threw his head back and faked a mocking laugh. "So that's it? That's what it take to make him a CEO? Not because of himself , but because he has someone to be a backup plan for this company?"

Minki lowered his head, looking like he was embarrassed of his dad. He should be. Chanyeol would have feel embarrassed to death too if he had a father as stupid as Minhyuk.

Minhyuk's face reddened. "It's not like th--"

"You know that I have fiance too, right?" Chanyeol dropped the bomb. He went all out. He had to if he wanted to have the upper hand here. Seeing Minhyuk, Minki, and Mr. Woo's shocked face, Chanyeol knew that his split seconds decision was worth it.

"You what?" Minki looked stricken.

"I have fiance."

"No, you don't."

"I think you meant you didn't know. Because I never meant for both of you to know until like, day minus three of the wedding. But now that you brought it up…" Chanyeol looked at his stepfather. "He's a CEO of a big company too, just so you know."

Minhyuk's brows rose. "He?"

Chanyeol bit his tongue. , did he say "he"? He couldn't say that it was a slip of a tongue now, could he? Or he would seem suspicious. "Yes, my fiance is a he. Got problem with that?"

Minhyuk blinked. It looked like he was more shocked with the revelation of his stepson was in fact gay, than the fact now he had a fiance. "I didn't know--"

"Yeah, well, I never bothered to tell you,” Chanyeol cut him off. “So, what, then? Do I become the CEO now? Since I have a fiance?”

“It’s not just that, Chanyeol,” Chanyeol’s stepfather started to stomp his feet.

“But you said so yourself. That Minki got to be the CEO because he’s calm ,” Chanyeol chuckled briefly, mocking them. “Though I don’t know whether he’s calm, or rather he’s quiet because he can’t speak. And also because he got a fiance, which I also have.”

Albeit his face turning red, Minhyuk still tried to smile. “Yes, yes, yes. Of course.” He cleared his throat. “You are both capable for the position. I know that. So, uhm, when will you introduce your fiance to us, Chanyeol?”

Trying to change the topic, I see. “Didn’t you hear me? I have no intention to introduce him to you?”

“Oh, that hurt me, son. But I have to meet him if you want to marry him, no? Especially since he’s also a CEO. I would love to know what kind of company he owns, so we could merge with them.”

Chanyeol’s jaws clenched. He started to wonder if this plan had backfired or not. But if his stepfather wanted to play dirty, so could he. He would do everything in his willpower to not let the scumbag and his son rule this company. Chanyeol was done. “Fine, when do you want to meet him?”

Smiling as if he had won the battle, Minhyuk grinned. “Let me see. How about you bring him to our company fundraising party two months from now? Therefore, you could introduce him to all the guests and announced your engagement too.”

Goddammit. The old man was having fun with this, smiling so widely. But Chanyeol refused to back down. Instead, he pushed forward. “Excellent. I’m sure everyone will love him. Are we done? I’m out.”

As Chanyeol turned around and tried to look less obvious that he was rattled, he promised himself that he would be the one who smiled at the end. Chanyeol would bring his stepfather down, no matter what.

Then an unwanted thought crossed his mind as he closed the door of Minhyuk’s office. The thought that had always been in his mind every here and there for the past ten years.

Baekhyun.

Chanyeol realized the reason he said he back there in the room was because the thought of fiance and marriage were always he associated with that boy. Chanyeol’s high school entire memories. The reason he could keep going until now. His first love. His long-lost almost lover.

~ 10 Years Ago ~

What were the chances that some people could get off on the wrong foot with his employer on the very first day of his job. Moreover, this was not even Baekhyun’s job. And Chanyeol was definitely not his employer. Or his parents’ employer. Chanyeol was just a son of Baekhyun’s parents’ employer. That was that, and also the fact that they were schoolmates who never really knew each other. That was their relationship. But somehow, in the most ed-up way, their first meeting wasn’t so pleasant.

Chanyeol was infamous for being a jerk, but Baekhyun never knew that he was an . Unfortunately, Baekhyun had to learn it the hard way. When his mother asked him to get the “young master” for dinner, Baekhyun’s gut had been screaming NO the whole time he walked toward Chanyeol’s room.

So, his first time greeting the school’s jock would be him asking him to come down for dinner. How domestic. Nice. Baekhyun wanted to strangle his mother. So much.

Baekhyun hadn’t explore the mansion since the time he arrived there in the morning. There were so many rooms, but his mother didn’t even have to explain which one was the young master’s room because it was so blatantly obvious. As Baekhyun stood in front of the door filled with band stickers and posters, he wouldn’t know back then that it was the room of the cruelest man he’d ever met.

Baekhyun took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. His knuckles made a contact with the wooden door three times before Baekhyun brought his hand down again, waiting for response, but none coming. He did it a couple of times more but there were no sounds came from inside the room that Baekhyun started to fidget on his feet. He really, really didn’t want to yell from outside, but it seemed to be the only option right now.

“Excuse me,” Baekhyun started off mildly, but there was still no answer from inside the room. Baekhyun was about to call again, this time with higher voice when there was a sudden loud noise came from inside another room, the room right beside Chanyeol’s room. And there was a familiar voice--Chanyeol’s voice--came from there.

Decided to go to the room that look grander than the room he just knocked, Baekhyun didn’t know that he was about to experience a few minutes that would ruin his whole senior year of high school. Those few minutes was a blur to Baekhyun. He could only remember that he walked toward the grand mahogany door, and almost suddenly, he heard a yell came from inside, two men shouting at each other.

“You know what? I don’t wanna hear it anymore. I don’t even wanna see your face ever again.”

“Don’t you talk to me like that, son, or I’ll--”

“Or what? You’ll hit me? You know damn well that I could hit you back now, harder even. I’m not my fourteen years old self anymore who would receive your fists readily.”

“Enough, Chanyeol!”

Certainly, this wasn’t a conversation that Baekhyun supposed to hear. Chanyeol was arguing with… his father? Baekhyun didn’t want to know. Just as Baekhyun was about to step back and get away from the scene, the sound of something eerily similar to a punch came from inside the room. And another one. Then another one. They were followed by a sound of two men grunting, but mostly came from another man, not Chanyeol.

What should I do? Baekhyun should go, he knew. But he can’t move his feet at all.

“I’m done with you, Minhyuk. Don’t talk to me about this again.” Chanyeol’s ragged voice boomed, and before Baekhyun knew what was happening, the mahogany door swung open, almost smashing his face.

Then, there was Chanyeol, standing in front of him. The teenage boy stopped in his track and froze almost in the literal sense. His initial angry face morphed into shock almost instantly. Baekhyun’s chest constricted when he saw a flash of embarrassment in Chanyeol’s eyes.

I should’ve just go.

When Baekhyun shifted his sight to the man behind Chanyeol, his suspicion was right. It was Chanyeol’s father, or more precisely, his stepfather, Minhyuk. The man’s lips were bleeding pretty bad, and he was sitting on the carpet, looking like he was about to pass out. And turned out, the room was a study room.

“What the hell?”

When Baekhyun’s gaze landed back on the boy in front of him, Chanyeol was back with his terrifying face. “I--I’m not--”

“What are you doing here?“ Chanyeol took one step forward, so now they were only inches apart. “Were you eavesdropping us, Baekhyun?”

He knows me?

“I swear I didn’t hear anything. I just got here. My mother wanted you to come down for dinner. I was… only…” Baekhyun trailed off because Chanyeol seemed so confused. The boy really didn’t hide his expression well. “What?”

“You work here?” Chanyeol asked in bewilderment.

“Yes, well, no. My parents are. I just… live here. In your basement.”

Chanyeol’s jaws ticked as he brought his hand to his head, jabbing his hair. He cursed under his breath before his eyes found Baekhyun’s again. “I swear, Baekhyun, if you tell anyone at school--”

“I won’t. I promise I won’t.”

Chanyeol’s eyes turned sadistic. “I’ll make your life a living hell.”

Then Chanyeol brushed pass him, dashing away to the room next door--his room, while Baekhyun stood there, dumbfounded. At that time, Baekhyun had no idea how serious Chanyeol was with his words.

~Present day~

Chanyeol's brain was trying to with him since yesterday he blurted out that he had a fiance without thinking to his stepfather and stepbrother, because as a result, it wouldn't shut the thought of Baekhyun off even one second. Don't get him wrong, for the past ten years, the thought of him was constantly there, but since yesterday, it came in a full force, even when Chanyeol was asleep-- especially when he was asleep.

As Chanyeol looking at the report about fundraising party which would take place in two month, his brain that supposedly thinking about what kind of event the company should hold that night was preoccupied by a certain boy--a man by now--but in Chanyeol's mind, Baekhyun would always be the boy living in his basement, his school mate, his object of idiocy, and his first love. The last part would never change.

By the time the clock hit twelve at noon, Chanyeol knew there was no way he could continue working for the rest of the day. His head was screwed. He was about to get off his chair when he heard a knock on his door.

Furrowing his brows, feeling annoyed that his plan to go was interrupted, Chanyeol huffed. "Come in."

The door opened, and Joohyun, his assistant, peek inside the room. "You have a minute, Mr. Park?"

A minute probably wouldn't hurt. "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Looking like a pro secretary that she was, Joohyun walked toward Chanyeol's desk with a bunch of papers in her hands. "You asked me to look for CEO of companies here in Seoul."

"Ah, right," Chanyeol rubbed his forehead. He totally forgot that he had asked for her help. "You're done with that?"

"Yes. But there aren't many single CEOs around. I was surprised myself," she said as she handed the papers to Chanyeol's hand and she took two steps back, giving her boss privacy to read the profiles on the papers.

Chanyeol exhaled before he looked at the profiles one by one. Joohyun actually did pretty good in digging all these. Looking for CEOs from a successful company, with the criteria of being single and at Chanyeol's age, was hard. But his assistant succeeded to get around 20 men. Chanyeol only got to the tenth profile, a CEO of a liquor company, but he already could tell that his secretary had chosen the best ones. As expected of Bae Joohyun. They all looked incredible and Chanyeol knew that some of them would get his stepfather annoyed as hell if Chanyeol chose them as fiance.

But nothing--and he meant, nothing in this whole world would prepare him to see what was in the 14th page.

"Holy mother..." Chanyeol couldn't continue. His breath hitched. His throat closed up. And he was pretty sure that his heart had stopped beating too.

It was Baekhyun.

There. In front of him. On the paper. It was a picture of Baekhyun.

He was different from the boy Chanyeol remembered ten years ago, but Chanyeol would recognized him however way.

It was him. My Baekhyun.

A thousand of questions were racking his brain. What? How? Why? But it didn't matter in this very moment because Chanyeol was so mesmerized by the formal picture of the boy--the man--of his dream for the past ten years.

Baekhyun was wearing formal suits in the photo. His lips were stretched into a small smile that Chanyeol was familiar with. All of his features were sharp, except his eyes. Baekhyun's eyes were always soft and warm.

Chanyeol found him. He can't believe he found Baekhyun. He almost cried right then and there, but remembered that there was a more pressing matter.

Chanyeol looked up to Joohyun. "This man, Byun Baekhyun, he... What?" Apparently, Chanyeol also lost the ability to speak.

Despite confused of the change of attitude of her boss, Joohyun still answered him. "Mr. Byun is the founder and the CEO of Rainbow Foundation. It's a really big foundation, taking care of poor people, although I heard that right now they're having a little financial difficulty."

Chanyeol's heart thumped loudly in his chest. There were things that caught his attention. First, the fact that Baekhyun was a CEO had blown his mind away. Second, Baekhyun's foundation was helping poor people. That was... admiring of him to help people who were in the same shoes with him back then. And third, God, this was Baekhyun. Chanyeol had found him.

Chanyeol cleared his throat, he didn't want to sound too shaken up. "How come I never heard about this company?"

"Uhm," Irene tilted her head. "NGO isn't really our area of business, Mr. Park."

True. Apparently, Chanyeol had lost ability to think too now. His company focused on commercials, while Baekhyun's focused on social part. No wonder Chanyeol never heard of him or his company. But all this time, Chanyeol searched for his name in the internet once in a while and he never found about this information. How, though?

"Never heard about him from the internet either," Chanyeol tried to dig from Joohyun. "Did he never reveal himself?"

Irene shook her head. "I don't know, sir. But he's indeed pretty secretive about himself."

Chanyeol nodded calmly, but his mind was a jumble of mess, and his heart wasn't doing better either. He just can't wrap himself around the fact that the boy who lived in his basement was now a CEO. How funny life could be. And how proud he was right now for Baekhyun. So damn proud.

After the initial shock and confusion had passed, and now that the address of Baekhyun's office was blatantly written on paper in his hold, Chanyeol was consumed with the urge to dash out of his office and see him. Seeing him was long overdue, but now that Chanyeol had found him when he was looking for a fiance, he couldn't help but think that this was some universe's miracle work. His misery for ten years finally led to this. There was no way Chanyeol could breathe for the next minutes without seeing Baekhyun with his own eyes.

Standing abruptly, Chanyeol only took Baekhyun's paper with him before he ran out of his office. "I'm done for the day, Joohyun."

Chanyeol only heard the faint sound of Okay, Sir from his secretary because now he was practically running to the elevator. He was fidgeting in his feet as he waited for the elevator to arrive in his floor. When it dinged and opened for him, the sight of his stepbrother welcomed him.

"Where are you going?" Minki asked with his brows furrowed, stepping out of the elevator, while Chanyeol got in.

Usually, seeing his stepbrother would turn Chanyeol's mood somber, but right now, nothing would. Even seeing his stepfather wouldn't dampen his mood at all like it usually did.

Chanyeol smiled at Minki, which he never did, and only made his stepbrother furrow even deeper. "I'm having lunch with my fiance," Chanyeol said triumphantly as the elevator came to a close.

~ 10 years ago ~

"Hey, servant. Today's breakfast is ."

Baekhyun closed his eyes momentarily and kept on walking toward the empty table in the corner of cafeteria, his favorite spot, because it was the farthest from where Chanyeol and his friends usually were. Baekhyun wished he could say that ignoring what Chanyeol said to him was getting easier each day, but in reality, it wasn’t. At all.

Placing his tray of food on the white table, Baekhyun sat down in front if his only friend in the whole school, Kyungsoo.

"I see Park is being an again today," Kyungsoo jerked his chin up.

Baekhyun's back was on Chanyeol, so he wouldn't face him. That was the least he could do to ignore the guy. "He's an every single second," Baekhyun replied nonchalantly, too tired with Chanyeol's antics.

It was three months after that day they met for the first time in front of Chanyeol's stepfather's study room. The day when Baekhyun not-so accidentally heard the conversation he wasn't supposed to hear. Turned out, Chanyeol stayed true to what he said. He made Baekhyun's life a living hell. At least in the school, since he only had power here.

Now, everyone in school knew that Baekhyun's family work for Chanyeol's. The popular guy never forgot to remind everyone that by calling Baekhyun 'servant', and some innuendos like earlier about breakfast, dinner, grass in the yard, carpet stain. Baekhyun had to give him some credits because Chanyeol's complaints were different every day.

So far, Chanyeol only did verbal abuse to him. And oddly, it never hurt Baekhyun at all. Deep down, Baekhyun knew that this was Chanyeol's defense mechanism. After all, Baekhyun had heard and witnessed him fight with his stepfather, and Chanyeol didn't really know how to act around him beside by being a jerk. Baekhyun totally got that.

What made Baekhyun confused was the fact that while doing all that mocking, he could see something in Chanyeol's eyes. The popular boy was always smirking or grinning mischievously when he talked to Baekhyun, but his eyes said something different.

Baekhyun still didn't know what it was, though. And he didn't really keen on finding out either, although sometimes it kept him up at night.

"Still haven't found your history notes?" Kyungsoo's voice broke Baekhyun from his reverie.

Baekhyun sighed. "No, and the test is tomorrow."

"You sure you don't want to borrow mine?" Kyungsoo looked concern.

Baekhyun shook his head as he began to mix his rice bowl. "No, I can't do that to you. You need to study too."

Kyungsoo chuckled. "Like I care about history. You need it more, since you need to maintain your grade."

"Yeah, I can't risk my scholarship, but still, I can't do that to you."

They finished talking and started to eat in silent while Baekhyun tried to think about what he should do. Maybe he would go to the library to borrow some history books. Or maybe... he could ask for Chanyeol's book. That guy probably didn't need it since he never studied.

He ended up laughing under his breath. That scenario wouldn't happen in a million years. Borrowing books from library seemed to be the right choice.

"Oh my god..." Once again, Kyungsoo's voice brought Baekhyun's attention back to the reality.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Baekhyun, I'm pretty sure that's your history book that Chanyeol waves around," Kyungsoo told him as his eyes locked on something behind Baekhyun.

Baekhyun turned around, and yes, Kyungsoo was right. That was definitely Baekhyun's book. In the entire school, only Baekhyun who covered his notebook with plastic cover.

Baekhyun suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to punch someone, a certain someone to be exact. Park Chanyeol.

Standing up abruptly until he almost knock his chair down, Baekhyun walked toward Chanyeol and his group of friends. They were laughing while Chanyeol was still waving around Baekhyun's book, smiling--more like smirking at him, looking like he had won something.

"Hey, servant," Chanyeol mocked. His tone almost made Baekhyun want to crawl onto the table and scratch his beautiful face.

"I'm not gonna ask you how you got my book. Just give me that, Chanyeol," Baekhyun said with gritted teeth, trying so hard to control his anger.

"You sure you don't want to know?" Chanyeol raised his eyebrows, challenging him. And somehow, his friends were laughing with him, though Baekhyun really didn't know what the hell they were laughing at.

Baekhyun's palms turned into fists. "Chanyeol, I need that book."

"Oh, right. You need to study, or else, you'll lose your scholarship and you can't have that, right, servant? Hey guys, I bet you don't have a servant who is as smart as mine, right? He gets scholarship. But what's a smart brain for if you don't have money, true?"

Baekhyun's hands trembled as he listened to all of them laughed, and also probably the whole cafeteria who witnessed this event of humiliation. His eyes began to sting and Baekhyun refused to show his vulnerability. When he felt a hand around his shoulders, Baekhyun knew that Kyungsoo had come to his rescue, as usual.

"Give him the book, Park. Or I'll tell the teachers," Kyungsoo warned him, which was a load of bull, because everyone knew that the school really favored Chanyeol and his family. A mere complaint about a book stealing wouldn't make them do something to the guy whose family gave a huge amount of money to the school.

Even through his rage, Baekhyun could see the shift in Chanyeol's expression when he saw Kyungsoo. He looked... pissed. And Baekhyun honestly didn't know why. Chanyeol didn't seem to be someone who would be easily offended by people, especially the ones who he thought not on the same level at him. So him throwing dagger through his eyes toward Kyungsoo was really uncalled for.

"This is none of your business, Kyungsoo the knight in shining armor," Chanyeol's tone was mocking, but his face was still hard.

Baekhyun was done being confused. He was back on his ground once more. "That," Baekhyun pointed at his book in Chanyeol's hand, "...is none of your business. Give it back to me, you prick."

Chanyeol's attention was back at Baekhyun, and somehow, his face lightened up again. "I almost forgot you're there, servant."

"Okay, that's enough," Baekhyun brushed past the people surrounding Chanyeol, earning whistles from here and there for his repulse act. When Baekhyun finally stood right before Chanyeol, the guy didn't bother to stand up, still sitting with all his glory. "Give it back, Chanyeol."

Baekhyun was tired. He just wanted a peaceful lunch break when he could eat his food in silent, talking to Kyungsoo about things that didn't really matter. But instead, he must deal with child play Chanyeol had done.

"Chanyeol." Baekhyun closed his eyes and exhaled a pent-up breath. He opened his eyes again and didn't care right now if he needed to beg. "Please. Just give it back."

I just want to eat in peace.

Something in Baekhyun's tone or maybe his expression must have turn something in the guy's heart, because now Chanyeol wasn't smiling anymore. The look of mocking was wiped away from his face, replaced by a look that Baekhyun often saw every time the boy finished with his antics toward him. But also, as usual, it only lasted one second before it was replaced again with a scowl.

Chanyeol threw Baekhyun's book right onto him, and Baekhyun caught his book with the help of his chest.

"You're no fun, servant," Chanyeol said before he turned his head away, no longer facing Baekhyun.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and turned around too, walking toward Kyungsoo who had been waiting for him. Now finally they could eat in peace.

~Present day~

Chanyeol's heart threatened to break away from his ribcage. It was beating too fast it almost alarmed him that it would make him got a heart attack. But nothing in the world mattered as much as him only a few minutes away from meeting Baekhyun. Chanyeol didn’t mind to actually get a heart attack. He would die happy as long as he got to see Baekhyun.

Who you stupidly pushed away.

There's no way he would accept your offer.

Chanyeol shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be worried about the outcome of his proposition. The most important thing was Chanyeol needed to see him, or else he would die, he was sure of it.

Now sitting in his car, Chanyeol rested his head on the steering wheel as he tried so hard to calm himself. He had practiced what he needed to do and say in the past hour on the way to Baekhyun's office, located in the small neighborhood just outside the outskirt of Ulsan.

Chanyeol glanced at the three storages building in front of him as he pulled out his phone. He had emailed Joohyun, asking her about what she knew about Baekhyun's company. Chanyeol read Joohyun’s report carefully. Rainbow Foundation was a private foundation focused on helping poor people in Korea, mainly in Seoul and Busan. They were dealing with healing the poor, bring resources, and mobilizing people. But this year there had been a slight bumpy road in their journey. One of their major funders went bankrupt, so the company lost its main source of money. They desperately needed new funders, and fortunately, Chanyeol knew exactly how to play his card.

Trying his luck, Chanyeol got out of his car and locked it before he crossed the narrow street, approaching the glass door of Baekhyun's building. As Chanyeol pushed it open, the cold air hit his face immediately. Good. He needed something to cool him down. He would take anything at this point.

"Uhm," Chanyeol hesitated when he walked to the receptionist. "This is Rainbow Foundation, right?"

A woman not much younger from Chanyeol bowed to him from behind her desk. "Yes, sir. How may I help you?"

Chanyeol looked at her nametag then returned his gaze back at her. "Is the director present today, Jisoo?"

Jisoo smiled. "Yes, Mr. Byun is in today. Have you made an appointment to meet him, uhm..."

Mr. Byun . This was really happening.

"Call me Mr. Park. And no, I haven't made an appointment to see him. But if he's not busy, can you tell him that I'm need to see him... right now?"

"Sure. Please have a seat while I call Mr. Byun."

"No, it's okay. I'll wait here."

There was no way Chanyeol would be able to sit calmly while Baekhyun was in the same building with him. He waited while he fought like hell to keep breathing, in and out, in and out, or else he would pass out.

"Mr. Byun?" Baekhyun's name came out from Jisoo's mouth made Chanyeol's heart skipped a beat. "There's someone here waiting for you. Mr. Park. Yes, Mr. Park. He's from..." Jisoo glanced at Chanyeol, but he shook his head. "Uhm, he didn't say where he's from. Okay. Okay, Mr. Byun." Jisoo put the phone down, then smiled to Chanyeol. "Mr. Byun is waiting for you. His office is on the third floor, right across the elevator. His secretary would come to get you."

Chanyeol forced himself to smile since she had helped him a lot. "Thank you, Jisoo."

After Jisoo bowed to him, Chanyeol didn't waste any more second and went to the elevator. Thank goodness Chanyeol didn't have to wait long, because honestly, he couldn't handle any more waiting.

The ride to the third floor was painfully slow, while in fact it only took ten seconds. As Chanyeol exited the elevator, he immediately noticed two things; one was the silver placate on the door right in front of him read Byun Baekhyun, Director , and two was how his chest bloomed with nothing but proud while looking at it.

"Good afternoon. You must be Mr. Park." The man sitting on the desk by the entry door to Baekhyun's office got up. "I'm Junmyeon. Mr. Byun's secretary."

Chanyeol nodded. "Yes, I'm here for Mr. Byun."

"Of course. Mr. Byun is expecting you already." Junmyeon took a step back, giving Chanyeol way.

Chanyeol swallowed the lump in his throat. You've been waiting for this moment for ten years. You can do it. He didn't bother to excuse himself from Baekhyun's secretary and just sauntered toward the door. His mind was focused only in one thing which was get to Baekhyun.

Taking a deep breath, Chanyeol opened the door, and the air was knocked out of his chest almost right away after his eyes found Baekhyun's round ones staring at him with bewilderment. Just like Chanyeol always remembered, Baekhyun's eyes were insane . He could stare at them every second for the rest of his life and would never get bored.

Chanyeol almost ran to him and threw himself at him, crushing him. But he stayed. He let Baekhyun to process this. To take him in.

"Chanyeol?" Baekhyun's voice was merely a whisper but it was everything Chanyeol needed to keep standing.

"Baekhyun." His voice was so throaty it almost unrecognizable even for him. "Hey."

It was the second most surreal moment in Chanyeol's life. The first one was when he finally got the courage to kiss Baekhyun all those years ago.

Chanyeol's chest heaving. It was getting harder for him to breathe. Baekhyun was even more stunning in person. His picture didn't do justice for his beauty. Baekhyun was really handsome even back then. But now? He was devastatingly gorgeous.

Chanyeol wanted to kiss him so much.

"What... How could... You're really Chanyeol?"

. Now Chanyeol really, really wanted to kiss him. He felt bad for Baekhyun, he must be really confused right now, but his confused and shocked expression was really cute. Chanyeol wondered what would happen if he proposed to him right now. Baekhyun would probably pass out.

Chanyeol took a few steps forward. He just physically couldn't be away from Baekhyun anymore. "How are you, Baekhyun?"

Baekhyun's shocked expression turned into anger all of a sudden. It was like the question Chanyeol just uttered make the switch in his head turned. "What the are you doing here?"

Chanyeol didn't flinch. He expected this outburst. "Listen to me, Baek--"

"Get out." Baekhyun's face reddened as he stormed off his desk toward Chanyeol. "Get the out, Chanyeol."

Chanyeol must've been sick because being sworn at by Baekhyun warmed his chest. He even could feel himself fighting to not smile. Or else Baekhyun surely kill him. "Would you please calm down--"

"No," Baekhyun snapped.

Baekhyun was now right in front him. It took everything in Chanyeol's willpower to not pull Baekhyun against him, feeling his flesh in his arms again. Chanyeol looked down, and he could feel his mouth curved into a slight smile. "You're still shorter than me. I see you stopped growing at eighteen, huh?"

Baekhyun looked like he was about to murder Chanyeol. "You... I could kick you out anytime just like you did to me. This is my office."

It felt like a knife just gutted his heart to hear that—the way Chanyeol treated him back the--came from Baekhyun’s mouth. Chanyeol actually felt pain in his chest. "Baekhyun, at least let me explain."

Baekhyun scoffed. "It's so weird to hear you call me by my name. I was so used to hear you calling me servant. "

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol warned him. "I came here in peace."

"Yeah? Well, I spent my entire senior year trying to make peace with you, but you never gave me a chance even once. So, really, Chanyeol, get out before I ask Junmyeon to call security."

It seemed like a joke when he first entered the room. But right now, Chanyeol seriously had no idea how to make the man before him stop his outburst of anger other than saying this. And he hoped to God, it wouldn't make Baekhyun became angrier.

"I come to ask you to marry me."