Desperation

"Let's get back together."

Baekhyun blinked for a moment and chuckled nervously. "What are you talking about? Stop joking around," he said, but there was no cheeky smile on Jongdae's face of any kind. "I'm serious. I still feel the same way as I did back then, don't you?" Jongdae asked.

Baekhyun fell quiet. 

Nothing about it felt right. It really didn't sit well with him. 

"I think I should go now, thanks for hearing me out," Baekhyun said and hastily made his way for the door. He put on his shoes and was about to open the front door when Jongdae held him back by grabbing him by the wrist. 

"Please, just think about it. Give it some thought. You can give me an answer when you return from Paris next week, but at least consider it, okay?" Jongdae pleaded. Baekhyun sighed and gave a single nod before walking out of the door and nearly slamming it shut. 

Things weren't supposed to go like this.

Baekhyun's eyes struggled to stay open at his YSL shoot that Thursday morning. "Close your eyes for a moment," his make up artist, Victoria, said when she was about to apply his eyeshadow. Baekhyun nodded and shut his eyes. "Done," she said but he couldn't get himself to open his eyes. "Baekhyun? You can open your eyes again," Victoria lightly shook him by the shoulders and his eyes shot open.

"Are you sleeping well? Your eyebags are heavier than usual," she commented while applying concealer underneath his eyes. 
"Yeah, it's been a bit stressful lately and I seem to need more sleep than I'm used to. I'm doing alright, though. Don't worry," he assured her and relaxed his shoulders when Victoria showed visible relief from his statement. "I'm glad to hear that. You shouldn't overwork yourself. I don't want to have to apply twenty layers of concealer under your eyes to hide your fatigue," she joked and opened the compact BB-cream.

The shoot went by with more difficulty than the previous ones. His posture felt too forced and he couldn't get himself to relax anymore. 
"What's wrong with you today?" Taeyeon asked him when the photographer called in a 10-minute break. 

Baekhyun shrugged while taking a quick sip of water. "Stress, probably," he responded and put the cap back on the bottle of his water. 
She looked worried but sensed from Baekhyun's face that he didn't feel like discussing it. "Go do some yoga, get some acupuncture done, have a few drinks and get faced, whatever you do to relieve stress, get it together. You can't be like this in Paris," she said sternly and walked out of his dressing room. 

He looked at himself in the mirror. 

He looked at himself in the mirror, and felt a feeling of disgust build up inside him mixed with rage. 

He was disappointed in himself. 

His phone buzzed in front of him, an incoming call. 

He watched the phone ring for almost half a minute before it stopped. 

He picked his phone up and looked at the screen with a blank face.

One (1) missed call from: Park Chanyeol 

He unlocked his phone.

Block this number? 

Number has been blocked. 

"Baekhyun, time to get out there again," Seulgi called out. Baekhyun quickly turned off his phone and put it back down and walked out of his dressing room.

"Are you feeling better?" Seulgi asked with concern. 

"Mhm, much better."

Chanyeol threw his phone across his desk when Baekhyun refused to answer his phone once more. "Mr. Park, here are the reports from the Finance department you asked for," his new assistant, Jessica, said in her signature sweet voice when she entered the office that afternoon and placed the neatly stack of papers on his desk. "Thanks, Assistant Jung," he said. 

Papers, papers, and more papers. That's all he saw these days. The lack of Baekhyun's sweet smile and obnoxious but joyful laughter was beginning to suffocate him. While Jessica was great at her job, she wasn't Baekhyun. She had a great smile, but it wasn't as intoxicating as Baekhyuns. 

He was pulled from his thoughts by the ringing of Jessica's phone. "Yes?" she answered. "Oh, really? Okay, I'll be down in a moment," she said and ended the call. "Mr. Park, there is someone in the lobby to see me. Is it okay for me to leave for a short moment?" she asked politely with her gentle smile. "Of course, go ahead," he said and watched the young girl walk out of his office. 

"Tiffany, just what in the world are you planning?" he muttered to himself. 

Jessica hurried out of the elevator and quickly made her way to the reception desk. "What's wrong? Who's here to see me?" she said worriedly. This was only her third day in the company and someone was already keeping her from working. "Me," Tiffany said cheekily.

Jessica raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I don't think I understand, Ms. Hwang," Jessica said, causing Tiffany to laugh. "God, you're really formal. Chill, no need to address me so professionally. Just call me Tiffany, Jessica," Tiffany said casually. 

Jessica grew flustered from the sudden informality from the girl behind the desk. "You- I- I really don't have time for this!" she argued. 
"Actually, you do. Your schedule is empty for the rest of the day, isn't it?" Tiffany said. Jessica pulled out her phone and bit on her lower lip when she saw the girl was right. 

"That doesn't mean I have all the time in the world to stand here chit-chatting-" "Blah, blah, blah, don't be so boring. Do you enjoy being in a quiet office with Mr. Park all day? He's not that exciting these days," Tiffany complained. 

"I don't think things should be exciting in the workplace-" "Erghhh, wrong answer! Believe me, you might not think it's so bad now, but next week you'll regret ever applying here," she interrupted Jessica wh