Baekhyun was starting to get very fed up with Chanyeol. This has been going on for weeks.

The tall and lanky student follows him around the campus whenever he has the chance to, begging for 5 minutes, then 3 minutes, and now even thirty seconds just to have a chance to speak to Baekhyun. Chanyeol could tell that Baekhyun was different, he doesn’t shy away anymore, is confident to speak his mind and he is true to his word that he will stay away from him. It just made his current circumstances worse - he wants to at least give a proper apology this time around, not a half-assed one that sounds forced and as ordered by his Grandmother.

Chanyeol is currently waiting impatiently outside Baekhyun’s lecture hall, attempting once again to speak to the smaller. The other students recognise him, and assume that he is just waiting for Seo Hyun. Chanyeol proceeds to take out a stalk of hyacinth from his backpack once he hears the packing of books and footsteps coming from the room, he takes a deep breath, hoping it would work out this time. Chanyeol’s attempt with banana milk didn’t work out very well the last time, with Baekhyun insisting that he must have added something into the drink. But after a while of googling ‘ideal apology gifts’, he found out that hyacinths in flower language means sorry, hopefully Baekhyun could tell he is being sincere.

People start to flood the exit, and Chanyeol scans the crowd for Baekhyun. But to his annoyance, a slim figure suddenly has her hands wrapped around his waist (despite him constantly telling her not to), and blinks up at Chanyeol under her fake lashes.

‘Chanyeol! Did you come all the way here just to surprise me? Omo I’m the luckiest girlfriend in the world!’ Seo Hyun says with a sickeningly sweet tone, looking over to her friends who had such envious expressions on their faces. But Chanyeol was not looking at her direction at all, he continues scanning the room.

‘Omg, is that flower for me! How beautiful-‘ Seo Hyun was about to comment when she was roughly pushed aside, and she gasped at how sudden it was.

‘Baekhyun-ah! Baekhyun-ah!’ Chanyeol waves enthusiastically once he spots the smaller in an oversized blouse, with Minseok and Jongdae alongside him. Once Baekhyun spots Chanyeol, he quickly ducks his face. Why is he here again! The other students turn around to see Baekhyun, obviously finding the situation humorous. Perhaps the only one finding this embarrassing is Seo Hyun, who quickly tried to adjust her hair after the impact and walked away with her girl friends.

Baekhyun was about to zoom past Chanyeol, but the taller had his quick reflexes, and quickly pulled Baekhyun over despite his attempts to brisk walk away. Jongdae and Minseok stand in an opposite corner, similarly curious as to what Chanyeol’s apology plan is today. 

‘Ya, Baekhyun, listen to me this time. Look I even got you these hyacinths which mean-” Chanyeol pulls out the flowers from his back, putting them directly in front of Baekhyun’s face. Baekhyun’s eyes widened, shocked as to what Chanyeol had pulled out. Chanyeol took it as a good sign, but Baekhyun quickly tossed the flowers in the air.

‘Who cares about what these flowers mean! Yah, I’m allergic to flowers! Do you want me to die?!’ 

Baekhyun cried out before quickly walking away, hoping that his nose won’t start sniffling. And wow, Chanyeol is amazed that it didn’t even take 10 seconds before he even got to get the chance to speak to Baekhyun, and to even irk his allergy on top of that. Chanyeol just set a new record for himself. Jongdae and Minseok start to follow after Baekhyun, before giggling and muttering a ‘You tried’ to Chanyeol. Chanyeol groans and picks up the flower, and he hears his best mate Sehun suddenly laughing away, appearing from his hiding spot after the whole incident.

‘Oh my god Chanyeol you should have seen your face! The way he threw the hyacinths I just-” Sehun laughs all over again, stomping his feet in amusement. Chanyeol just glares at his friend, waiting for him to finish laughing. 

‘Sehun! You were the one who helped me with this! And now you’re laughing!’ Chanyeol mutters, walking away with the hyacinth. Sehun walks alongside him, but continues giggling away at the incident. What a great Best Friend he has, what a life!

-

‘Park Chanyeol with his silly ideas again, I can’t take this anymore!’ Baekhyun blows his nose into the tissue, the allergy starting to kick in. Baekhyun pulls up his oversized sleeves, groaning as he realises his nose is still runny.

The four friends sit amusedly as they look at Baekhyun. On one hand they pitied him for his never ending runny nose, but it was pretty entertaining too. Chanyeol and Baekhyun have been going on like this for many weeks, they’re betting on how many weeks more before the two can be civil with one another.

‘Hey Baekhyun, but don’t you think Chanyeol has been putting in a lot of effort lately? Why don’t you hear him out?’ Yixing questions curiously.

‘Like hell I would let him speak! Did you know he once made me skip dinner? That !’ Baekhyun scrunched his red nose as he spoke, aggressively trying to crumple the tissue paper in his hand. Yixing put his hands up in surrender while the others laughed.

‘Hey Baekhyun, anyways what should we do for your birthday? It’s next week!’ Minseok chips in, trying to change the topic.

‘Ohmygosh! We should rent out the top floor of Seoul tower and have a party there!’ Junmyeon cuts in, excited about the idea of a celebration. But he’s quickly cut in by the other guys who have their own ideas.

‘No no no, we should go on a yacht party, with a cruise dinner.’

‘Why would Baekhyun like that? He would very much prefer race car driving in downtown Seoul, don’t you remember how much he enjoyed that race car driving game?’

Baekhyun stared blankly at his friends, who were currently planning his birthday in front of him. It was as if Baekhyun was a third party, watching as they fought over who’s idea was the best. It went on and on, until Baekhyun decided that it has become an endless discussion, and getting extremely pricey.

‘Actually-” Baekhyun starts, four heads turn to face him, curious as to which idea he would pick.

‘Can we go to the petting zoo? Minjun can come along, and we can have a picnic there too!’ Baekhyun quickly opens up a webpage on his lousy phone, showing a screenshot of the petting zoo he wants to go to.

Jongdae pats Baekhyun on the back, ‘Baekhyun, are you sure it’s you who wants to go? I’m very sure this sounds like Minjun’s wish.’ Jongdae sighs as Baekhyun nods shyly in confirmation, can’t Baekhyun just be a little selfish for once? He thinks. Baekhyun was truly selfless, and a good brother.

‘Okay fine, Junmyeon, book the tickets as soon as possible. We’re going to the petting zoo!’ The group cheers, and everybody is anticipating the day to come. Lunchtime is spent deciding on what to bring and doing research about the zoo. 

From the corner of the cafeteria, a very jealous Chanyeol glares at the table as he notices how Baekhyun is smiling so happily with his friends. Chanyeol has tried, and this is probably one of the most difficult hurdles in his life! He realises that there is finally something he couldn’t buy with money, Baekhyun’s smile.

Out of anger Chanyeol shoves the abandoned hyacinths at Seo Hyun, who accepts it gladly. However Seo Hyun can’t help but notice that Chanyeol’s eyes were always on Baekhyun, what happened to the Chanyeol who always had his eyes on her?

-

‘Minjun! Don’t run! I still have your other shoe!’ Baekhyun shouts from across the hallway as Minjun makes a rush for the door. It was a rough morning for Baekhyun as Minjun made a dash to the door multiple times, delaying their routine of getting dressed. This is Baekhyun’s fifth attempt at putting the last shoe on, but Minjun is way too excited to even think about wearing his shoes.

Clad in his sheep (gifted by Yixing) onesie, the two siblings finally leave the house and embrace the chilly weather, leaving for the petting zoo nearby. Baekhyun carries Minjun on one arm, and a three-tiered lunch box in his other hand. Mr Kim made it specifically saying that it was for Baekhyun’s birthday.

‘Sheep! Chicken! Rabbit! Doggo!’ Minjun sang his favourite animal song as they walked. Baekhyun chipped in at a few parts, it kept them distracted from the walk ahead. 

‘Baekhyun! Over here!’ Baekhyun hears his friends call out his name once they have reached the entrance. Baekhyun tries to walk faster, realising that he’s the last one to arrive. Meanwhile Minjun grips onto Baekhyun tightly, suddenly shy that he’s around strangers.

‘Sorry guys I’m late! This little guy here was not cooperating this morning. Oh and Yixing! He’s wearing the onesie you gave him!’ Baekhyun speaks as he tries to get Minjun to face his friends. Once the toddler turns his head, the college students start to coo, they now understand why Baekhyun wouldn’t want to leave him alone at home, he’s too cute!

And as if on command, the moment Yixing makes eye contact with Minjun, his nose starts to bleed. Blood starts dripping from his nose, and it made him look borderline psychotic. The others start to pale as they see Yixing’s nose bleed profusely.

‘Sorry,’ Yixing apologises as he wipes his nose, ‘I get so excited when I see such adorable babies.’

And so, Baekhyun’s birthday begins.

They make their way to pet the animals, gasping as they see how cute the rabbits are. Minjun was particularly fascinated by the sheep, grabbing its wool while calling out the chairwoman’s name. He’s not wrong though, the fluffiness of the sheep’s wool did look similar to a certain old woman’s hair. Jongdae can’t help but to keep snapping photos, causing Baekhyun’s neck felt sore from all the twisting and turning of his head for the camera. On the other hand, Yixing could feel blood dripping from his nose once more when Jongdae does a mini photoshoot for Minjun. It could only be described with one word - adorable. The other children cried, horrified of Yixing’s bloodied nose. But despite all that, they had an enjoyable time.

They went from looking at deers, to feeding baby chicks and riding ponies - everybody was exhausted but Minjun was still b with energy. Minjun runs to their final stop - the shop.

‘Minjun! Hyung will buy you whatever you want! Just take your pick!’ Junmyeon comments, putting multiple items in the toddler’s hands.

The five plus one were now at the souvenir shop, and Minjun, short and plump, with his glimmering eyes, stared up at the shop in awe. In his 36 months of existence, he has never seen so many stuff toys before! 

‘Yeah! Minjun, take your pick!’ Yixing encouraged. The CEO’s Son pulled out his black card, ready to pay for whatever the cute boy wanted. His friends did likewise, pulling their prestigious cards out like they were paper. Baekhyun’s eyes widened at how much his friends were going to spoil Minjun, while he appreciated the gesture, he was not going to let Minjun become a spoilt brat! Minjun must learn about the value of money.

‘Wait wait wait! Hold your cards! We don’t need that many toys!’ Baekhyun halts his friends, they looked like they were ready to buy out the whole shop. 

‘Baekhyun, it’s your birthday, let us treat you at least. You even provided lunch!’ Minseok says, pointing to the lunchbox.

‘No! It’s okay, really! Don’t spend your money on me,’ Baekhyun insisted, and proceeds to bring Minjun into the store. Minjun makes grabby hands for everything, but Baekhyun reminds him to pick one item only. Minjun set his eyes on a grey wooly sheep keychain, grabbing it with his small tiny hands.

‘Just this one, okay?’ Minjun nods, certain that he wants this very specific souvenir.

-

‘Uwaa this is so cute. Omg this is really cute too! How much is it? 20 dollars??? Aish it’s just a small piece of ceramic!’ 

Contradicting his own rules, Baekhyun is distracted by all the cute gifts in the shop, he has underestimated the power of how amazing the souvenirs were going to be. Minjun holds the sheep keychain in his hands, while his brother is busy trying to pick just one item out of the many other items that he wants. Unknown to them, the four others were secretly spying on what they were looking at, while pretending to check out the other souvenirs - Baekhyun clearly wanted more than just a rabbit figurine.

‘We’re done!’ Baekhyun cheers as they left the store. It was a tough decision but he managed to decide on an animal pen set in the end. Cute and functional. Good choice, he thinks. Baekhyun eyes his friends, noticing that they all held a gift bag in their hands.

‘So what did you guys get?’

‘Nothing.’

Baekhyun tilts his head, confused.

‘Then what’ that bag for?’

‘They’re for you.’

‘Oh-wAIT WHAT?’ Baekhyun gapes, he doesn’t know whether he should be angry or happy. He clearly told his friends not to spend money on him!

Jongdae sighed and put the gift bag into Baekhyun’s hands.

‘This gift is for your birthday, and for being a good brother and a good friend. You deserve it, and if you won’t take it, consider it as a gift for Minjun, okay?’ Baekhyun groans at Jongdae‘ s cheesy words, but he figures they won’t take no for an answer. Baekhyun accepts the gifts with gratitude, he wants to cry when he realises that everything he received were things he was browsing when he was inside the store. What did he do to deserve such amazing friends!

As Minjun begins to doze off, they finally part ways to begin to go home. Yixing was a second away from pecking Minjun’s drooping cheek before he was roughly pushed aside by Junmyeon. Nobody wants to see his nose bleed for the umpteenth time that day. Baekhyun does a final wave before he begins to walk out of the park, he sighs, realising that fun days really do pass by quickly.

While walking back to the mansion with a sleeping Minjun cuddled around his neck, Baekhyun suddenly feels an unexpected wet sensation on his face. Baekhyun looks up and notices the rain drops that are slowly becoming heavier. Baekhyun’s eyes widened when he ruffled his backpack and realises he did not bring an umbrella with him, he curses at how careless he is. The forecast clearly said it wouldn’t rain today! Baekhyun still had about fifteen minutes of walking to do, and he felt bad to disturb his friends too, who had taken their time off to spend the day with him. Not wanting Minjun or himself to fall sick, he has no choice but to wait under the bus shelter for the rain to stop. 

The rain pours and pours, showing no sign of stopping at all. Big fat raindrops hitting the ground like hailstones. Baekhyun sighs as a Minjun starts to get cranky, he tries to hold Minjun on his left side inside and gently rubs his back, shushing the toddler back into dreamland. The minutes continue to go by and Baekhyun starts to become more weary, his bag was heavy, and so was Minjun. He was probably lifting fifteen kilograms worth of weights. Baekhyun wants to sleep so bad, his energy begins to drain, and all he wanted to do was to just let go of his bags and doze off like the peaceful sleeping toddler clinging onto him.

Just as his legs were about to give out, a Mercedes Benz G65 suddenly parks itself under the bus stop. Baekhyun finds the car familiar, he definitely has washed this car before, and it’s owner even more familiar.

‘Byun, get in.’

‘C-Chanyeol?’

-

Sorry for the late update! I was busy trying to get my driver’s license and ended up failing the driving exam so I was kinda upset for a few days hahaha if anyone has any tips for lane changing do let me know! I’ll be eternally grateful lol.
Hope you liked this chapter and more is on it’s way!