Luhan had a dream last night, a nightmare to be exact. A dream he used to have years ago, back when the tragedy out of the blue struck his family. He guessed the mention of his younger sister with Sehun triggered some bitter memories and led to frightful images on his mind. Meeting Joonmyun, seeing how close the younger man was with his brother tied a knot in his stomach. He once had all those things, a happy family along with a bright future. Everything happened in just few months and honestly, he crashed the bottom of extreme grief.

The nightmare always began with his sister’s laughter as she pulled his hand and urged them running on the streets as they were late for some kind of appointment. Then out of nowhere he saw them both lying on the ground, with blood everywhere. His sister was just few inches away but no matter how hard he tried, Luhan couldn’t reach her. That was when everything went dark and the next thing in his sight was the ceiling of his own bedroom.

When he woke up earlier this morning, his bed sheet and clothes damp with sweat and Luhan could feel his hands shaking uncontrollably in fear. He averted stare from his own hands to the painting hanging on the wall while his mind went blank for a good minute. He quickly sprung up and headed to the bathroom, hoping the cold water would shoo away the anxiety growing inside.

*****

Luhan his hair twice, trying to keep it in place. Taking a shower in the morning always gives him a fluffy hair and makes him look even younger than usual. He hates the side effect, that’s the reason why he hardly does it, except for this morning. Fishing out the phone, he carefully checks the message on the screen with the number attached on the door to make sure he gets to the right address. Pressing the small door button aside on the wall confidently, he inhales a long breath to prepare a greeting smile to the apartment’s owner.

To his surprise, Sehun is the one who opens the door and he can tell the younger one doesn’t expect to see him either. After dropping him in front of his building yesterday, Sehun wasted no time to drive to Jeonju hanbok Village where the team building was taken place. As being in charge of big coming events, he had to be there to do the interview and other stuffs as well. Watching the way he said goodbye in such a hurry plus the fact that his phone kept ringing the whole time, Luhan couldn’t help but feeling sorry for Sehun to get stuck with him.

“Who is that, Sehun ah?”

Jongin’s voice yanks them out of their stare contest. Sehun steps aside, giving the older man enough space to reveal himself to his friend. Needless to say, the tan skin man grins big as soon as he sees the Chinese one, waving his hand vigorously to show his enthusiasm.

“Ah, Luhan hyung. Come in!”

“Hi Jongin.” Luhan replies with an equally excitement, comments as he walks toward the owner of the place “What a nice apartment!”

“Thanks, hyung. Still a mess since I just moved in yesterday.”

Jongin bends down to open the fridge, takes a quick scan and looks up

“Can I get you anything? I have beer, coke…”

“Water will be fine.”

Luhan cuts off his sentence gently and the younger one joyfully hands him a cold bottle. In return, he gives the tan skin man the bag he’s carrying from the beginning, earning a contented smile.

“Oh, you brought me housewarming gifts. Ain’t you sweet?”

Luhan flaps his hand in the air at the compliment, watching his dongsaeng eagerly checking on what he gets. It’s traditional culture to bring something to a new home and being a well manner one being, he can’t ignore this gesture, even though the younger one asked him to come visit on the last minute.

“See, Sehun” Jongin finally darts his eyes to his friend, who by the way is entertaining himself with a magazine, having no interest being a part of the conversation “This is what you’re supposed to do in your first visit to someone’s apartment.”

Lowering down the magazine to show his poker face, Sehun retorts sarcastically

“You’re supposed to be homeless for the past two weeks, remember?”

He doesn’t give his friend a second to fire back, carry on his retaliation

“And for the record, I was forced to waste my only day off helping you rearrange your stuffs. Isn’t it enough?”

Jongin doesn’t intend to respond to any of those question because clearly everyone already knows the answers. Instead, he simply ignores the irritating attitude from the brown hair man and shifts his attention to someone else nicer.

“Luhan hyung, are you hungry?”

The Chinese male is startled at the mention of his name since he’s too amused at the bromance fighting between the two younger ones. He’s about to shakes his head but then notices that the sudden question also makes Sehun interested enough to toss his magazine aside, waiting for his reply. It’s already noon so he guesses someone’s stomach is crying out for food.

“What do you suggest?”

He chooses a safer option by asking a question rather than jumping into a conclusion.

“Well, how do you like pasta?”

*****

To be honest, Luhan is more into Asian food, especially his homeland’s dishes. Although he has been living all by himself for a long time, his cooking skill is nearly zero. That’s why when Jongin brought up the idea of having lunch at an Italian restaurant, he didn’t think he would like the cuisine this much. And he can’t agree more with the younger one that this restaurant serves the best pasta in Seoul.

Across the table, Sehun seems to enjoy watching every movement of the Chinese man and those adorable glints catch the choreographer’s attention. It’s been a long time since he last saw his friend being so attracted to someone but frankly, he was surprised when that someone was Luhan. Even though the brown hair man hasn’t confessed to him yet, Jongin knows better than anyone that the usual Oh Sehun would not give a damn care to other people’s business, not to mention introducing to his family. A long night chat with Joonmyun hyung two days ago about a sudden visit of his cousin along with a baby face friend led them to a conclusion: Sehun definitely had feeling for Luhan. Which means his job now is to find out if the latter feels the same and apparently there’s only one way to do it.

“Sehun ah, do you know Ren are in Seoul?”

He starts his plan by bringing a special name which he knows for sure will jolt his friend’s stomach. As he expected, the art director stops chewing his food for a second, steals a quick glance at the blond man who has no clue, still being busy digging into his dish. He reaches the glass of water on the right side and takes a huge gulp to swallow both food and anxiety down his throat, answering briefly

“Yes, I do.”

Notice that saying a stranger’s name isn’t strong enough to get the Chinese man’s attention, Jongin continues the topic despite the unwilling stare his friend is shooting him right now

“He told me he was invited to your museum’s next exhibition.”

And the bait is finally taken.

“Who’s coming to our exhibition?”

Luhan immediately looks up and beside the tan skin man, Sehun is giving him the questioning what-are-you-doing look. But he merely ignores that signal and sticks to his initial plan.

“Oh, it’s one of our friends. He’s art critic.”

The oldest one among three of them nods his head at the explanation and out of nowhere lets out a small giggle which makes the others narrow their eye brows in confusion.

“What’s so funny?” Jongin can’t help but querying the unpredictable reaction.

“Nothing.” Luhan shakes both of his hand in denial even though amusement is still easily spotted on his face “It just amazes me how you have so many friends in this field even though fine art is the last thing on your interest list.”

The statement actually gives the choreographer a thought on his friend list as well. To think about it, they were originally Sehun’s friends and since they were sharing an apartment back then, those people eventually became his too. However, it’s not the main point here. The main point is to make Luhan jealous and realize his feeling for Sehun and he doesn’t get any closer due to his hyung’s distraction.

“Anyway, did you call him yet?”

With another glance to the Chinese man, the art director crosses his arms against his chest, being aware that this conversation will not end good for him

“No I didn’t. Why?”

“Well, I don’t know. He sounded pretty upset since you’re the one who invited him.”

 Jongin stresses the last phrase on purpose, hoping it will bring up some questions to Luhan’s mind and judging the way the older one listening intently, he guesses it’s working.

“I think he’s kinda expecting another chance with you.”

 And just like that, Sehun smells something evil coming from his best friend. Jongin was there how his relationship with the art critic ended then why on earth he brought up the whole coming back together thing in the middle of nowhere.

“You’re not kidding right?”

It sounds more like a sarcasm than an actual question and his friend totally gets it. Yet his target is showing an undeniable confusing expression so he has to play innocent.

“It’s just a hunch, maybe I’m wrong.”

Jongin shrugs his shoulder, leaning aside toward Luhan to start his attack.

“You should meet that guy, hyung. He’s really good at …well art stuffs. Even Sehunnie adored him and you already know how high maintenance he is.”

 On the other side of the table, the Chinese man is busy analyzing all of the information he gets in the last five minutes. So to sum up there is a guy named Ren who was maybe Sehun’s ex and he’s coming to the exhibition which is the result of no one but the art director’s invitation. An irritating knot is forming inside his stomach and to make it worse, Jongin already suggested that they should see each other in person. Unlike his feeling, Luhan tries to be a well manner man, flashing a smile to keep everything normal as it should be.

“Well, I guess we will soon.”

The conversation about the art critic just ends there when Sehun gives his friend a kick on his ankle under the table along with a threatening stare and Jongin bites his plump lip to hold back his evil smirk.

******

It turns out Luhan has chance to come across that mysterious art critic sooner than he thought.

After their lunch, they were totally wrapped up in giving Jongin a hand rearranging his furniture and where the stuffs would go to match the whole place was the only topic they were on. The choreographer offered him a ride home as gesture of appreciation of his help but he softly shut it down. They were all exhausted so there was no need to add more work for the owner of the apartment.

The big event is around the corner and everyone seems to work as twice as they used to do. The museum receives many attentions from the public and also the experts which thanks to the effort of marketing team. Sehun’s office has been occupied with guests all the time from the beginning of the week since many of them has flew from Europe due to the art director’s personal invitation to the exhibition. His reputation in this field is no joke and after all some of them are actually his friends.

Luhan is almost knocked to the floor when he bumps into a stranger on the way to his office. It’s practically his fault because the pile of folder he’s carrying totally blocks his vision. Therefore, he keeps saying I’m sorry while picking up his belongings with the other man’s helping.

“I’m sorry.”

He apologizes for the last time after holding his folders against his chest again, earning a gentle smile meaning it’s okay in response. Luhan squints as he doesn’t recognize this guy from any department of the museum. The man looks like an alive manga main character and his face along with his eyes color suggests he’s not from Korea. With a little bit hesitation, Luhan speaks up

“Excuse me but this area is not allowed outsider. Are you lost or something?”  

The other one bites his lip, confusion can be easily spotted in his eyes. He points to the exhibition area and sputters

“Oh..I asked.. the security guy said I could go there. I’m here to see a friend.”

The explanation receives an Ah and some head nods in response. Luhan flashes a hospitable smile then politely bows to excuse himself to leave but he hardly makes the first step when he hears a familiar voice speaking behind his back.

“Ren?”

Both of them turn around to see Sehun is standing at the hallway, not far from where they are right now. The called man’s face immediately lights up, fastens his pace toward the art director direction.

“Sehun ah.”

Luhan roots at his spot as he realizes it doesn’t sound like Sehun ah that Jongin or Joonmyun hyung would say. It’s the same Sehun ah he pictured himself would say to the younger man.

“What are you doing here?”

The brown hair man fixes his eyes on the smaller one who just stops on his way with a pout on his face.

“Isn’t it obvious? I come to see you.”

Sehun does notice his question was a little harsh since they’re still good friends after all, that’s why he loosens up his forehead wrinkle, lowers his voice to a friendlier tone

“Right, I’m sorry.”

Then a blond hair feature catches his attention and he holds up his hand to signal a greeting but Luhan is too drown in his own thought to see the gesture. It worries the younger man almost at once because he’s aware of his employee’s hard working lately and he wants to make sure it doesn’t affect his health condition.

“Just a second.”

He taps Ren’s shoulder before walks pass him to the opposite direction.

“Luhan? Are you okay? You look pale.”

The mention of his name pulls Luhan back to the reality. He’s a bit startled since his boss is approaching him with concern on his face. It takes him a few second and blinks to get himself together, quickly plastering a strained smile to assure the other.

“Ermm… I’m fine. Sorry, I was thinking about something else.”

Sehun gives him a final query look to seek for a white lie before pats on his shoulder

“Okay. I’ll see you later.”

The Chinese man bows slightly in response then hastily turns on his heels to his office, doesn’t miss the stranger’s last saying Why don’t you give me a tour around along with joyful laughter. Luhan can feel his chest being tightened to the extent that it’s suffocating him which makes him fasten his pace even more to escape and almost hits another person on the way to his office. He completely loses his concentration for the whole day.