Chanyeol’s microwaved breakfast of chicken and mash had already gone cold but no attention was paid to it. Even the words that lay in front of the ‘autumn leaves’ emoji had been blurred from Chanyeol’s focus. Chanyeol racked his brains for the meaning of the emoji but none came up. He was positive that Baekhyun and himself had never come up with a settled meaning for ‘autumn leaves’ and eventually, he could only conclude in resigned defeat that it was a typo.

Weirdly, Chanyeol’s first instinct was to reply to Kyungsoo’s message: ‘Yes ma’am, I’ve read it. Jeez, who do you take me for?’

‘Bluff all you want, I know you were one step away from completely ignoring it’ was the reply. Damn it Kyungsoo.

‘Now reply.’ A new message from Kyungsoo instructed. What the hell was he supposed to reply? Chanyeol made a face at his screen. He could go with the default ‘Happy new year to you too. Hope all is well in Seoul.’ but it would basically be a mocking rendition of what Baekhyun had sent him. Nope. He could reply with a normal smiley face emoji and perhaps one of those chain messages that weree still popping up in his group chats. Nope, way too cold.

‘Do you need me to spoonfeed you????’ Yet another text from Kyungsoo, ‘Shall I fly over to London and type the damn message out for you?????’

‘I’M WORKING ON IT!’ Chanyeol snarled as he punched in a reply.

After what seemed like hours of typing and deleting, Chanyeol ended up with: ‘Happy new year to you too (smiley face)! New year’s always insane over here! All the best in 2025 in everything you do!’ Chanyeol proofread his reply twice and noted the excessive use of exclamation marks, somehow thinking it appropriate to give off an I’m-doing-well-who-needs-to-come-back-to-Seoul-to-have-a-good-time kind of vibe. He had no idea why he felt it was necessary to prove himself to Baekhyun but if this was a mind game, Chanyeol couldn’t let Baekhyun win.

Sent.

Two days had passed and there had been no response from Baekhyun. The tension Chanyeol had harboured shortly after replying to the elder had nearly dissipated. In those two days, apart from Kyungsoo’s occasional taunts and between-the-lines reminders to keep warm and stay safe, Chanyeol’s inbox remained largely surprise-free.

One would always expect a massive turn of events after the new year, some miraculous visible change, a growth spurt, a matured mentality, a sign of all misfortunes rectified. Yet every year, the same old continued – the five-day work week rewarded by two short holidays, piles upon piles of work to be completed, racing to work during the 9 am rush hour and being crammed like tinned tunas. The change of a digit from 2024 to 2025 didn’t change anything either. Chanyeol was still Chanyeol, still slaving away in his home office, fixated on his computer screen and fumbling with a software, trying his best to meet ridiculous deadlines. Chanyeol had always taken a liking toward music-making, not so much being on the frontlines as his old idol self did, but rather creating the tracks. He had recently been commissioned to produce a remix for a well-known British artist whose career had plateaued after releasing that one hit single. Ironically, Chanyeol was requested to do a rendition of that very song, as if it wasn’t that exact single that caused the artist’s career to go stale.

A few more hours of tweaking the grooves and inserting basses in the background, Chanyeol had decided that it was a futile project. The song was exhausted already, both to him and to the public palate – it would never make it onto charts anymore.

Picking up his phone, Chanyeol toggled his settings and freed his phone from airplane mode. If there was one thing that he hated more than his task at hand, it would have to be hearing his phone buzz while he was working. Perhaps it was why all his ex-members were so astounded that Chanyeol could bear sharing a room with Baekhyun who was only the loudest of them all. Chanyeol could still hear Baekhyun’s roars when he won (or mostly, lost) a video game, or the ruckus he made when he chomped his breakfast in bed with his mouth open, or the incessant chatter because Baekhyun couldn’t stand the room being quiet, not even for a second. If anyone had thought Chanyeol was a handful, then they had definitely not met Baekhyun, because if Chanyeol was an 8 out of 10 on the scale of chaos, Baekhyun would no doubt be an off-the-charts 2000.

As expected, Chanyeol’s phone buzzed. 3 missed calls from home and 2 messages, one from Minseok and another from… from ‘Byun Baek’?

The exhaustion that had plagued him subsided in a snap and in its place stood a mixture of anticipation and unease. As much as Chanyeol wished for a reply, he knew deep down that he didn’t deserve one and he was afraid, afraid of the damage he would inflict upon the other again if he did give in and worm his way back into Baekhyun’s life. The safest option was to stay away.

Clicking into Minseok’s message, Chanyeol was told that his sister was getting married next month and apparently, all nine of them were invited to attend. The nine of them used to joke about being each other’s best man if and when they finally got married. They had decided to go around by age: Suho would be Minseok’s best man, Baekhyun Suho’s, Chanyeol Baekhyun’s and so on. It had been years since they were all invited to the same wedding, not since their manager had gotten married five years ago.

In his message, Minseok apologized to Chanyeol for not having asked him first, but informed Chanyeol that he had promised his sister that all nine of them would not only attend but also perform a rendition of ‘Beautiful’, the OST of their webdrama back in 2015. Chanyeol still remembered listening to it for the first time, how fluid and angelic Baekhyun sounded, effortlessly hitting the high notes and singing with such emotion he almost couldn’t believe it was performed by the annoying brat he called his roommate. ‘Come back, Chanyeol. You know my sister’s your biggest fan haha, take it as her wedding gift! She says she misses you, we all do.’, wrote Minseok.

Chanyeol held his breath as he clicked on the next message from Baekhyun: ‘sorry for the delay again, i did want to reply sooner. anyway, minseok’s sister is getting married next month, thought you might want to make a trip back.’

That’s it? Chanyeol blinked at the screen. A near replica of Minseok’s message and that was it? Hell, he could well have gotten all that information from Minseok himself and it would save Baekhyun all the trouble of paraphrasing! Did it really take two whole days for that prick to come up with that simple reply? Where was that cocky he used to room with? Pssht.

Scrolling to the end, there was the emoji again: autumn leaves. It couldn’t have been a typo agagin, but what the hell was that even supposed to mean? Chanyeol huffed. He tossed his phone onto the couch and returned to work on the despicable mess of a project.

In the following weeks, their long-abandoned group chat was gradually revived, with Minseok urging the other eight to mark his sister’s big day on their schedules.

Jongdae: Marked

Sehun: Ditto

Junmyeon: Feb 14, right? Noted. (Sent from Suho’s Blackberry)

Chanyeol wouldn’t be surprised if the sender was actually Suho’s secretary, to be honest. Suho was a busy man, being in the administration of SM and all.

Jongin: Can I bring my pup too? Don’t worry, I’ll have him on a leash

Yixing: Sorry, can’t make it! Album’s coming out the day after, gotta be in Beijing for it! Send my wishes to your sis, Minseok! I’ll be there for the baby shower! ;)

Kyungsoo: Got it. PAAAAARK CHANYEOL I’D BETTER SEE YOUR SORRY !

Chanyeol grunted. Kyungsoo wasn’t the only one who dared send him death threats but his were the only ones Chanyeol took seriously.

And last but not least,

Byun Baek: ill be there

Minseok: Baekhyun, you sure?

Byun Baek: wouldnt miss a chance to show off my ost would i?

Minseok: You’re the best bro. Take care.

Kyungsoo: PARK

Kyungsoo: CHAN

Kyungsoo: YEOL

Chanyeol could virtually hear Kyungsoo’s voice and see the pulsing veins protruding from his neck whenever he got agitated and it was not a pretty sight.

You: ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, I’LL BE THERE!

Minseok: <3

Junmyeon: <3

Jongdae: <3

Kyungsoo: ing idiot

Jongin: Can’t wait, hyung <3

Sehun: Ditto

Following the head count, Minseok spammed the group with links of the OST, starting with the official version sung by Baekhyun. It felt like old times – Minseok and Junmyeon, the dutiful older brothers, Kyungsoo the devil incarnate and Sehun the cocky maknae who perpetually replied with ‘ditto’s and emojis. Perhaps three years was enough to wash most of Chanyeol’s guilt away and perhaps he was ready to return to the bunch he called ‘family’.

It's always the most enjoyable to set the scene and get things going in the beginning, hence the incredibly quick update! 

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Lots of love xx