2013 September

“Are you guys ready for tomorrow?” sounded male’s happy voice from the telephone.

“Of course. Don’t worry, hyung.” Baekhyun was on the phone with his brother. Laying on his mattress after a long day felt like heaven. His spine and neck were finally relaxed and he could fall asleep if not for the call from his hyung.  

“Okay… I can’t wait for tomorrow. I’m already nervous.”

Baekhyun could feel the tension his brother emanated through the device. So he tried to make lift his mood up by teasing him. “Are you enjoying your last day as an unmarried guy, huh, hyung?”

“Yeah. Friends and colleagues are throwing a party. That’s sad that you couldn’t come earlier.”

“Yes… it would have been really blissful to drink with your old friends and talk about your guys’ old lives.”

 “Shut up. What are you talking about?” Baekbeom finally let out a good laugh.

“You just told me to shut up. Do I have to answer?” Baekhyun smirked.

“Just come to the wedding,” the older sighed.

 “We will.”

“And make sure you guys won’t be late,” Baekbeom mentioned, his eyes getting shrilly. But Baekhyun couldn’t see him so the attempt was hopeless.

“And I thought that it was mom, who could be so intrusive, but I guess it’s not her anymore. You’re on another level, hyung. Seriously, you called me about 5 times these week, just to make sure we have appropriate suits,” the boy whined at him loudly.

“I get it, I was-” the brother got interrupted.

“And yes we do have hair stylists, so they can do out hair nicely. We are EXO after all,” bragging went on.

“I know. I was just worried and stressed with final preparations and when you didn’t pick up eomma’s calls, I thought I should do it instead. And why are you interrupting me while I’m speaking? We didn’t raise you to be that rude,” Baekbeom scoffed not realizing that he just talked without breathing.

“I’m sorry, hyung. We had a long practice and recording today. I’m shocked my lungs are still working,” Baekhyun’s voice went into tiny whisper.

“That’s okay.”

“You know, hyung, you don’t have to be so stressed.” He paused for a few seconds. “Is noona with you?”

“Hhm… she is right across the bar with her friends. Why?”

“Just take a moment to look at her. Look at her and tell yourself what you feel. Do those feelings make you happy? If they do, be sure to look at her all the time. That way, you will always be happy,” Baekhyun breathed slowly as he said.

Silence was filled in the dark of his room and he was hearing background bar music through the phone. The jazz melody steadily lulling him to a dreamland. After a few minutes or so his brother finally spoke.

“Your words are weird, but they are surprisingly working,” he laughed softly, “I feel appeased. How did you do that?”

Baekhyun giggled tiredly but happily. He yawned before answering, “I’ve read some romance manga like a month ago. I’m a pro at these things now.” He was dead tired. His eyelids getting droopy.

“Manga? Uhm… okay. Now, I recognize my little brother,” Baekbeom laughed at his brother wholeheartedly. Hearing how Baekhyun was yawning loudly in his own manner, he could picture his brother laying on his bed with closed eyes.

Deciding it was time to let him rest, he said, “all right, go sleep, Baekhyun. You need to have a good rest before coming to my wedding. Did you get it? No dark circles under eyes.”

“We also have make-up artists, don’t you worry,” the boy whispered already falling in to Morpheus’s world.

“Just make sure you ate something before sleeping.”

“We ate already.” Baekhyun rinsed.

“Sleep tight, my donsaeng-ah. See you tomorrow,” Baekbeom softly finished the 20 minute call by saying him goodbye.

“Was that Baekhyun?” his fiancé wrapped his arm with hers.

“Yeah, he is tired so I told him to rest,” he said, smiling at his soon to-be-wife.

“Is everything ok?”

“Everything is perfect,” he answered, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

The next day

Two mini vans carrying EXO members stopped next to a wedding hall right on the scheduled time. Boys even had extra time to check out their outfits.  The van where Baekhyun was seated became absorbed in a game during the ride from Seoul and his suit had wrinkles afterwards. He scowled a little bit at Chanyeol but swiftly straightened his jacket and went out of the car.

Their managers lead them to the back entrance, to avoid people’s eyes. They made sure to guide the boys through corridors quietly. Luckily, they weren’t caught outside and hoped their stay on the wedding passed without much ado.

Baekhyun’s manager let him in first to go see his brother. However, when Baekhyun made his way in, he felt like he crushed onto bee hive. His eyebrows perked up in confusion as he saw so many fans taking pictures of them. Flashlights were common in his idol life, but he found them irritant at that moment.   

He saw his parents in traditional Korean wearing and wanted to greet them first, but couldn’t. A crowd of strangers did not let him pass. Annoyed with the situation inside the wedding hall, where ceremony hadn’t even started, Baekhyun started to tell fans to leave. Or at least to be quite and not make a fuss. He didn’t want to turn his brother’s wedding into EXO’s fan sign.

When he looked around to see his friends, Baekhyun felt a gentle grab of small, dry hands. It was his mother. He sighed out of relief. To finally see her warm coffee eyes and feel her motherly embrace after a long time was what he wanted and needed at that second.

Honestly, he missed her very much that he wanted to whine and cry at her shoulder there. She patted his back saying that her little son is grown up now and Baekhyun chuckled at the statement. As soon as he let go of her, he found his dad, endearingly smiling at him.

“Don’t you want to give a hug to appa too?” the middle aged man spread his arms. Baekhyun approached him with the same boxy smile. He felt like a little eaglet hiding under his father’s wing.

The noise around receded when the MC of the wedding suggested everyone to take their seats as the ceremony had to begin soon. Baekhyun sat behind his parents, next to his aunt and uncle, whom he hadn’t seen in years. The boy hastily threw a glance back to s and manager to make sure they were okay. And when he saw them throwing him thumbs-up while giggling, he concluded that everything would go well if not for the ‘uninvited guests’.

‘What is staff doing, not kicking out the ones who are evidently ruining the wedding of his brother?’ Baekhyun sighed for the nth time in that hour.

‘But then, they don’t exactly know who are guests and who are intruders. So they can not just tell anyone to leave. This was supposed to be a small wedding.’ He scanned the crowd behind him.

‘Why does it have to be this complicated? Hyung is gonna be unhappy with all this