“You have plans, what kind of plans?” Chanyeol asked over the phone.

Baekhyun his lips as he thought of how to tell Chanyeol that he was going with Kyungsoo to visit where he worked. Actually, Baekhyun wasn’t even sure if Kyungsoo worked there. Was he just the son of the ceo or an employee too? He assumed he worked there.

“I—“ Baekhyun wasn’t even sure how to start explaining.

“You visiting your parents or something?”

Baekhyun pierced his lips together. Now that he thought about it, he should probably go visit them. It has been a while since he saw his parents in person.

“No…”

“Wait! Are you going to start that YouTube channel you always wanted?”

Baekhyun suppressed the laugh that wanted to come out from his lips. “Well…” He began, “My plans are video game related…”

“Ok, I won’t bug you then.” Chanyeol told him excitedly. “I’ll let you go so you can continue your plans!” Baekhyun could already imagine the huge grin on the latter’s face. He would tell him the truth, just not right now.

“Alright, bye Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol hung up, leaving Baekhyun staring at his phone. The latter was so supportive, but Baekhyun’s plans didn’t consist of starting a YouTube channel today. They consisted of hanging out alone with Kyungsoo, the son of the CEO of his favorite video game company.

He let out a loud sigh and his lips. He was nervous for two reasons. The first: he was going to get a tour of the building; the actual headquarters! The second: he would be alone with Kyungsoo. The latter was slowly becoming someone who Baekhyun could actually envision himself dating and that made him nervous. He would want to ask Kyungsoo personally if his string really was torn or not. If not, Baekhyun would back off immediately. If it was then he supposed he could try to make a move…

He swallowed as his palms got sweaty. Since when did he become so daring?

He heard his phone start ringing and quickly made a beeline towards it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I just got here.”

Baekhyun smiled, “Ok, I’ll be down in a bit.”

“I just parked. Want me to wait down here? Or do you want me to wait for you in your apartment?”

Baekhyun blushed at the thought of Kyungsoo walking up to get him. The idea of Kyungsoo coming into his apartment and relaxing on the sofa with him seemed like such a wonderful experience. But no, he wasn’t ready for that yet. He was getting to know Kyungsoo properly first.

“It’s ok. I’m on my way down now.”

Baekhyun practically sprinted down the steps after locking his door. He was excited…very excited.

Kyungsoo waited for him in front of the car. He was leaning against it, both hands jammed in his pockets. He wore a black suit and tie, the attire that Baekhyun was used to seeing him in. When Kyungsoo saw him from the corner of his eye, his head tilted in his direction. He smiled wide and took both his hands out of his pocket.

“Hey.” He greeted.

Baekhyun’s heart did somersaults, but he did his best to prevent the blush from forming on his cheeks. “What’s up?” He greeted back.

Kyungsoo opened the door for him. Baekhyun chuckled, “Thanks.”

After Kyungsoo climbed in, they drove off. Baekhyun looked him up and down then looked at his own outfit. He wasn’t wearing anything that fancy.

“Am I underdressed?” He asked.

Kyungsoo scoffed and shook his head, “Don’t worry about it.”

Baekhyun pouted. “You’re wearing a suit and tie.”

Kyungsoo laughed as he looked over at his watch to check the time. “It’s fine, really.” He looked up at Baekhyun, “You look amazing.”

Baekhyun scoffed, “No, YOU look amazing. I look like .”

Kyungsoo laughed, “No you don’t. And trust me, no one is going to say anything.”

They continued to drive and spoke most of the time, but sometimes it got quiet. But Baekhyun didn’t mind. Kyungsoo was comfortable to be around and Baekhyun felt secure as he sat next to him. It was strange to him how quickly he got accustomed to the latter. He would even go as far as to say that he trusted him.

He looked out the window and began to see the scenery change. The houses they were passing by were huge. They each had a gate with a drive way that looked like it could fit at least 10 cars. There were butlers and maids that walked out of the houses and cars that looked just as expensive as Kyungsoo’s was.

Baekhyun stared in awe at the neighborhood, “I could never live somewhere like this.”

Kyungsoo scoffed and his lips, “I have a feeling you could.”

Baekhyun shook his head. The thought of moving into a neighborhood like this was so unrealistic. He could never afford something so extravagant.

“Are we close to—“ Baekhyun began.

“There it is.” Kyungsoo announced, grabbing Baekhyun’s attention.

Baekhyun’s head turned forward and he saw the Do headquarters. Baekhyun’s mouth dropped open wide. Never in a million years did he think he would be able to come so close to it. It was even bigger than the pictures lead him to believe. On the very top of it was the logo of the video game company. A big “D.O.” sign in red font, with two eyes that made up the letters D and O. And a blue smile that came from under it. They continued to drive until they were in front of the big gate that separated the building from the outside world. The security in charge got out from his booth and stood directly by the driver’s side window.

Kyungsoo put the window down and turned to look at him, “Open it please.” He told him with a small smile.

“Oh! Mr. Kyungsoo! I didn’t know it was you. My apologies sir.” He sent him a bow.

“No problem.” He answered as his window went up again.

“Er…sir, is this passenger—“

Kyungsoo’s window stopped halfway, “A friend.” He answered. “He is my guest for today.”

“Ah yes, very well.” The security responded as he ran to open the gate.

Baekhyun watched as the gate opened. Kyungsoo drove inside with ease, his hand gently touching the wheel while the other merely rested on his lap.

“I never thought—“

“That you would be in here?” Kyungsoo finished for him. “You deserve this and more.”

Baekhyun’s eyes scanned the building from the outside. Only employees were allowed inside. He couldn’t believe he was actually getting a tour of the place. He was basically going to be able to see behind the scenes.

***

When Baekhyun walked into the building, he realized he was extremely underdressed. Everyone wore a suit and tie, that included the girls! Kyungsoo had told him to go on ahead as he parked the car. He told him to wait in the lobby and then they could begin the tour.

“May I help you?” The receptionist asked Baekhyun.

He turned his head to see her staring at him, eyebrow raised. She eyed him up and down and grimaced. Baekhyun was already feeling self-conscious, this women was not helping matters.

“I’m here for a tour.” He told her.

“Sure you are.” She replied as she picked up the phone. “How did you even get in?”

“Through the gate.” Baekhyun responded. He started feeling inadequate. The woman was looking at him as if he was some dirty slob that didn’t deserve to be anywhere near them.

“Who’s giving you the tour?”

“Kyungsoo…” He answered as he looked down.

She let out a loud laugh, some people behind Baekhyun also snickered.

“Kyungsoo?” She questioned as she shook her head. “Nice try.” She mocked, “But he isn’t even coming in today. What makes you think he would ever glance in your direction? Now go away before I call security.”

Baekhyun furrowed his brows, “It’s true. He is on his way now—“

“Just run along.” Someone from behind him said. He looked around and saw that all these people were just as wealthy as Kyungsoo was. They wore expensive clothing and accessories.

He pierced his lips together, suddenly feeling worthless compared to them. “But, I’m not lying.”

“Oh please.” The receptionist began again, “Don’t waste my time—“

“Is there a problem?” A deep voice echoed from behind Baekhyun. He felt a hand place itself on his shoulder, Baekhyun shuddered once he realized who it was.

“Kyungsoo!” The receptionist suddenly stood and bowed. “I didn’t know you were coming—“

“What did you just tell him?” Kyungsoo asked, voice icy.

“I—he said he was with you.”

“He is. Did you tell him not to waste your time?”

“Oh. I didn’t know…”

Kyungsoo walked over to her desk. He glared into her eyes, “Do you want to be dismissed today? Because that can be arranged.”

He turned around at the people behind Baekhyun. They all looked down.

“That goes for all of you.” He announced loudly. “If I catch any of you so much as look at him the wrong way, you are dismissed. Do I make myself clear?!”

Baekhyun hadn’t seen this side of Kyungsoo. He was the boss around here. It was strange to see him like this but also, kind of hot.

“Yes sir.” Everyone replied in unison.

Kyungsoo walked next to Baekhyun and took his hand. “Let’s go.” He said as he pulled him along. Baekhyun felt the stares behind him, he felt invincible. The uneasiness from before was replaced with a big boost of confidence. He had not been lying. He was with the son of the ceo.

They got on the elevator, Kyungsoo let out a breath. “I’m sorry about that. Some of these people are really shallow.”

Baekhyun looked over at him, “It’s ok, don’t worry about it.”

They stopped on the 6^th floor. Baekhyun’s mouth dropped when the doors opened. Inside the room, was murals of every single video game character. There were people behind their computer screens, while others stood in front of a board presenting something. There were characters on the presentation that Baekhyun had never seen before.

“They’re presenting the latest video game console and the next game to be released first on it.”

Baekhyun looked over at him, grin never leaving his face. “You mean, never seen before?”

Kyungsoo chuckled, “Yeah, you’re going to be the first to see our models and ideas for it.”

“Kyungsoo!” A voice greeted. They both turned towards it. A man about their age walked towards them. He wore glasses with a brown suit and tie. His brown hair was parted to the side. He wore a huge smile as he held a small sculpture of what looked like a muscular man. “What do you think?” He asked as he held it up. He had a friendly smile with innocent eyes.

Kyungsoo nodded, “It looks good. Is that a new character design?”

The latter nodded, “Yeah, I’m thinking he could be the love interest.”

He suddenly looked up and locked eyes with Baekhyun.

“Oh, this is Baekhyun.” Kyungsoo introduced. “He’s my guest and I’m showing him around. He loves video games and is thinking of starting a YouTube channel.”

Baekhyun smiled, “Pleasure to meet you. But I’m not—“

“Oh hi!” the stranger smiled, “I’m Junmyeon. I’m in charge of character design. Gaming channels help us out a lot, plus it’s nice to see someone play our games.”

“You’re in charge of character design?”

Junmyeon nodded, “Yup, I’m one of the people in charge. What do you think of him?”

He held up the small model for Baekhyun to get a look at. Baekhyun tilted his head in curiosity. “He looks cool, but don’t you think it would be better to have someone a bit less…bulky?”

Junmyeon pouted, “What do you mean?”

“I mean…in the last video game you made, the males all had the same design. Also the females. Maybe try adding more diversity to it. A love interest that’s nerdy, maybe even a little clumsy.”

Junmyeon’s mouth dropped, “Hold on! Let me get a notebook, please don’t leave!” he walked off mumbling to myself.

Kyungsoo laughed as he reached for Baekhyun’s hand, “You just made his day.”

Baekhyun looked over at him, “What do you mean?”

“You gave him the insight of a regular gamer. This is a lot of help.”

Baekhyun looked over at Junmyeon who was on his desk searching for a pen. Baekhyun admired how everyone here was so diligently working. In a sense they all had one thing in common, they all loved video games.

The elevator dinged behind them and Baekhyun heard as someone walked towards them,

“Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened and he slowly turned around. Baekhyun turned to face the woman, who had her eyes wide and mouth open in a slight smile. She wore a dress that could easily be worth over hundreds of dollars. There was silver earrings dangling from her ears with a silver necklace to match. She held a fur coat in her hands and Baekhyun saw that her makeup seemed to be made up by an artist. She probably paid a professional to do it for her. Although in all honesty, she wasn’t very pretty. The thing that made her attractive, was the wealth that she exuded.

“Wow…you look good Kyungsoo.” She told him. “I came ‘cuz I was told you wouldn’t be here and I wanted to reminisce. But seeing you is nice.”

“Sunhee.” Kyungsoo greeted. He walked up to her, stepping in front of Baekhyun.  

“Is that all you can say Kyungsoo?”

“Sunhee, you know you aren’t welcome here.” Junmyeon suddenly said behind Baekhyun. The latter had approached them without him even noticing.

“Oh Junmyeon please, are you still mad? Is Jongin still mad too?” She asked as she shook her head. Her tone was almost teasing. Her eyes darted to Baekhyun. She let out a small scoff, “Who’s he?” She asked as she gestured to him. “The new garbage boy?”

Kyungsoo pierced his lips together and his grip on Baekhyun’s hand tightened. “A friend.”

“Oh…” She looked Baekhyun up and down, then back at Kyungsoo. “Is he…”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Kyungsoo asked abruptly.

She let out a laugh, “Oh. My. God. You are pathetic Kyungsoo!”

“I think it’s best you leave.” Junmyeon said as he gently grabbed onto her arm.

She sent Kyungsoo a teasing glare, “He doesn’t know, does he?” She looked over at Baekhyun again, big grin on her face. “Hello.” She greeted. “Do you like Kyungsoo?”

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. The thought of someone making fun of Kyungsoo had him feeling…angry. He doesn’t know who she was, nor does he care. Anyone that insults Kyungsoo would have to face his wrath.

“I do like Kyungsoo very much.” Baekhyun answered back in a serious tone.

She let out a hum, “Of course you do. After all, he has what you don’t: money.”

Baekhyun smirked, “I work hard for what I have. I see you have money, but what’s the point in having it if you can’t buy manners?”

Kyungsoo looked over at him, eyes wide.

“Manners? I have that and a lot more.” She answered as she mocked him. “I could buy anything I want, nice clothes for example.”

“Really?” Baekhyun questioned as he grinned wider and eyed her up and down, “If I were you, I would have bought myself a new face too.” His eyes widened, feigning innocence. “Oh…sorry, not saying your ugly…just not very pleasing to look at.”

“You really want to go there—“

“Try to go there with me. I may be poor, but I have a face that people like you pay to get.”

Kyungsoo grinned wide, small giggles could be heard in the office space.

“Can’t argue with him there.” Someone from the office blurt out. She turned to look at them then back at Baekhyun.

“Don’t test me, I can get you where it most hurts.”

Baekhyun shook his head as he tilted it, “I’m trembling in fear.” He teased.

She looked back at Kyungsoo and let out a sigh. “You should be…” She answered as she turned around and stormed off.

Junmyeon slowly turned to look over at them. His mouth was in an “o” shape, but the curve of his lips gave away his amusement. “Wow…finally someone put her in her place.”

Kyungsoo pulled Baekhyun closer to him. “Do you want to continue the tour?”

Baekhyun looked over at him, “Yes.” He answered.

***

They spent the rest of the time at the building. Baekhyun loved learning about how video games were made and Kyungsoo even gave him free samples of whatever game he wanted. Baekhyun had met a lot of amazing developers that he had only dreamed of being able to meet.

“How did you like it?” Kyungsoo asked as he opened up the hot dogs that they had gotten to eat. They sat on a bench in a park, the evening moonlight shining down on them.

“It was amazing!” Baekhyun shouted as his eyes shined. It was nothing like what he imagined it would be like.

Kyungsoo chuckled as he handed the hot dog to Baekhyun, “I hoped you would love it.”

Baekhyun nodded and took the hot dog in his hand. “I did love it.”

Kyungsoo smiled wide as he took a bite of his hot dog. The cheese stretched out and caused Kyungsoo to go cross eyed.

Baekhyun giggled at his cuteness. “Thanks for showing me around.”

Kyungsoo looked up at him, “No problem.” He answered. “Plus, it was a win for me. You stood up to Sunhee. That was amazing and hot.”

Baekhyun let out a loud laugh, “You’re world is so different from mine. Everyone in there was rich as heck.” He told him as he bit into his own hot dog. “I felt so out of place.”

Kyungsoo shook his head as he swallowed, “Don’t.” He began. “You don’t need to feel out of place. At the end of the day, we’re all human.”

“Yeah, but not everyone felt that way. Sunhee is a great example.”

Kyungsoo scoffed, “Sunhee hates me.” He replied.

Baekhyun didn’t like thinking that someone hated Kyungsoo. It worried him that someone hated the latter. From what he knew, Kyungsoo was kind and very doting.

“How could anyone hate you?” Baekhyun asked as he looked him up and down.

Kyungsoo smirked as he locked eyes with Baekhyun, “As long as you don’t hate me, I don’t care about anyone else.”

Baekhyun blushed and looked away, “Hey, Kyungsoo?”

“Yeah?”

“Is your string…torn?”

Kyungsoo’s smile slowly faded. He lifted up his wrist. Baekhyun’s eyes looked up to see it. To him, it was invisible. He saw the pearly white wrist, bare.

“Yeah.” He replied. He lifted up his sleeve for Baekhyun to get a better look. “You can’t see it, but yes. It’s torn.”

Baekhyun knew the feeling of waking up to a torn string. He lifted up his own wrist. Kyungsoo’s eyes followed it. “Mine is too.” Baekhyun told him.

Kyungsoo extended his hand and placed it atop of Baekhyun’s wrist, right on top of Baekhyun’s torn string. “Maybe you can become my soulmate? And our strings can come together?”

“But we’re not of the same status. That doesn’t bug you?”

Kyungsoo shook his head, “I would have to be really shallow to worry over that. I like you as a person Baekhyun. I don’t care about stupid things like status.”

Baekhyun twisted his mouth to the side, “But some people at your work did.”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “I don’t care about them either. It would be OUR relationship, not theirs. I want to get to know you better and see if we’re compatible.”

Baekhyun’s eyes slowly lifted to lock with Kyungsoo’s. What could this guy possibly see in him? He was so beautiful. How is it possible that he could be interested in him?

“I would be open to that.” Baekhyun replied.

Kyungsoo grinned wide and nodded, “Let’s just wait until real feelings develop until doing or becoming something serious.”

Baekhyun looked down at Kyungsoo’s bare wrist. Would he one day be able to see Kyungsoo’s string? Would it be connected to his own? Right now his was torn, but could it become tied to Kyungsoo’s? He hoped so.

“By the way…”

“Hm?”

“Why does Sunhee hate you?”

“I was supposed to marry her. But the wedding never took place.”

“Marry her? Is she your—“

At this Kyungsoo made a face, “Oh god no! She is not my soulmate.” He shuddered at the thought. Baekhyun let out a laugh.

“Then why marry her?”

“My parents wanted me to. She’s wealthy and her family would have made our company—and reputation—a lot of money.”

“And why didn’t you go through with it?”

“Because of my soulmate. I wanted to meet them. But obviously my soulmate hates me, so it doesn’t even matter.”

Baekhyun looked down at Kyungsoo’s hand that was on top of his own. He placed his hand inside of it and squeezed tight.

“But I don’t hate you though.” He told him as he stayed staring at their hands. “I want to get to know more about you and see where this goes.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes watered, but he blinked the moisture away before Baekhyun could see. “I would like that.”

The elder beamed at him, “Even if your coworkers hate me?”

Kyungsoo scoffed, “I don’t care what anyone says. If they talk to you, I promise to defend you.”

Baekhyun’s eye smile came up when he smiled, making Kyungsoo’s heart accelerate more than it already was. “And the same goes for me.” He told him. He didn’t care about Kyungsoo’s money or status. That was all irrelevant to him. What he cared about was the way Kyungsoo made him feel. Sitting on the park bench like this, he felt whole, complete, and –dare he say—feelings emerging.