T H I R T Y – F O U R

Word of the Day – “Effiler“

The couple glared at each other with competitive eyes and started whisper-fighting.

“You talk to him.”

“No, you’re the guy, you talk to him.”

“What am I supposed to tell him? Dude, are you really a high-end ? How much are you per hour?”

“Just confront him about it, for ’s sake.”

“No! You’re blunter than I am. You do it. He’s going to be scared of you and tell you the truth.

“Then be blunt too, . You’re the head of this restaurant.”

A clearing of the throat made them eventually stop and they looked down at the end of the stairs of the basement to see Baekhyun standing right there, already dressed up in his bartending uniform. “I don’t know what the y’all whispering about but my guilty conscience tells me it’s about me. What’s up? Am I in trouble? Chef, I swear, I can explain why I was here in my pyjamas this morning.” The man explained with pleading eyes, only worsening the anxiety accumulating in Miyoung’s chest.

Kyungsoo cleared his throat and nudged her. “Uh, actually—yeah, we have to discuss that,” Miyoung replied with a firm tone before leading the way down to the basement. When she didn’t feel Kyungsoo following behind, she paused and shot him a fierce glare which finally made him move along. Baekhyun took a few steps back to give them space, or more so to avoid them at all cost.

“Uhm, okay. So,” Baekhyun grinned nervously. “I have an enemy who found out where I lived and so I had to hide. Chef, I swear that was it. I’m going to leave tonight, I just had to sleep somewhere.” He started explaining himself right away as soon as the couple was standing in front of him. “By the way, how was it? Did Boss take it well? I mean you’re still here and I’m still calling Kyungsoo as Chef, so are you fired or not?” He then changed the topic and winked meaningfully.

Miyoung felt her boyfriend’s body tense up as if he was ready to throw hands any minute. After all, their plans were all interrupted because of this new dilemma they had to deal with. “You—because of you I couldn’t even tell—oh my god, my blood pressure. I can’t do this.” Kyungsoo paused, scraping his face in frustration.

“What?” Baekhyun asked, growing more and more confused. “Guys, if I’m not in big trouble, can I start prepping at the bar? I need to go there now.”

Finally taking the lead, Kyungsoo grabbed Baekhyun on the arm and dragged him to the empty kimchi cellar. “Sit down.” He ordered and pointed at the old leather office chair on the corner. “No, I don’t want to sit anywhere here. You guys make out and do cringey stuff here, how can I make sure you didn’t on this chair?” Baekhyun grunted in disgust before leaning against a wall instead.

“What the—” Kyungsoo jerked to attack again before retrieving his hand. “Idiot, we didn’t do anything more than kiss here. Shut the up and listen to me.” He hissed.

Miyoung could see the worry in Kyungsoo’s eyes as he looked at the man. She honestly couldn’t tell how this conversation was gonna go. One thing was for sure … Baekyun had to go. He was going to be fired because of this. There was no chance of keeping him, no matter how good he was at his job. This was something big that would greatly affect the whole business and its people.

Kyungsoo took the office chair instead and sat on it, leaning forward to his lap and pressing his face against his palms. “This is just ed up—this is beyond me. I don’t know where to start.” He muffled.

“Can you guys just tell me what it is? You’re scaring me.” Baekhyun sighed, finally losing his usually dorky expression.

Taking a few steps forward behind the chair where Kyungsoo sat, Miyoung spoke up. “Baekhyun, we know about your other job.” She finally revealed, avoiding the actual word as much as possible. Silence filled the entire cellar as the couple waited for Baekhyun to say something. His eyes darkened, his face and ears flusher than ever.

“Now, we know you have your reasons and we’re not gonna go there because it’s something personal to you, I’m sure. But … that person who’s looking for you is now threatening our business. He found you here and I remember, you said that person knew you in a different name. Well, I guess not anymore because he called my father today saying he was going to spread rumours.” Miyoung explained further.

“I need to—I need to go home, my dad and my brother, they don’t know about this.” Baekhyun frantically fished his phone out of his pocket to make a call before gathering his stuff in a hurry. “Dad? Are you—are you home with Jaehyun? Sorry, I’m at the basement so I can’t—you’re breaking a little.”

He started talking on the phone. “Oh, thank god—okay, well, just stay there with Aunt Sooyoung for a while and don’t go anywhere, okay? Alright, yeah, tell him I’ll be home soon. I said I’ll be home soon! Oh—he wants to talk to me—hey, buddy! I know, I’ve been bad, no? I know I have been so busy—yes yes, we’ll do that as soon as I get home—calm down, no listen to me, please? Calm down first or I won’t talk, you want that? Okay, here—” He sang The Three Bears song in a rushed manner.

“Dad? He’s good now? I asked if he’s good now. If he’s good now. I need to go. Just stay there, please? I will explain later—I can’t hear you, sorry. Bye-bye.” Baekhyun ended the phone call and turned to them again with a nervous smile. “They’re good. They’ve been out of home since yesterday.”

“Uhm, okay. You literally have a kid brother who’s most likely gonna be in trouble because of this, he’s too young to be dealing with this. What if they find out? You need to help us too. SCORCH is in trouble because of you, Baekhyun!” Miyoung yelled.

“No, my brother’s eighteen but he’s autistic so—okay, that’s not even the point here. Fine, you know about me now. But what do you want me to do? I was just doing my job and it’s not my fault that this old lady kept following me until her husband found out. I didn’t break any rules in my other job. I didn’t do anything wrong; I just did what I was paid for. That client broke the rules because she stalked me afterwards.” He explained.

Kyungsoo groaned and slapped his forehead. “Oh my god—old lady—oh my god. I can’t take this. This is too much for my brain to handle.” He muffled.

“Okay, I need our manager. Soobin needs to know this too. She’d know what to do.” Miyoung gave up and finally turned around to walk upstairs. “No! Don’t add more people into this. We’ll figure this out ourselves. Don’t tell her, please?” Baekhyun begged while rubbing his palms together. “Okay, how about this. I have an idea which I think would work but you’re gonna need to give me a few days.” He then suggested.

Miyoung and Kyungsoo looked at each other for a matter of seconds before facing the guy again. “Why few days? This man can spread the rumour any time if you don’t show yourself to him soon. I don’t know what he wants to do to you but I’m sorry, this is you against all the people who work in SCORCH. They can’t lose their jobs and their reputation over this.” Miyoung said.

Baekhyun’s expression darkened more as tears glittered his eyes. He had never looked guiltier. “I’m not doing anything wrong—I just needed the money so badly. My brother also has a heart condition along with his autism so his medications altogether are really really expensive and my dad doesn’t work anymore because he’s not well and needs to have dialysis three times a week. I’m sorry that this went too far and involved all of you. If you could just let me help in my own way then I might be able to solve this without the guy spreading anything.” He pleaded.

Kyungsoo eventually took the offer and nodded. “Okay, what’s your plan, dude?” He asked.

“So—” Baekhyun sighed. “I know my client is from an influential family so yeah, obviously they have money and power. But they can’t really do anything more than spread the rumour because they wouldn’t want the other side of the truth to come out, that my client hired an because she’s not ually and emotionally satisfied with her marriage.” He started explaining.

Miyoung rolled her eyes, unconvinced. “This is bull—you’re fired. And we’re not taking any responsibility and we’re going to deny our involvement, as we should, if your name spreads and—” she was silenced by Kyungsoo when he rais