‘Yah! Park Chanyeol! Where are y-‘

Xiumin opened the door to the back of the restaurant and was met with a gust of cigarette smoke, the hot and humid air and a quiet sobbing that resounded in the night.

‘Chanyeol? Hey, what are you doing out here?’

Chanyeol was sitting on the metal mesh steps and held in his hands what looked like a rolled up joint.

‘Where did you get that?’ Xiumin asked, pointing at it. It wasn’t lit but Chanyeol held his work lighter in his other hand, flicking it over and over again. ‘Hello? Earth to Chanyeol? Chanyeol, don’t ignore me. Why aren’t you inside helping? You know how busy we are.’

Chanyeol brought the flame up to the joint to light it and Xiumin rolled his eyes before grabbing the cigarette and throwing it away.

‘What are you doing? Chanyeol, you don’t smoke. Who even gave this to you? I know you’re not a kid anymore but you still shouldn’t accept things from strangers’

‘Hyung, did you know that Kai liked Haneul?’ Chanyeol looked up at Xiumin with tired, puffy eyes. ‘Why did you let them use the bathroom? Why did you give Kai the opportunity to confess?’

Xiumin sighed and dusted his hands on his pin apron before sitting down beside Chanyeol and groaning as his knees clicked. He began gently massaging his calves and Chanyeol watched him through sideways glances.

‘Chanyeol,’ Xiumin said eventually, ‘I won’t lie to you. I knew how badly Kai liked her.’

‘And D.O too?’

Xiumin nodded, ‘yeah I knew about him as well. Honestly, I think I must be the most observant one here. You lot aren’t exactly great at hiding it’

‘Then why did you let Kai confess to her? Hyung, it’s all your fault. If you hadn’t let them use the bathroom to talk then he wouldn’t have been able to confess and-‘

‘You need to understand that everything needs to be fair. I know it’s a competition to you guys but trying to stop someone from confessing isn’t right’

‘Hyung, I want to die right now. This is so unfair.’

‘Oh don’t act like such a spoilt brat’

‘I’m not spoilt!’ Chanyeol screamed, ‘and I’m not a brat either!’

Xiumin stood up and tightened his apron.

‘Chanyeol, I can’t talk to you if you’re going to be childish’

‘I’m not childish!’

Xiumin sighed as he walked back into the restaurant to resume his shift.

‘Are you going to stay out here and mope for the rest of the night?’

Chanyeol nodded, arms folded protectively over his chest. Xiumin shook his head as he fixed his uniform.

‘Fine. Suit yourself.’

—-

‘What…?’ you finally whispered. It had been a good 30 seconds or so before you managed to process and get your brain and mouth working simultaneously.

‘Yeah… I like you. A lot actually.’

‘And you’re jealous of D.O?’

‘Do… Do we have to mention him right now?’

‘Kai, you have nothing to be jealous of. Him confessing to me-‘

‘-Was done behind a waterfall’

You blushed.

‘And he kissed you. Twice.’

You blushed harder.

‘H-How do you know all of this?’

‘Hyung told me to make me feel jealous. He succeeded pretty easily. And to make it worse, my jealousy mucked up my own confession-‘

‘You didn’t muck up anything, Kai’ you said, smiling, ‘how you confess doesn’t matter. It’s the words you’re trying to say. How you try and explain yourself. Oppa, you did it perfectly’

‘I scared you into tears, Haneul’

You shrugged, ‘I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed D.O-oppa’s.’

‘You’re too nice’

‘But you like that I’m too nice, surely’

‘I like it too much’

‘Then why complain?’ you grinned, ‘But Kai… I can’t give you an answer now…’

‘I know. I understand, don’t worry. You have to think about it and stay up for many nights and ask your girlfriends for advice and-‘

‘Oppa, this isn’t Mean Girls.’

‘Don’t girls do that?’

‘Well… Yes, I suppose so’

Kai chuckled, ‘just… please… don’t take too long. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to last before I start to go off the rails. That confession alone probably took 10 years of my life away.’

You nodded, thinking back to D.O’s minor break down.

/You’ve got to make a decision soon, Haneul. Don’t drag it out like you did with Aaron./

You returned to the table where you found a lettuce wrap, neatly made already for you, in your bowl.

‘Who made me this?’ you asked

No one answered.

‘Well thank you anyway whoever you are’

‘It was D.O’ Chen said, only to double over in pain when D.O kicked him under the table.

‘Thank you, oppa’

‘N-No worries, Haneul.’

 

The rest of the meal carried on as normal. The meat was all cooked and eaten. Lettuce wraps were fed to one another until everyone was stuffed and couldn’t move. Water was downed to try and quench the never ending thirst and the restaurant’s atmosphere showed no sign of dying any time soon. Rounds of rock, paper, scissors were played to determine who’d be in charge of grocery shopping as Suho was long gone and in a state of deep slumber. Sehun rejoiced at the chance to go to the supermarket with someone other than Suho as it meant the likelyhood of buying unhealthy snacks and sweets was looking favourable. Unfortunately for him, Kris lost the game and Sehun knew Kris would be even more uptight than Suho had ever been. It was an opportunity missed.

As it neared 1AM, Xiumin appeared at your table.

‘Still busy, hyung?’ Tao asked

‘Look around you’ Xiumin replied wearily, ‘I don’t think I’ll be coming home tonight’

‘Where’s Chanyeol?’ Baekhyun asked, ‘he isn’t slacking off, is he?’

Xiumin rolled his eyes, ‘Chanyeol’s out back having a mid-life crisis.’

Baekhyun frowned, ‘mid-life crisis? Should I sort him out?’

‘No, leave him. He could do with an kicking but I’d prefer to do it at home’

‘Speaking of kicking…’ Kris said, slowly rising to his feet, ‘I think he’s going to get one right now…’

Everyone turned their heads to see what Kris was talking about. Baekhyun also got to his feet, jaw agape in shock. Kris looked worried.

‘And that kicking won’t be from one of us.’

It took less than 5 minutes for Kris to return from waiting stools where a nicely dressed couple were sat. He had spoken to them and you noted how he had bowed. Everything about Kris had suddenly become uptight- his posture, his stature, his voice, everything. Baekhyun had been hovering a few centimetres above his seat, unsure of whether or not to go and follow Kris. Luhan had also appeared a little worried and when Sehun nudged Suho to wake him up and point to Kris and the couple, you knew something serious was up.

‘So…’ Kris said, sitting back down, ‘I spoke to them and they just said that they want to see Chanyeol. I have no idea why but that’s all they want. To see Chanyeol.’

‘Who’s having a mid-life crisis out back’ said Lay

‘Great’ Chen muttered

‘Why doesn’t Baekhyun go out and get him?’

Baekhyun shook his head, ‘Chanyeol’s stubborn. He knows how to work his way around me.’

‘Then send Haneul’ Luhan suggested, a glint flashing in his eye, ‘I’m sure he’ll listen to her’

Everyone nodded in agreement and you quickly got up, heading towards the back door. You pushed it open and found Chanyeol lying on his back, staring up at the stars. He moved his head slightly to see who it was and shot up once he realised it was you.

 

‘Princess!’

‘What are you doing out here, Yeollie?’

‘I feel a bit sick’ he lied

‘Liar. Xiumin said you’re going through a mid-life crisis.’ You crossed your arms,’Chanyeol, I know you don’t feel good right now but you need to go in’

‘I can’t.’

‘Why?’

‘I’ll… I’ll get consumed with rage’

‘Chanyeol’ you sighed, ‘I know you don’t like them but-‘

‘It’s not that I don’t like them… I just… Oh never mind.’

‘You still need to go in and face them. Show them who you are.’

Chanyeol stood up and you helped style his hair so it was slightly more presentable and slightly less ‘I’m-very-stressed-out-right-now-so-I’ve-been-running-my-fingers-through-it’. Fixing his shirt and ironing out the creases in it with your fingers, you looked at Chanyeol.

‘Remember what I told you in Japan. The Chanyeol I know is the most hardworking Chanyeol I know’

It was only then that Chanyeol realised you weren’t talking about Kai and D.O like he was.

‘Haneul… I feel like you’re preparing me for a job interview. What’s going on? I’m a bit lost. Who do I have to face?’

‘Yeollie…’ you said, giving him a quick hug, ‘…it’s your parents. They’re here to see you.’

 

 

---

First Singaporean update! I've finally gotten over jetlag (just about), I'm getting used to the humidity (slowly) and I've found some good places for free wifi (Starbucks, I'm talking about you). Updates over the next two weeks will be shorter as you can see :) and apologies but I don't think I'll be able to update from the 8th to the 21st as I highly doubt I'll have a laptop then (that's when I'm in Hong Kong ^^)  Consider that my two week vacation!

p.s I'm really looking forward to meeting some of you guys! I apologise now for the lack of communication (I can only reply back when I have wifi) ^^