"So are you aiming for a Cruella de Vil or just plain ol' creepy?"

Tao looked to his left to find his friend Baekhyun with his pale, slender arms crossed over his chest, his against the black marble sink beside his.

"Oh, you." He said dryly. Dismissing the other's presence, he returned his gaze to his reflection and at the damp make-up smudges around his puffy eyes emphasized by the harsh fluorescent lights framing the mirror.

They were in the comfort rooms of EXO, the city's most exclusive club, where a vodka martini costs half a day's pay and only the super rich and fabulous can enter. And Tao was exactly that - rich and fabulous.

He put a hand under the intricately molded faucet, felt the cold water run through it and asked himself again why he was here. He should be back in his penthouse apartment where he can drown himself with his own bottle of wine and not here crying while being mocked by a friend who knew him too much to know just where to hit so it hurts.

"Really. What's with the drama? CEO daddykins didn't buy you new Gucci? " Baekhyun asked as he turned to face the mirror to repair his own make-up.

Tao would never admit it out loud but he thinks the shorter boy was fabulous with his expertly styled dark brown hair, blacker than black eye liner and tight fitting leather pants. He wasn't rich, not like Tao, but Baekhyun gets in here because his boyfriends are.

"Just got a purse that would probably be three months' worth of your salary at that cheap club you're working for." Baekhyun stilled for a moment before continuing with his retouching. Tao knows where to hit, too. "How much do they actually pay you to sing?"

"Enough." The other answered with a careless shrug.

"Oh. Of course. There are always your boys to take care of you. Which lovesick puppy gets you tonight? I heard there were the race car driver and the lawyer. There were even rumors of a surgeon. You lucky thing, you." Tao couldn't keep the bitterness from his tone but there was plenty of it to go around and who better to share it with than Baekhyun. They've been at it since college anyway.

Baekhyun paused with applying powder on his cheeks and looked at him with a saccharine smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Actually, I'm single tonight. Not alone, but single. The driver and the lawyer are history. And the surgeon's... He’s so yesterday."

Tao saw a flicker in the shorter boy's eyes at the mention of the surgeon. Curious. Baekhyun resumed with his powdering before speaking again. "What about you? I don't see your blonde prince hanging on to you and scaring the out of those who dare talk to the Huang Zitao."

"We broke up."

"Oh." And just like that Tao felt too tired to spar with Baekhyun. Because that was exactly why he came here. Why there were tear stains on his face and why his make-up was ruined. Earlier, he broke up with Kris. And it's been hell.




Kris never spared him a glance as he drove them back to Tao's apartment. His jaw was tense and his knuckles white from his tight grip on the steering wheel. He wasn't frowning, Kris never does, but from the increasingly blank look on his boyfriend's face Tao knew he was angry. That's fine. He's angry, too. 

It wasn't something new. There's been countless of times over the years when they go home like this. His boyfriend will be quiet and reserved during the drive back but will lecture him in a steely voice as soon as they are private. 

It wasn't long before they arrived. It was quieter as they rode the elevator. "You shouldn't have done that. That scene was uncalled for." Kris said as soon as they got inside the apartment. He walked towards the tall glass windows overlooking the city. He always goes there because Kris told him once that the city lights at night calm him. 

"What was uncalled for was the way you dragged me from the party. It wasn't even halfway through." He sounded whiny but it was true. He didn't even get to chat with his other friends. Tao sat on the sofa facing the windows. If this was another one of their usual arguments he wanted to be comfortable at least. 

Kris turned his head to look at him and his eyes had never been so cold. "I really don't know why I bother with this conversation." 

"We don't even need to have this conversation. You always do this. You always get mad at me for things I don't even start. Is it my fault that I'm Huang Zitao and those idiots will die just to get close to me?" He said punctuating each sentence with a wave of his hand. 

"You insulted the man in front of everybody." 

"That nobody's a fool. And you're angry at me because of that?" He asked incredulously. 

The taller boy turned to face him fully. "No. I'm angry because of you. All this time that we're together you still don't get it. You still think that way. You're too good for anybody. It's a wonder why you even go out with me." He can hear the older boy's frustration and for the first time Tao felt a pinch of unease. He never heard his boyfriend like this before. "You say I always get mad at you? How can you complain when you don't even listen?" 

Tao came up short. Because it's true he doesn't. "Fine. Whatever. I'm tired. I don't want to talk about it anymore, okay?" Somehow it was imperative that they stop. 

"You weren't too tired to fight." Kris said mockingly. 

"No." Tao snapped. "But I'm tired of you." No, he wasn't. It was five years but he wasn't tired of Kris. 

There was a deafening silence after that. An impasse but not really. He had a feeling he'd gone too far. Tao wanted to take it back but he can't do it because he is Huang Zitao. Nevermind, Kris will let this go. He always does, right? 

"So what are you saying?" The blonde boy asked quietly. 

He knew this was getting out of hand but arrogance never backs down. "I'm saying let's end this." Stop. Just stop it, Zitao. Now he was waiting for his boyfriend to do his part. Come on. 

For the first time since their argument started, Kris' expression softened. "If that's what you want." 

What? No. Shouldn't he be apologizing? Shouldn't he be begging him to change his mind? Tao opened his lips but nothing came out. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. His Kris would never give up on him. 

Helplessly, he watched as his boyfriend started to walk out the door. Stop. Why? 

Kris paused by the doorway. "Peach," Tao never heard him this sad either, "the world doesn't revolve around you. Other people get hurt, too. At least remember that." 





It was one of the rare, very rare, times that Baekhyun didn't know what to say. He glanced at his long time rival stare at his own reflection, a definite slump in his shoulders. He had never seen Tao like this.

They have always rubbed each other the wrong way maybe because in their group of friends, Tao and Baekhyun were vying for the only spot worth coveting: The Beautiful One. When they all got together in college, there already were the dork, the maknae, the genius, and the jock. Of course he knows he was the more beautiful of the two with his soft white skin, smoky eyes, sweet lips and graceful hands. But Tao had the money, the expensive clothes, the connections and Kris.

It was an unspoken challenge of sorts to one-up the other in every opportunity. Baekhyun would like to think that he had pegged more victories but he wasn't really sure. Now Prince Tao has lost his Kris and he should have been rejoicing because, in that aspect at least, they were in equal footing. It's just that the separation was a concept so unfathomable that Baekhyun can only utter an "Oh."

"Yeah." Tao said as he moistened a paper towel and wiped at the smudges in his eyes. "I just learned that the world doesn't revolve around me."

Baekhyun can hear a tremor in the taller's voice. "Who told you that?"

"Kris." The dark haired boy looked at him. "Funny cause for the longest time I thought it did."

He honestly didn't know how to answer to that. They've never had such talks before. They never went beyond the insults and the digs. "Good for you though. You've got the world revolving around you." Tao added. "All those poor things desperate for Baekhyunnie's affections."

"Yes. Baekhyunnie at the center while they all run in circles around me." The sad part was no one really stops for him. There have been so many of them that he doesn't bother to count anymore. Maybe that was one of the things he envied from Tao. His relationship with Kris or shall he say ex-relationship now.

He tried it once, the love-commitment thing, but the surgeon had different ideas and he was left not with a broken heart exactly but with a damned wounded pride.




" him then. Who needs him anyway?" Baekhyun was in his second bottle of exorbitantly priced beer and he wished he could get drunk but he still had his work later that evening. It would have to be his last. He contented himself with venting out his anger on the tall, curly haired guy sitting beside him at the bar. "Right? Who needs him? He's never available, always rushing to some emergency. Never had time for me." 

"Baekhyun-ah, maybe you should stop drinking." Chanyeol said concernedly. "You still have your-"

"I know, I know. Don't you think I know? Shut it, okay? Or I'll leave you here. I only let you bring me in EXO for this." He said waving the beer bottle in front of Chanyeol's face. It's not that Baekhyun doesn't have money to buy his own drink but why pay for it when someone was willing to do it for you? "Can you imagine? Me, Byun Baekhyun, getting dumped by that piece of... of-"

"Shhh. This is not like you." Chanyeol said with slight frown. 

He tipped the bottle against his lips and drank deeply. The taller boy was correct. This wasn't like him but it was not every day that some hole got the best of him. He does the dumping and not the other way around. 

Curse that hollow feeling anyway. That feeling that made him wish that it was different this time around. That emptiness that made Baekhyun, for the first time, put an effort to make a commitment. And he did. He stopped seeing other boys, stopped flirting. But it wasn't enough. The last one still left him. 

He shouldn't be so hurt. At the back of his mind he knew that it was a hopeless endeavor anyway. Still... . Just . 

"It wasn't so bad, really. Did you know that 8% of love relationships end within the first fifteen hours? The surgeon had lasted for one whole month. That's actually a good figure." Chanyeol said matter-of-factly, his dimples on a cheek deepening as he pressed his lips together. 

"What are you, the National Census?" Baekhyun asked him with an arch of a perfectly shaped brow. "And who says I want to be part of that stat?" 

"I was just saying. You can get over this." There was the strength of conviction in Chanyeol's words and Baekhyun wanted to curl into it. It was exhausting to keep one's spine straight and pretend that he's impervious to pain. He hated Chanyeol at that moment for making him want. 

"Do you know what's wrong with you? You spend nine hours every day cooped up in your office. You're so scared of people that you'd rather bury yourself in those trivia books of yours. For the past two years, you spend four nights a week watching me sing when you know full well I'll never like you that way. You whimper when you see me leave the club with another man but you're too chicken to do anything about it." He put as much malice in his words and it was gratifying to see Chanyeol wince at each barb. "And I'm guessing you won't even get mad at me after this. You're a weak kneed fool. That's why you're alone." 

He noticed that he was clutching at the taller boy's shirt. He released his hold and took a deep breath to calm himself down. Baekhyun returned his attention the bottle in front of him. "But I don't know what's wrong with me." He said softly, feeling a prick of wetness in his eye which he promptly swiped with a finger. "I'm supposed to be beautiful. Why am I alone?" 

"Did you know that you can solve a Rubik’s cube in twenty moves or less?" Chanyeol asked in his deep, warm voice. "But there's also an algorithm that requires more than a hundred steps to complete." Baekhyun looked at him blankly but the boy just smiled. "I believe relationships are like that. No matter how many steps it takes to get there you'll eventually end up complete." 

"So you're saying I will have to date at least a hundred people?" He couldn't really hold on to his burst of hatred for Chanyeol not when he was just being his clueless self. 

"No. No, I mean sometimes it isn't in the number of moves, too. Sometimes it's also a matter of well, realizing what you have and... Finding that what you need had been there all along." He can see the flush covering the taller boy's ears and cheeks. Baekhyun burst out laughing. 

He held on to Chanyeol's shoulder and turned him in his stool so he can fully face Baekhyun. The smaller boy straightened from his seat to stand between Chanyeol's slightly bent legs. "So are you finally hitting on me?" He can feel the warmth from the taller boy's skin. He stepped closer. "Are you?" He asked again as he looked him straight in the eyes for the first time. 

"D-did you know that eye liners were invented and used by Mesopotamians over 10,000 years ago?" Chanyeol asked nervously. 

"Did you know that you blew the only chance I was ever going to give you?" Baekhyun softly patted Chanyeol's cheek before stepping back. "I'll just fix my make-up then you can drive me to the club." He was turning away when he felt the boy's hand on his arm pull him back. "Baekhyun-ah? We can do this again tomorrow or as many times as you want. You can insult me again, too. Just don't cry anymore okay?" Then Chanyeol used his thumb to wipe a stray tear he must've missed earlier. 




"You can laugh if you want to." Tao pointed at his scrubbed face. "Or at least comment on how I look without this." He said as he held up a tube of foundation. "The chance may never come again."

"It's not funny at all." The shorter boy replied. "Pain's not funny."

"But it is." He sighed. "Aren't we the beautiful ones? Shouldn't we have charmed lives?" He knows the other can see his vulnerability and if it was any other time he would never have borne it. But it isn't any other time. It was right now and he was just Tao who was afraid he already lost the only man who loved him and his selfish self.

"Listen, since this chance will definitely not come again. You are beautiful, maybe even more than me. And your life is charmed and everything I could only dream of. So don't blow it. Get him back." Did Baekhyun see? How did he understand? "Honestly, the only thing I am envious of you of is Kris."

Tao knew that. It was why he always paraded his boyfriend in front of Baekhyun every time they see each other. "It wasn't because he was rich and gorgeous, though he is. It's because he loved you all these years even if everyone knew you're worse than a ." He knew that, too.

He took out his phone and messaged Here at EXO. I love you. He hit send with eyes closed. It was just a few seconds when he received a reply. Wait for me. He never felt more relieved.

Baekhyun saw the dark haired boy smile after receiving a message and he knew he'll be alright. Good for you, he thought. "Hey, come here. I'll do your make-up." He said and for the first time Baekhyun felt that they were really friends instead of pretentious competitors for a title that may not even be worth it. "Who does yours anyway? You always look like you want to kill or something." The taller boy just rolled his pretty eyes at him and proceeded to apply foundation on his cheeks.

"You told me yourself, I'm beautiful even without it." There was a confidence in his voice that was missing earlier. "And Kris loves me so he wouldn't really mind." Baekhyun thought Tao was lucky to have that someone who sticks. He never had one. Well, except for Chanyeol. He touched the spot below his eye that the tall nerd wiped earlier.

"You just smudged my eye liner, stupid."

"You're still beautiful." 

He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He was the stupid one. "Did you finally lose it? What are you laughing about?" Tao asked.

"Did you know that Mesopotamians were the first to use eye liners over 10,000 years ago?" Baekhyun felt the weight he's been carrying in his chest lift.

"Okay. Where did you even get that?" Tao was looking at him as if he was crazy. And maybe he was. "From my number one fan." He answered.

"Number one fan? You mean that awkward boy who always goes to your gigs? The tall curly haired guy with the wide creepy smile? That stalker?" Baekhyun felt glad when Tao referred to Chanyeol as his stalker. Because stalkers don't go away, right? They're a different kind of sticky. It could be a permanent thing. "Yeah. Exactly that stalker and he's waiting for me so hurry up. Let me do your eyes. Honestly you're bad at this."




It only took less than three minutes of applying and retouching, but everybody turned to admire and stare as the beautiful ones came out.