“Merry Christmas!”

Beaming at Chanyeol, Baekhyun hands him something rectangular covered in cute bright yellow wrapping with a light blue ribbon on top.

Chanyeol was the type to be instantly happy at anything. Even at the teeny weeny bit of things.  Give him a lollipop and he’ll act like a deranged child because of that.  That’s how severe his level of joy could get.

But he didn’t want to show that to Baekhyun. Oh no, he wouldn’t dare that and ruin this entire moment with him. Trying hard to contain himself with just a grin, he cautiously receives the gift and feels the smooth yellow cover, eyeing and studying it carefully under his round puppy eyes. Is it a book?  He brought it up near his ear and shook it, checking if there’s going to be a rattling sound.

It is DEFINITELY a book. He concluded after hearing nothing but just the swish of air it made while violently shaking it. Meanwhile, Baekhyun almost spat out all his hot choco after witnessing Chanyeol’s cute weirdness. Still grinning from ear to ear, Chanyeol shot the cutely laughing person in front of him an amused-confused look.

Ignoring Baekhyun’s hysterical giggling, Chanyeol went on and started unwrapping the gift, eagerly tearing the yellow cover apart like an overly excited child who just received his very first toy from Santa Claus. He stopped when he saw a cute cat drawing on the cover.

“It’s a doodle  book. I bought it in some bookstore. Isn’t it cute? “Baekhyun breathily explained, still recovering from fits of laughter his friend caused him. “They also sell good second-hand books... “ He continued.

No offense, Baekhyun, but Chanyeol isn’t listening. In fact, his mind went into flashback mode the moment he heard a certain word from the shorter guy’s sentence.

Bookstore. He mentally repeated, drifting off to that memory only five days ago, where he met Kyungsoo, the mysterious doe-eyed boy who crazily believes in that ridiculous thing called fate. The scene was still in HD, the image of Kyungsoo discreetly scribbling something on the first page of the icing cake cookbook was still clear in Chanyeol’s cerebral screen.

Although he sorta gave up all belief of fate left in him, that fact didn’t stop him from entering every bookstore he passed. There wasn’t a day that he never entered one. But if a thing such as fate exists, then it must be really cruel to Chanyeol. Because he always takes a step out of every bookstore left empty-handed and frustrated as ever.

Why didn’t he just snatch the book away from Kyungsoo’s hands after the short charming guy signed his name and number inside? He could’ve easily done it if he wanted to.

He wouldn’t be stuck in agony and frustration desperately hunting for that damned cook book with Kyungsoo’s complete name and digits inside. Heck, he doesn’t even know when he’ll get hold of something possibly impossible to find. It would take years –or even a lifetime – to do that. Or maybe really never at all.

If only he just thought of the idea that time, he could’ve already been shoving it to fate’s face right now like, “HA! Take that! I’m going to defy you and you can’t do anything about it!”

But unfortunately, he didn’t. That was the only problem. Damn, he could’ve been texting with the guy right now. Or maybe he could’ve been sitting here with him instead of Baekhyun. Or who knows? He… He could’ve become his lover. Just like what Kyungsoo blurted out that time when they tried to save the last pair of white mittens from the hands of another man.

“Uhh, you know he’ll be my boyfriend after 4 months.”

Chanyeol recalled the words, Kyungsoo’s voice still perfectly recorded in his auditory memory. It made him more upset.  Aisssh. Chanyeol you babo! Baboo!

“…When I saw the cover, it instantly reminded me of you. And I thought that maybe you liked dood--Chanyeol?” Baekhyun stops when he sees him hitting his blonde head with his fist. “Hey Chanyeol?” He taps him, and then takes his hand after it failed to bring him back to reality.

Chanyeol snaps out of it, and the first thing he notices is that one of Baekhyun’s soft hands was holding him. He blushes at the realization. And even more when he realizes that Baekhyun just witnessed his totally weird side in ON mode.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?” Baekhyun asked, clutching Chanyeol’s hand tighter, his face full of alarm.

“Oh no! I-I really really like it. Thank you.” He waved his untouched hand frantically in front of him, assuring Baekhyun. “It’s just that…” He looked to the side, searching for an alibi to come up with.

“...I’m quite sad that I forgot to prepare something for you. I’m sorry.” He pouts and bites his lip. It was true, though. Well, not exactly. He was supposed to give him the pair of white mittens. But he got… distracted. Got (happily) distracted by Kyungsoo.

“That’s okay. I understand.” Baekhyun gave him a quick smile and released his grasp. His face was flooded with relief, but the hint of disappointment can’t be veiled from Chanyeol. Great, he’s upset.

The awkward silence was piercing Chanyeol’s conscience. Good thing the background noise was there to help to at least muffle the uncomfortable atmosphere. He shifts uneasily in his seat, watching the light foam swirl on top of his untouched hot chocolate as he stirred.

He was supposed to confess to him today. He was supposed to make Baekhyun happy, so in case it’s confession time, there’s going to be a great chance he’ll accept it. But nope, all opportunity destroyed.

Whatever, this is my fault, if ever he’ll reject me, then at least I’ll have plenty of time to look for Kyungsoo. Chanyeol decided. He took a deep breath before finally having the courage to break the silence.

“Uhm, Baekie-ah…” There, I said. Now or never.

“Yeah?”

“I know this isn’t really a good time, and I think I’ve really REALLY disappointed you but…

…I-I like you.” Chanyeol blurted out hastily, closing his eyes and secretly crossing his fingers under the table. He wouldn’t want to open them just yet. He’s afraid he might see Baekhyun’s disgusted expression at him. Or worse.

He waited for Baekhyun’s reaction and braced himself to hear his upcoming words of rejection. He waited for the classic sentence confessors always dreaded to hear.”I’m sorry.”

But Chanyeol was given the kind of reply he very least expected. Do you know, by any chance, what a peck is? Yeah, that kind of reply. A kiss!

The feel of soft lips that swiftly pressed upon his mouth was enough to make him open his eyes as large as possible. Chanyeol could feel the blood rush to his face before he could get a grip on what happened.

“Did… did you just kiss me?”

Baekhyun simply smiled and his lips, bringing his cup up his mouth for a drink.

I can’t believe it. Baekhyun just kissed me!?

“So… Uhh…was that a yes?” He blinked anxiously, still can’t get over the fact of Baekhyun’s unexpected feat.

“Why, did you want me to reject you that bad?” Baekhyun raised a brow, grinning beneath his cup’s rim.

“NO! No. I was just… I thought you’ll reject me!”

“Why would I? You’re cute, weird and funny. I don’t mind being with you. In fact, I like you, too.” He laughs.

Chanyeol couldn’t believe his ears. Baekhyun likes me too?  For real?  Can I jump off a building now?

His ear to ear grin cannot be erased from his face. But under that grin–although he’d hate to admit it –a little corner of his mind sort of wished that he was rejected instead. For what? For really OBVIOUS reasons.

Whatever. I won’t waste my time believing in lies such as destiny and chance. What’s important is that I’m happy now. And I’m gonna be happy in the future together with Baekhyun.

Yes, Chanyeol is happy. But the happiness didn’t have the same giddy feeling he had when he was with Kyungsoo.

Maybe it’ll pass. Chanyeol thought. Maybe Baekhyun can give me a better feeling of happy than that wide-eyed fate-loving boy. Besides, a miracle needs to happen first before I’ll meet Kyungsoo again. I’m not going to settle on something that’s kinda impossible.

Maybe before I know it, he’ll just become a memory and I’ll just completely forget about him.

He continued stirring the rich brown liquid slowly, hoping that his thoughts of Kyungsoo would disappear like the vaporizing steam from the cup. He swigs down the lukewarm remains of his drink, the sensation of warmth somehow giving him a comforting feeling.

Maybe.

( Four months later…)

April. Spring time. The season when flowers bloom, trees wake up and stretch out from slumber and the world fills up with bright colors. Today was a typical  bright and sunny April morning.

But not for Chanyeol.

I did it again. He thought while he walked out of yet another one of the bazillionth bookstores he entered. He can’t help it, he always gets lured into it every time he passed one. It’s already become a bad habit to break. It’s been months – FOUR months in exact –that he struggled to break it. There was even a time when he asked a heap of his friends to help him find that cookbook, but later they told him to give it up already. He tried once, but it failed. And he never found the book.

Sighing, he buys a donut from a nearby store before going for a walk at the park. It has become a daily routine. Buy a donut. Pass a dock on the way. Then walk and sit at a bench for a while. He always does this before going to the flat he and Baekhyun shared since they got together.

Invisibly crossing out all of the activities in his mental checklist, he observes the surroundings. His eyes land on a “DO NOT PICK THE FLOWERS” sign, children running and playing dodge ball, a lady jogging with his dog, and a man walking a…donkey? Who the heck would walk a donkey in the park? Weird.

Anyway, he shoves his hand down his pockets, and takes out everything his big hands could get. He managed to pull out his cell phone, an outdated prescription from the doctor, and a Dolce candy. Popping the candy to his mouth, he scrolled down to check if there were unread messages. Nope, nothing. He proceeded to play a question and answer game he just downloaded a while ago. He waited for it to load completely.

1)    In Japan, where do people hold their martial arts training?

a)    Mall         b) Empty space       c) Dojo

Pssh, that’s easy. He pressed c. Dojo. CORRECT!

2)    What game that originated from ancient China is played by two or more persons with 28 small, flat rectangular blocks made of ivory, bone, plastic, or wood?

a)    Checkers  b) Dominoes           c) Shogi

Hmm, this is tricky. But checkers is not played with blocks. And I think Shogi is Japanese. So… He pressed b. Dominoes. CORRECT!

3)    Which polygon has twelve sides?

a)    Decagon   b) Dodecagon                   c) Icosahedron

Okay, decagon has 10. Dodecagon? Whatever. He pressed b. Dodecagon. CORRECT!

4)    Which flightless bird is extinct?

a)    Dodo       b) Kiwi          c) Ostrich

Obviously not ostrich. And kiwi? Isn’t that a fruit? He pressed a. Dodo. CORRECT!

5)    Which neurotransmitter is involved with Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia?

a)    Serotonin  b) Acetylcholine        c)Dopamine

What?! You’ve got to be kidding me.  Chanyeol gaped at the question. He doesn’t have any idea what these terms are. I guess this where my gut instinct comes to play. He took a deep breath and pressed b. 

WRONG! The correct answer is Dopamine. GAME OVER!

 DANG! So close. I knew it! It’s letter c!  Defeated, he kept his cell phone and stood up. Maybe the game is telling me to go home now.

He couldn’t quite describe why or what, but he felt that the day was quite weird. Nah, maybe it's just the donkey. or that’s just me. He thought, shrugging it off. Whistling, he hummed the Do Re Mi song while heading off.

He arrives in front of door 020 and latches the knob. Jumping on the sofa, he lazily gets the remote and switches the TV on.

“… a new dogma is declared by pope…”  Click.

“…dogsledding is now popular in…”  Click.

“The famous thousand-dollar doll got bought by…”  Click.

“Donald duck gets attacked by a Chinese pretty boy in Disneyla…” Click.

He finally settled with a children’s channel airing a Pororo episode. He remembered that Kyungsoo shared how he liked watching it. The guy also looked a lot like Pororo, too.

Chanyeol doesn’t notice it when Baekhyun comes in with a bag full of groceries. After he took all out, he joined him on the sofa.

“You still watch those kind of children shows?”

“Oh! You’re here already? “ Chanyeol looks at him. “Well, uh, yeah…”

“Anyway…” Baekhyun rummages through his bag. He promptly takes out two envelopes with a grin. Chanyeol stares at them.

“What’s that?” He eyes him a suspicious look.

“I just thought that it’d be a good idea…” Baekhyun trails off. “…to spend our summer in America!” He excitedly proclaimed, waving the two envelopes at Chanyeol’s face.

Chanyeol doesn’t know how to react. He was speechless, but not sure if it was out of happiness. So here he is, just flashing his half-smiling, half-surprised face at Baekhyun instead.

 “Re-really?” Was the only thing he managed to utter. “That’s… That’s great!” He threw his arms at the thrilled man.

“And if we might get lucky, we’d get to live there permanently!” Baekhyun added.

Chanyeol flinched at the statement. That would mean goodbye Seoul. Goodbye Korea. No more bookstores. No chance to find that cook book.

No chance to see Kyungsoo again.

Brown boxes. Luggages. Packages scattered everywhere.

Chanyeol dusted off his hands after he carried the final box towards the living room. He scanned the entire span of space before him. Everything looked neat and empty. Except for his part of the room, it was the last thing in his to-clean-up list.

Not for long, this place would be completely empty in two days. He doesn’t know how long they’d be staying in America, but he was both excited and sad. Excited because he’d get to see lots of different sceneries that can’t be seen in Korea. Sad because of the fact that he’ll miss everything that happened here. Everything.

To distract him off from diving into depression, he started to get done with his clean-up list. He found lots of things he forgot he owned. Clothes. Expired snacks. Wrappers. Things of all sorts. Not a few minutes after tidying up, his eyes landed on a familiar paper bag concealed by a shirt at the corner of the room. He crawled towards it, his curious senses tingling. He removed the shirt and froze the moment he recognized it.

It was the bag Kyungsoo threw at him before the elevator doors closed and ate him. Before fate decided to part them.

He brought the bag slowly to his lap and opened it. It contained only one white mitten. He reckoned that the other half was with Kyungsoo. He held it up, the soft feeling of the fuzzy white cotton bringing him back to that memory.

Why are you doing this?  He asked. Why now?  He scrunched up the mitten tightly.

He almost succeeded in gradually erasing Kyungsoo. There were days that he never really entered a bookstore. Or even think about him. He really tried genuinely. Ransacking every bookstore in town was long gone in his routine. And now, when he’s finally ready to leave everything behind, a reminder pops out of nowhere. Seriously, fate?

Ha, who are you kidding Chanyeol? There’s no such thing as fate. It would take forever to find him. The book could’ve been bought by a random stranger, who happens to be an amateur baker, and accidentally burns the little guy? The possibilities are endless. Give it up.

“Hey, why are you spacing out like that?”

He looked up at Baekhyun, breaking away from the thoughts. The shorter guy looked at the white mitten Chanyeol was holding. “And what’s that?”

“Oh… N-nothing. Just something.” He shoves it back to the paper bag and sets it aside. “So, where have you been?”

“Oh, I dropped by somewhere.” Baekhyun hands him another paper bag with a D & O bookstore logo printed on it. Chanyeol stared at it.

“A book?”

“Yeah. You see, your friends told me that you were desperately looking for a certain one. A pastry cook book? And luckily I found one. But I’m not sure if it’s the right one.”

Chanyeol gulped, his eyes never leaving the bag. “Uhm, yeah… Why did you bother?”

“I don’t know, I just wanted to make you happy before we leave. Anyway, I’m going to buy lunch for us, so I’m just going to leave it here.” Baekhyun places it at the side and appears out of sight.

It took Chanyeol a few minutes to finally have the courage to get the paper bag. He slowly took out the book, his heart leaping when it had the exact same icing cake on the cover.

No, this is impossible. I’m sure this book is just one of those copies. Right?  He laughs nervously.

Shakily, he opened to the first page.

Maybe it won’t hurt if he started to believe in destiny again.

Because under the neatly scribbled phone number was a familiar name.

It wrote…

Do Kyungsoo.

A/N: I know what you’re thinking. It’s along the lines of OH YES FINALLY THE NEXT CHAPTER OUT. LOL

I apologize for the very LOOOONG wait, was too busy procrastinating. /sweatsweat

Anyway, white63 and I decided to do a little guessing contest for you. In case you haven’t read the foreword, we mentioned that we were inspired by a movie which title is still unknown to everyone but us. So, we thought that if someone guessed the name right, then we are going to grant the lucky person a chance to ask any story request from us. Well, just think of it as an early Christmas present. Teehee. ^^

By the way, only one guess per person per day. Because we want to keep the comment box clean of spam.  So choose your movie wisely. :)

A few people had already given some movies, but nope, no one got it right yet. Keep guessing guys. HWAITING!

So good luck, and we hope you continue supporting us. Don’t forget to comment and subscribe. We love you all~