Retrace III

Kris doesn’t quite remember how it all started, where it all started, why it all came to this. But it doesn’t matter because just thinking about that one person bounces him back to his goal, even when he has to be cruel, it’s always that one person. He always thought love, being able to feel love, being indifferent to one person, is man’s greatest abnormality. No one should subject himself under someone’s spell, an individual is an individual. But here he is, desperate for attention one person will never give him. It’s all because of him. This is all started because of Yixing. Because Yixing just charms him differently than any man could, like a drug, a dangerous poison to a cold man’s heart.

“So the rumors are true,”

Kris gazes away from the painting hung on Amanda Van der Gilt’s wall, framed with gold dusts and polished to emit beauty. Amanda is wearing a red sequined dress with her hair tied up at the back of her head.

“You emit such aura,” Amanda continues, her smirk not leaving her face as she walks. “y. Powerful. Brilliant.”

“I wasn’t aware there were positive rumors about me,” Kris says as he bends down to plant a kiss on Amanda’s elegant and nicely polished hand.

“Don’t flatter,” Amanda retrieves her hand back and walks behind her desk. “We’re not here today to discuss about that. Please, have a seat.”

Kris slowly sits on the couch not too close and not too far from Amanda’s desk, crossing his legs and resting his hands on top of his knees. “I suppose,”

“You’re a powerful man, Kris. One of the two I’ve seen this decade. But you’re holding back. No, you limit yourself.” Amanda tsk’s while shaking her head softly. “That’s not good, Kris. Not good.”

“I like to keep myself safe first. Wouldn’t you hate me, if I was in TIME magazine before you?”

Amanda’s lips curve into a smile, beautiful, yet dangerous at the same time. “This is why I like you. I’d like to propose a partnership,” She announces while leaning to her chair. “Now, now, not to fear. The conditions are completely fair. Mark my word. Even put a bullet on my head.”

“Why would I put a bullet on your head?”

“Because you like to keep yourself safe first,” Amanda replies simply. “I’ve sent the contract to your secretary.”

“You’ve sent the contract to my secretary who’s on the other side of London right now and not to me,”

“Of course.” Amanda leans to the edge of the table, her arm resting on the wood.

Kris chuckles. “Very well then. I’ll think about it.”

--

Kris enters his flat, feeding the silence with the tap of his feet, tap tap tap, like the sound of rain drops on concrete. He sighs and places his coat on the hanger. He immediately walks to his fridge for a glass of wine, something to unwind himself, something to pull him out of his current addiction, even just for a while. It’s all so boring. Going to work, signing papers, signing papers. So boring.

Boring. Boring. Boring. Boring.

He slams his glass on the table, hissing softly on taste, as he tries to calm himself. He knows there’s something wrong with him. Fun. He needs fun. But there’s no fun. There’s no fun in anything. They’re all so boring.

“I’d like to propose a partnership,”

An image of Amanda lingers in his head. A devil partnering up with a devil. It’s a good deal. It’s fun. He can have something to play with. Something to hold on his own. Something on his side. Something so unpredictable. This is business and reputation. Partnership—a give and take responsibility.

“Yes,” He whispers to himself. “Yes. Fun. This will be fun.” He chuckles with a smirk after finally finding something to lay his interests on.

His doorbell rings abruptly, slightly surprising him. He places the glass on the table to answer the door, only to be greeted by a broken Yixing. His head is lowered, his smile invisible, not that usual fun, not the Yixing with his head always held up high, with a smile enough to blind the whole world.

“We’re bankrupt,” Yixing says so soullessly.

Kris should’ve seen it coming; all the numbers, all the papers, the news, the facts. 

This isn’t fun anymore. Having to be acquainted with a fallen man.

But,

“It’s okay,” Kris whispers as he pulls the shorter male into his arms, hugging him, feeling his endless sobs.

Yixing is not a game.

Yixing is Yixing.

His smile, his touch, his voice, his actions—they’re all so interesting. Just watching him is fun. He gives Kris his laughter, his joy. He’s that one person who, no matter how he tries to deny it, naturally liven him with just his presence, even far more interesting than anything Amanda could offer.

Kris likes to keep himself safe. He likes to keep his heart safe.

“WHAT?!” Amanda yells in frustration, her foundation cracking, even her lipstick slightl fading away. “I don’t understand! You’re rejecting my offer?!”

Kris heaves a heavy sigh and tries to sort out his thoughts. “I’d like to propose something else instead. Hire Zhang Yixing instead.”

Amanda snickers in the absurdity. “Are you out of your mind? Never in my life would I even consider hiring that man! They’re bankrupt! He’s useless. Weak even. He couldn’t do anything without his father and now he’s falling.”

“Hire him,” Kris repeats.

Amanda pauses, slowly taking in Kris’ actions on how he’s willing to give up his only source of fun for the moment for one person, for one ordinary guy. Kris is a mystery. Watching him lose his protective bubble around himself for a simple request is a million ways more fun that actually working with the devil. “What’s in it for me?”

“I’ll do anything you want.”

Yes.

Amanda smirks, slowly feeling her victory, slowly tasting fun. “Such a poor man.” She croons while walking around Kris slowly. “You know how emotions are a great disadvantage to such power, love being the most dangerous of them all. But you’re willing to display it to me, even sounding desperate, just for one simple request.”

Kris doesn’t say anything because it’s true. It takes a lot to receive even a sentiment from him but Yixing, Yixing does it so simply.

“Alright. I’ll agree to your request. But as you said earlier, you’ll have to do anything that I want.”

“Yes.”

Amanda inhales deeply, chuckling suddenly, because it’s all so fun. “So fun. Finally.” She stops in front of Kris and stares at him, stares at those cold eyes. “Do you remember when I said you’re one of the two most powerful men I have ever seen this decade?” Kris nods. “Do you know who the other one is?”

It’s obvious and simple. “Chanyeol Park.”

“That’s right.” Amanda replies, her lips curving into a smile. “I want him broken, Kris.”

Kris’ eyebrows rise in shock.

“Break him. Do everything you can to make him fall. He’s not worth his fame and fortune. He’s a sad man. I want him gone. I want him to fall.”

In all honesty, Kris never cared about Park Chanyeol. Yes, he did steal from him once, but that’s just part of having fun. His actions, his choices, he doesn’t care about it one bit. Not even their supposed rivalry can interest him about Park Chanyeol anymore.

“Can you do that?”

But for his sake,

“Yes.”

He’s willing to turn it all around.

It’s sad.

Very sad.

How he’s desperate.

“Good.”

Really, really, sad.

And of course, he lost. It wasn’t long until Yixing found out about his deal with Amanda, about how he made him believe an illusion, about how he practically lied about everything, about the things that make up Yixing’s idea of Kris’ nature is. A lie. A sad lie.

But even so, Amanda didn’t let him go, let him leave. Because that was when her greatest plan presented itself. Following the confrontation between him and Yixing was the news about Edward Van der Gilt’s health condition. Amanda needed Yixing for her plan. She needed Yixing to find Baekhyun, to find her last key to victory.

--

Baekhyun snaps his eyes open awake when his brain suddenly told him ‘it’s time to get up moron’. Who knew his brain could actually be nice? Anyway, he pushes the sheets off his chest and slowly sits up and—

“Hello!”

Baekhyun, in reflex, immediately grabbed his pillows and threw it on the two (frightening) faces standing before him. “What the hell?!” He exclaims, after the two managed to avoid getting hit. “What are you two doing here?”

“Well, we were going to wake you up,” Tao answers.

“But yeah, you woke up before you could,” Minseok adds.

“Why would you wake me up?”

“Because back in high school, you always sleep in,”

Baekhyun chuckles as he drops his feet on the floor. “There’s a reason why it’s back in high school,”

Minseok and Tao watch him as he walks around the room, doing some stretching and other weird movements. “What are you doing?”

“Exercise,” Baekhyun replies simply while stretching his arms. “I need to be lively. I need to feel alive. We’re going to Paris!”

Minseok rolls his eyes. “You’re always lively Baekhyun, it’s sickening,” Tao opens the door and leaves. Seeing, Minseok immediately follows outside.

“Hey!” Baekhyun fakes anger with a pout and walks next after a few moments of grooming and dressing himself.

He finds his friends chilling out at the dining hall with Tristan in duty of watching them while he busies himself with the articles on the newspaper. Minseok’s stuffing his mouth with bread while Tao is just being elegant in everything, the sole reason why sometimes it’s hard for Baekhyun to picture out Tao killing people (because he can).

“Tristan? Why are you here?”

Tristan lowers the newspaper to look at Baekhyun. “I’m always here. And what kind of question is that?”

“Oh sorry. I thought since you’re a doctor you’ll be in the hospital 24/7.”

“I’m on night duty. Someone needs to stay here with Leo since Arthur’s in school and you’re always at work,” Baekhyun takes a seat as Tristan continues. “You’re really good at handling the company, Ellie. I guess it runs in the blood. I always hear people praising you for being a good CEO even at a young age.”

“There’s one younger than me,” Baekhyun murmurs and Minseok and Tao turn to him.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.”  Baekhyun says with a smile.

Tristan nods and places the newspaper on the table, folded. “You’re going to Paris today for the opening, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

Tristan leans closer to the edge and smiles at him. “I’m so proud of you Ellie. Who knew the kid who used to bite me all the time will turn out to be a good CEO?”

Baekhyun laughs at him. “Please, that’s one of your fondest memories.”

The maid appears at the doorway. “Sir Elliot, your car’s here.”

“What the hell…” Baekhyun stares with mixed emotions of exasperation and distraught and continues, “ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” He yells, feet tiptoed, exactly right at Kris’ (annoying) face.

“Princess, keep your voice down,”

“KEEP MY VOICE DOWN?! PRINCESS?! HOW D—mmff!” Kris immediately slams his palm on Baekhyun’s mouth to keep from yelling any more.

Tao chuckles at the side. “I doubt you can even hear him from that height.” Baekhyun and Minseok snap and turn to him with a glare for dissing their very petite height. Tao clears his throat. “Sorry.”

Baekhyun bites Kris’ hand causing the taller to curse in pain. He smirks proudly and walks to the car. “.”

“What the hell was that?” Kris’ asks, turning to him.

“That,” Baekhyun says while opening the door. “Is losing,” And then he disappears inside the car.

Kris shakes his head and follows inside, immediately getting a test of Baekhyun’s dark aura. “Why are you so upset in the morning? You’re wasting your pretty face.”

“Tell that so someone who cares,” Baekhyun retorts. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Oh, nobody told you?” Kris asks, teasing. “I’m coming with you to Paris.”

Baekhyun opens his mouth to retort with someone more annoying than how Kris is raising his eyebrows at him but then he remembers two kinds of devils outside the car and quickly turns to glare. Minseok and Tao only grin and waves goodbye as the car drives away.

The trip to Paris actually is only composed of bickering, bickering, and more bickering in Baekhyun’s part at least because Kris is cool enough not to care. Not even the weird looks Baekhyun was getting from the people around them can wear off his confidence armor to the point where Kris thinks it’s endearing and such a turn on. But, as nature had put it, he doesn’t quite fancy people, women and men alike, who are powerful enough to leave him out of power. Kris likes being dominant and even if Baekhyun makes a good submissive, it’s going to take a whole world to make him beg. Kris doesn’t think it’s worth the sweats at all. But he likes this game.

The weather’s a bit gloomy when they walk out of the terminal. Kris notices that there might be a possible rainfall but the weather forecast didn’t mention anything to it’s probably just the clouds acting up. He turns to Baekhyun and sees him brushing his hands together for heat. He studies the shorter. He’s wearing some typical Elliot kind of clothes but nevertheless, the hint of his Baekhyun self is still there.

“Cold?”

“Freezing,” Baekhyun answers almost in a hurry.

Kris sighs. He’s not a mind reader, neither did he took the effort to research about Byun Baekhyun, but he can tell just by looking that the shorter is useless in the cold. He takes his scarf off, remembering how long it took for him to properly wrap it around his neck, and places it on Baekhyun’s shoulder, surprising him.

Baekhyun turns to Kris. “What—“

“Next time—don’t battle the cold without a scarf,” Kris says with a smirk as their car parks beside him, appearing as if on cue. Kris opens the door and invites Baekhyun in before him. Surprisingly, Baekhyun quietly hops in and Kris follows.

The venue is almost ready when they arrive. The security’s tight, even the press couldn’t get a scoop from all the bouncers Yixing placed outside the hotel.

“Ah, sir Elliot Van der Gilt, sir Kris Wu, what an honor to finally meet two of the most well-respected young businessmen of the century,” A man—old, sleek, with a face mostly composed of beard—walks up to Baekhyun as soon as they were out of the car, holding out his hand. Baekhyun shakes it. “I am Count Alexis Midford.”

“Pleasure to meet you too, Count Alexis,” Baekhyun greets with a smile.

“The Queen’s watchdog,” Kris whispers to Baekhyun when the Count looks away for a moment to attend to his butler. Baekhyun nudges him and sighs.

“I’d like to hear more from you but the Queen have called for me. I apologize.”

“No, no, please.”

“I will anticipate the opening of this hotel. We will surely meet again. Until then,” The Count bows in respect as he walks to where his car is waiting. Baekhyun and Kris wait for the car to leave before turning around, walking inside the hotel.

“Well, that was unexpected. Even the Queen is interested in you.” Kris says as they walk together to the reception.

“I would be if my face always appears on TV.”

“Touché.” Kris waits as the reception lady gives their key cards. The interior looks magnificent, it has a touch of the Van der Gilts in it, gold but not too bright and bright but not too much that it hurts the eye. It still amazes him how Baekhyun was able to handle the works Amanda left when she got arrested. In just three months, he proved to the world that he’s worthy to carry the name of the Van der Gilts and protect his father’s legacy. Such a troublesome shortie.

“Alright, here’s yours and here’s mine—“ Baekhyun gasps when Kris suddenly grabs his hand. “What?”

“We’re sleeping in different rooms?”

Baekhyun tries to pull his hand back but to no avail. He sighs. “Obviously.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“SIR ZHANG! There’s a bit of a situation outside!”

It’s as if the whole world stopped. Kris’ grip on Baekhyun’s hand doesn’t loose, only it’s soften and when Baekhyun looks up, he finds Kris staring blankly at Yixing who had just walked in. He knows it’s Yixing he’s looking at because Baekhyun followed his gaze. Yixing proceeds attending to the problem when Baekhyun finds an opportunity to pull his hand back, immediately snatching Kris’ attention back to him.

“Alright,” Baekhyun says. “We’ll stay in one room,”

Kris only raises his eyebrows and watches as Baekyun walks back to the reception. He doesn’t even bother questioning it.

--

Luhan turns as soon as he hears the door open, gazing away from the work he was doing. He sees Sehun come in, slightly wet from the rain. The shop feels a little bit gloomy this day especially and not just because of the heavy rainfall that’s been going on for three straight days.

“Hey,” He greets Sehun while throwing a towel on him.

“Thanks,” Sehun replies as he wipes his face and arms with the towel. “Damn. I hate rainy days,”

“Can’t be helped,” Luhan shrugs. He follows Sehun with his eyes as the younger turns on the small TV set up at the shop’s mini-lounge. Sehun changes the channels and stops at the national news. “What’s up?”

“News about Chanyeol.” Sehun says before turning his head to Luhan. “Can you believe I didn’t even know he went to Prague? If Kai didn’t come home carrying a dark aura around him, I wouldn’t have taken a guess. He had this deal going on with some company based in Prague.”

Luhan nods and walks beside him, his attention now on the TV.

“Breaking news today, Park Industries’ CEO lost a deal again, this time with Prague. According to some insiders, he might or might not have accidentally insulted his investor.” The reporter says with his eyebrows crooked. The other woman then laughs. “Now why would you insult an investor?”

Sehun groans. “I don’t get what’s wrong with Chanyeol.”

“Bad days,” Luhan shrugs.

“I mean, I know the whole Baekhyun incident back in London hurt him but it’s been what? Three months? I actually thought he’ll start getting back on track now that he has a new fling on his side,”

“Have you seen his new fling? He’s like a spitting image of Baekhyun. Except for the eyes of course. It’s like he’s purposely torturing himself every day. There’s no way Kyungsoo wouldn’t remind him of Baekhyun.” Luhan retorts with a hint of annoyance.

“He’s acting like the airhead jerk he was before…” Sehun pauses, his mind doing a virtual flashback on the last time he saw Chanyeol act like an . “…before he met Baekhyun.”

Luhan raises his eyebrows. “What do you mean?” He asks.

“Chanyeol has always been like this until he met Baekhyun. He doesn’t clean his house. He doesn’t even go to work. He doesn’t go to parties and stuff. It’s like Baekhyun became his…inspiration. God I sound so cheesy.” Sehun notices Luhan’s confused expression and chuckles. “You wouldn’t understand but I’ve known him since high school, before all this. Trust me. He’s fallen deep in love with Baekhyun that he doesn’t even know how to get up from a fight over a single misunderstanding.”

Luhan clears his throat. “I get…what you’re trying to say but it’s sort of…confusing?”

“Don’t you see? He’s never fallen in love like this. And he’s also never been hurt from loving like this. So he doesn’t know how to move on. He doesn’t know how to get past it. Like the airhead he really is,” Sehun informs Luhan, happiness obvious from how his lips curve into a smile that it confused Luhan why he’s suddenly happy. “Oh god. Chanyeol is such an idiot.”

Luhan just stares at him and starts wondering.

--

Baekhyun suddenly realizes night has fallen when his gaze suddenly drops on the scenery outside. The stars are out, shining brightly, almost like how they shone above him that night, at Gyuri’s party, when Chanyeol found him alone in the gazebo. That night, he felt everything changed and he would do anything to feel that change again.

“Sir Elliot?”

He snaps and turns beside him, suddenly remembering that he’s confirming the plans for tomorrow with the organizer. “Sorry.” He apologizes and smiles.

“It’s alright, sir.” Cindy, the organizer, tells him immediately. “So about the time for the guests to proceed to the hall?”

“Uh…12:30 pm. Not long after the cutting.”

“Alright. Is that all sir?”

“Yes. You may go and rest now.”

Cindy bows at him. “Thank you, sir.”

Baekhyun enters his and Kris’ shared room, immediately noticing the dimness of the place. He yawns while walking to the bed but stops when he sees Kris standing near the windows, a glass of wine on his hand, his back turned to him. It wouldn’t be such an enticing view if Kris had clothes on but he was half-, his upper body completely bore to the cold and while his pants are kept, his belt is loose. Baekhyun takes a moment to admire the view and being completely honest about how toned Kris’ body is; it’s what they always say, y and brilliant.

“How admirable of you to brave the cold,” Baekhyun speaks and Kris immediately turns around to see him. “You know what people tell me about you? Smart, wise, y…brave.”

Kris smirks. “Are you falling for me?”

“You wish.” Baekhyun shoots back. “I think it’s really admirable how brave you are. You’re willing to take risks. And I think that’s good for a CEO. But you know, no matter how brave you are, you can’t help but do some things you never knew you would do when you’re stable. You get so desperate, you sacrifice a lot of things, you regret a lot of things. You make choices where you know you lose. You become so vulnerable.”

Kris notices the tension and places the glass back on the table while asking, “What are you talking about?”

“Sentiment.”

Kris stops as Baekhyun stops in front of him. “Sentiment?”

“Love, Kris.” Baekhyun says to him, slow and soft like a whisper but loud enough to be alarming. “You work so hard to put on that face for everyone to see how strong you are, how you are to be feared, but you can’t help it. You get so vulnerable with that one person because of love—“ He gasps softly when Kris suddenly grabs him and pushes him down on the bed, cutting him off. He stares at the man above him, hands shaking as Kris locks his arms over his head with his tight grip.

“If you don’t shut that mouth of yours, I’m going to rip off your clothes and take you in right now.” Kris says, gnashing his teeth, angry, outraged even, as he cups Baekhyun’s chin violently, with the latter slightly gasping in pain. “Don’t provoke me,”

“You won’t do that,” Baekhyun says still, even when Kris had showed him nothing but the threat he is.

“And what makes you so sure?”

“Because it’ll ruin everything.” Baekhyun says. “It’s not part of your plan.” Kris raises his eyebrows, his hand on Baekhyun’s chin eventually getting loose, but the anger is still there. “You didn’t think I would be interested on the reason why Yixing is suddenly working for my stepmother? We all have secrets Kris. And you do too.” Baekhyun stares into Kris’ eyes and he can see it all; the fear, the truth and the regrets. It’s all in there. It’s everything that makes this man vulnerable.

Kris lets go of his hands and stands up straight, immediately turning around, walking to the windows.

“I know how you feel,” Baekhyun continues after sitting up, his hand caressing the other. “Wanting to be with someone even though it’s impossible. Wanting that person to accept you, to accept the love you’re giving, despite all the odds, despite everything that you’ve done.” An image of Chanyeol suddenly appears in his mind as he finishes the words, making it even more painful to say, making the reality harder to see. “Kris—“

“Stop.”

“If you really love Yixing, show him the proper way. You’re just hurting yourself even more.”

“Enough.”

“This isn’t going to help y—“

“I SAID ENOUGH!” Kris yells, horrified, punching the glass windows so hard that it broke into pieces, and some even got into his hand. Baekhyun stares at his back figure with wide eyes, his hands and body shaking. “Get out.”

“Your hand—“

“Get. Out.”

Baekhyun gulps. He stands up, even with his legs shaking in fear, and walks out of the room. He closes the door softly and leans on it while trying to calm himself. He looks up and sees Yixing standing across him.

“I heard…something break,”

Baekhyun only smiles at him and immediately walks away to avoid answering his questions.

Yixing wanted to chase him but judging from that weird look Baekhyun has, there wouldn’t be any point. Incidentally, his focus swung to the door Baekhyun walked out from and remembers he shares a room with Kris. He ought to leave, besides it was none of his business but it’s Kris and Baekhyun and everything just sounds so wrong.

He pushes the door open, the light from behind him immediately lighting up the small space in between the door. He hasn’t even taken two steps yet when a hand pulled him and pushed him on the closed door. He wouldn’t feel so scared if he can actually see but his eyes were immediately covered with the same hand that pulled him in. Not only that, another hand was gripping his arm. “What—“

“Shh.” A voice says and Yixing can feel a head leaning close to his neck. “Wu Fan?” He need not ask because he knows Kris’ shampoo so well, even after how long, it’s still the same, it stayed. But something else lingered around the smell, blood. “Are you hurt?” He’s not even sure given that he can’t see but he’s certain he smells blood, but maybe, it stands for something else.

“Do you…” Kris finally talks. “Want me to stop?”

Stop what? Yixing wanted to ask. Stop playing around with Baekhyun? Stop hoping? Stop trying? Stop loving? Stop what?

“I can’t do this anymore,”

“It hurts right?” He remembers Baekhyun asking him that question before disappearing behind the door. And he thinks that if he could just scream for the whole world, he would. It does. It does hurt. He would scream his lungs out for the whole world to know, for Yixing to know just how much it hurts to keep on hoping every day that something will change, that he won’t have to try so hard, that he can stop hurting other people.

“Tell me to stop and I will,”

And Yixing isn’t blind not to see and not numb to feel just how much he’s making him suffer. But it’s hard accepting love without surety.

If it hurts then, “Stop.” Yixing tells him. You don’t have to hurt yourself anymore. “Stop it, Wu Fan.”

Yixing bites his lip. He feels Kris’ grip on his arm loosen and his hand falls down, touching his skin, slowly. He hears the door beside him click open and when the hand covering his eyes was finally pulled back, there wasn’t any second to take when he turns beside him and found nothing but an open door, with Kris nowhere. And suddenly it hurts.

--

You can stop now.

Kris Wu

CEO, Wu Industries

Kyungsoo almost marked the e-mail as spam. Whatever made Kris change his mind or put an end to the plan isn’t his concern but…

“Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol calls from his bedroom, sounding almost pitiful. Kyungsoo looks up the stairs and sees Chanyeol looking down at him, hair disheveled and dark circles obvious even when the lights are dim.

This man, this is the man he has successfully broken.

How the hell is he going to stop now?

“I’ll be up,”

He closes his laptop.

--

This is the day the Paris branch of Van der Gilt hotel will finally open. Yixing woke up early today, save the fact that sleep didn’t come easy to him last night. He would’ve breathed the morning air happily now if not for the news about Kris leaving earlier dawning at him. But what did he expect? Nothing comes off as easy now. Everything is just so ing complicated.

Other than that, there’s one more thing bugging him. It all happened in a daze. Just when he was finally greeted by sleep, one of his most trusted men visited him and informed him about Amanda Van der Gilt’s successful escape from their custody. It alarmed him even more now that his men still hasn’t found out where Amanda is. But there’s no surprise in that. Amanda knows guns and most importantly, she knows how to persuade other people into doing things for her. It’s always been her advantage against her business enemies.

And even when there’s no guarantee, it would only be right that Amanda might come for Baekhyun.

So, the security is a lot tighter today.

The event went by past without problems. It all went according to what was organized. The cutting of the ribbon was successful and right at this moment Yixing is roaming around outside the hall as the guests are gladly being invited in for the second part of the opening event. He observes the crowd before him and watches as some take pictures and stuff. Baekhyun found him though when an arm suddenly grabbed his shoulder and he sees Baekhyun grinning at him.

“Shouldn’t you be already inside?” Yixing asks.

“What do you mean? Even the guests aren’t inside yet.” Baekhyun replies nonchalantly.

Yixing chuckles and shakes his head. “I heard Kris left earlier this morning. Pity he missed this.”

 Baekhyun gives him a suggestive smile. “You would know.” And immediately, it raises confusion. “You’re really stupid, Yixing.”

Yixing blinks at him. “What?”

“I know about you and Kris. I have ears, friends, a lot of sources.”

“Baekhyun, I don’t think this is the right time to talk about this.”

“Then when is? Yixing, please don’t make me slap you to wake you up. I’m not telling you this because I want Kris to leave me alone or something. I know how he feels. And you wouldn’t like being in our places. He regrets everything Yixing, that’s why he can’t do anything more than this. It’s time for you to see the reality now,”

“Look, Baekhyun, I know what you’re trying to tell me but you don’t understand.”

“Really? Aren’t you just denying the fact that you’re scared to admit you love him too because you believe that he’s not what you think he is?”

Yixing pauses.

“Come on. Do all of us a favor here and grow up. Not everything is a fairy tale.”

Actually, he has thought about it—the reality. But every time he does, it scares him. Love actually scares him.

--

“Sir, isn’t it dangerous for you to walk around with no protection?” Kris’ secretary suddenly asks while they walk to the terminal. It took longer than expected to get here given the traffic but it made him think about a lot of things, about his actions and about his choices.

“Why?”

“Amanda escaped. For all I know, she’ll kill those people who defied her. I mean, you were supposed to help her with the case.” His secretary added. “I don’t know her that well but…I still think you should bring bodyguards with you.”

That’s Amanda alright, a perfect example of vengeance over guilt. He thought about it too that someday he’ll have to die from all the wrong choices he made and it’s safe to say he’s ready. Amanda is strong-willed and powerful; he knows this too well to not even question her ways in escaping from the police’ custody. She’s going to take down everyone who dare get in her way mercilessly. But there’s one thing, one thing that almost made the two of them similar—it’s that she likes fun. She makes people’s lives miserable for her own entertainment. She misbehaves to get people on her side. Killing Kris directly wouldn’t be as entertaining as it looks. Knowing Amanda, she’ll like seeing Kris suffer more than the pleasure of taking his life.

Kris finally realizes something, something he should’ve already. “No…”

For this whole thing to be entertaining for Amanda, she’ll more or less take the life one the ones important to Kris. And Amanda knows very well who that is.

“,”

“Sir?”

“Call the police! Call the Zhang officers!” Kris yells as he grabs his coat and keys.

“What? Wait—“

“Call them and warn them about an assassination attempt! NOW!”

“Alright alright—sir where are you going?!”

Kris ignores the calls of his secretary and instead runs fast to the exit, muttering the words “Please, please, please,” as he prays that he’ll get to the venue earlier than late.

--

There’s still a little bit of tension. Yixing doesn’t want to say anything but Baekhyun wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Hello? Yixing? Still there?”

Yixing rolls his eyes at Baekhyun but in a rather friendly way. “What exactly do you want me to do, Baekhyun?”

“Uh, I don’t know? Be honest with yourself?”

Yixing sighs. “It’s not easy.”

“Nothing’s easy.” Baekhyun replies simply. “But don’t you think, that after everything that has happened between the two of you, admitting your feelings is the easiest thing to do?”

Yixing looks away and denies that Baekhyun does have a point, like what he always does. But there isn’t a day when he actually thought of putting an end to this chase. He looks up and sees Baekhyun getting dragged by an interviewer. And as soon as his gaze left the brunette, it shifted to a sight the most unexpected. He sees Kris running to him but he just stands there, confused, unsure.

And as if fate wasn’t cruel enough, as soon as Kris arrived in front of him, he hears a gun shot in the air, immediately followed by panicked screams of the crowd around him, running in circles and disoriented pattern. However, even after years of training and expertise, he couldn’t grab his gun and do his job, when he sees Kris falling to the ground, his chest area covered with blood. He screams as he drops beside him. He screams and screams and screams, for help, for something to happen, for time to rewind.

Baekhyun turns to run to them but one of the securities, he knew him as the one Yixing always walks with, grabs him. “Let me go!”

“No, sir! We have to go!”

“Are you ing kidding me?!”

“Sir, this is a direct order from Sir Yixing! Your safety is our top priority!”

He looks back to Yixing and finds his view slowly getting blocked by the crowd. However, he doesn’t miss one bit of Yixing’s screams.

It was a week after the incident when Baekhyun was finally allowed to visit Kris in the hospital. Yixing looked exhausted. Kris is fine, he’s stable, but he still finds it hard to stay awake for more than three hourse. And every day, Yixing sits beside his bed, waiting for his three hours. Kris apologizes to him. He couldn’t even count how many times Kris said ‘sorry’. There was never a need to be sorry.

It was two days after that when Yixing, even looking more exhausted, informed him about how his life is in impending danger. Amanda wouldn’t stop. Amanda will come to him. It wasn’t that hard to accept. Tao’s father, the leader of a Mafia even volunteered to give his protection. However, after finding out that he couldn’t even leave the mansion…that he had to stay inside while the others risk their lives to protect him, coming home is now a blur, impossible even. This is where it starts, he thinks, now he’s literally locked up, like a bird in a cage.

And days will pass like this.

--

Yixing visits him. The days had been slow for him and the nights colder. He doesn’t know how long he has been hiding inside the mansion just to keep himself safe from Amanda, just to save himself from dying. He lost count, actually, he never counted. He actually expected this hiding to pass by fast but he’s not even sure anymore. He’s afraid he’ll get used to this and forget about going back. He’s afraid to think that this is where he truly belongs. It’s funny, thinking about it, how he used to hide for the past three years and now he’s hiding again. He’s always hiding. Always running.

Yixing broughts fruits with him, the kind Baekhyun likes to eat back in Korea. Yixing’s hair is longer now, with a bit of sun streaks, and his eyes look so much livelier than how Baekhyun remembers them.

“I can’t imagine your boredom for being stuck in here for a long time now,” Yixing says while placing the fruits on his table. “But we’re doing everything we can to find Amanda,”

Baekhyun finally turns to the calendar.

April 18.

He remembers. “Luhan,”

Yixing turns to him. “Hm? What is it?”

“Luhan’s birthday is coming up,”

“Oh? Your friend?” Yixing asks, trying hard not to smile with the thought occupying his mind.

My best friend.

“Yeah. This will be…the first time we won’t be able to celebrate his birthday together since we met.” Baekhyun lowers his head and chuckles. “I always…surprise him, especially when he least expects it. Well, maybe I can just send him something…that’ll surely surprise him. I could just ask Tao or Minseok to send it so Amanda wouldn’t know it was me.” It’s dangerous to even send his friends greetings because then Amanda would know who he’s closest with and she might harm them. He doesn’t want news about his friends dying. This is the least he could do for them.

“You don’t have to do that.” Yixing tells him, staring.

“What do you mean?”

Yixing remembers his conversation with Kris.

“He should go home,”

“What?”

“Baekhyun. If I can take him home, back to Korea, myself I would but I can’t. I want him back there. After all I’ve done to keep him from going home, I want to be able to send him there.”

“There’s no way. Amanda will kill him.”

“But it’s unfair.”

Yixing leans closer to him. “Shh. I’ll take care of it.”

Yixing grabs his bag and fishes out an envelope Baekhyun recognizes came from the airlines. He gives it to him and albeit confused, Baekhyun quickly opens it.

It’s a ticket.

A plane ticket.

Baekhyun’s breath hitches and he immediately looks up to ask but Yixing beats him. “You can go home now,” Baekhyun wants to say a lot of things, an awful lot of things, but his words are jumbled inside his head, and he can’t think straight because he just feels so overwhelmed holding a plane ticket to Korea. “Well, it was hard, creating a plan to be able to successfully bring you there but,”

Baekhyun recognizes the name. “Song Joong Ki?”

Yixing chuckles. “We had a bit of help from your fake twin. You’re going to have to go by his name in the airport and…dye your hair blond so Amanda wouldn’t suspect. Also, when you arrive in Korea, you wouldn’t have problems getting through as Song Joong Ki.”

“How…?”

Yixing smirks proudly. “Give Kai a hug for me when you get there. He’s been very helpful.”

“Kai?”

“Yes.”

Baekhyun can feel his hand shaking and he looks down at the ticket again, his last chance, his only chance of going home, after three months, after three months of nothing. He stands up and attacks Yixing with a tight hug. Yixing stands there, frozen. He can feel Baekhyun’s body shaking and his tears streaming down to his neckline and never have he felt so happy for helping someone.

“Thank you Yixing,” Baekhyun murmurs in his neck and sniffs. “Thank you so much. I don’t—I don’t know what to say anymore. I can’t believe this. I can’t—“

“Shh.” Yixing slowly wraps his arms around Baekhyun’s frame. “It’s the least I could do…after everything. You deserve it. You deserve all the happiness in the world.”

He’s coming home. Surprisingly, all the thoughts in his head are completely replaced with those words. Home. Korea. In the subdivision. He’ll finally be able to see his friends whom he has considered as family now more than anyone. Luhan, Sehun, Kai, Chen and…Chanyeol. He can finally see Chanyeol. His Chanyeol.

Just a little bit more. I’m coming home.

A/N:

DO 

YOU

GUYS

KNOW

WHAT

THIS

MEANS

this is the last retrace

so

yeah

you know what this means right

- gelie