---

 

It’s been three days and it’s not the PMS talking because it’s been three days and Gyuri still hasn’t received a word, not a single word, from his useless brother who takes the position of a CEO to a whole new level of stupidity. And she even traveled all the way back from Canada after halting her runway project just to help Chanyeol. God, the sacrifices she has to make only to find Chanyeol sleeping on his office with his feet on top of the table.

 

She snaps. “PARK CHANYEOL!”

 

Chanyeol bolts in shock, almost tumbling down the floor but luckily was able to hold on to the table. He blinks repeatedly until his vision is clear enough to see Gyuri standing in front of his desk, arms and eyebrows crossed. “Hi, Sis.”

 

“Don’t Hi Sis me! What’s the progress of the investors? You didn’t report anything for the past three days! The board is waiting! What’s happening?”

 

“Sis, can you please not yell? What do you want me to do? Baekhee’s not even coming to work! Why don’t you yell at her?”

 

“Baekhee’s not coming to work? Why? Did you have a fight? Did you do something to her?”

 

Chanyeol groans in frustration. “Why is it always my fault? Look, this is what I’ve been trying to tell you. I told you I don’t need her help right? Now look at where she is, she’s nowhere! She can’t do this. She—“

 

A sudden cough from the door interrupts them and as if on cue, they turn around only to find Baekhee, dressed in a white laced dress with the sleeves reaching up his wrist, matched with black stockings and black boots that reach up to his knees. His hair is curled at the ends with black a ribbon on his head. He looked beautiful—that’s Chanyeol’s first thought. He has always been. But this time, he looks at him with indifferent feelings. Even though he was reject just three days ago, he couldn’t find it himself to blame him because no matter how angry and disappointed he is, just Baekhyun’s smile and presence can take them away.

 

“Oh, Baekhee!” Gyuri greets him happily as Baekhyun walks towards Chanyeol’s desk. Realizing the peculiar atmosphere, Gyuri says, “You two must have something to talk about. I’ll be outside.” Baekhyun nods to Gyuri as she walks away.

 

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol however, the giant refuses to look at him. He can’t blame him though. Chanyeol probably didn’t expect that type of reaction from him when he finally says the words he badly wanted to hear. But the situation is different now. Baekhyun clears his throat and drops two folders on the desk. “I was able to get two investors to sign.”

 

Chanyeol snorts. “You don’t come to work for two days then when you finally come, you boast?”

 

Baekhyun really hates it whenever Chanyeol starts picking a fight. “Did I look like I was boasting?”

 

“Then why did you have to come here? You could’ve just faxed these to me. Unless,” Chanyeol gives a sly smirk as he leans forward, giving Baekhyun a slight shiver. “You came here for a different reason?”

 

Baekhyun clenches his fist. He really needs to do better in expressing himself but he feels like this isn’t the right time. He drops another folder on Chanyeol’s desk, startling the giant. “I-I need you to sign that.”

 

Chanyeol rolls his eyes and scans the papers. “What’s this?”

 

“It’s a revised contract. The last investor, Mr. Jung, has no intention of signing the contract back unless there will be some modifications on the shares. So I revised the contract to balance his and yours’ interests and shares.”

 

Chanyeol closes the contract. “Okay.”

 

Baekhyun crooks his eyebrows. “Okay?”

 

Chanyeol nods. “Okay.”

 

“You’re not gonna sign it?”

 

“Depends after I’ve read it.”

 

“But I need you to sign it now!”

 

“Are you ordering me?”

 

“No, I’m asking you to sign it now because it’s for your company.”

 

“I know that’s why I said after I’ve read it,” Chanyeol says, enunciating the italics.

 

“But—“

 

The phone suddenly rings.

 

Chanyeol lifts the phone to his ear while smirking at Baekhyun. “Yes, hello? Oh, Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “Am I free? Yes, I’m free. I’m so free.” In Baekhyun’s image, Chanyeol’s face is now a punching bag. He’s obviously doing this on purpose. “Alright, then. Laters.” Chanyeol says as he puts the phone down. He looks up at Baekhyun who’s still standing in front of his desk, pissed-off with his arms crossed. “Oh? Did you still need something?”

 

“Sign the contract.” Baekhyun says sternly.

 

Chanyeol snorts. “After I’ve read it. Right now I have to go somewhere.” He starts organizing the files on his desk and lastly the contract. Baekhyun, seeing as he’s about to completely ignore the contract, had to do something quick. He’s not gonna let Chanyeol walk out of his office without signing the contract first. So he hops up the chair beside the desk and placed his leg on the table to step on the contract. Chanyeol pauses and looks up. When Baekhyun’s leg greets him, he immediately looks away, trying to hide a blush. “Baekhyun, what are you doing?”

 

“Making you sign the contract.”

 

From the corner of his eyes, he can see his staffs sending them weird looks whilst murmuring. He couldn’t blame them. Who wouldn’t when Baekhyun’s leg his on his desk, in front of him, and if he crouches down he can see what’s under his skirt—not that he wants to see what’s under his skirt. “I’ll sign it later.”

 

“I need it now.”

 

This is unfair. Chanyeol groans. He pulls the contract under Baekhyun’s boots and signs it. Baekhyun happily jumps down from the chair. “There. You happy now?”

 

“Yes!” Baekhyun cheers. “And since you’re so free today, you can go to that fashion show at the mall. Mr. Lee is there. You can go meet him so he can sign the contract.”

 

“What—“

 

“Sehun’s getting discharged today so thank you so much!” Baekhyun yells and immediately races to the door before Chanyeol can even reach forward to grab him.

 

Chanyeol groans and kicks the table.

 

--

 

It’s days like this when Baekhyun just feels so damn happy to throw his dress somewhere and change into his casual clothes without worrying about anything. Sehun’s finally discharged and though he still doesn’t know what happened between his and Luhan’s heart problems, they seem to be back to their old selves, which doesn’t look like a good news because they’ve been stuck like this since the world began. He’d think after 6 months of absence he’ll be greeted with all the love in the world between Luhan and Sehun but nothing changed. It’s like in those 6 months he was gone, everything was put into a pause.

 

He’s at the mall with Luhan and Sehun because this is a perfect day for them to stroll around. Baekhyun yawns and stretches his arms. Luhan sits beside him after coming back from paying for the ice creams he bought on a stall just across them. He gives one to Baekhyun. Sehun, on the other hand, seems to be taking a little more time buying. “You know, it’s great Gyuri let you take the day off.” Luhan says before slurping. “You’ve been very busy for the past days avoiding Chanyeol.” He continues with tease.

 

Baekhyun side-eyes him. “I was working.”

 

Luhan snorts. “Yeah, right.” He smirks as he crosses his legs. He looked so casual Baekhyun could shrug the worries off his shoulders. “It’s nice to cover up something so obvious with something even more obvious, isn’t it? You really are like a puzzle, B.”

 

“What did I do now?”

 

“Just two weeks ago, you were so into this whole helping Chanyeol thing. But now you’re avoiding him. What changed? I know you took this risk to be able to make everything right with Chanyeol but when you’re finally there, you step back.”

 

The longer he stares into Luhan’s eyes, the more he’s tempted to tell everything to his best friend. But he couldn’t possibly do that. He knows he should since Luhan’s been more than helpful when he’s in crisis but this is different. It’s not just about him anymore, this crisis isn’t about him. He couldn’t possibly just tell Luhan Amanda might be planning to kill Chanyeol because of him. That could start World War III. Other than that, he wants Luhan to stay out of this. The next best thing he could do is to keep his best friend safe. At least when everything’s too messed up to straighten out, he knows he’s got Luhan to sob into.

 

“Nothing changed,” Baekhyun says instead. “Just taking a bit more time.”

 

Luhan hisses. “I’d be surprised if Chanyeol still loves you after this.”

 

“Anyway,” Baekhyun starts in attempt to shift the subject. “What’s up with you and lover boy?” He asks as he tilts his head to Sehun’s direction, who, unfortunately, still hasn’t picked out his flavor yet. Why would someone take that long?

 

“What do you mean what’s up?” Luhan gasps. “And don’t change the subject! This conversation is not about me.”

 

“No, certainly not. This conversation is about you trying to avoid it to be about you. Seriously, did you really think I’m too worked up about my problems with Chanyeol that I am completely ignorant about this whole Romeo and Juliet set up? I could practically hear your voice in my head calling for Sehun.” Luhan slapped Baekhyun’s thigh playfully. “Aw! Hey!”

 

“That mouth of yours really needs a brake.”

 

Baekhyun snorts. “Like your heart?”

 

“B!”

 

Baekhyun throws his head back laughing at Luhan’s flushed face. “Seriously, Lulu. This isn’t high school! Why are being so shy and secretive? And it’s not like Sehun’s any different from you. He’s practically begging for you. You don’t need a love expert to notice how long he’d practically set his eyes on you. When was it? Ah, according to Chanyeol, he liked you even before he met you.”

 

“He did?”

 

Baekhyun almost choked. “Nobody told you about this? Gosh, what a sad life.” And to think Sehun didn’t even think of mentioning this. These two really are hopeless. Here he is, already worn out by the number of hurdles the world is putting in between him and Chanyeol while these two are completely ignorant and if allowed, scared, to the possibilities that their true love isn’t true. Years from now, if these two aren’t together, Baekhyun would lose faith in humanity. “You should stop being so scared. You’re like the eldest among us.”

 

Luhan fiddles with his finger as he talks. “It’s not that I’m scared. Sehun’s young.”

 

“So this is about the ?”

 

“No!” Luhan defended so strongly that it gave Baekhyun a slight shock. “He’s young. He could do a lot more things. I feel like if he’s stuck with me, that’ll keep him from doing what he wants. I think about it every day and eventually I realized that this isn’t a risk worth taking if he gets to do what he wants. I like him because he’s so carefree. He’s timid and a bit naïve but he reflects quickly on his mistakes and he knows exactly how to make up for it.” He sighs. “To Sehun, there are no limits. He believes that possibilities are infinite. I feel like if I jump in the picture, I’ll limit his infinity. Do you understand what I’m saying, B?” When Luhan looks up, Baekhyun can almost paint the certainty and fear in his eyes. It was beautiful.

 

“I get what you’re trying to say. But this is all coming from you only. Sehun might be thinking differently. Loosen up a bit,” Baekhyun gives him a smile, something he knows Luhan loves seeing. “If anything, you might even be his infinity.” It sounds sweet but to Baekhyun, it’s a wake-up call to all the things he’s missing because of the number of reasons why he can’t be together with Chanyeol right at this moment. It’s sad but today, he’s not. He’s happy because in this one day, he feels a lot of love and sees a lot of smiles.

 

“Thanks, B. I’m glad I could talk to you about this. This sounds so gay but meh, we’ve experienced worse.” Baekhyun smiles when a sudden flashback of the number of crazy things he did with Luhan appeared in his mind. “I hope you’ll sort out your problems with Chanyeol too. You seem a bit off lately.”

 

“Ladies!”

 

That voice is definitely familiar and judging from the level of familiarity, it is worth two glares from Baekhyun and Luhan. They turn slowly to Sehun whose enthusiasm is out of place. “Phew. I thought you were never gonna turn.”

 

“And who are you calling ladies?” Baekhyun asks with his arms crossed.

 

“Well, you were giggling and whispering, it just seemed to fit. Really guys, you should tone down a bit with the girl talk. It distracts the plants.”

 

This kid. Baekhyun turned to Luhan. “Lulu, I take back everything I said.” Luhan chuckles at him.

 

“Oh well,” Sehun sighs while turning to his left. “Kai’s here.”

 

Kai!

 

Baekhyun’s memory flashes back on the night three days ago. He still hasn’t spoken to Kai properly given that he’s almost never out of his room for the past three days. And even when he does go out, it’s always after Kai has left and before Kai went home so he still has no idea what he feels about the incident. Whatever it is, he hopes it’s not so bad so he doesn’t have to shoulder any more problems.

 

Kai walks towards them casually. He’s dressed simply and to Baekhyun’s eyes, it’s refreshing. This might be a special day for them. Sehun gives Kai a hi-five when he comes. “Dude, you’re late.” Sehun tells him although not sounding a bit offended. Baekhyun still thinks the transition of their relationship is funny. Kai was this try-hard older brother while Sehun just didn’t care.

 

“Of course I’m late. Since when was I early?” Kai stated as-a-matter-of-factly while chuckling.

 

“Come on guys! Let’s watch a movie!” Luhan says while standing up after throwing the tissue left from finishing the ice cream cone on the trash can beside the bench. Baekhyun immediately finishes his cone to quickly follow the rest who started walking. So of course, he ended up walking with Kai.

 

“Hey.” He greets and Kai smiles back at him. “I haven’t been able to talk to you lately because well, you’re busy I’m busy but I’m sorry for storming out the other night.”

 

Kai chuckles. “Don’t worry. The whole world received a warning about your tendencies to throw tantrums.”

 

Baekhyun slaps his arm playfully. “Shut up. So how did you get home? You took a cab or…?”

 

“Oh.” Kai looks up as if an imaginary light bulb suddenly lit up. “Kyungsoo helped me get back home.”

 

Baekhyun blinks at him.

 

--

 

This is insane, is what Do Kyungsoo is thinking, and yet he’s never had an attempt to leave the mall. He likes to think his stalking abilities lies on luck but then this is probably the greatest luck he’s ever had after seeing Kai walking around the mall unexpectedly. It’s like he was meant to be here. Okay, maybe he did kind of ditched Chanyeol on that business meeting he was babbling about earlier over the phone before he hung up and threw his phone on the trash can to avoid any more distractions.

 

Oh he knows he looks pathetic. But he can’t help it. He can just casually come up to Kai and say ‘Hey, I’ve been stalking you so I really really like you’ without sounding the least bit crazy.

 

He continues to crouch as he follows them at the opposite side while hiding behind posts and stalls from time to time. He really despises how close Kai and Baekhyun are and that is another reason why Chanyeol and Baekhyun need to get back together ASAP.

 

“Do Kyungsoo.”

 

Kyungsoo can practically feel his nerves die at the familiar voice.

 

Speak of the devil.

 

He turns around slowly and sees Chanyeol staring down at his awkward and suspicious position. “Hi.”

 

“I’ve been trying to call you! Well, whatever, it’s good that you’re here. The fashion show is starting so we need to get to our seats now.”

 

“F-Fashion show? Why would we watch a fashion show?”

 

“I told you on the phone earlier we’re meeting an investor today. He sponsored because his daughter is one of the models.” Chanyeol immediately grabs Kyungsoo’s hands, not even giving the poor latter a chance to protest. (“This is not how I wanted this day to go!”)

 

--

 

“Huh.” Baekhyun huffs. “Kyungsoo. What was he doing there?”

 

Kai shrugs. “No idea. I didn’t have the chance to ask.”

 

Come to think of it, Chanyeol said that night that he was looking for Kyungsoo. So, he didn’t know he was there. So, why would he be there? Baekhyun pushes his chin as he continues to think deeper although really there’s no point doing a deduction unless he’s Sherlock Holmes. The only solution is to ask Chanyeol himself about it but since he’s really not comfortable talking to him right now, scratch that.

 

“Hey guys, what movie do you want to see?” Luhan asks while slowing his pace to walk beside Baekhyun. “Sehun said FF6 but I think Man of Steel is good too.”

 

Sehun peeks from beside Kai. “Why would you want to watch Man of Steel?”

 

“Why wouldn’t you?” Luhan retorts.

 

“Luhan thinks the actor is hot.” Baekhyun says out of the blue and immediately receiving a playful slap on the arm. “Aw!”

 

Sehun snorts. “I’m hot too.”

 

“Shut up! Go back to your mother’s womb and reflect!”

 

Kai chuckles at them.  “We can watch both.”

 

“Of course you’d offer that solution.” Luhan sighs in sarcasm. “Kai, I’m pretty much this close to being broke. Unless we can do something and invite more customers to the shop I have nothing.”

 

“So,” Sehun starts. “I want FF6, Luhan wants Man of Steel and Kai wants both. Which means…” In unison, all three heads turn to Baekhyun. “It’s up to Baekhyun hyung.”

 

Baekhyun blinks. “W-what?”

 

“Come on B! I’m your best friend!”

 

“Hyung, I’m your favorite dongsaeng right?”

 

“I pretty much don’t care.”

 

“Well…” Baekhyun pauses for a moment to think. “I actually wanted to watch Now You See Me.”

 

……

 

“That’s not even in the choices!”

 

“We can watch all three.”

 

“Like I said, I’m broke—“

 

Baekhyun covers his ears.

 

“—HYUN! XI LUHAN!”

 

Huh?

 

Baekhyun stops and turns beside him.

 

“BYUN BAEKHYUN! XI LUHAN!”

 

Now that Luhan and the others stopped yelling at each other, Baekhyun can now hear perfectly their names being called. There’s a man with curled white hair and visible eye bags running towards them and Chen, following behind him, is the only explanation needed in this conspiracy.

 

“THANK GOD YOU HAVE APPEARED!” The man cried out while dropping down to kneel.

 

Baekhyun and Luhan immediately backed off, looking a little freaked out. “What’s happening?”

 

Chen stops lazily beside the man and sighs.

 

After 15 seconds… (because Chen has some amazing tongue).

 

“WHAT?!” Baekhyun and Luhan yelled in unison. Even Kai and Sehun were both surprised by Chen’s explanation. It’s pretty obvious that these people have no time for this coincidence Chen speaks off. Really getting tired of your , God.

 

So, the situation is, two models called in sick for the fashion show and they needed to look for replacements ASAP but there’s no one at this moment especially because it’s in a rush. And since the organizer (this little crybaby curly haired eye bags man) has some eagle eyes, he spotted two familiar faces a few meters away from them. After realizing they were known models, Baekhyun and Luhan, and that Chen has worked with them before at Homme Fatale, it seemed like the only plausible solution.

 

“Come on guys,” Whoa, Chen is begging. “Please? Just this once. After all I’ve done for you.”

 

“Which are?” Luhan asks attempting to screw with Chen for even agreeing of this absurd plan to make them substitutes.

 

Chen glares, as if saying ‘Really?’ and starts listing. “Keeping your secret, ordering those damn figures for you, breaking into someone’s office, investigating someone’s new boy toy and agreeing to watch the shop.”

 

Okay.

 

“Modeling it is.” Baekhyun and Luhan said in unison after realizing they have nothing against Chen. This little .

 

--

 

Chen concludes that backstage has never been this noisy, even with the previous male models he’s been with, these girls never giggled like this and it’s so obvious that he feels like puking. He is aware that these two are like superstars in the modeling world but their minds were too preoccupied with money, buying a TV and paying rent that they absolutely no idea how much their names have risen.

 

“Well, this is unfair,” A woman by the name of Jessica, coming up beside Chen says while watching Baekhyun and Luhan in front of the mirrors with two equally gorgeous men surveying the place. “How do these gorgeous men even make friends with each other?”

 

Chen snorts. Something tells me they never intended to be.

 

“Oh well. Those two,” Jessica squints while playfully pointing at Sehun and Kai. “Deserves to be on the runway too.”

 

“Please don’t tell me…”

 

“Of course they’ll model too.” Jessica smirks at Chen before walking to the organizer.

 

Man, this is her day. She’s got a package of men to model for her.

 

--

 

“Baekhyun.”

 

More tapping.

 

“Byun Baekhyun.”

 

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

 

“B!” Luhan finally snaps and pushes on Baekhyun’s knee. “Stop doing that!”

 

“Doing what?”

 

“Stop tapping your feet!”

 

“What?”

 

“You always tap your feet when you’re too excited. Geez.” Luhan shakes his head.

 

“Of course I’m excited! Aren’t you?”

 

“I am but at least I don’t tap my feet.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Baekhyun smirks and taps his feet even louder making Luhan groan in exasperation.

 

“Ya!”

 

TAP. TAP. TAP.

 

“Byun Baekhyun!” Luhan lounges on Baekhyun’s thigh to push them down to end the tapping however Baekhyun is too fast that he immediately grabs Luhan’s shoulders to keep him away. A pair of hands that appeared out of nowhere had pushed them both apart from between.

 

“Okay girls no catfight.”

 

“GIRLS?!”

 

Chen pauses. “What do you mean? I said boys.” He looks away feigning innocence and sees Sehun and Kai walking towards them. Baekhyun and Luhan turn beside them and they gasp in unison when their gaze fell on two prince-like men stopping beside them.

 

“You guys look so handsome!” Baekhyun squeals while standing up to flail around Sehun and Kai like a he really is.

 

“Why are you guys dressed up?” Luhan asks and then turns to Chen for an answer.

 

“Oh, Jessica, the sponsor requested that they walk too. She seems fond of them.”

 

Luhan nods.

 

“Wait, did you say Jessica?” Baekhyun asks with his eyebrows crooked. “Jessica Jung?” Chen nods. And like a chicken getting squeezed, he shrieked. If Jessica Jung is here…then her father is here too…and if her father is here then…”

 

“Chen! Go to your place now!”

 

“Hey guys I gotta go.”

 

Luhan nods and then turns to Baekhyun. “Hey B, you alright?”

 

“Alright, models! 5 minutes!”

 

Baekhyun snaps and as if he was reborn as The Flash, he ran near the stage to peek at the audience. And there! THERE! There is Park Chanyeol sitting at the right side with Do Kyungsoo. With Do Kyungsoo. With Do Kyung—okay scratch that part.

 

He turns to Luhan clawing his face. “I can’t do this!”

 

“What? Just a while ago you were so excited and now you’re saying you can’t do this? What’s wrong?”

 

Baekhyun points at the stage with his face almost falling off his head. “Chanyeol’s there!”

 

Luhan crooks his eyebrows and finally decided to look outside and search for Chanyeol. He sees him at the same spot Baekhyun has, reading some flyer while the man beside him, Kyungsoo, looks like he wants to get the hell out of there. But of course, that’s just him. He sighs. Baekhyun is really hopeless. He looks back at Baekhyun. “Look, B, you can do this. Don’t think about why Kyungsoo is here. Yeah, so Chanyeol brought him along with him—and probably they were having a date—but this is your chance! You can show him—“

 

What is this person talking about? Is what Baekhyun is thinking.

 

“—you’re irreplaceable! Come on! Queen B! Yeah!”

 

Baekhyun facepalms. Obviously, they’re both thinking about different things. And obviously, he can’t just tell Luhan he doesn’t want to do this—because who wants to when someone you like is watching! See, even that sounded horrible in my mind.

 

He relaxes his face to show Luhan that his idiotic attempt to cheer him up worked. He really doesn’t want him to worry any more. But really, he is bothered by this. This will be the first time Chanyeol will see him walking down the runway, the Baekhyun, his own self and his confidence. It feels like the first time he dressed up for Chanyeol. Dressing up felt like covering his heart, protecting it from the world. But this time, he’s not dressed up. He’ll be showing off who he really is without all the glitz and glamor. Just him with his heart unprotected. And showing Chanyeol that feels like surrendering his feelings.

 

“B, look up,” Baekhyun focuses at Luhan after spacing out. An eyeliner? Luhan’s holding eyeliner in his hands. “Come on, you need your armor.”

 

Oh.

 

Baekhyun complies and looks up as Luhan carefully applies the eyeliner on his delicate eyes.

 

“Do you remember the reason why you like eyeliner so much?” Luhan mumbles, still keeping concentration. Baekhyun is thinking but Luhan has opened his mouth to answer for him. “It was the first time we modeled. You were always camera shy but the Director thought your face and strong presence will be such a waste. You agreed to let them dress you but you were so awkward in front of the camera. You also didn’t want to wear any make up. So, the make-up artist said she’s only going to apply eyeliner on you, you wouldn’t even notice it was there.”

 

It’s really hard to keep looking up when Luhan sounds so emotional telling his eyeliner’s backstory but remembering that day calmed him.

 

“When you finally saw your face on the mirror, you thought you looked fierce, like you were a different person. And eventually, you liked the camera.” Luhan sighs. “It’s not camera shy Byun Baekhyun but the confident Byun Baekhyun.” He steps back after he’s done. “There.” He says with a smile.

 

Not camera-shy Byun Baekhyun but the confident Byun Baekhyun.

 

He remembers Chanyeol’s face.

 

That’s right.

 

Chanyeol will be gazing at me from his chair and this is one of the moments I’ll be able to show how strong I am.

 

Damn, making friends with Luhan sure is the best choice he ever made.

 

“Byun Baekhyun and Xi Luhan! In here please!”

 

Baekhyun and Luhan walk towards the organizer together while giggling.

 

“Alright so, Chen, our photographer, is outside, in front of the stage. When you reach the end of the runway, look for Chen and make sure you pose for the camera alright. Our magazine is releasing full images of the event.”

 

Baekhyun and Luhan both nodded in unison.

 

“You two will be walking with your friends okay? Here’s the sequence.”

 

--

 

Sometimes, Chen thinks he doesn’t get much fun being a photographer.

 

But then he spotted Chanyeol.

 

And there’s the evilest grin to grace the planet of the apes.

 

--

 

Thank God they called a five minute break.

 

Chanyeol’s feels painful now.

 

He’s really not one to be fond of such show where he’s forced to seat until it ends so he can’t really say he’s enjoying it so far. Although, the ladies are pretty and so are the dresses but really, who else would appreciate these events but women?

 

Kyungsoo grumbles beside him. “That last one was hideous. I mean, the frizzles were too much.”

 

Oh. Right. Plus Kyungsoo.

 

And probably Baekhyun and Luhan too.

 

No wait, definitely Baekhyun and Luhan too.

 

“Would you like a drink, sir?”

 

Chanyeol looks up at the lady offering a tray of assorted beverages. He took one randomly to refresh himself off boredom. Kyungsoo also took one.

 

After a few seconds, the show is back and it seems like the second part is to formally introduce the designers’ bestselling dresses. The models started out as men and women walking alternatively until the fifth one after a guy finished his round, another guy walked out and –holy . Chanyeol almost choked on his drink.

 

SEHUN?!

 

He continued to stare with his mouth open in shock as Sehun models all the way to the front, a few poses for the camera, and then back and as he walks back, another one walks out and—holy . Kyungsoo choked on his drink this time.

 

KAI?!

 

Chanyeol stares at Kai wide-eyed.

 

WHAT IS HAPPENING.

 

AM I OUTDATED?

 

And as if seeing Sehun and Kai wasn’t bad enough, Baekhyun just had to join in the fashion walk multiply the confusion.

 

However, Chanyeol was awestruck. Baekhyun looks so powerful walking to the front with his head held high. He’s got so much presence. It’s like he’s born to be at the stage. Chanyeol was too focused at Baekhyun that the photographer who’s too close to him is distracting.

 

--

 

He’s going to kill Chen.

 

Baekhyun’s going to murder Chen.

 

I will end your life when this event ends you son of Satan.

 

It’s bad enough that he has to pretend Chanyeol isn’t there but Chen just had to stand next to Chanyeol’s seat and remembering the organizer’s instructions earlier… (“When you reach the end of the runway, look for Chen and make sure you pose for the camera alright”)

 

All wrong!

 

Chen being the devil he really is just had to move even further in front of Chanyeol which means that Baekhyun will be forced to turn to Chanyeol’s side. Baekhyun clenches his fist and he keeps his smile so his frustration isn’t so obvious. He finally reached the front and he has to turn to Chen and he has to smile to the camera and here it comes…

 

CHEN.

 

DUCKED.

 

CHEN.

 

ING.

 

DUCKED…

 

Baekhyun accidentally looked at Chanyeol eye to eye and probably so was Chanyeol and—

 

OKAY

 

ERROR

 

ERROR

 

LEGS

 

MISSION RUN AWAY

 

COMMENCE!

 

Baekhyun turns around with his head lowered and runs away as fast as he could, even almost tripping, and the world facepalms.

 

Luhan sighs as he watches Baekhyun run back to them. This really isn’t how he expected his entrance would be. Kidding. At least Baekhyun did his best. Chen just had to be a ing .  Luhan started walking out now, with a wide and bright smile. He side-eyes Baekhyun as the latter passes by and he can see his obvious blush. He’s red! He can’t help but chuckle all the way to the front.

 

--

 

Kai and Sehun sigh in defeat. They can only stare at Baekhyun now. He looks so pitiful sitting on the floor. They’ve attempted to lift his spirits up, even offering him a month supply of chocolates but alas, it was to no avail. There are only two things that could explain this. It’s probably because he was really embarrassed and shy after seeing Chanyeol or he probably regrets running away in the first place. Or it could be both to be honest.

 

They turn behind them when Luhan walked in after finishing his round and immediately walking straight beside Baekhyun. “Hey, B, you okay?” Baekhyun looks up at him and Luhan represses a gasp. “B, you’re really red.”

 

Baekhyun places his palms on his cheeks. “Am I really red?”

 

“You look like a tomato.”

 

Kai and Sehun chuckles. “Haha. To-may-to, to-mah-to.”

 

“But why?” Baekhyun asks sounding a little freaked out.

 

Luhan wants to say that if the cause of this is Chanyeol then that means he’s been keeping a lot of his feelings hidden inside which is not good because some day it’ll burst out and when that day comes, he wouldn’t know what to do, which seems to be the case at the moment. He really doesn’t know what’s going on with Baekhyun’s heart but he would really appreciate it if Baekhyun would start showing more of his feelings and be honest. Baekhyun looks really scared now. It’s like he was never aware his feelings could be this strong.

 

Luhan sighs. “It’s probably just the heat and the nervousness or something. Don’t worry, okay? Just relax. We still have a one more round with these two here and the designers later.”

 

Baekhyun nods as he tries to calm down. “Okay. Okay. Relax Baekhyun.”

 

“Here hyung,” Sehun offers Baekhyun a bottled water while squatting down beside him. Kai follows, also squatting down, and starts fanning at Baekhyun.

 

--

 

This is still my day!

 

Kyungsoo, with a face of a mannequin on the outside, is partying on the inside.

 

He thought he lost his chance of stalking Kai but really, who needs stalking when the heavens purposely present Kai to him?

 

--

 

“Come on B,” Luhan calls tilting his head to the designers they’re supposed to be walking with next for the finale.

 

Baekhyun composes himself, repeating boosters on his head like a mantra so he can make it another round. He just wishes Chen wouldn’t pull something again. He really regrets running away like that.

 

He stands next in between Kai and Jessica who’s standing beside a designer while Luhan and Sehun are on the other side. The last pair of models walks in from the stage and that’s their cue to start the final catwalk.

 

People are cheering on them, giving them applause and smiles, even throwing singular roses as they walk to the front. It feels so fulfilling. It reminds Baekhyun of being the center of attention. He was always the center of attention back in his high school days in England but people don’t usually smile at him. Here is different. Here, people are smiling at him. And he’s happy that not even Chanyeol, Kyungsoo or Amanda can take this moment away from him.

 

Jessica introduces the designers and they stand a few steps behind them. After introducing the designers, Jessica gave each of them her gratitude for being special models for the event. They gave the audience a final bow and they wave as they walk back to the backstage. Kai comes up beside him and ruffles his hair while whispering “you did great”. Baekhyun playfully pushes him away for ruining his look and they laugh together. He turns to Chanyeol when they pass but instead of getting confused with that smile, his gaze shifted to Kyungsoo beside him who looked rather…hurt. He idles for a moment until Kai pulls him with him.

 

What was that? What was that look?

 

He got caught off-guard when Luhan suddenly jumped on him for a tight hug. “That was so much fun! Don’t you think so too, B???”

 

Baekhyun laughs as he returns Luhan’s hug. “I think so too!” Sehun and Kai hi-fived each other. It seems like they both enjoyed it too. Everyone did, to be honest. But for them, it was a special experience.

 

Chen squeezes in between the busy crowd of girls and make-up artists alike. “Guys! Hey! Good job!”

 

Baekhyun immediately glares at him. “CHEN!” Chen stops and attempts to run back when Baekhyun pulls his collar. “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

 

“WHAT DID I DO?!”

 

“DON’T EVEN!” Baekhyun yells while head-locking Chen who was desperately keeping himself and his camera alive.

 

“AW BAEKHYUN! THAT HURTS!”

 

“SHOULD BE!”

 

“I GIVE UP!”

 

“I WILL ERASE YOU IN THIS WORLD!”

 

--

 

Chanyeol bows at Mr. Jung. “Thank you, Mr. Jung.” Baekhyun finally won’t be able to rub on his face any more. He’s done with all five investors. Mr. Jung smiles at him before excusing himself to visit his daughter backstage.

 

“Can I go now?”

 

Chanyeol turns to Kyungsoo beside him and laughs at his distorted body.

 

“I really need to pee!”

 

“No, we still have to—“

 

“WHAT.”

 

“I’m joking! You can go.” Chanyeol keeps laughing as he watches Kyungsoo run to the nearest comfort room. “I’ll wait in the car!”

 

--

 

“Man, this sure was unexpected.” Sehun mumbles while stretching his arms. “Are we still going for that movie?”

 

“We still have time. It’s still 5 pm.” Kai replies. “Though, what movie?”

 

Luhan turns to Baekhyun. “B?”

 

Baekhyun pouts as he closes his pocket mirror. “Let me go to the comfort room first. I really need to remove this eyeliner.”

 

“Why?”

 

“What do you mean why? I don’t want to walk around with eyeliner on.”

 

Luhan chuckles at him. “Alright, alright.  We’ll be waiting here.”

 

Baekhyun immediately walks to the nearest comfort room. It’s only until he actually looked at his face in the mirror that he realized Luhan put a lot of eyeliner on him, it looked really thick so it’s obvious. When he immediately got inside the comfort room, he walked straight to sink. He knows the eyeliner won’t be removed completely with just water but it’ll get minimized at least.

 

He was too busy looking back and forth on the mirror while applying water that he didn’t realize the sound of flushing from one of the cubicles so when he looked back up at the mirror and Kyungsoo walked out of the cubicle, he screamed and in shock, the wall served as a magnet to his body. Kyungsoo screamed at him too thought he’s not really sure why.

 

“YOU!” Baekhyun exclaims while pointing at Kyungsoo.

 

“ME!” Kyungsoo shakes his head. “What?”

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Why are you asking me that now? You saw me earlier.”

 

“No, I mean, what were you doing with Chanyeol?”

 

Kyungsoo smirks at him playfully. “Why do you wanna know?”

 

Psh. “Actually, no. Who cares.” Baekhyun almost jumped when he felt his phone vibrate. He fished his phone out from his pocket. “Ah, a message from Kai.”

 

A humph.

 

Baekhyun pauses and slowly looks back at Kyungsoo. He humphed. Why did he humph?

 

“Okay, I gotta go. Kai texted me.” Baekhyun says while walking to the door.

 

“Whatever.”

 

Baekhyun stops and turns around. “A-HA!” Kyungsoo stares at him in surprise. “I KNEW IT! YOU LIKE KAI!” Kyungsoo immediately runs to Baekhyun to cover his mouth.

 

“Shut up!”

 

Baekhyun pulls his hand away. “You have no right!”

 

“What?”

 

“You have not right to like Kai!”

 

“What are you babbling about now?”

 

“After you seduce Chanyeol now you plan on seducing Kai?! I won’t let you! And how can you even do that when you already have Chanyeol? You can’t just jump from—“

 

“Wait.”

 

“—one person to another just like that!”

 

“I don’t even like Ch---“

 

“I don’t need your excuses! You’re the worst kind of person! Good bye!” Baekhyun stomps out and slams the door shut in front of Kyungsoo.

 

Kyungsoo blinks at the shut door. “What just happened…”

 

Wow, he’s a bigger idiot than what I make him out to be, after all.

 

--

 

Baekhyun doesn’t really know what he did back there but there’s no use regretting it now. He really doesn’t get it but he got kind of pissed-off there. Like, how can someone play with someone else’s heart like that? And of all the people, it had to be Kyungsoo. He wonders if Kai knows Kyungsoo likes him. He shakes his head. He shouldn’t know.

 

He stops when he notices Chanyeol in front of him. Ugh. Of course he’d be here for Kyungsoo. He moves to the left and Chanyeol does the same. He moves back to the other side and again, Chanyeol copies him. “Chanyeol.”

 

“Baekhyun.”

 

“Get out of my way.”

 

“We need to talk.”

 

Oh Jesus. “No, we don’t.”

 

“Yes, we do. We need to talk about that night properly.”

 

“No, we don’t Chanyeol.” Baekhyun repeats sternly and rushes pass Chanyeol.

 

“Why do you always do that?”

 

Baekhyun pauses though refuses to turn around. Do what Chanyeol?

 

“You come into my life, make me fall in love with you, and then one day you just decide leave. Now you come back and now you’re leaving again.”

 

Don’t turn around.

 

“Why do you do that?”

 

They hear a door close. “Huh? Chanyeol?”

 

Kyungsoo.

 

Baekhyun takes this opportunity to run away again.

 

So when Chanyeol looks back at him, he won’t find him there, nor is his answer.

 

Because he really doesn’t know the answer.

 

--

 

How do you watch FF6 without looking so…emotional?

 

So in the end, they decided with Rock-Paper-Scissors and Sehun won.

 

Baekhyun stares at the Coming Soon posters to take his mind off Chanyeol’s monologue a while ago and like an epiphany, he notices the dates and realizes something. “Ah.”

 

Luhan turns to him. “What is it?”

 

“Tomorrow,” He starts. “Kris and Lay are coming tomorrow.”

 

…..

 

“Ah?”

 

---

 

A/N:

really sorry if this is late (lol hu am i kidding ofc it's late)

been very busy with school. i crey

just gonna drop this here and i hope bb baek will do well in his first solo sched!

thank you guys for waiting. i love you :)

- gelie