---

 

It’s 9 AM and their place (which now ended up getting occupied by four people because two guys are too lazy to find a new place), in Sehun’s perspective, is pretty much this close to blowing up because today is the D-Day and there is some weird aura coming out from one room upstairs.

 

Sehun quietly watches Baekhyun running around looking for his eyeliner, and socks, and snapback, and phone and whatever it is he still needs while Kai is looking for the car keys that Sehun remembers may or may have not been accidentally flushed on the toilet.

 

By Luhan.

 

But there’s no way he’ll tell him that.

 

“Hey Sehun, I can’t find my car keys, we’ll borrow your car.” Kai says while passing in front of him.

 

“Huh? Wait—“

 

“Thanks Sehun!” Baekhyun cheers as he happily hops to the door with Kai following behind him carrying Sehun’s car keys.

 

“Wait—“

 

The door slams on his reach and he’s left contemplating whether to burn the house and kill Luhan. He’s definitely going to tattle him out next time. He sighs and hears footsteps walking down the stairs. He turns around to see Luhan awkwardly searching the place for any signs of life aside from his.

 

Speak of the devil.

 

“Are they gone?” Luhan asks. When Sehun nods, he sighs in relief. Sehun doesn’t really understand what’s up with this creature this morning. Just last night, he was as excited as Baekhyun after knowing that Kris and Yixing’s flight is before lunch. But now he doesn’t seem to be that excited, if anything he’s bothered.

 

Sehun could care less to be honest. It’s the weekend. He would like some stay-at-home day minus Luhan’s frustrations please.

 

--

 

Kai glances at Baekhyun beside him for the nth time since leaving the condo as the latter keeps on bothering him with his constant fixing of hair on the side mirror. “Baekhyun, if you touch your hair one more time I swear I’ll shave them off.”

 

Baekhyun turns to Kai with a pout. “I’m nervous!”

 

“Why?” Kai says, enunciating the italics as if relaying that what Baekhyun said is completely dumb and unreasonable. It is kind of dumb anyway.

 

Baekhyun glares at him. “I don’t know. What if people will look at us weirdly at the airport?”

 

“Us?”

 

“Us. I practically left the company to Yixing. And then we’re meeting him there. And Kris is a CEO. You used to be VP. I used to be CEO. What if people are going to be like “oh look, it’s those bastards who play with a billionaire’s position as a past time”, “oh look it’s those people who spend millions for whatever they want on a daily basis”, “oh look—“

 

“Okay, Baekhyun, stop.” Kai chuckles at him. “I’m sure some people won’t mind. I’m sure they’ll think we’re just meeting for an important…meeting.”

 

“You don’t understand.” Kai raises his eyebrows. “Have you ever heard Yixing say something like if he’s wearing normal or casual clothes, you don’t talk about work?”

 

Kai flashbacks on a scene—even though he was slightly hangover at that time—when he met Yixing near Baekhyun’s former subdivision. He did say something about not talking about work to someone who’s wearing normal clothes, although at that time he didn’t really mind much of it because it seemed like a normal thing for some young businessmen to say. Even he, at that time, always wished for a break even just once in a while. So, in confusion, he turns to Baekhyun. “Yeah, why?”

 

“You’ll see.”

 

--

 

“So, let me get this straight, you actually don’t like Yixing? Nor Kris?”

 

“No—Kris is fine, I can understand him. But Yixing, Yixing bothers me so much. Remember that story Baekhyun told us? That chapter in his life he called Retrace—I swear that was so lame, I just didn’t comment because I don’t want to break his little emotional bubble at that time.”

 

Sehun smiles awkwardly as he watches Luhan wipe the kitchen sink. “I actually did not listen to half of it.”

 

Luhan rolls his eyes. He did expect that though. “Okay, so, he said that the root of all his problems in England—apart from Amanda—is Yixing being too dumb to accept his feelings for Kris so he had to become his fake fiancee for a while until Yixing wakes up from his stupidity.”

 

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t say it like that.”

 

“How would you know? You didn’t even listen!”

 

“To half of it. And even so, Baekhyun wouldn’t say something like that about his best friend.”

 

A moment of silence.

 

Sehun speaks again. “Also, sometimes people just get scared. No big deal. It just happens.”

 

“Still, he contributed to Baekhyun’s suffering. If that whole thing about Kris and Amanda didn’t happen because of Yixing, Baekhyun would’ve been back here earlier, Chanyeol would’ve been fine and everything in our lives wouldn’t have been put into pause. Do you know what I’m saying? Think about it. Baekhyun’s problem is only about running away and Amanda trying to steal his father’s company and robbing her sons off it. But then, insert Kris who made some kind of deal with Amanda because of Baekhyun so that’s another problem.”

 

Sehun thinks that this whole reasoning is just so biased that it’s hard to comment. Any person would pretty sure blame Kris first for even thinking of that kind of method of getting Yixing, even involving Baekhyun who has absolutely nothing to do with his and Yixing’s problem but here’s Luhan who’s complaining only about Yixing, who, he’s sure, was pretty much clueless of Kris’ methods.

 

And then the obvious hit him.

 

Just like an epiphany.

 

It’s quite hard to see when you’re not too aware of the friendship codes.

 

Sehun grins at Luhan. “You don’t want Yixing here because he’s Baekhyun’s another best friend and you’re jealous!”

 

“W-what are you talking about?! Didn’t you listen to anything I told you?!”

 

“Please, Luhan. You’re too obvious.”

 

“That’s not what it is! I’m not that kind of person!”

 

“Oh yeah? Says someone who said bull about me to Baekhyun before!”

 

Luhan pouts in defeat. “Fine. But there’s nothing wrong with that!”

 

Sehun just laughs at him. It’s kind of refreshing to see Luhan with several expressions like this, not hiding his feelings. “So, if you don’t want him here, why’d you tell Baekhyun that they can stay here?”

 

“So, Kris and Yixing can have my room and I can share with Baekhyun!”

 

Sehun snorts. “Overly-attached best friend, Xi Luhan.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

Sehun immediately imitates the Overly-attached Girlfriend expressions with a meme he created by himself. “I heard you had friends over so I offered them my room so we can share yours forever.”

 

Luhan grabs his slippers and throws them on Sehun’s face where Sehun immediately blocks with his arms while still laughing loudly at Luhan’s guilty and irritated face.

 

“I told you I’m not like that!”

 

Sehun chuckles. “So, why are you cleaning the kitchen?”

 

 

 

--

 

Baekhyun pouts as he glares at the people’s backs in front of him. “I can’t see!”

 

Kai only chuckles at him. “This was why I said we come early.”

 

Baekhyun grumbles in frustration while bouncing impatiently. “Are they here yet?”

 

“No.”

 

“Not yet?”

 

Kai looks around and smirks when Yixing and Kris appeared behind a crowd of people. “Nope.”

 

Baekhyun groans. “Still no?”

 

Kai shakes his head as he tries to hide his smile while watching Yixing and Kris make their way towards them.

 

Baekhyun looks at his watch. “It’s been like 30 minutes? They should be here by—YOU SON OF A !” He exclaims when Yixing’s face suddenly appeared in front of him.

 

“YOU !” Yixing yells back, pulling Baekhyun into a tight hug.

Wow. Kai thinks. Yixing’s obviously taking non-work clothes a little too seriously.

 

Still, he couldn’t help but chuckle seeing the two cuddle. “Aww I missed you!”

 

“At least that’s better than Luhan punching him in the face.” Kai murmurs at the side. He acknowledged Kris with a simple nod and went to grab Yixing’s bags so he can converse comfortably with Baekhyun. They leave the crowded area with Kai leading the way, followed by the noisy pair and lastly, Kris, who seemed to be preoccupied with something on his phone.

 

“I heard you’re helping Chanyeol?” asks Yixing.

 

“Was.” Baekhyun replied simply. “It was only a favor anyway. You know me. I help the unfortunate.”

 

“You’re an .” Yixing says with a chuckle.

 

They reached the car eventually and as expected, Baekhyun and Yixing occupied that back seat as soon as Kai opened the door while Kris, as if he had any choice anyway, called shotgun. Even from behind the car, while Kai’s piling the bags inside the compartment, he can hear their giggles. Guess it just happens when you miss your friend.

 

Basically, it was a good thing Luhan decided not to come. There are only two other possibilities this day would turn out—either Luhan would be joining them with their giggles or he would be plotting Yixing’s death. Kai thinks it’s most likely the latter. He settled in the driver’s seat and started the engine with Yixing’s constant scolding to Kris sticking his phone on his ears again when it’s supposed to be vacation ringing behind him.

 

--

 

Sehun gasps. Really. That’s like a really unexpected gasp.

 

“Wow, you really outdid yourself this time, Luhan.” He says. Who knew they’d be able to see light in this kitchen again? It was practically burned down because of some accident but now it looks so brand new.

 

“Cool, right?” Luhan nods while smiling proudly, convinced that this was all his work of magic, when in truth he had hidden magazines under the kitchen sink which Sehun noticed because the magazine rack at the living room was suddenly empty.

 

Sehun feels his phone vibrate from his pocket so he immediately fished it out to read the message while Luhan checks the corners of the kitchen, making sure he didn’t miss any spot. “Hey, hyung. Kai said they arrived downstairs.” Sehun announces. Noticing Luhan’s sudden stiffness, he chuckles. “Really, Luhan, relax.” He immediately runs to the door, missing Luhan’s death glare.

 

--

 

“Just a little warning, they’re quite a weird bunch.” Baekhyun says to Yixing.

 

“We.” Kai corrects, turning the door knob, as Baekhyun rolls his eyes at him.

 

“LUHAN GET OFF ME—“

 

“SWEAR YOU’LL SHUT YOUR MOUTH FIRST—“

 

Baekhyun did say they’re a weird bunch but it was a joke, really it was. However, opening the door with an image of Sehun and Luhan on the floor, clawing each other, one desperately pushes and the other aggressively attacks, is weird. It’s like walking on two people having , except these two aren’t having ; they just look like two monkeys fighting each other to be honest.

 

“Ahem.” Kai interrupts and Sehun and Luhan immediately froze on the spot, turning their heads slowly to them.

 

“Are you guys—“

 

In a split second, the two are standing beside each other, hair and dress fixed and wearing a bright smile on their faces (minus point for Sehun for that ugly smile and well…Luhan isn’t different either with that mega plastic eye smile). Eye smile?! Nobody does that better other than Baekhyun. Baekhyun just sighs. He knows something’s up again.

 

“—okay?” Kai finishes, although it’s mostly unnecessary.

 

“Oh yes!” Luhan exclaims with that very disgusting high-pitched fake voice. “Welcome to our home!”

 

Sehun crooks his eyebrows and turns to Luhan. “Our…home.” He murmurs while pointing at him and Kai.

 

Luhan subtly pinches his back as he retains his smile (which is now creepy).

 

Baekhyun gasps. “Oh! I haven’t introduced you to each other yet. Uh,” He looks behind him and pulls Kris to his side. “Lulu, this is Kris Wu. Although, you already know him.” The two shake hands. Baekhyun then pulled Yixing next. “And this is Zhang Yixing. Zhang Yixing, Xi Luhan—or just Luhan since I’m not sure myself if Xi is really his surname.” He ends in a whisper.

 

Yixing smiles at Luhan before saying, “The unemployed.”

 

Luhan pauses. The what?

 

“I’ve heard so much about you. Baekhyun always talks about you back in England.”

 

Luhan clears his throat after sending Baekhyun a glare. “I’m actually self-employed right now.”

 

“Oh! You are? That’s amazing! Baekhyun didn’t tell me that.”

 

Luhan turns to Baekhyun with a smile although it’s obvious that his eyes have a burning passion to strangle him right at the moment. He would though if it wasn’t for these guests. “Oh I see he didn’t tell you that.” Yep. He does wanna kill him.

 

Baekhyun gulps and immediately redirects the situation to his side. “Anyway, I bet you two are hungry. We can order some food while you rest.”

 

“Why don’t you just cook?” Yixing chirps and swiftly turns to Luhan. “Have you tasted his cooking?”

 

“Of course I have, what kind of question is that?”

 

“It’s really good, right?”

 

“Of course it is. He always cooks for me.”

 

“He used to cook for his younger brothers too and then I would join them at breakfast.”

 

“Oh, we always eat breakfast together.”

 

And it seems like by each phrase that gets thrown into the air Baekhyun just keeps on stepping back.

 

Yixing turns to Baekhyun. “So, how about it, B?”

 

Sehun almost curses as he notices that aside from this weird dark aura Luhan’s emitting behind that plastic smile, he can actually hear his thoughts saying “he called him B, he called him B, he called him B, he called him B—“.

 

“Yeah, B, why don’t you cook?”

 

Kai came up behind Baekhyun. “You do know what kind of situation this is, right?”

 

“I wish I didn’t.”

 

“Don’t worry hyung. The kitchen is clean.” Sehun whispers from beside him.

 

Baekhyun nods. “Yeah okay—wait, the kitchen is what?”

 

--

 

“What the happened.” Baekhyun curses to himself as the kitchen is definitely whiter than Chanyeol’s someone’s teeth. He’s sure it looked like hell just a few days ago, he almost suspected some Odd Thomas gate to hell happening around here but now it’s so white and so clean it looked like St. Peter’s kitchen. “Seriously, what happened.”

 

Luhan steps forward proudly. “Well, you know, the kitchen has always been my heaven,”

 

“Has it?” Sehun murmurs as he passes behind Luhan. Of course, he immediately receives a kick from Luhan.

 

“Wow,” Yixing says in awe as he walks around the newly-cleaned kitchen. “It’s like it’s never been used before.”

 

Luhan shrugs. “I just love cleaning.”

 

“Do you?” Sehun murmurs from the side and in reflex avoided Luhan’s giraffe kick.

 

Yixing stops in front of the fridge and opens it. “Uh, there’s nothing in the fridge?”

 

“There was never any—“ Luhan grabs Sehun’s collar no-so-obviously as to avoid receiving weird looks from the others and turns to Yixing with his plastic smile.

 

“There were only leftovers left so I gave them to our pet dog and cat.”

 

“Oh. Guess Baekhyun can’t cook then?”

 

Kai immediately walks back to the living room to give some restaurant a call with Sehun, already listing in his hands, following excitedly behind him.

 

“Yixing!” They all turn to the doorway where an impatient Kris entered. “Where’s the charger?”

 

“What charger?”

 

“My phone’s charger.”

 

“It’s not in the bag?”

 

“If it was, I wouldn’t be looking for it right now.”

 

Yixing shrugs. “I must’ve forgotten to pack it.”

 

Kris squints at him suspiciously. “Did you really just forget?”

 

“I always forget things,” Yixing defends while following Kris who had already turned around to leave. “And what are you going to with the charger anyway? You promised me that you’ll forget about work because this our vacation and—“ Blah blah blah. The conversation eventually fades away. Baekhyun sighs. Yixing does tend to forget things but he knows him well enough that he purposely did not pack the charger. He’s seen a lot of times Yixing used that trait of him as an excuse.

 

After everyone was finally gone, Baekhyun immediately pulled Luhan close. “Luhan, what is happening?”

 

“What? What do you mean what’s happening? Your friends from Europe are here. That’s what’s happening.”

 

“I know you know what I’m talking about.”

 

“Oh, lucky for you because I really don’t know.” Luhan smoothly pushes Baekhyun away before walking out of the kitchen. That’s what he says but Baekhyun knows there’s more into it. He just hopes Luhan wouldn’t cause trouble for himself. He tends to overreact. If Baekhyun can slap him every time he does, he’s palms are going to get numb.

 

Well, he just  hopes Yixing and Kris can enjoy their stay here. It’s not always they get a break anyway.

 

--

 

Luhan woke up at 9 AM. He knows he probabaly shouldn’t have woken up at 9 but he was just so comfortable sleeping last night beside his best friend even though he probably has multiple bruises now judging from the infinite number of times Baekhyun kicked him in his sleep.

 

He hears Baekhyun running the water in the shower so instead he fixes his hair and decides to go downstairs, into the kitchen (after realizing he can’t stay in the living room since Kris has marked his territory on the couch), to grab some food, only to find—of course, who else is destined to be his rival in this chapter—Yixing, with his back turned to him and his front obviously turned to stove, cooking and Sehun and Kai eating so deliciously—you two are going to be massacred—on the countertop.

 

As if on cue, Yixing turns around, holding a pan, and sees Luhan standing awkwardly at the doorway. “Oh, good morning Luhan!”

 

Good? What is good in this morning? Luhan just nods.

 

“I used your kitchen. I hope it’s okay.”

 

Sehun and Kai looks up from their plates and yells, “It’s more than okay!”

 

Luhan stopped at the edge of the countertop where he’s facing the two and gave them a death glare. Sehun and Kai immediately resume eating. Luhan opens the drawer where he placed the glasses only to find them replaced with spoons and forks. “Where are the glasses?”

 

“Oh, it’s here,” Yixing chirps from behind him. Luhan turns around and sees Yixing opening the drawer on top of him. Seeing Luhan’s baffled look, Yixing explains, “I also reorganized your kitchen. I thought it’d be easier to navigate through like this.”

 

Luhan is this close to burning up the kitchen again.

 

Sehun and Kai sense the tension in between them so they look up which then turned out to be the not the good idea when Luhan looks at them while saying, “Oh, I didn’t know my kitchen needed reorganizing.” They can feel his eyes pierce through them with hate that it burns.

 

It seems though that Yixing did not hear him given that Kris kept on yelling for him from the living room. Yixing! Yixing! Zhang Yixing! Yeah, it’s a surprise how Yixing can maintain that calm face with that annoying jellyfish yelling early in the morning instead of walking inside the kitchen himself. Yixing immediately turns off the stove and quickly places the eggs on the counter and takes off his apron before running to Kris his majesty.

 

And now that Yixing’s gone, Luhan’s back to torturing two little traitors who did nothing but eat to be honest. “Can you believe that? He reorganized my kitchen.”

 

Sehun opens his mouth in attempt to correct the incorrect use of the possessive noun but, “Never mind.”

 

“He was only here for what? Less than 24 hours! Oh the guts!” Luhan continues—with too many feelings—throwing his hands in the air. “I knew something’s wrong with that guy. I just knew it. He’s going to ruin our lives!”

 

“Luhan, I think you’re overreacting.”

 

“What? Since when did I overreact?”

 

Sehun, again, opens his mouth in attempt to list all the times he overreacted but, again, “Never mind.”

 

Luhan pouts angrily as he falls on the seat. “I can’t believe I have to tolerate them for a week,” He mumbles while unconsciously grabbing a burrito—he’s not even going to question why Yixing made a burrito in the morning—and taking a bite.

 

He pauses.

 

And swallows.

 

He side-eyes Sehun and Luhan and then grabbed a fork.

 

Takes a piece of the scrambled eggs Yixing made just five minutes ago.

 

And then helps himself to it.

 

He pauses again.

 

He swallows again.

 

He doesn’t chew.

 

He stands up and smirks. “You know, you two deserve some kind of medal or award for doing this whole thing.” This whole thing being pretending to like Yixing’s cooking that tastes horrid by the way. Too horrible it could hold a world record. Or even kill Chuck Norris. Even Goku will be no match to this horrible cooking. But these two, being too nice that they can’t tell Yixing how horrible his cooking is face to face, is forced to swallow all the poison.

 

Whose idea was it to make Yixing cook by the way? His dibs are on Sehun since he never does anything but ruin his life…in many ways.

 

He walks to the door way, still smirking at them. “Hey Yixing! Sehun and Kai said they want seconds!”

 

“EHHH? BUT THEY ALREADY HAD SECONDS.” Yixing replies from the living room.

 

“Oh?” Luhan croons at them and then grins. “WELL THEN THEY WANT FIVES.”

 

The cleaning lady is going to have a hard time removing the smell from the comfort rooms later.

 

And yes, he is immune to Yixing’s horrible cooking.

 

You ask, why?

 

Because his own cooking is horrible. Who wouldn’t get used to that?

 

--

 

“They like your cooking?” Kris asks in confusion, his head held tilted slightly up while Yixing fixes his tie.

 

Yixing chuckles. “You like it too.”

 

“Yeah, after I throw up.”

 

Yixing punches him playfully in the chest. “Shut up.”

 

Kris looks down at him, chuckling, and quickly wraps his arms around the smaller, pulling him into a tight hug. “But that horrible cooking makes me love you more.”

 

Yixing looks up, his head tilted cutely. “Ah, those eyebrows make me love you more.” He says while wrapping his arms around Kris’ neck.

 

“That dimple makes me love you more.”

 

“Hmm, your height makes me love you more!”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I feel protected.”

 

“Well then, your height makes me love you more too. Because I can protect y—“

 

“Please, cheesy lines in Mandarin in the morning are disgusting.” Luhan mumbles in Mandarin while passing by behind them.

 

Kris and Yixing chuckle secretly before breaking the hug. “I’m gonna go check on Baekhyun.”

 

--

 

Baekhyun doesn’t really understand how his wig ended up looking like a bird’s nest. He didn’t even touch it. He just…okay maybe he brushed it too much.

 

He sighs just in time the door opens and Yixing walks in. “Whoa, what happened to your hair?”

 

Baekhyun shrugs. “Luhan normally fixes it for me but I’m too lazy to call him.”

 

Yixing chuckles as he walks over. “And why are you dressed up? You’re going to Chanyeol’s company? I thought you said you’re done helping him?”

 

“I am. I’m just going to send in my resignation later. That stupid CEO won’t accept it if I fax it.” There comes his angry pout.

 

Yixing takes the brush from the table. “Why are you resigning?”

 

“Because I only agreed to help him, not work for him.”

 

“Then why did you help him?”

 

“Because it’s the right thing to do.”

 

“And that’s the right thing to say,” Yixing starts. “Baek, you don’t do the right things. Obeying your father was the right thing to do, instead you ran away. And you were happy. You do things when your heart tells you it’ll make you happy.”

 

Baekhyun blinks at Yixing’s reflection on the mirror. “What are you trying to say?”

 

“Do you think what you’re about to do next will make you happy?”

 

Baekhyun starts to think. Somehow, the question got to him. And he hates how he has no idea what to answer even though his mind has been repeating it over and over again.

 

“Think about it. You went back to England because it was the right thing to do. But did it make you happy?”

 

He was devastated. He never knew being away that long from someone, some people, can make him feel like a thousand rocks landed in front of his way, not letting him pass through. He was stuck with the same feeling in the same moments. It’s like a mixed recipe of sadness, longing and not being able to do anything about it.

 

“No. But at least I was able to do something for my brothers.”

 

“See, that’s what’s wrong here. It’s human nature. We think that if we give a lot to other people, leaving nothing for ourselves, we get the same amount back, much more even. But that’s not how it works. There’s no pattern. There’s no rule. We just have to start giving love to ourselves more than we do to other people. Because it’s our life. Not theirs. We have the right to be happy. You have the right to be happy.”

 

“Yixing, I’m fine. It’s nothing. I’m just going to send in my resignation letter. It’s not like the world is going to end.” Baekhyun explains, sounding a bit ridiculed by what Yixing was implying just a while ago.

 

“That’s what you say,” Yixing mumbles quietly. He knows to what extent Baekhyun’s stubbornness can reach so he doesn’t bother pushing. “Okay, your hair’s done.”

 

“Besides, it’s hard to talk about feelings when your men are scattered outside.”

 

Yixing immediately feigns innocence. “What men?”

 

“Yixing, I know you brought your men with you. I can practically smell them. You think I wouldn’t notice the amount of stiff men trying so hard to camouflage with the crowd at the airport?”

 

Yixing pouts in guilt. “I just brought them with me to investigate the Amanda case. We can’t just let a criminal wander around Seoul. Especially when you and your friends are here. You’re in danger. I just wanted to protect you.”

 

“I know that, geez,” Baekhyun sighs at the sight of Yixing in the verge of crying. “Yixing, how old are you again? Man up, would ya? And I’m fine. She’s not going to hurt me physically.”

 

“Yeah, but we can’t be so sure.”

 

And as soon as he finished his sentence, Kris’ yell, again, surfaced around the corners followed by Luhan verbally cursing him at him to shut up. Yixing sighs. He excused himself to Baekhyun before proceeding outside to shut the giant hell up.

 

--

 

“You didn’t tell me you were going somewhere,” Yixing mumbles as he watches Kris put on his shoes. Luhan was long gone seeing Kris occupying the couch he was seated on.

 

“You just fixed my tie. You didn’t get a hint from that?”

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“I’m going to meet someone.”

 

“I thought I said no work?”

 

“It’s not work. I’m meeting a friend.”

 

Yixing shrugs. “Okay.”

 

Kris stands up and pulls Yixing closer for a kiss. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

 

“Alright, take care.” Yixing waves.

 

Sehun and Kai abruptly stop when Kris passes by in front of them towards the door. After Kris disappeared behind the door, the two turned to Yixing who already started cleaning up the mess Kris made.

 

“Don’t you think it’s weird?” Sehun starts.

 

Yixing doesn’t turn around to face them and instead continues to pick up the shirts Kris rejected. “What is?”

 

Sehun and Kai glance at each other before continuing in synchronicity, saying, “That Kris didn’t tell who he was going to meet?”

 

“Why would it be weird?”

 

“I don’t know,” Kai says this time. “It’s suspicious?”

 

Yixing chuckles. “It’s not suspicious. If he doesn’t want to tell me then it’s not important.”

 

“But what if he’s cheating on you?”

 

Yixing sighs. “Does it help if I say I’ve got men tailing behind him every day who’re given orders of shoot to kill if Kris is guaranteed of suspicious act?”

 

Sehun and Kai gulps, frozen, totally did not see that coming. “We were just kidding.”

 

Yixing smiles at them. “Me too,” Although he wasn’t, excluding the shoot to kill part though.

 

They turn to the stairs when they heard Luhan’s annoying voice and found Baekhyun walking down with Luhan closely following behind him, looking a bit excited. “Look! I fixed his hair!”  Luhan says proudly almost too loud for Yixing to hear. And then Yixing realizes his work of art on Baekhyun’s hair has disappeared.

 

“Oh,” Yixing starts. “I didn’t know his hair was broken.”

 

He turns to Luhan, trying not to get pissed—he probably didn’t know I already fixed Baekhyun’s hair—when the said man turns to him too and continues, saying, “It kinda looked like a cow it so I fixed it for him.” Insert mega-watt plastic smile.

 

Yixing knows a mean when sees one (thanks to Baekhyun who knows whose ’s hair to shave as revenge).

 

“Right,” The attention was then shifted to Baekhyun. “I really need to go now. So, Kai?”

 

They all turned to Kai who was trying to leave the area as quietly as possible while clutching his stomach and found him in an awkward position with his upper body bent down. They blink at him. “UH. I can’t. Take you. I—uh—have some—other things…to do.”

 

They turned to Sehun, who’s the second choice, and found him awkwardly standing by the stairs with his hands gripping the wood for support. “I have—a project to finish…”

 

Yixing and Luhan turn to Baekhyun and grab his hands. “I’ll take you!” Insert imaginary scary sound effect here. Yixing and Luhan continued with a staring contest.

 

“I can drive.” Luhan starts.

 

“So do I.”

 

“I know the place.”

 

“I have a license.”

 

 Yeah, well, as ridiculous as it sounds, Luhan doesn’t have a driver’s license.

 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and slowly pulls his hands back. Watching these two kill each other in their heads isn’t really his ideal morning so he decided to just start walking to the door.

 

--

 

Kyungsoo almost snaps his head turning to the door when he hears a loud knock. And seeing Kris, in the flesh, standing there, he actually thought of jumping out the window but then he wouldn’t be able to stalk Kai and he really doesn’t want to stop stalking Kai so…

 

“How did you get in here?”

 

Kris crooks his eyebrows. “What do you mean how did I get in here? I walked.” He says while walking towards the table where Kyungsoo was sleeping on earlier. “So I heard you’re the VP here now,” Kyungsoo groans. “And I can see you do not like it.”

 

Kyungsoo lowers his head back again and mumbles, “Okay. What do you want, Kris?”

 

Kris looks around the office and stops when he sees a Legolas poster on the wall. “Oh…uh—“ He turns away and sees another one a few inches beside it. “I just—“ He looks back up from and sees another one. He checks on his left up to his back and sees posters of Legolas lined up. He snarls. “You a Legolas fan? What’s up with these posters?”

 

Kyungsoo looks up lazily. “Oh, they’re not mine. They’re…Kai’s. He only took one when he came back to collect his things. That, see that empty space there? There used to be another one of those there. He probably forgot it was a prank, not a gift.” Kris gives him a look. “I mean, that’s the only plausible explanation I can come up with from all this Legolas posters.”

 

Kris just nods, not really the slightest interested now that there was an explanation. “Okay. So, about Baekhyun,”

 

Kyungsoo groans loudly. “That guy is a pain in the . And Chanyeol too. Look, I did everything I could to help them get back together. I even broke the AC on purpose! But those two are sooooooo dumb. I don’t even know anymore. Also, now that Baekhyun’s going to resign, I pretty much can’t do anything else. Unless, you can convince him not to resign which is probably impossible.”

 

Kris frowns. “But you said—“

 

“Look, this was your idea in the first place. Why don’t you do something instead then? I’ll help.”

 

“You couldn’t have told me that sooner?” Kris massages his temple, or his eyebrows. “Right. I’ll deal with this.” He takes out his phone and Kyungsoo blinks at him, wondering how he could come up with something in a second while he, on the other hand, has to dig up his poor brain to come up with the AC plan. “And you,” Kris says. “Make sure Chanyeol’s schedule is empty for the weekend.”

 

Well, that’s not a problem. Chanyeol never goes to any of his schedules anyway. That’s why Yoonhye is always freaking out. Kyungsoo nods. “Okay.”

 

--

 

So, it’s actually better to be the one who’s not driving, Luhan concludes halfway to Park Industries, because he was able sit in the backseat with his best friend while Yixing is stuck alone.

 

“Lulu, you’re going to ruin my dress.” Baekhyun says half-annoyed. He doesn’t know why but since they left the house, Luhan’s been stuck hugging his arm.

 

Yixing glances at their reflection on the mirror and rolls his eyes. “Baekhyun, put on your seatbelt.” He says and Baekhyun immediately complies, pushing Luhan’s arms around his own arm away so he can put the seatbelt on.

 

Luhan decides to do the same too after a few seconds and turns to the side to grab the belt when the car stopped abruptly making him fall forward causing his face to hit the seat with a loud thud. Baekhyun gasps.  “Are you okay?!”

 

Luhan slowly lifts his head and sees Yixing looking down at him with a fake worried look. “Oh, sorry. Stop light.”

 

Luhan bravely sits back up. “Oh, I’m fine. That’s nothing.”

 

Yixing resumes driving while Luhan continues to curse on his head where it sounded like some devilish chant to summon demons at one point. He puts on his seatbelt when Baekhyun suddenly grabs his hand. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

 

And this is why Luhan loves Baekhyun so much. When he’s worried, he’s always so sincere, and this makes him so lovable despite being such a sassy cross-dressing tantrum queen. Oh, but this is opportunity. “Actually, my face kinda hurt when I fell forward.”

 

“Really?” Baekhyun moved forward to touch his face. “Poor Lulu.”

 

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—mmf!

 

Luhan, again, fell forward face first thanks to him not finishing to put on his seatbelt because Baekhyun grabbed his hands earlier. Baekhyun blinks at the sight. “Lulu? Are you…”

 

Luhan looks up and sees Yixing with his fake worried look multiplied 10 times. “STOP LIGHT?”

 

“Sorry. There was a cat.”

 

Luhan rolls his eyes and sits back up as Yixing resumes driving.

 

“Luhan?” Baekhyun calls.

 

“I’m fine,” Luhan says while locking the seatbelt only to be pushed forward again when the car stopped abruptly again. “WHAT NOW—“

 

“We’re here!” Yixing announces happily.

 

Luhan looks outside and realizes that yeah, they’ve arrived. He turns back to Baekhyun who’s already taken off his seatbelt and hurrying outside. “You two can stay here. I won’t take too long.” Yixing nods while Luhan watches as Baekhyun gracefully walks to the building.

 

It’s weird but seeing Baekhyun’s back walking in to the building, he felt as if what Baekhyun’s going through is so much more deep than what he shows them. Luhan would never be able to do what Baekhyun could. If he’s asked to cross-dress, he would refuse to the world’s end. But Baekhyun does it so effortlessly. He’s very brave.

 

--

 

Sometimes Baekhyun wonders why Chanyeol’s not yet confined in a mental hospital because he really should be judging by the way he’s smelling the floor. Nope, it’s not an exaggeration, he is smelling the floor. Baekhyun only watches as Chanyeol continues to sniff and sniff and sniff until he reached his feet. Chanyeol stops. And then he looks up. He really should be surprised seeing Baekhyun staring down at his weird position but he couldn’t make a face given that he’s too shocked. So instead, he quietly stands up and walks to back to his table where he sits on his chair comfortably.

 

“Hello, Baekhyun.”

 

Are you kidding me?

 

“You’re dumb.”

 

“Did you want something?”

 

“You’re dumb and stupid.”

 

Chanyeol sighs. “Look, I feel like some parasite has entered my building. So, I was trying to smell its traces.”

 

“Yep. You’re dumb.” Yes, he was ridiculed, but Baekhyun ended up chuckling anyway. Chanyeol has always been this dumb CEO so he guesses he kind of misses it.

 

“So, what did you want?”

 

Baekhyun clenches his fist and reminds himself that he should do this. “I’m resigning,” He says while placing the paper on Chanyeol’s desk. Chanyeol only looks at it, not sure what to do with it, not sure what he’s supposed to do or how he’s supposed to react either. “So…that’s it. Um, bye.” Baekhyun immediately turns around and walks away before he even decides to tale back what he just said because no matter what, he longs to be beside Chanyeol again, to see him every day, and have childish fights with him but not like this. He doesn’t want to start again with their relationship being a professional one. And with the entire Amanda thing going on, he can’t risk Chanyeol’s life for his own happiness. That’s too much. Too selfish.

 

He was walking down the hallway when a hand suddenly grabs his. He turns around and finds Chanyeol looking at him with a face Baekhyun knows he wouldn’t be able to resist. “What’s this?” Chanyeol asks, raising the paper up.

 

“I just told you earlier. I’m resigning. I’m done working here.”

 

“Are you sure, Baekhyun? Are you sure you’re not resigning from me too?”

 

He hasn’t thought of that but maybe all the while he thought when he entered this kind of thing, when he decided to try it again, his only way to pull out was by resigning from work. The only way to pull out from Chanyeol. Baekhyun looks away. He doesn’t know what to say especially when Chanyeol talks like this. It’s as if Chanyeol can see right through him, like he won’t be able to hide anything.

 

Baekhyun pulls his hand back. “Does it matter?”

 

“Do you really wanna know?” Baekhyun glances at him. “I was stupid for not letting you explain back in London. I was stupid for thinking that I couldn’t trust someone like you. People have been betraying me, Baekhyun. It’s hard for me to trust other people. So I was hurt. But you came back and I was happy. That morning you came to my house, when I was chasing you outside, I was happy to see you. And then I thought maybe this is my second chance. But you looked hurt. So I thought I can’t do this kind of thing. I can’t make you happy anymore because I’ve hurt you. No matter what I do, I won’t be able to make you happy again.”

 

That’s not the case, Baekhyun thinks, all you have to do is ask and I’ll be with you in no time.

 

“I’ve been dysfunctional. The whole time you were here…I just…I was happy but I was also scared. Because I knew that you were only here to help me and if I get too close to sentiment and you decide leave, I’d be left alone, again. I really did try to stay away. I tried not to feel anything. But it’s you. There’s no way I won’t be able to feel anything with you.”

 

Baekhyun doesn’t look at him but even when he’s not, he knows Chanyeol’s crying. This is not fair, Baekhyun thinks, how do you expect me to walk away after all the things you’ve said?

 

“Just please, don’t leave again. Just give me a chance. Just one more chance—“

 

“No,” Baekhyun says. “I can’t.”

 

“But why? Do you hate me?”

 

Oh God, I love you so much to hate you. Baekhyun takes a step back. “It’s not…that. I just can’t. I’m sorry I can’t tell you. Just, please don’t do this again,” Or I wouldn’t be able to refuse. “I’m sorry. Bye.” He turns around and runs away, as fast as he could, as if this marathon can save him from his own pain.

 

Baekhyun, you’re so stupid. So stupid. So ing stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

 

--

 

Luhan was about to ask Yixing to buy some refreshments when the latter’s phone rang. Luhan quietly curses to himself for losing an opportunity to torture Yixing some more.

 

“Kris?” Yixing says after answering. “Favor?” He glances at Luhan for a quick second. “Okay, I understand.”

 

A few minutes later, Baekhyun arrived with a sad face that Luhan doesn’t ask anymore.

 

--

 

“Oh . This place smells like .” Luhan says immediately after he opened the door to the condominium.

 

“Just how many times do you have to say the word ?” Sehun and Kai yells from the living room.

 

Luhan grins while walking to their front. “The real question is, how many times did you today?”

 

Sehun and Kai immediately threw the pillows to Luhan’s face. Kai notices Baekhyun walking to the stairs. “Hey, Baek. How did it go?” He doesn’t get a reply but instead a faint smile. Baekhyun only continued walking upstairs to his room. Kai turns to Luhan for an explanation but he only received a shrug.

 

“Well, more importantly, there’s something we have to do.” Luhan announces while turning to Yixing.

 

Sehun and Kai decide to listen.

 

And then the next day, this happens. Baekhyun, walking out of his room still bathe in gloom and all the sadness in the world, gets surprised with four people taking up his line of vision to yell, “WE’RE GOING ON A VACATION!”

 

And this is what he says. “No.”

 

“W-what?”

 

“I don’t have time.”

 

“YOU HAVE ALL THE TIME!”

 

Baekhyun turns to Kris who’s sitting comfortably on the couch, reading a newspaper.

 

“Kris planned this.” Yixing says immediately and Baekhyun gives Kris a look.

 

Baekhyun’s not really in the mood to go partying after making that stupid decision last night but…there’s no way he can say no to his friends especially when they sound so excited. He sighs. “Fine.”

 

“YAY!!!”

 

--

 

So, as it turned out, Kris didn’t plan it, he paid for it aka Master Wu is their gorgeous sponsor. Then who planned this whole thing? Who else has the ability to plan something a day before?

 

“HOLA MI AMIGOS!”

 

Yep, Chen.

 

Baekhyun can feel that the road trip is going to even when they haven’t left yet.

 

But maybe this vacation will be fun.

 

 

--

 

NOT.

 

So they finally arrived at the resort and they parked in front of the hotel they’re going to stay at and everyone’s so excited and for once Baekhyun can feel excitement too but then just when he decided to breathe in the fresh air and the cold breeze from the sea CHANYEOL (WITH KYUNGSOO) JUST HAD TO APPEAR LIKE NO IT’S NOT A HALLUCINATION CHANYEOL’S CAR IS PARKED ACROSS THEM AND HE’S GOING TO KILL HIS FRIENDS BECAUSE HE REALLY SHOULD’VE KNOWN.

 

“Oh would you look at that. Chanyeol’s here too.”

 

Baekhyun turns to his friends who looked away at the same time, busying themselves with something.

 

Baekhyun took his bag and walked away.

 

“Wait! Where are you going?!” Luhan yells.

 

“I’m going home.”

 

“But why?” Yixing asks this time.

 

“Look, I am thankful that you planned this vacation but there is no way I’m going to spend a weekend WITH HIM!” Baekhyun aggressively points to Chanyeol.

 

“But—“

 

“So, bye.”

 

“But hyung they have pools!” Sehun tries.

 

“Don’t care.” Baekhyun replies as he continues walking.

 

“And a theme park too!” Kai follows.

 

“Still don’t care.”

 

 Luhan immediately thinks of something. “They have fireworks displays.”

 

Baekhyun paused at the mention of fireworks and so did everyone else.

 

Yixing says something next. “With free barbeque.”

 

Baekhyun walks back without hesitation while mumbling, “I am going to kill all of you after this.”

 

That is if you’re not happily back in Chanyeol’s arms yet, Luhan thinks.

 

---

A/N:

wow would u look at that

an update

sorryivebeenverybusybecauseexamsbutireallytriedtofindtimetowritesoihopeyoulikethischapterandyesbaekyeolisdumbandthatiswhythisstorytakestoolongtofinishokaybyeiloveyouguysifyoucanreadthistheniapplaudyou

- gelie