---

 

Luhan sighs as the clock continues to tick, the birds continue to chirp and the world continues to get stupid. He’s a 24-year old self-employed man sitting on a couch at someone else’s home, alone (because Baekhyun is taking a shower and Chanyeol forced himself to go to work even though the world was still spinning in his head), thinking about how love could make people do things they never knew they would. He would like to have some serious conversation with this love. It’s done some very bad things.

 

Anyway, anyone who knows him can tell that Luhan’s already overstayed his welcome in this house but he refuses to go back to that stinky condo, no, absolutely not. And that’s not only because he doesn’t want to get awkward around Sehun who had kissed him last night. There are a lot more other reasons.

 

And so, after a few more sighs, he slowly opens the bathroom door and sits on the covered toilet bowl opposite the curtains of the shower area. “Baekhyun, we need to talk—“

 

“HOLY SHI—LUHAN WHAT THE ?!”

 

“I feel like we’ve never really talked these days—“

 

“ARE YOU SERIOUSLY CONVERSING WITH ME RIGHT NOW?! I’M IN THE SHOWER!”

 

“I can see that.” Luhan deadpans. “But anyway—“

 

“SO INAPPROPRIATE!”

 

“—I have a really big problem here—“

 

“OH MY GOD LUHAN GET OUT.”

 

“—and I really don’t know what to do—“

 

“LUHAN.”

 

“What?”

 

“I AM BEHIND THESE SHOWERS WITH MY BALLS HANGING.”

 

“…so what’s your point?”

 

Baekhyun pushes the curtains at the edge slightly to fit his head so he can look at Luhan. “My point is this is a totally inappropriate time, okay? Now get out so I can finish showering and then we’ll talk about your really big problem before I push these curtains open.”

 

Luhan sighs while standing up. “Alrght, fine, fine. Geez.”

 

“Thank you.” Baekhyun says, making sure Luhan’s out of the bathroom before closing the curtains.

 

Luhan walks back in. “BUT BAEK—“

 

Baekhyun groans and decides to push the curtains open. Luhan stops at the sight of his . “Obviously, I’ve seen bigger ones—“

 

Baekhyun grabs a pail of water and Luhan runs out of the bathroom immediately, laughing out loud, before the water hits him.

 

--

 

“Okay, Mr. Shower Intruder, what’s this big problem you’re too eager to tell me?”

 

“You know I like Sehun, right?” Baekhyun nods. “He kissed me.”

 

Baekhyun gasps.

 

“He was drunk.”

 

“Oh.” Baekhyun frowns. “So basically he didn’t kiss you.”

 

“What?”

 

“I mean, if he was drunk, he wouldn’t remember, right? So if the person who kissed you doesn’t even remember, then basically it never happened. Woosh. Woop.”

 

“What’s with the sound effects?”

 

“Unless he does remember. What did he say when you two talked?”

 

Luhan blinks at him.

 

“You didn’t talk to him.” Baekhyun deadpans.

 

“I can’t—“

 

“YOU DIDN’T TALK TO HIM. WHY WOULD YOU NOT TALK TO HIM?”

 

“WHY WOULD I? LIKE YOU SAID HE PROBABLY WON’T REMEMBER!”

 

“SO WHAT, THAT’S IT? HE KISSED YOU AND THEN BAM, SWOOSH—“

 

“Stop with the sound effects.”

 

“—KAPISH, NOTHING?”

 

“Well, how do I ask him? I can’t just go and say Hi, you kissed me, do you remember? No? Then forget I asked.”

 

“Is that why you’re here?” Baekhyun asks in accusation. “Because you’re avoiding him?” Luhan looks away. “Luhan.”

 

Luhan looks down. “Kinda…yeah…maybe…”

 

Baekhyun slams his fists on the table standing up. “THAT’S IT. WE’RE GOING.”

 

--

 

“TOP 5? WHAT DID YOU DO? SLEEP WITH THE PROCTOR?”

 

And Sehun slams the door shut in his face.

 

The first time Luhan comments about Sehun’s achievement and he says that.

 

That went very very well.

 

Baekhyun shakes his head while sighing. “You are an idiot.”

 

“I WAS JOKING!” Luhan yells to everyone as Baekhyun walks downstairs. “B! HELP?” He immediately ran down towards the kitchen to bother Baekhyun and Kai who are having a good quiet time not having to deal with some 29-year-old’s love problem that looks like a high school drama. “B!”

 

Baekhyun glowers at him. “Alright fine. Here.” He unfolds a piece of paper before giving it to Luhan. “Look.”

 

Luhan crooks his eyebrows at what appears to be a flyer of some event at Sehun’s school. Then it hit him that in that little time he was an intern in SMA, they have this what they call an “Open Festival” where anyone from any school can come and enjoy the events prepared by the graduating students themselves.

 

“Sehun invited me yesterday when he came at the party. We can just go there and maybe you can find time to talk to him and apologize for being such a heartless jerk who underestimated a young boy’s dedication.”

 

“You know when you put words like that, it sounds horrible.”

 

“It is horrible. Look, Lulu, you said so yourself you helped him every night to study, making sure that he doesn’t procrastinate and all. You were even confident the day of his exams. And now just because of one simple drunk kiss—“

 

Luhan’s eyes widened.

 

“You kissed?”

 

Baekhyun pauses after Kai suddenly imposed the question. Luhan looks horrified so Baekhyun just turned to Kai. “Yeah they kissed. Sehun drunk-kissed him.”

 

Luhan immediately grabs Baekhyun’s collar. “WHY WHY WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT???” He asks while shaking him.

 

Baekhyun slapped his hands away. “What, are you gonna hide it from Kai then?”

 

 Luhan turned to Kai, to very harmless Kai. “You’re right.” He sighs. “But it’s so embarrassing!”

 

“Luhan stop yelling so much, your jaw’s gonna fall out I swear.”

 

“This is no time joke!”

 

Baekhyun sighs. “Look, just come with us tomorrow.”

 

Kai nods. “I doubt Sehun will have lots to do anyways. They just do this for the extra credits and seeing his ranking, he doesn’t need extra credits. So he’ll probably be just walking around and stuff. Maybe that’s why he invited us.”

 

“I can’t come.”

 

Baekhyun is this close to pulling Luhan’s hair off.

 

“He didn’t invite me. He hates me!”

 

“And whose fault do you think is that?”

 

“…mine.”

 

“And that’s why we’re going.” Baekhyun and Kai said in unison.

 

Luhan groans as he softly bangs his head on the table. “YOU WILL NEVER TALK ME IN TO GOI—“

 

“Hey Sehun!” Baekhyun and Kai say in unison as Sehun walks in. Luhan’s eyes widen but he refuses to look up so he decided to just stay like that so that he won’t have to see Sehun and vice versa.

 

“Hey.” Sehun greets back while standing by the edge of the table. “I have something to ask you guys.” He says while glancing at them although he was quiet bothered by the tiny ball of hair on top of the table.

 

“Okay, shoot.”

 

“Do you know who I was with last night? When I got reallyyyyyy drunk?”

 

Kai crooks his eyebrows while glancing at Baekhyun who has the same expression as well. “Well, you disappeared after we danced and I ended up somewhere in the kitchen so I’m guessing Yixing took you somewhere?”

 

Baekhyun glances at Luhan and smirks before leaning closer. “Why though? Did you, by any chance, ed out somewhere?”

 

“No, I seem to have kissed someone last night…but I can’t remember who.”

 

Luhan’s head suddenly sprung up to life. Baekhyun, Sehun and Kai immediately turned to his shocked face. “What?”

 

“By any chance, did I kiss you?”

 

It took exactly five seconds before the kitchen was filled with Luhan’s hysterical laugh and they just stared at him because nobody, even Albert Einstein, could explain why Luhan found that question funny that he has to release a large amount of HAHAHAHA’s into the air like the air was not polluted enough.

 

“WHY WOULD I LET YOU KISS ME? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.”

 

Baekhyun is not just going to pull all of his hair off. He’s going to cut his head off.

 

Sehun isn’t actually amused with how Luhan make it sound so ridiculous and impossible. “Hm. You’re right.”

 

Luhan nods while chuckling. “Yes. Please.”

 

“Besides, why would I kiss you anyway?” Luhan paused.

 

Oooooh.

 

Apply cold water to burnt area.

 

Sehun walks out of the kitchen with a smirk.

 

Baekhyun sighs while tapping Luhan on the shoulder. “You’re coming tomorrow.”

 

Luhan crook his eyebrows. “What? No! Like I said, he doesn’t even want me there.”

 

“You don’t understand, do you?”

 

“What now?”

 

“You just denied a very very important detail about his night and now he’s going to start asking everyone who came with him last night and there’s a 99.9% chance that some of them are going to…lie about it.”

 

“Why? Why would they do that?”

 

Baekhyun glowers at him. “If Channing Tatum came up to you and asked you if he kissed you, would you deny that?”

 

“…no…?”

 

“Exactly.”

 

Luhan gasps. “Oh God.” Baekhyun nods. “Now he’s Channing Tatum level? Oh hell no!”

 

Baekhyun glares at him. “I will burn you.”

 

 

--

 

 

The rest of the day didn’t go so well since the moment it hit Luhan that he’s absolutely clueless about his own feelings and the people around him, particularly Sehun, and that he’s the one who’s making himself miserable so for the whole afternoon, he kept talking to his reflection on the mirror.

 

Baekhyun isn’t sure that’s helping because for one…he’s talking to his reflection on the mirror.

 

Other than that, what bothers Baekhyun more is the fact that he hasn’t been seeing Yixing lately. Sure he came to the party last night but he barely even talked to him (though that maybe because he was preoccupied with some other things). Besides, during this time of the day, he should be here but instead he’s out in no one knows where.

 

Kai also told him that because he comes home late, he doesn’t really see Yixing. Sehun is always at school so no use about that either. However, Luhan told him, before he went all mental, that sometimes Yixing would be at the living room, watching movies, and the next Luhan will find him nowhere. Then he’ll come back sometime at night and whenever Luhan asks where he’s been, he would always say trying to get some air.

 

And Baekhyun knows Yixing more than anyone here do and sure as hell he won’t go out and come back at night just to get some air. But he tried not worrying about it that much since Yixing probably just misses Kris and he may be also at fault for being busy with the whole thing with Chanyeol.

 

“Hey, B, phone call for you.”

 

Baekhyun crooks his eyebrows at Luhan’s already crooked ones. “And…that…pissed you off?”

 

Kai chuckles at the side. “He was expecting Sehun to magically call for some reason so he could magically answer it and magically apologize.”

 

“Okay, shush, I never said magically.”

 

“Luhan, what bothers me more than you saying the word magically because you’ve said that a lot of times whenever you finish watching a Disney movie—“ Luhan gasps incredulously. “—is the fact that you want to apologize to Sehun over the phone.”

 

“Why would that bother you? I’m apologizing!”

 

“Over the phone?”

 

Luhan stares at him. “Yeah, you see, you gotta try harder than that.”

 

“You really have no idea about these things, do you?”

 

“What things?”

 

Baekhyun gasps in surprise, even more surprised than he was when Brad Pitt came back biting a chopped finger of a dead person somewhere when Baekhyun was sure he threw a frisbee for him to catch and not a ing chopped finger. “You’re 24!”

 

“Stop bringing up my age! Age doesn’t matter!”

 

“Honey, a year ago you were all ‘oh my god I can’t date him he’s too young’.”

 

“Whoa,” Kai mutters. “If Sehun heard that, he’s gonna set Sherlock on fire.”

 

Baekhyun and Luhan stare at him, clueless. “Why, why would he do that?”

 

“Well, because he bought Sherlock as a sign that he’s old enough to be responsible and to be able to raise his own pet.”

 

“Raise his own pet? I fed it.” Baekhyun argues.

 

“And I always clean up its mess!” Luhan says afterwards. Kai gestured for them to forget about it.

 

“Anyway, Luhan, you can’t just apologize to him over the phone. That would look like you’re not sincere enough.”

 

“But I am!”

 

“Yeah, but it doesn’t look like that.” Baekhyun glares at him. “Just ing come tomorrow and ing apologize to him face to face would you?!”

 

The phone on Baekhyun’s hand emitted a noise after the caller supposedly hangs up and the whole living room was filled with silence.

 

Until, finally, Baekhyun spoke, asking Luhan, “Who was it?”

 

Luhan shrugs. “The brother who can afford an overseas call.”

 

“Oh crap.” Baekhyun murmurs. He snatches the phone from Luhan’s hands and stands up to make the call somewhere away from all the negative vibes Luhan is sending out.

 

Kai turned to Baekhyun after a while. “Hey! You’re going to have to pay for that!” Luhan gives him a look. “What? He’s Elliot Van der Gilt.” Luhan decided to ignore him and hopped on the couch, letting out a heavy sigh as he settles down. “Do you really like Sehun?”

 

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

 

“It’s just…you just don’t seem like the type who—“

 

“Who would like Sehun?”

 

“—who would fall in love.” Kai continues, giving Luhan a shock.

 

“I—what—WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT? WHAT IS YOUR BASIS FOR THAT JUDGEMENT?”

 

“Okay, hey, no need to overreact. It was just an opinion. If it’s not true, then that’s great.”

 

“But still!” Luhan yells. “Is that what Sehun thinks?”

 

“That’s what everybody thinks.” Luhan gasps.

 

Baekhyun went around the couch. “So, I just got off the phone—“

 

“B! DO I NOT LOOK LIKE THE TYPE WHO WOULD MEET SOMEONE AND FALL IN LOVE?”

 

Baekhyun stared at him, thinking how ridiculous that question sounds but then he realized it wasn’t actually. “Did you just wake up from a coma that you realized that?” Luhan gasps again and Baekhyun looks away. “So, anyway, I just got off the phone with my brother and he wants us, me and Chanyeol, to come to London to have dinner with the whole family, which really, is just three of my brothers.” He snorts.

 

Kai crooks his eyebrows. “Huh. Why can’t you have dinner here?” Baekhyun gives him a look.

 

“That’s not important.”

 

“Right!” Luhan suddenly yells. “What’s important is the fact that none of you seem to think that I would fall in love with a guy!”

 

Kai sighs. “Look, it’s not a big deal.”

 

“Oh but it is!”

 

Baekhyun takes a sit beside Kai, facing Luhan who seemed to have gotten the shock of his life. “Okay fine, if it’s that important, I’ll tell you why. You just…don’t give out the vibe of someone who would be a main character in a romance film. Or a novel. You know? You’re like the side character.”

 

Luhan’s eyes widen. “BUT WHY?”

 

“Um, because, you look like someone who only likes to fool around and stuff. Cause you know, you’re pretty, and obviously you know that…so…you can get whoever you want. Like, you don’t have to go through such trouble of having to start a conversation with someone cause God knows how many guys would come running to you in a club.  And of course, you’d pick a hot and gorgeous guy and you two will have drunken . But then that’s it. The next day you’ll be out doing the same routine because obviously, he’s not the prettiest guy.” Baekhyun snorts. “He was just the prettiest of the bunch.”

 

Luhan’s mouth hangs low. “YOU DO THAT!” Baekhyun looks away. “But why do you get to have a Chanyeol?!”

 

Kai leans forward in his seat. “Well, because compared to you, Baekhyun looks like someone who would go to a club and drink because he just got dumped.”

 

“Then what do you think is the reason I would go to a club?”

 

“…to fool around.” Baekhyun and Kai say in unison and immediately looked away. Luhan groans in frustration while leaning against the back of the couch.

 

--

 

Chanyeol stares at his phone. Days like this when he has to go to work and sit on his bored all day is the hardest part of living as a young 24-year old CEO. He wants to call Baekhyun so bad. He wants to hear his voice. He just wants to be with him all day. But he doesn’t want to be the clingy obsessive type in the relationship (even though he really is). And besides, even if he did call, Baekhyun would just yell at him for not doing that one thing he’s good at properly (of course he’s not talking about ) and he’d have to pretend Baekhyun’s saying some sweet things to him. Man, being engaged to Baekhyun is tough.

 

But it makes him happy. He has never been this happy in his life. For the first time, he can feel his future.

 

And he wants to make it all simple for Baekhyun. He wants to give Baekhyun the greatest world he could ever ask for. Of course that won’t happen unless he tells his mom he’s gay ever since 6^th grade. Just thinking about is shaking him up but he has to be strong because he wants to give Baekhyun the greatest world he could ask for. He really didn’t have to say that but he had to.

 

His phone rings and he immediately frowns seeing Sehun’s name on the screen. “What?” He answers half-heartedly.

 

“Hey, you’re coming tomorrow right?”

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Chanyeol can feel Sehun’s grin with the interval.

 

“Then you can help me out with something.”

 

He hears a knock and he looks up at Yoonhye standing by the door with a man. “Alright, call me later, I gotta go.” He hangs up the phone and immediately stands up to greet his guest. “If you’re here then that means you have some news.” The man before him is a private investigator he hired just three days ago when he realized something was happening behind their backs.

 

The man takes out an envelope, dropping it on Chanyeol’s desk. “These are the pictures I took of him for three days and it seems, Mr. Park, you were right about your suspicion.”

 

Chanyeol’s eyebrows are crooked while opening the envelope to take a look at the pictures. He just couldn’t imagine something like this would actually be true. It all seemed so overwhelming.

 

 

--

 

 

“If you can eat a…” Kai starts looking around for something that can pass up as a challenge and fortunately so the banana presented itself. “Whole banana without it cutting it off, then I’ll acknowledge that!”

 

Luhan gulps. “FINE! This challenge is a piece of cake!”

 

Baekhyun groans softly towards the stove. “You know I did not agree to cook dinner so you two can do some banana eating contest.”

 

“It’s bending! It’s bending!”

 

“And obviously no one’s listening to me so what the hell.” He murmurs as he goes back to cooking the curry, leaving Kai with his It’s bending battle cry and Luhan with his table-punching strategy.

 

“So, you get it?” Sehun asks Chanyeol while walking past the kitchen. Almost. Sehun and Chanyeol stare at the weird freak show happening inside the kitchen.

 

“That’s some mental image you’re giving out here, Luhan.” Chanyeol mumbles indiscreetly.

 

Luhan’s gaze switches towards Sehun while he mentally panicking since he seems to feel more conscious around Sehun nowadays. “Well, you know, it’s not every day you see a person a banana like that.” Sehun comments before walking away. Chanyeol shrugs and decides to walk towards that beautiful back cooking behind them.

 

Luhan points at Kai, looking a little annoyed. Then he threw the banana on the floor.

 

Okay, maybe really annoyed.

 

“YOU! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!”

 

“WHAT’D I DO NOW?!”

 

Chanyeol slipped his hands around Baekhyun’s stomach…in which Baekhyun’s slapped away. “I’m cooking.”

 

Chanyeol laughs. “Why don’t you ever cook in our house?”

 

“Oh like there’s food inside your fridge.” Baekhyun teases.

 

“IT’S BECAUSE YOU MADE ME DO THIS BANANA EATING THING!”

 

“WHY ARE YOU GETTING SO MAD?!”

 

“WELL HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF SOMEONE YOU LIKE SAW YOU A BANANA?!”

 

“I’d give the eyebrows.”

 

“ERT!”

 

Chanyeol turns towards them. “Wait, Luhan, do you, perhaps, like Sehun?”

 

Luhan groans at him. “Please, are we going through this again?!”

 

Chanyeol chuckles, feeling overwhelmed all of a sudden. “This is so great!”

 

Luhan snorts. “OH PLEASE. LIKE THIS WHOLE THING IS SOME PLOT TO A ROMANCE DRAMA.”

 

“No, I mean, you just don’t seem like the type who would actually—“ Luhan throws out his arms, groaning, before walking out of the kitchen, leaving a startled Chanyeol blinking at his back in surprise. “What? What did I do?”

 

“Yeah, you don’t want to go towards that direction.” Kai tells him. “Again.”

 

“Oh! You told him!”

 

Baekhyun laughs behind him. “Apparently it’s a sensitive topic.”

 

“Yeah, who would’ve thought?”

 

“I CAN HEAR YOU!” Luhan yells from the living room. The front door opens. “Oh hey Yixing!”

 

Baekhyun pauses abruptly, eyebrows crooked. “Yixing?” His ears immediately twitch when he hears Yixing’s voice. He dropped the ladle on the pot and ran outside the kitchen to greet Yixing.

 

Chanyeol glanced at the stove. “Um, Baek?” He calls nervously since he left the pot boiling, didn’t even think of turning the stove off first before running away. “Baekhyun?” He calls again, eyes wide while staring at the pot. He turned to Kai for help but the little douche just looked away.

 

“Yixing!” Yixing turns around to see Baekhyun coming over, looking worried. “Where have you been? I’ve been here since morning and you didn’t come home. It’s already past dinner time.”

 

Yixing chuckles in surprise. “Whoa, Baek, it’s not like I’m 15 or something. I just roamed around Seoul, that’s all.”

 

“From morning to night? Well, you could’ve asked one of us to come with you.”

 

“I can’t. You all had things to do. Besides, I can manage. Hello? I’m Zhang Yixing.”

 

“Yeah, forgetful Zhang Yixing.” Baekhyun teases.

 

Yixing playfully ruffles his hair. “I’m gonna go wash up.” Baekhyun nods, letting Yixing walk away.

 

“Baek!” Chanyeol yells from the kitchen. Again.

 

Baekhyun turns around, annoyed. “WHAT?!”

 

“You didn’t turn off the stove!”

 

“Then turn it off! Geez.”  Baekhyun replies while walking back inside the kitchen.

 

“I think it’s fine even if you don’t cook at our house.”

 

 

--

 

The morning of SMA’s Open House, while everybody else are already waiting at the parking lot, Baekhyun’s ready to throw a bucket of hot water on Luhan’s sleeping stance knowing that he’s just faking it so he doesn’t have to go.

 

“Luhan, I will not hesitate to throw a bucket on you if you don’t get up this instant.”

 

Luhan pushes the sheets away as he rolls over to look at Baekhyun standing with his hands on his hip. “You know I don’t want to go, just leave me alone!”

 

“You know we’ll drag you out here in your pajamas, messy hair and ugly face even if you don’t want to. Now, do you really want Sehun to see you like that?” Luhan rolls away, hiding his face with the blanket. Baekhyun rolled his eyes before pulling the blanket out completely. “GET UP AND STOP ACTING LIKE A KID! YOU’RE 24!”

 

“Okay okay! I’m 24! I’M OLD! I SHOULDN’T FEEL SO BOTHERED FOR LIKING SOMEONE FOR THE FIRST TIME!”

 

Baekhyun blinks at him before nodding in agreement. “Fair argument.” Then his gaze fell on the jeans Luhan’s already wearing and smirked. “Wow, would you look at that? You’re already all dressed up.”

 

Luhan glances down at his clothes and groans. “So close.”

 

“If you went through such trouble of waking up early in the morning to get ready then just go. Really, Luhan, you’re the one who’s making this complicated.”

 

“Stop complaining!” Luhan yells before hopping down from the bed. “I liked you better when you’re the one who had all the love problems.”

 

“I apologize to your tooshie.” Baekhyun says mockingly while watching Luhan fix his hair in front of the mirror.

 

“My tooshie is better than yours.”

 

“My tooshie don’t think so.”

 

Luhan playfully slaps Baekhyun’s . “Shut up and just walk.”

 

“Oh, now look who’s excited!”

 

“I am not!”

 

--

 

It turns out that even though this whole trip is supposed to reconcile Sehun and Luhan, the attention all shifted to Baekhyun once they entered the school because it was his first time to actually see the school in broad daylight.

 

“But you’ve been here before?” Luhan argues while keeping an eye on Baekhyun in case he gets lost since kid doesn’t have a sense of direction at all.

 

“Yeah but not in its natural state!”

 

Luhan glances away from him for a moment to look around.

 

“It’s pretty grand.” Yixing says.

 

“It’s always grand.” Kai says beside him. “It’s sponsored and stuff.”

 

It’s not just some simple grand, it’s really grand. It’s like a mix of a carnival and a bazaar with all the flying colors and loud music. Luhan glanced back to where Baekhyun was running around while asking Kai, “I wonder where’s Sehun.”

 

“He must be with his class. I’m not sure what they’re doing this year so I guess we’ll just have to find out.”

 

“So, what’d you do when you were still a student here?” Luhan continues with his eyes slowly gazing away from Baekhyun and towards a stall he finds very interesting.

 

“Well…”

 

Luhan gasps. “OH MY GOD.”

 

“5 QUESTIONS FOR 1 PHOTOCARD OF SEHUN OR KAI! IT’S YOUR CHOICE! WE HAVE DIFFERENT VARITIES OF THEM!”

 

Luhan turns to Kai. “THEY SELL PHOTOCARDS OF YOU AND SEHUN?!”

 

Kai scratches his neck in embarrassment. “Yeah, it’s a recurring trend every year.”

 

Luhan looks back to the stall while laughing. “They even have a poll!”

 

Kai’s attention is now towards a familiar loud voice from afar. It turns out Baekhyun had encountered some problems with a group of students. He immediately ran towards them seeing as Chanyeol isn’t around to save his sorry .

 

Luhan, on the other hand, was eventually drawn towards the stall in mere curiosity of the pictures of the two since he has never seen many pictures of them both. He was busy scanning the polaroids and photocards of his two friends at the side when he overheard the little event happening between the girls beside him.

 

“His full name?”

 

“Oh Sehun!”

 

“Correct! His section when he was a freshman?”

 

“1F!”

 

“Correct!” Luhan crooks his eyebrows, slightly overwhelmed at the fact that these girls would go through the trouble of memorizing every bit of Sehun’s life when he doesn’t even dig girls. The world is really imbalanced.

 

“His height?”

 

“182 cm!”

 

“Correct! What’s the name of his pet cat?”

 

There was a pause. “Pet cat?”

 

“Yes, his present pet cat!”

 

“Wait, I know this I know this!”

 

“If you don’t get this, the person who will be able to answer this question will receive the Sehun poster instead!”

 

“What?! No!” The girl protests while the girls behind him starts whispering with interest. Luhan sighs. “SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU! I’M TRYING TO THINK!”

 

“It’s Sherlock.” Luhan murmurs while looking at the pictures and it took him approximately half-a-minute before realizing that he did not murmur that, he actually said that out loud. Everyone was looking at him when he finally turned to face them. “Um.”

 

“CORRECT! YOU WIN A SEHUN POSTER!” 

 

“Wha—“ Luhan didn’t have time to protest as the facilitator immediately handed him the poster and then took a picture of his ugly face holding a poster. “Wait, what’s that picture for?!”

 

“Oh we post the pictures of the winners at the side!”

 

“What?! No!”

 

--

 

Luhan doesn’t hear actual HAHAHAHA’s from his so-called friends who are looking at a picture of him posted under the list of WINNERS but he can see their backs arching with the laughter they’re holding in so he just lets it go and says, “Go on and laugh.”

 

And the world has released a year supply of laughter from his friends who actually look like they’re going to lose their breaths soon and die (which works in his favor to be honest).

 

“You actually—have a poster of Sehun’s face!” Jongdae yells in between laughter, making Luhan want to bury him and his stupid laughing face six-feet-under.  Luhan makes an annoyed face at him.

 

Kai has his eyebrows crooked after laughing. “Hey, why would you want a poster of Sehun? You don’t want my poster?”

 

“Why would I want one? I see your face every day.”

 

Kai nods with a smirk. “Oh but so is Sehun. But of course he’s an exception because you can’t get enough of him.”  Luhan snarls at him.

 

“Hey, guys.” They all turned to Chanyeol who had just arrived from a long meeting. He still wore his suit and his hair was still styled up perfectly.

 

“Hey!” They greeted back in unison.

 

Chanyeol looks around. “Where’s Baekhyun?”

 

And now they’re looking around.

 

Kai groans. “Ugh! Again?!”

 

“Come on, you were supposed to look after him!”

 

“Me?! I thought you were!”

 

“Stop arguing!” Luhan interrupts. “Let’s just call him.” He immediately dials Baekhyun’s number…and then takes out a phone from his pocket. “Okay, I have his phone.”

 

“That’s okay,” Chanyeol finally says. “I’ll go look for him in the main building. Just call me if you found him. I need to tell him something important.” Luhan blinks at Chanyeol retreating figure.

 

--

 

Baekhyun found the school’s Hall of Fame. It’s just a simple big room with people’s face framed along with their contributions listed below their pictures. They’re the ones who made a big and vital contribution to the school’s image and reputation. He saw Kai’s earlier. Although, it makes him sad that his dancing skills weren’t acknowledged but the rest of the list put a smile on his face since he can imagine Kai working hard with a smile with his face because he liked what he was doing. And it was nice to know he wasn’t pressured into doing anything. Just pressured to hide something very important to him.

 

He’s been standing in front of Chanyeol’s frame for 10 minutes now. He doesn’t look that different in high school but it gave off a different feel. In his graduation picture, he felt so far away. That if they were to meet in that period, he’d be just another stranger for him and nothing would come after an accidental eye-contact.

 

So somehow, he’s glad he and Luhan decided to move at October of last year, in that house, where it all began because he couldn’t imagine himself being happy like this.

 

He reads the list. He smiles at the words Ferret Club President. Imagining a little Chanyeol holding a little ferret warms him up inside. He was also President of the Photography club and External Vice President of the Student Council for four years. His achievements includes a champion representative of the school for the Mathletics, highest WPA in the Engineering department and placing 2^nd in the Annual Research Competition with his motion about the portable handgun for the improvement of the safety of the people.

 

He was amazing. He still is.

 

He starts walking around to see more pictures. Then he noticed a small opening from a door across the room. He slowly approached the door and opened it slowly. It was empty. There was nothing but a white piano standing in the middle.

 

--

 

The main building is usually isolated during these events so it would make no sense to look for Baekhyun here but he doesn’t seem to be the type who would choose where he wants to get lost at.

 

The hallways are still familiar to him so he doesn’t have any problem making his way around. The engineer of this place has quite an affinity for Victorian era so at one point everything looks like some castle . Thank God he didn’t get carried away or this whole place would look like Hogwarts and they’d be wearing cloaks to school.

 

What’s great about the whole infrastructure is that if you make a little sound, it travels around in an echo. So it’ll at least give you a warning of who’s coming. Piano tunes are no exception. His ears twitch at the faint piano tune from afar. It isn’t probably Baekhyun but he at least has to go somewhere so he decided to find where it came from.

 

He finds himself afterwards walking to a dead-end and in here, the piano tune is clearer. He stops by the door. The voice singing is the only confirmation he needed.

 

He doesn’t always get to hear Baekhyun sing. The first he ever did was when Baekhyun was singing to Sehun in the hospital when that dumb kid broke his leg. Other times, it would be when he’s focusing on something, like a book, and he’d hum some tune and pour out words here and there. But he would immediately stop when he notices Chanyeol listening to him. And Chanyeol never brought it up. He thinks it’s because for him it’s not a big deal. That he himself doesn’t know how great his voice is.

 

And I am feeling so small

 

It was over my head

 

I know nothing at all

 

He closes his eyes to drown into the unfamiliar tune and angelic voice. The door is closed so he doesn’t clearly hear the words but that’s not important because every word that comes out of Baekhyun’s mouth for him is beautiful.

 

And I will stumble and fall

 

I'm still learning to love

 

Just starting to crawl

 

The tune stops abruptly. “. I forgot the lyrics!”

 

Chanyeol chuckles behind the door. He sees a girl, probably from the high school department, dressed up in an Alice costume holding a basket of donuts. He quietly calls for the girl.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Hey, mister.”

 

“How much are those donuts?”

 

--

 

Luhan is amazed that even to the gym there are still numerous stalls around. It’s like the whole school is a carnival. Which, bottom line, makes it harder for him to look for Baekhyun. And that kid talked him into coming so he can finally apologize to Sehun but then look what he’s doing now, looking for him.

 

He looks at the building beside him. Baekhyun might have decided to find a quiet place and the isolated building is a perfect place for that. So he decided to enter the building, having no idea of what really awaits him.

 

The classrooms served as their preparatory rooms. It’s where some students take a rest after completing a shift and other stuffs like that. If ever these students don’t graduate, they at least have skills for marketing.

 

He walked up the stairs but immediately stopped when he heard Sehun’s voice. And since he’s not ready to face him yet, he immediately ran down and hid under the stairs. He can hear Sehun’s voice and another voice, a woman’s voice.

 

Which shouldn’t be weird since he’s a human and it’s perfectly normal for men and women to talk to each other.

 

But then it feels weird to catch Sehun in the act of conversing with a woman. Right. He doesn’t really give out a homoual vibe. Luhan gasps. Maybe he’s actually bi?!

 

He shakes the thoughts away. There’s no use asking your own dumb head that. He peeks from below the stairs and watches as Sehun and the girl walk away. But then the girl started smiling at him flirtingly. And his feet immediately starting walking to follow them…secretly.

 

Oh how he just hates those subtle touches that girl is giving.

 

Like girl, you’re not obvious enough!

 

And then Sehun doesn’t even notice!

 

I KNEW IT!

 

I KNEW YOU WERE THAT KIND OF GUY!

 

He screams in his head.

 

So this is how Sehun interacts with people.

 

Interesting.

 

He nods. The two stopped to talk to some friends in the hallway so Luhan leaned against the wall while waiting.

 

But the wall didn’t turn out to be a wall but actually a door.

 

And he stumbled down inside a classroom.

 

Some of the students dressed up in some costume looked down at him. And then one of the bunch spoke. “Oh! You must be that freshman who’ll help us!” The students immediately helped him stand up. “You’re late!”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

One of them threw clothes at him while other pushed him towards a curtained area. “Change into those quickly and help us out here!”

 

Luhan pushed the curtains open. “Wait, you have it all wrong! I’m not even a student here!”

 

“Oh, please, you’re not getting out of duty this time!” A girl yells back before forcefully closing the curtains again.

 

Luhan is in awe. What the hell is he supposed to do now?

 

He spreads out the clothes.

 

Or dress.

 

“.”

 

THIS ISN’T SOMETHING I SHOULD BE DOING.

 

THIS IS SOMETHING BAEKHYUN WOULD DO.

 

I DON’T WANT TO WEAR A ING DRESS!

 

He is freaking out even though he face says otherwise.

 

“Hey! Freshman! Are you done yet?!”

 

“Wait the hell up!”

 

“Are you cursing at your senior?!”

 

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Luhan sighs. And then he realizes. “My senior? I’m 24 years old!”

 

“What’s that?!”

 

“Nothing!” Oh lady, you will never get anywhere with that attitude.

 

First things first. He needs to get out of here. But that’s not possible with all the students lingering around behind these curtains. They seem to be doing some café setting in the room.

 

…

 

Oh yeah, of course it’s a café.

 

Probably some Lolita café.

 

Because what the hell is up with this dress. It’s all pink and laces and ribbons and ughgjshgujhgejgnjkehgue vomit ahfsdjhfdjkgndijkgh vomit ahfuiwehfieuhge vomiiiiiit.

 

WHERE IS BAEKHYUN WHEN YOU NEED HIM AND HIS TOOSHIE SKILLS?

 

After 1 minute, he’s finally wearing the dress.

 

And he nods.

 

“Well, it looks good on me. This is probably what it feels like to be Baekhyun.”

 

He nods again.

 

“I think I look even better. I am taller and prettier.”

 

“HEY FRESHMAN ARE YOU NOT DONE YET?!”

 

But of course, Baekhyun has the only guts to actually walk around wearing a dress.

 

“Oh gosh, how does he make himself go out like this?” But that’s just typical Baekhyun—willing to go through drastic measures for something he knows he really wants and would never regret.

 

He sighs. He never had something he really wants.

 

Or he does.

 

Because why else would his heart flutter while thinking about that person? It’s a scary feeling—love. It’s scary because it makes you do things you never thought you would do in your entire life.

 

So hats off to Baekhyun.

 

He inhales deeply before finally opening the curtains. The girl who kept on screaming at him sighed in relief. “Oh goodness, thank God. We thought you were never going to come out. Come here, here’s what you’re going to do—“

 

Luhan pushed the girl away softly and immediately ran towards the door. “HEY!” He heard the students yell. He turned around and saw them running after him so he quickened his pace.

 

GODDAMNIT THESE HEELS ARE A KILLER

 

HOW THE HELL DOES BAEKHYUN WALK IN THESE?!

 

He stopped for a second to take the heels off and immediately started running even faster.

 

STOP CHASING ME! I’M JUST A 24-YEAR OLD GUY IN AN UNREQUITED LOVE!

 

--

 

Baekhyun thinks he already probably overstayed his welcome. He might even be trespassing private property already. The door opens suddenly and he falls down from his chair in shock. He immediately stands up straight, ready to make up excuses and when the girl who came in ignored his little effort and only placed a basket of donuts on top of the piano before walking out of the room quietly.

 

“Um.” Baekhyun says. “Okay.”

 

The door opens again and big monkey stuffed toy immediately catches his attention. “Oh another one—“ He pauses and chuckles when he noticed the giant hiding his face behind the stuffed toy. He giggles to himself. So full of .

 

Chanyeol stops in front of him, both hands holding up the monkey’s arms. “Hello, Baekhyun-shii!”

 

Baekhyun chuckles. “Chanyeol.”

 

“Oh! Who’s Chanyeol? My name’s Monki!”

 

Baekhyun grins widely. “Monki? Very creative Chanyeol.”

 

Chanyeol peeks from behind the stuffed animal, giving him a wide green. “I couldn’t think of anything else.” Baekhyun smiles at him. “Here. I bought it for you.”

 

Baekhyun takes the monkey and hugs it. “Why would you buy me this?”

 

“Because we have the same ears. So you can think of me whenever you look at it.”

 

“But I always think of you!”

 

“Don’t kid yourself.”

 

“You’re right.” Baekhyun shrugs.

 

They stare at each other for a few seconds until a smile forms in their lips and Baekhyun jumped on Chanyeol’s arms to hug him. “You know I love you.”

 

Chanyeol hugs him tightly, breathing in all of him. He can never get enough of Baekhyun. “And you know I love you as well.”

 

And then the door slams open ruining the whole atmosphere.

 

“Oh hey it’s you guys! Don’t mind me!” Luhan yells while panting.

 

Baekhyun walks towards him with a worried face. “Lulu? What happened?”

 

Luhan waves his hand. “Oh nothing. Just some accident.” He heard some footsteps getting closer and his first instinct was to run towards the piano and hide under it. Baekhyun and Chanyeol glance at each other, both as confused as the other. The door opens.

 

“Oh, Sehunnie!” Baekhyun greets with a smile.

 

Luhan’s eyes widen. “Sehun?” He whispers. He looks up at Baekhyun who’s looking down at him and gestured for him to keep quiet. Baekhyun then looked back up to Sehun.

 

“Hey. I was looking all over for you guys.” The others came in after Sehun.

 

“Oh you found Baekhyun!” Kai yells in relief.

 

“Where’s Luhan?” Yixing asks and they all glanced at each other in confusion.

 

Sehun being the most confused. “Luhan came?”

 

Baekhyun clears his throat. “Um, uh, yeah, we asked him…to come…”

 

Sehun nods. “That’s okay. I have to leave anyway. I’m taking Taeyeon to this place.”

 

“Taeyeon?” Chanyeol asks. “Why?”

 

“Oh, remember that thing about that person I kissed when I got drunk the other night?” Everyone nods in unison. “Yeah, it turns out it was her. So, I’ll be seeing you guys around later.”

 

“Oh.” Baekhyun says, trying not to sound too disappointed. “Alright, well, take care.”

 

Sehun waves goodbye at them before disappearing behind the door. The room was silent for a moment until Baekhyun knelt down beside the piano. “Lulu, are you not coming out?”

 

Luhan was staring into space. “Is he gone?”

 

“Of course he’s gone!”

 

Luhan nods, still not taking a glance at Baekhyun and the rest of the people around. “Okay.”

 

“What do you mean okay? Didn’t you hear what he said?”

 

Luhan is looking up at him now. “Yeah I heard what he said.”

 

“Aren’t you gonna run after him? He’s going on a date with some liar! This is exactly what I told you would happen!”

 

Kai bends over. “Come on Luhan, just come out.”

 

“But what’s the point?” Luhan argues. “I’m sure he won’t even believe me!”

 

“That’s the point! That is why we came here.” Baekhyun tells him. “Lulu, I’m not going to let you regret this forever. You know you want to run after him. It’s better than regretting doing it than regretting not doing it.”

 

Luhan pouts in exasperation. “Why do you have say those kind of words?!” Baekhyun grins at him before helping him get out. “Alright, you guys, if this whole things ends up like , please promise me that we’ll just forget about this, okay? I don’t want to hear jokes about this 10 years from now!”

 

Kai shrugs. “You have our word.”

 

Yixing leans over the window. “Hey, you might want to start running now. They’re already at the parking lot.”

 

Luhan gasps and Baekhyun pushed him. Luhan starts running towards the door, not even look back, but looking ahead on something he’s looking forward to, on something they’re all looking forward to.

 

Yeah that’s right, finally an end to all the dumbness.

 

“Well,” Kai sighs. “Guess we should all head out to the gym?”

 

“Let’s.” Baekhyun seconds and started walking after Kai.

 

“I’ll catch up, I have to make a phone call.” Yixing says and the rest nods at him except for Chanyeol who seem to have remembered something.

 

Baekhyun turns back to Chanyeol who have stopped walking. “Chanyeol?”

 

“I have to make a phone call too.” Chanyeol holds Baekhyun’s face and leans in for a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

 

“If it’s that important then fine. Don’t take too long. Come back with Yixing too.”

 

Chanyeol smiled at him.

 

--

 

This will probably be the most pathetic love confession of the century. Luhan couldn’t think of a more pathetic scenario than a man dressed up as a Lolita running towards the love of his life to finally tell him how he feels.

 

But it all just fades away when he sees Sehun’s back figure facing him. He doesn’t want to be the one looking at him from afar. He wants to be beside him.

 

See, that’s cheesy.

 

This better turn out good.

 

Alright, here goes nothing.

 

“OH SEHUN!”

 

Sehun and Taeyeon stop to turn around at the call. Sehun crooks his eyebrows at the weird image of some Lolita until he noticed it was Luhan when he started stomping towards them. “Luha—“ The N never came because as soon as Luhan got close enough, he pulled Sehun down with his tie and kissed him on the lips. Taeyeon watched with her eyes wide as if her eyeballs are going to fall out soon.

 

When Luhan finally broke the kiss, Sehun was frozen in his spot.

 

“If you still don’t know who you really kissed last night after that then I don’t know anymore! Do you know how hard this is?! I feel pathetic! Confessing while wearing a dress and a wig is surely not romantic! Oh did I say confessing?! That’s right! I like you Oh Sehun!”

 

Sehun blinks at him.

 

Luhan turned around, face red in embarrassment, and knelt down on the ground. “Oh my God oh my God what the did I just do, what the what the what the . That was so embarrassing . I don’t know anymore. . Ground, please swallow me!”

 

“Luhan.”

 

“NO STOP! DON’T TALK TO ME! DON’T EVEN LOOK AT ME I’M SO PATHETIC!”

 

“Luhan, I know you were the one I kissed that night.”

 

Luhan can feel his heart slowly beating its way out of his ribs. He slowly turned around to look at Sehun. “W-what? Since when?”

 

“Since the morning I woke up?” Sehun replies with a smile. “I wanted to talk to you about it but I noticed how awkward you were around me so I decided not to bring it up because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

 

It’s a miracle how he’s still alive now that he’s sure his heart just fell out of his ribs.

 

“But…But you said—and her—“ Luhan turns to Taeyeon.

 

Taeyeon grins at him. “I knew!”

 

“What?!” Luhan turns back to Sehun in surprise.

 

“Yeah, she did. Chanyeol as well. And Baekhyun. Actually, everyone does.”

 

Luhan can feel his jaw falling off. “W-W-W-W-W-WHAT?!”

 

“I figured you’d just deny if I ask you personally so it had to come from you.”

 

“So, you guys were just playing with me?!”

 

“You don’t have to put it like that.”

 

Luhan looks down on the ground. Sehun gestures for Taeyeon to give them privacy so Taeyeon left quietly.

 

“Was it true?” Sehun asks Luhan while kneeling down beside him.

 

“What?”

 

“When you said you like me.”

 

Luhan can feel his face burning. “Yeah, fine! It’s true! So?! It’s not like you’re obliged to reciprocate it or anything!”

 

“You’re unfair.” Sehun says. “I liked you first but you confessed first.”

 

I’M GONNA EXPLODE

 

Luhan groans. “Why are you saying that?!”

 

“You’re so cute.”

 

“Hey! I’m still older than you!”

 

“Yet you can’t even confess right.”

 

“Well I’m sorry if it’s not your ideal confession, Oh Sehun!”

 

“Anything can be my ideal confession if it’s from you.”

 

“OKAY SERIOUSLY STOP!”

 

Sehun laughs at Luhan before grabbing a hold of his hand. Luhan looks great in that dress but he prefers the Luhan who dresses lame because after all that’s who he fell in love with.

 

--

 

The both of them can feel the tension around the room but none of them wants to acknowledge it first.

 

“Let’s go. They’re probably waiting.” Yixing says but Chanyeol doesn’t let him get past the door. “What are you doing?”

 

“Answer my question first.” Chanyeol replies sternly.

 

“It’s none of your business.”

 

“It is my business if it involves Baekhyun’s safety!”

 

Yixing gives him a look. “What?”

 

“I know you have those secret meetings with Amanda and I don’t, I really don’t want to jump into conclusions so I’m asking you properly right now Yixing.”

 

Yixing sighs in incredulity. “You had me followed?! You know I can sue!”

 

“Yes but they’re going to have to investigate that as well!” Chanyeol argues back. “Just tell me what’s happening. I don’t want to see Baekhyun get hurt anymore.”

 

Yixing looks away. He knows there’s no getting out of this situation. It’s either he tells the truth or Chanyeol tells him the truth. Either way, nothing is reassured for him. He should’ve handled this better. He should’ve known how Amanda would play sooner. He knows he can’t do this alone. He can’t protect them all.

 

“Did you really think you can protect everyone from me, Zhang Yixing?! You couldn’t even protect yourself! If you didn’t have Wufan protecting you, your father would have disowned you and you would be living in the streets! You’re not a hero, Yixing. And that is your unfortunate disadvantage.”

 

Amanda told him once.

 

He closed his eyes and inhales deeply. “It’s just negotiations, Chanyeol.” He finally says while opening his eyes. “She’s not going to jail without Kris.”

 

“What?”

 

“Please, you know the whole thing about their deal.”

 

Chanyeol heaves out an upsetting sigh. “I’m…I’m sorry.”

 

“I’m not going to let Kris go to jail with her nor will I let her touch Baekhyun. Don’t worry. I’ll handle this.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yes. This is the only thing I can do.” Yixing reassures him. “You just do your job and don’t ever leave Baekhyun’s side. You’re his only protection.”

 

---

 

A/N:

I AM SO SORRY

/SENDS OUT BUCKET OF TEARS

but i had to finish prelims before i can finally update this

don't worry, now that it's xmas break, i'll try to update the last chapter as soon as possible! ^^

lovelots!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL! <3

- gelie