[A/N: Originally there was more intended for this chapter, but it was becoming too long so I had to split it up into two chapters, so sorry about the weird ending.]

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I’m not sure if it was because I had wanted if for so long or if it was real, but I swear my mouth filled with a sweet sensation as our lips met. Somewhere in the distance I could hear my heart pounding, but I was too lost in the action to have time to be nervous – somehow I instinctively knew that I probably wouldn’t get to do this for a long time. So with that thought in mind, I leaned further down, pressing our lips closer together and twisted my body accordingly so I could lie close to him. With a quick realisation of “Oh, what the heck – I’m already doing it” my lips began moving on their own, brushing and pressing against his in different rhythms and paces and my hand found his chest - and his hand found its way to my cheek and his fingers began fumbling through my hair. My heart was beating against my throat when I realised he was accepting my kiss, and I allowed my body to adjust itself closer to him so I could feel his warmth through my clothes. Suddenly his arms wrapped around my neck and pulled me closer as he opened his lips, and instinctively my tongue entered his mouth, drawing out a pleasurable sigh from the both of us. My breathing was getting heavier and my hands was getting greedier, and not long after I found myself breaking the kiss slightly so that I could slide my leg across his body and place myself on top of him, before I quickly sought back to his lips for an even sweeter re-unification. My hands were moving on their own, over his chest and rustling through his delicate, soft hair, then cupping his face in my palms and over his jaw and neck, and it wasn’t until he let out a low moan that I realised my body was naturally rocking back and forth in rhythm with the kissing. But I didn’t want to stop, not even for a second, so I ignored his un-worded warnings and rubbed my tongue against his. I could feel butterflies and fires in the pit of my stomach as he adjusted himself underneath me and grabbed a hold of my head, his fingers twisted into my hair, as if to ensure I wouldn’t let go of him. I kept noticing how my hands were constantly seeking out new places of him to touch, and feeling every part of him – cataloguing all of it in my memory. Finally my arms wrapped around his neck and I was pressed tightly against him, filling my mouth with the taste of his tongue, while sliding my own across his to seek out every taste of him I could have, and I sighed satisfied as he pulled me closer, making sure there was absolutely no room between us. In a desperate huff for air, my head tilted backwards and while we were both panting and soothing the burning in our lunges, I heard him gulp and whisper “Fine, I’ll stay”. And then I attacked him with my lips again, finding his hand with mine and lacing our fingers together as I pressed him further into the mattress with my possessive kisses. I’m not sure how long we kept this going, but it must have been a while. I couldn’t believe that I was actually kissing him and being kissed back – it hadn’t been long since I first realised I liked him. But there was no time for me to question my luck, the taste of him was too delicious to release myself from yet. His lips were surprisingly soft, which made it feel like my own were into them whenever we pressed together, as if they were soft pillows I could rest on, and the feel of his skin was soft and warm and endearing. I loved how his breath hit my face and neck and the roof of my mouth every time he had to exhale, and the soft vibration from his low, pleased humming into the kisses sent a strong sensation through my body. Whenever his tongue rubbed willingly against mine I found that I let out little moans, and every movement he made underneath me threatened to raise my . He felt good. He felt warm and welcoming and soft and loving and from time to time when he was tired of my repetitive actions he got a little rougher in his movements and all I could think of when he did was “, I really like this”. It wasn’t until I was certain I wouldn’t be able to control my crotch any longer that I decided I had to break away, but with all the struggle it took for me to let go of his face I decided it wasn’t worth it trying to pry myself off him completely. Instead I lifted myself up a bit, but remained sitting on top of him, leaning over his chest. I had prepared myself for the exchange of harsh words or embarrassed awkwardness and having difficulties looking at each other, but as I found I had no trouble remaining my position and staring down at his face and into his eyes. The only problem I did have, was to find any words to converse with. My mind was completely blank. I just remained there, on top of him, staring at him, and not saying a word. My mouth opened and closed a few times, as if I had something I wanted to say, but I had no idea what or how. I felt like a fish on land, my mouth longing for the ocean. The ocean, in this case, would be Luhan’s lips. He, to my surprise, just laid there. I think his hands were placed one on my waist and the other on my leg, but I wasn’t sure – I wasn’t very good at thinking in that moment. He looked at me back, but he didn’t make much of an effort to say anything – however that may have been out of courtesy; allowing me the room and freedom to speak when I was ready to finally do so. But alas, no sound was made on my part, and I just sat there gaping and gazing in silence. I realised that quite some time must have passed, because the room was almost completely dark by now – only the small lamp in the kitchen, and the natural light streaming in from the large window, kept the apartment illuminated. So instead of trying to talk, I leaned over, making sure to stretch my arm rather than to actually get up, as I didn’t want to leave his body just yet, and the lamp on my night stand, before I straightened myself up again, back into the position I had previously had. His hand suddenly moved to my face, over my cheek, toying with strands of my hair and rubbing over my neck. He let his thumb trace over what facial features he could reach and though I thought it felt odd I knew with all of me that I liked it. It was just new and weird, but great none the less.
“I didn’t think you wanted to do that,” he finally said, breaking our long silence.
“Yeah, well… I did.” The silence was getting annoying, but I didn’t quite know how to carry on. There were so many questions and thoughts and feelings I could say, making it hard to choose just one to begin with.
“I didn’t think you wanted to either,” I admitted in the end, slowly moving my hand up his neck and to his nape, it and toying with his hairline.
“You didn’t?” He looked at me with a genuinely questioning expression and I shook my head in response.
“I thought it was obvious,” he said before he suddenly sat up, making me slide town from his tummy and down onto his lap, his arms wrapping around me to keep me from falling off.
“So… You like me?” I let my arms wrap around his neck and stared at him in anticipation.
“I uh… I like you, yes,” he admitted and looked down. I kissed his forehead in response, and I felt my heart rise from my stomach to my chest. He likes me. He likes me back. He likes me!
“Then you’ll really stay,” I asked and cuddled closer and he let his head tilt backwards a bit so he could face me again.
“Yes, I’ll stay. …If you really want me to.” I couldn’t help but smile and I bent down and kissed him quickly and nuzzled close, before I abruptly left his arms. I was feeling light and free and happy and I had to move to let it all out.
“You have promised me now, so no going back on your word,” I said over my shoulder, leaving him sitting confused in my bed as I headed down to the basement to get my laundry. And all the way down there and back, I found myself smiling and singing like there was no tomorrow.

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“What do you want to do with them?” The question should have hit me hard, but I was too tired, too worn out, too worn down – I couldn’t bring myself to care.
“Kill them?” Their moans seeping out from under the door to the dark room were tearing on my heartstrings, playing old, familiar songs of pain and torture and guilt.
“That’s going to cost you,” he said.
“How much,” I asked.
“You’re really considering it?” He was genuinely surprised. I didn’t reply. I just looked at him.
“At least 20.000 – each.” I couldn’t help but let out a long phrase of swearing. They started calling my name from the room again.
“Excuse me,” I said and crossed the room. I opened the door and entered, while I heard the man gasp shocked behind me;
“Oh my God.” I guess I was too used to the smell by now to really notice it anymore. They were screaming now, all of them. They were cussing and swearing and screaming and shrieking, and twisting and tossing and turning on their mattresses on the floor in the corner of the room.
“Just a quick one – I have company,” I said and grabbed the bucket. Carefully crossing the room I filled it up in the sink, made my way over to them and tossed the content over them. They hissed and screamed and sighed, but their noises calmed down a little as I left the room and came back to my guest, who was pinching is nose for as long as I kept the door open.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“I can wait. They don’t have long after all.” And at that I took a sip of my tea, closed my eyes and enjoyed the darkness behind my eyelids.

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Waking up next to Luhan the next day had been weird. None of us had said anything, and we both struggled to look at each other. Instead we had eaten in silence before getting dressed and headed for work. Right before we left, Luhan had reached for his bag and I had stopped and stared at him, wondering if he would really bring it. Without noticing me he had stopped himself mid-action, frozen for a bit, and then seemingly changed his mind and left the bag there as he turned and headed for the door. I’m not sure if he saw me as I had quickly turned around and headed out the door, but I felt myself smile on the inside. No matter how weird things were right now, at least he had remembered his promise – and showed intentions of keeping it. I had no idea up until that point, how much of a love-hate relationship I had with butterflies, until they filled my stomach again as I was walking a few feet in front of him on our way to work. We got there quickly, still without having exchanged a word, but by the time Chanyeol and Jongdae showed up we had caught each other staring at the other at least 15 times.
“Are you sure you’re okay,” Jongdae asked, but Chanyeol only mumbled in return.
“Yeah, sure, I’m fine,” he waved his short friend away and went directly over to the coffee machines, ignoring the rest of us. Jongdae had every right to be concerned though, the giant had never looked this pale and tired in all my time knowing him. But his distracted and somewhat hostile attitude made sure we kept our distance and didn’t keep digging. The day passed by slowly, and neither Luhan nor I struck up a conversation with the other, Jongdae was stuck in the kitchen worrying about his best friend and Chanyeol only grumbled and silently did his job. By the time the clock struck 2PM however, Luhan and I had caught each other staring at the other for the umpteenth time and suddenly we couldn’t help it anymore; we broke down laughing. There was no stopping it, we just fell to the floor, laughing and laughing and laughing, laughing so hard we were crying and our tummies were hurting.
“Okay, so we need to get over ourselves,” Luhan finally stated, and I nodded in reply as I wiped my tears away.
“What’s so funny,” Jongdae asked and popped his head out the kitchen door and stared at us questioningly.
“Nothing,” we assured him and smiled at each other. Jongdae just raised an eye brow, but returned to his duties – probably too busy worrying about his friend to question us further. The next couple of hours, instead of just silence, we shared looks and knowing smiles – trying to maintain as much of a normal appearance as possible. And with the others being as distracted as they were, this proved to be quite easy. At about 3:30PM we all sat down for a break, except from Chanyeol who insisted he wasn’t hungry and he needed to work, and relaxed with some refreshing drinks and yummy sandwiches which Jongdae prepared for us.
“Come on, Chanyeol,” Luhan insisted.
“You’ve got to eat! You need to be ready and fit for fighting,” I continued.
“In just half an hour, your boyfriend will be here,” Jongdae finished jokingly. At his words, Chanyeol had to hold on to the counter not to pass out or break down, he held on so hard his knuckles whitened and his face grew even paler. In just a split second, Jongdae was by his side, supporting the giant as best as he could.
“What’s going on,” he whispered – scared to finally get to hear the truth. But instead of words, all the came out of Chanyeol were huge, salty tears, streaming down his face.
“I ed up,” he cried. “We ed up. I don’t know what happened. I don’t kno-…” He couldn’t finish his sentence; he just broke down and cried and cried. Jongdae sat down behind him, wrapped his arms around his friend’s head and pulled it close to his chest – slowly rocking back and forth and his hair. Twenty minutes later, Chanyeol’s sobbing had reduced to hiccups; a sore, red face; gulping for air and the continuous whispering of “I ed up. , I ed up. We ed up. It’s all ed up”. When the bell above the door rang, signalling that someone had entered, Luhan and I both stood up from our seats and Jongdae shot us a desperate look, not knowing what to do.
“Sehun-ah! You’re here,” Luhan tried loud and nervously. Sehun’s eyes were nervously glancing over at Chanyeol’s usual spot, unaware that he was still there, only sitting on the floor. At the mention of his name however, Chanyeol jumped up – his back facing Sehun, and continued making coffee as if nothing had happened. But his face and eyes were red and sore and fooled no one who could see his face.
“Let’s go get changed,” Luhan continued and motioned for Sehun to come closer.
“Ah, sorry,” Sehun replied and backed away even further.
“I’m only here to hand in this.” He reached into his back pack and took out a letter with the words ‘resignation’ written across it. I felt the bottom of my stomach turn to ice.
“Did you two fight, or-…” I couldn’t make myself finish the sentence. Sehun looked at me surprised and scared, and with wide eyes he stared at the working barista’s back.
“What did you tell them-…” Sehun’s question was abruptly cut off by Jongdae who finally stood up and faced the boy.
“He didn’t say a damn thing but “I ed up, we ed up, I ed up” and I have no ing clue what that means. However, he is my best friend and thus I know him very well – seeing him around you left no doubt with me, or any of the others of what was going on. So don’t you dare blame this on him. Now what the is that,” he said angrily and pointed at the letter. A little confused over Jongdae’s sudden, strong reaction, Sehun could do nothing but stare at the paper in his hand.
“Is that your way of breaking up with him? Is this how you’re going to discard of my best friend’s heart? Because I cannot forgive that!” His voice was getting angrier with every word.
“No, I-…”
“So you’re not breaking up with him? You’re just quitting your job?”
“No, I’m-…”
“You’re what Sehun? Explain to me!”
“Jongdae, stop.” Chanyeol’s calm voice surprised us all.
“I… I ed up. We ed up. Just let him go. Sehun’s from a family who doesn’t accept just any kind of love – if he has to go, he has to go.” All though he was saying it coolly, it was impossible not to pick up on all the aching thorns prodding through his every word.
“…Come with me,” I said and motioned for Sehun to join me in the office. He seemed reluctant, so I added;
“I’ll need your signature.” He quickly moved across the room and entered the office with me and handed me the note. I read through it carefully, and was about to hand him the pen for him to sign some papers, when I noticed them. Around his neck, though attempted to be cleverly hidden by a turtle neck, there were horrible bruisings; Red and blue and yellow and black – all the colours you could imagine on skin, and I felt sick to my stomach.
“I’m sorry, I cannot accept this,” I said calmly.
“What?” He looked up at me with huge eyes.
“You would be breaching your contract,” I began before changing my mind.
“Actually… Chanyeol said you’re from a family who don’t accept you. He is wrong. We are a family. Here, at the Black Pearl, we stick together, accept each other, love each other, and help each other. You might not like it, but that’s the way it is. You might be new, but you are part of our family none the less. And I absolutely. CANNOT. ACCEPT. THIS.” I felt the anger fill me up and I threw the letter to my desk and struck it with my fist as I emphasised the last words.
“And there is no way in hell,” I continued and shot up from my chair, reached over and grabbed his turtle neck and pulled it down.
“…that I will allow you to go back to a place like that.” My eyes met his, and he stared at me in disbelief. He stared and stared, his eyes growing larger and larger, then wetter and wetter, and I wrapped my arms around him and let him lean against my stomach, crying as I his hair until he calmed down a little.
“Hyung, what do I do?” Looking down at his face like this, I felt an overwhelming need to protect him, and I could easily understand what Chanyeol had referred to when he talked about their hug in the library now.
“First things first,” I said and handed him some tissues to wipe his face and blow his nose with. When his vision was clear again, I picked up his letter of resignation and tore it up in front of him.
“Don’t you ever dare to come up with such foolish ideas again kid, is that understood?” His nodding was fast and hard, and I couldn’t decide if it was because he agreed so much or because he was scared, or a mixture of both.
“Come with me again,” I prompted and he diligently followed me around.
“PARK CHANYEOL,” I shouted as I entered the café again, and they all jumped around and stared at me in disbelief.
“DID YOU NOT TELL ME THAT YOU WERE IN LOVE WITH THIS BOY?” I grabbed Sehun by the shoulders and pushed him in front of me to show him to Chanyeol. Perplexed by my actions and my sudden use of a loud, angry voice, all he could do was nod slightly and give me a stuttering “Y-ye-yes?”
“DID YOU NOT TELL ME THERE WERE A MILLION THINGS YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT HIM?” Again he only stammered when agreeing with me.
“THEN WHAT IS THIS “JUST LET HIM GO” ??! WILL YOU LEARN ANYTHING WITH HIM FAR AWAY?”
“Well, uhm… no.” His brain still wasn’t catching up with what was happening.
“AND AM I WRONG IN SAYING THAT YOU TOLD THIS BOY YOU DARED ANYONE TO TRY AND TAKE HIM AWAY FROM YOU?”
“Well, no, I jus-…”
“Then what sort of man are you,” I said, now standing only a few feet away from him.
“To go back on your words like that? And what sort of man are you to allow yourself to give up on love when others cannot have it?”
“I-…”
“What gives you the right to act like such a fool?” I could feel the anger growing inside me, every inch of me itching and burning, fuelled by rage. I was met by complete silence. Not a word was spoken while everyone stared at me, still holding on to the boy, and glaring angrily up at Chanyeol’s face.
“I… I don’t know.”
“You have no right,” I hissed and pushed the boy against him.
“Now you make it up to him! And never, EVER, let me hear you take love or family lightly again! Do not waste your luck, young man – your happiness cannot be taken for granted. With everything you’ve got,” I said as I walked over to the office door, then turned around and pointed to all of them.
“Grab on to every little piece of happiness you have within reach, and hold on like there is no tomorrow. Because there really might not be.” And then I slammed the door.

It took a long while before anyone dared to approach me. I kept myself hidden in the office, angrily drawing buildings to slowly let my anger cool down and die out. The irritation was low, bordering on frustration, when Luhan finally knocked.
“Can I come in?” His head barely peeked in through a small gap, and despite my mood I still felt my heart do a backflip.
“Yes. Of course, yes,” I said and pressed my pencil against the desk, before I huffed and exhaled in a large sigh and fell backwards in my chair. I let my hand wipe over my face in frustration and exhaustion, before I ran it through my hair and looked up at him. He silently closed the door behind him and stood there looking at me, his head slightly to the side, just like a curious dog, but his expression filled with worry.
“Are you okay?” I sighed again, and let the sight of him calm me down even further, and closed my eyes.
“Yeah,” I exhaled, feeling tired and troubled.
“Do you… want to talk about it?”
“I saw his neck, Luhan…” He looked at me in confusion.
“His neck?”
“Luhan… Someone… Someone in his family… has strangled him.” I had never seen anyone as horrified as he was when he heard that, and I noticed his hand unconsciously rub over his scar on his hip. Had someone in his family done that to him? His expression, for a split second, became so painful, and it broke my heart to see. But it was gone about as quickly as it appeared, and instead he walked over to me and to my surprise sat down in my lap. He placed his arms around my neck and hugged me close. As his scent filled my nose I could feel the last remains of my anger let go, and I wrapped my arms around his waist and nuzzled close, drowning myself in the smell of him. I felt like kissing him. Kissing his neck. my fingers over his skin again. I quickly pulled away and we got up, before anything happened – I couldn’t allow myself to get in an amorous mood right now. Instead, Luhan hugged me from behind and nuzzled his own face into my neck.
“Do you want some coffee,” he asked warmly.
“Yes, thank you. Something sweet, please. I like sweet things when I’m angry.”
“Duly noted,” he smiled and excited before me, allowing me to come out at my own pace. A lot of time had passed, so we were open again and back in business – the amount of customers were too high for me to allow myself to make a scene or a public apology for yelling. Sehun was wearing his uniform and running around waiting on the customers while Chanyeol continued making coffee – however, this time he seemed more relaxed and comfortable, and I caught him glancing over at Sehun from time to time. Upon spotting me, the young boy looked away a little nervously, and obviously chose a longer route in order to avoid me a bit, but after a while he dared to look at me again. As Luhan handed me a cup of warm coffee with rich milk and strawberry syrup, I felt the world coming to an ease around me again and I braved myself to praise Sehun when he did a good job. Slowly, but surely, we all fell back into our regular rhythm and the rest of our day went by normally. As Chanyeol finally closed the door for the day, we all sat down at the table together. A long time passed in silence, none of us sure of what we should say.
“So are you two okay?” I asked.
“Hyung, I’m sorry about earlier,” Chanyeol began.
“Thank you so much,” Sehun tried. Normally we would have laughed at three people beginning a conversation at the same time, but the mood was a little too serious for that now.
“Chanyeol, don’t worry about it. I didn’t mean to make you anxious, I just wanted you to stick to what you said. Are you two okay again,” I finally started.
“Yeah,” Chanyeol replied.
“As good as we can get, just for now.”
“But we need to talk,” Sehun dared himself to say, while staring at the table.
“Good. That’s good. And you have to talk, that’s right. …Okay…” I felt myself falter in my decision to try and be a good leader in this conversation.
“So what do we do now,” Jongdae finally asked.
“I need to make a quick call to arrange something. Luhan, will you join me in the office again?” He nodded a little unsure, got up and followed me to the small room. As soon as we got inside I closed the door and turned to him.
“You really won’t go back on your word from last night, right?” I couldn’t quite decipher the meaning of the look in his eyes as he looked at me.
“I made you a promise, didn’t I?”
“Yes, but I’m not going to keep you to it unless you want to too. Are you sure? Are you sure you want to move in with me? Because this is important now.”
“Honestly?” He seemed a little unsure as he asked. I nodded, and felt the nervousness fill my heart.
“I think I’ve wanted to since the first time I went to yours.” I let out my breath in relief.
“That’s good, that’s-... Wait, that long?” The thought just struck me. The first time he was there was when I was ill and we didn’t know each other.
“Ah, uhm… Yeah.”
“Really?” I couldn’t help but question him.
“Well, uhm… Yes. Really. Can we talk about this later?”
“Oh, right. Other things to fix first.” I went over to the desk and picked up the phone – dialled the number I knew so well, all while keeping my eyes on Luhan until they picked up at the other end.
“Hello?”
“Yes, hello. This is Minseok.”
“Ah, Minseok-ssi. How are you doing? Is everything alright?” The change between hyung and ssi came so natural nowadays that I hardly noticed anymore.
“Well, uhm… both yes and no. Things are great with the business, but a personal situation has occurred.”
“What sort of situation?” I could tell he immediately became worried.
“A… a complicated one. Sehun is going to need a place to sleep. Can I offer him the office?”
“You want him to live with Luhan in that tiny office? And seriously Minseok, what do you think this is? A bed-and-breakfast?”
“Luhan doesn’t live here anymore.”
“Did his situation sort out this quickly?” I could tell he was feeling sceptical to Luhan’s situation.
“Luhan and I…” I began, but hesitated.
“Luhan and I made another arrangement. Nothing is sorted but that.” His silence told me he wasn’t quite sure what to think.
“…Sehun’s family is strangling him.”
“…What?” His response was barely a breath.
“And we are partly to blame here at the café. Not you, but some of your employees.”
“…Chanyeol?” His response caught me off guard.
“You knew?”
“I knew,” he sighed.
“You won’t fire them, will you?” There was a long silence before he sighed again.
“Despite my own thoughts and feelings, that is no ground for firing people. Maybe by the law, but I still don’t think that is right. I don’t think that what they are doing is right either, but that is personal and their employment with me is business. So no, I won’t fire them.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Just take care of it,” he said, and hung up.
“Well,” I said and looked up at Luhan.
“I guess you better pack your things so they won’t notice and then we’ll have to go notify Sehun of his new home.” As soon as I finished my sentence, Jongdae came barging through the door.
“I’m sorry for intruding like this,” he said.
“But there is trouble.” He pointed his thumb outside, and I could hear heavy, desperate knocking on the windows and door outside. I sighed, straightened myself up and headed out the door.