A/N: I hope you're all ready for this ;)

Baekhyun felt like he was at square one again, there really was no other way to explain it. He literally felt like he had been knocked back to that unfortunate day so many years ago when Chanyeol had dumped him on his .

He felt stupid, like he should have known Chanyeol would have someone else in his life now. Who was he to believe Chanyeol would have been like him—waiting for the fated day where they could have a second chance at a happily ever after?

Baekhyun wanted to just hit himself. He was so ing dumb.

Baekhyun didn’t want a failed relationship. He didn’t want them—Baekhyun and Chanyeol, Chanyeol and Baekhyun—to be over, was that so bad? They had loved each other since forever as children and into college. They were happy. They could have had a forever together, so why did Chanyeol mess that up?

Baekhyun didn’t want to let go, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it no matter how much it hurt. Letting go had never been one of his strong suits.

Walking into work that morning was no help to his situation, where he knew facing Junmyeon was a must. He didn’t want to deal with anything. His personal life had become a part of his work life, and it was just exhausting to think about.

He thought about Junmyeon, and how he must feel knowing that Baekhyun was still in love with someone else? Baekhyun didn’t want to be a bad person. Junmyeon had a wonderful personality, was reliable, and kind and sweet—there were a lot of “and”s—and he was nearing a perfect score, but why couldn’t Baekhyun like him back? In a way, Baekhyun wished he had feelings for the other man that way. Things would just be so much easier.

But life had to be , didn’t it?

He still had a hangover and felt sick and crappy, and he just really didn’t want to be there. The lights were too bright and he wanted to kill the elevator and it’s annoying dinging upon reaching a new floor every few seconds.

Exchanging words with Yixing were fine enough, especially when they were both suffering about something. Of course, he wasn’t happy about it (he wasn’t that bad of a friend), but him not being the only one in pain was slightly comforting.

He did take notice to Yixing’s strange and slightly distressed behavior, and the way he sat in his chair in a manner which it appeared that he was hiding from someone was peculiar, but Baekhyun didn’t press. It was Yixing’s business, but Baekhyun sure hoped he was getting along with the other coworkers alright.

And the Yixing left, muttering under his breath something about the printing room and Baekhyun sighed at the loss of silent company. Dammit. And to make his less than favorable mood that morning, Junmyeon asked to speak with him privately.

However to his surprise, it wasn’t all that bad. Junmyeon had apologized, he had apologized, and everything seemed to blow over itself. Junmyeon shouldn’t have been an issue to begin with, and now the more ual agreement of their friendship had come to an end. One less issue for Baekhyun to deal with, but the lingering one-sided attraction still tugged at Junmyeon unbeknownst of Baekhyun.

Messes; it was all little messes accumulating into a big one.

Would it ever end?

During lunch, Baekhyun was all but dragged out of the building and taken to a fast food restaurant because Yixing didn’t carry much money on him and Baekhyun was avoiding the café. While Yixing was picking at his ugly looking burger, Baekhyun noticed that his friend seemed flustered that day which was highly unusual.

“Yixing, are you alright?”

Yixing’s eyes widened at the question, seemingly startled. His feverishly nodded his head as he replied, “Y-Yeah, everything’s fine. Just having a weird day.”

Baekhyun stared at him peculiarly, “Okay. Sorry, I didn’t meant to come off as nosy or anything…”

Yixing bit his lip and groaned inwardly, feeling a sense of guilt poking at his insides. Baekhyun was his friend right? Would it be okay to let him in on something? Yixing wasn’t one to hold secrets, he just couldn’t; it wasn’t in his nature.

Curse his inability to withhold information.

So he leaked a few words.

“I-It’s just, J-Junmyeon is directing more…a-attention towards me….,” the Chinese man murmured as he shifted his eyes anywhere, but in Baekhyun’s direction, who mulled over the words as he stared confusedly.

“Well, you like him right?”

Yixing’s eyes seemed to widen even more, choking on air, “W-Well, I s-suppose…”

Baekhyun mentally danced his little heart out. Maybe Yixing could properly distract Junmyeon so he didn’t have to worry about the CEO anymore. Yixing liked him, so perhaps Junmyeon could feel something more too.

It was perfect.

“Okay, you like him. Is there a problem?” Baekhyun asked, still curious about the strange behavior of the Chinese transfer.

Yixing’s cheeks reddened, a detail Baekhyun could not miss.

Baekhyun stiffened, “What it is? Did you happen between you two?”

Knowing he could handle this for much longer, Yixing stood up from the cheap restaurant table wrapping his nasty leftover burger before tossing it in the trash dispenser near their table. “We should get back to work. Thanks for getting lunch with me, Baekhyun.”

Deciding to not push any further, Baekhyun shoved the last bite of his own food as he stood up in suit.

However, before they could exit the fast food place, the two coworkers stopped as Baekhyun whipped around to a very familiar voice calling out to him. And believe it or not, none other than Kim Jongdae was waving at them smiling brightly when he caught Baekhyun’s gaze.

“Baekhyun!” the café worker exclaimed, quickly walking towards the other. “Fancy seeing you here. This your friend? Hi, I’m Jongdae.”

“Yixing…,” the Chinese man introduced himself simply.

“Baekkie!” Jongdae whined, turning to Baekhyun, “Why didn’t you come by the café? I mean, I wouldn’t have been there, I have today off, but still Chanyeol would have liked seeing you I’m sure.”

“Oh…um…My wallet was crying for me not to,” Baekhyun lied weakly, “Maybe next time…”

Jongdae noticed a wave of discomfort etch itself across Baekhyun’s face and he understood, “I see. Was it awkward this morning at Chanyeol’s? I mean, last night you kissed him and then sort of…screamed at him.”

Both Yixing and Baekhyun gaped at him in shock.

“I-I k-ki-kissed him?!” Baekhyun all but screeched, pointing a shaky finger to himself for confirmation.

Confused, Jongdae skeptically looked at the distressed man. “Um…yeah. He didn’t tell you? You don’t remember that?”

Baekhyun shook his head, still appalled with himself.

No wonder Chanyeol was cold mannered and awkward. , he just screwed everything up. Chanyeol must hate him, it’s a given now.

And Chanyeol went to visit his boyfriend…or girlfriend…his whatever that morning—dammit, Baekhyun didn’t even know what gender Chanyeol was dating right now, but either way he must have made the taller man extremely uncomfortable.

ity .

“Oh…um…,” Jongdae uttered out, not sure how to diffuse such an awkward situation. “In that case….Well, we should hang out sometime together, just us. We could go see a movie and get something to eat.”

Baekhyun numbly nodded his head, his mind still on Chanyeol, something Jongdae figured out on his own.

“Come by the café soon, I love seeing you there,” Jongdae said quickly before dismissing himself from the pair who stiffly stood around.

Yixing finally took it upon himself to lead a stunned Baekhyun from the restaurant by the hand.

During the walk back, Yixing couldn’t keep his voice to himself.

“Not to add anything to your plate or anything, but I think he likes you….”

Baekhyun’s head shot to Yixing’s direction in a mixture of shock and confusion.

“Who? Jongdae?”

Yixing nodded and Baekhyun wanted to punch himself to know whether this was real.

“The way he was looking at you and practically asking you on a date made it very obvious…,” Yixing continued, clarifying the attraction.

“Oh…”

“So…you kissed someone? Sounds like a crazy night,” Yixing mused, unknowingly causing Baekhyun’s frazzled mind to become more boggled.

Over the next week, Baekhyun didn’t go into the café at all nor did he text Jongdae, and only kept to himself.

At some point during the week having not stopped by the café whatsoever, Baekhyun woke up one morning to a surprise waiting for him on his phone.

From: Park Chanyeol
Are you MIA? You should stop by soon. Jongdae keeps asking about you.

Baekhyun didn’t reply, only tossing his phone aside to continue his day.

He was still appalled with himself and what he had done that night at the club. Why didn’t Chanyeol say anything? He could have apologized, but now it would only be awkward since it had been a while. He really regrets what he did.

And not just because Chanyeol belongs to someone else, but for the fact that Baekhyun wasn’t even sober to remember it.

There was just so much to take in, to comprehend. Over the past few days, new shocking information came forth the to the stage light with a striking blow making Baekhyun feel overwhelmed to no end as of the waves of the ocean were crashing down on him with no mercy.

There was just so much: Having a one-sided attraction towards Chanyeol who didn’t want him back, Junmyeon’s one-sided attraction for Baekhyun, knowing that Chanyeol has someone else, and with Jongdae’s pushing feelings creeping onto the scale, Baekhyun’s structure was threatening to collapse.

He couldn’t go back to that place, to that darned café where Jongdae and Chanyeol would be. He couldn’t do it, where he could potentially lead-on Jongdae and fall even more for Chanyeol. It was best to stay away.

And stay away he did. A week normally doesn’t seem so long, but to Baekhyun it felt like an eternity. He hadn’t realized just how much time he spent there, nor did he realize how much he depended on just the mere sight of Chanyeol to feel energized and happy. The tasty food was also a factor which Baekhyun wished was the only reason he missed the place, but no such luck.

For a week, Baekhyun brought his own lunches (probably better for his recovering wallet anyway), but it just wasn’t the same. He didn’t feel nearly as energized after his breaks like he had been when he visited his favorite place.

One morning on the weekend though, Baekhyun decided a walk was what he needed to help energize himself, and in hopes of seeing the outside world would help with him distress. It was a nice change of pace; Baekhyun never had time for walks and such things, but seeing people walk their dogs and cycling, made him want to go to an old playground he used to like.

When he first moved to the area a couple years ago, Baekhyun came across a playground when he was exploring the neighborhood and immediately fell in love with it, mostly because it reminded him of his childhood.

And of course, the remembrance of childhood led to the memories of when he and Chanyeol were children.

And a certain child that was in Baekhyun’s line of vision caught his attention, pulling him from his reverie. He wasn’t creepy, he was just admiring the little girl’s adorable energy she was radiating. She had a toothy grin as she flew backwards and forwards on the swing, quite obviously envisioning what it was like to fly with a gorgeous woman smiling behind her, pushing her little girl. It was quite adorable and sweet Baekhyun couldn’t help the soft smile settling on his lips.

Those wide, sparkling eyes of that little girl threw him back into the memories of Chanyeol’s wide, sparkling eyes on a swing set on an elementary school playground, and how adorable he had been when he was playing.

Those pretty, shining eyes.

And then Baekhyun was hit hard with the truth smacking him right in the face.

A taller man with a wide smile and the same happy eyes came up behind that pretty woman and her daughter, running to the front standing before the little girl who exuberated a tinkling giggle.

“Daddy!”

Right before Baekhyun’s very eyes with tears threatening to fall, he watched the happy family play together for a good five minutes before hastily walking away unnoticed.

Park Chanyeol had quite thoroughly broken his heart and he just couldn’t erase the image of him playing with that little girl who was his daughter. 

A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN how was that, guys? ;)

First of all, I need to apologize to you all 10,000x that this update was late. The past few updates I haven't been late, so please give me a pass this time? :)  College has begun now so that is my excuse. I'm changing the update-day-thing to Thursdays now, hopefully I'll stick to it. 

So what do you all think of the chapter? Please let me know in the comment box--it doens't bite, I swear!! Don't be afraid to leave a comment! ;D 

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