*watch this first https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o8V7Eeh5DU before you start reading* :D

3rd August 2016

"No." Carmen said, not looking up from her magazine. Jongdae stopped midstep, his lips slightly parted to speak. He had a cup of peppermint tea in one hand for her and a cup of coffee in the other. 

"I didn't even say anything!" Jongdae protested, whining slightly when he sat the tea down on the table in front of her. Carmen had her legs crossed on the settee while she flipped through the magazine.  

"You don't have to say anything for me to know that you want something, oh not so subtle boyfriend of mine." Carmen said, flipping the glossy page, still avoiding him. He huffed, sat down next to her and rested his head on her shoulder, nuzzling in the crook of her neck. She squirmed a little while her boyfriend tried to get comfortable in that position. 

"Can you at-"

"No." She said unphased when his arms went around her stomach and he pressed his nose on her shoulder blade. 

"You-"

"No, Kim Jongdae."

"Ja-"

"No." 

"Please-"

The jet black hair girl turn around to face her boyfriend and gave a knowing look. "Does this relate to the Backstreet Boys?" Ever since she started dating Kim Jongdae, she started calling his friends Backstreet Boys not only because they are her favourite band but also they do remind her of a boyband. It was a crime against humanity that they could look so stylish and something out of a fashion magazine all the time.

Even if they just got up from bed, her boyfriend included. 

"Well... Yes." He said finally, his breath tickling her bare skin there. 

"Then, no." She responded, patting his head and went back to reading. 

"Oh come on!" He whined, pulling away from her shoulder. Carmen turned around to face her boyfriend who's lips were tugged down to a sad smile, his eyes droop at an attempt of a puppy dog look. She sighed and went back to reading her magazine. 

"No." She replied, no room for argument. 

Jongdae pouted and batted his eye lashes at her but she chose to ignore him. Having dated Jongdae for the past 5 years plus now, she's used to his aegyo and whines every now and again to get her attention. Especially if he was in dire need of something (which also leads him to doing embarrassing things in her wake too). 

There was one time when he wanted fried chicken and he was too lazy to cook or order it. Being immune to his aegyo, he decided to go up a notch and to her horror, Kim Jongdae did the unthinkable.

"If I can make you smile, you will have to get me chicken." 

"Deal." 

Wearing only his black tank top and boxer shorts (thankfully no colourful or weird prints on them), he the radio and started moving his hips to Shakira's Hips Don't Lie. 

She didn't know whether to be by his stupid, muscular arms and his hip ing and swaying or die from embarrassment from his attempt of belly dancing. To make him stop, she eventually cooked for him and told him to never ever dance to that again. 

Because he has already scarred his beautiful girlfriend for life, he decides to go up a level in scaring her auditory sense. Getting up from his seat, he made his way to the upright piano that was also in the living room. He turned back to see Carmen still unphased and browsing through the magazine. He pulled the piano stool and pulled the cloth off the piano. Before he started to play, he grabbed his black sunglasses and wore them. He flexed his fingers and rested on the cool white keys before him. He sat upright before he cleared his throat and began to play a soft melody that Carmen never heard before.  

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, "here to sing a list of uny words in a super y way... Kim Jongdae." 

Carmen looked up from her magazine, throwing him a quizzical look and even raised an eyebrow at him when she saw him wearing a pair of sunglasses in the house.

"Are you ready for a list of uny words?" He asked, turning to face her. Not waiting for her respond, he went on. "Well, I am. Here we go." 

"Mulch." 

She didn't respond. 

'Ointment." 

"Legume." 

"Stump." 

She continued to read and flipped another page. 

"Gesticulate."

She looked up when he mention such a long word and gave him a quizical look. 

"Crusty."

"Flaky." 

"Spongy." 

"C-Clamy." 

She still had a stoic face as she watched her boyfriend's fingers glide up and down the keyboard in a jazz manner. 

"Mo-oh-oh-oist." 

"Hamburgerrrr. Umm, that's some nasty burger." 

She pursed her lips, trying to control her smile when Jongdae turned to look at her. 

"Cheesecloth." 

"Squeegee."

"Lentils. Taste soooo good sound so uny." He added and she shook her head. 

"Goblet." 

She covered with her now closed magazine. 

"Eucalyptus." 

"And my personal favourite. Floss!"

She sniffed and closed her eyes. 

When Jongdae heard her sniff, he repeated. "I said floss!" This time an octave higher. 

"Staycation. Nothing ayyy about a staycation." 

"Tupperware."

Her upper lip twitched at that and he went on, knowing victory was near. 

"Sandpaper."

Carmen pursed her lips tightly, biting back her laughter and shook her head. 

"Deodorant."

"Birkenstock!"

"Looooooooo...." He dragged the word and she broke into a smile. 

"Loofah!" He added and threw in a few chords and glisses to end his little number and she started laughing. She dropped her magazine and started clapping her hands still laughing. 

"Kim Jongdae, you are truly impossible." She told him when he got up and started bowing to the imaginary audience in the living room. He took off his sunglasses and placed them on the piano before sauntering his way to her. 

"I defy the impossible, Carmen." He sat next to her and slung his arm on her shoulder. "And now, you owe me 20 kisses." 

Carmen raised an eyebrow. "And?" 

"Well," he flashed a crooked grin. "I may need you to help me plan on a way to stop Suho and Jasmine from leaving the country." 

"Why are they leaving the country?" This was news to her. She and Jasmine are pretty close since she was the only female (before Cheong-Sa) that could put up with the circus. She respected Jasmine to be able to handle them all so well before she came along, especially Byun Baekhyun, the biggest baby of them all. 

"Jazz and Joonma have gotten a scholarship to Cambridge." 

"Oh cool!" Carmen exclaimed and just as she was about to gush about how picturesque Cambridge is and how it will be very Harry Potter like, Jongdae interrupted her. 

"You mean not cool. They will be leaving next month and Joonma had already accepted the offer. He and Cheong-Sa split up because of it." 

"No." She said in horror and Jongdae nodded. "Joonma didn't tell her." 

"So, what do you want me to do?" She asked and eyebrow raised at her boyfriend. He shrugged his shoulders. 

"I don't know. Help me come up with a devious plan to stop them from leaving Korea." Jongdae told her. "I am a writer, darling. I am no James Bond or CIA agent." 

"Hey, you're a genius. I am sure if you can come up with something like stripper glitter and Nicki Minaj's bleached twin sister, I think you can come up with something as devious." 

"Oh, you think of me so highly, Jongdae. I don't come up with devious plans as you so put it." She said while trying not to laugh at her boyfriend who tends to put her on a pedestal. 

"But you come up with devious plans all the time. Remember that time when we surprised Sehun for his birthday?" 

Carmen grinned and ruffled his head. "That wasn't so difficult since it was a surprise party for a kid."

"It was his 22nd birthday."

"Which may I remind you, involved a bouncy castle and a lot of bubble tea.' Jongdae scrunched up his nose and gave her an eskimo kiss. "You secretly loved it." 

"Of course I did! Throwing water balloons at you was a bonus." 

"I bet there was an alterior motive to that." Jongdae said huskily and she shook her head, the tips of her ears becoming red.

"No." She stammered.He his lips and was about to lean in to kiss her when she raised her magazine and ended up kissing the glossy front cover. Carmen shrieked when he pulled the magazine away from her grip and pushed her down on the couch, pinning her arms above her head and him hovering above her. 

"I don't think that was part of the bet." She reminded him, tapping his toned chest with her finger. 

"I know." He replied nonchalantly as he leaned closer till their noses bumped each other. She inched away from him. "What happend to helping you plan?"

"That can wait. Right now, as much as I love hearing your voice, Carmen darling, I prefer doing this." 

Before she could retaliate, he kissed her square on the mouth and all words she wanted to say were long forgotten. 

So much for helping him plan. 

---

4th August 2016

Baekhyun, for the first time in history, woke up before his alarm. The clock on his bedside table showed 8.46am and he immediately jumped out of bed, bumping into a few things in its wake but he didn't bother about the pain. 

His wife was coming home. 

He ran to the bathroom, humming to Mr. Chu by Apink as he got ready. Jasmine was reaching in about 2 hours time and he wanted to make sure that everything was in order. Jasmine had a lay over in Dubai from London to break the journey. He managed to talk to her on Skype before she boarded the plane and the both of them were extremely happy to be reunited once more. Suho was leaving a day later because there were no more seats on Jasmine's flight. 

It was a gruelling 9 months but they had made it. In a few hours, she was going to be in his arms and he wasn't going to plan on letting her go anytime soon. He had planned on a home cook Korean dinner, something Kyungsoo has taught him (and he was able to follow). Kyungsoo was pleased that Baekhyun was able to cook a decent Kimchi fried rice. He would never understood how someone could screw up frying fried rice but of course there is an exception when it came to Byun Baekhyun. 

He even got some blueberry muffins from the bakery down the street too. 

Baekhyun was dancing to EXO's Overdose as he was cooking now when the song was interrupted by an annoucement from the radio. 

"We are interrupting the usual broadcast with breaking news. Flight EK 760 flying from Dubai to Icheon has lost contact with the communication tower passing the Hindi Ocean." 

Baekhyun nearly dropped the ladel when heard the news. He turned off the stove and lifted the pan away from the stove and rushed to his phone. His heart was beating so hard in his chest, racing a million miles a minute, hoping and praying that it was not what he thought it was. The radio announcer continued to talk but everything sounded like gibberish as he tried to locate his phone. 

Panicking and shaking, he swipes the home screen to find the message from his wife. 

Jazzyboo: Hey jagiya. I am boarding the plane now. I am going to be on flight EK 760 flying from Dubai. I will be there in the afternoon at 3pm. I will see you soon baby boy. I miss you so much. Love you xx

It had to be a mistake. 

He sank to the bed and exited the messaging app back to the homescreen. A lump formed in his throat when he saw his homescreen picture was a picture of the both of them together, doing goofy faces at the camera. 

Just then, the homescreen disappears and Chanyeol's number blinked in front of him. Quickly, he answered the phone. 

"What's Jazzy's flight number?" Chanyeol's voice was quiet and it hit Baekhyun like a ton of bricks.

"EK 760." Baekhyun answered, tears forming in his eyes. 

There was a pause, a shaky breath and sniff on the other line. "Yeol?" Baekhyun was shaking too. 

"Turn on the television." He said quietly. Baekhyun grabbed the tv remote and switched on the television, flipping channels to the news channel. 

"Emirates airline, EK 760 flying from Dubai International Airport to Icheon this morning has exploded in the air...." 

"Baek?" 

Baekhyun couldn't breathe. 

No survivors. 

His wife, his beautiful, smart and very young wife was on that ill fated plane. 

And she was dead. 

He was a widow at the age of 25. 

Baekhyun woke up with a start, beads of sweat rolling off the side of his face. His chest was heaving as he eyes took in the dark room around him. He propped up on his elbows and turned to his left to find Jasmine sleeping soundly, completely undisturbed from him nightmare. 

The young male was never phased with nightmares before, always believing that it was a frigment of their imagination after a tiring day but tonight's nightmare was so vivid, too real for comfort. 

He fell back onto the pillow and closed his eyes, taking slow, deep breaths, flashes of the plane crash played in his mind. 

He shivered involuntarily and shifted closer to his sleeping wife. His fingers brushed the side of her face, pushing a stray hair away from face and kissed her forehead. He smiled down at her when she pressed closer to his chest and her arms moved to his midsection. He sighed and closed his eyes once more, tears threatened to fall again. 

He told himself to get a grip and tried to go back to sleep. 

When he did, he was faced with the same result. 

Jasmine leaving him. 

---

"Baek, no offence, you look like hell." Baekbum, Baekhyun's older brother by 7 years told him when Baekhyun took off his sunglasses. Baekhyun shot him a glare when he sat down at the cafe. He didn't have enough sleep the night before no thanks to his active imagination. Jasmine had to go to the office earlier so Baekhyun decided to meet his older brother. 

"Thanks, hyung." He muttered and took a sip of his caramel macchiato. He and his brother were close even though they have a very huge . 

And that was the reason why he was talking to his older brother for some advice. 

"What brings you here, shorty?" Baekbum asked. He wore a polo t shirt and khakis and sport shoes. He was a slightly broader and bigger built compared to Baekhyun's petite frame. Baekhyun was too tired to even retaliate his older brother's teasing and sighed. 

"Jasmine has been offered a scholarship to Cambridge." 

"Oh! That's marvelous." Baekbum exclaimed and Baekhyun sighed again. "I am guessing you are not too thrill about this?" 

"I am thrilled that she has gotten into Cambridge but hyung, we just got married! We are young and what if she realizes that? What if she finds someone else out there in the mean time? Hell, what happens if she leaves me for someone else? And the Malaysian Airlines incident a couple of years back, what if something happens?" 

"Whoa, is this what is about?" His older brother asked him and he nodded. "Talk to her. You know communication is key to any relationship, right?" 

"I know that, hyung." He replied agitated. "We talked." 

"Did you talk or did you put in your views or make her views sound insignificant?" Baekbum asked him and Baekhyun kept quiet for a while. 

"It's Cambridge!' 

"I am your husband!" 

"That is not even a valid excuse, Byun Baekhyun! Are you even listening to yourself?" 

"Yes and I don't think you should go off to the UK for God knows how long just to study. You are a married woman and you are leaving your husband behind!" 

"Oh, I am sorry. Do you want me to wait on you hand and foot? Do you want me to quit my job and fulfill my wifely duties to you?" 

"Yes! Because that is how a woman should act." 

"Baek, you are a married man. You have to also take into account your wife's happiness. Think how she would feel if you just dash her dreams just like that? I can tell you that she doesn't want to leave you either but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you should be happy for her, rooting her on not dragging her down. You are working in a mutli national company. Why don't you ask if you are able to work in London from September so you both could be close to each other?" 

Baekhyun looked at his brother and Baebum flashed a smile. "Talk to her. She will understand." 

---

A/N: HELLO READERS! I am so sorry for the lack of updates. I had severe writer's block and just came back from my France trip a couple of days ago when I had an epiphany (kinda) for this story :D sorry for the long wait!

Thank you to all 102 subscribers who have found this story worth your time :D *hugs everyone of you* 

I am hoping to update again tonight because I might be too depressed tomorrow since my results are coming out tomorrow. :/ 

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this chapter (with a little bit of a sleazy Jongdae and a paranoid Baekhyun). So comment, subscribe and upvote xx Sorry for a very long absence! I will update this as soon as I can. :D