two

Two Week Notice

“You know what, Yixing, I finally quit. I can’t take it anymore. He freaking called me out of Kyungsoo’s wedding! I’ll never get that moment back!” Baekhyun helplessly cries into the phone. “I just don’t get how Chanyeol’s brain works!”

“Baekhyun, Baekhyun, calm down,” Yixing panics. “Please don—”

Baekhyun squeezes his eyes shut, anger burning him up inside. “I hate Chanyeol! I hate Park Chanyeol so ing much!”

“Baekhyun, calm down~ Saying how much you hate Chanyeol is not going to change anything,” the older of the two sighs. “So, what are you going to do? You’re jobless as soon as he signs to your resign letter.”

“I’ll just try to apply for a job in some law firms. I hope my Harvard dignity will really work this time.”

“I hope the best for you, B. Well, it’s two in the morning and if you said you’d apply for a job, you really should sleep now. Talk to you again soon,” and with that, Yixing ends the call.

Baekhyun puts his iPhone on the pillow next to the one he’s using right now and heaves out a sigh. He turns his head to see his iPhone and suddenly there’s a heavy feeling in his chest. Is this really what I want? Did I really want to stop working for Chanyeol? What if Chanyeol loses his investors? What if—

Realizing his own questions, Baekhyun quickly shakes his head to clear his mind. He chants in his head not to think about Chanyeol ever again and, much to his dismay, his chants only lead him to sleep at five in the morning.


“Mr. Byun, your resume is so amazing, you know that. But we do a lot of business with Park Corporation. Mr. Park called me this morning and informed me that you’re indispensable to his project. Why don’t you just go back to him?”

“At this moment we’re not hiring any. I’m so sorry, Mr. Byun.”

“So sorry to say this, Mr. Byun. Just this morning the person who wanted to quit reconsidered his choice.”

 

 

“Make sure you two massage his precious butts,” Baekhyun bursts into Chanyeol’s office where he’s being massaged by two massage ladies. He’s fuming, of course, because wherever he applied for a job, he got rejected. Just. Because. Of. Chanyeol. Who. Contacted. Them. First.

Chanyeol still has his face down looking at the floor through the hole of the massage bed and gulps. “Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling…”

“I’m unemployable, Chanyeol! You called everyone except for Twinkle Magaz—”

“I did call Twinkle Magazine. They just didn’t want you. You’re not Twinkle Magazine material.”

“Mr. Byun, you should really let us work on you to relieve your stress through a nice massa—”

“I don’t want to be touched!” Baekhyun yells at the lady who has just offered him a massage. The next second, he realizes what he’s done but both ladies are gone already. “I’m sorry! You guys are great!”

“Alright. Listen,” Chanyeol says, pressing a button on the wall so his massage bed can be disguised in form of a cabinet leaning against his wall. He’s just wearing a towel on his waist and Baekhyun can’t help but notice a few strands of dark hair leading from the taller’s navel down to his glory down there. Looking away, he secretly swallows. “Our Jeju Island Project is cancelled, yes. But you still have a contract other than Jeju Island project that says you’ll work on it until it’s finished. You’re not allowed to quit because you’re involved in that project already. You may leave that project and go find a new job, though, but you have to pay the fine which is the whole accumulation money for that project. Or, you may quit when I tell you to. Which one do you choose?”


The next day, Baekhyun is back to work at Park Corporation but everyone will be able to see that he’s not the usual Byun Baekhyun just from a glance. He’s not wearing any necktie as usual and the top three buttons of his shirt are ed. If he used to greet everyone with a cheery ‘good morning!’, now he just smirks at everyone he passes by.

And his messy bed hair is seriously no joke.

“Yo, wassap, Mr. Park!” Baekhyun raises his hand for a high five with his boss, busy chewing a grape flavored bubble gum he popped into his mouth during his ride in the elevator. Both of them are now in Chanyeol’s office because the CEO said he needed Baekhyun’s accompany to get Henry, a Chinese businessman, to be their investor for their next project. When Chanyeol just stares at him as if Baekhyun’s grown second head, the smaller man just grins and plops down next to the taller. He loudly chews his bubble gum which irritates his boss so much. “I’m sorry I’m so late.”

“It’s okay. We’ve just started,” Chanyeol replies, sneaking an arm behind Baekhyun to pinch the older’s back.

“Yeah. Forty five minutes ago,” Henry adds, flashing his sarcastic smile. He eyes Baekhyun and disgust is clearly visible on his face.

“Wow, I—”

“Let’s just continue from where we left off, Mr. Henry,” Chanyeol cuts Baekhyun off before the latter can make stupid statement or whatever that may ruin the meeting more.

The meeting goes on for about three hours—which Chanyeol actually has expected to be one hour maximum, credits goes to his assistant’s uncooperative behavior—but thanks goodness Henry agrees to be one of the investors. It’s such a miracle, though, that he still wants to be the investor after Baekhyun spat his bubble gum out recklessly on the floor—near Henry’s shining black shoes.

“I think that was a terrific meeting. We should have more meetings like that,” Baekhyun says, being dragged out of Chanyeol’s office by its owner to God knows where after Henry is long gone.

Chanyeol ignores the greetings from his employees, brain focusing on keeping his iron grip on his assistant’s arm. “Pathetic.”

“What’s pathetic?”

“You. You’re pathetic. I know what you’re doing, Baekhyun.”

The employees who see those two can only share questioning look because it’s been a while since they last saw Chanyeol showing his authority as a CEO like that—dragging his assistant by his arm—and also it’s been soooooo long since they last saw Chanyeol that upset.

“I’m not doing anything~” Baekhyun sing-songs.

“Do you think if you come late and spit your bubble gum out on the investor’s expensive shoes then it will get you fired?” Chanyeol raises his voice as they stop in front of the male restroom. “Let me tell you, Byun Baekhyun, not in this company.”

Baekhyun is about to argue but then Sehun suddenly opens the door of the male restroom from inside, startling both Chanyeol and him. “Good afternoon, Mr. Park.”

“Oh, yes,” Chanyeol finally smiles a little. “Good afternoon, Mr. Oh.”

Two seconds after Sehun is no longer in sight, Baekhyun pulls Chanyeol into the restroom.

“Chanyeol, I freaking have panda eyes—”

“Panda eyes are cute,” Chanyeol simply says. “I like panda.”

Baekhyun bites his tongue so he won’t blurt out all the profanities stored in his mental lexicon. “I can’t sleep well, mostly because you keep calling me in the midnight. And if you don’t call me, I dream that you’re going to call me. I think about you in the shower, not in a good way but in an ‘I’m so distracted I can’t remember if I’ve washed my hair’ kind of way, so I wash my hair twice! I have a hole in my stomach, I’m running out of shampoo, and today is the first time in my life that I didn’t give a thousand percent on a job and I hate that feeling.”

Chanyeol can only blink while the man in front of him pants after rambling his feeling out like that. He clears his throat and tries not to look at Baekhyun’s tired eyes, not really knowing what to do. “I won’t call after work hours.”

“You will, Chanyeol!” Baekhyun desperately says. “You know you will.”

Chanyeol looks down, slightly jutting his lower lip. “Y-yeah.”

“I just…” Baekhyun trails off. Up until today, this is the first time he feels beyond tired, mentally and physically, and it’s only because of someone. “I just don’t think that we can see each other… professionally… anymore.”

There is a pregnant silence, a long one, before Chanyeol lets out a sigh dismissively. He looks everywhere but Baekhyun’s face. “Yeah, whatever. Just stay here until you find a replacement. Train him or her for a while then you can go to wherever you want.”

“Thank you!” Baekhyun clasps his hands together, eyes showing his fullest gratefulness. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise I’ll find you someone amazing, someone better than me, because… because I’m not any good.”

Chanyeol’s mumbles of ‘no’ are left unheard.

“I’ll find you someone more determined,” Baekhyun looks up and, for some odd reasons, his heart aches seeing Chanyeol’s slightly-lost look. That’s when it hits him hard; he won’t have to be by Chanyeol’s side for hours, he won’t have to listen to Chanyeol’s stupid rants, he won’t have to do Chanyeol’s silly orders for him.

And although he can finally be free, it hurts him somehow.

So Baekhyun does the first thing that comes up to his mind. He leans closer and hugs Chanyeol tight, nuzzling his nose on the taller man’s shoulder while also rubbing his back. When Chanyeol finally wraps his muscular arms around Baekhyun’s petite body, the shorter man can’t help the growing smile on his face.

They stay like that for a while until Baekhyun’s iPhone rings, ruining the moment. His iPhone is successfully fished out of his pocket when it suddenly slips out of his hand and freefalls on the tiled floor.

“I’ll get it,” Baekhyun chuckles, breaking the hug and bending down to pick his iPhone up.

Weird things happen in inappropriate times.

Baekhyun’s messy hair gets stuck in Chanyeol’s belt and Sehun just has to go back into the restroom for God knows why at that very moment. The expression on the youngest of the three’s face is unreadable—something between shocked, disgusted, judging, and panic. Well, who won’t if you see your boss gets a from his assistant?

Baekhyun has his cheeks as red as tomatoes and he wants to punch Chanyeol square on the face because the stupid CEO doesn’t seem to be bothered by what is happening.

“Hi, Mr. Oh,” Chanyeol casually greets. “Join us, we’re just brainstorming.”

If only Baekhyun had a long arm to punch at least Chanyeol’s jaw right now…


“You’re interesting, Ms. Kim Shinyoung,” Baekhyun smiles politely, hoping that Chanyeol will just agree to choose Shinyoung as his new assistant. Both of them are in Baekhyun’s office with Mrs. Kim. She’s the seventh job seekers and, to be honest, Baekhyun is tired already. Choosing a new assistant that goes well with Chanyeol is one serious challenge. The giant CEO always found some flaws that made him reject those job seekers.

“What a good resume you have, Mrs. Kim,” Chanyeol inwardly laughs at Baekhyun’s attempt to smile because it looks so fake and not so Baekhyun’s. No matter how great the job seeker is, he really doesn’t want to let go of Baekhyun. He flips through Mrs. Kim’s resume once again for act. “You’re experienced, I see. And congratulation for the baby.”

“What baby?” Mrs. Kim asks.

When Baekhyun realizes what is happening—Mrs. Kim is kind of fat and Chanyeol mistaken her as a pregnant mother—he slowly leans closer to whisper in Chanyeol’s ear and pinch his boss’ thigh. “Check with me before you talk.”

“What baby?!” Mrs. Kim repeats in annoyance.

Baekhyun racks his brain to save his stupid boss’ pride. This is just one of the endless lists of why he hates Chanyeol; the taller man just messes up with everyone or everything and Baekhyun is the one fixing it. He inhales before facing Mrs. Kim again. “I’d like to talk to you about your edu—”

“WHAT BABY?!”

“Yeah, what baby?” Chanyeol copies, pretending to look curiously at Baekhyun.

God knows how much Baekhyun wants to smack Chanyeol’s head with his laptop right here and now.

 

 

“I think perhaps you should do interviews on your own from now on,” Chanyeol says before opening the door of a famous Italian restaurant where they usually have lunch together.

“Whatever you say, baby,” Baekhyun sweetly replies, not really upset anymore after Chanyeol bribed him with ddeokbokki and patbingsu on the way to this restaurant.

They sit at their usual table far in the corner, and order the same food and beverages they always have when they’re there. During the waiting time for their orders, Baekhyun looks through the applicants’ resumes while Chanyeol plays Temple Run on his phone.

Not long after that, a waiter puts their drinks and appetizers on the table. After thanking him, Baekhyun goes back to the resumes but Chanyeol stops playing to do what he always does. He moves the ice cubes of his coke to Baekhyun’s.

“Victoria Song. Jessica Jung. Hm, some interesting prospects for my replacement,” Baekhyun nods to himself and takes a sip of his coke. He then grabs his eating utensils and casually moves the cherry tomato in his salad to Chanyeol’s. “Jessica’s educational background seems perf—”

“Nah. It has to be a man,” Chanyeol shakes his head disapprovingly and puts mayonnaise on both his and Baekhyun’s salads.

“Wow. What a surprise,” Baekhyun feigns a surprised expression. He knows the CEO is gay but—

“My father is going to murder me if it’s a woman. Blame this on my divorcement with Dara. To tell you the truth, he thought I had a relationship with my female employee that led to me divorcing Dara. Funny, huh?” Chanyeol chuckles. Just then the previous waiter comes again, bringing their large sized meat lover pizza this time. Chanyeol quickly cuts the edge of the pizza and brings it to Baekhyun’s plate. “I’ve told him I’m gay, though.”

“Um, give me a second to look through these resumes again,” Baekhyun flips the papers he’s brought along, letting Chanyeol cuts his pizza for him and feeds him.

Other than the find-a-replacement-for-Baekhyun thingy, everything is like what they always do.


Chanyeol walks into Baekhyun’s office coolly, not noticing the way his female employees have their eyes as big as saucers because of his appearance. The smaller man is busy sorting papers and looks gloomy; Chanyeol is too insensitive to ask about what’s happening.

“Okay, Baek, look. I have a charity tennis match tonight and I need to know…” Chanyeol zips open his sport jacket and lowers the shoulders part, showing his shirt. “Does this shirt makes me look like Bjon Borg?”

“Kyungsoo and I just got into a huge fight and I think we just broke our friendship,” Baekhyun staples a few papers on the table with unnecessary power. “He was angry I ran out of his wedding.”

“Really?” Chanyeol looks troubled. He knows how much Kyungsoo means to Baekhyun and imagining those best friends fight… that doesn’t sound good. His gaze then falls on the big stapler on Baekhyun’s table.

“He wants me to go on a Greenpeace boat with him and Jongin for some fun. He said he might forgive me and we could get things straight if I join him there. He thinks I can’t embrace life since my day one in this company,” another hard hit with the stapler. “Is that the case? Because I just don’t see it.”

Chanyeol quirks his lips to the side, trying to understand the man before him.

“And by the way, is he really going to forgive me? I did an extremely terrible thing on his very special day,” Baekhyun hits the stapler on his table again, way harder this time. Unfortunately, it seems like his stapler is kind of broken but he still hits it again and again. “Argh!”

“Nonononononono!” Chanyeol shrieks, swiftly grabbing the big stapler before Baekhyun abuses it again. “Okay. We obviously can’t leave this stapler alone with you only.”

Baekhyun ignores him and looks for another stapler.

“Fine, then. I’ll just cancel my tennis. What can we do to cheer you up?”

“Nothing. There’s no solution,” the anger is still thick in Baekhyun's voice.

Chanyeol sits on the edge of his assistant’s table. “Good. Good attitude.”

“Can’t help my dislike for boats.”

“Surely not all boats.”

“Yes. All boats.”

 

 

So it really surprises Baekhyun when Chanyeol brings him to his personal cruiser and lets the older get drunk. Baekhyun has emptied eight bottles of Chanyeol's expensive soju and the ninth bottle is in his hand already. Chanyeol takes notes that: Baekhyun is clumsier than him when he’s drunk, Baekhyun pours his heart out when he’s drunk, Baekhyun laughs a lot when he’s drunk.

Baekhyun doesn’t know what has possessed him but he just doesn’t care about anything anymore. He tells Chanyeol everything—from his first crush in junior high school to his problem with his parents because he wanted to move from Seoul National Law School to reach his dream of studying law in Harvard—and laughs them off like a crazy man. Right now, he doesn’t see Chanyeol as Park Chanyeol, the CEO of Park Corporation which pretty much is his boss, but he sees Chanyeol as… Chanyeol. A great listener.

Chanyeol has his arms around Baekhyun’s waist while the latter rambles on and on, afraid that his assistant may collapse in a sudden and his milky skin will touch the wooden floor which probably isn’t that clean after all the pacing Baekhyun did.

Chanyeol isn’t expecting Baekhyun to stop talking, but the shorter does. They lock eyes for a while and Chanyeol swears he sees desperation in Baekhyun’s beautiful orbs. He doesn’t like it, not even one bit, and he’s willing to erase it.

Nobody knows and cares about who moves first but Baekhyun has his thin lips pressed against Chanyeol’s soft ones in the next second, eyes closed. He lifts his arms up to hug Chanyeol’s neck, deepening the kiss. Chanyeol tightens his grip on Baekhyun’s waist, pulling the tiny male closer—if possible. When Chanyeol finally needs oxygen, he slowly pulls away.

For seconds, none of them speaks and Chanyeol’s just about to say something to break the silence when suddenly Baekhyun’s body goes limp as he falls asleep.

Thanks to Chanyeol’s reflex that the assistant falls in his arms before his petite body drops down on the wooden floor.

Chanyeol has no choice other than carrying Baekhyun up bridal style to one of the rooms in his cruiser. Once he gently puts Baekhyun down on the bed, he takes in his assistant’s sleeping figure. “You look so peaceful when you’re asleep, Baek. Like a doll.”

But then Baekhyun snores.

“A doll with a sinus problem,” Chanyeol chuckles to himself. He then adds the pillow beneath the sleeping man’s head, hoping to lower his snores, but in fact it only makes it louder. “Seriously? You’re interesting.”

Chanyeol carefully takes Baekhyun’s shoes off and pulls the blanket up to the smaller’s shoulder. His hand subconsciously moves to brush a few strands hair away from the shorter man's forehead and, Chanyeol swears to God it really isn’t his intention, places a soft kiss on his forehead. “Goodnight.”


Baekhyun gazes into the calm sea, basking in the warm sunlight. He’s standing at the front of Chanyeol’s cruiser—the owner is still asleep—hands folded on top of the rail. The wind blows his hair, making it messy, but he gives no care about that—not when he has things running here and there in his mind. He thinks about his friendship with Kyungsoo, he thinks about Luhan’s community center in Jeju Island, and he thinks about… Chanyeol. He has a dream about the latter last night and he isn’t going to lie to himself anymore—he has a feeling for his boss.

Baekhyun looks down and slightly shakes his head no, a sad smile appearing on his beautiful face. He perfectly knows the gap between them; there is no chance for them to be together. He should just forget—

“Morning!”

Baekhyun jumps a bit at that deep, cheerful voice. He turns around only to be greeted by Chanyeol’s blinding smile. When Chanyeol is finally next to him, he tries his best to look calm as he usually does.

Chanyeol ruffles Baekhyun’s hair with a chuckle before handing the smaller man a glass of milk. “I’m sorry I don’t know about your drink preference.”

Baekhyun just smiles then takes a sip of the white liquid. “Chanyeol, we… um, I know I got drunk last night and I slept on the same bed with you, so… d—did we…”

“It was a magical night,” Chanyeol simply says. He inwardly laughs as Baekhyun chokes on his drink. “You made a loud sound that I’ve never heard before.”

“We… we didn’t…” Baekhyun has a look of horror across his face. “Chanyeol, did we—”

Chanyeol lets out a soft laugh. “No, Baekhyun. We didn’t do what you think we did. No need to be so worried about that.”

“Ah, okay,” Baekhyun’s lips curve into a sheepish smile. He nervously sips on his milk again. “Well, whatever I did or didn’t do, said or didn’t say, I… um, it all was my mistake.”

If Chanyeol even feels hurt at that, then he’s quick to hide it with a chuckle. “Nothing happened.”

“That’s a relief,” Baekhyun sighs before gulping the rest of his milk. He won’t deny it that this is the most awkward situation he’s ever experienced in his life. Knowing they didn’t do anything last night somehow pains him but… it’s not like he wanted it in the first place, right?

“Well, I’m very busy. I have tasks to do at the office. You can just stay here and relax, Baek,” Chanyeol says, patting Baekhyun’s head.

“Okay,” Baekhyun hears his voice cracks a bit. “I’ll see you later.”

And it’s when Chanyeol is gone does Baekhyun let his tears fall.


“Mr. Byun,” Sehun pops his head in Baekhyun’s office, hand still on the knob. “Someone is here to meet you.”

Baekhyun doesn’t even lift his head up from the papers on his table he's been looking through. “Come in.”

“This is Sulli Kim,” Sehun enters the room with a goddess-like lady Chanyeol met at the Gala.

Sulli bows a bit and shakes hands with Baekhyun, smiling widely. She then hands him the resume she made at her best. “Hi! I’m Sulli. It’s a pleasure to meet you! I know I don’t have an appointment, so feel free to throw me out of here at any point.”

“I have security on standby,” Baekhyun giggles, gathering his papers and puts them in a big envelope. “Have a seat, please.”

“Thanks.”

“So, I see you took Mr. Kim Junmyeon’s classes at Seoul National Law School,” Baekhyun comments, flipping through Sulli’s resume.

“Yes! Oh my God, I’m still shaking,” Sully fans her reddening cheeks. “I have to tell you, Mr. Byun, I still can’t believe I’m finally meeting you. You’re like a legend in Seoul National Law School for successfully entering Harvard! And what’s more, your article about Sooman’s slavery contact case has been our inspiration for so long. The students in Seoul National Law School always look up at you.”

“Wow, I—”

“I know I don’t really have a strong background in law, but neither did you when you entered Harvard but look at what you’ve accomplished!”

Baekhyun mentally looks for his big stapler to be thrown at the lady in front of him. “Well—”

“And! I’ve never met Mr. Park but in this article in GG Magazine, there are quotes from him about being successful which inspire me a lot,” Sulli pulls a ripped page of a magazine out of her clear file and giggles. “Is it ridiculous that I’m quoting these?”

“No,” Baekhyun forces a smile. He hates it when he’s being cut off and Sulli simply did it twice in less than ten minutes.

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. In order to success, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure,” Sully breathes in, a small smile dancing on her gorgeous face. “Success isn’t final and failure isn’t fatal, it’s the courage to continue that counts. A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have been thrown at him.”

Baekhyun stiffens. It’s his quote!

“When I read that, I felt inspired in an instant,” Chanyeol steps in when Sulli expresses this but she doesn’t notice him yet. “Those quotes never fail to trigger me to be a better person—to be a successful woman in the future.”

“Okay,” Chanyeol finally speaks, nodding to himself. “You’re hired.”

Baekhyun widens his eyes in protest. What’s with ‘it has to be a man’ and ‘my father is going to murder me if it’s a woman’?!

“Mr. Park!” Sulli excitedly greets.

Chanyeol holds his hand out for a handshake and smiles politely when Sulli takes it. “Well, those quotes didn’t come from me. They were from Baekhyun.”

“No, it was from you. I remember being shocked,” Baekhyun pipes in, feigning shock.

“See? We’ve been working together for so long we forget who did what,” Chanyeol walks around Baekhyun’s table and casually sits on the arm of the smaller man’s chair.

“Sounds like an amazing team,” Sulli praises, eyes never leaving Chanyeol’s handsome face.

“Chanyeol, do you mind—”

It’s about time that Sulli eventually spares Baekhyun a smile. “Mr. Byun was so nice for agreeing to see me although I didn’t make any appointment and just came waltzing into his office. Thank you so much for giving me a chance, Mr. Byun.”

“It’s no—”

“Mr. Byun!” Sehun bursts in, panting. “The boards of directors of Zhang Corporation are here already.”

“Wha—okay,” Baekhyun immediately stands up and grabs some papers he may need for the meeting. “Sulli, why don’t we set up a proper interview for tomor—”

“Nah, it’s alright~” Chanyeol butts in. “I can finish up with Sulli.”

“Yah, Park Chanyeol, you’re not coming to the meeting?”

Chanyeol shrugs his shoulders off. “Have I ever come to the meeting?”

“Good point,” Baekhyun may be smiling outside but he’s burning up inside. “Alright.”

“Alright.”

Baekhyun turns around and, thanks to his raging soul, he doesn’t see the human-sized plant near his door and stumbles upon it. “Stupid plant. Do something about this, will you, Mr. Oh?”

“Absolutely. This plant is fired,” Sehun absentmindedly answers before walking away with the plant in his arms.

“Oh, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun steps back and leans against his door frame. “Are we still on for the dine at  that Japanese restaurant near your apartment tonight?”

“I like Japanese food!” Sulli comments, eyes sparkling.

“So, Chanyeol, are we—”

Sulli’s face brightens up as she gives Chanyeol her eye-smile. “I’m a huge fan of sushi~”

“Whoa! Sushi?” Chanyeol raises his eyebrows in amusement. “I’ll trade everything for sushi. Well, I guess we absolutely can be a perfect team in the future since we already like the same thing. Who knows one thing leads to another, right?”

Baekhyun blows his bangs up, feeling completely ignored. Three more seconds of being ignored then— “Fine. Forget it.”


“So, what do you think of Sulli?” Baekhyun covers his mouth to yawn then rubs his eyes so that sleep will fully go away from him. It’s Chanyeol’s two-in-the-morning-call ritual and that’s the first thing appeared in his mind. The dine at the Japanese restaurant was canceled—well, Baekhyun cancelled it because he wasn’t in the mood anymore—and the CEO didn’t even bother to ask him why.

“She’s lovely. I like her.”

“Yeah, great,” Baekhyun mentally scoffs. He’s so upset with Sulli’s presence, but it seems like his boss isn’t. “Me too.”

“Who won’t? Her smile is blinding and she constantly flashes it at me. She has no problem in catching up with projects she never heard of. Exactly what I’m looking for.”

Baekhyun feels something pinch his heart. He’s Byun Baekhyun for God’s sake, so he tries not to show pain in his voice. “She got no experience, Chanyeol. But  yeah, I guess that can be covered.”

“We went out for a drink and talked for two hours. She’s a clever girl, you know, sharp,” Baekhyun can imagine how wide Chanyeol’s smile must be now. “Her house is soooo far from our office so I offered her an apartment next door. And you know what, Baekhyun, she is a good tennis player!”

Baekhyun snorts. He has to wake up at freaking five in the morning and spend more than one hour riding on the subway before getting into Park Corporation from his apartment. That doesn’t include fifteen minutes walk he has to do from the subway station to the twelve stored building. What’s more, Chanyeol was the one buying the apartment for him. “I can swing a racket.”

“Yes, I know. At my head. I’ve experienced it,” there is a silent pause before Chanyeol breathes out. “Thanks a lot for finding her, Baek.”

And if Baekhyun was upset, he’s completely heartbroken now. There’s no denial that Chanyeol likes Sulli more than him.


The next Sunday, Chanyeol invites Baekhyun, Sulli, and Sehun to play tennis at his sport center. Baekhyun is about to ask Chanyeol to team up with him but Sulli beats him to it.

And Park Chanyeol says yes to Sulli.

The game is fine at the beginning but as minutes pass by, it becomes like a battle between Sulli and Baekhyun only. Death glares are exchanged between those two, making the game tenser.

Baekhyun curses in his head for every swing of his racket, so does Sulli. He swears he’ll give no mer—

The ball from Sulli hits Baekhyun’s forehead hard, making him fall backward.

Sulli rushes up to Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Sehun following suit. “Oh my God! Mr. Byun! Are you okay?”

“Do I have a concussion or something?” Baekhyun squints his eyes. “Ask me something.”

“Name all the members of Infinite!” Chanyeol says quick.

“Um…” Baekhyun closes his eyes, forehead still in pain. “Woohyun, Hoya, Sunggyu, Sungyeol, Myungsoo, Sungjong, and Dongwoo. Am I right?”

“How should I know? I don’t take interest in boybands,” Chanyeol innocently replies.

“You’re right, Mr. Byun. You don’t have concussion,” Sehun suddenly speaks after googling the answer.


If Baekhyun became so stressful because of Chanyeol’s behavior before, now it’s Sulli’s. The lady keeps cutting him of in every meeting to voice out her thoughts which, strangely, always get accepted by everyone. Whenever Baekhyun asks him to do something—be it sorting a few papers or sending business emails—the lady will always refuse to do so, saying that Chanyeol is his boss, not Baekhyun. Chanyeol is the one having the right to order him around, not Baekhyun.

All with that damned blinding smile.

Sulli steps over Baekhyun’s limit when she says to him she needs to go home earlier to buy a dress for tonight’s charity event. Baekhyun is okay with that actually—yeah, women and dresses are inseparable—but then Sulli just has to inform him that Chanyeol asked her to come with him to the event.

Chanyeol asked Baekhyun the same a few hours ago, during his two-in-the-morning-call ritual to be exact.

When Sulli is no longer in his room, Baekhyun takes the papers needed to be signed by Chanyeol and also his other things. Baekhyun has no nice suit for the charity event so yes he’s going to go home earlier too to buy one. He fastens his walk as he spots Chanyeol talking with Sehun, probably waiting for the elevator.

“Chanyeol, sign these papers or we say bye to Han Corporation and two others. Take care,” Baekhyun shoves the paper in Chanyeol’s arms and takes the stairs instead of the elevator.

Chanyeol immediately follows his assistant in panic. “Baekhyun, wait up! I need you to do my speech.”

Baekhyun doesn’t stop, not even pausing his walk down the stairs. He’s just too upset, both at Chanyeol and Sulli. “Sorry, I gotta run.”

“Well, Baek, I’ll pick you up at eight tonight—oh by the way, I asked Sulli to—”

“That’s nice, Chanyeol. But I don’t need a ride. Thanks,” with that, Baekhyun runs away, leaving Chanyeol dumbfounded with his behavior.


The charity event goes well, thanks to Baekhyun’s hardwork in making sure that every single thing is well-prepared. He also makes sure to greet everyone in the event so that they will have a good impression at Park Corporation. As he’s talking about the newest financial report of a small company in Busan with some investors, his eyes accidentally catch a glimpse of Chanyeol who has Sulli’s arm linked with his.

Baekhyun looks away. Maybe Chanyeol isn’t even gay in the first place. Maybe he just didn’t love Dara.

Baekhyun excuses himself and goes to another area, eyes still on Chanyeol. His giant CEO looks stunning tonight with his black suit and dark brown hair. He smiles bitterly; luck is never with him in his love life—it’s either he’s too late to realize he falls for someone hard or he mistakens someone to be in love with him.

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol shouts loudly and waves his hand excitedly at him, gathering attention from people nearby. Sulli isn’t by his side anymore, though.

Baekhyun really wants to cry because Chanyeol is so stupid. Chanyeol is so stupid but Baekhyun still likes him nonetheless.

Chanyeol is about to come over but Baekhyun mouths he’s the one who is going to approach him. When they’re finally in front of each other, Baekhyun has a sudden urge to just jump into the taller’s arms and never let go, but he knows it’s impossible.

Chanyeol eyes Baekhyun from head to toe, face showing absolute adoration. “Tonight you look so… surprising. I… I…”

Baekhyun arches his eyebrows, signaling for Chanyeol to continue.

“I just…”

“Mr. Byun!”

Baekhyun mentally kills Sulli for ruining his moment with the man he loves.

“You look so handsome, Mr. Byun!” Sulli compliments, casually linking her arm with Chanyeol’s.

“Thanks. You yourself look so pretty, Sulli,” Baekhyun forces a smile, trying hard not to glance down at their linked arms again. “Well, I’ll be going first. I need to make sure we’re not going to run out of food and drink.”

Baekhyun is about to add up the score of Baekhyun-walks-away-first-from-Chanyeol once again when Sulli stops him. “By the way, Mr. Byun, I need your help to correct my revision proposal of Jeju Island Project.”

“I’m sorry?” Baekhyun sends Chanyeol a questioning look before setting his eyes at Sulli. “Jeju Island project? Wasn’t it cancelled?”

“Yes. But Mr. Park said—”

“Chanyeol, can I please talk to you for a second?” Baekhyun asks through gritted teeth. He suddenly feels angry, betrayed, and sad; so many emotions are filling him up to the point that he feels suffocated. Sensing that Chanyeol isn’t going to grant what he has asked, Baekhyun grabs his boss’ wrist and drags him to somewhere.

“You ing lied to me, Chanyeol! You said the project was off!” Baekhyun finally explodes. Now they’re at a secluded area where only both of them are there. “YOU’RE A LIAR!”

“IT’S FREAKING NOT OF YOUR BUSINESS, GEEZ!” Chanyeol snaps back. “Why the hell are you angry? You don’t even work for Park Corporation anymore!”

“Chanyeol, you promised me! You promised me you’d help me. You promised me you wouldn’t destroy that community center if I found the supporting data that it didn’t give much profit AND I DID! I FREAKING FOUND THE DATA! SO WHY IS THE JEJU ISLAND PROJECT ON AGAIN NOW? I can’t believe you’re not even trying to be the person you could be.”

“Well, this is the person I could be.”

Baekhyun inhales, trying to calm himself down. “This is the first time in my life that I really, really hate you, Park Chanyeol. I really hate you. I don't know if I can forgive you someday.”

“Yeah, I dislike myself for even longer time. And you know what, Baek, I don’t like you too now. Why don’t you just go and be the person you’re supposed to be?”

Baekhyun can hear his heart breaking into pieces in the background. Even the least person he thinks will be able to say something that can hurt him has just told him to go. “Fine. Have a wonderful night, Park Chanyeol.”


Maybe it’s been Baekhyun’s nature to always run to Kyungsoo if he has a problem, so there’s no question why he’s in front of Kyungsoo’s apartment, eyes red and wet from crying. He knocks once again, weaker this time.

“Who is—Baekhyun! Oh my God! Wha—look at me!” Kyungsoo opens the door wide and cups Baekhyun’s face, slightly lifting his head so he can look into the older’s eyes. Their conflict is long forgotten. “Tell me what happened.”

Baekhyun sniffles. “Nothing, Kyungsoo.”

“Something did happen. I’ve known you for years, Baekhyun, and I’ve never seen you cry like this. Is it because of Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo carefully asks. “I only know about Chanyeol from Yixing, though.”

It takes a few seconds for Baekhyun to weep again. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Kyungsoo. I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with my stupid, selfish boss.”

Kyungsoo envelopes Baekhyun in his embrace, rubbing the latter’s back soothingly. “Everything happens for a reason, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun nods and wipes his tears away. He’s about to say something when his iPhone vibrates. He opens the new message in his Line group chat—the members of the group are the employees of Park Corporation—and suddenly feels like a jumbo mammoth has just stepped on him.

Sehun posted a photo of Chanyeol and Sulli kissing in front of the elevator.

Baekhyun laughs so hard until his tears fall again and he ends up crying, not because it’s too funny but because he feels like the most unfortunate person in the world.

He finds it funny how he ruined his relationship with Kyungsoo but managed to get him back, all because of one person. Park Chanyeol.


Baekhyun’s farewell party isn’t much. After delivering his speech, he cuts the farewell tart and eats it with all the employees of Park Corporation who are present that day. He receives goodbye hugs from the ones closest with him during his work in the company as well.

“Mr. Byun!” Sulli comes up to him. She briefly hugs him. “Thank you so much for everything.”

Baekhyun just smiles and stuffs a few things on his box, including the big stapler. “No problem. Goodluck with everything.”

“Is that…?” Sulli giggles, eyeing the stapler.

“What?”

Sulli bits her lower lip to stop herself from laughing. “Nevermind.”

“No. What, Sulli?”

“It’s just…” a soft laugh eventually escapes Sulli’s lips. “Technically, I think the stapler belongs to the company.”

“Wha—yeah, whatever,” Baekhyun takes out the stapler from his box dismissively.

“Nonono~ You can keep it. It will be like our little secret,” Sulli winks.

“Great, thanks. I guess I deserve this one for, you know, working eighteen hours a day, seven days a week.”

Sulli gasps in amusement. “Wow~ You’re a workaholic, Mr. Byun.”

“No. Actually those are your working hours with Chanyeol,” Baekhyun flashes his infamous smirk.

“Well, then I can be a workaholic, too!”

Their conversation goes on and on until Baekhyun slips up about the photo last night. Sulli is so embarrassed that it was spread and takes Baekhyun’s stapler from his box. It’s kind of childish but yes they then fight over a stapler until Chanyeol comes in between them and drags a raging Baekhyun to his office.

“What do you want, liar?” Baekhyun asks, not meeting Chanyeol’s eyes.

Chanyeol takes a step forward and Baekhyun takes one backward. “I’m not a liar, Baek.”

“You promised me a community center! You promised me to cancel Jeju Island Project!”

“Yes, I promised you! I’m sorry, okay?!” Chanyeol desperately flails his arm. “But I can’t control what my father wants! I can’t control the economy! I failed! I promised you and I disappointed you! I know that, Baek. I know. But I’m just human.”

Baekhyun sarcastically laughs. “I’m human too!”

“Oh yeah? Because you’re too perfect! You’re too wonderful. No one is going to keep up with you because you’re like a saint! And you know what, Baek, people don’t want saints in their lives. Saints are boring!” Chanyeol immediately closes his mouth as he realizes what he has just said. He really didn’t mean it that way. “Baekhyun, I’m sor—”

“Goodbye, Chanyeol,” is all Baekhyun says before leaving Park Corporation forever.

Chanyeol throws everything on his table to the wall in anger.


It’s been two months and Baekhyun is still jobless. It’s not that no one wants him; Baekhyun himself isn’t willing to apply for any job. Jongdae and Yixing, even Kyungsoo and Jongin, have persuaded him to go get a job soon but Baekhyun simply blocks his ears from their words.

Baekhyun is back to his house with Jongdae and Yixing, not even bringing one item Chanyeol has bought for him. He also has heard that Luhan’s community center in Jeju Island will be destroyed next week and he feels down more. He hates it when he’s not able to help his friend.

Baekhyun feels useless.


It’s finally the d-day.

Baekhyun looks outside through the window of the legal aid office he works at, seeing children playing football with big smiles on their faces. His mind wanders to the orphans in Luhan’s community center. Where will they live from now on?

“Mr. Byun, could you please take the papers of Ms. Yoo’s case downstairs for me?” Shinyoung asks.

Baekhyun nods, smiling. “Sure.”

Just as he disappears downstairs, Chanyeol walks in to the room.

Shinyoung squints her eyes then smirks at the game faith is playing with her. “Well, hello?”

Chanyeol turns around. “Oh, hi!”

“Ah, it’s you,” Shinyoung is tempted to roll her eyes but she holds it back. “You don’t remember me, do you? Kim Shinyoung. You interviewed me. You thought I was carrying a baby in my stomach.”

“I do remember. Wow~ Hi, Mrs. Kim! So you work here,” Chanyeol sheepishly smiles, remembering that particular embarrassing moment he once had. “How are you?”

“Pregnant.”

Chanyeol laughs. “I won’t get fooled twice.”

“No. I’m really pregnant. You can congratulate me now.”

“Mrs. Kim, I’m not the boy yesterday,” Chanyeol holds back a fit of laughter.

“I’m freaking pregnant! Do you want to see the USG?”

Chanyeol blinks. “I—”

“Mrs. Kim, I think we need to—”

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol’s face suddenly brightens up.

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol with an unreadable expression. “Hi. I’m busy.”

“Um, yeah,” Chanyeol suddenly loses all his confidence. He closes his eyes and inhales, gathering up all his courage before approaching his ex-assistant. “I need your opinion for the last time, I swear, and you’ll hear nothing from me again. I just want to show you the first speech I made by myself and I think it’s not that good so… please, Baek. I need to know what you think about that.”

Baekhyun just continues his work, completely ignoring Chanyeol.

“I’ll just read it for you, then,” Chanyeol says, following Baekhyun wherever the shorter man walks to. “Ladies and gentleman, I’d like to welcome all of you on this special day. We’re very proud and happy to be here. By having a resort in Jeju Island, we hope many people will come to Jeju Island every year. Unfortunately, there’s one fly in the ointment. I gave my words to someone that I wasn’t going to knock down this building behind me.”

Baekhyun slows down his activity, ears concentrating on Chanyeol’s words.

“Those who have known me will say my words doesn’t mean too much. So why is it different this time? Well, partly because this building is an architecture gem and deserves to be the landmark of Jeju Island and partly because people need this building to stay at, but mainly because this person—despite being unusually stubborn and unwilling to compromise and very poor dressed—he is… he loves this building so much. A little tough at the edges, but when you look closely, he’s absolutely beautiful. He really is one of a kind. Even though I’ve said cruel things and driven him away, he’s become the voice in my head.”

Baekhyun bites his inner cheek hard, telling himself not to break down right here and now.

“I can’t seem to drown him out.”

Tears are pooling in Baekhyun’s eyes already but he looks up, blinking it away.

“And I don’t want to drown him out,” Chanyeol’s voice comes out as a whisper. “So, we’re going to keep this community center.”

Baekhyun can’t stop his growing smile but he has logic—this is all too good to be true. Chanyeol isn't really doing this.

“Because I gave my words to him and because this community center is precious for many people.”

Tears finally start falling down on Baekhyun’s cheeks but he quickly wipes it away.

“And I don’t like Sulli. She forced me into that kiss. I’m sorry I didn’t show it too much about my feeling for you,” Chanyeol slightly pouts. “That’s not in the speech but I just needed to tell you that. So… what do you think?”

There’s a very long pause before Baekhyun says, “I have to go back to work.”

“Right,” Chanyeol nods to himself, feeling like a fool. He flashes a bitter smile. “You’re right. Sorry for disturbing.”

Baekhyun walks away first, hiding in the restroom to cry. Chanyeol reluctantly steps out of the legal aid office with crestfallen face. He thinks it’s his fault as well for hurting the one he loves. He thinks he’s so damn stupid for not showing how much he loves his ex-assistant.

A couple of minutes later, Baekhyun is back at his table. “There is some diction somewhere in the middle that should be changed. However, that speech was quite perfect, don’t you think?”

“Yes. I don’t know what the hell are you doing still sitting here,” Shinyoung replies, wiping her own tears. The two of them sniffle and—

“And I don’t even like him!” Baekhyun whispers before running out of the office, hoping to find Chanyeol. He won't forgive himself if he really lets Chanyeol go away from his live now. For once he wants to be the selfish one; he wants to make Chanyeol his. Turning his head to the sides, he can’t find Chanyeol anywhere. It’s when a couple breaks their kiss does Baekhyun sees Chanyeol through the gap between that couple’s faces. “CHANYEOL!”

Chanyeol stops on his track and turns away, only to see Baekhyun running up at him as fast as his short legs can do.

Baekhyun fastens his run and jumps into Chanyeol’s arms, burying his face on the latter’s shoulder. He hugs him tight, not wanting to let go. He closes his eyes and lets out a few sobs. “Chanyeol, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for keeping the community center. I know I can be harsh at times, I know, but I want to change because I believe people can change and it means I can change. I promise I won’t be so demanding anymore. I just—”

Chanyeol pinches Baekhyun’s lips and stares into the shorter’s eyes tenderly. “Byun Baekhyun, this may be too late but… I’m in love with you.”

“And I’m in love with you, too,” Baekhyun says before leaning in—

Chanyeol has the guts to ruin the moment by slightly pulling away, right when Baekhyun’s upper lip has just touched his. “Oh! I need to tell you that I’ve just resigned, so I’m poor now.”

“That’s good,” Baekhyun still has his eyes on his ex-boss’ lips. He tiptoes a bit to have a taste of Chanyeol’s lips again.

“When I say poor it means we have to share helicopter with another family. Does it bother you, Baek?” Chanyeol’s lips brush against Baekhyun’s as he pronounces those words.

Baekhyun smiles. “As long as I don’t have to work for you, we’ll be fine, Chanyeol.”

“Well, great,” Chanyeol cups Baekhyun’s face and gently captures the shorter’s lips with his. At last he can finally get the one he loves.

Chanyeol’s freedom comes in form of Baekhyun.

 

 

 


finally done. will edit later. now you know the title~ ^^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments

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Beau1996 1305 streak #1
Chapter 2: One of my favorite k dramas !! Very nice version with one of my favorite ships!!
Cup_baek
#2
Chapter 2: Loved this soooooo much
Eeouna
#3
Chapter 2: THIS WAS SO GOOD.
This was everything TT feeling so much within just two chapters. So glad I found this.
pcyeolmae
#4
Chapter 2: Oh man. I was having a bad day and this fic made me laugh so much. This was perfect. And Sooman's slavery, I died at that part ??
neverbeenyourfangurl
#5
Chapter 2: mix emotions in one great fanfic wow
Supreme_Overlord
#6
Chapter 2: I honestly think this is better than the movie and I'm a huge er for Sandra B but Chanbaek always triumphs *wipes tears*
Sumaiya #7
Chapter 2: This story is sooooooooooo cute
10thprince
#8
Chapter 2: Oh, the jealousy, the pining - give me all of it. I loved this. It was also quite funny.
sharonbbbb #9
wow its seriously amazing !!!!