Chapter 14: Leaving

****

For two very long weeks, Baekhyun had successfully avoided Chanyeol. In order to avoid running into his best friend or ex-best friend, he came into work a lot earlier than usual because he knew Chanyeol would never be able to wake up too early to catch him. Baekhyun also started taking the bus to and from work; no more rides from Chanyeol whatsoever. And while at the company, Baekhyun usually stayed locked inside his office, working on his designs; he would take calls from no one except Joonmyun and he would make his assistant bring him his lunch in order to make sure he wouldn't run into Chanyeol in the lobby. Leaving the company was always the hardest part; he didn't really have a plan in order to avoid Chanyeol because as the company owner the giant could pretty much leave at whatever time he pleased, so Baekhyun would usually just pray and hope that Chanyeol wouldn't be in the lobby when he left and as soon as he walked out those company doors he'd run to the bus stop without looking back.

After two weeks of being avoided by his best friend, Chanyeol decided that enough was enough, he was determined to speak to Baekhyun one way or another. He knew that Baekhyun would not take his call or allow him to come into his office so instead he asked Baekhyun's assistant, Eunjung, if the designer was still in the company. After confirming with her that Baekhyun still had not left the company, Chanyeol went down to the first floor of the company and sat in the lobby; he knew that Baekhyun would have to walk past him in order to leave and he was going to wait no matter how long it took, because life without Baekhyun was really difficult.  

As he waited, Chanyeol realized how much he actually missed Baekhyun. The past two week without the petit designer had been very hard indeed; there was no one to laugh at his stupid jokes, no one to go home with and watch boring movies with.

There was no Baekhyun.

When he closed his eyes he could perfectly picture his best friend. He could fully picture Baekhyun resting his head on his shoulder as they watched horrible movies together, making smart comments and laughing at the stupid plot and cheesy romantic lines. Chanyeol remembered and missed every single thing about Baekhyun.

Chanyeol heard the 'ding' of the elevator and immediately looked towards it; he hoped that Baekhyun would step out of the elevator but was slightly disappointed when Joonmyun and Yifan walked out instead. He stared at them from afar and suddenly felt something building up inside of him, perhaps something like... jealousy?

Joonmyun and Yifan stared at each other with huge smiles on their faces, their fingers were intertwined as they walked out of the company, the two were talking and laughing and looked so happy. They were in their own word and it was as if nobody else existed.

Chanyeol saw how Yifan leaned down and gave Joonmyun a peck on the lips and how Joonmyun shyly smiled and lightly pushed him away because there were people around. He also saw how people around them couldn't help but the gush at how cute they looked together.

Yifan and Joonmyun really were the perfect couple and Chanyeol was envious.

The strange thing was... it wasn't the same type of jealousy he felt before, when he thought that Joonmyun was meant to be with him; it was a very different type of jealousy.

Instead of being jealous because Joonmyun was with Yifan, Chanyeol was jealous because the two of them had such a sweet relationship and Chanyeol wanted to have someone in his life to love and to be loved by like Joonmyun and Yifan had each other.

He didn't want to have a relationship with Joonmyun or anybody else, he didn't want someone new or someone he knew because deep down in his heart, Chanyeol knew that he was in love with... Baekhyun. Since a long time ago, Baekhyun had taken Joonmyun's place in Chanyeol's heart.

Baekhyun.

Baekhyun.

Byun Baekhyun.

 Baekhyun was literally all that Chanyeol could think about. He tried so hard to push those thoughts away, Baekhyun was suppose to be his best friend, just his best friend but now he didn't know if just being best friends was enough. Now, Chanyeol wanted to be so much more than just best friends because after witnessing how happy and in love Joonmyun and Yifan looked, he knew that him and Baekhyun sort of had a relationship like the engaged couple, minus the kissing and hand holding, it all came so naturally for Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Maybe Baekhyun was put in his life, not only to make him a better person, but also to teach him the true meaning of love.

Chanyeol smiled upon realizing his true feelings for his best friend. He had been trying to convince himself that what he felt for Baekhyun was nothing but friendly love for so long that admitting it to himself was like a weight lifted off his shoulders.

His heart raced at the thought of telling Baekhyun how he felt, confessing his love to the designer and the two of them living happily ever after, if Baekhyun felt the same way about him of course. Everything was going to be absolutely perfect, but first Chanyeol had to do a few things. He had to fix a things around Young Young Apparel.

First, he had to ask Yifan for forgiveness and to thank him for loving Joonmyun and for making him happy. He also had to talk to his cousin and to Kyungsoo and maybe after they talk, everything will resolve itself; he didn't want his best friend and cousin to keep being miserable, they belonged together. And even though it probably wasn't his business, Chanyeol also wanted to help Luhan and Sehun; those two had to either make it official or stop giving each other false hope.

With a new attitude and a lot of hope, Chanyeol stood up and decided to try and fix things one more time because Baekhyun had taught him to think of others and to help others, especially those he loved.

****

After yet another photo shoot, Sehun grabbed Luhan by the wrist and pulled him out of the photography studio without being noticed by anyone. The older model smiled to himself as the two of them made their way up the stairs and eventually reach the top. Sehun pushed the metal door open and he and Luhan stepped out onto the rooftop.

As soon as the metal door closed behind them, Sehun