Sehun feels like a complete wreck. Time passes so slowly this week and to be very honest, Sehun thinks he hates his job for the very first time. During his break, he takes that entire hour to just stare at his surrounding and he finally notices how boring this place can be. No wonder Baekhyun never visits.

“You are awfully quiet today.”

Sehun doesn’t move. “I just realized how boring this place is.”

Jongin quirks an eyebrow. “Wait ‘til you realize how boring you are.”

“Getting there,” Sehun says and Jongin chuckles as he pats Sehun’s back. “I’ve been thinking…”

“What’s new?"

“Maybe I should take a break.” Sehun shifts position because his is starting to numb.

“Yes. I agree,” Jongin says, nodding at the side.

“Maybe I should just bring Baekhyun somewhere.”

Jongin shakes his head quick enough. “No. Not going to happen.”

Sehun snorts. “I’m his boyfriend, you idiot. Stop being a .”

“And I’m your best friend so stop being a douchebag,” Jongin retorts, hitting the back of Sehun’s head and earning a glare from the other. “Bring me too!” Sehun rolls his eyes. “And because I’m such a good friend, I don’t mind you being there while Baekhyun and I have a walk by the seaside.”

Hearing this, Sehun starts laughing and a smile forms on Jongin’s face. “Thanks, Jongin,” Sehun says sincerely because this is the first time he’s feeling joy since this morning. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Jongin’s smile grows wider. “Say, why don’t you invite me for dinner tonight—“

“No.”

“Hey!” Jongin pouts. “I brightened up your day, now do the same for me!”

“Enough is enough, Jongin,” Sehun sighs as he gets onto his feet, stepping away from the stool he has been sitting on. “You need to get the fact that Baekhyun is taken shoved right into your head.”

“But I—“

“Hey?” comes a third voice and the two best friends turn to the source. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”

Jongin shakes his head immediately. “No!”

Luhan smiles and turns to Sehun, who’s looking back with a blank expression. “Wanna go back to the same place for lunch?”

“YES.”

Sehun wants to hit Jongin so badly. “Excuse me? Did you just say yes—“

Jongin shuffles to Luhan sides, grabbing his arm. “Please bring him out, he’s been stuck in here the entire morning and I think his depression is getting to him—“

“Kim Jongin, I swear you better stop talking right now.”

“—he needs fresh air. Heck, he needs to get out of here. You know what? Bring him out for dinner too and don’t return him home until midnight.”

Luhan chuckles at Jongin’s blabbering. He puts his hand over Jongin’s and gives it a gentle squeeze. “That’s very thoughtful of you, Jongin.” Said person smiles so wide at Luhan and Luhan adds, “but I’m returning him after lunch.”

“But you don’t understand! He needs to—“

Sehun pulls Luhan over, “Let’s just go,” he says, spinning him around and pushes him towards the entrance with both hands on the smaller male’s shoulders.

When they’re outside, Sehun notices how Luhan’s shoulders have stiffen and he releases the man right away. Luhan lets out an awkward laugh and even though Sehun just wants to apologize and head back in, he can’t.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles as Luhan turns around to face him. Sehun tries not to stare at his eyes too long. his lips wet, he continues, “Jongin is weird like that, d-don’t—“

“It’s okay,” Luhan shrugs with a small smile on his face. “I get it, my best friend is weird in his own way too.”

“Good.”

“Yeah.”

Sehun looks away first and Luhan follows suit, staring at the ground. “Uhm, lunch?” Sehun asks after a long pause in their conversation.

Luhan looks back up. “Oh! Oh, right. I mean, if you’re not hungry—“

“I’m not.”

“Oh.”

“But I guess if you are, we can go?” Sehun picks up, mentally slapping himself for being bad at conversations. “The place you like?”

Sehun starts walking first, stopping after a few steps so Luhan catches up and walks next to him. “But you don’t,” Luhan continues.

“I can learn to like it,” Sehun replies with a smile, surprising both Luhan and himself. “I-I mean, if we’re going to do this often—“

“I’d like that,” Luhan interrupts him with a bigger smile, turning to look at Sehun. Then, he blushes and looks ahead. “A break from work for you and a break from the hunt for me will be good.”

“Yeah,” Sehun nods in agreement, recalling his words and thoughts back in the library. “A break will be nice.”

They reach the pink café soon enough and after getting a table, Luhan orders for them again and they’re left on their own once more. They return to their comfortable silence and Sehun thinks this is something he can really get used to. He is never an expressive person anyway.

“Can we be very honest with each other?” Luhan speaks suddenly and Sehun turns to him. “Can we be very, very honest with each other?”

Sehun laughs and Luhan finds how dumb he must have sounded. “Is this how you normally begin a friendship?”

“Well, no,” Luhan splutters, his shoulders sagged. “I just want us to be honest with each other.”

Sehun finds this interesting and leans forward, propping his chin on his clasped hands. “Alright, how honest?”

“Like if you’re uncomfortable being with me, you can leave now.”

Luhan shuts his eyes, waiting for Sehun to stand up and walk away when he hears Sehun laughing again. He takes a peek at the other man. “You asked me out for lunch and you’re waiting for me to leave?”

“I really don’t want you to feel forced,” Luhan whimpers like a child. “No one should ever feel that way.”

“Then why did you ask me to come out for lunch in the first place?”

“Because I was hoping that you’d agree to it willingly,” Luhan answers. “I’m probably the last person you’d want to be with—“

“You know something, don’t you?” Sehun interrupts and Luhan nods stiffly, not looking into Sehun’s eyes. “Did Grandpapa tell you something?”

“Not exactly…”

Sehun heaves out a breath of annoyance. “Look, it’s my life, it’s my business. I appreciate that you want to be my friend but that’s what we’ll ever going to be. Friends. You hear me?”

Luhan’s head drops and he answers as he tugs onto the hem of his shirt out of habit, “yes.”

“Good.”

“And Sehun…”

“Yeah?” Sehun looks over to the figure next to him.

“You can leave if you want to.”

It doesn’t take long for Sehun to stand up and step away from the table. It doesn’t take long for a tear to stain Luhan’s pants wet. In the next second, Sehun’s already out the door.

“Who’s the one leaving, Sehun?”

✖

The moment Sehun steps into his workplace and finds his grandfather standing by the counter, Sehun thinks he’s about to go crazy. “God no, not now.”

“Oh, there he is, Grandpaps!” Jongin hollers. “He’s back from his date.”

“It’s not a date!” Sehun says through gritted teeth. “I’m done for the day, I’m going home.” He walks past the old man and grabs his jacket behind the counter. “In fact, I’m not going to be here the entire week.”

“Where are you going?” Grandpapa asks as Sehun walks past him again, not stopping to greet him properly.

“Home,” Sehun replies, throwing his jacket on. “Then, to somewhere far away. Far away from all this madness and irritating thoughts and—“

“You can’t escape, Sehun, and you know I’m right. The more you ignore, the more you try to run away, the more you’ll get hurt. Baekhyun is going to get hurt.”

“Why do you keep saying that!” Sehun snaps, turning around to look at his grandfather finally. “Did Baekhyun do something wrong? Did I do something wrong? Why can’t all of you just leave me and Baekhyun alone?”

The old man steps up to his grandson and looks straight into those wet eyes. “Tell me that you really are in love with Baekhyun.”

Sehun stared back with the same determined look but as time goes by, his confidence starts to waver and he finds himself holding back. He does what he does best.

“I’m leaving,” he says instead and turns around to leave.

✖

When Sehun gets home, he walks straight to the bedroom and is relief to see that Baekhyun is there. His boyfriend is sitting against the headboard, tongue poking out at the corner of his lips as the tip of the pencil glides across his sketchbook. Sehun loves coming home to this sight, knowing Baekhyun is doing what he loves and is still in Sehun’s life.

Baekhyun will never leave.

“Hey.”

Sehun snaps out of his reverie and realizes that Baekhyun has stopped working his magic on the paper. “Hey.”

“Are you feeling alright?” Baekhyun asks as he places the sketchbook and pencil down. He pats the space beside him and continues, “you look tired.”

“Very,” Sehun sighs and pads towards their bed. He plops his down onto his side of the bed and leans back, resting his head on Baekhyun’s lap. “Take a few days off, please,” Sehun gets straight to the point just right after Baekhyun threads his fingers through Sehun’s hair and Baekhyun freezes. “I need to escape.”

“Is something wrong?” Baekhyun asks, pushing Sehun’s long fringe to the side.

Sehun closes his eyes. “I just want to escape this place for a while.”

“Is it because of that—“

“No,” Sehun cuts Baekhyun off immediately. “No, it has nothing to do with Luhan.”

Baekhyun purses his lips into a thin line and nodded as a response to Sehun’s request. “I’ll see what I can do. I’m sure I can get Friday off.”

“No,” Sehun says again. “No, I want to leave immediately.”

“But Sehun…” Baekhyun is frowning and Sehun opens his eyes to see those concerned eyes staring down at him.

The end of Sehun’s lips tugs upward into a small smile and he reaches his hand up to push Baekhyun’s fringe away from his eyes. “Don’t worry. Hey, maybe I can make a leave first, spend a few days on my own and then you can join me later?"

Baekhyun ponders for awhile before agreeing. “Fine. But don’t do anything dumb.”

Sehun only chuckles.

“I love you,” Baekhyun whispers, Sehun’s head and Sehun smiles as he closes his eyes once more, drifting into dreamland.

✖

“Look at me.”

Luhan looks up from his bare feet and stares at his computer screen. His best friend is staring back at him, eyes narrowing into thin slits. “What?”

“Don’t what me,” the brunette scoffs from the other side. “We both know something is wrong. Did you not get enough food again? Where’s your daily dose of marshmallows? Did you lose another sock or something?”

Luhan rolls his eyes. “Yixing…”

“Luhan, you can’t sulk over a missing sock, we’ve been through this.”

“Hey, don’t include Minnie into this conversation,” Luhan sniffs. “Don’t remind me and Mickey about his missing other half.”

“So if it’s not about your socks, can you please tell me why you’re not your usual self tonight?” Yixing asks before letting out a yawn, propping his chin on the back of his right hand. “I can’t think this late at night.”

Luhan smiles at the sight of sleepy Yixing. He really misses his best friend and home so much. “It’s only 10.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” Yixing replies monotonously. “Luhan, I didn’t spend my entire childhood waiting for god to ship me my best friend all the way from Korea only to have him return to his birth place ten years later. You came here for a reason. Me.”

Luhan laughs at Yixing’s blabber. “I returned for a reason.”

“Luhan, your soulmate could be our new neighbor for god’s sake! Kris used to be our neighbor, look what happened!”

“You’re lucky,” Luhan mumbles, picking at his nails. “Not everybody’s soulmate is just next door.”

“Is god that cruel to place yours across the sea?” Luhan mutters a soft maybe under his breath and Yixing sighs exasperatedly. “You’re coming back, this long distance relationship isn’t working.”

They stay silent and start a staring contest, waiting for the other person to give in when Luhan pouts and Yixing throws his hands up in defeat. “I’ll be back, Yixing.”

“Yeah, like what? 10 years later?” Yixing tries not to sound unreasonable but he knows that they both miss each other’s company a lot. “You’ve been there for almost half a year now. You’re getting skinnier and I don’t like that. No one is looking after you.”

Luhan giggles. “Didn’t you always call me fat when I roll on your back?” Yixing frowns at Luhan’s attempt to joke. “Just give me one more month. One more month and if I don’t find the person on the other end of the red string—“

“Seoul is huge! Luhan, you don’t only see your red string, you see everyone’s! It’s almost like, what’s that saying, finding a needle in a haystack? A drop in an ocean? A grain of sand on the beach? Yixing amongst Angels?” Yixing tried. “It. Could. Be. Me.”

“I don’t think Kris would like to share.”

“Kris already knows this is a relationship so get your back here and be a good mistress.” Luhan seems persistent and Yixing gives up trying to coax Luhan to come home. He takes in a deep breath and exhales. “You know how I know Kris is the one?”

Luhan’s ears perk up at that. “What?”

“Instinct. Sometimes, you just know. Even before you found out about the red string that has us bounded to each other. Which by the way, was a tad bit too late because we were about to exchange I do’s.”

“You… just know?”

Yixing nods. “You just know.”

✖

On the first day of his so-called escape, Sehun spends the entire day eating, something he doesn’t get to do at the library. He stops by every food hut along the beach and he orders the most expensive thing he can find on the menu. Along the way, he finds out that he really loves ketchup.

On the second day of his so-called escape, Sehun spends the entire day building sandcastles, something he never tried before. He tried stacking up cards and books before but seeing how kids are having fun playing with sands, he figures he should try it out too. He manages to get one tower up, only to have a naughty boy kicks it down. Sehun frowns but the boy tackles him onto the sand with loud giggles and Sehun finds himself laughing.

On the third day of his so-called escape, Sehun spends the entire day observing people, something he always wanted to do. He sits there quietly, under the big umbrella he rented and just looks at his surrounding. There aren’t many people since it’s a Thursday. He spots an old couple and he watches how the old man holds his partner’s hand tight, as though afraid of losing her. The old woman’s smile is weak, even her steps are weak but the look in her eyes isn’t. Her love for him isn’t.

On the fourth day of his so called-escape, Sehun wakes up on the beach. To his surprise, Baekhyun is already sitting there next to him. He blinks the grogginess from his eyes and opens his mouth to say something when Baekhyun beats him to it. “You missed the sunrise.”

Sehun looks away from Baekhyun and to the sea. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You looked so peaceful in your sleep, I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“But I have to wake up at one point,” Sehun remarks with a smile and Baekhyun fakes one but Sehun doesn’t notice it.

✖

Baekhyun tries to be a good boyfriend. He really does. So whenever he sees a frown on Sehun’s face, he makes sure to remind Sehun that he loves Sehun and most of the time, he’ll slip his fingers in between Sehun’s. Every time, he waits for Sehun to respond. Most of the time, Sehun squeezes his hand back in return.

That’s not the response Baekhyun has in mind.

“I love you.”

Sehun looks up from the menu and gives Baekhyun a smile. A smile that can mean anything, yet somehow, I love you too> is not one of them. Sehun doesn’t notice how Baekhyun said it so casually. Or maybe because Baekhyun said it often that Sehun is so sick and tired of those three words. Perhaps Sehun just doesn’t seem to care how Baekhyun says those words. Baekhyun continues to stare and wait. Maybe, just maybe, Sehun will say it—

“Have you decided?”

Baekhyun knows Sehun is asking about dinner but Baekhyun surely isn’t thinking about dinner.

“Yeah.”

✖

“Excuse me. Sorry… Sorry!” Luhan manages to get through the crowd. It might have been easier if Luhan hasn’t been staring at the concrete floor all the time.

“Geez, watch where you’re going!”

“Sorry!” Luhan apologizes once more before stumbling forward and crosses the street. People can be mean nowadays. This reminds Luhan why he rarely starts any conversation with anyone for a long time. “No one will understand,” Luhan mutters to himself. “He didn’t.”

He trails along the less crowded lane, following this red string that is beaming, prominent against other duller strings; his string. Although it didn’t glow as much as it does now, he knows his string anywhere. Luhan should be excited, knowing that he’s so much closer to meeting person he has been searching for all these years but he isn’t. He hasn’t seen Sehun in almost a week and his mood continues to go downhill.

But this feeling is wrong. Finding the person on the other end of his red string has been his dream for a very long time!

“I won’t stop until I find you!” he encourages himself, pumping his fist in the air.

Luhan doesn’t realize that he has enter a familiar neighborhood, head still hanging down low as he continues to follow the string that seems to be calling out to him.

“You are one long—oh!” he squeaks when he looks up. Blinking in confusion, he scratches the back of his head as he asks himself, “Why am I here?”

Luhan puts his hands on his hips and scans across the neighborhood. It’s fairly quiet, definitely a good place for old people. And Sehun.

“Might as well,” Luhan shrugs as he turns away from the direction the string is bringing him to. “Haven’t seen grandpapa in a week!”

He takes a step forward when he feels something tugging him. It isn’t strong and he might have been hallucinating, but the force is there and it’s keeping him from going the other way.

Luhan frowns, his eyebrows scrunching in annoyance. He pouts when he spins around, glaring at the still glowing string. “I decided to take a break!” he tells the string in particular and then red string glows brighter in retort. Luhan’s head pull back slightly. “You understand me?” he whispers but the red string remains the same and Luhan concludes that he has definitely gone mad.

“Oh my god,” his shoulders slump. “Maybe I am crazy,” he says to himself. Luhan stands there in the same exact spot as he contemplates if he should continue his hunt or visit Grandpapa first. He stares at the ground for the longest time, and for others who are passing by, he looks like a person that isn’t right in the head.

Chewing onto his lower lips, he finally decides, “Guess I’ll find out who my soulmate is and then bring him straight to Grandpapa.”

So Luhan takes a few steps backward and then turn to his left swiftly, heading towards where he should have been heading. He skips along the red string, which blinks and glows with his light steps, and stuffs his hands into his pockets. Luhan whistles an unknown tune and when he looks down to find out that the glow around the red string connected to him has intensified, he slows down.

He is at the corner of the building, next to the traffic light but he ignores it because this neighborhood is dead. Luhan pays attention to his string and hunches down a little when he crosses the road.

“Luhan!” a familiar voice calls out with the annoying honking sound at the background and Luhan snaps out of his concentration.

His eyes trail along the red string, which leads to two pairs of shoes. Luhan’s eyes shoot up to the faces before him after he finally found out who is at the end of the red string.

Sehun’s expression frantic as Luhan zones out from him and looks over to the guy who’s staring back at him with widen eyes.

“That must be Baekhyun,” he thinks to himself with a sad smile before his world goes black.

✖

Sehun chews on his fingernail absentmindedly, staring at the same spot on the white hospital wall for the past 10 minutes. He should be at home but he’s here because he’s worried. He’s worried but he doesn’t want to be in the room because he doesn’t want to face Luhan. But why? Why is it that hard to face Luhan?

“Stop hurting yourself.”

Sehun comes back to reality and looks up to find his grandfather sitting down next to him. Sehun doesn’t move over even when they’re pressed against each other side by side and it’s rare for Sehun to be this comfortable with anybody.

“I’m not hurting myself,” Sehun replies as he removes his hand away from his mouth.

“I mean, here,” Grandpapa says, pointing at his head. “You’re thinking too hard for an answer again. Or answers.”

Sehun sits back, placing both hands on his laps. “Well, the sooner I get my answers, the better things will be.” He sighs. “But I’m tired of finding answers on my own.”

“I tried to help,” the old man adds and leans back as well. Sehun gives the old man a side glance.

“You’ve been doing anything but help.”

“Luhan is your answer.”

Sehun groans and is about to repeat the same thing he told the old man several times but Grandpapa beats him to it. “Remember our talk about the balloon when you were young?”

The young man rubs his face. “Go on.”

“Remember how you said you love the balloon because I bought it for you?” the old man asks. “Well, I’m telling you now that Luhan is that balloon.”

“Grandpapa, Luhan is a human being. You did not buy him and he’s not the person at the end of my red string.”

Grandpapa snorts. “Speaking as though you can see your red string.”

“Speaking as though you can see my red string,” Sehun mocks in respond and Grandpapa raises his eyebrows.

There’s a pause.

“No…”

Another second of silence.

“No!” Sehun repeats stubbornly. “You can’t do this to me now!”

“Child, you’re overreacting.”

“I’m overreacting?” Sehun splutters. “Grandpapa, I just found out that you have the ability to see these magic strings!”

“And that Luhan is the one at the other end of your magic string.”

“Luhan.”

“I’m that person his parents brought him to.”

“Oh my god,” Sehun whispers in disbelief, cradling his head. “Oh my god, this is worse than Baekhyun telling me he’s pregnant.”

Grandpapa gives the child a weird look. “Sehun, if you’re dumb enough to believe your boyfriend can get pregnant, I think we need to talk.”

“I know I just—I just woke up and he threw the news at me I don’t have time to think—LUHAN IS MY SOULMATE,” Sehun yelps, tugging on his hair. Grandpapa sighs and rubs on Sehun’s back to comfort him. The young man leans sideway, elbow on the arm of the bench with his chin on the back of his hand as he continued calmly, “So what now? After you know, breaking the news to me and revealing nothing but the truth in just one minute. What do I do now?”

“Well,” Grandpapa sits up straight, “you act like an adult and sort things out yourself.”

“Knowing myself, I’ll just pretend this never happened.”

“So you’re going to let Luhan go? You’re going to set him free?”

“So do you think it’s better if you let it go? Set it free?”

“He’s not a balloon, Grandpapa!” Sehun snaps.

The old man smiles. “The more you should think about this carefully.”

✖

Sehun strolls back and forth in the hallway just outside Luhan’s room, hearing the clock goes ticking away as his sanity deteriorates slowly. This is what he’s afraid of; this feeling that shouldn’t exists in the first place. He first noticed how he’s so comfortable around the golden hair boy and then there’s a weird feeling in his stomach and the glow around Luhan and the sparkles in his eyes and—

“Noooooooooooooo,” Sehun cries. “This shouldn’t be happening! Think of Baekhyun, think of Baekhyun, think of brown locks and eyeliners, think—“

“You should go in.” Sehun stops chanting to himself and slowly glances up at the man who is leaning against the doorframe of Luhan’s room. “It’s late, I’m going home. I’ve been in there for hours, it’s your turn.”

“But—“

Baekhyun sighs. “Just go in.”

Sehun gives Baekhyun a bewildered look as the older man walks over and hugs him for a brief moment before stepping back. “I’ll see you at home.”

Baekhyun stands there awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. Then, he simply moves to his left and walks away. Sehun is rigid for a few seconds before turning around to see Baekhyun’s retreating figure. “Baekhyun…”

Sehun watches Baekhyun making his way down the hallway and he looks away with guilt building up in him when Baekhyun reaches the corner. What he doesn’t expect is Baekhyun stomping back and pushes him roughly by his arm, causing him to stumble to his side with a perplex look on his face.

“Baekhyun, what—“

“You’re frustrating me!” Baekhyun sneers. “When I asked if you have fallen for someone else and you said no, I trusted you!”

Sehun gapes. “But I wasn’t lying!”

“But a little update on your feelings would be great?” Baekhyun sounds broken and Sehun can see the tears forming in Baekhyun’s eyes.

“Baekhyun,” Sehun begins with a sigh. “Look, I’m not sure about this entire thing as well, can we just—“

“No!” Baekhyun says sternly. “No, you solve this now. I’m not going to spend another day telling you that I love you and getting nothing in return. Sehun, you never said you love me.” Now Baekhyun sounds really hurt and Sehun has never felt worse. “I tell myself everyday that maybe you aren’t ready to say the L word and I believed in us, I believed in you—“ Baekhyun stops, holding back his tears and breath. “The only L word you know other than the Library is…” Baekhyun trails off, gesturing at Luhan’s room.

Sehun looks away. “That’s not true.”

“You said you don’t know,” Baekhyun says softly, taking a few steps towards Sehun and again, surprising Sehun when he wraps his arms around Sehun’s waist and pressing the side of his face against Sehun’s chest. Baekhyun blinks his tears out and listens to Sehun’s heartbeat carefully. “I’ll tell you now that what you’re feeling for me now isn’t love, but guilt and sorry.”

Sehun sighs once more. “I’m sorry…”

Baekhyun hugs him tighter because he knows this is the last time he’ll be hugging Sehun like this. Noticing the lack of arms around him, he looks down at Sehun’s warm, dangling right hand just next to his side, and smiles sadly at it. “I know.”

✖✖

From the next cubicle, Luhan’s cheery voice can be heard loud and clear. “Baekhyun! Are you done? Lunch is on me!”

Baekhyun takes in a deep breath before exhaling in an annoyed manner. He ignores the older male completely and continues his work.

“Hey, Baekhyun!” Luhan’s head appears above the divider and he rests his chin on top of it as he smiles brightly at the person in charge of him. “It’s lunch time!”

“I heard you the first time,” Baekhyun says through gritted teeth.

“Great!” Luhan chirps and then disappears. “Pack up now! We’re going to this pink café I found down the street—hey!” Luhan reappears above the divider once more, giving Baekhyun a shock and his stylus goes flying across the office. “Do you like strawberries?”

Baekhyun squeezes his eyes shut before forcing them open and looks at the beaming Luhan. “Luhan-ssi, I think you’re too loud.”

Luhan chuckles. “I think you’re too grumpy! You work for Disney, don’t you?”

Baekhyun’s eyes twitch at the memory. “As you can see, I only draw villains,” he states, pointing at his computer screen to prove a point and Luhan’s jaw drops at his work.

“Wow, you’re good!” Baekhyun snorts. Of course he is, he has been doing this for years. Luhan observes the sketch closer. “He’s so fragile looking but there’s this dark aura around him.”

Despite his grumpiness, he manages to grin, “Thanks, I was inspired.”

Luhan only smiles and doesn’t answer back. There’s this deafening silence for a few seconds until Luhan clears his throat awkwardly to break the uncomfortable feeling while Baekhyun continues to sketch.

“About Sehun…”

“Do not bring personal matters to work, Luhan-ssi,” Baekhyun interrupts, eyes trained on his screen and Luhan feels his cheeks burning. “I’m fine, if you’re wondering. I found someone—“

“BAEKHYUN, MY DARLING, I’M BACK WITH YOUR FAVORITE SALAD.” Jongin makes an entrance with a tray of Starbucks coffees and paper bags.

Baekhyun drops his head and covers his face in embarrassment. “The company has to put these two under him at the same time.”

✖

At 5 p.m. sharp, Luhan grabs his bag and runs towards the elevator, not forgetting to greet his co-workers on his way. “See everyone tomorrow! You guys worked hard! I’ll learn harder tomorrow, Baekhyun!” he shouts and he doesn’t see Baekhyun rubbing his temples.

He runs to the bus stop, takes the bus and after an hour ride, he hops off and sprints down the street. 8 hours without seeing Sehun, he can’t believe he made it, and this is only his first day at work.

Looking down at his watch to check that he isn’t late, he smiles when he sees the library at the corner and speeds up. Just like Jongin, he makes an attention grabbing entrance and by his surprise, someone grabs him by his arms and pulls him to the side.

He screams at the sudden action and is silenced by a pair of lips over his. “Hi,” he whispers in between kisses.

“Hi,” Sehun whispers back with a smile, lips an inch away from Luhan’s. “I miss you.”

Luhan chuckles and wraps both arms around Sehun’s neck, stealing another quick kiss. “I never knew this side of you exists, Oh Sehun. Have you ever been caught with Baekhyun? Won’t we--”

Sehun leans in for another kiss. “Baekhyun never visited,” he replies before capturing Luhan’s lower lip. “But lets find out now.”

✖✖

“How’s first day of work?”

“I had fun. I did a few sketches and Baekhyun had them shredded. I still believe I’m his favorite intern.”

“What about the other intern?”

“I saw Jongin dusting Baekhyun’s chair every time Baekhyun left his desk.”

“You better work hard. Someone is going to replace you in Baekhyun’s eyes.”

“I know,” Luhan smiles knowingly. “I can never replace Jongin anyway,” he says, holding up his little finger where a red string is visible to his eyes.