When Kyungsoo gets to work on Monday, he is suprised to find a women balling her eyes out, as she clings onto Jongin's arm. At first, Kyungsoo thought it was just Jessica begging Jongin to buy her the bag she had wanted about a week ago, but as he gets a closer look, it wasn't Jessica. The next thought that runs through Kyungsoo's mind is that the lady was either a past girlfriend that wanted him back. Kyungsoo watches, as Jongin tries to remove himself from her grasp. 

 

"I said no." Jongin replies, coldly. 

 

After successfully freeing his arms away from the lady, he fixes his suit and walks towards teh entrance of the company. Kyungso watches as the lady rolls herself into a ball and coninues to weep in front of the company building, attracting the attention of past byers and current employees. 

 

"Are you okay?" Kyungsoo asks, quickly rushing to her side. When the lady looks up, Kyungsoo is suprised by how scary she looks. She was a mess. Her makeup was running down all over her face and her lipstick was smeared.  

 

Kyungsoo tried his hardest not to scream. 

 

She shook her head. "I used to be Mr. Kim's secretary but he fired me months ago because I got replaced by another employee."

 

Kyungsoo clears his throat. Kyungsoo feels horrible, she got fired because of him. "So what are you doing here?"

 

"I tried to find a job but no one was willing to hire me. I came here to beg him to take me back. Because at least this job gives me decent pay for me to feed my family."

 

"I'm a single mom of 2 kids and I also take care of my mother's hospital bills." The lady sniffs.

 

Even he felt guilty, Kyungsoo could only comfort her by patting her head, as she sobbed on his suit. He didn't know what to do. Of course he pitied her, but it's not like he was Jongin or could magically convince Jongin to give her another chance. Jongin wasn't exactly the nicest person to do buisness with. 

 

-

 

"Mr. Kim." Jongin heard Kyungsoo say, as he entered his office with a cup of coffee in his hands. Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow. Kyungsoo never called him "Mr. Kim" - unless he did something wrong. It would either be or bastard. And sometimes if he was lucky, he would get called Jongin. But Kyungsoo rarely called Jongin, by his surname. 

 

Jongin hums in response, as Kyungsoo places teh cup of coffee on his desk. Jongin then returns back to the presentations on his computer. He hears Kyungsoo take a deep breath before he speaks. Here it goes. "You know that lady-"

 

"No."

 

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

 

Jongin looks up and saw a frown on Kyungsoo's face. "You were going to ask me to give her a another chance right? Well I don't allow second chances. So my answer is no."

 

"But she's a single mom of 2 kids and she also pays for her mom's hospital bills. She needs a job to take care of all of them. Why don't you-"

 

Jongin scoffs. "Kyungsoo, I said no. If she wants a job so bad, why doesn't she find one in another company?"

 

"You don't think she hasn't tried?" Kyungsoo fires back, slightly raising his voice. "No one will hire her. Come on she's been with this company for 2 years. That's the longest you've had a secutary or so I've heard. Can't you give her another chance?"

 

Instead of replying, Jongin shakes his head and returns his atteniton to the papers in front of him. He's very busy and he doesn't have time to argue with Kyungso right now.

 

"Look I'm-"

 

"You're being insensitive and selfish." Kyungsoo fires back, pissed. What was so wrong with giving the girl a second chance? Yes, she made a mistake, but mistakes are bound to happen. 

 

"Selfish?" Jongin scoffs, putting the documents to the side. 

 

Kyungsoo nods. "Yes, selfish. What's the point of having all of that money, if you're cold-hearted on the inside?"

 

Jongin scoffs. Wow. Now, he was mad. "Says the one coming to me and askind me to take back that employee. It's very childish of you to do so. Don't think I'm going to-"

 

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows. "Childish?"

 

"Yes, childish. I'm tired of your nagging all the time. It's childish how you whine when you don't get what you want." Jongin rolls his eyes, as he watches Kyungsoo put his hands on his waist. " Kyungsoo, I don't want to argue with you right now. I need to finish a presentation and these documents by tomorrow. Leave, I'm very busy."

 

"Besides, giving her another chance means that I would have to fire you-"

 

"Then I quit!" Kyungsoo shouts, causing Jongin to look at him in disbelief. "I can't stand working with an arrogant bastard like you anymore. I quit."

 

Before Jongin could resond, Kyungsoo stomps his way out of Jongin's office. He couldn't believe Jongin was going to be like this. He knew Jongin was cruel but he believed that maybe Jongin still had a heart that simpathized others after everything. But no. Jongin is still the same cold-hearted bastard as the day he first met him. Nothing had changed.

 

Except the fact, that now Kyungsoo was in love with that cold-hearted bastard. 

 

-

 

"How could you do this!" Sehun yells from the top of his lungs, as he slams a file from his desk. He ruffles his hair in frustration before he proceeds to speak once again to the employee who was still lowering his head, in embarrasment. "Because of you, we lost 2.3 million dollars. How could you let this happen? Now, I have to go to and apologize for your behalf. Were you even thinking properly of the aftermath?"

 

"I'm sorry. Mr. Baek-"

 

Sehun pinches the bridge of his nose, as he closes his eyes, attempting to calm himself down. "Leave before I fire you. Next time, try to get your together."

 

"Cut!"

 

The director says, as Sehun gets up from the chair and stretches his arms out. He had been filming that scene for more than 20 times. Because either, Sehun would forget his lines or he just wasn't passionate enough for the director - probably due to the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about a certain someone, who had come to the set to help the other stylists. 

 

"Let's dress him fast, so that we can film the last scene." The director commands and Luhan nods his head in agreement, as he makes his way towards Sehun, who was already inside of the dressing room eating an apple.

 

"Take off your shirt."

 

Sehun spits out the pieces of chewed apple onto the floor and then looks up at Luhan with his eyes widened. Luhan just told him to do what? Sure, Luhan had seen Sehun before but that was at home not in public, where everyone could see. I mean sure the dressing room did give them some privacy but what if someone suddenly comes into the room and sees the two on the floor. and pounding on one another. Did watching him act, really make Luhan that ? Besides they couldn't have , the two were still not okay with one another. At least not of right now. They couldn't-

 

Luhan rolls his eyes and then looks at the chewed up apples on the floor. "First. Ewww."

 

"Second, I'm not asking you for ." Luhan explains, putting his hands on his waist. "If that was what you were thinking-"

 

"What? No. I wasn't thinking about- No." Sehun replies, faking a laugh. 

 

"Great now take off your shirt. You need to get dressed for you next scene." Luhan says, nearing Sehun a little bit closer and putting his hand out to take off Sehun's shirt, to which Sehun just simply removed Luhan's hand. Luhan looks up at him, confused. "What?"

 

"I'll do it myself." Sehun replies, watching as Luhan nods his head in agreement. Once Luhan turns his back to look for Sehun's next outfit, Sehun immediately begins to remove his shirt before Luhan turns back. He fumbles with getting the shirt off of his head, but still manages to have taken off the shirt before Luhan had turned back. Sehun didn't understand why he was so shy about it. Luhan would have still see him either way. 

 

When Luhan looks back, Sehun tries to flex his muscle trying to make them appear much bigger but only gets dismissed by Luhan, who gives the latter his next outfit. As Sehun puts on his outfit, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at Luhan's behavior. His attitude was completely different when they were still dating. Before when Sehun had taken off his shirt in front of the latter, Luhan would blush and praise Sehun's muscles but now it was completely different. It was as if Luhan didn't care anymore.

 

Maybe 3 months was enough time for Luhan to get over him. 

 

"I'll be outside if you need me. I need to use the restroom." Luhan states, interrupting Sehun's thoughts. Sehun just nods his head, as he then puts on his pants. He watches, as Luhan opens the door and leaves. 

 

Once Luhan steps out of the dressing room, he fans himself to stop dirty thoughts from entering his mind. He shakes his head and tries to get the image of Sehun off of his mind - to which it fails because it was hopeless, his heart was still beating like crazy even if he didn't want to admit it. Telling Sehun that he was going to restroom was just an excuse to leave so that Luhan could calm himself down with a glass of cold, iced water.

 

When filming starts again, the only thing Luhan sees is Sehun adjusting his shirt before he starts to fall asleep on his chair.

 

-

 

"Did you and Kyungsoo have  a fight or something?" Suho asks, as he enters Jongin's office - only to get ignored while Jongin starts to take out a pen from his drawers. "I just figured because I heard yelling and I just saw Kyungsoo leaving the building-"

 

"It's none of your buisness." Jongin replies, harshily. 

 

"Actually it is my buisness." Suho scoffs, watching as Jongin diverts his attention to his computer not even sparing the elder a glance. He takes another step towards Jongin.

 

"No it's not. You don't have a say in what happens between me and my employees-"

 

"Employee?" Suho raises an eyebrow. "I thought you and Kyungsoo were dating? And now you say he's just your employee."

 

When Jongin doesn't respond, Suho continues on with his thought. "You know your mom was trying to make me spy on you guys during work to check if you two were really going out. And it made me skeptical at first because you don't like dating and think it's pointless so I could see why she thought this was all pretend. But at the resteraunt, you guys seemed to have chemistry and maybe I thought you really did love Kyungsoo. And that maybe you did move on-"

 

"I'm done with this conversation. Leave-"

 

"Well, I'm not done." Suho replies. "Now tell me Jongin, did you and Kyungsoo really have a relationship going on or was every thing just pretend"

 

"Why do you even care?"

 

"Because I like Kyungsoo. You ." Suho blurts out, causing Jongin to look up, bewildered at his hyung's response. "I tried to keep it from you because I knew it was wrong of me to like my cousin's boyfriend but since it seems like you guys were just pretending all along then maybe I should go for it. Maybe I should ask him out because you wouldn't care right? Everything was just for show? You wouldn't care if I tried to make a move, right?"

 

Jongin just stays silent.

 

"Good because I'm thinking of asking him to be mine. I'm really glad we had this conversation." Suho smiles, before he leaves a dumbfounded Jongin in his office to analyze what had just happened. 

 

- 

 

"Chanyeol, its good to see you again!" Mrs. Zhang greets when she sees Chanyeol approaching the table. She points to an empty seat besides Lay and smiles. "Take a seat."

 

"I'm sorry, I'm late." Chanyeol apologizes. 

 

"It's okay. We know you're busy with the company." Mr. Zhang smiles. "But once you both get married, make sure to make time for Lay, okay? Don't let work get between your marriage-"

 

"Actually I-"

 

"Of course, Chanyeol will make time for Lay." Mr. Park interrupts and Chanyeol takes a defeated sigh. "Now, shall we start discussing about the wedding? Lay's mother has researched alot for it. Aren't you interested in her ideas, Chanyeol?"

 

"You sure do come prepared, Mrs. Zhang." 

 

"Of course, Mrs. Park. I take this marriage very seriously." Mrs. Zhang replies, taking out a file from her bag. Chanyeol gulps. It had suddenly felt very very hot inside of the resteraunt, despite being right under the air conditioning vent. "Now, let's talk about the location."

 

"The wedding will be held in China isn't that correct?" Mr. Zhang questions and Mr. Park nods. He smiles. "Very well. I think my wife already has an idea of where the actual wedding will take place. Isn't that right, dear?"

 

"Whatever it is, I bet it will be grand and breathtaking." Mrs. Park states. 

 

"It will." Mrs. Zhang assures. "Everything will be perfect. I have already selected the flowers, the reception, the music-"

 

Chanyeol clears his throat, leaving the table to be silent, as he stands up. "I'm just going to get some fresh air. I'll be right back."

 

"I'm sorry about him." Mrs. Park apologizes, as they watch Chanyeol head to the garden of the resteraunt. "He's been like this recently. He's still probably very nervous and frightened over the whole marriage situation still. So please excuse him."

 

"Where are you going?" Mrs. Zhang says, as she spots her son standing up. 

 

"I'm just going to check up on him." Lay responds, before he follows Chanyeol to the garden.

 

-

 

Sehun rolls his eyes when he spots Luhan sleeping on a chair. Filming had ended 10 minutes ago and Luhan was supposed to give Sehun his clothes to change into something more comfortable but seeing how Luhan was still fast asleep, Sehun had to do everything by himself. He slings his bag over his shoulders and attempts to wake the elder up by shaking his arm.

 

"Wake up."

 

"Go home." Sehun continues, only to get a groan from Luhan, as he shifts to his side. He wonders if he should just leave him there because waking him up seemed like a hopeless task. "Luhan-"

 

 "Sehun."

 

"What?"

 

"I have a headache."

 

"Well that ." Sehun scoffs, as Luhan puts his hand over his forehead. "Maybe you thought of something too much. What were you thinking of?"

 

"Ways to kill you." Luhan mutters, silently to himself.

 

-

 

"Umm... penny for your thoughts?"

 

Chanyeol hears from behind. When he turns around he sees Lay smiling slightly. He returns the smile before turing his attention back to the koi fishes on the pond. "Sorry about that."

 

"About what?" Lay asks, as he makes he way towards Chanyeol, who continues to stare at the fishes in amusement. "You know if you're hungary. We could always go back inside-"

 

"And have to hear about all those wedding ideas?" Chanyeol scoffs. "No, thank you."

 

"So is this what this is about?"

 

"It's always been about this, Lay." Chanyeol sighs. "It's always about us not having a say in things that involve our parents. We're like these fishes. Obiedent to the owners; there's no way to escape."

 

"Chanyeol." Lay calls out, causing Chanyeol to hum. "There's something, I have to tell you. I should've just told you this from the start but I just-"

 

"- I just didn't know how you would react." Lay continues. "There's a reason, why we got engaged. And it has nothing to do with our parents. We didn't get married because my parents wanted to help out your company. That was just a coincedence. The truth is I was the one who wanted to marry you so badly. I suggested the idea to my parents and that's how we got engaged."

 

Chanyeol turns to face Lay, with a confused look on his face. "What?"

 

"Our first meeting wasn't really our first meeting." Lay explains. "We met when we were still kids. I was 8 and you were 7. You and your parents went to a gathering that my parents hosted in China and during that party, I was crying underneath one of the tables when you suddenly popped out of no where."

 

"Then you comforted me by giving me some of your chocolates and told me not to cry anymore." Lay continues, smiling as he recalled his past to which Chanyeol was still oblivious to. "Do you know why I was crying?"

 

"Why?"

 

"The reason why you're out here now. Because I never had a say in things either." Lay explains. "I got hurt during the party and my parents didn't even care about it. No one even bothered to check under the tables to see who was crying except for you. I know that moment probably didn't mean anything to you, but for me it meant alot. You were my first love."

 

"Lay, I-"

 

"You don't have to say anything." Lay smiles. "I know what you're going to say. It's stupid of me to keep that memory with me when it clearly means nothing to you. I'm sorry for just telling you this now. I should've told you before, but I just didnt know how you would react."

 

Chanyeol opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

 

He was speechless. He actually thought that maybe there was a way out of this arranged marriage, but with Lay falling in love with him it was making this whole situation worse.

 

-

 

"Yeol!" 

 

Is the first thing, Chanyeol hears when he returns to his apartment. He smiles slightly when he sees his boyfriend approaching him and opens towards the latter, asking for a hug. Chanyeol hugs Baekhyun softly, still staying cautious of Baekhyun's baby bump because he didn't want their baby to get hurt just because of a tight hug. They stay like this for a couple of seconds, until Baekhyun suddenly starts to pull away to which Chanyeol pulls him back into the same postion. 

 

"Chan-"

 

"Let's just stay like this for a couple more seconds, Baek." 

 

"Did something happen at work today, Yeol?" Baekhyun questions, putting his chin on the crook of Chanyeol's neck. "You seem a little off right now."

 

Chanyeol bites his lower lip. 

 

He had wanted to confess everything to Baekhyun about Lay and his arranged marriage, but was too afriad of the consequences. He knew he was being a coward for hiding everything but he really didn't want to lose Baekhyun - the only one that still actually listened and sincerely cared about him. So instead, Chanyeol keeps his mouth shut and runs his hands gently through Baekhyun's soft hair.

 

"I just really missed you and the baby that's all." 

 

"Well we missed you too. Really, we did. But I just tried out a new recipe and now I stink so-"

 

"You never smell bad." Chanyeol says, inhaling a sniff of Baekhyun's fragrance. "You smell like lollipops and strawberries. I like strawberries. You sort of smell like butterflies-"

 

"How do you even know what a butterfly smells like? You creep." Baekhyun laughs, breaking the hug. Chanyeol frowns. "What's with that face?"

 

"You pushed me away-"

"Yeol, seriously? If you don't stop frowning I won't give you donuts. I worked super hard on them too." 

 

"You made donuts for me?" Chanyeol asks, as his lips curve into a playful smile. 

 

"Aww thanks, Baek."

 

-

 

Sehun closes his right eye, as he tries to concentrate his full attention towards the the red striped ball located just a few inches away from the socket. He glides his billiard shaft a few times, before hitting the white ball which then completely misses the red one by a few centimeters. He closes his eyes in frustration and when he looks back he sees Tao dancing crazily to celebrate Sehun's loss. 

 

It was a quater to midnight when Sehun and Tao decided to play a 'friendly' game of billiards after their scheduled events. Even during college, the two had loved playing together because of their competitive natures - even though all of the time, Sehun would win against Tao. But as they became more well known to the public, it became harder for them to sneak out and play a game together because of the crazy fans trying to take pictures and write scandals about the two dating. Besides they were both equally busy with their own personal events; but, when they do play, they throw their friendship out of the door and play competitively against one another. 

 

Tao grabs the billiard shaft from Sehun and smirks. "Should've payed closer attention to it. Watch this."

 

Sehun rolls his eyes but watches as the red ball makes it's way towards the socket. His heart drops when he sees that the ball had already fallen inside. Tao then switches his postition and tries another attempt to score - this time with a green ball with a white stripe in the middle. 

 

When the green ball falls down on the socket, Tao smiles and Sehun just wanted to wipe that grin off of his face in a rather violent matter. "That makes it 6-1. Right Sehun?"

 

Sehun scoffs. "When did you get so good? Has Kris been teaching you-"

 

"Like he even has time to play billiards." Tao snorts. "The man doesn't even have time to eat or sleep. So basically no, he hasn't been teaching me how to play. I should really start thanking Luhan for helping me win-"

 

Sehun raises an eyebrow. "He's been teaching you how to play?"

 

"God are you crazy? We haven't talked since." Tao replies and before Sehun opens his mouth to speak, Tao continues. "I just need to thank him because he's probably been driving you crazy. Besides you were probably thinking about him while you we were playing that's probably why you only got one ball into the socket."

 

"How are you so sure that your win had something to do with Luhan?"

 

"Well maybe it's the fact that before, you would always win against me in billiards. And I put an emphasize on the 'always'. This is the first time I've actually beaten you and it feels damn good-"

 

Sehun rolls his eyes. "Well, just wait until next time-"

 

"When I kick your again?"

 

"Wow, for one win, you really do get cocky."

 

"Do you want to hear a story, Sehun?"

 

Sehun sighs. "It's not like I have a choice... so go on" 

 

"Remember my bird? Well, I let go of it go once and in a couple of days it came back to me. During the time, it was away from me I realized how much I really cared for it and had taken advantage of it-"

 

"Are we seriously talking about your bird love story right now? This is stupid-"

 

"Love isn't stupid, Sehun."

 

"Who said anything about love?" Sehun scoffs when he finally starts to realize the situation. Tao was trying to relate the conversation back to Luhan. "If you're trying to say that after all of this time that I still love Luhan then your wrong. I couldn't care less about what he's doing right now-"

 

"What I'm saying is that you let Luhan go once and you guys still managed to find a way back to one another. Shouldn't that be an indication of fate? Maybe fate is playing with you guys right now-"

 

"To do what specifically?"

 

Tao shrugs. "To get back together. For closure. I don't know. But I do know that Luhan came back here for a reason and it wasn't so that you guys to kill one another. There's a saying that if you love someone then you should let them go and if they come back you're meant to be. Maybe it's the same with you and Luhan."

 

Sehun scoffs. "But then again, maybe it's not."

 

-

 

It was during lunch time when Kyungsoo had recieved a text from Suho. 

 

Dinner tomorrow? I'll pick you up.

 

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. It had been almost a week since Kyungsoo had quit the company and never expected Suho to still want to keep in contact with him. He thought that once he had left, all of his former co-workers wouldn't even care. But nevertheless, Kyungsoo shrugs before typing his reply - a short 'okay' with a smiley face.