One

Being ruthless does have its advantages. For one, it's always good fun to have someone on their hands and knees in front of him, begging for mercy. There's a sensational rush of adrenaline that comes with holding a gun to a head and watching as their eyes bleed tears of fear and teeth clatter from the tremble of terror.  

Don't get him wrong. Park Chanyeol is a fair man. He strives for justice where he can see it. To him, the world could do without all those two-faced crooks and uncompassionate sorry excuse of human beings. He had been brought up in an environment unfit for a kid; vulgarity and violence was a norm. The consumption of alcohol and underground trading of drugs were rife, but Chanyeol was a smart boy. He learnt to stay away from such crowds. It was when he had an engineering degree on his hands with no direction in life that he ventured back into the hellhole that had tragically claimed his parents' lives. This time, though, the tables were turned and his desire to make peace in a neighbourhood plagued with violence and bloodshed led him to the one man that had the power to save hundreds of lives and futures.  

Byun Minho.  

The name itself brings chills to many; even to the cruelest of rogues. Front man of a leading trading business company on the surface but a feared man in the underground world, Byun Minho is the neighbourhood's saviour. Being the founder of BxB, the committee of trained and dedicated men who keep the violence of underground activities away from the general public, he never fails to keep the innocent safe and that was what drew Chanyeol in from the very beginning. The fact that, as an agent of BxB, he'd be able to put the culprits of immoral deeds in their places.  
 

   
This, however, this whole absurd situation of a midget barging its way into his life -- acting very much like Chanyeol owes him the world -- and threatening to tilt it off its axis, to Chanyeol is injustice.  
 

   
But what is he to do, when the darn midget is the son of the man he puts on a high pedestal?  

+  

There was a company function. A dinner party, to be exact.   

The kind where people dress to their nines, Tom Ford being a popular choice amongst the gentlemen and Versace a favourite with the ladies. Sipping on a glass of champagne becomes a social activity and the closest form of food you get is the teeny weeny peeled shrimp the waiters in bowties go around carrying on immaculate silverware (well, on trays but they squeeze them into spoons).  

Chanyeol never drinks, though it had more to do with the fact that the culture was just not his thing.   

(Chanyeol will never quote the fact that he couldn't hold his liquor as the reason)  

And evidently so, because the almighty Byun Minho had clasped his shoulder endearingly and invited him to a drink to celebrate the merger of the company with another (on the less dangerous and shady perspective of business), and the last thing Chanyeol'd remembered was lots of (drunk) giggling and innocent kisses with what he had thought to be an angel.  

Chanyeol finds out he had never been so wrong in his life because the kisses had turned into something less decent and more , and it had been no angel sent from heaven. It was none other than the bratty maknae of the reputable Byun family. The black sheep of the otherwise perfect family. The rather infamous Byun Baekhyun.  

The same brat who was a terror in kindergarten all through to high school, and a stuck-up diva in college. He wasn't exactly a bad person, Chanyeol would say. After all, he came from a long line of respectable men. But then again, he wasn't the most likeable person in anyone's book. In all the years he has worked for Byun Minho, Chanyeol has not once made the effort to get to know the prissy midget. Chanyeol definitely knew better than to get involved with someone so superficial as that of Byun Baekhyun. As far as Chanyeol is concerned, Baekhyun was an immature kid who would throw the hugest tantrum if he didn't get what he wanted; Chanyeol would rather not deal with such people.  

So here Chanyeol is, frowning deeply at the wretched thing in his hands and wondering if this was all just a horrible prank. Because there's no way in hell he was fathering the child of the most annoying and obnoxious little . Would Brat Byun even make a decent parent, considering how he still acts like the most immature person on the face of the planet? Chanyeol highly doubts so.  

"Are you dumb or something?" Baekhyun scoffs when Chanyeol is unable to verbalize a coherent reply.  

The tall man finally looks up, peeling his eyes away from the stick of doom to face the devil with an angelic guise.  

"There's no way that... that thing growing inside you is mine," Chanyeol raises an eyebrow in disbelief, gesturing to the tiny man with an exaggerated wave.  

"Do you even know who I am, peasant?"  

Chanyeol wants to laugh at that. For all the wrong reasons, he bites back the reply that's in his head. Instead, he answers with another question of his own, "How do you even know it's mine and not someone else's?"  

Chanyeol wasn't expecting the sudden harsh tug on his ear. "How could anyone forget ears as huge as yours, yoda?"  

Chanyeol, being evidently taller and bigger than the other, effortlessly pries the hand off him and holds the wrist high in the air. Baekhyun looks taken aback at the man's agility but puts up a fairly decent struggle.  

The effort takes a lot out of him as he slumps against the agent's chest, panting from the lack of breath, a wave of dizzy spell hitting him at the same time.  

"Hey, hey, don't pass out on me," Chanyeol says in alarm. He has had to deal with unconscious bodies but he's not very sure what to do with one that is with child. 

"Just follow me, okay? Breathe in," Chanyeol takes a deep breath, prompting the other to do the same, "And breathe out." 

"One, two, three; count after me," Chanyeol starts to let out short puffs of air, only for Baekhyun to slap him on the back of his head. 

"I'm not giving birth yet you , I'm barely into my third week," Baekhyun scowls at the agent's stupidity, steadying himself as he regains his footing. Chanyeol throws back a glare. 

"I don't have time to deal with attention seeking ," Chanyeol declares with finality as he manhandles Baekhyun, steering him out his apartment.  

"Yah, how dare you chase the mother of your child away!"  

"IT'S NOT MINE!"  

Chanyeol slams the door in Baekhyun's face but he still hears Baekhyun's loud threat of, "FATHER SHALL KNOW ABOUT THIS!"  

+  

It takes only two days for Mr Byun to call him to his office for a little chat.  

Chanyeol should have been flattered, but the bright grin plastered across Mr Byun's face makes Chanyeol extremely uneasy.  

"I have always liked you, Chanyeol-ah," is the first thing he says after he offers a glass of whiskey, in which Chanyeol is quick to politely decline after the twist of events that followed the night he'd drank.  

"You're one of my most reliable men; trustworthy, hardworking. Such a talent."  

"And you know how I like to treat you like my own son..." Chanyeol's anxiety grows with Mr Byun's cheerful smile.  

"It's unexpected," Mr Byun continues, his expression concealed behind his glass as he takes another swig from it. Chanyeol can't tell if he was putting his sarcasm to good use. "I didn't even know you had eyes for my darling Baekhyun."  

But then he sets it down on the table and there's nothing but excitement and pride in his eyes when they meet Chanyeol's nervous pair.  

"I can't wait for you to officially become a Byun when my son gives birth!"  

If Chanyeol had been drinking, he was certain he would have spluttered water all over the shiny marble tiles.  

+  

Chanyeol knows close to nothing about pregnancy, other than the fact that it made a person's stomach swell like a whale. And, well, the process of how it happens in the very beginning (in which Chanyeol would rather not try to recall).  

When he receives a call at 3 in the morning from Mr Byun saying that there was an emergency, Chanyeol practically flew his way to the mansion with his pants barely done and shirt haphazardly put on inside out.  

Only to find that the emergency was one pertaining to Baekhyun's incessant sobbing because of his inability to stop puking.  

"Just call the doctor," Chanyeol says with a disinterested yawn, completely unfazed by the sight of the bratty boy hunched over the toilet with snot running down his nose.  

"We have," Mr Byun replies in defeat, "He says it's perfectly normal, there's nothing much we can do for him."  

"Uh, so why am I here?"  

"BECAUSE YOU STUCK YOUR IN ME YOU OGRE!" is the shrill cry that comes from the bathroom before the terrible sounds of Baekhyun's heaving fills the room. If Byun Minho was horrified at his son's choice of words, he doesn't show it. Instead, he gives Chanyeol a small smile.  

"Don't take his insults to heart. The doctor says it's also perfectly normal for one with child to experience intense emotions. What he's feeling now is just temporary. I'm sure he loves you just the same."  

Chanyeol can't stop the horror from seeping into his bones. Not only is he going to have a kid with Byun Brat, but his father also thinks they're in love. There was really no way out of this for him. That thought alone makes Chanyeol let out a delirious string of laughter.  

"Sir, Master Baekhyun has requested for the giant ogre who did this to him to be by his side as he experiences the painful consequences of letting ogres, pardon my language, him," Xiumin, one of Byun Minho's many butlers, snaps him out of his daze. "I believe he's referring to you."  

Chanyeol begrudgingly makes his way to the male who's sobbing dramatically, back hunched over the toilet.  

He spends the rest of his night on the cold bathroom floor, patting the crying male on the back and subjecting his poor ears to cries of how much of a he is for not knowing what a is for.  

Chanyeol wakes up the next morning with dried stains of vomit on his shirt and clumps of it in his hair, and a thought of how he would rather be caught during one of their dangerous raids than to listen to any more of Baekhyun's hateful whines.  

+  

Apparently it is also "perfectly normal" for pregnant people to be ridiculously happy one minute, and insanely mad the next. Chanyeol discovers that this is true, especially for someone who's a drama queen (Baekhyun), and he does so the hard way.  

Baekhyun had been in his 3rd week when he found out, and after the first few torturous weeks of forced acclimatization to each other, Chanyeol was ready to call it quits. He would have just walked right away if he weren't a man who upholds responsibility and if Byun Brat wasn't the son of Byun Minho. Really, he would have done so without a second thought.  

Now in his 6th week, Baekhyun's morning sickness wasn't as bad as it had been. In its place, though, came something worse.  

The cravings.  

Oh how Chanyeol hated them with a burning passion. It would have been easier if those cravings were in the form of rogues. He would have them kneeling before him and a gun to their head if they were, just like how he treats the other bad guys.  

But instead, Chanyeol is faced with a midget who, when standing, barely comes past his chin. A midget who turns into a horror kid when the hormones hits him all at once.  

"I want ice cream," Baekhyun declares cutely when Chanyeol walks into the boy's room for his mandatory daily visit. So far, all they've done is to argue about whose fault it was they were going to be parents. In the beginning, Chanyeol would hear nothing but dumb ogre being thrown his way (Baekhyun's vocab consists heavily of those words) and how Baekhyun was going to make sure Chanyeol is burdened with his own share of the troubles that comes with parenthood. After the first week though they bickered more over what channels to watch or which game to play, occasionally having disputes about what they were going to have for dinner. When Mr Byun would come in to check on them, Chanyeol would take to pretending to massage the pregnant boy's legs. Or anything couply-like, anything that made them look like they were in a loving relationship and not wanting to rip each other's throat out.  

Despite having been acquainted for only a few weeks, Chanyeol has come to learn that Baekhyun only acts all cute when he wants something. He has heard enough stories that circulate amongst the Byun's employees to know.  

"No," Chanyeol deadpans, heading straight for the tv control and changing the channel. Car Chase Season 3 is playing and Chanyeol grins happily at this as he makes himself comfortable on the king sized bed, making sure to leave an obvious space between them.  

"Chinyeooooool," Baekhyun whines, pulling a killer pout as he nuzzles himself at the man's side.  

"Tell me why I should do what you ask me to if you can't even remember my name," Chanyeol sneers, elbowing the other.   

"Isn't your name Chinyeol? Park Chinyeol?" Baekhun blinks at the other, looking genuinely confused.  

"At least you remember my last name," Chanyeol mutters, looking away to resume his watch of the programme on the telly.  

"I need ice cream please can you get me some," Baekhyun resumes his persistent whines. "Please, please, pleaseeeeee."  

"Go get it yourself." And then the boy falls eeriely silent.  

Chanyeol also learns that Phase 2 happens after approximately three failed attempts, and things get pretty scary. This is the part where Baekhyun obliterates Chanyeol with his eyes. The part where his nostrils flare and eyebrows crease so deep it almost looks like a valley. The only consolation Chanyeol gets from this is the fact that Baekhyun looks rather unattractive. Cute, but definitely not Chanyeol's type.  

"I can get Father to hate you in a second," Baekhyun threatens in a low voice.  

At the mention of Byun Minho, Chanyeol straightens up, attention now solely focused on the pregnant boy. The tension in Baekhyun's expression eased, draining away to make way for a sweet smile at his accomplishment.  

"Now," Baekhyun claps his hands together before rubbing his tummy, "Baby Byun wants mint ice cream with salted caramel syrup. And lots and lots of cherries."  

"Where do I even get salted caramel--"  

"--I. Want. Salted. Caramel. Sauce," Baekhyun grits through a tight smile. Chanyeol gulps, because Baekhyun's eyes are awfully frightening and he doesn't want to upset the pregnant boy any more than he already has, so instead he scrambles to his feet, puts his coat on, and is out the door in less than a minute.  

This goes on for about an exhausting two months -- running to and fro the store at ungodly hours, having to ditch work to rush to the Byun Mansion at Baekhyun's unreasonable request, and listening to Baekhyun's insults -- before Chanyeol decides he can't take the madness anymore.  

He can't take the way Baekhyun orders him around like Chanyeol owes him the world, so Chanyeol calls it quits for real.  

+  

"I don't care, Baekhyun, I'm coming clean about everything to your father!" Chanyeol yells, voice so loud Baekhyun is certain the whole house could have heard him if it were not for them being in the garden. Chanyeol had received yet another call during one of his meetings with the committee -- to discuss the sudden spike in gang-related crimes in the neighbourhood -- from one of the butlers that Master Baekhyun had ordered for his baby daddy's presence. When Chanyeol arrived, he was extremely displeased to note that Baekhyun only called for him because of something rather inconsequential; he wanted Chanyeol to train the puppy he had brought home so Baby Byun will have friends when he finally arrives into the world.  

"You'll lose your place in BxB," Baekhyun challenges, wavering a little at Chanyeol's sudden courage.  

"I'll win Byun Minho ssi's trust back," Chanyeol simply says with an air of confidence. Baekhyun stares hard at the tall man who seemed even more intimidating than he had been for the past few months. He didn't look like the man Baekhyun could easily bully into doing things for him anymore. He looked like one of those scary men his father trains to crack down on the violence in the neighbourhood.   

"Fine," Baekhyun replies in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. Chanyeol watches in befuddlement and a hint of wariness as Baekhyun takes a step forward. Chanyeol holds his breath and closes his eyes, thinking Baekhyun was going to kiss him when he lifts himself up on his tippy toes and oh god, Chanyeol wasn't ready for this, this wasn't the retaliation he had been expecting--  

"Ow!" Chanyeol cries when he feels something hard smack his forehead. His eyes fly open to see the pregnant boy still looking as sullen as before, no trace of humour in his expression as he retrieves his hand.  

Baekhyun takes a step back and waves his hand once in front of Chanyeol's face (he would have done it over his head if he could reach that high).  

"You are free." Chanyeol hides his amusement at Baekhyun's dramatic gesture. "Now leave."  

Chanyeol takes a moment to truly register that Baekhyun was giving up on forcing him to stay for the baby before he finally turns to make a move. Baekhyun doesn't curse at him or yell about how much of an  Chanyeol is, as he had been expecting, and it remains so till he walks off the Byun property to return to his life before Byun Baekhyun and the unfortunate unplanned pregnancy.  

What Chanyeol does miss is the way Baekhyun's annoying facade comes crumbling down the second there isn't anyone else around him. He doesn't see the way Baekhyun's body sags from all the defiance and fight that leaves him. He isn't there to witness Byun Baekhyun the brat sink to the ground with his knees up and back leaning against one of the tall grass sculptures with hands covering his face.  

Chanyeol doesn't hear as Baekhyun whispers into his hands, "I can't do this."  

"I can't do this alone."  

+  

The following week, the Byun mansion is in chaos when Baekhyun comes down with a frighteningly high fever. Things had been rather weird in the household ever since news got around that Chanyeol and Baekhyun broke off their fake relationship, rendering the first grandchild of Byun Minho fatherless. Byun Minho himself is disappointed at the revelation but Park Chanyeol remains his favourite student.   

What the others at the Byun mansion notice, though, is that Byun Minho starts to become obvious in the fact that he's blaming his pregnant son for yet another misfortunate incident in their family. This was a common known truth amongst the butlers and assistants who have worked for the Byuns for years;  As far as the man is concerned, Baekhyun seems to drive all but it remains hushed; like a secret not meant to be told. Ever since the passing of Byun Minho's beloved wife, Sooyoung, after the birth of their son, the man was a little bit more reserved. Nobody dare point it out that Byun Minho gave everything to his son - everything except the love his son craved for -- even though it was a reality.   

"Just send the doctor in, what do I pay him for?" had been Minho's agitated reply when he's told yet again that his son doesn't seem to be getting any better.  

"Sir, we have. The doctor believes he must be suffering from some extreme emotional stress. He has been calling for you all night."  

"I'm busy," Minho says without a second thought, "Just give him some medication. His fever should go down."  

His fever doesn't go down.  

In fact, it gets so alarmingly high that Baekhyun experiences a seizure during one of his fitful sleeps at night.  

Minho is in another discussion with BxB when it happens, and everyone in the room, including Chanyeol, becomes aware of it when Xiumin bursts into the conference room with a frantic, "Master Baekhyun is having a seizure!"  

When Minho arrives at the scene, Chanyeol tagging along almost as if he feels obliged to (and maybe just a little bit concerned), it is over, though the worst is yet to come.  

"He only sustained a sprained wrist, but I fear that the baby might be in danger," Doctor Lee conveys when he sees the boy's father. Baekhyun falls unconscious in the doctor's arms and they load him into the back of the SUV and bring him to the hospital where he's wheeled away into the emergency room.  

It's not a very long wait because they manage to pump enough oxygen to save the baby, though the doctors tell of how they almost lost the little girl a few times.  

"A girl," is all Byun Minho manages to utter. "I'm having a granddaughter."  

Chanyeol doesn't say anything though he can't help but to think how Baby Byun will have the prettiest eyes and the cutest smile. And he surprises himself when he realises that he wasn't referring to himself.  

Baekhyun awakes at night. He's alone, but he's kind of glad he is. He lets himself register his surroundings -- the quiet beeping and his silent breathing -- before he remembers everything. He does a frantic pat on himself, noting that he still had his baby bump, but what really convinces him that Baby Byun is still there with him is the reassuring flutter from his little one. Just to be safe, he calls upon a nurse who explains his current condition and relays the news he had been desperate to hear: his baby girl is alright.   

Baekhyun sings a lullaby to his Baby Byun till he's the one who falls asleep, and all this time, Chanyeol finds that he's unable to take another step inside, merely watching through the blinds from the outside,his heart stuttering at the sight. How is it that Byun Brat is starting to make him feel things he's never felt, emotions he has spent all his life hiding from everyone including himself?  

Chanyeol really doesn't know.