It had been years since Chanyeol had been so attracted to someone and his last little conquest had gone terribly wrong.

So terribly wrong in fact that he had swore off dating for nearly three and a half years because of what had happened to him. Okay he understood the other parties point of view that he was being over protective and zealously jealous of him but at the same time what sort of boyfriend would he have been if he hadn’t wanted to protect said guy from a bunch of rowdy hooligans who looked just about ready to strip his now ex there and then and do him rather loudly on the park bench they were on.

The biggest kick in the teeth about that whole situation turned out that his ex had actually done that several times before, whilst he was dating Chanyeol and this group was one of his favourite ‘ buddies’ going. He had even offered to allow Chanyeol to watch one time but not to participate because “He wouldn’t get into the correct vibe.”

Chanyeol had dumped him there and then, stalked off to his best friend Baekhyun’s and moped about the whole situation with a large bucket of ice cream for three days before being told to go home, sober up and prepare for school. It was at that point he had decided that he would keep away from dating until the end of high school and would start afresh when it was all out of his system.

That plan had worked perfectly but had extended beyond his final year of high school to include the two years that he spent in collage and the first part of his university life as well. Though if he was honest with himself, it sure made everything a heck of a lot easier in comparison to some of his friends who dated and got their hearts broken repeatedly but even he had to admit that it was slightly annoying having to play third wheel when he went out with the couples but he would just put a bright smile on his face and never show how annoying it was.

Thankfully his friend Lay was in the ‘forever single by choice club’ as well so he always had him to complain to when the others were not around. Actually it was through Lay that he had found the current object of his strong attraction though he wasn’t entirely sure if the other had noticed it yet or not. There again Lay could be a little bit spacey at times - they gave him the nickname of Unicorn for that reason alone - though when it came to love and stuff he was usually right on top of things.

But Chanyeol wasn’t thinking about his friend as he sat at the usual table at the end of another long university day, drinking his frappachino and eyeing up the barrister who was currently serving for about the forty fifth day in a row, he was so far from thinking about him that it was plainly obvious he did not notice that said Unicorn was creeping up on him from the side.

So it was no surprise that he let out the most un-manliest squeak come yell when Lay jabbed both of his hands into his side to tickle him with a cry of “Electric shock!”

“Lay!” Chanyeol managed to regain some of his manly points with a firm tone that came out more as a whine than anything else, “What you do that for?”

“You were spacing out again,” Lay said with a shrug, “Me and Kyungsoo have been waiting an age for you by the door since our shift finished and all you are doing is sitting there and drooling unattractively. Now come on, I need to go to the library to borrow a book and Kyungsoo wants to drag you clothes shopping or something.”

Pouting at that thought, Chanyeol sighed dramatically and got up, gathering his scattered things into his bag as a way of delaying his leaving of the coffee shop and hoping that he looked natural about it. When he thought that the coast was clear, he chanced a glance up at the main service centre for the cafe and was rewarded with a clear view of the object of his current affections. The man behind the counter was tall, maybe an inch or so taller than him which was really unusual because Chanyeol had always thought himself to be the tallest person going, had dyed blond hair that was usually worn in a messy and very rushed style but somehow managed to look ravishing. Today it was messy styled anyway, sometimes it was all swept back into a long quiff or else tied up in spikes or very occasionally it would just be flat, straight and worn down giving the man the look of a little lost boy which was probably one of the many reasons that Chanyeol had started to take an interest in him in the first place.

Then of course there was the soft brown eyes, the little peak of a nose and the pouty full lips that just begged to be kissed and Chanyeol had spent many a night imagining such a thing happening. In his head he had envisioned the many ways that he would get the perfectly attractive stranger to go out on a date with him and how he would lure him into bed and all of that lovely nonsense but the main problem was that every time Chanyeol got to the counter, the blond haired guy would be busy serving someone else, was in the process of making a coffee, Lay would jump in or Kyungsoo if they got the chance or just a million and one other little nuisances that would stop him from ever talking to the guy.

Not that he let on of course, the last thing he needed was his friends to know that he had a crush on one of their work colleges because he was sure that they would literally jump all over that but he also knew that he was being kind of obvious about the whole thing as well which was never an easy situation.

“Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo literally yelled from the doorway of the cafe, “Come on, we haven’t got all day to watch you messing about with your bag!”

Blushing as he saw that virtually everyone in the cafe had turned to look at him, Chanyeol grabbed his bag hurriedly and virtually ran out of the cafe, yelling after his friend for embarrassing him in a public place like that.

The blond haired barrister behind the counter stared long and hard after the running figure had left the cafe, a look of surprise on his face that was masked with an age worth of sadness and misery. Thinking it best to go and clean up the table, Kris purposefully made his way over to where Chanyeol had been sitting last and tried to keep the stabbing pain from going too much into his chest. Though it was very hard to do when he found a small black notebook on the seat where Chanyeol had been that looked a little bit on the old and tattered side but still clearly had a picture of a large and fat puppy on it.

Memories stirred and he casually flipped the cover, pretending to be looking for a clue to its owner and nearly dropped the book in surprise when he saw the words ‘Happy Birthday, Big Eared Puppy!’ scrawled in messy Hangeul and he turned his head towards the door where he had last seen the running boy. Tears were so close to spilling down the side of his face but he managed to stop them as he was in work and that was the last thing he needed right now.

Though the question that played around in his head was could he really expect Chanyeol to remember him in the slightest?

~*~

“So,” Kyungsoo emphasised the word perfectly, grinning just a little on the evil side, “Tell me Chanyeol, which of our work colleges have you been eyeing up for the past month and a half?”

Chanyeol nearly choked on his bubble tea as he turned to glare at Kyungsoo though failed to hide his blush, “What are you talking about? I’ve never done such a thing in the slightest.”

“Oh yes you have,” Lay joined in, an equally cheeky grin on his face, “You were being as subtle as a fish out of water. Come on; tell us, I promise we won’t pick on you.”

Kyungsoo smiled sweetly, “Yeah, we’ll be good and everything. Or if you don’t want to tell we can just guess for you.”

“Yeah, it’s not like it’s not obvious or something,” Lay said, continuing to grin.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chanyeol stated, wishing that his friends weren’t so observant or the fact that he wasn’t so damn obvious about everything that he did at times.

“I bet it’s Krystal,” Kyungsoo said, “Or Jessica, it’s got to be one of those two.”

“Hmm,” Lay said with a grin, “Very possibly.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and huffed, “I thought you two knew me well enough to know that I don’t like girls in the slightest by now.”

“Ohhh so it is a guy,” Kyungsoo chuckled and thought of everyone who was in, “Well it’s not Bambam or Kwangmin cause they’re both far too young for you and it’s so not obviously one of us so...”

Lay’s silly grin suddenly began to droop, “Oh. You like....”

“Kris?” Kyungsoo asked slowly, looking towards Chanyeol for confirmation.

Knowing he was caught out, Chanyeol sighed, “If you mean the drop dead gorgeous tall guy with blond hair and killer looks then yes, if not then no.” He smiled brightly at the pair, waiting for the happy reactions and the promises that would come for them to help him get together with the guy whom was now presumably named Kris.

Lay and Kyungsoo shared a look between one another and seemed to have some form of mental debate which Lay lost because Kyungsoo could easily outstare him, “Channie, you may want to drop your interest in Kris.”

“Why?” Chanyeol asked, completely thrown by the response, “Is he already taken or something?”

The pair shared another look, “No...Not that we know of,” Lay lightly bit his lip.

“Some things are just better left alone,” Kyungsoo said just as slowly, “Well some people anyway.”

That had Chanyeol’s attention, “What’s wrong with Kris?”

“Nothing,” Lay quickly amended, “Nothing with him personally. He’s lovely, very well spoken, polite and quite shy around most people.”

“He’s a bit of a dork though,” Kyungsoo said, “If you can manage to get him to relax enough.”

“So the problem is?” Chanyeol prompted, still not seeing why either of them would have a problem with him liking Kris who so far sounded wonderful.

Again the pair exchanged a glance only this time Lay won out and Kyungsoo his lips before speaking, “There’s been things that have happened to people who try to get close to Kris. Really bad things and....Chanyeol just leave him be. Please. Kris isn’t the type to actively speak to anyone outside of the shop and there is a reason but no one really knows and after Tao...”

Abruptly he stopped speaking and looked down at the ground. Lay even lowered his head though silently shook it not wanting to answer any questions in regards to that statement. Chanyeol blinked at the pair, remembering that he had heard the name Tao somewhere but could not place it in the slightest. Though he thought that for the sake of his friends he wouldn’t ask any more of them right now and he could probably just go and find out for himself.

“Awww look at this, I’m out of bubble tea,” he said gently, “Let's go and grab some more and then we can continue shopping for a bit huh?” 

Kyungsoo and Lay looked up with relieved smiles and pretty soon they were talking and acting on like they normally did. Neither one suspected that in Chanyeol’s mind he was already beginning to formulate a plan to find out more about this mysterious Kris and somehow work out how to get him out on a date.