☃CHAPTER 1/3

The shrilling feeling of staring at the clock ticking it's last
minutes until striking straight at six o'clock kept everyone
sitting still on their chairs. The sounds of keyboard's
letters being pressed in a frantic manner, polished shoes
impatiently tapping on the floor, and few occasional
grunts had filled the 23rd floor.

Baekhyun loosened his tie and cracked the bones on his
fingers, before flexing out his muscles. Having sat on the
same position for the past eight hours has been pure
torture. He had been so busy wrapping up his latest issue
on the Love, , and Health column, that he hadn't had
time to take his lunch or bathroom breaks.

He caught the eyes of Shi-Hye, a female co-worker of
his, responsible for the actual Health side of the column.
She was one of those girls, crazy about food, but too
concerned of her weight to actually eat. She had a
champagne glass on her grip, she was twirling the golden
liquid around, smiling at everyone who passed her a
look.

"Drinking already? The Christmas party starts in five
minutes, can't you wait?" Baekhyun playfully scolded her.

She rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed. "I've
been drinking for the past two weeks. Gotta start my
winter celebration early, unless I want to return to work
looking like I ran away from the AA meeting." She
giggled at her own joke, before drowning the rest of the
liquid inside her glass.

"Are you coming this year, by the way? I heard there's
some famous violist playing. Not that I care about that,
I'm in it only for the boost and free food."

Baekhyun shook his head, "Nope, I still don't see a
reason to spend time with these idiots outside of the
office, unless necessary." And on the other side,
Baekhyun already had plans.

He had finally decided to bury the sword and visit his
parents after five years of living in hatred. He'd stay few
nights at his parents's house, the Christmas eve and 
day. He'd see his brother who he greatly missed,
alongside with his pregnant wife. He'd also see his other
relatives who'd stop by to eat gingerbread and drink hot
chocolate.

Shi-Hye made a sound of displeasure. "What's so good
in spending the holidays alone? Or have you found
anyone..?" There was a sophisticated carefulness in her
question, but Baekhyun heard the slight excitement and
curiosity.

"You asked me that same thing a week ago, the answer
is still no."

"You're way too picky! What do you say, I have couple
other gay friends and they're pretty cool. I could always
set you up."

Baekhyun snorted. "First of all, I'm not picky, I just have
set high standards because that's what I do deserve.
Second, I don't want anyone cool, I want a real adult who
is successful and has goals. Third, your couple gay
friends are Mark and Ryewook. Do you see the problem
here?"

Shi-Hye didn't get a chance to reply when suddenly
cheers of happiness started ringing in their ears.
Immediately loud music with jingle bells was ,
and Baekhyun sighed. He looked at the 20-30 year old
adults dancing on tables, yelling incoherent words. He
rolled his eyes and sent a smile at Shi-Hye who was
filling her glass again.

They waved a silent goodbye, and Baekhyun was out of
the door, his briefcase tucked under his arm.

He stopped in front of the elevator, and pressed the
lower one of the two buttons. A circle of red light up
around it, and Baekhyun listened to the smalls dings of
the elevator reaching floors.

"Hey, Baekhyun!"

He turned around quickly enough to evade the running
male. Do Kyungsoo, Baekhyun mentally gritted his teeth
together.

"What do you want?"

He turned back around, cursing the elevator that was
only at the 13th floor. Kyungsoo paddled his way next to
Baekhyun and grinned. "Boss said I'd be working with
you on the January project. I wanted to ask if we could-"

"Shh", Baekhyun silenced Kyungsoo with a finger on his
lips "I'm leaving this hell hole for two weeks, before that I
do not wish to hear a thing about you or work. So please,
shut the up and go get ed by your boyfriend."

Kyungsoo didn't seem fazed at all. He continued grinning
at Baekhyun, who wasn't going to last in the presence of
his rival.

"I don't know why you're angry at me. Jongin left you for
me, it's not like I stole him. And that was way back in
high school! Drop the attitude and be an adult."
Kyungsoo snickered at him before walking away, his
signature devil smile marrying his lips.

Note to self: poison Kyungsoo's drink.

❅❊❅

To say that Baekhyun was angry would have been the
understatement of the year. He was absolutely furious.
He kicked the loose tire of his olive green car and cursed
incoherent words under his breath.

"Can't you just hurry up? I'm in a hurry!"

The representative at the tow truck company had been
telling the same thing for the past half an hour. There's a
huge traffic, you need to pay extra, Mr. don't raise your
voice, and Baekhyun was starting to get enough.

"I'll pay you ing extra, alright? Just get the truck here
in ten minutes."

He hang up the phone. Not only was his car's tire loose,
but his gas was running low too. His schedule was getting
messed up, meaning now he'd have to hurry the rest of
the day, and he'd have to skip his two hour nap, meaning
he'd have to stop at some point of his journey to Mokpo.

Finally, he mentally screamed when the tow truck arrived
at the side of the road. An oversized old man stepped out
of the truck, beard left unshaven, cigarette hanging from
the corner of his mouth, greasy hair combed to the side,
and he smelled like an old bar.

"So, pretty boy, this is your car?"

"Yes, the tire's loose and I need gas too. This-" Baekhyun
handed the man a business card with his address written
on it with a pencil, "is my address, call when you are
done and I'll pay then. Okay?"

The man laughed and accepted the card. "Do you
happen to need a ride? Pretty boys like you will get it for
free."

Baekhyun restrained himself from throwing up when the
man placed his stubby hand on his suit-glad shoulder.

"No, thank you."

"Suit yourself." The man looked annoyed as he spit on
the ground, the slimy white substance landing next to
Baekhyun's shoe.

He mentally groaned and left the scene. He hailed a cab
and cursed once again for having to pay for the taxi ride
too.

He finally arrived home. His neck ached from sitting on
the cab's uncomfortable seat. His wallet was out of cash,
his eyes were sore from the cab's mirror