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Love and Reality

Xiumin had the most difficult shift of the day; lunch time. Their restaurant was usually packed with customers, mostly couples who met during their lunch brake to spend some time together before heading back to work. Xiumin didn't have anything against couples and he definitely didn't hate being single but he didn't enjoy serving them either.

As an outsider he had this habit of guessing the customers' private lives and issues just by taking their order and reaching his own conclusions. He didn't care whether he was right or wrong; to him, it was just a game he had invented in order to have some fun while working.

So when he saw a dazed Sehun walking in, holding hands with a short, clearly delighted boy he wasn't sure what to imagine. What made his game enjoyable was the very fact that all the customers were strangers, people he had never seen or spoken to before in his life. On the contrary, he had spoken to Sehun many times thanks to Chanyeol and his absurd need to introduce his friends to everyone.

Xiumin vaguely recalled the tall man with the extremely bleached hair that had dinner with Amber last night and he could have sworn that guy's name was Tao. Chanyeol had mentioned Sehun's boyfriend many times and his name was Tao as well. But Sehun was now sitting next to another man, completely different from the one he had seen last night.

For some reason, he felt the need to clear the misunderstanding in his head so when he saw Sehun heading to the bathroom, he rushed to their table.

"Are you alone?", he kindly asked the short boy.

"Oh no, my boyfriend just went to the bathroom, he'll be right back". The way that guy's round eyes lit up when he said the word 'boyfriend' reminded Xiumin of an innocent deer.

That's why he decided to proceed with extreme caution; he knew that guy's type very well. The type that looks pure and innocent so that you'll think "aw, he looks like Bambi, he couldn't possibly hurt anyone" when in reality their minds can plot the  most evil of plans.

"Oh, Sehun is your boyfriend?", he asked, pretending to be a complete idiot. He could read that boy like a magazine and the way his smile nervously disappeared when he realized that Xiumin wasn't a simple stranger seemed extremely guilty. "Then you must be Tao, nice to meet you", he continued and extended his hand.

The boy glanced at his palm and then at his fake smile. It was clear that Tao's name had a certain effect on him. "Um, my name is Luhan", he then said in a sweet voice that had a menacing underlying tone, "Tao is Sehun's ex. And you are...?".

"My name is Xiumin, I'm one of Chanyeol's coworkers", he replied and ruffled his ginger hair with the previously extended hand. He had no reason not to believe Luhan but the way he had narrowed his eyes made his smile look poisonous and he simply couldn't trust the guy.

But he wasn't going to sweat over it either.

"So are you ready to order or should I wait for Sehun to return?"

"It's fine, I'll order for both of us", Luhan proudly replied.

As he was taking their order Sehun returned and just then Xiumin noticed how horrible he looked; his eyes were swollen and red, his usually carefully styled hair were a mess and he appeared to have an immense headache since he kept rubbing his temples. However when he noticed that Xiumin was their waiter his eyes lit up instantly.

"Hey, Xiumin, is Chanyeol here? I need to talk to him".

"His shift will start in three hours. Why don't you just call him?".

Sehun heaved a sigh placed his head on the table. "I lost my phone last night, probably when I got drunk".

"Oh". Xiumin took his phone out of his pocket. "Do you want to use mine?". Sehun was ready to accept his offer when Xiumin's hand was violently pushed away by Luhan.

"I think I saw your phone!", he stated and his trembling voice revealed his panic. "It's back at my apartment! Let's just eat now and we'll find it later, okay?"

"O-Okay", Sehun mumbled, confused by Luhan's reaction.

Xiumin glared at the cotton candy haired boy and gave him his most poisonous smile.

"I'll be back in a minute with your order", he said and leaned towards Luhan so that he could look right into his eyes. "Just let me give you a friendly advice first; honesty is the best policy".

He didn't know what Luhan was hiding, he didn't know what had happened between him and Sehun and he didn't care enough to find out. But the shock his words gave to short boy made him end head back to the kitchen with a proud, wide grin.

 

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Everyone had gathered outside Kyungsoo's bakery and even Jongin had decided to leave his studies aside in order to take part in their plan. But before that, Tao had to explain to all of them what exactly had happened the previous night and describe every little detail of the fight which wasn't pleasant for anyone.

"You're an ", Baekhyun growled as soon as he finished. "And I'm only doing this because I care for Sehun".

"Yeah, that idiot definitely did something stupid after a fight like this", Jongin added and Tao was thankful he didn't turn against him like Baekhyun did.

"Okay!", Chanyeol shouted and stepped in the middle on the circle the boys had created. "We may have different feelings about this whole situation but we all have something in common; we are worried for Sehun!". He looked at everyone's faces to make sure they were on board with what he was saying before continuing and nodded pleased when everyone seemed to agree. "Kyungsoo, give us the plan!", he shouted and dragged the short boy in the middle of the circle with him.

"First, we need to follow Sehun's steps throughout the night", he started saying with a loud, steady voice. "But we have no physical leads so we'll have to rely on how well we know Sehun and our own intuition".

"Oh, we're ed", Baekhyun whispered but Jongin elbowed his sides and ordered him to shut up.

"It is a bit risky", Kyungsoo agreed, "but it's all we can do. Okay, Sehun is left alone in the apartment, thinking his boyfriend broke up with him. What would he do next?". After glancing at everyone's puzzled expressions he decided to answer his own question. "He didn't contact any of us which means he wanted to be left alone. And what does Sehun do when he's all alone and depressed?"

"He gets drunk!", Chanyeol shouted a tad too enthusiastically.

"Correct!", Kyungsoo shouted back and turned to Tao. "Do you have any alcohol at home?"

"No, we never brought alcohol at home", Tao mumbled and he remembered the fight he had with Sehun about that.

"So he must've gone somewhere he knew he could get drunk", Baekhyun added and ruffled his hair. "But Sehun never goes to bars alone, he always said he hates how uncomfortable he feels".

"Maybe he didn't care anymore", Jongin mumbled lost in his thoughts. "Maybe the shock was so big that he stopped paying attention to such things".

"Wait!", Kyungsoo raised his finger to silence everyone so that he could think clearly. "We haven't ruled out the possibility of him getting drunk at someone's house".

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "I think we've established by now that he was neither at my place nor yours".

"Yes but we're not the only friends he has anymore. Tao, didn't Sehun study with a guy from his university a lot?".

Tao widened his eyes and nodded furiously. "Yeah, his name is Luhan. Do you think he knows something?"

Jongin started chewing his bottom lip nervously. "But are they really that close? If Sehun wanted to talk to someone shouldn't we be his first choices?".

Kyungsoo nodded skeptically. "You have a point. It may be a bit far fetched but I still think we should contact that Luhan, just to rule out every possibility. Tao, do you have his number?".

"No but I know where he lives. I went to pick up Sehun a couple of times after their studying sessions".

"Great", Kyungsoo smiled proudly and started assigning everyone with a task. "Tao, you go to Luhan's place and find out anything you can." Tao nodded looking determined to redeem himself for the horrible things he had said to his boyfriend.

"Baekhyun, you know tons of bartenders from local bars. Sehun couldn't have gone somewhere far to get some drinks so contact all of them and ask them if they saw him".

"Okay", Baekhyun replied, feeling less optimistic than Tao. "But I'll have to warn you; bartenders don't usually remember their clients' faces unless they cause a big scene or something".

Kyungsoo smiled confidently. "That's what I'm counting on. If it's Sehun, he'll have definitely caused a scene. Chanyeol, you know better than anyone Sehun's favorite restaurants and coffee shops. It's lunch time and we all know that a hangover Sehun craves for two things; either food or coffee. So make sure to check all of them".

"I'm on it!", Chanyeol yelled and raised his fist.

"What about me?", Jongin whined, feeling left out.

"You'll have the toughest part", Kyungsoo grinned. "You'll stay here and answer my phone in my place since I still have to get back to work. Trust me, coordinating these people is way harder than it seems but I have faith in your leader skills. And remember!", he added when he saw that Jongin was ready to complain, "Do not interrupt my work unless it's something important".

"Okay everyone, let's move!", Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun's and Tao's hands and raised them as well to strengthen their fighting spirit. "And don't forget to report your progress via text every fifteen minutes!", Jongin added as Kyungsoo was handing him his phone with a proud-mama smile.

Tao took a deep breath and as he was running to Luhan's apartment the only thing he had on his mind was Sehun. He had to find him. He had to fix this before it was too late.

 

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Amber kept glancing on the wooden antique clock that was hanging on the wall as she was placing a stack of sweaters on their proper shelves. Tao had told her that he was going to be late but wasn't he overdoing it a bit? He could have called to at least tell her he wasn't going to show up.

"Amber!", her boss shouted angrily. "Why are you putting the grey sweaters on top of the blue ones? Concentrate, will you?".

Amber mumbled something that resembled an apology just to get the boss to leave her alone. She was bored out of her mind; there were barely any customers during lunch time and she had no one to talk to. For Amber that complete silence was hell and she reminded herself that with every minute that passed, she was closer to her break.

And finally, the boss gave her the long awaited sign that she had thirty minutes to go and get lunch. Without wasting a second, Amber put on her hat (backwards as always) and grabbed her skate, ready to escape when she suddenly remembered; she had a boyfriend. Should she call him? Isn't that what couples usually do?

"I guess I should...", Amber mumbled and shrugged. She had never done that before and she wasn't good at the whole relationship thing. Her motto was "stay chill, stay cool" but unfortunately, it seemed to be the exact opposite of what her previous boyfriends wanted.

And this time, Amber didn't want to let that one go. She had her phone in her hand, ready to dial his number when a deep voice made her look up and smile in surprise.

"Hey Amber". Kris was standing just a few feet away, hiding something behind him.

"Hey!", Amber nearly squealed and covered embarrassed. That was way too enthusiastic, she thought, I must look like an idiot. But Kris didn't seem to notice, let alone care. As he was walking towards her, reducing the distance between them, she tried to peek over his ridiculously tall body to see what he was hiding. But before she had the chance to see what Kris was holding, he was right in front her, leaning in for a kiss, something that made Amber forget about the mystery object as she was closing her eyes.

"What are you doing here?", she asked and cleared to bring her voice back to normal.

"Last night you kept telling me how cool it is that there's a basketball court just two blocks away from your work. So I decided to surprise you and-", Kris finally revealed the hidden object, "What do you say? Wanna play before grabbing something to eat?"

Amber looked at the ball on Kris' hands then at his face and then at the ball again, as if the spherical object could give the answer instead of her. She honestly was at a loss of words; no guy had ever treated her like this, no guy had ever been so spot on when it came to what Amber really wanted.

"My break is only thirty minutes", she finally said and Kris gave her his most cocky grin.

"That's plenty of time to beat the hell out of you".

"Oh, you're on, dude!", Amber shouted and pushed Kris away with a wide grin. She could be her normal self around him and she liked that. She liked that a lot.

"Should we invite your coworker?", the tall man asked and peaked inside the store. "So that he won't feel left out, you know?".

"That's surprisingly thoughtful of you-..."

"Hey! I'm totally kind and thoughtful!", Kris protested, making Amber burst into laughter.

"Yeah, in your dreams, galaxy giant. But as I was saying, Tao isn't here yet".

"Oh". For some reason, Kris looked very disappointed by the news and Amber rushed to lift him up.

"But hey, you should totally meet him next time, I think you'll really like him!"

Kris's smile returned. "Yeah, he's my girlfriend's coworker. I should definitely meet him". Amber felt her heartbeat racing at the sound of the word 'girlfriend'. As she was trying to hide her blushing cheeks she wondered how a small word like that could affect her so much.

 

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Author's Note: Yay for chapter five (??) finally done~ I'm starting to lose count, is that good or bad?

Anyways, Xiumin is having a -mode-on moment, the boys are on the move and Amber is turning into a cutie patootie around Kris. This chapter was impossible to finish because I wasn't sure which characters to focus on so I thought "what the hell, let's put everyone in there" and I think it worked (???). Tell me what you think, the comments section has been so quiet lately I'm starting to worry TT^TT

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annievanman #1
Chapter 11: Hi just like to say I really like this story. It was very well written. I noticed you haven't updated it for a while. Just hope you'll pick it up again someday. ..cheers
macysmiles #2
Chapter 11: The story was really good but the last chapter was eh. It wasn't fullfilling just was missing something, maybe it's because I like angst
applesauce68
#3
Chapter 11: The taohun always gets me!! I swear ever chaptet is better than the one before it and I can't wait for more xiuhan♥♥♥ everytime you say there's more on the way it makes me so happy! (Also on a side note I wrote a vixx imagine if you could check it out that would be super awesome! ) okay ur my fav author and i love you bye
usedtobeyours
#4
Chapter 11: this chap is really something I can't find words to describe.
Is surely the second best thing of the day after exo'luxion (but let's not talk about exo'luxion or I'll try to sing el dorado lol)
No, but seriously, this make up is exactly how I like make ups to be, dramatical and loud and drunk? and there was hitting and crying and kissing ugh MY TAOHUN FEELS! I wonder how Tao will wake up the next day tho haha
Also:: Kris loves Amber! /does a happy dance/
And Tao and Kris are in good terms! (almost? ignore me, I LOVE KrisTao frinedship!)
This story is marvelous, I'm never bored here, so I'm looking forward for the sidepairings make ups, too! Good luck author-nim
secretlylovingexo
#5
Chapter 11: Author-nim. Now I hate AFF.
Why I could only upvoted your FF once? Why couldn't I upvoted you FF in every chapter?
*pouted*

Btw, I will keep saying this until you get bored by it.

I LOVE YOU.

Like Baekyeolkaisoo to Taohun, I will never leave you even if you told me to.

I'm staying.

<3
StephieC
#6
Chapter 11: Yup, this chapter hit me right in THE FEELS!
Like seriously? The Taohun *sobs
And Krisber, holy -----, the KRISBER IS SO FLIPPING AMAZING
AND KRIS IS A BUT THATS OKAY BECAUSE AMBER HAS AMAZING LLAMA POWERS
And I already know that the Xiuhan is going to be amazing and I'll love it because YOU'RE AMAZING!
Thanks for updating! You're, as always, just simply the best XD
(P.S. TAO YOU DUMB, HOW COULD YOU KISS KRIS?????)
minseokkie99 #7
Chapter 11: i dont want this to eeeend ;-;
LauExo #8
Chapter 11: Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
secretlylovingexo
#9
Chapter 10: I just dropped this comment to say I love you and I believe you author-nim.

Since your last reply to me in my comment before this, I kept trusting you and will always do.

Your plot could be anything and I will still trust in you.

Love you author-nim!

Please take a good care of your body before you make us happy with more update. <3 <3
StephieC
#10
Chapter 10: MY POOR BABY AMBER, KRIS YOU EFFING DOUCHE!!!!
But damn, my Taoris feels tho~
and Sehun are you just going to stand there and let Kris steal your man????!!!!!
Yeolie is adorable though!!!! Caring for his friends so much
And Tao, if you weren't so lovable, I think I'd have to kick some sense into you XD
first, you break up with Sehun for "his own good" and now you're going out for drinks with Kris, AKA Wu Yifan, AKA Kevin, AKA Krisus, AKA WHATEVER OTHER NAMES YOU HAVE
And Kyungsoo SHOULD meet Amber, they can be smart and evil together
I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN YOU UPDATED BUT *SIGHS AT THE CLIFFY, CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT UPDATE!