I should’ve kicked his …

I should’ve…

But I was a wimp. I honestly got scared, because damn his height, and damn his deep voice, that guy can be scary if he wanted to. He got through to me, he made me, for once, think that it would be better if I lay low once he's there.

The day went by so fast after what happened, I remember not being able to sleep properly, and when I did wake up the next day, it was late. I had bags under my eyes, I looked pale, awful and sick.

Park Chanyeol got through me, he made me feel fear for the first time in a long time, and I hated that, no.

I despised that in him.

When I got to my office, I fixed myself a cup of coffee, took a painkiller and crashed on the black leather couch. I could feel my forehead burning, yet I was shaking from how cold the room felt.

I felt like grunting a few times due to the discomfort I was feeling, my couch wasn't my favourite place in the world, but I decided it would be of some help in the time being. I decided to turn on the TV to clear my mind a bit, so with much effort, I reached my arm to the coffee table and fetched the remote, hissing a list of curses because damn my back hurt.

I the TV, and I regretted it almost instantly.

There he was, with all his might and glory, standing in front of hundreds of reporters in a press conference held by the company, which was live as I was watching.

Park Chanyeol.

He stood there with his black button down shirt, black tux, and his serious stare that made everyone fear him yet respect him at the same time.

He talked about Luhan and Chen’s scheduled events, and blabered about the profit their new album had made for the company, but what surprised me was that he addressed the matter of the fight that broke out in the bar the day before. I was about to turn off the TV when my curiosity got the better of me, and I had a sudden urge to turn up the volume instead.

“I’m addressing this matter because… well, the company has decided to take legal action against him for not only assaulting Luhan with his inappropriate comments, but also for harassing him and calling him a homoual… it’s absolutely unacceptable to say that to anyone, and I personally find that guy disgusting and believe that he belongs to prison…”

My mouth fell agape and my eyes slightly widened, I straightened up in my seat and leant forward, blood rushing to my head and crashing my skull as I did so, but I ignored it, prompting my elbows on my knees. The crowd kept buzzing with questions and loud comments.

Chanyeol slid his hands in his pockets, with his straight face, that exposed no emotion, he waited for the crowd of reporters to shut up for him to complete talking.

“We’ve already finished meeting with the lawyer who is a personal friend of CEO Byun and whom will be handling the case…

… May I add that I’ll personally be on top of this case until Luhan’s name is cleared, and until I see that person paying for the emotional damage he caused to him, pay for the financial damage he caused to us as a company, and pay for the damage he had caused to both Luhan and Chen’s reputation..."

He gave a simple nod, his face ever so serious, before he announced passively.

"You may begin your questions…”

The crowd roared and started bombarding him with all sorts of questions, I was still frozen, and my mind had gone blank a few minutes ago. What the hell? Didn’t he say he’d keep it a secret to not put us in another similar situation? To avoid breaking another scandal?

My phone rang that instant, making me jump in my seat, I let out a groan and slid my hand into my bag that I had thrown next to the couch's leg when I first arrived in the office. I checked the caller ID, Baekhyun. Swallowing hard and taking a deep breath, I swiped the screen to answer and put it to my ears.

“Are you watching…?” I had thought that I'd be met by the sweet melody of his tone, but it wasn't the one I was used to. His voice sounded… pissed off, yet calm somehow.

“Yes, I am…” I answered timidly, playing with the hem of my black skirt.

“And…What do you think?”

“I think he did the right thing Baek…” My voice was faint, but this is actually what I believed.

“Good… good…” His voice trailed off, we stayed like that, silent, I could hear him breathing on the other line, but it seemed like he had no intention of saying anything else. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, he had beat me to it.

“Come to my office… please?”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Come in…”

I pushed the wooden door slowly and was met with Baekhyun’s eyes staring at me. He was seated on the couch in the eastern side of his office, right in front of his flat screen TV. I walked quietly to his side and sat, staring at the screen instead of meeting his eyes. His eyes trailed away from me shortly and he turned the volume up. The news were already talking about Luhan.

“Kris is handling the case…” He said briefly, not turning to look at me.

“Kris Wu?”

He just hummed in answer.

The reporter was commenting on Chanyeol’s speech, also mentioning that tye great mind behind such actions was of course Baekhyun, I didn't know why, bu I doubted her words.

“Did you know about it? What he did, I mean…” I asked as my eyes focused on Chanyeol’s figure on screen. 

“I didn’t know he even contacted Kris until now…” Beakhyun breathed out, burying his head in his hands. I could see that he was still pissed off, but I decided to keep my thoughts about it to myself and wait for him to let out all that he was feeling.

“He didn’t even ask…” Like I said, I’ll just wait for him to let it all out, he always does that. 

“... That fact that I’m the CEO, not him… It’s like he totally forgot about that… what if he had messed up again, it would all turn back in my face…”

Baekhyun stood up from his seat, brushing his hair back with his fingers, he let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes in frustration, resting both hands on his waist. I bit my bottom lip, unsure of what to do or say.

“Baek…” I started with a faint voice, he turned to look at me, his eyes tired and droopy, so I bit my tongue and stayed silent. He moved to where I was sitting and sat next to me as I watched him silently. Leaning closer my breath hitched and my cheeks burnt as he rested his head on my lap. I held my breath as he kept silently and grunting, he seemed really tired and I suddenly wanted to hug him, protect his fragile being from all that was happening.

“You know…” He suddenly started, eyes closed and starting to drift off into sleep or something. “… A normal 24 year old guy would be out flirting with pretty girls like you in a bar, but I…” He scoffed, and I bit my bottom lip harder.

“... I sit in an office, my secretary is almost 30 years older than me, and I carry the burden a 50 year old man should be carrying, not me…”

My hands were shaking as they moved to touch his soft hair slightly, I started brushing his hair ever so softly with my fingertips, trying to be of any comfort to him. His sighed and leaned into my touch, which made a small smile creep up on my lips.

"You know what's funny...? I always blame Chanyeol for everything that goes bad in here, when I'm one of the few people who actually know how smart he is... He's even smarter than I am sometimes, he's just too lazy to show it..." 

He let out a breathy laugh, one out of sarcasm of course. You believe Chanyeol’s smart? Seriously Baek, I'm disappointed.

I suddenly had the urge to lean closer to him, my emotions taking the best of me. So I unconsciously leant closer, my lips almost touching his cheek, I sensed that he felt my hot breath brushing slightly on his skin as he fidgeted suddenly, yet he didn’t move, which made me move even closer. 

“I’ll always be here for you…” I whispered and kissed his cheek lightly, my heart beating insanely fast, crashing against my rib cage like it was about to jump out. 

The door opened suddenly, startling me all of a sudden, I lifted my head to see who entered, and I don't know why, but my heart fell the instant my eyes laid on a tall figure.

Chanyeol.

He was standing right in front of us, looking like he had caught us cheating or something, I'm not quite sure if it was just my imagination, but I could see anger rising up in him.

“Chanye…” Baekhyun straightened up and started standing, but before he could even stand fully on his feet, or utter anything, Chanyeol's face turned emotionless all of a sudden and he vanished from the room, slamming the door right behind him.

He looked hurt.

Seriously, Chanyeol looked really hurt.

I looked at Baekhyun who seemed as confused as I was, propping himself on the couch in a dazed form, I saw him gulping and blinking that daze a few times. 

"What was that for...?" I asked in confusion, he turned to look at me with a worried and absentminded expression. 

"It's nothing... go back to your office, I think we just need to talk..." 

I nodded silently, knowing that it was futile to ask any further questions.

When I reached my office, I closed the door and leant against it, my mind roamed with ideas that consisted of only one person.

Park Chanyeol. 

The guy had successfully tattooed himself onto my mind in just a couple of days, and I hated myself for thinking about him that much. Why was he even surprised by seeing me and Baek like that, he knew that we were really close anyway. 

But the bigger question was, why did I even care? Why was I curious to know what his reaction meant? I never cared about Chanyeol, nor have I ever thought about him so much. And to say that I couldn't even sleep last night because of him. I was confused, because what the hell was happening to me??

"Can we talk?"

Baekhyun's hands held the door to Chanyeol’s office open. Chanyeol's eyes shot up from his feet to be met by his best friend's unsure smile. Rolling his eyes, he leaned back in his seat and stayed silent.

Baekhyun took that as a yes, with shy and unsure steps, he closed the door slowly behind him and made his way to sit next to Chanyeol, but the tall latter stopped him half way.

"Say what you have to say and get out of here..." Chanyeol’s eyes were closed as if he was pretending to sleep, his arms were crossed against his chest as he sat unmoved. If someone was passing by, he'd mistake his perfect features, hair, clothes, and posture to be one of a wax figure, not a living human.

Baekhyun bit his lip in unsureness as he stared back at him, suddenly at loss of words, he had no idea why Chanyeol was treating him like that, it's not like he ever cared about Ji eun anyway.

"What's wrong..?"

"Nothing... just get out..." he answered, moving nothing but his lips.

 "But..."

"Out Baekhyun...!"

"Not until you tell me what the hell did I do that was so wrong that you're treating me like this right now, when actually, I'm supposed to be the one who's punching the out of you..."

Baekhyun's little outburst was enough to provoke Chanyeol into moving again. His eyes shot open in anger as he glared at his best friend. With a clenched jaw, Chanyeol stood up and walked to Baekhyun, towering him with his height. Baekhyun gulped and stepped back a little, he was one of the few who had experienced Chanyeol's rage, one that never ended pretty.

"Punching me? Angry at me...?" Chanyeol's tone was so low and deep it almost reminded Baekhyun of the sick villains in movies.

"... You ungrateful ..." Baekhyun’s eyes widened, what the hell was wrong with Chanyeol?

"Yah! Even if I'm your friend, you shouldn't be talking to me like that when I'm your boss... and I did nothing wrong..." Chanyeol scoffed.

"Some boss you are... a boss who's afraid of his employee..." Chanyeol towered over him again, this time with a sickening smirk. Baekhyun didn't falter, he moved even closer, a challenging glare meeting Chanyeol’s eyes.

"I'm not afraid of you... I just pick my fights, and this is one that I believe should never start, it's not like you care about Ji eun anyw..."

Baekhyun felt his nose break under the impact of meeting something hard, he flew to the wall next to him, leaning his whole body on it for support as he felt the warm fluid that is his blood oozing out of his nose.

Dizzy and breathless, Baekhyun tried to wipe some of the blood with the back of his hand, eyes wide as he stared back at Chanyeol who still seemed unsatisfied by the punch he just sent to his poor friend's face.

"I don't get what she sees in you... you go around pretending that you love her, act like she's the world and more to you, then I walk in on you sleeping on another girl's lap... Typical..." Chanyeol scoffed, his eyes turning from angered to pained as he stared back at his masterpiece that was Baekhyun’s now bloody face.

Realisation and guilt hit Baekhyun like a train when he realised who Chanyeol really cared about, whom this was all for. He cursed under his breath as he tried to wipe some blood with his sleeve, his eyes falling to his feet.

"You never even told anyone about her… She should've never chose you..." Chanyeol’s spat, tone turned into one of pain, he breathed out silently and walked back to his seat, collapsing on it in tiredness, and closing his eyes.

Baekhyun stood there confused as to what he had to do, he had never felt guiltier, not just because he did something that would make his fiancée utterly mad at him, but also because he knew how hurt Chanyeol must be feeling at the moment.

Yes, Baekhyun was engaged, secretly of course, no one but him, Chanyeol, and his said fiancée, Kim Taeyeon, knew about such news.

Kim Taeyeon was Chanyeol’s crush throughout his three years of high school. Because of her, Chanyeol turned into the cold, ungrateful, wominizer that he was. Because of her, no girl could ever satisfy his needs, or fill the hole she left in his heart.

Chanyeol was utterly crazy about her, silently watching her from afar, never having the guts to even tell her how he felt.

Even though most girls dreamt about him, wanted a piece of him for themselves, he was never confident enough to face her, he thought that a girl like her, pure and innocent as she was, would never feel something for someone as tainted and as stupid as he was.

Chanyeol’s heart fell the moment he heard that Baekhyun started seeing her after they graduated, he’s always stand there, a shadow, trying to act as happy as he can be for both of them, hoping one day she’ll see him instead. But days went by, weeks, months, until 5 days ago, when he heard that Baekhyun had asked for her hand in marriage, and she willingly accepted.

It was the first time Beakhyun had ever witnessed his cold, aloof best friend crying. The first time he’d ever seen him in pain ever since his parents got divorced, it was then that Baekhyun’s mind became tired and restless, his heart filled with guilt because of the pain he caused for his friend.

Baekhyun left Chanyeol’s office silently after that, his nose still bleeding and his mind hurting. He needed to do something, not just for Chanyeol, but for Ji eun who he knew she felt something for him.

I heard a knock on the door, turning in my seat, I mouthed a simple ‘come in’ and was met by a horrifying scene after. A scene that all the colour in my cheeks and left me dizzy and breathless.

Right in front of me, Baekhyun entered, face full of blood, his white shirt tainted with that red liquid as well, I almost fainted because it looked really dangerous. Running to him, he gave me a cheeky smile which I ignored and started checking on him in hysteria.

“Hey, hey, slow down!!” he started pushing my hands away as I struggled to examine him.

“What the hell happened to you??!!” My eyes were wide and my face was probably white in horror, Baekhyun wasn’t one to get himself into something like this.

“Chanyeol and I had an argument… it kinnda escalated from there…” he pointed at his bloody nose. “… hence, the blood.”

He was smiling. Why was he smiling? He shouldn’t be smiling right now!

“That stupid !” I roared as I made an attempt to leave to his office, but Baekhyun hugged me tightly, his laugh resonating in the room. I was really confused as to why he was laughing right now. After he composed himself, he let me go, still holding my hand though, and smiled at me widely.

“I deserved this Ji, so don’t worry about it…”

“Deserved this?” I pointed at his face, blood already drying in its place.

“Yeah, I was being an …” His smile faltered a little, and I felt his hold on my hand tighten. I calmed down a bit and looked him in the eyes, he seemed okay, just hurt, emotionally.

I led him to sit on my desk chair (Well, he’s an exception!) and grabbed a towel from my office bathroom. I went to his office and grabbed an extra white shirt that he kept for emergencies, and grabbed a small bowl from the nearby cafeteria.

By the time I was back, I found that he had spaced out already, watching the city’s skyline from my office window, I smiled to myself a bit. Right now, Baekhyun looked as sweet as an angel, an injured angel may I add. He was smiling to himself as he stared out at the city, the sun making his soft brown hair shine.

I cleared my throat, hating myself for interrupting his peaceful moment, he turned to look at me, the smile never leaving his face as I walked closer to him. I rested the bowl on the desk and dipped the towel in it. Squeezing the water out of it, I started dabbing it gently across his jaw and neck, his white smooth skin reappearing again.

I breathed out a sigh, and I saw the corner of his lip lifting at that, really, it looked worse than it was. His neck and jaw were now cleared of any dried blood, so I started cleaning around his nose, careful to be as gentle as possible as to not hurt him.

I could feel his gave resting on my, burning through my skin, my face was surely pink by now, maybe even red, because I wasn’t used to this intense gaze I was getting from him.

“It looks bad, but really, it’s nothing…” He broke the silence, and I was kinnda thankful. I gave him a small nod and smiled at him, eyes meeting mine for a second before I focused on cleaning the blood again.

“He’s not always hostile… really… he just…”

“Oh shut up Baek!” I really didn’t want to hear him defend that .  “… Sagittarians are known for their temper and -ness!”

“-ness?” he repeated, tasting the word on his lips with a smile. “… Is that even a word?”

“It is one for me, one that describes the being that is Park Chanyeol perfectly… and the nerve he had, seriously, you’re his boss!” By now the towel had fallen on the desk next to the bowl, and I was just bursting out all my thoughts and hatred for this guy, Baekhyun, of course, watching me with an amused smile.

“… How can he be so dense?” I finished, letting out a breath to calm myself.

“He’s not dense… he’s…” His eyes stared into nothingness for a second, trying to find the right words to use, before looking back at me. “… I don’t know what he is… I know what he did was for my own sake… I deserved it…” his smile faltered at the thought before his eyes met mine.

I could see that he turned serious all of a sudden, staring at me like he had just commited some kind of crime, but feared to tell me.

“Ji…” he started, eyes boring into mine. “… I haven’t been honest with you for quite some time now… a long time actually…”

I gulped, suddenly fearing what he had to say.

“I…”

He’s phone rang at that moment, I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding and watched him stand up slowly, his face scrunched as he stared at his phone’s screen.

“I have to take this…” he exclaimed and I merely nodded.

“Kris…” Baekhyun answered and I was kinnda surprised to hear the caller’s name. I’ve heard a lot about that Kris Wu that he and Chanyeol had befriended on their trip to China, where they scouted Luhan. Even though I’ve been working here for two years now, I never seem to get the chance to meet that mysterious Kris, but I always wished I will someday, he seemed like a nice guy, from the way Baekhyun always talks about him.

“No, he didn’t tell me… but I guess we both could meet and discuss this over coffee, how does that sound?”

A smile broke on his lips, I mirrored his own out of habit. But suddenly his face fell, not in a scary way, but like, he got an idea or something. I raised an eyebrow at him as his smile came back again, staring at me like I had done something amazing or whatever.

“Kris… how fast can you come to Korea? No really…” He nodded to himself and really I was starting to believe that Baekhyun had gone coco.

“Okay! Great… I’ll see you then!”

He hung up, still beaming at the screen like he had accomplished the impossible, I gave a hesitant smile, waiting for him to explain. When he finally came back to his senses, he cleared his throat and started walking towards the door, grabbing the white shirt behind him as he did.

“I need to talk to Chanyeol!” He announced and my eyes widened.

“Again??!!” I screamed at him, seriously, what the hell was he thinking?

“It’s important, don’t worry about me…” he said in a hurry before closing the door behind him, leaving me staring behind him, dumbfounded.

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