Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Opening a perfume shop in the very centre of Seoul could be a highly questionable choice. If said perfume shop wasn't a common one, it could be an even worse decision. This however didn't stop Baekhyun from doing just that, nor did it prevent him from becoming one of the most famous perfumers not only in South Korea but abroad too, working with and for some of the most famous brands around the world. He usually credited all the success to his acute sense of smell and being raised in the open countryside where the air smelled different, but he took pride in his work and was an amazing talent.

Baekhyun's perfumery wasn't a simple shop where people could buy perfumes and fragrances though. He didn't sell any perfume that wasn't made by him, and didn't make the same one for two different people. He had some ways to analyse customers, helped by personal items they brought with them to better customise the fragrance, making each perfume unique in their very own way.

One of the most viewed reviews on his shop in Naver was "A unique voyage inside perfume and scents, getting lost in an amazing place came out from a fantasy book.” Baekhyun was quite proud of this description and found it fitting for his small place.

It wasn't big, just a window and the door, but it went slightly deeper than other shops, a corridor adorned with dark brown wooden shelves full of glass bottles of all sizes and colours. Some were liquids, others were instead natural materials or essential oils that Baekhyun could find useful for his work. The main show happened deep inside the shop at the very end of all the colourful glass containers and jars.

Baekhyun’s octophone or his perfume station was a majestic semi-circular wood structure made in steps and contained everything a master might need to blend a fragrance. From the most obvious things one could require to make a perfume like citrus scent like lemon, bergamot and lime to more flowery scents like rose, lavender, lilium to other completely different things like osmanthus, oud or cinnamon, Baekhyun has them all at his disposal.

Baekhyun's tastes were varied and he was always looking for something he hadn't tried yet, liking to experiment with his personal fragrances. He made sure he was always absolutely right when he created perfumes and fragrances for his customers.

The warm winter afternoon when a tall, but handsome man entered his shop it wasn't any different. Baekhyun didn't have any shop assistants apart from himself, especially because it was rare that more than one customer entered his shop at the same time.

“I'll be with you in a second, sir.” He greeted, smiling softly even though the man smiled only briefly at him. The man seemed tired and out of place in Baekhyun's shop, almost like he didn't want to be there. He was tall, way taller than Baekhyun, slick black hair properly combed back, showing his forehead and curious dark brown eyes. He was wearing an expensive suit underneath his beige long jacket, clearly a compliment to his slender figure. What struck Baekhyun the most though was the expensive and way too strong cologne the man wore. It made him scrunch his nose shortly, almost annoyed by it, before focusing again on the woman near his perfume counter.

“It's better then something sweeter as a high note, madam. If your base is still rose, maybe neroli? Want to try?” Baekhyun asked her, picking up a small bottle from his shelves and uncapping it, nearing to the woman who leaned in taking a sniff of the perfume, humming shortly in thought.

“Would it be possible to put in something more fresh?” The woman asked him, making him lean his head on the side, fringe caressing his forehead, eyeglasses slightly slipping on his nose. “Like grapefruit?” He proposed to her, putting away the bottle and picking another one up, mimicking his action from before.

The woman was instantly pleased about it, nodding fervently, happy about the suggestion. Baekhyun smiled, equally pleased to have found what she wanted.

“Okay so we go with rose base, a middle note of geranium and top notes of grapefruit. Right?” He confirmed back to her. Before she could nod, the man who entered the shop before interrupted: “Sorry, is there only you? Because I'm running a bit late…” he called and Baekhyun frowned shortly, fingers pushing his eyeglass better on, moving to look better at him. He didn't like being interrupted, but even more when rude people chipped in on his customers.

“There's only me, sir. Please wait a little longer. We are almost done.” Baekhyun replied, trying to be polite. He didn’t want to spoil the good mood he had now that he finally managed to grasp what his customer wanted.

“I'll need to file a complaint then. Don't you know that being near Christmas people would be busy buying presents and… let me speak with your manager, boy.” The man stated again, making Baekhyun raise his eyebrows, surprised by the turn that conversation had taken. He hated people who not only didn't have patience to wait but that assumed given Baekhyun's young looking figure, he wasn't the manager himself.

“Be so kind as to wait or excuse yourself out, because I'm the only one here. I'm the manager, and if you're in such a rush, you're welcome to come back another time.” Baekhyun interjected, moving his body slightly to better face him, gesturing to the exit door of the shop. “Or preferably never again. I think you mistook the shop, sir. I'm sure you will find whichever perfume you're looking for in the nearby Etude House, or Blute. Did you try the Lotte Department store? Your choice.” Baekhyun commented, shrugging his shoulders, and directing his gaze back to the woman in front of him.

“Sorry for the rudeness, madam. Were the tones right or did you want to change something?” He asked her, smiling brightly. With the corner of his eyes saw the man huffing and going away with a short: you just lost a customer.

Such a big loss, – Baekhyun thought to himself before giving his undivided attention to the woman in front of him. Baekhyun honestly didn’t need customers. His fragrances were pricey, being so tailored and customizable in all its aspects and the customers he had, were one hundred percent satisfied with his work. They regularly came back to purchase more of the same fragrance or to create a different one. His skills and successes brought him a fair income more than enough to sustain expenses and his own experiments.

Beyond that, Baekhyun still worked also with well-known brands and as a highly esteemed perfumer who took part in many fairs or seminars around the world. He wasn’t that worried about losing a customer.

Unexpectedly a few days later, that same man appeared when he was giving a small bag to the customer that just paid her order. “Thank you for your purchase. I really hope you will love this fragrance, madam.” He concluded, smiling at the woman. The middle-aged woman adjusted her expensive looking pink coat and returned his smile graciously, waving her hand as she exited the shop.

There was a small silence in which both men looked at the woman disappearing beyond the door. Baekhyun’s stare moved toward the man who was wearing a black long trench coat, hair always combed back and a beige scarf hanging loosely around his neck. And again the man’s strong cologne that irritated Baekhyun’s nose the previous visit ever present.

“Hello, how can I help you?” Baekhyun asked him, trying his best to remain polite even if he wanted to ask why after being so rude the man was again there in his shop. “I heard you make customised perfumes.” The man stated and Baekhyun hummed, nodding shortly, explaining the process. He didn't get near to the man though, because his cologne was already so strong and the place started to feel stuffed with it, much to Baekhyun’s displeasure. He would need to aerate the shop after the man left.

“I need some items, usually around three, and your preferences in the tones to start understanding which is the most suitable fragrance. Is it for you, sir?” Baekhyun asked him shortly, making the stranger frown deeply, huffing briefly before shaking his head. That man’s hair was so slick and so neatly combed that Baekhyun wondered how it could be that perfect, so easily comparing it to his fluffier, mop of slightly wavy hair.

“I have no interest in this kind of thing. It’s obviously for a gift,” the man stated, looking hugely disinterested. This made Baekhyun frown even deeper, wanting to shoo him off again, but inhaling deeply trying to be patient.

“You mentioned things. What kind of things? And what do you need them for?” The taller man asked him, stare moving toward him and Baekhyun met a lot of people in his life, both customers and not, both people who wanted something from him just because someone asked them or for someone’s gift, but nobody had that same look that that man had in his eyes. Baekhyun thought there was something in that man. Something that mismatched his tone and his behaviour with what his eyes showed, how soft his gaze could be, almost amber under the yellow lights of the shop, so deep and incredibly sparkly almost like there were gold glitters, or stars, inside them.

There was something wrong in how that man carried himself and what his soul was trying to communicate to Baekhyun and that both intrigued and plagued him. He was a stranger and an easily irritable one, so Baekhyun had to be cautious if he wanted to understand what there was beyond the facade the taller was wearing, despite not being able to hide those beautiful amber like eyes.

“Caramel chocolate,” Baekhyun whispered suddenly, still lost in his train of thoughts. He conjured that sweet aroma, filling his nostrils, bringing back memories of winter afternoons in front of the fireplace together with his grandmother, playing board games.

“I beg your pardon?” The man asked, frowning and Baekhyun almost felt ashamed of his distraction. Warmth crept up his cheeks before he could shake his head, hiding it behind a shift adjustment of his glasses, smiling briefly toward the man. “Sorry, I was thinking of a project I’m working on,” Baekhyun apologised, immediately bringing the subject to the original matter again.

“The items help me to focus on the person to create something more suitable for them and…” Baekhyun frowned as the man easily dismissed him with a gesture of his hand. “Whatever flowery will be fine, I suppose. Don’t get your head too much into it.” He replied almost like he was annoyed and as if he didn’t even know why he was there in the shop in the first place.

Baekhyun sighed shortly, this time turning around his perfume organiser and nearing the man, despite the strong smell of the cologne. What was that, by the way? It smelt like… musk but with weird undertones, probably oud or vanilla but the proportions probably weren’t good because it stank more than being a perfume.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that, sir. If you want whatever flowery, I can suggest some well-known brands, for example Gucci just released their Bloom collection with Tuberose and Jasmine, flowery but fresh. Really pleasant. Or…” Baekhyun started saying, trying to remember some good flowery perfumes, but the man was already shaking his head.

“I don’t think you understand. I got asked to come here and get a customised perfume.” He reiterated, shaking his head. Baekhyun hummed briefly, crossing his arms to his chest and looking at the man in front of him. It was such a weird request and Baekhyun was equally interested and annoyed by the man.

“Let’s find a compromise. I’ll do it for you, but you have to come here and tell me more about this person who forced you to give them this perfume. I won’t need any item and we can make this whatever flowery thing you have in mind.” Baekhyun proposed to him, fingers going to caress his chin as he observed the man from behind his thin, rounded glasses.

“What do I gain from this? I don’t have time to waste…” the man started saying but Baekhyun was already rebutting with the second half of the proposal. “Bring me three of your things and I’ll make a perfume for you too, for free. To change whatever you put on today. It’s truly awful. I bet whoever commissioned this will appreciate it too.” Baekhyun smiled at him briefly, nodding to himself, very pleased with his idea. When he saw the man’s frown still there he scrunched his nose shortly.

“You probably don’t know how much my perfumes cost, sir.” He added briefly, picking up the small calculator displaying the previous price his last customer paid. He showed it to the tall man whose eyes went comically large in surprise.

With that Baekhyun had his previous thoughts confirmed. Something was going on with this man. Despite the mask he had on, he wasn’t a rude person. Baekhyun didn’t know why he was behaving like that.

“It’s freaking expensive!” The man stated and Baekhyun made the calculator disappear again in the front pocket of his apron. There was a small silence and then the tall stranger cracked a short: “You said for free?” to which Baekhyun simply nodded again, smiling at him and the man sighed deeply, nodding shortly.

“Okay, fine. I have to come here only a few times, right?” He asked Baekhyun who hummed briefly, fingers fixing his eyeglasses and glancing toward the man. “It depends. Clearer you are in your descriptions of this person, the less time it will take. Same goes for yours.” Baekhyun replied honestly, making the taller sigh shortly, shaking his head.

“I will come around this time or maybe slightly later. Is that okay for you?” The tall man proposed, making Baekhyun lean his head on the side, trying to think if there wasn’t a better solution. “What about you come here slightly later? I’ll close the shop slightly earlier, so you won’t be waiting for other customers like last time.” Baekhyun proposed to him watching the man as he calculated the possibilities before nodding briefly in agreement.

“It seems fair enough for me, seeing that I don’t have time to waste,” he repeated once again and Baekhyun huffed a short chuckle, shaking his head. As if Baekhyun instead had a lot of time to waste.

“Sure, I’ll wait for you then, Mr…?” Baekhyun added, trying to understand under which name he could call the tall, intriguing man. “Park. Park Chanyeol.” He replied briefly and Baekhyun smiled gently at him, nodding.

“See you soon, Mr. Park.” He concluded and Chanyeol nodded too, finally taking his leave. Baekhyun knew that that wasn’t his usual way of doing things. He usually didn’t show interest in people; he always only cared about perfumes, scents, inventing more fragrances and discovering more elaborate yet delicate combinations. He didn’t find people interesting per se but he couldn’t deny he was interested more in which scents could bring up their memories, making them smile or cry, brain suddenly flooding by long lost recollections of past events.

Like one of the best perfumers in the world once said, perfume is the art that makes memory speak. And Baekhyun decided to let Chanyeol’s memories speak too, telling him the story behind a stern voice but oh so kind eyes.

He didn't know exactly what to expect from those encounters with that stranger yet interesting man. Baekhyun had difficulties processing the whole thing, enough that he brought it up with one of his very few friends, Kim Minseok.

Minseok was a short man, slightly older than Baekhyun, known for his platinum blonde hair and hazelnut eyes and he ran a hair salon together with his self declared hundreds life old soulmate, Kim Jongdae.

Baekhyun firstly met MInseok when he came back to Seoul and he was looking for a discreet yet not too expensive hairdresser and found Minseok's shop. It was a quiet place, slightly off the city centre and with a colourful interior. What pleased Baekhyun most, though, was the almost scent-free products they used, going easy on Baekhyun’s too sensitive smell scent.

"It’s rare of you to ever speak about your customers!" Minseok noted while wetting Baekhyun's hair preparing it for the treatment and Baekhyun hummed shortly, enjoying the massage on his scalp, warm water caressing his hair pleasantly.

"He's really… strange? Almost like he is trying so hard to appear like someone he is not. And… I don't know, it's intriguing?" Baekhyun retorted, trying to sound casual, but Minseok was already chuckling shortly.

"You don’t fool me, Baekhyun-ha! I know you well enough to know you tried to convince him to visit your shop again just so you could study him!" Minseok sassed immediately and Baekhyun clicked his tongue and scrunched his nose.

"Yah, don’t make me want to leave even before starting! This is the only moment in which I can relax." Baekhyun commented, almost puffing his cheeks but Minseok was already nodding briefly, giving him a break from the teasing and Baekhyun was thankful for that.

"Still I think you should be careful, Baek. Maybe he's one of those strange people who want to copy your fragrances or…" Minseok started trailing off when Baekhyun shook his head briefly, immediately refusing the notion.

"It can't be. He's absolutely not interested in fragrance and perfumes and the cologne he wears it's awful at least with those notes of cheap vanilla…" Baekhyun countered, scrunching his nose at the only memory of it, still feeling it in his nostrils.

"Got that, superior nose. You said that already a few times…" Minseok complained, finally putting a towel around Baekhyun’s hair and guiding him to an empty booth, drying his hair.

"So Mr. Byun, what will we do with your hair today?" Minseok asked him, making Baekhyun frown before he could shrug his shoulders. He didn't have a proper idea, just wanted something different than before and possibly something he hasn't tried yet. It had been a while now since the last time he dyed his hair so it was the right moment.

"Up to you, I trust you." He replied honestly, making Minseok beam at him and looking way too excited, but Baekhyun completely trusted Minseok so he knew he would have done something good. And he had no boss to report to for that change of hair so… nothing to fear.

"Slightly perm, light brown?" Minseok proposed to him and Baekhyun hum, slightly closing his eyes trying to figure that out before from his lips a soft caramel chocolate slipped and Minseok squealed at the idea, way too excited about it and starting to prepare all the instruments and dye for whatever process was needed.

However, as Minseok stated, the result was amazing. As Baekhyun sat there, unable to chat any longer as the dryer was buzzing around him, he watched as his hair transformed. The caramel chocolate colour had been a revelation – even if it has been near unbearable for his sensitive nose before they finally rinsed out the product. He felt almost like a different person and… not to brag but that suited him a lot!

"Hyung, it's beautiful, thank you!" He exclaimed, fingers gently going to touch his hair in surprise, totally amazed by it.

"My work is always beautiful, you unbeliever!” Minseok reminded him dryly. “Now get out of my chair and go figure out this stranger in your shop!" Minseok concluded, patting his shoulders. Baekhyun huffed and shook his head, fingers playing with the fringe just above his eyeglasses.

He would never admit it but the new look gave him a lot of strength to face the day ahead and, hopefully, Mr. Park too.

Closing time arrived quicker than expected, with a lot of customers coming and going and Baekhyun wondered if it would be better to start receiving customers only by appointment, if business continued to be that steady.

He was thinking about it while fixing some bottles in the entryway corridor when Chanyeol came in from the entry and greeted him with a gesture of his head, making Baekhyun smile shortly.

“Mr. Park, you're on time. If I didn't know you disliked this place so bad, I would think that you couldn't wait to come back here.” Baekhyun greeted him, making Chanyeol frown, raising his eyebrows at him.

“I don't dislike your shop. It's just not a place where I can find myself at ease." Chanyeol replied strangely honest. Baekhyun was surprised about it, because that genuinely was surprising. He thought Chanyeol hated that place but apparently he just… didn't find himself at ease.

"Is it my place or me?" Baekhyun asked him, arching a brow. The taller man only frowned shortly, pulling at his scarf, loosening it around his neck and only in that moment it hit Baekhyun. Chanyeol was wearing a different cologne.

The new perfume was equally stronger than the previous one but it wasn't that bad, even though the man definitely needed to put less product on himself, not literally showering himself in eau de cologne. It was warmer, with a base of leather and for sure jasmine and… thyme? Definitely woody and earthy but Baekhyun didn't dislike it on the man, finding it weirdly suitable for him, even though he would go for something warmer with cinnamon or something fresher like…

Bad Baekhyun! – he had to remind himself of the context and not how much he was interested in finding a perfume that could completely represent Chanyeol. He had to focus on the task at hand, not daydreaming on cinnamon, chocolate or citrusy fragrances.

"Maybe both? I can't get either." Chanyeol replied, pulling Baekhyun’s out of his train of thoughts, making him frown. “I’m sorry, what?” Baekhyun responded flushing slightly, earning himself a frown from Chanyeol. “You – or your shop…” Chanyeol elaborated with a raised brow. Baekhyun chuckled softly, eyes forming crescent moons, leaning his head on the side.

"You're funny, Mr. Park. But let's get started with it before you get annoyed at me or at my shop and we end up with nothing done." Baekhyun declared, his hands clasped and moving toward his fragrance organ and waiting patiently for Chanyeol to follow, ignoring the frown on the taller man’s face as he moved deeper within the shop.

Chanyeol followed, frowning even deeper at the content of Baekhyun's shop. He looked like a curious kid, with sparkling eyes darting between all the fancy items showcased in Baekhyun’s shelves. He pretended not to be interested at all, but Baekhyun knew differently, the taller man putting up that charade just to impress someone on how adult he was.

"Did you bring the items?" Baekhyun asked him and Chanyeol nodded, giving him a small paper bag and making Baekhyun frown shortly as he picked it.

As promised, there were three items inside. Too bad that not a single one of those could match in any way with Chanyeol's sparkling amber eyes, totally giving Baekhyun the impression that those were the first three things the man found on his desk or in the second drawer of his desk, clearly the one destined to store unused and useless presents.

There were an old looking planner but that was completely empty, probably a gift that rested for too long at the bottom of a drawer, a bright shiny clearly never used Montblanc fountain pen and a sparkly lucid golden tie clip with a small red garnet at the end engraved with the initials P.C.Y. and judging by the stainless bright and shiny appearance, once again a never used before item in Chanyeol’s desk or drawer.

Baekhyun sighed shortly putting the items back in the small paper bag and glanced toward Chanyeol who was already looking at him, clearly awaiting for his judgement or for him to say something, anything. “I’d have hoped for something more… personal?” Baekhyun tried, scrunching his nose, fingers going to fix his eyeglasses on his nose and Chanyeol huffed shortly, shaking his head.

“Aren’t those personal enough? They are mine.” Chanyeol replied, shrugging his shoulders and making Baekhyun refrain from cursing at him because it was impossible that he didn’t understand what Baekhyun meant with more personal. He wasn’t in any way doubting that those were indeed Chanyeol’s possession but…

“I am not arguing that, Mr. Park, just… they are a bit vague? And clearly not something you fancy enough to use or put on.” Baekhyun tried to explain, trying also to be kind on what he was saying without forcing too much on the subject, but Chanyeol didn’t want to hear any of that.

“You told me to bring you three things and so I did. I don’t see the problem. You’re making things purposefully difficult for both of us, Mr. Byun.” Chanyeol retorted, frowning, and Baekhyun knew that that was it and he couldn’t insist more on that. So he simply sighed briefly, nodding. He put aside the paper bag, looking once again toward the taller man. He wasn’t surprised to know that Chanyeol knew who Baekhyun was, especially because if someone forced him to go there, as Chanyeol told him, for sure he had made researches on Baekhyun and his shop.

“As I told you, I hoped in something more personal, but we can work with this too. Now, tell me about the person who forced you to be here and we have to do this for.” Baekhyun breathed, focusing again on what he knew how to do better, dealing with scents and sailing between fragrances. Chanyeol frowned shortly but then hummed briefly in thought, almost like he had to really think deeper about this person before he could shrug his shoulders, suddenly almost as if he didn’t care.

“Long story very short, I know that she only likes expensive perfumes that smell like flowers and she has an annoying personality.” Chanyeol replied briefly. Baekhyun arch his eyebrows in perplexity, rolling his eyes at the description because… what the hell? That was that? Expensive flowery stuff and an annoying personality? Baekhyun could already feel his headache coming… What did he do in accepting that commission?

“I will need slightly more than this, Mr. Park… Because annoying personality is not something that transfers good emotions that could fill a perfume and expensive perfumes that smell like flowers is the description of, what, the sixty percent of all existing fragrances in the world? We definitely need something more precise than this.” Baekhyun replied, shaking his head, fingers playing with the hem of his cardigan’s sleeves, stare not leaving Chanyeol’s face trying to understand what was going on in his head too and seeing Chanyeol slightly deflate.

“Mr. Byun, honestly. I don’t have much more. She’s… I’m not even interested in her but my father is forcing me to go to some dates with her because she’s the daughter of the CEO of a sister company and that would be a good deal for both of…” Chanyeol started saying but then he clicked his tongue, shaking his head, stare hardening again, looking toward the street he could see from the colourful glasses of Baekhyun’s shop.

“Forget about it. I just need this perfume so can’t you, I don’t know, make it easier for me?” Chanyeol asked him but Baekhyun inhaled deeply, already shaking his head. Admittedly, he was curious and a bit sad about Chanyeol’s situation, clearly not something he wanted to face ever in his life, but he wouldn’t bend his own principles for the first snub businessman who entered from his door.

“I can’t, Mr. Park. I need more information on this woman to craft a perfume for her.” He declared and he was final, direct and seeing Chanyeol frown even deeper than before, amber eyes getting darker, filling with hundreds of emotions that Baekhyun saw go and come in less than a blink.

And when silence followed for a few minutes, Baekhyun inhaled deeply again, fingers carding through his hair, pulling it behind before it fell again messily on his forehead. “You never saw her, not even once? Which is her name? Is she tall or short? You said she’s the daughter of another agency, what does she do for a living?” Baekhyun asked him, trying to prompt some questions making Chanyeol groan lowly, a deep sound that kinda surprised Baekhyun but that he found equally weirdly arousing, before he could start replying to his questions.

“I’ve met her twice, she’s spoiled, gets everything she wants because her father is an important figure in both business and politics.” Chanyeol started saying, putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket, pacing back and forth slightly. It was evident that he was just as frustrated by that exercise as Baekhyun was.

Baekhyun hummed shortly, listening to him while he moved toward the area near the cashier where he had some other personal things, like a kettle and some of the infusions and herbal teas he made himself. He was a big fan of herbal teas and thanks also to his job, he had the possibility to do those himself, choosing the ingredients and experimenting on that too.

He poured a lavender-based one and offered some to Chanyeol who accepted even though slightly puzzled, curiosity getting the best of him, clearly. He sniffed it shortly, wary, but he didn’t seem to dislike it because he held the paper cup in his hands without giving it back to Baekhyun.

“She’s a fashion stylist, probably you've heard of her, she’s hugely famous, especially these days. Her name is Nam Bora.” Chanyeol continued and Baekhyun had to do his best to contain his surprise. He knew Bora. And not only because she was a famous fashion stylist, but because they met several times in places where high society met like galas and after-parties of runaway shows.

Baekhyun never felt quite part of that part of the world, especially because, despite his own huge success as a perfumer, in his heart there was space only for the same peace, nature and fresh air he grew up with while being with his grandmother. He didn’t like big parties in which he had to pretend twenty-four-seven to be interested, to be funny, that the others were funny, that he was oh so happy to be there that night when instead in his head he was just asking himself why he wasn’t sitting on his sofa, sipping chocolate, pumpkin and cinnamon infusions while watching reruns of his favourite tv shows or even better in his shop, working to craft once again something better, something beyond his own expectations.

In his heart Baekhyun would always be the same boy who loved nature and fresh air. Who looked for peace everywhere because that was what he needed. He didn’t need big parties or glitz and glamour. He was more than content to grow his craft and build his clientele and live a simpler life so he now understood exactly why Chanyeol was so frustrated when he realised who this perfume was meant to be for and the lifestyle that Bora led.

And Nam Bora was one of those people he never stood, exactly because of the reasons Chanyeol was listing him at that very moment. Annoyingly spoiled rot, daddy’s girl, always wearing the best brands or her own creations, sparkling more than the wine in her glass, so adorned by diamonds everywhere, always showcasing so obviously her own status and richness. It was ages that she asked Baekhyun to make a perfume for her and he always found a way to refuse it, because he had too many other orders, because he was busy with seminars and classes, with workshops around the world, participating in whatever else just not to give in to her, knowing that whatever he would have created, it would be wasted for her.

Owning one of his perfumes had been denied her for so long she was merely wanting to check off a box of having obtained one – not caring about the end result or the skill and craft that went into each of his precious creations.

So she took a different way, apparently, trying to coerce his father and his probably soon-to-be fiancé into buying one for her? Such a low move but so expected from her…

“Mr. Byun?” Chanyeol called him, attracting his attention, pulling him out of his thoughts and Baekhyun shook his head, focusing again on the moment, pushing at the back of his mind his irritation. It wasn’t a good idea letting himself go to that.

“I know her, yes. She’s indeed quite famous,” he breathed, turning the paper cup in his own hands, feeling the warmth creeping up to his fingers, palms and wrists, even though that revelation didn’t please him at all, making him sweating cold. He hated the idea of her finally having what she wanted in that too. Especially because Chanyeol seemed to be oh so decided in doing what his father was asking him, courting the woman and gifting her whatever expensive flowery perfume she wanted.

There was another short silence and then Baekhyun sighed shortly, gulping down the herbal tea in one go, almost like it was a shot, feeling it burn down his throat before he could go back to his place near the fragrances organ, shortly clutching his fingers around the borders of it, thinking thoroughly to all his possibilities.

He could have refused, telling Chanyeol that he wouldn’t do that. Maybe explaining also why even though he didn’t think that the businessman would understand it or even cared about it, considering that he was indeed only interested in giving Bora what she wanted to, to make his own father happy.

Or he could pretend he didn’t care either, as if he didn’t know her at all, and just make a whatever flowery fragrance for her so both her and Chanyeol would disappear quickly from his otherwise peaceful life.

However, there still was something in Chanyeol’s amber eyes, in how they sparkled, in the vibes that man gave him, in how he was so stubbornly trying to be something he wasn’t, that made Baekhyun want to know more about him, seeing what there was beyond the mask he was wearing, seeing those eyes really sparkling for the right reasons, gleefully happy just because, no other reason.

“You okay?” Chanyeol asked him once again and Baekhyun’s stare flew to his face, finding it slightly concerned, worried about Baekhyun’s sudden silence, that sparkle in his eyes dimmed, turning deep brown, similar to dark chocolate, furrowed eyebrows adorning them like also that small, just hinted, pout on his lips.

And Baekhyun opted for the only way he always followed since he started that journey, since he was just a kid and being once again true to himself as he always did throughout his life. “I will be honest with you,” Baekhyun stated, softly but decided, stare not leaving Chanyeol’s face, seeing his stare morph from worried to confused.

“She… asked for a perfume of mine since we know each other. We met several times in places and, yes, I find her equally annoying as you said so I always refused it to her,” Baekhyun explained briefly, fingers going once again through his hair, feeling suddenly stressed and wanting to be alone with his thoughts. But he felt like he needed to give an explanation to Chanyeol about what was happening in his head and why he didn’t like that much the idea of making a perfume for Bora.

“You refused?” Chanyeol asked him, clearly surprised by that fact more than the whole thing that Baekhyun and Bora knew each other, making Baekhyun chuckle softly, scrunching his nose, fingers pushing his eyeglasses more on his nose before they went scratching his nape. “In my defence, I’ve none. I mean, she’s just annoying and I had a lot of other work, customers and things to do. It was easy finding a way to refuse,” he explained honestly, shrugging his shoulders, but strangely enough there was a soft sparkle back in Chanyeol’s eyes, looking at Baekhyun in a different way for sure compared to before.

“Still… she can be so persistent and damn annoying,” Chanyeol retorted, scrunching his nose before sipping shortly the herbal tea, clearly pleased with the taste of it, much to Baekhyun’s surprise.

“This is good. What is it?” Chanyeol asked him, clearly more at ease than before and Baekhyun hummed trying to remember what there was inside apart from lavender. “I made it with lavender, chamomile, a bit of juniper and cardamom? And honestly, I don’t remember. If you want I can check at home, I have the recipe.” Baekhyun breathed, shaking his head briefly, but Chanyeol was again surprised by the news that there was a recipe, meaning that Baekhyun did it himself.

“No worries, I’ll find the recipe online, probably?” Chanyeol replied quickly but Baekhyun hummed, shaking his head. “If you want specifically this one, no. I made it myself, I didn’t copy any recipe. But I’m sure there’s plenty of similar things online, yes…” Baekhyun assured him, smiling shortly toward him and noticing how Chanyeol’s eyes went even wider at the information, wide enough to be almost comical, again sparkling so brilliantly under the shop’s yellow lights. Baekhyun was honestly fascinated by how pretty Chanyeol’s eyes could look like that.

“You’re a weird person, Mr. Byun.” Chanyeol stated, once again trying to dim that curiosity down, that sparkle that was in his eyes and that was so interesting for Baekhyun to see. Therefore, he decided to push it a bit, just to see how Chanyeol would react. Nothing too much or that would make him flee, hopefully, but just to see if he could witness more of that eagerness.

“This is nothing. I can tell with percentage precision how your expensive cologne is made, and probably which brand too if it’s famous enough.” Baekhyun declared, suddenly bringing out his confidence as every time someone challenged him and his way too developed sense of smell. Chanyeol chuckled shortly, shaking his head. “Now you’re bragging, Mr. Byun.” He retorted immediately, but Baekhyun took a few steps closer to him, fingers moving on Chanyeol’s scarf, moving it shortly, enough to get a whiff of the cologne once again, inhaling deeply the perfume.

It was familiar, so for sure something of a famous brand that Baekhyun sniffed at least once in his life. The top notes were for sure raspberry, saffron and thyme with middle notes of olibanum and jasmine, while the base notes were more woody and concluded with leather, suede, and amber. For sure not something from Acqua di Parma seeing that it missed the citrusy part that usually was characteristic of their perfumes. And it was similar to a Cavalli’s fragrance that Baekhyun tried before, but those woody notes…

“Tuscan Leather by Tom Ford?” Baekhyun breathed, even though he was pretty convinced about the choice and, judging by how Chanyeol’s eyes widened again, he knew that he was indeed right.

“That’s expensive, not as expensive as mine though.” He teased with a smile. “I’d use a bit less though,” he added, eyes widening as Chanyeol’s cheeks and ears flushed a soft red. Was he really blushing? All from some mild teasing? Such a sight, though! Baekhyun’s eyes went wider too at the thing, smiling softly as he saw Chanyeol shook his head and scrunch his nose immediately.

“Mind your own business, Mr. Byun. I can use how much cologne I want seeing that I’m spending my money to buy it.” Chanyeol quickly retorted even though a slight blush still remained, dusting his cheeks, as he stared away and making Baekhyun chuckle softly, nodding.

“Sure, sure, Mr. Park. My bad, you can continue bathing in Tuscan Leather for how much it concerns me. Even though you’d probably wear something slightly fresher better?” Baekhyun declared, shrugging his shoulders, going back to his organ and picking up two small glass containers, one bergamot and the other yuzu.

“Like these maybe?” Baekhyun added, nearing the man again and letting him sniff from the two small bottles, one per time, leaning slightly down, making Baekhyun realise how tall Chanyeol was compared to himself and suddenly feeling short.

“These are indeed fresh and they don’t smell like dish soap?” Chanyeol let out surprised, making Baekhyun frown at the dish soap mention, trying to understand where that came from but Chanyeol was already elaborating on that. “My father always told me that citrusy perfumes smelt like dish soap, and somehow I always thought it like that until, well, now. These two are fresh and… I kinda like them?” Chanyeol explained shortly, humming and… was he somehow complimenting Baekhyun’s choice? Woah, unbelievable.

“I think that neither lemon per se would smell like dish soap seeing that that is like a mix of chemicals and the percentage of real lemon is so small as to be almost nonexistent. However, glad you like these, now I know where to start from to craft your own perfume.” Baekhyun gently stated, smiling at Chanyeol while bringing back the small glass containers at their rightful places earning himself a frown from Chanyeol.

“You said you always refused to make perfume for Miss Nam and…” he started saying but Baekhyun forced a short smile. “I know what I said. But I know also that apparently you need it quite desperately to bring me the first items you picked up from your desk just to satisfy my weird request while crafting perfume to have one for her,” Baekhyun interrupted him, smile dimming shortly on his lips, shifting his stare over the many small glass bottles in front of him.

“And it’s okay. Maybe it’s a sign of fate that I have to give it to her, stop hiding or running from it. And luckily for you I know her better than you, apparently, and I will make more than whatever flowery it will come to my mind.” Baekhyun whispered, fingers going to caress the Patchouli small bottle, remembering way too well the perfumes that Bora preferred, how she stressed him about what she liked every single time they met even just for a few minutes.

Slightly oriental, with a bit of woody base and fresh opening top notes. It wasn’t a secret and Bora kept telling Baekhyun about it, so he knew exactly what to do and how to complete the assignment successfully. That meant also that he didn’t need Chanyeol to go there anymore, seeing that he already knew how to handle the requested fragrance way too well. It was a bit sad because that man was really intriguing, but he also knew that he didn’t have any reason to make him come back there.

“And you don’t need to come here again, I’ll figure it out somehow. I assume it’s for Christmas, right? Pass by around the twentieth and it’ll be ready.” Baekhyun concluded, moving away from the organ, suddenly starting to feel like the air there was starting to be suffocating, maybe due to Chanyeol’s strong cologne or even only the idea of finally giving Bora what she wanted. Baekhyun didn’t know but wanted to be alone and walk out of there, toward a more scent-free place.

“I… don’t want to sound demanding, but you said you’d do one also for me,” Chanyeol noted briefly, making Baekhyun frown shortly, raising his eyebrow and glancing toward him, trying to understand where he was going with that statement.

“It was just to try and help you talk about this person more, but apparently I know Bora better than you, so…” Baekhyun started saying, not missing the way Chanyeol’s eyes twitched at the name-only usage, but not letting himself be distracted. “And especially not with the items you brought me. I can’t take anything from something you never used and, despite being yours, you don’t feel like these belong with you.” Baekhyun concluded, shaking his head and moving to pick up the keys of the shop and taking off his apron, declaring that the conversation was closed. At least on his side.

However, Chanyeol surprised him, reaching him near the cashier spot where he was standing, keys still in his hands. “Does this mean that if I bring you something I feel like it’s mine for real, you will do it?” Chanyeol asked him briefly, eyes staring right through inside Baekhyun’s and once again there was that amber glint, that sparkle, that beautiful honey hue in the chocolate that made Baekhyun weak, curious, wanting to know more about that man that sadly connected him with something he didn’t want to do for a long time.

But maybe, after all, wasn’t that a sign too? Baekhyun felt something so intense for that man he knew nothing about and that entered his shop and his life that overwhelmingly for Baekhyun to want nothing but express what he was feeling and what Chanyeol was in a perfume.

Because those were his thoughts, and those only, when he nodded shortly, a whispered yes leaving his lips as a brief reply to something that didn’t have any reason to exist if not in that moment, in that shop and between them, intoxicating as Chanyeol’s cologne mixing with the lingering smell of lavender and chamomile herbal tea.

“I’ll be back then.” Chanyeol concluded before leaving the shop and Baekhyun in a state of mild confusion, still unable to process just what happened and the fact that Chanyeol would be back with three other items that he felt really as his own, to tell his story, finding what made those amber hued eyes, dim deeply in a stern, cold brown.

Baekhyun honestly didn’t know what to think about it, so he simply closed all the lights, picked up his thermos with the herbal tea, his umbrella and, under the pouring rain that brought up all the earthy scents, petrichor easily filling Baekhyun’s nostrils, he walked back home and Chanyeol’s expensive cologne felt just a memory lost in a December rainy evening.

Baekhyun liked it when it rained. It felt like the world revealed its true perfumes, filling not only his nose but his chest and heart with a bubbly feeling that could fight against everything, almost.

It was more or less a week since the last time he saw Chanyeol and he started to think that the man said what he did just to motivate Baekhyun to work on Bora’s perfume or something like that because he never showed up after that day.

Not that Baekhyun actually minded it, just he felt a bit dejected because for a second he really thought that he would have a possibility to understand that man better. But after all, what did he know about him?

Because after knowing that he knew Bora, Baekhyun had no problems admitting that he searched for Park Chanyeol on Naver, just to understand who that guy was and, well, for sure the successful scion of Park Law firm. Also united with his mother’s family engineering firm. But mostly being the CEO of a well-known newspaper. Definitely someone with the big money, living in some lofts in the very centre of Seoul. Chanyeol and Bora’s future engagement would make for sure a big success, and Baekhyun could already imagine the headlines of newspapers and online news sites applauding them as the most famous and rich couple of Seoul in those years.

Honestly Baekhyun couldn’t care less about it, just for an instant he really thought he would have that possibility to see even a little bit beyond the thick mask Chanyeol was permanently wearing for sure due to his work and the context he was raised in.

That evening, he was closing everything, back facing the entry way because he was busy with some refills when he heard the tingling sound of the chimes hanging from the door and hollered a short we’re closed as a warning that the shop wasn’t anymore open.

“I know and I’m sorry for being late,” Chanyeol’s voice stated, making Baekhyun almost drop what he had in his hand, and spilling a bit of essential oil on his hand and on the counter. “Shit,” he muttered picking up immediately some paper to wipe it off before eyesiding Chanyeol’s figure on the entryway, umbrella in one hand a bag in his other, hair gently bristled with raindrops and his cologne felt less invasive that evening, even though enhanced by the rain scent too, making it somehow fresher yet cosier. It was a weird mix that clenched on Baekhyun’s chest, like a memory chained to his core, aching to be remembered or lived for the first time again so intensely to already become an important memory as almost all Chanyeol’s visits to Baekhyun’s shop.

“What brings you here, Mr. Park?” Baekhyun asked him, forcing a short smile, capping the small bottles and making sure that the counter was clean with no stains or signs of the drip. It was a silly question, judging by the bag in his hand and what he said almost a week before, but Baekhyun was quite surprised to see him there, considering that he didn’t have any confidence he would come around again apart from picking up Bora’s perfume when it would be ready.

“Had to pick up things and, yeah, I’ve been a bit busy with my work. Hope the offer is still valid…” Chanyeol whispered in reply, tentatively walking down the corridor and getting closer to where Baekhyun was standing. That day Chanyeol was wearing darker than last time, no traces of brown or grey, simply black on black, even in his scarf and the shirt collar that Baekhyun could glimpse from the loosened scarf.

“No, I mean, yes, yes… It’s still valid,” Baekhyun breathed softly, fixing his glasses quickly and putting away the bottles before he could stretch his arms toward Chanyeol who frowned shortly, not understanding what he wanted. Baekhyun huffed shortly, gesturing with his head toward the bag and Chanyeol blushed briefly, giving it to him.

Baekhyun put it to the counter before shifting again his stare toward Chanyeol. “An infusion? Today is mint and licorice though…” Baekhyun offered him, moving toward the kettle and pouring a bit on the paper cup and offering it to Chanyeol who, again, took it a bit wary and sniffed it, but decided to keep it. Chanyeol sort of reminded him of one of those big fluffy dogs that looked super massive and maybe dangerous but they were basically cinnamon rolls, sweet, adorable and tamed with the ones they were friends with.

The thoughts made him smile softly, wondering if that was the reason why Chanyeol felt somehow intriguing and interesting to Baekhyun but immediately shaking the thought away, focusing on what Chanyeol brought along that time, hopefully something more meaningful than the previous time.

The bag was kinda heavy so Baekhyun was admittedly curious about what would be the contents that time. He shortly peeked in even though the first thing that attracted him was probably also what made the bag that heavy.

“Seriously, Mr. Park?” Baekhyun asked him, slender fingers closing around the cold material and picking out the desk plate with Chanyeol’s name and position in his company. There was really written CEO.

“It’s a flex, Mr. Park? For me to call you Teppenim?” Baekhyun added briefly, even though he had to admit that it was a really well done item, heavy enough to be something more than a random plastic object, black but with iridescent hues, making it weirdly sparkling under the lights.

Chanyeol huffed a short laugh, making Baekhyun’s eyes fly to his face, surprised and pleased by the sound, finding it so strange and equally charming how Chanyeol started to loosen not only his scarf around him. It was… pleasant and warm.

“I have enough underlings calling me teppenim, Mr. Byun and you are a CEO yourself, it would start an infinite discourse based only on our sobriquets,” Chanyeol replied shortly, smiling briefly toward him and making Baekhyun slightly perplexed at the smile and at the whole discourse. He would have imagined Chanyeol as someone way more formal than that.

However, Chanyeol spoke up again, leaving Baekhyun even more surprised at what was happening. “And no, it’s not a flex, it’s because I really hold dear to that plaque. I… went through a lot in my life to be able to sit at that desk and earn myself that place. My father didn’t approve of me studying journalism. I… wanted to do that since I was a kid and my father told me over and over again how I should have studied medicine or law or architecture, whatever else but not journalism.” Chanyeol started explaining, gesturing toward the plaque and Baekhyun moved his stare there too, fingers gently brushing on the carved letters on it.

“I did as I wanted for the first time in my life, proving to him, my mother, my sister, my family, everyone, that I could do it alone, that I didn’t need to be Park’s son to be someone in my life. And when I received that plaque from the former CEO of the newspaper I’m working for, it was a great honour. One of the happiest moments of my whole life.” Chanyeol concluded, slowly sipping on the herbal tea, tasting it briefly before deeming it good and continuing to sip it leisurely.

As he told that story, as his hands warmed up thanks to the cup in them, also his eyes seemed to melt down a bit, stern cold brown, steering again in amber and honey hues, showing again something more beyond who Park Chanyeol was.

“Uhm, still an item on your desk, but I appreciate it this time. It’s nice achieving something that everyone deemed you unable of. Show us that all the harsh things we went through, probably were worth it in the long run,” Baekhyun commented, soft smile appearing on his lips before he could put it again in the bag and pick up another item from it, this time a snowglobe.

Baekhyun was genuinely surprised by the item, clearly something that wouldn’t describe Chanyeol as he was in that moment, stern CEO of a big newspaper and busy twenty-four-seven with everything happening around the world. Baekhyun had a snowglobe once, when he was ten, and his parents brought it from one of their voyages around the world but Baekhyun didn’t like it that much, or maybe he didn’t like the memory of receiving gifts as a compensation of his parents’ absence through his childhood. Only years and experiences after, he knew what they did and why they did it, so he could understand their decisions and actions, just… it was a difficult matter to understand as a child.

“From when I studied abroad. I… dreamt to be like Clark Kent at some point when I was a teenager. A random guy who also had the power to save the world, with what I wanted to create, with my project of building up a fair, honest and especially equal newspaper. It was… a dream, no more, glistening prettily as the snow that falls down in that snowglobe, but melting away too soon due to reality.” Chanyeol explained briefly, stare shifting on the paper cup he had in his hands and Baekhyun could see how those amber hues in his eyes got more liquid, swirling and getting almost glassy, making Baekhyun hold his breath.

There was something equally so heroic yet so dejecting in that story, probably because despite achieving his dream and being where he wanted to be, Chanyeol realised also that it didn’t mean exactly what he hoped for, what he dreamt of, clouding his success with questions, doubts and what ifs.

That was even deeper than Baekhyun could ever hope to see, to dig and reveal of Chanyeol’s personality, almost feeling like he was even taking a glance into something that was maybe even too personal, but feeling kinda honoured that Chanyeol decided to share it with him, a perfect stranger, a bit annoying, who crafted perfumes and that he was forced to meet just because his father wanted him to be nice to a girl because maybe, one day they could date and bring prosperity to the family.

“Our choices make us what we are. And even though reality is not what we expected it to be, for sure we can still shape it, giving it another chance. I… never thought I would end up doing the perfumer work. Probably something more similar to pharmacy or herborist sectors, because I wanted to hide how sensitive my nose is.” Baekhyun started saying, turning the snowglobe upside down and seeing all the glitter and the snow falling, twirling around, sparkling so prettily and making him smile without even realising it.

“However, my grandmother gave me the idea and insisted on how beautiful that would be, using my gift to create something so personal. And that brought me to what I do and discover better how perfumes and fragrances work, how it’s wonderful to be able to be mix and experiment with something so intimate as perfume, knowing enough of people to know what they want to wear on their skin, even before their clothes, which story they want to tell when they put on a fragrance instead of another. And especially how to use something that I always saw as a flaw, as something I could take pride in.” Baekhyun explained, slightly rushing through the memory of it, still smiling softly, getting his face closer to see how the glittery snow started to deposit itself on the bottom again, shaking it softly to make it twirl up again.

“It’s never too late to try and shape our realities into something we always dreamt of. We just… forget along the way about who we are, what our dreams are and we find excuses and apologies because we’re tired and life is difficult. But sometimes we just need to be kids again, to let free that naivety that brought us where we are, those dreams that kept pushing us to do more and better. So… isn’t it too soon to say that the snow melted, Mr. Park?” Baekhyun asked him, smiling toward him, turning around again the snowglobe and stretching his arms toward Chanyeol who, surprised, picked it up, looking at the swirling snow too as Baekhyun did not more than an instant before.

There was a small silence in which Chanyeol simply swirled the object in his hands, keeping the snow from stilling down in a single place, keeping it moving, twirling and dancing in the water of the globe, and then Chanyeol smiled softly toward Baekhyun, a smile completely different from the previous courteous ones. It felt warm, sincere, soft, coming directly from his heart.

“Isn’t this a flex too, Mr. Byun? Not only do you have a developed sense of smell, but you almost could have a psychology degree.” Chanyeol stated, smile not faltering on his lips and despite the amused tone, Baekhyun could still see how Chanyeol’s eyes were sparkling brightly, amber and brown finally fusing in the best of all colours, giving such a depth to Chanyeol’s stare that Baekhyun could swear he could spend all his day diving into it, trying to find which perfume would describe it better.

Baekhyun chuckled softly, shaking his head, glancing away and once again masking his interest with a quick fix of his eyeglasses, knowing that it wasn’t good staring at people for way too long, embarrassing both himself and Chanyeol and he honestly didn’t want to ruin that atmosphere, that mood that came to be between them in that rainy evening.

So he didn’t comment on that and simply picked up the snow globe again, making it disappear again inside the bag and retrieving, finally, the last item in the bag. It was a small dark plastic box, one of those that usually contained earrings or rings and Baekhyun opened it slowly, giving it the attention that it needed, but once again was surprised about the content.

Inside there were two cufflinks decorated in rainbow colours. Baekhyun wasn’t one to assume things, but that spoke volumes on why that was important for Chanyeol. “Your parents don’t know?” Baekhyun asked him, stare moving back on Chanyeol who sighed shortly, emptying the paper cup and humming shortly.

“This… trip down memory lane is starting to sound even lamer than before, but yeah. I realised it when I was studying abroad. Thought it was a fling of a young heart, the excitement of being alone for the first time in forever and the possibility to do basically whatever the hell I wanted to at the condition to have the top grades. I was so sure that I would go back to dating girls eventually, that I would… get tired of it and finally settle down as my parents wanted me to.” Chanyeol started saying, fingers carding through his perfectly combed hair, messing it up and forcing a short smile toward Baekhyun who felt the following words like daggers, perceiving the pain that Chanyeol went through and still was going through for all those years.

“Instead it was just me, the one I tried so hard and bad to repress, to suppress with my whole being while I came back to Seoul, when I was again around my family while I wanted to scream at the world how much I’d love to fall in love again, properly, simply stopping pretending to be kind with women who try to attract my attention through my parents. Telling everybody that I’m indeed gay and like only men, nothing more nothing less.” Chanyeol breathed, fingers gripping slightly harder on the paper cup enough to start crushing it, but stopping it before doing it completely, fingers smoothing down the small creases that started to appear on the surface.

Baekhyun’s fingers gently brushed over the two cufflinks, amazed by how pretty they were sparkly softly in the light and wondering how badly Chanyeol wanted to put those on every single day to go to work, to have dinner with his parents, proudly showing off his own identity, his own sexuality without fearing anything against him.

Baekhyun couldn’t say he could understand him, but he knew how difficult coming out was, because he did it himself too, years and years ago to his grandmother, to his parents, to his brother, to his colleagues. Because that was Baekhyun, wearing his heart on his sleeves, showing all his colours and all his sides to everyone who would be interested enough to ask, to see, to try and know him. It hurt, a lot of times, rejection coming sometimes from the most unexpected people, while acceptance in shapes and from people who one would have never expected it from.

But Baekhyun could do that because he was basically nobody when he did and he presented himself already as he was when he started to get recognized, famous between perfume brands, invited for seminars and workshops for his techniques and ideas.

But for someone as Chanyeol with such high visibility and social pressure on his shoulders, it was nothing but another dream, one day to be proudly able to put those on and walk tall with his confidence even in his homosexuality. It hurt Baekhyun’s heart the sheer amount of pain that Chanyeol went through hiding his identity and having to stand things like his father forcing him to be nice with Bora because they could eventually marry in the future.

Baekhyun could feel his head spin lightly at the idea, how it would be to be forced to marry someone, not only one doesn’t love, but that one knows one won’t be able to ever fall in love with, not now nor never.

Because even in the eventuality that instead of annoying Bora there would be a kind woman, humble, caring who maybe also fell in love with Chanyeol, how could one be happy while knowing that he would never reciprocate her love if not in the shape of a brotherly love?

Baekhyun felt a teardrop rolling down his cheek even before realising his eyes got glassier, wiping it away immediately, surprised by what just happened, as much as Chanyeol himself that was looking at him astonished, eyes sparkling in myriads of colours too, reflecting the lights of the shop and getting even warmer than before. Indeed, caramel chocolate.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to, uhm,...” Chanyeol started but Baekhyun shook his head, feeling his glasses slipping briefly down his nose. He closed the small box and put it down inside the bag, before giving it back to Chanyeol.

“No, I am sorry. Just your story and your colours are deeper than expected and I… I don’t know what to say in this last part. I understand you because we are similar, but I have no image to defend, no social expectations to reach, nor pressure from family to face. I was out since I was fifteen and I never hid it since then. Many criticised me or my work for it, but my perfumes always spoke louder than whoever else, than whichever other voice,” Baekhyun explained shortly, voicing what was going on inside his head and Chanyeol hummed briefly, clearly understanding what he wanted to say.

“I know it’s not a big help, but if you want to talk about it, even when Bora’s perfume will be done, you know where to find me. Even just to…” Baekhyun breathed but he was interrupted by a ringtone that wasn’t his own and saw Chanyeol pick up his phone from his coat pocket and in just one instant that beautiful, warm, cosy chocolate gold and amber turned back to the stern, cold deep brown.

“Yeah?” He replied after swiping his thumb on the screen and waiting for the other part to speak and then he hummed briefly a few times before concluding with a short I’ll be there in twenty minutes. As soon as he closed the call, Chanyeol sighed deeply, pocketing again his phone and picking up the small bag.

“I… have to go now, Mr. Byun. It was… awful talking to you about these matters but I hope it was enough of what you usually do with this items-thing you do with your customers.” Chanyeol breathed, voice suddenly cold, giving Baekhyun an unpleasant feeling, scrunching his nose.

“You weren’t forced, I suppose. And if you felt like it, I don’t even know why you didn’t tell me earlier. Whatever other personal item would be fine. You didn’t need to…” Baekhyun started saying, refraining himself from clicking his tongue even though he was upset about it because why now it felt like it was Baekhyun’s fault? Like if he forced Chanyeol to tell him about those things and… he didn’t like it.

“If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have.” Chanyeol interrupted him, making Baekhyun scowl because honestly he didn’t know what to think anymore at that point. It was awful, but he chose it himself. What was the point then?

“Why did you bring something this personal then? You could have…” Baekhyun tried again but Chanyeol got closer to him, near the fragrance organ, shaking his head shortly. “I need to know how good you are at this, Mr. Byun. You said that the better you know the person, the better is the fragrance you will come up with for them, no? Then show me.” Chanyeol concluded and Baekhyun looked at him agape before huffing shortly, shaking his head.

“Come back here next time you’re available. We will talk about notes. Both for yours and Bora’s perfumes. And don’t wait a week like this time, please. Time is ticking and you are not the only customer I have.” Baekhyun declared, seeing a short smirk appearing on Chanyeol’s lips before he could nod shortly, waving at him before going out of the shop, chimes tingling again, leaving once more Baekhyun confused of whatever just happened.

It started to become a thing and Baekhyun didn’t like it very much, but damn if he was intrigued even more about Chanyeol. His persona and his real self were so different and both so rooted inside himself and Baekhyun genuinely was baffled by everything about him. And again, as the first time if not more, Baekhyun wanted to be the one to tell that story with a perfume so precisely and uniquely only Chanyeol’s that it would be deemed as Baekhyun’s masterpiece.

Contrary to Baekhyun’s expectations, Chanyeol started to visit almost everyday, almost half an hour after closing hour and Baekhyun took purposefully longer with his procedures to close everything up just to wait for him, even though he wasn’t ready to admit that, neither to himself, let alone Chanyeol or whoever else.

“Since how long have you known Miss Nam?” Chanyeol asked him one evening while Baekhyun was experimenting on the proportions for Bora’s perfume, deciding how strong he wanted that perfume to be. For her perfume he decided to go for something oriental yet fresh, thinking about something she could use already, not too summerish, and that she could probably bathe into without annoying anyone, including Baekhyun, too much.

As top notes he decided for something like lavender, geranium and probably orange or tangerine, while as heart notes obviously patchouli with cinnamon and rose, to give it the flowery whatever to it. Finishing with sandalwood, amber and vanilla as base notes to complete it all and making it both a day or night perfume. He was still a bit undecided on making it an eau de parfum or eau de toilette.

He hummed shortly, brain away, lost in all those thoughts before realizing that Chanyeol asked him something and he probably wanted a reply. His lips moved on words without even thinking about it, still over focused on his task, studying his personal catalogue with all his experiments detailed and registered.

“A few years now? She approached me at a Prada after party, if I don't make a mistake… I was there because I collaborated with them for the Sugar Candy Pop release, I think…” Baekhyun breathed shortly, without noticing that Chanyeol neared him and when he turned around to retrieve another recipient he faced literally Chanyeol’s torso, clothed in a fine blue wool-mixed jacket over his always slick and crisp white shirt. He was surprised by the sudden proximity, clearly not expecting it, but what surprised him more was his scent.

That day probably Chanyeol forgot or overwent his cologne-bathing habit and didn’t wear any particular perfume, but Baekhyun’s trained and special nose could pick up several other smells and odours that weren’t unpleasant but told him something more about Chanyeol’s habit.

His shampoo was surely based with Argan oil and camellia, while his body soap or shower gel was something more masculine as pine, judging by the heavy composition of it, probably an Italian imported one… how was that brand name again? Pino-something and Baekhyun kinda liked it mixed with Chanyeol’s natural scent.

Not to mention how familiar the perfume was coming from his clothes. Baekhyun could recognize that fabric softener with his eyes closed between thousands of other fabric softeners. No imitations could stand the test… It was the fresh cotton version of Downy brand. Baekhyun loved it so much because it was delicate also for his sensitive skin and the fragrance it left on his clothes was always on point, not too strong but pleasant to be sniffed.

Not to mention Chanyeol's natural scent, a perfect combination that somehow called for Baekhyun, enthralled by how amazing it was for Chanyeol and for a quick moment Baekhyun could imagine himself leaning in and sniffing it directly from Chanyeol’s neck.

“Mr. Byun?” Chanyeol called him, voice slightly worried again about Baekhyun’s silence and way too close proximity, making Baekhyun feel a slight warmth reaching his cheeks and he wanted to apologize, moving away, but the very same moment he raised his stare on Chanyeol’s face, his mind drifted away again, stare losing itself in Chanyeol’s eyes.

Maybe it was because they were closer, or maybe because Chanyeol started to let a bit his guard down while he was around Baekhyun or Baekhyun didn’t honestly know, but there were fucking galaxies in Chanyeol’s eyes, gold dust sparkling like million of stars inside them, glistening under the warm light of Baekhyun’s shop, amber mixing again with chocolate, making Baekhyun noticing more details of Chanyeol’s face.

How long his eyelashes were, the moles he had on his nose and cheeks, how pretty despite slightly big his ears were… all small details that Baekhyun didn’t notice before that marveled him, enough to probably be standing there, cheeks slightly blushed, lips parted, staring for way too long in Chanyeol’s eyes, scrutinizing his face.

“Mr. Byun?” Chanyeol called him again and Baekhyun got out of his daze, shaking his head, quickly fixing his eyeglasses and taking a step back from the man, still pretty close but out of his comfort zone for sure, making them both breathe again. “I-I’m sorry, I was thinking and I…” Baekhyun breathed, moving away, picking up the container and busying himself again with the perfume he was preparing for Bora even though in his head there was only space for fluffy warm just-washed bed sheets and scots pine and he hated himself for that because what the hell Byun Baekhyun give yourself some tone!

Chanyeol let it slide, even though he was still near him, eyes not leaving him, but probably more to check what Baekhyun was doing not how Baekhyun was or what else, making Baekhyun feel even more dumb about it. Sure, Chanyeol was pleasant to look at, Baekhyun had eyes too, but he didn’t have to forget why he was there and what his family expected Chanyeol to be and to do, despite Chanyeol’s own preferences.

“From that moment on, I met her frequently in other places too, always in galas or similar events, and she kinda pushed it a lot for this perfume. That’s why I always refused it to her. A bit personal, sure, but I didn’t feel like giving it easy to her, seeing that she is used to having everything she asks for. Like this time, apparently…” Baekhyun added bringing the subject over to Bora again and hearing Chanyeol sigh deeply near him, shaking his head.

“She’s definitely spoiled so I understand your point. And I’m kinda sorry to ask you this…” Chanyeol let out, making Baekhyun frown, but then he shook his head too, pouring some more liquid for the test.

“You don’t need to pretend to be kind with me, Mr. Park. I know what you care about and I’m just the person who can give that to you, despite going against what I stated until you entered that door. I could have refused if I wanted to and I could be unmovable on that, so be grateful, not sorry.” Baekhyun breathed, clicking his tongue and mixing the ingredient in the small vial before pouring a few drops on his own wrist, smearing them with his thumb and waiting a moment before inhaling the perfume, trying to understand if that could be something that would please Bora.

Maybe it was a little bit too citrusy for her, so the orange proportion was wrong and then maybe also slightly more rose…? He sniffed it again, slightly deeper than before, closing his eyes in focus, trying to picture it as Bora’s character and yeah, indeed, it was too fresh and not spicy and flowery enough.

And he was about to tell it to Chanyeol when he felt Chanyeol’s fingers around his own wrist, gently pulling it toward himself, sniffing it too, face definitely way too close to Baekhyun’s wrist, making him part his lips, eyeglasses sliding down his nose, feeling again warmth creeping up his cheeks, stare shifting on Chanyeol’s figure, noticing that he had his eyes closed too, focusing only on the perfume.

“Maybe more flowery?” He whispered, breath caressing Baekhyun’s skin, making him shiver, suddenly feeling way too hot all over his body, spring blooming again instead of almost snowy December weather.

“I was thinking the same…” Baekhyun breathed, freeing his wrist from Chanyeol’s hold and moving his attention back to the ingredients and what the actual… He couldn’t believe what just happened, but he knew perfectly that two could play the same game and he wasn’t either a naive panicked gay, knowing that he had so much more confidence than that and he wouldn’t let Chanyeol’s straightforward approach defeat him!

He mixed some different ingredients, changed proportions, putting more rose and patchouli, less orange, a bit more cinnamon and when the thing was ready again he smeared some to his other wrist, waiting a second before sniffing it. The result was slightly better but it still was lacking something, humming shortly in thought before almost shoving his wrist in Chanyeol’s face. “Better but lacking, right?” He asked Chanyeol, looking at his surprised face for a second before he could lean down again, fingers touching again his wrist, bringing it closer to his nose.

It felt so warm once again, especially Chanyeol’s fingers around his wrist, holding it delicately but strongly, feeling the callous fingertips on his skin and making him wonder what exactly went through Chanyeol’s mind in that very same moment. He looked kinda impassive but maybe it was just another facade?

And he was about to reprimand himself on making movies in his head, but Chanyeol looked at him, wrist still in his hold and the caramel chocolate was there once again, swirling so pleasantly in Chanyeol’s eyes, warm and cosy and… again, Baekhyun swore he could have looked in Chanyeol’s eyes forever.

“Missing something, yes. But better than before…” Chanyeol whispered in reply, not letting his wrist go and not even shifting his stare away, making Baekhyun feel a little bit bolder, closing even more the distance between them and bringing slowly his own wrist toward himself, but without shooing Chanyeol’s hand on it away.

He sniffed his own wrist again, taking the perfume in together with Chanyeol’s own natural scent, glancing toward Chanyeol and he was about to say something more, when Chanyeol’s phone rang in his pocket making him frown, letting Baekhyun’s wrist go and moving farther from him.

Baekhyun didn’t realise it up til that moment, but he was literally holding his breath, totally caught up in the moment, absorbed in whatever the hell that was. Because… What just happened? He could still feel the lukewarm ghost of Chanyeol’s fingers on his own skin, fingers going to touch it softly, almost comparing once again their difference and how Baekhyun’s slender fingers were so much softer and his hand smaller than Chanyeol’s.

“Whose idea was that?!” Chanyeol spat out at the phone, making Baekhyun flinch and bringing him back immediately to reality, noticing how Chanyeol was scowling, again that warmth so easily disappeared from his stare, stern boring brown back at its place again, making Baekhyun frown too, worried about Chanyeol’s tone. He sounded upset.

“I swear to all gods Lee better be filing his resignation letter already before I fire him myself!” Chanyeol added and probably even before the other side could reply in any way, he continued with a short: “And you better not print that shit out in tomorrow’s release or I’ll fire you too.” Definitely being convincing enough on what he wanted to be done or not and closing the call, pressing several times on the red button on the screen, like it made the process angrier and faster.

“For fuck’s sake why people have to be this idiot!” He groaned, fingers carding through his hair, shaking his head before, apparently, remembering where he was and glancing shortly toward Baekhyun.

“I apologise…” Chanyeol breathed but Baekhyun was already shaking his head, closing the fragrance he still had in his hands and moving toward the kettle with his herbal tea and patting on the chair where also Chanyeol’s coat was resting.

“Sit, and drink something warm. And take your time, or if you want to talk about it, I’m a quite good listener or so they say.” Baekhyun whispered, giving him some tea and Chanyeol sighed even deeper than before, accepting it and sitting down.

There was another short silence and for a moment Baekhyun was sure that he would have simply stayed there waiting for the anger to wash off without talking but then Chanyeol finally sighed out another apology.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Byun. Usually I'm more controlled than this, but everytime they take an initiative they always end up doing some bullshit and I can't stand them anymore. I want to fire everyone and work alone.” Chanyeol half explained shortly but Baekhyun huffed shortly, shaking his head, fingers going to his eyeglasses and quickly removing them to clean them on his own sweater.

“And how would you do it alone? I bet it would be difficult managing everything on your own,” Baekhyun objected shortly, checking the lens before cleaning the glasses a bit more, but Chanyeol was already frowning deeply. "Difficult not impossible," he retorted, making Baekhyun chuckle briefly, shaking his head again.

“Don't be irrational, Mr. Park. And I bet you're better than this or am I wrong? Will you let one of your subordinates ruin your work like this?” Baekhyun asked him, putting on his eyeglasses before squatting down in front of him, just to look him in the eyes and see again that gold hue sparkling in all its brightness, Chanyeol's eyes getting wide in surprise. “Obviously no!” He retorted immediately, making Baekhyun smile softly at him, nodding pleased by his reply and leaning his head cutely on the side.

“Don't let them defeat your dream.” He concluded, sitting up and moving toward the cashier, suddenly realising how friendly that situation started to be. But they weren't friends and Baekhyun didn’t want them to be. Because despite how interested he was in Chanyeol, it wasn’t good and he knew that it would only bring problems to them both, especially if Chanyeol’s father wanted him to date Bora and so on. The very last thing Baekhyun wanted was having something to deal with Bora again and he was doing all of that just not to have her asking for a perfume never again.

“And it’s getting quite late, Mr. Park. I bet you have other places where you want or should be. I will think more about Bora’s perfume and tomorrow will do other tests, but in a few more days it should be completed.” Baekhyun added, taking off the apron before hanging it behind the counter and picking up the keys.

“Yeah, I think I overstayed. Sorry for keeping bothering you, Mr. Byun,” Chanyeol retorted, sitting up and emptying the cup, but Baekhyun was shortly shaking his head. “It wasn’t a bother. If it would, I would have found a way to let you know. Just… I’m not a great company for the evening. For sure you have something better to do…” Baekhyun breathed, forcing a short smile toward him and noticing that Chanyeol was already looking toward him, caramel chocolate again well present even while fading slowly down.

“I would rather spend the evening with you instead of what awaits me. Dinner with my parents never sounded as awful as tonight…” Chanyeol sighed, slightly ducking his head down and Baekhyun smiled briefly before gently patting his shoulder, fingers only gingerly brushing over the warm cloth of Chanyeol’s jacket.

“Don’t let yourself down. Somehow I think you will survive through this too, am I wrong?” Baekhyun asked him, smile not faltering on his lips and Chanyeol frowned briefly, looking at him with a mix of surprise and interest.

“I wonder how you’re always this positive, Mr. Byun…” he noted, baffled by Baekhyun’s behaviour and words, but he was slightly taken aback by Baekhyun shaking his head in reply. “Nothing good can come from negativity. There’s too much of it in our lives. It's better to try our best to see the brighter, more peaceful side, don't you think so too?” He retorted shortly, picking up his phone that pinged gently from the counter and glancing at the screen, a bright notification appearing on the screen: Baekbom.

It was months he didn’t hear from his brother, their lives way too busy even though in two different ways. They spoke only when they needed to, basically, for family matters or other things related to it, but for the rest Baekhyun could easily speak for both while saying that they were practically only childs judging how they were completely out of each other’s lives.

He wasn’t surprised per se, but more concerned about whatever might have happened for Baekbom to contact him so suddenly, message reading only a short call me when you’re free, that meant everything and nothing.

“It seems family is indeed a matter to face tonight, for both.” Baekhyun breathed, pocketing his phone and moving his stare again back toward Chanyeol who frowned briefly but then forced a short smile toward him.

“See you around, Mr. Byun. Thank you for your time as always.” Chanyeol concluded, putting on his coat and moving toward the exit door, making Baekhyun nod shortly, smiling at him too. “Let’s talk about your perfume too, next time.” He declared and Chanyeol nodded again, waving at him before finally going out from the shop, leaving Baekhyun alone with his thoughts on what happened that day with Chanyeol and still feeling the warmth lingering around his wrist, Chanyeol’s breath caressing his skin.

It wasn’t good thinking about those things. He shouldn’t and it wasn’t something for him to enjoy, not in that context, not with Chanyeol of all the people.

And he had other things to think about that night, quickly shaking his head, trying to refocus on his tasks and what he had to do before going home and calling his brother.

It was later on, once he was at home, after a light dinner and a few glasses of wine that he finally called his brother to understand what was happening and why the urgent-sounding message.

It really was a few months they didn’t talk to each other at all so Baekhyun was kinda worried about it, especially because Baekbom was the one who had more contact with their parents and knew all the things regarding their health and so on. Not that Baekhyun didn’t care at all about it, but the situation with them wasn’t that easy as it seemed to be and not always his interest was deemed worthy from his parents’ point of view.

The reasons behind that were many, however Baekhyun mainly could brief them with a short: not being the best son in his parents’ opinion. Not for his past choice, for his sexual orientation and even deeper, deciding to treat his particularity as a gift and not something to hide to look normal.

Baekbom replied at the second ring with a short finally that got Baekhyun frowning while sipping on his fourth glass of wine, sitting down on his couch. “What’s happening?” He asked shortly, clearly worried about the urge in Baekbom’s tone, quite unusual, considering that his brother was usually really calm, even if not as much as Baekhyun.

“I have news,” Baekbom stated and Baekhyun couldn’t understand if he was happy, nervous, sad or whatever other feeling, enough that he couldn’t quite pinpoint if the news he was about to tell was something pleasant or something bad.

“Is it about mother’s exams?” Baekhyun asked him, frowning slightly deeper, trying to understand what they were talking about and suddenly remembering that in those days supposedly their mother should have done some exams. “No, mom’s exams are next week, Hyun. I swear, you’re too forgetful to be this young. Everything that doesn’t concern your work and smells, you have zero memory for it.” Baekbom kinda scolded him and Baekhyun huffed, shaking his head and, despite knowing that Baekbom was way too right, he would never admit it and he disliked the fact that his brother continuously pointed it out.

“Will you tell me about this news then or…?” Baekhyun asked him briefly, hearing Baekbom chuckling softly on the other side of the line and well, if he could laugh so lightly maybe it wasn't bad news after all.

“I have two pieces of news, both good but I don’t know how you will take either of those…” Baekbom confessed after it and Baekhyun huffed again, kinda rushing him to get to the point because he felt like Baekbom was turning around and around it, making it more difficult for both. And he didn’t like it.

“Firstly, my wife is pregnant,” Baekbom stated and Baekhyun’s eyebrow raised involuntarily, mouth going dry and wetting it with more wine. “Congratulations,” he whispered after it but he heard Baekbom chuckle again, knowing how much Baekhyun’s patience was short with kids and found it inappropriate how Baekbom married his wife when she was pregnant. He never stated or accused Baekbom of not loving her, but still it wasn’t the best in his idea of marrying someone.

“Come on, it’s a baby girl this time. We have the couple as Heejin wanted,” Baekbom added and Baekhyun hummed briefly before congratulating again, this time slightly more happily, and asking about Baekbom’s wife's conditions, if she was fine and if the baby was healthy.

After all the important questions about that, Baekhyun brought his brother’s attention to the main point. “What about the other news?” Baekhyun asked, trying to sound casual but knowing that if the first news was good, probably the second one wouldn’t be equally so, probably something that would make Baekhyun scrunch his nose even worse.

“About that…” Baekbom started and Baekhyun was perplexed about the uncertainty in his brother’s voice, clearly fearing whatever reaction Baekhyun could have at the news and making Baekhyun's frown go deeper and deeper, eyeglasses slipping on his nose but leaving them be and expecting again the worst. Especially because Baekbom’s bad news was always the worst news.

“Mom and dad sold grandma’s house.” Baekbom stated, dropping the news so suddenly that the glass Baekhyun had in his hand slipped from his fingers, falling on the floor, breaking into pieces in a shattering sound. He did not expect that news at all. Especially without being consulted on something that, potentially, in the future could be his and Baekbom’s. Especially knowing how many memories Baekhyun had there, how he learnt a lot about his developed sense of smell and herbal medicine from his grandmother and that had a sentimental value to him.

Why didn’t they ask him? Why did they sell it without asking before? Baekhyun even proposed to buy it himself a few times in the past too… Was that a punishment for being the forgetful child? The one who apparently never cared about their parents? Or because he wasn’t how his parents wanted him to be? Because he made his own choices for his own life? Baekhyun felt his insides twisting, nausea suddenly coming in his throat, making him feel like all the times that his parents told him how disappointed they were in him, in his choices, in what he became in those years.

Yes, that was a punishment, another one, coming in the shape of robbing him of his most precious place and memories, as if they didn't do it enough when they sold all his grandmother’s non-valuable items, including books and notes that Baekhyun would have gladly kept for himself after his grandmother’s death.

“Hyun? You okay? What was that sound?” Baekbom asked him, getting him out of his trance, sighing shortly at the mess he just made on the floor and sitting up to go and retrieve something to clean everything without cutting his fingers. At least he didn’t have a carpet there…

“I… yeah. I didn’t expect it, but yeah. Everything’s fine,” he muttered, picking up some newspaper pages and paper towels to go and clean the mess. It was so unfair that they did again what they wanted without even consulting him, them, even though Baekhyun knew that Baekbom didn’t have the same memories he had of their grandmother so he wasn’t so emotionally linked to that place as much as Baekhyun was.

“They said they had a big offer and…” Baekbom started saying, and Baekhyun dropped the phone on the short table in front of the couch and, without even putting the speaker on, he started cleaning up the shards and the clear liquid on the floor. Such a waste…

He didn’t want to know what his brother had to say about the purchase, how much they sold it for, to whom they sold it… He didn’t care any less. He simply didn’t want to know, to rewind the time and insist to buy it more than he already asked previously, even though he knew for sure that their parents would have found a way not to sell it to him, unfortunately.

Baekhyun was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realise he cut his finger until he saw blood mixing with the clear liquid on the paper towel on the floor and his brother’s voice calling for his attention from the phone.

“Shit,” he muttered, pressing his finger against the paper and picking up his phone again with the other hand, pressing it between his ear and his shoulder. “I’m here, yes, I heard. It’s okay… Do you have something more to tell me, because I have a work call on hold under yours.” Baekhyun explained shortly, lying but it was because he couldn’t care less about everything in that moment and he just needed silence to process what just happened.

“No, I, no. I think that was all…” Baekbom replied startled by the finality and terse way in Baekhyun’s voice but Baekhyun didn’t want to waste any more time and if that was all, there wasn’t anything more to say, to add.

“I gotta go, then. Again congratulations for your daughter. Lemme know when she’s expected so I’ll send some gifts.” Baekhyun concluded, picking up the remaining shards and finally seeing the floor clean again even though there was still a lingering smell of wine around the living room, making Baekhyun scrunch his nose.

“Yeah, sure. Take care of yourself and talk to you soon. Bye.” Baekbom greeted him and Baekhyun hummed, muttering a brief "likewise, bye", before hanging the call and throwing the phone on the couch and he swore that in that moment he could have shouted at the top of his lungs for how angry and done he was with his parents.

Instead he sighed again, pressing the paper against his finger and reaching the bathroom to put a band-aid over it, wondering how idiot he could be in cutting himself like that. And, once again, to let his parents hurt him so deeply with something related to the only good memories he had of his childhood.

And he was beyond startled when his phone started ringing from complete silence, making Baekhyun put a hand on his chest, worried because despite what he said to Baekbom, he wasn’t waiting for any other call. Especially because that ringtone was the deviation coming from his shop phone and who could be calling that late?

He didn’t know the phone number but it was a Korean number so he decided to pick up nevertheless, a short, polite introduction, leaving his lips as soon as he replied, fingers fixing his eyeglasses better on his nose, frown gently caressing his forehead.

“ScentHub, good evening. I’m Baekhyun, how can I help you?” He asked briefly, pressing the phone against his ear, trying to understand who the call was from, if he recognized the voice or something else.

“It’s me, Chanyeol…” the man’s voice came from the other end of the line and Baekhyun’s eyes went wide in surprise, checking again the number he was calling with and then bringing the phone again near his ear, unbelieving. “Mr. Park?” He echoed, trying to understand if he got it right but Chanyeol’s voice confirmed it again.

“It’s me, yes. You have… time to stay on the phone?” He asked him and Baekhyun frowned deeper than before because… what the hell was happening? Why was Chanyeol calling him that late? He purposefully searched for Baekhyun’s shop telephone number online to go and call him and exactly for… which reason?

“I-I, yes… Sure. What’s happening?” Baekhyun breathed, being as silent as possible in order to get whatever other sign or noise that could give him any hint about why Chanyeol was calling him, where he was, what he was doing… anything.

“I am done eating with my parents and… I needed to talk with someone when I realised that the only person I felt at ease speaking with would be you and I just… called you?” Chanyeol replied and maybe suddenly realising how strange that sounded, tone getting dubious as the sentence went by and Baekhyun’s eyes widened, totally unexpecting it but immediately easing Chanyeol on that.

“It’s… okay. I mean, as I told you I’m quite a good listener. Are you driving, though? Are you in a safe mode?” Baekhyun asked him, frowning shortly, hearing the turn signal sound in the background and making Chanyeol chuckle softly, warm, deep voice following it.

“You also have an amazing hearing sense, Mr. Byun. And no worries, I’m calling from my car dashboard, my hands are both on my steering wheel.” Chanyeol assured and Baekhyun hummed, pleased with the news. There was a small silence and then Baekhyun cleared his throat shortly. “I have to suppose your dinner didn’t go well…” he whispered, hearing Chanyeol sigh deeply, a brief, muttered at all leaving his lips.

And to that followed almost forty minutes of call in which Chanyeol simply talked about how his parents were as awful as ever, asking him always the same things, when he was going to marry, why he didn’t study something else, and other shit like that, making him even more frustrated than before especially because of the whole Bora matter.

Baekhyun could feel how much that whole thing made him unsettled and upset, especially knowing everything Chanyeol already went through and his own sexuality. It felt… wrong. And Baekhyun could kind of put himself in Chanyeol’s clothes, considering that for him it was more or less the same thing.

“I’m really sorry to hear that, Mr. Park. I bet that they found more and more reasons to make you feel bad about anything, especially for what you’re telling me right now…” Baekhyun breathed, hearing Chanyeol chuckle shortly, clearly ironic and dry about it. “You can say that. The only positive achievement for them was the fact I told them you’re working on Miss Nam's perfume, but even on that they had something to say because I took so long and why isn’t it ready yet and shit like that…” Chanyeol added, despise clearly perceivable in his tone and suddenly there was too much silence on the other side, probably Chanyeol turned off the engine, reaching home safely.

“I’ll work on it faster so that…” Baekhyun started saying but Chanyeol was already stopping him, voice cutting off Baekhyun’s. “Don’t even think about it. Take your time, do what you have. They don’t value other people’s work and for sure they don’t imagine how much work there is behind one of your perfumes.” Chanyeol declared, for the first time in some ways, appreciating or complimenting Baekhyun’s work, making his eyes widen again, surprised at the weird turn that evening suddenly took.

“I… Thank you. But if you plan to come around another few times, maybe we can find a good match that could please Bora enough.” Baekhyun retorted, smile softly appearing on his lips and feeling weirdly proud of his work all of a sudden but Chanyeol huffed briefly.

“You know her better than me. Make something that suits her tastes in your opinion. I trust you.” Chanyeol stated like that was the most obvious thing in the world, but making Baekhyun’s cheeks catch fire all of a sudden, even though he immediately masked it with a witty remark.

“Are you trying to push all the work on me, Mr. Park? You said you would help, in exchange for a fragrance for you, you better not getting back at your word now,” he questioned him, slightly puffing his cheeks even though he knew that Chanyeol couldn’t see him, but hearing him chuckle softly, this time happily, airily, almost bubbly making something in Baekhyun’s chest flutter too at the sound. Weird.

“No, no, I would never. I will be sure to pass by regularly, okay?” He assured him again, tone definitely lighter than before, more at ease than almost one hour before. It was so strange how they talked for that long while still being on surname basis, not knowing each other that well and… it just felt so right despite the strangeness.

“That sounds better, indeed.” Baekhyun agreed, nodding briefly, clearly relieved in hearing Chanyeol’s voice again relaxed and, if he closed his eyes, he could imagine perfectly how bright and deep caramel brown Chanyeol’s eyes were in that moment. How they would sparkle brightly in the poor light of his underground parking or car lights, head resting on the headrest, small smile on his lips as he spoke with Baekhyun.

And there was another long silence but then Chanyeol spoke up. “I’m grateful for tonight, Mr. Byun. I definitely needed this.” Chanyeol thanked him briefly, and Baekhyun hummed shortly, smiling even though his cheeks were again warm. “I’ll expect a coffee as payment next time you drop by my shop, then.” He joked shortly, making Chanyeol chuckle again and Baekhyun swore that he could start to get addicted to that sound so adorable and bubbly. It made Baekhyun want to make Chanyeol laugh more and more even for the dumbest reasons.

“Pretty cheap. I could think about it.” He retorted and even before Baekhyun could tell him that it wasn’t necessary and that he was just glad that somehow he managed to listen Chanyeol out, Chanyeol spoke up again. “I have to go now, but thank you again. See you around, Mr. Byun.” He greeted him and Baekhyun hummed shortly, feeling slightly weird again, chest bubbling in a warm feeling that was, honestly, almost unknown and a bit scary to Baekhyun. Dangerously similar to something else that he would gladly do without, especially toward Mr. Park Chanyeol.

“See you around, Mr. Park. Take care, goodnight.” He concluded and after a short g’night from the other side of the line, he hung up, releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding in, pressing the phone against his chest. That day was such a ride, starting with Chanyeol sniffing fragrances directly out of Baekhyun’s wrist, going on with Baekbom’s call and ending again with Chanyeol and his weird phone call, with his awful parents and social expectations. Baekhyun was feeling slightly better though after speaking with Chanyeol, even if he just listened to him for almost one hour.

Not that it made him feel any less bad about his grandmother’s house, but still… Speaking with Chanyeol kinda put him in a lighter mood and that… wasn’t a good sign. He needed to remember which was his place. They weren’t friends and he was just crafting a perfume for Chanyeol’s soon-to-be fiancé. That was that.

Again what he didn't expect was Chanyeol showing up in his shop a few days later with two tall paper cups from Starbucks. They were red and green, due to the Christmas approaching, and steaming hot even in Baekhyun's warmed shop, not only outside.

Baekhyun was finishing serving a customer that extended longer than expected her stay in the shop, but he smiled brightly at Chanyeol, head tilting on the other side. “I'll be with you immediately.” He greeted him, and strangely enough, Chanyeol smiled back at him, replying with a brief “take your time” that kinda surprised Baekhyun, considering how short on patience Chanyeol was.

Luckily the woman cut it short and once she retrieved the small bag with her fragrance inside and Baekhyun's logo on the outside, she went away and Baekhyun followed her until the door just to greet her again and flip the closed sign hanging on the door around.

“You shouldn't have,” Baekhyun breathed, taking a few steps closer to Chanyeol who smiled softly, giving the cup to him. It was hot but not as much as it looked like and from it came a hint of cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, including coffee. It was Starbucks signature festive coffee and Baekhyun smiled briefly because he honestly loved it.

“Last time I annoyed you enough with my family matters. Coffee is just a small payback for it. It's Starbucks…” Chanyeol started to explain and Baekhyun nodded briefly, smiling at him again. “Festive coffee. I love it, thank you.” He breathed holding the cup in both hands and smiling, a warm feeling strangely spreading inside his chest and cheeks too, not only on his fingers and hands… It wasn't good.

“You're difficult to surprise, Mr. Byun. With this super smell sense you have.” Chanyeol noted quickly, glancing toward him while sipping on his coffee and Baekhyun hummed, casting his stare away before moving again toward his fragrance organ, stare fixed on the many bottles that were there.

He knew that feeling way too well and Chanyeol's remark reminded him painfully which was his place. Difficult to surprise was a kind way to say things, but the meaning was the same. You creep me out. Your sense of smell is frightful and not normal. Baekhyun went through that for so so so many times he didn't even remember, starting from his brother and his parents, going through friends and finally for everyone who tried to be Baekhyun's lover or partner in the past. You're way too sensitive to all the smells, it annoys me and creeps me out, was one of the most frequent things people told him while breaking up or cutting ties with him.

And if they didn't tell him directly, he came to know that through friends of friends or common acquaintances. Honestly it hurt, but Baekhyun did his best not to show it and he kinda stopped believing that there would be someone in that world who would love him for the way he was without making him feel constantly out of place and judged in everything he did or stated or without feeling the urge to hide what his senses were telling him.

Another reason why if Baekhyun felt like he needed some warmth or something similar to that, he would just go and drink a bit in some clubs choosing people more on their smell than on their appearance. What annoyed him less, what made him more interested, he went with it. And he knew it was strange, that it shouldn't have been like that, that it was almost an animalistic way to choose a potential partner, even just for one night, but he couldn't do it differently. He was like that and he learnt to live with it.

“You didn't annoy me with that call, by the way. If I didn't want to listen to you, I would have found a way to tell you,” Baekhyun interjected, quickly fixing his glasses, bringing the discourse back on a secure subject, not wanting too much to dwell on that. Chanyeol wouldn't be different from all the other people who came before, and would come after, his words and comments being the same. Baekhyun didn't want to ruin the moment any further, simply enjoying the short instant of peace with a pleasant coffee in his hands.

“And I finished Bora's perfume. It has all the things she might like, as she always told me, so I'm sure she will be more than happy with it.” Baekhyun added briefly, picking up a small bottle and putting it on the top of the octophone, gesturing it toward Chanyeol.

The taller frowned, perplexed, not expecting that Baekhyun had already finished it. It was almost a week earlier than what initially prevented and honestly Baekhyun would be surprised himself, but after that phone call he had with Chanyeol, that night, he decided that whatever was going on between him and Chanyeol, that sort of acquaintance mixed to friendship, it wasn't good and it had to be stopped as soon as possible. And Chanyeol was there only for the perfumes, right? So once he would have those, he would for sure go away and leave Baekhyun alone again.

Chanyeol neared the organ, putting down the coffee and picking up the small bottle, sniffing it and scrunching his nose, probably finding it too sweet for him, and too flowery for sure. “It's… different from what it smelt like last time,” Chanyeol observed, frowning shortly and Baekhyun hummed briefly, nodding, pushing his eyeglasses better up.

“Messed up with lavender and rose. I prefer it better like this… she will like it.” Baekhyun commented, nodding shortly before humming and showing gently his hand. “And last time you didn't get it from the bottle and skin's PH changes how a perfume or fragrance is perceived. Reason why a perfume can be lovely on someone but smelling like something totally different on someone else.” Baekhyun explained, smiling softly toward him who frowned shortly, not convinced at all.

Baekhyun smiled softly at him and gestured Chanyeol to give him his hand. And when Chanyeol, sceptical and perplexed, did as told, Baekhyun put just two drops, one on Chanyeol's wrist and one on his own, quickly smearing the liquid with his thumb.

“On your skin will probably result more on the cinnamon and lavender tones…” Baekhyun started explaining and Chanyeol brought his wrist against his nose, sniffing it and scrunching again his nose, clearly not his taste, making Baekhyun chuckle softly. “While on mine probably more flowery. Usually my skin enhances flowery scents… so the patchouli and rose.” Baekhyun explained briefly, smiling, bringing his own wrist to his nose and, indeed, flowery. Chanyeol curiously neared him, but this time Baekhyun didn't let him surprise him, willingly giving him his wrist to sniff, no need to feel again Chanyeol's fingers around it.

“It's so different!” Chanyeol exclaimed, beyond surprise, enough to be almost a cute kid who just discovered something really basic but with an amazing amount of surprise and awe. “And on Bora's skin it will be even different.” Baekhyun added moving his hand again on his coffee cup and sipping on it slowly, seeing Chanyeol's eyes going wide in surprise. “Perfumes are like magic.” He declared, smile so beautiful on his lips, totally amazed and astonished, making Baekhyun's lips softly part in surprise. Magic was the very last thing he expected Chanyeol to say while speaking of his perfume.

“No, I… I wouldn't say, no. Just…” Baekhyun started saying again but Chanyeol was already shaking his head fervently, smile not leaving his lips, clearly enchanted by the discovery. “Magic. Imagine the potential of trying perfumes directly on the skin of the person who commissioned you the perfume? It would be exactly how they want it! You're like a magician, Mr. Byun, making hues and notes appear out of people's skin!” Chanyeol commented, absolutely delighted with the only thought of it, loving the whole thing way too much.

Baekhyun was honestly surprised by Chanyeol’s amazement, but he smiled shortly toward him, leaning his head on the side. It was so weird but Baekhyun spoke up nevertheless. “It's what usually happens when it's not the Christmas period. It's easier when people buy fragrances for themselves and not for people I can't see, know and try these fragrances on.” Baekhyun honestly replied, completely raptured by Chanyeol's fascination and admiration that felt unjustified to Baekhyun.

However, Chanyeol smiled again at him, almost like an eager kid or a willing puppy, missing only his wagging tail, over excited about his own discovery. There was something way too soft in how Chanyeol reacted to the news or how he was still processing it, making Baekhyun smile softly at him, feeling the same awe that once again colored and melted Chanyeol’s eyes in that beautiful amber colour.

“Does this mean that I can do the same with my own?” Chanyeol asked him perplexed yet excited about the news and Baekhyun let out a soft chuckle, nodding briefly. “Sure thing. We will find something that not only suits your tastes but that will also smell good on your skin,” Baekhyun granted him, smile not faltering on his lips and seeing Chanyeol beaming at him too. He really felt overjoyed about the whole matter, much to Baekhyun’s surprise too.

“Starting from that citrusy thing of the last time?” Chanyeol asked him again, eyes literally sparkling so prettily under the warm lights of Baekhyun’s shop and he was honestly dumbfounded by Chanyeol’s difference in characters. One thing was newspaper CEO Park Chanyeol, stern, cold, bossy and commandive. One instead was the real Chanyeol, the one under the surface, with amber and honey, starry eyes, curious, attentive and clever, adorable as a soft golden retriever puppy. And that difference made Baekhyun waver, clearly worried of how interesting Chanyeol started to be in Baekhyun’s eyes.

“Citrusy? Oh, you mean… Yuzu? Yes, if you want yes. It would suit your skin and your aura for sure," Baekhyun commented, fingers going to touch his chin pensively and moving better toward the display of perfume and essential oils he had there.

He was genuinely curious of what could possibly fit Chanyeol's skin and character better. For sure again something citrusy as yuzu or something like that, gentler on the acid and smoother on the fading touch. As base notes something rich as cinnamon or licorice. And some flowers to touch up and sweeten the whole thing but not too much. Maybe jasmine or mimosa?

And he was so focused thinking that he didn't realise that his phone was ringing until Chanyeol made him notice it. On the screen his mother's ID was lighting up and Baekhyun simply locked the screen, forcing a short smile toward Chanyeol.

“Apart from the citrusy, you had other ideas?” Baekhyun asked him, totally ignoring the call and Chanyeol hummed shortly, thinking about it. He was still wondering, clearly trying to figure out how he wanted that perfume to smell, when Baekhyun's phone rang again, attracting both their attention. Baekhyun was about to silence the call again but Chanyeol asked him a brief “isn't it better if you take it?” that made Baekhyun inhale deeply, shaking his head. “I don't want to talk to her right now.” He simply replied, seeing a gentle frown appearing on Chanyeol's forehead, words following way too easily out of his mouth.

“Wanna talk about that?” Chanyeol asked him and Baekhyun wanted to refuse because he knew he shouldn't have because Chanyeol was a customer and a journalist. He knew way too well that his private life was always way too hidden from the public eye because Baekhyun never released any interview regarding his life before being famous, his family and starting out in the perfume industry.

His parents and his brother were too disappointed with him to go all the way to give an interview about how their son was acknowledged as one of the most prestigious perfumers of all around the world. So yeah, basically Baekhyun was nobody before his first works and his degrees. And for a long time it always was like that, but Baekhyun started to get old? Or probably just felt like he could share that with Chanyeol despite them not being friends but only mere acquaintances.

“There's not much to talk about. For sure she wants to brag about the fact that she sold grandma's house without consulting with me. And remind me how much she is disappointed in having a son like me, choosing for his life on his own without blinding following everything as my older brother did. And how proud she is of my brother and his wife being pregnant again with a beautiful baby. Not like me and my gay ass.” Baekhyun explained, fingers going to scratch the back of his head, shifting his stare again on the various ingredients that were there, eyeglasses slightly slipping down his nose. He knew that was that but he wasn't much fan of talking about it, especially not with someone he barely knew. Or maybe exactly because Chanyeol was a stranger, he felt weirdly more comfortable in openly speaking up about it.

And maybe also why he kept replying to all the questions that followed the first one. “Why should she brag about it? Shouldn't it be like a common decision?” Chanyeol asked him and Baekhyun snorted briefly, shaking his head. That would be so easy if that would really be a common decision. Baekhyun would for sure purchase it for whatever sum their parents wanted to sell it, even more than any other eventual buyer.

But again, there was nothing fair in that, in how his parents behaved, not even asking nor telling him beforehand. No, they left Baekbom to tell him that they sold it, showing another impressive degree of shitty behaviour toward Baekhyun and what he wanted and his wish since he was twenty-two to buy that freaking house after his grandmother died.

“It was to spite me. Because they knew I wanted to buy it and they sold it without telling me anything. My brother told me just because he was worried about my reaction.” Baekhyun explained, shrugging his shoulders, fingers carding through his hair and seeing again the screen light up, this time for a message instead of a call.

Don't ignore your mother's call, you ingrate. – It was the message coming from his father's number but Baekhyun simply ignored that too, shifting again his stare on Chanyeol’s face, fingers sliding his glasses up again. And he was about to apologise about what he just said and bringing personal matter to that conversation, but Chanyeol spoke up again, stare getting harder and slightly darker.

“Why did they do that? I mean, I don't think it's just a money matter.” Chanyeol asked him, frown getting deeper on his brows and was he… angry? About what happened to Baekhyun and how his parents behaved with him? Impossible. Why would he…?

“Told you, to spite me. I… wanted to buy that but seeing I'm not the best son they wanted, they punished me like this and in so many other similar ways.” Baekhyun explained and he honestly hated that as much, but talking about that only made him more nervous so he finally shook his head, inhaling deeply.

“And come on, you’re not here to hear me ranting over my personal thing, let’s focus on your perfume…” Baekhyun breathed, stretching a soft smile toward Chanyeol who scrunched his nose shortly, though, clearly contrary to that statement.

“Well, I told you a lot about my family too…” he noted, shrugging his shoulders and Baekhyun huffed, shaking his head, fingers moving again on the small bottles on his work desk. “You felt like talking about it and I listened. I see no problem in that and it’s not like you have to reciprocate in any way. You already brought me coffee as a gratitude token.” Baekhyun replied honestly, even though his stare didn’t go back on Chanyeol’s face, feeling a bit embarrassed in bringing that matter up again and how he totally didn’t expect Chanyeol to really bring coffee.

Chanyeol chuckled softly, attracting Baekhyun’s surprised stare because it was quite rare to hear Chanyeol’s chuckle. “Maybe another coffee would make you more willing to speak up?” Chanyeol proposed to him, leaving Baekhyun dumbfounded because come again? Did Chanyeol just offer to buy Baekhyun coffee once again? Was it right or did Baekhyun misunderstood?

“I-I, no, why should you bring coffee again, it’s…” Baekhyun started saying, shaking his head, trying not to sound too confused about what was happening in that moment, but Chanyeol confused him even more than before. “I meant inviting you out for a coffee, actually…” Chanyeol added and Baekhyun’s mind went blank for an instant, blacking out completely, unable to process Chanyeol’s last words.

“Mr. Park, I-I… I think I’m not understanding…” Baekhyun breathed finally, shortly glancing toward Chanyeol who hummed, leaning his head on the side. “Is this a way to decline it?” He asked briefly, but Baekhyun was already shaking his head even before he had finished his sentence.

“No, I just think I’m not following. Why should you invite me out for coffee?” Baekhyun asked him, totally puzzled by the sudden proposal, but seeing Chanyeol scrunch his nose again, shaking his head. “To exchange the favour. Also because you did Miss Nam’s perfume despite you always refused it. And because you’re still doing one for me for free.” Chanyeol explained shortly, making Baekhyun frown again, clearly still not wrapping his mind around the proposal.

“Those are my choices and it’s not like I…” Baekhyun tried to say, but Chanyeol raised his eyebrow shortly, clearly starting to lose his patience. “Will you or not?” He finally asked and Baekhyun bit his bottom lip, surprised with the sudden turn that the whole discourse took and glancing between the colourful bottles and Chanyeol’s face and vice versa.

“The shop closes on Sunday, if it’s okay for you.” He finally declared, Chanyeol nodding, satisfied with the reply and, after they decided when and where, Chanyeol finally left the shop stating that they would talk more over the coffee that Sunday.

Baekhyun was genuinely speechless, completely obvious of what just happened and how in the end he got a coffee date with Chanyeol. He shook his head fervently, pressing his hands on his cheeks, trying to get a grip on himself. They were acquaintances, still on surname basis, and again it was only work, nothing more, nothing less. It was just a way for Chanyeol to thank Baekhyun for the work he was doing and that was it.

Despite how he tried to self-convince himself that it was a work meeting and nothing else, Baekhyun kinda felt worried when Sunday came and while he was choosing what to wear. Usually inside his shop he always had comfortable yet stylish clothes but maybe for a meeting like that, something more casual would be fine nevertheless? But Chanyeol was always wearing suits, so maybe a suit will be more appropriate?

After troubling over it for more than half an hour, Baekhyun simply went with what he thought would be more comfortable: black jeans trousers, white fluffy turtleneck and his preferred black coat. Nothing too fancy but neither too casual to be underdressed in the eventuality Chanyeol would show up again in suits.

Baekhyun reached the place slightly earlier than expected and strolled around there, not wanting to enter and order before Chanyeol, considering it rude, especially seeing that Chanyeol wanted to offer him coffee. Chanyeol arrived slightly later instead, beige coat still on but underneath it Baekhyun could see something different compared to suits and shirts, and maybe after all it was Sunday also for Chanyeol, being off from work.

“Mr. Byun, sorry for the lateness. There was an accident coming here and apparently a big one, an ambulance came in too…” he explained, nearing him, but Baekhyun was already shaking his head, smiling toward Chanyeol gently. Somehow, outside of Baekhyun’s shop, their height difference felt even greater than usual. “No need to apologise, I've just arrived too.” He replied, trying to ease him and Chanyeol nodded softly gesturing toward the café and Baekhyun followed him inside.

Baekhyun never went there before but the place was really sober, furniture in the tones of dark brown and vanilla, probably a hint to coffee and lattes, and the coffee smell filled the air pleasantly. They ordered and as promised, Chanyeol paid for both with a shiny platinum credit card.

Despite having to deal with a lot of rich customers and not being exactly poor himself, Baekhyun never saw many of those, and actually wondered how rich was the Park family in general and more specifically Chanyeol. “Are you sure you don’t want something to eat too?” Chanyeol asked him again before giving the credit card to the barista beyond the counter and when Baekhyun shook his head again, Chanyeol sighed shortly.

“And give me one more of those pancakes, thanks.” Chanyeol added, making Baekhyun frown shortly. Chanyeol already ordered a serve of pancakes and a cheesecake. Was he that hungry? Baekhyun tried not to think about that and helped bring what they ordered to a table far from the counter, near the windows.

“Is it okay here?” Baekhyun asked him, gesturing with his head toward the table and Chanyeol nodded, putting down the coffee and one of the dishes they ordered, taking off his coat, revealing like that a nice dark blue sweater and brown trousers. No shirts or suits in sight, Baekhyun was surprised. And enthralled, because honestly even that elegant casual suited way too well Chanyeol’s physique, complimenting his height, broad shoulders yet thin waist.

“How was your day so far?” Baekhyun asked him, taking off his coat too and sitting in front of Chanyeol who hummed shortly, putting an amazing quantity of sugar inside his coffee before starting to stir it slowly, shaking his head.

“Worked since six am this morning. My editors messed up one of the releases for tomorrow and, yeah, I think this is the fourth coffee I had since this morning.” Chanyeol let out, huffing a short unamused chuckle. He looked definitely too tired for being that early in the morning.

Baekhyun instead frowned, sighing shortly. “Why didn’t you call me and cancel this? I don’t want you to waste your time, Mr. Park.” Baekhyun observed, suddenly feeling like he needed to keep that meeting short, as short as possible in order not to steal more time to Chanyeol’s already busy schedule.

However, Chanyeol was already shaking his head again, stare moving on Baekhyun’s face immediately. “Don’t even think about it. This was the only moment I could leave my house and not think about work for a few hours, so I appreciate it.” Chanyeol explained briefly, forcing a short smile toward Baekhyun who inhaled deeply, looking better at him.

“You…” he started saying but Chanyeol almost menaced him with the teaspoon he had in his hand. “And I didn’t forget why we’re here, Mr. Byun. So don’t try to divert the matter again.” Chanyeol warned him, stare not leaving Baekhyun’s face and making him sigh briefly, fingers picking up the cup and bringing it to his lips, sipping slowly the still hot americano.

“I’ve never talked with anyone about my family matters, Mr. Park, I don’t know where to start from and I wouldn’t… like them to be public domain. My life outside my work was always private and I’d like it to remain as it is.” Baekhyun breathed softly, making Chanyeol scrunch his nose, taking in Baekhyun’s words, thinking a second before replying.

“If you’re concerned about this being more than a simple chat between friends, and for how much I'd actually like to professionally interview you, you can rest assured that nothing you will say here will ever reach my newsroom, nor any article about you, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol let out in reply, making Baekhyun’s eyes grow wide in surprise, not only at the name, the fact that Chanyeol admitted that he would like to interview him, or at Chanyeol defining them friends but also at the fact that he was granting him that that chat would remain private between the two of them only.

“Mr. Park, I’m…” he started saying, nervously fixing his glasses on his nose, but Chanyeol shook briefly his head, mouthing a brief “friends” to which Baekhyun sighed shortly, but smiled softly toward him. “Chanyeol-ssi, I appreciate it, really. But I wouldn’t know where…” Baekhyun started saying again, and Chanyeol gently pushed toward him one of the two pancake dishes.

“Is it okay if I ask you then? Or you don’t want to talk about it?” Chanyeol asked him and Baekhyun shook his head briefly, picking up the small fork and dividing a small pancake piece, eating it slowly.

“Ask me. I seriously never spoke about this with anyone before.” Baekhyun finally replied and Chanyeol hummed, nodding his head briefly and, after sipping another bit of his coffee, he spoke up.

“How come your parents sold your grandmother’s house just to spite you?” Chanyeol asked him, way more directly than whoever else ever asked him and Baekhyun rested better his back against the chair and looked at Chanyeol. They didn’t know much but maybe also for that reason and trusting the fact that also Chanyeol confided to him many things on many occasions already, Baekhyun finally opened himself a bit too, telling him about his own life too.

“I grew up in the countryside, with my grandma. My parents were always travelling around the world, mainly for work, bringing my brother with them. They always told me it was because I was too young that I couldn’t go with them too, but I came to know that it was because of my sensitive sense of smell.” Baekhyun started telling him, going back to when everything started, to when he understood how to take advantage of that quality, not shaming it as his parents alway did.

“My grandma was always very protective of me, never actually telling me what my parents thought about this peculiarity of mine and also teaching me a lot on flowers, herbs and all the traditional herbal medicine and culture that she knew. And let me tell you, it’s a lot. I learnt more from her than from many other teachers or books,” Baekhyun continued, smiling softly at the memories that he held very dear in his heart and that showed every time he talked about his grandmother or she was mentioned for whatever reason.

“Weren’t your parents supportive of it?” Chanyeol asked him, starting to eat the cheesecake and gesturing again toward the pancake that Baekhyun barely touched, making him huff a short chuckle, shaking his head but eating them nevertheless.

“Supportive? They hated it,” Baekhyun replied, shifting his stare outside and looking at the people walking on the sidewalk, fretting over, to rush who knew where. “And they still do. They wanted me to take the safe path. Hiding this, behaving like a normal person, following a normal career like my brother did, going to a normal university, finding a normal job, marrying and having kids like all the normal men do.” Baekhyun added, gesturing each normal with air commas, because… what even was normal those days?

“I’m not normal either, then.” Chanyeol stated, shrugging his shoulders and Baekhyun hummed, pressing his lips in a thin line. “Well, for some sides, no. But you went to a prestigious college in the USA, and you have a pretty common job in which you have a position of power. And you will be a righteous son and, after a bit of dating with Bora, you will probably agree to marry her because that’s what good children do and proceed with giving descendants to your family.” Baekhyun retorted, forcing a small smile toward him and yeah, Chanyeol sighed nodding, understanding his point.

“What about you? What wasn’t normal for your parents?” Chanyeol asked, bringing back the discourse on Baekhyun and the shorter chuckled, finishing the pancakes and looking toward Chanyeol amused. “That’s a funny question, because… where should I start from?” Baekhyun retorted, fingers moving to card through his hair but then he sighed shortly. He really could start listing and going on for hours, considering all the things his parents weren’t proud of him.

“Starting maybe from how they never liked that I barely finished high school and then went back to live with my grandma and took university lessons online? Or the fact that I went away as soon as she passed away and took other courses in Europe and started establishing my name and fame as a perfumer with nobody’s help and only my knowledge?” Baekhyun asked him, fingers pressing on the side of his eyeglasses frame, pushing them up again before picking up the cup and finishing his coffee in one go, considering that it wasn’t as hot as it was before.

“Or maybe you prefer because I came out on them when I was barely sixteen, telling them that I would never marry a woman because I wasn’t interested in them and marriage should be done because of freaking love not because you have to. Much less obviously grandchildren. The only kids my parents will have are animal ones, like dogs or cats. From me at least.” Baekhyun explained again, shrugging his shoulders and forcing a short smile toward Chanyeol who was looking at him in a mix of impressed and amazement. It was strange seeing again that sparkle, that honey and caramel hues appearing in Chanyeol’s eyes even outside Baekhyun’s store, but it kinda made Baekhyun happy, glad to have those effects on Chanyeol sometimes.

“I have to admit that it’s quite a lot to process, yes…” Chanyeol admitted, making Baekhyun huff a soft chuckle, smiling at him. “Imagine for my parents. And they do whatever to remind me that I’m not the son they wanted. That I don’t deserve anything and they won’t leave me anything, not either in terms of money or inheritance. Not that I need their money…” Baekhyun added briefly, feeling his phone vibrating in his pocket and picking it out to see what was happening. When he saw it was just a client’s mail, he pocketed it again, moving his stare toward Chanyeol again and finding it slightly darker than before.

“Still, selling your grandmother’s house without telling you it’s a foul move.” Chanyeol let out and he was clearly upset and quite contrary at the action and the reasons behind it. Baekhyun instead shrugged his shoulders again, stare shifting outside once more, noticing that it started drizzling again.

“I’m used to it. Just the house was something I hoped wouldn’t happen so soon. I wish I could have visited at least once before they sold it. Even just to go inside again, to feel it once again and remembering the magic that happened there. Because in my eyes as kid, that was all magic, how herbs mixed in thousand different perfumes, how dried flowers could have more or less perfume, how something simple as lavender could have so many properties in medicine too,” Baekhyun started saying, feeling his heart squeeze again in his chest, feeling as shitty as he felt the evening that Baekbom told him and during the call he had a few days later with his mother.

She told him how unworthy he was even to know about the fact that they sold it. That he wasn’t part of the Byun family and that probably soon her and Baekhyun’s father would proceed with papers to leave him out of any future inheritance. Reminding him that for sure he chose the wrong path and, for that, he would die alone as the unnatural human being he was.

However, Baekhyun decided to keep that for himself. It didn’t make any sense telling it to Chanyeol, apart from surely creeping him out, or gaining his pity. Baekhyun didn’t need anyone, he always did things alone since his grandmother passed away and he would continue to do so until the end of his own days too. He was happy of the path he took and of the life he was living, making it out of all his abilities, even the stranger ones.

“However, it’s gone and there’s nothing I can do now. I just accepted it and that’s it.” Baekhyun concluded, forcing a short smile toward Chanyeol who nodded shortly, even though his lips were pressed in a thin line.

“Still, it sucks. I mean, that place really meant a lot to you…” Chanyeol breathed, making Baekhyun smile softly, shaking his head. And he wanted to reply that he didn’t have to worry about him and about whatever would happen, when a known voice called his name from the entrance of the cafè.

“Baekhyun-ssi?” Bora’s high-pitched voice called him and Baekhyun sat up, bowing toward her shortly. “Bora, it was a while now.” He greeted her, seeing her near their table and only shortly glancing toward Chanyeol before she could move it again on Baekhyun’s face.

She was always the same, except that now she had long pink hair. She was slightly shorter than Baekhyun, pretty face always wearing bright and sparkling make-up, nails always done and branded clothes always on point.

“It’s strange seeing you in such a… modest context. I found you well, though.” Bora said smiling toward him and Baekhyun hummed shortly, gesturing toward Chanyeol briefly. “Me and Mr. Park were discussing details about the new Dior campaign.” Baekhyun added, and Bora was kinda forced to acknowledge Chanyeol’s presence there.

“Mr. Park, it's a surprise that you know Baekhyun-ssi, who would have said.” Bora declared, smiling also toward Chanyeol who only gestured her with his head, not sitting up. “A pleasure to meet you as always, Miss Nam,” he replied shortly but it was clearly the coldest retort Baekhyun ever heard in all the history of whatever fake dating was.

Sure, Chanyeol didn’t like Bora at all, clearly. But shouldn’t he at least try to be nice toward her, for what his parents asked him to do? Or was something restricted to only when they were around?

“I would gladly join you but unfortunately I’m here just to retrieve my order because I have an appointment at the hairdresser. Enjoy your Sunday though!” She added and Baekhyun smiled shortly toward her, trying to be polite and not reply with a short “it wasn’t my intention to invite you to join us”, but he kept it for himself and simply replied a brief same for you.

And when she left the cafè, Baekhyun’s stare went to Chanyeol, perplexed. “You don’t like her at all, uh?” Baekhyun whispered briefly and Chanyeol scrunched his nose in distaste, shaking his head. “She’s… annoying and boisterous, but not in a good way.” Chanyeol replied, finishing also his pancakes and Baekhyun hummed, fingers going to touch his chin, pensively.

“I’m not a journalist like you, but I don’t think there’s any positive connotation to boisterous,” he noted softly, making Chanyeol chuckled briefly, shaking his head quickly. “No, especially not for her.” He added, piling up the small dishes before glancing toward Baekhyun and humming lowly.

There was something vaguely enthralling in how different Chanyeol was around Baekhyun and how he was around other people, making Baekhyun wonder how the taller was in his workplace, or with his family, or with other friends because for sure he did have some. Even though he also knew that that thought was dangerous, because it pushed Baekhyun more and more toward Chanyeol, wanting to know more about him and how he was as a person.

“I would like to invite you out for lunch, but I feel like there will be another incoming call from my editing team about tomorrow’s release,” Chanyeol whispered, fingers carding through his hair and slightly messing it up, much to Baekhyun’s amusement seeing how messy the result was. “No worries, Chanyeol-ssi. I have some other things to deal with too…” Baekhyun replied, easing him down and Chanyeol nodded, sitting up and gesturing shortly toward the barista who greeted them while they were going out.

Outside the slight drizzle became a thicker rain, making Baekhyun sigh looking at it and wondering why he didn’t consider checking the weather forecast that morning nor bringing with him a foldable umbrella.

“Did you drive here?” Chanyeol asked him and when Baekhyun shook his head, Chanyeol frowned shortly, surprised by the news. “Because you don’t drive or…?” Chanyeol asked him again and Baekhyun simply let out a brief I don’t live far from here, to which Chanyeol smiled softly, nodding.

“Lemme drive you there, then.” He added and Baekhyun’s eyes went wide in surprise, again not expecting the proposal, and immediately shaking his head. “N-No, I, Chanyeol-ssi, why should you…?” He started asking but Chanyeol huffed briefly, raising his eyebrow and looking toward Baekhyun.

“Drop the honorific, please. You even call Miss Nam by her name only. And please, I insist, it’s raining stronger than before.” Chanyeol interrupted him, a charming smile appearing on his lips and woah, it was absolutely dashing, able to lighten up the grey day. Baekhyun was surprised by the sudden beautiful smile, enough that he just simply accepted what Chanyeol was saying, not interjecting anything more.

Chanyeol’s car, an expensive-looking black Jeep, was parked in the parking lot just in front of the cafè so they didn’t need to run much to get into it, even though Chanyeol was right, the rain got stronger than before and walking home would result in an unexpected cold shower for Baekhyun.

“I’m grateful for the ride.” Baekhyun whispered, pulling the security belt and fastening it, even though that car was honestly huge. Baekhyun felt even shorter than usual, considering that his feet didn’t reach the end of it. Even though what surprised him was the strong Scots pine smell that was inside it, itching his nose a bit.

“Don’t mention it. Do you live near the shop?” Chanyeol asked him and Baekhyun shook his head, picking up his phone and showing him the right address that Chanyeol input in the navi, starting following directions.

“Can I stop by next week, or are you busy?” Chanyeol asked him again, confidently driving through the streets despite the rain and Baekhyun shook his head. “You can drop by when you want, Chanyeol. If it’s after closing hours you will be sure that there’s nobody else apart from me.” Baekhyun added softly, smiling toward him and seeing him nod briefly, content with the reply.

“And, uhm, I have your phone number but you have only the shop one so if it’s okay for you to exchange contacts, I’d give you my private one.” Baekhyun added in a whisper, quickly fixing his eyeglasses, suddenly reminding himself that Chanyeol still only had the shop number and not his own private in case of any emergency.

Chanyeol nodded, chuckling softly and surprising Baekhyun. “Must be my lucky day today.” He stated, making Baekhyun frown shortly, trying to understand what he meant, especially seeing that he had problems with his work, Baekhyun only added weight to those matters and they even met Bora at the café. Not exactly lucky.

“You let me offer you coffee, started calling me by my name only, told me about yourself a bit, accepted a ride home and I managed to have your contacts without having to beg for them. Luckier than this.” Chanyeol explained and honestly for the first time in probably forever Baekhyun felt his cheeks burn, blush probably reaching to his cheeks, ears and hair too.

“W-Why you should beg in order to have my contacts. You could just ask if you wanted them so much…” Baekhyun breathed, flustered, making Chanyeol smile brightly at him again and nope, Baekhyun couldn’t do that. He didn’t know who gave permission to Chanyeol to be that friendly and dazzling but it wasn’t good for Baekhyun’s heart. It made it flutter strangely or thumping faster and nope, it wasn’t something Baekhyun needed in that moment nor any time soon.

“Does this mean that, if I ask, you will also accompany me to see your grandmother’s house next weekend?” Chanyeol asked, parking in front of the building where Baekhyun lived, making his eyes go even wider than before, again not expecting the proposal. What was happening? And why should they go there? Even though honestly Baekhyun missed the countryside in general and for a thing or another it was ages he didn’t go back to that village where his grandmother used to live.

“Chanyeol…” He started saying but Chanyeol turned around looking toward him, leaning his head on the side. “You have the whole week to think about it, but I’ll let my weekend open for it.” Chanyeol breathed, picking up his smartphone from his pocket and looking expectantly toward Baekhyun who inhaled deeply, picking up his own phone and sharing his contacts with Chanyeol.

He didn’t know why or what happened that day, but for sure something changed between them and what was a meeting started to seem like a date. They were friends, not barely acquaintances anymore. And they weren’t anymore on a surname basis.

What would that mean for Baekhyun? How would that friendship proceed? And those weird effects Chanyeol had on Baekhyun and that terribly resembled something that Baekhyun didn’t even want to consider, were really what they seemed to be?

Baekhyun was scared to know, but for some reason, he knew he was literally gravitating around Chanyeol and for the moment, he didn’t dislike that.

As promised, Chanyeol dropped by a few times that week, mainly to just chat and ask things about Baekhyun’s work. And not intending his work as Chanyeol’s fragrance, but more in general, how he decided to study more for that, how he got to collaborate with big brands, how he opened his shop in Seoul and why not in some other remote countries of Europe seeing that he mainly studied there and so on. It almost felt like a friendly interview, Chanyeol knowing exactly what to ask or how to interpret Baekhyun's answers to his questions.

It felt strange but pleasant having Chanyeol asking things honestly over his work and how actually became someone in his field and could afford that place, his expenses and having such expensive perfumes and fragrances without any of his clients ever speaking up about it.

It was almost closing time that Thursday and Baekhyun was about to close the shop, wondering if Chanyeol would drop by that day too, when a man came in, rushing and almost out of breath.

“Sir, we’re closing…” Baekhyun started saying, moving his stare toward the man, who more or less had their ages, deep red cheeks and breath uneven. “I know, I know… I’m just here to pick up an order. I received your email about it being ready.” The man explained, extracting his phone from his pocket and nearing the counter showing Baekhyun who nodded shortly, reaching him. Baekhyun pressed his eyeglasses better on his nose and looked at the order number and the perfume code before humming softly.

“Yeah, it’s ready. I’ll fetch it up for you. And the order was already partially paid if I don't make a mistake…” Baekhyun whispered, kneeling down near a small drawer and checking for some bills, neatly kept in an organiser and picking up the right one.

“Uhm, a due amount, yes. This is the total, what you paid and what’s left to pay,” Baekhyun explained shortly, showing the bill to the man whose face immediately got reddened, expression angrier, shaking his head.

“I paid enough already!” he shouted, making Baekhyun flinch, but only briefly because unfortunately it wasn’t the first time that happened to him. Generally his clients didn’t get worked up on prices or other things, but sometimes someone rude or someone full of themselves wanted to argue with him over the quality, the final product or the price. Baekhyun knew how to handle them.

“Mr. Choi, right? You requested for a special package, not only the fragrance itself. And that bottle you requested is not produced by me and I’m quite sure I showed you the price listing for the bottle and you agreed on that,” Baekhyun started saying, remembering well how the purchase of that fragrance went. Mr. Choi was indeed a bit nervous the day he came and asked Baekhyun to craft a perfume for his soon-to-be bride.

Nothing strange, actually, just a hunch that Baekhyun blamed on Mr. Choi’s eagerness in marrying soon and all the preparations and so on. He generally tried not to be too intrusive on client’s personal matters. Apart from a certain handsome, tall, amazingly scented, starry eyed, big eared journalist.

“You paid only for my services because I told you that if the bottle wouldn’t be available or if there were any problems with the manufacturer we didn’t want to deal with refunds or any other things, you remember?” Baekhyun added, showing the man also the catalogue from which they chose the particular bottle the man required, considering that Baekhyun only had plain transparent bottles for his finished products. The colourful bottles around the shop were only Baekhyun’s essential materials, personal-use fragrances or samples of perfumes he already did in the past.

However the man shook his head, glaring at him. “You’re trying to scam me, right? Because I already paid everything and you want more money now! Just give me the perfume or I’ll write about you! I’m a journalist!” The man shouted, menacing him with a finger, and despite Baekhyun not liking the idea of becoming any journalist’s enemy, he wouldn’t give in.

“Sue me, for how much I care. I remember what I told you and if you won’t pay I won’t consign it to you. Like I care if you’re a journalist or whoever else.” Baekhyun retorted huffing, shaking his head, crossing his arms to his chest but the man insisted, raising his voice too.

“I’ll ruin you and your little shop. You are not even rich enough to pay for some assistants, how would you afford a lawsuit?” The man let out chuckling, making Baekhyun click his tongue, now seriously pissed off.

“Are you menacing me, sir? Because…” Baekhyun started saying, but the front door opened tingling and Chanyeol came in, hair slightly drizzled with rain and Baekhyun shut up immediately, not wanting to make a scene with Chanyeol there.

“Ah, Bae–...” Chanyeol started saying but his stare moved immediately on the man near Baekhyun in front of Baekhyun’s scents organiser.

“Aren’t you Taehyun from editing?” Chanyeol asked briefly, making the man startle and bow profusely toward Chanyeol. “M-M-Mr. Park! A pleasure to encounter you here!” He greeted before gesturing toward Baekhyun, still half bowed.

“I-If Mr. Park needs something, anything, please serve him first.” He added immediately and he looked legitimately frightened of Chanyeol, making Baekhyun wonder which type of boss Chanyeol could be for his employees. Probably a very strict one, unbending and righteous? Considering also the family he came from. And also which type of person Mr. Choi was, considering that as soon as he recognised Chanyeol, he put down all that scene he was putting on before, almost like a tamed dog.

“Finish whatever you have to. I have something to deal with Mr. Byun later.” Chanyeol replied, even though his voice was cold and his stare stern on the man who bowed again, thanking him, stare moving reluctantly toward Baekhyun who looked at him, waiting.

Because his point stood as it was before Chanyeol came in from the door. He wouldn’t pay the cost of the bottle out of his own pockets. Mr. Choi had to pay for it if he wanted the finished product.

And as if nothing ever happened, including the menace, the I’m a journalist and whatever else that argument from before was, Mr. Choi chuckled softly, picking up his credit card from the wallet and Baekhyun picked up the POS from the counter. They set for the payment, going through smoothly and releasing not only the small credit card bill but also a regular invoice with all the details on what was previously paid and what he had just paid.

“I’ll bring your order immediately.” Baekhyun concluded even though it was clear that he wasn’t his regular nice self, but just pretended to behave kindly because Chanyeol was there and that awful man apparently worked for Chanyeol.

Baekhyun picked it up and brought it on the counter, showing it to the man that almost didn’t check it and once that Baekhyun prepared the small bag and gave it to him, the man fled from the store, not without deeply bowing toward Chanyeol a few more times but not a single word toward Baekhyun.

Baekhyun sighed shortly and picked up a small towel from behind the counter, frowning deeply. “You’re lucky that I always have one here at work. But umbrellas are not optional, you know?” Baekhyun asked him briefly, giving the item to Chanyeol who shrugged his shoulders, picking the small towel up, even though his stare was fixed on Baekhyun’s face.

“Did… something happen?” He asked toward Baekhyun who scrunched his nose, but shook his head, forcing a short smile toward Chanyeol. “Nothing I wouldn’t be able to solve, but your arrival definitely eased things down. Thank you.” Baekhyun replied softly, and he was kinda relieved that it simply ended like that, not having to deal with that man, his anger and how he was the one who was trying to scam Baekhyun, not the contrary.

“Taehyun gave you problems?” Chanyeol asked him, shortly drying his hair with the small towel Baekhyun gave him. Baekhyun shook immediately his head, forcing a short smile toward Chanyeol, trying to ease him down regarding whatever just happened with Mr. Choi. “No, no. No worries. It’s all okay. I didn’t know your employees were so frightened by your presence though, Mr. Park.” Baekhyun let out, moving the discourse away from there and Chanyeol chuckled softly, shaking his head, drying a bit more his hair.

“Let’s not downgrade back to Mr. Park, please,” Chanyeol joked and Baekhyun smiled softly, glancing better at him and if possible he was wearing even more formal clothes than usual. Baekhyun wondered what even happened to make Chanyeol look like that expensive-looking suit perfectly ironed, not even a crease including the white crisp shirt and the smooth necktie.

“No, no, sure. How was your day?” Baekhyun asked him, starting to busy himself with the closing procedures of the day, starting to put away all his stuff and counting the tills. He didn’t realise it immediately but Chanyeol followed him closer to the counter, leaning on the wall and looking at him, not replying to Baekhyun’s question.

“Did I ask you something wrong?” Baekhyun inquired, looking toward the taller, eyebrow raised, glasses slipping from his nose, trying to guess if he did or said something unusual or disliked by Chanyeol. Instead Chanyeol gestured with his head toward Baekhyun, clearly waiting for something too, making Baekhyun frown, not understanding what happened or what Chanyeol expected from him.

“You’re visibly upset, Baekhyun. If Taehyun did or said something wrong, I’d like to know that.” Chanyeol whispered, bringing back the discourse to what was happening when Chanyeol came into Baekhyun’s shop. The shorter inhaled deeply, stilling his hands on the drawer of the cashier.

“I don’t want to start anything, Chanyeol. Really, he’s about to marry. Maybe he was just… tired,” Baekhyun let out softly, forcing another small smile, trying to minimise what happened and how Mr. Choi almost menaced him for fraud or something along the lines. Baekhyun never found himself in that situation luckily, but he knew some lawyers so probably everything would be under control nevertheless.

Chanyeol frowned deeply, shaking his head, clearly disagreeing with Baekhyun. “Taehyun has been married for a while now,” he said, making Baekhyun scowl. He knew what the man told him when he went there the first time wanting to buy a personalised fragrance. It was for his soon-to-be bride. Baekhyun had no doubts.

“I must have understood wrongly…” Baekhyun whispered softly, even though he was wondering what could be happening around Mr. Choi. Could it be that he wanted to divorce from his previous wife and marry someone else? It wouldn’t be a surprise, but still Baekhyun couldn’t shake off the nervousness the man had the first time he came to Baekhyun’s shop.

Chanyeol instead didn’t let the discourse drift off again, instead he neared Baekhyun. “Are you sure he didn't say the perfume was for his wife?” Chanyeol asked him, looking intensely at Baekhyun’s face and when Baekhyun repeated the same definition Mr. Choi used, Chanyeol frowned even deeper.

“Soon-to-be bride?” He echoed and when Baekhyun just nodded, Chanyeol scrunched his nose, his expression difficult to read. Baekhyun didn’t understand what was happening but finally, Chanyeol hummed, nodding. “Maybe he’s planning to marry once again. I don’t know him very well.” Chanyeol concluded, making Baekhyun nod too, even though it was clear that there was something that made Chanyeol think in all that story.

And Baekhyun was about to ask more, but Chanyeol smiled toward him, a small smile blooming on his lips. “It’s Friday tomorrow, did you think about this weekend?” He suddenly asked toward Baekhyun who felt his cheeks getting warmer softly before he could busy himself again with the counting.

“Yes, I… It’s not near Seoul and it’s a long trip. You don’t have to go and…” Baekhyun started saying, trying again to convince Chanyeol that it wasn’t a good idea, especially because it was far and that around his grandmother’s house there was basically nothing.

However, Chanyeol shook his head briefly looking at him. “Again, are you finding excuses to refuse my invitation? Please feel free to say no if you don’t want to or you are not comfortable with going with me. I won’t take offence.” Chanyeol reminded him, smile not faltering on his lips even though his stare slightly darkened, losing fairly the caramel and honey hues it took every time Chanyeol set foot inside Baekhyun’s shop, almost like magic brighted his eyes up.

Baekhyun inhaled deeply, shaking his head. “It just doesn’t make sense, Chanyeol. You want to go and visit the small village where my grandma lived, together with me. Why?” Baekhyun asked him, and honestly he wanted to know because at that point it didn’t make any sense anymore. Why would Chanyeol have wanted to spend time with Baekhyun even outside Baekhyun’s shop, wanting to go on what started to seem more friendly dates than work appointments? Calling each other by name and visiting places together, especially places that had for Baekhyun such a relevance in his story?

“You are doing things for me and I thought it could be a good idea to get to know you more, seeing that you know a lot about me but I know the bare minimum you told me last time,” Chanyeol started saying softly making Baekhyun press his lips in a thin line, shaking his head.

“There’s nothing more to know. If it’s because you’re trying to understand something to write about me, you know all there’s to know already even though I would appreciate it if you won’t publish any story on me and my life.” Baekhyun breathed, keeping his eyes on the cashier and finally putting away what it was for that day and starting to turn off the computer and some lights. He was afraid of that familiarity that started to develop from that weird friendship, almost as unlikely bedfellows.

Baekhyun didn’t like how Chanyeol started to know him well enough to understand that he was upset. That he wanted to know more of a story that was always buried deeply, underneath that thick, amazing fame that Baekhyun built for himself with his natural talent in those years.

He knew that probably it was something innocent in Chanyeol’s head, something that didn’t probably have any other meaning if not knowing more about Baekhyun, but to Baekhyun that was something he wasn’t ready to share, to show, especially to someone as interesting and difficult to understand as Chanyeol was. He couldn’t afford letting him in and risking being hurt in return. There were sides of his personality and character, of his story and of his feelings that were best hidden as they were, unknown to anyone else.

“I told you already I am not doing this in order to have some scoop on your life or wanting to showcase it on a page of my newspaper,” Chanyeol let out shortly, forcing a short smile toward Baekhyun who was about to speak up again but Chanyeol stopped him with a brief gesture of his hand.

“However, I understand. I won’t propose anything that will somehow invade your privacy anymore. I apologise for making you feel uncomfortable.” Chanyeol concluded, hinting a short bow and Baekhyun sighed shortly, removing his apron and putting it on the chair behind the cashier.

“Thank you. And sorry for not being an easily befriendable person.” Baekhyun breathed, partially hinting a half-bow too, making Chanyeol shake his head. “It’s okay. Thank you for letting me know about it.” Chanyeol tried to reassure him, but his stare was once again darkened and not as sparkly as usual, making Baekhyun wonder why Chanyeol was so interested in the shorter, why he kept going there again and again.

However, Baekhyun knew that as soon as he would give Chanyeol his fragrance, then everything would be over. Another reason why he finished it so soon, even sooner than what he already thought. After that, Chanyeol would finally exit for his life, no other reason to keep hanging around, dropping by the shop and so on.

“I… have something for you, though. So I’m glad you stopped by.” Baekhyun breathed, moving toward the back of the shop and coming back with an amber coloured glass bottle filled with liquid. Chanyeol’s fragrance. After several tries with Chanyeol's too, Baekhyun finally found what he was looking for and even decided to go and buy a customised amber coloured bottle just for it to resemble Chanyeol's eyes every time he entered Baekhyun's shop.

Chanyeol’s eyes went wide in surprise, probably not expecting it so soon either, but meeting Baekhyun half-way back to where Chanyeol was.

“It’s…” Chanyeol started saying but Baekhyun was already nodding, giving it to him. “I changed some things at the very end, after last time we tried it together, but I hope you will like it.” Baekhyun started to explain, putting a bit of it on Chanyeol’s wrist, thumb smearing it briefly.

“As we said, it has yuzu, seeing you liked it so much. And for other top notes, I went with bergamot and Sichuan pepper,” Baekhyun continued, freeing Chanyeol’s hand, letting the taller sniff it a few times, Baekhyun's own fingers moving to press back his eyeglasses.

“As middle notes, I put lotus, violet and jasmine. Even though at the end I decided to freshen things up with a bit of mimosa too.” Baekhyun breathed, trying to understand what Chanyeol thought about it, even though his expression was once again difficult to read, simply focused on Baekhyun’s words and what he was saying.

“And finally the base notes are with musk and sandalwood, which enhance your natural scent and a bit of licorice.” He concluded, smiling softly toward him and Chanyeol nodded shortly, sniffing it again.

“I like it. You really got what I preferred, I’m more than surprised, even though I saw you at work both with Mrs. Nam’s perfume and other clients’ too.” Chanyeol nodded, smiling briefly toward him, even though there was something mild in that compliment. Almost like it was just a pleasantry said to appease Baekhyun in some ways and that gave him a weird feeling.

Did he not like it? Did Baekhyun mistake something? Not getting it right? Or was it just because Chanyeol realised too that that moment meant also something different for them? Not giving Chanyeol any more excuses to go there and visit Baekhyun?

“I’m glad to hear that, Chanyeol. Making clients satisfied with my perfumes is one of my greatest pride.” Baekhyun replied even though he didn’t look back at Chanyeol simply moved to pick up a small paper bag with his logo and opened it up.

“Can I pack it for you?” Baekhyun asked him and Chanyeol nodded briefly, giving back the glass bottle to Baekhyun who smiled shortly at him, packing it all up like he did for Mr. Choi slightly earlier that evening.

And once the small amber bottle was secured in the paper bag and back in Chanyeol’s hands, Baekhyun smiled briefly at him. “It was weird finally doing a perfume for Bora plus adding one for you, but I didn’t dislike it. Thank you for trusting my skills and I hope both this and Bora’s one will be used and cherished.” Baekhyun concluded, making Chanyeol nod briefly, picking the bag up better and smiling toward him.

“They sure will.” He declared, making Baekhyun nod shortly, really hoping that, especially for Chanyeol’s one. Because he knew that Bora would probably put it on just once to tell the whole world that Baekhyun finally cave in and gave her one of his fragrances. She would probably end up hiding the bottle somewhere together with so many others.

“I will excuse myself then. Thank you for your patience, especially at the beginning.” Chanyeol concluded and Baekhyun nodded shortly, forcing a small smile toward him. “No worries, it was a pleasant journey.” He simply assured him, making Chanyeol nod too and finally going away, greeting him only with a short see you around that Baekhyun reciprocated.

And he knew that Chanyeol didn’t do anything wrong, he didn’t ask for anything particular nor for something strange, but Baekhyun was genuinely too afraid to have someone that close into his life, the personal one, the one secret to everybody else, the one he kept so distant from newspapers and curious questions.

Baekhyun knew that he probably behaved like a jerk to Chanyeol, but there was nothing to see beyond the name Baekhyun built for himself those years. All his past was nothing but that and his character was not as pleasant as he forced himself to be around other people.

Chanyeol was for sure better off without being friends with Baekhyun.

Or at least so Baekhyun thought.

He thought that pushing Chanyeol out of his life, refusing to go with him to Baekhyun’s grandmother’s house and giving Chanyeol also his perfume, the taller would have understood that Baekhyun was trying to keep him out of his life.

Instead, Chanyeol stayed away only for a week more or less, ten days at maximum, but then one evening, while Baekhyun was turning everything off, Chanyeol came back. At the tingling sound of the door, Baekhyun didn’t even turn around, simply blurting out a short it’s closed.

That day was long and not only he had some difficulties dealing with clients, but also Mr. Choi came back again telling him that he still wanted to proceed with a lawsuit, more than convinced that Baekhyun scammed him.

Baekhyun told him he didn’t have time and other people came in after him so Mr. Choi went away pretty soon, but still it wasn’t a good day for Baekhyun who was quite tired even without Mr. Choi around.

“Do you have time?” Chanyeol’s voice asked, low and deep, making Baekhyun turn around immediately, surprised about the taller’s presence there, out of nothing, after ten days of complete silence.

He was always dressed formally as usual, but his hair was a bit messy, almost like he ran there. It was weirdly later than Chanyeol’s standards, almost eight-thirty pm, and Baekhyun frowned shortly, instinctively turning around the counter and going toward him, meeting him in the corridor.

“Sure, is everything fine?” Baekhyun asked him, trying to understand if everything was alright or if something was happening, judging by that lateness and Chanyeol’s dishevelled hair. Chanyeol rustled in his pockets and picked up something Baekhyun would never expect: a ring, a pair of earrings and a set of two hairpins with white and black cats pattern on them.

Baekhyun frowned, slender fingers picking up the items and inspecting them slowly, trying to understand what was happening. Clearly they were more feminine items, and Baekhyun didn’t think that Chanyeol owned something like that of his own. So maybe Bora’s? But they were too delicate and simple, almost girlish, for Bora who liked fancy stuff and to show off her accessories.

“They are cute.” Baekhyun let out softly, examining the silver earrings and noticing that they were embedded with a lot of small stars while the thin ring, equally silver or white gold, had a small diamond-like stone in the very middle of it.

“These are my sister’s. I would like to commission you a fragrance for her, for New Year.” Chanyeol stated, making Baekhyun’s eyes go wide in surprise, totally not expecting it. He had no reason to refuse the request, just he hoped to take some days off from New Year too. But it was for Chanyeol’s sister so he would do it for sure.

“Sure, tell me something about her? Like, what does she like? For sure something light and soft, as these items you brought me…” Baekhyun started saying, giving back the accessories and moving toward his scents organiser, in his head gears already moving and making him think about what could be good for someone with such a fine taste.

“She’s adorable, probably the only person I really love in my family. She’s amazing and strong, but with an elegance and refinement that it’s only hers. She loves fresh and light scents, like flowers but not too strong?” Chanyeol breathed softly, nearing where Baekhyun was standing too. Baekhyun nodded, fingers brushing over the caps of the bottles there.

“Maybe lily of the valley? Fresh and soft?” Baekhyun asked him, picking up the small bottle and Chanyeol leant in sniffing it directly from the bottle in Baekhyun’s hands, fingers moving gently on the back of Baekhyun’s hand. Chanyeol’s fingers were warm, again bringing back Baekhyun to those scenes that happened also before between the two of them, finding it weirdly familiar and almost nostalgic, even while knowing that it shouldn’t be like that.

They tried several scents before agreeing with something with notes of lily of the valley and peony. Baekhyun didn’t even realise it but all that talking about what Chanyeol’s sister could like brought them to almost nine and a half.

“It’s already so late. I’m sorry, I got taken by the idea of a new fragrance…” Baekhyun whispered, quickly fixing his eyeglasses, starting to settle down the small bottles he brought out before and forcing a soft smile toward Chanyeol who immediately shook his head.

“No, no, I should be the one who’s sorry. I came here and requested something out of your work time and make you stay here until so late…” Chanyeol stated shortly in retort and despite being sorry it was clear that there was something else plaguing Chanyeol’s tone and the way he looked toward Baekhyun.

“And I know what I said last time, but would you let me offer you dinner? To apologise for this inconvenience?” Chanyeol asked him shortly, looking toward Baekhyun who slightly gripped harder on one of the small bottles in his hands.

Why? Why was Chanyeol back again and trying so hard to be in some ways part of Baekhyun’s life? Was it really just to thank Baekhyun for staying in the shop even longer than expected, accepting the request for Chanyeol’s sister?

However, that evening Baekhyun didn’t have any strength to refuse Chanyeol nor his proposal, because he honestly would use some company too, even just not to go immediately back home and be alone with himself as usual. Not that he disliked that, regularly, but some days he just wanted to go out and talk with someone, spend a different evening out.

“Something not too fancy, I’m not dressed well enough for five stars restaurants as those you always go to.” Baekhyun agreed briefly, seeing Chanyeol’s eyes widen in surprise at Baekhyun’s acceptance, honey hues and caramel stars sparkle in his stare, immediately way more relieved than before.

“Sure, I promise nothing fancy.” He retorted, smiling at Baekhyun who smiled briefly toward him too, taking off his apron and, after switching off all the lights, he followed Chanyeol out of the shop, locking the door and pulling down the shutter.

They walked slowly toward Chanyeol’s car and once inside, Chanyeol whispered a short thanks for indulging my request, to which Baekhyun huffed a soft chuckle, shaking his head. “Better be somewhere good. I didn’t have anything for lunch today and my dinner would probably be some leftover bibimbap or something like that.” Baekhyun replied, trying to ease the mood down but earning himself a frown from Chanyeol.

“How come you didn’t eat lunch today?” Chanyeol asked him and Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders. “Forgot to pack something and had a lot of customers today so I couldn’t close as usual for my lunch break.” Baekhyun explained briefly, fingers moving on his glasses, fixing them but Chanyeol was already scrunching his nose, totally disagreeing with that.

Despite that, Chanyeol didn’t add anything else and drove until a small restaurant, slightly off the city centre. On the outside it was small and with wooden sliding doors, but inside it was strangely bigger than expected and a cute young woman with a rounded face welcomed them.

They sat down and Baekhyun picked up the menu, browsing through it, curiously, finding a lot of local cuisine he hadn't eaten in a while, especially homemade for the look of that small restaurant.

“Any suggestions?” Baekhyun asked him softly, fingers brushing the paper over some dishes that caught his attention more than others. Chanyeol thought a bit about it before replying, laying down his own menu and tapping on some dishes.

“For sure japchae, if you fancy it. They do it with basically everything. Or some bulgogi if you want, but I suggest sharing because their servings are quite… abundant.” Chanyeol started saying, making Baekhyun nod briefly, considering what he could order of all those tasty-sounding dishes.

“We could share jjigae and then bulgogi if you say that their servings are enough for both of us…” Baekhyun considered, eyes not leaving the menu and when Chanyeol didn’t reply anything, he lifted his stare up, meeting Chanyeol’s eyes, once again sparkling in honey and amber hues.

Baekhyun was always more fascinated and enthralled by it, almost as much as he was of Chanyeol’s whole presence, his natural scent those times he didn’t take a bath in perfume, and the reason why Chanyeol still looked for Baekhyun’s company despite everything.

“Chan-...” Baekhyun started saying but Chanyeol stretched his arm over the table, softly picking up something from Baekhyun’s hair, making Baekhyun shut up immediately, stilling at the gesture, way too close and intimate, making his cheeks gently blush up.

“A small feather from the jacket,” Chanyeol breathed, showing the small thing to Baekhyun who nodded shortly, fingers going to fix his hair behind his ear, smiling briefly at him. “Thank you. Padded jackets are the best, but sometimes it happens.” He retorted and Chanyeol simply nodded, finally agreeing with Baekhyun’s initial proposal for jjigae and bulgogi.

The evening went on quietly, pleasantly, between soft chat about everything and nothing and good food. Baekhyun was surprised by the quality of the small restaurant, it was really good and tasty and the servings were indeed huge.

He also had to admit it, even while not liking it very much, but Chanyeol was a more than pleasant company, polite yet fun, talking about possibly everything with his immense culture, both from their homeland and from other countries as well. Baekhyun hated how Chanyeol was indeed interesting and if it wasn’t related to dating Bora, probably Baekhyun would consider a possible hook up with Chanyeol. Especially considering how Baekhyun was naturally attracted by Chanyeol’s natural scent.

However, that couldn’t be, nor in that moment nor anytime soon, and Baekhyun had to do his best in order to make sure that Chanyeol would never get a hunch of that weird attraction Baekhyun had for him.

And even after dinner, after Chanyeol paid again for everything, unhearing of Baekhyun’s protests, after Chanyeol drove Baekhyun back home, Baekhyun knew that the more he would spend time with Chanyeol, the worse the situation would become. He knew that, he understood it perfectly, but when Chanyeol smiled at him, stating a short “thank you for tonight, see you tomorrow”, Baekhyun got even better how fucked he was.

Because whatever might have happened from there on, for how much Baekhyun would end up refusing Chanyeol, trying to keep him out of his life, eventually Chanyeol would have found his way back and Baekhyun would let him again and again without any doubt. He didn’t know why or how, but it was exactly like that. And he needed to protect himself from whatever could possibly happen down the road.

Chanyeol started to stop by also during lunchtime, to invite Baekhyun out or to bring him something to eat. Baekhyun told him several times it wasn't necessary but somehow he was happy with it and started to get accustomed to Chanyeol’s presence around.

However, Baekhyun wasn’t an idiot and he could clearly recognize the telltale of his own interest toward the taller man. Baekhyun wasn’t simply interested in his presence, or how acculturated he was. Also Chanyeol’s build and especially his natural scent attracted Baekhyun considerably, enough that he caught himself a few times daydreaming about it, even though he would never openly admit it to anyone. But still he was more than simply interested in Chanyeol and his now constant presence in Baekhyun’s life.

Enough to bring back the discourse again with Minseok and Jongdae once that they went out together to drink something, the only moment in which Baekhyun pretended to be in his thirties again.

“So you’re telling us that this man keeps coming to your shop, invites you out for lunch break and sometimes even for dinner and you didn’t try anything yet with him?! Despite you being clearly interested in him too?” Jongdae asked him, unbelieving, shaking his head and Baekhyun sighed deeply, fingers playing with the condense on the cold glass of his beer.

“It’s not this easy. And he’s just friendly…” Baekhyun started saying but Minseok stopped him, shaking his head, clearly disagreeing with him. “Baek, honestly, why would he come back if he had nothing in mind? If he didn’t find you equally interesting?” Minseok interrupted him, shaking his head, clearly letting out not only his thoughts but also Jongdae’s.

Baekhyun though groaned, downing his beer, knowing that it couldn’t be that. “Come on guys, he’s from a super rich family, not to mention that he will be engaged to Bora…” Baekhyun started to say briefly, nervously fixing his glasses, but Jongdae stopped him with a short gesture of his hand.

“He is forced by his family. You told us too, or am I mistaken? Your amber eyed, tall, handsome customer is gay, honey. He’s clearly expressing his interest toward you and not only your perfumes.” Jongdae retorted again, scrunching his nose and Minseok was already nodding near him, fervently, supporting his idea.

“It’s not…” Baekhyun started saying again, but Minseok stopped him again, elbowing shortly Jongdae. “Let’s bet that after a perfume for his sister, he will come back with a perfume for someone else!” He exclaimed all giddy and happy, making Baekhyun huff and shake his head briefly.

“He won’t. There’s no way that he’s in any way interested romantically nor even sexually in me… Come on, I’m out of games for so long already.” Baekhyun objected, pouting before sipping some more beer but Jongdae glared at him.

“For your own decision, if I don't make a mistake. Wasn’t there that cute guy that always came asking if he could become your assistant? Or again all those one-night stands you had and that wanted your number for something more but you always refused them?” Jongdae reminded him, counting things on his fingers but Baekhyun stopped him immediately, fingers easily closing over Jongdae’s.

“Yeah, you’re right, I know.” Baekhyun blurted out, shrugging his shoulders and smiling softly toward him. “What you say it’s true, but I highly doubt that he has any interest nor will he be back after this fragrance.” Baekhyun added immediately but from the stare the other two shared, it was clear what they really thought about it.

And Baekhyun had his confirmation not more than a week later when, after giving the taller the fragrance he requested for his sister, Chanyeol showed up again in his shop a few days later once again, a new commission ready for Baekhyun, this time for an aunt.

“I thought about taking some days off from New Year, though. Is it an urgent matter?” Baekhyun asked him, trying to shake off from his thoughts how Minseok and Jongdae would have exchanged a high-five in the very same moment they would know about what just happened.

Chanyeol was already shaking his head, slightly smiling toward him, assuring him that it wasn’t anything urgent or impelling. However, even before Baekhyun could thank him for being understanding, Chanyeol hummed shortly, fingers going to play with the paper cup in his hands with the infusion Baekhyun poured for him.

“Your shop will be closed then?” Chanyeol asked him and Baekhyun nodded shortly, frowning, wondering why that question, being it quite obvious considering that Baekhyun didn’t have any assistant.

Chanyeol hummed again, stare casting down, amber fading a bit, back to his regular brown. Baekhyun wanted to pat his head, caressing his hair and reassuring him that they could see even if the store would be closed for a week or so.

And refrained from doing so, but words left his mouth without even thinking about them. “We can meet even outside if you are not too busy…” Baekhyun let out softly, fingers brushing his eyeglasses up his nose, and even before he could finish the sentence, Chanyeol already raised his head, eyes sparkling again oh so brightly, nodding pleased with Baekhyun’s suggestion. Apparently neither of them expected Baekhyun to bring the matter out, but Chanyeol was so excited about it that Baekhyun didn’t have in his heart to pull back his proposal.

Especially because he finally decided to simply live it as it came, trying to understand where that journey with Chanyeol would lead him, if it was true that Chanyeol was in any way interested with Baekhyun or not and so on.

However, the sudden call he received a few days later, almost around midday, coming from Chanyeol’s personal phone, caught him by surprise. “Hello?” Baekhyun replied briefly, trying to understand what was happening seeing that it was quite rare for Chanyeol to call at that hour, wondering if Chanyeol didn’t mistake the number.

“Hey, sorry for bothering you. I have a big favour to ask you. I don’t know how I will repay it, but if you could help me out, I’ll find a way.” Chanyeol started, making Baekhyun frown shortly, pressing his phone against his ear better. “If it’s something I can do…” Baekhyun replied shortly, a mix of curiosity and surprise in his tone, totally not knowing what Chanyeol could ask him to do.

“Would you be able to go and retrieve something for me from a shop and bring it here at the newspaper building? I know I’m bothering but I don’t have anyone I could ask to and I actually need that.” Chanyeol explained briefly, making Baekhyun frown again, pressing his fingers on his nose, slightly moving away his glasses, and even though for a second he felt like an errand guy, he knew how some tasks could be bothersome when one couldn’t leave their workplace.

“It’s okay, I was home. What do I have to retrieve? And can you send me the right address of your office, because I never went there…” Baekhyun replied briefly, picking up a small sticky note and a pen to write down what Chanyeol was about to tell him, but Chanyeol stopped him, sighing in relief on the other side of the phone.

“I will send you all the details by message. You are really a saviour, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol let out and he was really relieved even in his tone. Baekhyun instead reassured him and after a few more sentences, they hung up and Baekhyun waited for the message with all the details.

Apparently what Baekhyun needed to retrieve was a dry cleaned suit from the laundry a few blocks away from where Chanyeol’s offices were. Nothing too difficult to do and they were also on the metro line, so Baekhyun didn’t have to move the car at all. He put some decent clothes on and left his house, off to run that errand.

Metro was a bit crowded but not too much and inside the shop there was no one so Baekhyun did pretty fast with retrieving the item. Especially when he mentioned that it was for Mr. Park Chanyeol. The girl behind the counter immediately started to fret and in less than two minutes he had the suit all packed, iron pressed and perfectly neat.

“Thank you. Do I owe you something?” Baekhyun asked her, but the girl was already shaking her head, almost surprised about Baekhyun asking that, but he thanked her again, leaving the shop and going toward Chanyeol’s office.

While he was walking he saw a small bento shop and wondered if Chanyeol ate something or if he would have time for that considering that he couldn’t even go and retrieve the suit himself. And after debating with himself for a few moments, he decided to stop by and buy a packed lunch for Chanyeol.

He chose what found more suitable for the taller, considering his tastes and preferences and after paying, he went finally toward the office. The building was the tallest in the area, more than thirty floors for sure and Baekhyun went to a lot of places in his life, but hardly inside of something that tall.

When he entered, two guards looked at him weirdly but an old woman at the counter made him gesture to get near her. “Mr. Park told me to escort you up. You’re Mr. Byun, right?” She asked him and Baekhyun nodded softly, following her to the elevator. The old woman had a strong perfume, something surely based on lilies but weirdly mixing with camphor, making it difficult to stand for Baekhyun even outside the elevator, making him cringe already.

“Mr. Park is always so busy. Apologies, you had to go and retrieve his suit.” The woman continued, but Baekhyun was shaking his head shortly. “It’s okay, I was free today.” He simply replied and when they entered the elevator, the woman glanced toward the small plastic bag in Baekhyun’s opposite hand, the one that didn’t hold the suit. “Is that for you, Mr. Byun?” She asked briefly and even before Baekhyun could reply, a bit stunned by the strong perfume, she forced another smile toward him.

“Mr. Park is so picky on what he eats, always ordering his take-outs from the most prestigious restaurants.” She added and Baekhyun nodded, forcing a short smile toward her, wondering why he decided to stop somewhere and buy something to eat for Chanyeol. It was obvious that he would order for some gourmet restaurants or something like that.

He was only thankful that the elevator doors pinged open and the woman could lead him in a long corridor until a door on which there was written CEO office : Park Chanyeol in golden letters. “Please. I will wait for you outside.” She concluded and Baekhyun nodded, thanking her before knocking at the door.

“Yeah, it’s open.” Chanyeol’s stern voice came from inside and Baekhyun pushed the door open slowly, peeking in. The office was huge, almost a whole floor of that tall building, all glasses, and an amazing view on the cityline. “It’s me…” Baekhyun started and Chanyeol appeared immediately near him, smiling and bowing several times toward him, even though there was a huge stain of coffee on his otherwise impeccable grey suit.

“Ah, Baekhyun, thank you. My secretary is already busy with another commission. Thank you so, so, so much!” He greeted him and Baekhyun was about to shake his head, telling him that there was no problem at all, that Chanyeol frowned shortly, looking at the plastic bag in Baekhyun’s hand.

“Is that something to eat?” Chanyeol asked him and his eyes were sparkling as usual with amber and honey hues, enough that Baekhyun could only nod softly, glasses briefly slipping down his nose, but even before he could speak up, Chanyeol thanked him again at least three thousand times.

“I was starving and I have now a meeting that will probably go on for hours and an idiot splattered my jacket with coffee this morning and… you’re really a saviour, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol whispered, showing him better the stain, but he looked really relieved and glad that Baekhyun brought not only Chanyeol’s suit but also some food.

Baekhyun smiled briefly toward him, shaking his head. “I don’t know if it will suit your taste. It’s from one of the stands down here in the main street. I put inside some stew, kimchi, some grilled beef, rice and…” Baekhyun started saying, listing what he put inside the packed lunch, but Chanyeol shook his head, picking up the small bag.

“It will be amazing, Baekhyun. Thank you. Do you mind keeping me company for a bit while I eat and change my suit so I’ll accompany you down later?” Chanyeol asked him and Baekhyun shook his head smiling at him. “You have to sit down to eat though. And maybe it’s better if I tell the old woman who showed me the way not to wait for me…” Baekhyun breathed, gesturing toward the door and Chanyeol frowned shortly, looking at him perplexed.

“An old woman?” Chanyeol echoed and Baekhyun nodded, furrowing his brows too, wondering why Chanyeol was so surprised about it. The woman stood at the entrance of the place, behind the reception counter, knew Chanyeol and how to get to his office, so Baekhyun thought that she was just the receptionist or some kind of secretary.

When Chanyeol opened the door though, there was no one outside, making Baekhyun frown even deeper than before, sure that he was escorted there by the old woman, still feeling that woman’s strong perfume in his nostrils. But they just dropped the subject, Baekhyun hushing Chanyeol to sit down and eat, considering how little time Chanyeol had to do it before his awfully long meeting.

They chatted while Chanyeol ate, something light about their days, how Baekhyun’s vacations were going and so on. It felt pleasant, especially seeing Chanyeol ease down in what was more comfortable than his stern appearance, that human side he showed only when he was around Baekhyun.

Baekhyun started to notice it when they started to meet also outside ScentHub and Chanyeol always had this cold and stern behaviour that slowly melted down only as Chanyeol spent time with Baekhyun. The shift was so clear that it got Baekhyun thinking about why Chanyeol was that different while he was around the shorter man. Baekhyun didn’t have any explanation for it though and neither was he brave enough to openly ask about it.

And when, after Chanyeol finished eating, he started to take off his shirt, opening a long and tall closet-looking appliance that to Baekhyun looked like a clothes sanitizer, taking from it a new shirt.

“Usually I also have more suits inside here, especially jackets, but last week I totally forgot to bring some new ones and it resulted with your errand today. I’m really grateful, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol whispered, discarding the shirt he had on in favour of a new one.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but notice how toned and broad Chanyeol’s back was, almost perfectly sculpted, and how his proportions with his waist were indeed perfect. Baekhyun wasn’t exactly an expert on that but he could appreciate beauty nevertheless, especially in the form of someone already as attractive as Chanyeol was. Baekhyun honestly didn't know how much he would pay to get to touch Chanyeol’s skin even once, getting his scent directly from there…

“I told you, I was home. Glad I could be useful, though…” Baekhyun breathed in reply, forcing his stare away, not wanting Chanyeol to catch him staring, because he definitely was staring at him, enthralled and wondering how smooth and pleasant to touch would be Chanyeol’s skin. Wondering how strong his natural scent would be directly on his skin, arousal making him slightly shiver at the only thought of it.

No, stop thinking about it! – Baekhyun reprimanded, mentally slapping himself for being a creep and knowing that that for Chanyeol was only some kind of friendship born from a twist of fate, namely Bora’s perfume. It would never be, as Minseok and Jongdae told him, something more than that.

“Exactly because you were home. And how does it look like? Should I change my slacks too?” Chanyeol asked him, turning around and looking toward Baekhyun, putting the jacket over his slacks and noticing a difference in colour.

Baekhyun noticed it too and scrunched his nose, shaking his head. “It’s quite different…” he admitted, making Chanyeol groan but nodding and picking up the slacks that matched with the jacket, moving away toward a door near the closet.

“No chances then.” Chanyeol concluded, disappearing behind the door and Baekhyun sighed briefly, but shifted his stare outside, beyond those beautiful glasses that faced the centre of Seoul. From there the panorama was indeed stunning and he found himself thinking what Chanyeol felt and thought inside that office, everyday, while writing about all the news that Seoul and the world were facing those days.

Was Chanyeol relieved by that sight? Finding some kind of solace, especially in days in which bad news overcame the good ones, darkening their world with each passing day? Or he was simply so accustomed to that cityline that he didn’t feel anything at all, neither at night when, after a long work day, the sun set and the city lights started to turn on like a million stars in the sky?

“This was the HR office before we came in, but this sight bewitched me and I wanted it for my office.” Chanyeol’s voice stated from behind Baekhyun, making him turn around, smiling softly at the now fully dressed man. He looked as stunning as the panorama outside, Baekhyun had to admit it. The charcoal grey suit fit him perfectly, caressing his sides and figure beautifully.

“I can see why. Especially at night, this must be such an amazing cityline.” Baekhyun agreed, glancing again outside and Chanyeol reached him, standing at his side, looking outside too. “Reminds me why I do this work. That there’s plenty of beautiful things in this world worth fighting for. Despite some days, we feel like horrific news may pull us under, this gives me strength to fight one day more, a while longer, for what matters the most.” Chanyeol breathed, attracting Baekhyun’s stare.

Chanyeol’s eyes were almost liquid, showing amazingly bright sparkle inside them, twirling in those honey and amber hues, and Baekhyun’s lips parted softly, surprised yet raptured by that sight too. It was rare hearing Chanyeol speak that fondly and that greatly of his work and, knowing all he went through to get to work there and do what he always wanted to do, made Baekhyun’s heart ache, overflowing with contrasting emotions.

And maybe it was also for that, or heavens knew for other reasons, but his lips moved on their own, speaking up, fingers pushing his glasses better on. “Saturday, come with me. I’m going home.” Baekhyun breathed, earning himself a perplexed stare from Chanyeol, before he could simply nod, smiling softly at him.

“Thank you.” Chanyeol breathed in reply, stare not leaving Baekhyun’s regular light brown one, losing himself in it as Baekhyun did too, simply standing there and looking in each other’s eyes, almost like that instant was perfectly frozen in time, world staying completely outside, a far memory somewhere in the back of their minds.

However, it couldn’t last forever and Chanyeol’s phone ringtone rang in the air, bringing them back to reality, Chanyeol hastily picking it up and reassuring his interlocutor that he was going to the meeting in a few minutes no more.

“I…” he started saying but Baekhyun spoke up too, a soft “I guess I overstayed” leaving his lips, moving toward the door, followed by Chanyeol. “It was a pleasure having you here and I’m still grateful for the suit, the packed lunch and… your invitation on Saturday.” Chanyeol said while closing the office and escorting Baekhyun to the elevator.

Baekhyun hummed briefly, stare moving on the floor, still wondering if he did good in inviting Chanyeol along to go and visit his grandmother’s village and house, but still he couldn’t take it back anymore. And maybe, after all, Chanyeol would be a great company and he would prevent Baekhyun from drowning in memories that weren’t always pleasant as he wished them to be when he visited the old village.

“I wish you good luck with the meeting,” Baekhyun added and when the lift’s doors pinged open, Chanyeol gestured to Baekhyun to enter before him. Baekhyun smiled briefly, going in, followed by Chanyeol who pressed first the zero button, making Baekhyun frown. On the ground floor there was only the reception and then entrance, highly doubtful that Chanyeol had a meeting there.

Even before he could comment on that, Chanyeol spoke up, stare raising on the numbers lighting up near the door, slowly counting down to zero. “I will need it for sure. And no worries, I’m the CEO here, they will forgive me for two minutes of tardiness. So lemme accompany you down.” He concluded and it was final, enough that Baekhyun knew that there wasn’t anything more to counter.

The ride down was silent but not that awkward silence there could be between two strangers, no. It was a weirdly comfortable one, one that Baekhyun learnt to appreciate when Chanyeol started to be a frequent visitor of his shop and sometimes just stayed there, in silence, looking at Baekhyun trying fragrances, exploring new scents or simply settling things down for the closing of the shop.

Even though for sure, once again the contained space in where they were made Chanyeol’s natural scent even stronger that usual, filling Baekhyun’s lungs and head with it, mind playing again footages of what happened not ten minutes earlier, glimpse of Chanyeol’s golden skin still peeking up in his mind. It wasn't good…

“I’ll write to you later for this weekend?” Baekhyun asked him briefly, trying to distract himself, when they were almost down to zero and Chanyeol nodded, smiling toward him, stuffing his hands in his pockets before he turned around looking at Baekhyun fully.

“Will you tell me what changed your mind?” Chanyeol inquired softly, making Baekhyun’s eyes grow in surprise, totally not expecting that question, especially not when they were about to separate for that day. Why not ask it before?

“Maybe on Saturday.” Baekhyun shortly replied, quickly moving his fingers on Chanyeol’s necktie and fixing it around the taller’s neck, earning himself a surprised stare. But it was just in time for the doors to ping open again, Baekhyun’s fingers going to fix his glasses and Chanyeol nodded shortly, hinting a short bow. “See you in a few days, then. Thank you again for today.” Chanyeol concluded, briefly waving at him and Baekhyun bowed quickly too before leaving the elevator and waving his hand too until the doors closed again and he could release a long sigh, pressing his hand on his chest.

Strangely enough when he passed again in the reception area, the old woman wasn’t there. There was just a tall man and a girl who looked barely in-age for working, maybe an intern or a university trainee. However, Baekhyun’s thoughts were lost somewhere else, on how dangerously enthralling Chanyeol looked before in the office and how Baekhyun started to surrender more and more to the taller man's requests and ideas. He realised once again how attracted he was to Chanyeol.

It was better though fast forwarding toward that Saturday, thinking about the details, when to depart, if it was better to propose to Chanyeol to go with his own car or Baekhyun’s and things like that.

It was the first time in a while that Baekhyun was equally worried yet excited for a different day out. And it wasn’t only because he was literally going back where he grew up.

Saturday obviously came too early, those two days in between passing so fast that Baekhyun barely realised living through them.

In the end, Chanyeol offered to drive them there, especially because his car was a little bit bigger than Baekhyun’s and also Chanyeol drove definitely more than Baekhyun who, despite owning a driving licence, barely used his car if not for exceptional happenings.

You’ll be in charge of guiding me around - Chanyeol just eased him and Baekhyun agreed to that even though he almost forced Chanyeol to accept paying for the gas cost to go and come back there, considering it was his own proposal visiting that far.

Baekhyun’s grandmother lived in one of those villages that, if one never went there, probably was seen only on TV documentaries or old pictures in history books. The nature around it was flourishing and astounding, but to get there from Seoul it took them almost three hours and half, not exactly a journey one could do everyday and maybe not even every week.

The journey there was pleasant, as always when Chanyeol was around, because Baekhyun couldn’t fail to realise that everytime the taller was around, things seemed to be lighter, more enjoyable and Baekhyun himself faced them with a whole different spirit.

Chanyeol was also strangely dressed way less formally than usual, black straight jeans taking slacks’ place, and despite the never failing white, crisp shirt, Chanyeol wore a beautiful beige sweater over it instead of his jackets. He looked honestly beautiful, another weak point for Baekhyun. He also couldn’t fail to notice how inside Chanyeol’s car the expensive Scots pine deodorant disappeared, not being substituted with anything else, probably not to annoy Baekhyun. Needless to say that Baekhyun found it unbelievably nice of Chanyeol.

Halfway there, Chanyeol asked him if it was fine stopping by a gas station, even just to pick up some water bottles and some snacks. Baekhyun agreed even though he found it kinda cute how Chanyeol also bought some tiger-shaped biscuits filled with chocolate cream.

And during the second half of the journey, questions started. “How long did you live with your grandmother?” Chanyeol started asking him, earning himself a soft hum from Baekhyun who glanced outside the window.

“After my parents got a hunch that I had this… developed smell sense? They couldn’t bring me with them as they did with my brother so they basically gave me to my grandma. She raised me until my parents finally settled down,” Baekhyun started saying, remembering with enormous affection yet piercing pain those years so far in his memory.

He missed his grandmother and those times spent together, especially when he was younger and he knew and understood less of life in general. All seemed to be that easy during those years. “I went back there every now and then, though, even after my parents came back. I needed it. City life was suffocating for me at first.” Baekhyun explained, fingers moving on the small bag of cookies Chanyeol bought and opening it, picking up one and giving it to Chanyeol.

Surprisingly, Chanyeol leant down and eat directly from Baekhyun’s fingers instead of picking up the small cookie himself, and despite Baekhyun felt his cheeks blush up gently, he knew that probably it was just because Chanyeol didn’t want to get crumbles or stains on the steering wheel.

“Uhm, so you’re more a nature kid than others, right?” Chanyeol observed, soft smile appearing on his lips and Baekhyun chuckled softly, nodding. “You can say that. My grandma always had to look for me at the park or in the fields behind the house. I was a bit too curious for my own good. Reason why she started teaching me about herbal medicine.” Baekhyun replied, almost a bit proudly of it, because it was the start of everything that brought him to pursue his career as perfumer.

He picked up a cookie too, eating it and humming at the sweet taste. “The start of Mr. Byun, the amazing perfumer.” Chanyeol noted and Baekhyun smiled at him, nodding in approval. “I would probably end up hating this gift, as she called it, if it wouldn’t be for my grandma. My parents always treated it as something disturbing, to be hidden and repressed in order to live a normal life,” Baekhyun explained, munching another cookie before giving another one to Chanyeol too who took it in the same way as before.

It just felt right, in that weird domesticity that came to be between them, even with unwritten and untold rules and agreements. Baekhyun would lie if he was to say that he didn’t like that in the least. It made him feel weirdly soft and warm.

“It’s strange though. I mean, usually parents tend to use at their fullest whatever peculiar traits their children might have. For example my sister, Yoora, I’ve talked about her already but she’s an amazing television announcer because her voice was always so clear and defined and my parents made her attend elocution lessons. And she’s beautiful, moreover, so…” Chanyeol observed, frowning a bit, trying to understand why Baekhyun’s parents never tried to develop his gift instead of trying to bury it.

And Baekhyun knew that way too well too, wondering for so many years why his parents didn’t push for him to develop this peculiar trait, as Chanyeol just defined it, but after a lot of years, and only thanks to his grandmother, he came to know that his parents considered him a sort of monster because it wasn’t normal nor good having something like that. And as if that wasn’t enough, that made Baekhyun super sensitive to all the scents and smells, making him difficult to bring around with them and to fit in those days’ society.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t feel like it,” Chanyeol added shortly, probably worried about Baekhyun’s prolonged silence, but he was just lost in his thoughts so he shook his head briefly, fixing his eyeglasses and smiling at him. “It’s just… difficult to raise a kid who is always picky on places and people because they smell.” Baekhyun let out honestly, only a partial part of the whole reason, but enough to make Chanyeol understand what went on in his kid and teenager years.

Chanyeol huffed a brief chuckle, shaking his head. “Does it mean that I don’t smell too bad?” Chanyeol asked him, smile not leaving his lips and Baekhyun felt his cheeks grow warmer, teeth going to nibble on his bottom lip. “You mean when you don’t take a bath in expensive perfumes?” Baekhyun countered, trying not to let his embarrassment speak for him and making Chanyeol laugh, this time slightly louder, pristine and so cutely that Baekhyun felt a pang in his heart.

“Touché.” Chanyeol admitted, making Baekhyun smile too, picking up the last cookie and dividing it in half. He was about to give one of those to Chanyeol, when the taller spoke up again, this time definitely making Baekhyun blush up to his hair.

“Still, it means that I smell nice enough for you to accept my presence near you, even now, in such a small place as my car.” Chanyeol added, quickly glancing toward him and Baekhyun just casted his stare down, on his fingers and on the broken cookie. He knew it was like that, absolutely, but from knowing that to admit it to Chanyeol there was an ocean in between.

It wasn’t a secret anymore and Baekhyun knew it oh so damn well. Every time they were close or in small spaces like in that moment, Baekhyun had to invoke all his strength not to lean in and sniff Chanyeol’s perfume, letting it guide Baekhyun's mind to way less friendly intents.

So Baekhyun shifted the subject away, carefully trying to avoid the matter in the best way possible. “You haven’t used the perfume I made yet, though. It doesn’t suit your tastes? I won’t get offended if you say yes…” Baekhyun breathed, giving him one of the halves of the cookie and Chanyeol scrunched his nose before eating it directly again from Baekhyun’s fingers.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love it. So much that I’m afraid of using it because I don’t want it to finish,” Chanyeol replied briefly, but it was clear that it wasn’t only that and Baekhyun didn’t know why Chanyeol felt like he had something to hide on that, but as many other things between them, Baekhyun was just too coward to ask him directly, and not because he feared that Chanyeol really disliked it.

“I see.” He simply concluded, and if before he thought he would have eaten the other half of the cookie himself, now he simply gave it to Chanyeol who frowned but ate it nevertheless. And even before Chanyeol could comment or retort something, Baekhyun gestured toward a side street a little bit further on from where they were.

“Turn to the left, we’re almost there.” Baekhyun instructed and Chanyeol nodded shortly, following Baekhyun’s indications and taking the narrow street down until a small village that was mainly composed of a hundred buildings between houses, shops, town hall and two little sanctuaries.

Chanyeol parked the car in the parking lot just behind the town hall and went out of the car, picking up his jacket from the back seats, putting it on while looking around himself. Honestly, apart from some people going and coming from the fields there was not much to see or do.

It was just a minuscule village in between of a rural area far from everything that was considered civilization those days. Baekhyun inhaled deeply, lungs filling with such a nostalgic smell that instantly on his lips a soft smile appeared.

“Let’s go?” Baekhyun whispered, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket and Chanyeol nodded, following him. They started to walk toward where his grandmother’s house was, streets were narrow and unpaved, clearly a bit muggy too probably due to the snow of the past few days.

“In springtime and summer here it is more lively. A lot of youngsters come here to help with the gathering, but right now only the elders are living and working here.” Baekhyun started explaining, quickly gesturing beyond the town hall and in the other direction too where the fields were.

“What do they harvest here?” Chanyeol asked him interested and Baekhyun smiled at him brightly, remembering suddenly how many summers and springs he took part in the gatherings. “Cabbage, mostly. But also onions, radish, pumpkins, strawberries and, oh, sweet potatoes! Those are the tastiest around here.” Baekhyun started listing, counting things on his hands, extending his fingers and Chanyeol nodded, pleased by how many vegetables were grown there.

“Behind my grandma’s house there was a huge field of sweet potatoes. We gathered them together and she made the tastiest mooncakes with that.” Baekhyun added, soft smile not leaving his lips and he remembered everything oh so in detail that he didn’t even know how he still got all those recollections in mind.

Chanyeol’s eyes sparkled brightly, cheeks getting slightly redder. “Oh, mooncakes! It's been ages since the last time I ate some homemade ones! Probably when my sister made some in laboratories at school!” Chanyeol exclaimed, surprised by the sudden mention and Baekhyun nodded toward one ancient-looking shop who sold vegetables and fruits.

“Let’s check if old man Wang has some?” Baekhyun proposed to him and Chanyeol nodded, excited about that and Baekhyun couldn’t help but smile even fondly, still having difficulties realising how different Chanyeol was so far from home, only with Baekhyun.

And when he slid the door open, entering the shop, it felt like going back in twenty years, same smell, same furniture, same old man behind the counter. “Isn’t it Baekhyunnie?!” The man exclaimed, surprised, eyes going wide and a bit toothlessly smiling toward Baekhyun.

“Mr. Wang, this place is always the same. Such a pleasure seeing you’re good!” Baekhyun retorted, smiling, and the old man turned around the counter, patting Baekhyun’s shoulders. “You bought Chun-ja’s house?” The old man asked him but Baekhyun’s smile dimmed shortly, shaking his head. “No, uhm, my parents sold it previously. I don’t even know to whom. I’m sorry, Mr. Wang.” Baekhyun replied honestly, hinting a short bow, and despite it being clear how disappointed the man was, he patted his shoulder again, shaking his head.

“No worries, Baekhyunnie. You will always be welcomed here.” Mr. Wang added, making Baekhyun melt inside a bit, knowing how in such a small community he always felt home more than ever.

Baekhyun smiled toward him and gestured softly toward Chanyeol, introducing him to Mr. Wang too. “I’m here with a friend today, Mr. Wang, and he kinda fancied mooncakes. Do you perhaps have some? Does Mrs. Wang still make them everyday?” Baekhyun asked him and Mr. Wang nodded, before muttering a short let me go and call her.

Chanyeol was looking around, clearly interested in everything inside the small shop that showcased basically every product of their earth. Chanyeol clearly loved it and was enthralled by mainly everything.

“How is it?” Baekhyun asked him, making Chanyeol smile toward him, nodding. “It looks so… traditional. I’ve never been in a place like this…” Chanyeol replied honestly, eyes shimmering in honey and amber hues, clearly amazed by everything. And Baekhyun was about to say something, but Mr. Wang came back with his wife, always unchanged as much as her husband.

“Baekhyunnie!” She greeted him, going to hug him and Baekhyun leant down, hugging her, patting her back. “Mrs. Wang, such a pleasure…” he whispered and she was moved and almost crying, happy about seeing Baekhyun there.

“Kihyun told me about the mooncakes! I made them in different flavours. Do you have any preferences?” She asked toward Baekhyun who smiled softly, glancing toward Chanyeol who hummed before asking which flavours she made. Mrs. Wang smiled at him starting listing all the flavours and in the end Chanyeol went with pumpkin and sweet potatoes.

They stopped by and talked a bit more with Mr. and Mrs. Wang but then they greeted them and went away, resuming their trip toward the grandmother’s house. Chanyeol walked up the road while eating some mooncakes, clearly loving them.

Baekhyun stopped briefly in front of a two story house, suddenly feeling a piercing ache in his chest. The board on sale wasn’t there anymore, but no one was even inside and all the doors and windows were closed. The state of decay was notable and Baekhyun couldn’t believe how it was degrading without anyone to care for it. It made his heart cry.

“This…” Baekhyun whispered softly, gesturing with his head toward the building, fingers pressing on his eyeglasses, and Chanyeol hummed, closing the small paper bag he had with the remaining mooncakes. “No one lives here?” Chanyeol asked him, but it was clear that it was exactly like that.

“It seems so, yes. And for a while now. But if you want…” Baekhyun started saying and walking toward the entryway, moving the doormat away and picking up an old key. He fidgeted a bit with the door that opened screeching, glass creaking on the door and leaving it open for Chanyeol to enter too.

“Aren’t we, like, trespassing?” Chanyeol asked him, but Baekhyun huffed shortly, shaking his head, guiding him inside and showing how and where things were inside it. Nothing changed since the last time he went there, only more dust piling up on those objects that remained there and were sold together with the house. Baekhyun couldn’t believe it, feeling like everything stopped in time, remaining as it always was, the same furniture, same ancient tools and objects resting exactly where Baekhyun remembered them.

It was just a short trip, enough to show Chanyeol which was his former bedroom and where his grandmother taught him everything she knew, how the place was or where he sat with his grandmother while drinking herbal infusions and so on. And maybe Baekhyun didn't want to stay any longer also because it made him sadder, knowing that that place where all his childhood memories were wasn't his anymore, sold to someone who didn't even take care of it.

They went back almost immediately, leaving the house, locking everything back as before. Chanyeol and Baekhyun started walking around the village, visiting the sanctuary too and everywhere they went, they met people who greeted and loved Baekhyun.

“When I was younger, my grandma taught me things about herbs and pharmacy. She did it because she thought that I could become someone also thanks to my gift as she always called it. Even though I don’t think she would ever imagine I would follow the perfumer path. She would support it though.” Baekhyun explained, showing Chanyeol more of the places that made Baekhyun’s childhood.

Chanyeol was following him, listening, commenting and seeing everything with sparkling eyes and amazing curiosity filling his whole expression. But when Baekhyun mentioned the support part again, Chanyeol’s stare darkened, clearly not liking it. “I can’t really understand… It’s such a huge gift, the one you have, Baekhyun…” Chanyeol started saying, shaking his head but Baekhyun inhaled deeply, fingers carding through his hair, and stopping near a small herbal shop.

“Not if your parents convince yourself that you are the weird one, the wrong one, that it’s not normal to have this whatever thing is. My grandma was great, amazing, dealing with me especially when I started asking why my parents went always away with my brother and never with me, why they never considered me as part of their family,” Baekhyun started saying, softly, trying to explain how he lived through that but without putting the blame on his parents.

Because despite everything, Baekhyun didn’t despise nor blame it on them. He knew how difficult it could be for someone like them who liked to travel that much, raising a kid so problematic who could be easily triggered by whatever weird smell or situation linked to a strong mix of scents and smells.

“And she did what she could to raise me in the most affectionate way ever, telling me how blessed I was. She was the only one who thought I could do something out of a nuisance as my gift.” Baekhyun added, smiling briefly toward Chanyeol, fingers moving to gesture at the small sanctuary they just visited.

Chanyeol followed with his stare where Baekhyun was pointing and even before he could ask something, Baekhyun continued. “I never wanted to leave this place. When my parents came back and decided to settle down and welcomed me again into their family, I hid under the sanctuary for almost an entire day because I didn’t want to go with them. All the villagers looked for me for the whole day.” Baekhyun explained, fixing his glasses and shaking his head at the only memory and how worried his grandmother was when finally Baekhyun went back home almost at nine pm after being away all day long.

Chanyeol frowned shortly, glancing toward Baekhyun. “How old were you?” He asked, fully turning toward Baekhyun. “Twelve.” He just blurted out, scrunching his nose, suddenly remembering how it felt changing schools in sixth grade and how Seoul school felt so different and cold, almost sterile compared to the one there.

Chanyeol sighed shortly, clearly understanding Baekhyun’s point and why he hid to avoid his parents, not wanting to go away and leave what was his life for twelve years that, for a kid, was literally his whole life.

“But enough of this sad part,” Baekhyun declared, turning around and slightly hinting with his head toward an old castle not far from there. “Seeing that we came all the way here, lemme show you also something cool, not only part of my boring past!”. To that Chanyeol frowned, ready to comment something but Baekhyun smiled again toward him, this time slightly more fondly than before.

“You will like it. It’s an apology for dragging you here in the middle of nothing just to hear me ranting about the long past gone.” Baekhyun added, slowly walking back to the city hall where Chanyeol parked the car. The main reason was that, but also the fact that the weather was starting to get worse again and it wouldn’t be the first time that Baekhyun found himself stuck in the countryside because streets froze in the late afternoon and it was dangerous to drive at night.

When they reached the car, Baekhyun waited for Chanyeol to unlock it and simply go away, but instead Chanyeol stopped near the driver’s side door, keys in his hands. “I find it interesting, not boring. Wish you would be up to sharing more of it with me, but I understand if you don’t feel like telling more. I’m thankful enough for this already…” Chanyeol stated, smiling briefly toward Baekhyun before unlocking the car and sitting inside, leaving Baekhyun standing there and wondering what exactly was happening and why Chanyeol was so interested in him.

“It’s nothing, really. I mean…” Baekhyun started saying, sitting in too and pulling at the safety belt, but Chanyeol stopped him briefly. “It’s yours, Baekhyun, therefore interesting for me. That’s just it.” He concluded, starting the car. Baekhyun was… baffled, in a word. How could it be that Chanyeol was actually really interested in Baekhyun’s past? Especially when Baekhyun himself considered it not worth talking about?

Not knowing how to comment on that, he simply nodded shortly, starting to give Chanyeol indications again on how to reach the castle and, once there, Baekhyun did his best as guide, explaining everything about the story of that place and behind its relevance in the past.

It felt nice, making Baekhyun less nervous than before, easily talking about something that clearly put him at ease more than his own past, despite being long gone too. Chanyeol was interested, asking him more about it, wondering how some beautiful pieces of their national history weren’t so well-known as others.

After the visit, they took the road again, this time to go back to Seoul but it was clear, and not only to Baekhyun, that it would be a long journey back home. Due to the slightly drizzling of that morning, streets froze faster and earlier than expected and the queue of cars was getting longer and longer, giving them not great expectations on that journey back.

“It’s getting late…” Chanyeol observed, glancing toward the digital clock on the dashboard of the car that brightly reminded them that it was already almost eight pm, destination still so far, not even half of the journey done. Baekhyun sighed briefly, fingers fidgeting with his phone trying to understand if there could be a different road, maybe less congested.

“I’m sorry. I spoke too much and didn’t realise how late it was. Here streets freeze a lot more frequently compared to the city and the service is not exactly as punctual as there…” Baekhyun retorted, fingers moving toward his bottom lip, pinching it shortly, focusing on the bright screen.

“We could stop there,” Chanyeol suddenly proposed and Baekhyun’s head raised immediately, eyeglasses slipping down his nose, lips parted, looking toward Chanyeol, perplexed and also a bit… awkwardly? There, as per Chanyeol’s word, was a three-story tall inn, a bit further from where they were and Baekhyun knew about it. It was famous for its hot springs and excellent inside restaurant. But what kinda stopped Baekhyun wasn’t the inn per se, but the idea of stopping there with Chanyeol which was, in a word, awkward.

However, considering how late it was and how that queue seemed to be infinite and with no other streets, Baekhyun inhaled deeply, finally nodding shortly. “Could be a good idea, yes.” He agreed, seeing Chanyeol hinting briefly a nod too and taking the narrow street to reach the parking of said inn.

Baekhyun never went there before, but when they entered, it looked way more luxurious than what it looked on the outside. It was in a traditional style, with a lot of wood elements, but it didn’t look old or not well maintained. The woman behind the counter smiled at them, welcoming and kind and, if for a second Baekhyun felt like in a movie scene, it was a relief knowing that they actually had a room with separated beds instead of the proverbial there was just one big bed.

The only idea of sharing the bed with Chanyeol was dangerous enough, making Baekhyun more cautious toward the distance between them and not to let his defences down too much. Not that there was any way that Chanyeol could make a move of any sort toward Baekhyun, but Baekhyun didn’t want to embarrass himself by doing or saying something that would make their friendship even more awkward than it was in that moment.

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol called him and Baekhyun hummed, gaze moving toward Chanyeol’s face seeing that he was frowning shortly, looking worried at him. “What…?” Baekhyun started saying but Chanyeol smiled at him shortly. “I asked you if you wanted to go upstairs first or if you were hungry and we could directly stop by the restaurant.” Chanyeol asked him again, making Baekhyun gesture toward the restaurant.

“Maybe it’s better to eat now… It’s already late.” Baekhyun replied briefly, checking the time on his phone and Chanyeol nodded, clearly agreeing with him before moving toward the restaurant, followed by Baekhyun.

Apparently they weren’t the only ones to have that same idea, other travellers gathering in the restaurant too but not enough to make it feel overcrowded, just lively. A waiter accompanied them to an empty table, giving them also that evening’s menu and both thanked him.

“Such a vast choice…” Chanyeol commented, eyes skimming through the menu and Baekhyun nodded, agreeing with him, enough that he didn’t know what to take. In the end they went for the stew and roasted beef plus several shared appetisers.

Baekhyun was about to apologise for that inconvenience, considering that it was mainly his fault if they got late in the schedule and they ended up finding frozen streets and such a long queue, but Chanyeol slightly raised his hand stopping him.

“I know what you want to say, but don’t. It’s not your fault nor for the frozen streets nor for any other thing. We will leave early tomorrow morning so that we will be both in time for whatever appointment you could have.” Chanyeol stated shortly, smiling toward Baekhyun who inhaled deeply, scrunching his nose.

“It’s not for the appointments because I had nothing scheduled for tomorrow, just for the sudden night out…” Baekhyun breathed, fixing his eyeglasses, but Chanyeol kept smiling at him, clearly unbothered by it.

“It’s okay. We will take advantage of this situation and dip a bit in the hot springs here. It’s been several years now since the last time I went to the hot springs…” Chanyeol countered immediately, making Baekhyun chuckle softly, nodding. Indeed even for him it was quite a while now…

“Thank you.” Baekhyun concluded but the smile that appeared on Chanyeol’s lips was once again way too charming for Baekhyun who shifted his stare away, focusing on what was on their table.

It felt so weird being there with Chanyeol and, honestly, Baekhyun didn’t know exactly what to expect from that. Especially when, after dinner, they rented bathrobes and went to the hot springs as decided before and Chanyeol was awfully relaxed, almost unbothered, about showing his body to Baekhyun.

It took a huge chunk of Baekhyun’s focus and concentration not to stare too long at Chanyeol’s broad back, at how water dripped from his hair down along his neck after he took a shower and, yeah, Baekhyun better kept his stare well glued on the tiled floor if he wanted not to give off an even weirder vibe to Chanyeol.

And he managed somehow, as long as they stayed inside the hot spring, body relaxing against the border, eyes closed, focusing only on how his own body unwinded slowly after that long day out. He spoke with Chanyeol but it was soft, almost a hint, not a real consistent discourse on something important, Chanyeol probably relaxing as Baekhyun was doing too.

But after that, going back to their shared room, Baekhyun realised way too well how the room was not exactly big enough to keep his distance from Chanyeol and how amazingly Chanyeol’s scent was mixing with the inn soap and some herbal mixture they put in the hot spring water.

Baekhyun was sitting on the bed, putting the alarm on the phone for the following morning when he felt something fresh touching his cheek and he slightly jolted in surprise, not expecting the sudden sensation.

“Sorry, just brought some beers,” Chanyeol whispered, showing him some cans, clearly offering one to Baekhyun who thanked him, picking it up. There was a short silence and then Chanyeol spoke up again, talking about something regarding the inn, but honestly Baekhyun was too focused on warding off how attracted he was to Chanyeol’s scent in that moment that he honestly didn’t hear a single word. He simply drank the beer, trying not to think about everything appealing regarding Chanyeol.

It was intoxicating, calling for Baekhyun’s attention at the most instinctive side, sending his mind signals, scenarios and what-ifs, wondering what would happen if he simply would encounter Chanyeol in a random pub or bar, not knowing anything about him, Bora, their future arranged marriage and whatever else. Simply living what his instinct was suggesting him since way too long and that Baekhyun simply kept avoiding, warding it off, with the last common sense he still had left when he was with Chanyeol.

“Are you tired?” Chanyeol asked him, suddenly entering in his sight, way too close compared to before, hand gently moving to touch Baekhyun’s forehead, making him jolt again, moving away from the contact, way too close to be considered appropriate.

“I-I, no… Sorry, just lost in my thoughts. I think I’ll sleep soon though, tomorrow we better wake up early. I don’t want to…” Baekhyun started saying, hands moving blindly on the bed looking for his phone but Chanyeol entered even more in his space, staring at him.

“You’re strange since we arrived here. Did I do or say something to make you feel uncomfortable?” Chanyeol asked him, gentle frown appearing on his forehead, honey hues swirling in his stare and Baekhyun was about to deny once again, shaking his head, but Chanyeol’s fingers moved from Baekhyun’s forehead to his cheek, resting there, warm and soothing.

“You can tell me. I don’t want to spite you or hurt you either unintentionally. If it’s because I asked you something too private or…” Chanyeol breathed softly, frown getting slightly deeper on his forehead. Baekhyun shook his head, fingers gripping harder on the duvet, feeling his composure slip away from his fingers, trying to hold his breath not to let Chanyeol’s tempting scent in.

“It’s not you, really…” he muttered, making Chanyeol’s stare lose all its brightness in a single instant, before the taller could hum and remove his fingers from Baekhyun’s cheek, distancing himself from Baekhyun, making him breath again.

“I see.” Chanyeol simply retorted and his tone was suddenly so distant and somehow hurt, that Baekhyun felt guilty, wondering what was going on in Chanyeol’s mind and how he was probably elaborating different theories about Baekhyun’s sudden weird behaviour and surely blaming himself for it.

But Baekhyun couldn’t leave him be, letting it go, leaving to Chanyeol the weight of that doubt. Not when Baekhyun was at fault there, for being so weirdly attracted to Chanyeol’s everything, and mainly, his scent.

Baekhyun’s fingers easily laced with Chanyeol’s, pulling them to attract Chanyeol’s attention, making him turn around again, amber and honey fading not so slowly back into regular brown. “It’s my fault. I-I’m… today you told me that you, uhm, smell nice enough for me to accept your presence,” Baekhyun started saying, making Chanyeol frown shortly, now looking at him interested, wondering what the whole thing was about.

Baekhyun inhaled deeply, fingers digging deeper in the duvet, finding his own strength and maybe that way was the better, so Chanyeol would be finally weirded out by Baekhyun and he would finally stop gravitating around him.

“Actually, it’s more than that. I’m attracted to it, to you.” Baekhyun let out, letting go of Chanyeol's fingers and forcing a short smile, looking toward Chanyeol, nervously fixing his eyeglasses. “And you’re right to be disgusted or weirded out, I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just something I can’t decide about and if I usually manage to keep it off my mind, tonight was difficult.” Baekhyun continued saying, fingers going to his own phone, picking it up and making a gesture to better sit on the bed so that he could retreat under the duvet as soon as Chanyeol would have stormed off clearly disgusted with whatever was happening.

However, Chanyeol’s fingers ran after Baekhyun’s, stopping them, lacing them together once again, gripping softly on them. “Are you for real?” Chanyeol asked him briefly, eyes sparkling brightly again, expectation melting once again the amber hues, glittering like million stars in Chanyeol’s gaze.

Baekhyun nodded shortly, nothing more than a hint of a nod, but Chanyeol bit his bottom lip, stare not leaving Baekhyun’s face, clearly interested in that too. Baekhyun didn’t know what was happening or what was going on in Chanyeol’s head, he only knew that not even a breath after, he had Chanyeol’s lips over his own, soft and plushy, tasting like those few beers they drank together.

It felt like a sparkle, the one necessary to finally ignite all the pent up attraction and tension that Baekhyun stored up until that moment and in all the previous months. His fingers oh so easily carded through Chanyeol’s hair on his nape, pulling him near, tongue licking the seam of Chanyeol’s lips, prying them open, feeling Chanyeol hum in pleasure at the gesture.

They kissed hurriedly, passionately, saliva wetting their touches and god, Baekhyun couldn’t believe it how Chanyeol’s scent filled all his senses completely, almost making him feel dizzy. He loved how it was almost overwhelming, powerfully shoving every other thought Baekhyun could have away, violently monopolising all Baekhyun’s attention.

With whoever else Baekhyun wanted that to be real, strong, totally voiding every other thought Baekhyun could have. Instead with Chanyeol he knew that he should have been more composed, restricted, trying to deny it due to at least a hundred different reasons, but he simply wanted it all.

Baekhyun pulled Chanyeol nearer to himself, making him lose his balance. Chanyeol tried to save it a bit, but he still hovered on Baekhyun, momentarily interrupting that sloppy kiss. They looked at each other, thoughts, feelings, sensations and emotions swirling inside them, trying to understand if they both wanted the same thing, if they were allowed to just let go and take it and what it would be out of that situation.

But when Chanyeol leant down and pressed his lips under Baekhyun’s ear, softly trailing his neckline down until his exposed collarbones, and inside Baekhyun’s mind there was again silence, blank. Only Chanyeol and how intoxicating his scent was.

Baekhyun just wanted to let that moment happen, for once, just once shutting out all his worries and expectations, how it should be wrong for them to be living that moment, especially considering Chanyeol’s social position and his family’s expectations.

Because maybe, after all, even for that night only it sounded so good the idea of enjoying that as it came, without over thinking about it again and again as Baekhyun always did in his life with all the important decisions. And that was the exact reason why his hands moved on Chanyeol’s warm skin, caressing down his neck and then back through his hair, pulling him closer.

Chanyeol’s mouth on his neck was delicate yet passionate, kissing and tracing it up and down, hands moving over the fluffy consistency of the bathrobe, along Baekhyun’s profile, slightly gripping on his thighs, clearly enjoying how supple they were.

Baekhyun shivered under the ministrations, clearly enjoying them too, feeling his skin bloom in goosebumps, shivers running down his spine and wanting more of whatever was happening, of Chanyeol’s hands and lips on his body, but also wanting to touch him too, feeling Chanyeol’s skin and perfume directly with his nose and his lips, wondering if he tasted as good as he smelt.

Reason why he moved from that position, hands gently pressing on Chanyeol’s torso, enough to grant him room to switch his position with Chanyeol’s, with a bit difficulty due to the smaller size of the bed, but looking Chanyeol in his eyes and biting down softly on his own lips.

“Allow me to touch you.” Baekhyun breathed, half there between a request and a mere statement, words clearly leaving Baekhyun’s lips without his own consent, emotions and thoughts spiralling inside his chest, craving for that contact with Chanyeol, almost ready to beg for it.

It wasn’t necessary, though. Chanyeol simply nodded, fingers untying the band that kept his bathrobe closed and let the cloth slip open, revealing his body underneath it, the only clothing item still on his black boxer shorts.

That was a clear green light, an invitation almost, and Baekhyun accepted it more than willingly, hoovering on Chanyeol’s figure, fingers shakenly caressing his torso, nose and lips tracing the profile of his jaw, his chin and then down his neck, taking in that scent that was only Chanyeol’s, making Baekhyun’s head spin a bit, totally enthralled and captivated by it.

There was something almost heavenly in that happening, in how close Chanyeol’s skin was and how inebriating his scent was, filling all Baekhyun’s sense, wanting more and more of it, almost as if he was starved for too long and in that moment he finally got it as he wanted, as much as he wanted.

He could feel Chanyeol shivering under his touches, as Baekhyun moved on him, progressively losing his mind on how perfect Chanyeol’s whole being was, especially when his lips went down Chanyeol’s collarbones and pecs, softly reaching his nipple, finding it already turgid.

It was a more than pleasant surprise, making Baekhyun’s erection thicken in his underwear, pressing against the soft cotton, asking for a release. Baekhyun couldn’t believe how right that moment felt, how hot Chanyeol looked and how high Baekhyun felt in everything that was happening in that moment.

Baekhyun’s tongue briefly darted over the swollen bud, wetting in softly and feeling Chanyeol’s fingers carding through the shorter’s hair, pulling him nearer to his own skin, clearly wanting more, liking the sensation. And Baekhyun didn’t let Chanyeol voice that himself, wetting it better before closing his lips around the peeking nub, tongue twirling around it before sucking it softly, earning himself a hissed inhale and a tug on his hair.

“Your skin tastes so good,” Baekhyun breathed over the wet nipple, glasses shortly slipping down his nose but still seeing Chanyeol’s skin explode in goosebumps and feeling another soft tug in his hair. “And your lips feel like they belong here, so won’t you continue?” Chanyeol retorted briefly, making Baekhyun’s lips stretch in a quick smile. Smooth. He liked that.

“Maybe you wanted to take it slow and, I don’t know, talk about…” Baekhyun started saying, fingers gently caressing up and down Chanyeol’s sides, feeling him shiver at the attention. However, Chanyeol was already shaking his head, fingers playing with Baekhyun’s wavy hair. “I don’t think there’s much to say. You are stunning and I’m attracted to you as you are to me. I don’t see what’s more to talk about.” Chanyeol breathed honestly, fingers carding better through Baekhyun’s hair, caressing it, and god, Baekhyun swore he could almost purr at the gesture.

“Chanyeol…” Baekhyun tried to say again, but Chanyeol shook his head shortly, pulling Baekhyun again closer to his face, their lips almost brushing against each other’s. “At least for tonight, let’s forget everything else? Just let me drown into you.” Chanyeol whispered again and it felt almost like a plea, just not to think, just to let themselves go to what they both wanted and craved for.

And honestly Baekhyun wasn’t there to be the moralist one, nor the prude one and as long as it was only sex, as long as Chanyeol wasn’t engaged yet, there was nothing bad in it. They could rethink it once Chanyeol’s family would finally officialise the engagement between Chanyeol and Bora.

“What do you, uhm, usually prefer?” Baekhyun asked him briefly, nose gently brushing against the taller’s jawline, letting Chanyeol’s scent inebriate his senses, fingers dancing again on Chanyeol’s smooth, warm skin.

Chanyeol turned his head slightly on the side, clearly appreciating Baekhyun’s proximity and whatever he was doing, moving his other hand on Baekhyun’s side, pulling him even closer than before, earning himself a soft gasp in surprise.

“You are so enthralling and… I want to touch you too.” Chanyeol breathed, slightly sitting up and pulling Baekhyun to sit on his laps, bathrobe spreading and revealing Baekhyun’s thighs. Chanyeol’s hands were already there, caressing the soft, supple skin. “Even just like this, I want to touch you, feel you.” Chanyeol continued saying, fingers venturing slightly higher and reaching the border of Baekhyun’s underwear, playing with it and Baekhyun was already nodding, liking the idea a lot too.

They would have both room to touch and explore each other, allowing Baekhyun to get more and more of that amazing and enthralling scent Chanyeol had. So Baekhyun was more than fine with it, nodding shortly, fingers carding through Chanyeol’s hair, pulling him close.

“You can't imagine how much I thought about this happening…” Chanyeol muttered, leaning in and starting to kiss his neck again, letting his hands roam on Baekhyun’s thighs before they could move on the bathrobe, untying the band too, revealing the fair skin underneath it.

Baekhyun though didn’t keep it on, shrugged it off, easing his movements and circling Chanyeol’s neck with his arms, sitting better on his laps, plastering their bodies together, feeling Chanyeol’s hands up on his back, following the profile of his spine.

“Then show me with actions.” Baekhyun simply breathed, abandoning himself against Chanyeol’s touches, seeing him hint a short nod, moving his lips on Baekhyun’s neck, starting to kiss him again, hands exploring the expanse of Baekhyun’s back.

And no more words were needed, simply following their sensation, melting under each other’s touches, kisses getting slightly wetter than before, hands easily reaching everywhere on each other’s skin, almost like tracing patterns and ways, discovering slowly everything about the other.

Chanyeol’s fingers finally, finally, reached Baekhyun’s nipples, thumbing them both, making him moan lowly in the kiss, rolling his hips, grinding their erections together. It felt almost like a wet, fever dream for Baekhyun, completely lost on how hot and perfect the moment was, simply wanting more and more of it, never getting enough of it. Despite knowing that he was drowning in how perfect and enthralling Chanyeol’s scent was, he simply couldn’t get enough.

Numbed by that, the pleasure and everything else, Baekhyun started to think that that was for sure a dream, because it couldn’t be that that was happening and that Chanyeol was such a beautiful perfection near him, letting Baekhyun touch his body so easily, letting himself go as Baekhyun was doing too at the other’s ministrations.

Not to talk about how Chanyeol’s skin warmed up as they went by, oh so smooth underneath Baekhyun’s skilfull and slender fingers, tasting as good as it smelt. Baekhyun fell for Chanyeol’s natural scent without even realising, slowly, since the first time that Chanyeol visited Baekhyun’s shop and for once he didn’t overuse any fragrance or perfume. Only a vague scent of soap covering it and making Baekhyun falter for more than a few instants.

But never, never, Baekhyun would have thought that he could have let himself go to it, embracing it, tasting it and sniffing it directly from the source, from Chanyeol’s skin, feeling it engulfing himself completely, making him literally lose his mind.

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol moaned after Baekhyun pulled slightly harder one of his nipples, again rubbing his erection against Baekhyun’s, eliciting a moan from him too. “God, you are such a dream. Want to touch you more…” Chanyeol groaned, teeth nibbling in Baekhyun’s neck, sucking another hickey there, much to Baekhyun’s pleasure.

Baekhyun threw his head back, baring his neck for Chanyeol to do as he pleased, when a short “do it” left his lips too, feeling Chanyeol’s fingers digging deeper in Baekhyun’s thighs, groping them.

“I am in no way equipped for this. I would never imagine that something like this could be happening.” Chanyeol let out honestly and Baekhyun scrunched his nose briefly and left his place over Chanyeol reluctantly to go, fingers pressing his eyeglasses better on his nose and checking in his wallet if he had something.

Not that he had many hopes about that considering that his last one-night experience was a while ago, but maybe something remained there nevertheless. He skimmed through the banknotes part, finding not only two packages of lube, but also two condoms. Lucky. He picked one of each and showed them to Chanyeol who exhaled, visibly relieved.

Baekhyun easily went to sit on Chanyeol’s laps again, removing also his last clothing item along the way there, spreading his legs more than before. “Knowing that this would happen, I would have asked for a big bed, it would have been so much easier…” Chanyeol groaned, fingers immediately going to caress Baekhyun’s skin, pulling him closer.

Baekhyun huffed shortly, even though on his lips there was a soft smile. “Kinda reminds me of my high school days…” Baekhyun whispered, biting his bottom lip, giving the lube to Chanyeol, seeing a smirk appear on his face.

“Oh? You liked to sleep around during your high school days?” Chanyeol asked him briefly but Baekhyun was already scrunching his nose, shaking his head. “I think you had an already long trip in my past today. No need to investigate even now, Mr. Journalist.” Baekhyun retorted, making Chanyeol chuckle softly, fingers going to caress the profile of Baekhyun’s ass, gently, almost brushing it with his fingertips.

Baekhyun arched his back slightly, clearly unexpecting the almost–there contact but enjoying it, meeting it, wanting Chanyeol’s warm hands also there. “Got it. Let’s talk about it in another moment then…” he concluded, opening the small mono-dose of lube and pouring almost all of it over his own fingers, smearing it between them.

And even before Baekhyun could reply to that affirmation, Chanyeol was already moving his fingers on Baekhyun’s entrance, circling it slowly, slathering it thickly, making Baekhyun arch his back again, impatiently wanting it, way too eager to feel Chanyeol’s fingers inside himself.

The first one went in slowly, intrusion only mildly discomforting, more than hurting and Baekhyun immediately pressed against it, feeling it deep inside and loving the sensation already. Chanyeol’s fingers were proficient enough, knowing where to touch, how to find Baekhyun’s softest spots, how to be delicate yet stretching him how Baekhyun liked.

Baekhyun gripped harder on Chanyeol’s hair and back, pulling him near, groaning lowly at the insertion, clearly wanting more. Chanyeol gave him more, slowly thrusting in a second and a third one, leisurely starting a pace too, pressing inside Baekhyun, scissoring his fingers to stretch him better, using the lube to ease the insertion.

The pace was way too slow, making Baekhyun bit his lips, pressing better against it, making his intentions more than clear to Chanyeol who got perfectly the message and, skipping the tease, leaving it for another time if there would be one, simply went with it, following Baekhyun’s movements, indulging in it, partially letting Baekhyun guide him to what he preferred the most.

And Baekhyun felt his erection getting thicker and thicker, precum beads forming on its tip and gliding down slowly, making him even more sensitive, enjoying everything more than he would ever openly admit.

It felt so weirdly fitting and right, despite being their first time together and them not knowing each other in their intimacy, what they preferred or wanted from a full intercourse. But there was an amazing compatibility, a physical synergy that Baekhyun honestly haven’t felt before with anybody else but yes, he absolutely wanted it.

Also for this reason, Baekhyun didn’t need to ask, the urge was the same and with a shared glance at Chanyeol, they both knew that that was it and Chanyeol simply thrust his fingers deeper inside Baekhyun, starting a faster pace, aiming precisely against Baekhyun’s prostate, making him moan louder in pleasure, fingers gripping against the taller’s back, pressing against the insertion, clearly wanting more and more and…

Baekhyun would never imagine how amazing it could be being fingered open by Chanyeol, surrounded by his scent, letting himself go to something that his mind kept providing him since when he started to know Chanyeol better, those not-so-friendly images finally becoming a reality not daydreaming anymore.

Baekhyun came without realising it, hot and sticky between them, fingers gripping harder on Chanyeol’s back, feeling so good yet so hot and wanting, loving how their scents mixed together, making an even more arousing odour to Baekhyun’s nose, giving him a reason more to want more. As if he needed one…

“Don’t stop.” Baekhyun breathed softly, glancing toward Chanyeol, glasses slipping even more from his nose, almost balancing there and Chanyeol nodded shortly, pulling him closer and, slightly slower but continuously, kept fingering him. He leaned in and with his nose brushed against Baekhyun’s, gently pushing his eyeglasses up, making Baekhyun see clearly and properly again, but finding that small gesture oh so sweet.

“Keep looking at me then.” Chanyeol whispered, stare not leaving Baekhyun’s, pace getting slightly faster, despite his oversensitivity, but Baekhyun couldn’t care less because he wanted that. He needed that. Chanyeol was the most enthralling human being and his fingers knew oh so perfectly where to touch him, how to make him moan and cry again, pleasure quickly erasing all the mild discomfort he could have.

And again almost in a haze, swirling in the liquid amber of Chanyeol’s eyes and his natural scent still so dizzy for Baekhyun, he found himself hissing at the lack of Chanyeol’s fingers inside himself, helping Chanyeol to get rid of his boxers, kicking them off the bed.

Chanyeol’s dick was thick, almost as much as Baekhyun’s, but slightly longer, making Baekhyun wonder already how it would pleasantly feel inside. Baekhyun quickly ripped open the foil package of the condom, fingers picking it up and unrolling it on Chanyeol’s erection before moving over it, ready to get down on it.

A quick glance, losing again in honey hues and sparkling stars, before Baekhyun could not so slowly bottom out, feeling Chanyeol’s shaft filling him completely, making them both moan lowly, Chanyeol’s fingers gripping harder on Baekhyun’s sides, probably enough to bruise them.

“Fuck,” Chanyeol groaned lowly, leaning down and starting to kiss again Baekhyun’s neck, making him swear softly too, loving how Chanyeol filled him in, stretching him oh so good. It felt so perfectly fitting, like his missing puzzle piece, that Baekhyun didn’t even let neither of them take a breath and started moving immediately over Chanyeol’s cock, engulfing it better inside himself, rolling his hips and earning himself moan after moan from Chanyeol’s mouth.

“You feel so amazing…” Chanyeol let out against Baekhyun’s neck, hands going to grip on Baekhyun’s buttocks, parting them and starting to thrust inside him, following Baekhyun’s pace. The shorter man shook his head, glasses slipping again from his nose, fingers gripping better on Chanyeol’s shoulders, pulling him closer.

“You do. You fill me up so well,” Baekhyun countered, breath coming shortly, but not stopping his ministrations on Chanyeol’s erection, instead making them faster, rolling his hips better to match it with Chanyeol’s deeper thrusts.

Chanyeol groaned again, groping better Baekhyun’s ass, and after a short let me fill you up even more, he started an even faster pace, pounding inside Baekhyun, skin smashing against his own, slicky and squelching sounds echoing in the room mixing with their moans and breaths.

And yes, yes, Baekhyun wanted more and more and he felt like he was going crazy over how much the air had Chanyeol’s scent, mixing with his own and their sex smell, making Baekhyun’s head spin even faster, wondering what it would be of him if they would ever take it slower, enjoying more their foreplays instead of letting themselves be driven by lust like in that moment.

But it was just a fleeting thought, because Chanyeol was fucking him so good that in Baekhyun’s head there was space only for more and more and… more. “You’re so fine… taking it so well.” Chanyeol let out, mouth kissing and licking Baekhyun’s neck. And Baekhyun could only agree because it honestly felt like perfection, and he wanted all of that.

So he moved faster, following Chanyeol’s thrusts, almost hopping on Chanyeol’s lap, feeling his dick shove inside him faster and deeper, finally hitting Baekhyun’s softest spot, making him moan loudly.

And even before he could apologise for being so loud or even simply ask for more because that was what he wanted, Chanyeol was already thrusting there repeatedly, literally taking Baekhyun’s breath away. “Here, right? Let me feel you come, Baekhyun. You are squeezing me so tightly inside you. Don’t stop…” Chanyeol breathed against his neck, moving one of his hands again on Baekhyun’s nipple, playing with it once more.

Baekhyun moaned even louder than before, nodding shortly in reply to Chanyeol’s question, voice scratchily leaving his throat. “Yes, there. More,” he breathed, pulling Chanyeol’s hair to look at him before crashing their mouths together again in a sloppy kiss, mainly to shut himself up, muffling down all the possible loud moans that would follow.

Luckily, Chanyeol went with it, simply obeying Baekhyun’s request, or probably needing it as much as Baekhyun did, chasing after his own release. It took so little for both of them, Baekhyun squeezing slightly tighter on Chanyeol and feeling him coming, another swear leaving his lips, while he was still kissing Baekhyun.

That was enough to make Baekhyun tip over too, finally reaching his own orgasm and coming again hotly and thickly on Chanyeol’s torso and abs, muttering a low “ah, Chanyeol, I’m coming”, to which Chanyeol just nodded and added a shakily breathy “want to feel you on me”. If the gesture wasn’t enough, for sure the sentence was what made Baekhyun lose his grip on reality for a second, letting himself go to his own climax, feeling so sated as he didn’t feel in a while, lights sparkling for a second behind his shut eyes.

They both came to a halt, breathing unevenly in each other’s space, foreheads leaning on shoulders, a weird twist of limbs and feeling sticky and sweaty. Silence downed on them, as the realisation of what they just did, clearly messing and changing up whatever there was between them up to that moment.

Because for how good they could both be at pretending, that time they overdid it, overstepping whichever boundaries they could or nor have settled previously, clearly not being able to feign anymore that they weren’t attracted to each other and that they didn’t just have sex and, in Baekhyun’s opinion at least, one of the best intercourses of his whole life.

Chanyeol was the one to break the silence though. “I won’t say I’m sorry, because I’m not. I enjoyed it a lot. But maybe it’s better to sleep on it to, uhm, understand what we want to do after this?” He proposed softly and Baekhyun nodded weakly against Chanyeol’s shoulder.

Baekhyun slowly sat up, hissing briefly at the discomforting sensation, but fixing his eyeglasses quickly before looking shortly toward the bathroom and then back to Chanyeol.

“I’m not sorry either.” He declared before disappearing in the bathroom to clean himself a bit, and despite the realisation was heavy on his conscience, he knew how much he liked that and how much he would crave for it every single time Chanyeol would be around him.

Was that what Baekhyun wanted? Endlessly lusting after a man who will soon be engaged to someone Baekhyun knew too? Simply remaining as the secret lover, that partner who fixed or destroyed families even the not so happy ones?

Baekhyun didn’t know what to think or what to say, but when he went back to the bedroom, Chanyeol was already fast asleep on the bed, totally unaware of the world around him. Baekhyun sighed deeply, shaking his head and, after cleaning Chanyeol’s a bit too with a wet towel, he covered him and finally went to his own bed too, laying wide awake even long after turning off the lights.

Baekhyun felt amazing with Chanyeol that night. Was it only a one-time experience? Would it last longer? And even after that Chanyeol, following his family’s expectations, would finally be engaged with Bora? Baekhyun didn’t have replies, just a lot of questions that hung there in his head, not leaving him alone and able to sleep properly.

The following morning, Baekhyun woke up feeling a bit aching due to the more than pleasant intercourse of the previous night. It was a while since he didn’t feel like that, but the realisation was equally heavy on his chest, what happened still haunting him and wondering what it would be from there on for him and Chanyeol.

The physical attraction between them was indeed there, as much as that perfect synergy and complicity they showed without knowing each other that much. But rationally, what did that exactly make them? Clearly they couldn’t be simply friends after that. Baekhyun couldn’t do that at all, the only thought was difficult, asking himself if he would be able to ignore how attracted he was to Chanyeol, especially after trying how it was.

Chanyeol would soon be engaged to Bora and Baekhyun knew that the taller man would follow what his family asked him, and what they expected from him. So where did this leave Baekhyun? Somewhere in between, the grey, shadowy part of what friends with benefits could be? While knowing that, if Baekhyun was to develop feelings for Chanyeol, would he still only be the secret lover?

Baekhyun inhaled deeply, arm going to cover his eyes, feeling fucked and not only physically. What was he even thinking about the previous night? Letting himself go that easily and with someone so right yet wrong as Chanyeol? What about pursuing always only his own peace and avoiding conflicts as much as possible? Baekhyun seriously hated himself at that moment…

He laid there for a few minutes longer before sitting up slowly, picking up his glasses and going toward the bathroom for his morning necessities. And when he came back to the bedroom, Chanyeol was awake too, dressing up, closing his shirt.

Chanyeol’s fingers stilled on the shirt, looking toward Baekhyun, surprised to see him there. “Thought you went away.” Chanyeol breathed, making Baekhyun hint a short smile. “Where exactly? It’s not like I can leave without you.” Baekhyun retorted shortly, moving near the bed and picking up his own clothes too.

Chanyeol hummed shortly and, after a prolonged moment of silence, spoke up again. “Baekhyun, we should talk about yesterday.” He stated and Baekhyun nodded, turning around and looking toward him. Yes, they definitely should, before any of them would eventually get hurt.

“It felt amazing and you were perfect,” Chanyeol started saying, standing in front of Baekhyun and looking toward him clearly, amber and honey swirling in his stare and making Baekhyun inhale deeply, waiting for him to come with a but.

And when nothing came, Baekhyun asked about it himself. “But?” He inquired, fingers fidgeting with the sweater in his hands and Chanyeol shook his head. “No buts. I don’t know how, but I never felt so close to someone during simply sex as I did yesterday and I can’t even list all the reasons why I would like it to happen again and again…” Chanyeol started explaining, making Baekhyun’s forehead frown shortly, trying to understand how that could be possible.

“Chanyeol, this…” Baekhyun started saying, but Chanyeol shook his head, nearing Baekhyun and putting his hand over Baekhyun’s. It felt so warm and Baekhyun almost shivered at the soft gesture, clearly liking the contact between them. Baekhyun knew that that wasn’t good, especially if he wanted to somehow counter what Chanyeol was about to tell him.

“I know what you’re about to say, Baekhyun…” Chanyeol started to say, looking at Baekhyun in his eyes, sparkle getting a little bit faint, clearly disliking the only thought of not being around Baekhyun or pretending that what happened the previous night wasn’t something they continuously wanted to happen.

“However, I won’t pretend I didn’t want what we did yesterday. Nor will I pretend that I wouldn't like it to happen again. And you know that I’m not into women in the first place so I don’t have any interest in getting engaged or marrying Miss Nam.” Chanyeol continued, fingers gently caressing the back of Baekhyun’s hand, soothingly. Baekhyun inhaled deeply, knowing where that discourse was about to go.

“I don’t want to meddle with Bora, Chanyeol. So I can accept this status quo just until your family will force you to be engaged with her. If it’s okay for you…” Baekhyun started saying, stare not moving either from the taller man’s face, wanting that to be the clearer possible out of it. He didn’t want to be in any way problematic for what eventually would come to be between Chanyeol and Bora, them being willing or not.

Chanyeol inhaled deeply, fingers lacing with Baekhyun’s, gently stroking them. “I don’t mind. As long as I can have this even slightly longer, I’m fine with it.” Chanyeol breathed softly, stare looking for any signs of confirmation or faltering from Baekhyun but Baekhyun didn’t have anything to say or to comment on that.

So he simply nodded, even though he knew that that wasn’t the best choice considering how they will eventually fall apart, and the idea that their time was limited but they didn’t know how long that limbo could continue made Baekhyun unsure and worried.

But the only thought of repeating again, even just a few times, what happened the night prior, was enough to make him agree with that status quo before Chanyeol’s official engagement with Bora. Because he wanted, needed it. And because maybe, after all, for once in a while, Baekhyun too could do something without having to deeply think into it as he always did.

There was a brief silence and then Chanyeol inhaled deeply, gently tugging Baekhyun toward himself, arm wrapping around the shorter’s waist, closing definitely the distance between them, almost plastering their bodies together, making Baekhyun gasp softly.

“There’s still a few hours before we can leave the room and yesterday it felt a bit rushed…” Chanyeol started saying but Baekhyun huffed, scrunching his nose, fingers caressing Chanyeol’s half-opened shirt, playing with the hems. “You sure you don’t have anywhere you need to be, Mr. Journalist?” Baekhyun asked him, raising his eyebrow, glancing toward Chanyeol and seeing him smile briefly.

“Knowing that I can have you for a while more before going back and restarting our usual routine?” Chanyeol retorted immediately, leaning in, speaking directly in Baekhyun’s ear, making him shiver shortly. Chanyeol was dangerous and strangely open now that their intentions were both clear and laid out in front of themselves.

“And you know that it’s not that obvious for you to have me. There are so many things we could do together…” Baekhyun let out softly, glancing toward Chanyeol and, yes, both could play the same game together. And Baekhyun didn’t dislike playing a bit too.

Chanyeol’s eyes got slightly wide in surprise, before he could smile, fingers gently caressing Baekhyun’s waist, clearly curious about whatever was happening in Baekhyun’s head. And when Baekhyun didn’t add anything, simply looking expectantly toward Chanyeol for him to understand something, Chanyeol hummed briefly.

“Usually I top, but just because people assume I do that and that only.” Chanyeol let out honestly, making Baekhyun nod shortly, getting what Chanyeol wanted to say. He understood Chanyeol’s point so damn well. People assumed really a lot by someone's appearance, their height or body proportion. Just because Baekhyun was not so tall and, despite his broad back and shoulder, not so buff, people tended to call him pretty and assume that for sure he bottomed and that only.

Not that Baekhyun was against bottoming or didn’t do that, the previous night’s happening being a clear confirmation. Just he liked to switch things up depending on the person he had in front of him and the dynamics he could build with them. However, that sounded weird to a lot of people who, again, assumed way too many things without knowing anything.

“Then let me rephrase it. What do you feel like? As you probably got, I’m fine with both.” Baekhyun asked him again and in the meantime giving Chanyeol free rein on whatever he wanted that thing to be. Because honestly Baekhyun was genuinely curious about it. Somehow he kinda assumed too that Chanyeol would be one of those or top or nothing people. A pleasant mistake.

And when Chanyeol didn’t reply immediately, Baekhyun raised his stare, meeting with Chanyeol’s liquid amber one, looking at it sparkly brilliantly. That kinda already was the reply Baekhyun was waiting for, but he wanted to hear Chanyeol saying it.

“Must be tough always acting up to somebody’s expectations…” Baekhyun observed, softly pushing his glasses up, moving his hands and opening Chanyeol’s shirt slightly more, touching with his fingers Chanyeol’s nipple, feeling it swollen up at the touch, Chanyeol’s skin shiver underneath him, humming shortly in pleasure.

“Never showing your true colours,” Baekhyun continued, lips starting to kiss down Chanyeol’s neck, reaching his collarbones and softly nibbling them, fingers not stopping on his nipple. Chanyeol sighed softly, fingers carding again through Baekhyun’s hair, slightly pulling it and Baekhyun simply went with it, pressing his own body against Chanyeol’s.

“Never letting yourself go…” Baekhyun added, his other hand caressing Chanyeol’s side, moving his knee to spread a bit more Chanyeol’s leg, grinding against his erection and earning a low moan from Chanyeol. It felt so deep and so perfect that Baekhyun simply wanted to hear more and more of them.

“Baekhyun…” Chanyeol called him, arching his back, wanting to prolong the contact between them, feeling more of Baekhyun’s skin over his own, wanting to be touched more, to have more of everything Baekhyun was willing to give him.

“Show me, Chanyeol. You said it before. We both want this, so let yourself go and let’s enjoy this at its fullest?” Baekhyun breathed, raising his stare again and looking toward Chanyeol who looked back at him, softly biting his bottom lip, clearly wavering at Baekhyun’s proposal. They looked in each other’s eyes for a long instant that felt almost infinite but then Chanyeol nodded, pulling Baekhyun’s near again, lips merely a breath away from each other. “Won’t you give it to me? You know I want it.” Chanyeol groaned lowly, shortly shifting his stare away, but Baekhyun shook his head, fingers reaching up again on Chanyeol’s face, gently caressing it.

“If you really do, tell me. Show it to me. I don’t want to spite you or hurt you either, in any way.” Baekhyun objected, stare getting slightly more serious, wanting to be sure of what they were putting on the plate at that moment and what they both really wanted.

However, Baekhyun didn’t expect Chanyeol’s reaction. His cheeks became slightly redder, suddenly shy, amber and honey almost glowing in his liquid stare, enough to remind Baekhyun of melted gold under the yellow light of the room.

He was about to comment something, eyes getting wider in surprise, but Chanyeol spoke up, running his thumb on Baekhyun’s cheekbone, stare not leaving Baekhyun’s, sparkling oh so brightly again full of stars. “I’m not used to asking for it, Baekhyun. You know how my life is…” Chanyeol breathed against Baekhyun’s lips, quivering softly, emotion and feeling filling his voice and his tone.

“Then order me, if you find it more suitable. As you do with all the others. Let’s start from something you know if it makes it easier for you to let yourself go.” Baekhyun blurted out shortly, a small frown appearing on his forehead and, well, it wasn’t something that Baekhyun did specifically with or for someone, but he wanted to see.

See what there was beyond that façade that Chanyeol knowingly built for so many years, skillfully crafted for preventing other people to see what there was really beyond it, underneath it. Baekhyun wanted to know that.

Chanyeol groaned lowly, moving shortly toward the bed and pulling Baekhyun with him. “I don’t know, Baekhyun. Can I really?” He asked him, smirk softly appearing on his lips despite the blush still present on his cheeks. He liked that and Baekhyun’s suggestion was more than appreciated.

Baekhyun hummed, gently pushing Chanyeol on the bed, hovering on him, hands on the sides of Chanyeol’s head. Chanyeol’s eyes were starry skies, sparkling oh so brightly while looking back at Baekhyun and Baekhyun knew that he would always fall for that honey melting in Chanyeol’s stare.

“Order me.” Baekhyun breathed, leaning down and speaking literally in Chanyeol’s ears, fingers caressing his sides, up and down, over his shirt, feeling him shiver even more than before, arching his back.

“Touch me more, everywhere. Make me come back to you again and again, drugged on your whole being…” Chanyeol whispered, fingers carding through Baekhyun’s hair, pulling him even closer. Baekhyun’s lips easily moved on Chanyeol’s neck, fingers going back to play with Chanyeol’s slightly swollen up nipple, thumbing it slowly, feeling Chanyeol almost vibrate underneath him.

“You’re too generic, Chanyeol. Order me, more specifically…” Baekhyun continued, nose trailing down Chanyeol’s neck, down his collarbones, lips brushing against it, softly, slowly, gently wetting Chanyeol’s skin with his tongue.

“Specifically?” Chanyeol echoed, tugging Baekhyun’s hair even more, letting himself go a bit, showing him better his neck and Baekhyun nibbled on it softly, fingers not stopping on Chanyeol’s nub, feeling it getting more and more turgid under them.

“Let me know what please you more, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun breathed softly, lips not leaving Chanyeol’s neck not even for a second, leaving red marks on the soft skin, hearing Chanyeol groan, fingers pulling harder on Baekhyun’s hair.

“Stop with your fingers and use your tongue better,” Chanyeol let out, voice wavering briefly, but sure on his words, spreading slightly his legs, clearly making more space for Baekhyun to stay there, to come closer and Baekhyun got the message, getting nearer, fingers moving to press his eyeglasses up his nose before they went to completely unbutton Chanyeol’s shirt, pushing it open and revealing all his chest.

“You want it here?” Baekhyun asked him briefly, lips softly brushing over Chanyeol’s nipple, seeing his skin bloom with goosebumps, eyes moving toward Chanyeol’s face, looking at him and trying to understand if it was good and wanting to hear more of what Chanyeol wanted.

Chanyeol nodded shortly, tugging more on Baekhyun’s hair but Baekhyun bit harder on Chanyeol’s nipple, shortly glaring at him.

“If you want me to give you more, order me. Or plead for it. Your silence won’t bring you anything more.” Baekhyun breathed, hearing him hiss shortly, fingers carding better through Baekhyun’s hair, arching his back from the bed and trying to prolong the contact, but Baekhyun pressed his hands on Chanyeol’s waist, pushing him down on the mattress, preventing him to move.

“Baekhyun…” Chanyeol started to say, but Baekhyun was already shaking his head briefly, nose brushing shortly against one of Chanyeol’s nipples. “With words.” He added again, and even though what Chanyeol said, and about him being used to order people around more than anything else, his tone, his voice, his soft perfection once again reminding Baekhyun of an eager puppy, made Baekhyun wonder if he didn’t like praises and begging more than other things. And it was worth the shot.

“And isn’t it perhaps that, despite everything, you like being told what to do and praised for being the best boy out there?” Baekhyun asked him briefly, shortly glancing over Chanyeol’s face, trying to understand what he thought about that suggestion, if it could be a good idea or if it wasn’t good for Chanyeol.

What he saw though, was again an amazing galaxy, sparkling so brightly and beautifully, showing the most amazing blush Baekhyun ever saw on Chanyeol’s cheeks, lips slightly parting in awe, and… yes, it was definitely like that.

“Oh.” Baekhyun let out softly, pleased by what seemed in that moment like the most awesome discovery on Earth, fingers caressing better up and down Chanyeol’s sides. It seemed like Chanyeol liked the idea more than Baekhyun could ever imagine.

“I-I, Baekhyun, no…” Chanyeol started saying but Baekhyun raised briefly his eyebrow, shaking briefly his head, fingers reaching again one of Chanyeol’s nipples, gently rolling it underneath them and earning himself a soft moan.

“No? You wouldn’t like it if I’d call you a good puppy for letting yourself go to this pleasure, to what we both clearly want?” Baekhyun asked him again softly, smile not faltering on his lips and Chanyeol blushed even more if possible, red reaching his ears not only his cheeks.

“I-I’m not a puppy…” Chanyeol breathed but with no conviction at all, making Baekhyun scrunch his nose, fixing his glasses before pouting softly. “No? You sure? It looks to me that you want to be praised and pampered, not teased nor ordering me around. Am I wrong?” Baekhyun asked him, fingers reaching Chanyeol’s chin and tilting it softly up, making Chanyeol look at him and woah, blushy and bared, eyes showing so prettily how much he wanted that way too much.

Chanyeol hummed briefly, before hinting a short shake of his head, biting his bottom lip. “I-I don’t know, Baekhyun, it’s the first time I feel like this… Yesterday was amazing, but the only idea of having you praising me, telling me I’m good and doing those same things to me, I feel like heating up? And I can’t explain it, but I want it.” Chanyeol whispered softly and weirdly honestly, tongue gently caressing his bottom lip and Baekhyun hummed briefly, thumb reaching Chanyeol’s lips too, brushing against them.

“Let me make you beg for it, then. We both want it, no worries.” Baekhyun breathed softly, leaning down, lips a breath away from Chanyeol’s, only his thumb dividing them and seeing Chanyeol’s eyes glistering, getting glassy briefly and despite everything, it seems like Chanyeol liked that clearly more than what originally proposed.

“Can I remove your boxer again?” Baekhyun asked him, fingers moving down his torso and stopping on his waistline, playing with the band and Chanyeol gulped down, nodding briefly, making Baekhyun smile. “So eager. Aren’t you cute? Really, almost like a puppy…” Baekhyun breathed softly, pressing a soft kiss on Chanyeol’s cheek and a few more on his jaw and neck.

This time though Chanyeol exhaled a deep sigh, eyes fluttering closed for a second, baring his neck to Baekhyun’s ministrations, not countering anything, but judging by how hard he was in his underwear, Baekhyun decided that he didn’t dislike it as much as he wanted to show.

Baekhyun’s lips descended slowly down Chanyeol’s neck and collarbones, fingers gently pulling down Chanyeol’s underwear, revealing the thickening erection, precum already sparkling on the tip. He was definitely enjoying it.

“Look at you, already so pretty. Aren’t you the best already? Showing me how beautiful you can be under my care?” Baekhyun asked him, fingers gently caressing Chanyeol’s hip bones while his lips reached again one of Chanyeol’s nipples, gingerly pressing soft kisses around it.

Chanyeol groaned lowly, fingers carding through Baekhyun’s hair, but with kindness, softly, enough to feel the silky texture between them, sighing briefly, clearly liking the sensations and the contact that was there in that moment.

“It’s… weird, but I like this. Can you, uhm, continue?” Chanyeol asked him softly and Baekhyun nodded briefly, nose gently brushing against Chanyeol’s nipple, making him shiver, slightly arching his back from the mattress. “You’re so sensitive, puppy. I wonder what would happen if I would start fingering you while sucking you off…” Baekhyun breathed quickly, almost pondering it with himself, tongue sneaking out to shortly lick Chanyeol’s perched up nub, feeling Chanyeol’s fingers gripping harder in his hair.

“Please do.” Chanyeol replied, parting a bit more his legs, a more than clear invitation to Baekhyun who huffed briefly, licking better the bud under his lips, sucking it too, earning himself another muffled moan and a tug on his hair.

“You want that? Lemme take the lube then… Such a luck that I had two in my wallet and yesterday we didn’t use them both. Who knew I would have the pleasure to finger you open, Chanyeol. Feeling you moaning and pleading like the good puppy you are.” Baekhyun breathed, pressing another soft kiss on Chanyeol’s nipple before setting up and pressing better on his glasses, looking down at Chanyeol who already looked so messed up and he honestly looked beautiful like that.

Baekhyun felt really honoured to be able to witness that. Especially when, after he picked up lube and the condom too, he kneeled between Chanyeol’s legs, slightly parting them more, fingers caressing the taller’s inner thighs.

“I suppose you never fingered yourself, but you have at least slightly knowledge about it?” Baekhyun asked him, opening the foil package, pouring some on his fingers, smearing it on them, seeing it sparkling under the light filtering from the half-pulled curtains.

Chanyeol hummed briefly, before he could shake his head, shortly, and before Baekhyun could interject, commenting on that, Chanyeol surprised him greatly. “Actually, sometimes I do. I had a few experiences as a b-bottom when I was younger and I admit there are some occasions in which I feel the need to, uhm, be f-filled?” Chanyeol added to his slightly vague reply, but Baekhyun's eyes grew wide in surprise, totally not expecting that reply, yet being pleased by it.

“Such a pleasant surprise, Chanyeol. I wonder how you will feel then, when I’ll fill you up firstly with my fingers and then, if you will feel like it, with my erection too…” Baekhyun breathed softly, nearing his own fingers to Chanyeol’s entrance, starting to massage it, seeing Chanyeol jolt shortly at the sudden touch, a bit cold.

Chanyeol’s cheeks were amazingly blushed, lips tucked between his teeth and hair completely dishevelled, showing such a beautiful sight to Baekhyun that he could barely believe that it was real.

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol groaned lowly, but he spread his legs even more and Baekhyun leant down pressing a soft kiss on Chanyeol’s hip bone. “Relax for me and I grant you will feel only better and better.” Baekhyun breathed against his skin, feeling Chanyeol shiver again, but nodding shortly, giving Baekhyun his okay.

Baekhyun kept massaging the entrance, slathering it with lube and in the meantime he also started to press open mouthed kisses on Chanyeol’s now fully erected dick. The scent there was even stronger, clean but mixed with Chanyeol’s characteristic odour, mixed with precum smell too and Baekhyun found it stingy but pleasant, enough that he found it so uniquely Chanyeol’s that he could probably get used and addicted to it.

As he took Chanyeol’s cock inside his mouth, fully, thanks also to his almost total lack of gag reflex, he also inserted his first finger inside Chanyeol, finding way less resistance than expected, surprised by it. Chanyeol jolted shortly, arching his back and thrusting deeper inside Baekhyun’s mouth, but Baekhyun’s hand was quick to press him back against the mattress.

“Ah, Baekhyun, fuck, your mouth feels so good…” Chanyeol breathed, making Baekhyun suck on the shaft better, tongue twirling around it, as he moved his finger slightly inside and out Chanyeol, testing the wetness, but judging it more than sufficient.

Chanyeol groaned lowly, fingers carding through Baekhyun’s hair, pressing him slightly down on his erection but Baekhyun let him do as he preferred, not finding it particularly annoying and wanting to know how far Chanyeol could go for more.

He pressed in another finger, starting a slightly faster pace on Chanyeol’s dick, eyeglasses getting slightly foggier, feeling Chanyeol whimper and moan, parting his legs even more, giving Baekhyun more room to move, the other hand that wasn’t fingering Chanyeol, caressing his thigh up and down, feeling his skin bloom in goosebumps.

He was behaving so good that Baekhyun wanted to praise him more, if only his mouth wasn’t stuffed with Chanyeol’s thick erection, tasting already precum on his tongue and clearly feeling Chanyeol starting a slow pace.

Baekhyun took it as his chance to add a finger more and started a slow pace too inside him, leisurely, matching the way Chanyeol was thrusting inside his mouth and loving how easily they found their tempo together, moving somehow at unison.

Chanyeol moaned again, this time tugging Baekhyun’s hair, enjoying everything that was happening inside him and not. Especially when Baekhyun’s proficient fingers found that soft spot, that bundle of nerves that made Chanyeol moan louder, gasping at the sudden electricity, pleasure making him shake.

“Ah, Baekhyun, god, please, again…” Chanyeol breathed and well even without asking Baekhyun would give him more, but why refusing when asked to? So he simply went with it, starting to thrust his fingers there, precisely, unrelentingly, squelching sounds starting to form a melody together with Chanyeol’s moans and pants, especially when Baekhyun matched his thrusts with his sucks on Chanyeol’s dick.

It already felt so perfect, so over the top, feeling Chanyeol thrashing and unravelling beneath him, letting himself go completely to Baekhyun’s actions on him, not being able anymore to fight against the feeling. Even though the best part was yet to come, quite literally.

Baekhyun didn’t expected it so soon, but after a slightly too precise thrust of his fingers against Chanyeol’s prostate, Chanyeol came suddenly in Baekhyun’s mouth, no forenotice, no nothing, simply crying louder, moaning sinfully Baekhyun’s name.

Baekhyun swallowed everything down, feeling its taste a bit salty and spicy down his throat, not too much to be awful, before he could lick Chanyeol’s dick clean. And even before he could say anything, Chanyeol was propping himself up on his elbows, stare mortified by what just happened.

“I-I’m sorry, Baekhyun. I-I didn’t…” he started saying but Baekhyun cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand, before pressing his eyeglasses back on his nose and shaking his head. “You don’t have to apologise, puppy. You taste amazing and I liked seeing you coming. It means you liked that, or am I mistaken?” Baekhyun asked him, smile not faltering on his lips and seeing Chanyeol’s blush again present on his cheeks before he could flop down again on the mattress, arm going to cover his face, clearly embarrassed.

“It felt so amazing, Baekhyun. Never received such a perfect blowjob. Your mouth is so sinful and inviting.” Chanyeol let out honestly, making Baekhyun smile before he could press a soft kiss on Chanyeol’s hip, fingers gently caressing his side, still not moving the ones that were inside Chanyeol.

“I’m glad to hear that, Chanyeol, because you honestly felt amazing too, coming so good inside my mouth and squeezing my fingers so well. You really are the best, puppy.” Baekhyun praised him, feeling him shiver at his words. And he wanted to press it even more, slightly trying his luck, because he really wondered now how good it would feel being inside Chanyeol, finally substituting his fingers with his own erection, pounding deeper inside Chanyeol making him moan more and more.

“And do you want to be even better for me? Letting me take even better care of you? Especially down here?” Baekhyun breathed softly, fingers gently thrusting inside Chanyeol, making him shiver briefly but strangely pressing against the insertion instead of moving away from it.

Chanyeol’s stare peeked up from underneath his own arm, before stretching it to caress Baekhyun’s cheek, cupping it and thumb gently stroking it. It felt warm, and Baekhyun liked the sensation. Even though he liked even more the words that followed. “Fuck me up more, Baekhyun. I don’t know why but I want it, you, inside me, now. Please.” He breathed and Baekhyun groaned lowly, leaning down and softly biting Chanyeol’s collarbones.

“You are really the best puppy.” He simply stated, moving his fingers to pick up the condom and giving it to Chanyeol. “Would you open it for me?” He asked briefly and Chanyeol nodded softly. But he didn’t simply open the package. Chanyeol also rolled it on Baekhyun’s erection, tugging it softly, making Baekhyun moan lowly at the touches.

“You ready, pretty?” Baekhyun asked him, fingering him slowly, making Chanyeol groan lowly, pressing against the insertion and nodding briefly, giving his green lights to Baekhyun. And Baekhyun didn’t wait for anything more, slowly removing his fingers from Chanyeol and moving closer to Chanyeol, erection brushing against Chanyeol’s entrance, seeing him spreading his legs wider.

“Ah, so ready for me to take. I told you, no, you’re the most amazing puppy. We should reward you plenty then.” Baekhyun commented, fingers caressing the back of Chanyeol’s thighs, pushing them slightly up, enough to fully reveal his gaping hole, sparkling with lube.

“You look so pretty, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun let out softly, grinding slowly his erection against his entrance, making them both groaning, before he could finally thrust slowly his dick in, oh so slowly to almost be agonising, not wanting to make Chanyeol feel too uncomfortable.

Surprisingly, though, Chanyeol was the first one to press against the insertion, taking Baekhyun’s cock all in, moaning lowly, arms circling Baekhyun’s neck, pulling him in, closer to himself and Baekhyun went with it, digging his dick deeper inside Chanyeol.

He felt so tight and warm, yet wet and Baekhyun really was amazed by how good Chanyeol felt, lips already linking with Chanyeol’s neck, praises non stop leaving his mouth on how amazing, tightly, wonderfully Chanyeol felt. And when Chanyeol’s seemed to be accustomed to the insertion, Baekhyun started slowly to move, leisure pace setting in and not going in too deep, trying to understand what Chanyeol preferred.

However, Chanyeol groaned, fingers tugging Baekhyun’s hair and digging in his shoulders, pressing against the insertion. “Fuck, Baekhyun, I want to feel you more…” Chanyeol let out softly, making Baekhyun huff a short chuckle against the taller’s neck before he could shake his head briefly.

“Uhm, how do good puppies ask for more?” He breathed in reply, raising briefly his face from his neck to look better in Chanyeol’s eyes even though his glasses were slipping shortly again, seeing them swirling again in that amazing honey and amber hues, getting glassy and almost crystal-like for how sparkling they were. His cheeks were flushed and his lips parted softly, swollen by his bites.

“Please?” Chanyeol let out softly, almost innocently, and Baekhyun swore that if he wasn’t deep down inside the taller, he would probably cooed, dying of cuteness overload. But in that moment, it only made him groan lowly, erection thickening inside Chanyeol, mouth lacing again on Chanyeol’s neck, sucking a hickey.

“Fuck, Chanyeol, you’re so perfect. Let me fuck you more as you want.” Baekhyun let out, starting a faster pace, Chanyeol’s moan and groans filling immediately the room, feeling again Chanyeol’s fingers gripping on his own back and shoulders, probably signing them.

But Baekhyun couldn’t care less, feeling so good inside Chanyeol, pounding faster, angling Chanyeol’s thighs slightly higher to allow himself to hit directly against Chanyeol’s softest point, making him cry out louder than before, Baekhyun’s name leaving his lips almost like a mantra, together with fucks and pleases.

And Baekhyun simply satisfied his request, pace getting faster, deeper, harder, pants and moans mixing with Chanyeol’s, fingers gripping harder on the taller’s thighs and sides, making Chanyeol almost unable to form coherent sentences.

“Keep it up for a bit more, puppy. You feel so good, I’m about to cum…” Baekhyun groaned again, slamming skin against skin, feeling himself hitting Chanyeol’s hips with a faster tempo, making Chanyeol moan louder, squeezing Baekhyun harder inside himself.

“Please, please, please, Baekhyun. I feel like coming too…” Chanyeol moaned, arching his back and clearly pursuing what they both wanted, even while feeling almost like a rag doll under Baekhyun’s unrelenting pace.

Chanyeol was the first to come again, spurting his cum on all his torso, moan ripping from his mouth, a low "Baekhyun, fuck, yes" leaving it and squeezing impossibly tighter Baekhyun inside himself, enough that the shorter came too, muffling his moans and swears down biting Chanyeol’s neck, sucking another few red signs on it.

Baekhyun slowed down, gently accompanying Chanyeol’s thighs down again, fingers caressing his sides and waist, smoothly, delicately and feeling Chanyeol’s breath slowing down too as his own, getting even and quieter.

“It’s… amazing.” Chanyeol said, almost out of breath and Baekhyun was already nodding too, sated yet surprised positively by that experience. Baekhyun had several experiences as a top too, but he never felt that good as he felt with Chanyeol in that moment, finding an amazing synchronicity and synergy that he could feel only with Chanyeol, both the previous night and in that moment.

However, it was a dangerous thought so he knew better and kept it for himself, simply placing a soft kiss on Chanyeol’s forehead. “It was, yes,” he started saying, but wanting to bring them back to planet Earth and what they were supposed to do at that moment. “But we need to clean you up a bit and then get going. We can’t stay here forever.” Baekhyun added, pressing his eyeglasses back at their place, and Chanyeol nodded briefly, smiling tiredly toward him.

And after they took a shower, Baekhyun helping Chanyeol to clean himself a bit, so that they managed to be socially acceptable again, they left the room and the inn, toward the parking place.

Once there, though, Chanyeol scrunched his nose, looking toward Baekhyun who frowned briefly, trying to understand what was happening seeing that there wasn’t anything strange in his idea.

“I… would you mind driving?” Chanyeol breathed softly, making Baekhyun frown but then hinted a small apologetic smile toward Chanyeol. “I’m sorry, does it hurt?” Baekhyun asked him, stretching his hand toward Chanyeol who gave him the car keys, pressing his lips in a thin line. “I’m not used to it. And it’s annoying more than painful, but if you can drive, it is better so we don’t have to stop every now and then.” Chanyeol explained honestly and Baekhyun scrunched his nose again, nodding.

“Sorry.” He muttered again but Chanyeol was already shaking his head again. “It was more than worth it.” He declared, making Baekhyun’s cheeks blush up a bit, but still sitting on the driver’s seat and, after fixing the position a bit, adjusting it to his height instead of Chanyeol’s, they finally went back to Seoul.

What happened still felt like a dream, especially when Baekhyun insisted of driving until Chanyeol’s and then going away with public transportation, greeting Chanyeol with a simple see you around but, glancing one last time toward him, seeing the flash of a hickey on the taller’s neck, made everything awfully real.

And Baekhyun didn’t know what there would be from there on, but he knew that he had to be more than careful not to mix anything else together with what was and needed to remain only a matter of sex.

After that experience they shared unexpectedly and thanks to that visit to that almost magical place where Baekhyun lived for a big part of his childhood, everything went on almost like before it.

Chanyeol always visited Baekhyun’s store, asking for more perfumes and fragrances for more family members, colleagues and friends and Baekhyun never actually asked if Chanyeol really needed them or they were just an excuse to keep visiting Baekhyun after closing hours.

Apart from that, sometimes they went out together, mainly for dinner, and after that Chanyeol would invite him over for a drink even when they both knew that the real reason was not the hours they spent speaking about everything or nothing on the cream coloured couch in Chanyeol’s living room.

It was the amazing sex they practiced basically over whichever surface in Chanyeol’s house, starting from the most common like his huge king-size bed, above mentioned cream coloured couch, the kitchen table, shower wall, in the gigantic bathtub in Chanyeol’s second bathroom, the entryway wall, first bathroom’s tiled floor and so on…

It was something that never failed to amaze Baekhyun and kept calling him toward Chanyeol more and more, without any faltering, without questioning, almost like he was drugged on Chanyeol’s presence in his life and he was starting to develop some kind of addiction.

Despite knowing how dangerous that thought was and how even more treacherous could be the eventuality in which that actually became a reality, he couldn’t do differently. Because Chanyeol bewitched Baekhyun with his perfect scent, his honey starry eyes, his perfect manners in every given moment, his smart and sharp brain, his hilarious humorism and a body so perfect that Baekhyun could only dream of it.

Not to mention the chemistry there was between them that was difficult not to see, to hide when each of their touches sparkled with bright electricity and especially when they realised how compatible they were even in the whole dynamics that came to be depending on them switching roles.

They both liked to take their time, utilising it at its fullest every time they saw each other, probably with the same things in mind, not knowing which could be their last chance. Baekhyun completely gave himself to Chanyeol every time the taller expressed his preference to top and Baekhyun was more than fulfilled in every sense by that, abandoning himself to Chanyeol’s cares.

And when instead was Baekhyun’s turn to take that role, Chanyeol finally started to be more relaxed and less ordering around, even though they realised that it kinda added spice to whatever they had. Baekhyun was a selfless lover, especially when all his attention and care were focused on Chanyeol’s pleasure, always at the first place.

Despite what it could seem, it wasn’t only because Baekhyun wanted Chanyeol to feel good and enjoy everything they did together, but because he knew that they both had great benefits from it, whichever role they covered in that moment.

They both knew that it was only a matter of time before something would finally come and disrupt whatever utopy they started living for a few months then, almost like the proverbial sword of Damocles, impending over their heads, ready to put the word end to what already lasted for too long. However, Baekhyun didn’t expect it to come in that shape. Nor that he would find it so hurtful.

It was a nice morning of middle-March, the season finally getting slightly warmer, when Baekhyun received a call from his brother. It was strange because usually Baekbom never called him when he knew that Baekhyun was in the shop, so Baekhyun assumed it was something urgent, maybe on Baekbom’s wife or on their parents.

He didn’t manage to pick up and start with a short hello that his brother was already talking. “Oh, you picked up! I thought that now that you’re famous you would forget about me and your family!” Baekbom greeted him, making Baekhyun frown shortly, thanking that there was no visitor in the store at that moment so he could lock the door and flip the sign I’ll be back immediately.

“What are you talking about?” Baekhyun asked him, moving back to where he had his cashier and sitting on the high stool after pouring himself a cup of tea. He didn’t know what to say because he honestly had no idea of what Baekbom meant with that sentence.

“The article on the news today. I thought you were still decided on not wanting to share your private life with the media. You needed some more fame?” Baekbom inquired again and despite his mocking tone that usually would make Baekhyun hang up immediately, this time Baekhyun’s eyes only went wide in surprise, trying to process what was happening.

“Bom, what? I didn’t release any…” Baekhyun started saying, even though he stopped himself immediately, mind flying instantly to Chanyeol, but why would Chanyeol write an article on Baekhyun out of nothing? Especially seeing that it was already a few months since Baekhyun told him his story and what happened when he was a kid.

“On the Daily Seoul. Even though you probably did because you came to know that the Parks bought grandma’s house.” Baekbom replied like it was the most obvious thing but dropping two enormous pieces of news on Baekhyun.

First, Chanyeol’s newspaper really released an article on Baekhyun’s past and private life. Which was irritating, because Baekhyun was always crystal clear about his private life, wanting to keep it as far as possible from the fame his perfumer work brought to him.

And second, because what the fuck?! Parks as in Chanyeol’s family?! And it was impossible that Chanyeol knew nothing about it and never told anything to Baekhyun while knowing how important that house was for Baekhyun and how hurt he was when he saw it empty and uninhabited!

Baekhyun felt his blood boil in his veins, more for the news about his grandmother’s house even though also the one on the article itself kinda itched weirdly on his breath and his heart. He really thought he found someone he could trust as he did with Chanyeol, telling him everything freely even if in a sort of parallel reality compared to the one they were living everyday, comparing it constantly to a honey and chocolate coloured, sparklingly dreamy intermezzo in their lives.

“Hyun, you still there?” Baekbom’s voice came from the phone, waking up Baekhyun’s from the short trance in which he ended up, thoughts spiralling too fast and too twirling in his mind, creating hundreds of ifs, buts and other possibilities.

“Yes, I, no. It’s… I need to find out what happened. That article is out without my consent.” Baekhyun breathed, untying his apron and throwing it on the cashier, fingers running through his hair and messing it up.

And even before Baekbom could reply or retort something, Baekhyun greeted him with a short: gotta go, call you back. It was so odd and felt so weird because why on earth Chanyeol would have done that?!

Baekhyun closed the store and literally stormed out, heading toward Chanyeol’s workplace. He purchased a copy of the morning newspaper, confirming what Baekbom told him and ignoring at least two different secretaries who told him that Mr. Park is busy right now you can’t go to his office, he went exactly there.

He barged in without a thought more, pushing the door open, revealing Chanyeol sitting with two older men in front of his desk, talking about something. But Baekhyun didn’t honestly care, he just marched up to the ebony table, slamming the newspaper on it, glaring at Chanyeol.

“You promised me you wouldn’t write anything about it.” He stated, voice slightly higher than usual but weirdly level, unwavering on his words, despite the hurt that was swirling in him, clenching at his lungs and insides.

“Baekhyun, what…” Chanyeol started asking him, eyes growing wide in surprise and Baekhyun didn’t know if it was because he didn’t expect Baekhyun there or if it was because he didn’t know about the article himself.

However, Baekhyun didn’t care at that moment. He pointed directly to the article writing about Baekhyun’s life, about his past, about most of his private things casually excluding Chanyeol, and about how Park's family bought his grandmother’s house.

“Even letting aside how I freaking trusted you with my personal stuff,” Baekhyun started saying, finger tapping exactly where Park's surname appeared in the article. “You didn’t think it would be fair telling me at least this? That your family bought that stupid, goddamned house that it's worthy more than all my work in these years for me?” Baekhyun continued, feeling his eyes getting slightly watery and… what the hell he was doing?

He trusted a man he knew nothing about, told him things he never told anyone else, even the deepest ones and he got physically involved with this man, losing himself in how pleasant his company was, forgetting why in the first place he always kept distance from whoever else before Chanyeol.

“Baekhyun, I don’t even know what you’re…” Chanyeol started saying, picking up the newspaper but Baekhyun clicked his tongue shaking his head, feeling his heart squeeze tightly in his chest and a lump in his throat.

“Knowing you, nothing leaves this place without your approval so don’t play pretend.” Baekhyun spat out, stare hardening again, fingers gripping slightly harder on his own jacket. He was so upset and hurt, wounded so deep that he had difficulties even realising it, let alone admit it. He couldn’t believe that something could still hurt him that much…

“I was an idiot, thinking we were…” Baekhyun started saying even though realisation hit him especially hard. What? What were they? Acquaintances? Something similar to friends with some benefits? Why was Baekhyun getting so worked up for something like that, especially coming from Chanyeol?

And realisation hit him even harder, sudden like a piercing pain going through his chest, eyes getting wide, feeling like he was the biggest idiot in the whole world. Because he gave more importance to Chanyeol than simply friends with some benefits, and that addiction that Baekhyun feared so much was already there, in the worst shape it could take: feelings.

Reason why Baekhyun simply turned around and left the office, riding the elevator in silence and, almost like those weren’t his own actions, left the building too, going directly back home, not stopping by the store again.

He fell for journalist Park freaking Chanyeol. Marvellous. Baekhyun really wanted to pat his back for breaking the very first rule he himself put between him and Chanyeol. Only sex until Chanyeol’s family would force the engagement with Bora.

Not that Chanyeol would care anyway, seeing that for him probably it was only pleasant sex and another good story to tell to sell his newspaper, but still… that hurt Baekhyun a lot, more than he was ready to admit even only to himself.

He remotely felt his phone vibrating somewhere near where he was laying on his bed, still dressed from outside, but he didn’t roll there nor felt the bed to pick it up. It didn’t matter if the call was from Baekbom, Chanyeol or some client of the shop. Baekhyun didn’t care.

As he didn’t care about anything else, including potential meetings, conference calls and gala he had to attend in the next few days, mainly for that year's summer collection, he simply took his car and drove apparently aimlessly, until he came to notice that he was going home. And for once, Baekhyun decided simply to go with that.