#but god I love Chanyeol

[seiwas]

instagram dump with your selfship! (model/actor!au sel x satoru ver.)

seltoru behind-the-scenes dump — work days and winding down~

liked by sstoru and others

sellybelly last week's shenanigans ✨ 1: shoot day! 📸 2: nails sponsored by mr. gojo satoru 💅 3. loved our outfits for the awards 🥺 (thank you dior! 💫) 4. that feeling when you change into home clothes tho >> 5. maybe he's pretty sometimes 🙄 6. caught him in the act (texting me during a meeting 😭) 7. satoru in hair & makeup (some good sleep he's had there 🤧) 8. our lil treat to end the week 🍓😋 9. phone hijacked by mr. gojo satoru 🧿🧿 👁️👁️

sstoru knew you were obsessed with me 😌

thanks for the tag my love @tteokdoroki this was so so fun 🥺 tagging: anyone else who wants to do this!! it's so pretty and so fun 🥺

[candescentkpop]

Feeling parched and a little bit reckless

EXO: Cream Soda

Exo Part 49 / ∞

[nishihiroto]

CHANYEOL : SMTOWN SMCU PALACE JACKET BEHIND

for @sebin​

[lightfulonion]

hello @skijjiki!!! thanks for tagging me friend!!!!

Favorite time of year: every single day that i grace this beautiful planet ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ I unironically love Christmas so much. I love the cold and I love the fact that we can slack for a little bit and I love having an excuse and indulge myself by seeing and meeting with my loved ones. I also love spring! (<- spoken with the privilege of someone who only has mild allergies) And summer when it isn't boiling outside!

Favorite drinks: boba, COFFEE, ginger ale, wine (the semisweet ones and especially semisweet red wine ❤), fresh squeezed orange juice, HOT MILK WITH HONEY and generally whatever has sugar in it

Collect anything?: Littlest Pet Shop!!! When i was in kindergarden there was that one kid that had SACKS of lps and from then on i decided that it was my fate to defeat them... (i just said to my mum to buy me lps whenever she could and i also asked her every christmas to tell santa claus i needed the big packs with them) I also have collections of rocks and shells from different beaches that i went to! Lately i try to collect stickers from cons and such (<-literally has went to one (1) con so far) and chupa-chups cans bc they look pretty 👉👈 (not sponsored)

Favorite fics: OH BOY OH BOY! DO I HAVE THE FICS FOR YOU! I'll try to be brief: 💼 OK NO JOKE, I'll try to be brief: (in no particular order, except for the first one) 1) it's not living (if it's not with you) by brella (hq!!) TOP 1!!! IT DOESN'T GET BETTER THAN THIS FELLAS! Legit, tsukkiyama isnt even my thing but this one ticks all my boxes: desperate lead? check. the grumpy one mellows out for the sunshine one? check. the inherent value of change and becoming better by loving and wanting to express it properly and by that becoming a better person? check. GROUNDHOG DAY AU?? YES PLEASE! It's.. It's very good. Please give it a read if you want. (brella has written many good hq fics btw please check them out!) 2) Work-Related Risk Factors by parkernoir (mp100) Case fic, angsty and probably my favourite mp100 ever! It has Serizawa! It has Tome! It has Reigen trauma! It made me cry my eyes out in agony! I have a very soft spot for this. It has serirei in it but mostly it's gen if i remember correctly? yeah 3) beginners by silvercistern (mp100) fair warning it's about sex and it doesn't have just steamy scenes, it discusses generally sex and stuff. That being said it has ace Reigen in it and it made me cry 👍 4) The Negligible Self by ch_am (mp100) anything and everything by camp is a gift honestly. Angsty generally, full of whump specifically, it makes the soft, tender moments hit better and it's still in progress! Join the fun as i lose my mind with every single update! Yay! (people in the comments in ao3 are also trying to find out what is going on and it's fun) (it has a prequel too which is really good and canon-adjacent) 5) Kintsugi by SpicyChibi (mp100) it took me a week to recover from reading this. mp100 fanwriters have a way of capturing the vulnerability of serirei in a way that physically hurts me. Tender, good, I love them, I love them, I love them. Ongoing and 90,000 words so far. 6) Like A Cheap Suit, You Can Wear Me Out by Vulcanodon (mp100) written like a romantic comedy and made me laugh at every twist and turn of the plot. The last scene is forever ingrained in me and it actually makes me emotional. Case fic again and a very fun one 7) Heart Rate Rapid by Justkeeptrekkin (mp100) teacher au, all the children in one class, ongoing, literally finshed it yesterday, ACE REIGEN BELOVED. (so far no explicit content so don't pay too much mind to the rating, there are discussions of sex but only briefly and on a surface level) I love their banter and the transition from friendship to something more... sigh 8) where the night goes by bigspoonnoya (hq!!) 'the sad gay with the happy ending' tag got to me. I love bittersweet stories with happy endings (can you tell) and this one has kagehina in it.... utterly head over heels for stories where they meet many years later. 9) fake it, make it by zadderlee (hq!!) FAVOURITE KAGEHINA FIC RIGHT THERE! ongoing since good old 2019 but the author has said they are going to continue it at some point! good characterisation, i had forgotten how good it is but i keep getting back to this. 10) That Baby Does Not Belong to You (But It Could) by multifascinate (talkativelock) (hq!!) bokuaka with baby hinata. need i say more. oh, yeah and they are 20-somethings. And in college. the romance aspect is there but it mostly focuses on other things. And i love it.

anyway these are my ao3 recs bone apple teeth (pay attention to the content warnings and the tags. thanks!)

Favorite video games: i am an awful gamer but generally the story-based ones intrigue me and the ones that are fun to play together with friends! Disco elysium, Ace attorney, Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros and animal crossing!

i tag @livingonyoghurtandspite @horson @raph-red-fan and whoever wants to do this ✌ ( cough please give me fic recs i beg cough)

[kurapike]

gg dislikers are pathetic 'they all sound the same' u can't possibly think orange caramel sounds the same as ladies code sounds the same as fx sounds the same as dreamcatcher sounds the same as youha etc 'their voices are annoying' oh so u prefer to listen to nasal distorted burping sounds made by moids just bc u heard ONE female idol doing cute annoying vocals 'the concepts are always the same' unlike all these 4th gen noise im so cool dudes. 'they are sexualized' so u follow smelly misogynistic men instead. just say the truth u found a safe way to adore men OR u hate women . but be Honest

[minijeong]

.

[baekhyunsbestie]

⠀ALL OF MY WORKS ARE NSFW

⠀AND FOR 18+ READERS ONLY!!!

🚨 ‼️ QUICK PSA ‼️ 🚨 if you’re a minor or don’t have an age indicator on your blog and i catch you in my notifications interacting with any of my posts, i will block you. it’s super simple—just drop a “not a minor” or “adult” in your bio, and you’re good to go! i reeeaaally don’t like blocking anyone, but i’d rather be cautious and avoid any chance of minors stumbling onto my content. i know this might not keep every minor away, but it’s one way to set some boundaries. thanks for understanding! 🥹💞

now, for my ADULT besties, please feel free to continue!!🫡 just make sure to check out the content warnings and summaries first, as there could be potential triggers.

˗ˏˋ and please remember that YOU are in full control of your online experience!! so if you choose to explore my blog, browse through my fics, and click that "keep reading" button, know that it’s totally on you and your choice! ˎˊ˗

but i’m so glad you’re here and i hope you enjoy all the smut!! happy reading and be safe out there, lovies!! ଘ(ᵕ˵ ૩ᵕ)━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

⠀⠀ ⠀⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ series .ᐟ

sparks and vows (ongoing)┊current wc: 18k+

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyunx f!reader, romance, wedding!au, angst, fluff, exos and oc’s, pussy whipped!baek, ex-playboy!baek, ceo nepo baby!reader, smut probs every chapter ngl, p in v, oral (both f+m receiving), fingering (f receiving), slight exhibitionism, language, scenes with alcohol +/or smoking, pretty tame tho tbh!!!

ALL MINE! ┊ wc: 8.5k

⟢ content: 18+/MDNI. baekhyun x f!reader. no specified age, but i'd say they're somewhere in their early-to-mid 20’s cus i can only imagine people w/o fully developed frontal lobes behaving this way, respectfully 😭🙂‍↕️ bff's to fwb's to bff's again to strangers to lovers. fluff, angst, and it ain’t a baekhyunsbestie fic if it don’t got some good ol’ nasty smuuuttttt. pet names, praise kink, cheating, unprotected sex, p in v, creampie after creampie after creampie (baekhyun deffo has breeder balls, don’t @ me), overstimulation (both f + m). you both are just two big meanie idiots who are in love with each other.

easy peasy┊wc: 4.6k

⟢ prequel to all mine :') ⟢ content: 18+/MDNI. baekhyun x f!reader. scenes with weed + alcohol, mutual pining, friends to fwb, pet names, lots of swearing. SMUT!!! porn w plot literally, masturbation (both m + f), oral (f!receiving), unprotected sex, praise, p in v. baekhyun is pretty obsessive in this.

⠀⠀ ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ one-shots .ᐟ

home┊wc: 4.4k

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyunx f!reader, established relationship, pet names, language, baekhyun’s a lil yandere and pussy-whipped (i mean ofc i cant imagine him any other way), a REAL EATER iykwim, v v v intimate, fluffyyyyy. reader and baek take a huge step in their relationship <3

do you like scary movies?┊wc: 5.3k+

⟢ ib: this anon (๑ > ᴗ < ๑) ⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. language, ghostface!baekhyun x f!reader--baekhyun is a psychologist and reader is a bakery owner, no ages specified, but i was thinking mid-late twenties!! they're also next-door neighbors 🙂‍↕️ hehe

the boy is mine ┊wc: 1.9k+

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. established relationship, language, pet names, unprotected sex, p in v, creampie

god is a woman┊wc: 5.6k

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyun x f!reader. you’re a milf, baekhyun’s a dilf, and he calls you “ma” + “mama” :’), married!au, new parents, slice of life, angst + fluff, pet names, body worship, breastfeeding kink, fingering + oral + overstim (f! receiving), unprotected sex, p in v, breeding kink, and a whole lot of baekhyun talking you through it 😮‍💨 phhheeeeewwwww

been away┊wc: 1.3k

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. facetime sex w/ baekhyun x f!reader. ⟢ BONUS 🤭

truth be told┊wc: 24.2k

⟢ requested by this lovely anonie <3 :') ty baby! ⟢ content: 18+/MDNI. pediatrician!baekhyun x f!reader. chanyeol x f!reader. baekhyun x f!oc. lovers to strangers to co-parents to lovers again. angst, slow burn, fluffy, then we get reaaaallll smutty ⟡ pet names, praise kink, body worship, unprotected sex, p in v, bulge kink, creampie, slight breeding kink (y'all should know me by now 🤟🏼😣) ⟡

⠀⠀⠀ ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ misc .ᐟ

ᡣ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶𐭩 drabbles, thirsts + headcanons can be found here!!!!

TOUCH IT!┊wc: 955

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyun and those damn fingers x f!reader

WAKE UP┊wc: 764

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. f!reader waking baekhyun up w/ her mouth, language, pet names, somnophilia, oral (m receiving)

addicted┊wc: 386

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyun can never get enough of you, f!reader

BACKhyun┊wc: 422

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyun and his back 😵‍💫 x f!reader

muse┊wc: 958

⟢ content: no warnings (ikr who am i). suuuuper soft n fluffy! baekhyun is a landscape photographer and f!reader is his muse :')

DROWN┊wc: 2.5k+

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyun's lips x f!reader.

raw┊wc: 450

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyun x f!reader's "first time" lmfao

boy dad!baekhyun┊wc: 433

⟢ content: no warnings <3 just baekhyun as a boy dad

girl dad!baekhyun┊wc: 434

⟢ content: no warnings <3 just baekhyun as a girl dad

hair┊wc: 186

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyun x f!reader. hair pulling, oral (f!receiving)

picture you┊wc: 1.6k+

⟢ content: SMUT. 18+/MDNI. baekhyun x f!reader. baekhyun calls you when he’s going through his hidden folder on his photos app 🤭

©️ 𝐁𝐀𝐄𝐊𝐇𝐘𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐄

[vorvayne]

This is a scene from my Sechan fic My Moral Standing Is Lying Down which I kept seeing so strongly in my head for a year until I actually just commissioned Cake to draw it and it is PERFECT.

"Switch"

A Sechan commission for @vorvayne

[uhdrienne]

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

ch11. can i tell you something?

🌼 pairing: wonwoo x reader

🌼 genre: fluff

🌼 word count: ~1.3k

🌼 warnings: crying, emotionally heavy topics like death and trauma, do not read if it can be potentially triggering.

Wonwoo hasn’t been seen for a week. Jay, Chanyeol and the rest of the crew have returned to the city, and there was a large crowd gathering to say goodbye, albeit a little awkwardly.

Both you and Grandma Lee have been taking turns to knock on his door, leave food, or just sit and wait for him to open the door. Bitterly, you found it ironic how even as acquaintances, there was lesser distance between the two of you then.

“So…. an investment firm, huh?” You ask.

“Yep,” Chanyeol says on the opposite end. “So he was shadowing his relative in an investment firm, and a stock type he recommended to a janitor colleague unexpectedly dropped all the way.”

“And the janitor….”

“Jay’s father. He ended up in an accident soon after the whole thing.”

“Oh my god.”

A sigh comes from the line. “That’s as much as I know. Jay wants to seem normal, so he isn’t saying much about it.”

“It’s as bad over here,” You mumble. “He isn’t opening up anymore.”

Chanyeol hums in thought. “And the Y/N I know wouldn’t have waited for him to open the door. I don’t mean go in and bombard him. I mean just…. go in and make sure he’s eating well, you know?”

“I’ve thought of it,” You sigh. “And I don’t want him to think I’m going in to fish for answers. I don’t want….I don’t mind if he takes time to tell me. I just want him to recover and be comfortable again.”

“See?” Chanyeol chuckles. “You know your stuff. And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that people’s true intentions always come through. Y/N, you will know what to say when the time comes. It’s going to flow right out of you.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

A door has never looked more closed than it does right now.

You take a deep breath and pick up the basket of corn Grandma Lee left at Wonwoo's door. Then, you steel yourself to reach out and open the door, take off your shoes, and enter the house.

Wonwoo looks up at you from the sofa as you walk in. He looks visibly gaunt, with rings under his eyes, and from the looks of it, you know he hasn't been eating well.

You set the corn down and move to sit next to him. "I'll make you something to eat."

He shakes his head, bowing his head down. "I'm okay, there's no need."

You sigh. "I'm not here for answers, Won."

He keeps his head down and says nothing.

"I just... you should eat well. You don't need to tell me anything right now. If you need to cry, you should at least get a good night's rest and some sustenance before you do."

It's still silent as you rummage in his fridge, careful not to do or say anything that could shut him off again.

When you turn to take a plate out, he mumbles something which you ask him to repeat.

“Can I tell you something?"

You turn to him, and he finally makes eye contact with you for the first time since coming into his house. "Could you...sit down for a moment?"

After hesitating just a fraction of a second, you settle on the couch next to him.

"I used to intern at an investment firm. I was shadowing my cousin," He swallows and hesitates for about a million moments before speaking. "His name was Taeyong, and he was just... amazing. He taught me everything I needed to know about the stock market and got me started on meeting clients."

"He sounds lovely."

He nods, staring right in front of him. "He was the closest family to me. He, and his wife, Ji-yeon. They took care of me so well, it was like I really was his direct family. And I was going into work one day, and the janitor working on our level asked me what he could invest in to secure a steady income flow."

His breathing becomes a little unstable, and you place your hand over his to calm his jitters. He seems to speak a little slower.

"I recommended him a package I remember my cousin talking about. The most steady option in the market, the one that guaranteed the safest returns. That stock had been steadily increasing in value and popularity, so I thought it was safe."

You squeeze his hand once.

"I just found out that evening." His words are getting softer and more ashamed. "That janitor was Jay's father."

Your other hand comes up to rub his back. "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known."

"Didn't I?" He murmurs. "A couple months after he began investing, I went into work and there was a crisis because the stock was failing so badly. It was crashing and I'd never seen anything like it."

His breath shudders. "And my first thought was just panic. I rushed to go to Jay's father and tell him to pull out his investment immediately. I wanted to tell him exactly what I knew and make sure he wasn't left in the dark."

"And then?" You murmur.

"It was raining so badly." He said softly. "I had a license, but Taeyong said he didn't think I was in any condition to drive, and he offered to drive me."

His hands come up into his hair, tugging hard in frustration. "And the rain... the car accident... it took Taeyong away. From Ji-yeon, from his parents, and from every single person who loved him. Including me."

Your hands come up to cover your mouth. "Wonwoo..."

"I survived," He chokes out, tears re-streaming down his face. "I survived him, and I survived hearing the news that Jay's father drove in the rain to ask me what was going on, and getting in another collision."

As he stares straight ahead, his expression shuttering, you swallow, inch towards him, and perhaps Chanyeol was right, because words you didn't think you were capable of saying spill out of your mouth. "It isn't your fault. I wish time was kinder to you. You must've been holding on to such a burden, Wonwoo. You can cry, okay? Scream if you have to."

And your words seem to be his breaking point because he's slumping over and crying, loud and unrestrained, and there's nothing you can say or do to stop the flow of tears, so you wrap yourself around him, let his tears soak your shoulder, and for the first time maybe ever, pray that you are enough to soothe him.

Chanyeol leans back against the gravel and looks up at Jay, who's sitting up, solemn and silent.

"I'm sorry I dragged you back here for extra b-rolls," He says. "I would have asked the other cameramen, but they're knee deep in the post-production and there was no other option."

Jay shrugs. "It's fine."

The evening sun shines against the lighthouse as the camera runs, and the waves crash against the rocks.

After about ten minutes, Chanyeol speaks up. "Go ahead. I can handle this."

Jay looks at him. "What?"

"You have something bothering you," Chanyeol replies. "And from my producer's intuition, I can safely say that the source is exactly where we are. You should go sort it out before it becomes a real pain."

Jay turns away and back towards the setting sun. "I didn't know you were so nosy."

Chanyeol lets out a sigh. "You know, I don't think it's been easy for anyone involved. And I can't empathise fully with you because I don't know what it's like. So all I can say is... do what you truly believe is right. Take care of that thorn in your head, and everything else will come after."

Jay trains his eyes on the waves. "I don't know if I can handle this with any kind of poise."

"And I don't believe Chief Jeon would hold it against you," Chanyeol counters gently, leaning back on his hands again. "Of all people, he would know. It takes a lot -- sometimes too much -- grace to still be kind in cruel circumstances."

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

🌼 summary: going back to the countryside where you grew up was at the bottom of your list. unexpectedly, your life changes course, and you eventually find your home in weekly village cleaning, the sound of the waves, and with the local jack-of-all-trades, jeon wonwoo.

🌼 pairing: wonwoo x reader fic (written, fluff, angst, hometown chachacha!inspired)

🌼 genre(s): fluff, mild angst, yn can be mean sometimes at the start (this is inspired by the kdrama hometown cha-cha-cha, so some parts of the plot and characters are similar), wonwoo is an overall sweetheart

ch.11: can i tell you something?

prev. masterlist. next.

🌼 taglist: @gaslysainz @lev1hei1chou @mingycr

[justwritedreams]

Now you know | Chanyeol

Idol!Chanyeol x Idol!Reader Word count: 2035 Genre: fluff, kinda crack Author: maari  Warnings: none Note: I loved writing this so much oh my god 😫 thank you ateez for giving me the perfect scenario lol Request: may i request a fluffy chanyeol fic where his s/o is also an idol (94L) and theyre “secretly” dating but theyre bad at acting subtle so the fans know whats up + ships them lol ⫷ Exo Masterlist

"So, what do you think?" Y/N asked her boyfriend curiously, she was lying on his chest, the two of them in bed spending the weekend doing what they so deserved, resting.

After all, both would have long weeks ahead of them and they would hardly have the chance to see each other or be together.

She was holding her cell phone, after showing him one of the intro tracks from her upcoming album.

"I loved it, it has a very cinematic fantasy vibe." he replied, with a proud smile as he stroked her hair.

"I told you the concept of this comeback is going to be like this, right?" the boyfriend nodded in agreement. "And we're going to have a collaboration with that American producer."

"You seem quite excited." he concluded, he didn't look at her face because his position wouldn't allow it, as she huddled in his embrace like a koala, but he could imagine the glint in her eyes. “I’m!” she said, raising her head to look at him better, as he predicted there was the sparkle in her eyes of pure pride and happiness. "It will be the first time I get to show my more mature side to fans."

Chanyeol laughed and the hand that was stroking her hair went to his girlfriend's arm. "Should I be jealous?" he raised an eyebrow and she laughed softly.

Y/N held the phone with one hand and the other brought it to Chanyeol's cheek, stroking his skin slowly.

"No, you're the only one who knows all of my sides."

He lifted his chin, a rather proud look knowing he was the only one and Y/N smiled before she leaned closer to kiss him, she had been doing this all day but it wasn't enough, when the lips were a centimeter away from touching, Chaneyol even had his eyes closed Y/N's phone vibrated not just once or twice but five times. She complained and threw her head on her boyfriend's chest who still had his pout to kiss her. Y/N took her head off Chanyeol's chest and brought her phone closer, seeing what was going on through the notification bar.

"Is my leader." she said "Why does it seem like she always does it on purpose?"

Chanyeol laughed heartily and his girlfriend wanted to bite his cheek but she held back and unlocked the phone. "You shouldn't talk about your leader like that." Chanyeol joked.

"I'm older than she is, have you forgotten?" Y/N glanced at her boyfriend, Chanyeol now resting his arm behind his head, his biceps got bigger in the black t-shirt he was wearing.

She opened the twitter link that was sent in the message, along with the phrase 'you have to see this. ASAP'.

Y/N felt her jaw drop when she saw the tweet and tensed up all of a sudden, this didn't go unnoticed by her boyfriend who now wiped the smile off his face and frowned.

"What?" he asked, analyzing his girlfriend's expression.

"Look at this." she turned the phone screen towards Chanyeol who focused his attention on the tweet, he gulped when he saw the picture of him and his girlfriend.

There was nothing much but from what they wrote, the suspicions were there.

Chanyeol and Y/N had gone to NCT 127's concert the night before, to support the boys from the same company and because she was a huge fan of the boys, they hadn't gone alone of course. Two members of Y/N's group were on her right side while Chanyeol, Sehun and Baekhyun were on her right side, exactly in that order.

In one photo they were just looking at the stage while in the other Chanyeol had his arm around Y/N's neck and the other was up. They were just enjoying the show, nothing else.

But fan comments came to the same conclusion: they were dating.

"Oh come on, it's not even that compromising!" he said and Y/N turned the phone's screen towards her, while bringing her other hand to her mouth to bite the nail. "We were just singing Dreams Come True."

"But it's not what the fans think, there's even a video of you hugging me." Y/N said, watching on her phone.

It really wasn't compromising, mainly because afterwards, Chanyeol hugged Sehun in the same way.

"Oh give me that." he took his arm behind his head to grab his girlfriend's phone.

"Hey!" she complained but he started swiping the screen. "Look, there are a lot of people thinking I was just being me." he glanced at Y/N who eyed him suspiciously. "I'll read it to you: 'lol he literally leans on Sehun afterwards, so they're dating', ew no!" Chanyeol stuck his tongue out in disgust and Y/N chuckled lightly.

"Good thing they were at an NCT show because if it was a comedy Y/N would probably be without an arm"

"Yeah, you do that with people when you laugh."

"But hey, there are a lot of people who shipp us."

"Really?" Y/N asked curiously and tried to snoop through the phone.

"They even made a thread about the two of us." he replied calmly and Y/N widened her eyes.

"What? You're kidding!" she said and slipped between her boyfriend's arm to see the phone too, he hugged her while opening the tweet.

The compilation had photos, videos, gifs of interactions between the two in events of all kinds. 

Y/N was never subtle in hiding what she felt for Chanyeol, it was no wonder he discovered the not-so-secret crush she had for him.

So the pictures of them looking at each other meant more than it should, she always smiled broadly when she saw him, it wasn't common to do that with anyone. 

And a photo in particular that she never actually explained, taken by a fan with low resolution, Y/N holding her phone and her backpack at the airport, accidentally her phone had been unlocked by fingerprint and it was possible to see that her boyfriend was the wallpaper, although couldn't quite see his face the fans had found similarities.

Chanyeol was always looking for her at SM concerts, whether to bow when greeting her - even though he had seen her backstage before - or to hold her hand at the end.

At award shows, they always seemed to talk with their eyes when they were at nearby tables. And they always danced and sang louder when one was performing.

She repeatedly praised the group's songs on her social media just as he did, and although it was vague, fans took it as a sign.

The interviews where she described her ideal type, someone like him.

The similar clothing and accessories. Which in their case wasn't similar, the hoodies Y/N took were actually Chanyeol's but no one could prove it. Anyone on the internet could buy the same model and size.

"Nothing that hasn't happened to other idols." Y/N spoke after a while.

If they didn't deny it and didn't confirm it, it would just be internet theory. Right?

"Ah, but this is interesting." Chanyeol stopped at one of the tweets with a wide smile.

"Oh no."

"Oh yes!" he chuckled before reading it aloud. "Y/N bubble update: 'I'm watching Descendants of the Sun again. Oh what? How many times have I watched it? Probably like 5 lol I really like this genre. And Dr. Kang is right, girls really fantasizes about the army uniform.' You said that the day I sent you my uniform picture." Chanyeol accused and she felt her cheeks burn.

That comment had been days before official photos of Chanyeol serving it were released on the internet, another clue for fans.

"I told you that on that video call." she tapped him lightly on the chest and he laughed.

Chanyeol dropped her phone on the bed and rolled over her, resting his elbows on either side of her body and glaring at her mischievously as she brought her hands to his shoulder.

"Actually you said something a lot worse, do you want me to repeat it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and she laughed shyly.

"It's not necessary!" he nodded and leaned down to kiss her forehead, making her sigh at the contact.

Chanyeol then kissed Y/N's nose, cheek and chin, she just laughed lightly as she caressed his shoulder.

With her eyes already closed from the previous caresses, Y/N felt her boyfriend gently place his lips on hers, it was enough to melt her completely, no matter how many times they kissed even after so much time together, she felt the same things from the beginning, as if she were that dreamy little girl.

One of Chanyeol's hands went to her face, the big warm palm caressing her skin as they kept the same slow rhythm. Y/N took the opportunity to bring a hand to the back of his neck and caress the short strands of hair.

She felt him smile between the kiss and pulled away, causing her to complain.

"Hey, baby." he spoke softly and she opened her eyes, staring at him. "Don't worry, we'll be able to hide our relationship long enough."

[...]

Chanyeol was live in his study on Instagram just over 15 minutes ago. He talked to the fans, answered questions, sang, showed some demos of songs he was working on.

All because he was bored that afternoon, his girlfriend was too busy with her own schedule and would probably be late, it was enough time to interact with the fans for a while.

A week had passed since the leaked photos of the concert they went to together and some fans were still asking about Y/N in the chat, he smiled sideways but pretended not to see.

They had agreed to hold back the relationship news for a longer time, for the sake of Y/N's group promotions, anyway the company had already released both of them to announce it whenever they wanted but Chanyeol wanted it to be special, they had been together for a long time it was true, but he wanted to take a new step with her.

He was so busy with his guitar, playing as he always did in his spare time, that he didn't hear the studio door open.

Y/N walked on tiptoe so as not to make any noise, smiling mischievously without noticing that the camera was on.

"Hi, love. I'm home." she hummed and the boyfriend turned around completely shocked, his eyes looked like they were going to pop out.

She didn't understand why he stood there with the guitar in his lap, usually he always dropped everything and ran to hug her and kiss her all over her face.

However all he did was point his head back to where the camera was and Y/N followed with her eyes, feeling her heart race when she saw her boyfriend's screen.

"Is it live?" she asked quietly and shyly as she saw the chat going crazy.

"Yes." he replied, laughing nervously.

"Huh… I'll leave then, I'll let you do what you're doing." She stuttered and a nervous laugh came out. Chanyeol chuckled, scratching his head and looked at the screen. He could even keep track of the comments because they came in so quickly. "I'm so sorry! Oh my God."

"It's okay, babe." he chuckled again and looked back to see Y/N shake her head in disbelief and she clumsily closed the door.

He took a deep breath before looking back at the camera, his eyes lowered to the comments and he chuckled at the comments. Most were freaking out over Y/N's surprise appearance, but the other half were all the same 'Are they dating??'.

"Yeah guys, I guess now you know." he shrugged, and propped his elbow on the table and put his face in his hand, moving closer to the screen to read better, and to hide his huge smile.

Chanyeol laughed when he read a comment and had to agree.

They suck at hiding lol that's what makes them perfect for each other.

Note: I just wanted to say this is the face I pictured him making when Y/N walked in the room 👇🏻 BYE

[exoplanetupdates-blog]

EXO Recap - 2023

Album Promotions

Rover (Kai)

EXIST (EXO)

Polaris (Chen)

Expectation (D.O.)

Variety Shows

Travel the World on EXO's Ladder S4 (EXO)

Mr. House Husband 2 (EXO, EXO-SC)

JTBC K-909 (Suho)

Back to Field S7 (Lay)

J-Style Trip S2 (Lay)

No Math School Trip (D.O.)

GBRB Reap What You Sow (D.O.)

Amazing Saturday (KAI)

EXO on YouTube Shows

Killing Voice (EXO)

Rookie (God) Kai's Debut Evaluation (EXO)

Cream Soda Development Team (EXO)

Hear My Heart Skip A Beat (EXO)

The Seasons (EXO, D.O.)

Eunchae's Star Diary (Xiumin-Baekhyun-Chanyeol, Kai)

Kwanghee's Domestic Gift Factory (Suho-Sehun)

Lean On Me (D.O., Kai)

MMTG (Suho)

Suho Line - Visit Seoul (Suho)

It's Live (D.O.)

Lee Mujin Service (D.O.)

Look Me Up (D.O.)

Halmyungsoo (D.O.)

The K-Star Next Door (D.O.)

Hong Jinkyung's Movie Fan Life (D.O.)

The WillBen Show (Kai)

YongJinho's Health Center (Kai)

꾸삐KUPI (Kai)

BDNS (Kai)

Dope Club (Kai)

Concerts/Fanmeetings/Performances

EXO at Festivals

EXO' Clock Seoul Fanmeeting (EXO)

EXO Channel "The Best" Japan Fanmeeting (EXO)

EXO at SMTown Concert

Back to Back Fancon Tour (EXO-SC)

Grandline 2.5 & 3 : The Boundless Tour (Lay)

Polaris Japan Tour (Chen)

"The Eternity" Fancon Tour (Chanyeol)

Japan Special Live (Kai)

Dramas

CEO-dol Mart (Xiumin)

Behind Your Touch (Suho)

All That We Loved (Sehun)

Musical

Mozart! (Suho)

Movies

Tale of the Night (Lay)

My Youth and I (Lay)

No More Bets (Lay)

The Moon (D.O.)

Other

EXO SNS Lives (All Members) *NEW*

[jongbross]

reckless behavior (park chanyeol x reader)

pairing: park chanyeol x reader

word count: 1388

genre: mature

warnings: suggestive themes, mention of sex, falling in love

a/n: inspired on pillow talk by zayn malik <3

relationships are complicated. 

the whole thing about having feelings, about dealing with them while also dealing with someone else’s. the idea of getting attached to a person and being so careful not to hurt them but not knowing if they would ever be careful to not hurt you too - and then the heartbreak when either they leave or you had to leave…

ugh, it’s just too much. having a relationship as in actually being a couple is too much. but it also sucks to not have someone to satisfy your needs when you need to, when you want to; your own hand and toys are fun and do the job most days, but nothing compares to having a human being beside you - or on top of you, or beneath you, or whatever position two people can imagine. nothing compares to the feeling of being pleased by someone else.

so, what to do? the definition of friends with benefits sounds kinda fun but it has its issues too, because someone always catches feelings towards the other one and yes, sometimes it’s all a fairytale and the couple realize they have always loved each other and suddenly they’re so happy they drunkenly hooked up one night. but sometimes it’s hell on earth, as the person who caught feelings confesses to the other one and they don’t feel the same and suddenly everything is ruined, they don’t have a booty call anymore and they probably won’t stay friends as it’s way too awkward to face your friend after seeing them naked and knowing they love you.

so truly, what to do?

the only answer chanyeol came up with was finding someone he absolutely did not know. someone he knew nothing about, a mere acquaintance. he didn’t care about their story, where they came from, if they had any pets when they were little or which was their happiest memory. chanyeol just wanted someone to please and to get pleased by them. simple, pure lust and desire.

he searched for a bit, meeting friends of friends countless times at parties or whatever. he didn’t like to be so shallow as to only look for someone pretty, someone he immediately felt attracted to - but that was the only way, right? that was the only thing that mattered.

that’s how he found you. sitting on a corner at a christmas dinner jongdae held with his wife, having small talk with people whenever they tried to, a polite smile on your lips even though your eyes gave away how annoyed you truly were.

that’s how he got curious about you. chanyeol asked jongdae about you, learning your name and that he had met you through his wife, maybe you had worked with her? studied with her? chanyeol couldn’t quite remember. jongdae told him that you were nice, and that you were single. thank god jongdae was kinda nosy, he gave all the information the youngest needed to approach you that day.

that’s how you ended up knocking on his studio door late at night, now. chanyeol had asked if he could go to your place, have a night off with you - which of course would turn into sex -, but you chose to meet him instead. he received you with a soft spot on the couch of the studio, a blanket ready for you in case you got cold and lots of take out food. “i was gonna take it with me to your place, but we can eat here too”, he had said.

“we’re gonna make a mess, probably.”

“we’re gonna make a mess anyway, darling”, chanyeol said with a smirk.

he was a nice guy, you found out as soon as you agreed to the whole “strangers with benefits” thing the two of you had going on. he always made sure that you were comfortable with the whole situation, and never ever did something against your will. if anything, he was actually a gentleman, even going as far as breaking his own rules and knowing a little bit about you - i mean, otherwise, how could he ever have picked your favorite take out if he didn’t know shit about you?

you grinned to yourself as chanyeol sat beside you on the couch, big hands quickly working on undoing the food boxes and serving a bit for you and a lot for him. he probably hasn’t eat it the whole day, you thought, and didn’t need verbal confirmation of your assumption as you heard his stomach growling before he took the first bite of his food. chanyeol had a problem with taking care of himself whenever he was working hard on something, you could clearly see; it was a habit that you could only try to break it for him if he’d let you into his life.

which he didn’t, and which you didn’t want to.

quickly, eating turned into small talk - about what every button on the huge desk in front of the two of you did and about how you found a new route to his studio on waze -, small talk turned into something a little more intimate as he got closer and closer to you on the couch, and “something a little more intimate” turned into a whole makeout session once you were finished eating.

chanyeol’s lips were all over you suddenly, kissing your exposed throat and brushing against your jaw. his hands flew to your waist, grabbing your flesh and pulling you so close to him that for a second you questioned if he wanted the two of you to become one - thought quickly sat aside as he kissed you hard, giving everything he got. you moaned against his lips as his hand left your waist and started to caress your thigh, a weak spot you had that he always made sure to use against you.

“come here”, he whispered once he broke the kiss, skillfully pulling you to his lap.

you straddled him, mind clouded with lust as you didn’t give yourself time to adjust and just attacked his neck, feeling your whole body shake when you heard his beautiful moan for the first time that night. his hands traveled to your waist once against, pulling you down so you could feel how hard you were getting him, how turned on he was for you. 

you were so lost in the need to please him that you couldn’t help but groan when he pulled your hair strongly, forcing you to look at him. “why didn’t you let me go to your place?”, chanyeol asked, voice raspy and low. “i wanted to have you all spread out on your bed for me.”

“cause last time you went there, my neighbor complained to me about how loud we were for a whole week straight”, you smirked.

chanyeol chuckled, pulling your face down to his so he could speak against your lips. “good thing these walls are soundproofed then, i want you screaming tonight.”

the moan you let out for him was sinful, but quickly muffled by the way he once again kissed you. 

(...)

you could hear his heartbeat, loud and clear against his chest while he tried to catch up his breath. his skin smelled like a perfect mix of sweat and his cologne, with a little bit of your own lotion as he held you so close. you closed your eyes, enjoying the quiet and rare moment - part of you didn’t want to let go, but that was against your rules; you couldn’t allow yourself to want to be that way with him, you couldn’t let the need of aftercare and coziness ruin what you had with him.

so you tried to get up, gently pushing yourself up and off his arms. but you see, the strangest thing was he didn’t let you. chanyeol held you tighter, right hand coming up to the back of your neck to push you down to his chest again. he even went as far as laying his lips against your hair.

“it’s okay”, he murmured, like he could see exactly what was going inside your mind. “this… this is nice. i mean… h-how was your day?”

park chanyeol did a lot of things throughout his life, but the most reckless one, by far, was allowing himself to break some of his rules just for you.

[byuntrash101]

exo masterlist

disclaimer: everything is smut, mdni. everything is idol x fem!reader

✲ byun baekhyun

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M U L T I P L E M E M B E R S

ＺＯＤＩＡＣ ＳＰＥＣＩＡＬ － ３５０ ＦＯＬＬＯＷＥＲＳ

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[soobadnoonecanstopher]

Can I Stay? (A Baekhyun Story) Part 14.

Pairing: You x Baekhyun

Rating: M

Word Count: 7.6K

Warnings: Park Chanyeol word vomit. Crazy in love. Crazy, Crazy in love. Absolutely lost in the love sauce. FLUFF.

A romance between two adults with an unspecified age difference between them, an English story that uses the word Noona for lack of another word in English that carries the same feeling, if you don’t like this, then don’t read this story.

Tag list: @andimoon @his-mochi-cheeks

Links: Part 1, …. Part 13, Part 14, Part 15

He was tall and handsome, friendly and inviting. He shook your hand with animated enthusiasm and a wide toothy smile. Behind him, your boyfriend, Baekhyun stood with his arms folded over his chest, tapping his foot on the shiny marble tile floor. He cleared his throat noisily as his best friend Chanyeol shook your hand for what was going on now for too long. The smile on his face was almost manic. This guy’s energy matched his volume.

“Chanyeol can’t stay long. He’s got other things to do.”

“I don’t have anything to do. Do I smell Halmi’s food?”

Baekhyun’s face was passive and blank. You recognized the hesitation with the way he opened his lips and inhaled to speak and then closed his lips up again as he looked down at the floor below his bare feet. When he finally did answer, it had taken him a while.

“Yeah, Chanyeol. We went to see Mimi.”

Chanyeol’s forward steps hesitated and he paused mid-way between the long hallway that Baekhyun still occupied and the open kitchen space you stood in feeling underdressed and unprepared to suddenly be meeting Baekhyun’s best friend. You didn’t have a speck of makeup on but thank God you’d opted to wear a bra under this soft sleeping set because without it there would likely be no mysteries as to what you both had been up to before he showed up.

Chanyeol seemed to react curiously to the news that you’d both visited Baekhyun’s Mimi today. You did notice that Baekhyun didn’t ask if Chanyeol had had dinner nor did he make any offers to share food with the man.

He looked into Baekhyun’s face, his own eyes wide with a look of surprise that you didn’t quite understand. This must not have been about the food.

“You took her to Halmi?” Chanyeol asked with a step snuck closer to where Baekhyun stood with hands in his pockets.

Baekhyun nodded his head and Chanyeol turned back to look into your face.

You smiled in response, not quite grasping the significance of this detail that Chanyeol seemed to fixate on.

“Oh,” Chanyeol said quietly, not directing this at you but back toward the shorter man standing behind him.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun said, agreeing to something unspoken between the two of them.

“Mimi was very sweet,” you had to speak. This whole exchange was so cryptic and mysterious you could hardly stand it.

“She gave us some strawberries.” You said looking down at the container stuffed with bright red berries feeling just a little bit silly with the scant details you added to the story. You didn’t have nearly enough preparation for any of this and you honestly felt left out of their conversation about what you meeting Mimi seemed to imply to both of them.

Chanyeol responded with a bright face; matching your small polite smile with his own full grin, “Did she? She liked you then.”

“I liked her too,” you said softly to yourself. He was watching your face for a while with a pensive look before his smile returned to his face and he leaned a long torso beside you, propping himself on an elbow on the countertop.

“Well it’s very nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you, Noon—, uhh” his eyebrows furrowed and turned his focus to Baekhyun, “What do I call her? Is it too soon for Sister-in-law? I get to be your best man right? How long have you been dating? A half-year? If you took her to see Halmi then I’m going to say Sister-in-law. You have definitely been talking about her for at least a year.”

That didn't sound right, Baekhyun had only been working as your assistant for a few months. Sure you’d worked with him on a previous project but you’d had next to no interaction with the man, even if he seemed to remember you well enough. The more Chanyeol talked — and remarkably, he hadn’t quit yet — the more he sounded like an unreliable source. There were just so many words to this man and not nearly enough useful ones.

Baekhyun had joined you both in the kitchen and some sort of whispered exchange was happening that you decided you’d just let them have. Of course it was happening right beside you and you could hear everything they said.

“A month? No way, less than that? Well, what were you all up to here before I came? Is this your first date—-Ahhh,” Chanyeol let out a loud yelp of pain. Baekhyun had pinched him somewhere.

“Okay. I’m going…I’m going, settle down,” Chanyeol finally said with a deep frown. He was rubbing a palm over his ribs.

But he had turned to talk to you again. He’d said one thing while he actively did something else. He was fascinating to watch. Like a spinning top that once it got started just could not stop.

“I guess you already know that he’s crazy about you,” he said with his eyes wide and he giggled as he took a big step away from where Baekhyun reached out another hand with slim pinching fingers extended and grasping.

“Like crazy, crazy. Not cute, silly, rom-com crazy either — you know, for a while I was sure you were a symptom. I was convinced of it.” He took another big step away from your boyfriend who had switched to swatting. You heard the occasional smack that echoed out when a swinging hand made contact with a person’s back.

His stream-of-consciousness rambling was entertaining at least and you didn’t try that hard to hide your laughter, which only fueled more talking. You even nodded your head. Yes, you knew how much Baekhyun loved you. Yes, you also shared the same feelings. You’d already seen the closet full of things he bought — the troubling lack of self control he had was evident. But for you too, you’d already known first hand just how impossible it had been to keep yourself away from him.

Perhaps you were both just insane when it came to each other. Maybe you didn't want to be sane when it came to Baekhyun.

Folie à deux. A madness shared by two.

“Hey. I have things to warn her about,” Chanyeol was complaining at the unfair attempts to silence him, “like if Halmi calls you saying she’s on her deathbed and you have to get married right away before she dies, don't believe her, that’s just a trick. She did that to me once. That woman is built like an ox. I talked to her doctor myself.”

“If you don’t leave right now I’m canceling the card I gave you and I’m going to call your mom and tell her where she can find you.”

You didn't think it was possible but Chanyeol finally closed up his lips and pulled a black rectangle of plastic out of the pocket of his hoodie. The silence was temporary — just long enough for him to look down at the credit card he’d gotten from his best friend in exchange for going away.

“The only reason I’m using this is so she doesn’t know how to find me. I will not go on any more blind dates. She picks the weirdest girls. I wonder if my new Sister-in-law has a sister or a cousin as pretty as she is. You know, Baekhyun, I always thought you didn’t have any game. It turns out you’re just picky as hell.”

He was actually being pushed toward the front door but the words just kept tumbling out of the man.

“5-stars is fine right?”

“4 stars.”

“5 stars, come on.”

“3 stars. Holiday Inn Express.”

“Holiday Inn — How do you even know what that is? I’m staying at Banyan.”

“Chanyeol, I don't care where you go. Just go.”

“That counts as Banyan permission.”

A door clicked closed and there was an instant oppressive silence that filled the home. You could hear the quiet footsteps as Baekhyun made his way back into the kitchen and you watched for the moment when his pretty face appeared back in front of your eyes.

He had a tiny smile on his lips when he came back into the Kitchen and his footsteps were sluggish.

“Well that was fun,” you said softly as you bit down on your lips to control the grin on your face. He made a small sound like a single chuckle pushed through his nose.

“So that was my friend Chanyeol.” He said with his eyebrows lifted up high on his face and his eyes glancing down over the big bowl of strawberries you had been busying yourself with. You felt weirdly grateful that you had something to do with your hands during that entire exchange and after a little bit of snooping around this massive kitchen you even managed to find a hidden trash can in one of the side cabinets at the end of this kitchen island. You’d dropped all of the green tops there and the berries were washed and ready for a trip around this big house.

“He seems like he’s very fun at parties.” Chanyeol had been a lot. Chatty and pushy and loud, but incredibly sweet and inviting. You knew instantly that you would always be able to strike up a conversation with him easily, despite how intense he had been. Baekhyun inhaled a deep breath and his lips pulled wide as he squinted his eyes.

“Do you still like me?” His big brown eyes prodded against your own and you bit down on your bottom lip as you nodded your head up and down twice. You held the bowl of berries in one arm and you reached out your other hand to grab ahold of Baekhyun’s, slipping your fingers in between his and you squeezed.

“Do you ever just hang out in the naked lady’s room?” You wanted to see the house, but you kind of wanted to sit down somewhere with him and enjoy the fruit first. The bowl was rather heavy and you didn’t really feel like lugging it around through the entire place. Perhaps you could both start with a little picnic there.

Baekhyun had been watching your face with a sort of dreamy expression but when your question registered, you caught the shift of his eyes as he looked away from you for a second, glanced around the empty kitchen space without any actual focus and he looked back at you again with his eyes narrowing some.

It was a sudden shift.

“Why? Did Chanyeol say something?” His question was quiet with a very light panic just below the surface and it pulled a surprised laugh from your chest with simply how guilty his expression had turned in an instant, “because I haven’t done that since I was going through puberty.” You laughed harder, having to let go of his hand so you could cover your mouth to quiet the surprised laughter that erupted from you.

He had a smile growing on his face as he spoke of this and he was looking up into the ceiling with an inhale of air into his lungs, “but yeah, back then I used to spend a lot of time in that room with her,” he was laughing now with his mouth open and his face had turned pink with the belly laughs.

You couldn't help your laughter. It was your own fault for asking this question. You weren’t sure what kind of response you had expected but it hadn’t been his silly confession about his middle school sexual awakening and self discovery.

“Do you still like me?” He asked this again through the deep giggles that had taken him over. You nodded your head as a response and lifted your hand to run your fingers over the back of his head slipping them through his hair. You relished in the way his laughter quieted down when you did it. His scalp was warm below your fingertips and his eyes rolled closed with your sudden touch.

You still wanted to see it up close so you grabbed him by the hand and pulled him, headed toward the room with the statue so you could look at the beautiful artwork. You’d never had the chance to see something so precious before.

It was just as magnificent as you thought it would be. The room was round with a domed ceiling and the overhead lighting shone brightly on only the marble statue. The rest of the room had a softer dim glow that felt purposeful in its design, making the focus here only about her. You set the fruit down off to one side and Baekhyun took a seat on the floor beside the bowl and leaned against the wall with his hands folded quietly in his lap as you stood as close as you dared to this incredible work of art.

“She’s so beautiful,” you said in a quiet whisper as you looked up at the impeccable smoothness of her skin, trying your best to imagine the kind of care and precision that would go into carving something like this out of stone. It felt impossible. And yet here she stood in front of you with all of her intricate details from the waves of her hair made up of individual strands; her delicate arm lifted over her head; her nipples that stood erect over the soft mounds of her breasts; her belly button and the round bump in her belly where if she were alive, her life creating organs would hide; the swell of her hips and even the small dimples in her soft flesh that made her look so soft and so real. Even the expression on her face was sensual. Her thoughts only of her lover. That love eternally preserved on the tip of her tongue that sat just inside the hollow behind her parted lips.

You wondered about the emotions that such a piece of work would carry with it over the years and your heart swelled with the idea that maybe this woman actually existed once. Maybe she was adored by just one person, by her one person; adored enough to inspire the overwhelmingly all consuming, obsessive labor of love that it would take to create a masterpiece such as this.

“Can I touch her?” You pulled your eyes away long enough to ask your question. You’d been so transfixed by seeing this up close that you half expected for your words to pull him out of his own examination of the statue but you found Baekhyun’s eyes the second you turned to him. He wasn’t looking at the statue at all, but seemed to only have been watching you.

After a few seconds he nodded his head, “You can do anything you want,” he said.

You knew it was a rock. Your rational mind knew it, at least. But the way this looked, so real and life-like, as if it were made of warm flesh and bones, had what you knew in your mind and what you’d expected to feel under your fingertips at odds with each other. The cold temperature of the stone made you gasp when your fingertips touched the solid polished surface. You pressed against the stone, astonished that it had no give as flesh should have had.

You turned to him with amazement and delight evident on your face. But Baekhyun had a brilliantly wide smile on his own face that floored you. His eyes had pulled up into little moons making him look so damn beautiful you had to hold your breath and take a step back and away from all of the beauty you found yourself surrounded by in this place.

You had to sit down. Without having had a single sip of any alcohol, you felt overwhelmed and drunk.

You moved through the space to where he sat on the floor with his legs crossed and you took your place right beside him; your hip flush with his; your thigh touching his thigh; your arm warm against this arm and you leaned your head on his shoulder with the smallest contented sigh escaping from your lungs as you did it.

If you could bottle this feeling inside of you, surely it would change the world. If only you could hold it forever in the palm of your hand, surely you’d never ever let it go.

You felt the warmth of his head just above yours when he leaned onto you and when your hand squeezed around his bicep, the softness of his arm gave under your fingertips.

He was warm and real and alive here beside you. You could touch him just as easily as you touched the beautiful marble. You didn't even have to ask for permission first because he was your person. He was your love. And he responded to you. His hand landed over yours and he gave you a little squeeze. His warm palm rubbed over your bare knee and his fingertips flexed and dipped and pushed into the soft flesh of your inner thigh and your living flesh gave where his fingers touched.

“Can I keep you forever?” Your own voice surprised you. You hadn’t intended to say this outloud to him, but that drunk feeling had taken your common sense away from you. Once the words came out of your mouth, you pulled your lips closed and pressed the tips of your fingers tightly over your lips. You probably meant to only think this. You definitely didn’t intend to say it, but hearing the echo of those words you had just asked him and their heavy implication had your skin burning. Your heartbeat echoed noisily inside your eardrums. Not only were you surprised by your own words, but what shocked you more was just how much you really meant what you had just said.

Baekhyun’s movements, his thumb brushing lightly over your hand, and the other hand he lightly touching over your knee, even his steady in and out breathing, all of it had gone still.

You pulled your head off of his shoulder and he moved his head from where he had been resting on you. You felt downright silly for this intense reaction you were having, but you had just said something to him that made you feel so very vulnerable and exposed. But, god help you, you did actually mean it. You meant that you wanted him to be yours. Always. You meant that you never ever wanted him to say goodbye to you and you never wanted to say goodbye to him. You never wanted to be apart from him. You never wanted to sleep in a cold bed without him by your side and you felt absolutely insane knowing that you meant it.

Saying this out loud felt downright terrifying.

When you pulled your head away he looked at you and you looked at him; knowing for certain that the heat you felt all over your head would have made your cheeks flushed.

“Did you say that by accident?” He was tempering his response to your strong reaction. He was being your extremely observant and insightful Baekhyun.

“Yes,” you said softly, “but also no. I don’t know.” you added hopelessly as you closed your eyes, unable to stand how very much this man could tell from looking into your eyes.

“I meant it,” you began in about as soft a whisper as you could manage, “but then it felt like maybe I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“Why not tell me that?” His hand had moved and you felt his warm fingers laid out over the side of your face. He was pulling your face back up so you could look into his eyes again.

You blinked your eyes quickly, touching lightly and delicately into his eyes for only a few short moments at a time. “Just feels a little embarrassing that I said that. Seems like maybe I told you a secret,” you said.

“Is that your secret? Hmm?” His gentle words felt as soft as the pads of his fingertips that touched lightly along your jawline.

“Do you want to keep me forever?”

Your small head nod came with the smallest pull of your lips into a hopeless smile. You closed your eyes with the acknowledgment you gave him. You felt the softness of his lips land over your temple as he placed a delicate kiss on your flushed warm face.

“I think we might have a problem,” he said with his voice raising in volume just a touch. Just enough for your eyes to open and for you to look into the brown of his eyes for the meaning to his words.

Had you made a mistake with your confession? You felt a grain of doubt rest just at your surface, threatening to sink in.

“Because I also want to keep you forever, and I’m no good with keeping secrets.” Your slow exhale came from deep within your chest and when you opened your eyes you found him watching you from up close.

“We should both stop talking — before —” you cut yourself off suddenly, taking in a deep breath that you exhaled noisily instead of finishing your thought out loud. The threat of saying anything else that you knew should not be spoken was simply too powerful and so you reached across his waist for a strawberry; gripping the biggest one you felt under your fingertips and you brought it up to your lips for a bite into the juicy fruit.

It was sweet and it was delicious and just as you lifted the rest to your lips you saw him move as his mouth opened up over the half bitten strawberry you held in your fingers and he pulled it into his mouth. The tip of his tongue and his teeth lightly grazed your finger as he did it and you bit down on your bottom lip as you watched him chew and swallow all the while he kept his knowing eyes on you, simply lifting a single eyebrow as licked his lips. He made no efforts to convince you to continue saying what you and he both knew you had been saying.

“These are so sweet,” you grasped ahold of your excuse as you reached for another berry and he was silent as he watched you do it.

Baekhyun’s lips parted as if he was waiting for something from you.

The other half of one of your strawberries, or perhaps a kiss. You leaned into him and captured his pouty bottom lip in between your own, lightly sucking the softness of it into your mouth; tasting strawberries and tasting him.

When you pulled away from him his eyes were closed and he opened them slowly to watch your face again.

“Want another one?” You asked with a smile, purposefully not defining what you were offering while keeping your tone light and innocent.

He nodded his head. You lifted the strawberry to your lips, took a bite into it as you leaned into his waiting mouth. He took the other half between his teeth from your lips as you had intended and his wet lips pursed into your mouth with a kiss before you pulled your face away, chewing what was left of the sweet fruit..

You’d only had enough time to swallow when he leaned into you again, lifting both hands to your face to pull you into him for another kiss. This one was deeper and you felt held in place by his hands that pulled you into his open mouth. He tasted so good. It wasn’t just the strawberries, the man had a smell and a taste that sunk deep into the very center of you, making it impossible to pull away from him; making you want to taste him again and again.

His lips were pinker now, probably from the fruit. “You taste like strawberries,” you said with a smile and another small kiss.

“You’re doing an awful lot of talking for someone who just shut me up five minutes ago.” His voice was playful and with his fingertips, he rolled the fabric of your shirt back and forth absentmindedly.

“I didn’t just shut you up. I shut both of us up,” you defended and a scoff followed by a small chuckle erupted from him.

“Oh right. What was it again?” His eyes narrowed as he pretended to recall the exchange you’d just, quite expertly changed the subject away from.

“We should both stop talking, before…before,” he did his impression of you again and you felt the blood rush just under the skin of your scalp, the feeling exploding like fireworks under the surface of your skin and with it came a wave of goosebumps that traveled down your neck; down the center of your spine. The danger of this talk had returned again.

He had already warned you that he was bad at secrets and you knew how shoddy his self control was when it came to you.

“Before what?” He casually and unceremoniously plopped a strawberry into his mouth and chewed on it a few times.

“Before I go crazy and ask you to marry me and you go crazy and say yes?”

His words landed with a big splash against your chest; sending rippling waves outward that rocked you again and again, making you feel dizzy and seasick.

“Baek,” you said quietly, feeling every single bit of the seriousness of this conversation. You felt flush and warm all over and when you looked down at your bare legs you could see where your skin prickled and poked with goosebumps from how overwhelmed this kind of talking had made you feel.

“I want to keep you forever and you want to keep me forever,” he said, “isn’t that what that means?”

He wasn’t wrong.

He was brave enough to speak it outloud.

You inhaled the smallest gasp for air through your parted lips. It was all you could manage with his deep brown eyes looking into you like this. With him seeing you so clearly and knowing you so completely like this.

“Baekhyun, this is—” You couldn't find the words. Your mind felt too jumbled and he was watching you with a look of seriousness inside of his rapidly blinking wet eyes. Your focus was pulled down where inside his hands he fidgeted with a strawberry and it trembled inside his fingertips. His hands were shaking.

“Crazy?” He whispered and swallowed before speaking again, “I know,” his lips hung open and he puffed out a breath, “it is.” His words labored through his whispered breaths. “I don't mean right now. It doesn't have to be tonight, or tomorrow, or next month. I’m just —”

“Don't say any more. If you ask me, I’ll say yes.” You’d closed your eyes and your hand had reached for his trembling hand to steady him. He didn’t need to be nervous about this with you. Even if you felt like you might float away with as much anxiety as you felt bubbling up inside of your stomach.

“You would say yes? Right now, you would say yes?” His fingertips wrapped tightly around your hand and you leaned forward to press your lips up against his. It was partly because of the love, but it was mostly to silence him, to keep him from talking about this any more. You didn’t have any desire to ever leave his side, but once either of you actually said it, it would become true. It would take on meaning. It would become fact.

You knew—you knew this was too fast. You knew this was crazy. You knew that taking this step would be fraught with obstacles that threatened to destroy the both of you. You knew how many challenges you both would face if you even dared to dream that this could be true for you with him. You knew it deep down inside your bones, and yet — and yet your heart was racing, running away by itself with its own little fantasies that maybe, maybe he wouldn't listen to you.

Maybe he would ask.

Maybe you wanted him to. You wanted him to want to ask you and you wanted to say yes.

“I love you,” he said softly into the small space that existed between your lips and his, “do you love me?”

You nodded your head and looked up into his brown eyes. Your ears had a hum that sounded out, it seemed to be coming from somewhere within your chest. Baekhyun was moving, he pushed his crossed legs apart and wrapped his legs around you where you sat beside him on this floor. He wrapped his arms around your shoulders and you felt encased fully within the secure warmth of his body.

“I love you,” he said again. Your saliva pooled inside your mouth and you swallowed it away, “do you love me?” A breath caught in your throat and you felt dizzy without the oxygen.

“Baby, do you love me? Do you love me?”

You were nodding your head again, opening your lips, desperately searching for your voice and begging that you could find it to answer him.

“Yes,” you said through a borrowed breath.

He was watching your face when you answered.

You felt drunk on the deep brown color you found in his eyes. You felt possessed by the adoration that flowed through your veins for him.

“Baby-”

He was looking into your face when he did it —when he said it.

“Will you marry me?”

“Let’s get married. Hmm?”

“I only want you.”

“I only need you.”

“I only love you.”

Your lungs had quit. Your heartbeat was drowned out by the loud humming sound that filled your head. Every cell inside of your body vibrated and you knew — you knew that if he hadn’t been wrapped around you so entirely you might not have been able to stay down on this floor. You might have just floated up and evaporated into lighter than air filled bubbles, carried by the wind until each and every one popped and you ceased to exist entirely.

You were spinning and spinning inside of your own head.

“Yes.” Your lips and your tongue moved on their own, pushed forward by your heart that was filled to the brim and overflowing with only him, “okay. Yes. If you want to marry me, I want to marry you.”

He watched your face so closely; his warm eyes pushing deep inside your own and the gasp for air from his parted lips didn't pull his heavy eyelids closed. The small tick of his eyebrow up on his forehead didn’t pull those eyes from yours and he watched you with a silent intensity; you burned inside of it.

There was a simultaneous movement between the two of you that happened. Your hands flew to your mouth as you gasped out in genuine surprise and he dipped his head, closed his eyes up tight and let out a deep laugh from the center of his chest.

You let one of your hands free to quickly swat against his chest. He was giggling. He was laughing with unbridled joy written all over his face and your own laughter you covered with the palm of your hand.

“We are crazy!” You said in wild eyed disbelief, “Baek, we are insane! This isn’t normal right?”

“I’ve never pretended to be normal about you,” he said through the wide smile that had taken over his face.

“But—but, I don’t even know your favorite color. Or your favorite school subject. I don’t even know your favorite food. Baek, what are we even thinking?”

It was a little late for you to suddenly be having these sorts of doubts. You’d already agreed to marry him and you were pretty sure if he took it back you’d cry and cry and cry for a whole year and probably shrivel up in a ditch somewhere.

He still had his arms wrapped around your waist and he pulled you closer into his chest as his eyes angled upward, he pouted his lips and his face took on a pensive expression.

“My favorite color is this color,” he lifted a finger and touched lightly over your bottom lip. You pulled your lips inward, biting down with your teeth to hide the wide smile that threatened to consume you.

“My favorite food is—” he reached with that same hand and grabbed another strawberry from the bowl, lifting it up to your lips and giving it a tiny push until you opened your mouth for him to push it inside. You’d expected him to let you just have it, but he was holding on long enough for his mouth to open up over the other end. You were too giggly for the kiss. You felt a bit of the strawberry’s juice dribble down your lip, you had to catch it with your fingertips. He was talking again with his mouth full, “—is half of your strawberries.” He was chewing and nodding his head appreciatively.

“My favorite subject is math,” he said abruptly while pulling his face back and squinting his eyes in your direction. You’d been spoiled by his answers already and you definitely expected him to say something else related to you. The surprise caught you off guard and he knew it.

“Math?”

“Mhmm,” he said as he grabbed another strawberry and popped it into his mouth.

You sat there with him quietly munching on fruit until the bowl was empty. There was no talk of rushing to define things. There were no discussions about the what’s or the when’s or the Dear God How’s that were involved in this monumental change that you had both decided was worth making for each other. You both simply ate these strawberries, smiled and sometimes giggled with each other, and enjoyed the stunning beauty of all that surrounded you in this magical place.

When the berries were gone and the tingling in your legs had settled with a few stretches and pointing moves of your toes, you knew it was time to get up off of this floor and take a walk with him.

“Am I ever going to get my tour?”

He was moving with you; carrying the bowl back to the kitchen, he simply set it on the counter and walked away as you curiously looked back at the white bowl with red stains splashed on the inside.

Your conscience nagged, “should we wash it?”

He was already pulling at your hand and leading you away from the kitchen into newer, unexplored parts of the house.

“Staff will get it.” You heard him say and you pulled lightly against his hand. The sudden resistance halted his forward progress and he turned a curious face to you. Your mind was whirling. You already knew about the butler (if that’s what that man was called) but he didn’t say that he would get it.

Baekhyun had definitely used an unmistakably plural term just now.

“Staff?” Your voice had a slight alarmed tone. You’d just made peace with the fact that at any time that you were here alone with him, a strange man might suddenly clear his throat from the shadows and catch you making out with your boyfriend/fiancé (!!!!) — but, staff?

“How many people are actually here right now?”

You pulled your hand out of his and wrapped your arms around your stomach, feeling just a little self conscious about the short shorts you wore and the very obvious, very intimate kissing and sweet giggling, and extremely personal conversation you and him had been taking part of inside that room with the statue. What if everything had been overheard, or worse, overseen?

Baekhyun tilted his head and glanced upward here and there, his focus flirting around in a few directions above his head. You had a sinking feeling the longer he pondered.

“Like…five at night. More during the day.”

“So we aren’t alone here, at any point in time?” You did your best to keep your voice neutral.

“We are absolutely alone inside my room. I promise. I don’t have a whole lot of say about the estate. It’s funded by the trust and run by an estate manager.” He was speaking to things you had no experience with, and while the words he spoke sounded fancy you really didn’t understand any of this. You at least found some solace in the fact that everything that took place in that comforting and familiar feeling bedroom of his was completely private.

Baekhyun was leading you around his home. The place was as enormous as you suspected. There were entire spaces dedicated to a single use. Like the home theater or the actual ballroom with its ceiling lined with crystal chandeliers. The excess was shocking. Baekhyun told you that when he was younger, his mother often threw elaborate parties here but he confessed that he had only been to some of these rooms once or twice and you struggled with the idea of living in such a place and never actually using any of it. He mentioned that his mother was in another country, and had been for some time. He shrugged when you frowned at this and he said he always had his Mimi.

As impressive and as breathtakingly beautiful as everything was, you could see how he might have felt quite lonely here.

You longed for the comfort of his bedroom again. You stood in a long white winding hallway and your eyes had focused on a piece of artwork that hung on the wall here. It was something that was obviously extremely expensive and maybe even extremely old. This was something that one might expect to find in a museum gallery in Paris or London. The longer you stared at, the more emotions you felt filling your chest.

It was a pair of lovers locked in an eternal kiss. Their faces were hidden but everything about their bodies and the desperate way they clung to each other felt like the mad kind of love you felt for the man who patiently waited behind you as you took your time with this particular painting.

His fingers in particular were doing you in. He cradled her face with one hand; fingertips dug into the soft pillows of her plump cheeks and with his other hand splayed at the small of her back, he pulled her into his body.

It was a desperate passion. It was insatiable and hanging here in this hallway it would remain as such forever.

“This is incredible.” You whispered and you heard a soft hum behind you moments before a body’s warmth descended over your back and his arms wrapped around you. “I think this is me and you,” you giggled at how silly you sounded and you felt his pointed chin rest over your shoulder. You could make out his face, despite how close he was to you. He was looking at the painting now, paying closer attention with a small smile.

He spun you around inside his arms and he leaned his head into you, his hand lifting to your face and you felt the warm softness of his lips as he kissed you here. His hand gripped tightly around your lower back and his fingertips dug into the soft flesh of your ass and his lips and mouth and teeth and tongue and he took and took from your mouth with a demanding need that surprised you.

Your ears picked up on a sound somewhere in the house. Not close enough to make you panic but you were once again reminded that this was not the place for such things.

You pulled away from his kiss. He bent at the waist and he followed you but with two hands planted firmly over his shoulders you put enough distance between the two of you that afforded the opportunity for some words.

“Baby, I heard a sound. This shouldn’t happen here. Someone might see.”

He closed his eyes and licked his lips, straightening his spine and lifted a hand to rub over his face. Baekhyun nodded quietly and the smile that broke on his face was small and sheepish for a moment. Just for a moment because he shifted quite suddenly, his eyes widened, and his mouth hung open as if he had just had some sort of epiphany.

It took a few moments of him standing with this shocked expression on his face before he inhaled to speak.

“It’s not the sex, the sex wasn’t the problem we have at work.”

You shook your head, needing him to elaborate for you to understand what in the world he was so excited about.

“We can have sex.” He said with a smile and another nod of his head, your own lips pulled into a smile despite having no clue where he was going. “In fact we should. We should have lots and lots of sex. As much as we want, right? Just… get it out of our systems.”

“I mean—” you began cautiously. His eyes were wide. He was excited. Hell, you were getting rather excited with his idea of a sex marathon. It sounded much better than, say, a Star Wars marathon.

“What if we bring in another person?” His frantic eyes looked into yours and you closed up your lips immediately as you pulled your face back and away from him.

No?

No.

Hell no.

Hard pass.

What was this?

Absolutely not.

“Baekhyun.” you spoke his name clearly and plainly, without any hint of amusement in your voice. The sudden change in your demeanor pulled his lips closed and his eyes shot into yours with rapid speed.

“Baekhyun… like… a,” you leaned and lifted a finger up toward his face, his eyes nearly crossed to look down at your pointed finger as you harnessed your most disparaging whisper, “like a threesome? Baek, no.”

His eyes went wide again and suddenly he was erupting in laughter. You couldn’t quite catch up. Your finger was still raised and he was cackling and grabbing ahold of your finger with his hand shaking it lightly as he held an arm over his belly and groaned, panted, laughed some more and tried to reign it in.

“Hey. Lady. Get your mind — out of the gutter,” he said through the fit; still trying to breathe through the noisy laughs that had taken his breath away.

“In the office! Another person at work in the office with us, Jesus Christ, you’re so fucking funny I can’t,” he was holding a hand over his closed eyes, wiping moisture from his closed eyelids.

“Sunny’s project wrapped already. She can come in tomorrow and shadow me, learn the job before I leave,” he lifted up one finger, “so, good idea number one,” his second finger joined, “and good idea number two, we definitely will behave if someone else is there with us, right?”

“Why would you say it like that? We can have lots and lots of sex what about bringing in another person?” You’d dropped your voice and scrunched up your nose, doing your absolute best to sound like this silly giggling man who stood in front of you giving you a damn heart attack with his terrible sentence structure choices. “You scared the shit out of me. I mean, oh my god? My boyfriend, hours after becoming my fiancé, wants to what?!”

You felt that you were very worked up. But you had genuinely and seriously misunderstood him just now. Your hands were still shaking from the shock of it.

He grabbed you by the shoulders and gave you a good shake. “Get it together woman! I would never. Never! I am a one woman man. And you are that one woman.”

“And that was a terrible, awful impression of me. Do you think I sound like that? God. I love you.”

You crossed your arms over your chest and rolled your eyes. Your impression was awesome. You had his speech pattern down to a science.

“Oh my god, shut up. I sounded exactly like you. I love you, too.”

“Oh my god.” He lifted his voice playfully, reaching out with his fingers to poke along your ribs, “You shut up. I love you more.”

You evaded the pokes from him and made your way out of this maze of hallways and theaters and fitness rooms and ballrooms and countless dining rooms and you headed in what you hoped was the direction of his bedroom. You got turned around but with a few light pushes steering you in the right direction you eventually found the familiar kitchen with its spotlessly clean countertop and you could definitely find your way back to the comfort of his bed and the comfort of his arms from here.

[To be Continued]

Links: Part 1, …. Part 13, Part 14, Part 15

[wonwoosthetic]

Amour-Haine & Co. | Chapter 18 |

series masterlist

word count – 15k

warnings – mentions of sex, mentions of sa (I tried to keep it brief and not mention it an unnecessary amount of time), cursing, screaming, law enforcement related things

a/n – I have nothing to say other than thank god this finally made its way onto tumblr😭 I’m still not 100% satisfied with it but I feel like if I edit it any more, it’s only gonna get worse😭😭 pls enjoy this, thank you for everything🫶🏼 BTW: this chapter includes A LOT of law enforcement and court terms and scenes, but since I am no expert in that field, please be prepared for inaccuracy! If any one you have more experience in either one of these subjects: please let me know!! If I can make it any more realistic, I’d love to do so!! Also: thank you to the anon who inspired me for the Jeonghan turn🫶🏼🥰 when I first outlined the story, this was definitely not planned but after seeing their request in my inbox a few months ago, I just knew I had to include it, so I hope you enjoy it🤍

fyi – not much lovey y/n x wonwoo in this chapter, but don’t you worry bc there will be more than enough in the next ones ˙ᵕ˙

“I’m proud of you.”

"Mmmm," Binna's enjoyable moan echoed through your ear as she took the first sip of her second cocktail that night - she had downed the first one within the first 10 minutes of sitting. "Long day at work, don't wanna talk about it," she commented on it as soon as she found your questioning, and slightly concerned, gaze on her.

You couldn't help but chuckle as you continued to sip on your first cocktail of the evening, your food still untouched next to you. By now the steam had already evaporated, and the ice in your drink had melted, watering down the burning taste of too much alcohol the trainee bartender had graciously given you. 

Your eyes were fixed on her and the lowering level of liquid in her glass as it went down and down with every sip, coming to a halt just right to make it half-full. "Are you sure, you're okay?" You questioned her carefully.

She hastily nodded, wiping her hands, now covered in salt from her fries, with a white napkin. "Yeah, yeah," she brushed you off before placing both of her palms on the surface of the table, slightly leaning forward with a smirk. "Now tell me, how's playboy-turned-loverboy doing?"

"Good. I think," you slyly answered, reaching out for a fry, which was interrupted by a harsh slap on the back of your hand, making you wince as you snatched it back. "OW!"

"Don't fucking say 'I think' as if you don't see him at work all the time and sleep over at his place every second day," Binna snapped at you. What you hadn't told her was that Wonwoo had also asked you to come over that evening, but you decided to cancel, remembering the date you and your best friend had already agreed on.

With wide eyes, you shrugged, "Yeah- well- I don't know. I think he's doing well." You knew the unknown was making her even more giddy, and only more questions would spill out of her.

"I think he's doing a little very well if he gets to sleep with you, don't you think?" She always had her way with compliments.

The liquid of your drink got stuck in your throat as you covered your mouth, giggling at her sudden comment. "Jesus, Binna," you shook your head as she joined your laughter. "I think he's doing well because this whole Chanyeol situation is finally coming to an end." You reminded the both of you of the hopefully last time you'd ever come face to face with the man of the hour. The day was coming closer, prayers were being said each night, quietly just hoping to make it stop.

Your best friend gave you a nod in understanding. "When are you seeing Jihoon again? Tomorrow, right?" You nodded. "Then we can finally stop talking about this piece of shit. He's been occupying your mind a little too much." Just like most of the time, she was yet again right about that. The following day would be the last consultation you'd have with Wonwoo's lawyer before your court date on Friday - Payday.

"Yeah, well," you sighed in frustration, leaning back in the wooden chair, "Can you blame me?"

"No, no, of course not," she quickly reassured you, patting your hand. "But at least you also got some other things to keep your mind occupied with." Wiggling her eyebrows to underline her question. Even without her antic, you would've known what she was implying.

"You mean Wonwoo?" You chuckled, to which she excitedly nodded, biting down on her lips to hide the grin that was daring to escape. "But even there's Chanyeol involved! Do you know how much we've talked about him?"

"Ugh," Binna faked a gag, "Can we just agree to not say his name out loud anymore? Let's just call him... Grapefruit." That woman and her codenames. Ever since she had started working as a teacher, this became a thing of hers to do with all of the men she shared a bed with. At first, it was only to be able to talk about them in front of the kids, since some of those stories may have included a single father or two of the kids in her class, but she had let it seep into her everyday life. Explaining why you'd now find yourself calling a thirty-something-year-old grown man "bookshelf", just because of the way his haircut looked from the side. Grapefruit would be added to the list.

"Grapefruit?"

"Yeah," she nodded, taking another sip, "I hate Grapefruits. Anyways-," she waved it off to change the subject. "What do you mean you talk about Cha- I mean, Grapefruit?"

"Well- like, about the entire situation. You know, some evenings we spent going through court stuff or looked through what he's been up to." Jihoon had mentioned to 'always know who you're going up against'. And Wonwoo and you took his advice to heart. There were multiple nights spent together in the office, sometimes along with Mingyu, or even at his place, going through the files the court had published to you about Exodus' Entertainment. You had stalked his Social Media presence and analyzed his public outings. The smiles he would fake, the words he would lie with. You knew this man inside out, having spent three years with him did come in handy. Even after all this time, he took up more time inside your brain than you would've liked to.

While continuing your story, you motioned around with your hands on the table. "It even all started with him. Sometimes... I mean, I don't always bring it up with Wonwoo, sometimes it's just in my mind. To myself. But... yeah..." Pressing your pointer to a random spot on the wood.

"Hold up-," Binna raised her hand to stop you, "He started it all? What is 'it'? You and Wonwoo?"

You already knew you'd regret your answer before it had even left your lips, but who else could you be the most honest with, if not your best friend since primary school. "Kinda..." 

"Alright, you're stupid." She simply stated, staring blankly right at you.

"No, wait-" You scolded her, but she just shrugged. 

"What? You're an idiot. Why would you think that? How could that asshole have anything to do with what's going on with you two now?" 

You sighed, shaking your head slightly, knowing you'd have to choose your words wisely "No, no, look. I mean," you sighed with an annoyed undertone, trying to get your eyes off her. "I know he doesn't have any effect on me anymore whatsoever, but you can't deny that because of what happened, Wonwoo and I got closer. The break-in started a whole chain reaction-"

"That's idiotic to think about-" Before she could finish, you cut her off.

"No, it's not. It's what made us talk more to each other. Why we started to actually interact and realise that we would have to work with each other and not against each other like we did before." The two of you knew, your words held some truth.

Binna violently shook her head, her bob moving along, "Maybe for you, but most definitely not for him."

You scrunched your eyebrows at the slightly slurred words from your best friend. "What do you mean?"

"He invited you to that event thing before all that shit went down. For God's sake, Y/N!" She shouted into the room, immediately making you jump up to cover her mouth from across the table. You sent her a wide-eyed glare, hoping to make her understand to shut her mouth. Binna nodded as she grasped your hand to pull it down, continuing her exclaim in a quieter volume. "He bought you a fucking dress! And not a cheap one!"

"I know that! But keep it quiet," you snapped at her, sitting back down to continue nursing your drink which was now close to getting empty. God, you should've just ordered two at once, just like Binna did.

"You're not listening to what I'm saying-"

"You're not listening to what I'm saying. I don't think that nothing would've ever happened, but it did speed things up A LOT."

"I thought we went over this. Stop overthinking all of this. Be happy for yourself for once in your goddamn life! You've been fucked over by so many men in your life that don't even deserve to know about your existence. Your father included by the way," she pointed out, making you nod. "And now you found a man that would burn down the entire world for you, and you're still thinking about that shit-eating sorry excuse of a man from your past that doesn't even know how to do his own laundry?" The reminder made you almost chuckle, but the truth was too painful.

To think back on the fact that you once had your hands down his laundry basked and washing machine, because he didn't know how to make use of it, sent a shiver down your spine. "He did actually not know how to do that."

"That's what I'm saying," she sighed out desperately, throwing her head back with a groan. "All of them were such a waste of your time and patience and kindness. So... just enjoy what you have with Wonwoo now. So what if Grapefruit sped up things for you two? If anything, that's a good thing."

"I... I know what you mean. And... I... UGH-" You groaned under your breath, covering your face with your hands before running your fingers through your hair, an exhausted huff of air leaving your lips. If you could, you would've already punched yourself. Just like Binna did after you had told her what happened in Wonwoo's apartment after your quick trip to the Monbebe - she left a bruise that didn't go away for four days and Wonwoo had quite a few questions about that.

"He's not the reason for anything but misery in your life, alright?" The casual use of the nickname made you chuckle. "Wonwoo would still be knees deep for you, he'd still be this big fucking simp, and you'd also still have a crush on him that you, even now, don't want to admit to."

You interfered after hearing her comment as she slyly continued eating some of the fries in the middle of the table. "Hey! That's not true." You huffed out, mumbling the last part of the sentence.

"Oh, it's not? Have you ever said, you know what, 'I like him'? Or 'I have a crush on him'? " Binna nagged, knowing eventually she'd get something out of you.

You decided to stay silent, desperately hoping she'd just drop the subject but both of you knew better than that. 

"Exactly." She pressed her lips and eyes tightly together, her fingers digging into her temples. "You don't know if you have a crush on the man you've been spending the past three weeks with? Non-stop." Binna opened her eyes again to meet yours. "You don't know if you have a crush on the man that has been sending you flowers and food every single day at work? You wanna tell me you don't have a crush on the only man that has been actually able to make you come for the first time in-" Her continuous ranting made you groan out loud.

"OKAY! I like him, alright?! Fine! You win! I like him." With a last deep breath, you stunned her. "There. I said it. I like him, Binna. I really do. I'm scared, yes, fuck it, I'm terrified even, but whatever is going on right now feels really good and I really don't want to fuck it up."

You had decided to let yourself give into him, slowly but surely. The final decision must've happened way earlier in your brain. After yet another hot and passionate session of yours, late at night, cuddling into his side as he subconsciously was still grazing his fingers over your skin while slowly giving into the sleepiness that had overcome him. 

You couldn't help it. The more you tried to fight it, the more Wonwoo was willing to fight. A fresh set of flowers on your desk every single week, pastries from the bakery Binna and you had recently found and started to love every morning by the front desk at the office, heck even the car keys you hadn't been able to get rid of yet. By now it had basically turned into a game of you trying to leave them in his apartment or office, only for you to find them inside your bag later that day again. It made you chuckle each time. He was a stubborn one, that Jeon Wonwoo. Whenever your own thoughts were starting to catch up with you, trying to remind you that he was indeed too good to be true, and every man would eventually turn out to be the same, the CEO made sure to be right there, keeping your mind clean and ensuring you of his not-always-so-inocennt, yet pure intentions with you. The few sleepless nights the two of you had been spending together were proof of just that.

With wide eyes and a smug smile on her lips, Binna leaned back, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Well done. I'm proud of you."

Sulkingly, knowing she had finally gotten what she wanted, you crossed your arms. "Leave me alone."

The woman in front of you continued to gaze at you, her lips sealed as she took in your sunken-in frame. A sad smile was starting to form on her face. "You don't have to pretend to be all cold and cool about this. He's pretty cute. With all the stuff he does."

You wish you could've stopped the blush spreading on your cheeks, but it shined so proudly, lighting up your entire face as you bit down on your bottom lip.

"I know," you mumbled, taking a fry to fill your mouth with, trying to distract yourself from the situation and hoping your body would stop naturally reacting like that.

A second of silence passed between the two of you before Binna's chuckle interrupted it. She let her forearms rest on top of the table, leaning in to catch your gaze.

"I haven't seen you blush like that in years," she commented softly, reaching to pet the back of your hand. "You deserve this, Y/N. Enjoy it."

Slowly, you raised your head, still almost too shy to lock eyes with her directly. Your gaze quickly fell to your hands touching before chuckling, finding your own thoughts ridiculous, but as embarrassing as it may have seemed to you, you couldn't and didn't want to hold back.

"I really do like him."

Your best friend nodded, "I know," a proud smile decorating her face. Happiness had never looked and felt so good.

-

The plain white walls were starting to dawn on you. A waiting room so sterile, with two paintings being the only splash of colour in the entire corridor, would do that. Even after all the times you had spent sitting there, you were still not used to it and weren't planning on it any time soon. The hope of not having to return all that much ever again had not yet vanished.

A heavy sigh tumbled from your lips as you sulked even deeper into the grey-cushioned seats Jihoon had chosen for his law firm. The past twenty minutes had started to feel closer to an hour with the hollowness of the room. The only sound echoing through your ear was the rushed typing of his assistant around the corner, who hadn't stopped ever since you had arrived. Not even your phone could entertain you enough anymore, time was just moving too slowly.

Wonwoo, with whom you came, had just gotten off the phone with God-knows-who when he directed his attention to you. Amusement made his lips curl up as he put his phone into the inside pouch of his suit jacket before hiding his hands in his pockets.

"He likes to take his time." 

Your exclaim of a breath told him everything he needed to know. He took a quick peek at the still-closed door to the lawyer's office. A door you had been staring at for at least ten minutes.

You took a deep breath in desperation. "Yeah, a little too much time." Your comment made Mingyu, who was sitting opposite of you chuckle. You had to hold back any snarky remark, remembering that he was your last bit of hope and you were supposed to give him all the time he could possibly need. He was a busy man after all and you were most definitely not his only clients. 

Wonwoo's laugh rang through your ear as he got closer to your seated position. "Well, look who's suddenly the impatient one." His comment made you roll your eyes but made the slight smile playing on your lips almost impossible to hide. The past few weeks with him must've done something with you. 

Ever since that late-night event after your not-so-pleasant visit to the Monbebe, the dynamic between the two of you had changed. Drastically. It was less about built-up anger and frustration, not even about hidden tension anymore. Much rather was it now about appreciation, care, and gentleness and... even enjoyment. In all this mess, the two of you had found a way to enjoy each other's presence and forget about the daunting events that were still haunting you.

You two had spent more nights together since then. More than your old self would probably like to admit. But your new self?... She enjoyed it. Not only did those nights end in sex. No, some were just filled with late-night talking - some work-related, others not. He had started asking questions. Quite a few even. About you, and your childhood. Wonwoo had wanted to know what your favourite season was, what your favourite memory of your school time was, and which celebrity you'd bring back from the dead if you could - questions no other ex had ever even entertained to wonder about. Some questions you hadn't even ever asked yourself. And you answered him. You gave him an answer to every single one of his questions. In return, you had found out about his childhood best friends, about him being his grandmother's favourite grandchild, and about what he'd do if he could go back in time. You got to get to know Wonwoo. Not hot-playboy-CEO-bachelor Jeon Wonwoo, but the Jeon Wonwoo, who graduated top of his year at Seoultech University. Wonwoo, whose discovery of stage fright in middle school shattered his dreams of becoming an actor even before his father could drag him into the family business. Wonwoo, who would kill and die for his friends and family and who might look and act like the coldest asshole to walk the streets of the city, but could be deeply caring about the ones most important to him at the same time. You had almost forgotten about the person you had always thought he had been as you got to meet the real side of him. 

The side that called his mum at least once a week whenever she wasn't in town to keep up with the latest gossip she had to tell him. He'd roll his eyes while on the phone with her, sending you looks of apology while you continued to sip on the wine he had poured for you, chuckling at the sight in front of you as he walked around the apartment, nodding along to whatever his mother was ranting about. The side that would never forget your dinner reservations at 8, already thinking about what you'd be wearing and what flowers to get you to match your outfit while listening to yet another uneducated business partner and throwing him out of the room as soon as one wrong comment would fall from their lips. He cursed their existence and the entirety of the corporate world while promising to make his own office and company a place where employees would enjoy coming to work.

He'd sit in his office, checking his wrist every few minutes, counting down the time and catching glimpses at you talking to the other employees, desperately waiting for the work day to end, so he could be at home, doing the dishes he had left in the sink in the morning, still needing to change the bedsheets before you'd arrive with the food you had promised to pick up on the way. How domestic of you two.

There were no obligations, no rules you had to follow. You were just enjoying yourself. Enjoying your time with him. The words he had trusted you with had branded themselves onto your heart and brain, reminding you every single day of what you were getting yourself into. You started to trust him. You were starting to fall. It was crazy. You couldn't help yourself, you couldn't hold back. You didn't want to. Falling was something so inevitably impossible to stop from happening. Whether you're falling over, falling down, or... falling in love.

You had caught yourself looking at him already. Multiple times in the last few weeks. Commenting to yourself, he's facial structure, the tilted line of his jaw, and the bridge of his nose were just aesthetically pleasing. No one would deny, that you were correct in your assumption. But that was not the reason you couldn't help yourself from looking at him. You had ignored the tingle in your stomach and the warmth spreading in your chest. But there was only so much time that you could tell yourself it was nothing until it did become something. And the end of that time arrived sooner than you could've prepared yourself for and hit you like a wall.

You had repeatedly thought about those nights you had spent with him, sitting by the dining table, snacking on the takeout you had decided on for that evening while reading out loud letters from the courthouse, the judge, Jihoon, Jeonghan, and even Chanyeol. Statements from Sehun were rarely ever in the mail you received, he opted for texting you privately, promising to stand with you and support the decisions you would make. But those evenings had led to the current scene unfolding. Another appointment in the Lee Jihoon law firm. The, hopefully, last official time you'd meet here for the haunting reason of Park Chanyeol.

Wonwoo grunted as he threw himself onto the empty seat next to you, "I swear to God, once we're in there, I'm gonna-"

"You're not gonna do anything," you interrupted him, looking to your left to find his side profile as he was still glaring at the closed door. His patience was running thin, you could tell. With a smirk and a scoff, he leaned back and turned to the side, his eyes meeting yours.

"You don't believe me?" He teasingly wondered.

"Oh no, I do believe you," you assured him with a similar smile, "But I also know that you know better than to anger your only friend that can get us out of this."

"Can you maybe not flirt right in front of me?" The younger CEO cringed as he looked towards the door, trying to divert his eyes from the two of you.

Before Wonwoo was able to talk back, a snarky remark already playing on the tip of his tongue, the white door suddenly opened, revealing the slightly messy head of wavy hair.

"Am I interrupting something?" Jihoon joked as he looked into the hallway, his eyes immediately finding you two and your faces that had subconsciously moved in closer to each other.

With a quick move, Wonwoo pushed himself up from the cushion, his hand already awaiting yours to help you up as well. "Yeah, I was just talking about breaking in your door." You ignored his helping hand, opting to stand up yourself, only to feel his gentle grip on your elbows. Was he really helping you? No. Did you still enjoy the soft touch? Yes.

"Hilarious as always." Jihoon nodded, walking back inside, leaving you to let yourself in.

Before walking ahead, you snatched the two thin folders you had brought yourself into your hands and let yourself get led by Wonwoo's hand on your lower back. Something else, you had learned about him was his love for physical touch. Secret little touches had become a standard when standing or sitting next to him. Wonwoo was by no means a man attracted to any form of PDA, he enjoyed it very much privately though. But no one could deny his love for keeping his hand or even just a finger on you. He took pride in doing this as secretly as possible, making no one else notice it. Mentioning physical touch being his love language only got you a roll of his eyes, you recall, and a comment about Yeri, his cousin, nagging him about doing tests like them on the internet, as well as an MBTI test, so he'd 'have it much easier to find a suitable partner'. Later that day, he did admit those tests revealed that his love languages were, in fact, physical touch, as well as, words of affirmation and gift-giving. And his MBTI was, to his last knowledge, INFJ.

Mingyu closed the door as he was the last one to enter, and all four of you in your designated seats in Jihoon's office - him behind his big desk, you right opposite of him, with Wonwoo to your left and Mingyu on your right. The room matched the entire floor perfectly. Pearl-white walls locked you in, and every door matched the colour of the walls. Each piece of furniture was fitted to the cool tones he had decided on. The floor continued to be dark grey, reminding you of a modern doctor's office. Everyone had their own taste, but you were thankful your office looked much different.

You handed him the last piece of content he'd need for the final trial tomorrow. During the past weeks, Jihoon and Jeonghan had consultations with the judge privately, as well as publicly. None of you were supposed to be there as it was only between the lawyers, and he was yet to update you on the progress he had made.

"Okay," the lawyer looked through the printed-out document you had brought along. "This is everything Sehun has texted you? Every single thing. Every word, every picture he sent, every single emoji? Everything."

You nodded along with his questions.

"Everything. I promise. I didn't change anything. I just, copy and pasted it," you swore to him as you spoke the truth.

Jihoon thanked you. "I'll get this to the judge before the trial tomorrow. She won't read it out loud while we're in the courtroom unless it's one hundred per cent necessary so that nothing will happen to Sehun."

"Thanks," you smiled at him. You had kindly asked him to do just that. With everything going on, and Chanyeol already hating enough people, his anger being on a 10/10 most likely, you didn't want to throw Sehun under the bus and call him out for helping you and doing the right thing. What he'll do after this shitshow was done was his issue to deal with and not your place to be involved in.

"So," Wonwoo decided to lead the following conversation. "Where are we right now? How are things looking so far?"

The younger man leaned back in his chair, throwing the pieces of paper back on his desk. He took a deep breath. "Good, I'd say."

"You'd say? That was a yes-or-no kind of question," The CEO stated, his facial expression strict and cold, just like the rest of the world knew him.

"Well, Wonwoo, I can't guarantee you anything. These people are unpredictable. They always have something up their sleeve, like literally constantly, and I'm trying my damn best here-"

"Then do better-"

"Wonwoo-" Mingyu tried to stop the two.

"Wait," you interrupted them before their fight could explode. "What do you mean? What happened last time?" Your eyes were trained on the lawyer as he pushed his chair to turn around, getting a brown file out of his cupboard before turning back, and throwing it to land right in front of you.

Once you got your hands on it and opened the file, you let your eyes rake over each line written in what seemed to be a university document from Seoultech. With your eyebrows scrunched together and your mouth slightly hanging open, you lifted your head to glance at Wonwoo.

"You cheated on your final exams and plagiarised your dissertation?" 

"What?" He quickly got a hold of the piece of paper, reading it for himself, and opened his mouth, ready to raise his voice as he stood up. "That's-"

"Bullshit, I know," Jihoon stopped him calmly. "Don't worry, I called them and got statements from your professors."

Wonwoo looked at his friend in confusion, "But most of them are retired," who just walked over to him to get the file back into his ownership, a smirk proudly presented on his lips.

"I told you, I'm good at my job." Making the CEO scoff and roll his eyes.

You were still in a twilight zone, not able to follow every detail you had read and the conversation happening between the two men.

"But if it was so easy for you to debunk it, why did they write something like that?" Mingyu wondered, gaining back the lawyer's attention.

He sighed before shrugging and settling back into his chair. "I guess they just wanted to try. They claimed Wonwoo to be a master in faking documents, not realising that if I were to find the real ones, they'd be accused of doing the exact same thing. At this point, they have almost nothing else to lose because they're already so close to losing this entire lawsuit."

"Well," Wonwoo jumped in, choosing to continue standing up, "Then what's gonna happen tomorrow? Anything we need to be prepared for?"

Jihoon looked down at his desk as his fingers had started to play with a pen, occupying himself as he talked. 

"Before I brought you guys in, I sent them some final stuff. Some of the statements Sehun got us, and the security camera footage from your office. I think it was Vernon, but he was able to zoom into the face and de-pixel it, which was revealed to be one of Chanyeol's employees who I had mentioned already last week in front of the judge. So, they'll go over that and comment on it tomorrow. They'll probably ask you guys some more questions about the night of the break-in. Like, where you were, what you were doing, how did you find out, and so on. Just be honest about that. Try to stick to the version you guys have told me, that would make my life a lot easier, thank you. They'll also question Park about it, probably also Sehun." He fell quiet for a second before continuing. "Everything else is pretty much done. They reached out to some of the women, but most of them declined to show up in court personally and chose to send in videos and written statements. It would be smart to read them out loud, but I don't know if they will or if they'll protect the identities of those women. My plan would be to win your lawsuit tomorrow and let them handle the sexual assault cases alone without us involved. And I don't know how that will play in for us... I mean- they've seen all of Yoon's tricks, and they're really not impressed by him from what I could tell."

"Good," Wonwoo commented in the middle of it.

"But they also haven't forgotten about your little fight, remember that." He pointed a strict finger at the oldest one in the room.

Another reason, why Jihoon and Jeonghan had been asked to be seen in front of the judge alone was 'for their own safety'. After the last encounter all of you had in court ended in Wonwoo and Chanyeol almost beating each other up, the judge, Miss Kang, had sent out individual emails, asking the lawyers to visit her on their own. The last sitting would be with everyone again though.

"I have the feeling that the jury is definitely on our side, but the judge might ask about the fight and possible anger issues," Jihoon continued to explain.

Wonwoo scoffed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "What do anger issues have to do with any of this?! And if anyone has anger issues, it's that fucking idiot Park, alright?!"

The younger one of the two and you looked at each other in silence, also sharing a quick look with Mingyu, before turning towards the CEO. A tight smile made its way onto your face, but the awkward silence hung heavily in the room. Wonwoo glanced at Jihoon first, before desperately looking at Mingyu and you. With a deep breath, he decided to sit back down.

"I have anger issues only when it comes to him."

-

Getting into Wonwoo's car the day of the last court sitting almost felt like every other time you had done it. The sequence was the same. He'd text you, he was on his way. Once he arrived, he'd ring the number of your apartment and you'd let him in. You'd leave your front door open, so he could come in once he reached your floor while getting your bag ready and possibly doing some finishing touches on your makeup. Days where you had spent the previous night at his place were slightly different. After having breakfast together at his dining table, and brushing your teeth, Wonwoo would get ready in the morning to chauffeur you to your apartment. He'd patiently wait in your living room while you got ready in your bedroom. He had offered to keep some things at his apartment already, yet you declined, assuring yourself of not moving too quickly by still getting ready for the day in your own room. Having a toothbrush and stuff to sleep in at his place was enough for you for the time being.

Your focus was solely on your phone as you texted Mingyu your whereabouts, asking him if he had already made his way over to the courthouse. Nervously, you had also texted Jihoon, keeping him updated with every street you got closer and closer.

The sudden touch of a hand on your knee made you look up. "Stop." Wonwoo had put his hand on you, stopping your leg from violently shaking. "You have no reason to be nervous, we got this."

"That's easier said than done," you scoffed. "They could destroy us. They could've something planned and we wouldn't know."

"Could you check the glove compartment, please?" Wonwoo got your attention, making you raise your head at his sudden question after enjoying the silence in the car.

"Hm?" You hummed.

With a quick glance at you and a nod towards the storage unit in his car, he repeated his question. "The glove compartment. I got a letter from my mum yesterday, and I put it in there. She texted me and said it was for both of us." With a swift one-handed move, you rounded the corner.

"For us?" You wondered confused, reaching forward to open the compartment.

He shrugged. "I don't know."

You got the letter in your hands, immediately noticing the pastel pink envelope, chuckling to yourself. Jeon Chaewon's role as one of the most feminine old-fashioned ladies you had ever met was no joke.

Careful not to destroy the paper too much, you opened the letter, getting the piece of paper out of the envelope when two extra pieces fell into your lap - slightly smaller than the letter itself. You decided to take a look at them first. After turning them around, you gasped. Your hand fell to your mouth before a chuckle erupted from your lungs.

"What?" A quick glance at Wonwoo made Wonwoo's eyebrows shoot up, only to calm down again once he noticed your amusement.

You couldn't help but bite down on your lip as you showed him the plane tickets. "Your mum's sending us to Paris?" Throwing the question into the room as you were still confused, now directing your attention to the letter, reading through the lines she wrote.

"Oh," you exclaimed. "There's a business even in Paris. She wants us to go." Reading the last sentence got another chuckle out of you. "She said, P.S.: If you want to take Mingyu along as well, I can get you another ticket, but think about that carefully."

"Aaah," Wonwoo nodded, stopping at a red light, letting his elbow rest by the window as he glanced to your side. "She told me about this before she left." He reached out to read through the letter himself. "But I didn't know she already booked tickets for us."

"And a hotel," you added.

"A hotel too?" He wondered, looking at you as you leaned over the middle console to point towards the sentence where she had mentioned the hotel you'd be staying in.

Wonwoo sighed, "Jesus..." With his focus still on the handwriting of his mother, he forgot about the illuminating lights ahead of you.

You glanced up as the green light hit your eyes. "It's green," you pointed out, snatching the letter out of his hand, so he'd put his focus back on the road.

Wonwoo noticed you had gone quiet, while your eyes were on the tickets and the letters. "Do you want to go?" He asked.

You looked up at him, putting all the pieces of paper back together into the envelope. "I think now is not really the right time to think about a Paris trip, to be honest."

"But it's a business trip."

"Yeah," you chuckled. "But to Paris." You continued to look at him, waiting for him to meet your eyes. He exchanged glances with you for a short moment, his lips curling up the slightest amount.

"Yes. As a business trip," he repeated, making you chuckle. "So, do you wanna go?" He asked you again, keeping you in his view as you reached another red light for a few seconds.

With a deep breath in, you shrugged your shoulders, keeping the envelope in your grip as your bag was still in the backseat. "Sure, why not. We should do it for your mum if she requested it."

"For my mum?" Wonwoo chuckled, making you nod.

"Yeah," you cleared your throat. "I mean, if she already booked everything, it would be rude not to go. And like you said, it's a business trip for an event, so... that would be good, right?"

He nodded. "Right."

For a second, you stayed silent before speaking up again, noticing how much closer you had gotten to the courthouse.

"Should we ask Mingyu if he'd want to come as well?"

"God no," Wonwoo was quick to answer with a huff. He took a quick look at you, a grin already spreading on his lips. "Somebody's gotta keep the company in check while we're gone, right?"

With a smile, you nodded along with him. "Mm, you're right." Before both of you fell into another round of comfortable silence while the smile never left your lips, biting down to hide it.

You turned your head to glance outside of the window, watching the buildings pass before Wonwoo took the last right turn to enter the parking lot.

-

Exiting the car and walking towards the main entrance of the courthouse, you were suddenly attacked by a group of men and women clinging onto their notebooks.

"Miss Yoon! Do you think, you will win!"

"Mister Jeon, are you confident for the trial today?"

"Is it true that Mister Park was a bad ex-boyfriend?"

"Is this all a publicity stunt to get more attention and build up your company, Mister Jeon?"

"Was the judge bribed by Mister Park and Mister Oh?"

With shock written all over your face, you came to a sudden halt, the grip on your bag strap tightening. Wonwoo, who was right behind you, hot on your heels, was quick to reach around you, pulling you in closer towards his body as soon as he heard the first words being shouted at the two of you. The cold glare of the CEO didn't stop the journalists from coming closer, pestering you with even more questions. The sudden attention overwhelmed you as you stumbled up the stairs towards the main entrance, where Jihoon was already waiting for you, holding the door open, and ushering you to move faster. As soon as your feet crossed the ledge, he closed the doors.

"Get a life!" He shouted at the mass, as they groaned in synch, turning back around and separated into individual groups again.

Still in shock, you turned around, not noticing the hand still on your body, not meaning to let go any time soon. 

"What the hell was that?!" You exclaimed, brushing through your hair the wind had messed up slightly.

Jihoon groaned, walking past you, making the two of you follow him together as he started explaining. "I don't know who called them. Last week only two of them were here, but Jesus..."

"But why are journalists so interested in this? It's not like this is a national scandal-"

"Not national, but within the corporate world, this is quite big. Park's company might be about to break, and everyone wants in on that," Jihoon explained as you were catching your breath again, finding Mingyu's tight smile as he stood by the door of the courtroom, patiently waiting for you.

"Or maybe they're here to watch the Jeon empire collapse." A sudden all-too-familiar voice caught you off guard. Turning around, you were met with the mischievous eyes you've known for oh so long. "How tragic would that be," Jeonghan smirked at you three, his hand deep in his pocket as he casually walked up to you.

"We'll see about that," the lawyer snapped back.

Seeing the cheeky smile that had been haunting you for weeks made your heart race in anger as you bit down on your tongue, knowing every word you'd give off yourself could be turned against you. Without another comment, you turned around and rushed over to Mingyu in quick steps, greeting him with a hug, forgetting about Wonwoo and Jihoon, who decided to join you, leaving your cousin in the middle of the corridor before he disappeared around the corner again.

"Where's he going?" The younger CEO wondered, nudging his head towards the direction Loki had just left in.

Wonwoo shrugged, "Who knows."

"Probably consoling Park and Oh about some last-minute stuff," Jihoon took the word, glancing at you three. "Is everything clear with you guys? Any questions?"

Mingyu and you shook your heads as the oldest answered for all of you.

"No, let's get this shit over with." Speaking from your soul.

-

The four of you were directed towards your designated table on the left side of the room with Jihoon on the far right, closest to the middle of the room, followed by Wonwoo to his left, then you, and Mingyu was seated next to you. The rest of the room was empty, apart from the court reporter who was setting up her station and the security man by each door. As the trial was private, no public interests were allowed in the room. Even with the silence filling it, neither one of you even dared to open your mouth, knowing better than to let anything get to you.

The entrance door opened, the voices of the three people entering immediately bounced off the walls. They may have tried to whisper, but God knows they were terrible at it.

"Good morning," Jeonghan bowed to each security guard with a smile on his face, his followers copying him. As they passed your group, your cousin also sent a grin towards you, Chanyeol opted for a smug nod of his head while Sehun was seen with a genuine tight smile.

Exodus' CEO leaned back in his chair as soon as they all sat down, a loud sigh coming from him, making you close your eyes and take a deep breath in annoyance.

"Aaah," he moaned. "What a beautiful day today is, right guys? How terrible it would be to ruin that for someone." He took a quick look at your table, meeting Wonwoo's glare, but it only made Chanyeol chuckle.

You continued your prayers inside your head to let this pass quickly, followed by praying for his downfall and that he may please rot in a cell and never feel the touch of another human being ever again. He deserved nothing else.

Paranoid, you turned around to make sure your bag was still hanging over the back of your chair. After finding it right where you left it, your train of thought was interrupted.

"The jury will now enter!" A voice echoed through the room, making all of your heads look straight ahead to where the door opened. You could tell, not one of you had thought the trial would start so suddenly. The people who would make up the jury and would eventually be part of the reason for either your victory or downfall today entered the room. None of them even dared to lock eyes with any of you. Everyone kept their heads down until they were seated.

"All rise!" The voice spoke up again, making all of you act responsively as you stood up in synch, the sound of your chairs screeching against the floor slashing through your ear canal.

The door on the very far right side in front of you opened, revealing Miss Kang, the judge that had been assigned to your case. She greeted everyone in the room with a kind smile, making her warm presence light up the room. She was one of the good people within the law enforcement sector of the country, you just knew it. She'd trust you. Right?...

Judge Kang sat down on the big leathered chair, organising the stacks of paper in front of her, before taking a deep breath. 

"This court is now in session, you may be seated," she called out into the room. Each person followed her demand, taking a seat again, nudging their chairs closer towards the table in front of them.

"We've got quite beautiful weather today, so let's not make this complicated, alright? I think we all want to enjoy the few rays of sunshine," she tried to lighten up the aura of the courtroom, clearly noticing the heavy tension daunting on all of you. Quiet chuckles could be heard, following her comment, smiling faces gazing up at her.

She looked down at her papers. "Alright, we call the case 7.4.2-8 in which Oskan & Co. has been charged with theft and stolen copyright by Exodus Entertainment. Is the plaintiff ready?" She directed her eyes to the right table.

"Yes, Your Honour," Jeonghan answered her politely. The pitch of his voice could send a shiver down your spine almost in an instant. Laced with pretentiousness. You had to remind yourself not to react. Not even the smallest muscle on your face was supposed to move.

Unfaced, she then turned towards you. "Is the defence ready?"

Jihoon nodded confidently, "Yes, your honour."

"Good," she smiled again. "We'll first hear the opening statement from the defence, just to freshen up everyone's memory since it's been a while since we have all gathered here, right? Defendant lawyer, Lee Jihoon, please lay out the facts."

-

Breaks were forgotten. The trial was in full motion. One after the other was asked to come forward, sit down and get questioned by their own lawyer, followed by getting torn to shreds by the lawyer of the opposite party. Judge Kang had let Jihoon decide whether he'd want to start questioning one of you first somebody from the plaintiff - he chose to bring out Mingyu. 'Let's start with a defence, not attack', you remembered him saying.

Jeonghan followed by questioning Wonwoo. Picking people apart psychologically was one of his strongest character traits, he was raised by one of Korea's greatest manipulators after all. But his new approach confused you. Unlike the way you had seen him before, he was soft-spoken with the CEO. Nudging his answers out one by one while keeping a low tone. He must've known just how much Wonwoo would usually react to somebody talking to him like he was as stupid as they could come, but he kept it cool. It surprised all of you. He continued nodding politely, excusing himself every now and then, keeping his sharp tongue in the back of his throat, and never declining Jeonghan's accusations directly. Just like you had practised. The words 'No, this didn't happen' never once fell. Wordings like 'Not exactly', 'As far as I know', and 'To my understanding', were the only ones to ever hit your ear. If all calculated correctly, it must've left a good impression on the judge and jury.

Jihoon opted to get Chanyeol out of his seat next. What Jeonghan could do, he could only do better. He had the receipts.

He started out civil and collected. Asking questions about his whereabouts the night of the break-in, followed by general questions about the company, as they were slowly diverted to subject his private life. His hobbies, and how he would spend his weekdays and weekends if work was out of the question. Jeonghan tried his best to object to each question that wasn't concerning the case directly, but you better bet Jihoon had the perfect explanation for each of his statements ready to roll off his tongue. Every time your cousin shot out of his chair, his voice echoing through the room loud and clear, he was asked to sit down just as quickly.

Chanyeol was asked to stay seated as Jeonghan switched places with the other lawyer in the room, opening his mouth to defend his client as best as he could. If only it wasn't for Jihoon doing a much better job in the first place.

You let your eyes glide across the room. Focused on Miss Kang, you watched her take note after note, marking her own thoughts and questions down as the trial proceeded. Further on the right, the jury seemed invested. Some nodded along with each word coming from Jeonghan, while others scrunched up their faces as soon as Chanyeol would even just take a breath before coming up with an answer. It almost made you chuckle. You couldn't see Sehun unless you'd lean back, but you decided against it. It might direct unwanted attention to your action. You were about to glance at the security guard on the left side of the room when the sound of your name hit your ear.

Your head shot towards Jeonghan.

"To my understanding, you were in a committed relationship with one of the defendants." His steps came to a halt right in front of Exodus' CEO. Before he could even open his mouth, Jihoon hastily pushed his chair back.

"Objection, your honour! Privilege! To my understanding, we had decided to leave private relationships out of this trial if not directly connected." Each one of you knew that there was only a hint of truth in his statement since you were all convinced most of this trial was indeed directly connected to the bon you had once shared with the other man.

Judge Kang nodded. "You are correct about that, Mister Lee." She turned her attention to her left, but Jeonghan took the first word.

"Your honour, but doesn't the defendant being a past lover of my client not seem like a direct connection to the case? The fact that Mister Park's work has been stolen by the company partially led by a grieving past significant other must look like less of a coincidence and more like an act of revenge." How dare he use the words 'significant other'.

Miss Kang couldn't help but sigh as she took a quick look at Jihoon, an apologetic expression daunting on her face before she nodded. "Yes, Mister Yoon. You may continue. But try to keep emotional descriptions out of your statements, please," she advised him.

Jihoon lowered his head, taking a deep breath, "Shit." His mumble suddenly got your heart to skip up. You could feel it starting to pump much harder than before. In no possible way was his reaction a good sign. Wonwoo immediately noticed the change in atmosphere, turning towards you, to catch your side profile as you had closed your eyes and held your head down, trying to block out any of the words coming from Jeonghan or Chanyeol.

"The relationship was mostly very peaceful. I mean, just like every other couple, we had our quarrels and misunderstandings, but not much more than that." With a fake sigh, he looked at the jury, trying to paint his eyes with as much pain as possible before he continued. "Towards the end... it did get bad though... you know, I was always told that jealousy was healthy, at least a little bit, but it became quite extreme."

"From Miss Yoon?" Jeonghan nudged him.

"Yes," Chanyeol nodded. "I think me deciding to end things possibly left her in quite a hole-"

Jihoon shot up again. "Objection! Hearsay, your honour."

The judge nodded, "Sustained. Mister Park, please don't interpret any of the defendant's emotions. Just answer Mister Yoon's questions directly." Her reaction made the CEOs smile. She nodded at Jihoon as he sat back down with a quick bow.

Jeonghan took a deep breath. "I would just like to ask the jury to take Mister Park's side of this story into consideration."

"I'm sure they will, Mister Yoon." Miss Kang sent him a tight smile before leaning back in her chair.

Jeonghan dismissed himself as Exodus' CEO was asked to sit down by the table again.

It was now or never.

Only a year ago, you would tell yourself it wasn't worth it to fight back. That Chanyeol was much more powerful than you. Whatever you'd say would be just pushed under the rug. No one would care what you'd have to say. But not now. You had three people right next to you, ready to support whatever you would be stating out there. You had a judge who would patiently listen to you. There was an entire jury that was possibly still undecided. But most importantly, you had yourself and the truth. You had the facts. You knew what was right and what was wrong. Why should the bad guys win just because you didn't even dare to stand up? Too many times, people have let moments like these just pass. Not again. Not now. They couldn't win. You wouldn't let them win. This was for all the women he had hurt. Each woman that decided against facing him in court, but was strong enough to give their statements. You couldn't let them down. They helped you to get so far, now it was your turn.

"Well then," Miss Kang's voice glided through the room. "If there's nothing else to say anymore, I-"

"Excuse me, you honour." Suddenly you could feel each pair of eyes on your form. Each member of the jury had their face turned towards you. Judge Kang's eyebrows raised at the surprised interruption. Sehun, Chanyeol, and Jeonghan unexpectedly looked up, shock written all across their face. Mingyu and Jihoon had lifted their heads to look at you while Wonwoo's hand subconsciously had reached out right, ready to pull you back, unsure of what you were getting yourself into and surprised by your sudden exclaim.

"Yes, Miss Yoon?"

You swallowed the forming gulp in your throat. "I... I still would like to say something. Mister Lee still has to question me."

She nodded. "Of course, would you like to come out?" With her palm, she motioned to the witness stand seat to her left, to which you agreed, pushing your chair back gently before getting the bag off the back. Opening it, the folder you were looking for was already smiling at you. You got it out, opened it to get what you needed and made your way forward. As you passed Jihoon, who had stood up, you came to a halt.

"Ask me everything," you met his eyes. "Every little thing you need to know to win this, okay?"

Your eyes may have fooled you, but you could almost see fear forming in the man's eyes as he took the paper you had given him, nodding at you as he still tried to comprehend what you were asking of him. With big steps and a proud stance, you held your shoulders straight and made your way over to the witness stand seat.

You took a deep breath as soon as you sat down to calm your nerves that, you were sure, would not vanish any time soon.

"Miss Yoon," Jihoon's voice made you straighten your back as you looked up. All eyes were on you. Your heart was threatening to pump out of your chest at this point. You ignored all the other people in the room. You tried to. Keeping your eyes on the lawyer, that's what he had told you. "How would you describe your relationship with Mister Park?"

"Objection!" Jeonghan shot up from his chair. "Asked and answered."

"Not from Miss Yoon," Jihoon turned towards their table as the Judge agreed with him.

"Overruled. The defendants have yet to speak about this matter. You were given the opportunity, now it's their turn." Explaining the definition of fairness. "Mister Lee, please continue."

"Thank you, Your Honour." Jihoon sent in an encouraging smile. "So Miss Yoon, how would you describe your relationship with Mister Park?"

"Pretty normal in the beginning. Quiet. Private."

"In the beginning?"

You clutched the edge piece of one of the papers in front of you. "Yes."

"Could you please go into detail why only in the beginning?"

"Objection!" Jeonghan called out once again. "Leading question-"

"Overruled," Miss Kang interrupted him before he could even continue. "The defendant specifically mentioned 'in the beginning', so Mister Lee has the right to question her further. Please continue, Miss Yoon." Making the other lawyer sit back down with a sigh and you nod.

"Well... ehm...," you were well aware of your pauses possibly only bringing negative attention onto you, yet you couldn't help it as you tried to form the right sentences in your head. "It seemed like a perfectly normal relationship at first, but... I noticed that his behaviour started changing."

"Changing? In what way?"

"Objection! Compound question."

Judge Kang sighed into the microphone. "Overruled. Mister Lee repeated one word, then followed up with his actual question. Please continue."

You took a deep breath, waiting for Jihoon's assuring nod to answer.

"At first, it started out as jealousy. Or so I thought... later on, about a few months into the relationship... it turned into... something more controlling."

"Could you elaborate on that?" He wondered kindly.

"Yes...," you answered, glancing down at the pieces of evidence you were holding in your hands. Copies of which Jihoon had in his own grip. "At first, he asked me to not leave the house without him- I'm sorry, I meant the apartment we shared." Jihoon nodded along. "Whenever I wouldn't obey to that or... other times when I'd get home later than expected from work... he...," you took a pause. Gulped. Took a shaky breath. Not here. "He would get... really angry."

"How would he show his anger?" He was asking you each question softly, carefully. Understanding the sensitivity as soon as his eyes had landed on the file.

Almost bored, Jeonghan raised his hand, "Objection! Relevance."

Jihoon turned towards the judge. "I think, if we hear my client out, we'd see how relevant her answer is in comparison to Mister Park's comments about their past relationship."

Judge Kang nodded. "I agree. Overruled. Miss Yoon, please continue."

Another unstable breath left your lips. "It was- I mean, differently. At first... it was screaming. Then..." You hadn't even bothered putting on nail polish, so you only had your nails left to pick at. "Then... he'd start to... get physical... sometimes... yeah," you whispered at the end.

"Was there any time you felt truly threatened by Mister Park?"

"Yeah...," you admitted. If some jury members had lost interest in the case, at least by now, everyone's attention was back on track. You could hear a hairpin drop. Each breath you took shook the entire room. "There were... occurrences... when I had to go to the hospital. Because... ehm... he..." careful with your words. "He touched me... without my consent."

Biting down on his lip, Jihoon was careful with each word. "Do you have any evidence of this?"

You decided to only nod, as the security kept a close eye on you, noticing you lifting the papers you were clutching onto with your entire being. He went up to you to take them out of your possession, handing them over to the judge as she asked you to continue while going over the doctor's letter. It was the one piece of hospital evidence you had kept from that time. Everything else seemed irrelevant to you as most of the bruises you had showed up with to the hospital could be explained by hitting your knee or arm against furniture. But not this. But there was a second page to it.

"Miss Yoon," Jihoon started again. "You were admitted to the hospital once before, is that correct? Due to a car crash, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes," you spoke out loud.

"Who was driving the car at that time?"

"Mister Park," you answered honestly, knowing that he was reading every piece of evidence off the paper you had handed to him.

Jihoon nodded, now turning to the woman sitting on the highest chair in the room. "Your honour, if you turn to page two of the piece of evidence you were just handed, you can see the doctor's findings, as well as the police report on page three, after the car crash, involving Park Chanyeol and Yoon Y/N. The police stated it was a crash caused by a drunk driver, that being Mister Park. In which he sustained a mild head injury, while Miss Yoon had to be transported to the hospital due to a broken rib and a bruised leg." After a quick look behind him, he turned back to the judge. "If I'm seeing correctly, this document was signed within the walls of this very courthouse. And yet... it has been deleted completely from Mister Park's file."

You decided to stay quiet. You had done your job. You couldn't even look up, knowing disappointed eyes were probably just waiting for you. You had lied to him. Lied to Wonwoo about the scar on your rib. You had mentioned it was due to an injury from falling at the playground as a kid. He brushed it off to be never spoken about it again. And now this.

"So, the all so happy relationship, Mister Park swore to have had with the defendant... doesn't seem to have been all that peaceful after all. That was all, thank you." He bowed before walking back from his spot, joining Wonwoo and Mingyu by the table again.

The all-along so quiet room suddenly shifted as the jury turned to each other to speak at a normal volume, ignoring the room they were still sitting in. Even Jeonghan, who had held back with his objection towards the end, was quick to turn to Chanyeol, who was already raising his voice, standing up to defend himself.

Before it could all escalate too much, Judge Kang got a hold of her hammer, pounding it against the wood to calm the room. "Quiet!" Each person reacted instantly, getting back into their seats, with their eyes on her.

"We will take a ten-minute break. In the meantime, I will go over these documents. The jury is advised to console each other, but not yet come to a conclusion. We will go over everything after the short break, okay? You're dismissed." With one final hit of the hammer, almost everyone stood up. The jury left the room immediately. Chanyeol had pushed himself off the chair aggressively, rushing out as Jeonghan was hot on his heel. Miss Kang passed you quietly while you stood back up, trying to find your breath to face your group of people again.

Before you had even reached them, Jihoon was already in front of you. "What was that? Are you okay?" But you only nodded. "Are you sure?" He asked again. This time, you smiled.

"Yeah..." a faint whisper left your lips as you could suddenly feel your chest lifting again. The tears that had formed vanished all of a sudden, leaving you with a lighter chest and satisfaction rushing through your body.

"Wh-" Mingyu tried to jump into the conversation, but the lawyer stopped him.

"We should maybe continue this outside."

You all nodded along with him, getting ready to leave the room for the break when a voice behind you made you turn around.

"Y/N." Sehun called out for you. He leaned against the desk slightly awkwardly, not knowing what to do with his hands as he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." If only he knew how much he had helped you. With two big steps, you stopped right in front of him, not even giving him a second to react as you threw your arms around him, pulling him in. He seemed to be taken aback, but you quickly felt his hand patting your back, making you lean back, leaving him to breathe freely again.

"Thank you," you smiled at him before turning back to the three other men who were patiently waiting for you.

-

The three of you had been standing and sitting around in the hallway of the courthouse for the past three minutes and Wonwoo was yet to say something. Jihoon had exclaimed his concerns for you, Mingyu had asked you around ten times if you were truly okay and after assuring him that you had truly never felt better, he had decided to sit down next to you. The CEO was still standing by the wall, looking straight ahead while not really focusing on anything in particular.

As the lawyer and the second CEO had fallen into a conversation, you chose to leave them alone and join Wonwoo. Standing up, you patted down invisible creases on your blouse, getting closer and closer to him with each step you took. Instead of joining him by standing at his side, you stopped right in front of him.

Looking up, he didn't even dare to meet your eyes. He just continued to stare straight ahead. There was an unreadable expression on his face, making you want to step around him as carefully as possible to not disturb whatever was going on in his head. As cold as the entire building of the old courthouse was, the only chill rushing down your spine was due to his glance.

As soon as you tried to open your mouth, he beat you to it. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" At the same time, he lowered his gaze towards you, meeting your pleading eyes, begging him to talk to you. "About what he did."

With a sigh, you let your head hang as you looked to the ground. With a deep breath, you got the courage to speak to him as you interlocked your glances. "I told you, I wanted to forget everything involving him."

"Yeah, but you can't just forget something like that."

"Well, I tried, okay?!" You suddenly found yourself with a raised voice, surprising both of you, as well as Mingyu and Jihoon, who took a quick look at the two of you but continued their conversation once Wonwoo's cold eyes met theirs. "You really think I want to dwell on such a horrible memory of a man? He was a person I once trusted, and he used that trust and misused me! Of course, I'd want to forget that!" You hissed a breath in and out, lowering your voice again. "But what kind of person would I be if I had just let him portray himself as a victim while fifteen other women made a statement about him sexually harassing them... huh? I was able to live with what happened to me, but he... he hurt SO MANY other women... I- I couldn't just let that pass. If none of them wants to face him, fine. But I have the chance, and don't take it?..." With a sigh, you ended your rant. "I couldn't live with myself after that."

He let the silence linger between you for a short moment as he straightened his back, looking at you again. "How long have you planned on doing this? Why didn't you involve me? Or Jihoon at least? Or for whatever reason maybe even Mingyu?"

"Up until that idiot opened his mouth to talk about me, I wasn't even sure that I was going to do it. But... I had to. And I had to do it alone. Do you know how good that feels now?" A chuckle of relief tumbled from your lips as you couldn't hold back your smile. "They have every piece of evidence they need to... fine him, take away his company, put him behind bars or God knows what."

"Come here," he whispered as he took a step forward and opened his arms. You didn't move though. You continued to stand still, your arms crossed in front of your chest as you glanced up at him.

"I don't want a hug." Your comment told him that you would still be mad at him for not understanding your reasoning. But that didn't stop him. With another step, he had invaded your room, engulfing you in the warmth of his arms you had come to find comfort in during so many nights. Once he noticed you weren't moving, he leaned down just a slight bit closer to your ear.

"I'm proud of you," he spoke quietly, making sure only you would be able to hear those words he had chosen for just you. "But I was worried."

With a sigh, you gave in, wrapping your arms around his slim, yet muscle-packed, torso, getting a relieved sigh from him in return.

Before any of you were able to truly enjoy the short moment of intimacy, Mingyu's loud voice rang through your ears.

"Group hug!" With heavy steps, he rushed over to you two, throwing his big arms over your shoulders, underestimating his weight, making you grunt out loud. You could feel Wonwoo's annoyance radiating off him, to which you couldn't help but chuckle, which was quickly joined by Jihoon doing the exact same.

"You don't even know if we won and yet you're celebrating." He approached you with his hands hiding in his pockets, watching you with bright eyes and a wide grin.

"Who cares if we won," Mingyu commented, almost getting interrupted by his best friend, who opened his mouth but was stopped by the slightly bigger man. "Y/N got to say what she needed to say. Park will get what he deserves. Whether that involves our case or not, I really don't care at this point, to be honest."

With a deep sigh, the older man nodded. "That's very cute and I understand that, and Y/N, you know that I support you, but I still have a job here to finish and if we don't win this case... you can fire me."

"We won't fire you," Wonwoo, now behind you, with his palm once again placed comfortably on your lower back.

"No, no," Jihoon glanced at him. "I am begging you to fire me if we don't win this, do you understand me?" Getting a roll of his eyes from the older CEO, while Mingyu just chuckled, patting the smaller man's shoulder assuringly.

Your exchange of words was interrupted by one of the security men that had been standing inside throughout the entire sitting, who was suddenly standing in the hallway.

"Judge Kang is asking you to come back inside, we'll continue." The four of you nodded in synch, each taking one last deep breath in. One last time. Hopefully.

But before any of you could even take one step forward, a shrill voice called out.

"Hold on! Just a minute!" Jeonghan rushed towards you from around the corner, your eyes quickly finding his. "Y/N, a word, please." Motioning at you to follow him.

Your eyebrows shot up at the sudden demand. In what world did he imagine you'd go out of your way to suddenly follow his lead.

"Whatever you have to say to her, you can say here as well." Wonwoo's deep voice vibrated through your entire body. You noticed the microscopic step he took closer as you felt his chest brush against your arm.

Jeonghan shook his head, clearly irritated by the men surrounding you. "Could I please talk to my cousin in private?" Looking straight at the man behind you, expecting another snark from him, when you spoke up.

"No." You crossed your arms in front of your chest in defence. Your body knew which stance to take in right away.

He had betrayed you. You hadn't heard from him in years before you met him in the courtroom again. And out of all the people there were in the world, he chose to support the man you had sworn off your life. The man with the name you had tried to scratch out of every piece of skin on your body that he had touched. A betrayer, a traitor, and a manipulator. That's who Jeonghan was. Quite fitting to Chanyeol. Two fucked-up halves that would make a deadly whole.

"I'm sorry."

...

...

With quiet stares, each one of you looked straight ahead. No one was fully sure of what words had just hit their ear. The movement of his mouth could've possibly been an illusion. That seemed more likely than an actual apology coming from his lips.

"What?" You were the one to break the silence. Instinctively, Wonwoo's hand travelled to the left, his fingers gently curling around your waist.

The step Jeonghan took forward was welcomed as none of you decided to move backwards, letting him know he could continue.

He sighed. "I... I didn't know... about... you know... that." With a stressed breath in, he continued. "When I took on this case, he told me the exact same thing he had told you and the judge. With our history, it didn't take much convincing for me. I knew you and him were... yeah- anyways- but... I swear, I had no idea."

Still unphased by his apology, he resumed his ramble.

"I know you don't think much of me, but not even I would go this low to support someone like that.. and I know that... that- this apology or whatever probably won't mean anything to you-"

"Good that you know that," Wonwoo commented, but Jeonghan chose to ignore him.

"But I mean it. He just confessed everything to me. This is the first time I'm hearing about all of this... and... I can't- and I won't support that. I don't need you to forgive me, I know that won't happen instantly. But I swear to God, Y/N, you can think whatever you want of me, but please don't ever think I'd ever support a guy like that." He took another step forward. "When the accident happened, I heard that you got hit by a drunk driver. Not that... he was the drunk driver."

Still, no words from you, nor Mingyu or Jihoon.

"Anyway," Jeonghan sighed and got ready to turn around, the open doors still waiting for all of you. "I'm sorry." With those last words, he disappeared again, leaving your party in the cold hallway. In silence.

"Oh, wow..."

You couldn't hold back your scoff as you took a step forward, letting Wonwoo's hand drop to his side.

"He didn't mean any of that." You rolled your eyes.

"Huh?" Mingyu's eyebrows shot up as he glanced at you, his puppy eyes reflecting the light perfectly.

"You can't believe anything coming from that guy's mouth." You explained, still not entertaining the possibility of there being any good intentions behind your cousin's actions.

The younger CEO was still confused. "Then why did he say he was sorry?"

"To manipulate us maybe? Make us feel guilty? Give in?" Jihoon thought out loud, joining you and turning around to face the other two men. "Y/N, I wouldn't believe anything he said. She would know." Everyone nodded in synch.

Wonwoo nudged his head towards the door, where the security man was still waiting for you. "Let's get this over with."

-

Each person involved was back in the room. Exodus Entertainment was on the right table, while you and the guys were sitting on the left one. The jury of the very far right side, sitting along the wall was already gazing at you - excitement and interest radiating off them. Judge Kang was back in her seat, her glasses low on the bridge of her nose as she quietly went through the papers in front of her again, which seemed to have gotten more over the break.

If you thought your heart had been pumping hard earlier, while you were seated on the witness stand, it was safe to say, it was about to explode once you had entered the room again. Right where you had left your fear behind.

"Alright," Miss Kang started, taking off her glasses with a deep breath as she let her fingers rake through her hair. "Before we start, does the plaintiff or the defendant have anything to say? You may speak now."

You exchanged glances with Jihoon, who shook his head, telling you to keep low, but your attention was quickly taken away once Jeonghan left his chair to stand up, buttoning his suit jacket and raising his hand.

"Your Honour."

Miss Kang sighed with a forced smile. "Yes, Mister Yoon?"

"May I come forward?"

"Yes, you may."

Each pair of eyes in the room followed him as you abandoned the confused faces of Sehun and Chanyeol, making his way to the middle of the room and the podium. Either time moved painfully slowly, or he moved in slow motion, but either way, the pace was too slow, and you could feel the scream of frustration boiling up in your throat.

Jeonghan cleared his throat and straightened his back. Here we go.

"Your Honour. After consoling my client, we have come to an agreement that I would like to exclaim now."

"Please do," the judge commented on his statement.

"My client, Exodus Entertainment, would like to withdraw their lawsuit against Oksan & Co."

The room fell quiet. This lasted for a second before the next round of tumult rushed through it.

"Excuse me, Mister Yoon?" Miss Kang raised her voice in order to speak over the hushed sounds coming from the jury on the right side. Your eyes were frantically moving from side to side, trying to catch any reaction so you'd know which one to share.

"With immediate effect, Exodus Entertainment takes back each claim made against the defendant Oksan & Co."

Your head immediately shot to Jihoon who kept his gaze straight on Jeonghan, his mouth slightly agape as he was still trying to grasp the situation.

"What's going on here?" You could hear Mingyu whisper from your left, only to be interrupted by the loud voice of Chanyeol slashing through the uproar.

"Your honour-"

Jeonghan cut him off. "My client, Park Chanyeol, also pledges guilty to the charges made against him-"

The sudden knock of wood-on-wood, thanks to the Judge's hammer, let the room calm down again. Chanyeol chose to keep standing up while Sehun leaned back in his chair, a faint smirk making its way onto his face. The jury immediately quieted down along with your group, who still had to let more words drop than Mingyu just had. Jeonghan stood still on the podest.

"Mister Yoon," with the hammer still in her hand, Miss Kang started talking. "Are you aware of what you are doing right now? This will have an immediate effect."

"Yes, your Honour. I am very sorry for the waste of time and patience."

"Your Honour!" Chanyeol raised his hand hastily. "May I speak to my lawyer for a second?"

"Oh," your cousin lowered his head slightly, his voice loud and clear echoing through the speakers. "With immediate effect, I am also withdrawing from my role as Mister Park's lawyer. Thank you." Without another word, Jeonghan took a step back and turned around. After a quick glance in your direction and a tight smile, he passed your tables, only to take a seat on one of the benches behind you, usually preserved for public interests.

Judge Kang didn't even try to hide the amusement making her lips curl into a grin.

"Wow," she chuckled lowly, "Well," she cleared her throat, intertwining her fingers on top of the wooden surface. "Mister Park, you don't seem to have a lawyer to talk to anymore. Anything else you'd like to say?"

You zoned out whatever sorry excuse of an answer he gave her as you turned around, finding Jeonghan's eyes already boring a hole into your head.

"What are you doing?" You whispered, hoping he'd be able to read your lips. You only got a small smile and a nod in return.

"Mister Park-"

"This is a shitshow! What kind of fucking bullshit is this here?!"

"Mister Park, let m-"

"How the fuck is he even allowed to do that?!"

"Mister-"

"I swear to God, I will fucking sue every-"

"Security!" 

Miss Kang's final string of patience officially broke as she called out for one of the men on the side to step in. They acted quickly as two rushed up to each side of Chanyeol's big form which had made its way to the middle of the courtroom, getting dangerously close to the judge.

"You can't do-"

"I can, and I did," she simply told him, making him shut his mouth immediately before she quickly continued, putting her glasses back on as she read out loud. "Mister Park, I will see you again in five days as you will be facing twelve charges of sexual harassment, four charges of sexual assault, forgery of state-protected documents, as well as now contempt of court." She sent a smile his way. "We will speak again. Get him out of my courtroom." Before he was pushed out of the room through a door on the left wall.

Only then were you able to realise what had just happened. You could feel everyone take in a deep breath as soon as he had left the courtroom.

"What... what just happened?" Jihoon hushed underneath his breath, his hands placed on the top of his table as he glanced around the room.

"Well," the judge smiled into the crowd. "Each day, you experience something new." She paused for a second before continuing. "May the defendant please rise."

Still slightly out of it, you felt Wonwoo's tug by your elbow, pushing you to stand up. You joined the other three, staring straight ahead as Miss Kang spoke to you.

"With immediate effect, you are acquitted as the lawsuit of theft and forgery filed by Exodus Entertainment has been dropped." She glanced up from her notes to smile at you. "You are excused. Congratulations."

What was she congratulating for? You didn't win...

You didn't lose, but yet you didn't win... at least it didn't feel like you did. This was the end. The end of it all. Why didn't it feel like it?

You must've overheard Jihoon thanking the judge as you were suddenly escorted out of the room, your bag not even on your shoulder, but in Wonwoo's grip as you left the room altogether. Each bench you passed, and even walking through the doors, back into the hallway could almost be described as a fever dream. The sudden turn of tables and twist of fate felt too good to be true and too much for your own body to handle. It didn't feel right.

"What the fuck was that?!" Wonwoo immediately exclaimed the second you had left the room. "What just happened?!"

Jihoon raised his hands in defence, just as speechless as everyone else. "I- I wish I could tell you."

"What was that move from Yoon?" Mingyu interjected, only getting shrugs in return. "So did he mean what he said?" Another round of shrugs.

A nudge on your arm brought you back. "Hey, you okay?" It was Jihoon. You nodded.

"What the hell happened?" You could only repeat what everyone else was also thinking. "Wh-" You stopped yourself as you were still pretty much unable to form full sentences.

Each one of you had their eyes on different corners of the hallway. Mingyu was focused on the wall, his hand continuously running through his hair. Wonwoo had his arms crossed in front of his chest as he walked up and down a short distance along the side. And Jihoon had chosen to sit down, his head in his hand as he took deep and clear breaths in. You were leaning against the wall, eyes switching between each person while you still tried to find the grasp on reality again.

"From my understanding now," the lawyer started. "Jeonghan turned his back on them... I guess... he maybe wasn't lying in the first place?"

"That's impossible," you scoffed.

"Why?" Jihoon wondered.

You shrugged. "Because that's not who he is."

"Is that what you think of me," your cousin's familiar voice made you turn to the side, taking a step back instantly to create a bigger distance between you two. He shook his head with a chuckle. "I know we've never been on good terms, but God... I wouldn't wish stuff like that upon my worst enemy. Why would I celebrate it happening to my cousin?"

"I'm not saying you celebrated it," you stated.

"Alright," he took a step to the side. "And I'm not going to support a fucking asshole as stupid as him." He found your eyes. "I meant what I said. I'm sorry." Maybe one day you'll be able to believe that he's not the total asshole you had always thought he was. Maybe. Just maybe.

He turned around, bowing his head to each one of you before making his way down the hall, leaving the hell of a building in the past.

"Jeonghan!" You stopped him by the call his name, making him turn around. You pushed yourself forward, stopping right next to Wonwoo.

"Thank you." It may not have been much, but at that point in time, it was all you could've given him.

A smile and a nod later your cousin vanished out the doors, the group of journalists you had already forgotten about immediately swarmed him, leaving almost no room to breathe.

It wasn't a lot, but it was a start. A slow one, but a start. With the memory of the past still in the back of your hand, you were able to thank him for what he had done, but that was about it for now. Yes, there was no deeper reason as to why he had done what he did, at least that from where you stood, but the past would still haunt you for quite a while. A past you no longer had to share with the devil himself though. He was brought to justice. You did it. Not you alone, you were very well aware of that. You saw what a group of united people could do. You watched justice get served. The right decisions were made.

"Well then," Wonwoo sighed out loud. "What does that mean for us now?" The question was clearly directed at Jihoon who had made his way to stop in front of you.

He shrugged. "There's still definitely a lot of paperwork due. All the claims were dropped, but I'm gonna make sure there's no involvement of any of you in his future charges, especially with Y/N." You thanked him with a nod. "But for now," he took a deep breath as his lips curled. "I'd say we did it."

"Why doesn't it feel as satisfying as it should be?" Mingyu suddenly wondered as he showed up on your left.

"Once you see him on TV being escorted behind bars, you'll feel it," the lawyer assured him, getting a chuckle from each of you in return.

"Alright," the older CEO clapped his hands after handing you back your over-the-shoulder bag. His eyes travelled to Mingyu, glancing at him over your head.

"Drinks?" The younger one threw into the room, getting a groan of satisfaction from Jihoon in return.

"Oh, fuck yeah!" Shocking you with his choice of words.

You chuckled at the reaction that followed from the others, watching the pep in his step with amusement.

A hand on your shoulder made you look up to your right. The usual so cold eyes, suddenly turned warm, were already looking at you.

"Drinks?" His voice in his usual depth, sent a wave of warmth into your cheeks.

You bit down on your lip, trying to hide the smile on your face. A faint thought erupted from the depths of your memory. Something you had almost dared to forget. 

"There's one more thing I'd like to do."

Thank you for reading my loves🫶🏼

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[mybiasisexo]

Entangled - Part 8

Pairing: Chanyeol x f.Reader Chapter Warnings: Language   Word Count: 5k Author Notes: okay, I feel like this is lowkey a filler chapter 😭. but I like it so idk lmao. so much has happened since I last updated. I quit my old job, got a new one (that's kicking my ass. pray for me) had my bday and saw Beyonce 3 times!! but yeah as always sorry for the delay, hope you like the chapter and feel free to lmk what you thought!!! I loooove feedback and y'alls commentary!!! makes my damn day!! have fuuuuuun~!

You come to the following morning from what is possibly the best sleep you’ve gotten in years. A yawn escapes you as you stretch your tender body.

The action has you aware of something not moving around you, and you glance down to see a heavy arm thrown over your waist. As if the owner of the limb can sense your attention, it constricts, pulling you closer to a heat behind you.

Startled, you tense up, not even daring to breathe as you carefully roll onto your back and then turn your head the rest of the way until you’re knocking your nose gently against Chanyeol’s.

He’s in a deep slumber. Gentle snores leave his slightly parted lips, and his features are relaxed. He looks so peaceful, so serene, so…content. It melts your heart. You can’t help but stare at him, noticing the way his silky tawny hair falls across his pillow and the stubble poking out of his chin that grew in from the night before.

The night before….

Your eyes widen at the reminder and you’re sitting straight up, causing Chanyeol’s arm to fall limply on your lap.

Oh, you’ve really done it now.

Chanyeol stirs, and you think you’ve woken him, but he just rolls onto his other side, revealing his naked back to you.

Harsh rows of red raised skin catch your attention–the proof of how good a lover he is. Even though you know to some men, Chanyeol included, the scratches are a badge of honor, you only feel remorse from causing him pain.

His lack of clothing has you aware of your current state of undress and you quickly pull the thin sheet over your chest. It’s a silly action. Chanyeol’s sleeping, but even if he was awake, he’s seen your breasts plenty of times, had them in his goddamn mouth last night for christ’s sake.

Still, you must at least try to preserve some dignity.

You dare another glance at the man beside you, as if he’s a figment of your imagination that will vanish once you’re in your right mind. He doesn’t go away, so you must be really out of it.

Groaning, you drop your head, hitting your forehead repeatedly with the palm of your hand.

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

Fucking your ex fiance was the last thing you had planned to do on this trip. Getting closure? Sure. Making peace? The least you could have done. Now? Things have become even more complicated. Which is pretty impressive given everything that has transpired over the last couple days. And Yerim…. God, Yerim. She hasn’t even been gone twenty-four hours and you’ve already jumped her man’s bones. Sure, he was yours first, but it’s the principle of the thing.

Shit, maybe you are the problem.

As if you aren’t already about to dive in a pool of panic, a memory from the night before decides to reveal itself. The knowledge has you gasping, staring unseeingly ahead of you in terror.

Did you tell Chanyeol you loved him?

Oh, god. Oh, fuck.

Yeah, you gotta get out of here.

Feeling nauseous, you stumble out of the bed, crumbling to the ground the minute you put weight on your legs. Your bambi legs are a byproduct of Chanyeol’s pleasurable menstrations, having you literally weak in the knees. You shake your head and push through the slight throbbing of your core, standing carefully on shaky legs. Chanyeol chooses this moment to toss back around so that he’s facing you again. The arm that was around you earlier flops forward to reclaim its position, but lands on egyptian cotton instead. His eyebrows scrunch together as his hand idly runs over the empty space–searching for you. Feeling bad, you pull down a pillow. His fingers find it and yank it towards him, curling into it like a toddler with his favorite teddy bear. Your name leaves his mouth in a content breath, and all the turmoil in you dissipates for a moment. Maybe you’re overreacting? Yerim won’t be too mad, right? And Chanyeol still wants you, right? Last night meant something to him?

Did it mean something to you?

You can’t even think about that right now. Truth is you have no idea where you stand, and are even more confused than before the wedding. You’ve blurred the lines and anything can mean anything.

What you do know is that you need to leave, and you need to do it before Chanyeol wakes up. You can’t face him right now, not before you understand your emotions and actions.

“Focus,” you order yourself. You scan the floor that is now a mess of discarded garments, and a shimmer of gold catches your eye. You snatch it up, only to find it’s Chanyeol’s tie. You stare at it, remembering the way he demanded you to undress him, and drop it like it shocked you, shivering from the memory. That is definitely not what you’re looking for. 

There. A little further you find your dress and underwear. You slide them on quickly, not bothering to zip up your dress. You’re only going a few doors down, so you only hold it against your chest.

Despite telling yourself to focus, you can’t stop thinking about your confession. Obviously it was the lust speaking, the nostalgia. Yeah, that’s all that was.

Chanyeol never said it back.

The epiphany straightens your back, and you startle as you lock eyes with yourself in the floor length mirror directly in front of you. The woman before you is tragic, her hair poofy and stiff, eyes rimmed black, face puffy and nose still red from crying. You look like the clown you are.

You shudder, truly haunted, and head out. You pause by the door to slip into your shoes and grab your purse. Your heels have a buckle, but you can’t risk wasting any more time, so you don’t bother securing them. 

You open the door and a choir of angels begin to sing.

Their joyous voices die with a record scratch at the sight of Byun Baekhyun standing on the opposite end, fist up as though he’s about to knock.

You can’t catch a break.

He takes you in, visibly shocked. He says your name in a dramatic loaded question and you wince at his volume, bouncing off the walls. Damn, this is not good.

“What are you doing here?” He asks accusingly.

You quickly peek over your shoulder, checking to see if your new visitor is loud enough to wake Chanyeol. He doesn’t stir, and you can’t fight the pride that blooms in you. You wore that man out!

Shaking the emotion off, you turn back to Mr. Loud Mouth in front of you.

“Hush,” you hiss, shoving him back with the arm not currently holding both your dress, and what little you have left of your sanity, together. You make sure the door closes with a gentle ‘click’ before grabbing Baekhyun’s arm, dragging him the couple doors down to your suite. He yelps and asks where you’re ‘kidnapping’ him. It’s easy to ignore his helpless cries with the obnoxious sound of your heels slapping against your feet. 

Once in front of your door, you dig through your purse for your key, forgetting you didn’t secure your dress. The top half flutters down, titties basking in the breeze.

You freeze, eyes closing tightly as you bite your bottom lip so hard you think you’re going to bite it off. Your only saving grace is that Baekhyun is behind you, obscuring his view of your private bits.

You hear him huff in annoyance before he’s brushing your hair out of the way, gathering your dress, zipping it up as far as it can go with your arms not in the sleeves.

“Thank you,” you whisper, face burning in shame. Dejectedly, you find the key and get you both in. You kick your clacky shoes off, not wanting to draw unwanted attention, and lead Baekhyun to your room. You rest your forehead against the door as you close it, giving yourself a moment to just breathe.

Once you’ve deluded yourself into thinking you’re good, you turn around and face your friend. He’s taken residence in your vanity chair, searching your frazzled figure with worry. You can only imagine what you must look like from his point of view.

Finally, he musters the courage to speak. “You look….”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Okay…. Would you care to explain why you were running out of Chanyeol’s room like you robbed him? In your wedding clothes, no less, first thing this morning?”

You rub your eyes. To be honest, no, you didn’t want to have this conversation. Especially with Baekhyun. No offense to the guy, you adore him, but he’s not really known for taking things seriously. Except… right now it does appear he’s taking this situation very seriously. Although there is a hint of playfulness in his tone, you can’t see any of it on his face, only genuine concern.

Defeated, you sigh and march to your bed, plopping down onto the edge to bury your face in your hands.

“We had sex.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell,” he answers sarcastically. You glare at him through your fingers. He grins in reply, but it’s soft, reassuring, letting you know that everything will be okay.

It slips from his face as a thought occurs to him. “You weren’t drunk, were you?”

You shake your head and he lets out a relieved breath.

“Quite the opposite. It was probably the most sober decision I’ve made this whole trip.”

“So, what went wrong?”

“I just….” You recall your confession and wince, stomach flipping with embarrassment. “We ended up running into each other in the elevator and went to his room. We were only supposed to talk. But, I don’t know. You know the wedding was a lot for us both. And this trip has been very stressful and tense and we haven’t been alone since we got here and maybe that was for good reason because obviously we couldn’t handle that if–”

“You’re rambling,” he interrupts.

You take a deep breath. 

“I told him I loved him,” you push out before you can regret admitting it. It sounds even worse spoken out loud.

“And?” He asks, skeptically.

You blink in surprise at his reply. “And he, well, he didn’t say it back.”

You avoid his gaze and bring your knees to your chest and nibble on your thumbnail anxiously, waiting for Baekhyun’s response to the new detail. You must have rendered him speechless, because he remains silent. Either that, or he’s trying to figure out the best way to let you down on Chanyeol’s behalf. That makes you stiffen your shoulders, bracing yourself for the cold dose of reality. It never comes, and his lack of response drags until you think you’re going to explode.

Finally, you whip your head up to him exasperatedly just to see him looking at you like you’re the dumbest bitch he’s ever seen.

“What?” You snap, hating how condescending his expression is.

He rolls his eyes at your tone and lets out a laugh coated in disbelief, rubbing his forehead. “I love you, but you’re stupid.”

“I know,” you sulk, pouting as you rest your chin on your knees. “I wasn’t thinking straight, obviously. I got too caught up in the moment. Being with him like that, it brought me back to the good ol’ days, when we were falling in love. But, we’re not in college anymore. We’re not the same people we were when we were together.”

You furrow your brows, really trying to untangle your thoughts. It’s a lot easier to do with someone to look at.

“That’s what it is. I mean, how can I still love a man I don’t know? I can still have lingering feelings for the man I used to know, though. Maybe having sex was a good thing? All that leftover tension between us can finally rest. Yeah, that’s what last night was–left over tension. Now that we’ve done the deed, we should be good now. Sure, we still need to have a talk, there’s still some things we need to address to fully move on, but I think the hardest part has passed.”

You search your friend’s face for the right answer. “Right?”

His lips thin and then he’s sighing. “Do you want to know what I think?”

You nod miserably, thoughts too chaotic to decipher any logic.

Baekhyun stands up and walks over to you, reaching out to rub your arms comfortingly. In a gentle murmur he says, “I think you need some breakfast.”

A surprised chuckle leaves you as you lean forward, resting your forehead against his stomach. “You’re probably right.”

You relax under his touch, and you both stay like that. His hands go from your shoulders to your back, rubbing soothing circles onto your skin. The repetitive trail makes you drowsy.

The door swings open.

“I thought I heard you co–OH MY GOD!”

Seulgi stands dumbfounded at the door, the hand not frozen on your door knob covers her hanging jaw. Shock coloring her face as she takes in the compromising sight before her.

Baekhyun stumbles quickly away from you, tripping over his feet in his haste.

“It's not what it looks like!” You defend. That’s literally the worst line you can possibly say to her.

“What the hell!” She squeaks. “What the fuck is happening right now!?”

“We were just about to get something to eat!” Baekhyun says, as if that explains anything.

“HUH?!” Seulgi starts fanning her reddening face. She turns to you, not even going to humor him. “Look, I know this weekend has been rough for you. I understand you wanting to distract yourself by getting underneath someone. But, to sleep with Baekhyun of all people–”

“Hey!” The man in question barks. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Seulgi, please,” you beg. Crawling off the bed, you stumble over to her. “That’s not what happened at all!”

Your words go through one ear and out the other as she glares at Baekhyun, who’s shivering in his metaphorical boots under her judging stare. “I can’t believe you would do this! Chanyeol is your best friend! Do you not care how this will affect him when he finds out?”

“We didn’t do anything,” you plead.

“Then explain what I just walked into! Explain why you look a damn mess! And are those–are those hickeys?”

“I HAD SEX WITH CHANYEOL!” You yell in her face.

“I–wait, what?” You can see the internal conversation she’s having with herself as she tries to comprehend what you just confessed to her. When your words have meaning, a look of sheer horror contorts her lovely features.

“You didn’t.” Her voice is low, threateningly so.

You gnaw at your bottom lip, even more anxious than when Baekhyun was questioning you. 

Your silence is an admission and she yells your name accusingly.

“I know!” You agree. “Please, I know!”

“I don’t understand. How? Why? I thought you were over him, or at least trying to be. I–”

“Hey,” Baekhyun cuts her off, joining your little party. He rests a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s let her take a shower and get into some clothes that don’t have cum stains on them. Then we can get breakfast. She can explain everything then.”

“There’s no cum on my dress,” you mumble with a frown.

“I know Chanyeol’s kinks,” Baekhyun says. You huff in defeat.

Seulgi’s cat shaped eyes bounce back and forth between you both skeptically. You can see all the questions she has running through her pretty head.

“Alright,” she reluctantly agrees. “Hurry and get ready. I’m starving.”

You have a feeling it’s not food she’s hungry for.

Baekhyun leads her out of your room, throwing you an apologetic look, and you wonder how many more times he’s going to look at you like that.

Nearly an hour later, you find yourself in a little unassuming mom and pop restaurant. Baekhyun’s grandmother lives on the island, so he knows all the local hot spots. The ajumma serving you is absolutely thrilled to see him, promising to put a bit more love in your food, which you can definitely taste upon your first bite. It is exactly what you need after the active night you’ve had.

“Yerim made it home safely,” Seulgi informs, not glancing up from her plate as she does.

Your lips thin at the mention of her sister, knowing she’s bringing her up on purpose.

You didn’t need her reminder. Yerim has been on your mind all morning.

“Yeah?” You finally answer. “Glad to hear. I’m sure she’ll hate me for good once she finds out what I did right after she left.”

“She’ll get over it,” Baekhyun is quick to dismiss.

“She’ll forgive you,” Seulgi allows. “But she’ll never forget.”

Leaning back, she finally gives you a sharp look. “What happened last night anyway?”

Luckily, you just so happen to scoop some food into your mouth when she asks that, so you take advantage and slow down your chewing. Aiming to enjoy every last bit, because you know it’s going to be the last time you’ll be able to. You swallow it down with some water, for good measure, taking your time chugging it empty. 

Seulgi watches in amusement, knowing what game you’re playing.

“Well,” you start, scratching behind your ear. “As you both already know, Chanyeol and I hooked up last night.”

“Hooked up?” Seulgi clarifies incredulously. It’s an interesting choice of words to describe what the two of you did.

Beside her, Baekhyun shakes his head, but keeps his opinions to himself, allowing you the floor.

“Yeah. And I want to say, for the record, that it was spontaneous. We just so happened to bump into each other when I was on my way back to the room. He asked me if I wanted to go to his room instead and I said yes–innocently! We were planning on just talking. And I mean, we did talk a bit?”

“Did you talk about Yerim?” Seulgi asks.

“No….” You avoid her stare and sink into your chair.

“Did you talk about your breakup?”

“No….”

Her eyes narrow. “So, what did you talk about?”

“About the wedding,” you answer like it’s obvious.

“And now it all makes sense.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You pout.

“The two of you have been tiptoeing around each other all weekend. I thought it was just the awkwardness of seeing an ex–in your case, an ex dating your friend. But I misread it. Now it’s pretty obvious that if it weren’t for Yerim, you would’ve probably slept with him sooner. It wasn’t awkwardness I felt, it was tension…the sexual kind.”

Your frown deepens. Were you seriously that weak? You thought you did a pretty damn good job resisting Chanyeol, but it only took three days to fall into his sheets. That wasn’t very strong of you at all. Seulgi is right. Yerim was the main reason for you keeping your distance, not your pride or your past. She had only been gone a few hours before you gave into him.

“Does that make me a terrible person?” You quietly ask.

“I don’t think so,” Baekhyun answers simply, shrugging when you lock eyes.

“It doesn’t,” Seulgi agrees, although she lets out a tired sigh right after. “But I still don’t understand why? It’s been years, girl, and you’ve never mentioned him once in that time. It’s been a while since you got laid, and even longer since it was with Chanyeol. Old habits die hard, and you didn’t get the closure you wanted, but sleeping with your ex seems so out of character for you.”

“He’s not just some ex, Seulgi,” Baekhyun intervenes. “He’s her ex fiance, and they didn’t break up on bad terms, necessarily. There’s still love there.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” you interject, shifting in your seat uncomfortably. 

“So, it was just an old attraction? Old habits and all that?” Seulgi asks.

“I think so,” you say and she seems to melt in relief. “I think it was just left over sexual tension, and now that we’ve got it out of our system, we can be normal. We can move on.”

Baekhyun doesn’t seem convinced. “And you’re sure Chanyeol will agree with you?”

You shrug. “I don’t see why not. It was just sex.”

“It’s never ‘just sex’ with Chanyeol, and you know that. Especially when it comes to you.”

“You’d be surprised,” you mutter, mood dampening at the memory.

He doesn’t hear you. “And I know you’re lying. Didn’t you tell him you loved him last night?”

You glare at Baekhyun and he answers it with a smug smile, knowing he just set you up.

“You did what now?” Seulgi asks deadpan.

Internally you wince. “I might have told him I loved him while in the throes of passion.”

She says your name disapprovingly. 

“And you know what? He didn’t say it back. So, you see? It was nothing more than physical for him as well.”

Seulgi looks as though she has some words for you, but Baekhyun beats her to the punch.

“You both drive me insane,” he groans. “It’s obvious you both still care about each other, what’s the point of trying to talk yourself out of it? It’s never too late to try again, and trust me when I say Chanyeol wants to more than anything. He’s already asked you for a second chance. He wants this! He wants you!”

“He said all that when he was drunk off his mind, Baekhyun.”

“Doesn’t make it any less true!”

You groan and lean your head back against your chair, feeling the pressure of the world falling onto your shoulders. It hits you then, the weight of Chanyeol’s affection, and for a moment you’re back on that sidewalk, drowning in it. You remember why you left, remember the moment your love for him twisted into something dark. Chanyeol said you told him you hate him. Truth is, you had. With him back in your life, you forgot about that, forgot that there was another reason why you were trying to avoid him. Again, everything is even more confusing, and you find yourself at a total loss of what to do next.

“It’s okay to feel overwhelmed by that,” Seulgi reassures. She knows you way more than you give her credit far. “Everything is happening so fast. You don’t have to make a decision right now, and honestly, I don’t think it’s wise for you to.”

You lift your head back up and take in your concerned friends. With the way they’re both sitting on either side of each other before you, it’s almost like they’re the angel and devil on your shoulders. One speaks for your heart, while the other speaks for your mind. Holding onto each of your hands and yanking you back and forth like a rope in tug-o-war. 

“I don’t know the right answer,” you whisper, feeling your eyes water in frustration.

“Whatever’s going to make you happy,” Baekhyun answers simply.

You cough a laugh and a tear escapes, but you’re quick to wipe it away.

“I think,” Seulgi begins, reaching over and grabbing your hand. “You should give each other space, and wait until you’re back in Seoul. It’s only a couple days, and it’ll give both of you time to figure out what exactly it is you want from each other. Do you have an idea of what that is? Is it a relationship? Closure? Or just physical connection?”

“I’m not sure,” you admit.

She tilts her head and raises her eyebrows. You understand. She’s right.

“That’s probably the best idea,” you relent.

Baekhyun grunts in disgust. “Doesn’t Chanyeol deserve a say in this?”

“Of course he does,” you say.

“But that’s a conversation for later,” Seulgi intrudes. “Preferably with others around.”

You lift your hands up in defeat. 

Now that your problem has been solved for now, you all go back to eating in a comfortable silence. Everything still tastes amazing, thank fuck.

Suddenly, Baekhyun straightens and turns to Seulgi. “What did you mean earlier anyways? When you said me of all people?”

She scoffs. “Besides the fact that you’re a weirdo? You’re Chanyeol’s best friend. If you had slept together, it would be the deepest betrayal to him. But, if she had slept with any of you, my reaction would be the same. The only other person I could possibly see her with is Sehun, and even then….”

“Ew,” you both finish.

“I love all of you,” you say. “But not like that.”

“It’s the same for me too!” Baekhyun admits. “I would never do that to Chanyeol, because I would never do that, period. Don’t ever put that disgusting idea in anyone’s head again!”

“No problem!” Seulgi says, resolute.

You finish breakfast soon after that and leave for the hotel. Today is the first day of your little             reunion tour. Sehun figured that everyone would be too hungover to do anything that required movement, so you’re all just going to hang out at the beach and watch the sunset. Sounds like the perfect Sunday to you.

You all left your phones in the car, so the first thing you do once buckled up is check your notifications, reading the texts in the groupchat confirming some of the others were heading out to the beach and the location they chose. Baekhyun winces as he scans his device, catching your attention. When you lock eyes, he gives you that pitiful smile, almost like a warning, before turning his screen for you to read. It’s filled with texts and missed calls from Chanyeol.

“Oh boy,” is all you can muster, trying not to linger too much on the only message you can read: ‘please. I’m begging’.

“What’s up?” Seulgi asks from the backseat. Baekhyun proceeds to show her his phone and she shakes her head in dismay.

“Should I call him?” He asks.

“No,” you’re quick to reply. Avoiding his gaze, you settle into your seat, staring blindly out the windshield. You feel him watching you for a moment before sighing and starting the car, pulling out to drive you back to the hotel.

The elevator ride is long. You wonder if Chanyeol will be in the hallway when it opens. Baekhyun leans against the wall, rapidly firing off texts the whole way up. It takes everything in you not to ask him what he’s telling Chanyeol to calm him down. 

The doors open, and you’re both relieved and crushed to enter an empty hall. Baekhyun walks you both to your room, which is polite, but you all know is a front. His room isn’t on this floor, and you don’t need him to walk you back.

“Where are you going?” You can’t help but to ask.

He grins guiltily and nudges his head towards Chanyeol’s room. “I’m going to check on him. That’s why I came up here in the first place.”

“Right….”

He pats your shoulder. “Get ready and head down to the beach. I’m sure you got Jongdae’s text in the groupchat. Both him and Jongin are already setting up camp.”

“Don’t take too long,” Seulgi says in farewell before pulling you into the suite.

As soon as the door closes, she’s holding you by the shoulders, staring deep into your eyes. “You can’t go back on your word now.”

“I’m not,” you say, cringing as the way it sounds like a lie.

Her grip on you tightens. “It’s all going to work out. Don’t get all sulky.”

“I’m not.”

She smiles. “You’re such a terrible liar. It’s kind of cute.”

“Stop flirting with me,” you sigh, grabbing her hands to hold them instead. “I’m going to take your advice. We need space.”

“Space,” she repeats approvingly, rubbing your knuckles with her thumbs.

Banging on your door causes you both to jump.

“Yeol, stop it! I already told you they’re not there!”

“I need to know for sure.”

You swallow thickly at the sound of Chanyeol’s voice.

You hear Baekhyun sigh and then Chanyeol call your name, which jerks you closer to the door. Seulgi grips your hands harder, holding you back. You lock eyes. She shakes her head in warning.

“Are you in there?” He pauses briefly, waiting for you to reply. You hold your breath, afraid in the silence he can hear your heart’s rapid beating. “Please, open the door, Mel. I just… I just need to see you.”

His voice is calm, but alarmed, as if he’s trying not to sound as desperate as he feels. He knocks again, the reps urgent, giving away the worry he’s trying to disguise.

“I just need you to tell me everything’s okay.” Now his voice cracks.

Fuck it. You can’t avoid him forever. You go to open the door, but Seulgi’s hold is surprisingly strong and you can’t break it.

“Space, remember?” She whispers.

You didn’t know that started now. 

Reluctantly, you relax, leaning your head on Seulgi’s shoulder. She wraps her arms around you, rubbing your back as you wait for Baekhyun to do his job in getting Chanyeol away.

“I can’t do this again, man,” Chanyeol’s broken voice comes through the door. “I can’t lose her again. Not like this.”

“I know, Dude.” Baekhyun sounds just as helpless, and a wave of guilt washes over you from putting him in this position. “But, she’s not in there. Let’s go to my room so I can change. It won’t take long, so don’t even think of ditching me!”

A silence drags on for so long you’re sure they’ve left. 

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun urges.

“I–okay. Let’s go.”

You hear them retreat and let out a breath.

Seulgi whistles. “Quite the mess you’ve made.”

You swallow the lump in your throat. “You can say that again.”

“Hey,” She rubs your arm. “He’s going to be fine. Let’s change. I’m sure you’re now very eager to get down there.”

You let her lead you to your room. The whole time you can’t get over the pain in Chanyeol’s voice, a pain that you caused.

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