*

"I hate to say this but," Sehun says as he releases a heavy sigh, "We're not really doing good right now..."

Baekhyun sits down in front of Sehun, watching him laying out unfolded papers on top of the table-- the water bill, telephone bill, disconnection notice, rent billing statement as well as their internet subscription bill.

"Baekhyun," Sehun mutters as he slaps his forehead, "We're broke."

"But I thought, our parents were taking care of this stuff," Baekhyun says, "Did they stop sending us financial support?"

"Yeah. Something happened recently and they just told me we need to settle things out by our own for the meantime."

Baekhyun notices the dark rings under Sehun's eyes, and it makes him feel disheartened because of the situation. He hasn't been probably sleeping properly lately, he tells himself as his eyes wander around the papers full of numbers with many zeroes at the end of them.

"Oh, is that so," is Baekhyun's only reply.

"Yeah, that is why we still have tons of unpaid bills to pay," Sehun answers, "I still have some money on my bank account. We can use it to pay the rent and the electric bill."

"You have a part-time job, right?"

Sehun nods. "The teachers pay me when I make their presentations and finish their paperworks and all that stuff."

"Woah, so cool!"

Sehun tries not to blush at the compliment but fails anyway.

"But how about the other bills, though?"

"That," Sehun sighs again, "I still don't know yet."

Baekhyun opens his mouth to say something, but he closes it when he realizes he doesn't have anything helpful to say anyway.

"Uhm. I'm sorry, Sehun."

"It's not your fault."

An idea pops up in his mind so he abruptly goes to his room, while Sehun waits for him to come back.

"Here!" Baekhyun brightly says, thrusting a pink piggy bank on Sehun's hand. Sehun takes it with an eyebrow raised.

"What's this?" Sehun asks, shaking the piggy bank so that he can hear the coins' clinking noise.

"It's my savings. We can use it to pay the other bills," Baekhyun proudly says as he smiles at his best friend. "I want to help."

"Baekhyun."

"I know! That is for Chanyeol-sunbae's gift I was saving for but it's okay! We can use the money for now."

Sehun just stares as Baekhyun, thinking whether to laugh or not at the other male's small effort. Baekhyun looks serious right now, so Sehun chooses the latter. He just keeps his poker face.

It's late at night while the two of them are in the kitchen, lighted under a dim orange light. Sehun gets his wallet and pulls out the cash he is left with, placing them on top of the table. Baekhyun helps him open the coin bank as they altogther count their combined money. Baekhyun is carefully stacking the coins while Sehun counts the bills.

"So... How much is it?"

"It's not enough, Baekhyun. We still need thrice this amount," Sehun says, "563,900 won to be exact."

Baekhyun can do nothing but feel bad for himself, like everything is his fault.

"I'm gonna look for a part-time job too," Baekhyun mutters in a low voice, "I want to help with the expenses, I don't want to be a freeloader."

"You don't have to do that. I mean, it's fine. Don't stress things out too much."

"But it's not fine! I want to help you and earn some money. I can work anywhere and I can do anything," Baekhyun says with eyes full of determination. "I am very hardworking and smart! There are many things that I can do! I can--"

"You don't clean your room. You don't know how to cook. You're not good with directions and you often get lost. You didn't even know you can't have a period. You are so naive," Sehun interrupts, stating the obvious facts, "You know what you're only good at?"

"What?"

"Chanyeol-sunbae!" Sehun mimics in a tiny voice, thas has Baekhyun frowning his lips.

"But I don't talk like that."

"Yeah, right."

Rolling his eyes, Sehun exits the kitchen, leaving Baekhyun alone so that he can feel more guilty of himself.

"Sehun's mad at me again..."

*

In secrecy, Baekhyun seeks for a part-time job around the city. He goes to every establishment his feet and eyes can take him until he feels tired. He never gives up, trying his luck even though he is absolutely clueless of what he is actually doing.

Taewoo told him applying for a job is easy, all he needs to do is to come inside a store with a "WANTED PART-TIMER" posted on their doors. After that, he just needs to introduce himself to the manager of said store, put on his best smile and use his charming looks, and lie for a little bit. Lie, which basically means say he is up to do anything as long as he is getting paid.

So that is what Baekhyun did on the last shop he went to. It was a restobar, and as the night gets darker, the place gets brighter and livelier. Baekhyun already likes this place, and he thinks he can get this job because of the manager's reassuring smile he is getting. He shifts on his seat, waiting for the owner to say if he is hired or not.

"How old are you by the way?" Mr. Kwon, a man in his forties and the manager of the restobar asks, "You look exceptionally young."

"I'm twenty," Baekhyun lies, because that was what Heechul told him to say. He just turned eighteen this year, but he won't get a high-paying part-time job if he would tell that.

Baekhyun wants to earn money to pay their bills, so maybe it's okay if he goes on with this lying feat.

"Good," Mr. Kwon says, "You told me you're a hardworking person and a fast learner. You seem to look like one."

"Yes, I am, Sir!" Baekhyun enthusiastically responds.

"If that's the case, then you can start tonight. You'll be on night shift every Friday."

"Oh," Baekhyun mutters, "Does that mean I got the job?"

"Yeah. You already know what to do. Right, Baekhyun?"

Baekhyun nods slowly. "Yes, Sir. But can you tell it again? I want to memorize what I have to do exactly."

"You're gonna serve costumers their drinks," Mr. Kwon says as he looks and gestures the waiters going back and forth from tables to tables. "Just like them. You're gonna get the drinks from the bartender, collect empty glasses and put them back on the counter."

"Yes, I understand."

"Oh, and I want to remind you something," Mr. Kwon says.

"What is it, Mr. Kwon?"

"This place changes a little bit when late night comes. Hope you're okay with that. Can I ask you one last question?"

Baekhyun nods, and he suddenly feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

"You're still a virgin, aren't you?"

Baekhyun's eyes widen in slight surprise hearing the question. He feels his throat running dry, trying to maintain his composure as he is being analyzed by this pair of strange eyes.

He needs to lie. He must lie.

"I--" Baekhyun breathes, "I'm still a virgin."

Mr. Kwon gives him a little smirk.

"Oh, is that so? Then I think you need some help with one of my boys."

Baekhyun furiously shakes his head.

"No, Sir! I-I prefer not to engage into that kind of act... I-I came here just to work," Baekhyun answers politely.

"All right. But make sure to sit with the costumers once they ask you."

"Do I have to do that?"

"You'll just sit with them, they won't do anything to you," Mr. Kwon tells him with a chuckle, "unless you make them."

Baekhyun didn't catch the last phrase of what the manager has said, but it doesn't matter anyway. What matters now is that he has a part-time job, and he is starting as early as he applied. He has such a lucky day today.

*

It's been two weeks since Baekhyun started working at the restobar (which is not actually a restobar if he analyzes it properly). His part-time job is quite tiring to say the least, but he can say it's just worth the efforts because of the high payment. What he would do is just serve people their drinks, be nice, and flirt with them when it's necessary.

Baekhyun told Sehun he got a part-time job but he didn't tell where it is exactly. He thinks it doesn't matter anymore, as long as he is earning money on his own little way. Luckily through this, they were able to pay 25% of their debt.

But unfortunately, Chanyeol doesn't know all of it, that he has a part-time job right now. He has no plans on telling it to him. He must keep this a secret until he earns enough money for Chanyeol's gift he was saving for.

Maybe one more month and he can finally stop working on his part-time job. One more month until he reaches the amount of money he needs.

"Baekhyun."

"Hmm..."

"Byun Baekhyun."

"Yes... I'm... I'm lis... listen...ing..."

Chanyeol taps the desk twice.

"I do not do this to anyone, in case you didn't know," Chanyeol says. He flips the next page of the textbook and using a ballpen, he pointed at the math equation written at the bottom of the page.

"Let's continue."

Baekhyun slowly nods, trying his best not to let his eyelids close. There are different numbers, and letters, and figures, swimming on the paper, as if they were screaming at him to sleep for a while. Just for a while, he tells himself, maybe it's okay if he'll just shut his eyes close.

"The shaded square in this figure is obtained by overlapping 1/4x of the large square divided by the length of the rectangle..."

Chanyeol's voice is so soothing and so handsome like this, making him lull to sleep. Yes please, talk more and explain the equation...

"...to find the unknown angle of this polygon, multiply the value of x..."

Oh, how Baekhyun wishes he could hear it all day-- Chanyeol blabbering complicated mathematics instead of trails of curses and sex. How he wishes he could listen to Chanyeol's deep voice in his ears, taking him to dreamland---

Baekhyun's head meets the book with a thud.

Zzzzz....

Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows. He grabs a fistful of Baekhyun's hair, lifting his head up so that he can see Baekhyun's sleepy face.

Baekhyun is sleeping.

And it's kind of cute.

"Wake up."

". . . "

"Hey, Byun Baekhyun."

No answer.

"You know what, you're just wasting my time."

Hearing that, Baekhyun immediately opens his eyes. He sees Chanyeol staring intently at him, their faces only centimeters apart.

He tears his gaze away.

"I-I'm sorry, Chanyeol-sunbae! I didn't mean to fall asleep! I'm just tired and sleepy... I really wanted to listen but, but my eyes... They... They keep on betraying me..."

"What did you do anyway?"

"Nothing much... I just worked overtime--"

"What?"

Baekhyun covers his mouth.

"I-I didn't say anything!" Baekhyun lies, shaking his head. "I-I mean, I worked on my school project overtime... The deadline's tomorrow.... And, and I pulled an all-nighter last night..."

Chanyeol doesn't say anything, though. He just closes Baekhyun's book and sets aside his pens and paper, putting them back inside his bag. Baekhyun quietly watches him with his small droopy eyes.

"What... are you doing...?" Baekhyun asks softly when Chanyeol suddenly carries him bridal style.

"I'm putting you to bed."

"But... this is not my house," Baekhyun mutters, feeling a strong pair of arms to where he is cradled in, "I don't... want to bother you..."

"You told me you're sleepy, and I don't want you sleeping on my goddamned floor."

"But still... I should go home..."

"It's already 10 pm."

"Is that so..."

"Yeah, just stay the night."

When Chanyeol reaches his bedroom, he gently lays Baekhyun down, fixing the blanket on top of his chest. Baekhyun blinks up to him and weakly smiles.

"Thank you," Baekhyun mumbles sleepily, "Where will you sleep then?"

"Where do you want me to sleep?"

That makes Baekhyun chuckle.

"Here. Beside me."

Chanyeol doesn't say anything.

"Can you kiss me on the forehead?"

"No."

"Please, Chanyeol-sunbae... You never did that to me before... I wonder how would it feel like."

"I don't do that kind of stuff," Chanyeol reasons out sternly, "And I don't feel the need of doing it to you."

Baekhyun just smiles again, though it hurts a little inside his heart.

"Then can you please brush my hair so I can fall asleep again?"

"No."

"How about you pat my arm--"

"How about you shut your mouth and sleep?"

Baekhyun shuts his mouth up and sleeps.

Chanyeol watches him close, just sitting there for several minutes beside the bed, studying every detail of the other male's face. Baekhyun has already fallen asleep, and Chanyeol doesn't know why the hell he's still here. Maybe it's because of the small tingling feeling in his heart that makes him stay by Baekhyun's side and watch him sleep like this. Maybe it's that tingling feeling's doings that he feels oddly comfortable, just sitting there doing nothing but stare at Baekhyun's face.

And maybe, maybe it's also that tingling feeling which causes him to reach Baekhyun. It's probably because of that weird feeling, that he is now stretching his arm out, a little bit slowly towards Baekhyun's head, to brush his soft fringe covering his forehead. He also has his fingers combing through Baekhyun's smooth hair.

"You're....really cute," Chanyeol mutters unconsciously to himself, that he himself got surprised saying it. He clears his throat, thanking the heavens that Baekhyun is already asleep to hear him say such ridiculous things.

Chanyeol bends down so that his face is in level as Baekhyun's, pausing just right above the shorter's closed eyes. In that position, he looks down at him, staring at his forehead for a brief moment.

Chanyeol puckers his lips, and when he realizes he is getting closer, he immediately stops.

Fuck, what the hell am I doing, he mentally says. He goes lower instead, his nose brushing against the tip of Baekhyun's nose in the process. He can feel Baekhyun's steady breathing through his nostrils. Baekhyun's breath is warm, and Chanyeol can feel it creeping into his cold lips.

He stops right there, just above of Baekhyun's mouth. Without thinking another thought, he gently presses his lips on Baekhyun's lips for a long kiss.

Just like that, he never leans away.

He kisses Baekhyun, lips pressed lightly just to make contact.

Chanyeol pulls away afterwards, careful not to wake Baekhyun up. He observes as Baekhyun turns to his side, enjoying his deep slumber.

"What did you do to me," Chanyeol sighs, "that you made me fall for you this hard."

He stands up and wordlessly leaves.

He decides he'll just sleep on the living room tonight, because he doesn't want to share a bed with Baekhyun as of now. It's like, it's becoming scary, because for the first time in his entire life, he feels the need to stay right by Baekhyun's side, and it's definitely because of that tingling feeling that is uncalled for.

*

To be continued.