BYUN BAEK HYUN

"Jung Daehyun?"

The designer stands by the door, looking uncomfortable but still obviously makes an effort to put up a small smile. He nods at Chanyeol and looks at me. "Hey," he called, voice surprisingly soft. "Byun Baekhyun." I tried to smile back. But I do not know what is going on so I guess the smile came out awkward. The last time I saw him, my fiancé knocked him out cold after Chanyeol knew he kissed me. So what is he doing here? Is he looking for war or something?

Slowly, Park Chanyeol stands from his seat beside me, his hands clenched at his sides. But of course, we're in a public place and it's our own café for crying out loud, so Chanyeol wouldn't dare make a scene. I still watched him though, definitely more worried than ever. But he kept his lips shut though his jaw tensed as he gave Daehyun a slight nod. Do Kyungsoo motioned for Daehyun to join us and he did, his eyes fixated on me until he sat across from us on the table. Chanyeol watches him the whole time like a hawk. God. His mood was just so fine a while ago.

"Can I get you anything, sir?" Kyungsoo asked the new comer.

Daehyun paused, thinking, though his gaze never left my face. But I cannot meet his eyes so I continued watching Chanyeol as he sat back beside me, his aura worse than a few seconds ago. A little bit nervous myself, I took his hand and rested it on my lap, unclenching his fingers one by one until he let out a sigh. I know how mad Park Chanyeol can be. When we were younger, Yoora-noona told me about Chanyeol having difficulty handling his anger, and it was a serious mental case. My fiancé refused to see a professional every time his family begged him to. But then we met. And that changed everything.

Daehyun finally averted his eyes to the barista. "One espresso, please," he smiled. "Thanks."

"Sure, sir," Kyungsoo nods. "It'll be here in a minute."

The very second Kyungsoo disappeared behind the counter, Park Chanyeol suddenly spoke, almost making me jump. "I would have asked you to leave already after all those stares you gave Baekhyun. But I'm having the feeling that you're here for a good reason," he narrowed his eyes though his voice remained calm. "So what is it? You want your job back?"

Daehyun smiled, appreciative. "You always do surprise me, Park," he said. "And you're right. I'm here for a reason but that's not about my job." Then he suddenly looked at me again, eyes meeting mine. A chill literally went down my spine. Hell. This guy messed me up somehow, huh? I tried to fight any emotion that might show on my face. "I'm flying to China next week for a five-month job," Daehyun continued. "But before that, I want to apologize for what I have done that night, Byun Baekhyun. You... You didn't deserve any of that." It's clear he's talking to me. But it's even clearer that he's only directing the apology to my direction.

I cleared my throat, my hand tightening around Chanyeol's. My lower lip is trembling and I tried to stop it. "You scared the hell out of me," I whispered, looking straight into his eyes. "I don't know if I could even forget that. I don't know if I could ever forget how you tried to ruin our relationship."

"I couldn't ask you to forget what happened, Baekhyun, I know that," Daehyun said and the regret shows in his eyes. Somehow, I could feel that he really is sincere. "I know that what I did was wrong. It's just that... I like you so much. And I do. I still do. And I don't even care if Park Chanyeol wants to kill me right now." He laughed and it sounded pained, I almost felt bad for him. "Look," he muttered. "I'm not asking for anything else, Baekhyun. I just couldn't bear the thought of you hating me. I just want you to stop being mad at me, you know? It— It would really mean a lot if you do."

The espresso came and the moment of silence gave me some time to think. I'm playing with the hem of my sweatshirt again and I can't help it. This conversation is making me nervous and beyond uncomfortable. When I looked at Park Chanyeol again to ask for help, I'm utterly surprised to see that he's already watching me. He has this small smile plastered on his handsome face, making my heartbeat slowly turn to normal. My fidgeting stopped and I felt him squeeze my knee in comfort. Finally, I could think straight again.

"I'm not mad at you, Jung Daehyun," I whispered and his eyes widened a bit in surprise. "I admit I hated what you did. But that didn't really make me mad, actually," I continued. "Sometimes, we do stupid things for the people we like... or love, I know that much from my friends. Maybe sometimes we turn into some irrational jerks that even us hate. So I understand if you think that going after me that way would make me like you back. I understand if you had to go out of your way for me. It's okay to be stupid sometimes," I gave a small smile. "I wasn't harmed, was I? So you don't need to worry about me."

Daehyun frowned. "But—"

"But..." I glanced at Chanyeol shyly. "Park Chanyeol was awake in the middle of the night working, and that stress tripled the moment he knew what was happening to me. It was kind of my fault, too, for letting him know. But he left his work and had to cram a presentation the day after. He took the subway, a thing he doesn't do, to come to me. He found out his fiancé was kissed by someone he hates. He even kind of got mad at himself because he wasn't there to protect me. The thing is..." my voice dropped to a whisper. "Chanyeol was the one who got really hurt that night, you know? So I don't deserve the apology you're giving me. He does."

I kept my eyes on the designer's face and that's partly because I want to see his reaction and because I don't want to see Chanyeol's. For some reason, I know that my fiancé doesn't really love letting me do things for him, and that's because he promised to do everything to make me the happiest. But Chanyeol likes taking all the burden he don't even need to. And that's one thing I do not understand so I do everything I can to make it up to him.

"Baek..." Chanyeol suddenly started and I know he's going to protest. But before I could even start apologizing myself again, Jung Daehyun spoke, stealing both our attention.

"I do apologize, Park Chanyeol, for what happened," the designer said, voice firm but still laced with sincerity. "Knowing that day that Baekhyun is your fiancé was hard. But I know it was harder on you, knowing someone is more than willing to steal him off your grip. I apologize for doing the things you and he didn't like. And I apologize for trying to wound your relationship." Daehyun bowed respectfully and when he looked at me again, he gave a smile.

I smiled back.

Park Chanyeol pursed his lips and frowned, obviously still not liking Jung Daehyun. But when I intertwined our fingers and reached up to caress his arm affectionately, he kind of relaxed before giving a small nod. Yeah. He could be quite stiff. But I know he'll come around.

"Still not done with the script?"

I looked up from my laptop and to Chanyeol who is currently reading a book beside me. We're slouched side-by-side on one of the giant bean bag chairs in the C & B bookstore, a thing we usually do to pass time. But typically, we are reading different books with very different genres. My fiancé just picks a book from the shelves and stories about politics and biographies are really his thing.

"Nope," I answered his question with a shake of my head. "And this one's for a new play."

Chanyeol smirked as he closes his book and leaned closer to me. "Wow. So you're a script writer now?" he took a quick glance at my laptop screen to read a few lines. "And it's a love story again?"

"Kind of. But it's kind of political, too," I shrugged. "Wanna help me finish this scene? You like this stuff."

"I would love to, believe me," Chanyeol said before he kissed my hair. "But honey, we need to have dinner now because I need to take off soon. Stag party tonight, remember?" Chanyeol slipped the book he's holding back into its shelf behind us. Then he stood up and offered his hand to me.

"Oh. Right," I closed my laptop, took his hand, and let him pull me to my feet. "I forgot about the party." It's only six in the evening but Minho, one of Chanyeol's friends, told me the party would start at eight. And now that I remember, I notice that the guys in charge of the party kept updating me about things I don't really care not knowing. I mean, I am not that controlling. It's okay for me to be completely blank about the party.

Chanyeol took the laptop from me before taking my hand in his. "It's okay if you can't join me for dinner tonight if you're still full," he said. "BUT! I kind of want to try this pizza place right across the street with you, of course. So please, do join me."

"Actually, I'm starving now so I'll join you," I grinned. "And let's try this cheeseburger pizza you've been telling me about ever since last week. It better be good."

"Oh, I'm sure it's good," Chanyeol laughed.

We climbed down the stairs and after taking our coats and wallets, we went out of the building and walked down the street into a newly opened pizza parlor. The place is squeezed between a mall and a towering condominium but it attracts a lot of customers because it's new and the overwhelming retro lights steal a lot of attention. The waiters and waitresses are dressed in charming, retro outfits with matching light sticks bent and wrapped around their wrists. Park Chanyeol ordered this 14-inch cheeseburger pizza with a lot of toppings and I keep laughing at him because his eyes practically sparkled when the pizza arrived on our table.

"Wow. You've been waiting for this day, haven't you?" I giggled as I took a sip from my soda. "Honey, you could eat here with or without me, you know? It'll be fine."

Chanyeol started eating a slice with a knife and a fork. "I kind of want this dinner to be the first for the both of us here in this place," he shrugged. "And I really thought you were on a diet before so I don't ask you out here."

"What?" I laughed. "What made you think of that?"

"I don't know?" Chanyeol answered, looking me up and down so quickly all of a sudden. "You were getting sexier these past few weeks so I just guessed."

"W-What—" I fought a blush and hide it with an eyeroll. "That's ridiculous. We just had three boxes of pizzas last week at your place. I'm not on a diet. I'm on a completely normal eating phase right now." I took a pizza slice and ate it faster than normal so Chanyeol has to stop me from taking another one.

"Okay, woah, slow down," he said, pulling my plate away from me. "I thought it was a 'cheat day'. I'm sorry, okay? You don't need to eat this whole box. It's really delicious, Baek."

I gasped exaggeratedly. "Are you choosing this pizza over me?!"

"aRe yoU cHoOsiNg tHis piZza OveR mE?!" Chanyeol teased and I have to slap his arm.

"Ya, Park Chanyeol!"

Then my fiancé laughed before serving me two slices of his new favorite pizza. "I was just worried you'll choke, okay?" he chuckles. "Here. Take everything you want. You want my soda, too?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I wAs juSt wOrRied You'Ll cHokE, oKaY?" I mimics sarcastically. "YoU wAnT mY soDa, tOo?"

Park Chanyeol just laughed, reaching over to pinch my cheek. "Oh, aren't you cute?"

"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes. "Tell me something I don't know."

"Well, honey," Chanyeol started with a sigh. "I still want you to strip for me tonight. And I was actually thinking about it ever since my friends started planning for this stag party thing. Can't you really do something like a private show? Just me? In a bedroom? With a jacuzzi?"

I have to drink half my soda for me not to choke on the pizza. "You know I can't do that tonight, babe," I cleared my throat, hiding a laugh. "I have a lot of paperwork waiting for me on my office table and half the script isn't even finished yet. Maybe next week? Or the week after that? Or after that again?" I winked at him playfully but Park Chanyeol just pouts, the pizza suddenly not appetizing enough for him anymore.

"Taemin actually sent me pictures of twenty-two strippers last week and he wanted me to choose ten from them," Chanyeol says, his voice suddenly sounding tired. "And I swear to god, Byun Baekhyun, you're far more gorgeous than any of them."

"You have pictures?!" I exclaimed, suddenly excited. "Let me see! Let me see!"

Park Chanyeol rolled his eyes but he took out his phone and browsed through his emails. When he finally handed me his phone, twenty-two beautiful ladies stared back at me from the screen. "Oh my god, they're really hot," I commented as I scrolled through the pictures one-by-one. "And oh, this girl with the blond highlights looks like a supermodel. You should have picked her! And this short-haired girl, too. She looks like a badass!" I continued browsing for a few minutes and I think I might have already chosen ten perfect strippers in my mind for Chanyeol's stag party. Everyone are really good-looking and sexy, like you would want to be friends with them and share stories about guys and stuffs.

"I didn't pick anyone, okay?" Chanyeol just continued eating. "I let Taemin and Jongin choose the ones stripping tonight."

I raised my brows. "What? Why?" I finished my soda then took Chanyeol's just as he was about to drink from it. "That's really stupid, Park Chan. You could have chosen your type, you know?"

My fiancé sighed again. "No one else looks beautiful or hot enough for me anymore," Chanyeol admits and his voice suddenly sounds shy. "It's not that they're not cute... or good-looking... or sexy. They're all fine, really. It's just that..." Chanyeol paused to glance fast at me. "I'm with you now, right? I'm about to marry you. When I look at other girls, my mind can't help but compare them to you. And it's... It's not fair because you're Byun Baekhyun. And you're perfect. And I love you."

I didn't even bother trying to hide the blush that crept up my cheeks. Park Chanyeol and I have been together for eight full years in a relationship free from on-and-off phases. We're practically married. But when will I ever get used to this? Why, oh, why does my heart refrain from taking its calm during these times?

"I..." I cleared my throat, my face hotter than a while ago. "I don't even know what to say, Chanyeol."

But my fiancé just smiled, taking my hand that's on the table and guiding it to his lips. "I know, baby," he chuckles against my skin. Then he intertwined our fingers and stared into my eyes with a kind look. "You don't have to say anything."

PARK CHAN YEOL

I answered Kim Jongin's eleventh call just as we paid the bill. The guys are already looking for me at the party but I still want to persuade Baek to come (though I know my efforts will be put to waste) so I insisted on helping him with the café for a few more minutes. My fiancé isn't the least fond of watching sexy ladies strip and most of my friends make him annoyed more often than not so I ended up empty handed anyway. It's not that I'm surprised. When Byun Baekhyun makes up his mind, it's kind of hard to make him do otherwise.

Baekhyun walks me to my car and I turned to him just as I opened the door to the driver's side. "I'm giving you ten seconds to think again," I said, leveling my eyes with him and fixing him with a persuasive stare. "Still not coming with, baby?"

He pretended to think. "Still no," Baekhyun giggles as he reached for my face and tiptoed to give me a kiss. "Do enjoy, honey," he whispered against my lips. "I love you, okay?" He kissed both my cheeks and the tip of my nose. "But I'll drop by at the party tonight if I can. Will that be enough?"

"Yeah, sure," I smirked, wrapping my arm around his waist to pull him closer. "Or spend the night at my place. That'll be better." I slowly pressed my lips against his again. God. I just can't help myself when it comes to him.

But before I could deepen the kiss even more, Baekhyun gently pushed me away. "Don't push it," he laughs, patting my chest. "I'll see you tonight or tomorrow." Then he stepped back and I did everything I can to hold on to the remaining self-control I have. Keeping my hands off my fiancé has been hard ever since we officially started dating. And it just got harder each passing day considering how gorgeous Byun Baekhyun has become through the years. He's just breathtaking. And I don't even have enough words to describe how he makes me feel.

I drove to the stag party location for about forty-five minutes and I was surprised to see a lot of guests already waiting for me. It's a high-end bar located in the middle of Seoul where a lot of people go for all-nighter events and stuffs. Bars and clubs stand close and clumped together in this area of the city so I wasn't surprised to see hookers and drunkards roaming the place in this time of the night. But it's not even midnight so I guess the places open early.

Choi Minho was the first one who saw me enter the dimly-lit bar and to my surprise, it seems like they really rented the whole place to ourselves. The music is blaring and a lot of things are going on around me. But it's mostly guys drinking and having fun talking to women wearing revealing dresses.

"Heyyy!" Minho cheered as rushes to my side to put his arm around my shoulders. "It's the man of the night! It's the man of the night!" Everybody turned to our direction and a lot raised their glasses at me as a greeting. After Minho handed me a glass of what looks like champagne, I did the same to acknowledge the guests. "Where have you been, man?" my friend asked. "We were thinking you backed out already. Jongin was freaking out!"

"I was with Baekhyun," I said as I took a sip of the champagne. "We had dinner together."

"Oh, yes! Baek!" Minho looks behind me. "Where is he?"

I looked around and saw Lee Taemin and Kim Jongin approaching us. "He's at the café," I answered Minho. "He can't come but he said he'll try to drop by later tonight."

"Aw," Minho pouts. "I would really love to see Baek. It has been months since I talked to him personally."

"Chanyeol! You asshole!" Jongin practically slaps my back when they reached us. "Where have you been?! I was freaking out for a while there, you know? Man, don't fcking do that again! You scared the sht out of me."

"Hey, are you drunk?" I laughed. "It's not like you don't know I was with Baek."

Jongin squeezed his eyes shut like he's trying to get rid of the alcohol in his brain. "Yeah," he breathes. "I think I'm starting to get really tipsy."

"Yo, Chanyeol!" Taemin grinned as he gave me a quick hug. "Congratulations, bro!"

"Thanks," I smiled and gestured to the whole place. "And thanks for this, too."

"No. Thank you," Taemin laughed, shaking his head. "You know how I like going to this kind of parties and getting wasted, right? So thanks for getting married. We owe this to you, man." Then he leaned closer to whisper something in my ear. "Are you seeing all these ladies? They're the strippers we hired. Good choice, huh?" Following his gaze, I noticed the two women Baekhyun pointed out a few hours ago at my phone. I bet he'll be thrilled to know his choices made it here and that they're prettier in person.

"Yeah, good choice," I patted Jongin and Taemin. "Thanks, man."

The first part of the party involves a lot of gambling and drinking. I went from table to table, making bets and joining quick games and getting introduced from one guy to another. My friends obviously made an effort to invite a lot of their friends, too, so the party was not at all boring and was more organized than I imagined. I actually expected something like a high school party with everyone getting wild and drunk, but that's not actually the case. The strippers are also walking around entertaining everyone and Minho even introduced me to all of them, just so they know the face of the groom later for the stripping part. Also, the strippers use screen names like Poison Ivy, Sabrina, and Fancy, and they refuse to give any personal information.

Soon, I found myself drinking vodka with five of my closest friends in a booth at the center of the bar. Kim Jongin isn't with us and I wasn't even surprised to see a glimpse of him talking quietly with Do Kyungsoo at a corner. I think I remember Baekhyun telling me something about this party helping Jongin and Kyungsoo be together. After a few shots of alcohol, a stripper offered to give me a lapdance but I'm still not drunk enough for that so I declined.

"Okay, you need more of this, Chanyeol," Kang Daesung filled five shot glasses with vodka and pushed them to me. "The stripping part will start soon and we need you to be as drunk as possible."

I took a shot glass and emptied it in one swig. "I know," I sighed and started drinking the remaining shots. "It's not my fault I don't get drunk easily. Besides, if I'm sober, I swear you could have all the lapdances you want."

"Yeah, right," Minho rolled his eyes. "But all I could hear from the strippers a while ago was about how hot the future groom is. I mean, how could you be hot when all you did was ignore them? Are we doing something wrong here?"

Taemin shrugged, giving me a look. "I actually heard them making bets as to who will get to give Chanyeol his first lapdance," he drank from his glass then nods at me. "They seriously got the hots for you, man."

I smirked and started filling my glass with alcohol again. "Yeah. Sorry 'bout that." My friends all groaned in response, giving me disgusted looks as they finished their drinks with annoyance. It's fun to boast around these guys, really, but what I think is that the strippers have their attention focused on me because I'm like the 'main man' in this party. It's really no big deal.

"Hey, I have an idea," Kwon Jiyong sat straight on his seat, eyes looking more excited. "Since Chanyeol doesn't seem to like the strippers you guys hired, why don't we call male strippers, too? Maybe that'll get him in the mood for lapdancing."

I almost choked on my vodka. "What?! NO!" I exclaimed, shaking my head. "No! Please, no!" I cannot believe my friends. What 'male strippers'?! They've got to be fcking kidding me. "It's not— It's not because the strippers are girls, okay?" I gave Jiyong an incredulous look. "I like women. I really do. It's just—" I sighed, looking at my friends in the eyes to see that they're expectant as to what I'll say. I sighed again. "You guys know Byun Baekhyun, right?" I raised my brows.

They all nodded.

"And talked to him, right?"

They nod.

"And you've seen him... Right?"

They nod again. Then they paused to think, the pieces falling into place.

And then, "Ohhh," my friends say in unison as they give each other agreeing looks.

"Yeah," Choi Seunghyun, or Top, chuckles, raising his glass to me. "It's hard to compete with that."

"So it's only Baekhyun?" Daesung asked me, frowning. "I mean, Byun Baekhyun is sexy and pretty and everything. But you really don't get attracted to any other guys? Even someone as good-looking as him?"

I frowned myself, thinking. "I guess so?" I shrugged. "When I started to have feelings for Baek, I got really confused at first. I started asking myself if I really like guys so I went on looking at gay magazines and stuff to 'test' myself. But imagining myself with other man, even if they're quite feminine, doesn't make me excited or anything. It's like... Byun Baekhyun is an exemption. And I can't be with anyone else but him."

Jiyong raised a brow. "And the girls?"

"They're fine. I can be with them," I admitted. "But they should be better than my fiancé or they're not good enough."

The guys shared surprised looks because this is actually the first time I talked to them about my sexuality, if that's what you call it. My sudden openness may be due to the alcohol and the vibe of this place, I don't know, and soon we are already talking about our relationships and sex life and laughing our asses off over a game of baccarat. Lee Taemin kept giving me alcohol because he's still insisting on getting me as wasted as possible for tonight. The strippers are soon up the stage one by one, giving us a good show while removing their garments one after the other. The show made the whole night wilder and noisier and more chaotic, especially when the ladies started giving the guests topless lapdances.

Three strippers went to our booth, dancing to a seductive song I think I already heard before. The crowd cheers and we're all laughing at how shocked and lowkey frightened my friends are. "Oh my god!" Taemin exclaimed when a stripper sat on his lap, her breast bare and glittered. Jiyong gets a lapdance, too, and I could almost hear him apologizing to his girlfriend in whispers as Sabrina grinds against his lap. The third stripper, Daphne, started dancing for me but before she gets to sit on my lap, I gently took her hand and guided her to Minho, which she gladly complied with a giggle.

The night was so much fun and I swear I won three million won before I lost it all again in more gambling. We got more strippers dancing for us and I got more booze into my system, slowly making everything shaky and unbelievable. My head kind of pounds against my skull but the more it hurts, the more I cannot stop drinking. The place started to get crazier as more men started dancing themselves on the stage to some crazy music. Some have their clothes off and some even had boners sticking up their boxers.

It's a shame I won't be remembering half of these tomorrow.

Suddenly, there was an even louder cheer and I tried looking around to see what's going on. I'm pretty sure it's almost breaking of dawn so I don't know if the noise is because more men are getting knocked down by all the alcohol. Top is squeezed between two strippers who are already drunk themselves. Taemin is a snoring mess beside me. Jiyong is on the stage, screaming with the song. My friends are all wasted and I'm sure I'm not that far from getting into the same state. I shook my head furiously to clear my brain as I tried to stand.

Then a hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me back on the comfortable seat.

"I heard you didn't get yourself a lapdance," Byun Baekhyun giggled against my ear as he straddled me, his crotch pressed firmly on mine. "You're such an idiot, Park Chan."

I smirked, looking up at his gorgeous face. "But I got to make you come here after all," I managed to say. "I wasn't that much of an idiot, don't you think?"

Baekhyun laughed and I realize it's something I would never get tired of hearing. "Maybe," he breathes against my lips. "Maybe not." And the next thing I knew, he's already kissing me and I'm kissing him back with more enthusiasm than anything I ever did tonight. I gently cupped his cheek and hugged his waist to pull him even closer, letting no space separate our bodies. He smells of coffee and the strawberry candy he has in his car. 

Now this is the party I like.