The Invitation 2
The Invitation
Chapter 2
a/n: UNBETA-ED. sue me (b/n: beta-ed)
Pabo’s Cafe had become a hotspot for high schoolers, locals, and anyone in general who had a crush on the owner. Baekhyun was always flattered by it and enjoyed teasing the girls who would come by during their lunch break just to talk to him for a few minutes about small things like the weather and how he and his boyfriend were doing.
His relationship with Chanyeol wasn’t a secret and he didn’t mind. Unlike in high school where he felt the need to keep the public displays of gross affection on the down low, Baekhyun was more open to letting the giant give him a peck on the cheek or two, but only sometimes. If it was too excessive, Chanyeol had the tendency of getting too carried away and though the girls loved fan service, Luhan was always gagging behind the register.
When Baekhyun opened the cafe that morning, he was tired and limping thanks to a certain somebody. As usual, he grabbed the clipboard off the wall in the kitchen and started to do inventory. The delivery truck was late and it wasn’t until 6 a.m that it finally came around and unloaded the ingredients Baekhyun had ordered two days before. He thanked the man who helped him while already stressing about the day since he was an hour behind the schedule he set up for himself. Luhan was set to come in within thirty minutes and Baekhyun was just trying to keep it all together before they opened at 7 a.m.
After he finished taking all of the chairs down and setting them upright on the floors, his phone began to ring and he fished it out from his back pocket. Seeing Chanyeol’s name and number come up made him wonder what the giant was calling about so early in the morning, but Baekhyun answered the call nonetheless.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Nothing. I just got to work and I’m tired.”
Scoffing, Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “You and me both.”
“Yeah?”
There was a subtle play in his voice, meaning that the latter was referring to what happened that morning, and Baekhyun relented a small laugh. “Yeah.” He looked out the window and noticed black car park temporarily in front of the store. “So, is that why you’re calling me right now? To tell me how you’re tired?”
“I wanted to hear your voice,” Chanyeol admitted. “But not only that, I got this letter in the mail. It was sent over to the office by my family…”
“Oh… What’s it about?” Luhan came out of the vehicle, seemingly kissing a man inside before closing the door behind him. Baekhyun figured it was his boyfriend and began walking to the front of the cafe to unlock the door for him. “It must be formal if they’re sending you something through the mail rather than just calling you about it.”
“Right… It has something to do with my cousin.” Chanyeol paused. “Actually, we’ll talk about it at home.”
“Why not now?” Baekhyun asked. After thinking about it momentarily, he retracted his question. “Actually, you’re right. I’m busy, you’re busy. We’ll deal with your family letter later at home.”
“Okay. I’ll have someone come and pick you up today. I’m going to stay behind a little later than usual, but I’ll be home around 10.”
“Sounds great.”
“Love you, vixen.”
Once he glanced over to see that Luhan had entered the back room, Baekhyun cupped a hand to the phone and said, “Love you, too.”
-
-
“Do you do any work around here?”
Sehun gave the his friend a shrug as he waltzed in the man’s office with his hands stuffed in the front pockets of his pants. “I do, but I don’t officially have anything to do until 8.” Seeing that Chanyeol seemed rather stressed, he sat on the edge of his desk, looking over him. “And what’s got you under the weather this early in the morning? Another fight with Byun?”
“No. We didn’t fight.”
“Bad sex?”
“No.”
“You’re not getting any sex--”
“It’s not any of that,” Chanyeol said, grabbing the eggshell white invitation card that sat on top of the paper piles that decorated his desk. “It’s this.”
Sehun blinked before reaching over and taking the card from Chanyeol’s hand. “Fancy,” he muttered, examining the outside before opening it. The words were minimal, but the point was there. “It’s a wedding invitation from your cousin.”
“I know.”
“And why is this a bad thing again?” Sehun set the card down. “Your family is annoying, but since it’s your cousin and not your parents, I assumed that--”
“You’re right. It’s about my cousin and distant relatives, but it’s a wedding. Of course, my parents will be there, and that’s fine. I don’t mind that.” Chanyeol stared at the face-down card for a while before picking it up and rereading the greetings inside. “It’s just that I don’t know if Baekhyun would be interested in going.”
“So…?”
“Another invite got sent to our condo a few weeks ago and I basically threw it in the trash because I figured that he wouldn’t want to, but since I didn’t RSVP and they might’ve thought that was weird, this came in today.” Biting his bottom lip, Chanyeol shut the card and sat up in his seat. “I’m overthinking this. I’ll just ask him.”
“Is your mother breathing down your neck again?” Sehun asked.
“I don’t know. Is calling me and asking why I haven’t RSVPed yet considered breathing down my neck?”
Rolling his eyes, Sehun shook his head as got off the desk and stood in place, facing him. “You’re twenty-two now. You’re at the top of your game, you have Baekhyun, and you’re still being hounded by your parents? I still care about mine and I still talk to them, Yeol, but at some point, you should stop caring about their opinion about your life choices.”
“I don’t care--”
“Yeah, you do. Maybe not a lot but you still do.” Sehun frowned as they stared off at each other. “Anyways, it’s not my position to tell you anything, but since I’m your friend and I can get away with anything, I think I can tell you to just fuck your parents and ask what Byun wants to do.”
-
-
By the time that Baekhyun was dropped off by one of the Park employee drivers and returned to the comfort of their condo, he was surprised when he saw Chanyeol standing in the kitchen, pouring two glasses of wine. Slowly walking up to him, Baekhyun cocked his head, giving the man a confused, yet curious look. “Thought you said you’d be late today.”
Shrugging, Chanyeol turned around and offered one of the glasses. “Decided to come home early and surprise you.”
“Hmm..” Baekhyun didn’t buy the idea, but accepted the glass offer anyhow, taking a much needed sip from all the stress that occurred to him in that particular day. “Well, I’m surprised. You got me. I wasn’t expecting you home.”
“If I’m being honest with you, I came home because I just needed to ask you something that couldn’t wait.” Chanyeol leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed and his right hand loosely holding the wine glass. “I should’ve asked you this a while ago, but I didn’t. That was my fault.”
“You’re not proposing to me, are you?” Baekhyun teased. He saw Chanyeol look at him with a frown and he merely shrugged it off.
“No, I’m not,” the giant said, not pleased with the joked partially because of the invitation, but he didn’t like the blond’s overall joking attitude on a matter that he took seriously. “It’s something else--but that doesn’t mean that proposing to you isn’t something that I’m not planning, so don’t joke about it.”
Laughing at Chanyeol’s seriousness, Baekhyun put his hands in front of him and conceded. “Fine, fine. So, what did you want to ask me? Seriously.”
The giant was tapping his foot, and he didn’t know why. It wasn’t an entirely pressing matter, but to him, it was--in a way. “I got a wedding invitation. It’s from my cousin...because he’s getting married soon.”
“Oh… That’s it?” Baekhyun gave the man a puzzled look. “With the way you were acting, I thought it was more...Oh, I don’t know. Life threatening, maybe.”
“Depends on how you look at it,” Chanyeol muttered before gulping another sip. Baekhyun didn’t seem to catch his words or, at least, ignored it. “I wanted to know if you were interested in going.”
“To the wedding?” Baekhyun paused for a while, thinking it over. “I mean, sure. I’m sure it’ll be fine if I go.”
Chanyeol’s ears perked. “Really?”
“Yeah. I can take a day off and have Luhan take over for that time. I can be flexible if you just give me the date and I can talk it over with....” It was then that Baekhyun noticed the look on Chanyeol’s face. “What?”
“It’s not...a traditional wedding,” the giant started, trying to find a way to explain it all clearly. “They wanted the entire family to be there and close friends.”
“Okay… How is this any different than normal weddings?”
“It’s…” Words were hard to articulate, so Chanyeol did what he knew best and decided to say the details as they were. “It’s a week. They called it a ‘Week in Paradise’ in the card, but basically, it’s like family reunion… and then the wedding. My cousin and his fiancé wanted to splurge.”
It took a few seconds to sink in, but eventually, Baekhyun got the idea. “So, I need to take an entire week off… if we want to go.”
“Yes.”
“And we’d be with your family and close friends for the week.”
Chanyeol nodded. “They said they had events planned for everyone, so I guess they wanted to have fun before the big day.”
“I’m going to take the wild guess and say your parents will be attending, too.”
It was said as a statement and not a question, and the words didn’t go unnoticed. “They’ll be there. They want us to come”
“I see…” Baekhyun looked away for a second, finishing the rest of his drink before setting it down on the counter. He said nothing else before deciding to turn on his heel and walk out of the kitchen, heading to the open living area. “Did they only want you to go or did they ask for the both of us?”
“The both of us,” Chanyeol answered, following his vixen who was pacing back and forth. “My mother specifically mentioned if I had asked you to come with me.”
“She was probably just asking that because she doesn’t want me to go.”
“Baek.” The giant’s stern voice pulled Baekhyun out of his own thoughts.
“I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair of me to say.” He quickly apologized and crossed his arms together. “That was...nice of her. To ask about me, I mean.”
Rolling his eyes, Chanyeol gave him a small grin. “You don’t have to pretend you’re grateful that she asked about you.”
“I’m not being grateful, I’m just being nice,” Baekhyun retorted. “But that doesn’t matter. It’s fine. I don’t really mind your parents.”
“Are you sure?” the giant asked, trying to read the look on the blond’s face. “If you don’t want to go because of this, it’s fine. I don’t really care that much. Yeah, it’d be nice to have a week off with you and see everybody, but it’s up to you and--”
Shaking his head, Baekhyun interrupted him. “No, it’s okay. I want to go.”
“Baek--”
“I want to go. It sounds nice and, who knows? It might be fun-- Hell. It does sound fun, even with your mother being there. I think that it’ll be great.” The smile on Chanyeol’s face made him feel embarrassed, so he looked away. It didn’t do much, however, since the giant had walked up to him, putting his hands on the blond’s waist. “What?”
“Nothing. I just think you’re cute.”
Ignoring the comment, Baekhyun sighed. “So, when is this going to take place? I need to make plans with Luhan.”
Kissing his vixen’s forehead, Chanyeol chuckled. “In about a month and a half. That should give you plenty of time to plan ahead--and shop. The wedding’s in Hawaii so we need to dress cute for everyone.”
“Do we need to book the tickets now? Because we should do that as soon as possible. Airfare gets more expensive when you buy it closer to the date and if the wedding’s in Hawaii, then that means it’s going to be a lot more expensive than usual with its season peak right now.”
“Don’t worry about the plane tickets, Baek,” the giant said, reassuring him. “It’s been handled.”
“The hotel--”
“That’s also been handled.” After seeing the look on Baekhyun’s face, Chanyeol explained. “It’s been paid for already.”
“You already bought it? I thought you were waiting for me to give you an answer.”
“I was just hoping you’d say yes,” the latter corrected, “because what I didn’t mention was that… my mother paid for it already.”
Pulling away from the giant, Baekhyun furrowed his brows together. “What?”
“She called because she’s working with my aunt on everything from the hotel reservations, and I told her that I hadn’t asked you yet, but I was sure you’d say yes.” Pulling Baekhyun close to him, he placed a hand underneath the blond’s chin, making him look up at him. “I know how your mind works, Baek. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Chanyeol--”
“My mother’s just trying to be nice. Think of this as a gift from her to the both of us.”
The thought of it didn’t help settle Baekhyun’s pride at all. “I’ll pay her back--”
“No.” Shaking his head, Chanyeol refused. “No, you won’t.”
“But--”
Trying to reason it out, the giant interrupted. “Let it go, Baek. She’s just… She’s just trying to make up for the past.”
There were a few things that Baekhyun wanted to say. It might’ve been hurtful and a bit resentful, but he decided against it. What was the use in making a fuss about it if it was already said and done? Besides that, he’d have to be with his entire family for a week, so maybe, for now, it was best to just put everything aside.
Deciding to give his mother the benefit of doubt, Baekhyun let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yeah. Fine. I’ll just… I’ll just thank her later when I see her. Maybe I’ll give her a call.” Maybe not.
“So, we’re good? You’re really down to go? You’re okay with it?”
The excitement was obvious and Baekhyun didn’t have the heart to stomp on it. “Yes… I’m okay with it.”
Chapter 2
a/n: UNBETA-ED. sue me (b/n: beta-ed)
Pabo’s Cafe had become a hotspot for high schoolers, locals, and anyone in general who had a crush on the owner. Baekhyun was always flattered by it and enjoyed teasing the girls who would come by during their lunch break just to talk to him for a few minutes about small things like the weather and how he and his boyfriend were doing.
His relationship with Chanyeol wasn’t a secret and he didn’t mind. Unlike in high school where he felt the need to keep the public displays of gross affection on the down low, Baekhyun was more open to letting the giant give him a peck on the cheek or two, but only sometimes. If it was too excessive, Chanyeol had the tendency of getting too carried away and though the girls loved fan service, Luhan was always gagging behind the register.
When Baekhyun opened the cafe that morning, he was tired and limping thanks to a certain somebody. As usual, he grabbed the clipboard off the wall in the kitchen and started to do inventory. The delivery truck was late and it wasn’t until 6 a.m that it finally came around and unloaded the ingredients Baekhyun had ordered two days before. He thanked the man who helped him while already stressing about the day since he was an hour behind the schedule he set up for himself. Luhan was set to come in within thirty minutes and Baekhyun was just trying to keep it all together before they opened at 7 a.m.
After he finished taking all of the chairs down and setting them upright on the floors, his phone began to ring and he fished it out from his back pocket. Seeing Chanyeol’s name and number come up made him wonder what the giant was calling about so early in the morning, but Baekhyun answered the call nonetheless.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Nothing. I just got to work and I’m tired.”
Scoffing, Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “You and me both.”
“Yeah?”
There was a subtle play in his voice, meaning that the latter was referring to what happened that morning, and Baekhyun relented a small laugh. “Yeah.” He looked out the window and noticed black car park temporarily in front of the store. “So, is that why you’re calling me right now? To tell me how you’re tired?”
“I wanted to hear your voice,” Chanyeol admitted. “But not only that, I got this letter in the mail. It was sent over to the office by my family…”
“Oh… What’s it about?” Luhan came out of the vehicle, seemingly kissing a man inside before closing the door behind him. Baekhyun figured it was his boyfriend and began walking to the front of the cafe to unlock the door for him. “It must be formal if they’re sending you something through the mail rather than just calling you about it.”
“Right… It has something to do with my cousin.” Chanyeol paused. “Actually, we’ll talk about it at home.”
“Why not now?” Baekhyun asked. After thinking about it momentarily, he retracted his question. “Actually, you’re right. I’m busy, you’re busy. We’ll deal with your family letter later at home.”
“Okay. I’ll have someone come and pick you up today. I’m going to stay behind a little later than usual, but I’ll be home around 10.”
“Sounds great.”
“Love you, vixen.”
Once he glanced over to see that Luhan had entered the back room, Baekhyun cupped a hand to the phone and said, “Love you, too.”
-
-
“Do you do any work around here?”
Sehun gave the his friend a shrug as he waltzed in the man’s office with his hands stuffed in the front pockets of his pants. “I do, but I don’t officially have anything to do until 8.” Seeing that Chanyeol seemed rather stressed, he sat on the edge of his desk, looking over him. “And what’s got you under the weather this early in the morning? Another fight with Byun?”
“No. We didn’t fight.”
“Bad sex?”
“No.”
“You’re not getting any sex--”
“It’s not any of that,” Chanyeol said, grabbing the eggshell white invitation card that sat on top of the paper piles that decorated his desk. “It’s this.”
Sehun blinked before reaching over and taking the card from Chanyeol’s hand. “Fancy,” he muttered, examining the outside before opening it. The words were minimal, but the point was there. “It’s a wedding invitation from your cousin.”
“I know.”
“And why is this a bad thing again?” Sehun set the card down. “Your family is annoying, but since it’s your cousin and not your parents, I assumed that--”
“You’re right. It’s about my cousin and distant relatives, but it’s a wedding. Of course, my parents will be there, and that’s fine. I don’t mind that.” Chanyeol stared at the face-down card for a while before picking it up and rereading the greetings inside. “It’s just that I don’t know if Baekhyun would be interested in going.”
“So…?”
“Another invite got sent to our condo a few weeks ago and I basically threw it in the trash because I figured that he wouldn’t want to, but since I didn’t RSVP and they might’ve thought that was weird, this came in today.” Biting his bottom lip, Chanyeol shut the card and sat up in his seat. “I’m overthinking this. I’ll just ask him.”
“Is your mother breathing down your neck again?” Sehun asked.
“I don’t know. Is calling me and asking why I haven’t RSVPed yet considered breathing down my neck?”
Rolling his eyes, Sehun shook his head as got off the desk and stood in place, facing him. “You’re twenty-two now. You’re at the top of your game, you have Baekhyun, and you’re still being hounded by your parents? I still care about mine and I still talk to them, Yeol, but at some point, you should stop caring about their opinion about your life choices.”
“I don’t care--”
“Yeah, you do. Maybe not a lot but you still do.” Sehun frowned as they stared off at each other. “Anyways, it’s not my position to tell you anything, but since I’m your friend and I can get away with anything, I think I can tell you to just fuck your parents and ask what Byun wants to do.”
-
-
By the time that Baekhyun was dropped off by one of the Park employee drivers and returned to the comfort of their condo, he was surprised when he saw Chanyeol standing in the kitchen, pouring two glasses of wine. Slowly walking up to him, Baekhyun cocked his head, giving the man a confused, yet curious look. “Thought you said you’d be late today.”
Shrugging, Chanyeol turned around and offered one of the glasses. “Decided to come home early and surprise you.”
“Hmm..” Baekhyun didn’t buy the idea, but accepted the glass offer anyhow, taking a much needed sip from all the stress that occurred to him in that particular day. “Well, I’m surprised. You got me. I wasn’t expecting you home.”
“If I’m being honest with you, I came home because I just needed to ask you something that couldn’t wait.” Chanyeol leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed and his right hand loosely holding the wine glass. “I should’ve asked you this a while ago, but I didn’t. That was my fault.”
“You’re not proposing to me, are you?” Baekhyun teased. He saw Chanyeol look at him with a frown and he merely shrugged it off.
“No, I’m not,” the giant said, not pleased with the joked partially because of the invitation, but he didn’t like the blond’s overall joking attitude on a matter that he took seriously. “It’s something else--but that doesn’t mean that proposing to you isn’t something that I’m not planning, so don’t joke about it.”
Laughing at Chanyeol’s seriousness, Baekhyun put his hands in front of him and conceded. “Fine, fine. So, what did you want to ask me? Seriously.”
The giant was tapping his foot, and he didn’t know why. It wasn’t an entirely pressing matter, but to him, it was--in a way. “I got a wedding invitation. It’s from my cousin...because he’s getting married soon.”
“Oh… That’s it?” Baekhyun gave the man a puzzled look. “With the way you were acting, I thought it was more...Oh, I don’t know. Life threatening, maybe.”
“Depends on how you look at it,” Chanyeol muttered before gulping another sip. Baekhyun didn’t seem to catch his words or, at least, ignored it. “I wanted to know if you were interested in going.”
“To the wedding?” Baekhyun paused for a while, thinking it over. “I mean, sure. I’m sure it’ll be fine if I go.”
Chanyeol’s ears perked. “Really?”
“Yeah. I can take a day off and have Luhan take over for that time. I can be flexible if you just give me the date and I can talk it over with....” It was then that Baekhyun noticed the look on Chanyeol’s face. “What?”
“It’s not...a traditional wedding,” the giant started, trying to find a way to explain it all clearly. “They wanted the entire family to be there and close friends.”
“Okay… How is this any different than normal weddings?”
“It’s…” Words were hard to articulate, so Chanyeol did what he knew best and decided to say the details as they were. “It’s a week. They called it a ‘Week in Paradise’ in the card, but basically, it’s like family reunion… and then the wedding. My cousin and his fiancé wanted to splurge.”
It took a few seconds to sink in, but eventually, Baekhyun got the idea. “So, I need to take an entire week off… if we want to go.”
“Yes.”
“And we’d be with your family and close friends for the week.”
Chanyeol nodded. “They said they had events planned for everyone, so I guess they wanted to have fun before the big day.”
“I’m going to take the wild guess and say your parents will be attending, too.”
It was said as a statement and not a question, and the words didn’t go unnoticed. “They’ll be there. They want us to come”
“I see…” Baekhyun looked away for a second, finishing the rest of his drink before setting it down on the counter. He said nothing else before deciding to turn on his heel and walk out of the kitchen, heading to the open living area. “Did they only want you to go or did they ask for the both of us?”
“The both of us,” Chanyeol answered, following his vixen who was pacing back and forth. “My mother specifically mentioned if I had asked you to come with me.”
“She was probably just asking that because she doesn’t want me to go.”
“Baek.” The giant’s stern voice pulled Baekhyun out of his own thoughts.
“I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair of me to say.” He quickly apologized and crossed his arms together. “That was...nice of her. To ask about me, I mean.”
Rolling his eyes, Chanyeol gave him a small grin. “You don’t have to pretend you’re grateful that she asked about you.”
“I’m not being grateful, I’m just being nice,” Baekhyun retorted. “But that doesn’t matter. It’s fine. I don’t really mind your parents.”
“Are you sure?” the giant asked, trying to read the look on the blond’s face. “If you don’t want to go because of this, it’s fine. I don’t really care that much. Yeah, it’d be nice to have a week off with you and see everybody, but it’s up to you and--”
Shaking his head, Baekhyun interrupted him. “No, it’s okay. I want to go.”
“Baek--”
“I want to go. It sounds nice and, who knows? It might be fun-- Hell. It does sound fun, even with your mother being there. I think that it’ll be great.” The smile on Chanyeol’s face made him feel embarrassed, so he looked away. It didn’t do much, however, since the giant had walked up to him, putting his hands on the blond’s waist. “What?”
“Nothing. I just think you’re cute.”
Ignoring the comment, Baekhyun sighed. “So, when is this going to take place? I need to make plans with Luhan.”
Kissing his vixen’s forehead, Chanyeol chuckled. “In about a month and a half. That should give you plenty of time to plan ahead--and shop. The wedding’s in Hawaii so we need to dress cute for everyone.”
“Do we need to book the tickets now? Because we should do that as soon as possible. Airfare gets more expensive when you buy it closer to the date and if the wedding’s in Hawaii, then that means it’s going to be a lot more expensive than usual with its season peak right now.”
“Don’t worry about the plane tickets, Baek,” the giant said, reassuring him. “It’s been handled.”
“The hotel--”
“That’s also been handled.” After seeing the look on Baekhyun’s face, Chanyeol explained. “It’s been paid for already.”
“You already bought it? I thought you were waiting for me to give you an answer.”
“I was just hoping you’d say yes,” the latter corrected, “because what I didn’t mention was that… my mother paid for it already.”
Pulling away from the giant, Baekhyun furrowed his brows together. “What?”
“She called because she’s working with my aunt on everything from the hotel reservations, and I told her that I hadn’t asked you yet, but I was sure you’d say yes.” Pulling Baekhyun close to him, he placed a hand underneath the blond’s chin, making him look up at him. “I know how your mind works, Baek. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Chanyeol--”
“My mother’s just trying to be nice. Think of this as a gift from her to the both of us.”
The thought of it didn’t help settle Baekhyun’s pride at all. “I’ll pay her back--”
“No.” Shaking his head, Chanyeol refused. “No, you won’t.”
“But--”
Trying to reason it out, the giant interrupted. “Let it go, Baek. She’s just… She’s just trying to make up for the past.”
There were a few things that Baekhyun wanted to say. It might’ve been hurtful and a bit resentful, but he decided against it. What was the use in making a fuss about it if it was already said and done? Besides that, he’d have to be with his entire family for a week, so maybe, for now, it was best to just put everything aside.
Deciding to give his mother the benefit of doubt, Baekhyun let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yeah. Fine. I’ll just… I’ll just thank her later when I see her. Maybe I’ll give her a call.” Maybe not.
“So, we’re good? You’re really down to go? You’re okay with it?”
The excitement was obvious and Baekhyun didn’t have the heart to stomp on it. “Yes… I’m okay with it.”