[Fic] Take You Home 2/?
A few weeks later, the tall writer found himself at a Grecian dock at around 6am. He looked out onto the aqua blue water and considered his doom. It was a pretty peaceful day to be welcoming his Death, he thought. He was not really sure when the ferry to the island was supposed to arrive, but his plane had just landed and he didn’t really have anything better to do. He lounged around, and a sign on the dock let him know that the boat would arrive in a few hours. When the boat arrived, the writer had painstakingly gotten himself a seat on the boat. Although, when he looked to his right, a middle-aged lady held a raw, seemingly freshly killed, piranha in one hand as she smiled a mostly toothless smile at him. The writer smiled back cautiously. On his left, a man to pushed a book into his lap and started pointing at it excitedly. The writer took a closer look at the book, and found that it was a translated copy of one of his own works. He smiled at the large wording at the bottom reading Park Chanyeol. He took the man’s offered pen and signed the copy of the book.
Give or take thirty minutes after Chanyeol's boat left the dock, one blue and one red taxi arrived at the pier. Out of the red one, a man in a blazer, and formal dress shirt paired with black slacks exits the vehicle. His blond hair was styled perfectly with Ray Bans shading his eyes from the sun that was beating down on the dock. He looked around and saw a sign that listed the boat times; the times stated that the first boat for the day has left, and the other won't arrive for an hour or so. He cursed.
Seconds later, a shadow approached him from behind and said something the businessman hadn’t heard in years: Oh, cheese and crackers! I missed the boat! The Chinese businessman turned to find none other than Kim Jongin, his college buddy, clad in an oversized sweater, bleached skinny jeans, and round-rimmed glasses. The CEO smirked.
"Look who we have here. It’s Kkamjjong. I can’t believe you still say cheese and crackers, still too pure for this world, huh?”
Said Kkamjjong, also known as Kim Jongin, looked up perplexed, then settled on the Chinese’ face again. He almost shouted, "Luhan?"
Luhan looked at him with a disapproving stare. "What, you thought Baek would only invite you, Kim? We were all friends, you know."
"No, no that's not what I meant! It's good to see you!" He smiled widely at Luhan and Luhan backed up. He could never really take those cinnamon-hot-chocolate-on-a-cold-day smiles. Jongin faltered a little bit before he approached and gave Luhan a bear hug--as was his style.
"Well, there isn't really anything we can do until the boat comes so..."
--
On the island of Kalokairi, a certain Park Chanyeol entered the sleek double doors of Resort Arcadia, a four star resort where Baekhyun’s wedding was going to be held. He looked at the invitation and called the number on the card, and a quirky, high-pitched voice answered.
“Hello, this is Jongdae Kim!” Jongdae, on the other line rung, dragging the ‘o’ in hello.
“Hi, this is Park Chanyeol; I’m here for Byun Baekhyun’s wedding? I just got to the resort and was wondering about the rooms and whatnot.” He said in accented English on the line.
“Ah, you can speak comfortably in Korean, I don’t mind. Are you in the lobby? I’ll take you up then.” Chanyeol confirmed with Jongdae and waited in the lobby, looking at the heavily furnished room. There was a gigantic fireplace in the middle of the room with the reception on one side, and a buffet on the other side. The fireplace seemed to be gold-encrusted, with a large oil painting sitting on top of it. Is that an original Monet*? Chanyeol thought fleetingly. After looking at the beautifully detailed furnishings of the lobby, Chanyeol thought back to how simple the Baekhyun he knew was, and how now that simple man was having a wedding at a grand resort. A lot can change in six years, he supposed; and that scared him even more.
When Jongdae entered the lobby and saw a tall, Korean hunk standing with some luggage near the fireplace, he let out a low whistle. Damn B, how did you ever let this one slip out of your grasp? He thought. After raking his beady eyes down the unsuspecting author, Jongdae called out to him.
“Hey, you’re Chanyeol, right? I’m Jongdae.” He reached out his hand for a shake and Chanyeol received it. “I’ll take you up to your room. The bell boy will take your bags up for you, don’t worry about that.” Chanyeol nodded and followed the shorter man up to his new room, not unaware of the man’s advances towards him. When they arrived at the room, Chanyeol closed the door as fast as possible in Jongdae’s face.
After settling in the unnaturally large room, Chanyeol decided to tour the place. He walked down to the pool area and took in the sight of a large pool with waterfalls on one side that led directly down to the ocean. On the side of the pool was a bar with waiters rushing drinks back and forth to guests in and around the pool. Chanyeol lied down on one of the lounge chairs and looked up to the clear, blue sky. He thought back to his high school days with Baekhyun.
They used to look up and imagine that there were stars, but back in Seoul, there were never really any visible stars in the sky. Baekhyun would always talk about he wanted a simple life. With someone he loved, somewhere near the beach. (He had at least maintained that part) He wanted to own a little flower shop, and have kids-- nothing for the history books; just plain Baekhyun. As Chanyeol continued to suntan, a figure walked up in front of his sun. He groaned and lifted his sunglasses, and there was a tall honey blonde staring back at him with a small smirk on his lips.
"If it isn't little Eggyeol, fancy meeting you here" Luhan said in a sassy tone that only he could pull off. Chanyeol sputtered a bit before regaining his ground.
"Luhan?" he nearly shouts.
"You know, some guy said the exact same thing to me this morning, you two should be friends” and Jongin popped up behind him.
"Hey Chanyeol! Long time no see!" he served another sunny-side-up smile.
Chanyeol looked at them as if he's seen ghosts. Luhan repeated his earlier dialogue.
"What, you thought Baek would only invite you, Park? We were all friends, you know." Jongin was the one who gave Luhan a disapproving stare this time, though. Luhan continued anyways. "You know, we would appreciate it if you showed some sort of reaction by now, Park. I knew you were slow, but we've been stuck in the sun on that damned dock for god knows how long, and we want to move along with this conversation so we can get to our rooms."
(A small looking Jongin retorted from behind him, "it was only like, forty-five minutes Luhan. The boat came earlier than expected" and an equally small "Shut. Up. Kim." from Luhan)
"Why do you need me to get into your rooms?" the tallest inquired, and Luhan rolled his eyes.
“We are tired and annoyed, just do the thing, Park.” And that’s all he needed before Chanyeol called that slightly creepy short guy, Jongdae down to the pool area.
Jongdae came down again, and hot damn. There were three freaking Shoujo Manga characters by the pool and Byun Baekhyun, his Supposed Best Friend, had never introduced them to Jongdae, the local friendly gay. Rude. When Jongdae approached, Chanyeol started.
"Hey Jongdae, this is Luhan, and Kim Jongin. I expect they are on your guest list too? They just arrived and need to get to their rooms." Chanyeol asked politely.
"Yah, who is this? Where is Baekhyun?" Luhan clicked his tongue and asked impatiently.
Jongdae eyed the three cautiously, and licked his lips. "Here is the deal guys... Baekhyun... doesn't know you are all here…” Chanyeol and Jongin looked at Jongdae confusedly, and Luhan face palmed.
"Then... Why the fuck are we here? " Luhan said in a low growl, slowly growing annoyed.
"Okay, I know this probably sounds creepy or whatever, but I invited you three a week before the wedding ‘cause I need you guys to talk Baekhyun out of marrying Oh Sehun." Jongdae blurts out nervously, "You see, Oh Sehun owns this hotel, but he is the biggest jerk to Baekhyun. Baekhyun thinks he is in love and all, and as his best friend I want him to snap the hell out of it before it's too late." Jongdae explained, and Chanyeol groaned. This day just got a lot worse.
"Why did you call us of all people to get the job done, though?" He asked incredulously.
Jongdae chucked. "Because, I read Baek's diary. He's liked all of you... At least one of you has to do the trick," Jongdae looked anywhere but at the three boys in front of him, suddenly he looked very nervous. "Regardless, you guys can't let him know you are here for this. Just see him with Oh Sehun before you question this. Please?" Jongdae gave them his best puppy eyes.
--
Back at the flower shop, Baekhyun continued to flip through his catalogue, and sigh. Was he having doubts? Cold feet? In the last one year of his life with Sehun he had never doubted how much he loved the boy, but suddenly he was insecure about marrying him. How will his marriage life be? Will he really have to close down his flower shop? Will he lose all his freedom? Baekhyun furrowed his eyebrows and sighed again. He picked up his phone and called Sehun, for what reason he wasn’t sure. The call went straight to voicemail. Sehun must be busy…