They parked the car and Yixing frowned, looking around unsurely, but she talked him into entering the place and soon, people were jumping out of hiding and shouting birthday wishes, patting Yixing’s back and handing him a glass of champagne. He just stood there, completely dumbfounded. She had been standing behind him all this time, for so called moral support, so she leaned in to say:

‘I hope you’re not mad at me.’ He turned his head to the side, amidst receiving all the congratulations.

‘Not at all. But I must admit, I was rather looking forward to going to the exhibition with you. We must still do that some other time.’

‘Let’s.’ She easily agreed, and satisfied, Yixing turned back to the crowd.

Later on, they brought in the cake – Wendy had it made with white chocolate, since it was pretty much the only sweet thing that Yixing liked – and all the people closest to the celebrant took their turn in feeding him the cake and wishing him good fortune. Wendy found her cell just in time to take a few pictures of his mother and father, as well as some aunts, doing just that, but she was not prepared for Yixing’s mother to motion towards her, asking her to join the little ritual.

She had thought it was only for the family.

But she dutifully picked up a piece of cake and lifted it to his lips, to which he responded by taking a small bite. Despite the invited company, she chose to say her wishes in Korean.

‘Change is a natural part of life, and having known you for so long already, I’ve seen you grow to be the person that you are today, but you never once strayed from your values and morals. You are a truly inspiring person, for me and for many others, and I sincerely hope that you never lose that part of yourself. It’s what makes you, you, and what makes you so dear to me. Happy birthday.’ She didn’t mean to sound so serious but it just came out that way. She blushed, trying to cover up her embarrassment by clearing . She didn’t know why of all things, she said what she did. But Yixing looked pleased and that was all that mattered.

‘You are very dear to me too, Wendy. I want you to know that.’ There it as, that dimple that Wendy could not be immune to and that earned Yixing more than one favour from her.

The moment was interrupted by Yifan who announced the beginning of the birthday dinner, and music and dancing soon followed. Wendy danced a couple of times, with Yixing, with Yifan and with another man who stuck to her uncomfortably close, to the point when she finally had to excuse herself and return to the table.

Yifan and Lu Han were there, a second bottle of wine already taken care of in between them. She had been able to easily tell, even during the dinner, that the latter was in a very sour mood, but it was only now that she chose to address the matter.

‘It’s been almost two weeks. I think you should give up that export plans you have made, at least for now.’ She patted his slumped shoulder, gently. ‘The Korean company won the bid, rightfully so. Stop dwelling so much on it.’

‘It’s not about the deal anymore.’ Yifan answered for his best friend, as usual, a small smirk playing on his lips. Lu Han just groaned and buried his head in his arms, lying on the table.

‘What’s happened?’ Wendy frowned, curious. Lu Han sighed dramatically.

‘It’s shameful. I’d rather not talk about it.’ But he had no chance of leaving it that way since Yifan, who turned even more talkative and sarcastic when drunk, hurried to fill in the missing information.

‘He went to Korea last weekend to meet the CEO and talk him into stepping down from the bid but ended up ing him all through Sunday. Now he doesn’t know what to make out of it.’ Lu Han groaned again.

Wendy just blinked, before laughing out loud. She herself was a little tipsy already and found the story quite hilarious.

‘I didn’t know you had a thing for guys.’ She just commented, still griming. Lu Han shrugged, but raised his head and he looked at her sheepishly.

‘You should have seen him. One moment we were arguing about that damn money, and the next I had him pinned against his desk. Now I have to live with this shame.’ He groaned.

‘Well, you can console yourself with the fact that you will probably never see him again.’ She smiled at him sympathetically, to which Lu Han bit his lower lip, smiling defeated.

‘Actually… He’s flying over here next week.’ Lu Han hang his head low, clearly waiting for his friends’ inevitable judgment.

‘For another romp, you mean?’ Yifan snickered.

‘No! We just… I don’t know. That thing between us was intense and happened very fast but I would not be opposed to seeing how it goes….’

‘Does he even speak Chinese?’

‘He speaks enough to moan my name correctly.’ Wendy scoffed, humour in her voice. When it came to , Lu Han was suddenly full of bravery again.

Wendy’s phone suddenly went off and she unlocked the screen, looking at the message.

Come out, I’m on the corridor.

She frowned, not understanding but nevertheless, excused herself from the table and stepped outside their reserved hall, looking around. Indeed, Jongin was standing there, casually leaning against the wall and kicking invisible pebbles to pass the time. He looked up once he heard her approaching.

‘What are you doing here?’ She asked, surprise in her voice. He shrugged.

‘I’m on the second floor with my co teachers, celebrating the end of term. I saw you arrive from the balcony but when I got out to talk to you, the mood seemed intimate and I didn’t want to ruin it. You were feeding each other cake and all, so…’

‘Oh, right. Yes. Well, it’s a birthday party, after all. For my friend… boss…. For my friend.’ She finished lamely, scratching her head. He gave her a lopsided smile.

‘Yeah, I figured. I just wanted to say hi, since we coincidently meet here, and ask you if you wanted to go out again this upcoming week. I enjoyed the dinner we had the other day and I was wondering what your answer would be if I invite you out again.’

He sounded friendly and sincere, and the girl had already promised herself to give him another chance, therefore…

‘Wendy.’ She turned around to see Yixing standing at the door, frowning in curiosity. ‘Are you ok? You suddenly disappeared from my sight and I was wondering if perhaps something was wrong.’ He said that in Chinese, she realised, which was odd enough but she went along.

‘Oh, no. I just met a friend here, by accident. I stepped out for a moment to talk to him.’ She knew that Jongin’s Chinese was very basic and she felt guilty for excluding him from the conversation, so she quickly switched languages. ‘Jongin, meet my friend and boss, Yixing. This is Jongin.’

The two man had no choice but to finally acknowledge each other, exchanging a handshake. They didn’t really say anything, which made Wendy feel slightly awkward, but she quickly tried to fill in the silence.

‘Well, ok. Just call me and we will set up some time. Perhaps next Friday, it’s a holiday so we should be able to get more time out of it.’

‘Sounds good.’ Jongin was still sizing Yixing up and down, and her boss didn’t exactly look his relaxed self, either, so Wendy decided to immediately cut their interactions.

‘Right. We should head back so I guess I’ll see you?’ She gave Jongin one last smile and taking her boss by the arm, led him away, back to the room. Thankfully, nobody really noticed their absence.

‘Do you care for another dance?’ Yixing suggested, before she had the time to leave his side. She just nodded, suddenly feeling quite tired. Midnight was quickly approaching. ‘Is that the man you are currently dating?’ He inquired after a moment of swaying left and right – the song slow and subdued. They stood close, neither of them really proficient at dancing, Wendy’s right hand in his and her left on his shoulder. Her eyes were closed and her head lowered, the fatigue clearly enveloping her at that point.

She hummed, noncommittally.

‘I’m not really sure.’ She finally replied. ‘I met him on that party last week, Sooyoung asked me to. We went out once so I wouldn’t say that we are dating.’

‘Is it… going well, though? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.’ He added quickly.

‘Well, if I’m to be completely honest, I don’t think dating a person like Jongin is a good idea. He’s a great guy, but we seem too different and I don’t want to be in a relationship that requires such push and pull from me all the time. In fact, all I want to argue about with my boyfriend is the TV programme that we are going to watch in the evening.’ She voiced out her domestic fantasy. ‘I watch too much British drama these days so I guess this fight would be inevitable.’

‘If it were me, I would immediately switch to National Geographic.’ Yixing chirped and Wendy put her forehead against his right shoulder and laughed, no longer able to hold it in. Judging from the vibration of his chest, he was chuckling himself. She finally raised her eyes to meet his again and said:

‘I think I would let you.’ They smiled at each other but then her smile faltered, and resigned, she sighed. ‘Recently, I’ve been thinking that I should be more flexible. All of the dating experience I’ve had during my so called adult life always turned sour. Maybe I really am too picky. If Jongin is a good person that I suppose our incompatibilities in lifestyle choices can be easily remedied… I don’t know. I’m trying to give him one more chance before I completely reject him.’

‘The only thing I can tell you is that you should never settle for anything less than you deserve.’ Yixing looked at her seriously. ‘If you feel that you deserve somebody who will share your interests and values, then you definitely do. And even if you can’t see it yourself, let me tell you that you are a wonderful person who deserves a man who will only look at you, and who will endure hours of watching British drama just to make you happy and see you smile at him.’

Wendy looked at him in wonder, open in disbelief. Her boss was just…

‘Perfect.’ She said, still staring at him. ‘You’re perfect, Yixing. You always know what to say and how to make a girl feel special. How come are you not married and have three children already?’ She asked, genuinely curious. ‘I can’t think of a woman who wouldn’t want you for herself.’

The man in front of her just chuckled, his deep dimple showing on his cheek.

‘I’m not perfect, Wendy.’ She didn’t know when they dropped the formality between them, but she rather enjoyed it. ‘You know very well what kind of person I am. I stand by how I was raised and what I believe in, as simple as that. It does not mean that my behaviour is to everyone’s liking.’ He sighed. ‘The girls I dated back in college did not make me feel good about myself at all, actually. They always wanted something from me, something I couldn’t give them or compromised on. Eventually, I decided that instead of forcing it, I should just wait for the right person to come along. Both you and I’ He looked back at her, smiling ‘will get it, sooner or later. The happiness and freedom that comes with the right relationship. We both deserve it and we will get it. No need to rush into things.’

She sighed, nodding, and briefly hid her face in the crook of his shoulder. She was tired, of the party and of her romantic life, in general.

‘I still think you’re perfect.’ She laughed after a moment and Yixing followed suit.

‘I think that’s enough alcohol for you tonight. Should I drive you home? I barely dipped my lips in the champagne glass.’ He offered but she shook her head.

‘The night is not over yet. It’s past midnight so I guess I can give you my gift now. Wait a moment, please.’

She quickly came back with a small velvet box, handing it to him clumsily.

‘I know, every year you ask me to donate to charity in your name, instead of buying presents, and I usually do, but this birthday is a little more special so I just wanted to gift you something that you could actually have for yourself. Because you should be a little selfish sometimes, too.’ He smiled and put on the elegant watch that she had chosen. ‘It’s not exactly what I wanted to give you, but I just couldn’t come up with anything good so-‘

‘Don’t be silly, it’s beautiful.’

‘-yeah, well, but I wanted to give you something better, so I have this.’ She handed him a wrinkled napkin and he frowned in curiosity, opening the folded piece. He laughed and looked at her.

‘You’re more drunk than I originally thought.’

‘I’m not!’ She pointed to the page. ‘I merely came up with this just an hour ago, so I did all the little drawings in here and tried to make it look presentable. The point it, this ticket entitles you to be selfish and ask anything of me, and I will do it for you. Just pick wisely, although if you really want to waste it on not wearing your tie for a week, I’ll understand.’ She shrugged and he laughed even louder. ‘As long as it’s not about the company’s budget, I’ll grant your future wish.’

‘Fair enough.’ He nodded, feigning seriousness. ‘I accept your noble intentions and I will let you know when I am really sick of those suffocating accessories.’ The stood there, looking at each other shyly, but by no means awkwardly. And even if it was awkward, it was nice being awkward together, was what passed by Wendy’s head.

On Monday, Wendy was in a for a mild shock. Not only was her little garden gone and moved to the end of the corridor, where it, unsurprisingly, had more space to grow, but she also found her boss lingering around her desk, obviously looking for something.

‘Is there something you need?’ She asked and she nearly jumped up, turning around like a thief caught red handed.

‘I just…’ He trailed off, his lips in a nervous manner. ‘It’s stupid. I was hoping you had a comb.’

Seeing his face, Wendy stilled. Yixing’s appearance, always handsome but usually pretty unruly, had changed – he was now sporting an asymmetrical side cut, shorter but more suited for his oval face.  Even his attire seemed sharper than usual.

She couldn’t help herself – or maybe she wasn’t even fully conscious of her behaviour - as she approached him, touching the shorter part first and then running her fingers through the fringe delicately. It was very soft, specially the left, shorter side.

She regained her breathing as she smiled weakly at him.

‘Is your mother sending you to a blind date?’ She asked jokingly, taking a step back.

People who were as kind and nice as Yixing should not also be so handsome. Having it all was simply not fair. Wendy briefly thought of a woman that would eventually capture her boss’s attention and who would most definitely not resemble Wendy one bit. She almost sighed at the thought.

‘It’s nothing like that.’ He chuckled, still looking embarrassed. ‘After our last conversation I decided that there was nothing wrong with putting more effort into my private affairs. Perhaps changing myself a little is all it takes to attract the opposite . Did you know that peacocks-‘

‘You look really good.’ She quickly interrupted, before he could venture further into the mating rituals of colourful birds. ‘Really. But I think now is the time to remind you of your own words, you know. It’s good to put effort into a relationship but if the person you like does not like the real you, you will start feeling suffocated, trying to adjust to them all the time. What do you honestly think of your new hairstyle?’

‘It’s not bad.’ He answered, looking like he wanted to convince himself of this truth. ‘I just feel awkward, people have been staring at me more than usual today.’

‘It’s because you’re especially handsome today.’ She smiled at him again, and the dimple that she liked so much finally made its shy appearance on his cheek. Her hands reached out to loosen the tie that she knew he was itching to get rid of. ‘If any of the sophisticated, beautiful ladies working in our building like National Geographic, vegetarian food and are willing to ride on your scooter every day,  you should totally go for it. Although sadly, you don’t come by such combination very often.’

Yixing lowered his gaze, but his lopsided smiled remained.

‘Maybe it’s better this way.’ He replied. ‘This way, when I see one, I will know for sure that it’s the real thing.’

By Wednesday, Wendy had finalised everything in relation to the contract they were signing on Thursday, shared a few amusing text exchanges with Jongin who was whining about his annoying co-teacher and, together with Yixing, held an emergency phone call with Luhan, who was agonising over his rendezvous with the Korean CEO, who despite Luhan’s every effort to be romantic, shamelessly used him for another long round of and left immediately after, and could they, please, see Luhan’s condition?

Wendy couldn’t, but it was still hilarious. The girl supposed that she herself should be more ually frustrated, but thankfully, she was not yet at that stage.

On Wednesday afternoon, she received a text from her brother that they had landed and that was her cue to leave the office – she had to be there when they arrived at her house. Having gathered her stuff and reassuring Yixing for the tenth time that she would call if she couldn’t handle the situation, she exited the building.

She could have hailed a taxi but taking the bus meant more time to think, and she really needed that to mentally prepare herself for the meeting.

She had last seen Baekhyun that fateful afternoon when she had entered her living space, having been let off work earlier and stopped on her tracks upon hearing muffled noises of pleasure and bed cracking, all the way from the other side of the flat. She had sighed, exasperated – her brother had come to stay with her for a few, indefinite weeks and had already brought a fling home on two occasions, despite her outright objection to it. However, she had soon spotted a familiar pair of shoes and a briefcase carelessly thrown aside and it downed on her just who, in reality, was in there with her younger brother. And that they were currently using her own bedroom.

Chanyeol and Wendy hadn’t been dating long by that time – it might have been maybe 6 weeks if she were to count generously. He had been sent by his company to work in one of the affiliated branches in Beijing and they had met on one of those ‘I’m too drunk to care’ speed dating events. He was pleasant enough, she had decided, and things had been going well, at least she’d thought they had. There were no fireworks, nothing like that, but having a friendly relationship was not bad either, and it felt stable, predictable – just the way she liked it.

By week five, she had had with him. In good faith, so to speak. She wasn’t extremely by him, there was no immediate pull or breath hitching – everything with Chanyeol was quite average, not extraordinary, but also not disappointing enough for her to cross him out. Baekhyun had seen them exiting her bedroom later than night – she had felt slightly ashamed, for she had not realised her brother would be home on a Friday night. But he had not commented on what he had or had not heard and they had left it at that.

Nevertheless, having sat down on the couch, blindly staring into space as the moans in the background continued, Wendy realised that there was a reason for that. The reason for Baekhyun not commenting on her life that time, when he normally would have. The reason why he had been so interested in her boyfriend and why he had tried to get friendly with him. Playing video games and having beer… She should have known. She had witnessed it once too many times back in Canada, but then, it was to get a random guy that he liked to like him back.

She would have never thought he would be heartless enough to actually seduce the man that she had chosen for herself. Baekhyun’s betrayal hurt more than Chanyeol’s ever would – because it was Baekhyun that she had always taken for granted.

The noises had eventually stopped and the two men emerged from the bedroom, Chanyeol in his dishevelled office attire and Baekhyun, half . Both stopped abruptly, apparently on their way to the kitchen, upon seeing the girl sitting on the couch, somewhat resigned. She had raised her head to look at the two figures. Chanyeol looked mortified. Her brother’s expression was unreadable.  

‘You’ She had briefly looked at Chanyeol, not even caring to address him properly, her eyes immediately going back to her brother ‘you can take your stuff and leave. I hope you realise it’s not appropriate for you to call me anymore. If you ever see me on the street again, turn around and walk away. I have nothing more to say to you.’

Chanyeol had moved, eventually, looking absolutely anguished but no words left his mouth. She knew he was a good guy deep down, but had made a mistake. It did not, however, lessen his guilt and she hadn’t thought at that time, that she could ever forgive him, let alone forget.

When Chanyeol had left them alone, she forced to open again.

‘You’re something else, aren’t you, Baek? I never thought… I would have never imagined…’ She had looked away, biting her lower lip in order to hold back the tears. ‘You’re really something else.’

‘He doesn’t love you. You don’t love him.’ Baekhyun had said, his voice seemingly indifferent.

‘How do you know that? And what difference does it actually make? I was in a relationship with him.’ She looked back at the man. ‘This is low, even for you. You broke the trust I had with him, but more importantly, you broke the trust that we shared. You know that? Do you realise that what you did will be the cause of many future sleepless nights for me and perhaps even other relationship problems? Perhaps I will look at other men, thinking that they may betray me with my best friend or co worker. Perhaps I will be too afraid to introduce my significant other to you or to any other person close to me. Just…  Can you  even understand what you’ve just done?’

‘I wanted him.’ He at least had had the decency to lower his head. ‘I wanted him so badly because… He was different from all the others for me. I don’t know but there is just something-‘

‘I don’t need to hear this. Pack your bags. You have half an hour to leave my apartment and don’t contact me until I call you first. I don’t know when that will be. Maybe in a year. Maybe never. Just go before I do something I may regret.’

All of that happened quickly and felt very final, but in reality, Wendy had reached out to her brother after mere months, having realised – in major part thanks to Yixing and his constant encouragement -  that no matter how much Baekhyun had hurt her, she was able to forgive him eventually. He was still her younger brother and she still loved him. And anyway, Chanyeol was never going to be part of her future, he was not a boyfriend material meant for her.

She was surprised to hear that Baekhyun and Chanyeol were still going strong and now living together. She had then decided to just put it all behind her – negativity and bitter feelings never did much to its object but effectively ruined the life of those that harboured them. Since then, she had been in frequent enough touch with Baekhyun and settling into their renewed relationship comfortably once again, he had turned his usual self, which was cheeky and sarcastic.

And now she had to face both of the unfortunate men for the first time since the fall out.

She reached the apartment with just enough time to change and put the water for tea on, when she heard the shuffling behind the door and finally, the door bell ring. She took two deep breaths, bracing herself for the re-encounter and went to open the door. On the threshold, she found a sheepishly looking Baekhyun and Chanyeol, who looked very uncomfortable and wouldn’t look her in the eye.

‘Welcome.’ What else was she supposed to say?

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Changdeol says: So, this story will be 6 chapters long and that's final. Next chapter is sort of a bonus chapter, written from Junmyeon's point of view, however, it advances this story significantly so I ask those unfamiliar with Acquisition Costs to bear with me and still read it. I will post next update in about a week. Have a good day!