Epilogue : The Future. (1/1)

They say time heals. Wrong. Some wounds remain. Always. And forever. But what does happen is that you learn to live with them, all of those scars, those scars that were bleeding on that day, they are now slowly but steadily healing, but never completely healing. They are becoming rougher, stiffer, and so hard that even If you poke them, they don’t hurt anymore. But that doesn’t mean they’ve healed, or that they are gone. They are still there. They will always be there. Now all you can do is learn to live with them.      2 years later.  Kris is not sure if he can do this. He knows that he needs to though. He needs to do this so badly, that he is willing to ignore the slow burning in his chest as he takes a step, then another, and them some more, until he is completely out of the hoards of hundreads of people and then is standing right outside the exit doors of the airport. He never really liked airports, too many people. Too much noise, everything was a bit…too much. He finally makes his way out of the door and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly before he opens them again. Seoul looks so different in winter. 2 years is a long time, atleast for him, he knows that Seoul as a city hasn’t changed, but now, it gives off a different vibe to him, as if it’s welcoming him. He walks away from the exit and after a few more steps, he finally sees him. Chanyeol looks good. Very good. The smile that takes over his face widens even more when suddenly he is crushed underneath a heavy weight. And the laugh that bubbles out of his mouth is so genuine, so pure, he doesn’t remember when was the last time his heart swelled in this much happiness. “I missed you,” chanyeol mumbles in the crook of his neck. “I missed you…I…” his voice breaks and kris unconsciously tightens the hug, never wanting to let go. Because he did too. He missed chanyeol too. So so much. The lump down his throat prevails him from saying anything so he just humms, smiling when chanyeol finally pulls away. Chanyeol takes a hold of his bag and motions towards his car, and kris just smiles, it seems like that’s all he can do at the moment, smile. He is just too overwhelmed. He cannot take his eyes off chanyeol. The younger looks amazing in his winter clothes; his fashion sense seems to have improved, must be baekhyuns doing. His hair is still the same, but just a little shorter, he’s gained more muscle, and he over all looks quite healthy, so so different from the chanyeol he said goodbye to two years ago. “So, shall we?” Chanyeol grins at him, turning on the ignition of his car. “They are all waiting for you.” Waiting for him. It feels so good to hear those words. For the past two years, there was no one waiting; there couldn’t be when he was coming home to an empty apartment, when he was reheating his lunch for dinner. But he has been waiting too. Waiting to see them again,to bask in their warmth again. To just-be in their presence again. They are a family after all. Chanyeol’s new house is beautiful. He has seen the photos, but the real thing is so different, it’s like its urging him to get inside, so he just does. He follows chanyeol, and smiles stupidly when he hears a very well known voice from inside. “Park shixun!!”Well, seems like baekhyun is still the same, he’s glad really. He stands behind chanyeol, waiting as he hears some shuffling on the other side before the door is swinging open, revealing a flustered baekhyun. “Oh! You guys are back!” He screams, before tiptoeing to kiss chanyeol, but his gaze brightens even more when he pulls back and looks at kris. “Nice hair.” He says, smiling that mischivieous smile that kris always liked, but the next thing he knows, baekhyun is jumping at him and he is alarmed for a second before baekhyun is hugging him so tight he thinks chanyeol’s hug was nothing compared to this. “We missed you. So much.I know we called like once a week but nothing can compare to the real thing.” He chuckles, pulling back and smiling at kris. He can see that baekhyuns eyes are glassy, but he just smiles back, grabbing the hand that baekhyun offers him as he follows behind him and chanyeol. “Your house is amazing.” Kris marvels the moment he gets inside. Their house isn’t minimalistic, far from it actually. The living room is all decorated for Christmas decorations and the tree stands tall and proud in the corner, the twinkling lights giving it a kind of halo effect. There are two big couches, and then a big coffee table, a huge TV, fluffy rugs on the carpeted wooden floor and acrylic paintings on the walls, there are a few toys cluttered here and there, and a few art pieces he just knows are souveniers from jongin and kyungsoo. Overall, everything is all warm and cozy and kris is again, overwhelmed. “Well you won’t believe who designed it. We kind of wanted to keep it a surprise, well…at least I did.” baekhyun grins, shooting chanyeol a wink, who just rolls his eyes. “Of course you did.”He grumbles, turning around and walking towards the kitchen, baekhyun and kris following behind. “Wait…” kris suddenly stops in his tracks. “You designed it?” He asks, noticing the flush on chanyeol’s cheeks. “Shut up.” He mutters, his back now facing kris as he works on something in the kitchen. “No! I wasn’t…yeol…this is amazing!” Kris exclaims, now mirroring baekhyun’s grin. “He actually got an offer to work alongside the head partner of a well known firm.” Baekhyun provides, grinning when chanyeol shoots him a glare. “He turned it down.” “WHAT?” kris screams this time, startling them both. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He knows how talented chanyeol is. No one would even guess that Park chanyeol, the infamous K2 was good, no, great at an intricate subject like architecture. In all honesty, even chanyeol didn’t know he was good at it, he discovered how talented he was as an accident, after he lectured minseok and jongdae about their new apartment, and both of them went berserk after hearing chanyeols advice. He was good at what he did, and for the past one and a half year, it had been kind of like a way for him to forget about his previous life, his previous career. From killing people for a living to designing houses, it was quite a wild ride, but chanyeol did all of that so effortlessly,as if he was made for it. It wasn’t easy for him ofcourse, burying his old self like that, but it was something he knew he had to do. For his family and for himself.The first time he sent kris the pictures of his designs, kris had been shocked. He didn’t even know chanyeol was interested in something like that, but that’s when he realized how their job at Cypher made it impossible for them to have hobbies, making it hard for them to find their true selves, and it seemed like in those past two years, chanyeol had found a new piece of himself, something that will take him a long way ahead. Baekhyun, on the other hand, continued working in his previous job at the hospital. His job was an important one, something that needed concentration and organizing skills, two things which weren’t so…baekhyun, but he did his job effortlessly, and seriously. “Nothing I just…I don’t think I’m good enogh. I mean, I’ve never done that. Have a real job which makes me the boss I mean.” Chanyeol mumbled, handing kris a cup of hot cocoa. He walked towards the dining table and plopped down, sighing when baekhyun followed him like a puppy and plopped on his lap. “Yeol, you are so good at what you do. You already have a great job right now, but think about it yeol, a partnership! Wouldn’t that be amazing?”Baekhyun smiles down at him, before kissing chanyeols forehead. “Tell him kris. He’ll listen to you.” “Baekhyun is right.” Kris takes a seat next to them, taking a sip from the hot drink. It warms up his insides instantly, bringing a smile to his face. “I’ve seen your work yeol. And even though I know nothing about your profession, I know this- you’ve got the talent, you’ve got the skills, now all you have to do is believe in yourself and just-” “Daddy!!!” He gets cut off quite unceremoniously when he hears a loud shout from the stairs and the next thing he knows, a young boy runs into the kitchen, face flushed and kris’ smile widens when he sees the cute ears that are now red from the cold. “Shixun is crying!” He yells again and baekhyun sighs from chanyeol’s lap. “I’ll get it.” He mutters and walks upstairs. Jaehyuns attention is now on kris as he too, jumps at him, giving him a bear hug. “Uncle Kris! I missed you!” he shouts, before giving kris a sloppy kiss. For a seven year old, jaehyun is quite tall; something he obviously gets from chanyeol, kris wonders what baekhyun feels about it. “I missed you too buddy! How are you?” he laughs as he pulls jaehyun in his lap, ruffling his silky black hair. Baekhyun walks back to the kitchen then, holding a baby in his arms who is sniffling, his face all red and his lips forming the cutest pout he has ever seen; his chubby arms and overall pudgy body is adorable and all kris wants to do is squish him. The boy sees chanyeol and his lip quivers again, making baekhyun chuckle and kiss his head full of whispy black hair. “Aw cupcake; don’t cry. I think the cartoon scared him,” he says to chanyeol as he hands him the baby. “Shixun…” kris looks at the baby in awe and as If he knows someone is talking to him, the two year old whips his head towards him, his droopy eyes that he got from baekhyun watching him curiously. “Fan fan…” he mutters before an adorable smile takes over his face and dammit kris is not going to cry over a two year old. He has seen shixun only on screen, and that too, only a handful of times. Baekhyun’s pregnancy had been an entertaining topic between him and chanyeol but when shixun was born, he was getting a call in the middle of the night from chanyeol who wasn’t laughing his ass off about baekhyun's sudden obsession with cucumbers dipped in nutella, but chanyeol-- who was crying his eyes out and thanking an exhausted baekhyun who just looked like he’ll fall asleep any second. It had been baekhyuns idea- the name shixun. Kris had marveled at the tiny little thing in baekhyun’s arms, all bundled up in thick blankets. And his eyes had watered the moment he had heard the words--“Kris, meet park shixun.” Long story short, he had cried like a baby, too overwhelmed with emotions as baekhyun and chanyeol had just laughed at him through the screen. “That’s right xun, that’s fan fan! That’s the ugly old guy we saw on the screen every month! Good job cupcake! You want to hold him?” Chanyeol asks him and kris settles jaehyun down to the floor before taking shixun from chanyeol’s hands, the baby babbling something incoherent as he kisses his cheeks and then his head, inhaling his scent that smells like baby powder. “You are the cutest baby ever!” He smiles and kisses him again, making shixun giggle. “Yeah most of the time anyway.” Chanyeol chuckles and hands jaehyun a cup of hot cocoa. “So…how does it feel hmm? Coming back home?” He asks and waits for kris to reply, watching him closely. “It feels…different.” Kris replies honestly. And it does. It feels so different to come back to Seoul. He was starting to become used to the freezing cold weather of toranto, his one bedroom apartment, that library he used to visit, his neighbor Mrs. Banner, his favorite café, it all seems so far away now that he is suddenly wrapped up in the warmth of home. And it’s only been a few hours. He cannot help the stupid grin that takes over his face as he scans the room. Chanyeol is laughing with jaehyun, pointing at his hot cocoa mustache, while baekhyun is holding shixun now, the baby babbling something incoherent while baekhyun just smiles down at him while simultaneously reading a recipe book. They are both different people now. Different people with good lives, respectable jobs, a family of their own, a beautiful house of their own, two adorable kids, they both look so happy, so in love, so…perfect. Kris couldn’t be more proud.     Luhan exits his office, holding his backpack tighter as he makes his way through the spacious corridors. He loves his job, he loves his workplace, and he loves everything about working at a cancer welfare centre. Its therapeutic even, he feels as he drops by Mrs. Lim’s room, then waves at little changho, he smiles at nurse cho, and makes his way in the main corridor, bowing to new people who smile at him kindly. This is not something he saw himself doing, but he loves it nonetheless. He knows he’s changed, its something he can feel it himself. The air of confidence that surrounds him now is relaxing, he doesn’t feel so suffocated anymore, and he feels quite at peace. He feels happy. He spent a whole year thinking that he didn’t deserve to be happy. He spent a whole year, wondering, hoping, and just trying to get by. But he knew one thing. Nobody will protect you from your suffering. He knew he couldn’t cry it away or eat it away or punch it away or even therapy it away. Its just there and he knew he had to survive it. He knew he had to endure it. Until one day, his results came and he was told that he was cured. Just like that. He was free. He couldn’t believe it at first, but then he studied the results and his heart had started beating so fast he had just cried there in front of his doctor, clutching the report in his hands. “I did it sehun…” he had said in his head. “I did it…” Working at the cancer welfare centre was like a turning point in his life, it was a job which required him to talk to people who were going through the same thing that he had gone through. He tries to encourage them, tries to support them in every way possible, because he knows now, he knows there is no use in being scared, because fear does not stop death, it stops life. “There you are!” He hears a voice call out to him and he stops in his tracks, a smile stretching across his face instantly. He turns around and comes face to face with a girl, with straight long black hair, pretty eyes that crinckled whenever she laughed, cute button nose, short stance, and a beautiful smile. Guan xiaotong is breathtaking. Luhan admits to himself for the thousandth time. “Hey!” He says softly, his grin now even wider. She just smiles at him, feeling content. “I was looking for you.” she says, taking a step closer. “Oh? Did you need my help with something?” He raises a brow but she just shakes her head. “No. Not really. I was just…are you- are you doing anything on new years?” She asks and he notices the way her fists are clenched in aniticipaton.” Cute. “No. I don’t really have any plans as of now. My friends have their own plans with their families so I don’t really…” “Oh well that’s great!” She chirps. But then suddenly her eyes widen comically. “Not that I’m happy that your friends are abandoning you or anything! No I just…there is this party and I thought that you’d maybe—” “Guan-” he cuts her off gently. He knows where this is going. He has known it for a while now. In the beginning, he was so ashamed of himself, furious even, thinking that what he was doing was the biggest crime ever. Because he loved sehun, with all his heart and soul. He punished himself by pressing his feeling harder, ignoring guan when all he really wanted to do was talk to her and hold her hand and just…Be there for her. It was baekhyun who saw it first, who said something that made luhan realize that what he was doing wasn’t wrong. Maybe falling in love wasn’t wrong. “He loved you so much you know,” baekhyun had said, holding luhans trembling form in his arms. “Sehun loved you like you were his everything, he gave you his all, and he fought for you till the end. But sehun didn’t ask for anything in return. He loved you wholeheartedly, with everything he’s got. Sehun wants you to be happy luhan, with or without him. He wants you to live your life fully, without any regrets, he just wants you to smile and have a family and fall in love and just…be happy. So maybe luhan, maybe it’s okay for you to move on. Maybe sehun wants you to move on. Because if there is one thing I can tell you is this- love doesn’t know the concept of time, nor does it have an expiry date, true love luhan, it lasts forever.” And that had made luhan relent. It made him realize that yes; he should move on, live his life away from the dark shadows of his past. He loves sehun still, hell sehun is the love of his life, he will always love sehun, and there is no doubt about that. But you can love two people at once right? And that was why he feels at peace when he says the next words-“I would love too.” She stares at him for a moment, dumbfounded. But then she smiles brightly, clapping her hands in glee. “That’s amazing! Okay then! I’ll give you details after Christmas, okay?” “Okay, sounds great.” “So are you going home now?” “Yeah actually one of my close friends just returned from Canada so I’m going to go and see him now, but I’ll hold on to you for the details okay?” “Okay!” She smiles again and luhan suddenly has the urge to hug her. So he does. He cannot keep the smile off his face when she gasps, but then slowly, he feels arms wrap around him tentatively, and the next thing he knows, she is letting out a soft sigh, followed by a loud chuckle. She smells of lavender and something he cannot pinpoint but he just knows he’s intrigued. He pulls back after a while, giving her a soft smile. “Merry Christmas guan.” He says and sees the way she’s looking at him, as If she’s in a trance. But then it’s his turn to gasp now when she tiptoes, her smile mischievieous as she presses a kiss to his cheek, pulling back with a hearty laugh. “Merry Christmas to you too luhan.” She smiles at him sweetly and then takes a step back, making luhan miss her warmth instantly. “I’ll call you. Drive safe.” She promises and he turns away with a parting smile and a wave, his grin is so wide at this point his cheeks start to hurt. He cannot wait for the party. Because sometimes…all you need is a new beginning.       “Daddy!!!” It’s jaehyun’s scream that resonates through the room that catches chanyeol’s attention. He turns; eyes wide to look for his son who is now standing in the decorated and completely lit up living room, wearing the Christmas jumper that minseok got him, and asks--“What is it jae?” “Present time!!” he yells and shixun, who is playing with jongin on the floor babbles something loudly, his cheeks pink from the coldness in the air and chanyeol smiles at his sons and yells himself.“Everyone!!! Get your butts in the living room! It’s present time!! And soon enough, he sees kyungsoo and jongdae walk in, their drinks in their hands, followed by luhan and then kris, who is holding a tray full of cookies and is wearing the COOLEST UNCLE EVER!! Sweater that baekhyun got him as a joke. It is a joke though, cause, well. Come on. No one can beat uncle lulu. But chanyeol cannot help the gasp that leaves his mouth when he sees baekhyun enter the living room following minseok who sits himself next to a laughing jongin who is playing with shixun. Baekhyun looks breathtaking in his bright red sweater, his hair falling on his forehead attractively, but it’s his smile, his amazingly sweet smile that takes chanyeol’s breath away, every single day. God he