Baekhyun stood there fiddling with the lace at the end of his sleeves. Break time from networking meant that he had time to revert into a form of himself that felt more comfortable to be. No more feigned joy over seeing faces he didn’t care for, and falsified accounts of how his parents were doing when he didn’t know any better than them.
If Baekhyun had to bet, he’d use up all the money his parents used for his entry fee to bet that these same people turned their noses at Halloween. Yet, here they all were, congregated in a venue with almost every type of mask one could think of. Knowing his mum, she probably already sent out the usual, “My sincere condolences. My husband and I can’t make it to the event but thankfully our son will attend in our place,” with the attachments of the suit she had made for him. A way for people to pick him out as well as show off her connections and tastes. She had a knack of killing two birds with one stone like that.
The point of masks was to hide oneself. Masquerades gave people yet another chance to blend into an anonymous crowd full of masks. The contradiction between feeling exposed as the Byun son and losing his face in this room of masks weighed on him. Anonymity never suited him well. The soft lace became twisted around his index finger. He needed to find someone. Someone who he could talk to about something other than the prospects of next year’s fiscal plans and projects. His eyes bounced from one person to another. The scrunch between his brows deepened as he mentally crossed out one person after another.
The moment his eyes landed on a safe zone, he sped off, cutting through the crowd. He uttered small “excuse me”’s out of courtesy all the way to his destination. Although the number of times they’ve worked together could be counted on one hand, it was unmistakable. That height was telling and Baekhyun heard its story from across the room. He stood beside Kris with no prelude, nor greeting and sighed.
“You know I’ve made a lot of ‘how’s the weather up there’ jokes but am I glad you’re tall as hell.” He grabbed an appetizer off the tray of a passing server and crammed it into his mouth in one go. Next thing he knew, the appetizer traveled down to his stomach without any recollection of him chewing the damn thing. Oh well. A EMT chauffeur didn’t sound so bad right about now.
“Are your folks here tonight?”
