High Maintenance 👑 h.zt

8

~Tao~

He got in the Bugatti and slammed the door. He didn't care about the fact that it was a rental right now, he didn't care that should he scratch this thing in the slightest, he'd have to pay money he didn't have. Right now, he just couldn't believe them. Any of them. But mostly he couldn't believe Haneul. It was her Idea. The whole thing. Haneul always wanted to humiliate somebody, she practically looked for the chance. Tao couldn't believe he'd ever wanted to do this. Now that he was sitting by himself, tapping the steering wheel with his thumbs, he realized how cold and empty he felt for even being a part of it.

Haneul knocked on the car window, Sehun wasn't far behind her. With one more knock, Tao started the engine and locked the doors. He didn't want to talk to her, didn't even want look at her right now.

Haneul slowly stepped away from the car and Tao took that chance to pull away from the curb and speed down the street, the car's engine roared, and it felt incredibly good to be speeding away from it all.

His phone buzzed. At a stop sign, which he was surprised he even managed to stop at because he was going at least 20 miles over the speed limit, he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Incoming call ??? It read on the screen. At least it wasn't Haneul. He put the car in park, it was late enough that there wouldn't be anyone going through the residential streets to bother him.

Tao accepted the call, putting the phone up to his ear and just waiting. He had an idea of who it was already, and he wasn't excited about it in the least.

"Panda bear! Whatcha doin' homie?" said the person on the other end, his voice kind of deep but bubbly anyway. Park Chanyeol. He was almost always happy, and he liked to infect other people with it too, or even if he didn't that's what usually ended up happening. He was like a virus--a Happy Virus.

Tao rolled his eyes. This was one of the last people he wanted to speak to at the moment. "I'm going to hang up."

"No-o-o, don't do that! He wants you again!"

Tao frowned, he was still in a fair amount of pain from yesterday's work, what could he possibly need now? "Really?"

"Yeah, and I swear I didn't beg him for your number so I could be the one to tell you." Chanyeol giggled. "You've got to come meet me at the pier, okay? His orders, not mine."

Tao squinted, suspicious, even though Chanyeol wouldn't be able to see it, "He's not going to show up personally?"

"Nope. Plus, I'm more fun, DUH." Chanyeol replied. "I'll be waiting, okay, Panda?" Then the call disconnected, and Tao was left with a dial tone. Chanyeol did that on purpose, he'd make jokes about how he was like a secret agent or something.

Tao sighed and threw the phone onto the passenger seat. Then He put the car in drive and headed toward the pier. Even if he didn't like Chanyeol that much, he couldn't refuse to meet him, he wouldn't get paid, and he needed every single dirty penny.

~~~

When he pulled up to the pier, he parked as far away from Chanyeol's car as humanly possible. The little purple VW Bug was parked crookedly, taking up two spots despite it's small size. Tao took that as Chanyeol not being able to drive well.

With a sigh, he turned off the engine, then climbed out of the car, making his way to the pier. The planks of wood creaked under his feet, and he could hear the ocean splashing against the posts, each angry crash reminded him of what he'd done at that party. But Min-hee wouldn't accept his apology even if he apologized, and he wasn't sure why he wanted to apologize.

Damn.

Tao ran a hand through his hair. What was wrong with him?

The ocean kept crashing up against the posts, getting louder as he got further out. And yet when he looked out, it all looked so black and empty.

Suddenly a pair of hands went over his eyes, blocking his sight. He stiffened, first thought was to take that person's feet out from under them, but then he remembered who he was supposed to be meeting.

"Guess who?" Chanyeol asked, his voice unmistakable, deep and bubbly.

"Chanyeol..." Tao sighed.

"Nope! Guess again!"

"You know I don't want to play this game."

"Say it...!" Chanyeol whined.

Tao sighed, this time louder. "Is it a Happy Virus?"

"Ding Ding Ding!" Chanyeol said, imitating a bell as he took his hands off Tao's eyes. "You're so good at this, Panda!"

Tao was silent, then turned around to face him. "Shouldn't you be more quiet?"

Chanyeol shrugged, then pouted. "You want to keep our relationship a secret?"

"Don't say it like that." Tao said, frowning.

Chanyeol put his hands behind his back, circling Tao and looking him up and down, then he reached over and brushed Tao's bangs out of the way so he could feel his forehead. Chanyeol nodded once, making a noise like he'd discovered something, then he took Tao's wrist and felt his pulse.

Eventually, he stepped away and smacked his fist against his open palm. "I've got it, I know why you're acting like you've got a cactus up your ass--you're in love!"

Tao scoffed. "Yeah right."

"No, no, it's true! Are you thinking about that person? Maybe trying to figure out what to say to her--or him? In Lo-o-ove!" Chanyeol made a heart shape with his hands.

Tao ran a hand through his hair, maybe he was thinking about her, maybe he was upset that he'd done something so terrible to her and her friends, maybe he wanted to make it up to her, but that didn't mean he loved her! That couldn't be it, that just couldn't, she was just some little nerd.

Chanyeol leaned in close. "You thinking about what you're going to name your kids?"

Tao almost slapped him across the face, but he stepped out of the way. "Can we just stop talking about her, and get to business?"

Chanyeol's eyes widened, and for a second, Tao thought he might actually start talking about the job. "OH! It's a girl? O-o-o-oh, you got the hots for her!" Then he made a sound like a cat purring. "We never get to talk, Panda, maybe next time we can double date?" He said, then handed Tao a small envelope. "Read that when you're sitting down, It'll be a shock."

Tao was confused, but Chanyeol just smiled and waved, heading back to his car. Tao looked down at the envelope, there was nothing all that special about it, probably just contained paper.

He walked back to the Bugatti, Chanyeol had already driven away, so he was left in the parking lot by himself. He stared at the envelope, What could be in there that he had to sit down before he read it?

The suspense was killing him, so when he got in the car, he opened the letter, unfolding the paper inside.

On the letter it read in black bold letters,

Huang Zitao,

I need you to kill--

Tao threw the letter on passenger side. Kill? He couldn't kill anyone, he couldn't hurt anyone like that, that was way out of his realm. He covered his face with his hands. "Sh*t.." What had he gotten himself into?

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A/N: Chanyeolieeeeee~! <3 I'd like to thank Xx-ImmortalDreams-xX For insfiring (Inspiring) me to come up with the current way I'm introducing him, because I wanted to put him in earlier, but wasn't sure what kind of relationship he and Tao would have. SO turns out Tao doesn't like him. Like at all. xD But go read that Unnie's work too if you haven't already, because her story is the bomb . com, like for realsies :3

HOLY LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE O_O