Chapter 12

Break the Wall

Weekend came with Baekhyun ignoring Chanyeol for the rest of the week. He kept on doing his job, which was illustrating for the other projects of the company and of course, meeting with Sehun for the upcoming fan meeting. The younger insisted for him to come, but Baekhyun wasn’t really fond of attention. To him, the people wanted to meet Sehun, and Baekhyun’s work was just a part of the book’s success. In the end, Baekhyun won and Sehun went to his fan event alone.

Chanyeol on the other hand, seemed to take the hint and didn’t try to bother him again. If only Baekhyun knew how restless the CEO had become after their fight. If only he knew how the elder seemed to follow him with his eyes whenever they cross their paths in the building and how Chanyeol was so out of his wits for the rest of the week.

It was Saturday morning when he received a call from Luhan. He was still in his pajamas and was currently flipping the pancake—his breakfast. Upon seeing the smartphone Chanyeol bought for him as an apology for crushing his old one, Baekhyun was again reminded of the other. With a sigh he turned off the induction stove and received the call in loudspeaker, sliding down his thumb from the left side of the screen to the right.

“Baekhyun-ah~”

“What do you want doll face?” he asked, chuckling.

“Aw, darling be thankful I’m not there to shove your face in my .”

“Ew, keep your fantasies to Sehun only.”

“Rude,” he could almost see the pout on the other’s face, making him shook his head in amusement. “Anyway, I will go back home for the weekend! And I thought you might want to come with me to visit mom and dad.”

Baekhyun almost dropped the phone, “Really, you will?! , yes of course I’ll come! I haven’t seen auntie and uncle in ages!”

“Good! Mom has been nagging about when will I go home with you, she said I snatched you from her!”

He laughed whole heartedly, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, I’ll send her a message and I’ll be ready in an hour. Pick me up?”

“Sure, see ya in an hour!”

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Luhan parked the car in the garage with an excited smile on his face. As always, when he turned off the engine, he took his necessary things from the compartment, plus his bloated black backpack from the backseat. Baekhyun on the other hand, had turned off the player of his phone, pressing the back button repeatedly until all the applications closed.

For a second, the illustrator was frozen when he realized that the wallpaper of the phone was the portrait sketch of the man who gave him the device. He mentally cursed himself for harboring lingering feelings for the man who wasn’t even serious with what he showed and said to him a few weeks back.

“Baekhyun,” the said man realized that Luhan was already outside, looking at him quizzically from the door of the car he was about to close. Baekhyun cleared his throat, putting the phone in his back pocket while opening the door.

They shut it simultaneously as the maid and the guard who opened the gates for them bowed at them with a smile.

“Sir Luhan, Sir Baekhyun! Welcome back!” the maid hollered, following Luhan to the compartment of the car. The elder lifted the trunk, rubbing his palms together when Baekhyun stood beside him, taking some plastic bags and eco bags full of groceries with him. The guard jogged to his side and took them, earning a thankful smile from the younger one. Luhan on the other hand gave one brown paper bag full of baking ingredients to the maid, muttering thank you as she took it to the kitchen with the other man.

Just in time, a woman in her late forties clad with a beige knee length cotton dress and flat brown sandals came out from the front door with a bright smile on her face.

“Luhan-ah, Baekhyun-ah!”

“Mom~” Luhan ran like a child to his mother and wrapped his arms around her. Baekhyun laughed and said, “Yah, yah! Me too!”

The lady spread her other arm for Baekhyun to fit in her big hug. The two of them gave her twin kisses on both cheeks, making the elder woman’s smile widened. She clasped her hand in front of her chest with teary eyes. “Oh my god, my sons are so handsome, I am so proud of you two…”

Luhan chuckled and put an arm around his mother’s waist, escorting them inside the elegant living room. Baekhyun jogged inside as soon as he finished helping the other maids took the groceries from the trunk and making sure that the compartment was locked as well.

And from the time they sat on the couch while eating the prepared strawberry shortcake and juice until lunch, they talked about things non-stop, from Luhan’s boyfriend—Sehun—up to everything that have happened that the elder woman didn’t know.

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Baekhyun took a deep breath before shaking his head. He was just going to open the door to his previous room, why was he having cold feet now? His hands hovered over the brass knob, taking its time before it grabbed the object. The solid wooden door creaked open after he turned the brass, and the first thing he saw from inside was the open window and baby blue curtains.

Honestly, Baekhyun thought that they were going to take this room down, or turn it into a personal office or storage room. But no… Baekhyun bit his lower lips when his eyes fell on the room that didn’t change since he left.

There was his single-sized bed pushed into the corner of the room, thick brown duvet covering the cream sheets. There was his collection of high school books placed in a six feet shelf with five divisions, and his study table, cleaned and organized save from the notes pinned on the board in front of it.

And then, near that window he saw earlier, was everything that described Baekhyun in his college days.

A stand of music score sheets, and then a string instrument polished into shiny reddish brown skin beside it. Baekhyun took a deep breath, reaching out to touch the four strings he remembered his mother used to play when he was young. It was so clear before his eyes when he closed them.

He was sitting on the carpet of their living room in the second floor, a paint brush on his hand and a messy water color painting on the mini-table in front of him. In the background, reverberates the music created by his mother’s fingers and her bow.

He was humming with his underdeveloped voice, making her mother smile while she kept on playing the cello. And that was when his father, Karlile enters the room and kissed his mother’s cheeks.

“What a beautiful melody, love,” he said then before turning to him. “Look at you, young man, you’re full of paints,” he chuckled, crouching and wiping his right cheek which had a blue smudge on it with his thumb. “I swear, Chaehyun, why do you let him dirty himself.” Karlile shook his head.

Chaehyun giggled and hit her husband’s bum with the bow gently. “Stop being the villain, Karlile, Kristian likes to draw and exposing him to art would do him good. He’ll learn on his own, it will develop his talent.”

Karlile chuckled, ruffling his son’s hair, watching him as he was busy painting a sun with yellow. “I thought you’d take him to your instructor in Julliard?”

Chaehyun watched his son affectionately. “I won’t force Kristian to learn music and master Cello just because I did it. I want him to follow his heart into whatever it is that he wanted to do for his future.”

Smiling from the nostalgic memory, Baekhyun took his cello and its bow to the stool he used in playing the instrument. When he finished senior high, he knew he could have mastered arts if he wished to, that was his passion anyway. But instead, Baekhyun took Music and studied how to play Cello. They said he had the talent, but to Baekhyun, no one would be able to surpassed his mother, Byun Chaehyun which was also known as Kanon in Julliard as the best cellist in her generation.

He knew his mother didn’t want to force him into liking her passion, but ever since she passed away when he was ten years old, due to her heart complication, he promised himself to at least do what his mother wished to honor her memory.

Taking a deep breath, Baekhyun placed the instrument in front of him, the lower bout by his knee and the upper bout supported by his sternum. He placed his nimble fingers on the finger board, holding the bow with his right hand.

And Baekhyun started playing the piece his mother played a thousand of times, the Castle of Sand.

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The melody of the string instrument filled the house with calming atmosphere. Luhan paused drinking his tea when he heard that piece and smiled to himself. His mother, Limei, on the other hand, hummed in delight as she leaned back against the back rest of the chair. They were by the veranda, having their Jasmine tea that time when Baekhyun’s cello hummed and served as their background music.

“How is he, son?” Limei asked Luhan when the latter put his teacup back on the table. Luhan smiled and lifted his shoulder. “He’s doing fine mom, you should stop worrying about him. Baekhyun can handle himself just fine.”

Shaking her head, the elder woman took a deep breath and said, “You can’t blame me, Luhan-ah… Chaehyun was like a sister to me, and I was really heartbroken when she passed away. But what broke me the most is that her son was orphaned at a young age. You know I treated Kris—I mean Baekhyun like my own right?”

Luhan nodded and thinned his lips. “Right.”

“Baekhyun is a lonely boy, and I am so glad that you were always there by his side. You don’t know how I was so relieved when you told me that he got accepted in your company. I felt at ease, Luhan. And you said he’s an illustrator now?”

Luhan chuckled and nodded. “Yes, mom. He started drawing again. And you wouldn’t believe how much I missed his art style. It can range from fantasy-like to hyperrealism.”

“That’s good! Dr. Zhang will be so happy when he hears this.”

“Speaking of Yixing’s dad, you said he was the one who handled Baekhyun’s depression case back then right?”

“Right…” Limei took her teacup and sipped from it. Her son frowned and asked in curiosity. “Mom…” The woman looked at his son who continued once their eyes met. “Do you think Baekhyun had moved on already? I don’t want him to go back to the person who stopped doing things that makes him happy. Baekhyun became my brother the moment you and dad took him in, and I grew up with him… and I care for him too. Was Dr. Zhang sure that he’s really fine?”

Limei smiled tenderly at his son, reaching out to take his hand and held it with both of her hands. “And to think you said not to worry about him,” she chuckled. “Baekhyun is a strong boy, Luhan. I’m sure with the right people by his side, just like you, he’d never go back to how he was before.”

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Back in Seoul, one person hadn’t had a single minute of sleep since he found out that Baekhyun went back to his hometown for the weekend. It was Saturday evening that time when he knocked on Baekhyun’s doorstep, finally deciding to talk to him. Unfortunately no one was there and when he asked the receptionist if the one residing in the room left early, the receptionist said that Baekhyun dropped by that morning saying that he’d be gone for the weekend so if ever someone asked for him, tell them that he’d be back by Sunday evening.

And Park Chanyeol realized by then how time seemed to slow down whenever he was waiting for his princess. How time seemed to pass by so fast whenever he was with him. And those times were his happiest, the times when he could be himself, without putting on any façade to please anyone, to meet anyone’s standards.

He didn’t have to be the Park Chanyeol, CEO and son of the Chairman of Park Publishing. The young bachelor who was wanted by most of the women of the higher class and the man many were fantasizing to be with. He didn’t had to be the man who should make his father’s footsteps into his own to follow, and he didn’t had to be the man who had to keep the reputation of his family by abiding the rules of the society.

He was just Chanyeol, a twenty-five year old man who could enjoy coffee and snacks after working hours. Someone who could drive around the city, having dinner date with the person he admired the most. Someone who could play arcades without anyone judging him.

Baekhyun brought out the best in him, and yet because he was so stressed and concerned about the issue with his sister and the Heinsworth Family, all his pent-up frustrations exploded that time when Baekhyun was just asking him what was wrong.

It was a small thing to be the cause of a fight, but maybe it wasn’t for the other.

And he wanted to apologize for that, he wanted to talk to Baekhyun.

“.” Chanyeol slammed the bottom of the bottle on the top the counter. He had been drowning himself in alcohol for two hours now. With a phone in one hand, he kept on dialling the younger’s number but it kept on redirecting him into voice mails. And he didn’t wanted to leave a message like that. He wanted to talk to Baekhyun face to face, and not through some stupid phone call.

He couldn’t tell if he was already drunk or not, but maybe because he swayed here and there when he tried to walk, Chanyeol concluded that the alcohol had gotten into his brain. The only thing he remembered was bumping himself into some furniture and walking out of his pad.

The last time he checked the clock, it was 10:38 in the evening, he didn’t know what time it was now and he didn’t give a . Right now, he had to see Baekhyun. He had to know if he was back, time be damned.

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Baekhyun tossed his bath towel on the back rest of the sofa bed, taking the remote control of his player and chose some classical music to play. Since he just came back from his hometown and holding the cello he hadn’t play for a long time, he went to his mother’s album and played Kanon’s best hit songs in moderate volume.

The soft sound of the string instrument, accompanied by some orchestra inspired him to do some of his works in advance. He took his pencil and sketchpad from his backpack and also, his phone that he didn’t touch since Saturday. “No phone” was one of his uncle’s rules whenever they visited them. They said that they rarely spent time with each other, and they did’t want their sons to be distracted in their little time together. So being the obedient one, he put his phone in his bag.

To say that his phone was blown up with missed calls was a huge understatement. Baekhyun’s eyes widened when he saw 73 missed calls flashing proudly on his screen. He quickly checked who called him almost a hundred times and when he saw who it was, his eyes doubled even more.

“Chanyeol…”

And just in time, Baekhyun heard loud pounding on his door and the doorbell rang repeatedly, as if it was a broken fire alarm. Alerted, Baekhyun set his things aside and ran towards the door, frowning when he saw Chanyeol’s face through the video door phone.

“Baekhyun open the ing door!” he slurred from the other side. , was he drunk?

“It’s almost midnight Chanyeol, what the hell are you doing? And stop slamming your fist on the god damned door!”

“Then open it!”

Baekhyun cursed again and did as told. With a frown on his face, he yanked the door open, clearly pissed off from the giant’s intrusion. The elder didn’t even wait for him to say anything when he entered his pad without permission. “Chanyeol,” Baekhyun let out a deep breath, slamming the door shut. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Princess,” the elder grunted, tilting his head up as he pressed his temples with his middle finger and thumb. Chanyeol pivoted his heels around, dropping his hands in defeat.  “Talk to me please…”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Baekhyun insisted, crossing his arms in front him. “I told you that right? So now can you please invite yourself out, before I call the security—Chanyeol!” He gasped when the elder suddenly grabbed his shoulder and slammed him against the wall. Now he was trapped between it and the elder’s body, Baekhyun could smell the strong scent of alcohol in Chanyeol’s breath, and could tell how his eyes were red and how dark the circles under his eyes were.

“No,” Chanyeol breathed, leaning closer that their foreheads touched. “No, Baek, we have a lot to ing talk about.” His grip on the shorter man’s shoulder tightened, remembering Baekhyun’s words before the latter gave him the cold shoulder for the past days. “For starters, I am so sorry about last time, princess. I didn’t mean to say that and you didn’t cross the god damned line because there’s no such thing between us.”

“Chanyeol, stop doing this, please, you are drunk and you don’t know what you’re saying!” Baekhyun raised his arms to counter Chanyeol’s, but the latter’s muscles flexed with opposite force, preventing him to escape his grip.

“I am drunk, yes. ing yes, princess but I know what I am saying okay?!” Chanyeol bellowed, startling the shorter man. “I know why I’m here, and I am here to take you back. I was there, princess! I was there already,” Chanyeol jabbed Baekhyun’s chest with his right index finger, slurring his words as he ranted. “I was there and I freaking ed up. I made you feel like you don’t have a part in my life and I am sorry, I didn’t mean it like that…I was stressed and I wasn’t myself that time—“

“You don’t have to explain things to me, Chanyeol, it’s fine,” Baekhyun said flatly.

“No.” Chanyeol shook his head, putting his hands on the wall beside Baekhyun’s head, arms caging the latter’s body so he couldn’t run away. Pressing himself against the younger, Chanyeol’s head lolled on Baekhyun’s shoulder as he muttered, “You have the right to know and you have the right to understand that you didn’t do anything wrong, princess.” Baekhyun felt his tears prickling his eyes and he hated it. He hated the fact that Chanyeol was a mess right now. He hated how he was getting soft right after Chanyeol’s series of apologies.

He wanted to slap him and push him out of his pad. He wanted to scold himself for being affected. Baekhyun already knew from the beginning that things wouldn’t work out between them. There was a great wall dividing him and Chanyeol, and he let himself be blinded by Chanyeol’s sweet words and kisses that was why he ignored that barricade. But what happened last time slapped him back to reality. It hurt him because he felt betrayed. He thought Chanyeol was being sincere, that he was really interested in him, even though Baekhyun knew that was unlikely to happen. He let himself believe that sometimes, fairy tales could happen in real life. How pathetic of him to do so.

“Mr. Park, I’ll say this one last time. Get out of my house and please do not talk to me if it isn’t work related. Please, it’s midnight and—“

“Byun Baekhyun, were you even listening to me!?” Chanyeol slammed the wall with his fist, startling the other. Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol’s raging eyes, filled with unshed tears and repressed emotions. “I won’t leave this place until you’re mine again, until you and me were us again!”

“There was never an ‘us’ Chanyeol!” Baekhyun snapped. “There was never… But if you think that there was, that’s my fault because I let you walk into my life and messed up with my heart and my mind. And I am sorry, because I believed that I could be a part of your life, because I thought that I had the right to care, and had the right to ask if you’re fine and what was bothering you. I’m sorry because I thought you were ing serious with me—” Baekhyun choked in his sobs and that was when he realized he was crying. “Because I thought that there was something between you and mmph—“

Chanyeol had cut him in the middle of the sentence by crushing his lips with his. Baekhyun fisted his hands and served his arm as the only barrier between his and Chanyeol’s body. He pounded the man’s chest to get him off of him but Chanyeol snatched both of his wrists, wrapped them both in his large hands and pinned them on the sides. Chanyeol moved his lips hard and rough against Baekhyun’s tears soaked pair. He the salty liquid from Baekhyun’s lips vigorously, barely even giving the younger a second to breathe.

Baekhyun’s cries were muffled with Chanyeol’s lips, his chest moving violently as he gasped for air until Chanyeol brushed his lips down to Baekhyun’s jaws, down to his neck, his flesh and skin in a brusque way that Baekhyun didn’t expected from the giant.

And when Chanyeol’s lips crawled up to his ear, breathing there, all hair in Baekhyun’s skin stood up. “I am serious with what I said before, with what I told you before.” Chanyeol bit the shell of his ear, earning him a surprised gasp. “I am serious about what I feel for you, Baekhyun, I am ing serious with what we have, whatever is it that we ing have…” Chanyeol pulled away enough to look at Baekhyun’s flushed face.

The elder slanted his lips against Baekhyun once again, and this time Baekhyun gave in once again because Chanyeol, for the second time around, destroyed the walls Baekhyun always built whenever he was hurt or betrayed, and he didn’t know why he trusted Chanyeol so much that he was willing to get hurt again if it would mean staying in his arms and tasting his sweet lips.

“Chanyeol…” Baekhyun breathed out, his lips and tasting the flavor of alcohol in his tongue. The elder’s hand travelled down from his back to his waist, hips, tracing the shape of his before it landed under it, hoisting him up against the wall. Baekhyun instantly wrapped his arms around his neck for support, with his legs latched around the taller man’s waist.

“I will show you how much you mean to me, princess. And after this night, don’t you dare say that you’re just any one to me,” Chanyeol whispered against his lips. “And don’t you dare walk out on me again, Byun Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol carried him upstairs, tossing him on his own bed with fire burning in his eyes.