Yet no matter how much time seems to pass, the festering wound in this heart refuses to disappear

Just like I had thought, it was okay. For a few months we were still being careful, but after that we started showing skinship and played it off as fanservice. The fans loved it so it was ok and everything was going pretty well. Until we got the news.

Kris had packed his bags in the night and when we all awoke in the morning he gave us a quick apology and farewell before heading to the airport for a one way trip out of Korea. The members were devastated and Tao even cried in the company meeting we had an hour later. For the next week we worked non-stop to change the choreography of every song we were planning to perform at our concert, meaning we were getting only around 2 hours of sleep per day.

We were all exhausted, physically and emotionally, so of course myself and Baek had no time to talk. Everything nearly when to as the company proposed Baekhyun and Taeyeon had a fake relationship to cover up the stress, but the idea fell through after the rumor was sent out and the fans reacted so badly that they were forced to decline the rumor instead of confirm it.

In that week we had almost split up from the stress but we held on, and finally things died down. The new tour went on and things went back to normal apart for the empty hole in our hearts. The fanservice came back and people were still arguing which was real, chanbaek or baekyeon. We ignored them for the most part and even laughed at them.

However, one night I woke up to a crying Baekhyun. He was sobbing into my chest muttering something about the fans and our relationship. It was late summer, so the faint morning light streamed through the curtain, illuminating the trail of tears that had rolled down his smooth cheeks. I immediately pulled him closer to my side and felt something rectangular poke into my ribs. I looked down to see his phone pressed tightly into his palm, the screen shining dully against his fingers. On the screen was a fantaken picture of us with our arms on each others back and in big the words CHANBAEK IS DISGUSTING.

I grabbed his phone from him before he could stop me and started scrolling to see more pictures of us, some untouched, others edited with one or both of our faces crossed out or replaced with another person. However, it clearly wasn’t the pictures that were affecting Baekhyun as when I read the words printed below them.

‘They literally make me want to throw up, how can anyone support this. It is so wrong. Baekhyun would be better of with Taeyeon. Everyone who thinks ‘chanbaek’ is a thing are all sick in the head and if they are together then they are sick too. I am going to go set these pictures on fire then get brain surgery so I can forget they ever existed. P.S. Anyone who supports this can go die.’

I shook my head in disbelief, then I read the comments and tears sprang to my eyes as well.

‘Ew you’re right this is so horrible.’

‘If they are real I will seriously leave the fandom, I won’t support faggots.’

‘Why don’t they just run off together it will save the fans from looking at the ugliness of them together.’

‘I nearly threw up when I saw this, can I join you with burning pictures?’

I threw the phone on the bed in anger and instantly pulled Baekhyun into my arms.

‘How dare they say those things about us? How can they call themselves our fans? They don’t know anything!’ My voice got louder and angrier, so much so that Baekhyun placed his small hand over my lips to keep me quiet so the other members wouldn’t hear us.

He was looking up at me from where his head was laid against my chest, eyes drying and cheeks reddened. I gave up trying to talk and brushed a strand of hair off his forehead affectionately.

‘I don’t care what they say,’ I whispered, ‘I love you and I always will.’

‘Chanyeol…’ Baekhyun mumbled softly, ‘I love you too.’ Then his eyes drooped shut and his breathing steadied. My own eyes were heavy, though the sun was coming up, it was only 4am. So I pulled Baekhyun impossibly closer and drifted of to a dream of a perfect life with Baekhyun always in my arms.