The next morning, Baekhyun peeled open his eyes and sluggishly crawled out of bed. He stretched his arms up in the air, feeling a release of pressure when his bones popped. He turned around and glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table. It read 5:30 a.m., which was perfect for him. Baekhyun usually went to jog at the park every Saturday at this time, since he could naturally wake up this early and since he wanted to beat the morning crowd of workers that only got the weekend to work out.  

He went to the kitchen to begin brewing some coffee, then went to the bathroom to go brush his teeth. Baekhyun looked in the mirror and stared at his reflection. Pieces of his chestnut brown hair stuck out in different directions and his eyeliner was still partially smudged all over his eyelids, even though he washed most of it out the previous night. There was no denying that he looked like a mess. So he went to work, thoroughly splashing his face with water and rubbing his eyes with disposable wipes. After a couple of minutes, Baekhyun deemed his face somewhat acceptable for the general public to witness.

Afterwards, he got out of the bathroom and went to his bedroom to go change his clothes. Baekhyun didn’t clean his room all that much, so every day was a struggle to find a clean pair of clothes. He sifted through tank tops and jeans and hoodies that were carelessly strewn on the floor until he found his beaten-up high school soccer shirt and running shorts. With a cursory sniff, Baekhyun figured it was clean enough to wear. He also put on his socks and black Nikes and grabbed his phone from his nightstand which had his earbuds wrapped around it.

The smell of americano in the morning was one of his favorite scents. He inhaled the pleasant aroma and then went to the counter to pour the coffee into a mug. He grabbed the mug that Yixing had bought when they went to Lotte World. The pink mug was starting to chip, but Baekhyun felt sentimental towards the object. It reminded him of when he spent the day in the amusement park with Yixing for Yixing’s birthday. They went on every ride possible and stuffed themselves with churros until they were sick. It was easily one of the best days of his life.

Thinking about Yixing reminded him of last night’s occurrence. Baekhyun remembered how the tall Chinese boy had complained about an upset stomach. He hoped that Yixing was feeling better now. The night before, he practically had to shove Pepto-Bismol down Yixing’s throat. His roommate had vehemently refused to take the medicine, despite the fact that he was sick. Yixing wasn’t usually this bothersome, even when he was ill. Baekhyun wondered why his roommate hadn’t allowed him to help out. He had a lingering thought about Yixing’s apparent discomfort around Sehun and Jongin last night, but quickly dismissed it.

Baekhyun wanted to go check on Yixing, but didn’t want to wake him up so early in the morning. So after downing his coffee, he grabbed his phone and headed out. After a five-minute walk, he was at the park. There was an endless amount of greenery and pathway adjacent to the Han River. Many joggers and bikers came here at around ten in the morning, but since he was early, it was nearly desolate.

Baekhyun some music and put his earbuds on. He then proceeded to jog along the sidewalk. He loved gazing out into the river, which had an amazing view. It was peaceful to watch the cerulean waves crash against the shore. He also loved the brisk air, which had a slightly oceany scent about it. The air also cooled him down as he sweated. He felt at peace in the serene setting.

After 20 minutes, Baekhyun took a short break. He stopped and went to go lean against a tree. Just as he was about to check his emails, he heard a frantic voice yell out his name.

“Baekhyun! There you are! I hoped you would be here,” shouted none other than his boyfriend, Chanyeol. Baekhyun’s head jolted up and his eyes widened. The lanky boy was running towards him and waving his arm in the air.

Baekhyun was somewhat surprised to see Chanyeol at the park. On occasion, he invited Chanyeol to accompany him on Saturday mornings. However, Chanyeol rejected his offers most of the time since he didn’t like being up that early in the morning. Baekhyun was somewhat upset whenever he refused, but he understood that most people couldn’t function the way he did.

Chanyeol slowed down once he was closer and then stood in front of him. He was heavily panting and was bent over with his hands on his knees. After collecting himself, Chanyeol said “Oh, thank god you’re here. I really wanted to talk to you, Baek.” Chanyeol had a open-mouthed smile on his face. He appeared to look friendly and casual, but Baekhyun could see from his eyes that he was a bit tense.

“Ok, let’s talk.” curtly replied Baekhyun, although he sounded like he wanted to do anything but that.

“Oh… uh… um, ok... ,” stuttered Chanyeol, who was taken aback by Baekhyun’s cut-and-dry tone. Chanyeol rubbed the back of his neck and had his mouth agape. “Well... we haven’t really been hanging out that much lately,” he began.

“Obviously, since you keep rejecting me,” Baekhyun sneered.

“I know. It’s totally my fault. But I really think that should change. I want us to be together more.” replied Chanyeol.

“Where exactly were you yesterday when I texted you to come pick me up? Were you actually at home?,” asked Baekhyun testily. “Oh yeah, and by the way, my father dearest was wondering where you were last night.”

“You went to the wedding? With who?,” asked Chanyeol.

“With Yixing.” Baekhyun noticed that his boyfriend’s eyes slightly creased. “Anyways, that’s not the point. Were you really even hungover?”

“Yes, Baekhyun. I was at home and I was hungover and I had one of the worst migraines in my entire life. I could barely get out of bed, much less leave the house.”

“Then what did you get piss drunk for anyways? I texted you about this wedding almost every day this week. You should’ve known not to drink that much.”

Chanyeol took a deep sigh. “Look, I’m really sorry Baekhyun.” He grabbed Baekhyun’s hands and held them out in front of him. “I can’t make up for what I did in the past, but I want to do what I can now. Could you give me another chance? Please Baekhyun, I really want to make this work, make us work.” Chanyeol looked at him with wide eyes, which pleaded for forgiveness.

Baekhyun stared deep into those eyes. He didn’t know exactly whether what he was seeing or not was the truth. He felt like with Chanyeol, he never really knew what went on inside his brain. Baekhyun desperately wanted to believe his words, without a single doubt in his mind. But he didn’t know how to trust Chanyeol anymore these days. Baekhyun picked up all the slack in their relationship, and although he wanted to give some of the burden to Chanyeol, he wasn’t sure how long Chanyeol would take it for. Baekhyun felt disoriented when it came to him. Calling Chanyeol his boyfriend almost felt like an empty title.

However, despite the hesitation that swirled around in his mind, he didn’t express it to Chanyeol. Baekhyun wanted to keep Chanyeol happy. He needed to. Because very soon, the businesses of his family and Chanyeol’s were in the midst of a merger. And he couldn’t afford to have any outward bitterness towards him or any member of his family.

Baekhyun put on a smile on his face. “Ok. I’ll give you another chance. I want this relationship to work just as much as you do.” Baekhyun released one of his hands from Chanyeol’s but still held to the other one. “Now let’s get out of here. I’m hungry and there’s a cafe down the street that I want to try out. Your treat,” teased Baekhyun as he led Chanyeol out of the park.

-------

At around 9 am, Yixing woke up. He didn’t get out of bed, but twisted around in his sheets and let out a loud yawn. His eyes become watery, which he rubbed away. Then, with his hands behind his head, he stared at the ceiling for a few moments before he decided to leave the bed. He walked into the cramped hallway which was filled with random things that Baekhyun bought on impulse. Yixing had been meaning to tell Baekhyun to throw some of it out already, since he could barely walk to the bathroom without tripping on at least three things. If it had been just Yixing living in the apartment, the entire place would’ve been spotless. Yixing didn’t believe in hoarding things that he didn’t really need. He liked to keep things nice and simple. Plus, he couldn’t carry many of his belongings from home when he first came to Korea.

As Yixing went into the kitchen, he noticed the lack of the presence of a certain 21 year old human reincarnation of a beagle. He should be back by now, Yixing thought as he checked the clock. After scanning the room, he shrugged off the thought. He figured that Baekhyun must’ve went somewhere after his run. So he opened the kitchen cabinet and grabbed some cereal and then poured in it a bowl with milk. He then munched on his cereal at a small wood table.

Yixing’s mind wandered off to different thoughts. But his main thought was about his senior capstone project. At the end of the year, all the music major students in his year were required to present a self-composed piece at a recital. Yixing didn’t necessarily have to perform it himself, but he had to design its content. Since it was the culmination of four years of musical education, Yixing felt immensely pressured to show his absolute best.

His plan of action was to have a small ensemble perform with a singer. He was close to done with composing the music for the instrumental parts, but he had yet to create the lyrics for the singer. He had already chosen the vocalist after holding auditions, who was a tiny and curly-haired tenor named Kim Jongdae. When Jongdae had come in for his audition, Yixing was blown away by how such a small person could have such a powerful and energetic singing voice.

Yixing couldn’t believe he was graduating in a few months. He felt like his last year of college had flown by so fast, amidst the classes, exams, cramming, and partying. And finally, in a few months, he would begin life working under the one and only SM Entertainment. The prestigious company had let him audition for them about a year ago to become a composer. When he found out a few months ago that he had been accepted, Yixing took his friends out to the bar for drinks, despite the fact that he wasn’t much of a drinker himself. Overall, he was excited for what his future had to offer.

As Yixing was about to to get up from his chair, he could hear the sound of a key fumble in the keyhole of the front door. Baekhyun opened the door and Yixing noticed that his shirt was drenched in sweat. Baekhyun tossed his keys on the table and kicked off his shoes.

“Hey,” said Baekhyun.

“Yo,” responded Yixing.

“How’s your stomach now? Feeling better?”

“Yeah, it’s fine now,” said Yixing. “What’s up with you?”

“Chanyeol went to the park to go find me. At 6 o’clock in the morning. Can you believe it?”

“Wow. What happened?”

“He wanted to talk or something. Says we need to hang out more.”

Yixing stood up out of his chair to put his bowl in the sink. “So what did you say?”

“I told him yes. It’s about time he started owning up for his .” said Baekhyun as he pulled his shirt up to wipe the sweat on his face. Unconsciously, Yixing’s eyes wandered to Baekhyun’s lithe form. Even though he had a little bit of chub because of an infrequent workout schedule, his abdomen was still mostly toned from years of playing soccer. He briefly wondered what it would feel like to the supple skin on Baekhyun’s stomach. He quickly looked away.

“That’s good. You guys should work on your relationship so that you both can be happy,” said Yixing, offering Baekhyun a smile.

“Yeah, we’ll see,” replied Baekhyun dismissively.

Baekhyun frowned for a few seconds before leaving for the living room. In the limited space that they had, Yixing had somehow managed to fit a keyboard. Yixing mostly only played the piano for school work nowadays, but when he was a kid, he was quite the concert pianist. Yixing favored the grand piano at school for homework assignments, but whenever that wasn’t accessible, he used the keyboard instead. The plastic white and black keys were starting to collect dust, which Baekhyun went over and brushed with his fingers.

Baekhyun sat down on the stool and patted the space next to him. “Yixing-ah, can you play me something? I’m bored.” he moaned.

Yixing turned around. Baekhyun’s legs swung, with his feet not touching the ground. He aimlessly swayed back and forth and he sat on his hands. He really is like a dog, thought Yixing. But Yixing refused to sit with him. If he sat that close next to Baekhyun and serenaded him by playing the piano, he would be the living epitome of a cliche K-drama. Hell, he already was one. And just because every second lead with an unrequited love took advantage of being alone with the main lead, it didn’t mean he should. This was real life, fraught with real consequences.  

“No, I’m busy.” With that, Yixing left.

I'm sorry that this chapter was kind of short. But I was so excited to post a new chapter that I couldn't wait! Thanks for reading :)