Baekhyun pulled the throttle of his two-man ship, wincing at how the sound of the motor increased to a more deafening one as the ship sped up. He looked over to Chanyeol who didn’t show any response to the change of speed. He wondered if all of this was normal to him especially since he was solely under the external affairs unit; handling and collecting resources from other planets and other countries.

But he decided to ask him later, right now it was better to place the importance on catching up with Kai and Shixun.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

Baekhyun hummed in response and turned his eyes towards the other for a little while, before training his eyes back onto the billion stars ahead. It would take a week at least to catch up with the others and he planned to keep it that way if not any time earlier.

“Why are you so keen on finding the antidote yourself?” Chanyeol inquired, pure curiosity laced over his voice as he fished out a candy from his pocket; his left hand still controlling the steering wheel. “I mean, isn’t Kai and that criminal girl on the hunt for it already.”

Baekhyun shot a glare at the former and unconsciously increased their speed to maximum, making the other jerk in shock as he struggled to control the wheel from his side.

“For your information, that ‘criminal girl’ is my best friend.” He spat, rolling his eyes as he decreased the speed to better control the ship. “And she has a name.”

Chanyeol wore a regretful look afterwards as his brows knitted. He mumbled a small apology under his breath and cleared his throat awkwardly. “I didn’t know who she was, I mean— that was what the guys referred to her as…”

Baekhyun’s eyes narrowed as he tightened his grip on the steering, lips set into a thin line. Of course, he did expect the rest of the Resistance to blame Shixun for her father’s mistake. Because that was what he went through for the first few years of his time in the Resistance. But he didn’t foresee them to label her as a criminal. She was far from that. And she’s paid for the mistake of their parents for long enough.

“She’s not a criminal, her name is Shixun.” Baekhyun growled through gritted teeth. As much as Kai was protective of Shixun, Baekhyun was more defensive of her because he understood her plight more than anybody else. “She’s suffered the most throughout this whole ordeal.”

Chanyeol cocked his head to the side, not understanding what Baekhyun meant; which only made the latter sigh in response. But though it was a lengthy story, Baekhyun was bent on clearing Shixun’s name and even if it was only one person hearing and listening to his retelling, Baekhyun was willing to give it go. At least now, there was one less person hating her for a mistake she didn’t do.

As he pulled the throttle further, he pressed the autopilot button and got off his sit; silently ushering Chanyeol to tag along— in which he did.

Baekhyun boiled a pot of water and took out a few refreshments, settling them onto the pantry table for Chanyeol to munch on. And without a doubt, Chanyeol did help himself to the cookies even before Baekhyun could verbally offer them. The latter was quite surprised that Baekhyun seemed to be more than prepared judging by the freshness of the cookies. It didn’t seem as if they were stale.

Before he knows it, Baekhyun was already pouring warm tea onto his cup and sitting down opposite of him. Chanyeol watched as the former looked wistfully into his cup, a bitter smile appearing on his lips as he fluttered his eyes closed. A soft sigh left his lips as he took a sip from the warm drink in his hand.

“Shixun, was the first friend I made whilst in the palace.”

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Baekhyun brought his eyes back down to the empty cup briefly before tilting his head back up to examine the other’s expression. Chanyeol has his lips parted, still in disbelief at what Baekhyun had told him. He’s never heard of a more messed up story before and he certainly doubted that he would ever.

“You mean to say, that her own father was willing to somewhat poison his own daughter because he didn’t want the sickness to spread even more to others?”

Baekhyun scrunched up his nose in distaste, “Now you’re making it sound as if Kris was a bad parent.”

“Well, isn’t he?”

Baekhyun pulled back his lips in thought. It did seem as if Kris was a bad parent, because usually most parents would want to save their children first instead of others. But for Kris, it was the other way around. A sharp frown crept up his lips as he broke another sigh.

“No, he did give her the antidote as well.” Baekhyun retorted. “He knew that if there’s perfect balance of both, the affect would be neutral or otherwise— nullified.”

Baekhyun remembered clearly what Kris told Shixun; that she shouldn’t give away the antidote from her body or else, there would be a lesser chance of her survival. But Kris knew than to just give her an equal amount of antidote and the epidemic serum. He was sure there was more antidote concoction as compared to the serum, because both Kris and Boa too, took in the serum and regrettably passed on.

And for years the rest of the researchers who heard what Kris and Boa inserted into the child, set on a hunt to have the antidote for themselves. Baekhyun heard that they succeeded several times before, but how she often escaped them was never explained by anyone. Even Shixun herself didn’t know how she’d be rescued.

“So, you two have been close for a very long time huh.” Chanyeol rhetorically stated, his deep voice suddenly a tone lower than it usually was. Baekhyun frowned and grimaced uncomfortable when the other wore a sly smirk on his lips.

“What… are you driving at…” Baekhyun questioned, meekly folding his arms as he turned his gaze away.

Chanyeol only wiggled his brows in response and sipped more tea from his cup. He let out a refreshing ‘Ah’ sound from his throat before scrunching up his nose.

“Well, don’t tell me you just stayed as friends.” Chanyeol winked, popping a cookie into his mouth. “Didn’t you develop feelings?”

Baekhyun swallowed, awkwardly clearing his throat as he turned his eyes back to the taller man. He leaned backwards, deeper into the chair before suspiring dejectedly.

“I almost did but Kai…” Baekhyun trailed, on his bottom lip. “He just— beat me to it.”

~”~

Shixun took in a deep breath and her lips nervously as she stood restlessly in front of Luhan’s door. If she was being honest, she didn’t know what to say or what to tell the Crown Prince. Should she ask if he was okay? Or should she ask why he kissed her?

The brunette groaned inwardly, flailing both her hands in defeat and mustered all the courage