baekhyun breathed in the fresh morning air through the large golden windows, and cracked a relieved smile. he has just been excused from doing the most

distressful job in the entire palace, but instead received the one that he has been wanting most: managing opera preparations. the excited boy hummed his

favorite tune as he walked down the empty halls.

---

the sweet, soft melodies collided with the deep bass voices as baekhyun entered the room. he felt the music all around him, he felt the harmonies barging into his

ears without even knocking. how rude of them to just take over his head! slow yet graceful footsteps brought him closer to the origin of the wondrous sounds. 

 

"bonjour baekhyun! i don't think i have ever seen you here much in the opera house. what brings you here?" 

 

baekhyun turned around to see who spoke those words, and to his surprise it was jongin with taemin by his side. 

 

"ah! jongin! taemin! i've been wanting to come here for a while now but never got the chance," he replied.

jongin and taemin were both the royal dancers of the opera house (and possibly the best in the whole france). 

 

"everything sounds so amazing," baekhyun began again. "i really like the-"

he stopped suddenly when a certain boy and his music caught his attention.

 

the boy had midnight black hair, long fingers that moved from string to string, abrasive eyes that only focused on his playing, his cherry-red tongue that

kept his even finer lips in concentration; the boy was park chanyeol. baekhyun knew him because they use to be friends when they were younger.

their parents, who were also nobles, often visited each other. baekhyun drifted apart from chanyeol when his parents died—he drifted away from

the whole world though. baekhyun wasn't drawn to the looks though, for he saw him almost everyday in the palace, but the sounds coming from him. 

the song. it was so familiar. he had just been humming it earlier, humming it everyday, humming it when his mother died, and humming it when he felt

like everything in the world had been lost for him. it was the song his mother played to him everyday on her harpischord. 

 

it was the song she played when she first met his dad.

 

baekhyun always thought it was so beautiful and calming, but he never got the chance to actually learn how to play it. in fact, baekhyun was actually never

taught how to play any instruments. he isn't musically talented at all. the only thing he has is his voice. his mother knew how great baekhyun's voice was; he sang so flawlessly yet so effortlessly. he wanted to find someone else that would admire his voice after his mother left his world. the boy has had several lovers—fake lovers, as he would say. lovers that were only out for his money or body. after a while baekhyun realized that there is no such thing as love in this 

world anymore. the only thing that exists is lust. he wondered if chanyeol has had any experience.

 

snap! snap! "BAEKHYUN!" 

 

baekhyun's eyes widened and he gasped in shock. he totally spaced out for a while there. 

"yeah?' he said hoarsely. 

 

"why were you staring at chanyeol for a whole five minutes?" jongin asked, confusion spread across his face. taemin simply smirked.

 

baekhyun bit his lip and thought of a good excuse. "uh," he stuttered. "nothing! i just really like the song he's playing. i didn't know he was a musician."

 

jongin chuckled and said, "me neither! i thought he was just another cold-hearted, boring noble, but he is actually quite nice. he's going to be in the 

upcoming show."

 

the upcoming show. chanyeol's going to perform?!

 

"JONGIN! TAEMIN! VIENS AVEC MOI!!" 

 

jongin and taemim gave a quick bow and ran off to the angry woman with the high-pitched voice. it must be practice time. 

 

baekhyun glanced at chanyeol once last time and strolled out of the opera house, back to his room. he blushed because he had made 

eye contact with the other male.

---

" coeurs rouges,  [ red hearts } 
les mots d'amour [ words of love ]
viennent à moi comme [ come to me like ]
la première neige. [ the first snow ]
je viendrai à vous aussi [ and i will come to you too ] 
comme la première fleur du printemps. "  [ like the first flower of spring ] 

~ 

baekhyun sang those words to the group of birds flying away into the distance—to the sun, where everything was brighter. 

he sighed. he had nothing to do today, but the day was still so new.

 

knock! knock! 

 

"huh?"

 

he slowly walked to the door to greet his unexpected visitor.

one of the birds had suddenly hurt his wing and fell to the bare ground. the rest

of the flock kept flying higher and further. 

 

baekhyun opened his door and was met with a little piece of paper carefully placed on the ground.

he picked it up and began reading:

 

                                  " baekhyun, did you think i hadn't noticed you earlier?

                              why did you look at me with those eyes? they looked so hurt.

                              i don't like being looked at with sad eyes. do you want to meet

                                    in the garden? i'm there right now, waiting for you. "

 

baekhyun wondered if he really looked at chanyeol with hurt eyes. he put the letter inside his drawer and ran to the garden. 

---

chanyeol picked a red flower, unknown to its name. 

"agh." he gave a slight groan as blood that was even redder than the flower found a way out from his skin. 

 

"chanyeol?"

 

a soft and shy voice interrupted him. baekhyun. 

 

his brown hair hid his eyes. his face was looking down to the floor. "you wanted to meet?"

 

"yes."

 

silence.

 

finally chanyeol said, "i haven't spoken to you in a long time. i always see you around but i didn't know to properly talk to you after

being apart for such a long time...like strangers."

 

baekhyun looked up at him, his hair no longer hiding his face. he was met with an awkwardly smiling chanyeol. the awkward smile he always

gave as kids. his eyes sparkled and he smiled back. he felt so glad to finally have chanyeol back.