Chanyeol stumbled his way out of his bedroom, his eyes heavy with the siren of sleep beckoning him, but he resisted. If he was going to make it out to the Asian Winter Games, he needed to put some massive time in at both the studio and Club FF to make it work. He made his way into the kitchen and after pulling a mug from the nearby cabinet, poured himself the largest cup of coffee he could.

It was Thursday and Baekhyun had left for Japan the day before to acclimate himself prior to the men’s short program on Friday. Chanyeol had told him that he would be flying out on Friday morning and he would text Baekhyun the moment he landed to find out where he was. He had apologized in advance for potentially missing Baekhyun’s short program, but Baekhyun had kissed him, a large smile on his face and told him that it didn’t matter as long as Chanyeol came. Thus, he had worked the overnight shift bartending at Club FF after making sure the booking schedule was in line for the weekend, and this morning, he was due into the studio for some more mixing on an album, which he was luckily almost finished. “You can sleep on the plane,” he continued to tell himself.

Chanyeol sipped at his coffee, leaning back against the kitchen sink, Baekhyunnie, his puppy nudging his head against his legs repeatedly to indicate his desire for breakfast at this very instance . Chanyeol quickly fed the corgi, reaching down to scratch him behind his ears and reached for his coffee once again.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he smiled, the thought of Baekhyun lying awake this early in the morning and thinking of him dancing around in his mind. He pulled the phone out and his smiled faded. The text wasn’t from Baekhyun but from Kyungsoo. He tapped the notification and the message opened. ‘Did you see this?’ It read, followed by a link to a news article.

He clicked on the link and it opened up to a news article about Baekhyun’s upcoming competition at the Asian Winter Games. Why was Kyungsoo sending him an article about Baekhyun? He absolutely hated when Chanyeol even mentioned figure skating as a sport, so he couldn’t wrap his brain around why he was even looking at figure skating articles. He quickly skimmed the first few sentences, nothing seemingly out of the ordinary, information talking about his amazing performances at Four Continents, and speculation about his competitors at the Asian Winter Game.  As he continued reading, he quickly discovered why Kyungsoo had sent the article.

‘No, at the moment, nothing about my romantic pursuits has changed ,’ Baekhyun’s quote said.  ‘The gentleman accompanying me at the hotel and during the competition is a close friend of a fellow skater, nothing more. I would appreciate it if you did not speculate on my personal life.’

There was more to the article, but Chanyeol couldn’t bear to read it and exited the article immediately. The words knocked the wind out of him, and he found himself gasping for breath. There had to be a mistake. Baekhyun wouldn’t say that. They were dating. That was a fact. He had asked this, confirmed it with Baekhyun. This had to be a mistake, a twisting of his actual statement.

He pulled up the original message from Kyungsoo. ‘How did you find this?’

‘It’s not important how I found it just that you know this is going on. I don’t need you sulking again ,’ Kyungsoo responded.

‘I don’t need your help protecting me. I can do just fine on my own,’ he shot back.

His phone buzzed, but this time it was a message from Baekhyun, not Kyungsoo. Chanyeol stared at the banner on his phone, his hands trembling as he opened it. Maybe there would be an explanation, he hoped as he read Baekhyun’s message. ‘Good morning, handsome. I hope you’re having a good day. I miss you and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.’

Chanyeol stared down at the message, unable to will himself to hit the reply button. Instead, he opened a new text message to Yoora. ‘Lily,’ the message read. He took a deep breath. This was definitely a mistake.

He took another deep breath and then returned to the message from Baekhyun. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t be there,’ he responded.

Another message pinged on his phone. ‘Why not? What happened?’

He pulled his lip into his mouth, chewing it raw, his eyebrows furrowed on how to phrase his text. He rewrote the message at least five times before deciding on, ‘Something came up.’

His phone rang, pulling him from the headspace he had settled in. A call from Baekhyun. Chanyeol let it go to voicemail.