Chapter 10
An Affair To Remember (ChanBaek version, some KaiSoo)
Darkness. Muffled voices asking him....something? His name? Darkness again. Bright lights blinding him.
"Baek?" he called out. "Where's Baekhyun?"
"Check for an I.D. or a cell phone."
"No! I need.....I need....." Things were swirling in front of him. He felt....'floaty'...
"Sir? Can you hear me? Can you tell me your name?"
'Name?' he thought. "I'm....I...." More flashing lights. Pain. "Baek?" Darkness again.
~~~~~
"Shhhhh, you're going to be okay, you're in the hospital." came a voice from... somewhere?
Pain. "Don't touch me!" Dizzy again. Too bright. "Hospital?" Darkness again. Darkness felt nice. What was he forgetting? Something....something...
~~~~~
"Park Chanyeol what now? You do realize that Baekhyun is going to kill you don't you?!" Suho scolded as she answered the phone.
"Is this Mr. Kim Junmeyon?" came a voice he didn't recognize.
"Who is this?" he demanded. "How do you have that phone?"
"This is Mr. Yoon from Seoul Hospital, do you know a Mr. Park Chanyeol?"
~~~~~
Suho didn't waste any time. On the way to the hospital he called Chanyeol's manager so that he could keep any information out of the papers. Next, he called Chanyeol's Mom and sister. He promised to keep them informed as soon as he knew anything.
He had forgotten about Baekhyun.
~~~~~
Baekhyun waited. He was so very excited to be able to see Chanyeol again and to be able to hold him in his arms. It had only been six months, but it seemed like forever. Not a day went by that he hadn't thought of the other man. Baekhyun kept his eye on the elevators. 'What if he's already here? What if I missed him and he's on the other side?' he wondered. He checked his cell phone before realizing that they had deleted each other as contacts before they'd left the ship just in case.
As it the sun began to set Baekhyun's worry turned into annoyance. 'It would be just like him to be late.' he thought. 'Where the heck was he anyway?' Baekyun's insecurities began to warp his mind, making his biggest fears seem like reality. 'Maybe he wasn't good enough for Chanyeol.....he was an idol after all. Maybe he was just a ship board fling. Maybe the newspapers were true, and he had just been too dumb to realize it.' Baekhyun felt so stupid. How could he have thought that someone like Park Chanyeol would actually like someone like him, let along love him....but still...a small part of his heart held on to hope.
He walked around the observation deck again. He stared at the elevators again. He looked down below to see if he could see anything. He couldn't. "Please God, let him just be running late.' he prayed. "Don't let him not love me anymore.'
Baekhyun slumped onto a bench. Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, it began to rain. In no time at all the light rain turned into a downpour of epic proportions. Baekhyun was soaked to the bone. He couldn't hold back his sobs, his tears streaming down his face blending with the raindrops. He felt sick to his stomach. At a little after midnight, he left. He didn't know how long he wandered the streets before running into Kyungsoo who was on his way to work.
"Baekhyun?" Kyungsoo asked, almost not recognizing the other because of his disheveled state. "Oh my God, it is you! Are you okay? What happened?"
Baekhyun just stared at him and began to cry again. Kyungsoo made two phone calls before taking Baekhyun home with him. The first, to the Library, calling in for the day. The second, Kai, who was on another cruise. Normally he waited for Kai to call him since he didn't know what job the boy would be doing on any given day, but since Baekhyun was his good friend, and he wasn't sure what to do, he thought it would be acceptable.
Kai instructed him to give Baekhyun a hot bath, some hot chocolate, and to snuggle with him while watching old rom coms. "I'm going to kill Chanyeol when I get back!" Kai said angrily.
"Let's just focus on Baekhyun right now okay?" Kyungsoo said calmly.
"Okay, I'll call you later. Soo?"
"Yes?"
"You're the best boyfriend ever!" Kai said smiling into the phone.
~~~~~
Kyungsoo ran a bubble bath. When he came back in the bedroom, Baekhyun was just standing in the middle of the floor looking lost. Kyungoo walked him to the bathroom where he helped the younger undress and climb into the tub. "Do you want to be alone?"
Baekhyun shook his head no.
"Okay. I'll stay with you." Kyungsoo took the washcloth and gently began to scrub the younger boy. He was sure to wash away Baekhyun's eye makeup which had run down his face, leaving black streaks. Baekhyun closed his eyes when Kyungoo shampooed his hair, leaning back as the warm water was poured over him to rinse. "Okay, upsy-daisy!" Kyungoo said as he helped Baekhyun to stand up and wrap a towel around him. Kyungsoo got another towel and began to dry his hair.
Baekhyun began to cry. He felt dirty because he enjoyed Kyungsoo's soft touches and soothing words. "I'm sorry." he said quietly.
"Hey." Kyungoo said lifting Baekhyun's chin to look him in the eyes. "I'm not just Kai's boyfriend, I'm your friend too, okay? So you don't have to worry about anything. I'm going to be taking care of you for as long as you need, arraso?"
"Kansahamnida." Baekhyun said.
"Besides," Kai continued. "Kai would kill me if I let anything happen to you!" He's crazy-scary when he gets mad." he said, his voice filled with laughter.
Baekhyun chuckled a little. He knew.
Kyungsoo made a spot for Baekhyun on his bed and together they sipped hot chocolate and watched movies. Kyunsoo didn't ask Baekhyun what was wrong, which was good because he couldn't stop crying long enough to talk anyway. Just when Kyungsoo thought Baekhyun was over the worst of it, he'd begin a new bout of crying.
Thankfully, halfway through the fourth movie Baekhyun fell asleep, his head resting on Kyungsoo's shoulder. Kyungsoo carefully slid out from under him, laying Baekhyun's head on the pillow and covering him up. 'Poor guy.' he thought. Whatever Baekhyun was going through must be awful. Baekhyun didn't sleep well. He cried in his sleep, only settling down when Kyungsoo lay next to him, petting his hair and making 'shushing' noises.
"How's he doing?" Kai asked when he finally got a chance to call his boyfriend.
"Not so good." Kyungsoo whispered. "I got him to eat some soup, and he finally fell asleep, but he keeps crying and calling out for Yeollie?"
"Thank you for taking care of him for me hyung." Kai said.
Kyungsoo smiled. "It's no problem, anything for you babe. Besides, I just couldn't leave someone so sad out wandering the streets now could I?"
"Oppa?" Kai asked using his 'cute' voice. "Will you take care of Baekhyun-hyung until we get back to port?"
Kyungsoo could picture Kai's aigoo over the phone, and when the younger called him 'Oppa'....he got what he wanted. "You know I can't refuse you right?" Kyungsoo asked.
"I know! That's what I love best about you!" Kai giggled.
Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. "And all this time I thought it was because I had a big di...."
'HYUNG!!!" Kai yelled, cutting him off.
"I gotta go, babe, I think he's waking up again. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye!" Kai said cheerfully. As soon as he hung up, his personality changed. "Park Chanyeol, you are so dead!" he said to the empty cabin. "Just you wait!"
~~~~~
The Doctor came to the private waiting room where Chanyeol's manager and Suho were waiting. "The surgery went fine, but he may not be able to walk again. He's in a medically induced coma right now because he kept fighting the nurses and pulling out his I.V.'s, but you can go and see him if you'd like."
"What do you mean he won't walk?" his manager asked. Suho's mouth hanging open, speechless.
"He has some swelling near the spinal cord" the Doctor said, "until it goes down, and he's somewhat recovered, we won't know what the damage is. We'll just have to wait and see." he answered.
"Thank you Doctor." the manager said.
"Oh, there is one more thing." the Doctor said. "Before we put him under, he kept calling out for a Baek? Was he with someone when he got hit by the car?"
"OMO!!!" Suho gasped. "Baekhyun!!"
Both the manager and the Doctor looked at him.
"Excuse me Doctor, but did Chanyeol have his cell phone with him when they brought him in? Suho asked.
The Doctor thought for a minute. "All personal belongings would have been logged and put into a locker. You might check with the Nurse, tell her you have my permission."
Suho bowed and thanked him.
"What's so special about his cell phone?" the manager asked.
"I just need to check for something. I'll be right back, you go on in and see him."
Walking quickly to the Nurse's station, Suho found the charge Nurse and got Chanyeol's cell phone and wallet. Quickly opening his contacts, he scrolled down looking for Baekhyun. No luck. He flipped though his photos thinking that they could provide a clue to where the man would be. No photos. 'Who doesn't have photos?' he thought. Next, he dug through his wallet. Surely there would be something there he could use to find Baekhyun. Wrong again. Sighing, he went back to Chanyeol's room.
As he arrived, the manager was leaving. "I have to make sure this stays out of the papers, and reschedule his events. You're going to have to leave. If people see you here, they'll think that you two reconciled.
Suho wasn't in the mood to hear all that nonsense. Chanyeol was laying in the hospital, in a coma for crying out loud, and all the manager was worried about was how him being there would look to the public. "Do what you have to do." he said. "I'm staying."
As soon as the manager left, he slowly opened the door to Chanyeol's room. It was dark, except for a single light over the bed. Chanyeol was hooked up to all kinds of wires and tubes. He looked so peaceful. Reaching over, Suho smoothed his hair down. "I'm sorry, Chanyeol, but I may have to be your fiance for just a bit longer, it's the only way I can see you. I'll keep trying to find Baekhyun." It may have been wishful thinking, but he could have sworn that Chanyeol moved when he'd said Baekhyun's name.
~~~~~
Kyungsoo called in the rest of the week to stay home with Baekhyun. When he wasn't crying, he was sleeping. Kyungsoo fed him, bathed him, and held him in his arms when he needed it. Kai called several times to check in on his friend, and each time Baekhyun had refused to talk on the phone.
"Is he okay?" he asked Kyungsoo. "I'm worried."
"He's in pain." Kyungsoo said. "His heart's been broken. Give him some time."
"I'll be back in a week. Unless you think I should fly back?" Kai asked.
"No, he's still not ready to talk. He spends most of his time sleeping. Oh, I almost forgot. We watched Titanic. Six times. Six! Seriously Kai, how many times can he watch that movie? Heartbreak or not, I'm thinking of accidentally breaking that DVD in half the next time he takes a shower."
"Kai laughed. "No word from Chanyeol?" Kai asked. "No idea what happened?"
"No clue." Kyungsoo answered. "Ah....I gotta go, Baekhyun just woke up. "I'll see you in a when you get back, love you!"
"You too." Kai said laughing as he heard 'The Heart Will Go On' playing in the background.
~~~~~
Within the following weeks, Chanyeol was allowed to come out of his coma. Suho was by his side, comforting him, and his manager was there keeping an eye on things. When Chanyeol realized that it had been almost two and a half weeks since his coma he fell apart. "Baekhyun must hate me!" he wailed. "He probably thought that I didn't come!" Chanyeol tried to sit up. "Suho, help me, I've got to go find him!"
Suho didn't move except to look at the manager, who in turn, looked down at the floor.
"What? What's wrong?" Chanyeol asked. "Did something happen to Baekhyun?!"
Suho moved forward and held Chanyeol's hands in his. "It's just that...well, it's not for sure...but you..."
The manager couldn't let the burden fall on the poor guy. "The Doctor said you might not be able to walk again." He blurted out.
"What?!" Chanyeol said. "That's bull! I need to go find Baekhyun." Throwing off his covers, he pushed Suho out of the way and tried to sit up, almost falling onto the floor. "Omo!" he cried out, looking at his manager with panic in his eyes.
Chanyeol started to hyperventilate, and he was hurting himself trying to get out of the bed. "I need Baekhyun!" he screamed, tears coming down his cheeks. "I need to explain! Suho, please....please help me find him!" he begged. Suho was also in tears. It hurt to see his friend in so much pain. "I'm s-sorry Chanyeol, I tried. I-I don't know where he is."
Once again, for his own safety, they had to reinstate his medically induced coma.
~~~~~
After another week with no progress, Chanyeol's parents decided to have him transferred to a private hospital nearer to their house. Suho still came to see him, and tried his best to keep his mind occupied. Still, there were times when Chanyeol would just sit and stare, and Suho knew he was only thinking of Baekhyun.
One afternoon he had wheeled him out to the courtyard to get some sun. "We should get married." Chanyeol said.
"What?" Suho asked, not sure he'd heard him correctly.
"We should go ahead and get married. I like you, you like me, we get along, you're pretty, sweet, and you're funny. You'd make a good wife."
"Oh Chanyeol," he sighed, "if you were serious, I would take you up on that offer in a heartbeat." Looking out at the people on the lawn down below.
"What makes you think I'm not serious?" Chanyeol asked. "We should do it."
Suho got up and walked over to him. He knelt down in front of Chanyeol, taking his hands in his. A gesture that they had done often as friends, comforting each other through various break ups, and troubles. "Park Chanyeol, I would consider myself the luckiest man alive if I thought that you would be happy with me, but we both know that you are still in love with someone else."
Chanyeol sighed. "It's over between us. Too much time has passed, he must hate me. Besides, I-I can't even run after him."
"Don't you dare give up hope Chanyeol! Didn't you tell me yourself that you'd made a promise to his grandmother? And the Doctor said himself that there is still a chance for a full recovery, so snap out of it or I really will marry you!"
Chanyeol laughed despite the tears that were falling from his eyes. "Why couldn't I have fallen in love with you?" he asked.
Both of them laughed at that.
It felt good to laugh. God he missed Baekhyun. He had the best laugh....
~~~~~
Baekhyun had finally moved back to his own apartment and with Kai's help, he went back to running his gallery, spending lots of time in the studio painting. Baekhyun soon found that painting helped him work through his emotions. At first the paintings were just angry slashes using mainly blacks and reds, lots of spatters. As the days went by, he used more blues and purples, wavy lines, blots of color splashed here and there. Sad paintings, each giving the feeling of drowning. By the time he moved to the brighter colors, his paintings started to take shapes, but were still rather abstract. People stopping by the gallery would often stop in his studio and make positive comments about his art. Some had even asked if his paintings were for sale. He politely declined, stating that they weren't that good, but perhaps in the future he'd host his own show.
Saturday he got a package in the mail. Not recognizing who it was from, he set it aside to open later. Later turned into two days, when Kai stopped by with Kyungsoo for coffee. "Hyung, what's this?" he asked.
Baekhyun looked over his shoulder. "I'm not sure." he said returning to his task of slicing fruit.
"Can I open it?" Kai asked not waiting for an answer before eagerly tearing off the brown wrapping paper.
"Kai, baby, you can't just open someone's...." Kyungsoo had started to say before Baekhyun laid a hand on his arm.
"Wah!" Kai exclaimed as he pulled out a beautiful black scarf with little red hearts embroidered on the ends.
Baekhyun dropped his cup of tea causing it to shatter.
Kyungsoo jumped up and grabbed the broom hurrying to clean up the mess.
Kai looked at Baekhyun with wide eyes, the scarf around his shoulders. "What?" he asked.
Baekhyun grabbed the box and looked inside. There was an envelope. His hands began to shake and he couldn't open the letter.
Kyungsoo stepped closer. "May I?" he asked, gently taking the letter from Baekhyun's hands. Quickly scanning it, he looked up into Jongin's eyes. Kai got up and came around the island and put his arm around Baekhyun. "Let's go sit down hyung, okay?"
"W-what does it say?" Baekhyun asked, already knowing the answer.
"Kai's right, Baek, let's go sit down." Kyungsoo said.
"I need to hear it." he said calmly. "I know what your'e going to say, but I need to hear it." Baekhyun stood with his fists clenched.
"I'm sorry," Kyungsoo said as tears began to flow down Baekhyun's cheeks. Kai wrapped his arms around his friend from the back. "your grandmother has passed away, and....they already had the funeral."
"Anything else" Baekhyun asked, his voice shaking. Kai hugged him tighter.
"There's a letter from her." Kyungsoo said. "It's addressed to Chanyeol."
Baekhyun nodded, pulling out his handkerchief to wipe his tears. The handkerchief just made him cry more. Baekhyun took the letter from Kyungsoo. "I want to lie down for a bit." he said.
Kai let him go and watched as Baekhyun walked to his bedroom and quietly shut the door behind him. Soon muffled sobs could be heard through the door.
Kai threw himself into Kyungsoo's arms. "It's not fair." he cried. "Baekhyun-hyung has been through so much."
"Shhhh, I know baby...I know...." Kyungsoo said Jongin's back.
~~~~~
A few more weeks went by. Baekhyun really focused on his paintings. He had moved away from the abstract to focus more on figurative art. He painted pictures from the islands, pictures from the ship, as well as pictures from his grandmother's house. The painting he cherished the most, was from the photo he'd taken of Chanyeol and his grandmother looking over the railing of the deck. The way the sunlight caught Chanyeol's hair, and his grandmother's scarf caught in the breeze. It was cathartic to paint this picture. By painting it, he could get everything out of his mind, and then perhaps his heart.
Baekhyun would find himself asking the Chanyeol in the painting 'Why? Why did he make him think that he loved him? Why did he not call him? Why did he disappear? Why does it still hurt so much?'
After a few more weeks of painting like a mad man, both Kai and Kyungsoo finally convinced him to have his own show. Since it was his gallery, scheduling it was no problem. He just had to sort though all of his paintings to see what he wanted to showcase. Baekhyun even had some of his earlier works that had been sent from his grandmother's house a few days after the scarf had arrived. Kai agreed to be the host for the evening, and Kyungsoo offered to advertise in the library. The week before the show, they were busy arranging catering, florists, sending out invitations, as well as print ads.
~~~~~
Baekhyun supervised as the final painting was hung in place. "What's the price on this one?" the worker asked, getting the price tag ready.
"Oh, this one's not for sale." Baekhyun said, I want to keep it. The guy shrugged his shoulders and packed up his tools. Baekhyun did a final walk through. He had decided to arrange his works in a chronological order, so that people could see his growth both as a person, and an artist. The bell above the door chimed as someone came in. "I'm sorry, the show's not until tonight." he said. As he turned around he froze in place.
"Baek?" came the deep familiar voice from his past.
He cleared his throat. "Kris...."
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