The universe is what surrounded Chanyeol all throughout his childhood. The outer space, solar system, galaxies, planets, you name it. Everything that makes up the world he lives in, Chanyeol became fond of it all, taking after his father who is an astronomer by occupation. On weekends when Chanyeol is free from school, he would still wake up early to prepare for their overnight trips to the hills or open fields. Mr. Park often takes his son with him on field researches and little Chanyeol makes sure never to miss one. It was something he would look forward to every week - a father and son routine.  On his first stargazing experience, Chanyeol lay in the middle of the field, taking his sleeping bag with him. Numerous incandescent lights filled the night sky. It was impossible to count them and right there, the little boy fell in love with the stars. From the biggest down to the smallest constellation, Chanyeol memorized them all. It wouldn’t take him five seconds to recognize the constellation drawn in the sky, because he knew them by heart.

His knowledge about astronomy was something Chanyeol liked bragging about in school. He talked about it everyday even though he knew how sick his class mates were of his stories. In their class reporting wherein most of the students would only tell how their trip to the beach went or how they got a new pet, Chanyeol would talk about how constellations were named after Greek mythology gods. That’s how he became labeled as the weird nine year old in class.

“The constellations are mostly Greek god-favored heroes and beasts!” Chanyeol says enthusiastically, “So basically, you get a place in the stars if you do a good deed.” He explains one time during lunch, to his circle of friends.

“Seriously, Yeol.” His best friend, Sehun, sighed and cut him off before he could continue blabbering about uninteresting things such as stars and the solar system.

“We’re just grade three, stop being a nerd.” Seulgi added.

Chanyeol would pout and scrunch his face at his friends for being such boring kids who cared nothing about video games and brushing little ponies’ tails.

“It’s science.” He quietly mutters to himself.

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“Dad, I want a star! Can I get one?”

Mr. Park laughed at the sudden request, but who was he to say no to his little boy. “Pick any star you want and it’s all yours.” He said.

Chanyeol scanned the sky, carefully picking out the star he wants for himself. “That one!” he points up. “The small star right above the head of Sagittarius.”

“A dwarf star? Why pick that one?” Chanyeol broke into a smile and looked at star. It was silly, but it was the only valid reason he had. “Because it’s right above my zodiac sign constellation. And it’s tiny too, like it’s telling me that I should claim him and put him inside my pocket.” Chanyeol giggled and so did his father.

“You know, smaller stars live longer than massive ones.” Mr. Park said, swinging an arm around the boy’s shoulder. “What are you gonna call it?”

“Byul. It’s name is Byul.” He boy says dreamily.

“Well, I hope Byul stays with you until you grow up, Chanyeol.”

Like what they always do, the father and son spent yet another night underneath the deep blue sky, basking in the beauty of the silver lights that flash above them.

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Baekhyun was in the sky.

And then he wasn’t.

It was as quick as a shooting star travelling and passing by him in a span of milliseconds.

The night was beautiful, he could see other constellations visible in various places from the far ends of the sky. That night of November, he was right above the head of Sagittarius again. Like where he usually is whenever the constellation appears. No matter how small he was, Baekhyun shines brightly like other regular size stars. It was one of his characteristics, a gift from the star maiden, maybe. Stars were a “heavenly view”, as he hears from the people who watch them every night from below.

But whatever it was that knocked him out of his spot from the night sky and brought him here, wherever he was, Baekhyun did not see it coming. He looked around, and oh what a surprise-he was in a crater. Baekhyun wasn’t sure if he was the one responsible for creating the big hollow from the ground, but the pain he feels surging all over his body says so otherwise. It hurt.

Wait-a body! Baekhyun has a body. He was pretty sure that he is still alive and breathing. It wasn’t his time to go yet. Small stars live long. He looked up and felt dizzy as soon as the weight of his head set in. It felt weird having a head. It was much heavier than he thought and humans make it look easy looking up. The sky seemed far away from his normal point of view, too far away.

“Is this how the sky looks from below?” he thought. Yet it was still beautiful in his eyes, his home was beautiful. Baekhyun sees Sagittarius, the place where he’s supposed to be.

“Sagittarius,” he said. “What did I do wrong?” Baekhyun waited for an answer, but it all went in vain as the constellation won’t respond to his plead. He pouted. Stars had the ability to communicate with each other, but for some reason, Baekhyun can’t seem to reach them. Still, he clasps his hands together and doesn’t give up, saying a silent prayer of apology to the star maiden and Sagittarius for whatever he did that resulted for him to get kicked out of the sky. Lastly, he whispered to his friend, “Kyungsoo-yah. Watch over me while I figure things out, okay?”

Baekhyun stood up unsteadily. He had legs now too and it felt strange and uncomfortable to move around with them. Usually, he would only be in one spot in the sky and stay there until the sun rises. Baekhyun scanned his surrounding and figured that he was on a field standing in the middle of the crater that he created. Not far from where he stood, the fallen star saw a tiny sparkle lying on the hollow ground. He walked towards it carefully and crouched down to pick up the item, holding it close for him to see. It was a plain silver ring. He examined the material, “Was this the thing that knocked me out of the sky?” he wasn’t sure, but the fallen star took it anyway. He found something engraved in it, “P C Y” Baekhyun muttered, reading out the letters. Shrugging, he’d figure out what those meant later, but for now, he slipped the ring on his finger for safekeeping.

Somehow, Baekhyun knew from his position that he was at North. But where he would go from there, the boy had no idea. He memorizes the sky, but not the land he hovers above every night.

In a span of one night, Baekhyun became a fallen star and a lost boy.

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It was late past 9 in the evening when Chanyeol decided to call it a day and head home after hours of sitting in the music room fiddling with his pencil and figuring out the words that would fit his composition. Although Chanyeol has his own studio at home, he preferred writing lyrics in different locations and finding other things to inspire him. That night, his hours were spent in scribbling down words that ended up in crumpled papers. Maybe today wasn’t the day for inspiration to hit him. Winter was beginning to fall and Chanyeol regret not listening to his mother that morning despite the constant reminders and weather forecast of heavy snowfall on the first day. His hoodie was only thick enough to keep him warm from the air-conditioner, but not the heavy wind of the chilly night. Still, Chanyeol opted to walk on his way home, it would only take him 15 minutes and he figured that he wouldn’t freeze to death anyway. Besides, Chanyeol needed all the alone time he can get to come up with lyrics for his homework due in a week. With hands stuffed inside his pockets, Chanyeol walked in silence, looking here and there for anything or anyone that would make his walk an interesting one.

A stray cat digging up the garbage,

blinking lamp post

and a lost beggar in really thin clothes who is clearly not ready for the winter.

“Nothing worth writing about,” he muttered to himself.

Chanyeol wasn’t a good Samaritan, but for a moment, he almost felt bad