Chapter 14: One Sentence

The two of them stood quietly at the airfield, watching the Royal Jet roll on the runway, the roaring of the vehicle amplified by the rushing wind.

No more than a few sentences had been spoken between Baekhyun and Chanyeol ever since this morning. There was a light, almost undetectable tension hanging in the air above them, but they could both feel it. It was there, dancing and twirling around, mocking them and their friendship.

This had been the first time ever, where their friendship seemed so thin and so fragile, almost as if it were about to snap. This had been the first time ever, where there was an unmistakable awkwardness present between the two.

And being the ever-so-observing duo, Kyungsoo and Jongin were continuously sending wary glances toward their friends, fighting the urge to ask them what in muffin’s name was wrong.

But being the ever-so-considerate friends they were, they bit back their questions and instead, decided to sit back and watch them resolve the matter themselves. Whatever it was.

They were fairly sure that the strain between the two was not from yesterday, when Chanyeol had so coldly and brutally told Baekhyun to leave. Chanyeol’s footman had told Jongin—while pulling his hair out—that the Crown Prince had run out in the middle of the night to seek out Baekhyun.

And, knowing Baekhyun, he wouldn’t have been able to stay angry or unforgiving towards Chanyeol.

Thus…

“Something must’ve happened during the night,” Jongin whispered, leaning towards Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo shot Jongin a look before shoving him away.

“And just what are you referring to?” He asked through gritted teeth, raising an eyebrow.

Jongin shrugged nonchalantly.

“I wasn’t referring to anything,” he said, amused. “What were you thinking about?”

He gave Kyungsoo a smirk, before earning himself a scoff and smack on the arm.

“Well, are you going to leave them on such cold terms? I mean, Chanyeol’s going to leave soon, and who knows if he’ll ever see Baekhyun again,” Jongin said casually.

Kyungsoo picked up the underlying message behind his words and stiffened, his fingers slowly clenching into a fist.

“Don’t say that.”

“I’m just stating the truth.”

Kyungsoo only shook his head, taking a deep breath, as if he was trying to calm his nerves.

“Ah, the plane’s here.”

Baekhyun’s soft voice shocked not only Jongin and Kyungsoo, but also Chanyeol, as he hadn’t spoken a word ever since he arrived at the airport.

Sure enough, the plane was now rolling to a stop in front of them, the wind slapping their skin.

The door opened and a metal make-shift staircase descended. The pilot and co-pilot quickly climbed down and knelt in front of Chanyeol.

“Crown Prince,” they murmured in unison, bowing their heads.

Chanyeol waved a hand, giving them permission to rise, before turning slowly to Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, and Jongin. The avoidance of eye contact between Baekhyun and Chanyeol was not missed by the other two.

“Well… I’ll… be back?” Chanyeol said uncertainly, laughing a little, suddenly unsure of what to say.

“Stay safe, hyung. We’ll be waiting for you,” Jongin said cheerfully.

“Yeah, come back with the alliance formed,” Kyungsoo added, also keeping his voice light. “Don’t get yourself killed on the trip either.”

Chanyeol let out another nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck, before flickering his eyes towards Baekhyun, who happened to look at him too. The both of them quickly turned away as their eyes met.

An awkward silence ensued, no one knowing what exactly to say. There were no other noises aside from the roaring of the engines and the shuffling of feet.

Finally, Kyungsoo cleared his throat.

“Well… We’ll uh… leave… the two of you… alone…” He said slowly, glancing at Jongin for help.

Jongin nodded vigorously. “Yeah. Kyungsoo and I have something to do regarding the… uh… Royal… turkey… menu… thing. You know, the one father wanted us to work on.”

Before Chanyeol could even open his mouth to ask Jongin what kind of crack he had been smoking, Jongin grabbed Kyungsoo by the arm and proceeded to drag him away full-speed towards the main building of the airport.

“Royal turkey menu? Is your brain really that small?”

“Shut up.”

Kyungsoo and Jongin’s bickering traveled all the way back to Baekhyun and Chanyeol, eliciting soft, amused laughs from the two.

When the laughter finally died down, however, the suffocating silence returned, filling every crook.

Baekhyun could only stare at the ground and his feet, while Chanyeol stared up at the sky, squinting from the sun.

Come on, Park Chanyeol, it’s not so hard striking a conversation a freakin’ conversation with your best friend, is it?

Chanyeol nodded to himself. It wasn’t. It couldn’t be too hard.

That’s the spirit!

He inhaled deeply to calm himself, before opening his mouth…. And closing it again.

You are a failure, Park Chanyeol. A simple, complete failure. You do not deserve to live on this planet. You should just-

“So.”

Baekhyun’s soft voice dragged Chanyeol out of his self-mutilating reveries, causing him to look at his friend, eyes wide with surprise.

“Yeah?”

“…I won’t be seeing you for a while, huh?”

Baekhyun’s words seemed almost wistful, as he turned his beautiful, slanted eyes towards Chanyeol, making him catch his breath in his throat for a second.

“I guess not,” Chanyeol choked out.

“Then… I guess… bye?”

“Yeah… Bye…” Chanyeol muttered, staring at the wheels of the jet.

Chanyeol wanted to throw himself under the plane and beg the pilot to run him over. The awkwardness was really getting to him.

“Umm…”

Chanyeol glanced at Baekhyun, who was biting his lips in an adorably nervous fashion. He suddenly had an urge to run his thumb across those lips, and possibly pressing his own aga-

Wake the up!

“A-anyways…” Chanyeol began. “I-I guess I’ll be off…”

“Right. Um. Yeah. Have a safe trip. Don’t get killed.”

Chanyeol sighed internally for having such a ridiculous conversation with his best friend and nodded, before giving a small, limp wave and climbing the stairs to enter the cabin.

And just as he set foot onto the checkered patterned carpet of the plane, he heard a light, soft sentence carried to his ears by the wind.

“I’ll miss you.”

The next thing he knew, he had turned around, bolted down the steps, and grabbed Baekhyun, pulling him towards his chest in a bone-crushing hug. He tightened his arms around Baekhyun’s shoulders even more, as he felt his best friend’s small arms wrap around his waist, hugging him back. With a smile, he leaned down, close to Baekhyun’s ear, before whispering the words that had been churning in his mind ever since he had found out about the trip.

“I’ll miss you too.”

_______________________

A/N: Un-betaed. Will do when I get home tomorrow.

The filler chapters are done, and the next couple will be longer, more descriptive, and more action-ey. Ima plan out the battle in WH class tomorrow LOL.

Anyways, wrote this half-asleep, spazzing about Kris. Cya guys.