3rd February

'Get away from my best friend! Stop trying to steal him you freak!'

I first saw him on the train 2 years ago. He was standing chatting with some guys in his school but then he moved away and sat by himself on the seat opposite me. I didn't think much of it. I didn't know him. He was irrelevant to me. 

 

5th February

'So what should we do for our school project?'

'Who said I'm doing the project with you? No one likes you'

I looked up from playing on my phone and saw him sitting in front of me again. He looked tired but smiled nonetheless and tried to make conversation with the guys from his school. 

 

6th February

'Hey, aren't you guys getting off at my stop with me?'

'Nah, we're getting off here. We'll walk.'

I took out my iPod headphones and saw him again staring out of the train window at the boys from his school as they walked up the escalators of the underground station not even looking back at him when he called out their names and waved. 

'Bye! See you tomorrow!'

I put my headphones back in and carried on listening. It was my favorite song- Always Awake by Jazzyfact. 

 

11th February

No voices today but I saw him again. He sat in front of me, twiddling his thumbs and he bit his lip every so often. He took out a book and read it, smiling every so often to himself. His smile drew me in a little but I remembered who he was to me- no one. 

 

13th Feburary

It's been 10 days since I first saw him and he's here again. He gets off at the station before mine and he's kind and polite. He seems to radiate a sort of glow that makes people attracted to him. He's interesting.

 

18th February

I haven't seen him in 5 days. I wonder where he's been. Perhaps he's ill. Perhaps he's moved away. I shouldn't care. He's just a stranger.

 

20th February

I saw him again today. It's been a week but I noticed something new about him. Not his hair nor his personality. It was his clothes. He wore a different uniform. 

 

21st February

'Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Baekhyun... I'm a new guy in your class'

'Oh annyeonghaseyo!'

He was with friends today, new ones. He wore his new purple uniform with pride and a smile on his face. Little does he know that I've seen that smile every time he pulls out a new book or sees a child on the train. I've been watching him. 

 

23rd February

He was alone today. His friends from a few days ago stood at the other end of the carriage and moved away from him when he came closer. Baekhyun... Baekhyun is his name. He came and sat opposite me again, as usual and took out another book. A different one, I noticed. A romance novel. I chuckled slightly but said nothing else.

 

25th February

'Why won't you talk to me?'

'You're a weirdo! You're the new kid everyone's talking about!'

I watched him as he sighed and sat back down on his usual seat. I pulled out a can of soda and a yakult to drink and took note of when he eyed the yakult but didn't care too much about the soda. I drank to myself, as usual.

 

26th February

He didn't bother trying to talk to the boys again. He just sat alone in his purple uniform. At one point, he got up and offered the seat to an elderly ahjumma who patted his back and praised him.

'Aigoo, what a good kid. Have an orange'

He bowed and said thank you more than a million times and he smiled. Oh, how he smiled. When he smiled, the old lady seemed to be lifted into the air and be surrounded by pure bliss. Baekhyun seemed to have this effect on not only me but everyone else he met. He was special but his classmates couldn't see it. I didn't understand. 

 

4th March

I'm moving out of my home. My parents want me gone. I'll be staying with some friends for the timebeing. 

 

6th March

I saw him again. Smiling, as usual. 

 

8th March

He got off the train early today. It seemed like he had an appointment to go to as he kept looking back at his phone to check the time. 

 

10th March

I didn't see him today. I wonder what happened

 

17th March

I finally saw him again and this time, he wore another new uniform. A yellow one. He's moved yet again. He hasn't found a school to fit in with yet. I pray that this one will be good for him. 

 

20th March

I can no longer stay at my friends houses any longer. I've intruded for far too long so I thanked their parents and left. I'm returning home and I'll stay there for as long as my parents allow. I'll beg them. Tell them I'm not the lazy son they think I am. 

 

23rd March

He has a broken arm. 

 

24th March

He cried all the way home.

 

25th March

I noticed that no one has signed his cast.

 

28th March

I'm moving into noona's house whilst we find me a new school to go to. It needs to be a school that I can go to without using my parents money. They refuse to pay for their lazy son's top class education. I have to go to a cheap school.

 

30th March

He still had his cast on and he winced in pain when a kid from his new school bashed into him as he walked onto the carriage. I wanted to do something but I couldn't. I don't know him. 

 

31st March

I told noona about the boy I've been watching. I told her everything I knew about him and she asked me to bring him over for dinner. I didn't mention that I didn't have the courage to talk to him. Noona's been so good to me, helping me find a school and looking after me, but I can't tell her the truth. Not yet. 

 

3rd April

He has a new cast on now.

 

7th April

No one's signed it yet.

 

8th April

He hasn't been able to read his romance novels recently but he's been smiling. I've been smiling too. I'm moving into a school run by a man named Mr Park. Noona said he's a good man and that he'll look after me. Fees are cheap and it's boarding too. It's a new life. 

 

9th April

He cried again today. It reminds me of the time I saw him cry a few weeks ago. I didn't know what to do so I kept silent. I pressed my headphones into my ears but there was no music playing. I just wanted to muffle out the sounds of his sniffling and sobbing. 

 

12th April

My parents said I'm just a spoilt lazy rich kid with no heart. I don't care about anything. I want to show them I care and I'm not spoilt. 

 

14th April

I've moved in. A tall guy called Kris came and helped me bring my bags over. There were 2 other Chinese boys, Tao and Luhan who showed me around and settled me in. Kris cooked as well. There aren't that many of them. Apparently there's only 6 or 7 of them at the moment but Mr Park looks for people to bring in. It's nice, I suppose. It's not lavish but it's cosy and a new experience. I'll have to get closer to them in time.

 

16th April

After I went round to noona's to pick up a few things to decorate my room with, I headed back to the dormitory. He was on the train again, still with his cast. It must have been a bad fall if he's still got a cast on. He smiled today though. He looks best with a smile.

We bonded well tonight over dinner. Everyone revealed how they ended up in Mr Park's care. I admire Kris-hyung. He's got guts running away to different countries like that. Tao spoke about how Kris helped him with such passion in his voice. It made me think... Think about him.... Think about Baekhyun.

 

17th April

I didn't need to go to noona's for any particular reason but I went on the train anyway just to see him. I bought 2 packs of yakult with me and a soda. This time, I stood up. He sat down again, in front of where I would usually sit and instead, I sat down beside him. I opened the first yakult in the pack and pierced it with my straw. I could see him side-eyeing me enviously. My plan worked. 

I reached into the bag I had and pulled out the other pack of yakults, passing it to him. 

'Here, take it'

I pierced the first yakult for him with the straw and he held it with his un-injured hand. He smiled again and thanked me over and over again. When I got off the train at the next stop, his eyes were glistening and slightly pink. 

My first act of kindness. The first time I haven't been lazy.

 

18th April

He had an orange for me today. I took the train again, even though I didn't need to. Kris and the others didn't question it. Su Ho-hyung found it normal. He took the train with me for a few stops to go to the library. He said that old habits are hard to break. I didn't tell him about Baekhyun. 

Today I signed Baekhyun's cast. I drew pictures all over it, wrote in all langauges and signed my name over and over again. We laughed together and then he had to get off. We waved to each other and that was it. He smiled a lot today and I smiled a lot too. Infectious. 

 

19th April

I spoke to Mr Park. I told him about the boy I had been watching for 2 months and he told me to bring him over. He told me to show him what Kris has shown me. I knew what to do. As I got on the train, I waited and Baekhyun got on again. He had his cast on and I saw all my drawings and jokes that I had written on it. 

'Baekhyun... Would you like to come to my school tomorrow?'

He stopped and looked at me strangely for a moment before smiling once again.

'How did you know my name was Baekhyun? I never told you'

I kept quiet. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't tell him I had been silently watching him get bullied and ignored for the past 2 months. I didn't want to admit that I was a coward. But he smiled. He smiled like he always does and simply said. 

'I'd love to'

 

20th April

I met him today at the station with yakult. He met me with oranges. We laughed at how our minds were so in snyc with each other. He asked me what he needed and I told him I didn't know. He said he had brought all the usual documents. It was obvious he was used to the transferring school procedure. Mr Park told him he could move in right away. He wouldn't stop saying thank you and bowing again and again. Mr Park smiled at him and then smiled at me. I felt accomplised- like I had done something to make a difference. 

Outside his house, as he said goodbye to his mother and father, I waited with his suitcase. I stared up at his little house and wondered about the numerous times Baekhyun had cried to himself by himself and the numerous times he had had to move schools because he never fit in anywhere. When he came out and shut his front door, his smile fell and he looked at me solemnly and seriously. I was scared a little by it. 

'Forgive me... You've helped me so much, been my friend, comforted me, found me a new home but... I don't know your name. You know mine'

I realised it was true. I knew his but he didn't know mine. I had been the silent stranger to him just as much as he had been the silent stranger to me. 

'It's Chanyeol'

Baekhyun smiled.

'Chanyeol... Thank you, Chanyeol-ssi'

I shook my head.

'Not Chanyeol-ssi. We're friends. Just Chanyeol'

Baekhyun nodded and looked up at into the night sky above his house for the last time. He didn't look at me but he spoke the words so I could hear. 

'God, thank you for giving me my truest friend Chanyeol'

 

 

---

new style of writing! I'm determined to just do a ton of different styles so this is a diary entry kind of piece by Chanyeol talking about Baekhyun ^^ Could you tell it was Chanyeol speaking? teehee

I had quite a lot of fun writing this one but next is LUHAN which I am yet to figure out what to write seeing as we already know about his past as I wrote about them in a great amount of detail before... But I'll conjure something up somehow. Doncha worry ;) here's a headsup though: It'll probably be in Luhan's point of view so hopefully I can be a convincing Luhan as well as Chen and Kris OTL

HIATUS NOTE: it's my last night in Tokyo but i've been checking up on Jason's twitter (he runs AFF), and it seems like my material will be available soon ^^ but it's okay, right? We should all support Jason as he's trying his best for us :) I decided not to wait and instead post this chapter as an update so it'll make the chapters go a bit funny but I'll edit that once I get back on a computer and not my dad's phone... -.- newbie author-nim didn't think about saving chapters/ writing chapters on word... But now I know! I'm still a newbie haha but I'm gradually learning ^^ I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays (I assume you're all on holiday like me) :D