Baekhyun bowed his head with a smile towards the owner of the shop, the kind old man in the plaid shirt tucked into his trousers. He visited this shop of old snacks often – too often, according to his friend Junmyeon, even – but he liked old snacks, like the blue paint candies he just bought.

As he was pulling out his music player out of his school bag, rain drops started hitting the glass window of the shop, startling him. Baekhyun didn't recall the morning weather forecast saying anything about raining today, therefore he didn't bring his umbrella. His bag is already packed with music sheets anyway. So, he decided to wait outside, under the red canopy of the shop, accompanied by the tunes from his trusty music player, for the rain to stop.

Into the third minute of the second song, Baekhyun felt a presence of someone near him.

A really tall boy was standing about a meter beside him, his tousled honey-brown hair was a bit wet, as well as his white uniform shirt that it became almost see through. A soaked blue blazer was draped around his shoulder, making it obvious that he had just ran through the rain and now was seeking shelter from it.

That blue blazer, it was the one that Baekhyun was wearing as well. He noticed the shiny black name tag in the blazer's right chest, gold letters spelling the name of the owner.

Park Chanyeol.

It was a familiar name, too familiar even.

Chanyeol was a junior student, the same grade as Baekhyun, and they took all the same classes. The former always sat next to the latter – there wasn't a fixed chart for the seating, students could just throw themselves anywhere, but Chanyeol always ended up sitting next to Baekhyun, or the other way around, which was followed  with the borrowings of pens and pencils and other writing utensils, polite smile with every eye contact, small discussions about what was on the blackboard and the things around them, and it all led up to a friendship.

It was inevitable, really. But Baekhyun definitely didn't see this one coming.

They were working on a Algebra homework in Chanyeol's room, tossing around formulas and variables without even really getting what they all mean. Chanyeol told a lame joke about x and y and Baekhyun felt that he had to laugh. The taller was kiddingly offended, and threw a small piece of rubber eraser towards the shorter, which then accidentally hit his left eye with a yelp. Chanyeol gasped and offered to help Baekhyun, truly apologizing as he pried the latter's hand that was rubbing his red eye off of his face and held it in Chanyeol's own. He inched closer and blowed air to the other's eye – a trick that his mother often used on him when he was a child. Baekhyun shut his eyes tight every time, but opened it again because Chanyeol told him to.

His eye felt better, but now Baekhyun's heart won't stop racing. He didn't know if it was because he felt paranoid about being blind, or because Chanyeol told him that he looked cute blinking like earlier. He settled with the former, then.

But then as days went by, Chanyeol smiled at him more, more, touched him more and spent time with him more, but Baekhyun's heart always thumped faster and louder every time. And one day, when Chanyeol fell asleep with his head on the shorter's lap after a semi-final match of basketball, his fingers between the taller's sweaty hair, he realized three things.

1. That Chanyeol looked so beautiful and perfect and heavenly while sleeping – not that he looked any less when he's awake, but when sleeping, it's just so evident.
2. That Chanyeol's heartbeat was clear in the silence, and apparently, it was beating in the same rate as his own: rushed and anxious and yet it felt so right.
3. That he was in love with Chanyeol.

By the time Chanyeol woke up, Baekhyun already fell asleep in that hard quad seat, head painfully hanging to the side. The sun was setting and he piggybacked the shorter home with a grateful smile plastered on his face all the way. Baekhyun didn't tell Chanyeol the third thing, that day.

He was going to tell him after the final basketball match, three weeks after.

Their school won the big trophy and the team captain had happily declared that he was going to treat the whole team a meal. Baekhyun, as usual, was sitting in the quad, waiting for Chanyeol to come out of the locker room, because he told him he wanted to take Baekhyun to the party. Once he came out, clean, fresh, clad in his stripy sweater and skinny jeans, Baekhyun started fidgeting. Before he could even speak, Chanyeol beat him to it.

"Uh, I don't exactly know how to tell you this.. but Kris, the captain of the East High team, asked me out.. he said he had been crushing on me for quite a while now, and he told me I'm cute and I was like, what the dude you're not supposed to say that to a sweaty guy in a basketball uniform that just beat the crap out of your team, and then.."

Baekhyun couldn't bear to hear the next words.

"..and then he kissed me."

Chanyeol then went on about how he felt I don't know, weird and special and just ing fluffy, man! and maybe I like him too and then concluded it by saying well, I guess I can give it a try, right?. Baekhyun was there when Chanyeol called Kris, saying yes and arranged a meet up next Monday, after school. And then they went to the party.

Despite the festivities around him and the delicious smell of his favorite roasted meat in front of him, Baekhyun's heart was breaking into tiny little pieces. He bid Chanyeol goodbye that night, not just from the gate of his house, but from a place in his heart as well.

It's been a month since that day, probably more or so, but Baekhyun still looked at Chanyeol the same day he did since day one – he still hoped.

Chanyeol wiped his wet cheek with a handkerchief, and turned his head towards Baekhyun, who had his eyes glued on him. Their eyes met, and a smile found its way upon Chanyeol's face.

"Baekhyun," he breathed out, and Baekhyun could almost hear gladness in the way Chanyeol said his name.

He brought himself to return the gesture. "Chanyeol," said Baekhyun, "I thought you said you were going to meet Kris."

"Sudden basketball practice," the other shrugged. "But when I took off, it started raining and I had to take shelter first. I don't want to meet my boyfriend soaked and messy."

That happy smile on Chanyeol's face, hurt, Baekhyun thought. He always thought he had gotten used to it – Chanyeol has that smile on 24/7 and Baekhyun knew it's not meant for him, but that hope that kept him going? Yeah, that hurt too. He started to think that he's torturing himself.

The sound of a phone ringing snapped Baekhyun out of his trance and it turned out that it was Chanyeol's phone. The tall boy smiled at the screen and touched the green button. 

"Kris!"

At the very mention of the name, Baekhyun's heart sunk.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was on my way but then it started raining here.. – No, I'm okay, – Uh, I'm in front of the Alere snack shop in 3rd street.. – Oh, really? Wow, that's great! –"

Chanyeol's seemed really happy. His expression changed from time to time, but Baekhyun knew he still felt happy because he was talking to Kris. Baekhyun had come along with Chanyeol once or twice to meet Kris; the man was tall as , with a handsome face that has bravado written all over it, but he treated Chanyeol as if he was the most precious thing ever, and he was – to Baekhyun, and to Kris too, he knew. He could see it.

"– Okay, I'll wait. Thanks, Kris, – Yeah, I love you too," a beep was heard and Chanyeol hung up before turning to Baekhyun, who was already staring at him, again, with a questioning look. "Kris said he was going to pick me up with his motorbike."

"Oh."

Baekhyun honestly ran out of words to say. Kris was coming here, so he guessed that it was his cue to leave. Chanyeol would be completely fine in his boyfriend's arms anyway. However, he couldn't just leave like that.

"I guess I should be going, I'm late," said Baekhyun. "If you feel cold, just wait inside the shop and buy a hot drink, your lips are quivering. Tell Kris to hurry up, and it's better to spend your date home, you need to change your wet clothes and eat hot food and cuddle under the blankets. We don't want you to be sick, do we?"

Chanyeol stared at Baekhyun blankly for a second, before breaking into a chuckle. "You love me that much, don't you, Baekhyunnie?"

Baekhyun shrugged as he took a step out into the rain. A single tear rolled down his cheek, mixing with the raindrops and hanging on his chin before falling against the asphalt. It was silent, drowned by the sound of his heart breaking into pieces.

"Oh, you have no idea."

He thanked God it rained, because now, Chanyeol would never know.