Chapter 8

For the next month Chanyeol never mentioned the conversation they had that night in the hospital. Except, of course, for the times he told people who’d just met Wu Fan that he liked to undress in front of others. However, that didn’t really count.

Another good point was that with the Canadian’s encouragement the younger boy not only had become one of the best students in his class, but also, surprisingly popular among his classmates.  The party offers came one after the other and even though Kris always tried to stay out of it and give Chanyeol a chance to improve his social skills, he always got dragged along.

 “If you’re not going then I’m not going either.” Was lately the boy’s favorite phrase.

Wu Fan furrowed his eyebrows at his friend. That, he thought, was the downside of Operation ‘Get Chanyeol to meet people and go out more’.

“You have to go and I wasn’t even invited.” The Canadian reasoned.

“I’ll sneak you in.” The boy winked devilishly.

“Yeah, cause I’m totally small and easy to hide.” Kris rolled his eyes and insisted that he wasn’t coming.

“Fine, then I’m not going either.” Chanyeol nodded solemnly and stood up to tell Hwan Jaekang that he couldn’t make it to his party.

“Why not?” The Canadian called after him and thankfully the boy came to a halt.

“It’s not fun without Duizhang.” He shrugged.

“Yes, it is! It will be great.” Kris protested standing up to stop his friend from turning down the invitation.

“Not without Duizhang.” Chanyeol insisted stubbornly.

“You’re trying to tell me that I make a party more fun?! What are you, a child that can’t go anywhere without his mother? Don’t joke around!” He was getting a little angry and at the same time a little worried at the way the young boy was clinging onto him. He had to be more independent. Otherwise, what was he going to do when Kris would leave?

The boy’s smile fell from his face. 

“It’s not like I’m afraid to go without you-” He started.

“Then prove it. Go to the party.” It was little cruel and Kris felt his heart react badly to his words, but he knew he had no choice. It was better to be bad now, so that Chanyeol wouldn’t take so long to forget him later.

“I’d rather spend some time with you.” The curly-haired guy pouted.

“You’re being a burden, can’t you see?” Kris raised his voice.

“I told you before, I need space and you said ‘Ok, I’ll just wait in the shore where it’s warm’ or something like that. So why aren’t you keeping your word?” Hearing that, Chanyeol took a step back, guiltily.

“I thought I already gave you a lot of space.” He mumbled more to himself than the blonde.

It was true, Wu Fan knew it. Chanyeol had been friendly but not overly intimate. He never disturbed the Canadian during class and usually only invited him out, when Junmyun and his ‘children’ wanted to go out to eat or sing at a karaoke. Of course they still studied together after class, but both of them worked on their big assignments separately.

“So when you say you’re not going unless I’m there, that’s you giving me space?” Nevertheless, he kept going.

“It’s me who’s not going, how does that affect you?” Slowly, the younger boy was getting frustrated.

“It affects me when you say to my face that I’m the reason you’re not going.” It was getting bad, fast, the blonde noticed as his friend’s face changed into a mask of anger and exasperation.

“So what should I do? Not only keep my distance but also stop talking to you? Am I supposed to disappear now? Is that what you want?” It wasn’t. Wu Fan was absolutely certain he didn’t want Chanyeol to disappear. He didn’t even want all that space. He was just trying to make the end that was inevitably coming, easier for the boy.

“I just want you to be a little more mature and handle your life on your own. I’m sick of feeling like I’m talking to a kid!” The statement was so strong it left Chanyeol speechless.

Soon, his initial surprise was replaced by a cold look that didn’t fit the younger guy’s face at all and he lowered a hand he had raised to Wu Fan’s shoulder.

For a moment it seemed to the blonde that the boy had sunk into his own thoughts and he couldn’t even get in touch with him anymore. Something like those soulless zombies in the movies, Chanyeol turned around and walked out of the room, without speaking another word.

When Baekhyun came in, ten minutes later, he found Kris on his desk, looking worriedly at the door.

“He left.” Eyeliner Baekhyun announced. “Said something about being sick of you too and drove off.”

Wu Fan nodded. He’d expected something like that anyway. It might even be better to stay that way for a while.

“So are we sneaking in the party?” The guy in front of Kris asked.

 He only got a glare back.

“Yeah, didn’t think so...” Baekhyun sulked and muttered that he hadn’t even done anything wrong, so he didn’t need to be treated like that from both of them.

“If you were going to be so depressed, why did you make him mad in the first place?” The Korean guy grumbled.

“I can’t even begin to explain.” Kris answered and went back to his book.

He didn’t see Chanyeol for the next two weeks.

Even when he went to the café where Junmyun worked to meet up with everyone he was told the curly-haired boy had been too busy to come.

“I heard you made Chanyeol-hyung angry at you.” Sehun asked as he sipped from his bubble tea.

“You made Chanyeol-hyung mad? That must have been hard. Congratulations!” Jongin clapped his hands with a sarcastic expression on his face.

“Did Baekhyun gossip about it?” Kris gave a deadly look at the boy that sat on the other side of the table as everyone nodded in unison.

“I’m angry too.” The blonde said indignantly.

“Yeah, but you’re always a little angry, Duizhang-hyung…” Kyungsoo put in as mildly as he could.

“No, he’s not! Duizhang-hyung is a very nice person!” Sehun who was looking up to him since the talk they had a month ago protested.

Wu Fan wanted to say that he wasn’t a good person at all. That Sehun was wrong to trust and admire him so much. Then again, what would be the point of telling the poor boy something like that now? He wasn’t going to understand it anyway.

Just like that, Chanyeol couldn’t understand why he’d be happier if he kept his distance from him. No matter what Kris said, his words couldn’t reach the young boy. Unless, of course, he told him the whole truth. However, Wu Fan was a bad person. He wanted to escape from his miserable life, so he refused to stop lying.

Besides, he tried to persuade himself, maybe after a year Chanyeol wouldn’t like him all that much. Maybe, he’d get bored of hanging out with a stoic and no-fun person like Wu Fan. Or perhaps-

“Hyung!” Sehun nudged him. “Hyung, your phone is ringing!” He said and the blonde realized he had dozed off.

He looked down at his phone.

‘Kung Fu Panda’ it said and instinctively he smiled.

Tao was probably going to shout at him just like Luhan had a month ago, but at the moment even that distraction was good.

He picked the phone and walked out of the café to talk quietly.

“Wu Fan gē?” A soft, timid voice called out from the other end of the line.

“Yes. Who else could it be?” It was his cell phone Tao had called after all.

“Yes, right.” Zitao laughed awkwardly with his mistake. “It’s just that Luhan gē said you got yourself a puppy- I mean… a young friend.”

Now it was Wu Fan’s turn to laugh. Luhan had his way with words.

“He’s a new friend. A highschool student. You’d like him.” The blonde explained, happy to be talking to his friend.

“Luhan gē asks what his name is.” Tao muttered in a bored tone.

“Tell Luhan he should start talking better to me if he wants to know.” A smirk found its way on his face.

“I don’t care all that much!” Luhan scoffed indignantly from somewhere close to Tao.

 “Anyway you didn’t call for two months; I was very worried about you!” Luhan took the phone from Tao.

“Yeah, I thought I heard something about you being worried after you called me a ‘royal jerk’ and before you said you were going to come here and ‘kick my antisocial to next century’.” The Canadian accused and he heard Tao giggling from the other end of the line.

 “Why do you have to stay in Korea, Wu Fan gē?” Zitao stole the phone back and asked.

“Because I have a scholarship and an apartment here.” Kris answered as his expression became darker.

 “Wu Fan gē keeps getting scholarships. I want one too! I am a martial arts prodigy after all. Shouldn’t they give me a scholarship as well? And some extra money. To buy clothes and-” Zitao protested, when Kris heard a noise that sounded alarmingly like someone being hit with a heavy object and ordered to stop thinking about himself all the time.

“Don’t-! Luhan gē stop hitting me. Ow! It hurts! Gēge! Stop it- you know that’s your history book, right?” The noise stopped and the next thing Wu Fan heard was a snide comment Tao made about Luhan caring more about his books than his friend’s ‘precious body’.  

“You should know that the others were this close to taking the next plane and coming to see you last month. I had a very hard time keeping them back.” Luhan said more seriously.

“Yeah, Yixing told me he wanted to come over when he called the next morning. I told him I was fine, I only stayed in the hospital for one night.” Kris hurried to explain.

“Still, you’re being too careless and you never tell us anything… I just… I keep thinking something might happen to you.” Luhan’s voice came strained and the blonde realized his friend was close to tears.

Thankfully, Tao took the phone at that point and started talking about how Luhan, who was currently his roommate, needed to find a boyfriend and get laid quickly because he was ruining his college life with his nerves.

“Every time I want to bring a girl over he says he’s going to stay in and watch a movie. And if I don’t do the laundry once a week he doesn’t let me borrow his motorcycle to pick up girls. I mean, what kind of roommate does that?” Tao asked exasperated, after a lengthy description of Luhan’s obviously unacceptable behavior as a roommate.

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Sure, we’ll find him somebody to date.”Slowly Wu Fan removed the cell phone from his ear and pressed the red button. Luhan would understand, he told himself. No one could stand Zitao’s whining for so long.

“Who are you setting up for a date, hyung?” Sehun was standing at the door, patiently waiting for him to finish his call.

“Honesty, nobody. I just had to say something to make a dongsaeng of mine stop blabbering.” Kris patted Sehun’s back and motioned him to go back in.

“You don’t like blabbering huh?” Junmyun saw them coming in and came to greet them, since it was the café’s service policy.

Kris nodded in agreement.

“Is that why you keep pushing Yeollie away? Because he annoys you?” Wu Fan bit his lower lip at that. Luhan first and then Junmyun had been poking around matters he didn’t want to talk about.

“Yes. Because of that.” The blonde replied coldly and walked past Junmyun quickly.

“But Wu Fan-hyung, I thought…” Kris didn’t let the shorter guy finish.

He grabbed his jacket, muttered an excuse and took the bus back to campus.

It was only eight-thirty so he had plenty of time to study, he thought.

Taking out his book he started reading about the stock market. Then, he realized he needed to check his notes for more details. It was an annoying business, going back and forth between two equally confusing sources of information and on top of that having to write a critical essay based on them.

After three hours of not very good work Wu Fan sighed and messed his hair. It made no sense. He’d been reading that page on ‘Regulation of margin requirements’ for ten minutes now and he still had no idea what it was about.

“Yah, Chanyeol-ah, can I check your notes on-?” His sentence was cut short.

What was he even doing? Could his mind have clouded so much that he was seeing things? Was it brain-damage?

He shook his head. It had only been two weeks since he last saw the crazy Korean with the curly hair. Honestly, most of the time he didn’t even miss him.

Most of the time, he stressed inwardly.

Except for those moments when he looked at the empty seat next to him in class, or the moments someone called him Duizhang, or moments, like now, that he was studying alone.

Anyway, most of the time Wu Fan didn’t miss Chanyeol.

And ‘most of the time’ was good enough for him.

Another hour of failed studying went by and the blonde’s sadness, slowly but steadily turned into anger.

He hadn’t even said anything bad. Just, that Chanyeol should go to parties on his own.

Frankly, had the boy not been so childish and stupid he wouldn’t need to be so strict with him.

No…

Actually, had the crazy guy been more mature and well… less crazy, his father wouldn’t have asked for Wu Fan’s help to change him. Wu Fan would have been living peacefully, albeit poorly, and Chanyeol would have been happy as the heir of a huge business.

Kris was annoyed.

Despite having no right to be annoyed, he was annoyed anyway.

Suddenly, he stood up. It was already midnight, but he didn’t care.

He was sick of thinking about Chanyeol; sick of calling his name in his empty dorm and sick of needing his notes on ‘Regulation of margin requirements’.

Wu Fan was not the kind of person that needed other people’s notes… Or other people's help.

He put on a white shirt and headed out.

If Chanyeol didn’t want to go to Hwan Jaekang’s party, then Kris would go. He’d go and prove the crazy guy that he didn’t need him one bit.

“Everyone can have fun alone in such a party!” The blonde exclaimed as he entered a huge garden with a swimming pool and a bar next to it. The music was making his eardrums hurt a little but he was far from uncomfortable.

Wu Fan headed to the bar and ordered a vodka which he quickly drank.

Was he being childish and reckless, he wondered.

If he had waited a while longer before emptying the next shot in his mouth, his logic might have replied that, yes, he was being both childish and reckless and that this would not end well.

Unfortunately, he didn’t wait.

Kris had had over ten shots of vodka before he thought of stopping.

And at that point, it was too late.

“I even got drunk. I must have really gone crazy…” He counted the drinks in front of him and ordered another one.

The music was starting to annoy him and so was the couple next to him, who had been glued to each other for the past hour.

Wu Fan was relatively sure he had, at some point of the night, advised the overly affectionate couple to get a room and use protection, but he wouldn’t bet his life on it.

Things were getting blurry and the contents of his stomach were equally messed up.

That’s why, when a voice called his name from the other side of the bar; a voice that sounded too deep and emotional to belong to anyone but Park Chanyeol, Kris didn’t turn around.

 “Duizhang?” Now a hand was nudging his shoulder and the blonde was too intoxicated to properly shrug it off without falling off that uncomfortable chair.

“Ha!” He scoffed upon meeting with two wide, innocent eyes. “I thought you weren’t coming.” He said.

The boy frowned a bit and looked away.

“I thought you weren’t coming either.” Chanyeol muttered.

“I like going to parties alone.” Throwing it to the younger boy’s face after two weeks of silence was too much. Sober Kris would have realized that. However, Kris, after twelve shots of vodka, only saw a happy looking Chanyeol who was having the time of his life, even though they hadn’t talked to each other for two weeks. And he was angry about it.

“Yeah, you like to go everywhere alone… I know.” Chanyeol replied not holding back either.

“This party is good. I think I saw someone play with a dolphin in the pool.” Wu Fan pointed at the large swimming pool some feet away from them.

“I don’t think that ever happened. You’re drunk.” The curly-haired boy shook his head.

“And then there was this guy who filled the Jacuzzi with beer and tried to swim in it.” The blonde continued unaffected.

“Ok, that might have happened, but you’re still drunk. Come on, we’re leaving.” Chanyeol tried to pull him up from his seat.

“I don’t want to go yet. And I don’t want to go with you!” Wu Fan protested as respectably as a drunk person could.

“Now, who’s being childish?” The younger guy mocked but did not stop trying to move his friend.

“I’m mad at you. I’m angry too. Even if I have no right to be angry, I am!” The Canadian stared defiantly at the curly-haired guy towering over him.

“What for?” Chanyeol scratched his head thoughtfully.

“I’m mad because I called your name tonight. For a moment, I thought you were next to me, so I did that.” In his stupor the blonde confessed this easily, taking the other by surprise.

“Why did you call my name?” Chanyeol asked softly and Kris wondered how he even heard him with all that noise.

“I needed your notes on ‘Regulation of margin requirements’.” The curly-haired boy chuckled at that and his hair flied around his face as he shook with laughter.

“Let’s just go. I’ve got my notebook in the car, so I’ll give them to you when we get there.” He promised still smiling and pushed the tall blonde through the crowd.

Kris had never been lead by someone else. Then again he’d never been drunk enough to require someone to lead him. Still, for a one-time thing, having Chanyeol hold his hand and lead the way felt nice.

“You’re surprisingly strong.” Wu Fan commented as he walked inches from a pile of clothes that had no reason to be in the yard, let alone showered in, hopefully, beer.

Chanyeol turned and looked at him curiously. “Surprisingly?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Let me finish.” The Canadian stopped walking and forced the boy to turn around and face him.

“You’re surprisingly strong and also tall.” He put a hand over Chanyeol’s head.

“And your curls flip and dance around your face when you laugh.” He played with a curl of the boy’s hair before lowering his hand.

“Your eyebrows are thin and perfect. How do you do it?” He ran a finger over his eyebrows slowly.

“As for your eyes…” Wu Fan passed his hand over the boy’s eyelashes and laughed silently. “They miss nothing, those eyes, do they? So bright and flaming…”

Kris took another step towards the boy, the tips of their shoes touching, and looked deep into Chanyeol’s eyes.

“For two, whole weeks I didn’t see them and I felt cold again. I missed you.”  The blonde admitted, feeling his heart jumping up and down his chest.

“Your nose is a little big. It makes you look like a country bumpkin.” Brushing over it, he joked.

“And your lips...” Sober Kris would have never stared so long at someone’s lips. Actually, he wouldn’t have even looked at Chanyeol’s perfectly soft lips; since he wanted to keep his sanity.

Above everything else, Sober Kris would have never leaned closer and taking the boy’s face in his hands kissed those lips.

“Hm… they have a sweet taste too.” He wouldn’t have said that either.

But Kris was not sober.

And had he wanted to avoid causing a mess, he should have thought of stopping before his second shot of vodka.

Because, as he kissed Chanyeol, he knew it was too late.

A/N: So... COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE!!!

I cannot wait to hear what you think of this chapter!

I'm very thankful for all your good words. *bows*

By the way have you heard of a song called 'The day before' by NELL? It's daebak!

Please look forward to the next update.

OH! And wish me luck for my exam tomorrow!