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The Red Candle
Year 2012
"What happened to the newborn prince? Did he find out who his real father is? What happened to Kai?"
"Sehun got what he deserved cuz he's a whiny !"
"What the heck! Sehun should live and kill that bastard Luhan!"
"Did they all die? What the heck! That is no happy ending!"
Baekhyun slams his thick ruler down the table with a thud, silencing the kids. The argument dies down, dragging the enthusiastic atmosphere with it.
Bakehyun rubs his temples in circles, easing away the headache that has been bugging him since yesterday. It is bad enough that being a teacher is harder a task than one could imagine, let a lone the fact that children these days have no such thing as respect for history. Baekhyun has tried.
"Watch your language, Min Seok! This is history, not a fairytale, there isn't a happy ending, as you would call it." He scolds and watches in amusement as the little boy huffs in annoyance.
"Well at least make Yi Fan and Sehun have a goodbye . That could have been less boring."
Baekhyun rolls his eyes as the class roars into groundbreaking laughter.
"Jongdae I would like to have a word with you after class, so we could arrange your detention schedules perhaps?" Baekhyun glares at the younger.
"Back to the lesson. Does anyone know what happened to The prince of Ventania afterwards?" Baekhyun fixes the glasses on the bridge of his nose, expecting a smart enough answer from his dear students. It saddens him to no end that not one of them has an interest in his amazng subject,
"Sehun. Sehun. OH SE HUN!" Throwing a chalk from across the room, Baekhyun smirks triumphantly as it hits the said student who was sleeping with his head in his arms. The younger shrieks in pain.
"Would you care to answer what I have just asked?" Baekhyun smiles sweetly at him, to which he yawns sleepily.
"I'm sorry, i couldn't quite catch what you said."
The class cracks up in laughter again.
"What happened to Sehun? And by Sehun I meant prince of Ventania, not you." Baekhyun rolls his eyes for the uncountable time that day. What surprises him is that Sehun tarts rolling his eyes too.
"He fell into the oceans, got swallowed by a sea monster and stayed in its stomach undigested for a few days until King Suho of the twelve seas rescued him. He reunited with Yi Fan in the underwater world and lived happily ever after. The little prince didn't die with the kingdom. Chanyeol picked him up and raised him with Baekhyun who was a Ventanian. The kid grew up and became King of the twelve mountains. He had the strength of the dragons and the grace of the winds. He controlled the Earth and the regulations of the universe. The end."
When Sehun is done with his account of the story, there is no applause. Everyone has their mouth hanging in awe.
"That was one of the most absurd things I have ever heard. Where did you get it from, a fanfiction?" Baekhyun asks sarcastically.
"But...but...That's what my mom said to me!" Sehun retorts, hands tightening into fists.
"See me after class."
---
"Mom! Dad! I'm homeeeee!" Sehun announces sheepily. It has been a productive day for him. After three shifts at a coffeeshop, a ramen restaurant and a shopping mall, Sehun is all but tired. All he wants right now is a bowl of kimchi jjigae, hot and spicy and for him in the kitchen. His mom would be so happy when she sees how much money he has made today. His dad would not be mad at him anymore, and he wouldn't beat his mother anymore. As long as they have the money, everything will be fine.
Only, not everything will be fine because Sehun returns to an empty house. All of their furniture is not in their usual place. His parents are nowhere to be found. The floorboards creak at his footsteps, creaking through his heart.
All he hears is a chuckle and all he feels are hands clamping over his mouth. Sehun kicks and flails and tries to break free, but the cloth is sprayed with some kind of substance that leaves his head hazy. The world is spinning before his eyes.
And then it stops spinning. Everything drifts into black.
And then history repeats itself.
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