Chapter 10

Baby's Breath

*Chapter 10;

Chanyeol fully recovered from the hospital bed, although he still had a temperature that would rise and drop every now and then. Doctor "Suho" as Baekhyun called him (short for guardian angel; cheesy, but fitting), recommended plenty of rest, regular meals, and love, then sent Chanyeol home.

After the previous night, after Baekhyun had to pull out of the room when Chanyeol was breaking down, the two couldn't have a normal conversation because it was awkward. Although Chanyeol had returned to the energetic happy virus he was when he got home, Baekhyun was still recovering from the trauma. In some ways, seeing Chanyeol shed tears affected him in more ways than one. It made his heart ache for some reason, and the uncomfortable burn never faded even after some sleep.

 

 

"Mom, Chanyeol said he's not going to school," Baekhyun said as he buttoned up his uniform. Unlike any other day, Chanyeol wasn't copying his every move and mismatching the buttons so Baekhyun would have to re-do it for him.

The woman stopped stuffing folders and paperwork into her tiny purse and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Why not? Chanyeol loves school." She said it like Baekhyun had no idea. "You didn't fight with him again, did you, Baekhyun? I swear, I keep telling you to be nice to him, he doesn't have very long before he"

"Gets kicked out?" Baekhyun finished her sentence with a solemn gaze, "I know."

He had overheard the adults discuss Chanyeol's school plans, if he had any at all. If anything, he couldn't understand why the school board was refusing to let Chanyeol stay in their special education program, if helping disabled students was what it was made for. Baekhyun stooped down to tie his shoelaces, but stopped in the doorway when he heard a crash. It didn't take long for a tall Chanyeol to come bursting out of his room with his hair in a mess, uniform crooked, and an impish grin on his face.

"Oh, great, sweetie, have a good day at school, okay? Stay with Baekhyun during soccer practice!" Baekhyun's mother chirped as she wiped the sleep dust wedged in the corners of Chanyeol's eyes.

Baekhyun had already gone out the door by the time his mother sent Chanyeol off like it was his first day of school. It was sickening how much his mother babied him instead of treating him like a grown man. Sure, Chanyeol's mentality was like that of a seven-year-old, but Baekhyun wondered how he was supposed to improve and learn if everyone just stooped to his level. That, and he was envious. Chanyeol could do no wrong and everyone with a pinch of sensitivity would croon and fawn over him like he was the next kitten sensation on YouTube.

Baekhyun hadn't even noticed Chanyeol fell into step beside him (since Chanyeol's legs were much longer than his, it made sense that he would catch up so fast), but neither of them said anything until they arrived at school.

 

 

During break, all of the students were herded out of the classroom because a few students were taking a make-up test, so a couple of Baekhyun's teammates made a group at the end of the narrow hallway where they shared Chocopies and compared answers for the test they had just taken. Baekhyun was, of course, daydreaming, paying attention to his surroundings more so than the conversation.

"Hey, baby Baek ribs, what did you put for question fourteen? The one about the independence bell?" Jongin asked.

"Huh?" he snapped back to reality, "Oh. I think I put number three for that."

Sehun groaned. "Are you serious? I changed the answer right before I turned it in!"

The others snorted.

Baekhyun chewed on the marshmallow layer of his Chocopie and looked down his left where so much was happening. He thought it would be interesting for someone to shoot a documentary of students in their natural habitat and see how similar people were to animals when it came to forming packs and interacting with others. There was Yixing, a Chinese student who spoke fluent Korean (he transferred in grade one), who was lost in the world between his headphones. He hadn't heard much about him before, other than the fact Yixing had won second place in the writing competition last semester. He won third.

Then, there were a few girls talking about the hottest celebrity, comparing who was better-looking than who, while they were caking on make-up layers upon layers. Even subconsciously, girls were always fretting over their outer appearances, yet always had the nerve to criticize someone else's. If teenage girls were animals, Baekhyun thought they would be hyenas. Harmless if standing alone, but intimidating in packs.

"Kris over there is talking to Luhan." Minseok snickered.

The Luhan? The Luhan from class 3-3? The Luhan that boys risked detention for, peeking over the classroom window? The Luhan who was rumored to be the long-lost prince of some ancient dynasty? The Luhan who had rejected every proposal he had gotten from anyone ever and left the most conceited boys and girls weeping in a ball of shame?

This was going to be very interesting.

Baekhyun crossed his arms after he was finished wiping the crumbs off his face, observing Kris talking to Luhan like it was nothing. Figures. Kris had no idea what sort of reputation Luhan had. Even so, Baekhyun could tell from the other end of the hallway that Luhan was clearly not impressed by Kris's advances. After every joke Kris cracked, the person who told it was the only one laughing and Luhan was deadpanning like Kris had just insulted his mother.

"Who does he think he is?" Jongin laughed, punching Jongdae playfully in the stomach, "Nyeh, nyeh, I'm from Bankooba."

Baekhyun chuckled.

While his friends were already placing bets that Kris's attempts at impressing Luhan would just be unsuccessful like the rest, Baekhyun spotted Chanyeol coming around the corner...

and Luhan waving to him with a sweet smile.

"Hey, Chanyeol," Luhan greeted.

"Hi, Luhan!" Chanyeol chirped almost too naturally and cheerfully (which didn't suit his baritone voice), despite everyone gossiping around them that holy , Luhan spoke to him first! He smiled shyly and handed a small book to Luhan, bowing his head as thanks. "Th-Thank you for letting me use your book. I really liked it..."

"You're welcome," Luhan smiled warmly, "You can borrow them anytime, okay?"

Chanyeol nodded, smiled at a dumbfounded Kris, then walked into his special education class a few doors down from homeroom.

"Was that Park Chanyeol?"

 

 

"What's gotten into you, Byun Baekhyun? The most important match of the season is right around the corner and you can't take a pass?"

Baekhyun had his gaze lowered to the ground as their coach barked at him, the others worn out and irritated that they had been practicing for hours without any satisfactory results. One of their forward players had suddenly twisted his ankle, so the team had to rearrange their positions all over again and formulate a plan from scratch. This meant triple the practice hours. Triple the stress. Triple the expectations.

"Jongin, you should be taking Baekhyun's right, don't forget the strategy!" the coach yelled, "If you boys don't get it right this time around, everyone's doing ten laps around the field!"

 

 

"Coach Jung was just hard on you especially," Jongin sniffed as he wrapped the bandages tight around his reddened ankle. There were only two of them in the locker room now after the others left. "Don't take it to heart, man, he's just a little... sensitive about keeping the school streak up, can't lose to those Jeon-Il bastards, anyway." he said, limping badly to pick up his duffel bag.

Baekhyun nodded, rolling his sore shoulder. What Jongin had said reminded him of his encounter with a few of them in the alleyway, and how Zitao had saved him from getting beaten-up. He was sure those "thugs" had learned a lesson, not to hang out in a neighborhood that wasn't theirs. As much as he wanted to mention it to Jongin, his best friend, he didn't. He didn't think it was that important.

"Woohyun sprained his ankle? What did he do, fall down a flight of stairs?" Baekhyun chuckled, although the subject itself wasn't something he could joke so lightly about.

"Yeah, I've been calling him, but he's not picking up. I guess it's pretty serious. His mother's filing a complaint to the school because she says he got hurt on campus."

"Is that a rumor you just heard?"

"Well, I heard it from Sehun who heard it from Jongdae who heard it from... someone else."

Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

He thought the timing was a little strange. Woohyun was obnoxious, energetic, and outspoken, but he wasn't clumsy. In fact, he was the quickest player of their team who had the best footwork. A few months ago, he and Nam Woohyun had run for the same position as captain and Baekhyun got nominated purely by a popularity vote. If Baekhyun was being completely honest, he had to admit that Woohyun would have been better for the position skill-wise.

With the hidden ace of their team injured, Baekhyun wasn't so sure if they stood a chance against the bigger and stronger boys of Jeon-Il High School.

 

 

"Baekhyun's really... good at soccer," Chanyeol smiled, his thumbs slipped underneath the straps of his backpack. They were walking side-by-side for once, even though Baekhyun could tell that Chanyeol was walking slower than usual for his shorter strides. A soft, innocent blush spread across the apples of Chanyeol's cheeks as he said this, like some little girl who had just confessed her feelings to a boy.

For some reason, Baekhyun felt good. It felt refreshing hearing that from someone, especially after all the stress his coach had piled on to make him feel like the worst player in history. The muddy soccer cleats he was carrying in a plastic bag felt like it weighed more than just a few pounds. They were so heavy. "Thanks." he said for lack of anything better to say, glancing at Chanyeol out of the corner of his eyes.

Nothing had changed about him. Chanyeol was back to being Chanyeol, with the twitching eyes, dumb smile, and curly, brown hair. He almost looked like a dog.

"Do you still want to go to school?" Baekhyun asked hesitantly, wondering if school was still a sensitive topic for Chanyeol.

Chanyeol nodded, grinning dumbly down at his toes.

"D-Did you want... to be a soccer player, Baekhyun?"

Baekhyun nodded this time, not saying anything for a long time until his stepbrother spoke again.

"Baekhyun would be a great soccer player, the greatest..." Chanyeol laughed softly at the heart-warming thought, "I don't know... w-what my dream is..."

"You wanted to become a teacher." Baekhyun said quietly.

 

 

Lost in the conversation, Baekhyun hadn't realized how far they had ventured into the same route he took the night before. Zitao's house was nowhere in sight, although it was clear from the lack of open gates and narrow streets that they weren't in the most welcoming of neighborhoods.

He stopped and nudged Chanyeol back, however, when he saw mustard-yellow uniforms.

There were about seven of them now, and one Baekhyun vaguely recognized pointed to him and Chanyeol as if they had been waiting for him. This time, they were carrying thick, long blocks of wood which made an intimidating and heavy sound as the thugs dragged them across the asphalt.

"Where's your kungfu friend?" one sneered.

Baekhyun pushed Chanyeol backwards.

"Chanyeol... run."

 

 

Author's Note: Hey guys! Thank you for reading! I am so overwhelmed with the comments right now, because you guys are all very supportive and the feedback is encouraging me a lot! Please do keep in mind that I read each and every one of them and try to respond to some! :'( A lot of you guys have been asking me what poem I used for the eighth chapter. It's a famous Korean poem called "In the Next World" by an poet I can't remember... so if I search it up again, I'll link you guys to the romanized one! Also, I have a twitter account you guys can follow me on for updates. :') Thank you!

It's a longer update guys. See what I do for you? ; v ;

 

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jindeul
Chapter 15 will be up tonight or tomorrow!

Comments

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27leialimel27 #1
Chapter 26: Please if someone can answer my question, I finished this story in one day and maybe it is because I am French but I don't understand something : what happened to luhan, why did he try to suicide ? Was he depressed or something and Chanyeol helped him ? and also for the author, do Chanbaek finish together as a couple at the end ? I love the story so much but I want to know more about luhan please
mahtao #2
Chapter 13: I think it's interesting.
It's not a common life for everyone but I can feel baekhyun feeling.
Thanks
Pinku2haru #3
Chapter 31: I read love this story and I'm so thankful to you that you put a happy end for items, it reminds me of :the letter c : which the couples were kai and kris, I love the both story so much
ramsha23
#4
Chapter 14: this is an absolute masterpiece. My heart hurts >.<
KpopFanficaddict #5
THIS WAS THE SADDEST STORY EVER!
chanbaekii #6
Chapter 29: IM IN TEARS THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST FICS I'VE EVER READ IN MY WHOLE LIFE
Ze_Lay #7
MY EYES HURT SO MUCH FROM CRYING QQ
real_cmh
#8
Chapter 29: woah, Jindeul, youre so mean! you made me cry! T_T
OceanicKey #9
Chapter 30: Is it still possible... perhaps to get a hard copy?
meurtrier #10
gets me all the time. forever my fave! <3