*Chapter 2;

Baekhyun's heart hammered in his chest as he waited for a voice on the other end to pick up. Even after a minute, there was no response, which was strange because Chanyeol always picked up after the first ring, especially if the call was from him. There was no way Chanyeol couldn't hear a cellphone alarm going off around his neck unless his mental retardation was worse than Baekhyun assumed. But then again, that was just Baekhyun reassuring himself that Chanyeol was home and taking a nap, maybe.

It wasn't like he particularly cared about Chanyeol; he was more than concerned for his own life should his stepbrother be wandering around and something happened. His mother would have his head for that; after all, half of her life was centered around Chanyeol and Baekhyun didn't understand why. It was always Chanyeol this, Chanyeol that. Buy Chanyeol some new shoes! Let's take Chanyeol out for dinner! As an only child suddenly adjusting to having somebody else take all of his mother's attention, Baekhyun was just seething with jealousy.

"Hey, coach, I don't think I can make it to practice today, something came up." he said after some contemplation. He knew the season match was just around the corner and Baekhyun couldn't afford to miss a practice, but he was left without options.

He took the town bus home and sprinted from the bus stop to his home, then ungracefully burst through the front door, completely out of breath. The front door was, as he remembered, unlocked. Too riddled with panic to care about taking his shoes off, Baekhyun dumped his duffel bag beside the shoe cabinet and wandered in, calling Chanyeol's name.

His heart sunk into the pit of his stomach when he saw the boy sprawled out on the living room floor as he left him, safe and sound. The tension in his shoulders slipped through and Baekhyun almost lost the strength in his locked knees.

"Baekhyun, the phone!" Chanyeol beamed, getting up and abandoning his notebook and pencil to show his stepbrother the black screen. The battery was dead. Judging by how Chanyeol was pressing the 'Home' button repeatedly to make it light up again, Baekhyun didn't think he even knew that cellphones ran on electricity. To Chanyeol, the whole world was simplified. A cellphone was just a strange, miraculous device that connected him to Baekhyun with the push of a button.

"No wonder it's dead, you dummy, you called me at least a hundred times," he scowled, taking the lanyard off of Chanyeol's neck (he had to tip-toe because the dummy was so tall), "I told you to call me only if there's an emergency."

Chanyeol wordlessly sat down on the hardwood floor again, picking up his notebook that had pages and pages filled with rudimentary letters and sentences. Like a child learning to read and write, Chanyeol was learning the same thing, only he still couldn't write his own name without someone pronouncing it to him at least ten times. Now on his stomach, Chanyeol held a pencil tightly in his hand and looked up at Baekhyun expectantly.

"Park. Chan. Yeol." he repeated with a sigh, taking off the blazer of his uniform, "If you write the 'yeo-eut' backwards again, I'm going to kill you, Park. Chan. Yeol."

Chanyeol nodded and bowed his head, gaze stern and focused on the many boxes covering the page. Carefully, he printed out the first syllable of his name, then the second, and when it came to the 'yeol', he paused and stuck his tongue out in concentration. His hands were getting clammy from over-thinking; if he had thought any harder, steam would have escaped his ears. Finally, he presented the page to Baekhyun who took it in his hands and folded one page behind the spine.

"You wrote the 'yeo-eut' backwards again!" Baekhyun rolled his eyes and threw the notebook at Chanyeol's chest, "You can't even write your own name, how stupid are you? It's Park Chanyeol, idiot, not Park Chanyal!"

He turned away before he could catch a glimpse of the dejected expression on Chanyeol's face, unable to ignore the guilt that pushed up to his throat. He hadn't meant to yell, but he was so frustrated after the day's events that he wanted nothing more than to sleep it off and hope Chanyeol would be gone the next morning. With him around, he couldn't even invite his friends over like he used to or go out to play after school hours because it was his job to supervise Chanyeol.

Baekhyun sighed, heading into his room to change. "Let's go for a walk."

Going for a walk meant one of two things: going out for ice cream, or visiting their family's floral shop. The shop had been his grandmother's, but when she passed away a few months ago, Baekhyun's family was left with the small space. At first, they thought of selling or renovating the shop, but they decided to keep it around, for memory's sake. Plus, Chanyeol liked it. He spent hours taking care of the flowers because there was little harm he could do unless he was clumsy enough to break some pots here and there. After school, Baekhyun would open up shop and take care of the business aspect of things while Chanyeol stayed in the back watering and t flowers.

He also made some nice bouquets, which was surprising because Baekhyun didn't think Chanyeol could do anything that required thinking. If only Chanyeol wrote his name as efficiently as he arranged flowers, he wouldn't have another complaint.

The two of them didn't walk side-by-side on their afternoon stroll because Baekhyun didn't like being mistaken for somebody related to Chanyeol, let alone associated with him. But, whenever Baekhyun clicked his tongue, Chanyeol would catch up a few feet behind him with his head turning left, right, and all around, fascinated by the sights and sounds around him.

Once he had the steel garage opened and things assembled for the day, he looked at Chanyeol putting his work apron on and wondered how it was possible for someone to be so different in two places. With a work apron on, hair tied back in a loose ponytail, and framed glasses on the bridge of nose, Chanyeol looked just like a guy straight out of a shoujo manga; the flower-boy sort that always worked at flower shops. The resemblance was even more profound when Chanyeol was leaning over the rows of potted flowers with a spray bottle in hand.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, had no interest in flowers and stayed behind the cash register. It was why he kept a stack of Naruto comic books at his side, just in case he'd get bored, which was too often.

Business was always a little bit slow on the weekdays, while weekends and holidays were hectic. People died and celebrated things everyday, so there was always a handful of orders for funeral wreaths, baby shower bouquets, and the occasional proposal flowers that a brave man would come to order for a lucky lady. Baekhyun hardly knew the names of the flowers, so he always left Chanyeol with the job of arranging them. It kept the idiot busy.

Baekhyun would read the order to Chanyeol, who would arrange a bouquet in less than thirty minutes for it to be delivered by an errand service or picked up by the paying customer. Most of the time, the orders included roses, carnations, or various kinds of lilies which were an all-time favorite.

Of all flowers, Chanyeol liked the Baby's Breath flower, the tiny, white, and clustered flowers that were usually arranged with roses to give the main attraction a popping aesthetic. Baekhyun didn't know why the other male liked them so much, but he did, and always added more of the Baby's Breath than normal florists would in his bouquets.

"Sixteen roses, wrapped in a gold bow. Make it nice, Chanyeol, the customer's proposing to his girlfriend in an hour."

Chanyeol had the bouquet ready in thirty minutes, the roses shaped in a heart with Baby's Breath flowers clouded around the red center. He looked pleased with himself as he handed it over to Baekhyun, who was jotting down a note to go with it in the nicest handwriting he could write.

It was then that a call came to his phone, and Baekhyun held it between his cheek and shoulder while Chanyeol went back to watering the flowers.

"The PC Room? I'm kinda busy right now..." Baekhyun trailed off, "Hey, you know, on second thought, I'll be there in ten, don't start the round without me!" He hung up, suddenly very busy with the thought of playing Starcraft with his friends in a PC Room that was only a few blocks away from the shop. If Chanyeol stayed at the shop and he came back in an hour so, there was no harm done, was there? After all, it was highly unlikely that a customer would show up at five in the afternoon asking for flowers.

"Hey, Chanyeol, I'm gonna go out for a bit to get some ice cream for us, stay right here, okay?"

Chanyeol nodded, puzzled as he watched Baekhyun leave in a hurry.