Author's Note: You may kick me because I know it's awful and it doesn't make sense but when do my stories ever ;u;

The course of true love never did run smooth. –William Shakespeare.

I.

Baekhyun.

Chanyeol was barely eight when he realized his heart only beat for a certain male.

It would race whenever Baekhyun was around and would gradually decrease whenever Baekhyun wasn’t in his sight. He was probably too young to understand what he felt. But whatever it was, it was definitely breathtaking and Chanyeol liked it. In only just a few weeks, his feeling had evolved into something deeper. It got bigger and bigger everyday until it turned into a heartache because when Chanyeol was twelve, he knew that they would never be together.

Both Baekhyun and Chanyeol were born and raised together in the castle, but they had never really stumbled upon each other. Because Chanyeol was merely a peasant, who was born only to dedicate his life for the Byun family, while the love of his life was the second heir to the kingdom. They had such different status that peasants weren’t supposed to talk to the royal family.

It was painful, no, it was heartbreaking. But Chanyeol understood his position and that was why he was content with just observing the beautiful male from afar. Besides, it was not like Baekhyun would ever notice him.

The thought brought a bitter smile to his face.

The people loved their king and they lived in peace.

The eldest son, Kris, was definitely going to take the throne one day and he was prepared for everything. With just a single glance, the people knew that they could rely on Kris if one day their beloved king passed away and he was the one to take over. The male was quite the opposite of Baekhyun—gallant, charming and brave. It was probably why Kris was overprotective toward his brother and Chanyeol felt like he would do the same if he were in Kris’ shoes.

Chanyeol had been observing Baekhyun too much that he even stayed around Baekhyun’s room secretly. Most of the times, he would act like he was cleaning or just passing by. Either way, it got him to stick close to the pretty male.

That night, Chanyeol did his usual routine (of stalking) with a rag in his hand. He had always brought the ugly cloth with him because he could explain that he was there to clean—just in case one of the guards caught him. But then again would anyone buy that he was cleaning at such ungodly hour?

The tall male was hiding in his safe spot when he noticed someone was sneaking quietly into Baekhyun’s room. He narrowed his eyes in dislike. The male who had just sneaked into the room was one of the generals and also one of Kris’ trusted men, but Chanyeol had never liked him. It was based on his instinct and he knew his hunch was always right.

Chanyeol carefully tiptoed to Baekhyun’s room and soon he heard weak muffles of ‘no’ and ‘please’ and it angered him. From the first time he saw the general, he knew the man was up to no good. And now Chanyeol gritted his teeth because his Baekhyun was obviously touched. He wanted to do something—preferably screaming—to make it stop. Chanyeol knew he was going to get scolded for wandering near the royal family’s room, but someone had to do something. The tall male closed his eyes in distress and took a deep breath to calm himself. Kicking the door dramatically like a hero to start a fight wasn’t an option because he would definitely lose. Chanyeol cracked his eyes open for any other option.

So he simply dropped a vase nearby.

It fell with a loud crash to the floor and everything went dead.

Within a minute later, Baekhyun’s door was slid opened and the general threw a frantic look around before stepping out of the room. Kris emerged out of nowhere with his robe on (his room was actually near Baekhyun’s) and his eyes narrowed at the sight of one of his generals.

“You,” Kris glowered. “What are you...?”

The general could only nodded nervously at the Royal Prince and left in a hurry.

Kris pursed his lips at the general’s suspicious behavior and decided to wave it off. The blond haired male shifted his gaze to the scattered vase on the floor and found his younger brother peeking from his room. “Baekhyunie, are you alright?”

“Y—yeah...”, Baekhyun calmly said but his face was pale. “What was that, hyung?”

“The vase,” Kris groaned. “The expensive vase.”

Baekhyun followed his brother’s gaze to the broken vase and visibly bit his lip. At that moment he could only think that the vase had saved his life. Had it not fell, who knew what would happen next? Baekhyun shuddered at the horrible thought.

“Well, I’m just glad no one is hurt,” Kris sighed and walked closer to Baekhyun. He gave the latter a solemn stare before leaning forward to kiss his cheek. “Go to sleep. Goodnight, Baekhyunie.”

“Goodnight, hyung.”

Baekhyun was about to retreat to his room when he spotted an ugly rag near the broken vase.

He knew who it belonged to.

Chanyeol was shirtless when he cut the woods with an axe.

It was one of his tasks in the morning. They thought the job would suit him because he was the tallest one among the peasants (and maybe they were too blind to see that his feature didn’t actually match his height. Chanyeol was skinny). But he had never complained. No one really wanted to do the wood cutting because it was more exhausting than the other jobs. Chanyeol had always done it near the forest where few people were around. No one would usually come near to the working peasants so he had always taken off of his shirt. It was much easier to work that way.

He didn’t expect a surprise that morning.

“Um...excuse me?”

Chanyeol’s axe stopped in mid air as he lazily looked over his shoulder. Whoever it was clearly didn’t have a clue that Chanyeol hated being interrupted. His eyes widened at the sight before his eyes and his knees almost wobbled.

The prince that he loved was standing behind him.

It was clear that Baekhyun had washed himself, judging from how clean he looked (but of course, the royal family would look different than a peasant no matter how many times he washed himself). Chanyeol looked around and thought Baekhyun had probably mistook him for someone else. He was still ugly and dirty and shirtless and worse, he hadn’t washed himself since last night. He even wondered if the prince was lost.

Chanyeol ignored him and planned to continue his work.

He’s not talking to you, Chanyeol.

“I’m talking to you,” Baekhyun said a bit louder and managed to stop Chanyeol from swinging his axe for the second time.

Chanyeol felt his heartbeat increasing but still said nothing. He only closed his eyes in response. He was still standing with his back on Baekhyun and took a deep breath.

“I know what you did,” Baekhyun slowly continued. “I know it was you who dropped the vase in front of my room last night. I...I saw your usual rag near the vase. You...you have been passing by a lot to clean up, right? When I saw it, I just... I knew it belonged to you.”

Chanyeol held his breath. He knew?

“Don’t worry, I won’t...”, Baekhyun said hesitantly. “I won’t tell anyone. I just want to thank you...because if you hadn’t done that, something bad might have...something bad might have happened to me.”

Baekhyun slowly stepped closer to Chanyeol and the latter felt his entire body stiffened. The taller of the two wanted to snap at the prince to stay away because he was shirtless at the moment and he smelled bad and this wasn’t even supposed to happen. How did Baekhyun know it was his rag?

Chanyeol inhaled the prince’s fresh scent of fragrance and almost got drunk. He smelled too good to be true. A moment later, he found the prince standing in front of him and he quickly looked away.

“What’s your name?”

Chanyeol almost groaned in frustration. He wasn’t allowed to talk and Baekhyun knew that.

“I order you to speak,” Baekhyun said softly as he tilted his head to a side to catch Chanyeol’s gaze. “You may speak.”

Chanyeol stared at Baekhyun in disbelief. They were merely inches apart and Chanyeol almost begged for his heart to stop racing at such impossible speed. He finally gave in because it didn’t seem like Baekhyun would take silence as an answer. Chanyeol forced himself to open his mouth and spoke. “Chanyeol, Your Highness.”

“Chanyeol...”, Baekhyun said dreamily and a shy smile bloomed in his beautiful face. “Thank you for saving me, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol opened his mouth to say something again but hesitated. Baekhyun shot him a look of protest as the shorter of the two put his hands on his hips.

“You may speak more than one sentence.”

“I only did what I had to, Your Highness,” Chanyeol quickly blurted out and mentally kicked himself.

Baekhyun’s eyes gleamed. He seemed pleased.

“Are you—are you hurt?”

The prince seemed a bit taken aback by the question. “Oh. N—no. I’m—I’m alright, thanks to you. But...but please, don’t tell my brother. He doesn’t need to know about this.” His voice was laced with slight fear and Chanyeol found himself nodding in understanding. It was then that he realized he was still shirtless and took a giant step back.

“Where—where are you going?”

Baekhyun instinctively touched Chanyeol’s bare shoulder and quickly pulled his hand away. Chanyeol froze on his track, waiting for the prince’s beautiful face to morph into an expression of disgust because he was (still) sweating and his perfect hands didn’t fit to touch such dirty places.

But it never came.

Instead, his cheeks were colored and his face was flushed.

Under the golden ray of light, the male looked even more beautiful.

“I’m—I’m sorry,” Baekhyun stammered. “Chanyeol, I...I wish...”

Chanyeol only stared while the prince struggled to free the words that had been occupying his mind. And all he wanted to reply was,

I wish you knew how much I love you.

None of them had seen it coming.

The sky was sparkled with the bright color of red. The fiery blaze had ruined the calm, dark night.

Their enemy had invaded.

Kris had ordered the civilians to evacuate right away and the army was prepared for battle. Chanyeol was soon dragged out of the castle but he freed himself from the grip of the guards and made his way back to see Baekhyun. It was chaotic. Everyone was running to the opposite way of him, trying to save their lives. But he didn’t want to leave without the pretty male.

After a few minutes of running, Chanyeol finally saw Baekhyun on the balcony with Kris’ betrothed—a beautiful male named Junmyeon. Without thinking, he climbed up to where the prince was standing and called out his name. “Your Highness—Prince Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun turned to him and he looked startled. “Chanyeol? What—what are you doing here? You should run!”

“I...”, Chanyeol trailed off. He could, but he didn’t want to. “I want you...to come with me.”

He knew he wasn’t supposed to say that and the tallest of the three could feel Junmyeon shifting his gaze to him. He couldn’t bring himself to gaze back, his eyes were only fixed to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun’s eyes were filled with emotions when he spoke. “Chanyeol, I—I can’t. It’s my country. I need to fight for it.”

“Then I will stay,” Chanyeol firmly said.

“Don’t be silly,” Baekhyun’s words came out as a whisper and fear was showed in his beautiful black orbs. “Please, you have to live.”

“I want you to be safe,” Chanyeol braved himself to grab Baekhyun’s hands and the latter flinched in surprise. “I want to protect you... I will stay.”

Junmyeon looked away from them. He could see the enemy’s army marched with full speed toward the castle. “Incoming.”

“Please, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun pleaded. “You have to live.”

“Your Highness—“

“I want you to promise me something.”

Chanyeol heard screaming below them. The battle had started. “Prince Baekhyun—“

“Promise me!”

Chanyeol in his breath. “Anything.”

The sound of the blades clashing hurt their ears.

“Please find me,” Baekhyun’s lips were trembling as he reached forward to the taller male. “Please find me, whatever you do, find me—“

The loud sound of a cannonball hitting the balcony was the last thing Chanyeol remembered.

II.

Please find me.

Chanyeol gasped as he snapped back from his trance. His head suddenly throbbed with a terrible pain and he quickly placed a hand on his forehead.

“Captain, are you alright?”

Chanyeol groaned as he rubbed his eyes in attempt to soothe the pain. “I’m alright,” he grunted and shook his head. For a second, Chanyeol wondered if it was a dream. Yeah, it was definitely a dream. He must have dozed off for a minute.

Jongin pursed his lips and gave his captain a slight pat on the shoulder. “We’re waiting for your order.”

Chanyeol nodded tiredly and let out a sigh. “Just make sure there are no survivors.”

“Got that.”

Chanyeol wrinkled his nose in distaste at the surrounding.

The village was in an awful condition. Several buildings were burnt to ashes. The smell of roasted human meats and blood were hanging in the air and Chanyeol tried his best to not puke. It would be impossible for anyone to survive from the impact, but orders were still orders. He could see his men scattered all over the place to check, to make sure that there were no survivors. The bombs literally killed everyone in the area.

It was a cruel thing to witness.

He was a soldier, but if he could choose, he preferred things to be settled with peace.

Chanyeol heard his men started screaming ‘clear’ and Jongin shouting ‘get back to your position’ at them. He slowly walked to the nearest house and gave the wrecked building a deep stare.

What kind of family lived here?

What were they doing before they were suddenly blown to death?

What if...what if they were innocent?

The village was reported because one of their informants said that a lot of suspicious activities had happened there. That kind of information was sensitive to what they have been through. Chanyeol wasn’t even sure if it was true, but their government just needed something to blame. And that was how they got there in the first place without even investigating first.

Orders were still orders.

His boots creaked as he stepped into the house. Chanyeol’s heart broke at the sight of dead bodies lying throughout the place and he choked. It reminded him of Kyungsoo, who didn’t get to be enlisted to the army because of his health problem. And Chanyeol was grateful for that because he wasn’t sure if Kyungsoo could even survive the moment the war started.

The bodies were side by side and they were curled near each other. Chanyeol could see their hands were entwining and went blank at the sight. He wished they didn’t endure any pain when it happened... He imagined if it was Kyungsoo and his parents. They were probably laughing and chatting happily and suddenly, their life was over.

Chanyeol almost sobbed and curled his fingers tightly into fists.

But they were in the war.

No tears were needed.

Chanyeol exhaled loudly to prevent the tears from falling and stepped further into the room. He couldn’t forget the sight of the dead bodies on the floor and fluttered his eyes closed. He may be a captain because of his awesome fighting skills, but Park Chanyeol was still a human. And he had a heart.

A human heart.

Chanyeol became alarmed as he heard a slight movement in the middle of the room. His expression changed as he readied himself and quickly pulled a knife from his pocket. He could kill whoever it was in a second. The captain heard a soft whimper and Chanyeol squinted his eyes. He spotted a pair of legs behind the couch. The male proceeded to walk closer with high caution and prepared himself for battle—just in case if he received an attack.

His heart almost stopped beating at the sight.

The male was still alive.

He was harmless and Chanyeol didn’t even know how he decided in such a short time. In war, instinct was everything and he only trusted himself. The male looked really weak and he had blood on his face. Chanyeol must have been insane because he folded his knife back to its original place and quickly knelt down to brush a strand of hair from the survivor’s forehead. His heart started to beat faster but he didn’t know either it was because of knowing that someone was still alive—the order was to kill any survivor—or it was because the male was definitely beautiful even with blood all over his face.

He seemed familiar. Too familiar.

“H—hyung,” the male choked weakly.

“Hyung?”

“Kris—Kris-hyung—“

Chanyeol threw sharp glances around the place and he realized the male must have been talking about the two dead bodies on the other side of the room. His eyes drifted to the black and white pictures by the table—it was a picture of the bleeding male and two others. They seemed like a happy family. Chanyeol said nothing as he scanned the male’s condition. It didn’t seem like he had any broken bones—his feet seemed okay. Judging from the blood trailing from the male’s mouth, he must’ve damaged his ribs but other than that, he would survive.

“You’re—“

Chanyeol quickly put a finger against his mouth and the male meekly obeyed. He heard footsteps approaching outside the house and stood up. Just as he did it, Jongin appeared by the doorway. Chanyeol only stared at him nonchalantly like nothing had happened.

“Captain. Everything’s clear. Are we done here?”

Chanyeol grimly nodded. “There are no survivors. You can tell the others to retreat. We’re going back to headquarters.”

Jongin nodded back. “Got that. I’ll be waiting for you by the entrance. And please don’t take too long, I wanna go home to Kyungsoo.”

Chanyeol gave him a look. “You do realize that I am his brother, right?”

“What I realize is that you approve of my relationship with him,” Jongin impishly grinned and bowed deeply at Chanyeol. “Let me repeat that. I will be waiting for you by the entrance, Captain. Let’s go home.”

With that, Jongin disappeared.

Chanyeol shook his head in distress and wondered when he had ever approved of their relationship. But Kyungsoo looked so happy whenever Jongin was around and his brother had never smiled that wide as long as he lived—so maybe yeah, he did approve. Chanyeol waited for a moment to make sure that Jongin had really left before kneeling down again. “It’s safe now. You can open your eyes.”

The male cracked his eyes opened fearfully. He was starting to sob.

“Ssh,” Chanyeol gently caressed the male’s lips. “What’s your name?”

“B—Baekhyun.”

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol felt himself longing because the name sounded so beautiful. There was a slight tinge of yearning as he uttered that name. “Listen, Baekhyun. As soon as I leave this place, you have to run. There’s a village nearby, do you know it?” He received a weak nod as an answer. “I have a cousin there. His name is Luhan. Just tell him that Park Chanyeol sent you and you’re a survivor from this village. They will take you in for shelter.”

“Luhan... Park Chanyeol...”

“Can you sit?”

Baekhyun winced in pain and did his best to not let out a shaky moan as he tried to sit. Chanyeol helped him and the male leaned against the back of the couch weakly. “Are you...an enemy?”

Chanyeol was quiet. “I’m not sure.”

“Why...why are you helping me?”

“Just run and never look back, Baekhyun. Luhan will help you.”

Chanyeol rose to his feet and headed toward the broken door. He didn’t want to leave, but if he stayed, Baekhyun’s life would be in danger. And bringing a survivor back to the headquarters was not included in the order. It was time for him to leave or his men would come looking for him.

“Park...Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol stopped walking.

“How did you find me?” Baekhyun sobbed softly. “Will we—will we ever meet again?”

Chanyeol found himself questioning the meaning behind those words.

“CAPTAIN! IT’S A TRAP!!”

All of a sudden, Chanyeol heard Jongin shouting from the distance and the awful sound of gunshots were filling the air. He cursed as he realized another battle had started and looked over his shoulder. He wanted the other male to live.

“Run, Baekhyun!!”

Something exploded in front of the house and it was the last thing Chanyeol remembered.

III.

Will we ever meet again?

“Oi, Chanyeol!”

Chanyeol batted his eyelashes rapidly and caught Minseok hit his head with a book. His jaw dropped as a sign of protest while Minseok grinned sheepishly in his seat. “What...the hell, hyung?”

“Not my fault. You were spacing out, so...”

Chanyeol rubbed his forehead dramatically (even though it didn’t hurt at all because Minseok didn’t use full strength) and grunted. “Doesn’t mean that you can hit me.”

“You looked...disheveled. What did you think about?”

Minseok was probably trying to change the subject, but his voice was laced with genuine worry. Chanyeol sagged in his seat and rapped his fingers on the table. The truth was that he had been hearing strange voices lately. Sometimes it just snapped at him out of nowhere and he out. Other times, it would rush to him like a headache in a split moment and then it just vanished as soon as it came.

“...nothing.”

“Are you sure? Maybe you should go see the doctor. You were really pale.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol shrugged and decided to drop the subject this time. “So anyway, is Heechul-seonsangnim absent? If he is, I would like to go home, thank you.”

Minseok shot him a confused look. “Haven’t you heard? He had an accident and had to be admitted to the hospital.”

“Really? That’s awful. Then why didn’t they dismiss the class?”

Minseok shot him another look. “Because they already got the replacement but he’s just not here yet.”

Chanyeol sighed in defeat and rested his cheek on his fist. He wished they would just dismiss the class for the day so that he could go home. Lately his headaches had been getting worse and he wondered if it was because of the slight visions he had (or even because of the lack of sleep). And to wrap it up, Heechul taught history. Chanyeol wasn’t really bright at memorizing—and Heechul was killer—so he wasn’t really fond of the subject.

How did you find me?

The tall male bemoaned softly and brought a hand to his head.

It came again.

Whose voice was that? It brought him a flash of memories but he couldn’t picture them well. All he knew that his chest tightened everytime those words resonated in his mind because it hurt.

“Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol sighed and opened an eye. Minseok was staring at him worriedly. He was about to say something to calm the older male when an eerie silence consumed the whole class. Someone had walked into the class and Chanyeol looked up to see who it was.

His heart almost stopped beating at the sight before his eyes.

The male looked terribly familiar.

The class had become full lately and no one seemed to be absent (because no one seemed to want to pass the opportunity to drool over the beautiful substitute teacher). Chanyeol just wanted to smack their heads with a stack of papers because they were all staring at how those pink lips moved instead of listening to what he really said. But there was nothing he could do about it—the teacher was truly beautiful. Besides, Baekhyun’s way of teaching was completely different than Heechul and that was probably why the students liked him. Even though he was younger, but he was definitely talented at teaching.

There were times when Baekhyun’s expressions changed when they stumbled upon topics related to wars. The male would pause to mourn for a while before continuing, and Chanyeol always, always noticed this. It was like an invisible pain resurfaced everytime the topic was brought, like he actually lived during those wars.

Baekhyun was absolutely pretty and it was obvious that everyone tried to win his heart.

But the male never said yes to the requests.

Few teachers were rejected and a lot of students got no as an answer. It irritated Chanyeol to know that his friends had blatantly confessed to Baekhyun because it was strictly forbidden. Baekhyun definitely had a career to pursue and getting romantically involved with one of the students wasn’t in the list.

But there was always a stubborn one among the throng of people.

Chanyeol noticed that there was a chemistry teacher who seemed a bit obsessed with Baekhyun. He haunted Baekhyun so much that it irked Chanyeol to no end. Baekhyun had clearly said no to him, but he didn’t give up. His gestures were subtle, but Chanyeol could notice that Baekhyun was actually scared of the other teacher.

He started noticing things like how Baekhyun’s hand would slightly tremble whenever he spotted the chemistry teacher staring at him in the cafetaria. He noticed how Baekhyun would avoid staying late at school and quickly went home when his classes were done. He noticed how Baekhyun had gotten pale whenever he passed the other teacher in the hallway.

He knew.

He didn’t know how, but he just knew.

So when Chanyeol missed Baekhyun’s presence for the first time in the week, he had a feeling something was wrong. The bell had rung loudly half an hour ago but there was still no sign of his (beautiful) History teacher. Chanyeol scanned the parking lots from the window and he spotted Baekhyun’s car.

Baekhyun was still at school.

It was strange.

Chanyeol waited in front of the teacher’s lounge and asked politely to the last teacher who left the room. She told him that Baekhyun had never returned after his last class. Chanyeol thanked her and something akin to worry bubbled in him. He decided to look for Baekhyun.

Where are you?

There was no sign of him in the classes he was last seen in.

How do I find you?

The library was only filled with students.

When will we meet again?

Chanyeol finally found Baekhyun crying in one of the closed stalls in the toilet after hours of searching. He cringed in fear at first, it could be a ghost—why did he always remember ghost stories at times like this?—but then he braved himself to listen and he was sure it was Baekhyun. How he was sure it was him, he didn’t know.

He just did.

Chanyeol continued to listen to the sound of crying. Baekhyun was sobbing softly and it pained him to hear him in such condition. Chanyeol wasn’t sure of what to do so he just cleared his throat to let the other male know that someone was there. Baekhyun choked on his sobbing and gasped for air. The sound of his breath ragging could still be heard faintly. Chanyeol brought himself to knock softly on the closed door.

“Seonsangnim?”

There was no answer.

Chanyeol tried again. “Seonsangnim, it’s me.”

Baekhyun almost felt inadequate when he replied.

“...Chanyeol?”

“Open the door.”

“N—no.”

“Baekhyun, open the door.”

If Baekhyun was in his normal state, he would definitely scold his student for being so rude. But Chanyeol’s voice was stern and demanding and Baekhyun missed it. He had heard the voice somewhere before and he felt himself longing for it. Baekhyun sniffled sadly. He slowly unlocked the door, questioning why he obeyed the younger male’s request and saw Chanyeol’s eyes widening at his condition. His eyes weren’t filled with worry or shock.

Chanyeol was indignant.

It was clear that Baekhyun had been crying, the collar of his shirt had been ripped slightly and it brought Chanyeol another flash of familiar feeling.

We’ve been through this before.

Baekhyun looked scared. “Chanyeol. Please...don’t tell—“

“—your brother,” Chanyeol finished his sentence. He wasn’t sure if it was what his teacher meant, but the confused look on the latter’s face showed that he was right. Chanyeol fisted his hands so hard that his nails dug deeply into his skin, almost unable to contain his emotions. “Who did this?” His tone was dangerous and it scared Baekhyun even more.

Baekhyun dropped his eyes and refused to say anything. “He didn’t get to.”

“Who did this to you?” Chanyeol hissed.

“Chanyeol, please,” Baekhyun cried.

Chanyeol screamed in frustration as he spun around. Baekhyun’s cry echoed throughout the bathroom and Chanyeol had to lean forward to support himself on the sink. He gripped the edge tightly and his knuckles turned white. Chanyeol slowly exhaled through his nose to calm down and felt his heartbeat quickened.

He felt rage.

But the question was why.

Baekhyun wasn’t even special to him. Why did he act like he was one...?

Chanyeol straightened up and he stared at Baekhyun through the reflection in the mirror. Even though Baekhyun was older, but he looked very fragile and Chanyeol just wanted to protect him so badly.

Baekhyun stared back at him and Chanyeol caught a glimpse of hope in his eyes.

“How...did you find me?”

Chanyeol’s head was throbbed with a sudden pain and he couldn’t bring himself to answer.

“Let’s go home, seonsangnim.”

Baekhyun didn’t come to school a few days after.

Chanyeol found himself missing the presence of the older male. The class wasn’t the same without him.

His life wasn’t the same without him.

Heechul had gotten back in shape and everyone wept silently as he appeared by the doorway, greeting the class way too cheerful. Slowly, but surely, with Heechul’s comeback, no one questioned Baekhyun’s presence anymore. Afterall, he was only a substitute from the start.

But not for Chanyeol.

There was this huge discomfort knowing that the male wasn’t going to be there to fill his days anymore.

Even if it was just in classes.

Chanyeol had a crazy plan of stealing Baekhyun’s address from the faculty office and preferably showed up in the male’s apartment. He didn’t know what would happen, but it was worth a try. Chanyeol felt a bit of regret when he didn’t answer Baekhyun’s answer the other day—something about how he found him. To be honest, he himself didn’t even know how. It was as if they were destined to meet. It was as if everything had been written down and all they had to do was to follow.

Chanyeol was about to do his plan when he saw the male he had been thinking about walked out of the faculty office. He froze on his track, dumbfounded until Baekhyun was out of his peripheral vision and snapped back to reality when he realized Minseok had been slapping his face in attempt to pull him out of his thoughts.

“Oi, Chanyeol!”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened at the sudden pain and he was sure there would be obvious imprint of Minseok’s hands in his cheeks, but right now it wasn’t important. He could deal with Minseok later. Much, much later. Chanyeol ran out of the building to chase Baekhyun, to chase the love of his life, even if they were not meant to be because it was forbidden between a teacher and a student—

“Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun was about to get into the car when he heard his name being called out. Again, he was supposed to scold Chanyeol for being impolite. But Chanyeol was more than a student, and Baekhyun had realized this from the very first moment he walked into the class and spotted the handsome male. Something in him yearned for the taller male and Baekhyun wanted to cry everytime the feeling resurfaced.

Chanyeol noticed the unshed tears in Baekhyun’s eyes and he resented them. He shook his head. “You can’t go.”

Baekhyun avoided his eyes. “I...I have to.”

“No, you can’t.”

“My request for transfer has been approved, Chanyeol...”

“You can always cancel it.”

“It’s not that simple—“

“It is that simple,” Chanyeol interjected stubbornly.

“I’m getting married,” Baekhyun lashed out and regretted it immediately. He brought a hand to his mouth and felt a bit scared of Chanyeol’s reaction.

Chanyeol remained expressionless. “You what?”

Baekhyun growled in a low voice and brought his hands to cover his face. “I’m getting married,” he repeated weakly. “I’m getting married, Chanyeol...”

Chanyeol pinned Baekhyun unceremoniously against the car and the latter let out a yelp. His eyes darkened as he spoke. “You know he’s not for you.”

The shorter of the two looked up at him tiredly with a lopsided smile etched onto his face. “And are you...?”

Yes.

But Chanyeol said nothing. He finally pulled away from his teacher and his face was full of doubts. “...will you be happy?”

Baekhyun stared at him painfully. “Chanyeol...”, he whispered sadly. “Will you even try to make me...?”

Chanyeol didn’t remember anything after that.

But he was quite certain the last word Baekhyun had said was,

...yours?

IV.

Chanyeol.

Chanyeol abruptly opened his eyes only to find that he was in the usual place.

A hot cup of coffee was placed in front of him and he looked around in confusion. He thought someone had called his name. Was it just an imagination? Had he been daydreaming? Chanyeol brought the cup closer to his face, feeling a bit dazed and relished the wonderful smell of mocha.

The door bell chimed swiftly as a sign that a customer had entered.

He spotted his cousin looked up from the counter with a bright smile. “Welcome to Exo!”

Luhan’s bright greeting formed a smile on his face.

Chanyeol had been coming to the coffee shop for as long as he lived. When they had graduated from high school, Luhan had decided that he didn’t want to study and wanted to open up a cafe instead with his trust fund. It was tough at first, but the place became well known for the ‘cozy place to hang out’ theme and good, cheap coffee. Chanyeol dropped by a lot whenever he had spare time. Sometimes his younger brother, Kyungsoo, would accompany him whenever he was waiting for Jongin. Even when he had nothing to do, Chanyeol would just go to put his mind at ease. Whenever he had quite a difficult assignment to finish from his professor and thought he just needed some space from all the noises at home, Chanyeol would go to Luhan’s coffee shop.

His mother beamed at him whenever he said he was going out—she expected her oldest son to come home with a lot of love stories to share, but for almost twenty two years, she had never heard anything love related from him. Chanyeol would roll his eyes in response because clearly, he wasn’t interested in dating. No one seemed to be good enough for him and no one had ever made him felt something strong like love before. Not even a simple, silly crush.

Chanyeol heard cheerful conversations within his earshot as he typed on his laptop. He paused to think of a decent sentence to form before continuing typing.

Again, the sound from the door let them know that another customer had entered.

“Welcome to—“

Chanyeol shifted his gaze from the screen with a frown, wondering why did Luhan stopped talking.

A petite male had just walked into the place. Chanyeol could only see his back as he reached the counter, but he could tell that the male was slender and had a slight curly brown hair. There was something endearing about the male even though he hadn’t seen his face. Whatever it was, it was enough to make Luhan stutter.

“H—hi,” Luhan breathed nervously.

Chanyeol wondered if it was someone he had a crush on.

The customer looked perplexed for a second before replying. “Um... Hi...?”

Luhan took a long pause to stare the male across the counter. “I’m—I’m sorry, it’s just that you look so familiar... Please, forgive my rudeness. Luhan, at your service.”

The male laughed shyly. “It’s okay. I’m Baekhyun, by the way.”

“Baekhyun-shii. What will you have?”

When the one named Baekhyun was done with his order, he turned around and his eyes wandered throughout the room—probably wondering which table to take. Chanyeol’s mouth became dry as he saw the male took the unoccupied table near Chanyeol (while there was at least ten other vacant ones). He gulped down nervously when the male—who turned out to be absolutely stunning—ran a hand through his hair before sitting.

This Baekhyun looked very, very pretty.

And it caused his heart to thrum loudly against his chest.

Chanyeol found himself holding his breath.

Luhan was right. The male was indeed familiar.

“Go talk to Baekhyun today.”

Chanyeol blinked dumbly. “What?”

“Chanyeol,” Luhan sighed desperately. “You like the guy.”

“I like—pfft, please—wait, you really think so?”

Luhan snorted. “Chanyeol, only a real idiot wouldn’t notice. You’ve been staring at him like he’s some kind of chunky meat. I’m not sure if Baekhyun is okay with cannibalism, but why don’t you ask for youself? It could escalate to a nice conversation.”

“Starting with cannibalism?”

“Or use cheesy pick up lines. Whatever.”

“But—“

“Oh Goddammit just grow some balls and go talk to him, Chanyeol.”

“...Luhan, he’s—he’s very pretty. I’m sure he has someone already.”

“Oh yeah? Then why doesn’t he bring that special someone here?”

Chanyeol looked away in defeat. Luhan was absolutely right. All he had done for the past few weeks were staring at Baekhyun and mentally gushing at how perfect his features were. Those thin lips. Those long eyelashes. Those slender fingers. And in those times, Baekhyun had always come alone to the place. He had never bring someone else.

There could be a chance for him...

But there was also something about the male that made Chanyeol a bit nervous and he couldn’t pinpoint what.

It was as if there was a thick wall between them.

Worse, he wasn’t even sure if Baekhyun noticed him.

When Baekhyun had arrived and ordered his usual and sat on his usual spot, Luhan threw Chanyeol a crushed napkin from the counter. The tall male sent him a death glare which only made Luhan hissed more. His pretty cousin flailed his arms between him and Baekhyun—clearly to encourage Chanyeol to make a move. And something along the lines of ‘goddammit’.

Chanyeol gulped before glancing at the table Baekhyun occupied. The male was stirring his coffee absently and it seemed like he was thinking about something. Chanyeol tried to look at anywhere but there, but his line of sight would always go back to the pretty male. Something clenched in his heart and it felt different. He felt pain instead of nervous. And Chanyeol was scared. He was scared because he felt like the male was out of his reach while the yearning in him was getting bigger and bigger.

It was like Chanyeol had missed him so badly.

The door bell chimed again but it wasn’t enough to distract Chanyeol from Baekhyun.

“Welcome to—oh.”

Luhan didn’t finish his sentence because all he saw was a boy around seven or eight years old walked into the coffee shop. The boy bounced happily and turned even happier as he flew himself to Baekhyun’s lap.

“Umma!!”

Both Chanyeol and Luhan froze at that.

Umma.

“Chen,” Baekhyun broke into a smile and pulled the boy closer to his chest. “Where’s appa?”

Appa.

Luhan threw his cousin a worried look as Chanyeol abruptly stood up and gathered his things.

Chanyeol felt stupid. He just felt stupid for believing Luhan. He knew Baekhyun had already someone—apparently a husband because obviously he had a son, too. The tall male quickened his pace toward the exit and almost bumped onto two men who had just walked into the place. “Sorry,” he hastily mumbled and within seconds disappeared from the sight.

Luhan puffed his cheeks.

“Chen,” one of the two men who had just walked in said with a grumpy face. “We thought we lost you.”

The boy—Chen’s eyes widened as he detached himself from Baekhyun’s lap and flew into his father’s arms. “Appa! I am so sorry! Were you and Umma looking for me? You were taking so long in the shop so I thought I’d just go ahead and meet Baekhyun-umma first!”

“You call him umma again?” The one who was called ‘umma’ sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you that it’s ‘uncle’, baby?”

Chen’s eyes turned teary. “I’m—I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Uncle Baekhyun. I will never do it again. Please don’t be angry, Umma.”

Baekhyun chuckled as he the boy’s hair affectionately. “Junmyeon-hyung, it’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“But...”, Junmyeon frowned. “I’m just worried all the guys who have a thing for you will retreat immediately because they thought you’re already married—“

“!”

Three pairs of eyes turned to Luhan as the latter stumbled forward.

“Excuse me for interrupting the lovely chat,” Luhan breathed. “So—so this is not your child, Baekhyun-shii?”

Baekhyun stared at the owner of the coffeeshop blankly. “Um, no. He’s Kris’, my brother.” He said dryly and pointed to the tallest male with the grumpy face between them. Junmyeon threw a ‘I told you so’ look to Baekhyun.

“HOLY ! CHANYEOL!”

Junmyeon directed a disapproving gaze at Luhan as he covered Chen’s ears with his hands.

Baekhyun gasped as he saw Luhan kicked the door open to chase whoever it was. Kris thought his brother was surprised because of the weird gesture Luhan had showed and squeezed his shoulder worriedly.

“Baekhyunie?”

“Chanyeol...?” Baekhyun whispered to himself.

“Are you alright?”

Baekhyun felt tears were rushing to get out. “It...it sounded familiar...” His eyes drifted to the door, hoping for Luhan to be back soon with a certain male following behind him—hopefully someone named Chanyeol. But as the seconds stretched by to minutes, he knew he was hoping for the impossible to happen.

Something clenched within him as somewhere in the back of his mind spoke,

Maybe they weren’t meant to be.

Baekhyun felt like crying.

V.

Will you even try to make me...yours?

Chanyeol yawned tiredly.

Lately he had been having nightmares and he didn’t understand why he kept on having them. He hadn’t watched any horror movies in the last couple of weeks. If there was anything he could grasp from all the nightmares, it would be that they were all unhappy memories—something about battles, wars, abusing, children and separation.

Chanyeol was tired of those bad dreams.

He also grew tired of Jongin and Kyungsoo’s on and off again relationship and Luhan’s denial of his feeling toward Jongin’s friend, someone named Sehun. Chanyeol grew even tired at all their fights (they would always turn to him for a place to talk to) because he had no idea why someone would waste the perfect relationship they had. Even though Jongin and Kyungsoo or even Sehun and Luhan got into couple fights, at least they had each other. They had someone they loved. And wasn’t it just enough to love someone and get loved in return?

He wondered if he had stayed single and unmarried in his previous life. Lives, perhaps. Because he felt so freaking lonely like no one would ever be there to love him. And the male had a huge feeling it was his own fault. Because he didn’t try enough. He didn’t try harder.

So when Chanyeol jolted awake again because of those nightmares, he made a promise to himself that he would open his heart if it started beating irregularly fast for someone. He promised himself he would try the moment he felt it. He promised himself he would not waste any chance.

Most of all, he promised himself he would find a certain someone with a certain name.

The name had popped up too much in his dreams lately.

Someone named Baekhyun.

Sometimes, the nightmares would become blurry whenever he woke up.

But lately, it had been clear enough in his visions that it scared him.

Chanyeol saw fire. He saw explosions. He saw tears. He saw a male.

A pretty, breathtaking male.

He saw the male cried the same sentences over and over again.

Please find me.

And Chanyeol knew that he had to. He had to find him this time, no matter how long it would take, but Chanyeol was willing to try. He somehow believed that the male was his soulmate and that he would go through everything—even reincarnation if he still couldn’t be with him.

Or so he thought.

Because reincarnation only happened in fairytales and the chance of him finding the beautiful male was one against the whole world. He could be Korean. He could be Chinese. He could be American. He could be anywhere else in the world.

And those visions, they could only be bad dreams and meant nothing more.

Chanyeol facepalmed and hung his head dejectedly.

Chanyeol was on his way to meet Luhan and the others when he passed by the jewelry store.

Luhan had been calling him nonstop to ask how long would it take from his office to the goddamn restaurant. Not long after that, Kyungsoo would call and whine at his brother that he was hungry and Luhan threatened that they wouldn’t start eating until Park Chanyeol arrived.

Chanyeol sighed in exasperation. Why did he have a feeling that he was always stuck with Luhan, even in his previous lives?

The male stopped walking to take a glance at the store. There were a lot of couple rings and necklaces displayed by the window. Chanyeol could feel his phone vibrating again in his pocket—either it was Luhan or Kyungsoo, but right now he didn’t care. Something curiously grew in him as he stepped forward to the store, but it wasn’t the jewelry that caught his eye.

It was the male inside.

Chanyeol felt his heart pounding as he narrowed his eyes to get a good look. The male had too many resemblances to the one who had been appearing in his dreams. Chanyeol felt his hands trembling as he noticed the other male was drown in the choices of couple rings with a slight frown. He was definitely thinking of choosing one.

No.

The tall male had probably lost his mind when he dashed into the store and almost made a ruckus (more like almost breaking the door).

“How about this one, Mr. Baekhyun?” Chanyeol heard the clerk said with her sweet voice as she showed him an elegant ring. “This is made from the finest—“

Baekhyun.

The name rang a bell and Chanyeol knew he was the one he had been looking for.

“Don’t.”

Both the clerk and Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol.

Baekhyun blinked. “Excuse...me?”

“Whatever it is that you’re thinking of doing, don’t. Don’t get married. Don’t marry anyone else.”

The clerk’s eyes widened while Baekhyun’s jaw dropped slightly.

“B-but—“

“No,” Chanyeol said sternly. He looked very determined when he spoke, “This time, I’m not letting you go.”

With that, he leaned forward to crash his lips against Baekhyun’s.

A moment later, Baekhyun fluttered his eyes opened and whispered,

“...Chanyeol?”

End.

“God,” Chanyeol breathed between their heated kisses, not giving a damn that they were still in the store. The clerk turned several shades of red and decided to give the boys some time alone. “I think...I’ve always wanted to do that.”

Baekhyun was as breathless as him as he bashfully looked up to the male who had just kissed him. “...always?”

Chanyeol found himself smiling fondly.

“All my life.”

(And Chanyeol mentally cried in relief when Baekhyun told him that he was only picking the ring for Kris and Junmyeon).