Chapter 7 || With You

It was like a fleeting instance—a momentary blink of the eye that was just whisked away into discarded yesterdays. Just like that, two whole months had past Chanyeol by without him even fully realizing it. Nothing at all extraordinary or exclusive had happened to him in these passing days, so perhaps it could have been the monotonous abundance of reoccurring events of his everyday life that must have blinded him by the fact that time was moving on and dragging him by the back of the collar along with it.

Usually, he wouldn’t care too much about this. He didn’t care if he had to live each day the same way in order to see tomorrow and start all over again. But in these brief, passerby days, a feeling of denial had been lingering in the back of his mind. Why couldn’t something different happen for a change? Why did he want so badly for something— maybe even someone— to just waltz into his everyday existence and change it? Questions like that were all that absorbed his thoughts nowadays but he just couldn’t understand why. It was all so complicated.    

Currently Chanyeol was lazily seated in his desk where he gazed up in front of him. The black hands of the analog clock hung crookedly in front of the classroom stood at an obtuse angle, reading at 5:00 exactly. Luckily for Chanyeol, this meant it was about that time of day when his tutoring session finally came to a close. Gathering his belongings and waving a gracious goodbye to his student tutor, Chanyeol casually strode right out the door into the now vacant halls. “Man, for a second there I almost thought that tutoring session was never going to end.” He yawned as he rubbed away at the drowsiness weighing down his eyelids. Readjusting the strap of his book bag slug limply over his broad shoulder, Chanyeol started down the hall towards the staircase.

His eyes roamed freely at his surroundings, almost like a lost child. The school was always empty around this time of day aside from a few other students in need of extra help in class such as himself. But right now, the entire floor he was on was practically deserted and was basically just absent of any type of life. Feeling himself getting lost in the echo of his loafers clicking against the floor beneath his feet one at a time, he reached an arm back and slipped out a knotted mess of white earphones out of his book bag. With a small, frustrated pout, Chanyeol began clumsily fumbling around with the wires in both a failed and rushed attempt to unravel it.

“You thought you could ignore me this whole time?!”

Gradually slowing down in his strides, Chanyeol’s eyes were reeled right up to gawk at the closed door of the boys’ restroom just up ahead. Was that shouting he heard behind that door? Was there some guy creating a commotion in there? Judging by the unknown guy’s volume and tone, it was obvious that he didn’t sound all too happy with whoever it was he was scolding so furiously. Even now with Chanyeol dawdling away in his thoughts, he could still hear the guy bickering on and on with the same loud and irate voice. A growing sense of curiosity began itching away at Chanyeol’s heels which, in no time at all, swayed him into carefully tip-toeing his way towards the door. But since subtly wasn’t exactly a word in Park Chanyeol’s vocabulary, he didn’t hesitate to get right up against the door and cup a hand behind his ear in order to hear things more clearly.

“It’s been almost a year now and you still ignore me as if everything we were was nothing!!” Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows and leaned in a bit closer. “Look, I seriously don’t care that you broke up with me— in fact I honestly couldn’t care less about you.” Ouch… Chanyeol cringed. “But what I do care about is how you rudely broke up with me right in front of all my friends!! It was the most humiliating moment in my entire life, and you’re just going to act like that never happened?! Without even a single explanation or apology??!”

Finally get a sense of the one sided conversation, Chanyeol rolled his eyes to himself and huffed out a sigh. “He must be arguing with an ex or something. God, talk about overly sensitive.” He paused and thought to himself for a moment. “Though, this girl—his ex-girlfriend I mean— she must have been totally ruthless with the breakup for him to get so pissed off like this.”

He anxiously listened on, even going so far as to closing his eyes so he could pour every ounce of his concentration into his sense of hearing, but felt a little bummed when he was just met by nothing else but silence behind the door. He pulled away from the door and receded a step back. A chuckle hopped up his throat as he shook his head to himself. “I really shouldn’t be eavesdropping like this. This is someone else’s relationship issue and here I am pressed against a door like some type of creepy weirdo.” Giving the door one last nod for good measure, he turned and started back on his path towards the exit—he wouldn’t want to miss his bus ride home today after all.

THUD

Stumbling on his own feet after being startled by the sudden, muffled sound, Chanyeol whipped himself around and stared at the bathroom door in alert. “What the hell was th—“

“You think you can try to hit me and walk away huh??! No, there’s no way you’re going to get away that easily. Not after all the pain and humiliation I’ve had to deal with because of you!” Chanyeol’s shoulder jolted up to his ears when a distinct slap ricocheted off the bathroom walls and through the crack beneath the door. He didn’t even need a single thought to process even halfway through his mind for his adrenaline to kick start him towards the door at lightning speed and slamming it wide open.

Now inside, Chanyeol’s body became paralyzed in a deadly grip of shock as both his eyes and mouth simultaneously held wide open. Just a few steps away from him was a male student (his age and grade unrecognizable to Chanyeol in the spur of the moment) bent down on his knees and hovering over a girl who laid just beneath him, looking almost like a lifeless corpse against the cold, cement tiled floor. The boy had an arm raised high above his own head and his fingers outspread, clearly illustrating that he was just seconds away from delivering another merciless blow.

However, catching a glimpse of Chanyeol’s figure standing at the door from his peripheral, the boy shot up off the ground; tripping on his own feet and almost losing his footing in his frantic attempt to distance himself from the victim sprawled on the ground. Immediately in only two long strides, Chanyeol stretched a hand down and grabbed an entire fistful of the collar from the boy’s white button down. “What the do you think you’re doing to this girl, huh?!!” Chanyeol barked, his voice slashing through the solid silence trapped inside the room and unleashing an ear piercing ring against the boy’s eardrums.

The boy was now visibly quivering in his spot like a wet dog out of absolute terror underneath the much taller male’s venom filled stare that mercilessly stung and poisoned his sanity. “C-Chanyeol, i-i-it’s not what it looks like…!!” He sputter with a dry mouth, shaking his head in denial like a mad man.

Practically everyone in school knew Chanyeol as that friendly and loveable giant with a smile bright enough to cheer up anyone’s day. However, if there’s one thing that was firmly set in stone in Park Chanyeol’s case, it was that getting on his bad side was the last thing a person would ever want to do. And this petrified person held in Chanyeol’s taut grip definitely knew he had somehow stepped past these set boundaries of no return.

Chanyeol glanced down at the boy’s charcoal grey trousers and instantly recognized that it was already ed and halfway ped, which only tripled the pure outrage boiling over inside him. He hurled him backwards into the wall behind him with uncontrollable force. “You think I’m a damn idiot or something?? How dare you even think about raising your voice at a girl like that, let alone pushing her down onto the ground and laying even one of your grimy fingers on her!! If there’s one thing I absolutely cannot stand is a man mistreating someone as precious as a woman.” Chanyeol advanced one hard step towards the boy who was now shrinking back against the wall, silently praying and begging inside his mind that Chanyeol wouldn’t end his life right then and there. However, Chanyeol knew his limits and stopped himself from going any farther. He exhaled a sharp breath to somewhat calm his seething nerves. “Get the out of my face.” He ordered in a low, foreboding tone that could send a chill down anyone’s spine. “I can’t even stand looking at a disgusting excuse for a person like you for even one second longer. Go now before we both regret even stepping foot inside this building this morning.”

Chanyeol didn’t even need to utter another word, for the boy had already bolted for dear life past Chanyeol and was out the door at record speed. Instantly at the sound of the door slamming shut behind him, Chanyeol’s hard glare dissolved away into a look painted in pure concern as he turned and crouched down to check on the girl who remained motionless on the ground. Gently grabbing onto her frail and limp body, Chanyeol carried her over the short distance to a nearby wall where he managed to (or at least attempted to) position her to comfortably sit with her back resting against the icy cold tiled wall.

“Hey, are you alright? Did he do anything to seriously hurt you?” Chanyeol softly questioned, kneeled in front of her. However, the girl remained completely silent and unresponsive to him with her head hung down low. Trailing his eyes down her body, a small tint of red stained Chanyeol’s cheeks a bit when he saw that her shirt was ed— or rather brutally ripped open almost all the way; enough to reveal a glimpse of her lavender pink colored bra. That guy… what a freakin’ jerk… “Hey…” Chanyeol called out; adding a tiny bit more force into his voice in an attempt to get some type of reaction from her.

Inclining himself forward a little with a tilt of the head, he managed to get a better view of her face. A gasp caught Chanyeol’s breath, feeling the blood leave his face the moment his eyes rounded in disbelief. “Hyojin?! Oh god, I had no idea!” Chanyeol’s voice suddenly sky rocketed to an imperative volume and he now felt an even greater sense of urgency collapsing over himself. Hyojin still didn’t say a word even at the sound of her own name, though her eyes were cast down low; slowly blinking after every few heavy breaths. “I’m going to kill that guy.” Chanyeol growled, just moments away from jumping up and finding that guy so he could break every last bone in his pathetic body. But he stopped himself, not wanting to leave Hyojin by herself at a crucial time like this. So he remained in his spot and continued looking onto her with worry stained eyes.

Chanyeol could feel his hands actually beginning to tremble from all the conflicting emotions and feelings pushing and shoving their way to get out into the open. He felt unbelievably taken off guard yet filled with a ridiculous amount of concern but also furious to the point where he could scream at the top of his lungs. It was so complicated but all Chanyeol was left with to show on the outside was a vacant, almost dumb stare and empty parted lips.

He knew if he tried to converse with her, she’d either ignore him or shriek in total fear as always. So the only thing he could think of doing (though it might not have been the smartest thing he could have thought of) was to slide a shaky hand into his back pocket and slip out a white, cotton handkerchief. Unevenly folding it in half, he inched forward and extended his long arm out just enough to lightly dab it against Hyojin’s visibly perspiring forehead, making sure not to exert even the tiniest bit of unneeded pressure.

Chanyeol flinched when Hyojin’s hand swooped up and swatted his hand away without any warning. “Ow…” Chanyeol quietly hissed to himself, shaking his hand away from the momentary tingle of pain. “Hyojin, I know you don’t like me but just let me help you out this one time. That’s all I’m asking for.”

Cautiously stretching his arm out one more time, Chanyeol jolted with a slight yelp when Hyojin once again smacked his hand away but this time belting out a loud scream right from the deepest depths of her stomach. Furrowing his eyebrows and clenching his teeth tightly together, Chanyeol seized Hyojin’s wrist and held it out far from her own body. “That’s enough!!! Just stay still already! When I’m trying to help you, you stay quiet and accept it!!!”

Half a second after the words came out of his mouth, Chanyeol regretted blurting out every last one of them. He held his breath, expecting some type of horrendous reaction but was stunned when Hyojin surprisingly shut and set her sights back down onto her lap. Was she actually listening to Chanyeol? Was that all it took? Nonetheless, he took this time as his opportunity to continue.

He reached over and continued patting the handkerchief against her forehead. He wavered for a moment when Hyojin’s weak fingers suddenly latched onto the cuffs on his uniform jacket. He stared down at her fingers fastened onto his sleeve and then at her face and then back at his sleeve. He sighed softly.

“So stubborn, I swear…”

After incredibly succeeding in wiping off her face of any remnants of perspiration or beads of blood from minor cuts without a hitch, Hyojin’s hand finally dropped back down onto her lap with a light thud.  Placing the handkerchief down beside him, he breathed out a long sigh and stared into her eyes.

“That guy from earlier—an old boyfriend, right? An ex?” It took a long while but Hyojin responded back with a single nod. Chanyeol his teeth. “I knew it. What an idiot… Oh! Did he do anything to hurt you? Did he… ya know…” Chanyeol trailed off with raised eyebrows. Hyojin stayed quiet and Chanyeol was praying that wasn’t some type of way of hinting that he actually did do the unforgivable to her. But much to his relief, Hyojin muttered a small and slightly incoherent ‘no’. Chanyeol closed his eyes and push out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness…

“But wait, why exactly was he so angry? Why was he going straight up berserk on you in the first place?” He anxiously interrogated, the anxiety getting the better of him and causing him to impulsively lean a bit closer to her. Chanyeol knew the drill and patiently waited for Hyojin to process his question and push out her answer. Her lips gradually parted ways and it seemed like she was about to speak up. However, it was more than obvious that she must have been having a difficult time forcing out any words.

He felt bad—honestly he did. And that’s when one of his ‘bright’ ideas hit him once again.

“Oh, hold on.” He quickly interjected. He turned and dug his hand deep inside his pants pocket where he immediately whisked out his smart phone. Chanyeol frantically poked and slid his finger all over the screen until finally, he held it up in front of Hyojin’s face. Wincing a bit at the brightness of the glowing screen, she gave the phone an empty stare. The screen showed a blank, white background with a blinking cursor in the top left corner. “I know it’s hard for you to talk. So, I figured this could be an easier way for you to communicate with me.” Chanyeol explained, a small reassuring smile pasted on his face. “Just type what you want to say here and I’ll read it.” He then aimlessly poked his index finger all around the onscreen keyboard to demonstrate his point just in case she still didn’t comprehend.

Chanyeol left his hand holding the phone suspended in the air as Hyojin’s eyes remained locked onto the screen. For a second, he began to panic thinking she had no intention of even going along with his plan but was relieved when she finally raised up a wobbly and unsteady hand. One letter at a time, she’d jab a finger into the screen; sometimes with too much force, sometimes not enough for the phone to even process her touch. Hyojin would type a letter and pause for a long while before dragging onto the next one. There were even times where she would miss the phone all together.

Halfway through, Chanyeol reached his other idle hand up and wrapped his fingers around Hyojin’s hand to help her steady it. She looked over at him, a bit startled. “Go on.” He softly smiled with a nod. A bit hesitant at first, Hyojin followed his words and went on.

It was at this time when Chanyeol’s eyes discreetly skimmed over to rest upon the sight of Hyojin’s hand in his. He never noticed it before, but she had such small hands; small enough to be completely enveloped in his grasp. Hard to believe she used to use those things to knock the living daylights out of people on a daily basis. Don’t let your mind stray off onto the negatives now, Park Chanyeol. This isn’t a good time for all that. Chanyeol momentarily reminded himself.

Something else he found strange was that her hands felt so much more different than other girls’ hands he’s held before. (Not that he’s held many girls’ hands to begin with though). Usually a girl’s hand would be soft to the touch, warm and almost soothing but not Hyojin’s. It wasn’t at all supple or even warm. It was cold—so very cold. Were her hands natural this icy?

Chanyeol was heaved back into the present when he felt Hyojin’s hand slide out of his own. Flipping the phone around, Chanyeol grazed over what she typed but paused for a moment.

Hte was jidt angry At mr and dtarted to yell abd hit me

Chanyeol’s couldn’t stop the crinkling of his nose and his eyebrows knitting together from showing so noticeably as he reread the text about fifteen more times. (Once again, subtly wasn’t Chanyeol’s forte) It made sense for her words to come out all jumbled and confused since she could barely keep her hand straight for even two seconds.

“He was… just? Angry at me and started to yell and hit me?” Chanyeol translated aloud, instantly glancing at her after for any corrections. She didn’t make any efforts to speak so Chanyeol assumed he was right with his deciphering. “So he was just angry and went off on you, huh?” Recalling the things he had heard from earlier, Chanyeol concluded that the guy must have been really upset over the way Hyojin had broken up with him in the past and was searching for some type of vengeance (as bad as it may have been.) “Well why didn’t you just run away from him if you knew he was mad at you in the first place?”

Once again, Hyojin typed out her reply onto the phone with some assistance from Chanyeol.

Idlnt run

“You don’t run?” A spurt of frustration suddenly burst in his chest. “Of course you can run! Or at least get away somehow!! God, you really are so stubborn! It’s just so irritating to me!!” Though there were hints of hesitation in his voice, Chanyeol felt the burning need to say this right now to her face. “Why can’t you be like regular girls and ask people for help when you obviously need it! Why can’t you just come right out and ask to be protected and cared for?? Why are you…”

Chanyeol’s words slowly slipped away from him when he caught Hyojin’s gaze in his own. She should have been angry at him for talking down to her like that. Hell, even Chanyeol would have argued back if someone called him irritating and not like ‘regular guys’ but Hyojin remained impassive. Though her dark brown eyes still sustained a flat cloudiness to it, Chanyeol could still see faint fragments of true sadness trapped inside those empty orbs, looking for a place not to escape but to hide.

Perhaps he had overstepped his boundaries just now…

Chanyeol peered down onto his lap when he had felt Hyojin’s cold hand rest inside his own open palmed hands. Puzzled for just a split second, Chanyeol instantly understood what she was getting at and lifted Hyojin’s hand up to his phone for her to type up another reply.

If im npt strkn g then whi wiyld be strobg for me

“If you’re not strong… then who would be strong for you…” A long forgotten breath, one way or another, glided right past Chanyeol’s disconnected lips and his eyes softened ever so slowly. So is that how she’s been feeling? “Hyojin, look… you—“

“Pe…ople ha-ate me…” Hyojin suddenly started, pointing an unsteady finger at herself. Opening , she eventually continued. “…and I haate th-emm… there’s-s no where f-foor me to be… w-wea…k and scared-d…”

“No… No, that’s not true at all. People don’t hate…” Chanyeol stopped himself. “Not everybody hates you.” He corrected. “It’s true that people used to hate you before because of how you acted, but you’re not like that anymore. You’re different than before, I just know it.” He didn’t know when it started, but his heart was beginning to tip-toe a bit faster in speed. “And I know for a fact that you, Hyojin, know that you’ve also become different as well. You don’t do the things you did before so there’s nothing about that would make people hate you now. It’s just… people haven’t noticed this all yet.”

Chanyeol swallowed dryly and looked Hyojin straight in the eyes.

“You… want to change, right Hyojin?”

And it was in that moment when a look of astonishment dawned upon her pale face. Once the shock began to set in, Hyojin’s eyes drifted away from Chanyeol’s to look down at the ground. “No…” she whispered. Though Chanyeol responded back with a slight chuckle.

“You say no but knowing you, that’s probably the closest I’ll get to an actual ‘yes’.” Hyojin still refused to engage eye contact which was all Chanyeol needed to know that his gut feeling was right. Inclining himself forward, he spoke once again. “Hyojin, look at me for a second.” Reluctant and uncertain, Hyojin eventually complied to his request and turned her head to look back at him. With her gaze now latched onto his, the corners of Chanyeol’s lips pulled upwards into that perfect smile he was infamous for. “You want to change yourself, am I right? I’ll help you. But first, you need to stop pushing me away when I’m not doing anything to harm you. Is it a deal?”

Hyojin shook her head causing Chanyeol’s grin to soon wilt away into absolutely nothing. Hyojin lifted an arm up and pressed her index finger against his chest. “Yo-ou hate me.” Was all she said. For a moment, Chanyeol felt the words dissolve in his throat and all of his thoughts and inner feelings vanishing away into the deepest, most unreachable parts of his mind leaving him utterly blank.

He hesitated and gently pulled her hand away from him. “…I help people who are in need or in trouble—you know that already.” He muttered. “And you more than anyone else need someone there for you. Hyojin,” He inhaled a breath and continued. “I know you don’t want anyone to get close to you or for anybody to belittle you by trying to help you with something you can’t do yourself. But I don’t care. And I’m going to say this right now with the truest and most honest of intentions whether you like it or not.”

“I’ll be strong with you—not for you, but with you.” Chanyeol’s lips curved into a truly warm smile. “You’re Hong Hyojin after all, so I expect you to meet me half way—I’m not here to do all the work by myself after all. And lucky for you since you’ve got me on your side, you’ll have the strength of ten men in your arsenal!” He said, nodding knowingly with a cheeky grin.

Chanyeol blinked when he suddenly heard a small hiccup. Turning his head, Chanyeol recoiled back when he was met by the sight of Hyojin’s now reddened eyes glistening and drowning in large tears that were uncontrollably racing down her cheeks one by one. “Whoa, whoa, hey!! W-why are you crying all of a sudden?? Was it something I said? What could I have said wrong, anyways? Are girls intimidated by strength?? Oh man uhh I was just joking around! Who am I kidding, I’ve only got the strength of five men! Does that make you feel any better??”

 Seeing as how her weeping wasn’t getting any better and wasn’t going to be stopping anytime soon, Chanyeol began to feel more and more helpless by the second. “Please, don’t cry! Ok, ok I get it! Three men—that’s how much strength I’ll put in!!” He illustrated with three fingers held up. “No…? Two men? One??”

“Sh-shut… up…” Hyojin mumbled, sniffing up the last of her tears. Looking into her eyes, Chanyeol was stunned to have witnessed something he had never seen before. It was subtle and it was small. It was a weak, almost invisible shimmer of light dancing across her tear-blurred eyes. It was fragile and frail but had a presence strong enough on it’s own to cause a high spirited smile to spread across Chanyeol’s face. A soothing, warmness spread across him like a slow rolling wave, enveloping his entire body in an eternal bliss he had not yet experienced before. The beating in his chest, though more rushed than usual, raced in a sweet rhythm that set all his worries and troubles at ease.  

I might not be able to break through that concrete wall separating our world from that detached, clouded world of yours, but that won’t stop me from patiently standing on the other side— waiting for the day you’ll break it down all by yourself.

At last these two are getting somewhere!!! This moment has been long overdue but it's finally here and that's all that matter am I right? :-) Actually no it doesn't.

For some reason I just couldn't get into this chapter like that so please excuse me if it didn't turn out all that well >.< But yeah, what do you ladies think is going to happen now that they've somewhat called a truce?? *wiggles fingers mysteriously*

Also, I revisited my old twitter account and decided to use it once again because a lot of you guys use it and I thought it'd be a good way to communicate with chy'all! (Still have no idea how it works or what to tweet lol) So if you want, you can follow me on my twitter buunihun. I'm totally not forcing anything, this is only if you feel like it I swear lol