Chapter 5 'Soy' without the sauce

From: Dara-nim

To:    Baekhyun

What is this story I've heard from Chanyeol? You both almost got caught by some immature fans? Don't do that ever again. We don't want Chanyeol to be seen walking around with you.

From: Baekhyun

To:    Dara-nim

Understood.

................

It was 23.00 pm. The studio would be empty if not because the four of them. They were the last ones who stayed there; Bom, the managers, and the staffs were already gone once Baekhyun came around half an hour ago -- they just finished a photoshoot for a famous music magazine. Baekhyun was sitting on the chair with Bom's name on it, in front of the huge make up mirror with blinding lights that often owned by actresses or actors -- soon as Baekhyun got there, He got pushed to the chair in the dressing room and had a strawberry doughnut and cappucino shoved into his hands by two girls with almost the same face, except one of them -- girl with the purple hair -- was smaller (the other girl, the pink haired one, was tad taller.)

"Eat this, sweety,"

"And drink this, sugar,"

 "W-what?"

 "Look at him, he's so flustered," said one of the them.

 "Schveet!" Both of the twins said in unison, while Baekhyun could only blink silently from his seat.

 "Leave him alone, Pepper, Mint," Dara scoffed from the leather sofa she was lying on- her phone was in hand; appparently she was texting someone, probably her tall boyfriend.

"But he's cute, right Pepper?" The pink haired chirped.

"Yes, Mint," The purple haired nodded.

Baekhyun unconciously raised his eyebrows and shook his head in disbelief, because no one had ever used the words ‘cute' and 'Baekhyun' in the same sentence before. Uhm, maybe except that one time, when Chanyeol had a slip of tongue and called him cute. Baekhyun's heart leapt high in surprise but then he was sure Chanyeol was just having a slip of tongue moment- if not, Baekhyun must have heard him wrong.

"Yes, yes, you girls can play with him later after my face is done. Infact, he's the guy I've been telling you both yesterday. So now, chop chop! Get your hands on those cleanser and moisturizer then you can do whatever you want with him," Dara sounded annoyed and tired.

"Yes, Mam!" And with that, the weird twins left Baekhyun alone with his doughnut and cappucino and continued with what they were doing earlier before Junho (Dara’s guard) escorted Baekhyun in. With no room to protest, he was told to sit there-- with snacks in hand-- while waiting for the twin make up artist finished their work on Dara.

Baekhyun watched as they moved step by step to clean Dara's face from expensive cosmetics. To say the lady before him was breathtaking might be an understatement of the day. Dara who looked super stunning with make up was actually gorgeous in her own way once the make up was removed. She's a natural beauty and there's no way.. like, no ing way, Baekhyun's humble appearance could rival her beauty. Skin as white as snow white, lips as red as a sweet cherry, and eyes as big and clear as those belong to babies.

Ah, so this was the girl that Park Chanyeol had signed his heart to get hurt by. She’s probably worth it.

Baekhyun remembered that one time when his father said to him, "We know that loving someone so much would give the person a privilege to hurt us, but we did it anyway because we just didn't expect that they would do it... breaking our heart that is.”

It was a month after the morning when his mother walked out the door with her big suitcase. She didn't even look back at them -- he and his father. His father was sipping his black coffee while Baekhyun was munching on his fruit loops. He was only 13 years old, he didn't understood that sentence completely at that time. Now, his 23 years old had finally understood what his father meant.

Come to think of it, did it make his father at fault, because he loved that woman with all his heart even though he had known the consequences? Then, should people stop loving if they didn't want to get hurt?

But how to stop loving?

Park Chanyeol probably couldn't help himself to fall in love with Dara. And Byun Baekhyun couldn't restrain himself to not fall in love with the man that had given his heart to someone else. Did it make Baekhyun as a super idiot then? Because he did two mistakes at the same time; 'to love someone' and 'to love someone belonged to someone else'.

At this point, if Baekhyun didn't stop his overflowing feeling toward a certain Park Chanyeol, would he suffer the same pain his father had endured, if not more? Maybe more, because Park Chanyeol would never ever love him back for sure-- while his father was once loved by the woman, who Baekhyun didn't even dare to call her 'mother’, afraid if he do that, he would betray his father and the shattered heart of the old man.

"Hey, hey cute boy. A simple frown can cause wrinkles on your cute face," Purple or Pepper suddenly poked Baekhyun's forehead, cutting his train of thoughts. "A penny for your thought?"

Baekhyun flinced and blinked repeatedly, hurriedly putting down his doughnut and cappucino on the table nearby, "Nothing important, really,” he answered while stealing a glance toward Dara who was just receiving her ice green tea latte from Mint. The new superstar rapper then walked out of the dressing room with her drink, stating that she wanted to take a fresh air while Pepper and Mint were doing their magic on Baekhyun. "Surprise me," she said before she disappeared behind the door.

"We will.”

Baekhyun shivered as he saw the smirks on both Pepper and Mint's faces when they stared at him.

...........

The makeover thing wasn't as scary as Baekhyun first thought it would be. Pepper and Mint so kind and humorous, and well, Dara being absent from the room at the moment might give a big help to Baekhyun's uneasy heart. It's not like the older lady was harrassing him or being unkind to him or something, it's just that he felt a pressure everytime she was around -- Baekhyun felt that if he breathed in wrong beat, she would get irritated and crushed him literally with her beautiful fingers.

"Are you a , Baekhyun?" Pepper asked the petite guy sitting in front of the mirror. The small back of Baekhyun tensed.

Baekhyun's eyes widened, and Pepper's finger almost poked his dark brown iris, "What?"

Pepper giggled, "Not ''- though I don't mind if you want to talk about that too, maybe later- but I mean, have you ever used cosmetics on your face because your skin face is flawless,"

The only guy in the room frowned, "Not flawless, I have a scar,"

Pepper and Mint looked at each other before Mint-- who was preparing the make up tools on the table-- cleared and asked carefully in a whisper, "Was it hurt?"

"This?" Baekhyun smiled sadly, "It was. Now it isn't. But I can't forget the feel everytime I see it in the mirror or feel it with the tip of my fingers," he paused, fingers tracing over the old wound slowly, "As long as I know it's there, it would always feel hurt,"

"Is that why you always duck your head?"

"And grow your bangs to almost cover your eyes?"

The girls asked endlessly and Baekhyun just nodded. Eventhough he was surprised that the girls could catch his habits easily on their first meeting, oddly enough, he didn't feel the need to not answer their question or straightly lying about it.

Pepper, who was working on his hair, brushed it gently, eyes staring softly at the insecure small guy before her. She put her fingers under Baekhyun's chin and lifted it up until Baekhyun's eyes met hers through the mirror. "Then don't worry, for your persona we'll make you like the way you want. What do you wanna be Baekhyun?"

"Flawless. I need to-" Baekhyun hesitated, "Didn't Dara tell you that I need to be-"

"-a chaebol yes we know, she told us." Mint finished his words.

Pepper nodded. “We know everything to the details, there's no need to hide it from us.”

"No, I mean," Baekhyun sighed, his eyes darted to both of the girls in a desperate manner, "I need to be someone that is a farcry from the real me. Someone worth it and presentable to be beside Park Chanyeol,"

"Like who?" Mint leaned on the vanity on his left, arms crossing each other on her chest.

"Like.. someone who is definitely not Byun Baekhyun?"

The pink haired girl tutted and shook her head. “You know, why do you judge yourself that unworthy and low?"

Munching his lower lips, the brunet boy looked down again, fingers clasping and unclasping on his lap, "Because Baekhyun have a scar. He's not pretty."

"You're a cute guy, and your inner beauty and kindness emanate from the inside if only you realize it," Pepper supplied from his right.

"I doubt it.”

"Ugh I wanna slap this boy!”

Baekhyun eyes widened, both hands protecting his own cheeks in reflex.

Pepper chuckled. Mint’s words could be harsh, but she never meant her threat. "Look Baekhyun, we can work this out. Do you underestimate our work even before we begin?"

"You guys are pretty. It's easy for you to say that. Guess good genes running on your blood. You don't have to work hard to look pretty, because you already are  pretty sisters."

Suddenly Pepper and Mint laughed their hearts out. Mint raised a finger to wiped away her happy tears. “Wanna know a secret? We're not sisters, this is what great make up can do to you. It can do everything, even make your faces look alike,"

Baekhyun eyes widened at the words, but Pepper hadn’t finished yet, “We're great at creating 'the mask,' Baekhyun, but the responsibility to make the persona completely perfect would be by the hands of the people who wear the mask.”

"How about this; we'll make you a persona that's not you, but still you?" Mint grinned as Pepper resumed her work on preparing the make up tools for Baekhyun's make over.

"What do you mean?"

"We'll do our best to make your inner beauty also shine on the outside, to make the best mask for you, but you're the one who should keep and provide the inner beauty,"

"It will be the reborn of Baekhyun,"

"I even already know who to call you,"

"'Hyun' would be perfect,"

.........

The sunlight shone through the tall and wide window. It was the huge kind of window with thick and soundproofing glass, spread from the floor up to the ceiling. Very very high ceiling that Baekhyun looked like a midget compared to the giant window. The brunet sat on one of the benches that were lined up next to it, eyes focusing on the view outside, where lots of huge airplanes were parked. Instead of hot black coffee in a cup, he got himself an ice americano that can help minimalizing the heat from the emanating ball of light. Indeed, it was a warm autumn day.

He was crushing some of the ice cubes with his teeth- a bad habit that he claimed as hobby- when someone in uniform, about his age, came over with a very wide smile.

"You're here.”

"Hey," Baekhyun replied the smile with a wide one too.

"It's been along time since your last call before