I know saying sorry once won’t help so, here… SORRY x ∞. Accept my apologies.

Chanyeol crumpled the paper he wrote in and threw it on the floor. He was thinking of how he would say sorry to Baekhyun and for cheesecakes; he didn’t know why he’s sorry. He just felt like he needed to say sorry because dammit, Baekhyun looked hurt. He didn’t know why Baekhyun ran when he saw Kris kiss him and ─ wait, maybe Baekhyun loved him too.

“No,” Chanyeol shook his head. Baekhyun won’t love him. There was nothing ‘lovable’ about him which, Baekhyun was the exact opposite. His princess was everything. His princess was perfect.

‘But why did Baekhyun ran? Did I do something wrong? And why did Baekhyun cry when he saw that?’

Chanyeol decided to go out to their garden to relax a bit. He became frustrated with everything so he thought a little bit of fresh air might help. But it seemed that his hypothesis was wrong because when he looked up, he saw the nothing sky dotted with sparkling white bits that reminded him something ─ his promise.

“I failed you. I’m sorry.” Chanyeol felt a teardrop leave his eyes. Everything about Baekhyun haunted him. He remembered Baekhyun’s sweet laughs during their lunches together. He remembered Baekhyun’s calm and picturesque face during that night together as he stated his promise. He remembered how happy Baekhyun was when they arrived at their house before giving him a goodbye kiss and running quickly. But what sent his tears rolling down was when he remembered how Baekhyun’s jaw dropped and how his eyes reflected the pain he was feeling.

His knees wavered which made him kneel on the ground. Damn, he was hurt too. Ever since the incident happened, he never got the chance to be near Baekhyun. Whenever he attempted to, his feet were always failing him and would turn to the other direction; the direction opposite of the princess. He never heard Baekhyun laugh anymore. And when his eyes would move to Baekhyun, he would immediately look away because seeing the boy hurts him. It hurts him for they couldn’t do what they were doing in the past and worst, things might not go back the way they were.

Chanyeol looked up one last time before he stood up and went inside. With one exhausted sigh, he lied down on his bed with one thing in mind.

 I have to get my princess back

~~~

Chanyeol tiredly walked to his seat. He was fixing his things and was about to sleep when his eyes moved uncontrollably back to his previous seat, the seat that was rightfully his. He tried to look away but his eyes were glued on the beautiful, little man wearing their school shirt. Worry was all over Chanyeol’s face when he saw a different Baekhyun ─ an irritated and frustrated Baekhyun. Then suddenly, something struck to him.

Today was PE Day.

He was eyeing the princess in PE uniform as they went to the school gym and as expected, Baekhyun looked sickened, as if disgusted by every excited classmate he saw. As much as he would like to stare more, Chanyeol turned his attention towards the teacher announcing the pairs. ‘Staring at him would only make me miss him more’ Chanyeol said in his mind. However, everything appeared to be against him as he heard the name of his partner-to-be.

“Park Chanyeol and Kris Wu, if you would please do the stretching together.”

Together. Chanyeol abhorred the word. It was him and Baekhyun would never be: together. He could have refused to do the stretching with Wu but he decided to proceed and lied down. Refusing would only be nothing as Baekhyun would not be with him. There would be no Baekhyun who’d be his partner. Just then, his whole body nearly jumped as Kris hugged his knees. “Okay, you can start now.”

“Huang Zitao and Byun Baekhyun, you would be partners.”

He heard a thud after the teacher’s announcement as he did the sit-ups. He didn’t know why but he felt Baekhyun’s shaky breaths touch his cheek which made him close his eyes as he continued doing the sit-ups. He couldn’t see, no, he mustn’t see his princess.

The weird feeling and the shaky breaths were gone after a while which made Chanyeol loosen up a bit as he opened his eyes. He didn’t expect to see Kris’s chin above his knees and a little move closer will reward him his second kiss but a movement caught his eyes. Panic spread all over his body as he saw Baekhyun running. Something was feeling wrong and he didn’t know why but he felt that it has something to do with him.

No, he can’t run away again.

Chanyeol immediately pushed Kris, got up and ran as fast as he could to catch up with Baekhyun. Loud screeches from his shoes and hurried footsteps were heard as he ran. He heard someone call his name but he didn’t looked back as he needed to get to Baekhyun. He was halfway near when someone tackled him forcefully, sending his entire body to the ground. He quickly got up, not minding the pain and was about to resume running when strong hands got a firm hold of his arms. He turned furiously to only to see Jongin with Kyungsoo running a little far behind.

“Sorry dude, I need to do this…”

“Jongin please let me go, for cheesecakes.” Chanyeol tried to pull away but Jongin has a tight grip on his arm. Tears were starting to fill his eyes. “Please.”

“I’m sorry dude, I can’t. I have to follow orders…”

Kyungsoo then appeared beside him, panting. “Chanyeol, I know I am taking you precious time but I promise you this won’t take 20 seconds.” Kyungsoo paused and breathed deeply. “Chanyeol, I don’t want to tell you this for Baekhyun would be really angry but I love him so much. I am here to tell you that you were the reason behind Baekhyun’s tears. Baekhyun loves you, he always did.”

‘Baekhyun…loves…me?’ He felt a pain in his chest. At last, he finally knew the reason why Baekhyun ran the meaning of his tears. It was him all along.

“14 seconds have already been wasted and for that, I am sorry, Chanyeol. Please go and make things right.”

He felt Jongin free his arm. With one last look to the smiling Kyungsoo, Chanyeol ran again, only this time, more determined to get to his princess.

Chanyeol hurried upstairs but saw no sign of Baekhyun. Even though he lost track of his princess, he still didn’t lose hope. This was his only chance to make things go back they originally were and he couldn’t afford to miss it because as Kyungsoo said, it was time to make things right.

He turned towards the direction of the washroom, thinking that Baekhyun would be there and was about to run when he heard a loud scream coming from the opposite direction ─ the direction where their classroom was.

Chanyeol hurried towards the direction of where the sound came from and with one final breath before everything turns upside down, he banged the door. There, he saw something that made his heart crush into pieces: A hurting Baekhyun sitting on his chair, crying hard.

“P-Princess?”

Baekhyun turned to him, catching his breath as he looked at him with crying orbs, letting go every bit of pain in his body. Chanyeol took a step, his world shattering with every flow of tears coming from Baekhyun’s eyes but he saw Baekhyun, despite his blurry vision, stand up and run through the door. With overwhelming desperation, he growled as he said something that made his tears finally fall.

“Baekhyun, would you stop running away!?”

Baekhyun heard Chanyeol’s voice but it sounded very different. It was much deeper and cause which was beyond the giant’s normal voice. He stopped as the emotions the other had crept into him. Turning around, Baekhyun let out an exasperated laugh while rolling his eyes. “You don’t know why I’m running Chanyeol.”

He saw Chanyeol stiffen but immediately spoke. “Then tell me, please.” Chanyeol sounded desperate as he took another step closer. Baekhyun backed away, his emotions rampant. His hands clutched onto his shirt as he tried to control his self.

“I’m running because I’m trying to accept everything.” He took another step back.

“I’m running because I’m trying to be happy; happy for you.” He continued taking steps back until his back came into contact with the wall.

“I’m running because I’m hoping to escape the pain because goddamit, seeing you with someone else hurts. It freaking hurts because I love you, Chanyeol. I freaking love you.”

He continued crying. Nothing was heard inside the room except for his breathing and sniffing. He finally said it. He finally told Chanyeol that he loves him. He looked at the guy in front of him and saw the giant seem like out of breath.

“I─ I’m s-sorry…” Sorry? That’s all he could say? A sorry and nothing else?

Baekhyun felt weak. Hearing nothing but a mere sorry from Chanyeol, he just didn’t know what to feel. Maybe Chanyeol didn’t love him. Maybe he was nothing but a cute little boy for Chanyeol yet he was here, so in love with him. He was nothing but a friend Chanyeol first took to somewhere only the two of them know about.

Baekhyun let out a soft laugh. “Sorry? Yeah right, sorry. I’m sorry, Chanyeol. Sorry for always running away. Sorry for always bothering you. Sorry because I am here, crying like a little, hoping for you to love me back but I guess you really can’t, more like you won’t.” Heart slowly turning into pieces, he turned around. “Sorry because I cannot be happy for you.”

He decided to go for a run. He realized that he couldn’t take the heartbreak because cheesecakes, he felt like dying. So I’m really destined to be hurt, huh? As he was about to run to nowhere, he felt himself being spun around until he was facing Chanyeol. His world stopped when Chanyeol closed the distance between them using his lips.

Baekhyun felt his give up but Chanyeol shoved his waist, stopping him from falling further. He could feel frustration in the giant’s kisses as Chanyeol still continued kissing him. He tried to pull away but to no avail; Chanyeol pulled him closer, deepening the kiss.

“Why did you…?” Baekhyun trailed off the moment their lips separated. He was in a loss of words, shocked with what had happened. All he could do was touch his lips with shaking hands. The next thing he knew was that Chanyeol’s hand tipped his chin up, making him look at the Chanyeol.

“Baekhyun, I don’t need you to be happy for me.” Chanyeol said in a whispering tone which was barely audible as he leaned forward until Baekhyun’s forehead was touching his. Baekhyun felt a pair of wavering hands cup his face. “I need you to be happy with me.”

Baekhyun felt a rush of tears escape from his eyes as his heart jumped in overwhelming delight. He tiptoed and swiftly put his arms around Chanyeol’s neck as he buried his face on the giant’s chest. He felt Chanyeol’s chin at the top of his head as he cried however, what Chanyeol said next made him cry even more.

“Don’t leave me again, my princess.”

~~~~~~~~~~~