Rock as a genre never compelled me.

But at the mention of a certain rookie rock band who called themselves Exo̱tikós – that’s something in Greek which translates into ‘exotic’ – even the oblivious me knew who they are. A friend of mine decided to haul me along to one of their concerts last month. Devastated?! You tell me. My eardrums thought they were about to burst when the drummer struck the drum, the basist those cords and their performance began as the crowd started cheering like there was no tomorrow; and that included my best friend who was screaming on the top of his lungs for a certain ‘Kai’.

Oh well, I was overwhelmed at first, though I couldn’t help but be stirred by the energy emitted in their performance. His song, his deep, rich voice, his gaze, his beauty; I can’t seem to forget about the lead vocalist, Phoenix; and that obvious slip of a prominent tattoo and his half ‘Phantom of the Opera’ mask.

Seoul High School | 0735

*Bell rings*

Hey there, everyone!

That is Byun Baekhyun.

Up until last week, his high school life was something pretty much of a humdrum. Being the awkward turtle he is, Baekhyun chose to blend in. But currently, he was being harassed. Looking down at the unceremoniously opened metal locker which belongs to none other than yours truly, he felt himself twitch invisibly at the sight before him. Young adults these days pick locks better than a professional thief. Peering into the locker, he sighed.

Hate notes? Check.

Trashes? Check.

Sharp items and etc? Check.

Heck, he was probably waiting for something alive to be shoved into his face if the bullying was going at that rate. Among those in the background, he heared the chattering, the whispers, oh sorry, more like mocking of the others who enjoyed cackling at his misery. Picking out the more than obvious hate letter, there were two names scrawled terribly across the white surface with red pen, as if wishing for the written individuals’ petty deaths. There was even a ty drawing of a .

Hey, that rhymed, Baek! You could probably rap, not!

Byunbaek

Creepyeol

“Uhh…umm,” a voice reached the short boy’s ears and he perked up. Eyes downcast, Baekhyun saw a pair of Converse-clad feet, switching from foot to foot on the floor, “I’m terribly sorry. It’s my entire fault.”  

Sighs, Creepyeol.

Now let him explain a little about this particular human being: ‘Creepyeol’ was his nickname because…just because. He is this tall and gangly giant look-alike who towers over almost everyone. He’s probably the owner of the longest limbs in this entire school and sometimes, Baekhyun did envy him. Plus, when he smiles, the grinning and the eye twitching thingy he does were probably few of the many reasons which contributed to the funny nickname. And since Baekhyun was being a good Samaritan, he received a nickname as well. 

Anything, just anything is fine with me, but BYUNBAEK?! He is not some retarded ert of some sort.

Anyway, the nickname for Creepyeol was a joke in the beginning, but that name seemed to be stuck on him like an ugly tattoo even until now. And the poor boy, was even more helpless back then compared to his current situation. Now, now, let’s not go down that memory lane, shall we?

“W-what should I do?” he asked, completely frazzled and confused at the same time. Always, always with the same fashion of flattened out honey brown hair which covers up most of his temple and his eyes, permanently adorned with weirder than weird pair of spectacles that conceals his eyes.

“Ahh…ummm, you are…” Baekhyun tried to recall his name, but much to his dismay, he really couldn’t remember it aside from the given nickname. Was it something, something Yeol? Sungyeol? Eh?!

“Chanyeol,” he replied with a similar confused fashion as before and suddenly burst into tears.

Yeah, that is actually Baekhyun’s classmate; Chanyeol, ladies and gentlemen. It all began last week, when he and his best friend from a neighbouring school were on their way home. They saw Creepyeol was being bullied.

“Isn’t that the boy Creepyeol you mentioned about last time?” Kyungsoo muffled in between the bacon bun he was munching on, “look at them go. Poor boy, looks to me like everyone just loves bullying him.”

They could hear the conversation going on at the other side. They were forcing him to give them his pocket money, at which he shook violently and Baekhyun thought he saw an eye-twitch at the end of his left eye behind those glasses. His hands trembled as he handed over the funny looking wallet and they emptied the brown item.

“Let’s go, Baek. We shouldn’t get involved. Those girls, they don't look tame, if you get what I mean,” Kyungsoo said as he tried to pull Baekhyun away.

He felt the anger bubbling up in him. People are meant to be treated equally; no matter if you’re a geek or a superstar. Err, maybe not if you are a superstar. But, what the hell?! Sometimes, he questions himself. Byun Baekhyun, really, your sense of justice is more of a nuisance than its priceless worth, right? Why do you even bother?

But then, he decided to let the ugly beast expose its ugly head.  

“Hey, knock it off you two!” He said with possibly the ugliest and scariest act he could come up with. He felt like Medusa at that time, minus the obvious gender and serpents floating wildly on his head. And that probably shocked the two girls who probably never, ever heard him raise his voice at anyone. Hold that thought, do they even know me?

He guessed that it even shocked the bejeezus out of Kyungsoo as well when his already large eyes look petrified with Baekhyun’s ‘smart’ move and could almost pop out of their sockets.

“Who the f_uck is that?” With the distraction he stirred among the girls and himself, Creepyeol escaped their hold and fled towards Baekhyun; long arms flailing funnily and even longer legs carrying himself with the lack of balance towards the petite boy, like Baekhyun's some kind of a knight in shining armor. Pshh, I wish.  

“I don’t f_ucking know, but he’ll pay for that,” the other replied and so, their mission to torture him and his already pathetic life commenced.

Baekhyun could still remember on few of the many occasions where he left his book when school was over. Torn pages, ugly scribbles and death threats were what he received when he came back for the book.  Heck, he was even calmer than Kyungsoo when they both found the book in the nearby trash can.

This other time, Baekhyun almost sat on a chair decorated with glue and thumbtacks. Guess how lucky I was at that time, eh? Well, he wasn't that lucky, really. He almost sat on the chair and his fingers caught the nasty part of the glue at which he cursed, and heard the evil giggling from outside the classroom. I never cursed at school before, I swear.   

And of course, there’s that lovely locker of his. His shoes share their space with whatever garbage they decided to throw on in there, any day they please. Maybe he could at least ask for a locker swap, but oh well, this would stop someday, maybe. Not.  

There were even faceless figures that he could vaguely remember, ‘friends’ they called themselves.

But then, they came up to him and apologized on how they couldn’t stick around cause, air bunnies: “We don’t want to get harassed too.”

One by one, he lost his friends. Only Kyungsoo was bold enough to stay with him, and he was thankful that the wide-eyed boy was in another school. Baekhyun being bullied alone was enough. He didn't need his friend to suffer the same he was going through.

At that moment, there was only Creepyeol left to sit with Baekhyun during lunch. Kyungsoo insisted that he climb the wall — you can just enter through the front gate, though, Kyungsoo — just to have lunch with Baekhyun. But the shorter reminded the wide-eye boy to hang out with him lesser until the bullying stops. If it actually does. Creepyeol handed out the canteen’s famous red bean bread towards Baekhyun, his long fingers caressing the bread fully.

“Here you go, Baekhyun-ssi,” releasing it onto the open palm of the smaller’s delicate hand and sat down like a large puppy waiting for his master with a splash of pink tint displayed on his cheeks.

He wondered; why do people call this guy ‘Creepyeol’ initially, seeing him with Baekhyun now, he didn't seem that creepy. Maybe he should address Creepyeol properly in his head. Until the other boy decided to smile that big grin he had been holding. Oh yes, that’s fairly the reason why.

“Thanks, but wasn’t it hard to get?” Baekhyun asked, mildly interested with the answer.

Chanyeol scratched the back of his head and chuckled a little, the deep grumble catching Baekhyun’s attention, “yeah, but I’m used to it.”

Why does everyone use him as an errand boy? He’s not a slave, Goddamn it.   

But, he’s good at it; being my friend, that is.  

“Here! Have some milk too,” and he bowed his head lowly while handing out a carton of chocolate milk.

Ah, my favourite.

“Thanks!” He cheered as he take the first bite of the bread.

Suddenly, Chanyeol sat on his knees formally and bowed his head low towards Baekhyun, “I’m really sorry, Baekhyun-ssi. It’s because of me that – “ Baekhyun wouldn’t let him finish his sentence on blaming himself so he stopped the other boy by placing a firm grip on one of his hands.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault, Creep…I mean, Chanyeol-ssi,” and to make sure that he feel less burdened, Baekhyun smiled at him; all square-mouth, pearly whites with that perfect eye smile which Kyungsoo said: “Could win the hearts and souls of any boys or girls.” Now Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, they have nothing against gays, in fact they're both biual. It’s quite hurtful how people mistreat those who are more in favour of their own gender. Have some respect, will you? I mean, I don’t see anything wrong with it. Alright, back to reality, Baekhyun.

“Baekhyun-ssi…” the name spoken like it is some kind of a holy prayer as it rolled out of Creepyeol’s mouth. He seemed like he is in a daze for a few seconds until he started searching around for something in his pocket.

“Here!” He shoved a square envelope into Baekhyun’s hand and the smaller boy was surprised by the suddenness.

Their moment was interrupted when the door to the rooftop banged open and the two biggest bullies stepped in.  

“Oi, Creepyeol! Where’s my red bean bread?!” the larger between the two bellowed and glared at the two of them.

“Stop being fags, and get us our bread, hurry!” The other chimed in with a much shriller voice, but cruel nonetheless.

“Wait up, I’m coming!” He got up in one swift movement and turned to look at Baekhyun. “See you later,” and makes a dash for it, until he fell unceremoniously to the floor with a loud thud!

Oh, dear me. 

To tell you the truth, Baekhyun didn’t even know his full name until today. Was it Kim Chanyeol? Yoo Chanyeol? He kept playing around with family names as his hands carefully fished out the content of the envelope.

Ack!

It was a ticket to see Exo̱tikós!