Part 2: After

::November 24^th – after 6 pm::

Baekhyun closed his eyes and ran a shaky hand through his hair while the other gripped tightly on the bag of craft items so hard that his knuckles turned white. “I’m nervous. I’m super nervous.” He busied himself by running his fingers through the bag, checking every item to make sure they were all there. “Did I get the right color? Do I have enough?”

Kyungsoo laughed as he pulled up to the stop light and observed his friend. “You have no reason to be nervous.”

Baekhyun sighed. “Of course I do.”

“Come on, Baek. It’s Chanyeol.”

“No, it’s Chanyeol.”

“I fail to see the difference.”

Kyungsoo turned away from him as Baekhyun growled and started ranting about everything wrong in this situation. “He’s going to hate me forever. He’s never going to forgive me; I’m going to be ruined and never find happiness–”

Kyungsoo sighed, glancing toward Baekhyun as he pulled into the intersection as the light finally turned green. He opened his mouth to tell him that he was overreacting and that it’d be fine, but the sight of something startling behind Baekhyun caught his eye.

His voice came out in the sound of a frightened breath.

“B-Baekhyun!”

Kyungsoo was the first to see it coming.

Baekhyun didn’t have the time to turn around before everything cut to black.

********

Baekhyun blinked uncomfortably. Not once, but twice.

It took his eyes a while to adjust to the incredibly brighter lights and vivid color of his surroundings. He rubbed his eyes and stared upward, finally attuned to the light until something blocked his view.

“Oh look, you’re awake.”

Baekhyun squinted at the excited eyes of the boy standing above him before giving a startled squeak and backing away from the stranger who laughed as he stood up straight. “Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you or whatever.”

The man smiled to Baekhyun and held out his hand. “My name is Jongdae, but most of my friends call me Chen.” Baekhyun hesitantly took his hand and nodded as he pulled himself up, making a mental note to always call him ‘Jongdae.’ “If there’s anything you have questions about, feel free to ask.” He turned away from Baekhyun and mumbled, “Now let’s get you to the house…” as he started walking away. Baekhyun shuffled behind him quickly.

“Wait, wait…” Baekhyun blurted as he caught up to him. “Where is this? Why am I here?”

Jongdae continued walking as he replied, “Your death took place not too long ago so you–”

“Wait, what?” The words tumbled out of Baekhyun’s mouth awkwardly, voice cracking as he stopped to stare at the man in shock, who was still walking away from him. “Death? I… died?”

The man nodded quickly, and Baekhyun was sure he was rolling his eyes.

Baekhyun stared at him, mouth hanging open. No no, that can’t be true. “No, this… this must be some sort of mistake…” he stuttered, frowning as he ran to catch back up.

“Well it can’t be because you’re here, aren’t you?” There was a playful smirk in the boy’s words. “You shouldn’t try to negotiate with me. Just accept it because there’s no other choice right now.”

Baekhyun frowned as he slowed down, matching the stranger’s long strides with his own legs. He glanced up to his profile, noticing how his brown hair framed his face and his forehead, the small moles that gathered at his temples, and the slight upward tug of the corners of his lips. 

Baekhyun sighed as he looked back down from the man. “So this is… heaven?” The man paused and threw his head back, laughing softly. He watched his hair dangle from the back of his neck perfectly, without a strand out of place. Baekhyun wished his hair would do that.

“Heaven? No no.” He glanced over his shoulder and smiled to Baekhyun as he whispered, “But it’s probably the closest thing you’ll get to it.” He shrugged as he took Baekhyun’s wrist and pulled him behind him. Baekhyun followed the boy blindly, not following the conversation at all. “Most of us call it ‘Haven’ because… it’s one letter off from ‘heaven’ so it’s almost heaven, but not exactly. It’s more or less just a shelter place after a while anyways.” Jongdae laughed softly before adding, “But it doesn’t matter what you call it, because you’re stuck here anyways,” as he continued walking away.

Baekhyun tilted his head slightly. “How did I… get here?”

Jongdae stopped walking to pull a scroll out of his man purse satchel (it was definitely not a man purse; he gets mad when you say that) and read it aloud.

“Car accident. November 24^th at 6:14 pm. A semi-truck skid on a patch of black ice and hit the car on the passenger side in the middle of an intersection. It appears the passenger was killed on impact, snapping his neck, resulting in instant death.” Baekhyun’s hand shot to his neck as he winced. Jongdae clicked his tongue as he slid the paper back into his bag. “Tragic story, isn’t it? At least there wasn’t pain involved.”

Baekhyun’s memory filled with the incident. He was with Kyungsoo. He was returning to Xiumin’s house to finish Chanyeol’s birthday present. His eyes snapped open. Where was Kyungsoo? Was he hurt? How was his mother coping? Was Chanyeol okay? …Did Chanyeol care?

Jongdae looked to Baekhyun and noticed his worried expression before he chose to speak up. “If there are any questions on your mind, you can ask them. If they’re about your family or friends, don’t worry. We can talk about them later. You were the only new person here with news about a vehicle accident. If there was another involved, they’re probably just injured.” The smile on his face seemed to ease a bit of Baekhyun’s pain as they started walking again.

Baekhyun frowned and decided to speak again after a few moments of silence. “How did you…?”

The man smiled as his walk slowed a little. “I ‘fell’ off a building… with the help of someone else’s hands. Through the window of the top story of a hospital to be exact.” He laughed. “Maybe I would have died even if I didn’t. It could have been the knife in his hand or the blood loss and the shards of glass from the window I fell out of. Perhaps it was the pneumonia. Possibly the poison. Maybe something completely unrelated.” He glanced over his shoulder giving a small smile to Baekhyun. “I really don’t know.” Baekhyun glanced away. He seemed to have a lot of problems in his life.

“But we don’t have to talk about my past, anyways. That’s long gone.” Jongdae’s stride went back up to pace again, but he stopped quickly after, exclaiming, “Oh, before I forget...”

Jongdae handed him a cellphone, much to Baekhyun’s confusion. “… What’s this for?”

“What? You’ve never seen a cellphone? It’s for communication in case you get lost. I already put my number in yours.”

“They have… cellphones in heaven?”

Jongdae glared at the brunette. “What, you think we couldn’t get good service above the clouds? Are we just supposed to be wearing robes or diapers and sing in choirs, but not be technologically advanced?” He scoffed as he continued walking. A slightly amused frown graced Baekhyun’s features as he followed after his guide.

Baekhyun asked a couple of questions, which Jongdae hastily answered. There wasn’t much room for silence because Jongdae would give little narratives about some places they passed before he would cut off his narrative and mumble something about having to take Baekhyun on an actual tour around Haven with some of his friends.

Baekhyun couldn’t tell whether he liked Jongdae or not. He was still coming to terms with this whole “death” thing after all, and being expected to make friends after something like that wasn’t something that Baekhyun was immediately planning to do. Jongdae seemed like the type of person that would draw a mustache on his face while he was asleep, and Baekhyun didn’t need to deal with that.

The two stopped in front of a large house and Baekhyun stared up to it in amazement.

“This is where I’m going to live?”

Jongdae nodded. Baekhyun turned to him and said, “Well, thanks for bringing me here. I guess I’ll see you around sometime?”

Jongdae smiled a little. “What do you mean? This is our house. As in both of ours.”

Baekhyun’s face fell. “… Both of ours?”

“Oh I didn’t tell you?” Jongdae’s smile widened. “I’m your roommate.”

Baekhyun suddenly wished he could die all over again.

---------------

Chanyeol wandered around aimlessly. It was a Tuesday – he ought to be in school.

He walked past other people wearing his school uniform and frowned. Everyone seemed happier than usual today. Maybe he just didn’t get the memo.

He stood in the midst of a group of people waiting for the streetlights to change so they could walk across the street. Chanyeol stayed staring down at the floor, thinking of Baekhyun. Thinking of old memories. Thinking of the way his hair used to blow in the wind, or how his eyes would crinkle at the edges whenever he smiled. Chanyeol didn’t notice the light change, nor did he notice the group of people around him shift as they walked through the intersection.

A person bumped into him from behind, taking him out of his thoughts, and he looked up, finally noticing that the light had changed. He stepped into the intersection as the light turned yellow, and slowly trudged across the crosswalk. He was less than halfway through as the light turned red. Not that he knew. He wasn’t paying attention anyway.

It was only when the deafening noise of horns around him broke through his concentration that he looked upward. People were shouting in his direction, and some in another direction. Their mouths were moving in chants and screams. Most of their lips took on the shapes of the words “Move” or “Car” but Chanyeol would be none the wiser. His ears became deaf to their screams. Everything silenced as his eyes focused on the car speeding out of control heading straight for him. Everything around him felt like it was running in slow motion.

His legs wouldn’t move. Maybe they weren’t supposed to. His eyes focused on a small figure on top of the car with his arms in the air. A smile was on the brunette’s face as he stared back down to Chanyeol. Maybe… this was where he was supposed to be. In agony and pain… and then with Baekhyun. He closed his eyes and opened his arms to accept it. To accept Baekhyun.

“Chanyeol… Chanyeol!”

He took in a sharp breath as he felt the air rush at him from the impact.

“Chanyeol!”

Chanyeol awoke with a startled gasp, clutching his chest in one hand and strangling his sheets in the other. His eyes met the wide eyes of his mother. “Are you okay? You have to go to school…” Chanyeol glanced around and rubbed his eyes slowly nodding to his mother. His mother turned away and slowly exited the room, mentioning the time and how his breakfast was getting cold before she disappeared from the doorway.

Chanyeol glanced around his room and looked at the calendar before rubbing his temples and repeating to himself “It was a dream, it was a dream…” as though he didn’t want to believe it himself.

It felt awful, having to remind himself like this. Baekhyun isn’t here, and he isn’t coming back.

He frowned at the memory, hoping he wouldn’t have any more dreams like that. Pretending to have Baekhyun back felt like heaven, but the fall was always harder whenever he woke up. His chest ached as he covered himself in his blankets again, trying to tune out the white noise of the world. He didn’t want to go to school today. He didn’t want to go to school any day. He didn’t want any of this.

A vibrating noise from his nightstand took him out of his world of self-loathing and threw him back into the one without Baekhyun. Chanyeol glanced to the offending item and noticed one new text from Jongin.

From KimKai: “Kyungsoo’s coming back to school today. Be nice.”

Chanyeol frowned at his phone, wondering why Jongin felt the need to tell him to be nice to one of his own friends.

He took his time preparing for and walking to school, pretending nothing was wrong, like he always did. He strode into the classroom right as the bell rang.

Jongin noticed the way Chanyeol’s brows drew together and the slight downward tug at the corners of his lips. Slightly concerned, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Chanyeol yawned as he pulled out a chair next to Jongin and mumbled, “I had another dream about Baek last night.” Chanyeol could practically feel Jongin wince. He sighed. “I hate being plagued like this. Why won’t he just go away?” It was two weeks after the accident, and dealing with stuff like this was not something that Chanyeol was looking forward to.

Jongin opted to change the conversation as his teacher was preparing to start class.

“Did you get my text this morning? Kyungsoo is coming back.”

Chanyeol nodded. “I’m surprised he’s back already.”

Jongin frowned. “He could have come back earlier – he just didn’t. He got released from the hospital a while ago with a broken wrist, fractured collarbone, and ‘a terrible case of whiplash.’” Jongin paused and asserted, “So make sure you’re nice to him when you see him.”

Chanyeol opened his mouth to ask why, but was cut off when their teacher began speaking at the front of the room. Jongin passed him a note that answered his question anyway. ‘Kyungsoo’s really fragile right now and he doesn’t need you reprimanding him.’

Chanyeol actually didn’t see Kyungsoo until his lunch break; he didn’t even notice the boy approach him at first because he was so caught up in his thoughts. Kyungsoo pulled a seat out next to Chanyeol, but it didn’t catch his attention. “Hey, Chanyeol…” Kyungsoo spoke softly, but Chanyeol didn’t turn around. “… You know, we’re all going through this together and pretending nothing happened isn’t going to solve anything.”

Chanyeol sat there, staring forward, trying to take his mind off the situation. He wasn’t sure why, but when those large eyes stared at him, all he was reminded of was how Baekhyun ran to him after their argument. How Baekhyun chose to go with him instead. How it was his fault for his reckless driving that Baekhyun wasn’t here anymore. It was Kyungsoo’s fault. It was all Kyungsoo’s fault.

Kyungsoo put his hand on his shoulder. “Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol growled as he threw his seat back and stood up, silencing the rest of the room. “And? How can you say that?! You’re the one who was driving the damn car!” Kyungsoo stared back at Chanyeol wide-eyed (or more so than usual), but Chanyeol didn’t notice it any more than he should have. “How can you be so accepting of this? How could you just let it happen? How can you even sit here and pretend that everything’s okay? How come… how come you’re here, alive and well, but Baek isn’t?!”

Chanyeol barely noticed the shine in Kyungsoo’s eyes fade as his face fell and he stared wordlessly at his desk. Chanyeol stared at the mess he made, quickly recalling Jongin’s warning to be nice. “Kyung…soo… I’m sorry…. I’m sorry…”

“No, no… you’re right… you’re right.” Kyungsoo pushed out his chair and staggered out of the classroom. Nearly everyone else in the room turned around to look at Chanyeol, who sank in his seat.

Chanyeol saw Kyungsoo again at the school library after school. Kyungsoo was sitting around reading a book when Chanyeol pulled up a chair next to him and stared at the ceiling. Chanyeol glanced in Kyungsoo’s direction and then looked away. He cleared his throat and softly mumbled, “I’m really sorry about earlier. Honest.” Kyungsoo blinked and looked up to Chanyeol. Chanyeol looked up and met his eyes, before looking away, unable to stand how wide his eyes were, yet being unable to tell the emotion within them. “I was just upset, you know. I had a bad morning. A bad week. Everything’s just been bad recently, and I don’t know why I happened to explode on you specifically, but I–”

“Chanyeol, Chanyeol…” Chanyeol looked up to see Kyungsoo’s lips curled up in a slightly laughing smile as Chanyeol clumsily finished, “I’m sorry…”

Kyungsoo smiled to Chanyeol and shook his head. “It’s okay. Don’t try to explain – I understand.” Chanyeol frowned and looked away. Kyungsoo pursed his lips and spoke softly. “Actually though, about Baek…” Kyungsoo’s voice trailed off as Chanyeol quickly whipped back around to look at him with an expectant glint in his eye. Kyungsoo’s eyesight went up to the ceiling as he asked, “You two had an argument before he came with me?” Chanyeol frowned and nodded. Kyungsoo continued speaking. “I know Baekhyun would feel awful about leaving you without even being able to explain how he was acting…”

He sighed. “I bet Xiumin gave you the book already?” Chanyeol nodded again. “Baekhyun wanted to text you as we were driving home. He said he wanted to tell you he was sorry for being grumpy all day. He wanted to make amends with you, and he was complaining about how he thought you’d never forgive him. I asked him what caused the problem between you two, but he refused to tell me, saying he didn’t want it to ruin your relationship with him. He was just as worried as you, Chanyeol, and I know how much you miss him – we all do… but…”

Chanyeol frowned to Kyungsoo before standing up to leave. Kyungsoo stood immediately after, but Chanyeol shook his head and continued walking on.

He didn’t want to deal with this right now. Those nightmares were going to come back.

---------------

Baekhyun had quickly warmed up to this new place and friendly environment.

He had been taken around some of the major places of Haven by Jongdae and some friends of his, including Luhan, Sehun, and Yixing, who quickly became Baekhyun’s friends as well.

He passed tall buildings, breathtaking landscapes, and beautiful sculptures.

He learned the greatness of cloud racing (which was essentially the Haven version of Mario Kart with its own seasonal competitions and fan base) and how your success came from choosing your cloud well from its density and your own ability to not fall off.

He learned about what it meant to be in Haven and the jobs he’d have to fulfill here.

“Not everyone comes to Haven. Haven is for potential angels; other people that pass away go off to other places. So to stay in Haven and actually become an angel, Fate will assign you a job soon based upon how you acted before and how you’ve been acting here. Then there’s training and studying and then you take the tests to get the job…”

“Wait, tests? There’s tests even after I die?” Baekhyun groaned exasperated. “What is this awful place?” He stopped and looked to Jongdae. “And you? You’ve been here for a while right? What’s your job?”

Jongdae smiled a toothy smile as he patted his satchel. “Messenger. I deliver letters and assignments across the realms.”

Baekhyun stared at him. “So you’re an overhyped mailman,” he deadpanned.

Jongdae flicked his forehead. Baekhyun frowned and asked about other jobs as he rubbed his forehead. “Some include matchmakers, weather watchers, guardian angels, and healers…” he sighed. “There’s a lot. Everyone gets different items that help them with their jobs. Guardian angels have pendants; I have my satchel and my shoes. You can pretty much tell who is what job if you can see their item or by the shape of their wings.”

Baekhyun looked up. “You don’t have wings.” Jongdae opened his mouth to respond, but Baekhyun smirked and said, “Because you’re just a mailman, you don’t deserve wings, do you?”

Jongdae flicked his forehead again, resulting in Baekhyun’s scowl. “My shoes take place of my wings.” Baekhyun glanced downward, noticing the small wings on his sandals. “I always thought that wings seemed uncomfortable anyways, like how do you sleep with those things?” Jongdae laughed. “Fate knew me well enough to assign me to something I enjoy too.”

Baekhyun scoffed. “Does Fate do everything around here?”

“… Mostly yes. Destiny does a bit, but Fate does most of it. The council just carries out the rules.”

Baekhyun sighed. “I was kidding.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes and explained the council and how each person from each job works under Fate and Destiny to keep the rules in order. He also told him the majority of the rules of Haven: keep your job and do it well; value help, responsibility, and kindness; definitely have fun; and don’t be afraid to forget.

Baekhyun didn’t understand the last one at first, but he waved it off as unimportant at the time.

Within the weeks Baekhyun had spent in Haven, Jongdae took him to a ledge of clouds that everyone called “The Observatory.” It was an edge of the clouds that overlooked most of the earth. Jongdae pointed out that the entire area held a system like GPS tracking to find someone that you were specifically looking for, set up with the intent to help find people that you missed to see how they were doing.

“It’s kind of cool, isn’t it?”

“It seems more like an awesome way to stalk people than anything else,” Baekhyun responded, prompting soft, dry laughter from Jongdae.

The two eased into the comfortable silence as the wind blew through their hair. Baekhyun assumed this would be a nice spot. It was quiet and serene, and beautiful.

“Most people actually don’t visit here often.” Jongdae’s voice brought Baekhyun out of his admiration for the area. “If anyone does, it’s usually newbies or guardians who just don’t want to waste the energy going down and coming back.”

He glanced between the scenery and back to Jongdae before asking softly, “Why don’t more people visit?”

Jongdae didn’t respond for a few seconds, so Baekhyun turned his attention back to the scenery before Jongdae his heels and explained, “Sometimes, there’s just some stuff that you don’t want to see. It’s hard to watch all of your loved ones be depressed for a while and then move on in life without you.” He paused. “After a while, they sort of forget to remember you, so you forget too.”

Baekhyun glanced up and stared at the unusually solemn look that crossed Jongdae’s face. Baekhyun cleared his throat. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Jongdae glanced back before giving and unnervingly calm smile and responding, “No, I’m fine. I’ve been here for a while, so I’m used to it.” Baekhyun couldn’t help but feel worse with an answer like that, but he decided not to push it any further. Baekhyun also realized that Jongdae never talked about his old friends or his family, but when he asked about it, Jongdae looked at him and then glanced away as he softly mumbled, “I’ve forgotten by now.”

Baekhyun had gotten used to Jongdae’s odd antics over time and realized how much that the two had in common. He realized how useful he was at some times, and how useless he was for the majority of the others. The two had gotten undeniably close over the span of just a few weeks, enough to insult each other for every little thing they did, or crack jokes at the sight of anything even mildly funny and burst into hysterical laughter together. Baekhyun felt like he was mending old friendships or creating new ones to cover the old relationships he was currently in the process of forgetting.

For some reason, that didn’t bother him as much as he thought it should have.

Perhaps, it was just because he wasn’t as aware of it as he should have been.

---------------

A few weeks after Baekhyun’s arrival in Haven, Baekhyun and Jongdae had settled into a normal routine and gotten used to living with each other. The two were currently lying in separate parts of their room, neither paying any attention to the other. Jongdae was laying upside-down on the couch, staring at the television with a blank, bored expression, while Baekhyun was sitting at the table, sprawled out across it as he read a book. Both of them were taken out of their activity when Baekhyun’s phone vibrated from across the room.

He groaned as he glanced to Jongdae. “You don’t have to text me if we’re in the same room.”

Jongdae glanced up to Baekhyun. “I didn’t – why would I do that?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow suspiciously before he jumped out of his seat and scampered across the room to his phone, wondering who else would text him. His eyes scanned across an unknown number.

Unknown sender: “…Hey.”

Baekhyun frowned and glanced down to Jongdae. “It says it’s an unknown number.” Jongdae blinked and strolled over to Baekhyun’s side as his phone vibrated again.

Unknown sender: “…, I forgot you wouldn’t get this.”

Baekhyun pursed his lips as Jongdae nodded in his direction. “Does the number look familiar?”

Baekhyun flicked across the screen and looked at the number. “N…” he paused as the number suddenly looked slightly familiar. Baekhyun used to call this number at night when he couldn’t sleep, or draw it in the palm of his hand when he was bored. He knew this number. He knew he knew it. Somehow. “… Kind of.”

Jongdae frowned. “I’ve heard a myth that some people still alive can call your number still.”

Baekhyun blinked as the phone vibrated again.

Unknown sender: “… I’m sorry, that was a lie. I wanted to pretend. Thought it’d make me feel better.”

A small frown appeared on Baekhyun’s face as he attempted to recall his connection to the number.

“In any case,” Jongdae’s voice appeared again, “that’s just a myth. Plus it’s weird they would connect to your Haven phone rather than your old phone. Don’t worry about it though. Probably some glitch.” Jongdae waved the issue away as he returned to his sofa and Baekhyun sat back down at the table, staring at his phone as another text appeared.

Unknown sender: “… I miss you.”

Baekhyun stared at his phone in confusion before scrunching up his nose. “Jongdae?” he called across the room, “In those rumors, do you remember hearing anything about being able to text others back?”

Jongdae made a soft “hmm” sound before shaking his head. “Not that I can remember, but everyone was probably just making up those rumors anyways. Come on Baek, it’s not like someone from the living realm is texting you.” Baekhyun’s phone vibrated again.

Unknown sender: “It’s been weeks since you… left. I’ve been incredibly lonely. There’s no one to get bubble tea with anymore.”

Jongdae may have been skeptical, but Baekhyun was sure this definitely wasn’t someone from Haven.

“Do you think I could get through even if it was someone from there?”

Jongdae made an irritated sound as he whined, “I don’t know, Baek, it’s never happened to me. Just text the number back and see if it goes through.”

Baekhyun mockingly scrunched up his nose and frowned in Jongdae’s direction until his phone vibrated again.

Unknown sender: “But I really do miss you. Everyone does. But not as much as me.”

Baekhyun quickly typed in a reply.

To Unknown sender: “Who is this? How did you get my phone number?”

Baekhyun’s finger hovered over the send button as he thought it over before receiving another message.

Unknown sender: “I’ve been with your mother lately, trying to cheer her up. It’s kind of difficult when we’re both still so depressed.”

Baekhyun pushed the send button immediately and curled up a little, wanting to know if the text would go through, but as he watched the processing symbol spin for a long amount of time, he just got more and more discouraged, until an error message finally popped up. He groaned in frustration and spread out across the table in defeat, when his phone vibrated once again.

Unknown Sender: “… This has been fun. Kind of one sided, but whatever. Thinking that you’re listening to me is nice. Kind of therapeutic, maybe. Even if you really won’t get these. I might keep sending them though. I’ve got to keep you busy in heaven one way or another, right? :)”

Baekhyun could almost hear the soft, deep familiar laughter of a certain giant he knew.

He sighed and curled up, clutching his phone to his chest, releasing a soft breath in the form of a whisper.

“…Chanyeol…”

-------

Chanyeol lay on his bed with his arms and legs dangling over one side. It had been a fairly awful day at school, and he wanted nothing more than to have Baekhyun respond to any one of the texts he had sent him. Chanyeol sighed. It had been three weeks. He knew Baekhyun wouldn’t respond. So why would he torture himself so?

Chanyeol groaned as he allowed his phone to slip out from between his fingers and clash against the floor. He felt awful. Did this mean he was giving in to insanity or something?

Yet he couldn’t help but like the feeling. The thought of actually texting Baekhyun brought a peace to his mind that he hadn’t had in weeks. He could trick himself into believing that everything could be normal again. It helped him get his mind off the stressful parts of life and allow him an escape to speak to his best friend. It took him to a world where Baekhyun was.

It didn’t sound as bad when he explained it to himself like that.

Chanyeol glanced down to his phone and frowned, not seeing any harm in texting the useless number.

If it made him feel better, what could go wrong?

---------------

The second time Baekhyun got a text from an unknown number was a week and a half later.

Chanyeol was sitting in his room, rolling a small, black velvet box with a bow on it between his fingers.

Baekhyun had just gotten out of the shower and was rubbing his hair with a towel as he made himself a cup of hot chocolate. He glanced toward the back of his house, wondering if he could coerce his housemate out of his room.

“Jongdae, I made hot chocolate, do you want any?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you.”

“You know, if you came out of your room more often and drank some happy juice, maybe you wouldn’t be so crabby and wrinkly.”

“Hey! Keep your worthless opinions to yourself!”

Baekhyun smiled. End of conversation.

Baekhyun was emptying the contents of his chocolate package into the mug and mindlessly stirring it with his spoon when his phone vibrated on the counter. He glanced to it quickly, but the notification of a new text caught his eye. Turning all of his attention away from his hot chocolate, he focused upon reading the new text.

Unknown sender: “Merry Christmas, Baek!”

Baekhyun barely had enough time to connect it to the past unknown sender before his phone vibrated again.

Unknown sender: “I know it’s only Christmas Eve, but we used to hang out on Christmas Eve all the time.”

Another spark of recognition caught in Baekhyun’s mind. There was only one person this could be. A smile lit up Baekhyun’s face.

Unknown sender: “So I’m texting you because no one deserves to spend Christmas (or Christmas Eve!) alone! Merry Christmas! (/^o^)/ \(^o^\)”

Baekhyun laughed as he glanced in Jongdae’s direction, knowing he technically wasn’t alone, but whatever. Perhaps the sender of the text sent it more for himself than for Baekhyun. Baekhyun wrapped his hands around the cup of hot chocolate and curled up on the couch, waiting for his phone to vibrate again.

Unknown sender: “It’s been a month since the accident. Do you miss me? I miss you.”

Baekhyun smiled to the phone and nodded slowly as though the other could see him through the phone.

Unknown sender: “I hope you haven’t made so many friends in heaven to the point where you’ve forgotten about me! Way back when, we were both losers with no other friends but each other. Remember the old days, Byun Baek, and don’t get too cocky just because you’re all popular now! Haha.”

Baekhyun laughed in remembrance of Chanyeol being alone so often that Baekhyun would leave his own friends just to play with Chanyeol sometimes. And when Baekhyun was alone, Chanyeol would immediately was sit next to him and ask if he wanted to play a game.

Baekhyun set his cup down and replied to the unknown sender, “I know, I know. I remember.”

Unknown sender: “But anyways, because it’s Christmas, I wanted to say thank you for the birthday present, even though I’m afraid we won’t be able to fill up those last couple of pages like you wished we could.”

Baekhyun’s smile faded slowly. He had forgotten about that album. The photos within it and the time he spent on it suddenly flooded his mind. So many memories that he had forgotten. So many memories of Chanyeol he hadn’t realized he missed. So many memories Chanyeol would make without him that he’d never witness.

Unknown sender: “But we shouldn’t dwell on that. I bought you a present for Christmas too! It was over a month ago though, so don’t criticize me for wasting money when I didn’t know it would be wasted.”

Baekhyun cringed.

Unknown sender: “It isn’t wasted though. I’m glad I bought it anyways. Even if I can’t give it to you. I probably would have been too shy to give it to you.”

Baekhyun sighed as he leaned back into the couch, wondering when Park Chanyeol had ever been shy around him, or why he felt like he would be.

Unknown sender: “But whatever. The time has passed anyways. I really like talking to you like this. We should do it more often. Well… I should, haha. Anyways, I have to spend time with the family, so… I will most likely talk to you later… Bye, Baek. Don’t miss me too much ;)”

Jongdae glared at Baekhyun over the back of the couch. “That weirdo’s still texting you?”

Baekhyun squeaked as he turned around to meet Jongdae’s amused eyes. “Yeah, but whatever…” he retorted as he glanced back down to his phone.

Jongdae replied nonchalantly, “You can always block it-“

“No!” Baekhyun shouted back, catching Jongdae off guard. “I… I like listening to him talk to me. I like the attention,” Baekhyun admitted as he turned back to his phone. I like knowing that he hasn’t forgotten about me.

Jongdae rolled his eyes and walked off in the other direction. Baekhyun watched him leave before saving the number in his contacts under “Chanyeol.”

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The next morning, Baekhyun received a message from Jongdae (that was signed by Destiny) saying that he was assigned to be a guardian angel.

With a smile, Jongdae reassured him that guardian angel was one of the more favorable jobs, but it would take a lot of work to pass the test, and it gave him a lot of responsibility.

Baekhyun responded with a silent nod, knowing that he’d have to focus and study a lot to pass the test and be able to stay in Haven with his friends. He’d have to deal with Chanyeol and his personal issues later.

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