It was as if the floor had caved in from beneath Baekhyun’s feet. He couldn’t even dare break eye contact with Chanyeol now, fingers trembling because he already knew what was going to happen now. Chewing down on his lower lip, he did nothing but remain frozen on the giant’s lap, fingers curling into small fists on the photographer’s bare shoulders while Chanyeol’s continued to turn the small black object between them. A look of confusion clouded the guy’s face, and obviously, in that confusion, he did not take notice of the sudden stiffness of the designer on top of him. “I’ve been looking for this since your brother’s wedding… I lost it sometime while I was taking pictures in the garden.”

          Every nerve ending in Baekhyun’s body seemed to shrivel up at his words, and with a pained gulp, he slid off the tall man’s lap, onto the floor with a completely blank expression because what was he supposed to feel? Guilt? Pain? Heartbreak? “Blind love…” played like a horrible song on loop in Baekhyun’s mind as he blindly crawled away from an even more stumped Park Chanyeol who had now stood, staring down at him with a noticably big frown because Baekhyun probably looked insane now, cowering away from him like he carried a weapon of mass destruction, just hours after they had made love so passionately meters away from where they now stood.

          “Baekhyun?” Chanyeol’s arms reached out for him, and he didn’t have the heart to push him away; too busy in his own head as thoughts flew past at the speed of light.

          He never loved you.

          He was just blinded by a spell.

          No one could ever love you, Byun Baekhyun. You should have learned from Kris… they all get sick of you eventually…

          It was like fate was playing with him. From the moment he had gone to Beijing, everything had gone wrong. Everything. Chanyeol was no exception. In the end, he was just another one of Baekhyun’s stolen coins – he was just another poor soul who Baekhyun was horrible enough to ruin. And he didn’t even know it. All he knew was what that dumb spell made him believe: that he actually loved Baekhyun… as if this love was real…

          “Get out.” The words seemed to float in the stagnant air between them, sounding so foreign to him that even Baekhyun couldn’t believe he had said them. Chanyeol remained rooted to his spot, half crouched down with his hands on Baekhyun’s shoulders, frown marring horrible lines on his handsome face. Tears sprang to the surface of Baekhyun’s eyes as he slowly rose, legs shaky as he shoved Chanyeol’s arms off. Whether or not he wanted to stop himself – whether he wanted Chanyeol to stay – Baekhyun’s wobbly feet took him to the bedroom, seeing everything that had transpired in phantom images as he forced himself to pick up all of the photographer’s belongings, ignoring the fact that he was still wearing the man’s shirt as he practically threw the items at a baffled Chanyeol, choking back sobs as he pushed him towards the door.

          “Baekhyun, wait, what are you—?”

          “Please, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun whispered, watching as the latter turned to face him, standing pitifully in his cold hallway with clothes and shoes in his arms. “Please don’t make this any more difficult than it already is…”

          “Baek, I thought we were fine…” Chanyeol seemed equally as devastated; voice a mere whisper into the abyss. “I… listen, Baek, I—”

          “You don’t love me, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun interrupted, seeing the adoration filling the photographer’s eyes even when he was shattering his heart. “It’s all a lie.”

          “A lie.”

          “I’m sorry.” Before whatever was left of his crumbling resolve could break, Baekhyun closed the door – and his heart – to the giant, immediately falling to the floor as the tears he’d tried to hold back finally sprung loose, clinging onto his skin like burning acid as he himself curled into a small ball of desperation and loneliness, wondering where in his life he’d gone so wrong as to deserve this kind of pain. “I’m sorry…” he whispered again.

           “I love you too much to have you love me like this…”

          It felt like forever before the tears eventually ceased, and the sun was almost setting by the time Baekhyun managed to pluck himself from the ground by his doorway. Everything felt so empty, so meaningless, that he could only wander about his dark apartment, flicking his gaze to the abandoned popcorn on the coffee table, to the blank screen of the television, even to the unmade bed that remained just as messy as it had been that morning.

          He decided to take a shower, wishing that the heat of the water pouring down onto his skin was enough to burn away the heat of Chanyeol’s touches; that the searing boil could erase the feeling of being completely filled by Chanyeol – that the scalding dripping down his pale form could eradicate the longing in his heart. But no matter how hard or how long he scrubbed, there was nothing that the shower could do because he was still deep into his thoughts of Chanyeol, of everything, that he crumbled to the floor, listening to the drip and drop of the lava raining down on him.

          It took a while, but after a few minutes he was pulled free from his dark mind with the incessant ringing of his doorbell; the sound shrill and annoying and repetitive as whoever it was abused the mechanism. Half of Baekhyun’s mind prayed that it was Chanyeol hoping to change his mind, but he thought better of it. Chanyeol deserved better than a sham.

          That didn’t mean he was thankful that when he opened the door, it wasn’t Park Chanyeol. Because at his doorway was none other than Kim Jongdae.

          “Hey!”

          The mere sound of the street magician’s voice grated on Baekhyun’s nerves, making an eyebrow twitch in frustration. Whether or not the psycho seemed to notice the annoyance nor the redness of Baekhyun’s face was unclear as the guy basically forced his way into the designer’s apartment, all smiles and rainbows as he prattled on about something or other. Of course, Baekhyun couldn’t care less at this moment. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed, bury himself under the sheets which were sure to smell like Chanyeol still and maybe never come out. “Why are you here, Jongdae?” he whispered, voice nothing more than a thin undertone as the blackened vines around his heart closed in; already feeling in withdrawal from the photographer’s absence. It scared him how much he depended on Chanyeol already…

          “Well, I was just bored and you haven’t been answering my calls, so…” Jongdae grinned, plopping like a dead fish onto the sofa while simultaneously making a grab for the popcorn bowl. “And I didn’t think you’d like me popping by your office again. You seemed… stressed? Yeah, stressed.”

          “Look, I’m not in the mood—”

          “Well then it’s great I’m here! I’ll bring those spirits up!” Jongdae chirped, winking playfully. “If you want, you can meet my friends, too. They’re pretty weird but I think you’d like them…”

          “Jongdae,” Baekhyun seethed, standing still by the doorway, gripping the handle of the door so tightly that his knuckles turned white with frustration. Did no one understand? He wanted to be alone, damn it! He wanted time just to cry and feel sorry for his stupid fate which seemed to cause him nothing but misery. “Please just leave. I don’t know how you’ve found out where I lived – frankly, I’m not entirely surprised you would know – but please, I just want to be left alone right now.”

          “Is something the matter?” Jongdae seemed concerned, regardless.

          “Yes.” There was no helping the desperation in the brunette’s voice. “But it’s none of your ing business so please just go.”

          “See, Baek, you shouldn’t be alone when you’re feeling sad, it just makes you more sad,” Jongdae pointed out, shrugging as he stood and dusted himself off, eyeing the messy apartment. “Looking at your apartment, I don’t think it’s smart for you to be left unattended. Ever heard of housekeeping? Jeez, your bed isn’t even made, it’s seven.”

          “! Jongdae, get out!” At the mention of his bed he was forced to see Chanyeol’s face again and the thought seared his vision red as he stomped over to the smiling magician, taking him by the wrist and all but throwing him out the door. “Next time, I call the cops.”

          “But Baek—” Whatever else Jongdae said was drowned out by the thick frame of the door. And then, Baekhyun was alone.

          Somehow, the weekend passed – slowly – but surely. It wasn’t any easier for Baekhyun to breathe, but at least he could throw himself into his work and block out everything else as he furiously typed away at his computer, willing the hours away with every email sent and every presentation finalized. He’d had Tao clean out the dying fauna from his office so now every table top and flat surface was cleaned; nothing but the lingering scent of roses, lilies, carnations and every other imaginable flower to remind him about the overwhelming amount of bouquets he’d been receiving. For a while, it satisfied him.

          Until two emails simultaneously popped up in his inbox.

From: Do Kyungsoo

Lovely Baekhyun,

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. With the fashion show just two days away, I hope you’re coping well and that your boss isn’t being difficult.

As such, I believe this is a cause for celebration. I would like to take you out to dinner—

          Baekhyun didn’t even bother finishing the email before he slid his cursor up to the delete button. There was something oddly satisfying about watching the email disappear into oblivion just like every other message he’d received from the businessman ever since their mortifying first meeting.

          The second email, however…

          Baekhyun’s fingers itched to click on the unread message, but his mind wondered if it was a good idea. Would this be fine?

From: Park Chanyeol

Baek—

I have no idea what happened on Friday. Can we talk? I miss you. Like crazy. So at least tell me what I did wrong, Baekhyun. I just can’t stop thinking about you.

Please.

          He could almost feel the desperate whisper of Chanyeol’s baritone against his skin and these are probably thoughts he shouldn’t be having – especially at the office – but there was no helping it. Baekhyun had spent the entire weekend, trying to drown out the sound of Chanyeol’s rumbling tenor of a voice and the feeling of the photographer’s skin all over his but no matter how hard he’d tried (or how drunk he’d gotten), Baekhyun simply couldn’t stop thinking of the younger guy.

          A shrill bell twinkled throughout his office, temporarily snapping him out of his thoughts long enough to reach a hand out to the rectangular device. Hyung, the contact read.

          “Baekhyun?” Surprisingly, it wasn’t his older brother’s familiar voice which greeted Baekhyun, but was instead the undeniably soft melody of his sister-in-law. There was apprehension in her tone, but thankfully, he didn’t have to dwell on it for long before she spoke again. “You called on Saturday night, right? Is something the matter? What do you need?”

          “Yeah,” he sighed, rubbing at his temples slowly as he swung his chair around, gazing out the window at the clear blue sky. “I just… Noona? That thing you told me last time – about the fountain…”

          “Oh,” she breathed. Baekhyun could almost see the baby-faced woman nodding on the other line. “Yes, what about it? Did something happen?”

          “You don’t actually believe this stupid thing, right?” Baekhyun asked, chewing on his bottom lip in nervousness. If he was being honest, he wanted her to laugh and call him crazy – tell him to visit a psychiatrist, too, maybe – anything just so that he wouldn’t have to feel this not-so-dull ache inside him. “I mean, you were just kidding about that legend, right?”

          “Baekhyun,” she breathed, a tone of finality in her voice, “I will tell you something that I have not told anyone before. That fountain legend? It is true.”

          “But Noona, that’s ludicrous—”

          “How do you think I met your brother?” Baekhyun must have let out some kind of disbelieving gurgle, because his sister-in-law then said, “No, it isn’t like that. Your brother was in Beijing for a conference, do you remember? I used to work at that hotel – it’s where we first met. He was in need of a coin for something – an emergency – and happened to pick one up from the fountain. I warned him about it but he didn’t believe me; said it was just a myth…”

          “Are you saying that hyung—?”

          “This woman stalked him for six months,” There was an amused chuckle through the line, “He didn’t believe me for the longest time. But things… escalated. He came back to the hotel and looked for me. Asked for my help.”

          “So what happened?” Baekhyun wondered.

          “We dug through hours of history books,” she narrated, “Eventually found a way to break the curse.”

          “Which is?”

          “Just give their love back. Return the coin to the fountain.”

          “So can I just send this to—”

          “Personally.”

So here's the next chapter heheh :)
I really hope you guys liked this (the beginning, at least) because I worked pretty hard on it (took me a while to get over squealing like a dying pig over the baekyeol) but anyways I know it's kinda y at the end... le sighs :(

Y'all prolly don't care (do you guys even read these notes?) but yeah since everyone is talking about this, lemme just put in my two cents:
Yes, Luhan's decision saddens me. He was, and still is, one of my favorite EXO members and so seeing him go is definitely hard, especially since hunhan is like my second ultimate otp... but I do believe that he does deserve better than what he's getting now. I just wish that he's happy, and above all, healthy. Whether or not he's an EXO member, Luhan is still amazing and I support him 100% so yeah. I hope he finds joy in what he chooses to do next (and hopefully still maintains a close friendship with s). I'll miss him a lot. 
I'll still ship hunhan tho, js.

Anyways, I'll try to come up with the next chapter ASAP but idk when it will be because I have interim assessments this whole week... (I'll still prolly procrastinate my studies, tho lol)
But hopefully, it'll be written and posted soon.

Till then, please comment and subscribe :)
((believe it or not I actually wanna know what you guys think of my updates))

xoxo