Baekhyun

I climbed the stairs, taking two steps at a time, itching to get to Haewon as quickly as my legs could take me. My footsteps felt lighter than ever and body was more nimble than I could ever remember. I guess that's what happens when the heavy burden of guilt gets lifted off your shoulders. I knew I had ed up, and I meant, really ed up, when I had let my frustrations get the better of me. I took it out on her, because she was the only target I had, and as soon as the words left my mouth I imagined the hand of God coming down upon me to give me an almighty resounding smack. I could still see the way her eyes widened, insulted, when I began blaming her for my worries. But what was scarier and more terrifying to me was when those same brown orbs that looked upon me kindly, the one that lit up at my jokes, the same brown eyes that could give me warmth and strength when all I wanted was to give up and turn away – turned cold, dead, at my biting words. It was as if I had stolen the fire from her hearth, and all that was left was the cutting ice. I had done that. I turned my sun cold. 

I'm sorry, those were the only words I could say. I had no other excuse for my actions. I was a selfish monster, and no amount of sugar coating could hide that. Haewon was everything I wanted, but my heart never wanted to let go of her. She looked so beautiful that night at the gala, and I felt like I was drawn in like a moth to a flame. Except I wasn't being lured to my death, no. 

I was being led towards my paradise. 

But then I heard Haewon's laughter in my ears, ringing like the tinkling chimes I used to love listening to at my mother's porch, and I stopped myself. I could already feel her warmth on my lips, and I could already taste the sweet wine on her breath. I was so close, if only I could just reach out and take a step into heaven. But Haewon called my name, her songful voice bringing me back, and I found myself at an impasse. I could have given everything up, left everything behind as if it didn't mean anything more than my chance at paradise; or I could hold on to everything I had, keep to whatever that had kept me happy all this while and fall back to earth. I treaded the thin line between them, and I was already tipping over the edge.

And so I chose to keep my soul and body together. I chose to let the earthly hands take me back, giving up on those seraphic dreams and instead walking the soil as I was supposed to. 

When her arms wrapped around me, I knew the path I chose, however agonisingly hard it was to keep convincing myself otherwise, was the right one. There would have to be sacrifices I had to make no matter which path I chose. I just had to slowly nurse myself of the pain after the decision. 

That was the choice I made. That was the path I took. All I could do was keep moving forward, never looking back, while dragging the consequences like chains tied to my feet. 

The door with metal plaques 406 came into view, and I finally allowed myself to catch a breath. Haewon lived in a quaint, five story building on the upper side of the city. The building had a rustic, New York inspired exterior, with red bricks tiled together and high ceilings within each unit. The lifts only served the first, third and fifth floors, and since her apartment was on the fourth, I had to deal with two flights of stairs to get to her. My knuckles rapped on the door, too fast for my mind to realise that I probably looked a mess. My hands flew to my flannel shirt and jeans, raking frenziedly through the mess of black hair that sat atop my crown. The sound of light footsteps padding across the carpet came from the other side of the door, and within moments I was in the presence of an angel. My angel.

Haewon smiled, and before I could mutter out a simple “Hi” my eyes widened as I took in her form. Her hair was wet and fell limply on her head, and beads of liquid were dripping down her skin. In the distance I could here the angry pipe spewing out water like suddenly it was the end of the world and it’s sole purpose was to ruin more lives. But then I made the mistake of letting my eyes wander, and god did I regret it almost immediately. The grey top was a little sheer, and it stuck to her body like a second skin. Every curve of her hips, the valley of her chest and even the slow, almost torturous gliding of water on her skin; all of it drove me close to the brink of insanity. I couldn’t help but swallow hard and pray to whoever that was up there that my little friend wouldn’t be too eager to make an appearance now. 

When I didn’t say anything for a solid twenty seconds, Haewon squinted her eyes and took a step closer, ing her face in mine. Bad move, code black, retreat. It was as if she knew the effect she had on me, and sought out to torment in the worst way possible. But of course that was not what she had in mind. She just placed her hand on my forehead gently, while holding another to her own, as if she wasn’t drenched and the pipe wasn’t particularly loud and it was completely normal to touch a person’s forehead in an empty hallway. “You’re not running a fever, and you were fine when I called.” She let her hands fall to her sides before staring at me right in the eye. “Did you suddenly turn mute?” Haewon spoke with the straightest of faces, but I knew her enough to catch the sarcasm in her words. I clicked my tongue and perched a hand on my hip. “You know I can just leave the pipe to flood your apartment, right?” She laughed and pulled my hand, tugging me forward before meeting her lips with mine. There was no such thing as a strong resolve when it came to Haewon, because she could tear down every single wall I had and it would be as easy as breathing to her. My very own kryptonite; a walking Aphrodite with powers so strong it could render even the hardest of souls weak.

I swiped my arm on my forehead, wiping away the sheen of sweat that formed on the skin and trickled down the sides of my face, and occasionally stinging my eyes. I rushed over without much thought, because all that was on my mind was the fact that my girlfriend needed me to fix her pipes. Except I forgot the most important thing;

Byun Baekhyun had pretty fingers, but could pretty much do nothing else with his hands. 

I’d prefer to think of myself as a man who worked with his mind rather than relying on his brawns, though most conceited males would still cling onto that archaic construct. So when she handed me her toolbox, I just used my knowledge from watching hours after hours of the FYI channel on TV and picked the wrench based on my gut feeling. The tool seemed like it was meant for the pipe, so I turned the wrench around the nut, tightening it as much as I could. Then I blindly reached into the toolbox and picked out the next tool, any tool, because by that time more water burst out, shooting out right in my face. I sputtered pathetically, coughing hard because the damn toilet water just had to invade my mouth. Turns out the tool I picked, which looked similar to the wrench except it had sharp scissor-like ends, was the wrong one because I had accidentally stabbed a hole in the pipe.

The water gushing out was loud, but even with the sound filling the large, white-tiled bathroom,I couldn’t mistake the melodious guffaws that resounded behind me. She had long called a plumber, but chose to stand witness to watch me embarrass myself in the mean time. Haewon had been changing the towels that was placed at the door of the bathroom keeping the water from coming into the other room, while I did whatever I could to just keep the spewing to a minimum, because honestly, I had long given up on rectifying the situation. 

I realised a little too late that maybe flannel wasn’t the right kind of shirt to wear for activities like these. Or jeans, for that matter. The stuffiness coupled with the mad shooting water just made my shirt and jeans really uncomfortable to be in. This pipe was really starting to get on my nerves, and I wrapped my hand around the hole, gripping it as hard as Icould. They always said to put pressure on the wound, right? I stared hard at the pipe, and not even my worst enemies had the opportunity to have the death stare directed at them. My grips tightens as I project my thoughts to the inanimate object.

You son of a will you quit spi