Present Time: Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Chanyeol sighs for the third time, checking his watch once again and strumming his fingers on the table of his and Baekhyun's favorite cafe down the street from their houses. It's been an hour since he'd left school and twenty five minutes since he said no to study and cuddle time with Baekhyun at his house. He should've just accepted it like always, instead of waiting for someone who's now ten minutes late and counting. But he waits, his body facing towards the cafe's entrance and his head popping out from the sea of others because of his tall limbs, while staring out the window beside him, watching people pass by and sometimes hearing the twinkling of tiny bells, signalling the cafe's doors opening as he sipped on his favorite hot chocolate with marshmallows and extra whip cream, a contrast to the sunny and breezy spring season.

He waits, seated at a table in the far corner, one of those group seats/cubbies that he and Baekhyun often used on days like this when their teachers piled homework on them. They would scatter stacks of paper and get mini heart attacks because of possible coffee spills, laughing about it once the scare was prevented by each of them grabbing for the warm cup. It was nice and Chanyeol liked the smell of coffee brewing or desserts being baked. He also liked watching Baekhyun diligently working across from him, sipping his coffee now and then while beneath the table and hidden from sight, they played footsies and competed between who could step on the other's foot harder. They'd almost always end up buying more drinks than usual, some things that Kyungsoo would tell them was too much for two still growing highschool guys. But Chanyeol always liked seeing the smile on Baekhyun's face when he drank his favorite coffee or the creases on Baekhyun's forehead when he was focused on a problem and the pout when he didn't get it. He also likes Baekhyun's so called happy dance, when he'd wriggle in his seat singing and rubbing it in Chanyeol's face that he finished his work first. Chanyeol would always smile instead of getting annoyed because Baekhyun would always move to his side of the table and offer to help him with his homework after.

Chanyeol smiles at the memory and wishes instead that he could be here with Baekhyun and see the other doing his happy dance. Things have gotten better, Chanyeol might say. His emotions have calmed down, his heart feeling slightly better, possibly because of his talk with Kris yesterday at basketball practice or his favorite prescription of Baekhyun hugs and kisses over the past few days that always made him feel better. There was a slight slip-up on Monday two days ago, when Baekhyun had asked Chanyeol if he was alright while the giant was driving them home. He'd seen the way the giant was slumped over at the cafeteria and although he was told Chanyeol'd only choked on his food, he wanted to make sure his boyfriend was alright. Baekhyun had also noticed Chanyeol's drain of energy and sometimes quiet lapses where Baekhyun didn't even hear the giant's sometimes annoying loud laughter or get to about his crappy pick up lines. Chanyeol assured him it was fine -giving him a bright smile then- that things were just going around in his mind, things he needs to solve and that he's feeling better and maybe he'll tell Baekhyun about it soon. Baekhyun had looked at him for a while after, until he squeezed Chanyeol's hand and the radio, singing along at the top of his lungs to help Chanyeol feel better. Of course, the only person that could both hurt and heal Chanyeol would be Baekhyun. He admits though, his heart is mending even if Baekhyun doesn't know he's healing it himself, and it hurts Chanyeol's ears and stomach happily as much listening to and laughing at Baekhyun's off pitch singing.

But he's here for a different reason. He's here on a Wednesday afternoon, waiting for Haylee who he'd texted two days before, asking her if they could talk, to which she'd replied two hours later with an "OK". Chanyeol had been relieved that night, but this whole day he'd been so nervous he arrived a few minutes earlier than when he'd said so. Haylee still hasn't come and to calm his nerves Chanyeol does what he always does, talk to Baekhyun. Looking at the time and counting the possibility that his ex girlfriend might have ditched, he was thinking of asking Baekhyun to come and study at the cafe. He does just that, texting the other to come over and bring their stuff, apologizing that he'd changed his mind and promising to buy Baekhyun's favorite drink, to which Chanyeol got a reply of "Be there in twenty." Chanyeol smiles and puts away his phone, getting up to walk to the counter and buying Baekhyun's drink before going back to sipping on his own and looking out the window, waiting to see his boyfriend's black car pull up. He does so until he hears a cough and looks up to find Haylee staring down at him, a slightly irked expression on the older girl's face. The nerve, Chanyeol thinks, when he's been here for a while longer than she has. But he greets her nonetheless and she sits down across from him,  in his usual spot, placing her own coffee down on the table.

"You know Park Chanyeol, if you're going to ask someone to meet you at a cafe they've never been to, you should tell them where you're sitting instead of making them wait for ten minutes at the other side of the cafe," Haylee says, arms crossed over her chest. Well , Chanyeol curses in his brain.

"I, uh, sorry. I forgot to think about that," he sheepishly replies. Haylee rolls her eyes and waves that it's fine, saying something beneath her breath about how she doesn't have any other plans and that no one at home would care anyways. Chanyeol thinks that she might've said that to herself but he still hears it, his face morphing into confusion before she looks up at him.

"So," she emphasizes, "I guess we're here to talk?" The atmosphere slips into seriousness that Chanyeol can't wait to get rid off.

"Yes," Chanyeol determinedly says, his chocolate and Baekhyun's now cooling coffee forgotten. "I think we should talk, about-"

"I'm sorry."

Chanyeol pauses mid-sentence and stares at her in shock. He was prepared to go on and on, but wasn't prepared to hear his ex say something he didn't expect to get until later on, long after its due date.

"What?"

Haylee plays with the hem on her sweater, the soft pink cloth contrasting to her pale skin. She takes in a breath and looks up at her ex boyfriend, determined to say things and explain some that just might fix everything. She finds her ex boyfriend staring at her, confused, and it makes her feel slightly better with the way his even more handsome face is contorted into surprise, wanting her to say something more. She remembers just how it looked two years ago, when Chanyeol still had slightly chubby cheeks and eager eyes instead of a more refined jaw and serious eyes that showed how much had changed.

"Before you say anything else, just let me explain okay?" She asks, placing her coffee to the side and leaning more forward, back straight and both her arms on the table. She looks down at the table for a while, afraid to look into Chanyeol's eyes. "I guess it's a bit too late to say this, but, I'm sorry. I'm sorry Chanyeol."

Chanyeol looks at her face looking back at him while questioning just what she's apologizing for and studying those brown orbs, feeling no spark between them like he thought he had two years ago. Was is the quick remark earlier? "If it's about the sitting across the cafe thing, it's fine. I'm sorry too," he adds.

"Chanyeol can you just shut up?" Haylee complains, voice wavering because it took all her courage to even begin speaking. "You're the same as ever, interrupting people when they're trying to get a point through," she sighs. She waits until Chanyeol understands and starts again. "Look, I should have done this in the first place. You know, called you over and apologized right after Friday night. I just didn't know how and when or what to say. But that night, I just- I didn't know what else to do. I'd...I'd had a bad day and I thought since I was invited, I might as well have fun and get drunk. Do what everyone else does and try to forget my problems by dancing it away," Haylee looks away from Chanyeol, who's listening intently to her, eyebrows furrowed.

"I had a bad day. I've been having bad days. Since I've come back, it's just been full of crap and I don't know which was worse, moving to the States with my ty parents who are too busy to pay attention to me and leaving everyone I've known since elementary school, or coming back and finding out that everything's changed and that I don't fit in," Haylee chokes back a sob.

"I'm not saying that the reason behind all of my actions is because my life is a crappy hell hole. I'm not," Chanyeol can hear the spite in Haylee's words and wonders just how much emotion his ex-girlfriend has bottled inside. Because for all he knows when they were first dating, she'd seemed happy and had lots of friends, and it'd only been a couple of awesome weeks before she had to move, and he didn't even know about it until the week she had to leave and everything fell apart.

He was young and naive. He'd been crushing on her since middle school and for someone as pretty, smart and perfect as her to accept a young teen's feelings like his made him feel like he hit jackpot. For a second as Chanyeol notices Haylee feign casualty, he thinks about how much he doesn't, didn't, know about her. He'd met her parents once, and found she was the only child when she'd introduced him to them and that was it. It didn't last long because they had to leave for a business trip. Chanyeol knew that her dad was working at some big company and that her mother was working as well. Haylee hadn't actually specified where they worked, telling Chanyeol that it wasn't that important when he'd asked why her parents hadn't stayed to watch their middle school graduation a year back. At that time, way before they'd started dating, he'd seen the look on Haylee's face, watched as the younger version of Haylee looked into the crowd, hopeful. Chanyeol had looked too, he searched for his dream girl's parents, the two people dressed in business clothing he'd seen on the first day of middle school, walking Haylee to the door and saying a rushed good luck before leaving her. Chanyeol had spotted Haylee's parents and almost jumped out of his seat to point her to them, but as quick as he was to spot them, they were as quick to leave after Haylee received her promotion. Thinking about it, maybe this was why she never spoke about them, never cared how long they hung out when they dated, because they weren't there to care in the first place. Chanyeol feels guilty for claiming to like her so much, being so infatuated and not knowing anything real about someone he saw perfect. He's starting to see that maybe he was a little too infatuated to notice that he hadn't been the only one hurting when they broke up.

"I'm better than that," Haylee continues. Chanyeol watches as she sighs and lays back into her seat, reaching over to drink her coffee. "My life in the States wasn't ideal and I grew to hate it there. So when I came back, I was thinking that maybe, even though we were still young back then, you might still be harboring a few feelings for me. And I thought, maybe I should talk to Chanyeol, explain things, tell him why I acted like such a while we were dating. Fix things. I'd thought maybe, even if I had ed things over, we could be friends or something too. But I'd seen you walking around the halls with Baekhyun in your arms the first day I came back to school, and I thought how stupid was I to think that Chanyeol would ever take me back, after all the crap I put him through? Wow, it was about time Baekhyun confessed his feelings and the two of you get together. You two looked so perfectly happy. So why should I pretend that I hadn't treated my ex like the weeks before I left? Pretend that I hadn't cheated and kissed some guy I don't even remember anything about except how dimpled he was and how good enough of a distraction to make out with that night, while you were at a basketball game that I was supposed to go to? So maybe I was the only one still harboring feelings for you."

Haylee stops and looks at Chanyeol, later looking out the window while she rubbed her index finger round and round on the lid of her coffee cup. "Kris' house party? I really just went there to forget that my parents weren't even present at my ing birthday that night," she spits out with slight anger in her voice. "I've had my fair share of stupid drunk house parties in the States and tried to stop when I came back. But I just felt the need to leave my empty house and since I hadn't seen Baekhyun with you, I suddenly had the urge to talk to you. I drank a cup before walking to you and kissing you right dab on the lips, only to be splashed with beer by Baekhyun. That was a surprise."

Chanyeol continues to listen to his ex explain things and doesn't notice a black car pulling up and parking into the cafe's lot, right beside his own car. A figure dressed in sweats and a cardigan locks the car, wearing a backpack on each shoulder and swinging his keys around as he whistled along, excited for a cup of coffee his boyfriend promised him he'd buy.

Haylee has a frown on her face and feeling regretful for the things she's done to ruin Chanyeol's relationship with Baekhyun, she apologizes again. "I'd seen your fight with Baekhyun outside and how he broke up with you Chanyeol," Chanyeol's heart aches at the memory and he tenses, wishing for it to go away. "I cleaned up after being splashed by beer and decided to leave, get drunk at my own house and eat my birthday cake when I'd seen your friends watching you two fight. And I'd felt the need to stop you two from fighting, but I just- I was feeling too humiliated at the time. I felt regretful for saying all those things about him, especially when I know how much he actually means to you. I don't even say those things but I was just so frustrated and- I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that when I should've just not interfered with your relationship. I'm sorry that I wasn't a good first girlfriend two years ago and I'm sorry I hadn't been the greatest person last week. I overheard Luhan and Kyungsoo talking about what happened, and I know that Baekhyun thinks it was all a dream and that you've been hiding it from him. I saw you today and I felt like crap watching you pretend everything was fine. I'm so sorry," Haylee pleads and Chanyeol sees a tear drop from her cheeks and on to the table.

"I tried, believe me, to be a better person, but my selfishness got the best of me and here we are," Haylee weakly smiles. "I'm apologizing, two years and four days long overdue for the stupid things I've done to hurt you. And I'm hoping that after all of this is done, that maybe we could try being friends again... And actually run through our lines for music class instead of me just wanting your attention?" She chuckles.

The seriousness in the air is lifted and Chanyeol can feel the weight on his shoulders slightly disappearing. He finally got the closure he hadn't known to need. And now he understands just why Haylee acted the way she did. The corners of his lips turn upwards and he manages to give her a small smile. He takes in a breath before starting to speak.

"Uh-," he coughs after awkwardly starting, feeling his voice crack and seeing a small upward turn of Haylee's tightlipped mouth. "Thank you, really...," he starts again looking her straight in the eye. "You coming to meet me here is good enough. Even though you did put me through all of this," Haylee tenses as she waits for Chanyeol to continue. "Even if you did put me through all of this, I think I would have still forgiven you, just like this," Chanyeol says, looking at a teary eyed Haylee and feeling relieved they're finally having this conversation. "Even though it's a little late, if you'd given me time, I would've listened and tried to help you. If you gave me some time to heal over the fact that you cheated on me, I would have forgiven you. I would have been up and ready after a while to accept your apology and possibly accept your request of friendship, despite knowing how much everything would have changed between us," Chanyeol looks away, and doesn't notice the twinkling of the cafe doors opening, or the figure making his way over.

"I probably would have said all of this. And I know I would've said I'm sorry too," Chanyeol adds, looking down at his hands and sighing. "I didn't know that there'd been things you've been, are, dealing with and I feel guilty having thought that I was the only one hurting. I was being too naive and being an immature guy and thought at that time that you were so perfect that I didn't notice things. And even if you'd told me later, even if you'd just come up to me and asked, I wouldn't have rejected your friendship. I wouldn't have left you to be alone. I would've been your friend," a silence hangs between them as Haylee understands what Chanyeol's getting at. Friendship and happiness despite an empty life at home.

"But knowing you, you'd probably distract me and punch me and tell me to forget about it. You were always like that," this time his voice isn't serious, but contains a hint of tease that Haylee can hear as Chanyeol mocks her reaction about the cafe earlier by waving Chanyeol's apology away and telling him to forget about it. This time Chanyeol gives a genuine smile and laughs as Haylee complains with a "Park Chanyeol!" and kicks him on the shin.

Chanyeol's finally gotten the closure he didn't know he needed, and the apology he's been yearning for, something that caused the load on his shoulders to lighten just a little bit more. He knows that Haylee understands he would never feel the same way with her as he feels with Baekhyun and he knows that Haylee accepts it and they both know that they're better off as friends. Now all he needs to do is muster up the courage to tell Baekhyun the truth without having to worry about any ex girlfriends being in the way. There's a mutual understanding as a happier atmosphere floats between them, a hope that things would get better for the both of them individually. In the midst of laughing, they don't notice a figure standing in front of them, looking confused and watching until Chanyeol hears a cough and he looks up to apologize to what may be a customer telling them to shut up. But what he sees is Baekhyun dressed in sweats and a cardigan, two backpacks on his shoulders and keys in his hands, watching them with a frown. Chanyeol tenses and the laughter dies down. He feels Haylee has stopped kicking him on the shin and he quickly gets up from the table, arms out wide for Baekhyun, ready to explain what was going on. He'd forgotten he asked Baekhyun to come to the cafe.

Baekhyun had walked inside, giving a quick hello to the employee at the counter before walking to his and Chanyeol's favorite corner of the cafe, excited for his coffee and ready to complain about how heavy his boyfriend's bag is. But as he neared the table, he'd heard Chanyeol's laugh, a more energetic one than he'd been giving out for the past few days and couldn't see who was with him. Curious as to who his giant was laughing at, Baekhyun walked faster to find that his boyfriend was there, sitting in Baekhyun's usual spot against the wall facing towards the cafe entrance, while his ex girlfriend Haylee was there sitting right across in Chanyeol's. He's more than a little confused and thoughts are running around in his mind. He knows a part of him wants to run away and hate Chanyeol, because with the way he and Haylee were acting so comfortable, it was enough to sprout assumptions in Baekhyun's brain.

But he doesn't. Baekhyun doesn't run away, because the happier atmosphere between the two and the way Chanyeol's laugh was more energized than Baekhyun had heard for the past four days were enough to keep him in place. He wonders just what Haylee did to get Chanyeol to laugh like that, and jealousy and insecurity bubbles in Baekhyun. But because he trusts himself and he trusts Chanyeol, he stays. He stays and asks.

"Ya, Park Chanyeol. What the hell is going on here?"

Slightly pissed off because my internet was being stupid and decided to not save everything I'd written the first time -.- So this chapter may/not have gone the way I wanted to. But it's finished and my hands are itching for a massage. But here it is! I hope you guys like the closure Chanyeol got, and no worries, Baekhyun trusts him. Comment below! peace! xxjuly.