(BACKSTORY)

(19) CHANYEOL I

Chanyeol, as a kid, lived a life where he didn’t tell apart right from wrong. Rather, he couldn’t tell right from wrong, because no matter how many times he’d been picked on or teased because of his elfish ears or his large specs, he was always determined to make a friend- even if it was just one. It was hard though, since all of the other boys were more interested in action figures than animals like how he was.

So despite the constant pointing and laughing, Chanyeol still somehow has the energy and joy to smile and ask another kid if they wanted to play with him. This also applies to those who pick on him, and he stays happy, even if he knows that the answer is always a whopping ‘No.’

Chanyeol, with big ears and round specs, knew what it was liked to be teased and made fun of right off the bat. And no matter how much he’d grown and matured, it does not change the fact that he wasn’t always tall and lanky with lightly toned muscles and a deep bassy voice. Before all of that, he dealt with his small elementary height, and his cheeks and body had a little pudge, and he wasn’t considered athletic at all. Instead, Chanyeol was known to be the one and only, ‘Ferret Geek,’ or ‘Animal Loner.’

Though it was true he had a ferret, he insists that it was merely only one ferret. And maybe, he thought, bringing your ferret to school on the first day wasn't the best idea he's had yet, but that was something he'd always left in the back of his mind.

His mother and father were the only ones who truly appreciated him, but it was possible that they loved him a little too much. So much to the point where Chanyeol suffocated under their hugs and constant worries, and drowned in his mother's spit that shaped his hair, or his father's praises that though fake, were touching.

There was a transfer student, and he was relatively small with slanted eyes and lips with a sharp curve downwards. He is transferred from the countryside apparently, and he doesn’t look like it, but he’s actually older than Chanyeol. When he introduces himself, Chanyeol learns that his name is Byun Baekhyun, and he is ten years old. He pauses a little after saying his age, and as though he were embarrassed standing in front of the class, he goes completely silent until the teacher directs him to his seat.

Chanyeol turns his head to peek at the new boy, anxious as he ignored whatever the teacher was explaining on the board. Maybe Baekhyun was listening, but to Chanyeol, it looked like he was too distracted at the cars passing by outside of their school to even care what was going on in the class. Baekhyun didn’t talk to other kids either and preferred to stay by himself in his seat during recess and lunch. The teacher eventually had to force him to go outside to play so she could lock the class up for lunch. Her excuse was that she couldn’t leave a student behind in class without adult supervision, and Baekhyun just said something that shocked her before he ran off to the playground.

The children were all playing outside after lunch and Chanyeol still saw Baekhyun with his usual frown on his face, but instead this time he was surrounded by a bunch of kids from their class. Those were the kids that tended to pick on him most and Chanyeol didn’t dare get any closer than he already was, just hiding behind the slide to listen in on what they were saying.

“Hey you! Why don’t you be friends with us?” One of the girls asked. Her name was Mina and she shifted her weight from side to side as she kept a small pout on her face.

“Because my name isn’t ‘you’ first of all, and second, you should see a doctor before your face is permanently stuck like that. Though it wouldn’t matter, because you’re ugly, anyways.”

All of the kids gasped at Baekhyun speaking for the first time, and even Chanyeol was surprised to hear the boy talk so sharply like that right away.

The leader of their little group hushed the girl who began to cry, facing Baekhyun with a glower on his face. “Yeah, whatever Baekhan. Just apologize to Mina and we’ll still let you be friends with us.”

Baekhyun stood up and pushed the boy out of the way so he could head back to class. “That’s just too bad then.” And with that the bell rang, allowing Baekhyun to head back to class by himself.

The boy was just too amazing for Chanyeol to even comprehend. What others thought about was Baekhyun’s bad attitude, whereas what he thought about was his intelligence and courage to even say those things to people. Chanyeol would never try doing half the things Baekhyun did, though he wanted to.

He thought about asking Baekhyun to be his friend a lot these days. Still not having the right amount of courage to do it, today, Chanyeol was picking up small rocks and flowers he found on the ground. Ddoli, his pet ferret, just got a new cage since his mother didn’t like his pet running around the house anymore. Chanyeol thought about that by decorating the inside a bit, then his pet would be happy, which is why he was scouring around for cool things to take back home.

He spotted something shiny near the edge of the fence surrounding the school and scampered over to find a small marble. It was about the size of a quarter and he held it up to the sky to see the scarlet light peer through under the sun.

“Hey dorkyeol! What do you have there?”

Chanyeol spun around to see the same group of kids that liked picking on him. It was the same kids from before, their names Mina, Shindong and Jungmin. Jungmin was the leader and Shindong and Mina followed him like they were his shadow. He held both hands behind his back and shook his head, not wanting them to take away his presents for Ddoli.

“It’s probably just a bird or something because he’s the animal geek!” Mina jeered.

He felt his cheeks heat up and let his head hang low so that he wouldn’t have to look at them when they laughed at him. Chanyeol knew they only did this because it was funny to them, and usually when they got bored then they’d leave him alone to go find something else to do.

“If you like animals so much then…” Shindong saw a lizard perched on the bench and grinned. “Why don’t you try to save him?” He ran over and grabbed the lizard, almost crushing it from the amount of force he was using to keep it in his hand.

“Don’t do that to him!” Chanyeol cried, rushing over and trying to grab the poor creature that was just out of his reach. Shindong was just a bit taller than him and had the advantage to keep the lizard out of his reach.

“You guys are so immature.”    

Baekhyun strolled into the scene and had his arms crossed as he judged them and what they were doing. “Just give the kid his lizard back.”

Shindong looked at Jungmin and Mina, who ignored him and just gaped at Baekhyun’s entrance. He got scared from the boy’s sharp eyes and dark expression. Not knowing what to do, his first reaction was to get rid of the lizard, throwing it over the fence and onto the road.

It was almost an instinct for Chanyeol to climb over the fence and go after the small animal, managing to rush onto the road and cradle it in his hands. It still moved to his happiness, but the car that was coming towards him didn’t, which was also a good thing. The driver came out and began yelling at him while shaking his fist in the air, successfully scaring Chanyeol into hopping back over the fence and into the courtyard. He still wasn’t in the clear though and ended up coming face to face with Shindong, Jungmin, Mina and his teacher, who didn’t look happy.

“Park Chanyeol! It is against the rules to leave campus during the school day without permission!”

Chanyeol could see Jungmin snickering behind the teacher’s back and he wanted to argue, but didn’t know what to say. “But miss, I…”

"No buts mister. Come with me because we’re going to call your parents.”

He took a step back as the teacher reached forward to drag him back to class. Chanyeol was scared to get in trouble and really did not want his parents to find out that the other kids were making fun of him in school, especially not in this kind of way.

“Teacher, but it was Shindong that threw Chanyeol’s lizard onto the street. He was only trying to save it.” Baekhyun argued, still glaring holes into Shindong as the boy tried hiding behind the teacher’s skirt.

Their teacher sighed and brought two of her manicured fingers up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry Baekhyun, but that doesn’t mean Chanyeol can go off campus whenever he wants to.”

“So you’re saying that they’re not even going to get in trouble?” Baekhyun was baffled by how she was choosing to show her real colors.

“Which is why Chanyeol needs to go to the principal’s office to explain to his parents why he isn’t getting along with his classmates.”

Baekhyun didn’t even want to begin to understand why his teacher wasn’t putting any of the other kids at fault. They were the ones that started everything and then she still refused to see the truth.

“Well then, I’m going too since I was with Chanyeol when it happened.” Chanyeol turned to face Baekhyun who wasn’t going to back down. “I need to call my aunt, too, because I don’t understand why this school is so stupid. Maybe she can talk to the principal and figure out why you let Chanyeol get bullied all the time.”

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