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CHAPTER SEVEN

Baekhyun quickly ends the call after giving his roommate and long time best friend an indefinite answer, although both of them probably knew that whatever the shorter man said, he would do it anyway if it was for his best friend. And so curious thoughts and questions invaded his mind as he went on to carry out his task. The boy rode the elevator to the sixth, thinking it would be safer to take the stairs up a floor if he was going to do something suspicious (or at least, that’s what he thought this was). He took each step slowly and cautiously, stopping when he reached the fire exit door to the seventh floor. Baekhyun pulled his phone out and looked through the student database, something only members of the student council would be able to do, and he quickly typed in Lee Minhyuk’s name. Sure enough, his contact details and schedule popped up as well as the current place of living.

“720,” Baekhyun grinned haughtily as he chanted the number in his head, feeling smug because he seemed to be doing this “mission” right. He slowly opened the fire exit door and stepped out. The destination was the end of the hall, then the last room to the right. ‘Seven. Two. Zero. The last room,’ he thought to himself.

He reached the end of the hall in no time, but he didn’t want to just go up to the door and knock. Oh no sir. Byun Baekhyun does not do that. Byun Baekhyun does not knock.

So he stopped at the corner and took a peak, retreating to his previous position upon laying his eyes on the door. He his lower lip in as he tapped his foot impatiently against the tiled flooring. Baekhyun’s eyes flew around everywhere as he tried to plan out the perfect way to get the bastard to come out of his cave. The boy puckers his lips and them in, frustrated.

Suddenly he halts, and his head turns to the side.

A naughty smile finds its way to his lips, and he closes his eyes for a moment to savor the feeling of something close to success–though he hasn’t really succeeded, yet.

Byun Baekhyun, you’re a freaking genius, he thinks to himself, not losing the smile that was creeping up on his face. Baek then takes his phone out before punching in a few numbers, putting his brilliant plan into action.

“Hello. This is Kimkai Chicken! How may I help you?”

“Ah yes.” Baekhyun wanted to laugh, because he was too brilliant, but he tried to control his voice. “To Seoul Uni. Dorms, 720.” Baekhyun chuckles lightly.

“Your name, sir?”

“Park Chanyeol.”

And right after he hangs up, he makes a call to the front desk telling them Chanyeol and he are with Lee Minhyuk.

“I am a genius.”

* * *

Baekhyun waits a bit over thirty minutes for the delivery, continuously being bothered by Chanyeol about whether or not he’s doing what he’s been told to. He decided to mute his phone and play a game, as the calls and the text messages were getting on his nerves. Baekhyun hated when people rushed him. It made him feel anxious and he tended to do a bad job when he felt that way. So he leans on the wall coolly as he tries to calm himself with this new game he downloaded the night before.

Just then, he hears a familiar ‘ding!’ which was the sound of the elevator stopping on his floor. Startled, he jumps back a bit. But when he realized who the man alighting from the lift was, he calls Chanyeol immediately and pretends to cover his ear to hear better. The delivery guy was approaching now.

“Dude, what’s happening? Is he there?” His best friend’s baritone rings from the other end of the line.

“I don’t know yet. Why do you even need me to find out?” Baekhyun replies, bowing and smiling politely to the delivery man that has just walked by. “Hang on, here it is. Don’t hang up.” He presses his back to the wall a little more and exposes his other ear, to be able to hear what was going on. The delivery man had just knocked on the door.

And he hears it open.

“Ah, hello! This is the chicken you ordered!” The delivery man cheerfully greets. Baekhyun turns quickly and peeks from the corner. Sure enough, he saw Lee Minhyuk standing there with a confused expression on his face.

“I didn’t order any chicken?” He looks up questioningly. “I think you made a mistake.”

The delivery man scratches his head. “But this is 720, Park Chanyeol? I’m sure this is correct?”

Minhyuk’s eyes widen, but the expression on his face quickly fades into a kind smile. “Ah, I think this is a mistake. Park Chanyeol lives in 820. It’s one floor above.”

Baekhyun doesn’t hear the rest of the conversation as he starts sliding the opposite way. He puts the phone to his ear.

“Yah, you there?”

It takes a while for Baekhyun to get answer.

“Huh? Oh yeah. Soooo?”

“He’s in his room. And he knows our room number. Why does he know it?”

“I’ll tell you later. Anyway thanks. I gotta go somewhere fast.”

“Whatever. Before you go, wait for the chicken guy. He’s going up. Oh, and I don’t think this dude is leaving, so I’ll just stand guard in the lobby and leave when you do.” Baekhyun’s eyes follow the delivery man that was approaching his place. He bows once again when the man passes by and heads for the elevator. Baekhyun waits until he has entered through the fire exit before saying,“I’ll pay you back.”

Baekhyun is about to walk away, when suddenly he hears a door open and a voice speak out.

“Hello? Yes, uncle. I’m sorry for the noise inside. My roommate was playing video games. Ah, that? I’m very sorry… I think it’s the man.”

And once again he has his back pressed against the wall near the corner.

“I don’t think she did, uncle. Yes. I’ll try again tomorrow,” he says.

The sound of a closing door is heard, and Baekhyun takes one last look before walking away.

* * *

Chanyeol had just set the chicken on the table after apologizing to the delivery guy for giving the wrong room number. Baekhyun’s plan was amazing as usual. But he couldn't help but think that Minhyuk knows that Chanyeol is aware that he is up to something. He quickly brushes it off, however, because his attention needed to be turned back to Haneul. She had been sleeping so soundly for the past hour and a half now, it almost felt like a sin to Chanyeol if he were to even think of waking her up. But he needed to interrupt her sleep, if he wanted to take her home.

He approaches her quietly and puts his large hand on her shoulder. But the very moment he commands his body to move, he feels his muscles automatically freezing as they leave him standing on the spot where he was. His heart started beating faster and faster and he was breaking out in a cold sweat. Chanyeol squints his eyes and shakes his head, thinking it he must’ve been crazy to be feeling like this. He looks at her and all he can think about is how beautiful she is when she sleeps, though she is even more when she’s wideawake. She’s beautiful whatever the heck she does. He hears her voice in his head and all he can think about is how someone’s speaking voice can be euphonious, so melodic, so soothing. He watches her every move– every rise and fall of her chest, every breath she draws, every time she shifts a bit– and all he can do is follow her with his eyes.

Why?

Why is he feeling this way?

Chanyeol grabs his hair with his large hands and pulls on it.

‘Get it together Park,’ he thinks to himself with closed eyes.’ She’s a friend,’ he assures himself. ‘Well, a very beautiful and attractive friend- I mean, GET IT TOGETHER PARK. ‘

He almost wants to slap himself, but he can’t, thinking about the noise he might make. He might surprise her. So he walks away for a few minutes and steps into his bathroom. And after convincing himself that there was absolutely nothing wrong with him– maybe, he wasn’t really sure but he did get it together– he returns to the main room and kneels down slowly on her side, shaking her gently.

“Haneul,” he pinches on her forearm lightly. “Wake up,” he says. “We have to go.”

It takes her a minute to respond, but she opens her eyes a little and gets on her feet. Chanyeol throws her a large hoodie and she closes her eyes, waiting a few seconds before sheputs it on. And he wants to smile very wide because it was just so entrancing and adorable, the way she looked, but he chooses to hide it.  He also grabs a jacket and puts his shoes on.

“Let’s go,” he says quietly, not wanting to rush her but thinking he couldn’t really waste any more time. He helps her get up on her feet and leads her out of the door.

* * *

The moment the two of them had gotten into his car, Haneul had fallen asleep again. Chanyeol places her seatbelt on for her, starts the car and backs out of the student lot slowly, occasionally stealing quick glances at the sleeping beauty on his side. He drives out of the university premises, his destination set to the Wu family’s café.

As he drove, he couldn’t help but think about how much he was distracting her at the moment. Her sleeping figure was lying limp next to him, but it felt like she was more alive than ever, and he just couldn’t help but look at her most of the time especially when during the red light. She moves her head a little, and he jumps back a little in surprise. His heart begins to race again, and he doesn’t know why he is feeling this way towards a person he just met.

But then again, It had only been now that he'd fallen for the other parts of her. It was her words that pulled him in.

His wishful thinking is interrupted by the honking of a car horn behind him, and he sees that the stop light has changed to green. Chanyeol smacks himself in the forehead, mentally beating himself up for occupying himself with such thoughts while he was on the road.

It could be dangerous, after all.

And with that, he releases the clutch and taps down on the gas.

* * *

Eunna was waiting outside the café. Chanyeol had sent her a text message a few moments ago, telling her that they were on their way and it would be quite helpful for him if she was waiting outside the door since her roommate was asleep in his car. And so here she was, sitting on the metal chairs outside, playing a game on her phone. Headlights shined in her direction a few moments later and she stood up, pocketing her cel. Eunna shaded her eyes from the bright lights as Chanyeol’s car approached the front of the café, pulling up directly in front of the entrance– seeing as it was night time and he wouldn’t really be bothering anybody by doing this.

Chanyeol steps out of the car before straightening his hoodie and fixing his cap. He waves to Eunna, one of the girls who he has known since his last year of high school, and she half-smiles back at him. He pushes the car door closed and he approaches the other side of the car, unlocking the door for Haneul.

“She still hasn’t woken up?” The long-haired girl laughs as she moves closer to where her best friend lay. Chanyeol nods.

“What should we do?” she says. “Do you want to wake Haneul up?”

It takes a while for Chanyeol to open his mouth because to be honest he really should be in bed instead of in front of the wheel right now, but when his lagging brain is done processing her question and he is ready to answer, she interrupts him.

“I have a great idea,” Eunna says. “I’ll hold all the doors open for you and you can carry her in.” She gives a knowing smile and winks at him before heading to the front of the café and opening the door. Eunna holds it open and gestures for Chanyeol to get in quickly, even giving him a mocking curtsy. The tall boy sighs as his vision travels back and forth from Eunna to Haneul and Haneul to Eunna. Not that he really saw a problem with carrying her– because there was absolutely no problem, none– it’s just that it seemed like Eunna was trying to make something out of the situation, and he didn’t want that. He didn’t want his friendship with Haneul to be jeopardized because of something like this, especially since both of them had basically just met. It actually surprised him how easily he had gained her trust.

His train of thought is interrupted when Eunna lets out a small chuckle. And as if she could read him inside out, she tells him, “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything to her.” She looks at him expectantly and gestures for him to pick up the girl in his car seat so that everything would be over and done with. Still, he is hesitant. And he really didn’t know what he was afraid of, because Park Chanyeol is never afraid.  Never in his life has he second guessed anything. The epitome of spontaneous, he was known for making the most out of every situation. But this time…he acted a little different.

‘Why am I like this?’

He sighs inwardly, eyes on the sleeping beauty.

But finally, after a while of contemplating and looking around, he sighs, deciding that he should just take the chance.

And so he tosses Eunna his keys and scoops Haneul up in his arms, kicking the door shut with his long legs. Eunna locks his car for him, then runs over to the entrance to hold the door open in the same way she did before. She does a curtsy as Chanyeol passes by with Haneul in his arms, a mocking expression painted on her features. The door closes after her and she runs up the stairs behind the counter to show Chanyeol the way to the room.

Once again, when they reach the top of the stairs, there is a small hallway and two doors facing each other. Eunna explains that the door on the right belongs to Kris at the moment, but it is treated as an extra room. The door on the left, on the other hand, leads to the room where both Eunna and Haneul have established a new home.

She turns the knob and pushes it open, holding it for the giant who was carrying her roommate in his arms. Chanyeol turns to her.

“Yah, please tell me her bed is the bottom bunk.”

Eunna laughs. “Yeah, just lay her down. I’ll take care of her shoes.”

“No,” he says. And Eunna doesn’t complain. “I can do it.”

The tall boy kicks the blanket to the foot of the bed, apologizing inwardly if he may have left any shoe marks, and lays the girl down gently. He fixes her position, her head resting perfectly in place on her pillow. Then, he gingerly pulls on the laces of her chucks and pulls them slowly. He chuckles at the sight of her bare feet remembering the expression on her face when she told him earlier at dinner that she doesn’t like wearing socks. And he places the shoes under the bed.

“You’re going?” Eunna says, standing at the doorway, ready to see him out.

“Wait a moment. I have to do something first.”

* * *

Chanyeol gets back to his dorm at around12:30 in the morning and he knows that he’ll regret it later during class, but he doesn’t care. It was worth it. When it came to being with her, every moment mattered. And he is happy. He enters the building with that toothy smile on his face as he rides up the elevators to the eighth floor.

Baekhyun is waiting up for his best friend, and he shoots up from his seat immediately when he hears the card scanner beep and the door swing open. The giant boy kicks his shoes off to the side and collapses on his bed, covering his mouth to stifle a tired yawn.

“I left chicken for you in the fridge,” Baekhyun mutters as he pushes the seat back in and flips the light switch. He then begins to climb the ladder to get to the top bunk.

“Yeol,” he begins.

“Mmm?” And he could picture the tall boy rolling over and tucking himself in.

“That guy you asked me to ninja on… I think he’s dangerous.”

Somehow, a little bit of life finds itself into Chanyeol’s deep voice and he momentarily forgets that he needs to sleep.

“Why? What’s he up to?” the giant asks.

Baekhyun rolls over on his bed and takes a pillow, entangling it in the warmth of his arms and legs. He pulls the blanket over him.

“He was talking to some guy on the phone. And he knows you think he’s planning something. He also thinks Haneul doesn’t know about it… but I think she plays an important part in his plan.”

The boy on the top bunk sighs.

“And I don’t think it’s a good plan.”

Baekhyun hears shuffling sounds from below and he knows Chanyeol is thinking. He always got restless when he heard things he needed to think about carefully.

The giant yawns.

“Ah, whatever,” he says. “Let’s talk about that tomorrow.”

And they bid each other goodnight.

 pstd. 150720

a/n: double update! since i forgot to post this one last week. apologies. bows. cx d'ya like baekhyun's cameo? winks.