Prompt: baeksoo deals with love even though they’re already married to different partners.

Word Count: 4797

“Ah, .” Baekhyun looks down on his fallen phone. From the people pushing him behind, he flashed them a glare before slinging his bag up on his shoulder and bends to pick up the device. However, midway, a hand came and grabbed his phone. Slowly, they looked up and their eyes met.

A pair of beautiful wide eyes.

“Here.” The stranger dusts and gives it to him.

“Thank you.” Baekhyun takes the device.

The stranger nods and then continues on his way. Baekhyun hums and stares at his retreating back with a smile. “Wah, I never knew men in Gwangju are this attractive.” He mutters to himself. And then he thinks back at how he used to tell this to Sehun when the kid was still afraid of change. If it weren’t for Jongdae, Sehun wouldn’t be here in the first place. If he weren’t such a pushover, he would have been against Sehun studying far away from them.

This wouldn’t have happened.

Baekhyun shakes his head and pushes forward.

The hole in his chest is gaping now.

The moment he sees his parents, Kyungsoo breaks his defenses and cries in his mother’s arms. Mrs. Do can’t help but release a few sobs of her own at the news of their grandchild and Mr. Do looks like he’s going to break down anytime soon.

After that reunion, the Do’s gather around for some tea in the living room.

“It’s very unfortunate.” Mr. Do said. “For both boys to have suffered this. It is said that the driver of the vehicle is dead, too.” He wraps an arm around his wife. “Sehun-ah… he too had –“

Kyungsoo’s eyes went wide. “Even Sehun?”

“Yeah.” Mrs. Do answered grimly.

Kyungsoo looks down. If that is so, Byun Baekhyun must have been feeling upset and sad at the news. Their family must be grieving as of now. Losing a child is unbearable, the feeling so devastating that you can’t describe it coming from the outside perspective.

After that conversation, Kyungsoo began to stroll around the front yard with his phone in his hands. He furrows his brows and scrolls down searching for Byun Baekhyun’s contact. And once he found it, his thumb hovers over the name. He began to think deeply and lets out a heavy sigh. Maybe, he’ll try another time.

However when he was about to pocket his phone, the device lit up signaling that there’s an incoming call. Kyungsoo looks at the device. His eyes went wide. It was Byun Baekhyun.

He quickly accepted the call and presses it against his ear. “Hello?”

“Hi, this is Byun Baekhyun. Sehun’s father.” Baekhyun said. His voice is shaky and there were a few noises from the background. “I-I’m here at Gwangju and I just…“ He clears his throat. “I just wanted to know if Jongin made it back there safe.”

The sound of his son’s name almost breaks him. “Baekhyun-sshi…”

“Jongin’s not with us anymore.”

Baekhyun lets out a faint gasp. A few minutes has passed before he spoke again. “I-I’m sorry.” Kyungsoo could imagine the male panicking. “I-I’m really sorry, I didn’t know.” There was a change of his voice’s volume and Kyungsoo thinks that maybe Baekhyun was bowing his head in apology as he said it.

“It’s okay…” Kyungsoo said. And after a beat, he followed with. “I’m sorry for what happened to Sehun, too.”

There was silence.

“I’m fine.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes went wide when he sees a male standing in front of the gate. The man looks familiar. Kyungsoo furrows his brows and takes a few steps forward. “I’m fine. It’s okay.” Baekhyun repeated. Kyungsoo tilts his head at this man, who has his phone pressed against his ear. And no, he doesn’t look fine. He’s nowhere fine.

“Baekhyun-sshi.” Kyungsoo takes a few steps forward so he’s visible to the man standing in front of the gate. “Are you, Byun Baekhyun-sshi?”

“What?” Baekhyun sniffles and looks up. His eyes went wide. “Y-You?”

Kyungsoo speaks to his phone. “It’s nice to meet you, Byun Baekhyun-sshi.”

True enough the person he’s calling is in front of him. And it also turns out that the stranger with the beautiful eyes is also Do Kyungsoo. Baekhyun sniffles and looks down to end the call. There was a creak and before he knew it, Kyungsoo has a handkerchief pressed on his cheek. Baekhyun looks at him with wide eyes. “T-Thank you?”

“My name is Do Kyungsoo.” Kyungsoo smiles.

Wow, even his smile looks so good on him.

Kyungsoo opens the gate wider to let him enter. “You must have travelled far.”

“We were on the same flight, I think.” Baekhyun grins. He bows his head a bit in thanks when he accepted the handkerchief. He began to wipe his face from the tears. “And thank you again, for my phone. It’s a small world, don’t you think?”

“I believe this isn’t the first time that we have talked?” Baekhyun furrows his brows and when Kyungsoo points at his phone with his mouth, Baekhyun gets it. “I can’t believe you would forget so easily. You were the first one to contact me.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.” Baekhyun scratches the back of his head and chuckles. “I’m not really that good in remembering things.”

Kyungsoo grins. “It’s okay.” Then he takes Baekhyun’s bag from him and slings it on his shoulder. “Come on. Let me show you where Sehun’s room was.” He gestures for him to follow. “And also, you should greet my parents while you’re at it. They’re actually expecting you to come.”

Baekhyun nods.

The room smells like Sehun, just the way Baekhyun remembered his son’s scent was. After Kyungsoo left to give him some privacy, Baekhyun buries himself in Sehun’s still unmade sheets. He curls himself on his son’s bed and sobs heavily.

His baby boy is gone.

Baekhyun blames himself. He blames himself for being weak and for not standing up to Jongdae when his husband orders for Sehun to study at this school from Gwangju. Baekhyun wants to protest and Sehun doesn’t want to part from his friends then. But no, instead he agreed and went along. If he hadn’t sent Sehun here, he would still be at home in his arms. He would have still talked about what happened at school while Baekhyun makes dinner in the kitchen.

It’s his fault.

It’s all his fault.

And he didn’t even get to see his son one last time.

“Sehun-ah.” Baekhyun sobs. “Appa’s sorry.”

Kyungsoo presses his head on Sehun’s door from the other side as he listens to Baekhyun’s cries.

“Baekhyun-sshi fell asleep.” Kyungsoo said to his mother. He placed the untouched food on the table. He watches as his mother placed a cover on the food and placed a note that if Baekhyun wants to eat, he could warm it up in the microwave.

“Have you told Joonmyeon, yet?”

“Not yet.” Kyungsoo presses his back against the sink and folds his arms against his chest.

Mrs. Do scoffs a laugh. “That bastard must be celebrating if he knew.”

Kyungsoo looks at his mother in warning. “Mom, please.” 

“The reason why your father and I agreed to take Jongin is because we thought that he’s safe here compared to your house.” Kyungsoo furrows his brows at this and looks at his mother. Mrs. Do waves in dismissal and proceeds to leave.

“What do you mean?”

Mrs. Do pauses and looks at his son with a smile. “Find the answer yourself.”

Baekhyun woke up with a terrible headache. He feels nauseous and since he doesn’t want to dirty his son’s room, he quickly ran outside and threw up on the sink of the bathroom.

He didn’t realize Kyungsoo was inside.

Wearing nothing but a towel.

Fresh from shower.

“Baekhyun-sshi, are you alright?” A hand rubs on his back. “Come on.”

Baekhyun retches and pours every content of his stomach at the sink. Kyungsoo quickly opens the faucet and then rubs his back, easing him making him feel relaxed. Afterwards, however, he looks in alarm and embarrassment at their situation.

Okay, wow.

“Good thing I forgot to lock the bathroom, huh?” Kyungsoo offers in attempt to lighten up the mood.

Baekhyun wants to cry.

This is so embarrassing.

Dressed in clean clothes, Baekhyun munches everything that is placed on the table from leftovers ranging to newly cooked ones. Mrs. Do could only giggle softly as this is the first time she had seen someone who has this kind of appetite.

Baekhyun clears his throat and sheepishly grins. “I – uh… this is how I deal with stress.”

“It’s okay, boy. Keep going.” Mr. Do urges him to eat more. “Tell us if there’s something you want. My wife can cook everything there is. Just name it.”

Baekhyun bows his head in gratefulness. “Thank you very much.”

Kyungsoo chuckles softly and takes a sip of his drink.

It had been a busy day.

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun went to the hospital to sign some papers and even went to some office, wishing their son’s bodies to be taken to their home place. There were a lot of papers to sign and money to pay, but both parent were willing to shoulder the costs.

He asked for a quick break to Baekhyun. He decided to call his husband at that moment.

“When are you coming home?”

“After I take care of things around here, darling.” Kyungsoo tries to sound cheerful. He doesn’t want Joonmyeon to know. He doesn’t want to stress his husband. “I miss you already.”

“I miss you too… I miss you a lot.” Joonmyeon said. “I miss the two of you a lot.”

Kyungsoo tries not to cry and smiles, albeit shaky. “I’ll come home soon. Don’t worry. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

He went back to Baekhyun after ending the call. He’s surprised to see the older male smoking. When Baekhyun sees Kyungsoo, he hums and takes another drag, puffing out the smoke. “I didn’t know you smoke.”

“I stopped when my husband and I got Sehun.” Baekhyun takes another drag and crushes it afterwards. “Sehun was three then.”

“Your husband…” Kyungsoo trails. “Does he know?”

“No.” Baekhyun answers quickly. “He doesn’t care anyway. I was – and the only person who cared for our son’s well-being.” He bitterly chuckles. “After I come back, I’m going to file a divorce. Sehun… Sehun’s death made me realize a lot of things.” He looks up and then musters a smile to him. “I’m done running away.” 

Kyungsoo furrows his brows. “Whatever that’s going to happen, just know that you have my full support.”

Baekhyun nods and smiles. “Wish me luck then.” He proceeded to walk ahead, leaving him. Kyungsoo’s eyes went wide, mouth slightly gaping. He shakes his head and then laughs to himself.

“You should smile often.” Kyungsoo grins. “You know, the genuine kind of smile. You look beautiful when you do.”

Baekhyun throws his head back and laughs.

And when Kyungsoo heard him laugh, he can’t help but join along.

If Baekhyun looks beautiful when he smiles, imagine what he looks like while laughing.

It’s the third day since they met, but both feels like they’ve known each other since forever.