Chapter Four

It has only been less than three hours since Chanyeol disappeared in front of Baekhyun and yet, the latter cannot help but feel restless already. Just as he had been previously told by the tall alien, Baekhyun is still in the confines of his flat. To calm his nerves and to keep his mind from worrying about Chanyeol, Baekhyun opted to clean the fancy apartment and even braved to explore the trashed walk-in closet. It had been bereft of any human presence and when Baekhyun finally re-organized the clothes and shoes back to their rightful spots, only the slash marks on the wallpapers were the evidences that someone had been there. After cleaning up the house, Baekhyun took it upon himself to start putting some essentials in a duffel bag in case there is a need to vacate the place--he even packed some clothes that he thought would fit Chanyeol. He knew that he was being paranoid but it would not hurt to be prepared for emergencies, right? He ate lunch when afternoon rolled around and stored the extra food in the fridge in case Chanyeol would show up hungry. But now that everything that needs to be done has been done, Baekhyun is left with nothing else to do.

With a fluffy bunny slippers, he paces around the living room. The automatic lights turn on as it starts to darken outside and Baekhyun basks in the beautiful yellow glow they set on his skin. If only he is not so distressed at the moment, he would have whipped his phone out and taken a selfie already. Yellow lighting seems to suit him best. Baekhyun frowns and shakes the distracting thoughts off his mind as he decides to plop down on the couch instead.

Maybe watching some TV would effectively take his mind off of Chanyeol. It is a dubious attempt seeing that for the past almost 48 hours, no one but the tall man seems to occupy his mind. Sure, he has miserably thought about his family and best friend that he left in the other universe not to mention the final paper that he has yet to conclude but Chanyeol just has such a huge positive effect on him that makes him forget all about those things. It strangely feels as if Baekhyun has known him for so long. Of course, it could be easily ruled out as a fan’s attachment to the main character of his favorite drama but Baekhyun knows, he just knows that it is different with Chanyeol. Baekhyun heaves out a heavy breath as he lays supine on the couch and looks at the high ceiling of the luxury apartment.

Is it possible that him replacing Jin Yeseul caused this strange sensation to consume him? Are his insides slowly being manipulated to fit who he is supposed to be in this universe just like how every little detail had been manipulated to make him fit in?

Those questions keep plaguing Baekhyun but even if he does not have answers to them, he feels weirdly okay if the answers would be yes. If he is supposed to be consumed by Jin Yeseul’s original feelings for Chanyeol, then so be it. If his insides should be manipulated to be in love with Chanyeol by default, then so be it. He does not have anything against it.

“Chanyeol is a great catch, anyway” Baekhyun says before laughing at his silly self.

Nonetheless, he cannot help but believe his words. Baekhyun beams and closes his eyes, wishing that Chanyeol would go back soon and revelling at how the mere thoughts of the tall man are enough to make him feel so, so much better.

-----

Chanyeol stares incredulously at the man behind the desk, not believing what had just been said.

“What? Missing?” Chanyeol clarifies.

The man calmly gathers the scattered paperwork on the dingy desk and regards Chanyeol warily with his wide eyes. As the mess finally dwindles, Chanyeol sees the small name plate perched on the desk of the young man who appears to be the executive assistant of Kim Jonghyun.

Lee Sungyeol.

“Yes, sir. Neither his family nor anyone from the company has seen Mr. Kim for the last three days. Numerous calls have also been made to his cell but those weren’t answered as well until his battery died down. We were unable to attempt contacting him after that,” Sungyeol says.

Chanyeol curses under his breath, making the assistant give him a pointed look.

“May I know your name, sir? Do you have an appointment with Mr. Kim?” Sungyeol inquires, fishing out a hot pink planner from one of the drawers.

“No, I don’t.”

Sungyeol purses his lips and produces a retractable pen from his pocket, clicking it open with a flourish.

“I don’t exactly have an idea when Mr. Kim would resurface from wherever he’s gotten himself to but I’m sure that if you are important enough, then we could make some time for you in about...two weeks.”

Chanyeol does not care for a proper appointment in two weeks with this rich psychopath. All he wants is a few minutes with him because he is sure that that would be more than enough to threaten him into leaving Baekhyun alone and surrendering to the police. With the amount of evidence Chanyeol has against him, he has no other choice but to do whatever Chanyeol asks of him. If the man needs to be coerced with force then Chanyeol would definitely not hesitate to give him that.

“Lee Sungyeol-shi,” Chanyeol begins, resting his hands on the desk to look down at the assistant intently, “do you really have no idea where your boss might be?”

“Sir,” Sungyeol sighs, “if I have any inkling of where he could be, then I would personally drag his back here in the office. He has tons of meetings with important mergers scheduled for this week and all of them won’t stop calling me to confirm the time and place and everything.”

Chanyeol clicks his tongue in irritation and runs his fingers through his hair.

“I’m not supposed to tattle in on this but you look like you really need to have a word with him and I’m so tired that I just can’t be bothered to care anymore,” Sungyeol adds. “Mr. Kim’s father already reported him as a missing person last night when he failed to come home again. His car has been retrieved parked at the foot of the bridge in the Gangnam area.”

“What?” Chanyeol says, eyes widening at the newfound information.

The assistant nods and looks down on his desk, long fingers fiddling with one another.

“I heard from the chairman’s assistant that the cops are starting to look into a possible kidnapping, so Mr. Kim Jonghyun could be gone for a while,” Sungyeol says.

Chanyeol digests the things that had been said by the assistant and furrows his brows together in thought. Deciding that he should let Baekhyun know about this, Chanyeol thanks Sungyeol and makes to leave for the elevator. On his way there, he hears the young assistant call out to him.

“Don’t you dare tell the press about this, sir! But if you do, remember that you didn’t hear it from me!”

-----

Baekhyun is awakened by the sound of a door creaking open somewhere inside the house. He initially ignores it, feeling sluggish after waking up from a restless nap but the thought that it is Chanyeol finally coming back from wherever he might have gone to makes him bolt upright immediately. Black spots litter the corners of his vision as his head spins because of the sudden movement but he ignores it, power walking towards the hallway leading to the front door.

Instead of finding the tall man’s figure before him, Baekhyun is greeted with an empty hallway and the wooden door tightly closed. He blinks back at the security system as it briefly flashes a tiny green light, indicating that the place is secured. Dejected, he walks back in the living room with the intention to go right back to sleep but there is a distant noise inside the house yet again. Baekhyun knows that he ought to start calling for Chanyeol’s name now because there might be an intruder but a wild thought of the latter wandering somewhere inside the house overpowers his instincts.

“Chanyeol-shi?” Baekhyun calls out, eyes moving around to scout the surrounding for any sign of movement.

No answer.

“Chanyeol-shi, is that you?” Baekhyun repeats in a louder voice as he walks towards where he heard the sound.

“You know Chanyeol?”

A voice resounds right behind him, rendering him frozen on the spot--he could not even muster up the courage to turn around and face its owner.

“Excuse me?” it speaks once again.

Even though the voice portrays a similar timbre with Chanyeol’s deep one, it has a different feel to it. If Chanyeol’s possesses a rough undertone, this one is completely velvety. Baekhyun can sense the hairs on his nape standing because of the intense stare that the stranger seems to be giving him. As he hears heavy footsteps walking around him, he tries to convince himself that now is the best time to yell for help but no matter how many times he opens his mouth, it seems to be useless. After what seems like forever, the intruder is finally standing right in front of him and Baekhyun wants to faint at the intensity of those eyes.

“Were you calling Chanyeol’s name?”

Deliciously tan skin, jet black hair, plump lips and sultry eyes: it is the same man that Baekhyun saw earlier this morning in his trashed walk-in closet. He appears to be completely harmless save for the spiked combat boots and chains on his pants that he is sporting. The intruder is almost a head taller than Baekhyun but at least a few inches shorter than Chanyeol and as he leans his face closer, Baekhyun leans away with a soft whimper.

“It’s just a yes or a no, kid. Were you calling out Chanyeol?” the intruder presses on, frowning at Baekhyun.

“Y-Yes…”

He knows that it is quite foolish to answer honestly because this man could have a grudge against Chanyeol and confirming that he knows the taller could cause him to become a hostage or something. Sure, it is a little bit farfetched by now but he got transported to another universe, for heaven’s sake! Everything is possible in Baekhyun’s world.

“Sweet!”

The intense look in the intruder’s eyes is replaced with two endearing crescents as his face breaks out into a wide grin. His canine-looking teeth and whisker-like dimples that scattered all over the high cheekbones almost make him look like a wolf (but you know the harmless one that would make you beg your mother to keep as a pet).

Okay. Baekhyun definitely did not expect for the stranger to react like that but he supposes that this is better than having him murder Baekhyun.

“So I landed at the right place after all. When will he return? What exactly is your relationship with him, kid?” the intruder asks.

Baekhyun’s fear is replaced with irritation upon hearing the guy calling him ‘kid’ once again because first, he looks even younger than Baekhyun and second, who the heck does he think he is?! The intruder turns his back on Baekhyun and enters the open kitchen, rummaging through the contents of the fridge.

“Do you happen to be his butler?” he goes on when Baekhyun fails to respond to his first inquiry.

To this, Baekhyun seethes causing him to stomp over to the other male. How dare him? Does he look like a butler? He is Byun Baekhyun, the trendiest and most sought after actor in this country (well, in this universe at least). There is no way that he looks like a butler!

“I am not his butler! I own this place! What boulder have you been hiding under?! Don’t you know who I am?!”

Oh wow, Baekhyun thinks, he sounded like Jin Yeseul just now. The stranger simply blinks at him, the bowl of the leftover lunch Baekhyun saved for Chanyeol now cradled in his hands.

“If I know who you are, I wouldn’t have asked, would I?” the man says.

He walks past Baekhyun and stops in front of the microwave whilst muttering, “Feisty little midget.”

Baekhyun is furious. This guy did not just call him a midget! Only he has the right to call himself a midget!

“Excuse me, Mr. Trespasser--”

“You are excused. Wow, this thing’s as old as my great grandmother. How do you operate this again?” the intruder interrupts but Baekhyun pays him no mind and continues raging.

“Who do you think you are? Why are you barging in my house without permission?! And most importantly, do I look like I’ll just be a butler of Park Chanyeol?! I happen to be the love of Park Chanyeol’s life!”

Upon hearing that, the man stops fiddling with the microwave to intently stare at Baekhyun. After moments that seem to last forever, the man chuckles and presses a button before looking at him once again.

“Well, if you’re the love of his life then I’m his brother,” the man says. “My name is Kai.”

Author's Notes: dun dun dun. Kai's here ^0^