Chapter 2: Dreams and Reality

Chapter 2: Dreams and Reality

Two years ago

Baekhyun wakes up feeling pain all over his entire body. Groaning, he tries to move to his side but was hindered by wires attached to his body, one on his chest monitoring his heartbeat, another to his hand connected to an iv drip creating this drip drip drip sound that fills the silence of the room he’s in and a wire connecting his nose to an oxygen, helping him breathe through the tightness of his chest.

Once he started moving, the beeping to his left, which he assumes is connected to his heart, becomes erratic as if his sudden waking up has his heart reminding his body he’s alive and the entire world too. The beeping gets louder that he starts getting annoyed by it, he wants it to stop but he can’t speak from the pain in his throat.

He settles on looking around the unfamiliar space he’s currently in. From his observations it looks like he’s in a hospital room. It’s big, he noticed, probably the biggest this hospital has to offer knowing his parents. It has a sofa set at the right side of the room directly in front of the door, opposite the direction of his bed. A television set hangs in front of him. A door to his left, leading to what he guesses is the bathroom. Amidst the white walls that seems to go on and on are little bursts of colors here and there. It seems that his mother, or probably her secretary took their time in decorating the place with flowers. His favorite flowers decorated the room, putting life in this seemingly lifeless place. Lilacs, roses, tulips, orchids in purple, red, yellow and white.

This brought out a little smile on Baekhyun’s face, thankful someone remembered how he loves flowers. A minute after, he notices that something seems wrong. However he fails to put a name on his feelings, he doesn’t know how to describe what he’s feeling right now. He feels empty, somehow, and he doesn’t know or understand why.

It’s like he misses something or someone, he doesn’t know. He can’t be too sure.

~O~

beep

Current day Baekhyun is interrupted from his daydreaming by another alarm from his phone. He lifts it off from the table and looks at the reminder about his flight to Jeju island next week. He’s now the current CEO and soon to be chairman of Light Corporations, although still only a year in his management the company has enjoyed good results to the happiness of shareholders. He has yet to finish visiting all of their company branches all over South Korea and the Jeju branch being a relatively new acquired property he might have to spend some time there for the next few months.

This is his life now. Making sure that the employees and their families who are dependent on their company doesn’t starve. Being a hotel and resorts chain company CEO, he has lots of them under his responsibility too.

The Baekhyun of two years ago who just woke up in an empty hospital room to an even emptier feeling to his heart feels like someone from a different world. The Baekhyun now is sure, confident, tenacious, the feared heir to his father’s legacy, or at least he tries his hard to be.

Deep inside he knows he wants a different life, a happier life than this monotonous and bleak one. A universe that seems to be in him, but he can’t reach out to no matter how much he tries to because just when it’s at the tip of his fingertips, it slips away. His brain may not remember but his heart definitely does.

From his seat on his table he can see the view from his floor to ceiling windows. The view from the 40th floor is something, it’s beautiful and also a sign of success. A lot would die for this right now as it connotes power and richness among other things. Well, these are things Baekhyun can live without to be honest, but he’s here and he’s got to stop complaining.

A knock on his door along with his secretary’s familiar head peeking through his door interrupted him, ‘Mr. Byun’, Jongdae says, ‘he’s here.’ Jongdae was his best friend when he was a kid, unfortunately his mother did not like him befriending someone as “low” as their maid’s son, so their friendship stopped. After his hospitalization though he asked for Jongdae, he wanted some sort of normalcy in this unfamiliar world, this time his mother didn’t oppose. Sadly, because of their estrangement Jongdae doesn’t know what happened to him during the years he can’t remember.

Jongdae, sensing his dour mood, enters the room first and closes the door behind him. ‘Are you okay boss?’ he asks, concern laced in his voice. Baekhyun lifts up his head and looks into his secretary’s eyes and gives him a slight nod. ‘Yes, I am. Bring him in, Jongdae,” and offers him a small reassuring smile.

A few minutes after, a blonde petite man with doll like features dressed in all black and donning a leather jacket entered his office. “I assume you’re the best detective there is,” was Baekhyun’s greeting to the new person, going straight to business. “Let’s sit down over there.” He gestures to the sofa set in his office while walking himself towards it.

“Thank you, I wouldn’t say I am, but I can do my job well.” The blonde answers with a tiny smile while sitting himself down. “My name is Luhan, Mr. CEO.” He says while offering a hand which Baekhyun promptly receives with a shake.

They’re sitting face to face now and looking into the detective's eyes, Baekhyun says, “Well, Luhan I don’t need you to do your job well, I want it done perfectly. I want answe-”

“You got hospitalised four years ago for reasons unbeknownst to you.” Luhan interrupts. “You tried asking your doctors but they kept on saying the same thing, that you got into a car accident and nothing more. You were on a coma for almost two years before you woke up confused and no memory of anything that happened including six years worth of memory prior to that accident. You kept asking but nobody bothered to explain or tell you what happened during the years which you have no memory of. Correct?”

Baekhyun was trying to sit up, clenching his teeth on the pain, when he heard a loud beeping noise that couldn’t have come from the machine next to him a few second after his parents and some doctors and nurses came rushing from outside. A quick peek at the outside of the room had him see that he was being guarded. Baekhyun was both confused at that and happy at seeing his parents after being awake for nearly an hour now.

‘Hel-’ Baekhyun begins to speak but was interrupted by his mother’s bone crushing hug and loud sobbing. He can’t help but wince because of the pain, realizing this, his mother starts to loosen up her hold on him. ‘Son, are you okay?’ His mother asks while crying. Baekhyun doesn’t know how to answer that, seeing his stoic and strict mother that always shows no emotion crying over him. A little part of him is happy deep inside, so he starts to hug her back.

‘Doctor! You said my son is going to be okay?’ His mother asks -demands- from the doctor behind her while still clutching onto him tightly. Looking behind his mother, Baekhyun sees his father standing with some doctors and nurses. His father looks bored, as he always does, but this time there’s a hint of care in his eyes he’s never seen before. Care? From the almighty Chairman Byun? Now that’s something he hasn’t seen.

“Mrs. Byun-” the doctor starts and Baekhyun’s attention transfers to him. Seeing the shaking hands of the doctor, showing how nervous he is being with his parents -who wouldn’t to be honest?- he decides to interfere.

“I’m okay mom, why am I here?” Baekhyun noticed his hoarse voice and painful throat, it’s as if he hasn’t spoken for a long time and clears his throat. “I’m sorry for breaking my arm” showing his arm, that to his surprise isn’t broken. “What’s this? Why isn’t it broken?”

“Sweetie, don’t you remember anything?” His mother asks and he shakes his head no. All he remembers is that he broke his arm trying to rescue his pet from falling off the tree outsi