Baekhyun and Chanyeol's Playlist

- 'Killing Me', iKON

- 'dead roses', blackbear

- 'Love is not Enough', Wet

- 'It's Over', Palace

- 'Moonlight', EXO

- 'Blue & Grey', BTS

- 'In My Head', Bedroom

- 'Been Through', EXO

Sometime Yesterday Afternoon...

"Kris, slow down!" as tall Chanyeol was, even he struggled to keep up with Kris's long strides. 

Yet Kris was completely inconsolable. He stormed down the street away from Krystal's apartment, his shoulders squared and hunched forward in rage as he marched up to a bench, slumping down into it with his head in his hands. He was a vision of sheer despair. 

Chanyeol stopped, panting ever so slightly as he walked to his friend, only to pause when he realised Kris was actually crying. Unsure of what to do, Chanyeol gingerly sat down on the bench beside Kris, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder as he sobbed. Of course he'd never judge a guy for crying; Chanyeol knew better than anyone that it was confusingly healthy to cry. Yet that didn't make it any less awkward for him. He simply didn't know how to comfort Kris, someone who was usually so happy and contained with his feelings. 

"I can't- do you think she was telling the truth?" Kris sobbed, his voice croaking and his head still in his hands. 

Chanyeol sighed as he sat back into the chair. He didn't know what to think of Kora's claim either. It was clear that the girl who had returned was different to the one who'd left months back, the girl Chanyeol told himself he'd had nothing but hatred for, yet still endeavoured to search for anyways. But Kora had always had a near-mythic intuition - if anyone could figure out a secret that big, it would've been her. 

Surely Baekhyun wouldn't have kept something like that from his best friends though, right? Not to mention, he would've told Chanyeol about hooking up with Amber in the first place, right?

"I don't know how to answer that." Chanyeol mumbled disdainfully. Better to be honest about things than fill Kris's head with even more confusion. 

"That's a good answer," Kris scoffed, sitting up and quickly wiping away the tears from his eyes. It was so odd seeing Kris's eyes so puffy and red from something other than intoxication. Chanyeol didn't realise how much Kris truly loved Amber up until this moment.

"What are you gonna' do?" 

Sighing heavily, Kris took a moment to think about things himself, yet this didn't seem to help calm him as he sat there with clenched fists.

"As much as I want to kill one of my best friends right now, I- I know I need to see Amber..." his voice wavered as his eyes began to water again, and he doubled over to cry into his hands. 

Chanyeol's gut ached seeing his friend so cut up by this, so he fought through his awkwardness and reached out to his friend, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder and pulling him into a hug. Kris began to sob freely. 

Part of Chanyeol couldn't help but feel responsible for this pain. If only he hadn't been so cruel to Kora that day, if only he'd stood there and let her explain things, had explained how he felt... But not even that would undo the knowledge Kora had. The knowledge that was now Kris's undoing. 

If it's true, that is...

Yet there was a part of Chanyeol that knew that Kora was telling the truth. Kora wasn't a liar, and Chanyeol knew his best friend well enough to know he was completely capable something like this. But how were any of them to know? When did it even happen? How? Where? 

Before Chanyeol could even begin to ponder any of these questions, however, Kris quickly pulled away, wiping his face of tears and standing up. His shoulders were set with anger. 

"Kris-"

"I have to go see her." Kris's voice was steely and fraught with tension, his moment of clarity seemingly hanging by a single thread as he teetered on the edge of unfettered rage. Chanyeol could hardly blame him. 

"Okay." Chanyeol sighed, rising to his feet to look his friend in the eye, "Just- just try to keep calm. Okay?"

Kris offered only a look of uncertainty.

"Kris. You have to try." Chanyeol said firmly, "Amber's not the evasive type. If you ask her, she will tell you."

"How can you expect me to keep calm?" Kris's eyes were dark and warning, anger radiating off of him as he began to breathe more rapidly, "Your psycho-junkie not-girlfriend- whatever- just told me my pregnant girlfriend is probably not even carrying my child, and you're telling me to keep calm?! Screw you man!" 

"Kris- wait!" 

But it was no use. Kris was already storming back towards the parking lot in the Town Centre where they'd left it. There was no use in following him. Chanyeol only hoped that Amber would be okay. After all, if this turned horrible accusation turned out to be true, Amber probably had the most to lose.

"Guess I'm walking home then..." Chanyeol sighed as he dragged his feet back towards the main road which led through town. Reaching into his hoodie pocket, Chanyeol fumbled around for his headphones, "!" he cursed loudly as he pulled out the impossible tangle of knots that his headphones had become. 

It was just him and his thoughts. 

Yet Chanyeol didn't find himself walking home after all. Arriving at a junction leaving the Downtown area, Chanyeol found himself walking past the road leading to his neighbourhood, and took the path leading to River Heights. Baekhyun's neighbourhood. 

Did he even want to know whether or not Kora was telling the truth? Did he even want to get involved? Whatever the answer to that might have been, Chanyeol couldn't escape the sense of guilt and repsonsibility he felt in this. Even if he had nothing to do with it, it was his fault Kora had felt the need to reveal such a bombshell. 

The mere thought of her made his heart ache and bile rise in his throat. He'd been so caught up in the shock of Kris's situation, that he hadn't a chance to even process what happened with Kora. Chanyeol stopped in his tracks 

Images of the the scene that had played out before him instantly flooded his mind. There she was, no longer the the dark and msyterious girl with that fire about her, but a girl broken and lost, her spirit now dwindling flame. It hurt Chanyeol seeing how frail and thing she'd become, the dark hollows under her and cheekbones only a telltale sign of her condition, until he'd looked into her and saw only an unending darkness, that swallowed everything else about her in its wake. 

It wasn't her. It wasn't his Kora. Wherever she was, she'd not come back the same. Guilt swarmed Chanyeol, rippling through his body and up his spine until he felt his eyes begin to water. The girl he knew had disappeared since that day he'd told her he hated her and wished she'd disappeared. 

Chanyeol had gotten his wish, and Kora had returned, a mere shadow of her old self.

Wiping away the tears that threatened to fall, Chanyeol pressed on, making his way up to Baekhyun's neighborhood in River Heights. For everyone else in this rich neighborhood, it was a normal Saturday; people were tending to their gardens, cleaning their cars, kids playing in their large gardens happily, all the while Chanyeol stalked down the pathway, a mix of fear, anger, guilt and utter sorrow consuming him. 

Walking up to Baekhyun's house, Chanyeol typed in the passcode for the front gate; he'd spent his entire life coming and going to this house as if it was his second home, yet now he felt like a complete stranger entering his best friend's house. Chanyeol wonder whether or not he would ever truly know and understand the people in his life.

Mr Byun was nowhere to be seen, which was pretty standard for him these past 5 years. How else would Baekhyun get away with all of his antics? Yet the sight that came to shock Chanyeol awaited him in the living room. 

Baekhyun was sat on the end of one sofa, devilishly at ease with his legs over the arm-rest, whilst his younger brother, Jaemin sat on the other end grinning at his big brother. The two of them had X-Box remotes in their hands and were hitting away at the buttons trying to shoot down whatever enemies were on-screen. 

Guilt burned throughout Chanyeol at the thought of the news he would have to bear to his best friend, especially at the sight of him so happy with his younger brother. Mr Byun kept the younger of his sons, the musical prodigy and Golden Boy, away from his miscreant older brother as much as possible; be it through trips to music camps and events during school holidays, or his rigorous extra-curricular programmes, or even the fact that he'd perform under his mother's maiden-name, as much distance was put in between the two of them as possible. It made even Chanyeol feel glad he had an older sister who'd look out for him, even if Taeyeon was a control freak. 

It also made what Chanyeol was about to do that much more difficult.

"Hey man, what's up?" Baekhyun greeted. Chanyeol knew his best friend well enough to recognise the tautness in his voice was unmistakable tension. The two of them hadn't spoken since the hallway incident this morning - this was a superficial exchange for solely Jaemin's benefit.

"What happened to your face?" 

Chanyeol grimaced at how innocently literal younger kids would be about everything.

"Skateboarding accident," Baekhuyn filled in, then looking at Chanyeol with judgement in his eyes, "Big idiot didn't ask for help when he needed it and had a nasty fall"

"Oh," Jaemin shrugged before turning back to the game with that short attention-span of a 13-year old boy. 

Chanyeol grimaced. He needed to speak to Baekhyun alone, but he wasn't exactly one to boss around younger kids - usually that was Irene's speciality. Luckily for him, Baekhyun also knew his best friend well enough to see when something was clearly on his mind. 

"Hey Jaeminne?" Baekhyun paused the game to reach over and nudge his brother, "Can you leave me with Chanyeol for a minute? I'll give you some money to go the supermarket?"

Jaemin raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "How much?"

"Not enough for you to give to Haechan to buy those o magazines you little ert!" he laughed before grabbing onto his brother and giving him a thorough nougie on the head. 

Chaneyol couldn't help but smile at the heartwarming exchange. It had been long since he'd seen the brothers so playful and at ease around one another, especially since their mother passed, more so when Baekhyun started acting out badly. 

Maybe he really isn't a lost cause after all.

Once Baekhyun settled on giving Jaemin enough for him and his best friend and neighbour, Jeno to buy ice cream, the two best friends were finally left alone. 

"Step into my office," Baekhyun gestured to the space on the other end of the sofa, his face totally unreadable. 

Chanyeol stepped awkwardly into the room, sitting down on the sofa with his back straightened as he struggled with what to say. 

"Spit it out then," Baekhyun sighed as he flicked through TV channels absent-mindedly, not sparing one look at Chanyeol, "Or you got something else you don't feel like sharing with me?"

"Oh you're one to talk, ," immediately, he regretted snapping at Baekhuyn like that. But he couldn't just sit here and be berated when there was an elephant in the room that needed to be addressed now more than ever.

"Enlighten me," Baekhyun scoffed, "Everybody else seems to know what's going on before I-"

"Did you sleep with Amber?" 

Silence. 

The words hung over them like deadweight. Chanyeol could see the colour drain from his best friend's face, the sink in his shoulders showing the weight of the situation setting in. He didn't even need to say anything for Chanyeol to know it was true. Heck, Chanyeol knew it was true before he even got here, he just wanted to see if Baekhyun would even attempt to deny it or worse. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Chanyeol asked, turning his eyes back to the TV that showed Jersey Shore re-runs on MTV. Chanyeol was somehow jealous of Snooki's hungover day at work; his problems were gargantuan in comparison.

"I made a promise not to." Baekhyun mumbled, with a softness wholly uncharacteristic of him.

"Right, you 'promised'," Chanyeol scoffed, unimpressed, "Any other secret-hookups that could shatter our friendship group you feel like confessing to?" 

Silence. 

Chanyeol didn't even want to know. Of course, he wasn't one to overly-criticise Baekhyun; after all, he hadn't exactly been forthcoming about his mistake with Irene, especially since Baekhyun turned out to be one of the last people to find out about it. But this situation right now was bigger than any of them. There was an actual baby in the picture now.

"Do you think it's yours? The baby?" 

Sighing heavily, Baekhyun stood from the sofa and began to pace. He was clearly pretty manic, "No. Amber's certain of it too. Some about not being the right time of the month. I don't get girls' bodies."

"And you're supposed to be the smart one." 

Baekhuyn sent Chanyeol a look, "She's also certain of it because she felt fine in the time after we hooked up on Halloween. She said, in hindsight, things started to get weird only after she got with Kris."

"Wait hold up - Halloween?" Chanyeol asked in disbelief, "You hooked up with her whilst you were with Kora? What the hell man?"

"We weren't together back then!" Baekhyun defended, throwing his hands up in frustration, "I didn't think it would matter!"

"Well clearly it did matter, because it was her who just told Kris." 

Horror spread across Baekhyun's face as he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes growing dark like tunnels in that moment, flitting about with anxious energy as if he was on uppers. Sighing again, Baekhyun trudged over to the sofa before slumping down and putting his head in his hands. 

"You got a cigarette by any chance?"

Soon after, the two boys were stood out front, having a much needed smoking break before Chanyeol dived into the day's dramatic turn of events as Baekhyun paced around his front porch. 

"Krystal found her alright," Chanyeol scoffed as he puffed out a cloud of smoke, "I don't know how that girl does it, it's terrifying."

"I said it in the eighth-grade, I'll say it again: she sold her soul to the devil and in return became all-knowing," Baekhyun shrugged as he walked up to the far end, only to quickly circle back and repeat the cycle.

Rolling his eyes, Chanyeol continued, "Kai told us that Krystal just turned up with Kora in the back of the car, passed out. He- he said she looked a mess, but I- I didn't even realise how bad it was until I saw her myself..." 

Chanyeol shuddered at the image of Kora that replayed in his mind; a dark angel, worn down and exhausted, stripped of her wings and all that shone in her. A shell of her former self. 

"What- what was she like?" Baekhyun asked quietly. Chanyeol somehwat envied him for being ignorant to all of this; Chanyeol wouldn't ever be able to shake this image from his mind.

"Tired. Like- like she's had the life just out of her." Chanyeol sat down on the bench, sighing again as he tried to find the words to explain everything that had unfolded, "She wasn't herself. It was like- like some weird evil personality took over her- she was cruel. So cruel. And she enjoyed it! She actually enjoyed telling Kris about you and Amber. Apparently its the second-best-kept secret in this town. Only a matter of time til