Confrontations and Hurt feelings

Of Gold and Obsidian
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“Irene? You’re saying that Irene is the one behind the kidnapping?”

 

“I have no concrete evidence, but I believe so. I suspect that what happened in the club was all a set-up by her too.”

 

“Why am I not surprised,” Sehun muttered angrily under his breath. “I’ve always known that there was something fishy about that .”

 

“I’m surprised that you trust me when I come forth without any proof, Mr. Oh.”

 

Sehun studied the bodyguard with interest, quirking his lips into a calculative smirk. “You’re right, Do Kyungsoo. Can I trust you?”

 

The shorter male chuckled, pushing the peas around the plate with his fork. “It does not matter whether you trust me or not. You can decide what you want to do with this piece of information. I just thought I would let you know.”

 

“And why would you be telling me this?” Sehun asked curiously.

 

“I know I’m just a bodyguard, and I have no right to be meddling in these affairs. In fact, I have nothing to gain from telling you this, and I can’t be sure that my suspicions are correct either. However, if telling you means that I can hopefully prevent another tragedy from happening to Mr Byun, then I must.”

 

Sehun leaned back into his chair, looking thoughtful. “You do know that you are currently making very serious and unfounded allegations against Irene, right?”

 

“I do. And I will take full responsibility for my claims if it turns out that she is innocent. However, I think you should definitely investigate her. You’ll stand nothing to lose from this.”

 

“I will,” Sehun nodded gravely. “Thank you for the information, Kyungsoo.”

 

“My pleasure, Mr. Oh,” D.O replied with one of his rare, tight-lipped smiles.

 

“Just one more question,” Sehun said smoothly, observing the shorter male with an unusual glint in his eyes. “If my ears weren’t mistaken, you just called Baekhyun Mr. Byun. How do you know about Baekhyun?”

 

“Hapkido,” came the one-word reply.

 

“Hapkido,” Sehun repeated in amusement. “Of course.”

 

--

 

When Baekhyun woke up the next morning, the first thing that came to mind was Chanyeol. He scanned the room with hopeful eyes, praying that Chanyeol would be sleeping by his bed like he always does. When he realised that he was all alone, his heart sank heavily.

 

Where could Chanyeol possibly be?

 

His eyes trailed over to his bedside table, noticing a brown envelope that was definitely not there last night. Baekhyun reached out for it apprehensively, eyes wide with confusion. Had someone visited him while he was asleep?

 

Baekhyun poured the contents of the envelope out onto his lap and regret flooded him almost instantly. He slapped a hand over his mouth, hoping to contain his choked sobs. Angry tears stung his eyes as he stared at the photos of his worst nightmare-- the same one that haunted his dreams every single night. Baekhyun couldn’t stand looking at the pictures, all of which showcased him in such pathetic and vulnerable positions. It reminded him too much of the raw pain that he had to go through that day, and it filled him with a fresh wave of hatred.

 

Dear Baekhyun, do you like what you see? I plan on releasing these photos online, but I can sell them to you so that they can belong to you as a private collection. 2 million dollars, and I promise that these photos will never see the light of day. What do you think?

 

Baekhyun felt bile rise in his throat as he read the note that was attached. The greed of these money grubbers knew no bounds, and he hated having to play into the hands of his blackmailers. Gritting his teeth, he pushed the photos off his lap in a furious swipe, wondering how he was ever going to get them off his back.

 

“Baekhyun!”

 

Chanyeol stood in the doorway, his face stiff with shock at the sight in front of him. One look at Baekhyun’s teary expression and he regretted leaving him alone for one whole night. How could he have left Baekhyun when he knew that he was still not yet emotionally stable?

 

In a few large strides, he was by Baekhyun’s side, gathering him into a tight embrace. “Shh, don’t cry Baek. I’m here now. What happened?” he said gently, rubbing soothing circles into Baekhyun’s back.

 

Chanyeol had initially been too distracted by Baekhyun to notice the photos scattered around the floor, but now that he was standing right by the bed, it was hard not to notice. Slowly releasing his hold on Baekhyun, he knelt down to gather the photos, hands quivering with barely concealed anger.

 

“What the ?” he cursed hotly under his breath, voice bordering on hysterical. “Who do these crazy bastards think they are? I’m going to kill them all!” he growled, ripping the photos to shreds with his bare hands. “I’m so sorry Baekhyun, I shouldn’t have left you yesterday. I’m so, so sorry.”

 

Regret and guilt coursed through every fibre of his being. The perpetrators would not have been able to deliver the photos if he had stayed by Baekhyun’s side. It was his fault that Baekhyun had to relive all of those terrible memories, and it was especially regretful because he had been making so much progress lately. His night terrors had reduced considerably and Chanyeol could tell that he was beginning to emerge from the shadow of the incident. However, judging from Baekhyun’s current state, the appearance of these photos definitely ripped apart healing wounds.

 

“Where were you?” Baekhyun asked shakily. “I was worried. You were gone for so long.”

 

“I took Irene home yesterday after we got her wound treated. I swear that I was going to return to you once I dropped her off, but I must have been so tired because I fell asleep right after. I’m so sorry, Baekhyun. I’m never going to leave your side again, I promise.”

 

“You slept at Irene’s house?”

 

“Yeah. She always lets me crash at her place,” Chanyeol replied nonchalantly, seemingly unaware of the edge in Baekhyun’s voice. “And please don’t worry about these pictures. I’ll settle this for you so rest easy and focus on healing, alright?”

 

Chanyeol pressed his lips against Baekhyun’s forehead, injecting all of his love and apologetic feelings into a single kiss.

 

Baekhyun shook his head, trying to push the ugly feelings of insecurity from his mind. “No, Chanyeol,” he said firmly. “Don’t. I owe you too much. I can settle this myself.”

 

“How? How are you planning to settle this yourself? You don’t have to worry because I have all the time and money in the world to play this game with those bastards. And once I find out who they are, they are going to wish that they had never been born,” Chanyeol spat bitterly, clenching the torn pictures tightly in his hands.

 

“I don’t want to be a burden to you, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun said pleadingly, sounding pained. “I’ve been nothing but a burden to you and I hate that. I hate myself so much.”

 

“You know I would do anything for you, Baek. I would give you anything and everything you need. And I do all of it willingly. I do this because I love you and I want the best for you. So don’t you ever call yourself a burden, because I’m going to get angry if I hear this from you again.”

 

Baekhyun felt a tear run down his cheek. “What have I done to deserve someone like you?” he said softly, leaning into Chanyeol’s chest with warm emotions pooling in his chest.

 

At that moment, Baekhyun knew that everything was going to turn out just fine, because Baekhyun was the safest and happiest with Chanyeol by his side.

 

--

 

“I’m sorry for calling you here on such short notice, but this is urgent.”

 

“It’s okay, but let’s make it quick yeah? I don’t want Baekhyun to wake up from his nap to see me missing.”

 

Chanyeol took a sip of the iced americano that Irene had ordered for him and stared at her curiously. “Your expression doesn’t look too good. What’s going on?”

 

Irene chewed on her lower lip and drew in a heavy, shaky breath. “I don’t really know how to break the news to you.”

 

Chanyeol could feel his heart beat faster in trepidation at Irene’s ominous words. Seeing that her hands were quivering, Chanyeol placed a warm, comforting hand over hers. “It’s okay, Irene. You can tell me. What’s wrong?”

 

When Irene finally looked up at Chanyeol, her eyes were b with unshed tears. “I have received news from the private investigator that I hired to investigate Baekhyun’s case. You need to be prepared, because what I’m going to tell you next won’t be pleasant to hear.”


Chanyeol’s eyes widened immediately and his expression morphed into a serious one. “Have they found out who did this to Baekhyun?” he said lowly, wondering what exactly it could be to make Irene look so upset.

 

“Baekhyun did this to himself.”

 

“Huh?” Chanyeol laughed, dissolving the tense atmosphere. “What are you talking about?”

 

“This is not a joke, Chanyeol,” Irene said gravely, pushing a manila envelope into his hands. “I think you need to see this.”

 

With his brows furrowed in confusion, Chanyeol began to

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fauxglitter
I can't believe this story got featured, thank you all so so so much! :)) It is an incredible feeling and I am still in disbelief :') To all my old and new readers alike, thank you from the bottom of my heart and I hope y'all will continue to enjoy the story! <3

Comments

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XiaoShixun #1
Chapter 26: Sehun and luhan
laurelynn98
#2
Chapter 16: you can just say han river lol

hangang isnt the name, it literally means "han river" in korean 한강

lmaoz that actually took me so long to figure out after i moved here too
laurelynn98
#3
Chapter 5: most places in korea have a door code, not keys

hence why the boy who always hangs around is always in my house too lmao
laurelynn98
#4
Chapter 5: NOT HONGDAE XXX
applesandcookies #5
Chapter 30: I think the reason Chanyeol gets so much flack by readers is because it’s hard to see him believe Irene so easily when the evidence to the contrary is right in front of him. Baekhyun played hardball for so long by ignoring his money and resisting his attempts to befriend him, would a gold digger do that? If someone hired people to stage a mugging, why was he injured so severely? Like Chanyeol saw how Baekhyun was suffering PTSD, physical pain, and psychological pain from being unable to play the violin. You can’t fake things like that. If Baekhyun wasn’t actually the secret son of a rich family, what would it have took for Chanyeol to believe him?
It’s just hard to see Chanyeol feeling like he’s the victim while Baekhyun literally can’t hold chopsticks right anymore… Though I did find that you did a good job of justifying Chanyeol’s reasons for having insecurities in his letter, and I like how he recognized his faults and apologized genuinely. But Baekhyun’s suffering was a little too severe for Chanyeol’s distrust to feel reasonable.

However, I do like how the characters in your story suffer REAL consequences. Like most authors wouldn’t have Baekhyun suffer a permanent injury and Chanyeol suffer a limp like that, but you make the characters deal with that, which makes the story more realistic. In life, not everything heals up perfectly, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find happiness in other ways.

Also, I like how it took some time before Chanbaek were able to rekindle. I thought for sure that they would make up right after Irene’s exposing, because most authors would do that. But I like how you let Chanbaek spend some time apart, calm down, and grow without each other. It really shows how they both matured.

I see a lot of the people in the comments feel sorry for Sehun… but I don’t. Sehun suffers from the same kind of possessive entitlement as Chanyeol in this story. At one point I thought it was best if Sebaek were together, especially in the mid story when Chanbaek were separated, but towards the end, it just shows that Sehun’s love is, as LuHan puts it,“selfish”. When Sehun told Chanyeol off after the carnival, that’s when I realized Sehun’s “protection” of Baekhyun crossed the line into possessive territory. Sehun purposefully manipulated Chanyeol into leaving by convincing him that Baekhyun didn’t want to see him, even though he didn’t know that. At this point, Sehun was selfishly projecting his desires and jealously into the situation. He deprived Baekhyun of his agency to decide what he wants. I can’t believe the story didn’t address how Sehun indirectly caused the accident? I really wanted Sehun to apologize and acknowledge that his love for Baekhyun also became toxic. I guess having to see Chanbaek get back together is also punishment for him though.

But don’t take this comment to mean i didn’t enjoy the story. I am leaving such a long comment because this story genuinely enthralled me and made me want to analyze a bit more. Overall, I am satisfied by this story and it really subverted a lot of expectations so thank you so much for sharing with us :)
eray612 #6
Chapter 30: Why this story is stuck in my library? And today i just read it within 18 hours non stop and my expression be like 😊🥰🤨😡🤬🥺😢🤯😭😭😭😭😭😌🥰🥰
Vampirella77 #7
Chapter 30: I'm reading this story for the third time. I love it so so much.
cycynyny #8
I keep coming back to this Masterpiece.
MyLipsOnEXOs
#9
Chapter 29: The letter never fails to make me cry
kworld320 #10
Chapter 30: Amazing, amazing, amazing.
The story is so interesting and well written!!!
Great job here dear writer!!!