Don't Recall (BaekLay)

One Plus One Equals Three: The BaekChenLay Chronicles

pairing: BaekLay
length: 5688 words
Part Two: Whole Again

“Thanks for being here for me, Baekhyun.”

“You’re welcome, Yixing. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

--

A low hum sounded in his chest as he felt the morning light hit his closed eyelids, waking him up from his dreamless sleep. Birds were chirping outside and he allowed himself to keep his eyes closed as he carefully listened to their cheerful song. Moments later, he could also hear someone shuffling around for a few seconds before the left edge of the mattress slightly dipped under the new weight. The bed sheets softly whistled underneath him as he shifted his own body to the left and then opened his eyes to see a man with ash brown hair smiling gently at him. They silently stared at each other, both haloed in sunlight while the birds continued singing in the background. The scene was simply ethereal.

He broke the silence first.

“Who are you?”

The corners of the gentle smile stiffened with pain and two hands dug into the thick duvet, tightly grasping the soft material. “My name is Byun Baekhyun. I’m…a friend.”

“Okay…” His head bobbed slowly as he began processing this new information, raking his eyes all over Baekhyun and imprinting his image in his mind. “How do I know you’re not lying to me?”

Baekhyun stood up from the bed and walked over to the white wooden table that was across the room. A plate of breakfast, consisting of scrambled eggs and hash browns, and a thick navy blue notebook were on top of the table. The brown-haired male tucked the notebook under his left armpit before picking up the food and bringing it to the bed. “You should eat first. I promise I’ll answer any questions you have afterwards,” Baekhyun said softly as he sat down next to the other male again.

He furrowed his eyebrows, shifting his gaze between Baekhyun and the food every other second. It wasn’t until his stomach growled that he finally picked up the fork that was included on the edge of the plate and stabbed it through some of the eggs. He ate the meal in silence, focusing solely on the saltiness of the scrambled eggs and the crispiness of the hash browns. Once the plate was clean, Baekhyun wordlessly took it back to the table while leaving the notebook on the bed.

It was quite hefty and a bit messy, some of the pages slightly sticking out or dog-eared from being folded over so many times. He couldn’t help but pick it up, even though it wasn’t his. And then he turned to the first page, his eyes widening as they read the handwritten words on the lined paper.

--

Baekhyun watched as Yixing read the notebook. He could basically recite the entire thing at this point, having leafed through the notebook himself so many times.

Hello, you’re Zhang Yixing. Well, I’m Zhang Yixing, but you’re me. Or I’m you. Same difference. Anyway, your name is Zhang Yixing and I know it’s quite a shock to wake up with no memories. Your mind is like a blank slate right now. You could technically become anyone you want to be: JJ Lin, the CEO of Samsung, a dentist-in-training, Pewdiepie, the president of the United States, a restaurateur, or even Kobe Bryant. The world is your oyster now. So you must be wondering, why am I none of them? Who even are these people? What is this notebook? And most importantly, who is Zhang Yixing and why should I care?

You’re about to go on a journey that spans three decades in about three hours. Of course, that’ll limit your time spent actively as Zhang Yixing to about twelve hours, assuming you go to bed at midnight. Then again, I don’t know when you woke up this morning, but I assume it was around eight-thirty or nine. Anyway, this notebook will answer every question that’s currently passing through your mind. And if you’re wondering how I know that, it’s because I’m you. You’re me. I had all of these questions myself, once upon a time. And when you reach the end of this notebook, I promise everything will make sense. It’ll hurt, but you’ll be glad you went through the pain.

Okay, Zhang Yixing, it’s time to get started on the wildest journey you’ll ever experience. At least for today. And make sure you thank Byun Baekhyun afterwards. You owe him everything.

When Yixing’s eyes flickered over to the brown-haired male, Baekhyun smiled and waved. He knew the thanks wouldn’t come until much later; it always did.

Knowing it would be a long while until he was needed, Baekhyun settled in the forest green armchair that was in the southwest corner of the room and rested his chin against the palm of his right hand. Yixing was immersed in reading the notebook and hadn’t noticed the other male’s movements. Even though Baekhyun’s heart twisted from the lack of acknowledgment, he knew it would come soon enough. Right when the first main memory reappeared.

“Class, this is Zhang Yixing. He transferred here from a school in China. Although he isn’t fluent in Korean yet, we’ll all do our best to help him feel comfortable and be friends with him, okay?”

“Okay!” the class of bright-eyed first graders chorused while the shy Chinese boy stared down at his feet, his cheeks tinged with pink from embarrassment due to being the center of attention.

“Does anyone want to volunteer to be Yixing’s activities partner today and show him around the school?”

A small, skinny boy immediately threw his hand up and shouted, “Me! I can do it!”

“Alright, Baekhyun, I trust you to take good care of Yixing. If he needs anything that you can’t help him with, make sure you ask me or his mother, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Baekhyun stood up from his seat and ran forward to grab Yixing’s hand, pulling the startled Chinese kid to the round table in the middle of the room where another boy and two girls sat. “Hi Yixing! I’m Byun Baekhyun! It’s nice to meet you!”

“Hello Baekhyun. It’s nice to meet you too,” the other boy mumbled brokenly in his accented Korean.

And from then on, the two boys had never been apart.

--

The notebook was filled with anecdotal accounts: most from Yixing, some from Baekhyun, some from Yixing’s family, and the rest from his other friends during high school and university. There were photographs plastered on every page and lengthy captions printed underneath in Yixing’s messy handwriting. Everything was written in a mixture of simplified Chinese characters and the Korean alphabet, but luckily, it was easy for Yixing to decipher the seemingly garbled mess and he could feel the breath knocked out of him each time an old memory resurfaced.

“Yixing! Guess what? My mom said she’ll take us to the arcade after the graduation ceremony to celebrate officially finishing elementary school!” Baekhyun hollered as he ran up to his best friend, who was swinging on the playground before school started. “And she said she’d give us fifty dollars’ worth of tokens! Each!”

“Whoa, are you serious?”

“Uh-huh!” Baekhyun eagerly nodded while reaching forward to grab Yixing’s hands and dance around with the taller boy. “We’ll get to play Pac-Man and Street Fighter and Q*bert and…and…and Mortal Kombat! And the claw machines and car-racing games and everything!”

“Let’s compete to see who can earn the most tickets!” Yixing proposed, his eyes sparkling with thoughts of bringing home all sorts of toys and prizes from the arcade. “And whoever loses has to do the winner’s chores for a week!”

“Oh, you’re on!” the shorter male agreed with a high-pitched cackle.

His mind, which had previously been a blank slate, was now slowly being painted with lost memories. But despite that, there was still a sense of detachment, like Yixing was watching the life of someone else. Even though he recognized himself in the photographs and the ensuing memories, even though Baekhyun on paper matched Baekhyun in person, it still didn’t seem…real.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” said the muffled voice underneath the Iron Man blanket. “So just leave me alone right now.”

“Baek, I’m not gonna do that.” Yixing scooted closer to the covered mound, close enough for his right leg to touch the fuzzy blanket. “I’m your best friend. You can tell me anything.”

“Well, right now, I refuse to be your best friend, so go away.”

The Chinese male sighed and ran his fingers through his black hair. He had an idea of what was bothering Baekhyun, but he wanted the smaller male to verbalize it first. Instead of leaving, Yixing stayed silent and watched his best friend’s color-changing lava lamp cast shadows on the opposite wall.

Minutes ticked by as neither boy moved and it wasn’t until Baekhyun’s father called for Yixing to come downstairs, since his mother had arrived to take him home, that a thin hand s out from underneath the blanket to snag onto the taller male’s black T-shirt.

“Baek?”

“I hate middle school.”

Yixing’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought of how to respond, knowing he had to tread carefully but that he also didn’t have much time. “Is... Is it because of Jiseok and his stupid friends?” he finally asked, his voice soft.

The tightened grip on his shirt gave the Chinese male his answer.

While lightly biting his bottom lip, Yixing placed a comforting hand over Baekhyun’s and murmured, “I’ll ask our parents if I can sleep over tonight. You okay with that?”

A noncommittal grunt sounded.

Well, it was better than nothing. Yixing squeezed his best friend’s hand before letting go and standing up from the bed. “I’ll be back.”

Baekhyun could tell by the frown that appeared on the Chinese male’s face that he had just finished reading about the months of bullying that the smaller male had endured when they entered adolescence. That period of time made Baekhyun extremely uncomfortable, but it was necessary for Yixing to learn. At the very least, it had a relatively happy ending, since the taller male had devised a plan that successfully captured hard evidence of Baekhyun being bullied, which had gotten that group of boys suspended and kept in detention during midday breaks.

Nevertheless, it had still soured those formative years for both of them.

“Hey, Baek, wanna play ball with me and some of the guys?”

“I’m busy, Yixing,” the smaller male answered, hunched over his environmental science textbook while his right hand penciled in various notes on a lined sheet of paper.

“Aw, c’mon, Baek! You’re always too busy studying nowadays. Relax a bit, will ya?”

Baekhyun briefly looked up from his textbook to shoot his best friend a glare. “Well, maybe if you spent less time goofing off with the troublemakers from the basketball team, you’d see that I do have free time but you’re never here to spend it with me. So don’t make it seem like it’s my fault we don’t hang out anymore.”

“What? So you’re saying it’s my fault?” Yixing replied indignantly.

“Maybe I am.”

A low growl rumbled in the Chinese male’s throat as his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. “You know what? Fine. If this is how you want to act from now on, Byun Baekhyun, then go ahead. I’m not going to babysit you anymore.”

“Hah. As if you ever did,” the shorter male muttered under his breath. “I was the one babysitting you when we first met.”

“It was your choice to volunteer!” Yixing exploded. “I didn’t ask for you to help me!” He let out a groan before gritting out, “Ugh, I’m not wasting my time arguing with you anymore. Come find me when you’ve matured, you brat.”

That definitely wasn’t Baekhyun’s proudest moment. He had been petty for the sake of it, as an emotionally confused teenager who was trying to navigate the trials and tribulations of high school. And Yixing had taken the brunt of his bad attitude, which had almost torn them apart.

But once Baekhyun had screwed his head back on straight, he had shown up on his best friend’s doorstep with a box of pizza and a bag of chocolate bars as peace offerings to supplement his apology.

“I have the greatest idea.”

“No, you don’t.”

Yixing pouted as he threw a whale-shaped cushion at the Korean male’s small head, causing Baekhyun to yelp loudly. “Just hear me out, okay?” he asked, pointedly ignoring his best friend’s displeased expression.

“Okay, what’s your genius idea?”

The Chinese male paused for dramatic effect, which Baekhyun rolled his eyes at, before finally proposing, “What if…we went to anti-prom this year?”

“…What’s that?” the smaller male flatly asked.

“Y’know, the opposite of prom? Instead of paying hundreds of dollars to awkwardly dance with our classmates, we could go somewhere else and do something that’s actually memorable,” Yixing explained excitedly. He laid flat on his back, his arms stretched out in front of him in a wide V-shape with his palms facing up.

“Like what?” Baekhyun arched an eyebrow in expectation. “I assume you have this all planned out already and that you’re going to force me to go with you anyway.”

Yixing exhaled noisily as he stared pointedly at his best friend, who looked completely disinterested. “Man, you’re no fun anymore. Now I know for sure: you need anti-prom. You can’t end senior year like this!”

“So what do you have planned?” Baekhyun gruffly reiterated.

Without warning, Yixing shot up into a sitting position and brandished two convention badges he’d been hiding. “Premium passes to GameCon!” he shouted, dangling them enticingly in front of Baekhyun, whose eyes had grown as wide as saucers.

“How—how did you get those?” the smaller male asked in a strangled voice. “Those cost hundreds and they were sold out within minutes!”

The Chinese male grinned toothily, puffing up his chest with pride as he answered, “Lu Han’s dad works for Nexon as one of their Chinese localization engineers, so he helped hook me up with these. I’m amazing, right?”

“More like Lu Han and his dad are,” Baekhyun retorted, but it had no real bite to it. He was too mesmerized by the golden badges as his mind whirled with all of the things he’d get to see and do at GameCon. The possibilities were endless, especially with a premium pass.

“So you agree to anti-prom now, right? C’mon, Baek, you have to be on board with my idea. You’re practically drooling.” Yixing snickered as his best friend hastily moved his hand to his mouth, only to discover that the Chinese male had been messing with him.

“Yes, okay, your idea is incredible and anti-prom sounds way better than prom, so I’m going with you,” Baekhyun replied dismissively. “Now gimme one of those passes!” he exclaimed as he suddenly dove towards the bed.

GameCon had been nothing short of the Korean male’s high expectations and dreams. He had regained some of his inner fire that had been partially snuffed out during his difficult adolescent years, which made the experience worth even more to Yixing especially. And it had ended their senior year on a high note, marking the conclusion of another chapter of their lives.

They had ended up at the same university by sheer luck and became roommates. In a way, it had been easy to adjust, since they had practically lived at each other’s houses when they were younger. But being in different majors and taking different classes also meant that their lives had begun to diverge as well.

“You’re going out to party again?!” Baekhyun watched as Yixing checked his outfit in the mirror and patted down any creases that existed. “But you went clubbing last weekend!”

“Relax,” the Chinese male answered flippantly. “I’m doing well in my classes and I don’t have any exams coming up soon, so I might as well have fun while I’m young. Wanna come too?”

“Nah,” Baekhyun immediately declined. “I have a design project I need to finish. It’s worth twenty percent of my final portfolio. Not to mention,” a scowl appeared on his face, “I’d rather not deal with drunken idiots if I can avoid them.”

“But you’ll pick me up if I get too drunk, right?” Yixing smiled innocently when his roommate’s scowl widened.

“Yes, I will. But please control yourself tonight, okay? I’m tired.”

“Will do!” The taller male wiggled his fingers in a teasing wave as he walked out of their dorm room and closed the door behind him.

But they had gotten through the up-and-downs of university, making new friends along the way and learning more about themselves as they gradually matured into adults. After graduating, both of them had decided to jump into the workforce, having been offered full-time jobs after completing summer internships the previous year, and they moved into a small apartment together to save on rent. Being roommates for the past four years made it easier for them to decide to live together as fresh university graduates and life went on as usual.

“I think we’re out of groceries for the week.”

Yixing groaned after answering his best friend’s phone call. He still had two reports to edit and another dozen emails to send before the day was over. “Just buy whatever. I don’t have time to write up a list.”

“That busy?”

“Yeah, it . My team leader gives us the shortest deadlines and keeps piling on more projects. And I had a bunch of meetings today, so I had to skip lunch,” the Chinese male complained as he hastily typed out his next email. “Actually, buy me some Hot Pockets. I’m craving those right now.”

“…Really?”

“Shut up. Don’t judge me, okay? I’m a starving, stressed out man right now.”

Baekhyun chuckled on the other end. “Alright, I’ll leave you alone. Text me when you’re on the way home, okay? I’ll have dinner ready by the time you’re back. In the mean time, I’m going to work on some character designs.”

“Thanks, Baek. I’ll be home soon!”

And so it went for a few years.

Until the biggest mistake of Baekhyun’s life happened. And even after all of this time, he never forgave himself for being the reason Yixing was now an empty shell of his former self.

“There’s a dinner party that my company is hosting for the upcoming launch of our new VR headset. I can invite a guest, so wanna come?”

Yixing tucked his cell phone between his left ear and shoulder as he busily gathered several contracts that were needed for an important meeting the next day. “Depends on when it is.”

There was a slight rustle on the other end from Baekhyun standing up and walking to the refrigerator where he had posted the invitation. “Saturday night at eight.”

“Yeah, I’m free,” the Chinese male answered after glancing briefly at the calendar hanging next to his desk.

“Great! Okay, I’ll see you at home.”

“See you in a bit!”

Baekhyun took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he knew was about to come. Despite having done this over a thousand times, it never got any easier. Because it meant he had to relive his most painful memories as well.

And this is where we have a gaping hole in everyone’s memory bank. You were by yourself, Yixing. And you were the only survivor. I hate to make him do this, but you’ll have to ask Baekhyun for the full account of what he knows. He did the most research into what happened, but it’s not the same as recounting a memory you previously had. A lot of things happened that we’ll never know and we just have to live with that. But I know you’re curious about how you ended up this way. So if you’re ready to know, please ask Baekhyun. And then give him a big hug, okay? This…is traumatizing stuff.

Good luck, Yixing. I know you can handle it. You’re a strong guy. I believe in you.

After finishing the passage, Yixing slowly looked up at the other male, who had a solemn expression on his face. Several more seconds passed in silence before Yixing finally croaked out, “What—what happened, Baekhyun? I…don’t think I understand what’s going on or what my past self is trying to tell me.”

The smaller male felt a sliver of his heart shrivel up when he met Yixing’s sorrowful gaze. It really didn’t get easier.

So with a deep sigh, he settled himself on the bed, next to his best friend, and began explaining how the Chinese male had gotten to this point.

“I asked if you needed a ride to the dinner party, but since you had a last-minute report to finish and you didn’t want me to be late, you decided to drive yourself. And on the way, you…you got into a five-car collision that left everyone dead except…you.” Baekhyun had to pause for a moment as he blinked back tears, not daring to look at Yixing’s reaction. He had already seen it too many times. “The police suspected a drunk driver amongst the group, but the cars got too smashed up to recover any usable footage from the event data recorders. And there were no cameras set up around that area, since it was under construction to become a resort. If we hadn’t been on the phone while you were driving, you—you—” Baekhyun’s voice broke for a moment. He took another deep breath and continued in a smaller voice, “I used your phone’s location tracker to find you after I heard the crash on the other end and called 119 to send emergency services to you. They were already getting calls about the crash from others, since it started a gigantic fire that could be seen almost half a mile away. So they dispatched several ambulances and fire trucks, and I headed there myself as soon as I could. I probably broke a bunch of speeding laws and could’ve gotten myself killed with how recklessly I was driving, but that was the least of my worries at the time.” He laughed mirthlessly.

Meanwhile, Yixing was growing paler by the moment.

Baekhyun’s fists were clenched tightly, his fingernails digging crescents into his palms. “They rushed you to the nearest emergency room to treat you before it was too late and you were unconscious for around half a year as your body healed itself from the physical trauma. But what we didn’t know was that your brain had taken a huge hit as well. That’s why you can’t remember anything from your past or form new memories.”

It was completely silent for a stretch of time as Yixing tried to process this bomb of information. Baekhyun waited patiently, knowing it was different each time his best friend learned about the accident and that he needed to process this at his own pace.

Sometimes, it took a few minutes, but sometimes, it could take up to an hour or more. Sometimes, Yixing would cry and scream, but sometimes, Yixing would just blankly sit there as if his soul had left his body.

This time, it took about ten minutes of deep contemplation before the Chinese male quietly asked, “How was I able to fill this notebook with all of my memories if I’m suffering such severe amnesia?”

“There’s a trigger phrase that we discovered completely on accident. It somehow brings back all of your memories at once. They weren’t erased from the accident, but your brain just doesn’t know how to properly access them anymore.”

Yixing turned to Baekhyun, staring at him resolutely as he then asked, “What’s the trigger?” The Korean male hesitated for a moment, which didn’t go unnoticed by his best friend. “Please tell me, Baekhyun. I want my memories back.”

“It’ll—it’ll be painful,” the smaller male cautioned.

“I don’t care. I want my memories back,” Yixing repeated firmly.

So Baekhyun closed his eyes for a moment to mentally prepare himself. “It’s the last thing I said to you before the accident,” he began breathlessly. “During the week leading up to the dinner party, we talked a lot about what we’d wear, since it was a formal event. We thought it would be funny to wear each other’s favorite flower color. I wore rose while you wore lavender. I called you to make sure you didn’t forget to wear the lavender suit and you had me take a picture of myself in the rose suit, to confirm that I had also followed through. So I did and sent it to you, and you told me I looked like the prettiest rose in the garden. And I—I said,” his stuttering voice dropped to a low whisper, “I said, ‘I bet you’re the most beautiful lavender’.”

With that, something clicked in Yixing’s brain and a giant wave of nausea washed over him as his mind was pelted with bright, flashing lights. “Argh!” he groaned as he bent forward, his hands clasped over his head and his eyes screwed shut. A heavy weight pressed against him, crushing his skull while the inside of his brain seemed to expand with each incoming beam of light.

More and more, smaller yet bigger, blinding white, searing heat, a knife cutting through him.

Events began haphazardly flashing behind his closed eyelids, completely out of sequence and sometimes meshing together or fragmenting into dozens of jagged pieces. When it grew too overwhelming to bear, Yixing’s eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed. Luckily, Baekhyun knew to expect his best friend fainting from shock, so his arms were already open and ready to catch the fallen male.

Beads of sweat gathered across Yixing’s pale forehead, so Baekhyun calmly grabbed a tissue to clean them away and then tucked the Chinese male under the covers. As he waited for Yixing to awaken, Baekhyun gently combed his fingers through the unconscious male’s hair and patiently stared out of the window.

--

When he opened his eyes, Yixing let out a choked breath before grimacing. He hated this part. It always left him feeling extremely disoriented and exhausted.

“Welcome back, Yixing.”

The Chinese male sent his best friend a lopsided smile as he croaked, “Thanks, Baekhyun. Sorry again for the trouble. How long was I out this time?”

“Not long. Around,” the smaller male checked his wristwatch, “twenty minutes or so.” He then pointed to the notebook that was still open. “Ready to read about what we’ve been up to lately?”

“Yeah, I am.” Yixing reached over to grab the notebook and began flipping through the pages as he relived the past five years spent in this hospital room. Each page detailed exactly what had transpired during each respective day, supplemented with Polaroid pictures and colorful doodles decorating the handwritten text.

He reread about Baekhyun staying by his side every single day to help him make this notebook, to bring home-cooked meals from his parents when they didn’t have time to visit him, to organize little gatherings with their friends who also dropped in from time to time, to play various games, to watch movies and television shows, to just talk for hours on end as they spent time with each other. And Yixing wished that he could do more for his best friend, who had essentially sacrificed everything to take care of the Chinese male.

When he got to the previous day’s page and finished reading the last penned sentence, Yixing couldn’t help but burst into tears as he fell against Baekhyun’s chest; the younger male murmured soothing words in his best friend’s ear as he held him close.

--

They were now reminiscing over their childhood days, when times were much simpler and freer. It was nice to recall the days when they’d play pretend, build pillow forts, and run around the neighborhood with other boys who lived nearby. In the middle of a story in which Yixing had gotten stuck in a tree and Baekhyun had to climb it to rescue him, despite knowing next to nothing about tree-climbing, there was a knock on the door before it opened to reveal a thin woman with tired eyes and pale lips. Baekhyun immediately stood up and bowed to her.

“Hello Baekhyun,” she greeted, her voice laced with exhaustion as she hauled in two shopping bags filled with food. “How’s he doing to—”

“Ma?”

Yixing was staring straight at her, his eyes watering uncontrollably at the sight of his beloved mother.

“Is it really you, Ma?”

“Yixing!” She dropped the bags and flew over to the bed, peppering his face with kisses and hugging him like her life depended on it. “I know I saw you a few days ago, but I missed you so much, my darling son! You—you remember me, right?”

“Of course, Ma! You’d be the last person I’d ever forget!” the young man sobbed, as if he were a little boy again.

“Oh, my sweet, precious son, you’re the greatest thing that ever happened to me! I say this every time, but your mom will always love you, no matter what happens.”

Baekhyun smiled to himself as he watched the mother and son duo tearfully embrace each other before he slowly exited the room and shut the door behind him.

--

Yixing was happily humming as he pasted the Polaroid that he and his mother had taken together during dinner. An assortment of washi tape and brush pens were on the bed, courtesy of Baekhyun, to help him decorate today’s pages of memories. There was already a Polaroid of the brown-haired male losing at chess taped on the left page and it was surrounded by the first half of Yixing’s account of the day, starting from breakfast until the end of the chess match. The right page, which was what he was currently working on, detailed the rest of the day, starting from watching the first Iron Man movie to what he hoped the next day would bring. He was secretly hoping for an opportunity to leave the hospital room, even though he knew it would never happen. At the very least, it would be nice if a few of his university friends came to visit.

“Do we have more red tape? I think I used up the last of it.”

The smaller male, who had just finished showering in the private room’s bathroom, continued toweling his damp hair while he walked over to his best friend’s bed. After taking a moment to survey the art supplies that were there, Baekhyun said, “I’ll buy another roll tomorrow. Do you need anything else?”

Yixing shook his head. “I think I’m good for now.”

“Okay.” There was a brief pause as each male focused on their respective tasks before Baekhyun asked, “Wanna stargaze after you’re done recording everything?”

It was like his eyes were already filled with stars when he looked up at this best friend, smiling widely to showcase all of his pearly white teeth. “Can we?”

“Of course,” Baekhyun replied with a beaming grin of his own. “Like you said, the world is your oyster. Your wish is my command.”

--

It was finally nearing midnight, so Baekhyun ushered Yixing back to bed, despite the Chinese male’s protests.

“I can stay up longer! I’m not tired!”

“No, it’s time for bed,” the shorter male said firmly. He fluffed the pillow and shook out the duvet before neatly folding it back for Yixing to slip under. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The Chinese male caught the slight waver in Baekhyun’s tone, knowing that this was just as difficult—or even more so—for him to do. At the very least, Yixing would wake up blissfully ignorant of the situation until he read the notebook, which he could technically choose not to read. But Baekhyun had to watch his best friend fall apart every single day and put himself back together, piece by piece, sometimes imperfectly if Yixing became too overwhelmed by the information to read the entire notebook.

Those days were the worst.

But today had been a good day. Today, Yixing and Baekhyun had rekindled their friendship, proving that even fatal accidents and amnesia weren’t able to keep them apart. Although their entire world was contained in the hospital room, it was…enough for them. Knowing that Yixing was alive, that his memory was alive, was enough for them.

Baekhyun switched off the lights once the Chinese male was properly tucked in and he easily navigated himself to the bed, despite it being pitch black. He knew this room like the back of his hand and when Yixing threw his arms around the smaller male, Baekhyun settled comfortably against his warmth.

Tonight, like every other night he got to sleep in Yixing’s arms, he would forget that they were in the hospital. He would forget that he would have to wake up early, to force himself to leave Yixing’s embrace, so that the other male didn’t wake up from shock at a stranger sharing his bed. He would pretend that their lives were perfect.

“Thanks for being here for me, Baekhyun.”

“You’re welcome, Yixing. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

--

A low hum sounded in his chest as he felt the morning light hit his closed eyelids, waking him up from his dreamless sleep. Birds were chirping outside and he allowed himself to keep his eyes closed as he carefully listened to their cheerful song. Moments later, he could also hear someone shuffling around for a few seconds before the left edge of the mattress slightly dipped under the new weight. The bed sheets softly whistled underneath him as he shifted his own body to the left and then opened his eyes to see a man with ash brown hair smiling gently at him. They silently stared at each other, both haloed in sunlight while the birds continued singing in the background. The scene was simply ethereal.

He broke the silence first.

“Who are you?”

♈♈♈

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Thank you!
luv_kero
[1+1=3] THANK YOU to the person who advertised this collection!! <3 It came as a complete surprise and I'm so grateful that someone cared enough to promote this, so THANK YOU and I hope everyone enjoys the random scenarios that pop into my head, hehe ^^

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Djatasma
#1
Chapter 161: One Wednesday night soon I'm going to go get McDonald's and play Genshin. Even though my HuTao is mad weak 🥲
Djatasma
#2
Chapter 160: A late but Blessed Belated Baek Day. 🩵
Djatasma
#3
Chapter 158: Happy 11th EXOversary!
Djatasma
#4
Chapter 155: 🥰🥰
ReadRealize #5
Chapter 154: Hope that we get to see ot9 soon.
zaikenhuo
#6
Chapter 148: Baekhyun doing shots with Yixing, Baekxing just living the moment, regrets be damned ❤
ReadRealize #7
Chapter 151: Happy birthdae!
Djatasma
#8
Chapter 151: Blessed Dae Day!
Djatasma
#9
Chapter 149: 😭
zaikenhuo
#10
Chapter 144: Love it how this baekxing is the total opposite of the last one i've read, i'll just never have enough of domestic clingy boyfriends baekxing au ❤