Chanyeol strummed his guitar string in time with Baekhyun's melodic tune. The instrument and the voice; they were in harmony. It was a fairly short piece, not even a full song. But it was a special piece Chanyeol composed himself. A piece that required higher notes than his usual style. But not too high that's it could only be sung by Chen or SHINee sunbaenim's Jonghyun. It was a song intended for Baekhyun. For both of them. 

Chanyeol would usually play with a pick. But tonight, it was his bare fingers picking on the string. The final chords were sharp, yet lonely; they were intentional. After all, it was a farewell song. A song for the separation and a song for the goodbye.

The tall giant put down his guitar as he came out from his crossed-legs on the tall chair. He stood up and stepped forward towards Baekhyun who was sitting on another tall chair. Baekhyun definitely already heard the small thud when Chanyeol put down his guitar earlier, but he still had his eyes closed even after he had sung the final melody. He was afraid to open his eyes. The shorter man felt a small touch on his arm.

Flutteringly, he opened his eyes slowly. There he was, the tall giant, right in front of him,with a hand invitingly held out to him. They already finished schedule for the day, so Chanyeol didn't have full make up on his face, and his hair was not styled. His t-shirt was ugly, and it even had sauce stain from dinner. Even so,it didn't change the fact that Park Chanyeol was a handsome man.

Baekhyun stared at the big palm. Almost double his size, even. Noticing the uncertainty in Baekhyun's eyes, Tall giant Chanyeol forced a small smile at the corner of his lips. Looking straight into Chanyeol's eyes, Baekhyun let his slender fingers fell into the palm. I trust you, the eyes spoke. Chanyeol replied with a bigger, but more strained smile.

The short man stepped off the tall chair gracefully. The fire place was still burning, soft crackles emitted from the warm heat. Mid-January, yet the winter showed no sign to end anytime soon. The whole room was only dimly illuminated by the fireplace. The temperature outside was freezing, the snow was falling again for the tenth time within two weeks duration. 

Chanyeol took out his mobile from his back pocket, set it to Fly Me To The Moon and docked it in the speaker system on the fireplace's mantelpiece. Chanyeol pulled on Baekhyun's both hands towards the middle of the room. He placed his eyes on the pretty hands. The prettiest hands he had ever seen his entire life. Long, slender, fair. He clasped Baekhyun's left hand with his right. His left hand went to Baekhyun's hips to gather him closer. The shorter man automatically placed his right hand atop Chanyeol's shoulder.

Ah, it felt so right. As if their bodies were molded to fit each other's. Chanyeol firmly pressed against Baekhyun's palm. Baekhyun did the same. Chanyeol lead the dance by putting his right foot forward slowly. Gently. Even though both Baekhyun and Chanyeol were renowned dancers, Baekhyun always disliked waltz. It was too confusing and he could never time his footing correctly. 

But dancing with Chanyeol; he let the man lead him. His firm press against Chanyeol was not only to feel the temperature difference. It was also a sign that he fully trusted Chanyeol. That he believed in Chanyeol. That Chanyeol would never let him get hurt. Be it in the dance, or in real life. 

Every time Chanyeol put his step forward, he would step back. Every time Chanyeol twirled him, Baekhyun would hold firm to the taller man and let his body move with the flow. Chanyeol's palms are warm. And he knew that Chanyeol's body was one degree temperature higher than his. So he let go of Chanyeol's right hand and looped his both arms around Chanyeol's neck. Chanyeol was too tall that he had to tiptoe to do that, but he embraced the taller man.

Chanyeol didn't say anything. He placed his arms around Baekhyun's waist. Their dance was slow. Romantic even. It was methodological, but not perfect. Perfection was not what they strived for that night. They just wanted to feel each other for one last time.

"Thank you," the tall giant whispered, initiating the farewell they both dreaded.

Baekhyun who had his face burrowed into the crook of the taller man's defined chest responded with a hmm. He didn't lift up his head.

"I've enjoyed our time together," Chanyeol said again. His voice was lethargic, as if he didn't want to say it.

"I know. I enjoyed it too," Baekhyun said, his voice muffled by Chanyeol's clothing."But comes tomorrow, I will no longer claim you as mine. We will go separate ways."

"Baekhyun-ah, don't say that. We both will still stay in EXO. Stay in the same room. Go to same schedule. Laugh and cry for the same goal," Chanyeol tried to cheer the elder man up, even though his heart was too in a stormy battle.

"But it won't be the same. I won't be able to claim you as my Chanyeollie. And you won't call me Baekhyun-ah anymore," Baekhyun shook his head, "I'll be Chen's and you'll belong to Kyungsoo. We'll be BaekChen and ChanDo; completely leaving Baekyeol as a thing of the past."

"It's the policy, Baekhyun-ah. A pair cannot be together for any more than a year. It's too risky for the company's profile if we develop feelings and turn gays. Our pairing will also grow boring in fans' eyes. Everything we do, even every breath we take; it all belongs to the company. Our talent, our voices, our faces, our bodies, our uality. Everything is for sale."

"I know. Even our love," Baekhyun answered in an equally weak voice, "Just look at how they separated Luhan and Sehun. The two were madly in love with each other. Luhan even fell sick and missed a few schedule. But look at where they are now; Luhan happily paired with Minseok and Sehun grew his attachment on Kai." 

Baekhyun sighed.

"It's almost a miracle that our pairing stayed for two years. We have to thank Kai who didn't want to leave his previous pairing Kyungsoo. Manager hyung almost get a heart attack when Kai said no to pairing with me," Chanyeol said, his body still rocking slowly to the melodies, "But in the end, we're still at the bottom of the barrel. Everything the company says is the law. Kai gets paired to Sehun, who apparently he didn't detest as much as he detested me. But Kyungsoo had been alone since then. He needs somebody to be his other half."

"Chen too, had been alone since the very beginning. Wouldn't it be a perfect world if the company hooks Chen up with Kyungsoo and leaves us alone?" Baekhyun said longingly. Of course he knew his words were nothing beyond empty talk. An empty wish.

"You know it doesn't work that way, Baekhyun-ah," the tall giant tried to soothe his partner, "fans are getting tired of Baekyeol pairing. We could no longer offer anything new to them. At this rate, EXO's popularity may go stagnant."

"What's between us, it's real isn't it?" Baekhyun asked. It may be a confession, or it may just be a question; Baekhyun could not tell himself. There was a special connection between him and the giant in his embrace. They could easily finish each other's sentences. Communicate without saying a single word. They had talked like typhoons and they had been in comfortable silence. They had been together for two years.

Chanyeol answered with nods, but he didn't say a single word. He felt his collars being gripped from below, and the next thing he knew, his lips were covered with Baekhyun's soft lips. The kiss tasted like cherry chapstick. Seeing Baekhyun had his eyes closed, Chanyeol too slowly lowered down his eye lids. He cupped Baekhyun's jaws, locking the face in place. The kiss was slow, unhurried, calm.

To be truthful, it wasn't the first time they kissed. Innocent Baekhyun had wondered how a kiss felt like during their early debut days, and seeing how they're not likely to date anyone anytime soon, Chanyeol offered to demonstrate. They kissed multiple times afterwards; mostly to get in character of their pairing as per assigned by the company. They kissed every time they made up from arguments. They kissed every time they congratulated each other; be it for birthdays or other achievements.

To be even more truthful, they didn't only kiss each other. Baekhyun had kissed all other members in EXO. All eleven of them. All in the name of strengthening relationship between team members. Chanyeol kissed about six of EXO members not inclusive Baekhyun. He couldn't bring himself to kiss Lay, Kris and Kai because they were too manly and kissing them would be too awkward. He couldn't remember if he ever kissed LuHan. 

Were the kisses lustful? Baekhyun could not tell. Chanyeol could not tell. It was something too common for them, they didn't even consider it an act of love. It was just… a physical contact. An act of affection, but not something should be reserved just for your special someone from the opposite .

"Thank you Chanyeollie," Bekhyun's turn to speak in a whisper, when their kiss ended.He didn't open his eyes, "for the beautiful melodies you composed for me. For the two long years of being by my side. For everything."

Chanyeol bear-hugged Baekhyun tightly. For the last time, he wanted Baekhyun to feel his body heat the shorter man seemed to love so much, "Even though we'll be BaekChen and ChanDo, feel free to run into my embrace once in a while. Cheat on Jongdae a bit."

"I will. And I probably will do it more frequent than our manager hyungs would like it,"Baekhyun said, letting himself to drown in the warm embrace.

The waltz came to an end and the last flicker in the fireplace went out.



=====||============


"Yah, Chen-ah, we will be seating together in the flights later, okay?" Baekhyun said cheerily over the breakfast table.

Jongdae who almost had his sandwich into his mouth, put it back down and closed his mouth,"Baekhyun, I know we're a pair now. But don't you think we're taking it too fast? You were still BaekYeol last night."

"Chen-Chen, I promised to give you myself during Christmas," Baekhyun switched his seating to be next to Jongdae, pushing LuHan who was there initially. He grabbed Jongdae's arms, "You won't reject me, will you?" The cute pout, even hard-hearted Jongdae could not handle it. It immediately melted and Jongdae Baekhyun under his chin, like he would to a cat. Baekhyun playfully purred.

"Good morning," Kyungsoo greeted as he sat down opposite of Jongdae. His already wide eyes, grew even wider as he watched Jongdae and Baekhyun already in their pairing mode. He knew what came next; his and Chaenyol's.

"Morning Kyungsoo," a deep baritone greeted from beside. Expectedly, it was Chanyeol with a huge smile plastered on his face, "Did you have a good sleep last night?"

"Ah, yes. Thank you," Kyungsoo answered, blushing. He was already informed by manager hyung that his next pairing would be Chanyeol. And it's not like he never paired up with Jongin previously. But to suddenly be intimate with a person who's almost synonym to Baekhyun felt a bit… awkward. He bit on a toast prepared by manager hyungs.

"We'll be okay Kyungsoo, we'll be okay," Chanyeol whispered-promised the younger boy as he grabbed his hands. Kyungsoo looked at the overly tall person. But Chanyeol did not look directly at him. He looked blankly at LuHan who was now fussing over Minseok. He must've sensed the insecurity in the younger boy. 

Kyungsoo smiled. He gripped back the big palm. He too knew that they'll work it out somehow. Like they always did.

Baekhyun who was still clinging on Jongdae's arm stole glances at his ex-pairing. Unexpectedly,Chanyeol was looking at him too. Their eyes met. Both were startled for an instance. But Baekhyun broke out of it first. His lips softened into a smile.He let out a giggle. Chanyeol smiled widely too. His smile was infectious that Baekhyun broke into a laughter. Chanyeol laughed too. They didn't know what they were laughing at too, but they laughed. Everyone else around the table looked at them questioningly, yet knowingly.

Ten minutes later their managers called them out to their schedule. One by one, all twelve of them went out the front door. Baekhyun was the last to leave. He looked back, at the dorm they left behind, before the door clicked close.


END.