Chapter 12 – we'll be the lucky ones

PRESENT

The ride from the airport to the dorm was noisy as always. When you live together with 11 8 other guys, the first thing you get used to is the volume. Quiet is a non-existing word in the dictionary or else it means something really bad. Now, Baekhyun was grateful for the EXO members because Jongdae's silly jokes, Sehun's bratty behaviour and the way Chanyeol were messing with Kyungsoo made him forget. Forget that this was the day he feared the most nowadays. He was afraid of the outcome but at least, he didn’t run away from his problems. At the end of the day, he wasn't a coward.

Thanks to his nap during the flight he was wide awake and couldn’t shake off the feeling of anxiety. He couldn’t take it anymore, the sitting around in one place. He needed to be there, so he could finally breathe. He didn’t care about the lonely hours he would spent waiting. He was always ready to wait for her.

„Hyungnim, can you take me to the practice rooms?” he spoke up immediately when they arrived near the dorm and the boys got out off the car one by one. All of them suffered too much because of him so he didn’t want to burden anyone anymore.

„Now?” blinks one of their manager surprised at his sudden question. Normally, the members had their long-waited and well-deserved rest on these evenings.

A confident Yeah of Baekhyun was enough to prevent any other questions and the next thing he knew he was wondering in the S.M. building all by himself.

He was aware of every little hideout there. He sweat blood on these floors, has been maturing between these walls and found a new family in a room with cloud wallpaper. The singer flashed a sad nostalgic smile as he had a promenade on the walk of fame: the history of their decade long hardships as trainees and idols. Every stolen glance, awkward meeting, kiss in the corner led to this very moment. Why did it felt like the end of something?

“Hey. What are you doing here?” a hand on his shoulder stopped him and the ever-smiling Minho from SHINee smacked him on his arm. It was a friendly gesture and Baek laughed it off. Although his bitterness didn’t go unnoticed like he hoped and the rapper’s grin faded a little. “A few hours ago you were in China according to a live TV program.”

Baekhyun nodded as he shifted the silver ring around his finger

“Yeah, well, I have to meet up with somebody,” he murmured and Minho seemed to understand the hidden meaning of his words because his hand on him rather felt reassuring with the following words.

“Good luck with that.”

Taeyeon and Baekhyun both had many friends who supported them. Others were envious but it's been years and Baekhyun didn't care anymore. It hurt of course when he came along malicious comments or pitiful anonymus hate. He didn't choose to fall in love with a colleague, a senior no less but he did choose to stick with it and he didn't regret it one bit. There were always hopeless hard times but he believed in the saying that everything was better (even if it couldn't be easier) together. He was ready to fight relentlessly but he wasn't sure Taeyeon felt the same way. They both hurt each other over stupid things, fighting about everything. There was rarely a conversation anymore which ended with kisses. Instead there were sorrowful goodbyes and constant missing yous. It was eating up their relationship like a monster spitting out venom to turn their blood blue.

It was a twisted kind of love.

2014

If you’re going through Hell, keep going, a wise man said once. And Hell it was.

After TaeTiSeo’s second mini album, Holler was a success, things were quiet for a while. They even featured in a reality show to give their fans a little sneak-peek of their lives. September was like a calm breeze in the middle of a storm.

By the end of the month, after disputes, negotiations and threats, Jessica was dismissed from Girls’ Generation. Nobody really knew the reason. The entertainment kept it hidden, even before the group membe