Chapter 14 – the end (of you & me)

PRESENT

The quiet hi was so Taeyeon-like, yet her petite figure seemed out of reach. Baekhyun remembered how distant she looked when they first met. She was already someone while he was just a trainee waiting for debut. It was almost impossible of her to like him back so sometimes he wondered what made her change her mind. Maybe his childish charms or his persistent personality? That he was different from those men who just wanted to get instead of giving?

“I brought us coffee,” Taeyeon offered sitting down and placing two Starbucks cups on the table. One of them was dark with cream while the other had a lighter shade of brown and shapes in the foam. The usual.

Baekhyun couldn’t mask his smile creeping on his face when he pointed at the bag near the sofa. “Me, too.”

His girlfriend raised a brow in question and the singer was happy to satisfy her curiosity with taking out the hot drinks.

“Vanilla latté is still your favourite, right?” he asked holding her a cup and she let out a soft chuckle that reminded him of melodies and lullabies of angels.

“Apology treat, huh?”

Baekhyun hummed in agreement but didn't really meet her eyes. Instead he was looking at her slim fingers and carefully painted nails hovering over the still warm cup. The two of them sitting and chatting like this here, in a deserted room of the entertainment wasn’t unusual and they acted like nothing wrong had ever happened but they both knew it was all a lie. Something was wrong and they needed to fix it. Somehow.

“Something like that.”

The corners of her lips twitched hearing his answer. She offered lightly. “We think alike.”

“Yeah, we do,” he found himself nodding and with the way Taeyeon smiled at him it wasn’t as awkward as he previously thought. He didn’t want to ruin the pleasant atmosphere by bringing up their last phone call. He took a sip of his coffee dragging out the silence.

But Taeyeon wasn’t the leader of her group for nothing. She was a grown-up woman with great sense of responsibility. She didn’t come to play guessing games.

“We should probably talk about what happened. Our uhm… disagreement.”

Despite being visibly uneasy about touching this topic, she was mature enough to stop tiptoe-ing around it. Baekhyun sensed his shoulders tense and the air in the room froze. Not even the lukewarm coffee could heat it up.

He sighed and groaned out: “I never know what we fight about. So much nonsense.”

He really didn’t know. Even after that particular and tragic argument, all he could remember was the pain. The pain of loving someone so much they could play with your heart as easily as they move their finger. It scared him, the depth of the oceans of feelings that encountered him in the previous years. The possibility of what ifs.

Taeyeon shook her head. “Nonsense? They’re real problems.”

She sounded shocked at his naivety but Baekhyun didn't care. He protested nevertheless. It was about time to make a clean of it.

“No, they’re excuses we make up for ourselves,” he said thinking about how they blamed each other for things that were clearly not their fault. It was easier to argue than admitting that they could do nothing about it. Otherwise, it would have meant they were weak and beaten. Soldiers of love who lost. But was it the last of sword or just a battle in an endless war? “Remember? It was the same– Gosh, it was even worse a year ago and we got over it. No matter what we do, they will always be haters. Because of a song, a scandal, a new hairstyle, dating...”

Baekhyun reasoned with all his heart yet he felt like he was running out of time and words tasted like sand in his mouth. It was dry and bitter. Being an idol meant a lot of things: fame, glamour, adoring fans, doing what he loved but on the night-side, it was full of sacrifices. Family, friends, love. Nothing could come in the way of success. The company’s will was their priority, even if it was against their hearts’ wishes. But wasn’t it in human nature to be greedy and selfish? Was he ungrateful if he wanted something for himself?

“I know and this won't change. Not in the recent future,” Taeyeon let out a defeated sigh and Baekhyun couldn’t help but agree. They were hot topic, having busy schedules and even busier plans (filming a drama and going on solo, too). The world’s eyes were planted on them, watching their every move. It was a dangerous game just like walking on a frozen lake.

“And what does it mean for us?” He asked in a pained voice looking straight into her onyx eyes. He swore he could see the stars in them…

However, Taeyeon didn’t look directly at him when she answered. Baekhyun followed her gaze, now fixed on the window. The city was cold and dark on the other side of the glass. He could see their reflections, too. They were close yet so far away. A saddening sight.

“They say every story has two sides. In our case, it’s not you and me. It’s us and them.”

Maybe this time