Part III: Exordium Finem

           The air in the room was cool. A stark contrast to the heat Baekhyun felt inside his heart as the result of his ancestor’s story. Baekhyun gently turned the next page to find it empty. Then the next. And the next. Then one more before there were no more empty pages to flip over. The account of Bai Xian’s life was over. He had read without stopping, he’d been so enraptured in his ancestor’s retelling of his life. Breathing deeply, sighing just a bit, he prepared to close the book- until he caught the slightest scent.

           “Lemon?” he thought, just slightly bewildered. He leaned in close to the seemingly blank page and smelled it. “Definitely lemon.”

           Now perhaps it was nothing. Maybe Bai Xian had been near lemons when he was writing the story down and the scent decided to stay. Perhaps Bai Xian had eaten some lemons and the juice on his fingers dropped randomly, unintentionally, on the page. Baekhyun just knew though. He knew it wasn’t as simple as that.

           Thanks to the one television show he had recently been devoting his spare time to, however, he knew what the scent of lemons of a blank page could mean.

           “Dear god! ‘Moonlight Drawn by Clouds,’ you better not have made this up!” he thought excitedly before standing up. He gently held the singular page between his dainty fingers, the rest of the pages pulled smoothly back, before lifting it up against the bright light emitting from the bulb.

           Baekhyun watched in amazement as brown lettering became visible. It was a letter, addressed to Cànlié.

           To Cànlié,

           My friend, I have grown old now. You already know though, don’t you? Watching us from beyond, with your mother and sister. I married our old friend Soon Deok, remember her? You used to step on the back of her chima. We have two kids. My son has three with his wife, my daughter just had a little one with her husband. I have a hanshikjeom, which I will eventually hand completely over to my son. I’ve lived a very good life. I’ve given my wife and my children a good life. I’ve given many people the chance to have a better and good life. You deserved a good life like the one I have lived. I know you would say that you did live a good life but, my friend, you’ve never known the smell of free air, of being able to walk as a free man down a street, of taking care of your own family and managing your own home. I wish very much that, in the next life we live together, we are both free to live as we please. You have always been my greatest friend, let me be that again in our next life. Your next life will be one of happiness. I promise you that, my beautiful, beautiful Chanyeol.

           “Chanyeol? Oh… that must be Cànlié’s real name.” Baekhyun thought.

The letter was touching. His ancestor was a really soft-hearted guy, never forgetting his friend like that. Heck, even making sure his ancestor knew his name, both ways for those who were smart.

           Baekhyun almost jumped when his mother suddenly yelled “Dinner’s ready! Baek take a break and come eat!”

           Reluctant from parting from something that, unexpectedly, meant a lot to him in such a short amount of time had him slowly, gently placing the book on top of a nearby box. He was just about to leave the closest when he felt a short buzz in his pocket. Taking out his phone and glancing at the screen, he sees a text message from an unsaved number, as well as the clock, reading 15:14. Unlocking his phone to see the full message he reads:

“Hey! It’s the gorgeous musician you met earlier today on campus! Haha… I don’t mean to sound cocky, I’m sorry. Uh… please let this be the right number…><”

           Baekhyun snorted at the man’s text. How funny. Then he paused. He really wanted to go to Gyeongbokgung now but it was too late, it’d be closed already. But tomorrow… He replied back quickly, verifying that it was indeed the right number, as well as hoping dearly that the man will accept his invitation to see Gyeongbokgung with him. He knew it was a weird thing to ask after just meeting someone, asking to see a historical site rather than to hang out at a coffee shop or see if they wanted to go listen to the street music in Hongdae and shop. He needn’t worry however, as he invitation was accepted gleefully, if the four smiley emoticons told him anything.

           It was now official. Tomorrow at 1:30 he’d meet up with the man and visit Gyeongbokgung Palace “for an English assignment,” which really wasn’t a lie after all. He had a date with history! And a “gorgeous musician” to boot! Casually, of course. They need to get to know each other if they want to figure out whether they could be friends or not.

           With that settled, Baekhyun finally left his father’s study to eat dinner with his parents. After that, he joined them in watching a few episodes of a new show his mother was watching besides Descendants of the Sun, this one called Goblin: The Lonely and Great God. Ha. This one starred Gong Yoo. She loved Gong Yoo. She had even told her husband once that she’d marry him if she could. “I’m only five years old than him, it’s possible” she’d joke. And she was joking, she loved her family as it was, never actually wanting to replace anyone. Her son spending the night at home, after begging logically (“It’s getting close to 11 o’clock already. It’s safer to just stay the night, you have clothes here still anyway.”), eating together and watching TV together, made her so, so happy.

           Baekhyun was also happy. He had a book for his essay. Perfect!

           Baekhyun stood in front of Gwanghwamun, the southern main gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, waiting for the man he met yesterday to show up. He was feeling impatient, having been waiting for him for almost fifteen minutes already. He wanted to go inside. He wanted to see the place his ancestor lived before escaping, the kitchen area he had worked in, the quarters where he slept. Though the Japanese had burned down and altered buildings during their occupation, the government rebuilt everything so even if it wasn’t completely original, the Palace still looked as it did four centuries earlier. Baekhyun was kind of sad, knowing what he’d see wasn’t exactly as Bai Xian had seen it, but he quickly decided getting to see it all was good enough.

           He had almost decided to just go on ahead and leave the man behind in the dust when a rushing body and two strong arms used Baekhyun and his shoulders as a brake before removing his hands and placing them on his own needs as he gasped for breath.

           “I am so sorry! I missed the bus and then I got off at the wrong stop so I had to run here and I swear I’m not always late, I’m so sorry” the man said in one breath, once again gasping for air at the end as he bowed a full ninety degrees.

           Baekhyun forgave him right away after his apology, seeing the anxious and sincerely sorry expression on the man’s face, Baekhyun guessing that he was scared Baekhyun might be angry for being so late at their first meeting and leave.

           “You look nice,” Baekhyun complimented, making sure to show that he truly wasn’t angry at him. It wasn’t a lie either, he did look nice. He was wearing a dark gray and black coat that was quite stylish, with a turtleneck underneath (“How did he manage to make that look so good?”), black pants, and, yet again, his blue silk scarf.

           Baekhyun has concluded that this guy comes from good money. How else does a college student look so good, wearing such nice clothing? He himself was wearing a dark teal peacoat he had gotten a couple years back and had, luckily, forgotten at his parents’ home, as well as his jeans recycled from yesterday.

           Done thinking about choice of clothing, Baekhyun suggested they go in. They visited the gangnyeongjeon and the gyeotaejeon, as well as the pretty amisan, while chatting about this and that. After seeing the donggung, jaseondang, and bihyeongak, they made their way to the Royal Kitchen.

It was weird to look around, Baekhyun imagining the failed procurement of the medicine. Perhaps it was that room over there where Bai Xian was hiding? Maybe that one? And over there could have been Cànlié… or Chanyeol… but it didn’t seem right to think of him with that name. It almost seemed disrespectful, because Cànlié was the name specially given to him by Bai Xian.

Baekhyun suddenly felt anxious as they approached the small cluster of buildings once belonging to servants, or at least an imitation of the buildings once housing them. It was almost like he expected to see a young boy tied to a tree, beaten black and blue and bloody. While he was distracted in his thoughts, he was still in conversation with the man accompanying him.

Thinking and talking were occupying his attention so much, in fact, that when they actually made it to the tiny courtyard, Baekhyun was so oblivious to his surroundings that he tripped. He would have fallen face-first too, if a pair of strong arms hadn’t grabbed him from behind to whirl him around and end up with his face pressed against a firm chest instead.

Baekhyun smelled the cologne on his body. It was almost intoxicating, it was such a please scent. Like spice and warmth.

He pulled back abruptly once he realized the awkward, close position they were in. He coughed awkwardly, blushing at his idiocy.

“I don’t know how I didn’t notice that tree stump. Thank you…”

Baekhyun trailed off when he realized he still didn’t know the man’s name. Baekhyun opened his mouth to ask his embarrassing question when the man, smiling brightly, answered it for him.

“Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol.”