Baekhyun wakes up by the sound of the guitar. The melody was flawlessly emitting through Chanyeol's skilled fingers.

It was soothing. However, the tune somehow ached Baekhyun's heart. He raised his head from the coffee table that he had fallen asleep on and glanced at the unfocused Chanyeol.

"Oh, you're awake." The unchanging heavy voice spoke. Baek's heart ached again upon hearing Chanyeol's voice.

He rubbed his eyes; trying hard to adjust his focal point. A smiling Chanyeol was in front of him, the pick of the guitar captured by the corners of his teeth.

"Chan..." Baekhyun voiced and walked over to him. A lump in his throat prevented him from speaking and warm tears that unfroze his chilled cheeks fell soundlessly.

Chanyeol's eyes widened in surprise. He immediately placed his guitar on the floor and hurriedly hugged Baekhyun. Without asking any questions as to why of a sudden his Hyung started crying, he kept rubbing his back to comfort him. Chanyeol's shirt was damp with Baek's frightened tears.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Chanyeol-ah..." Baekhyun's muffled voice cracked underneath Chanyeol's chest.

Chanyeol frowned upon hearing his apology but didn't respond.

"I'm really sorry..." Baekhyun's tears wouldn't stop but the night passed like the passing of the wind; slow and calm. Chanyeol kept Baekhyun close to him until dawn, wrapping his arms around him like a blanket and whispering him words weaved with reassurance.

However, Baekhyun's heart ached once more.

--

Baekhyun woke up on an empty bed. The other side was cold and the indistinct presence already faded away.

He got out of bed and walked over to the door that led to the living room.

It was abandoned. Everything was as it was the last he had seen it; the table that had Chanyeol's and Baekhyun's coffee mugs, the couch where Baek's phone was at and the guitar that sat idly on a stand near Chanyeol's chair.

Baekhyun's heart pinched.

Suddenly, there was the sound of the door clicking and in came Chanyeol; face dropped in exhaustion and shoulders slightly arched.

Baek felt an abrupt balloon of happiness pop inside him. His eyes lifted in an eager manner to talk to Chanyeol as he approached him with a tender heart.

"Chanyeol--"

"Not now, Baek," Chanyeol's sapped voice shattered Baek's high spirits, even though he didn't yet speak anything. "I'm tired. Can we talk about this later?" He passed Baekhyun from a distance and a kind of hostility emitted from him.

Baekhyun was confused as to what topic Chanyeol was talking about and why he was receiving such an attitude.

"About what?" He asked.

Chanyeol lazily turned around, dropping his jacket on the head of the couch. "About our damn band. About my damn music and your damn lyrics!" His expression turned maddening. His enervated eyes were now filled with infuriation.

"What are you talking about...?" Baekhyun asked in a low and a calm voice, attempting to placate Chanyeol.

"Forget it, Baek. It's not going to work. I talked with the company and they didn't like our song. They said the lyrics don't have the right feel to it."

"Wait...you mean, my lyrics?" The sudden realization that Chanyeol was solely and indirectly blaming Baekhyun hit him hard on the head.

Chanyeol didn't answer.

"Chan, we made the music together and so what if the company didn't like it. We can try again, right? We have to keep trying!"

"You don't understand, Baek! It's not working. How many times do you think we have already tried and kept on trying?"

A hard lump was stuck in Baekhyun's throat. He could neither scream nor could he respond with the proper response.

Chanyeol averted Baekhyun's effulgent eyes. "You know we can't do this anymore. It's just not working. You and me, our music is just not meant to be."

The glistening eyes of the latter was now just a bleary sight of black and white. Baekhyun could have cried a river or maybe an ocean but instead, a deep emotion of disapprobation and choler filled the void.

"So you're saying...we should just quit?" He slowly breathed. Howbeit, Baek was losing the battle with his tears. His snivels were heard by Chan but he didn't tear his focus off from the floor.

Baekhyun turned around in frustration and galumphed out the door. He didn't look back at Chanyeol's unknown expression nor did he want to argue with him about anything anymore.

 

The cold air caressed Baekhyun's cheeks as soon as he left the building.

For a moment, he stopped and turned around to look back at the window whose light was on.

Resentment was filling Baekhyun's lungs upon the thought of Chanyeol's unpalatable words.

He clicked his tongue, indignantly averting his gaze from the window and started walking with no exact direction in his mind.

He might have wiped his tears a few times on the way but eventually, the breeze and the lamps hanging from the denim sky comforted him partially.

Baekhyun suddenly got back to his senses after plenteous pondering and realization and looked up from his feet. He had stumbled in a dimly lit alley he was unaware of.

He decided to look around to find a name of the street or at least just a name that would tell him where he was, however, before he could turn back and get out of the creepy alley, a sound of a lady crying stopped him from doing so.

"Ex--excuse me..." Baekhyun's voice was hushful. He tried again, "Excuse me."

The crying was unexpectedly getting closer.

Baekhyun's delicate heart was beating rapidly. He was afraid that an entity would emerge from the caliginosity. He was at his ready position to run away the moment he felt any presence.

However, a tall, thin lady appeared in the obfuscate light. She seemed to be in her thirty's, more or less. She looked weak and exhausted and she was crying.

Baekhyun took a wary step forward and softly asked the lady, "A-are you alright, Ma'am?"

"Help me..." The lady wailed and stretched forth her hand feebly.

"What is the problem, Ma'am? Is something wrong?" Baekhyun started to walk towards her, "How can I help you?"

As he got closer to her, the lady took a step back, out of the light and into the shadows.

Baekhyun stopped and frowned, "Excuse me, Ma'am?"

There was no response. The crying had stopped and a deadly silence surrounded Baekhyun.

He didn't know what to do. Should he go further into nothingness and find her? Or should he turn back and leave?

Not to mention, in such a furious state, Baek forgot to take his phone with him; it must still be lying on the coffee table or the couch.

On the other hand, Baekhyun's instinct told him to leave.

Since there was no more sound, he reasoned that it might have been his mere imagination. His mind playing silly tricks on him because of torpidity.

In the end, he turned around and decided to walk away, when all of a sudden, out from the darkness ran a shadow with a baseball bat and smacked Baekhyun's occiput in a powerful sway.

At once, an excruciating pain and immense dizziness made Baek fall to his knees. He clenched his head tight, letting out a loud scream to release the burn and looked up at the darkening scene.

The faint light that was the only illumination in the alley showed two individuals; a woman and a man.

The lady that Baekhyun saw sobbing for help was now perfectly fine and smiling an evil smile The man beside her started to search Baekhyun's pockets for stuff he could find useful but to no avail. In his petrified and benumbed state, Baek tried hard to push the man away from him and run. Nevertheless, his movements were fruitless. The man annoyingly smacked Baekhyun's head again, this time even harder than before and escaped the gloomy alley with his partner, leaving a helpless Baekhyun in the solitude of oblivion.

"Chanyeol...help me." Were the only words running in Baekhyun's piercing head.

Thereupon, blackness covered Baek's eyes and mind. He fell in the murky alley, deep into a slumber where not even Chanyeol could wake him up.