[PERHAPSINTHEAFTERLIFE] Final

Baekhyun plopped down the old couch as he closed his eyes. He just got home from another gimmick and it was tiresome as hell. He reached for the nearest can of beer he can grab and sipped on the already opened can from the floor.

He was a mess. The word doesn’t even cover the misery he is in right now. Rundown apartment, smelly living room, cans of beers and leftover food all over the place, he barely recognizes the place he once saw as a warm and cozy home.

Baekhyun looked up as he felt his eyes sting from the new set of tears threatening to fall down his eyes. Every day is a failure of keeping his promise to his self; to catch up on life, get back on track and start over. It’s not a sin to want to go back in time to when he was happy and complete. Everyone has a desire to become happy, in his case, however, he let his happiness slip away from his very fingers.

Sehun took a good look of Baekhyun’s face. He called him out today for lunch to cheer up his friend and get rid of his negativity for good. This set up has been going on for a year and Sehun isn’t entirely sure if his salary can keep up with this. “How many times did I tell you to stop crying?”

Baek looked up from his food for a second and returned to looking at it again before he started eating. “I don’t know, maybe about half the times I told myself that.” He mumbled. Sehun could just scoff at how he can be so ignorant of the state he is in right now. “You’re slowly destroying youself, Baek. I’ve seen you from the moment you two broke up―”

He stopped midway as Baekhyun glared at him with red, teary eyes. “...okay I’m sorry. But my point is, you’re not getting any better, even for a bit. I mean, can’t you move on already? This can’t go on forever Baek, and you’re too good for someone like him.”

The smaller male just shrugged his shoulders before he mumbled again. “You don’t even know him.”

He could just bite his lip at the hopelessness of his friend. “Well, yeah, I guess you can say that.” He scratched the back of his head thinking carefully of what to say to avoid hurting the depressed and suicidal male in front of him. “But you’ve told me stories about him, Baek. I know him, for a bit maybe.”

Baek didn’t say anything and just went on with his food. The least Sehun could thank for now is Baek eating in front of him―well, except for the miserable look part.

Sehun just rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Anyway, Jongin told me to tell you about another gig you can do. The pay is high. You just need to sing at some party or some sort.” Sehun handed Baekhyun the call card of the event’s organizer knowing Baek never says no to jobs just to stay alive―even if he’s barely alive.

In the midst of practicing for the school charity concert, his singing was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. And Baekhyun hates being interrupted in the middle of singing. ! He cursed mentally. “ off dude! Go bother someone else or, better yet, go back to your mother’s womb! !” He can’t help it.

Assuming that the had scurried off, he inhaled deeply and started singing his song all over again only to be cut off the second time by a small cough by the doorway. “...U-uhm , is this m-music room D?”

Baek closed his eyes out of irritation and turned to glare at the clueless dip by the door. The dip, however, turned out to be tall, cute and handsome; exactly Baek’s type but his anger clouded his thoughts. “Are you ing blind or plain dumb to not see the mothering sign above the door despite your huge height?”

The tall guy blinked and took a step backwards to get a clearer view of the small but noticeable sign above the door. Music Room D. He shut his mouth and looked apologetically at the small raging male. “I-I’m sorry. I’m not from here, so sorry again for that. By the way, Kyungsoo asked me for a favor to play the guitar for his student. His name is supposed to be Byun Baekhyun, he said. Do you happen to know this guy or..” Chanyeol looks at his phone to confirm everything he just said.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, froze and wished for immediate death. He was practically stoned until his singing instructor entered the room. “So have you stabilized your voice at the bridge part?” Mr. Do looked at the door clearly confused as to how brave that person is to walk in on Baekhyun’s practice. “Oh, Chanyeol! You’re here!”

The young student could just cringe at his teacher and his friend’s closeness. “Okay, so, Baekhyun this is Chanyeol, your guitarist for your upcoming solo performance, and Yeol this is Byun Baekhyun, the student you’re gonna play with. I owe you big this time, Yeol.”

The small introduction was left ignored as Baekhyun stared down at the floor the moment the corner of Chanyeol’s lips curled into a teasing smirk.

Baekhyun lay exhausted on his bed not minding the amount of garbage he was surrounded in. His tear-flooded face stared expressionlessly at the dusty white ceiling of his room. He lost count of the times he wished he could go back to the day they first met and hope he could somehow change how his misery started. He’s willing to go back and experience the pain again to have him back.

“Okay, first of all, what the hell? I can smell the stinky scent of beer and salty tears from 3 miles away.” Jongin appeared at the door wary of his steps to avoid slipping on some trash and eventually die from comatose. “Second, this home is very unhygienic. Let me clean this hole for you.”

He accepted his friend’s kind gesture despite being offended with the word he associated the home he once lived with Chanyeol, ‘hole’. He can’t deny the fact that it was true though.

After being done ‘cleaning up’ the whole place, Jongin sat by the side of Baek’s bed and sighed at the sight in front of him. “It’s past 1 in the morning, Baek. Sleep.” He grabbed the blanket which was found below the bed and placed it gently on the crying man. “Have you been taking the sleeping pills I gave you?”

“They don’t work at all.”

Jongin pursed his lips and slapped his friend’s thigh. “