‘Baekhyun?’ she choked, dropped at the sight of him.

His sassy grin spread across his face.  

‘You-you,’ she garbled at him, completely lost for words. ‘It was you? This whole time? But I thought – Chanyeol,’ Her heart sank a little as the grin changed on his face.

‘No, well not exactly me.’ He told her slowly, leaning forward in the chair.  She tilted her head slightly to the side, eyebrows shortening as they jammed together.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, taking the seat opposite from him.

He leaned across to her, pulling her hands into his and rubbing circles into them. 

‘It was Chanyeol.’ He told her gazing up at her.  She had known it.  She had hoped for it as a swell of – something she couldn’t understand filled her chest and yet his words stunned her, the reality finally being revealed to her.

‘Why – why are you here then?’ she asked him mystified.

‘He sent me to tell you everything, he said - he said he couldn’t face you yet, he’s still upset with himself.’ He spoke his words kindly, considerately as he looked deep into her eyes. 

‘He – he’s upset?’ she asked with unease.

‘He planned all this, but he feels like he’s ed up.’ Baekhyun started, he took a deep breath.

‘Everything was Chanyeol.  He is the one who read your book first.  He saw himself in Sam, it was like you described him, big ears, happy personality, musical, happy with life until he met Evelyn. He got caught up in the story, capturing the butterfly, he began researching you and he thought you were, extraordinary.’

Alex stared at him. 

‘He knows a guy who works here, one of the producers, he asked him to look the book over, see what they think, if it could become – something, when he heard back they were interested he said he would set it up. Chanyeol contacted your agent about this whole meeting. 
He arranged your flights, to land at the same time we were arriving back from China, hoping to see you, he arranged that you stay on the same floor as us in the apartment block.  It’s an exclusive building, he knew we would be there, and he knew there would be one apartment free, he’s been paying for it to make sure you would stay there.’

dropped open completely astounded.  

‘He planned to get to know you before the meeting, he wanted to know you.  I know it sounds creepy, he said followed you everywhere, working up the courage to speak to you.  He was always disappearing, he just wanted to watch you, the natural you.  He felt like he was living Sam’s life, trying to catch his own butterfly. Your eyes, they’re the same blue as the butterfly.’

He looked up into her blue eyes, slightly brown and green in the center.  They weren’t striking like a bright aquamarine, but deep and iridescent somehow, and even Baekhyun could see it.  The soul of the butterfly in her eyes.  He could see why Chanyeol had fallen for her from the moment Baekhyun had seen her for himself.

‘But then it all went wrong for him that first week.  He said he was going to talk to you, he was going to introduce himself, and then explain.  I don’t know how he hadn’t worked it out.  He got nervous and the moment escaped him.  Then you met Junmyeon first.  He saw the look in his eyes after he met you.  He met him as soon as he left the apartment building after you bumped into him.  Chanyeol was following you home, and then Junmyeon came outside, starry-eyed and wouldn’t shut up about you.  He felt he had lost you before he even began.  He just smiled along, pretending he didn’t know you. 

Then we ran into you in the noodle bar.  Me, Jongin, Jongdae and Junmyeon.  Junmyeon pointed you out to us there, and I vaguely remembered hearing your name somewhere before.  We all thought you were cute, how could we not,’ he smirked up at her sweetly, ‘But I didn’t know then, I didn’t know anything really.  Junmyeon thought you were some kind of European model, so we just assumed the same thing.  We were all going to go out to a bar later on and meet up with Chanyeol and the others, but Junmyeon decided he didn’t want too.  I knew what he was going to do, that he would go and talk to you, then when we got to the bar and told Chanyeol where he was, I saw the look in his eyes too.’ He took a pause making sure she was following. 

‘Chanyeol left the bar before all of us.  He tried to stick it out, but when he left early, which is unlike him, I knew something was up then.  Chanyeol told me he got back to the apartment block, just as you let Junmyeon into your apartment that night.  He knew then he had to do something, and he started getting, wound up, holding it in.  He brought you here and Junmyeon was stealing you, in his mind.’ He shook his head sadly.  Alex couldn’t speak.  Her lips were parted, her eyes glued to Baekhyun explaining the crazy story.  

‘If he had just told Junmyeon in the beginning, he would have backed off, let Chanyeol make his own move.  But he said nothing, and the next day Junmyeon couldn’t stop beaming, talking about you, Chanyeol said his heart was broken and he dealt with it by becoming more introverted and more foolish. 

He wouldn’t tell Junmyeon, but he couldn’t let you go, not yet.  He asked Hae-soo who we were with at the time, to help him, they got to the apartment as you left that day, so they followed you, both of them until you stopped at the river.  Chanyeol begged her to approach you and then hire you for his video.  He thought it was the only way he could get you to look at him.  Get you to notice him, spend time with him without upsetting Junmyeon.’

‘But-, ‘she spluttered, flabbergasted.

‘I know, I know,’ Baekhyun sighed, holding his hand up, pressing his fingers to her lips, before she could speak. ‘It was a stupid, stupid thing to do.  I told him myself when he admitted this to me.  He knows it now too.  But love makes you do stupid things.  He was fighting for you, against Junmyeon, in his mind.  He told me about seeing you in the noodle bar that night, how you left your phone behind, and he thought it was a good opportunity to talk to you.  Like destiny was giving him a way at last.  But when he did run into you when he looked into your blue eyes, all he could think about was how you ran into Junmyeon in the same way, and he was jealous, it made him, irrational.  That’s why he acted the way he did, a reflex.  He didn’t – handle it well.  After you explained to me what, you had been through, I understood why you were so confused.  He was not acting, well, like the gentleman Junmyeon was.

He told me he was surprised that you came to the casting, and of course, Hae-soo was in on it, she did everything she could to push to have you in the video.  None of the producers or the director were in on the secret, but they agreed to take you.  He said that he told you he had picked you, but you didn’t seem to believe him.’  Baekhyun shrugged. 

Deep in her memory, she remembered, Chanyeol had cornered her in the elevator, he had said ‘I told my bosses you were the one.’  She nodded back at Baekhyun confirming Chanyeol had indeed said that.

‘I was at the apartment that night with Kyungsoo and Jongin when Chanyeol came in.  He seemed slightly happier than he had been, but it didn’t last.  Kyungsoo got a call from Junmyeon then, who had to go to Japan at the last minute, and we all heard him, we all heard the message he wanted him to pass on to you.  Kyungsoo was gone for less than 5 minutes, but already I could see Chanyeol was on ed