Summary: Baekhyun knows Chanyeol's lying.

 

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Baekhyun drafts a letter on his macbook right before his second to last final, but it's not a serious letter... It's more like the first draft of an emotional this-is-how-I-feel type of sit down talk...

Maybe it has a sprinkle of I-wish-you-would-stop-assuming-that-I-know-you-miss-me-just-because-you-said-it-last-month but not too much or else it might come off as passive— and he's not going to be passive because that's not right. If he has a problem with something, then he'll just say it.

He had issues saying his feelings about the relationship before because he was worried it would start a fight, but then he realized that they only really fight when he bottles everything up and explodes all at once.

And it's not even really a fight. It's just him venting and Chanyeol trying to be realistic about things—but then that makes everything worse because Baekhyun doesn't want realistic. He just wants to feel like Chanyeol cares about the relationship as much as he does.

Chanyeol probably does care a lot, but it's not translating well. At least, not in the past few months. Gradually, it feels like it got even worse when he started picking up more hours but Baekhyun can't blame him for that since Chanyeol really found his passion working with cars and motorcycles.

It's just hard.

He thought about deleting the part where it says he's not happy, but he ultimately just leaves it in since that's what drafts are for and maybe he'll revise it later.

When the doors to the lecture hall opens and the previous class begins to flood out, Baekhyun shuts the laptop and puts it in his backpack.

 

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Chanyeol really doesn't know what to ing pack for California weather...

What the hell is California weather anyways?

It's cold as in Seoul— like, does it even snow there? He tried to research it but whatever.

Jinah says summer clothes in Seoul are winter clothes in California, so Chanyeol just takes her word for it since her dad owns real estate over there and she helped convince Junmyeon to let Chanyeol use one of his three private jets for the surprise visit.

He probably could've called Minseok but he was off in Italy, probably on some yacht doing a tech cleanse and Junmyeon wasn't going to let help at all if Jinah didn't bother him about it. Anything for his cousin, after all.

Aside from that, Junmyeon also helped with getting him some time off for the next week and a half on short notice. It really does pay off to be a rich and loyal customer sometimes.

Sighing, Chanyeol finishes packing his basic essentials. Whatever it's like in California, it's probably nothing jeans and some hoodies can't handle. He really doesn't have much since the trip is last minute and if he wants to be there when Baekhyun returns to his parents' home after finals, then he has to leave within the next day.

Reaching over, he starts zipping up the black duffle bag but stops midway he realizes that he forgot Baekhyun's Christmas gift.

Leaning across his bed, he pulls out the top drawer of his bedside table. Taking out the white ring box, Chanyeol checks to see if the platinum band is still inside before snapping it shut and hides it at the very bottom of his bag.

With everything good to go, he zips up the bag and puts it down on the floor next to a small suitcase.

 

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That evening, Baekhyun sees an opportunity to talk to Chanyeol when Jon's out, taking his two hour final, but it's 2a.m. over in Korea so Chanyeol doesn't pick up his phone the first time that Baekhyun calls. The second time, he does answer, but he's not as groggy or sleepy-soundy as Baekhyun expected him to be. It is Wednesday morning over there... and that means that Chanyeol has work around eight or nine.

Maybe he's thinking too much about it.

"Hi!"

"Hey... Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Baekhyun says as he crawls up on his bed, trying to be comfy. "I just wanted to call you because I wanted to talking about something, but... I kind of forgot it's two in the morning over there. So... maybe I'll call again some time later."

"What'd you want to talk about?" Chanyeol asks anyway.

"I..."

Be straightforward.

Even though he drafted an outline, Baekhyun can't even start on bullet point number one.

Plus, Chanyeol must be tired and Baekhyun would be inconsiderate at this point if he tries to have a full conversation with him.

Backing out, Baekhyun diverts the topic.

"I just wanted to tell you that I love you lots and that I think I did really well on my final!" Baekhyun laughs into the phone. "Sorry. It's a really stupid reason to call you. I shouldn't have woken you up from your sleep but I just thought about you and, well, I really wanted to hear your voice."

"I love you, too. I'm glad all your studying for the past week paid off. And...it's fine. I wasn't sleeping." Chanyeol yawns. The tiredness in his voice starts coming through.

"Don't you have work tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but a co-worker's picking up the morning shift for me and he's..."

Baekhyun tunes out of what Chanyeol's saying about scheduling and work when he hears Jinah's voice in the background.

He could be crazy, but that's definitely Jinah's voice.

Baekhyun's grip on the phone tightens, and he realizes that he's breathing a little harder than he was before.

What could Chanyeol be doing with Jinah at 2 a.m. other than that thing?

No, Chanyeol wouldn't. That wouldn't be like him but what other explanation can there be?

He hears another voice which sounds like Junmyeonnie, but that doesn't make sense at all.

There's really no way he can rationalize any of this—

"Yeol."

Interrupting Chanyeol is the last thing that he wants to do, but... he has to.

"Yeah? What wrong?"

Asking if it's Jinah would be straightforward... but, at the same time, would it make him look crazy?

He trusts Chanyeol and he knows how much he doesn't like Jinah, but irrationality is telling him that they're probably in bed together right now (with Junmyeon sitting in the room somewhere...?) doing the thing at 2 a.m...

"I have to go back to studying for my last final tomorrow..." Turns out, he's not as brave as he wants to be in that moment. "Can we talk tomorrow?"

"I'm going to be busy the whole day so I'm not sure about tomorrow. Let's talk when you go home for break."

Baekhyun's heart drops. "But that's the day after tomorrow... That's, like... two whole days from now."

"I know but I—"

"Can I text you about it instead?"

"Baek..."

Fudge.

With that one word, Baekhyun already knows the answer: "I'm busy."

He tries really hard not to sound hurt but it doesn't work. The sobs start coming anyways.

"Okay," he says, sniffling. "I guess I'll talk to you in 2 days. Friday, yeah?"

"Alright, what did I do now?" Chanyeol sounds frustrated, but Baekhyun doesn't know why. "Why are you crying?"

"Don't say it like that."

"Say it like what?" Chanyeol pauses. "I'm not following."

"Don't say 'what did I do now?," Baekhyun tells him. "It makes it sound like I'm the bad guy who's always trying to catch you doing something wrong— which I'm not. I'm not trying to be a bother but I hate feeling like I am."

The thing about bottled up emotions is that it ends up spilling over one day.

And Baekhyun's spilling.

Again.

"I know that trying to coordinate and actually have these talks is important to you. I'm not trying to be an , but tomorrow is just— It's not a good time. The day after, I promise you, we'll talk all day. I just need you to trust me."

"I do trust you... But I'm sad because you don't sound like you understand just how badly I want us to work out—"

"Do you honestly think you're the only one who wants to make this work?" Chanyeol says in a low voice— like he's trying to keep their conversation on the down low. It doesn't sit well with Baekhyun. "I know you're frustrated with me, but I love you at the end of the day. I'm trying my best with what I have right now, so just trust me. We'll talk things over on Friday and—"

"What about Jinah?"

The pause right after makes Baekhyun feel bitter.

"Okay... What about her?" Chanyeol asks back.

"Sehunnie told me last week you've been texting her."

"Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

Not really, but Baekhyun didn't know what else to say. He already feels like he's been doing too much.

"Yeah."

Chanyeol sighs, but he responds back in a soft tone. "I needed a favor and she helped me with that. It's work related."

Baekhyun doesn't mention anything about hearing Jinah in the background. He already knows Chanyeol's lying, so...

There's no point.

"Okay... Sorry. I just thought that maybe—you know—"

"That I was seeing her behind your back?"

Baekhyun purses his lips together. "It's not like that—I don't know. Maybe. I'm—"

"I know we're going through some things right now, but I'd never do that." Chanyeol curses softly. ", I wouldn't tell you I love you if I didn't, so why would I risk losing you over someone I can't stand?"

"Chanyeol—"

"Just— Trust me. Please."

Baekhyun pulls his blanket up on himself. This whole call didn't go the way he had drafted.

"Okay..."

"If you text me tomorrow, I'll reply as soon as I can."

"Will you be busy because of work?" Baekhyun asks softly, wiping his eyes on his sheets. "Is that why you can't talk to me?"

"Yeah... We have training all day. New equipment is coming in so we have to get those in check."

Baekhyun doesn't buy it but what other choice does he have?

It's late— for Chanyeol, that is.

He needs to stop bothering him.

"Alright... Um, I'll let you sleep. Good-night. I'm sorry again. I hope you forgive me... I know you'd never cheat. It's just that I'm really— I'm all over the place. I just want us to be okay."

"I think we're okay," Chanyeol says, assuring him. "Try not to worry about it too much... We'll talk soon."

"Bye. I love you."

"Love you, runt. See you soon."

When Chanyeol hangs up, Baekhyun puts his phone down on the bed and rolls over, shoving his face in his pillow.

He just made a friggin' fool out of himself.

And they won't Skype until Friday, which even more.

Fudge. Fudge. Fudge.

 

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Chanyeol looks at his phone before Junmyeon calling his name brings him back to reality.

Standing by the private jet, Junmyeon's waving his arms, gesturing to the stairs. "Any time now, loser?"

From inside the jet, Jinah yells, "Myeonnie, where are my M&Ms!"

"Ask the stewardess!" Still, Junmyeon stomps up the stairs and enters the jet first.

Chanyeol exhales, looking up at the sky. It's going to be a long ing flight.

 

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A/n: ok but there's more surprise later

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