Baekhyun opens his eyes in the not so bright sunrays brushing against his skin. The first initial thing he did was to roam around the room seeing nothing but his unmoved pieces of furniture and peaceful area. No spirits found anywhere in the corner of his unit. A hint of disappointment exploded in his mind.

“I’m pretty sure he’s real now,” Baekhyun tells himself as he flipped his scrambled eggs on the greasy pan. He already washed his face and has thrown on his school uniform yet no ghost was seen lurking inside his apartment. He frowns. He was happy last night with the idea of spending breakfast finally with someone, but it looks like it will be impossible for now.

Not until his doorbell buzzed. He was delighted with the idea of Chanyeol standing in front of his apartment, yet his expectations immediately fell after realizing that what he’s thinking of is a ghost. And ghosts don’t use doorbells.

“Heyaaah!!!” A loud cheerful voice echoed in Baekhyun’s unit the moment he opened the door. It revealed Sehun in his winter clothes and uniform under it. The sunlight hit against his back, adding brightness to his jolly attitude. His nose, cheeks, and lips are red due to the coldness of the winter morning. He held one of his hands up wherein a black plastic bag hangs. “I brought breakfast!”

Without a word, he stepped his foot inside Baekhyun’s unit and quickly removed his sneakers. Baekhyun tsk-ed upon seeing his shoes. Sehun never really liked wearing black leather shoes even if it’s a school requirement because he always prioritizes fashion first before the school rules.

“Where’s your black leather shoes?” Baekhyun questioned although he already know the answer.

“Never had one,” Sehun replied while busying himself taking the Tupperware’s out of the plastic bag. “Come on, let’s eat! I made these.”

Baekhyun grimaced upon learning that it was his best friend’s masterpiece. He knows how bad Sehun is at cooking and the idea of eating the food his best friend made is making him hesitate. But because the lad has put an effort to it, might at least show his gratitude by eating it since he doesn’t want to hurt his best friend.

Sehun excitedly gestured Baekhyun to come and sit beside him after he finished preparing the food. His smile is still painted on his face. “Why bother making scrambled eggs when we can have these bacon and eggs ala Sehun.”

Baekhyun just watched his best friend put dishes on his tiny plate. The food looks good though. The male was expecting burnt food, but he think Sehun has improved a little.

“I practiced a lot,” the other male confesses, answering the unasked queries playing inside the Baekhyun’s mind. He looked at his friend and beamed, and went back to putting foods on Baekhyun’s plate. “It won’t taste as good as you expect.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not expecting too much,” Baekhyun teased, earning a pout from the bubbly guy.

“That’s mean!” said Sehun with his lips puckered. “I exerted a lot of effort here!”

Baekhyun laughed a little, but as soon as he noticed the panda-printed band aids around his best friend’s pretty fingers, his glee changed into scowl. The crease on his brows deepened as he held unto his best friend’s hands. Panic rushed over Sehun’s system the moment Baekhyun found out the small injuries he got from trying to cook. He gulped upon meeting his best friend’s glare.

“You injured yourself from trying to cook?” he asked. Sehun cannot lie to his best friend. He knows that even if he tries, he’s going to get caught anyways. So he just chose to look away. “I told you, Sehun. You don’t have to—”

Sehun was quick enough to hold up a pair of chopsticks to his best friend’s lips, stopping from nagging. He grinned. “Ok, mom. Just at least try taking a bite of my dishes?”

Their eye contact lasted for a bit and Baekhyun broke it off with a smile. “Okay fine.”

The food Sehun cooked wasn’t that bad actually. Compared to Baekhyun’s cooking, his best friend obviously improved better. Baekhyun never really liked cooking, and Sehun is aware of that. That’s why as much as possible, he’s learning to do it for his best friend.

The two best friends were walking down the streets on their way to school since they think they need to warm up their bodies from their meal. That’s the scenery Chanyeol saw the moment he returned from Suho’s place.

If it was a normal day, Chanyeol woud be pissed off seeing Baekhyun together with his best friend. But since the spirit’s mind is worried about what his senior told him, he can’t help but to look at the glee in Baekhyun’s eyes and the smile on his lips.

He’s bound to die soon…

Chanyeol thinks, if he can’t avoid death, then Chanyeol himself will avoid him. It may or may night work, but he’s willing to do it. He’ll do everything to stop their fate from happening. He can’t afford to see someone innocent die for him. He is not worthy.

The tall spirit stood by the distance, his gap between the two mortals is increasing as they take steps away from him. Something in his glowing chest felt strange. It was aching figuratively, like he’s hurt seeing Sehun and Baekhyun bond with each other.

Baekhyun might be seen giggling on the outside while playing with Sehun as they journey to their school but in the back of his head, Chanyeol was filling up his mind. Where is that ghost again? Baekhyun can’t keep himself from thinking.

He is actually wondering where a ghost would go to. The teenager thinks maybe Chanyeol is using his perks of being unseen to peek at girls’ comfort room or so. He frowns with the idea. Chanyeol kissed him, he’s is totally gay.

But what if he’s peeking on the boys’ restrooms? Baekhyun shook his head vigorously.

“You okay, Byun?” Sehun asks, worried after his best friend went quiet for some seconds. Baekhyun nods and continued walking. The frown on his face is still there.

Where is Park Chanyeol?

The worry Baekhyun felt about school disappeared in an instance. He was busy the whole day. He had stuff to do as secretary of the student council, especially that their entrepreneurship day is about to come. They only have three weeks left before the big event so everyone is occupied with their own works.

Baekhyun’s promise to Sehun about them eating lunch together wasn’t also fulfilled by the secretary because he had to skip it in order to finish the tasks he needs for their meeting tomorrow. His tasks were actually already completed but since they need to finish everything faster, being the reliable student he is, Baekhyun volunteered to help the others.

It was late when Baekhyun finished. The moon is already up, and the school was more at peace. Sehun could’ve driven them both back at home, but since his best friend has soccer training on the afternoon, he won’t be able to do so even if he badly want to. Baekhyun didn’t mind, actually. This is in fact what he likes. He can’t depend on Sehun forever.

 Baekhyun sighed in exhaustion the moment he stepped on the bus stop. The only company he has was the light coming from its roof that was enough to brighten up the whole shed. Now that his mind is not occupied anymore, the thought of Chanyeol started eating him again. The spirit never actually left his mind; it was just the school works that helped him not think about the giant so much.

The silence inside the moving vehicle where Baekhyun currently rides was not helping him from drowning on the sea of his thoughts. His mind was inconsistent. One second he thinks about Chanyeol, next he’s thinking about how his life is.

These past few days, it has been hard for the nineteen year old to wake up in the morning knowing that he’ll face the same routine he does every day. It’s always been the same life, same feelings, and same struggle. He is tired.

Baekhyun leans on the glass window, not minding anymore how he looks like for the people from the outside can see. He just wanted to at least rest.

The bus speeds up upon arriving at the high way. The road became broader and sometime soon Baekhyun has to leave the transport and walk his way home. As the scenery outside the glass of his windows pass by in a blur, Baekhyun caught a sight of the park where he almost spent the night once. It was a quick second but a lot of flashbacks played on his mind.

Chanyeol…

Everyone inside the vehicle was tired. There are at least fifteen people in here. Even the bus driver looks tired and just wanted to go home. Baekhyun can see that with how he speeds up the bus. The nineteen year old gulps the moment he saw the orange traffic sign lit up and the vehicle isn’t slowing down. He thinks the bus driver is about to beat the red light.

It was quick. The driver was too late to notice the red light popping, and the cars on the other side of the intersection started speeding up too.

Baekhyun just gripped on his seat, closed his eyes, and wait for everything to just happen.

But before the teenager lost his consciousness from bumping his head on the hard ceiling of the bus, a pair of large arms enveloped him.

There were no tears to summon him, but Baekhyun was sure of who hugged him.

And he felt safe.

Baekhyun wakes up in the hospital. His head is aching due to the impact left from hitting the ceiling of the bus. He squinted as he tries to adapt the blinding light coming from the high ceilings of the emergency room. He’s still wearing his uniforms, only without his coat and his buttons loosened to help him to breathe properly. His arm is injected and is connected to the dextrose swinging beside him. 

He doesn’t know if it’s his fuzzy vision that is tricking his eyes, but he swear he can somewhat see Chanyeol standing below him.

“C-Chanyeol?” he whispers, his throat still adjusting from not speaking for a long time.

“Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun’s eyes finally recovered from sleeping for almost how many hours. He quickly turned to look at the person beside him. It was Sehun and he looked really worried. A hint of disappointment hit his chest, especially when he looked at where he saw Chanyeol again and sees nothing.

“Damn, I was so worried,” Sehun exclaimed with relief, completely forgetting the name he heard coming out of his best friend’s mouth. He immediately checked the smaller male. “Wait, I’m going to call the nurse.”

Sehun went off in no time. Baekhyun was left alone yet he believed he isn’t. He continues to look around as he sits up from his bed. Dizzy, he shuts his eyes. The impact he got from the accident is not really that bad compared to the others. Besides the stinging pain he feels on his forehead, he feels fine.

Whatever pain he’s feeling, that didn’t stop the patient to continue searching for the ghost that has been running in his mind for the past hours, even before the incident. Baekhyun knows what happened. He knows what it felt. The arms who embraced him during the accident were real. He is sure of it.

But, where is he? Baekhyun can’t think of any reasons why Chanyeol has to hide. Now with his aching head, he continues to worry about what could’ve happened to his new found friend.

Sehun arrived with the nurse following him. She checked Baekhyun and was really impressed with how little his injuries are, especially from the impact the bus had. The accident occurred on the front part of the bus, where Baekhyun is sitting near. The nurse remarked that it is a miracle someone could have survived the impact.

The moment the nurse said those words, Baekhyun was sure someone saved him. And there is only one person—or a spirit rather, that he suspects who’s able to do that.