Baekhyun taps his fingers on the window sill impatiently keeping both eyes trained on the snowy ground below him and both ears towards his bedroom door. He can hear his mother taunt his father for his ridiculous outfit to which he lightly grunts like he always does.

       Then, Baekhyun hears the light click of the door and harsh shadows against the pearl white snow outside as both his parents leave off to tend to their work.

Immediately, he s his good leg forward and lunges at his crutch leaning on the side of his wardrobe. Its grip has worn off from the number of times he’s run off without his parents knowing. He's been sneaky about it, but he knows one of the maids are sure to find out.

      Skipping two steps at a time, he lunged from the staircase to the front entrance, where he pulled over a large fur cloak. It was leopard skinned, courtesy of his mother. It was far too large for 16 -year-old like himself, but he knew his own peacoat couldn’t withstand the harsh winters of this northern town.

       “Oh no, you don't!” The maid rushed from the top of the stairs behind him. Hoping to stop him, her face dropped when she saw Baekhyun was already out the door.

      He ran the best he could despite the long coat dragging on to the snow. Keeping his crutch above his head his teeth were clenched from the crawling pain in his limp leg. He turned back mid-dash to throw a mischievous grin towards the maid. She held her fist up in anger knowing Baekhyun had won.

      “You're parents will hear about this!” Her voice yelled from a distance.

       WIth her voice fading in the distance, he finally slows down.

        Legs cramped and frozen, he padded out of the deep snow into a cobblestone street.

        Without second thought he doesn't realize the mess of marbles (presumably children had been playing with) splattered over the ground. Incidentally, he falls flat on his face, painfully clutching on his left leg.

        “Are you alright?”

       Baekhyun's eyes slowly gaze up at the voice of a boy though it was quite deep. Standing tall and high he covers the blaring white sun.

        “I'm fine.” Baekhyun brushes off, holding his palm to the ground for support. 

         He lifts himself up no problem after having fallen over just like many times before. Thought, he must admit his leg hurt.

    The stranger looks at Baekhyun curiously. He has brown wavy hair, large eyes for an Asian and was gifted in height. He may have been Baekhyun’s age if it weren’t for his cowering long legs. He had on a mid-thigh long trench coat.

“You don’t look familiar. Do you live around here?” The boy asks, smirking at Baekhyun’s long leopard trench coat.

“No, I don’t”

“A traveller?”

“Yes,” Baekhyun immediatley agreed with the statement. 

“Your coat is quite…interesting.”       

“Will you continue to pester me or may I be left alone.” Baekhyun hissed.

“Alright tiny, I’ll leave you be. But... my mother always said when there is a guest in the village to offer them tea.” The stranger shrugs.

Baekhyun sighs, looking back at his house which seemed so far now. He looked at the stranger again noticing a small upturn of his mouth. A challenging smirk.

A cup of tea couldn’t hurt on this cold winter day.

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The strangers name was Chanyeol. He lived with his younger sister whom was under his provision while his dad had left to serve in the military. They had a tiny house off the town where you could see a frozen lake in their backyard. The house had a warm fireplace and creaking wooden floors. It wasn't compairible in size to Baekyun's mansion, but what was a mansion if there were no people. 

“I prefer green tea. I would offer you others, but I don’t have any other kind of tea. War rations as you know.” He remarks the last part of the sentence meekly.

“I’ll take anything. You’re sister, where is she?”

Chanyeol walked to the start of the staircase and called, “Sooyoung! We have a guest!”

Then, he moved back into the kitchen, boiling water ready to be poured into cups.

“Who is it? Is it father- oh.” A girl, maybe three or four years younger than Baekhyun came rushing down the stairs.

Her expression became polite. She bowed and said a small greeting, puzzled at Baekhyun’s coat that he was still wearing.

She too, looked like Chanyeol. Had long legs and large eyes. The only difference was that her hair was jet black. 

“It’s nice to meet you…” Baekhyun waited to hear her name again.

“I find it ridiculous how many strangers you manage to bring into the house every day, Chanyeol. I’m sorry for whatever annoyance my brother had caused you. He’s just been bored out of his mind since all his friends-”

“That's enough Sooyoung!” Chanyeol walked into the family room holding a tray steaming hot tea.

Although Baekhyun was very curious to what the girl had to say his eyes grew large at the tea. He downed it one go, his body immediately warming up. Meanwhile, Sooyoung had decided to play in the snow while she left her brother alone with ‘another stranger’.

“You aren’t a traveller are you?” Chanyeol surmised.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. Was he a bad liar?

“It’s the coat, isn’t it?” Baekhyun pointed out.

The leapord printed coat didn't exactly scream efficent. 

Chanyeol deeply chuckled, “That and...you don’t see many travellers with a limp.”

Baekhyun instinctively looked down at his left calf covered by his soaked pants. It felt numb from the snow. But the warm fire felt nice upon it.

It made him slightly self-counscious that someone had taken notice of his limp.  He wasn't one to talk about his disability so, he brushed it off. 

“The tea was excellent.” Baekhyun ignored the statement

“It was my pleasure, tiny.” He winked.

“I am not that short.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

“Well, maybe not. How old are you?”

“Sixteen, I presume you’re older?”

Chanyeol half-smiled, “I suppose.”

“So what? I answer your questions and you don’t answer mine?”

Chanyeol swiftly took Baekhyun’s cup placing it back on the tray. He disappeared into the kitchen, leaving his guest to look around the house.

Baekhyun found himself gazing at the family photos over the fireplace. It had Sooyoung in it, though she only looked like a toddler and Chanyeol who looked just as tall as now. Behind them was a lady. She was elegant and slim. While her children looked to be goofing around the photo, this mother held a certain poise, like a ballerina.

“That's my mother.”

“Oh?” Baekhyun looked closer at the picture, noticing her large eyes. The ones Chanyeol had inherited.

“She died in the war, a few year back.”

Baekhyun froze, not expecting that. 

“She pursued military medicine, died in action. After she died and father went to war, I had to take care of the family.”

Baekhyun looked back and saw Chanyeol come in with a tray of biscuits this time.

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun looked down.

“Would you like some biscuits?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Baekhyun smiled.

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Time passed too quickly. Before he knew it, Baekhyun saw the sun fall into the horizon signaling his parents return. They had forbid him from leaving the house so it was important to be back home before they arrived. They came back at night, but Baekhyun's limp made him slower than the average person.

“It was nice meeting you, Chanyeol. I really need to get going,”

“Let me walk you,” Chanyeol insisted.

“I’ll be fine,” Baekhyun waved in protest.

The sun outside was golden. When Chanyeol walked out with him, his eyes glittered with specks of yellow and his hair blew in the chilly wind. Baekhyun found himself staring.

“You don’t happen to have…” Baekhyun fiddled with his crutch.

“A telephone? No, but I do check the mail every day.” Chanyeol smiled.

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That night, Baekhyun woke out of a chilling nightmare.

Let me go! Let me go! He heard himself yell, but it wasn’t loud enough, no one could hear him.

“We’re doing this for your own good dear,” He heard woman's voice this time

There was a low grunt but that's all he heard after he felt excruciating pain enter his body. It felt like someone had lit 10,000 cigarettes and placed them on his left leg. He screamed in pain. Bellowing angrily for help. All he could see were the woman’s eyes that turned a crimson red. As she continued to torture Baekhyun until he passed out into the darkness.

He woke up in a cold sweat. The sheets were soaked and his pajamas felt uncomfortable.

Limping over to the bathroom without his crutch was difficult, but he managed to splash his face with cold water. He could feel warm tears trail down his face against his cold skin. He didn’t choke or let out a voice when he cried, only silently let salty tears run down.

He gulped down a cry before limping back to his bedroom, slowly sitting down on his desk. He pulled out some parchment and retrieved his ink and fountain pen.

Forgetting about his dream, he decided to write Chanyeol a letter. 

Dear, Chanyeol,

I'd like to thank you for the tea and for the company. I had a wonderful time. I was hoping maybe we could meet again? If it isn't too much trouble for you?  I've been very eager to meet new friends and since I have found one. I can't let it go to waste. I am quite lonely at home-

Baekhyun paused for a moment, staring at his last words. He sounded desperate if anything. He should probably leave out that he felt lonely.

   -i hope to hear from you soon. He wrote instead

   Sincerely, Baekhyun