`01/01.

 

Present Day

 

There was a small yellow sticky note pasted on a particular page of Baekhyun’s English textbook which he’d just noticed. Baekhyun blinked his eyes softly and paused for a moment just to take a brief moment to stare at the note. He wasn’t too sure who had left it there but one thing for sure, it was another love note that he’d received for the past few months since he’d moved in to the new high school. He didn’t even bother to give it a read and swiftly pulled the note out from the page just to crumple and toss it to the floor.

 

The girl sitting behind him was taken aback by his action when she witnessed the sticky note being crumpled and tossed before her eyes. was agape and there were no words that she could utter past her tongue. She held herself back from crying because she was the one to leave the note in Baekhyun’s textbook but unfortunately, the message wasn’t even being delivered to him. He didn’t care to read the message she intended to tell him.

 

It was 1pm and the school bell had finally rung. It indicated that school time was over, and Baekhyun quickly closed his textbook and packed his stuffs before shoving all of them inside his bag. He was late for his Taekwondo practice and he didn’t want his personal trainer to be scolding him for the silly mistake that he did. In his head, he wanted to thrive well in his Taekwondo competition in the upcoming weeks.

 

Baekhyun was described to be the famous student in the school despite him being new who had just moved in for the past few months. He was tall and charming and no girls in the school wouldn’t fall for his presence. His aura alone could make someone swoon. He never smiled and nobody had ever witnessed that before and if somebody did, it would be once in the blue moon. Some said his parents were divorced while some even thought that he was never friendly in the first place. At the same time, of course, there were many speculations and rumors that were spread around in the school about him made by the girls that he turned down.

 

It was like a perfect portrait people created of him; the expectations made by everyone in school including the teachers. He was honestly exhausted, and nobody even knew what he’d been going through behind the smile he’d kept hidden for years. How he wished it was never a thing in the first place, but he had to finish what he had started anyway.

 

The moment when he stepped inside the locker room to get changed, all the lights went off. He could barely see things around him in the dark place he was in and it took him by a slight surprise. He looked over his shoulder just to look for something to pass by the door but there was no sign of anyone.

 

“Is anyone there?” He questioned in a stern, steady voice. He didn’t let the fear to take a full control of his whole body including his voice. He tried to stay calm and took a few small steps towards the door.

 

“Baekhyun?” A voice said.

 

The lights went back to normal and Baekhyun was seen standing near to the main door. It was one of his friends that he was close with, Chanyeol. He was involved in the same program, Taekwondo and had been practicing with him for months. They became close ever since they first met in the very same room and people in school called them as the “School Gods”.

 

Chanyeol was no different than Baekhyun. He was popular way before Baekhyun moved in since he was everyone’s favorite in the school. He was also the school president who was both successful in academic and sports. All the teachers in school knew him since he was the principle’s only son but that remained as a secret to all students in the school because Chanyeol thought it would cause a chaos. However, the only person in the school who knew about it other than the teachers was Baekhyun since Chanyeol trusted him more than anyone else. With that being sad, Baekhyun was holding the biggest secret about Chanyeol and he too was holding the biggest secret about Baekhyun that nobody wished to hear it.

 

“What happened?” Baekhyun inquired and let out a heavy sigh when he saw Chanyeol standing right in front of him. He seemed like he was about to lose himself when he thought he was locked in the room with no electricity but thank goodness that Chanyeol came to rescue his because otherwise, he’d end up starving to death until the next morning since everyone had rushed back home from school.

 

Chanyeol gave a short shrug and walked towards Baekhyun just to place his palm over his shoulder, “Relax. I guess the school didn’t even bother to pay the bills, you know. The school.” Both of them then snickered when he was trying to emphasize on the word ‘the school’, hinting at the latter that his father would probably have forgotten to pay it. “Trust me, I was here before you and I was showering until the electricity went off.”

 

“That explains you being all shirtless. You even forgot to put your shirt on.” Baekhyun almost laughed at it and he pushed Chanyeol’s hand playfully just to walk towards his own locker to get changed.

 

“Is Mr. Kang here yet?” Baekhyun asked the latter as he started to his school uniform with his head slightly dipped downwards.

 

Chanyeol hummed softly, his slender digits tapped against his lower lip as he was trying to recall the last message Mr. Kang gave him. “I guess he’ll be here but as far as I know, he’s running late. Family issues he said.”

 

“Oh, alright then. I’m just going to get changed and we both shall wait for him in the practice room,” Baekhyun responded. “Hm?” He then shifted his gaze towards the other’s direction with his eyebrow furrowed slightly. “Aren’t you going to put any shirt on or are you expecting to practice shirtless?” He teased.

 

“Right. I should probably get the uniform and put it on, of course,” Chanyeol snorted. “I know you’re just jealous of my physique, admit it.”

 

Baekhyun almost winced at the remark his best friend had just made. “Are you kidding me? We both did agree on me being the iest one between us both. Don’t you forget about that, brother.” He then closed the locker and walked into the practice room to get ready.

 

“Whatever floats your boat~” The shorter male cooed and walked to get his Taekwondo uniform to be put on.

 

While waiting for their personal trainer to come, Baekhyun started to notice some heavy sighs leaving Chanyeol’s lips as both of them had to wait for Mr. Kang to arrive. He was never late, and it was really odd to wait for him because most of the time, he was the one to wait for both of them. Chanyeol got bored easily and he honestly disliked waiting. It was like one of his pet peeves having to wait for someone and it started to get on his nerves. He couldn’t stand still, and Baekhyun knew that it would happen because they had been waiting for Mr. Kang for almost 20 minutes.

“You know what? We should do something.” Baekhyun sat straight and looked right in the shorter male’s eyes with the corner of his lips curled in a smirk. He tried his best to make sure that Chanyeol wouldn’t be bored because he hated seeing him that way.

 

“What is it—” suddenly Chanyeol’s phone beeped when he was about to finish his sentence. He looked over his phone just to notice that a message was sent to him by no other but his father. “One moment.” Chanyeol paused the taller male and got up from the floor just to straight away give his father a phone call.

 

Something was up and Chanyeol had to call his father before anything became any worse. Chanyeol left the place and Baekhyun was left alone in the room, waiting for the latter to be done with the conversation he’s having with his father. He knew that things weren’t right, and it somehow made him feel anxious about it.

 

“Anything went wrong?” Chanyeol asked over the phone when his father picked up the call. His voice was low but stern when he threw the question to his father because both of them rarely had any conversation unless something serious came up.

 

His father, Principle Park, didn’t even bother to utter any words for a few seconds until a sigh was heard. “Mr. Kang…”

 

“What’s wrong with him?” He asked. His eyes squinted slightly as he started to get worried by the long pause after his personal trainer’s name was mentioned. He was starting to get anxious over the long pause and again, he disliked waiting and with his father holding back his words about Mr. Kang didn’t even make him feel good about it either. 

 

“He’s dead.”

 

“W- wait what? Mr. Kang?”

 

“I want you to come back home now. The police have just found him in the bushes near our school’s field a few minutes ago,” Principle Park let out another sigh. “Just come back home now, you understand?” And the phone call was ended abruptly.

 

Chanyeol was speechless after the conversation he had with his dad ended right away. He quickly went back inside the training room and walked towards Baekhyun. “Baekhyun ah…”

 

“Huh?” Baekhyun blinked his eyes when he saw the sudden change in Chanyeol’s facial expression after the phone call. He quickly got up just to wrap the shorter’s arm around his shoulders to support his weight. “Are you okay? What happened?” Baekhyun asked.

 

“Mr. Kang… he’s d- dead.” Baekhyun responded with stutters. He was still in denial and shock when he received the call from his father regarding his personal trainer’s passing. He wasn’t expecting that to come since he’d always been close with him since he entered the school since day 1. He’d been such a great trainer to him and had been helping him out for his Taekwondo competitions for the past few years.

 

And now, everything had come to an end where he could never even bid him a last goodbye when he took his last breath. Chanyeol had treated Mr. Kang like his own father despite him being all strict and stern as a person. However, every time they had finished their training session, Mr. Kang was such a nice person to be around with.

 

“M- Mr. Kang?” Baekhyun’s eyes slowly widened in surprise when those words left Chanyeol’s lips. Baekhyun was too in disbelief when he found out that their personal trainer had left them both.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

The funeral was attended by many people including the people from the school and the principle himself. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were both in a black tuxedo, black slack pants and black leather shoes standing right in front of the coffin while mourning over their personal trainer’s sudden death that shocked the whole school, especially both of the boys. Baekhyun placed a palm over his shoulder and Chanyeol turned around to bury his face into his shoulder to muffle his cries. He couldn’t contain his overwhelmed feelings he had inside him when he got to witness the body of his personal trainer he’d known for years, no longer breathing and was brutally stabbed in the chest for 15 times.

 

“Chanyeol, are you okay?” Baekhyun asked as he slowly placed both of his hands against his two cheeks, cupping them gently just to make him look into his eyes. “I’m worried about you.” Baekhyun snorted for a few times afterwards as he was sobbing over their personal trainer’s death. His voice became unclear after all the sobbing going on and same went to Chanyeol, but worse.

 

“I’m going to be alright.” He replied before he moved his gaze towards the other direction where he noticed a few cops were nearing his father. “Huh?”

 

Baekhyun then turned his head around slightly to look at the same direction Chanyeol was looking at. The cops were seen to be interrogating Chanyeol’s father some questions before they pulled out a pair of metal handcuffs and secured both of Principle Park’s wrists with them.

 

“Dad? Dad! What happened?” he shouted from afar as he ran towards the said direction. “Mr., why are you arresting my father? This is bull!” Chanyeol held one of the cops’ arm as they brought Principle Park towards the car.

 

“Your father’s found guilty over Mr. Kang’s death. It was said that he was the one who planned the murder due to the fact that Mr. Kang knew about your father’s allegations on misappropriate of the school’s fund. He threatened him not to tell people about it or he would kill him but Mr. Kang, well, he didn’t want to keep quiet about it.”

 

Chanyeol’s eyes were wide when the explanation was made by one of the cops to him. His father didn’t say any single word and got inside the car as escorted by the two cops. He stood still and watched his father being arrested. The teachers and the students who witnessed the scene were starting to talk about it with each other silently.

 

Baekhyun quickly walked towards Chanyeol and placed his palm over Chanyeol’s shoulder. “Are you okay?” Baekhyun was worried about the thing which could affect Chanyeol’s feelings. He was too afraid to say a word because he wouldn’t know if any of it might hurt or offend Chanyeol, so he remained quiet for most of the time.

 

“I guess I need some time alone.”

 

Ever since the day took place in Chanyeol’s life, it had become another episode of his many nightmares that never failed to haunt him in his sleeps. He didn’t bother to attend school for a few days after the incident happened as he needed some time to be alone thinking about it.

 

After all, the news about his father being the mastermind behind the murder was turned out to be true. His father had been funneling the money out from the school’s account into his own. The only person who happened to know about it was Mr. Kang who accidentally happened to overhear the conversation between Principle Park and some guy. Knowing that Mr. Kang wouldn’t keep quiet about it, he threatened to lodge a police report on it, but his father had decided to take his life before he could even do that.

 

The whole timeline was explained in every media that existed in South Korea. Everyone acknowledged about it and some even left comments on Principle Park. Chanyeol couldn’t believe that he had to know the other side of his own father through somebody else. The other side he wished to never acknowledge in the first place that lied under that mask. It all came down eventually and he tried his best to accept it.

 

Even though it was difficult at first, he thought that his father deserved the repercussions. He knew that he was at fault for funneling the money into his own account. Everything was a lie in the first place and knowing his father the best, he wasn’t too surprised of the thing he’d done.

 

Both of his parents were divorced when Chanyeol was 9 and it affected him a lot after since his mother left home. He was the only son in his family and his relationship with his father wasn’t that good either. Principle Park was too busy with his work which left him all alone with his babysitter most of the time at home. He would spend less than an hour with him but that was it. The affection he’d been receiving was lacking and he was feeling lonely most of the time until he promised not to open up to anyone.

 

Until Baekhyun came into his life and changed it. He thought Baekhyun was the only person whom he could trust since they both held each other’s secrets that nobody else knew. Since then, they spent most of their time together even after their training period and school hours. Sometimes, Chanyeol would ask him to come over to his place to play games and whatnot. Do whatever he felt like doing.

 

But then he realized after the incident had affected his life slightly, he’d been ignoring Baekhyun for the past few days. He felt extremely bad about it when he ignored his own close friend who cared about him the whole time, so he decided to make it up for both of them tonight by asking him to come over to his place.

 

“Are you free tonight? Do you want to come over and accompany me?” Chanyeol sent the message

 

“Yeah I guess so. Just going to run some errands and I’ll come over right away.” Replied Baekhyun.

 

 

When the night came, Baekhyun pressed the door bell and Chanyeol quickly opened the door for him. “Come in.” Chanyeol stepped aside and allowed some room for Baekhyun to step inside. Baekhyun then took off his shoes and walked in as gestured before placing his bag on one of the dining chairs.

 

“Are you feeling better after ignoring me for days?” Baekhyun joked.

 

Chanyeol blew an air in his bangs, pretending to be annoyed by the taller male’s remarks. “Yeah, way better. I thought you gave up after two days of me ignoring you, but I was wrong.” The raven-haired male chuckled softly as he walked towards the kitchen to get both of them some glasses of water.

 

“Right. I will never give up on you, honestly. You do know that right? I never care about people in school except for you. I even rejected everyone’s confessions because I care about my best friend here. I would only accept a confession by someone if you got one!”

 

“Silly.” Chanyeol shook his head, arm extended out to hand the other a glass of cold water. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

 

“Whatever floats your boat~” Baekhyun imitated the other’s sentence which he’d been using at him and it somehow made Chanyeol to let another laugh past his lips. He then grabbed Baekhyun’s wrist and pulled him by the arm towards the sofa at the living room.

 

“You know what, I feel like watching something funny.” Chanyeol muttered lowly as he threw Baekhyun into the sofa with a smirk lingering in the corner of his lips.

 

“Wow, easy wild tiger. First of all, what’s with the smirk?” Baekhyun shook his head lightly and quickly sat straight to allow some space for the other to sit.

 

Chanyeol snorted and sat himself down next to Baekhyun, humming lowly. “I don’t know. Your choice maybe?” He looked at the taller and handed him the remote control.

 

“My Friend Dahmer?” Baekhyun suggested.

 

The other nodded his head with a smile on his face. “A good choice. I get to watch this thanks to you being here. I wouldn’t be watch it if I were alone anyway. I’m a scaredy cat.”

 

Baekhyun then decided to lie down on Chanyeol’s thighs and reached for his hand. He slowly inserted his digits with Chanyeol’s and smiled. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be alright.”

 

“Everything’s alright thanks to you. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”

 

“It’s like killing a bird with two stones. I killed Mr. Kang and put your dad in jail just for you.” Baekhyun said with a smile evident on his lips.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Baekhyun’s Secrets

 

Nobody knew behind the reason to why Baekhyun moved to a new school. Some said that he was from Daegu while some said he somewhere from Jeju. Some girls that had a crush on him did some background check on him but unfortunately, there was nothing about him. Of course, they were too curious to know about the charming prince’s story, so they went to dig his past. Too bad, there was nothing interesting.

 

Baekhyun never opened up about his life to people except for his only close friend, Chanyeol whom he met during Taekwondo practice. He found that both of them shared a lot of things in common especially the part where they participated in Taekwondo competitions. Baekhyun thought it was a good chance for him to do well in Taekwondo since he found that the skills were required in order for him to protect himself. Besides, he started to take Taekwondo classes when he was in elementary school after the incident where he got bullied by some jerks for befriending the girls. Personally, Baekhyun felt more comfortable opening up to his female friends but after the incident happened, he hated girls and basically everyone in the world.

 

Baekhyun hated women more than anything in this world.

 

At the age of 14

 

Baekhyun had a little brother, Baekjin who was mute. Baekjin was loved by both of his parents and all attention went to him since he was the youngest and also required more attention than Baekhyun. He didn’t find it a problem in that because he too loved his brother as much as his parents did. He was an understanding person as a whole and always paid attention to Baekjin.

 

One day, while Baekhyun was coming back home from school, a group of the guys that used to harass him in the elementary school showed up in front of his house. It had been a year since all of them had left elementary school and Baekhyun never expected to see them again. The worst case was that all of them were standing right in front of his house.

 

“W- What are you doing here?” Baekhyun inquired in a low voice, some stutters were heard in his sentence when he was throwing the question towards them. He could feel his lips trembling in complete fear when he had to confront his bullies after a year of not seeing each other.

 

One of the bullies snorted. “We know what you did to us in the elementary school. You reported us to the teachers about you being bullied, huh?”

 

“We got suspended a year thanks to you and now we’re still stuck in the elementary school.” Another guy added.

 

Truthfully, Baekhyun didn’t know about the actual thing. Even though he acknowledged about them being away from school for quite some time, he was never too sure about the reason behind it. He thought that the teachers knew about the bully case and hence suspended them all from school. He was just relieved after what had happened that he didn’t even bother to care.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Baekhyun muttered lowly and stepped aside with his arm extended out to point to the other side. “I want you to leave now.”

 

“You know, you’re going to regret this.” The leader that led the gang said before he beckoned the others to follow him and leave the place as asked.

 

Baekhyun watched them walk away from the place and a wince was evident on his face the moment when they had completely left the neighborhood. The flashbacks of the past started to play before his eyes, and he felt like puking without no reason. He tried his best to efface those bad memories but at the moment, it was too much for him to handle so he quickly went inside and straight away went into his room with the door shut behind him.

 

His parents were away at that time, working while Baekjin was at school still. In Baekjin’s case, his parents would pick him up around 6 since both of them ended their work around the said time. They didn’t let him to stay at home alone because sometimes Baekhyun wasn’t around to keep his eyes on him due to some extra classes he had to attend.

 

Baekhyun laid down in his back, both of his arms were placed against his clothed chest as he stared into the ceiling. He had so many thoughts and questions in his head. So many whys that remained unanswered and it drained his energy.

 

“ this, how do I face them that they’re still after me?” Baekhyun was anxious as he laid there in his bed thinking of the possible things to avoid them until he heard a knock against his door.

 

“Baekhyun? You’re home?” His mother asked behind the door.

 

Baekhyun sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes gently, pretending to have just woke up from his supposed nap he usually did every time he got back home from extra classes. “Yeah, I’m home.”

 

“Good, may I come in?”

 

“Yeah.” He replied coldly.

 

The door was slowly opened, and he saw his mother was standing in front of his room with a letter in her hand. “I got an invitation to attend a dinner with your dad. Will you take a look after your brother? We won’t be late, I promise.”

 

“Invitation?”

 

“Yes, it seems like we are asked to attend this dinner at your elementary school. It says that it’s a reunion for the parents of your batch.” She said as she handed the letter to Baekhyun.

 

“Why would they invite the parents of my batch specifically?” Baekhyun had his eyebrow furrowed slightly as he scanned through the details on the letter, but he didn’t bother about it and just handed it back to her. “I guess you should just go since the school asked you to. I don’t even bother to go there since I am no longer attending the school.”

 

“Alright then. It’s kind of weird too that the letter came in late.” She chuckled lowly. “I am going to get prepared. Dinner’s downstairs so make sure you and your brother eat. I don’t want both of you to complain some sort of gastric or something afterwards.”

 

“Alright,” Baekhyun replied and threw his head against the pillow, sighing. “I wonder what I’ll be eating tonight.” He paused for a moment before he got up and left the room to go downstairs.

 

“Baekhyun, your brother wants to eat with you. We’re running late now.” Mrs. Baek was holding Baekjin’s hand as she walked downstairs along with him.

 

“Be a good brother, yeah. We won’t be late.” Mr. Baek added as he grabbed his keys along with him.

 

“Okay.” Baekhyun yawned and sat his little brother in the dining chair.

 

“Don’t forget to consume your pills too. I don’t want you to fall sick. You look sick.” His mother frowned and left the house along with her husband.

 

Baekhyun looked at the clock and hummed softly. “I think I should.” He thought to himself before getting up from the dining chair just to grab the pills from the counter. “Does my little brother need anything? Your hyung here is feeling under the weather after what happened today.”

 

His little brother was looking at him and just smiled. He pulled the drawing pad he had with him and wrote something on it. It said, “I want hyung to be with me forever.”

 

Baekhyun paused from grabbing the pills and looked over his shoulder to read the message that his brother wrote. “Hmm, really do you?”

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“Here, your food,” Baekhyun placed a plate of chicken chop on the table in front of his little brother with a smile evident on his face. “Your favorite.”

 

Baekjin looked at the plate and smiled widely. It was his favorite dish and Baekhyun could only chuckle lowly at his brother’s reaction. He was amused by it that his brother was happy when he had his chicken chop. Personally, Baekhyun preferred something like bibimbap over western food. He was never too sure why Baekjin ended up loving to eat those instead of Korean food.

 

Baekhyun still hadn’t eaten his dinner because he wanted to make sure that Baekjin had it first. He stood right behind his back to watch him eat. A palm was placed against his little brother’s shoulder while he shoved another hand inside the pocket of his jeans to pull out a thick plastic bag.

 

Slowly, he pulled his hand away and put the plastic bag over Baekjin’s head tightly. He was making sure there was no air that could make its way inside the bag as he wrapped his other arm around the neck from the back. He wrapped it tight enough to cut the air supply. Baekjin was struggling to get some air but he couldn’t squeal for help. His hands were dancing around the table, desperately looking for something to save himself until his whole body stopped from moving.

 

The raven-haired male heaved out a sigh and slowly pull the plastic bag over the now deceased kid’s head and tossed it to the floor. “ing kid. You don’t even deserve to live here.” A series of devilish laughs rolled off the tip of his tongue as he stretched his arms out fully. “Not too bad, huh? Thank goodness you didn’t scream. Otherwise, you’ll wake the neighbors up.”

 

Baekhyun then pushed the body to the floor and dragged it on top of the table. He stood there for a while thinking of what he should do with it until he got an idea in his head that excited him.

 

He grabbed a knife from the kitchen and pierced the sharp tip into the flesh of Baekjin’s eyes. He made a circular motion around the eye and removed the eyeball before he proceeded to do the same to the other eye. The thick red scarlet liquid started to trickle down the now-pale face of Baekjin, making Baekhyun to smile even wider at the sight he’s seeing. After both of the eyeballs were removed, he crushed them both with his own bare hands and smeared it all over the body. He had too much fun doing it and he wouldn’t stop until he wasn’t satisfied with it.

 

After the piece of art was molded by his own bare hands on his younger brother, he took the Chrysanthemum from the fridge that his mother usually used to make their favorite drink. He knew it would be useful to use it on Baekjin, so he plucked a few and placed one inside each of the eye hole. With the blood still being fresh on the table, Baekhyun dipped his slender digits slightly on the liquid and wrote “The Truth” on the bare body of Baekjin’s.

 

He didn’t go too harsh on Baekjin because he thought that he was still a kid in his eyes. A useless kid who was mute. He didn’t want to hurt him that bad because he was afraid of him crying in pain. Crying? Baekhyun almost laughed at the thought he had in his head. He couldn’t even do that, dumb . But he just let this slide for this time since it’d been a while since he last did it. He didn’t put it to practice which explained to his ty skills.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

After a few hours later, both of his parents had arrived home from the dinner. Mrs. Baek just noticed that the lights went off and the whole house was dark. She quickly went inside to make sure that both of them had fallen asleep because she felt something wasn’t right. She was sure that it was too early for them to sleep anyway.

 

Once the lights were , a loud scream was heard, and Mr. Baek quickly went inside to have a look of the thing that was going on in the house. When he stepped his feet inside the house, he almost groaned in disgust when the scent of a dead body dashed into his nostrils. He had to cover his nose with his handkerchief just to witness a dead body was laying down on the dining table with a word “The Truth” painted with blood on it.

 

Mrs. Baek’s eyes were wide when she saw Baekjin’s body on the table. She was frozen. She couldn’t utter any words when she had to witness such a sight before her eyes.

 

“I-- Is that Baekjin?” Mr. Baek questioned as he ran towards the dining table to hold him. “W- Why are you still standing there? Do something! Call the ambulance for god’s sake. Where’s Baekhyun? Baekhyun!” He shouted.

“He knows.” Mrs. Baek replied.

 

“Who knows? Know what? What the is happening? For God’s sake, do something!” He kept on shouting as he tried to grab some paper towel to clean the blood off the body.

 

“He knows that Baekjin isn’t your son. I had a secret affair while you were away in Seoul.” She then fell down on her knees as tears ran down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that in the first place, but I was too scared to abort him and tell you that he’s your son instead.”

 

“What?”

 

“Baekhyun knows that I had an affair with somebody else. He’s been holding a grunge against me and Baekjin.” She sobbed.

 

“What the hell are you talking about? This is nonsense.”

 

“I should have just killed myself when I knew I was carrying Baekjin in my womb. I know you’re going to be mad at me. I don’t deserve to live.” She then got up from the floor and left the house abruptly. Her head was spinning around as she ran away from home with the hope of leaving her problems behind her. She didn’t want to be responsible for the things she’d done and all she had in her head to get away with this problem was to kill herself.

 

And she did.

 

September 7

“This is KBC News. It was reported that a father of two was suspected to be guilty for his 7-year-old mute son’s murder at 11pm on Sunday night. The eldest son was found to be walking back from his friend’s place when the incident took place. He wasn’t acknowledged of his brother’s passing. He was now in an unstable condition where he was brought to the nearby hospital while his father was brought to the police station for further investigations.”

 

September 8

“The eldest son was still in a poor condition where he would be receiving some treatment by the psychiatrist after the traumatic event took place in his life. His father was still going through another investigation regarding his second child’s murder.”

 

September 9

“After two days have passed, it was found that a body of the mother was found dead near the river. She was reported missing after the event and was said to be drowning herself until she took her last breath. The body was later being brought to the nearby hospital.”

 

September 10

“This is KBC News. Another dreadful incident was followed by the murder of a 7-year-old kid where 3 young boys were found dead in the backyard of one of their houses. The father of one of the deceased boys complained about the foul smell he noticed. The 3 young boys were burned to death in the same night when the murder case of the 7-year-old kid took place. The police are still investigating the matter.”

 

“Baekhyun, don’t be afraid to open up to me. Just letting you know that I’m here for you. You’re now safe with me, okay? Nobody will hurt you, even your father.” The psychiatrist reassured Baekhyun who was said to be traumatized by the event as he placed his palm against his back before he gently it to keep him calm.

 

Baekhyun didn’t say a word after the incident happened. He didn’t know what went wrong with him but all he knew that he didn’t do those.

 

“Please take the pills. It will help.” The psychiatrist said as he placed the pills on Baekhyun’s hand before handing him a glass of plain water. “Everything’s going to be alright.”

 

Later, it was found that Baekhyun was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and psychotic disorder. The only person that knew about it was his mother who reminded him to consume the pills every day when his father thought it was just a normal supplement. His mother kept too many secrets from his father and it somehow grew Baekhyun into a monster he didn’t want to be.

 

Mrs. Baek was also found to be cheating on her own husband when he was away from home for work. Her mother was too diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but she was on medications. Even though Baekhyun was young when he found out about his mother’s secret affair, he knew something wasn’t right. Knowing the fact that Baekjin wasn’t even his brother by blood, all the attention that went to him could have gone to him if Baekjin wasn’t born. He thought it was unfair that all the affection he’d been receiving before Baekjin’s presence went missing. The only option he had was to kill Baekjin and expose his mother’s secrets to his father. At the same time, he made his own father to be responsible over Baekjin’s murder was because of the grudge he’d been holding against both of his parents.  

 

At the age of 15, he was later then adopted by a new family in Seoul. He had to start all over a new life with the advice from the same psychiatrist where he had to be on medications at all the time. If things went right, he would be better.

 

Up until now, the police couldn’t seem to solve the mystery behind the 3 young boys’ death. But little did they know, it was Baekhyun who burned them to death.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“So, you killed 4 people that night?” Chanyeol blinked his eyes softly.

 

Baekhyun slowly nodded his head and tilted his head slightly to the other side. “Why? Does that bother you? I thought you wanted to know my darkest secret,” he snorted. “You’re the only person that I trust, you do know, that right?”

 

“Yes of course.” Chanyeol chuckled lowly.

 

Baekhyun added, “Chrysanthemum has a simple meaning. It means honesty. I prefer when someone is honest with me. So, you, Chanyeol, I would appreciate if you’re honest with me,” he smiled. “So, what’s your darkest secret?”

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Chanyeol’s Secrets

 

He hated his father more than anything in this world. He hated what he did to him and to the family. It was ruined because of him. If it wasn’t because of him, his mother wouldn’t leave him all alone in this misery. It wasn’t fair at all having to live a life he hadn’t wished in the first place. It was torturing him slowly and all he wished was to end his own life.

 

But there was a reason that kept him living. It was Baekhyun, whom he met in school when he first moved in to his school. Baekhyun was the new member of the Taekwondo club and since the first day they met, they slowly became close and became best friends. They shared secrets and stories with each other like there was no tomorrow. The only distraction he had was him and he was thankful for that.

 

Chanyeol had an abusive father. Even though he seemed to be nice at school, the people there were deceived by his nice act. He was the opposite when he got back home. He’d always vent his anger out at his only son which resulted in abuse and harassment. Chanyeol tried his best to protect himself from being abused by his father every day but there was no escape to it, and he was slowly getting used to it like it was a habit.

 

His father would hit him in the head with random stuffs they had in the house like it was nothing. Sometimes if Chanyeol happened to bleed, he didn’t care and asked him to toughen up like a man. Chanyeol thought it was toxic of him to say such words when his dad himself failed to be a good man to his own wife and son. But he didn’t have the guts to spit those words at his face because he didn’t want to be seen disrespectful in his eyes.

 

Every time when he was abused, he would apologize. Sorry was like a mantra at the tip of his tongue the moment when his dad laid his hands on him. It would leave past his lips automatically like he was used to it. Perhaps his father was a sadist man to begin with and he needed something he could vent his anger out at.

 

One day, he woke up as usual when the time hit 7 in the morning. His alarm clock wouldn’t stop shouting at his ear since he had it placed on the nightstand next to him. He was wondering why he was still alive and breathing when he knew there was no reason for him to live. His mother didn’t even bother to bid him a goodbye after the divorce was filed. She didn’t even fight for the family and knowing that she had a son like Chanyeol, it was such a pity she neglected him. Was he such a nausea to her too?

 

It took him by surprise when the relationship he had with his mother after all this while was good until the fight happened. She just discarded him and Chanyeol thought he was no longer important in his life. He lost the love he once had, and it would never spark and bloom like it used to be. He was right after all; people come and go.

 

He then got up from his bed and walked towards the bathroom to have a morning shower. He stopped right in front of the mirror and heaved out a sigh. The bruises he had on his head was still there and it wouldn’t want to leave. He swore to God it would take days for it to be gone. That would be such an embarrassment to go to school with that look on his face because people would never stop to ask questions that they shouldn’t be asking in the first place even though they intended to seem caring.

 

It did sting like when he brought his fingers to give the bruise a gentle touch. He winced at it and tried to be extra careful with the said area. He didn’t want to feel the pain again, so he knew where to avoid. Another sigh left him before he continued to grab his toothbrush and the toothpaste to give his teeth a cleaning.

 

“Chanyeol! Chanyeol!” A voice was shouting his name from afar while he was about to be done with brushing his teeth. He quickly rinsed his mouth and placed both of them back to their original spot. He walked out from the bathroom just to respond to it.

 

“What?” He responded coldly as he opened the door slowly without putting much effort into it until he saw the figure of his father standing right in front of his room with his arms folded over his chest.

 

“You are such an ungrateful son.” A hand was thrown across his face; harsh and swift. The sound of his face being slapped resounded through the walls of his room. It was loud enough that it left a red mark on his cheek. “You’re trying to reach your mother, huh? How many times have I told you that she is a stranger to us? You think I’m stupid, don’t you? If I caught you trying to search for her, you will know the consequences you’ll have to face.”

 

Chanyeol remained silent for a brief moment. He had nothing to say about it and he could feel that he was about to erupt into an ocean of tears.

 

“.” He cursed underneath his breath as he held himself back from crying. He could feel his nose turning red and eventually, he gave in just to have the tears trailing down both of his cheeks. It wasn’t the physical pain that was hurting him at that moment but the pain inside him that kept piercing and torturing him like there was no room to breathe. The fact that he had to live in a place he called hell was driving him insane.

 

He quickly wiped those tears off his eyes and grabbed his car keys from the nightstand. He left the house right after that and drove to school without saying any words to his father. He had had enough of everything that he was put through and thought of the ways for him to end the suffering, but he was just lost in the sea with no end. How could he survive if this what living was all about?

 

Suddenly, his phone beeped, and he slowly pulled it out from the pocket of his bomber jacket just to take a look at the notification. He received a message from his personal trainer, Mr. Kang saying that he needed to see him as there was something urgent, he needed to tell him.

 

“ Mr. Kang.” Chanyeol grunted as he shoved it back inside his pocket and parked his car somewhere outside of the school compound. He was supposed to be attending the first class of the day but due to the message he had received a few seconds ago, he had to see Mr. Kang as asked and had to make it as an excuse to skip the first lesson.

 

As usual, he would meet his personal trainer at the taekwondo training room which was specially built for the students who were in the taekwondo club. But in order for the students to use the room, they were required to participate in any of the taekwondo competitions held by the school and must have their own personal trainer with them. Chanyeol’s father had Mr. Kang hired specially for his son because he wanted Chanyeol to do well for the sake of the school’s good name.

 

“You called?” Chanyeol asked as he walked inside the room and stood behind the closed door.

 

“Yeah,” Mr. Kang responded and paused for a while just to point out the bruise he noticed on Chanyeol’s head. “Everything’s alright at home? Do you want to talk about it?” He asked as he knew Principle Park well enough. He was known to be abusive even with the people that were known to be ‘below’ than him, like Mr. Kang.

 

“Just cut it. Don’t ask.” Chanyeol discarded him and folded his arms over his clothed chest. “Are you going to tell me the urgent matter? I have a class to attend now actually and I don’t want the teacher to view me bad.”

 

“Just letting you know that someone will be joining the club and it’s a new transfer guy named Baekhyun. I want you to get along with him well and you know, make friends since you don’t really have ‘real friends’ here in this school. I know your story and I thought it would be good for you to make a new friend while the opportunity is still there.” He advised.

 

Chanyeol snorted. “Is that the urgent matter you were talking about? That’s bull,” he chuckled at the fact that he was running late for the first class just to acknowledge a new guy joining the club. “I am not in the mood. Later.” He replied before he left the room, pissed.

 

Once he had left the room, he then shoved both of his hands inside the pockets of his pants and walked straight to his class. He knew the teacher would be mad at him for being late to his class but hey, he didn’t give a anymore after what had happened at home. He was too pissed to even care about others’ feelings when nobody even bothered to care about his. It was never fair to him how life worked, and it would never be.

 

As he had arrived right in front of his class, he took a deep breath and opened the door just to witness a male standing right next to the teacher in front of everyone. He looked at the guy weird and the teacher quickly beckoned him to come inside.

 

“Come on in, Chanyeol. You’re late and since you’re late, would you please be kind enough and be Baekhyun’s desk mate?”

 

“Uh, sure?” Chanyeol looked clueless but he didn’t even bother about the new guy being his desk mate but somehow it made him to start thinking about the things that his personal trainer had told him beforehand. Was he perhaps the one that Mr. Kang was talking about? Chanyeol never bothered to know about people in the school even though everyone knew him for being good looking and smart but this time, he was interested in getting to know the new guy that somehow caught his attention.

 

“Okay Baekhyun, you may sit with Chanyeol over there, alright? Please give Baekhyun a round of applause and kindly welcome him to the school.” The teacher then clapped his hands and the rest followed the act as asked. The girls in the class started to have their eyes glued on Baekhyun while the guys, well, they didn’t bother to pay attention to him except Chanyeol. But of course, Chanyeol didn’t want to make it too obvious.

 

“So, your name is Baekhyun, huh? The name’s Chanyeol.” He introduced himself and Baekhyun just nodded without saying anything. He didn’t seem to be friendly in the first place and just minded his own business. Chanyeol was taken aback by the cold response he received but there was something interesting about him that drew him closer towards him.

 

After a few hours later, the school bell rang, and it indicated that it was time for recess. Some people yawned because they were feeling sleepy while some jumped out from their seats because they were too excited to fill their tummy with some good food in the cafeteria. However, Baekhyun seemed to be lost because he was still trying to get used to the surrounding. Chanyeol was still sitting next to him, refusing to leave the class and somehow, he noticed something in the latter’s bag.

 

“What’s that in your bag?” Chanyeol pointed the thing out.

 

“Just some medicine that I need to consume every day around this time.” Baekhyun responded coldly.

 

Chanyeol let out some low chuckles when he finally heard him talking. “So, you do talk. I thought you were mute.” The taller male as he got up from his seat just to stretch his arms out. “Are you the new member in the taekwondo club?”

 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun responded in the same tone. “Are you okay?” He pointed his slender digit towards the bruise Chanyeol had on his head.

 

“Just ignore it. My crazy dad didn’t get the memo to stop beating me up. I’ll be fine.” Chanyeol replied. It was unusual of Chanyeol to open up that easily to someone especially a stranger like Baekhyun whom he had zero clue about him. He just felt like opening up to him because he wanted to.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry.” The shorter male responded in a low voice. Chanyeol could sense the change in tone when he apologized and assured him that everything was going to be alright. He didn’t have to worry about him anyway, it was not a big deal.

 

“Are you going to consume your pills?” He threw another question as a brow was raised slightly and Baekhyun quickly nodded his head. He opened the lid of the medicine tube and took 2 pills to be consumed along with some water.

 

“I guess I should bring you around the school if you want to?”

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

After a few months had passed, both of them became close friends. Chanyeol acknowledged the fact that Baekhyun couldn’t afford his own personal trainer so he paid Mr. Kang to train Baekhyun along with him. He needed a reason to spend more time with Baekhyun and he got what he wanted eventually.

 

As days passed by, they got to learn about each other more. Baekhyun slowly opened up about himself and so did Chanyeol. 

 

One day, he decided to bring Baekhyun back to his place even though he knew his father wouldn’t approve it. Knowing that his father was occupied by work at most of the time and never bothered to stick at home, he found an opportunity to bring him over. Baekhyun was nervous to step his feet to his place but Chanyeol promised him that things would be just fine. Besides, they would spend most of the time in his bedroom and his dad wouldn’t even notice about his presence anyway.

 

“Why don’t we play 20 questions again?” Chanyeol suggested.

 

Baekhyun furrowed his brow slightly. “Again?”

 

“Yeah, I am curious about Byun Baekhyun and why he is famous among the girls in school and never returns any of the love letters he has been receiving since the first day he moved in here.” Chanyeol teased.

 

“Cut the crap,” Baekhyun nudged the taller male’s arm slightly. “Fine, let’s play. What is the question that you’ve been wanting to ask me?”

 

“What’s your darkest secret?” The taller male inquired right after the latter allowed for a room to ask him questions.

 

“Do you want to know it that bad?”

 

“Yes, of course.”

 

“But promise me you won’t freak out.” Baekhyun held up his pinky finger and Chanyeol linked his pinky finger around the latter’s and shook it gently.

 

“I promise.”

 

And Baekhyun told the whole thing that he went through back in his old place. All the killings and family problems he had.

 

“And I have disorders. Borderline personality disorder and psychotic disorder too.” Baekhyun added.

 

After hearing the whole story, he told Chanyeol, there was no moment when he was surprised by it. In fact, he appreciated him being honest. Slowly, he leaned in closer and whispered in his ear, “Don’t worry. It’s not your fault anyway. You had a reason. Everyone has a reason, right? Don’t ever blame yourself for the things that you have done.” He then pulled away and gave the shorter male’s head a pat.

 

“You’re really an interesting person, Baekhyun. I am glad I made the move to approach you. Otherwise this day would never come.” Chanyeol said.

 

“What about you then? What’s your darkest secret that you never told anyone? Tell me and let me be the first person to know.”

Mr. Kang had a son named Sejun. Sejun was around Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s age but he attended a different school. He was in a sports academy where he was trained to be a swimmer since it was his passion. Chanyeol used to be close with Sejun since he sometimes accompanied his father to the training.

 

From there, both of them started to be close and would spend time together. However, Mr. Kang never knew that something was wrong between both of them. Chanyeol developed some feelings for Sejun and he confessed his love to him. Sejun, who was confused and lost by the confession he received from Chanyeol started to ignore him because he started to feel awkward. Since both of them stopped talking, Mr. Kang started to feel like something went wrong but he didn’t bother to ask.

 

Chanyeol started to feel suicidal when his love was rejected. He didn’t stop from sending messages to Sejun, asking him to reply to his messages and give him an explanation but Sejun didn’t bother to respond. He needed his time alone.

 

One night, he decided to reach Chanyeol and ask him to meet him at the park they usually hang out at. Chanyeol couldn’t contain his feelings and agree to meet Sejun as agreed. He then drove to the park and met him there.

 

Upon arriving, he saw Sejun sitting on the bench underneath a big tree. He was sitting alone and Chanyeol went towards his direction before sitting himself down next to him. “Hey, you’re alright?”

 

“Oh h- hey.” Sejun replied, surprised by the sudden presence of the other’s as he moved aside to allow some space for him to sit.

 

“Why did you ignore me for weeks? Was it because of the confession that I made?”

 

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I don’t think I could return the same thing to you. I know you love me, but I don’t know if I could love you the same way as you do.”

 

 “What do you mean?” Chanyeol inquired, his voice started to change as he tried his best to hold his tears back.

 

“And what happened after that?” Baekhyun asked. He was too impatient to know about the ending.

 

“I knocked him down with a log and brought his body into my car. After that, I strangled him to death before I could cut his heart open with a scalpel. I made sure to cut him wide open to see the heart because I believe that his heart was meant to be mine,” Chanyeol chuckled lowly. “I put his heart into a jar and got rid of the body with high concentration acid. It was such a good feeling to have killed him. He would have stayed alive if he didn’t say no to me.”

 

Sejun shouted loudly when Chanyeol hit the back of his head with a log swiftly. He then looked around him just to make sure that nobody was looking. After that, he carried Sejun’s body over his shoulder and brought him to his place.

 

Chanyeol had a basement in his house and nobody stepped downstairs which gave him an idea to perform an experiment on him. Upon arriving in front of his house, he quickly brought the body to the basement and placed it on the table. The basement was pretty dark and dusty. Nobody even bothered to clean it and Chanyeol thought of just killing him instantly at that moment, but he preferred a little bit of fun.

 

He looked around the shelf and took some duct tape to tape his hands and legs to the table. He did that to make sure Sejun wouldn’t think of escaping. It was the best idea to do that since Chanyeol saw too many thriller movies that taught him those. Finally, he could do it to someone which he’d been longing to do so.

 

Chanyeol pulled out some sleeping pills that he bought from the pharmacy earlier and shoved them inside Sejun’s mouth. He made sure he swallowed them and placed a duct tape over his mouth. “ing swallow it.”

 

He was disgusted by the helpless man before him. Now he was unconscious, and it was the best time for him to torture him slowly. “You know, I bought these tools earlier to dissect a frog for my Biology class, but I thought it would be useful for you.” He chuckled as he pulled the latex gloves from the bag and put them on. Without wasting much time, he placed his gloved palm on the now-shirtless-man’s chest and pierced the tip of the scalpel into the flesh of the chest. He could see the blood trickling down his stomach, and it turned him on.

 

“, I never knew you’d look y with some blood on you.” He chuckled as he pierced the scalpel deeper into the flesh and cut into a circular motion just to take the heart out. Once the heart was dissembled from the body, he leaned closer towards it and took a long smell of it.

 

“. It smells rotten like you because you rejected my love.” Chanyeol snorted before he leaned away just to put it aside along with the scalpel. After a few seconds later, he pulled out a knife from the same bag and stabbed Sejun’s chest for numerous times. He witnessed some blood coughing up from Sejun’s mouth and Chanyeol leaned in just to give those lips covered in blood one last kiss.

 

“I stabbed you 30 times because you ignored me for the same amount of days.” Chanyeol smiled before he proceeded to cut the body into small pieces. He wanted to make sure that the pieces would fit into a metal dustbin because he was planning to dip them inside a high concentration of acid solution in it and leave it for a few days. It seemed like the dustbin had enough space for Sejun’s body.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“Oh, too bad. Does his father know about it?”

 

“Of course, no. But soon enough, he will. I could feel it coming.” Chanyeol replied. “I took his phone and sent Mr. Kang a long text saying he wanted to run away. If he bothered to find him, I said, ‘I will kill myself and that’s the last thing you want to hear’.”

 

“Genius.”

 

“Yeah, I guess he did believe in the text ‘I’ sent him. But I guess he knows something’s up.” Chanyeol shrugged his shoulders slightly.

 

“I guess you were into him that much. When did that happen?” Baekhyun teased.

 

“Not after I met you,” Chanyeol smirked. “It was during our freshmen year. I guess it was such a pity for that face to be gone. I sang a song while cutting his body into pieces before dipping them into the acid solution. It felt so good, really.”

 

Baekhyun chuckled lowly as he leaned in to inhale deeply. “It would feel good if we both could end another life.”

 

Chanyeol slowly leaned away and looked into Baekhyun’s eyes. “You mean, Mr. Kang?”

 

“I don’t want him to ruin everything. I don’t want him to get in our way. I mean, if he happened to figure this out, he would report you to the cops and you won’t be by my side and I hate that. I hate the fact of someone being away from me. I want you. I want you by my side.” Baekhyun frowned.

 

“I know, dear. We can always get rid of him later.” Chanyeol brought his hands up to cup the shorter male’s face gently.

 

“Besides, we can get rid of your stupid father too and live together. Nobody could hurt you anymore. An abusive parent raises the worst monster and he definitely raised one. A beautiful monster indeed.”

 

There began the murder plot of Mr. Kang by both of them. Baekhyun was making sure that he wouldn’t get to know the truth behind his son’s death. (If he ever happened to know about it) Chanyeol was very supportive of Baekhyun’s idea and thought it would be a good one to get rid of Mr. Kang and his father at the same time.

 

“Don’t kill my dad yet. Leave him for me. I’ll torture him slowly when he’s being arrested by the police.” Chanyeol smiled softly.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

His vision was blurry the moment when he slowly regained his conscious. He could feel his head spinning around and it hurt like hell when he tried to open his eyes slowly. All he knew that he woke up in a room that he wasn’t familiar with and his figure was tied with some ropes that refrained him from escaping. His mouth was gagged with a gag ball and his drool was trailing down his chin, making some mess on his two thighs. He tried to scream for help, but his voice was muffled by the gag ball. Nobody could hear him except the male standing right behind his back with an apron secured around his waist.

 

“Are you going to shut the up?” Baekhyun raised his voice. He was wearing a leather gas mask to cover his face so that Mr. Kang wouldn’t be able to recognize him. Besides, he thought it would be a good idea to dress up like a real serial killer this time because he’d been longing to look like one; especially the gas mask and the gloves he had bought from the hardware shop. He was also being extra careful this time because he didn’t want the cops to track him down. There was no way he would want to be arrested and rest his whole life in the jail.

 

Everything was Baekhyun’s idea. He kidnapped Mr. Kang while he was training at the park nearby his house and brought him to an empty warehouse where there was no single soul except for two of them. Mr. Kang could scream as loud as he wished but Baekhyun promised that nobody would hear his cries, even the God. His life was now in his hands and he could kill him just like that, but he thought it wouldn’t be too fun for him. He loved teasing and it surely would be more entertaining that way. Having to witness someone being controlled in complete fear was such a beautiful sight to Baekhyun’s eyes. He wished he could see it more from the older, so he decided to remove the gag ball from his mouth to see how he’d react to everything.

 

“W- Who the are you! What do y- you want from me?” There were slight stutters when he questioned the younger male that stood before him. Mr. Kang’s fears were showing and Baekhyun was seen to be snickering at the sight he’s seeing. The lips were trembling too in fear, but he didn’t bother to do anything towards the older.

 

“I might behead you, but it depends.” Baekhyun gave a short shrug on his shoulders when his personal trainer asked him such a question. Truthfully, there were so many things that Baekhyun had in his head on what he could do towards him.

 

“How about we cut down your tongue so that you don’t have to be all chatty?” Baekhyun hummed lowly, head turning around to focus on the tools that he had laying down on the metal surface of a table. He wrapped his gloved fingers around a pair of pliers while the others held onto a pair of sharp scissors. “I have these both and you know what I will do to you using these?” He genuinely asked.

 

Mr. Kang sobbed, tears started to trail down his cheeks when he witnessed the pliers and scissors before his eyes. “You’re a sadist! J- Just let me go! Please don’t do anything to me. Please just let me go—” He pleaded as much as he could to avoid the younger male, but his begging game was weak as . He couldn’t even do a proper begging and it disgusted Baekhyun.

 

The murderer spat on the victim’s face and grabbed him by the chin forcibly. “Listen you old , we both know that you’re going to die anyway. So I guess you better behave or you’re going to end up being in complete pain,” Baekhyun could only offer him a fake smile as he brought the pliers closer towards his face. “Open your mouth.” He commanded in a stern voice. His eyes were staring deep into the other’s eyes as he parted the tip of the pliers slightly to have the tongue in between.

 

Mr. Kang refused to open his mouth and it started to piss Baekhyun off. “ing open your mouth!” He shouted even louder this time as he shoved his gloved fingers inside the older’s mouth and parted his lips apart just to stick the pliers inside and clipped the tongue in between. Without showing any mercy, he pulled the tongue out and swiftly cut the tip of his tongue with the scissors. The tip fell to the ground, dancing slightly with blood covering its entire body. It fell down like a jelly bean and a series of loud screams accompanied by some cries resounded through the concrete walls of the room as soon as it happened.

 

Baekhyun kneeled down and grabbed the small part of his tongue to shove it back inside Mr. Kang’s mouth, followed by the gag ball. “It tastes good, right? You shouldn’t be talking with your full mouth.” He smiled as he slapped his hand across the older male’s cheeks harshly. The blood wouldn’t stop flowing out from the gag ball and it started to make a mess on Mr. Kang’s shirt.

 

“Now that you’re covered in blood, I wonder what I could do to you next,” Baekhyun hummed softly in thoughts as he scanned through the tools that he had brought. “How about a hammer? Should I crush your toes? Nails? I don’t know. You tell me.” A wide grin was plastered on the murderer’s face as he grabbed the hammer from the table to swing a harsh knock against the left toe.

 

The sound of his toe’s bones cracking was such a melody to Baekhyun’s eyes. He loved the sound made by it and he continued to give another swing and another sound of bones cracking reverberating through the room. He then went to crush the other toe and make sure his knees received the same treatment, otherwise it wouldn’t be too fair. And he threw many swings against the knee caps just for him to hear the sounds of his bones cracking.

 

“Ah, ing good, isn’t it? Much better than the massage you went for, right?” Baekhyun let out a sadist laugh past his tongue when he had crushed some bones in his body. He knew he wouldn’t be able to walk and that was the whole point of him bringing the hammer. It was meant to crush bones (or maybe his feelings too).

 

Mr. Kang’s face had turned pale and all his screams were muffled when he tried to squeal for help. Unfortunately, there was nobody but two of them in the room. All his attention went to Baekhyun and he wanted to keep torturing him. “Anyway, I wouldn’t go too hard on you. I think I should go gentle on you and just stab you in the chest, right?” Baekhyun inquired, a series of low hums escaped through his sealed lips as he was scanning through the types of knives he had on the table.

 

He then stopped at one of the knives that people usually in the kitchen. It was big and sharp enough to stab him and Baekhyun thought it was ideal. “How about this?” He cooed as some low chuckles followed afterwards. He flashed the knife in front of Mr. Kang’s eyes as he placed his gloved palm on his shoulder to push his back against the back of the chair for some support. Without any warning, he then harshly shoved the tip of the knife inside the flesh of his chest. Once it was pierced inside the tender flesh, Baekhyun made sure the end of the knife went deeper as much as he could until he could feel it touching the rib cage. He then nodded his head and placed his index finger against the gag ball.

 

“Shhh, don’t be too loud. It’s going to be okay~” Baekhyun hushed him before he pulled the knife out as harsh as he could before he shoved it back in the same spot for numerous times. The blood was dancing out from the wound and painted all over the walls around him. Baekhyun’s face became the victim of the blood where it was splattered all over it.

 

“God, I never knew that killing could be this exhausting.” Baekhyun heaved out a sigh as he tossed the knife away to the ground and placed both of his palms on the older male’s shoulders. “Are you dead? Are you ing dead now?” He tried to shake his whole body to wake him up but unfortunately, the body wasn’t even moving. Baekhyun let out a heavy sigh as he pulled the body towards him to give it a gentle pat on the back.

 

“Why do you have to die so early?” Baekhyun sobbed as he pulled away from the body. “I didn’t get to bid you a goodbye, er.” He then stepped aside and stretched his arms out. He was finally done with Mr. Kang. Though, he wasn’t really satisfied playing with him because he didn’t want his death to be suspicious. Both Chanyeol and Baekhyun had come to an agreement that they wanted it to look like Principle Park hired someone to murder him. Hence, the stabs.

 

Guess the tip of the tongue was a gift for the cops, Baekhyun thought. He picked it up from the ground and placed it inside a small plastic bag. A wide grin was shown on his face when he was staring at the piece. “It was brilliant.”

 

The mess that Baekhyun had created must be cleaned. Otherwise, he would be in a huge trouble. He had to do a lot of work but of course, Chanyeol was there to help him. He came after everything was done. He wasn’t too interested to see Baekhyun torturing Mr. Kang in front of him because he thought it was such an ugly sight to see.

 

When he had arrived at the place, he stood right behind Baekhyun and folded his arms over his chest. “I guess you did a very good job, Baekhyun.” He applauded with a smile spread across his face. He neared the body and put his gloves on to help Baekhyun clean the mess he had done. Baekhyun was in charge of cleaning the blood off the ground and the walls while Chanyeol was taking care of the body. He thought of just throwing the body somewhere in a bush but the idea of shocking the whole school with his body would be a nice idea after all.

 

“I guess you can just do that. Soon enough the cops will notice.” Baekhyun added as he heaved out a sigh of frustration. “I am so tired. Guess you will have to give me a good cuddle in return.” He teased.

 

“Anything for you.” The taller male offered a smile.

 

Later after the cleaning process was over, both of them drove to their school and dumped the body into some bush near the field. They then drove away quickly from the school compound to avoid anyone from noticing their presence at that time. Even though it was a little bit too tiring and risky, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were both enjoying it more than everything they had. It was amazing.

 

“Guess you’ll have to utilize your acting skills later.” Baekhyun said as he rested his head against his palm.

 

Chanyeol, who was busy driving back home to his place could only laugh at the words that he uttered. “I think I need to start practicing.”

 

“Right…” Baekhyun nodded his head slowly. “Do you think I should continue consuming my pills?” He turned his head to the other side just to have a look at Chanyeol’s face. Truthfully, he was admiring his looks and he couldn’t stop to think of him every time.

 

“It’s up to you. If you feel like they’re burdening you, then don’t. I am very sure you’ll be fine,” Chanyeol smiled. “Do you want to stay over at my place, or do you want to go back home to your place?”

 

“I think I should just go back home. My ‘parents’ have been worried about me I guess, and I don’t want them to be suspicious of the things I’ve been doing since I moved in to our school.” Baekhyun chuckled lowly.

 

“Okay then, if you said so.” Chanyeol nodded his head slowly and continued to drive to the said destination.

 

Baekhyun then paused for a few seconds before he parted his lips to say something. “How about your dad?”

 

“We shall see.”

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

The next morning, it was announced that Mr. Kang was found dead in the bush near the school field. It shocked the whole school with the tragic passing of Mr. Kang and all the students including the teachers were advised to be extra careful. Though, what surprised the whole school more was when the principle himself got arrested by the cops due to the murder plan of Mr. Kang.

 

Chanyeol had everything planned in the first place where he knew about the misappropriation of the school fund. He used it as a bait since he acknowledged the fact that Mr. Kang knew about it and remained silent.

 

After a few days had passed, Principle Park was still undergoing the investigation of Mr. Kang’s murder. Chanyeol decided to see him in person and appealed to the police to give him a last chance to see his father and they let him.

 

He then walked inside a small room where he saw his father was seen to have his wrists handcuffed. Principle Park’s face was pale as he didn’t have the appetite to eat and everything was just ed up for him. He couldn’t believe after what had happened to him especially Mr. Kang’s death.

 

“Dad.” Chanyeol said as he walked towards the metal desk and pulled the chair slowly before sitting on it. He sat right in front of his father, but he couldn’t even face him. He was drowned in shame and fear; fear of losing his only son.

 

“Son, you know that I am innocent right? The school fund and even Mr. Kang’s death? I didn’t do any of those, right?”

 

“Of course.” Chanyeol replied.

 

“But why? Why don’t you tell the cops the truth? I don’t want to be thrown into the jail. Please, get me out from here. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life here.”

 

“Don’t worry. I will. You need to loosen up a bit, dad. You don’t have to worry about it. I will get you out from here. Here, have some drink.” Chanyeol handed him a bottle of water with a mere smile on his face.

 

“Thanks. I needed it.” Principle Park replied as he took the bottle and drank some water to quench his thirst. He never felt that thirsty before and he’d been holding himself back from consuming some liquid due to overthinking.

 

“Is this ginseng drink?” He inquired.

 

Chanyeol leaned in to whisper at his ear while shaking his head slowly. “No, it was Mr. Kang’s blood. I saved some for you and oh, Baekhyun put the tip of his tongue inside the bottle too. I guess you could find it on the bottom of the bottle.” He said with a smile.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

The truth was, his dad was never abusive in the first place. Chanyeol wanted to believe what his mind wanted him to believe. He always saw his father as an abusive father after the fight he witnessed at home. The fight that his father had with his mother that made her to leave. Ever since that happened, he never saw his father as the same person anymore.

 

He would tell himself every day that his father was nothing but a monster and abusive. While he was growing up, he was stuck in another life where his father was made the antagonist while he was the protagonist and the victim. His father never abused him but in fact, he was the one to harm himself.

 

NSSI. Non-suicidal Self-Injury.

 

He had been harming himself for the sake of reaching the satisfaction and pleasure. He had been doing it for years and when some of the people that he was close with asked about it, he’d say his dad was the one to do it. Including the part where he was allegedly abused when he got up from sleep. It was him who harmed himself.

 

His father was never involved in the misappropriation of the school fund. Chanyeol happened to know everything about his father so he framed his father to be the one who was responsible over everything by funneling the school fund into his own personal account. The ‘small evidence’ was put in Mr. Kang’s pocket that led to the issue.

 

It was about Mr. Kang jotting down Principle Park’s bank account number on a piece of paper. He made that to fool the cops where supposedly, his father was the one to ask Mr. Kang a favor to help him funneling the money into the bank account. When the process was done, Principle Park would then kill Mr. Kang so that he wouldn’t tell the cops about his doings. Voila, problem’s solved.

 

Chanyeol couldn’t believe he managed to think of those things while Baekhyun was busy torturing Mr. Kang for hours. He thought it was genius to make everything connected to each other. It’s all about misdirection.

 

“What are you talking about…” Principle Park widened his eyes slowly and threw the bottle to the floor. He couldn’t believe he had finished drinking a dead man’s blood in his water and what surprised him the most was the things that Chanyeol had been doing to him after all this while.

 

“Y- You killed Mr. Kang?!”

 

“Dad, what are you talking about? You’re the one who killed him.” Chanyeol pretended to be surprised as he shook his head lightly at his father’s sudden change in behavior. He quickly got up from his chair and left the room.

 

“I guess my dad doesn’t want to talk to me. He’s very furious right now.” Chanyeol said to one of the cops who was waiting outside of the room before leaving the place with a smug curling in the corner of his lips.

 

Without the other’s acknowledgment, he had put some poison inside the drink that could initially paralyze his whole body and hence kill him slowly afterwards. Chanyeol called it a silent death.

 

He couldn’t forgive for what his father had done. Call him manipulative but he did that for his own good because he never wanted to see him as a good person even though he initially thought he was. There was no good man that would leave his partner. He wanted to make sure that his father was responsible over everything.

 

Did he even think about his mother when he made her to leave the house? Did he even bother to know about her whereabouts, whether she had eaten or not or whether she had a place to stay? He never ing bothered. All he cared was money and wealth. Chanyeol thought it was best to end his life silently and that was the only one for him to forgive the sins he had committed.

 

But he would never forget.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

After a few days later, Chanyeol was told that his father had passed away while he was being interrogated. As usual, he would pretend to be shocked and sad over it when the truth was the opposite. He had to act that he cared so much about his father that he attended his funeral.

 

Baekhyun was the only person to help him handling the funeral and Chanyeol was thankful for it. It was exhausting, really but with Baekhyun by his side, he couldn’t be any happier.

 

Once the last person to visit the funeral had left the place, Chanyeol sat himself down on the floor along with Baekhyun by his side. He pulled Baekhyun into a hug and gently his back.

 

“You know, Baekhyun, I never met someone like you who’s willing to stay by my side despite everything that happens,” Chanyeol muttered lowly.

 

Baekhyun wrapped his arms around the taller male’s figure and chuckled lowly. “Don’t worry. I have your back, really. Thank you too for staying by my side.”

 

“I guess people like us are the only ones who could understand each other. While the others view us as a conundrum that they never wished to help.”

 

- - - - - - - - - -