It was approaching midnight. Back in the Hayoon’s room, her and Baekhyun were both snuggled under the covers, faces flushing red from beer. Having entered a food coma from pizza overdose, the two had decided to watch ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’.

“It’s a must watch during this season,” Baekhyun rationalised. “Plus, you and the Grinch are pretty much kindred spirits.”

This earned Baekhyun a jab in the ribs from Hayoon, making him jolt in surprise and pain. Not wanting to let her win, Baekhyun proceeded to tickle the girl, causing her to curse and laugh, squirming around trying to break free from Baekhyun’s attack. The buzzing of a phone however interrupted them. Diving into the blankets to look for her phone, Hayoon finally found it buried under Baekhyun. Checking who was calling at such a late hour, the girl was surprised to see Chanyeol’s name flashing on the screen.

“Hey Yeol? Merry Christmas,” Hayoon answered in a slightly breathless manner.

Expecting his usual roaring laughter, Hayoon was taken aback when all that she could hear was sniffling. Baekhyun noticed the sudden look of worry in Hayoon’s eyes and took her phone from her hands, putting it on speaker mode.

“Yeol, what’s wrong?”

“…Baek? You’re with Hayoon now?”

“Yeah, I came back for a little Christmas surprise. Didn’t want to leave Sunshine by herself,” Baekhyun replied. “Are you ok? Your voice sounds… off.”

The two friends could hear Chanyeol stifling back a cry, causing Hayoon to become very agitated.

“Where are you now?”

With much struggle, Hayoon kept her voice from trembling.

“I’m on a Seoul-bound train.” Came his quiet response. “Coming from back Daegu.”

Hearing this, both Baekhyun and Hayoon froze, knowing full well who lived in Daegu, and it most certainly was not Chanyeol’s family since his parents and sister were based in Busan, just like Baekhyun’s family. Something must have gone terribly wrong and they both had a pretty good idea what that something might have been.

“Sunshine and I will head towards the station now to pick you up. Don’t go anywhere ok? Just wait for us.”

Receiving a sound of affirmation from Chanyeol, Hayoon and Baekhyun reached for their jackets and the two of them departed immediately for the train station.

・・・

Chanyeol’s train had not yet arrived when Hayoon and Baekhyun reached the station. The two waited restlessly near the platform. Baekhyun had his arm around Hayoon’s shoulders, fingers fiddling with her hair as his eyes looked around restlessly while Hayoon grasped tightly onto her bracelet, attempting to swallow down her worry.

“Do you think he confessed and got rejected?” Baekhyun whispered.

Hayoon contemplated for a moment before shaking her head. “If that were the case I’m sure Soojung would have contacted us. She cares too much for Chanyeol to just leave him to fend for himself.”

Baekhyun nodded slowly in agreement, his hold ar