Chapter XXII: the ache

Underneath the Surface
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Chapter 22

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Hana takes a deep breath, attempting to calm her nerves. She peers through the window of the classroom and her stomach churns at the sight of Baekhyun, alone in his classroom, head down and earphones in. His head is bobbing to the beat while he punches in numbers into his calculator. As soon as it spits out an answer, he jots it down on his paper before proceeding to the next problem. 

She shouldn’t feel this nervous trying to talk to her own boyfriend, she reasons with himself. They’re dating, for goodness sakes. But after his constant brushing off, she feels like they’re more distant than they were before they even became acquaintances. Before she could convince herself to go back to class, she finds herself at the doorway of his classroom. Mustering up her courage, she finally steps towards his desk and patiently waits with her hands behind her back.

 

Baekhyun is a pretty smart guy. He’s good at computing numbers and he’s quite talented in his memorization of historical dates. He’s also great at taking social cues or recognizing his friends. That’s why, when he senses a presence near him and assumes it’s Sehun without looking up from his work, he asks, “What, Sehun? Did they run out of your favorite bread at the bakery?”

When Sehun doesn’t respond, Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows. Finally, he looks up and realizes how, maybe he isn’t such a genius, when he meets eyes with Hana’s instead of Sehun’s obnoxious ones. He immediately straightens up and pulls his earphones out, staring at the girl in surprise, “Oh, shoot. Hey, Hana. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you.”

 

She softly chuckles as she walks closer to his desk, “No worries. What’re you up to?”

He sighs and stretches his arms over his head, “Just finishing up some homework. I’ve been so busy that I’ve been pushing off my school work.” Hana nods in understanding, silently hoping that he’ll ask her how she’s been.

“Speaking of which,” Baekhyun begins, glancing at her. She straightens up hopefully, “Yes?”

“I heard you hung out with the guys without me the other day,” he cautiously brings up. Hana blinks in surprise and nods without hesitation, “Yeah, we went to the cafe together.”

He furrows his eyebrows, “The new cafe? You said you wanted to go with me.”

Hana releases a small laugh out of disbelief, “Uh, you said you didn’t have time because you were too busy.”

Baekhyun crosses his arms and looks out the window, “You should’ve waited for a day when I could’ve gone.”

Hana gapes at him before composing herself again, calmly asking, “Then are you free today?”

“No, of course not,” Baekhyun says, running a hand through his silver hair, “I have a ton of business to attend to after school.”

Hana scoffs and crosses her own arms, “Then when exactly are you free, Byun Baekhyun? Did you want me to wait a few months?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Baekhyun retorts, frowning.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Maybe you wanted me to make an appointment with your secretary to go on a date with you. I forgot how busy you are.” Hana sarcastically says, flipping her hair behind her shoulder.

“Are you upset at me?” Baekhyun incredulously asks, standing up. Hana looks up at him and her shoulders drop, “What do you think?”

He sighs, “Listen, I just wanted to take you out and pay for you. But you just went off with the guys and didn’t even let me know. It’s like you’re not even trying to understand what I’m going through right now.”

“You wouldn’t have even checked until that night anyway. What difference does that make?” Hana huffs, looking away. She notices that students are slowly gathering outside the classroom, since it’s nearing the end of lunch. Hana sighs and turns on her heels, trying to leave the room, “You know what? Nevermind.” Before she could leave, Baekhyun grabs her forearm and holds her back, “Wait, we’re not done yet.”

//

Sehun walks towards the door of the classroom without much thought. Frankly, he doesn’t usually have any thoughts running through his head. However, the sudden crowd around the windows of the classroom make him pause for a moment and consider what might be happening around him. After gauging his classmates’ expressions in the hallway, he finally turns to face the classroom through the window and his eyes bulge out at the sight of Baekhyun holding onto Hana’s arm. She looks uncomfortable and as though she wants to leave, but Baekhyun doesn’t look like he’s planning on letting up anytime soon.

Just then, Kai bumps into him from behind. The older rubs his chest and stares at the younger strangely, “Why aren’t you going into the classroom?”

Sehun grabs Kai’s arm and loops it with his, pointing at the scene in front of them, “Look! Hana and Baekhyun hyung look like they’re fighting!”

Kai’s eyes widen, “Oh, . Should we go stop it?”

The rest of the gang comes over and stares at the pair in curiosity, “What’s going on?”

Kai motions towards the couple in the classroom and Chanyeol’s body tenses. Kyungsoo doesn’t like the upset expression on Baekhyun’s face when, quite frankly, he doesn’t think Baekhyun deserves to be upset at the girl for what he’s been putting her through lately.

Suho furrows his eyebrows, “That doesn’t look too good.” 

 

Hana spots the group of boys gathered outside the window and throws them a small smile of reassurance. Baekhyun notices and turns to face them, dropping her arm in the process. He doesn’t like the look of anger on Chanyeol’s face or the sympathetic stare that Kyungsoo tosses to Hana. Baekhyun crosses his arms and brings her attention back to him, “It would be nice to know what my girl is doing throughout the day, you know?” 

“Do you really care about my day, Baekhyun?” Hana finally asks, turning to face him. His mouth slightly parts in surprise, “What do you mean?”

Hana looks down at the ground and says, “I always ask you how your day is going or how you’re feeling, but you never do the same to me. I know you’re busy, so maybe you forgot, but I’ve become more busy too. I go to sleep around 3 AM nowadays.”

Baekhyun’s jaw drops, “Why would you do that to yourself? What’s going on? Why haven’t you told me any of this?”

Hana releases a bitter chuckle, “You’ve never asked.” Before he could retort, he realizes that she’s right. He answers her questions and brushes her off because, well, he’s too busy. The girl continues, “Plus, you’re always telling me about how busy you are and how much you have piled onto your plate. How can I add onto that with my own burdens?”

Baekhyun opens his mouth to respond but closes it immediately. He feels like a total . How could he

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Thank you for joining me on this journey! <3 Feel free to message me on instagram @chaptersforchan or twitter @letterstoloey! I'd love to connect with you guys! Thank you for your love and support for this story! :')

Comments

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Sey-ra
45 streak #1
Chapter 38: Omo this is so nice.I want another beak story from you.
Chanchaniee #2
Chapter 38: Good story ! I love it...
Myzurah
#3
Chapter 38: Wait wait, this is the end?! Ahhwaeeeee~ You left us hanging 😆😆 But I assumed they'll get back together and perhaps engaged after getting a scold from their parents hahahahah.
gogogirl26 #4
Chapter 38: Thanks for this story, i hope they will forever happy
baeknhyu
#5
Chapter 38: will there be an epilogue?
pyonsuke
#6
Chapter 38: Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful story! It was truly such a ride, making me go through so many different feelings, you did it all! I hope you take care and I wish you good luck in uni❤️❤️❤️
gogogirl26 #7
Chapter 37: Giving a chance to someone hurt you its quite risky tho afraid that he gonna hurt you aaagain but their heart beat for each other pls dating agaain or just marry soon
gogogirl26 #8
Chapter 36: Oh no! Baek act pls soon
gogogirl26 #9
Chapter 34: Okay i hope yixing wont steal hana