Some people never go crazy.
What truly horrible lives
they must
lead.

-Charles Bukowshi

_

_____________________

"Yes," Kai said firmly.

And that one word was enough for making everyone bite their tongues, except Baekhyun, of course. But that's another story for another time.

Sehun tilted his head sideways and said, "who?"

Everyone in the room looked at Kai with a new found excitement but Kai's answer was cruel enough to kill all excitement at once.

"I had to answer only one question Sehun and that's done," Kai said while preparing to roll the beer bottle again.

This time it pointed at Chanyeol.

Namjoon slyly smirked and asked,

"Are you in love with someone, Chanyeol?"

Chanyeol gulped. Redness spreading all the way from his cheeks to his earlobes, making him look extremely cute. He nodded quickly and rolled the bottle again to avoid any further discussion. After all, he isn't good at lying.

It was only Baekhyun who knew about Chanyeol's past, so it wasn't difficult to presume that Chanyeol was still probably in love with Kyungsoo.
And damn, that gave shivers down Baekhyun's spine.

Like, yes, he had known it for a while now. But he never paid as much attention to it. But the way Chanyeol nodded shyly, it wasn't cute to Baekhyun, but rather an irritating sensation consuming Baekhyun's peaceful state of mind and converting it into a haphazard conflict of presumptions and reality.

It made Baekhyun so uneasy that he didn't realise that he was zoning out, staring at nothing, when everybody was waiting for him to respond since the bottle was pointing at Baekhyun now.

Sehun clicked his fingers on Baekhyun's face and dragged him back into consciousness.

He looked at Sehun with wide eyes, trying to grasp all information about the moment as if he wasn't zoning out a few moments ago. He looked down and saw the bottle pointing at him and understood the need of the second.

Sehun looked at him, dead in the eyes, reminding him of the unpleasant surprise he was offered in the morning by the younger.

"Are you in love with someone?" Sehun asked in a bleak voice. The question was repeated but somehow, it wasn't for fun this time.

Baekhyun understood the question to an extent surpassing the boundaries of the game. To the extent Sehun wanted him to understand.

"No." He said plainly. He wanted Sehun to know that he didn't reject him for someone else. It was simpler than that. It was just the fact that Baekhyun no longer felt emotions as strong as love. He has had too much to believe in love anymore. And most importantly, he didn't want Sehun to be with someone as lifeless as him.

Even though he never showed it, he was constantly fighting the ghosts of his past. One one hand, his heart wanted to trust and rely on someone and the other hand, his mind wasn't ready to let go of the safely attached with remaining alone.

The bottle was rolled yet again and this time it stopped on Namjoom,

"Tell me one thing you're really scared of Namjoon. Except for losing Jin, that is." Asked Baekhyun, with a smug smile.

Namjoon sighed and said, "Other than losing him, I am scared of seeing my father. And yet, I am more scared of not seeing him at the wedding. I don't know, I just love him too much."

His voice cracking towards the end.

"Guys I think we should go and sleep. Tomorrow is going to be one hectic day."

Jin said while getting up and heading to his and Joon's shared bedroom.

It was Tuesday tomorrow. The only day left until the marriage. The wedding was on Wednesday.

Baekhyun grabbed Chanyeol's hand while everybody else started leaving.

"You're coming with me tomorrow, " Baekhyun whispered.

"Where?" Chanyeol asked.

Baekhyun completely ignored his question and said, "We have to leave before anyone wakes up. So it's your task to wake me up early since I am not a morning person, and then, we leave together because some things are left to be done."

Chanyeol's heart skipped a beat at the word 'together.' Baekhyun started walking forward but Chanyeol grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. His smaller body falling on Chanyeol's due to the sudden jerk. His hands resting on Chanyeol's chest for support and his eyes fixated on Chanyeol's face demanding for an explanation. Sudden butterflies appeared in Baekhyun's stomach which he was completely ignoring.

Chanyeol's throat went dry at the sudden closeness. He almost forgot what he wanted to say. His eyes trailed down Baekhyun's beautiful face which suddenly seemed so kissable.

"What?!" Baekhyun whisper-shouted to avoid the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach and Chanyeol blinked a gazillion times, not because he wanted to look cute, but because he was trying to get a grip of himself and remember his initial question. He gulped and said, "At least tell me where we are going?" He said softly.

Baekhyun smiled slyly, circled both his hands around Chanyeol's neck and closed the distance between them by slowly bringing his lips to Chanyeol's ear and then whispered seductively, "You'll see Yoel, " his lips lightly grazing over Chanyeol's ear, and left for the room to sleep, completely unaware of the effect he had on Chanyeol.

Poor Chanyeol stood paralyzed, mind as blank as an unused white sheet of freshly made paper kept trying to absorb the moment and finally after standing in the exact same spot for 10 minutes or so, left to sleep.