When I saw you first,
it took every ounce of me not to kiss you.
When I saw you laugh,
it took every ounce of me not to love you.
And when I saw your soul,
it took
every ounce of me.

-Atticus
 

_______________________


 

"Careful, Yeol," Baekhyun said while directing Chanyeol inside the entrance of the church where the marriage was taking place.

Chanyeol was carrying a huge box of cake in his hands. Luckily, they found a bakery which had readymade wedding cakes. The box was so big that it reached Chanyeol's forehead, his face completely hidden behind the box, hence Baekhyun had to direct the boy inside the place.

"God, I'm tired, Baek. I can't carry this anymore." Chanyeol complained.

"Really?" Baekhyun asked innocently with a pout.

"Of course. Call someone for help."

"Yeol, I am confused."

"About what?"

"This box isn't even half as heavy as me."

"So?"

"Then how did you carry me for so long while we were making ou-"

"Can you shut up for a minute," Chanyeol said, thankful to the cardboard box hiding his flustered cheeks behind it. Baekhyun never ceases to .

Baekhyun giggled at Chanyeol's reaction and said, "Wait I'll call Kai."

Baekhyun's eyes scanned through faces until he located Kai talking to a shorter male who looked weirdly annoyed.

"Kai. Yah! Kai! Come here."

Kai turned to Baekhyun and nodded, then turned back to the other male and said something before grabbing his hand and dragging him along to Baekhyun without waiting for an answer.

"You got the cake?" Kai asked looking at the box with a wide grin.

"Oh no, nini, we got a corpse," Baekhyun said sarcastically.

Kai shook his head before rolling his eyes. The shorter male, Kyungsoo, looked highly disinterested in the entire matter, almost finding ways to get rid of these people. Baekhyun was too talkative for kyungsoo's liking. And Kai was too enthusiastic for Kyungsoo to be comfortable around. But that was until Chanyeol spoke up.

"Will someone take this cake box from me or do I have to live the rest of my life with this?" Chanyeol said in an irritated voice. That voice grabbed a big chunk of Kyungsoo's attention, almost ringing emergency alarms in his system. It was the voice he could recognise from a galaxy apart. His heart came to his mouth, pounding with all its witty might. Kyungsoo was frozen in the spot, eyes darting towards the man whose face was well shrouded behind the cake box.

"Give it to me," Kai said before he started taking the big box slowly out of Chanyeol's hands. Kyungsoo's eyes were fixed on the face which was slowly getting revealed, with his mouth slightly agape from the shock. And then the box was completely taken away from Chanyeol's hands, revealing his familiar face to Kyungsoo's waiting eyes.

Chanyeol, without looking around, looked towards the floor, eyes closed and raised his hand to reach his brown hair and messed them in an old, unorderly fashion, before sliding his fingers through the hair and pulling them back while he slowly lifted his face and opened his eyes only to find his reason for suicide standing in front of him and gaping at him with wide eyes and jaw dropping to the floor.

Chanyeol's eyes grew wide and his mouth went speechless. Kai placed the cake box on a table within close reach before joining them back and introducing the people who have known each other better and longer than anyone else in the room. The expression on Chanyeol's face was too wild to ignore for Baekhyun. He got curious about the regards of the shorter male standing in front of them. But before he could question anything, Kai interrupted.

"Baekhyun, Chanyeol, this is Kyungsoo, the decor head," Kai said while talking to Chanyeol and Baekhyun and pointing towards Kyungsoo. Baekhyun's eyes popped out as he darted a poisonous look towards the shorter. He couldn't recognise the unfamiliar feeling of jealousy burning in the pit of his stomach. It felt like his world was being snatched away from him. He looked at Chanyeol, and then back at Kyungsoo, both of them looking at each other as if nothing else around them holds more importance.

Baekhyun could feel his blood boiling, his senses leaving him and his insides twisting. Inside him, the ugly dark voice kept repeating itself like a broken record. 'You lost him. You never deserved him.'

Sensing the uncomfortable silence, Kai said, "And Kyungsoo, this is Baekhyun an-"

"Chanyeol," Kyungsoo spoke for the first time to complete Kai's sentence. Kai got confused and asked while sensing their reactions, "You two know each other?"

Chanyeol averted his gaze from Kyungsoo, avoiding the latter on purpose. He preferred to remain silent on the question, more like didn't know what to say anymore. However, Kyungsoo was intently looking at the taller, expecting an answer, words spitting anger, disappointment, shouts, tears or anything at all, but nothing came from Chanyeol other than silence.

So when Baekhyun spoke, it was an utter surprise to everyone, "pretty well it seems." He answered Kai's question, glancing at Chanyeol before reaching for Kai's hand and pulling him along to leave the other two alone.

"Baekhyun wait-" Chanyeol tried stopping Baekhyun who ignored him and walked away with a furious mind.

It wasn't like Baekhyun wanted Kyungsoo and Chanyeol to clear things between them or sort out the differences and give each other another chance. Hell no! Moreover, his heart kept telling him to go over to Kyungsoo and slap him hard on the cheek for making Chanyeol suffer so much and tell him to never show his face again to Chanyeol if he had any shame left in him, but, Baekhyun's brain knew better.

"What was that?" Kai asked surprised.

"Nothing," Baekhyun said in very low voice, but Kai managed to hear it. His aura getting doomed by the second.

Kai looked at Baekhyun from head to toe. The boy was actually looking pained, almost broke. And then, everything seemed crystal clear. Kai took a deep breath before sighing loudly.

"So Kyungsoo is the one he tried killing himself over?" Kai asked in a mocking tone, however, Baekhyun knew he was only surfacing how serious he was.

Kai could literally read him like a book. And he hated it. Baekhyun was at a loss of words.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Baekhyun said looking away from Kai. He knew if he stayed with Kai any longer, the younger will get everything out of him. He looked around quickly and spotted Sehun playing around with some random kid and Junmyeon standing close to him.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Kai said looking straight at Baekhyun without any hesitation.

"Sehun! Just come here for a second." Baekhyun called Sehun, then looked at Kai and said, "let's talk about this later."

Kai knew Baekhyun was only escaping the matter. He rolled his eyes and looked over the spot where they left Kyungsoo and Chanyeol. However, the pair wasn't there anymore.

"Yup hyung?" Sehun asked as he reached Baekhyun. Junmyeon and the random kid following behind.

Baekhyun grabbed his arm, said "Please excuse us for a minute," and took him a few steps away from others.

"I want to go home. Just inform Jin on my behalf." Baekhyun said to Sehun before he turned around and started walking out. Sehun quickly reached for his hand to stop him and turned Baekhyun around to see him, "I'll come with you. There's something I need to tell you." Sehun said in a serious tone.

Baekhyun nodded slightly before he took his hand and started walking out.

"You guys leaving?" Junmyeon asked from behind.

"Yup. I'll see you later hyung." Sehun replied while he stopped momentarily, smiled at the older kindly and bowed slightly before catching up with Baekhyun who was a few steps ahead.

"Hello, I'm Kai."

"Junmyeon."

The two exchanged names along with a handshake and got involved in a casual conversation.

Kai, however, wanted to stay even after Baekhyun had left. He wanted to find Kyungsoo and Chanyeol but didn't have the courage to. He decided to wait for them. He didn't want to leave Kyungsoo alone, nor did he want Chanyeol to be alone. He decided to offer company to whoever seemed more broken than the other after they were done talking.

"Are you here alone?" Kai asked Junmyeon out of blue.

"I was supposed to be alone, but coincidentally, my brother is the decor head of this wedding," Junmyeon said while laughing a little.

"Oh! Kyungsoo is your brother?"

"You know him?" Junmyeon asked surprised.

"Kind of," Kai replied with relief.

'Seems like Soo will have company, so it's Chanyeol I'd have to take care of.' Kai thought to himself before smiling a small feign smile.