Chapter Five: Byun Baekhyun

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Kris arrived in Korea in the nick of time, as usual. This time, he headed to Hongdae, because most of the universities are around that area. He shivered. It was only 9 PM, but the sun has set rather early that day. Kris slapped his face to keep awake. He thought back and it’s been a while since he had some sleep. He set his mind to stay in Korea for a while, about a day or two, and catch up on sleep during the morning.

He walked around. He came to a conclusion that it was a Friday because of the amount of students in line for the clubs, walking around with friends, and hanging around in cafes. He went inside a café and ordered a coffee to warm him up. As he sat on a corner table, he noticed the groups of girls ogling at him from the other side of the room. He flushed and lowered his head.

Suddenly, a shadow came over. “Excuse me?” said a soft voice.

Kris looked up and saw one of the girls from the other side of the room. She was the quietest of them, the only one who wasn’t looking at him. She had a soft facial structures and a dainty frame. Her eyes were brown, and so was her hair, which was wavy and came to her shoulders. Kris noticed all this the second he looked up at her.

“Yes?” he said in Korean.

“My friends told me to ask for your name,” said the girl shyly.

Kris glanced at her friends, who, at his glance, huddled together and began whispering. Kris smirked and looked back at the girl.

“I’ll tell you my name, but here’s what you tell them: ‘He said he wasn’t interested, and he’d like to thank us for our attention, but he has more pressing matters to attend to.’ Tell them that, ok? My name’s Kris,” said Kris. He smiled at her and her face flushed a light shade of pink.

“I-I’m Jaesun,” stuttered the girl, then shut her eyes tightly and facepalmed herself.

Kris smiled again. “I don’t remember asking for your name, sweetheart, but thanks for saying it anyway. See you around, Jaesun.”

Kris smiled at her again and went out of the café with his coffee in hand. He wandered along the university road and observed students walking around in groups or hanging out alone. He passed by an alleyway and his keen ears picked up a yelp from within the darkness. He froze and listened.

“Don’t shout out, smart guy; it won’t be worth it.”

“Please… Stop hurting me…”

“Don’t you get it? It’s the consequences of being bait. Your so-called friend shouldn’t have left you here alone.”

“He is my friend. What have you against him?”

A thud followed and a silhouette of a body fell to the ground. Kris clenched his fists and his knuckles turned white. He hated bullies the most out of all the kinds of evil people.

“You are so naïve.”

“Hey, you kids stop that,” said Kris and entered the alley. His eyes being used to the dark, he made out four bulky kids and a thin body of a boy sprawled on the ground. The kids sneered at him.

“What are you gonna do about it?” jeered the tallest kid. As tall as he is, he only came up to Kris’ ear; but even that didn’t scare him.

“You know, kid, I hate bullies,” said Kris. “And I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“Well, I guess you have to, if you want to save this kid,” said another of the boys, the bulkiest ones. “Not that he’s worth saving, if his own friend won’t even come for him.”

The boy whimpered. The third boy aimed a kick at the thin boy’s side. The thin boy let out a strangled yell. Kris’ frown deepened and he lost his patience.

“You boys better back out now or you’ll get hurt,” growled Kris.

No one paid him any attention. The first boy and the second boy attacked Kris at the same time. One aimed a punch at his face, the other tried to knee him in the stomach. But Kris was agile. He stepped back and dodged to the right. The boys smacked into each other so hard they both fell. Kris eyed the third boy, who let out a yelp and ran to his friends. They glared at Kris, but a look from him had them scampering out of the alley.

Kris scoffed. “I didn’t even touch them.” A groan reminded him of what he came here for. He turned and knelt by the thin boy’s side. From the dim light coming from a building overhead, he made out the boy’s facial features.

He was fair and smooth-skinned. His features were soft, his eyes suggested intelligence, and he had light brown hair. He was lanky and he dressed like he was part of the artistic group in school.

“Hey, are you alright?” asked Kris. “Are you hurt anywhere? Can you stand?”

The boy tried to support himself on his elbows and found that he could stand. Kris held his arms out and ready if the boy suddenly lost his balance.

“I can stand, and walk too, but I think my side’s bruised,” replied the boy. “Thank you so much for your help. I’ll be fine now.”

“Are you kidding? What if those boys come back for you? Come on, I’ll accompany you home. Where is your dorm?”

“No, it’s ok, really,” said the boy. “I just live close by.”

“Aw come on,” said Kris. “What’s your name, by the way?”

The boy hesitated. “I’m Baekhyun; Byun Baekhyun.”

“My name’s Kris,” said Kris. He held out his hand and the boy took it firmly. “Nice meeting you.”

“Yeah, you too,” said Baekhyun.

Kris rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you sure you’ll be alright, because, you know…”

Baekhyun smiled a little. “Oh, fine. Since you saved me, anyway, I should probably pay you back somehow.”

Kris and Baekhyun exited the alley and walked to Baekhyun’s dorm. It was a little apartment near his university building. Baekhyun knew the landlady well, and he greeted Kris warmly when Baekhyun introduced him. When they got to his room, Kris noticed many things. The room was big enough for two people. There was a kitchen on one side and the door to the bathroom on the other. In the kitchen was a table for two beside a refrigerator. It was neat enough, and it resembles Baekhyun’s easy-going personality.

“You may look around, if you like,” said Baekhyun. “I’ll just go to the kitchen for a while.”

“Thanks,” said Kris. He went through the bedroom doorway.

There were two beds, one on each side of the bedroom. One bed was empty and the other was filled with thick textbooks and a laptop. There were pictures on the side table, pictures of Baekhyun and a taller boy.

“What would you like to eat? Or drink, perhaps?” called Baekhyun from the kitchen.

“I’m kinda full,” replied Kris. “If you’re hungry you can go eat without me.”

A few moments later Baekhyun came into the bedroom with cup noodles and chopsticks in his hands. He noticed Kris looking at the pictures on his bedside table. His expression saddened.

“That’s Chanyeol,” he said.

Kris whipped around to find Baekhyun standing there. His expression was sad and dark, just like how Suho’s had been.

“Who is he?” asked Kris. “Your friend?”

“He used to stay here with me,” replied Baekhyun. “Until he had to leave.” He gingerly touched a photo frame.

“Why?”

Baekhyun stiffened. “Family complications.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Kris. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

Baekhyun shook his head. He put his noodles down and forgot about it. He took a picture and sat down and stared at it.

“Chanyeol is my bestfriend,” he said quietly, not looking up, as if speaking to himself. “We’ve known each other since we were kids. We even went to the same college together. When we were younger it went unspoken that we would never fall apart, and we both knew it.”

Baekhyun paused. Kris glanced at the bed behind him. It was Chanyeol’s bed, and it didn’t feel right for him to sit on it, so he just leaned on the wall.

“Just a few months ago Chanyeol received a call from somewhere in the Middle Eastern countries. They were at war there and Chanyeol’s father is there. So when some guy called and said that his father was wounded, Chanyeol was torn between leaving me here and going to his dad.”

Kris started feeling that the story would pan out similarly to Suho’s, yet he stayed quiet.

“Of course I urged him to go. He stayed with me for a few days before he really left. I figured I’d be fine without him; I’ve been too dependent on him when he was still here. But when he left, those bullies started hounding me. They have something against Chanyeol that they couldn’t take out on him and they target me instead.”

Kris frowned. “Have you told Chanyeol about this?”

Baekhyun shook his head. “I don’t want to burden him anymore. He has enough trouble in his life, I think.”

Kris blinked. “You think? Why, haven’t you been communicating?”

“In that place where he went—I’m not sure where it is—outside calls were regulated and internet access was cut. Nope, I haven’t heard from him since he left. I sure do hope he’s ok.”

Kris frowned and let out a small sigh. As much as he wanted to get his drop of a pure tear from Baekhyun quickly, he wanted to distract him from his sadness too. It was a crazy, mixed-up kind of feeling, and Kris decided to do the latter.

“Hey, Baekhyun, what’s your major?” asked Kris out of the blue. It caught Baekhyun off-guard and looked a Kris weirdly.

“Math, why?” he replied.

Kris shrugged. “Nothing. It’s just… I didn’t get into a good college when I was in China.”

“You’re from China? What’s your real name?” asked Baekhyun, getting a little distracted.

“Wu Fan,” replied Kris. “May I see that book?”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

They talked like this for a good three hours, hopping from one random topic to the next. Soon, it was midnight, and Kris realized that he had to leave Baekhyun in a few hours. All throughout the night he didn’t get to increase his tear collection. Maybe Baekhyun was not one of the people he should approach, but now, somehow he was glad he did.

“Omo, look at the time,” said Baekhyun, glancing at the wall clock. “Do you need a place to spend the night? I’m sure Chanyeol won’t mind you use his bed, even just for tonight.”

“Even so, I’d hate to use it,” said Kris. “It seems so important to you. I’ll be fine on a mattress or something.”

“We don’t have any. We hardly have guests here,” said Baekhyun. “Go on, use his bed. It’ll be fine, just for tonight.”

“I know. Why don’t you use his and I use yours?” said Kris.

With a bit of consideration and thinking, Baekhyun fell into Chanyeol’s bed and Kris crashed into Baekhyun’s. Baekhyun reached out and flicked the light switch. As Kris lay in the dark, thinking of his plans for the following days, he heard a deep sigh from Baekhyun.

“Can’t sleep?” asked Kris. A sigh replied to his question. Kris paused.

“You know something, Kris?” came Baekhyun’s voice. “I miss Chanyeol a lot. This house has never had any form of noise or sound when he left.”

“Figures,” muttered Kris. “I bet you’ll get to see him again soon.”

“Why are you so sure?” said Baekhyun, his voice sounding as if he was in a trance. “I may never get to see my bestfriend again.”

“Why are you so pessimistic? Hope is the only thing you have left. Let go of it, and you lose the will to live,” said Kris. “I’m pretty sure Chanyeol would be very upset when he comes back and finds your gravestone.”

He heard Baekhyun chuckle. “You make me laugh, Kris. No one has ever done that before except for Yeol.”

“I’m glad. Well, I hope you’d be ok once I leave,” said Kris. “I’m kind of a travelling person, and more or less when you wake up I’ll be gone.”

Baekhyun sighed. “I think I can cope. Chanyeol’s been MIA for six months, anyway.”

“That’s good. On you coping, I mean.”

Kris turned to try and get some sleep. But just as his eyes almost fluttered close, his necklace began to glow. He turned his head slightly and heard slight hiccupping and muttering.

“Why does everyone want to leave?” said a soft voice. “I hate getting left behind.”

Kris felt is throat constricted. He felt like crying too. He remembered the first day he left home; the betrayed faces of Luhan and his grandfather were overwhelming. Yet he left them anyway. Here he was seeing the aftermath of his actions. Guilt came over him, and he couldn’t move.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Soon, it was just minutes before dawn. Kris didn’t get to sleep a wink. Baekhyun had fallen asleep crying to himself. Kris felt stiff, so he got up, and before he left, he wrote a note for Baekhyun and left it on the table.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Baekhyun woke up and found the bed opposite his empty. He really left. Then he noticed a piece of hastily-folded paper on the table. He unfolded it and could hardly make out the scrawl on it.

Hey Baekhyun.

I left already, as you can see. But since I’ll be travelling, maybe I’ll drop in on Chanyeol and deliver the message. You watch yourself there, and keep the faith. Soon the person knocking on your door will be the person you’ve always wanted to see.

Thanks a lot for letting a random stranger spend the night. I won’t ever forget this.

Kris.

Baekhyun smiled and pocketed the note. His eyes fell on the wall clock and he clambered up to get ready for school.