“Did I ever tell you how much I-“

The electronic chiming of Kris’ cellphone interrupted him, the annoyingly loud sound cutting through the heated moment and causing both of us to groan. He rolled off of me, untangling his legs from mine as he reached for the device on the bedside table.

“Who is it?” I asked, running my hands over my eyes and rolling so my back was to him. I knew the answer already and felt a petulant need to act like a pouting child.

“Babe, I gotta take this okay? It won’t take long.”

I scoffed, not offering a real response even as Kris placed an apologetic kiss to my bare shoulder. He shuffled out from under the covers, wrapping a stray bed sheet around his hips. “You didn’t answer my question,” I called out to him, more to be annoying than for my actual curiosity.

“Tao,” He whispered with a sigh, and then began to leave the bedroom. “Hey, what’s up?” I heard Kris’ voice faintly as he closed the door.

When it was shut and I was left alone with my thoughts, I sat up and dragged the comforter around my body. I tried not to feel mad at Kris but I figured that I had a good reason; after all, who the hell left to answer their cellphone right after anyways?

Making up my mind, I stood and grabbed my clothes off the floor. Pulling them on, I stormed out of my room not caring about my current state. Kris looked shocked as I marched past him, slipping on my shoes and opening the door to the apartment.

“Hang on, Tao,” Kris mumbled into the phone hurriedly before running to my side. “Where are you going?” He asked, a look of alarm on his face.

This wasn’t the first time that this happened and all other times I’d lay in bed waiting for his return but I couldn’t do it anymore. I was feeling jealous, possibly even overdramatically so, and I wasn’t just going to lie there while my boyfriend interrupted the private time we had together to chat with some kid who was obviously in love with him.

My train of thought shocked me, and my surprised expression was mirrored on Kris’ face. “Did I say that out loud?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Kris eyed me before putting the phone back to his ear. “I’m going to need to call you back, Tao,” He spoke slowly, hanging up and grabbing my wrist. He led me over to the couch and pushed me down onto it before taking a seat.

“First of all, I don’t know where you got it into your head that Tao is ‘in love with me’,” He began, using his fingers to make quotation marks in the air. His tone annoyed me, possibly because he sounded annoyed himself. I wasn’t about to feel like the bad guy in the situation, but before I could say anything in response, Kris continued. “And I realize that this was a really bad time for him to call and I’m sorry for just walking out on you to answer the phone but Tao really needed to talk to me-“

“He always needs to talk to you, Kris,” I snapped back.

“Will you stop acting like I’m cheating on you for one second and-“

“Cheating on me?  Who said anything about that?!” I wasn’t helping the situation and in the back of my mind, I knew that, but I was getting more and more furious by the second and I could tell that Kris was becoming increasingly angry also, and it was only a matter of seconds before we blew up at each other.

“It’s not hard to figure out what you’re thinking Chanyeol, even when you do manage to keep your mouth shut while doing it.”

Well that one was a little uncalled for.

“You’re possessive, and jealous and frankly a little clingy,” Kris’ voice was getting louder to the point of almost shouting and I couldn’t take it.

“And you’re a jerk, Kris,” I hissed, realizing that I didn’t really have any comebacks for him. He was right, I thought, I was possessive and jealous a lot of the time and I supposed that it could come off as clingy but I couldn’t help it, I just loved him so much and the idea of him leaving me for even one second… I stood up abruptly, feeling a knot forming in my stomach. “I’m just going to go, okay?” I whispered, trying not to let my voice crack with the tears that I knew were coming.

“And you always run from the problem!” Kris hadn’t calmed down from his earlier rant, still clearly angry with me. “You’re such a child sometimes, Chanyeol, and I-“ He broke off when I covered my face quickly.

I could feel a tear break away from the corner of my eye and I rushed to wipe it away before it could make a noticeable streak down my cheek. If Kris already thought I was childish, he would probably believe it even more if I broke down crying in front of him.

“Chanyeol…” Kris’ voice was softer now and I wanted to run to him and apologize for everything and beg for him to not be mad anymore but when he moved to come towards me, something inside me snapped and I ran out the door.

***

I collapsed onto the damp grass. After running for what felt like hours while trying not to break down sobbing, I had finally reached my destination. I pulled out my cellphone and hit a few buttons, not even having to look at my phone because my fingers remembered so well, and soon enough a ringing sound echoed through the speaker.

“Hello?” A groggy voice answered after a couple of rings.

“Baekhyunnie?” I choked out. Now that I had stopped running, all the tears that I had been holding back finally were released. “I- and Kris – he hates me- I’m sorry – waking up-“ I tried to speak but just couldn’t form proper sentences.

“Where are you?” Baekhyun asked, fully awake now.

“In front,” I whispered, trying to keep to short phrases.

In an instant, the front door opened and my best friend ran to where I was lying on his front lawn, pulling me into a tight hug before leading me inside and onto his couch. He got me a glass of water and a few tissues, allowing me to calm down before he began questioning me.

As I told him everything that happened, he held me tightly, running his hands up and down my back in soothing motions. “Hush, baby, it’s okay…” He whispered when my explanation turned into quiet sobs.

After a long time, I looked up at him with wide eyes. “I’m so sorry, Baekhyunnie. For just bursting in here at midnight and waking you up and making you listen to me crying on your couch for hours…” My voice was raspy and exhausted and Baekhyun shushed me quickly, placing a quick kiss to my forehead.

“It’s okay, Yeollie, any time you need me…” He paused for a moment, looking into my eyes before planting another kiss on my cheek, this time one that lasted a bit longer. A nagging warning that I should be pulling away right about now began gnawing at my stomach but I was still hurting and the way Baekhyunnie looked at me was so comforting... “Kris doesn’t deserve someone like you, Yeollie, and he would be stupid to hate someone as perfect as you,” He kissed my cheek again, but this one was closer to the corner of my mouth.

“I don’t think he’s going to leave you, Yeollie, because I know he’s not a total idiot and he really does love you…” Baekhyun fell silent for a moment and I wanted to nod in response.

 Past all the insecurities and jealousy I knew that Kris cared about me a lot and that I was probably an idiot for letting this entire thing blow out of proportion. I also knew that I should be telling all of this to my friend instead of sitting there in silence while he kept glancing from my eyes to my lips because yes, I was an idiot but I wasn’t completely stupid and I knew where this was going. But I couldn’t.

“Kris won’t leave you, Yeollie… But I almost wish he would.” Baekhyun pressed his lips to mine and my mind went blank. It felt nothing like when Kris first kissed me, like the fireworks that exploded in my heart and made me tingle all over and want to run a marathon, no, this was the opposite. I could feel a lead weight being dropped in my chest and all my limbs were heavy as if I was sitting in quicksand and I felt like I couldn’t move even if there was a gun pressed to my temple. “It’s horrible,” Baekhyun continued, pulling away from me briefly, “But I wish he would,” He repeated and kissed me again, this time a much more passionate one.