52. Vigil ᴺᴱᵂ
Phoenix Rising
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Chapter 52: Vigil
The phone was ringing. Park Entertainment's automated response picked up and began its droning. The phone was also beeping, but gripped with fear and urgency, Chanyeol didn’t check who was calling.
As he pulled the phone from his ear to dial an extension, he saw that it was a missed call from Kris.
“God ing finally!” Chanyeol disconnected and punched the button to call back and the moment he heard Kris’ low “hey”, he started rambling at top speed.
“Yifan I almost ing called Park Entertainment and blew the whole gig you bastard something’s happened to Baekhyun have you heard from him do you know where he is or who he might be with or who—“
“Yeol.” Kris interrupted softly, then again a little more firmly when Chanyeol didn't stop. “Yeol.”
“What?!”
Kris’ voice dropped softer still. “Byun is with me.”
“He—he is?” Chanyeol’s heart slammed to a halt in his ribcage, a racecar hitting a wall. “Is he okay??!”
“He’s fine. Sleeping,” Yifan continued to whisper. “I’m driving him home.”
“Where did you find him what happe—“
“I don’t know, Yeol. He didn't tell us,” Kris sighed. “Where are you? Meet me at his place.”
Chanyeol turned the cab around and headed for Baekhyun's apartment. He recognized Kris’ car in the front drive of the building when he arrived. Kris popped a back door and Chanyeol slipped in.
“What—“
“Shh. He’s still out.” Yifan said, gesturing to the slumped figure in the passenger seat. “We need to get him upstairs.”
“Yifan there are PI’s on the case,” Chanyeol whispered. “I can’t be seen with him, he'll be screwed."
Yifan made a quick gesture for them both to get out of the car.
Outside, Chanyeol wrapped his arms around himself against the evening air.
“What were you freaking out about on the phone Yeol?” Kris looked at him with concern.
“He—he left me a voicemail this afternoon. It sounded like he was going to—” Chanyeol swallowed hard, finishing softer, “—hurt himself.”
Yifan’s eyes widened. He curled a hand around one of Chanyeol’s shoulders and squeezed. Chanyeol didn’t shake it off. Yifan didn’t remove it.
“Byun showed up at my shoot randomly. Was really quiet all night, stuck by Jessica. He wasn’t supposed to be there, it was pretty random that he showed up. We took him out to eat when he told us about the engagement...and some with his parents who sound like scum. He didn’t say much all night.”
Chanyeol nodded, mostly to himself. “What... what do I do?” He looked up at Yifan. “I don’t want to leave him alone at home. He probably sent me that voicemail before he went to see you. He’s... he’s talked about things like this... more than once before.”
Yifan looked around, over the top of the car to the security guard stationed at the desk. “You’ve been here before, right?”
“Yes, but not since the case—“
“Doesn’t matter then. If they’re really investigating and the guards get questioned, they’ll know you were here from before. Going in again now doesn’t change a damn thing in the past—you’re probably on all the camera footage and signed in as a guest too.”
Kris had a point, and Chanyeol didn't like it. The evidence was stacked so perfectly against Baekhyun—was that why he'd told Chanyeol to out him in court? Because be knew he was done for, no matter what? Chanyeol shivered, remembering how
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