*Chapter 13;

Sunday.

Baekhyun had never been the type of person to mark dates, but he found himself checking his dusty mini-calendar on his bedside every morning, crossing out the bolded numbers with a red colored pencil. It was borderline cruel how he was counting the days down, but it was his only relief, like mentally preparing himself for the last moment.

He literally rolled out of bed at the sound of his doorbell ringing repeatedly, his hair a disheveled mess and sleep caked along his eyes. He couldn't even imagine who in their right mind would wake him up from his "beauty sleep" at the crack of dawn, although a face and name came into mind when he heard a voice.

"Baekkolo! BABY, COME BAEK! My freshly baeked apple pie!"

"Jongin," Baekhyun hissed when he swung open his front door to find the other male grinning dumbly back at him with a few others behind him. Most of them were from his soccer team, some were familiar-but-unfamiliar faces he had seen around once or twice.

"Wanna come watch? I thought you might want to get some exercise; plus, we're getting hot dogs after the match, losing team pays," Jongin smirked, balancing a soccer ball between one arm and his hip, "Is your leg getting better?"

Baekhyun glanced down at his leg still bandaged and the joint positioned correctly with splints, having to lean his shoulder against the gate's frame for support. He wiggled it from the knee-down to show it was slowly, but surely healing. "It still hurts a little, but it's not like the bones are broken or anything," he said, momentarily glancing over his shoulder and through an open window. Chanyeol's room was closest to the front door which was also why it happened to be the coldest room, but from the gates he could see Chanyeol already up and studying, despite it being a Sunday. "You mind if Chanyeol comes along?" 

The others mumbled incoherently behind Jongin.

"The retard? He's going to come with us?"

"People are going to think he's actually one of us."

"What if he beats us with a brick?"

"Hey, hey, hey," Jongin silenced the others that were howling with laughter, "Chanyeol's on our side. Can't forget he helped Baekgu out of a tough scrape here, right?" When he turned back to Baekhyun, he flashed him a wink. "Come on, let's go play."

Baekhyun and Chanyeol sat beneath the shade of some tree while they watched the two teams compete against each other. Chanyeol was so absorbed in watching the soccer ball being passed from one end of the grassy field to the other that his head kept moving from side to side, like a cat following the red laser. He'd smile and clap whenever either team made a goal, jump in surprise and cover his ears when the referee blew his whistle too loud, then glance over at Baekhyun every now and then with a stupid grin on his face.

"Is it fun?" Baekhyun asked the other boy in disbelief. He preferred being the player, not the benchwarmer watching from the sidelines. It was boring. He propped his elbow on his good knee and his chin on the same hand, idly plucking patches of grass from the dirt. His friends looked like they were having the time of their lives, while he missed running with them.

Chanyeol nodded with his overgrown locks of hair bouncing on his face. In the natural sunlight, Baekhyun noticed that Chanyeol's hair was brown, not black. If he was being really descriptive, the color looked almost like an auburn-brown, which was strange for someone of Chanyeol's ethnic background. He lowered his gaze again when he felt a little sheepish and embarrassed for thinking about what Chanyeol's natural hair color was. He blamed it on how bored he really was.

"Why don't you go play with them?"

Chanyeol shook his head once he took one (long) look at the other boys on the field.

"Why not?" Baekhyun asked, picking up a flimsy twig and poking Chanyeol's side with it, "Go play with them. I'll beat them up if they're mean to you."

"It's not that..." Chanyeol trailed off, "I don't want to leave Baekhyun alone."

The two sat in silence for a long time before Baekhyun finally understood the gravity of his brother's words, yet, by the time he came to terms with it, Chanyeol had already found something else to do by stringing dandelions together.

Baekhyun huffed, stubbornly snatching away the wreaths of dandelions and breaking it apart. "Stupid," he muttered under his breath, laying his head on Chanyeol's crossed legs instead and staring up at the canopy of leaves for an even longer period of time, "How are you going to cope without me, then? What if one day I just disappear?" He pretended to be angry, maybe even frustrated (even though it wasn't his intent), staring dreamily as the leaves fell in graceful, sweeping motions from the branches.

"Chanyeol will look for Baekhyun, then." Chanyeol stuck one of the dandelions behind Baekhyun's ear and laughed as if he knew nothing but happiness.

Eventually, Monday came around.

Baekhyun found himself swept up in the same routine of preparing breakfast again, which was, of course, SPAM and some other dishes he vaguely knew how to cook with eggs. His mother had left some side dishes in the fridge for them to microwave, so he set them out and waited for Chanyeol to finish dressing up for school.

When he picked up the spoon and dipped it into the lukewarm seaweed soup, a wave of loneliness washed over him. Without Chanyeol, who would he share the last egg roll with? Who could he count on to make his Mondays better with a bright smile? Before, he had always envied Chanyeol because he had taken up his stolen all the attention he thought he deserved, but without him, he was an only son again.

"Baekhyun!" Chanyeol screamed from the restroom, "The toilet's going crazy! Help!"

He was definitely going to miss the chaos, and how every morning was just a time bomb ready to blow at any moment. Baekhyun rushed into the restroom as fast as his limp could carry him. Just as he had assumed, the bidet was squirting a strong jet of water straight at Chanyeol, who was sputtering and trying to cover himself with his arms.

"I told you not to press this!" he sighed as he turned off the squirting function and closed the lid, "Here's a towel, there's breakfast on the table, so dry yourself before we're late to school."

Baekhyun shook his head slowly and sighed.

Caring for Chanyeol wasn't even a chore or a burden anymore but a habit.

Sniffing his hand to make sure the toilet water didn't have a particular stench to it, Baekhyun walked out to the living room when he heard their phone ringing. He held it against his cheek with a tired greeting. There was a pause, then some lady's voice on the other end.

"Mrs. Byun? This is the Seoul Psychiatric Institute. Do you have the time now to discuss your next plans for Park Chanyeol?"

...

"Mrs. Byun?"

Baekhyun hung up.

On his way to school, Baekhyun couldn't stop thinking about the call from the hospital. It was like he had briefly forgotten reality while playing with Chanyeol, thinking that their days would last forever. By the time they came to the school's front gates, he stopped and nudged his brother inside. "You go ahead, Chanyeol, I think... I forgot my soccer equipment in the gym."

Chanyeol blinked. "I'll... go with you."

Baekhyun shook his head, pushing himself up on his toes to thump a hand on Chanyeol's clumps of cinnamon-brown hair. He ruffled it affectionately. "You'll be late for class," he said, "Study hard, Yeolkkong. Be good."

Chanyeol nodded with an endearing smile.

After he saw Chanyeol heading to class, Baekhyun turned in the opposite direction.

He didn't feel like going to school that day.

Author's Note: I logged online to see that I was featured on AFF! Wow! I definitely didn't see this coming, so I'm still in shock... but I still want to thank everyone who took their time to upvote my story! Baby's Breath wouldn't have gone this far without its readers~ Thank you! I promised myself that I would write a longer chapter, but I didn't want to rush the days more than I already did in this chapter, so I promise a faster, longer update next time! OMG THANK YOU GUYS!