~*Chapter Three *~

The next afternoon, as predicted, you were both let out of solitary confinement due to your good behaviour. You sat next to each other in the canteen and you ate with much more enthusiasm than usual, clearing your entire plate. You had to admit, you preferred talking to Baekhyun in person about Neverland. You loved how animated he became when he talked about his adventures there. He told you about the lost boys, his five ‘brothers’ that he loved dearly and what sorts of mischief they got up to.

You stared at him as he spoke, his skin looked soft and smooth and the small freckle dotted just above his small, plump, pink lips fit perfectly and made him that tiny bit more adorable. His dark orbs twinkled as he relived his memories and he tousled his wispy, reddish-brown hair, pushing it out of his eyes as he laughed to himself.

“…and then Kai stood on the trap without knowing and he hung from the tree by his foot for a whole hour until Suho found out and got him down!” he giggled, flashing you the cutest eye-smile you had ever seen. You laughed back lightly, giving him a small smile, appreciating his anecdote.

“That sounds like fun” you beamed, pushing your empty plate away from you before taking a sip of your orange juice.

“It is” he grinned, “I can’t wait for you to meet the Lost Boys, they’ll love you.”

“Really? You think?”

“I know” he nodded proudly to himself. Your cheeks flushed red and you looked away, drinking the last of your beverage before standing up and pushing your seat back under the table. Baekhyun followed suit and you walked to the Recreation room together, you pulled out your Fairytale book and sat down on your usual sofa, only this time, Baekhyun accompanied you with his own fairytale. You folded your legs under you and tucked your hair behind your ear as you found the page you were last on that was marked by a red satin ribbon.

You carried on reading, getting lost in the fairytale once again and you couldn’t help but think - one day this might actually happen to you. With all this talk of Neverland, your adventure was on the verge of becoming a reality. That was… if Baekhyun was in fact telling you the truth.  You looked up briefly from your book at the boy you were putting your faith in for the moment and caught him blatantly staring at you. He quickly put his head back in to his book when he noticed you staring back and both of you blushed. Nobody spoke for a while, but you decided to break the ice.

“Can you tell me more about Neverland?” you asked, placing the ribbon in to the page you had just begun reading before closing it and placing it on the table next to you. Baekhyun looked up from writing in his diary with doe eyes before breaking in to a smile.

“What do you want to know?” he quizzed, placing his closed book on top of yours.

“What places can you visit?” you enquired, facing him, resting your cheek in the palm of your hand that was propped up on the back of the sofa.

“There’s the Blue Lagoon,” he began, “It’s a huge lagoon filled with the clearest, bluest water you will ever lay eyes on. It’s always the perfect temperature and it’s surrounded by multiple waterfalls that shine different colours when the sun hits them just right.”

“That sounds amazing” you breathed in awe.

“But, you must never, ever go there after sunset,” he warned.

“Why?” you drew your brows in confusion.

“Because that’s when the mermaids come out, and they’re dangerous.”

“Mermaids?” you asked, your eyes widened at the mention of the mythical beings you had only heard of in books.

“Yes, of course,” he nodded like it was the most normal thing in the world. “Promise me you’ll never go there after sunset” he said seriously, staring in to your eyes as he held out his pinky finger.

“I promise,” you whispered, locking your pinky with his. He sealed the promise with his thumb and then smiled his eye-smile again, the seriousness now void of his face.

“Good” he beamed, crossing his legs under him so he was facing you. You both faced each other at opposite ends of the sofa and talked for a good hour about the different activities and fun things that could be done in Neverland. He promised to take you to visit Pixie Hollow so you could meet Tinkerbell and get some fairy dust so you could fly around Neverland all day. Your eyes lit up at his promises and you couldn’t wait to leave this hellhole and finally live again.

***

Every day, for the next four days, you would stick together all the time, constantly talking of the far off land that was now filling your dreams and thoughts. Baekhyun told you everything he could remember about Neverland, but every day he kept forgetting small things that he had told you just yesterday. You had to remind him of the minuscule details and you helped him write more in his diary so he could read it every day and carry on remembering.

He blamed his loss of memory on the medication they were forcing him to take. He tried getting rid of it, but the doctors knew he wasn’t taking it and now they were staying to make sure he would take them before they left. He was relying on you to keep his memories strong and fresh in his mind.

You woke up on Wednesday and made your way to your weekly session with your psychiatrist, there was a small skip in your step and your mind was filled with nothing but magical thoughts.

“Good morning, Semmi” your psychiatrist smiled at you before looking back down at the papers on her desk.

“Good morning” you smiled back. She abruptly looked back up in shock. That was the first time you’d actually spoken to her since you’d started visiting her. She gave you another smile, this one was much warmer and you saw wrinkles form around her eyes as they scrunched up.

You pulled a chair up and sat in front of her desk, swinging your feet back and forth idly.

“You seem to be a lot happier” she stated, taking off her thick, black rimmed glasses, placing them to the side.

“I took your advice” you said simply.

“Oh, you did?” she asked, raising a brow.

“Yes, I made a friend.”

“Well that’s great; friendship will definitely help you on your winding road to recovery, Semmi. Would you like to talk about your friend?”

“His name is Baekhyun,” you began, a smile unconsciously forming on your face.

“Baekhyun?” she sighed, “The new transfer?”

“Yes, him” you nodded matter-of-factly.

“I’m not completely sure that’s best for you, Semmi.”

“What do you mean?” you asked, drawing in your brows and pouting slightly. You were slightly hurt that she was no longer proud of your friendship and how much better you had gotten thanks to him.

“It’s great that you’ve made a friend, Semmi, but Baekhyun is a bad influence.”

“How?” you quizzed. You were getting quite angry at her now, she had told you to go and build friendships with people and now she was telling you to throw all of that away?

“He caused a lot of trouble in his old institutions, he has quite the short temper. I don’t want you picking up on his bad habits, Semmi.”

“He’s not like that” you mumbled.

“He may not be now, but you never know what is around the corner. Perhaps you could try making some other new friends? I only have your best interests at heart, Semmi, and I know that Baekhyun’s friendship is not the best remedy for you.”

“Of course you do” you muttered. You couldn’t help but feel deflated at her attitude.

“I think it’s best if you stay away from him from now on” she nodded.

“No,” you said stubbornly, crossing your arms over your chest.

“See, he’s already changing you! Don’t let him fill your head with his magical nonsense. You need to stay in reality, that’s the only way you’re going to get better, Semmi.”

You hung your head and let her words sink in. Was all of his talk just magical nonsense? Was it all just make-believe? Was he really just a crazy boy with a wild imagination? You let out a sigh and ran your hand through your hair, moving it out of your face.

“I’ll move our next meeting to Monday” she said, jotting something down on a piece of paper and then typing at her computer, “I want to see how you’re doing by then and if you’ve taken my words in to consideration.”

You nodded and walked silently out of her office, the skip in your step was no longer present and you trudged back to your room where you laid down on your bed and closed your eyes while you thought.