- 32 years old -

The two had their first fight, and Chanyeol apologized immediately. Then they had their second, third and fourth.

The older threw tantrums, and the younger would always comfort him.

Baekhyun hated it; he hated how everything went according to his wants. He hated how Chanyeol seemed to have no mind of his own despite knowing it was his own fault. He pouted through his tears at his boyfriend, not knowing what to do anymore.

He had a successful career, his parents staying with him. There was only one maid with them, because he hated having 4 of them pamper him all the time when he was a child. 1 is more than enough, he’d told his parents and they agreed. Thankfully.

Slamming the door, the shorter man ran out of the house.

He sat at his favorite coffee shop, the slow rain not calming him down. Not at all. But somehow, he felt relaxed. As though he was free of something, and he realized his relationship was never going to work out.

I want little squabbles that end up with us laughing at how ridiculous we are. I want tickle fights. I want us to go everywhere together. I want people to be able to see my partner, god damn it.

Forget it, I’ll fall in love with someone else.

He thought it would be hard, throwing his head back and scanning the coffee shop. His eyes passed a girl in a simple blouse and jeans fiddling with a tie, and came back to her. I thought wrong.

It just all happened so quickly; one moment Baekhyun was pulling his hair out and the other he felt his heart hammering wildly.

- 35 years old -

“Hyung! Congratulations!”

“Is Chan here?”

“Yeah, enjoy yourself!”

Baekhyun smiled a sincere smile, shaking the hands of the people he invited. It was his wedding today, and he was overjoyed. When he told Chanyeol he had a girlfriend, Chanyeol only smiled. He didn’t pout or throw any tantrums; he only smiled and raised a thumb. That was when he realized his entire relationship was just his own imagination. And that, was when he gave up entirely on Chanyeol.

I can’t wait to see Jiyeon. He bit on his lower lip, sighing at all the procedures but brightened up because these were all necessary for his soon-to-be wife’s greatest day.

- 45 years old -

“Jiyong! Were you a bad kid again?” The elder of the two boys shook his head, pointing at his younger brother. “He’s annoying!”

“How am I annoying?”

“Hell yeah you are!”

“Language!” Baekhyun frowned, shaking his head and Jiyeon’s voice could be heard. “Dinner’s ready!” He got rid of his habit of cursing when he knew his beloved was with child, just as Kai quit smoking because he and Kyungsoo were adopting.

- 64 years old -

“Grandpa! Tell us about your story again!”

“Yeah! Who’s Channie?”

“Is he cute?”

“Is he ugly?”

“Doeth he talk funny?”

“Haha, like you?”

“That’th not funny, Taeyeon.”

Baekhyun stood behind the sofa, his hands on Jiyeon’s shoulders as he recounted his story again—the other main character standing right beside him.

“Ith he thtill here?”

This made him smile, and Baekhyun shrugged. “That’s up for you to decide.” Truthfully, there were many ways of answering his question. After all, no matter what he said he wouldn’t be lying. You could say Chanyeol was standing next to him, or you could say he didn’t exist.

Either way worked.

- 82 years old -

Baekhyun sat on the very same sofa, putting his ever-so-shapely legs on the coffee table and Jiyeon threw her magazine at him.

“Legs off.”

As the two elderly bickered, Baekhyun realized he led a happy life. He had friends, found someone he loved, and most importantly got to grow old with them. He smiled, and couldn’t help but notice how quiet the room was.

Chanyeol had left.

Baekhyun never regretted calling Chanyeol back, neither did he regret confessing. To him, his life had no regrets whatsoever.

As he held his wife’s hand, he smiled sweetly at her, the wrinkles on the side of his eyes making her heart warm too. “Thank you, Jiyeon.”

Thank you, Chanyeol. For everything.