For daniseu + soshix1279

Purple Hyacinth

 Baekhyun was going to greet his best friend, Chanyeol, as usual, when he spots her coming out of the girls’ bathroom with puffy eyes and a red nose. She has a tissue in her hand which she quickly stuffs into her pocket and then rubs her nose and looks down at the ground as she walks. Baekhyun called her name but she didn’t respond which made him run up to her and then purposely bump into her so that she would look up at him.

When he confirms what he saw, he instantly feels guilty because he knows why she was feeling this way without her even saying it. Still, he places his arm around her and steers them in the direction of their quiet spot, and forces her to sit opposite him.

“What’s wrong?”

“He…broke up with me?”

“When?”

“Just then…”

He didn’t know what to say, but he kept thinking back to a scene a few days before, which would have probably been the cause of the breakup.

3 days before…

Baekhyun was walking to the back of the library where he hid his favourite graphic novel. He hides it in the shelf that no one looks at so that no one would ever borrow his book. As he was passing through, he heard voices. He looked through the gaps of the shelves to see a boy and a girl making out. He couldn’t clearly see the girl’s face, but he recognised the guy from his side profile and his voice. It was Eunji’s boyfriend. He was absolutely disgusted and he wanted to go and punch him in the face, but Baekhyun didn’t like confrontation.

Instead, he stood frozen in his spot, listening to their conversation.

“I love you…”

“Mmmm…you too…”

“Break it off with her…”

“I will…”

“When?”

“Soon…”

“Sure?”

“I’d do anything for you…”

Baekhyun was going to warn Eunji, but she didn’t turn up to school for the next couple of days and her number was always busy, or she had her phone turned off. He decides that when he sees her next, he would tell her, and if she had already found out, he would be the one to comfort her.

Present time…

“I know we’re not really that close, but I think you need a friend right now…”

Eunji used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe her face.

“Thank you…but you don’t have to…”

“It’s okay…I hate seeing girls cry…”

“It’s fine…”

“Do you want to go to karaoke with me this afternoon?”

“What?”

“Stress relief…put all your feelings into some heartbreak song…it’ll be good for you…”

“You don’t have to…We barely know each other…”

“That’s the thing…we can get to know each other…and since we don’t know each other…I won’t judge you…come on…I won’t take no for an answer…”

“Fine…”

“I’ll meet you at the front gate after school. Don’t try to run!”

Then he saw her crack a small smile, as the bell rang and she rushed to her class.

---------

When the bell rang to signal the end of school, he rushed to the front gate. After ten minutes, she had not shown up and he was about to leave when he spotted her running towards him.

“Sorry, I got held up in class…”

“It’s fine…you ready?”

She nodded and they caught a bus to go to the nearest karaoke room.

They ended up having a great time. He had never seen a girl let loose like that before and afterwards, he could tell that she was feeling more refreshed. He walked her home, and she thanked him.

“You were right…I really needed a friend…and surprisingly a good session of karaoke”

“Better than a tub of ice-cream and rom-coms?”

“Way better…”

“Well you sure screamed your lungs out…”

“Hey!”

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow…”

Before he turned to leave, she asked him one more question.

“Wanna go again tomorrow afternoon?”

“If you’re going?”

“I’m the one asking!”

“Then…I would be happy to oblige…”

“Bye!”

“Bye!”

After that, they became very close friends. The karaoke room became more of their own special hangout and favourite activity to do with each other, but after a while they branched out into going to other places, such as shopping malls, restaurants, arcades, and cafés like the one they were going to today.

Eunji was in the middle of explaining why Loki was what made Thor good, as they walked into the store. Baekhyun notices when Eunji stops in the middle of her sentence and looks over to where she was currently staring and inwardly curses the guy for coming to this particular café. It was her ex-boyfriend and he seemed to be enjoying himself on a date with a girl. They were talking loudly and kissing, oblivious to the stares and the other annoyed patrons of the café. They were lost in their own world, and they looked happy. At some point, Baekhyun knew that Eunji and that guy were as happy as that.

She takes a step forward, but then stumbles back a bit and bumps into Baekhyun.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine…”

He looked at her but it seemed as though all the colour had drained from her face.

“You don’t look so good…”

“Actually…can we go somewhere else?”

“Sure…where do you want to go?”

He sees her take another look over at the couple who were now in the midst of feeding each other and she instantly closes her eyes and then looks away. She starts to walk out the door, with Baekhyun closely following behind her. When he finally catches up to her, she stops him in their tracks and grabs his arm.

“Sorry…but can you take me home? I feel a bit tired…”

“Okay…”

They walked back to her house and she quickly said goodbye to him and then ran off inside.

He promises himself that he would make her forget all about it the next day. He promises himself that he was going to tell her the truth and then do everything he could to make it up to her.

Baekhyun spots Eunji at their usual meeting spot on the grass. She greets him with a warm smile, and frowns when Baekhyun doesn’t return it like he usually does.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing…”

“Sure?”

He scratches the back of his neck, which Eunji takes as a sign that he was holding back what he really wanted to say.

“Tell me…”

“I…”

“Tell me or else I’m showing the video of you singing ‘Baby Got Back’ to everyone…”

“You wouldn’t dare…”

“Yes, I would…”

He went to tickle her, but she managed to get out of his grasp.

“Just tell me!”

“Fine!”

He sheepishly got out a flower from his bag and presented it to her.

“It’s a purple hyacinth…it’s my way of asking you…for forgiveness…”

“What’s this for?”

Baekhyun looks down for a moment, dreading what he was about to say. He didn’t want to lose Eunji over this, but he knew that he didn’t want their relationship, even as friends, to move forward without complete honesty.

“Because I need to confess something to you. I did wrong by you…”

“How?”

She touched his hands to make him look up at her.

”…because I didn’t save you. Because I didn’t tell you that he cheated on you. Because I kept quiet about him…”

“You knew that he cheated on me?”

Baekhyun’s heart was starting to beat faster.

“Yes. But I wasn’t sure at the time…I just saw him kissing this other girl and then promising her that he would break up with you and…”

He was cut off by Eunji kissing him on the lips.

“It’s okay. You’ve made up for it. My heart was broken when he broke it off, but it’s back together now…because you’ve picked up the pieces.”

“But you looked really upset yesterday…”

“I guess it was mostly out of shock and the realisation that my first boyfriend cheated on me and broke up with me…I just needed time to process…”

“You feeling better now?”

She nods her head enthusiastically and gives him the biggest smile, and he knows it’s genuine.

“Does that mean that you and I are going out now?”

“What does?”

“This.”

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and when he pulled back she was frozen like a statue. She pushed him playfully, and he feigned hurt.

“I don’t know…”

“Is that a yes, or no? Your actions and words are confusing me…”

“We’re not going out…”

“Then what are we? You said I picked up the pieces!”

“It means that my heart is healed, and I’m ready for a new relationship…that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be with you…”

“But…”

“If you want to go out with me, then you’ll have to make more of an effort…”

“I thought I was making an effort by cheering you up…”

“Yes…but that was to cheer me up…not to make me fall in love with you…do you see the difference?”

“Yes, but can’t we make it a two-in-one deal?”

“I’m not a hamburger!”

“But if you were a burger…you  would be delicious…”

“Not helping your cause…”

She gave him a warning look and he stopped.

“So, you’re saying that I have to court you?”

“Yes…”

“Percentage wise, how much more do I have to go?”

“Let’s just say that you’re getting there…”

She stood up and put a hand on his shoulder before walking away.