A hand lazily creeps along the top surface of the buzzing along clock. And then bam! The hand enclosed into a tight fist and smashed the off button. 

 

It takes a few more seconds before Baekhyun curls up into a ball and cradles him self back to sleep. But then the door located at the end of the narrow room opens with a loud slam. There, stands a tall figure that walks towards the bed where Baekhyun slumbers. Like a magician pulling cloth under from a set of plates and utensils does the figure do by swiftly yanking the blanket off the zombie-like figure in bed. 

 

Cold. The cold air hits Baekhyun body as soon as it's exposed. Baekhyun hugs his knees close to his chest, desperately trying to keep his remaining warmth within. Teeth chattering, eyes sealed shut like an envelope does the body not arise. The figure looms over Baekhyun, watching Baekhyun sleep in all his glory. Then the stranger hovers over Baekhyun and positions himself atop, only leaving a gap big enough for a pillow to fit between his body and Baekhyun's. 

 

Baekhyun feels the bed shake. The old bed creeks as more weight is added. That slight gesture unsealed Baekhyun's eyes in the speed of fire. Mouth gaping at the surprise of a new visitor in his room, Baekhyun gulps. Still only awakening now, his eyes adjust to the sight. The view is blurry. Still blurry even though his eyesight is adjusted to the yellow sunlight drifting through the rhapsody blue curtains. All he can see is a black figure, maybe a person perhaps since it seems appropriate, and the yellow light surrounding it. 

 

Baekhyun then realizes that he hasn't put on his eye glasses yet, and does so in the next second. His hand then looms over to his right night stand where his eye glasses, alarm clock, and a glass of unfinished orange juice from the night before sit. Desperately reaching to find his eye glasses in such a hurry because he's nearly blind as a bat, his hand hits the glass of orange juice and it falls to the ground. The clashing noise the glass makes once it impacts hard against the ground makes Baekhyun freeze. As if the bed room wasn't as quiet enough, this time you can hear the buzzing sound from the silence. No one moves. No gesture is made. Baekhyun's eyes enlarge from the sound of a mess he made. 

 

Embarrassed, Baekhyun again taps his hand repeatedly against the night stand, hoping it'll land on his eye glasses soon, but his hand is then caught by a larger hand. His wrist is being held within the stranger's grasp. Only now can you hear the stranger's pants. Heavy panting to be exact. Both hold still. Baekhyun wants to let his hand free out of the stranger's grasp. He wants to push the stranger off of his bed. He wants to scream and shout, hoping for his parents or older brother to hear him and barge into the room, realizing Baekhyun's room has just been invaded by another person. But he doesn't. The tight grasp on his wrist doesn't hurt him. It's almost as if the stranger was pleading. Pleading for Baekhyun's mercy. Maybe Baekhyun was already in control. 

 

"Hey," is the word that escapes the stranger's lips. It doesn't even take a full second for Baekhyun to reply, "Chanyeol." 

 

A sigh of relief is heard from Baekhyun's lips because now he feels safe. Safe because it's Chanyeol. And he's only with Chanyeol. Knowing that he doesn't have to worry anymore, Baekhyun shakes Chanyeol's grasp off of his hand loosely. Then he tries to sit up in his bed, but Chanyeol stops him by slamming his hands positioned by Baekhyun's neck, invaliding Baekhyun to fully rise from his bed. 

 

"Chanyeol..." Baekhyun breathes. Surprised by his actions can Baekhyun do no more but stay in place. "Where were you last night?" Chanyeol responds a question but in a more commanding voice. 

 

"I w-was with my parents last night," Baekhyun answers with a slight stutter. The more words that come out of Chanyeol's mouth, the more aggressive he becomes. Honestly he doesn't know why Chanyeol became this way in such a quick amount of time. Yesterday he was a bouncy kid who wanted to skip with Baekhyun hand-in-hand to the park nearby the school that was built for the elementary children. But now he's so different from then. "Why does it matter-"

 

A hand is softly placed on top of Baekhyun's forehead. Since he still doesn't have his eye glasses on, he can't see anything that much. Yet he can still feel the anxiety in Chanyeol's touch. Chanyeol first pats his forehead, and then begins to sweep his hand repeatedly like sweeping a broom over and over again on his forehead. With one hand supporting his large body compared to Baekhyun he leans to the side. Baekhyun lays there confused. But not scared. No, being with Chanyeol wherever can't be scary. He knows he'll always be safe with Chanyeol. 

 

He knows it. 

 

 

 

Moments pass and based on Chanyeol's actions, he's not quite satisfied at all. He begins to roughly brush his hand across against Baekhyun's forehead. Almost yanking the skin to the side as if he were dusting for fossils. Baekhyun yelps in pain. His skin is continued being stretched to the one side which causes such pain. 

 

"Stop!" Baekhyun yells but Chanyeol ignores him and continues doing his doing. Baekhyun then pushes Chanyeol to the side and falls out of bed. Chanyeol rolls atop of his bed and hits the floor on the opposite side as well. Baekhyun quickly props himself on one knee and then fully stands up. His sight adjusts better and he reaches for his eye glasses, but a hand stops him for the second time. 

 

"Chanyeol!" Baekhyun yells for the first time screaming his name. He tries removing the large hand that behinds his tiny wrist but doesn't succeed in the end. 

 

Chanyeol doesn't nudge. No he stands there beside Baekhyun and holds his wrist firmly stopping him from putting on his eye glasses. He watches Baekhyun struggle. Nothing can this little frame of his do anything to Chanyeol. Chanyeol watches Baekhyun frowning. But his frown changes into an "o" shape as he watches Baekhyun take a step backward trying to pull his hand away from Chanyeol's grasp, only leading him to step onto the broken glass. 

 

Baekhyun cries and Chanyeol watches in horror. The crinkling sounds of glass being moved hurts Chanyeol's ears. Baekhyun falls to his side away from the glass and holds his left leg in pure pain. Chanyeol can't help but yelp. What has he done? He just-... He-...

 

He quickly kneels down next to the bleeding foot and grabs Baekhyun's eye glasses and leans forward to Baekhyun's face and puts them on his tight closed eyes screaming in pain. Baekhyun feels the light weight added on top of his nose and ears. Slowly does he opens his eyes and everything becomes clear. 

 

The pieces of glass injected into his left foot. 

 

The orange juice puddled in under the pieces. 

 

And Chanyeol's figure hunched down on one knee, watching Baekhyun with the most scared expression Baekhyun's ever seen. But then he realizes the large bruise on his right cheekbone. Then his eyes travel down to his neck and sees a red gash that must've stopped bleeding already. He sees that his knuckles are black and his fingers have cuts. Baekhyun notices all the markings embedded into Chanyeol's body, ignoring his own pain. Baekhyun scrunches his face as soon as the pain from his foot returns. Chanyeol within a second picks up Baekhyun and head down the stairs. 

 

They're the only two bodies in the house as of now, Baekhyun realizes as they run through the house and through the front door as he's being held within Chanyeol's arms bride style. He sees Chanyeol pull out his car keys as they arrive in front of a 2013 Nissan XTerra SUV, but then everything goes black. 

 

 

 

 

White. The walls that enclosed Baekhyun in the small square room were white. Flashing open his eyes instead of slowly opening his eyes is what happened. He looked around the room expecting to see no one but Chanyeol, but instead he saw anyone but Chanyeol. There was a nurse standing in front of a computer screen with her back against Baekhyun on the left. Then he looked over to right and saw an IV set up and injected into his right arm. He looked down over his body and found himself in a pale periwinkle gown with white dots all over. His left foot was covered in thick wrapping. A cast. And it was being elevated by a loop that was hanging from the ceiling. 

 

"Hi there, you're name is Byun Baekhyun, correct?" He hears a female voice speak and looks at the nurse who was now smiling facing him. Baekhyun nods in reply. The nurse grins even bigger. "Alright, so it has seem that you have fainted due to the shock of your foot being stabbed with various pieces of different sized glass. We've already done an operation so once your guardian comes back to pick you up he'll take you home-"

 

The door opens the second the finishes her last word. The two look over to Chanyeol who stands in the open door with a coughing mask over his lower face and a plastic bag filled with things in one hand. Covering up, is all Baekhyun can think in the sight of Chanyeol. "I'll take him home now. It's late," Chanyeol speaks. That's the longest thing Baekhyun has heard him speak the whole day. The nurse comes over to Chanyeol for him to sign. Mutters are exchanged between the two and Baekhyun listens closely, but not close enough. 

 

Chanyeol exits the hospital pushing a wheelchair Baekhyun sits in. Baekhyun realizes how late it is at night because the stars are out and the moon is full. How long has he been out? More importantly, how long was Chanyeol away? Yes, Baekhyun is mad at Chanyeol for several reason, but Chanyeol, for some reason, always has to be beside his side. The shoulders relax and the actions calm down when he's with Chanyeol.

 

Baekhyun sits with the plastic bag in his hand, and the two stay silent. Then they come close to Chanyeol's car and Chanyeol takes out his keys and presses a button making the car's lights flash. Chanyeol opens the back seat door and reaches out to carry a Baekhyun into the car, but Baekhyun wheels backwards, away from Chanyeol. 

 

"Come on," Chanyeol commands Baekhyun through his mask. "No," Baekhyun refuses. Chanyeol tries reaching out for Baekhyun again but he moves backwards again, not even daring to meet his eyes. "Can't I just drop you home?" Chanyeol asks with frustration. This time Baekhyun doesn't answer and turns around in his wheel chair and begins to stroll the opposite way. Away from Chanyeol seems to be his best bet. But as the seconds pass, the shoulders tense and the actions rage. 

 

"Byun Baekhyun!" Chanyeol screams into the air. This only made Baekhyun wheel away faster. Baekhyun's lips start to quiver violently as he tries escaping Chanyeol's sight. Eyes seem to become blurry, even though he's wearing his glasses, everything begins to blur. Maybe it's because of his tears of anger, or maybe because of his tears of desperation. He's desperate to run away but he can't because he's disabled at the moment. The moment when he finally wants to run away is the moment he can't. 

 

 

Why do we do things we regret later on. Why is it when humans want something the most, it's out of their reach. Maybe because they've had the chance to grab it the whole entire time, but when they realize they need it, they miss it. Hopefully this will be a life lesson to learn for you and I. 

 

 

The wheels stop moving and Baekhyun would've fell out if it wasn't for the grasp on his collar which held him back. Baekhyun listens to the tune of Chanyeol's heavy panting for the second time today. Baekhyun holds tight in the plastic bag Chanyeol wanted him to hold as the streams of tears flow down his face. He wishes Chanyeol can't hear him due to his own panting because he doesn't want him to hear him cry for no reason he can't understand. But he does, Chanyeol does hear his cries. 

 

It makes Baekhyun cry even louder. It sounds as if Chanyeol stole something from Baekhyun. And then they both realize he did. Chanyeol stole Baekhyun's heart. And maybe that's why he's crying. Because he's never hated anyone so much but at the same time he loves him so much. 

 

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol calls out. Baekhyun tries to listen over his own tears. "Don't go anywhere without me anymore." The shoulders relax, and the actions calm down all at once once he's with Chanyeol. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sitting inside of the car turned into sitting at the park. The two strolled into the nearest park. Chanyeol sits on the edge of the slide with Baekhyun sitting in his wheelchair propped at a higher level. The cool breeze pass their warm faces. Baekhyun shivers a little. Chanyeol remembers that Baekhyun came here to the hospital unprepared unlike Chanyeol. So he stands up from the slide and goes behind Baekhyun and unravels his scarf that his sister made him and wraps it around Baekhyun. Baekhyun stiffens at the kind gesture. 

 

"You're cold," Chanyeol tells Baekhyun stating the obvious, "but you're a warm person. Isn't that weird?" Chanyeol asks. 

 

The scarf covers up Baekhyun's mouth, so Chanyeol can't see the huge grin on his face. Chanyeol then comes in front of Baekhyun and props down on both knees so now he's faced to face with Baekhyun and places his hands on top of Baekhyun's lap. They just sit and stare. No words are needed. The smallest gestures are the biggest hints. 

 

Baekhyun remembers suddenly about Chabyeol's strange features once he sees the gash on his neck since he uncovered it. Baekhyun's eyes then move down to his own lap, where Chanyeol's hands are placed. His gloves are on, but not because he's cold. Baekhyun takes one hand and removes it. Chanyeol stares at Baekhyun's determine face the whole time. 

 

"What happened?" Baekhyun asks staring at the bruised black knuckles. Then he removed the other glove. Same. 

 

"I tried looking for you," Chanyeol responds in a quiet tone, the opposite from his earlier times. Baekhyun quickly looks up to meet Chanyeol's eyes. Baekhyun doesn't understand how looking for him could lead into such a mess. "I needed to find you... And these guys, probably a gang, along the road had someone tied in a bag. Overhearing them, they described the person small, brunette, and young," Chanyeol started to answer his question almost as if he read his mind,"I thought it was you."

 

Baekhyun didn't know how he should react. "But why were you looking for me?" He finally asked. Chanyeol started to blink faster. He removed his hands from Baekhyun's lap, but Baekhyun caught them in time. Then he raised his hands up to meet Baekhyun's warm cheeks. Chanyeol broke into a broken smile. 

 

 

Baekhyun finally saw how broken Chanyeol really was. All it took to see was that smile. Chanyeol always tried his best to look happy, but he was a broken vending machine. Insert coins expecting to get something since it looked great on the outside but nothing comes out anymore and it won't return your money. Then you realize you've been scammed. Chanyeol was a broken machine no one could fix. Besides, who'd want to fix him anyways? 

 

"Because I need to tell you something," Chanyeol answered. Baekhyun nodded. "But please don't think I'm crazy."

 

Baekhyun laughed. "It's too late for that," he tried cheering him up. Chanyeol laughed as well, but a moment of laughter passed and then died out. 

 

 

"I can see these markings on peoples' foreheads telling me only a specific city and what country they're located in. Everyone has it," Chanyeol spoke, "and yours is Manhattan, New York." Chanyeol waited patiently for Baekhyun to let it all sink in his brain if it even could. Or maybe Baekhyun would spit Chanyeol's words out and call him crazy. Chanyeol wouldn't know, but he just knows he trusts Baekhyun, and hopefully he trusts him back. 

 

"That's amazing," Baekhyun started, astounded making Chabyeol's eyes widen that Baekhyun actually understood this, "but what do they mean? And why are you so rushed to tell me this now?"

 

Chanyeol moved his gaze from Baekhyun's eyes, down to his lap. "That's what I needed to tell you," Chanyeol confessed. "Because," he started, voice shaky, "b-because I don't know if the place means whether you find your soulmate there, or your death." 

 

"Maybe it's where you die," Baekhyun smiled, which is the exact opposite of what Chanyeol expected. 

 

"Why would you choose that?" Chanyeol wonders and fiddles with his fingers on Baekhyun's lap. hearing those words made Baekhyun lift his head to face him. Then at that moment he saw how worried Chanyeol was. 

 

"It can't be where I find my true love because I've found you here already."

 

Chanyeol bursts into tears. He wanted to believe that. He truly really wanted to believe that. But on earth, you don't know what fate has in store for you. 

 

"Yeah, you did," Chanyeol sobbed into Baekhyun's shoulder as he embraced him tightly, never ever wanting to let Byun Baekhyun go.