"Do you like cherry blossoms?" Baekhyun asks as he looks down to face the sleepy Chanyeol with his head resting on his lap. Baekhyun uses one hand to support his weight on one side of the bench they sit/lay on and the other hand to brush the loose hairs off of Chanyeol's delicate face. Chanyeol uses one arm to cushion his head on his Baekhyun's lap and another to trace Baekhyun's jawline with his index finger slowly. 

 

"Yeah, they're pretty," Chanyeol answers softly only focusing on Baekhyun's bone structures. He stares at them with a soft gaze, like they could somehow lull him to sleep. Baekhyun smiles and lets out a soft chuckle looking at the way Chanyeol stares at him. 

 

"They're especially pretty when they bloom," Baekhyun reasons as he comes to a halt from touching Chanyeol's frame. "When they fall from the trees, they fall so perfectly, you know what I mean? The way they float with the wind is just perfect." Chanyeol nods agreeing with a grimace and looks up into the sky. The clouds look like white puff balls and Chanyeol just wants to lay down on them with Baekhyun in his arms. 

 

"But how do you know when something is perfect?" Chanyeol wonders aloud. Baekhyun thinks about it for a second and pulls his hand away from Chanyeol. He rests his hands behind his head clasped and stares up into the sky as well. 

 

"Hmm... I can't give you a definite answer, but I can tell you it's just a feeling," Baekhyun answers after giving the question a lot of thought. Chanyeol finally sits up and stares at Baekhyun as he gazes into the sky smiling. Perfection is a feeling? Chanyeol asks himself. Chanyeol takes one of Baekhyun's hand from Baekhyun's clasp and holds it up against his heart. Baekhyun's smile breaks once he feels Chanyeol's warm beating heart touching his skin. 

 

"Nothing is perfect because what I find perfect might be different to you," Chanyeol states while watching the large puffs of clouds move all together like an army slowly in the But then he turns to Baekhyun and tilts his chin up to look into those windows that give him a peek at Baekhyun's pure soul. "So what do you feel now?" Chanyeol asks with a small smile. "Is this what perfect is suppose to feel like to you?" Chanyeol asks another question making Baekhyun nervous. Is this perfect? They stare at each other for minutes until Baekhyun makes a small noise. 

 

"This isn't perfect," Baekhyun whispers, the words drip from his mouth like venom to Chanyeol. "No, but this is love, and love is imperfect, and we can make it unique."

 

Chanyeol uses his other hand to cup one of Baekhyun's cheeks and kisses him for the first time. Baekhyun closes his eyes and immediately responds to the kiss and the two sit there on the bench feeling everything falling together beautifully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sheen curtains sway doing a hula as the wind breaks through the crack of the open window. The dim room slowly lightens into a lighter shade of yellow as the seconds pass. Softly turning in the bed finding himself awake, Chanyeol gently rolls onto his stomach face smothered in his pillow from laying on his back. He smacks his lips together in his sleep, tasting the dryness of his chapped lips. He then pulls the blanket that rests from the floor and stretches to the bottoms of his . The wind makes it's way to his exposed back and makes him shiver as the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He takes his hands and fists the ends of the first grip he can get on blanket and wraps it around his whole body making the body beside him wake up from the coldness. 

 

Baekhyun sits up and looks next to him finding Chanyeol hogging the blanket all for himself. He growls at the sight and yanks the blanket in one swift move and makes the blanket his. He wrapped himself up like a burrito enjoying the warmth in ecstasy. Chanyeol, whose whole body is now exposed turns to face the small young man laying next to him and they both share a sight. Chanyeol looks at the smiling Baekhyun (who's currently laughing in his head at Chanyeol) and realizes what he just did. Slightly angered he kicks Baekhyun off the bed onto the hard wooded floor making Baekhyun scream in horror. 

 

 

 

 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun have been dating for the past 4 years. Yeah, they graduated together and Baekhyun went to a university only a half an hour away while Chanyeol found a good paying job and worked there. Chanyeol made enough money to pay for their apartment with Baekhyun who also had a part-time job after his classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Luckily Baekhyun's parents were nice enough to pay for Baekhyun's tuition still even though they discovered their son turned out to be in a relationship with another man, but they've been saving up for this moment since the day he turned 5 so of course they can't let that money go to waste or spend it all on their greed. So at the very moment, the two were in a good relationship. 

 

 

 

Baekhyun dragged the blanket around him as if it were a robe and walked towards the window that was the open entrance for the cold spring wind to access. It was the end April and it was still a little chilly. Baekhyun took one hand out of his blanket and extended his arm to shut the window. But before he did he noticed the cherry blossoms blooming which was breathtaking and let his jaw droop a little. He turned around planning to tell Chanyeol, "Come here! Look at the cherry blossoms!" but he didn't. He found Chanyeol gathering the clothes scattered all over the floor already wearing his casual grey suit for work. Chanyeol looked too busy. He didn't have time for looking outside to gaze at the cherry blossoms blooming next to Baekhyun as they shared thoughts about what they see and decide what they should eat for breakfast. They were both growing two young men who needed to face the reality; not stand around and talk about unnecessary things. 

 

Baekhyun sighed loudly and decided he should start to get ready for class today. He turned back around and  shut the window close creating a great slam. He let the blanket fall off his body and went into the bathroom and pulled a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and tee from his side drawers before he entered. 

 

 

 

 

"Buckle up," Chanyeol told Baekhyun as he did so and started the ignition. Baekhyun buckled up and rolled down the window and inhaled spring. Chanyeol glanced over to Baekhyun saw him closing his eyes with his head almost fully sticking out his whole head. "Tired?" He asked raising a brow. 

 

Baekhyun shook his head and replied, "Just drive, please." He stuck his head back into the car and opened his eyes. "I don't want you to be late for work." Chanyeol frowned at him. Usually Baekhyun would be such a gleeful guy in the morning. Especially since today was Friday, his favorite day of the week because the weekend begins and the two can relax from all of the stress from work and school. On Fridays they go to the Japanese udon noodle shop and eat lunch there together. They would then pass by the park on their way back home and stay there for about an hour and just run around and play like little children at recess. I guess you could say Friday was their recess day. 

 

Chanyeol snapped out of the thought and did what Baekhyun did. As he drove towards Baekhyun's campus, he glanced outside his window. He saw the cherry blossoms for the first time since last year and gaped at the sight. The sky was now filled with pink instead of blue. The cherry blossom trees loomed over their car as they passed by. He then looked back at the road with a beaming smile excited about the sight he just experienced. He wondered if Baekhyun saw the cherry blossoms too. He turned to Baekhyun and asked, "Did you see them Baekhyun? The cherry blossoms blooming?" This made Baekhyun's eyes widen in shock. 

 

"Y-yeah," he said as he turned to face the joyous Chanyeol who turned back to face the road. Did Chanyeol really still like these little things? Isn't he too old to be caring about these kind of things now? These were the questions that made Baekhyun insecure. He thought he was being left behind in the world without Chanyeol. Chanyeol seemed to be growing up from the guy he met on his first day, from the guy on their first date, the guy Baekhyun fell in love with. Baekhyun felt somewhat change, and it nearly frightened him. But to be honest, Baekhyun will admit Chanyeol has changed, but in a good way. Yet even so, Baekhyun didn't like the feeling of change, because then their love would only remain a memory. 

 

 

 

 

Chanyeol stepped on the break gently and they stopped in front of Baekhyun's campus. Other students around their own age traveled either alone or in pairs or maybe even in groups. Chanyeol remembered walking in the alone category back in high school. He wasn't lonely, no he had Kris and a few other acquaintances. He liked being accompanied by others and he liked noise. But he found the world more beautiful when it was quiet and when he was alone. 

 

"Chanyeol!" Baekhyun yelled, already out of the car. He was bending on his knees so he could be eye level with him through the open car window. Chanyeol was caught staring at space thinking again, without even realizing Baekhyun already exited the car. 

 

"Hm?" He questioned and then remembered it was time for Baekhyun to go. "Oh. Yeah, right. Bye! Study well, okay?" Chanyeol encouraged him and smiled. Baekhyun returned the friendly smile and nodded and waved goodbye. Chanyeol waved and watched Baekhyun begin to walk forward towards the main entrance. Something about watching Baekhyun leave for school every morning scared him for a funny reason. Key word "leave". 

 

Chanyeol wondered if Baekhyun would ever leave him one day and never come back. Surely it was possible to Chanyeol's eyes. They've been doing the same routines every day for the past 4 years. Was Baekhyun getting tired of it? Maybe Chanyeol could change it up a bit just so Baekhyun wouldn't. Chanyeol stepped out of his car door and shouted. 

 

"Baekhyun!" He yelled over the noise of others who passed by talking. Baekhyun spun around in a split second and waited for Chanyeol to continue. "Do you wanna go grab a sandwich later?" Chanyeol asked him thinking maybe Baekhyun was tired of eating udon noodles every Friday. People gave Chanyeol weird looks wondering why is this guy yelling from such a distance but they continued to chat amongst themselves (probably about him) and leave. Chanyeol smiled at Baekhyun, waiting for an answer, but nothing came out. 

 

"He wants to change our... Friday?" Baekhyun quietly asked himself in a hushed whisper. Chanyeol was changing, wasn't he? But maybe he was getting tired of udon noodles unlike himself. Maybe they did need a change. Or Chanyeol only needed a change, because Baekhyun wouldn't change anything for the world. "Uh," he began out loud for Chanyeol to hear. "Sure!" he yelled making Chanyeol's smile even greater. 

 

Chanyeol waved goodbye again for the last time and opened his car door and sat back down and drove off to work. Once he got there he unlocked the car doors and grabbed his brief case that sat in the back and went out. The doors automatically opened as he came forth. The woman at the front desk greeted him with her daily, "Good morning Chanyeol," and like always, he would reply, "Morning Dara," and walked to his cubicle. As he walked he gave a few hellos here and there to his other co-workers and maybe even more than a hello. He finally sits in his rolling chair and gets to work. It's a decent job and he didn't need to have a superb profile when he got interviewed by the Head. His determination to work here was just good as everybody else's in the building. 

 

"'Sup," Kris said as he passed by with 2 cups of coffee in each hand. Kris also worked here as well (Chanyeol first couldn't believe they were basically compared to be the same with the same job) and he was actually the one who got Chanyeol the job. He told Chanyeol that this job of his was paying him a good amount of money an that's all Chanyeol needed to hear. 

 

"Hey," Chanyeol greeted while staring at his desk straightening the papers he brought from home. The aroma of the coffee tingled his nose and looked around for it. He needed some to keep him up for the whole day. Then he sadly found them in Kris's two hands. "Yah," Chanyeol called out sticking his head out of his cubicle side ways to see Kris's back as he kept walking. Kris spun around and shrugged his shoulders. "Can you give me one?" Chanyeol asked nodding at the coffee. Kris looked down at his two hands for a moment and then looked back at Chanyeol. 

 

"Nope, one for me and one for Tao," Kris said. 

 

"Is everything for Tao now?!" Chanyeol erupts. The sounds of fingers clicking on keyboards stopped coming from all around the busy floor. This is the fourth time Kris has turned down Chanyeol's request just for Tao, the new guy in town.

 

Kris widened his eyes surprised at Chanyeol's tone but then relaxed and shrugged again with the word, "Basically."

 

"Oh my gosh," Chanyeol whispered to himself as he popped his head back in his own cubicle sighing. Chanyeol starts to think who this Tao is. First, he finds out Kris has a new boyfriend (and first) named Tao and it's pretty hard to tolerate Kris. Second, Chanyeol has never seen this Tao. Chanyeol holds his ballpoint pen in one hand and clicks it non-stop, thinking overboard. This is the first time Kris has ever turned down Chanyeol for another guy so this one must be something. 

 

So he stands up and follows Kris who's walking in the distance. He follows him until Kris comes to a cubicle and there sits a jet-black haired man who's back is them as he sits in front of his desk writing on sheets of printed paper. Probably signing documents. Kris walks behind him and plops one cup of coffee on the side of the papers as the man continues to work. 

 

"One caramel cappuccino no cream," Kris says as he walks out of the space about to sip his coffee only to find Chanyeol standing there with his mouth gaped open. Kris's eyes enlarge and freezes. 

 

Chanyeol moved to the side and stares at the man again pointing. "Is that him?" Chanyeol asks looking at Kris who is still standing still with the coffee intact with his lips. Tao (supposedly) stops writing and sits back in his chair and then turns around in his chair with a smirk that spells " off" all over. Legs crossed is how he sits like a gentleman and looks at Kris and then back at Chanyeol. 

 

"Are you him?" Tao asks basically repeating Chanyeol's question. Chanyeol slowly drops with pointing hand to his side and stands up straight and clears his throat. 

 

"If you mean 'him' as in 'Park Chanyeol', Kris's best friend, then yeah," Chanyeol answers him and nods at Tao. "So you're Tao then," Chanyeol assumes aloud, having all the evidence he needs to clear this statement as a true fact. 

 

Tao nods slowly and crosses his arms across his chest. "Yeah, Kris's boyfriend," Tao teases Chanyeol as if Chanyeol wanted Kris for himself. Once Chanyeol got the hint he shook his head. 

 

"He's just my friend," Chanyeol reassured Tao. Tao nods his head slowly again but with more force. 

 

"I know, I know," Tao says and finally stands up and reaches out for Chanyeol's hand to greet. Chanyeol stares at the hand for a second and then grabs it and shakes it. Tao chuckles a little and wipes his nose with his sleeve. Finally Kris turns around and smiles. 

 

"Oh, isn't this great," Kris says disgusted. Kris yanks Chanyeol away from Tao by snatching onto his shoulder and Chanyeol stumbles back a little. Then he smacks Tao's head and Tao laughs as he continues to work again. Chanyeol shakes his head and huffs as he walks back to his space. 

 

 

 

 

Chanyeol texts Baekhyun to meet him at the sandwich joint by Baekhyun's part time job as a cashier at a 24-hour market. Then he stuffs his phone back into his back pocket and leans against the wall of the joint and waits. It's been about 40 minutes since he sent Baekhyun the memo and he hasn't come yet. Looking around for any sign of Baekhyun is all he does, but then a hand rests on Chanyeol's shoulder, making him jump back. 

 

"Woah," Tao appears muttering after seeing Chanyeol's reaction. "What are you doing here?" He asks looking up to read the sign that claims their location. 

 

Chanyeol raises a brow and answers, "I'm waiting for someone." Tao nods slowly processing his answer. 

 

"Who could that be?" Tao wonders out loud looking around to see if anyone was coming.

 

"My..." Chanyeol starts but something catches his attention. It's Tao's forehead; his location. 

 

Seoul, South Korea

 

"Kris's the same," Chanyeol mumbles to himself with mixed emotions. Mostly happiness because Kris and Tao share the same place, but also sadness since this doesn't right away mean that they're soulmates... And this place could mean their death.

 

"What?" Tao asks, eyebrows furrowing once he hears the name Kris come out of his mouth. 

 

"Uhh..." Chanyeol dazed replies and then shakes his head. "My boyfriend," he finishes while scratching the back of his neck.

 

"Ahh, that's lovely," Tao snickers at him crossing his arms. Chanyeol gives a smile, yet an awkward one hence the sudden situation between the two of them, while Tao just gazes at him. It takes a moment for Chanyeol to feel Tao's stare and looks at him with an eyebrow raised. 

 

"What?" Chanyeol asks stuffing his hands into his pockets. Tao shakes his head with as his mouth works into a steady smirk. 

 

"It's nothing," Tao starts as he starts to tap one foot against the hard concrete floor like he was beginning to start a beat. Tao changes his gaze onto his own feet and sighs. "Just that in my opinion, everyone just needs to die in the end."

 

Chanyeol starts to squint, asking himself if what he heard was actually correct. "Excuse me?" he balks, taking his hands out of his pockets and instead he grips the ends of his blazer. Tao finally looks up to meet Chanyeol's flustered look with a soften smile. Yet this smile was much worse than that awful smirk.

 

"Everything in life is just a detail," Tao begins as he takes a pack of cigarettes out from his blazer's inner pocket. "Eating, drinking, laughing, crying," he flicks the top of the pack open and carefully slides one of the few left out and stares at it. "If you don't eat," he focuses on the unlit cigarette and looks at all of its angles, "what happens?" He puts the pack back into his pocket and then pulls out his zipo from the other pocket. "And if you don't drink, you what? That's right, you die. You don't laugh? You don't cry? No need to worry. Those aren't necessary either."

 

Chanyeol listens to the words that come out of Tao's lips and they seep beneath his skin into his veins. He tightens his grip as the truth horrifies him. He can't even look at the man that stands before him. It's all too much for him. 

 

"But if you manage to do all of those things, in the end," Tao says, acting as if he were talking to himself and finally flips the zipo as a flame of fire appears and lights his cigarette. While staring at Chanyeol, he brings it to his lips and inhales life, exhales death. "You die anyways."

 

Chanyeol grits his teeth in remark. The white gush of smoke surrounds the gap between the two men. Chanyeol starts to cough as the fuse enters his mouth. Tao holds a sadistic gleaming smile. This man holds all of the scariest adjectives in all of his smiles. 

 

"Who are you?" Chanyeol musters up the courage to ask. Tao raises a brow and let's his hand holding the burnt cigarette fall to his side. The tapping of his foot stops. His smile breaks. 

 

"Huang Zitao, a guy who's been through a lot."

 

His own identity disgusts himself that he can't even keep up anymore. Finally, Chanyeol lets it go. He let's go of his grip and places his arms on both sides. 

 

"Why did you come here?"

 

The cigarette drops and rolls onto the road. Tao stares at it as the lines of smoke trail up into the air. 

 

"I just needed to tell you something," Tao says in a hushed tone, not looking anywhere but the ground. But then he picks himself up and looks towards the street on the side. "Do you ever wonder if you've been protecting tomorrow which could be worse than today?"

 

"What?"

 

Tao looks at Chanyeol. "Baekhyun. He's not okay."