Kris was driving neither fast nor slowly through the wet road while Hyunju stared at the box seated on her lap-the box Luhan gave earlier. She was still feeling that guilt when she saw her best friend drenched by the rain.

 

"Is everything alright?" Kris asked as he noticed the silence and blank stares of Hyunju. His voice was loud enough to be heard but it seemed like Hyunju did not hear anything. So Kris cleared his throat and tried once more,"Hyunju?" His voice startled the girl as she was almost about to jump from her seat. "I was asking if everything's fine."

 

"Oh, yeah. Perfect. I made my best friend feel bad--on the day of my birthday." Hyunju said sarcastically.

 

"Don't think much of it. He's your best friend anyway, I'm sure he'll understand. Both of you will be in good terms in no time, trust me." he replied having his left hand on the stirring wheel and the right, comforting Hyunju's hand.

 

The drive to Hyunju's house did not even take five minutes for the park was not that far. The rain did not yet stop and it rained harder instead, making her worry for Luhan. After hopping out of the car, she quickly bowed and thanked Kris for the ride. It was already 8:03 PM when she looked at the wall clock adjacent to their front door. Knowing the time, there were no taxis in the area available to Luhan home. Without hesitating, Hyunju quickly placed the box on the coffee table, grabbed an umbrella and ran out.

 

It was almost pitch black and the road was covered with fog. Her umbrella was of no use for the rain made a way through her. Hyunju quickly reached for her phone in her pocket and tried to contact Luhan. Unfortunately, her phone ran out of battery so she put it back in her pocket and rushed her way to the park. She was filled with thoughts of Luhan, drowning himself in the rain or walking his way home, soaked. Hyunju even heard by the deafening volume of the radio from one of her neighbors that a storm is about to hit the place. This made her rush more, not minding the raindrops welcoming her way. To her surprise, the park was empty. There were no signs of Luhan around.

 

She placed both hands circling and shouted "Luhan! Luhan!" but no one answered.

 

Not forgetting Hyunju's birthday, Baekhyun rode a taxi and went to Hyunju's house. It took quite a long time for it was raining really hard. He called Luhan many times but he was always directed to voice mail, informing him that he might be delayed for thirty minutes from their planned time.

 

"Excuse me sir, can't you drive a little faster?" he asked.

 

"Can't you see? It's raining really hard. Do you want us to get into an accident?"

 

"You see, my friend is dying …"

 

"I think you should've taken the ambulance, not my taxi."

 

Baekhyun sighed as he took out his wallet and checked if he had extras. "I'll add one thousand five hundred ninety won to the original price, please drive faster."

 

"Make it seven hundred…"

 

"one thousand seven hundred won!?" His eyes widen in shock. People nowadays live with money in their minds.

 

"There's no such thing as free in this world, kid." I know! But isn't this more than enough!?

 

Baek sighed in defeat once more as he agreed to the driver. Immediately, he grabbed onto one of the seat handles as the taxi speed up. Before he knew it, Baekhyun arrived, holding a Nature Republic paper bag with his hand. As promised, he paid the driver and stepped on the doormat. "What an .." he groaned as he rang the door bell with a frown on his face. Suddenly, the handle of the paper bag he was holding snapped, making the things in it sprawl on the ground. The door suddenly opened.

 

"How may I help you?"

 

Baekhyun heard a man's voice as he crouched down to retrieve the pink stuffs lying on the floor. He quickly shot his head up and gaped, widening his eyes when he saw Chanyeol looking down at him.

 

"B-Baekhyun? What are you doing here?" Chanyeol asked as he crouched down as well to help Baekhyun.

 

Chanyeol? You, what are you doing here? Am I in the right house? This is Hyunju's house right? Baekhyun thought as he stared at the guy cleaning up his mess. He was stunned to see Chanyeol though the guy was only wearing boxers and shockingly, was decent enough to put on a shirt with a towel hanging around his nape.

 

Chanyeol stood up and grinned as he handed Baekhyun the BB creams, hand lotion, and some moisturizers the boy dropped earlier.

 

"Oh- umm, a-actually tha-that's my gift for Hyunju. You see, it's her birthday today.." god damn it Chanyeol quit staring at me! Baekhyun is now fidgeting and blinking his eyes unbelievably fast.

 

"I know. You really didn't have to explain." Chanyeol replied with a smirk on his face which made Baekhyun's cheeks release a tomato-red tint.

 

"Umm, is Hyunju here?"

 

"Actually.. she's not. But I bet she'll be home soon. Why don't we wait for her inside?" Chanyeol gestured Baekhyun to come in and was immediately welcomed by Mrs. Park with a tray of cookies on her hands. Only then, Baekhyun felt at ease. He wasn't facing the tall guy anymore. He can breathe normally once more though butterflies in his tummy are still fluttering within.

 

 

 

 

Luhan saw a figure approaching to his direction with an umbrella on. With the huge mass of fog all over the dark and with only street lights with its faint glow lighting up the evening, it was hard to know who was coming. But Luhan knew it was Hyunju. He did not want her to see him lose it. His tears were blending with the raindrops on his face but if you look into his eyes, it's clear that he was crying. And so he leaned his back on one of the park's post, trying to hide. He heard Hyunju calling his name and it was hard on his part to ignore the girl. His heart was broken in half the moment Hyunju had her eyes for Kris and now, both pieces are even shattered into tiny fragments. "Luhan! Luhan!" he heard Hyunju screaming. The moment lasted for not more than five minutes for the rain had no plan on stopping. Surprisingly, a taxi passed by and Hyunju who gave up, took a ride home.

 

 

"Oh dear, where have you been!?" His mom shouted in worry as she stormed to the front door, and cupped his son's wet face. "You're soaked! You stubborn kid, you know that you are prone to diseases and yet you had the guts to get drenched in the ra--?" Mom stopped as tears came down from Luhan's eyes. "Why baby, tell me what's wrong?" But Luhan did not answer and sobbed even more instead. "It's because of love, isn't it?" she asked though she knew the answer to that is yes, while she hugged her son. Shh. His mom tried to hush him by rubbing his back with her hands in circles. "Ho-How did you let go of dad mom? How come did you forget him and set aside your feelings for him? How mom? How?" he asked in between his crying. "Don't say that Luhan. I did not forget your father. I loved him even after we have separated. It's just that after some time, I found love again. It has been hard for me to let go. They say that if you really love somebody, set him free, and so I did. It only proved that someone else deserved our love, and that is his new wife and your step dad." Somehow, Luhan had stopped crying.

 

"Where is Jihoon anyway?" Luhan asked with his head on top of her mother’s right shoulder.

 

"Aren't we done with this argument yet? I'm not forcing you to call him dad, but at least call him uncle, not by his name only."

 

"In time." Luhan joked.

 

"Set her free Luhan. If you really are for each other, you'll be together in the end." His mom placed a kiss on his forehead before standing up. "Go and take a shower. I wouldn't want to be a bad mom who let her son have fever."

 

 

 

 

 

"Oh my god Hyunju, where did you find this cake, it's freaking delicious" Hyunju heard Baekhyun in delight with a whole slice of cake in his mouth when she got home. She stared at the cake inside the box she had earlier. She hadn’t had the chance to peek into it so she did not see the whole thing. It's now sliced in half so 현 and 생일 are the only words visible on the cake. "Hyunju, why are you wet?" her mom asked.

 

"Where's Luhan? I thought you were together?" Baekhyun asked with stains of strawberry cake on his cheeks which made Chanyeol laugh hysterically.

 

"Don't I have to be greeted with a happy birthday song first?"

 

BAM BABAM BAMBAM! Chanyeol gave a beat and then tapped on the table, backed up by Baekhyun and her mom.

 

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday happy birthday! Happy birthday Hyunju! Saengilchukhahae!

 

Though the whole house sang in English (though of course, some words were not well-pronounced), Hyunju thanked them with a forced smile before turning a heel to the stairs and went up to dry herself. She almost stripped off her clothes when her door flung open.

 

" Baek! What are you doing here!?" Hyunju freaked out.

 

"Have you ever heard a thing called lock? I had something to discuss with you." He replied while he stepped out and closed the door. "Make it fast ! This is a matter of life and death!"

 

"Oh stop exaggerating Baek, I'm almost done." Hyunju replied on the other side of the closed door. After drying herself and putting on a new set of clothes, she opened the door and went out, only to be dragged in again by Baekhyun and closed the door behind them.

 

"I thought you're not straight?" Hyunju kidded.

 

"Don't be too full of yourself, you're not my type. And besides, you're right, I'm not." he laughed.

 

"Why did you not tell me that your living with the famous PARK CHANYEOL!?" he said with folded arms.

 

"Is he famous?"

 

"Well, to me yes. But that's not my point! Why wasn't I informed?"

 

"Haven't I told you that he's living here for his studies?"

 

"Obviously not, stupid." He said and Hyunju giggled.

 

"You're one lucky . You have Luhan and Chanyeol around you."

 

"How did I become lucky with Luhan?"

 

"Nothing, it's just it. Where's he anyway?" Hyunju frowned and told Baek everything that had happened. "I'm a despicable friend." she said when she ended the story. After an hour of celebrating, Baekhyun went home. After cleaning up the house, the lights went out and everyone slept. Hyunju barely ate last night, so her hunger woke her up in the middle of the night. She went down to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Surprisingly, she saw a slice of the cake left on a plate. She grabbed a fork and stabbed a piece of it into . Hyunju was thankful that everyone is asleep because she wouldn't want anyone to find her looking stupid by tearing up with the cake. Indeed, Luhan knows how she wanted her favorite strawberry cake to taste. Hyunju took out her phone and read a message from Kris which was sent to her when she was sleeping saying,"Don't worry, I'm sure Luhan will forgive you. Goodnight. :) " The kitchen was dark and only the light from her phone lit up the room as she typed a message to Luhan.

 

Thanks for the cake, I loved it! Sorry for being late. I

 know I'm stupid. Do what you want, beat me up, call

 me a jerk. I deserve it. When you wake up and read

this message, call me.

 

It was two in the morning when she sent the message so Hyunju was totally surprised when her phone rang.

 

"Hey."

 

"I hope it's not yet late to greet you, but happy birthday." It was evident in Luhan's groggy voice that he was still half asleep.

 

"Look, I'm sorry Luhan. I didn't mean to-"

 

"No Hyunju, don't be sorry. I understand."

 

"Still, I wanted to say sorry."

 

"Why are you still awake? It's late."

 

"I was eating the cake you gave me."

 

"I bet you're tearing up, just like you did a year and a day ago."

 

"I'm not." she lied as she wiped the tears on her cheeks.

 

"Yeah right Hyunju. Go get some sleep. Goodnight."

 

"You too. Goodnight. Thanks for the cake."

 

"Goodnight. You may hang up now."

 

"No, you hang up."

 

"I'm waiting."

 

"Fine. Goodnight." Hyunju hang up. However, Luhan remained with his phone still placed by his ear, while breathing heavily. "Goodnight Hyunju. I love you." He whispered before closing his eyes and went back to sleep again.

 

 

 

---

Was I out for too long? Sorry for updating late! I just had my final exams done last week, and now I'm FREE!

About the story: As you noticed in Chapter 5:Rain, I mentioned the word Luhan's father, and not step

father. Well I decided to change that and stick with this one.

Happy to write for you guys! Thanks for subscribing, upvoting and commenting! ♥

# HAPPY SEVEN HUNDRED DAYS WITH E-X-O o (∩ ω ∩) o