Chanyeol wakes to a loud, obnoxious ringing coming from the night stand next to his bed.

Groaning, he turns over in his bed and blindly reaches over to grab the annoying device.

Cracking an eye open, Chanyeol angrily checks to see who could possibly be calling him this late in the night.

Reading the caller name, Chanyeol sits up, quickly becoming fully awake. His heart sickenly drops, knowing there is only one reason Park Medical Hospital would be calling him in the middle of the night.

"Ah, this is blissful!" Baekhyun says happily, lounging on the couch in his condo.

It was the second day of his week-long break, and he was more than content to lazily lie down on his couch, endlessly watching dramas and consuming large quantities of junk food.

As the ninth episode of Missing 9 comes to an end, Baekhyun's stomach loudly growls and he decides he's probably hungry for real food now.

As he walks to the kitchen, Baekhyun unconsciously glances out of the window out of habit and notices Chanyeol pulling into his parking space.

Stopping to check the time on the wall clock, Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. It was only one-thirty in the afternoon. He was under the assumption that Chanyeol had work till the evening like he usually did, so he was surprised to see the younger home so early.

Shrugging, Baekhyun throws on his pair of fuzzy, crème colored slippers and opens the door to greet his neighbor. 

"Hey Tree-Dongsaeng! You're home earlier than usual!" Baekhyuns yells, smiling.

As Chanyeol gets closer, Baekhyun's smile immediately falters, however, when he sees the expression etched on Chanyeol's face.

Chanyeol's expression is blank, completely void of all emotion.

Chanyeol briefly looks over in Baekhyun's direction, not really acknowledging his presence, before he takes his keys, fumbling for the one to his condo.

Frowning at Chanyeol's lack of usual reaction, Baekhyun briskly walks towards the giant before he has the chance to enter his home.

After the talk he had a couple of days ago with Chanyeol, he doesn't understand the offhand reaction Chanyeol is directing towards him.

Grabbing his forearm, Baekhyun turns Chanyeol around towards him, glaring up at him. Chanyeol immediately averts his eyes away, irritating Baekhyun further.

"Hey don't avoid me! I thought we were passe-" Baekhyun stops short, eyes widening.

Upon closer scruntinization, Baekhyun realizes Chanyeol’s expression isn't as blank as he first assumed it to be.

Chanyeol's jaw is rigid and his mouth is set in a tight, fine line.

However, it isn't these things that halts Baekhyun in his speech.

Chanyeol's deep chocolate eyes hold a deep expression of pain.

Baekhyun softens the tight grips he has on Chanyeol's arm in favor of a gentler one.

"Chanyeol-ssi.." Baekhyun whispers, "What's..what's wrong?"

Chanyeol's eyes slowly turn towards Baekhyun, and Baekhyun is caught off guard once again as he watches Chanyeol's eyes rim up with thick tears. 

"Baekhyun-ssi," Chanyeol says lowly and thickly, "Please go back to your condo and let me enter mine.."

Shaking his head defiantly, Baekhyun grips Chanyeol's arm a little tighter, but not as rough as before and softly stares up at Chanyeol waiting for an explanation. 

Without warning and with Baekhyun's grip still on his arm, Chanyeol turns around to open the door to his home and drags Baekhyun in along with him. 

They both make their way to the same couch they conversed on only two nights ago, except this time around, they are sitting side by side, thighs pressed against each other.

Minutes pass and Baekhyun continues to stare at Chanyeol waiting for the man to open up about what has him acting so out of character. Just as he is about to softly convince Chanyeol to speak again, Chanyeol begins shakily.

"Late...late last night I got called in to the hospital. I told you when we had dinner at your condo...sometimes I get called in for more severe emergencies if the hospital needs more hands..Last night was one of the nights they needed me."

Baekhyun listens intently to Chanyeol, waiting for him to explain further.

"I..I used to work in the surgery department in the hospital for adolescents. It's what I specialized in when I went to college. I enjoyed being around children so much growing up, I went into surgery in college, specializing in pediatric surgery, in order to maximize the help I could give. But almost a year ago..I lost my first patient, a young 13 year old boy. I was...devastated, so much to the point that I closed myself off to all my family and friends for weeks. That day I stole a child's life because I wasn't competent enough to do my job well enough to save him..After this happened, My parent's decided to move me to clinical pediatrics in the hosptial and out of surgery, believing I couldn't handle being in surgery on a daily basis anymore. I accepted without any argument because I believed that I couldn't do any harm in that department. I could still be of use. However, because I was so skillfully trained, according to my parents, I had to remain on call at least, in case something bad happened."

Chanyeol begins to choke up, and Baekhyun unconsciously grabs his hand. Chanyeol continues, voice lowering to just above a whisper. 

"Last night was the first time...Some juveniles late in the night got into trouble and a shooting broke out..I had to help out with the disaster and take on a patient with another surgeon right away..I tried so hard to save him..he wouldn't start breathing again...I wasn't enough..I wasn't enough ag-"

Baekhyun cuts Chanyeol off abruptly and pulls Chanyeol into a strong hug, hearing enough.

Baekhyun wraps one arm around Chanyeol's waist and threads the other one through Chanyeols golden locks, pushing Chanyeol's face into his shoulder. Chanyeol responds by tightly wrapping both his arms around Baekhyun's tiny waist and buries his face deeply into Baekhyun's shoulder. Baekhyun feels his shoulder start to dampen and immediately begins Chanyeol's hair gently, whispering kind words to Chanyeol.

"I'm so sorry Chanyeol...Please don't blame yourself for what happened..It's not your fault..Don't cry...Please.."

Baekhyun holds Chanyeol for what seems like hours before feeling Chanyeol's grip on his waist loosen. Looking down at Chanyeol, he notices Chanyeol has fallen asleep, the previous night’s events taking a huge toll on him.

Slowly moving his hand from his waist and from his hair, Baekhyun moves to lie Chanyeol down on the couch, struggling a bit with the giant's height. Finally getting him in a comfortable position, he props Chanyeol's head up with a pillow and turns around to leave and allow Chanyeol to rest.

However, a grip on his arm stops him from moving any further. He looks down at Chanyeol, questionly, and sees Chanyeol looking back at him with lidded eyes.

"Stay.." Chanyeol softly whispers, reclosing his eyes.

Complying with the request, Baekhyun turns around instead and sits on the floor next to the couch where Chanyeol's head is, Chanyeol still gripping his arm. Leaning his head on the couch's armrest, Baekhyun stares at Chanyeol and notices a few tears escape Chanyeol's eyes as he sleeps. Baekhyun uses the pad of his thumb on his free hand to wipe the stray tears.

"I'm so sorry Chanyeol...."

*AN: This wasn't at all a happy chapter T_T I'm sorry..

A few things to take from this chapter.

1) Why Chanyeol still helps with emergencies

2) Why Chanyeol only spends time with Jongin and Kyungsoo. His other friends abandoned him after he shut himself off  (rude)

But no worries! I promise there are many good things to come for our duo!

Don't forget to comment and upvote if you like it! I hope you guys are liking the story, even though I'm completely an amature writer. See you soon!