chapter 02

/Baekhyun's POV/

I woke up to the sound of my literally crazy roommate murmuring. He's an old man about fifty years old. I don't know what's wrong with him and I didn't bother to ask.

I think I reached 24 hours in this hospital right now. I got up from my bed. Life has been so unfair to me. Ever since my mother died, the weight of the world was on me. I despise my father. He's the reason why I'm here. He thinks I'm crazy because I tried to kill myself countless times. The truth here is that he's the one who's crazy. I guess.

One night, I was studying by the living room. Our house was enormous. I can hear noises quickly because of the fact that we're a silent family. We don't really talk much or invite people to our house for a party. Maybe it's because Dad is stern. Mom's not, but she just follows Dad. With that, all of us (including the maids) observe silence and proper etiquette inside the house. After all, we are the Byuns. We have power, fame and money.

I heard noises that night. And it came from Dad's private study. Mom was probably sewing upstairs or maybe talking to Wendy until both of them doze off.

"No, Sir! Please spare me. I still have to send money to my sickly parents."

"That's what you want. Right? I promise you... you'll never lose your job. Just make me... hold you."

"No, Sir! Please! I beg you!"

"I don't care. After this, I can send you home... with a large sum of money that will be worth 5 years of budgetting."

"What?"

"I'm serious. Just make me hold you right now. Make me feel your breath."

Silence followed. I'm not sure what really happened, but I decided to go upstairs and tell my Mom about it. Alarmed, my Mom went down to the private study and saw my Dad ing one of our beautiful maids, Tiffany. Tiffany was indeed beautiful. She was a few years older than me. She had really long wavy locks. Her eyes shaped into a crescent when she laughed or smiled. Her skin was as smooth as a feather. Just to be clear, I don't have any feelings for that woman. She's just a maid who washes the floor and washes my siblings' clothes. She sometimes accompanies Wendy to school. Wendy told me she's got humor, too. And she was very clever as well. But I did not expect her to be a for money.

My Mom got so disgusted. She wasn't able to slap any of them. Instead, she ran away. I ran towards her. Kyungsoo and Wendy could only look at the Tiffany and our father trying to get some clothes so he could chase Mom and me.

Mom's body collided with a car. She died on the spot. And I saw everything.

Dad wanted to regret all of this. Our family became a huge shame. My uncles were able to stop the newspapers and tabloids from publishing the true events that happened that night. Tiffany packed her bags to leave immediately, but my Dad.... asked her to stay. How filthy. My siblings hated Tiffany from then on.

I graduated college. My Dad announced his retirement, especially when Tiffany started vomitting. Damn, she got pregnant because Dad - no, since Tiffany agreed to the - took her like a concubine. I rose up to the throne and at the age of 22, I became the CEO of Byun Group of Companies. Imagine handling South Korea's thrid biggest group of companies. Restaurants, school supplies factories/ paper factories, malls, cars - everything at once.

Kyungsoo saw me cutting my arms. He told me he ignored it at first. But when I did it for the 6th time, he was alarmed. I'm the only person my siblings got. I became so pressured. I started smoking, drinking and taking drugs. When I tore the flesh in my arms for the 6th time, Kyungsoo stopped me. He saw the drugs on the table, too. I could remember the tears rolling down his face as he said, "Hyung. Why?"

Kyungsoo and I were a little bit close as brothers. He was supportive towards me and vice versa. There are only about three things I envied about him : 1) His English name. Trevor. He was born at New York, so... yeah. Wendy and I were Seoul babies. I envied him for that. He grew up there until he was six, earning himself an English name. Then, we came back to South Korea. Mom became pregnant with Wendy that time. She was named Seunghwan, but Mom loved calling her Wendy. Everyone else followed. 2) His cooking skills. Damn, girls would go crazy for my brother because he's an ultimate husband material. When he was eight, he had this interest for cooking books. He started cooking. Once, the house almost went on fire. I took charge of reprimanding him since Mom and Dad were away that time. 3) His serious attitude. I admire him for that. I'm the kind of person who loves to take chances and make people happy. But Kyungsoo was a total introvert. He was my opposite.

Speaking of the guy, the nurse told me Kyungsoo's out at the visitor's area. He's waiting for me.

Acting like everything's okay, I marched towards my younger brother and gave him an embrace.

"You okay here? I asked the doctor to transfer you to a better room. He told me you're with a very ill patient, so I asked him to transfer you.", Kyungsoo said.

"It doesn't matter.", I uttered.

We sat down together. It seems like Kyungsoo cooked for me. He brought me my favorite books, too. "All for you, Hyung."

"Thank you, dongsaeng.", I thanked him.

"Dad's still the same. Wendy wanted to come along, but that stupid Tiffany stopped her. She's taking charge already. Believe it or not, her baby is as noisy as her. And her clothes? All financed by Dad.", Kyungsoo reported.

"That . I don't really care. Just sneak Wendy next time. I want to see her.", I demanded.

"The company is a mess. I see why you wanted to end your life.", Kyungsoo said.

"I know. Just please, please...take care of it while I'm not around. When I come back, we'll teach Dad a lesson together.", I said.

"Get better, okay? And Hyung... it's not my fault why you're here. I'm sorry if that's what you think, but Tiffany said she saw us the night I saw you trying to end your life.", Kyungsoo explained.

"It's alright. The important thing here is... visit me often and I'll tell you what to do if you have problems with the company... with Tiffany or with Dad."

"I will. Don't worry."

That night, I was transferred to a vacant room. The nurse told me the rooms around the corner consisted of young patients of my age bracket. I am fit to be here. I lay down on my bed, hugging my pillow. Suddenly, audible voices were heard near the wall.

"Byun Baekhyun, that guy I just met at the garden yesterday... He was visited by a guy awhile ago. I assume it was his brother."

"Really? Why have you become so curious about that Baek guy?"

"I... just wanted to hunt for a friend when the time comes and you'll leave."

"Aww. I hope he's the one who'll make you happy like I did."

"I hope so. I just wanna get out of here, too."

I trailed the walls and finally found a big hole hidden behind the side table. Gotcha. I peeked in.

Taeyeon? The girl who told me that mental hospitals are not for crazy people?