petals falling

chapter 3

---

 

Chanyeol stared intently at Baekhyun. “Are angels really uniual?”

 

Baekhyun snarled at the question. “How am I supposed to know?”

 

“You said I could ask you anything about Heaven!”

 

“I said you can ask me anything about spirits and what comes after death not God and Angels.”

 

Chanyeol’s ears twitched at the mention of the word ghost and finally thought of a passable question. “Fine. How about this, when we first met you kept correcting me about calling you a ghost because you’re a spirit and not a ghost, but what’s the difference really?”

 

Baekhyun hummed, deep in thought. “Let’s see. Well, a ghost, as you people described it, is just a soul of a dead person. Ghosts don’t have forms you know. It’s just like a white object floating in the air. Whereas, a spirit is…a person.”

 

“I still don’t get it.”

 

Baekhyun sighed. “Have an open mind would you?”

 

“Can’t you elaborate?”

 

“How insensitive of you to ask that from someone like me!”

 

“You lost your memories not your vocabulary.”

 

It’s been two days and they have only progressed into this—bickering endlessly.

 

It’s not bad, Chanyeol repeats in his head, having a ghost follow you around. He kind of acknowledged the fact that now it’s not that boring to watch over the flower shop anymore when you have some spirit floating around the room. Sometimes Baekhyun even makes fun of the customers, giving Chanyeol a good laugh, and then the customers would look at him weirdly. Days have been like this ever since.

 

They closed the shop at six and then proceeded upstairs.

 

“Do you go home…somewhere…too?” Chanyeol suddenly asked while opening the door to his apartment.

 

Baekhyun gave him a look. “What kind of question is that?”

 

“I mean like, do you have somewhere you go home to…some place? I don’t know.”

 

“Are you mocking me? I’m free! How many times do I have to tell you? I’m a free spirit!”

 

“Alright, alright! Stop yelling. Geez. How short-tempered are you?”

 

“I’m not short-tempered! You’re just simply ignorant!”

 

“Well excuse me for asking!” Chanyeol yelled back before slamming the door.

 

Baekhyun crossed his arms. “Chanyeol.”

 

“What?”

 

“I’m not that mean so I’m just going to stand here but you do know I can pass through your door, right?”

 

Chanyeol yelled incoherently in annoyance. “Damn ghosts!”

 

--

 

“Are you going to cook dinner?” Baekhyun asked after Chanyeol finally opened the door to let him in although it was pretty much useless to begin with.

 

“Huh? Oh. Yeah.” Chanyeol replied while placing his bag on the couch.

 

“Waa. Must be nice.”

 

“What is?”

 

“Cooking dinner and eating.”

 

“Well, not being able to get hungry is pretty nice too.” Chanyeol said while opening the fridge. “Less expenses to worry about.”

 

“Amazing. You’re really an independent self-reliant young man.”

 

Chanyeol turned to him with a grossed out face. “What’s with that?”

 

Baekhyun giggled softly in response. “I wonder how I was when I was still alive.”

 

“Well, certainly you’re not like me who’s an independent self-reliant young man.”

 

“Ehh? You think so?”

 

“I know so.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because you’re rich, that’s why.” Chanyeol replies nonchalantly while walking inside his room.

 

The answer gave Baekhyun a lot of thoughts. He remembered the wealthy family he used to watch before. He had no knowledge of the system so it was interesting to watch their daily lives, it was fun to see how different they were from their neighbors. However, the longer he watched them, the more he noticed the scary difference. They had a big house but they weren’t much of a family.

 

Then he wondered if his family was the same.

 

“It can’t be…”

 

Chanyeol peeked from behind the slightly opened door. “Did you say something?”

 

Baekhyun immediately threw a smile. “Nothing! I’m going up for a bit!”

 

Chanyeol watched Baekhyun’s body fly up through the roof until he was nowhere to be seen and then sighed. “Up? Up where? Man, at least explain properly.”

 

--

 

Baekhyun sighed. He thought so much about what his family might have been like that it somewhat saddened him. It’s not so nice to see a reflection of your face on the lake wearing a frown. In times like this, he’s thankful there’s this place. Their place, the land between heaven and earth, comprised mostly of clouds and lifeless spirits. Although there are buildings, it’s hard to appreciate them with this level of thickness of the clouds. It felt more like a fridge although Baekhyun can’t say for sure since spirits like him don’t feel anything and that includes coldness and warmth. He can’t say he liked this place though. For them, this is a dungeon where they’re trapped in a limitless loop of desire—desire to enter Heaven.

 

“Well, well, if it isn’t Baekhyun.” Baekhyun looked up to see who was approaching and immediately snarled at the sight of Tao. “How’s our quest going?”

 

“I’ll kill you.”

 

Tao laughed at him. “That phrase doesn’t have much impact in here. How regretful.” Baekhyun decided to ignore him. “Something bothering you?”

 

“Nothing I should tell you.”

 

Tao heaved a sigh. “Man, you’re so difficult.” He said even though he knows Baekhyun will end up telling him anyway.

 

“It’s just that…” Bingo. “Ever since I met him, I’ve been having a lot of thoughts.” Baekhyun continued.

 

“Him? Your human?”

 

Baekhyun sighed heavily. “Thoughts like what I was like when I was still alive…was I bad? Was I friendly? What kind of problematic thoughts did I have? Did I laugh a lot or cry a lot? You know…those things.”

 

“Are you stupid? That’s normal for someone who has lost all of his memories.”

 

“Did you come to cheer me up or what?”

 

Tao shrugged. “But you don’t like it do you?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Having those kinds of thoughts. You don’t like them because they weren’t there when you first woke up. You’re probably wondering why you were allowed to have those thoughts when you can’t really do anything about them.”

 

“That’s…”

 

“You know, I think God has a reason for creating this system even within the dead. If we’re able to leave that easily, then that wouldn’t be fair to the people we’ll leave behind. So to be able to cross, those people have to let us go. And if they can’t, then we’re trapped here for as long as it takes. Lucky for you, you’re able to make contacts with a human. Most of us here just wait for the time when their loved ones finally move on from their losses.”

 

“Is that why you’re still here?”

 

“What are you talking about? I was granted passage a long time ago.”

 

Baekhyun couldn’t seem to process that although it kept on repeating endlessly in his head because like, “WHAT?! S-so you mean—“

 

“Yeah, I can cross whenever I like.”

 

“Then why are you still here?!”

 

Tao looked away, somewhere far ahead, like he was looking at something very familiar to him. “Because in my case, I’m the one who couldn’t let go.”

 

Baekhyun never thought there was such possibility.

 

“All I’m saying is that you’re lucky. One last chance to feel alive. That’s what being alive is like right? Having those kinds of thoughts like they actually mattered.”

 

He never considered such possibility.

 

--

 

 

By the time Baekhyun got back, Chanyeol was already in the bathroom, taking a shower. So he was left alone roaming around the apartment. It’s not like there was much to see, well, there was but he can’t touch anything so even if he wanted to open the drawers and stuff, it’s impossible. He pouted at the thought. “It would be nice to be able to open those books, though.” But he doesn’t really have that much expectation on what he might see inside so it wasn’t a big deal.

 

There was a knock on the door and Baekhyun gasped. He sneaked his head out of the door so see who it was. There were two people outside but only one of them was familiar. It was Jongin. Even so, they’re Chanyeol’s friends. “Ah…but Chanyeol’s still in the shower!” And there was no way for him to open the door for them.

 

So Baekhyun immediately flew towards the bathroom, stopping in front of the door. “Chanyeol! Chanyeol someone’s at the door!”

 

“Ya! Chanyeol-ah!” Jongin yelled from outside while knocking on the door repeatedly.

 

Baekhyun didn’t hear a response either except for the constant sound of the shower. He sighed. “No choice, then.” He went inside the bathroom. He saw Chanyeol’s figure behind the shower curtains and immediately pushed his head through the curtains just in time Chanyeol turned to grab the soap nearby and then there he was with the biggest shock of his life.

 

“WHAT THE F—“ Chanyeol cursed in surprise before, walking back until his back hit the concrete and immediately covered his private part. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! GET OUT! SERIOUSLY, BAEKHYUN!”

 

Baekhyun gave him a mischievous look after receiving such reaction. “Heh? Did you really think I’d use this advantage to peek on the likes of you?”

 

Chanyeol glared at him. “I don’t know why but I’m feeling offended.”

 

“Come to think of it, I could.”

 

“H-Hey!” Chanyeol immediately freaked out.

 

“What? I’m joking. I’m not that kind of spirit.”

 

But Chanyeol never really expected having this kind of problem. It made him unconvinced.

 

“So?”

 

“So what?”

 

“So why are you here!”

 

Baekhyun flinched at Chanyeol’s shriek. “Geez. There are people outside your door.”

 

Chanyeol immediately turned off the shower. He felt a sudden shiver the moment he heard Jongin’s drunken voice yelling out his name. He sighed in irritation and decided to get out of the shower to deal with his drunkard friend. Baekhyun, on the other hand, was curious at the kind of expression Chanyeol made and decided to follow him.

 

Chanyeol opened the door a few minutes later fully dressed, though his hair was still dripping wet. After a few exchanges of bickering, he eventually let Jongin and another unfamiliar friend in. Jongin was dropped on the couch. Chanyeol snarled at the sight of his drunkard friend.

 

“Every time.” Chanyeol says.

 

Kyungsoo, as what Baekhyun have finally learned a few minutes ago, nodded with a sigh. “Every damn time. I don’t even know anymore. I don’t want to deal with this guy again.” For some unknown reason, Jongin always called Kyungsoo whenever he’s drunk, leaving the smaller to take care of his mess.

 

“Why does he even go to school? He should just work as a stripper, he’d be good at it.”

 

“Chanyeol!”

 

“I’m joking!”Chanyeol quickly said while walking to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

 

Kyungsoo knelt down suddenly beside the couch, holding Jongin’s face with his palms. “Oi, Jongin! Don’t fall asleep. You’re going to have a concussion!”

 

Jongin laughed at him then hiccups for the next 30 seconds.

 

Baekhyun floated in front of him. That is an odd expression indeed. He often saw old men getting drunk and stuff but this is certainly the first time he’s seen a young boy being so. Jongin blinked at him and Baekhyun paused.

 

“Uh…who are you?”

 

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. He can see me?!

 

Kyungsoo slapped his cheeks softly. “Kyungsoo. I’m Kyungsoo! And you’ve given me enough sufferings so don’t go who are you on me you little .”

 

Baekhyun heaved a sigh of relief.

 

“Not you…” Jongin said lazily. “Him.”

 

Huh? Baekhyun was completely frozen seeing as Jongin’s finger was pointed directly at him.

 

Kyungsoo turned around. “Who? There’s no one there.”

 

“Of course there is. I can see him.” Jongin said, squinting his eyes.

 

Kyungsoo glowered at him. “Are you hallucinating?”

 

Baekhyun immediately flew behind Chanyeol and Jongin followed him with his eyes. “I’m not. He’s hiding behind Chanyeol…” Chanyeol who was also tongue tied at the moment. “Ya, Chanyeol, who’s he?”

 

Chanyeols studied the situation and noticed Kyungsoo’s confused expression. “…who?” He replied, hoping to have sounded real.

 

“That guy behind you.”

 

“There’s no one behind me.”

 

“Don’t screw with me! You didn’t even look!”

 

“Jongin you’re just drunk.” Kyungsoo finally interrupted.

 

“I may be drunk but I’m not a liar!”

 

Kyungsoo finally stands up and punches him in the face. “You have no right to yell at me you worthless drunkard!”

 

“Ah.” Chanyeol gulps. “You killed him.”

 

Even so, that saved him.

 

--

 

Kyungsoo left half an hour later since it was already getting late after making sure that Jongin’s at least still breathing and sleeping heavily on the couch. He promised to come by early morning tomorrow to pick up Jongin.

 

Now was the good time to deal with the situation.

 

“It is possible that he might have been hallucinating.” Chanyeol says while getting under the blankets on his bed.

 

“He followed me. Me. He pointed directly at me. It doesn’t make sense!”

 

“This hasn’t happened before?”

 

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Maybe I should ask Suho.” He drops his head back. “But I don’t wanna go back there yet! Then I’ll ask him tomorrow.” He nods. “Anyway, changing the subject,” He says while sitting up on the air. “What’s with that Kyungsoo guy?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Are they together?”

 

Chanyeol suddenly laughed. “Jongin will be happy if he heard that.” Baekhyun tilted his head in confusion. “Well, Jongin has liked him since freshman year. I don’t know about Kyungsoo. I don’t think Jongin’s making a move on him as well. He’s hopeless.”

 

“Does Kyungsoo have someone he likes then?”

 

Chanyeol tilted his chin up. “Ah. I haven’t thought about that. Well, we don’t really talk that much.”

 

“But aren’t you friends?”

 

Chanyeol chuckled. “Well, that’s because Jongin asked me to make friends with him so we could hang out.”

 

“Uwa, it’s nice.”

 

Chanyeol snickered. “What now?”

 

“Your life. Having friends and stuff.”

 

“Isn’t this Suho guy your friend?”

 

Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders in response. “He’s more like a father, I guess. He watches over spirits like me up there.”

 

Up there. Chanyeol crossed his legs to be more comfortable. “Hey, Baekhyun…”

 

“Hm?”

 

“You haven’t told me what up there is.”

 

Baekhyun gave him a look of surprise. “Ah that’s right! Well, I’m not good with describing things but…up there is the boundary between Earth and Heaven. It’s like this tiny space where spirits like us are kept until the time comes when we can cross. It’s not an empty space though! It has buildings too, especially the library! The library is really big! It comprises of the memories of each spirit that has crossed! Though everything is mostly covered up in clouds so I guess it gives off an empty vibe…” He pouts in disappointment.

 

Chanyeol didn’t say anything and only nodded, mainly because half of the time Baekhyun spoke he didn’t listen and instead just watched how the spirit’s expressions would change.  He looked lively. Livelier than any living human being could be.

 

“Seems like a nice place.”

 

Baekhyun begs to differ. “Really?”

 

“Well, you looked really happy talking about it.”

 

“Ah, well, like I said, it’s not like we want to be there.”

 

It was, for him, an endless loop where time ceased to exist.

 

 

--

 

 

Baekhyun did say he was going back up as soon as Chanyeol was asleep but right now he can’t seem to stop watching Chanyeol’s sleeping face. He realized that no matter how much people have grown, once they are asleep, they go back to being a defenseless little child. It was nice to watch Chanyeol sleeping deeply.

 

“Ah…so that’s your human…”

 

Baekhyun nodded unconsciously before turning beside him in utter shock. “Tao?!” He immediately covered his mouth when he realized he had yelled and sighed in relief after seeing that Chanyeol was still in deep sleep. He turned back to Tao. “What are you doing here?”

 

“You sound like I have no right to come down here.” Tao gave him a look. “Well, I got bored up there and decided to find you so I can meet your human.”

 

“You know he can’t see you right?”

 

“I didn’t say we have to be friends. I just wanted to see him up close.” Tao retorted. “So, are you playing Guardian Angel now? You still have a long way to go, you kno—“

 

Baekhyun lightly hit him on the head. “Shut up!”

 

“Aw! What was that for?!”

 

“Anyway, that’s not really why you came here, right?”

 

“Yeah, Suho asked me to find you since you still haven’t gone back.” Tao answered in a monotonous tone.

 

“That old man. We’re all dead anyway who needs a curfew?”

 

Tao shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I couldn’t care less.”

 

They both heard Chanyeol whisper softly while moving a bit. “Ah, he must be dreaming.” Baekhyun said after seeing Chanyeol’s face making different expressions albeit still deep in sleep. They continued to watch Chanyeol shift positions while whispering moans until Chanyeol brought his hand under the covers, down there, that Baekhyun was frozen on spot and Tao had to pull him out of the room immediately.

 

Baekhyun gulped under Tao’s chin since the taller seem to have embraced him in an awkwardly protective manner. “What…what was that…”

 

“Stop. Your amnesiac innocent little mind does not need to know.” Tao replied with his hands still stuck on Baekhyun’s ears. He must be having a wet dream. Ugh. Humans. “Let’s just give him some privacy.” He said while pulling Baekhyun with him.

 

“Wait, why?!”

 

“Don’t ask any more questions!”

 

Baekhyun pouted.

 

They ended up roaming around the city in its sleeping state.

 

“This is where you lived, huh.” Tao said after a while. They reached the park Baekhyun saw earlier and decided to rest for a bit, with Tao on the bench and Baekhyun playing on the swings just across him.

 

“Nice, isn’t it?” Baekhyun asked while rocking back and forth on the swings, feeling the wind damp against his lifeless form.

 

“It’s not bad.” Tao replied while leaning his back comfortably against the back of the bench. They heard the wind rustling through the leaves and silence came next. It was a comfortable silence. It seemed like they were both thinking of the same thing at the moment. It’s amazing how spirits and humans are separate entities yet are both granted the permission to view the world as it is. It’s like being in different dimensions but seeing the same world.

 

A sudden gunshot interrupted their silence which was immediately followed by a helpless scream. Baekhyun, caught up in the moment, immediately flew away to search for the search of  the scream whereas Tao decided to stay put, clenching his fist as Baekhyun flies further away. “Pathetic.” He whispered. It’s not like he can do anything about it.

 

Baekhyun stopped when he finally caught sight of two men threatening woman with the knives they’re holding. “Stop!” He yells, flying closer the scene, even though knowing he can’t do anything but watch.

 

The two men grabbed her bag but she resisted. Baekhyun kept yelling to just let it go, that the men wouldn’t hurt her if she just let them have it but in his stubbornness to do so, still nothing can be intercepted into the living. Baekhyun was in the verge of crying, playing hard in his head that the woman wouldn’t get hurt, until one of the men finally had it and stabbed the woman’s chest.

 

Baekhyun watched the blood dripping from her body along with her soul slowly getting out. He watched it all. He was there but he couldn’t do anything. It was pretty much vague for him. The only thing he can see is the woman’s lifeless body on the ground and her spirit coiled up in the corner, crying.

 

“I’m—“ Baekhyun was cut off when a hand from behind him suddenly covered his eyes.

 

“Stop, Baekhyun.” Tao whispered.

 

I’m sorry…

 

“Let’s go back.”

 

--

 

Chanyeol woke up earlier than he intended to be and was thus left staring into space for a few minutes before he finally decided to walk out of the room. He would be lying if he said he didn’t expect Baekhyun to suddenly appear out of nowhere to scream “Good Morning Park Chanyeol!” in his ear like the other day. He reached the kitchen and realized how oddly empty and quiet his apartment looked (let’s pretend Jongin isn’t on the floor with his boxers slowly shrugging off of his area).

 

He glanced around his apartment. “He’s not here…” Honestly, he slightly frowned at the thought but it’s not like there was a rule stating that a spirit must stay beside his human at all times.

 

“Ugh…” There was a groan.

 

Chanyeol’s face turned sour. He almost forgot about this nuisance. He walked closer to the couch and found Jongin doing some kind of weird acrobatics on the floor.

 

“I fell from the couch.”

 

“I can see that.” Chanyeol slowly helped the man get back on his feet. How Jongin got his leg tangled all the way up to his head in a matter of seconds, he will never know.

 

Jongin dropped on the couch with a loud sigh. “I got drunk, huh.”

 

“You got drunk and called Kyungsoo again.” Chanyeol stated with no hint of amusement. Jongin’s face turned red in embarrassment. “Honestly, I still don’t know why Kyungsoo is still the first person in your contacts list when you always regret dialing his number every time this happens.”

 

“Be a friend, will you?”

 

“I am being a friend.”

 

“You’re being a ty friend.”

“Not my fault I’m all you’ve got.”

 

“Can’t a ty friend at least offer me a glass of water?”

 

“I can offer you water from the bathroom. Go and wash up. You reek of rotten alcohol, jesus.”

 

Jongin pouted and stomped his way towards the bathroom—as if acting like a baby will make Chanyeol treat him any different. Once Jongin was inside, Chanyeol started cooking breakfast. Somehow, apart from the sounds of the shower from the bathroom, the rest of the house seemed really quiet. He got used to Baekhyun’s noise pretty quick. Maybe he was lonely.

 

--

 

Suho sighed in exasperation while looking away at Baekhyun’s depressive state all coiled up under the covers on his bed. “This is why I asked you to bring him back. Those things happen a lot when the city’s asleep. But what did you do?”

 

Tao shrugged. “Well, I didn’t think he’d jump in. He should’ve already known that he won’t be able to do anything about it. He’s ignorant and pathetic.”

 

Baekhyun sat up straight. “Shut up already!”

 

“So,” Tao started, looking at him with apathetic eyes. “How long are you gonna stay here?”

 

Baekhyun looked away.

 

--

 

“Chanyeol! Park Chanyeol!” Jongin continued to yell until Chanyeol finally turned towards him, looking a bit distracted. “What the heck is wrong with you? Did you see some pretty girl?”

 

“Uh no…”

 

“Then let’s hurry up! The cafeteria’s going to be full!”

 

It’s already been three days and Baekhyun still hasn’t shown up. He sighed in frustration.

 

Did he leave?

 

---

a/n: omg guys i was finally able to get a stable internet connection lmao ;____;

i'm so sorry for the delay TT

- gelie