Chanyeol wasn’t bothered with many things, in fact, he was probably one of the most relaxed people out there but the way Sehun treated Baekhyun bothered him very much, in fact, the expression ‘bothered him’ was a euphemism; he positively hated the way that the maknae treated his best friend.

Since Baekhyun was his best friend he made sure to pay attention to the things that happened in his life but he prided himself into putting an extra effort in noticing the things that were left unsaid or the actions that meant more than anyone thought. He knew fully well that Baekhyun had a tendency to purposely avoid letting him know how sad or hurt he was at times but, along the way, Chanyeol managed to decipher all of Baekhyun’s gestures and words.

Lately Baekhyun had been more tired than usual, his nightmares either kept him up most of the night or left him in a restless, painful sleep, that didn’t allow the man to rest properly. Jongdae often joked that he didn’t noticed the difference between the eyeliner and the eye bags anymore. To add up to the fun, Sehun had been on one of his mood swings, where he glued himself to Baekhyun’s side, pouting cutely at him and peppering the older’s face with kisses and then ignored Baekhyun when the later asked for his company.

Today had been one of those days, Sehun had sneaked in his and Baekhyun’s room in the middle of the night, and if he thought Chanyeol didn’t notice he was an idiot, and joined Baekhyun in his bed, holding the man close to him. In the morning he had pestered his hyung to feed him bits and pieces of breakfast, batting his eyelashes and pouting prettily. Then, in rehearsals, he had hugged Baekhyun tightly and refused to let him go until their choreographer yelled at him. However, after rehearsals, Sehun’s behavior changed completely, he had ignored any attempt of conversation that Baekhyun had tried to initiate with him and even laughed  straight in his face when the older invited him for bubble tea, choosing to leave the room and dragging a confused Tao behind.

Chanyeol had observed with sad eyes how Baekhyun’s eyes suddenly got a tiny bit moister than before, how the corners of his mouth turned upside down and how his shoulders slumped. When Minseok approached him, Baekhyun had presented him with a big fake smile; looped an arm with his hyung’s and left the room, promising him a good cup of coffee.

Chanyeol had a talk with Baekhyun about his relationship with Sehun. He actually remembers the scene pretty well: he had been watching TV in the living room with everybody when Sehun threw a comment on how Baekhyun was a clingy person. In order not to punch the younger in the face, Chanyeol had stomped out of the room and went to seek peace on his own room. He had opened the door with too much force, startling a reading Baekhyun. He started at his roommate for about half a minute before opening his mouth and venting about Sehun, on how he found despicable the way he badmouthed Baekhyun who was nothing but sweet and caring towards the maknae, only to beg for affection, like a cat, an hour later, on how this was everyone’s fault for pampering the younger; on how he didn’t understand why Baekhyun continued to pursue Sehun even when the maknae was nothing but an towards him.

Baekhyun had stared at him throughout his vent, eyes never leaving Chanyeol’s own, and when he had finished his tirade, Baekhyun had closed the book and beckoned Chanyeol to sit on his bed next to him, resting his head on the taller man’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around him. The words that came from his mouth afterwards made Chanyeol’s heart want to laugh and cry at the same time.

“First of all, I want to thank you. Thank you for being the absolute best friend that ever existed. But there is no need for you to taken my burdens as yours, at least not this way. I’ve known for a while that Sehun doesn’t share the same feelings I do. I know that he just thinks of me as another hyung and I am perfectly fine with that. I knew that that was a strong possibility from the start and I’ve made peace with my own mind and heart about that fact. It but you can’t choose who you fall for. I’m still going to love him, even if at times I don’t want to, even if at times I want to forget he exists but, truth to be told, I crave his love so much that I’m not ready to let him go, I’d rather have a spark of his affections than nothing at all. Maybe one day I’ll move on and let him go but at the moment I can’t. I hope you understand that and stop from hurting yourself like this because I love you and it pains me to see you like this for me.”

That night Chanyeol had hugged his hyung tightly to his chest until he fell asleep and had gone to Jongin, whom he kissed fervently over and over again. He cried in the younger’s arms, to the other’s dismay, partly because he felt truly sorry for Baekhyun but mainly because he never felt so lucky that love had smiled upon him and had given him Jongin.

Since that conversation, Chanyeol had made an effort not to intrude much in his best friend love life but Baekhyun had been a lot more fragile recently and he was so afraid that one of Sehun’s constant blows made Baekhyun’s sanity snap. He didn’t need that.

However, what baffled Chanyeol the most, and everyone else for the matter, was the fact that Sehun, despite blatantly mistreating Baekhyun at times, was extremely possessive of his hyung. When Sehun arrived at the dorm, he found out that Baekhyun had gone to get coffee with Minseok and Yixing, he had thrown a tantrum of such proportions that even Kyungsoo, who was pretty much unfazed by everything, had watched him with wide eyes and open mouth. He whined and whined, pouting like a little child until Baekhyun arrived and, when Baekhyun arrived, his attitude had taken a drastic change; he had composed himself rapidly, throwing a cold glare at Baekhyun before stomping off to his room.

“What happened?” asked a confused Minseok.

“Sehun threw a hissy fit because Baekhyun didn’t take him to get coffee.”

“But I invited him…He laughed at me and left!” pointed out Baekhyun, before sighing deeply and marching up the stairs to have a chat with the maknae.

Chanyeol was about to get up and follow him when Jongin grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“Don’t. They need to settle this between them. It’s beneficial for them both, in a way. Either Sehun manages to finally get Baekhyun to move from him, or Baekhyun says something that opens Sehun’s eyes.”

As much as Chanyeol hated to admit, Jongin had made a very good point, so he leaned back on the couch, bringing Jongin with him for a good cuddle in front of the TV.

It didn’t take much time for everyone to hear the screams that came from the upper floor. They couldn’t exactly get what they were screaming at each other but they were very loud. Junmyeon looked at Chanyeol from time to time, clearly worried and Kyungsoo had to smack Jongdae when the other started to, jonkingly, make bets about who killed who. Even if everyone knew that Jongdae was only trying to diffuse some tension, they were too anxious for the joke to serve its purpose.

Eventually, a slamming door was heard and a frazzled Baekhyun passed through them into the kitchen, obviously teary eyed. Chanyeol was torn about following Baekhyun or smacking Sehun.

“Go after Baekhyun. He needs your right now.”

And that was the reason why he loved Jongin so much; they had such a connection with each other that it was almost as if they shared a telepathic bond that allowed them to move with the most precise synchronization. He smiled adoringly at Jongin, before pecking him on the forehead and moving the kitchen, clearly telling everyone in the living room, just with his posture, not to disturb them.

Baekhyun was leaning over the countertop, back shaking slightly along with his sobs. He approached the other man and gently pulled him into his arms. Any restrain that Baekhyun had tried to have completely dissolves as he started crying full force; big fat tears sliding down his cheeks as he fisted the back of Chanyeol’s sweatshirt with his elegant hands. Chanyeol rocked him from side to side, holding him tightly and cooing at him in, what he hoped to be a comforting manner.

“Better?” He asked as soon as the sobs subsided.

“Not really but thanks.” Mumbled Baekhyun against his chest.

“Want to talk about it?”

“I’m just tired. Tired of dealing with him, tired of not sleeping, tired of my therapy sessions…”

“What about them?”

“Dr. Lee said that reliving the traumatic experience and analyzing it to the maximum detail was a step that I needed to take. He is making me remember it every single time I go to my sessions and let’s get real, I don’t want to. He makes me talk about and imagine it when all I want is to forget. I haven’t done anything else for weeks and I think that that might be the reason why I am having an overdose of nightmares.”

“Have you tried and tell him that?”

“I did. You know his answer? He told me the nightmares might be an indication that there was something that occurred that I’m neglecting to tell him and it’s blocking me emotionally.”

“Sounds like a bunch of crap to me...”

“Me too but what do I know? There is a reason why I became a singer…”

That retort made Chanyeol chuckle. He was holding himself back not to ask his best friend about the showdown with Sehun but apparently his best friend knew him too well.

“You can ask you know. But I think you can deduce how things went.”

“Horribly?”

“Exactly.”

“I really don’t know what you saw in him. He hasn’t shown anything but his ugly colors.”

“Sometimes I wonder that myself. But what can I say? I love him. The heart wants what it wants.”

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted when Jongin appeared in the doorway to inform Baekhyun that a package had just been delivered for him. In a rare display of cuteness, Jongin had skipped towards Chanyeol and hugged briefly before hurrying out of the room, leaving Chanyeol smiling.

Baekhyun watched the scene in front of him with a bittersweet smile; he was happy that his dearest friend had an amazing person next to him, one that made him very happy, but it reminded him too much of what he didn’t have, of the thing he craved the most. In order not to let Chanyeol see his smile, he chose to joke with the situation.

“If you ever get tired of him, or he gets tired of you, call me okay?”

“I will.” Said Chanyeol before adding playfully “But have you ever considered a relationship? I wouldn’t mind keeping you both!”

Baekhyun and Chanyeol looked seriously at each other for two seconds before laughing like maniacs.

He was still wiping his eyes from the giggle fit he had when went to the living room to open his package. He deliberately ignored Sehun’s presence in the room.

 His package was big, squared and covered in brown paper. Despite its volume it was quite light and Baekhyun stared at it in confusion.

“Strange…” he muttered “It doesn’t say who sent this.”

“Maybe it’s a prank from someone or even a crazy fan.” Commented Junmyeon from his spot on the armchair.

“I kind of wish that it’s something from a saesang: they are as hilarious as they are crazy.”

“Knock on wood Jongdae!”

Baekhyun carefully opened his package revealing a paper box. He took the lid of the box and peeked inside. On the bottom of the box sat a scrapbook, or at least he looked like one, on top of it, was laying a small paper. Baekhyun picked the paper and read the little note.

“I hope you didn’t forget. I certainly did not!”

It wasn’t even signed. It just said that. He felt Minseok reading it out loud from behind him.

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. I am as confused as you are.”

“Open the scrapbook” suggested Yixing “maybe someone sent you pictures or something; an old classmate.”

“Maybe…”

He picked the book and opened it. The only thing inside the book was an article cut from a newspaper and Baekhyun almost gagged when he read the title of the article:

Attack on a bus leaves only a survivor.

His blood froze and a ringing noise on his ears was driving him insane but that was before before he realized that the sound he was hearing was his own scream.




A/N: Another chapter! Did you like it? Are you liking so far? I hope you are! Anyway enjoy and let me know your opinion! Have a great, wonderful day. A big hug to you all! <3