INterlude: Pt.1

Her eyes are teary. His stomach starts to tighten at the sight.

It feels terrible, truly heartbreaking to see her like this. Her fists clenched over the sink, her silent sobs echoing through the bathroom.

Chanyeol turns his back and leaves wordlessly.

Is she crying because of Sehun? Is she okay? Did he cheat on her? Chanyeol's thoughts and emotions are about to overflow. And the worst of it all is that guilt he's experiencing, that bone crushing guilt.

"Look, I'm sorry… i-it must have been embarrassing for you? But you really don't need to lie to him, I'm not angry at you for dragging me into this but… Sehun is a good guy, okay? Are you sure you don't wanna date him?"

Chanyeol hates himself for those stupid words he said, for him not doing anything against her passing out. It happened in his arms, she lied in his arms, so weak and vulnerable and so very, very beautiful - her lips so pink, even after stained with lies, after saying she would love him, after making Chanyeol's heart tug in offense, because there was no way, because she was lying so shamelessly - and so he lied to her, too. Half out of love for Sehun, since it felt piercing to watch that hurt expression of his little brother and half out of anger, anger because of her lie. Because Chanyeol has feelings too.

So he told her the biggest lie that ever come over his lips: "Sehun is a good guy."

Chanyeol is more than one hundred percent sure his beloved brother is a good person at heart. But he also knows, how he treats women. Cheating on them, playing with their hearts, making them cry.

And now he fears that the very reason of her having a meltdown in the bathroom of his best friend's grandmother was his brother hurting her.

Chanyeol sometimes doesn't know how to interpret his own emotions. What he feels is so hard to describe, to understand. He can't quite grasp it himself - sadness? Probably. Guilt? Yes. But also distress, empathy and… anger? Does he feel angry at Sehun for doing this? Chanyeol doesn't know why his blood starts to boil, but it's certainly unpleasant and makes him feel small and helpless all over again, like he's trapped in his childhood where Sehun would boss him around. Where Sehun would make it hard for him to believe that Chanyeol actually was the older brother.

But most of it all, Chanyeol feels miserable because he's a coward and walks away, his long legs shaking and making him look like a disturbed flamingo.

So he returns to the group of youths hanging out in the living room. The atmosphere is quite tense after the boy sits down next to his friend.

One of her friend's, Lay, is eating cookies and offering Chanyeol one. Chanyeol smiles brightly at the Chinese. He instantly had found a liking on Lay. He was easy to talk to, not like her other friends. Minseok is too quite, Tao seems to awfully dislike him, Chen seems dangerous and Luhan is simply crazy. He doesn't really want to mess with him, not only because of what is said about him on the campus, but also because Luhan has quite some material to blackmail him.

Chanyeol blushes at the thought of that eventful afternoon. His hand on his in her baby pink room, the moans of the actress still prominent in his memory, the flushed face of the girl beside him and how she looked him in the eyes. For a single moment Chanyeol was sure that she wanted to kiss him, that their lips would have met if Luhan wouldn't have butted in. It's still frustrating him.

He tries to erase that though ever since, not only because it's the girlfriend of his brother who he's having dirty thoughts about, but also because she stopped coming to classes. Chanyeol isn't that dumb, he knows she avoids her. For a good reason.

He does have ears. Huge ears, which allow him to hear what people say about him. He's the creep, he's 'on crack' and no girl would ever want to be in such a situation with him. Chanyeol knows how disgusting people think he is.

That's what makes him wonder if she's a great actor or he just can't believe his eyes anymore. Because all the faint smiles, the hidden looks and the way she picked on him in the library, how she laughed about all of his bad jokes, how the would give him dope slaps whenever he would lose focus on work, how she told him that he's just as cute, no, even cuter than Suho hyung. Isn't this flirting 101? Chanyeol has read about those things. Girls do this when they like boys, right? Right? 

It makes him ask himself if she's like this with his brother too. If they went through just as much, how they've met, how long they've known each other. They seem so familiar around each other, it already had startled Chanyeol when they randomly met Sehun at the coffee shop. 

"You okay, bro?" Baekhyun touches his shoulder and makes him jerk out of his thoughts. 

"Yes, I'm-" Chanyeol pauses for a second, catching his breath after the sudden shock. "No, actually, I'm not. Excuse me."

The lanky boy jumps up and rushes downstairs in a hurry, leaving the seven baffled boys behind. Breathing heavily, Chanyeol follows the source of the silent sobs, until he reaches the very same bathroom he had left her inside.

I will stop being a coward right now, he swears to himself.

He pushes the door open and there she is, leaning on the sink, still crying. Her face turns at his direction and the second Chanyeol sees her red, puffy eyes, he storms over to her and embraces her in a clumsy hug.

"D-don't cry," he stutters out awkwardly.

"You stink. Let go," she mumbles, voice muffled by his chest.

He holds her tighter. Does he stink, though? Chanyeol is sure he used deodorant this morning. Nevermind, there are more important things to handle right now. "I will let go if you stop crying!"

She starts to struggle under his touch and hit his chest and Chanyeol needs a lot of containment not to "awww!" when her weak little fists attack him.

Everything he can do is study the stop of her head. Her roots are growing back while the rest of her hair is still dyed that orange-ish brown colour. He asks himself if he'll ever see her with black hair again and instantly remembers their first encounter at the supermarket. How she stuttered out something, how she stood there with her best friend and how he though they were a couple. Chanyeol wonders if his past self would have believed that he holds her now.

She stops hitting him eventually, and the sound of sobbing ebbs down. Chanyeol let's slightly go of her to look her in the face.

It takes his breath away. 

Her eyes are red and teary but so sparkly and… beautiful. is curled down in a pout, her cheeks are rosy; Chanyeol instantly forgets where he is and what he's doing, and most importantly, that this is his brother's girl.

She looks up at him with such a vulnerable expression that Park Chanyeol can't do anything else but decide that he's going to protect her at all costs.

"You are ugly," she suddenly sobs out.

He blinks in surprise. "I'm sorry?"

"You better be." She sniffles one last time before wiping her tears away with her sleeve, punching his chest lightly and then she… walks away.

Chanyeol's mouth falls open in shock.

He really doesn't understand girls.

While everyone leaves and Kai and Suho decide to help making dinner and it's just the two of them, Chanyeol earns a loud, mocking laughter by Baekhyun.

"She told you you're ugly?" He hold his stomach in hysteric chuckling, barely able to breathe.

Chanyeol's shoulders sack in and a sulk appears on his child-like features. "That's not the important part!"

"Oh, it's very important."

"Baekhyun!" He whines. "Please!"

The older rolls his eyes. "You're not only ugly, but also a killjoy."

"Alright!" Chanyeol jumps up in anger. "Next time you need your Math homework, don't ask me!"

"But only ugly people can do Maths," Baekhyun mocks.

The lanky boy groans out in frustration, provoking another wave of laughter. 

"What's so funny?"

The boys turn around to see the oldest of them, Suho, enter with two plates, followed by Kai with another two plates and a bottle lemonade.

"Chanyeol's crush told him he's ugly."

"She's not my crush!"

Kai nearly drops the plates. His eyes widen in surprise, which startles the other boys.

"What's wrong?" Baekhyun asks, confused. "You look like you just saw Chanyeol ."

"Baek!"

"I… gotta go!" Kai stutters out. He puts down the plates and the lemonade in a hurry, grabs his phone from Baekhyun's desk and storms out of the room.

"Isn't Kai a friend of that girl?" Suho scratches his head in confusion. 

Chanyeol's mouth curls down in a dissatisfied expression. Friends with Kai, girlfriend of Sehun. She certainly knows how to have fun in life.

Suho tilts his head, now curious. "Does that face mean yes?"

"That face means Yeollie wants her to himself."

"Oh, s-shut up already!" 'Yeollie' hides his reddening face in embarrassment, making his friend laugh again. "Great that my life is a joke to you all!"

His friends barely have time to take a breath before Chanyeol runs out of the room.

"God, is he crying again? What a wimp, honestly…"

"Maybe you should be more sensible." Suho sighs.

"Whatever, let's eat."

He takes long, deep breaths. In and out.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" 

Chanyeol turns his head in surprise. Is that Kai's voice? He remains motionless for a while to listen. Yes, it certainly is Kai, and he's really angry at whoever he's talking about, as it seems.

"How is this supposed to work out if you're with Sehun?"

The words hit Chanyeol like a truck. Sehun? Is he talking… to her?

He hold his breath and closes his eyes as tight as possible. No, this can't be. This shouldn't be. It's probably not what it sounds like, it's-

"Break up with him, then!" Kai yells. "Don't tell me you don't like him while you date him!"

Chanyeol's trembling hands find his ears. He doesn't want to hear this. He can't bear with this anymore.

By the time he arrives back at Baekhyun's room the food is cold, his eyes are red and he can't look at Kai.

Baekhyun asks him what's wrong, but he does nothing but sulk in response. Nagging follows, which results in Chanyeol throwing his long arms in the air out of frustration and accidentally hitting Baekhyun.

Three hours later, his bed is the floor, since Baekhyun's still pissed of him hurting his face and smudging his eyeliner. Chanyeol should have known better than to talk back to the short devil, because his bed on the floor turns into him getting banned out of the room. Going to Kai's and Suho's room is no option, so he gives up on the idea of sleeping and goes out to get some fresh air.

But he's used to this. Making stupid decisions and suffering, it's his everyday life. He talks to people, they end up thinking he sold crack. He smiles at a lonely looking guy, he's getting called a creep. One day he will tie his shoes and accidentally start a war between the North and the South, that's for sure. Everything he does ends in a catastrophe.

He sighs silently. Baekhyun's making ugly noises in his sleep again, he can even hear it from the veranda. This is going to be a long night. And the worst is that every time he closes his eyes there's the image of two people kissing.

The least two people he wants to see now.