CHAPTER 40

[Byun Baek Hyun’s POV]

“What do you need from me, noona?” I asked as soon as I arrived. Taeyeon’s sitting inside their group’s minivan, dressed in all kinds of black.

 She removed her face mask to speak. “I just want to talk to you, Baek,” she said, her voice low and sad.

“Well, I’m here am I?” I blurted, stretching my arms wide open. “You can speak now.”

Taeyeon ducked her head, seeming to cry. I can’t help but feel bad. Taeyeon never cries, not without a reason. I knew that during the times we’re still close with one another. I only saw her cry twice – when they won a music show regardless of her sore throat and when she rushed her pet dog to the vet hospital. I wondered what’s upsetting her right now.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, placing hand gently on her shoulder.

She began to sob.

“I just want to talk to you, Baek. Is that too much to ask? Haven’t we done this kind of thing before?” she demanded. “How did you become like that? Are you still even the Baekhyun I know?”

I moved my hand on her back and began patting her. “I’m still the same person, noona. Now tell me what’s wrong so I can help you.”

She shook her head. “You can’t. There’s no way for you to help me. But please, just stay with me. I only need someone to listen.”

I nodded my head, my mind instantly drifting off to Hanna. She’ll be waiting for me. I promised her I’ll be back quick. I’ve never felt so torn in my whole life.

“My voice’s not coming out, Baek,” Taeyeon began, her voice muffled by her sobs. She continued, “It just won’t come out. I was trying to practice so hard. But it never sounded the way it was before. I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

I sighed.

I deeply understand her.

This was the same reason the two of us became close before.

It was during my trainee days when I locked up inside a practice room, feeling so frustrated and disappointed with myself for not being able to do my job well. I was having a difficulty with my voice that time and only Taeyeon came to comfort me. We became good friends since then.

“Calm down, noona. Nothing’s wrong with you. You know well that singers like us really goes through that kind of phase. You’ll get over it. Don’t stress yourself too much,” I said, trying to comfort her.

This time, she looked up at me, her eyes already red around the edges.

“But what if I don’t get through it, Baek? What am I supposed to do? There’s nothing else I’m good at in this world rather than singing,” she voiced out.

I shook my head, not knowing the right thing to say. I held her in both shoulders and stared at her straightly. “You’re going to get through it, you understand? I also felt that way before but look what happened? I surpassed it. And you’re going to do that too, noona. You’ll get over this and you’ll go back to normal. So please, calm down.”

Taeyeon pulled me into a hug as another sob broke out from her. She pressed her face on my chest, wetting the fabric of my shirt with her tears. I know I ought to push her away, to not let her hug me any further, but I can’t get myself to do it. She’s still my friend and she had helped me survive when I was going through this same problem.

I hugged her and patted her gently on the back.

We stayed like that for minutes, before she finally breaks away.

She sat in front of me, wiping her eyes rather harshly.

“T-Thanks, Baek,” she muttered under her breath. “Thanks for staying with me.”

“It’s okay, noona. Just make sure to recover yourself,” I said to her as I began to leave.

“Wait,” she said, holding me by the arm. I stopped and turned to face her just as I felt something touch my lips.

Taeyeon kissed me.

I shoved her away almost immediately, my eyes widening due to both surprise and horror.

Images of Hanna went through my head.

How would she feel if she knew about this? I tried so hard to take her away from other guys. I even fought her over it. And now I’ll be doing this?

The thought filled me with a mix of dread and anger – anger towards Taeyeon and anger towards myself.

Why did I even come here in the first place?

“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded, my voice raising a pitch higher than necessary.

“Baekhyun… I…” Taeyeon stammered her face flushed.

“If you ever do that again…” I began, pointing a warning finger towards her. “I promise you… You won’t ever get to see me again.”

I left the van without waiting for her reply and headed back to the house. I went upstairs and entered Hanna’s room.

She’s already asleep.

I sat beside her on the bed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

She looked peaceful when she’s asleep, a whole lot more beautiful.

I began her cheek with my fingers just as I remembered Taeyeon’s lips on mine.

What did I just do?

I leaned closer to her. “I’m sorry, Hanna,” I whispered as I kissed her on the lips.

***

“Good morning, Baekhyun!” Chanyeol greeted as I headed downstairs. He didn’t even wait for me to arrive at the living room but rather ran towards me, imprisoning my head between his arms. “It’s about time to wake up from your sleep, Sleeping Beauty.”

“Aish. Let go of me, Chanyeol,” I said in annoyance as I shoved him away from me, twisting my neck to the sides.

“Whoa there. What’s with the sour attitude early in the morning?” he asked, eyeing me judgingly.

“Nothing,” I told him off, continuing to walk downstairs. “Just lack some sleep.”

It was true that I wasn’t able to sleep last night. I stayed up late simply watching Hanna doze off beside me, the images of the Taeyeon incident kept bothering me at the back of my mind. I had to leave her room at the break of dawn and transfer to my room to avoid Chen from noticing. That was the only time I was able to get some sleep.

I dropped down on the couch as soon as I entered the living room, closing my eyes. I saw Hanna looking at me questioningly but I didn’t have the energy to speak nor to explain. I just want to have some rest.

I skipped breakfast and slept only to be woken up by Manager Song’s arrival.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen!” she greeted rather enthusiastically. Where is she getting that much energy during such an early hour?

“What happened to you, Baekhyun?” she asked upon noticing me.

“Just sleepy, Manager,” I said, my eyes still closed.

Thank God, she let the topic drop.

“Hanna, today you shall be taking the pictorial for your album. Everything should be finished right now so that your debut can progress next week just as planned. You understand?” Manager Song demanded.

“Yes, Manager,” I heard Hanna reply, her voice sounding a bit off.

I opened my eyes to look at her. She seemed lost – distracted. I wondered what she’s thinking.

We packed our necessities up and headed off to the company. I took another chance to sleep on our way.

The cafeteria was buzzing with people when we arrived. Everyone stopped and stared as we passed by.

“Hey, boys!” I heard someone call out. I turned to the direction of the speaker and saw Taemin running towards us. Kai welcomed him with a high-five. “Congrats on your two consecutive wins! I hope you’ll bag the third one later,” he said, flashing us a bright smile. He stopped when he saw Hanna. “We meet again,” he mused, extending his hand towards her. Hanna shook it gratefully. “I heard you’re going to debut so soon. Goodluck!” he continued and gave Hanna a ‘fighting’ gesture.

If I was in a right condition, I could have pulled him away from her. But since I’m not feeling so well due to lack of sleep, I decided to keep my silence. I’ll make sure to take my revenge on him once I recovered.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” Manager spoke, interrupting Taemin before he says anything more. “As much as we want you here with us, Taemin, I’m afraid we have to leave. These guys have a long schedule ahead of them for today. So if you don’t mind…”

I almost had to thank Manager Ji Hye for coming to the rescue. She motioned for us to continue walking, leaving Taemin waving at us from behind. I just can’t understand why people are so energetic in the morning while I seem to be losing my own soul.

Manager Song took us to the studio on the 4th floor where most of our pictorials are being done. I already remembered it too well since we’ve also shot our first two albums in here.

Hanna was immediately taken away from us by a group of stylists.

Manager Song stood beside me.

“Let’s talk, Baekhyun,” she whispered to me. I suddenly became fully awake. What could Manager Ji Hye possibly want to talk to me about?

Knowing I have no other choice, I nodded my head and silently followed her outside the studio. We took the elevator and headed to the rooftop. She walked straight to the edge, over viewing the wide city of Seoul. I stood beside her, waiting for what’s to come.

“So… you’ve done it already, huh?” she began, still facing forward.

“Done what, Manager?” I asked, my brows knitting in confusion.

She smirked and said, “Confess. You already did it, didn’t you?”

I felt my jaw drop. She’s not talking about Hanna, isn’t she?

“Yes, I’m talking about Hanna,” she announced as a matter of factly, answering my question. She turned to look at me and continued, “I’ve always known you two are fond of each another and I’m getting pretty sick of always watching you two deny it. That’s the reason I decided to interfere… I guess I did a great job.”

My mouth remained hanging open. I shook my head in confusion. “W-What do you mean, Manager?”

She smiled proudly, tipping her chin up. “All those matchmaking with Taeyong… I planned all of it right from the start. I was trying to make you jealous – to provoke you. I thought that all you really need is someone to scare you off, someone to threaten you. So I decided to make a good use of Taeyong since he’s chosen to work with Hanna anyway. I’m right, am I?”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter