![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Following the Broken Road Back To You (2/4)
Part 2
Chanyeol turned his head at the slam of the passenger door. He passed on the impulse to make a comment about Baekhyun’s brutality against his vehicle. Instead, he locked the doors while the brunette went on to buckle himself in.
“What took you so long?” Chanyeol muttered, starting the car.
“I had to run upstairs to get my phone.”
“Looks like you also took the time to put on a little make up.”
Baekhyun threw him a look. “I briefly washed my face and dabbed my finger in a small amount of foundation and powder, sure. But I looked like a mess.”
“You looked fine,” Chanyeol muttered, focusing his attention on the road.
“Well, not from what I saw in the mirror,” Baekhyun said, more to himself than the man next to him. He turned his phone on, and after a minute, he sighed. “Honest to god, how do you survive around here, again?”
“Easy. Telephones. Ones that are connected to telephone poles.”
“Oh, ha ha,” Baekhyun laughed dryly. “I forgot how barren of a wasteland this place was.”
Chanyeol shrugged. “It’s not a wasteland to me.”
“It is to me.”
“Just cause it doesn’t have all the sparkle and shine the city has to offer doesn’t mean it’s a wasteland. A wasteland is like a landfill. You know, the ones that large cities like Seoul produce?” The second he said it, Chanyeol knew he was stepping on thin, tense-filled ice.
“I’ll have you know that the city just enacted a bill that’s going to cut air pollution, and hopefully, trash pollution in the next five years,” Baekhyun snapped. It was amazing how quickly the giant could make him angry. It didn’t help that his phone was being an ass as well. “We are well on our way to a better environment, you uneducated oaf.”
“Uneducated?” Chanyeol laughed. “If that’s what you think, then go right ahead. I’m an uneducated oaf who never went to college.”
“You didn’t.” Raising his phone in the air, Baekhyun tried desperately to catch a bar.
Amused, Chanyeol looked over at him. “And you know this how?”
“I just do.”
“Cause you know everything, obviously.”
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun brought his phone back closer to him. “No, but I know for a fact that you didn’t. Hell, you didn’t even bother getting out of here and that’s the easiest thing an idiot can do. Leave. Anyone can do it.”
“Leave because that’s the easiest thing an idiot can do?” Scoffing, Chanyeol’s grip on the wheel tightened. “You have that one right. You left, didn’t you? So, what? Does that make you an idiot?”
“No, I—God! I didn’t mean it like that, anyway!” Groaning, Baekhyun pushed himself into his seat. He went silent until he waved his phone in all places, whining. “Why don’t you do something useful for once in your life and build a cell tower?”
Running his hand through his hair, Chanyeol let out a growl as he made a right turn. “What is it that you need so much that you’re acting like a child?”
“I need to call Kris!” Folding his arms, Baekhyun turned his head towards the window. “He called me a few times before I got here. I figured I’d answer when I’m at the farm, but I didn’t think there wouldn’t be any cell towers around.”
Chanyeol didn’t answer, and like the rest of the conversations, it had a hung ending. Except this time it was slightly different. Baekhyun couldn’t put his finger on it, but the feeling around how it all ended was difficult to specifically point out. He decided not to comment anymore, leaning over and turning on the radio to whatever station could fill the silent void.
When they arrived at the small town grocery store, the sun was half-way gone and the breezy air before had become chill. Baekhyun followed Chanyeol into the store, grabbing his own cart until Chanyeol told him to put it back and grabbed a basket instead.
Not satisfied with being put in the shotgun seat of the task, Baekhyun grabbed the basket from the tall man’s rough hands. “I have the list. I’ll get it. Thanks for the ride. You can wait here.”
“You haven’t been here in years. I doubt you know where anything is anymore, and just like you, I want to go home.”
“Well, you could’ve gone home when you had the chance,” Baekhyun said, smiling at people who stopped to look at them. Suddenly, he was self-conscious about his appearance. “Let’s hurry this up.”
“Fine—”
Baekhyun’s attention was cut off the second his ring tone went off. Reaching quickly into his pocket, he took out his phone and cursed. “Fuck. A signal. An actual signal.” When it dawned on him that it could go away in any minute, he quickly answered. “Hello? Kris? Yeah, I’m here!”
Chanyeol walked a little faster, and though Baekhyun was grateful at what he thought was the giant trying to be courteous, he wasn’t too thrilled about being left behind. “Uh huh. Well, I’m staying with my parents. There’s absolutely no way for me to use my phone there—or email. They don’t have internet. God knows why…”
They entered an aisle, but Baekhyun was in no mind to be sure what they were looking for. Chanyeol, however, had it taken care of. “No, I told you…Kris—Listen, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened that morning…How am I supposed to know? I called you, too, but you didn’t—Ah, no. No, I called you. You can get in touch with your cellular company and check if that’s what it’ll take to satisfy you…Ugh, alright. Fine. We’ll talk later…A number? I’ll text you’re my parents’ landline. Okay? Good. Bye.”
Looking up, Baekhyun found he had a pair of eyes watching him. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why were you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
Baekhyun’s lips twitched. God, he was so complicated. “You know what? Nothing.”
Shrugging, Chanyeol moved along, taking Baekhyun down all the specific aisles for the targeted items. It took no longer than fifteen minutes to gather everything in one basket. It proved to be an easy trip until they reached the checkout lane and Baekhyun turned around so suddenly that Chanyeol had to take a step back.
“I forgot my…”
“You forgot your what?” Chanyeol asked loudly, leaning one ear in.
Growling, Baekhyun swallowed his pride. “I forgot my wallet.”
“What a pity, then.”
The brunette gaped at him. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I told your father I’d give you a ride. I never said I’d pay for anything.”
Angrily, Baekhyun curled his hand into a fist and pointed a finger at the giant. “You! You’re insufferable and you’re beyond stubborn! You don’t have a decent bone in your body!”
Taking the weak insults so lightly that it didn’t bother him so, Chanyeol scoffed, pushing him aside as the cashier finished scanning all the items. Digging into his back pocket, he took out his wallet and pulled out a black card. Baekhyun’s eyes were fixed on the god-like status card and looked up back only to see Chanyeol glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
Unlike Baekhyun, the woman at the helm didn’t seem so startled to be holding such a card. And all Baekhyun could do was think “What the fuck?”
They walked out of the store, but Baekhyun actually ran. Chanyeol took bigger and longer strides than he did, adding onto the fact that the man wasn’t carrying any of the things on the list. When they reached the truck, Baekhyun put the bags near his feet and immediately faced Chanyeol.
“You have a black card!?”
“Put on your seatbelt.”
“I—ugh.” Baekhyun scrambled to achieve safety first. “Okay, now explain to me how you have a black card.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“Whatever. Now tell me. I want to know.”
“Why?” Chanyeol asked, glancing at him. “Why does it matter to you? I’m an uneducated oaf, aren’t I?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then you have no business asking,” Chanyeol said, marking the end of yet another conversation.
-
-
“I want to live in a mansion one day. A house where the sun hits it during the first break of dawn so I can wake up every morning with the sun shining on my face. Then I can roll over and wake up next to you. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Can’t say I don’t like the thought of that. Where do you suppose we’ll have this mansion?”
“By the lake. Definitely by the lake. I want a big yard that runs all the way to the water, too.”
“Any other requests?”
“I don’t know. Just a place big enough to hold the wedding.”
“You want the wedding to be at this mansion of yours?”
“Ours, Park. And yes, I do. I want every memory made in this house the moment I start my official life with you. Every single one of them.”
-
-
Feeding the animals became Baekhyun’s favorite part of his day. After becoming accustomed to the animals’ behavior, he took it even a step further by petting them and picking them up when Chanyeol was off forking hay for the horses because, in his words, Baekhyun was “too weak to lift a big fork”.
Baekhyun had a special liking to the rabbit pen where his father kept approximately five females and four males. He knew that they were often used for petting zoo attraction at town fairs, but he found no harm in pushing aside his duties once in a while to join them, feeling their soft fur and warm-hearted kindness as they ate from his hand.
Chanyeol caught him once. He was angry, barking about how he’d been running around everywhere looking for the him, but after he saw Baekhyun’s attention consumed by the furry animals, his expression softened mildly before he walked away, ordering the brunette to hurry up.
-
-
On the weekend, Baekhyun was alone by himself. Chanyeol had called in an hour after he was supposed to arrive to speak about some business that he had to take care of. Baekhyun was the one who had picked up and immediately gave the man pardon before quickly setting the phone down and ending the brief conversation.
Baekhyun ran to the storage room until he realized he didn’t have to worry about schedules. There was no one to pushing him to stay on task that day, so he figured that there’d be no pressure. After feeding the chickens and the pigs, Baekhyun visited the rabbits before making his way out to the pasture.
He didn’t do very much, however. The cows were grazing the grass in the warm sun assisted by a cool breeze. It was actually a nice day, minus the fact that he had to work.
Sighing, Baekhyun took to the stables to begin pitching hay for the three horses that his father owned for recreational purposes, but found that there was plenty of food. Taken aback, he frowned when he realized Chanyeol must’ve put enough to last the next day over the last time he took to the task. As if to silently reject the man’s gesture, Baekhyun grabbed the iron pitch fork and stomped to the barn where they hay was at. Although he hadn’t pitched much on it, he walked back to the stable and sprinkled it on top of the pile Chanyeol had made.
“My hay’s better than his,” he said to the animals who didn’t care very much as they watched him triumphantly set the pitch fork back against the wall where it had been.
-
-
For moments here and there, Baekhyun found himself thinking about how lonely he was. Physically, that is. In his normal life, the life outside the dirt and the animals, he was never alone. People always tended to him and offered lunch dates and such. He was always so busy that he never had any time to feel lonely for whatever matter. And when he did start to feel a little void, he picked up his shoes and went shopping. Sometimes he dropped by the agency to pick a fight with his manager, Kris, which sometimes resulted in him getting money just to leave.
It was always the frivolous parties that kept him occupied. There were always shows and runways to do that there was never a moment in time to think about companionship. But cracks in the perfect world around him were bound to happen sometimes, and it usually happened on days when he’d open up his phone and find that he’d been added to a group text with his friends about one of them getting engaged or married.
Those were the days Baekhyun would lie in bed until he couldn’t take the sinking feeling in his stomach and the screaming silence in his two thousand square foot condo anymore. Baekhyun called those times his coffee mate days, simply for the matter that he’d go to coffee shops hoping someone would talk to him—hence the “mate”.
By the time Baekhyun snapped out of his lonesome trance, he realized he’d been staring at the dirt for more than two minutes. Even more, he felt embarrassed with himself for even missing the overbearing man who usually barked orders at him and how to do certain things a specific way.
But he couldn’t help it. He was finished with all the things needed to be done, minus the side projects they were doing like fixing things. Baekhyun didn’t know what was broken and what wasn’t. Hell, everything looked broken! But Chanyeol knew, and he usually led the way from one project to another, but he wasn’t there, so Baekhyun just found himself…lost.
Annoyed that his thoughts were drifting to that particular person, Baekhyun walked into the barn and found the old bike his father had spoken about a few days ago. After quickly running through a mental check list of all the things that he’d finished doing, he took no hesitation in taking the rusty thing from its rack, checking to see if it still worked.
The tires were a little flat, and Baekhyun had to use a pump nearby to fix that issue. It was dusty as well from all the years that it had been out of service, so he found an old cloth, wiping the bike of all its dirt. After checking and confirming that the brakes still worked, he rode it out to the house, pushing its stand out so he could go inside and tell his parents where he was off to, which he didn’t even know.
“I’m going around town,” was all he said as he kicked off his boots, setting them out on the front porch and grabbing some worn out sneakers he found in the attic that belonged to him one point in time.
His father put his paper down to watch his son in his hustle, but made no comment or objection. He merely asked, “Are you done with your tasks?”
“Yeah,” Baekhyun groaned out as he tied his last shoe. “I’m going now.”
“Bye honey!” his mother called. “Will you be back for dinner?”
Baekhyun nodded. “Yeah, I will. Bye.”
He waved good-bye, hoping off the porch when he could. Settling into the bike nicely, he felt a sense of nostalgia of his days on that bike. Grinning, he kicked the stand up and pedaled on the earthy path until they hit in the gravel main road. Then, he took a right, heading east towards town.
-
-
Small stores and pharmacies came into view and Baekhyun felt a sense of warmth seeing the place he had grown up in. The candy store was still there, and so was the library that was always ten months too late on new releases.
The little restaurants and café’s with old folks and married folks alike were lively. In fact, it wasn’t exactly as dead and deserted as Baekhyun remembered—or thought he remembered. As he hit the main road that ran through the entire town, Baekhyun began walking his bike along the side walk.
His eyes wandered from glass window to glass window, seeing all different kinds of items on display. It was amusing to see how things had changed so much, and yet so little in the time of his absence. He felt at peace for some reason, and he knew for sure it wasn’t because of the fact that the sun was beating warmly on his skin accompanied by a soft breeze of wind.
It was a nice day to wander, and perhaps that did something positive to his mood.
He was walking along the main road even further when his head turned to look at a little outdoor restaurant. Then he stopped.
Across the street was Chanyeol dressed in his best with a woman sitting across from him. They were eating something— Baekhyun didn’t care enough to see what.
Was it a date? Baekhyun stared at the scene like a third person observer and slowly started to walk away. After a while he turned his head and walked a little faster.
If it was a date, then Baekhyun felt happy that a bitter man like Chanyeol was trying to get at it with another human being that wasn’t himself. That was progress in the making and Baekhyun loved all types of progress! Scientific, mathematical, social progress, whatever. It was good that Chanyeol was putting himself out there.
But of all the places, why did it have to be at that restaurant?
Not that it was special to Baekhyun or anything of the sort. In fact, it wasn’t even the restaurant Chanyeol proposed in, but the sight was just so awfully familiar.
Where Baekhyun had stood, that was where he had made the decision to break off their engagement.
-
-
Halfway through the main street, Baekhyun hopped on his bike again and pedaled forward, heading due east to the lake that he remembered. He took the main road until he hit an off trail, rugged and dusty. Oddly enough, he didn’t mind it at all. Usually he would, but who did he have to impress by looking clean for? So, he let dust be dust.
Baekhyun followed the road, reminiscing as trees became more and more abundant in the area.
In this part of the lake, Baekhyun built his dreams—or what he thought were his dreams. To live by the water in leisure with the pressures of life far from him was what he often talked about. How he would’ve been able to do that without a truck load of money, Baekhyun realized now that he didn’t know.
He lost himself through the trees, riding on half-mindedly as he went along. After a while, he suddenly remembered that he and Chanyeol had carved their names into a unique tree, far larger than any of the other ones in the area. Like all foolish young lovers, they thought they’d last, thinking reality was but a myth.
Convincing himself that he needed to see this tree for the sake of nature appreciation, Baekhyun pedaled faster, going off memory. He passed all the places where he used to fish. He grinned to himself while passing the spots where he had been forced to skinny dip in his senior year of high school. Every single part of that lake had some sort of ridiculous memory attached to it and Baekhyun would laugh sometimes, thinking about his youthful stupidity.
When he finally saw the tree in sight, Baekhyun felt elated until he felt awed by the development that taken place near that tree. Just beyond the memorable thing, there stood a house and a wonderfully landscaped area.
For a moment, Baekhyun forgot all about the tree and stopped his bike right at the entrance of the house that sat just yards away from the sparkling waters. Rubbing his eyes, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.
A white house, two stories high with pillars almost too grand to exist in such part of the world, was standing proudly where there had been nothing but trees and trails before its presence. Flowers were planted in a beautiful arrangement and was beautifully cut.
The black window panes boldly added character to the home as did the bright red chimney. Baekhyun took in the beautiful house, feeling completely drawn to it. It was like he was staring at the house he had imagined he would have one day.
All the details were done to the touch. From the landscaping to the layout, all the way to the light fixtures that hung above the front door. It was everything he had in his mind.
Too caught up in the home, Baekhyun almost fell off his bike when he heard a voice from behind, calling him. Turning his head back, he saw the face of the innocent man who he had blamed for all his misery.
“Kyungsoo.” Awkwardly smiling, Baekhyun waved as the curious man neared him, dragging along a tiny red wagon in his hand.
“I heard your dad dragged you back here,” Kyungsoo said as he stopped in front of Baekhyun. “Doing a little sightseeing?”
He nodded. “Yes,” Baekhyun replied, taking notice of the dirt and flowers onboard the wagon. “What’re you doing?”
It was clear that Kyungsoo had been out doing some work that day. He fixed his hat and swiped his face with a clean handkerchief. “I’m just doing a little gardening. I have to plant these in some areas. They’re in full bloom right now, so they’re ready to be put in the ground.”
As Baekhyun listened, he smiled. So, the house belonged to Kyungsoo, it seemed. It wasn’t too surprising even. Kyungsoo had always been frail despite his sour temper, and being the son of a lofty man surely didn’t do any harm to anyone. Mr. Do must’ve built the home for his son, and now Kyungsoo spends his days doing anything.
“Well, they look lovely.”
“They are,” Kyungsoo nodded, smiling down at the flowers. “So, how’s life now that you’re off the runway and back on the farm?”
“I got used to it,” he answered.
“You have to take care of your hands. You’ve always have beautiful fingers. I wouldn’t let farm work get the better of that, you know,” Kyungsoo said, looking worried as his eyes drifted to Baekhyun’s hands. “Do you wear gloves while you work?”
“Chanyeol gave me a pair,” Baekhyun told him, feeling slightly uncomfortable mentioning his ex in front of the man who was the reason for their break up. “He won’t let me work without them.”
“Well, Chanyeol’s always been considerate.”
Baekhyun almost snorted.
“Do you want a flower? They’re in their own separate pots so you can take one with you. Maybe your mother will want one?”
“I, uh—”
“Oh, wait!” Kyungsoo let go of the wagon’s handle. “Will you sign something for me? You were on the cover of Elle a few months back and there’s a copy of it in the house.”
“Oh, um, sure,” Baekhyun said, giving a small smile. “I can do that for you.”
“Cool! I’ll be back.”
Kyungsoo left his wagon full of unplanted flowers and ran to the house. Baekhyun thought he’d do the guy a favor and wheeled the wagon in front of the home where a bag of fertilizer and dirt was lying in the open.
While he waited, he looked up towards the entire grandeur of the house, he had to ask himself why Kyungsoo was acting so friendly. For a guy who stole his friend’s fiancé, he was very calm and natural when it came to having a normal conversation.
He wanted to hate the guy that went into the house he had always dreamed to be his, but Baekhyun couldn’t. For fuck’s sake, Kyungsoo was giving him one of his flowers, and for some reason, Baekhyun just couldn’t after that gesture.
Besides, he had already smashed a lot of things after the engagement’s fall out, and it took him a year to stop thinking about it.
Taking in a deep breath, Baekhyun rolled his shoulders, meditating all his angry thoughts away. It was all in the past, and Kyungsoo didn’t seem like the god awful devil Baekhyun used to scream about while gorging himself with ice cream.
After a few minutes, Kyungsoo stepped back outside with the thick magazine in hand and a sharpie. He stepped off the porch and met where Baekhyun stood, holding out the items. “It’s really weird to ask someone you’ve known all your life for their autograph.”
“I would think,” Baekhyun laughed, taking the magazine and pen. “What do you want me to write? Just my name or did you want something else on here?”
Kyungsoo cocked his head and thought about. Then a grin spread across his face. “Oh, I know. How about ‘To My Largest Fan. Love Baekhyun.’?”
“Largest? Don’t you mean biggest?” Baekhyun asked as he uncapped the pen.
“No. I want it written as largest,” the latter insisted. Baekhyun made no more objections afterwards.
“Will you frame this, Kyungsoo? Put it on your mantle?”
Laughing, Kyungsoo shrugged. “No. It’ll be for something else.”
“Don’t sell it online cause I’ll know.” Giving the autographed magazine back along with the pen, Baekhyun pointed at the wagon. “I dragged it off here for you.”
“Oh, thanks! You can take one of the pots.”
Baekhyun really had no intention to take a flower home, but Kyungsoo seemed so eager that he couldn’t just refuse. He carefully chose a flower that wasn’t one of the better plants for Kyungsoo’s gardening.
“Do you think you’ll be able to ride your bike home with one hand?”
“Yeah, it’ll be alright. Thanks for the flower, Kyungsoo.”
Waving, Kyungsoo smiled. “Thanks for the signature. It was nice seeing you, Baek. You look good.”
“It was nice seeing you, too, Soo. I’ll see you around.”
-
-
As Baekhyun was on the final stretch to getting back to his house in the late evening, he was honked at while riding his bike as he’d been doing for the last few hours. Turning his head, he squinted against the headlines of the car following him until the vehicle sped up to keep at the same pace.
“So, did you just decide to give yourself an off day?”
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun had a good mind to throw the pot into the car. “Actually, I finished everything.”
“Did you?”
“Yes, I did” Baekhyun said adamantly.
Chanyeol kept a steady eye on the road, careful not to ram into the bicyclist. “So, when I get there, the roof of the chicken coup will be fixed?”
Shit. Maybe he didn’t do everything he was supposed to, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t fix the darn thing in a matter of minutes. The chickens would fine, at least for one night.
“It will be soon enough,” the brunette retaliated.
The giant grunted before taking notice of the plant in Baekhyun’s arm. “Why do you have that?” he asked rather sharply.
Baekhyun didn’t take to his tone. “Kyungsoo gave it to me.”
Puzzle, Chanyeol cocked his head at him. “You pedaled your way to Kyungsoo’s house? He lives twenty minutes from town! And that’s if you take a car, Baekhyun.”
Glaring at the driver of the stupid vehicle, Baekhyun couldn’t tell if he was trying to be funny or not. He wasn’t in the mood for jokes. His entire body was cramping.
“Not his parents’ house, idiot. Kyungsoo’s house.”
“That’s what I said!” Chanyeol retorted, feeling as though he was talking to a child. “In case you’ve forgotten, he lives twenty—”
“Did you hear what I said?” Baekhyun cut him off. “You’re talking about Mr. and Mrs. Do’s home. Kyungsoo lives by the lake. That’s where he gave me this.”
“The lake.” Chanyeol went silent, giving Baekhyun a hard look. “And what were you doing there at Soo’s house?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to see some stuff.” At that point, Baekhyun was just about ready to drop dead and roll into the ditch on the side. Before Chanyeol could continue on with his questions, Baekhyun braked and waited for Chanyeol to step on his truck’s brake as well.
As expected, Chanyeol jumped out of the truck and started walking towards him. Tactfully avoiding any more questions for the moment, Baekhyun asked, “Are you heading to my house right now?”
“And if I was?”
“Could you drop me off? I’m tired.”
Chanyeol sighed. “That’s because you never eat, and when you do, it’s a portion that’s the size of my thumb.”
Shrugging, Baekhyun let the comment slip. He got off the bicycle, plant in tow, and left Chanyeol to carefully put it in the back of his truck. He opened the passenger side and raised a brow at a manila folder sitting on the seat. Baekhyun put it aside by placing it on the dashboard and settled in.
As he fixed the seatbelt on him, Chanyeol returned by his side, putting on his own seatbelt. “Can’t believe you accepted an entire pot of flowers.”
Baekhyun’s ears perked. It sounded as though Chanyeol was holding back a laugh. “He said my mother would like it.”
“Well, I’m not planting those for you.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you to.”
“Good. Less work for me.”
Baekhyun made a face. “‘Less work for me’,” he mimicked, laughing at himself. “You sounded like a child just then.”
“Are you kidding me? That’s how you sound like every day, Byun Baekhyun.”
“No, I don’t!”
“You wouldn’t know. You hear yourself all the time and you’ve gotten used to it.”
“‘You hear yourself all the time, and you’ve gotten used to it’,” he mocked, lowering the pitch of his voice to jab at Chanyeol’s own. “Well, you sound like an old man every time you talk.”
Chanyeol hummed, making a face. “I don’t think so.”
“It’s true,” Baekhyun insisted. Reaching on the dashboard, he took the manila folder in his hand and held it. “And what’s this? It was on the seat when I opened the door.”
Before Baekhyun could pry his fingers in the files, Chanyeol took the folder from him and put it in the holder on the side of his door. “Are you always this nosy?” he asked, slightly annoyed.
Baekhyun shrugged. “I don’t know. You wanted to marry me once. Why don’t you tell me?”
When he laughed, Chanyeol didn’t laugh along with him. “Well, you know what? I say you’ve gotten nosier since the last time I saw you. Did you lose your manners somewhere along the way to fame, darling?”
“Manners? If anyone doesn’t have manners, it’s you,” Baekhyun threw back.
“Honey, I wouldn’t have let you in my truck when you whined about being tired if I didn’t have the manners of a gentleman.”
Baekhyun gripped his flower pot, thinking how badly things would turn out if he decided to crack it over Chanyeol’s head. Deciding that killing the driver would consequently kill him too, the brunette rolled his eyes and went on grumbling.
“What were you planning on doing at my house anyways?”
“To check up on you,” Chanyeol said simply. “I felt a sense of duty for your father to make sure that his farm was still intact and not burned to the ground by his senseless son.”
“Oh, ha,” Baekhyun replied dryly.
He pulled down the sun visor and used the mirror to look at himself. Unsatisfied by the mess that he saw, he sighed, knowing full well he couldn’t do anything about it—yet he still tried. Gently putting his hand in place, Baekhyun moved his bangs in all directions until he gave up, growling.
“I look like a piece of shit.”
“That’s harsh.”
Seeing his house in the horizon, Baekhyun breathed a sigh of relief. “I just want to take a bath and go to sleep. I never want to wake up.”
“I’ll go up to your room and pour water on you if you pull a stunt like that,” Chanyeol told him. “There are too many things for you to know how to do before you can sleep without me on watch.”
“Oh, I don’t even need you. I did fine today.”
Raising his brows, Chanyeol stifled a grin. “Did you?”
“I did.” Baekhyun said it so proudly, he held his chin high. “The horses really appreciated feeding time with me.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“I took the fork and I gave them hay.”
There was a pause. “Baekhyun, I did that.”
“No, you did not,” Baekhyun replied.
“So, you’re telling me you went ahead and you added more.”
“Yes.”
Shaking his head, Chanyeol let out an unexpected chuckle as he pulled up in front of the house. “Let’s hope they don’t become overweight because of you.” Unlocking the door before Baekhyun could retort, Chanyeol unlocked his seatbelt. “Let’s go.”
Baekhyun took longer to unbuckle himself, so by the time he finished, Chanyeol had swung his side of the car open. “Thanks,” he mumbled, slipping out of the truck.
“No problem,” Chanyeol replied as he was leaving him to open the tailgate to get the latter’s bike. “Good thing I caught up with you when I did. See how it’s already kind of dark out? You don’t have a light on this thing.”
“I didn’t expect to be out for so long,” the brunette defended, holding the bike by the handle once it was on the ground. “I just took my time riding to places.”
“Hn.” Chanyeol lifted the tailgate and locked it. “I think I have a light I can put on this back at my house. Maybe I can bring it in tomorrow or something.”
Baekhyun was taken aback. “Uh, no. It’s okay.”
“It’s fine. Besides, this is your only mode of transportation anyways.”
“I have my dad’s truck.”
Chanyeol stuck his hands in his pockets. “Do you have a valid license?”
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun gave him a lopsided frown. “Do you really need one around here?”
“No, but I’ll tell Jongdae to keep an eye out for you just in case you do go around breaking the law.”
Baekhyun caught the smirk on Chanyeol’s face before the man turned away and began walking to the house. “Jongdae’s the sheriff now? Like with a gun and all?”
Snorting, Chanyeol passed on the opportunity to comment on Baekhyun’s childish remark. “Yes, he is.”
“That’s cool,” Baekhyun said quietly behind Chanyeol as he followed along. “But it wouldn’t be cool if you told on me, though.”
Stepping on the porch, Chanyeol looked back to give him an easy smile. “I don’t think he’d listen to me anyways. He always did like taking your side—but that doesn’t mean you can break the law.”
“I can always try.”
“Sure you can.”
Chanyeol rang the doorbell then promptly knocked on the screen door. After a while, Mrs. Byun’s face came into view and quickly opened her home to the two. “Chanyeol! How nice to see you—ah, Baekhyun. Where’ve you been? I didn’t think you’d be gone for so long. What’s that?”
As Chanyeol held the screen door open, Baekhyun bypassed him and stepped inside. “Ah, Kyungsoo gave me a flower. He said you’d like it.”
“You went to the Do’s residence?” she asked sounding curious. “Up north?”
Shaking his head, Baekhyun set the pot near the door as he bent down to untie his shoes. “No, just Kyungsoo’s house further east from town. Did you know he owns a colonial out by the lake? He was gardening there and I guess I decided to talk to him.”
“Oh…” His mother sounded troubled. She turned to Chanyeol. “Were you there with him, dear?”
“No,” Chanyeol answered gently. “I had to meet with somebody.”
“Yeah, his girlfriend,” Baekhyun piped, pulling his shoes off. “Which explains why he’s dressed so nice right now.
The news shocked his mother as much as it did Baekhyun when he saw the pair that afternoon. “Girlfriend?”
“Yeah, I saw her on my way to the lake. She’s lovely from what I saw. I just didn’t expect her to be your type, but good for you.”
With an unsure smile, Mrs. Byun glanced at Chanyeol. “Baekhyun, dear, are you sure you weren’t mistaking that woman for—”
“Are you coming in or not?”
Baekhyun’s question cut off his mother’s own and Chanyeol gave him a blank stare. “I actually just came by to check on Baekhyun since I felt guilty leaving him alone to meet my girlfriend,” he said, shifting his eyes to Baekhyun. “But I bumped into him on the way over here so I decided to give him a ride. I’ll just take his bike back to the barn and head on my way.”
Mrs. Byun waved her hands. “No, no. Chanyeol, let Baekhyun do that. It’s his bike. You shouldn’t have to.”
“I’ll put it away tomorrow,” Baekhyun interjected. “Leave it on the porch.”
“It’s no problem,” Chanyeol insisted, letting go of the screen door and letting it shut.
“Baekhyun.”
His mother was jabbing at him with her tone of voice and Baekhyun hung his head in defeat. “Fine.”
He slipped his shoes back on, not even bothering with the laces anymore, and jetted outside, waddling because of his loose footwear. Chanyeol wasn’t too far from him, but Baekhyun caught up with him around the side of the house.
“You’re out to make yourself seem like a saint to my parents,” the brunette accused as he took the bike into his hands. Chanyeol didn’t bother putting up a fight.
Shoving his hands in his pocket, Chanyeol grinned as he shrugged. “That’s an awful thing to say. They’ve known me for years. I’m hardly deceiving them in any way.”
Baekhyun scoffed, kicking Chanyeol below his shin gently. “Whatever.”
“If I go home and see that there’s mud on these, what do you think I’ll do to you?”
“Condemn me and leave me alone?”
“That’s just granting what you want.”
Laughing, Baekhyun snorted, putting a hand to his mouth. “I know,” he said after a while. “But you did ask.”
They reached the barn and Chanyeol lifted the bike back on its rack. He looked around for a while as though checking for anything that had become misplaced or broken in his absence. Once he was satisfied, he walked out with Baekhyun following behind him in silent admiration.
iii
Chanyeol turned his head at the slam of the passenger door. He passed on the impulse to make a comment about Baekhyun’s brutality against his vehicle. Instead, he locked the doors while the brunette went on to buckle himself in.
“What took you so long?” Chanyeol muttered, starting the car.
“I had to run upstairs to get my phone.”
“Looks like you also took the time to put on a little make up.”
Baekhyun threw him a look. “I briefly washed my face and dabbed my finger in a small amount of foundation and powder, sure. But I looked like a mess.”
“You looked fine,” Chanyeol muttered, focusing his attention on the road.
“Well, not from what I saw in the mirror,” Baekhyun said, more to himself than the man next to him. He turned his phone on, and after a minute, he sighed. “Honest to god, how do you survive around here, again?”
“Easy. Telephones. Ones that are connected to telephone poles.”
“Oh, ha ha,” Baekhyun laughed dryly. “I forgot how barren of a wasteland this place was.”
Chanyeol shrugged. “It’s not a wasteland to me.”
“It is to me.”
“Just cause it doesn’t have all the sparkle and shine the city has to offer doesn’t mean it’s a wasteland. A wasteland is like a landfill. You know, the ones that large cities like Seoul produce?” The second he said it, Chanyeol knew he was stepping on thin, tense-filled ice.
“I’ll have you know that the city just enacted a bill that’s going to cut air pollution, and hopefully, trash pollution in the next five years,” Baekhyun snapped. It was amazing how quickly the giant could make him angry. It didn’t help that his phone was being an ass as well. “We are well on our way to a better environment, you uneducated oaf.”
“Uneducated?” Chanyeol laughed. “If that’s what you think, then go right ahead. I’m an uneducated oaf who never went to college.”
“You didn’t.” Raising his phone in the air, Baekhyun tried desperately to catch a bar.
Amused, Chanyeol looked over at him. “And you know this how?”
“I just do.”
“Cause you know everything, obviously.”
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun brought his phone back closer to him. “No, but I know for a fact that you didn’t. Hell, you didn’t even bother getting out of here and that’s the easiest thing an idiot can do. Leave. Anyone can do it.”
“Leave because that’s the easiest thing an idiot can do?” Scoffing, Chanyeol’s grip on the wheel tightened. “You have that one right. You left, didn’t you? So, what? Does that make you an idiot?”
“No, I—God! I didn’t mean it like that, anyway!” Groaning, Baekhyun pushed himself into his seat. He went silent until he waved his phone in all places, whining. “Why don’t you do something useful for once in your life and build a cell tower?”
Running his hand through his hair, Chanyeol let out a growl as he made a right turn. “What is it that you need so much that you’re acting like a child?”
“I need to call Kris!” Folding his arms, Baekhyun turned his head towards the window. “He called me a few times before I got here. I figured I’d answer when I’m at the farm, but I didn’t think there wouldn’t be any cell towers around.”
Chanyeol didn’t answer, and like the rest of the conversations, it had a hung ending. Except this time it was slightly different. Baekhyun couldn’t put his finger on it, but the feeling around how it all ended was difficult to specifically point out. He decided not to comment anymore, leaning over and turning on the radio to whatever station could fill the silent void.
When they arrived at the small town grocery store, the sun was half-way gone and the breezy air before had become chill. Baekhyun followed Chanyeol into the store, grabbing his own cart until Chanyeol told him to put it back and grabbed a basket instead.
Not satisfied with being put in the shotgun seat of the task, Baekhyun grabbed the basket from the tall man’s rough hands. “I have the list. I’ll get it. Thanks for the ride. You can wait here.”
“You haven’t been here in years. I doubt you know where anything is anymore, and just like you, I want to go home.”
“Well, you could’ve gone home when you had the chance,” Baekhyun said, smiling at people who stopped to look at them. Suddenly, he was self-conscious about his appearance. “Let’s hurry this up.”
“Fine—”
Baekhyun’s attention was cut off the second his ring tone went off. Reaching quickly into his pocket, he took out his phone and cursed. “Fuck. A signal. An actual signal.” When it dawned on him that it could go away in any minute, he quickly answered. “Hello? Kris? Yeah, I’m here!”
Chanyeol walked a little faster, and though Baekhyun was grateful at what he thought was the giant trying to be courteous, he wasn’t too thrilled about being left behind. “Uh huh. Well, I’m staying with my parents. There’s absolutely no way for me to use my phone there—or email. They don’t have internet. God knows why…”
They entered an aisle, but Baekhyun was in no mind to be sure what they were looking for. Chanyeol, however, had it taken care of. “No, I told you…Kris—Listen, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened that morning…How am I supposed to know? I called you, too, but you didn’t—Ah, no. No, I called you. You can get in touch with your cellular company and check if that’s what it’ll take to satisfy you…Ugh, alright. Fine. We’ll talk later…A number? I’ll text you’re my parents’ landline. Okay? Good. Bye.”
Looking up, Baekhyun found he had a pair of eyes watching him. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why were you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
Baekhyun’s lips twitched. God, he was so complicated. “You know what? Nothing.”
Shrugging, Chanyeol moved along, taking Baekhyun down all the specific aisles for the targeted items. It took no longer than fifteen minutes to gather everything in one basket. It proved to be an easy trip until they reached the checkout lane and Baekhyun turned around so suddenly that Chanyeol had to take a step back.
“I forgot my…”
“You forgot your what?” Chanyeol asked loudly, leaning one ear in.
Growling, Baekhyun swallowed his pride. “I forgot my wallet.”
“What a pity, then.”
The brunette gaped at him. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I told your father I’d give you a ride. I never said I’d pay for anything.”
Angrily, Baekhyun curled his hand into a fist and pointed a finger at the giant. “You! You’re insufferable and you’re beyond stubborn! You don’t have a decent bone in your body!”
Taking the weak insults so lightly that it didn’t bother him so, Chanyeol scoffed, pushing him aside as the cashier finished scanning all the items. Digging into his back pocket, he took out his wallet and pulled out a black card. Baekhyun’s eyes were fixed on the god-like status card and looked up back only to see Chanyeol glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
Unlike Baekhyun, the woman at the helm didn’t seem so startled to be holding such a card. And all Baekhyun could do was think “What the fuck?”
They walked out of the store, but Baekhyun actually ran. Chanyeol took bigger and longer strides than he did, adding onto the fact that the man wasn’t carrying any of the things on the list. When they reached the truck, Baekhyun put the bags near his feet and immediately faced Chanyeol.
“You have a black card!?”
“Put on your seatbelt.”
“I—ugh.” Baekhyun scrambled to achieve safety first. “Okay, now explain to me how you have a black card.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“Whatever. Now tell me. I want to know.”
“Why?” Chanyeol asked, glancing at him. “Why does it matter to you? I’m an uneducated oaf, aren’t I?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then you have no business asking,” Chanyeol said, marking the end of yet another conversation.
-
-
“I want to live in a mansion one day. A house where the sun hits it during the first break of dawn so I can wake up every morning with the sun shining on my face. Then I can roll over and wake up next to you. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Can’t say I don’t like the thought of that. Where do you suppose we’ll have this mansion?”
“By the lake. Definitely by the lake. I want a big yard that runs all the way to the water, too.”
“Any other requests?”
“I don’t know. Just a place big enough to hold the wedding.”
“You want the wedding to be at this mansion of yours?”
“Ours, Park. And yes, I do. I want every memory made in this house the moment I start my official life with you. Every single one of them.”
-
-
Feeding the animals became Baekhyun’s favorite part of his day. After becoming accustomed to the animals’ behavior, he took it even a step further by petting them and picking them up when Chanyeol was off forking hay for the horses because, in his words, Baekhyun was “too weak to lift a big fork”.
Baekhyun had a special liking to the rabbit pen where his father kept approximately five females and four males. He knew that they were often used for petting zoo attraction at town fairs, but he found no harm in pushing aside his duties once in a while to join them, feeling their soft fur and warm-hearted kindness as they ate from his hand.
Chanyeol caught him once. He was angry, barking about how he’d been running around everywhere looking for the him, but after he saw Baekhyun’s attention consumed by the furry animals, his expression softened mildly before he walked away, ordering the brunette to hurry up.
-
-
On the weekend, Baekhyun was alone by himself. Chanyeol had called in an hour after he was supposed to arrive to speak about some business that he had to take care of. Baekhyun was the one who had picked up and immediately gave the man pardon before quickly setting the phone down and ending the brief conversation.
Baekhyun ran to the storage room until he realized he didn’t have to worry about schedules. There was no one to pushing him to stay on task that day, so he figured that there’d be no pressure. After feeding the chickens and the pigs, Baekhyun visited the rabbits before making his way out to the pasture.
He didn’t do very much, however. The cows were grazing the grass in the warm sun assisted by a cool breeze. It was actually a nice day, minus the fact that he had to work.
Sighing, Baekhyun took to the stables to begin pitching hay for the three horses that his father owned for recreational purposes, but found that there was plenty of food. Taken aback, he frowned when he realized Chanyeol must’ve put enough to last the next day over the last time he took to the task. As if to silently reject the man’s gesture, Baekhyun grabbed the iron pitch fork and stomped to the barn where they hay was at. Although he hadn’t pitched much on it, he walked back to the stable and sprinkled it on top of the pile Chanyeol had made.
“My hay’s better than his,” he said to the animals who didn’t care very much as they watched him triumphantly set the pitch fork back against the wall where it had been.
-
-
For moments here and there, Baekhyun found himself thinking about how lonely he was. Physically, that is. In his normal life, the life outside the dirt and the animals, he was never alone. People always tended to him and offered lunch dates and such. He was always so busy that he never had any time to feel lonely for whatever matter. And when he did start to feel a little void, he picked up his shoes and went shopping. Sometimes he dropped by the agency to pick a fight with his manager, Kris, which sometimes resulted in him getting money just to leave.
It was always the frivolous parties that kept him occupied. There were always shows and runways to do that there was never a moment in time to think about companionship. But cracks in the perfect world around him were bound to happen sometimes, and it usually happened on days when he’d open up his phone and find that he’d been added to a group text with his friends about one of them getting engaged or married.
Those were the days Baekhyun would lie in bed until he couldn’t take the sinking feeling in his stomach and the screaming silence in his two thousand square foot condo anymore. Baekhyun called those times his coffee mate days, simply for the matter that he’d go to coffee shops hoping someone would talk to him—hence the “mate”.
By the time Baekhyun snapped out of his lonesome trance, he realized he’d been staring at the dirt for more than two minutes. Even more, he felt embarrassed with himself for even missing the overbearing man who usually barked orders at him and how to do certain things a specific way.
But he couldn’t help it. He was finished with all the things needed to be done, minus the side projects they were doing like fixing things. Baekhyun didn’t know what was broken and what wasn’t. Hell, everything looked broken! But Chanyeol knew, and he usually led the way from one project to another, but he wasn’t there, so Baekhyun just found himself…lost.
Annoyed that his thoughts were drifting to that particular person, Baekhyun walked into the barn and found the old bike his father had spoken about a few days ago. After quickly running through a mental check list of all the things that he’d finished doing, he took no hesitation in taking the rusty thing from its rack, checking to see if it still worked.
The tires were a little flat, and Baekhyun had to use a pump nearby to fix that issue. It was dusty as well from all the years that it had been out of service, so he found an old cloth, wiping the bike of all its dirt. After checking and confirming that the brakes still worked, he rode it out to the house, pushing its stand out so he could go inside and tell his parents where he was off to, which he didn’t even know.
“I’m going around town,” was all he said as he kicked off his boots, setting them out on the front porch and grabbing some worn out sneakers he found in the attic that belonged to him one point in time.
His father put his paper down to watch his son in his hustle, but made no comment or objection. He merely asked, “Are you done with your tasks?”
“Yeah,” Baekhyun groaned out as he tied his last shoe. “I’m going now.”
“Bye honey!” his mother called. “Will you be back for dinner?”
Baekhyun nodded. “Yeah, I will. Bye.”
He waved good-bye, hoping off the porch when he could. Settling into the bike nicely, he felt a sense of nostalgia of his days on that bike. Grinning, he kicked the stand up and pedaled on the earthy path until they hit in the gravel main road. Then, he took a right, heading east towards town.
-
-
Small stores and pharmacies came into view and Baekhyun felt a sense of warmth seeing the place he had grown up in. The candy store was still there, and so was the library that was always ten months too late on new releases.
The little restaurants and café’s with old folks and married folks alike were lively. In fact, it wasn’t exactly as dead and deserted as Baekhyun remembered—or thought he remembered. As he hit the main road that ran through the entire town, Baekhyun began walking his bike along the side walk.
His eyes wandered from glass window to glass window, seeing all different kinds of items on display. It was amusing to see how things had changed so much, and yet so little in the time of his absence. He felt at peace for some reason, and he knew for sure it wasn’t because of the fact that the sun was beating warmly on his skin accompanied by a soft breeze of wind.
It was a nice day to wander, and perhaps that did something positive to his mood.
He was walking along the main road even further when his head turned to look at a little outdoor restaurant. Then he stopped.
Across the street was Chanyeol dressed in his best with a woman sitting across from him. They were eating something— Baekhyun didn’t care enough to see what.
Was it a date? Baekhyun stared at the scene like a third person observer and slowly started to walk away. After a while he turned his head and walked a little faster.
If it was a date, then Baekhyun felt happy that a bitter man like Chanyeol was trying to get at it with another human being that wasn’t himself. That was progress in the making and Baekhyun loved all types of progress! Scientific, mathematical, social progress, whatever. It was good that Chanyeol was putting himself out there.
But of all the places, why did it have to be at that restaurant?
Not that it was special to Baekhyun or anything of the sort. In fact, it wasn’t even the restaurant Chanyeol proposed in, but the sight was just so awfully familiar.
Where Baekhyun had stood, that was where he had made the decision to break off their engagement.
-
-
Halfway through the main street, Baekhyun hopped on his bike again and pedaled forward, heading due east to the lake that he remembered. He took the main road until he hit an off trail, rugged and dusty. Oddly enough, he didn’t mind it at all. Usually he would, but who did he have to impress by looking clean for? So, he let dust be dust.
Baekhyun followed the road, reminiscing as trees became more and more abundant in the area.
In this part of the lake, Baekhyun built his dreams—or what he thought were his dreams. To live by the water in leisure with the pressures of life far from him was what he often talked about. How he would’ve been able to do that without a truck load of money, Baekhyun realized now that he didn’t know.
He lost himself through the trees, riding on half-mindedly as he went along. After a while, he suddenly remembered that he and Chanyeol had carved their names into a unique tree, far larger than any of the other ones in the area. Like all foolish young lovers, they thought they’d last, thinking reality was but a myth.
Convincing himself that he needed to see this tree for the sake of nature appreciation, Baekhyun pedaled faster, going off memory. He passed all the places where he used to fish. He grinned to himself while passing the spots where he had been forced to skinny dip in his senior year of high school. Every single part of that lake had some sort of ridiculous memory attached to it and Baekhyun would laugh sometimes, thinking about his youthful stupidity.
When he finally saw the tree in sight, Baekhyun felt elated until he felt awed by the development that taken place near that tree. Just beyond the memorable thing, there stood a house and a wonderfully landscaped area.
For a moment, Baekhyun forgot all about the tree and stopped his bike right at the entrance of the house that sat just yards away from the sparkling waters. Rubbing his eyes, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.
A white house, two stories high with pillars almost too grand to exist in such part of the world, was standing proudly where there had been nothing but trees and trails before its presence. Flowers were planted in a beautiful arrangement and was beautifully cut.
The black window panes boldly added character to the home as did the bright red chimney. Baekhyun took in the beautiful house, feeling completely drawn to it. It was like he was staring at the house he had imagined he would have one day.
All the details were done to the touch. From the landscaping to the layout, all the way to the light fixtures that hung above the front door. It was everything he had in his mind.
Too caught up in the home, Baekhyun almost fell off his bike when he heard a voice from behind, calling him. Turning his head back, he saw the face of the innocent man who he had blamed for all his misery.
“Kyungsoo.” Awkwardly smiling, Baekhyun waved as the curious man neared him, dragging along a tiny red wagon in his hand.
“I heard your dad dragged you back here,” Kyungsoo said as he stopped in front of Baekhyun. “Doing a little sightseeing?”
He nodded. “Yes,” Baekhyun replied, taking notice of the dirt and flowers onboard the wagon. “What’re you doing?”
It was clear that Kyungsoo had been out doing some work that day. He fixed his hat and swiped his face with a clean handkerchief. “I’m just doing a little gardening. I have to plant these in some areas. They’re in full bloom right now, so they’re ready to be put in the ground.”
As Baekhyun listened, he smiled. So, the house belonged to Kyungsoo, it seemed. It wasn’t too surprising even. Kyungsoo had always been frail despite his sour temper, and being the son of a lofty man surely didn’t do any harm to anyone. Mr. Do must’ve built the home for his son, and now Kyungsoo spends his days doing anything.
“Well, they look lovely.”
“They are,” Kyungsoo nodded, smiling down at the flowers. “So, how’s life now that you’re off the runway and back on the farm?”
“I got used to it,” he answered.
“You have to take care of your hands. You’ve always have beautiful fingers. I wouldn’t let farm work get the better of that, you know,” Kyungsoo said, looking worried as his eyes drifted to Baekhyun’s hands. “Do you wear gloves while you work?”
“Chanyeol gave me a pair,” Baekhyun told him, feeling slightly uncomfortable mentioning his ex in front of the man who was the reason for their break up. “He won’t let me work without them.”
“Well, Chanyeol’s always been considerate.”
Baekhyun almost snorted.
“Do you want a flower? They’re in their own separate pots so you can take one with you. Maybe your mother will want one?”
“I, uh—”
“Oh, wait!” Kyungsoo let go of the wagon’s handle. “Will you sign something for me? You were on the cover of Elle a few months back and there’s a copy of it in the house.”
“Oh, um, sure,” Baekhyun said, giving a small smile. “I can do that for you.”
“Cool! I’ll be back.”
Kyungsoo left his wagon full of unplanted flowers and ran to the house. Baekhyun thought he’d do the guy a favor and wheeled the wagon in front of the home where a bag of fertilizer and dirt was lying in the open.
While he waited, he looked up towards the entire grandeur of the house, he had to ask himself why Kyungsoo was acting so friendly. For a guy who stole his friend’s fiancé, he was very calm and natural when it came to having a normal conversation.
He wanted to hate the guy that went into the house he had always dreamed to be his, but Baekhyun couldn’t. For fuck’s sake, Kyungsoo was giving him one of his flowers, and for some reason, Baekhyun just couldn’t after that gesture.
Besides, he had already smashed a lot of things after the engagement’s fall out, and it took him a year to stop thinking about it.
Taking in a deep breath, Baekhyun rolled his shoulders, meditating all his angry thoughts away. It was all in the past, and Kyungsoo didn’t seem like the god awful devil Baekhyun used to scream about while gorging himself with ice cream.
After a few minutes, Kyungsoo stepped back outside with the thick magazine in hand and a sharpie. He stepped off the porch and met where Baekhyun stood, holding out the items. “It’s really weird to ask someone you’ve known all your life for their autograph.”
“I would think,” Baekhyun laughed, taking the magazine and pen. “What do you want me to write? Just my name or did you want something else on here?”
Kyungsoo cocked his head and thought about. Then a grin spread across his face. “Oh, I know. How about ‘To My Largest Fan. Love Baekhyun.’?”
“Largest? Don’t you mean biggest?” Baekhyun asked as he uncapped the pen.
“No. I want it written as largest,” the latter insisted. Baekhyun made no more objections afterwards.
“Will you frame this, Kyungsoo? Put it on your mantle?”
Laughing, Kyungsoo shrugged. “No. It’ll be for something else.”
“Don’t sell it online cause I’ll know.” Giving the autographed magazine back along with the pen, Baekhyun pointed at the wagon. “I dragged it off here for you.”
“Oh, thanks! You can take one of the pots.”
Baekhyun really had no intention to take a flower home, but Kyungsoo seemed so eager that he couldn’t just refuse. He carefully chose a flower that wasn’t one of the better plants for Kyungsoo’s gardening.
“Do you think you’ll be able to ride your bike home with one hand?”
“Yeah, it’ll be alright. Thanks for the flower, Kyungsoo.”
Waving, Kyungsoo smiled. “Thanks for the signature. It was nice seeing you, Baek. You look good.”
“It was nice seeing you, too, Soo. I’ll see you around.”
-
-
As Baekhyun was on the final stretch to getting back to his house in the late evening, he was honked at while riding his bike as he’d been doing for the last few hours. Turning his head, he squinted against the headlines of the car following him until the vehicle sped up to keep at the same pace.
“So, did you just decide to give yourself an off day?”
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun had a good mind to throw the pot into the car. “Actually, I finished everything.”
“Did you?”
“Yes, I did” Baekhyun said adamantly.
Chanyeol kept a steady eye on the road, careful not to ram into the bicyclist. “So, when I get there, the roof of the chicken coup will be fixed?”
Shit. Maybe he didn’t do everything he was supposed to, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t fix the darn thing in a matter of minutes. The chickens would fine, at least for one night.
“It will be soon enough,” the brunette retaliated.
The giant grunted before taking notice of the plant in Baekhyun’s arm. “Why do you have that?” he asked rather sharply.
Baekhyun didn’t take to his tone. “Kyungsoo gave it to me.”
Puzzle, Chanyeol cocked his head at him. “You pedaled your way to Kyungsoo’s house? He lives twenty minutes from town! And that’s if you take a car, Baekhyun.”
Glaring at the driver of the stupid vehicle, Baekhyun couldn’t tell if he was trying to be funny or not. He wasn’t in the mood for jokes. His entire body was cramping.
“Not his parents’ house, idiot. Kyungsoo’s house.”
“That’s what I said!” Chanyeol retorted, feeling as though he was talking to a child. “In case you’ve forgotten, he lives twenty—”
“Did you hear what I said?” Baekhyun cut him off. “You’re talking about Mr. and Mrs. Do’s home. Kyungsoo lives by the lake. That’s where he gave me this.”
“The lake.” Chanyeol went silent, giving Baekhyun a hard look. “And what were you doing there at Soo’s house?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to see some stuff.” At that point, Baekhyun was just about ready to drop dead and roll into the ditch on the side. Before Chanyeol could continue on with his questions, Baekhyun braked and waited for Chanyeol to step on his truck’s brake as well.
As expected, Chanyeol jumped out of the truck and started walking towards him. Tactfully avoiding any more questions for the moment, Baekhyun asked, “Are you heading to my house right now?”
“And if I was?”
“Could you drop me off? I’m tired.”
Chanyeol sighed. “That’s because you never eat, and when you do, it’s a portion that’s the size of my thumb.”
Shrugging, Baekhyun let the comment slip. He got off the bicycle, plant in tow, and left Chanyeol to carefully put it in the back of his truck. He opened the passenger side and raised a brow at a manila folder sitting on the seat. Baekhyun put it aside by placing it on the dashboard and settled in.
As he fixed the seatbelt on him, Chanyeol returned by his side, putting on his own seatbelt. “Can’t believe you accepted an entire pot of flowers.”
Baekhyun’s ears perked. It sounded as though Chanyeol was holding back a laugh. “He said my mother would like it.”
“Well, I’m not planting those for you.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you to.”
“Good. Less work for me.”
Baekhyun made a face. “‘Less work for me’,” he mimicked, laughing at himself. “You sounded like a child just then.”
“Are you kidding me? That’s how you sound like every day, Byun Baekhyun.”
“No, I don’t!”
“You wouldn’t know. You hear yourself all the time and you’ve gotten used to it.”
“‘You hear yourself all the time, and you’ve gotten used to it’,” he mocked, lowering the pitch of his voice to jab at Chanyeol’s own. “Well, you sound like an old man every time you talk.”
Chanyeol hummed, making a face. “I don’t think so.”
“It’s true,” Baekhyun insisted. Reaching on the dashboard, he took the manila folder in his hand and held it. “And what’s this? It was on the seat when I opened the door.”
Before Baekhyun could pry his fingers in the files, Chanyeol took the folder from him and put it in the holder on the side of his door. “Are you always this nosy?” he asked, slightly annoyed.
Baekhyun shrugged. “I don’t know. You wanted to marry me once. Why don’t you tell me?”
When he laughed, Chanyeol didn’t laugh along with him. “Well, you know what? I say you’ve gotten nosier since the last time I saw you. Did you lose your manners somewhere along the way to fame, darling?”
“Manners? If anyone doesn’t have manners, it’s you,” Baekhyun threw back.
“Honey, I wouldn’t have let you in my truck when you whined about being tired if I didn’t have the manners of a gentleman.”
Baekhyun gripped his flower pot, thinking how badly things would turn out if he decided to crack it over Chanyeol’s head. Deciding that killing the driver would consequently kill him too, the brunette rolled his eyes and went on grumbling.
“What were you planning on doing at my house anyways?”
“To check up on you,” Chanyeol said simply. “I felt a sense of duty for your father to make sure that his farm was still intact and not burned to the ground by his senseless son.”
“Oh, ha,” Baekhyun replied dryly.
He pulled down the sun visor and used the mirror to look at himself. Unsatisfied by the mess that he saw, he sighed, knowing full well he couldn’t do anything about it—yet he still tried. Gently putting his hand in place, Baekhyun moved his bangs in all directions until he gave up, growling.
“I look like a piece of shit.”
“That’s harsh.”
Seeing his house in the horizon, Baekhyun breathed a sigh of relief. “I just want to take a bath and go to sleep. I never want to wake up.”
“I’ll go up to your room and pour water on you if you pull a stunt like that,” Chanyeol told him. “There are too many things for you to know how to do before you can sleep without me on watch.”
“Oh, I don’t even need you. I did fine today.”
Raising his brows, Chanyeol stifled a grin. “Did you?”
“I did.” Baekhyun said it so proudly, he held his chin high. “The horses really appreciated feeding time with me.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“I took the fork and I gave them hay.”
There was a pause. “Baekhyun, I did that.”
“No, you did not,” Baekhyun replied.
“So, you’re telling me you went ahead and you added more.”
“Yes.”
Shaking his head, Chanyeol let out an unexpected chuckle as he pulled up in front of the house. “Let’s hope they don’t become overweight because of you.” Unlocking the door before Baekhyun could retort, Chanyeol unlocked his seatbelt. “Let’s go.”
Baekhyun took longer to unbuckle himself, so by the time he finished, Chanyeol had swung his side of the car open. “Thanks,” he mumbled, slipping out of the truck.
“No problem,” Chanyeol replied as he was leaving him to open the tailgate to get the latter’s bike. “Good thing I caught up with you when I did. See how it’s already kind of dark out? You don’t have a light on this thing.”
“I didn’t expect to be out for so long,” the brunette defended, holding the bike by the handle once it was on the ground. “I just took my time riding to places.”
“Hn.” Chanyeol lifted the tailgate and locked it. “I think I have a light I can put on this back at my house. Maybe I can bring it in tomorrow or something.”
Baekhyun was taken aback. “Uh, no. It’s okay.”
“It’s fine. Besides, this is your only mode of transportation anyways.”
“I have my dad’s truck.”
Chanyeol stuck his hands in his pockets. “Do you have a valid license?”
Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun gave him a lopsided frown. “Do you really need one around here?”
“No, but I’ll tell Jongdae to keep an eye out for you just in case you do go around breaking the law.”
Baekhyun caught the smirk on Chanyeol’s face before the man turned away and began walking to the house. “Jongdae’s the sheriff now? Like with a gun and all?”
Snorting, Chanyeol passed on the opportunity to comment on Baekhyun’s childish remark. “Yes, he is.”
“That’s cool,” Baekhyun said quietly behind Chanyeol as he followed along. “But it wouldn’t be cool if you told on me, though.”
Stepping on the porch, Chanyeol looked back to give him an easy smile. “I don’t think he’d listen to me anyways. He always did like taking your side—but that doesn’t mean you can break the law.”
“I can always try.”
“Sure you can.”
Chanyeol rang the doorbell then promptly knocked on the screen door. After a while, Mrs. Byun’s face came into view and quickly opened her home to the two. “Chanyeol! How nice to see you—ah, Baekhyun. Where’ve you been? I didn’t think you’d be gone for so long. What’s that?”
As Chanyeol held the screen door open, Baekhyun bypassed him and stepped inside. “Ah, Kyungsoo gave me a flower. He said you’d like it.”
“You went to the Do’s residence?” she asked sounding curious. “Up north?”
Shaking his head, Baekhyun set the pot near the door as he bent down to untie his shoes. “No, just Kyungsoo’s house further east from town. Did you know he owns a colonial out by the lake? He was gardening there and I guess I decided to talk to him.”
“Oh…” His mother sounded troubled. She turned to Chanyeol. “Were you there with him, dear?”
“No,” Chanyeol answered gently. “I had to meet with somebody.”
“Yeah, his girlfriend,” Baekhyun piped, pulling his shoes off. “Which explains why he’s dressed so nice right now.
The news shocked his mother as much as it did Baekhyun when he saw the pair that afternoon. “Girlfriend?”
“Yeah, I saw her on my way to the lake. She’s lovely from what I saw. I just didn’t expect her to be your type, but good for you.”
With an unsure smile, Mrs. Byun glanced at Chanyeol. “Baekhyun, dear, are you sure you weren’t mistaking that woman for—”
“Are you coming in or not?”
Baekhyun’s question cut off his mother’s own and Chanyeol gave him a blank stare. “I actually just came by to check on Baekhyun since I felt guilty leaving him alone to meet my girlfriend,” he said, shifting his eyes to Baekhyun. “But I bumped into him on the way over here so I decided to give him a ride. I’ll just take his bike back to the barn and head on my way.”
Mrs. Byun waved her hands. “No, no. Chanyeol, let Baekhyun do that. It’s his bike. You shouldn’t have to.”
“I’ll put it away tomorrow,” Baekhyun interjected. “Leave it on the porch.”
“It’s no problem,” Chanyeol insisted, letting go of the screen door and letting it shut.
“Baekhyun.”
His mother was jabbing at him with her tone of voice and Baekhyun hung his head in defeat. “Fine.”
He slipped his shoes back on, not even bothering with the laces anymore, and jetted outside, waddling because of his loose footwear. Chanyeol wasn’t too far from him, but Baekhyun caught up with him around the side of the house.
“You’re out to make yourself seem like a saint to my parents,” the brunette accused as he took the bike into his hands. Chanyeol didn’t bother putting up a fight.
Shoving his hands in his pocket, Chanyeol grinned as he shrugged. “That’s an awful thing to say. They’ve known me for years. I’m hardly deceiving them in any way.”
Baekhyun scoffed, kicking Chanyeol below his shin gently. “Whatever.”
“If I go home and see that there’s mud on these, what do you think I’ll do to you?”
“Condemn me and leave me alone?”
“That’s just granting what you want.”
Laughing, Baekhyun snorted, putting a hand to his mouth. “I know,” he said after a while. “But you did ask.”
They reached the barn and Chanyeol lifted the bike back on its rack. He looked around for a while as though checking for anything that had become misplaced or broken in his absence. Once he was satisfied, he walked out with Baekhyun following behind him in silent admiration.
iii