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The Letter 45
Chapter 45
Strike One
Sehun unlocked the door to the apartment and let himself in. He guessed that from the stuffiness of the air that someone was cooking in the kitchen, therefore, that was where Sehun headed off to first. It was to his expectation that the person he would see was Luhan and not Xiumin, Luhan’s roommate, who Sehun could care less about.
Luhan heard the footsteps behind him and turned around. When he saw that it was Sehun, he raised a brow. “And where did you go off to this morning?”
“School,” Sehun replied curtly.
Luhan looked at him. “Your high school’s not anywhere in this area of Seoul.”
Sehun shrugged. “I just went to your school, actually.”
Luhan was speechless for a second. “W-What? Why? What business did you have over there?”
“This.” Sehun took off his backpack and opened it, taking out a manila folder. “I’d burn it if I were you, though.”
Hesitantly, Luhan took the folder from Sehun. He opened it cautiously, but nonetheless was shocked by what was inside: photos of him lying naked and indecent. He gave Sehun a sharp look and walked away from his cooking station. “What the hell is this, Sehun? How did you get your hands on these?” he asked darkly.
“You told me that some professor of yours was bothering you, Luhan,” Sehun said. “And that you haven’t done shit to end it.”
To Luhan, Sehun sounded angry despite his cool features. “It was beyond my power. My hands were tied.”
“Figuratively or literally?” Sehun asked rather coldly.
Luhan creased his brows. “Sehun.”
Sehun looked at Luhan blankly before shaking his head. “Sorry.” He took a moment before he spoke again. There was still a hint of annoyance in his voice. “But it just fucking irks me that you let him hold this shit over you.”
“I told you already,” Luhan sighed, putting the file on the counter. “He was going to fail me in his class, which I need to pass, okay? I can’t fail a class I’m paying for with money that I got through…doing things.” He glanced at Sehun. “Plus, if those photos spread, people would talk about me again, Sehun. It’s only common sense. I didn’t want that, though. I was sick of being treated like a leper in high school.”
“Okay, well, I’ve been pulling some strings for a couple of days—”
“Wait,” Luhan said, stopping him. “Days? You’ve been going to my school and pulling strings behind my back for days?”
Sehun rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Days.” He sighed. “Today, I finally got the guy fired, charged, and I got those back,” he said, nodding to the file. Then, Sehun moved, advancing towards Luhan. “You know, if you just told me this way back when, I could’ve fixed this.”
Shrugging, Luhan said, “I didn’t want you involved.”
“But you needed me to be.”
“Hn…” Luhan turned back around to continue cooking. “I guess.”
Sehun stood there, unsatisfied. He followed Luhan back to his station and hugged him from behind. “Do you have anything else you wanna say to me?”
Luhan was silent as he continued to chop up the vegetables and putting them in the pot. Sehun place his head on Luhan’s shoulder and nudged him at the neck. “Well?” Luhan responded by saying something inaudible. Sehun told him to repeat what he said.
“I said thank you,” Luhan mumbled more loudly.
“You’re welcome.”
The following week, Sehun finally made an appearance back at school. This was a relief to Baekhyun, who was still worried over his former love despite Chanyeol constantly telling him that Sehun was fine.
Baekhyun couldn’t stop looking at Sehun when he walked over to Chanyeol and him during the morning. He couldn’t stop himself from being touchy, either. Sehun didn’t seem to be annoyed by Baekhyun touching his arms as if he was checking for heroin injects, but the same couldn’t be said about Chanyeol, who had to pull Baekhyun away.
In terms of how things went with Chanyeol, their relationship resumed back to the norm, except for the fact that everything that happened at Chanyeol’s house on Friday was burned completely into the back of Baekhyun’s mind. He hadn’t gotten around to bringing up that hug that Chanyeol had so intimately shared with Yoona—his ex.
Baekhyun didn’t want to bring it up. Chanyeol didn’t know he saw it. Yoon didn’t either. Baekhyun didn’t know how to bring up an event that Chanyeol didn’t even know that he saw. It was complicated internal business for him. Baekhyun decided to shelf the memory under the reason of “it was just a hug” and decided to keep it from Chanyeol.
During lunch, all eyes were lifted to Kai as he stood towering everyone sitting at Baekhyun’s table, which consisted of him, Tao, Suho, Kyungsoo, and Lay. Kai seemed a little nervous as he went up to the table, but gained his cool after a second.
“Hi.” The greeting was obviously directed at Kyungsoo, so in turn, everyone’s eyes drifted over to him. “I wanted to know if you were free after school today.”
Kyungsoo blinked and looked at his friends before turning his attention back to Kai. “You want me to answer in front of my friends?”
“If it pressures you into saying yes, then yeah.”
Kyungsoo stared at Kai for a second. “Yeah, I am. Why?”
“A Date. I wanna take you out on one.”
Tao whistled, but turned his head the other way.
Kyungsoo gulped and felt his heart rate rise. “Okay,” he squeaked out.
“Good.” Kai stepped forward and cupped Kyungsoo’s face, placing a quick kiss on his lips before backing away. “Drive your car back home. I’ll follow and you can hop in mine.”
“Where’re we going?”
“Somewhere, Kyung. Don’t worry about it,” Kai laughed. “Well, I should go back, now. I’ll see you after school.” To everyone else, Kai said, “Sorry for interrupting!” With that, he turned on his heel—winking at Kyungsoo during the process—and walked back to his table.
Suho was the first to speak after Kai left. “When did you two happen?”
“A-Ah…We just…did.”
Suho gave Kyungsoo a doubting look, but decided not to push it any further. “Okay, Do Kyungsoo. Okay.”
Date…Date….For the next two days that word “date” was stuck in Baekhyun’s head. He realized that Chanyeol and he never really went on a date before—not that he was excitedly anticipating having one with the idiot—but Baekhyun knew that dates were something that every couple had to do. He’d been on some with his old girlfriend and there was no doubt in his mind that Chanyeol went on some pretty spiffy dates with Yoona back in their time.
Fucking hell…The sudden reminder that Chanyeol went out with that girl at one point in time struck Baekhyun on the face again. Pulling himself out of his own pity party, Baekhyun decided to invite Chanyeol out for a simple movie date the coming Saturday.
To avoid waiting in line for the same orthodox routine of buying tickets at the booth, Baekhyun went online and bought them from a website, printing them out, ready to go. The only issue left to do was to ask Chanyeol if he was even free that day.
On the day before the actual date that Baekhyun already planned without even asking Chanyeol beforehand, Baekhyun walked his way over to Chanyeol’s locker. On the way over, he wondered if Chanyeol would like the movie that he chose, which was something a little more on the horror side.
As he was walking, Sehun was striding his way in the opposite direction. Having second thoughts on Chanyeol’s movie preferences, he stepped in Sehun’s way just before they passed each other. “Hi.”
Sehun had his blank face on when he answered. “Hi to you, too.”
“Can I ask you something?”
Sehun looked around. “I can’t really kiss you anymore, Byun—”
“—I…wasn’t going to ask you to do that,” Baekhyun stammered. “Actually, I wanted to know if you knew what kind of movies Chanyeol’s into.”
“Oh…” Sehun cocked his head to the right. “Bummer. Anyways, he likes fun movies—which is why I never watch any movies with him. He has a taste for sweet things. He doesn’t like most things that are scary. I don’t know. That’s just him.” Sehun paused. “Why? Are you taking him on a movie date?”
“Yeah.” Baekhyun mentally slapped himself, making a note to buy different tickets for a less horrific movie once he got home.
“Make it more than that,” Sehun muttered. “Add your own ‘Byun flair’ to it.”
“I don’t understand.”
Sehun shrugged. “Make him something.”
“Like a gift?” Baekhyun asked. He tried to render it in his mind, asking himself if a gift was really appropriate for a first date…But then again, Chanyeol and he were far from being strangers. A gift wouldn’t have been such a bother.
“Well, if you want, but I actually had something else in mind,” Sehun said. “Bake something for him. I heard from that asshat gym freak that your cooking is really good. You should give Yeol a piece of heaven or something.”
Baekhyun pursed his lips and nodded. “Okay. What should I make?”
Sehun grinned and leaned over to whisper in Baekhyun’s ear. “Like I said. He has a taste for sweet things.”
Baekhyun smiled and nodded. “Thanks.”
“I’m in a good mood so I thought I might as well help,” Sehun said. “Now—”
Before Sehun could continue, both of them heard a familiar voice clear his throat. Sehun didn’t even bother turning his head to see who it was. He just straightened his back and patted Baekhyun on the shoulder before continuing on his way.
Once Sehun moved, Baekhyun saw Chanyeol and walked his way over. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Chanyeol grumbled while his eyes watched Sehun. “What was that?”
“Just Sehun doing something for me,” Baekhyun curtly replied, shrugging. Before Chanyeol could pry even more, Baekhyun put a hand up. “Never mind about why he was leaning in closely, Park. Listen, I wanted to know if you are, um, you know…okay with going out on Saturday.”
With those words, Chanyeol’s eyes were jerked from throwing daggers at the back of Sehun’s head. His attention was fully on Baekhyun. “Saturday? Tomorrow?” Baekhyun nodded. “You’re asking me on a date.”
Baekhyun held in a breath. Hearing Chanyeol say the word had some sort of effect on him. Baekhyun wasn’t sure how he felt about it, though. “Yeah. Whatever you want to call it—”
“—A date, Baek. It’s called a date,” Chanyeol interjected, laughing. Then he took Baekhyun in with one of his arms. “So, what do you have in mind for tomorrow?”
“Traditional movie route.”
“Tradional ‘let’s-make-out-in-the-back-row’ movie route?” When Chanyeol saw the look on Baekhyun’s face, he laughed even more. “I’m kidding—kind of. Well, unless you want to—”
“I was just asking you out for a movie, Yeol,” Baekhyun said.
“Fine,” Chanyeol said, giving Baekhyun a squeeze. “But I’ll be expect something else with it.”
Baekhyun scoffed. “As a matter of fact, I will have something to give to you tomorrow.”
“Does it involve a body part?” Chanyeol teasingly asked.
Baekhyun’s first instinct was to punch Chanyeol in the gut, but he just sighed. “It involves something sweet, okay?”
“Oh,” Chanyeol cooed. “Your lips are sweet. Do they count as a possibility?”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes. He gently pulled himself from Chanyeol. “Well, you’ll just have to wait and see.”
Chanyeol nodded. “Can’t wait. What time?”
“Let’s catch a showing at three. So let's meet up at two thirty. Is that fine?”
“With you taking the initiative and asking me out for once, fuck yeah, any time’s fine.”
Baekhyun caught a little embarrassment and glanced off. “Well, I’m going to class. I’ll see you.”
Chanyeol chuckled and watched as Baekhyun turned and began making his way to his classroom. The feeling of elatedness was so high inside of him. Date. Baekhyun. Date. Tomorrow. Baekhyun. Three words swirled in his head and Chanyeol could do nothing to stop the happy as fuck grin from plastering itself on his face.
On Saturday morning, Baekhyun got up and went on his computer. The first thing that he did was pick a different movie, one that Chanyeol would like. After he rebought the tickets and printed it out, he paper clipped the sheets of paper together, placed it on an open spot on his desk and went downstairs.
He didn’t want to make anything elaborate. The first thing that popped in his head were cupcakes. He fought with the idea for a few minutes. A part of him was telling him that going through the troubles of making cupcakes was too much, but eventually the side that kept telling him that cookies were generic and stupid won. Instead of making multiple cakes, though, Baekhyun decided to make 2 cupcakes of a larger size. One for him and the other for Chanyeol.
Once Baekhyun finished making the two over-the-average-sized cupcakes, he decorated them with the frostings and sprinkles that his mother kept around the kitchen. He decorated Chanyeol’s more than he decorated his own. He had to make Chanyeol feel special in some way since words were always hard for him to say. Baekhyun favored actions more than words so by putting more effort in Chanyeol’s cupcake than his own, that, to him, meant something.
Baekhyun arrived at the movie theater located near a bustling center five minutes earlier than two thirty. He looked at the line at the ticket booth and noted how long it was, thankful that he bought the tickets online already.
It came as a surprise to Baekhyun how Chanyeol wasn’t there before him. What came as a bigger surprise was that as time ticked on by, Chanyeol still wasn’t there. The line had gotten bigger and Baekhyun was still sitting on the bench with the plastic container. Anxious, Baekhyun took out his cellphone and decided to text Chanyeol.
From: Baekhyun
Chanyeol, where are you?
Baekhyun didn’t immediately get an answer, but about two minutes later, he got a call from the guy himself. Without hesitation, Baekhyun picked up.
“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun said into the phone, reluctantly.
“Baek! Shit, Baek, I’m sorry! I’m sorry—Aish, this bitch—”
“What? Sorry? Are you running late?” Baekhyun asked. “Chanyeol, you sound like you’re in a hurry. Don’t drive too fast. I’ll be waiting.”
“Fuck Baek…I’m sorry. Don’t wait for me, okay? I can’t—shit—I can’t make it,” Chanyeol said bitterly.
“You can’t make it,” Baekhyun repeated.
“I was on my way, I swear, but mother wanted me to tag along with her and Yoona to get her ready for this stupid party happening soon—” Chanyeol paused. “—I couldn’t argue myself out of it, Baek. I tried. I really did. I’m sorry. I really—”
“No,” Baekhyun said curtly, even though he was disappointed to death about the entire thing. “Don’t be sorry. It’s fine…”
“But you’re waiting for me—”
“Actually, you know what? I lied,” Baekhyun said, trying so hard to laugh it off. “I’m actually running late. I’m still at my house. Don’t worry about it. I’m not even there yet…”
“Oh…that’s good,” Chanyeol said. “You really have no idea how I feel right now, Baek…I’m sorry. I’ll make it up, okay?”
“That’s fine…” Baekhyun replied.
“Alright. I love you, Baek.”
“I know,” Baekhyun mumbled. He was about to quickly say good-bye and hang up, but he got curious. There was a question in his head and he wanted to know how Chanyeol would answer; whether he’d answer with the truth. There was little doubt in Baekhyun’s mind that Chanyeol would even lie. In their time together, Chanyeol was pretty honest with everything…
“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun started. “Can I ask you something before we hang up?”
“Yeah. Anything.”
“Who’s…Who’s Yoona?”
After that, there was a silence on the other side. “That girl from Friday, Baek.”
Baekhyun was shot to Hell. That wasn’t the answer he was looking for and he knew that Chanyeol knew the exact same thing. Baekhyun was silently hoping that Chanyeol was over her enough to confidently tell him that she was his ex, but hell, there was nothing Baekhyun could do about it…
“Okay,” he mumbled out. “Well, bye. Have fun.”
Baekhyun heard Chanyeol sigh. “Alright. Bye. I love y—” Chanyeol never got to finish his endearment as Baekhyun took the phone off his ear and ended the call.
He wanted to yell out of anger and frustration, but he couldn’t because of the line of people present. He couldn’t cry out of his feelings either. That would put him to public shame. That or people would think he was crazy for crying in public. Baekhyun just groaned and leaned back on the seat, closing his eyes and tapping the plastic container with his finger.
His eyes were closed for a few minutes until they snapped open when his ears heard Kyungsoo’s familiar voice. He turned his head around, searching for the voice’s source and stood up when he saw Kyungsoo walking over to him, followed by Kai.
“Baekhyun!” Kyungsoo said, smiling. “What’re you doing here?”
“Uhh.” Baekhyun quickly tried to make up an excuse. “I was craving sweets so I went over to a pastry shop nearby and bought some. I bought a little too much, though,” he said, lifting the plastic container. “Then I just decided to sit here and a couple broke up right in front of me.”
Kyungsoo appeared shock. “Really? That’s sad…” he mumbled, glancing over at Kai, who squeezed Kyungsoo’s hand.
“Yeah, but once the girl left, the guy gave these to me,” Baekhyun muttered as he reached behind him to grab the online tickets from his back pocket. Since Chanyeol wasn’t going to make an appearance, he really didn’t feel like hanging on to the items. “Tickets. I don’t have any use for them, but you guys might.”
Kyungsoo slowly took the tickets from Baekhyun and looked at them. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” Baekhyun said nodding. “You guys are going to the movies, right?”
“Uh—Yeah,” Kyungsoo said, glancing down. “We are, actually.”
Baekhyun gave him a small smile. “Then use them. Here, do you want these, too?”
Kyungsoo’s eyes lit up. Baekhyun saw this, as well as Kai. “Yeah, sure. Only if you—”
Baekhyun waved a hand. “I’ve…I’ve lost my appetite,” he said, trying his best to grin at Kyungsoo as he gave everything he planned for Chanyeol over to him.
“Thanks, Baek,” Kyungsoo gracefully said as he took the sweets from Baekhyun. He looked down at the cupcakes through the clear container. “They look amazing.”
“They taste amazing, too.”
Kai nodded, agreeing with the two. “Where’d you buy them?” he asked.
Baekhyun shrugged. “I forgot, but I bet the chef put a lot of effort into them,” he said, laughing a bit, though it sounded kind of sad and pathetic to Baekhyun’s own ears.
“Especially that one,” Kyungsoo said, looking at the one Baekhyun had made for Chanyeol.
“Yeah. That one especially…” Baekhyun was quiet for a second until he snapped out of it. “Well, have fun, you guys! Enjoy those, okay?”
Kyungsoo nodded. “Thanks, Baekhyun. This was really nice of you.”
“It's no problem, Kyung,” Baekhyun said. He mentally sighed, but began to physically move. “I should go back home. I have things to study for, you know?”
“I understand. Well, bye,” Kyungsoo said, waving before Baekhyun pivoted on his heel and turned the other way.
Once Baekhyun was gone, Kyungsoo turned to Kai. “This really was too nice of him.”
“Something was off…”
“I know,” Kyungsoo sighed. “I know...”
Strike One
Sehun unlocked the door to the apartment and let himself in. He guessed that from the stuffiness of the air that someone was cooking in the kitchen, therefore, that was where Sehun headed off to first. It was to his expectation that the person he would see was Luhan and not Xiumin, Luhan’s roommate, who Sehun could care less about.
Luhan heard the footsteps behind him and turned around. When he saw that it was Sehun, he raised a brow. “And where did you go off to this morning?”
“School,” Sehun replied curtly.
Luhan looked at him. “Your high school’s not anywhere in this area of Seoul.”
Sehun shrugged. “I just went to your school, actually.”
Luhan was speechless for a second. “W-What? Why? What business did you have over there?”
“This.” Sehun took off his backpack and opened it, taking out a manila folder. “I’d burn it if I were you, though.”
Hesitantly, Luhan took the folder from Sehun. He opened it cautiously, but nonetheless was shocked by what was inside: photos of him lying naked and indecent. He gave Sehun a sharp look and walked away from his cooking station. “What the hell is this, Sehun? How did you get your hands on these?” he asked darkly.
“You told me that some professor of yours was bothering you, Luhan,” Sehun said. “And that you haven’t done shit to end it.”
To Luhan, Sehun sounded angry despite his cool features. “It was beyond my power. My hands were tied.”
“Figuratively or literally?” Sehun asked rather coldly.
Luhan creased his brows. “Sehun.”
Sehun looked at Luhan blankly before shaking his head. “Sorry.” He took a moment before he spoke again. There was still a hint of annoyance in his voice. “But it just fucking irks me that you let him hold this shit over you.”
“I told you already,” Luhan sighed, putting the file on the counter. “He was going to fail me in his class, which I need to pass, okay? I can’t fail a class I’m paying for with money that I got through…doing things.” He glanced at Sehun. “Plus, if those photos spread, people would talk about me again, Sehun. It’s only common sense. I didn’t want that, though. I was sick of being treated like a leper in high school.”
“Okay, well, I’ve been pulling some strings for a couple of days—”
“Wait,” Luhan said, stopping him. “Days? You’ve been going to my school and pulling strings behind my back for days?”
Sehun rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Days.” He sighed. “Today, I finally got the guy fired, charged, and I got those back,” he said, nodding to the file. Then, Sehun moved, advancing towards Luhan. “You know, if you just told me this way back when, I could’ve fixed this.”
Shrugging, Luhan said, “I didn’t want you involved.”
“But you needed me to be.”
“Hn…” Luhan turned back around to continue cooking. “I guess.”
Sehun stood there, unsatisfied. He followed Luhan back to his station and hugged him from behind. “Do you have anything else you wanna say to me?”
Luhan was silent as he continued to chop up the vegetables and putting them in the pot. Sehun place his head on Luhan’s shoulder and nudged him at the neck. “Well?” Luhan responded by saying something inaudible. Sehun told him to repeat what he said.
“I said thank you,” Luhan mumbled more loudly.
“You’re welcome.”
The following week, Sehun finally made an appearance back at school. This was a relief to Baekhyun, who was still worried over his former love despite Chanyeol constantly telling him that Sehun was fine.
Baekhyun couldn’t stop looking at Sehun when he walked over to Chanyeol and him during the morning. He couldn’t stop himself from being touchy, either. Sehun didn’t seem to be annoyed by Baekhyun touching his arms as if he was checking for heroin injects, but the same couldn’t be said about Chanyeol, who had to pull Baekhyun away.
In terms of how things went with Chanyeol, their relationship resumed back to the norm, except for the fact that everything that happened at Chanyeol’s house on Friday was burned completely into the back of Baekhyun’s mind. He hadn’t gotten around to bringing up that hug that Chanyeol had so intimately shared with Yoona—his ex.
Baekhyun didn’t want to bring it up. Chanyeol didn’t know he saw it. Yoon didn’t either. Baekhyun didn’t know how to bring up an event that Chanyeol didn’t even know that he saw. It was complicated internal business for him. Baekhyun decided to shelf the memory under the reason of “it was just a hug” and decided to keep it from Chanyeol.
During lunch, all eyes were lifted to Kai as he stood towering everyone sitting at Baekhyun’s table, which consisted of him, Tao, Suho, Kyungsoo, and Lay. Kai seemed a little nervous as he went up to the table, but gained his cool after a second.
“Hi.” The greeting was obviously directed at Kyungsoo, so in turn, everyone’s eyes drifted over to him. “I wanted to know if you were free after school today.”
Kyungsoo blinked and looked at his friends before turning his attention back to Kai. “You want me to answer in front of my friends?”
“If it pressures you into saying yes, then yeah.”
Kyungsoo stared at Kai for a second. “Yeah, I am. Why?”
“A Date. I wanna take you out on one.”
Tao whistled, but turned his head the other way.
Kyungsoo gulped and felt his heart rate rise. “Okay,” he squeaked out.
“Good.” Kai stepped forward and cupped Kyungsoo’s face, placing a quick kiss on his lips before backing away. “Drive your car back home. I’ll follow and you can hop in mine.”
“Where’re we going?”
“Somewhere, Kyung. Don’t worry about it,” Kai laughed. “Well, I should go back, now. I’ll see you after school.” To everyone else, Kai said, “Sorry for interrupting!” With that, he turned on his heel—winking at Kyungsoo during the process—and walked back to his table.
Suho was the first to speak after Kai left. “When did you two happen?”
“A-Ah…We just…did.”
Suho gave Kyungsoo a doubting look, but decided not to push it any further. “Okay, Do Kyungsoo. Okay.”
Date…Date….For the next two days that word “date” was stuck in Baekhyun’s head. He realized that Chanyeol and he never really went on a date before—not that he was excitedly anticipating having one with the idiot—but Baekhyun knew that dates were something that every couple had to do. He’d been on some with his old girlfriend and there was no doubt in his mind that Chanyeol went on some pretty spiffy dates with Yoona back in their time.
Fucking hell…The sudden reminder that Chanyeol went out with that girl at one point in time struck Baekhyun on the face again. Pulling himself out of his own pity party, Baekhyun decided to invite Chanyeol out for a simple movie date the coming Saturday.
To avoid waiting in line for the same orthodox routine of buying tickets at the booth, Baekhyun went online and bought them from a website, printing them out, ready to go. The only issue left to do was to ask Chanyeol if he was even free that day.
On the day before the actual date that Baekhyun already planned without even asking Chanyeol beforehand, Baekhyun walked his way over to Chanyeol’s locker. On the way over, he wondered if Chanyeol would like the movie that he chose, which was something a little more on the horror side.
As he was walking, Sehun was striding his way in the opposite direction. Having second thoughts on Chanyeol’s movie preferences, he stepped in Sehun’s way just before they passed each other. “Hi.”
Sehun had his blank face on when he answered. “Hi to you, too.”
“Can I ask you something?”
Sehun looked around. “I can’t really kiss you anymore, Byun—”
“—I…wasn’t going to ask you to do that,” Baekhyun stammered. “Actually, I wanted to know if you knew what kind of movies Chanyeol’s into.”
“Oh…” Sehun cocked his head to the right. “Bummer. Anyways, he likes fun movies—which is why I never watch any movies with him. He has a taste for sweet things. He doesn’t like most things that are scary. I don’t know. That’s just him.” Sehun paused. “Why? Are you taking him on a movie date?”
“Yeah.” Baekhyun mentally slapped himself, making a note to buy different tickets for a less horrific movie once he got home.
“Make it more than that,” Sehun muttered. “Add your own ‘Byun flair’ to it.”
“I don’t understand.”
Sehun shrugged. “Make him something.”
“Like a gift?” Baekhyun asked. He tried to render it in his mind, asking himself if a gift was really appropriate for a first date…But then again, Chanyeol and he were far from being strangers. A gift wouldn’t have been such a bother.
“Well, if you want, but I actually had something else in mind,” Sehun said. “Bake something for him. I heard from that asshat gym freak that your cooking is really good. You should give Yeol a piece of heaven or something.”
Baekhyun pursed his lips and nodded. “Okay. What should I make?”
Sehun grinned and leaned over to whisper in Baekhyun’s ear. “Like I said. He has a taste for sweet things.”
Baekhyun smiled and nodded. “Thanks.”
“I’m in a good mood so I thought I might as well help,” Sehun said. “Now—”
Before Sehun could continue, both of them heard a familiar voice clear his throat. Sehun didn’t even bother turning his head to see who it was. He just straightened his back and patted Baekhyun on the shoulder before continuing on his way.
Once Sehun moved, Baekhyun saw Chanyeol and walked his way over. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Chanyeol grumbled while his eyes watched Sehun. “What was that?”
“Just Sehun doing something for me,” Baekhyun curtly replied, shrugging. Before Chanyeol could pry even more, Baekhyun put a hand up. “Never mind about why he was leaning in closely, Park. Listen, I wanted to know if you are, um, you know…okay with going out on Saturday.”
With those words, Chanyeol’s eyes were jerked from throwing daggers at the back of Sehun’s head. His attention was fully on Baekhyun. “Saturday? Tomorrow?” Baekhyun nodded. “You’re asking me on a date.”
Baekhyun held in a breath. Hearing Chanyeol say the word had some sort of effect on him. Baekhyun wasn’t sure how he felt about it, though. “Yeah. Whatever you want to call it—”
“—A date, Baek. It’s called a date,” Chanyeol interjected, laughing. Then he took Baekhyun in with one of his arms. “So, what do you have in mind for tomorrow?”
“Traditional movie route.”
“Tradional ‘let’s-make-out-in-the-back-row’ movie route?” When Chanyeol saw the look on Baekhyun’s face, he laughed even more. “I’m kidding—kind of. Well, unless you want to—”
“I was just asking you out for a movie, Yeol,” Baekhyun said.
“Fine,” Chanyeol said, giving Baekhyun a squeeze. “But I’ll be expect something else with it.”
Baekhyun scoffed. “As a matter of fact, I will have something to give to you tomorrow.”
“Does it involve a body part?” Chanyeol teasingly asked.
Baekhyun’s first instinct was to punch Chanyeol in the gut, but he just sighed. “It involves something sweet, okay?”
“Oh,” Chanyeol cooed. “Your lips are sweet. Do they count as a possibility?”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes. He gently pulled himself from Chanyeol. “Well, you’ll just have to wait and see.”
Chanyeol nodded. “Can’t wait. What time?”
“Let’s catch a showing at three. So let's meet up at two thirty. Is that fine?”
“With you taking the initiative and asking me out for once, fuck yeah, any time’s fine.”
Baekhyun caught a little embarrassment and glanced off. “Well, I’m going to class. I’ll see you.”
Chanyeol chuckled and watched as Baekhyun turned and began making his way to his classroom. The feeling of elatedness was so high inside of him. Date. Baekhyun. Date. Tomorrow. Baekhyun. Three words swirled in his head and Chanyeol could do nothing to stop the happy as fuck grin from plastering itself on his face.
On Saturday morning, Baekhyun got up and went on his computer. The first thing that he did was pick a different movie, one that Chanyeol would like. After he rebought the tickets and printed it out, he paper clipped the sheets of paper together, placed it on an open spot on his desk and went downstairs.
He didn’t want to make anything elaborate. The first thing that popped in his head were cupcakes. He fought with the idea for a few minutes. A part of him was telling him that going through the troubles of making cupcakes was too much, but eventually the side that kept telling him that cookies were generic and stupid won. Instead of making multiple cakes, though, Baekhyun decided to make 2 cupcakes of a larger size. One for him and the other for Chanyeol.
Once Baekhyun finished making the two over-the-average-sized cupcakes, he decorated them with the frostings and sprinkles that his mother kept around the kitchen. He decorated Chanyeol’s more than he decorated his own. He had to make Chanyeol feel special in some way since words were always hard for him to say. Baekhyun favored actions more than words so by putting more effort in Chanyeol’s cupcake than his own, that, to him, meant something.
Baekhyun arrived at the movie theater located near a bustling center five minutes earlier than two thirty. He looked at the line at the ticket booth and noted how long it was, thankful that he bought the tickets online already.
It came as a surprise to Baekhyun how Chanyeol wasn’t there before him. What came as a bigger surprise was that as time ticked on by, Chanyeol still wasn’t there. The line had gotten bigger and Baekhyun was still sitting on the bench with the plastic container. Anxious, Baekhyun took out his cellphone and decided to text Chanyeol.
From: Baekhyun
Chanyeol, where are you?
Baekhyun didn’t immediately get an answer, but about two minutes later, he got a call from the guy himself. Without hesitation, Baekhyun picked up.
“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun said into the phone, reluctantly.
“Baek! Shit, Baek, I’m sorry! I’m sorry—Aish, this bitch—”
“What? Sorry? Are you running late?” Baekhyun asked. “Chanyeol, you sound like you’re in a hurry. Don’t drive too fast. I’ll be waiting.”
“Fuck Baek…I’m sorry. Don’t wait for me, okay? I can’t—shit—I can’t make it,” Chanyeol said bitterly.
“You can’t make it,” Baekhyun repeated.
“I was on my way, I swear, but mother wanted me to tag along with her and Yoona to get her ready for this stupid party happening soon—” Chanyeol paused. “—I couldn’t argue myself out of it, Baek. I tried. I really did. I’m sorry. I really—”
“No,” Baekhyun said curtly, even though he was disappointed to death about the entire thing. “Don’t be sorry. It’s fine…”
“But you’re waiting for me—”
“Actually, you know what? I lied,” Baekhyun said, trying so hard to laugh it off. “I’m actually running late. I’m still at my house. Don’t worry about it. I’m not even there yet…”
“Oh…that’s good,” Chanyeol said. “You really have no idea how I feel right now, Baek…I’m sorry. I’ll make it up, okay?”
“That’s fine…” Baekhyun replied.
“Alright. I love you, Baek.”
“I know,” Baekhyun mumbled. He was about to quickly say good-bye and hang up, but he got curious. There was a question in his head and he wanted to know how Chanyeol would answer; whether he’d answer with the truth. There was little doubt in Baekhyun’s mind that Chanyeol would even lie. In their time together, Chanyeol was pretty honest with everything…
“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun started. “Can I ask you something before we hang up?”
“Yeah. Anything.”
“Who’s…Who’s Yoona?”
After that, there was a silence on the other side. “That girl from Friday, Baek.”
Baekhyun was shot to Hell. That wasn’t the answer he was looking for and he knew that Chanyeol knew the exact same thing. Baekhyun was silently hoping that Chanyeol was over her enough to confidently tell him that she was his ex, but hell, there was nothing Baekhyun could do about it…
“Okay,” he mumbled out. “Well, bye. Have fun.”
Baekhyun heard Chanyeol sigh. “Alright. Bye. I love y—” Chanyeol never got to finish his endearment as Baekhyun took the phone off his ear and ended the call.
He wanted to yell out of anger and frustration, but he couldn’t because of the line of people present. He couldn’t cry out of his feelings either. That would put him to public shame. That or people would think he was crazy for crying in public. Baekhyun just groaned and leaned back on the seat, closing his eyes and tapping the plastic container with his finger.
His eyes were closed for a few minutes until they snapped open when his ears heard Kyungsoo’s familiar voice. He turned his head around, searching for the voice’s source and stood up when he saw Kyungsoo walking over to him, followed by Kai.
“Baekhyun!” Kyungsoo said, smiling. “What’re you doing here?”
“Uhh.” Baekhyun quickly tried to make up an excuse. “I was craving sweets so I went over to a pastry shop nearby and bought some. I bought a little too much, though,” he said, lifting the plastic container. “Then I just decided to sit here and a couple broke up right in front of me.”
Kyungsoo appeared shock. “Really? That’s sad…” he mumbled, glancing over at Kai, who squeezed Kyungsoo’s hand.
“Yeah, but once the girl left, the guy gave these to me,” Baekhyun muttered as he reached behind him to grab the online tickets from his back pocket. Since Chanyeol wasn’t going to make an appearance, he really didn’t feel like hanging on to the items. “Tickets. I don’t have any use for them, but you guys might.”
Kyungsoo slowly took the tickets from Baekhyun and looked at them. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” Baekhyun said nodding. “You guys are going to the movies, right?”
“Uh—Yeah,” Kyungsoo said, glancing down. “We are, actually.”
Baekhyun gave him a small smile. “Then use them. Here, do you want these, too?”
Kyungsoo’s eyes lit up. Baekhyun saw this, as well as Kai. “Yeah, sure. Only if you—”
Baekhyun waved a hand. “I’ve…I’ve lost my appetite,” he said, trying his best to grin at Kyungsoo as he gave everything he planned for Chanyeol over to him.
“Thanks, Baek,” Kyungsoo gracefully said as he took the sweets from Baekhyun. He looked down at the cupcakes through the clear container. “They look amazing.”
“They taste amazing, too.”
Kai nodded, agreeing with the two. “Where’d you buy them?” he asked.
Baekhyun shrugged. “I forgot, but I bet the chef put a lot of effort into them,” he said, laughing a bit, though it sounded kind of sad and pathetic to Baekhyun’s own ears.
“Especially that one,” Kyungsoo said, looking at the one Baekhyun had made for Chanyeol.
“Yeah. That one especially…” Baekhyun was quiet for a second until he snapped out of it. “Well, have fun, you guys! Enjoy those, okay?”
Kyungsoo nodded. “Thanks, Baekhyun. This was really nice of you.”
“It's no problem, Kyung,” Baekhyun said. He mentally sighed, but began to physically move. “I should go back home. I have things to study for, you know?”
“I understand. Well, bye,” Kyungsoo said, waving before Baekhyun pivoted on his heel and turned the other way.
Once Baekhyun was gone, Kyungsoo turned to Kai. “This really was too nice of him.”
“Something was off…”
“I know,” Kyungsoo sighed. “I know...”
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