Beautifully broken.
Song: 卷珠帘
Beautifully Broken
Chansoo / Baeksoo
Summary
Have you ever met someone so beautifully broken you just want to keep them broken?
Byun Baekhyun had. His name was Kyungsoo.
Beautifully Broken
[Chanyeol x Kyungsoo; Baekhyun x Kyungsoo]
Have you ever met someone so beautifully broken you just want to keep them broken?
Byun Baekhyun had. His name was Kyungsoo.
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Kyungsoo is a bird. Like all birds he lived to sing and only for his master. Most birds have many masters in their short lives, but Kyungsoo only has one. He only sings for a man named Park Chanyeol, who gave him his name and whom he had come to love. Every day for a decade, Kyungsoo sang songs of summer love and winter woes. He sang until tears replaced songs and until his honey voice ran dry. He sang until his master was no more. Kyungsoo only sings for one and now he sings for none.
Baekhyun came across Kyungsoo in the Parks’ greenhouse garden, on the day of their son’s funeral. Dressed in a simple celadon kimono with watercress flowers embossed around the sleeves, Kyungsoo sat quietly in a large ebony chair placed by the corner. His smooth porcelain skin shone softly in the dim light and soft raven hair fell loosely past his narrow shoulders. Long lashes hooded over orbs of emerald jade and the eyes that were once filled with shimmers and glints were now hollow and dim. There was a heavy stillness in the air and the sound of the rain echoed around the greenhouse. A single tear glided down the bird’s colourless cheek as Baekhyun approached him.
“Why are you crying,” Baekhyun asked, “Is it for Park Chanyeol?”
Kyungsoo bowed his head under Baekhyun’s gaze and turned to glance outside of the greenhouse’s glass panes. He didn’t know if this man was a breeder coming to take him away, but Kyungsoo really did not care. Since he will sing no more, bird collectors will not want to take him home. Even if a breeder takes him away, he will soon be left alone to die. He was a songless bird and breeders have no use for a songless bird.
Baekhyun looked more closely at the fragile bird. He was smaller than most and even though his face was not the glamorous kind of beautiful typical of birds, he had an ethereal beauty to him. The faint camellia scent surrounding him, the softness of his features, and the sorrow buried deep in his soulless eyes, Baekhyun took all of it in. He could tell Kyungsoo was broken because his hair had darkened to black and there was dullness in his eyes. But he was still beautiful, Baekhyun thought, hauntingly beautiful.
Following the bird's gaze, Baekhyun saw the small graveyard in the far distance.
“Sing him one last song.”
And Kyungsoo did. That was the first and last time Baekhyun heard Kyungsoo sing. His voice was soft but filled with wordless emotions. He sang a song of broken heart and unfulfilled promises, and of waiting and remembering forever. He sang his last goodbye to Park Chanyeol, but he also sang his way into Baekhyun’s heart.
That day, Baekhyun bought Kyungsoo from the Parks. He built a small greenhouse for Kyungsoo and placed an ebony chair in there. Kyungsoo never spoke and never sang, but Baekhyun did not mind. Every day Baekhyun visited Kyungsoo and spoke to him about Chanyeol, the only topic that would bring dark eyes of jade to look at him. Baekhyun knew his constant talk of Chanyeol chipped away at Kyungsoo's sanity and that one day the bird will die overwhelmed with despair. But he was okay with that. After all, what he loved about Kyungsoo was not his enchanting voice or his ethereal countenance, but how beautifully broken the bird is from losing his love. He wanted his bird to stay broken and he will do whatever it takes to keep Kyungsoo broken. His daily visit caused nothing but despair for his bird and slowly Kyungsoo withered away. But Baekhyun could not stop himself; he could not give up on seeing Kyungsoo’s haunting beauty, even at the expense of the bird’s life. So when Baekhyun walked into the greenhouse one day and found Kyungsoo dead, wearing the same celadon kimono with watercress flower embossed on the sleeves and sitting in the same ebony chair, he did not feel sadness but only regret.
It's a shame. Beautiful things never last long but at least they die while still being beautiful.
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Have you ever met someone so beautifully broken you’d do anything to keep them broken?
Byun Baekhyun had. His name was Kyungsoo.