All He Ever Wanted [1/2]
Title: All He Ever Wanted [1/2]
Author: FloweryMisha
Pairing: BaekYeol
Warning: BoyxBoy love. Enough said.
Summary: If people were the rain, then Chanyeol would be a drizzle and Baekhyun was a hurricane. They just weren’t destined to be together.
Author's Note: Forever grateful at ashxiii because without him, this fic would've been deleted and will not be posted T_T thank you for your hard work to edit and beta and everything (including scolding me sobs). I really, really love you <3 and I can't tell how much I love minseo_nine for the poster. Love you so much <3 AND PLEASE, NO TRANSLATIONS ALLOWED!
Unrequited love does not die.
It’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded.
--Ella Newmark
Baekhyun knew he had a different life ever since he was four.
He wasn’t like those kids who were out laughing and flying their kites with their friends. He never knew what it felt like to blatantly swim in the river with his clothes on. He never knew how to play soccer and how it felt to be covered in mud and sweats.
Baekhyun never experienced any of those things.
The male was one of the those kids who practiced piano after school. He spent most of his spare time studying and drowning himself in textbooks. Sometimes, Baekhyun felt envious of the maids’ kids because he wanted to know the outside world. Learning the world from a book wasn’t satisfying enough, in fact, it only whetted his appetite and he desired to experience life more. He wanted to get out of the house, wanting to join those kids who were laughing freely like they had no burden for tomorrow while he, had to struggle to get good grades-just so he wouldn’t be a disgrace to the family.
There were times when he was in the car with his mother, heading somewhere and they passed by a park. He would see kids his age laughing and running. He would see those same kids playing either hide and seek or a game of tag. It would get Baekhyun to lean closer to the window with a hand pressed against it with a longing expression.
He wanted to be like them.
But his mother thought otherwise.
“They’re filthy, Baekhyun.”
She would always say the same thing.
Everytime she did so, Baekhyun would sag back into his seat and he gave her a questioning stare, and she would always preach to him about pride and dignity, that they weren’t in the same level as the people at the park they saw earlier, that those kinds of people weren’t even supposed to know people like them.
“Do you understand that, Baekhyun-ah?”
And Baekhyun never did.
But he always gave her a simple nod. Maybe she had acted like that because he was still too little. Maybe it was just temporary. Maybe all of this would change when Baekhyun grew older.
It did not.
Baekhyun began to understand how serious it was when he got into his first school. To think that he was only six at that time and he felt suffocated at what everyone was trying to teach him. Baekhyun was taught to speak with a polite, educated tone-to show that they had value. They had expensive uniforms and everyone was talking so formal to each other. The teachers were walking with their chins upward like they were in some kind of runway. It was obvious that the students were all from high class families, including himself.
It hurt his head.
Slowly, Baekhyun felt his confidence sinking. Even though he had the same status as them, he didn’t feel like he belonged there. And even in such tremendous school, there were still kings and queens-those would be the richest of them all. Most of the students worshiped the ground Taeyeon, Yoona and Key (although Baekhyun could and would never consider him a king...well, not with his diva-esque attitude anyway) walked on. Most of the girls swooned upon seeing Minho-and Baekhyun still wondered how Minho and Kibum became friends with each other since Minho was manly and Kibum was definitely a diva.
Baekhyun tried to make friends but none of them seemed sincere about friendship. There was always, always something behind it. A girl named Luna came to him once, innocently saying that she wanted to be friends with him simply because her parents said something about ‘it would be good if we can establish a contract with the Byun family’. Baekhyun stiffened.
It didn’t take too long for Baekhyun to shut himself off from his surrounding. It was hard to be alone, but it was even harder to make friends with people you weren’t clicked with.
Baekhyun wondered if there was someone who would accept him for who he was.
It was all he ever wanted.
***
Baekhyun got home with a scratch when he was seven.
His mother had gotten hysterical and she acted like Baekhyun had just been stabbed in the chest. Baekhyun stuttered and told her that it was nothing, that it was his fault for chasing a cat at school and the poor thing seemed to be scared and scratched him.
Her expression changed drastically at that and Baekhyun felt like digging a hole and hide. It evolved to a long speech of ‘how many times do I have to tell you that they’re filthy, Baekhyun?’ and how playing could distract him from studying and everything and he shouldn’t waste his time for such useless things. She kept on mentioning ‘filthy’ and it was funny because she used the same word for both humans and animals. Sometimes, Baekhyun wanted to argue but he didn’t want to make her angry, so in the end he would just absently nodded to everything and apologized. She made him promise that it would never happen again.
He promised.
Baekhyun’s mother had gotten more protective of him ever since then. He wasn’t allowed to go home by himself and she had hired a personal driver only for him. Ryeowook was still young and he was almost ten years older than Baekhyun, but his family had been working for the Byun family for more than a decade that she trusted he would be the perfect person to take care of her son. Baekhyun was forced to give his schedules to Ryeowook so that the older male would be able to know when and at what time he should pick the young master up.
Ryeowook didn’t talk much and he obeyed everything Baekhyun’s mother said.
Needless to say, Baekhyun felt more and more caged.
Despite all the money he had, he was unhappy. While all those people...all those people who his mother assumed ‘filthy’, they looked...happy and free even without money. Was money even important? If it was, why did he feel this way...?
The situation caused Baekhyun to grow up alone without any close friends. He didn’t want to open himself to anyone, not even to his teachers.
All of these didn’t change even until he graduated from high school and got accepted in a private university. Despite the fact that his mother wanted him to be a businessman so he could inherit the family’s company, Baekhyun took music as his major. It angered his parents too much when they found out but he mostly didn’t care, because if there was anything he liked from what they had taught him, it was piano. And it wasn’t like his voice was bad...he could sing, too, even just a bit.
After a few months of arguing (more like they tried to persuade him to take another major but Baekhyun stubbornly refused), they finally gave up and let him did what he wanted.
But his mother told him that she was disappointed in him.
Baekhyun couldn’t help but feeling slightly hurt because of that.
***
Baekhyun felt a bit free whenever he attended his classes.
Music made him feel calm, that he could run away from all of his problems for a while.
One day, Baekhyun was making his way toward the yard-his music theory class was canceled because the lecturer was sick and there was no one to substitute him-when he noticed that there were a lot of strangers around his campus. He frowned slightly to himself before he remembered that his university was holding some kind of photography exhibition that day and it was open for the public. That would explain the sea of strangers.
He sat on the nearest bench available and saw a lot of people with different styles of fashion. They were clad in clothes that Baekhyun wasn’t sure he had the courage to wear. His mother would probably call them ‘filthy’ if she saw how they were dressed. Though, if he was truthful to himself, as weird as they looked, compared to them, he was... He reluctantly looked down to his clothes.
...boring.
Baekhyun had just texted Ryeowook that he was done for the day when a very tall male came into his view. Honest to God, he forgot how to breathe for a few seconds. The tall male must have been there for the photography convention because he had a SLR camera hanging around his chest. Not exactly the latest one, but Baekhyun knew enough that the brand was quite expensive and it had good lenses.
But it wasn’t the camera that made Baekhyun stared.
He’s...good looking.
The tall male spotted him and Baekhyun instinctively lowered his head.
Did he catch me staring...?
Even though the camera was expensive, the appearance showed otherwise. He was definitely one of the guys his mother would forbid to be his friends. If she was there, she would probably tell him that ‘he’s not the kind of people you should interact with’. Baekhyun grimaced. Well, it wasn’t like they were going to talk anyway...
No, of course not. Silly me to think so.
“Excuse me.”
Baekhyun lifted up his head only to find that the male was standing in front of him.
For the first time in his life, Baekhyun felt his heartbeat increased dramatically, like a car that was going over a hundred mile per hour. His throat went dry instantly and his hands became cold.
He has a deep voice.
“I seem to be lost...mind telling me where the photography exhibition is being held?”
Baekhyun had difficulty finding his voice so he awkwardly pointed to his left and yanked his hand over his shoulder in reply, as if to say ‘you should go that way’. The tall male followed the direction of his hand with a slight frown.
“Ah, you mean that building over there?”
Baekhyun hid his face deeper. The male smelled like sunshine and sweat and he made his heart went wild. What was happening to him? Suddenly, he really, really just wanted the other male to leave.
Please just go, please-please just go.
“Thank you.”
Baekhyun nodded vigorously, hoping that the male would just go already. He waited and waited, but the male never left. Instead, he felt his chin being lifted up by two fingers and their eyes met. Baekhyun’s heart almost came to a stop and he went pale.
“Are you a student here...?”
Baekhyun nervously pulled away from his touch and looked down to their shoes. The tall male’s Converse sneakers were dirty and probably time to buy a new pair. “...my-my mother said I’m not supposed to talk to strangers...”
It was definitely the weirdest thing to say.
The male only snorted. “Your mother. How old are you, five?”
Baekhyun ignored his words. He settled his books on his lap and looked away. He somehow wished Ryeowook would arrive soon today.
“Byun Baekhyun.”
Baekhyun snapped his head back to the taller male. “H-how-“
“It was written on your books,” he shrugged and pointed to the books on his lap. “Did your mother do that too?”
Baekhyun gawked for a second before sending the rude man a glare. How rude! Maybe his mother was right, this kind of person was really filthy. He chose not to reply.
His car suddenly came to view and Baekhyun stood up abruptly. He had never felt this grateful for Ryeowook before. Baekhyun adjusted his bag and fixed his eyes on the ground as he walked past the male, but the latter suddenly grabbed him and it caused Baekhyun to yelp.
“D-don’t touch me!!”
The male looked startled by that and unwillingly let Baekhyun go.
Both of them were stunned on their tracks. Baekhyun soon felt guilty for saying that to the tall stranger but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything else. The other male, he...
He has beautiful eyes.
Baekhyun almost had to force himself to turn around and dashed to his car. Ryeowook looked startled at the sound he made as he climbed into the car.
“Baekhyun-shii, why are you-“
“Go.”
“Eh?”
“Just-just go. Hurry.”
Ryeowook seemed confused but he drove off as requested.
Baekhyun was still breathless from all the running and unconsciously brought his hand to his arm. He was wearing a short sleeves shirt today, so the male’s accidental touch was a direct skin touch.
It was still burning him.
Was the other somehow...disease?
Perhaps his mother was right afterall.
***
It never occured to Baekhyun that they would run into each other again. Afterall, the other male wasn’t a student at his university and he only came there last week for the one time photography exhibition.
Strangely, they did.
Their next meeting was on the following week.
Baekhyun was walking out of his class when he spotted the male. He was clad in different clothes, but he was still with the same appearence from last week and was standing on the very same spot they met before. His steps slowed momentarily at the sight before he quickened his pace.
Even with such appearance, he’s still handsome...
The tall male was sitting on the bench, obviously working on his camera. Baekhyun crossed his fingers and wished he wouldn’t see him. He almost broke into a run and frantically searched for a place to hide.
But as if it was meant to be, he did.
“Byun Baekhyun!”
Dear God.
Baekhyun forgot that the male actually knew his name. He pretended that he hadn’t heard the man calling him (even though his voice was surprisingly loud) and he almost fled. The other male must have read his intention because his attempt to escape was thwarted and Baekhyun found himself blocked by the man. Curse him for being so tall and had a pair of nice, long legs.
“Hey.”
It shocked Baekhyun so much that he accidentally dropped his books onto the ground. He hastily knelt down and felt the tall male did the same thing in front of him. Baekhyun refused to look at him as he gathered his books awkwardly-only to find out that the last book was held by the other male. He merely stared at the (captive) book, contemplating whether to save it or chalked it off as casualty and made his escape then.
Oh well, if the tall male wasn’t going to give it back, he could always buy a new one.
“I’m Chanyeol.”
Baekhyun’s lips quivered as the male started talking.
Chanyeol.
“Don’t be scared, I’m not gonna do anything to you.”
Chanyeol’s tone was so soothing that it made Baekhyun to slowly shift his gaze to the taller male. It was the second time their eyes had met and Chanyeol smiled before offering his book back. Baekhyun accepted it albeit, reluctantly and hesitantly.
“Thank you,” Baekhyun quietly mumbled and stood up.
“Hey, wait,” Chanyeol started as he too, stood up. They had at least ten centimeters height difference forcing Baekhyun to lift his chin slightly upward to get a good look. “You know that photography exhibition last week?” Baekhyun gave a hesitant nod as a reply. “The theme was about lighting and they made this small competition to test us if we actually grasp what they were explaining. And I need to come up with a good picture if I want to win. Well, even though they said it was a competition, there isn’t a prize, but...”
Chanyeol paused as he stared solemnly at Baekhyun.
“I want you to be my model.”
Baekhyun blinked rapidly a few times because he wasn’t sure he heard that right. When he finally realized he had heard right (Chanyeol had to repeat it twice), he involuntarily gawked. “M-model? M-me?”
Chanyeol nodded as he tugged the camera strap around his neck. “Yeah. You.”
“B-but, I’m not photogenic-“
“Says who?” Chanyeol said as he casually snapped a picture of Baekhyun without permission.
“I’m-I’m not pretty-stop!!” Baekhyun cried as he covered Chanyeol’s lense with a hand, but too late, he had already taken one.
“You are,” Chanyeol said seriously. “You are pretty. Very pretty, in fact.”
Baekhyun took a step backward with a ragged breath. His expression clearly showed that he didn’t believe the taller male. Chanyeol then sneaked a peek at his camera before breaking into a smile.
“See? You’re beautiful.”
Baekhyun only blinked as he saw the picture Chanyeol showed him was the one where his mouth was opened and his eyes were round. Well, their views on what constitute as beautiful totally differed from each other because Baekhyun disagreed with his opinion and thought that it was definitely far from beautiful. Baekhyun puffed his cheeks in annoyance.
“You’re just trying to make fun of me.”
Chanyeol chuckled. “If I tell you I’m trying to know you better, would you believe me?”
Baekhyun deadpanned.
It was the first time someone had ever told him that.
Baekhyun felt heat starting to creep to his cheeks and he looked down in attempt to hide the emotion. He saw the end of Chanyeol’s ripped jeans and his ugly, worn Converse shoes that needed to be washed. Compared to him, Baekhyun’s jeans were nicer and cleaner with a pair of canvas shoes that were definitely taken care of.
They were different.
He was tidy while Chanyeol was...well, he was... Baekhyun gulped. Chanyeol was definitely someone that his mother would categorize him as...
Filthy.
“I know a few good places for snapshots,” Chanyeol said, pulling Baekhyun out of his thoughts. “Are you free at the moment?”
Baekhyun blinked and looked down at his watch. “My driver...he should be here any minute.”
Chanyeol raised an eyebrow at him. “Your driver...? First your mother, Now, it’s your driver. Aren’t you a spoiled rich kid?”
Baekhyun looked a bit hurt at his words and looked away.
“Oh. I’m-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way...well, of course you have a personal driver because it’s safer than public transportation. Who wouldn’t want you to be safe? Even I want you to be safe. Tell you what. Do you have a day off this week?”
Baekhyun’s heart skipped a beat. “Y-yeah. Wednesday.”
“Good. Tell your driver to drop you here on Wednesday and we’ll work it out, okay?”
“B-but...”
Chanyeol caressed Baekhyun’s cheek with the back of his hand and put on a warm smile. “You’re pretty. Believe me. I’m sure I’m gonna win with you as my model.” He patted Baekhyun’s shoulder lightly. “See you on Wednesday, then, Baekhyun-ah.”
With that, the tall male waved a hand and turned around to walk away.
Baekhyun’s heartbeat refused to slow down even when Chanyeol had already disappeared from his vision.
***
Baekhyun wasn’t raised to be a liar, so he had great difficulties doing so.
It wasn’t hard to lie to his mother (he told her that he had extra classes). She believed what he told her because all she cared about was good grades.
But it was hard to lie to Ryeowook.
His driver gave him a quirked eyebrow stare which Baekhyun ignored. Of course, being his personal driver for the past decade or so, had entitled him to know that there wasn’t supposed to be any schedule on Wednesday for the semester. Even so, Ryeowook didn’t commented on the sudden shift and Baekhyun felt grateful for the older male for it.
The journey seemed endless because Baekhyun felt extremely nervous and the thought of meeting Chanyeol made the butterflies in his stomach to be more active. When they finally arrived at the university, Baekhyun wondered if he was doing the right thing. But something about Chanyeol attracted him and it made him curious...a bit. Just a little bit. Deciding that he would be brave and try, Baekhyun mumbled a soft thank you to his driver. He was about to get off of the car when Ryeowook spoke up.
“I’ll be back in five hours.”
Baekhyun looked at the older male blankly before clambering out of the car. Why did he say that? Does he know I’m-I’m lying...? He was almost certain that Ryeowook could see right through him and closed his eyes in distress. Suddenly, he felt terrified.
The male went to the place where he promised to meet with Chanyeol only to find out that the other male was already there. All of his attempt to stay calm vanished instantly. Baekhyun began to panic because it was the first time he had ever lied and what if-what if Ryeowook suspected something and he told his mother?
“Hey,” Chanyeol greeted warmly with his hands holding onto his SLR camera.
“Five hours,” Baekhyun screeched. “He said-he said I only have five hours-I’m scared-“
“Whoa, calm down,” Chanyeol frowned as he grabbed Baekhyun’s arms. The shorter of the two was trembling in fear. “Five hours is more
than enough.”
“I-“ Baekhyun’s expression changed. “R-really?”
“Of course. ...you’re not seriously thinking we’re gonna spend five hours just taking your pictures, right?”
Baekhyun quietened, feeling very embarrassed. “Are you-are you serious about me being your model...?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol said as he hung the camera around his neck. “But it can wait. I’m starving! What do you want to eat?”
Baekhyun blinked. “What...?”
“Have you eaten?”
“N-not yet...”
“Then I’ll take you someplace nice,” Chanyeol smiled and patted Baekhyun’s back. “Have you ever been to the street between fourth and twenty ninth?”
“I-no...”
“It’s a really nice place. Let’s go there.”
“Wait,” Baekhyun hastily said and Chanyeol waited. “I-I should change...”
“Hm? What’s wrong with your outfit?”
“It’s just-“ Baekhyun trailed off. He wasn’t sure how to say it. Not that he had ever said it before to anyone. “Is-is it far? The place that you mentioned...”
“Around twenty minutes by train.”
“T-train?”
“...you’ve never been on the train before?” At Baekhyun’s faltered expression, Chanyeol nodded in understanding. “Ah. Don’t worry,” he quickly added. “We can take the bus if you prefer? ...or taxi, but it’s cheaper by train or bus.”
For a split (stupid) second, Baekhyun wondered if it was alright if he called Ryeowook and told him the truth and asked him to drive them to the said place.
“It’s not bad at all, you know.”
Baekhyun looked up worriedly. “What is...?”
“Public transportations,” Chanyeol shrugged and placed a hand on Baekhyun’s head. “I assure you, it’s gonna be alright. You’re with me, right?”
Right.
“You’ll be safe, Baekhyun-ah. Now, shall we?”
Chanyeol sent him a soothing smile that managed to ease all of Baekhyun’s insecurities. How, he had no clue.
Baekhyun sighed and nodded in defeat.
“...alright.”
***
Chanyeol had glanced down to Baekhyun’s expensive canvas shoes for a moment and asked him if his feet would hurt if they walked instead of taking any sort of transportation since the smaller of the two was still dubious.
Baekhyun had belatedly agreed with walking. He was still unprepared to take that giant step and willingly let himself be compressed into a compartment with a lot of people pressing onto him. He had shuddered at that thought. But halfway through their walk, Baekhyun wanted to moan in embarrassment (for his lack of endurance) and regret for the choice.
Chanyeol hadn’t looked convinced at first, but he smiled anyway.
Walking turned out to be both fun and tiring.
Fun because it made Baekhyun to look around in awe. He got to see all of the tall buildings and the various number of people walking down the streets. Tiring, because Baekhyun had never walked that far and it consumed most of his strength that by the time they got to the place, he was very hungry. And Chanyeol was right, his feet felt a bit-okay, they hurt more than just a bit.
Dammit, they hurt.
Chanyeol had started eating when Baekhyun took a long moment to observe his food. The former realized his hesitation and nudged his foot under the table. Baekhyun was a bit surprised at the gesture and stared questioningly at the taller male.
“It’s good. Try it.”
“Y-yes.”
“Now.”
Baekhyun hesitantly grabbed his chopsticks and poked at his food. The smell was good, and the shape wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t used to the atmosphere. The restaurant was small and the price was quite cheap-really cheap for him, in fact. It was new to Baekhyun because he rarely ate in restaurants like this. Even if he did with his parents (which only happened once every three months), they would always go to places that would ‘befit people of their station’ (because it was so freaking expensive and high class).
He took a piece of meat from his plate and closed his eyes in distress as he shoved it into his mouth.
Chanyeol waited patiently for his reaction and smiled when he saw Baekhyun’s expression changed after swallowing.
“This...this is good,” Baekhyun said in disbelief as he looked at his plate.
“It is, right? It’s one of my favorite places. You should come here with your friends.”
Baekhyun’s shoulders flinched slightly at the word ‘friends’. He dismissed the odd feeling and continued eating like it didn’t matter. “...I don’t have any friends. But I would love to come here again...”
“Oh,” Chanyeol said, clearly not taking the bait and ignored the sudden subject change. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Baekhyun shook his head and chewed with his mouth closed. He swallowed it all down first before continuing. “...my mother always wanted me to be friends with the people that I don’t like. So...”
“Your mother,” Chanyeol repeated. “Is she also the one who taught you to eat in such a manner?”
Baekhyun’s cheeks visibly reddened. “I’m-I’m sorry-“
“Why are you apologizing?” Chanyeol laughed and his laugh sounded so nice in Baekhyun’s ears. “Oh, I know. Since it’s your first time here, I’ll take a picture of you.”
“Wh-what? Wait-“
But Chanyeol had already taken a few pictures and it made Baekhyun wondered if he had a problem with the word ‘wait’.
“You should finish your food first,” Baekhyun weakly protested. He didn’t have enough courage to look at Chanyeol and he noticed the people around them were stealing glances at their table. “People are staring. Put down your camera and eat-”
“Look to the camera, Baekhyun-ah.”
Baekhyun shook his head.
“Please?”
Sighing, Baekhyun slowly lifted his face up and Chanyeol took the opportunity to take a picture.
“Smile, pretty one.”
“I don’t know-wh-what did you just call me?”
“What? I don’t see what’s wrong with that. You’re really pretty.”
“I’m a guy, for your information,” Baekhyun frowned disapprovingly and pouted. “Besides, you’re just making that up so that I would smile.”
Chanyeol lowered his camera a bit and tilted his head to a side. “How could I win if my model isn’t smiling?”
“Okay, okay, I’ll try...”
Baekhyun breathed deeply and pondered for a moment. He had his eyes looking everywhere but Chanyeol trying to mentally prepare himself before finally directing them back to the camera. Baekhyun looked unsure for a split second before breaking into a shy smile.
Chanyeol held his breath and clicked on the button.
“Was that okay?” Baekhyun asked bashfully.
Chanyeol said nothing as he observed the resulting photo. Chanyeol rarely took a picture of a human being because instead of people he loved panoramas and beautiful sceneries like the skies and rainbows. But with Baekhyun...he was just like nature. His smile was pure and innocent and Chanyeol knew that he wasn’t making it up.
He was speechless because he was wrong about Baekhyun.
Pretty would be an understatement.
Byun Baekhyun was so fucking beautiful.
“Chanyeol...?”
Chanyeol snapped out of his trance. “Hm?”
“I said, was it...okay?”
He nodded dumbly in reply. It was okay, it was more than okay. Chanyeol wanted to ramble but he was too stunned to do anything.
“Good,” Baekhyun said with a soft chuckle and gave him a look. “Now finish your food.”
***
They took the train on the way back to the university and Baekhyun resumed looking around in awe.
Without him realizing, Chanyeol had snapped a lot of his pictures (or maybe he did but was too tired to tell him to stop. Chanyeol had a thing for candid pictures). Everytime he did, Chanyeol would stare at his screen and smile and sometimes he wasn’t smiling at all. It got Baekhyun to feel slightly worried.
Was it good? Was it not good? Baekhyun had no idea.
Something strange bubbled within him, because they didn’t talk much, and they didn’t know each other that much, but...
Baekhyun felt comfortable with his presence.
He loved the fact that Chanyeol laughed a lot. Every little thing seemed funny to him. Everytime he found a new fact about Baekhyun’s life and his ‘first time in everything’, the male would be very amused, but his smile wasn’t teasing. If it was any other person, Baekhyun would probably feel offended, but because it was Chanyeol, he didn’t hate it at all.
In fact, he was glad it was Chanyeol instead of anyone else.
Five hours passed by quickly like a breeze.
Chanyeol was right, five hours was enough. It was more than enough. Chanyeol would definitely get the pictures he wanted and it would end and tomorrow, Baekhyun would go back to live his boring life.
But when they arrived at the university, Baekhyun somehow wished that the day would never end-and that the five hours could be extended to another hour. But he was tired and his feet hurt and sadly, he couldn’t meddle with how the time worked. Baekhyun needed to learn to accept and let go.
The male took a glance to the parking lot and noticed that his car wasn’t there yet-which indicated Ryeowook hadn’t arrived.
They were still given the chance to say goodbye.
“So...it was fun,” Baekhyun cleared his throat and started. He rubbed his hands nervously. “Thank-thank you so much.”
“For a first date, it was.”
“D-date?”
Chanyeol did something on his camera-it seemed like he was observing all of the photos that were taken today-and ignored Baekhyun’s stuttering. His eyebrows furrowed together into a frown and the male hummed softly to himself. “I haven’t got the snapshots that I want yet. Maybe next week?”
“N-next...week?”
“Hm,” Chanyeol nodded and put his camera away. “Maybe it was the background...? It’s a bit cloudy today, so the light isn’t that good. We’ll try changing places and see which pictures are better.”
Baekhyun opened his mouth to say that it was impossible because he couldn’t afford to lie again and besides, he wasn’t that good of a model anyway. Maybe it wasn’t the background or the weather. Maybe it was because of him, that it was him who failed. Baekhyun wanted to tell him all that but when Chanyeol turned to him and gave him the kindest smile he had ever seen, Baekhyun felt his heart stuttering.
He wanted to see this guy again.
“...alright.”
[2]
Author: FloweryMisha
Pairing: BaekYeol
Warning: BoyxBoy love. Enough said.
Summary: If people were the rain, then Chanyeol would be a drizzle and Baekhyun was a hurricane. They just weren’t destined to be together.
Author's Note: Forever grateful at ashxiii because without him, this fic would've been deleted and will not be posted T_T thank you for your hard work to edit and beta and everything (including scolding me sobs). I really, really love you <3 and I can't tell how much I love minseo_nine for the poster. Love you so much <3 AND PLEASE, NO TRANSLATIONS ALLOWED!
Unrequited love does not die.
It’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded.
--Ella Newmark
Baekhyun knew he had a different life ever since he was four.
He wasn’t like those kids who were out laughing and flying their kites with their friends. He never knew what it felt like to blatantly swim in the river with his clothes on. He never knew how to play soccer and how it felt to be covered in mud and sweats.
Baekhyun never experienced any of those things.
The male was one of the those kids who practiced piano after school. He spent most of his spare time studying and drowning himself in textbooks. Sometimes, Baekhyun felt envious of the maids’ kids because he wanted to know the outside world. Learning the world from a book wasn’t satisfying enough, in fact, it only whetted his appetite and he desired to experience life more. He wanted to get out of the house, wanting to join those kids who were laughing freely like they had no burden for tomorrow while he, had to struggle to get good grades-just so he wouldn’t be a disgrace to the family.
There were times when he was in the car with his mother, heading somewhere and they passed by a park. He would see kids his age laughing and running. He would see those same kids playing either hide and seek or a game of tag. It would get Baekhyun to lean closer to the window with a hand pressed against it with a longing expression.
He wanted to be like them.
But his mother thought otherwise.
“They’re filthy, Baekhyun.”
She would always say the same thing.
Everytime she did so, Baekhyun would sag back into his seat and he gave her a questioning stare, and she would always preach to him about pride and dignity, that they weren’t in the same level as the people at the park they saw earlier, that those kinds of people weren’t even supposed to know people like them.
“Do you understand that, Baekhyun-ah?”
And Baekhyun never did.
But he always gave her a simple nod. Maybe she had acted like that because he was still too little. Maybe it was just temporary. Maybe all of this would change when Baekhyun grew older.
It did not.
Baekhyun began to understand how serious it was when he got into his first school. To think that he was only six at that time and he felt suffocated at what everyone was trying to teach him. Baekhyun was taught to speak with a polite, educated tone-to show that they had value. They had expensive uniforms and everyone was talking so formal to each other. The teachers were walking with their chins upward like they were in some kind of runway. It was obvious that the students were all from high class families, including himself.
It hurt his head.
Slowly, Baekhyun felt his confidence sinking. Even though he had the same status as them, he didn’t feel like he belonged there. And even in such tremendous school, there were still kings and queens-those would be the richest of them all. Most of the students worshiped the ground Taeyeon, Yoona and Key (although Baekhyun could and would never consider him a king...well, not with his diva-esque attitude anyway) walked on. Most of the girls swooned upon seeing Minho-and Baekhyun still wondered how Minho and Kibum became friends with each other since Minho was manly and Kibum was definitely a diva.
Baekhyun tried to make friends but none of them seemed sincere about friendship. There was always, always something behind it. A girl named Luna came to him once, innocently saying that she wanted to be friends with him simply because her parents said something about ‘it would be good if we can establish a contract with the Byun family’. Baekhyun stiffened.
It didn’t take too long for Baekhyun to shut himself off from his surrounding. It was hard to be alone, but it was even harder to make friends with people you weren’t clicked with.
Baekhyun wondered if there was someone who would accept him for who he was.
It was all he ever wanted.
***
Baekhyun got home with a scratch when he was seven.
His mother had gotten hysterical and she acted like Baekhyun had just been stabbed in the chest. Baekhyun stuttered and told her that it was nothing, that it was his fault for chasing a cat at school and the poor thing seemed to be scared and scratched him.
Her expression changed drastically at that and Baekhyun felt like digging a hole and hide. It evolved to a long speech of ‘how many times do I have to tell you that they’re filthy, Baekhyun?’ and how playing could distract him from studying and everything and he shouldn’t waste his time for such useless things. She kept on mentioning ‘filthy’ and it was funny because she used the same word for both humans and animals. Sometimes, Baekhyun wanted to argue but he didn’t want to make her angry, so in the end he would just absently nodded to everything and apologized. She made him promise that it would never happen again.
He promised.
Baekhyun’s mother had gotten more protective of him ever since then. He wasn’t allowed to go home by himself and she had hired a personal driver only for him. Ryeowook was still young and he was almost ten years older than Baekhyun, but his family had been working for the Byun family for more than a decade that she trusted he would be the perfect person to take care of her son. Baekhyun was forced to give his schedules to Ryeowook so that the older male would be able to know when and at what time he should pick the young master up.
Ryeowook didn’t talk much and he obeyed everything Baekhyun’s mother said.
Needless to say, Baekhyun felt more and more caged.
Despite all the money he had, he was unhappy. While all those people...all those people who his mother assumed ‘filthy’, they looked...happy and free even without money. Was money even important? If it was, why did he feel this way...?
The situation caused Baekhyun to grow up alone without any close friends. He didn’t want to open himself to anyone, not even to his teachers.
All of these didn’t change even until he graduated from high school and got accepted in a private university. Despite the fact that his mother wanted him to be a businessman so he could inherit the family’s company, Baekhyun took music as his major. It angered his parents too much when they found out but he mostly didn’t care, because if there was anything he liked from what they had taught him, it was piano. And it wasn’t like his voice was bad...he could sing, too, even just a bit.
After a few months of arguing (more like they tried to persuade him to take another major but Baekhyun stubbornly refused), they finally gave up and let him did what he wanted.
But his mother told him that she was disappointed in him.
Baekhyun couldn’t help but feeling slightly hurt because of that.
***
Baekhyun felt a bit free whenever he attended his classes.
Music made him feel calm, that he could run away from all of his problems for a while.
One day, Baekhyun was making his way toward the yard-his music theory class was canceled because the lecturer was sick and there was no one to substitute him-when he noticed that there were a lot of strangers around his campus. He frowned slightly to himself before he remembered that his university was holding some kind of photography exhibition that day and it was open for the public. That would explain the sea of strangers.
He sat on the nearest bench available and saw a lot of people with different styles of fashion. They were clad in clothes that Baekhyun wasn’t sure he had the courage to wear. His mother would probably call them ‘filthy’ if she saw how they were dressed. Though, if he was truthful to himself, as weird as they looked, compared to them, he was... He reluctantly looked down to his clothes.
...boring.
Baekhyun had just texted Ryeowook that he was done for the day when a very tall male came into his view. Honest to God, he forgot how to breathe for a few seconds. The tall male must have been there for the photography convention because he had a SLR camera hanging around his chest. Not exactly the latest one, but Baekhyun knew enough that the brand was quite expensive and it had good lenses.
But it wasn’t the camera that made Baekhyun stared.
He’s...good looking.
The tall male spotted him and Baekhyun instinctively lowered his head.
Did he catch me staring...?
Even though the camera was expensive, the appearance showed otherwise. He was definitely one of the guys his mother would forbid to be his friends. If she was there, she would probably tell him that ‘he’s not the kind of people you should interact with’. Baekhyun grimaced. Well, it wasn’t like they were going to talk anyway...
No, of course not. Silly me to think so.
“Excuse me.”
Baekhyun lifted up his head only to find that the male was standing in front of him.
For the first time in his life, Baekhyun felt his heartbeat increased dramatically, like a car that was going over a hundred mile per hour. His throat went dry instantly and his hands became cold.
He has a deep voice.
“I seem to be lost...mind telling me where the photography exhibition is being held?”
Baekhyun had difficulty finding his voice so he awkwardly pointed to his left and yanked his hand over his shoulder in reply, as if to say ‘you should go that way’. The tall male followed the direction of his hand with a slight frown.
“Ah, you mean that building over there?”
Baekhyun hid his face deeper. The male smelled like sunshine and sweat and he made his heart went wild. What was happening to him? Suddenly, he really, really just wanted the other male to leave.
Please just go, please-please just go.
“Thank you.”
Baekhyun nodded vigorously, hoping that the male would just go already. He waited and waited, but the male never left. Instead, he felt his chin being lifted up by two fingers and their eyes met. Baekhyun’s heart almost came to a stop and he went pale.
“Are you a student here...?”
Baekhyun nervously pulled away from his touch and looked down to their shoes. The tall male’s Converse sneakers were dirty and probably time to buy a new pair. “...my-my mother said I’m not supposed to talk to strangers...”
It was definitely the weirdest thing to say.
The male only snorted. “Your mother. How old are you, five?”
Baekhyun ignored his words. He settled his books on his lap and looked away. He somehow wished Ryeowook would arrive soon today.
“Byun Baekhyun.”
Baekhyun snapped his head back to the taller male. “H-how-“
“It was written on your books,” he shrugged and pointed to the books on his lap. “Did your mother do that too?”
Baekhyun gawked for a second before sending the rude man a glare. How rude! Maybe his mother was right, this kind of person was really filthy. He chose not to reply.
His car suddenly came to view and Baekhyun stood up abruptly. He had never felt this grateful for Ryeowook before. Baekhyun adjusted his bag and fixed his eyes on the ground as he walked past the male, but the latter suddenly grabbed him and it caused Baekhyun to yelp.
“D-don’t touch me!!”
The male looked startled by that and unwillingly let Baekhyun go.
Both of them were stunned on their tracks. Baekhyun soon felt guilty for saying that to the tall stranger but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything else. The other male, he...
He has beautiful eyes.
Baekhyun almost had to force himself to turn around and dashed to his car. Ryeowook looked startled at the sound he made as he climbed into the car.
“Baekhyun-shii, why are you-“
“Go.”
“Eh?”
“Just-just go. Hurry.”
Ryeowook seemed confused but he drove off as requested.
Baekhyun was still breathless from all the running and unconsciously brought his hand to his arm. He was wearing a short sleeves shirt today, so the male’s accidental touch was a direct skin touch.
It was still burning him.
Was the other somehow...disease?
Perhaps his mother was right afterall.
***
It never occured to Baekhyun that they would run into each other again. Afterall, the other male wasn’t a student at his university and he only came there last week for the one time photography exhibition.
Strangely, they did.
Their next meeting was on the following week.
Baekhyun was walking out of his class when he spotted the male. He was clad in different clothes, but he was still with the same appearence from last week and was standing on the very same spot they met before. His steps slowed momentarily at the sight before he quickened his pace.
Even with such appearance, he’s still handsome...
The tall male was sitting on the bench, obviously working on his camera. Baekhyun crossed his fingers and wished he wouldn’t see him. He almost broke into a run and frantically searched for a place to hide.
But as if it was meant to be, he did.
“Byun Baekhyun!”
Dear God.
Baekhyun forgot that the male actually knew his name. He pretended that he hadn’t heard the man calling him (even though his voice was surprisingly loud) and he almost fled. The other male must have read his intention because his attempt to escape was thwarted and Baekhyun found himself blocked by the man. Curse him for being so tall and had a pair of nice, long legs.
“Hey.”
It shocked Baekhyun so much that he accidentally dropped his books onto the ground. He hastily knelt down and felt the tall male did the same thing in front of him. Baekhyun refused to look at him as he gathered his books awkwardly-only to find out that the last book was held by the other male. He merely stared at the (captive) book, contemplating whether to save it or chalked it off as casualty and made his escape then.
Oh well, if the tall male wasn’t going to give it back, he could always buy a new one.
“I’m Chanyeol.”
Baekhyun’s lips quivered as the male started talking.
Chanyeol.
“Don’t be scared, I’m not gonna do anything to you.”
Chanyeol’s tone was so soothing that it made Baekhyun to slowly shift his gaze to the taller male. It was the second time their eyes had met and Chanyeol smiled before offering his book back. Baekhyun accepted it albeit, reluctantly and hesitantly.
“Thank you,” Baekhyun quietly mumbled and stood up.
“Hey, wait,” Chanyeol started as he too, stood up. They had at least ten centimeters height difference forcing Baekhyun to lift his chin slightly upward to get a good look. “You know that photography exhibition last week?” Baekhyun gave a hesitant nod as a reply. “The theme was about lighting and they made this small competition to test us if we actually grasp what they were explaining. And I need to come up with a good picture if I want to win. Well, even though they said it was a competition, there isn’t a prize, but...”
Chanyeol paused as he stared solemnly at Baekhyun.
“I want you to be my model.”
Baekhyun blinked rapidly a few times because he wasn’t sure he heard that right. When he finally realized he had heard right (Chanyeol had to repeat it twice), he involuntarily gawked. “M-model? M-me?”
Chanyeol nodded as he tugged the camera strap around his neck. “Yeah. You.”
“B-but, I’m not photogenic-“
“Says who?” Chanyeol said as he casually snapped a picture of Baekhyun without permission.
“I’m-I’m not pretty-stop!!” Baekhyun cried as he covered Chanyeol’s lense with a hand, but too late, he had already taken one.
“You are,” Chanyeol said seriously. “You are pretty. Very pretty, in fact.”
Baekhyun took a step backward with a ragged breath. His expression clearly showed that he didn’t believe the taller male. Chanyeol then sneaked a peek at his camera before breaking into a smile.
“See? You’re beautiful.”
Baekhyun only blinked as he saw the picture Chanyeol showed him was the one where his mouth was opened and his eyes were round. Well, their views on what constitute as beautiful totally differed from each other because Baekhyun disagreed with his opinion and thought that it was definitely far from beautiful. Baekhyun puffed his cheeks in annoyance.
“You’re just trying to make fun of me.”
Chanyeol chuckled. “If I tell you I’m trying to know you better, would you believe me?”
Baekhyun deadpanned.
It was the first time someone had ever told him that.
Baekhyun felt heat starting to creep to his cheeks and he looked down in attempt to hide the emotion. He saw the end of Chanyeol’s ripped jeans and his ugly, worn Converse shoes that needed to be washed. Compared to him, Baekhyun’s jeans were nicer and cleaner with a pair of canvas shoes that were definitely taken care of.
They were different.
He was tidy while Chanyeol was...well, he was... Baekhyun gulped. Chanyeol was definitely someone that his mother would categorize him as...
Filthy.
“I know a few good places for snapshots,” Chanyeol said, pulling Baekhyun out of his thoughts. “Are you free at the moment?”
Baekhyun blinked and looked down at his watch. “My driver...he should be here any minute.”
Chanyeol raised an eyebrow at him. “Your driver...? First your mother, Now, it’s your driver. Aren’t you a spoiled rich kid?”
Baekhyun looked a bit hurt at his words and looked away.
“Oh. I’m-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way...well, of course you have a personal driver because it’s safer than public transportation. Who wouldn’t want you to be safe? Even I want you to be safe. Tell you what. Do you have a day off this week?”
Baekhyun’s heart skipped a beat. “Y-yeah. Wednesday.”
“Good. Tell your driver to drop you here on Wednesday and we’ll work it out, okay?”
“B-but...”
Chanyeol caressed Baekhyun’s cheek with the back of his hand and put on a warm smile. “You’re pretty. Believe me. I’m sure I’m gonna win with you as my model.” He patted Baekhyun’s shoulder lightly. “See you on Wednesday, then, Baekhyun-ah.”
With that, the tall male waved a hand and turned around to walk away.
Baekhyun’s heartbeat refused to slow down even when Chanyeol had already disappeared from his vision.
***
Baekhyun wasn’t raised to be a liar, so he had great difficulties doing so.
It wasn’t hard to lie to his mother (he told her that he had extra classes). She believed what he told her because all she cared about was good grades.
But it was hard to lie to Ryeowook.
His driver gave him a quirked eyebrow stare which Baekhyun ignored. Of course, being his personal driver for the past decade or so, had entitled him to know that there wasn’t supposed to be any schedule on Wednesday for the semester. Even so, Ryeowook didn’t commented on the sudden shift and Baekhyun felt grateful for the older male for it.
The journey seemed endless because Baekhyun felt extremely nervous and the thought of meeting Chanyeol made the butterflies in his stomach to be more active. When they finally arrived at the university, Baekhyun wondered if he was doing the right thing. But something about Chanyeol attracted him and it made him curious...a bit. Just a little bit. Deciding that he would be brave and try, Baekhyun mumbled a soft thank you to his driver. He was about to get off of the car when Ryeowook spoke up.
“I’ll be back in five hours.”
Baekhyun looked at the older male blankly before clambering out of the car. Why did he say that? Does he know I’m-I’m lying...? He was almost certain that Ryeowook could see right through him and closed his eyes in distress. Suddenly, he felt terrified.
The male went to the place where he promised to meet with Chanyeol only to find out that the other male was already there. All of his attempt to stay calm vanished instantly. Baekhyun began to panic because it was the first time he had ever lied and what if-what if Ryeowook suspected something and he told his mother?
“Hey,” Chanyeol greeted warmly with his hands holding onto his SLR camera.
“Five hours,” Baekhyun screeched. “He said-he said I only have five hours-I’m scared-“
“Whoa, calm down,” Chanyeol frowned as he grabbed Baekhyun’s arms. The shorter of the two was trembling in fear. “Five hours is more
than enough.”
“I-“ Baekhyun’s expression changed. “R-really?”
“Of course. ...you’re not seriously thinking we’re gonna spend five hours just taking your pictures, right?”
Baekhyun quietened, feeling very embarrassed. “Are you-are you serious about me being your model...?”
“Yeah,” Chanyeol said as he hung the camera around his neck. “But it can wait. I’m starving! What do you want to eat?”
Baekhyun blinked. “What...?”
“Have you eaten?”
“N-not yet...”
“Then I’ll take you someplace nice,” Chanyeol smiled and patted Baekhyun’s back. “Have you ever been to the street between fourth and twenty ninth?”
“I-no...”
“It’s a really nice place. Let’s go there.”
“Wait,” Baekhyun hastily said and Chanyeol waited. “I-I should change...”
“Hm? What’s wrong with your outfit?”
“It’s just-“ Baekhyun trailed off. He wasn’t sure how to say it. Not that he had ever said it before to anyone. “Is-is it far? The place that you mentioned...”
“Around twenty minutes by train.”
“T-train?”
“...you’ve never been on the train before?” At Baekhyun’s faltered expression, Chanyeol nodded in understanding. “Ah. Don’t worry,” he quickly added. “We can take the bus if you prefer? ...or taxi, but it’s cheaper by train or bus.”
For a split (stupid) second, Baekhyun wondered if it was alright if he called Ryeowook and told him the truth and asked him to drive them to the said place.
“It’s not bad at all, you know.”
Baekhyun looked up worriedly. “What is...?”
“Public transportations,” Chanyeol shrugged and placed a hand on Baekhyun’s head. “I assure you, it’s gonna be alright. You’re with me, right?”
Right.
“You’ll be safe, Baekhyun-ah. Now, shall we?”
Chanyeol sent him a soothing smile that managed to ease all of Baekhyun’s insecurities. How, he had no clue.
Baekhyun sighed and nodded in defeat.
“...alright.”
***
Chanyeol had glanced down to Baekhyun’s expensive canvas shoes for a moment and asked him if his feet would hurt if they walked instead of taking any sort of transportation since the smaller of the two was still dubious.
Baekhyun had belatedly agreed with walking. He was still unprepared to take that giant step and willingly let himself be compressed into a compartment with a lot of people pressing onto him. He had shuddered at that thought. But halfway through their walk, Baekhyun wanted to moan in embarrassment (for his lack of endurance) and regret for the choice.
Chanyeol hadn’t looked convinced at first, but he smiled anyway.
Walking turned out to be both fun and tiring.
Fun because it made Baekhyun to look around in awe. He got to see all of the tall buildings and the various number of people walking down the streets. Tiring, because Baekhyun had never walked that far and it consumed most of his strength that by the time they got to the place, he was very hungry. And Chanyeol was right, his feet felt a bit-okay, they hurt more than just a bit.
Dammit, they hurt.
Chanyeol had started eating when Baekhyun took a long moment to observe his food. The former realized his hesitation and nudged his foot under the table. Baekhyun was a bit surprised at the gesture and stared questioningly at the taller male.
“It’s good. Try it.”
“Y-yes.”
“Now.”
Baekhyun hesitantly grabbed his chopsticks and poked at his food. The smell was good, and the shape wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t used to the atmosphere. The restaurant was small and the price was quite cheap-really cheap for him, in fact. It was new to Baekhyun because he rarely ate in restaurants like this. Even if he did with his parents (which only happened once every three months), they would always go to places that would ‘befit people of their station’ (because it was so freaking expensive and high class).
He took a piece of meat from his plate and closed his eyes in distress as he shoved it into his mouth.
Chanyeol waited patiently for his reaction and smiled when he saw Baekhyun’s expression changed after swallowing.
“This...this is good,” Baekhyun said in disbelief as he looked at his plate.
“It is, right? It’s one of my favorite places. You should come here with your friends.”
Baekhyun’s shoulders flinched slightly at the word ‘friends’. He dismissed the odd feeling and continued eating like it didn’t matter. “...I don’t have any friends. But I would love to come here again...”
“Oh,” Chanyeol said, clearly not taking the bait and ignored the sudden subject change. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Baekhyun shook his head and chewed with his mouth closed. He swallowed it all down first before continuing. “...my mother always wanted me to be friends with the people that I don’t like. So...”
“Your mother,” Chanyeol repeated. “Is she also the one who taught you to eat in such a manner?”
Baekhyun’s cheeks visibly reddened. “I’m-I’m sorry-“
“Why are you apologizing?” Chanyeol laughed and his laugh sounded so nice in Baekhyun’s ears. “Oh, I know. Since it’s your first time here, I’ll take a picture of you.”
“Wh-what? Wait-“
But Chanyeol had already taken a few pictures and it made Baekhyun wondered if he had a problem with the word ‘wait’.
“You should finish your food first,” Baekhyun weakly protested. He didn’t have enough courage to look at Chanyeol and he noticed the people around them were stealing glances at their table. “People are staring. Put down your camera and eat-”
“Look to the camera, Baekhyun-ah.”
Baekhyun shook his head.
“Please?”
Sighing, Baekhyun slowly lifted his face up and Chanyeol took the opportunity to take a picture.
“Smile, pretty one.”
“I don’t know-wh-what did you just call me?”
“What? I don’t see what’s wrong with that. You’re really pretty.”
“I’m a guy, for your information,” Baekhyun frowned disapprovingly and pouted. “Besides, you’re just making that up so that I would smile.”
Chanyeol lowered his camera a bit and tilted his head to a side. “How could I win if my model isn’t smiling?”
“Okay, okay, I’ll try...”
Baekhyun breathed deeply and pondered for a moment. He had his eyes looking everywhere but Chanyeol trying to mentally prepare himself before finally directing them back to the camera. Baekhyun looked unsure for a split second before breaking into a shy smile.
Chanyeol held his breath and clicked on the button.
“Was that okay?” Baekhyun asked bashfully.
Chanyeol said nothing as he observed the resulting photo. Chanyeol rarely took a picture of a human being because instead of people he loved panoramas and beautiful sceneries like the skies and rainbows. But with Baekhyun...he was just like nature. His smile was pure and innocent and Chanyeol knew that he wasn’t making it up.
He was speechless because he was wrong about Baekhyun.
Pretty would be an understatement.
Byun Baekhyun was so fucking beautiful.
“Chanyeol...?”
Chanyeol snapped out of his trance. “Hm?”
“I said, was it...okay?”
He nodded dumbly in reply. It was okay, it was more than okay. Chanyeol wanted to ramble but he was too stunned to do anything.
“Good,” Baekhyun said with a soft chuckle and gave him a look. “Now finish your food.”
***
They took the train on the way back to the university and Baekhyun resumed looking around in awe.
Without him realizing, Chanyeol had snapped a lot of his pictures (or maybe he did but was too tired to tell him to stop. Chanyeol had a thing for candid pictures). Everytime he did, Chanyeol would stare at his screen and smile and sometimes he wasn’t smiling at all. It got Baekhyun to feel slightly worried.
Was it good? Was it not good? Baekhyun had no idea.
Something strange bubbled within him, because they didn’t talk much, and they didn’t know each other that much, but...
Baekhyun felt comfortable with his presence.
He loved the fact that Chanyeol laughed a lot. Every little thing seemed funny to him. Everytime he found a new fact about Baekhyun’s life and his ‘first time in everything’, the male would be very amused, but his smile wasn’t teasing. If it was any other person, Baekhyun would probably feel offended, but because it was Chanyeol, he didn’t hate it at all.
In fact, he was glad it was Chanyeol instead of anyone else.
Five hours passed by quickly like a breeze.
Chanyeol was right, five hours was enough. It was more than enough. Chanyeol would definitely get the pictures he wanted and it would end and tomorrow, Baekhyun would go back to live his boring life.
But when they arrived at the university, Baekhyun somehow wished that the day would never end-and that the five hours could be extended to another hour. But he was tired and his feet hurt and sadly, he couldn’t meddle with how the time worked. Baekhyun needed to learn to accept and let go.
The male took a glance to the parking lot and noticed that his car wasn’t there yet-which indicated Ryeowook hadn’t arrived.
They were still given the chance to say goodbye.
“So...it was fun,” Baekhyun cleared his throat and started. He rubbed his hands nervously. “Thank-thank you so much.”
“For a first date, it was.”
“D-date?”
Chanyeol did something on his camera-it seemed like he was observing all of the photos that were taken today-and ignored Baekhyun’s stuttering. His eyebrows furrowed together into a frown and the male hummed softly to himself. “I haven’t got the snapshots that I want yet. Maybe next week?”
“N-next...week?”
“Hm,” Chanyeol nodded and put his camera away. “Maybe it was the background...? It’s a bit cloudy today, so the light isn’t that good. We’ll try changing places and see which pictures are better.”
Baekhyun opened his mouth to say that it was impossible because he couldn’t afford to lie again and besides, he wasn’t that good of a model anyway. Maybe it wasn’t the background or the weather. Maybe it was because of him, that it was him who failed. Baekhyun wanted to tell him all that but when Chanyeol turned to him and gave him the kindest smile he had ever seen, Baekhyun felt his heart stuttering.
He wanted to see this guy again.
“...alright.”
[2]