City of Angels Part 2/2 [FINAL]
Pairing: Chanyeol/Baekhyun
Word count: 4,153 words
A/N: Sorry about the delay ;A; please enjoy!
PART 1
“Here you are, again.” Baekhyun smiles as he sees Chanyeol by the park. “We’re releasing your friend Kris tomorrow.”
“That’s good.” Chanyeol nods and smiles at Baekhyun as he sees the glow in his eyes.
“His family’s having a welcome home party. W-will you be going?”
“Will you be going?”
Baekhyun stares at him. They continue like this. They stare at each other for almost 2 minutes. They’re interrupted by the barking of his dog, “This is Earl by the way.”
“I know, he told me.”
Baekhyun laughs, “What else did he tell you?”
“That you don’t sleep and that he loves your smile.”
“Sometimes I think Earl is the only one that understands me.”
“What about your boyfriend? Do you love him?”
“Love? I don’t know. What does that mean?” Baekhyun shakes his head and looks down on the grass they were walking on.
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
“Well it’s a word that describes a chemical reaction that, that- I don’t know. I’m just full of crap. I wait all day just hoping for one more minute with you and I don’t even know you.”
“What do you want to know?” Chanyeol asks, sounding a bit confused. He didn’t know what Baekhyun needed to know and why.
“Why do you always wear the same clothes? Why won’t you give me your phone number? Are you married?”
“No.”
“Are you homeless?”
“No.”
“Are you a drummer?” They laugh together, synchronized.
“Why don’t you ever touch me?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t hurt me.” Baekhyun walks towards him. Chanyeol cups his chin and leans down as Baekhyun leans forward. Their lips meet. It was short and quick.
“Did you feel that?” Baekhyun smiles at him, it felt so great for him. He finally kissed him. It’s been what he’s dreaming of ever since he met Chanyeol.
“No.” Chanyeol replies, disappointed.
Angels had no sense of touch or taste.
Baekhyun steps back, his face disgusted. He shakes his head and as Chanyeol steps forward. “I can make you understand.” Chanyeol reaches out for Baekhyun but he refuses.
“Oh, I understand.” Baekhyun steps back further. He stares into Chanyeol’s eyes, he sees the apologetic gesture in it but he was hurt. “See you around.”
Baekhyun decides to go to Kris’ welcome back party. He sighs as he sees Chanyeol playing with a little girl.
“Doc!” Kris shouts as he sees Baekhyun and gives him a hug. “Come on let’s meet some people.”
“Have a beer Chanyeol.” Tao offers him, “Where are you from?”
“Up.” Chanyeol answers immediately.
“Up north, Canada.” Kris interrupts.
The little girl starts pinching Chanyeol’s cheeks and he smiles at her. “Look here.” And Tao snaps a picture and shakes the Polaroid picture as soon as it came out.
“So, how’d you meet Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asks Kris.
“Oh, err, he works in the construction site with me.”
“I thought he was a messenger?”
“Oh uhh he’s one of those- I’ll be right back.” Kris walks away before Baekhyun could ask any more questions. Baekhyun looks at the picture of Chanyeol with the little girl. His eyes widens as he sees that there was nobody in the picture but the girl. There's nobody holding the little girl, it’s as if the little girl's flying. He looks at Chanyeol who's still with the little girl. Chanyeol looks up and smiles at him. He smiles back.
“Come on.” Baekhyun drags Chanyeol home. He opens the fridge and takes out a cabbage, “cut this up for me.” Chanyeol takes the cabbage and grabs a knife.
“So what province was it in Canada where you were born?”
“I wasn’t born in Canada.” Chanyeol slices the cabbage in half.
“What are your parents’ names?”
“I have no parents.” Chanyeol slices it in quarters and this time, the knife slides into his finger, leaving no damage. Baekhyun gulps as he sees this but Chanyeol continues to slice the cabbage.
“You have very delicate hands for a construction worker.” Baekhyun walks closer towards him, “Let me see.” He grabs Chanyeol’s hand and slices his palm with a knife.
“Why did you do that?” Chanyeol jumps back, feeling no pain and covers his hand.
“Let me see your hand.”
“No.” Chanyeol grabs a dish cloth near the kitchen counter and wraps his hand.
“What’s your last name?”
“You know my last name.”
“No. I don’t!” Baekhyun shouts and glares at Chanyeol.
“Plate.”
“Chanyeol Plate?” Baekhyun shakes his head but Chanyeol nods. He grabs the dish cloth off of Chanyeol’s hand and sees the undamaged hand.
“But I cut you.” Baekhyun steps back, “b-but I cut you. I cut you with a- I felt it go in, did you feel that?”
“Not the way you do.” Chanyeol follows him as he steps back.
“What does that mean? The way a doctor does or-? What?”
“The way a human does. I have no sense of touch.” Chanyeol explains.
“W-what are you?” Baekhyun steps back even more.
“I was there to take Mr Kim. Then, I saw you. I couldn’t take my eyes off you, how you fought for him. You looked right at me, like I was a man.” Chanyeol smiles as he explains.
“To take Mr Kim?” Baekhyun’s eyes started to tear up and he couldn’t fight it back from flowing and so it does.
“I was there. We’re always there in every room.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was in the stairwell, where you cried for your patient. I touched you, remember?”
“Why are you doing this?” Baekhyun cries and his tears were unstoppable.
“Because I’m in love with you.” There’s silence.
“I don’t believe you. Do you feel that?” Baekhyun whispers and wipes his tears.
“You don’t want to believe me?”
“I don’t conceive of it!” Baekhyun shouts as he steps back even further.
“Baekhyun-ah.” Chanyeol cries out desperately and reaches out to him but he keeps stepping back.
“Just get out! GET OUT!” Baekhyun looks down and as he looks up, Chanyeol was gone. He couldn’t feel his presence anymore. He was alone now.
Chen simply pats Chanyeol by the back as he leans his head on Chen’s shoulder.
Baekhyun calls out Chanyeol’s name as his windows open. “Are you here?”
No response.
Baekhyun walks towards the window and closes it. He takes off his jacket and feels Chanyeol’s presence. He’s standing behind him. Chanyeol takes a hold of both his hands from the back and hugs him.
“Let me see you, I want to see you.” Baekhyun turns around but still, nothing. He lies down on his bed and feels Chanyeol wrap his arm around him. “Just stay, just stay till I fall asleep.”
He does.
The next morning, Baekhyun immediately goes to work on his bike and hangs out in the locker room. Then there was a knock on the door.
“Are you alone?” Suho asks before coming inside.
“Ya.” Baekhyun turns around and smiles. Suho sits in front of him and stares. “What are you doing?”
“Spending time with you.” Baekhyun laughs. “Will you marry me?” Then the laugh on his face faded.
“We can finally go to Myeongdeong and get married on the coast. We can go on a honeymoon before we even miss anything. What do you want me to do? Get down on my knees? We belong together. We’re the same species. You know I’m not good with heart to heart things. Please. Just think about it.”
And just like that, Suho’s gone and leaves Baekhyun, still in shock.
“Breathe in.” Baekhyun demands Kris as he places the stethoscope on his chest. “Breathe out.”
Kris grabs Baekhyun’s hand and presses it against his chest, “I’m fine doc!”
“I don’t understand why God would let us meet if there’s no way that we could ever be together.”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Maybe you should ask him.”
“No. I asked you.” Baekhyun sits down beside Kris and looks at him.
“Chanyeol knows no pain, no fear, no hunger, he hears music in sunrise but he can give it all up if he loves you that much.” Kris explains.
“I don’t understand.”
“He can fall. He can give up his existence as he knows it. He can give up eternity and become one of us.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because I did it.”
Baekhyun stares at Kris, shocked, he doesn’t know what to feel or what to say. He leaves him, without saying a word.
Baekhyun goes to the library and every shelf of books he passes he whispers, “Chanyeol.”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Chanyeol please.”
“Please be here.”
Chanyeol appears in front of him and smiles. Baekhyun sighs, “You’re so beautiful.” He smiles, “Suho asked me to go away with him. To marry him. He understands me.”
“You don’t love him.”
“We’re the same and I want that. I want somebody who can feel my hand when I touch them!”
“But you felt me!”
“I want to say goodbye. I don’t want to see you again.” Baekhyun runs out of the library trying hard not think about what he really wants to tell Chanyeol because he knows he can read his thoughts. He really doesn’t want Chanyeol to give up eternity just for him. He didn’t want him to become human just for him. He feels selfish because he doesn’t want to be the reason Chanyeol to give up his original self.
Chanyeol doesn’t hesitate anymore. He decides to become human through the symbolic gesture of jumping from the top of a skyscraper. He looks down and sees the height he was to fall off from but he doesn’t care. He closes his eyes and imagines Baekhyun’s laugh ringing against his ear. He imagines growing old with Baekhyun. He imagines him feel his kiss.
And he falls.
As he falls, he imagines Baekhyun’s tears flowing.
Chanyeol grunts as he opens his eyes. He blinks a few times to adjust his eyes with the bright sun. As he tries to sit up, he feels it. He feels this unexplainable pain in his stomach which he guessed was hunger. He feels pain on his hand and as he takes a quick look at it, he sees it covered with red liquid, which he guessed was blood. He feels another pain on his bottom lip and as he licks it, his tongue tasted something metallic. He grins as he tries to sit up again and he feels his whole body ache. He stands up, grunting, and sees construction workers looking at him with judgmental eyes.
Chanyeol gasps, “YOU CAN SEE ME?!”
“Dude, are you on drugs?”
“OH MY GOD YOU CAN SEE ME! IS THIS BLOOD?” Chanyeol points his bloody hand towards the construction worker.
“Is it red?” the man answers, half heartedly.
“YES! RED……” Chanyeol looks at his hand and looks at the red pigment again. “COLOR!” Chanyeol gasps once more and jumps around in excitement.
“Seriously, what drugs are you on?”
“HAVE A GOOD DAY FELLOW HUMANS!” Chanyeol grins at them and runs. As we runs around the road, he starts mumbling random words about being human. He stares up at the sky and closes his eyes as he feels the wind against his skin.
And he gasps, “BAEKHYUN-AH!” he runs to the hospital as fast as he can and doesn’t even mind the pain because he loves it. He loves the fact that he can feel pain. As he enters, he goes towards the reception immediately. The nurse is shocked as she sees Chanyeol, who looks like he’d fallen from somewhere. Well he did.
“Excuse me sir, are you a patient?”
“YOU CAN SEE ME TOO!” Chanyeol laughs and so does the nurse.
“Of course I can.”
“Where’s Baekhyun-ah?” Chanyeol finally calms down.
“He’s not here, he’s gone to Myeongdeong.”
“Wait- no, tell me. How do I-” Xiumin walks out of the office and Chanyeol gasps. “XIUMIN!” he shouts. Xiumin is shocked, he does not recall ever meeting the man who is calling him at the moment but he drags him to a room.
“Are you a friend of Baekhyun’s?” He drags Chanyeol and makes him sit down on the bed in the room. He grabs a first aid kit and damps a cloth.
“Ya.” Xiumin dabs the cloth on Chanyeol’s forehead. He flinches as he feels the cold water against him.
“Sorry.” Xiumin smiles.
“Can you help me find him? Please?”
“Are you Chanyeol?” Chanyeol nods in response. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Really?”
“Ya. Baekhyun talks about you. A lot.”
Chanyeol smiles and he could feel his cheeks burning. “So where is he?”
“He’s in Myeongdeong and staying at his father’s cabin. He-” before Xiumin could finish his sentence, Chanyeol runs out of the room immediately, his cuts still not cleaned. “Wait! Your…” Xiumin sighs, “cuts.”
Chanyeol runs out of the hospital, moneyless and clueless. He has no idea where to go and what to do. He runs towards a bus but he sees people give money and he knew he couldn’t just go in. He steps back and hitches. He raises his right arm and points out his thumb.
It’s been 4 hours and it’s getting dark, still, no one picks Chanyeol up. He gives up and sits by the bench near him. As if it couldn’t get any worse, it did. It starts to rain and he looks up. He feels it. He can feel rain. He closes his eyes as the water flow down his skin, washing off the blood off of his forehead.
“Chen? Are you there?” Chanyeol cries out desperately. “Help me. Please.” He looks down on his hand, which was earlier covered with blood, now cleansed by the water. He places his forehead on his knees and curls into a ball.
Then a van pulls up in front of him. “Where you heading?” the young man asks. Chanyeol looks up and sees a young man with chocolate brown hair, probably around the age of 18-20, and pink lips.
“To Myeongdeong.”
“Oh I’m going there too! Hop in.” The young man smiles and gestures Chanyeol to come in. “I’m Sehun by the way.” He reaches his hand out, like the way Kris did at the diner, and Chanyeol shakes it.
“Chanyeol.”
“Well buckle up!” Sehun smiles once again and drives.
For the rest of the trip, Sehun goes on and on about someone called Lu Han but he barely catches any of what he’s saying because all he’s thinking about is the smile on Baekhyun’s face when he sees him. The warmth he’ll finally feel when Baekhyun touches him. He’ll finally be able to taste Baekhyun’s mouth when they kiss. He’ll finally be able to feel his touch.
“And here you are!” Sehun pulls up in front of a cabin that was big enough for 6 times of Sehun’s van. It had windows the size of an A3 paper placed horizontally. Its door’s looking old and the trees around it are well kept by the way the leaves were cut and the tree was shaped perfectly.
“Thank you!” Chanyeol hugs Sehun and before he gets out, “May God bless you!” and Sehun drives away.
He stands in front of the door, the raining still pouring on him. He doesn’t knock.
On the other side of the door, Baekhyun quietly relaxing by the fireplace with his dog Earl, then suddenly, Earl runs towards the door.
“What is it?” Baekhyun follows Earl and as he opens the door, he finds out what it is. He sees Chanyeol, not looking as good as he usually does but he still looks mind blowingly good. Then he sees it. He sees the cut on his bottom lip. He sees the cut on his forehead and he sees Chanyeol, breathing. He continues to stare at him, seeing all these imperfections on his body. Did he guess right?
“Am I too late?” Chanyeol whispers, still standing under the pouring rain.
“What do you mean?” Baekhyun, still staring at his cuts, asks.
“You and Suho, am I too late?”
Baekhyun smiles, “No, no you’re not.” and he takes Chanyeol’s hand and pulls him in the cabin. Chanyeol feels it. He feels it. He feels this tingly feeling as they touch. He feels Baekhyun’s warm hand against his cold and wet one.
Baekhyun lets go of his hand and grabs a first aid kit. He tells Chanyeol to lie down on the bed. Chanyeol closes his eyes, slightly dozing off.
Baekhyun could feel Chanyeol’s warm breath against his hand as he dabs a cloth on his cut on the bottom of his lip. He continues to stare at him. He touches the cut with his bare hand and looks at his finger, which had a bit of blood on it. Baekhyun leans forward, so close, he can feel Chanyeol’s breath against his lips. Chanyeol’s eyes then opens, shocking Baekhyun, but Chanyeol leans forward, planting a kiss on Baekhyun. They close their eyes, enjoying the closed-mouth kiss they are sharing at the moment.
Baekhyun pulls away, “Did you feel it this time?” he whispers.
“Yes.” Chanyeol smiles and leans forward again, planting another kiss against the other’s lips. The closed mouth kiss turns into an open mouth one. Chanyeol slowly opening his mouth and allowing Baekhyun’s tongue to enter his mouth. He finally tastes Baekhyun.
He pulls away, “Baekhyun-ah! You taste sweet!” Baekhyun turns bright red as he hears this comment.
“I-is it good?” he stutters. Chanyeol nods happily, like a little kid and pulls Baekhyun for another kiss. This time, it was more desperate. The other being unable to breathe and having to pull away to take a small air intake as he’s still not used to breathing. Baekhyun moans as he pulls Chanyeol for an open-mouthed kiss and pulls Chanyeol to sit up.
“I want to touch you.” Chanyeol whispers.
“Well you’re touching me now aren’t you?” Baekhyun laughs and continues to kiss him. He unzips Chanyeol’s pants as does and gets a hold of him. Chanyeol gasps as he feels the warmth of Baekhyun’s hand holding him, and then slowly moans as he feels Baekhyun moving his hand up and down on it.
Baekhyun leans forward and whispers against his ear, “How does that feel?”
“i-i don’t know how to explain it.”
“How does it feel?” Baekhyun asks again, “Just try.”
“W-warm and,” he moans again as Baekhyun goes faster, “g-good.”
Baekhyun smiles, that sweet smile of his that even distracted Chanyeol from what he was doing, and leans forward to kiss him.
The night is full of open-mouthed kisses and Chanyeol’s first experience of touching Baekhyun in many ways he'd ever imagined.
“Baekhyun-ah.” Chanyeol whispers as his eyes open slowly and see Baekhyun still wrapped around his arms.
“Mmmm.” Baekhyun says slowly as he stretches his arms out and accidentally hits Chanyeol’s face. “Oh sorry.”
“I felt it and it hurt.” Chanyeol smiles, not matching from the emotion he’s feeling, and is happy that he feels it. Baekhyun chuckles and leans up to give Chanyeol a morning kiss.
“Good morning.”
It’s a good morning indeed.
“BAEKHYUN-AH! I don’t know how to work this!” Chanyeol shouts from inside the bathroom and Baekhyun walks in.
“Which one?”
“That.” Chanyeol points at the shower and Baekhyun smiles. He turns it a few times till the water is warm and perfect.
“There you go.” Baekhyun laughs and walks out of the bathroom.
Chanyeol slowly takes a step into the water and jumps out instantly. It was too hot for his liking but he steps back in and tries to make himself used to it. He sees a few bottles in front of him. He opens them and takes a whiff of them but turns away with his nose scrunched up and his mouth pouting. He simply thinks the smell is too strong from this bottle but he remembers the same smell oozing off of it from Baekhyun’s hair last night, giving off the right amount of scent.
Baekhyun sets the table and prepares lunch. As he does, he notices that he’s out of potatoes, damn Earl ate it all.
“Chanyeol! I’ll be back in a minute. I just need to get something from the shop.” he shouts from the other side of the bathroom door. He hears Chanyeol say ok from the other side and heads out.
He goes out through the bike to get his bike and heads off. He rides through the roads of the country side, the trees blowing and making a relaxing noise with the leaves brushing off each other.
On his way back, he decides to take the longer way to feel the relaxing breeze for longer. He rides the bike on the car-less road with his eyes closed and his head relaxing back, his hands off the paddles, spreading his arms wide to feel the air. As he closes his eyes, he imagines Chanyeol waiting for him, he imagines Chanyeol with him forever and growing old together. He smiles as he feels this excitement of seeing Chanyeol again.
As he opens his eyes again, the smile wipes off his face. He sees a truck ahead of him turning and is unable to see him. His eyes widen and his mouth opens to gasp. Then he’s on the ground, feeling pain all over his body.
Chanyeol feels it. He feels that something is wrong. He stands up from the dining table. “Baekhyun-ah!” He ran out, immediately knowing where to find him. He runs through the trees, tripping over some branches but this doesn’t stop him. He runs and runs and finally he sees a truck, stopped in the middle of the road and he sees a familiar bike, destroyed beside it. He slows down and walks towards the other side. He sees Baekhyun lying down on the ground, blanket over his bottom half, his eyes still open, his mouth still gasping for air, his face showing off an unpleasant feeling and the other side of his head, covered in blood. Chanyeol runs towards him and kneels beside him.
“i-i’m going to go get he-”
“No Chanyeol please, just stay with me.” Baekhyun cries. Tears flow out of his eyes, unstoppable.
“But-”
“The driver’s already getting help. Please just stay with me.” Baekhyun pleads.
“Baekhyun-ah.”
“I didn’t even get to show you everything. I wanted to show you everything. I-” Baekhyun chokes and coughs, blood registering out of his mouth.
“And you will. Please Baekhyun-ah! Stay awake. Keep looking at me.” Chanyeol desperately shakes Baekhyun.
“I see them….”
“NO BAEKHYUN-AH! DON’T LOOK AT THEM, PLEASE!” Chanyeol shakes him again, “please, only look at me.” His eyes blur out and he blinks, he feels water dripping along his face. It’s his first time experiencing crying.
“You’re so beautiful.” Baekhyun weakly raises his hand and wipes away the tears from Chanyeol’s right cheek. “Live happily and don’t forget that I love you.” Chanyeol leans forward for a last kiss and he feels Baekhyun’s breathing stop.
“No.” Chanyeol cries out even louder as Baekhyun’s hand fall down the ground, with no life. His desperately gasping for air stops but his eyes still open but with no emotion. “Baekhyun-ah.” He pulls Baekhyun’s lifeless body in and wraps him in his arms, his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder as he does. He cries out, “Baekhyun-ah.” thousands and thousands of times. “Please don’t leave me.” He continues to call out his name. He rests his forehead on Baekhyun’s and still doesn’t feel him move. Chanyeol cries, out loud, he felt this unexplainable feeling on his chest like he was being strangled. He can’t breathe properly and chokes a bit as he cries. He continues to hug Baekhyun and wrap him around his arms; he still feels the warmth registering out of his life-less body.
The driver comes back with help after 10 minutes and sees that it’s too late.
Chanyeol grieves alone back in the cabin.
“I can’t see you but I know you’re there.”
“I’m sorry Chanyeol.” Chen makes himself visible to Chanyeol.
“Was that you?! Were you the one who collected him?” Chanyeol shouts.
“No.” Chen simply replies.
“Is he punishing me?” Chanyeol looks down on his knees.
“You know well that he isn’t.”
“But why did this happen?” He asks desperately, he knew Chen didn’t know the answer.
“I don’t know.” Chen sits beside him on the couch and places his hand on Chanyeol’s leg for comfort, “If you knew this was going to happen, would you still have fallen?”
Chanyeol takes a deep breath. He looks up and stares at the fire lit on the fire place in front of him,
“I would rather have had one breath of his hair, one kiss of his mouth, one touch of his hand, than eternity without it.” Chanyeol looks at Chen, his eyes full of despair and repeats,
“One.”
Word count: 4,153 words
A/N: Sorry about the delay ;A; please enjoy!
PART 1
“Here you are, again.” Baekhyun smiles as he sees Chanyeol by the park. “We’re releasing your friend Kris tomorrow.”
“That’s good.” Chanyeol nods and smiles at Baekhyun as he sees the glow in his eyes.
“His family’s having a welcome home party. W-will you be going?”
“Will you be going?”
Baekhyun stares at him. They continue like this. They stare at each other for almost 2 minutes. They’re interrupted by the barking of his dog, “This is Earl by the way.”
“I know, he told me.”
Baekhyun laughs, “What else did he tell you?”
“That you don’t sleep and that he loves your smile.”
“Sometimes I think Earl is the only one that understands me.”
“What about your boyfriend? Do you love him?”
“Love? I don’t know. What does that mean?” Baekhyun shakes his head and looks down on the grass they were walking on.
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
“Well it’s a word that describes a chemical reaction that, that- I don’t know. I’m just full of crap. I wait all day just hoping for one more minute with you and I don’t even know you.”
“What do you want to know?” Chanyeol asks, sounding a bit confused. He didn’t know what Baekhyun needed to know and why.
“Why do you always wear the same clothes? Why won’t you give me your phone number? Are you married?”
“No.”
“Are you homeless?”
“No.”
“Are you a drummer?” They laugh together, synchronized.
“Why don’t you ever touch me?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t hurt me.” Baekhyun walks towards him. Chanyeol cups his chin and leans down as Baekhyun leans forward. Their lips meet. It was short and quick.
“Did you feel that?” Baekhyun smiles at him, it felt so great for him. He finally kissed him. It’s been what he’s dreaming of ever since he met Chanyeol.
“No.” Chanyeol replies, disappointed.
Angels had no sense of touch or taste.
Baekhyun steps back, his face disgusted. He shakes his head and as Chanyeol steps forward. “I can make you understand.” Chanyeol reaches out for Baekhyun but he refuses.
“Oh, I understand.” Baekhyun steps back further. He stares into Chanyeol’s eyes, he sees the apologetic gesture in it but he was hurt. “See you around.”
Baekhyun decides to go to Kris’ welcome back party. He sighs as he sees Chanyeol playing with a little girl.
“Doc!” Kris shouts as he sees Baekhyun and gives him a hug. “Come on let’s meet some people.”
“Have a beer Chanyeol.” Tao offers him, “Where are you from?”
“Up.” Chanyeol answers immediately.
“Up north, Canada.” Kris interrupts.
The little girl starts pinching Chanyeol’s cheeks and he smiles at her. “Look here.” And Tao snaps a picture and shakes the Polaroid picture as soon as it came out.
“So, how’d you meet Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asks Kris.
“Oh, err, he works in the construction site with me.”
“I thought he was a messenger?”
“Oh uhh he’s one of those- I’ll be right back.” Kris walks away before Baekhyun could ask any more questions. Baekhyun looks at the picture of Chanyeol with the little girl. His eyes widens as he sees that there was nobody in the picture but the girl. There's nobody holding the little girl, it’s as if the little girl's flying. He looks at Chanyeol who's still with the little girl. Chanyeol looks up and smiles at him. He smiles back.
“Come on.” Baekhyun drags Chanyeol home. He opens the fridge and takes out a cabbage, “cut this up for me.” Chanyeol takes the cabbage and grabs a knife.
“So what province was it in Canada where you were born?”
“I wasn’t born in Canada.” Chanyeol slices the cabbage in half.
“What are your parents’ names?”
“I have no parents.” Chanyeol slices it in quarters and this time, the knife slides into his finger, leaving no damage. Baekhyun gulps as he sees this but Chanyeol continues to slice the cabbage.
“You have very delicate hands for a construction worker.” Baekhyun walks closer towards him, “Let me see.” He grabs Chanyeol’s hand and slices his palm with a knife.
“Why did you do that?” Chanyeol jumps back, feeling no pain and covers his hand.
“Let me see your hand.”
“No.” Chanyeol grabs a dish cloth near the kitchen counter and wraps his hand.
“What’s your last name?”
“You know my last name.”
“No. I don’t!” Baekhyun shouts and glares at Chanyeol.
“Plate.”
“Chanyeol Plate?” Baekhyun shakes his head but Chanyeol nods. He grabs the dish cloth off of Chanyeol’s hand and sees the undamaged hand.
“But I cut you.” Baekhyun steps back, “b-but I cut you. I cut you with a- I felt it go in, did you feel that?”
“Not the way you do.” Chanyeol follows him as he steps back.
“What does that mean? The way a doctor does or-? What?”
“The way a human does. I have no sense of touch.” Chanyeol explains.
“W-what are you?” Baekhyun steps back even more.
“I was there to take Mr Kim. Then, I saw you. I couldn’t take my eyes off you, how you fought for him. You looked right at me, like I was a man.” Chanyeol smiles as he explains.
“To take Mr Kim?” Baekhyun’s eyes started to tear up and he couldn’t fight it back from flowing and so it does.
“I was there. We’re always there in every room.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was in the stairwell, where you cried for your patient. I touched you, remember?”
“Why are you doing this?” Baekhyun cries and his tears were unstoppable.
“Because I’m in love with you.” There’s silence.
“I don’t believe you. Do you feel that?” Baekhyun whispers and wipes his tears.
“You don’t want to believe me?”
“I don’t conceive of it!” Baekhyun shouts as he steps back even further.
“Baekhyun-ah.” Chanyeol cries out desperately and reaches out to him but he keeps stepping back.
“Just get out! GET OUT!” Baekhyun looks down and as he looks up, Chanyeol was gone. He couldn’t feel his presence anymore. He was alone now.
Chen simply pats Chanyeol by the back as he leans his head on Chen’s shoulder.
Baekhyun calls out Chanyeol’s name as his windows open. “Are you here?”
No response.
Baekhyun walks towards the window and closes it. He takes off his jacket and feels Chanyeol’s presence. He’s standing behind him. Chanyeol takes a hold of both his hands from the back and hugs him.
“Let me see you, I want to see you.” Baekhyun turns around but still, nothing. He lies down on his bed and feels Chanyeol wrap his arm around him. “Just stay, just stay till I fall asleep.”
He does.
The next morning, Baekhyun immediately goes to work on his bike and hangs out in the locker room. Then there was a knock on the door.
“Are you alone?” Suho asks before coming inside.
“Ya.” Baekhyun turns around and smiles. Suho sits in front of him and stares. “What are you doing?”
“Spending time with you.” Baekhyun laughs. “Will you marry me?” Then the laugh on his face faded.
“We can finally go to Myeongdeong and get married on the coast. We can go on a honeymoon before we even miss anything. What do you want me to do? Get down on my knees? We belong together. We’re the same species. You know I’m not good with heart to heart things. Please. Just think about it.”
And just like that, Suho’s gone and leaves Baekhyun, still in shock.
“Breathe in.” Baekhyun demands Kris as he places the stethoscope on his chest. “Breathe out.”
Kris grabs Baekhyun’s hand and presses it against his chest, “I’m fine doc!”
“I don’t understand why God would let us meet if there’s no way that we could ever be together.”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Maybe you should ask him.”
“No. I asked you.” Baekhyun sits down beside Kris and looks at him.
“Chanyeol knows no pain, no fear, no hunger, he hears music in sunrise but he can give it all up if he loves you that much.” Kris explains.
“I don’t understand.”
“He can fall. He can give up his existence as he knows it. He can give up eternity and become one of us.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because I did it.”
Baekhyun stares at Kris, shocked, he doesn’t know what to feel or what to say. He leaves him, without saying a word.
Baekhyun goes to the library and every shelf of books he passes he whispers, “Chanyeol.”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Chanyeol please.”
“Please be here.”
Chanyeol appears in front of him and smiles. Baekhyun sighs, “You’re so beautiful.” He smiles, “Suho asked me to go away with him. To marry him. He understands me.”
“You don’t love him.”
“We’re the same and I want that. I want somebody who can feel my hand when I touch them!”
“But you felt me!”
“I want to say goodbye. I don’t want to see you again.” Baekhyun runs out of the library trying hard not think about what he really wants to tell Chanyeol because he knows he can read his thoughts. He really doesn’t want Chanyeol to give up eternity just for him. He didn’t want him to become human just for him. He feels selfish because he doesn’t want to be the reason Chanyeol to give up his original self.
Chanyeol doesn’t hesitate anymore. He decides to become human through the symbolic gesture of jumping from the top of a skyscraper. He looks down and sees the height he was to fall off from but he doesn’t care. He closes his eyes and imagines Baekhyun’s laugh ringing against his ear. He imagines growing old with Baekhyun. He imagines him feel his kiss.
And he falls.
As he falls, he imagines Baekhyun’s tears flowing.
Chanyeol grunts as he opens his eyes. He blinks a few times to adjust his eyes with the bright sun. As he tries to sit up, he feels it. He feels this unexplainable pain in his stomach which he guessed was hunger. He feels pain on his hand and as he takes a quick look at it, he sees it covered with red liquid, which he guessed was blood. He feels another pain on his bottom lip and as he licks it, his tongue tasted something metallic. He grins as he tries to sit up again and he feels his whole body ache. He stands up, grunting, and sees construction workers looking at him with judgmental eyes.
Chanyeol gasps, “YOU CAN SEE ME?!”
“Dude, are you on drugs?”
“OH MY GOD YOU CAN SEE ME! IS THIS BLOOD?” Chanyeol points his bloody hand towards the construction worker.
“Is it red?” the man answers, half heartedly.
“YES! RED……” Chanyeol looks at his hand and looks at the red pigment again. “COLOR!” Chanyeol gasps once more and jumps around in excitement.
“Seriously, what drugs are you on?”
“HAVE A GOOD DAY FELLOW HUMANS!” Chanyeol grins at them and runs. As we runs around the road, he starts mumbling random words about being human. He stares up at the sky and closes his eyes as he feels the wind against his skin.
And he gasps, “BAEKHYUN-AH!” he runs to the hospital as fast as he can and doesn’t even mind the pain because he loves it. He loves the fact that he can feel pain. As he enters, he goes towards the reception immediately. The nurse is shocked as she sees Chanyeol, who looks like he’d fallen from somewhere. Well he did.
“Excuse me sir, are you a patient?”
“YOU CAN SEE ME TOO!” Chanyeol laughs and so does the nurse.
“Of course I can.”
“Where’s Baekhyun-ah?” Chanyeol finally calms down.
“He’s not here, he’s gone to Myeongdeong.”
“Wait- no, tell me. How do I-” Xiumin walks out of the office and Chanyeol gasps. “XIUMIN!” he shouts. Xiumin is shocked, he does not recall ever meeting the man who is calling him at the moment but he drags him to a room.
“Are you a friend of Baekhyun’s?” He drags Chanyeol and makes him sit down on the bed in the room. He grabs a first aid kit and damps a cloth.
“Ya.” Xiumin dabs the cloth on Chanyeol’s forehead. He flinches as he feels the cold water against him.
“Sorry.” Xiumin smiles.
“Can you help me find him? Please?”
“Are you Chanyeol?” Chanyeol nods in response. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Really?”
“Ya. Baekhyun talks about you. A lot.”
Chanyeol smiles and he could feel his cheeks burning. “So where is he?”
“He’s in Myeongdeong and staying at his father’s cabin. He-” before Xiumin could finish his sentence, Chanyeol runs out of the room immediately, his cuts still not cleaned. “Wait! Your…” Xiumin sighs, “cuts.”
Chanyeol runs out of the hospital, moneyless and clueless. He has no idea where to go and what to do. He runs towards a bus but he sees people give money and he knew he couldn’t just go in. He steps back and hitches. He raises his right arm and points out his thumb.
It’s been 4 hours and it’s getting dark, still, no one picks Chanyeol up. He gives up and sits by the bench near him. As if it couldn’t get any worse, it did. It starts to rain and he looks up. He feels it. He can feel rain. He closes his eyes as the water flow down his skin, washing off the blood off of his forehead.
“Chen? Are you there?” Chanyeol cries out desperately. “Help me. Please.” He looks down on his hand, which was earlier covered with blood, now cleansed by the water. He places his forehead on his knees and curls into a ball.
Then a van pulls up in front of him. “Where you heading?” the young man asks. Chanyeol looks up and sees a young man with chocolate brown hair, probably around the age of 18-20, and pink lips.
“To Myeongdeong.”
“Oh I’m going there too! Hop in.” The young man smiles and gestures Chanyeol to come in. “I’m Sehun by the way.” He reaches his hand out, like the way Kris did at the diner, and Chanyeol shakes it.
“Chanyeol.”
“Well buckle up!” Sehun smiles once again and drives.
For the rest of the trip, Sehun goes on and on about someone called Lu Han but he barely catches any of what he’s saying because all he’s thinking about is the smile on Baekhyun’s face when he sees him. The warmth he’ll finally feel when Baekhyun touches him. He’ll finally be able to taste Baekhyun’s mouth when they kiss. He’ll finally be able to feel his touch.
“And here you are!” Sehun pulls up in front of a cabin that was big enough for 6 times of Sehun’s van. It had windows the size of an A3 paper placed horizontally. Its door’s looking old and the trees around it are well kept by the way the leaves were cut and the tree was shaped perfectly.
“Thank you!” Chanyeol hugs Sehun and before he gets out, “May God bless you!” and Sehun drives away.
He stands in front of the door, the raining still pouring on him. He doesn’t knock.
On the other side of the door, Baekhyun quietly relaxing by the fireplace with his dog Earl, then suddenly, Earl runs towards the door.
“What is it?” Baekhyun follows Earl and as he opens the door, he finds out what it is. He sees Chanyeol, not looking as good as he usually does but he still looks mind blowingly good. Then he sees it. He sees the cut on his bottom lip. He sees the cut on his forehead and he sees Chanyeol, breathing. He continues to stare at him, seeing all these imperfections on his body. Did he guess right?
“Am I too late?” Chanyeol whispers, still standing under the pouring rain.
“What do you mean?” Baekhyun, still staring at his cuts, asks.
“You and Suho, am I too late?”
Baekhyun smiles, “No, no you’re not.” and he takes Chanyeol’s hand and pulls him in the cabin. Chanyeol feels it. He feels it. He feels this tingly feeling as they touch. He feels Baekhyun’s warm hand against his cold and wet one.
Baekhyun lets go of his hand and grabs a first aid kit. He tells Chanyeol to lie down on the bed. Chanyeol closes his eyes, slightly dozing off.
Baekhyun could feel Chanyeol’s warm breath against his hand as he dabs a cloth on his cut on the bottom of his lip. He continues to stare at him. He touches the cut with his bare hand and looks at his finger, which had a bit of blood on it. Baekhyun leans forward, so close, he can feel Chanyeol’s breath against his lips. Chanyeol’s eyes then opens, shocking Baekhyun, but Chanyeol leans forward, planting a kiss on Baekhyun. They close their eyes, enjoying the closed-mouth kiss they are sharing at the moment.
Baekhyun pulls away, “Did you feel it this time?” he whispers.
“Yes.” Chanyeol smiles and leans forward again, planting another kiss against the other’s lips. The closed mouth kiss turns into an open mouth one. Chanyeol slowly opening his mouth and allowing Baekhyun’s tongue to enter his mouth. He finally tastes Baekhyun.
He pulls away, “Baekhyun-ah! You taste sweet!” Baekhyun turns bright red as he hears this comment.
“I-is it good?” he stutters. Chanyeol nods happily, like a little kid and pulls Baekhyun for another kiss. This time, it was more desperate. The other being unable to breathe and having to pull away to take a small air intake as he’s still not used to breathing. Baekhyun moans as he pulls Chanyeol for an open-mouthed kiss and pulls Chanyeol to sit up.
“I want to touch you.” Chanyeol whispers.
“Well you’re touching me now aren’t you?” Baekhyun laughs and continues to kiss him. He unzips Chanyeol’s pants as does and gets a hold of him. Chanyeol gasps as he feels the warmth of Baekhyun’s hand holding him, and then slowly moans as he feels Baekhyun moving his hand up and down on it.
Baekhyun leans forward and whispers against his ear, “How does that feel?”
“i-i don’t know how to explain it.”
“How does it feel?” Baekhyun asks again, “Just try.”
“W-warm and,” he moans again as Baekhyun goes faster, “g-good.”
Baekhyun smiles, that sweet smile of his that even distracted Chanyeol from what he was doing, and leans forward to kiss him.
The night is full of open-mouthed kisses and Chanyeol’s first experience of touching Baekhyun in many ways he'd ever imagined.
“Baekhyun-ah.” Chanyeol whispers as his eyes open slowly and see Baekhyun still wrapped around his arms.
“Mmmm.” Baekhyun says slowly as he stretches his arms out and accidentally hits Chanyeol’s face. “Oh sorry.”
“I felt it and it hurt.” Chanyeol smiles, not matching from the emotion he’s feeling, and is happy that he feels it. Baekhyun chuckles and leans up to give Chanyeol a morning kiss.
“Good morning.”
It’s a good morning indeed.
“BAEKHYUN-AH! I don’t know how to work this!” Chanyeol shouts from inside the bathroom and Baekhyun walks in.
“Which one?”
“That.” Chanyeol points at the shower and Baekhyun smiles. He turns it a few times till the water is warm and perfect.
“There you go.” Baekhyun laughs and walks out of the bathroom.
Chanyeol slowly takes a step into the water and jumps out instantly. It was too hot for his liking but he steps back in and tries to make himself used to it. He sees a few bottles in front of him. He opens them and takes a whiff of them but turns away with his nose scrunched up and his mouth pouting. He simply thinks the smell is too strong from this bottle but he remembers the same smell oozing off of it from Baekhyun’s hair last night, giving off the right amount of scent.
Baekhyun sets the table and prepares lunch. As he does, he notices that he’s out of potatoes, damn Earl ate it all.
“Chanyeol! I’ll be back in a minute. I just need to get something from the shop.” he shouts from the other side of the bathroom door. He hears Chanyeol say ok from the other side and heads out.
He goes out through the bike to get his bike and heads off. He rides through the roads of the country side, the trees blowing and making a relaxing noise with the leaves brushing off each other.
On his way back, he decides to take the longer way to feel the relaxing breeze for longer. He rides the bike on the car-less road with his eyes closed and his head relaxing back, his hands off the paddles, spreading his arms wide to feel the air. As he closes his eyes, he imagines Chanyeol waiting for him, he imagines Chanyeol with him forever and growing old together. He smiles as he feels this excitement of seeing Chanyeol again.
As he opens his eyes again, the smile wipes off his face. He sees a truck ahead of him turning and is unable to see him. His eyes widen and his mouth opens to gasp. Then he’s on the ground, feeling pain all over his body.
Chanyeol feels it. He feels that something is wrong. He stands up from the dining table. “Baekhyun-ah!” He ran out, immediately knowing where to find him. He runs through the trees, tripping over some branches but this doesn’t stop him. He runs and runs and finally he sees a truck, stopped in the middle of the road and he sees a familiar bike, destroyed beside it. He slows down and walks towards the other side. He sees Baekhyun lying down on the ground, blanket over his bottom half, his eyes still open, his mouth still gasping for air, his face showing off an unpleasant feeling and the other side of his head, covered in blood. Chanyeol runs towards him and kneels beside him.
“i-i’m going to go get he-”
“No Chanyeol please, just stay with me.” Baekhyun cries. Tears flow out of his eyes, unstoppable.
“But-”
“The driver’s already getting help. Please just stay with me.” Baekhyun pleads.
“Baekhyun-ah.”
“I didn’t even get to show you everything. I wanted to show you everything. I-” Baekhyun chokes and coughs, blood registering out of his mouth.
“And you will. Please Baekhyun-ah! Stay awake. Keep looking at me.” Chanyeol desperately shakes Baekhyun.
“I see them….”
“NO BAEKHYUN-AH! DON’T LOOK AT THEM, PLEASE!” Chanyeol shakes him again, “please, only look at me.” His eyes blur out and he blinks, he feels water dripping along his face. It’s his first time experiencing crying.
“You’re so beautiful.” Baekhyun weakly raises his hand and wipes away the tears from Chanyeol’s right cheek. “Live happily and don’t forget that I love you.” Chanyeol leans forward for a last kiss and he feels Baekhyun’s breathing stop.
“No.” Chanyeol cries out even louder as Baekhyun’s hand fall down the ground, with no life. His desperately gasping for air stops but his eyes still open but with no emotion. “Baekhyun-ah.” He pulls Baekhyun’s lifeless body in and wraps him in his arms, his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder as he does. He cries out, “Baekhyun-ah.” thousands and thousands of times. “Please don’t leave me.” He continues to call out his name. He rests his forehead on Baekhyun’s and still doesn’t feel him move. Chanyeol cries, out loud, he felt this unexplainable feeling on his chest like he was being strangled. He can’t breathe properly and chokes a bit as he cries. He continues to hug Baekhyun and wrap him around his arms; he still feels the warmth registering out of his life-less body.
The driver comes back with help after 10 minutes and sees that it’s too late.
Chanyeol grieves alone back in the cabin.
“I can’t see you but I know you’re there.”
“I’m sorry Chanyeol.” Chen makes himself visible to Chanyeol.
“Was that you?! Were you the one who collected him?” Chanyeol shouts.
“No.” Chen simply replies.
“Is he punishing me?” Chanyeol looks down on his knees.
“You know well that he isn’t.”
“But why did this happen?” He asks desperately, he knew Chen didn’t know the answer.
“I don’t know.” Chen sits beside him on the couch and places his hand on Chanyeol’s leg for comfort, “If you knew this was going to happen, would you still have fallen?”
Chanyeol takes a deep breath. He looks up and stares at the fire lit on the fire place in front of him,
“I would rather have had one breath of his hair, one kiss of his mouth, one touch of his hand, than eternity without it.” Chanyeol looks at Chen, his eyes full of despair and repeats,
“One.”