Cursed Freedom

Chanyeol's Story

(Story under construction 🏗)

Chanyeol had expected this... eventually... but that didn't make it any less heartbreaking now that it had finally arrived.

The signs had all been there. The mansion adjusting itself to Baekhyun's presence and his needs and wants, his likes and dislikes, giving him his own clothes and food.

And then there were Chanyeol's inevitable feelings for the delicate boy he'd found on his porch and vice-versa.

Yes, he had known this would happen ever since the second the house brought him inside without the door ever even opening.

"So, you really are the handsome prince trapped in the castle, huh?" Baekhyun chuckled through his tears.

A tear of his own slipped down Chanyeol's cheek. "I'm..." but he stopped, looking down, ashamed.

Baekhyun looked up to find Chanyeol staring blankly at nothing. More tears began to sweep silently down his face.

"Baekhyun... I am so so sorry... this is all my fault. But you have to understand, I couldn't just leave you out there all alone once I saw you show up on my doorstep... I'm just... I'm so sorry." His voice cracked on the last syllable

"Oh, Chanyeollie... don't apologize to me for saving my life!" He smiled. It was a bittersweet smile, but it was still Baekhyun's smile. Still breathtakingly beautiful.

"So," he said, "I understand why you lied to me, and I'm not... I'm not mad. But... I think it's time. I think I deserve an explanation, to hear the real story."

Chanyeol sighed deeply. This had been something he'd been repressing for nearly a decade. But he was right, if anyone deserved to know, it was Baekhyun. Sweet, innocent, beautiful Baekhyun, who didn't deserve this fate, and definitely didn't deserve to be lied to, no matter how pure Chanyeol's intentions had been.

Chanyeol sighed and began to tell his story. "Well, as a kid... my parents and I used to spend every summer out here. This house is a family heirloom of sorts. There actually used to be a real road that led out here... of course, I wouldn't know what happened to it. I haven't been outside these walls since I was 13."

"Never?..." Baekhyun asked quietly, looking up at him.

But Chanyeol just continued to stare off into space and nodded slightly before continuing. "So... one day during our summer vacation, my parents needed to drive out to the nearest town to go on a grocery run.

"It was the day before my 13th birthday and they wanted to get me a cake, but while they were gone, I wandered outside on my own and went down to stick my feet in the water of the stream that runs through the forest, and that's when HE showed up..."

"Who's 'he'?" Baekhyun asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea. He had a creepy aura about him and then he smiled at me and spoke in a language I had never heard before and then disappeared back into the trees.

"After he finished speaking, I found myself sitting in the entryway of the house, having no idea how I got there. I don't remember walking back to the house or opening the door or... anyways, that was the last person I ever saw. My parents never came back. And I've never seen anyone else out here either, I never even saw the man again.

"My parents... They could be alive, or dead, or even captured and imprisoned somewhere like I am. I've had a lot of time to wonder about what happened to them, but after a while, it became easier on my heart to assume they were dead instead of thinking they abandoned me...

"I've never seen another living soul after my encounter with that man. Not until you showed up, coincidentally on our birthdays, the same day I was cursed, and I knew it was risky, but I didn't have the heart to leave you out there alone either. You looked so cold and hungry and... vulnerable... It was a lose-lose situation... plus, what are the odds?... The dates just lined up too perfectly.

"I'm so sorry, Beakhyun. You have no idea how sorry..." he said with a crack in his voice before letting out a wracking sob from deep within his chest.

Baekhyun stood up and moved closer to wrap his arms around the gentle giant's midsection, laying his head on his chest and then reaching up to stroke his hair soothingly.

"I'm not," Baekhyun said quietly.

"What... what do you mean?" He said as he backed up a little to wipe the tears from his face with the back of his arm.

"I'm not sorry that I'm here. Even if we are trapped.

"I've always felt alone, even when I wasn't, ever since my parents died. But now, I don't anymore. I'm not alone. And neither are you. I'm here Channie... I'm right here... shhh..." He stroked his tear-stained cheeks as the taller man continued to cry. "We're together now. And I hope you believe me when I say that there's nowhere else I'd rather be..."

"But... what about the curse?" Chanyeol asked, pulling back, a bit confused by Baekhyun's sentiment. No matter how sweet it seemed on the surface, it's a lot different to be trapped in a prison for a few months, and being there for the majority of your life.

"Maybe you're looking at it all wrong. Maybe it's NOT a curse." Baekhyun said.

Chanyeol just chuckled and tried to clear his sniffly nose. "What would you call it then?" He asked sarcastically, laughing.

"It brought us together, Yeollie, it's a blessing. It's the best thing that ever happened to me..." He said genuinely as he looked up into Chanyeol's dark eyes, pressing a hand to his wet cheek.

Chanyeol just stared back at the beautiful boy that had changed his whole life in only a couple of months, no, only in the first few weeks he had been there if he were being totally honest! He then reached down, caressing the smaller's face with his large hands, and pulling him into a desperate, heated kiss until they both had to come up for air.

"You know, I wasn't lying when I told you that I loved you," Chanyeol said, slightly out of breath, "and it's not just because you're the only person I've seen in living memory," Chanyeol said, stroking the cheek of the smaller with the tips of his fingers. "You're beautiful and amazing and perfect and special, my Baekhyunnie... so special..." he said in a whisper.

"Me too..." Baekhyun replied leaning in again against Chanyeol's chest. "I love you. I never thought I'd love anyone. I was waiting for my prince, I never thought I'd actually find you..." he giggled through tears of his own, closing his eyes tight before fluttering them open again, "and if it has to happen this way? I still have ZERO regrets. Please believe me.

"We were made for each other, Channie, we were meant to be together, whether it be on the streets, in a classy city apartment, or here alone in this mansion in the middle of nowhere.

"I wasn't lying when I told you that I was looking for my prince in his castle, and now that I've found him?... he can't get rid of me." He giggled again.

"Why would I ever even want to get rid of you? You're perfect. And I'm sorry for my reaction, I really am. I just want you to be happy. Even if that means it's not with me..."

"I am happy, Chanyeol. Please, I am begging you, believe me! And I want nothing more than to stay with you and make you happy as well." Baekhyun replied, locking eyes with him again one more time before collapsing into his arms.

"Okay... I believe you..." Chanyeol breathed out quietly into Baekhyun's hair, which was so long and fluffy, it was tickling his nose. He smiled.

'He's so special... I can't believe he's mine... I can't believe that I'm the one who gets to love him. I'm so lucky...'

They just stood there, arms wrapped around each other, Baekhyun's hands gripping onto Chanyeol's shirt as if it were a lifeline.

"So..." Baekhyun sighed after an indeterminate amount of time of them just holding each other. "What now?"

"I-I don't know..." Chanyeol answered. And that was the genuine truth...