The faults in Byun Baekhyun

Chapter 37: Complicated

"Park Chanyeol, I am sick of waiting here in vain!"

"M-M-Mum?!"

"If you don't come back home right this instant, I will go there myself and drag you home by your large ears!"

"But Mum –"

"Are you going to disobey your mother now?"

"... No, but –"

"No buts! I want you home and I want you home ASAP!"

"But –"

"Shh! If I don't see you home in two days I will personally call the principal and –"

"All right, all right!" Chanyeol sighs and, in his haste, he hangs up, throwing the phone on the bed before running his hands through his hair. He lets out another sigh. Baekhyun looks at him curiously.

"There you go, lecturing me on how I should go home and make up with my father, but then you don't even want to go home." Chanyeol says nothing for a while, then he sits down and lets out another sigh.

"It's not like that ..." Chanyeol runs his hand through his dark hair once more, eyes cast down, eyelashes resting against his cheeks. Baekhyun can't help but find that gesture absolutely sexy. "It's just ... they've already done so much for me ..."

Silence.

"Explain?" Baekhyun raises his eyebrow in question.

"They've spent so much money on me already, and I just want to stop burdening them." Chanyeol starts, his voice slightly quivering, Baekhyun doesn't fail to notice. "They're not exactly rich, but they were willing to send me here because I didn't fit in that well in my old school, and I also wanted to go to a boarding school and this was the nearest one they could find. They send me money every month, but I try not to use it."

Baekhyun watches Chanyeol intently.

"I ... plan on not going back. At least, not until I've earned enough money to repay them, even though I know I'll never be able to replace money with the kindness they've given me." Chanyeol lets out a shaky sigh. Baekhyun can see it – Chanyeol misses his family, a lot, and he's giving himself a lot of pain by trying to avoid them merely because he doesn't have the face to see them after all they've given him, all they've done for him.

Somehow, Baekhyun can't understand that feeling.

"How did she even find my number ... Haha ..." Chanyeol is staring downwards. Baekhyun notices how long his eyelashes are, and they almost touch his cheeks. Then he realises Chanyeol is crying.

"You should go back then." Baekhyun replies, unsure of what to do in the presence of a crying person. This is also the first time he's seen Chanyeol cry, so he is at a loss on what to do. "I'm sure she misses you."

Chanyeol doesn't say anything, just continues staring down as if he wants to burn a hole through it. Eventually, he quickly rubs his eyes and blinks quickly, looking around him and at anywhere but Baekhyun.

"Yeah. Whatever." Chanyeol replies, rubbing his eyes. Baekhyun almost smiles – Chanyeol really is innocent. Somehow, watching such a sensitive part to Chanyeol gives him a sense of comfort – he hasn't seen anything so pure in such a long time.

"So what do you want to do? On your birthday?" Chanyeol asks, trying to be casual as he blinks the tears away. Baekhyun shrugs.

"Studying. What else am I supposed to do?"

"... I don't know, maybe going out and celebrating?" Chanyeol rolls his eyes. Baekhyun remains stubborn though, as he sits on his bed and continues reading. The taller rolls his eyes again and reaches his hand out to grab Baekhyun's wrist, his hand moving up to link his fingers through Baekhyun's.