ⓘⓢⓛⓐ | ChanBaek

Part 7

It’s past midnight, and he found himself running away. He couldn’t look back—no, he shouldn’t.
If he does, he will slow himself down and they’ll catch up on him.

He won’t let that happen.

For the first time in years, he started smelling the scent of freedom. The wet trees and grass smell unbelievably refreshing. The scratches on his legs and elbows from when he fell into the ground earlier felt surreal. He can bear even the deepest wounds just to escape that godforsaken place.

Baekhyun doesn’t know how many minutes have passed since he started running away from the mansion. Would you believe it? All he wanted was to run away from the place where he could literally have everything he wanted in the palm of his hand.

Everything, but freedom.

“Where is it?” Baekhyun cried. “Where is it, Mom?” He frantically searched around. His mother told him to follow the moonflowers, and that’s what he did. But he couldn’t find the next one.

Where will he run from here?

Baekhyun wanted to cry until the moonlight reflected into some metal hidden behind the huge tree a few meters away from him.

It was a bicycle. The same bicycle his mother used when she tried running away before when she was his age.

“Promise me you’ll follow your heart, Baekhyun, my Son.. Promise me you won’t let them take away your smile and your freedom.” It was the last thing his Momma ever told him in her deathbed. Her crippled legs forbade her to even think about her another attempt to run. After the night she was betrayed by someone she once thought was her friend, she never trusted anyone. Especially not the man her family forced her to marry.

She never trusted anyone, and she made sure Baekhyun knew that behind those pretentious smiles were devils who only cared about money and family legacies and nothing else.

Baekhyun cried as he pedaled away from the mansion. His heart aches, knowing he couldn’t even bring his Momma with him. When she told him about this escape route, he cried and begged for them to run away together, but he only got a sad smile as a response.

She didn’t want to slow him down. She knows the lengths her family can do to protect their family’s legacy. If her father can order his men to break her very own daughter’s legs, then they can definitely do the same length to keep Baekhyun as their prisoner.

Her funeral was his best attempt to run away since he knew he could ask his grandfather for space just once.

He could ask them to let him grieve alone.

The ferry leaves in ten minutes, and Baekhyun boarded with nothing but his backpack. Inside are his passport and his important documents, along with some money his Momma secretly saved up for him over the years. He has two pairs of shirts and his Momma’s cardigan to keep him warm. The necklace his Momma gifted him hides under his shirt. With a cap and face mask on, he walked to the corner, not wanting to appear noticeable to anyone. He made sure to keep an eye on the cameras that could capture his trace. He even threw the bike he used into waters.

His family is smart. They could easily track him down so he better be cautious. He’s prepared to buy multiple tickets going elsewhere to mislead the people who will definitely track him down. It is a funny and lousy attempt considering what his family can do, but trying and failing is better than not trying at all. And no, he won’t let them catch him.

The ferry whistles loudly, but everything is muted in Baekhyun’s ears.

He looked outside the window, vowing to never return to the goddamned place ever again.

Baekhyun gulped the tears that badly wanted to escape his eyes. He clenched into his necklace, heart breaking at the thought of leaving alone.

To billions of people, the pandemic was a nightmare. But to Baekhyun, it seems to be another gift from his Momma, or a huge part of her plan, as it helped in keeping his family away from him.

Right after he left, the borders were closed.

He moved to an entirely different country and hopped from island to island until he found himself in Isla Lumina.

The island welcoming tourists for the first time in two years frightens him, but he chooses to live fearlessly this time. If any of his family comes to take him back, he won’t go without a fight.

-*-*-

xoxo, Tinkerbell ☆