10080 [(ChanBaek/BaekYeol Fanfiction) (Originally Written By EXObubz)]

Chapter 1 (Part 3)

With success came strain. Time was no longer available for leisure. It was no longer available for one to spend time with their loved ones or reconnect with friends. Time no longer provided intimate moments. It provided the opportunity for productivity in one’s line of work.

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Like old photographs, their relationship began to change. Like the faded images of pictures that were once bright and vibrant, their relationship had grown stale and quiet. They had become strangers in their own marriage, often forgetting the moments that they used to have together back when things were simpler.

The calls became less frequent. The text messages were brief. Visits were rare. They had basically stalled.

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Two years and eleven months in their hanging marriage, Chanyeol stood in his bedroom, looking at his picture perfect self in the mirror. He fixed the cuffs and perfected his hair. He looked at the time and found that he was on schedule, but with no minute to spare. But despite his clock-work routine, he couldn’t help but sit down at the edge of his bed, heaving a heavy sigh as he stared at his open wall.

His heart felt weighed down and it had taken him weeks—perhaps a month—to self-diagnose his issue. It was uncertainty. He struggled with the horrid thought of not being in love with his husband anymore, but as the recent days passed, he found that he could deny it no longer.

He felt lonely, but Baekhyun was too out of reach for him. Chanyeol knew that he still loved the brown haired author, who he’d sometimes see in the papers or online, but he knew that he didn’t feel like same way like he used to. They hadn’t made love in months. Baekhyun rarely visited. Date nights were never a thing, because they weren’t possible with their schedules. In fact, the more Chanyeol thought about it, he saw more of Baekhyun through their short and infrequent video calls than he did in person.

Turning his head, he looked at his empty bed. He missed it. He missed the attraction, the activities—everything. The distance was one thing. The isolation was another. The lack of communication foreshadowed the end, but it was the heavy feeling in Chanyeol’s heart that brought the gavel down on the block.

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Sometimes Baekhyun thought about moving on, but his heart wouldn’t let him. He still loved his giant despite the fact that every night he went home to “their” quiet estate only to lie in a bed with a cold side unoccupied at the end. He missed the nights when they’d stay up just whispering to each other. He missed the board games, the trees, and the movies. The only thing that would sometimes get him through the day were the photographs from their wedding day.

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Chanyeol was obligated to go to his company’s annual Christmas party for appearances sake and had to reject Baekhyun’s offer to come back home for the holidays. Like always, Baekhyun said he understood and hung up soon after. The lack of argument and Baekhyun’s peaceful conceding bothered Chanyeol. He thought that maybe if Baekhyun had fought for his time a little harder, he would have said yes. But then he reminded himself that he couldn’t have said yes. He was busy.

With a relationship dry and cold like the weather, Chanyeol moved on. With a drink in hand and a smile on his face, he lifted his eyes. It was there at that annual Christmas party that he met Kyungsoo.

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During one of the hardest times in Chanyeol’s finals week, Baekhyun sweet talked Chanyeol’s roommate, Kris, into letting him into their room early one morning the day of Chanyeol’s exams. He placed three pieces of Chanyeol’s favorite candy near his textbooks before tiptoeing over to Chanyeol and gently putting a sticky note on his head. With a smile on his face, Baekhyun quietly laughed before backtracking and quietly leaving the room.

When Chanyeol woke up thirty minutes later from his alarm clock, the first thing he noticed was the paper stuck on his forehead preventing him from rubbing his eyes. Taking it off, he squinted his eyes and took a closer look at the letters. As his eyes focused, he noticed that the written items weren’t letters, but rather, zeros and ones.

“01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100101 01111000 01100001 01101101 01110011 00101100 00100000 01100111 01101001 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100001”

Chanyeol’s eyes dragged down and looked at the bottom part of the message.

“01001001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100001.”

Despite having just woken up, Chanyeol took the time to decode the note. As he walked to his class that morning, he quickly and efficiently copied the numbers onto his cellphone. Using a translator, he read what Baekhyun had written for him.

“Good luck on your exams, giant!”

Lastly, Chanyeol translated the shorter message at the bottom.

“I love you!”

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Christmas passed and all that was shared between them was a card on Baekhyun’s part. A simple gift was also sent. Baekhyun didn’t know what to send, so he sent three pieces of candy.

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It should’ve felt wrong, and maybe it did, but as time went by, the office attraction grew. What went from innocent glances eventually evolved into something more physical starting from when Kyungsoo took the step and slanted his lips over Chanyeol’s.

And when Chanyeol laid Kyungsoo down on his bed, he did away with the voice inside his head that kept telling Kyungsoo didn’t belong there. The voice kept telling him that it was Baekhyun’s bed as well as his, but never Kyungsoo’s. To this, Chanyeol executed his conscience, reasoning that Baekhyun was no longer there, that they were estranged, and that he needed something—something that Kyungsoo could give him and Baekhyun could not.

Just before Kyungsoo lowered himself on Chanyeol’s body, he took Chanyeol’s hand and slipped his wedding ring off, tossing it to the side where it silently fell to the floor

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It was in late spring that Baekhyun suffered pain. He began to notice it when the headaches that he began to frequently have wouldn’t go away. He also noticed his body being fatigued. After two weeks of trying to cope with the use of pills, he caved. There wasn’t much in his mind about what was wrong with him other than the thought that it was just headaches and issues that would soon go away with a magic pill from the doctor.

He went in expecting nothing and came out with the feeling like the whole world was on his shoulders, bearing down on his heart as well.

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They told him that he was scheduled to have a CT scan the next day, but for once, Baekhyun truly didn’t want to do it alone. The first person that came to mind was Chanyeol, his husband and his rock. Quickly taking the subway, Baekhyun headed over to Chanyeol’s apartment, holding back the tears and trying to maintain a strong front.

Afterwards he jumped in a cab, only to freeze when the driver asked him for an address. He realized that in that moment he didn’t know. He wasn’t aware. He tried to recall, but he couldn’t remember the address he had once known like the back of his hand. Flustered and upset, unable to explain his sudden and temporary memory loss, Baekhyun jumped out of the cab and opted to run, because unlike the address, he remembered with faded memory the streets and the corners where his rides in the past had usually turned.

He had a hope that perhaps they’d reconcile and take one night to make up for the year of blatant time lost. Baekhyun had hoped and he imagined, but as his eyes focused in on Chanyeol coming out of his apartment building with someone with their hands intertwined and with their faces smiling in happy content, Baekhyun stopped and watched as all those hopes fell apart.

And like the pain that he had felt in those past weeks, his eyes watered slowly, before trickling down until he could no longer bear any of it anymore. With shaking knees and blinded eyes, he took a step back and turned the other direction. Alone.

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Six months into the year, in the beginning of summer, Kyungsoo sat on Chanyeol’s bed, waiting for him to come back from the shower. In his hand was Chanyeol’s wedding band, which Kyungsoo kept turning and turning, inspecting every aspect and every detail. It had passed the time long enough for Kyungsoo to be entertained when Chanyeol came back to the room.

“What’re you doing there, Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol said with a small smile.

Shrugging, Kyungsoo’s stoic face remained. “I was just thinking—actually, I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, really.”

Zipping up his pants and grabbing for a shirt, Chanyeol looked at him. “What’s on your mind?” When he saw the ring in Kyungsoo’s hands, Chanyeol sighed. “Kyungsoo.”

“Chanyeol, why don’t you just divorce him?” Kyungsoo burst.

“Kyungsoo, he’s—”

“You’ve been estranged for so long,” Kyungsoo said. “Your relationship was already beyond dead when I met you. Why’re you dragging something when neither of you feel anything for each other anymore?”

“I can’t just slap divorce papers on him so suddenly,” Chanyeol argued. “He needs some notice, at least.”

“Then give him a notice,” Kyungsoo said, gripping the ring in his palm. “In fact, have one of those lawyers deliver court papers to him. That’s notice enough, don’t you think?”

“That’s—”

“—Chanyeol.” Kyungsoo gave him a look. “It’s better to end things now, you know. So we can really have a fresh beginning. Then you and I can get married and the both of you can move on. You’re with me now and, let’s face it. He probably has someone else, too.”

Chanyeol’s throat tightened at the thought of Baekhyun having another man. It was hard to imagine and ultimately struck a chord in him. “Kyungsoo…”

“I love you, Chanyeol, and I know you love me, too,” Kyungsoo rasped. “So just do it, please. For us. For him. For all of us.”