The Day We Wore Makeup + Other 'Bad' Things | [chanbaek / baekyeol]

Thirteen

[11/11/1987]

His dad's flight had been prolonged, so Chanyeol waited anxiously while making breakfast the next morning for his father's arrival. He ate a piece of toast and jam, frying some eggs in a pan lazily. The hazy smell of dew from the open kitchen window leaked in, reminding him of summer days when the humidity reached it's awakening. Instead, he felt the heat from the gas stove and felt the rub of cotton against his skin from the plain long sleeve shirt he had on. He zipped on his favorite teal jacket and white reebok's before escorting himself outside on the porch, as if on cue, a car pulled up into the driveway, signifying his father's arrival. He popped out of the driver's side, waving frantically at his son with excitement.

"Chanyeol! Come see!" He yelled at his son with enthusiam, while he stood on the porch, clutching his book sack. As his sneakers hit the bottom step, another car door opened and a middle aged woman exited. He halted immediately, flabbergasted at the sight of a woman with his own dad. She had large sub glasses covering his face and a simple black dress draping her thin frame. She smiled widely and surprised him with a hug, giggling with his dad.

"Chanyeol, meet Eliza!"

He stood stiff, not reciprocating the embrace and instead aimed himself at his father, staring at the ridiculously large beret on his messy head and the goatee he was now proudly sporting.

"Dad, What's going on?" He remained calm, trying hard not to explode. It was bad enough Chanyeol had his own romantic conquests while he was gone, but now come to find out; his father had been shacking up with some random woman on "work" vacation? Sure, Chanyeol had his reasons for hiding Baekhyun, but what the hell reasons did his father have for hiding Eliza from him?

"It's so nice to finally meet you! Your father hardly speaks of anything else!"

"Huh, really?" He glared at his dad. "Well, it was nice to see you, but I have class in an hour." He by passed the couple whose faces fell dramatically at his reaction. He felt his dad pulling his arm, stopping him.

"Hey, be nice, okay? She's just going to stay with us for a little while."

"What? Why? I don't even know who she is-" he stared at the woman with bright gold hair, who was admiring the exterior of their country home.

"She's just a friend, Chanyeol. We have a lot in common-"

"Dad, we should really talk about this, but not right now. I'm just-overwhelmed." He stepped away and grabbed his bike. "I'll be home late. See ya."

He pedaled away as fast as he could, ignoring the tears brimming in his brown eyes and the ache he felt in his chest. Looked like he was going to have to take a pit stop in the janitor's closet.

+

"No, he didn't." Sehun gasped, bumping into a mop head and screeching.

"Yes, he did! He totally friendzoned her to me! Can you believe that? 'Just a friend', well, I better not hear them f*cking while I'm trying to sleep."

"Yeah, that's so not cool. I can't believe your dad would do that to you." Kyungsoo sighed, rolling his eyes. "Not even a warning, like geez. I bet they stayed in a hotel last night, which is why he came late-"

"Stop, stop. I'm going to puke." He felt sick to his stomach; imagining his dad, a man who had been happily widowed for years, bedding a single woman in some random motel by the airport. Ew. Ew. Ew. What hurt him the most was that he thought love was real, and if it was... how could he just love someone else after Chanyeol's mom...

He rubbed his forehead in the dark closet, growing a migraine more and more every second he wasted in there, inhaling chemical fumes.

"Come on, it's going to be okay, Chan. We should go to class and forget about it. No use stressing over something we know literally nothing about." Kyungsoo said, still sighing.