EPHEMERAL || BBH

The Broken Ride ❁

*.☽.*

It had almost been a month since that fateful day I saw the guy who turned out to be The Byun Baekhyun of Korea. Believe it or not, I went back to the mountain the very next day. Though I knew that there was a big possibility that he might not show up again because he wouldn't be that careless after bumping into a stranger, I did it anyway. The truth was, I started to like his music. The way his voice sounded like honey whenever he sang love songs. The way it left a little tug in my heart when he sang a sad ballad song. So, before I knew it, almost half of my playlist was already filled with his songs. I just knew there was a fangirl slowing growing in me and I certainly wanted to see him again. But then, just as I had expected, I never saw him up there again and it made me sad. I continued to hike anyway, telling myself that he was not the main reason I went there in the first place. Which was mostly true. It was my healing place even before he showed up.

***

It was a late Saturday afternoon when I decided to climb up the old hiking place again. I thought it was a good idea to come here a little later to avoid the scorching sun. It was almost Autumn but it was still hot which was starting to be annoying. That, and the thought that my bike chain broke made me think otherwise. It broke down fifteen minutes away from the entrance of the hiking place so I was forced to walk from there. I felt like a fool not checking it before coming here.

When I finally reached the entrance, I leaned it next to the signage, I fished for my hair tie inside my bag and made a messy ponytail before I bent my knees to examine it. To be honest, I didn't know what to do with it since it was the first time it happened to me. Then I started to do what I thought was the right thing. It appeared to me that the chain got detached from the crankset so I tried my best to concentrate and fix it. I also saw a stick on the ground right next to me and since it looked quite useful, I grabbed it.

It looked easy to be honest until my first attempt failed. The second one was not any different and then the third failed attempt followed. I huffed the loose strands of my hair falling on my face out of frustration.

"Will you cooperate, please?" I pleaded not knowing if it was for the bike or my inexperienced self. "I need you to go home."

I was about to make my fourth attempt when I heard something. It sounded like a car coming in my direction and it freaked me out making me stop what I was doing immediately. And knowing that not a lot of people knew about this place anymore, I didn't waste any time. I stood and looked for a place to hide. I hid right behind the bushes. Since I was a little bit tall, I needed to make sure my head wouldn't give me away so I crouched as low as I could. Then I watched as a sleek black car stopped right next to my bike. My eyes were on it while my mind was already busy thinking of a way for me to escape as I imagined a goon coming out of the car. I saw a medium-sized rock a foot away from me, I stretched my arm and grabbed it. At least, I had something to defend myself.

"Don't let me die, please don't let me die." I chanted silently as I slouched more, pressing my eyes closed.

For some reason, it was really quiet and I could audibly hear the car's door being opened and closed after a few seconds. Then there were footsteps leaving the dried leaves crushed under the person's feet. I was fighting my curiosity, convincing myself not to take a peek but I had always been a curious cat so I slowly lifted my head to check. And I almost poked my face with the stick, which I was still holding, out of surprise when I recognized who the newcomer was.

It was him.

It was Baekhyun.

He was wearing a navy blue cap, gold round specs, and a loose plain, grey shirt paired with pants and sneakers. I was still staring at him in disbelief when I saw him roam his attention around, probably looking for the owner of the broken bike. I ducked, shutting my eyes closed and not knowing why I had to do it.