Hannamdong UN Village [EXO's Byun Baekhyun]

Chapter 28: Helpless

"Baek, its just a frostbite."

His hair was disheveled, and his eyes filled with worry to the brim.

"You mean to say you," he breathed, like he was trying to calm himself down. But he couldn't. And it was showing. He was pacing back and forth, and he was shaking. "Of all people, you," this time his voice broke, like he was holding in a flood from escaping, "Went outside, in winter, without shoes, in your shorts, and without something less of a coat?"

Haru had no words for that, and it was not only because she was still freezing over, but because she genuinely didn't know why, herself. It certainly wasn't like her, but who else could've pushed her to do that?

Baekhyun sighed, he didn't know what to do, what he should do. It wasn't like she was keeping secrets - no, she told him everything she could. He sat on the bed with her, his hands on her shoulders, and his eyes trying to reason with hers as he tried to soothe the cold away from her freezing skin.

"Haru, what's going on? Please tell me."

Baekhyun was crumbling at the sight of her. It was just now that he noticed she had lost weight as he had a grip on her shoulders, and Haru's eyes look dim and hollow, not the pair of bright eyes he fell in love with. He was breaking because she was breaking. He damned himself why he didn't notice sooner - why he didn't act sooner. Her skin was paler than any time he'd ever seen, even when she was out on a cold, and her lips were a shade of blue that Baekhyun hated seeing on her. He wanted her back. He wanted her to return.

Haru, on the other hand, couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say to him - not when she didn't understand anything either.

"Hey," he had one hand cupping her right cheek. "I'm right here, I'll always be here."

Haru knew there was no way Baekhyun would've left her. She understood his feelings like she understood her own. There was no doubt between them and she would never question his feelings or his intentions.

Despite that, Haru questioned something else, something darker than what she'd like to admit. She didn't want to be the weak one and fall to it, but she couldn't deny that she was indeed falling. Her eyes betrayed her as she cried, she cried like she didn't believe in him and it pained both of them.

"I don't know," Haru simply said, her voice unstable. "I don't know what's wrong with me," she looked up to face him, despite her shivering. "But something's wrong, Baek," she said again, this time, her shivers were different. It wasn't because of the cold.

"I'm wrong," she clarified - more to herself than to Baekhyun.

"No," Baekhyun's voice was firm and stern, and just as he looked at her, trying to show her just how right she was. He didn't understand why she was doubting herself, why she was unsure and why she was so against herself - but he knew that it was killing her from the inside out. He held her close, pulled her to himself, hoping she would get warmer.

"You can never be wrong, love," he whispered. The nickname he had for Haru giving more weight to the comfort he was providing her. "Why are you thinking this way?"

She shook her head, telling him she didn't know. But all she could do was shiver and cry. He held her head against his shoulders, and Baekhyun held on to her like his life depended on it. He stayed there until her sobbing died down and she was finally asleep. He stayed there until her skin felt warm again and color was coming back to her face, albeit the obvious tiredness under her eyes and the hollow cheeks she had developed.

Even in that circumstance Baekhyun thought she looked beautiful.

But it was a circumstance Baekhyun couldn't bear to see again.

Right as she slept, and right after he had tucked another blanket atop of her, the door to her room opened and in came a panicking Minyoung.

"Is she okay?" Minyoung cried softly, noticing that she was asleep.

Baekhyun nodded, but frowned. Taehyung, the guy who found her, had called Minyoung first because she was their mutual acquaintance. Minyoung was the one who instructed Taehyung to go through Haru's phone and speed dial 1 - Baekhyun.

But Baekhyun had known there was something going on in her friendship with Minyoung, something felt off when he was firstly introduced to the best friend, and was that was the last time he'd seen Minyoung. Baekhyun saw the missed calls Haru had blatantly ignored, and he didn't feel completely okay with that. Something must've been wrong for Haru to avoid a call, especially from a close friend.

"I'm sorry," Minyoung trailed off, crying as she did, holding on to the end of the bed. Baekhyun didn't understand why she was apologizing, though, but he would soon learn why.

He just stayed still for a moment there, letting Minyoung catch her breath.

"Can I talk to you for a while?" this time, the girl looked at him in question, and Baekhyun spared a glance for Haru, noting that she was deeply asleep, and it was fine for him to step out for a while. He nodded, leading her out of the room despite of the fact that she just got there, but he really did not want to risk waking Haru up, "Let's talk outside."

She followed suit after him, and right when the doors were closed, she bowed her head to him.

"I want to apologize," she said slowly, before explaining herself.

Baekhyun saw the timidness in her voice, and the haunting guilt in her eyes. But he didn't know this we person, asides from the stories Haru told.

"I think I pushed her to that point," Minyoung said again, before Baekhyun could say anything else.

"But I want to apologize for something else," she said again. "I -," she couldn't meet his eyes as Baekhyun stared at her, confusion and growing anger was brewing in him when he heard her confession on Haru. "I was the one who publicized your previous relationship, and I have put a hand on criticizing you and Haru next," Minyoung finally admitted.

No words came out of Baekhyun for a while, not when suddenly past relationships were involved. "What?" he asked, clearly out of bounds.

"What do you mean?"

Minyoung sighed, and did her best to face him right in the eyes. "You and Taeyeon, we stalked you both back in the days. By we, I mean the publishing company had purposedly sent people to check what you were up to. And just recently, they -"

"They stalked Haru," Baekhyun completed for her, his eyes wide at the realization. The on-going stress of her novel, the feeling of eyes on her, and with how Baekhyun knew her to be, Haru was not one to just move on and act like nothing happened. She would have all her burdens stacked up and pretended she was perfectly fine. It would dwell in her head, and she would worry without knowing what exactly was worrying her.

Moreover, she lived under his roof, where the eyes would forever be glaring.

How could he had been so stupid?

And where was he when she was so trapped?

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