Free of Charge // Baekchen

Disarray

Chapter Twenty-Five: Disarray

disarray: a state of disorder; confusion

~*~

"Did Jongdae give you this?"

Baekhyun turned around to see what his mother was referring to -- the plastic rose that Jongdae gave Baekhyun for Valentine's Day. Blood rushed to Baekhyun's cheeks. "Why are you going through my stuff? And yes, he did."

Suhyun chuckled, placing her free hand on her son's shoulder. She set the vase back on the bookcase, "You displayed it for everyone to see. I'm just casually looking around."

Baekhyun held out a stapled packet to his mother. He took a seat on his rolling chair while she sat on the edge of his bed, staring down at the packet. Baekhyun scrunched his face at his mother's expression. "What?"

Suhyun read the title of Baekhyun's paper, "One, Two, Three -- Someone Kill Me?"

"It's a rough draft, a default title of mine. The real title's still a work in progress."

Suhyun proceeded to read aloud her son's paper while Baekhyun followed along with his own packet with a blue pen to take notes of any mistakes or changes he needed to make. His mother was bored on her day off and offered to help Baekhyun. When she finished reading the last page, Suhyun tsked. "Where's your Work Cited page?"

"I didn't print it to save paper."

"I need to see that too. What if you made a huge error?"

"It's okay, Mom."

Suhyun nodded and handed the packet back. "When did you want to take your driver's license test? You are old enough, you know."

"Yeah," Baekhyun responded. He'd thought about it numerous of times, but school and other business got in the way. Baekhyun already knew the basics of driving, thanks to Baekbeom. It shouldn't be difficult for him to take the tests. "When I get to it."

"And when is that?"

"I don't know. Whenever I get to it."

"All right then, I'm going to schedule you an appointment sometime during your summer break." Suhyun grinned and exited the room.

How wonderful.

---

The lights went out, along with the oscilliating fan and Baekhyun's laptop charger. Ignoring the power outage, Baekhyun continued tapping away at his keyboard. He had a math paper due tomorrow. Yes, a math paper. A paper, for math.

By the time he proofread his essay, he realized he wouldn't be able to print or send his essay anywhere. Panicking, Baekhyun unplugged his laptop and picked it up, carrying it with him out his bedroom, but he stopped dead in his tracks, frozen at the top of the staircase as his mind imagined all sorts of dark creatures and the unknown lurking downstairs. He ran back into his room and locked the door, setting his laptop on the desk and turning it off -- after clicking the save button about ten times just in case. He'd wait until the power came back on.

He retreated to the safety of his bed, wishing his mother was home with him. Of all the days she chose to go out, it had to be the evening their power went out. About half an hour later, Baekhyun remained in the darkness. To distract himself, he hit speed dial on his phone, hoping he'd get a real person on the other end and not a machine.

"Hello?"

Baekhyun grinned, "Hi, Sweetie."

"Aren't you supposed to be working on your essays?"