Not Intended | CHANBAEK (BOOK I)

Star Comparisons

He hated it. He didn't think he'd hate it so much, but Chanyeol did. It wasn't as if Baekhyun was moping around. No, Baekhyun didn't pout. He never even dragged his feet around the house. After they got home, Baekhyun was compliant to everything. He went about his daily job routine—fixing beds, cleaning the floors, wiping furniture—but the only thing different then was that he didn't talk.

And that's the thing that bothered Chanyeol the most. He never thought that the silence he craved for would be blaring louder than Baekhyun's laugh resonating through the house. Instead of Baekhyun's voice that he'd hear, Chanyeol heard his own guilty conscience berating himself.

That evening, Chanyeol accidentally spilled coffee on his shirt. It was nearing nine and everyone seemed to already have been settled in. Despite this, Chanyeol changed into a new shirt and went off to search for Baekhyun, who he found sitting with Sehun and Kai in the living room.

Walking up to him, Chanyeol gently held the coffee-stained shirt up. "Baekhyun, I need you to wash this."

Baekhyun lifted his eyes up from the television then down at the shirt. Without even saying a word, he got up. He didn't move in a grouchy or slouchy manner. He moved like nothing was wrong and that everything way perfectly fine. Taking the shirt, Baekhyun made his way over to the bathroom first to try and rinse out most of the liquid before throwing it in the washer. After he left, Chanyeol caught Kyungsoo's eyes looking at him before Kyungsoo shook his head and looked away, making Chanyeol feel even more guilt.

The next morning, Chanyeol wasn't woken up the way he was used to. Instead, Baekhyun stood by his side and gently shook his shoulder. In a somewhat hushed voice, he called for Chanyeol to wake up. "Mr. Park, it's time to get up."

Chanyeol blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what he heard. At first he wasn't sure if he had heard right—wasn't sure if Baekhyun had really addressed him by his formal name. But when Baekhyun repeated his words again, Chanyeol—with his back turned to Baekhyun—snapped his eyes open. From Baekhyun's view, Chanyeol had a frozen look on his face finally coming to his senses that the way he woke up that morning was different.

There was no bed shaking, which Baekhyun had been doing since the first time they met. There wasn't that voice half-screaming, half-singing for him to get up and smell nature. Baekhyun didn't even rip the covers up—enough to expose him to the chilly morning air. Instead, there Chanyeol was, being woken up by a small voice and gentle—hesitant—shaking.

"Mr. Park, are you awake?"

Chanyeol took a breath before answering. "Yes..." Then Chanyeol listened as Baekhyun pulled away and began to walk to the door. Slowly sitting up, his eyes followed Baekhyun as he left, taking note in his appearance, watching him as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Once gone, Chanyeol flopped back on his bed, staring up at his white ceiling, unable to get rid of that stupid feeling inside his gut.

When he went to the kitchen for breakfast, still groggy from sleep, Chanyeol almost tripped on a brown paper bag that felt like it was a rock. Hissing after barely catching himself, Chanyeol glared at the bag before Kai gently—yet quickly—pushed passed him and crouched down to get the item. "Sorry. I meant to throw this out earlier today," he explained.

Just before Kai exited through the back door to throw whatever that was away, Chanyeol called out to him. "What is that?"

Kai paused and looked down into the bag. "It's nothing. It's just something that Baekhyun bought two days ago—"

"Which is?"

Kai shrugged before fully stepping out. "Dog food," he mumbled. Then he added, "Don't worry. We didn't use grocery money for it. Baek paid for it himself."