Heartstrings

Chapter Twenty-One: It Won't Be Long Until You Break

The world always looked different at the night. Everything has an unfamiliar slant to it. As if the daytime euphoria and gaiety had gone to bed and sent slightly more dismal versions of themselves to take their places. If you look closer, you could see the perfected mask of pretense crumbling down and raw emotions taking over. If you listen carefully, you could hear the cries buried down deep beneath the fake laughs. It was fascinating how the dark held the power to bring the unsurfaced into the light. How it unmasks the hidden so brightly. Has the night always been this powerful? Did it always have the ability to make one see things better than its counterpart?

A sudden buzz pulled Chanyeol out of his trance and he looked down at his cell phone. Seohyun's name flashed on the screen for the nth time and yet he ignored it. He did not want to talk to anyone, not even her. All he wanted was peace for now. All he wanted was to be alone. Chanyeol lifted his head up to look at the dark sky. The rain had stopped a while ago and what was left behind was the puff of gray clouds moving in a more sporadic, chaotic way. There were times they just moved enough to reveal the moon, but most of the night will be spent without its silvery light. Chanyeol couldn't help but compare the night with his own state of mind. Just like those clouds, his insides were in a chaos. A mess. Something was bothering him. Something was hurting him. Something ached inside him. Something felt so wrong, so invalid but Chanyeol couldn't tell what. He tried to pinpoint the cause of this unexplained pain but failed. He tried to reason this unbearable burning but didn't find any. Everything felt so confused, just like a jumbled set of a puzzle.

A puzzle Chanyeol didn't know how to solve.

"What's your ideal type?"

Chanyeol stopped sipping on his juice and looked at the smaller male lying next to him. Baekhyun wasn't looking at him but at the ceiling with eyes shining like the stars. Right beside him was a novel, Twilight to be precise and Chanyeol cringed inwardly just by looking at it. He could never understand why was Baekhyun so obsessed with a story that wasn't even logical and where vampires shone under the sun. I mean, what the heck? Was the author drunk or something when she was writing it? Does she not know that those mythical bloodsucking creatures hate the sun? And who even likes to read such sappy, unrealistic stories? Well, Chanyeol need not answer this as the question asked itself explains what kind.

"I don't have any." He said looking back at his book. Why would he need anything childish like that when he already has found the person long, long ago?

"What?" Baekhyun frowned a little. "Everyone has an ideal type Yeol."

"Really?" The taller sipped more juice and turned the page.

"Then what's yours?"

"Me?" Baekhyun asked surprised. "Why do you want to know mine?"

"Why do you want to know mine then?" Chanyeol wiggled his brows playfully making Baekhyun groan.

"But I asked you first! You're so unfair!"

"It's Kris Wu, isn't it? " That made Baekhyun gasp loudly. Why will he ever like that weird, creepy basketball captain?

"What? No, he is not! He is so scary! And he doesn't even make me smile!" Chanyeol felt relief washing over him and hmmed. But does not mean he wasn't scared still. What if Baekhyun found someone else and that person turns out to be his ideal type and then they fall in love and... Chanyeol's eyes widened in fear. He can't let that happen. He would never let it happen.

"What's your ideal type Baekhyunnie?" This time Baekhyun blushed a little before answering.

"I...I like someone who could make me smile and make me feel free."