Baekhyun's POV:
My luggage was finally ready. It took me a full hour to pack everything up, since I was upset and kept messing everything up from time to time. Chanyeol didn't even have to bring luggage since Jongdae had already sent his clothes to Jeju. Hence, he just had to take his phone.
I had trouble sleeping that night. I was excited because I hadn't been to Jeju Island for a while and also because I kept thinking about Mr. Mo's words.
What if he was right? I probably don't deserve my job... I don't deserve being famous.
I kept rolling on my bed and ended up not sleeping at all. I woke up with horrible dark circles underneath my eyes and drank two cups of coffee to not die. Chanyeol woke up with messy hair and his usual grumpy face.
As I had a giant cup of coffee in front of me, he laughed. It kind of woke him up.
"You didn't sleep either right?" he asked while yawning.
I took a sip of the bitter beverage.
"I didn't. Is it that obvious?" I put my head on the kitchen counter, I was too tired to even stand straight.
I thought he would prepare his usual healthy breakfast with twenty-two varieties of fruits, but instead, he casually took one of my toffee chocolate bars and started eating it. He then sadly sighed.
"Is, everything okay?" I asked, my head still resting on the kitchen counter.
He mumbled something before taking another bite.
"I don't know, I'm just tired. Tired of everything.
- I can relate. I'm tired. I wish I could take a thousand-year sleep and wake up after all my problems are solved.
- Same."
He came to the kitchen counter and grabbed my cup.
"Can I?
- Sure."
He took a few sips and put it back. We were certainly looking like zombies, or dead rats. We were both so tired and didn't even bother to fight.
He rested his head on the counter as well. And then, we looked like two idiots. Two tired idiots. We were too tired to make fun of each other's look. A rare event.
Chanyeol's head was facing me, but his eyes were closed. And I could notice a small tear rolling down his cheek. What happened?
I hesitantly rose my hand and stopped. He looked so exhausted, but most of all, really sad. I suddenly remembered what his father had told me, about his son going through depression, and I sadly smiled.
I gently cupped his right cheek and wiped the tear with my thumb. He didn't deserve all this pain. He deserved happiness.
His eyelashes were so long, and his pink plump lips were adorable. Even though he would look cold and moody, he was still a child.
I wondered if he had fallen asleep with this very uncomfortable position. His breathing was slow so, I guessed he was.
His skin was really soft and warm. It was so soothing to touch. I then noticed another tear forming. I gently wiped it.
"Baekhyun. I'm so tired," he whispered.
He opened his eyes, which got me startled.
We had another intense eye-contact. But this one was way more intense because we were alone, and we were both really morose.
"I know," I answered, before smiling. "I know how tired and exhausted you are. I know how much you want to leave and to throw out everything you have. I know how tough you try to be. And how guilty you feel.
- Really?"he asked, silently, almost out of breath.
"Yes. Because that's exactly how I feel at the moment," I sighed. "But I think we should both help each other and get through this. We're strong enough"
He nodded, still looking into my eyes.
"Yes, you're right.
- And I think we make a pretty good team."
He looked away and smiled.
"You're totally right," he laughed a bit.
I stood straight and grabbed my cup of coffee.
"But Baekhyun?" I heard.
I turned my head a bit.
"Yes?" I raised my eyebrows.
"So, we can now stop hating each other, right?" he asked, frowning.
I chuckled at his question.
"What? What is so funny?
- The thing is, I've never hated you. What about you?" I raised an eyebrow while sipping.
He shook his head.
"Neither have I," he shrugged.
"Well then, I guess we're friends now."
Out of the blue, the bell rang. I went to open the door and an excited Jongdae showed up.
"Are you guys ready?" he asked as I opened the door. "Wait. What is that? Why are you still in pajamas? Is Chanyeol ready?"
The latter joined me, grumpy.
"Jongdae?
- Chanyeol...? Why are you guys looking like this? Have you partied all night or something? You both look like my old and annoying neighbour who always shows up with her pink curlers whenever I turn the TV on at night," he sighed and crossed his arms.
"Okay, give us ten minutes!" I said. "And we'll be ready.
- More like forty for you, Baek."
I lightly punched his arm, which made him smile and rub it, before going upstairs.
┉┉┉┉┉
Chanyeol and I both fell asleep in the plane. We didn't even bother eating the plates given to us, since we were uglily sleeping on our seats. Jongdae was the one who woke us up, by slapping our faces. The flight was definitely too short and my head was going to explode. The whole shooting crew flied with us.
We were at Jeju Island's airport, looking for the luggage. Chanyeol and I both put a cap and sunglasses on before sleeping on the airport's seats while waiting.
"Oh my god what are you two doing?! Wake up! Do you want to end up on Dispatch with nasty snoring faces?" he took our glasses off and snapped his fingers.
"Really guys, there's no such thing as frickle-frackle time before an early morning flight."
We both got up against our will because of his embarrassing comment and followed the crew to the vacation house.
We were going to film the first episode of the Best-Friend series in that house. And it was really spacious and modern. Everything I liked. Chanyeol and I had to sleep there, and Jongdae and the shooting crew had reserved hotel rooms near the sea. We were thus left alone and undisturbed. Which was really appreciable.
Jongdae gave us our schedule for the next day and explained everything before leaving us.
"Guys, take care of this house, the renting is very expensive... But don't forget to have some fun too, this island is so exciting," he winked and ran out.
"How— just, how can this man be that energetic all the fucking time?" I asked, confused.
"I don't know," shrugged Chanyeol, "he's always been like that... But he's a great manager... Well, good night. I mean, what time is it?" he mumbled while yawning.
I looked at the clock hung on the wall.
"Four in the afternoon. Pretty early.
- Well, we can sleep a little bit then. I love naps..." he took a pillow and lied on the couch, hugging it.
I grabbed a pillow as well and headed to a room, I didn't even know which one of them, and jumped on a bed before falling asleep.
•••
When I woke up, the sun was already set. I got up and stretched. I had slept for five hours straight and felt better than before.
I decided to visit the lounge and the kitchen. It was actually quite big and there were tons of windows, the house's lighting was just perfect. It was probably the reason why they chose that house. I got in the kitchen and opened the fridge, there was a lot of food. And at that moment, I just wanted to thank Jongdae. I grabbed a sandwich and devoured it in seconds: I was just that hungry.
Chanyeol was still sleeping. I decided to wake him up since he had to eat in order to stay healthy. I got back into the lounge and walked toward him. He looked so peaceful sleeping on that couch, hugging a red pillow. I really didn't want to wake that giant up, but since there was a lot of healthy food, I thought he'd have been glad to be woken up.
I gently patted his shoulder:
"Chanyeol, wake up. You have to eat. Chan, get up."
All I could hear was some mumbling. I kept patting his shoulder, pulling his ear, but to no avail.
Well, let's use the backup plan.
"Chanyeol, I love you."
Then his eyes suddenly opened and he looked at me with big eyes.
"What?" he asked, shocked and confused.
I frowned.
"What? What happened?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"What did you just say?
- Chanyeol, wake up. You have to eat?"
I crossed my arms and tried to look as serious as possible.
"Oh well... I guess it was just a nightmare."
I rolled my eyes and got out of the house to continue my visit. There was also a very big swimming pool. I suddenly had a urge to try it and to swim. I actually loved water, so this place was just heaven to me.
I went to the room where I put my luggage in and grabbed my swimsuit. I quickly took my clothes off and put it on before running to the swimming pool. I jumped in it and started crawling. I felt so light in water. It just cooled me down a lot. Plus, it was night and there was blue light coming from the pool's bottom. It really looked amazing.
I probably spent a good quarter of an hour swimming and admiring the amazing view from the pool. We could literally see houses' lights sparkling from afar and the mountains' dark figures. The stars also looked beautiful. Everything looked so calm and pretty. I looked at the mountains one more time before diving into the electric blue water.
I heard someone calling my name.
"Baekhyun? I've cooked something. Do you want to eat some?"
I nodded, still in the water. I swam to the pool edge and put my arms on it to get out of the water.
I then, pushed my wet hair back and looked for my towel.
"Oh shit, I forgot to bring my towel..." I said before glancing at Chanyeol.
The latter was eating an apple and staring at me.
"Oh, wait, I'll bring you one," he quickly went inside and came back right after with a white towel.
"Here you are...
- Thanks, Chan."
I put it on my shoulders and wiped the water off my face with my hand.
"What did you cook?" I asked.
"Vegetables with some fish. I thought both of us would like it.
- Yeah I love that," I smiled to him.
Something was weird about him. He kept glancing at me with big eyes, and most of the time at my bare chest.
Was I that attractive?
I smirked while drying my body. It surprisingly got me being shy, though. Which never happened with my male friends.
"Do you want to swim too?" I asked and looked at him, making eye contact.
He was indeed quite flustered. He bit in his apple as he looked away before cutely chewing.
"Yeah, but not for the moment, probably at night," he answered.
After drying my hair, I walked toward him. He stopped breathing and gulped as I was getting closer. I blushed too.
"It's already night, silly," I said as I threw the towel on his head before going inside.
•••
I indeed really enjoyed Chanyeol's cooking. It was delicious. After eating, I took my computer and wrote a new chapter of my novel. I had almost finished it and I really liked how it went. I could finally send it to my publisher and I was so proud. I really wanted to see how the movie would look too.
Chanyeol came back in after swimming. His hair was wet and he was drying his body.
"I think we should go to bed now, the shooting crew will come early tomorrow," he said.
I closed my MacBook and took my glasses off.
"Yes, you're right. How are we going to choose our rooms?
- Let's see?"
I got up and followed him. We got into the first room:
"This is the room where I slept earlier!" I smiled. "It's really nice, right?"
It was a very big room with a king sized bed and a dressing.
"Yes it is. Let's check the other ones."
We opened another door but the room was empty. There was no bed.
"What the hell? There's no furniture in it?" frowned Chanyeol.
We checked the the last room but there was no furniture either, only the shooting crew's equipment.
"Wait, wait, wait..." muttered Chanyeol. "There's only one available room?!"
I shrugged. There was still the living room though. We checked more carefully the only furnished room, and there were Chanyeol's clothes in the dressing.
"There are my clothes here, so, it means this room is actually mine," he smirked.
I crossed my arms.
"I found this room first! You slept in the lounge, so the lounge is yours.
- Are you kidding me? I won't sleep in the lounge, no way!
- And why is that?
- There's no mosquito net! I got bit at least three times while sleeping there, I won't do it twice. I hate mosquitos.
- And you want me to sleep there instead of you? I hate mosquitos as well... We could just sleep in the same room, I have no problem with it..." I raised an eyebrow.
He pouted.
"Neither do I.
- I'll just sleep on the floor, your Highness..." I said sarcastically before getting in the room.
I grabbed an extra blanket and put it on the wooden floor.
"No, Baekhyun, it's okay. The bed is huge, we could just—" he cleared his throat. "Sleep on the same bed."
I glanced at him and he nodded.
"Well, I appreciate your efforts, Mr. OCD," I mocked before grabbing the blanket.
I started taking my shirt off. I was often quite confident, but at that exact moment I felt uncomfortable, maybe because Chanyeol was in underwear too. Plus, as the house was really hot, I couldn't wear pajamas. Hence, I took my pants off and put a short on instead.
I quickly ran to the bed and got under the blanket. What if Chanyeol kept staring at my bare chest because I got fat? I blushed and closed my eyes.
Where did that lack of confidence suddenly come from?
"Wow, aren't you going to die of heat here?" laughed Chanyeol.
He was standing there, with nothing but a Calvin Klein underwear and his glorious body.
"I'm actually, quite cold," I said before closing my eyes.
He kneeled on the bed and grabbed my blanket.
"Stop lying, you're as red as a tomato," he chuckled before putting it aside. "What are you afraid of, I'm not going to eat you, or something..." he chuckled nervously.
"No of course..." I answered, frowning.
"Then what are you trying to hide?"
He looked at me, with the adorable gaze he could make appear from time to time.
"I don't know..." I ruffled my hair. "Chan, am I fat?" I asked on a serious tone.
He frowned, at first and then, bursted into laughter. And once he started laughing, no one could stop him.
"You? Fat? Are you serious?
- Of course I am!" I crossed my arms.
He stopped laughing and poked my shoulder.
"You literally have a perfect eight-pack. And I'm actually jealous of you oblique muscles..."
I looked at him.
"Really?
- Of course... Do you really need to get praised all the time?" he asked, smirking.
"What? Of course not... I was serious. Well, let's sleep instead of arguing, okay?" I turned the lights off and lied back.
The bed was huge, so we had space to sleep together. But I just couldn't close my eyes. I wasn't used to that kind of situation, especially with Chanyeol. A few weeks before, I would have slept on the couch with mosquitos. But since we started actually liking each other, it got a bit weird.
His aura was really strong, I could feel his energy, his breathing, and his smell was just amazing. And also his compliment, although he was perfectly shaped.
Those things started paralysing me.
Shit. I can't sleep on the same bed as him.
I was just lying on my back, staring at the ceiling.
Chanyeol wasn't moving either. I thought about his reaction at the pool, it made me question a lot of things.
I finally got up and grabbed my pillow before heading to the door. I just couldn't sleep with him.
"Baek, where are you going?"he asked.
"I'm— I'll sleep in the lounge, don't worry. It's a bit hot in here.
- Wait!"
He got up and walked toward me before touching my cheeks.
"You aren't hot at all... What are you trying to escape from? Huh? Me?" he smiled and pointed at himself.
I ran a hand through my hair.
"No, I—... It's okay. I actually don't hate mosquitos so it'll be alright."
I was about to open the door but he lifted me up and carried me to the bed.
"I'm the biggest mosquito out there!" he growled before pinning me on the bed. "I'll suck all your blood, human!" he started tickling my stomach and pecking my neck.
I couldn't help laughing my head off.
"Oh my god! Chan! Stop!" I tried to push him back but he kept tickling me.
Moreover, my soft spot was on my neck, so the feeling of his warm lips pecking it started to turn me on.
"Chan!" I started tickling him as well and he finally started to weaken. I took control and made him fall onto the bed before pinning him.
"Got you."
He looked into my eyes, and he did that thing again. His eyes started sparkling, and my heart beating faster.
"I won, Chanyeol."
I let him go and lied on the bed. That feeling was way too strong, I couldn't afford letting it ignite.
"No actually, I won," he whispered.
And I smiled, but the lights were already shut down for him to notice.
┉┉┉┉┉
The next day, we shot the first episode of the Best friend series. And it actually went pretty well. Most of our actions were totally genuine and not faked, which looked a thousand times better.
We showed our room, but we lied and told Chanyeol lost a bet and slept in the living room, hence he got bit my mosquitos. We later swam and fooled a little around. Then we showed the kitchen, and cooked a salad, we also made smoothies while answering some questions about our daily life and ending that episode.
It was actually quite enjoyable, since we were payed for doing this, for having fun. And we really did have some fun. At least, I did.
The shooting crew and Jongdae congratulated us for this episode and left us.
"You are getting really good at this, Baekhyun. Beware Chanyeol, he could overshadow you someday..." jokingly said Jongdae.
"It will never happen to Park Chanyeol. Jongdae, please at least acknowledge my splendour."
I shook my head.
"Jongdae, how can you work for a fool with delusions of grandeur...
- I guess I got used to it."
Chanyeol hit Jongdae's arm.
"Get out, you're the worst manager ever!" he said before opening the door.
Jongdae chuckled and got out.
"See you tomorrow for the next episode, you did a good job, the both of you," he waved at us and left.
Chanyeol and I decided to go out and to visit Jeju by ourselves. We rented bicycles and went downtown. There were plenty of really good restaurants and we stopped in front of one of them. It was a really pretty traditional restaurant and we decided to order several dishes and to share them.
The atmosphere was really nice: the restaurant was simple but very welcoming. It made me think of my parents. I missed them so much since they moved to the United States. I wished I could go to San Francisco and meet them.
"Are you okay?" asked Chanyeol, a bit worried.
I smiled to him.
"Yes, everything's okay. This restaurant just... makes me realise how much I miss my mother's homemade food.
- Oh yes, of course. When did you last see your parents? he asked while pouring some water in our glasses.
- Last summer. I had planned to go to the US for Christmas but my boss unfortunately made me stay."
He frowned.
"Your job seems so hard. What if you quitted it and became a full time author?
- I'd love to... But I'd lack a lot of money. I mean, that's why I stay with you, I can't afford another big house," I chuckled.
He pursed his lips and looked down.
Oh, I hope I haven't messed everything up.
"Today's episode is going to be great! Your fans will love it.
- Not only my fans, yours too," he glanced at me.
I smiled.
"Who knew I'd become Park Chanyeol's best friend, huh?"
He shrugged before laughing.
"I have no idea. Since I casually threw you out of our house the first time we met.
- Now you tell me...
- Yeah, it sounds better."
His eyes were sparkling again.
I hope I'll have to see him happy more often.
I got up as I had to go to the restroom before eating. I apologised and headed to the toilets. And then, I saw a familiar face, and I knew I was going to get in trouble.
"Luhan?
- Sehun?"
Oh my god. No.... Please! Not him, not now, not here.
Luhan — Sehun's blind date — was there, in the same restaurant as us. And he still thought I was Sehun.
"Sehun, what are you doing here? Who are you with?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm just..." I cleared my throat. "You know, chilling here with a bro of mine.
- Your actor friend? So I was right, I saw him entering a few minutes ago.
- Yes, him," I awkwardly smiled.
"And, what are you doing here, Luhan?" I asked nervously.
"I'm in Jeju for a photoshoot. But I have to go now. I came to eat in this restaurant with my manager.
- Oh, well, it was, really nice to meet you here!"
He squinted.
"Yes," he said. "Sure it was. See you."
He headed to the door as I was looking at him. I was so surprised and nervous. Chanyeol noticed him too. And he glanced at me with big eyes before waving at Luhan. The latter bowed down to him before leaving.
Well, shit.
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To be continued...
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