"So now that I helped you out, you're gonna tell me the full story?" Baekhyun demanded as they fastened their seatbelts.
Chanyeol decided to sit beside Baekhyun this time, only so that he could choose the music and no ulterior motive. He made sure to enunciate the ' only' and 'no ulterior' part.
"Well it's a long one." Said chanyeol, trying to save himself from the embarrassment. His breakup was quite brutal and regardless of that, he came all the way to Japan, in mid semester- he wasn't particularly interested in sharing this information with Baekhyun. Oddly enough, he did care about what the brunette thought of Chanyeol.
"Well as you can see, we have quite a journey ahead of us and I don't mind dramatic stories such as these to keep me entertained on a road trip." Replied Baekhyun. He was eager to know but he was playing it cool.
I mind, Chanyeol thought to himself.
"Yeah well it's not that dramatic. There is this girl I dated and we broke up but I kind of missed her and I found out somehow that she is in Japan, working for the Sakura hotel." Said Chanyeol finally, leaving out the details...
"She must've been one hell of a girl for you to come mid semester, all the way to Japan, just to find her. Ever heard of social media?" Baekhyun asked, sarcastically.
Chanyeol shot him a look.
"DaMN tHe ideA of usInG SocIAl MEdIa neVeR cRoSSeD mY MInd." Replying to sarcasm with sarcasm.
"She's not a fan of social media, I take it?" Baekhyun affirmed.
"Yeah.."
"Are you?" Baekhyun asked, with a straight face, eyes on the road.
"I guess.." Chanyeol responded, uncertain of what Baekhyun meant.
Baekhyun simply handed Chanyeol his phone and asked him to add his insta id.
Chanyeol was about to when his stomach growled.
He tried to act nonchalant when it growled again.
"Somebody is hungry." Baekhyun smirked
"Since we're on our way to Kawasaki, I know just the eating place to go to. Trust me, you'll love it!" He added.
Chanyeol wasn't sure whether to feel excited or scared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" 'Crave?Cave!' What does that even mean?" Chanyeol asked, reading the name of the restaurant.
He knew that with Baekhyun, it was going to be something odd and chaotic.
"You'll see, Red. Just don't wet your pants." He winked.
The inside of the restaurant was.... empty. There were no chairs or tables, just a reception.
"Welcome to Crave?Cave! We give you the best caveman experience here! I take it it's your first time?" The receptionist said, with a bright, plastered smile.
"It is!" Said they brunette, excitedly.
Chanyeol on the other hand was losing his mind. Cave Man experience? Cave man????
"So let me explain it to you, we'll give you a torch but it's shaped like lit wood. The door to the cave is behind me. The cave is artificial but looks very real. You're going to go in through the various twisted pathways and look for an inscription on the surrounding wall. Writing on the wall. Hahah. Pun intended.
Anyway, that is where you're supposed to sit. Now the inscription will be a riddle and once you solve it, you write the answer on this beeper I'm giving you, if the answer is correct, the waiter will be sent your coordinates and he'll come right away to serve you. Any questions?" She beamed.
"No" "Yes" said Baekhyun and Chanyeol respectively, simultaneously.
Chanyeol glared at Baekhyun.
"This is absurd. We're paying you for food, why should we go through all this for paid food? What if I don't want to solve the riddle?" Chanyeol asked, finding the situation ridiculous.
"The point is to enjoy. You can go to a regular restaurant if you don't like a challenge. You can also opt out of the riddle thing by pressing this other button on the beeper. The waiter will automatically come this way." She answered.
Chanyeol couldn't say no to a challenge....
As they went into the cave, they realised how real the interiors looked. The cave had numerous meandering paths, some with a very small openings, few through which one would have to crawl, many were narrow. They could also hear water falling from somewhere in the cave.
While Baekhyun was very excited before they entered the cave, he wasn't so once they were in.
He let Chanyeol lead the way and was breathing hard and loud.
As they moved through a narrow opening, all of a sudden a bat came out of nowhere.
"Aahhhhhh" Baekhyun screamed as he clung on to Chanyeol.
Chanyeol froze. And then unfroze realising the brunette was visibly shaken.
"It's gone." Chanyeol said softly.
Baekhyun peeked from behind Chanyeol's back to ensure he didn't just say it to get Baekhyun off him.
Once certain, Baekhyun let out a huge sigh of relief.
And then the embarrassment started creeping in.
"Don't say a word." Baekhyun said as he took the torch from Chanyeol and charged ahead.
"I wasn't going to." Chanyeol said, following him.
After 10 minutes of searching which to their empty stomachs felt like an eternity, they found an inscription. It was beside an artificial waterfall. The waterfall was glowing and had fake glow worms flying all around. The trees too looked magnificent.
It was all very picturesque except they weren't sure whether they were supposed to sit on the floor or look for a proper seating area?
They decided to sit on the floor for the time being and tried to solve the riddle.
What word in the English language has the following: the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters signify something great, while the entire word signifies a great woman. What is the word?
"Its about an English word? This is hard. Let's just press the other button." Said Baekhyun.
"No wait. Let's think first. Unlike some other people, *ehem* I paid attention in my English classes back in school." Said Chanyeol, concentrating.
This side of Chanyeol was new to Baekhyun.
So he is the competitive kind, Baekhyun thought to himself. Perhaps the word 'challenge' did the trick, he assumed.
He couldn't deny that worked up and competitive Chanyeol was..... sexy.
"Okay then Sir Charles Dickens , make your guess." Ushered Baekhyun.
"The first two letters signify a male. So it could be like an obvious masculine name?" Chanyeol suggested.
"I doubt. How many names with two letters can you think of? Apart from nicknames?" Said Baekhyun.
"Hmmm" nodded Chanyeol in agreement.
"What about Pa? It's often used instead of Papa." Baekhyun proposed.
"Good one. But if we go ahead with this, the first three letters should signify a female. paN? paT? I don't think it's going anywhere." Said Chanyeol despondently.
"What about Pad? That's feminine-okay sorry". Baekhyun jested but Chanyeol's glare was Baekhyun's cue to shut up for Chanyeol was clearly 'not in the joke mood'. He had a sexy frown on his face as if his life depended on this riddle.
Baekhyun wondered whether he was this passionate everywhere, even in.....
He gave himself a mental slap.
Not the right time Baekhyun.
Bringing his mind back to the situation on hand, Baekhyun thought hard. What is starting with Pa and with another letter becomes feminine?
And then it clicked
"How about PAX! You know the religious tablet, which carries the representation of Virgin Mary? Virgin Mary is our female!" Baekhyun declares.
"Oh my god yes! And with the fourth letter, it should signify something great. Is there a word which contains Pax though? Oh wait isn't there this island called Paxi?" Asked Chanyeol
"Yeah but the group of islands called Paxi are actually like few of the smallest islands to exist, quite contrary to the 'something great'" corrected Baekhyun.
"Maybe that's why they could be called great? Great things come in small packages you know? Like you." Said Chanyeol, smoothly and unconcerned how his words could be interpreted. It was as if he had said it without even realising what he had said.
Baekhyun's insides started fluttering like butterflies but he decided not to pay too much attention to this and got back to thinking.
"Sweet but seems far fetched. I think Asian Taxi drivers in England are also called Paxi and since Japan takes a lot of pride in being Asia-" Baekhyun said but was cut off mid sentence.
"WAIT." Said Chanyeol
"I think we're going on an entirely wrong tangent. I doubt the restaurant would assume that their customers would know about Pax or Paxi." He continued.
"What else could it be then?" Baekhyun questioned.
"How about............He?" Said Chanyeol, after a long pause.
"Damn. Yes. Overthinking doesn't do much good." Baekhyun agreed in ecstasy.
"So the first two letters are He and third with which the word should signify a female could be.....her!" Chanyeol said excitedly.
"Right and the fourth letter with which the word should symbolise something great could be herL, herT, herP. Oh wait I know-HerO!!!" They were on a roll.
"The entire word signifies a great woman. I think it's obvious at this point." Said Chanyeol, trying to hard to control his excitement.
"Heroine!" The both of them said together
"Yes good job nerds. Maybe you should've guessed this before you pressed the red button." Said a waiter who had magically appeared beside them, or atleast they thought he had because they were sure he hadn't been here a few seconds back...
"Nobody pressed the red button though?" Said Chanyeol, admittedly confused.
"Well one of you did. Now i don't have all day. Here is your menu. Order what you want." The waiter passed a menu card each to the both of them.
This is when Chanyeol noticed the beeper under his elbow. He might've pressed the button by mistake in all this excitement.
They went though the menu and placed a hefty order. All the food items were wittily named, suiting the theme. For example 'roasted lamb' was called 'flamed lamb' and a 'fruit salad' was called 'a bowl full of multicoloured happiness'.
The waiter laid down a mat on which they sat and also put up a fake fire on artificial wooden logs. It was like camping in the caves except the 21st century style.
The temperature in the cave was maintained through central heating and the glow worms emitted enough light so it wasn't really dark anway but the fire was a nice addition to an already beautiful scenery.
Chanyeol wondered the last time he had gone on a picnic.
The food was served within a few minutes since the order placement and Chanyeol and Baekhyun revelled each bite of their food.
"So it's true what they say? Nothing like the food when you've worked for it?" Said chanyeol.
"And nothing like a full cave man experience until you've slogged physically and mentally for your food?" Added Baekhyun.
"This reminds me, I was meaning to ask you, are you afraid of the dark?" Enquired Chanyeol. Although he was 90 percent sure Baekhyun would deny it. From what Chanyeol could see, Baekhyun did not like to appear weak.
"I- yes. Was it that obvious?" Conceded Baekhyun, much to Chanyeol's amazement.
"Then why did you want to come here? You knew a cave would be dark right?" Asked Chanyeol, not letting this opportunity go.
"I don't like my fears to have power over me. I figured that if I made myself face my fears often enough, I'd eventually overpower them right? You know as Roosevelt said,'the only thing we should fear is fear itself'. So I choose to rise above my fears, even act strong to the point that I start internalising it and it's no more pretence then.. Fake it till you make it..hahah."replied Baekhyun, calmly.
Chanyeol was visibly impressed, even envious...
There was way more to Baekhyun than what seemed on the surface and Chanyeol was realising that.
The roof of the cave replicated the night sky with millions of stars. It looked as if them sitting here and eating together was written in the stars...
Sehun and Chanyeol dropped a surprise pre release!!! There is really never a dull day when you Stan exo.
Also, vote and comment if you like the chapter please🥺 the encouragement really helps❤️