C h a p t e r  t h r e e
Lights Out
 

. ✦ .

We reached the car and he was about to open the door of the passenger’s area when he stopped. With the rain and still under the umbrella, I wondered what made him pause. From his hand, I trailed my attention to his face.

His eyes were on his hand as well and as if he felt me staring, he turned to look at me too. I had to admit, at that very moment, that I was drawn to him. His eyes were boring into mine and the way his lips subtly moved made it seem like he wanted to say something but was hesitant.

“What’s the matter?” I managed to ask, not being able to stand the silence between us anymore, scared my heart would beat loudly he would hear it.

He tilted his head slightly as if he were contemplating something. He momentarily looked away only to stare at me for the next few seconds before he cleared his throat. I heard him sigh ever so subtly before he proceeded to open the door for me. The way he hovered his palm over my head to make sure I didn’t hurt myself made me warm and fuzzy inside.

I took one deep breath as soon as he closed the door and watched him walk to the other side of the car. Someone, please help me, what is happening to me?

I tilted my head down to my hands on my lap to clear my head just in time he got inside. Trying to act natural, I took the umbrella from him and placed it in the back.

When I turned to look at him again, he lifted his hand to his hair slightly damp hair and raked his fingers through it. I had to close my hands into fists to stop myself from letting out a gasp. I looked out the window to distract myself concluding I should never let myself be alone with him like this if I wanted to cut off any attraction I had toward this man. He’s too charming for me, I’d go insane if this went on.

“Why did you get out of the car?” I asked dismissing my thoughts. “If not for Mr. Ahn’s umbrella you could have been soaked and end up sick later.”

His response was in the form of gaze and the slight rising of the corners of his lips.

“I won’t get sick because of some rain, Hari.” He smirked.

Smirking should be banned from a Byun Baekhyun because what the ?  

“It’s you I was worried about,” He said in a matter-of-fact tone. “You caught a cold a few months ago, didn’t you?”

I did and how on earth did he remember it? I would never in a million years think he’d remember stuff about me like this. I mean we’re friends, yes, but he’s a busy person.

“And you hate thunders.” He added handing me the tissue box. “Here, you better wipe your face and dry your hair.” He told me. “And wash up as soon as you get home to make sure you don’t fall ill this time.”

I took the tissue box from him as I processed how he was openly being caring toward me right now. Had he always been like this? I was wiping my face when he started to drive us back.

***

5:38 PM

Mr. Ahn was right; the weather forecast was right…the weather worsened in the span of an hour. The rain grew harder, the wind intensified and lighting and thunder decorated the dim sky every now and then.

Glancing at Baekhyun, he was already having a hard time trying to see the roads because of the downpour. I, on the other hand, wasn’t at ease since the consecutive, loud thunderclaps were bothering me. When another loud one came, I covered my ears with my hands, biting my lower lip, and shut my eyes. It was too strong I thought it was right above the car.

Baekhyun went to a full stop I almost leaned forward and collided with the dashboard if not for his arm on my shoulder.

We exchanged looks and it was obvious that he was worried.

“Are you okay?” He breathed out, checking me as he removed his hand from me.

“I’m fine.” I nodded. “What happened?”

“I almost missed the fallen tree ahead of us.” He explained as he pointed at the huge tree trunk blocking the road.

“Oh,” I sighed covering my face with my hands.

My first thought was how wrong it was for me to have dragged Baekhyun into this situation.

When I removed my hands and turned in his direction, I did not expect him to be already staring at me. His hands were on the steering wheel but I had his full attention.

“It’s fine.” He muttered in a calm manner.  

“It’s fine?” I asked looking at him unbelievably, my stress level rising all of a sudden. “I am stuck in the middle of nowhere, the weather is most likely to get worse than this anytime soon and of all the people I could be with, I’m with you…”

I thought I saw him wince.

“What is so wrong about being with me, Hari?” His expression turned cold, hurt even.

“No, I mean…” I tried to explain but he cut me off.

“Are you saying if you were with somebody else, you would not be reacting like the way you are right now?”

“No, Baekhyun.” I sighed knowing he completely misunderstood. “It’s not that…” I bit the inside of my lower lip not knowing how to phrase my reply exactly. “You have to understand you’re not someone ordinary, anyone who might see us could easily recognize you.”

He didn’t reply, instead, he looked away and leaned back on the seat. He took about a minute to respond to me.

“Can you please,” He swallowed his eyes shut. “For one second, forget about my celebrity status?” He asked in a more composed tone yet it was obvious that he was annoyed.

I kept quiet fully aware that he was getting worked up.

“It’s unfair how you keep thinking that way when you’re the one I’m worried about…” He said looking into my eyes this time. “You keep getting startled by the thunderclaps, your hands were even shaking.”

My hands were? I didn’t even notice until he mentioned it.

“I’m alright,” I told him as I balled my hands into fists to conceal the slight shaking.

“Yeah, right.” He snapped as he looked away once more. “You were absent in the last couple of gatherings and now it seems to me like you’re too attuned to me as the celebrity rather than me being your friend.” He went on still looking in the opposite direction.

I did not know what to tell him exactly. Maybe, he was right. Just when I was about to open my mouth to apologize he turned to me and spoke.

“I don’t want us to fight, okay?” He quickly his lip before letting out a sigh. “Let me go check the situation…” He trailed off as he reached for the umbrella from the backseat. “I’ll be right back.”

He was quick, I didn’t even have the time to stop him. The next thing, I was struggling to locate him outside because the rain was thick. I waited for a few minutes and when he didn’t come back for over five minutes, I got concerned.

I debated in my head whether I should get out and check on him or stay knowing I’d get soaked the moment I stepped out of the car. Just when I decided to get out and had unfastened my seatbelt, he came back.

As I had expected, he was a bit soaked to the point his hair was wet.

“Why did you have to step out?!” I fired, nagging him as I took the umbrellas from him and placed them at the back once again.

He was staring back at me, probably surprised by my reaction to the way our previous conversation ended.

“Look at you, Baekhyun,” I added, pulling tissues from the box before leaning closer to him to wipe his face.

“Hari, I’m fine…”

I heard him protest but ignored him and got more tissue to wipe his hair.

“Your jacket’s drenched as well, you should take it off,” I told him as I held on to the collar to help him. “Where did you even go and what took you so long to go back, I was starting to get worried what if something happened to you…” I paused when I noticed him move.  

He slowly crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me as if I was trying to harass him. We exchanged looks and I easily understood what he was trying to do here.

“Hari, please don’t…” He begged.

I tried to suppress myself from smiling but as soon as the corner of his mouth rose it was only seconds after when we both burst out laughing.

“Ya, I’m just trying to help you out.” I reasoned out as I jokingly hit his arm.

“I know, I’m kidding.” He replied as he removed his jacket and placed it in the backseat.

“Your hair’s still dripping,” I informed him handing him the tissue box. “Are you sure, you’re not gonna get sick from this?” I could not help but nag at him and looked at his legs. “Are your feet wet?”

“Hari,” He paused to let out another laugh. “Please stop, I’m not a kid…” He trailed off once more seemingly remembering something. “But oh, I’m your Baby, aren’t I?”

“Oh my god, stop!” I covered my face with my hands, embarrassed. “Please I’m begging,” I looked at him. “Forget about it and don’t tell anyone about it, especially our friends…” I added. “Hm?”

“Hm, let’s see.” He still had an amused expression on his face.

“Ugh.” I groaned as I was fully aware of what that meant. “You’re going to use this against me, I’m sure.”

He laughed in response. “Hari?”

“What?” I faced him.

“Happy Birthday.” He greeted me with a huge smile plastered on his face.

I sighed once more, covering my ears with my hands recalling that was what I said earlier in the store.

“Why did I ever say that in the first place…Please Byun Baekhyun, stop.”

“Okay, Okay, I’ll stop.” He said suppressing a smile.

“How’s the situation outside?” I asked, not giving him the chance to talk about the previous topic.

“I think it’s impossible to go back to Seoul at this point. The wind’s crazy and there’s not just one but three fallen trees ahead.” He answered roaming his attention around. “We can’t stay here either, it’s going to get dark soon.” He added looking up at the skies.

“This is all my fault.” I covered my face with my hands before I exhaled. “If I had not forgotten the delivery, we would not be here stuck in the middle of nowhere.”

“You make it sound like some horror movie, you know?” He smirked once more.  

“You make it sound like this isn’t a big deal, Baekhyun,” I responded.

The truth was, I wanted to talk about how his work might be affected but given the almost argument we had about it earlier, I decided to shut up.

“Relax, Hari. We’ll figure this out.” He added. “Why don’t you contact Mr. Ahn and ask if there’s another route we can take or something.”

Without a word, I dialed Mr. Ahn’s number and told him about the predicament that we were in. Unfortunately, this was the only way out of the town since this was the main road. However, he said his cousin owns a pension house twenty minutes from our location. He instructed us that we needed to go back and gave us directions.

“Let’s just hope there’s no one in there who could recognize you.” I could not help but verbalize.

“Maybe no one would.” He replied as he looked behind him too. “Stop stressing about it.”

***

The pension turned out to be a two-story house with a few rooms. However, I noticed that there were already a few cars parked outside which meant that several people were occupying the rooms. I could only hope that there’s still space for us.

I was the one to come in while Baekhyun waited for me outside so I could check the situation inside first. I made sure he wore his cap and his mask as he waited.

There was no one else in the lobby aside from the elderly lady who must be in her early fifties and who was stationed in the reception. This must be Mr. Ahn’s cousin. 

“We only have one room left.” She informed me after I told her about Mr. Ahn telling us to proceed here.

“That’s fine, Ma’am,” I said, relieved that there was a place for us left.  “Anyway, it has two beds, right?”

“I’m afraid, there’s only one room left with a single bed in it.” She replied.

“Oh.” I blinked my eyes.

“My cousin said you’re with your boyfriend, right?” She added, darting her attention to Baekhyun who could be seen standing outside. “Won’t it be okay for you to share the bed?”

Before I could even respond, a sudden gust of wind blew and I turned to Baekhyun’s spot. Almost at the same time, he glanced in my direction too.

“You two better figure it out fast,” The Elderly lady said. “Other guests might show up in no time.” She added before she checked on her computer.   

“Sorry,” Baekhyun showed up next to me. “The wind turned insane outside.”

The Elderly lady, of course, turned to look at him, thankfully, the phone rang and she got the call.

“What’s the matter?” He asked as he must have read my expression.

“There’s only one room left.”

“That should be great, right? What’s the issue?”

“It only has one bed…”

“Ah.” He muttered. “It’s fine then I’ll just take the floor.” He added right away.

“But…”

“Hari, it’s not like we have a choice and I’m pretty sure the floor is a better option than freezing outside.”

I sighed. “You’re right.”

“I’m sorry,” The elderly intercepted, the phone still in her hand. “Are you two taking the remaining room? If not, I have an inquiry.”

“We’re going to take it.” Baekhyun was the one who answered.

“Okay.” She replied and told the caller that they were full.

For registration, she asked for our IDs but I was quick to tell her that he didn’t have any ID with him and asked if I could just surrender mine instead. Thankfully, she agreed without any more questions probably because we were Mr. Ahn’s guests. Though she seemed a little skeptical about Baekhyun who wore a cap and a mask, she gave me the key and walked us to the corner room on the second floor.

She left as soon as she instructed that there was a small pantry on the first floor should we need anything to eat. Which was a lifesaver since I was pretty sure Baekhyun was as hungry as I was.

He removed his cap and mask the moment we were alone. We both took our shoes off as well and made use of the slippers provided.

The room was not that spacious but it was enough for the both of us. There was one double-sized bed that looked absolutely cozy given the crazy weather outside. There was a small bathroom right next to it and a small table with two chairs probably for dining. I looked up as I could very much hear the pattering of the raindrops given that our room was located on the top floor. Thankfully though, it was nothing but gentle.

“It’s nice,” Baekhyun commented. “It’s warm in here.”

He was right, it was warm inside that brought instant comfort. I walked toward the bathroom and found towels.

“Why don’t you go wash us first?” I suggested. “Make sure you wash your hair and dry it so you don’t catch a cold or something,” I told him.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He let out a soft laugh at my reminder.

I just smiled at his remark.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter