| 3 |

    “Why exactly did we come to England all of a sudden anyways?” Chen whined to Baekhyun once they reached the hotel.

    “Cadbury chocolate,” he responded in English, unpacking his suitcase. “, I forgot my toothbrush.”

    “Um, excuse me? What?” Chen tilted his head to the side, very confused by Baekhyun’s strange answer.

    “I forgot my toothbrush, Jongdae,” Baekhyun looked at him with a duh expression etched on his face. “Don’t you supposedly speak English better than I do?”

    “No, before that.”

    “Oh. Cadbury chocolate,” Baekhyun explained, transferring his underwear from his case to a drawer across the bathroom. “I’ve been craving it since the end of the first concert. You should try it. It’s really good.”

    Chen just shook his head. “Well, I feel disgusting. Let’s do lunch after I shower,” he suggested, grabbing a change of clothes and disappearing into the bathroom of the gigantic suite they booked (or, rather, the gigantic suite that Baekhyun booked).

    Baekhyun dragged Chen to the closest convenience store after he came out of the bathroom to purchase a super-sized bag of Cadbury chocolates. “I wanna go somewhere,” Baekhyun stated, signalling a cab. “Wanna come with?”

    “Do I have a choice?” Chen rolled his eyes, unwrapping another piece of chocolate and popping it into his mouth. Baekhyun simply smiled.

    After a lengthy cab ride, the two boys reached their destination. “Where are we?” Chen asked, noticing nothing special about this place other than the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere. Baekhyun didn’t answer. Instead, he silently walked down to the edge of the pavement where the road stopped and stepped down onto the rocks along the river. “Baekhyun,” Chen called out, contemplating on whether or not to follow him. “Ugh. it all.” He jumped down after Baekhyun when his friend ignored him.

    Baekhyun took a seat on a flat rock at the river’s edge. He was staring into the water as if they were having a conversation. Chen followed his eye. Where they were, the water was calm. The current wasn't slow, but it wasn't dangerous either. A few meters down, however, the mouth of the river opened much wider and the calm current suddenly dropped and became violent, white-capped rapids. Someone could die crossing the river. Looking at it made him feel queasy. Chen furrowed his brow, suddenly aware of the gravity that surrounded them. Just standing still became hard. “Baekhyun-ah,” he sat down next to him. “What’s up?”

    Baekhyun just shook his head. Chen began pestering his best friend for answered until, finally, Baekhyun gave in. He sighed softly and stared straight at his hands.

    “What happened here changed everything I was, Chen,” Baekhyun whispered, turning to look at Chen wistfully. He let out a soft sigh. “I lost someone really important here.”

    “Girlfriend?” Chen asked. He didn’t answer him. Chen suddenly looked at the river and stared at the war zone a small distance away from them. “Did she… What happened?” It wasn't his story, but Chen was suddenly scared for the answer.

    “A whole lot of happened,” Baekhyun shook his head. “She ing left me. Ran away before I could do something to fix it.”

    “Fix what?”

    “Our broken relationship.”

    “Jesus Christ, Baekhyun, could I get some specific-”

    “No.” Baekhyun was staring at the ground now, sifting through the pebbles at his feet with his fingers. He picked up a small rock and looked at it for a moment before bitterly launching it into the river. The ripples that broke the river reminded Chen of cracks in a mirror.

    Chen, for the first time in forever, had no idea what was going through Baekhyun’s mind. At the same time, he realized he knew practically nothing about his life before EXO. They’d known each other for three years, but neither of them had ever bothered sharing each other’s pasts. Not like this, at least. They were close. As close as blood brothers would be. They even shared underwear sometimes. You think you know a guy, Chen thought bitterly. But then he brings you to a river. Because until now, Baekhyun had never mentioned anything about what had happened here four years ago. Chen didn’t look at him. He instead stared into the water until Baekhyun finally picked himself up and told Chen that they should head back to the hotel.