Baekhyun:

I spend only a short time on the phone with Chanyeol, he's very formal and snippy. But he does agree to let me come over and use his Studio.

I drive myself there, because I don't expect him to chauffeur me around anymore after what happened between us.

I drive down into the entrance of the parking garage. I press a button that connects me to the intercom in the penthouse and Chanyeol buzzes me in. I park in the garage and again, need to be buzzed into the elevator, as it is after 6pm.

The ride up the elevator is nerve-racking, and that's putting it lightly. I find myself taking shallow breaths. So much so that I have to breathe into my hands until I am past the risk of hyperventilating in order to be ready to knock on his door.

When he comes to the door, I just stand there, not going in. Now that I'm here, looking at him, all I can think about is how much I miss him and how much time we have missed out on for the past week.

"Come in." He says with a neutral voice. "I have the studio set up for you to use."

"Actually … that's not why I came." I choke out the words.

"Then what can I help you with?" He says with little to no inflection in his voice. His face stays neutral. I cannot tell what is going on inside that head.

"Well, I just figured that practicing a duet by yourself is… kind of pointless. If you're up for it I would really like to do this together." I say in a hushed tone, not hoping for too much.

But, at my quiet words, his face softens into the Chanyeol that I know.

He lifts his eyes to mine and sighs deeply. Just a hint of a smile touches his lips and he steps aside and says, "Okay, that can be arranged. Come in." He turns and walks with long strides into the depths of the apartment. "Would you like a beer?" He asks as he looks at me while walking backwards toward the kitchen

I disregard the fact that I'm in my own car and accept his offer.

I walk into the room feeling like a familiar stranger. Nothing seems to have changed since the last time I was here. But in reality, everything has changed.

I play it off and act like I have every other time I have been here with him. I follow him into the kitchen and watch as he pulls two tall boy beers out of the refrigerator and hands one to me, keeping the other for himself. He pops the top and holds it up towards me. I'm confused, but I do the same.

As we clink our cans together, he says, "to our first greenlit project."

I soften at his words, and follow his statement with, "to your songwriting masterpiece." I say, and cautiously smile at him.

"Thank you," he says in a small voice. He smiles back at me and then chugs his beer as if he were in a race.

I take long drags off of mine as well, as he puts his now empty can in the recycling bin. He opens the fridge and takes out and opens another.

He hands me a second as well, even though I'm only half finished. "Alright then," he says brightly, obviously a little tipsy already, "let's go practice."

Nothing has changed about the studio. And when I see the couch, a rush of memories comes back to me. I quickly look away, pretending as though I'm not affected by it.

I put my beers on the desk and sit at the keyboard facing the wall, thankful that I don't have to look at anything else. I pull the sheet music out of my bag and put it on the stand and begin playing something beautiful and soft. It matches Chanyeol's guitar just right.

But as I sit there playing it over a few times, I don't hear anything else. I swing around on the stool and see Chanyeol, lounging back on the couch, drinking a beer. It's a different brand than before so this is either his third or forth.

He sits on the couch, watching me, taking large gulps of beer every 20 or so seconds. I stand to retrieve my full, unopened can and also the one I am almost done with. I drink until I have to sit it aside and I snap the next one open. Chanyeol and I sit and simply stare at each other for a time as we drink.

I sigh into my beer, and, disregarding the memory of the last time we were here together, I stand up and carefully move to sit next to Chanyeol on the couch, watching his reaction, making sure this is okay.

He scoots to the side to make room for me. We stay there a while, again, just sipping our drinks and looking at each other. Until at last he speaks as he sets another empty can aside and grabs another unopened beer from atop his desk. "So, I think we should talk, don't you?" He takes a long sip off of his fourth beer? His fifth beer? I'm not sure.

"Yeah…" I say, looking down at my fingers.

"I have feelings for you Baekhyun." He says it so matter of fact, as if he were giving a weather report, "deep feelings."

I open my mouth, but no sound comes out.

"It's okay. I never expected you to feel the same…" he says and looks away from me. "I just can't hide it from you anymore. It's too hard. And…" he hesitates and then clears his throat. "And I miss my best friend"

"So do I…" I whisper.

So this is why he never drinks with me. It's obviously and undeniably a truth serum for him.

"So." He says, grabbing his guitar, let's sing. He smiles and begins strumming the first few chords of the song. But before I even realize what I'm doing, I put my hand on top of the hand that's picking the strings on his guitar.

"You're wrong." I say, matter of factly. "I have feelings for you too." His eyes lift up to mine.

"So… what now?" He whispers.

And I genuinely don't know.