Chapter 1 (1/1)

--CHAPTER 1At this point in his life, he had more than accepted that he would never speak. Although his mind was full of things he wanted and would love to say, he simply couldn’t. For Byun Baekhyun, writing down what he had to say or portraying it through sign language was simply the only way.Ever since Baekhyun was born, he had been mute. Now he was in college, still facing the obstacles and hardships his disability might have brought, but still going on nonetheless. He had many reasons to go on. In fact, Baekhyun had one special reason why he would go on—one special reason that was hard for him to explain, even if he could use words.*~*~*~*“Baekhyun’s sitting under the tree reading again…”“I know. But I think that’s what truly makes him happy, you know?”Baekhyun’s parents watched their nine year old son who was sitting in the yard of their suburban household. They cherished their son so very much no matter what he was like; they just wished that he would have been a little more social, even if he was mute. But they supposed that it’s how it was meant to be, so when their small, voiceless son would take the liberty to bring his skinny legs across their green front lawn and sit under the willow tree which was centered directly in the middle of the property and sit down and endlessly read, they would simply let him.Right now, Baekhyun had been reading some book about a pirate’s adventures on the seven seas. This pirate started out as a seemingly bad guy, but as the book progressed, the pirate’s personality changed and he soon—instead of making it a point to wreak havoc and make the innocent panic—was a hero known on the waters that did great deeds for those he would run across. Baekhyun really admired those kinds of stories. He loved how experience could change someone over time and for the most part, change them for the better.The sun shone through the hanging branches of the willow tree through specs that were spotted all over the pages of the book Baekhyun was holding in his small hands. The weather was truly perfect for sitting for hours and just reading. Baekhyun wouldn’t mind sitting here forever, really—that is, if it wasn’t for how terribly hot it would get in the summer and how dreadfully cold it was during the winter. He supposed he’d have to compromise for that.As Baekhyun used his thumb and forefinger to turn the page of his book—gasping as he did so due to a surprising aspect of his novel—he felt a shadow cast over him and he saw how the pages of his book darkened, now free of the sun spots that peeked through the tree. His eyebrows furrowed at this phenomenon (especially since the sky was so cloudless today) and his small brown hair adorned head tilted to the left.“Hey,” a voice from above said.Baekhyun slowly lifted his head and widened his round eyes as he did so. He was suddenly met with a boy who appeared to be about his age, but someone he had never seen before—not even from one of the other classes at his school. This boy was strange looking, actually. His hair was so messy and made his head look bigger than normal, and his ears… Baekhyun wouldn’t have been lying if he had said that he had never seen ears that big before. Baekhyun set his open book in his lap and lifted his hands up and in sign language, asked, “Who are you?”The boy’s wide eyes watched intently at Baekhyun’s moving fingers and then, in a bit of a haughty tone, questioned, “How come you don’t just talk?”“I’m mute,” Baekhyun signed in the plainest way he possibly could portray through sign language. It probably would have been harder for him to convey that obviousness if he had been writing it on his writing pad.“No you’re not,” the boy said as he knelt down in front of Baekhyun. Now Baekhyun could closely see how odd this new kid looked. The boy reached his right hand over and placed it on Baekhyun’s shoulder, causing Baekhyun to flinch a little at how firm his grip was. He continued to squeeze roughly on Baekhyun’s shoulder and Baekhyun arched his little eyebrows at the harsh feeling. Just what was this kid doing?  “My name is Chanyeol,” the boy—now officially the boy named Chanyeol—said firmly while closing his eyes and scrunching his nose. His expression just continued to become more and more odd for Baekhyun to look at. “What’s your name?” Chanyeol then asked.Baekhyun lifted his hands so he could sign, but with Chanyeol’s free hand, he quickly pressed it to the backs of Baekhyun’s hands and pushed them down. “Just say it,” Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun with wide eyes once more.How was he to do that? If it wasn’t for the fact that Baekhyun couldn’t physically speak, he absolutely didn’t know how. He worriedly eyed Chanyeol who still squeezed his shoulder and was now wiggling his eyebrows at Baekhyun.“Coooooome on. Just say it,” Chanyeol chided while rocking on his ankles just a bit.Baekhyun gulped. This kid was basically asking for the impossible, but Baekhyun supposed he might as well show Chanyeol how fruitless his strange efforts would end up being. Baekhyun slowly opened his pink, little lips and he tried to shape them in the most sensible way he thought possible for speaking and then as he went to prove Chanyeol to be a fool, he suddenly heard something say, “I’m Baekhyun.” What was that? Baekhyun gasped and Chanyeol chuckled.“It’s nice to meet you, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol cheerfully said and he finally removed his hand from Baekhyun’s shoulder and placed it in Baekhyun’s right hand and shook it.Had he just… spoken? Instead of pondering it in his mind like he usually would, Baekhyun decided he might as well just test the odd occurrence once more, and he opened his mouth again, and ever-so gently, he made an “Ah” sound at the back of his throat. His hand quickly fell from Chanyeol’s grip and collapsed against his lips. What in the world was this?  Chanyeol fell back into the grass onto his bottom and placed the palms of his hands behind himself to prop his upper body upward. “I knew you could talk. Why did you doubt yourself, anyway?”“Because I can’t talk,” Baekhyun said aloud—still causing himself great shock. So was that what his voice was supposed to sound like?“You just did, though,” Chanyeol said plainly and then pressed his lips together to form a line. Every here and there he would shake his shoulders back and forth out of his own amusement or maybe restlessness, making Baekhyun continue to look at him strangely.The sun continued to shine through the tree’s foliage and the way it showed in spots appeared to be exciting Chanyeol because he kept darting his head back and forth to look around while also putting his arm out to see how the light showed up on his skin. That was fun to look at and all, but Baekhyun continued to feel preoccupied with how strange it was to hear his voice finally seep through the confines of his lips after nine years of his child life. His fingers slipped to his lips and he continually touched them and pulled his lower lip downward in a curious motion. Was it really that simple when it came to speaking? Had he just not been trying? Baekhyun’s round, brown eyes slowly moved to look over at Chanyeol who was now on his back—rolling in the sun spots and grass. Was it because of this Chanyeol that Baekhyun could now speak? “Hey,” Baekhyun softly peeped out while still cautiously treading on his new ability.  With a swift motion of his upper body—sticking his arms straight outward to vault himself forward—Chanyeol sat up from the grass and looked wide eyed at Baekhyun. “Yeah?” he puffed his lips out.  “Was it just me, or was it you that made me talk?” Baekhyun tilted his head to flash his eyes cutely at Chanyeol who seemed slightly un-phased by the adorable action and then put his hands on the open book still placed in his lap.“Hm…” Chanyeol’s eyes and lips fell to the side and his head leaned on his shoulder. “Well…” he began off slowly.“Baekhyun! Can you come inside, please?” Baekhyun heard his mother calling from inside the house.  Baekhyun closed the book in his lap, remembering the page he was on and not using a book mark since he was capable enough to keep it in his memory and then stood up—Chanyeol looking awkwardly up at him from the ground. “I have to go inside, Chanyeol,” he said with a tone that made it seem like he was never lacking the ability to speak. He took one last glance at Chanyeol, smiled lightly, and began to walk toward his house.  Chanyeol watched Baekhyun walk away—leaning his head on his shoulder and looking behind himself. He knew he would enjoy that kid from the moment he saw him.When Baekhyun made it inside the door, closing it gently behind his small body, he looked and saw that his mom had been sitting at the kitchen table with a cup filled with milk near her and a cup filled with milk at the seat across from her. There was a plate of what looked like—and smelled like—chocolate chip cookies. “I wanted to have a snack with you, my Baekkie,” she smiled to her tiny, brown haired son.His mother was so nice, yet Baekhyun would have preferred if he was left outside with Chanyeol. He was greatly intrigued by the presence of the boy who showed up out of nowhere—especially since he made it so he could talk. When Baekhyun walked over to the table and set his thick book down on it while he pulled the chair out, he opened his lips to speak. When he tried to say, “Mom, I met a friend today,” absolutely no sound escaped his lips. Suddenly he was back to not speaking. Baekhyun’s lips immediately formed into a pout and his small eyebrows knotted disappointedly.“Honey, are you okay?” his mother tilted her head to look at her son.Baekhyun simply nodded since he wasn’t able to vocalize his opinion any longer.His mother grabbed a cookie from the plate in the center of the table and handed it to her son who nimbly took it in his tiny fingers. He took a nibble and set it down on a napkin. “Where’s dad?” he asked through signing.“He’s working in the other room,” she replied.Baekhyun nodded once more and picked his cookie up and nibbled it again. As he held his cookie in his left hand and picked up his glass of milk in his right, sipping it and washing his cookie down with the liquid. As he did this, he turned his head to look out the window which portrayed a perfect view of the front yard—especially his favorite willow tree. He tried to see if there was still the body of that odd boy in the yard, but no matter how he careened his head, he could catch no sight of Chanyeol. While he ate cookies with his mother, he continued to wonder what in the world that was that made him talk. Was it because of Chanyeol indefinitely? Though, since he had never met or seen Chanyeol before in his life, he came to ponder if maybe Chanyeol was only a figment of his imagination and him actually talking was as well.Good old books, he thought. At least he knew that what was in the adventures he read throughout the many pages of his novels were strange things, but at least in the end they could be explained.So this is my second published story. I hope you guys like it~I'll try to update regularly