Chapter 10 (1/1)

--CHAPTER 10 The forest was so dark. It was nearly pitch black within its trees and shrubbery and all the three men could catch sight of was vaguely each other and the slight outlines of tree branches that might have been in their way if they hadn’t seen them.This time around, Jongdae hadn’t been speaking of food, but instead he had stolen Chanyeol’s bread roll he received from Joonmyun and was nibbling on it along the way. That was when Baekhyun decided to split his with Chanyeol and each ate half of the bread roll—enjoying it heartily.  Along the way, Baekhyun’s worry had been growing as they went further and further into the darkness. He wondered if the vast black around them would ever end and soon a small fear began to sink within him. Subconsciously, Baekhyun reached out for anyone—anything—and his small right hand had been met with the fabric of a sweater. It appeared that he had grasped the back of Chanyeol’s sweater in the darkness.Chanyeol briefly turned his head around to see that it was Baekhyun who had been touching him and not some mysterious thing from the dark. He smiled and let it happen as he said nothing in refute to the action and Chanyeol continued to walk leisurely forward.It seemed like an endless time that they had been walking through this dark forest, and surprisingly nothing had crept upon them in the darkness like they had fearfully expected something to. Eventually, they were beginning to grow tired of these surroundings, though Baekhyun still felt that small uncertainty welling inside. He couldn’t tell why—it wasn’t as though this forest truly did impose anything upon him that he should have been wary of—but it was still there nonetheless.Then in the darkness—like a beacon set out before them—the trio saw a glow in between the trees. Their eyes averted from before them and drifted toward the glow and just past the trees that had been in their way of the light, there was a patch within the forest that was set under the gleam of the sun light shining down through an opening in the trees. In this patch were many flowers like the ones that were in the area just outside of the forest where they had been standing and speaking with Joonmyun at. The flowers filled the forest floor and were tall and free as their stems lifted the flower petals and buds high into the air. Then in the midst of the light and petals was a body. It was a man’s body, at least that’s what Baekhyun could tell from what he saw, though all he could see was a bare back. The body had been sitting upward in the flowers, facing opposite of Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Jongdae, and it had red hair atop its head with a wreath of leaves and flowers set within the red locks.The three wondered if they should have approached the person, but soon wonder turned to action and Jongdae quickly began to walk over. Chanyeol and Baekhyun tried to stop him at first, but their efforts went fruitless.“Hey, do you know if there’s a way out of this forest?” Jongdae asked only halfway concerned with whether the person had actually wanted to be bothered or not.Despite Jongdae’s inquiry being so loud and characteristic of his nasally voice, the being sitting in the flowers made no move to suggest that he had heard Jongdae’s voice. He sat still, still doing what he was doing. While the three stared at the bare back of skin which had a small glisten cast about it caused by the overflowing sunlight coming down into the flower patch, a small breeze bounded its way through the trees and bodies and caused their hairs to flutter over their faces. Then a small peep came from the red haired person—like a small animal recognizing a disturbance in its surroundings—and he said, “Oh, that was cold.”When the trio heard the voice, they immediately knew that it was another man they were facing—though they weren’t particularly skeptical about that notion in the first place. Quickly, Jongdae stepped forward so that he could see this man’s face and properly ask him if there was a way out of the seemingly endless forest—he was being quite pushy, but no surprise came there. “Is there a way out of this forest?!” Jongdae asked now, more affirmatively and he looked down at the head of the male in front of him. He didn’t bother to look further since he had now realized that the one sitting in the flowers was unclothed and that he was fully exposed and out in the open… No wonder he felt cold in the breeze, Jongdae thought.“Hm?” the head of red hair lifted, gently and with a small pause between the motion, and he finally looked upward so he could meet eyes with Jongdae who had been standing just above him. “Oh,” his mouth formed and “o” shape and his dark eyes did not widen in the slightest, even if he was trying to express some surprise at Jongdae’s presence. Those eyes… they were lined with heavy bags beneath them, and his lips were full and pink. It was an intriguing face to look at, to say the least. “Are you here for flowers?” the naked man asked softly. He had been holding in his hands what looked like another flower wreath similar to the one adorned upon his hair—one that was incomplete and he had been working on.Jongdae cocked his head to the side. “Uh… No,” was all he could utter at the odd query. He glanced over to Baekhyun and Chanyeol who had still been standing at a distance from all of this. Jongdae gave them an odd look that expressed something like “I have no idea what’s going on here” and he raised his hand to beckon them forward.Chanyeol and Baekhyun glanced at each other only briefly but they figured there was no harm in going up to the flower man as well, so they walked over and stood along Jongdae’s side—Baekhyun letting go of the back of Chanyeol’s sweater in the process. When their eyes met the sight of the named man sitting in the petals and grass, they were just as bewildered as Jongdae was and now the three collectively looked down at him with odd looks in their eyes. He had turned his head from them, though, and now he was focused on composing a flower crown once more.“Excuse me…” Chanyeol began softly, but that did not gain his attention. Chanyeol then leaned forward and braced the palms of his hands upon his thighs so that he was bowed just slightly toward the one on the ground. “Are you…?” his words were suddenly cut off as the red haired male looked up at him and held his flower crown he had been making upward.“I really do like making crowns,” he said. He then reached up and held the unfinished wreath upon the top of Chanyeol’s head—holding it there for only brief moments as if he was testing his work—and then lowered his hands and the flowers toward his abdomen. Chanyeol was caught off guard by this sudden action and all he could do was let it happen and then ponder it after it occurred.Chanyeol figured that this person was not one for being immediate on things, so he decided to start slowly this time—first with introducing himself. “I’m Chanyeol,” Chanyeol said in a plain and readable tone. “How about you?”The man didn’t answer. His fingers and thumbs continued to intertwine the loose pieces of leaf and flower stem and here and there his face would contort into a bit of small frustration when he would make a mistake in his work.“Well?”  Chanyeol lifted a brow. “What’s your name?”No reply.Jongdae stepped forward only slightly and let out a heavy breath of air. “Let me try,” his voice sounded like it had some confidence to it. Jongdae placed his hand against his chest and with a lift of his chin, he said, “My name is Jongdae. What is your name, sir?” It appeared that Jongdae figured if he was to add the “sir” at the end, he’d somehow gain this guy’s attention—at least, that’s what it seemed like by the way he emphasized the word.Still, the red haired male said nothing and continued on his job.“Hey!” Jongdae yipped somewhat frustrated. His brows furrowed and he glanced fervently at the two next to him—Chanyeol shrugged and Baekhyun only looked emptily back.Baekhyun saw that his two friends were not able to influence the one who sat before them, and he wondered if even he could do anything to gain this man’s attention. How could he if they couldn’t? It wasn’t as though Baekhyun was something special, after all. In the end, though, Baekhyun determined that it was better to try than not do anything at all, so he opened his pink lips and led his eyes directly to the red hair and flower wreath and he stated in the most matter-of-fact way he could, “Hello, I am Baekhyun. Who are you?”Quickly, the man’s head bobbed upward and there was a tiny gleam in his otherwise dark eyes and he looked directly into Baekhyun’s brown orbs. “You’re Baekhyun?” he asked vibrantly, causing Baekhyun to nod hesitantly. “I am Tao,” he finally introduced himself, but he quickly fell back into doing what he had been doing before.“Now we know his name…” Jongdae mumbled with some sarcasm.“Tao,” Baekhyun tried to maintain Tao’ attention, but that task proved to be easier said than done. Even though Baekhyun had called Tao’s name and even beckoned at him with his hand, Tao continued to be fixated upon the leaves and flowers he was writhing within his fingers. At one point, Tao even looked away from the three standing in front of him and turned his entire body that way soon after. Had he been ignoring them? Even if not, Jongdae seemed to think so since his expression continued to grow more visibly annoyed by the minute. “Is there a reason why you’re not answering us?”When Baekhyun asked that question, Tao only glanced at him from the corner of his eye. He had still been moving his fingers in front of him. Was the look he had given one of annoyance? Was Tao really that interested in creating wreaths of flowers that he didn’t have time to answer the three?“Maybe he just doesn’t like talking to people,” Chanyeol murmured as he observed Tao. “He does live in this forest, after all…” Chanyeol then put both his hands on his hips as he let out a heavy sigh.“Likely,” Jongdae rolled his eyes. Deep inside, Jongdae truly felt they would have been stuck in this forest forever, and at this rate with that… Tao.Baekhyun continued to notice how fervent Tao was about what he was doing. His brown eyes concentrated on the movements Tao’s hands took as he was in his own world of his craft. It was actually quite beautiful and soothing to watch… It reminded Baekhyun of himself in an odd way. It wasn’t as though Baekhyun enjoyed creating things like that, but there was an activity he did have that he enjoyed and would not gauge his attention on anything else when it was being done. Reading was what that activity was and Baekhyun knew that whenever he would sit down with a book, he’d be so fixated by it that he’d be transported into another world whenever his eyes surfed over the words and lines that composed up the pages of the books he read. Maybe Tao enjoyed making his flower crowns just as much as Baekhyun loved to read.Slowly, Baekhyun lowered his body so that he was kneeling beside Tao. Chanyeol watched Baekhyun’s action with great intrigue, but Jongdae only saw it as a possible opportunity to end their little odd happening with Tao. Baekhyun looked directly at Tao—though it was only the side profile of Tao’s face since he had been facing away from them now—and he smiled. “Tao,” he said and Tao didn’t make a move to respond which Baekhyun had expected. Baekhyun then lowered his hands and began to pick the flowers that were near his sandaled feet. He picked multiple flowers, but not too many so that he was still able to hold them efficiently within the palms of his hands. This action caused Tao to turn his head to watch what Baekhyun had been doing—his eyebrows furrowed in confusion at first, but his expression soon eased as his curiosity grew. Baekhyun had begun to take the stems of two flowers and tied them together. He continued this process by adding another flower—tying the end of its stem just below the bud of the other flower so now that they were beginning to link and make a chain of flowers.“Baek, what are you doing?” Chanyeol asked as he careened his head to get a better view of what was happening in Baekhyun’s hands. Jongdae grew curious now as well and he stepped forward just slightly to watch.“I’m making a crown,” Baekhyun softly said through his concentrated demeanor. He smiled as his work was turning out better than he had expected.Tao had a blank look on his face at first when Baekhyun had begun to interact with him, but then his full lips curled into a pleased smile while he watched the one kneeling beside him. The flower crown he had been working on in his own hands suddenly stopped being composed and now Tao’s full attention was directed toward Baekhyun. “That’s coming out well,” he said through a completely interested gaze.“It is?” Baekhyun chuckled hesitantly. That must have been a compliment coming from the flower crown master and it made Baekhyun feel good.Tao did not respond to that, but instead he continued to watch Baekhyun and then his dark eyes focused on one flower in particular in Baekhyun’s creation and with an empty look, Tao asked, “Don’t the flowers smell nice?”Baekhyun nodded. “They do.”Chanyeol had been completely entranced with how Baekhyun was handling this situation. He wasn’t sure if it actually would end up leading to something or if it would even bring Tao to giving them directions out of the forest, but Chanyeol couldn’t help but feel that it was one of the most beautiful gestures he had ever witnessed. He loved watching how Baekhyun smiled as he tied the stems of the flowers and how his words kindly interacted with Tao’s simple words. Baekhyun really was different, and Chanyeol was beginning to feel a sense within him that alerted him to just why he felt Baekhyun was the one who would finally take down the beast in the end. After observing for a time, Chanyeol finally dropped down to his knees as well and picked some flowers from the forest floor and like how Baekhyun had before him, he began to construct a flower crown.“Chanyeol, what are you…?” Jongdae’s words trailed off as he saw just what his friend had been doing. He also glanced over at Tao and he noticed that the bright look on Tao’s face only increased when Chanyeol joined in on the action. Was that really their way out—making wreaths of flowers picked from the ground with some naked stranger? Unfortunately to Jongdae, he found that to be the answer. So after a sigh and a heave of his shoulders, Jongdae knelt down to the ground and did just what Baekhyun and Chanyeol did and he too was now tying the stems of flowers together to make them into one object.Tao looked at Jongdae now and he continued to glance back and forth between the three. He looked truly excited and when Baekhyun noticed the look in Tao’s eye, he couldn’t help but feel that it looked absolutely adorable. “You know,” Tao began with an air that was slightly odd and not happy sounding at all, “most people would have tried to stop me from making my crowns…” He lowered the lids of his eyes and gazed downward. “They would have taken my flowers from me…”Baekhyun paused just before he tied the last stem to the beginning flower of his crown to finally create one full circle. He looked at Tao who was still looking downward in front of himself. His eyes then caught a glimpse of how Tao’s hands had only been limply holding the flower crown he had been constructing and that his hands were… shaking. “Tao,” Baekhyun tilted his head, “are you all right?” Chanyeol and Jongdae both looked up to see Tao now as well.As the flowers fell from Tao’s fingers, his shoulders raised and he puffed his plump upper lip and the corners of his lips casted downward to form a frown. He breathed heavily and through breaths he said, “You would think that I don’t have much to say since I’m usually busy, wouldn’t you?” His eyes slowly moved to the side to look at Baekhyun.“I…” Baekhyun was caught off guard by this question. He knew what it was like to have people think that he had nothing to say. Baekhyun was naturally mute after all (except in this world where everything odd did happen), so those around him automatically assumed that since he said nothing, he had nothing to say. Of course, that was completely untrue… Maybe Tao didn’t speak much in the beginning, but when he was given the right attention, he began to open up. “Just because you’re not too talkative at first doesn’t mean you’re unfriendly.” Baekhyun cocked his head to the side and allowed a cute smile to paint itself on his lips. “Right?”Chanyeol and Jongdae glanced at each other. They weren’t particularly certain of what the two had been meaning through their small conversation, so they just shrugged and watched while finishing their own flower crowns.Tao’s eyes widened. His lower lip fell open just slightly so his lips were left lightly agape. “At least you understand…” he softly said in one breath of air.“I think I do,” Baekhyun nodded once and as he nodded, he finished tying the last of his stems on his flower crown and it was now finished. He lifted his work just in front of his eyes so he could proudly observe it for a brief moment and then—with a short motion of moving his arms forward—Baekhyun placed the crown upon the wreath that was already adorned on Tao’s head. “That’s for you,” Baekhyun declared with a small lift of his chin and a pleased smile.“This is for you too!” Chanyeol cheered out as he scooted forward on his knees and placed his flower crown atop Tao’s head as well. Jongdae soon followed and in a quiet and slightly embarrassed tone, said, “That too.”Tao’s lips curled into the most vibrant of grins as the gesture the trio made to him resounded over and over in his mind. He closed his eyes ever-so gently and with his lashes fluttering in a small breeze just above his cheeks, he mumbled in a breath of air, “I really do love crowns.” His hands rose so the palms of his hands rested on his bare chest. His eyes were still so dark, but Baekhyun felt that he could see a glimmer of hope within Tao’s gaze. Tao sighing in of air was quite positive and his head tilted over to the right so it rested just barely on his right shoulder. “I’ve been wanting to get out of this forest for a very long time now,” Tao murmured and he continued to breathe but now in sharp, shorter motions.“What?” Jongdae heaved. His eyes widened and he fell slightly forward at the sound of Tao’s words. Apparently he had been taken aback by the fact that supposedly Tao didn’t actually know his way out of the dark forest.“A-are you saying you don’t know a way out of here?” Chanyeol asked with a slightly disappointed arching of his eyebrows. He was sitting closer to Baekhyun now—both kneeling in the flowers near Tao. Baekhyun glanced at Chanyeol when he asked his question and then his eyes moved to continue intently keeping an eye on Tao.Tao opened his eyes and turned his head so he could look at both Baekhyun and Chanyeol. His face looked oddly reassuring and focused and Baekhyun and Chanyeol shuddered collectively under Tao’s eyes. “I do now,” was what he said in the most gentle of tones. His chest then began to rise as he inhaled a large breath and in the process his head lolled back so he was looking directly up toward the opening within the trees—gazing out to the sky above. As Tao appeared to be departing from reality—his whole being becoming loose and doll-like as he looked above himself—Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Jongdae felt something in the air that felt stifling. It felt like everything froze and their bewildered eyes kept locking on each other and on Tao as they were clueless as to what was happening.There in the light spot hidden within the depths of the dark forest was a wave that swept over the boys like nothing they’d ever known. They didn’t know what was happening to their bodies, but subconsciously their upper halves of their bodies vaulted toward the ground so now that they were plastered against the forest floor. As this was happening—everything becoming a strange blur and odd phenomena—Baekhyun began to hear that large ringing within his ears. It was roaring and reverberating in his ear drums and Baekhyun could barely manage to move his hands from the cling of the ground and toward his ears to hold them and shield them from the intensity. Of course, even if his fingers were encircling his ears, Baekhyun would not be able to stop hearing the bellowing of the beast. “Ch-Chanyeol!” he called out in desperation and he heard no reply—he wasn’t sure if the preexisting sound in his ears had been too much to be able to hear anything else or if Chanyeol had not been able to hear anything in the midst of it all.The pressure on their bodies did not subside until minutes later and they were still left wondering about what had happened. Slowly, one by one, the trio began to lift their heads from the roots and soil. Baekhyun was the first to look up, removing his hands from his ears as he did so. When he looked in front of himself, he expected Tao to be there, still sitting in his naked form, possibly toiling with some flowers. But he was gone. All that was left was an indent where he had been sitting where only a few flowers and pieces of grass were bent to the side.“Where’d he go?!” Jongdae basically yipped while he sat upward. He scratched his head at the sight of an empty space where Tao had once been.Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun who was still staring at that space before him. “Baek?” Chanyeol peeped. He stood up from the ground and with wide eyes he looked at the top of Baekhyun’s brown hair covered head.Baekhyun stood up as well and so did Jongdae and now the three of them were left standing in the glow of the sun-light, flabbergasted by what had just previously happened. “I think he…” Baekhyun began with a thought, but he didn’t know how to finish it. Truly, he was lost for words. Was there supposed to be something else—something that meant that they did something right? Where in hell had Tao gone?“Did we kill him?” Jongdae asked with an empty look in his eyes.Chanyeol bumped Jongdae on the shoulder and shook his head. “No, Jongdae. Don’t be stupid…”“Then what happened?” Jongdae raised a brow as he asked this and both he and Chanyeol looked to Baekhyun for answers. Their stares began to burrow into Baekhyun and all the small male could do was cower just a bit.“I don’t know…” Baekhyun softly said. As he let out an exasperated breath of air, a wind swept through the place and with it swept the petals from the flowers that lied on the floor. Once again the three were caught off guard by this as well and once the stems and buds were stripped of their colored and soft petals, the petals glided above Baekhyun and in a sudden rain, the petals began to fall on him. There were so many petals that as they fell onto Baekhyun, he was completely consumed by their color and scent.   “Oh!” Baekhyun gasped as he was caught surprised and his hands gently rose to catch and touch the petals within them. The falling petals began to brush and tickle against Baekhyun’s bare skin and all he could do was giggle lightly at the feeling. He smiled and his eyes fell closed at the expanse of his now wide grin.Chanyeol watched—he saw the colors and the small boy who was in the midst of the falling flowery. All Chanyeol could do was gaze with a blank stare at the sight. He was so captivated and as Baekhyun’s giggles rang through his ears, Chanyeol began to feel a deep feeling welling inside of him. “Cutie! What’s happening?” was what Jongdae asked in slight shock at the sudden motion of the wind and flower petals against Baekhyun, and Chanyeol remained quiet—eyes fixated on the beautiful sight occurring before him.The petals stopped falling and some remained hanging from Baekhyun’s brown hair and some rested on his small shoulders. He giggled a last few times and turned around with his hands still held up, holding some petals in his palms. His eyes opened and his smile remained and Baekhyun met his brown eyes directly to Chanyeol’s dazed, large eyes. “We’re not lost anymore!” Baekhyun said through his toothy grin while Jongdae stared at him in a puzzled fashion and at that moment, Chanyeol recalled exactly why he hadn’t needed a compass any longer.He knew exactly where he wanted to go.A/N: This was my favorite chapter to write because Tao is my EXO bias and I love him very much~~~Hope you guys like what you'rwe reading and comments are always welcome ouo